2022 interface and DAW

[Rybow]

Budget and I/O requirements will definitely help limit the field. If you want onboard DSP that will really thin out the herd.

I use Logic for personal music making as that’s where I started so many moons ago. Right now I’m producing a bunch of audiobooks professionally, and for that I’m using Pro Tools. I like the Audiosuite implementation more than Logics BIP especially for treating plosives that sneak through. Pro Tools also seems to handle longer sessions better. I am more in tune with Logics workflow, so I like it more for multitrack sessions.

 

[camshash]

My 2 cents, if you are on a Mac, stick with pro tools. If you are on windows, I might consider trying a different DAW.

In my experience with pro tools on windows is I had to do a lot of optimization to get it running well, and even after doing everything except disabling ACPI (On a laptop) I still had numerous low latency recording issues. I feel the software is way more streamlined on Mac, as well as core audio being rock solid.

UAD makes solid interfaces, especially since they have upgradable Thunderbolt cards, so old firewire apollo's can run on TB3 with TB3 speeds. Cant justify the DSP though since new Mac M1 essentially killed the need for external DSP

 

[Whoops]

Cant justify the DSP though since new Mac M1 essentially killed the need for external DSP

In the case of UAD the DSP satellites and the need for DSP for their own Plugins has more to do with having a solid anti-piracy system than the processing need on it's own.

That was actually a very clever decision by UAD, if you compare the case of Waves, every Waves release up until this day was cracked and made available online.
With UAD, as their own DSP is needed that will never happen.

The same happened with Protools in the past, as long as Digidesign hardware was needed to run Protools, it was never cracked, as soon as they made ProTools work with any hardware it was easy to crack.

Think of some of the DSP system as a big "iLok" protection for the releaser

 

[brucega]

I use Harrison Mixbus and Mixbus 32C (Modeled after Harrison's 32C console). It's like working on a real desk and I can do most of what I do without using any plugins.

As a plus, your license allows you to install on any of the three platforms/OS and on more than one computer, as long as they are yours

 

[camshash]

Think of some of the DSP system as a big "iLok" protection for the releaser

I remember someone pointing this out before, and the fact that their Sharc prossesors on board are old and not very powerful.

Everytime I want to run a UAD plugin in PT it adds at least 1024 samples of Delay compensation, rendering it useless for tracking.

 

[Whoops]

Everytime I want to run a UAD plugin in PT it adds at least 1024 samples of Delay compensation, rendering it useless for tracking.

Yes, latency is high with UAD plugins but they sound amazingly well, they have the best emulations in the game and I've tried them all.
I don't have much use for tracking with plugins, I use them in mixdown only, but UAD actually has a technology that allows you to track with plugins and preamp emulators without latency, I think it's called Unison, but for that you need to have one of their soundcards I just have 2 UAD Satellites for plugin processing and for a soundcard I use a Focusrite Red4 Pre that it's really good and I found it to sound better than UAD soundcards. Although I think UAD soundcards sound pretty good

 

[camshash]

but UAD actually has a technology that allows you to track with plugins and preamp emulators without latency, I think it's called Unison

Using UAD console you can track with plugins in real time, but it only works going into your DAW, like actual hardware, so you have to commit to the sound like you would with analog gear

 

[Whoops]

you have to commit to the sound like you would with analog gear

That's the great thing about it.
Start making decisions from the start don't leave it to the end

 

[benqbasic]

Think it's the same people.

I believe the guy who start Antelope may have sold aardvark before it fell apart completely. That said they don't have a great rep and seem to legacy their interfaces every 1-2 years.

 

[iomegaman]

I have an Antelope Discrete 8 I bought a year ago from them directly in Jan., it is already considered legacy...and they just released the "Discrete 8 SC Pro" which finally allows you to use their plugins in the analog side of the device you own...I JUST got the main monitor outs on this D8 to work about a week ago...everyone here in the shop thought we were using it wrong, or wrong headed or whatever, turns out it was a damn software issue...which really pisses me off because you can ONLY use the premium plugin package we purchased ON THE MAIN OUTS or headphone mix...the device also requires itself to be the primary audio interface in your daw and runs a local server on your machine for copy protection...there are a LOT of things not to like about it...what I do like is the clock and the FX's are pretty good WHEN you can get them to work...


We also have an Apollo device and an Apogee Element, both of which offer no latency DSP effects...obviously the UAD appliance is pretty well known and yes their plugins are quite good...the Apogee we have the FX package...they only offer 5 but really they are plenty and sound really good...the one thing about the Apogee that really surprised us was the "dual path" thing they offer...it allows you to use a NATIVE reverb (or any plugin) in the low latency "direct" mix for headphone mixes etc...or even tracking...it works amazingly well in Logic...everything can be run straight from the DAW...

All that being said we also got the base M1 mac mini when they came out...8 gigs ram...and it is really amazing...we can easily run pretty much ANY native plugin in low latency mode (32 buffers, under 4ms latency) and it doesn't even bat an eye...it outperforms our older Mac Pro 8 core with 64 Gigs of ram by a factor of 2x easy.

I know Gyraf has authorized Antelope with his plugins...and frankly they sound really good but their code guys leave a LOT to be desired and their business model is just as bad...

If you want dependable and industry quality plugins go UAD
If you want price per pound plugins, great clocks and don't mind tech issues go Antelope
If you want seamless integration with Logic and quality but not quantity go Apogee
If you want a ton of great plugins go native and Plugin Alliance subscription


We use both ProTools and Logic here...have tried reaper and harrison...preference is PT.

 

[Rob Flinn]

The same happened with Protools in the past, as long as Digidesign hardware was needed to run Protools, it was never cracked, as soon as they made ProTools work with any hardware it was easy to crack.

I don't think that's quite right. I had a mix+ rig which would only work with protools hardware. I had a friend come round a do a fresh install & he put literally over 100 bent plugins on the machine.

 

[Whoops]

I don't think that's quite right. I had a mix+ rig which would only work with protools hardware. I had a friend come round a do a fresh install & he put literally over 100 bent plugins on the machine.

I really don't know what you mean,
I stand correct when I said that "as long as Digidesign hardware was needed to run Protools, it was never cracked"

I was talking about Pro Tools DAW, not plugins...

 

[Rob Flinn]

I really don't know what you mean,
I stand correct when I said that "as long as Digidesign hardware was needed to run Protools, it was never cracked"

I talking about Pro Tools DAW, not any plugin...

Ah I see you are talking about the DAW rather than the plugins operating on it.

 

[analag]

I'm on Cubase 12 but I still need the dongle for legacy apps like Halion. I'm happy my old settings ported over. For instance redoing my plugin folders would have been a nightmare with hundreds of them to reorganize.