Why are Digidesign system requirements for the Digi 002 so high?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Alchemist3k
  • Start date Start date
A

Alchemist3k

New member
Have you seen how high the PC system requirements to use the Digi 002 and 002 rack are? They seem rediculously high compared to any other software such as Logic or Cubase SX.

Does anyone know why they are so high? Has anyone had success running Pro Tools 6 on lesser systems?

It seems to me that Digidesign are excluding a lot of potential buyers with such high system requirements. I have a 1ghz laptop and an Athlon 1333mhz PC but neither apparently are compatible with the Digi 002. This seems even weirder as I don't think PT 6 LE is that powerful a piece of software compared to other sequencers.
 
The following CPUs are compatible with the Digi 002 Rack, but may not provide the best performance:

AMD AthlonXP 1500+ CPU (or faster)
AMD Athlon "Thunderbird" CPUs running at 800 MHz (or faster)
Click to expand...

Your CPU IS supported but you must remember that plugins eat a lot of CPU power. Newer, better plugins probably just require more cpu power. Nothing wrong with that. That's how it goes.

Digidesign is just saying that if you want to run your Digi002 with what they think is a reasonable amount of plugins, you need something faster what you have. Progress comes at a price.
Digidesign plugins may need more cpu power than for instance VST plugins. I don't know. But really, I don't think the system requirements are that rediculous in these circumstances.
 
Well, put it this way. I currently run Waves GOld and Renaissance plugins on Cubase. Now those are power hungry plugins.


Unfortunately, it was my laptop I wanted to run it on which Digi say is 'incompatible' even thought it's only a year old.
 
I think it might be because Digigdesign might not think yet that Native systems are powerful enough for audio unless you are running really fast systems.

I also think they might think that PCs are inferior quality to Macs. So If it works on an 800MHz mac the only way it will work on a PC is with a 1500MHz PC. What bull crap :D.

Heh, maybe no true. But it does sound like Digidesign to me.

Danny
 
I applaud Digi for being the way they are with their compatibility charts. At least they tell you what really will work and what doesn't, unlike M Audio who gives you no idea whatsoever, and when you e-mail them, they're like "eh, it'll probably work". Nice.
 
or like Arturia's Moog Modular, they claim you can run it on a PII 500Mhz/126Mb machine... Yeah right! i've had it running the cpu to 100%+ on an 1200Mhz/480Mb Athlon!!!!!! (a fairly simple preset that was)
 
Don't get me wrong. I used to be quite anti-Digi but now they seem to be taking the ordinary home user more seriously and i applaud their detailed breakdowns of compatible mobo chipsets etc and advice to get things working well. I also applaud their online video training for new PT users, a great idea.

My only gripe is that I just get the impression they haven't really made any kind of effort to see what actually does and doesn't work. They seem to go on some kind of workig theory that 'yeah, we'll only say it's compatible if we're confident it can run all 32 tracks and a load of RTAS plugins'. For example, I'd be happy to be only able to run a limted number of plugins and track for now, but at least have PT and the 002 running on my lowly machine. That way I get use of it while being able to plan for a upgrade to my machine at a later date whereby I'll get optimum peformance.
 
The owner of the studio I work at bought a digi001 card so he could say "yeah, we got ProTools" to clients (often, just saying that, then using Sonar to actually get the work done is quite enough...many clients just hear that they "need" PT to get decent production results, but have no idea WHY you "need" it, and once they see what we can do in Sonar, they are quite pleased!)

Anyway. We have problems with the cards detection. The software (complete with ALL updates to the OS and software) crashes a lot on a dual Athlon system. Etc.......

The converters are only average sounding.

The software is fairly clumsy and isn't very intuitive compared to Sonar/Vegas.

RTAS plug's are pretty expensive compared to DX and VST, and I have heard no qualitive difference in them at all!

digidesign doesn't seem to do Windows very well. Over at the DUC, user after user of the digi0x systems seem to have multiple problems. Some work around them, others have no luck. We still have problems with this install we have.

