Old setup - undecided on what to do…

[Blob1]

Hi everyone,

It’s my first post in the forum so be gentle with me :)

I bought the setup in my signature more than 10 years ago. For various reasons I used it very little back then, however now I want to go back to recording in a home studio. I have some PT knowledge and I think I could get back into things.

I am really unsure about whether to keep this old setup or ditch it. Here are the facts.

I tested the system today and it seems to works fine. By this, I mean I turned on the computer, connected the 003, opened a super-old session, played, and then record using a few channels. (Might be an unnecessary detail, but I also tested an equally old Digimax D8 for extra channels which I might never use, and an old ‘physical’ compressor in my small rack). I have a bunch of plug-ins/virtual instruments too from back in the day, so my idea would be to keep the computer completely offline and use this setup until it lasts. That’d be the most economic approach…Mind you, I am mainly a musician (and an average one at best), so I might consider outsourcing mixing and mastering too…but let’s say for now I’d be just recording and editing (and maybe some light pre-mix). So not many plug-ins perhaps, but probably I’d need virtual instrumens (got an old small midi keyboard for that)

Is anyone still using a legacy system like this? Am I just being irrational and falling prey to some sort of sunk cost fallacy? Any strong reason why I should just buy the bullet and either:
- try to update OS. This might be a nightmare - is Windows 7 really not recommended, setting aside the mere fact that it’s old? Is the worry that the system might crash or something? Would PT10 be compatible with a newer OS? From what I read if at all doable it might take a long time to make it work, so I’m note sure it’s worth the hassle (from what I read the main thing people complain about when talking about old setups is the OS, but if anyone has any hardware/software tips to make my current setup better I’m all ears)
- sell the old system for pocket money, buy a new computer and a new audio interface. That would obviously be quite expensive, plus to be honest I’d probably turn to something like Reaper (which I’ve never used) and focusrite, since I’m not too fond of subscription models (I hope this is ok to say…)

A final but important consideration is that if I kept the old system I would have to move it from where it was to where I live now. Not going into the details but I might have to pay up to 20% taxes on the current value of whatever I’d be importing. I’m getting an advisory valuation on the system and other things I’d be taking with me, and maybe I wouldn’t have to pay import taxes on all of them, but obviously that’s just to say that keeping my current set up wouldn’t technically be totally for free. However I don’t think that for the computer and the 003 I’d be paying that much.


I’m really torn and could use any input! Apologies for the wall of text and thank you all in advance for any contributions.


——
Intel Core i7 3770 3.40 GHz Cache 8MB Ivy Bridge
16 GB Ram Corsair DDR3-1600 Mhz kit Vengeance
Motherboard ASUS P8H77-V
HD SSD 250 GB Samsung 840
Firewire 800
Windows 7 Professional 64 bit

Pro Tools 10.3.2 / Digidesign 003 Rack

[JFreak]

Hi, welcome to the community.

Compatibility info here.

00x is so old you better not think about upgrading if it works now.

[EGS]

Originally Posted by Blob1

... I bought the setup in my signature more than 10 years ago ... unsure about whether to keep this old setup or ditch it ... Windows 7 Professional 64 bit

Pro Tools 10.3.2 / Digidesign 003 Rack

Welcome to the forum. My opinion: you've gotten 10 years of use out of it ---> it's time to upgrade to a modern computer with a modern ProTools version. New interfaces are much better than the 003, too. Budget? How many inputs do you need?

[albee1952]

Indeed, if it ain't broke... Having said that, I have some ideas to consider:
1-already mentioned; get a completely new setup(computer, interface and new Pro Tools) and copy your sessions. You have no idea what you are missing
2-a cheap experiment; Swap you current C: drive for a fresh drive(so you don't risk messing up what works) and install Windows 10(assuming you can find it) and buy a second-hand license for Pro Tools 12(or newer). Going to full 64 bit software(Pro Tools) nets some pretty serious performance improvement.
3-(again, on a new drive) install Windows 11 and download the trial for the current version of Pro Tools(or get Pro Tools Intro for free for testing). While I can't promise everything will be easy, I can tell you that I have a much older i7(socket 58A) setup running Windows 11, Pro Tools Intro 2023.3 and an Mbox 2 Pro(firewire) and it works dandy.

Re Windows 7, if you keep this computer off the internet, it should continue to work fine, but I would clone your system drive to another similar drive so you have a backup(restoring old OS and software is a recipe for insanity)

[Wizzoboy]

No shame in running a vintage system if it does what you want it to.
For instance, my Dell dual Xeon workstation was ex dealing room and was built in 2007. It has 3 internal WD Black spinners and is running Win 7 Ultimate. I have an 002R interface, and my original Mackie HUI controller was built in 1997. It has run 32bit PT8, and then I went 64bit with PT11. It has run all the versions of 11 and 12, and now happily runs 2018.3. It has always been rock solid and has paid for itself many times over.
As I no longer do commercial work there is little incentive to update everything. I have Windows updates permanently off and keep an updated clone of the hard drives.

[EGS]

Originally Posted by Wizzoboy

...I have Windows updates permanently off and keep an updated clone of the hard drives.

And you can keep it off the internet too... While you can keep running an old or even ancient rig, you'll eventually run up against MTTF or MTBF. Something will die or get flakey or need a part.

[Blob1]

Thank you for all your contributions. Just as an update, in the end I decided to stick to my old guns. We will see how long they will last!