Not new to PT, but, no clue on HDX/Native

[jjmaingrain]

Hey
So, I have been a PT user for years! back to M-Powered I think was the first one I had. But, I have always used a PC/Mac, and 3rd party interface (Or Mbox or the required one), currently, running on a Mac Mini M1, with an SSL2 interface on thunderbolt. I have zero issues with this, as it seems mint, and, latency doesnt appear to be an issue, but, I am looking to expand and grow my hardware side of things, and thought this may be a good place to ask :)

So, I have very little knowledge of these things. So, recomendations on which type, or even anything specific, and why its a good/bad thing to move to this?

I mainly do audio production/mixing, so, I can record vocals/guitars etc currently. I dont tend to use virtual instruments (apart from Steven Slate Drums at times), so its pretty old school rock scenario (and country, metal etc).

So the other question is, would I benefit from moving to this sort of set up?

[Darryl Ramm]

If you need to ask… you probably don’t need any of this.

HD Native has been discontinued and offers zero advantages and has disadvantages over just using quality CoreAudio/ASIO Interfaces. Starting with all the mess of connecting DigiLink I/O vs just plugging in a USB interface (with driver). Avid has been having problems supporting HD Native cards in expansion chassis on Apple Silicon Macs. There still may be unsolved problems there.

HDX is only going to be interesting for you if you want to track with AAX-DSP plugins in a very low latency monitoring path. Fewer and fewer folks find that necessary, either because they can track reliably at low HW buffer sizes or they already use hardware monitoring, either in the interface or outboard. But if you want that, and especially a lot of I/O, or especially work in Atmos, and you have the budget then great go for it. The MTRX or MTRX Studio DigiLink interfaces OEMed from DAD have impressive large system routing capability.

HDX requires you use DigiLink interfaces, and a Pro Tools Ultimate license with its higher costs. If you want to mix in HDX you will find a single HDX card is underpowered and you will need several, you may have the option of hybrid engine now, but that can have challenges as well. You need to accommodate the HDX cards in a Thunderbolt expansion chassis or wait for the new Mac Pro with PCIe slots and hope that is compatible (and there have been problems with Apple Silicon Macs with HDX cards and expansion chassis). You could also buy a Avid Carbon interface, but it is a strange feast wuth AVB only connectivity, only to Macs, has onboard AAX-DSP processing for tracking, but it has very little DSP power, limited expansion and comes with delay compensation bugs Avid still has not fixed.

Starting price for a HDX setup might be in the $5k-$10k price range. Easy to be over this.

[jjmaingrain]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

If you need to ask… you probably don’t need any of this.

HD Native has been discontinued and offers zero advantages and has disadvantages over just using quality CoreAudio/ASIO Interfaces. Starting with all the mess of connecting DigiLink I/O vs just plugging in a USB interface (with driver). Avid has been having problems supporting HD Native cards in expansion chassis on Apple Silicon Macs. There still may be unsolved problems there.

HDX is only going to be interesting for you if you want to track with AAX-DSP plugins in a very low latency monitoring path. Fewer and fewer folks find that necessary, either because they can track reliably at low HW buffer sizes or they already use hardware monitoring, either in the interface or outboard. But if you want that, and especially a lot of I/O, or especially work in Atmos, and you have the budget then great go for it. The MTRX or MTRX Studio DigiLink interfaces OEMed from DAD have impressive large system routing capability.

HDX requires you use DigiLink interfaces, and a Pro Tools Ultimate license with its higher costs. If you want to mix in HDX you will find a single HDX card is underpowered and you will need several, you may have the option of hybrid engine now, but that can have challenges as well. You need to accommodate the HDX cards in a Thunderbolt expansion chassis or wait for the new Mac Pro with PCIe slots and hope that is compatible (and there have been problems with Apple Silicon Macs with HDX cards and expansion chassis). You could also buy a Avid Carbon interface, but it is a strange feast wuth AVB only connectivity, only to Macs, has onboard AAX-DSP processing for tracking, but it has very little DSP power, limited expansion and comes with delay compensation bugs Avid still has not fixed.

Starting price for a HDX setup might be in the $5k-$10k price range. Easy to be over this.

Brilliant! Thank you, I think basically your first line says it all mate :) Its good to know, so the info greatly appreciated, and I can go on as I am quite happily I think, as, I wont need all that with what I do
Cheers again

[Ben Jenssen]

I'm mostly only mixing these days. And I'm very happy with the way I've been able to expand my rig to include more hardware controllers for PT - it lets me work more without mousing around and staring at a screen. I love it - I sincerely think it lets me listen better.

Two Artist Mixes gives me 16 faders for tracks/sends/inserts.
Appx $400 each, second hand. They're discontinued but supported.

SSL UC1 with SSL channelstrip and bus compressor plugins.
Lets me have control over a full channelstrip on any track at any time.
About $700 new, incl plugins.

And an iPad with Avid Control software, also to control PT. Control is free.

IMG_0013.jpg

Just suggesting a different possible route of expansion.

[jjmaingrain]

Thats cool, I will have a wee look at that :)

[K Roche]

Originally Posted by jjmaingrain

Hey
So, I have been a PT user for years! back to M-Powered I think was the first one I had. But, I have always used a PC/Mac, and 3rd party interface (Or Mbox or the required one), currently, running on a Mac Mini M1, with an SSL2 interface on thunderbolt. I have zero issues with this, as it seems mint, and, latency doesnt appear to be an issue, but, I am looking to expand and grow my hardware side of things, and thought this may be a good place to ask :)

So, I have very little knowledge of these things. So, recomendations on which type, or even anything specific, and why its a good/bad thing to move to this?

I mainly do audio production/mixing, so, I can record vocals/guitars etc currently. I dont tend to use virtual instruments (apart from Steven Slate Drums at times), so its pretty old school rock scenario (and country, metal etc).

So the other question is, would I benefit from moving to this sort of set up?

First Seems to me the only reason to get new hardware in your situation would be if you need more than 2 analog mic inputs
As noted HDX is pretty expensive and if you are not having latency issues and are not needing to output surround that would be a lot of money for not much gain in your current situation .

That said: the new Avid Mbox "Studio" which gives you 4 mic inputs @ $899 then as far as Avid the next step is a Carbon HDX DSP interface with 8 mic inputs but it is $4000 In between those are things like the RMX Fireface series interfaces -- the UCX II again with two mic pre's @ $1599 --- or the UFX II with 4 mic pres @ $2799

[albee1952]

Good advice above and here's another 2 cents: If you work solo, or with 1 musician at a time, then I also see no need for you to make any hardware changes. Spend your money on some acoustic treatments(NOT foam) and maybe 1 or 2 great microphones

I came from a commercial studio in Nashville and recorded full bands on an HD/Native rig and 48 IO. When I sold the studio to (semi) retire, I bought an HDN card and a 192 so I could mix and do the occasional overdub. A few months ago, I managed to get a super deal on a new Mbox Studio and I have to say it works very nicely. One really nice thing about it is the Loopback feature which allows to to get Windows audio(like youtube, WMP, etc) directly into Pro Tools. Then as it can do 2 sets of outputs, I may get to retire my Presonus Central Station. As I have an 8 channel lightpipe preamp, I can actually record 16 inputs if I had to, and the 4 line inputs have enough gain that you can actually use them with mics that don't require phantom power