Sonar and a delta 1010 card didn't cost us any more money, and at least the delta drivers WORK with other app's we use!!! The digi001 has never been used at the studio, and we stay quite busy. Yes, we have had exactly ONE client come in with a PT project. It was quickly exported to OMF, continued in Sonar, then exported to OMF for the client to use on their PT setup.

OMF is quickly making it possible for us to not care whether a project started in PT.

I do know that I will not be spending any more time trying to make PT/digi001 work on a PC. The software/hardware just isn't all that stellar in my opinion to warrant the expense and huge learning curve. Plus, Sonar 3 is soon to release! :)

Just my thoughts on it. I would personally never invest in the digidesign money soak setup's!!! Indeed, you will do nothing but continue to spend money on upgrades just to get features that you can have at a far lower price with PC compatible hardware/software from other companies.

I am currently running as many as 40 tracks of 24/48 audio in Sonar, with about 16 plugin's (excluding reverb) (I haven't tried to push the system farther than this yet...haven't had to) and a MOTU 2408 card. This has included envelope filters and edits, etc....I am doing this on a 440BX mobo with a PIII 800mhz cpu and 256mb of RAM on Windows 2000. :D

Again, I would personally avoid the digidesign trap. PT users have never shared one bit of feature set's, nor produced any audio in PT that made me ever think "Geez, I really need to spend a LOT more money and get a PT setup". They never will either.

Oh, did I mention that PT DOES NOT have plugin latency compensation?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Ed
 
Yeah, a lot of that is absolutely true. Digidesign really have an almost monopoly type position in serious pro studios which they are happy to exploit.

On the other hand, having watched some videos on the Digidesign website, I couldn't help but think 'that really is a much simpler way to do that than in Cubase etc' or 'that is rather intuitive'. So the comments about the ease of use thing I don't know if I could agree with. On the other hand i've not had practical experience with PT.
 
Well, I am coming from the perspective of using Sonar. Also, I have certain "needs" from an audio editor. Your needs may be quite different. I am sure that PT has it's merits, and certainly has some ways of doing things that other packages don't make as easy to do.

My goal isn't to use PT in a "major studio" environment. Again, if I ever needed to take my tracks to a place using PT, I can export my project to OMF and import those track into a PT session.

Has PT given an option to turn off that feature that turns down the audio if you exceed 0db on the master buss? Rather than the software just turning the whole thing down, I would rather see that I have reached clip, and figure out why it clipped. That really annoyed me on PT!!!

Man, I can just think of a lot of economical reasons not to use digidesign products. That is obvious to anybody that checks into the whole thing. But what is a harder sell, and I am not sure why, is convincing people that you don't "need" PT software to do ANYTHING that PT will do! People have it fixed in their head that PT does some magical somethingoranother that no other software will do. That simply isn't true. I doubt that a PT user can name ONE "pertinent" feature that PT has that other software packages don't that would drastically effect your work flow.


Sorry, just sort of ranting here about digidesign.
 
Has PT given an option to turn off that feature that turns down the audio if you exceed 0db on the master buss? Rather than the software just turning the whole thing down, I would rather see that I have reached clip, and figure out why it clipped. That really annoyed me on PT!!!
Click to expand...
I worked there for two years, and never saw this feature. No engineer ever mentioned it. And I've seen the master bus clip hundreds of times. Not sure what you're talking about here.

The cost breakdown... I've done all sorts of breakdowns and come out with all sorts of results. I can easily come up with a breakdown that makes a PT LE system much cheaper OR much more expensive than a competing product. I don't really think price is an issue. PT plugins being more expensive is a myth, and I'm not sure why it persists. TDM plugins are much more expensive, but RTAS plugins are mostly the same price. The last time I searched this out for someone, I found 2 plugins total that cost more on RTAS than on DX/VST. Maybe I was shopping in the wrong places.

