• Avid Pro Tools 9 System Requirements
• Avid Pro Tools 9 Crack Windows 7

Comments about Avid Pro Tools 9 + Mbox Pro - 3rd Gen: This is a terrible machine. This is the 4th mbox I have owned over the years, and I have never had any problems with any of my mboxes (and have never known any of my friends to have problems with them) until this series came out. Pro Tools 9 is the newest version aimed at the consumer market, featuring an array of software and hardware options to fit your recording needs. At its core is the completely re-architected version of the software, which allows you to work with or without an interface for the first time, whether from Avid or a compatible unit from an. Shop for Avid - Mbox Pro with Pro Tools 9 at Best Buy. Find low everyday prices and buy online for delivery or in-store pick-up.

This kit pairs the Pro Tools 9 production platform with the Mbox Pro audio interface.
Mbox Pro
Record, edit, and mix performances”with high audio resolutions”using the professional-grade Mbox Pro desktop audio interface. Easily connect mics, instruments, outboard effects, monitors, and other analog, digital, and/or MIDI gear with your computer to capture and create studio-quality productions.
Just pair Mbox Pro with your favorite audio recording or music creation software such as the included Pro Tools 9, Logic, Live, Fruity Loops, Cubase, and more. No matter what you choose, you™ll always sound amazing, as Mbox Pro was designed by the same team who created Avid's top-of-the-line Pro Tools HD Series interfaces, giving you the sonic clarity of interfaces costing much more.
Avid's top-of-the line, the Mbox Pro (3rd Gen) is a 24-bit/192kHz, 8x8 FireWire interface offering exceptional sound quality. It has 4 XLR mic inputs with 48V phantom power, 4 - 1/4' TRS line inputs, 6 balanced outputs and 2 unbalanced Alt line outputs, 2 - 1/4' headphone outs, onboard DSP, and an assignable Pro Tools multifunction button. Among numerous professional features, the Mbox Pro's line inputs bypass the preamps, ensuring a clean signal path so you can use your favorite high-end preamps.
All the ins and outs you need”and more
Because you can work with up to eight inputs and eight outputs simultaneously, Mbox Pro is ideal for recording yourself and a small band or ensemble. Connect mics, instruments, line-level equipment, MIDI gear, and digital devices to the wide array of analog and digital I/O. You can also add your favorite outboard signal processors to your mixes using the four insert jacks, attach a footswitch to control punch ins/outs, and maintain perfect sync with other digital devices through Word Clock I/O.
Work the way you want
Get the flexibility to work in more ways than ever. Use Mbox Mini with the included Pro Tools 9 for maximum speed and ease, and get total session compatibility with Pro Tools studios worldwide. Or get superior performance when you use Mbox with any Core Audio- or ASIO-compatible software, such as Logic, Live, Record, Reason, Digital Performer, Fruity Loops, Cubase, Nuendo, Sonar, and more.
Create effortlessly with extras
Mbox Pro comes packed with advanced features making it even easier to get great results. Tune your guitar, bass, and other instruments using the integrated guitar tuner. Prevent distortion when tracking louder sources using the same professional-grade soft-clip limiter found in Avid's Pro Tools HD Series interfaces. You can set up more pleasing cue mixes with reverb using the onboard DSP too.
Pro Tools 9
Pro Tools 9 redefines one of the world's most popular, most advanced music and audio production platform with a completely re-architected, open version of Pro Tools software, giving you what many users of past versions have asked for”and so much more.
Work with an audio interface”or without. Create bigger, better-sounding mixes with more tracks, Automatic Delay Compensation, and other pro features”all included as standard. Open your workflow to projects created in other audio and video software”and to the entire Avid Artist Series and Pro Series (formerly Euphonix) console/controller line. With Pro Tools 9, you can compose, record, sequence, edit, and mix the way you want in more ways than ever.
Capture Your Creativity
Work the way you want
With Pro Tools 9, you get more recording flexibility than ever. Connect mics and instruments and get multitrack audio recording capabilities when you pair Pro Tools software with your favorite Avid audio interface or third-party Core Audio- or ASIO-compatible interface. Record virtual instrument performances through a MIDI keyboard or controller, or record and create music and audio with just your computer and the software alone for ultimate portability.
Capture high-quality sound
Whether you're tracking vocals, guitars, voiceovers, sound effects, or an orchestra, or recording virtual instrument performances, enjoy great-sounding audio without compromise. Capture high-resolution audio”up to 24-bit/192kHz”when you use an Avid or third-party audio interface with Pro Tools software. And get best-in-class sound with the included groundbreaking virtual instruments.
Nail the right performance
Let your spontaneity shine. Use Loop recording to record multiple takes of a performance on the same track, one after the other, to keep things flowing when you're in the zone”great for guitar solos or voiceovers. You can also create complex drum tracks using it with MIDI Merge, enabling you to build up tracks by merging new beats into the same region with each recording pass.
Punch your way to perfection
Nobodys perfect, but with Pro Tools 9 you can create seamless performances with nondestructive QuickPunch or TrackPunch. Quickly fix mistakes in audio tracks as Pro Tools punches in and out of record mode, replacing the questionable section as you perform with the playback. For easier file management (and the truly confident) use DestructivePunch to maintain a single audio file”no matter how many punches you do.
Slow down and record comfortably
Having trouble keeping up? With Pro Tools, you can pull off technically challenging parts by slowing down the session tempo, recording the performance at a more comfortable pace, and playing it back at normal speed”Elastic Time and Pitch will keep things in tune. You can also create interesting effects recording at normal speed and then playing back at different speeds.
Stretch your creativity with Elastic Time and Pitch
Freely experiment without the time or effort investment. With Elastic Time, you can change the tempo or timing of any music or sound file”or an entire composition”on the fly, without cutting up a single sample of audio. With Elastic Pitch, you can fix wrong notes, create harmonies, and transpose regions”in real time”without altering the tempo.
