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[nycsour]

designlord,

those specs you mentioned in your response to me would be greatly appreciated!

-nycsour

[chappy]

You may be down to a very simple plan that I advise anyone entering the arena.
Make a list of your needs and your wants. This is a serious task and you'll find conflicts. When it's done, there's your plan. You have a different skill set than most because you bring a strong computer background that might sway you into the PC world. If so, get Nuendo or Cubase.
If you go with Mac (I just put in another one with PT HD3Accell). A g5 with dual 2.5 proc. and 6/gig of ram. I put a bunch of other programs on it too. Wow!

If it's you doing your music, stay with what you know and throw PTLE with a Digi 002.
You can run Live and Reason and still get a decent track count if you load up on ram.
I have 4 PT systems because it keeps me in the loop and some are portable, some are
geared more for writing and my main system, along with Apogee 16x converters form the core of my main studio. So, I at least have a 'standard' (if there is such a thing)
here. It keeps me compatible with most other pro studios running mostly Pro Tools and Logic Pro as an auxillary program.
None of these will make you a better writer or musician but they will facilitate your ability to become both.
Yes, I am a producer and am occassionally out in LA. I live on the Other Coast
and produce some people you know and some that no one knows. I also write for TV and film and I love almost all of it.
best of luck,
chao

[chappy]

sorry.....that should have read:
If you go with Mac (parenthetical pride for new box) you will easily
plug in to the system with your background.
I've spent a lot of money on Macs and I always make it back but it's my job
so i don't have the time (or ability) to learn the nuances of a brand new, seemingly complicated system like a PC. The pro users that do swear by them are using Nuendo
or Cubase and there's a move in some circles to Pyramix ($80,000 for a multi track rig). They also have an assistant that runs the computer while they engineer the session with lots of outboard gear.

I also have an assitant who is handy on the Mac and brings a wide variety of skills with him. All of that stuff is great if you're making music. Otherwise, it's just an expensive dog and pony show.
good luck,
chap

[designlord]

nycsour

Here is a listing I compiled at newegg.com where I normally buy parts from. NOTE* The video card I was matching vs the G5, you may want to spring for an ATI x700 or such. The Western Digital Hard Drive list may not be their best, but in that price range you can find the model that is( like the WD2000PB and WD2000BB). It makes a good starting point anyways. And as always you'll probably want to set aside an extra $50-$100 for extra quite fans, depending on your setup. BTW, what are you goals musically?

EPoX "EP-8KDA3J" nForce3-250Gb Chipset $69.75

Rosewill nVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Video Card, 128MB DDR, 64-bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP, Model "RW5200-128D2" -RETAIL $49.99

AMD Athlon 64 3000+, 512KB L2 Cache 64-bit Processor - Retail $146.00

3 X Geil Ultra Series Value 184-Pin 1GB DDR PC-3200 w/ Blue Heatspreader - Retail $405.75

WD Caviar Series 200GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive Kit, Model WD2000JDRTL, Retail
$178.00

Microsoft Natural Multimedia Keyboard & Wheel Mouse Optical Value Pack PS/2
$30.50

Sony Internal 16X DVD+/-R / Double Layer/DVD+/-RW Drive, Model DRU710A, Retail
$88.99

Microsoft Windows XP Professional With Service Pack 2 -OEM
$147.95

I-STAR 3U Stylish Rackmount Server Chassis (Black) With I-Star 300W Power Supply, Model "D-300 Storm Series" -RETAIL
$177.50

[designlord]

Chappy,

Well I just got off the phone with Digidesign sales and he help answer my questions. Basically ProTools HD is the only hardware accelerated audio solution (at least of what we talked about, know anything else?). To put it in easy terms for anyone who plays games, think of it as software rendering Doom I or Super Mario vs hardware rendering like Halo or GTA (do a search for "sreenshots AND" Super Mario or Halo for a visual). ProTools LE is just an Digital to Analog Converter and offers Nil in the way of hardware acceleration, your host machine does everything else. Where as on a ProTools HD it has at least 9 chips that process audio and plug-ins leaving your Host Computer to... update the screen, more or less.

