# TC Electronics Powercore - still worth it and does it work on Windows 10?



## muk

Hi everyone,

could use some help in deciding whether I should bid on a TC Electronics Powercore unit that is on sale here locally. There is a Firewire 19'' for 100 bucks, or a Powercore X8 for 250 quid. I assume the X8 has more DSP power, hence the higher price? I have a few questions I'd like to clear before deciding if I want to bid:

Do these units run reliable under Windows 10 64bit? Is it a hassle to set up or is it quite straightforward? I do already have jbridge and run several 32bit plugins with it without issue.

My mainboard does not have any firewire ports. Can I use a firewire to usb cable or wouldn't that work with a Powercore?

Can Powercore plugins still be bought or would I be stuck with the plugins that come with the unit I buy?

I've read good things about the Powercore plugins, so I might give it a try at this price if the unit will work under above conditions.


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## gsilbers

muk said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> could use some help in deciding whether I should bid on a TC Electronics Powercore unit that is on sale here locally. There is a Firewire 19'' for 100 bucks, or a Powercore X8 for 250 quid. I assume the X8 has more DSP power, hence the higher price? I have a few questions I'd like to clear before deciding if I want to bid:
> 
> Do these units run reliable under Windows 10 64bit? Is it a hassle to set up or is it quite straightforward? I do already have jbridge and run several 32bit plugins with it without issue.
> 
> My mainboard does not have any firewire ports. Can I use a firewire to usb cable or wouldn't that work with a Powercore?
> 
> Can Powercore plugins still be bought or would I be stuck with the plugins that come with the unit I buy?
> 
> I've read good things about the Powercore plugins, so I might give it a try at this price if the unit will work under above conditions.



i tried it and really didnt see anything worth keeping. now tc is making the same plugins in native version.

since there is no more suport its def a dying breed so you could get stuck not being able to upgrade your pc or have issues.

There are sooo many good plugins now out there that i dont see any benefit on getting the powercore. uad, plugin alliance, waves and even avenger synth can easily replace those TC plugins. i mean, those power core plugins do have some merit and have specific stuff that some poeple like but many have had to jump ship and find other solutions. plus the whole point of powercore was to save cpu power from the computer (and copyprotect plugins) so now that pcs are powerfull...


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## muk

Thanks @gsilbers. I think the plugins are good. The dynamic eq, MasterX5, and the reverbs for example. VSS3 native costs 199$. I could get it for 100$ here, plus the bundled plugins, and running on dsp. But yeah, native plugins are easier to use and more futuer proof for sure.


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## gsilbers

muk said:


> Thanks @gsilbers. I think the plugins are good. The dynamic eq, MasterX5, and the reverbs for example. VSS3 native costs 199$. I could get it for 100$ here, plus the bundled plugins, and running on dsp. But yeah, native plugins are easier to use and more futuer proof for sure.



i did have fun and used them when i had it. i bought a hardware unit that had a lot of them. i mainly wanted the virus , reverb and mx5 but liked the mono synth (sh101) and was surprised how good it sounded. 
since then i sold it and got a bunch of other reverbs, a virus ti and waves ll316. 

from what i can remember there was a latency issues. which i believe its the same with uad. its cool when its mixing time but not when producing or tracking. i forgot. plus the 32 bit issue which used to be a bigger deal in macs back in the day. 

i just saw in eBay and its kinda crazy how expensive those x8 are, when considering no support.


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## charlieclouser

Warning for any prospective purchasers of PowerCore hardware - the plugins are NO LONGER available for purchase or download, as of December 31, 2017. That's a wrap, folks. 

That said, existing PowerCore systems and plugins will continue to work, but they are *32-bit only*, and support for the hardware under MacOS versions beyond Snow Leopard is.... tricky.... and hits a brick wall at Sierra or El Cap or somewhere around there. Somewhere on the web is a file that details how to get the PCIe cards to wake up under Yosemite, and I have that file somewhere, but I never updated the machines they were in beyond Snow Leopard / Logic v9. MasterX5 does work with 32-Lives when Logic v9 is in 64-bit mode, but I never tried to get it working beyond Snow Leopard / Logic v9. Those machines are frozen in time right now for me.

Another thing to consider is that, at one point, the plugins were copy-protected by being tied to a specific serial numbered PowerCore hardware piece - so if you wind up with a functional card or box, but don't get the exact and actual plugin files that were keyed to that hardware, but you then find a way to download the plugins - they may not work at all, even if that hardware is "authorized" to run that plugin. I had some puzzling issues like this back in the day. 