Make changes on-the-fly
Forget having to manually stop and restart playback to make changes to your mix or configuration”instead, you can make many common changes on the fly in Pro Tools 9 during playback. Create and edit regions, add or remove tracks, copy inserts and sends, change I/O routing, and more”all changes will dynamically update in real time.
Craft sound with precision
Shape and fine-tune your audio, instrument, and MIDI tracks with professional, sample-accurate audio editing tools. Create a flawless performance by comping together tracks from multiple takes. Get more flexibility when importing tracks with the full Import Session Data dialog. Speed up editing with the Smart Tool. Place sounds perfectly in sync with picture. Smooth transitions with crossfades. Everything you need to perfect your tracks is available right from within a single Edit window.
Get where you need to go fast
Instantly navigate to one or more sections within your session to speed up your editing and mixing workflow. Simply set location markers at specific points in the timeline, edit selections, or even a set of track display settings, and you can quickly recall each specific location at any time with a simple keyboard shortcut, ensuring Pro Tools keeps up with your pace.
Join groups for easy editing and rearranging
Easily rearrange songs, edit loops, and make global changes across multiple tracks in one fell swoop by grouping audio and/or MIDI regions together as a Region Group. For more complex sessions with lots of automation, create VCA groups in Pro Tools HD software or Pro Tools 9 with the Complete Production Toolkit 2 option, giving you another level of gain control over groups that already have automation.
Snoop out grooves with multitrack Beat Detective
Start things off on the right beat with Beat Detective, a powerful tool that enables you to analyze and adjust timing across multiple tracks. Quickly tighten up uneven drum performances. Change up the feel or groove of a beat, and keep your rhythm section 'in the pocket' by extracting the timing and groove from a drumbeat and applying that groove template to the bass part.
Unrivaled Audio Mixing
Achieve the best mixes possible automatically
Get great-sounding, phase-accurate mixes with Automatic Delay Compensation (ADC). Mix in stereo or up to 7.1 surround (with Pro Tools HD 9 or Pro Tools 9 and the Complete Production Toolkit 2 option). And automate every element in the Pro Tools environment (rather than 'riding the faders' in real time) to add life and ensure the best mix”from track volumes, mute, and panning, to every plug-in parameter.
Get the sounds you want with Pro Tools plug-ins
Create better sounding mixes using the collection of included sound-processing, effects, and instrument plug-ins”you can insert up to 10 plug-ins per track. And expand your creative palette with plug-ins from Avid and our Pro Tools Development Partners for almost anything you can imagine”from instruments to EQs, compressors, reverbs, amp emulators, noise reducers, surround encoding, and more.
Grab control of your mix
You can use a mouse to make changes one at a time, or mix faster and easier using a hardware control surface. Get unrivaled, fully integrated, hands-on Pro Tools control with a choice of Avid control surfaces to fit your needs and budget, including ICON consoles and C 24; full EUCON integration with MC Mix, MC Control, MC Pro, System 5-MC, System 5, and more; and third-party control surfaces.
Make Music
No instrument? No problem
Easily create parts for practically any musical instrument using great-sounding virtual instruments, a MIDI keyboard/controller or your mouse, and the built-in Pro Tools MIDI Editor. Get started with the included virtual instruments and audio loops, and expand your arsenal with virtual instruments from Avid and third-party audio designers.
Get inspired with full MIDI and compositional tools
Take your songwriting from sketchpad to final production. Assign key signatures, create and move notes, transpose pitches, build dynamics, rearrange sections, and sculpt every note to perfection in the MIDI Editor. You can also view all MIDI parameters simultaneously for easier editing. and make your mixes shine by adding effects and automation.
Notate music with the Sibelius Score Editor
Compose and print professional music scores using the Sibelius Score Editor, which offers a wide range of standard notation tools. Generate ideas quickly with realtime note placement and editing, and change the meter, key signature, and more on-the-fly. Add chord symbols and diagrams. Transcribe MIDI parts in real time. Even export sessions as Sibelius (.sib) files for further finessing in Sibelius.
Work and collaborate on music from other audio apps
Collaboration has never been easier. With Pro Tools, you can exchange sessions with any Pro Tools user or studio. But you can also edit, remix, or even revisit projects created in other audio software”such as Logic, Cubase, Digital Performer, Sonar, Live, Reason, and other third-party apps”right in Pro Tools using built-in OMF/AAF/MXF interchange support, ReWire compatibility, or MP3 export.
Create, Edit, and Mix Audio for Post
Streamline the audio/video workflow
Work faster and easier with video using professional tools”now included as standard. Easily import and export projects to and from Pro Tools through built-in OMF/AAF/MXF interchange support. Keep track of all project assets and create and share custom catalogs with the robust DigiBase Pro file management. You can seamlessly move and share projects between the editorial and mix stage, with full compatibility, using a single automation system.
Create and cut sound to picture
With Pro Tools, you can create, edit, and mix audio to picture, with sample-accurate precision, using the built-in Time Code Ruler and support for one or up to 64 video tracks. Clean up production sound, and create sound effects and elements that define (or defy) reality. Record voiceovers, Foley, and ADR with perfect-frame accuracy. Easily execute and play back edits nondestructively using single-key edit commands.
Mix stereo and surround
Easily create larger-than-life mixes that move across the stereo field using advanced automation and variable stereo pan depths
Integrate directly into the Avid video workflow
Speed up workflow efficiency and eliminate the need for rendering effects, transcoding video, or copying Avid video files for audio post. With the Video Satellite option, you can instantly open and play Avid HD or SD video sequences in sync with your Pro Tools session (Pro Tools HD only). And because all video playback is offloaded onto a separate but synced computer, you maintain full Pro Tools audio track counts and processing power.

