Cool Audio Magic Audio Editor Pro 10.3.5 serial key or number
Cool Audio Magic Audio Editor Pro 10.3.5 serial key or number
macOS Catalina Compatibility - The Ultimate Pro Audio Guide - Check It Out Today To See If The Software And Plugins You Use Support Apple's Yet
With the release of macOS Catalina today, in this article we are sharing up to date information, as we get it from brands and the community, about which pro audio applications and plug-ins do and don't work with macOS Catalina as well as other related issues which affect pro audio users. This article will be constantly updated as the information and compatibility status changes.
There is more information beneath the searchable database regarding Apple hardware compatibility.
If you want to learn more about the new features in macOS Catalina then check out our detailed article Apple Preview macOS - Catalina - Ready For Release In The Fall.
Is It Too Early To Upgrade To macOS Catalina?
Back in October , the simple answer was YES, it was absolutely too early. Very few applications and plug-ins were supported in macOS Catalina (). Nearly 40 audio brands issued specific guidance NOT to upgrade to macOS Catalina and all that information is in our searchable database below. Obviously, over time the situation has changed and we have tracked all these changes in our searchable database below.,
UPDATE: December 17th - Avid Announce Pro Tools Which Offers macOS Catalina Support With Some Limitations
Avid has made one more upgrade of Pro Tools , with a December release, which provides macOS Catalina support. However, this is an ‘initial support’ release with some limitations to some video related workflows. In our article, Pro Tools - macOS Catalina Support Is Here - With Some Restrictions, we have all the details of what will and won’t work in this initial Catalina supported version of Pro Tools.
So Where Does That Leave Us With Catalina Supported DAWs?
Logic Pro X - This DAW was, of course, compatible in theory from Catalina’s release day, but just about nothing else was. However, in the past few months, things have changed so although we are giving the latest version of Logic Pro X the green light we do strongly recommend you check everything else you need including applications and plugins are fully compatible before you upgrade to macOS Catalina.
Studio One - PreSonus was pretty quick off the block with macOS Catalina support in place by 23rd October with Studio One version is required to run Studio One under macOS Catalina
PreSonus recommends that check that your third-party plug-ins are macOS Catalina compatible as many of them may not install or run correctly under , and will need updates themselves to work correctly. Some of the Studio Magic Plug-ins will not run under
PreSonus has also released several updates in support of Apple OS X Catalina. Universal Control v, Capture v, and Worx Control v Current PreSonus mobile App versions already support iOS 13, so there is no need to update them at this time.
Please note that StudioLive USB users will need to update their firmware via Universal Control in order for USB audio to function correctly on OS X Catalina.
Pro Tools - On December 17th Avid released Pro Tools , which provided macOS Catalina support. However, be aware that this is an ‘initial support’ release with some limitations to some video related workflows.
As we explained in our article Getting Ready For macOS Catalina - Rooting Out All Your 32 Bit Applications even though Pro Tools is a bit application, there were still a number of bit components including software that handles import, export, and playback of certain file types, such as QuickTime MOV files.
Avid is working on replacing all this functionality as soon as possible. But rather than wait until it is all done, Avid chose to release this interim version with Catalina support for all audio workflows and some video workflows and then to release updates to cover the remaining functionality as it becomes available.
You can get all the details and suggested alternative solutions to get around the initial limitations in our article Pro Tools - macOS Catalina Support Is Here - With Some Restrictions
Check, Check And Check Again
We recommend that you search the database to see whether the software, and hardware that you use is compatible with macOS Catalina yet. You will need to wait until all the plug-in brands that you use as well as peripheral manufacturers are also supporting macOS Catalina BEFORE you upgrade.
Before You Upgrade Follow The Advice From Apple
In their article Upgrade to macOS Catalina, Apple provides a lot of advice and what to check before upgrading to macOS Catalina.
Not Here = Not Supported
Absence on this list should be taken as not compatible, initially, the information will be scarce. As soon as brands let us know about their macOS Catalina compatibility then we will update this article and database as we did with our MacOS High Sierra Pro Audio Compatibility Guide With Regular Updates, our macOS Sierra Pro Audio Compatibility and macOS Mojave Compatibility - The Ultimate Pro Audio Guide articles.
Don't Update In The Middle Of A Job
We always recommend that you leave any upgrade until you have some downtime. Experience has told us that upgrades are rarely straightforward, especially OS upgrades as they often have knock-on effects, so wait until you have time to fix the unforeseen problems.
Which Mac Computers Will Be Supported With macOS Catalina?
Apple has now announced which Mac computers will work with macOS Catalina and it is the same list as it was for macOS Mojave with one notable exception…
MacBook (Early or later)
MacBook Air (Mid or later)
MacBook Pro (Mid or later)
Mac mini (Late or later)
iMac (Late or later)
iMac Pro (all models)
Mac Pro (Late )
End Of The Line For Mac Pro 5,1 Cheese-graters?
It shouldn’t take you too long to spot that the Mac Pro and old style cheese-graters that are missing from this list. Although there are rumours that it may be possible to install Catalina on old-style cheese-grater Mac Pro 5,1 computers, it will be a ‘hack’ of some description and so we do not recommend it. If you have a Mac Pro 5,1 then consider upgrading to macOS Mojave but that will be it. That said, there will be plenty of life in your Mac Pro. Typically, DAW brands like Avid continue to support older versions of the operating systems and so it’s likely that there are another 3 years before macOS Mojave is not supported with the current version of Pro Tools.
What Will You Do Now Apple Has Released Catalina? Poll Results
Last month we asked you in a poll “When macOS Catalina Ships I Will”
The options were…
Keep using my existing Apple Mac on an older OS I don't care
I already own a compatible Apple Mac
Use a hack to run Catalina on an unsupported Mac
I will buy a compatible Apple Mac shortly
Here are the results…
When macOS Catalina Ships I Will
Nearly one in three of you already own a supported Mac, with just one in twenty planning to replace an older Apple Mac computer with a newer model that will run Catalina.
Over half of you, like Mike with his Mac Pro mid, are happy to continue using your existing Mac on an older macOS. However, nearly one in five of you are going to try and find a way of running Catalina on an unsupported Apple Mac computer.
Overall 60% will stay with your existing computer and 40% will use a newer computer that is designed to run macOS Catalina.
Apple Tighten Security Yet Again
Each of the last few macOS updates has included improvements to security, which have had consequences for all users but especially pro audio and music users. Catalina is no exception. With macOS Catalina, there are two new hurdles to get past, both of which were optional requirements in macOS Mojave, but have become compulsory with macOS Catalina.
