HD Native performance without Avid hardware?

[Protone]

Hi,

I work both in Protools and Logic Pro. Probably 70-80% of the time in Logic. Currently I have HD Native PCI and Avid HD I/O as my interface, but I am considering selling the PCI card and the HD I/O, because I am tired of all the issues with Avid core audio and Logic.

I am just worried that heavier Protools projects might not work as smooth with 3rd party interfaces. I would love to hear comments on that from someone working with PT HD 12 without Avid hardware. Thanks!

-Pete

[Darryl Ramm]

With a good interface you won't run into problems. HD Native hardware is not doing anything amazing.

The issues you need to watch are latency expectations, if you worry about latency today. You can certainly get there with Thunderbolt interfaces.

You can't do more than 32x32 IO with Pro tools and CoreAudio, that does not seem an issue if you only have one HD IO today.

I'd be looking at Apogee Ensemble and Symphony and UAD Apollo thunderbolt interfaces. With more Logic I'd especially look at the Logic optimization and integration from Apogee. (but for things like mic preamps... which you might be doing all outboard already, so maybe not that helpful).

It's not possible to recommend exact things as we don't know the configuration of your HD IO, or other things you might want.

---

I see You have a Mac Pro... what interface connections were you considering? Personally I'd be tying an interface upgrade to getting a Mac with Thunderbolt. But if you need a Pro... then waiting until the new non-trashcan Mac Pro comes out.

Sure there are other options than Thunderbolt, but I'm stuck on the performance of those interfaces.

This connectivity issue and waiting for a new Mac Pro may be enough to defer doing anything now.

[uptheoctave]

Check out the Focusrite Red 4/8/16 products.
HDX connectivity plus Thunderbolt.
Or some of the Antelope devices.

I move between PT over HDX and Logic over Thunderbolt with one device and it works great.

[Protone]

Thanks for great suggestions!

I visit here very rarely and my signature was from years ago, sorry about that. currently have mac pro 5.1 and pt12, and probably wait for new mac pro before upgrading. (Definitely need mac pro, iMacs don´t fit on my console and macbooks don´t have enough juice and memory capacity.) Not sure what to do about the whole interface thing until then, since I don´t have thunderbolt now. Maybe I just have to deal with my current setup for a little longer...

By the way, I don´t need preamps, and 16 ins/outs are plenty for me. And I don´t worry about the lantency in Protools either since I only do mixing and audio post related task in PT. So I think I have lots of good options to choose from.

[panamajack]

Originally Posted by Protone

. . . I work both in Protools and Logic Pro. Probably 70-80% of the time in Logic. . . I am tired of all the issues with Avid core audio and Logic.

. . . I would love to hear comments on that from someone working with PT HD 12 without Avid hardware. . .

If you like Logic X, you are stuck with a Mac.

Not sure what you mean by "issues between Avid core audio and Logic," (?) I have not experienced problems (have HD | Native PCIe and run PT HD 12.x and Logic X 10.3.2).

I bought both an Apogee Element 46 and a Focusrite Clarett 8PreX so I could experiment with Thunderbolt connections. I have two tower MPs, so bought an entry level Macbook Pro (early 13" 2015 MBP, needed it for its TB ports) that I upgraded to a 512GB SSD . The MBP SSDs are twice as fast as the fastest 850 Pro SSD in either of my MP towers, so even though there is a memory limitation, it performs okay for my testing purposes.

Now that the 2016 15" MBPs are being discounted and are configured with 2GB dual graphics and 512 GB SSDs, I've been yhinking about picking one up just to gain the SSD speed and the superior graphics capability, not to mention they only weigh four pounds (just 8 ounces more than the 2015 13" MBP).

The Geekbench 2 (64) performance of the 2016 MBP 2.7GHz i7 (14,104) is on par with the 2013 3.7GHz 4-core trashcan (14,660), but inferior to a 2012 2.66 GHz 12-core (22,605).

The 15" 2016 MBPs support up to four 4K monitors at 60 Hz and the audio thunderbolt interfaces can be daisy-chained onto external thunderbolt drives.

Starting with 2016, the 15" MBPs have four TB 3 ports. The rub is that you need to buy adapters for backward compatibility.

My belief is that when and if Apple re-designs the Mac Pro, it is going to cost a pretty penny.

[Dan IceWood]

Have to say that I've also had no problems with Core audio and Protools HD since Version 12.6/7.

What version of PT are you running?

[JFreak]

Originally Posted by Protone

I am just worried that heavier Protools projects might not work as smooth with 3rd party interfaces. I would love to hear comments on that from someone working with PT HD 12 without Avid hardware.

Apogee Symphony mk2 TB interface running great here

[Southsidemusic]

2 Apollo Quad 8 New blackface unts
2 Apollo 16 New blackface units

Runs flawless and the core audio drivers are a dream. We jump between PT12HD and Ableton LIVE9 Suite all the time and no restarts or anything. We always have Spotify and sometimes even youtube open at the same time and still works a treat. All audio from DAW and Spotify and youtube comes via apollo and even can be played at the same time

[Spanzor]

Originally Posted by Southsidemusic

2 Apollo Quad 8 New blackface unts
2 Apollo 16 New blackface units

Runs flawless and the core audio drivers are a dream. We jump between PT12HD and Ableton LIVE9 Suite all the time and no restarts or anything. We always have Spotify and sometimes even youtube open at the same time and still works a treat. All audio from DAW and Spotify and youtube comes via apollo and even can be played at the same time

Hi there-

Reading this, it looks like you are able to run 48 outputs in Pro Tools with no Avid hardware, is this doable? My dealer specifically told me I'd need the HD Native TB box and a Digilink License from Avid to get above 32 channels of outputs, and I'm having a lot of trouble when I use Ableton with the HD Native box.

Are you able to run all 48 outputs in PT HD just off of thunderbolt? This is the world I want to live in...