Pro Tools Gripe

[Garthplinko]

Oh look what a surprise - another pissed off Pro Tools user!

This is old news to most of you I'm sure, but I did an upgrade from 6.9 to 7whatever only to find out I can't use my favorite old plug ins. I have to re-buy these things all over again? This is UNACCEPTABLE.

I'm getting very, very close to my limit with these people and their company. Their business model is based on me buying new hardware with every software revison - 5.0 was the 001, 6.0 and the 002 and now that 7 is well-established, it's only a matter of time before the 003 phases out the 002 - when I didn't WANT to replace my 001 to begin with! It worked fine, but to use the newer plug-ins, I HAD to shell out for a new piece of hardware. Now I have a black lion audio modded 002 that I'm OVERJOYED with but to stay current with the software, I'm eventually going to have to get an 003 and trade-in my perfectly working, better-than-out-of-the-box sounding 002 to digidesign so they can chuck it in a landfill.

I'm just about fed up. Fuck you digidesign.

[wedge]

I upgraded from 6.4 to 7.3 on a PC, and much to my intense relief, all of my plugins worked. Even the wrapped vsts... Maybe something else is going on here? Try duc.digidesign.com, and ask around...

[GooberNumber9]

I think you've got a good point. The great thing about other audio software is that you never need to upgrade it, buy new hardware, or deal with annoying licensing problems.

That's another good thing about sticking with analog. There's hardly any maintenance or ongoing costs required.

Todd Wilcox

[Garthplinko]

Well that was the point of the rant - I couldn't get Ozone or Maxim or Trash to work on my macbook so I checked duc and found this:

http://duc.digidesign.com/showflat.php? ... =1#1147992

So obviously the duc post is at least partially wrong since your plug-ins work, but mine will not so I'm more than pissed.

[JGriffin]

yeah, I had to DL new plugs when i upgraded to 7. I didn't have to re-buy them though.

[mrufino1]

Digi apparently streamlined rtas processor useage for 7, so most of the plug manufacturers had to change their code a but to work with this standard. I did not have to buy anything new, just downloaded updates, with the exception of waves, in which I had to update WUP to get the updates. But all of digi's plugs had free updates to this, and since all of the ones you mentioned were digi or m-audio plugs, you may want to check for free updates. Digi can be frustrating, no doubt, but this was an improvement when they went from 6 to 7. Also, the person who said analog has no maintenance is not exactly correct. Although I am not an analog user and came to recording in the digital age, I know that there is a great deal of maintenance involved in analog. It doesn't need to be upgraded every 6 months is probably a more accurate statement, though I could be wrong.

[GooberNumber9]

Also, the person who said analog has no maintenance is not exactly correct. Although I am not an analog user and came to recording in the digital age, I know that there is a great deal of maintenance involved in analog. It doesn't need to be upgraded every 6 months is probably a more accurate statement, though I could be wrong.

I think that guy was being sarcastic.

[Garthplinko]

I think I may have dodged a bullet and may not have to re-buy my software after all - just re-download, which is not that big a deal.

I'd expect my gripes to be back when digi phases out my 002 within the next 6 months.

[frozenintime]

for what it's worth, this kind of annoyance is not specific to pro tools... it's how software companies seem to work. if there isn't a relatively consistent stream of update/upgrade pricing, they don't have the cash flow to continue their updating and upgrading. there are only so many people that use these programs.

i'm not defending that practice in the slightest, just saying it's not pro tools specific.


in fact, the problems that cubase users have is a bit worse - the program itself was recently updated to a new (and buggy) version (SX3 to 4) before the previous revision was stable itself!

similarly, the VST plug-in standard changing from 2 to 3, and plug-in developers need to rewrite their plug-ins to suit. in practical terms this means that at the moment, maybe half of plug-ins aren't even available for cubase 4, which was released about 6 months ago.

all of which is why i'm still using cubase 2 on os x 10.2.8!

that'll have to change soon, though. this computer is getting old.

[i am monster face]

The reason the Digi 001 was phased out was because the newer macintosh computers had different voltage (and I believe different size) on the PCI bus. It was an unexpected announcement by macintosh which forced Digi to hang on to old computers and write code for a ever shrinking customer base. The revision to the computers actually happened around 6.1 but they continued writing for it until 6.4.

It is my belief that the Mbox and Digi002 will be supported as long as the Mbox2 and Digi003 are supported because they work off the same firewire technology. Remember, the 003 isn't an upgrade to the 002, it's more like crossgrade so their company could be compliant with lead standards developed by the EU.

So don't worry. Your bitchin black lion audio 002 is still going to work for a long time.
Ian

[Garthplinko]

right on - I had a workaround planned - track everything w/ the 002 and then buy a mbox mini when they stopped supporting it and mix w/ that plugged in running a higher version. $300 < $1200.