Buying a Apple Powerbook laptop. Pro Tools LE or HD?

[newtimer]

Hello all,

I am considering purchasing an Apple Powerbook and would like to install Pro Tools. From the message boards I've found that HD is a lot more powerful and has that ADS timing feature. Can you install Pro Tools HD on a Powerbook or do most people typically install LE? Also, is there anything else I should get with the Powerbook?

Thanks!!!

[Family Hoof]

As I'm sure you are aware, powerbooks do not have any PCI slots but instead have a single PCMCIA slot. In order to install PT HD yould need to buy a PCMCIA to PCI adapter. Whether or not this would even work I do not know. Also, it is uncommon and not recommended to run HD with just one PCI card you'd then need to get a PCI expansion chasis. Then it comes down to the same old HD versus LE debate:

- LE is dirt cheap (mbox for $450) while an entry level HD system is just under $10,000.
- In version 6.4 the main disadvantages to using LE are 1) latency, 2) 32 voice (simultaneous tracks) limit, 3) no beat detective, 4) limited support for audio post and video sync 5) processing power entirely dependent on your computer's capabilties.
- WIth LE you're stuck using max 8 channels of digi converters and/or max 8 channels of another brand.

[newtimer]

Thanks Family!!

I've been recording for years on a reel to reel but am new to computer based recording. Here's another newbie question for you. When you refer to latency, does that have something to do with tracks not aligning themselves with a track you are recording? And is that what ADS feature in the Pro Tools HD version fixes?

The main reason I want to get into Pro Tools and a laptop is that I'd like to be able to track drums in a professional studio, but then be able to bring the tracks home and do overdubs and mixes on my own. Would I be able to do that just as well with LE?

Thanks again!

[maz]

The main reason I want to get into Pro Tools and a laptop is that I'd like to be able to track drums in a professional studio, but then be able to bring the tracks home and do overdubs and mixes on my own. Would I be able to do that just as well with LE?

Thanks again!

YES. In my opinion it would be a massive waste of $14000 to get HD for a small overdub station in your home.

The biggest thing you'll deal with is the 32 track maximum on LE, but now you can have all the tracks in your session above 32, and just turn some of them off. So you can submix anything that you can and work from there.

[Family Hoof]

Latency refers to a delay between the time the audio plays and the time you actually hear it. It is caused by several things: 1) A/D or D/A conversion, 2) plug-ins, 3) the time it takes the software to make all those calculations while recording and playing back, and 4) the fact that there are miles of circuitry in most computer systems through which the audio signal has to travel. These processes take time and thus have inherent delays.

One key difference between LE and HD is systems is latency. Even with no plug-ins or internal bussing enabled, LE will always have audible latency. Getting it down to a reasonable amount (where it won't affect your performance) during overdubbing can quite taxing on your system (or in some cases impossible - although others may dispute). On the other hand, an HD system without plugs or internal bussing will never have enough latency to hinder a performance. In fact, I've done tons of sessions utilizing the internal bussing for headphone mixes and there sitlll wasn't any delay. It was as good as an analog console with aux sends.

Another important factor to understand is that HD systems (host-based systems) have multiple processor chips on the PCI cards and thus perform their own processing. LE systems (native systems) use the computers own central processor and so there is only one chip (in most instances).

When using plug-ins or subgroups in HD different plug-ins/processes will have different amounts of inherent latency and are going to utilize different processor chips. In turn what happens is that your tracks become misaligned (usually by less than 1msec but it's enough) from one another and phase cancelation can occur. In the newest version of the Pro Tools HD software, 6.4, automatic compensation has finally been instituted and this is no longer an issue. In older versions, you would have to read and/or calculate the amount of latency and manually compensate with more plug-ins.

On the other hand, when mixing in LE this was never a problem. Since there is only one processor, everything gets delayed by the largest amount latency by default and so you didn't have to worry about phase shift (for those who disagree, I got the information from a digidesign employee and had noticed this myself long before speaking to him).

On a powerful computer such as the powerbook G4 any of the newer LE systems should suffice for overdubs at home. It would be wise to get an external firewire drive for retrieving the drum tracks from the studios you work at. If you're using a version of Pro Tools which is newer than theirs you will have no problems opening the session, but if their version is newer than yours (i.e. they use 6.4 and you use 5.3) then they'll have to save a copy of the session file in this older format.

Also, if you're too broke to buy a firewire drive (like me) you can buy a 6pin to 6pin firewire cable and transer the files directly to your internal drive. The procedure goes like this: 1) connect the two computers via firewire, 2) restart your own while holding down the T button on your keyboard, 3) once booted your powerbok will appear as a hard drive on the other computers and you click and drag files to it.

If you need advice on which Pro Tools LE system there is tons of info around. If you decide to go HD, then more power to you. There are the more fortunate of us here to talk about that with. Good luck and have fun!

[newtimer]

Thanks for all the info Family and Maz!!!

This has really helped me out a lot..