The Ultimate Pairing...

[digiot]

Originally Posted by Kunst

Hi guys - just received my Carbon and I see that there is now an unactivated 'Pro Tools Ultimate Perpetual' in my Avid account.

I currently use Pro Tools Studio [perpetual product] on an active support plan that just renewed on November 20th.

Are there any benefits to my activating the Pro Tools Ultimate Perpetual licence? I understand that it would unlock some features not present in my current Pro Tools Studio perpetual product.

How would this work with the support plan, especially as I just paid to renew for another year?

Also once I start using the Pro Tools Ultimate Perpetual licence am I correct in assuming that my yearly support plan is going to get more expensive?

And finally, if I ever end up giving up the Carbon, am I right that the Pro Tools Ultimate Perpetual licence goes with it? So then I may end up with an expired Pro Tools Studio licence whose support plan will have lapsed (we know this is not a great situation to be in as often Avid makes you 'buy back in').

Thank you for any help, sometimes this stuff gets quite confusing.

Best!

So did you already have a Studio License before you got the Carbon?
If so you should have 3 Licenses!
1. Studio (which you already had)
2. Studio (that came with Carbon)
3. Ultimate that also came with the Carbon.
The Studio license that came with Carbon will always be upgradeable.
Meaning that if you let it lapse it will fall back in to a perpetual license but will always be able to get back up to date with the special Carbon update plan.

[Kunst]

Originally Posted by K Roche

Excellent question as there is not a one solution fits all

If I am understanding what Avid is offering correctly ?

Then unless you currently need some feature in Ultimate I believe that it can just sit in your account while you continue with Studio for a year

So in answer to your questions

#1 No there is no benefit (Other than the additional feature set) to activate Ultimate right now

#2 If you activate it now then in one year you will have two separate perpetual licenses
1-Studio and 2- Ultimate that you will have to renew the "update/support plan to keep them current and updatable.

If you don't renew both update/support plans , and only renew one then one you do not renew will freeze at what ever version you have it at in one year,,, and that update/support will become expired . Which will continue work BUT will not be updatable from that point on.

AND (unless Avid offers a "reinstatement" option) from that point on if either
license update/support plan is expired,,, you will only be able to BUY a subscription to become current and ( like any subscription ) it will not work without renewing it period .

So all this to say If you do not need Ultimate If It were me ---I would let it sit in your account for a year and then decide which to renew

Thank you - that was very helpful.

At the moment the feature set provided by Ultimate doesn't seem to be worth it for my use case - Studio seems to be doing it all especially now with the addition of clip effects etc.

Rather unenviable position to end up having to pay two support plans for two perpetual licences - as you say I suppose that ultimately you would let one lapse (or remain unactivated).

I remember a while back I had let a PT 10 or 11 support plan lapse and I had to buy back in using a reinstatement option which was quite expensive and didn't feel great.

The PT Ultimate support plan is more than for Studio right?

[Kunst]

Originally Posted by digiot

So did you already have a Studio License before you got the Carbon?
If so you should have 3 Licenses!
1. Studio (which you already had)
2. Studio (that came with Carbon)
3. Ultimate that also came with the Carbon.
The Studio license that came with Carbon will always be upgradeable.
Meaning that if you let it lapse it will fall back in to a perpetual license but will always be able to get back up to date with the special Carbon update plan.

Hi! I already had a perpetual Pro Tools Studio licence before I bought the Carbon, yes.

If I have understood the posts above, doesn't Carbon only ship now with a perpetual Pro Tools Ultimate licence? So I have two licences in total now? Was the Studio licence that came with Carbon the 'old' option?

[Kunst]

Thought I would bump this in case Mark (Avid) wanted to chime in...

[K Roche]

Originally Posted by Kunst

Hi! I already had a perpetual Pro Tools Studio licence before I bought the Carbon, yes.

If I have understood the posts above, doesn't Carbon only ship now with a perpetual Pro Tools Ultimate licence? So I have two licences in total now? Was the Studio licence that came with Carbon the 'old' option?

Yes initially Carbon came with a choice of either an additional year on any current license,, OR a one year subscription to Pro Tools regular license (with extra plugins , and with some goofy adjective in the name ) , that would revert to a perpetual regular license ( no extras) .
And I believe you are correct that Carbon now ships with only with the Ultimate Perpetual license.

