MAC PRO and future direction of PT HD

[dr sound]

From the Apple site under Quotes:

Digidesign
“Our customers will be totally energized by the power of the Mac Pro. It’s optimally suited for serious audio processing - effects plug-ins and software virtual instruments will thrive on this machine. Combined with the expanded PCI Express slots, which support our HD Accel cards, the Mac Pro is bound to stay at the forefront of DAW technology for years to come.”

- Dave Lebolt, General Manager, Digidesign

[polkbrosmusic]

I use HD2 Accel on MAC OSX and PC WinXP.

As well LE on a MacBook Pro.

The Universal Binary works sort of, many of the plugins don't work on OSX or Win XP, if you make this transition. How long will it take to get the software back to where your present system is right now.

I know that for the HD users, we will have to crossgrade to PCIe cards at a substantive cost (HD1 $1995, HD2 $3495, HD3 $4995) in addition to the purchase of the Mac Pro. (option expansion chassis)

The basic cost of the Mac Pro suggest $2499 and 1 gig of ram is not enough 4gig brings the basic system to $3600 so we could be talking potential $4500-$13200 to upgrade your present rig.

Then the question is, are there enough benefits for the upgrade?

And I want a new it badly.

I'm really questioning my sanity at this time for considering the purchase.

[WorldOfWiz]

btw never buy ram from Apple.

[protonneutron]

Im a composer and have little experience with engineering. So forgive my ignorance if any.
If I have Guitar 1 with distortion (stomp box (or Line 6 Vetta) ) thats not the best way to obtain a great signal/sound? I should record it with a SM57 and my Amp on a clean channel?Then add effects post?

Or does obtaining a clean channel and then coloring the sound post not apply to Guitar recording?

Please enlighten me, like I said Im a composer who records my own compositions. If I want a particular sound I obtain that sound/tone by experimenting ( and that sound sometimes lends itself to different rythms, chords, scales, that otherwise be lossed to a clean signal) and then recording that sound.
Anyhow any and all info would be much appreciated,
Thanks
E

[Dutchmuzik]

btw never buy ram from Apple.

Agreed but have you seen how expensive the FB DIMM ram is !

Ram for new Mac Pro

[allstaar]

Im a composer and have little experience with engineering. So forgive my ignorance if any.
If I have Guitar 1 with distortion (stomp box (or Line 6 Vetta) ) thats not the best way to obtain a great signal/sound? I should record it with a SM57 and my Amp on a clean channel?Then add effects post?

Or does obtaining a clean channel and then coloring the sound post not apply to Guitar recording?

Please enlighten me, like I said Im a composer who records my own compositions. If I want a particular sound I obtain that sound/tone by experimenting ( and that sound sometimes lends itself to different rythms, chords, scales, that otherwise be lossed to a clean signal) and then recording that sound.
Anyhow any and all info would be much appreciated,
Thanks
E

Now that's what I call a tangent !

( a mistake I'm sure)

[mwingerski]

curious about these hybrid systems...

does adc work on the RTAS plug-ins when they are paired with the hd core or hd2 accel?
(this has always been a bit of a puzzle to me...the way RTAS interacts with ADC)
I am not so concerned about plug-ins on tracking as I am on mixing and the ability to keep everything in phase...

that's my biggest worry about working with rtas.

Would be curious to hear the creator of these hybrid systems chime in on that.

also, according to the digi website (or buried somewhere within it), there are many non-Apple PC format computers that still use PCI cards and they say that both PCI and PCIe are going to be supported for the foreseeable future. So just because mac has switched to PCIe, does not mean that the whole world of computing is there.
i could be wrong about that though...

[mixx]

there is a difference between MONITORING with a plugin and RECORDING THRU a plugin

I apologize if I wasn’t clear.

I think recording (committing the sound to disc that way) thru a compressor or EQ plugin is nuts .

hmmm..

no bawlz err nuts..why have to push plackback plug ins so hard? cutting with eq and light compression and even 3-6 dB downward expansion with a gate on things lihe live tom tracks gets you much closer to a mix sound if you have ears,,ummm guess you dont remember 4, 8 and 16 track pro recording days..

personally i hate when i get a PT session that has unprocessed audio to drive or when people don't bounce down doubled string dates or backgrounds [esp when they then brag about a 80 track mix..]

things like that, to me, make a mix session a processing and bounce down nightmare

[Touchwood Studios]

I think recording (committing the sound to disc that way) thru a compressor or EQ plugin is nuts.

If your happy with the sound and you know exactly what your going for why not?
Sooner or later you have to make a decision so why waste time?
Lots of people do it that way and lots of people track flat as well.
The golden rule of audio...
There are no rules.