Pro Tools on MacBook Air?

[AnotherScott]

Can anyone confirm that ProTools works okay on a current Macbook Air (running Lion on an SSD drive)? Avid's web site doesn't mention the current Air at all, they only say the older version is not supported, because of the lack of firewire. However, the new Air has firewire if you attach it to the new Cinema Display via Thunderbolt, so it seems like that issue would be addressed. Avid's web site is no help, Sweetwater (who I bought my Mac and display from) didn't know for sure, I couldn't reach anyone at Avid by phone... but maybe someone here has tried it?

 

Another wrinkle... Besides using it in my studio with a firewire drive, I'd want to be able to use it in the field, where I can't bring the CInema Display with me. In that case, I'm back to no firewire... but in those cases, I record a maximum of two channels at a time, and often it's strictly a live recording so it doesn't even have to playback any other audio tracks while recording, so the demands are relatively light. In that case, if it would not work to record to the boot drive, I could hookup a second SSD drive over USB (for either boot or data), if it would help.

 

One question about that last scenario is whether it even sees the internal SSD (or an external SSD on the USB bus) as being a legitimate Writeable volume for audio. If someone could even just confirm that much, that would go a long way here. Anyone?

[ITGITC]

The cpu is an i5 (mobile version). It should keep up.

 

4GB RAM is enough for ProTools, right?

 

I think I remember that a 3rd party is manufacturing a conversion box for Thunderbold to Firewire. I'll have to go back to Anandtech.com and search.

 

Edit: Here ya go... Thunderbolt to Firewire adapter:

 

Tom

 

KLONK

[burningbusch]

You're probably best off posting at the DUC to see if someone is using your configuration. Avid is the only company that fully tests and certifies specific software/computer/interfaces. But just because something isn't certified, doesn't meant it won't work. I use an unsupported setup with my HD rig and it works fine.

 

Busch.

[AnotherScott]

Thanks. Yeah, that adapter has been promised forever, but AFAIK is still vaporware. I like my Cinema Display, but honestly, it's biggest value to me may be as a ridiculously expensive Thunderbolt-to-Firewire adapter. ;-)

 

The CPU and RAM is definitely fast enough... I've run Pro Tools on less capable systems. The two big issues with Pro Tools are...

 

1. Disk Speed. Officially, it wants data on a dedicated (not boot) drive that is, at a minimum, 7200 RPM and not USB. But they do not address SSD, and whether that may be fast enough even over USB, or if not, if it's fast enough as an internal notebook drive if booting from an external USB drive. (Standard notebook internal hard drives are not fast enough to do that.)

 

2. Qualifying as an "Audio Volume." This is tricky. On the surface, any drive that is formatted (on a Mac) as "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" should work... but sometimes there seems to be more to this, and an attempt to write to a volume provokes an error about it not being a valid audio volume, and the Workspace screen only lets you use it as a transfer volume, not a write volume. There are a couple of things that can cause it, permissions, etc. But this is part of my question as well. Does it definitely see an internal Air SSD, an external USB SSD, and a firewire drive attached through the thunderbolt connection to the Cinema Display as valid audio-write volumes? If it doesn't, that's the end of the road right there. If it does, they will at least function, and then it will take a little more analysis to determine how well. But if anyone here can confirm that they at least do function, I'd be half way there.

 

 

 

 

[AnotherScott]

You're probably best off posting at the DUC to see if someone is using your configuration.

Thanks, yeah, I guess I'll post there too. In my (admittedly small) experience there, though, it seems second only to rolandclan in being a place full of questions that never get answered.

 

I'd love to move off Pro Tools completely... I never liked the program, and you can see how helpful I find their support. I just hate to lose access to my old stuff, and there doesn't seem to be any truly painless way to convert to, say, Logic. (Or am I mistaken there?)

[KenElevenShadows]

From the sound of it, you'd also have a far better chance of successfully running PT 10 on an underpowered system due to its new disk caching, which it introduced with this, than on earlier systems, largely minimizing the requirement for disk speed.