price is still too much. this doesn't seem like the great leap forward we may have expected. i can't see a lot of LE people moving up to this...

Total cost of ownership for HD Native with 24i/o vs. Logic + SSL MADI Xtreme + Alphalink? About QUADRUPLE. Don't believe me, check for yourself.

Victory for Europe. Hail Albion!

They crippled HD Native to match HD TDM...which yes, is a big improvement over the Complete Extortion Toolkit, but still represents the same stale thinking.

If they had an extremely favorable trade-in deal on the CPTK and their other old crap I have laying around I might stay in the family. But having already mastered Logic, the SSL rig beckons.

And if the rumors are true and PT9 can run as well on every interface, the SSL will be the best deal for Pro Tools users too.

Makes Symphony look better everyday.

i'll pay no more than 500 dollars for this piece of crap. cmon avid, make it truly native. or bring down the price. i don't like using your hardware.

i buy your hardware and end up purchasing additional converters and pres to make up for your hardware shortcomings, for far less. :)

I was personally hoping the coming announcement would involve an integration of AvidMC and ProTools somehow. I realize that would be incredibly ambitious, but it would be so amazing. I realize everyone has been wanting this kind of product for years, but it's just too expensive for me. ProTools costs enough already, but I guess this does let you get a bit more bang for your buck on the editing machine itself.

Yeehaa!!

OK is not cheap, I agree. A true native could be great, but is a better price than Pyramix "post edition" and CPTK is not a true solution. However, I did not expect Avid to lunch a Native HD version for less than the CPTK price.

I still miss a real portable (laptop) solution...

This must be a joke! I can only be so-o-o-o embarrassed for Avid/Pro Tools!

I was all smiles reading this 'til I saw the price. That's when my eyes fell outta my head. I can't even see what I'm typing now.

Thanks but no thanks. I'll just deal with my track delays and tracks counts. When Russ can sell it to us LE users for $500 USD, I'll take my savings and have a doctor put my eyes back in the sockets.

actually, for $3000, you could get 8 channels of Mytek conversion or 24 channels of SSL Alpha link conversion with AES/EBU.

Boooooooooooo!!!!!!! All this hype and wait and still no adc for le. I'm extremely disappointed , considering e every other program has had it for years I thought they would introduce an hd native for mboxs and 003's for sure. It burns me up that I put years of time and work into learning pro tools inside and out, have been more than patient waiting for then to step up the feature set to to give us the tools we need and lack by choosing to stay with pro tools over logic( which I already own) or others, and they still choose to shortchange their loyal customers. So now I have a challenge, anyone that feels the same way let's see if we can learn logic inside and out before the time it takes for avid to give le users adc! I bet we will win, then I bet I sell my entire pro tools rig. It is getting to that point though I thought it never would. I won't be loyal to a company that's not loyal to it's much needed users. Rtas is pissiing me off too. Why can I use way more vi's and plugs in other daws than in pro tools without the standard le buffer drops. Get your foundation together avid. I thought u almost did with the new interfaces and mboxs but the le software still falls short. Don't get me wrong this is a nice option for people that need it and can afford it but from what I hear it's overpriced still compared to competitors. Hopefully u have another "major announcement" for us soon that will actually be worth our time and money.

What I joke... I can upgrade my PCI cards to PCIe for $3000... why would I go native... come on... got my hopes up...

Until Pro Tools stops requiring the purchase of their hardware in order to use their software they will remain a capitalist joke. When my 002 becomes obsolete I will buy to Logic which will accept my Lynx at 192.

This is not NATIVE, this is a stripped down HD card. Way to expensive, not flexible with interfaces,... way to go AVID! Why can't you deliver the same flexibility other companies like Apple or Steinberg can with their products?
My last hope is that protools M-Powered becomes native without any hardware dependencies, otherwise, I'll be considering Logic, anyday now. And that's a shame as I really love to work in protools!

I agree with DigiSample:

"I still miss a real portable (laptop) solution..."

