Jerry Kahn
New member
uh.. and what's a DSP "farm"?
thx,
jk
thx,
jk
Duh... what's TDM?
- Thread starter Jerry Kahn
- Start date
TDM (time-division multiplexing) is a scheme in which numerous signals are combined for transmission on a single communications line or channel. Each signal is broken up into many segments, each having very short duration.
Digital signal processing (DSP) refers to various techniques for improving the accuracy and reliability of digital communications. The theory behind DSP is quite complex. Basically, DSP works by clarifying, or standardizing, the levels or states of a digital signal. A DSP circuit is able to differentiate between human-made signals, which are orderly, and noise, which is inherently chaotic.
pavement
Digital signal processing (DSP) refers to various techniques for improving the accuracy and reliability of digital communications. The theory behind DSP is quite complex. Basically, DSP works by clarifying, or standardizing, the levels or states of a digital signal. A DSP circuit is able to differentiate between human-made signals, which are orderly, and noise, which is inherently chaotic.
pavement
robert jaybird
New member
Actually tdm is the standard pro tools uses for their dsp card based systems.When you hear tdm mentioned on this bbs its referring to the high end pro tools systems that do their processing on dsp cards that sit in the cpu's pci slots.
I dont know the specifics of this or where it stands with pavements response.
I dont know the specifics of this or where it stands with pavements response.
You are both correct
TDM stands for Time Division Multiplexing and is the standard for which protools processes on its high end systems.
A DSP farm is a card that sits in a PCI slot either in your computer or in an expansion chassis. This card has either 4 or 6 DSP chips on it. The Chpis enable the user to use Plug-Ins like reverbs, compressors, delays and the like. The individual Plug-Ins dictate how many can reside on a chip at any one time. For instance LexiVerb by Lexicon uses up one whole DSP chip, where as the Bomb Factory 1176 will let you run 3 on a chip. With the digidesign compressor I think you can get more than 6 on a single chip. This is just what my experience has been on my Mix Plus system.
I hope this helps.
Jamie
TDM stands for Time Division Multiplexing and is the standard for which protools processes on its high end systems.
A DSP farm is a card that sits in a PCI slot either in your computer or in an expansion chassis. This card has either 4 or 6 DSP chips on it. The Chpis enable the user to use Plug-Ins like reverbs, compressors, delays and the like. The individual Plug-Ins dictate how many can reside on a chip at any one time. For instance LexiVerb by Lexicon uses up one whole DSP chip, where as the Bomb Factory 1176 will let you run 3 on a chip. With the digidesign compressor I think you can get more than 6 on a single chip. This is just what my experience has been on my Mix Plus system.
I hope this helps.
Jamie
Jerry Kahn
New member
uhh--THANKS!
Sooo-- only Pro Tools Mix + uses TDM, and most other programs we could think about affording don't? Is this true? Does TDM mean it sounds better? For instance, if the el cheapo version of Pro Tools (LE/Digi001) doesn't use TDM does that means it's a lot worse sounding, or simply that it just can't do as many plugins or tracks at once?
duh.. thx 'gin
jk
Sooo-- only Pro Tools Mix + uses TDM, and most other programs we could think about affording don't? Is this true? Does TDM mean it sounds better? For instance, if the el cheapo version of Pro Tools (LE/Digi001) doesn't use TDM does that means it's a lot worse sounding, or simply that it just can't do as many plugins or tracks at once?
duh.. thx 'gin
jk
Not really, well maybe
To answer your questions let me start with what works with TDM. ProToos III, ProTolls IV, D24, Mix and Mix+ are all Digidesign TDM systems. CuBase, Logic, and Digital Performer at one point (I don't know since I haven't kept up with them) all had versions that ran TDM Plug-Ins. Most TDM plugIns are shipped with both the TDM (real time) - and audiosuite (disk based) versions. The only difference between the two is that with the audiosuite, you design the sound you are looking for and then ProTools creates a new soundfile to use in your session. My understanding (and I'm probably wrong) is that the 001 uses the audiosuite Plug-Ins in realtime, RTAS - Real Time AudioSuite. The limitation to this set up is that you can only run as many Plug-Ins and tracks as your computers CPU can deal with. With a TDM system we have a simlar problem, we can only run as many Plug-Ins as our DSP farms can handle. The benifit is that we can ad extra DSP farms, they only cost about $3000.00 - I'm not sure if that is a benifit!
To answer your questions let me start with what works with TDM. ProToos III, ProTolls IV, D24, Mix and Mix+ are all Digidesign TDM systems. CuBase, Logic, and Digital Performer at one point (I don't know since I haven't kept up with them) all had versions that ran TDM Plug-Ins. Most TDM plugIns are shipped with both the TDM (real time) - and audiosuite (disk based) versions. The only difference between the two is that with the audiosuite, you design the sound you are looking for and then ProTools creates a new soundfile to use in your session. My understanding (and I'm probably wrong) is that the 001 uses the audiosuite Plug-Ins in realtime, RTAS - Real Time AudioSuite. The limitation to this set up is that you can only run as many Plug-Ins and tracks as your computers CPU can deal with. With a TDM system we have a simlar problem, we can only run as many Plug-Ins as our DSP farms can handle. The benifit is that we can ad extra DSP farms, they only cost about $3000.00 - I'm not sure if that is a benifit!
Jerry Kahn
New member
yes, yes, I think I am getting it-- the sound isn't necessarily better with TDM, it just might be much more convenient. With TDM you aren't bound by your CPU's processing ability but you gotta have the expensive external farms to support it. -- it's all about where and how the effect is processed as opposed to the quality of the effect, per say. True? I used to use what I think you call "audio suite" effects in PT 16 bit, where a seperate sound file is generated, but then you had to fish it off of the hard disk and stick it back into your program to hear it. I guess "real-time audio suite" is the same thing, but the program does the fishing for you and it's easier, but not as easy as TDM. DUH.. I think I got it! BY GEORGE HE'S GOT IT!!! huh??
thx,
jk
thx,
jk
Jerry Kahn
New member
woa!
Dave-- you may be a good fiddler, but the jokes need a little more work!
peace
jk
Dave-- you may be a good fiddler, but the jokes need a little more work!
peace
jk
