NAB Show/ The New "AVID" in Five Days

[M-ManLA]

As a Pro Tools operator, I can say that it has been a rough two years. I mostly work on LE with my 003R, and I am seeing more people testing and switching to other software than I have seen in my short career. I love Pro Tools, don't get me wrong, but there have to be some clanging and some improvement that needs to be done.

Will that change, this coming April 12? Will NAB be the venue for a change at Avid?

So the name that we all love will now just be a memory, as Avid has decided to drop the Digidesign name from the products. Now with everything with the new AVID logo stamped on all of the Pro Tools Label, will Avid make that announcement that we have been waiting for? They was pretty non-existent during NAMM, which is just really a merchant show, but we are all craving some word from the new thinking at Avid. I know I have been waiting for a few features myself. These are some features that I would like to hear this Monday for the press event;


1. Pro Tools 9
2. Full Native 64bit program
3. Stable program (it should not crash, ever!)
4. Unlock track limitations (or make a higher count)
5. Only two versions of Pro Tools (Pro Tools Essentials and Pro Tools HD "Pro Tools HD,LE, and M-Powered will be one)
6. All Avid interfaces is no longer restricted to one version of Pro Tools
7. Software no longer relies on HD | Accel Cards
8. Interfaces with PCIe cards, as well as new, powerful Accel cards
9. ADC Standard in Pro Tools LE
10. Satellite feature standard/included in Pro Tools HD
11. Built in surround sound mixing and monitoring up to 7.1 monitors
12. Better cost on high end hardware (ex. 192 HD)
13. New expandable control surface with volume control and talkback function
14. New and improved RTAS engine.

OK, so yes, I know that some of this is just a dream of mines, which I will get in depth of what I would like to see in another post, but I think this is just a handful of things Avid could do to make us happy.
What do you guys expect on Monday? What would you like for Avid to come out with? All comments will be appreciated.

[danander11]

Originally Posted by M-ManLA

1. Pro Tools 9
2. Full Native 64bit program
3. Stable program (it should not crash, ever!)
4. Unlock track limitations (or make a higher count)
5. Only two versions of Pro Tools (Pro Tools Essentials and Pro Tools HD "Pro Tools HD,LE, and M-Powered will be one)
6. All Avid interfaces is no longer restricted to one version of Pro Tools
7. Software no longer relies on HD | Accel Cards
8. Interfaces with PCIe cards, as well as new, powerful Accel cards
9. ADC Standard in Pro Tools HD
10. Satellite feature standard/included in Pro Tools HD
11. Built in surround sound mixing and monitoring up to 7.1 monitors
12. Better cost on high end hardware (ex. 192 HD)
13. New expandable control surface with volume control and talkback function

What do you guys expect on Monday? What would you like for Avid to come out with? All comments will be appreciated.

1. No
2. No
3. Highly unlikely
4. No
5. No
6. No
7. No
8. Again, highly unlikely
9. No, (it's still stuck on their foreheads)
10. I dunno
11. Not unless you shell out for CPTK (which is only 5.1 if I recall)
12. No
13. More likely than 3 or 8, but still unlikely..

Kind of dismal huh? I hope beyond all hope that I'm wrong on at least 50%

[M-ManLA]

Originally Posted by danander11

1. No
2. No
3. Highly unlikely
4. No
5. No
6. No
7. No
8. Again, highly unlikely
9. No, (it's still stuck on their foreheads)
10. I dunno
11. Not unless you shell out for CPTK (which is only 5.1 if I recall)
12. No
13. More likely than 3 or 9, but still unlikely..

Kind of dismal huh? I hope beyond all hope that I'm wrong on at least 50%

HAHAHAHA. I hope you are wrong on most of them also. Avid have to get up to date with the times. I do think they will surprise us though on Monday. With what though, I do not know.

[Shan]

Originally Posted by M-ManLA

1. Pro Tools 9
2. Full Native 64bit program
3. Stable program (it should not crash, ever!)
4. Unlock track limitations (or make a higher count)
5. Only two versions of Pro Tools (Pro Tools Essentials and Pro Tools HD "Pro Tools HD,LE, and M-Powered will be one)
6. All Avid interfaces is no longer restricted to one version of Pro Tools
7. Software no longer relies on HD | Accel Cards
8. Interfaces with PCIe cards, as well as new, powerful Accel cards
9. ADC Standard in Pro Tools HD
10. Satellite feature standard/included in Pro Tools HD
11. Built in surround sound mixing and monitoring up to 7.1 monitors
12. Better cost on high end hardware (ex. 192 HD)
13. New expandable control surface with volume control and talkback function

OK, so yes, I know that some of this is just a dream of mines...

1. No
2. No
3. No
4. No
5. No
6. No
7. No
8. No
9. No
10. No
11. We've already had this for the past 1.5 years. It's in the CPTK. Give them your $2000 if you want it!
12. No
13. No

Yes, ALL of this is just a dream of yours...or perhaps a nightmare.

Shane

[jdutaillis]

So negative guys!!! Especially for you Danny...

