Pro Tools 12 Release Date & Features

[nigelpry]

Originally Posted by MMcCraryNJ

I imagine there aren't many users like me out there in this situation, but I'm a student and purchased the Student EDU version of Pro Tools 10 in October of 2012. With that purchase, I was granted 4 years of upgrades for free. I know just a couple of months after I purchased it, Avid switched around the terms of the EDU license to say that newer versions of Pro Tools will cost $99 to upgrade (which is why I say there can't be very many students in my situation, as the window of opportunity to be on the 4-years of free upgrades plan with Pro Tools 10 and the timing of Pro Tools 12's release is probably a small one)

A couple of months after Pro Tools 11 came out, I received an e-mail to upgrade. Like everyone else, I had to surrender to my single Pro Tools 10 EDU license to switch it for a combo Pro Tools 10/Pro Tools 11 Student License.

I know we're still in the early days of the PT 12 announcement and not many people have information just yet, but should I expect to be given PT 12 as well? Technically, my 4-year thing doesn't expire until October 2016, but I know Avid will be Avid and can not honor those terms if they chose. Anyone hear anything?

Have a read of this thread ...
http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t...dent+licensing

I started it three months ago, to highlight the incomplete and ambiguous information that has been released so far. Not many people have taken an interest so far, I guess students are too busy partying ;-)

There is a specific mention in the FAQ for people in your position. It's here ...
http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/e...2014-Offer-FAQ

It says you will continue to get free upgrades until your four years is up.

The one unclear aspect for people in your position is that your four years runs out AFTER the deadline for joining the new support plan regime.

So in your case you get free pgrades until October 2016, but Avid also says everyone has to join the support plan by the end of 2015 or their licence will become permanently unupgradable.

The two things cannot work together. It should be simple for Avid to clarify, but we are still awaiting an answer.

Either Avid needs to ...
1) Vaive the end of 2015 deadline for students on the four years of free upgrades deal, saying they must join the support plan no later than the four year 'anniversary', or
2) Declare that students must either vaive their four years of free upgrades and join the support plan by end of 2015 like everyone else, or accept that they'll have a version frozen licence at the end of the four years.

Some students have end dates for their four years of free upgrades well into 2017.

[vieris]

Originally Posted by noiseboyuk

Anyone who's upgraded since November from 9 or 10 to 11 will be getting 12 for free.

Is this stated on the avid site?

[mesaone]

Assuming Pro Tools 12 releases within a year of the upgrade, yes.

Q. When are the upgrades and new version of Pro Tools with the upgrade/support plan available?
A. All Pro Tools upgrades and crossgrades activated starting October 10, 2014 receive an Avid upgrade/support plan. Software upgrades and crossgrades that include this plan are now available from the Avid Store:

Source: http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/e...2014-Offer-FAQ

[Ghost In The Attic]

Food for thought.

What if Avid decides that older versions of Pro Tools that haven't been kept current with a support plan start becoming labeled legacy versions. For example; when Pro Tools 13 comes out, everyone who stopped their support plan at PT 12 stops having access to the Avid Cloud. So, you can continue to use Pro Tools 12, but you can't collaborate anymore because your support plan is not current. Or Avid could just change the way the collaboration functions interact between versions making PT 12 obsolete. Forcing everyone to repurchase 13 to continue collaboration. There are a multitude of ways for Avid to force a repurchase by coding out options in previous versions.

Without the option to upgrade without repurchasing, we really are at Avid's extortion whim whenever they decide they want more money.

Of course this is just something to think about. It will be up to Avid to decide whether or not to actually do it.

P.S. Don't get mad at me, I don't make this stuff up (Okay, some of it I do).

[ChazC]

Originally Posted by ghostwriter

Food for thought.

