Pro Tools
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Pro Tools | |
 Pro Tools 6.7 Screenshot on Mac OS X |
|
| Developer: | Digidesign |
|---|---|
| Latest release: | Pro Tools HD/LE 7.3.1cs1 / February 12, 2007 |
| OS: | Mac OS X Windows XP |
| Use: | Digital music workstation |
| Licence: | Proprietary |
| Website: | http://www.digidesign.com/ |
Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation which integrates hardware and software. It is widely used by professionals in music production, post production, TV and film scoring.
As one of the first programs to provide CD-quality (16 bit and 44.1 kHz) multitrack digital audio editing on a personal computer, Pro Tools quickly grew in the sound recording field. It originally became popular because of its simple, streamlined interface for non-linear, non-destructive editing. This appealed to analog producers making the switch to computer-based digital audio production. Digidesign received a technical Academy Award of Merit for the development of Pro Tools in 2004.
Pro Tools is criticized for its lack of support for musical notation. However in 2006, Avid acquired Sibelius music notation software company. Pro Tools 7.3 supports exporting to Sibelius.
Contents |
[edit] Pro Tools systems
The professional-level Pro Tools|HD system uses PCI or PCI Express cards to perform audio processing on DSP (digital signal processing) chips to reduce computing burden on the CPU. Similarly, it utilizes TDM (a proprietary interconnect based on time-division multiplexing) to communicate with external I/O devices and other DSP cards to reduce burden on the computer's PCI bus.
Pro Tools HD uses three types of PCI-X / PCIe cards. When Pro Tools HD was launched, the HD Core and HD Process were the 2 cards that were available. Each Pro Tools system requires at least 1 Core card. Later, owing to supply problems from DSP manufacturers Motorola, the line was given a revamp and rebranded HD Accel. The HD Core card remained the standard basic card, but the HD Accel Process card replaced the HD Process. Accel cards offer faster DSP chips and additional RAM compared to Process cards. All cards contain 9 DSP chips. Digidesign offer the cards in 3 bundles (HD 1, 2 and 3). A core is common to all, but the latter two have one or two Process or Accel cards respectively. Additional Process and Accel cards may be added to a system to increase capability (it is possible to mix the types), up to a total of 7 cards. Digidesign offers a PCI-X expansion chassis product called 'Expansion HD' to accommodate larger systems. This is available with both PCI-X and PCIe host cards for the computer.
When Apple changed the expansion slot architecture of the G5 to PCI Express (PCIe), Digidesign launched a line of PCIe HD Accel cards. It's interesting that the PCIe HD Core is now an 'Accel Core', whereas the original PCI-X Core remains 'non-Accel'. This is relevant since there are TDM plugins that require the presence of Accel chips to run. As of 22nd October 2006, there is no Windows software support for PCIe HD cards.
Consumer-level systems (such as the Digi 003, Digi 003 Rack, and MBox 2) perform all processing on the host CPU. Consumer systems offer limited track counts (32 or 48 in LE vs. up to 192 in HD), fewer internal routing options, and a feature-reduced version of the Pro Tools application (called Pro Tools LE, or Light Edition). Pro Tools LE also only supports 2 channels (stereo), whereas the professional systems support surround sound output (i.e. 5.1, 6.1 etc.)
A fairly new addition to the range is the ICON: Integrated Console Environment, combining a tactile control surface and a Pro Tools|HD Accel system in one unit. Designed as a replacement for existing studio consoles, it attempts to give the user the feel and control of an analog system, but with a powerful Pro Tools core. A similar system (VENUE) was release for live sound applications.
In April 2005, Digidesign released Pro Tools M-Powered which brought almost all Pro Tools LE functionality to a subset of M-Audio USB, Firewire and PCI interfaces.
"Pro Tools Free" was released as a free version of Pro Tools 5.x. It is limited to 8 audio tracks and 48 MIDI tracks. It will only run on Windows 98/ME and Mac OS 9. There was also "PowerMix" version of Pro Tools 3.4-4.3 that was able to run on Macintosh built-in audio.
An official Pro Tools training curriculum and certification program was introduced by Digidesign in 2002. It includes a full range of Pro Tools–related courses in music and post production. The curriculum is delivered by a number of schools and universities around the world.
[edit] Pro Tools timeline of releases
- 1989 - Sound Tools stereo recording & editing system
- 1991 - Original Pro Tools system is released featuring 4 voices, ProDECK and ProEDIT software, MIDI, and automation
- 1994 - Pro Tools III system, provides 16-48 voices
- 1997 - Pro Tools|24 (supports 24-bit audio)
- 1998 - Pro Tools|MIX (expanded DSP capabilities for mixing audio)
- 1999 - Digi 001 with Pro Tools LE (light edition of Pro Tools)
- 2002 - Pro Tools|HD system (supports 96kHz and 192kHz HD audio); Mbox and Digi 002 (March and Sept.)
- 2003 - Pro Tools|HD Accel system (additional DSP capabilities); Pro Tools Users group founded in Los Angeles. [1]
- 2005 - VENUE (Pro Tools for live sound); Mbox 2; Pro Tools M-Powered (Aug); Pro Tools 7.0 (Nov), 7.1 (supports Apple's PCIe G5) (Dec.)
- 2006 - Pro Tools 7.2 (Aug.) and 7.3 (Dec.); Pro Tools LE and HD support Intel-based Mac (May and Sept. respectively); Mbox 2 Pro, Mbox 2 Mini
- 2007 - 003 and 003 Rack (Feb)
[edit] Current Pro Tools Hardware
Pro Tools HD
- HD 1/2/3 Core Systems
- 192 I/O (8ch 192Khz interface)
- 192 Digital I/O (8ch 192Khz interface)
- 96 I/O (8ch 96Khz interface)
- 96i I/O (16ch 96Khz interface)
- Pre I/O (8ch microphone pre-amp)
- SYNC I/O (Time Code Synchronizer)
- MIDI I/O (MIDI Interface)
- Expansion|HD Chassis
Pro Tools LE
- Digi 003
- Digi 003 Rack
- Digi 002
- Digi 002 Rack
- Mbox 2
- Mbox 2 Pro
- Mbox 2 Mini
- Mbox
Pro Tools M-Powered
M-Audio Interfaces:
- Audiophile Series
- Delta Series
- Fast Track USB
- FireWire 1814
- FireWire 410
- FireWire Solo
- Black Box
- Ozone
- MobilePre USB
- Ozonic
- ProjectMix I/O
Control Surfaces
- VENUE (live sound console)
- ICON (recording console)
- ProControl (recording console)
- Control|24 (recording console)
- Command|8 (control surface)
