ProtoolsLE or 2408 or what?, DAW recording platform choice? Options

[captainsqueeze]

I want to purchase a DAW system for my new MAC G4 w/ 2 internal HD's.  What do you recommend for about $1000-$2000 range..I have been looking at the ProtoolsLE and MOTU 2408 sytems now.  Anyone using these and what are your opinions of the products...learning curves, software that comes with them?  Types of EFX to purchase?  etc...thanks...Greg from Stonewall Studio

[brian holden]

pro tools LE with digi 001 or audiomedia III card is more than great ... it will take pages to tell you the reasons .... and i tried almost everything ! cubase, even with a good audio card, is a toy by comparison . fun to play with but not a ' pro ' app ...

[Synthetic]

I agree with Brain. The Digi 001 is nice setup. I use it as well and think it is much more flexible and easier to understand than Cubase and Logic. However, the MOTU 828 is another nice unit but doesn't come with any great software like the Digi 001... if you decide to use MOTU... I would go with the Digital Performer 3.0 with it. If I hadn't bought my Digi 001 before the MOTU 828 came out... I might have went that direction with DP as the software because it firewire and doesn't take up a PCI slot.

As far as FX.... RTAS plugs are nice if you don't mind giving up the CPU cycles for them. I use a couple hardware FX units to alleviate that since I am on an aging G3 350mhz. I highly recommend the GRM tools RTAS, Channel Strip RTAS, and Maxim RTAS plugs. Those are the ones I use the most.

[geedoubleyou]

The advantage of the 2408 is that you can use it with a wider variety of software.

The Digi 001 works nicely with Pro Tools LE, but with other apps DP3, Cubase, and Logic the Digi hardware has a high latencey. And the midi ports don't appear to work with other sequencers.

Pro Tools is more of an audio app, as opposed to a composition tool.
Pro Tools midi implementation lacks a score feature, and many of the tools that are common with the big 3 sequencing package.

If you treat Pro Tools like a tape deck you'll have no problems. that's why engineers like Pro Tools because they can easily transfer their analog skills, and practices.

Hi there

       I've been using a 001 for about two years and I've got fed up with digidesign's failure to push their software forward. Just looking at the specs of rival programs got me so fed up that i did a lot of research and ended up buying DP3. You only have to look at the digi user forum to see that I'm not the only one who feels this way.

       Yeah, I love pro tools but the 001 is lacking in so many areas that i felt restricted. It's mainly to do with the fact that digi cant make the 001 too powerful or they risk taking sales away from their more expensive TDM range so they have limited it in various ways, most noticably no Timecode (important to me), the 24 track limit and the lack of Altivec/MP optimisation.

       If these things don't bother you then go for the 001, the plug-ins for pro tools are great, especially those from McDsp, and the program itself is very elegant.

       Also there are many rumours about the new hardware coming out from Digi, such as firewire interfaces and the top of the range 182 KHz TDM stuff, so you might want to wait a while to see what happens. These are only my personal opinions and I know that a lot of people have been very happy with their 001 setups so maybe I should shut up.   =)

[brian holden]

i find a kind of ' solution ' : digi with the new tascam usb interface ... i use it as a controller for pro tools and as an audio interface ( with no latency problems ! ) in other apps ... like cubase .
for no more than 4 OOO frs . it's a kind of a bargain .
happy x.mas everybody !