eMpower mE

[sixways]

I'm thinking very seriously about ordering M-Powered Protools and a new PC from Sweetwater. I am sooooo frustrated with my current system and its constant audio fallouts and errors.

Has anyone had any experience with M-Powered Protools or the Sweet Water PC's? The demo I've got for the M-powered protools seems pretty nice...and some plug-ins I already have work with it.

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[reshp1]

I'm pretty sure you can talk to someone at Sweetwaters about getting the PC optimized specifically for Protools, maybe even M-Power specifically. That's part of the extra bucks you pay for a custom music PC.

 

[Mo-Kay]

I use m-powered in school, it's really cool, I'm buying it, too
Really clean, really clear...what's not to like?

 

[sixways]

How many tracks can m-powered protools simultaneously record? I haven't seen that anywhere in it's info. I know it has 32 track play back (which seems kinda low honestly).

The one thing that scares me about it, is the fact that I will be locked into M-Audio hardware, i.e., I could never upgrade to the presonus firepod/firebox stuff.

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[TuoKaerf]

Sweetwater makes good PCs, but it'd be way cheaper to build your own. Someone posted an awesome thread over the the Computer forum with a how-to. Check the Digidesign site for hardware compatability, and you should be set.

M-Powered can record 32 tracks at once. I work on a TDM system and rarely get over 28 tracks.

 

[reshp1]

There's actually a complete spec for a digidesign compatible computer at the DUC forum on the digidesign site. Here's the link, post #1 is constantly being edited with the most up to date information. I built my DAW off a slightly older version (AMD 3400+) and I've had no problems.

http://duc.digidesign.com/showflat....page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=7&fpart=1#360675

Yikes! they're already up to the 4800+

 

[sixways]

So what's your take on M-Powered?

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[reshp1]

I got into protools with LE before M-Powered came out. I've never tried it at all, but on paper well.... frankly I'm a little jealous. Far more interfaces to choose from, including the project mix I/O which has a lot of the things that the 002 is missing, namely wordclock and a jog wheel. There's been some speculation that even though it doesn't "officially" support multiple interfaces, people have claimed to have gotten it to work with multiple delta 1010's, which means more inputs than the LE interfaces. There are a couple features missing in M-Powered that are in LE, but they're not going to affect the average user, in fact I can't remember what they are off the top of my head. No digi translator?

 

[sixways]

Do you know if you can link one or more interfaces or is that just speculation and rumor?

Thanks for your time with this!
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[reshp1]

Do you know if you can link one or more interfaces or is that just speculation and rumor?

Thanks for your time with this!
6

Personally.. no. But I swear I've seen at least someone here who has done it. Looking for the thread now.....
Okay, here...
https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=178443&page=2&highlight=pro+tools

Maybe follow up with the guys in that thread to confirm.

 

[sixways]

Ok, thanks man.

I'm going to give sweetwater a ring today too. I'll post their reply as well.

Thanks,
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[Chris Shaeffer]

I've read that you *can't* link more than one interface with M-Powered.

It also requires an iLok to run. (Idiots... now you need TWO dongles to run their shit.)

Take care,
Chris

 

[sixways]

per Sweetwater, you can have 2 1814's running in.

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[jonnyc]

I've read that you *can't* link more than one interface with M-Powered.

It also requires an iLok to run. (Idiots... now you need TWO dongles to run their shit.)

Take care,
Chris

Its amazing how many people bring up this Ilok shit like its some huge ass problem. You plug the freakin thing into a usb port and your done and it weighs all of about 1/2 an ounce. WTF is the problem here? Yeah it sucks you have to have an interface hooked up to get it to work but really man the ilok thing isn't a big deal at all. I respect 99% of the stuff you say Chris but bitching about this is just really a waste of time.

 

[sixways]

It also requires an iLok to run. (Idiots... now you need TWO dongles to run their shit.)

Take care,
Chris

Why do you need 2 dongles? Is the iLok seperate?

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[reshp1]

Why do you need 2 dongles? Is the iLok seperate?

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I think he's refering to the interface being a dongle, since you have to use their hardware with their software. The iLok is a separate, 2nd dongle. I believe it comes with M-Powered (double check), but not with stuff like plugins, you have to pay extra for it.

 

[dgatwood]

Its amazing how many people bring up this Ilok shit like its some huge ass problem. You plug the freakin thing into a usb port and your done and it weighs all of about 1/2 an ounce. WTF is the problem here? Yeah it sucks you have to have an interface hooked up to get it to work but really man the ilok thing isn't a big deal at all. I respect 99% of the stuff you say Chris but bitching about this is just really a waste of time.

You'll think that too until your iLok breaks or gets lost/stolen. Then, all that software you have isn't worth a penny.... What's that? You're insured? Guess what? Your insurance won't cover it. You lost a $50 device. You aren't insured for the loss of data stored on the device.

Between my parents and myself, we've gone through at least a dozen USB keychain drives in only a couple of years of use. That's not very different from a dongle. The more you unplug it, the greater the risk. The more you travel, the greater the risk. And so on.

The worst, IMHO, is recording software that requires a dongle. You get out to do a recording session in the field and suddenly realize you forgot that otherwise useless piece of hardware... guess what? You're not recording today. And heaven help you if the thing gets damaged or stolen while you're traveling. Good luck getting a replacement dongle and ordering a new copy of the software electronically while you're scrambling to set up to do a recording session.

Bottom line is if you trust a company that requires an iLok, you should multiply the cost of the software times at least two. During the life of the product, even if you never need to upgrade the software, you'll end up paying -at least- that much money.

Hardware dongles are never an option unless you are making so much money off the use of the dongled software that losing thousands of dollars worth of software won't make a dent. I don't know anybody who can honestly say that.

Just say no. There are always alternatives. Hint to software manufacturers... the ones who bought your software aren't generally the ones pirating it. I buy from companies that trust me and value me as a customer. If you don't, I don't have time to screw with you or your software.