Any benefit to TDM in 2021?

[Suad Cokljat]

I'm using HD3 Accel PCIe on Windows 7 PC. I'm composing, mixing and producing on this setup. It's a large Pro Tools system with 5 x 192s loaded with extra analog Inputs to accept all my outboard gear and synths/modules - all connected to dedicated I/O, no need for patchbays. I also do film scores and use AVID Mojo SDI + Sync as video pheripheral. All external MIDI gear (and it's lot of it) working happily with Digi MIDI I/O 10x10. For controllers I use AVID Artist Control and MIX and XMON controlled with tablet and control APP. I have nice selection of more-less newer as well as good old AAX32/RTAS/TDM and VST plugins and instruments. For wrapping newest 32bit VST's where there is no AAX32 alternative I use FXpansion and TransVST, no problem here. I also noticed that some VSTi are much more CPU efficient wrapped from VST to RTAS/AAX than original AAX32 versions (CPU usage 5 to 10 times lower). Also using several RME boxes for other ASIO apps and digital I/O interconnections.

So, there is still lot of happiness here with this old discontinued system in 2021.

The biggest disadvantage of Pro Tools HD10 when using it for Film scoring and composing is it's 32bit arhitecture and limitation for newer VSTi and instrument libraries. However, I bridged that with Vienna Ensemble Pro 7 and using server PC with tons of RAM, 2TB NVMe and VSTi with preloaded libraries. Works great. Even when I upgrade to HDX and Ultimate, I think will still use VEPro and server for film scoring.

Few features that I miss the most from current PT versions:

1. Advanced metering (!!!!)
2. 64 bit architecture
3. Freeze
4. Dynamic plugin processing
5. Show clip waveform while moving/editing

For your setup, maybe it's good idea to make dual boot and keep old TDM setup for tracking and new one for mixing with Ultimate and all other modern stuff. Not sure about MAC limitations in that scenario...

Cheers!

Suad

[tonwurm]

Originally Posted by Suad Cokljat

I'm using HD3 Accel PCIe on Windows 7 PC. I'm composing, mixing and producing on this setup. It's a large Pro Tools system with 5 x 192s loaded with extra analog Inputs to accept all my outboard gear and synths/modules - all connected to dedicated I/O, no need for patchbays. I also do film scores and use AVID Mojo SDI + Sync as video pheripheral. All external MIDI gear (and it's lot of it) working happily with Digi MIDI I/O 10x10. For controllers I use AVID Artist Control and MIX and XMON controlled with tablet and control APP. I have nice selection of more-less newer as well as good old AAX32/RTAS/TDM and VST plugins and instruments. For wrapping newest 32bit VST's where there is no AAX32 alternative I use FXpansion and TransVST, no problem here. I also noticed that some VSTi are much more CPU efficient wrapped from VST to RTAS/AAX than original AAX32 versions (CPU usage 5 to 10 times lower). Also using several RME boxes for other ASIO apps and digital I/O interconnections.

So, there is still lot of happiness here with this old discontinued system in 2021.

The biggest disadvantage of Pro Tools HD10 when using it for Film scoring and composing is it's 32bit arhitecture and limitation for newer VSTi and instrument libraries. However, I bridged that with Vienna Ensemble Pro 7 and using server PC with tons of RAM, 2TB NVMe and VSTi with preloaded libraries. Works great. Even when I upgrade to HDX and Ultimate, I think will still use VEPro and server for film scoring.

Few features that I miss the most from current PT versions:

1. Advanced metering (!!!!)
2. 64 bit architecture
3. Freeze
4. Dynamic plugin processing
5. Show clip waveform while moving/editing

For your setup, maybe it's good idea to make dual boot and keep old TDM setup for tracking and new one for mixing with Ultimate and all other modern stuff. Not sure about MAC limitations in that scenario...

Cheers!

Suad

Great ! The advantage of working with a system that is getting on in years is that one knows it very well, all the small errors and necessary workarounds. So you can work reliably, even if some "modern" functions are sorely missed.

I have a dual boot system, Mavericks with PT10HD3 PCIe for tracking and Mojave with the last version of PT Ultimate for mixing.