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Old 02-10-2011, 11:57 AM
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Emcha_audio Emcha_audio is offline
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Default Re: What does "native" mean in terms of PT systems?

Quote:
Originally Posted by CME View Post
Yes. It all comes down to where the numbers are really being crunched and the key lies in the use of TDM cards. TDM stands for Time Division Multiplexing, or something close to that lol. Essentially TDM allows audio to be processed with little to no perceived latency. In a TDM system you can track with plugs and not hear the latency. At least that's my understanding. But here is the breakdown of the 3 types of Pro Tools sytems.

HD/TDM systems use the TDM process/accel cards to do the mixing. Your track count and I/O are dependent on how many cards you have in the system. You'll notice people have HD1, HD2, HD3, ect. systems. This refers to how many TDM cards they have. These systems only work with HD interfaces.

Native systems use the host cpu to do the mixing. Under PT9 they can use any Core Audio or Asio interface.

HD/Native uses the host CPU but allows the use of HD interfaces and has more simultaneous I/O than a Native system. However you do loose the ability to use TDM plugs and some of the other things TDM cards add over a native system.

There are other processors out there you can add to either system, like the UAD cards, but they don't change whether the system is TDM or Native. They simply give the host CPU more power.
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