Digidays In Toronto...PT 7.0 Tour

[The Weed]

Well right next door in Mississauga at Metalworks Studios.

Went to have a look at PT 7.0. A lot of the new stuff is, again, MIDI and Sequencing oriented. People using/needing this will be pleased.

They have put in Instrument Tracks.

They've added to and resorted the menus at the top of the screen. The shortcuts to get to menus and sub-menus will remain the same, but for some of us used to things in certain places, we'll be searching for a little bit until we get used to new locations and features.

The Region Grouping is interesting. You can create one "super" region from audio and/or MIDI regions on adjacent tracks. Looked like you could keep creating "super" regions as nested entities. For example, highlight a region on four adjacent tracks, group that, loop it 4 times and then group the 4 loops into yet another "super" region. You can then go in, ungroup the grouped loops, then ungroup an gingival "super" region within the loops and work on one individual region within that ungrouped group. I know, head starts to hurt at this point. It's easier to see than explain.

You can drag and drop to the timeline Rex and Acid files from the desktop. You can then ungroup one of these files and work on the individual samples within the file.

I was told there is no more Mac code. PT 7.0 is written in machine language and then compiled for either OSX or XP. As an aside, a lot of the computers Digidesign brought in for the 3 day promotion were Windows boxes.

I also talked to one of the reps about the following:

PDC - Not going to happen for LE

Zero Crossing Editing - The sales force is asked about this on a regular basis apparently. However, one of the higher-ups at Digidesign can't understand why this would be necessary and doesn't consider it a make-or-break feature. (True, but it would be nice to edit without having to worry about pops and clicks at edit points and using fades continually. HD has an auto fade feature at edit points, LE doesn't. Zero Crossing Editing is better.)

Unlimited Selective Undo - They are working on this, but it's not ready for PT 7.0. Also, the Undo List probably won't be Unlimited, but Undo will be selective. (I also mentioned that if the list is Selective, then the Undo cache shouldn't be wiped by certain actions within PT like Importing Tracks or Session data. He agreed and said he would mention that.)

Faster Than Realtime Mixdown To A File With All Effects And Automation - The sales force is asked for this feature constantly as well. At first I was told this was not possible because there would be no way on HD to include the TDM plug-ins running on the DSP chips. The chips only run at realtime speed. I pointed out that HD 7.0 is now like LE where RTAS plug-ins can be applied to Audio, Aux and Master faders AND computers are now dual and quad core AND Pro Tools 7.0 is now coded to take advantage, properly, of this extra horsepower, so Pro Tools could have an option for Faster Than Realtime Mixdown across all versions of Pro Tools for sessions with only RTAS plug-ins inserted. He agreed and said he would bring the request up at the next brainstorming session, which is coming up soon. It would be nice, but I need to breathe.

Anyone else hear anything they'd like to share?

Cheers,

[lemix]

Thanx Bruce for the report..Wonder why no-one responded yet, many here seem so interested in PT LE 7
Maybe a different post title would have hook them Like; "PT 7 secrets revealed" I couldn't make it, prepping for tomorrow's session.
TTYL,

[Shan]

Thanks for the overview weed.

Shane

[The Weed]

Done.

[lemix]

Yah..that's better..So, when is it available ?

[KroNEe]

No 48 track count upgrade? Thanks for the scoop. I will stay at 6.4 and my 001. Or maybe get a Mbox1 for a dongle and put it on my laptop to be able to edit ouside the studio. What about backward compatability for sesions? I have never had many problems in the past but how will 6.4 and 7.x sesions play together? I would need to re open them in 6.4 if I edit or do V/O stuff ouside the studio on Mbox and 7.x.

Well better yet I'll just wait for the 003, sure hope it a lot more robust them the Mbox/002 hardware. I just might keep my 001 till she dies. Does the job for me.

[swayne]

What is PDC ?

[JMS40]

Plug-in Delay Compensation.

[Scotty_OiArT]

Since I was also present @ the Digidays Extravaganza, I'll throw in this.

PT7 is unbelievable. As Stated Region grouping brings a whole new work method to writing songs, and allows for some pretty amazing musical ideas to take shape in very little time. Basically Digidesign streamlined the way we make music with a few of the added features to this software. Pretty amazing things are possible with this version that would have taken extra time in the past. it is really going to give Major Producers and Hobbyists alike a serious run for thier money if they want to make they're stuff better than anyone else's. The Power of the Professional Recording Studio is now in the hands of the masses. How Creative can you be? =)

Add to this the great software development of products like McDSP, and you truly have in your homestudio the EXACT sound of a fully analog studio. Want to hear your track mixed on an SSL 4000G Series? You got it with these plugins.

Put on your creative caps everyone, because the Power to Create in now in the hands of anyone who purchases PT7.

(P.S. I make it sound easy but it takes alot of practise... If you are serious about you music I really do suggest taking the time to learn PT7 inside and out. Unfortunately for most the only way to truly do that is by dropping the $4500+/- and becoming certified by digidesign. I reccomend the commitment though to really and truly learning what exactly you can do with this software.)

Some new keycommands and concepts to learn in PT7, but once you get the concepts making never before heard of music has never been easier. Good luck anyone.

Also to anyone upgrading with the Upgrade plus option... a great producer that works for digidesign suggested to everyone definetly picking up Smack / Synchronic

[Shan]

Thanks for the additional info Scott.

Shane