Question about Pro Tools.

J

jobyers

New member
Hi there, I don't know if anyone out there can give me some advice about Pro Tools? About ten years ago I used to record at home using a an iMac and a Digidesign Mbox with Pro Tools LE 5.2. I then sold all my equipment and haven't recorded since then, but I now want to go through all my old work and I have no idea where to begin... I'm totally out of the loop after not doing any music for ten years!

I now have a PC instead of a Mac, and I'm wondering if there's a later version of Pro Tools I can download for free that will allow me to open up all my old sessions and play with them without needing to buy a Mac or an old Mbox (or any other hardware). Any advice or suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Jo.
 
Hi jobyers.


A lot has changed in the Protools world.
Digidesign is now Avid, and there's no longer a need for digi/avid branded hardware, as of V9.
(M-powered version is the exception, but don't worry about that).

The current ProTools version is 11, as of last week.
I wouldn't consider it (or 10) as a new user. They're very expensive.

Versions 9,10 and 11 require an ilok for authorisation (PT11 needs ilok2).



Sessions are mac/pc compatible. It doesn't matter what system you're on. I can't say for certain it was like that at V5 though.
I've read about SD2 audio files not being windows compatible.....

The other thing is that your old sessions may use plugins that no longer exist, or that you no longer have.
If you just used stock digi plugs, you should be fine.

In terms of backwards compatibility, Protools 10 on my mac allows me to save a compatible copy for PT versions 3.2 through to 9, so I presume I can open old sessions too.



What to buy....?
Now, Protools 8 was the last version to be tied to avid/digi hardware (mbox/digi003 etc), and while that kind sucks, it might be the sort of thing you could get for cheap 2nd hand now.
Maybe it'd be worth a look on ebay for an mbox 2 with ProTools 8 license included. Just make sure the seller provides the transfer of ownership form.



There is a cheaper alternative.
Send me, or someone like me, all your sessions.
It'd be very easy to open them up, bounce each wav separately, then send a DVD back with wav files only.
That'd mean you could just download reaper for free and get working.

Of course, this is no use if you want to open the actual session and play with existing automation/plugins etc.
 
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Hi there,

Thanks very much for your reply. It's really kind of you to offer to sort all my data out for me, but there are literallly hundreds of sessions and thousands of files to sort through! I think I will take your advice and buy an old mbox with PT8 and just sort it out that way. I just wanted to check if there was a way of doing it for free before I spent any money, but it doesn't look like there is (barring a dodgy download). Anyway, thanks again for your advice and your time.

All the best,
Jo.
 
If it's a one time job and you wouldn't want ProTools long term, you could get a trial version of whatever they have on offer.
I know there's currently a v11 trial available.

You would need an ilok2 to authorise the demo though.
It's not really the kind of thing you can sell on again, because it's forever tied to the ilok account that you first use it with.


2nd hand PT8 + hardware might be the way forward.
 
I was actually thinking about getting the trial before I posted on here but then I wasn't sure about the whole ilok thing. There seems to be some reasonably priced Mboxes on ebay though, so I think I'm going to take that route. Cheers for your suggestions.
 
Whitehead, welcome to the forums.
In future, please start your own thread.

What you're experiencing is almost certainly latency.
When you record or play anything using protools, it is late by a very small amount.
You only notice it when recording because you have your real acoustic voice for comparison.

Anyway, go to Setup->playback options and turn down the buffer size.
 
Thanks pal... it's nice to know that there's helpful people like yourself out there!
Take care,
Jo.
 
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