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Old 11-25-2016, 06:06 PM
tridev tridev is offline
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Default Advice on comatose home studio -- God Bless your kind heart if you can help!!!

Hi all knowing people of ProTools!

After a hiatus of 2+ years due to a pixelating screen, I am slowly trying to resurrect my home studio I first put together in the 2008 timeframe (see signature for setup). I record primarily voice and soft synths.

What plan of action for my current situation will give me the best value i.e. a balance between quick relief and the best bang for the buck? I am looking at:

A) replicating my previous setup on a new laptop (thereby giving me a mobile option) and/or
B) taking the disk in to a tech and start from trying to resurrect my older setup as it were.
C) Upgrading everything that can or needs to be, both software and hardware, essentially starting anew researching what kind of studio I need to put together and then saving up money to buy new toys.

I don't have a personal laptop so my personal preference is towards leveraging A) and B) in parallel. C) would be great if I had the cash and knowledge ready, both of which will need a significant time and capital investment when all I want to do is get back to making music!

Any thoughts or pointers to resources I can read up on to figure this out are much appreciated! I initially went by tweakheadz to setup my rig but with that site no longer being updated, I need a way more handholding in figuring out what all has changed from a tactical standpoint.

Lastly, if you are in the Minneapolis St-Paul area, I am happy to take you out to lunch for your troubles guiding me
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Mac Pro OS X 10.5.3
8-core Quad Xeon 5400 @ 2.8GHz 10GB RAM
Pro Tools M-Powered 7.4.2
ProjectMix I/O Version 1.3.2 Driver 1.8.4 Build 3
OWC Elite-AL (on FW400 as is PMIX)
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Old 11-25-2016, 08:22 PM
albee1952's Avatar
albee1952 albee1952 is offline
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Default Re: Advice on comatose home studio -- God Bless your kind heart if you can help!!!

Hmmm, lots to consider. Does the old rig still work? I remember 7.4 being one of the most stable versions ever

Re using a laptop, do you REALLY need it to be portable? I ask because you can get a lot more performance-for-the-money with a desktop machine.

The ProjectMix might actually still be a viable interface on a new system, but you will need to shop wisely to find a computer with firewire, or Thunderbolt(which can work with an adapter cable).

I am hardly the last word on this stuff, but you might consider a recent(not buying new can save you plenty of cash) iMac 27" with an i7 quad and 16-32GB of RAM. Pretty sure they all have dual Thunderbolt so you can connect the PM and a Thunderbolt drive(given the age of the old system, I would copy your old sessions from the OWC to a new recording drive, leaving the old drive as a backup).

If you are set on Apple only, that's cool. But you can buy/build a PC(or a hackintosh) that will kill the old tower and you might be shocked at the savings.
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Old 11-25-2016, 09:32 PM
tridev tridev is offline
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Default Re: Advice on comatose home studio -- God Bless your kind heart if you can help!!!

Dave,
Thanks so much for taking the time. Below are some thoughts to your questions:

- The old rig should work -- just haven't been able fix the issue on my own. Would probably start by installing the OS to another HDD to see if I can start up and get it to run from there.

- Mobile is a preference to provide the added ability to collaborate outside, perform live, take the show on the road etc. with (a "lite" version of the studio) but have the flexibility and continue to "dock-in" to the more elaborate home setup for production and recording.

- Definitely open to the PC and hackintosh idea -- have really been a PC user all along, but decided to go Mac for the music as I was curious as to the fuss and thought that would minimize having to deal with reliability issues, viruses etc.

- Totally up for buying used where one can get "almost new" for a steal if patient and persistent. That's how I was able to afford and setup half of my hardware (the tower, PMix, AKG mic etc.). Any Windows laptop/desktop options you would care to share?

PS: Livin' on dreams was catchy
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Mac Pro OS X 10.5.3
8-core Quad Xeon 5400 @ 2.8GHz 10GB RAM
Pro Tools M-Powered 7.4.2
ProjectMix I/O Version 1.3.2 Driver 1.8.4 Build 3
OWC Elite-AL (on FW400 as is PMIX)
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Old 12-09-2016, 02:04 PM
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albee1952 albee1952 is offline
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Default Re: Advice on comatose home studio -- God Bless your kind heart if you can help!!!

Hmm, for laptops, I almost always recommend a slightly used MacBook Pro i7 quad core(a few years around 2011 offered both firewire and thunderbolt IIRC). PC laptops can be a crapshoot with compatibility(but if you can get an exact model from someone having great success, then that's a pretty safe route). Desktops open things up as there are some killer PC builders(pro-tools-pc.com is one of the best). Or a slightly used Mac Pro 6 core. Just a note re the Mac/PC debate. Both platforms are capable of delivering great performance(and both are also capable of making you rip out all your hair). PC can save you lots of cash. Mac MIGHT save you some hassles(but might not).

Another detail that you need to be aware of is compatibility with your old sessions and a new system. On a Mac, PT10 is the newest version that reads SD II files(if your old sessions are in that format, I'm not sure if PT11/12 will convert or not). SD II files also will not be read on any PC. Lastly, I'm not sure when it changed, but earlier version's sessions were not "cross-platform" without being created or saved with Mac/PC compatibility checked. Somewhere around PT7.4 or 8, that detail became a default(I often move sessions between platforms without issue).
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https://www.facebook.com/search/top/...0sound%20works


The better I drink, the more I mix

BTW, my name is Dave, but most people call me.........................Dave
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