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  #1  
Old 02-22-2005, 06:07 PM
Ricardo22 Ricardo22 is offline
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Default Full MIX4 system on OS9 or LE system on OSX?

Hello all,

This is my very first post and I know most posts should remain rather small in length. I have no other choice but to elaborate a little, so please bare with me...

We have a fully-blown PT MIX system on an OS 9 machine (1.25GHz single-processor G4 mac) with 4 Farm Cards an Apogee AD-8000 & (2) 888/24. Having about $30K worth in plugins it's making it difficult for us to migrate to HD/G5. We also have a 1.5GHz PowerBook running PT LE on OSX 10.3.8

1. We are opening a Post suite in the studio
2. We can't afford to buy a new HD system
3. We have a 5K budget
4. We are buying a canopus box

We have done post work on our MIX system in the past in the following manner:

U87 or MKH416 to a Grace Design mic-pre to an Apogee A-to-D to PT (ADR) with a beta SP going through a Video Slave Driver and a Rosendahl being used as a master clock unit. We haven't used machine control so everything has been controlled manually from the beta sp. Our logistics for workflow have been far from ideal, so since we know we are going to be doing a lot of this work in the future and we are opening a dedicated suite for this, we have to make right decisions as to what to get and how to better invest our money...

- Should we buy the DV Toolkit for the LE system or should we get Nuendo in order to create OMF, AAF, etc..?

We will be doing a lot of Vos, some 5.1 mixing to pic and an occasional ADR

- We could integrate the MIX system in the workflow of the 2 suites... Should we? What would the logistics be?

In very simple terms: should we beef up our OSX-laptop LE system or try to make the best possible use of our OS9-MIX system with obsolete software/hardware?


Any recommendations, comments will be very much appreciated!

Thanks,

Ric
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  #2  
Old 02-22-2005, 06:30 PM
Chief Technician Chief Technician is offline
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Default Re: Full MIX4 system on OS9 or LE system on OSX?

If you are going to be doing any kind of prep work on the LE system that is destined for the MIX system, then the DV Toolkit is only necessary if you are working to timecode or need to make OMFIs directly from the LE system for an editor.

To look more professional, you will want to control the BetaSP from PT with the MachineControl option. I don't know enough about the VSD though. Maybe someone will chime in on that piece.

You cannot do surround mixing on an LE system the same way you can on a MIX system (basically, the only way to do it AFAIK is to "fool" LE into doing it).

I don't know how much of your budget is already allocated for other things, but have you considered moving to v6.4.1 for OS X? The benefits of OS X far outweigh OS 9, and you don't have to use HD to get there. Heck, the v6.4.1 software is only $35! You will have to replace the VSD with a USD or SYNC I/O though. It's something to think about.

I hope this gives you some direction.
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  #3  
Old 02-22-2005, 08:16 PM
Ricardo22 Ricardo22 is offline
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Default Re: Full MIX4 system on OS9 or LE system on OSX?

Thanks much for the reply Jonathan,

The problem with going to PT v6.4.1/OSX on the MIX system is that we have an incredibly extensive library of plugins (worth over $30K) that obviously only run on OS9. This is what would make the move difficult. With this said, if you are telling me that the benefits of OSX far outweigh OS9 as you put it, then I may have to do some rethinking. We are investing in the physicality of our new rooms (new control room acoustic treatment + vocal iso) where the budget is over $30K, and that doesn't leave us with much for anything else.. Like I said, our budget for solving this particular issue is about $5K. Thanks for the 2 cents though! Can I still get machine control for OS9? I would then go to the LE system for OMFI if necessary..?

Gracias!

Ric
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Old 02-22-2005, 08:28 PM
Chief Technician Chief Technician is offline
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Default Re: Full MIX4 system on OS9 or LE system on OSX?

Quote:
Can I still get machine control for OS9?
That's a question for your dealer, though I don't see why not.
Quote:
I would then go to the LE system for OMFI if necessary..?
If you mean going to the LE system to make an OMFI, get the DigiTranslator option for your MIX4 system.

If you plan on staying with OS 9, I have something that is better than MachineControl for v5.1.3, and possibly cheaper too. It's a TimeLine MicroLynx. You can use it to control your BetaSP and PT, and it doesn't require the MachineControl option, though it may make your VSD useless.
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  #5  
Old 02-23-2005, 08:17 AM
Ricardo22 Ricardo22 is offline
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Default Re: Full MIX4 system on OS9 or LE system on OSX?

Thanks again for the info Jonathan, I will look into the TimeLine MicroLynx option.. I may very well decide to go OSX though..
BTW, I made a mistake saying we were using a VSD (since we used to) -we are currently on a USD...


Cheers,

Ric
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  #6  
Old 02-23-2005, 09:02 AM
scott waz scott waz is offline
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Default Re: Full MIX4 system on OS9 or LE system on OSX?

With $5K in the budget, I would stick with what you have. It sounds like you have a very nice setup in it's current state.

Buy the DVToolkit for the LE box $950, Machine Control $750 for your TDM setup and a MicroLynx for $2500. The canopus will let you digitize and make QT's.

Let the business recover from the expansion and then revisit the HD possibilities.

Can someone chime in with that TL Services link?

My $.02

-sw
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  #7  
Old 02-23-2005, 02:19 PM
Ricardo22 Ricardo22 is offline
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Default Re: Full MIX4 system on OS9 or LE system on OSX?

I appreciate your $.02 very much indeed Scott. One thing though..

Following your advice.. Should I invest on a DVToolkit for the LE, or rather get Digitranslator for the TDM/OS9 machine? All of this thinking that what I would be using it mostly for is OMFI..

Thanks again,

Ric
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  #8  
Old 02-23-2005, 03:07 PM
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TVPostSound TVPostSound is offline
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Default Re: Full MIX4 system on OS9 or LE system on OSX?

T/L Serices
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  #9  
Old 02-23-2005, 10:29 PM
Chief Technician Chief Technician is offline
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Default Re: Full MIX4 system on OS9 or LE system on OSX?

If you are going to use the MicroLynx, you will not need the MachineControl option. I have a MicroLynx available as well. Please send me an email if you are interested in purchasing it.
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  #10  
Old 02-24-2005, 06:44 AM
P. Dennis Mitchell P. Dennis Mitchell is offline
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Default Re: Full MIX4 system on OS9 or LE system on OSX?

Quote:
Should I invest on a DVToolkit for the LE, or rather get Digitranslator for the TDM/OS9 machine?
FWIW,

Digitranslator for OS9 is very hard to find. I went down this road several months ago. You can find the new version that uses the iLok for $495, BUT...I was unsuccessful in getting the iLok to function in OS9. This was confirmed by a Digi product specialist who told me "the iLok version only works with OSX". We finally tracked down someone that had the old version that uses the floppy authorizer. The DVtoolkit may be a better solution for you.

Also, we found that the Digi Machine Control software for PT was flawed at best, and actually quite awful.(many, many embarassing moments in front of clients.) I use the DM2000 9pin to drive the beta and chase PT to it. With everybody solidly locked and clocked, it has worked very well that way.

Hope this helps some.

P. Dennis Mitchell
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