Is pro-tools worth it?

I'd look long and hard at StudioOne's DAW before putting the money down for it. My "Artist" copy is glitchy from the word go (running it on 2 different PC's with plenty of RAM and CPU speed). Not saying to drop it from consideration, just make sure you know what you are spending money on. It is a very capable DAW but I have seen and been told about a lot of problems with it and the work flow sometimes makes no sense to me (but then again, a lot of stuff doesn't). I have PT10/11, refuse to pay a subscription fee, don't get any updates. I can live with that since I don't make a living off my recording efforts. I don't know what AVID was thinking when they did the PT 12 Subscription deal. Bad decision making seems to be their downfall (dropping 11R and not developing it with upgrades and such is another bad decision, JMHO). The Headrush board is being done by someone else, I think, and they saw the potential and ran with it. Good for them.

 

Hell no to Pro Tools. I mean, if you want to run a monthly subscription and use an iLok key in your machine, then more power to you. There are plenty of great DAWs out there at this point that you don’t need the extra nonsense.

I used it since 1999 and abandoned it a couple of years ago. I’ve been using Logic Pro X without issue and have dabbled with Studio ONe 3 as well. Like both of these DAWs. Really like Ableton as well...just wish their audio editing was a bit better. It’s not up to par with the others but as a creation thing, it is amazing.

 

I have one of the pro tools certs from ten years ago.. It's becoming more and more antiquated.
Logic is a very good way to go. Reaper has some pretty amazing praise.

The DAW to produce the best music? The one the engineer knows best =)

 

Hi,
First...I didn't mean to sound like I was bashing SAW.
It's been about 8-9 years since we were checking it out.

We were running on Macs, and I remember SAW being PC only.

We are running two main Protools machines for work.
One 2 card HDX system on a 4 year old Mac Pro trashcan via an expansion chassis. (I really am not too crazy about the HDX system. It was way too expensive)
The second main machine is an HD Native system running on a Hackintosh with an i7-7700k processor and SSD drives for OS and sessions. (Much better system)
Pro Tools on the Hack is pretty instantaneous. Very much like what you are used to in SAW.
Our other two machines are running PT Native on similar Hacks.

We do a lot of well over 100 track mixes and have had the best luck with the HD Native System.
No video work, so I can't help there.
I prefer OSX to Windows, but never want to buy Apple hardware again so the Hack is great.

 

You don't have to subscribe if you don't want to.
If you do pro audio for business, the subscription model is pretty useful.
I, like you probably, prefer to own the tools I use.
18-20 years ago, I would have killed to be able to rent PT as needed...We had about 6 figures tied up in software and hardware. Remember when the "Mix" systems came out?
Never really had any issues with the iLok.... What do you hate about it?

 

Pro Tools is totally worth it if you're working at a scale where it's strengths lie. If you're booking a room for a string date then going over to a guitar players basement to add the solo, take your iLok and a drive with your PT session and plug-in installers on it. That's Pro Tools strength, not really it's particular software features.
If you record yourself at home and just exchange flat WAVs with other players, anything will work. I run PT12, LPX, Tracktion T6 and AudioDesk 4 for different clients.

 

(Don't Fear The) Reaper™

I also have Live Studio, but it's much more difficult to learn. Very different from traditional DAWs. It can do some really cool modern effects. I like to create songs with both DAWs. And they both can be linked through ReWire.

ProTools intimidated me instantly with all the requirements, licenses, and the price. Chose Reaper™ instead.

Whatever you choose, expect to spend a lot of time trying to learn it.

 

I totally forgot about Reaper, and I'm currently in the market for a new DAW. Thanks, thread!

Nostalgia is an M.F....I used to work in PTHD7 and I started shopping the components to put together a PTHD8 system. Then I remembered what a headache it was!

 

I've been a Steinberg guy for forever. Cubase does pretty much anything you can think up, and the workflow continues to improve. DP and Studio One are also excellent options, but I'm an "in the box" guy who relies on VST tech a lot. I choose to stick with the company that created the tech.

 

Just wondering if it is worth picking up Sonar x3 producer as I can get a good deal on it, but realize it is closing shop??????

 

Why not? It still works. I can still get into my account and download X3 and get all the license info. I'd save your registration key and the downloads, etc. offline for when the site eventually shuts down.

I looked and only paid $49 for the upgrade from X1. So not sure what you mean by "good deal". Reaper is only $60.

 

If you are working at home and not for big money, then Reaper all the way.

PT is the daw equivalent of driving a Jaguar to church every Sunday. Nobody needs a Jag for that.

 

Compare the content of other DAW's to Sonar X3 PE. Most will not come close.

Sonar has Pro Channel for every channel including buses.
Sonar provides a vast amount of very good quality Virtual Instruments.
Pretty sure all the major plugins for Pro Channel are included as well.

I have PT here for people that want it. Outside of that I have been running Sonar Plat. Ran X3 for years as well.
Very stable on my systems.

I typically ungraded as they phased out newer versions, then my upgrades were really cheap. Sometimes I felt like I was missing out from what others that purchased early were familiar with, but the advantage was not only heavily discounted pricing, but most of the bugs were worked out.

 

Thanks. I might grab it and give it a try.

 

I’m re-learning Pro Tools as a backup if SONAR Platinum ever fades from existence.

 

My 11-Rack came with PT-10. What is ProTools Forst? Is it "First" - the free version. Not worth it. If I didn't get a good deal on ProTools I would probably go with Harrison MixBus, Studio One, or maybe Reaper.

I love my ProTools, it is mega-functional and solid as a rock. But I wouldn't want to pay for a yearly fee.

 

I’ve only tried a few alternatives (like Logic and Reaper) but for me Pro Tools was always the most comfortable - it always seemed to make sense wrt routing, etc. - more like analog consoles (which was what I learned on back in the late 80s/early 90s). It is not the simplest software to learn, especially if you’re not a trained audio engineer (i.e., if you’re not accustomed to analog consoles/bussing/routing) and isn’t cheap, but any others I’ve tried seemed ‘over-simplified’. That said, all of my experience is about 5 years old (I haven’t upgraded to the subscription version) so things may have changed since then!

 

Same experience for me. Pro Tools is really deep, but comfortable to use. The editing tools work really well and don't make simple edits more complicated than they need to be. The routing is as straightforward as it gets.
I don't mind the subscription model at all. As I keep updating my operating system, I need to move on to a newer version of Pro Tools as well.

 

I think the days of Pro Tools being the industry standard are long gone. It may still be a decent program (I used it briefly in my audio engineering courses), But it's rep is long gone. Not sure when it happened, but it happened. I was surprised by the OP's thread title, and I actually checked the date of the post to see if it wasn't some thread from yesteryear that was resurrected.

 

I like the analogy. Nobody needs it but...