protools hd / mac must haves

[joeymusicguy]

alright so im switching to mac and pt hd 2

i figured there might be some of you that could share all the "must haves" for this transition. by must haves i mean, things like "pro tools keyboard" and all the little fun stuff, controllers, macro's, scripts, you name it.

if you've got tips, thats welcome too.

i think this could be fun for people who are already on pt, too.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

Well, I would say any plug ins you already use heavy should be purchased in TDM versions (if they are available that way).

 

[::XeS::]

Sincerely, I was an hardcore pc user but I found no difficults at all during the switch.
Anyway, speaking about OsX this is a good list of usefull free programs or utilities : http://www.audiogeekzine.com/?p=1209

About PT, I think you should give it a look and after that, post your question. A usefull shit to buy anyway is the FXpansion wrapper, to run vst plugin in PT

 

[joeymusicguy]

Well, I would say any plug ins you already use heavy should be purchased in TDM versions (if they are available that way).

let me see if i've got this right

you could compare tdm to vst[cubase] (except tdm runs on dsp)
and you could compare rtas to directx[cubase]

right?

 

[jval]

yeah the VST wrapper since you probably have a bunch of em.
Don't worry about dumping money on TDM versions right away. Wait to see which ones you'll need. If I need plugs during tracking, the stock DIGI TDM plugs do the job, then I switch to my RTAS plugs. The Massey plugs are also great, super-cheap rtas/tdm plugins.
Your HD system will come with all the keyboard stickers, don't buy a pro tools keyboard.

get SuperDuper for backing up daily.

 

[joeymusicguy]

yeah the VST wrapper since you probably have a bunch of em.
Don't worry about dumping money on TDM versions right away. Wait to see which ones you'll need. If I need plugs during tracking, the stock DIGI TDM plugs do the job, then I switch to my RTAS plugs. The Massey plugs are also great, super-cheap rtas/tdm plugins.
Your HD system will come with all the keyboard stickers, don't buy a pro tools keyboard.

sweet, whats the difference between tdm and rtas?

i know one runs on native pt le, and on hd you can run both, one of which will run independent from computer on dsp

 

[gabriel g.]

Maybe you need to do the WUP for your waves plugins, so you can download the newest version (V7) RTAS totaly compatible with Snow leopard and Protools

 

[jval]

yeah TDM plugs use the DSP chips on your HD cards. The good thing about TDM plugs is that you can use them on record-enabled or input-enabled tracks without latency. From my understanding, basically the audio will be coming from your 192 into your HD card, so if you're using TDM plugs it gets processed right there and goes to your main output while the unprocessed audio goes to your hard drive. I'm not expert on the tech side of things tho..

RTAS plugs are native, and they get bypassed when you're recording to a track with RTAS inserts (unless you have RTAS plugins after a TDM plug)... it's fairly easy to grasp when you actually use it. If you're using a lot of tracks though, you have to be aware of how the voice allocation works. For example using an RTAS plug AFTER a TDM plug eats up an extra voice, because the audio has to be sent to the TDM chip and back to the computer again before output. Same goes for using RTAS on AUX inputs or master faders.. uses an extra voice.
One thing to remember is that the TDM mix engine has no headroom above 0db. So if you're clipping a TDM plug, it's getting chopped at 0. Whereas RTAS plugs have a bunch of headroom; if you clip an RTAS plug by 6 db, all of that info is still preserved and being passed into the next RTAS plug...
i think I'm doing a poor job explaining.
another tip - ALWAYS keep it in quick-punch mode! and get used to using 'input monitoring'... very useful. When mixing, bus all your tracks to a new audio track and print rather than bounce.
AudioSuite plugins are used to offline process or "freeze" your tracks. Any rtas/tdm plug comes with an audiosuite version.
so bored... client is 90 min late...

 

[AStudio]

Good job

TDM - Double to the price of RTAS but enable you to track with them latency free. They run off the DSP on your system. Which is a good thing (latency free, free up the resources on your mac) but a bad thing as you wont have a great deal of DSP on HD2. DSP slots will be used for delay compensation, TDM plugs on Auxs (like reverbs, delays, chorus ect) and track count.

RTAS - Run off your system. There are limits to this, system limits (how many will run) and how many voices you use. For more info on voices and such head over to the Pro Tools DUC (digi user forum).

As far as sound is concerned they are exactly the same.

As a rule I would say buy all your effects as TDM and any plugs you wish to use while tracking. Any mix plugins can be purchased as RTAS. If you try and run a RTAS plug on Aux you can do it but its going to give a big delay (more processing on the delay compensation DSP).

