Software DAW

[DonaldChang]

What are the top 3 DAW's used in Pro Studios to mix?I want to get them so clients have no trouble (say they're not familar ETC).

• 1.ProTools
• 2.????????
• 3.????????

[masteringhouse]

Of the pro studios that I've been to Pro Tools and a good 2" analog pretty much rules.

That said, Nuendo seem to be gaining a popular following, I've seen SAW in use at some. There's also Radar but this isn't a DAW by my definition.

Don't quite understand the concern for confusing the clients, they shouldn't be running the gear.

[SouthSIDE Glen]

Unfortunately you cant just go out and get the hardware you want for your studio and then get Pro Tools and a couple of other brands of NLEs and then have the client choose from the menu.

ProTools is not a "software DAW". It is an integrated system of hardware and software that requires you get and use Digidesign I/O hardware before you can even start up the software. You want Pro Tools, you gotta get Digidesign for at least part of you signal chain. In for a penny, in for a pound, the xenophobe way.

You'll want to keep that in mind; the more you think about it, the more you'll probably find yourself making a decision between Digidesign or custom-chosen gear, but not both.

G.

[masteringhouse]

SSG -

Not sure if you know, but Digital Performer may be used with Pro Tools systems. See

http://www.motu.com/products/softwar...pro-tools.html

In regards to the original question, my larger concern would be how many other studios will you be compatible with? For example if a client already has part of a session recorded at another studio and wants to finish it at your place, how many other studios will you be able to do this with easily?

I recently had a project that was recorded at 4 different studios. We just carted around a USB drive to each studio, plugged it in, and were ready to go.

[SouthSIDE Glen]

Originally Posted by masteringhouse

Not sure if you know, but Digital Performer may be used with Pro Tools systems.

Tom, thanks for that info; I indeed did not realize that MOTU broke that mold. That's good to hear, I like the MOTU stuff on my Wintel platforms.

I still am personally not a big fan of (almost) all-in-one-company solutions like PT. I know that PT has become the de-facto baseline standard in the big houses (but then again so was the Yamaha NS10, and they made my job far less pleasant). I'm not rating PT as being bad quality, I'm frankly not experienced enough on their gear. It seems to work just fine for people much more experienced than I. But I have a problem thowing all my eggs into one company's basket. I get enough of that crap from Bill Gates, I'm not about to switch over to Steve Jobs' camp for PT just to find that somebody else wants to monopolize my consumer choices.

That's just a personal opinion that admittedly is not very logical or defensible. But for some etheral reason I hold on to it.

As far as compatability with other studios, that's what bitmap formats like WAV, AVI and TIFF are for, along with standard EDL formats like Sony and CMX. But the logic that says, "let's all buy everything from one company so we can all talk to each other in a proprietary format and make that the de facto standard instead of using industry standards developed and accepted by every other manufacturer" just doesn't make sense to me.

Will I lose some jobs by not having PT here? Perhaps. I'm Ok with that. Those that know my work are willing to convert to common formats to get their stuff to me. Those that think it's more important to keep things PT than to have the right engineer are welcome to pass me by.

Will I be forced to change my mind in the future? Perhaps. But Lord, let's pray that PT never becomes that strong of a monopoly where I'll have to.

G.

[bennychico11]

Digidesign hardware can be used with a variety of programs.

the link mastering gave...i understood it as DP was able to use the hardware and plugin/processing power of the TDM units. they confuse people I think by saying it has Pro Tools support when it appears to have nothing to do with Pro Tools, just the hardware that comes with PT.

[SouthSIDE Glen]

Originally Posted by bennychico11

Digidesign hardware can be used with a variety of programs.

True, but unless I misunderstand the situation, the PT software can only be used with Digi (and in some models, m-Audio, which is just the low-end brand of Digi) hardware.

With the possible exception of of the MOTU DP, that is...

G.

[bennychico11]

Originally Posted by SouthSIDE Glen

True, but unless I misunderstand the situation, the PT software can only be used with Digi (and in some models, m-Audio, which is just the low-end brand of Digi) hardware.

With the possible exception of of the MOTU DP, that is...

G.

that's true, PT can only be used with Digi hardware
what i was saying was I think the Digital performer support that the link talked about is only supporting Digi hardware...not software. But this is not really something new. The only cool thing is that DP is able to utilize the RTAS, TDM, HTDM plugin formats

[masteringhouse]

Originally Posted by SouthSIDE Glen

Will I lose some jobs by not having PT here? Perhaps. I'm Ok with that. Those that know my work are willing to convert to common formats to get their stuff to me. Those that think it's more important to keep things PT than to have the right engineer are welcome to pass me by.

Will I be forced to change my mind in the future? Perhaps. But Lord, let's pray that PT never becomes that strong of a monopoly where I'll have to.

G.

I hear you. It would be nice to have a standard for session files so that the mixer settings, automation, plug-in settings, etc. could be imported and exchanged as well. I doubt that this is going to happen any time soon though.