Is Protools Hd Worth The Money?, upgrading, waiting or simply switching? Options

[xfiles]

Dear macmusicians.
As a long time reader, i would first like to thank all the macmusic staff for their great and profitable work.

As a professional producer and songwriter, i've been using Digidesign products since their very beginning (my first digi was a SoundTools). I'm familiar with the idea of upgrading computer based solutions as the technology permanently evolves but I expect to get something out of it.

Therefore I am VERY disapointed with Digidesign's attitude towards their customers. It seems to be nowadays a generality for manufacturers (including Apple) to sell promises instead of true improvements as well as treating their customers of "walking wallets"...

I was planning to invest in a new Protools HD, for our main room, but the closer I look at it, the more i get the feeling that it is a very uncleaver choice. I really wonder if it's worth the money.

The truth is that nothing is EVER compatible between Digidesign products. The only solution for my studio to be up to date is:

1- Change ALL my digidesign hardware. This means upgrading for a very expensive price, all my processing cards (mix cube and 2 mix farms that i have bought only 10 month ago).

2- Throw out my 4 TDM SampleCell cards (knowing that there is nothing to replace them exept Soft-SampleCell which will never give me the 64 stereo voices needed for emulating symphonics with Miroslav collection for exemple). What an improvment...

3- I will also have to change my brand new USD as well as my three 888 interfaces. (I know I can use them if I buy 3 new Digi interfaces just to connect my old ones). Wow !!! Great deal !!!

4- Most plug-ins (ie TC) are still NOT compatible with HD systems... Anyway, I know I'll have to PAY expensive updates JUST to stay compatible. Who cares, i'm rich!?

5- Major sequencers including my favorite (Logic Audio) don't currently support ProTools HD.
I guess i will have to do with the ridiculous MIDI features of PT 5.

6- I was expecting Digidesign (the big leader) to announce an OS X version of their softwares but they simply let their competitors do it... Knowing (as Steeve Jobs announced it) that the new Mac product line will only support OS X by January, How much $$$ will I have to spend again to upgrade my henceforth costly Digi set up (Plugs and why not hardware again?)

7- BTW Thanks for strongly advising me to buy a very expensive Geronimo 2000 video card that will never be supported by OS X according to Appian themselves.

8- I've heard of big problems with the new Digidesign sync interface.

9- Best of all, I have been told that Digidesign may change their approach and favorise their development on PC's. I guess I will just have to upgrade again...

10- Does anyone at Digidesign care about their customers desesperatly waiting for a simple and efficient way to "direct connect" the growing collection of the amazing VST instruments.

All theses points lead me to reconsider my next investments. Considering it is nowaday easy to find mix farms at an affordable price and that ProTools mix systems are rock solid, I would suggest any "Digidesign shareholder" to wait and see...

Meanwhile I will certainly buy a new G4 just to experiment alternative solutions. The main problems with theses new compititors is that they are good looking, they offer great possibilities, they support many popular standarts and are a hell of a lot cheaper.


Cheers,

[Synthetic]

I totally agree with you about Digidesign business practices but... as many people are finding out... big business is in it for big businesses. Makes lots of sense right lol. A lot of companies (music related or not) cater to the customers with the biggest pockets first then everything else trickles down to the consumer (unless its a company like Remco, Pyramid, Squire, or Jensen who target the smaller pockets).

I just read an article in Electronic Musician mag regarding the whole new ProTools HD lineup with a review. They did mention that it was much easier to start out with a fresh system than trying to upgrade due to incompatible devices, plugins and the cost. But, the one thing they did really like about the system was that it was one of the best sounding tracking systems they had heard at the 192khz sampling level. They did tests with a mixplus system and compared the new HD system and were shocked by the difference. They claim it was superb in clarity and gave instruments more of a three demensional sound had more depth and even a bit more presence.

So, in my opinion... if I were lucky enough to have the older ProTools TDM setup ( i am just lucky to have the Digi001)... I would most likely just stay with it and keep it as up to date as possible. I can't really see the cost justification of the PT HD unless you owned a studio and it was determined to be the best choice for clients who were bringing in good cash to pay for services. I think this was Digidesign's idea for marketing. They were catering the bigger studios first and then maybe they would a few sales that are not exactly in the pro industry per say to give them a smaller amount of sales. I work in advertising and this sounds like their plan but... its also just an opinion for what it's worth