Need some HDX upgrade advice

[innerbooty]

Hi,
I posted previously related to some issues with an Ebay HDX purchase that went south. I want to give the upgrade another go, and just had a few more general questions about doing a methodical, careful upgrade:

1. Computer - I just finished flashing a 2009 Mac Pro 8-core to 5,1 and now have the SSD drive upgraded to High Sierra. Are there issues I would need to be aware of relating to running HDX on this system?

2. Pro Tools - I am inclined to at least initially sign up for the monthly subscription plan for the (gulp!) $80/month. Does this make sense? High Sierra is as high as I can go on my Mac Pro. Wondering how long until that OS is no longer supported? Or, if there is a previous, rock solid recommended version of PT that I can get a Perpetual license for, does that make more sense?

3. HDX Card - I plan to buy a used HDX card. I initially will be continuing to use my Apogee AD/DA-16Xs with X-HD cards. Will I be able to run DigiTest on the HDX card to verify it works while using the Apogees as my interface, or will I need to have an Avid interface connected? Do I need to be concerned about the age/vintage of the HDX card?

4. Interface - Wondering if the HD I/O would be a significant sonic upgrade to the Apogee AD/DA-16X's. I like them, but they are getting long in the tooth. I want to make sure I'm optimizing the sonic upgrade of going to HDX.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts!

[Mark Ziebarth]

Originally Posted by innerbooty

Hi,
4. Interface - Wondering if the HD I/O would be a significant sonic upgrade to the Apogee AD/DA-16X's. I like them, but they are getting long in the tooth. I want to make sure I'm optimizing the sonic upgrade of going to HDX.

Imho you can’t improve much by upgrading the interface. I’m still using my old Digi 192 I/O and am still satisfied. HD I/O is pretty old as well, they recommend Matrix Studio right now.
If you flashed your Mac Pro 2009 it should be able to run even newer macOS than 10.13, doesn’t it?
I would prefer a perpetual Pro Tools license with an annual license fee for upgrade/support.
As the Hybrid engine used in Carbon should be available for HDX later this year I think a relatively new macOS and a actual Pro Tools Ultimate version is recommended.

Best

Mark

[innerbooty]

Thanks for the reply! As far as I understand it (I may well be wrong) High Sierra is the highest I can go on the 2009 Mac Pro - even flashed to 5,1 - without upgrading the processors.

And yeah, I would ideally like to stick with the Apogees, unless there is a compelling reason to spend the multiple $K to upgrade.

I think I will gain more by upgrading my monitor/mix section. My console right now is a Soundcraft Ghost, which is old, and is having all kinds of issues. The question would be what to upgrade to? Don't need 32 channels, that's for sure. SSL SiX? Wish it were the SSL 12 or something like that. But that's a whole other thread topic... Thanks!

[innerbooty]

Reading more about Carbon now. Hmmm... sounds pretty cool. Would it make more sense to just jump to that vs. an HDX card? Pros? Cons...?

[originalscottyg]

Carbon definitely only works with macOS 10.15.7+

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by innerbooty

Reading more about Carbon now. Hmmm... sounds pretty cool. Would it make more sense to just jump to that vs. an HDX card? Pros? Cons...?

Why are you asking others? Folks here have **no clue** what you are doing or why you want HDX in the first place. You would likely get better answers if that was clear.

What can't you do on native that you would like or (better) need HDX or Carbon for?

And you've got Apogee interfaces (what models?)... folks here are unlikely to go back wading though other threads, you would have been much better off keeping everything in one thread.

[innerbooty]

I did actually start from scratch with this thread, but I guess I didn't give enough background about what I do, my needs. I did mention in the first post that I am using Apogee AD/DA-16X's with X-HD cards. Sorry if I am kind of musing out loud here about the various options...

I run a small studio out of my house, bands, singer-songwriters, my own stuff. I had a MIX++ rig for 12 years, then went to HD2 Accel in 2013. I very much like having zero latency, as I am often overdubbing while in mix mode. I can use 8-10 channels of outboard hardware I/O inserts when mixing.

[Will Russell]

Originally Posted by innerbooty

Thanks for the reply! As far as I understand it (I may well be wrong) High Sierra is the highest I can go on the 2009 Mac Pro - even flashed to 5,1 - without upgrading the processors.

I'm running Mojave on mine all day everyday. What processors do you have currently?

[innerbooty]

The "new" Mac is all shut down right now, awaiting next steps. But I think it's a dual 4-Core 2.66 Xeon machine. Early or mid-2009? I will definitely try installing Mojave on an extra drive and see what happens. But I could have sworn I read in a few places that with those processors High Sierra is my hard limit. Worth a shot though... I am not ruling out Carbon entirely, but definitely leaning towards just getting an HDX card into this cheese grater and forging ahead. Although either way, I would ideally like to be on an OS that isn't at risk of being phased out in six months, so if I can run Mojave that's great... although I would also like to be on a nice, stable version of OS X. I've really enjoyed Mavericks for the last bunch of years. Very solid and stable and friendly and fast (relatively)...

[innerbooty]

Bit of AM Googling reveals that the hurdle to installing Mojave on a 2009 Mac Pro is first, the flash to 5,1. Second, it requires a Metal compatible graphics card.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208898#cards