Avid Pro Tools

About this release

Pro Tools is the workstation that professional studios standardised on, and the reason is compatibility as much as capability: a session handed from one facility to another opens correctly, with the edits, automation and routing intact. For anyone whose work leaves the building, that matters more than any individual feature.

Editing is the strongest part of the program. Playlists let a dozen takes of the same part stack on one track and comp together by dragging across the best moments, tab to transient moves the cursor by musical event, and elastic audio conforms performances to a grid or to each other without the artefacts that used to make time correction obvious.

The mixer behaves like a console. Buses, sends, inserts, VCA groups, folder tracks and full automation on every parameter, with delay compensation across the whole path so a heavily processed chain stays in time with everything else. Sessions with very high track counts stay manageable because the routing model is built for that scale.

For post production, video plays back in sync on the timeline, session timecode drives the whole project, and the mixing environment handles surround and immersive formats natively. The included plug in bundle covers the everyday work of equalisation, dynamics, reverb, delay, pitch and metering, and the standard plug in formats load third party processors alongside them.

What it does

Playlists and comping

Stack takes on one track and assemble the best performance by dragging across them.

Elastic audio

Conform timing to a grid or between performances without obvious artefacts.

Console style mixer

Buses, sends, VCA groups, folder tracks and full automation with delay compensation.

Post production sync

Video on the timeline with timecode driving the session, and surround mixing built in.

Session portability

Sessions move between facilities with edits, routing and automation intact.

Plug in bundle included

Equalisation, dynamics, reverb, delay, pitch and metering, plus third party plug in support.

Changed in this version

• Lower latency on monitoring paths with heavy plug in chains.
• Faster session open on projects with very high track counts.
• Improved handling of video files on the timeline.
• Additional plug ins added to the bundled set.
• Fixed a graphics stall on high density displays.

System requirements

Install order

1. Unpack the archive.
2. Install the audio interface driver before the application if one is being used.
3. Run the installer, which also places the bundled plug ins.
4. Set the playback engine, buffer size and audio storage folder on first launch.

Worth knowing before you start

File details