Avid Launches Pro Tools 11 – New Audio Engine, 64-Bit, Expanded Metering

April 7th, 2013 by
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ARTICLE UPDATE — June 21, 2013: Avid announced the official availability of Pro Tools 11 — all pricing is as originally stated, at the end of this article.

It looks like the scientists behind Pro Tools have been hard at work on the industry’s flagship DAW.

The new Avid Audio Engine can accommodate many more plugins and virtual instruments than past versions.

The new Avid Audio Engine can accommodate many more plugins and virtual instruments than past versions.

Avid announced today at NAB the arrival of Pro Tools 11, which appears to represent a significant upgrade for the audio industry’s ubiquitous tracking/mixing/editing solution.

Chief among the improvements are a totally new audio core — dubbed the Avid Audio Engine — that significantly outperforms PT 10, on the same hardware; 64-bit architecture (as compared to PT 10’s 32-bit floating-point spec); offline bounce for extremely fast file and mix rendering; much broader metering support; and highly efficient integration with Media Composer workflows.

The price for PT11’s full version is $699, with upgrades/crossgrades ranging from $299 to $999, depending on users’ current version. (See full breakdown below.)

Here are the full details, according to Avid:

Avid today announced Avid Pro Tools 11, a major upgrade of its industry-leading digital audio workstation that redefines music and audio production for today’s workflows. This latest version enables audio professionals to take on the most demanding productions with new, high-powered audio and video engines, 64-bit architecture, expanded metering, and direct HD video workflows.

Pro Tools 11 delivers the features, performance, and workflows professionals need to take on today’s increasingly complex sessions and tighter timelines. Key benefits and features include:

  • Fully redesigned audio engine and 64-bit architecture
    • New Avid Audio Engine — Delivers multiple times the processing power of Pro Tools 10 on the same hardware configurations.
    • 64-bit architecture — Exponentially increases the number of simultaneous virtual instruments and the performance to handle the most sophisticated sessions.
    • Offline bounce — Delivers mixes up to 150 times faster than real time.
    • Low-latency input buffer — Ensures ultra-low latency record monitoring without sacrificing plug-in performance.
    • Dynamic host processing — Maximizes plug-in count by reallocating processing resources as needed.

      Metering has also moved up in PT11.

      Metering has also moved up in PT11.

  • Expanded metering
    • Extended standards support — Features a broad range of built-in metering standards, from peak and average to VU and PPM, to maintain adherence to regional broadcast requirements.
    • Gain reduction — Shows gain reduction for all dynamics plug-ins on each channel.
  • Direct HD video workflows
    • Built-in Avid Video Engine — Enables audio post professionals to play and edit a wide range of HD video formats including Avid DNxHD®, directly in the Pro Tools timeline without transcoding, using the same core engine as in Media Composer.
    • Video interface support — Enables monitoring of DNxHD and QuickTime media through Avid Nitris DX, Avid Mojo DX, and other video interfaces.

Availability & Pricing

Pro Tools 11 and Pro Tools HD 11 will be available in the online Avid Store and at Avid resellers worldwide later in Q2 2013. For more information, click here. Pricing will be as follows:

  • Pro Tools 11 software (full version)— $699 USD
  • Pro Tools 10 to 11 upgrade— $299 USD
  • Pro Tools 9 to 11 upgrade— $399 USD
  • Pro Tools Express to Pro Tools 11 cross grade— $499 USD
  • Pro Tools HD 10 to 11 upgrade— $599 USD
  • Pro Tools HD 9 to 11 upgrade— $999 USD

 

 

4 Comments on Avid Launches Pro Tools 11 – New Audio Engine, 64-Bit, Expanded Metering

  1. Jared Newman
    April 8, 2013 at 12:34 am (11 years ago)

    Am I the only one who’s disappointed with this? As good as these updates are, it still leaves a lot to be desired in creative/composition features.

  2. Vaughan Merrick
    April 8, 2013 at 7:05 am (11 years ago)

    David has made a mistake here: “64-bit architecture (as compared to PT 10’s 32-bit floating-point spec)” These are NOT comparable specs. 64 bit architecture has to do with how the program accesses RAM (and interacts with the CPU), and has nothing to do with the way audio word lengths are handled. Protools 11 will be BOTH 64 bit architecture AND 32 Bit Floating point spec. There is much confusion about the difference between these specs (as exemplified by David Pensado’s misinterpretation during his recent interview with AVID’s Bobby Lombardi). Bless you David! 😉

  3. AngryAvidUser
    April 11, 2013 at 8:40 pm (11 years ago)

    I think Avid will lose a lot of its long time customers with this model. You lose many of the features that 10 gave us (since it was trying to integrate the production tool kit), and now you dont get the benefit of using your production toolkit at all. I thought they were making weird choices, but still doing well overall with 10. 11 is a mistake and they should revoke it before they go broke from everyone switching over to other DAWs. Pro-Tools has basically been playing catch-up to many of the features that other systems have always had, and their only saving grace was their editing capabilities, but with everything they are putting their customers through with their HD and AAX fiascos, and now with so many of the other features no longer available, I think everyone needs to teach Avid a lesson and not buy 11. I for one am on the hunt for a new system. 11 came too soon and took too much away.

    • MovingOn
      June 18, 2013 at 2:06 pm (11 years ago)

      For home project recordings I find that $300 is too high of an upgrade price especially when you factor in the loss of paid RTAS plug ins. Time for me to find another program after 5-6 years. Avid, you have lost another customer! Not happy 🙁