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anonymous 3 September 2004

I have came across enuf money to make a platform change. I am a longtime Sonar user. I am thinking of going Pro Tools. How much of my exixting setuo will I be able to keep. Tascam US-428m DXI'x and VST's. What system is recomended entry level but expandable. I just had a death in my family and don't feel like diggin thru tons of lititure and spec's. So any suggestions would be helpfull. TIA. JDW

Comments

gdoubleyou Fri, 09/03/2004 - 07:18

Only the TDM systems are expandable, there really isn't an entry level version. Probably about $5000 for a refurb/used system
http://www.digidesign.com/products/hd/systems/core.cfm

PTLE is their prosumer entry level system, limited to 32 audio tracks, and the software will only work if Digidesign hardware is present.
http://www.digidesign.com/products/le/

The TDM systems are touchy with windows hardware, and has very specific requirements. The only off the shelf systems qualified are the
HPxw8000, and Dell Precision workstation 650.
the Dells range in price from $8,000-$2800

If you choose components carefully you can build a box, so TDM may not be for yoy, unless you are a fulltime business.

Opus2000 Fri, 09/03/2004 - 18:36

What is your reason for even changing. What are your needs....why do you want or need to update? You need to ask yourself many questions and get some answers to these basic questions before you should go into something head first like this.

Tell us what you do primarily and a typical recording/editing or mixing session is like. Is it primarily always just you or do you have tons of clients(Clients not being your bro's/homies/friends-they should be complete strangers paying you for a job)

Once we see what you are doing we can help you get what you "need"!

(Kurt..being that this is the exact same thing I've posted we should do a info guide on what you need to ask yourself when you "want" to update vs a when you "need" to update?!!! )

Opus

anonymous Fri, 09/03/2004 - 21:46

thank you for replying to jumping horse's

I play jazz/blues, 35 years in the biz. Sonar basically has some things about it that are just hard to get a good workflow. I most of the time have maybe 15 audio tracks maybe 5 midi. I do not feel alot of what I do is "industry standard. I am 48 years old I am in a possition to do what I want with the rest of my life. The striving and wanting part is over. I have been a musician since the age of 8 and have done some pro and semi-pro gigs, but always had to come back to the reality of bills must be paid. I am a certified Land Surveyor, state licensed and all that that is where I gained much computer hardware and software knowledge. I have a good background in mixing and also the biz side of music. I am a multi instrumentalist and have engineered and produced some other acts in other styles of music. But it has always been a when I have time type of thing with some monentary reward for myself. I am regestered as a songwriter with BMI and have my own publishing company. So what I am asking from y'all is 1) Should I move away from the Windows platform for audio and why. 2) What do you think is the best sequencer/audio software and why and what do y'all think the future of recording holds. This be my one safe time to buy what I need with no cutting corners, so I must make the right decisions. It seems to me the top studios use Pro Tools, Why. Well not to be long winded but I hope you see where I am going. TIA for any and all advice.........JDW

anonymous Tue, 09/07/2004 - 00:34

Don't change to pro tools because some big studios use it. It's all brainwashing from Pro Tools. They market their product carefully.

Don't get duped. Their product isn't all that good. I'd have to say Cubase is a smarter product. Nuendo is great as well.

I'm a long time Sonar user, and I must say Sonar 3 is wonderful. It can do pretty much everything Pro Tools can.

Big_D Tue, 09/14/2004 - 15:38

I am in no way an expert on PT or recording for that matter, but if there is one thing I have learned from RO it is spend your money wisely.
My opinion would be that if you feel you need PT because you intend to take your work to studios that already run PT or you have clients requesting it, then PT might be best. But if your work stays in house or you don't have a need to satisfy clients requests I would suggest sticking with or upgrading what you have. IMO switching to PT won't improve your sound but better mic's, pre's and monitors will. Upgrading your rack gear, DAC's and even room treatments can make a big difference. Upgrading your PC can add more tracks and allow more plugins to be run. If PT is what you need go for it but if not why spend all that money to get the same sound you already have. Just my opinion.

