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Post by lpedrum on Oct 29, 2023 13:01:00 GMT -6
I’m a long time Cubase user with no desire to change. But I often have to access or mix tracks recorded on Protools, and asking for consolidated wav files is not always met with a smile. Protools Artist at $10 monthly seems like it may be a great way for me to easily consolidate tracks myself but I have a few questions:
1. Are the different Protools versions compatible with each other? Would I be able to import tracks from Protools Studio or Ultimate if they they don’t exceed the 35 audio track limit on Artist?
2. Are there any limitations in Artist during the consolidation process?
3. If I purchase Protools on a monthly basis how much flexibility would I have to change versions if needed to month to month?
Any help would be much appreciated!
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Post by EmRR on Oct 29, 2023 14:04:28 GMT -6
Someone can correct me here, i recall the ‘gotcha’ being that every path is considered a track, so 32, well, isn’t. At least it was that way with the discontinued free version.
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Post by lpedrum on Oct 29, 2023 14:17:04 GMT -6
Someone can correct me here, i recall the ‘gotcha’ being that every path is considered a track, so 32, well, isn’t. At least it was that way with the discontinued free version. But wouldn’t that imply that Artist being limited to 32 audio tracks would basically be a DAW that would barely allow any overdub passes? From what I’ve read Artist is supposed to be a big jump up over the prior entry level version. But if what you fear is true it’d be useless to me. |
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Post by drumsound on Oct 29, 2023 21:15:02 GMT -6
If you buy from Sweetwater (in general) I'd call your guy there, because they tend to be pretty well educated on all the versions, limitations, features an whatnot.
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Post by lpedrum on Oct 29, 2023 21:58:12 GMT -6
If you buy from Sweetwater (in general) I'd call your guy there, because they tend to be pretty well educated on all the versions, limitations, features an whatnot. Thanks. That might have been the better move. This evening I bought directly from Avid (I'm only out the $10 so far) I'm having issues with a song with 30 tracks that a friend sent over for experimentation, but I don't yet know if that's because Protools Artist can't handle it or I just don't know what I'm doing yet. Protools is a whole new language for me. If anyone out there has a clear answer to my initial question that would still be helpful. |
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Post by drumsound on Oct 29, 2023 22:47:53 GMT -6
If you just need one session consolidated, I could probably take care of it for you if you want to send me the session.
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Post by lee on Oct 29, 2023 23:41:13 GMT -6
1. All PT session files are essentially compatible, minus the occasional new feature that an older version cannot support. Where you may run into trouble is if your collaborators are using surround tracks, but if not it should be fine. Also, you ought to be able to “Import Session Data” which will let you select which tracks to import, should you have to create a session with a smaller track count.
I haven’t used Artist, but it might allow you to have more tracks in the session than Artist will provide “voices” for (TDM users ‘member that?), but again, not sure.
2. Consolidation (option/alt + shift + 3) shouldn’t be limited, I don’t see why or how. If you can play back the tracks, you can easily select each track and select the range of start and end, Consolidate and Export (Cmd/cntl + shift + K) for Cubase.
If it helps, I’ll try to make a little video of it. A picture is worth a thousand words.
Can’t answer #3
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Post by lee on Oct 29, 2023 23:51:03 GMT -6
If you buy from Sweetwater (in general) I'd call your guy there, because they tend to be pretty well educated on all the versions, limitations, features an whatnot. Thanks. That might have been the better move. This evening I bought directly from Avid (I'm only out the $10 so far) I'm having issues with a song with 30 tracks that a friend sent over for experimentation, but I don't yet know if that's because Protools Artist can't handle it or I just don't know what I'm doing yet. Protools is a whole new language for me. If anyone out there has a clear answer to my initial question that would still be helpful. what issues? |
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Post by lee on Oct 30, 2023 0:36:57 GMT -6
Here, you select the longest clip with the Grabber (hand), then shift click the others, then consolidate: Attachment DeletedNext, you use the Selector tool (I-beam cursor thing) and freely select time. Whatever time you have selected will get consolidated, even if there's no audio in the beginning or end: Attachment DeletedThe videos I had to shrink down tiny to meet the limit, sorry they're a bit small and lo-res. |
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Post by lpedrum on Oct 30, 2023 18:24:25 GMT -6
Update: I had my friend who uses Pro Tools Studio send me a different session because the first one seemed to have missing files etc. The latest one loaded in fine. My biggest issue at the moment is that I don't know Pro Tools! But I'm slowly figuring out the basics which I'm happy to do. In addition to using Artist as a consolidating tool I also want to be able to run a session when I'm at another studio, and often they have Pro Tools. I have yet to dig into the actual consolidation of tracks. I appreciate the hints shared on this thread and will start there. I'd be surprised if Artist throws me any curves but I'll chime back in here with my findings. Fingers crossed but I think Pro Tools Artist at $10 month could solve a lot issues for those of us that don't use Pro Tools as our main DAW. Thanks much guys!