I own a bunch of PowerCore PCIe cards that I got just to use the MasterX5 plugin, and I had situations where each card had to be separately authorized to run the MasterX5 plugin, but when moving cards around between multiple computers, the plugins that were installed and ran fine in computer A with card A installed would no longer work in computer A with card B installed - and I had to find the plugin from computer B where card B formerly lived. This was super-weird, and for all I know that issue went away in later versions of the software.... but for one confusing weekend back in 2005 or so I was moving cards around and searching old boot drive backups like crazy. I wound up having folders on every boot drive that contained the plugin builds for each card's serial number just in case. 

MasterX5 was (and still is) my absolute favorite "mastering" plugin of all time. It makes everything LOUD and clearly audible, effortlessly "floating up" the quiet stuff while clamping down on the loud stuff in an inaudible manner, but it doesn't have that "sausage fattener" effect where the waveform looks all shaved-off and square. I've replaced it with Waves L3-LL Multimaximizer, and in some cases Ozone's Maximizer module, and both of these sound quite good but the resulting waveform is distinctly different from what MasterX5 puts out. MasterX5 is like a five-band version of TC's Finalizer hardware, and it just sounds great (to me). It made all of my mixes sound "tele-vicious" for a decade. On over 8,000 cues I never used volume automation or any other master buss processing - just slam into MasterX5 and let 'em rip. I still miss it dearly.

So I don't know what the final outcome of all the end-of-life PowerCore plugin chaos was, as I removed them from active duty about four years ago. They still work in the 12-core silver Mac Pro towers that they sit in to this day, under Snow Leopard / Logic v9 / 32-Lives - but those machines are just gathering dust at this point. That said, I did panic-buy more cards when the end-of-life was announced, so if anyone needs a pallet of PowerCore mk2 PCIe cards, let me know.

I think I have six. (ugh).


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## muk

Thank you both for the valuable infos. I'm on Windows 10, and it looks like Powercore units should work more or less reliably with it. Bummer that you can't buy the plugins anymore though. There seems to be a secondhand market, but I have to check first if TC Electronic still facilitates license transfers.
@charlieclouser well I don't need a pallet of PowerCore cards, but I might be interested in one. I'll send you a pm.


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## Henryo

charlieclouser said:


> Warning for any prospective purchasers of PowerCore hardware - the plugins are NO LONGER available for purchase or download, as of December 31, 2017. That's a wrap, folks.
> 
> That said, existing PowerCore systems and plugins will continue to work, but they are *32-bit only*, and support for the hardware under MacOS versions beyond Snow Leopard is.... tricky.... and hits a brick wall at Sierra or El Cap or somewhere around there. Somewhere on the web is a file that details how to get the PCIe cards to wake up under Yosemite, and I have that file somewhere, but I never updated the machines they were in beyond Snow Leopard / Logic v9. MasterX5 does work with 32-Lives when Logic v9 is in 64-bit mode, but I never tried to get it working beyond Snow Leopard / Logic v9. Those machines are frozen in time right now for me.
> 
> Another thing to consider is that, at one point, the plugins were copy-protected by being tied to a specific serial numbered PowerCore hardware piece - so if you wind up with a functional card or box, but don't get the exact and actual plugin files that were keyed to that hardware, but you then find a way to download the plugins - they may not work at all, even if that hardware is "authorized" to run that plugin. I had some puzzling issues like this back in the day.
> 
> I own a bunch of PowerCore PCIe cards that I got just to use the MasterX5 plugin, and I had situations where each card had to be separately authorized to run the MasterX5 plugin, but when moving cards around between multiple computers, the plugins that were installed and ran fine in computer A with card A installed would no longer work in computer A with card B installed - and I had to find the plugin from computer B where card B formerly lived. This was super-weird, and for all I know that issue went away in later versions of the software.... but for one confusing weekend back in 2005 or so I was moving cards around and searching old boot drive backups like crazy. I wound up having folders on every boot drive that contained the plugin builds for each card's serial number just in case.
> 
> MasterX5 was (and still is) my absolute favorite "mastering" plugin of all time. It makes everything LOUD and clearly audible, effortlessly "floating up" the quiet stuff while clamping down on the loud stuff in an inaudible manner, but it doesn't have that "sausage fattener" effect where the waveform looks all shaved-off and square. I've replaced it with Waves L3-LL Multimaximizer, and in some cases Ozone's Maximizer module, and both of these sound quite good but the resulting waveform is distinctly different from what MasterX5 puts out. MasterX5 is like a five-band version of TC's Finalizer hardware, and it just sounds great (to me). It made all of my mixes sound "tele-vicious" for a decade. On over 8,000 cues I never used volume automation or any other master buss processing - just slam into MasterX5 and let 'em rip. I still miss it dearly.
> 
> So I don't know what the final outcome of all the end-of-life PowerCore plugin chaos was, as I removed them from active duty about four years ago. They still work in the 12-core silver Mac Pro towers that they sit in to this day, under Snow Leopard / Logic v9 / 32-Lives - but those machines are just gathering dust at this point. That said, I did panic-buy more cards when the end-of-life was announced, so if anyone needs a pallet of PowerCore mk2 PCIe cards, let me know.
> 
> I think I have six. (ugh).





