Home studio succeeds with Small Tree’s shared-storage technology
Feb 8, 2009 12:00 PM
The main amp rack at the Ice Arena in Goyang City, Korea.
Audio engineer Ryan Toensing of Sounds Good Audio Service in Minneapolis, a ProTools LE user, has reported that he has found a solution to the challenge of providing full performance to his customers while keeping infrastructure costs under control. Frustrated by his drive’s inability to provide adequate performance, Toensing recently installed Small Tree’s GraniteSTOR abcSAN in his studio.
Using Pro Tools 7.4 LE, Toensing was trying to achieve comparable results to working off Pro Tools HD, which can be cost-prohibitive for a smaller studio. “Computers are so powerful and fast, but traditionally, the drives are lacking,” Toensing said. “Small Tree’s abcSAN allows the computer to achieve optimal performance and eliminates time wasted waiting for the bottleneck to clear.”
“Productivity for a one-man shop like mine is critical to completing projects and keeping revenue streams coming in,” Toensing said. “Additionally, I have to be mindful of costs associated with running my studio. Rather than spending $15,000 for Pro Tools HD, I’m achieving great performance and substantial savings by using abcSAN in conjunction with Pro Tools LE.”
After installing GraniteSTOR abcSAN, Toensing made an unexpected and welcome discovery while working on his latest project, an independent CD for Six Shot Love. Prior to installation, whenever he would open a plug-in while editing, Toensing would experience a pause and a pop. Now, with abcSAN, the pause and pop are gone. In addition, with Digidesign’s recent introduction of Pro Tools 8 LE, the four-drive abcSAN will allow him to run 120 tracks off his MacBook Pro.
An iSCSI-based shared-storage solution designed specifically for audio engineers, Small Tree’s abcSAN offers exceptional value. Providing robust (greater than 600MB/s) performance over Ethernet networks while offering optimal cost-efficiency, abcSAN is a full-featured solution with an intuitive GUI and single-pane class management for users who wish to manage RAID sets, volumes, targets and shares from one screen. Deployable as either a NAS or a SAN, abcSAN is available in a four- or 16-drive (1TB) configuration.
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