Avid pro tools 10 audio software review

Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation platform for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, developed and manufactured by Avid Technology. It is widely used by professionals throughout the audio industries for recording and editing in music production, film scoring, film, and television post production.

Pro Tools 10 allows you to record and play back up to 256 audio tracks per card (or play back up to 768 tracks with three cards), which allows infinitely complex mixes. One of the coolest features of Pro Tools 10 is the ability to match levels of channels and clips before heading into mixing. While this is an excellent feature -- and one that'll save a lot of engineers time in the mixing process later on -- it's not nearly as exciting as the ability to now use multiple audio formats in a session -- including interleaving -- without having to duplicate the file. This allows you to drag-and-drop multiple formats and save to a master file format without having to go through the excruciatingly long process of waiting for files to copy, up or down sample, and then reposition into the session.

One of the biggest complaints of many home recording studios is slow disk response; it's preferable to have high-RPM drives, but many home computers don't come standard with them. In Pro Tools 10, you'll have improved disk handling, which allows much faster data access during recording and mixing on standard-issue hard drives. With these features, you'll get great recording and playback responsiveness with the extended disk cache, which can load entire sessions into RAM, and ensures maximum track counts from networked-attached storage. That'll be a great relief to home studios who frequently find Pro Tools to be slow on their home computers.

Pros
Supports more file formats. Clip Gain greatly speeds up workflow. Multiple AudioSuite windows. Avid Channel Strip plug-in. Generally faster and more responsive.

Cons
Not 64-bit, unlike many rivals. Upgrade is expensive for what you get.

Verdict
The upgrade fee is a little hard to swallow, but taken on its own terms, Pro Tools is still awesome for recording and mixing.