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  #1  
Old 01-30-2014, 07:28 AM
BigVSax BigVSax is offline
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Default Ok heres my dilemma

I am new to PT and new to recording. I made the investment to buy a new Mac Mini with extra RAM and top CPU available just to start working on recording again. After minimal research admittedly on my part, I went out and purchased PT Express with the assumption that it would be some slightly restricted version of their latest software (11.x) and was not concerned about the compatibility problems i saw posted on this forum and others because OS10.9 and PT11 were supported.

Low and behold, PTExpress is actually PT10.4 which is not compatible and I am not able to get any sound for reasons that are already documented and known.

So, do I pay to upgrade to PT11, try to downgrade my MAC to 10.8, or is there another path I can follow? Anyone have any thoughts on this one or experience that can help me?
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  #2  
Old 01-30-2014, 07:54 AM
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SpinningDisk SpinningDisk is offline
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Default Re: Ok heres my dilemma

It all depends on if you are really going to record in the future. If yes, then upgrade to 11. If not, then see if you can downgrade computer. I would just upgrade to 11.
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  #3  
Old 01-30-2014, 08:09 AM
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JFreak JFreak is offline
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Default Re: Ok heres my dilemma

Welcome to the forum.

I myself cannot recommend settling with PT Express, but that's maybe just me, been with PT since PT5 and seen lots of different hardware.

That said;

Even the "full PT" is not the full version. You need HD hardware (and licence) to unleash all power there is. But compared to the normal version, the "Express" is very much limited and I would suggest you upgrade to the regular (non-HD) version.
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  #4  
Old 01-31-2014, 11:57 AM
VRW VRW is offline
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Default Re: Ok heres my dilemma

Quote:
Originally Posted by SpinningDisk View Post
I would just upgrade to 11.
+1
Quote:
Originally Posted by JFreak View Post
I myself cannot recommend settling with PT Express... I would suggest you upgrade to the regular (non-HD) version.
+1

As you bought a quite recent (2012), powerful machine to me personally it would definitely make sense to build
a current "fully working" system (means something without any restrictions which PT Express certainly is)
as everything suits together right now.
What I want to say is that if you just wait to maybe buy a future PT version
for your 2012 Mini you may get the situation that this Mini will then be kinda "outdated" for the future system again.
If you invest now some more bucks to buy the current full PT version (11)
and a now suitable audio interface (if you havenīt got one already) you will get just a perfectly working system
which then will last for years (also if you may not be able to spent more money in the future
to do every future PT upgrade and always get the fitting machine).

Just sorry, if this may sound kinda confusing. Let me give you a last example to show you what I mean.
If you now build a perfectly working, fitting system, you can just stick with it for years.
For example, if someone once build a PTLE8 system with a Digi003 and a fitting Mac from this time running OS 10.5 or 6
it is absolutely no problem if he never will upgrade to higher PT versions because this is just a perfect system,
all from the same period of time, all working well together.

As I have experienced over the years itīs quite essential to have the most important parts
(computer, audio interface, DAW version) from the same period of time to get a flawlessly working system.
Everything else may be replaceable though IMO.

So, finally, I personally would invest now to build a current system as the 2012 Mini is now officially supported by Avid for PT11
and me (as well as lots of other guys here) can confirm that it is just working very well with this version of PT.

But let me say, this is, as always, just my personal opinion, my personal thoughts of course.
Anyway.
Wishing you the best,

cheers, VRW


MacMini i7Quad, 16GB Ram, MacOS 10.9.1, Apogee Quartet, Genelec Active, Yamaha NS10, Pro Tools 11.1.2, Logic 10.0.6, Waves, MCDSP,
Duende Native, Softube, HOFA, IK Multimedia etc.
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  #5  
Old 02-01-2014, 01:07 AM
VRW VRW is offline
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Default Re: Ok heres my dilemma

Ps: if you havenīt got an audio interface yet and you intend to get one within the upcoming 1-2 months let me
(as a strictly personal reference of course)
recommend buying one of two manufacturers as they are the only one at the moment providing really flawlessly working drivers for
PT11 on OS Mavericks as there is Apogee and Universal Audio.
Even Avid themselves still havenīt got reliably working drivers for their smaller interfaces like the MBoxes and Fasttracks.

