11 Rack with expansion Pack

[bassmanjazz]

Hi Guys,

Long time no post! The encroaching holidays extra time at the day job forced my hand into a static state - I could play my instruments but spent little time recording. Life happens.

Now I'm back! And I just got me a shiny new macbook pro. i7. 8GB ram. Lion. I have a fire wire external drive coming to record audio too.

I have the expansion pack purchased and installed months ago. My macbook is up and running just great.

I'm on pro tools 9.xxx (whatever the latest is in the 9 line, 9.0.6 i think)

Anyways - the firmware on my eleven rack - I'm at expansion pack level 2.01 - am I current or are there any other little tiny nuggets of goodness out there I'm missing?

Is the update to pro tools 10 post christmas worth the expense? What am I going to get that all the goodness of 9 didn't deliver?

Happy Holidays peeps!

[Benoni]

If you just got a new computer and your 11R has the ERXP (firmware 2.0.1) already installed on it. If you have not done so yet, you will need to run the FIRST section of the ERXP in order to get the UI plugins into the Pro Tools plugin folder so you can see the items added by the ERXP in the Eleven Rack window in Pro Tools. Just run the first section, then discard the firmware updater that gets placed on your Desktop.

Only you can decide if the $300 price tag is worth it for the PT10 from PT9 crossgrade.

PT10 adds lots of cool new little features that we have been waiting for - for years. But its still not a 64 bit program.

Some of the new stuff: (from the Sweetwater website)

NEW! Read and record from flash drives, RAID systems, and server storage systems such as Avid's ISIS 5000.

NEW! Increased Automatic Delay Compensation (up to 16,383 samples)

NEW! Sessions can contain various audio file types and formats, including interleaved stereo audio files

NEW! Channel Strip plug-in format delivers the sound of the legendary System 5 console

NEW! Down Mixer plug-in sums sessions from up to 7.1 surround down to 5.1, 2.1, 2.0, and even mono mixes

NEW! Mod Delay III plug-in lets you add fun and exciting time/modulation-based effects

NEW! 32-bit floating-point audio lets you store higher-quality audio

NEW! Clip Gain adds dynamic volume flexibility and increases integration with Media composer

NEW! Open multiple AudioSuite windows at once

NEW! Upgraded AudioSuite processing includes handles, whole file processing, and reverse delay/reverb processing

NEW! AudioSuite processing preserves metadata

NEW! Real-time fades eliminate the need for fade files and allow you to apply fades with the timeline running

NEW! Overlapping Crossfades view

NEW! Rewritten Disc Scheduler is more forgiving for slower hard drives and allows use of netword-attached storage drives

NEW! Handy visual indicators for mutes and solos

NEW! Bus Interrogation lets you track your signal flow

NEW! Export Selected Tracks as New Session command make collaboration easier

NEW! 24-hour timeline support for enhanced post-production compatibility

NEW! Low Latency Monitoring with Core Audio and ASIO hardware

NEW! Export to iTunes and Export to SoundCloud

NEW! Pro Tools in-application web browser for easy access to Avid Marketplace and Pro Tools resources

Pro Tools 10 is the last version of Pro Tools to support RTAS plugins. The next major version will exclusively use the new AAX format.

You can try out a 30 day demo of PT10 for free and check it out for yourself.

You can try the HD version or non HD version. you can try the HD version even if you dont have HD hardware. I have it running on my laptop.

http://elevenrackusers.blogspot.com/...-tools-10.html

[bassmanjazz]

Thanks Ben!

Ya some cool stuff in that upgrade - though I think I will have to wait a couple of months it gives me a reason to keep it straight and narrow.

Have/Do you use an external firewire drive for recording audio data? I have read mixed reviews on the effectiveness of this. I upgraded the internal disk in the macbook to 7200 RPM and the external firewire 800 500GB drive that is on it's way is 7200 RPM as well.

Ahh, it's good to be back in the saddle!

I ran a test session to make sure all is running well and it is! I had to fiddle with the I/O and run the firmware updater/drivers to get the eleven to show as an output device. Other than that it was smooth sailing transfering all my apps and data to a new Mac!

Cheers!

[Benoni]

When using my laptop, I will usually use an external E-Sata hard drive. I actually have two internal hard drives in the laptop, but for portability to my desktop I like using the external e-sata.

On my main PT machine I record to an internal HDD, not the OS drive of course, but a dedicated additional internal hard drive just for Pro Tools sessions.

E-Sata is the best for external. Firewire will be fine on Mac. If you have been recording to your internal OS drive, you will feel a performance boost once you start recording to an additional non OS drive.

[bassmanjazz]

Thanks Ben!

I've been using a partitioned drive (internal 1TB sliced in half). I have had some drop outs when track counts get into the 20's. Hoping to be able to record at least 4 tracks simultaneously with the external firewire.

[Benoni]

Originally Posted by bassmanjazz

Thanks Ben!

I've been using a partitioned drive (internal 1TB sliced in half). I have had some drop outs when track counts get into the 20's. Hoping to be able to record at least 4 tracks simultaneously with the external firewire.

Was that partition part of the same physical hard drive the OS was installed to?

[bassmanjazz]

Yes it was! A single, 1TB drive sliced into 2 500GB partitions. Same physical drive.

[Benoni]

Originally Posted by bassmanjazz

Yes it was! A single, 1TB drive sliced into 2 500GB partitions. Same physical drive.

That is actually worse than just recording right to the OS partition! I am certain you will see a huge jump in performance once you get the external in

[bassmanjazz]

It's in! hopefully I can lay some bed tracks down and see how it goes!

The drive is quite fast, or, at least it appears to be quite fast, transferring data from my old mac to the new one seemed to take less time than ever. Lets hope it was worth the extra cost to have fire wire at 7200 RPM.

[Benoni]

Originally Posted by bassmanjazz

It's in! hopefully I can lay some bed tracks down and see how it goes!

The drive is quite fast, or, at least it appears to be quite fast, transferring data from my old mac to the new one seemed to take less time than ever. Lets hope it was worth the extra cost to have fire wire at 7200 RPM.

it will be worth the cost. you will see a noticeable improvement