benny - Sorry, i really am not against the Protools packages at all. But when you said it plain out has more features, i wanted to know how. If you look at my past posts, you will actually see me recommending the Digi 002 for people. Like i said, i used to own a Protools rig with Protools 6.2, a HD2, a 96 i/o, and
a Control 24. It was a very nice system to work on indeed with mixing. However, if you look at the price of what i spent for all of that, it adds up to around $20,000. The 96 io converters were alright, but their were only 8 Analogs and 8 Adat Opticals on it. The Control 24 was probably the biggest waist of money in the entire rig. The preamps were horrible in that thing, and it did absolutely nothing for the sound. The HD2 was definately nice. I had great TDM plugins like Waves Platinum 4.0. With all the TDM plugins combined it probably added up to another $10,000 because the TDM plugins are much more expensive than DirectX and VST. Now overall the system was good to work on. But for $20-30,000?
Now look what i replaced it with.
A Nuendo 2.0 System running with
a Motu 2408mkIII with a Alesis HD24 as the front end. Roughly how much was that? Say around $3500. And if you dont know much about the Alesis HD24, it has some of the best converters you can get in such a quantity. So this allows me 24 ins and outs at the same time. Not only that, but the Alesis HD24 is 100% portable, and i do alot of on-location recording. For the mixing board i grabbed a used
Soundcraft Ghost 24. I dont get all the moving faders anymore but hey, this thing sound damn good for the money. Comparison, $2100 for the used Soundcraft Ghost, around $4,000 to $5,000 for a used Control 24. Then with a $1000 computer and a UAD-1 card (soon two), along with Waves Platinum DirectX.
lets just say i have never looked back. The value of money i paid between the two setups is no comparison in my opinion. And what happens when i decide to change something in my setup? With the Motu 2408mk3 i can pretty change anything i need down the road.
Now the Digi 002 rack. Really not a bad deal, especially with the Adat Optical option. But with your limitation to RTAS plugins with that, its a big draw back in the world of native systems. But with everything bundled in with simple to use software, i agree, it really isnt a bad deal.
Compatibility is hardly an issue now a days anyway. I did run into a problem a few days ago with a band transfering their Protools recording to my studio. But all i had to do was call the studio and let them know i was using Nuendo and he overnighted the files to me in .OMF format.
It might still be the standard, but i believe it is losing it fast. Ive even talked to Protools Representatives at Sweetwater who claim that Protools will soon be making the Native switch themselves. Of course they might design something new for the Native systems that will keep them up in front, who knows.
Wrd.
Danny