Upgrading To Pro Tools 7

[Keniko]

I recieved the Pro Tools Upgrade Plus for Christmas.(purchased before 12/20/05) I'm a little nervous about installing cause of the issues stated throughout this forum. I'm upgrading from v.6.9.2 and everything is working great. I don't have an iLok key. Do I need an iLok key to authorize the two plugins with the Plus option? Which plug ins would you recommend from the Plus option? In the upgrade manual it stated something like previous sessions are not compatible with PT7. Did I read this right? If so, Would you use the import session command into PT7? Thanks.

[Ducky]

Yes, you need an iLok for your Plus plugins.
Which two? What do you need?
I upgraded 2 Digi LE products so I got 4 of the 5.
I cannot upgrade to 7 on my OO2 due to Waves' WUP extortion so I loaded the 7.0 on my MBox system.
You can download pre-V7 Plus plugins if you want to stay with v6.9 and seem to work just as well.

DINR and Smack is a good combo if you need a compressor; pultec is nice if you want a tube emulated EQ. Unless you really need to play with effects, Synchronic is more of a toy. If you like messin' with guitar emulators, maybe Slightly Rude will do some nice things (that's the one I didn't get). Do you have a noise reduction plugin already? Been using DINR to scrub all freq's below 200hz and above 10khz on certain solo tracks. Works like a charm. Better than EQ'n them.

If you are divided about what to get, demo each of them. You will get a temporary license assigned to your iLok account to try them all out. Again, you don't need to upgrade to V7 to try these. Just install the previous versions of the plugins.

If I read things right, V7 sessions are not backwards compatable, but should be forward compatable. Haven't tried this yet.

[Keniko]

Hi Ducky....Thanks for the info. I have Soundsoap 2 which works pretty good. I was thinking of the Pultec Bundle and DINR LE . I heard from a thread here that DINR LE isn't user friendly and it's hard to learn. The thread also said Soundsoap 2 was easier to use and works as well. What do you think? I was thinking also of Slightly Rude Compressor. I here it's pretty good. Synchronic...I don't know. I don't use beats and for slicing timing and tempo issues wouldn't Beat Decective do the same thing? So I'm thinking of the Pultec Bundle and SRC. What do think about those choices? My existing plug-ins are the Digi Suite Bundle, The free Bomb Factory plug ins, The Waves Bundle that came with my 002, Digidesigns free EQ's, Auto Tune 2. Thanks.

[Ducky]

I have soundsoap 2 also. I like having both... SoundSoap is easy and RTAS. DINR LE is AS only but can be used surgically with a few nice options. For the lack of many inexpensive options for noise reduction, this is a one time opportunity to get a fine surgical tool for practically nothing. Yes, it is a cumbersome to work with, but surgery is not done with a butcher knife either.

Synchronic is nothing like a beat detective. It is a audio morphing tool that can do some strange things. If I was doing FX stuff for film, it 'could' be useful. That's why I call it a toy.

I can't speak for SRC but the Pultec is a very nice EQ. It has minimal effect and no graphic curves to follow, but the result is very appealing and you will hear the effect realtime even with poorly trained ears. Smack gets a lot of press on the DUC but it may just be the cool VU meter too. I guess I look at Smack and SRC as 'just another compressor'. I you have Waves plugs, you also have a quality compressor in that although it has no 'life' in it.

I'd say Pultec and SRC is a good choice unless a good deal on noise reduction is appealing in which case I would still stick with Pultec due it's unique character over other EQ's.

BTW, if you do want some character compressors (and much more!), take a look at the Izotope Bundle. Ozone with Trash makes for a great package. The Spectonic plugin also makes for a good character builder. At $299- for all three. This package has a lot of stuff: Sweet!!!

[Keniko]

Thanks again. You raised an important point about picking up DINR LE for cheap. I'm deffinetly going with the Pultec EQ. I'm going to be recording my band "live" and in the studio. I'm also getting into making DVD's. I think DINR LE would be a great to have in this case. It's funny those were my first choices : Pultec EQ and DINR LE. I've learned to trust my first instincts. What do you think? Thanks again

[PatDoppelrahm]

I had so many problems with PTLE7 Mbox that I downgraded to 6.9.2.

PTLE7 is a very VERY buggy software with the Mbox. And the new features are not so good (the instruments tracks are a little quicker than the usual midi+aux tracks, but are not so incredible: are basically the same.).

It is tempting to upgrade like me but DON'T: reinstalling 6.9.2 can be very tricky afterwards.(Plugs: have taken the DINR (very good plug, using the TDM version for ages. Not so difficult to use) and synchronic (not too sur if it is a good choice... I don't like it for the moment).

[DigiTechSupt]

Pat - what problems were you having, exactly?

90% of all problems are due to having incompatible plug-ins installed. It is critical that any incompatible plug-ins are completely removed from the system, as they can cause all kinds of strange behaviour.