Dave Spiers of G-Force has stated on the DUC that…

“G-Force currently have no plans to port any of their existing instruments to aax. We have spent the best part of two years porting existing instruments to 64-bit, and as soon as they’re released G-Foce need to take a break from this endless cycle of porting existing instruments and instead do something creative We think that AAX is one format too far and if you feel that it’s critical for you to get all RTAS plug-ins working on PT11 please contact Avid and try to persuade them to cooperate with SugarBytes to release the VST to AAX wrapper they announced a while back. We might revisit the issue in the future, just not at the moment.”

I have to say it is a disappointment, as they are effectively closing the door on a sizable market of Pro Tools users, who will be upgrading to Pro Tools 11. Of course the other option to his suggestion of persuading Avid to do a wrapper, which I don’t think will happen, is to use Pro Tools 10 and the G-Force plug-ins in RTAS mode.

Shane responds to some questions regarding his first videos showing a Hackintosh running Pro Tools Thunderbolt HD.

Groove 3 have launched a new rewards program called ‘Groove Cash’ that rewards you with 10% rewards on all your purchases. However it has a pleasant twist, in that Groove 3 are giving members 5% rewards on all their previous orders… now that is very cool. Details are…

Groove Cash is Here!

We also have an exciting new web feature to announce… Groove Cash! This is the ultimate rewards program and an industry first. No other video tutorial provider rewards you like Groove 3. Groove Cash is a customer reward that allows you to earn cash back for every single purchase at Groove3.com. Every time you complete a purchase, you’ll earn a cash back bonus allowing you to purchase training downloads from Groove 3. You can use the cash at any time to save money.

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News from WaveMachine Labs on AAX porting. I reached out to our friends and they responded with the following;

Things are good here; we’re cranking on Drumagog updates as I speak, including an AAX Native version which we hope to have ready around the time of the PT11 release (we’re also doing 64-bit updates for VST/AU at the same time); these updates will be free to Drumagog 5 owners.

Great news and a great attitude.

More on Drumagog here

We have heard from Soundfield about the status of their plug-ins the UPM-1 and Surround Zone and this is what they have said….

“We are just in the process of creating our Plug-In strategy for the future and both AAX (native not DSP) and 64-bit support feature highly. 

We also asked about about comments that the UPM-1 puts a heavy load on the computer and they responded…

“We know that the UPM-1 is resource hungry, in the hardware version we are running a dedicated SHARC DSP which is running pretty much flat out. The new version will have some savings but it will never be a lightweight plug-in, great upmixing takes a lot of resources.”

You can see my review on the UPM-1 here, and certainly in the absence of the TC Electronic UnWrap, this is in my opinion one of the best upmixing plug-in around at the moment and it would seem they are across the process hungry issue too. So I am looking forward to the new version of the UPM-1 that I can run on my Pro Tools 11 HDX rig.

McDSP have announced two more plug-ins have been included in the public beta of the AAX Native and DSP plug-ins.  You need to be v5 owners for these to work. There are in installers for HD and Native owners..

McDSP have stated…

McDSP v5 plug-ins will be updated to 64-bit support for Pro Tools 11, and then simultaneously support Pro Tools 10 and Pro Tools 11 systems. 

Waves have released an update on their Support site basically to advise users not to panic, they are working on AAX Native plug-ins ready for Pro Tools 11. This is what they said…

As the release of Pro Tools 11 draws near, more and more users have been asking about Waves support for the AAX Native platform, in accordance with our announcement at this year’s NAMM show.

Waves would like to take this opportunity to remind our valued users that we are firmly committed to meeting your needs, and are currently working closely with Avid on AAX Native support in time for the Pro Tools 11 release.

This means you can breathe easy, knowing that the plugins you purchase now will be fully supported today, tomorrow and into the future. In fact, whether you bought your plugins 5 years, 10 years, even 20 years ago – as long as your Waves Update Plan coverage is current, you’ll receive the AAX Native update at no additional charge.

