Apogee Symphony 64 w/ Pro Tools Native HD

[clancychris]

Hi,

I've used Pro Tools since version 6 but never had HD. I run PT 12.4 Native currently with a Mac Pro and an Apogee Symphony via a Symphony 64 PCIe card.

If I was to upgrade to Native HD, could I still use my Symphony 64 card? Or would I need to get an Avid HD card?

Also would there be any advantage to getting an HD card.

Apologies if this is a daft question, HD has baffled me since the old HD systems were retired.

[DetroitT]

DO you need surround?, More than 32 in's and out's? Are you running out of horsepower?

You don't mention your system so it's hard to say anything else.

Pro Tools and Pro Tools HD as software are not that far apart.

[Drew Mazurek]

Originally Posted by clancychris

If I was to upgrade to Native HD, could I still use my Symphony 64 card? Or would I need to get an Avid HD card?

Also would there be any advantage to getting an HD card.

Apologies if this is a daft question, HD has baffled me since the old HD systems were retired.

You're currently running Pro Tools native (lowercase n) with the Apogee card/interface.

If you were to buy PTHD, you'd need an Avid card to be running Pro Tools HD Native (uppercase N), and you'd change your Symphony to HD mode. (I do this myself)

What issue are you trying to solve specifically? If there is one.

[YYR123]

Originally Posted by DetroitT

Pro Tools and Pro Tools HD as software are not that far apart.

Yep, unfortunately for HD.

You need HD if...you need

Surround
More than 32 inputs
DSP - HDX Specifically
Super low latency, without a 3rd party mixer.
ICON Control Surface
S6 also iirc, but S3 is native compatible
Advanced Automation
HEAT is also part of the DSP for HD.

- anything on that list, could actually be native (Lower Case - n) in the future, with the exception of DSP. They are all software locks put in place by Avid.

Just look at the feature set for PT11 and PT12. native got quite a big bag of goodies for $99 USD a year

[JFreak]

HEAT can also be used native if you have HD

[syMPh]

I've used PCIe64, HD Native and (currently) HDX.

HD native gives you a few benefits but also takes away a few perks of using symphony. in symphony mode you can have multiple (pro tools. logic etc) apps open at the same time as long as every session is on the same sample rate otherwise it behaves very badly! core audio also works while pro tools is open with a Sym card, it doesn't do this with hd cards. the major bonus hd cards add are delay hardware compensation on inserts etc. as well as more outputs... if you are purely in the box without hardware I would say forget the avid card except for the bonus of being able to input monitor without using maestro for low latency. I also found that my symphony's were rock solid with the apogee host even under high cpu load but on hd native they are a little flaky.. (the relays click and audio drops out as soon as the cpu meter edges toward max cpu, whereas connected to the HDX or symphony card this doesn't happen)

For low latency monitoring within pro tools and reliability HDX feels better, HD native feels like a downgrade in the way it feels but the convenience of input monitoring instead of maestro may swing you towards it.

You can put both a symphony card and a hdx/hd native card in your Mac and switch between them but when switching you must put the pro tools engine to something other than the symphony before you switch cables otherwise pro tools perpetually searches for the symphony and won't let you change engines until it "lets go" of the symphony while it's attached... hope this helps or answers some of your questions! cheers

[clancychris]

Thanks all, it was the low latency that was the main thing. Also I do the occasional DVD from time to time. I've never been asked about surround sound but I always anticipate the time it will be needed.

It's not something I'm looking at getting right now but I've never really understood if I would need to retired my card etc. It's always been a hole in my knowledge so if faced with the need to upgrade then I now know what I'd have to do.