my thought is that i'm delighted that i'm out of the upgrade game with that company.

Bingo.

Countdown to Justin making a post about how long he's going to have to wait to be able to afford the upgrade, explaining how he's really bummed about how expensive it will be, how this move has obsoleted his whole multi-thousand-$$ rig of just a couple of years ago, how he really, really wants all the new features - BUT, also how he still thinks this system is better than any other system out there and he just can't bring himself to dump it all and go with a native system, in...

three...

two...

one...





Also, I really like how one of the "features" of the Sync HD box is "NEAR sample-accurate" synchronization.

Is that just Avid being brutally honest about the issue (i.e. everyone else saying their products ARE, indeed "sample-accurate" is overstating it) or is that Avid basically saying "Go us! we've finally arrived at circa-1994 specs!"

mmmm, yhea! I'm glad I never got on that merry-go-round!!!

I almost went HD when I upgraded to my MacPro. I'm pretty happy that I stuck with the DM-3200 with the firewire card and DP7.

LOL! I just learned about these yesterday so I need more time to assess. I think the new software analog modeling HEAT is interesting. Here's a demo video but I can't really hear a huge difference thought my laptop speakers

http://media-cdn.avid.com/media/heat/Ninja%20Mix%20Full%20Res%20Video.mov

What these means to me is, Avid upgraded their interfaces with slightly better converters. My reaction? OK no big deal. Same cards, same software essentially as far as I can tell. More after I've read their ad slicks.

As for me upgrading, I'm done for now and happy as a clam with Intel Mac, Old PT HD}|2 non-accel cards, 96 I|O and the really cool Pro Tools Instrument Expansion pack.

What I am thinking about more and more though, is putting my DA7 out to pasture. Not because it's not still useful to me for the Preamps and I/O - but because

I really don't use it as a mixer and I want the desk space back for a midi keyboard/drum controllers so I can physically work more closely to the computer screen. Thinking about getting this cheap piece of furniture ($200) so I can rack up a couple of my most used pieces of gear and eventually replacing the DA7 preamps with some rack gear - maybe a couple of Focusrite OCTOPRE MKII Dynamics. Maybe something more high end.


What's nice about this desk is you can get up close to your computer screens and slide your feet underneath real easy. Also the casters. I don't have a big studio so this might fit the bill.

I don't use the DA-7 as a mixer either. I really never have. I use it like a digital patch bay, really. If I was trying to be really progressive or space-conscious about my set-up, I would have gotten rid of the DA-7 and gotten a few good mic pre/IOs.

I think I keep it around because a) the space it occupies is really not at a premium for me and b) I don't want to dump it for nothing but a rack of pre's and then find myself one day needing a mixer in a pinch, for a live thing or whatever.

The problem I have with furniture like that is; whether it's the mixer or a keyboard controller on the desk, I still have to move away from it, to get to the regular computer QWERTY keyboard and mouse and to be able to work with those, comfortably. So, I find that no matter what, I always want to have all my gear - mixer, keyboard controller, computer keyboard and mouse - all at desk level so, I invariably keep everything at the same level, and organize it around me in a small semi-circle, so that movement from one item to another is as efficient as possible.

"The problem I have with furniture like that is..."

A slide out drawer for the querty keyboard that fits just below the piano keyboard is a pretty simple fix for that quandry!Not perfect but certainly viable...

http://virtualinstrumentsmag.com/composersdesk/

Excuse the blatant self-promotion.

That looks great, Nick. Really well thought out.