Mix3 upgrade to HD2 accel = How much more Power ?

[WRipley]

Helo guys and Digi Support Team,
I want to upgrade from a Mix3 to a HD2 Accel system.
How much more performance/instances will i have in Plugins (in example Waves Renesance Copressor) like on the old Mix3 ?
2 times, 3 Times ore more ?
Another question:
If i use 41KHz will i have more Instances of the same Plugins as i work with 96kHz.
Cause the Plugins don´t have to work so much in 41Khz/48kHz, i think.
How much power will a Virus C with 16 voices have on a HD Card ?
How much DSP`s are fit on an HD Card ?
The last question:
Does someone attach a 888/16 to the Legacy Port.
Will it run on 16 Bit ? Will it work ?
Cause Digi says only 20 or 24 Bit Interfaces are supportet like Adat Bridge 20 and
888/24 ?
Cause if they want only 24 Bit why will Adat Bridge 20 Bit works ?
Thanks in advance
Walter

[hitp]

Hi Walter.

We went from Mix Plus Plus to HD2s in all 6 of our post studios and an HD3 Accel in our music room. All I can say was the upgrade was worth it for us. You will have a lot more power. . . our HD3 runs lots and lots of plugs over 40 to 60 tracks. I cannot qualify how much more power you need because only you can answer that, but we rarely run out especially on the HD3. Sessions that choked on a Mix Plus Plus open and run with power to spare on our HD2s. Plus on Accel the Revibe plugin replaced our Lexicon 480L . . . and for us, that plug in alone was worth the upgrade to Accel. Also the 192 sounds better than the 888.

Other than the new features of PT6 you get the speed of Mac OSX and the G5 computer. I have heard of people who get similar results using a high end PC as well. Once you upgrade you will wonder why you did not do it earlier.

We made a decision to trade in our blackfaces and Mix to HD . . . expensive but worth it.

Just my two cents . . .

[blairl]

While the increase in DSP power can be substantial, there are some plug-ins that absolutely do not take advantage of this increase. For example, the older plug-ins from Sound Toys (Wave Mechanics) take 1 whole DSP chip on HD process and HD Accel cards. They also took 1 whole chip on Mix cards and 1 whole chip on vintage DSP farms. I had a Mix system with 4 vintage DSP farms that gave me many more instances of Pitch Doctor and Pure Pitch than my current HD3 system does. I was extremely disapointed to discover this. The folks at Sound Toys said it would be possible to change this and give more instances on HD process and Accel cards, but that it requires some recoding on their part. They haven't had time to do this yet as they are working on newer plug-ins. I hope they get to it soon.

[Kenny Gioia]

I went from a Mix3 to HD2 and I have yet to run out of DSP. Never.

The Mix3 would max out about 25% of the time.

Good Luck.

[jeremyroberts]

as the old saying goes... DSP requirements expand to fit the amount of DSP available.

If you DON'T CHANGE YOUR WORKFLOW - the HD2 Accel is more powerful (maybe 30%) than a Mix3

You will want to be sure you upgrade all your plugs -- and don't forget, some plugs are accel hostile and do not share DSP resources. You can stop using these and complain to the developer. And complain here... if it translates into lost sales, most developers will fix it, or just write it off. You will get an opportunity to change how you work. And BTW, if you get accel, you'll be able to use EQ3 - which is very efficient in DSP and sounds great.

[ianjones]

I believe that a single HD accel card is almost 4 times as powerful as a mix card. At least thats what Digi says in their certified dealer training.

[Tony Shepperd]

To be perfectly honest it really depends on the plugins you use.
You've heard the phrase, with more power comes more responsibility. Well when you get an HD 3 Accel and start running the newer more power hungry plugins, your DSP will go fast. Plugins like Impact, L3, TL Space... there are a host of them that make Pro Tools HD really shine. But after you do a mix, you will feel like you will want more DSP. However if you are just sticking with them same plugins you had from your mix system, you will feel like WOW look at all the DSP I have, effect when you first start pulling up plugins.

[roberts]

I went from a Mix3 to HD2 and I have yet to run out of DSP. Never.

The Mix3 would max out about 25% of the time.

Good Luck.

I have a HD 7 Accel and I run out all the time.
... its never enough.
With that said aside from Sound Toys and most Reverbs One Accel card is roughly a Mix 3 System. You'll have lots.