Hi Charlie,
I signed up just so I could message you about your post on powercores.
I need more cards to add power to my system.I mix at 96 khz & my power disappears fast.I would add them to an external magma chassis/enclosure. These cards are hard to find all in one place and I would love them all.Please let me know via PM how much you would like for them including shipping to Adelaide, Australia.
Best wishes
Henry


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## jcrosby

Used Powercore for years. Sounds great but was a bug-ridden mess. And unless you plan on staying on a brick of a machine it's a backwards approach... If it's DSP you're after just go UAD. If it's Virus just go Virus.

Other than that there are a ton of native plugins that play in the same sandbox, many of which I feel are frankly better than Powercore. I know what Charlie means about MasterX 5, it had a somewhat unique aggressiveness for sure... But I've found with some tweaking I can get virtually the same sound with Ozone, Melda even DMG Limitless... But if I want to retain little details I do find I get much clearer results with Ozone/Melda/DMG/FF than I did with MasterX 5.

Anyway we all have our own aesthetic preferences and at the end of the day whatever sounds good is king... But definitely wouldn't recommend Powercore for practical reasons... Its shelf life is way past due...


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## Henryo

Greetings jcrosby and thanks for your experiences and concern. Just some background so we don't misinterpret each other...subjective opinions coming

I already have UAD, Native plugins galore - so no needs there. All the usual native suspects Sonnox, DMG, Slate, Voxengo, Soundtoys, Lexicon, Valhalla etc - in fact most of the big boys. 600 of them - too many LOL. But they leave me feeling a little flat -  and they hammer my CPU when mixing with huge piano libraries, VSL, LASS etc. I also have the excellent Nebula as well - from all developers. And I am one as well. In any case, I use DSP and Native - the more the merrier I say. Unless one has a really high end CPU any CPU can be maxxed out. For me it happens all too often and way too soon. Except when I use my powercore. Ironically powercore is more stable than it has ever been so the days of an unstable system are behind me now and many people attest to that fact.







Hagen, one of the original developers of the platform continued to unofficially tweak the drivers and now they are rock solid. Like - seriously solid. You do need the latest beta and for the firewire version, the legacy 1394 driver. Windows 10, 64 bit with jBridge is just fine and yes - sounds great as you say. And I am more than elated  when other people around this great world of ours do not see the value in them any more and are happy to rid themselves of the hassle of ownership while getting some of their investment back. It is an injustice for those amazing cards to be just gathering dust I say...

I have an i7 7700k and it doesn't take me long to smash it's ceiling with nebula and Seventh heaven. Had me thinking I need a new PC with faster CPU - then I considered this option. UAD is too expensive to build the kind of similar rig to a powercore one. So I am happy to relieve anyone who has one in an 'obsolete system'. I do prefer the cards though and not firewire.

As for native - even after all these years later to my ears, the punch is lacking, definition is different and I prefer the powercore version every time. I have just about every license so all I need is to grow my rig so that I can take on a mix of any size. But that is just me and I am happy to continue being impressed by the incredible programming by the guys from Denmark. I have Sonnox native and powercore and the TC is superior to these tired old ears. I know what each developer says - that they are the same or that the native is superior bla bla bla. The main benefit is the ability to offload strain on my pretty fast CPU and allow the CPU to just deal with Softsynths. I also have not found a Native replacement for MD3. I have the VSS3 in both powercore and Native and prefer the powercore. So again, I am more than happy to invest in this obsolete system if anyone has them lying around. Just PM me and I will happily part with my own hard earned money for them...

Again thanks for your insight and umm err Charlie, you there??????


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## artesonos

Hello. I use Powercore MKII. I purchased Cubase 10.5 on windows 10. Powercore doesn't work because the pulugins work in 32bit. I tried to install JBridges but I can't get them to work. Can you help me?


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## muk

artesonos said:


> Hello. I use Powercore MKII. I purchased Cubase 10.5 on windows 10. Powercore doesn't work because the pulugins work in 32bit. I tried to install JBridges but I can't get them to work. Can you help me?



Have you read those two pages?









How to use jBridge – a detailed walkthrough ( rev 1.0 )


( Note: Procedures 1 to 3 are may be needed if you’re using very old VST plugins, as of 2022, you can usually skip them. ) ( Note 2: Windows 11 users may need to do this too if the jBridger t…




jstuff.wordpress.com













jBridge – troubleshooting


( Some of the most common issues with jBridge and, when possible, the solution – Last updated: 28/01/2022 ) 1 – How do I use jBridge?” If you’re using SONAR 8.5.x or above: …




jstuff.wordpress.com





Maybe you can find the solution there. If not, I would contact Joao from jbridge. He is very friendly and helpful. He'll certainly help you out with getting jbridge to run properly.


