| Paris main competitor for Pro Tools HD, original Paris prices [message #103637] |
Sun, 28 June 2009 03:05  |
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Was ensoniq paris the main competitor for pro tools HD in the 90s
what was the price of ensoniq paris components when they where new in the 90s? MEC, EDS, 8 in/out, Adat etc
Was it basically pro tools HD and Paris in terms of hi end digital recording during that time?
I'm guessing Paris was a top of the line digital system at the time it was released?
E-mu Emulator User Forum
www.eiiiforum.com
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| Re: Paris main competitor for Pro Tools HD, original Paris prices [message #103640 is a reply to message #103637] |
Sun, 28 June 2009 10:29  |
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Yeah, PARIS was intended to go head-to-head with the more expensive ProTools at the time. There was no ProTools HD at that time, and wouldn't be for years to come - I think we'd just got to ProTools Mix when the PARIS project folded.
PARIS was spoken of as a "ProTools Killer". It may not have hit that ambitious target from the POV of business, but it might have been fairly accurate from a sonic perspective. In those days PT was an utter disgrace in comparison (I was using both simultaneously for a while). PT's come a long way since then, and HD is vastly improved over the crap Digi was shovelling back then. But even with the improvements of HD, the sonic character and handling characteristics of PARIS, while a matter of taste, still fit my own musical tastes much better.
As far as prices - Canadian dollars have fluctuated between par and 2/3 of a USD in the intervening years. But if I recall accurately, when I helped a friend buy a PARIS rig during its production years, after taxes a Bundle III with a MEC card or two cost over $8000 CAD. Say five or six grand US. And even at that price it was a bargain compared to buying a similarly configured PT rig.
"... being bitter is like swallowing poison and waiting for the other guy to die..." - anon
[Updated on: Sun, 28 June 2009 10:32] Report message to a moderator |
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| Re: Paris main competitor for Pro Tools HD, original Paris prices [message #103642 is a reply to message #103640] |
Mon, 29 June 2009 09:25 |
Wayne
Messages: 206
Registered: July 2008
Location: Las Vegas
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Senior Member |
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Hey gang,
I purchased the Paris Bundle 2 (442) and version 1.12 (I think) in '97 because the MEC wasn't even available yet. Six months later I did the Ensoniq upgrade deal, which was to return the 442 for the MEC and add something like $500 with one 8-in card. I then had a minimal bundle 3 system. It had one MEC and one 8-in card, one EDS, one C16 and the software on floppy discs. I believe it total'd out at $4,060.00. I used this config thru 2004.
Since 2004, I've added 3 more EDS, another MEC, another C16 and two more 8-in's and two IF-2's totaling out at about $1,300.00 more.
I'm all smiles 
wayne
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| Re: Paris main competitor for Pro Tools HD, original Paris prices [message #103643 is a reply to message #103642] |
Mon, 29 June 2009 09:44 |
Wayne
Messages: 206
Registered: July 2008
Location: Las Vegas
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Senior Member |
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Oh I forgot to mention . . . my other options were a stand alone hard disc recorders with something like 640 meg capacity or an ADAT. I forget the pricing on those. PT was out of my price range so not an option. I don't even remember considering it and I don't remember what the price was.
But I remember thinking that I'd couldn't keep too many songs on the stand alone hard disc recorder and I was trying to get away from tape. I had gone from 4 track to 8 track "cassette" systems.
The music store rep asked me to wait one month (approx late summer '97 when I was in the market for a new recording system) for this "new" Ensoniq computer based system, I waited. I already owned the MR-76 and thought that it was one of the best sounding keyboards of it's time for organ, strings, drum kits, electric and acoustic pianos.
I had a hope that the PARIS system would be of the same caliber and quality. I didn't even consider the sonic quality. Yeah, that's right. I didn't even know it was an issue. I just assumed all ADC's did what they needed to do and once digitized that was it. I was naive to digital sonic differences. So, when I saw the in store demo shortly there after, I knew it was right for me, because I could edit so easily and it had a 4 band parametric and built in efx's, so I initially sunk in the approx $3,459.00 for the bundle 2. I was in heaven.
Many years later and thanks to this newsgroup, I have become much more sonically literate. Still smiling.
wayne
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 Re: Paris main competitor for Pro Tools HD, original Paris prices [message #103779 is a reply to message #103637] |
Tue, 14 July 2009 18:36 |
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I got a call from my local GC rep just after my honeymoon.. I had been using the VS800(s).. Man, One listen to that demo...I knew and stated "This is something different..Warm, fuzzy, wide...Bottom end..MAN!!!
I ordered 2 months later in 1998.. Still my go to DAW when my butt is on the line..And, i still get ask to do mixes even when the project is on PT HD...
I love Paris. Always will..
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