Russ has a chat with old friend Nik from Softube to talk about their new Console 1.

Check out this 20 minute video featuring some of the Avid demo team and showing some of the impressive new features of Pro Tools 11.

At NAB 2013, Mike caught up with Dan May from Blackmagic Design and Bryce Button from AJA Video.

One of the new features in Pro Tools 11 is support for a range of video interfaces from Blackmagic Design and AJA Video. Dan and Bryce share what their companies are offering and which of their products would be most suitable for Pro Tools users to look at for use with Pro Tools 11.

Listen on iTunes

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It seems our parody of the Pro Tools 11 advert has been getting a lot of love, both by the user community and also from Avid, who loved it - we even got an email from the producer who said “Just saw the “what were they looking at” Pro Tools 11 parody video…OMG dude, HILARIOUS!!!! Thanks for that.”

Whilst at Musikmesse we had a lot of people asking us to make some T-Shirts based on what are destined to be famous last words “Next level sh*t!” We’ve got both censored and uncensored designs, depending on your taste. You can order most sizes and colours, so go check them out.

So if you want to grab yourself a cool Pro Tools Expert T-Shirt, or hoodie then head over to RedBubble and grab one. Enjoy!

The 2013 M.I.P.A. nominations and results have now been unveiled.
You can view the full list of nominations and winners here, but these are some of the winning highlights:

Best innovative product - Kemper Profiling Amplifier

Guitar Amp Top - Kemper Profiling Amp

Synthesizer Hardware - Arturia MiniBrute

Sound Library - Native Instruments Komplete

Keyboard Workstation - Korg Kronos X

Controller Keyboard - Akai MAX49

Software Instruments - MOTU MachFive 3

Live Perfomance Tool - Native Instruments Maschine MK2

Click to read more ...

It may not be the most important thing in the world, but the Click plug-in in Pro Tools has long been due for an update.

Pro Tools 11 has a new version Click 2, that we got to see at Messe.

Click 2 features;

• Comprehensive timing and meter options.
• A menu of helpfully catalogued different click sounds.

As we say, it isn’t going to be the star of any product demo, but it’s a welcome update.

An updated Mac driver (v1.1.5) for the Mbox Pro (3rd gen) is now available.

Please see the Mbox Pro Drivers page for info & download.

An updated driver (v10.3.3) for Mac OS X is now available for Mbox 2 USB Family devices.

 Please see your interface’s page for info & download:

For Pro Tools Express on Mac OS X and Windows 7. Version 10.3.4 is officially qualified and recommended for:

• Pro Tools Express systems with Mbox (3rd Gen), Mbox Mini (3rd Gen), Fast Track Solo and Fast Track Duo on Mac OS X 10.7.4, 10.7.5, 10.8, 10.8.2, 10.8.3 or Windows 7 SP1

Full information including download links and Readme files detailing the issues fixed in this release as well as important compatibility information, known issues, error messages, etc are available on the Avid Pro Tools Express 10.3.4 product page.

During our visit to Musikmesse we also got a chance to look at the AIR PTEIP AAX versions, which have some new features. We are assuming that this also be the case for other versions, but will need to check with AIR. Confirmed so far are.

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Russ spent some time with the great Avid demo team at Musikmesse 2013 to get up close and personal with Pro Tools 11, in this video are the new meters, offline bounce and 64 bit in action.

The winners of the Avid and Abbey Road song content winners have been announced. They are;

Judges Choice Winners

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Neil has been working closely over the last few months with a long established pro audio PC company to develop a machine built for one specific task - Pro Tools.

More info will be coming over the next few weeks, but in the meantime you can go to their web site and sign up to be kept informed of developments. www.pro-tools-pc.com

Michael Carnes who used to work for Lexicon and did most of the Lexicon plug-ins, has announced the release of v1.2 of his Exponential Audio reverb plug-ins, Phoenixverb and R2. He says….

I’m happy to announce that Version 1.2.0 of Phoenix and R2 has been released and is now available on the website.  There are many, many fixes and improvements, which include:

• 64-bit Windows VST!
• WIndows AAX (32-bit)

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Whilst at NAB 2013, Mike caught up with Rich Holmes (Director of Product Management for Pro Tools) and Tom Graham (Avid’s Worldwide Post Production Audio Segment Marketing Manager). 

We talked about the 4-year gestation of Pro Tools 11 and the new hybrid plug-in format. Will Pro Tools 11 have a new file format? Will it support Windows 8?  And then there’s the CPTK & PT10 upgrade price.

Listen on iTunes

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If you cannot see the audio controls, listen/download the audio file here

One of the Pro Tools Expert team has managed to take a sneaky picture of the manufacturer list of plug-ins running on Pro Tools 11 (some, of course, are in beta). It’s impressive and gives us hope that we won’t be left short when Pro Tools 11 ships. You can click on the pictures for a larger view.

MacDaily are reporting the following;

“Apple will announce its replacement for the company’s Mac Pro lineup this month, a source who has been correct about Apple product matters in the past has just informed us.

Our source offered no information as to whether the “Mac Pro replacement” would be a tower, mini-tower, or some other solution, but did caution that the announcement “could slip into May or even June, but currently April looks most likely.”

We cannot independently corroborate this information, so this item has been categorized as a rumor.

Read more at http://macdailynews.com/2013/04/08/rumor-apple-to-announce-mac-pro-replacement-soon/#5dH0uVx3wWdQM9RH.99 

Helped by community member Rex Strother we’ve been asking plug-in manufacturers about their plans for AAX 64 bit upgrades and in particular any related costs for the user. This needs to be factored in for anyone considering an upgrade to Pro Tools 11 as this cold be a huge cost if you have a lot of third party plug-ins that have costs related to them.

We have to say that so far we’ve had a very encouraging response. Even though many brands are in the middle of shows, we’ve had this response to the question of updates and any cost. You will see that on-the-whole the updates will be free, but what must be noted is that the time and costs related to these ports vary from company to company, so we do hope readers will not demonize brands who may have to charge to recoup costs.

As the list build we will continue to feedback info to the community.

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As if Thunderbolt wasn’t fast enough already, Intel have announced a speed bump of their technology up to 20Gbps.

More and more peripherals and interfaces are arriving on the scene for audio and creative professionals, such as the highly acclaimed Apollo series and Avid Thunderbolt HD Native, but as yet many users are yet to invest in it.

Apple insider write;

“The high-speed tech, code-named Falcon Ridge, allows for simultaneous 4K video file transfer and display over two I/O channels.

Driving the tech will be a new Thunderbolt controller, currently designated by the codename Redwood Ridge, which is expected to be integrated with Intel’s fourth-generation Core processor lineup this year. Improvements over the previous Cactus Ridge controller are DisplayPort 1.2 capability when connecting to native DP displays, improved power management and a supposed decrease in material cost. “

Anything that increases data throughput for media professionals is welcome news. Watch this space.

Click to play the video of Pro Tools 11 - What were they looking at?

We’ve been getting a lot of people asking what were all the people in the Avid Pro Tools 11 promo video looking at? We got some behind the scenes footage and can now reveal what was on those PC screens. Enjoy!