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## Dietz

Henryo said:


> I also have not found a Native replacement for MD3.


This. :-/


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## artesonos

muk said:


> Have you read those two pages?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> How to use jBridge – a detailed walkthrough ( rev 1.0 )
> 
> 
> ( Note: Procedures 1 to 3 are may be needed if you’re using very old VST plugins, as of 2022, you can usually skip them. ) ( Note 2: Windows 11 users may need to do this too if the jBridger t…
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jstuff.wordpress.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jBridge – troubleshooting
> 
> 
> ( Some of the most common issues with jBridge and, when possible, the solution – Last updated: 28/01/2022 ) 1 – How do I use jBridge?” If you’re using SONAR 8.5.x or above: …
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jstuff.wordpress.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe you can find the solution there. If not, I would contact Joao from jbridge. He is very friendly and helpful. He'll certainly help you out with getting jbridge to run properly.



Perfect. It works. Thanks a lot, you saved my life


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## muk

artesonos said:


> Perfect. It works. Thanks a lot, you saved my life



Glad it worked. The Powercore is really quite a special unit.


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## artesonos

muk said:


> Glad it worked. The Powercore is really quite a special unit.



👏


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## Living Fossil

charlieclouser said:


> MasterX5 was (and still is) my absolute favorite "mastering" plugin of all time.



Charlie, have you tried (or do you maybe own) TC electronics Finalizer app?
(what keeps me away from that is the fact it's standalone only...)


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## charlieclouser

Living Fossil said:


> Charlie, have you tried (or do you maybe own) TC electronics Finalizer app?
> (what keeps me away from that is the fact it's standalone only...)



Yes, I did buy the Finalizer app when it was on sale for $99. The fact that it's a standalone app instead of a plugin is infuriating and makes it almost completely useless to me, but I bought it anyway on the off chance that it would give me back the sound I loved for so many years.

I haven't tried it yet in any meaningful way but I am about to try over the next couple of weeks to prepare the CD release of stereo mixes of my score for the latest SAW movie. In the process I'll also defrost my frozen-in-time 2010 cheese grater Mac Pro that still has PowerCore and MasterX5 on it, and once again do a comparison / shootout between MasterX5, Finalizer app, Ozone v5+v7+v9, and a bunch of other mastering plugins that I have on my new system.

I had started that mastering job, and was evaluating just the plugins on my main rig, and once again found Waves L3-LL Multimaximizer to be my favorite, even though it's a "peak shaving" brick wall limiter that basically makes waveforms look square, brutally cutting off peaks. Somehow it sounds the best to my ears, even though the waveform doesn't look the way I think it should. I think the reason I like its sound the best is because it's a five-band processor and not a three-band or single-band processor like so many others. But I haven't compared it to the new Finalizer app yet.

The quickest way I've found to compare between a bunch of plugins is not to stick them all on a single audio track and use the bypass buttons, but to put up a bunch of audio tracks with a different plugin on each, and drag the audio region from track to track while a section is looping. There is a slight delay between when you release the mouse button and hearing the audio change (related to Logic's Process Buffer size) but there is no gap or interval of completely-bypassed sound as you'd get when manually switching one plugin to bypassed and another to un-bypassed. This makes it easy to really zero in on the difference between various plugins - and of course this technique can't be used to compare the Finalizer app to the performance of various plugins. Arrrgghh.


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## Living Fossil

@charlieclouser : thanks a lot for your detailed insights!
I'm really hoping TC will maybe release a finalizer plugin one day...

For multiband limiting i'm using Newfangled's Elevate more and more lately.
I like e.g. the feature to limit the bass bands harder while at the same time enhancing the transients of the respective bands more. (Putting an instance of Equivocate with the same band arrangement before Elevate improves the flexibility even further)
I guess i would use Elevate even much more if it hadn't such an immense latency...


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## charlieclouser

Living Fossil said:


> @charlieclouser : thanks a lot for your detailed insights!
> I'm really hoping TC will maybe release a finalizer plugin one day...
> 
> For multiband limiting i'm using Newfangled's Elevate more and more lately.
> I like e.g. the feature to limit the bass bands harder while at the same time enhancing the transients of the respective bands more. (Putting an instance of Equivocate with the same band arrangement before Elevate improves the flexibility even further)
> I guess i would use Elevate even much more if it hadn't such an immense latency...



I would buy a Finalizer plugin at almost any price they cared to ask, if it really had that weird "floating make-up gain" sound of MasterX5. Mx5 could make stuff LOUD without squaring-off the waveform somehow - quiet parts would magically float upwards in level, but when a big loud hit occurred it would get out of the way instantly but still bring up the level of the decaying hit. Amazing, and perfect for quick mixing for television. 