Features

• Get topnotch sound quality and performance with professional-grade circuitry and premium audio conversion
• Capture and mix studio-quality sessions, with up to 24-bit/192 kHz audio resolution
• 
  Connect and control your gear with:
• 8 x 8 simultaneous channels of I/O
• Four mic inputs (two XLR mic/DI combo, two XLR) with professional-grade mic preamps, 48V phantom power, and high-pass filters
• Four 1/4' TRS line-level inputs
• Two unbalanced Alt line-level inputs (two RCA, one stereo mini 1/8')
• Six balanced 1/4' TRS line-level outputs
• Two 1/4' stereo headphone outputs with discrete volume controls
• Stereo S/PDIF digital I/O
• One MIDI input, one MIDI output
• Word Clock I/O
• Monitor control section with Mono, Mute, Dim, Alt Source, and Speaker A/B/C switching controls
• Dedicated monitor volume knob
• Use Mbox Pro with your favorite recording/music creation software, including Pro Tools, Logic, Live, Cubase, and more
• Track hotter signals without clipping with the soft-clip limiter
• Ensure your instruments are in tune with the built-in guitar tuner
• Connect up to three pairs of speakers for A/B monitoring or monitor 5.1 surround
• Set up flexible cue mixing and reverb effects with the onboard DSP
• Get fast and easy desktop connectivity through FireWire

• Pro Tools 9.0 provides a single, unified installer for Pro Tools and Pro Tools HD
• New Pro Tools 9.0 PACE copy protection with iLok USB key (included)

• Support for Core Audio hardware (including Mac built-in audio) with supported Core Audio drivers installed
• Support for ASIO hardware with supported ASIO drivers installed

• Current Engine setting for selecting which audio engine to use
• Pro Tools Aggregate I/O option for using
• the built in audio on Mac
• Delay Compensation settings for all versions of Pro Tools

• Ability to select Core Audio and ASIO interfaces
• Launch Setup Application command for Core Audio and ASIO audio interfaces

• Increased number of audio and MIDI tracks
• Increased number of internal mix busses
• New Track and Send Output selector commands for faster, simplified signal routing and mixer configuration Multiple Stereo Pan Depth options
• 7.1 and 7.0 standard HD surround formats (Pro Tools HD and Pro Tools with Complete Production Toolkit 2 only)
• Support for EUCON for controlling Pro Tools with EUCON-aware control surfaces

• Advanced Import Session Data (formerly Pro Tools HD only, or Pro Tools LE with DV Toolkit 2 or Complete Production Toolkit only)
• Import AAF and OMF sequences (formerly with the DigiTranslator 2.0 option only)
• New AAF import features and enhancements:
• Ability to import stereo AAF audio tracks
• Ability to import RTAS plug-in data from AAF sequences
• New Locators To Import setting for importing locators from Media Composer“generated AAF sequences
• Export AAF and OMF sequences (formerly with the DigiTranslator 2.0 option only)
• Avid Interplay Support with Mac
• Ability to check data into and out of Avid Interplay directly with the Interplay Access browser
• Export MP3 (formerly with the MP3 Export option only)
• Export Session as Text (formerly Pro Tools HD only)

• Session and System settings
• Output and internal mix busses
• Ability to Import I/O Settings by page
• Overlapping Paths
• Improved session interchange

• Advanced search features
• DigiBase Catalogs

• Auto-Scrolling tracks in the Mix and Edit windows
• Advanced Beat Detective features:
• Separate multiple tracks
• Collection mode

• Delay Compensation option
• Delay Compensation Engine
• Delay Compensation view
• Low Latency Monitoring During Recording
• Delay Compensation on Auxiliary Input tracks
• Delay Compensation for MIDI
• H/W Insert Delay (Compensation)

• Timebase Rulers:
• Time Code Ruler
• Secondary Time Code Ruler
• Feet+Frames
• Ability to set Time Code and Feet+Frame rates
• Ability to redefine Time Code Position
• Ability to redefine Current Feet+Frames Position
• Use Subframes option for Go To command
• Pull Up and Pull Down commands:
• Audio Rate Pull Up/Down
• Video Rate Pull Up/Down

• Mic Pre Peripherals
• Mic Pre I/O Setup
• Mic PRE view
• Mic Preamp window

• Complete Production Toolkit 2

• 96 voices (simultaneous audio playback)
• 32 audio record (simultaneous)
• 64 instruments
• 512 MIDI
• 160 Aux tracks
• 256 Busses
• 1 Video

• Automatic Delay Compensation (ADC)
• Beat Detective (multitrack)
• AAF/OMF/MXF file interchange
• Core Audio/ASIO support (up to 32 channels)
• MP3 export
• Plug-in support: RTAS/AudioSuite
• Destructive Record
• QuickPunch

• Time Code Ruler
• Variable stereo pan depths
• Surround mixing (stereo only)

• Big Fish Audio 8GB sound library
• Boom drum machine and sequencer
• DB-33 tonewheel organ emulator with rotating speaker simulation
• Mini Grand acoustic grand piano
• Vacuum monophonic vacuum tube synthesizer
• Xpand!2 multitimbral synth and sample workstation

• 1-Band EQ III
• 4-Band EQ III
• 7-Band EQ III
• AIR Chorus
• AIR Distortion
• AIR Dynamic Delay
• AIR Enhancer
• AIR Ensemble
• AIR Filter Gate
• AIR Flanger
• AIR Frequency Shifter
• AIR FuzzWah
• AIR KillEQ
• AIR Lo-Fi
• AIR MultiChorus
• AIR Multi-Delay
• AIR Nonlinear Reverb
• AIR Phaser
• AIR Reverb
• AIR Spring Reverb
• AIR StereoWidth
• AIR Talkbox
• AIR Vintage Filter
• BF76 Compressor 1176 emulator
• BF Essential Clip Remover
• BF Essential Correlation Meter phase fixer
• BF Essential Meter Bridge VU metering
• BF Essential Noise Meter
• Chorus
• Click
• Compressor/Limiter
• D-Verb reverb and ambience
• DC Offset Removal
• De-Esser
• Delay
• DigiReWire
• Dither
• Duplicate
• Eleven Free (guitar amp emulator based on Eleven)
• Expander/Gate
• Extra Long Delay II
• Flanger
• Gain
• Invert
• Lo-Fi retro processing
• Long Delay II
• Maxim sound maximizer
• Medium Delay II
• Multi-Tap Delay
• Normalize
• Ping-Pong Delay
• Pitch
• Pitch Shift
• POWr Dither
• Recti-Fi harmonic synthesis
• Reverse
• SansAmp tube amp simulator
• Sci-Fi ring modulator
• Signal Generator
• Short Delay II
• Slap Delay II
• Time Compression Expansion
• Time Shift time/pitch stretching
• TL AutoPan panning effects
• TL InTune digital tuner
• TL MasterMeter oversampling meter
• TL Metro versatile metronome
• Trim
• Vari-Fi speed shifter

