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  • Products of Interest

Avid Pro Tools 10, Pro Tools|HDX and AAX Plug-In Format

A number of new Pro Tools releases have been announced by Avid (see Figure 1). Pro Tools 10 introduces a number of new features, the new Pro Tools|HDX card offers more processing power than the HD Accel card, and their new AAX plug-in format is intended to replace all Avid and Pro Tools plug-in formats.

The latest version of Pro Tools software allows different audio file formats, including interleaved formats, and different bit depths to be used within the same session, without file duplication. Higher resolution audio is now available, with 32-bit floating-point file formats supported for both recording and mastering. Clip Gain facilitates faster editing and mixing and allows easy adjustment and matching of pre-mixer gain levels. An enhanced disk handler provides greater responsiveness on slower hard drives.


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Figure 1.

A screenshot of the new Pro Tools 10 from Avid.

The Avid Channel Strip plug-in gives the user access to the channel strip, including equalization and compression, from the company’s System 5 console. A low-latency mode is available for direct monitoring when using third-party audio interfaces. Greater support for clips rendered in AudioSuite is now included, with reverse processing and handles incorporated. Pro Tools 10 offers four times the amount of Automatic Delay Compensation and twice the number of buses for bigger mixes.

An extended 24-hour timeline allows the user to create long-format projects and mixes can now be directly exported to SoundCloud for sharing. A MIDI keyboard/controller, computer mouse, and a software MIDI editor can be used to input MIDI, and a Sibelius Score Editor is also built-in.

The latest version of Pro Tools|HD is the HDX, a card that provides up to five times more DSP power than previous versions. Each card supports mixes of 256 tracks, twice the input/output capacity, and four times more Automatic Delay Compensation than previously available. Additional cards can be added to provide up to 768 tracks and 256 input/outputs. The new AAX plug-in format (see below) is supported. The HDX uses floating-point calculations for processing and mixing, and can record and mix at sample rates up to 192 kHz with 32-bit resolution. It is bundled with an activation card for Pro Tools HD software, a range of virtual instruments, sound processing and utility plug-ins, and an 8-GB Big Fish Audio library of loops.

The third of the new Pro Tools releases is the Avid Audio extension (AAX) plug-in format. Although TDM and RTAS plug-ins are still supported by Pro Tools 10, they will be phased out in the future. A number of AAX plug-ins are currently available in Pro Tools 10, and 35 companies have already developed third-party plug-ins. Two versions of the AAX format are available: AAX Native can be used with Pro Tools 10 or a Pro Tools HD 10 system, and AAX DSP can be used with the new Pro Tools|HDX card. Avid reports that the AAX format gives better workflow and sound quality when sharing sessions between DSP-accelerated and native Pro Tools systems.

Pro Tools 10 is listed for US$ 699, with reductions for upgrades from earlier versions of Pro Tools. Pro Tools|HDX is listed for US$ 6,999. Contact: Avid, 75 Network Drive, Burlington, Massachusetts 01803, USA; telephone (+1) 978-640-6789; fax (+1) 978-640-3366; Web www.avid.com/.

Yamaha 01V96i Digital Mixer

The new 01V96i mixer from Yamaha is an updated version of their 01V96 mixer. It offers the user a 16-track USB 2.0 interface with a 96-kHz sampling rate and 24-bit resolution. The mixer inherits the 100-mm motorized faders, 99 scene memories, and user-defined keys of the 01V96 [End Page 92] and features new, improved head amplifiers with 96-kHz/24-bit A-D and D-A convertors. Internal processing is carried out at 32 bits. Sixteen channels of input/output audio streaming are available via a single USB connection for use with audio...

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