Promedia Blog - Page 15 

Recently, Avid released the latest Pro Tools 11.1 set of software updates for both Pro Tools 11 and Pro Tools 10.  

Welcome to 2014 and the most anticipated announcement in the Audio Industry- Universal Audio has recently announced support for Pro Tools 11 AAX plug-in platform. With the free upgrade to UAD Software Version 7.4.1, Macintosh users now have access to the full library of plug-ins made by U.A. PC users should expect a supported release shortly, within the first few months of 2014.

With the dust settling from this summer’s release of Pro Tools 11, it’s time we look at how to implement some of these much talked about features into your workflow. With so much talk regarding Audio Engines, new plug-ins, and all the other distractions, many people have overlooked the most useful new feature of Pro Tools 11, Offline Bounce. Actually, there is a whole lot more to the Bounce engine than just the ability to perform faster than real time renders, the entire feature set has been expanded to give you the utmost flexibility as well as time saving features. The ability to Bounce an MP3 simultaneously with a .WAV is pretty freakin’ cool, so is the ability to bounce different outputs simultaneously. As usual, there is a lot more to this new feature than first meets the eye.

As an Audio Engineer, I’m ecstatic about the streamlined Bounce features of Pro Tools 11. I have done hundreds-of-thousands of bounces in Pro Tools over the years, and it was always a multi-step process. At the very least it required two bounces, one for the .WAV file and another for the MP3. For music mixers, an MP3 is necessary especially when e-mailing files to clients. If your work requires you to bounce MP3’s along with the traditional audio file, check the box labeled "Add MP3". It will create both files simultaneously, regardless of whether or not you’re using the Offline feature.

Our good friends at Neumann have another winner on their hands with the new TLM 107 Microphone. It recently won a Best of Show Award at the 2013 AES Convention.

Ever since the release of the new AAX plug-in format in PT 10, the most asked question on everyone’s lips is "Does Waves run as AAX?"

Avid recently announced the availability of Pro Tools 11.0.3 to support the new OS release from Apple of 10.9 Mavericks. There are a few pitfalls you need to be aware of:

Here are some additional in depth details about Pro tools 11 functionality.

So what’s new in Avid Pro Tools 11? Will your older equipment be compatible? With the host of new features being introduced, this is a historical change to Pro Tools and not just another upgrade. If you really look at what has transpired over the past 15+ years, we should be calling it Pro Tools, The Next Generation containing the most revolutionary change to Pro Tools, ever

History of Pro Tools with DAE

In order to truly understand where we are going, we first must take a look at our past. While Pro Tools, or it’s earlier cousin Sound Tools have been around since 1989, the true watershed moment came with Pro Tools III systems in 1994. These systems utilized a technology known as TDM, Time Division Multiplexing, essentially a telephone network, to provide dedicated power when working with audio. Every incarnation of Pro Tools after this, whether it was Pro Tools|24, Mix, or HD utilized the same basic TDM technology. Over the years there were revisions to the software and the cards, most notably the introduction of TDM II with the HD systems in 2002. However, the fundamental technology remained unchanged right up to Pro Tools 10. In my studio I am currently running the same HD cards I had 10 years ago running version 5 software. The only thing that changed has been the software.

With every version of Pro Tools released up until now, the only true differences have been feature driven, not in the language and technology of the core engine. Think of it this way, Pro Tools 10 is just a more capable version of Pro Tools 5. Both operate on the same engine and utilize the same TDM language, as well as access and distribute media in identical ways. This engine, known as the DAE (Digidesign Audio Engine) has worked in the background the entire time, keeping your audio dreams afloat. Over the years the software engineers have done a masterful job of refining the architecture and bringing new feature to life. While this tried-and-true technology is very capable of doing a good job, it has many features it can never perform due to its age. After so many years of dedicated service, it was time to retire the DAE and allow it to bow out gracefully. As Sheryl Crow said "A Change Would Do You Good".

In the past we’ve spent quite a bit of time talking about the musical functionalities of Pro Tools, but it is equally powerful, if not more so, in the world of audio for video or film.

Several months ago, Avid announced the release of Pro Tools 11 to much fanfare and hype. If you saw the official Avid release video, you got the impression that we were about to see the next big thing. Has it lived up to that kind of hype? In a word, Yes!

The type of changes that were made directly impact anyone working on audio projects for music or tv/film, and most users will see a significant change in workflow to take advantage of these new features.

It turns out there’s a lot more to the latest version of Pro Tools than we first thought. Sure, it’s nice to have 64-Bit Processing, a new Avid Audio & Video Engine, along with a host of other improvements. I’m sure you are asking, "how is this going to improve my work?". Let’s take a look at what we’ve discovered so far about Pro Tools 11.