Protools--vs--????, lost in the digi jungle----HELP!! Options

i am starting from the ground up with a home studio ....i definitly want a mac i have my own website and as well as being a musician/composer...im also an artist

what i need to know is basicaly this;;

what is the best and most cost efficant way to build a home studio that will be album quality and provide me with the warmth i enjoyed with 24 track 2'' tape --is this possible on a budget of a few grand or am i fooling myself??--------is protools the right way to go and what kind of mac is best 4 what im doing-----HELP PLEASE---

[droltam]

well this should heat things up......
I work in a Hi tech Music shop in Sydney and sell everthing from prosumer to Professional systems.

Weve sold over 1000 digidesign 001's most of which as a Turnkey Mac system.. Our issues have been literally NIL. If only all products worked this reliably. Yes, cubase running the direct i/o ASIO driver with dual processor macs required the dual processor extension removed, and only now with the dual mirrored macs has there been really any problem at all. The motherboard problem has now been addressed by apple themselves.

As for 001 and logic, many of the systems were also supplied with logic as it supports Direct i/o (not needing ASIO) and allows incredibly low latency,

Now for a answer….

Both products produce incredible results, with reliability and flexibility. No doubt if you run cubase/logic and a laptop you cant go past the sheer ease of interfacing and cost of a 828.
However the Logic/001 mac desktop combination is more flexible as not only does logic support Digidesign hardware with dedicated drivers but also gets you Protools.

Now you may think “ do I really need protools?” but I guarantee if you want to treat this system as a tape machine, (acoustic recording) the Protools/001 package is superior is ease of use and sound quality. Just as Digital clock and the AD/DA’s are important, so is the way the software handles its AUDIO. This is where Protools EXELS.


The best way to make your OWN decision.

First Objective Test
At a shop set up a system with Both an 828 and 001 connected. Get a good recording in OMF format. Load it into Logic and switch between Motu Asio and Direct i/o.

Second Objective Test
This time take the the same audio tracks from the logic song and import them into a Protools session. If the computer has enough ram you will be able to switch between Logic with the 828 and tools with the 001.

I hope this helps in you reaching a decision. Remember its your ears.