audiokid:
I've never owned or used a PT system and in fact never personally owned a Mac (used them alot and used to program Motorola 6800's but never owned one). For the most part my electrical/electronics/audio/video engineering life has been with Intel/AMD and Microsoft/IBM computers (going on 34 years now).

So I'm curious what your $20K PT consisted of in terms of the hardware/software and the setup and what computers you used with it?
Did all PT software/hardware systems only work with a Mac?
Is the PT hardware system in the form of cards plugged into a Mac box or were they in a separate proprietary standalone computer system rack?
Do the cards have audio connections with some sort of interface breakout cable?
Is it possible to use some sort of linking system between your current setup (??) and the PT system...
Does the PT system have ADAT/AES/MADI that would allow the hardware I/O to be routed into your current setup without the need of the software?
Seems like a waste to just put it in the closet.....
How about a Studio B or C or Studio PT....

PT works on PC's as well. There were different levels of PT. If you check out Sweetwater you can see the current offerings. The interface boxes have been hot rodded by many folks including a spectacular mod by Black Lion Audio on the 192 I/O. This end of the equipment Chris is discussing is classified as ProTools HD.

I won't get into a pro/con argument because it is too personal for some folks. The gear isn't terrible, it just isn't suited to everybody and it does lock you into a proprietary path.

Thanks Jack
....sorry I'm very naive on the whole PT thing....Wikipedia has a nice write up on PT and now I sort of understand where the PCI hardware cards come in and how the separate "rack" converters fit in....
Can the rack A/D converters still be used without the PCI cards or is that the proprietary problem?
If the I/O converters have ADAT/AES/SMUX on them couldn't the I/O be routed into another system like the FF800?
Also I was looking over the new $8K HD Native system on Sweetwater and wondering if this new native card and it's I/O interface compares to their previous $18k-20K systems?

The PT HD converters can ONLY be used with PT HD-they aren't stand alone. Or maybe that isn't the question.

Yeah...I'm sure that was the question and the answer!
So the ADAT/AES on those converters are for input from other sources rather than 192 I/O converter outputs?
If that is the case I guess you set it all up standalone as a complete running system and use it as some sort of master/bus recorder or a really nice headphone monitoring system!

I have the 888 24. John is correct, it can run on either PC or Mac. I have PT 5.3 and an old Mac 9600 all SCSI, 10,000 RPM drives, SCSI acell and two cards plus plus the 888 24.

Here are the specs:

I/O interface with 8 line level XLR ins and outs, 4 AES/EBU ins and outs, s/pdif in and out, and word clock in and out.
Up to 24-bit bit depth and 48k sample rate.

My Yamaha 03D has the PT digi in/out. The 03D has adat so I have it all covered.

What could I do you think?

Regarding using as a second studio, it was never a good sounding system IMHO. really over priced and converters and preamps sound like garbage. The thing always bottle-necks on the 2-bus. But, I love their software and its why I was attracted to PT in the first place. Man I wish there was something I could discover that it could be used for, like the headphone mix system I;m thinking. What do you think?

to answer more of your questions;

The 888 24 interface is 100% dependent on the IO card and the farm cards that are in the Mac. You can't run it without the other. Its why I detest that system and the HD system. Its not worthy to be in the Pro Audio arena IMHO when can't use it as a tool with other great products. But, like John say's...
I think I'm onto something here if I am able to incorporate it into my current system somehow. Using it with my FF800, would be awesome!

Here's a picture of the back of three 888 24's stacked: Looking at it from left to right:
Left side are the 8 pre's in/outs
AES EBU in/outs
interface insert
spdif and clock

Attached files

I think the answer lies with what digital interfaces you have available on the PT and Yamaha...(unless you still use the 03D without the PT).
You have a complete analog/digital recording system there but seems like you've moved on in terms of the analog quality.
That digital domain doesn't suffer from age or analog quality, it's still digital.
You said the bit depth was 24bit so it's all there!
The trick seems to be getting what you can out of the digital domain of the PT/Yamaha system and tie it into your newer system for whatever purpose.
It may not need to record to SCSI harddrives or need to track or mix using the software, but it could act as a sort of "digital router".
You already have the newer recording computer and DAW....seems like your covered on tracking and mixing....
So I would see if you can get ADAT or SPDIF or AES interfaced between the two and see what that does.
Maybe the SCSI's could be used for archival purposes....

How many ADAT cards does your 03D have?
If there are two ADAT1 and 2 then you could easily hookup 4 optical cables between the FF800 and 03D and have 16 channels in/out @44.1/48khz through the FF800!

Our 20K protools mix system only cost us about 12K - We put it in service in late 1999, it has paid itself off over the years, and continues to bring us clients to this day. Never needed to upgrade beyond V6.x
Still working off of the Mac G4 that we put in around 2002, Both are workhorses for sure and still sounds great to our clients.
Really can't see any reason to retire it yet.

Ugh. That makes me nauseous. To think of spending all that cash and then
having it be useless. You could turn it into art I guess. Really expensive art.

You could be audio's Banksy.