System Upgrade Advice

[delta]

Hi

I run a small commercial studio.Our Pro tools system has served us well for 15 years! but could do with some advice on replacing it.

Currently we use a G5 power mac with Core,Accel and Process cards HD3
Running PT 7

3 x 96 IOs.

2x digi Pres and a M3 Tube Tracker give us 24 mic preamps.

I know it probably should be on the antiques roadshow!

So what 's our best route for replacing the computer and software ?

I'm guessing we'll loose our large collection of TDM plugins and other 3rd party stuff which is a real shame.Not sure what's included plugin wise with latest software.

Any advice would be most welcome.

[Sugarnutz]

If you go Pro Tools Ultimate you ain’t gonna need a lot of plugins because you get everything Avid has included as long as you have a “Plan”. As far as hardware you can get a Thunderbolt Native, works with up to 4 digilink devices (might need digilink license). I have a mid 2015 Retina MacBook Pro, 2.2 GHz i7, 16 GHz of RAM, 512 Gb PCIe flash drive which works well, even recording to the internal drive. There are 2nd hand/refurbished Mac Pro Trashcans available from OWC or B&H Photo. Lots of choices!

[delta]

thanks Suganutz,most helpful.

[chipss36]

Still rocking a 2010 Mac Pro, and want for nothing, great value now a days upgraded cpus, simple 4 bolts,per cpu upgraded ram, upgraded to SSDs, one in drive bay, 2 on PCIe card, upgraded GPUs as well, try that on a trash can, or iMac in ten years.

Btw an ultra wide screen is just killer in pro tools, edit and mix fit perfectly on the one screen, no toggling.
The 5,1 Mac Pro 2010/2012 imho was the best of the jobs era macs.

[delta]

I hear you chipps36, I have two identical g5s a box full off process ,accel cards ,
cloned start up drives etc.all cheap as chips on eBay. If I get an issue mid session I can usually swop out and keep going.however I can feel the end coming.......thanks

[Sugarnutz]

I don’t see the end. I just upgraded my “Vanilla” Pro Tools 10, 11, 12 & 2018 perpetual to 2018 Ultimate which includes 10, 11, 12 HD licenses. Along with this I found a lovely Magma 6 slot PCI-x chassis with PCIe host card and cables. This will be an HD6 Accel system strictly for tracking with 192s, both analog & digital and Apogee AD16 & Rosetta 800. That ain’t giving up, along with my new Thunderbolt Native interface is embracing PT from top to bottom.