Pro Tools 11 Macbook Air 2013 Model, yay? nay?

[JamesClark1991]

Thinking about getting a 2013 model Macbook Air for Pro Tools mobile recording, It would be 10 tracks at once MAX. I wouldn't be mixing on the Air I'd be getting a quad core MAC Mini later down the line for that. (I'm thinking of getting the Air and Mini as opposed to getting just a 15" Macbook Pro)

Will the Air be a capable recording device under these circumstances? I notice the 2013 Air model isn't AVID Pro Tools qualified for some reason (any ideas why? :s)

Lastly, any other advice you'd give me if you were buying this yourself?

First time Apple buyer (and hopefully last, far too expensive!)

[vrdwarak]

Well it is very portable and rugged (because there is no hard disc. it is all flash). I am not sure about Pro Tools 11 because I have not used it, but Pro Tools 10 on the latest Mac Air should work fine when recording 10 tracks, without any native plug ins running.

Should be interesting. :)

[JamesClark1991]

Originally Posted by vrdwarak

Well it is very portable and rugged (because there is no hard disc. it is all flash). I am not sure about Pro Tools 11 because I have not used it, but Pro Tools 10 on the latest Mac Air should work fine when recording 10 tracks, without any native plug ins running.

Should be interesting. :)

Well I bit the bullet yesterday so we shall see. I'll update this thread when I start getting some productions done in the near future as I find information on this topic scarce

[Piers Gibbon]

I'm interested too

As a voiceover I only use a couple of tracks, and sometimes I use PT 10 on my 13-inch, Late 2010 Macbook Air to do editing lazily in bed...it works very well

Be good to know if I could do that with PT 11...am still wondering when/if to go 11 in the main studio though!

[ParanoidAndroid]

Originally Posted by JamesClark1991

Well I bit the bullet yesterday so we shall see. I'll update this thread when I start getting some productions done in the near future as I find information on this topic scarce

I'd be very interested in any findings you can report :) it'd be great if it could run it almost as well as a MacBook Pro.

[huzzam]

I see you've already bought it, so I'm late to the party, but:

I've been running on a 2012 Macbook Air (i7/2gHz/8gb ram/256gb ssd) since January. Under PT11, I'm able to mix 24 audio tracks (plus a few submixes; I don't use any PT VIs) with two convolution reverbs (McDSP's Revolver), two delays, no shortage of EQs & compressors etc (all McDSP / Avid), ML4000 limiter, with not so much as a stutter, at 1024 sample buffer. Haven't needed to go above 24 tracks yet, but I don't feel like I've hit the system's limit or anything.

I've also tracked (mono) on top of a 12-track mix in PT11 (with comps & eqs & reverb) at 64 sample buffer, with no problems. (Couldn't do this on this system in PT9 btw.)

Under Ableton Live 8, I've made sessions with various Ableton VIs and such as well, all working fine.

All this is 48kHz / 24bit.

Don't underestimate this system, it's actually extremely powerful. More so than, say, the 13" Macbook Pro of two years ago... You might not even need to buy the Mini immediately, since you can plug the Air into a monitor just as easily...

~peter in Thessaloniki

[huzzam]

Btw, the only downside of running PT11 on an 11" Air is that, since Avid made the faders bigger, you can no longer see track name at the same time as inserts a-e. However I've started an ideascale topic you can vote on if you want to ask Avid to bring back the option for the old short faders:)

http://protools.ideascale.com/a/dtd/...ns/112676-3779

~peter

[ParanoidAndroid]

Originally Posted by huzzam

I see you've already bought it, so I'm late to the party, but:

I've been running on a 2012 Macbook Air (i7/2gHz/8gb ram/256gb ssd) since January. Under PT11, I'm able to mix 24 audio tracks (plus a few submixes; I don't use any PT VIs) with two convolution reverbs (McDSP's Revolver), two delays, no shortage of EQs & compressors etc (all McDSP / Avid), ML4000 limiter, with not so much as a stutter, at 1024 sample buffer. Haven't needed to go above 24 tracks yet, but I don't feel like I've hit the system's limit or anything.

I've also tracked (mono) on top of a 12-track mix in PT11 (with comps & eqs & reverb) at 64 sample buffer, with no problems. (Couldn't do this on this system in PT9 btw.)

Under Ableton Live 8, I've made sessions with various Ableton VIs and such as well, all working fine.

All this is 48kHz / 24bit.

Don't underestimate this system, it's actually extremely powerful. More so than, say, the 13" Macbook Pro of two years ago... You might not even need to buy the Mini immediately, since you can plug the Air into a monitor just as easily...

~peter in Thessaloniki

Looks like PT 11's under-the-bonnet improvements really help it fly on the Air, fantastic

Thanks for the info! Although, I'm sure it won't stop everyone on here trying to justify upgrading to the upcoming Mac Pro though

[JamesClark1991]

Well now that PT 11.0.3 is out as well as OSX Mavericks I can actually run my sessions without bugs now. Performance is stable when mixing fairly large sessions (20-30 tracks?), I will try some recoding to the internal SSD in the near future (awaiting my ASP008 delivery) but so far job's a good'n mixing wise

[JamesClark1991]

Originally Posted by huzzam

Btw, the only downside of running PT11 on an 11" Air is that, since Avid made the faders bigger, you can no longer see track name at the same time as inserts a-e. However I've started an ideascale topic you can vote on if you want to ask Avid to bring back the option for the old short faders:)

http://protools.ideascale.com/a/dtd/...ns/112676-3779

~peter

This also annoys me as well, although I completely see why the added bigger faders the option to have smaller ones would be greatly appreciated for increased workflow.