If you are a Pro Tools user than you probably were aware of all the rumors that swirled around leading up to Tuesday’s launch of Avid’s latest line of HD interfaces. These are truly the first new interfaces for Pro Tools coming under the re-branded name Avid and that’s a big deal. And despite the fact that most home studio Pro Tools users are not using Pro Tools HD, I thought this was an important update to discuss none-the-less.
Phase One For Avid Pro Tools
The new line of HD interfaces and even Pro Tools HD 8.1 are really just phase one for Avid’s “takeover” of the Pro Tools name. All of us LE and M-Powered users shouldn’t get fussy that we only see HD updates because this is likely only the first phase of a complete overhaul of the Pro Tools hardware line. It would make sense for Avid to release updates to their flagship product first, and that’s exactly what they’ve done.
These new interfaces seem much more practical for the smaller project studio as well, which bodes well for the end user. I believe it means Avid understands that portability, feature set, and audio quality all need to improve in the new line if Pro Tools hardware, and they seem right on track. So even though us non-HD users don’t have anything to gain from these new boxes we can be encouraged that Avid is moving in the right direction.
What To Expect Next
The big question is what can we expect to roll out in the next phase of Avid’s new line of products. No one really knows, but here are a couple of guesses I have:
- New LE interfaces out soon. It’s been about 3 years since the 003 was released, and about 5 years since the Mbox 2 was launched, and despite some variations of these products, we haven’t had any new LE boxes since then. I expect a major overhaul of everything as Avid has an opportunity to start from the ground up like it did with the HD line.
- Potential re-branding of Pro Tools LE and M-Powered as simply Pro Tools Native. Now this might be a stretch anytime soon, but the idea is that they would make one native version of Pro Tools and package it with the Avid hardware (like LE currently does) and then allow M-Audio users to purchase it separately alongside their M-Audio interface of choice.
- Major Pro Tools 8 software updates. I believe there will be some serious updates coming for Pro Tools as version 8 hits the two year mark this fall. Not sure if they would jump straight to version 9, but at least better performance and more features.
At the end of the day the only thing that is for sure is change. This has finally been the year that Avid got rid of the Digidesign brand, merged the websites, fired and hired new people, and now are releasing new Pro Tools products. Change is happening and I think it is for the better. Stay tuned to Avid.com for more updates, but be encouraged. Pro Tools is the world’s most popular pro recording platform and it is only improving!
Comments
I also think that it’s possible that Avid will start merging their software. When computers were slower, it made sense having an HD and an LE version. Now that computers have a gazillion cores, and so much RAM, I think that it’s time that the ProTools Software itself, were the same for LE and HD (delay compensation, voice count, etc.). I thick Avid will differentiate their products based on hardware, not software, in the not-so-distant future.
To me this new products look like 003 for HD (mic/line inputs, smaller form factor, preamps, etc.) What are your thoughts on that?
Javier, you’re probably right. Avid loves its hardware (just look at the acquiring of Euphonix). So they’ll probably make premium hardware and studio intergration for their HD customers and keep things simple for the LE users. We’ll see!
Earlier this week, on the day of the announcement of the new HD interfaces, there was a blurb on the AVID page on the Sweetwater web site that mentioned the new interfaces would work with Pro Tools HD, as well as the new Pro Tools HD Native.
Within 5 minutes of that info being posted on the official Pro Tools forums site (DUC), the paragraph on the Sweetwater site was modified to remove any mention of that. That post on the DUC seems to have been removed from the forums.
I “spoke” (twitter DM) with someone who attended the RSPE seminar earlier this week. They said AVID wouldn’t confirm anything but that the “magic 8 Ball points towards an October announcement.”
I’m hoping that the next version of PT for what’s currently the LE user base has ADC, track freeze, offline bounce, and improved RTAS performance specifically as it relates to VI’s. The ability to connect to it with whatever hardware we choose would be nice too, but I’m not holding my breath on that one
Very interesting indeed Barry. I think many of us would love to see your feature requests. We’ll see what transpires this fall.
Do you know if I can use the HD OMINI in the same way I use the MBOX 2 Pro ?
Like a heavyer version of a Mbox but HD ?
Greets, Take Care
No, the HD OMNI works with Pro Tools HD only. Meaning you have to buy it AND still an HD card. New interfaces are on their way to replace the Mbox 2/ 003 line for LE users.
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