One Year after: Pro Tools Hd. What are your impressions

I would like to see your opinions after 1 years using your PT HD rigs. We still have to evalate the costs of going to PT6 and plugin upgrades to OS X / total compatibilty with 96k/88k/192k sample rates.

So... was or has it been worth? some peple said there was a reasonable difference but nothing like Day and Night. It is most due to new converters.

I still use PT 5.1.1 with a mix ystem on a G4 800.

Thanks for any info!

 

Alecio I think my PT HD system has been the icing on the cake. IT is outstanding. I get 2x the plugin power at 44.1 (I don't use anything higher yet). And the 192 i/o was worth the upgrade all by itself. I sold my PCI expansion cabinet and all my remaining outboard gear (don't need it). You don't need 3rd party converters, you don't need anexternal clock reference, etc, etc, etc.

Mix was good, HD has been great.
Go here to hear a HD in the box track and record session:
http://www.graniterocks.com/Files/Breathe.mp3


Steve

 

Thanks Steve.
Seems you do all in inside the box? were you the guy that was buying a dm2000?

I use Pt connected to 2 adat bridges ( some people say the adat bridge24 is better than 888/24) and lightpiped to the 02R V2.

I rarely go over 24 tracks, so track count is not a problem. I do not have lots of plugins, mostly waves, amp farm and TC works , so up to now the mix system has not started crying yet.

But making a direct comparison between the two systems...
Can we finnaly mix everything inside the box?

People talk a lot about altiverb...although very power hungry...

Do you reord your efx returns inside Pt or hooked up to your console?
Also, if 88.2k is the place to go, after the tough bounces, is the audio still reasonable?

Do you use two outs going to a Masterlink or manley or Crane or something similar?
Some say that it is better to saty inside PT....I dunno

In fact I mix to 2 spare tracks of the session, with dither turned off on my console, mostly 44.1k/24 bits.

Thanks for your news!


I prefer asking here than at the DUC, although that forum is pretty cool too.

 

You know Alecio, I just do what sounds good and I don't pay attention to most of the fear uncertainty and doubt spread on some of these boards. I bounce to disk and have proven to myself that there is no difference. I have an electrical engineering background and get a little tired of all the nonsense. As far as I can tell getting a great stereo image and rock solid mix is a function of doing excellent audio engineering, and having a cranesong or masterlink is a matter of choice not necessity.

I think the real key is to have great monitors and to monitor through the digital signal chain when tracking. The only time I listen to the inputs is to troubleshoot. The great thing about digital is it sounds the same way every time you play it back.

 

Thanks Steve, I agree with you mostly. In fact my concern with Pt bounces is that it never keep the level at the brickwall set you chose. Let me explain again:
for example, I generally used to select a ceiling like -0.01. There were no red lights blinking. I monitor at 24 bits, with my console tape returns ( from adat bridge 24) and at 16 bits, from my DA40/30MK IIinputs.
After the bounce stuff, PT ^#$%s it up a litltle and the final result is slightly over my previous ceiling.
To be in a safer condition, we can use a lower ceiling like -0.05 or even better, -0.1.
I also have a background in electrical engineering and some miex done inside the box with PT mix had a smaller stereo image than hooking the PT rig to a d8b/02R console.
I have not had the opportunity to record at PT HD yet.
I know this is very personal. In fact, most important are the monitors and the room acoustics.

Hope to hear from you again friend!