[digi 003r vs profire 2626] experience and help wanted! I just want to learn.

[Tritono9]

Hello,

Im J.P.

Im 22 years old. I live in South America but Im cosmopolitan. Im not rich. Im worker and student. Im in the audio world for 4 years but with real pasion, a huge love for music.

I had a Firewire Solo M-Audio. The device died. I need to buy a good device this time. I need it. The most important thing for me is the sound quality and stability. Im thinking in the Digi 003r or the Profire 2626 (or 610). In my country I dont have much options about audio brands (plus I will buy with credit card, I cant import).

Im in a very confusing situation. I need your help. I will buy the device and I cant go wrong. I dont have time to make a bad decision this time. I dont have money to go wrong, resell prices in my country sucks. I need to win.

The situation: I dont know what device to choose.

- Digi 003r: some people love it, some people say bad converters and pre's. Protools 8 LE (I dont know if this is a good or bad thing). Today some guy said to me that Digi is mostly for Mac because he had the digi with Windows and he had big issues with it. Huge latency and screens of the death (blue). He sell the digi por this and for the "bad sound" and he bought a Profire 2626. He is using M-Powered and he is happy with it.

- Profire 2626 (or 610): they say good converters, good preamps, good windows compatibility. Profire only can use M-Powered (I dont know if this is a good or bad thing). BUT in the bad side I discover in the M-Audio forum a big problem with random sample in the device. Bad drivers and bad support from M-Audio because they have like 15 months to fix it and the bug is here. This plus my experience with the Solo make me prejuiced about M-Audio.

Im Windows XP SP3 user. I dont have money for Mac (I wish). Im using Cubase 5. I cant get a good real sound with it. The pluggins sound could and artificial

I will use the pres, the midi in, a Pod x3 via s/pdif (external clock) and I will record two or three tracks simultanuosly at the same time in real time (for now). I will use Superior Drummer with Metal Foundry and things like that.

For me is all about the sound quality and stability.

I readed tons of reviews and I cant get a good picture about the devices. There are so many different opinions, so much love and hate about. I dont know.

What do you think? What is the better option? the pros and cons? what you would do in my situation?

I dont know about Protools too, it worth the money? I need it? I know is the standard, maybe I need to get it and learn it. I just dont know. Plus I dont know about Le vs Powered. What do you think?

I think you will understand my situation and you will help me
Thank you, really.

Best regards and thank you very much,

J.P.

Sorry for my english!

[albee1952]

Hey JP, welcome to the DUC. You have a lot to work on here. For starters, Cubase should not sound any different from any other DAW, so maybe you need better speakers or microphones and preamps? Hard to say without knowing how you work. As to the 003 vs the 2626, I doubt many could hear the difference if they were blindfolded. Both units are capable of good quality. Maybe the real question should be; which software do you want to run? Since Pro Tools requires the 003(or other Avid/Digi hardware), that choice is simple. Likewise, the Profire2626 is best with M-Powered(which looks and sounds the same as LE). If you want to stay with Cubase, then I would look at something like the Presonus DigimaxFS. As for the comment that Pro Tools is for Mac, that is simply not true. The difference is that Macs have very few options as they are all built by the same company. PC's are made by dozens of companies with hundreds of choices in motherboards(a critical part when it comes to compatibility). I have run Pro Tools on a PC for 5 years now and it runs great(but I did my homework and built all my computers with carefully chosen parts).

Have a look here
Help us help you - what you need to know before posting!
and post a SANDRA report and we should be able to tell you if the computer will run Pro Tools well.

[Tritono9]

hey albee!

Thank you for your time and help.

I dont know what Daw I want to use because I never used Protools. I feel a true curiosity for it because all the talking about. I want the best tool for record, mixing and mastering. I know that all over the world are a huge number of people doing important audio things with Protools and they love it. At this point, I fell like Protools is music culture and maybe I need to try it, but I dont know.

I dont have preamps or outboard gear. I just have a guitar, a bass, a Sm57 and a Pod x3 that I connected via s/pdif (set the drivers in external clock for the Pod) and I get some decent tones for now (when I had the Solo). I will use this equipment with some midi in and some pluggins like Superior Drummer (Metal foundry). Musically, Im not into a specific style. I like rapist psychotic riffs but I like too quiet music with ambient and peace. Like life itself. Life is violent sometimes but is quiet and beautiful too.

The guy that sell the Digi, recommend to me buy the 2626 and a professional microphone. Is a good option but maybe I need to enter in the major leagues and get LE. But I dont know. I dont know if my computer can support Protools too. When you look the report, you will see that I have a VIA Firewire pci card. I will buy one with Texas Instrument chip this time too!

