Really. . . how good is Pro Tools LE?

JuneBug29

I know Pro Tools is good but I'm under the impression that it's Pro Tools HD's integration with the hardware that makes it so good. I have used Pro Tools LE as well as other software and I really don't see a massive advantage. Am I missing something?

So if you agree why is this so? And also if you do agree, for home users, what software do you think can do the same job as Pro Tools LE?

DamagedTrax

PT is still my fave for out and out audio editing - region grouping, multitrack beat detective etc

i really believe that reaper is beating it hands down for mixing though.i wont go into the reasons again as its been said so many times before (check the plugin useage chart thread.

MilanPan!c

JuneBug29 wrote: »

I know Pro Tools is good but I'm under the impression that it's Pro Tools HD's integration with the hardware that makes it so good. I have used Pro Tools LE as well as other software and I really don't see a massive advantage. Am I missing something?

So if you agree why is this so? And also if you do agree, for home users, what software do you think can do the same job as Pro Tools LE?

Well, many DAWs does what it does and better.

There's a concept here in Ireland that PT is some industry standard, but really is pretty stale in 90% of what it offers compared to something like Sonar 8.5, and my god, Reaper does most of it for FREE.

Nothing wrong with PT if it makes you happy, but objectively, it's not particularly the standard for any particular reason, now more than ever.

woodsdenis

MilanPan!c wrote: »

Well, many DAWs does what it does and better.

There's a concept here in Ireland that PT is some industry standard, but really is pretty stale in 90% of what it offers compared to something like Sonar 8.5, and my god, Reaper does most of it for FREE.

Nothing wrong with PT if it makes you happy, but objectively, it's not particularly the standard for any particular reason, now more than ever.

ProTools is the industry standard in professional recording/TV/Film studios not only in Ireland but wherever you go, wether you like it or not.

Now is it better than Reaper or Sonar, thats up for debate certainly. I dont think anyone can claim now that Protools does everything better than any other DAW.

I personally couldn't use anything else for what I do. If sent someone a Reaper or Sonar session it would be sent back immediately!!! But I stress thats just for me. Also if you look at record company producer contracts the deliverable medium is nearly always a Protools session.

That doesn't make PT better or worse but it is the standard professional medium by any judgement.

I am of course talking about HD not LE. I do think it is pathetic LE is intentionally crippled the way that it is when other Native systems are out there. It is in either incarnation a very good piece of software
Make up your own mind, Using Protools or Sonar wont make my music any better or worse.

TelePaul

woodsdenis wrote: »

ProTools is the industry standard in professional recording/TV/Film studios not only in Ireland but wherever you go, wether you like it or not.

This may be true - I've certainly heard it enough times - but I don't think it's a good enough reason to champion it over any other sequencer when those using this argument as a purchasing rational end up buying LE and a 2-in-2-out MBOX

dav nagle

JuneBug29 wrote: »

I know Pro Tools is good but I'm under the impression that it's Pro Tools HD's integration with the hardware that makes it so good. I have used Pro Tools LE as well as other software and I really don't see a massive advantage. Am I missing something?

So if you agree why is this so? And also if you do agree, for home users, what software do you think can do the same job as Pro Tools LE?

If you are using pro tools LE to record instruments then it is a very good program. If you are more into midi sequencing then you could consider Logic or Abelton etc...

ZV Yoda

JuneBug29 wrote: »

I know Pro Tools is good but I'm under the impression that it's Pro Tools HD's integration with the hardware that makes it so good. I have used Pro Tools LE as well as other software and I really don't see a massive advantage. Am I missing something?

So if you agree why is this so? And also if you do agree, for home users, what software do you think can do the same job as Pro Tools LE?

Really?... it does what it says on the tin. Which DAW you choose depends on what you’re doing. If you’ll need to send session files to “professional” engineers & producers, then PT still seems to be the standard in mainstream music. If you’re making music for your own enjoyment, then choose whatever suits your style/budget.

We asked lots of people to advise us on the “best” recording software to invest in for our home studio set ups. Pretty much without exception, they all said Pro Tools was the industry standard. None of them actually said it was the best… but they didn’t say it was the worst either. They did say it was expensive –“but that’s because it’s the industry standard”. So we went with PT LE for our home set ups.

