Some prepurchase questions

[K Roche]

Originally Posted by alberti1

Thanks albee1952 and thank you Kev for all your insight both on the DUC and that other forum. I should receive my Carbon on Monday and I’m really trying to decide if it’s the right choice before I open the box. I’ve bounced around to a lot of different DAWs in the last 2 decades. Every time there was a new upgrade, I’d try it out. So I’ve wasted a lot of time and energy looking for the right DAW. Digital Performer was the closest thing to Pro Tools that I’ve use and it also has a great midi sequencer. But my fondest memory of all was using my Digi001 and Pro Tools 5. At that time, I could only dream of having a TDM system. Now, I have a chance to use DSP with the flagship version of PT for only 4k. Not to mention all the other great features of the Carbon. I’m strongly considering using PT exclusively and once the year is up for my Ultimate perpetual license, that’s where I’ll stay. I’ll always have DP for when PT’s midi doesn’t cut it.

Kev, you’ve had your Carbon for a while, how do you like it? Please give me the pros and cons. I really need to decide in the next 48 hours.

Thanks for all you help.

I really like it (for what I do) which is
#1--- I record only myself
#2 --- 70% of what I do is record audio with mics = Acoustic guitar,, Electric guitar,,
Vocals and rarely but occasionally some percussion instruments , like a Djembe- Bongo -Sticks - Beans etc.

#3--- the other 30 % of time,,,, I will after tracking the audio parts guitars vocals etc. I will then add 1 to 3 ,,VI's = like Strings - Flutes - Piano - Organ mostly for background

#4 My sessions tend to from 8 to say 20 tracks max

And I do use a midi Keyboard to input,,, but honestly I am so bad at keyboards .I don't really notice if there is a a noticeable latency issue with DSP and native going ... I usually go back and move some of the midi notes to where I like the manually, BUT that may be just me lagging on my timing playing the keys (honestly I don't know)

As far as tracking and dubbing audio with the DSP. I think the sound of Carbon (pre's and conversion, ) is somewhat better than the Avid OMNI I used to use, and may have a tiny bit more 3D-ish presence.

And there is no question in my mind that tracking and over dubbing with DSP is better and has more of a "live in the room with myself" analog feel.

In fact the Carbon pre's are so good, I have not used my A Designs MP2A tube mic pre, since getting the Carbon.

I don't know how helpful this will be or you may already be aware of all this ,,,but here is a quick little video I did about DSP in one of my typical sessions

https://youtu.be/YFhujEU8X30

[alberti1]

Originally Posted by K Roche

I really like it (for what I do) which is
#1--- I record only myself
#2 --- 70% of what I do is record audio with mics = Acoustic guitar,, Electric guitar,,
Vocals and rarely but occasionally some percussion instruments , like a Djembe- Bongo -Sticks - Beans etc.

#3--- the other 30 % of time,,,, I will after tracking the audio parts guitars vocals etc. I will then add 1 to 3 ,,VI's = like Strings - Flutes - Piano - Organ mostly for background

#4 My sessions tend to from 8 to say 20 tracks max

And I do use a midi Keyboard to input,,, but honestly I am so bad at keyboards .I don't really notice if there is a a noticeable latency issue with DSP and native going ... I usually go back and move some of the midi notes to where I like the manually, BUT that may be just me lagging on my timing playing the keys (honestly I don't know)

As far as tracking and dubbing audio with the DSP. I think the sound of Carbon (pre's and conversion, ) is somewhat better than the Avid OMNI I used to use, and may have a tiny bit more 3D-ish presence.

And there is no question in my mind that tracking and over dubbing with DSP is better and has more of a "live in the room with myself" analog feel.

In fact the Carbon pre's are so good, I have not used my A Designs MP2A tube mic pre, since getting the Carbon.

I don't know how helpful this will be or you may already be aware of all this ,,,but here is a quick little video I did about DSP in one of my typical sessions

https://youtu.be/YFhujEU8X30

I’ll just be recording myself and maybe my wife will do some vocals. On occasion friends asked me to record their bands, but that hasn’t happened in some time, now that you can use a cell phone to record your demo.

My main instrument is guitar, which reminds me, my second most positive experience with music equipment, other than my guitars, was the Eleven Rack. It’s still in my rack and will never be removed until it breaks. Pro Tools with the Eleven rack was so amazing. Now that I think about it, using the Eleven MKII in DSP mode would be like having the Eleven Rack and the Carbon in one unit. I think Variable Z actually came from the Eleven Rack tech.

I think I’ve just decided to keep the Carbon. Thanks Kev.

[alberti1]

Well, I got my Carbon. I decided to set it up on my Mac Book Pro 16” i9, 8-core instead of the Mac mini. Everything went smoothly. I got my licenses all set up and received my Ultimate Perpetual that’s awaiting activation at a later date. The only small hiccup I had was the Mac Book started acting crazy (the mac kept going to sleep after a few seconds, external monitor stopped working, and it was telling me my external dives weren’t being ejected properly). I had just got a new longer StarTech thunederbolt cable to connect my OWC Mercury Elite Pro Dock under my desk because the fan was too noisy in the dock. Once I reconnected the original OWC cable all the problems disappeared.

The Carbon is great so far. The build quality is breathtaking. I’ve had zero issues with the AVB connection and was pleasantly surprised with the latency when using a different DAW.

Logic is reporting with the Carbon:
7.2ms RTL @ 32 buffer 48k
8.2ms RTL @ 64 buffer 48k

That’s better than my other AVB interface when using AVB.

When playing my guitar through it natively, it sounded great, even at 64 buffer it is totally playable but using the DSP is golden. I can already tell that I’m going to love this interface. It is extremely high quality and very inspiring. I applaud the team that brought us the Carbon and I haven’t been this excited to write music in a long, long time. Thank you!

[Kyle Splittgerber]

Originally Posted by alberti1

Well, I got my Carbon. I decided to set it up on my Mac Book Pro 16” i9, 8-core instead of the Mac mini. Everything went smoothly. I got my licenses all set up and received my Ultimate Perpetual that’s awaiting activation at a later date. The only small hiccup I had was the Mac Book started acting crazy (the mac kept going to sleep after a few seconds, external monitor stopped working, and it was telling me my external dives weren’t being ejected properly). I had just got a new longer StarTech thunederbolt cable to connect my OWC Mercury Elite Pro Dock under my desk because the fan was too noisy in the dock. Once I reconnected the original OWC cable all the problems disappeared.

The Carbon is great so far. The build quality is breathtaking. I’ve had zero issues with the AVB connection and was pleasantly surprised with the latency when using a different DAW.

Logic is reporting with the Carbon:
7.2ms RTL @ 32 buffer 48k
8.2ms RTL @ 64 buffer 48k

That’s better than my other AVB interface when using AVB.

When playing my guitar through it natively, it sounded great, even at 64 buffer it is totally playable but using the DSP is golden. I can already tell that I’m going to love this interface. It is extremely high quality and very inspiring. I applaud the team that brought us the Carbon and I haven’t been this excited to write music in a long, long time. Thank you!

Wonderful! Thanks for sharing. And, congratulations on the purchase!