how does protools hd work?

[wsaraceni]

From what i can tell, to get a minimum setup of protools you need a computer that can accept the HD1 PCI or PCIe card, and one of their I/O interfaces.

so if you need more I/O you need an HD2 or HD3 setup and more rackmount I/O. is that correct?

and the I/O would require a preamp for each channel.

so the minimum you would need would be something like this?

MAC Pro $2800
96 I/0 $2k
HD1 $8k

that would get you 16 channels in and 16 channels out of 96khz audio. is that correct?

[stratofied]

I believe the 96 I/O has 8 channels of conversion and 8 ADAT lightpipe.

[BluesForDan]

well, first it takes a shitload of money out of your wallet

then it saddles you with a hell of a learning curve

followed up with every increasing need for more plugins and hardware

not to mention updates that you have to do to maintain your warranty/support help lines

but then you find out your OS is months behind in fixing the bugs the PT software updates causes

occasionally, it is your OS updates that conflicts with your PT version.

then you find out that there IS no talent boost feature, that there never WAS or WILL be one, and you're tracking talentless hacks who act like they're doing YOU the favor of dealing with them.

so, yeah, that's pretty much how it works.:crazyguy

[Shawn S.]

I more prefer how others have 99.1% the same features, a bit more pretty (cause I'm all about looks)... and the fact that I can expand on my system and not be tied down to a 5 grand rackmount interface if I don't want it...

Logic rant over.

[Jan Folkson]

HD Comes with 1 or more cards (HD1 just a core card, HD2 Core + Accel DSP, HD3 Core + 2 Accel DSP etc). I/O is sold separately and each card (either core or accel can accept 2 interfaces 192 or 96 i/o.

The setup you're describing would give you 16 ins and outs (8 analog and 8 digital). And you'd be able to play back 96 channels of audio at 44.1 or 48k.

And yes, you'd need preamps in addition.

[wsaraceni]

HD Comes with 1 or more cards (HD1 just a core card, HD2 Core + Accel DSP, HD3 Core + 2 Accel DSP etc). I/O is sold separately and each card (either core or accel can accept 2 interfaces 192 or 96 i/o.

The setup you're describing would give you 16 ins and outs (8 analog and 8 digital). And you'd be able to play back 96 channels of audio at 44.1 or 48k.

And yes, you'd need preamps in addition.


thanks. im not shopping. but it wouldnt hurt to know what the different pieces are. whats the difference between a hd1/hd2 and hd3 core card and the accel cards?

[Shawn S.]

They've also got really good demo videos on their site. They used to send out DVDs quite a long time ago when it first came out. Very helpful DVD.

[Jan Folkson]

HD1 is just the core card. You get the ability to connect 2 i/o's and you get 96 channels of 44.1/48k audio (fewer tracks at higher sample rates). With the HD2 you get an additional card which is called an Accel card. It's a DSP card that allows you to run more plug ins (the more cards the more plugs). Which is nice since it makes your system expandable. Additionally all but the HD1 allow you to get double the track count so 192 tracks at 44.1/48k.

The nice thing about Pro Tools as opposed to many of the other systems is that the computer acts as a host so you don't necessarily need the fastest and newest. I'm running an HD5 system and still only use a Dual 2.5 G5 computer. There are moments where having a faster computer come in handy but it's not essential.

[Rusty G.]

Another option. . .About 3-4 years ago, I bought a ProTools TDM system. It's the system just before HD.

I run it on a Mac G4 and it's running on the old OS-9.

And, I had to buy several mic-pre's, along with the 888 24I/O (A/D/A converter).

But, the system sounds so nice.

The reason many people buy ProTools is because it is ubiquitous and found in most high end studios. I bought it because ProTools LE uses the computer to perform all audio tracks, along with all DSP (Digital Signal Processing). In a ProTools TDM or HD setup, each card performs the DSP on the TDM or HD plug-ins, which, everyone knows, either eats up the RAM.

Computers are getting so fast, that it may not be such a problem in the future. . .also, there are companies that are making DSP cards for $1500 to 2500 that you can just put in the computer and it acts like a ProTools system.

Something to think about.

Oh, another reason to have ProTools, is because you can take the stuff you've done at home, and bring it to a big studio, and track stuff there that you can't do at home. . .like DRUMS.

[elambo]

Computers are getting so fast, that it may not be such a problem in the future. . .

The future was several months ago with the release of the 8-core Intel Macs. I have HD on one of these machines at home and I can load up a big session with 5 times more plugins than I'd ever need and it barely puts a hit on the CPU (yes, it's TDM, but I'm picking RTAS plugins which use the CPU [that's a lot of acronyms]). The computer is now able to handle HUGE sessions all by itself.

But there are several reasons why TDM remains so popular. 1) it has delay compensation which fixes the inherent delays in many of the DAW's processing and I/O. 2) it allows for a boatload of I/Os. 3) It's fast! Maybe there's a bit of a learning curve, but not much. I picked it up pretty quickly without needing to read the manual, although for power-users the manual will be required. 4) the hardware (the 192 I/O in particular) remains a very good sounding interface, allows a lot of I/O, and, obviously, integrates well with the software. It also allows other company's interfaces to be used. In tandem with a Digi 192, I'm using Apogee convertors (with the X-card) and ProTools takes complete control over them. They act as though they're Digi-branded interfaces, but they sound better. There are other companies that make ProTools integrated interfaces as well - a Digi interface isn't required at all.

[elambo]

And yes, you'd need preamps in addition.

Not necessarily. Keyboards, compressors, effects, reverbs, etc. need NO preamps. Mics do.

[Jan Folkson]

Yes, I know that elambo, seemed obvious, but I should have been more clear.