In the 2 years we’ve been using it, I’ve learned that the advice was 100% spot on. I personally loved the jump from version 7 to 8 because I found it much easier & more intuitive. As Damaged said, PT is great for editing. Not so good for mixing, but then again my mixing skills/ability run out long before any PT limitations would start to be problem for me.

In my experience, PT LE has 2 major drawbacks though…
1. It doesn’t have automatic delay compensation (ADC). I didn’t know what that meant 2 years ago.
2. PT can only be used with a very limited range of hardware interfaces made by Digidesign, M-Audio & one or 2 others. Digidesign & M-Audio are own by the same company (Avid). As you’d expect, the Avid hardware is more expensive that the other interfaces out there… and in many cases, not the best (not the worst either).

MilanPan!c

ZV Yoda wrote: »

Really?... it does what it says on the tin. Which DAW you choose depends on what you’re doing. If you’ll need to send session files to “professional” engineers & producers, then PT still seems to be the standard in mainstream music. If you’re making music for your own enjoyment, then choose whatever suits your style/budget.

We asked lots of people to advise us on the “best” recording software to invest in for our home studio set ups. Pretty much without exception, they all said Pro Tools was the industry standard. None of them actually said it was the best… but they didn’t say it was the worst either. They did say it was expensive –“but that’s because it’s the industry standard”. So we went with PT LE for our home set ups.

In the 2 years we’ve been using it, I’ve learned that the advice was 100% spot on. I personally loved the jump from version 7 to 8 because I found it much easier & more intuitive. As Damaged said, PT is great for editing. Not so good for mixing, but then again my mixing skills/ability run out long before any PT limitations would start to be problem for me.

In my experience, PT LE has 2 major drawbacks though…
1. It doesn’t have automatic delay compensation (ADC). I didn’t know what that meant 2 years ago.
2. PT can only be used with a very limited range of hardware interfaces made by Digidesign, M-Audio & one or 2 others. Digidesign & M-Audio are own by the same company (Avid). As you’d expect, the Avid hardware is more expensive that the other interfaces out there… and in many cases, not the best (not the worst either).

3. You can't freeze tracks.


And seriously, you're second point is NO small thing.

My god, how frustrating.

fitz

4. You can't bounce offline. Pain in the face.

With the new Flex Time tools in Logic 9, I really can't see why anyone would go with PT if they were buying now. Logic 9's editing capabilities are really impressive.

http://www.apple.com/logicstudio/whats-new/#flex-time

As for the pro's you're hiring using PT...if you're getting something mixed by someone, you're gonna be giving them raw tracks anyway, so why not just export all the tracks, after editing, to WAV, give them the timing details via a midi file, and you're done.

This industry standard thing is largely irrelevant as far as I can tell. As long as you can hand someone everything they need in a well labelled manner with production notes, they don't need a PT session file to get the job done. If they're using PT, and you're using PT, great, it saves them setting up the session, but that's the only advantage that I can see, and it doesn't justify the drawbacks. PT LE is now well behind Logic in terms of functionality, and Logic is well ahead of PT HD in terms of cost and flexibility of hardware support.

But that's all just my opinion.
Tbh, if it works for you, use it!
It's not about what you use, it's about results.

MilanPan!c

fitz wrote: »

It's not about what you use, it's about results.

Can we not make that the motto of this forum?


And wait... do you mean PT still only real-time renders/bouncing?

Come on... Didn't you used to be able to fast bounce?

What a pain in the hole.

I kinda half think that a LOT of PT users would be shocked if they spent a few hours with most any other DAW.

You just blew my mind.

ZV Yoda

Yeah, forgot about the offline bounce too... that is a PITA - although it's easy enough to work around (most of the time).

... for the record, based on what I've learned over the past 2 years, I'd probably go with Logic myself (I run a Mac).

At the end of the day through, once your DAW is stable & you know how to use it, it should be largely irrelevant which one you use – it’s just a tool. None of them will make you a better composer/musician (although they may make some parts of the recording/editing/mixing process more efficient).

