Apology To Mazz & New ProTools Questions!

[mazz]

Put in a second hard drive, they're not that expensive. You don't want to be recording your audio files onto your system drive. You could get a drive yourself and put it in, it's not that difficult and it would be cheaper than buying it from Dell. I'd be willing to bet you could find a 500G or 1T internal drive for less than 100 bucks. Make sure it's 7200.

A second drive for audio is non-negotiable, IMO.

Mazz

[Len911]

yes, about $50 for a 500gig and abouts $100 for 1terabyte. Newegg is always running specials, and I think they are running a memorial weekend blitz thing with special deals certain hours and days.

[ernstinen]

I just posted this in the other thread, but time is of the essence, so I'd appreciate answers ASAP:

NEW IDEA! --- An Alesis Masterlink has an option called CD24, which uses CD-ROMs that can record any audio resolution up to 96/24. They DO use aiff files, so making CD24s @ 48/16 is no problem, and maybe the answer. I could burn those, transfer them to DVD if necessary, and problem solved!

I think that rushing into buying a new PT computer for my budget of $700 to finish this project in 2 weeks might be a shortsighted, dumb idea IF I can find a way around it! Thoughts?

Ern

[Len911]

I'm always for saving money, because there always seems to be something you NEED, sooner or later, lol! Sounds like a great idea. At any rate it certainly gives you more time to plan for another computer if you believe you need one.

[ernstinen]

I'm always for saving money, because there always seems to be something you NEED, sooner or later, lol! Sounds like a great idea. At any rate it certainly gives you more time to plan for another computer if you believe you need one.

Good! Thanks, Len. I'm pretty sure this will work. I'll buy some CD-ROMs (CD-Rs won't work), and give it a try.

Best Regards,

Ern

[Penz2nz]

Hey Ern,

I haven't had time to wade through all the comments but from experience I can pass this along.

I have (make that had) two PC's custom built to run my Pro Tools and after upgrading from LE 7.4 to LE 8 BOTH systems refused to run PT after a Windows Internet Explorer update installed. I was down for two months with nothing until I finally uninstalled the Internet Explorer from this system and reinstalled the LE 7.4 to get it up and running again. The one in Michigan is still down.

My experiences with PT over the years has been a hotbed of frustration and I can't wait to get into a Mac again.

When PT works it's great. When it doesn't it is one of the worst operations around for the small users to try and get help from.

[ernstinen]

Hey Ern,

I haven't had time to wade through all the comments but from experience I can pass this along.

I have (make that had) two PC's custom built to run my Pro Tools and after upgrading from LE 7.4 to LE 8 BOTH systems refused to run PT after a Windows Internet Explorer update installed. I was down for two months with nothing until I finally uninstalled the Internet Explorer from this system and reinstalled the LE 7.4 to get it up and running again. The one in Michigan is still down.

My experiences with PT over the years has been a hotbed of frustration and I can't wait to get into a Mac again.

When PT works it's great. When it doesn't it is one of the worst operations around for the small users to try and get help from.

Yup, I had the same experience when I had a "custom made" PC built for GigaStudio. All the specs were correct, all the parts, and it WORKED (for awhile) @$1600 for a "spec" computer. Then it died. Custom-made, just like they said it should be. I trashed it. It was worthless.

If heard a LOT of guys just ignore the DigiDesign specs, and use normal Dells, Compaqs, HPs etc. and have great results.

That said, DigiDesign says "Mac Minis work great!" So did a "rep" from Sweetwater. Of course, when you get them up to 4 gig RAM, they're almost $1000! I'm thinking of going that route, since I've never had problems with Macs, but a "Mac Mini!?" Every other website says they're WAY past their prime, vs. i3-i5-i7 Intels. Core2 duos seem to work fine, though. I don't know ---

Ern

[mojobone]

The Masterlink workaround seems like a very reasonable short-term solution, Ern. My long-term solution is saving up for a workhorse Mac Pro.

[ernstinen]

The Masterlink workaround seems like a very reasonable short-term solution, Ern. My long-term solution is saving up for a workhorse Mac Pro.

Cool, Mojo! Yea, it should work as a temporary solution --- And a Mac Pro seems to be the ultimate answer. I've looked at iMacs, but I just spent $500 awhile ago on a 24" monitor, so it would be a shame to not use it, especially for doing scores because it pivots 90 degrees! I LOVE Macs, and think they're worth the money. The "brains" of my studio is a Mac; I only use PCs as sample players, except for this crappy ProTools PC. Live and learn!

Ern

[crs7string]

I would like to attempt to add a little balance to this PC vs. Mac discussion, primarily because little discussed here has anything to do with the computer itself.

I have a custom built PC Audio Labs PC with Windows 7, 4 very large drives, and 12 gigs of RAM. I'm running a DAW that is one of the first to embrace 64 bit processing (Sonar 8.5)

I can run several instances of Kontakt 4, several instances of PLAY, AND Stylus, Trillian, Omnisphere, Alchemy and Predator at the same time with CPU registering between 15 % and 19% usage.

This is a very different story that the one unfolding here and IMO is adding to the already confusing and misleading debate about Mac's alway being superior and PC's don't work.

Now the added on balance info, I also have a MacBook Pro in the house, primarily for my very creative daughter's use. Within the first week it crashed and froze, HEAVEN FORBID!! A Mac not working flawlessly.

I may add that PC Audio Labs installed most of my software and made sure it was working properly before they shipped it to me. (this savings in time alone was worth any price differential) I also have lifetime support and they are very responsive and helpful.

This ongoing whining about PC's not working just does not resonate with me when I have proof that a system can and does work extremely well when it is built by audio professionals and used a user who is willing to learn how to use it properly.

I would probably be telling a very different story if I had purchased an off the shelf Dell or HP that was not designed for audio production.


Chuck