If you’re a Pro Tools TDM user running a pre-Intel Mac with PCI/PCI-X cards, your path to future Pro Tools upgrades is closed. The current software (8.0.1) will be the last to support the Legacy Port, 888|24 I/O, 882|20 I/O, 1622 I/O, 24-Bit ADAT Bridge I/O, PowerPC-based Macs, Mbox (original model) and Expansion|HD Chassis. But don’t fret, there are options that will save you $$$, improve performance, keep you current and offer a clear upgrade path in the years to come.

Your Apple computer upgrade options include a MacPRO 4 or 8 core system (we’re not addressing PC options in this feature). Our search found a new MacPRO single Quad-Core with 3GB of RAM for under $2300 while a dual Quad-Core with 6GB of RAM came in just under $3100. Buying used will save you more. Our source says that because of Pro Tools code upgrades bowing next year, the 8 core is your best bet. The new code promises more efficient PT operation on multi-core native DSP and the more cores you have, the bigger difference you’ll see in system performance.

Now for the cards. A straight PCI to PCIe swap of three cards (1 Core/2 Accel) will set you back about $3600. This brings the total for this upgrade to $6700 on an 8 core computer.

A solid, money-saving Plan B comes from Magma, the expansion solution company. By purchasing the Magma PE6R4 expansion chassis ($2199), you can keep your legacy cards, still run a MacPRO and keep the door open for Mac OS X and Pro Tools software upgrades. The chassis has six slots that support PCI and PCI-X, including pre-Accel Farm cards which are a real bargain now. Total cost with an 8 core MacPRO would be $5299 saving you $1400. According to Avid, the PE6R4 will be supported in the soon-to-be-officially-released Pro Tools 8.0.3 software and beyond making this an upgrade path with a future.

Magma Chassis Option

Upside: Upgrade your computer to MacPRO, Mac OS X to Snow Leopard and Pro Tools software beyond 8.0.1, save $1400 or more, keep your old cards and even add inexpensive legacy cards to your system. Benefit from MacPRO’s increased processing power allowing more instances of RTAS plugins and faster operation.

Downside: While system performance will improve, it won’t be as fast as upgraded PCIe cards from AVID

Card Swap Option:

Upside: Same upgrade paths as the Magma option. No chassis necessary provided you don’t use more than 3 cards. PCIe is the current state of the art in data transfer

Downside: Will cost you more $$$$

1. iZotope’s Alloy offers a great set of tools at a killer price ($249). Check out the demo video at the bottom of this post.

2. Decapitator and Panman from SoundToys turn up the fun factor providing solutions for mixing not found in other packages. Follow them on Facebook

3. Melodyne with DNS (Direct Note Access) has been two years in the making. The DNS addition allows single note tuning even on complex waveforms. Watch for the Mix review soon.

Although this has been around for a while, it’s the first I’ve heard of the Acoustic Feedback plug-in from Softube. By instantiating the plug before your amp simulator, you can add a bit of natural flavor that’s often lacking with hardware amp wannabes. For a quick listen, check out our audio demo which starts raw, then adds a PodFarm amp simulator then has two examples with the feedback plugin.  The third lick is with all controls in the normal recommended operating range and the fourth drops the tolerance and raises the feedback control. You can really hear it at the ends of the phrase. For a more in depth view, watch the YouTube video at the bottom of the post.

I really liked how you could mix the original track and feedback via a wet/dry control. All the way wet renders some eery guitar pads that are unlike anything I’ve heard out of any simulator. You can also map it to an expression pedal which lets you mix the feedback as you’d like. This might be cool as a vocal or acoustic instrument effect.

Acoustic Feedback is $100 (a bit steep I think) and comes bundled with a limited version of the White amp from Vintage Amp Room.

Features include:

• Realistic simulation (physical modeling) of guitar feedback


• Fully responsive to vibratos, bends, slides, tremolo and player’s style


• Controls for Feedback and Tolerance


• Compatible with foot controls via MIDI


• Available in native VST, AU and RTAS format for both Mac and PC

Pro Tools: Love it or hate it? You be the judge after reading about these Pro Tools 8 bugs begging for a fix in the pending 8.0.3 update. Leave a comment with your own experiences.

• Performing any of the following tasks WILL ERASE YOUR UNDO HISTORY.

1. Duplicating a track


2. Removing a send


3. Using either select unused regions command


4. Splitting a stereo track to mono


5. Deleting a track (even an empty track)

• After using “Expand Alternates to New Playlists” or when using Playlist Lanes, there are soloing problems.   The main playlist solo conflicts with the alternate playlist solos: soloing the Comp Lane overrides the main playlist solo, even when the track view is switched back to waveform.

• If using a C24 controller, the Sends buttons will not switch the sends view in Pro Tools necessitating a trip back to the mouse. This has been an issue with Pro Tools since the C24 was released in 2008 and especially disappointing since this feature worked on the Control 24 , the surface that the C24 replaced.

