Is it worth to upgrade from LE to HD?

[AK-8]

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

If anybody had an experience with the both systems: Pro Tools LE and Pro Tools HD, would you be so kind to tell me if it is worth to upgrade from LE to HD? Is the HD-System more stable and more fast? What are the strongest pluses of HD in comparison to LE?

Many thanks in advance!

[DeyBwah]

Originally Posted by AK-8

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

If anybody had an experience with the both systems: Pro Tools LE and Pro Tools HD, would you be so kind to tell me if it is worth to upgrade from LE to HD? Is the HD-System more stable and more fast? What are the strongest pluses of HD in comparison to LE?

Many thanks in advance!

HD is beyond overpriced, I would not recommend upgrading to HD. You're basically paying thousands of dollars for outdated technology.

If you're looking to upgrade to unlimited tracks, Automatic Delay Compensation, stability and performance.. check out http://www.reaper.fm.

You can use any hardware interface you want as well.

[BkkJohn]

Originally Posted by DeyBwah

HD is beyond overpriced, I would not recommend upgrading to HD. You're basically paying thousands of dollars for outdated technology.

First, you asked about a HARDWARE upgrade, so the previous poster's reference to other software isn't completely relevant.

Is PTHD expensive? Yes. Overpriced? It depends. Obsolete? Huh???

To answer the question you actually asked, it depends what you mean by "worth"? If it's the only system that will do what you want, then it's not overpriced. If you find another system that can give you EVERYTHING for less, then maybe it is.

Here are a few obvious advantages of PTHD over host-based versions:

DSP power on demand, not worryng whether you'll reach the CPU limit adding another track or plug-in;
A lot more tracks, guaranteed all the time;
Much-better quality IO;
More IO channels;
More stable clocking;
Many more professional sync options.

I use all three formats in diferent places (HD, LE and M-Powered). My PTHD rig has 48 inputs (40 digital, 8 analog), mostly connected to other computers running processor-intensive sample libraries. I can also run a lot of VI's and other plugins on the PT machine, because all of the "normal" EQ, compression, reverb, etc., as well as the mixing engine itself, is TDM-based, using the DSP chips on the cards, so there's virtually no added CPU load. The sound of the 192 and 192 Digital IOs is outstanding. The SYNC clock is extremely stable.

I typically run about 60-100 audio tracks @ 48kHz, 24-bits, with 100+ MIDI tracks, so PTLE is not an option for me, nor is any other host-based platform. And I can't afford crashes. So for me it's not overpriced.

On the other hand, maybe what YOU want to do isn't so challenging, and some other, cheaper system will do okay. It's not hard to design a system that does most of what PT does for a lot less, and several companies have.

Note my emphasis above on EVERYTHING. I recently bought a particular string library that was more expensive than most, because it does ONE THING very well that I need and which no other library provides.

HD technology was introduced in 2002, and the cards got a major upgrade with newer chips in 2004 or 2005. It is an extremely stable platform on both Mac and Windows. I would call it "mature" technology; certainly, 192 kHz, 24-bit sampling isn't obsolete. Whenever the next generation of hardware comes out, Digi will almost certainly offer a trade-in, and continue to support HD in future software releases for several more years, as they have done since the 1990's.

[GtrDude]

I can only say for me it is very much worth it.
HD is far more stable on my computers than LE, win xp and win7.
If you have clients looking over your shoulders while you quickly have to edit, splice, cross fade and even mix things in order to prep a track for being dubbed or looped you want to be able to count on your tools and crashing or freezes are the last things you want.

I mostly just record classical musicians but I also do a fair amount of sound editing for video and my HD rig just keep on running no matter what.
I also have DV Toolkit 2 and have never run out of tracks, probably not even close.

As to the strongest points, HD has somehow always felt more smooth to me, this is probably just my imagination, and is a work environment I like.
For me one of the big points in getting it was being able to use the TDM plugins they often offer more options and sometimes even better sound too.
Another classic thing is the latency of LE, in HD it's gone. . . . poof!
I also feel much less limited with HD than LE.
Read the above post carefully from John.
Only you can answer if the HD purchase is worth it. After all you are asking if it's work it to you. Sure it's expensive but you have to figure how much money do you make each year doing this stuff. Today with the Digi sale it really isn't much more than a single decent mic, if you trade in your 003.

One more personal thing as to LE, I really don't like the hardware that comes with it. Just don't like it. I also find it annoying that I always have to turn it on even though I hardly ever touch it once I'm in the software.

Don't forget you also get pretty good converters with it if you buy before the 19th. Those converters have been used on a lot of recordings you hear out there. Although I use Lynx and Lavry the Digi converters are also very good.

GD

[DeyBwah]

It's common knowledge that HD hardware is out dated and over priced.(processing power + technology compared to today's new computers) If you MUST use Pro Tools, then you have no other option.

If you want a professional quality set up and Pro Tools is not REQUIRED, then I would check out some of the other options available. HD interfaces are much better than LE, but in comparison to the free market interfaces, HD could leave you wanting more.

For the price of entry at $10K (if you do your shopping on eBay and other fronts), you may not have much $$ left over for microphones, sound reinforcement, cables, monitors, etc...

Once again, if PT is not mandatory, you may want to check out Reaper. Unlimited track count, bus, send, inserts, ADC, STABILITY, average updated bugs/features every 2 weeks, no limitation on what hardware interface you use... $60 if you make less than $20k a year from music, $225 otherwise. That leaves you almost $10k to spend on whatever you want in the market.

This is of course my own conclusion that I've come to after talking with many people, doesn't mean I'm right, but my take is... there are many options out there that are all proficient at performing the task at hand. I'm making my switch over to Reaper after using Pro Tools for 7 years. Why? I'm not a fan of AVID's business practices and product instabilities and HD is too expensive for me.

http://www.reaper.fm

[lifer]

If you have the budget and the ears it is worth it.
Delay compensation makes life much easier.
I have Ableton Live, Logic 8 and Nuendo too (including UAD cards) and PT HD sounds superior to all of them when mixing in the box. The dithered mixer and headroom make a big difference to me on a daily basis.
The TDM reverbs available stop me going back to LE period (along with higher track count).
Admittedly it is a pricey upgrade, but if any of these things are important to you i would seriously consider it.

[GtrDude]

Ah that was the other thing I was going to mention.......... the sound quality.
I think there is a huge difference in the sound quality in HD vs the others.

GD

[AK-8]

Thanks a lot for the information - I have now a substance to ponder... although we don't use many tracks, our projects do have huge amount of "regions" and are many hours long (the audio-books-production) - that's why the stability of a system and its sounds quality are extremely important for us.
I think, your infromation is very convincing for my future system-choise.

Many thanks and best regards.

[Blackthorn]

Just got my HD1 System on ebay

PCI-X Card with PT 8 $1200
192 Digital I/O $1500
AD/DA Converter: Behringer ADA8000 $160 best $160 ever spent!

Overkill for what I do, however this thing is rock solid and sounds great!!
Total $2,860

[propower]

Exactly!

And people say HD is expensive and LE is cheaper...... Now someday have to do something about that A/D

-Lee