What are Digidesign Mix Core or Farm cards?

[KamikazeKyle]

Yeah thats pretty much the main reason I have yet to switch to a Mix system. I think I'm just going to get a 003 and G5 since I'm only doing overdubs on my home rig and very little mixing.

[audio[LAB]]

well im not really worried too much about the plug ins right now. I know people sell those really cheap on craigslist and ebay all the time. We're talking bundles of plug-ins that were worth thousands only 5 years ago. I'm mainly concerned with the i/o expansion you can't get with the 002/003. Also the fact that these older systems are far more stable than the LE stuff. I already have an expanded 002 to 16 channels and its a real pain come mix time.

[MichaelAlan]

Sweet thread. I have definetely thought about this before. I may just give it a shot...

[allbaldo]

I'm running a Mix 4 with 3 888/24s at my studio, and a Mix 2 with 1 888/24 at home. I just spent a few days working on a very new HD rig, and thought the conversion sounded quite a bit better with 192's, but besides a few bells and whistles in the software, for my uses, 6.4 is still viable, and the system is solid.

I'm thinking of getting a Lynx Aurora 16, and going into the AES inputs of the 888/s giving my 16 channels of better conversion, and the Lynx can be used with HD later when I go to that. Maybe after Digi does whatever they're going to do next, the HD cards will be affordable.

As it is, my Mix rig's done great for me. Kill's LE as far as I'm concerned. Just not dealing with latency alone is worth it, and they're so cheap now.

I'd been hoping to get Apogee AD-8000's for the rig, but 2 of them... 16 channels worth.. still costs more than an Aurora 16. Even after all this time. It'd be nice to find some comparisons on the AD-8000 vs the Aurora 8 or 16.

I do wish you could run the Mix era cards in a G5 or newer. Unfortunately, if you're using Mac, the newest computer you can go to is a G4 dual 1.25 MDD. Still a decent computer. My home setup runs fine on a G4 500.

My biggest complaint is a lack of reverbs for these systems. There just wasn't much out there that sounded good at that point. Also, very few plug in developers are still writing for these systems. Thankfully, Steven Massey's still been writing for it. Other than his plugs, I'm using mostly McDsp stuff, which works well too.

[axissound]

Were you doing "in the box" mixes on that new HD rig? Because the main things in HD I kind of wish I had were automatic delay compensation, and the fact that the internal mix buss allegedly sounds better...

[audio[LAB]]

What is the difference in the actual cards? I see some auctions where people say they are not the "Mix" cards.

So to recap, In order to put together a 24 i/o mix system i need:

tdm core card (d24?)
tdm farm card x2 (dsp cards to hook up 2 more interfaces to?)
ribbon cable to link cards
50 pin i/o cable x3
888/24 x3

right?

[KamikazeKyle]

tdm core card (d24?)
tdm farm card x2 (dsp cards to hook up 2 more interfaces to?)
ribbon cable to link cards
50 pin i/o cable x3
888/24 x3

That sounds about right. You need a computer as well of course.

[allbaldo]

Were you doing "in the box" mixes on that new HD rig? Because the main things in HD I kind of wish I had were automatic delay compensation, and the fact that the internal mix buss allegedly sounds better...

I was only tracking, so I didn't get a chance to try the ADC or mix buss. I wish I would have. The lack of ADC is a bummer on the Mix rigs. I have a Mix Core and 3 Mix Farms in my studio and I always seem to have enough power, even when I've got some plugs on that really aren't in use, just to keep the phase in line.The cards are cheap enough now that you can have a pretty powerful system that can run a lot of plugs.

[joel hamilton]

I use the ADC during the mix, for sure. Also, summing a couple of elements out of a stereo pair of outputs certainly sounds better than it ever did before. I mix OTB with outboard gear, but I also use plugs where I feel they do the job better than analog gear (look ahead gates..etc...etc...) .
The adc works perfectly for me. You can choose long or short allocation for ADC, in samples, but I just leave it off during tracking out of habit. I dont even know if it matters. I dont use plugs during tracking, usually. not on input anyway.
Going between old rigs and my HD rig, really the differences are slight at this point.
Having a MIX rig that I could expand for incredibly low money, to as many channels as I wanted, is pretty awesome. I dont know why you would get an LE rig, unless you really , truly feel like you HAVE to work at 96k, and just make your computer gag and sputter if you try to use 3 plugs at that sample rate. I also like that someone finally pointed out that there is AES I/O on the 888 so you could get a snazzier converter, and there is BNC so you can clock... so brand new apogee, lavry, whatever brand of the month converters you want an be integrated, and you can clock all of it to as snazzy a clock as you want.
This does not mean you HAVE to, but it sure is nice that you can if you want to...
you CANT do that with an LE rig, not the way you can with a MIX rig. if you had a 32 input console, you could get 24 or 32 i/o happening in no time, and mix on the console with outboard gear right away on a solid, good sounding system that countless records we all own or have enjoyed were recorded or mixed on.

[Jess P]

I love this thread

[eh91311]

Is there a difference between a TDM Mix Core card and a D24 card? Are they two different generations (D24 being an earlier version)?

I'm a masochist, I want to get a TDM system up on a PC (1-core) with PT TDM 6.4.1. I plan on using a console to mix with 3 888/24's and not all that interested in plugs; as long as Massey's stuff works, I'm happy. I probably should be on a G4, but I like making life difficult for myself.

[audio[LAB]]

I have the same question about the d24. Also there's a difference in the farm cards right? What constitutes a "mix plus" system and how much of this stuff is interchangeable? I.e. running a d24 card with a mix farm card or vise versa?

[sonicmook56]

The d24 cards are older. I would stay away. Defiantly stay away from NuBus cards..

A mix plus system is a core card and a farm card

You can run two interfaces off one card if you can get a "y" cable.

So, for 24i/o, you need a core card, a farm card, 3 interfaces, a Y cable and 3 interface cables.

I only have a core card and have never used more than 1/2 of it's processing power. Of course, I don't have a bunch of plugs, but I do have a soft synth that makes sucks so much CPU from the host the mouse has a hard time moving.... On the core, it runs flawless.

I bet these parts will be getting harder to find as I suspect digi is doing everything they can to get the hardware out of circulation. A week after I bought PT TDM 6.4 of there website, I get a call from digi wanting me to trade in my TDM hardware for something new, like a 00x or HD... even tho I'm not a "registered owner" of the cards.

[mcsquishytooshy]

I used to <3<3<3 my MIX system!!!
...until I found a HD2 system with interfaces for $4000 on craigslist.
and sold my mix system for a macbook pro and m-powered.

[trodden]

check it.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Digidesign-Pro-Tool ... 0878a23351