Pro Tools 8 - the more unsung features
Most of the attention have been regarding the major additions to Pro Tools 8 but there are some minor changes as well that might make you life a whole lot easier (or worse, what do I know?).
I touched about some of these not so talked about feature in the last post about Pro Tools 8. But after a 7 hour distance to the release notes, some digging around forums and Digidesign employees I decided to write some more about these features.
10 inserts instead of 5. This is obviously a major deal to some people. I don’t really get why. I can’t recall ever using up all the spots thinking “hell I need just one more plug-in”. Oh well, whatever floats your boat.
Grouping is now more obvious. Grouping is also something that have gotten on some peoples nerve. These people claim it’s hard to see which track belongs to which group. I think the old way using small or big letters depending on if they were in multiple groups or not were sort of a clumsy way, but again, it seemed like something that didn’t really bother me. I guess it won’t get worse at least.
You can make it brighter in case you don’t like the new darker coloring. I’ve seen some concerned looks in peoples faces regarding the darker look. Hell, I’m concerned myself! I don’t know if I like it or not, and probably won’t know until I sit with it in front of me. Don’t worry, if you want to you can make it brighter. I don’t think you can use the old faders or the old dual pan slider though.
Grid mode can be combined with any of the other modes. This is a cool feature which, when I heard about it, made me wonder why the hell no one had thought of this before. Grid+shuffle sounds very logical doesn’t it?
Auto update for plug-ins and Pro Tools versions. I’ve requested this in the past and am happy to see that we’ve finally gotten it. I’m not yet sure about if it regards only Digidesign plug-ins or third-party plug-ins as well. I suspect it could be a thing which only checks for Digidesigns plug-ins, but I think it would be possible to set up some sort of database over third-party plug-ins as well. Let’s hope for the best.
One thing that makes me wonder is how this will work with Windows machines. Digidesigns recommendation has generally been to turn off your anti-virus software while running Pro Tools, which in turn has lead to many Windows users not using an internet connection at all.
Locking regions. Locking regions has been improved. Especially with the new time lock feature that lets you edit the locked region but stops you from moving it in time (see video). Very rock & roll (actually not rock & roll at all, more stiff classical geek, but still a nice feature). Thanks to Greg for spotting my cock-up.
Elastic pitch region only? When I wrote the previous post I wondered if elastic pitch only affected regions and not selections. For some reason I then came to the conclusion it didn’t, and could in fact be done on any selection. After talking to some people I’m again unsure. I think there are some questions that needs to be answered regarding elastic pitch.
Windows Vista (32-bit Business or Ultimate) support on Pro Tools HD. Still not sure about Tiger support, but I fear it’s not supported.
QuickTime HD support on Mac OS X-based systems.
Enhanced session open and close times on Pro Tools HD.
Supports files up to 4 GB in size. But I’ve actually already seen someone complain it wasn’t enough.
That’s it for now. Hopefully I’ll have the chance to give it a go soon for some real world testing!
Any word on audiosuite handles?
By terminal3 ~ October 3, 2008 kl 11:51 am
Does anyone know how many busses there are now (still 32 ?)
By alex.s ~ October 3, 2008 kl 12:03 pm
terminal3: I think Scott talks a little about audiosuite updates in the video I just posted. That’s all I’ve heard.
alex: Now that you mention it I haven’t seen anything about busses. So I guess it’s still the same… Anyone else heard anything?
By stiff ~ October 3, 2008 kl 1:12 pm
sadly, no mention of AS handles - doesn’t mean they’re not there though, I suppose I’ll have to wait and find out. thanks for the ongoing updates here!
By terminal3 ~ October 3, 2008 kl 7:51 pm
Locking regions? Hasn’t this been a feature in almost every version of Protools. I know it’s in Version 7, and 6 and most likely 5. Command-L… always worked.
I am most excited about the added insert count. I’ve been complaining about this since PT5. When they added double the sends, I was like “what? Who really needs that many sends.”
all in perspective I guess.
It’s always been annoying to have to add an aux track if you wanted more than 5 inserts on a track, mainly during a mix of course.
By Greg L ~ October 3, 2008 kl 11:06 pm
terminal3: are you sure? I could’ve sworn he talked a little about improved audiosuite like faster previewing and such. Did you have anything specific in mind?
Greg:
You’re of course right! I must have been tired when I wrote that. I actually use it from time to time! There have been improvements to it. I’ll correct that mistake so I don’t spread anyore misinformation. Thanks for the note
By stiff ~ October 4, 2008 kl 2:58 am
stiff: I’m wanting audiosuite handles - where audiosuite processing will actually do a bit before the front and a bit after the end of the region (ideally user-definable) - that way when you process a region with audiosuite you can do crossfades into the next region if necessary AFTER you’ve processed it, instead of having to think ahead and or duplicate and then “stretch” the region. it would be a lifesaver when I’m doing post, and it would save me a lot of time. scott church has acknowledged to me that it would be a very useful feature indeed but I’ve yet to receive any confirmation as to whether or not it’s been implemented in PT8.
By terminal3 ~ October 4, 2008 kl 9:54 am
Will PT8 have a good MIDI BEAT CLOCK Now???? I wonder why PRO USERS never mentionned this!!! I’m working since PT V4 for TV, CINEMA and MUSIC……… and I really hope they have corrected their MIDI beat clock….. If you want any more precise informations about that problem, contact me : alx002 ( at ) ya h oo . fr
By ALX002 ~ October 4, 2008 kl 2:18 pm
terminal3: Oh, OK. Completely misunderstood you then. Not that I think I would use it very much (I don’t do post), but sign me up on the list of people who would like to see it
By stiff ~ October 5, 2008 kl 11:47 am
I have to do a lot of stuff with iZotope RX which as you probably know benefits from offline processing, and thus by association would benefit from audiosuite handles! bad location dialogue is the bane of my existence sometimes.
By terminal3 ~ October 5, 2008 kl 5:02 pm