HDX vs Native Geek Qs/Observations

[brianjanthony]

So I took the plunge to experiment with HDX. Coming from TDM HD5 to Native a few years back was fine. I liked not dealing with voices and etc. But since I've been playing so much more on releases, I wanted to see if HDX felt better than Native to track with. Or at least in full blown mixes, would it feel better?

I used 12.5.2 and and 12.8.1 and my Mac 5,1 cheese grater. All 44k 24bit sessions. I'm not planning on going to 88 in my lifetime.

I need to reacquaint my brain with DSP, I understand. Plugin order now matters (as I reminded myself by throwing 20 drum tracks into record and watched their plugins disappear - yikes).

My main q/things I need to clarify are these. In native, Slate VMR latency is 0 on my record track. With a 64 buffer. So I feel 64 samples of latency when I'm slapping/popping etc.

In HDX... DSP Trim plug is 9, Slate VMR cranks the top delay number to 522. So now, with ADC enabled, (and buffer set to 64 or any number i like), will I feel 522 samples of latency when I pop or slap? Or does ADC take care of this?

I can honestly say I haven't had to think about this in a few years. I know in Native the only ones that put me into the hundreds were the Waves artist stuff on a bass track. That could feel funny.

I usually put Limiters on my headphone send auxes. In Native it was never an issue. Blue Cat Limiters had 0 latency on my auxes. Now, in HDX, those busses are in the hundreds. There aren't many DSP limiters with decent numbers on aux tracks (at least in my arsenal). Are the bands not hearing things in time then?

.I know I need to rethink/relearn all this stuff, but it doesn't seem like an upgrade in many senses at the moment. I cannot test them side by side easily.

[albee1952]

As I understand it, the solution to using native plugins in HDX and avoiding latency, you need to insert a DSP plugin in front of any native plugins(try adding the DSP version of EQ III first and recheck).

[TOM@METRO]

I usually place all native plug-ins first, followed by DSP. Most importantly, don't alternate them. I track DSP only.

[brianjanthony]

In my weekend meanderings with it, I was putting a DSP plugin first so the others would light up (once I got past the drum test).

My mind is wondering though, if I'm looking at my bass track with 600 for ADC top number, and I throw it into record, will I feel the latency? Would it feel different than the exact same scenario in Native land?

I ask bc its a monster drag to swap cards in my studio. And I am partially disabled. Lifting the machine by myself not a great idea. With native, i didn't see such medium - large numbers on most tracks.

In HDX, I just want to make sure I'm remembering all this ok. If my headphone sends to each room has a 500 sample delay on it, and I'm feeding drum subs/gtr subs to them, am I playing with timing fire with HDX?

[Dan IceWood]

It's simple - use the AVID channel strip when tracking - provides comp limiter etc

[TOM@METRO]

Originally Posted by Dan IceWood

It's simple - use the AVID channel strip when tracking - provides comp limiter etc

Actually, that's not bad advice.

[Extreme Mixing]

Channel Strip is a great plug! And you can use it DSP. It will convert to native if opened on that type of system.

Good luck! And don't overthink this stuff too much.

Steve

[albee1952]

Indeed^ I track drums with Channel Strip on all tracks, but have several high-latency plugins built in, but inactive until I get to the MIX stage. Drums still sound quite good going down(my session drummers often remark how good the drums record)

[brianjanthony]

Thanks guys. For the record, I don't hate the avid channel Strip. But because of my health, the smaller scaling and dark color make it less appealing than say Metric Halo Channel, which blows up nicely and is more visible on my Raven.

So far, the past few weeks with HDX have been less than stellar for me. Tracking wise, it feels ok. I would imagine new sessions could be built around a more HDX tuned workflow. It just so happens I've got 2 dozen albums in full swing and it's been difficult. A lot more crashing and instability, and the sessions feel like they take 5x long to load. And there's been weird playback issues that weren't a problem in Native (left and right randomly playback out of time with each other).

Been trying to work thru it with Avid. But it's hard because I don't have the latest OS or PT version. And I maybe get one tech email a day. So it's not speedy.

I have a film crew coming next week from a major music store to do a feature on me and my lovely, half functioning Hdx system. I begged Avid to lend a hand so I don't look foolish with crashes every 5 minutes. :-(.

When it works it's golden. I know My cheese grater is almost 10. The upgraded core is awesome. But I'm beginning to wonder if it needs to go out to
Pasture.

[YYR123]

Originally Posted by brianjanthony

Thanks guys. For the record, I don't hate the avid channel Strip. But because of my health, the smaller scaling and dark color make it less appealing than say Metric Halo Channel, which blows up nicely and is more visible on my Raven.

This is so very true, the small GUI is a turn off.

Scalable GUI’s would be amazing and much more useful