As far as the converters on the 001 being average, well, that was new hardware when I worked there, back in 1999. Of course they're average now! Technology advances.

There are some things about the way Pro Tools works that are really easy to grasp. It seems to especially work well for people who come from an analog mixer/tape deck world. However, other apps also do things that are very clever, and anything can be grasped by anyone who has a mild understanding of computers. If it's what you learn, and it makes sense to you, than suddenly all other paradigms seem idiotic. I can comfortably work in Logic, PT, Cubase, Sonar, or Vegas (does anyone use Vegas anymore?), coming from an analog background, then learning PT first. I'd say Logic was the hardest to learn, but everything works in its own way.

I agree that there is no one feature on Pro Tools LE that makes it any better than anything else. I could say that about most apps. Unless you need a certain MIDI feature or a certain post feature, you're going to be happy with whatever DAW you learn and work with the most.

As far as the original question goes, the systems are specced high, I'm not sure why. Probably because they want it to work! But I can tell you I get 32 tracks with a modest amount of plugins off my LE system... and my computer is an old PIII-867. There's a thread on the Digi User Conference that is continually updated where they list how to put together a PC for under $1000 that will run PT well (actually I think they lowered the price to $800). http://duc.digidesign.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=360675&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=7&fpart=1
 
When asked if I have ProTools I say "yes... and none of them are made by digidesign" ;)

[rant]
What what the digi stuff costs... I would expect that it has it own processor engine to drive the plugs..similar to a mix24 or a UAD-1 card... that way the box actually makes things go easier on your processor be it Pentium or whatever. Too much money for me to spend on something that forces me to spend even more money. Its rare to buy a car without an engine for the same price as the competitor with one. Digi needs to step up and offer real improvements, stability and compatibility with more plug-ins. The 002 should have no less that 8 xlr inputs with inserts,..pads....phase flips.. a real input section if you know what I mean. Id love to see an interface that is an 8 channel Neve with HUI for the master section. There need to be a reasonable inbetween the Pro Control and the 002 for home recordists and project people. I hear of lots of folks going to alternatives because they are tired of it. Its my personal belief that Digi is going to get a rude awakening when we start to see people buying MOTU192's....Sonar and a real interface with Pre's, pads, phase..inserts in quantities of 8... Its coming....I can feel it. ;)
[/rant]
So kill me!


SoMm
 
I think what other manufactuers really need to do is go directly to artists and show them what the likes of Cubase SX 2 and Logic etc can do to help dispell the Digi-is-better myths.

Personally, I am really liking the look of Cubase SX 2.0 and being a Cubase user at present, it seems to logical upgrade path for me. I'm also going to get a MOTU 828MkII which I hear are pretty good.
 
I think what other manufactuers really need to do is go directly to artists and show them what the likes of Cubase SX 2 and Logic etc can do to help dispell the Digi-is-better myths.
Click to expand...
They do. If you're a major artist, every company in the business has tried to give you their thing for free. Most of these artists end up with Pro Tools because it's easier for the not-too-savvy to use, or they have seen it used a lot, or it's what their guitarist/drummer/buddy uses.

I'm not convinced that just because a product has more features to do x,y, and z, it's a "better" product for everyone. I don't understand this ridiculous platformlovefest crap. Everyone stands around shouting about "their" great DAW, as if they're getting paid to use it or something. The reality is, all of the major player DAWs work fantastically well, and all of them can produce killer product. I have produced music on Cubase, Cakewalk, Sonar, Pro Tools, and SX, and not once did any of those products make me believe in eternal life or an intelligent order or any such thing. Insisting that you stand in a certain corner with a certain DAW and then announcing it to the world... doesn't that just seem kind of pointless? My goal is not to advertise product, my goal is to make music.

I have to wonder why so many people find it necessary to sell the thing they use to everyone else.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top