HD Native vs 12 after update

[mcveighp]

Hi guys,

This year I decided to move on up into the HD world, I purchased a native card and got myself a version of Pro Tools HD 12. I've recorded an Album & put it out and its done decent. So upgrading to HD wasn't worthless but I am asking myself since 12.1 update, was there any point in updating to the Native, I'm feeling Avid have the same feeling and maybe that's why they provided HEAT to Native users.

Thoughts?

[junkgear]

You will still get higher track counts and better performance out of the box with an HD setup. There are also still a few nice features in HD that aren't available in Vanilla PT too.

I guess worth is subjective, but I don't think jumping to HD native is a waste.

[Quickdraw]

Wait, HD Native will perform better than Vanilla? Could you explain why pleas? As far as I have understood, the Native cards just gave the option to use Avid interfaces but not any DSP or other processing.

[junkgear]

HD Native using HD interfaces can achieve very low latency numbers. Better than most mid level hardware running on Vanilla.

[noah330]

Originally Posted by Quickdraw

Wait, HD Native will perform better than Vanilla? Could you explain why pleas? As far as I have understood, the Native cards just gave the option to use Avid interfaces but not any DSP or other processing.

I moved from 9 to 9HD Native and the latency was the biggest thing, plus my system seemed to use less resources as well.

With HD you still get VCA groups, which along with latency is important to me.

I have been really happy with HD Native and like the fact that I can use the Avid interfaces and it's just a really stable system and easy to setup.

You may find regular PT or some other DAW works as good/better for you for less money.

[albee1952]

My own experience: i ran PT10 HD software with my old 003 for at least a year, and was pretty happy with it. However, when I got the chance to upgrade to HDN at a great price, I took the plunge as I really wanted/needed more IO. I had no expectation of a performance boost, but I can tell you I absolutely got one. Maybe its the faster PCIe bus, or maybe the card handles audio more efficiently than the FW bus...I don't have a technical answer, but it was better in every way, with nothing more than installing the card, opening PT for the first time with the card, and rebooting as the software told me to do. Then when I moved to my current 6 core rig, I stay at the 64 buffer 99% of the time, and even can drop to 32 if I need a last-minute overdub, without disabling bunches of high-latency plugins. Granted, I am running 11 and not 12 here(I am testing 12 on a spare system drive, but so far, its just not performing for me. YMMV)

[VRW]

+1 for HD

I used to have PT Native since LE7 up to PT12, every single version of it and besides of some small issues from time to time
(which turned out to be rather hardware related by the time) I was satisfied and loved it.
Although I worked on other people´s HDs as well I stayed Native on my own simply because of money.
This spring I found an option to buy an HD license for relatively less money compared to the original HD hardware packages
and guess what? I f... love this software!
You may call me crazy but I have been in this business for over 20 years and dare to say to know, to recognize when something
does sound and feel good and 12HD not only offers cool extra features, it also feels and (I am aware of that there will be people
out there calling it bs... but honestly I don´t care) even sounds better in a way which may be hard to describe in detail but its there.
It definitely feels and works tighter and even sounds tighter, not a lot, just a tick, but its definitely there.
Don´t get me wrong, PT11/12 Native is cool stuff and all you need to make great music and if you want and can, no.1 hits as well.
Its all on a really high level finally.
Nevertheless PT12HD is a cool little step upwards in the overall performance, not only because of its nice features.
And I noticed it using the exact set up, hardware etc. I had used with PT12 Native before. The only change I made was to deinstall
PT12 Native and to install PT12HD instead.
On the same computer, using the same interface as well as using the same version of Mac OSX etc.
Again, its not a must to have HD, you can do everything with 12 Native which you will be able to do with 12HD but nevertheless there
is quite small yet noticeable step up in the overall performance of the software itself which makes a lot of fun I have to admit.
And although I love Logic as well as its a pretty cool piece of software with fantastic features and a great choice if someone may not be
able or even willing to afford all the stuff Pro Tools needs to run properly, PT12 in both versions still is the best sounding and best working
(if it is working like it should) DAW on the market.
Even if there have been not introduced any new features with 12 yet and the last version of 11 was cool anyway, again 12 feels more stable
and better working as a whole than 11 did. So that alone is worth the upgrade at the end of the day given one wants to stay with Pro Tools.
Also if Avid sometimes lack of a feel for their customers as to pricing etc. they still know what they are doing regarding their software for sure.
And with 12.1 there even have arrived some new features, more are up to come for sure by the time.

I am aware of that there will be other opinions out there of course but thats my personal experience, how I feel about it finally.

All the best everybody!

[thewiz]

Well I tell you this, if you got good I/O like the UAD Apollo you don't need HD software unless you're doing surround.

[mattrixx]

I have a HD Native card and OMNI, which sits in my rack... off....
In it's place I use an RME UFX via USB2 at the 32 sample buffer and it performs better than the HD Native combo ever did.

[ShiftStudios]

Originally Posted by mattrixx

I have a HD Native card and OMNI, which sits in my rack... off....
In it's place I use an RME UFX via USB2 at the 32 sample buffer and it performs better than the HD Native combo ever did.

+1

I am currently using a MOTU 16A via Thunderbolt, I've not experienced anything faster personally. Near 0 latency while tracking (easily at 32 samples all the way up to 192). Nice Sabre32 converters, super low noise floor, high gain.

You're telling me that HD is worth the extra $10000 why?? I just can't see it sorry. Maybe if their interfaces had amazing preamps, but nope, just standard ol' sterile preamps, nothing special. Personally, I'd rather spend the money on a two MOTU 16A's, and some tasty vintage preamps, I think that's money better spent than an AVID HD Setup. If I want surround mixing, I have a million other tools for that which will work with my existing setup for a fraction of the cost of PTHD.