Worth the upgrade? Your opinion?

[Elton Hyland]

I am using ProTools LE 7.3. I am also on an older dual core, 2GB RAM computer running XP Pro. Was debating on doing a system upgrade but 1) not sure what it would buy me as I use a lot of MIDI, and 2) what would it cost to upgrade PT? Any advise?

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by Elton Hyland

I am using ProTools LE 7.3. I am also on an older dual core, 2GB RAM computer running XP Pro. Was debating on doing a system upgrade but 1) not sure what it would buy me as I use a lot of MIDI, and 2) what would it cost to upgrade PT? Any advise?

To put it mildly you're going to need a HUGE budget as you're looking at everything new - computer, drives, PT, audio interface, plugins. Easily a mid-4 figure amount all told. Being you're doing a lot of MIDI work you may want to skip upgrading to PT12 but look at Digital Performer. Better MIDI implementation and works on both Windows and Mac OSX but you'll still need all new hardware.

[Elton Hyland]

What about just increasing the computer power / speed and reinstalling PT LE on a couple of SSD drives?

[mjslakeridge]

As Musicman said, if you are going to jump to a more current version of PT, you will need a whole new rig. XP pro won't work, 2GB RAM is not enough. I started out with a Dual Core Pentium D, upgraded to a Core2Duo after a few years with good results. As you can see from my details I am still on an old setup-but works great for my purposes. I switched motherboards, went to a 6 core CPU, maxed out on the RAM I could use (4GB DDR3), bought the Music Production Toolkit to be able to get up to 48 tracks, MP3 option, beat detective, Sound replacer, etc. I generally only have 1 or 2 instrument (midi) tracks per session, the rest are audio tracks.

All that said, my upgrades are only a stopgap measure.

[JFreak]

Originally Posted by Elton Hyland

I am using ProTools LE 7.3. I (...) I use a lot of MIDI (...) what would it cost to upgrade PT?

If you can find a PT8 license (and software) somewhere 2nd hand, it would bring you lots of new MIDI features. That could run on your current rig.

If you decide to go current, you can see the retail prices on avid.com and discount prices on audiodeluxe.com -- but you need a current computer to run PT12 so you would basically use nothing of your current setup and PT 7.3 LE isn't eligible for upgrades.