UPDATE: I had a message on my phone this morning from Avid Audio/Digidesign Technical Support about this post. The C24 issue I was having has been logged as a bug for a fix in the next update (most likely 8.0.4 since 8.0.3 is closed). The “remove a send, lose your Undo”  has been logged and will be fixed as will the other four which they actually said were designed to work that way. However, they did add them to the bug list as a “feature request” and are looking into getting them fixed. We are playing phone tag on the “Expand Alternates to New Playlist vs. Solo operation” bug which I clarified further in a phone message when I returned the call. This is awesome customer service by the way and I hope that they will follow through and be able to make Pro Tools work as it should based on customer input. We’ll keep you posted.

1. Bono and The Edge each have their own monitor engineer. Alistair McMillan and Niall Slevin mix on separate Digico SD7 consoles with dual engines running two identical mixes. If one console fails, the other engineer can mix from the second engine on the working console. Larry Mullen, Adam Clayton and below stage keyboardist Terry Lawless’ feeds are mixed by engineer Dave Skaff on one of two redundant Digidesign Profiles. Take a video tour of monitorland below.

2. Bono’s monitor chain is entirely analog to avoid latency back to his Future Sonics in-ear monitors. Monitor engineer Alistair McMillan uses TC2290 delays and a Bricasti M7 reverb for effects in Bono’s mix.

3. The vocal front end at FOH consists of a Manley VoxBox (Bono) and an Avalon 737 (The Edge). The reason there are two of each in the picture above is because the tour runs everything redundantly. For instance, at FOH there are two Digico SD7s running the show simultaneously, one with digital inputs and the other with analog inputs. If one fails, the show can be switched over to the other console in an instant.

For more info on the tour, be sure to read my Tour Profile in the upcoming December issue of Mix.

Just found a cool site from a company that designs and sells boutique style printed circuit boards of vintage audio recording equipment. Drip Electronics promises that the designs are true to the original schematics, and the prototypes are compared side by side to original vintage units. Most pcbs cost under $200. Check them out on Twitter

Interesting article in the LA Times about the state of production in LA. Mix writer Maureen Droney of the NARAS P&E Wing among others are tapped for input. The Times is a bit late to the dance but still a good read.

I just got back from AES in NY and saw a lot of great new gear. One of the best new offerings was offsite at Quad Studios on Times Square where I had the chance to critically listen to the new Guzauski-Swist 3-way active mid/near field speakers. I’ve had the pleasure of working with both Mick and Larry in studio on a lot of mixes and these guys are both consummate pros who know their gear down to the design level. So it was no surprise that these speakers were among of the best I’ve heard. They had them mounted on the meter bridge of an SSL J 9080 and they rocked the room.

The system features a 12″ low resonance, long excursion driver in a sealed cabinet, a 3″ Dome ATC Midrange and a 1″ Morel Softdome Tweeter (the same used by DynAudio). 1500 Watts of class D amplification is included in a separate rack chassis. One of the more innovative design elements is an acoustically decoupled midrange/tweeter enclosure that is “hung” from the woofer cabinet and isolated down to 6 Hz using a military grade isolation system Larry found in the UK. The decoupled enclosure design allows both vertical and horizontal driver alignments. Inputs can be analog or digital using state-of-the-art AD/DA converters and analog components. There is also integrated DSP with user definable room compensation equalization and delay adjustments. The system goes for $12k and is available directly from the manufacturer.

Here’s some interesting news: Harrison, maker of high-end analog and digital consoles for over 30 years has created a new OS X DAW called Mixbus ($80 introductory price). There is full support for AU plug-ins, multiple Core Audio devices and a variety of hardware control surfaces.

Features include “knob per function” mixer layout based on Harrison’s 32-series and MR-series music consoles, DSP algorithms for EQ, Filter, Compression, Analog Tape Saturation, and Summing, unlimited stereo or mono input channels featuring High-pass Filter, EQ, Compression. There are Four Stereo Mix Buses featuring Tone controls, Compression, Sidechaining, and Analog Tape Saturation. Stereo Master Bus that features Tone controls, Analog Tape Saturation, K-meter, and Limiting. Plugin delay compensation, “at-a-glance” metering with peak, peak hold, and compressor gain reduction visible on every track and bus.

UPDATE 9/2/09 Just got Mixbus and tried to load it on my Intel Macbook laptop but it crashes before opening. It’s only certified up to 10.5.6 and I’m running 10.5.7. I was able to create an aggregate device using Jack which ships with the software. This lets you run the software without an attached interface using your computer’s in/outs. Another oddity is that a 3-button mouse with scroll wheel is required? I’m going to try this over the weekend on another machine running 10.5.6 and getting the mouse as well. Can’t wait to try this rig!