I've hovered my finger over the "buy it now" button on the TC DbMax hardware units a few times since I've read that it is basically a five-band Finalizer, which would hopefully make it similar to Mx5, but I've never touched one or tried it out. And of course it's just a stereo 48k unit, so using it on stems is not an option. But they also make massively multi-channel units for use in broadcast that could, in theory, be used as inserts on multiple surround stems. Big $$$ though. And you know that two days after I buy one they'd announce the Mx5 plugin. 

Maybe I should just go ahead and buy one to trigger the release of the plugin!


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## Ryan

Hi,

I just got my self 3 Powercore units for free 2x standard models and one X8. And after working with them in Cubase 11 for some time now. all I could say is "wow". Why isn't it more talk about this? If you are lucky as I was, I got some very nice plugins attached to the hardware too. Access Virus, MasterX5, MD3 mastering, Nonlin2 etc etc. So many good plugins and they do in fact work like a charm without any type of hiccups in Jbridge. In fact, sometimes Waves is more unstable then this setup... Just sayin! as long firewire is supported in Win10, they will be in my rack! ohh, did I mention the bloody nice VSS3 reverb on piano. ohmgosh!! 

Other cool thing was I discovered I had Sonnox Oxford plugins on my iLok that I haven't used since 2010-12. Now I also got the PoCo versions! bonus :D


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## gsilbers

charlieclouser said:


> I've hovered my finger over the "buy it now" button on the TC DbMax hardware units a few times since I've read that it is basically a five-band Finalizer, which would hopefully make it similar to Mx5, but I've never touched one or tried it out. And of course it's just a stereo 48k unit, so using it on stems is not an option. But they also make massively multi-channel units for use in broadcast that could, in theory, be used as inserts on multiple surround stems. Big $$$ though. And you know that two days after I buy one they'd announce the Mx5 plugin.
> 
> Maybe I should just go ahead and buy one to trigger the release of the plugin!



Did you end up getting the TC Dbmax? The prices are indeed high and not that many. Im guessing these ust hang out at post and broadcast studios, even if not used. 
I was looking for some sort of smashing multi band limiter type of external hardware. 
These are supposed to be like the finalizer but 5 bands instead of 3.


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## AudioLoco

MasterX3/5 was LE-GE-NDA-RYYYYY!
Megaverb was nice and VSS3 is still one of the best reverbs out there.

I wouldn't see any advantage in getting it now. The processors weren't that powerful at all anyhow and you could run just a few instances on it.

The new TC Mastering plugins are not half as good as MasterX was...(from what I read around - not first hand experience, but I'm pretty positive it's not the same magical code) That's lost...
Although, VSS3 is identical, native, and amazing.


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## charlieclouser

gsilbers said:


> Did you end up getting the TC Dbmax? The prices are indeed high and not that many. Im guessing these ust hang out at post and broadcast studios, even if not used.
> I was looking for some sort of smashing multi band limiter type of external hardware.
> These are supposed to be like the finalizer but 5 bands instead of 3.


Nah, I never did get the DbMax - my workflow would require a dozen or so of them, and a zillion ADAT cables etc. so I blew it off. I did get the new MasterX plugin but it's only three bands and it's somehow not the same.

But surprisingly Waves L3-LL MultiMaximizer or L3-16 can get me very close. The result has more of a hard squared-off waveform than what Mx5 produced, which still had the visual appearance of just a fatter version of the original, without the sawed-off peaks. But the sound is very close.

And I can deploy 14 instances of L3-LL with a negligible CPU hit and imperceptible latency, so it's perfect for using on stem sub-masters, even when I'm recording live VI parts via MIDI. Mx5 had at least 10ms of look-ahead latency plus the round-trip to the card and back, and I could feel that way more than I can with L3-LL.

I still miss Mx5 though, and I'll buy every updated version or reverse-engineered clone sight unseen!


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## Dietz

One of the unsolved mysteries in this business why no-one sees the actual demand from working professionals for those original algorithms and earns some money, just by recycling them. 8-/ A good friend of mine is keeping his completely out-dated ProTools TDM-rig for nothing but the MD3.


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## muk

Good thing is that you can buy a TC Powercore very cheap these days on the used market. And at least on Windows, it's reasonably easy to make it run. I bought one that has Master X5 and VSS3 activated for a third of the price of VSS3 native. I understand that on Mac it's much harder to have a Powercore run stably though.


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## Ryan

muk said:


> Good thing is that you can buy a TC Powercore very cheap these days on the used market. And at least on Windows, it's reasonably easy to make it run. I bought one that has Master X5 and VSS3 activated for a third of the price of VSS3 native. I understand that on Mac it's much harder to have a Powercore run stably though.


