Do yourself a favor, listen to Pro Tools Expert Russ Hughes PT 12 Review...

[Justin1524]

http://static1.squarespace.com/stati...?download=true

Starts at about 26 minutes into it.

Russ Hughes:
"Bugger all (British for "nothing at all") I don't know. I've promised I won't Avid bash, but I'm finding it really hard not to say anything about this, because, let me just say it's the fastest version of Pro Tools I've ever un-installed from my machine in my life, it lasted less than an hour."

[Excerpts below condensed for clarity]

"It removed my Pro Tools 11. There's no track freeze. There's no collaboration. The store has the sum total of 1 plugin for sale. It is embarrassing, shameful, words fail me. If it was April the first, I'd understand. Don't waste your time, your money, your bandwidth, the **** of taking it off your machine and re-installing Pro Tools 11. I am speechless by this. I don't know what Avid wants us to say. Yeah. I don't want to say it. There is zero reason to update. It's a joke. Sorry. I don't even know if we should even bother."

Mike Thornton:
"I did assume the collaboration and track freeze would be there, that's incredibly disappointing that it's not there. That was the key feature. I have a perfectly working system, I'm carrying on with what I've got."

Thank you Russ for your honesty. It's why your site and podcasts keep me coming back again and again.

[EricWillhelm]

I'm dying to see what the numbers are for this version sales-wise, compared to previous versions.

[Chingy]

Originally Posted by EricWillhelm

I'm dying to see what the numbers are for this version sales-wise, compared to previous versions.

Actually, I think the really telling number will be for PT 13 given how many people might bail from Avid and PT all together after this release. So many alternatives (and really powerful alternatives) out there these days. The transition is much, much easier (speaking from recent experience).

[Wall2Wall]

In all fairness, there is no rule that you must update to 12. Wait until they add the features you want. If they don't come through then move on or stand pat with your current version.

[jeff markham]

Well, I feel a lot the pain that I hear in Russ's voice.

The last three releases of Protools, I've spent a heck of a lot and I
have basically no improvements to my workflow ... other than I can
run it on my current compute hardware.

They obsoleted almost all of my hardware. I "went purple" with
promises of great things to come.

With the exception of the times when I can use offline bounce, there's
really nothing that 10 or 11 have bought me as an HD user.

When you buy in as much as I have .. and sounds like Russ has as well,
you expect to have confidence that there's a plan for professionals.

With the release of Protools 12, my confidence has waned.

[philip888]

Remember 8 came out. Those were good times. But now life sux. It is really hard to cope with this.

[WillAvidSurvive]

Russ did what I did except I had PTHD10 on my computer..... I only did one month and don't forget to turn the monthly AUTO PAY off or you will be charged and that would really suck huh Avid?

[Becharax]

Guys ... those who don't want to update .. just don't update !

Avid is not obliging anyone or forcing us to update ... you have a working Pro Tools 11.3.1 so you can stick with it until you see big improvements or features released ... honestly I am looking forward for the cloud collab function ...

[noiseboyuk]

I'm slightly surprised at the surprise. I've seen this coming for some time. Here's what Avid want to achieve:

1. Stability. 11 shouldn't now be seen as the good old days, it was the all-time worst roll out of a DAW and very damaging to the Avid brand. Whatever else is or isn't included, it has to be stable from now on.

2. They want to back-load the features to time with March 2016. They will then capitalise on a) having delivered the features they originally promised, and b) entice customers with shiny new ones. Double points if those new promises in 2016 are big Ideascale ones - "look everyone, we're listening now! Pay up!"

So that's the agenda here. It was exactly the same with MC8. The only surprising thing is the lack of Marianna etc to talk it up and explain it - the riot now was entirely predictable and could have largely been managed. The only time Marianna has said anything this week was to try to clamp down on anyone violating an NDA, which embarrassingly turned out to be Avid's own staff demoing at trade shows. From a PR perspective, this has been an awful rollout, but Avid won't much care - their eyes a focused a year from now.

[Jon_Atkinson]

Originally Posted by DJ Bechara

Guys ... those who don't want to update .. just don't update !

Avid is not obliging anyone or forcing us to update ... you have a working Pro Tools 11.3.1 so you can stick with it until you see big improvements or features released ... honestly I am looking forward for the cloud collab function ...

I totally understand why you might say this, and I normally would 100% agree with this sentiment.
However AVID actually *are* forcing an update. Not necessarily now, this instant. But absolutely this year.
If you choose not to upgrade (in my case I'm on PT10 with CPTK) before the end of the year (I believe that's the cut off), then you will not ever be able to upgrade, if you are not on an upgrade plan… You are stuck with the version you have for ever. Or, you buy a new licence… (Except that you can't buy an HD licence, you have to buy a hardware system.)


So, yes you can stay where you are, but it may not be a decision you can put off till later. The clock is ticking.