In the long run: "PT10 Student + CPTK" or "PT10HD"?

[Funky Monk]

Dear friends at the DUC,

I'm a new user in the forums, and I spent the whole morning researching here (and anywhere else online, even tho here the informations feels more reliable), so I could help myself and a group of friends address a really basic question... with no much luck. I decided to open this thread to see if you can help me -- and I'm sorry if the answer is "somewhere else", I did all the search I could!

The situations is as follows:
- I bought Pro Tools 10 through the Education program (so, the ~$300 version), and that grants me 4 years of upgrades;
- Now, after some fiddling around, I realized that I will need the HD functions of Pro Tools, and that's where my doubts regarding upgrading start:
- I read that getting the CPTK (~$2k) or getting an HD license would yield approximately the same results (except for AFL/PFL Solo, only available on HD, right?)
- Now from what I understand, Avid does not support the sale of HD licenses without the accompanying hardware. Nonetheless, HD licenses can be bought on eBay for about ~$1k (actually, less, but you know what I mean) -- also, I am not seeing myself getting HD hardware in the near future);
- That makes me definitely inclined to get one of those licenses instead of the CPTK, but, if I do, then...


1) Will buying an HD license "replace" my Student license, waiving my four years of free updates, meaning that whenever PT11 comes out, I need to buy the upgrade from 10 to 11?
2) When that update happens, will I even be allowed to update without having hardware (since Avid seems to not support that?)? Also, if I get the CPTK now and, in the future, decide to acquire dedicated DSP hardware, will I be able to use it?
3) If I get CPTK, whenever PT11 comes out, do I keep the CPTK ("HD") features in the new version?
4) Do you think it would be more expensive to upgrade from PT10HD to "PT11HD" or from "PT 10 + CPTK" to "PT 11" (given that in that PT11 I'd keep the CPTK functions)?

Thank you SO much, and I'm sorry for a lengthy first post. I gave my own example, but some of my friends have been wondering the same, so I tried to condense everyone's doubts here.

I really appreciate your help and insight, I hope I'm not being a burden asking so many questions!

Thanks, and see you soon!

[Darryl Ramm]

A resold "unbundled" PT HD license seems appeaking, howver...

Tthe cost of upgrading to PT10HD from PT9HD was $1,000 (too high and may have caused more damage than good to Avis IMNSHO) . Nobody here knows what it will be for PT10 HD to PT11 HD, or if they do they can't say.

Avid could well prevent any unbundled users to upgrade, since that upgrade should really be tied to the HD or HDX hardware that the license was originally purchased with. Avid recently seems to be clamping down on unbundled HD license transfers, you can't anymore just just simply transfer an HD iLok license to another user.

Your academic purchase gives you no rights to upgrade other Pro Tools products you prucase, certainly not a unbundled HD license (that violates the original purchases' license agreement).

What does CPTK cost for an academic purchase? While CPTK might seem expenisve purchasing it likely just reduced concerns (although there is no guarantee that I am aware of that Avid would not in future charge to say upgrade CPTK from 10 to 11, but they have not in the past). Buying an unbundled HD license on an iLok can get you some nice capabilities at a low price, if you do that you might need to accept never being able to upgrade that license.

Darryl

[Funky Monk]

Hi Darryl! Thank you so much for your thorough response and explanation!

To be honest, I am much more inclined to get the CPTK, but I'm just afraid of that part where you say "there is no guarantee that I am aware of that Avid would not in future charge to say upgrade CPTK from 10 to 11"... and I'm still trying to figure out if getting the CPTK will allow me to use the DSP cards that I can eventually decide to buy in the future.

Thank you so much, you're definitely helping me shape my decision!

[albee1952]

The CPTK can often be found "second hand" at under $1k

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by Funky Monk

Hi Darryl! Thank you so much for your thorough response and explanation!

To be honest, I am much more inclined to get the CPTK, but I'm just afraid of that part where you say "there is no guarantee that I am aware of that Avid would not in future charge to say upgrade CPTK from 10 to 11"... and I'm still trying to figure out if getting the CPTK will allow me to use the DSP cards that I can eventually decide to buy in the future.

Thank you so much, you're definitely helping me shape my decision!

What DSP card? (there are lots of other uses of "DSP" than HD or HDX e.g. UAD's card?) CPTK will not allow you to use any HD or HDX how they are intended. If you need to buy those cards you buy them new or used with a HD license.

Many of the specific questions you and others want to know are details that Avid just have not clarified, and I suspect they won't.

Darryl

[P,B,S]

The current trend seems to be that when the new releases of PT come out the old versions sell for at most half of what they were .
BUT . If you dont mind being behind a few months you would likely be able to buy HD10 for about thirty to forty percent the new retail.
This could change depending on the pricing structure for PT11 .
But you would not be entitled to cross grades because I don't think you are supposed to be able to own HD without the gear that goes with it.
I dont know if its against the rules or just something they would like to prevent.
You will still be able to use it as of now, but no cross grade and even if you could HD is a pretty penny more if you intend on staying current.
But if you do not need to stay current HD is the way for you most definitely.
All the CPTK feature possibly more and you can say you have HD even if you don't. Wait a while after release and get them very cheap at a fraction of the cost. This is how I plan to move forward with PT releases , if they cost as much as they do now. $250 a year vs $1000. And on the bright side when you make upgrades you wont have the early version hiccups to worry about

[Funky Monk]

Hey everyone!

albee1952, really? That's even more worth it, then! Thanks for the tip, I suppose I should be looking through eBay?

Darryl, you're right, I guess I haven't thought it through -- I'm just trying to be as future proof as possible. In the same way, I guess my question does not make much sense, since if I decide to buy a HD card, Pro Tools comes as "free software", right?

P, B, S, thank you so much for your insight. I will definitely keep it in mind, whenever it comes the time for me to upgrade!

Thank you all so much, I will refer my friends to this thread!

[CME]

Just reiterating what's already been said, but the CPTK is a better deal on the long run. Especially as you'll be getting pro tools updates for the next couple of years. And be patient on the used CPTK license front, and check the buy and sell section here other forums. You can find some really good deals.

Then when/if the time comes to move up to HD|N or HDx, buy it (with PTHD) and sell your current rig.

[Funky Monk]

Dear CME, thank you so much. I think this thread is all that I needed, I now have my mind set and it's time for me to start looking for a "used" CPTK! ;-) Thanks again, everyone!

[sunburst79]

Also as a interesting factiod I recently verified. We all know that for all practical purposes that PT Software + the CPT = PT HD Native. What I didnt know is that If you have PT10 + the CPT it will authorize HD Native. I've been meaning to test this on another friends HD Accel system to see if it will authorize a card based HD system. Very nice feature if thats the case as you could move from system to system with relative ease.