-yeah, same as I did. In fact I got 3 units for free = 16-DSPs. And on Win10, cubase 11 with Jbridge it all runs smoothly. I'm going to look after one more unit...


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## Houstongoatfarm

Ryan said:


> -yeah, same as I did. In fact I got 3 units for free = 16-DSPs. And on Win10, cubase 11 with Jbridge it all runs smoothly. I'm going to look after one more unit...


I just got a FW Powercore today. I found this forum while trying to find drivers for this bad boy. Can anyone help me with this? I have been all over the web but not finding anything. The TC site has a button for latest software but it just circles back to the announcement of discontinuing PoCo.

Very frustrating. Want to run it on windows ten


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## Houstongoatfarm

WOOOOOHOOOOO never mind! I found it at 






Download PowerCore by TC Electronic


PowerCore, Free Download by TC Electronic




powercore.software.informer.com





Seems fine, the unit I got has the stock plugins so I'm pretty excited


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## gsilbers

Dietz said:


> One of the unsolved mysteries in this business why no-one sees the actual demand from working professionals for those original algorithms and earns some money, just by recycling them. 8-/ A good friend of mine is keeping his completely out-dated ProTools TDM-rig for nothing but the MD3.



Those have to be ported. And im guessing its hard to be 1:1 to the new version. 
Plus, just like mobil phone and facebook, seems poeple get used to new things fast. 
It didnt used to be that way i remember. Nowadays no one remembers that "todd AO" IR from altiverb. 
theyve moved on. The md5 has several new plugins contenders like that waves LL316 etc. 
You see those reverb shootouts from spitfire and they cant tell a difference between the TC6000 and valhalla in terms of whats "better". Same with these neve clones. 
Every track is unique and the tools are mostly replacable. 
Its also this push from apple to keep upgrading. And facbook to not remeber or save your feed. always new stuff always spend always forward. 
Even though Apple replaced Camel phat with its new version, i still liked the old one better. it just had a flow. I know it. I get to the results im after. Can i do similar with the new one? sure. 
Its just one more thing ontop of a million that these tech pushes with its OS upgrades... so eventually everyone keeps buying stuff and they get more money. Trying to stay with old tech like Mac OS 09 is next to impossible (alghought i saw BT getting into it with a forum of holdouts). and i loved OS9. very fast. but even leopard and OS that could easily handle the newest Logic pro and VEP cannot be used. 
Its that forced obsolesce that now EU lawmakers are like hmmm.. c'mon apple. And hopefully slow it down. In the iphone world i have like a gazillions updates. I lost my beloved soul calibur game. Really hate when tech gets old way too fast. But here we are, with TC putting out software stuff but many moved on to equal, diffferent or better things.


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## Ryan

Houstongoatfarm said:


> I just got a FW Powercore today. I found this forum while trying to find drivers for this bad boy. Can anyone help me with this? I have been all over the web but not finding anything. The TC site has a button for latest software but it just circles back to the announcement of discontinuing PoCo.
> 
> Very frustrating. Want to run it on windows ten


You have to use the new drivers that Hagen (former programmer for TC) have made. Go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/TCPowercore. Much information on that site. Plus newest drivers!


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## muk

Houstongoatfarm said:


> WOOOOOHOOOOO never mind! I found it at
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Download PowerCore by TC Electronic
> 
> 
> PowerCore, Free Download by TC Electronic
> 
> 
> 
> 
> powercore.software.informer.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Seems fine, the unit I got has the stock plugins so I'm pretty excited


A newer driver can be found here (official TC Electronics forum):

https://new-community.musictribe.com/discussions/23451/64314/unofficial-power-core-4-5-beta-64


Ryan said:


> You have to use the new drivers that Hagen (former programmer for TC) have made. Go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/TCPowercore. Much information on that site. Plus newest drivers!


Thanks for the heads up! As I am not on Facebook, can you tell me, is PowerCore 4.5 beta 64 from 2015 still the latest driver, or did Hagen update it?


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## Ryan

muk said:


> A newer driver can be found here (official TC Electronics forum):
> 
> https://new-community.musictribe.com/discussions/23451/64314/unofficial-power-core-4-5-beta-64
> 
> Thanks for the heads up! As I am not on Facebook, can you tell me, is PowerCore 4.5 beta 64 from 2015 still the latest driver, or did Hagen update it?


Hi,

The beta on the FB-forum is PowerCoreInstaller-x64-4.5.0b72.


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## Ryan

Have you seen this @charlieclouser?






TC Electronic | Not Found







www.tcelectronic.com


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## Bear Market

Ryan said:


> Have you seen this @charlieclouser?


Well, I'm no Mr. Clouser but I do find that interesting! TC's website is an absolute train wreck though if you ask me. They don't make it easy to purchase their products...


