What's the best way to upgrade to a HD system?

[wintermelon]

This might be a very silly question, but I got really confused.

I have a PT 10/11 Vanilla License upgraded from PT 9. Since I'm doing more and more post productions, I could really use the HD system benefits, especially surround feature. My question is, do I have to purchase a completely new PT 12 HD license? Is there any upgrade option?

[Darryl Ramm]

There are no upgrades to HD.

To buy from Avid you not only have to buy a full new copy of Pro Tools HD, the only way to get that is to buy a new HD Native or HDX bundle with an interface.

got $5k-$10k?

The alternatives are to buy a not yet activated license from a bundle from another purchaser, or buy a license that somebody upgraded from Pro Tools standard and CPTK to Pro Tools HD. Those licenses can be transferred, but not if they have been upgraded with 2015 license subscriptions. You would take that license and then have to upgrade it yourself to Pro Tools 12 if you want.

The old CPTK + Pro Tools standard to HD upgrades are no longer available.

There are folks wanting to sell transferable Pro Tools HD licenses on DUC now. And all the details if transfers and upgrades are being discussed in other threads. You will need to go do some reading to get up to speed.

Once you are on HD and subscribe for upgrades/support that is more expensive than Pro Tools standard. And the rate that features are being pulled from HD to standard I expect surround sound may be next. So if you need this to make money, then by all means do it. If not then I would hold off, maybe do surround without HD or mix in another DAW if it was a small amount of simple work.

[wintermelon]

Darryl,

Thanks a lot for the reply! It seems like there really isn't any way to do this without spending another $5k-$10k...

I do need this to make money, there are clients asking for surround mix. I think I'll go with the alternative solution, editing in PT and mix surround in another DAW.

Thanks again for the reply!

[Darryl Ramm]

Well I expect the used license options will likely cost you around $1k plus the cost of getting on HD support/subscriptions if you want to do that. But be aware what you are getting into.

[mesaone]

Seems like going the used route will cost around $1500 to $2000 after all is said and done. This involves buying a used license for PT9HD, PT10HD, or PT11HD ($900 to $1400)... Then buying a PT12HD upgrade from Avid ($600).

[reichman]

I do need this to make money, there are clients asking for surround mix. I think I'll go with the alternative solution, editing in PT and mix surround in another DAW.

What other DAW? For surround, it seems like Nuendo is the only other game in town. Let us know what you decide to do. PTHD is worth the investment.

[V5V]

Originally Posted by reichman

What other DAW? For surround, it seems like Nuendo is the only other game in town. Let us know what you decide to do. PTHD is worth the investment.

What other DAW does NOT support surround? Even Logic Pro provides 7.1 with VCAs and easy automation.

[YYR123]

Originally Posted by mesaone

Seems like going the used route will cost around $1500 to $2000 after all is said and done. This involves buying a used license for PT9HD, PT10HD, or PT11HD ($900 to $1400)... Then buying a PT12HD upgrade from Avid ($600).

plus the hardware....which can be had relatively inexpensively from time to time.

[Southsidemusic]

Originally Posted by YYR123

plus the hardware....which can be had relatively inexpensively from time to time.

What hardware? He already has an Mbox 3G so why would he need any hardware? And he can run HD on the internal Mac soundcard all day long

[YYR123]

But you can mix 7.1 off a mbox?

Edit: it has 8 outputs?