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Is Protools still viable?


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This gets to the heart of my original question. I think that in many ways Protools is older, less robust technology selling for twice the price of newer, more robust technology. The only technological edge Protools has is the control surfaces. The other edge is simply market share. IMO this scenario is an impedement to the advancement of studio technology.

 

 

I def can't argue with this thought. However how has it impeded studio technology? IMO, PT and other DAW's have created the home studio revolution. However PT is the one that's shot themselves in the foot by doing so. Their continual divide between HD and LE/MP platforms have created a chasm that's just not as tempting to cross anymore. But studio technology itself gets better everyday as far as I can tell. In fact the competition is what makes all the DAW's get better and better. If not for competition LE might still only have 24 tracks. (that's what it was when I first got it lol)

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I think it's time to seriously question the viability of the Protools platform. As As see it there are 2 advantages to a Protools system.


1) You find it everywhere.


2) Their control surfaces are great.


Other than that (and I know those are not trivial) I'd have to think that you could get far more processing power and flexibility for the dollar with a native system and some extra processing such as UADs or TC Electronic PowerCores.


Wouldn't an 8 core system with lots of plugs and 4 UAD Quads blow a way an HD3 for far less money?


Native System:

Computer Quad Core - (PC or Mac- $1k-$3k) Let's call it $1.5k

4 - UAD Quad Flexi's - $7200

Sonar, Cubase or Logic - $500

Total = $9,200


Protools:

Computer $1.5k

Protools HD3 - $12k

Total = $13,500


The Native system IMO would be far more powerful than the PT system and it would include $2000 worth if UAD plug-ins whereas the PT system would include very few top drawer plugs and probably none of the ones you really need. If you subtract the $2000 from the native price you end up with $7,200. So you get a far more powerful system for slightly more than half the price.

 

 

One thing thats buggin me about the UAD. On their site it says you can run 4 UAD2's and 4 UAD1's simultaneoulsy. Where do you put your video card and sound card?

 

Speaking of which you forgot to add a sound card to your PC. 1 to 3K. I assume you wouldn't buy firepod or maudio after putting 9 grand into a music pc.

 

Seriously is it even viable for UAD to make the above claim? In order to build a machine capable of handing all that you'd have 5 PCIe slots, and 5 PCI slots, in order to still have video and sound. Do they make motherboards that big, Do they make cases that will hold such a mobo, Will you need a 2000 watt power supply? The only way this would work is by using a DAW capable of networking and workload sharing, like Nuendo System link, and I think reaper has this feature. Pretty limiting for your choice of DAW's. Not mention you have add another computer.

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One thing thats buggin me about the UAD. On their site it says you can run 4 UAD2's and 4 UAD1's simultaneoulsy. Where do you put your video card and sound card?


Speaking of which you forgot to add a sound card to your PC. 1 to 3K. I assume you wouldn't buy firepod or maudio after putting 9 grand into a music pc.


Seriously is it even viable for UAD to make the above claim? In order to build a machine capable of handing all that you'd have 5 PCIe slots, and 5 PCI slots, in order to still have video and sound. Do they make motherboards that big, Do they make cases that will hold such a mobo, Will you need a 2000 watt power supply? The only way this would work is by using a DAW capable of networking and workload sharing, like Nuendo System link, and I think reaper has this feature. Pretty limiting for your choice of DAW's. Not mention you have add another computer.

 

 

This is accomplished by an outboard PCIe chassis and is used my some if not many UAD owners.

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One thing thats buggin me about the UAD. On their site it says you can run 4 UAD2's and 4 UAD1's simultaneoulsy. Where do you put your video card and sound card?


Speaking of which you forgot to add a sound card to your PC. 1 to 3K. I assume you wouldn't buy firepod or maudio after putting 9 grand into a music pc.

 

 

Right, and a Magma chassis is going to run you $2000-4000. Even if you only get digital interface cards w/o converters (which is comparable to an HD rig), you're still up to the price of an HD rig.

 

-Dan.

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It is cool but I can't Imagine ever needing more that 4 UAD Quads. (I know - famous last words)
;)



Honestly I'm not sure why you want 4 quads. Ideally I would think 1 of the neve 128 UAD's and 1 Flexi would be plenty. Then you can add a SSL Duende to the system and/or a TC Powercore or even a Scope system. Me personally i woudn't want all my eggs in one basket with DSP like that, I'd rather have the flexibility of multiple DSP platforms. Also after seeing the price of that magna system, woah hold on a minutes. Thats over the top. And for 3K I'm still skeptical that you can pipeline 7 Pci slots down to one, without bottleneck issues.

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Honestly I'm not sure why you want 4 quads. Ideally I would think 1 of the neve 128 UAD's and 1 Flexi would be plenty. Then you can add a SSL Duende to the system and/or a TC Powercore or even a Scope system. Me personally i woudn't want all my eggs in one basket with DSP like that, I'd rather have the flexibility of multiple DSP platforms. Also after seeing the price of that magna system, woah hold on a minutes. Thats over the top. And for 3K I'm still skeptical that you can pipeline 7 Pci slots down to one, without bottleneck issues.

 

 

 

Good point. I also don't think I would ever need more slots than a PC can have on board.

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One thing thats buggin me about the UAD. On their site it says you can run 4 UAD2's and 4 UAD1's simultaneoulsy. Where do you put your video card and sound card?

 

Magma Chassis.

 

Pro Tools users tend to use those too once they have filled all of their computer's internal PCI / PCI-e card slots. I could probably fit one more HD card into my computer, but if I wanted to go HD4 (or higher), I'd need to resort to a external chassis for the cards. A breakout cable from the external chassis interfaces with one slot in your main computer, but the chassis itself has multiple slots (different versions are available), as well as a built in power supply to provide power to the cards.

 

www.magma.com :wave:

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