Does that mean the new PT9 has ASIO but no ADM? That would sound like fully intentional then...

I just had a look at the Saffire RTAS panel, but what I see so far is more like confusing advertisement. They put the settings dialog inside PT (so what) and blend the hardware inputs with the DAW outputs - the same you do with TotalMix right now.

It does not say that you can disable the constant input monitoring of PT9 with it. I think we will have to wait for more feedback if this is possible at all, or only with specific (Avid) hardware.

A 'hack' would mean they provide a feature that is usually not available. That is exactly what I doubt. And yes, ADM would be Windows only. We'll see...

I've been aware of this issue (no input monitoring "off") since getting M-Powered earlier this year, though I still upgraded to PT9.  I've heard of intesting workarounds (like auxes that go to nowhere, making a 2nd duplicate track just for monitoring...) but nothing that hit me as a good way around the issue. Today I came up with a workaround to use PT9 with my FF800 AND Totalmix.  Yep the issue is PT9's lack of an option to turn off live monitoring. To me having to mute the track when you record is OK for initial tracking but once you get to "punch in" or "overdub" stage hitting mutes all the time seems totally a pain.  On the idea of skipping Totalmix and monitoring through PT9, PT9 currently supports 32, 64, 128, 256, etc buffer sizes. The FF800 supports down to 48, but you can't use that since it's an in between setting so you can run 64 at the lowest. At that point some might be able to give up on Totalmix and live with the latency of monitoring through PT which will probably be around 5-6ms, but singers and other folks used to hearing themselves quicker than that naturally will probably feel the difference.  I sure do even playing guitar and for sure singing, and much prefer the quickness of Totalmix which on my system measures out to about 1.6ms of latency round trip,  about 1/3 that of going through the DAW monitoring on my system. It's a shame you can't use the 48 buffer size. One thing that RME might be able to pull of for the FF800 would be a 32 sample buffer.  At that point you could probably live with the latency monitoring directly in PT.  Still it's a shame to give up on Totalmix.  Another thing I noticed (sadly) about PT9 is it does not support their so called "Low Latency Monitoring" specifically for 3rd party devices, such as the FF800.  Yes PT9 does support 3rd party devices now for the most part, but for the LLM to apply you have to have an M-box, 003, etc...or PT HD.

SO....

Ok, that all said my workaround was a hardware mod to my Tranzport wireless DAW controller.  I put a small 9 pin d-sub jack on the back side and wired up 4 contacts to the jack off the internal mute and record buttons.  Then I wired that too a footpedal I had that was already setup with two separate switches ganged up on ONE button.  It's one of those old stye cast iron foot buttons like you used to see at the grocery store to kick in the conveyors, which has two DPST switches ganged up side by side on the one button. Anyway, with one push of the footpedal connected to the Tranzport I can effectively hit "mute" and "record" at the same time in PT9. I could actually do this with two fingers on the remote, but the buttons are small and easy to miss and the footcontroller is much more solid and definate plus cool controlled by the foot anyway. Works great, and once PT9 is in "quick punch" mode (right click the record button) I can punch in and out seamlessly and use Totalmix for monitoring and hear no phase or echoes.  The only time any phase or echos occur (due to still hearing live feed through in PT) is when you first enable a track for record.  Once you actually hit play AND/OR record things work perfectly.  So, the only slighty oddity is when the track is enable for record but just sitting there. Once you "roll tape" monitoring is cool, and with the "mute" and "record" hit at the same time via the modded Tranzport is workable.  For multiple tracks I figured out how to "group" the mutes SO I can also deal with punching in on say a full drum set session or other multi channel deal. I guess there might be other ways to deal with this, but the mod to the Tranzport deals with the issue and gives me the benefit of hand free punching which is cool when working on tracks without an assistant.

Perhaps other controllers can be setup to do multiple key stokes or similar to do the same thing.  If anyone has any other workarounds (software or hardware) to integrate DSP monitoring with PT9 I'd love to hear it!

