These are the features that Avid® added in version 10, which, although superseded by version 11, is still used by many users who prefer to work with proven versions before changing their DAW system. Important improvements that make our mixing work considerably easier… Especially its new tools for working with clips and signal gain variations before mixing. Version 10 brings changes that jump several steps at once. It is not a simple "update." It is easier and more practical, and it masterfully solves "annoyances" that made us waste time in previous versions.
The music computing market has been advancing and evolving by leaps and bounds, both in terms of technological development and the home and professional possibilities it now offers us.
Some time ago, setting up a personal studio was an arduous, expensive and complicated task. In fact, most people made do with an analog multitrack unit: the typical Tascam and Fostex four-tracks, etc. The tools we have at our disposal today are truly amazing: cheaper, simpler and with better end results (even if you are a bit clumsy at it).
These reasons have changed the market, its manufacturers and the direction of their products. This is the case, in my opinion, with Avid and Pro Tools. It has gone from being a product (exclusively) for professionals to becoming a standard for average users and beginners too, putting up strong resistance to its consumer-focused competitors, such as Steinberg (although it also covers professional markets) and others.
The number of users who can buy gear for "personal studios" is vastly greater than the number of professional studio clients. So what better than to catch customers when they are just getting started in this whole business, following their progress and offering solutions that range from the basics to the absolutely professional?
If you start with Pro Tools and its smaller systems, you will learn to work in these environments without investing a lot of money. Gradually you can expand your gear and resources as much as you want, since there is almost no upper limit (in spending and in the gear you can keep adding).
In short, this evolution has led companies to develop a large number of products: accessible, simple, moderately simple and complex… for all tastes and budgets. The "home" market is better served and currently has a large amount of gear at its disposal.
Technology doesn't stand still for experienced amateurs or professionals either. Avid, with version 10 of Pro Tools (in LE, HD, etc.), manages to put itself at the forefront, alongside the leaders, offering the very best at every tier of the market.
Version 10
Pro Tools 10 is, once again, a new twist on digital possibilities. It brings several new tools, which we will look at in more detail below. But among them I would highlight, with emphatic emphasis, segment-based gain control in the edit window, before the mixer. It is more than common to come across a singer, for example, who has "bursts of enthusiasm" and suddenly delivers a hair-raising spike in signal, or vice versa: goes limp and sings part of a passage as if their "batteries had run out." And that's assuming we record all the takes on the same day (which is desirable, especially for vocals).
The improvement Pro Tools 10 offers for evening out all these changes in signal intensity is the best I have seen in quite a while, in terms of "qualitative" leaps in DAW software updates. We can work on a track in the edit window quickly and comfortably, evening out the signal level. For example, we can cut the track into fragments where the changes in intensity are most abrupt and quickly even them out with a small virtual fader that appears at the start of each fragment of the "cut" track. We can also stabilize levels with mouse clicks, changing the gain of each cut "section," or creating breakpoints by clicking with our mouse.
This way, after work that is much easier to do than in previous versions, we get fantastic consistency across the track, which will spare us a complex and tedious mix later on. First we fix signal gain, comfortably even out all the levels, and then we mix happily without "spikes" that blow out our clip LEDs.
Another recent change Avid has been pushing is compatibility with other manufacturers. Previously we were dealing with a very "closed" environment in terms of hardware and software compatibility. Today Avid has opened up more, and we can increasingly share workflows that incorporate other brands. It also lets you work with a wider "variety" of hardware devices in terms of manufacturers. However, if you decide to use Avid, I would choose to work with the company's own hardware/software. From experience, I can say it works wonderfully: no crashes or strange problems that would ultimately keep you from focusing on your creativity.
Installation
Without any major complications, I did find installing and configuring Pro Tools 10 a bit more complex. Since it opens up its options in terms of controllers and MIDI/audio interfaces, you may find you need to download a patch. In fact, I had to download patches for Digidesign devices in the 003 family, for both MIDI and AUDIO, for PT10 to be perfectly configured. I interpret this change as an opening up to more possibilities; that is, you can now configure many more devices than before. Somewhat more inconvenient, and not very usual for AVID, is having to download patches for its own hardware devices. In any case, things were up and running in no time and completely stable once properly configured.
What are the features of Avid Pro Tools 10?
Now, with Pro Tools 10 you can mix multiple audio formats and resolutions in the same session (including interleaved audio) without duplicating files and needlessly bloating the project. In addition, with support for 32-bit floating-point formats, you get higher-resolution sound and dynamic range when recording or importing, preserving the integrity of your audio from start to finish.
