Just wondering... if the UAD or PowerCore effects were available in a native version, would you buy them that way, or continue to pay extra for the DSP card? Something tells me that with the ever-increasing power of DAW processors the PCI cards are actually functioning as glorified dongles nowadays.

I actually outfitted my new system with Powercore because of the external DSP processing engine. TC is known for making great effects, so that's a plus, but I purchased without ever hearing their plug-ins to specifically get the load off the CPU. And I'm running a dual core Pentium. While I think eventually processors might be able to take the full load of a heavy session with lots of plugs, I still don't think they're there yet. With higher sample rates and bit depths now days, CPU processing takes a bigger hit. I wanted my new system to be able to do a decent sized session with at times heavy plug-in use, with latency as low as possible.

And I'm coming from a Pro Tools system to Sonar. Mainly switching because there's a lot more power and quality available at a much lower cost than a Pro Tools system (and a plus is I'm much better with PCs than Macs). And one of the things that really turned me off to Pro Tools... a few months after I bought their system, they switched their entire product to new hardware... new main board, new DSP cards, new converters, new Mac needed to run the new version, plug-in packages to update. Sure, I could have paid an upgrade price, but after just forking out so much for their system, I wasn't about to pay several more thousand a couple of months later to upgrade. So, to me, having the freedom with Sonar to replace pieces of the system as I see fit to stay up to date is much more comforting than knowing Digidesign can drop their current hardware at any given time, and you're forced to pay their usually enormous upgrade price to stay current.

Especially since the release of S5, its competitive with any platform there is.
Probably better!

ORIGINAL: bvds

I'd love to know which bit of protools sounds better than say, my RME fireface rig?

even a mbox
rme is made for homestudios and protools is the real thing

No comment required, I suspect!

S

ORIGINAL: LixiSoft

That is because the UAD and PoCo sound awesome. I have yet to find any native plugins that sound equal to the UAD and PoCo plugs at the same price point. Plus you get the additional value of a dedicated DSP card to off load your plugs and free up your CPU. Most of the "Big Players" in audio are useing DSP cards....be it ProTools, UAD, PoCo, or CreamWare. I have 3 UAD-1 cards and they are essential to the way I work, my Waves plugs for the most part go unused, and they can just keep their upgrade "scam".....screw 'em !!

Thankyou for agreeing with me. Native Processing(Sonar) can't compete with Dedicated DSP(ProTools) which can be added on, depending on your needs.

even a mbox
rme is made for homestudios and protools is the real thing

this is silly. the mbox is aimed strictly at the home user .. its 2 inputs,
2 outputs and 48kHz sample rate limit place it squarely there .. along
with the limit I/O bandwidth of its USB-1 connection.

it does sound pretty good ( like the Focusrite pres on the mbox1 ). but ...
it's no where near as capable as the RME fireface .. which sounds
really really good. i think the fireface is on-par with the digi boxes
... the RME is in the same ballpark (price wise) as the digi 96 I/O.
so, imho, it's aimed at the studio market .. or "prosumer"..

jeff

ps: wouldn't this thread be considered "Off-topic" round about now?

Thankyou for agreeing with me. Native Processing(Sonar) can't compete with Dedicated DSP(ProTools) which can be added on, depending on your needs.

Your welcome , but it's not only ProTools, any of the dedicated DSP's will work. I prefer UAD-1's with Sonar or Nuendo

ORIGINAL: bvds

I'd love to know which bit of protools sounds better than say, my RME fireface rig?

even a mbox
rme is made for homestudios and protools is the real thing

Someone better notify all the studios in Nashville that use RME setups to track all those hits they keep turning out. Better get rid of those RME Madi cards and buy the "real thing" an Mbox !! Catch a clue

ORIGINAL: DAYDAY

If Sonar would come out with a proprietary, omni accessible, integrated studio console, with a couple of firewire options, they would attract some of the loyal pro-tool heads as well...I certainly would like to see a SONAR Control in the not too distant future...People love BIG consoles and studio gadgets, ans wouldn't be as scared to play with iot on a studio level...After all, Arent they dealing with edirol?...

I've been saying that for years...

ORIGINAL: LixiSoft

ORIGINAL: bvds

I'd love to know which bit of protools sounds better than say, my RME fireface rig?

even a mbox
rme is made for homestudios and protools is the real thing

Someone better notify all the studios in Nashville that use RME setups to track all those hits they keep turning out. Better get rid of those RME Madi cards and buy the "real thing" an Mbox !! Catch a clue

I'm calling them all right now. Anybody have a quater?
Come on guys, this has gotten totally stupid.

Let's get one thing straight: Nobody takes PTLE seriously. What's more- what we've all been doing here is comparing Sonar to Protools TDM. Now lets think about that: Protools TDM is a HARDWARE solution. Sonar is not. Is that a fair comparison?

ORIGINAL: davidchristopher

ORIGINAL: LixiSoft

ORIGINAL: bvds

I'd love to know which bit of protools sounds better than say, my RME fireface rig?

even a mbox
rme is made for homestudios and protools is the real thing

Someone better notify all the studios in Nashville that use RME setups to track all those hits they keep turning out. Better get rid of those RME Madi cards and buy the "real thing" an Mbox !! Catch a clue

I'm calling them all right now. Anybody have a quater?
Come on guys, this has gotten totally stupid.

Let's get one thing straight: Nobody takes PTLE seriously. What's more- what we've all been doing here is comparing Sonar to Protools TDM. Now lets think about that: Protools TDM is a HARDWARE solution. Sonar is not. Is that a fair comparison?

With the technology we have now I think it's a fairer comparison than it's ever been.

Kind regards

Dave Rich