I've heard this 'Pro Tools' gear mentioned quite a few times now lately in magazines of promininent musicians using it to record on the road and so forth.

Can anyone tell me anything about it?

It is suposedly the best digital recording based program out there. It is hardware based, has really cool plugins, you can tweek anything you want, and it cost $15,000.00-$20,000.00. or so.

ProTools (DigiDesign) is giving away a 'FREE' version of ProTools on their website. Does NOT work with external hardware (other than internal Mac soundcard or PC sound card), but it seems to work fine for those who just need the basics.

Worth a look!

Pro Tools is fast becoming the "industry standard" for digital recording in professional studios - Steely Dan used the package for their last album. Almost all the big studios in the UK have it now.

I have only seen it used in very high-spec, pro - studios, with millions of pounds worth of equipment, so I can't comment on the "give-away" version - I would think you'd need a very high spec PC to run it though, with huge amounts of hard-drive space.

I've tried the free Pro-Tools version. On my system (PIII 600 30Gb UDMA100 TNT2 MX300, yep a gaming system) it does not even play the demo song. It stops playing and complains about 'the system held of interrupts too long' or something like that. Cubase demo and N-Track run fine on this system.

I use a ProTools TDM (hardware dependent) system for my day job. It truly is an amazing system. There is nothing (NOTHING) you can't do with it. Very intuitve, but very expensive. ($14,000 or so, not counting the computer)

At home I use steinberg's Nuendo, a host-based (uses your computer's power, not DSP cards) system. On a home-made PIII 550, with 128 megs and 30 and 8 gig drives, I'm getting 24-26 tracks, handfull of plug-ins (including some pretty demanding reverbs) completely glitchless. Conversly, ProTools Free wouldn't run on my system, either.

If you're rich, go with ProTools (everyone is using it, so you're compatible with them). If you're not rich, there are a lot of good and even a few great host-based HD recording systems available.

One last thing, it's not really the gear that makes a good recording system (just like it's not a good bass that makes a great bassist). It's all about ears.

Originally posted by Pacman
I use a ProTools TDM (hardware dependent) system for my day job. It truly is an amazing system. There is nothing (NOTHING) you can't do with it. Very intuitve, but very expensive. ($14,000 or so, not counting the computer)


Jon - hope you don't mind me asking - but you mention US Army on your profile. Does this mean the Army is using Pro Tools now? Or is your day job elsewhere?

I agree with all your comments on Pro Tools - I haven't got "hands on" but have stood behind people a lot and been amazed!

yeah, the army is using ProTools on an isolated basis (meaning those units that can fit it in the budget can get it)

Wow! I don't think the British Army have got enough money to buy a Fostex 4 track cassette!

What sort of things do you "produce" or work on?

I've done "demo" CD's for people trying to audition for higher level bands, national orchestras, etc...I've done CDs for some of our small groups (brass quintet, woodwind quintet, jazz combo, etc.). The long range plan is to do full CD releases from our shop of the Concert band and big bands.

I've gotten *very* experienced at editing over the past few years, more than mixing or anything else. I "fixed" a friends 8 track master where the engineer on the session really screwed up (I got 2 bass tracks and *no* snare track!) I actually ended up doing an edit every time he hit the snare, but you cant tell on the final. Took forever tho!

Actually now I come to think of it, this does make a great deal of sense. I know that in the UK there are CDs with like the massed bands of the Royal Air Force that do very well - especially things like "Dambusters March" "633 Squadron " etc.

I can imagine that in peacetime, this would be a good way of supplementing income! I did actually know someone in Plymouth who was in the Royal Marines Band and he told me about how it was a very good life if you wanted to be a full-time paid musician.

I often go to airshows in the UK with a strong presence from the US Airforce who sell things, and they seem to do very well.

but actually, we're not allowed to sell them. We can only give them away. It's a public relations thing. It's not a *bad* life, if you want to make a living being a musician, but it's not the best, either.

I think Reedo35 is an Army bandsman, too.

Originally posted by Pacman
but actually, we're not allowed to sell them. We can only give them away. It's a public relations thing. It's not a *bad* life, if you want to make a living being a musician, but it's not the best, either.

I think Reedo35 is an Army bandsman, too.



Actually the US Airforce might have been giving stuff away as well, but looking for donations to a relevant charity in return.

I suppose there aren't that many options left to being a full-time musician now. Some of the Jazz musicians I meet tell me about how it's impossible for them to get a loan for a house or car, as their income isn't seen as secure in any way. I can see the "services" as one of the very few secure ways left to earn your living from music.

Originally posted by Bruce Lindfield
Pro Tools is fast becoming the "industry standard" for digital recording in professional studios - Steely Dan used the package for their last album. Almost all the big studios in the UK have it now.

I have only seen it used in very high-spec, pro - studios, with millions of pounds worth of equipment, so I can't comment on the "give-away" version - I would think you'd need a very high spec PC to run it though, with huge amounts of hard-drive space.

