Did you know that just because a new version of your DAW comes out, you don’t have to upgrade? What a crazy thought! In fact, you can continue to use your perfectly good version of software to make great music all day long. No upgrade needed.
That being said, a couple of weeks ago, two major DAWs dropped new versions on the world and people are angry as all get out. So please pardon me while I rant for just a minute about the psychology of software upgrades.
These Companies Need To Make Money
In case you didn’t know, software manufacturers are in the business of making money. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Companies like Avid, Apple, Steinberg, PreSonus, Propellerhead, Cockos, all make great tools for musicians and engineers and they charge money for said tools. Makes sense so far.
That being said, if they never make a newer and better version of their DAW, then their only way to make money to sustain the business is to sell to new customers who currently don’t have their product. But wouldn’t it be easier to simply improve their existing product, fix things, add user requested features and then turn around to sell the software again to CURRENT customers as an upgrade? So that is why these companies drop new versions of their DAW every few years. No big deal.
Your Current DAW Still Works, Right?
Now that we’re all on the same page with that, why is that so many people get upset when a new version of their DAW is released? People complain that they just got the previous version and now somehow their version is made obsolete. This doesn’t make sense to me. Three weeks ago, many of us were all making great music using either Pro Tools 9 or Studio One. But now that Pro Tools 10 and Studio One 2 have been released, our “older” versions are useless?
The software still works right? I mean, it didn’t start glitching on you the day Avid and PreSonus held press conferences announcing the new upgrades, right? Whew! That was close. I thought for a moment there that we had a problem and couldn’t keep recording and mixing great tracks in our studios.
The Moral Of The Story
All of the sarcasm aside, I really want you to know the heart of what I’m saying. It’s always more fun to have the latest and greatest thing on the planet, I get that. And the new versions of Pro Tools and Studio One look incredible. I’m not even telling you NOT to upgrade. I’m just trying to make a point, that just because a new version of your DAW comes out, that doesn’t mean that somehow your current version has gotten worse. You don’t HAVE to upgrade now, or ever.
Have you gotten enough value out of your current version to warrant dropping cash on the new one? Will the new version help you do something in your studio that you really need in order to make better music, or work faster? Only you can answer these questions. Just don’t be the person on the forums blasting away that they are angry about a new version coming out. Ignore the noise and go back to making better music then you’ve ever made in your life!
Comments
Great post. I’m so tired hearing people arguing over the pricing of the new Pro Tools. I understand the people who wants to upgrade and thinks it’s to pricey. But like you say, you should think about if it’s really worth it?
I’ve Ordered pro tools 10, simply cause for me it is worth it (I used v8 before). I get all the new features of v9 and v10! But when PT9 came out, I made a choice not to upgrade, I didn’t think it was worth it!
So if the new version is not worth the money, just wait for the next version.
I totally agree here. I think where folks get angry is that while you can continue to use the version that works for you (I’m a working professional still on FCP 7 and not touching FCP X) it’s when the combination of OS, productivity software AND hardware upgrades collide. If one buys a new computer, and your older version of program X doesn’t work on the new machine, you’re left trying to shoe-horn a square peg in a round hole. Now your in for a night of downgrades, internet searches for drivers, etc.
I’m still on OS 10.6.8, with no intention of upgrading to Lion. It’s not worth the effort right now, BUT, at some point it will be a very real concern as my system ages.
Im still on Pro tools 8.05. It didnt start glitching at the announcement of Pro tools 10
So, no plan to upgrade anytime soon unless I hit a jackpot.
For you posh folk willing to shed out pounds, kindly consider the compatibility with your favourite third party pluggins. In my case, Kontakt 5, IK multimedia Samplettank. I simply cant do without them
Cos if you dont, upgrading could be pain the backside…lol
haha. I started out using FL Studio. My favorite part of that DAW was Lifetime FREE updates, and their updates always built on the previous tools, it never changed my current flow. If they would release a mac version I would definitely go back.
One of my favorite goto DAWs was/is Adobe Audition and after their last release the new version will NOT load an existing .ses session file. And don’t have plays too. This really make me ( as well as many others I’m sure) a little angry… One of the things I’ve always enjoyed was being able to work in 32 bit which Avid is just now catching up with. I guess I’m stuck with Audition 3.0 for a while cause what i see with 5.5 isn’t worth the change if I can’t bring past work session with me. If I have to do an XML import it will be into another DAW…
Great post, Graham! The only trouble is that the old versions stop being supported. So if there is a problem with it, or a known bug, it will not get fixed in a future update.
I love your rants. Keep ‘em comin.
I’m still using my Logic Audio Platinum key 5.5 and making some great radio commercial mixes…
What a waste of money Pro Tools 10 is! They just had an upgrade, its $300 just for a crossgrade. Gimme a break. On top of that, I hear from industry insiders that PT 10 is an intermediate step to Pro Tools 11, which will come out soon enough, with 64 bit floating point I believe. We can do what we need to with Pro Tools 8. I’m not upgrading, thanks very much. Keep the “rants” coming!
