Current Opinions HDX vs TDM

[midnightsun]

I'm running PTHD3 TDM version 8 on a Mac Pro and and fairly content. Yes, I have been wondering and researching whether or not to make the transition since HDx AAX first rolled out. Yes, I have searched many forums. I am posting this question "fresh" because I am looking for CURRENT opinions based on experience, not "true believer" emotion based on badge loyalty or the need to appear on the bleeding edge of technology.

I am ready, willing, and able to put up the cash and will need 24 to 36 I/0s. I do have PT10 native on a MacBook Pro and I think PT10 is nice, but on my main rig I am running through an analog console and have a bunch of outboard gear, so I don't use a bunch of plugins.

For those of you who made the plunge, do you wonder if your money wound have been better spend on other gear on sitting on the sideline?

[Drew Mazurek]

Originally Posted by midnightsun

I am ready, willing, and able to put up the cash and will need 24 to 36 I/0s. I do have PT10 native on a MacBook Pro and I think PT10 is nice, but on my main rig I am running through an analog console and have a bunch of outboard gear, so I don't use a bunch of plugins.

Based on this statement, I'd take the TDM rig to PTHD10 (which is easily the best version of PT IMO-10.3.3 is VERY stable and Clip Gain and Disk Cache alone make it worth it) and then sit tight. Possibly for several more years.

Supposedly PT11 is coming and your cards won't work with it as they are EOL'ed. Then get ready for an expensive upgrade down the road once the dust has settled. Maybe wait for another exchange special??

[JFreak]

Originally Posted by dmazurek

Maybe wait for another exchange special??

FWIW, that's what I'm hoping...

[nst7]

Are you referring to the TDM to HDX upgrade? Because it's still going on, at least Sweetwater still has it up as current. Not sure what you mean by "wait".

Unless you're talking about waiting to do that when 11 comes out, so that you're not trading up now, then paying perhaps $1000 to upgrade from 10 to 11.

[Eric Seaberg]

We just upgraded an HD4 TDM to an HDX2 and the difference is amazing! This last weekend I was recording 97-tracks simultaneously and HDX was hovering at 7-8% CPU usage on a MacPro (OS 10.7.5 16GB RAM). Since we've moved all of our systems back to Lion, 10.3.x has been very happy.

IMHO, the TDM->HDX upgrade is well worth it now!

[groundcontrol]

Originally Posted by dmazurek

Based on this statement, I'd take the TDM rig to PTHD10 (which is easily the best version of PT IMO-10.3.3 is VERY stable and Clip Gain and Disk Cache alone make it worth it) and then sit tight. Possibly for several more years.

Supposedly PT11 is coming and your cards won't work with it as they are EOL'ed. Then get ready for an expensive upgrade down the road once the dust has settled. Maybe wait for another exchange special??

+1

If you're pretty sure you'll want to upgrade your cards in the near futur then you might want to consider the present trade in.

[Logichead]

Originally Posted by midnightsun

I'm running PTHD3 TDM version 8 on a Mac Pro and and fairly content. Yes, I have been wondering and researching whether or not to make the transition since HDx AAX first rolled out. Yes, I have searched many forums. I am posting this question "fresh" because I am looking for CURRENT opinions based on experience, not "true believer" emotion based on badge loyalty or the need to appear on the bleeding edge of technology.

I am ready, willing, and able to put up the cash and will need 24 to 36 I/0s. I do have PT10 native on a MacBook Pro and I think PT10 is nice, but on my main rig I am running through an analog console and have a bunch of outboard gear, so I don't use a bunch of plugins.

For those of you who made the plunge, do you wonder if your money wound have been better spend on other gear on sitting on the sideline?

I work on an HDX and an HD Accel5 on a daily basis. For the situation you describe, I think you will be many $$$$ ahead to stick with HD for the time being.

HDX is not quite as stable as the TDM rig. It occasionally mutes all inputs and outputs for a few seconds - a drag when recording. I have been troubleshooting the problem, but since it is intermittent it's tough to track down. I don't hear a huge (or any) quality difference in mixes between the 2 rigs, but I am used to careful gain staging within HD. Since you are using a console, the benefits of HDX are even less. More processing (which you can equal or beat by getting a used chassis and adding some cards) and more voices is about it. If you were doing big surround mixes in the box, HDX would make sense.

HDX or Native is indeed the future, but it will be several years before AAX plugs catch up to the range and availability of current TDM offerings. Remember, AAX was supposed to be easier to code and more powerful than TDM, even cheaper. This has not materialized.

HDX will mature. HDX pricing may even improve - as it should, like all computer tech. (The bundling with interfaces is ridiculous and a disincentive.) if you have unlimited budget, sure, go for HDX. But you don't need to.

Imoymmv. Best...H

[glasswing]

I emigrated from HD3 to HDX1. I love it. Got the new AVID HD16X16 (and Lynx Aurora 16VT). Mtn Lion 10.8.2. I think the whole shebang sounds better, but haven't done A/B to check. But in the process of the upgrade, I bought a new Mac Pro and designated my old one to Vienna Ensemble Pro5. It hosts 64 bit plug ins, and hosts rtas etc. I think if I'd known about VEP5 I may have waited. I'm also not so hot to trot for 11, because VEP5 takes the hard work offline from PT and provides 64 bit processing (RAM now useful!).

If you do hardware processing, I'm not sure if it's worth it, though. The loss of the massive, bloated TDM dithering (gone with HDX) shows up mostly when working in the box. I suspect that's where the advantage of HDX is most apparent.

[Neil Pickles]

I was on the bleeding edge first wave of HDX buyers.

To begin with there was a definite dearth of AAX DSP PI's and I was basically running an expensive HD Native system for a few months, but I personally turned a corner with the recent Sonnox Dynamics release.

In fact AAX DSP or native releases seems to be accelerating right now I guess in the run up to 11.

A lot of 10 features only make sense in a non TDM environment 32 bit wavs are pretty pointless if your bus outputs are only 24 bit (in TDM)

Now when I use a TDM rig I can't believe how slow and clunky it seems. Still an incredible system though and I never had an issue getting great sounds out of it 24 bit busses or not ;-)

I've done a couple of 5.1 projects though that my old TDM used to really struggle on with ease on my new Mac/HDX

I think the HDX is finally maturing into what everyone hoped it would be initially.

PT11 is going to be big news for all VI users HDX or not and TDM will not be on that bus. That's worth baring in mind.