• Mbox (3rd gen.) / Mbox 2
• Mbox Mini (3rd gen.) / Mbox 2 Mini
• Mbox Pro (3rd gen.) / Mbox 2 Pro

• 003 / Digi 002
• 003
• 003 Rack
• 003 Rack+
• Digi 002
• Digi 002 Rack
• Eleven Rack
• Any 3rd-party Core Audio- or ASIO-compatible interface

• C 24
• Command 8
• EUCON-enabled MC Mix
• ICON D-Control ES
• Any 3rd-party analog or digital surface that supports the HUI protocol

• Avid-qualified Mac or PC (see the latest supported computers)
• Audio recording/music creation software (Core Audio, ASIO, WDM, MME, and multi-client drivers included; audio software not included)
• One available FireWire port for Mbox Pro connection
• * Please note that other minimum system requirements (such as the operating system, memory, and hard disk space) will be dependent on the software you choose to use with Mbox Pro.

• Interface: Works with ASIO, Core Audio, WDM, MME, and multi-client drivers

• Maximum audio resolution: 24-bit/192 kHz
• Connection type: FireWire (includes power supply)

• Total simultaneous channels of I/O: 8/8
• Simultaneous analog I/O: 6/6
• Mic preamps: 4
• Inserts: 4
• Instrument DI (Direct Input): 2
• Digital I/O: S/PDIF (2 channels)
• MIDI I/O: 1/1

• Onboard DSP effects
• Built-in guitar tuner
• Phantom power (48V)
• Soft-clip limiter: 4 (on mic preamps)
• Assignable software control button
• Monitor controls: Mono, Dim, Mute

• Alternate source inputs with multiple monitor switching
• Word Clock I/O
• Stereo headphone output: 2 (1/4') with discrete volume controls
• Footswitch Input

• Computer: Avid-qualified Intel-based Mac running Mac OS X 10.6.2 or higher (32- or 64-bit)
• 15GB free hard disk space for Pro Tools installation
• One available FireWire port for Mbox Pro connection
• One available USB ports for iLok connections
• iLok USB Smart Key (included, for software authorization)
• System Software: Snow Leopard: Mac OS X 10.6.2, 10.6.3, or 10.6.4 (32 or 64-bit)*
• Total System RAM: 2GB minimum, 4GB or more recommended
• *Pro Tools 9.0 and 9.01 have not been qualified with Mac OS X 10.6.7 and higher

Avid Pro Tools 9 System Requirements

• Computer: Avid-qualified Windows-based computer
• System Software: Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, or Ultimate (32 or 64-bit)
• 15 GB free hard disk space for Pro Tools installation
• One available FireWire port for Mbox Pro connection
• One available USB ports for iLok connections
• iLok USB Smart Key (included, for software authorization)
• Total System RAM: 2GB minimum, 4GB or more recommended
• *Windows 7 Service Pack 1 is officially qualified with Pro Tools 9.0.2 and 9.0.3

• Avid Audio Interfaces and Peripherals
• Audio Drive Requirements: One or More Hard Disk Drives Dedicated for Audio Record and Playback
• System Hard Drive: Minimum 15GB free space on startup drive required for Pro Tools installation
• Graphics Card: Dedicated Graphics Card highly recommended
• Video Peripherals
• Third Party Audio Interfaces

• Software >DAW >Pro Tools

For the first time ever, Avid have made the full Pro Tools feature set available on native systems — and you don't even need one of their interfaces to run it!

It's official. Hell has frozen over. This year's AES show in San Francisco saw the announcement most of us thought we'd never hear: Avid, for so long the most insular manufacturer in the business, were embracing openness. No longer would their market‑leading Pro Tools DAW be tied to Avid's own hardware; from now on it would work with any interface that supported the ASIO or Core Audio driver protocols, from the Apogees and Prisms of this world to the built‑in inputs and outputs of a cheap laptop.

Avid Pro Tools 9 Crack Windows 7

And that wasn't all. Users of the more affordable native Pro Tools packages, LE and M‑Powered, had long griped about the artificial limitations that kept those packages feature‑poor in comparison with Pro Tools HD. At a stroke, Pro Tools 9 removes nearly all of these — and with the addition of the new Complete Production Toolkit 2, a native system can acquire all the features of an HD rig apart from those that are hardware‑dependent, making such gems as VCA groups and advanced automation available to native users for the first time.

How We Got Here

Things have come a long way since I joined Sound On Sound back in 1998. Then, the very idea that anyone might actually buy a Pro Tools system for the software would have seemed laughable to many. TDM systems represented an affordable and very popular way to get multitrack audio in and out of a computer, and to run DSP‑assisted plug‑ins, but most studios ran Logic or other third‑party software as a 'front end', and the Pro Tools installers gathered dust in a drawer somewhere.

Over the last decade or so, Digidesign and now Avid have done a remarkable job of reversing that situation, to the point where other DAWs such as Nuendo and Logic now incorporate numerous features that originated in Pro Tools. You could point to several milestones along that path. First came Pro Tools Free, a free 'taster' version of the software that would work with a Mac's built‑in hardware. Then came the Digi 001, the Mbox and a succession of other affordable native versions, successful ports of the Pro Tools software to Windows and Mac OS X, and the acquisition of M‑Audio. Meanwhile, at the high end, there was the transition from Pro Tools Mix to Pro Tools HD, and the introduction of the hugely powerful Icon control surfaces.

