Avid has just announced Pro Tools 12.6, a huge step forward in production & workflow capabilities. Powerful new editing features, along with performance & customization options, allow you to work smarter & faster than ever before.
At the recent IBC 2016 Convention, Avid rolled out a host of new products including major advanced to the Pro Tools platform. Along with the announcement of Pro Tools 12.6, Avid has also made huge changes to the HD platform & DSP cards. You will now be able to buy HD software as a stand-alone item without it being tied to the HDX cards! This is the first time in Avid/Digidesign history this is possible. Furthermore, you can choose to buy the HDX, or HD|Native, cards without having to buy an I/O. These changes are meant to allow people to configure the system of their choosing without having to be forced into unwanted purchases. Let's explore some of these new feature you can expect to see by the end of September 2016 when PT 12.6 ships.
Clip Effects & Editing Features
The biggest announcement comes in the form of "Clip Effects", which allows you to apply EQ & Dynamics processing directly to the clip. This process happens to the clip directly, before the audio signal reaches the Plug-in points. It allows you to apply changes to each clip in the timeline individually, or as a selected grouping of clips. It even allows you to apply individual clip processing, as well as applying another layer of processing to a selection of clips, giving you 2 layers of Clip Effects!
Clip Effects are part of Pro Tools HD software, however, Standard versions of Pro Tools can still work with these clips if the session is being shared between systems. You are able to Read, Bypass, Render, & Clear Clip Effects in the Standard Pro Tools software.
Other handy improvements to editing include Playlist enhancements allowing you to more easily use track playlist editing as well as visual indicators showing you if a track has background playlists. Finally! Personally, since I've spent so much of my professional life editing & working with playlists, this is a life saver.
You will see a "blue" indicator light up the playlist selector when your track has background playlists available. This visual cue can be a real time save when you're working with multiple takes & comping between playlists. There is also a new keyboard shortcut that let's you toggle between playlist on a track. The Shift key + up/down arrows on the keyboard allow you to cycle between the track playlists.
Another really handy feature is "Multi-Layer Editing". Whit this feature enable, Pro Tools allows you to see 2 different clips overlap on top of one another, allowing you to see how you edits will line up. Also, this feature allows you to move clips on top of other clips without fear of an unintentional edit occuring.
Some of the other improvements include, Real-Time Fade manipulation, Task Manager, Freeze function, as well as System Re-Recorder functionality for Post-Production. Watch the video below for an in-depth review of all the new features in Pro Tools 12.6
Pro Tools 12.6 will be available at the end of Sept. 2016