AAX Plugins what's this all about?

[shamanrock]

What's all this about AAX plugins? Is in the future PT 11 not gonna allow us to use all our RTAS plugins? What about all our instrument plugins that are RTAS and VI? If Avid does tihs to get us to spend more money that's it! Bye Avid...

Can some one please explain what's goin on?

And what's the big difference betweeen the two?

Thanks

[guitardom]

Originally Posted by shamanrock

What's all this about AAX plugins? Is in the future PT 11 not gonna allow us to use all our RTAS plugins? What about all our instrument plugins that are RTAS and VI? If Avid does tihs to get us to spend more money that's it! Bye Avid...

Can some one please explain what's goin on?

And what's the big difference betweeen the two?

Thanks

i am guessing they are starting their transition to a 64 bit program which will require a new format of plugins among other things. also has to do i believe w getting rid of the 2 formats of plugins, tdm and rtas and getting them to a single format.

who knows if rtas will be working in the future. it might not for the purpose i mention above.

[Dism]

Pro Tools 10 is the last incarnation of Pro Tools that will support RTAS and TDM.

AAX is the future.

AAX will also be backwards compatible. That is to say, if you have an EQ that once was RTAS, but you now have an AAX of the same plugin, it is intended to recall the same session settings it had when it was RTAS.

The point of AAX is to eliminate the discrepancies between RTAS and TDM. It's one plugin format that will run on both native and DSP systems. You can open an HD session on a native system and vice versa without worrying about reallocating voices or plugins not working as they should. It also means 64 bit Pro Tools, and other features like freeze tracks and non-realtime bounces.

[LightWing]

Originally Posted by Dism

Pro Tools 10 is the last incarnation of Pro Tools that will support RTAS and TDM.

AAX is the future.

AAX will also be backwards compatible. That is to say, if you have an EQ that once was RTAS, but you now have an AAX of the same plugin, it is intended to recall the same session settings it had when it was RTAS.

The point of AAX is to eliminate the discrepancies between RTAS and TDM. It's one plugin format that will run on both native and DSP systems. You can open an HD session on a native system and vice versa without worrying about reallocating voices or plugins not working as they should. It also means 64 bit Pro Tools, and other features like freeze tracks and non-realtime bounces.

If you think Avid is going to give out FREE upgrades of their plugs like Strike, etc to AAX versions then you need to stop smoking in the shower. The transition of PT to 64 Bit will include a host of upgrade $$$ hosing of the entire user base and "the future" will involve extension wallet pillaging.

[sunburst79]

Originally Posted by LightWing

If you think Avid is going to give out FREE upgrades of their plugs like Strike, etc to AAX versions then you need to stop smoking in the shower. The transition of PT to 64 Bit will include a host of upgrade $$$ hosing of the entire user base and "the future" will involve extension wallet pillaging.

Lightwing, Until they actually announce an update no one can really say what if any charge the upgrades will be. I would not be suprised to see AAX support bundled into PTIEP II though. Assuming PT11 brings 64 bit memory access and requires AAX only plugs there will probably be a fee to update the plugs or bundle. One way or another everyones RTAS plugs - including mine - are going to be useless when the next version of PT arrives.

How many of the third party vender's are going to give out free instrument updates? We cant predict that either but I suspect the NI will require you to buy a new version of Massive. There will be a Ivory III, GuitarRig6 etc to buy. There might be some freebies. Alot will depend on how much RTAS/TDM code they can recycle and how much new code must be written.

The question is not if there will be upgrade fees but how much they are. The future is coming all I can suggest is to attempt to plan for it. Hopefully most developers including Avid will offer the upgrades at a modest fee to cover coding cost or simply work them into the yearly bundle upgrade.

[Shan]

Originally Posted by sunburst79

...One way or another everyones RTAS plugs - including mine - are going to be useless when the next version of PT arrives...

This alone will probably make the transition to AAX from 3rd party developers faster. Knowing that the RTAS and TDM format is obsolete in the next version of PT, which we'll probably see within the year, why would anyone invest in those plug-in formats today? If I purchase a plug-in in one of those formats today, I still have the unknown of how much it will cost me to get those changed to AAX. I think the 3rd party software devs may see a decline in their RTAS/TDM sales, which may get them on the ball to port over ASAP.

Shane

[LightWing]

Originally Posted by sunburst79

Lightwing, Until they actually announce an update no one can really say what if any charge the upgrades will be. I would not be suprised to see AAX support bundled into PTIEP II though. Assuming PT11 brings 64 bit memory access and requires AAX only plugs there will probably be a fee to update the plugs or bundle. One way or another everyones RTAS plugs - including mine - are going to be useless when the next version of PT arrives.

How many of the third party vender's are going to give out free instrument updates? We cant predict that either but I suspect the NI will require you to buy a new version of Massive. There will be a Ivory III, GuitarRig6 etc to buy. There might be some freebies. Alot will depend on how much RTAS/TDM code they can recycle and how much new code must be written.

The question is not if there will be upgrade fees but how much they are. The future is coming all I can suggest is to attempt to plan for it. Hopefully most developers including Avid will offer the upgrades at a modest fee to cover coding cost or simply work them into the yearly bundle upgrade.

Agreed which makes the move to PT10 even LESS compelling. I'll bypass this one, wait for 11 and see what the "total hit" will be in a year or so. More powerful and cheaper HW will be available then as well.

There is a reason why early adopters live on the "bleeding edge"...they get to "bleed" while Avid gets the "$ edge". Just not my philosophy. I've been involved with software in one form or another over the last thirty years and the tune Avid is playing is just the same old song and dance.

[LightWing]

Originally Posted by Shan

This alone will probably make the transition to AAX from 3rd party developers faster. Knowing that the RTAS and TDM format is obsolete in the next version of PT, which we'll probably see within the year, why would anyone invest in those plug-in formats today? If I purchase a plug-in in one of those formats today, I still have the unknown of how much it will cost me to get those changed to AAX. I think the 3rd party software devs may see a decline in their RTAS/TDM sales, which may get them on the ball to port over ASAP.

Shane

You're assuming those developers are/will be willing to invest the resources required to move their products to AAX.

Dangerous assumption IMO.

I'd wager MOST may sit on the sidelines to see what the adoption rate of PT 11 is before that...just to cover their financial butts especially in this economy which is NOT predicted to begin a significant turnaround for 3-5 YEARS depending on whose propaganda you're willing to swallow.

[Dism]

Originally Posted by LightWing

You're assuming those developers are/will be willing to invest the resources required to move their products to AAX.

There are already 100+ developers onboard for AAX. This is not hidden information or propaganda. Read what's been going on at AES this weekend. Almost every developer I have plugins from either already has an AAX plugin coming out soon, or already has them now.

McDSP, Slate Digital, CraneSong, Izotope... these are major players in Pro Tools plugins and they have already either released, or are close to releasing AAX plugs.

This isn't something that was sprung on the industry 3 days ago. All of the major plugin developers have been aware of AAX for some time now.

[sunburst79]

Originally Posted by LightWing

You're assuming those developers are/will be willing to invest the resources required to move their products to AAX.

Dangerous assumption IMO.

I suspect that they can't afford not to. TDM and RTAS is probably a very important percentage of their sales figures. A year from now those staying on PT below PT10 will probably find all sorts of plug in deal's on used plugs and new TDM and RTAS sales will slow to a halt. Unless they want to write off the entire PT user base AAX is going to be the most important thing they can invest in. Also once the plugs are coded theres a common API. So in the long run their maintenance and R&D cost's should be significantly lower.