Pro Tools III NuBus system for location recording

[Sonicmook56]

Hey all,
This is my first post to the forum, and I must say I am impressed. Anyways, I was thinking about buying an old protools III system of eBay, rack it, and start recording live shows. after the recording is done, take it back to my studio and do the post production/ mixing. Anyone used this kind of setup before? My idea is to use channel outputs from the FOH board, (so i dont need to bring my own mics, and preamps) combined with a stereo mic, or an XY'd pair of mics to mix in. Has anyone put together a rig like this? How much pain can an old mac take?

[Rab]

I wouldn't even go there. Nubus is long gone and any compatible mac you find now would be very old and probably on its last legs. It would be running a very old MacOS and Digidesign support for a nubus system may not even exist anymore if you had problems. PTIII systems were limited to 16-bit and the convertors were poor by today standards.

If you're on a budget, I'd suggest looking at an entry-level G4 (as little as £999 now) with something like Digi002 Rack (around £1000). At least this way you've got something running current ProTools software with some future shelflife, 24-bit/96kHz, access to RTAS plug-ins, the ability to import data from other 24-bit sessions etc. Sound quality would be better as well. In fact, if you're feeling saucy, you could even run this off a G4Ti powerbook for real portability.

Bottom line is a nubus PT rig would be considerably behind even a modest modern "consumer" system. Don't throw your money away!

[Sonicmook56]

The thing is this.., I already have a TDM and a 001, but there both very much apart of my studio set up. Im looking for a inexpensive way to multi track on location. A protools III system would be cheap, and I could transfer tracks with ease. Maby a cheap hard disk recorder, like the Fostex 16 track (d16?) unit, or even a Mackie 24 track recorder. any thoughts?

[slickrick]

FWIW, PTIII will work on a G4, but you need to download a different DigiInit (from memory it's 5.0.1cs8)

Cheers

Rick

[Rab]

Rick is right... but this (obviously) only applies to a PCI PT3 system... also it's only supported upto MacOS 9.1. I ran a rig like this for a while and binned it in the end... the only good thing about it was the ability to run PT software and about 2 plug-ins. Frankly, an MBox was more useful.

If you don't have access to a spare mac, maybe look at something like Mackie SDR24/96. If you have a firewire drive receiver on your transfer mac, you can pull over files and rebuild the session in whatever DAW you want.

On the other hand, why not chuck in you 001 for a 002 Rack, then you could easily replug the hardware on the portable and studio system as required?

[filmaker02]

Sonicmook56

If you still want an old system, I have an old NUBus system with 16 channels of input and a timecode Sync slave. The system comes complete with an external HD, Quadra 950 full of ram, two mix cards and all relative cables. If you want it make an offer and I will pack it up and send it your way. I have two of these systems so let me know what you want to do.

WC

[subspace]

He may have gone with a different option in the intervening 3 years...

[ellery]

I would avoid the protools III system's. most of the pt 3 systems have been in service sense 1994. from a reliability standpoint it's asking for trouble. I know of two in service. one in a fcc monitoring room as a backup to the backup. and the other is in a basement being used as a memo recorder.

if you are trying to stay in a budget look for a Alesis HD24 or the mackie. both are great units.

[Berolzheimer]

I have a 442 I'll sell ya, too. It's even got the TDM daughterboard.