Download songs of heroine movie. The software itself has also undergone radical overhauls in that time, yet unlike some DAWs, Pro Tools has managed to retain the core simplicity and elegance of its two‑window approach. Its strengths in audio recording, mixing and editing have been enhanced, while Avid have worked hard to make it competitive in areas such as MIDI sequencing, where it was previously less able than rival DAWs. The last major update, to Pro Tools 8, thus introduced a huge number of improvements focusing on the 'music creation' side of things. These have, no doubt, helped to make the program more appealing to newcomers, but above all, it's the dominance of Pro Tools in professional recording and mixing circles that has fuelled its desirability further down the ladder.

The problem is that this desirability has, until now, been tempered by a fair number of frustrations. By version 8, the Pro Tools native range had become fragmented and confusing, with separate LE and M‑Powered versions augmented by numerous add‑on Toolkits, and some of the features that Avid kept HD‑only were almost universal in rival DAWs. The restriction of having to use Avid's own hardware was also becoming acute.

Enter a new management regime at Avid and a shift from 'engineering led' to 'customer focused' development. At recent industry events, Avid have been keen to emphasise that the opening up of Pro Tools 9 is not a reluctant move, but one that reflects a sea change in corporate culture. (This, apparently, has involved a shift to an 'agile development' model, in which their engineers become 'pigs' or 'chickens' and are divided into 'scrum teams'. No, me neither.) The development of Pro Tools 9 was thus driven by a public wish-list that Avid have posted and maintained at http://protools.ideascale.com. Among the most in‑demand features were delay compensation, ASIO and Core Audio support, HD features on laptops, and higher input and track counts in native systems — and so that's what we've got.

For Pro Tools LE users, it all sounds a bit too good to be true. After all, Avid were the company who used to demand an extra 20 dollars just so we could bounce an MP3 file. Surely there would be some catch, some hidden limitation that would ensure third‑party hardware and native operation remained the poor relations?

Nine Lives, One DVD

The Pro Tools 9 product range is refreshingly simple. There are no longer separate LE and M‑Powered versions, just a single product with a single installer disc. As before, those who have an HD system get all the features. Those who have the basic Pro Tools 9 licence get slightly fewer — albeit many more than in LE or M‑Powered — but, by buying the optional Complete Production Toolkit 2, can get the full feature set except for features that are dependent on HD hardware, such as TDM plug‑in support. All versions are now authorised to iLok, and a Pro Tools 9 HD licence will authorise the full Complete Production Toolkit 2 on a native system — so many HD users will no longer need to buy a separate LE system to work on the road.

Avid provide a helpful comparison chart listing the features of the three different systems, and their counterparts in Pro Tools 8, at www.avid.com/us/products/family/Pro‑Tools/compare. I won't reproduce it in detail here, but will highlight a few key points. For anyone running Pro Tools on HD hardware, changes are relatively few. Compared with Pro Tools LE, however, the basic native Pro Tools 9 is a lot more powerful. As well as getting ASIO and Core Audio support plus full delay compensation, users can record up to 32 simultaneous inputs on 96 mono or stereo tracks, employ up to 256 mixer buses, and use the timecode ruler and the full multitrack version of Beat Detective. AAF/OMF/MXF import and export, and MP3 export, are now included as standard. And, as previously mentioned, the Complete Production Toolkit 2 unlocks the full HD feature set, giving you surround mixing, VCA groups and advanced automation among other joys. However, the additional plug‑ins that came with the old Music Production Toolkit 2, such as Hybrid and Smack! LE, are not included, and are only available as separate products.

ASIO For All

I tested Pro Tools 9, with the Complete Production Toolkit 2, on both Mac and PC. In both cases, you'll need an up‑to‑date OS. Mac OS 10.6 'Snow Leopard' is required on Apple machines, and Pro Tools 9 is only officially supported under Windows 7 on PCs. There have been reports on the Web of users successfully installing it under XP, but for review purposes I thought it fairer to use an approved system, so made a fresh installation of Windows 7 Home Premium on my Dell laptop. (This is a 32‑bit machine, and Pro Tools itself remains a 32‑bit application for the time being.)

In look and feel, Pro Tools 9 is exactly like version 8, and it's not until you investigate hidden corners of the Playback Engine and Hardware Setup dialogues that the new features become apparent. The only major one that is actually new, rather than inherited from HD8, is the one most responsible for the current chilly temperature in Hades: support for the ASIO and Core Audio driver protocols. On my Windows machine, I was able to test Pro Tools 9 with one of Avid's new Mbox 3 USB2 interfaces, a Zoom R16 and a Native Instruments Rig Kontrol 2, both of which also connect via USB2, and a Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 Firewire interface. On the Mac, I had access to an older Mbox 2, an NI Rig Kontrol 3 and an RME UFX, both of which I connected via USB2.The sight we thought we'd never see: Pro Tools' Playback Engine now supports ASIO (right) and Core Audio (below) devices.

Where an Avid interface such as the Mbox is connected, Pro Tools chooses it by default, and appears to work exactly as Pro Tools 8 did. Enter the Playback Engine dialogue and click on the topmost pop‑up menu, however, and you'll get the option to switch to any of the other audio devices attached to the system. On the Mac, these include an aggregate driver that is created automatically when Pro Tools 8 is installed.

You don't have to do too much mucking about with ASIO devices to realise that Pro Tools' support is not yet as elegant as that of most rivals. Switching to a different audio device requires the closing and reopening of your Session, as does making changes in your audio hardware's control panel software. Pro Tools also seems unable to dictate sample-rate changes to hardware, so I had to quit and make them in the control panel instead. The Playback Engine dialogue lets you set the buffer size, but only supports a comparatively limited range of options: 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024 and 2056. If your interface doesn't offer any of these, Pro Tools will quit in a puff of indignation.