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## Dietz

Ryan said:


> Have you seen this @charlieclouser?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> TC Electronic | Not Found
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> www.tcelectronic.com


Thanks a bunch! I've TOTALLY missed this. When has it been released?


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## FireGS

Dietz said:


> Thanks a bunch! I've TOTALLY missed this. When has it been released?


Today, I think!


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## Dietz

Oh, that would explain it. 🙃


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## Dietz

BTW: I just toyed around with the MD3-demo half an hour or so. Feels completely familiar (once you got used to the stylish *hahum* GUI and font) and stable. Only stereo, no multichannel mode. No external side-chain input (which makes it more or less usless for surround work, what a pity).

Great sound!


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## FireGS

Dietz said:


> BTW: I just toyed around with the MD3-demo half an hour or so. Feels completely familiar (once you got used to the stylish *hahum* GUI and font) and stable. Only stereo, no multichannel mode. No external side-chain input (which makes it more or less usless for surround work, what a pity).
> 
> Great sound!


How does it compare to, say, the offerings of VSL or maybe Fabfilter?


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## Dietz

FireGS said:


> How does it compare to, say, the offerings of VSL or maybe Fabfilter?


Half an hour of half-hearted testing might not be enough to answer this question with authority. But having worked with the hardware-based MD3 for years (or actually decades) it felt like "coming home". 8-)


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## AudioLoco

Dietz said:


> Oh, that would explain it. 🙃


Wow... no fanfare... A major release like that and, just found this here by chance.
....they are late by 10 years at least to releasing these plugins....

If these are the same 1 to 1 codes I would be really interested in the MD3 and VSS4.
Although these prices are not very friendly - ouch.....


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## Dietz

Well - considering the price-tag of System 6000, the MD3 plug-in is in fact a bargain! :-D


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## charlieclouser

Ryan said:


> Have you seen this @charlieclouser?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> TC Electronic | Not Found
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> www.tcelectronic.com


Yup, and my mouth is watering.... a little. I've never used MD4 so I don't know if it has the sound of Mx5, but at least it is five bands. I haven't purchased yet but probably will, although I agree that the TC / MusicTribe web site and shop is a train wreck. I do have a native VSS3 license (bought right from the TC / MusicTribe web shop) and there's supposed to be a loyalty discount towards the bundle for VSS3 Native owners - but the MusicTribe site forgot my user ID in the three years it's been since I bought VSS3, so I'm not sure how to claim the discount. Late last night I tried resetting my password but my former UserID was completely gone and wiped from their system. So I made a new one and tried to register my purchase of VSS3, but doing so opened a support ticket (???) and I kind of gave up at 3am and started watching cartoons.

I'm watching other threads where Sys6000 people are trying out the new plugs and I'm hopeful.

But I'll probably wind up with MD4 out of curiosity.


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## dgburns

Dietz said:


> Well - considering the price-tag of System 6000, the MD3 plug-in is in fact a bargain! :-D



Ya, I don’t get it, it’s only 249.00. I still use my finaliser, but I have become a fan of waves multi L3 as well.


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## Virtuoso

charlieclouser said:


> the MusicTribe site forgot my user ID in the three years it's been since I bought VSS3, so I'm not sure how to claim the discount. Late last night I tried resetting my password but my former UserID was completely gone and wiped from their system


I had the same issue. If I enter my user ID (which I know is correct) it says it's invalid. If I try to create a new account with the same ID it says it's in use. Argh!

I've been using MD4 and VSS4 for the past day and they're both fantastic. I even like the new Star Trek UI, which is PROPERLY SCALABLE - other devs take note!

I don't really understand the complete bundle - why would you want VSS3 and MD3 if you have VSS4 and MD4, which are better in every way?


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## Dietz

Virtuoso said:


> PROPERLY SCALABLE - other devs take note!


Is it? Actually almost too big, for my needs and habits ... or did I overlook a dedicated scaling menu, apart from the sizing handle at the lower right corner?



Virtuoso said:


> why would you want VSS3 and MD3 if you have VSS4 and MD4


Not talking about VSS3, but MD3 is certainly more forgiving and more predictable for mixing music.


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## Virtuoso

Dietz said:


> Is it? Actually almost too big, for my needs and habits ... or did I overlook a dedicated scaling menu, apart from the sizing handle at the lower right corner?


This is how it looks on my system - there is a minimum size but it's in line with most other plugin sizes. Scaling up to full size everything retains full resolution.

(NB I'm running at 6k, so I had to scale these shots back down to a quarter resolution to get them to upload!)


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## Ryan

I really don't know if I should pull the trigger or not on the native versions. Powercore and Jbridge still work superb. If it isn't broke, why upgrade and spend more money on something that may be less worth it... I've read around the internet, people doing "null tests" and they are showing that they do not cancel each other out. Meaning they are different. I get that they are different because they had to rewrite the whole code.. They are close, but not close enough. One more thing, TC are again shitting on their former costumers for not bringing some kind of discounts for PoCo users etc. 
so, still running my Powercores.


