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Pjones9 « Good upgrade, but too expensive for the features you get. »
Published on 07/31/14 at 14:52Simply put, Pro Tools is a must have for any serious music producer or/and audio engineer. It has been the standard software for audio productions around the world for more than a decade now. It's compatible with Windows XP, Mac Os,and many more, so compatibility issues are practically inexistent. The manual is detailed and straightforward, it comes with detailed description on the specifications and usage.
You can make any kind of music with Pro Tools, and it includes a useful selection of virtual instruments plus more than 60 effect processors. It also has good MIDI and notation-editing features. Edition is simple and fast thanks to the Grid, Slip, Spot and shuffle edition modes. New features not included in previous Pro Tools versions:
-Track counts have been upped for v10, which will play back up to 96 tracks at 44.1/48kHz and can record up to 32 tracks simultaneously.
-64 virtual instrument tracks, 512 MIDI tracks, 160 aux tracks, 256 busses and one video track.
-Clip Gain: Every clip has its own gain fader and the waveform will look bigger or smaller when you raise or lower the gain, which is great visual feedback.
-It also runs faster than the previous versions; sessions open faster, fades are calculated in real time and general work flow runs smoother.
This all new features may seem impressive, however Pro Tools 10 is not much of an upgrade, and some new features for this DAW were included before in other DAWs. I feel that for the price you're paying, the upgrade for this version is not really worth the fee. However don't get me wrong, Pro Tools is still a really useful and valuable DAW , easy to use, reliable (at least more than many other DAW's out there, like Logic, which crashes all the time) and has great compatibility with external hardware. This upgrade would be more suitable for experienced producers who always need to work faster. But if you have the previous Pro Tools version I'd say you should buy one of the next upgrades which will have probably more valuable features for the price.
SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE
The software is stable and runs smoothly. It runs faster than previous Pro Tools versions, edition is simpler and the Clip Gain feature is useful as well. I used to work with Logic Pro, which is also easy to use but incredibly unstable, there were compatibility issues with hardware all the time; it would not recognize the audio interface sometimes and crashes are recurrent. With Pro Tools I never had this problem and it's very hard to mess up a session; thanks to multiple features it feels very nice to always have a backup of your audio files, no way that cool improvised solo is getting deleted accidentally! In Logic is very easy to delete files without noticing, but in Pro Tools there are several ways to make a reliable backup easily, like the options Save Session as, Session Template, etc. I used this software for about two years and was happy with it. But the upgrades are much better.
OVERALL OPINION
What I liked the most was the Clip Gain feature, having each clip with its own gain fader and the waveform looking bigger or smaller when the gain is raised or lowered is really useful and saves you a lot of time. What I like the most about Pro Tools is the easiness of the edition and mixing, if you get the grid of it (which is fairly easy to get if you read the manual) you will be recording and working with audio smoothly and effectively. It's not for nothing that the majority of professional studios (if not all) use Pro Tools as their main DAW. What I liked the least is the price! I think it's pretty expensive for an upgrade that has features that other DAWs had long before. But anyway, it makes my job easier and that's the point. However if I had to choose again I'd buy one of the next upgrade versions Avid offers. It's much more worth the price, because more 'big' features are added and overall quality is improved. Sound definition and quality are always guaranteed with Pro Tools. In conclusion:
Pros
-New features: clip gain. 64 virtual instrument tracks, 512 MIDI tracks, 160 aux tracks, 256 busses and one video track.
-Better sound quality
-Faster and more responsive
-Supports more file formats
Cons
-Overpriced
-Not 64-bit
-Few upgrades for the price you pay.
You can make any kind of music with Pro Tools, and it includes a useful selection of virtual instruments plus more than 60 effect processors. It also has good MIDI and notation-editing features. Edition is simple and fast thanks to the Grid, Slip, Spot and shuffle edition modes. New features not included in previous Pro Tools versions:
-Track counts have been upped for v10, which will play back up to 96 tracks at 44.1/48kHz and can record up to 32 tracks simultaneously.
-64 virtual instrument tracks, 512 MIDI tracks, 160 aux tracks, 256 busses and one video track.
-Clip Gain: Every clip has its own gain fader and the waveform will look bigger or smaller when you raise or lower the gain, which is great visual feedback.
-It also runs faster than the previous versions; sessions open faster, fades are calculated in real time and general work flow runs smoother.
This all new features may seem impressive, however Pro Tools 10 is not much of an upgrade, and some new features for this DAW were included before in other DAWs. I feel that for the price you're paying, the upgrade for this version is not really worth the fee. However don't get me wrong, Pro Tools is still a really useful and valuable DAW , easy to use, reliable (at least more than many other DAW's out there, like Logic, which crashes all the time) and has great compatibility with external hardware. This upgrade would be more suitable for experienced producers who always need to work faster. But if you have the previous Pro Tools version I'd say you should buy one of the next upgrades which will have probably more valuable features for the price.
SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE
The software is stable and runs smoothly. It runs faster than previous Pro Tools versions, edition is simpler and the Clip Gain feature is useful as well. I used to work with Logic Pro, which is also easy to use but incredibly unstable, there were compatibility issues with hardware all the time; it would not recognize the audio interface sometimes and crashes are recurrent. With Pro Tools I never had this problem and it's very hard to mess up a session; thanks to multiple features it feels very nice to always have a backup of your audio files, no way that cool improvised solo is getting deleted accidentally! In Logic is very easy to delete files without noticing, but in Pro Tools there are several ways to make a reliable backup easily, like the options Save Session as, Session Template, etc. I used this software for about two years and was happy with it. But the upgrades are much better.
OVERALL OPINION
What I liked the most was the Clip Gain feature, having each clip with its own gain fader and the waveform looking bigger or smaller when the gain is raised or lowered is really useful and saves you a lot of time. What I like the most about Pro Tools is the easiness of the edition and mixing, if you get the grid of it (which is fairly easy to get if you read the manual) you will be recording and working with audio smoothly and effectively. It's not for nothing that the majority of professional studios (if not all) use Pro Tools as their main DAW. What I liked the least is the price! I think it's pretty expensive for an upgrade that has features that other DAWs had long before. But anyway, it makes my job easier and that's the point. However if I had to choose again I'd buy one of the next upgrade versions Avid offers. It's much more worth the price, because more 'big' features are added and overall quality is improved. Sound definition and quality are always guaranteed with Pro Tools. In conclusion:
Pros
-New features: clip gain. 64 virtual instrument tracks, 512 MIDI tracks, 160 aux tracks, 256 busses and one video track.
-Better sound quality
-Faster and more responsive
-Supports more file formats
Cons
-Overpriced
-Not 64-bit
-Few upgrades for the price you pay.