DSP cards are great but with the new G5s and faster PCs, they will eventually phase out. The processing power of these things are phenomenal and with the ability to max your ram at 8 GB, whoa. Do you need Pro Tools? It really depends on who you are working with. I use DP and have gotten as good or better results than Protools projects I have heard. To be honest, all of these programs are pro level daws, but none are all inclusive. As some mentioned, there are so many factors to a good recording other than the software, the main one being the operator. If you have any of the major daws and pro outboard gear and your recordings dont sound professional, maybe you need to take a good long look in the mirror to find your problem. Some of my clients want Protools, some don't, I convince them that what they really want is the best sound

Unfortunately, you can't access all that RAM, since programs have a 2GB limit per. There are ways around it, but there's no reason to have more than 4GB installed.

...not that the amount RAM has much to do with the number of plug-ins you can run. What it does have to do with is the number of programs you can have cued up if you're using large sample libraries.

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I hear what you are saying Nick but lets remember that many of the programs have not been fully optimized for the G5s yet.

I hear the Korg Legacy stuff is a CPU pig. I tried opening more than one instance on my G4 867 and it crapped out.

I wore out my Oasys a long time ago and sold it when I first learned there would be no OSX drivers for it. It was very useful for a time. I don't have the Korg Legacy. Looks like it might have some nice possibilities. I was never much of a Polysix fan though even when the thing was new. But the fact that you can combine the synths is interesting.

dephipps, that's precisely my point. It's going to be great when the OS allows for 64-bit memory addressing. I don't think that's going to happen for a couple of years, though.

In the meantime, it would be great if Apple wrote a player for EXS that could be accessed by IAC, etc. I think I posted here that people have tried running multiple instances of Logic, but it just wasn't practical.

The same applies to Kontakt, etc. You can set up kludges, but it would be great if the developers worked it out so it runs reliably. The hardware is ready for that.

Pro 53 is good, but I like Absynth better. I also like Access Virus TDM a lot. It sounds HUGE.

Here's a quote from an article in this months (June04) Recording Magazine titled "The Art And Science of The Mix" by Bruce Kaphan...

Hmmm. Flame on! :p

uuugggghhh....