The first is “notarization” - a change to any ‘executable’ code like installers, applications, plug-ins, drivers etc. in which Apple uses a service to scan ‘executables’ for malicious code. Apple issues notarization tickets to developers to ‘staple’ to their installers, if they pass all of the requirements that macOS Mojave and Catalina will be looking for when they are first run.
The second is “hardened runtime”, a set of security requirements controlling how software on the macOS platform is granted access to your computer. It is a way that developers can set flags in the application’s signature indicating to the operating system what services and facilities it requires and should be given access to. If the application steps out of line for any reason, the operating system will overrule any requests that are supposed to be out of bounds.
In reality, these two are somewhat linked because Apple now doesn’t issue notarization tickets unless they also meet the hardened runtime requirements and only include a set of permissible entitlements (amongst other requirements).
To get a notarization ticket, a hardened runtime application may now need to explicitly request entitlements that would have just been assumed by default in the past, hence the need for changes in the affected software.
Why Has Apple Done This?
Consider what the aim of any malware is, it is designed to run code that hasn’t been given permission to run and that code then gets access to vital parts of your computer like your personal data or your microphone or camera all without your permission. These two new restrictions from Apple are designed to make it harder for malicious code to be able to run.
If you want to know more about these new security systems then you will find a lot more in our article macOS Catalina - Why It Might Take Software Developers Some Time To Be Compatible With macOS
macOS Catalina System Volume Will Be Read-Only
Yes, you read it correctly, your macOS Catalina System Volume will be Read Only. Some are saying that the single, largest change in macOS Catalina is the manner in which the System volume is mounted on startup – it's read-only. By mounting the volume read-only, it becomes impossible for attackers to make changes to the content of the macOS System volume. That doesn't mean that your Mac is % free from all possible attack vectors, rather it's just another line of defence against them.
The boot drive will be cleverly split and merged. There obviously have to be parts of your startup drive that will still need to be written to, like your home folder, third-party applications and a handful of system components that can't reside on a read-only volume. For example, Apple has chosen to put Safari on the read-write data volume, perhaps so it can be updated more frequently.
macOS Catalina merges the read-only system volume with the read-write data volume so that users are not aware of the 2 sections. This will mean that normally you won't see the different sections in the Finder, because the Finder visually mashes the content of the two volumes together to make them appear as a single volume. The Finder also won't list your Data volume alongside all of your other volumes – the Data volume is mounted but hidden.
Mike Bombich, the man behind the excellent Carbon Copy Cloner software has written a detailed article on this and other changes to the way APFS Volumes will work in macOS Catalina.
32 Bit Applications And macOS Catalina
14 months ago Apple confirmed at the WWDC keynote that macOS Mojave would be the last version of the macOS that would support bit applications.
From January all new apps submitted by developers to the App Store had to be bit apps and all apps and app updates had to be bit by June If you want to check what bit applications you might still have on your system then all is not lost, you can check in the About This Mac System Report
Go to Apple Menu
About This Mac
System Report
Software > Applications
In the last column, you can see whether it’s a bit application or not.
Instead of using the option in About This Mac, we recommend that you download and install a great free app called Go64 and you can read all about how to get, install and use this free application in our article Getting Ready For macOS Catalina - Rooting Out All Your 32 Bit Applications. Also in this article we list all the bit applications in the pro audio and music sectors that we know about, some of which are end-of-line and will not be updated and others which developers are hard at work recoding as bit applications.
Video Codec Support in macOS Catalina
There are two changes Apple is implementing with the release of macOS Catalina that will affect how the new OS will handle video files although things may not be as problematic as we first thought, more on that shortly. Before that let us recap what we understand would happen to video codec support with the release of macOS Catalina starting with what we wrote in December
With the release of a major Final Cut update, Apple also took the opportunity to warn users that a future macOS will NOT support a number of commonly used video codecs including Avid’s DNxHD, which Avid recommend as the best video format for Pro Tools and a lot of video camera formats built around the Cineform codec.
At first glance, it does seem strange that a number of very commonly used and current codecs will no longer be supported in the Apple but the problem is that these codecs are built around bit code and all modern operating systems are dropping bit code, not just for video codecs but for all applications.
We also understand that one of the reasons that the AVFoundation (Apple’s replacement for QuickTime) is fast is because it can be much more efficient as it isn’t getting bogged down by ‘slow and inefficient’ 3rd party codecs that also might be power-hungry too. This is key to Apple as they are crazy about power efficiency especially as more and more of their products are portable where battery life is very important.
Then fast forward to June Following discussions about what will need to happen to the Pro Tools code to be ready for macOS Catalina, we asked Francois Quereuil, Director of Product Management | Audio Workstations & Control Surfaces at Avid and he gave us this exclusive statement…
“We’re already working closely with Apple on ensuring timely support for all flavors of Pro Tools. Mojave was mostly about tuning performance and presented unique challenges, we anticipate that Catalina support will be more straightforward, with only a few bit components to port to bit, which is not a difficult process. As far as QuickTime is concerned, we are also working on solutions to ensure workflow continuity for our users.”
To be clear, it is our understanding that until Avid can make everything in Pro Tools bit code, Pro Tools will not be compatible with macOS Catalina, and Pro Tools users will need to wait until Avid produce a Catalina compatible version of Pro Tools before they can upgrade their Apple Mac computers to Catalina.
So what should we do? MPEG Streamclip, which was a free app that may be used as a video codec conversion tool is a bit application that will not be updated, so we will need a replacement.
In our article Two Ways To Create Pro Tools Friendly Avid DNxHD Video Files Without Using MPEG Streamclip - Expert Tutorial we show two solutions to replace MPEG Streamclip and in our article Optimus Player - Is This The Alternative To QuickTime 7 You'll Need To Be Able To Play Avid DNXHD Video Files In The Future? we show a replacement to the QuickTime Player in the macOS that would support all the codecs that will no longer be supported in the macOS.
It All Might Change - Has Apple Done A U-turn?
According to an Avid Press Release announced at IBC , Avid appeared to be suggesting that there will be macOS support for Avid DNxHR and DNxHD codecs.
As part of their IBC coverage, Avid announced improved end-to-end video editing workflows with ProRes integration for Windows and native support for ProRes RAW in Media Composer as well as native support for DNx codecs.
As part of this Media Composer press release, Avid state the following…
“Apple will provide bit decoders for DNxHR and DNxHD codecs within the Pro Video Formats package that is available from Apple as a free download for all users. These integrations will allow content creators and post-production companies to natively create high-quality ProRes content regardless of their OS and save time during the creative storytelling process.”
They continued further down the press release…
“Finally, the continued availability of Avid’s DNxHD and DNxHR decoders for macOS is a tremendous benefit to content creators using Apple and Avid products and will ensure the longevity of content creators’ DNx material encoded in MXF and QuickTime files.”
