The Pro Tools saga leads the production sector, with a full range from the amateur to the most demanding professional. After seeing the plans at NAMM 2015, we've drawn some conclusions and are giving you an outline of some of the new features that caught our eye the most. This company's branches offer recording and production solutions for users who want to start recording their music, band and so on and get a first taste, for those who have been at it for a good while and want to become more professional and improve their systems, and all the way up to professional applications in live or studio productions that demand maximum performance.
Considering that those who stay at the start of the process can develop perfectly well without further ambitions, and that those who finally choose to pursue professional paths in production usually end up on advanced Pro Tools systems, it seems like a good idea to get familiar with this product family from the beginning and grow progressively through its enormous possibilities at the high end. Post-NAMM 2015 highlights: on January 22, 2015, Avid® unveiled the new Pro Tools 12. Among the major new features planned for the latest version, we highlight the new flexible subscription options. That is, buying the product (the old-fashioned way) or subscribing to Pro Tools packages for a set period of time, following the policies of other software giants such as Adobe with its cloud systems. Flexible licenses: Pro Tools 12 offers new flexible licensing options starting at about €30 per month, as well as the option to buy the application. With these new options, users can stay up to date with future innovations and software updates, just as they become available in the cloud, at no additional charge.
Avid Cloud Collaboration. Perhaps one of the most striking new features and a clear differentiator from previous versions. With this “cloud,” we'll work on our recording sessions remotely. That is, we will no longer have to record to local drives. This lets us access our sessions from anywhere on the planet and opens up a huge world of collaboration with third parties, covered in the Avid Marketplace. Need a guitar, a vocal, a bass? Your guest musician, from anywhere in the world, can drop the recorded track directly into your session. Here we find one of the reasons that make the appearance of Pro Tools First logical. Free? Indeed. Since Avid Cloud only works between Pro Tools users, it could be a serious obstacle if your “guest artist” had to buy it. Enter Pro Tools First, a limited version, but enough for that guest, or anyone else who wants to get to know the environment, to download First at no cost, record the track for you and, while at it, evaluate whether they like it enough to subscribe or upgrade. We've attached comparison tables of the different features of the various versions of the system.
Avid Marketplace. In the past we already had certain shortcuts, directly from the software, to an area for renting and buying certain plug-ins for a one-off mix and so on. That concept now expands into a really interesting environment: a marketplace of collaborators in which to find projects or artists. This way you can collaborate and offer your artistic services, or look for that performer you're missing for a particular session. We started a while ago with substantial improvements in virtual instruments and in sampler editing features, editable recorded samples and so on. The part that remained lame was that certain instruments, such as guitars, vocals and many others, were far from being tools as powerful as drums, pianos, strings and so on, which work wonderfully when well sequenced. Well, now we won't have to resort to a virtual guitar instrument with insufficient flexibility; we'll be able to reach the guitarist directly, or several of them. Pretty cool, huh?
We'll also be able to access plug-ins and apps instantly for each project depending on our needs. Avid announced that 17 new plug-ins and nine new bundles are now on sale. There are already more than 60 plug-ins and bundles available for purchase without leaving the application for Pro Tools First, Pro Tools and Pro Tools HD.
More About FIRST. A free version of Pro Tools within everyone's reach, available soon. It is a “cut-down” version, but broad enough to take part in an Avid Cloud project, and it also serves as a testing reference for those who don't know the platform and are considering switching to Pro Tools from other DAW software. The most notable difference from a 30-day “free/trial” version of any Pro Tools is that with Pro Tools | First, you don't even need to buy the iLok USB key. So you download it and get to work. If you like it, you subscribe to a bigger package, and if not, you've invested nothing but your time to see whether you like the platform. In the attached table you can check the basic differences, which mainly involve the number of tracks and a simplification of expanded features, which you'll have full access to in higher versions. Likewise, the number of projects you can work on with Pro Tools First is limited. This reduces the possibilities for importing, exporting and syncing with the cloud.
What if I've been a Pro Tools user for a long time? For you, Pro Tools 12 arrives, implementing all of these new features in its unlimited versions. In addition, new ranges of interfaces and control surfaces are appearing that are really appealing and represent big steps in configuring your studio. One example is the Pro Tools S3 surface.