It’s enough to make me consider switching to Reaper!
Depends. I don’t use PT but the latest upgrade for studio one is a no brainer for me, and the transient detection which is a feature i miss the most from S1 is finally available, makes everything easier for people like me.
Switching DAWs also costs money to you the end user. You’re best off sticking to what works for you as long as you can. The best sign that you’re getting everything out of your DAW is that you’ve been using it so much and for so long that you don’t qualify for upgrade pricing.
I’ll use my version of PT as long as I can. Avid wasn’t going to get more money out of me whether the upgrade was $100 or $1000, because what I have works. Pro Tools is so freaking fragile that I’m afraid to uninstall and install a new version anyway. It works and it was alot of hassle and I just want to keep it working.
Sad Panda, I hear you! I probably won’t change DAWs because PT 8 is what I’m used to. I sometimes use Logic 9 which I find better than PT for composition and production, but not as easy for editing and mixing. I’m also going to start using Logic for tracking, because PT crashes so easily and constantly gives me messages saying I need to increase my buffer size; I’ve got a newer iMac with 4 GB of RAM so the system shouldn’t be choking so easily. I don’t get those messages from Logic as much and am able to use smaller buffer sizes as low 32 or 64 samples in recording. I can never get away with 32 in PT and rarely even 64.
Reaper is super cheap and doesn’t charge for upgrades, and I’ve heard great things about version 4 from John Tidey. It also fits on a USB stick at about 50 MB.
I had trouble with buffer settings PT7 on Windows OS until I did some heavy Windows optimization that finally got it ironed out and since have switched to Windows 7 64bit with 4 gig of ram and PT8.4 and have not looked back. I did the same as far as optimizing Window 7 but I have no problems so far at all and have been pleased. Which has me really leary of even thinking of upgrading to anything new with Avid software as it’s so particular and hard to tweak setting up for each individual system. Myself I have extensive PC IT experience and could not imagine trying to setup a system of PT for a novice user. I would love to have a Mac Pro running 2 8 core I7 processors but I can think of alot of other cool RASTA plugins for that kind of $$ and currently PT8.4 and my Digi 002 does everything I need it to do as far as PT goes.
Everything else my Presonus FireStudio has proved to be a handy goto interface. It would be nice to have another one of their firewire devices with more mic preamps. Question is does anyone know how 2 or more of them integrate together in any of the other DAWs?
Hi Graham! I think you are missing some information about the problem between Avid and Pro Tools users. It’s more than expensive upgrade prices, it’s the unrespectful way Avid treat loyal customers. You have reason in what you say, but that is just the surface. I encourage you to learn mor about this issue. We know every person is going to talk about something depending of his situation and how it affects him. You can get more info here http://www.airusersblog.com/home-page/?currentPage=2
Keep the good work! God bless you.
Gustavo – I have been an Avid customer and Pro Tools user for almost 10 years now, so I am well aware of the entire situation and the way Avid is treating it’s customers. I am one
Regardless of whether they release expensive upgrades (like PT 10) or free ones, the point remains the same. You don’t HAVE to upgrade in order to make great music.
Well I f you want to know why alot of core users are upset its because Rudimentary bugs do not get properly fixed or flushed and then Avid expects us to pay 300-500$ for an upgrade just to “maybe” get a more streamlined version with new bugs and newly coded software …
F&&K O$# Already.
Sell us something that works rock solid,
then I will GLADLY give you my money, till then hear us [EDIT]!
AVID is a Shareholder Driven moneybowl with very little concern for the end user – case and point.
Always been – always will be.
Love and Hate Mofo’s …. Love and Hate.
While this might be true it is not true in all cases. I have bought Pro Tools 9 when the Lion beta came out because I had bought a new computer and my Pro Tools 8 no longer worked. About 5 weeks later the new Pro Tools 10 came out. My Pro Tools 9 is still glithy and buggy on Lion – Pro Tools 10 fixes that – but requires me to pay the 250 Euro upgrade fee only 5 weeks after buying 9. I don’t find that fair. Also it should be noted that “the couple of years” you mentioned in the article don’t line up for Pro Tools which was out like 10 months before 9 got replaced by 10.
Hachre – Two things. 1) Pro Tools 9 still has Dot releases planned (free) to fix bugs with Lion. 2) You’re right that PT 10 came out 11 months after PT 9, which is the exception to the rule. It has always been roughly 2 years between version releases. PT 9 came out in 2010. PT 8 came out in 2008. PT 7 came out in 2005, etc.
Seems you were right
Avid released Pro Tools 9.0.6 today with – finally – full compatibility for Mac OS 10.7, yay!