Thinking of upgrading from HD3 to HD6, what should I be aware of?

[Eduardo Apolonia]

I'm thinking of upgrading from HD3 to HD6.

Before everybody tells me that I should go the HDX route (which I'm also considering but I'm walking slowly away of it mainly because of Waves not developing AAX DSP), here are my reasons to be thinking of HD6 and not HDX

Reasons:
- I want to add more I/O and processing power.
- AAX DSP plugins are still not much and Waves won't do AAX DSP, and I use Waves plugins a lot, so the HDX chips won't have much use.
- HD process cards and 2nd chassis are getting very cheap at the moment.

So, what should I be aware of?


I have to buy an expansion chassis, of course.
Which ones are compatible?

Read about some Revision K HD cards problems, but got a bit confused with different info. Could someone enlighten me about the incompatibility problem?

Can I connect 4 Aurora 16s and take advantage of 64 I/O analog + 64 I/O Digital?

I have a Mac Pro 8 Core 2.8 Harpertown
PT 10.2

Thanks in advance :)

[studiojimi]

DO IT.

i went from HD4 to HD6 the added power is just what the doctor ordered.

[WernerF]

HD 6 works great here. I am, as well, waiting for more AAX DSP plugins to become available before considering HDX. My workflow does not allow for a mainly RTAS environment. You will need a Magma PE6R4i. That is the newer one which has the single cable to attach to your computer and it has the quiet power supply fan. The older unit sounded like a rocket ship launching.

[Eduardo Apolonia]

Thanks guys,

Did any of you have any problems with the cards?

How many I/Os are you using?

[JFreak]

Originally Posted by WernerF

I am, as well, waiting for more AAX DSP plugins to become available before considering HDX.

Me too. Waves aside, I have another problem regarding REVERB/DELAY plugins available on the HDX platform. What I've used to use are for example:

- Eventide H3000 Band Delays
- Eventide Reverb
- Lexicon MPX
- Lexicon PCM
- Line6 EchoFarm
- TC DVR2
- TC NonLin2
- TC VSS3

How many of those are available as AAX whenever PT11 comes out? And of those, how many are DSP capable? I fear the reverb/delay offering is going to be Avid-only for some time, which is the #2 reason (after Waves) why I have to keep waiting... Can't switch if my tools (plugins) are taken away from me.

[WernerF]

Originally Posted by Eduardo Apolonia

Thanks guys,

Did any of you have any problems with the cards?

How many I/Os are you using?

No problem with the cards. Also, I have 32 analog inputs available with two 192's that both have the extra 8 input analog IO cards. Works flawlessly.

[Delta Music Belgium]

Originally Posted by Eduardo Apolonia

Did any of you have any problems with the cards?

I had problems with a 'revision k' HD Core card with my 6-core Westmere + PE6R4-I + PT HD6 Accel PCI, in the end Avid replaced the card for free.

More info in these posts:

http://duc.avid.com/showpost.php?p=1...&postcount=107

http://duc.avid.com/showpost.php?p=1...&postcount=109

http://duc.avid.com/showpost.php?p=1...&postcount=113

http://duc.avid.com/showpost.php?p=1...&postcount=114

Btw, since then my system is rock solid, see system details below

[RCN]

I have 4 cards, works great...

[Eduardo Apolonia]

Originally Posted by WernerF

You will need a Magma PE6R4i. That is the newer one which has the single cable to attach to your computer and it has the quiet power supply fan. The older unit sounded like a rocket ship launching.

Is the P7RB also compatible?

Originally Posted by Delta Music Belgium

I had problems with a 'revision k' HD Core card with my 6-core Westmere + PE6R4-I + PT HD6 Accel PCI, in the end Avid replaced the card for free.

More info in these posts:

http://duc.avid.com/showpost.php?p=1...&postcount=107

http://duc.avid.com/showpost.php?p=1...&postcount=109

http://duc.avid.com/showpost.php?p=1...&postcount=113

http://duc.avid.com/showpost.php?p=1...&postcount=114

Btw, since then my system is rock solid, see system details below

Thanks for the links.

[dtmprod]

I have an HD-6 which is great for mixing. Probably don't need that if you're just recording & editing. And I'm of the opinion that TDM plugins generally sound more robust than the native versions. Some possible exceptions might be those from Brainworx, Softube, UAD.....