Least Expensive was to get into TDM

[Shawn B]

That's correct. There is a single "mixer" chip on the D24 card and the i/o cards. They can handle 32 tracks each. Two core cards or one core and one i/o will give you 64 tracks.

[AM STUDIOS]

sorry to ask, but where do u get al lthese farm cards from and converters? i cant see them anywhere on the digidesign website.

can someone please p[oint me in the right direction.

[PhatBit]

WOW! I wasn't expecting hardly any repsponse to my question! Very happy to see that you folks are gicing input on the subject!
Thank you all very much. I think that I am going to begin some price checks & quotes this weekend!
I also have to say that I am happy to know there are other people who have had problems with the PTLE software. It boils down to this: I (like most people) LOVE ProTools ... but am getting too ticked off at the crashes, etc. Now that I know there is hope for somebody like myself who can't afford $10k on a system, I am very happy and looking forward to the "REAL DEAL" that I know ProTools has! thanks again everybody!

[PhatBit]

wait a second ... something just occured to me: what about my existing plugins & software instruments, etc?
Will I have to purchase all new ones?? That would be bad! I sure hope not!
I guess that I am lucky in one aspect: I still haven't purhcased any really expensives plugins .... I just have a modest amount of stuff, but still a very good asset to me! Thanks for the input!

[Dopamine]

I forgot to add that I definitely want to stay on OS X (6.4). Right now I have a Rosetta and a G4 1.25, would the minimal requirements (for 64 tracks) be: a Mix core, Mix farm and 882?

Thanks again for helping me make sense of this!

[Seeee]

if you have a rosetta get 882 out of your head cause it's spdif doest transfer 24 bits digitally, you want the 888 (18 bit version) or an 888/24

the RTAS stuff you have will work with PT's 6. I would MAKE SURE the dsp farms and d24's you look at are certified G4 compatible. Rev QC or higher on the dsp farms and you should check d24 compatible boars rev's. to be safe you might want to just look at a straightup mix core card for less than 2k. but the d24 dsp farm combo should work as long as they're compatible. officially a d24 system (without a MIX farm) is not compatible with 6.4, only up to 6.1 and either way in all of this dont plan on being able torun Tiger (osx.4)

[proxy]

sorry to ask, but where do u get al lthese farm cards from and converters? i cant see them anywhere on the digidesign website.

The farms they are referring to are all legacy items, so you'll have to find them on eBay or CraigsList or similar. Converters is a whole other bag. The legacy systems can be great, I've been very happy going that route, particularly since I can't afford HD. They're a nice stepping-stone between LE and HD, but I definitely suggest perusing the DUC and former posts about the different things to consider. It's a great fit if you can hone in on the right combo.

Plugs can definitely run up the expense. When I went TDM I ended up paying $1.5k to upgrade my Waves Platinum. RTAS is great, particularly if you have a powerful G4, but you'll need TDM plugs on AUXs and Master faders. Just bear that in mind.

On the note of research, I recently was helped by many people (seekerian in particular) about making sure I got the right revision of an 888 I was looking at. Certain early ones didn't output 24bit... Revisions, versions, compatibility info - it's all either archived here or in the memories of generous fellow legacy-ers, which can be an invaluable asset.

Hope that is helpful,

- proxy

[BGMusic]

if you have a rosetta get 882 out of your head cause it's spdif doest transfer 24 bits digitally, you want the 888 (18 bit version) or an 888/24

the RTAS stuff you have will work with PT's 6. I would MAKE SURE the dsp farms and d24's you look at are certified G4 compatible. Rev QC or higher on the dsp farms and you should check d24 compatible boars rev's. to be safe you might want to just look at a straightup mix core card for less than 2k. but the d24 dsp farm combo should work as long as they're compatible. officially a d24 system (without a MIX farm) is not compatible with 6.4, only up to 6.1 and either way in all of this dont plan on being able torun Tiger (osx.4)

According to this link the SPDIF on the 882/20 does transmit and receive 24bit

http://www.digidesign.com/products/m...interfaces.cfm

[tsd]

as much as this pains me to say it as a mac loving nerd, my studio is "upgraded" to a PC, because of mix systems being limited to G4. Its a duel 3.5G P4 and it is an absolute gun compared to the duel 1.2G G4 we were running. It cost about $1500, is in a silent case, hasnt crashed yet and has about 10x more RTAS power, leaving the TDM for audio tracks.

if you cant afford HD (and im still not convinced anyone really can!!) then the best option for a "powerful" ProTools system is Mix system running on a PC.

having said that, i run a Powerbook with a 002r at home and love it (but i take my sessions to work on a FW drive and mix there on the SSL)

[proxy]

Hey tsd,

What PC are you running that is working out so well and for such little money? I was thinking of getting one for my Avid setup, and if it can also be a potential future home for the Mix, all the better...

- proxy