Of the interfaces I tested, this immediately ruled out the Rig Kontrol 2: its Windows drivers set buffer sizes in milliseconds rather than samples, and don't appear to have any compatible settings. More of a concern was the Zoom R16, which does offer 256, 512 and 1024‑sample options, but refused to cooperate at all with Pro Tools 9. Unlike most interfaces, its control panel still allows you to change the buffer size even when it's in use by another application. This really freaked Pro Tools out, but even when both were correctly set to the same buffer size, all I could manage was occasional, horribly garbled audio output (which, for once, wasn't down to my singing).

Thankfully, however, it was a different story with the Saffire Pro 40, which worked fine.Up to 32 inputs are supported in the basic Pro Tools 9. Here I've configured the I/O Setup Window to use everything that's available on my Saffire Pro 40. I was able to keep the Saffire MixControl utility open at the same time as Pro Tools, allowing me to create monitor mixes and so forth, and all of the Pro 40's inputs and outputs were visible (and audible!) in Pro Tools. Moving faders and so on within MixControl didn't seem to upset Pro Tools, but more fundamental changes, such as switching to a different clock source, usually provoked the demand to close and reopen my Session. Fairly regularly during the review period, I got this message even when I hadn't made any changes myself, so perhaps MixControl was doing something in the background that Pro Tools didn't like. There were also a couple of occasions when everything looked to be working but no sound emerged until I quit and relaunched Pro Tools. In general, however, it was stable enough to use and never fell over during recording, though it was not as reliable as Cubase is on my system.

I had less time to test things on the Mac, but encountered no problems in that period. Both the Rig Kontrol and UFX required a few visits to the I/O Setup window to get sound out, but once set up, it seemed to work well.

The addition of ASIO and Core Audio support makes sense of the changes that were made to the I/O Setup window in Pro Tools 8.1 HD, which are now standard in all versions. Tracks are now routed to outputs via buses (hence the need for more buses), and I/O Setup configurations can now be stored with the system as well as with a Session, making Sessions more easily interchangeable between systems.

Something that's perhaps worth mentioning in passing is that when placing your recordings on the timeline, Pro Tools compensates for delays caused by buffering, but not for the small additional delay caused by A‑D conversion, meaning that in absolute terms your recordings end up a few tens of samples late (27 samples, in the case of the Saffire Pro 40). If you care about this, Cubase, Sonar and most other DAWs let you enter an offset value in samples, and will automatically slip your recordings by this amount when placing them on the timeline. Pro Tools currently doesn't.

Monitor Matters

For those considering a move from another DAW, it's also worth flagging up a point about how Pro Tools handles input monitoring. In most DAWs, such as Cubase and Reaper, input monitoring is independent of track arming. In other words, you can record‑enable a track without enabling input monitoring on that track. And when you're using a separate low‑latency monitor-mixing utility, such as Saffire MixControl or RME's TotalMix, that's exactly what you want to do. Because you're hearing the input signal directly through said utility, you don't need to hear it again through your DAW; but when you hit play in your DAW, you do want to hear the track you've just recorded.

In Pro Tools, by contrast, track arming and input monitoring are the same thing. If you record‑enable a track, you will hear its input through Pro Tools, regardless of whether you're already hearing it through MixControl or TotalMix or whatever. Unless, that is, you mute the track to which you're recording, or lower its fader — in which case you'll have to remember to unmute it on playback, then mute it again for the next take, and so on. This is a nuisance, especially when you're recording multiple inputs (in which case it's worth making them into a Mix Group so you can mute and unmute them all with one click).

I've been whingeing about this in Pro Tools reviews ever since the launch of the original Mbox in 2002, and in the context of Pro Tools 9 it's probably now my number one gripe. Some of Avid's own interfaces, including the Mbox 3, support Pro Tools' Low Latency Monitoring mode, which makes things a bit more friendly, but this doesn't show up as an option when you're using an ASIO or Core Audio interface.

Forever Delayed

If I had a pound for every time someone on the Internet has said that Pro Tools LE was 'unusable” because it didn't have plug‑in delay compensation, I could have bought Avid and implemented it myself. I'm not quite sure how this piece of received wisdom became so entrenched. After all, thousands of hit records were made on older TDM systems without delay compensation — where its absence is much more noticeable, because every single plug‑in introduces a delay. On LE systems, it's only a problem where plug‑ins use lookahead, or where audio needs to be routed out to an external processor or DSP card. As far as I'm aware, none of Avid's bundled plug‑ins causes any delay whatsoever, and nor do the majority of third‑party ones, so personally, I've never felt it to be a deal‑breaker.

Still, the Internet is a powerful medium, and delay compensation in native versions of Pro Tools was the number one feature request from users. Avid have duly obliged, and Pro Tools 9 now features the delay compensation engine that was previously available only in HD. It's a tried and tested implementation of the concept, which embraces external hardware as well as plug‑in delays. Plug‑in delay compensation is switched off by default, but a pop‑up menu in the Playback Engine dialogue allows you to select Short (1024‑sample) or Long (4096‑sample) modes. Change the setting and once again you'll have to re‑load your Session, but after that, everything should be fine. To be used as inserts in the mixer, hardware effects have to be attached to the same numbered inputs and outputs, and if you want their delays compensated for, you have to calculate them manually — there's no automated 'pinging' for delays as you find in some other DAWs.

One of the most obvious cases where delay compensation should bring benefits is with DSP plug‑in processing cards such as the Powercore and UAD2. Unfortunately, though, whenever I tried to load a plug‑in from the UAD2 Solo Laptop card on my Windows machine, it caused massive CPU spikes, which made it unusable. This was the case regardless of which audio interface I was using. At the time of writing, the latest version of the UAD2 software (5.7) still uses a wrapper to make its plug‑ins available to Pro Tools, but Universal Audio have announced the development of proper RTAS versions, so hopefully these will make a difference.

