Replace Expansion|HD or Switch DAW Software

[barstool719]

Originally Posted by JFreak

Sit tight and use your current system for awhile longer. The discontinuation of PCI-to-PCIE expansion can only mean one thing: there will be new card generation around the corner. And new hardware exchange programs...

+1

im holding off on buying anything else until the next hardware line/major software revision is announced. maybe if everyone says they are holding off, digi will work faster.

[minister]

The Digi Expansion HD was a real dog!! I am SO glad to be rid of it. Crashes when you try to do a lot of tweaky mouse automation fixing; crashing and not opening BIG sessions even with all the plugs up to date; slow, slow, sloooooooooow, constantly running back to the machine room to power cycle it, etc. Out of the gate it was a PIA. Yes, I got more than $2000 bucks of work done on it, but I couldn't believe a product like that was put out.

I had been waiting and now just got a New Mac Pro 8 Core and the Magma PE6R4 PCI-x version with a PCIe Host card. Now it is snappy as can be, no crashes, only downloaded the latest plugs. HD|6 running great. Yes, it was $6300 USD for computer and Chassis, but it is SO worth it if you can afford it and you need a chassis. Go this route if you can.

[holden]

Originally Posted by minister

The Digi Expansion HD was a real dog!! I am SO glad to be rid of it. Crashes when you try to do a lot of tweaky mouse automation fixing; crashing and not opening BIG sessions even with all the plugs up to date; slow, slow, sloooooooooow, constantly running back to the machine room to power cycle it, etc. Out of the gate it was a PIA. Yes, I got more than $2000 bucks of work done on it, but I couldn't believe a product like that was put out. ...

It has worked well for me for the past year or so, and I run HD6 to the max on 96k/24b sessions. There were earlier problems during mouse automation fixing that disappeared with one of the PT updates. The only Expansion|HD problem I have had in the past year has been associated with Altiverb 6 XL, but the most recent update of Altiverb 6 XL appears to have fixed that.

Slow? In what sense?

[Lizardpoint]

To save some money you can buy the Magma PE6NE board set only. This will give you a PCIx backplane you can fit into your chassis and a PCIe host card to pop into your Mac. Costs $1500. You can then buy any old Magma chassis, gut the innards and fix the board in. Then once you get it all working, you can sell your HD6 chassis to someone who is not upgrading and get some cash back.
It worked for me.

Lizardpoint

[Cliffy_Boy]

JFreak is right.

Digi has started removing dealers from across Canada and are having a private showing of new products in a hotel instead at the AES. The rumour mill says that they will have a new HD product line for a fraction the price of the current and a new high end line for $50k+. It is unknown how the new mid-line will connect to a computer - whether it will have its own box or TDM cards in a computer. I was told to hold off and wait before getting an expansion unit or just replace my PCIx cards for PCIe.

Supposedly this new technology is coming in Q1or Q2.

[c-tone]

Originally Posted by Cliffy_Boy

I was told to hold off and wait before getting an expansion unit or just replace my PCIx cards for PCIe.

Well, if you eventually want to upgrade to the next generation of cards and you think they are coming soon, wouldn't it make more sense to keep the PCIx cards for now (and get a chassis if you need a new computer), rather than crossgrading now $$$ and then upgrading again later $$$ ?

You might then end up with a $2K boat anchor if you get a chassis. I guess it all depends on what the upgrade prices would be, but generally, it has been very expensive to upgrade or crossgrade, so upgrading only once would certainly save a lot.

[Cliffy_Boy]

Exactly. Keeping my PCIx, G5 and holding my breath

[minister]

Originally Posted by holden

It has worked well for me for the past year or so, and I run HD6 to the max on 96k/24b sessions. There were earlier problems during mouse automation fixing that disappeared with one of the PT updates. The only Expansion|HD problem I have had in the past year has been associated with Altiverb 6 XL, but the most recent update of Altiverb 6 XL appears to have fixed that.

Slow? In what sense?

Hi Holden,

I had the Expansion|HD for 2 years. In small to medium sessions it worked fine, but push the track count to 75, 90, to over a 100 in surround and it was terrible response. Coming out of automation passes, it would hang for a moment, then snap into place. Instanciating a plug took a really long time. Editing on a big session was like fighting with taffy : forever to respond to zoom commands, moving tracks in the session took a long time, etc. I take care of my computers, run the latest plugs, Disk Warrior, Zap P-Ram (yes, you still sometimes need to do this in OS X), run Cocktail, repair Disk perms, toss PT prefs, the Digi approved components on a Dual 2.5 with 8 G RAM.. I had the latest version of Altiverb XL all the way to just before 6.3 and it did not give me all that many problems once they fixed a bunch of stuff. Yes, I even played the game of stacking the AV verbs at the top of the session so they would load first, most of the time that worked. If I stacked them at the bottom, the session would not load. But even to AudioEase, this thing was a PITA.

I only ran it with 7.3.1cs7 in Tiger 10.4.9, then 10.4.11

Comparison. Big session, lots tracks, regions, automation etc. A real fight to get to the finish line. Install new system. Producer calls wants changes. The session went from taking 15 minutes to open to 2 minutes, now an HD|6 is as fast as having the HD cards in the host CPU. I have an HD|2 Accel in another so I can make a direct comparison. The new system is snappy, responsive. Totally easy to make the changes. Other mixers have told me as well, Marti Humphrey being one.

Glad it works for you.

[digidesigner]

Originally Posted by Cliffy_Boy

JFreak is right.

The rumour mill says that they will have a new HD product line for a fraction the price of the current and a new high end line for $50k+. It is unknown how the new mid-line will connect to a computer - whether it will have its own box or TDM cards in a computer. I was told to hold off and wait before getting an expansion unit or just replace my PCIx cards for PCIe.

Supposedly this new technology is coming in Q1or Q2.

come on guys we need more gossip and facts regarding this some spy photos would be nice, or data sheets If you can't post them feel free to email me directly, I won't tell

[Sean Russell]

Yes, please, feed the rumor mill flames! We want more !!