PT10/Complete Production Toolkit for Surround Editing/Mixing

[Charazard]

Hey guys and gals,

Have any of you used the Complete Production Toolkit on a Windows computer and worked on surround sessions?

If you have, what were your experiences and issues(if any)? How much ram and what kind of processors does your pc have?

The only reason I ask is because I am in a bit of a dilemma; see I either need to convince my superiors to fork over $10,000 for a brand new HDX system (to fit on my current mac pro), or "settle" for an absolutely decked out windows pc with PT10 and a complete production toolkit.

I will be working mainly on short video game trailers that will be done in 5.1 and stereo, thus the need for either HDX or the CPTK for surround.

The CPTK option will save money (and thus would be much easier to convince my company to fork over for), no doubt (because I can get a new Windows computer for free through work), but I would hate for my company to spend a good amount of money and then not have my own native system with CPTK be able to handle a surround session.

To give you guys an idea, my surround sessions would probably only need about 40 stereo/mono audio tracks, a few VCA's, a few 5.1 stem and monitor tracks, and a main 5.1 master.

Nothing like the size of a feature 5.1 production.

Plug-in wise, I'd probably be running a few durrough/dolby meters and a couple music "stereo to surround" plug-ins. After that I would probably run down-mixing plug-ins.

Any and all help and opinions are extremely appreciated!

[Bob Olhsson]

Heck, I've done bigger 5.1 movies than that on a 002 le system before the video tool kit came out. CPTK would make projects that size a piece of cake!

[The Weed]

If it's a Windows box they're getting for Pro Tools, please see this thread, first page and then the last couple of pages or so. Minimum I would recommend is an Intel i7 CPU with 6 to 12 gig of DDR3 or 8 to 16 gig of Quad RAM. Many people have successfully built custom computers, but an off-the-shelf like a Dell or HP can be problematic.

If you're not going to be using a lot of I/O you may be able to use an MBox 3 Pro. The 002 and 003 interfaces will not be supported past Pro Tools 10, although with version 9 and above you can use third party interfaces with Pro Tools.

Cheers,