Powercore users?

[AudioAstronomer]

Who here is using a powercore FW or PCI? What are your experiences? Any things to beware of?

I was absolutely enamoured with the Fabrik C (http://www.tcelectronic.com/FabrikC.asp) and Fabrik R (http://www.tcelectronic.com/FabrikR) when I recently tried them and felt my aversion to non-native solutions melt away :o NonLin2 is pretty amazing as well! So I have an X8 and a compact on the way.

I don't plan on using it live obviously as I am aware of the latency issues, but I'm curious how other sawstudio users are integrating it into their workflow.

[Larry Burger]

Robert:

I use PowerCore PCI for Plug-ins.
The unit works with SAW very well.
The card does not always powerup without a second re-boot.
This is an older card so that may be the issue.

Larry...

[Himhui]

I have powercore firewire and MKII unplunged...

1394 chipset is critical for powercore firewire, it works great and stably with saw if you get the right one...

MKII PCI is not compatible with ASUS p-5k MB, it cannot be recognized most the time. After I replaced with gigabyte p35-DS3R (both MB of asus & gigabyte are p35 chipset), it works flawlessly.

[Perry]

I have an older PCI MK I and one of the newer PCI MK II units. I have them both in a PCI Expansion chassis along with 2 UAD-1's.

Very different beasts. I like both for what they do.

I've been running the demo of the Powercore 'TC 6000' ported reverbs.. like the non-lin and the VSS3. These are very nice verbs! I believe I'm going to buy the VSS3 for certain. I don't think I can 'not' have this one.

I have another verb on my Soundscape card (the Wave Mechanics Reverb) that has some non-lin (gated) setups that I've modified that I like pretty well. I might pass on the Powercore Non-Lin... but I do like it too.

One comment I can make on the Powercore PCI units is that they seem to be particular about 'power'.. or so it seems to me. Mine were like some of the reports here.. not being recognized and so on... so I put in a better psu in my expansion chassis and that made all the difference.

Some of the plugins I don't care for.. and some are downright anemic (IMO).. like the voice modeler. And the UA '1176' compressor blows the doors off the Powercore one for 'vintage' sound... again in my opinion. But then the Powercore has it's own strengths and some cool stuff too. These are really apples and oranges. It's worth having just for the reverbs IMO. I won't be getting rid of mine any time soon.. that's for certain. :)

Mine work fine with SAWStudio. I use them all the time for something or another.

Cheers,

Perry

[AudioAstronomer]

It's worth having just for the reverbs IMO.

That's why I ordered them :D

(I'm a sucker for reverbs).

[Himhui]

The "character" is a nice tool, a sort of exciter...

[Perry]

That's why I ordered them :D

(I'm a sucker for reverbs).

Me too. :D

Have you tried breverb yet? That ones native and pretty impressive for a 'Lexiconish' type reverb. Darn... I want it too. What's a guy to do? :rolleyes: :)

[AudioAstronomer]

Me too. :D

Have you tried breverb yet? That ones native and pretty impressive for a 'Lexiconish' type reverb. Darn... I want it too. What's a guy to do? :rolleyes: :)

Did not like breverb at all. Sounded thin to me :( I did tinker with it for a good amount of time, but I just gave up before having explored it fully.

[IraSeigel]

Not pertinent to your question, but...

I also use the Powercore Firewire. I just looked more closely at the manual, and there's a setting to use the unit in "No Latency Mode". Instead of the front light glowing blue, I guess it glows red in the No Latency Mode. Check out the manual.

I don't have the unit with me right now, so I'm curious to find out if someone can verify that.

(Sorry, I misread the manual. The logo on the plug-in will appear red, not the front panel LED logo.)

Gee, who woulda thought? RTFM! Maybe Bob is onto something...
:)

Can someone do me a huge favor? I'm ordering some "SAC Racks", and I need the depth dimension of the Powercore Firewire. It's not in the User Guide. Can someone do a quick measurement for me? I know it's 19" wide, 1U high. Just need the depth.

Thanks,
Ira

[AudioAstronomer]

Just so you know, no-latency mode switches processing to the host CPU. The powercore would just be acting as an advance dongle.

You can still only run 16 plugins per dsp.

[IraSeigel]

Just so you know, no-latency mode switches processing to the host CPU. The powercore would just be acting as an advance dongle.

You can still only run 16 plugins per dsp.

Yes, and I understand a big hit on the CPU. Might be a little dodgy with SAC and a laptop. I'd like to know people's real-world experiences using the PoCo Firewire and SAC with a laptop, if there are any users here.

With Bob's reverb tweaked for SAC, perhaps Spazio (???) and the native eq's and comps available, I might be thinking of getting rid of my PoCo in the near future.

Thanks,
Ira

[Perry]

Did not like breverb at all. Sounded thin to me :( I did tinker with it for a good amount of time, but I just gave up before having explored it fully.

Interesting. Hmmm... didn't seem 'thin' here but... some pre-sets were far better than others I thought. And I did find a few setting that I liked quite a bit... and the guys I was mixing some stuff with when I was trying it did too.

But... then again I didn't buy... so there was some nagging hesitation there I will admit. There were a few setting that I liked a lot for strings that really were luscious and a vocal verb or two that I liked. I was a bit disappointed later with trying it more. I think I 'lucked out' with my initial experience and that stuck with me at first..

What I liked about it was the modulation in some of the verbs.. they seemed to get that sorta right in a Lexi kinda way when it was there and if you tweaked a bit.

I definitely think the Powercore VSS3 is far more versatile and I'd spend my money there first for sure.. as I plan to do.

Found a digital download price at JRR Shop... best deal I've found so far. Quite a bit cheaper than from TC. Really it's just the license anyway.

Cheers!

Perry

[Perry]

Yes, and I understand a big hit on the CPU. Might be a little dodgy with SAC and a laptop. I'd like to know people's real-world experiences using the PoCo Firewire and SAC with a laptop, if there are any users here.

With Bob's reverb tweaked for SAC, perhaps Spazio (???) and the native eq's and comps available, I might be thinking of getting rid of my PoCo in the near future.

Thanks,
Ira

I don't have it on at the moment to check but I seem to remember trying the 'no latency' mode with the VSS3 verb and it jumped up 50% or so cpu usage.

Some plugins though are not nearly so much as that. I think the idea of it is that if you render files you can switch it out and avoid the latency.

Perry