Pro Tools LE to HD upgrade special: Open discussion

[Tony Cariddi]

Hello,

The new "Raise Your Level" Pro Tools LE to HD upgrade offer sparked debate on the Pro Tools 8 Facebook fan page within the first few hours of its announcement. I am starting this thread in the spirit of open discussion where I can offer direct feedback from Avid Digidesign.

Feel free to post your feedback in this thread. We look forward to hearing from you.

Tony

[ThatDigiGuy]

why so cheap? is digi coming out with something new? is this an attempt top satisfy people how have LE and want ADC? It's still out of my reach even with the slashed prices, but really, why?

[TOM@METRO]

Originally Posted by ThatDigiGuy

why so cheap? is digi coming out with something new? is this an attempt top satisfy people how have LE and want ADC? It's still out of my reach even with the slashed prices, but really, why?

That hadn't crossed my mind but mabe this is a way to offer ADC for a few thousand dollars. It's difficult to think of another advantage for music production.

[Tony Cariddi]

Hi ThatDigiGuy,

Thanks for the post. The motive behind the Raise Your Level campaign is to raise awareness of Pro Tools|HD's benefits and to make the system more accessible to our customers.

One of the main benefits is HD's dedicated processing that ensures peak performance no matter how much you are demanding of your host processor. Other benefits are is expandable, high quality I/O, ADC for hardware and software inserts, and expanded track counts.

Tony

[getz76]

ADC for software should be in Pro Tools LE. I am currently using Mellowmuse's ATA which is an effective, if not ideal, workaround.

Pro Tools HD does not offer me any advantages. I record on locations 100% of the time, other than minor overdubs. I am a team of one and need to be able to hump all of my gear myself. Rack mounting a Mac Pro in a flightcase is not an option!

I would be interested in Pro Tools HD with a firewire interface, though. If Avid/Digidesign came out with a simple Firewire 800 interface that had four ADAT I/O and worked with Pro Tools HD, I would be first in line. DSP? When we have vast power in our current CPUs, it has to be on the way out.

[The Dougfather]

Guys, the current line of Pro Tools HD is over 7 years old and even with 54% off and a free interface it's still way too overpriced, all that cash for 2 pci-e cards......no way.

Paying for that level of plugin processing when beige 300mhz Powermac G3's were cutting edge was probably a very attractive offer. But now native is catching up big style.

It would be nice to see something like mojo for Pro Tools, a mobile or at least semi transportable form of DSP acceleration.

Quite frankly i'd just settle for ADC.

[soundeziner]

Dear Digi,

I have a few LE systems I'd love to upgrade. While the slow economy is one of the leading factors for you to make the offer, it is also the leading reason why I'll have to quietly curse and watch it pass by.

[ThatDigiGuy]

Tony,

Thanks for the response. I worked on an HD system at the previous studio I worked at. I will agree it was nice. However, it is an older system and I agree that native is catching up. I also need to be flexible for on location recording. HD makes it very hard to do so. Its still too pricy.

Aside from that. Why is it such a problem to introduce ADC for LE? I have the production kits and they work just fine for Music Production. I have the track count and even the processing power for numerous instrument tracks. My only beef with the system is the additional time I need to spend at the end of a mix to correct delay compensation. I think you would please your customers much more by adding that feature. Frankly, I don't think having an HD system is a huge selling point in a studio anymore. Its the product. So why not help your customers out and add that feature? The idea of switching to a Logic based studio grows bigger in my mind everyday. I'm sure I'm not the only one. Something like ADC could change that.

I hope Digi comes through in the end.

[WilliamDC]

As nice as the discount is, it's not enough to entice me to upgrade to HD. I think I'll wait until there is some sort of solution that is more portable.

[wcody]

I would have to agree that the most important new feature for me is ADC. I'm already running an 8-core Mac Pro with two UAD cards and the Music Production Toolkit on a Digi 002, and the system isn't even breathing hard.

For my needs, going to HD doesn't make any sense.

Perhaps the HD upgrade offer would entice LE users with underpowered Macs or PCs without a good outboard mic pre, but even then, it's a lot cheaper just to upgrade the host computer and buy a Focusrite Octopre than going HD.

I would gladly pay Digi for a real ADC function - maybe up to a couple $100, but no way is it worth almost $5K for an entry-level into HD when all I really get is ADC, and a host computer that's practically hibernating.