protools 2019(mac) unable to recognize protools 6 session

[carlstuck]

During the lockdown i decided to do some work at home on a song i started in a local studio so i dumped a wav file from my studio session into my old protools 6 rig, clicked the "enforce mac/windows compatiblility" box and started recording. Because i didn't want to create wav files of every take i recorded i just clicked "save copy" to a thumb drive and dropped it at the studio for my engineer to use but when he tried opening it his protools 2019 didn't recognize it as a protools session file.
To see if it was something i had done wrong i asked him to save a copy of our original session (with mac/pc compatibility enforced) and when i tried to open it, my computer opened protools but gave me an error dialog box that says "could not complete your request because: a program error occurred (-20006)". I'm not as concerned about not being able to open his session but i would like him to be able to open mine.
Is this something that has changed in pt or am i just missing something? I thought pt was always backward compatible.

When he saves from his mac the session file shows as .ptx and when i save from my pc the file appears as a .pts


My rig: (i know it's an antique but it still works) Carillon-AC1 pc running windows xp home 2002 home, 002 and presonus digimax fs interfaces.
10 gig system c drive, 70 gig D drive, 2x 80 gig music drives E & F

His rig: 2012 mac running high sierra with protools 2019.12

Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for your help. And i know i need to upgrade but as a full-time musician in the midst of a pandemic with almost zero income i just don't have the jack so i have to use this dinosaur til it goes extinct.

[Ben Jenssen]

Hi.
Welcome to the DUC.

You'll never get that to work. Interchanging PT files between v6 and 2019.

First of all, PT6 (twenty years ago) used SD2 file format, and the latest version of PT to read them was PT10, and that's ten years ago. PT has never been good at cross version compatibility.

Best advice I can think of is; Newer PT needs WAV files. And 2019 will never open a PT6 session, so I'd do this:

In the PT6 session, select the tracks you want to transfer, in edit window, making shure that the selection starts at the same point for all tracks, consolidate them so that they show up as new (whole) files in the regions bin (and in the Audio files folder in the Sessions folder). Then, select them and export as wav. That will let your 2019 friend drop them into a session, and they will all line up.


Added for clarity; you give him wav files that all start at zero and include everything including silence. Might seem daft, but it's rock solid.

[The Weed]

He's on Windows with his PT LE 6, so SDII files are not the problem.

Try using "Save Copy In" and, at the studio end, select "Enforce Mac/PC Compatibility" and "Format>Pro Tools 5.1 -> 6.9 Session (.pts)" and select "Copy Audio" and any other parameters you want included and choose a place to copy the session to. This should open in PT LE 6, but, of course, any new features in PT 2019 will not be in the new copied session.

On your end, again try a "Save Copy In" and "Enforce Mac/PC Compatibility" and "Copy Audio" and any other parameters you want included, etc. You obviously won't be able to save in any other extension than .pts. That saved session should open in PT 2019.

None of the plugins in the 2019 session are going to work in PT LE 6 and vice versa.

See the PT Reference Manual for more information on "Save Copy In".

If the above fails to work, then Mister Jenssen's tried and true method of consolidating all Tracks from Zero to the End and exporting the Wave files will always work. However, it will not include any volume, mute, pan, etc. automation or any real-time effects. To do that, route each track to another audio track and record each track, from Zero to the End and export those new tracks that now have any automation and real-time effects applied. If there is no automation, you can always apply any effects as AudioSuite effects. And personally, I would be working on duplicate tracks in the same session or a session copy so I didn't lose my original edits and placement of Regions.

[studiostuff]

I keep a PT HD3 (v.6.7...?) around for this sort of thing.

Use it more than I expected.

Let me know if you get stuck and need some help.

mail: cpyes <AT> wt <DOT> net

[DetroitT]

Do you have Pro tools 10?

[TrackerLe]

I had a lot sessions made with PT5 and 6... No session worked with newer PT Versions... Protools HD 10 was my saviour to bring all the sessions back to life... From the past into the present time...

[Ben Jenssen]

Originally Posted by TrackerLe

I had a lot sessions made with PT5 and 6... No session worked with newer PT Versions... Protools HD 10 was my saviour to bring all the sessions back to life... From the past into the present time...

Same here. I have my old mac pro 10.6.8 and PT10 in a corner, it's the link from 20 years ago, it opens PT5/6 sessions and saves them so they can be opened on PT2020.

[studiostuff]

Originally Posted by DetroitT

Do you have Pro tools 10?

Yep.