Difference between 8HD, 9HD & 10HD?

[ctyelvis]

Is there a place I can go to read about the feature differences between the last 3 HD versions of PT?
I mean other than the ability to use HD native, what are the big advantages between the upgrades? Starting with 8HD going to 9HD, etc.



Thanks!
-Chris

[Stig Eliassen]

I would suggest that you download the docs for 8, 9 and 10, and focus on the "What's new in PT..." PDF's.

[Fooks]

Originally Posted by ctyelvis

Is there a place I can go to read about the feature differences between the last 3 HD versions of PT?
I mean other than the ability to use HD native, what are the big advantages between the upgrades?



Thanks!
-Chris

well first off, from version 8 to version 9. Version 8 you needed avid pci and pcie cards, version 9 you don't have to have their hardware, you can use 3rd party usb, firewire devices, you can use other pci-pcie cards etc. Version 10 adds features on top of what version 9 has, 32 bit floating, new channel strip plug in, it brings in the new plugin format of AAX, which version 11 will get rid of the TDM and rtas formats. 10 also added clip gain, which is really nice. Should just check out PT10 on the avid website, there should be a link somewhere on that page that has a link to a comparison chart.

[John_Toolbox]

If you will use Avid hardware, there's not much of a difference between HD8 and HD9.

If you want to use non-HD hardware, or open your HD sessions on a laptop, then HD9 or HD10 are needed.

HD10 adds some great performance improvements, like the disk cache.

[nst7]

PT9 added hardly anything in features for HD users, other than the ability to use that same HD software without HD interfaces, like on a laptop, etc.

HD10 continues that, and adds disc caching, which is a huge improvement in stability and responsiveness (the more ram you have, the better), and the very good Channel Strip plugin, and a few minor things I can't remember. Oh yeah, more tracks/voices (256, up to 768 with 3 HDX cards).

[ctyelvis]

Thanks guys.
Kinda sounds like for my little 8 core Mac, HD2 Accel setup, I may want to just stick with 8.1? Especially since the upgrade to 10 is in excess of $800. Quite a bit for the few extra features as nice as they may be.
Although the disc caching would be nice....

If I already own Heat and most of the Waves stuff including the API, SSL, "V" series, and the Ren stuff, would the new PT10 channel strip be of greater benefit or just a different flavor?

Thanks again,
-Chris

[nst7]

Actually, to upgrade from HD8 is $1500.

As for the Channel Strip, it's very nice, but not essential.

[JFreak]

I have HD 8.1.1 and 10.0.0 set up and while I love the new 10 features such as disk cache, realtime fades and clip cache, I have no problem reverting to 8 when I mix in front of audience. HEAT is available for both, plugins are equally compatible, all I lose is the ChannelStrip.

On a wider perspective; here's the history timeline:

- PT5 was using classic Mac OS. MIX and HD hardware supported.
- PT6 brought Protools to OSX (Jaguar/Panther). Last MIX version was 6.4.1 and after that the development focus moved to MIDI.
- PT7 brought multicore plugin processing and Intel-Mac support. Special 7.4.2 version built as transition software between Tiger and Leopard, but I would keep using Tiger if possible.
- PT8 brought a new GUI and is a transition software between Leopard (8.0/non-HEAT) and Snow Leopard (8.1/HEAT). Everything since 8.1 obviously requires pci-express cards on OSX because SL is Intel-only.
- PT9 can be used with whatever hardware runs on Snow Leopard. Lion support is there but I would keep using PT9 on SL if possible.
- PT10 is a transition software between TDM/RTAS and AAX plugins. Everything work in 32 bits. Clearly this is built with Lion in mind, although runs on SL as well.
- PT11 likely drops TDM/RTAS altogether and goes 64 bits, only supports AAX.

Use what you need, not what you want to

[ctyelvis]

J,

Nice chronological break down of the PT time line!!
Hey man, thank you for taking the time to do that!!

I had only gotten onboard HD at the tail end of vers. 7.4, so all that historical info was extremely interesting!!

By the way, I can see them dropping TDM, but do you guys really think they would drop RTAS or native in general as well? What would be the replacement for the LE stuff, which is a very important bridge to the HD side of the PT universe?

Thanks again!
-Chris

[mattrussell]

chris, both TDM and RTAS will indeed be gone soon and they're being replaced by the 'unified' format of AAX. you can read more about it here:

http://www.avid.com/US/products/Pro-Tools-HDX/features

m