Mac Pro Question

[spiritfallrecording]

Hello all! I've been on PC Pro tools 11 and 10 LE or vanilla or whatever for years now. I'm thinking about making the the jump to an HDX system on mac. My question is would the older 6 core macs be good enough or should I try to snag a 12 core? The 6 core ones can be found for $600 and the the 12 cores somewhere around $1000-1500. Is the increased processing power noticeable in Pro Tools?

[The Weed]

Just out of curiosity, why can't you use the PC you have now?

[Darryl Ramm]

All usual advice on HDX/DSP applies....

Why do you want HDX? Is it total IO limits or low latency monitoring?

Are you sure you can't do what you need with native processing?

Are all the plugins you want to use available in HDX/DSP? Otherwise you'll be running them native and incurring extra latency for the DSP to native transition.

We have no idea what you are doing, what native CPU power you need in your system. But I'd suspect the cost of a 6 core vs 12 core is not that significant when considering the cost of a HDX card or cards, an Ultimate license, and Digilink interfaces.

There is a lot more to classic Cheesegraters than the number of CPU cores. You don't even mention what exact model you are looking at.
Start with what macOS you expect to run... and currently the classic Cheesegraters are limited to macOS Mojave, I don't think anybody has yet hacked Catalina to run on them, and that might never happen. This may eventually limit their future Pro Tools version compatibility. If going to a classic cheesegrater I would get a 5,1 or similar, upgrade to Mojave, with latest boot ROM with support for NVMe boot and get NVMe drive(s) installed. All that has been discussed on DUC many times, and lots of info is all over the web.

Do you understand HDX DSP and voice limits and have an idea if you need a HDX1/2/3 for your needs?

If you have been running on Pro Tools standard (it's not called LE any more) with different interfaces have you budgeted purchasing the required Digilink interfaces and any needed preamps to go with the HDX card.

[spiritfallrecording]

I could use the PC I have now. Its pretty solid. I have an i7 980x processor in it with an SSD system drive, and 32 gig of ram I believe. I was just under the assumption that PC HDX isn't really a thing. Every HD system I've used is always running on mac. My main reasons for thinking about upgrading is definitely low latency monitoring and convertor quality compared to my 003 console. Up til now I've only really mixed on my 003 console, recorded some demos on the 003 but so far I've done all my serious recording on a 192 HD system at a friends studio. So yes I am familiar with HD voice limits. HDX1 and HD I/0 analog 16x16 would be good for my needs. I much prefer recording on HD and am building a new studio. Expanded I/O is definitely a plus as well. Really just trying to save money where I can which is why I asked the question about the computer as HDX is stupid expensive. Have no idea what macOS i'm going to run yet. I honestly hate macs and apple in general as they are technological fascists. Whatever works best with Pro Tools 12 or 2020 or whatever the hell is stable these days. I've put off upgrading Pro Tools for 5 years or so because they never released a completely stable version of 10 or 11 so I didn't want to give Avid any more money. However, I just don't care enough to learn a new DAW and new plugins are starting to become incompatible with Pro tools 11 and 10. So yeah I just want to make music. I'll figure it out one way or another. I have preamps. I understand how an HDX system is set up

[JFreak]

Most musicians use Mac, but on the tech side PC is just as good if you know your stuff

[spiritfallrecording]

I haven't paid attention in awhile but aren't a lot of AAX DSP mac only. If that's not the case any more and pro tools HD is stable on PC then I could care less a bout getting a mac

[JFreak]

I haven't paid much attention to PC for two decades so I would not know. Just sayin' PT itself runs well on both sides.

[The Weed]

AFAIK, the only major cross platform plugin vendor that didn't/hasn't/won't port their DSP plug-ins to AXX is Waves.

If you are getting HDX, why not just try it on your PC. If it's a bust, then get a Mac.

[MrDibS]

If you can, just start with an HDX card in your current computer. Remember that you’ll have to upgrade to PT Ultimate. I think you’ll find that the performance upgrade will take some stress off of your current processor. Don’t worry about HDX plugins. There are enough to fill one card out there.

You can always upgrade later.

[spiritfallrecording]

Cool that will probably be the plan then...just start with an hdx card in my current comp and upgrade to ultimate. I can build the system out as I need.