m-powered up/crossgrade...

[cwhite771]

Howdy,

I posted this over in the m-powered forum a couple hours ago, but there doesn't seem to be a whole lot o' action over there...


Just wondering if it's possible to cross-grade to PT m-powered from PTLE? More specifically a friend of mine has an AMIII card running PT 5.2 and one of the m-audio interfaces would be a much better option for him than any of the current LE interfaces. Just want to know if there's any available exchange (software or hardware), or discount available to owners of PTLE stuff that want to switch to m-powered.

Thanks,
c

[Slim Shady]

Current Hardware Exchange Programs

[cwhite771]

Didn't see any mention of m-powered options there. I need to know if you can upgrade to PT6.9 (or 7) m-powered FROM PTLE 5.2 or if the only option is to buy the full standalone PT m-powered.

Thanks,
c

[Avid]

There is no sidegrade from Pro Tools LE software to Pro Tools M-Powered software. The Pro Tools LE software license is a "single use" license tied to the individual Digidesign hardware unit.

For instance, if you have 2 Digidesign Mbox units, and both have Pro Tools LE 6.x software, you would need to purchase 2 upgrades to go to Pro Tools LE 7 if you wanted to use PTLE 7 with both at the same time. One Pro Tools LE license per Digidesign LE hardware unit. You can use that license on multiple computers, but only with the hardware that license was purchased for. Any other use is a violation of the Pro Tools license agreement.

Pro Tools M-Powered is different, in that it is a single sofware license that can be used with any of the supported M-Audio interfaces. Since it can only be used with one interface at a time, the license agreement allows it to be used with more than one interface. M-Audio owners are buying the Pro Tools M-Powered software for that hardware for the first time, not upgrading an existing Pro Tools license for that hardware, since one did not exist before.

Pro Tools M-Powered is more like a separate software program in that way, similar to purchasing Logic or Digital Performer to use with M-Audio hardware.

[cheekypaul]

Can i use any/all of the RTAS plugs i bought for PT LE in M-powered, should i decide to switch?

[cwhite771]

There is no sidegrade from Pro Tools LE software to Pro Tools M-Powered software. The Pro Tools LE software license is a "single use" license tied to the individual Digidesign hardware unit.

For instance, if you have 2 Digidesign Mbox units, and both have Pro Tools LE 6.x software, you would need to purchase 2 upgrades to go to Pro Tools LE 7 if you wanted to use PTLE 7 with both at the same time. One Pro Tools LE license per Digidesign LE hardware unit. You can use that license on multiple computers, but only with the hardware that license was purchased for. Any other use is a violation of the Pro Tools license agreement.

Pro Tools M-Powered is different, in that it is a single sofware license that can be used with any of the supported M-Audio interfaces. Since it can only be used with one interface at a time, the license agreement allows it to be used with more than one interface. M-Audio owners are buying the Pro Tools M-Powered software for that hardware for the first time, not upgrading an existing Pro Tools license for that hardware, since one did not exist before.

Pro Tools M-Powered is more like a separate software program in that way, similar to purchasing Logic or Digital Performer to use with M-Audio hardware.

OK, so... how about if he sends back the old PTLE hardware (AMIII card) and software for a PT m-powered software credit?

[Slim Shady]

Can i use any/all of the RTAS plugs i bought for PT LE in M-powered, should i decide to switch?

Yes. M-Powered and LE for OSX both use the same RTAS/Audiosuite format. Overall the 2 versions of the PT software are almost identical, the only differences being the way they are authorized, and the fact that M-Powered can't be upgraded with DV Toolkit etc.

Back to the original question...

My point in posting the current hardware exchange program link before was that there is no exchange program into M-Powered at all. MP is considered the entry-level at this point, so there's nothing 'less-than-it' that you could upgrade from. The AMIII card was part of the LE line, so you could potentially trade it in to upgrade to an Mbox, 002 or 002r (if you had the "Toolbox" package) - in fact the upgrade price is pretty good as the most you'd get for an AMIII card on the used market is $100, and they're giving more than that off the exchange pricing.

[cwhite771]

Yeah, I was hoping for something with 96k and a FireWire connection... which just happens to be everything the mbox(es) lack. Oh well.

They don't appear to offer an TOolbox to mbox exchange either
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c