Anybody on here who uses ProTools at home? I'm looking into getting an mbox for my home setup, but I'm wary of buying a product without knowing people who've used it successfully.
Try checking out Big Blue Lounge. You might find some more relevant ProTools forums out there, I stumbled across BBL while trying to dig deeper into Logic. I've used mostly Cubase, recently Logic (considering switching to Logic when I buy a Macbook - I'M BEGGING FOR A LOGIC 8), but have never touched ProTools. The only thing I've heard are generalizations, like it's the worst for MIDI out of the 3, but that's just hearsay.
Thanks, I'll check that out. I've worked with ProTools in the studio, but it was always someone else doing the heavy lifting. I have a friend who's pretty computer-savvy, and he had a lot of trouble with the ProTools he got. That's got me a little shook. Can files that are created on ProTools being opened and transferred to one of the other DAWs, like Logic or Cubase? My lean toward ProTool comes from the fact that I already have a bunch of Studio files started on that platform, and I'd like to be able to take the studio files and just start working on them at home. I've been burned before on buying expensive software only to learn that it didn't do what I thought it could do or I couldn't figure out how to make it do what I want it to do and couldn't get any tech support. Just trying to avoid that here. Thanks again for the link. Any other Home ProTools advocates? Naysayers?
I use Digital Performer instead of ProTools because my guitarist, who is the audio engineer in the group, uses it. Makes it easier to move things back and forth. The good thing about digital gear today is that it is REALLY easy to export and move from system to system. We recorded drums analog, transfered them to ProTools using great converters and then exported them as aif files and imported them right into DP. They were already formatted with time code, etc, so they lined right up just by dragging and dropping. I understand the love of analog sound. Our ears are used to it. But, the convenience and flexibility of digital is just so incredible. The things you can do on a laptop with a small amount of gear today would've cost you thousands of dollars in the studio using hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of gear 25 years ago.
I have pro tools and it is killing me- can someone explain how in the world to learn to use pro tools. and is my computer the problem- it is 1.33 processor speed 1 gig ram 150 gig hard drive good audio card PC thanks for any help at all
If they're project files then I'm 99.9% sure they can't be used in Logic/Cubase (Logic and Cubase files aren't interchangeable either). If you export tracks into standard audio files like Jeff said (aif, wav, etc) then there's no problem importing them into other sequencers. And let me know if you find any other useful forums. It's a chore to wade through the countless boards w/ few users or little discussion. Man, even 15 yrs ago it seems like they were just banging sticks against rocks compared to the leap in technology today. With what my laptop (which is a little dated by today's standards) can do, you'd fill a large room w/ tens of thousands of dollars of gear. And it only takes a few seconds to insert, remove, and rearrange effects, whereas you'd need to spend time rewiring cables everytime you wanted to try something different back then. Not to mention the limitations of the hardware, like samplers, which is like comparing the 5 1/4 floppy disks w/ standard 100+gb hd's.
I use an extremely well-loaded Roland VS 2480 (along with high-end peripherals) in my home. And I like the setup alot. It'll be awhile before I convert to something else. However, I don't have the best facilities for recording high quality acoustic drums so I do that in a Pro Tools based studio. The studio owner/friend sends me the wave files and I lay down the rest in my home. To date, there has never been a file transfer problem. The external studio is pro all the way and the owner/friend converted to Pro Tools from a Roland VS 2480. This person liked the Roland better but it would not hold up to the rigors of a pro studio. Although impressed with Pro Tools, he regularly b****es about the degree of difficulty associated with its use. Bottomline...I think all the brand names just take an amount of learning...and then you're hooked.
