Archive for: protools

Versatile Pro Tools 9

There’s not much doubt as to the biggest announcement at this year’s AES Show in San Francisco. As widely rumoured, Avid have reversed their long-standing insistence on tying their Pro Tools software to their own proprietary hardware.

Heading the many eyebrow-raising features in Pro Tools 9 is the ability to make full use of third-party interface hardware using its ASIO and Core Audio drivers. In essence, all you now need to run any version of Pro Tools 9 is an iLok licence: any further Avid hardware is just optional.

It part of the effort to simplify the Pro Tools product range, the previous LE and M-Powered versions have ceased to exist, as have some of the earlier add-on Toolkits. There is now but a single Pro Tools 9, with three options available (the URL below provides detailed comparisons of the new and earlier versions). The basic version replaces LE and M-Powered, and runs natively on Intel Macs with Snow Leopard or PCs with Windows 7 (earlier operating systems are no longer supported). This can be augmented by the new Complete Production Toolkit 2, which adds almost all the Pro Tools HD features that are not dependent on HD hardware. Pro Tools HD 9 remains at the top of the tree — but anyone with an HD 9 licence will now be able to install and run the application natively, again excluding only those features that require HD hardware. This opens up a wealth of new possibilities for HD users, most obviously the ability to record, edit and mix Pro Tools sessions on laptop computers with portable Firewire or USB interfaces.

There’s a lot more to the new release than that, however. Even the basic native version of Pro Tools 9 is now significantly more capable than previous LE and M-Powered releases. Many users have been clamouring for the inclusion of automatic compensation for processing delays caused by plug-in lookahead buffers and routing to external hardware and third-party DSP cards, and this is now standard in all versions of Pro Tools 9. And whereas LE and M-Powered offered a maximum of 18 inputs, Pro Tools 9 provides 32, whether using Avid’s own hardware or via ASIO or Core Audio. Basic track count has been doubled to a whopping 96 mono or stereo tracks, or 192 with the Complete Production Toolkit 2, and there are now 256 buses as standard.

Several other key features that were previously available in native systems only as expensive add-ons are now also standard. These include the full multitrack version of Beat Detective, file interchange using the OMF, AAF and MXF formats, MP3 export and the Timecode ruler. Meanwhile, the first fruits of Avid’s recent acquisition of Euphonix are apparent in the inclusion of support for the Eucon control protocol in all versions of Pro Tools 9.

The addition of the Complete Production Toolkit makes for what is undoubtedly the most powerful native version of Pro Tools yet, adding a number of features that have previously been available only in HD systems. The most notable of these are probably VCA groups, advanced automation and up to 192 audio tracks, but there are plenty of other additions, including support for Avid’s ICON range of controllers.

Pro Tools 9 should be available very soon — boxed versions are expected to ship by November 19th — and will cost £504.95 for the basic version and £1679.95 for the Complete Production Toolkit 2. Needless to say we’ll be reviewing it as soon as we possibly can!

VST Drum Plugins

When it comes to sequencing drum tracks, there are a whole load of different plugins available, for free or otherwise. The first one we’re going to look at is a little home-grown number called MyDrumSet from Norwegian site Blue Noise. It’s a .vst plugin made from recordings of the producer’s Ludwig kit, with separate mic outputs from each drum, as well as a couple of overheads. No strange or fantastic sounds here, but a solid basic drumkit that you can drop in to your tracks.

If you’re unwilling to get your wallet out but you’re looking for something a little less basic, there are loads and loads of other free plugins listed over at the AudioMastermind database. It might take a little sifting, but you’re not going to spend any money.

Working on something with a more live feel? Fully sequenced drums not giving you the juice you need, or just unhappy with the sound you’re able to record? You can replace the drum tracks you’ve got with sounds from this plugin – Drumagog which uses the existing drum hits as triggers for the sounds in it’s databank (which contains 4 gig worth of samples), retaining the rhythm and feel of anything you’ve recorded but replacing the sound.

Next up is the number 2 application on the market, Toontrack’s Superior Drummer – this is the second version of their DFH Superior software, and they’ve made significant improvements to the graphic user interface, and the detailed control you have over your mix. Sound-On-Sound has this to say about it:

Unfortunately there’s not a demo version for you to try out, and this product does have a pretty hefty price tag on it unless you’re of a piratical bent, which we certainly can’t condone.

If you’re considering spending $400 on a new plugin synth then you should also take a look at FXpansion’s BFD2. This is the Ferrari of plugins, offering you a vast battery of sounds, principally recorded at Hampstead’s phenomenal looking AIR studios, it’s also got a load of dedicated EQ’s filters and other gubbins built in. It’s getting massively good reviews all over, and there are some sample tracks mixed using the plugin on their product listing page that demonstrate what it can do.