Thank you for your time again, is much appreciated for me. Im a student, Im learning with pasion but this time I need to make a right decision!

Best regards,

J.P.

Here is the Sandra report:

Computer
Model : Unknow Unknow
Workgroup : GRUPO_TRABAJO
Host Name : supremo
User : Supremo Tritónico

Processor
Model : AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5200+
Speed : 2.61GHz
Cores per Processor : 2 Unit(s)
Threads per Core : 1 Unit(s)
Type : Dual-Core
Integrated Data Cache : 2x 64kB, Synchronous, Write-Back, 2-way, Exclusive, 64 byte line size
L2 On-board Cache : 2x 1MB, ECC, Synchronous, Write-Back, 16-way, Exclusive, 64 byte line size

Computer
Platform Compliance : AMD LIVE!
Mainboard : NF-MCP61
BIOS : Phoenix Technologies, LTD 6.00 PG 10/23/2007
Bus(es) : ISA X-Bus PCI PCIe IMB USB FireWire/1394 i2c/SMBus
Multi-Processor (MP) Support : No
Multi-Processor Advanced PIC (APIC) : Yes
Total Memory : 1.75GB DIMM DDR2

Chipset
Model : AMD Athlon 64 / Opteron HT Hub
Front Side Bus Speed : 2x 1GHz (2GHz)
Total Memory : 2GB DIMM DDR2
Memory Bus Speed : 2x 373MHz (746MHz)

Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : Buffalo 1GB DIMM DDR2 PC2-6400U DDR2-800 (5-5-5-18 3-23-6-3)
Memory Module : Buffalo 1GB DIMM DDR2 PC2-6400U DDR2-800 (5-5-5-18 3-23-6-3)

Video System
Video Adapter : NVIDIA GeForce 6100 nForce 405 (4 PS3.0, 1 VS3.0, 256MB, PCI)

Storage Devices
WDC WD1001FALS-00J7B0 (1TB, SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm, NCQ, 32MB Cache) : 932GB (E:)
WDC WD1001FALS-00J7B0 (1TB, SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm, NCQ, 32MB Cache) : 932GB (C:)
HL-DT-ST DVD-RAM GSA-H55N (ATAPI, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache) : N/A (D:)

Logical Storage Devices
Hard Disk (E:) : 932GB (NTFS) @ WDC WD1001FALS-00J7B0 (1TB, SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm, NCQ, 32MB Cache)
Hard Disk (C:) : 932GB (NTFS) @ WDC WD1001FALS-00J7B0 (1TB, SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm, NCQ, 32MB Cache)
Optical Drive (D:) : N/A @ HL-DT-ST DVD-RAM GSA-H55N (ATAPI, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache)

Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller 1 : ECS MCP61 LPC Bridge
LPC Legacy Controller 1 : ITE IT8726F
Audio Device : ECS MCP61 High Definition Audio
Audio Codec : Realtek Semiconductor Realtek 662 High Definition Audio
Serial Port(s) : 1
Parallel Port(s) : 1
Disk Controller : ECS MCP61 IDE
Disk Controller : ECS MCP61 SATA Controller
USB Controller 1 : ECS MCP61 USB Controller
USB Controller 2 : ECS MCP61 USB Controller
FireWire/1394 Controller 1 : VIA VT6306 VIA Fire II IEEE-1394 OHCI Link Layer Controller
SMBus/i2c Controller 1 : nVidia MCP5+ SMBus 1
SMBus/i2c Controller 2 : nVidia MCP5+ SMBus 2

Printers and Faxes
Printer : SolidPDFConverter (600x600, Colour)
Printer : Microsoft XPS Document Writer (600x600, Colour)
Printer : Canon MP490 series Printer (USB, Colour)

Network Services
Network Adapter : NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller - Minipuerto del administrador de paquetes (Ethernet, 100Mbps)

Power Management
Mains (AC) Line Status : On-Line

Operating System
Windows System : Microsoft Windows XP Professional 5.01.2600 (Service Pack 2)
Platform Compliance : x86

Performance Tips
Warning 100 : Large memory sizes should be made of Registered/Buffered memory.
Tip 2546 : Large memory modules should be ECC/Parity.
Tip 2 : Double-click tip or press Enter while a tip is selected for more information about the tip.

