Audio on external Samsung SSD Drive? + Lenovo laptop

[ImagineLRock]

Hi everyone

Hoping someone can help!
I had Protools 12 on an old computer and I now have a new computer and ready to buy the ProTools Artist or Studio subscription.
Do you know if:
1) Techsupport IS included in the subscription
2) Does TechSupport provide support ONLY if you have a computer listed on their website??
I have a LENOVO:
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8650U CPU @ 1.90GHz 2.11 GHz
RAM 16.0 GB
Windows 10, 64-bit operating system
3) I have a SAMSUNG SSD T7, external (small and sleek!) that I want to use as Audio, it shows as formatted as "EFAT". Do I still need to format it to NTSC. I couldn't understand that information clearly on the website.

I installed ProTools Intro to see how things were running but I noticed some delays at times, not only heavy latency but also when moving my mouse and editing. I saw Pro Tools Intro doesn't include the Automatic plugin delay compensation so perhaps that's the cause. But I was worried it could be my audio drive?

[TOM@METRO]

Welcome to the DUC, ImagineLRock.

I have approved your post, and I'm hopeful that you will find the answers you desire.

[noah330]

I'm using a few T7 drives with a MacStudio. One has sample libraries, one has storage and one I have used to record audio to with great results.

Since I'm on OSX I can't answer your question completely but I can say the drive itself is very capable.

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by ImagineLRock

Hi everyone

Hoping someone can help!
I had Protools 12 on an old computer and I now have a new computer and ready to buy the ProTools Artist or Studio subscription.
Do you know if:

1) Techsupport IS included in the subscription
2) Does TechSupport provide support ONLY if you have a computer listed on their website??
I have a LENOVO:
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8650U CPU @ 1.90GHz 2.11 GHz
RAM 16.0 GB
Windows 10, 64-bit operating system

That does not tell us much useful info about your system. If you have questions about the suitability of that system for Pro Tools follow the "Help us Help You" instructions up the top of each DUC web page and post a SiSoft Sandra report.

Yes support is included in the subscription. And that information is described in lots of places on Avid.com especially on the Avid store and third party websites pages where you buy the product.

I would not be assigning too much value to Avid customer support. Avid just does not have that high a quality support. It might be helpful sometime if you are stuck and have tried all the usual stuff. For high-end customers it may be a different story. And to be clear Avid support should not be expected to provide you handholding to get started and how to use Pro Tools etc., they are just not staffed to do that, and neither will you get much here about how to get started using the product... there are just much better places. There is a pile of fantastic tutorials and training out on the Web and in commercial courses to help folks get started.

Avid support should provide support on other Windows PCs, but might push back on helping if say you are running not yet qualified operating systems versions etc. Or the systems is grossly out of spec.

"Recommended/Approved PCs" is useful at one level, if you absolutely need to know something has been tested, at another it is a marketing con largely perpetuated by HP spending money/effort to get their systems "approved". Avid does too little other testing, and too much of their recommendations are for older systems, with documentation not updated (e.g. disk storage discussions). But some combination of reading what Avid has on Avid.com and in their knowledge base and searching DUC usually gives useful answers.

3) I have a SAMSUNG SSD T7, external (small and sleek!) that I want to use as Audio, it shows as formatted as "EFAT". Do I still need to format it to NTSC. I couldn't understand that information clearly on the website.

Uh pay attention to getting the details correct. You have a drive formatted as exFAT, Pro Tools on Windows requires a NTFS formatted drive. You need to reformat the T7. This info is listed in the Pro Tools systems requirements documentation.

But why are you recording to the T7, the best place on modern computers is to record to the internal SSD if the computer has an SSD, especially for PCIe/NVMe internal SSD. An internal super-fast NVMe/PCIe SSD is also the best place to put VI samples if they will fit.

I installed ProTools Intro to see how things were running but I noticed some delays at times, not only heavy latency but also when moving my mouse and editing. I saw Pro Tools Intro doesn't include the Automatic plugin delay compensation so perhaps that's the cause. But I was worried it could be my audio drive?

