Hello everyone,
Long time lurker here, and figured it would be worth it to call upon the collective intelligence to determine cost/benefit of selling/using my Pro Tools 8 HD 2 TDM system with digidesign 192 i/o.
Application: I am a singer/songwriter that has been mixing and producing my original material in Pro Tools, in the box, since 2010. Occasional producing, mixing, tracking for other artists.
Problem: I've recently been venturing into outboard gear (Purchased two Kush Tweakers, and looking to match my Vintech X73i unit), to use for printing and tracking audio for mixing and novice mastering. Not thrilled so far with the performance of my Presonus Studio 1810 when using as Hardware Insert. The Hardware Insert Latency offset is not quite bullet proof and I'm accepting that I may need to nudge and move printed tracks to correct phasing issues, etc... with this work flow. Second part of problem, is that all the plugins I for production are AAX 64 bit, so when I look for TDM solutions, I hit some workflow dead ends when it comes to any hope of producing and mixing in TDM rig.
Possible Solutions:
1). Pony up money and Sell Pro Tools 8 HD 2 TDM, PC on XP, Digi 192 i/o to see if Hardware Insert Performance/Functionality might improve with purchasing a NEW RME interface like a 802, UFX II usb or UCX. ( P.S. I don't plan on getting/affording THAT much outboard gear, so considered a balanced batch bay and a UCX, although it might be nice to have the extra flexibility with more i/o of other unites, for hardware inserts.)
OR
2). Configure my Pro Tools HD 2 system as a tracker/mixer to work with outboard gear.
The issue with solution 2 is that I am completely dependent on my 64 bit AAX plugins for producing and special effects. My workflow of creating would have to involve producing everything in my main Win 7 64 bit PC and then having to find a system to export into the HD rig which is running Windows XP for Pro Tools 8 HD. I get great results tracking into my RME Baby Face, so that kind of defeats the "tracking" function of the Pro Tools HD TDM rig. I rarely record drums.
It seems the technology was highly sought after and solid for a while, and I know I'm venturing into new territory with mixing outside the box with hardware, and it seems that I may be able to find a better workflow with printing tracks with my outboard gear, without having to nudge and align, etc...with my TDM rig.
In the meantime, I'll continue to play around with the Pro Tools Hardware inserts and delay offset, to see if I could at least efficiently print tracks with my compressors when needed, without having to nudge. I admit there is more for me to learn here and play around with. Truth be told, I don't particularly trust the signal from the Presonus studio 1810. The RME babyface just sounds so much cleaner, and I'm wondering how much signal degradation I may be getting printing with the Presonus. Then again, I probably won't actually notice it with my ears, but hey, every bit of quality counts right?
I figured that for what it's worth, there must be others in similar situations and since my situation is somewhat unique from what I've found from other threads, I figure I post here and see if I get any bites, what others might learn from it, or if it becomes a ghost thread
Thanks in advance! Looking forward to seeing what the other half is doing with their TDM rigs and how I can squeeze some more value out of the old goat!
Intel Core i7-3770 CPU @3.40 GHz
16 Gig RAM
Windows 7 64 Bit
250 SSD
1 TB HD
Pro Tools HD PC is running Windows XP, and Multi-Core processor, Believe it was a 9220 or something like that. The fastest one before the i series came out.