FCP and PRO Tools HD on the same Mac Pro?

Rax

Rax

Member
I'm upgrading my studio. I've been using a Pro Tools Mix Plus System for years, now it's time to upgrade. I'll be using a Mac Pro for Pro Tools HD.

My question: Would there be a problem with upgrading FCP and using it on the same computer as Pro Tools HD? (NOT running them at the same time.)

I've always used Pro Tools on a dedicated computer. The old Pro Tools Mix Plus system is so finicky, once you get it running smoothly you leave it alone. (I always had to defrag every other day). I will still be using FCP Studio on my powerbook but I planned on upgrading before March... Im just not prepared to shell out for 2 Mac Pro's at this time.

Thanks.
 
I actually have two Mac Pros, one for PT and one for FCP, but recently I had to hit the road and combined them onto one MP and all was well. I had issues with firewire audio interfaces and the AJA Io but was resolved with an additional FW PCIe card. The Mac OS handles the multi-tasking quite well in my opinion.

Don Wilson
AmericanaMediaInc.com
MississippiSon.com
 
Thanks Don for your reply.

What graphic cards are you using? I was planning on getting the ATI Radeon XL1900 for FCP Studio. I'm thinking that will be suficiant for Pro Tools HD. I was amazed to see guys using the NiVIDA Quadro FX 4500 with their Pro Tools HD systems. I'm not sure why they are using that card.

Thanks for your time. Best of luck with Mississippi Son.

Brad Sayre
AcoustiCon
http://www.acousticon.net/
 
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Hi Brad

While I can't speak from experience with a Mac Pro, I've been running a Pro Tools HD Accel II system with three interfaces alongside Final Cut Studio for quite some time now with absolutely no conflicts. They're currently on a (soon to be replaced) Dual 1 GHz G4 and OSX 10.4.8. Pro Tools is version 7.1 (going to 7.3 soon) and FCP is 5.1.2. I also run Digital Performer 5.1.1 with a PCI 424 card and a MOTU 2408 MkII interface, Logic Pro 7.1, Toast and Jam, an ATTO SCSI accelerator and a 7 slot 32 bit PCI expansion chassis on the same sysytem (only the PT cards are in the chassis).

I have the Waves Platinum Bundle, Sony Oxford EQ, Altiverb, Auto Tune, ReVibe and many other PT plugins, and almost all of them work in FCP too, which is *really* cool. FCP will however go through a seemingly interminable (like a half hour) plugin verification routine the first time it launches and finds them there. After that it launches in seconds.

Again, all these campers play happily together aside from occasional PT crashes, which is not untypical evidently, especially on MDD G4s like mine. As far as I know, that issue appears to be entirely PT-specific, and not related to other apps. All the others are crash-free except Digital Performer (until recently), which was an ungodly train wreck before version 5 (even worse before v 4.5). V5 is rock solid so far.

I'm pretty sure you have nothing to worry about, and plenty to look forward to!
 
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Thanks Ted,

Your time and input are appreciated. You have some great editing tools! FCP using Waves plugins! Wow. I didn't know that was possible. (We'll be upgrading our plugins along with everything else). I'm excited and feel pretty confident. I've used Pro Tools since 1999. This latest upgrade to Accel is long over due.
Best regards,

Brad Sayre
AcoustiCon
http://www.acousticon.net/
 
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