Open old .ptf files in Pro Tools First?
 

Having updated to a mew iMac with Mojave and installing Pro Tools First I am trying to find a way to open up old projects from an M-Audio bundled version of Pro Tools SE (which, of course, is too outdated to run on the new system). Is it possible to load or otherwise import those projects? Am I just missing something simple?

Re: Open old .ptf files in Pro Tools First?
 

Hi welcome to DUC.

Unfortunately... it’s a bad story. So bad I’ll let Avid explain it :-)

http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/e...n-this-session

You can have somebody with Pro Tools (Standard or Ultimate) move those sessions for you into Cloud Projects.... but then you might end up upgrading plans to use more than three of them online (you can have more than 3 projects cached local). It’s all likely the wrong way to go. Including because there are unfortunately too many issues with cloud based projects.

I would look at purchasing or subscribing to Pro Tools Standard and be working with local sessions. Or look at other DAWs entirely.

But BTW if you really want to make First work you can trial a full version of Pro Tools Ultimate for free for a month. Full software, everything works. You definitely should not get that trial and definitely do not use it to move all your sessions to Pro Tools First compatible cloud projects. :-) Both First and the Ultimate Trial can be installed on the same computer. https://my.avid.com/get/pro-tools-ultimate-trial

I predict after playing with Ultimate you will want Standard not First... and purchasing a Standard license will turn that Pro Tools Ultimate Trial install (which you are definitely not using to migrate old sessions to projects) into Standard with no extra work.

Re: Open old .ptf files in Pro Tools First?
 

Welcome to the community.

The Pro Tools SE ref guide said session files could be opened by Pro Tools, so please try File > Convert Session... in PTF and let us know the results. Thanks!

Re: Open old .ptf files in Pro Tools First?
 

My advice is: Buy a small external SSD with USB3. Install your old System with your working Pro Tools SE (maybe from an old time machine backup) and you`re good to go. Thats the way i do it with Mavericks an PT 10.3.10.

I have installed only Mav and Pro Tools and no other funny things. Also no internet connection. This is most stable and i can work on my system without any cloud probs or so. The only thing i have to do is to plug my external drive in my macbook , restart and press option key. Now i can choose whether i want to work with Mojave or Mavericks (Pro Tools).

Cheers

Re: Open old .ptf files in Pro Tools First?
 

Jeffro - are you saying Pro Tools First Convert Session can handle an old .ptf format, I had assumed it is only pro, and that is what the PTF doc/help implies.

Separately, so much of the Pro Tools First doc/FAQs seem they need updating.

Re: Open old .ptf files in Pro Tools First?
 

Uh no. Not likely to work on a new Mojave era iMac. SE is Pro Tools 8.x era museumware, last officially supported OS was Lion IIRC.

Re: Open old .ptf files in Pro Tools First?
 

Good News.. Article's been updated..
Beginning with Pro Tools First version 12.8.2 you can use the "Convert to Session" option under the File menu to import a Pro Tools session and convert it into a Project, suitable for use with Pro Tools First.

Though, PT First is still limited to 16 tracks, so any sessions with more than the track limit still opens but excludes the exceeding tracks.

Hope this helps. Thanks
-Tope