Pro Tools 2022.4 Release

[jeffro]

Originally Posted by sdelsolray

Only Ultimate users with perp licenses can use HD going forward. There is no longer a subscription for Ultimate except via a Flex subscription.

Pro Tools Ultimate perpetual or subscription can run on HD hardware.

[jeffro]

Originally Posted by Chevron

Okay thanks, I guess they might be advertised online as Pro Tools Standard or other but will get you the latest version with a year of updates.

What happens to reseller stock of perpetual Pro Tools and Pro Tools | Ultimate products?
Starting Apr 26, existing Pro Tools perpetual codes will provide Pro Tools Studio, and Pro Tools Ultimate perpetual codes will be unchanged. Resellers will likely still have these available for some time but will be unable to purchase additional stock.

avid.secure.force.com/pkb/articles/FAQ/Pro-Tools-Tiers

[noiseboyuk]

Just a reminder - while much of this weird release warrants plenty of criticism and reflects bizarre boardroom decisions, when it comes to features and M1 support etc we kinda have to factor that much of the workforce is in the middle of a war. We all seem to have collectively forgotten that pretty quick, and it feels just a little… icky.

For this release, most of the headline features have been very easy for Avid to do, increasing track counts, removing limitations from Studio. They’re also trying to bulk out with 3rd party goodies for subscribers. Given the war, you can see how that makes sense.

But where I lose sympathy with Avid is that they’ve massively hiked prices in some cases when genuine new features have been constricted (especially for Ultimate), something which looks likely to continue. Yes Avid, maybe we can be patient for M1, but not if you’re robbing your customers blind at the same time as giving them so little.

Now you’re here to stay, grateful for your thoughts on this, Chris.

[Tweakhead]

that's a perfect summary above, written by Guy Rowland.

I had just posted this comment in the "GrooveCell & SynthCell" license thread, but warrants repeating here:
"They both seem reasonably usable, although I think they should really be permanent licenses for customers who own a perpetual Pro Tools license.
They both expire at the end of the year. That fact alone will probably make me never want to use them - as I never want to use anything which is a "hostage situation". Pretty lame if you ask me, after all they're not exactly state-of-the-art VI's"

I mean, the grid drum editor concept was built into Cubase on the Atari ST over 30 years ago. We've only been waiting that long for it in Pro Tools, but now it's a plugin that expires and cannot stay in sync while saving the session.

[sdelsolray]

Originally Posted by jeffro

Pro Tools Ultimate perpetual or subscription can run on HD hardware.

Yes, but there is no longer a Pro Tools Ultimate subscription (pending annual expirations of prior subscriptions), there is only Pro Tools Flex.

[massivekerry]

While I'm very glad to see some movement on new releases, bug fixes and a little bit of feature improvements, the rollout definitely slaps of a fail on the marketing (and hence product categories) side.

I'm an HD|Native user, and I definitely fall nowhere near the "Post-Production, Large Studios, Facilities and Institutions" category cited as the market for Flex, and I suspect that I'm not alone in that.

I migrated from my Accel cards to the ND|Native for a specific reason: I needed (near) no-latency recording to record myself and the occasional extra player, but would get nearly no benefit from the HDX cards, as the devs shunning the DSP hardware included nearly all of the VI software, which is a big chunk of my template, and I did crave the expanded memory access (for those VIs/Samples) from the 64-bit implementation offered starting in PT 11.

So, as near as I can tell, HD|Native owners are covered under the Flex (but not Flex...) plan because... they both use the HD Driver, and it's really expensive to maintain development on that?

I do realize that if we already had HD|Native + PT Ultimate and an annual support plan, we're still on the $400/yr system, with no real changes. Which again puts us in a weird grey area: We're now "Flex" users, but not really Flex users... As I said, a fail for the marketing department. (unless their raison d'etre is to make things complicated, so you have to talk to dealers or staff).

Honestly, I'm generally fine with it - for now. My concern is that my specific tier may disappear at some point, since it's now in a grey area anyway. I also wonder what will happen when I replace my computer (old cheesegrater) with a Mac Studio or (future) Mac Pro. If the HD|Native card (which hasn't been sold for awhile) doesn't work for some reason in the future, maybe I have to go with a 3rd-party interface (rather than HDX or Carbon) to get low-latency in order to stay in the "PT Studio" pricing tier (now that it has most features I need anyway). Or maybe I "keep" my current license, even if I'm no longer using the Avid hardware? Seems a shame.

I can't help but wonder what Avid might have cooking for future interfaces. Will the possible eventual replacement land you in the Studio tier, or knock you into the Flex tier? Seems like it would be a question to consider...

[ramonetl]

Many thanks for all the effort. I know there is a lot of confusion. Peter

[Eric Lambert]

Originally Posted by sdelsolray

Yes, but there is no longer a Pro Tools Ultimate subscription (pending annual expirations of prior subscriptions), there is only Pro Tools Flex.

Ah, I see the context now. What a mess this has become.

I've been trying to keep my coworkers informed about the changes, as I tend to do, but this time I had to point them to the online charts & grids and say "good luck!"

[massivekerry]

Originally Posted by ramonetl

Many thanks for all the effort. I know there is a lot of confusion. Peter

100% agreed. Thanks Jeffro for working overtime on this. Clearly the new tier-system is aimed at new customers, and you're stuck assuaging us (generally) existing, grumpy customers.

[Eric Lambert]

Indeed, thank you, Jeffro!