Rob D’Amico, Director of Product Marketing, at Avid told us…
“This collaboration democratizes content creation by removing the boundaries posed by different operating systems and opens the door to a greater number of higher-quality delivery formats. Adding support for ProRes for Windows, native ProRes RAW and DNx Codecs is yet another way Media Composer deals with advancements in technology so editors can stay focused on creative storytelling.”
What Codecs Are Currently In Apple’s Pro Video Formats Package v
The Pro Video Formats package V released in January provides support for the following codecs that are used in professional video workflows:
Apple ProRes RAW and ProRes RAW HQ*
Apple Intermediate Codec
AVC-Intra 50 / / / / LT
AVC-LongG
XAVC
XF-AVC
DVCPRO HD
HDV
XDCAM EX / HD / HD
MPEG IMX
Uncompressed
The Pro Video Formats package also includes the following MXF support:
Play MXF files in QuickTime Player and other supported macOS applications
MXF plug-in and presets for use in Compressor and earlier
But be aware that this announcement from Avid about Apple’s plans contradicts information from Avid and Apple that we reported on.
We observe that the Apple article About incompatible media in Final Cut Pro X dated 7th October is still listing Avid DNxHD and DNxHR as formats that are not supported in macOS Catalina. There is currently no sign of a new Apple Pro Video Formats package with the release of macOS Catalina, so at the moment our original advice stands.
As soon as we have more on this we will bring it to you.
v SoundToys 5
Effects as Powerful as Your Imagination
Soundtoys 5 brings together our entire range of audio effects into one powerful collection. Includes all 21 Soundtoys plug-ins.
Highlights
Saturate, compress, and distort with Decapitator, Radiator, and Devil-Loc. Get a virtual history of echo and delay hardware with EchoBoy and PrimalTap. Transform your vocals with Little AlterBoy. Recreate classic studio pitch, chorus and widening effects with Crystallizer and MicroShift. Take modulation to new levels with the beat-synced rhythmic effects of PanMan, Tremolator, FilterFreak, and PhaseMistress.
All of these individual elements are proven, powerful tools, trusted by professional mix engineers, musicians and sound designers everywhere. But combined in the new Soundtoys Effect Rack, they are indeed the ultimate effects collection.
Included Products
Crystallizer
Pitch Shifting granular reverse echo. A mind-warping sound design trip.
Devil-Loc
Two knobs, one big drum sound. Audio level destroyer with vintage vibe.
Devil-Loc Deluxe
A crushing, pounding, aggressive compressor for massive drums. Our spin on an old classic.
Decapitator
Subtle to extreme hardware-modelled saturation. The secret weapon of top mix engineers.
EchoBoy
Decades of echo devices in a single plug-in. The pro standard for vocal echo.
EchoBoy Jr.
Analog echo modeler &#; Seven iconic analog echo emulations in one easy-to-use plug-in
FilterFreak
Fat analog sweeps, pounding filter rhythms, big hardware sound – with a dual version for double the analog attitude.
Little AlterBoy
Pitch and formant shifting and hard-tuned robot effects for transforming vocals.
Little MicroShift
Three essential vocal widening effects. One simple plug-in.
Little Radiator
A little tube heat and tons of vibe. Inspired by the Altec a pre-amp.
Little Plate
The lush sound of plate reverb – with a modern twist.
Little PrimalTap
Our little retro delay lets you echo, loop, warp, distort and mangle.
MicroShift
The classic studio trick for super wide vocals – with a powerful new twist.
PanMan
Rhythmic auto-panning with cool classic features, new tricks, and analog color.
PhaseMistress
Rich phase sweeps, deep analog vibe, and tempo-locked modulation.
PrimalTap
Modeled retro dual delay with “freeze” for lo-fi pitch warped loops and delays.
Radiator
Vintage vibe, drive, and the magic tone of the a tube mixer. A beast on bass and drums.
Sie-Q
Sie-Q features spacious highs, smooth lows, and great tones fast, bringing a whole new modeled color to your EQ palette.
Tremolator
Analog guitar tremolo effects and beyond with beat-synced rhythmic chopping.
*You are required to trade up your V4 license upon upgrade. Speed is now a legacy product and is not included in Soundtoys 5. Contact the Soundtoys support team to reactivate your Speed license.
The new Soundtoys Effect Rack is the centerpiece of Soundtoys 5.
It turns a tried-and-true collection of powerful individual plug-ins into a virtually unlimited creative multi-effects system.
The Effect Rack makes it simple to build your own custom effect chains and define your signature sound. And when you’ve created the perfect combination of effects, the Rack’s global controls let you treat the whole rack as a single plug-in.
Lock rhythmic effects to a single tempo, or let them run free. Fine tune the input and output levels, and use the global mix control to blend your effect in with the dry signal. Then experiment with the powerful new global Recycle control. By mixing the output of the rack back into the input, you can build your own modulated reverbs, over-the-top delays and other unique ambience effects that would require complicated routing to accomplish in most DAWs.
Work Smarter
The Effect Rack integrates all of the individual Soundtoys effects into a single plug-in, which improves workflow by displaying an entire custom effect processing chain at once. You won’t need to juggle multiple plug-in windows to adjust parameters, add new effects, or change their routing. The Effect Rack keeps everything right at your fingertips.
Choose from our range of carefully-crafted presets to find the perfect jumping-off point. Or quickly design, save and recall combinations of your favorite Soundtoys effects—all in one self-contained plug-in.
You no longer need to use a hardware dongle.
Set yourself free to work wherever, and however you want.
With computer-based authorization, free up precious USB ports for audio interfaces and MIDI controllers. Studio pros can still use Soundtoys 5 with their iLok USB keys to manage all of their plug-in licenses. All Soundtoys 5 plug-ins come with two activations. Use one at the studio, and the other on your home machine or laptop.
Slide open an effect’s Tweak panel to access special circuit-level controls.
Or design your own unique modulation patterns.
Many Soundtoys effects offer special Tweak panels which expose deeper editing features. Here you can find advanced options for a plug-in, like a choice of saturation styles, fine control of an effect’s groove, or a selection of different delay algorithms. Our modulation effects offer powerful shape and rhythm editors here for creating complex motion. And in Soundtoys 5, we’ve redesigned our Tweak panels to make advanced controls easier to find and use. The result: an incredibly customizable set of sonic tools that you’ll want to use on every project.
Effects that move to your rhythm. With any shape you can imagine.
An LFO (Low Frequency Oscillator) is at the heart of every modulation effect — it’s what gives tremolos, phasers, panners and sweeping filters their characteristic motion.
Our included library of LFO shapes goes far beyond standard modulation effects, giving you curves based on vintage modulation effects, amps and instruments as well as more abstract shapes. You can also draw and sculpt your own totally customized shapes using our Shape Editor. Use it to dream up new LFO shapes, from knife-edged waves to gently ebbing curves.
Our Rhythm Editor is like a rhythmic modulation sequencer. Choose a length (in bars) and the size of the steps you want to edit (sixteenth notes, eighth notes, quarter notes, etc), then start clicking to make a new pattern. You can turn individual steps on and off to create pauses or rests, and adjust the level and length of each step to humanize your pattern and give it some musical variation. You can even choose the number of beats per bar to create some funky syncopation or odd-time-signature grooves. Like our custom shapes, custom patterns are even swappable between plug-ins. And, of course, you can lock everything to the master tempo of the Soundtoys Effect Rack or your favorite DAW for solid, dead-simple synchronization.
We’ve spent the last decade creating one of the world’s greatest gear collections.
That means we actually own and use the hardware we draw our inspiration from.
We look to the past for inspiration. But we build each of our plug-ins to stand solidly on its own with features designed for modern studios.
As a result, we’re happy to say that Soundtoys effects are used, trusted and recommended by professionals in all aspects of audio production. Now with Soundtoys 5 and the Effect Rack, we’ve brought all of these acclaimed effects together to see how much further they can go.
Updates
What's New in v
All Soundtoys Plugins updated June 4, (Maintenance Update (Mac) and (PC))
- Little Plate now included in the Soundtoys 5 installer
- Fixed rare audio dropout/glitches under certain circumstances
- Fixed crash that could happen sometimes on session recall
- Fixed sluggish animation of tweak drawers on high DPI monitors on Mac
- Fixed rhythm editor to allow for creation of multi-bar rhythms
- Fixed “update nesting too deep” alert
- Added support for MIDI triggering to AAX versions of FilterFreak and PrimalTap
- Fixed CPU spiking in certain instances
- Fixed AudioSuite support for different stem formats (mono-mono, mono-stereo, stereo-stereo) for Tremolator, Decapitator, Devil-Loc Deluxe, FilterFreak 1 & 2, Little Radiator, Radiator, and Sie-Q
- Fixed occasional crash when rendering in Reaper on Windows
- Fixed preset sorting in macOS High Sierra
- Audio Units plug-ins will now scan correctly without requiring a restart in macOS High Sierra
- Locked knob titles will remain red when GUI is closed and reopened
- Fixed Pro Tools automation hotkey support for Effect Rack, as well as compound parameters like Delay Notes/Time in EchoBoy
- Fixed Pro Tools automation hotkey support for all plug-ins on Windows
- Fixed session recall in AU Lab
- Fixed balance offset in in PanMan Random & Triggered modes
- Updated VST plug-in names to make them consistent with AU and AAX versions when displayed in DAWs. *This included Little Plate, Little AlterBoy, Little Radiator, Little PrimalTap, Little MicroShift, EchoBoy Jr., and Sie-Q.
What's new in
- EchoBoy Jr. is now available in Soundtoys 5 and Effect Rack
- EchoBoy Jr. is now included with individual EchoBoy 5 licenses and installers
- Some Effect Rack presets now include EchoBoy Jr.
- Fixed an issue where certain AAX plug-ins did not support multi-mono operation
- The LFO rate parameter can now be automated in PhaseMistress and FilterFreak 1 & 2
What's new in
Sie-Q was added to the lineup.
What's new in
Features:
- Plug-ins with the Analog Mode option now have a new “Op Amp” style to replace the Version 4 “Digital” style that was removed. In the previous version 5 release sessions using “Digital” defaulted to “Clean”. They now default to “Op Amp”. This will address the sound differences that some customers heard when recalling old sessions.
- PrimalTap has a new Auto Gain switch added to the Tweak menu. When enabled, the output will automatically be lowered proportionally as the input gain is raised. This is the new default behavior for PrimalTap. Old sessions and user presets will open with Auto Gain set to “Off.”
- Preset names, when edited, now display in italics to indicate an edited state
Fixes:
- Preset names are now displayed correctly when sessions that were last saved with V4 are recalled (instead of reading “Default”).
- Fixed an issue in PrimalTap where the Rolloff feature was not filtering the feedback loop as intended. (Note: this update will change the sound of some presets and sessions but is the correct and intended sound and behavior of PrimalTap).
- Fixed an issue where Devil-Loc and Devil-Loc Deluxe knobs could jump to minimum or maximum when clicked in a certain area.
- Fixed a problem where the delayed signal in EchoBoy might drop out under certain conditions.
- PhaseMistress default settings will now sound identical to the default preset.
- Preset names are now pre-populated when using the Save As… option.
- Resolved a Windows problem where alerts could be hidden behind other windows.
- Fixed issues that would cause the compare light to come on unnecessarily with certain plugins and presets.
New in Soundtoys 5:
- Effect Rack, PrimalTap, and Little AlterBoy plug-ins
- New authorization options
- Workflow enhancements
Plug-in formats (both 32 and bit):
- AAX Native
- AAX AudioSuite
- VST
- Audio Units (AU)
Supported sample rates:
- Minimum: kHz
- Maximum: kHz
System requirements:
- Operating system: Mac OS X or later, Windows 7 or later
- An internet connection is required at the time of activation.
All version 5 Soundtoys products come with bit and bit VST, AU, and AAX Native plug-in formats.
Here is a list of all of the DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations) that we currently support:
- Pro Tools - (Mac & PC: AAX Native and AudioSuite)*
- Logic Pro 9 & X (&#;Mac: AudioUnits)
- Digital Performer 8 - 9 (&#;Mac: AudioUnits & VST; Windows: VST)
- Cubase 7 - 9 (Mac & PC: VST)
- &#;Nuendo 6 - 7 (&#;Mac & PC: VST)
- Sonar X3 & Platinum (&#;PC: VST)
- Ableton Live - 10 (Mac: AudioUnits & VST; Windows: VST)**
*Our bit AAX Native plug-ins will only load properly in Pro Tools or later. If you are using Pro Tools - and wish to use Soundtoys 5 on your system, you will need to upgrade to Pro Tools or later in order to do so. Our Native V4 products include RTAS, which will work in any version of Pro Tools
**Using Live or earlier can result in a nasty audio glitch when switching sampling rates during playback, or during offline bounce. We recommend using the latest version of Ableton Live.
Click here to view our full list of compatible host applications.
Other requirements:
manicapital.com account (An iLok USB dongle is not required. Create a free account here)
Updates
What's new in v
macOS and PC:
- Plug-in activation window now includes support for Activation Codes, which will be distributed to customers who purchase a new product (not an upgrade) from our web store, and will allow those licenses to be activated without an iLok account (optional).
- Little Plate is now included in the license group for new Soundtoys 5 customers.
macOS-only:
- macOS Mojave is now officially supported.
- Graphics issue that was causing several components of the Soundtoys graphical user interfaces to display incorrectly on macOS Mojave has been resolved.
What's New in v
All Soundtoys Plugins updated June 4, (Maintenance Update (Mac) and (PC))
- Little Plate now included in the Soundtoys 5 installer
- Fixed rare audio dropout/glitches under certain circumstances
- Fixed crash that could happen sometimes on session recall
- Fixed sluggish animation of tweak drawers on high DPI monitors on Mac
- Fixed rhythm editor to allow for creation of multi-bar rhythms
- Fixed “update nesting too deep” alert
- Added support for MIDI triggering to AAX versions of FilterFreak and PrimalTap
- Fixed CPU spiking in certain instances
- Fixed AudioSuite support for different stem formats (mono-mono, mono-stereo, stereo-stereo) for Tremolator, Decapitator, Devil-Loc Deluxe, FilterFreak 1 & 2, Little Radiator, Radiator, and Sie-Q
- Fixed occasional crash when rendering in Reaper on Windows
- Fixed preset sorting in macOS High Sierra
- Audio Units plug-ins will now scan correctly without requiring a restart in macOS High Sierra
- Locked knob titles will remain red when GUI is closed and reopened
- Fixed Pro Tools automation hotkey support for Effect Rack, as well as compound parameters like Delay Notes/Time in EchoBoy
- Fixed Pro Tools automation hotkey support for all plug-ins on Windows
- Fixed session recall in AU Lab
- Fixed balance offset in in PanMan Random & Triggered modes
- Updated VST plug-in names to make them consistent with AU and AAX versions when displayed in DAWs. *This included Little Plate, Little AlterBoy, Little Radiator, Little PrimalTap, Little MicroShift, EchoBoy Jr., and Sie-Q.
What's new in
- EchoBoy Jr. is now available in Soundtoys 5 and Effect Rack
- EchoBoy Jr. is now included with individual EchoBoy 5 licenses and installers
- Some Effect Rack presets now include EchoBoy Jr.
- Fixed an issue where certain AAX plug-ins did not support multi-mono operation
- The LFO rate parameter can now be automated in PhaseMistress and FilterFreak 1 & 2
What's new in
Sie-Q was added to the lineup.
What's new in
Features:
- Plug-ins with the Analog Mode option now have a new “Op Amp” style to replace the Version 4 “Digital” style that was removed. In the previous version 5 release sessions using “Digital” defaulted to “Clean”. They now default to “Op Amp”. This will address the sound differences that some customers heard when recalling old sessions.
- PrimalTap has a new Auto Gain switch added to the Tweak menu. When enabled, the output will automatically be lowered proportionally as the input gain is raised. This is the new default behavior for PrimalTap. Old sessions and user presets will open with Auto Gain set to “Off.”
- Preset names, when edited, now display in italics to indicate an edited state
Fixes:
- Preset names are now displayed correctly when sessions that were last saved with V4 are recalled (instead of reading “Default”).
- Fixed an issue in PrimalTap where the Rolloff feature was not filtering the feedback loop as intended. (Note: this update will change the sound of some presets and sessions but is the correct and intended sound and behavior of PrimalTap).
- Fixed an issue where Devil-Loc and Devil-Loc Deluxe knobs could jump to minimum or maximum when clicked in a certain area.
- Fixed a problem where the delayed signal in EchoBoy might drop out under certain conditions.
- PhaseMistress default settings will now sound identical to the default preset.
- Preset names are now pre-populated when using the Save As… option.
- Resolved a Windows problem where alerts could be hidden behind other windows.
- Fixed issues that would cause the compare light to come on unnecessarily with certain plugins and presets.
New in Soundtoys 5:
- Effect Rack, PrimalTap, and Little AlterBoy plug-ins
- New authorization options
- Workflow enhancements
Avid Pro Tools 10
With Pro Tools now catering for such a wide range of users, can the latest version provide both value and satisfaction for everyone?
Pro Tools 10 in all its glory. Notice the new Mod Delay III plug-in and the additional disk cache meters in the System Usage window.
Pro Tools 10 is a watershed release for Avid's industry-standard music and audio creation system. In addition to offering a host of new features, including a completely new plug-in format, Pro Tools 10 also supports HDX, the long-anticipated DSP hardware successor to HD. And, if this wasn't already enough for existing users to consider, Avid are also taking the opportunity to encourage the adoption of various support and maintenance packages, both new and existing, alongside more traditional upgrade options.
One of the reasons I would describe Pro Tools 10 as a watershed release is that, in Avid parlance, it will be the last "feature release” of Pro Tools to support the now suddenly 'legacy' HD hardware. This means that what will presumably be called Pro Tools 11 won't offer support for Pro Tools HD Accel systems with the old HD Core, Process or Accel cards, nor the older blue-and-silver interfaces. This decision is sure to cause a few raised eyebrows — nay, pitchforks — from existing users, but Avid have at least said they will acknowledge this hardware "through software maintenance updates for the next three years, and offer hardware repair and phone support for the next five years”.
If the previous hardware transition from Mix to HD is any indication, HD systems will continue to be used in studios, both private and commercial, for at least the next three to five years, which means that Pro Tools 10 is a fairly important release for HD users. However, with Pro Tools 9 having added support for completely native systems beyond those previously catered for by Pro Tools LE, there is now an increasing number of people running the software without any Avid hardware at all. This means that Pro Tools 10 is, arguably, a release that's going to represent something different depending on the hardware you're using. For new HDX users, it's the beginning; for HD users it's the end (unless you upgrade to HDX); and for native users, it's the next step.
Given that Pro Tools exists as both a hardware and a software platform, we're going to split the review of Pro Tools 10 and the new HDX cards into two parts. This article is going to focus on the software, while next month's follow-up will cover the new HDX hardware and AAX plug-in format.
The Lion's Share
Pro Tools 10 is the first version of Pro Tools that's officially certified to work with Mac OS 'Lion', following the 'public beta' support introduced in version Fortunately, the application remains compatible with Snow Leopard ( or ), which is a good thing, since I know many musicians and audio engineers who have been hesitant to upgrade to Apple's latest operating system, unless forced by the necessity of new hardware. Windows users need to be running Windows 7 SP1.
Although the software will run on either or bit variants of Mac OS X and Windows, Pro Tools 10 is, to the dismay of many, still a bit application. This is slightly surprising given the climate into which Pro Tools 10 is being released, where many competitors have already introduced bit support, and there is clearly demand from users, especially by those using large, sample-based instruments. However, Avid have at least planted the seed for bit support in Pro Tools 10, as we'll see in a moment.
