Digidesign’s Pro -Tools has long been the ‘industry standard’ for computer based audio recording  and using it means that sessions can be taken to any Pro-Tools equipped studio for mixing/tweaking. However the cost of the  HD system has always been prohibitively high and even the entry level LE system has involved having to buy a dedicated hardware interface.

In late 2010 Pro-Tools 9 was introduced which can run without the need for any dedicated hardware.  Pro-Tools 9, also with add ons, covers the markets of both HD and LE meaning that the system can grow with the users needs without having the change over from LE to HD.  There is loads of information out there about Pro-Tools but a good place to start is with the manufacturer, now known as Avid’s web site http://www.avid.com/US/

The main rival to Pro-Tools is, arguably, Apple’s Logic and it’s fans are always keen to emphasise it’s advantages over Pro-Tools, better handling of midi, less processor hungry and of course no specific hardware requirement.  Although some of these are debatable and Pro-Tools users would claim similar advantages. http://www.apple.com/logicstudio/.  However with Logic 9 and Pro-tools 9 there is much more in common between how the systems feel and operate.

A mention should also be made of Apple’s Garageband, which is free with any Mac and operates in the same way as Logic, but with limited features but capable of producing excellent results and is an excellent starting point.

In the end it is  largely down to  personal preference with the caveat that the music industry favours  Pro-Tools  and is likely to for some time to come.

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (registered users only)

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment