thinking of upgrading to TDM ...a few questions

[shynomi]

I'm trying to weigh my options here and wondering what i might need hopefully you guys can help.

1. i'm running a pc w/

A7V600 Asus MB
AMD XP2500+ Barton FSB333
1 Gig PC 3200 Crucial Ram
128 mb Radeon 9500 pro graphics card
Adaptec Firewire 3200 PCI Card
80gb 7200rpm external hd (audio)
120gb 7200rpm internal (protools)
XP pro w/ SP1
Mbox

anyway everything is cool but when i start to add plugins and especially the Amplitube,T-racks or Waves all of my cpu gets eat up and gets slower and slower and i begin to get limited with the plugin usage and so i'm thinking of upgrading and getting a HD core card (probably the HD1 for now), and i'm guessing i need an interface so probably the 96 I/O. Would this give me enough power to run my sessions like full band recording? I'm not too knowledgable on the HD systems so feel free if you see something wrong. I have a Korg D16xd 16 channel digital mixer and can record into that and just dump the audio files into pt to mix but i'm wondering if the setup i'm thinking of getting will alleviate the over processing that my cpu is facing now. Since my cpu is digi approved and runs pt fine wouldn't the hd card handle all the processing and my cpu would just have to run pt? Is the HD1 card good enough? thanks for any advice.

[Riad]

Well the idea of TDM is that it doesn't use your computer's CPU. So in theory you are correct. However, I'm not sure your PC's motherboard is support (even though it runs PTLE does not mean it will work with PT HD) so double check that. Also the HD cards draw power so make sure your powersupply is up to the task, think 500w or better.

You are correct you will need an interface. You may want to consider the 192 I/O instead of the 96... even if you never record at 192 it sounds better then the 96i/o at all sample rates (192i/o @ 96 sounds better than the 96i/o @ 96). Your going from an mbox to a $7,000 system, you might as well be getting then best you can.

[shynomi]

ok, thanks for the reply... as far as the interface how does that work in reference to the card does that need to be connected to my board or just the card? A couple more things... is the HD1 core card going to give enough processing power (assuming my cpu works with it) :

ex:
32 tracks of audio and 2-3 plugins on each channel

i'm just a little confused of how the interface works and i'm interested to know since it's so expensive. thanks again.

[s0nguy]

ok, thanks for the reply... as far as the interface how does that work in reference to the card does that need to be connected to my board or just the card? A couple more things... is the HD1 core card going to give enough processing power (assuming my cpu works with it) :

ex:
32 tracks of audio and 2-3 plugins on each channel

i'm just a little confused of how the interface works and i'm interested to know since it's so expensive. thanks again.

The HD1 Core card will leave a bit to be desired when it comes to plugin counts. You have 8 chips (IIRC)...one is taken up by the playback engine, one for delay compensation. That leaves 6 chips. You might be able to get away with 2-3 DigiRack plugs per channel...but start adding Waves or Focusrite and fuggedabouddit.

I suggest you pick up an extra Process card.....not Accel unless you need it. They can be had for aroun $600-$850. Good luck.....

-S0nguy

[Riad]

The I/O connects to the HD card. The good news is that you can always add a processing card later, either Accel or the older non-accel cards... so you may want to go HD1 now and if you outgrow it just buy a process card. If money is not a big concern you may want to consider getting the HD2 Accel system with the Massive Pack Pro 3 before 12/20, you can save some money by getting the card and plugs... Merry Christmas to you!