As is often the case with updates, many of the improvements are numeric, and Pro Tools 10 is no exception, with some users benefiting from increased numbers of voices, tracks and auxiliary input tracks. Out of the box, Pro Tools 10 offers the same quantities as version 9 at or 48 kHz: 96 voices, tracks, and aux input tracks. However, with the addition of the Complete Production Toolkit, you now get voices (up from ), tracks (up from ), and aux input tracks (up from ). Pro Tools HD users with an HD Core card get the same figures as with the Toolkit, except that the number of voices remains at , since this is hardware dependent — those with an HD Native card enjoy the same improvement of voices. Those with the new Pro Tools HDX hardware get further benefits in this department, which we'll be investigating next month.
To complement the change in numbers, there are also changes in nomenclature in Pro Tools 10, which Avid state is to "ensure optimal compatibility between Pro Tools and Media Composer” (Avid's non-linear video editing system). The change that will have most impact is that regions are henceforth to be known as clips. So gone is the Regions menu: in its place, the Clips menu. Likewise, the Region List is now the Clips List. Most of the other changes are fairly mild: the Edit Selection Start and End Markers are now In and Out Points; Process (as in the off-line Process of Audiosuite plug-ins) is now Render; and, most controversially, Time Code is now Timecode.
Lastly, Avid have taken the opportunity to finally expel all traces of the Digidesign name from Pro Tools, including file names and paths. The only slight reminder of Pro Tools' past is that DigiTest is now called Avid DigiTest. Fare thee well, Digidesign!
Gentlemen, Start Your Engines!
While you might think it could require some effort to become aroused over Pro Tools 10 having a new disk engine, you would be wrong. All Pro Tools users will benefit from better performance when recording and playing back audio, but Pro Tools HD users and those with the Complete Production Toolkit are in for a particular treat. In addition to support for Network and RAID storage systems, as well as enhanced support for Avid's own shared storage solutions, a new disk cache feature enables session audio files to be loaded into memory. This means that instead of the audio data being played back from disk, where it's stored, it is played back directly from memory.
The advantage of playing back audio data from memory is speed. Playing back and locating different points within the session becomes perceptibly more responsive, since accessing the same data from disk will always be slower, even if you're using solid-state drives. In fact, if all the audio in the current timeline is cached, playback and locating while playing back happens pretty much instantaneously. This will be particularly advantageous when working with large sessions, and especially useful for those running multiple Pro Tools systems in sync with each other, since the caching helps to reduce lock-up times.
To enable disk caching, you simply select a size for the cache in the Playback Engine Setup window.The Playback Engine window in Pro Tools HD 10 features a new Cache Size setting, enabling you to specify how much memory is allocated to the RAM-based disk caching feature. This size is set to 'Normal' by default, meaning that the disk playback basically works much as it did before, but you can activate disk caching by selecting an amount of memory to be used by the cache from the pop-up menu. The amount of memory available for caching will be 3GB less than the memory installed in your Mac (or 4GB less on Windows, due to differences in the OS), and can be set in 1GB increments after the initial and MB options. So if, like mine, your Mac has 16GB of memory, the maximum amount assignable for caching will be 13GB. (In practice, on my Mac, which was running Mac OS , Pro Tools would only let me assign a maximum of 12GB to the cache, even with no other applications running — not that this could really be described as a big deal.)
Since Pro Tools 10 is a bit application, you might be wondering how it's able to access memory beyond the usual bit boundaries. The answer is that it doesn't. By opening Activity Monitor on the Mac, you can see that Pro Tools uses a second process called KMM_Server, which can run as a bit process, communicating with Pro Tools to store and retrieve the audio data for your session. Pretty neat. What's more, you'll notice that if you select, say, 4GB of memory for your disk cache in Pro Tools, the amount of memory KMM_Server will take up will be about 4GB. So if you need to free up some memory on your computer while using the disk cache, you'll need to reduce the amount of allocated memory.
Once disk caching is active, the Activity section of the System Usage window will display two additional metrics: Disk Cache and Timeline Cached. The Disk Cache meter shows how much of the cache is used, while Timeline Cached indicates how much of the audio in the current Timeline is stored in the cache. In an ideal world, the Timeline Cached value should be percent, and the Disk Cache a little lower; but you will still see benefits even if you don't have enough memory to accommodate an entire session in the cache. However, I think most people will be surprised by how little memory you actually need to store an entire Timeline in the cache. For example, the demo song supplied with Pro Tools 10 uses only four percent of a 12GB cache. A small improvement when setting up the disk cache would be if Pro Tools could tell you how much memory would be required to cache the current Timeline in the Playback Engine window. Even though it's a global setting, rather than session-specific, it would still be helpful, since Pro Tools only allows one session to be loaded at a time anyway.
Overall, though, disk caching is a brilliantly obvious way to improve the performance of audio playback in Pro Tools. We tend to forget that in the early days of audio software, the only reason for recording directly to disk was because computers didn't have the memory capacity to store enough audio to be useful. When Pro Tools was released in , for example, a Quadra typically shipped with 4MB memory — enough for less than one minute of mono, CD-quality audio. But with modern systems having between 4GB and 64 GB of memory, redressing the balance between memory and disk usage seems like a sensible way forward.
Editing Gains
Another apparently humble feature that may nevertheless have users reaching for the Champagne is that you can now change the gain of individual regions — sorry, I mean clips — without having to resort to automation, which is tremendously useful. By making the Clip Gain Info visible, the gain of a clip can be adjusted with a click on the fader icon that appears in the bottom left of a clip. As you adjust the gain from the default 0dB, a handy decibel label appears next to the fader icon, reporting the gain change that's been non-destructively applied. Better still, right-clicking the fader icon provides a series of related options, where you can clear or bypass the clip gain, or even render it to an audio file.Both static and dynamic gain adjustments can now be made to clips. The upper clip has dynamic gain applied, while the lower clip has a static dB adjustment.
In addition to what Avid describe as 'static' clip gain, Pro Tools 10 also offers 'dynamic' clip gain. As you might be able to guess, dynamic clip gain allows you to have what is, in effect, gain automation within a specific clip. This automation can be seen and edited by making the Clip Gain Line visible, whereupon you can use the pencil tool to create gain breakpoints, either by clicking to create single points, or dragging to draw multiple points. Once you've created additional points on the Clip Gain Line, the decibel label disappears from the clip. However, what's particularly neat is that you can then click the clip's fader icon to trim the entire Gain Line. And, as well as using the on-screen fader, you can also 'nudge' the clip gain by a value specified in the Editing Preferences, using key commands, your mouse's scroll wheel, or a EUCON-compatible controller.