GK

Yep, getting my buffers and bits mixed up.  To clarify>

Definately no 32 buffer sample setting here for the RME FF800 in Windows 7.  Lowest shown on the RME panel is 48, but PT9 doesn't do 48 it's either 32 or muliples of that.

I'm running Windows 7 64 bit with three different DAWs. Started out with 64 bit DAWs, but because my plugins wouldn't work @ 64 I had to install 32 bit DAWs being Reaper, Sonar, PT.

Oooops, yes I meant "Buffer size samples"!  My FF800 in windows goes down to 48 samples @ 44.1, but PT9 doesn't have 48 so you have to go with 64, or 32 if you have it but apparently not in windows yet at least.

I have a quick question about this. Hopefully it's quick anyway. This question is for MC or any of the other RME staff. Is there a technical limitation that impedes the RME Fireface 800/UFX from being ran at a 32 samples buffer within Pro Tools 9? I asked because I initially assumed that this was a limitation imposed by Avid on all third-party interfaces but this seems to not be the case as many people have reported various non-Avid interfaces running at this low a buffer setting. I can also use a 32 samples buffer setting in Logic Pro 9 and around the same with Ableton Live 8.2, on the same system. Being that this doesn't seem to be a limitation of the Fireface nor it's drivers, is there a definitive answer as to why these RME devices can go this low with other DAWs but not Pro Tools 9 -- Or even moreso why some other interfaces can go this low, even with Pro Tools. The Fireface series seems more than capable. Or is it that only internal or USB interfaces can go this low and the issue is with firewire?

Please do not read this wrongly. I'm seeking the knowledge of the RME staff here not belittling my own choice of interface and brand. It seems that it was Avid who dropped the ball on this one since the ideal solution would be the one mentioned above, where the user could use Total Mix and disable Pro Tool's input monitoring completely. However, I still seek to further understand the situation more.

I think so too, actually. This is why I'm trying to get an answer direct from a reputable source (meaning the developers/manufacturers) instead of the claims on other forums of other interfaces working at these settings. Avid, as usual, will likely not even respond to such questions. I'm just confused by the reports and claims, and think RME could/will put such claims of some of their gear working at those settings to bed. The gear can easily run at those settings too, since our gear works fine at those settings with other DAW.

Metric Halo seems to have joined in with the Focusrite typed thing. It still seems like jumping through hoops and way too much work though.

Well, technically neither "trick" solves the problem, as MC pointed out...even the Focusrite one. One is a bit convoluted and the other more so. The ideal solution will have to be Avid allowing users to turn off direct monitoring. Now, I'm more interested in if it surely is Avid clamping a limit on third-party interfaces, which is seemingly the case. I agree that the Metric Halo thing could be useful in another context, but here I was just pointing it out for the sake of the topic. You're right though, it's nothing new really. We all still need a more elegant solution, in the end.

As a side note, I never knew that this MH plug-in existed until now. So, thanks for clarifying.

I would be very happy if we can get some official answer about this topic.

Ufx is more than good, really would like to know this.

Any update on this????

For those who don't already know, Salvator from the AAF/DUC forums and Tritone Digital have come up with an elegant solution to the needed software that I was eluding to in my first post. It's way more seamless and ideal than I'd have imagined. I was able to beta test this software for various months and it's worked fine. It's now officially available. Though it doesn't allow us to use a smaller buffer size, it essentially negates the need by allowing us to monitor directly through the input of the channel or rather in this case, via Total Mix's near zero latency monitoring. It even works for punching in and out.  Basically it does some fancy toggling. Try it out! I hope this helps my fellow Pro Tools and Fireface users.

It's also free, by the way | Here. I never went through the checkout process but you can read more about it over at the DUC (if needed), just search for ttdsalvator's posts.

It works a treat and setup is fairly simple. Cheers!

This is really great for Apple users, but there still is no easy solution for Windows users.  rant

Here is a link to the whole discussion on the DUC if you are interested:

Mute On/Off DUC Discussion

And here is the link to the software:

MuteTone for Mac