Digidesign Software Sequencers

Digidesign's Pro Tools M-Powered 8 is software aimed at small project studio owners just looking to have Pro Tools on their systems. Before M-Powered Pro Tools, you could only run Pro Tools with a Digidesign (now Avid) hardware interface, but with M-Powered it was the first time that you could use another brand's audio interface, and in this case it was M-Audio gear. However, while M-Powered Pro Tools is still around, it's getting a bit obsolete since it's now possible to run Pro Tools 9 with any interface of your choosing, or even as a stand alone application with your iLok. I personally never owned Pro Tools M-Powered since I've always had LE, so I've never been involved with installing it. I do have a few friends who have Pro Tools M-Powered however and I've used it a bit at their home studios. The interface of Pro Tools M-Powered is pretty similar to Pro Tools LE, but you're just more limited in the features that you get. For smaller project studios where you're only working with a limited number of tracks anyway, it will definitely do the job, but it's not really suitable for larger projects since it can really only take you so far. If you're new to Pro Tools in general and just got M-Powered, it's probably a good call to have the manual handy. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE The good thing about Digidesign Pro Tools M-Powered 8 is that can be handled better on lesser systems since it's a slightly less complex software. I don't know what the minimum requirements would be for running this, but as always with Pro Tools you're probably going to want a Mac, although it will run on both. Since I've never had M-Powered Pro Tools I can't say what an adequate system to run it on would be, but I do know that the friend who I've used this with has a regular Mac Book and it seems to work fine, although he doesn't run big sessions. It all just depends on the nature of your use of the software. If you think you might be on the fence, I'd recommend going with Pro Tools LE instead of M-Powered. OVERALL OPINION While not as relevant with the advent of Pro Tools 9, Digidesign's (Avid) Pro Tools M-Powered 8 is a beautiful thing if you were to have an M-Audio audio interface and want to learn how to use Pro Tools. I really see this best as a learning tool and stepping stone to Pro Tools LE and HD, as I wouldn't recommend using M-Powered for anything other than small project and demo sessions. It's simply not designed to handle as much as an LE system could and doesn't have the features to work with to boot. In most cases I'd recommend springing for Pro Tools 9 now, but for those just getting started it's still worth checking out M-Powered Pro Tools.

Great application and glad to see surround. ADC please. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE Good. OVERALL OPINION Its nice to see DIGI catching up to what most sequencers/DAWs have had for quite some time. Am hoping that a real HIGH end, affordable/compact stereo device is added soon so we can track with record quality anywhere in the world and have all the plug ins work fluidly with HD, yet recorded on any laptops. Quad cores will be coming soon, therefore, we would love to see LE have unlimited tracks, ADC and ultra high end and super compact make its way into the mainstream. Cheers, Frank Elliott CEO/Founder Muh Muh Music www.filmtv.biz

Digidesign Pro Tools 7 LE was really easy to install and set up with my Mbox. I have it installed on my PC laptop and there haven't been any compatibility issues to date. I just really followed the steps that came with Pro Tools and it should be easy to get going if you follow the manual. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE I have a Hewlett Packard laptop with a 3.0 Ghz processor and 1 GB Ram and I haven't had too many problems running Pro Tools LE. However, I have a friend who runs it on a mac and it seems to run much better on there. I can record 2 tracks at once with my Mbox and I have had no problems doing that. OVERALL OPINION I've had Pro Tools LE 7 for about a year now and I couldn't be happier. Pro Tools is the industry standard and its great to be able to bring my sessions from home to larger studios and vice versa. I've used other software in the past such as Cubase, Logic and Sonar and while to me they are all really powerful, Pro Tools has been the most user friendly and the most powerful. While you will spend more on a Digidesign interface/Pro Tools software combo than you would from another brand, having the Pro Tools software makes it all worth it for me. Being that it is the industry standard, I don't think that I could work without having a copy of Pro Tools for myself.