Parlez-vous Paris?

[RaGe]

The EMU Paris was used to record Marcus Miller's last CD. I also read a very positive review of the new Paris system in this month's Recording Mag. Any happy user here? I am still undecided wether going Radar, Paris or Nuendo ... the latest being often criticized for it's audio engine.

Speak up! ;-)

[fantasticsound]

I have a buddy who is a proud owner of a Paris system, here in Nashville.

 

He assists the engineer who records Alan Jackson, among others, so he has plenty of experience around the business and the PT mentality. He could have bought Pro Tools, pretty cheap too since he financed his gear with an employee discount at Mars Music here.

 

He insists the Paris is far superior, and I put the question to him about persuading clients to use Paris. His response? He's glad several good recordings, that have become hit records, were recently recorded on Paris. Finally getting the respect through sales.

 

If I can get a hold of him, I'll see if he'll post or email you.

 

------------------

Neil

 

Reality: A few moments of lucidity surrounded by insanity.

[Sergievsky]

I'd like to hear more from Paris users here also. ANYTHING they can say about the system is welcome...things like how many tracks and effects from the basic system, quality of the eq, using it for post, integration with Digital Performer or other sequencers, quicktime video stuff, etc. Thanks in advance.

[Anderton]

I used PARIS on my last acoustic project, where I produced a harpsichord/classical guitar duet. Its hallmark is a very smooth, very life-like sound quality that lacks the "brittleness" people sometimes associate with digital.

 

Track count with a single card is 16. Each has four stages of parametric EQ and there are a fixed amount of effects resources that you can divvy up among different channels, mono or stereo, etc. All the DSP is hardware-based so it doesn't skimp on CPU cycles. The EQ is first-class, and the effects are as convincing as, well, Ensoniq's better effects (as used in their effects boxes and synths before they were bought by E-mu).

 

As to the Pro Tools comparison, there are a few things to keep in mind. First, PARIS is much less expensive even though it is also a hardware-based system. Second, Pro Tools has become a de facto hard disk recording standard. If you need to do file exchanges with lots of different studios, Pro Tools will make it easier. For example, I recorded the acoustic project in Minneapolis. There was not a PARIS to be found. I could have rented a studio with Pro Tools but it would have been overkill. So one of the musicians found a studio with a great mic collection, and we recorded direct to ADAT. Upon getting home, I flew all the ADAT tracks into PARIS, which took it from there. Compared to just taking a CD-R with a Pro Tools session, that's a bit more complex. But it worked just fine.

 

IMHO PARIS is a very underrated system because it has been in the shadow of PT, and because Ensoniq wasn't able to promote it well before they crashed. E-mu lost valuable time having to re-design some of the chips for better manufacturability. But the system is back, and the word is getting out that it rocks.

[Sergievsky]

Craig, have you used the new ver. 3.0 yet? I've read you can now use the cpu along with the card, which means you can have much more than 16 tracks without getting another dsp card, along with VST effects. Also it now has omf file transfer capability, which I guess all means they addressed a lot of shortcomings. I remember them having a special where you can just get the dsp card and a simple audio interface, so you can get into Paris cheaply...I wonder if you still can.

 

Waiting around for these VST, (in my case MAS) , DSP cards to come around and deliver is grating on me a bit. As well as the not so great initial responses with the Powercore. Anyway, thanks Craig, and keep 'em comments coming.

 

 

Raul

[humannoyed]

We use Paris in a new studio where I'm working. It is my first daw experience so I can't compare it to another. I do think it sounds great though, and after using non-destructive editing, I can never go back to tape. One of the hippest features is the punch-in options. You of course can set an automated punch and let Paris do it for you. Bad take? press the undo button. Good take but bad punch point? No problem-just drag the previously recorded track forward in time over the newly punched track to a space where nothing is chopped!(good reason to punch in a few beats or bars before the actual mistake). I love that feature! Paris is very solid too. Almost never crashes but we get some streaming errors. I think that is a problem of needing fine tune the computer's settings though. I just got some info from the Tascam site to try for this problem.