As far as the stock digi plugs are concerned you will be happy to know that they are very good. We use the stock digi EQ, compresor, de-esser, limiter on every mix.

The current OSX OS Snow Leopard is not compatible with PT yet. Your new mac will have this new OSX. You CANNOT downgrade your OS on a new mac to a supported lower version. Something to consider.

 

[joeymusicguy]

yeah TDM plugs use the DSP chips on your HD cards. The good thing about TDM plugs is that you can use them on record-enabled or input-enabled tracks without latency. From my understanding, basically the audio will be coming from your 192 into your HD card, so if you're using TDM plugs it gets processed right there and goes to your main output while the unprocessed audio goes to your hard drive. I'm not expert on the tech side of things tho..

RTAS plugs are native, and they get bypassed when you're recording to a track with RTAS inserts (unless you have RTAS plugins after a TDM plug)... it's fairly easy to grasp when you actually use it. If you're using a lot of tracks though, you have to be aware of how the voice allocation works. For example using an RTAS plug AFTER a TDM plug eats up an extra voice, because the audio has to be sent to the TDM chip and back to the computer again before output. Same goes for using RTAS on AUX inputs or master faders.. uses an extra voice.
One thing to remember is that the TDM mix engine has no headroom above 0db. So if you're clipping a TDM plug, it's getting chopped at 0. Whereas RTAS plugs have a bunch of headroom; if you clip an RTAS plug by 6 db, all of that info is still preserved and being passed into the next RTAS plug...
i think I'm doing a poor job explaining.
another tip - ALWAYS keep it in quick-punch mode! and get used to using 'input monitoring'... very useful. When mixing, bus all your tracks to a new audio track and print rather than bounce.
AudioSuite plugins are used to offline process or "freeze" your tracks. Any rtas/tdm plug comes with an audiosuite version.
so bored... client is 90 min late...

everything you just said makes sense, thanks for the info. didnt know the bit about the clipping, thats useful.

 

[joeymusicguy]

Good job

TDM - Double to the price of RTAS but enable you to track with them latency free. They run off the DSP on your system. Which is a good thing (latency free, free up the resources on your mac) but a bad thing as you wont have a great deal of DSP on HD2. DSP slots will be used for delay compensation, TDM plugs on Auxs (like reverbs, delays, chorus ect) and track count.

RTAS - Run off your system. There are limits to this, system limits (how many will run) and how many voices you use. For more info on voices and such head over to the Pro Tools DUC (digi user forum).

As far as sound is concerned they are exactly the same.

As a rule I would say buy all your effects as TDM and any plugs you wish to use while tracking. Any mix plugins can be purchased as RTAS. If you try and run a RTAS plug on Aux you can do it but its going to give a big delay (more processing on the delay compensation DSP).

As far as the stock digi plugs are concerned you will be happy to know that they are very good. We use the stock digi EQ, compresor, de-esser, limiter on every mix.

this is probably a stupid question but
lets say a plugin has a latency of 3000 ms, do i have to move the audio that's going through that plugin by 3000 ms within the song, or will the latency be compensated for automatically

to make things easy, lets say this situation is mixing only (not recording for live monitoring)

 

[joeymusicguy]

yeah TDM plugs use the DSP chips on your HD cards. The good thing about TDM plugs is that you can use them on record-enabled or input-enabled tracks without latency. From my understanding, basically the audio will be coming from your 192 into your HD card, so if you're using TDM plugs it gets processed right there and goes to your main output while the unprocessed audio goes to your hard drive. I'm not expert on the tech side of things tho..

RTAS plugs are native, and they get bypassed when you're recording to a track with RTAS inserts (unless you have RTAS plugins after a TDM plug)... it's fairly easy to grasp when you actually use it. If you're using a lot of tracks though, you have to be aware of how the voice allocation works. For example using an RTAS plug AFTER a TDM plug eats up an extra voice, because the audio has to be sent to the TDM chip and back to the computer again before output. Same goes for using RTAS on AUX inputs or master faders.. uses an extra voice.
One thing to remember is that the TDM mix engine has no headroom above 0db. So if you're clipping a TDM plug, it's getting chopped at 0. Whereas RTAS plugs have a bunch of headroom; if you clip an RTAS plug by 6 db, all of that info is still preserved and being passed into the next RTAS plug...
i think I'm doing a poor job explaining.
another tip - ALWAYS keep it in quick-punch mode! and get used to using 'input monitoring'... very useful. When mixing, bus all your tracks to a new audio track and print rather than bounce.
AudioSuite plugins are used to offline process or "freeze" your tracks. Any rtas/tdm plug comes with an audiosuite version.
so bored... client is 90 min late...

im used to direct monitoring on cubase (using plugins live, no outboard gear).
thats doable, right?

and

why is it better to print than to bounce?