They got some on their download site but if you search the DUC itīs full of threads reporting issues and unhappy people with non working systems.
I have noticed that many guys here are using Focusrite Scarletts and Saffires which actually seem to be definitely great units for the price
but there are also some lucky guys who got it working with Mavericks and many others who still seem to have problems.

What my intention is-if you are new to that all and you are not experienced in troubleshooting your system
then I would just recommend staying as much on the "save side" as possible.

It of course depends on your personal needs (number of I/Os etc.) and your financial opportunities
but I definitely would recommend buying a unit from one of the both brands as it will presumably be working as it is supposed to
right now.
As for the sound quality these both manufacturers are among the leading ones in the business anyway.

If you are on kind of a budget and have no need for multiple I/Os I think you are on the good side with an Apogee Duet 2 or an UA Apollo Twin.
If you just need to record one vocal or one instrument at the same time and you will be doing everything else ITB and via VIs
you definitely might be fine even with only an Apogee One.

If you got the need for multiple I/Os while still being financially restricted in some way itīs gonna get more complicated
as you probably will have to look for one of the Focusrites or Motus anyway.
I guess as so many people are using those they will have to come up with stable and really working drivers for Mavericks
within the following months anyway.
Focusrite for example write on their site that some of their units should actually be working with Mavericks but post a lot of possible issues
at the same time as well as the provided drivers are officially still for 10.8.
Similar scenario at Motu as far as I have seen.

So, itīs all my personal thoughts about it of course and everyone is free to do and to try whatever may be right for one.
My intention actually was just to prevent one who is new and unexperienced with this kinda stuff from having problems right from the start
as this can be very frustrating.

As I have noticed from other users here the Universal Audio (Apollo) stuff is just working very well in most cases
and I for myself can confirm that the Apogee Duet 2 as well as the Apogee Quartet are working flawlessly
with 3 different kinds of Mac computers with Pro Tools 11.1.2 and Mac OS Mavericks
as there is a 2011 i5 Dual Mini, a 2012 i7 Quad Mini and a 2012 13" i5 MBPro (non Retina).
Each single one working great with the Apogees, Mavericks and PT11 so far.

Thatīs all I know about it actually.
Finally wishing you a great time with your new system and just lots of fun,

cheers, VRW





MacMini i7Quad, 16GB Ram, MacOS 10.9.1, Apogee Quartet, Genelec Active, Yamaha NS10, Pro Tools 11.1.2, Logic 10.0.6, Waves, MCDSP,
Duende Native, Softube, HOFA, IK Multimedia etc.
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  #6  
Old 02-06-2014, 02:51 PM
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Katherine_Focusrite Katherine_Focusrite is offline
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Default Re: Ok heres my dilemma

Hi VRM,

I wanted to reply to your post and let you know the state of our Scarletts and Saffires at the moment. It sounds like you have read some older posts which are no longer the case.

All of our Mavericks issues are now solved. The only customers we have seen who still have any audio issues are due to the Apple Fusion Drive problems, which are rumored to be resolved in OS X Mavericks 10.9.2, still in Development.

On Scarlett Interfaces:

When Focusrite began development of its USB 2.0 products, we knew we wanted to make them as widely accessible as possible, so Focusrite built them to the USB Audio Class 2.0 specification.

On Windows, the Microsoft usbaudio.sys driver is not capable of supporting such devices (it only works with version 1.0 of the USB Audio Class specification), so the Focusrite driver is essential for the hardware to function. However, on OS X there is Apple's core audio USB driver, which supports the later spec. Despite this, we wanted to be in full control of the driver stack, as we didn't know how things were going to pan out. This was good, at first, and Focusrite delivered a product that worked well. The even better news is that Apple has continued to develop its driver, delivering significant performance and stability improvements over the last few years.

At this point the best choice for Focusrite customers is the Apple driver - fewer installed components and the more tightly integrated test regime that only Apple can provide makes for a more stable system, and with improved performance too.

Customers who are still having any audio issue on Mavericks likely still have an older Focusrite Driver, made before Mavericks was released and thus not compatible with the Mavericks CoreAudio changes, in their computer and need to remove it using the Class Compliant Mode App.

On Saffire Interfaces:

The only Mavericks related issue on our Saffire Firewire Driver was related to QuickTime audio. This is resolved in the Saffire MixControl 3.4b1 available here: http://beta.focusrite.com/releases/saffire_mix_control/

Please let me know if there is anything else I can do for you.

Best regards.
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