Future ProTools newbie(?) - have a couple questions

[Pete Gossett]

Hi everyone!

I spent some time with an older version of ProTools at a friend's house last month, and ever since have been investigating/researching getting a setup for myself, but I have a few questions:

1.) Is buying used ProTools software/hardware a reasonable option to save cost? How difficult is a license registration transfer?

2.) I'm thinking I'd like a setup that could be portable enough to take it out and record a band with. I talked to Sweetwater, and it sounds like 18-channels of audio is the most LE can do simultaneously. I figure that's about what I'd need for a 4-pc or more rock band. Is it realistic to try to do something like this, or is that not really what ProTools LE is meant to do?

3.) When talking to Sweetwater, they mentioned there's often problems installing/configuring ProTools, and that one of their Creation Stations is a far better option. I'm sure it *is* better, and the support would be great, but looking at their specs online it appears I could build the same system for about $300-$500 less. I've built PCs, I'm A+ Certified, and do IT work as part of my job - is ProTools really that difficult? I'll spend the extra $ if it's *really* worth it, but I'd sure rather invest it in upgrading other gear.

Thanks!!!!

 

[Steenamaroo]

hi there,

first off, as far as i know, there's no issue of license transfer for protools itself.

if you buy, for example, a 003....make sure it comes with the disks for protools and the licesnse code...and as far as i know, you're good to go.


plugins with ilok authorisation are a different story. they cost money to transfer between ilok accounts and some don't even let you do that.



in terms of the 18 inputs, you are correct.

4 mic pres
4 line ins
2 over spdif
8 over adat



currently i use 8 over adat+the 4 build in pres when i need them.

i track full bands, but with each instrument seperately, so i never use more than say,,,8 at once.

(to clarify, 18 is the greatest number that can be recorded at once, you can mix up to 48 in protools 8 session though, which has never been a restriction to me)
if i were to be doing rock bands in a live sense, i think i'd be upgrading my system possibly.


lastly in terms of campatibility,,,many people speak of problems that they've had, but i think at least 99% of them could have been avoided by reading digidesigns compatibility lists..


i myself have run 3 different computer systems with protools over a few years.

all were built by myself, and none comply with digi specs,,,,but i've had no problems!


don't take that as a green light though...i think i got lucky!!!!!

 

[Pete Gossett]

hi there,


if i were to be doing rock bands in a live sense, i think i'd be upgrading my system possibly.


lastly in terms of campatibility,,,many people speak of problems that they've had, but i think at least 99% of them could have been avoided by reading digidesigns compatibility lists..

Thanks for the reply!

Any idea how much processing power & ram it would take to run 18-tracks live simultaneously? I can't find any specs relating to that, just minimum & suggested requirements. I suppose HD may be the better choice for that than LE, but that's *way* out of my range!

The rep from Sweetwater told me there are tweaks you need to make to the OS to get Protools to run properly. Any idea what he means? Is it something described in the Protools installation instructions, or more of a tweaker/hack thing???

 

[Steenamaroo]

nah, it's not as big a deal as is made out..

there is a list of things for osx and xp, but it's all silly things like, turning off sceensavers and indexing services, and,,,,eugh,idk...things that use up system resources...

recording 18 simultaneous inputs is a different thing to playing back 18 simultaneous channels, but personally i would recommend no less than..


the fastest hard drive you can get (eg, i run 10,000 speed raptors for audio)
good spec core 2 duo, maybe e6600 or better.
4 gb of ram won't go unused.
a decent graphics card, just to be on the right side of things...


no doubt someone will come back and detail how their system runs smoothly with less than that... but from personal experience,,unless you're going mental with synths and demanding effects,,,that sorta setup would be fine!

for writing and reading vast amounts of audio, i'd reckon that a fast hdd is the most overlooked, and most important link in the chain.

 

[Pete Gossett]

Awesome, thanks!