Don’t forget I saw beta versions of their plug-ins when I was at NAB last month.

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Software protection gets a bad rap on the whole, not just from those trying to find ways to get software by not paying for it, but also from those who have paid for the software but sometimes find themselves locked out of our own software because the protection isn’t working as it should.

I’ve been there, only this week I’ve had a piece of software installed on my machine for several days and a copy of the licence also clearly on my machine, but does it want to see it? Like hell it does!

Now our first reaction is often to think ‘stupid iLok, or Waves licencer, or eLicencer… fill in the gaps’ it’s preventing me from working, that is normally my first response.

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In this video James takes a look at the new Cymatic Audio LR-16 Live Recorder and finds that it is more than just a hardware recorder.

After seeing this video, Cymatic gave us some additional information about the unit.

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With the growing propensity towards mobile recording solutions, an obvious way to capture the data is with a USB stick or pen drive. However not all drives are created equal and some just don’t have the speed to keep up with a multi track audio DAW like Pro Tools.

However, help is at hand from the sites whiratesit, and Tom’s Hardware who have an extensive and growing test database ranking drives, so make sure you get a drive that has the speed you need.

After finding an incompatibility between Trasher 10 and Pro Tools 10.3.5 this week Steven Gilliland has worked very quickly to resolve it in this new version 10.5 of Trasher.
There are some other slight additions to this version such as a fully self contained installer that places the app’s files in the right place and gives the option to install v10.5 over the top of a current v10 install.
Along with the installer is a pdf ReadMe file with installation instructions.

Remember this version is for 10.3.5 only , for any version before 10.3.5 continue to use Trasher 10 available from our Support Tools Page.

Heres the new installer for Trasher 10.5 

Thanks Steven !

Thanks to a “Heads Up” from Håkan Fredriksson on our Facebook page it appears that Software Plugin manufacturer Toontack have declared their intentions with the AAX Plugin format via their online support forum.

Product Specialist, Rogue Marechal stated: “We will be timing our AAX releases to be following PT11’s availability as close as possible.
Technically they are more or less ready, but a supplemental PT10 update needs to be released to all Avid users before we can safely roll them out. 

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James from Pro Tools Expert decided to see if the price of cables determines the sound or if it’s just a load of marketing hype. Watch this and then listen to the WAVs here and decide yourself.

Our friends at Mediaspec, based in Scotland, have given us a great Pro Tools 11 launch competition prize bundle. The bundle consists of: 

1. Pro Tools 11 software
2. M-Audio M-Track Plus interface with Pro Tools Express
3. MXL 440 large diaphragm condenser microphone
4. Sennheiser HD 201 headphones

With this lovely bundle, the lucky winner will be ready to go with a great set-up.

Plugin Makers Hofa have just announced a New AAX Reverb to add to their already great IQ product line. Here’s some specific details:

Heres what they say about it:

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Todd in the Massey user forum has posted the following;

“We are working on VST and AAX concurrently. A release date for AAX has yet to be determined, but we are actively working on it.”

Which is good news, Massey plug-ins have a lot of love in the Pro Tools community.

Read the whole conversation here

Russ, Mike, Neil & James are here with a packed Pro Tools Expert podcast that includes; 

 

In SoundToys’ newsletter that has just landed in my Inbox they say…

With the recent announcement of the pending release of Pro Tools 11 a lot of questions about AAX are popping up, so here’s the scoop from our side. We’re deep in development for AAX native and hope to get it into a public beta soon. Our goal is to have a solid official release before Pro Tools 11 hits the streets.

We have launched round two of our public beta. This round will include all seven of our real-time native plug-ins in 64-bit Audio Units. Round one gave us some great feedback and we’re really looking forward to finalizing Audio Units and getting it out the door officially. SoundToys Native Effects owners can get the Public Beta installer from their SoundToys accounts now.

So another key plug-in manufacturer on track for AAX plug-ins ready for Pro Tools 11.