Beat That

Like delay compensation, most of the other 'new' features in the basic Pro Tools 9 have been available in HD for quite a while. That doesn't make them any less of a big deal, though, and together they amount to a massive shot in the arm for Pro Tools as a native system. All of them have been described in detail in previous SOS articles, so I won't go into detail, but here's an outline of what you can expect:

Beat Detective is an automated editing tool for knocking wayward drum performances into shape, and although it's quite long in the tooth now, I've yet to find a better alternative. As it happens, just before the review period I had exactly such a performance that I wanted to conform to a rigid tempo grid. By way of experiment, I held a 'quantise‑off' in Pro Tools 8 between Beat Detective and the newer Elastic Audio functionality, which uses time‑stretching rather than chopping and crossfading. All of the Elastic Audio modes compromised the sound to an unacceptable extent, especially on floor toms. Beat Detective required a bit more manual hand‑holding, but was the clear winner in quality terms. The key here is the multi‑track Collection mode, which was previously available only in HD or by buying the Music Production Toolkit.Beat Detective in action. Here, I've just analysed the Snare track and hit 'Add Unique' to combine its triggers with those generated from the Kick track. This allows you to gather together a composite set of 'triggers' — say, from kick and snare drum tracks — and apply them to all your drum tracks simultaneously, thus preserving phase relationships between them. For some reason, the first time I tried this in PT9 it wouldn't let me collect anything, but after that, it worked as expected.

The timecode ruler is a necessity for working with video, and makes basic sound‑to‑picture work possible within Pro Tools 9. For more advanced video work, though, you'll want to add the Complete Production Toolkit 2, which enables HD features such as multiple (up to 64!) video tracks, advanced video editing, and surround sound mixing.

The Complete Production Toolkit 2 also enables VCA groups, a feature derived from large‑format mixing consoles. Assigning a VCA fader to multiple audio tracks in your mix allows you to raise or lower their levels simultaneously with one fader move. You could do this by routing all of their outputs to an auxiliary track, but the VCA approach offers several advantages, perhaps most notably the fact that the wet/dry balance of any tracks with post‑fade aux sends does not change when a VCA fader is moved. The benefits of working in this way may seem subtle at first, but can be substantial in practice. For more on the subject, see Mike Thornton's workshop from September 2008 (/sos/sep08/articles/vcagroups.htm) and Simon Sherbourne's preview of Pro Tools HD 7.2 (/sos/sep06/articles/protools72.htm).The Complete Production Toolkit 2 adds VCA faders and advanced automation features. Here, I have two guitar tracks, each of which has its own volume automation graph. These tracks are, in turn, assigned to a Mix Group controlled by the VCA track below, which has a further layer of automation. The blue lines show the resulting composite automation graph for each track.

Hand in hand with VCA groups comes a slew of advanced automation features, again available for the first time in a native system thanks to the Complete Production Toolkit 2. These are too many and too complex to describe in full here, but include various useful ways to write multiple layers of automation for a single fader, which can later be 'coalesced' to a single curve, plus support for snapshot automation, where settings for the entire Pro Tools mixer, or any subset of its parameters, can be stored and recalled for individual sections of a Session. Again, most of these features were introduced or updated in Pro Tools HD 7.2, so take a look at Simon's preview for more details; suffice it to say that few DAWs can match the power of Pro Tools in this department.

Several other previously HD‑only inclusions merit a mention. Auto‑scrolling between the Edit and Mix windows is now included in all versions of Pro Tools, making it much easier to keep track of where you are in a large Session. Also included as standard are the more powerful version of the Digibase browser, complete with Catalogs, and the Export Session as Text option. Oh, and remote control of Avid's PRE mic preamps is now universal as well, though I don't suppose there are many of these about in native systems.

All In All

Pro Tools 9 is an unusual update, in that nearly all of its 'new' features aren't new at all. Admittedly, support for ASIO and Core Audio is a deal that's about as big as they come, but apart from that, almost everything was already there in HD. It's not hard to think of further additions that might have improved the program for everyone, such as offline bouncing or a 'freeze' function for plug‑ins and instruments, but these will remain the province of rival packages for the time being. Likewise, Pro Tools remains the only major DAW that has not yet been coded natively for 64‑bit operating systems. In practice, this is not an issue unless you need to use large sample libraries, but it probably needs to happen soon.

Nevertheless, by suddenly opening up so much previously HD‑only functionality to native users, Avid have effected the biggest step forward in the history of Pro Tools as a native application. At a stroke, they have removed almost all the frustrations afflicting the many users who wanted or needed to belong to the Pro Tools world, but lacked the budget to go HD. The upgrade to Pro Tools 9 is not cheap, but it is surely worth it: as someone who worked mainly with LE and M‑Powered, I literally jumped for joy when I first saw the feature list, and I can't imagine anyone else in the same position feeling otherwise.

The same is not likely to be true of HD users, though. Unless you want to take advantage of the ability to run a native Pro Tools rig when away from the studio, there's almost nothing in Pro Tools 9 HD that wasn't in 8.1; and let's not forget that many HD users have invested tens of thousands of pounds in Avid hardware over the years. By making almost all HD functionality available in native systems, with third‑party hardware, Avid risk undermining the investment that these loyal customers have made.

For those who have yet to commit to a DAW, meanwhile, Pro Tools 9 changes the landscape completely. Personally, of all the DAWs I've tried, Pro Tools has seemed to me the most intuitive. I do better work in it, and I do it faster. Tastes and working methods vary, but if you too appreciate the simplicity of Pro Tools' two‑window approach and the power of its editing and mixing tools, the fact that you'll be buying into something close to an industry standard could tip the balance. Avid's pricing positions it squarely in the DAW pack: around the same as the full versions of Cubase and Digital Performer and slightly dearer than Logic Pro or Sonar, though if anything, it's perhaps the much cheaper and highly customisable Reaper that can most closely match Pro Tools' functionality. Each of its rivals can boast features that the basic Pro Tools 9 lacks, but the reverse is also true; this is no longer 'crippleware', but a very powerful tool.

