ProTools 9 questions

[sokrox]

Hi Everyone:

I currently have an old Digi 002 running on a Mac G4 dual core (yes it's at least 6 years old).

I want to upgrade but I want to change from Mac to PC, as my PC is a year old and is an Aesus Quad Core.

My questions are:

1) Will the ProTools Digi 002 mixing console I have be able to run under ProTools 10 in a Windows Environment? I think it's both firewire and USB (not a big deal if it won't)

2) Do I need to convert my old sound files into WAV files or will PT10 Windows be able to use them as SDII files? Do I need convert all the audio files into a different format from where they are now under PT9 to work in PT10?

Thanks, appreciate the help.

Scott

[daeron80]

I'm a little confused - you're currently running PT9 on G4 and using SDII as your session format? I didn't think that was possible on two accounts. Could it be you're running PT5 or 6 at the moment, not 9?

Originally Posted by sokrox

1) Will the ProTools Digi 002 mixing console I have be able to run under ProTools 10 in a Windows Environment? I think it's both firewire and USB (not a big deal if it won't)

I'm using an 002R with PT9 on Windows 7 with an ASUS mobo. Works great. There are people running PT10 with similar, although mostly with i7 core machines. You should check out the requirements very carefully to make sure every single component of your system is compatible. PT is the absolute pickiest program I've ever run across, especially on Windows. Especially, make sure your chipset and any onboard firewire and/or graphics are listed as compatible by Avid or have been shown to be compatible by others. Search the forum carefully for references to the components of your system. It's a real drag to install, only to find out you have one little but expensive thing keeping PT from running right.

The 002 must be connected via firewire, preferably to a port controlled by a Texas Instruments chip. Also be aware that the 00x family drivers for PT 8+ are crap. You may well get occasional errors and sudden shutdowns and what not. OK for home studios, not recommended for a professional environment where you would be embarrassed to have PT quit on you in the middle of a take, or suddenly unable to save the session after a ton of work. Not that it happens all the time, but many of us experience it often enough to be annoying.

Originally Posted by sokrox

2) Do I need to convert my old sound files into WAV files or will PT10 Windows be able to use them as SDII files? Do I need convert all the audio files into a different format from where they are now under PT9 to work in PT10?

No need to convert them in advance, probably. PT should automatically convert them to your session format as you open your old sessions. The problem is, SDII is not a Windows file format! You may need to give them to PT via a Mac-formatted disk. If that doesn't work, transferring the sessions via CD-ROM might.

Versions 7-10 can share sessions freely. None of them uses SDII as a session format, though, that I know of. Maybe your session format is really AIFF, not SDII? If so, no problems. PT Windows can use AIFF as well as WAV.

If, as I suspect, your current version of PT is pre-7, most if not all of your plug-ins will likely be incompatible, so be ready to repurchase or upgrade any third-party ones, and know that you will probably lose most of your plug-in settings along with the plugs themselves. Any really important plug-in settings should be written down or take screenshots or something to facilitate approximating them with current versions.

It's a great idea to keep the old machine around until all old sessions are converted, so you can still open them up on it to find out what you did that went missing here and there.

[sokrox]

Thanks guys, I am most concerned about the audio files, I don't care about the mixing console.

I'll check the specs on the PC and ensure it works. I was fairly certain I'd need to replace all the plug ins which is fine.

Thanks so much.

[daeron80]

You know, the more I think about it, though, I may not be remembering right about the SDII files. It's been years since I had to deal with them. Can't even remember which version of PT dumped them but I think it was like 5. Anyway, it may be difficult to get SDII files to open in Windows at all unless you're willing to fiddle with opening them as Raw WAVs in some converter program. Not sure if Rail has a program for that or not. He makes cool little utilities of that sort. You could check his site http://www.railjonrogut.com/

[daeron80]

OK, here's a thread that may be enlightening.
http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=300986

[daeron80]

Yeah, the last version that will allow you to create or use an SDII session without conversion is 8.0.3, according to the PT9 Ref Guide. I'm surprised it's that late. That means it's possible to create a session in PT7 that can't be exchanged with 9 or 10. Learn something new every day.