What if Avid decides that older versions of Pro Tools that haven't been kept current with a support plan start becoming labeled legacy versions. For example; when Pro Tools 13 comes out, everyone who stopped their support plan at PT 12 stops having access to the Avid Cloud. So, you can continue to use Pro Tools 12, but you can't collaborate anymore because your support plan is not current. Or Avid could just change the way the collaboration functions interact between versions making PT 12 obsolete. Forcing everyone to repurchase 13 to continue collaboration. There are a multitude of ways for Avid to force a repurchase by coding out options in previous versions.

Without the option to upgrade without repurchasing, we really are at Avid's extortion whim whenever they decide they want more money.

Of course this is just something to think about. It will be up to Avid to decide whether or not to actually do it.

P.S. Don't get mad at me, I don't make this stuff up (Okay, some of it I do).

I think what you're assuming here is that the cloud storage is going to be an included part of the 'service' agreement. I see no reason why Avid aren't going to charge users for storage space at so much $ per Gb.

[jasonthurley]

Originally Posted by ChazC

I think what you're assuming here is that the cloud storage is going to be an included part of the 'service' agreement. I see no reason why Avid aren't going to charge users for storage space at so much $ per Gb.

Not to mention where are these cloud servers going to be located...China?

[JCBigler]

Originally Posted by ChazC

I think what you're assuming here is that the cloud storage is going to be an included part of the 'service' agreement. I see no reason why Avid aren't going to charge users for storage space at so much $ per Gb.

Okay, ONE MORE TIME, since nobody around here seems to be able to retain anything.

There are TWO different "clouds" that we are talking about here.

The first is the one that Avid is making available as part of the Protools|First package, where you can ONLY store your sessions online and you only get three "slots" or three project to store on their cloud storage system at a time. This data is stored on a central storage server with Avid (or more likely an IT subcontractor that they hire to host and manage the services).

The second one is the Cloud Collaboration system. On this system individual Protools users will be able able to connect to each other's systems online, in a PEER to PEER network, just like when Napster used p2p services to share music online. You store your data ON YOUR OWN computer (or on the other person's computer that you are connecting to?). Avid may sell storage on their cloud storage servers that you may be able to use, but it's not required for use in the Cloud Collaboration system.

The Cloud Collaboration system for Protools DOES NOT use a central media server the way the cloud collaboration system for Media Composer does. It's a peer to peer network, direct connection from one Protools system to another.

There is of course, no reason to assume that Avid will allow the Cloud Collaboration system to continue to function after your support plan has lapsed. So yes, I'm sure that an active support plan will be required to actually use the Cloud Collaboration peer to peer network.

[JCBigler]

Originally Posted by jasonthurley

Not to mention where are these cloud servers going to be located...China?

I would almost rather that my data be stored in an off shore data center, than one that the NSA has the full ability to noodle around in anytime they want.

[Bob Olhsson]

Originally Posted by JCBigler

... The Cloud Collaboration system for Protools DOES NOT use a central media server the way the cloud collaboration system for Media Composer does. It's a peer to peer network, direct connection from one Protools system to another...

Have they officially stated that or is somebody assuming this is their old Rocket, Digidelivery or Euphonix technology from 15 years ago? I'd much prefer a central media server.

[JCBigler]

Originally Posted by Bob Olhsson

Have they officially stated that or is somebody assuming this is their old Rocket, Digidelivery or Euphonix technology from 15 years ago? I'd much prefer a central media server.

The Avid guys at the Avid Everywhere event that I attended in Tulsa, OK stated that. I pressed them again to make sure that they understood what I was talking about.

The input into the Protools system is live, real-time audio. The input into Media Composer is video clips that have already been recorded and uploaded into a project and then loaded into the Media Composer and it's collaboration system using ISIS and whatever they are calling their remote access system.

Avid has been pushing the realtime remote collaboration capabilities of this Avid Everywhere for Audio system. You can have one musician playing half way across the world and it's supposed to be in sync with other musicians playing live and all recording at the same time. I can't imagine that working by having to first upload to a central server and then being further distributed out to the other Protools systems. The latency would be horrendous.

But, maybe they changed the system design in the last two months...