[nigelpry]

So, experimenting with the new V11 003 driver on a Mac, and various audio software apps, including PT10.3.6, PT 11.0.0, Logic 9.1.8, Cubase 7.0.3, Wavelab 8.0, Harrison Mixbus 2.3 etc etc

Using a 003 Console (not rack), and choosing 'Avid 003' as the audio interface.

First off, 003 seems to be working well in PT11, all buttons, dials, faders and knobs seem to be working as usual.

In PT10, the 003 now acts as an audio interface, but the console no longer controls Pro Tools. In effect, it acts the same in Pro Tools 10 as it always has done with every other app.

I guess, from this, that when selecting 'Avid 003' in the hardware select box, I'm now selecting its Core Audio Driver, just like I do for other apps.

Also, the previous core audio manager no longer works, it does not detect the 003 with the new driver. Instead, there is a new 003 manager which resides as a utility in system preferences. It does all the same things as the previous core audio manager, but does not automatically open when an app accesses the 003.

There's one noticeable difference though. Whereas with the previous driver, when not using Pro Tools, you got a helpful bit of text in the LCD Display, which either said 'Offline' if nothing was accessing the device, or 'Working' if something was accessing it, now the LCD screen remains blank at all times, except when running Pro Tools 11. That's a shame, as it was a useful bit of info to have visible.

The good news is that, having selected 'Avid 003' as the device. and without any other messing about, all my other DAWs seem to be accessing the audio interface part of the 003 reliably. I can switch from one to the other, switch into and out of either pro tools versions, and there are no issues so far.

However, the lack of PT10 console support is a complete disaster. I'm not surprised its not working, as the driver download page says as much, but its nevertheless a big issue.

Does anyone (Avid?) know, and if so can they say, whether the lack of PT10 support is a temporary thing? Will there be a subsequent driver version released that supports both versions?

It means that, for now, co-install and switching between PT10 and PT11 is a big deal. It's a case of uninstalling the current driver, rebooting, installing the other driver, and rebooting again, if I still want to use the console controls when switching from 10 to 11 or vice versa.

So much so, that, for now, I will be uninstalling the 11 trial, as I use my console controls and need to have a working PT10 installation, given the lack of AAX2 plugins so far. It's a pain, as this means I'm not going to be able to test drive PT11 properly ... my trial days will carry on counting down regardless.

Oh well, at least, for me, this kicks that final decision about upgrading CPTK to HD off into the long grass. PT11 is not really viable for me unless and until all my essential plugins are AAX2 ready.