Of course it's not NATIVE. Avid is a hardware company, not a software company. They won't ever let you use Pro Tolls without their gear. It's counter to their business model. I do miss the micro though. At least that was a laptop solution. I expect their used prices will go up now

Smart move by Avid. They have finally added a mid-level solution to their line-up.

I don't believe HD|Native is intended to be an upgrade path from LE - remember, LE is the "light edition"of Pro Tools, not to be specifically compared to Logic, Nuendo, Cubase etc.. Getting hung-up on "what ya call it" leads to a frustrating existence.

It's hard not to take for granted the technology available today.

Y'all are HILARIOUS!

This is quite competitively priced.

Compared to Symphony it's almost exactly the same once you factor in cards+interfaces+software.

This isn't an MBox.

For the love of Pete, half assed still doesn't even begin to describe this.

I went out an bought a PreSonus StudioLive mixer, which has 2 built in DSPs, fat channel on all channels and firewire. I can live mix with it, record all channels during a live performance via firewire, as well as use a firewire connected PC as an outboard effects processor for even more effects. Then take it into my studio for recording.

That and Cubase, and I am completely set. The StudioLive is $2K. (I got mine for $1,700)

I've got a hex core PC, and can load all kinds of plugs. If I need more, I could always get a UAD card.

AVID is stale, and needs to see the writing on the wall. They just won't give up their hardware, thinking that everyone will cow tow to them because of their almighty software.

Sell your fully functional software, make it ASIO compliant. People will buy it.

Then sell your DSP cards as add ons to expand capabilty just like you would buy a UAD card.

If I could hook up my PreSonus to ProTools, and then buy AVID DSP cards for additional processing horsepower when I need it, I'd buy ProTools tomorrow.

Making their native card support ASIO is a decent step, in that they can now get people to use their I/O with other programs. But for $3K, wake up AVID.

What Avid should do is package this card by itself (for a couple hundred bucks), ASIO compliant, and start selling their I/O into the mainstream market. They would sell tons of these cards, sure people will buy old I/O off of eBay, but guess what, they will still come round to using ProTools.

You're loosing market share for a reason.

A step in the right direction. I'm orphaned at HD 8.0.1 on my G5 with 2 HD cards. The system sings like a bird, so I'm not going to upgrade until it's completely native with an affordable I/O card for my 96 Interface. If i'ts not forthcoming, then I'm going Logic. The era of Pro Tools dominance is over. $3000 for an input cable to PCIe adapter? I don't think so.

I have been loyal user of ProTools since the early 90's; from busy West End London studio to my private project loft studio at home in Battersea.

I guess because I was surrounded by towerblocks of analogue gear, I always saw ProTools as an add-on to music production, rather than stand-alone.

But right from early Protools days - like 95% of other users - I kept Logic on the go (whoever uses PTools for MIDI?!); and I slowly built up a collection of TDM plugs to use between the two systems.

This year is a clean sweep: I've now gone the Whole Way with Logic (took me many months to audition zillions of AU plugs - and how silly most of them were). Finally my new Core-8 Mac and my inexpensive dual-Adat + 8 analogue i/o's has set me up with a total system giving me as much - on the music tracking side of things - that ProTools EVER did.

BUT: Hey - I'm not daft.. I've kept back a couple of Quicksilvers and my old Digi-Mix clobber for recording vocals and live instruments directly into ProTools.. Yes, it's the only way to record live stuff; and the only way to edit and mix final tracks.

So guess what? I'm just as p*ssed off as everone here about ProTools hanging on to the idea that their hardware is nectar of the gods. Someone please let me know when I can buy just their softwear? I don't mind PAYING for it - just so I can choose the price-point of my hardware! Meanwhile, pass me the Logic Manual will you..

The comments here are obviously made by
bitter garage engineers that will continue to try to
bargain thier way to excellence. Spend some money, get a job,
Stop bashing the company that you've been depending on for years
and and make something sound good for once!