Most Reliable Live Recording DAW?

[BlueSprocket]

Originally Posted by Drumminkiger

Okay, cool, thats what i thought was the case. It was pretty much the entire reason i was leaving my comfort zone and looking for different audio software, i love to edit and mix in pro tools, but i can imagine if we are always limited to 18 ins and outs its going to slip as the industry standard.

Oh, but you aren't limited. In HD land, you can have as many Ins and Outs as your wallet can imagine. And if you can imagine a really big wallet...

Ok...enough cynicism for one night.

Pro Tools is a standard in the industry, not Pro Tools LE. LE was a way to bring a flavor of that standard to people but not give them the same kind of power. Digi has kept the gap between TDM, MIX, HD and the LE systems large on purpose, and for good reason on their end. I'm not saying you can't achieve professional results on an LE system, but it itself lacks many features that I consider to be rudimentary to a "PRO" DAW.

This is of course, one mans opinion. To quote something you've likely seen on here before...YMMV.

[edwinhurwitz]

I have had perfect reliability with the Metric Halo record panel and very good reliability with Digital Performer 5.x and Logic 8, obviously all on Mac. Logic 7 was a disaster, but 8 has been very reliable. I also had good success with PT M-Powered with a Profire Lightbridge before I got Leopard (my Macbook pro started to belch smoke and the replacement that Apple gave me had Leopard pre installed. It was a great upgrade in every way except the loss of PT 7.3) and I could run 34 channels of i/o with no troubles at all.

Of course, things like keeping a separate audio bus and data bus are absolutely imperative for any decent track counts.

I've been recording my band on the road for the last few months with 2 2882s and an RME Octamic for a total of 24 channels and it's been flawless and simple (as well as a great way to make in ear mixes for the three of us who like that kind of thing). I've even done it with a bunch of other programs up and running and wifi running and connected (or searching) which is supposed to be a big no no, but the MIO console doesn't seem to care at all.

Edwin

[valleysound]

Originally Posted by edwinhurwitz

I have had perfect reliability with the Metric Halo record panel and very good reliability with Digital Performer 5.x.

Of course, things like keeping a separate audio bus and data bus are absolutely imperative for any decent track counts.

I've been recording my band on the road for the last few months with 2 2882s and an RME Octamic for a total of 24 channels and it's been flawless and simple (as well as a great way to make in ear mixes for the three of us who like that kind of thing). I've even done it with a bunch of other programs up and running and wifi running and connected (or searching) which is supposed to be a big no no, but the MIO console doesn't seem to care at all.

Edwin

I too have had great luck running 2 MH2882's, DP, Bias Peak, Yamaha Studio Manager and sometimes Photoshop at the same time. itunes sometimes causes a little trouble, but if I start everything in a certain order, I have no problems. I can sort of "feel" when my Mac isn't going to run smoothly!

[Mick@itc]

Originally Posted by edwinhurwitz

I have had perfect reliability with the Metric Halo record panel and very good reliability with Digital Performer 5.x and Logic 8, obviously all on Mac. Logic 7 was a disaster, but 8 has been very reliable. I also had good success with PT M-Powered with a Profire Lightbridge before I got Leopard (my Macbook pro started to belch smoke and the replacement that Apple gave me had Leopard pre installed. It was a great upgrade in every way except the loss of PT 7.3) and I could run 34 channels of i/o with no troubles at all.

Of course, things like keeping a separate audio bus and data bus are absolutely imperative for any decent track counts.

I've been recording my band on the road for the last few months with 2 2882s and an RME Octamic for a total of 24 channels and it's been flawless and simple (as well as a great way to make in ear mixes for the three of us who like that kind of thing). I've even done it with a bunch of other programs up and running and wifi running and connected (or searching) which is supposed to be a big no no, but the MIO console doesn't seem to care at all.

Edwin

G'Day Edwin. The line..."Of course, things like keeping a separate audio bus and data bus are absolutely imperative for any decent track counts." I don't understand...audio bus and data bus? Is this analog audio and digital audio busses? Can you explain to me?
Thanks

Mick

[Allen Rowand]

Originally Posted by Mick@itc

G'Day Edwin. The line..."Of course, things like keeping a separate audio bus and data bus are absolutely imperative for any decent track counts." I don't understand...audio bus and data bus? Is this analog audio and digital audio busses? Can you explain to me?
Thanks

Mick

If possible, you should use completely separate FireWire busses for your interfaces and drives. For example, when I record with my MacBook Pro, I put the interfaces on the built-in FW port and use an ExpressCard FW800 for the record drives.

