detailed info on PT 8?

[right beside]

I'm considering upgrading to ProTools 8 and am trying to find out which of the new plug-ins are RTAS and which are AudioSuite only.

All I've been able to find is a list of all of them with no distinctions.

Also, can the AIR plug-ins be used on audio tracks, or are they for midi/instrument tracks only?

thanks for your help.

[flommer]

Basically, all rtAS plugs, except the AIR effects, are available as Audiosuite. There are a few that are audiosuite only, because of the nature of the plug: normalize, reverse, gain, etc

The AIR effects are audio insert effects. They can be inserted into any insert slot.. There is no such thing as a MIDI insert. The inserts on Instrument tracks are the equivalent to the inserts on an Aux track..

[right beside]

frommer,

thanks for the reply. i was wondering about the AIR effects because i know their focus is on virtual instruments, and in all the tutorials i've seen about PT8, when someone calls up the new AIR effects to demo them, they insert them on instrument tracks and feed midi through them. I just wanted to be sure they don't apply only to AIR virtual instruments, and can in fact be used for audio.

in my current system, there is a digirack flanger and chorus in my audiosuite menu, but neither are available as rtas. does that hold true with PT8.
Granted, its not an issue if the AIR flangers and chours can be used on audio in RTAS.

[sean shannon]

Originally Posted by flommer

There is no such thing as a MIDI insert.

My SONAR system has MIDI insert plugins.

[flommer]

they insert them on instrument tracks and feed midi through them.

I think you are misunderstanding how they work.. They don't feed midi through the effects. MIDI controls/triggers the instruments (and in rarer cases it can change effect parameters)

Instrument tracks are a combination of a MIDI track (which allows you to receive, record and route MIDI data) and an AUX input track, which handles the Audio that is created by Plugin instruments or effects or inputs from busses, etc..

The best way to think about insert plugins is to imagine them as hardware units.

An instrument plugin is like a rack synth. You route MIDI data to it, but it outputs audio. An effect plugin is like a rack effects unit. You route audio in and it sends audio out...

[flommer]

Originally Posted by sean shannon

My SONAR system has MIDI insert plugins.

Well that's Sonar isn't it... We're talking about ProTools here and there is no such thing as a MIDI insert... Thanks for confusing the issue

BTW I think there is a feature request to add MIDI plugins, but until that happens...

[tamasdragon]

There are no midi plugs, but there are realtime midi properties. Check that out. And about the thread, what flommer said.
Tamas Dragon

[right beside]

Thanks again. I do understand how midi, audio, aux, and instrument tracks work. I understand what you are saying.
When I said : "they insert them on instrument tracks and feed midi through them", I meant to simply say: they feed midi through 'the instrument track' with a virtual instrument instantiated to read the midi and create the audio. then they insert the AIR plugin on that instrument track to attenuate the signal. But what I don't see in the video is whether or not the AIR plugin has its own insert slot or is part of the virtual instrument somehow. That would've cleared things up.
So I asked in the first post: "Also, can the AIR plug-ins be used on audio tracks, or are they for midi/instrument tracks only?", meaning: are they independent plugins usable on all kinds of tracks, or do they only apply to AIR virtual instruments, like the effects within say, reason, or sampletank. Those cant be separated from their host programs and used on other tracks but only within the virtual instrument environment.

[flommer]

The AIR effects are audio insert effects.

I've already answered your question, I think.

You can use them anywhere. Don't think into this too much.. They are just effects like the digirack stuff..

Sorry if I've confused the issue for you some how..

[sean shannon]

Originally Posted by flommer

Well that's Sonar isn't it... We're talking about ProTools here and there is no such thing as a MIDI insert... Thanks for confusing the issue

BTW I think there is a feature request to add MIDI plugins, but until that happens...

Just sayin'. There is 'such a thing' as MIDI inserts, freely available in other applications. Sorry for the confusion, but not having them in PT once you have used them elsewhere could be confusing, too. Hopefully PT will have them one day if people are requesting that feature.