You can also get faster, more efficient recording and playback when working on a laptop with an external hard drive or a network-attached storage device. It also lets you edit and mix faster with the Artist Series and work more easily with clips rendered via AudioSuite. You get more automatic delay compensation and twice as many buses, to handle bigger mixes with more plug-ins. Likewise, getting snappy performance in sessions with lots of fades is easier.
In addition, with the included Avid Channel Strip plug-in, you get the famous channel strip of Avid's System 5 console (formerly Euphonix), one of the most coveted desks, responsible for some of the best mixes ever created. You can work with exact replicas of the console's EQ and compression algorithms to breathe life into your mix.
Record and compose music
It lets you record high-resolution audio (up to 24 bits/192 kHz) with especially low latency so you can capture performances smoothly, etc. It also lets you record, edit and mix music the way you want, your way... This software makes it possible to create excellent performances from multiple takes: bring out your spontaneity with loop recording and comp your best takes together (the old spontaneity trick, now made a reality with an ever more comfortable and refined recording technique).
You can also easily create parts for almost any musical instrument using great-sounding virtual instruments, a MIDI keyboard/controller or your mouse, and Pro Tools' built-in MIDI editor. In addition, you can exchange sessions with any other Pro Tools user and work on projects created in other video and audio programs (such as Media Composer, Logic, Cubase and other applications) directly in Pro Tools.
How do you edit audio?
You can also experiment with total freedom and without investing time or effort: Elastic Time lets you change the tempo and timing of any clip (or an entire composition) on the fly. Plus, precise editing is much easier: perfect and fine-tune your music and audio with sample-accurate professional editing tools. You can create a flawless performance yourself by comping tracks together, speed up editing with the Smart Tool and get smooth transitions with crossfades.
Likewise, with the versatile Beat Detective tool you can quickly fix timing problems across multiple tracks or change the rhythmic feel to get a different groove. Meanwhile, with Pro Tools you can create, edit and mix soundtracks with the built-in timecode ruler and video track, and use the included plug-ins to clean up the sound.
How do you get the sound you are after?
You can polish your mixes with more than 70 included effects, utility and sound processing plug-ins: from top-quality reverbs, EQs and compressors to guitar amp emulators, surround downmixing and adjustable dynamics on the channel strip, you have everything you need to create professional mixes. You can also achieve great-sounding, phase-accurate mixes with automatic delay compensation, which now includes four times as many samples (13,383) to handle large mixes, regardless of how many plug-ins you use. You can also automate the settings of any Pro Tools element to get the most perfect mix possible...
And what's new?
Avid Pro Tools speeds up mixing and editing with clip gain, and smoothly adjusts and evens out all gain levels before the mixer. It also uses different audio formats in the same session, including interleaved audio, without duplicating files. Meanwhile, it enables high-resolution recording and mastering with greater dynamic range in 32-bit floating-point format.
It also gives you excellent response on slower hard drives with better disk resource management, and records in low-latency mode with direct monitoring when using third-party audio interfaces. In addition, it gives you the EQ and dynamics of the System 5 console with the Avid Channel Strip plug-in, while giving access to more than 500 additional Pro Tools commands when you use EUCON-enabled controllers.
Now it is easier to work with clips rendered with AudioSuite thanks to reverse processing; you can create extra-long-format projects to generate sequential versions with a timeline extended to 24 hours, and quickly open sessions full of fades. You can also export mixes directly to SoundCloud to share your music and get it heard around the world...
As for large-scale projects: Pro Tools HD
For large-scale projects that demand the very best in sound quality and performance, Pro Tools HD software lets you compose, record, edit and mix large productions quickly and easily. This software is included with Pro Tools|HDX and Pro Tools|HD Native systems. Now you can:
-Get all the new features of Pro Tools 10 software
-Create much bigger mixes with up to 768 voice tracks and 512 auxiliary tracks
-Achieve good recording and playback performance with the expanded disk cache, which loads entire sessions into RAM
-Connect up to 12 Pro Tools HD systems via Satellite Link
-Get improved workflows for field recording
-Control two Pro Tools HD systems with a D-Command console in Multi mode -Get more tracks and streaming support when using Avid ISIS
Conclusions
As always, we are reviewing a first-rate product. It is one of the undisputed market leaders in this type of application. It is also backed by a great team, in technical terms, R&D and, in general, a carefully run chain of people who offer personalized support and a product with a guarantee.
It is worth noting that this update is not like others. Although all of them (I am speaking generally of any brand) usually add improvements, there are some specific ones that add tools that save us hours of work, or that make possible those incredible actions we used to do "by hand," etc. Pro Tools 10 is, in my view, an extraordinary tool, both for average LE users and for the wildest ones (with bigger budgets) steeped in the aura of HD.
Fantastic.
To see the specifications and rating table, download the magazine in PDF