My gripe with Paris is it is audio only. I am a midi literate pianist/keyboardist, and for my personal setup I want integrated digital audio and midi. I want one program that does both equally well. Therefore I'm considering Motu's Digital Performer with their hardware. Are you Motu users happy with both parts (midi and audio) of DP?

Raul or anybody, does DP have the punch point "fine tuning" described above?

Hum

[Sergievsky]

Originally posted by humannoyed:

Are you Motu users happy with both parts (midi and audio) of DP?

Raul or anybody, does DP have the punch point "fine tuning" described above?

Hum

 

Yes to both, and quite a bit more. My gripe is not a gripe. I need a mixer. I have one, but not a professional one, just something that can tie me over until I either get a decent digital mixer with mature software, or some kind of dsp card or daw that can serve as a mixer.

 

Simply put, I need the bread and butter...great eq and comp! My computer just doesn't have the horsepower, and i doubt upgrading to dual cpu would be barely enough. The cards are coming out, but so far I'm not bowled over. I'm holding out as long as I can, but don't know for how much longer.

 

I also need the midi and audio to work seamlessly together, because many times the time constraints is unbelievable, to the point I don't have time to "lay in" the midi tracks as audio, mixing it as I'm arranging it. I'm not sure if Paris is quick enough to let me do that, route the synths into it virtually and out with hardly any latency, with eq/effects thrown in to boot...Craig, anyone?

 

DP3 looks awfully awesome, but without the quad cpus there ain't going to be enough juice to go around, especially when I'm scoring to a quicktime video on the same computer. Protools? We'll see, but really, I'd rather not.

 

Raul

[Guest]

Ya Raul !

You are right on ! I've just upgraded to dual 500 Mhz processors and even with multi-processing enabled, the second processor doesn't do much at all. The dual processors allow me to do more but I was hoping for more power.

And, mixing with a mouse is just slllllloooooooooowwwwww ! and not nearly as real time/performance as on a console. The ability to reach and tweek, making a series of quick adjustments and re-adjusments during a mix is FAST and EASY on a console allowing you to do way more in a given time period. With a mouse, the need to scroll, change pages, scroll again, open up a plug-in, scroll, go back to this or that page, scroll, 'command' this, 'command' that.....anyone tired yet. If I had it to do over again, I'd get a real console and use the computer for nothin' but audio in, audio out & MIDI

[Anderton]

Of course, one of the big PARIS features is the controller. If you get facile with it, you'll hardly ever need to use the mouse.

 

I have not used 3.0 yet, my Mac isn't really macho enough...I need a new desktop machine!! I prefer using PARIS on the Mac, nothing technical, just uses my personal resources better.

[In Christ]

I have not been around alot, I have only heard Cubase, Cakewalk and Alesis ADAT. All using very good converters, one in fact using a high priced model. All left me disappointed and wondering if it is really possible to get a silky sonic palette on a computer. Then I recieved my Paris Pro 3.0. I could do nothing but grin for two days staight. Every person who heard a playback of this system would just sit and listen with there mouths hanging open. This reaction was exaggerated from those who understood that the recording they were hearing came from the same PA they wanted to burn. Lets just say a live mix from a Mackie analog 8 bus using 58's and a few pawn shop specials, monitored through HR824's never sounded so good. And no one beleived that it was COMPLETLY RAW, not even reverb. I've only had it for a week so I can't tell you much more. Other than that we tracked 6, one and a half hour or more sessions with the 16 "hardware" tracks, without a hicup. I am pleased and am more than willing to put up with any workaround problems I might come accross to get the sonic beauty we already so easily attained. I nearly tear-up when I think of what I can do with an Avalon and a U87.

In-Christ,

Jamey

P.S. Craig is right on about the interface and effects, very user friendly, yet powerful.

[humannoyed]

"I need a mixer. I have one, but not a professional one, just something that can tie me over until I either get a decent digital mixer with mature software, or some kind of dsp card or daw that can serve as a mixer."

