PT24 / NT - Any FAQs or More details on how it works and operate on NT?

[Lone Studios]

Drum, go to www.adaptec.com and check out the PCI SCSI cards available there, the 2940 series of cards are very good. PCI SCSI cards have been around for a couple of years now and are much easier to install than ISA, almost like a mac.

[Drum]

Lone Studios

Thank you. I'm sure they are, however I think you missed something. I was referring to SCII as in Digidesign Samplecell2 cards. I already have 4 2940s in various systems here! Thanks anyway.

Drum

[Przemek]

The situation is strange. I see Digi as two companies - Mac and PC. On the Mac side there is software/hardware company and it not only sells you hardware but is pleased to offer software upgrades as well (Mac Quadra can run PT - imagine 48 tracks on your 486/33mHz!). There is MLCD and LOTS of plug-ins. On the PC side there is company which wants to sell you some hardware and nothing more. You have promices, yes - full-duplex driver for AMIII for instance and wave driver for PT now. AM III is not working with Cubase VST/PC and IS working with VST/Mac. PT/NT has serious shortcomings as I see, and we have promices they'll be fixed. Maybe. But problem is not how PT/NT compare to Session8, but how it compares to Mac platform NOW. Because what you see is what you get and nothing more. IBM Intellistation is more expensive than Mac G3/300 and PT/NT cannot read Session8 .ses info (who can write that if not DIGI?) so PT/NT IS NOT even an upgrade to S8. I feel strange to wait so long and have what I could have 2 years ago.
Sorry for bitter words but that's how I feel myself...
Przemek.

[Echo studios]

I agree there too.. but let me tell you that i'm really going to upgrade because i don't wanna get stuck with my old S8 and also, because the upgrade path ($$$) is okay for me. There are still one MAJOR disapointment concerning the new PT24 on NT.

1) There is no wavedriver shipping with PT24.

2) And several software features such as USD setup not implemented yet, quicktime and machine control not supported too at this time..

I mean It would have been awesome to be able to record, edit, mix, process all my music inside Pt24 and then bounce into a stereo .wav file that I would open inside Soundforge ; apply L1 mastering, and so on to CD. As a future PT24 cutomer, I hope to get support and answers WHEN I'LL NEED IT.

Thanks

- dan
Echo studios

[Przemek]

I like upgrade cost, but I wait for MIXplus. And in fact I just bought s/h S8 to be compatible with my archive, so I'm not afraid to get stuck with old hardware as you see. Lack of wavedriver is not so important for me, cause one can buy SoundBlaster Live with S/PDIF I/O for about 250$ and go on with old software. Bigger problam is problematic future support. But we HAVE to buy it now because of upgrade deadline and wait for Waves stuff to be compatible - because w/o Waves PT is useless ;-(
BTW, do you want to buy IBM or so or build your own (I will make my own)?
Przemek.

[Echo studios]

We already build our own machine to accomodate PT24/NT..
Its a:
Pentium II 333mhz LX AGPset
running Windows NT 4.0 service pack 3
128 mb SDRAM
6 gb Maxtor int hd.
Ati Xpert@work AGP 4mb
Adaptec 2940UW Controller card w/ 2 4.1gb Ultra Wide drives
and i'm keeping my old awe64 gold for the Wavedriver output...since PT24 doesnt have one yet..

more later

-dan
Echo studios

[Przemek]

What motherboard?
Thanks,
Przemek

[DigiTechSupt]

My apologies folks. There is a correction from my previous post concerning NT compatibility. The SampleCell Windows card (I referred to it as PCI) will not work on NT (I'm still trying to pull my head out of Mac land). I can tell you that this situation is being addressed. Look for this product this coming January. Sorry it couldn't be sooner but that's all I can devulge at the moment.

That being said, it's not Digi's intention to
port Pro Tools to the NT and leave out supporting features and software found on the mac platform. PT NT *will* be truly cross functional. We have been developing the PT mac platform for almost seven years. Porting it over to NT is a considerable task when you consider the third party plug-in developers, compatibility issues, supporting software and systems, etc.etc. We're not making any
excuses. It will be done. There was considerable pressure not to release it until most if not all the developers had their plug-ins ready and all the peripheral applications and systems were ported. The fact is, what was released is solid, very workable and most of the users wanted to have it in lieu waiting. We know this is not an altogether popular decision, but it's done. The product will be developed right along side PT mac in every respect possible. I'm not a marketing guy. I think everyone here is thrilled that the project turned out as well as it did. It's a HUGE thing for a mac developer to venture whole hog into Wintel land like we did. Anyway, so far so good. there's allot of incentive to press forward with this and stay on it. Your constructive comments are always welcome.

We're working on FAT 32 and NTFS support for NT 5.X. Right now the main reason (NTFS) is not supported is because there is no disk scheduler for NTFS, only for FAT. Therefore, you will not get as good of disk performance with an NTFS drive. This and the fact the bandwidth to work out these issues and test was not available.

Hang in there folks. This is not Session 8 (not that that was bad). This is Pro Tools. Digi's flagship product. Digi is 100% behind it. Your patience is appreciated and your impatience is understandable.

Tom S.

[Echo studios]

Great...great....and great!
with this kind of reply, I'm more than happy to have ordered PT24/NT this morning from your offices!! :)

keep up the good work and support for NT!
Thanks BIG TIME.

-Dan D.
Echo studios

[Przemek]

Thank you, Tom, I like the answer. One question more - PT/Mac can read PT/Project session files. Why PT/NT cannot read Session .ses files? Do you work on it? This is not a feature in PT/Mac, so even if two platforms will be identical, I will not be satisfied ;-)
Thanks,
Przemek.