Apples to oranges? Or apples to apes?

[Dimak415]

Preface:
My 003 and Sonar, DP, Cubase, Reason... they all use the same audio drivers, right? ASIO. (please correct me if I'm wrong) I'm not sure about PT LE.
And the 003 is a control surface, ya?

History:
I am a former Tascam 1884 user, and I have to say, I was mighty pissed about Tascam's non existent customer or product support. That being said, someone please explain to me the following.

The FW1884 was designed in 2001 (I believe). The driver updates were few and far in between.
My FW1884 with 4 year old 1.7 drivers worked on my Windows 7 64 bit system almost perfectly (had to shut it off before shutting down Windows in order to prevent BSOD) running Sonar 8, Reason, you name it. Not only that, but it ran multi client flawlessly (sonar 8 while running Youtube tutorials) and worked flawlessly as a controller in Reason and Sonar.

I just payed a ridiculous amount of money for my 003 Factory and I'm pretty disappointed. There is definitely an improvement in sound quality, but that does me absolutely no good if ASIO drivers are dropping in Reason and Sonar every 5 min AND I can't use the 003 as a controller in Sonar. Even PT has it's issues. If crappy Tascam can do it, why the hell is Avid/Digidesign having such issues. And no, "a huge product line" is not a legit excuse. 8.0.4 beta has been beta for a while. A long long while.

A company that prides itself on being the industry standard should
-be able to keep up with Roland (Cakewalk/Sonar) and run in 64 bit
AND
should create control surfaces/DAW that support an array of software like Tascam.

My point is that if Roland and Tascam can do it, Digidesign should too. I mean, the FW1884 is damn near 10 years old, with practically no product support, and it does everything every 64 bit running, Reason, Sonar and Cubase loving producer/engineer wants. O, and it never screamed and blew out tweeters and headphones.

Am I missing something? Are Sonar and PT really that different? Was my FW1884 really that different than my Digi003?

Thanks guys and piss off

[Dimak415]

actually please dont piss off... answer my question :)

[albee1952]

I'm not really sure what the question is.....in any case, buying Digidesign hardware to use with other software(ie NOT Pro Tools) has never been a wise investment. Tascam and Roland have been building hardware that is designed to be used across most available systems. Digi has designed their hardware and software to work as a system(and the rest of the world be damned). Is that a good business model? I don't really know. I have always recommended other hardware for folks that want to run any other DAW program. I have also always recommended against the "factory" package as its just a batch of add-on plugins that many will never use(yes, I paid for them and have never used them either). Do I wish things were different? Sure, but they aren't. I run Pro Tools and am quite happy with how my setup works(but my needs may be different than yours).

[Dimak415]

My questions were about the specifics of how PT and other DAW programs differ, the technical aspects.
Same question for the 003 and Tascam's FW1884.

Is there something special Digidesign products utilize that prevents them from having stable 64 bit ASIO drivers, control capabilities for other DAW software and MultiClient support (not to mention ADC)?

[YoRugMan]

I would dare say that nothing prevents Digi from writing software for anything - meaning, I'm sure that they can do it.

As to why not has been a raging subject for discussion in many threads of late.

.

[albee1952]

I assume there must be some code differences(probably relating to RTAS vs VST performance). I also have to wonder(with all we've been hearing lately) is the company short of engineering R&D these days. Certainly a fair question that I can only speculate about.....Meanwhile, since I have a system that works smoothly, I tend not to question as much as anyone that needs more out of their setup.

[DeyBwah]

Originally Posted by Dimak415

My questions were about the specifics of how PT and other DAW programs differ, the technical aspects.
Same question for the 003 and Tascam's FW1884.

Is there something special Digidesign products utilize that prevents them from having stable 64 bit ASIO drivers, control capabilities for other DAW software and MultiClient support (not to mention ADC)?

They're utilizing a crappy repurposed code base which had poor planning and future longevity to begin with. :/

[Dimak415]

So basically, I shoulda kept my FW1884 and Sonar 8?