If Avid had stopped there, clip gain would already be pretty indispensable, but the company's developers have gone a few steps further. Not only is it possible to cut, copy, and paste clip gain settings between different clips, but Pro Tools HD and Complete Production Toolkit users can convert between clip gain settings and track volume automation. While competing applications have had the ability to apply per-clip gain settings for some time (Nuendo had this feature on its release 10 years ago, for example), Avid's implementation is incredibly thorough, and should be welcomed by anyone who edits audio in Pro Tools.
To complement the new clip gain functionality and the new disk engine, clip fades in Pro Tools 10 are now calculated in real time, rather than having to be written and played back from disk. This is another welcome improvement, since it renders — no pun intended — the regeneration of fade files when you forget to copy the Fades folder a thing of the past.
Mixing In Euphony
When Avid acquired Euphonix in , the company gained a great deal of expertise and technology relating to mixing consoles and control surfaces. Although it had previously been possible to use Euphonix's products with Pro Tools, users had to resort to clunky workarounds involving Mackie's HUI protocol. So it was perhaps no surprise that Pro Tools 9, released towards the end of , incorporated native support for Euphonix's EUCON control surface protocol, making it much easier to control Pro Tools' mixer from Euphonix's Artist and Pro series products.
EUCON support has been further enhanced in Pro Tools 10, so that almost every Pro Tools command, such as those normally accessed via menus or keyboard shortcuts, can be assigned to the Soft Keys on your Euphonix surface. Over commands are exposed, so you can now create and manage groups, for example, or adjust the edit selection without having to touch a keyboard or mouse.
Another Euphonix-related improvement in Pro Tools 10 is the new Avid Channel Strip plug-in, which is based on the EQ and dynamics algorithms from the System 5 console's channel strip. For those unfamiliar with the System 5 console, it's a high-end, modular digital console now sold by Avid, but originally released by Euphonix in Although the System 5 is popular in a many different fields, it has become a particular favourite for post-production work, being used to mix both the music and the final dub for major Hollywood feature films. If you've watched a film in the last 10 years (or listened to a film soundtrack), there's a good chance you'll have heard audio signals that have passed through a System 5 console.The new Avid Channel Strip plug-in brings the EQ and dynamics algorithms from the highly regarded System 5 console to Pro Tools. This may well be the last channel strip plug-in you'll ever need.
Channel Strip comprises four sections — EQ, Filter, Dynamics and Volume — which can be arranged in almost any order you like, except that the filter always follows the EQ. Each effect has its own section in the interface, which can be collapsed if you don't wish to see certain settings that might not be in use. The EQ offers four parametric bands, accompanied by the filters, while the dynamics section offers controls for both expander/gate and compressor/limiter processing with a side-chain. The interface for the EQ and dynamics sections comprises tabs for each of the components of the given section, whether bands of EQ or specific dynamic processes. However, the dynamic section also offers an 'All' tab, so you can see all dynamics parameters on one page numerically, which is really handy.
One particularly neat aspect of the Channel Strip plug-in is the Listen mode, which is available for the side-chain component of the dynamics section and each component of the EQ section. Enabling Listen mode on the side-chain lets you hear the input signal, while clicking Listen on a given band or filter in the EQ section solos and inverts that band or filter so you only hear the affected frequencies. This allows one to be incredibly surgical when trying to find the appropriate frequency (and Q). In fact, that word pretty much sums up the System 5's channel strip. It's perfect for shaping a sound without adding a great deal of extra (and perhaps unwanted) colour.
In addition to the new Channel Strip plug-in, there's also Down Mixer, which simplifies the process of creating stereo fold-downs of surround material, and a new version of Mod Delay. But, as well as new plug-ins, Avid have also made a number of other mix-related improvements that will be helpful to those who use Pro Tools for large-scale mixes. There are now Solo and Mute indicators on the Edit window's toolbar, so if any track in your session has been soloed or muted, the appropriate indicator will light up to show that a solo or mute is active somewhere. Clicking the Solo indicator will clear the solo status of any tracks, but, unfortunately, clicking the Mute indicator does nothing. According to the Pro Tools manual, a 'clear mutes' function is impossible because Mute is an automatable mix parameter. Even so, it would have been nice if clicking the Mute indicator would at least scroll you automatically to the first muted track in the list, just to make it easy to track down a rogue mute, if you'll excuse the pun.The Edit window now features Solo and Mute indicators (bottom right). Here you can see the Solo indicator lit up to show that there's at least one soloed track in the session.
A particularly neat touch is that the Solo indicator works across multiple Pro Tools systems synchronised via Satellite Link. This means that if a session on any linked system has a soloed track, the Solo indicator will light up, which is pretty cool. The only slight complaint is that the Solo and Mute indicators are only visible on the Edit window, and it might have been nice to find some way for them to be accommodated on the Mix window as well.
Staying with the theme of making things easier to see when mixing, another neat feature in Pro Tools 10 is called Bus Interrogation. While the name sounds a bit like some kind of forceful public transport inquisition, it's actually a way of quickly seeing all tracks sharing a common assignment. For example, say you have a number of tracks routed to a Drums bus and you want the Mix window to show only those tracks. Simply right-click on an assignment to the Drums bus (from a track output, for example) and choose 'Show Only Assignments to Drums'. Any tracks not containing an assignment (whether an input, output or send, and so on) to the Drums bus will be hidden, clearing the Mix window of unnecessary clutter. When you want to return to the tracks that were visible before selecting this command, right-click on any assignment and choose 'Restore Previously Shown Tracks'. The only small quirk is that the Mix window always ends up scrolled all the way to the left after the restoration. It would be nice to have the option of the Mix window being restored to the exact place to which you were previously scrolled.
In addition to being able to show only the tracks sharing a common assignment, you can also choose to select the appropriate tracks, and there's also a Show Assignments command. This is similar to Show Only, except that it's intended to ensure all tracks that might share the given assignment are visible (as opposed to hidden). This time, all other visible tracks displayed in the Mix window remain that way.
Price Points
One of the most contentious aspects of Pro Tools 10 is likely to be its cost. Avid have increased the price of the basic software flavour of Pro Tools by $£33, so that a new copy of Pro Tools 10 now costs $£ If you're already a Pro Tools 9 user, an upgrade to version 10 will set you back $£, which might be considered equivalent to the cost of a higher-end, console-style plug-in — say, the Avid Channel Strip. But in addition to this plug-in, you also get most of the other features discussed in this article. To get the rest, including the new disk caching functionality, you'll need the Complete Production Toolkit, which costs an additional $£
As before, the Pro Tools HD 10 software itself is available only with a new hardware system (with either the Pro Tools Native or HDX card). This HD version can still run without any additional hardware, and in this case it behaves like a copy of Pro Tools with the Complete Production Toolkit. However, the cost for Pro Tools HD users to upgrade to version 10 is the not insignificant sum of $£, making it, so far as I can remember, the most expensive software upgrade in Pro Tools' history. Initially, it was possible to save money by purchasing Avid Standard Support: a month support package that, for a limited time, retroactively included the Pro Tools HD 10 upgrade. But with that offer now closed, HD users will have to pay the full amount to upgrade.