If you're just getting started, I'd suggest using a setup that isn't going to be proprietary. ProTools has its own little mini-market, but other PC open standards have far more available for them in terms of software and hardware. (I'd actually suggest this for rhester too - it's easier to find information on programs like this) VST and VSTi (virtual effects and instruments) can be used by a number of different applications. Cubase, Sonar, Fruity Loops, Reaper (this is actually a good and inexpensive program, with a bit of a learning curve), Ableton, and so forth all use this standard (as well as DirectX). There are TONS of free VST/VSTi available on the internet. Check out www.kvr-vst.com. These programs also make use of ASIO drivers which work with most soundcards, usually come bundled on a CD-ROM with any hardware you buy, and allow for very low latency depending on the power of your computer/soundcard. In my opinion, it's better to make your system in a way that leaves a lot of options open to you for expansion in the future. Since you're just starting out, the learning curve in any of these programs will be about the same as ProTools. I have an external tube preamp that runs into a little mixer and, from there, into a set of monitors and an Audiophile 192 card. I use Cubase SX, and a variety of plugins, once I get the signal into the computer. I would suggest you take a look at Reaper - it's not very expensive, it's CONSTANTLY updated, and it won't lock you into a specific set of plug-ins and hardware like ProTools will. ProTools has a strong reputation because it was the first fully developed digital multi-track system for computer, but it is no longer the best, and it's certainly not the most flexible. You can export your old tracks to .wav files and rearrange them in any sequencer, but you can't open ProTools project files in anything else as far as I know.
crazy - i swear i was about to start a thread on home recording. i just got my new computer today and am going to upgrade my recording set-up. i currently use tascam's version of your roland (the 2488). ive had it 3 years and its been great - i can record up to 8 mics at once and its great sound quality. but im going back to pc recording - i miss being able to "see" everything on a nice big monitor. i see you have that little led screen too. plus i want to get more into loopy type stuff and do some soundtrack work. i am concerned about latency issues and noise, but at this point i am more going for convenience, ease and portability (laptop). i have decided on ableton live 6 as my recording program. my band recorded our album with it so i saw what it can do. pretty amazing program - combining the recording aspect w/ very quick and easy looping abilities a'la acid. we also put some music to an animation piece a friend did - its easy to dump in the video as another track to play over. i have friends who love pro-tools and i used to use cakewalk - ableton is more like cakewalk in that it is very user friendly and seems pretty easy to use. you dont get all caught up in the technical end too much. does anyone here use a firewire interface? ive decided on that vs. an internal soundcard or usb, but im still deciding b/t 2 or 3 different ones. im looking at the focusrite saffire pro 10 or the presonus firepod - as with most of this stuff, ive seen plenty of good and bad things to say about them, but any other info would be appreciated. i think im leaning towards the saffire as focusrite is known for making very good preamps. ive also heard that the firepods/boxs have problems with the drivers. on a related note, if anyone is interested in a used, but very well cared for tascam 2488 let me know!
Your computer is part of the problem. It works like this. Hard drive transfer rate is directly linked to how many tracks you can record at a time (or play back). For multi track audio you need a seperate, fast drive with large buffer (at least 8megs) in order to do any serious multi-tracking. This needs to be a seperate drive from your system drive. Strickly for recording and playback of audio files. Processor and ram limit what you can use in regards to effects, fades, processing, mixing. This is also going to limit how low you can get your latency before you start noticing it - making overdubbing a complete nightmare if you are using software monitoring. With a 1.33 ghz and 1gig ram you are asking a little much to do more than a simple mix of multi-track material. You really need to get up there in processor speed and/or multiple cores before you start feeling like that isn't a limitation anymore. Under XP 1gig is also really the minimum for audio work. If you are using software instruments the minimum is 2gigs. With all of the software out there it really just comes down to personal preference and workflow requirements. They all basically have a similar shell with fairly minor differences. I personally use Samplitude Pro but I also have a few other pieces laying around like Cubase SX, etc. Pro Tools is still the standard but it really is fairly substandard compaired even to Cubase SX apart from excellent hardware integration. The price makes it a no brainer for anyone who isn't doing this on a consistent commercial basis. Cubase SX is a much, much easier to use program than Samplitude and has a few advantages over Pro Tools. Samplitude Pro is a kick ass piece of software though. You literally get everything you need to do quality work right out of the box (excepting software instruments or samplers - although now they are including light versions of those with the software as well). I was once a Logic user and get abandoned somewhere around 4.7 when Apple bought them. The next upgrade wasn't too expensive - apart from the having to ditch your perfectly working PC and buy an overpriced and hardware limiting Mac. (who at Apple came up with the idea of computers with only pci-express slots and no backwards compatible pci slots?!?). At the time the program should have been called Illogical Midi Chrome instead of Logic Audio Platinum. I hated that program. Digital Performer has always been on the cutting edge in regards to video and composition. It wasn't intuitive for me so I went with another program. Again comes down to workflow and the user as you can get the same results with any of the software out there as long as your system is working properly and it is intuitive to use. In regards to customer service, updates and communication Samplitude Pro has by far been the best software for me for audio. Between that and Vegas Video +DVD you have a pretty amazing tool set. off to the Bitter End Yacht Club. take care guys...