I have no idea what you are talking about or looking at. Every DAW *has* to include delay compensation or it would not be usable, and Pro Tools Intro sure does.

If the audio drive is too slow Pro Tools will throw an AAE error and crash. You noticed delays in what? the audio? the GUI/screen graphics etc. What exact Audio interface are you using and what is the H/W Buffer size and sample rate? The H/W buffer size is the primary determinant of audio latency when monitoring thought the DAW. You *really* need to be using a Audio interface with a vendor supplied ASIO driver, not ASIO4ALL and not using a WASAPI internal audio device. And Pro Tools on Windows should have exclusive use of that ASIO interface (so windows sound and other apps should not be using it, they typically use the motherboard sound or a sound card sound).

Overall I'd say you are overthinking all this. But getting Pro Tools Intro and trying it is the right approach. Make sure you fully optimize your system, see under "Help Us Help You", and do not have a lot of background apps/processes running. If you need more help include a Sandra report.

[ImagineLRock]

Originally Posted by noah330

I'm using a few T7 drives with a MacStudio. One has sample libraries, one has storage and one I have used to record audio to with great results.

Since I'm on OSX I can't answer your question completely but I can say the drive itself is very capable.

Thanks for your kind reply!
On the Avid website they do list info about formatting but the reason why I still posted and asked about that is because it is unclear on the table if the SSD drives have to be formatted. Did you leave them eFAT formatted?
Thanks! :)

[ImagineLRock]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

That does not tell us much useful info about your system. If you have questions about the suitability of that system for Pro Tools follow the "Help us Help You" instructions up the top of each DUC web page and post a SiSoft Sandra report.

Yes support is included in the subscription. And that information is described in lots of places on Avid.com especially on the Avid store and third party websites pages where you buy the product.

I would not be assigning too much value to Avid customer support. Avid just does not have that high a quality support. It might be helpful sometime if you are stuck and have tried all the usual stuff. For high-end customers it may be a different story. And to be clear Avid support should not be expected to provide you handholding to get started and how to use Pro Tools etc., they are just not staffed to do that, and neither will you get much here about how to get started using the product... there are just much better places. There is a pile of fantastic tutorials and training out on the Web and in commercial courses to help folks get started.

Avid support should provide support on other Windows PCs, but might push back on helping if say you are running not yet qualified operating systems versions etc. Or the systems is grossly out of spec.

"Recommended/Approved PCs" is useful at one level, if you absolutely need to know something has been tested, at another it is a marketing con largely perpetuated by HP spending money/effort to get their systems "approved". Avid does too little other testing, and too much of their recommendations are for older systems, with documentation not updated (e.g. disk storage discussions). But some combination of reading what Avid has on Avid.com and in their knowledge base and searching DUC usually gives useful answers.


Uh pay attention to getting the details correct. You have a drive formatted as exFAT, Pro Tools on Windows requires a NTFS formatted drive. You need to reformat the T7. This info is listed in the Pro Tools systems requirements documentation.

But why are you recording to the T7, the best place on modern computers is to record to the internal SSD if the computer has an SSD, especially for PCIe/NVMe internal SSD. An internal super-fast NVMe/PCIe SSD is also the best place to put VI samples if they will fit.



I have no idea what you are talking about or looking at. Every DAW *has* to include delay compensation or it would not be usable, and Pro Tools Intro sure does.

If the audio drive is too slow Pro Tools will throw an AAE error and crash. You noticed delays in what? the audio? the GUI/screen graphics etc. What exact Audio interface are you using and what is the H/W Buffer size and sample rate? The H/W buffer size is the primary determinant of audio latency when monitoring thought the DAW. You *really* need to be using a Audio interface with a vendor supplied ASIO driver, not ASIO4ALL and not using a WASAPI internal audio device. And Pro Tools on Windows should have exclusive use of that ASIO interface (so windows sound and other apps should not be using it, they typically use the motherboard sound or a sound card sound).

Overall I'd say you are overthinking all this. But getting Pro Tools Intro and trying it is the right approach. Make sure you fully optimize your system, see under "Help Us Help You", and do not have a lot of background apps/processes running. If you need more help include a Sandra report.

