Building a successful Pro Tools or DAW Computer

[kimball492]

Hey Tony take a look at all the Pro tools builds here http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t...o+tools+builds. I've built several pro tools systems, early ones, totally unsuccessful. Avid and the previous owners Digidesign have also been rigid as to what computer parts used, be it the motherboard and chip set right down to the FireWire card being a Texas chip set on the board. It's only until the last three years that that you didn't have to buy digidesign or avid hardware to use it. The article is written by a professional studio engineer, that needs the power of an i7 CPU. Pro tools is memory intensive also. I've used i5 chips on macs and it's all great till you come to mixing or recording with a low hardware buffer setting to get rid of the latency. You have to remember these guys are some times dealing with 30 to 40 tracks sometimes 4-5 plugins on every track. That's a serious hit on your CPU and also the memory. Can you use an i5 for pro tools? Yep most definitely but will it work in a professional environment? I don't believe so. You have to remember the guy was building a system specifically for Pro Tools. You can get away with most things with all the other DAW but pro tools, just one piece that's not to Avid's spec, then you get the warnings about buffer and hardware errors. That's why most guys use Macs. Pro tools is a great DAW, but it does have its faults. I've invested so much money in it that it's hard to change. If I was recommending a DAW for a PC for someone starting I'd say go with reaper, it's excellent. it does what pro tools does but currently. Presonus Studio One 3 is really hard to beat and Presonus listen to what the users need and right now it takes some beating. As in all things, use whatever you feel happy using, whatever fits into the way you work. Another thing to remember is that Pro Tools 12, which I'm really loving, costs just over $700 (AU). P.s you still need a dongle ilock 2. Check the latest version of Studio One 3.1. What it allows you to do is set it up as an analogue mixer turning your inputs up to get warmth drive and sound like a real studio console even jumping in to the red,which can't normally be achieved in the digital realm. Check out the video it'll make more sense. Basically you can make studio one behave exactly the same as any console. This isn't a plugin this is totally new technology.https://youtu.be/FaJ73BVdqvQ
One very important technique to learn and use is adjusting the buffer hardware on your DAW as low as you possibly can to record,this will allow you to record with a much lower latency or (delay) from the moment you pluck or pick a string to you hearing the sound will be almost immediate using lower buffer settings. When you mix you can use a higher buffer setting.

Maddogm I'm sure you'll enjoy the Eleven rack it's a great guitar and audio interface that works well in a live rig also.