This keeps the "audio bus" (data from the interface to the computer) and the "data bus" (data from the computer to the drive) separate, and keeps you from trying to stuff too much data over one FireWire bus.

Using two different FW ports on your computer isn't enough- they have to be two different cards, although it can be the built-in and a PCI or ExpressCard.

HTH,
Allen

[edwinhurwitz]

Allen pretty much summed it up. People will use multiple firewire ports on a computer thinking that each one will get full throughput, but both ports are usually connected to one bus, which means that you can easily overload the bus, resulting in dropouts and other problems. What you need to do is create a completely separate bus for the interface from any external hard drive to which you might be recording or perhaps streaming samples. With a Mac Book Pro, a great way to do this when using a firewire interface is to use an express34 eSATA card because the SATA bus is much faster than any firewire bus and SATA also requires less attention from your CPU.

Before I did this, when I was using a G4 Powerbook and a Digi 002R, I had all kinds of problems. A firewire cardbus solved all those problems and now with eSATA on a MBP, it's even better.

HTH
Edwin

[Mick@itc]

Now I understand. Thanks guys.

I note that a lot of people seem to use the MAc laptops/powerbooks. I use SONAR (have done for years and too lazy to change) and need to go down the PC Laptop format. Anyone out there using multiple FW interfaces with a Laptop? What are you using.
Finally if you reckon I should be certified (looney) for using SONAR and a laptop, what Mac set-up do you suggest...without breaking the bank. Remember all I am using the laptop for is a redundant recording sourse and monitoring tool.

Thansk
Mick

[subspace]

Originally Posted by Drumminkiger

Pro tools M powered supports 32 tracks? I asked an engineering buddy of mine who has that same setup (on a mac) about that and he said it limited him to 18. Why wouldnt it work on a PC?

-

7.3.1cs1 only supported full I/O with the Lightbridge on the Mac release, and when Digi realized they hadn't crippled that version, they removed the build. It's still on the web for Mac users if you want it, quite a boon for us remote recordists being asked for PT sessions at the end of the night.
Current versions are restricted to 18 I/O only.
HTH

[edwinhurwitz]

I have very limited experience with PC laptops, but I see no reason to abandon what you know. AFAICT, PCs are just capable and you might as well use what you know. However, the ins and outs of how to configure your system are beyond my expertise. I have learned a lot from the Yahoo group DAW-Mac and I know there is a DAW-PC that is probably well worth looking at for this kind of guidance.

Have fun!
Edwin

[Mick@itc]

Thanks mate...this yahoo thing could be a good resource

Mick

[Gerax]

PC laptops aren't different from Macs at all..after all is a motherboard, a CPU, some Ram and some drives...the culprit is IMHO to get a laptop froma reliable and qualified manufacturer: I got a Dell XPS M1330, and I'm really happy. It works great, no hassles. It came with Vista on, so I partitioned and installed XP Pro too, just to be sure about compatibility with all apps I'm using. I record with it and the Profire Lightbridge on an USB 2.0 drive. Works great, rock solid, no stability issues.

[Drumminkiger]

I run all of my audio apps on an HP DV9000 series laptop, and let me tell you, this thing screams for pro tools. It even has 2 built in hard drives, so you can have an internal audio drive. I also partitioned my drive, and did a dual boot with XP so i can have a stripped down OS thats specifically geared up for audio. I just added a FW 800/400 card to the computer and now i have two busses so i can run my interface on 1 and my drives on the other if need be (though i usually just track everything internally and then dump it to a drive after). I think the gap of the PC/Mac audio argument is pretty much whittled down to nothing, so long as you are running your gear on XP, and not vista IMO. I know my PC easily keeps up with every Mac I have worked on with Pro Tools, so don't look at switching to a PC as downgrading just because its cheaper

[Mick@itc]

Thanks guys...excellent... I'm going to get this...

Mick

[Gaston69]

I get good results with Metric Halo.