What computer to buy to run Pro Tools 12?

[GhostRecorder]

Originally Posted by musicman691

You're going to need a separate MIDI interface and a separate audio interface as there's no current audio interface with enough MIDI I/O to accommodate all your h/w synths. I know one can daisy-chain synths but I'm not a fan of that. MOTU has a couple of MIDI interfaces that should do the job.

Audio interface - I'd also take a look at MOTU. They have several at different price points under $1k.

A max of $1k for computer? You're kidding right? At that price it's a used piece. Also don't forget to budget for a separate hard drive to record to; either ssd or 7200 rpm non-green spinner. The Mac laptop someone mentioned earlier would be a good deal - Apple refurbs are good pieces - my iMac is one.

And don't forget to factor in, if you haven't purchased it already, the upgrade to PT12.

Thanks for the responses.

Is $1K really too low for just a desktop tower? I thought you just needed a Core i5 or better computer? I'd rather go with a PC I've never owned a MAC and don't know how to trouble shoot their OS if need be.

[Darryl Ramm]

It all depends on what you want to do. You can record a few tracks of audio on just about any computer. The need for lots of CPU and good amount of IO is usually driven by virtual instrument use. And you have lots of synths so presumably somebody who might be wanting to do that.

Personally I would treat Avid minimum systems requirements as real minimums, would want 16 or 32 GB of memory (because disk cache works do well in Pro Tools 12... and if you want to use VIs they can use a lot of memory, a boot/system and audio (and maybe sample drive) that are all SSD.... you won't get that for $1K.

If you need to get started at $1K in a PC I would try to design the system to be upgradeable so you can address any issues you run into.

Pro Tools is very fussy about computer hardware and setup and there is a great thread on DUC about building i7 based Pro Tools systems. This one... http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=238426

That should give you an idea how carefully folks who want really well performing Pro Tools systems take all this.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Extreme Mixing]

Originally Posted by GhostRecorder

Thanks guys for all the replies...

Here's what I'm pretty much trying to do I want to record songs vocals and original music.

My equipment:

A couple of Emu racks
Triton
Moog Little Phatty
Roland Gaia
Novation Nova
M-Audio Venom
MPC 2000
Roland Axe Synth
A few Electric Guitars
Peavy 6060 amp

I need a new mic
and want to get a new Maschine Studio or maybe MK3 I sold my original mashine.

I'll need an interface with XLR, 1/4, Midi

I stuck with my 12 track because it was just easier for me but I out grew it long ago.

My computer budget is $800-1K

Interface budget depends on what I'll need.

I don't intend to mic up though the amp I'd rather go right into the computer as I've seen guys do online and one of the reasons I want to upgrade.

I do own Protools 8 I never was able to use it because my computer is out of date even then so I just kept using the DPS12i. I'm late to the game and just want to get caught up so I can make better music.

You can look into the Mac Mini. Those are pretty cheap. I'm not a PC guy, but they can be had, too. Like you said, you've been out of the game for quite a while. One thing you should know is that VI's have become very powerful in the past few years. With Pro Tools you get a bundle of instruments that are useful, and last Christmas you could upgrade to the complete Air Collection for $75. Don't know if they'll do that again... And if you buy a Mac, you can get Logic Pro X for $199. That's a deal for sure.

The Roland Gala has a USB connection to the computer, so that gets midi into whatever host you use. And you could then get a MIDI interface or daisy chain. But I WOULD recommend that you spend a fair bit of time investigating the Virtual options. You won't believe what you've been missing out on the past 10 years.

For an audio interface, I like the UA Apollo stuff but the MOTU is also quite good.

You will need to spend some money to get back into the game. Make sure what you buy will give you several years of good service. Rebuying is what is really expensive.

Steve

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by GhostRecorder

Thanks for the responses.

Is $1K really too low for just a desktop tower? I thought you just needed a Core i5 or better computer? I'd rather go with a PC I've never owned a MAC and don't know how to trouble shoot their OS if need be.

PT really wants to see an i7 cpu. And yes - $1k is WAY too low for a desktop. At best anything in that price range will get you a general purpose machine and that's NOT what you want for PT.

[YYR123]

How do you make a Small fortune in the recording industry?






Start out with a large one......the money drain is for real.


But money well spent is worth it....don't skimp on whatever you choose MAC/PC


Go big.....

[JCBigler]

In the past year, I have bought two computers to run Protools on. One for my own personal work, and one for the building that I work for. You can see the specs in my signature. They run the Prorools sessions that I do equally well and I don't notice any difference between the two.

The Lenovo laptop has been the best computer that I have personally owned for Protools. And Protools 12 has been exceptionally stable so far. It cost about 1/4 what the Mac Pro did that I bought for work.

...Actually..I take that last part back. After buying the Sonnet xMac Pro Server chassis to get the proper expansion ports, I paid about 1/5 for the Lenovo P50 laptop that I did for the Mac.

[climber]

Originally Posted by melloj

I don't think there is one. If you've read any of the threads on this site you'll know Pro Tools is one of the most unstable DAWs on the market. I've been using it for 8 years across several computers and OS's and it's never been right. It's gotten worse with each version. But most will tell you to go with Mac. It's impossible to make a DAW work perfectly for every type of PC in the world. Never more true than with Pro Tools though.

baloney... I've been running PT for close to 10 years with little or no problems. I currently have 12 vanilla running on a "trashcan" and it totally rocks.

[melloj]

Originally Posted by climber

baloney... I've been running PT for close to 10 years with little or no problems. I currently have 12 vanilla running on a "trashcan" and it totally rocks.

I came from a Cubase background. The thing could open a session like a word document. I could count on one hand in 5 years how many times it crashed, failed to open. I started on PT 7.4 and it was wheel of death from day one. I've had fairly stable in earlier versions such as 8 and 9 were good. But for me it's got worse and worse. Maybe it's my hardware. But right now I'm not happy. Since upgrading to PTHD 12 on PC I'm having to trash prefs everytime just to get it to load a session.

[GhostRecorder]

thanks for all the help and replies. I've just decided to build my own Protools machine a majig. Put all the premium stuff in it without paying for the name of a brand and save some monies.

[Southsidemusic]

Originally Posted by melloj

I came from a Cubase background. The thing could open a session like a word document. I could count on one hand in 5 years how many times it crashed, failed to open. I started on PT 7.4 and it was wheel of death from day one. I've had fairly stable in earlier versions such as 8 and 9 were good. But for me it's got worse and worse. Maybe it's my hardware. But right now I'm not happy. Since upgrading to PTHD 12 on PC I'm having to trash prefs everytime just to get it to load a session.

If you are having to trash prefs everytime you have a big issue with your setup.

We have used PT on Macs since PT6HD and have basically never had any issues we couldn't solve the same day.

Now running 3 Trashcans 6Core 32gb each with Samsung SSD's and they all run HD12 with ease, many many VI and lots and lots of edits and plugins. No problems whatsoever. All sessions we do for big DJ's, artists and bands are 120+ tracks filled with fun stuff. Works great and have always worked great. Dedicated workhorses and nothing else on them.