Other Digidesign PCI Card Options - Pro Tools|HD for the Mac OS

HD Core & HD Process

Up to 7 HD cards can be used in a single ProTools|HD system

• 1 HD Core card
• Plus up to 6 HD Process cards
• Or any combination of HD Core and HD Process cards up to 7 total (Note: the use of 6 or 7 HD cards requires Mac OS 9.2.2)
• Only 4 HD cards are useable when using 176 or 192 kHz sample rates, regardless of whether an expansion chassis is used or not

For more information about expansion chassis setup and card order configurations please download the Expanded Systems Guide PDF in the Technical Document Library of the Support/Tech Support section of the website.

See also Expansion Chassis Requirements - Pro Tools|HD Systems for Mac OS

Newly Supported

Pro Tools 5.3.1 software adds support for the following hardware:

• AVoption
• AVoption|XL

Other Digidesign PCI cards are not compatible with Pro Tools|HD Systems

These Digidesign PCI cards are incompatible with the new HD system.You cannot combine Pro Tools|HD and these PCI cards, either in the CPU or an expansion chassis. Doing so will cause crashes, or the CPU will simply fail to boot. The following Digidesign cards are not compatible with HD systems:

• MIX Core card
• MIX Farm card
• MIX I/O card
• d24 card (Pro Tools|24 core card)
• DSP Farm card (Pro Tools III/Pro Tools|24)
• Digi 001
• Audiomedia III
• Pro Tools III Disk I/O
• Pro Tools Project card
• Project II card

SampleCell II

SampleCell II Card without TDM module

The one exception is the SampleCell II card, although the TDM bus cannot be connected to the Pro Tools HD card because the SampleCell TDM Module is not compatible with Pro Tools|HD systems. SampleCell II cards can be utilized in Pro Tools|HD systems using Aux tracks to route the SampleCell I/O Analog outputs physically between the card and audio peripherals. In addition, you must install the DigiSystem Init v 5.1.1 in your Extensions folder. (included on the Pro Tools 5.3 CD) Playback is limited to samples at 44.1 and 48 kHz.

Note: The "Getting Started with Pro Tools|HD" guide (version 5.3) that ships with HD systems with Pro Tools 5.3 incorrectly states on page 11: "Do not use SampleCell hardware cards in a Pro Tools|HD system. Doing so can result in system crashes. Instead, please use Soft SampleCell which has been specifically engineered to support 24-bit depths and higher sampling rates." Although we do recommend using Soft SampleCell with HD systems, you can use SampleCell II cards as stated above. This information will be corrected in the next document revision.

Incompatibility with older SampleCell II Cards

A rev "QC" or later of the AMCC chip is required for Blue & White G3 and G4 compatibility. This rev number appears on the AMCC chip following number "5933". Older versions can cause your computer to hang while booting or when launching Pro Tools or DigiTest. QC or higher chip is required for compatibility with the PCI 2.1 spec. Ways to identify these boards are in the grid below:

If a customer has previously updated their board (or received a refurbished card), the serial number will remain the same, but the board rev will be updated (and the AMCC chip will have "QC" or later). Cards with the rev "Q" chip can be upgraded. Please contact Digidesign Technical Support by phone to arrange for a return authorization. Registration is required.

Note: All SampleCell II Plus cards are newer, and therefore already have the compatible chip.(The SampleCell II Plus cards are the same as the original SampleCell II PCI cards, but with the included 32 MB of RAM soldered on the card)