Pro tools 12 features pro#
While the LE systems allowed audio people to get their hands on Pro Tools at a reasonable price, many did not like being bound to specific hardware interfaces to use it.įinally listening to customer requests, the LE system was essentially discontinued with the release of Pro Tools 9, which, for the first time, allowed you to use the software with any Core Audio or ASIO-compatible interface, while relying on your computer’s processing prowess to handle the workload. Setting what would be the long-standing tone for home Pro Tools use, Pro Tools LE was a closed system, meaning it would only work with a Digidesign interface, which not only provided conversion, but essentially acted as a hardware dongle for running the software.
Additionally, LE had track count limits, which changed based on what resolution audio you were working with. The most significant difference between the pro HD systems and more consumer-end LE is where the processing took place HD relied upon external hardware while all processing in LE systems took place within your computer.
Pro tools 12 features professional#
While Pro Tools systems found a home in professional studios relatively quickly, it wasn’t until the release of the Digidesign Digi001 and Mbox interfaces, along with Pro Tools LE software in 1999, that the home and project studio crowd were able to get their hands on a Pro Tools system. However, in 1997, as both the software and accompanying HD hardware improved, Pro Tools HD systems became able to handle up to 48 tracks, allowing the digital recording revolution to truly begin. Initially, a Pro Tools HD system (consisting not only of the software but accompanying hardware) was priced well out of the range of the hobbyist or project studio, and technological limits at the time kept its voice count so low so it really could not be operated independently of a tape machine to bounce to. The company established a strong foothold as studios slowly changed from analog-only to digital recording in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and remains in most of them to this day. Avid will happily tell you it is because of the reliability of the company’s product, but it is also, thanks-in no small part-to the fact Avid was the first real game in town. The reason Pro Tools is the DAW of choice at many pro studios is simple. Since most major facilities use Pro Tools as their main rig, it simplifies the process for me to be able to go seamlessly between locations. As recording habits continue to evolve, I also find myself handling more complicated tracking, such as drums, at a pro studio, while often tracking guitars, synths, and other parts at home. As someone who has worked with just about every major DAW in the last 10 years or so, I find myself always coming back to Pro Tools, and even if a project is started in another software, (for myself it is commonly Logic) I typically bounce my tracks down to edit and mix in Pro Tools, as I find its interface the most intuitive for my particular workflow. Once you realize that no one DAW is going to give you “better sound,” the benefit of one versus another comes down to a number of other factors, including stability, how efficient you find its workflow, its intuitiveness, and its availability in professional studios, just to name a few. Just grab the cheapest one and get to work, right? Well, not really. So if Pro Tools does not provide a different sound than Logic or Cubase, what’s the point? you might ask. At the end of the day, (and no matter what some people feverishly insist), no DAW has a sound, as digital audio is all 1s and 0s. Add in MIDI and software synth functionality, along with video support for sound for film, and a DAW allows you to create and compose, all within the “box” of your computer. After your analog audio is converted into a digital signal through some sort of audio interface, a DAW allows you to edit, mix, master, manipulate, arrange, and apply effects to that digital audio in a non-linear, typically non-destructive fashion prior to it being converted back into an analog signal for us to hear. To understand why Pro Tools is so significant a piece of audio software, let’s first take a brief look at what it, and any other DAW, is at its core. So why does Pro Tools garner such strong opinions, one way or the other, and what does 12 ultimately mean for the end user?
Pro tools 12 features license#
What made a bigger splash and caused more heated discussion on the pro audio message boards was not any one functional feature of the update, but rather the fact that Avid was adopting an optional subscription-payment model, in addition to being able to purchase a license for the software outright, giving the option of yearly or monthly access. Earlier this year, Avid announced version 12 of its industry-standard Pro Tools DAW (digital audio workstation).