Pro tools

Since 2010 (Pro Tools 9), the division into varieties of the program and its interaction with audio interfaces of various manufacturers, as well as plug-in formats, has been changed.

There are several varieties of Pro Tools complexes (until 2010) that use different hardware:
Pro Tools | HD - use specialized Digidesign HD Core and HD Accel expansion cards, which basically process the digitized audio signal in almost real time. Using DSP (digital sound processors) allows you to reduce the latency of the processed signal to a negligible amount (of the order of several tens of samples), which provides unmatched convenience and flexibility of the Pro Tools | HD system for recording. In addition, the use of DSP frees the CPU (central processing unit of the computer) from the enormous load of converting the audio signal and increases significantly the speed and reliability of the whole system. This is the only solution that can be used in pro applications. Other options are budget cards for home use.
Pro Tools M-Powered - use sound cards (external audio interfaces ) manufactured by M-Audio and are Host-based systems (processing sound using CPU resources), in which the card is just an input-output device. The main drawback of Host-based systems is the presence of a large (very noticeable by ear) latency due to the need to drive large blocks of audio signal into the RAM so that the CPU can process them qualitatively. As a result of this factor, the low cost of Pro Tools M-Powered “goes sideways” when recording “live” instruments and voices, which automatically transfers this system to the “for home use” category.
Pro Tools LE - use sound cards (external audio interfaces ) manufactured by Digidesign and are also Host-based systems, with all their inherent disadvantages and those described above.

All versions of the Pro Tools system use adapted hardware versions of the same software. The consequence of this is the full compatibility and portability of projects to different versions of Pro Tools.

Pro Tools | HD1 - the basic configuration of the line. It consists of software and one HD Core card, available in PCI and PCI-Express options. HD Core supports 32 I / O channels and up to 96 audio tracks (at a sampling frequency of 48 kHz). The maximum supported sampling frequency is 192 kHz, with a bit capacity of 24 bits. The board provides all the necessary computing power for the complex.
Pro Tools | HD2 - in addition to the HD1 package, it contains one HD Accel card, which provides support for up to 64 I / O channels and up to 128 audio tracks.
Pro Tools | HD3 - represents HD1 and two additional boards Accel HD. The maximum number of input / output channels in this version is 96.

The Pro Tools | HD system supports further expansion. In total, you can use up to six HD Accel boards at a time.

To use the Pro Tools | HD system, audio interfaces are also required (see below).

Some time after the acquisition of M-Audio by Avid (which includes Digidesign), the new Pro Tools M-Powered product was announced. It uses Pro Tools software and supports M-Audio sound cards. This product is targeted at the home market, and so on. project studios, as evidenced by the low total price of the complex compared to HD. The Pro Tools M-Powered software only works with M-Audio sound cards (both PCI, USB, and FireWire ).

“The Pro Tools M-Powered 8 software sets new standards in the world of creating audio / MIDI and gives you access to the powerful features of Pro Tools on your terms.

Pro Tools M-Powered has the same user interface as Pro Tools HD and Pro Tools LE, and still extends your hardware with dozens of M-Audio interfaces. Using this application, you can easily move your projects across all existing versions of Pro Tools software. Pro Tools M-Powered 8 is a serious choice for those who want to create music in powerful and easy-to-use software without the extra cost and compatibility issues. ”

To use any Pro Tools systems, you need a personal Mac or PC with sufficient speed (in particular, the disk subsystem).
Audio Interfaces To use Pro Tools | HD, external audio interfaces are required since the HD Core and HD Accel cards do not contain “on board” analog or standard digital inputs / outputs. Digidesign manufactures several interfaces with analog I / O, digital I / O, MIDI, sync I / O, microphone preamps, etc.

Controllers For ease of use, Pro Tools can be equipped with so-called. controllers. The controller provides “iron” software controls, such as faders, transport control buttons, and editing. One of the largest controllers for Pro Tools - C | 24 , has 24 motorized, touch-sensitive faders, control of all the main functions of the program, a studio communication unit and other “goodies”. It also has an integrated audio interface with microphone preamps. The largest and most functional studio controller is Digidesign ICON.

Pro Controllers M-Powered and LE also work with some controllers.

For Pro Tools, there are two formats for plug-ins (plug-in sound processing routines): TDM (Time Division Multiplexing - a system of time-divided streams) and RTAS (Real Time AudioSuite - processing by the computer’s central processor in "real time"). TDM plugins are designed for Pro Tools HD and use the processing power of HD Core and HD Accel and only work if available. RTAS plugins use the central processor of the computer, which means that they work with the whole family of Pro Tools complexes, including M-Powered and LE. Common VST and DirectX formats are not natively supported by Pro Tools (that is, directly by the manufacturer), but there are third-party software solutions that allow you to use VST (and VSTi ) with Pro Tools.

