Omni, Interfaces and Mac Book Pro

[Mount Royal]

These can't be made to work together, in absence of an expansion chassis, am I correct? CPTK would have no bearing I guess. I'm wanting to pursue a Pro Tools 9 Native HD system on my 17" i7 processor MBP, but an trying to choose an interface good enough to also use with our TDM system - hence the thought about Omni. Otherwise I wondered about the RME ufx.

Any insights would be appreciated.

Thank you,

John Caldwell

[nst7]

You can use the Omni and HD Native card with your Macbook by using a Magma chassis, if that makes any difference to your purchasing thoughts.

[Mount Royal]

Thanks. Can't stand the idea of a portable system with the Magma, but yes, you make sense. But that's the only way, right?

[nst7]

Yes, the new interfaces will only hook up to a Native or TDM card, so you'd need the chassis. You'd have to evaluate the price of that vs. the complete toolkit and a 3rd party interface.

FYI, the details are already being leaked (some by Avid guys) about a hardware exchange program for HD Native that's about to be announced. If you have a legacy core card, or any 002/003 or mbox product, you might think about that.

[Mount Royal]

Again, thank you nst7. What most appeals to me is a 1 or 2 rack space (or smaller) unit that connects directly to the MBP that confers functionality of (slightly crippled and limited) HD. The goal would be to open the HD sessions that originated on our TDM system, and have most of the session features translate within the limits of DSP, and the plugs that are TDM-only, on the Mac Book.

If I'm right none of the small interfaces, meaning M-box-sized units, can work with CPTK to create "native HD". So in absence of Omni, I'd wonder about the Apogee Symphony, on the high end; and something like the RME ufx on the lower end.

Again any comments would be appreciated.

John-

[Dism]

Originally Posted by Mount Royal

If I'm right none of the small interfaces, meaning M-box-sized units, can work with CPTK to create "native HD".

The CPTK + PT9 is no different in terms of software as Pro Tools HD. You will be missing only hardware features that are exclusively available to TDM hardware (TDM plugs, HEAT, etc).

As far as Pro Tools is concerned, it doesn't matter if you are using a Symphony or the on-board hardware. The hardware is really only going to determine your I/O, sound quality and tracking latency. There's no software feature a ufx can give you over an MBox.

[Mount Royal]

Originally Posted by Dism

...There's no software feature a ufx can give you over an MBox.

Oh! I had not understood this. So there is no "minimum hardware dongle" aspect of 9 Native HD? Do you mean, for example, that even a Mac Book Pro's internal sound card would even work?

I don't know why that I've found this round of new PT 9-based hardware and software hard to digest. Thanks so much, in any case.

John-

[Dism]

Originally Posted by Mount Royal

Oh! I had not understood this. So there is no "minimum hardware dongle" aspect of 9 Native HD? Do you mean, for example, that even a Mac Book Pro's internal sound card would even work?

Right.

You can use your PT9HD auth on any qualified hardware be it MBox or MOTU. The only differences are what TDM hardware can provide.