sync? 2 computers, reason +PTLE

I'm tired of attempting to sync 'em up internally and I'm thinking of buying another pc for reason and other soft synths/samplers. I just wanted to make sure that this task should be relatively easy via midi and to know about any problems I should look out for. I'll be using the 24/96 (audiophile) on the smaller pc for reson. Thanx...

Thumpa, I've fought a few sync battles on the PC side. I don't see why you shouldn't be able get the two of them to sync without spending more money. There are issues of contention where both apps want a midi port, but there's workarounds for that one. Specifically, what problems have you been encountering syncing the two? Maybe I've already run into a solution for it. Chris

Well, I gotta say that I'm using hubi as well, but I discovered tonight that for some reason PT is a little snippy about sharing the digi midi port. Your idea of separate computers is probably a good one. While I can't say I've done it across two computers, my current rig consists of a Mackie d8b console, a Mackie HDR recorder and a PC running Pro Tools LE. I'm using the HDR (in reality it's just an Intel based PC) as the timecode master, and the d8b and Pro Tools both sync up to it just fine, so I'm pretty happy with it. I suspect you'll get similar results. You probably already know this, but PT LE doesn't really chase to timecode, it just triggers & starts when it sees incoming timecode. That means that if you're doing really long material or video your time could drift. I just do typical short songs and so it's not a problem for me. That's about the only gotcha I can think of. Otherwise, based on my syncing PT with two other computers (since, come to think of it, the processor for the d9b is also just another Intel based PC), I'd say you should be in good shape. Of course, the more computers in the room, the higher the potential for grief, but, well, you know... Chris

thanx Chris, Well I tried Hubi's loopback, and it worked but I didn't find it user-friendly. You always had to click on reason to hear it... and the second you clicked on PTLE to change something, reason would mute... So basically, my decision is made unless there's another way. My main question is: before spending more $$$ I want to be sure that syncing up reason and PTLE on 2 seperate computers will work perfectly. thanx to anyone who can help....

Thanx again Chris for the info . It's funny I was just talking to a friend about eventually getting something like a DR-8 (akai) synced up, so I'll check out the mackie too. If I'm not mistaken, I believe you can mix more than 24 trks in PTLE? 24 internal and more from another recorder or am I out to lunch???? how are you set up for this??? thanx again...

Hi, Thumpa. It was my impression that in terms of mixing within PTLE that it was indeed limited to 24 tracks. That was probably done more to put reasonable limits on a host based system than as a marketing thing. I'm able to do 48 tracks only because I have a mixer. The Mackie d8b is really nice, but it's also pricey. You could accomplish the same with most any mixer if you took your PT mix analog out and into the mixer. The Mackie 24.8 was the console I had prior to the d8b and I was quite happy with it. Chris