Starting from version 8, iLok electronic keys are used to authorize a user in Pro Tools. iLok is a USB flash drive without direct access. The iLok key can contain licenses for both Pro Tools itself and the plugins used, which allows the user to carry all their licenses in their pocket and use them on any existing Pro Tools package.

To work with Pro Tools version 7 and below, you must have a Digidesign serial number and audio interface.

• 1989 - Sound Tools - the first stereo recording and editing system
• 1991 - Pro Tools 1.0 - bundled ProDECK and ProEDIT software, support for up to 4 audio tracks, MIDI technology and automation
• 1992 - Pro Tools 1.1 - support for up to 4 external cards / interfaces, each of which adds 4-16 tracks to the project
• 1993 - Pro Tools 2.0 - ProDECK and ProEDIT combination software in one application
• 1994 - Pro Tools III - support for 16-48 tracks
• 1997 - Pro Tools | 24 - support for 24-bit audio, 32-64 tracks in the project
• 1997 - Pro Tools 4.0 - destructive editing, Real Time AudioSuite support introduced
• 1998 - Pro Tools | 24 MIX and MIXplus - 64 tracks, advanced DSP features
• 1998 - ProControl - the first specialized mixing console for Pro Tools
• 1999 - Pro Tools 5.0 - Integrated MIDI Sequencer
• 1999 - Digi 001 with Pro Tools LE (Limited Edition) - RTAS host-based system
• 2000 - Pro Tools Free - 8 audio tracks, 48 ​​midi tracks, RTAS support
• 2001 - Pro Tools 5.1 - TDM version with tools for spatial mixing, tempo detection tool Beat Detective,
• 2001 - Control 24 - mixing console / sound interface with preamps from Focusrite
• 2002 - Pro Tools | HD - support for 96 kHz and 192 kHz sampling frequencies
• 2003 - Mbox and Digi 002
• 2003 - Pro Tools | HD Accel system - additional features of DSP
• 2003 - Pro Tools 6.0 - Mac OS X Support
• 2004 - ICON D-Control - mixing console for Pro Tools | Hd accel
• 2005 - VENUE - Pro Tools for Live Performance
• 2005 - Mbox 2 , Pro Tools M-Powered
• 2005 - Pro Tools 7.0 , 7.1 - Apple PCIe G5 support
• 2005 - Avid acquires Wizoo and announces Advanced Instrument Research (AIR) as a plug-in unit for Pro Tools.
• 2006 - Pro Tools 7.2 , 7.3 - support for Intel processors on the Mac platform
• 2006 - Mbox 2 Pro ; Mbox 2 mini
• 2007 - 003 and 003 Rack
• 2007 - Mbox 2 Micro
• 2007 - Pro Tools 7.4 - support for the Elastic Audio Stretch-Compression Audio Tool
• 2008 - Pro Tools 8 - built-in Elastic Pitch, Score Editor, MIDI Editor, AIR plug-ins
• 2008 - 003 Rack +
• 2009 - Pro Tools Essential - limited edition version
• 2009 - " Eleven Rack " - guitar effects processor
• 2010 - Pro Tools Mbox , Mini , Pro - the third generation of Mbox interfaces
• 2010 - Pro Tools HD 8.1 , Instrument Expansion Pack , Pro Tools HD Series Interfaces - I / O, OMNI, MADI, SYNC HD and PRE
• 2010 - Pro Tools HD Native
• 2010 - Pro Tools 9 - Pro Tools became hardware independent and supported most audio interfaces, support for Pro Tools LE was discontinued
• 2010 - Avid joins Euphonix and integrates the EuCon protocol in Pro Tools, the Artist Series and System 5 Family add to the range of mixing consoles
• 2011 - Pro Tools 10 / HD - Extended Disk Caching (EDC), which allows you to load a session directly into RAM.
• 2011 - Pro Tools HDX - the interface card along with the successor of "Accel" were presented at the exhibition "AES convention".
• 2012 - Avid sells its AIR division to inMusic.
• 2013 - Avid announces Pro Tools 11 , planning to launch sales in the second quarter of 2013. The first 64-bit version of Pro Tools. RTAS support has been discontinued in favor of the AAX (Avid Audio eXtension) format.

http://www.avid.com/ - official site of Pro Tools