anonymous Tue, 09/14/2004 - 18:41

Upgrading

Computer upgrade is a definite. Either 3.4 prescott, 2 gig ram, 2 WD raptors in raid array. But tonight I am gonna look into the Xeon series. I am not considering AMD because I am just a Intel type of guy. Everytime I have strayed I have regretted it. I am fine on mikes and actual sound equipment as I am a musician first. I have been planning on getting rid of my Tascam US-428 and replacing that with a Radikal Technologies Sac 2 . Thats why if I am gonna do the PT thing I was/am gonna do it now. I would rather have a intergrated system. Also thats why I need to go one way or another bacause if I were to go PT I would probaly go Mac, because that seems to be the popular platform for PT. Well thanks to your advise and I am interested in hearing more........JDW

Big_D Tue, 09/14/2004 - 20:13

Sounds like your headed in the right direction with the PC. The 3.4 is a better choice than AMD for your uses. The AMD scores higher on the benchmarks for Gaming, but Intel benchmarks better for audio and video (much better). Get the Intel 875 chipset on any MB you consider for the Prescott. Are you thinking of Xeon for dual processors? If you are, remember unless you have software that can take advantage of dual processors (and there's not much out there) you won't see any performance gain over a single processor. Xeon's are server class.

Raptors are nice drives but pricey for the small performance gain with audio (see Randyman). Gamers use these drives in striped arrays because of the massive amount of random data to be processed. Audio is different, the data is linear (streamed) so you won't see the performance gains that gamers sees. If you intend to run RAID you should run a mirror array. This gives you a backup drive if one fails. If you run a stripe array and a drive fails or the tables get out of sync you lose everything. Gamers don't care if their drives crash because they just reinstall everything (usually from an image) and their back up and running but you would lose all of your music. If you must run stripe I would suggest you backup religiously.

As far as the rest of the PC I would suggest a 400 to 500 watt power supply. Make sure the 12v, 5v and 3.3v are up to the task of the P4 and the rest of your cards and drives. Also a speed control for your fans is a nice option if you record things like vocals in your control room.

Get a good video card that supports 2 monitors. I use 2 mon's one for tracking and mixing and the other for MIDI and waveform editing.

Get a good burner (Plextors are my favorite) you won't be sorry.
Good luck which ever way you go.

anonymous Tue, 09/14/2004 - 23:57

To Big_D

I was looking at the Intel D925XCVLK Socket 775 ATX Motherboard / PCI Express / DDR2 Support / Audio / Gigabit LAN / USB 2.0 / Firewire / Serial ATA / RAID / Prescott Support Motherboard. Asus DVD, Corsair 667 ram, and only one 19" LCD monitor as I just don't do much midi. Except for drums and things like the NI B4. Why do alot of major studios run Mac's. I just do not understand........................JDW
( Thanks for the tips on raid arrays, I already pasted them in my notebook, See I mainly do Blues,Jazz and Country )

Big_D Wed, 09/15/2004 - 22:03

That MB, processor and RAM are great choices. Just remember you need a PCI Express or PCI video card, no AGP on this board. Also your limited to 4 PCI devices. The jury is still out on PCI express. The performance is not what was expected but I think it will take a little while before the video card makers catch up and then we should see huge gains.

Studios started using MAC's for the same reasons a lot of people use them, first MAC's are a little more intuitive than PC's for newbies. Second they're well suited to audio and video or any form of art, but probably most important is their stability. MAC's run a form of UNIX which is a very stable OS. With older versons of Windows (95 through ME) stability was a big issue but since XP and 2K it's really not an issue anymore. Also studios don't have to worry about their kids games being compatible with their computer like home users do (you really should have a dedicated PC for recording anyway). Their both great platforms but I'd stick with the PC since you already know it.

I do very little MIDI also. Mainly latin percussion insturments I don't own, but the second monitor is also handy for seeing more of the mixer by stretching the desktop. Most video cards come with 2 outs so if later you want to add another monitor you can.

I have the same taste in music but I have to add classic rock.

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