 

With Motu already making some hip hardware like the 2408 etc. It would seem the next logical step would be to make the hippest control surface around. Something that would perfectly integrate with Digital Performer. Would they not sell a ton of these? And while they are at it, why not just go ahead and put killer effects on a pci card to go with it.

[Sergievsky]

Many people have been asking motu for such a control surface, so who knows. Universal Audio has their own dsp card coming which should boost many native apps like DP, out in Sept I think, but with TC's Powercore not quite living up to the "with no additional load on your cpu" slogan I'm just a wee bit more suspicious now.

 

As far as I know the control surface that comes with the Pro package of Paris is not motorized, n'est ce pas? I thought 3.0 is suppose to include 3rd party control surface compatibility.

 

?

 

Raul

[dterrykeyofd.net]

Originally posted by Sergievsky:

As far as I know the control surface that comes with the Pro package of Paris is not motorized, n'est ce pas? I thought 3.0 is suppose to include 3rd party control surface compatibility.

 

Correct, Paris Pro's mixer is not motorized. 3rd party control surface support was mentioned for 3.0, but I haven't heard anything about it yet. 3.0 is very nice if you haven't upgraded yet, or if you are considering Paris. Graphic EQs, track grouping (including EQ, Pan, Faders, Auxes), drag and drop channel strips/Auxes/EQs/etc for quick copying of channel settings, basic MIDI support (really just for recording basic midi data - no great editing here yet - wouldn't replace Logic for me anyway); wave editor, rendering of tracks with/without native plugins as a complete track, or in selections (VERY useful for rendering autotuned tracks, phrases, words or syllables, while leaving the native plugin power for other tasks); also OMF support for transfers to/from PT, etc. There is more, but these are the highlights for me.

 

The bottom line, as Craig and others have said, is the sound - over many other DAWs. The 24-bit analog I/O's sound excellent, and the mixing engine is very smooth - lots of high end sheen and low warmth and better detail, imaging and depth. Other features such as near zero tracking/monitoring latency (i.e. same as a hardware mixer), EDS effects (great compressor and EQ, delays, chorus; decent, useful reverbs when tweaked), non-destructive editing, and the control surface etc. are big plusses over host based systems.

 

As far as effects - VST and DX are the native options. I've run 16 Ren Comps and 16 Ren EQ4s on my Mac G4 450, and can usually run 7 autotunes with a handful of Ren Comps, etc. PC/Athlon 1Ghz+ users can run much more than that. (hey Apple - where's my quad 1G G4?). I use a mix of EDS and VST effects, along with outboard reverbs, and often run over 32 tracks. Paris can run over 80 tracks from an ATA/66 drive with ease (90-110?). Quicktime support is coming in another 3.x version sometime this summer I would guess, but don't know for sure - watch Emu's site for actual release dates/features, etc. I currently have Logic (PC) locked to Paris (Mac) via MTC and it works very very well. Logic supports my midi and video needs, and Paris the audio/mixing.

 

Paris - c'est le bruit.

 

Regards,

Dedric

Producer-Composer-Digital audio consultant

Emu VAR

[Odo-Riffus]

I use Paris also. A project I produced and engineered a year ago was recently mastered by Bob Katz here in Orlando Fl and he thought Paris sounded great. In fact he made several posts on the mastering egineers site referencing my, as he called it "home grown project". I am a very small home studio so as you might imagine it really made my day. The efects are usefull, the EQ's are great, the summing bus is the best in the business.

 

 

Odo-Riffus

Productions

[Sergievsky]

So are you Paris people missing having a motorized control surface or does the Ensoniq fader suffice?

[Odo-Riffus]

Personally I miss mortorized faders. I hate nulling the faders on the C16. Some of the Paris heavy hitters dont really mind. But it makes me crazy. Despite that Paris is still my top choice for an audio DAW.

 

 

Odo-Riffus

Productions