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Pro Tools

Score9.5 out of 10

39 Reviews and Ratings

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What is Pro Tools?

Avid offers Pro Tools, the company's flagship music and audio editing and recording suite.

Categories & Use Cases

Reviews

What users are saying about Pro Tools.
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Go with Avid Pro Tools. It's the best. Easily.

Incentivized
Verified User
Professional (1-10 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I’m Grammy nominated audio engineer. I use Pro Tools to record, mix and master music that I record with artist. Pro Tools is the industry standard that nearly every studio uses, so even if you don’t use it as your main DAW, it’s in your best interest to learn how to use it.

Pros

  • Easy to navigate
  • Easy to use plugins
  • Easy to edit music

Cons

  • CPU usage
  • Switching to different sample rates
  • It needs to restart if it sits unused for too long.

Return on Investment

  • Great roi
  • Ease of use
  • Short learning curve for the basics

Usability

Other Software Used

FL Studio, Propellerhead Reason, Adobe Audition

Overall, there's a reason Avid Pro Tools is the industry standard DAW

Incentivized
Daniel ShatzkesView profile
CEO/Founder at Harmony Studios Inc. (1-10 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I have been using Avid Pro Tools since way back when it was created and owned by Digidesign. Avid Pro Tools is the industry standard in recording, mixing and production for a reason. It's an incredibly powerful tool, and for audio editing, absolutely nothing beats it. Even though the production side of things has taken a back seat to our design/build work I still have a number of projects throughout the year that require editing, mixing and mastering and Avid Pro Tools is always the go to tool. As an aside, I do use Logic Pro occasionally for certain specific tasks (Stem Splitter, for example). But as soon as I need to do any editing, I bring it all into Avid Pro Tools. It's faster and easier to do in Avid Pro Tools than Logic (or at least it is for me).

Pros

  • Audio Editing
  • Recording
  • MIDI/Virtual Instrumentation
  • Mixing
  • File Conversion
  • Sample Rate Conversion
  • Effects Processing

Cons

  • Would be great to see a feature like Stem Splitter in Avid Pro Tools
  • I'm still partial to purchasing a license and not the subscription model that Avid has really pushed hard at.
  • The plug-ins that come included with Avid Pro Tools are great but some of them could use a tune-up or at least an updated version.

Return on Investment

  • Having Avid Pro Tools automatically enables me to accept projects that make me money.
  • Many of the stock plug-ins are already enough to complete projects. The opportunity to purchase or download additional plug-ins is obviously fantastic too. But because Avid Pro Tools is the industry standard you know that there will be a wealth of third party plug-ins available for practically any task, sound or creative endeavor.
  • Because Avid Pro Tools is so easy to use (in my opinion) it makes getting started on projects and then delivering results, the touch quicker. This enables me to take more projects and get more work done.

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Logic Pro X

Other Software Used

Project.co, ChatGPT, Rytr.me

Great product

Incentivized
Verified User
Director in Professional Services (1-10 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I use Avid Pro Tools every day on client projects, music compositions and editing, mixing requiremenmts. It is alsways trustworthy, stable and easy to use and offers excellent UI and transparency. It autosaves which is great and makes life a breeze to use

Pros

  • Intsrument recording
  • Vocal dialogue editing
  • Mixing audio
  • Mastering audio

Cons

  • Instrument datapacks similar to Logic Pro
  • Midi editing is a nightmare
  • Mixing templates

Return on Investment

  • Avid Pro Tools improves workflow efficieny by reducing time spent on editing or recording
  • Avid Pro Tools works fast and is built to be stable

Usability

Other Software Used

Logic Pro X, Ableton Live

AVID Pro Tools: Casting A Long Shadow Many Stand In

Incentivized
Jim LopardoView profile
Owner at Sandbox Music Group (1-10 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Avid Pro Tools is the only DAW I use. I use it daily for audio recording, mixing, and mastering at The Production Studios of Sandbox Music Group. I also use it to produce programming for WDNF-Philly.com, an internet radio station focused on local, regional, national, and global indie artists in that order. Whether archiving vinyl LPs for posterity or broadcast on VINYLLY!!!, or producing a post-punk band, Avid Pro Tools is the only choice. While it may not be as suited for beat production as say, Reaper, Avid Pro Tools is the industry standard for audio production, and rightly so. Proficiency with Pro Tools almost assures you can step up to any analog console and in short order know where to begin. Stability is crucial. Much of the criticism of Pro Tools encountered online centers on perceived instability, but in most cases, any instability originates in inadequate system hardware, or OS-triggered issues when users upgrade their OS before AVID certified compatibility.

Pros

  • Highly-customizable, application and UI (performance, function and appearance).
  • Wide audio format compatibility; Ease of integrating audio of different formats, sample rates; equal ease of exporting.
  • Broadest hardware compatibility. The ability to tweak performance parameters extends hardware's useful life.

Cons

  • Virtual instrument interfaces are clunky and non-intuitive.
  • Rename/Move session functions should programmatically update subfolder labels.
  • Better, more targeted in-app access/help to the myriad of shortcuts, and scripts already present in PT.

Most Important Features

  • Stability
  • Continually updated and currant compatibility
  • UI and Performance customization

Return on Investment

  • POSITIVE: Even with the 2022 Price Increase ($299/yr) - One billable hour more than covers my software expense. I could drop Slate and Waves and still have all the tools I need to continue producing.
  • POSITIVE: "PRO TOOLS POWERED" carries more industry weight than "Reaper Powered" or "We Use Logic."
  • NEGATIVE: I am continually tempted to upgrade my hardware to take full advantage of Pro Tools including Atmos, etc.

Alternatives Considered

Sonar

Other Software Used

GIMP, Audacity, Microsoft Excel

Pro Tools is the Professional Solution

Incentivized
Rob GokeeView profile
Podcast Producer & Audio Mixer in Professional Services at Rob Gokee Music (1-10 employees employees)

Pros

  • Recording
  • Mixing
  • Transfer between other users

Cons

  • MIDI production
  • Pricey Add-ons

Return on Investment

  • Low cost of entry
  • Being able to network with employers is vital, and saves time and money
  • Add-ons to the main software can be a bit overpriced compared to other DAWs.

Alternatives Considered

Cubase

Other Software Used

Final Cut Pro X, iMovie, GarageBand