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## charlieclouser

Well, TC aren't really shitting on their former customers - the TC of today HAS no former customers. The slate was wiped clean when Music Group bought them out, and I say that as someone who has purchased at least four PowerCore PCIe cards, or maybe more... at least two of them still sitting in a 12-core cheese grater that hasn't been powered up in years. Wish I could still run PowerCore on recent Mac hardware and OS versions, but...whatever. L3-LL is my new one-knob multi-band squeezer, and it sounds excellent with very little fiddling.

I did wind up getting the new 6000 Native Bundle with VSS3 loyalty discount, and it turns out that it didn't really matter that my MusicTribe ID got lost in the shuffle. Since all TC software products are iLok licensed, anyone can download the latest software installers without a valid MusicTribe ID, and the loyalty discount scheme simply amounts to one of those "installing license X requires surrender of license Y" and it all went smoothly. New VSS3 license installed to iLok as part of the bundle, previous VSS3 license surrendered. No problems.

I do like VSS4 and NonLin2, and of course MD4. But MD4 is not the same as a Finalizer, or MasterX HD Native, or Mx5 - it doesn't have that weird auto-floating-makeup-gain thing going on that Mx5 has, so it's more of a precision mastering processor. It is quite good at that however, but it's not the magic bullet, one-knob tv squeezer replacement for MasterX5. 

If they do release an Mx5 Native plugin they'll probably get my money one more time....


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## Ryan

True! the L3-LL is a good plugin. 

Glad to hear you found some use of the plugins! No, MD4 is not the same as MasterX5. MasterX5 is my fav too!


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## Dietz

Virtuoso said:


> I'm running at 6k


That might explain it. :-D


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## Houstongoatfarm

Ryan said:


> You have to use the new drivers that Hagen (former programmer for TC) have made. Go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/TCPowercore. Much information on that site. Plus newest drivers!


Awesome, just requested entrance.


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## Houstongoatfarm

Ryan said:


> You have to use the new drivers that Hagen (former programmer for TC) have made. Go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/TCPowercore. Much information on that site. Plus newest drivers!


Hey Ryan, I've had my request to join the group just idling on FB for a while now.. No one giving me permission to join. Is it a pretty quiet group? Any way you could help me get in?


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## Ryan

Just to let you guys/girls know.. There is rumors out there regarding the PowerCore and its plugins.


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## muk

Ryan said:


> Just to let you guys/girls know.. There is rumors out there regarding the PowerCore and its plugins.


Mind sharing what they are? I've read that there are rumors on Facebook. I don't have a Facebook account, so I can't check.


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## Ryan

muk said:


> Mind sharing what they are? I've read that there are rumors on Facebook. I don't have a Facebook account, so I can't check.


I will write you a PM.


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## stamatiski

it is not a rymour, it is true, all plugins...


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## stamatiski

...on all devices, from PCI to poco 6000


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## Iris. A

Unfortunatly I don't have facebook, if someone could, I'd also like to know about these rumors. I was at one point considering a powercore...


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## stamatiski

I think before posting more info a permission of the admin here is needed. Otherwise you can easily open a facebook account and join the group. I am a member there, it is a closed group but there is no special filtering to be accepted, you just have to show your relevance to TC powercore, that is to avoid spammers...


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## Murat Engin

Hello, I read the topic carefully and it was very interesting. I have powercore firewire. I searched for POWERCORE 4.5 beta 72 but all sites are down. I would be very grateful to the person who sent it to me. Thank you.


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## Henryo

Hello Murat.

There is a facebook group that I am a part of. All files are hosted there in the files section. Good luck. https://www.facebook.com/groups/TCPowercore/?ref=share


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## Murat Engin

Thank you Dear Henry but I think the group is not active. I sent a request to join the group a week ago, but did not receive any confirmation.


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## Henryo

Murat Engin said:


> Thank you Dear Henry but I think the group is not active. I sent a request to join the group a week ago, but did not receive any confirmation.


I can send you the files. The group is up and running. Not sure what's going on. 

Try this.


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## Murat Engin

Thank you very much Henry, but my OS is Win 10. Sorry for not mentioning it earlier.


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## Henryo

Apologies here is the whole folder






TC Powercore Drivers - Google Drive







drive.google.com






. If you are using firewire use the legacy driver for the firewire adaptor. Good luck


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## Murat Engin

Oh great, I hope to be able to get it working again after many years, I am grateful to you Dear Henry. Thank you.


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## FortisGuy

If anyone has a Powercore PCIe card going unused, I'd be interested in purchasing (I'm in the UK)


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