Pro Tools HD Question

[MetalWorks]

What are the limitations or capabilities of HD1.

What pushes the need for adding Accel cards and getting HD2 or HD3?

I am looking to get HD1 since its about all I can afford at the moment so I can get started in the Pro Tools world.

I plan to run it on a G5 2.6Ghz Quadcore with upgraded Ram and Multiple hard drives.

I would like to get some Waves plugins but am not sure if its better to go with TDM or if Native. Or maybe try that Waves Plugin Processor rack unit for Native.

I just want a nice stable and powerfull setup that I can have all of my tracks in one session with all the plugins I need without having to bounce down tracks in separate projects or cut back on plugins so it doesnt start locking up the CPU etc.

I dont have any experience working on HD or with a good CPU like a Quadcore.

My G4 1.25 Ghz with Nuendo cant handle 20 tracks with plugins etc in one project.

How far would a simple HD1 setup on a G5 Quadcore get me?

Any advice?

 

[greyskull]

you'd get on just fine, but a lot of the first hd card will be used up on the dae and mixer and adc, and other such things, and so you wont have much power left for tdm plugins. however, this leaves your g5 free to really let it rip. or you can always wack in a UAD1 or powercore

also May i heartily reccomend metric halo channel strip.
tdm or rtas.
it sounds incredible, does what it says on the tin, is relatively cheap, and what more is stupidly effecient on the dsp.

I just did a mix on my macbook using that as my comp / eq for more or less every channel.(48) had 3 or 4 dverbs, and tlspace or two.
my cpu was barely tickling a 1/4 and thats on a le system. at 512 samples play back buffer
but seriously, hd on mac is fantastic

 

[colonel kurtz]

while i can't really answer your questions for you, i just started diving into protools HD this last week, and can't believe how powerful it is over programs such as cubase...the routing and I/O slay virtually everything else that i've seen. no wonder it's dominated the industry in the manner that it has.

the system i'm going to be working on has 4 192 I/O's, along with one of the z-systems digital patchbays...so NO hand-patching outboard gear! ever! i don't even know how much time i wasted in there before, flipping through 5 pages of patchbay charts to find what i was looking for, then trying to remember which cable was which when there's 20+ of them hanging out all over the place.

hooray for increased productivity.