Zimbido, I have mixed a song 'basicly' the same way on both DP & PT, I'll take DP because it is clearer on the two systems. Of course the song didn't have the same options so were not in reality mixed the same but the intention was to compare not to be quite as anal as your suggesting so that has to baken into consideration. It was a few years ago and I'm sure the buss issues are better than they were then. I had an external clock with great converters and minamal plugs recorded on analog transfered to mx MX2424 then to both platforms.

Having said that, I love diner and amp farm but I know amp farm is not an Avid plug but diner might be. I wouldn't pay all that money just to have those plugs though when they want 20K for every upgrade, lets see, that would be 4 upgrades since I started 'digi' in 89', no thanks.

20K is a deal for a recording setup, if your needs are 8 in with as many tracks out you'll need but when you need 14 or 20 for basics it gets a bit more expensive and you can get an analog recorder that will do that new for about the same price, if it is not the Studer, I may be wrong on that, it is mostly a knee jerk reaction and not considering a bord for mix down.

For 12K, I had a DA7 and MX2424, thats a deal. In analog for 32 channels playback and 24 tracks recording would be closer to 50K for the entry level stuff, for Neve/Studer add atleast another 150K. So who's get'n over here? WE ARE......
Who cares, PT or DP or Nuendo or Logic or Sonic or Sequoia or Saw or SoundForge or any of the ones I left out, its a great deal to have the ability to hone our craft with these tools and I think it is great to see that people are so adament about the rig they use - COOL, YOU SHOULD BE!

Bruce is a very talented guy, but you have to wonder what plug-ins he's talking about. There are a few I use in TDM that aren't available in RTAS, but not that many: Sound Toys (formerly Wave Mechanics), McDSP (don't have the OS X versions but I need to), and Access Virus. That's pretty much it.

I guess there are a few that run on HD only, so maybe that's what he means.

Botom line, Pro Tools does not sound as good as alot of other DAWS out there. Nuendo blows PTs out of the water, sonicly. That's all I really care about.

I don't care if it's more difficult to work with one DAW over another, or one is more "stable" then another, which ever one has the most pleaseing sonic quality is the one i'm going with. I could have gotton a PT mix plus system over a Mac and DP, for the same price, but I went with DP, because it has the depth and transpareny I was looking for.

Sounds like a load of bollox to me, Mr. Hesford.

What hardware are you using?

Nick, I truly respect you as a god, or at least a very respect worthy guy in this field, but, come on dude, PTs does lack depth and transparency it's sound. Good for rap and hip hop, but jazz, anything that's not in your face, natural, you need something else.

And DP sounds better than PT?

Again, what hardware are you using?

I use DP but have never been able to A/B the "sound" between DAW's. I have heard from various sources and also read several sources that the Ensoniq PARIS sounds amazing! I have heard some projects done by an amatuer engineer/producer and the "sound" was very good. Does anyone have any first-hand knowledge on Paris?

Paris is amazing!. I'll take paris, otari, creamware. everything else is a toy.

Here we go again....

Justin is clearly in no mood to recognize there are other worthy players besides a full Protools rig at $15-20K.

For the rest of the world -- Samplitude 7 (and uncle Sequoia) is clearly an amazing "pro" program. Noone could reasonably call it "prosumer". It has consistently (for the last decade) been considered the best sounding DAW (right at the top with Paris). Samp guys who also use PT (or used to) virtually always prefer the sound and editing on Samp compared to PT. (Except for a single area: the Beat Detective).The object editor is the premier editing tool in all of DAW software.
EM recently honored it as the best native audio editor (Jan. 04). Pro Tool's mixer looks like a toy compared to Samplitude's. The real-time room simulator provides access to the best of true acoustic room reverbs (WAY better than Waves and TC reverb plugs). Recording and editing are straightforward. The developers pioneered "non-destructive" editing. They are also, incidentally, accessible and interact with users.

Samplitude has consistently been completely stable (I've used it since v.5 on multiple machines).
Samplitude plus a loaded UAD card and some Waves Renaissance plugs provides an amazing system. Coupled with a blazing fast custom built DAW (use all available silencing options and the fastest components you can affort), with Windows XP Pro and quality converters -- you've got a screaming phenomenal quality system for 40% the cost of ProTools.

Is Pro Tools 60% better? I can't imagine anyone running a screaming Samplitude + UAD system to agree.

But don't trust me. Check out the site - www.samplitude.com and download the 90 day demo. You won't need 90 days.

Craig Allen