From the current Avid web site page on Carbon

"

Pro Tools | Carbon comes with a Pro Tools Ultimate Perpetual license, providing the complete advanced toolset, plus a massive collection of plugins, loops, and sounds. And with Carbon turbocharging the experience, you can act on inspiration the instant it strikes."

[digiot]

Originally Posted by K Roche

Yes initially Carbon came with a choice of either an additional year on any current license,, OR a one year subscription to Pro Tools regular license (with extra plugins , and with some goofy adjective in the name ) , that would revert to a perpetual regular license ( no extras) .
And I believe you are correct that Carbon now ships with only with the Ultimate Perpetual license.

From the current Avid web site page on Carbon

"

Pro Tools | Carbon comes with a Pro Tools Ultimate Perpetual license, providing the complete advanced toolset, plus a massive collection of plugins, loops, and sounds. And with Carbon turbocharging the experience, you can act on inspiration the instant it strikes."

Intersting. So does that mean that if you buy a Carbon now you get the Ultimate "parachute" once you let your plan lapse? That would mean that there are now 2 Carbon update products. One for the Studio version original owners get and one for the new Ultimate version!?

[K Roche]

Originally Posted by digiot

Intersting. So does that mean that if you buy a Carbon now you get the Ultimate "parachute" once you let your plan lapse? That would mean that there are now 2 Carbon update products. One for the Studio version original owners get and one for the new Ultimate version!?

First "parachute" was the silly adjective I could not remember for the initial PT Regular subscription offer that would revert to perpetual if you did not re-up the subscription....

Am not sure what you mean "Ultimate "parachute" once you let your plan lapse"?

And I could be mistaken (maybe someone from Avid can clarify) But I believe that what you get now with a Carbon is a straight up Pro Tools Ultimate Perpetual license -period (no parachute, no hang glider, no gyro-copter no jet pack ) -- Just a PT Ultimate Perpetual license - that will likely come with one year of Update/Support plan and that year will start as soon as you activate it.
And that you can keep current by renewing each year (like it has always been) ???? at least that what I am understanding ....


"That would mean that there are now 2 Carbon update products. One for the Studio version original owners get and one for the new Ultimate version!?"

Yes and No
The number and kind of license update options you may now have ,,,depends entirely on what PT license you had prior to purchasing Carbon (If any) and what option you chose back when they were shipping Carbon with the PT Regular (parachute) version

So Yes ::if you chose the PT Reg Parachute version ,, then you now also have a PT Ultimate Perpetual version as well
----Yes If you already had PT Reg and chose the option to extend it 1 year (And have kept it current) then you now also have a PT Ultimate Perpetual license

No As you noted if you buy a new Carbon now you get PT Ultimate Perpetual license -- only
No :: If you did like I did (because I already had a current PT Ultimate license) and chose the optional 1 year extension on that Ultimate license . And Now with the new Ultimate license for all Carbon owners I have two Ultimate licenses One current one I am using ,,, and One in the the Products Not Yet Downloaded section of my account .

Make sense ?

[MCorbin]

Kevin's got the gist...

Pro Tools | Carbon no longer comes with a license that will switch states between Subscription and Perpetual (parachute).

It is a Pro Tools Ultimate Perpetual license, end stop.

Many of you may have ended up with the original parachute license as well as a later deposited Ultimate Perp license. You may keep both active with the appropriate renewals.support contracts, or let them lapse.

m

[nst7]

I'm thinking about getting Carbon, but I already have an Ultimate license. Can I sell the one that comes with Carbon, or is it tied to the hardware somehow?

[kedavis]

Originally Posted by

For those of you who missed the promo with PT Ultimate Perpetual but have purchased a Carbon... we got you covered too.

You should be receiving an email sometime today to let you know you have a new Pro Tools Ultimate Perpetual license available in your Products Not Yet Downloaded section of your MyAvid account.

[url

https://www.avid.com/resource-center/the-perfect-pairing[/url]

Hopefully this will simplify some of the PT questions associated with Carbon and give you a larger toolset to play with.

ENJOY!

M

Mark, could you clarify if all Carbon owners (old and new) will ultimately have a Pro Tools Ultimate license?