Audio Interfaces?

[adamjknight]

Hi all,

Is it correct to say the sacrifice of being a "ProTools LE" user is being limited to the lower end audio interfaces?

From what i hear on this site is that Digi and MAudio is lower end gear, whose converters/preamps are inferior to other offering out there. Say RME. Any others? Not only are these other interaces (RME etc) better qaulity, they also allow you to choose whatever daw suites your needs best. Don't they? Rather than pigeon holeing you into a specific line of products.

But if this thought is correct it seems for ProTools LE users there is a big casm in qaulity options. Either buy a low end interface and beef it up with high end converters/preamps (expensive) which mostly makes ithe interface a dongle?, or buy ProTools HD which is just crazy expensive!!

Finally, with this stuff in mind, it really makes adopting ProTools a poor choice when starting out, considering for your money there are other high/higher qaulity interfaces out there? (for a little extra cash), who provide much more flexibility in choice of daw you want to work with.
I suspect these other daws offer stuff that le doesn't also, higher track count, sample rate and other goodies?

Are we first time consumers just buying a name?

Not trying to start a war here, just a noob...learning the ropes.

I know there is also a lot of hype on this site, so correct me if i am wrong!

Like i have said, just trying to suss this stuff out!!!

Adam

[psycho_monkey]

Firstly - don't believe everything you read on here - lots of people bash Mbox and 002 conversion without ever having compared them properly to others, or even having listened to one at all - it seems to be quite a trendy thing to want to upgrade your converters before even having a good environment to listen in.

I'm not saying that those who buy external clocks/RME converters etc and claim the difference to be "night and day" are wrong - just that for many, the benefits are likely to be minimal if you've not got a good space to work in (plus of course there's bound to be some placebo effect).

I'm sure there are better value for money converters than a 002/3 - although don't forget that these include the PT software. I'd say if you have no intention of ever using PT, there are better interfaces for you.

For me, it's important my home system is compatible with my work system (currently working on a project someone else has bounced from digital performer - I don't think they've ever heard of doing crossfades, which wouldn't be a problem if they'd delivered PT sessions!). It also suits my workflow, and I find it very quick to write and record the sort of music I do (mainly live instrument-based). If I depended heavily on soft-synths and did a lot of programming, maybe I'd prefer Logic. I think PT appeals to those who come from an engineering background, and Logic often to those from a composing view.

If you're "just starting out" and have no intention of engineering professionally, you're fine with any of the "big name" sequencers, or probably one of the less-expensive ones.

If you have ambitions of working professionally, it's in your interests to at least learn PT - you'll need to at some point.

That's just my opinion. I'd love to have unlimited tracks (but really...isn't 48enough?), ADC (really not a problem for most tasks, unless you have UAD cards or similar), and some of the more advanced features of HD (trim and VCA faders, session import options especially!) but it's more of an annoyance than a deal-breaker!

[Randall]

My favorite interface that I owned was the Maxio XD .. expandable to 32 I/O

[peeder]

If you want "goodies," there are better options than Digi.

If you want to work with professional equipment, there are very good reasons why Pro Tools is standard, and you will have to pay for quality conversion and preamps anyway.

I have maxed out a 003 console using an RME ADI-4 DD, which gives me 10 professional i/o at 48KHz and 8 extra i/o from the 003 itself. This is perfectly adequate for my tracking and mixing needs though I do not track whole bands at a time.

If you track whole bands at a time, you will need an analog console.

I would like the 003 to have S/MUX to let me run that i/o at 96KHz and I would like delay compensation. The Profire Lightbridge would, in theory, allow me to have my i/o but I don't believe my 003 console would still function when using it. They should be able to run together, simultaneously, but digidesign is intentionally crippling its lowend product line to stave off cannibalism for the HD line.

But overall, it's not too crippling. HD rigs have their own sets of problems. I think Digi is just pissing people off and isn't ending up making more money this way. They would sell tons of incremental upgrades to the people who just won't buy HD nohow, but they aren't letting themselves make that money.

[tINY]

The Digi and MAudio are, essentially dongles. Protools LE isn't bad, but it's so limitting, that it's a bad choice - unless you have to be able to put out "rich" Protools compatable tracks.

Protools has a huge installed base in recording studios. This is a left-over from the time that computers couldn't run a DAW without a bunch of outboard processing.

If you do need to get tracks over to a PT studio, there are other ways of doing it than limitting yourself by using LE. But, Digi's marketing strategy relies on lack of technical savvy and lazyness.




-tINY

[psycho_monkey]

Originally Posted by tINY

If you do need to get tracks over to a PT studio, there are other ways of doing it than limitting yourself by using LE. But, Digi's marketing strategy relies on lack of technical savvy and lazyness.

I'd agree with just about everything you said, apart from "lack of technical savvy and laziness". Plenty of times I've gone between PT and other platforms, and it's not a lack of savvy or laziness that means I'd rather not have to do it every time I want to work on a track elsewhere.

The minor inconveniences of no ADC and other imposed limitations are vastly outweighed by the convenience of being able to walk into just about any studio with a hard drive and an iLok, and being able to get your session back to where it was at home.

YMMV

[tINY]

Convenience - Lazyness

not much difference....

That is exactly what I was talking about. You don't have to commit to edits and render your tracks to take the project to another studio with PT installed....




-tINY