PowerCore

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

Hello everybody,

I'm in a middle of a mixing session and my computer CPU is giving up, I can't even press play, I spend most of the day trying to gain some CPU instead of working on the mix itself... So I'm giving up, I'm considering buying one of these TC PowerCore (can't afford ProTools HDs...). Anybody tried (or have) one ? What does it do actually ? How does it work ? How powerfull is it (compared to a 3GHz Pentium IV, if ever you can compare them) ? Etc... Any information is welcomed...

Thanks

Brett

 

[A Gruesome Discovery]

Also have a look at Universal Audio's UAD-1 card. The compression and EQ plugins for it are the best I've ever heard. Powercore does have better reverb units (although the new UAD Plate 140 sounds awesome, but it's limited to Plate reverbs), and I hear TC's amp sim is better than UAD's, but their comps and EQs don't even come close. I think I use the 1176 or the LA-2A on every track, and the Pultec EQ instantly makes a track sound better before you even turn a knob. The Fairchild comp always goes on my mix bus, and the Precision Limiter makes tracks slam without messing up phase or sounding unnatural. I recommend at least checking out the reviews and stuff.
If you're more interested in special FX, like reverb, delays, filters, and chorus, then you can't really go wrong with TC Works. They do seem to have a more well-rounded selection of plugins; their dynamics processors and EQs just fail to kick as much ass as UAD's. So it really depends on what you want to do with it. It's pretty clear which one I prefer.

Anyway, here's some quick info on DSP cards.
They don't have a lot of processing power; maybe 4 or 8 megs of ram and a couple of 100 or 200 MHz processors on them. However, their only function is running plugins, and the chips are designed for this sole purpose, so you really get more performance out of them than one would think seeing those numbers.
You can only run the plugins specially made for the card. You can't use, say, Waves' IR1 convolution reverb on the card. The plugins for DSP cards, however, are usually of much higher quality than any native plugin.
DSP cards have latency issues due to the inherent latency of the PCI bus, but if your host supports full Plugin Delay Compensation, then this isn't a problem.
Hope that answers some questions.

 

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

Thank you very much, this is very instructive ! I'm just starting to check these kind of products (never thought I'd need some), so I'm starting from scratch. I'd mainly need more power to do some Equing and Compressing/Limiting (both on tracks and at the mastering stage). Reverbs are also needed, but running two convolution reverbs on my PC should be fine if those damn eqs and comps are out.
I'm checking the UAD-1 then, thanks again.

 

[Forbiddenevil]

Hi, I have both the Powercore and the UAD-1. I must say the UAD ist much better in compressing and EQing. The voicestrip from the PoCo is very nice, also some reverbs.
The PoCo has some problems with new G5 Dual 1,8 Mhz Computers without PCI-X, but you are on an P IV. I think there is no problem.

Alex

 

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

Thank you for your answer

Seems that this card is a good choice (much cheaper than the PoCo in its Project Pak). I'm curious about one thing : how many plugins (eq and comp) can you open on this card without killing your computer's CPU ? This is actually my main concern and is the reason why I'd need to buy a PoCo or a UAD...

 

[A Gruesome Discovery]

There's a chart near the bottom of this page that shows how many instances of a plug that the card can handle. These numbers decrease at higher sampling rates (except for the Pultec, because it always upsamples to 96kHz).

Also, these plugins won't affect your computer's cpu, just the chips on the card. You can have a bunch of LA2A's and Pultec's running (which I always do :Spin: ), but your Pentium or whatever won't take a hit (well, it uses a little bit to display the graphics and manage the routing and buffers, but it's not significant).

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

Why don't you just buy more ram for your computer? I got 2 gig sticks and have never had a problem. Granted, I'm running PTLE.

 

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

Well, because this is not a RAM issue I have 1 Go of memory and only half of it is used while the CPU is crying for help. But thanks for the idea.
Anyway, has anyone tried the Magma PCI expansion chassis ? The UAD seems good for what I need to do, but it's only a PCI card and I'll like to be able to use it on my laptop when working outside the studio. Plus, I'd need a PCI expansion chassis to use my soundcard as well with this configuration...

Thank you

Brett

 

[Frank'nfurter]

Hi Brett
Try this for laptop:

http://www.mobl.com/expansion/pci/2slot/index.html

 

[A Gruesome Discovery]

This is getting expensive... Now that I know there's a laptop involved, and that those magmas aren't cheap, you may want to check out the Powercore Compact or the Powercore Firewire. I still vouch for the absolute awesomeness of UAD plugins, but it's unclear which option is the most economical now.

 

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

Thanks Frank, I know this product but do you have one or anyone here ever tried this ?

AGD : I'll have to buy one of those Magma some day, because my soundcard is PCI and I'd like to be able to produce some bands outside my own studio (mostly because I don't have one yet ;p), so mobility is something I'm looking for...