PT9 - let's replace our Digi 002's with something bitchin!

[TheStevens]

The other option I started to consider was the RME UFX - haven't seen any mentions of it here.

I wonder why they went with FW 400 on this one. I've been considering the Fireface 800 since my mac mini has FW 800 and I'd think it would be better to daisy-chain an 800 hard drive with it than 400 so it has the bandwith to support both the hard drive and the interface.
But it seems like the only interface that does 800 and now their new one is back to 400.

Does anyone know about problems with FW 800? Or is it just not as common because it's not as common?

On the other hand, does anyone daisy chain a hard drive to a FW 400 interface successfully? I only have one FW port and probably don't want to do USB.

[jnTracks]

yea FW is popular in work station situations because the protocol works totally different than USB. you can chain hard drives to interfaces with out a problem. 400 will be plenty of bandwidth for any speed spinning disc drive and then some. the way it all works the devices talk directly to each other so chaining them doesn't reduce the bandwidth.

[DCrippa]

Since for now it's just me... I'm starting to think about the NI audio 6 interface - it looks pretty good. Then later on down the road consider stepping up as my needs grow. Anyone use this interface with PT9?

[TheStevens]

I ended up going with the Fireface 800 since I've read so many positive things about RME and right now using a 800>400 cable since my hard drive is just 400. No track-intensive tests yet, but I must say the initial set up and recording 2 tracks to PT was pretty quick and easy, updating the firmware and drivers was a breeze, and no problems at all getting into PT9.

It was actually easier to get working in PT9 than my MBox 2, which I had to update the driver for again and do the holding down 'n' while loading PT thing in order for it to show up.

I've been reading through the manual to get into some of the options, sounds like it'll be a very powerful tool in setting up different headphone mixes, routing out to outboard processing, even using as a standalone AD/DA and a good way to save and recall all the different routing setups. Looking forward to using this thing more!

[mu-tron-kid]

Yes, we just got an RME UFX, and it is fantastic!
I was on the fence with the FireWire options, and in hindsight, were this to be the MAIN and only unit in my setup, I would probably go for the RME FireFace for the dual 800 and single 400 connections, BUT the UFX hasn't hiccuped once and I have been ONLY using the USB connection as it defaults to that if you have both USB and FireWire connected (as it assumes) you have a hard drive on tieback end...

Price wise, I/O wise, and sonically, the RME line seems like a hands down winner over a 002 or 003.

With the UFX you get standalone functionality, and built in direct recording to USB Stick, so in reality you can be recording to three sources at once, with two still running even if PT or your laptop crash!
You cannot do this with any AVID interface.

[DCrippa]

That IS really bad-ass! I've been very torn over that or going for metric halo... or http://www.focusrite.com/products/audio ... affire_56/ ... but since I'm not on a Mac platform - it kinda rules out Metric Halo and makes RME look a lot more desirable. Would still need to rebuild my PC... or just get a mac lol.

Not quite on the same level - but for the $ and where I'm at now I've been thinking of maybe getting one of these plus the Komplete 7...


www.native-instruments.com/#/en/product ... e-audio-6/


Anyone using it - how are the pre's / AD/DA?

[recall]

The Liquid56 has an excellent spec. I've been scarred by using a cheap old octopre which is no more than passable but a real world evaluation o the Liquid 56 with PT( would be really welcome. I'm looking at the rme FF800 primarily but the Focusrite is cheaper has similar and additional features and some liquid pres which are supposed to be very usable.

My main attraction to the rme was the conversion and the totalmix monitoring software.
I do all my recording in a mobile fashion and until now have been dragging an 8 track mixer to handle headphones.

Anyone want to help revive this thread?

Looking to my retire my 002r

cheers,

iwan

[DCrippa]

Well I'm still in the same boat and in no hurry. Unfortunately a motorcycle project has taken most of my funds & attention for the time being - I am still very interested in doing the Texas instruments A/D converter / evaluation module and see where that leaves me - at least I could always use it in the future with other sources.

RME's Offerings are nice but there's always a trade off... For instance having to rely on the software for level control is kind of a bummer.

[jhharvest]

Imo post here:
RME stuff is rock solid. Basically the best you can get before Metric Halo.

You can always use external preamps and converters. You can not make up for an unstable interface.

The other option is to go with an external hard disk recorder and transfer the files over for editing in your DAW.

[digitaldrummer]

7 months or so since I started this thread...

in my fantasies I have a 1U rackmount interface with 24 channels of I/O, main monitor outs, and a couple headphone jacks. Actually it looks a lot like the Motu 24IO but maybe if it had a BLA mod... (I don't think they do it).

I do like my Black Lion modded 002r (with PT9) - it really does make a difference and the 002r are going for peanuts these days. I only wish it had more i/o, no built-in preamps (they are OK, but I'd rather plug in others w/o the gain knob affecting it), and I wish I could record with all channels at 96KHz (the ADAT connection is 48KHz tops).

Mike

[red cross]

I already have a Metric Halo 2882... but am loathe to upgrade to Snow Leopard to run PT 9...

Is here some issue you are aware of with Snow Leopard? In my experience it is stable and also offers some nice performance improvements since there is less legacy code in the os.
Or do you have plug ins that you dont want to have to re-auth?
When I did Snow I had to re-install Logic and a few 3rd party plugs said they had soiled their diapers.
Also, Snow is only 64bit if you CPU is capable. Eg core duo systems like early intel Mac Minis are still 32 bit under Snow. an i5 or Core 2 Duo will have many system components running full 64, as well as the ability to boot into a 64 bit kernel.

Yup, running Snow and PT9 now. The annoying "unable to initialize playback device" crap aside when I first installed it, it's now running pretty perfectly, fingers crossed. Jesus, it's a relief to dump the 002R and ADAT connection and just run with the 2882 unhindered, for sure.

[Caley M W]

Digitaldrummer,

You asked about a pair of 828mkIII with PT9. I have been using a pair of FW 828mkII with PT9 on a Macbook Pro for the last 4 months or so, and it's working great! 16 line I/O, 4 mic pres, lots of room to expand with more 828s or via ADAT.

And they're dirt cheap -- I paid $250 for one of my 828s.

Still best used with a console, at least for making headphone mixes and monitoring. Making mixes in CueMix is possible, but physical faders are a thousand times faster.

C

PS: My 2 828s are daisy-chained via FW, not feeding each other ADAT. I've had bad luck with that in the past using a 828 and a 8pre. The FW bus can be taken pretty far -- I work at a remote gig where the rig is 3 8pres daisy-chained via FW each with an additional 8ch of external pre for 48 channels over FW400, plus an external FW harddrive, recording onto Audiodesk on a MacBook Pro!

[digitaldrummer]

cool, good to know that PT9 can see them as one unit - not so sure I would be so lucky with Windows though.

Mike

[digitaldrummer]

hot damn! Someone was listening!

http://www.uaudio.com/interfaces/apollo.html

of course I'll have to wait until summer (or later) for Win7 support...

[Sculli]

I'm considering sending back my Symphony I/O in favor of the UA Apollo. If the conversion is up near the 2192. I'm all over this! To be able to record with my Studer and other UA plugs would be the shit. With little to no latency. Yes!!!