Pro Tools 10 is an incredibly useful update, and I don't want to seem completely negative about the cost. But it does point to a difficulty in evaluating the fiscal value of software. Given that the version 8 to version 9 upgrade was $£ for HD users, does one really get $£ worth of additional value on top of this in the switch to Pro Tools 10? I guess it depends on the users at the end of the day, and what they need their systems for. Certainly, high-end mix facilities might be more than happy to pay the money for features like disk caching and being able to synchronise more systems via Satellite Link. But if you mostly use a Pro Tools system as, say, a songwriting tool, there's potentially less to get excited about.
Top 10?
Pro Tools 10 is about audio. There are new audio editing features, new audio plug-ins, and incredible internal improvements such as the new disk engine and more flexible support for working with different audio formats. What Pro Tools 10 is not about is sequencing, which comes as a surprise when I think back to the huge push Digidesign made in version 8 to boost Pro Tools' music creation functionality. Maybe Avid now feel that Pro Tools' abilities in this respect are adequate for the moment, especially since it was never a sequencer in the way that Logic, Cubase and Digital Performer were and are, and maybe it makes sense not to transform Pro Tools into that type of music production software. However, it does seem a shame that some of the shortcomings on this side of the product have still not been addressed three years later. Ultimately, Pro Tools 10 feels like a more polished Pro Tools 9. Many of the major improvements are arguably quite subtle, but it is possibly the sheer avalanche of these subtle improvements that will make it a worthwhile and impressive upgrade for the majority of users.
Universal Exports
Pro Tools 10 offers many improvements when it comes to working with different audio file formats, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who is happy to see support for interleaved files, whether stereo or multi-channel. Pro Tools 10 also supports some of the more modern WAV format varietals, including the Wave Extensible Format (for better compatibility with interleaved multi-channel files), and RF64, which enables more than 4GB of audio to be stored in a single WAV file. And given that the HDX hardware processes audio at the same bit floating-point internal resolution as native systems (as we will discuss further next month), Pro Tools 10 now also supports bit floating-point audio files. This is useful if you do a large amount of off-line processing, but has the disadvantage of placing a greater load on your storage resources.
Some of these new format options are available when creating a new session, such as bit float (as a Bit Depth option) and Interleaved. However, a significant change is that the Audio Format (WAV or AIFF), Interleaved and Bit Depth settings can now be changed after a session has been created, in the Session Setup window. If a change is made, any new audio recorded after this point will be stored according to the new settings, which is possible because Pro Tools 10 now supports mixed audio file formats in a single session. This is a pretty big deal, especially as it will also save having to convert every file you add to a session that might be in a different format.
In addition to supporting various other formats, Pro Tools 10 also introduces a new '.ptx' session format of its own, meaning that sessions created in Pro Tools 10 cannot be opened in previous versions. While this kind of change is rarely welcomed by anyone, it is at least possible, as it has been in the past, to export a session that is compatible with earlier versions of Pro Tools using the 'Save Session Copy As 'command.
Speaking of exports, a useful command Avid have added in Pro Tools 10 is the ability to export the selected tracks as a new session. This is great if you want to send only certain tracks to a collaborator, for example, or if you want to clear out the clutter from one session to use only a few tracks as the basis for something new.
Pro Tools 10 also adds the ability for bounces to be automatically added to your iTunes library, and another slightly unexpected — but very welcome — new feature is the facility to export a bounced session to SoundCloud, the popular cloud-based music service.Pro Tools 10 makes it easy to upload bounced sessions to SoundCloud. (For anyone who doesn't know about SoundCloud, it's essentially for audio what YouTube is for video.) When bouncing to disk, there's a new 'Share with SoundCloud' option, which will prompt you for an additional page of SoundCloud-related settings, such as a description for the track and whether you want to make the track private. Once the session has been bounced, Pro Tools will ask for your SoundCloud log-in (which can be remembered for future uploads), and, assuming the process is successful, a helpful window will appear containing a URL of the uploaded track that can be copied to the clipboard.
An Advantage From The Avid Vantage
One of the less conspicuous manoeuvres Avid have made with the introduction of Pro Tools 10 is to encourage users to sign up for support and maintenance contracts, a business model that has served the video side of Avid reasonably well in the past. The first offering is known as Avid Vantage, but the big question is whether the vantage is the user's or the company's. For $£ a year, Avid are offering "unlimited online customer support”, whatever that means, along with a $99 coupon that can be redeemed against an Avid software purchase. Vantage users can also choose four plug-ins to be licensed for the tenure of the support. I've got to admit that I have no idea why anyone would go along with this offer, and I invite Avid to show me the value of the support I would receive as a Pro Tools user if I did.
As mentioned in the main text, Avid initially offered retroactive Pro Tools 10 upgrades to HD users who bought the Avid Standard Support Package ($ in the US), effectively saving them quite a bit on the retail price of a Pro Tools HD 10 upgrade. However, it does rather seem that you would do this for Avid's benefit rather than your own, since, despite the carrot, Avid obviously hope you'll be so infatuated with the support you receive that you'll continue to pay the fee annually, regardless of whether there are any major updates in a given cycle.
In a market where only high-end console customers are used to paying for annual support for their purchases, I think the onus is on Avid to show regular Pro Tools customers why an annual fee will be to their benefit rather than to AVID on the NASDAQ.
Pros
- New audio editing features and format support have the potential to make working in Pro Tools faster and simpler.
- The Avid Channel Strip is a bit of a jewel, and finally gives Pro Tools users really good (and really useful) out-of-the-box, console-style EQ and dynamics.
- Disk caching dramatically improves transport responsiveness, especially when working with large sessions.
Cons
- Nothing significantly new for those who sequence in Pro Tools.
- Pro Tools is still a bit application.
- Depending on your system and needs, the upgrade price may cause you to blush.
Summary
There are no big surprises in Pro Tools 10 — except, perhaps, for the cost — but Avid have added considerable polish and functionality to its audio abilities. Although many of the improvements are subtle, they are nonetheless very worthwhile.
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Test Spec
- Avid Pro Tools HD
- Apple Mac Pro running Mac OS with dual GHz quad-core Intel Xeon processors, 16GB memory, and an RME Fireface interface.
What’s New in the Cool Audio Magic Audio Editor Pro 10.3.5 serial key or number?
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