Pro Tools Which

[L-Dogg]

I have been seeing stuff about Pro Tools Artist, Pro Tools Studio and Pro Tools Flex. So I came here to look and it doesn't seem a popular topic at all....I didn't find anything about it at cursory glance.

I have 2021.7 which as everyone knows is a deal where you pay for the rights to use it every year. Perpetual License......is that what it's called?

Are these new Pro Tools' replacing that? Will we/I no longer be able to do that and will support eventually stop for the perpetual license and we will essentially be forced into one of these versions?

Just wondering'!

[Obsidian Dragon]

The version number has nothing to do with the three tiers. It now only represents the release date of the Protools product from any tier.

If you have Protools standard (or vanilla as some call it) then you are basically in the Protools Studio tier. With perpetual license with an active upgrade/support plan you can upgrade to the current version (currently 2022.7) for free. If your perpetual license upgrade/support plan has expired, then you are locked into which ever plan that was available were on when it expired. Right now, there is a "get current" reinstatement product available for a price for those that have expired update/support plans to get you back on the annual renewal cycle.

If you have Protools Ultimate, the same idea applies except it is now on the Protools Flex tier.

Protools Artist is a minimalist tier for beginners or people with very limited needs. It did not have a predecessor product that you would have owned.

I hope that clears it up a bit.

[L-Dogg]

Ok thanks OD.

I’m still a tad confused though.

Lets say I don’t upgrade to 2022.7 and I let my subscription expire. Can I continue to use the 2021.7 I have or will the lapsed subscription shut me down?

And why is there not any sort of definitive documentation from Avid to explain what people like me are supposed to do? ie if you had 2021.X or 2022.X you will need to choose one of the three plans because what you had will no longer be supported?

I found out about Artist, Studio and Flex ( not sure what Ultimate is) from the Pro Tools Expert newsletter from the UK. If I was not receiving that I would not have known about it.

[L-Dogg]

Also…….I’ve been paying $299 a year I think. This gives video capability and depending on my computer as many audio tracks as it can handle, surround tracks etc. To get this I would have to get Artist which is $380 a year!!!!!

Studio is $120 a year but no video track, way less audio tracks, no surround.

To be honest I don’t work in surround at this time but it was nice to know the capability was there. Do I need 512 audio tracks compared to 32…….maybe not.

It just seems like a typical move though to squeeze more money out of customers by reducing what they had and were happy with and attempting to coerce them into spending more by offering a choice between less or more when really they want neither.

Am I wrong here? Am I missing something?

[Darryl Ramm]

Can you please do some basic reading and get your mind unfuddled.

Artist is not $380 per year.

Pro Tools Studio has one video track not none. You mean Pro Tools Artist which is $99 per year for a subscription?

You seem confused on the most basic stuff that is well presented on Avid website and KB articles, or many reseller sites. Start here: https://www.avid.com/pro-tools/comparison.

And the very Pro Tools Expert article you are likely referring to, and others from them, explains all this new line up very well. The info is *everywhere*.

And you are telling us you currently have something that maybe you are paying some amount per year for.. you want us to guess what exactly you have? How about just you know telling us *exactly* what product you have, likely Pro Tools Ultimate or Standard and is that a subscription or perpetual license? It will say clearly in your Avid account/ILM license. Is that subscription or update/renewal program still active?

Subscriptions you stop paying (on a monthly or annual plan) and the ability to use goes away. You can restart at any time.

Perpetual licenses you stop paying for the update/support program and the last version you can run is the version at the end of the year of renewal you had in that license. You can run up to that forever, you just won't get new updates. Forget to renew for another year of updates/support and you might be in a world of hurt possibly unable to restart another update/support renewal.

If you have an active subscription or update/support program you automatically get Pro Tools Flex if you have Pro Tools Ultimate and you automatically get Pro Tools Studio if you have Pro Tools standard.

[L-Dogg]

Ok so I had the standard version of PT v.2021.7. So what you are saying Darryl is that next time I renew I automatically get Studio?

At what cost…….$383 per year? Compared to the $299 I have been paying. I just retired from working in film and TV production so that extra $90 or so is going to have an effect.

[jeffro]

The software/license name changed from Pro Tools to Pro Tools Studio back in April.

Your account shows a perpetual license, and your Software Updates + Support Plan is expired (2021.12 is the latest version supported by your license) but you can upgrade to the current version for $249US. Renewal while that plan is active is still $199US.

The Meet the New Pro Tools Lineup sticky thread at the top of this subforum and the Pro Tools Tiers FAQ should answer most questions, but please reply if you need clarification on anything.

[Darryl Ramm]

Jeffro dropped in with all the right info.

You would be paying $199 annually for a support/update plan, except you let your plan lapse and now need to pay more for a renewal aka what used to be called a reinstatement. There are updates available now, but the Avid customer hostage situation does not guarentee they will be in future, the implication being you likely really really want to pay those annual support/update fees.

Another option you have if your use is very casual is to sell your perpetual license used and switch to a subscription... maybe only buying a monthly subscription when you need it.

On the positive side, Studio is a nice release for many bringing surround sound down a tier, Ultimate also gets more IO without needing DigiLink etc. There are some new VIs for folks. The Avid Complete plugin bundle continues to be included (that is always a subscription included if your main license subscription or support/update program is active ... to me that is that bundle is important. And it is good that Avid has an option now for lower end/beginner users vs. the toxic Pro Tools First. And against this Avid appears to be putting recent effort into fixing long term issues like MIDI bugs and GUI performance bugs... stuff that has needed attention for a long while. And yes we need native silicon support on Apple silicon, and more bug fix focus, but overall I see these recent changes as pretty positive and realize Avid has had disruptions with some developers being based in Ukraine.

If you just retired from working in post and maybe want to take in occasional work or help folks out... just be careful that Studio, while gaining surround sound, does not include multiple video tracks (just one), does not include field recorder workflow, and is missing some advanced automation that Ultimate/Flex has. You can always subscribe to Flex monthly if you ever needed those features.

Now with all that sorted out you can criticize Avid....