Ditching HD Native?
For a while, the studio where I do my recording and mixing had a spare iLok with an up-to-date PT Ultimate license and a spare 96 i/o. I needed my own i/o for my room there so the path of least resistance was for me to grab an HD Native PCIe card to allow me to connect the available hardware and software. HD Native has had good performance for me in terms of latency, provided I keep the buffer to max 128 samples and freeze tracks with lots of processing. It's not as snappy as TDM used to be but aside from missing DSP plugins, I don't feel it's been any worse than the HDX systems I've worked on.
Fast-forward to today, the A room has finally upgraded from the old PT10HD TDM system to HDX via Antelope Orion 32HD. (An entire wall of IO replaced by a couple diminutive rack units, and they sound worlds better). The bummer is now I'm left with no Ultimate license, meaning I can no longer use my IO even though I own a separate DigiLink license.
So I'm at a crossroads:
- Do I continue using the Digi96 and put my money into upgrading my Pro Tools license to Ultimate?
- Or do I invest in a new converter set, improving the sonics of my rig but potentially jeopardizing the low latency and stability I've come to expect?
Some details about my setup:
Hackintosh running 10.14.2
Gigabyte Z390 Designare w/ Thunderbolt 3 support
Intel i7 8700k
32GB 2400MHz DDR4
I'm demoing a Gen2 Orion 32HD this week. The DigiLink connection works great but using USB3 has some issues. One of them is it completely breaks Keyboard Maestro, a piece of software I've become utterly dependent on. Also I don't need more than 8 analog i/o. When I need to record many inputs I rent the A room.
I'm considering a Lynx Aurora(n) with the Thunderbolt option card, but I've been unable to demo one since nobody in my city carries them. They're special order only. I need some assurance that my headphone mixes won't suffer. Has anyone here used one of these for tracking? How does the experience compare to HDNative?
I have no real need of the Ultimate version of the software, other than I enjoy Trim Automation and offline bounce for multiple concurrent bus paths. I never mix in surround.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this.
(That said, I'm completely uninterested in your opinions on whether or not I should be running macOS on unsupported hardware.)
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