Pro Tools 9, Do I really need it?

[isaac12002cn]

Hello everyone.
Presently I own PTMP 8(running 8.0.4cs2 on my Toshiba Satellite P300D).
I'm always travelling because of my work so I spend some of my composition times working on my Laptop, for this reason I travel with my M-Audio Axiom 49, my Firewire 410 and some other hardware just to use with PT.
I'm always charged for excess baggage at airports travelling with these gears.
I would like to say I don't make a fortunate or living for the compositions I write (at least not now).
For the past weeks or so I have been thinking about cross-grading to Pro Tools 9 but been holding back a bit for some reasons,
1. Pro Tools 9 is not Vista compatible. My OS is Vista; I haven't upgraded to Wins 7 because I have some old gears that don't have wins 7 drivers.
2. The price for Pro Tools 9 cross grade is a bit heavy for a guy like me who is not earning living from my compositions.
3. I mainly use PT for vocal recording/mastering and I use FL Studio, Cubase and Reason for composing.
I have the money, I'm willing to cross grade to Pro Tools 9, upgrade my system to Wins 7 and take on the road with me gears that are only Wins 7 compatible. Now with all of these DAWs and PTMP 8.0.4cs2 available to me, considering my present status in music production do I still need Pro Tools 9? If yes what will the benefit be?

Thanks for your time reading my post.

[chrisdee]

For me the benefit in upgrading to PT9 is delay compensation. I experience no greater or less stability between the two versions.

If your system works for you I would think twice about upgrading to PT9.
If it ain't broke don't fix it befor you really have to.

[jojo99]

Originally Posted by isaac12002cn

Hello everyone.
Presently I own PTMP 8(running 8.0.4cs2 on my Toshiba Satellite P300D).
I'm always travelling because of my work so I spend some of my composition times working on my Laptop, for this reason I travel with my M-Audio Axiom 49, my Firewire 410 and some other hardware just to use with PT.
I'm always charged for excess baggage at airports travelling with these gears.
I would like to say I don't make a fortunate or living for the compositions I write (at least not now).
For the past weeks or so I have been thinking about cross-grading to Pro Tools 9 but been holding back a bit for some reasons,
1. Pro Tools 9 is not Vista compatible. My OS is Vista; I haven't upgraded to Wins 7 because I have some old gears that don't have wins 7 drivers.
2. The price for Pro Tools 9 cross grade is a bit heavy for a guy like me who is not earning living from my compositions.
3. I mainly use PT for vocal recording/mastering and I use FL Studio, Cubase and Reason for composing.
I have the money, I'm willing to cross grade to Pro Tools 9, upgrade my system to Wins 7 and take on the road with me gears that are only Wins 7 compatible. Now with all of these DAWs and PTMP 8.0.4cs2 available to me, considering my present status in music production do I still need Pro Tools 9? If yes what will the benefit be?

Thanks for your time reading my post.

This isn't a "if not broke don't fix it situation here" imo. However, factoring this is wise: "because I have some old gears that don't have wins 7 drivers", as you'r enow talking about OS upgrades and opening up that can of worms (affects more than PT/audio).

personally? As a PT8 owner I would have to see a MUCH BETTER upgrade price before entertaining PT9. Right now it's ridiculous (even for a PT7.4 user).

[hooksound]

Hi isaac12002cn.

At least one technical reason for needing it:
As opposed to version 8, Pro Tools 9 is able to run with 3rd party (and even completely without) the audio interface hardware. This might help in a travel situation. Of course you need some hardware when you want to listen to what you're making, but you can do this with e.g. a small (and cheap) cable-like USB audio interface which has an ASIO driver.

Several political/logical (oops, a contradiction) reasons for not wanting it:
Personally, the marketing stunt hype thing about the "new" Pro Tools 9 features is an almost endless source to great amusement for me as a renowned Cubase user. I also think that the "crossgrade" term is a bit fresh from Avids side when it comes to migration from LE/MP to PT9. As if the old products (and thereby the users) are total aliens. However, merely calling it an update or upgrade probably wouldn't justify the price tag and basically it is way to expensive for things that should have been there almost a decade ago. This observation is valid only if we see Pro Tools and Cubase as products belonging to the the same segment, which they are more nowadays. Before that Digidesign/Avid held a lot of meetings to decide on artificial max number of this and max number of that parameters for the different product versions, because they had to maintain feature and capability gaps towards HD. We have urged Digidesign/Avid to narrow that gap for years. Now it's finally here, but marketed and priced in a hostile and provocative manner. But for me the main showstopper is that PT9 only runs on Win7. Not that Win7 is bad, but I have to both shift to a new OS and an immature DAW at the same time. This is not happening right away.

Only one thing is for sure: What makes perfectly sense to someone means total crap to others. Especially regarding political/logical stuff and other laughing matters.

S... I have to stop now. Otherwise it looks like I have to much free time. Gotta make some music.

[Cowboy Bob]

Ya know, I been having that same discussion with myself lately.

I JUST upgraded to PTMP 8 and surely did not want to shell out additional cash for an new OS PLUS a cross grade.

Granted, there are some nice things there, but at that kind of cross grade price....I dunno.

Avid says they will continue to develop PTMP, but is that going to be only the essential, or the full version, and does that mean that a cross grade to 9 M-powered would be more along the lines of the LE to 9 cross grade?

[Dism]

Originally Posted by jojo99

personally? As a PT8 owner I would have to see a MUCH BETTER upgrade price before entertaining PT9. Right now it's ridiculous (even for a PT7.4 user).

You're going to be waiting around until the next ice age... because the current crossgrade prices aren't going to get any better. Ebay might be your best bet.

[sunburst79]

If your not doing composition that requires XLR or Line Inputs look on eBay for used copy of PTLE 8.0 and a MBox Micro.

The only reason to go with PT9 would be to use your laptops onboard sound. And since most Windows audio drivers don't have a native ASIO driver your going to have to use ASIO4ALL which adds a layer of middleware to the audio driver subsystem. If you had a MacBook it would change things somewhat and PT9 would make a lot more sense.

[jojo99]

Originally Posted by Dism

You're going to be waiting around until the next ice age...

Nope. Won't be waiting for anything.