yet another PC/Mac ProTools riddle

[Jameson_Brown]

okay, so i'm planning on getting an MBox with ProTools LE for the new year and installing it on my home PC, a Dell Dimension 4500 bought in 2001, windows XP Pro. this is so i can work on recording projects both in the ProTools studios at my school and in the privacy of my own home.

here's the issue: my school uses Mac G4 and G5 desktops. what compatability issues am i facing here? will i be able to switch working on my projects from PC to Mac and vise versa with relative ease, or will my work get sucked into a black hole, never to return?

i know there has been much debate about whether Macs or PCs are better for using programs like ProTools, so to add another question: I also plan on saving up for one of those neat new G4 iBooks, 1.2 GHz/ 256MB RAM. when this time comes, would i be able to take the MBox from my PC and install it on the new laptop? or would i have to buy ProTools LE software formatted for Mac beforehand, and possibly reformat the MBox?

as you can see, this is a multi-layered dilemma: i'm obviously used to using ProTools on Macs, so would i have trouble using it on my PC? should i just hold out until i can afford to get the iBook and MBox all at once? any help is GREATLY appreciated, as i have driven myself up the wall weighing out the options. i'm just looking for what will save me the most grief/money in the future. thanks...

[rolandk]

You might want to check on the Digi site that your computer is compatible with the MBox. I have a 001 and you have to have certain CPU's and mobo chipsets, etc. but maybe with the MBox all you need is a USB port. When PTLE 6.1 came out (the first for XP) digi said it supported XP home only, not pro, so again you might want to check all this out in advance.

Transferring sessions between Mac and PC won't be a problem.

If you buy a new MBox or PTLE software upgrade it comes with seperate mac and pc disc's, so if you switch all you should have to do is install the appropriate disc.

Back in the bad old days mac was definately better than pc for PTLE, but they are about even right now.

The 256MB of RAM on the laptop you want to buy dosen't seem like enough. I don't have any experience with Mac's, but PC's want at least 512MB.

[Jameson_Brown]

wonderful. now that that's solved, i wanted to get an external hard drive as well....my PC doesn't have a high-speed USB port, so will i have a lot of trouble working on sessions off the external HD on both PCs and Macs? should i just spend the extra money and install a firewire card on my PC? in other words, i'm looking for the best way to transport ProTools sessions from PCs to Macs and be able to work on them off both systems. thanks again for any advice...

[kcrusher]

Firewire is the way to go - USB will generally not work with Pro Tools.

[Family Hoof]

If you buy a new Mbox it will ship with PTLE version 6.4 (and soon 6.7 probably). This will only work on Windows XP (not service pack 2!) or Mac OS 10.3.2+. Digi requires 384MB ram for this version. On a mac it won't even let you install without that much and you're very very wise to get more. On a fast PC you can install and work with less but there will be long delays and slugishness for every single click, command, and process. Also consider that it usually takes a lot more processing power for a PC to equate the performance of a lesser spec'd mac.

To answer the original question, as long as you always check the "enforce mac/pc compatibility" option when starting a new session and open your sessions on the same version of PT or newer you'll be okay. You're kidding yourself if you think there can be flawless transfers of a session from one system to another, and OS changes just make it worse. It is possible to get close enough for practicality, however.

Personally I would get a Mac laptop of somesort and take it with you wherever the Mbox goes. For not-so-dense (track count and plugs) sessions I get by using the internal drive on my ibook G3. It can mount as an external drive using a firewire cable on any other mac.

[EarlSlick]

Firewire is the way to go - USB will generally not work with Pro Tools.

This is somewhat of an exaggeration, of course it will work. But it what this person means, is probably for his needs it wouldn't work. I use an mbox for home recordings and get pretty good results. Any short comings are due to me, not the mbox or my system in most cases. Is USB as good as firewire? Hell no, but it will get you started, and serve you well. As for your mac/pc dilemma, the mbox should work both computers, there is no need to format it or anything like that, on the PC you will install the PC version, and on the mac the mac version, you are given both when you buy the mbox.

Bart

[aishabag23]

i agree that you definitely will want more ram regardless!

[soundhack]

i have an mbox at home and an hd at the studio... the only incompatibility i found is that the mbox will only do 44.1 and 48k sessions. it won't open high sample rate sessions.

[goldenechos]

Firewire is the way to go - USB will generally not work with Pro Tools.

