PT LE = 48 voices petition

[dramsenik]

I prefer surround features with 64 audiotracks

me too...

[MorganPost]

This is funny. There's a demo in Toronto tonight for Pro Tools LE 7 and the store hosting the event STILL does not have LE 7 for sale. I'm not sure why they don't have it; either Didgidesign is behind on the release date or US/Canada shipping glitches...

Either way, nice that there's a demo but guess we're screwed for now 'cause we can't buy what they're promoting and selling!!!!

And hey, I'm all for more voices/audio tracks...48 tracks ain't askin' for the world

[musicsup]

me too...

If given the choice?

Surround! 32 tracks with midi instruments and surround would be good for me.
Then I could dump this other program.

[Captain_Pants]

Im fine with 32. Just fine.

What more use would you guys do with more tracks?

[msg6794]

record more things?

[CanadaMusic]

Quote :


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Im fine with 32. Just fine.

What more use would you guys do with more tracks?

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My Response :

You may be "just fine" with 32 tracks but I guarantee that you are nowhere near the majority. When I produce a full band track (lets say 2 guitars, a bassist, a drummer, a lead vocalist and a backing vocalist) I will max out 32 tracks without question. I can do just fine with 18 channels of simultaneous recording at present, however it is the extra voices that I need in production. That's it, the reason we need more than 32 tracks is production. If you are strictly engineering then i imagine you would not see the need, however, as a producer with clients that expect material that sounds professional, I need to make the mix thick and textured with the use of sample adding, programming,separating vocal sections, setting up mulitple tracks for large and small stereo systems and doubling. This is a reality of modern digital production. I will lay out an example for you.

Example

1. Kick Drum
2. Sample Kick 1
3. Sample Kick 2
4. Snare Drum
5. Sample Snare 1
6. Sample Snare 2
7. Sample Snare 3
8. Sample Snare 4 (Bottom)
9. Hi Hats
10. Overhead Left
11. Overhead Right
12. Bass
13. Small Speaker Prepped Bass
14. Guitar 1 On Axis
15. Guitar 1 Off Axis
16. Guitar 1 Stereo D.I (Through Amplitube)
17. Guitar 1 Stereo D.I (Through Guitar Rig)
18. Guitar 2 On Axis
19. Guitar 2 Off Axis
20. Guitar 2 Stereo D.I (Through Amplitube)
21. Guitar 2 Stereo D.I (Guitar Rig)
22. Lead Vocals (Verses)
23. Lead Vocals (Chorus)
24. Lead Vocals Doubled (Verses)
25. Lead Vocals Doubled (Chorus)
26. Backing Vocals (Verses)
27. Backing Vocals (Chorus)
28. Stereo Percussion (Shakers, Tambourine)
29. Synth Lines (Stereo)
30. Room Mic (Stereo)
31. Effects Vocals (Ear Candy - ex. Backing Vocals through Guitar Amps/Extreme Processing)
32. Guitar 1 Overdubs
33. Guitar 2 Overdubs

So this a realistic looking track sheet for me and it makes use of 39 voices (keep stereo tracks in mind). It is also important to keep in mind that I did not use an example involving any Toms (Very Common), Loops (Very Common), Strings or Piano which would take the count into the 40's.

I will eventually move to HD for the better Hardware,TDM Plugins, Surround Capabilities and Track Counts of 100+ which will be great however I am currently running LE until my studio is constructed. Even when I have an HD3 Accel system it will stll be great to have a 48 track LE system in my B room and will aid in interoperability a great deal.

[acstctws]

I'm with you...it is very easy to surpass 32 tracks in the production process, and with the power of new hardware, such as the Athlon X2s and dual processor Opteron systems, there is no need to have any restriction on track count. 48 tracks? How about have the number of tracks limited only by processing power. The fact of the matter is, for about the same price as a 002, I could buy a MOTU traveler (which also has word clock, 192 kHz recording, zero latency monitoring, and some other nice features not included on the 002) and my choice of DAW software: Cubase, Sonar, and Logic come to mind. This would total out at around $1200 to $1300. AND, besides the fact that I would have a higher track count, I would also have track freeze, and the ability to link together multiple pieces of hardware for more simultaneous recording tracks ( check this out to see what I'm talking about ), just to mention some of the main advantages. However...before I get mauled for being a Pro Tools hater, there is a problem for me with switching to another platform...I like Pro Tools....it's easy to use, it has a very good user interface, the edit functions are amazing, and it is overall a very good program. I would love to just be able to upgrade to an HD system, but I am a college student and obviously don't have the funds necessary to do that...and I shouldn't have to. The new Allenstein machine can handle way more than Pro Tools LE will allow, and it's just not right for the hardware to be limited by the software. Not to mention that if I was willing to switch platforms I could have at least close to HD 1 power and capabilities out of a system for not much more than the price of a 002. I know this is an incredibly whiny and obnoxious post, but with the new power that is to be had with recent hardware developments, it just really annoys me that my creativity is hindered by a software issue that could easily be fixed with a small and simple update, but for some reason it is just never changed. I love every feature the Pro Tools LE does have, and it's design is awesome...but if a year or so passes (who knows what kinds of hardware developments we'll see within the next year), and we're still at 32 tracks...I may have to give up on Pro Tools simply because of the possibilities that would be opened up with software that wasn't so limited.

[burak]

Almost every other software is capable of handling 48 or more tracks, 32 track limit makes PT LE look like a hobbyist software

[Phil Jeffers]

I agree totally. With CPU speeds going through the roof, I think 48 tracks is not only reasonable & logical, but an absolute MINIMUM for future LE 7.X. Digi - fair enough if there's politics involved, we all have to deal with that. Please just give us some further info re: a future ver of LE & extra track counts. It won't stop us from buying a HD rig. 32 is pretty small, despite a small minority coming out & saying "you could only record extra wobble-board with more than 32 tracks" etc. Post users regularly need more than 32 voices, not to mention professional production oriented music engineers & mixers.

[Shan]

Almost every other software is capable of handling 48 or more tracks, 32 track limit makes PT LE look like a hobbyist software

I'm glad you brought that up because there is more than just the bedroom studio guys and the hobbyist using PT LE. There is not one engineer or producer I know in my area that works in the big facilities who doesnt have an LE rig at home or set up somewhere else in the studio. Why? pre pro, thats why. Everyone I know takes their stuff home for pre production work. Having an HD1 system at home or even as an editing station at work for pre pro is OVERKILL. I can assure you that many bigger facilities have an LE rig(or 2 or 3) for an editing station and pre pro and most of the guys that work professionaly at the same facilities have an LE rig at home for the exact same reason.

PT LE is far from a toy and not just used in bedroom studios and by hobbyist. It is used daily by many pros and in many bigger facilities. That I can attest to.

More tracks would make my pre pro life alot easier thats for sure.

Shane