Hey PPC users - What do you think?

[AREED]

I have a feeling that we will still see new tdm cards sooner than later.
If there is a crossgrade to the next generation tdm cards, our pci cards should have the same value as the pcie cards. So I am still gonna hold fast for awhile.

[Phil Buckle]

Originally Posted by Kenny Gioia

Yeah. That's kinda what I thought it was. Mainly for heavy composers who create orchestras and such which I am not.

Which is why I'm looking at the "frankenstein" approach.

Not just Orchestral guys though.
I'm a pop writer and I need to cover a lot of styles.
My VEPro sessions typically consist of ........
Kontakt (Slate or OceanWay) x 3
Battery x1
RMX x2
Omnisphere x2
Kore x3
Addictive x1
Guitar Rig FX x1
Reverbs x2
Delays x2
FM 8 x1
Absynth x 1

Then if I need some others I just add them. But my template opens with those.
No orchestras here. (most of the time)

My 8 core laughs at me and won't go above 15%.
And in truth I finish most PT sessions with most of 1 Accel card free.
If Avid made a new TDM card that was 10 times more powerful I wouldn't need it right now.
Of course I understand that many others run very large sessions and my requirements compared to them are small.

[studiojimi]

Originally Posted by AREED

So I am still gonna hold fast for awhile.

i likes yer attitude

i likes yer style

it's enlightened.

[Kenny Gioia]

Originally Posted by Phil Buckle

Not just Orchestral guys though.
I'm a pop writer and I need to cover a lot of styles.
My VEPro sessions typically consist of ........
Kontakt (Slate or OceanWay) x 3
Battery x1
RMX x2
Omnisphere x2
Kore x3
Addictive x1
Guitar Rig FX x1
Reverbs x2
Delays x2
FM 8 x1
Absynth x 1

Then if I need some others I just add them. But my template opens with those.
No orchestras here. (most of the time)

My 8 core laughs at me and won't go above 15%.
And in truth I finish most PT sessions with most of 1 Accel card free.
If Avid made a new TDM card that was 10 times more powerful I wouldn't need it right now.
Of course I understand that many others run very large sessions and my requirements compared to them are small.

Is it fair to say that you wouldn't need the VEPro if you had PCIe cards in your mac pro?

You could run it all on one machine?

[Phil Buckle]

Originally Posted by Kenny Gioia

Is it fair to say that you wouldn't need the VEPro if you had PCIe cards in your mac pro?

You could run it all on one machine?

Maybe not. For so many years PT has been flakey with VI's.
It seems that a lot of the plug coders don't get the RTAS versions working that well.
I really don't like RTAS VI's.
PT works so well without any VI's.
Thing is this dual system acts as one. The integration is seamless. It just feels like one big computer.
I'm working faster than ever and spending less time trouble shooting.
PT hasn't crashed for weeks.

Not meaning to oversell it.
There were problems that took some sorting out.

If there were a reasonable card exchange I would probably do it.
But not because I want everything in one machine.
I like the 2 machine vibe. I'd keep VEPro and get another Intel.

[WernerF]

VE Pro works just fine on one Intel Mac as well. As long as you can access the amount of RAM that you need for the VI's, which VE Pro allows you to do, you absolutely do not need to have a second machine. It just underscores the fact that the new machines have way more power than the old PPC ones. I run big sessions with tons of tracks and run a boatload of VI's in VE Pro with my PCI cards in a PE6R4, for mostly rock writing and production, without ever coming close to running out of power. Staying current has a lot going for it.

[Bentley Ferrari]

I thought I'd report on what I did today, because it's pertinent to this thread.

It appears my trusty G5 is ready to go out. I suddenly started getting kernel panics and memory recognition issues a month or so ago, and they've been more frequent the last several days. So I spent a lot of time re-visiting the options.

I decided to buy a used G5 and make it my new PT rig. For a few hundred dollars I guess I bought some time to see how this will all shake out. I have a Quadcore PC for certain VIs.

Mainly, though, it's been working for me just fine. I'm excited about PT9 and the new hardware, but not enough to invest in a chassis or PCIe cards. I'll resist the siren call a little bit longer.

[elektrikaz]

Lots of great info in this thread. I actually just finished reading the whole thing.

I'm in a similar position as you Kenny. I'm running an HD1 PCIx system on a G5 with a Digital 192 and 16 I/O of converters I like. Cool. Except I'm constantly running out of power.

My plan is this: Do a trade in on my G5 toward a Mac Pro through either the Apple Store or Powermax. Sell my Core Card and Digital 192, which should cover the cost of the Mac Pro and my upgrade to PT 9 plus some. Buy something like the Lightbridge or Firestudio and keep on running the converters I'm already running, except with lots more power courtesy of the Mac Pro. The only real downside for me is the lack of low latency monitoring with this setup. Apparently the lowest buffer size I'll be able to get is 64.

I guess I'm in a bit of an in between position, because I've invested just enough in HD that I like the stability, especially for tracking. But I'm not totally locked in because I don't have a bunch of 192s that I need Digi cards to use. If it weren't for the low latency monitoring issue, this would be an absolute no brainer for me.

[beefpitas]

you can get an external unit yo go pci-x to pci-e if you're upgrading your mac but want to keep your hd3 rig. plugs you'll have to update but you will have all that additional rtas processing. and updateing most plugs shouldn't be that expensive.

[Kenny Gioia]

Originally Posted by elektrikaz

Lots of great info in this thread. I actually just finished reading the whole thing.

I'm in a similar position as you Kenny. I'm running an HD1 PCIx system on a G5 with a Digital 192 and 16 I/O of converters I like. Cool. Except I'm constantly running out of power.

My plan is this: Do a trade in on my G5 toward a Mac Pro through either the Apple Store or Powermax. Sell my Core Card and Digital 192, which should cover the cost of the Mac Pro and my upgrade to PT 9 plus some. Buy something like the Lightbridge or Firestudio and keep on running the converters I'm already running, except with lots more power courtesy of the Mac Pro. The only real downside for me is the lack of low latency monitoring with this setup. Apparently the lowest buffer size I'll be able to get is 64.

I guess I'm in a bit of an in between position, because I've invested just enough in HD that I like the stability, especially for tracking. But I'm not totally locked in because I don't have a bunch of 192s that I need Digi cards to use. If it weren't for the low latency monitoring issue, this would be an absolute no brainer for me.

But your position is a bit different as I'm very happy with the power of HD3 rig. Except when I want to run softsynths or any other Native based stuff.