Was Given Free Hardware and 192s...Should I Even Try To Integrate with Apollo 8?
 

I'll keep this as short as possible without making it a meaningless post. Because I am still very very new to the forums here, mods, if I have placed this in the wrong sub-forum, please feel free to move this or tell me to delete and move it to whatever the best spot is. This is sort of a 3rd Party question though I suppose, since my primary setup is an Apollo 8p to a Twin (as a master volume controller and extra pair of inputs), through a Satellite. However, to be very clear, I have no questions about this setup at all.

The situation is simple. I have not paid for anything nor put the cart before the horse and done something foolish without researching in advance, so my investment is nil but my questions are many.

My neighbor had an extra console (Soundcraft GB8 40-channel) and a pair of unused Digidesign 192s, with cabling (DB-25 and word clock), which he just gave me "on permanent loan." One of the 192s has 16 analog in; the other has 8 analog in. It got it out of his closet and cleared his rack space, but I'm also very aware that now it is in my unfinished basement, where either it needs to sit in my closet, used as a video set piece/prop, or if things can be integrated for an actual use with my setup, well then, of course even better. But in any event, I can't sell any of it, of course, so the real issue now just becomes what do I do with it, if anything?

I've read enough to understand the 192s are Pro Tools HD only anyhow, and I'm just on PT standard (2021). In looking into Apollo stuff without the 192s involved at all, I got the impression that the UA interface & ecosystem isn't really designed for mixing through an outboard mixer anyhow. I'm sure I can still use it on the way in but whether or not it's an improvement or detriment to the audio I guess I'll have to wait until I can hook at least enough up in order to try and let my ears decide. I'm not a total novice but I'm also not a pro engineer for hire. Just a long-time guitar player who's always had home rigs from the ADAT days on! I only went to a computer setup at all in 2017 so I was never on the cutting edge.

I generally get good guitar sounds and still mic up old amps because plugin amps still annoy me. What little front-end I use as-is involves a 500-series Hairball pre, a blue-stripe 1176, and occasionally for acoustic guitar the Pendulum Audio preamp and EQ. All of which I mention for context. I'm not a complete novice but when it comes to serious studio stuff, I spent all my time at the guitar instead of in technical manuals.

In theory, is there any chance/use-at-all to run the 192s out through the lightpipe/ADAT(s) in on Apollos, clock to the UA interface, and wire the board...at least in (if not out). And if that even works to begin with, in that capacity, using 192s just as I/O on the way to the Apollo, does that get around the Pro Tools HD issue or am I still going to wind up with an unusable set of devices? For a second I looked into PCI cards to just go PT HD (taking the Apollos completely out of the equation) but I'm on a late 2020 MacBook Pro and fully aware none of this was setup for that. Can that even be done at all, and even if so, would it be advisable???

This doesn't even answer the obvious question of what in the world do I need that much I/O for to begin with. Like I said at the top, all of this is just in my basement now. Whether or not it gets used at all, in what capacity, or all just waits until the future...anything is fine. It's not like I bought a bunch of older gear on a whim and am now stuck. The situation dictates the questions rather than having invested in anything with a pre-decided vision of what it is supposed to/has to be. Anything is fine. I'm just asking here because right now, I don't know. I mean, I guess I could turn off the computers entirely and run the board into a pair of (working, it's insane) ADATs that never left the rack but at that point I see visions of 20-bit nostalgic digital with worse conversion and an impending nightmare when one day, whether in 1, 500, or 1000 more, the machine finally eats the tape after completing the perfect guitar solo. Maybe the ADATs just belong out on the curbside but that's neither here nor there at the moment. The real issue is figuring out if/what to do about the console and 192s now in my basement. Any use? Or should I just store them?

Any advice, thoughts, opinions would be helpful.

Sean

Re: Was Given Free Hardware and 192s...Should I Even Try To Integrate with Apollo 8?
 

There is no way to use the 192 with your non-DigiLink environment. And adding stuff to go to DigiLink would cost you $$$ (Pro Tools Ultimate, and ongoing support/upgrade costs, and a HD Native, HD Thunderbolt or HDX card). And you would not be able to use you Apollo or UAD plugins with that setup.

Low end Digilink native systems make decreasing sense, with Pro Tools Studio now able to access 64x64 IO. It's a boat anchor of stuff to tie yourself to if you don't need it... and if you did "need" it and a bigger HDX rig then you would know that, and the ~$5k+ buy in price would not be a surprise.

The Soundcraft console... unless you have a live mixer need run away. If you did need that and wanted to record off it you could connect up to it say with multiple UAD 16X interfaces chained on Thunderbolt. But since you don't... Ruunnnn Awwwaaayyyyy... (And the Soundcraft has no control surface capabilities).

None of these are going to help you record better guitar. I'd be encouraging the owner to sell this stuff unless he is planning on using it.

Re: Was Given Free Hardware and 192s...Should I Even Try To Integrate with Apollo 8?
 

Thanks for the input Darryl!!

Re: Was Given Free Hardware and 192s...Should I Even Try To Integrate with Apollo 8?
 

Just in case you're still on the fence here; I agree with everything Darryl said. Now I could see using the 192's with an HDN or HDX card(which you DON'T have), but otherwise they have no use with your current setup. As for the console, the amount of extra effort required to integrate an analog console into a PT setup is daunting, at best. To do it for a super-classy console(think Neve, API, Audient) is one thing, but to do it for a "budget" console...I would never in a hundred years:o

The guys that bought me out of my Nashville studio 4 years ago got caught up in this "idea" and pretty much ruined the entire setup:eek::eek::eek: They sent me a session to mix as they couldn't make the client happy and I just about fell out of my chair when I heard the tracks(in a bad way, not in a good way):o

Re: Was Given Free Hardware and 192s...Should I Even Try To Integrate with Apollo 8?
 

You can make use of the 192s with a Waves Digigrid DLI. That's way cheaper and if you're a Waves user you can use the processing power of the DLI for Waves Plug-ins on your tracks.
https://youtu.be/1ZaN4AaWwBc

Re: Was Given Free Hardware and 192s...Should I Even Try To Integrate with Apollo 8?
 

Good to know. Looking into it though, this requires HD/Ultimate as near as I can tell, so between the cost of a perpetual license and the Digigrid, it looks like I'd be sinking about $4k into a setup just to use the 192s, correct? For the time being, I have no immediate plans to leave the UAD universe but if I did/needed to later on, isn't PT Carbon about $4k too, and works just fine with the Native version of PT I am currently on?

I think about things because all of this stuff has always fascinated me and I hate (loathe) waste...and I always want to know if I'm wrong (or how I can do something better or whatever)....but looking into things, Darryl's making a lot of sense!

Re: Was Given Free Hardware and 192s...Should I Even Try To Integrate with Apollo 8?
 

I think the point was you can access the DigiLink interfaces via CoreAudio if you go the Waves Digigrid route. And though how that works, you then don't need Pro Tools Ultimate. But this all seems a tortuous exercise unless you already had Digigrid or wanted it. And well, few folks do. Instead of trying to jump through hoops to make random old gear you have do stuff you likely don't need..., instead K.I.S.S. and spend time making music.

If old gear is not likely to get used maybe your friend really should just sell it. This stuff is going to just deprecate to $0 value. Reverb esp. can be great for selling stuff.