In regards to firewire - It really is a poor protocol for audio although these manufacturers have found away around most of the issues. Clocking and latency being the biggest issues. You can get lower latency using a PCI card. Pci express cards are where it is at - but the manufacturers are mostly consumer driven and firewire is more digestible to the public. The portability is a nice aspect and a good reason to trade off the lower latency you can get with a PCI interface. USB just sucks for audio. All USB devices are essentially limited to around four to six channels of total input and output. Meaning you usually can only record two to four tracks at a time while outputting a stereo pair only. Apart from the other reasons they suck - the main reason is that they suck. RME is now shipping pci-express versions of their interfaces and I'm sure there will be alot of others to come along. PCI express allows those devices a seperate path through the computer that isn't very limited in regards to bandwidth and speed for us audio folks. Much nicer than PCI that shares it's path with all kinds of things and they are all fighting to grab as much of it as possible. Once you have a pci device working properly with good drivers it is stable and allows a noticibly lower latency than firewire.
that's a nice machine there... I wouldn't mind having one around. If I ever do buy another tape machine it will indeed be a 16 track 2" machine. That's the best tape has to offer... mm, tasty. Cheers! Brock
back on topic. man - I would go in another direction. It is easy to interact with other software using broadcast wav files. I read up above the comment that you are limiting yourself hardware wise and optional software wise and it is true. For no real advantage other than a brand name on a product that is a tiny facimile of a real Pro Tools system. Reaper is an interesting project and I have a feeling it will be quite relevant someday. It's a killer tool for someone just starting out to see if it might be worth the investment on a more advanced software. Cubase SX is powerful and a true bargain for the money. It's big brother - Nuendo - is a nice tool if not also without its share of issues. The only thing really removed from Nuendo or features that are meant more for post production. The other downside is that you really need a decent two track editing and CD burning software to be able to work. The other advantage is that it is dual platform so Mac or PC your good. Samplitude Pro is a fairly pricey piece of software - but it's a good one and literally has everything and does it well (for the most part - again those issues... freakin' software. Only thing you can buy and be absolutely postive that something is broken before you even open the box).
it's true. And he's b****ing about not having delay compensation on sub groups... and how much is that ****??
angels use anything that works for them... and the truth is you can make anything work for you. you just have to find the one that makes it the least amount of work for you as possible.
Everyone should be recording with broadcast wav files as their basic building block. Pro Tools, unless it has changed, does not do this by default. You used to have to set this as a system preference. You can export as broadcast wav files. The difference is that broadcast wav files store time stamp info in the header whereas wav files do not. any program which reads and can use broadcast wav files can snap them into the position on the timeline where they were originally existed (and they all use broadcast wav files as default these days - except pro tools and I believe digital performer but maybe I'm wrong). At the very least when you transfer to another system you should send the folks broadcast wavs. Sometimes you are lucky and you can share certain types of edl's (or in Jeff's case just send sessions back and forth since they are using the same platform). If you export using broadcast waves you should really export a consistent region in a project anyway just to make things absolutely fool proof - meaning if you have ten minutes of silence before the triangle tings export the whole file from the beginning. Between that and the time stamp you are insuring that whoever receives the files is going to import them and use them with the minumum of time wasted...