I am using ProTools "Free" on my home Mac. In fact, I spent much of the last two days dumping old recordings from cassette to HD, then ripping to both aiff and mp3. I'm running a Mac G4 dual 450 w/256MB RAM (you have to run ProTools with virtual memory off) and a 30 Gig HD. Runs like a champ. I've also run it on my G3/400 Powerbook with no problems. I can't speak for running it on a wintel system...I avoid that whenever possible (which is almost always).

I've tried the ProTools free on PC....and dumped it immediately. Digi's really not got the stuff together as far as PC architecture goes. Maybe in a few generations of software, but not right now.

On the same system that I'm getting 26 or so tracks with Nuendo, I can't get *2* tracks to run the ProTools stuff...so, forget it (for me)

Originally posted by Pacman
but actually, we're not allowed to sell them. We can only give them away. It's a public relations thing. It's not a *bad* life, if you want to make a living being a musician, but it's not the best, either.

I think Reedo35 is an Army bandsman, too.


Hey! I represent that remark! :D
Yeah, we do the same thing in my band. We get requests all the time for Recordings. Man, if we sold them, we could
probably double our budget.

Originally posted by Pacman
I've tried the ProTools free on PC....and dumped it immediately. Digi's really not got the stuff together as far as PC architecture goes. Maybe in a few generations of software, but not right now.

On the same system that I'm getting 26 or so tracks with Nuendo, I can't get *2* tracks to run the ProTools stuff...so, forget it (for me)

Well, I think your better choice would be to forget the pc and get a Mac. ;)

Originally posted by Pacman
I've tried the ProTools free on PC....and dumped it immediately. Digi's really not got the stuff together as far as PC architecture goes. Maybe in a few generations of software, but not right now.

On the same system that I'm getting 26 or so tracks with Nuendo, I can't get *2* tracks to run the ProTools stuff...so, forget it (for me)

Maybe it's your sound card? Do you have a bus master driver installed? It shouldn't make any difference whether it's for PC or Mac.
I downloaded it (just for fun, I don't record stuff too often), and it worked just fine on my PIII-733/128/SB Live! system. And the SB Live! isn't the best card for PC hard disk recording, either.

thanks, I'm using Aardvark cards, and I've been doing the digi audio thing for some time. Read the beginning of this thread and see that I get 24-26 tracks with plugins on other high-end software and you'll probably draw the same conclusion that I did....it's the software, not the hardware.

And with Digi stuff, it *does* make a difference between PC and Mac, as it does with most other HD systems. Mac is *far* superior for digi audio, I just couldn't afford to sink so much $$ into a whole different system.

Try Nuendo if you want great performance on a PC.

I tried out that Protools free. Do the definitive versions have a similar Interface? I didn't like that interface at all.

CROZ,

What don't you like about the Pro Tools interface? I've been using the free version for a few weeks now and really find it extrememly intuitive. I'm running it on my Powerbook G3 w/192mb RAM and have had no problems whatsoever. Our guitarist, on the other hand, has been trying to sell me on the idea of Cakewalk on a Windows machine. What a nightmare! I'm not sure what's worse, Windows or Cakewalk. Yeah, I'm a Mac evangelist. I just got Cakewalk Metro 5 for Mac and look forward to trying it out.

All you Windows guys out there: Have any of you used the free Pro Tools with any success? It'd be great if these companies would make the files cross-platform. Apparently Cubase swings both ways.

Dave

It sounds like lots of folks are trying the free Pro Tools and having problems. For those of you on a budget, I seriously recommend you check out Power Tracks by PG Music.
Power Tracks costs all of $30.00 US and has most of the features of the high end recording programs. Until recently it was somewhat hamstringed by the fact that it didn't support DirectX, but the new version remdies that problem.
Here's the link:

http://www.pgmusic.com/powertracks.htm

Check it out. It's hard for me to understand why we aspiring engineers have to spend thousands for Pro-Tools and the like, when something like this can be had for $30.00!!!

Digidesign have some work ahead to catch up to Cubase or Nuendo on PC-based systems, but I also suspect it's part of their crippleware principle. There's a patched ProTools version in circulation with better memory management (32 Audio and 127 MIDI tracks) and you can use commercial plugins that are blocked in the original version.

THIS OF COURSE IS ILLEGAL AND I ONLY KNOW THIS ON A HEARSAY BASIS!

Just for the record, I've got a P3 700; 64Mb ram ; TB Montego II soundcard; Win98 1st edition. Even though they recommend 128 Mb ram I downloaded ProTools free for the sheer hell of it (I love this fast Lan connection). Loaded up the demo song, which has 8 tracks+ of audio, and it plays fine.

The only thing I don'tl like is the GUI's text is far too small. But I suppose in a studio that can afford the full monty, they'd have a far bigger screen

ProTools Free is very picky hardwarewise.
Check the compatibility list on their website.

Originally posted by Bruce Lindfield
Wow! I don't think the British Army have got enough money to buy a Fostex 4 track cassette!


LOL! I'm not a bandsman but I think that's pretty much the truth. It's a restrictive day job, but it helps pay for the gear.

Has anybody heard anything about Digidesign's Digi 001 with Pro Tools LE? It seems like it would be a good deal at $800 considering you wouldn't have to buy a separate mixer or soundcard. But if they are just trying to use the Pro Tools name to make some money I would like to know before I go out and waste my money on it.