I'm keeping my hopes up (just not up very high) for NAB. There seems to be alot lining up in lead up to this event, so lets hope Avid really do make it an event and blow us all away with some amazing show!

In mean time I'll go back to reading the REAPER manual

[Craig F]

9. already exists in HD do you mean LE?
1. not for a few years
2. not until #1 at the earliest
5. impractical
11. more important to kill the SDDS 7.1 and bring in EX 7.1 format

[sunburst79]

8.0 was all about composers and LE.

To spread the love a little I would like to see the following long term requests for the post guys.

1) Bins.
2) Clip gain.

Having said that I do hope that Avid has something new and exciting and the booth consists of more than a couple of leather couches.

I'm holding out for Transformer.

[Sardi]

Originally Posted by sunburst79

8.0 was all about composers and LE.

To spread the love a little I would like to see the following long term requests for the post guys.

1) Bins.
2) Clip gain.

I can assure you as a composer, the 2 above features would benefit me greatly. Especially the clip gains.

I think 'bins' was requested a long time ago and STILL hasn't come to fruition. Almost as bad as ADC!!

[Craig F]

ADC is only about 5 years old on HD
Bins was promised about 15 years ago

[danander11]

Originally Posted by jdutaillis

So negative guys!!! Especially for you Danny...

I'm keeping my hopes up (just not up very high) for NAB. There seems to be alot lining up in lead up to this event, so lets hope Avid really do make it an event and blow us all away with some amazing show!

In mean time I'll go back to reading the REAPER manual

LOL.. I suppose it comes off that way.. as I said, I hope that I'm wrong on at least 50%.. that would make me estatic.. (well, almost)

However,

1. Pro Tools 9 They will release an incremental version before v9.. 8.1, 8.3, whatever
2. Full Native 64bit program DTS said last year this aint happening anytime soon
3. Stable program (it should not crash, ever!) Ideally it should be stable now, and is for a lot of folks.. but given the age of hte base code and hte user variables.. I doubt this will ever happen unless they rewrite the entire prog.
4. Unlock track limitations (or make a higher count) Again, last year DTS said this wouldn't be happening.. (at all if I recall)
5. Only two versions of Pro Tools (Pro Tools Essentials and Pro Tools HD "Pro Tools HD,LE, and M-Powered will be one) This would be the best thing they could do on a number of levels.. Given the disrepair of the seeming game of stay-afloat that seems to be going on.. I doubt it.
6. All Avid interfaces is no longer restricted to one version of Pro Tools Although it's possible that they will meld M-Power and LE, there will be a difference in HD and Native for some time to come.. That cow is still giving milk
7. Software no longer relies on HD | Accel Cards Digi is/was a hardware company. They give this up and just sell software???? Personally I think it would cost them too much money and credibility at this stage.
8. Interfaces with PCIe cards, as well as new, powerful Accel cards This could happen, but the only new stuff they've come out with lately heads in a different direction.. PT Essentials and the Eleven Rack will bring in much-needed cash. Getting away from firewire to a PCIE based card would be cool.. using CAT5 would flow more info but then they would have to open I/O on Native offerings.. that would lead to a loss od HD sales
9. ADC Standard in Pro Tools HD I assumed that you meant LE as HD already has ADC.. This has been a LONG asked for feature that they are only going to give grudginly.. it's probable that they could have offered this years ago.
10. Satellite feature standard/included in Pro Tools HD Not being too familiar with Satellite, I made assumptions here as well.. Digi has historically NOT offered their plugs/additions/toolkits/improvements for even a reasonable price (for most folks).. For them to start giving things away is really doubtful.. Then again, the PTIEP is a good deal for anyone that hasn't already bought stuff.. and for some that have.. so maybe this will change with the new ownership
11. Built in surround sound mixing and monitoring up to 7.1 monitors There is the CPTK, which they sell quite a few of and it's costly... They won't give this away any time soon.. (and I know because I'm one of the ones that bought it)
12. Better cost on high end hardware (ex. 192 HD) Again, pricing has never been Digi's strong point for most folks.. However, with Avid maybe that will change. They would have to compete with offerings already in the marketplace which would make it hard to generate a significant amount of dough... Given that some of their current stuff is very good and serving the needs of their customers well, they need to focus on some other things first, (like sorting the software out)
13. New expandable control surface with volume control and talkback function I would welcome this as much as anyone out there... I'm just not hopeful.

That explains why I feel the way I do about all of this.. removing the frustration and emotion.. Some of it would be great news for those of us on this side of things, but probably not in the best interest of a company answering to shareholders

Lastly, I hope I'm wrong on all of this.. I would be pleased to see even a significant portion of this come to life, (as well as some other equally important needs), It would be enough to get me to buy their goods again.. Right now, I have what I need (mostly), and even some of what I want.. Any further purchases I make will be dictated by what's been happening over the last two years or so, (for me), and where Avid decided to take PT.. I also hope to still be a user/fan of PT in ten years.. (and all of them in-between).