 

[jval]

everything you just said makes sense, thanks for the info. didnt know the bit about the clipping, thats useful.

It's good for clipping your final master or mix references. Just use the Digi Trim plugin in TDM mode and add tons of gain.

AStudio explained it well... good to have your FX plugs in TDM to use on AUX inputs. I use a lot of RTAS on Aux tracks though, and with HD1 I rarely run into issues regarding track/voice count.

Another tip, PTHD supports multiple outputs for each track. hold control while selecting track outputs.

 

[AStudio]

Yep you got it. Delay compensation will nudge the track itself. You will never see the move. The audio will always apear the same on the edit screen regardless of the delay (sounds silly but thought i would mention). We actually track with Delay Comp on the whole time. You dont need to turn off if you track without any master buss plugs on.

Welcome to the world of PT discussion as far as the bounce to disk or record to disk go (record to disk = sum the tracks to one aux and record). People argue that bounce to disk misses stuff with heavy automation but really i wouldnt worry about it. The bounce to disk works great. Never had a problem. Im not saying record to disk is not useful (its a must have if using outboard) but if your ITB bounce to disk is fine

 

[jval]

this is probably a stupid question but
lets say a plugin has a latency of 3000 ms, do i have to move the audio that's going through that plugin by 3000 ms within the song, or will the latency be compensated for automatically

to make things easy, lets say this situation is mixing only (not recording for live monitoring)

The delay comp is automatic. It takes into account sends and routing as well.

im used to direct monitoring on cubase (using plugins live, no outboard gear).
thats doable, right?

and

why is it better to print than to bounce?

Yeah, if you use TDM plugs you can monitor them live with no latency. You could also do things like send the live vocal to a reverb or delay AUX and track with that in their phones as well.
To monitor RTAS plugs live though it needs to be on an AUX track or you need a TDM plugin before it in the chain and you'll get latency.
It will also compensate for delays when recording in a big session with delay comp enabled. i.e. you have tons of plugs on a mix session and each track is being compensated so when you're tracking live, that one track will have 0 latency while the others are delayed a bit (doesn't mess with performance, don't worry). After the record pass, PT will automatically nudge the region accordingly.

Bouncing sucks because you can't do anything while it's bouncing in real-time. So if you get through 3 minutes of the song and want to change something, you have to cancel, make the change and start over. Whereas if you're printing to a new track, you can make changes on the fly and if you only need to fix one part, you just punch it in. You can also use the Input Monitoring button to A/B your last mix to your current one.. very useful.

 

[BLUElightCory]

Sonically, bounce-to-disk and record-to-disk (printing) are exactly the same. They completely cancel in a null test as long as there aren't any random modulation effects or anything.

That said, I prefer to record-to-disk for reasons others have already mentioned, including workflow (punching in small sections of the mix if changes are required) and for comparing new and old mixes using the input button.

Also, depending on your system, bouncing is sometimes less than accurate when it comes to executing automation during the mix.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

You CANNOT downgrade your OS on a new mac to a supported lower version. Something to consider.

Why not? I mean couldn't you just grab another Sata drive and retail copy of leopard and do a fresh install, like snow leopard was never there?

 

[jval]

The current OSX OS Snow Leopard is not compatible with PT yet. Your new mac will have this new OSX. You CANNOT downgrade your OS on a new mac to a supported lower version. Something to consider.

really?? even when you can download old versions from the apple website?

 

[Trevoire520]

Whereas if you're printing to a new track, you can make changes on the fly and if you only need to fix one part, you just punch it in.

I'd watch out on that as any reverbs/delays etc you're using will disappear as you punch in due to the previous audio not being sent to it.

 

[KeithRT99]

Sonically, bounce-to-disk and record-to-disk (printing) are exactly the same. They completely cancel in a null test as long as there aren't any random modulation effects or anything.

That said, I prefer to record-to-disk for reasons others have already mentioned, including workflow (punching in small sections of the mix if changes are required) and for comparing new and old mixes using the input button.

Also, depending on your system, bouncing is sometimes less than accurate when it comes to executing automation during the mix.

Digi actually recommends printing mixes internally and exporting the file from your region bin.