Vintage DAW users?

amassivetree · Post by **amassivetree** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 5:28 pm

Hi. I have just obtained a Digidesign Session 8 (the ancestor of the Digi 001, from the mid 90s). I'm currently scrounging for parts to get it running ( my computer is way too modern to handle this) but I was wondering if anyone out there using this or any similarly obsolete DAW setup: I've seen some references to Ensoniq PARIS, although I think even that is a bit more technologically advanced.

I understand of course I could save myself tons of hassle just getting a Firebox or something instead, but that doesnt fit with my old junk fetish or my "bad digital" studio vibe.

Anyways, comments, flashback, cursing digidesign welcomed.

;ivlunsdystf · Post by **;ivlunsdystf** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 9:17 pm

I really want this thread to work out and bear fruit for you even though I have nothing to contribute. I admire your enthusiasm for middle-aged technology.

JGriffin · Post by **JGriffin** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 9:35 pm

Middle-aged technology? "Vintage" DAWs? God almighty, am I that old? I used a Sonic Solutions DAW (several, actually) from 1993-2001, converting to ProTools in mid-2001...I still miss the editing interface and the fade window on Sonic...and it sounded pretty good too.

I might have stayed with Sonic if they'd stayed with DAWs...they kinda went off into DVD-authoring land...or if or if I'd gone into mastering (and heaven help us all if that ever happened). My last Sonic system is in boxes in storage right now, sometimes I think about firing it up...

;ivlunsdystf · Post by **;ivlunsdystf** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 10:01 pm

dwlb wrote:Middle-aged technology? "Vintage" DAWs?

Sorry to say it that way; I am assuming that "vintage" is anything from before 1985 nowadays, and middle-aged describes things well that are obsolete without yet being vintage -

I heard a Boston song on the "oldies" station yesterday -

I hope I live to be at least 103, although if I do, I'll be REALLY sick of Boston songs by the time I finally expire -

pandatone · Post by **pandatone** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 10:39 pm

i have a session8 card.. its nubus..
thats about all there is to that. i've heard you can put in a old old digi DSP card in there to get some plug ins.. and of coarse you'll need an old scsi HD.
anyone wany my session 8 card? hmm. or did i throw it away? i don't think i did. and am to lazy to look. its freakin' nubus!!
i think there is a difference between old and useless. you still need an 882 to use it.. haha.. crazy computers.

panda

[btw, i think a nubus, 8 track, no DSP digicard = useless]

Cellotron · Post by **Cellotron** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 10:41 pm

Session 8 huh? You just got me thinking about my first job in a studio running Sound Designer II with I think was either a Centra or a Quadra. Man - I am so glad those days are behind me! - the thing took forever to process - and took just as long to do an undo - as the processing was completely destructive. In fact the reason I was hired was they needed someone at night to wait for the thing to finish doing a process like normalizing so you could start the next edit job and press the button to go process while you went out on a lunch break. You could only preview a process (which all sounded pretty darn bad) a little bit at a time - and all crossfades had to fit in to be previewed RAM - which was pretty tiny in those days.

I went from SDII to the original version of SAW - which was the first PC native DAW to be able to do multitrack editing and playback - using a DAL Card D+ w/Digi I/O on a 386-40 running Windows 3.1. It was a fun step up from Sound Designer as you could actually have 4 stereo tracks going at once - but man - I'm seriously glad all the progress it has made since then.

Anyway - as far as Session 8 - if it requires either a substantial amount of time or any money whatsoever to get it going - don't do it. The math on that thing had some serious flaws and even under $100 apps and soundcards will get you a lot more capabilities, and a lot less hassles - not to mention you will be able to do the same amount of work in heckuva less time. "Vintage" or no - there is really almost nothing to like with non-current DAW apps if you actually want to use it for real work.

Also to dwlb - as far as Sonic - they are still in the DAW biz. Sonic Solutions became 2 different companies - Sonic who are the DVD authoring guys - and Sonic Studio - who are continuing to churn out apps aimed at mastering studios - http://www.sonicstudio.com
They kind have been left in the dust in terms of development by their competitors for the last few years though - but seems they have some interesting stuff in the works I hope sees the light of day.

anyway -
At my old workplace there was a Sonic Solution "Classic" USP system that I pretty much left off as my current SAWStudio workstations run circles around it.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

JGriffin · Post by **JGriffin** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 11:35 pm

Cellotron wrote:Also to dwlb - as far as Sonic - they are still in the DAW biz. Sonic Solutions became 2 different companies - Sonic who are the DVD authoring guys - and Sonic Studio - who are continuing to churn out apps aimed at mastering studios - http://www.sonicstudio.com
They kind have been left in the dust in terms of development by their competitors for the last few years though - but seems they have some interesting stuff in the works I hope sees the light of day.

Oh, I know, Steve, that's why I said I'd have stuck with 'em had I gone into mastering--the state of their DAWs in 2001 was not at all aimed at production-studio stuff...or rather, they were still attempting to serve two masters (!) and as far as production studios their aim was off.

Quadra...wow, I remember using Sonic on a Quadra. When last I left that DAW it was on an old Beige G3 running OS 8.6, which was as high as Sonic would support that version of software. I still find myself hitting apple-G to "Zoom to Gates" from time to time when I'm really tired...

splitpoint · Post by **splitpoint** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 7:48 am

Still using my Waveframe 1000 because it is so simple and everything is integrated (effects, sequencing, hd recording, sampling) I haven't found any new daw that lets me pull together a project so quickly.
Unfortunately it will only playback 8 tracks at once from disk and if it ever dies I could be SOL but I sure love that thing. If anyone has some spare parts I'm always on the lookout.

Al

linus · Post by **linus** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 10:37 am

I'm not sure what you are looking for...

You have the audio components and you need the (slightly antiquated) computer to install/use them in? If that's the case, just find out what the best computer configuration for that system is and buy a couple of them off Ebay. Used older computers sell for next to nothing.

seaneldon · Post by **seaneldon** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 12:33 pm

we have a PARIS that's a great doorstop.

chrispy · Post by **chrispy** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 1:34 pm

I'm curious what people are using out there that isn't state-of-the-art (by which I mean, REALLY not state-of-the-art) as far as DAWs. I've been thinking about picking up a Digidesign 888 off of ebay for cheap as a sort of tinkering project myself.

joelkriske · Post by **joelkriske** » Wed Nov 01, 2006 12:52 am

in defense...
by most standards, anything over fifteen years old is vintage. So i'm assuming most of us are@

god i wanna fire up my amiga

space_ryerson · Post by **space_ryerson** » Wed Nov 01, 2006 8:57 pm

I used to love Studio Vision and how it handled midi. I'm sure if I saw it now I wouldn't be so nostalgic, when compared to the ease of use of so many things I take for granted. (hot swappable firewire, usb midi, networked midi, osx, modern DAWS, etc.)

ubertar · Post by **ubertar** » Wed Nov 01, 2006 10:41 pm

I'm still using my gadgetlabs stuff. Not vintage, exactly, but the company went belly up in 2000. Luckily, there's a guy named Mostek who has written XP drivers, so it's still usable, and it's comparable to a lot of the stuff out there today. 8 channels i/o, 96khz, 24 bit. Known for good clocking. Apparently, the new drivers improve on some of the original specs, too.

JGriffin · Post by **JGriffin** » Thu Nov 02, 2006 12:41 pm

seaneldon wrote:we have a PARIS that's a great doorstop.

I knew some guys around here that really loved that system.

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