Time to upgrade from my Mix3 systems... don't laugh
 

Please help the elderly.

I Have two ProTools Mix3 systems running on OS9 - one at the studio, one at home. Allows me edit, overdub and comp at home. I have a beautiful ProControl at the studio I'm quite attached to. Not ready to abandon it yet.

Thinking it's time to upgrade. Appears ProTools 10 is the last rev that will support my ProControl. I'm not sure exactly what I need to upgrade to, except that it can't be later than PT10 to support my ProControl. I have questions:

- thinking I should get HD3 cards. They are affordable enough. I want to be able to do 96K sessions, as I do a lot of acoustic music. No post. Also am concerned about latency, which also points me towards HD3. Avoiding HD Native for this reason. Am I mistaken?

- I'm a Mac guy. what Mac Pro should I get? Was thinking a 12 core Westmere, but they are still holding their value pretty well. Do I really need that if I'm going HD3, or would a quad core be OK? Keep in mind I have to buy 2 systems.

- big fan of Peak for using my ProTools plug ins. What would I replace it with for 2 channel editing for CD mastering?

Thank you knowledgeable ProTools users in advance for your input, I really appreciate it.

Re: Time to upgrade from my Mix3 systems... don't laugh
 

Check out this thread..
http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=391659

I just upgraded from Mix 3, myself.
2009 4.1 ->5.1
still at HD8, but moving to 10 soon

also check this out
Peak Legacy
https://peak-audio-editor.myshopify.com

Re: Time to upgrade from my Mix3 systems... don't laugh
 

Confirmed, you can't go higher than PT10 if you want/need to keep using the ProControl.

Nope, you can run very low latency recording sessions with HD-native as well.

And yes, I also still maintain one Mix3 system, but it's on OSX not OS9 ;)

Re: Time to upgrade from my Mix3 systems... don't laugh
 

- thinking I should get HD3 cards. They are affordable enough. I want to be able to do 96K sessions, as I do a lot of acoustic music. No post. Also am concerned about latency, which also points me towards HD3. Avoiding HD Native for this reason. Am I mistaken? Really? Do you really want to be trapped at PT10? Maybe you do...in any case, HD3 is dead minimum. Remember that there are 2 versions of HD cards; PCIe(the newer) and PCIx(the older) so get what fits the computer you get, or get Magma Chassis. Re latency, HDN and HD handle things differently. Having said that, an HDN rig is capable of tracking at latency that is plenty low. I track full bands here on HDN at a 64 buffer(48K sessions) and never hear a mention of latency unless I screwed something up:o

- I'm a Mac guy. what Mac Pro should I get? Was thinking a 12 core Westmere, but they are still holding their value pretty well. Do I really need that if I'm going HD3, or would a quad core be OK? Keep in mind I have to buy 2 systems. If you have HD cards, I'm not sure you NEED a 12 core so maybe save some $$$ and go with 6-core towers. The trick will be getting them loaded with an older version of OSX so you can keep using PT10HD.

- big fan of Peak for using my ProTools plug ins. What would I replace it with for 2 channel editing for CD mastering? Wavelab is an option and can handle all mastering processing, but I do mastering with Ozone and burn CD's with Sony CD Architect(having said that, I have only burned a handful of CD's in the last 2 years:o).

Re: Time to upgrade from my Mix3 systems... don't laugh
 

Thank you all for your advice. I really appreciate it. I haven’t kept up with the changes in technology, obviously.

Question - can I run plug ins on both the Mac and the HD DSP cards in PT10, like I can with Mix3?

And will PT10 open my PT5 sessions?

Re: Time to upgrade from my Mix3 systems... don't laugh
 

If you want low latency avoid HD Native. It's twice the latency of TDM, in spite of what you'll hear on forums. I own both currently.

The 2009 dual processor is the sweet spot. An HD3 Accel will treat you well.

192s are pretty cheap. I got a couple extra for a remote gig I just finished. PM me if you're looking for some. GSharp is a great place to buy legacy systems. Gary knows his stuff and has good prices to boot.

If you run Waves expect to plunk down a bit for upgrades, then you'll have to wiggle around their 9.3 offline installer.

Lots of practice here.

Re: Time to upgrade from my Mix3 systems... don't laugh
 

BTW, PT can load your old sessions. Make sure you save a copy of all the sessions with the "enforce Mac and PC compatibility" box checked.

Re: Time to upgrade from my Mix3 systems... don't laugh
 

Matt,

Thanks for your advice. I had been looking at Gsharp, appreciate your endorsement.

I currently own an Apogee Rosetta 800. Silent (no fans) and also sounds great. I’ve read ADC won’t work correctly with it, but I read the manual where it says to add offsets for different sample rates and it works fine. Comments?

Also, will PT10 allow me to run plug ins ITB, along with TDM on the cards, like PT5?

Thanks again,

Robert

Re: Time to upgrade from my Mix3 systems... don't laugh
 

Re the Rosetta, ADC might not compensate correctly if you use the Apogee for inserts, but for general audio coming and going, I doubt any sample offset will make any difference(someone feel free to correct me if this is wrong). As for hardware inserts, you can set a specific compensation for any/all IO.

Re plugins, I assume you mean RTAS and AAX32 plugins? Yes, those will work fine, but may cause latency(not a show-stopper...just something to pay attention to, especially while tracking).

Re: Time to upgrade from my Mix3 systems... don't laugh
 

I have extensive experience with the AD/DA 16’s , as well as the Rosetta 800, along with ProTools HD TDM systems. I had zero issues whatsoever with tracking, as well as hardware inserts.

In my opinion, if you have gone this long with the mix3 system, then I would certainly recommend that you continue with the inexpensive TDM cards at this point.

As far as I’m concerned now more than ever, is to take the sit back and wait approach to Avid as a company as a whole. I’m already feeling that I made a bad decision, after waiting so many years to get involved in the support plan.

My guess at this point, is that the overwhelmingly majority of the work you’re doing right now, is recording analog inputs. If I’m right, and considering that you’re coming from a Mix 3 system, then I strongly recommend you not consider anything beyond ProTools HD 10, and TDM cards.