HD Native (Mac or Windows)

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by frazzz

With this MTRX Studio - If used in Native mode there is no DSP though is there? - And HDX card is needed for this side of things?

No DSP, built into these. They are high-quality interfaces designed/built by DAD. You can connect them to HDX if needed over DigiLink, but that would be a negative *to me* vs just going CoreAudio over Thunderbolt and using them without DSP/HDX.

You seem to be all over the place, from recently asking about used Pro Tools 9 standard licenses, to asking about Avid Mbox Studio, Carbon, HDX etc.

What are you trying to do? What are you recording, what I/O do you need on an interface and what is your budget?

How much experience do you have tracking? Have you tracked in the past with TDM or HDX or native? I see past mentions on DUC you purchased a used HDX card--did you get it running? What DigiLink interfaces do you have?

If you expect to do a lot in DSP a single HDX card is not very powerful and you can quickly be on multiple cards, or needing to managed mixed native and DSP plugins maybe using hybrid engine. If your HDX 1 system worked is it powerful enough for you?

If you don't know you *need* HDX or Carbon just forget it for now and get a standard USB or Thunderbolt interface, there are no end of good choices out there from third party vendors. The only Avid ones I'd personally touch are the MTRX Studio and MTRX II. And maybe they are already too high-end for you needs.

[frazzz]

Hi - Thanks again!

OK - I've done more reading / thinking about this - Would Pro Tools users have gone for? - as a system:

2 X HD Omni - Giving 16 I/O
1 X HD I/O - 8/8/8

This seems to be a good blend of analog and digital - And would provide maximum count of 32 I/O.

Is this a popular configuration that would work well with ALL connections such as LOOP (clock sync) ? - Thanks

[JFreak]

You can only have one Omni

[frazzz]

Hello Darryl Ramm,

Yes I'm all over the place - - That's how it is - LOL!

I've got an HDX card several years ago as a keeper - And it's registered with Avid - Now I see HDX prices have increased by £2,000 - So in a way I'm glad I got an HDX card when I did.

I've got Red Net 5 - Original units which provide Digi-Link.

I was asking about old Pro Tools as I have some older Firewire & PCI-e audio interfaces that could work quite well with Pro Tools 9 on a 32 bit system and was on the lookout for an old license.

So currently I'm managing "my stuff" which is why I'm all over the place!!!

I've got some older motherboards as well which are compatible with ALL these items I'm talking about or asking about.

As for tracking experience I don't have much...... but I'm here to ask about these things to learn and to be able to have Pro Tools that can be used when I need to use it - And if there is an old V9 V10 license that is cheap enough I thought it good to look into it.

[frazzz]

Hi - But would it be possible to use some of the ADAT in as well so:

4 ADAT in + 4 line in = 8 in? (HD OMNI)

It is possible (isn't it?) to use 8 in at the same time -?

[frazzz]

Originally Posted by JFreak

You can only have one Omni

Right OK - Thanks for the info!

[smurfyou]

Originally Posted by frazzz

Hi - But would it be possible to use some of the ADAT in as well so:

4 ADAT in + 4 line in = 8 in? (HD OMNI)

It is possible (isn't it?) to use 8 in at the same time -?

Yes you can choose which inputs to assign to your 8 max.

I would ONLY look at an Omni since you already have the HDX card and if you could find one cheap. They are very long in the tooth now.

[smurfyou]

Also I'm confused, if you already have an HDX card and a Focusrite Rednet with Digilink, why are you shopping for an Omni? I'd rather have the Focusrite.

Where does PT9 fit into all of this?

[albee1952]

Observations from a former HDN user:
I ran HDN(PCIe card) in an HP z820 and it ran like a train. I had 32 mic preamps, 8 hardware inserts(which never got used) and 6 stereo headphone mixes derived from sends within sessions(my template was so well-tweaked that I rarely spent more than 1 minute on HP adjustments). I did this with 2 192 IO's and 2 HD IO's(all, the standard 8x8x8 config). I tracked full bands(6 pc) full time with this setup and loved it Mic pre's were a mix of analog(Neve, API, Focusrite ISA, etc) and lightpipe(Midas XL-48 and OctoPre).

Regarding Omni, I would not get an Omni UNLESS you only need a few inputs, and NEED the Omni's monitor controller feature(limited as it is). Using all 192/HD IO/Matrix boxes is a much more efficient way to go. Monitor control can be handled in a few ways, such as a dedicated hardware unit(my choice) or Avid Control on an iPad, etc. This allows the full 16 IO per unit(assuming 192 or HD IO). Putting a pair of used 192's on HDN gives you 32 IO on a ridiculously low investment, if money is tight.

[frazzz]

Originally Posted by smurfyou

Also I'm confused, if you already have an HDX card and a Focusrite Rednet with Digilink, why are you shopping for an Omni? I'd rather have the Focusrite.

Where does PT9 fit into all of this?

Gee!!! - You wanna know everything don't you! -

With older soundcards / interfaces - I know it's 32 bit - but it could be "great" to have a PT9 / PT10 -If the license is good and cheap enough - That is where PT9 would fit in.

Could I get by without it? - Yes - Please don't be confused - I'd like to ask you if you have any older versions of say Reaper or Reason (such as 2.5 or 3 or 4) or any older Cakewalk DAW's - ??? - It depends on your age maybe - But if you do have older licenses for stuff you collected you may be inclined to keep these things for your own use from time to time.

PT9 would be no different apart from the more complicated Avid approach to ownership etc......

All of the music tech crowd need to manage all their licenses etc...... iLOKS / syncrosoft dongles - And this takes time and effort.