Two versions on and I discovered a bug in enumerating audio devices when there was no Windows audio device present that consistently crashed the program.
There are also risks to wholesale code rewrites. Avid also dumped the older TDM and RTAS plug-in formats, much to the chagrin of many existing users, some of whom have stuck with version 10.3.
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The vast majority of the improvements to Pro Tools, other than the aforementioned in-line editing made since I reviewed version 8.04 have been enhancements to editing features, or under the hood: the new AAX plug-in architecture, plug-in latency compensation, and a 64-bit audio engine. Avid still markets the high-end hardware which is quite nice-sounding, but it’s no longer joined at the hip with the software. Prior to version 9, you needed an M-Powered consumer audio interface that was limited to 48kHz, or expensive, proprietary hardware if you wanted to record at bit rates beyond that. Pro Tools fell behind in the home creative audio market not so much because of creative lacks, but restrictive marketing practices.
However, over the years, Pro Tools has acquired MIDI and sequencing abilities, as well as notation, so it’s a more than competent tool for creative purposes. In fact, the program’s in-line editing (editing done right on the track rather than a separate window) makes it a favorite of many. That’s its bread and butter and it’s very intuitive for traditional studio engineers. Since its inception, Pro Tools’s outstanding mixing board mimicry has made it the pro’s choice for upscale audio recording and manipulation-the recording industry’s DAW, as it were.