On Fri, 2004-09-17 at 09:48, Paul Winkler wrote: No, you are exactly right Paul. The 001/002 level stuff doesn't have any DSP hardware. Those platforms are 100% native processing. On the other hand so is anything running on my Linux box, right? What's happened in the last few days (for me) is the realization that I could actually move tracking and mixing to Ardour one of these days and my Pro Tools investment wouldn't be wasted at all. In fact I'll bet that VST's running under Win XP Pro/Pro Tools are better supported and more stable than they will ever be on Plugzilla, but even if they reach parity then the 002 Rack (at $1700 I think) is a nice price point for mic preamps, lots of reasonable converters and a platform for native processing plugins. Granted you need a PC on top of the $1700, so there is additional money, but you're also not stuck with a specific amount of processing power like you would be in the Plugzilla. Heck, I can probably put a Creamware board in my Pro Tools box and wrap it with the VST wrapper. Lots of options. And again, I hadn't considered this sort of use for an old Windows box in a new Ardour based environment before the last couple of days so I thought I'd share the idea as sacreligious as it is. ;-) Crucify me! Please! ;-) I completely agree with this comment. good point. Sounds cool. If you're a keyboard player then possibly that Liontracks machine could be part of that solution one of these days, should it ever actually come to market... Take care, Mark

Paul Winkler wrote: Yes! Sorry if that wasn't clear. I'm a very happy Pro Tools user in most ways, but Digi puts real limitations on what you can do with their PTLE systems, be you a windows or Mac user. They limit you in track count, access to certain plugins, number of units hooked up, all in an attempt to keep their high-end pro equipment as a place PTLE users aspire to get to. My thought 2 years ago was to dump the old 001 system I had, but unfortunately Ardour wasn't ready to play at that level at that time so I went with the upgrade to the 002. Things are changing though. Ardour's much better. Hardware support is somewhat better. That said, what do I do with my 1 year old 002? Sell it? Possibly, but that foresakes a large investment in plugins, as well as kills all my old Pro Tools work. So instead I think... ...turn the 002 into a fancy, programmable outboard sound processor. None of those options come with Pro Tools though, so you'd need to add the cost of Nuendo or Cubase SX to those to begin to get close. RNC is a wonderful unit. RNP I haven't had the pleasure to meet yet but if it's at all like it's older brother then you couldn't go wrong. No - the 002 preamps and converters are much better than the older Control 24 stuff. I've used them both. No, I know. I was jsut joking too.