If PT got ADC tomorrow, I’d be happy… then I could all those IK plug-ins that I hardly ever use (because I can’t be arsed to do all the manual delay compensation/waveform nudging).

woodsdenis

fitz wrote: »

4. Y


This industry standard thing is largely irrelevant as far as I can tell. As long as you can hand someone everything they need in a well labelled manner with production notes, they don't need a PT session file to get the job done. If they're using PT, and you're using PT, great, it saves them setting up the session, but that's the only advantage that I can see, and it doesn't justify the drawbacks.

Its not irrelevant in what I do, its a necessity. But like I said in my previous post it may not be vital for you. If compatibility isn't an issue you don't need Protools.
There is no argument that LE is way to expensive when compared to Logic. If you use midi a lot, Logic wins hands down. If your doing more live audio stuff PT is better. Is it worth the extra, you decide.

I am not championing any software over another, just hopefully giving real world info here. If you are doing stuff primarily on your own, use whatever you want to. If you aspire to be a recording engineer being proficient on Reaper only, wont get you in the door of many top flight studios.

The reason it is the industry standard is, it was the first computer based DAW out there. That doesn't make it the best, but dont put your head in the sand and ignore the obvious.

fitz

Sorry Denis, you're right of course. If you want to work in tv/film/large studios, you gotta know PT. I'm coming at it from the independent user perspective. If you've got your own setup and don't need to deliver PT sessions to clients, then I think the "get PT, cause it's the industry standard" advice that people get given leads to them not necessarily using the DAW that suits their needs most. For someone doing experimental sample-based electronica, and wants to reproduce stuff live too, the fact that PT is the standard for film an tv is completely irrelavant, cause he's far more likely to be using Abelton. Regardless, as before...it's only a tool. People should always pick the tool that gets them the results they need, whichever one it is...

MilanPan!c

woodsdenis wrote: »

The reason it is the industry standard is, it was the first computer based DAW out there.

30 years have passed; the industry needs a better reason.

IMO.

woodsdenis

fitz wrote: »

Sorry Denis, you're right of course. If you want to work in tv/film/large studios, you gotta know PT. I'm coming at it from the independent user perspective. If you've got your own setup and don't need to deliver PT sessions to clients, then I think the "get PT, cause it's the industry standard" advice that people get given leads to them not necessarily using the DAW that suits their needs most. For someone doing experimental sample-based electronica, and wants to reproduce stuff live too, the fact that PT is the standard for film an tv is completely irrelavant, cause he's far more likely to be using Abelton. Regardless, as before...it's only a tool. People should always pick the tool that gets them the results they need, whichever one it is...

Spot on fitz. I never advise people to get PT LE unless they need or want it and your right, misinformation on the web is a nightmare for people starting out. There are so many alternatives that do different things well,
it pays to research:)

jtsuited

just to add here, as far as actually using it, protools is pretty much useless for midi based composition.

jtsuited

fitz wrote: »

4. You can't bounce offline. Pain in the face.

With the new Flex Time tools in Logic 9, I really can't see why anyone would go with PT if they were buying now. Logic 9's editing capabilities are really impressive.

http://www.apple.com/logicstudio/whats-new/#flex-time

As for the pro's you're hiring using PT...if you're getting something mixed by someone, you're gonna be giving them raw tracks anyway, so why not just export all the tracks, after editing, to WAV, give them the timing details via a midi file, and you're done.

This industry standard thing is largely irrelevant as far as I can tell. As long as you can hand someone everything they need in a well labelled manner with production notes, they don't need a PT session file to get the job done. If they're using PT, and you're using PT, great, it saves them setting up the session, but that's the only advantage that I can see, and it doesn't justify the drawbacks. PT LE is now well behind Logic in terms of functionality, and Logic is well ahead of PT HD in terms of cost and flexibility of hardware support.

But that's all just my opinion.
Tbh, if it works for you, use it!
It's not about what you use, it's about results.

+1

Just on the editing point. The way you can use the marquee tool in Logic 9 has been one hell of a brilliant change.

Can't see ANY reason to use PT now.