When will we get full ARA support?

[gblentz]

In fact, judging by the majority of trumpeted "new features" in 2020.9, I get the sinking feeling that Pro Tools has become one huge Gordian knot for Avid from a programming standpoint. In all honesty, I've had this feeling for some time now. What happened? I don’t remember it being this way in the past.

Has Avid painted itself into a corner with its closed, proprietary software model, to the point that it has been unable to retain and recruit adequate programming talent following the 64-bit rewrite, and that the talent they do have is unable to efficiently navigate what has over time become a quagmire of patched-together code?

Or has Avid as a business merely become so solipsistic in their thinking, that they imperiously expect Pro Tools investors (because that's quite frankly what its users are) to continue to gladly accept the crumbs they're thrown, in the form of trivial updates like file import and conversion, as major improvements worthy of the hundreds of dollars they are demanded to pay each and every year for the privilege of using it?

ARA (2 actually, for some time now) has been at the top of the list of Pro Tools requested features for years. It is featured in the vast majority of DAWs today, even free ones. The only explanation I can think of for it not being a part of Pro Tools after all this time is that the programmers just don't know how to, or can't, make it work with the code base. And, if the smattering of truly significant "new features" in the past year is any indication, it's becoming increasingly difficult to accomplish other advancements as well.

This is a disturbing trend for the future of Pro Tools. It may not be as big an issue to large studios or production houses, who are more concerned with stability and interoperability than being cutting-edge. But for anyone else, it should give serious pause at the thought of continually throwing money at a product that's unable to keep up with their needs.

[JFreak]

Was there a question or did I just miss it?

[DontLetMeDrown]

There are a few question marks in his post. Maybe you can use those to figure it out. Honestly jfreak, your aloof response is right it line with Avid’s attitude towards its customers. That attitude is likely the reason why they think they can dump half baked updates on us with no repercussions. Hopefully there are enough of you smug users to keep Avid afloat when everyone else gets sick of paying for worthless updates.

[JFreak]

I wouldn't call this worthless update because it does not have ARA, but obviously if ARA is essential to your workflow then you have right to your opinion.

[dez811]

It’s pretty worthless to me. Convert SDII Files To Session File Format On Import Who cares, Latch Audio Tracks - Audio track record enables are latched. Nope, BWF WAV BF64 Audio Import Support sure but I’ll probably never record or import more than 4 gig. Worthless! 9173 error fix Priceless.

Avid doesn’t seem to listen to customers and comes out with new features based on what I don’t know. But I do know that as long as we put up with it nothing will change!

[lesbrunn]

Originally Posted by JFreak

Was there a question or did I just miss it?

Several questions,actually. I didn't miss them...

[grammymixer]

Yep... Avid answering questions nobody is asking.


Me: Avid, Can I import an m4a from this decade to reference a mix?

Avid: No. But you can import SDII files to reference a mix from 20 years ago!

Literally nobody: Thanks Avid.

[gblentz]

Originally Posted by JFreak

Was there a question or did I just miss it?

Ok, fine:

1. After all this time, and all the talk, is Avid even working on ARA2 integration?

and, if so,

2. When can we expect it... approximately?

[JFreak]

We would not know. Anyone who knows is not talking and anyone who talks is not knowing. Avid must have learnt their lesson of pre-announcing voice upgrade of HDX and still not having delivered. Expect no roadmap.

[gblentz]

So, I should lower my expectations even further than they already are.

K, good to know.