[NAMM] Pro Tools 12 and First free

Let’s start with the good news, for this is the first time Avid offers a free version of its flagship Pro Tools DAW. It features most the tools of the full version but audio recording is limited to 16 tracks. Pro Tools First is intended for those who want to discover the Pro Tools universe and most experimented musicians searching for a free alternative to their DAW. It will ship with various session templates for rock, hip hop, jazz, EDM or pop, more than 20 plug-ins such as the XPand!2 virtual synth, EQ III and Dynamics III processors, D-Verb or Mod Delay III and you’ll get a piano roll for MIDI edit and the Elastic Pitch shifter and Elastic Time stretcher.

Pro Tools First will work with the brand new Avid Cloud Collaboration, which will debut with these new versions via the Avid MediaCentral, for storing projects on a secure server and work with remote collaborators, as well as the Avid Store/Marketplace that allows for completing the collection of tools, AAX plug-ins and First bundles.

Pro Tools First will be available during Q1, 2015. Avid will offer its users the ability to store 3 Pro Tools First projects for free to the Cloud. Note that there is no mention of any iLok dongle, which is a good sign…

The other news is the upcoming Pro Tools 12 and a new acquirement policy. You won’t purchase the DAW anymore, but rent it, just like Adobe has done recently with its software. Various renting options will be available starting from February;

• Pro Tools monthly subscription with updates and support, starting from $29,99/month
• Pro Tools one-year subscription with updates and support, starting from $299
• Pro Tools upgrade to one-year subscription (12 month access updates and support), starting from 192 € incl. VAT
• Pro Tools unlimited licence (12 month access to updates and support) starting from 874 € incl. VAT

Users of Pro Tools 12 will also have access to the Marketplace and the Avid Cloud Collaboration. Let’s add that the latter also includes chat and video tools for communicating with your project partners.

The Marketplace, along with offering additional plug-ins and software, also includes a community of artists and professionals who can be contacted as well as project monetization services with a network of potential producers, and copyright and licences management with automatic models.

Avid also announced the release of 17 plug-ins and 9 new bundles, available now at the Avid Marketplace via in-app purchase from Pro Tools. More than 60 plug-ins are now available from Pro Tools | First, Pro Tools and Pro Tools | HD. 

The new bundles are:

• Eleven Effects bundle: 17 AAX Native, DSP and AudioSuite 64-bit effect plug-ins modeled from multiple guitar effect pedal circuits
• Pro Series bundle: 5 famous Avid Pro Series processors in AAX Native, DSP and AudioSuite 64-bit formats in a bundle available for a 50% discounted price (compared to the total price of the plug-ins purchased separately)
• First Distortion, First Reverb Delay, First Guitar Bass, First Modulation, First EQ Dynamics, First AIR Effects and First AIR Instruments bundles include selections of the new Eleven and other Avid plug-ins for Pro Tools First user who need additional mixing tools

Discover Pro Tools 12 at www.avid.com.