Sounds to me like a lot of the so called errors in protools people comlain about here is pilot or hardware caused, not software. I attend the RIT program at MI and work with the protools DIGI 001 system all the time. So far no problems what so ever. I recommend protools to anyone, and I will buy a system as soon as I can afford it.

I've been spending an obsessive amount of time reading and checking out recording magazines and forums. I want to set up a good home recording studio and record to hard disk and I'm not computer savvy. From my research I'm pretty sure that I'm going with a Mac and Digi 001 and Protools LE 5.1. It is supposed to be (lord I hope so) the most user-friendly of the sophisticated (?) progams like Cubase, Logic, and Digital Peformer. Cakewalk is supposedly excellent but for idiosyncratic reasons I'm leaning towards Protools.

Protools is much better and hasslefree on a Mac than Windows PC. The Windows platform is much less stable and has to be rigidly specked to run Protools (PT) well. PT was designed to work on the Mac and then adapted to PC. There is a difference. Also, for a good digital audio work station to work efficiently and smoothly with maximal effect and minimal down time, the computer is best dedicated to music and little else:no games, no screensavers, etc.

I doubt that MS is so much more unstable, DigiDesign's ProTools Free just isn't programmed very well (don't like the GUI concept much either). Go for Steinberg's Nuendo, beats all other stuff out there IMO, especially with Rewire. It's great to simply sync Nuendo with Reason and ReBirth...:)

Originally posted by jondiener
ProTools (DigiDesign) is giving away a 'FREE' version of ProTools on their website. Does NOT work with external hardware (other than internal Mac soundcard or PC sound card), but it seems to work fine for those who just need the basics.

Worth a look!



oh yea its awesome...I have an external 8-track mixer and now I can do multitrack(upto 8 tracks) of recording in my room....now If I had the intiative I could record a vocal/bass/drum/mandolin/guitar/synth/turntable track
and still have room for more! heehehe

Originally posted by JMX
I doubt that MS is so much more unstable, DigiDesign's ProTools Free just isn't programmed very well (don't like the GUI concept much either). Go for Steinberg's Nuendo, beats all other stuff out there IMO, especially with Rewire. It's great to simply sync Nuendo with Reason and ReBirth...:)

protools free gui is almost identical to the full version of protools....I've been using both in the past month.
pro tools is totally awesome I'd wager 99% of all the music you have on cd wa mixed with protools....it allows for total control over your tracks and has alot of really cool hardware designed to work with it.

however reason is so cool that any program that mixes with it is definatly worth a look see.

Originally posted by Phat Ham
Has anybody heard anything about Digidesign's Digi 001 with Pro Tools LE?

I have this. The DIGI001 is a great interface. Pro-Tools LE is a good audio tool, but its MIDI interface sucks, in my taste.

Finally, I use Cubase VST with my DIGI001, and I use Pro Tools LE for... mixing and mastering;) Feels good to me that way.

I use all this on a PowerMac G4.

All the best,

Originally posted by Wrong Robot


pro tools is totally awesome I'd wager 99% of all the music you have on cd wa mixed with protools....it allows for total control over your tracks and has alot of really cool hardware designed to work with it.



That's going a bit far, but certainly a lot of music out has been 'worked over' with ProTools. There are toms of engineers out there that can't 'keep their hands off the knobs' for mixing tho.

The keyboard player in my band opened up a studio last year and he has way more than $20,000 in his set-up, but I've gotten some experience on it. For the most part the plugins for pro tools is what makes it. He has so many programs on that thing it's amazing. Pro Tools is awesome though it can do just about anything, and I would imagine that the free version is just the tip of the iceberg. He has a control 24 mixer that is interactive with the Pro Tools set-up and tons of line 6 interfaces for any type of effect or modeling unit you could want. The only draw back isthe cost and memory usage. He has 2 40 gig external and a dvd burner to get stuff off the hard drive as soon as the recording is over. The expenses are endless, more and more companies keep on coming out with interfaces and programs that work with Pro Tools. His Mac g4 that is maxed out sometimes even struggles to handle the capacity of Pro Tools. It isn't because of bad programming it's because of intricate programming and design that takes so many things into account. This stuff is amazing.
Brad

pro tools is the devil's instrument. :mad:

Originally posted by bassturd
pro tools is the devil's instrument. :mad:

why in the world would you say that?

I love Pro Tools. It helps my dreams become reality. Well, some of my dreams anyway. ;)

Right now I'm playing around with a beta of the new Cubase SX.

This one will kick some serious booty this summer.

http://www.steinberg.net/products/up/cubasesx/index.phtml?sid=05807070

I use Pro Tools LE, Digi001, RME ADI-8 Pro ad/da converters, Mac G4 (733 Mhz chip, 512MB RAM, dual hard drives with one 60Gb dedicated to the music), some third party plug-ins.

I love it for audio. I don't do much if any MIDI so that's not a problem for me.

I'll release my first CD this summer.:D

This is 2 years old,but im bringing it back up.I am REALLY confused on how to record a song on this?Any help?I have the protools free version.Can someone explain how to record a song in the easiest way?Thanks.