Thanks for taking the time to write a long answer - I will check out the Sisoft.
However I would not have come here to post if I had not already read the website and all the condescending comments are not helpful because you don’t know who I am how many years I used ProTools standalone (since 2006, went from ProTools LE all the way to 12) or how much I have accomplished in the music industry.
And no if YOU actually knew the website you would have seen here https://www.avid.com/pro-tools/comparison-extended under “create, edit, produce” that ProTools Intro does NOT include Automatic plugin delay compensation and that was my first hint that’s why I asked the forum.

The computer I listed is a laptop and does not include an internal SSD and that’s why I use an external drive and I have done that with older computer in the past. Regarding the T7 I replied above.

Regarding the support being included in the subscription, I asked because I remember a time when we had to pay EXTRA for the support so even though it is listed as available I was asking if the COST is included, sorry for not being clear.

Nonetheless, thank you

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by ImagineLRock

Thanks for your kind reply!
On the Avid website they do list info about formatting but the reason why I still posted and asked about that is because it is unclear on the table if the SSD drives have to be formatted. Did you leave them eFAT formatted?
Thanks! :)

SSD or HD makes no difference as to what filesystem formats will work. exFAT will have problems running Pro Tools sessions, it has to be NTFS. exFAT is great for session transfers, eg using USB thumb drives in exFAT format to transfer session copies between any combination of PC and Macs.

Yes it would be much clearer if the requirements said what also does not work/added more warning since so many external drives today will come formatted as exFAT. And the extra trap here is some stuff might seem to work on exFAT… and eventually Pro Tools may/will run into problems. NTFS is also a more robust file system, say if the computer crashes.

The T7 is a great little SSD, unusual/good in that it is (lower overhead than traditional command protocol) NVMe over USB, and USB 3.1/3.2 Gen 2 aka 10Gbps. Try to connect it to a 10Gbps USB port if your computer has one.

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by ImagineLRock

And no if YOU actually knew the website you would have seen here https://www.avid.com/pro-tools/comparison-extended under “create, edit, produce” that ProTools Intro does NOT include Automatic plugin delay compensation and that was my first hint that’s why I asked the forum.

I've looked at that table multiple times and never noticed this *mistake*. And it's just a crazy claim, as I said no DAW could really be usable without delay compensation. I totally get how confusing this is. I'll ping folks to get that fixed.

Pro Tools Intro absolutely does support plugin delay compensation. All the delay comp UI features are in Pro Tools Intro. I've opened sessions in Intro and played around with it. Intro is one of the better things Avid has ever done for low-end users (although now there are probably too many tiers now and that may causes confusion). However it's a very well done release, uses the same binary as all other versions, supports third party AAX plugins, supports local sessions, etc. all things that Avid messed up in past releases like Pro Tools First or Pro Tools Free that I would hope users just avoid. By contrast Intro is great thing for new users to start playing with, and because it's the same binary a good way of doing a minimal test that say a computer will work OK with Pro Tools Studio or Ultimate etc.

And a quick test: See the screenshot. One of the auxes has an Avid Pro Limiter on it that adds 39 samples of latency according to delay comp. With delay comp off you see the exact 39 sample latency as expected, with delay comp on it exactly corrects this latency. The screenshot of a quick test showing the delay comp applied correctly, two parallel signal paths, one going through a Pro Limiter.

It was not clear at all (and still not is) what delay you are talking about. Plugin latency compensation has *nothing* to do with slow UI behavior/mouse latency. And if you have issues here, that's where to start over with full systems optimization, standard troubleshooting, and a Sandra report if you need more help on DUC.

---

Your first post read like you were a very new user, we cannot guess. I did write my reply thinking that you were over-worrying about stuff and a bit lost, and then noticed you had grabbed Intro to test...a great sign, and I should have gone back and edited the message.

[ImagineLRock]

Thank you very much for all these insights. I’m going to do the formatting, then I’ll go through the optimization checklist and if I still see problems I will run a Sandra report.