upgrading PT 7 HD to current era?

[jaczaj]

I have an old PowerMac G4 (maxed at OS X 10.4.11 Tiger) with PT HD 7.4.cs10, Process and Accel cards, Blue 192 and Digi Pre. Also have 2006 Waves Platinum. Last upgrades were around 2009. My local shop in San Diego that built my system closed, so I have no local smart guy to lean on. The current system is non-functional after a major system hard drive crash and ensuring semi-recovery. I have reinstalled software, reinstalled cards, and done all my old voodoo to try to get it rolling to no avail.

Need to get this solid again to track upcoming project with 16 analog ins and 8 outs. Need to mix large 24-36 track sessions. I use lots of outboard gear, a few have AES connectivity. I have relied heavily on Platinum suite for mixing in past. Take all my serious mastering out. So, please suggest my most efficient options to:

1. Upgrade as far as I can with Process and Accel cards and 192/pre to new computer.

2. Upgrade to new hardware, with new computer but in Native environment.

Thank you very much in advance for your recommendations. I appreciate all the specificity you can offer wrt new computer recommendations and other details such as OS specificity and upgrade quirks. I was horrified to learn that Waves only supports its recent 9x software compatible with PT 10.3 and up.

John

[JFreak]

I'm afraid you need to talk to Avid dealer that can arrange a hardware exchange. Your cards are PCI-X so even the previous generation Mac Pro's would not be compatible. You would be looking at PowerMac G5 early-2005 or older (the last late-2005 G5's were PCI-express)

[nst7]

Just a couple of thoughts to throw out there.

Keep in mind that HD10 is the last version your existing hardware will work with. If you go past that, you will need either HDX or HD Native hardware, although you can keep using your blue HD interfaces for the time being.

1. Upgrade from HD7 to HD10 for $2500 (that's the price through Avid), and get a more recent model used Mac Pro. Continue using your existing hardware.

(note that I don't know if your cards are the older PCI cards or the newer PCIe cards. That could complicate things).

2. Buy a used HD license from someone, which most of the time involves also buying hardware they are selling, since Avid will not transfer HD licenses unless they're also being sold with the original hardware they came with. The exception is if the person originally got HD software by upgrading from the Complete Toolkit.

Note that even if you buy an HD11 or HD12 license from someone, it still comes with a license for HD10, so again, you can keep using your existing TDM hardware, though again, you will need a newer computer.

3. Buy a used, or new, HD card, either HDX, or HD Native. Again, your existing blue HD interfaces will work with these, for the time being (as time moves on this may not be the case.

4. Same as number 3, only also buy the new HD interfaces, which sound noticeably better, and configurations are more convenient (the new HD IO can be 16 in, 16 out analog, unlike the old 192 which was 16x8).

Note for options 3 and 4, Avid still has trade up programs available, but they are less generous then they used to be.

5. Consider not using HD, and look into using non-HD Protools, which has now added many features that used to be only HD (with the exception of surround mixing and advanced automation). Along with this, you will need to look into the many 3rd party interfaces available, since you won't be limited to Avid anymore.


Regarding Waves, note that their prices are much more reasonable than they used to be, and they have many sales. Their Update Plan is capped at $300. At the very least, you could just get the update plan for what you have and that will give you the latest version, plus new plugins they've added to the bundles in the past several years.

You may find it's just as cost efficient to simply upgrade to a bigger bundle when they have a sale, such as Diamond, etc. It may be not much more than just updating what you have, and will accomplish the same thing.

[jaczaj]

Thank you, Janne

[jaczaj]

Thank you for such a detailed response, nst7. I am afraid I have PCI X version Process and Accel. However, I am relieved to know that the blu192 and Pre will still function with more recent systems. Time to start researching the best of these options involving some permutation of trading/buying cards--potentially bundled with recent PT.

[Barry Johns]

You can also build a custom PC that will allow you to continue to use your existing cards. You can also build a Hackintosh to do the same thing. I would buy a copy of HD8 for less than $150.

You can also buy a used G5 for less than $150.

There are lots of thread about this in the Windows TDM forum.

Under no circumstances would I consider doing an upgrade/exchange, you can buy used for way over 1/2 the cost of the exchange.

From your post, I can't see how you need anything that PT11 or 12 would give you that would warrant spending so much extra money to build a system like that. If you were to go Native, you'd most likely have latency issues in tracking. Since you have Hardware that you'd be incorporating, I would not even consider anything other than TDM as a minimum.

[WernerF]

Barry is right. Sticking with TDM is almost certainly your best bet for tracking without latency issues. The purchase options that he mentioned are for sure the cheapest and functionally best options for your situation.

[jaczaj]

Thank you all again for the detailed responses. It is very appreciated.
In the interim, before I proceed with the long term PT options, is there any way to use my old HD 192 digital section option to connect to a newer iMac--independent of DAW choice? The card in my 192 has AES, TFIF, and ADAT options. I am wondering if there is a reasonably cost effective method to use it as a stand alone A/D D/A for the time being.

[JFreak]

Originally Posted by jaczaj

is there any way to use my old HD 192 digital section option to connect to a newer iMac--independent of DAW choice?

No. Blackface 888's had the feature, HD hardware don't.