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Thinking about getting the POwercore card or the Firewire version. On TC's site I notice they purposely do not make any mention of DP. I think they might be in bed with Apple.
Does anyone have experience with POwercore and 4.6? On a G5 dual 2.? 10.4.3? Like how many plugs can you really use. How do they deal with latency.
Help would be appreciated. Oh and also, is the X3 Virtual finalizer reall like the real Finalzer?

dgd

Today I use a firewire powercore with dp4.61, dual 1.25/G4, OS 10.3.8, and motu's pci424, and it works just fine. I've been using the powercore firewire since dp4.12. DP takes care of plugin latency compensation. I even use a somewhat older version of TC's software (1.9.3) as it works very well and I could not be bothered to upgrade... bla bla blah... they're at 1.9.5 or .6 today. I love the TC plugs and may be using a dozen or so during mixes along with Waves and motu plugs. The X3 is pretty good but I believe the X5 is more transparent - and another 250 euro's! UAD I know very little of other than all the great reports here on this forum, the ultra-pack seems to be the one to get... cheers.
Alix

daddyunicorn wrote:On TC's site I notice they purposely do not make any mention of DP.

Last time I looked there were technotes on their support page regarding setting up Powercore and digital performer.

I have the PCI card and it works fine w DP.

2 different flavors really. The UAD is more vintagey and classic. The PoCo is modern and "slick." I had a PoCo and liked its sound (it got stolen with my computer), but that was before ADC and I hated to deal with shifting tracks. These days, it would be well worth it. The VoiceStrip and ClassicVerb are very nice! The PoCo also uses a much more powerful DSP chip than the UAD, so you can get much more out of it. That said, I've considered getting a UAD, because I'm wanting more more compression options and between the 1176LN, the LA2A, and Fairchild, I would have plenty of flavor to pick from. The Plate140 and Pultec look yummy as well.

Both of them work fine. If I had to choose only one of them, I‘d go for the PoCo. Isn‘t the X3 code exactly the same as in Finalyzer?

I currently run both the powercore firewire and the uad-1. Both are great, but I definately get more use out of the uad-1. I think the uad is much more user friendly than the poco. They don't seem to charge as much for upgrade plugins either. You will definately get mixed answers on this subject, but the skinny is powered plugins work well, and are worth the money whichever you decide.

I started with the UAD, then added the powercore (new PCI MkII). Having both is the best, of course. I like UAD for EQ and compression, and PoCo for Verbs. However, i was disappointed with the X3 plug- it isn't quite the Finalizer that I hoped it would be. It's ok, but a little more harsh than the hardware model. VSS3 reverb on PoCo is kileer!! Good luck.

I own the TC Electronics Firewire Powercore and the UAD-1. IMHO:The stability of the UAD-1 and the quality of the plugins, especially the 1176, LA-2A, the cambridge EQ, and the precision EQ, completely blow the TC stuff away. I am so diappointed with the TC that I want to sell it. The only thing that the TC has going for it are the reverbs. They are excellent. Take care.

Papisax

digidan wrote:You will definately get mixed answers on this subject, but the skinny is powered plugins work well, and are worth the money whichever you decide.

I agree. If you do a lot of mixing, it's worth the high investment just to take some of the load off your processors. That these third-party items also contribute great sound is an additional reason.

I only have an UAD-1 myself, but find it indispensible as a mixing tool. Like others have said, its compressors are really great. Easy to use and sound great. If you want some vintage gear flavor to add to your mixes, then UAD-1 is the way to go.

Splinter wrote:2 different flavors really. The UAD is more vintagey and classic. The PoCo is modern and "slick." I had a PoCo and liked its sound (it got stolen with my computer), but that was before ADC and I hated to deal with shifting tracks. These days, it would be well worth it. The VoiceStrip and ClassicVerb are very nice! The PoCo also uses a much more powerful DSP chip than the UAD, so you can get much more out of it. That said, I've considered getting a UAD, because I'm wanting more more compression options and between the 1176LN, the LA2A, and Fairchild, I would have plenty of flavor to pick from. The Plate140 and Pultec look yummy as well.

I haven't tried the PoCo yet. I do have the UAD with every plugin they make. I love it! It's very warm sounding. Reverbs are nice. The Precision mastering limiter is great! I'm using it with DP 4.61 and I have a very slow G4 but I'm bumping up to a dual processor G5 soon.

I'll echo what others have alreasdy said. I have both, and it's all personal taste, but that being said, I think the UAD is great for comps and EQ but useless for reverbs. Where as the PoCo is great for reverbs, but not as good for comps and EQ. Although you can buy the Sony Oxford EQ as an upgrade.

If you can only buy one, I'd say go with the PoCo. Great sounding verbs and passable EQ's and comps.

I guess I'd have to add...

Useless for reverbs EXCEPT for the Plate 140 (emulation of an EMT plate reverb). That thing is a monster!

Scott

sstillwell wrote:
Useless for reverbs EXCEPT for the Plate 140 (emulation of an EMT plate reverb). That thing is a monster!

Scott

You're absolutely right ... I forgot about the Plate 140 ... that is great sounding. But as far a natural room emulations ... UAD, not so good.

I've got the dual 1.25 G4, OS 10.4.3 DP 4.6.1 1 Meg RAM. when I load plug ins, the computer crashes. Any ideas?