PTHD question.

[Loren Littlejohn]

Mkay. Here we go.

What if you wanted pro tools HD, had no need to record with it, and only wanted it for mixing.

How cheap can you go without it being a piece of shit? Are their older systems that are still good.


I'm not contemplating buying an HD setup. It just came up in conversation lately and I was just wondering how cheap you could go if all you needed was D/A conversion (so I guess this system would be 100% in the box).

 

[006]

Just the basic HD setup. HD card and a 96i/o. Used.

~006

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

So HD software (and ilok)
Core card
and you have to have a 96I/O?

Sorry for the retarded questions. I have only seen PTHD accel 3 systems with mic preamps out the ass.

 

[Metaltastic]

Yeah, you need to have some kind of interface, and the 96i/o is the cheapest (currently) available, not sure about past

 

[::XeS::]

You need an hd card and 96i/o interface. With this setup you have 16 inputs but you need 16 external preamp or a little less to record a drumset. But if you wanna use it only for mixing purpose, you need only pci card and 96i/o. Oh...and a powermac or a MacPro

 

[colonel kurtz]

How cheap can you go without it being a piece of shit?

you're looking at about $7k if you buy new

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

Yep with what people are telling me (minus computer and monitors) you can do this for $5k used. A little less if your good at finding shit.

 

[::XeS::]

I think you could find the pci card and the 96i/o for 3000/3500$ used. I've just found the whole pack at 2500€...it's very cheap if you think that an LE system, with a digi003 costs 1500€.
I'm very undecided too... I wanna switch to protools but I don't know if it's better to go with an LE or go directly on a cheap HD. These prices are very interesting and with 16 in's you can record a whole drumkit without problems. Of course you need 16 preamps and it raises the price a little bit...

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

Yeah but I'm thinking if I were to buy a system. I have PCI-x slots.

 

[MetalJonesy]

all your really getting extra in HD, is the possibility for the higher track count, and sample rates of upto 192khz. you are also making use of the TDM using the core and accel cards for processing (basically 0 latency) but in the most part, they are the same, and what with version 8 just around the corner then le aint a bad option. its just the limitations of how many i/os you can have!

 

[NickL]

If all you're looking for is DSP power you can get a Pro Tools Mix system, which was the top end system in the generation before HD, for less than a thousand. However, there was no automatic plugin latency compensation on Mix, so with the New mac pros you could just go LE.

 

[greyskull]

MIX is shit compared to the power/speed of todays computers!
Id rather use LE

 

[::XeS::]

Greyskull, why do you prefer LE? I think it's a good deal an HD system for 2500€.. An LE system + preamp's + all the expansions you need if you wanna work on a big project is not far from that price..
Said that, I think I'll end up using an LE too

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

Oh this is 100% hypothetical. I'm rocking pt 8 LE as soon as it comes out (well maybe not right away, I don't want to be in the middle of any projects when I upgrade).