So I have decided that I'm going to shoot for a PT HD system. The Rep told me that performance is really good on either PC or Mac (Dual 1.8GHz 2GB RAM $2,724.00) with an approved PC like Dell Precision Workstation 670 (Dual 2.8GHz Xeon 2GB RAM $2,730.20), or proper selected quality parts if building a custom machine. I will have to get PTHD first and see if it works on my current system, and if not I might as well spring for a Mac above (san Apple RAM so about $2400) so I can develop games on it too. Using PTHD should make the Host machine speed a mute point so it's about my interfacing with the machine and cost/benefit (ie my Mac development).

So Chappy, this is what I'm looking at.

Pro Tools|HD 1
US List Price: $7,995
192 I/O
US List Price: $3,995

Dual 1.8GHz PowerPC G5
• 256MB DDR400 SDRAM: $1,898 (meager $100 work discount)
http://datamem.com G5 compt RAM 1GB = 159.00 (2x)
$2,200

SubTotal 14,190
Tax 1,028
_______________
Total $15,218

Or Maybe

Pro Tools|HD 1
US List Price: $7,995
96 I/O - though for a system I hope to have for at least 5 years 96KHz sample rate may not have the legs for the future. Any new thoughts Chappy given my direction?
US List Price: $1,995

Current PC

Total $10,723

Well it's a good thing I didn't go buy a new car after all! I still have plenty of time to change my mind while I get the money together, I rather only finance half of the cost and pay the rest in cash.

So Chappy do you only work via record companies, or do you do any indy albums? What style of music do you work with most? I might be able to use some input from a producer as I work my album together, if you would be willing.

As for Pyramix. I went to their website and it is the epitome of the old PC "engineers doing design" style website. I.E. Crap. 80K huh... Ha It better include a damn man servant to run the thing for me, do everything real-time and have a better appearance than that. I'm not going to look at cards and pay 80k. Makes paying 15k for PTHD much more palatable.

[lepetitmartien]

(yawn)

[CptAnalog]

I know how you feel. I learned DOS before being introduced to the Mac. I hated the GUI at first: at least DOS told me what it was doing instead of just some goofy wristwatch. But, enough history.
I'm a confirmed Mac user now. Even my ancient systems give less trouble than any PC I've ever used. And, OS 9.2 only uses 28 Meg of RAM for itself.
That said, I've found that Performer is a better MIDI app, while ProTools handles audio better. Heck, I still use Sound Designer for wave editing and mastering.
In my own perfect world I'd still be using Dyaxis, which only uses the Mac to run the graphics.

[designlord]

Hey Ppl,

So I have a question. What do you guys use Logic for when you are running ProTools, just the midi? And how do they interface together, are you exporting your midi and importing it into ProTools or just running it on a secondary machine and using it as a instrument (though you wouldn't be using all that nice hardware acceleration doing it that last way)?

Thanks

Ce message a été modifié par designlord - mar. 22 mars 2005, 14:22.

[ourmanflinty]

Logic allows you to use the PT hardware and native hardware at the same time, you run two audio engines at the same time within Logic and route audio between them..this way you get to have all your Logic instruments or recorded audio processed with AU or Logic plugs then routed out to your PT engine and further plugged and processed before being pumped out through your Mix or HD hardware...You can liken it to running RTAS and TDM plugs at the same time in PT software but it's more flexible.

[chappy]

Good choice. I have 3 PT sytems. a Digi 002 for a 'b' room, an MBox w/laptop for travel and PTHD3 Accell.
The HD system is light years ahead of the others even on system 9.2 (gone now).
Before buying the Digi hardware (average), check out the options from Apogee.
congrats!
chap