This is somewhat of an exaggeration, of course it will work. But it what this person means, is probably for his needs it wouldn't work. I use an mbox for home recordings and get pretty good results. Any short comings are due to me, not the mbox or my system in most cases. Is USB as good as firewire? Hell no, but it will get you started, and serve you well. As for your mac/pc dilemma, the mbox should work both computers, there is no need to format it or anything like that, on the PC you will install the PC version, and on the mac the mac version, you are given both when you buy the mbox.

Bart

This is not an exaggeration if you do any amount of editing and get your track count higher than 8...
Firewire cards are cheap. Almost every Protools worthy Mac has Firewire, so a Firewire drive would be a great solution to session transfers.

PLEASE PLEASE see the compatability charts!
Your PC is likely to be unsupported.
http://www.digidesign.com/
support>compatibility>Mbox with Pro Tools LE 6.7 for Windows XP Requirements

If you buy in 2005 you will probably get Protools 6.7 and it looks like your PC could be incompatible.

tony

[kcrusher]

Firewire is the way to go - USB will generally not work with Pro Tools.

This is somewhat of an exaggeration, of course it will work. But it what this person means, is probably for his needs it wouldn't work.

No, I was being very specific. Very rarely will USB drives ever work with Pro Tools, even with low track counts. USB is too low of a priority in the general OS handling of data and it usually will just give you errors if you try to use a USB drive with Pro Tools. Some people have success, but they are few and far between, so better to not take the chance.

Trust me on this - I've worked with Pro Tools for 10+ years in almost every configuration you could imagine, so I've had a bit of experience with this.

[goldenechos]

Firewire is the way to go - USB will generally not work with Pro Tools.

This is somewhat of an exaggeration, of course it will work. But it what this person means, is probably for his needs it wouldn't work.

No, I was being very specific. Very rarely will USB drives ever work with Pro Tools, even with low track counts. USB is too low of a priority in the general OS handling of data and it usually will just give you errors if you try to use a USB drive with Pro Tools. Some people have success, but they are few and far between, so better to not take the chance.

Trust me on this - I've worked with Pro Tools for 10+ years in almost every configuration you could imagine, so I've had a bit of experience with this.

Def. agree. no reason to go USB... it is not really much cheaper, and def. not better. Plus you will already have the Mbox on one USB port. You might want the other port for a midi interface or something (for which firewire would not be neccessary).
I also wanted to ad that you need to make sure that the Firewire Drive is at least 7200rpm with a decent seek time (better than 12ms) ALSO make sure you get the OXFORD 911 chipset. This is the ONLY IDE/Firewire bridge chipset supported AFAIK. very important. save yourself the hassle.

tony

[Jameson_Brown]

i was planning on getting a lacie firewire hard drive, with 7200 rpm, <10ms seek time, all that good stuff.....the only things that came up when i looked up Oxford 911 chipsets were external firewire hard drive enclosures, and they seem to be more expensive than simple firewire cards. it seems strange to get two different external hard drive products, the enclouse with the 911 chipset and the hard drive itself. i'm a little confused. is this absolutely necessary? i just want to store sessions and be able to work on them via the external drive.

if it is crucial to get this firewire chipset, could you guide me to specific (cost effective) products that you'd recommend?

by the way, i'm very glad i joined this forum. thanks for all the responses.

[goldenechos]

From the Digidesign Compatibility Pages (which YOU should READ):

(In regards to using non-Digidesign manufactured drives)
"To date only Firewire drives with the following specifications have performed well with Pro Tools systems:

Oxford 911 Firewire bridge chipset
7200 RPM drive

Check with the drive manufacturer to verify that their drive has the "Oxford 911" or comparable chipset & drive speed of 7200 rpm."

The quick seek-time will assure performance during passages with DEEP editing.
All drive manufacturers have technical spec sheets available. Check them out. Lacie is ok usually.
I prefer to buy the bezel (which is the case and Firewire to IDE bridge) and load it with my preferred drive (IBM Deskstar or the like).
The Oxford 911 chipset is ON the Firewire to IDE Bridge which is in EVERY bezel (or enclosure as some like to call them) that carries an IDE drive for external use via firewire.

There are requirements for Firewire cards as well. You should read this stuff, honestly, it will save oyu time and money in the not so long haul!

tony echos

[kcrusher]

Most major mfr' use oxford 911 chips. Lacie is definitely 'good to go' as are EZ Quest Cobra series, Fantom and many others. The only ones I know don't have it are Acom and possibly Seagate and Western Digital (their bare drives in a case with the Oxford 911 are fine, though..).

[Jameson_Brown]

hahah, i DID read the compatiability pages! i must have missed that part....i don't like how they split the columns on that site. it's too busy. my eyes are burning. i need some sleep.