MOTUnation.com

Guitartist wrote: You've been using DP for pretty long...would you say, as Mr_Clifford did in earlier posts, that the DP and PT GUIs have similarities?

I think that DP's GUI looks much prettier than PT's. Any editing that you can do in Pro Tools you can do in DP, I'm assuming. There has never been a time, ever, when I said to myself, "Ya know, I really wish I could edit this in Pro Tools." I know that for what I need, Digital Performer allows me to do it in the Sequence Editor. I've been able to do some crazy things in there, in front of clients, in seconds. After working with tape, ADAT, Roland VS series, HD24, etc, DP is what I dreamed of for editing. And being able to Rewire Live into DP still blows my mind. DP is my main mixing environment, my editor, my tape deck, my fx rack, my MIDI lab, etc. Everything ends up in DP and everything gets mixed there as well.

The only reason that I would ever pick up PTLE or PTHD is if I was doing this full-time and needed to work within a network of studios that were already invested in Pro Tools. Ya know, if you add a plug-in to track 4 on PTs and I open it up in PTs then that same plug-in is on track 4, provided that I own said plug-in. I'm not doing this kind of work. And if I want to mix in PTHD or mix something in DP that someone has recorded in PT then I can simply have them zero out waveforms, import to DP, and drag them all to zero. That'll take like 5-15 mins, depending on track count. And once DP takes advantage of the Broadcast Wave format I won't have to do that, I'm assuming.

With the new Mac Pros being as fast as they are I really don't see a reason to go with PTHD. Maybe I'm just inexperienced regarding PTHD, but for what I do, Native is fine, and DP and Live are pretty much all I need.

Guitartist wrote: off topic, but...
I noticed "BLA" in your gear list. Are you happy with what they did for your MOTU 828mkii?

Well, this is on topic here, because if you speak of PTs you have to speak of both the hardware and the software. I feel that the stock 828mk2 is a well oiled machine. I've got two and have been using them since 2003. They travel with me to location, etc. I love them, the drivers are solid, etc. Never let me down.

The old Black Lion analog/clock mod was the greatest thing since sliced bread for the 828mk2. It took a stock unit that is functionally brilliant and made it sparkle sound-wise. It just sounds fantastic now, and compared to the stock 828mk2 that I have (backup), it's night and day. And this is just the D/A signal path and clock that I'm hearing, as I have barely done any new recordings since I had the mod done.

Anyway, I am interested in when BLA is going to deliver their new stand-alone clock into the world. There are a lot of folks that really love their BLA a/c modded 828s, and now that you can't have the internal clock modded it's placed a big ? on the whole thing. Hopefully it's still bang for buck awesome. If not I plan on keeping my modded 828mk2 and selling the stock one for cash towards an RME FF800 or FF400, which are both 192kHz and have awesome clocks and analog paths in them as well. But if last year you already owned an 828mk2 (etc) then the $350 price for the analog and clock mod was well worth it. I had them mod an 828mk2 that I picked up used for $375 and now the clock and analog path sound amazing and the work is warrantied for life.

We'll just have to wait and see how much BLA is charging for their new stand-alone clock. It could change the industry if it's priced right. However, check it out... $500 to $700 for an 828mk2, $300 for the analog mod and $??? for clock. The FF400 and FF800 series are now really close to that price (refurb FF800 on eBay sell for $1250 and are warrantied). So I feel that, once again, if you own an 828mk2 (etc) that the mod and clock are still worth it, but buying a unit to have it modded adds up to the same price as interfaces that offer you much much more. It all comes down to
the price and features of the BLA clock.

Oh, back to Pro Tools LE. You can't even have this conversation about choice of interface, though BLA is modding the Digi001 and Digi002. However, you're stuck with Digidesign's big fat dongle. I personally like choices, and DP allows you to choose your interface.

Guitartist wrote: Another piece of interest"Sytek MPX-4Aii w/Burr-Brown 3-4". Seems this piece gets tagged for classical recordings a lot. Is that how you use it?

No. I use it for rock stuff right now. Indie rock, indie folk, pop etc. It's my flagship preamp and it sounds great. I have not used it as extensively as I would like due to the fact that I've been mixing, not recording, lately. I upgraded all of my preamps in the last year, going from a Mackie 1604VLZ Pro, stock MP20, and Digimax LT to the stuff below. At some point I'm going to run my AKG 414 B/ULS through all of my preamps and both stock and modded 828s in a scientific shootout but time is not kind right now for that. I'd like to see what sounds better for different things.