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  #1  
Old 11-11-2004, 02:14 PM
Thomas Regin Thomas Regin is offline
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Default Advice needed on 002 purchase

Hello all!

I have been searching for a replacement for my Creamware Pulsar II setup, and have considered purchasing the Digi 002.

The main reason for this "transition" is that the Pulsar DSP board does NOT work with my Dual Xeon machine! It crashes with BSOD 10-20 times a day, and I need my DAW to be stable.

Being quite inexperienced with Digidesign, I have a couple of questions that I hope that you are able to answer for me:

1. Being a classical/film composer using big sample libaries like EWQLSO and GPO with NI Kontakt and Gigastudio, I am wondering how fast a FireWire port I need. Will the IEEE 1394a be fast enough, or do I need to go 1394b (the new standard)? I don't want to have crackles or pops even when playing back 50+ audio tracks!

2. Does Digi002 support Cakewalk Sonar4 ?

3. And most importantly: Does Digi 002 support a multi processor setup? I have read on the support site, that this hasn't been tested, but that doesn't have to mean that it isn't working!

My current setup:

ASUS PC-DL Deluxe 533FSB Motherboard
2 x 2,5Ghz XEON CPUs
2GB RAM
ATI Radeon 9700 (128MB) Video Card
DVD-RW/CD-RW
3 x Maxtor Harddrives (No RAID)
Linksys Wireless 54Mbit USB LAN

I hope that you are able to answer my questions!

Thanks in advance,

Thomas Regin.
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  #2  
Old 11-11-2004, 02:23 PM
Bastiaan Bastiaan is offline
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Default Re: Advice needed on 002 purchase

50+ audiotracks is not going to happen in ptle. Playback in ptle is limited to 32 tracks.
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  #3  
Old 11-11-2004, 02:23 PM
tele_player tele_player is offline
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Default Re: Advice needed on 002 purchase

1 - Digi 002 is Firewire 400, and won't benefit from Firewire 800. ProTools LE is limited to 32 audio tracks playing at once, and stereo tracks count as two. FW bandwidth is not a problem for Digi002. Do the numbers, it still uses only a fraction of Firewire 400.

2 - Don't know about Cakewalk; depends on if Cakewalk can talk to an interface via ASIO.

3 - ProTools LE runs on a multiprocessor setup, but doesn't balance the load across the CPU's very well. All the heavy ProTools processing is limited to one CPU. Reports from ProTools LE users on dual-CPU Windows systems have not been very encouraging. On Mac, reports are more enthusiastic, but they may be rationalizing their expensive 'fastest desktop ever'.
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  #4  
Old 11-11-2004, 02:31 PM
Thomas Regin Thomas Regin is offline
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Default Re: Advice needed on 002 purchase

Quote:
1 - Digi 002 is Firewire 400, and won't benefit from Firewire 800. ProTools LE is limited to 32 audio tracks playing at once, and stereo tracks count as two. FW bandwidth is not a problem for Digi002. Do the numbers, it still uses only a fraction of Firewire 400.

2 - Don't know about Cakewalk; depends on if Cakewalk can talk to an interface via ASIO.

3 - ProTools LE runs on a multiprocessor setup, but doesn't balance the load across the CPU's very well. All the heavy ProTools processing is limited to one CPU. Reports from ProTools LE users on dual-CPU Windows systems have not been very encouraging. On Mac, reports are more enthusiastic, but they may be rationalizing their expensive 'fastest desktop ever'.
Thank you both of you!

Let me see if I get this straight (I'm a noob, you know):

I thought that PTLE was a piece of optional sequencer-software that had a limit of playing back 32 tracks, and if I went with some other sequencer (like Cubase or Sonar) I would benefit from it's unlimited number of tracks. Am I completely wrong?

Thanks in advance,

Thomas.
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  #5  
Old 11-11-2004, 06:04 PM
gorka gorka is offline
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Default Re: Advice needed on 002 purchase

You´re right. But the only reason to buy a Digi 002 is to use PT LE.
If you want to go with other Software like Cakewalk / Steinberg / whatever, there are tons of better and / or cheaper interfaces than the 002.
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  #6  
Old 11-12-2004, 12:01 AM
bladesg bladesg is offline
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Default Re: Advice needed on 002 purchase

I agree, if you're looking for an audio interface for Sonar or Cubase then don't go for a 002X unless you want to be able to use Pro Tools LE. If you have no intention of everusing PT LE then I'd seriously have a look at what RME, Presonus and Motu have to offer. I'm not dissing digi or PT LE 'cause it is a good package and well PT has to be the most user friendly and musical sequence softare there is!
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  #7  
Old 11-12-2004, 12:56 AM
Alex T. Alex T. is offline
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Default Re: Advice needed on 002 purchase

Does 6.7 support Hyperthreading yet?
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  #8  
Old 11-12-2004, 04:19 AM
Thomas Regin Thomas Regin is offline
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Default Re: Advice needed on 002 purchase

Hi again, everyone!

Thank you very much for your good advice!

My main problem is that I don't know enough about ProTools LE to say that I'll never use it, but my experience with LE-products has almost always been negative, as I find myself looking for features that are unavailable! Especially the 32-track audio playback limitation seems like a major issue, considering for instance, that NI Kontakt, by default, will use a stereo-track for each instrument loaded.

Are these legitimate worries? What is the general experience?

Thanks in advance,

Thomas.
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  #9  
Old 11-12-2004, 04:58 AM
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spkguitar spkguitar is offline
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Default Re: Advice needed on 002 purchase

The 32 track limit is on audio tracks, which are intended to actually record audio. Most people (myself included) use aux tracks for virtual instruments, record the perfomance with MIDI, and then "print" the audio output to an audio track only when absolutely necessary. I've never found it limiting at all; on the contrary, I find it very powerful much more flexible.

Cakewalk works through ASIO, but I have to agree with everyone else; if you're not going to use Pro Tools, why buy the interface? There are better ways to go in regards to the interface when using other software exclusively.
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