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Post by lpedrum on Oct 30, 2023 18:28:16 GMT -6
If you just need one session consolidated, I could probably take care of it for you if you want to send me the session. Thanks Tony! If it comes to that I'll definitely reconnect, but my goal here is to final stop having to ask other engineers to do that task, and so far so good. |
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Post by lpedrum on Oct 30, 2023 18:29:45 GMT -6
Here, you select the longest clip with the Grabber (hand), then shift click the others, then consolidate: View AttachmentNext, you use the Selector tool (I-beam cursor thing) and freely select time. Whatever time you have selected will get consolidated, even if there's no audio in the beginning or end: View AttachmentThe videos I had to shrink down tiny to meet the limit, sorry they're a bit small and lo-res. Thanks Lee...super kind of you! |
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Post by jaba on Oct 31, 2023 8:23:23 GMT -6
Update: I had my friend who uses Pro Tools Studio send me a different session because the first one seemed to have missing files etc. The latest one loaded in fine. My biggest issue at the moment is that I don't know Pro Tools! But I'm slowly figuring out the basics which I'm happy to do. In addition to using Artist as a consolidating tool I also want to be able to run a session when I'm at another studio, and often they have Pro Tools. I have yet to dig into the actual consolidation of tracks. I appreciate the hints shared on this thread and will start there. I'd be surprised if Artist throws me any curves but I'll chime back in here with my findings. Fingers crossed but I think Pro Tools Artist at $10 month could solve a lot issues for those of us that don't use Pro Tools as our main DAW. Thanks much guys! This is good to hear. I also use Cubase at my home studio but do know PT from a studio where I've done a lot of work. A few years ago I looked into this but at the time it was PT Free or full versions, and Free had way too many limitations (couldn't open a session from a full version IIRC). Do you know if the monthly subscription can be turned off/on when needed. I rarely need PT at home but not and again it would be super useful. |
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Post by lpedrum on Oct 31, 2023 11:49:43 GMT -6
2nd Update. Last night I consolidated tracks on Artist that were originally recorded with Pro Tools Studio with ZERO problems. This doesn’t mean that I might not run into some sort of limitation in the future (other than the 32 audio track maximum) but right now I’m super pleased that Artist does what I hoped it would.
I don’t know how flexible the subscription plans are—can you jump on and off? Can you upgrade to Studio for a month then back down to Artist? But for my needs $10 a month is a small price to pay for what you get. I never thought I’d say this but kudos to Pro Tools for providing this product at a great price point.
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Post by lee on Oct 31, 2023 14:01:02 GMT -6
2nd Update. Last night I consolidated tracks on Artist that were originally recorded with Pro Tools Studio with ZERO problems. This doesn’t mean that I might not run into some sort of limitation in the future (other than the 32 audio track maximum) but right now I’m super pleased that Artist does what I hoped it would. I don’t know how flexible the subscription plans are—can you jump on and off? Can you upgrade to Studio for a month then back down to Artist? But for my needs $10 a month is a small price to pay for what you get. I never thought I’d say this but kudos to Pro Tools for providing this product at a great price point. Yeah Pro Tools is pretty easy to learn in my opinion, as it's following a "tape machine and console" model. From looking at Avid's subscription site, it looks like it's a contract for a year with no pausing. But it never hurts to widen your skill set. |
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Post by lpedrum on Oct 31, 2023 22:51:01 GMT -6
2nd Update. Last night I consolidated tracks on Artist that were originally recorded with Pro Tools Studio with ZERO problems. This doesn’t mean that I might not run into some sort of limitation in the future (other than the 32 audio track maximum) but right now I’m super pleased that Artist does what I hoped it would. I don’t know how flexible the subscription plans are—can you jump on and off? Can you upgrade to Studio for a month then back down to Artist? But for my needs $10 a month is a small price to pay for what you get. I never thought I’d say this but kudos to Pro Tools for providing this product at a great price point. Yeah Pro Tools is pretty easy to learn in my opinion, as it's following a "tape machine and console" model. From looking at Avid's subscription site, it looks like it's a contract for a year with no pausing. But it never hurts to widen your skill set. it's really tough to decipher the ins and outs of the subscription policy on Avid's site. I would suggest that if someone has questions that they connect with Sweetwater or another vendor that can answer all of those questions directly. Pro Tools refers to the monthly payment option as "month to month" -- that would imply that you could cancel at any time and not have to be locked in for a year. But I can't say that for certain. The whole thing is complicated by Pro Tools transitioning away from the perpetual plans to only subscription. Even friends that have used PT for years don't know the subscription policies. |
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Post by lee on Oct 31, 2023 23:02:30 GMT -6
Yeah Pro Tools is pretty easy to learn in my opinion, as it's following a "tape machine and console" model. From looking at Avid's subscription site, it looks like it's a contract for a year with no pausing. But it never hurts to widen your skill set. it's really tough to decipher the ins and outs of the subscription policy on Avid's site. I would suggest that if someone has questions that they connect with Sweetwater or another vendor that can answer all of those questions directly. Pro Tools refers to the monthly payment option as "month to month" -- that would imply that you could cancel at any time and not have to be locked in for a year. But I can't say that for certain. The whole thing is complicated by Pro Tools transitioning away from the perpetual plans to only subscription. Even friends that have used PT for years don't know the subscription policies. I agree, it’s confusingly worded for sure. |
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