I dont know if the Motherboard is there, but is an ECS GeForce6100SM-M2 (Everest said it)

[albee1952]

I agree that you need a great mic, and a great preamp can help too(you need to decide how much money you can afford for those). The Profire 2626 has a reputation for sounding good and I see no reason to steer you away from it(except that it does not work with LE). Now, having said that, you may be just fine continuing with Cubase. I use and love Pro Tools, but its not the only choice out there and no DAW is perfect. You can get PT M-powered to use with the 2626 and that would allow you to learn Pro Tools, while still being able to work with Cubase. I think that sometimes, its harder to learn any DAW software after using another one for a while(I can't do anything on Cubase and feel like an idiot staring at the screen)

As to how well your computer would work with LE or M-powered, it should be okay, but it won't be a "power house". My old Athlon 6000+ would score 104 on the Davec test, while my i7 quad scores over 300. But I was able to run 30-40 tracks at the 1024 buffer.

[Tritono9]

Hey albee!, thank you again.

I understand. I can use LE with Digi but M-Powered with Profire and keep cubase. But maybe LE worth all? I dont have the experience with it :\

But I have two concerns about Profire: the bugs that the drivers of the device have and the poor stability because the bugs. The device sometimes make a random sample thing.

You have a 003. What do you think about it? some people love it and some people say it has bad converters and mic preamps. Do you experienced some bad thing with the Digi?

All information is appreciated.

Thank you!

Best regards.

[Tritono9]

Hey!

Sorry for a dumb question. Is stupid to ask to you about driver issues in the Profire because you use Digi 003. Sorry for that.

But let me ask to you this: there are some thing that you dont like about your Digi 003? Please feel free to say everything you want about it.

Some thing that worries me is that the Profire is up to 192 khz and the Digi only 96. I really will use Pod x3 for a while. There are a guy that uses Profire 610 www.youtube.com/diobolic5150 and he get really good sound from it. If you download his esp the arrival you will understand me. Is not pro, but is damn good considering is direct recording into the pc.

I want to do that because I dont have money for a good tube amp (I really need one) and I like strange effects so the Pod will help for a whilte.

I need to know if via s/pdif there will be a difference in quality sound between the profire and the digi?

Thank you again, much appreciated!

[Tritono9]

Bump!

[albee1952]

I doubt anyone without "golden ears" would be able to hear a difference between the 2 units. I like the 003 plenty, but it does have a firmware flaw(for me anyway) that makes it less cool than it should be. When you go to fader-flip mode(sends on faders), the display no longer shows the track name(kinda useless when you have 48 or more tracks). One thing to consider; Digi/Avid hardware includes LE software. M-Audio hardware requires you to buy M-Powered software(another $249 or so).

[Tritono9]

Albee,

Thank you again for your time and help.

I thinked a lot and I want to buy the Digi 003 Rack (the basic model). I was happy about my decision until this:
____
AMD Desktop Processors
The AMD processors listed below were used by Beta Sites during Pro Tools 8.0 development. They were not tested by Digidesign Engineering but are considered compatible with Pro Tools M-Powered 8.0 for Windows:
* AMD Athlon™ 64
* AMD Athlon™ 64 FX
* AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core
* AMD Opteron™

Notes:
* AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core requires the AMD Dual-Core Optimizer
* Pro Tools 8 uses certain SSE instructions for drawing and other performance critical code. We have found that some older models of AMD chips from the Athlon 64 X2 (Athlon X2, AMD K9) family do not support specific SSE instructions used by Pro Tools, even though they claim to be SSE compliant. On these AMD computers, Pro Tools 8 will not launch. Unfortunately, this issue is not something we think can be fixed on our end, given the amount of custom recoding and testing that would be required. Current AMD chips and those manufactured in the last few years do support these SSE instructions.
* Although not tested, there have been reports of incompatibility from some users with Pro Tools and motherboards with the NVIDIA nForce 405, nForce 410, and nForce 430 graphics chipsets:
NVIDEA Motherboard GPU Technical Specifications
____

I discover that my pc maybe is not compatible with Pro Tools. I readed that Digidesign cant guarantee AMD compatability. I download the AMD Dual Core Optimizer and installed it. My graphic card I think is a Nvidia 405, bad thing. I searched but I dont know about the "We have found that some older models of AMD chips from the Athlon 64 X2 (Athlon X2, AMD K9) family do not support specific SSE instructions used by Pro Tools" thing, I cant find that info in my pc.

When I run cubase in 24/48 mode with 512 buffer size I have some clipping troubles if I run like 6 tracks with some vst. I dont know if I have something bad configurated but maybe Pro Tools 8 LE is too much software for my computer?

What do you think? or Im wrong? plus if there are some user with AMD 64 X2 Dual feel free to share with us your experiences.

Thanks again for the help!

J.P.

[Tritono9]

Bump