With the arrival of the Lynx Aurora 16 and a PCIe core card, we are finally ready to fully integrate Pro Tools HD at Fluid Audio Group.
The studio was originally designed to be used without a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) and instead focused of a 40-channel Amek Hendrix console, recording to a HDD recorder. It was eventually decided that the Amek console was too costly and prone to maintenance issues to keep. That coupled with the increased demand for modern editing techniques, and cross-studio compatibility made the decision to switch to Pro Tools a fairly simple one.
The integration of HD came in stages. We first transitioned through Pro Tools LE, while phasing out the Amek console. With the arrival of Pro Tools 9 we were able to drop the Digi003 and incorporate a more reliable interface to help get through the transition to HD.
The PCIe core card and the Aurora16 weren’t the only components involved in this integration however. A half-normalled TT patch bay was also hand built to accompany the Aurora and to streamline the tracking process, while still allowing plenty of flexibility come mix time. The 96 point patch bay will accommodate 24 i/o between the converters and the rest of the studio that is accessible through two other non-normalled 96 point patchbays.
The shift to HD will ensure increased system reliability, while the addition of the Aurora will ensure high quality conversion both in and out of the digital realm.
