Crossgrading from PT 7

[RP89]

I have an Mbox 2, if I crossgrade from PT 7 to 9 can I use PT 9 without any hardware or will I need to use my mbox 2 with it?
Second question is will I get Xpand! 2? Or do I need to purchase the full version..

[Avid]

Yes to both questions. Click on the Pro Tools 9 logo at the upper right and click through the tabs in the Pro Tools software product section for information on features and included instruments and plug-ins.

[daeron80]

Obviously you need some kind of hardware. If you're on Mac, the internal sound card will work. If you're on Windows, you need to make sure your soundcard is ASIO-compatible, and even then it may or may not work right, depending on whether the manufacturer wrote their own ASIO driver for it, and how nicely it plays with your system. But consumer soundcards, even when they technically work, won't give you very good results, due to S/N ratio, sub-par performance in the upper bits, jitter, etc. If you intend to do pro work, you need a pro interface.

[RP89]

Okay thanks...well then, there shouldn't be a problem if I just use the Mbox 2 with PT 9...right?

[nst7]

Shouldn't be a problem at all, as long as you download the latest drivers for the Mbox 2.

[Infiltrator]

What about CPU usage? Does 9 run more efficiently or does it consume more CPU than 7? Because if so then it might not be worth it to get 9 on my 2gig of ram loaded on the laptop on windows xp.

Should I wait until I get the mac or windows 7?

[nst7]

I don't think it uses any more CPU, but you should know that PT9 is not qualified to work in Windows XP. It is only compatible with Windows 7, and Snow Leopard on the Mac.

So you may have to wait for a new computer.

Also, 2 gigs of ram is a little underpowered, not just for 9 but even earlier versions.

[daeron80]

I went from 7.3.1 to 9 on Windows. All my active sessions opened right up and appear to take the same amount of CPU power. At first, I installed it under XP, and it did fine except that I had no MIDI I/O - the driver wouldn't install properly. It was stable and did audio fine. It even played back MIDI tracks to VIs fine, I just couldn't get MIDI in and out through the 002R. When I added a Win7 partition and installed PT9 there, I was golden. A few minor bugs. No biggies. All my plugins work great. Loving it. Win7-64 is a huge step up from XP-32. Everything works better.