I would argue that most people using pro tools are using the LE version which is very limited in it's effect. once you get a TDM or Mix 24 there are so many more digital effect you can use. but lets not forget you can still use all you analog effect you just have to route a signal through them and record the out come..
I would also argue the pro tools is better than analog tape. it is a much cleaner medium. which makes things like a pre amp and mic play much more in the big picture of sound when you do not have to fight the noise floor of analog tape. I also like analog tape it has some very unique characteristics, that I dont beleive current any digital processing can simulate. they both have there purposes. but I really think it come down to money, when you can almost buy a whole Pro Tools studio for the price of one studer 16 track deck. which bring me back to these studio's also dont invest in a good PT system either. they don't get many dsp card so there processing power is low and they most likily don't get farm card because they don't invest in the good effect's like the tc stuff, amp farm and echo farm which are very expencive. the other digital processing equipment like motu, while it is very good quality. does not work with pro tools. unless you use the free version. which does work really well and is free. > Far be it for me to enter into a 'debate', but I didn't assert that > Pro-Tools performs composition. However it can have a decisive effect on > 'sound'. This is due to numerous factors, such as the A/D converters used > (Digidesign, MOTU, Apogee etc.) and the software itself, i.e. the TDM > system of DSP, which is far more powerful than most home systems. Even > though it ends up on a DAT or CD, the difference is audible. > loosing those harmonics is very audible. when you record in pro tools you can record 24/96 which is a very good sample rate. and when you bounce it to a dat or cd you are dithering it to a 16 bit signal. so you end up loping off the top end of the spectrium. it is audible and when how play back systems can play back at those rate's I bet the record companies will be remastering like mad. I have also heard the neuindo (sp?) is very good. designed around the windows machine. I know there are issues with neuindo and the mac has some thing with the was the computer processes, a intel is a x86 and a mac is something else. as for getting a pro tools system. I have been seeing a lot of 882/20 on ebay for around $300 and today I saw an andromda card that went for $350 but the actual program & i/o card are much harder to find then the 882's but this would be a 20-bit TDM pro tools system and you could use all the cool guy plugs with it and still come in under $1500 if you had to buy a computer. I see blue and white mac g3 for cheap on ebay these days. you could even use an older 8600 or 9600 because this pro tools hardware does most of the audio processing on board and doesn't require that much power to run the screen.