While the Core Audio implementation appears pretty solid, ASIO support in Pro Tools 9 still feels a little immature, both in comparison with other applications such as Cubase, and with Avid's own hardware drivers. If you're planning on using a Windows system, check carefully that your preferred audio hardware works properly: the AIR Users' Blog maintains an unofficial list at www.airusersblog.com/pro‑tools‑9‑hardware‑checker/ that may be helpful. But it's already very usable with the right interfaces, and this is such an important and central issue that I'm sure Avid and other manufacturers will be working to improve it. (Focusrite, for example, have already announced that they're working on an RTAS plug‑in that will replicate the Saffire MixControl functionality within Pro Tools.) In other respects, Pro Tools 9 is remarkably free of bugs and teething troubles, because so much of its functionality has already been tried and tested in the HD world.

Having used Pro Tools 9, I'm no longer sceptical about Avid's new corporate openness. In fact, it's exciting to speculate about where it might lead next. VST and Audio Units support? The release of an open RTAS software development kit? Macro support? Full session compatibility with other DAWs? If enough of us say we want it, there's a good chance Avid will implement it. Until then, I'm off for a skate on the River Styx..

New Features That Really Are New

Apart from the ability to work with ASIO and Core Audio drivers, the headline features in Pro Tools 9 are not new as such — it's mostly about cascading previously HD‑only features into the native version of the program. However, there are one or two neat additions that weren't in Pro Tools 8, and a couple of them are really useful.

Top of my list is the 'New Track' routing option that appears when you click on a track send or output slot (right). Previously, if you wanted to set up an auxiliary effect or a group bus, you'd have to manually create an Aux track, then assign an input bus to it — and if you wanted to name that input bus, you'd have to visit the I/O Setup window. Now you can do it all in one go. Select New Track, and Pro Tools will not only ask you what sort of track you want to create, but automatically assign an unused bus to it, and rename that bus into the bargain. Game 7 sins. And, of course, the usual Pro Tools shortcuts apply, so holding down Alt will route all tracks or sends to the new track, and Shift-Alt will route all outputs or sends on selected tracks. So if you want to route all your drum tracks to a stereo auxiliary track, all you need to is select them, hold down Shift and Alt, choose New Track from the pop‑up output selection menu and name the resulting Aux track. Easy peasy. It would be better still if you got the option to automatically solo-safe the new track — perhaps that can be added in a later update.

On the subject of shortcuts, in previous versions of Pro Tools, when you wanted to create a new Playlist on a track, you had to click on a tiny arrow icon in its Edit window track header. Since this is something you need to do often when overdubbing, it was a pain in the neck, and mercifully Avid have now added a keyboard shortcut for 'Create New Playlist on Selected Track'. Goodbye RSI, hello faster working (and the ability to create Playlists from the Mixer window).

Harder to evaluate, but probably more important in the scheme of things, is support for the EuCon protocol. This, as far as Pro Tools users are concerned, is the first fruit of Avid's purchase of Euphonix, and adds welcome new possibilities for hardware control of Pro Tools. Euphonix's well regarded MC Mix and MC Control sit in a largely empty area of the market just above the likes of Avid's Command 8, while their super‑powered System 5 MC is arguably a step up even from Avid's D‑Command and D‑Control. I don't have either, sadly, so was not able to test the EuCon support myself, though I've seen Pro Tools running with a System 5 MC at industry events. EuCon is still an open standard, and although as far as I'm aware there are currently no third‑party controllers that support it, it does offer an interesting alternative to the ageing HUI protocol for other manufacturers. I'm sure it won't be long before there is more choice.

At long last, it's now possible to select different panning laws in Pro Tools (or 'pan depths' as the manual calls them). The default setting in earlier versions of Pro Tools attenuated a mono track by 2.5dB when panned centre; this remains an option, and still seems to be used by all the template Sessions, but Pro Tools 9 defaults to 3dB for blank Sessions, and you can also choose 4.5 and 6dB settings. Expect an avalanche of forum threads saying that Pro Tools 9 'sounds different” to its predecessors.

More specialist improvements include support, in HD and the Complete Production Toolkit 2, for the newish 7.0 and 7.1 surround formats that use side speakers.

Pros

• ASIO and Core Audio support allows Pro Tools to be used with most audio hardware.
• Many previously HD‑only features now available in the basic native version, including delay compensation, timecode ruler and full Beat Detective functionality.
• More tracks, buses and simultaneous inputs.
• Complete Production Toolkit 2 is the closest thing possible to a native system with HD features.
• HD licence now enables users to work on laptops.
• Support for EuCon‑compatible control surfaces.

Cons

• ASIO support not yet as robust as in some DAWs.
• Not all third‑party interfaces are supported, and only certain buffer sizes are compatible.
• Input monitoring still rather inflexible.
• No 64‑bit Pro Tools yet.
• Didn't play nicely with the UAD2 card in review system.
• Offers little for those running HD rigs, and could undermine their investment in Avid hardware.

Summary

Believe the hype: Pro Tools 9 is the biggest thing to happen to the world of native DAWs for a long time, and will make some rival manufacturers very nervous indeed!

information

Avid UK +44 (0)1753 655999.

Avid +1 650 731 6300.

Test Spec

• Pro Tools 9.0 with Complete Production Toolkit 2.
• Dell XPS laptop with 2GHz CPU and 4GB RAM, running Windows 7 Home Premium.
• Apple iMac with 2.16GHz Core 2 Duo CPU and 2.5GB RAM, running Mac OS 10.6.4.
• Interfaces tested: Avid Mbox 3, Focusrite Saffire Pro 40, NI Rig Kontrol 2, Zoom R16 (PC); Avid Mbox 2, RME UFX, NI Rig Kontrol 3 (Mac).