Trying out 32 bit chasis..So far so good.

[BIG D]

Hi All,

A studio in my hometown is upgrading so I was able to try out their old 32 bit Pro Tools 7 slot chasis with my HD rig. So far so good. Firstly I was happy that I can now use my fourth HD ACCEL card that has been sitting dormant for 6 months, and my CPU usage is a lot less. So much so that I was having trouble running 2 virtual guitar plug ins before, but now I am running 3 instances no hassle at all. Load times are faster and the system is a lot more stable feeling.

I also have had no hassles with Latencey issues others have talked about with the chasis. The session last night had 30 tracks of audio with a load of TDM plugins, (should be easy with 4 cards) but I was running BFD with 17 outputs, XPAND 2 instances, 3 virtual guitar 2, and 3 live midi instruments coming in via AUX inputs and no latency problems yet.
I will let you know, as I will be pushing it harder this week.

I have considered the new Pro Tools chasis but the cost factor here in Australia is a bit of an issue as well as the fact that who knows when VISTA will be officially released and how long after that there will be drivers for all the software available. So this will be a great interim until VISTA etc is useable.

Hope this info helps any of you folk out there in DIGI world. If there are some old chasis lying around on ebay could be an answer.

All the best,

Big D

[MDog]

What sample rate are you recording at? I think an issue with the 32 bit chassis is a reduced maximum track count. At 44.1k it may not matter, but at the higher sample rates it could be an issue.

I used to use a 13 space chassis with my old Mac G4/Mix Plus rig and loved it. Especially since the G4 ran hotter than an oven. Making the jump to HD Accel and XP, I found my Asus MB had enough slots to cover it.

[BIG D]

Hi Mdog,

Most everyday sessions are 24 bit 48k but will venture into the 96k realm.

I couldn't get 4 cards to work in my Asus A8V. 3 was the limit so the chassis was a cheap answer for the moment. I will go the 64 bit once Vista is happening. I will try to push it and see if I have any track count issues.

Thanks for the reply,

Big D