Hi! I was reading here in this forum for one week now and I think this is the right place for me to ask and learn.

I'm in the process of putting a recording system together. But I can't decide what to buy. Apogee's Symphony looks like an interesting new system. But ProTools is still considered the standard in the industry and advertised as most stable system on the market(?)

The basic things the system should be able to do is:

- recording up to 16 tracks at the same time.
- playing back at least 48 (better more) simultanious audio tracks (with acceptable latency)
- be compatible with most of the popular plug ins on the market.
- be under $20.000

Maybe some of you have an Apogee System and you can make a comparison between Pro Tools and Apogee or just let me know your experience with Apogee Symphony.

thanks a lot
- ludwig

Greetings Ludwig. If I am not mistaken the Symphony system is an A/D D/A conversion system and not a DAW software. If you are looking for converters the Apogee is much better sounding than the DIGI converters. Protools is a recording software. Which are you asking for, software or converters?

Jeff

Hi Jeff, thank you for your reply!

I'm looking for information about the native recording system that's using the Apogee converters and Apogee PCI cards along with Logic Pro on a Mac Pro computer (apparently Mac and Apogee worked together on this system). I've read a little bit about it on Apogees website where of course they only praise their product. I was hoping to find someone who might have experience with the pro's and con's of this system e.g. is it as stable as Pro Tools is when you run more than 40 tracks at the same time etc.

Thank you!

Ludwig

The Apogees are VERY stable. You can use the Symphony/Apogee with any Mac recording software, even Garage Band. I have the X series converter and they sound awesome. I am PC based so I did not get they Symphony card.

That's great news! Is there a significant difference between the X-series and the Rosetta converters? Do you know?

Thanks for your answers

Ludwig

I don't think there is a big difference but that is just a guess. It would be hard to go wrong with either one.

Jeff

It looks like the Apogee system is the one for me. Also native plug ins have much better prices than plug ins for a TDM system.

Anyhow, thanks for you time!

ludwig

Well, it is of course a matter of opinion, but I still find the 192 io of Digidesign a very well designed converter, on par with Apogee.

For less than 20.000 there are a lot of choices.

If you want to go pro, I suggest this config:

- MacPro 8 Core (the basic model is ok, just add RAM, do not buy RAM at Apple)

- ProTools HD1 system (complete system with card, PT HD software (192 tracks) NO latency, and DSP accelerated TDM plugins.

- Converter: Lynx Aurora 16 with PT HD interface card (16 analog in, 16 analog out, 16 digital i/o). Great sounding interface.

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If you rather compose a lot with Midi, but less audio, the Apogee system with Logic 8 Studio is a great combo.