[DeyBwah]

Originally Posted by Dimak415

So basically, I shoulda kept my FW1884 and Sonar 8?

As of late, I don't recommend Pro Tools as a DAW to people. I've changed my personal recommendation to Reaper, myself included. I'm on a BLA 002R which sounds great although I'm not fully satisfied with Digi's ASIO drivers, but I can deal with it. I may end up selling the BLA 002R and pick up a RME FireFace 800 and just be done with AVID entirely, but there are much more necessary and obvious bottlenecks in my recording environment right now.

I'm not really in a position to tell you what is best for your situation so I only share my personal opinion and how it relates to my situation. Hopefully you can extract information in a way that helps you get what you want in a DAW and interface. Good luck!

[Cloud_9]

Originally Posted by Dimak415

Preface:
My 003 and Sonar, DP, Cubase, Reason... they all use the same audio drivers, right? ASIO. (please correct me if I'm wrong) I'm not sure about PT LE.
And the 003 is a control surface, ya?

History:
I am a former Tascam 1884 user, and I have to say, I was mighty pissed about Tascam's non existent customer or product support. That being said, someone please explain to me the following.

The FW1884 was designed in 2001 (I believe). The driver updates were few and far in between.
My FW1884 with 4 year old 1.7 drivers worked on my Windows 7 64 bit system almost perfectly (had to shut it off before shutting down Windows in order to prevent BSOD) running Sonar 8, Reason, you name it. Not only that, but it ran multi client flawlessly (sonar 8 while running Youtube tutorials) and worked flawlessly as a controller in Reason and Sonar.

I just payed a ridiculous amount of money for my 003 Factory and I'm pretty disappointed. There is definitely an improvement in sound quality, but that does me absolutely no good if ASIO drivers are dropping in Reason and Sonar every 5 min AND I can't use the 003 as a controller in Sonar. Even PT has it's issues. If crappy Tascam can do it, why the hell is Avid/Digidesign having such issues. And no, "a huge product line" is not a legit excuse. 8.0.4 beta has been beta for a while. A long long while.

A company that prides itself on being the industry standard should
-be able to keep up with Roland (Cakewalk/Sonar) and run in 64 bit
AND
should create control surfaces/DAW that support an array of software like Tascam.

My point is that if Roland and Tascam can do it, Digidesign should too. I mean, the FW1884 is damn near 10 years old, with practically no product support, and it does everything every 64 bit running, Reason, Sonar and Cubase loving producer/engineer wants. O, and it never screamed and blew out tweeters and headphones.

Am I missing something? Are Sonar and PT really that different? Was my FW1884 really that different than my Digi003?

Thanks guys and piss off

The Digi 003 is indeed a control surface, however, it is not purpose built to work with other DAWS other than ProTools, nor does Digi/Avid claim it to be.

The integration that can be enjoyed controlling ProTools with the 003 surface is a sweet deal, I believe that whoever sold you this factory bundle either did not listen to your needs, or you didnt comunicate them properly.

As far as Digi/Avid keeping up with Roland/Cakewalk by making ProTools a true 64bit app (meaning that it is coded as a 64bit app), well, I think Avid has much more serious things to iron out first. This is not to say that your wrong for questioning why ProTools isnt 64bit, I ponder that quite a lot lately, but I have a long list of requests above a true 64bit rewrite.

As far as how different ProTools and Sonar are, well, there's a question for the Hobos I believe, Im sure they would be happy to point out the technical differences.

Tascam is not crappy. at all. (well, ok, customer support is non-existent)

8.0.4 has been beta a while, but no that long of a while though IMO.

Your Tascam 1884 and 003 are extremely different, purpose built for different needs, despite their obvious similarities.

Can you return the 003 factory bundle? Have you looked into third party controllers? There are some on the market that could probably serve you well.

Are you willing to give ProTools a chance or is this downtime to much to handle right now?

Good luck man.