Pro Tools 12 Upgrade status

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 25 Sep 2015 2:11 am

for those who may have a slight interest.

Fresh Windows 7 Installation, dedicated PC.

Purchased PT12 with the eleven rack from Sweetwater, Perpetual License, negotiated a lower price ! There is no upgrade path for PT8, so I have them both running.( not the same PC ) I should have upgraded at 10 or 11 it would have been $199. But at the end of the day, not a big deal. Expand II is the midi Instruments which is linked to any MIDI source or Keyboard.

Built a new PC, WIN 7 with 10 gig ram and acquired a new LDG 29" gaming monitor, 28.7 inch view-able, 2580 resolution. It was on sale at Best Buy ( $199) a week or two back. This monitor allows putting both the entire TRACK field and MIX field on the same screen with room to spare ! Love it !

The meat.

PT 12 downloads from the Avid website, set up the Ilok account and it was a no brainer. Along with PT12 grab the Air Effects and AIR Instruments which also includes the additional download of Expand II which is the complete midi instrument array. After the download , the PT 12 installer ran with no issues. During the download and license field you must select where the PT License was purchased, evidently they are coded to specific retailers. So I am guessing this validates legitimate licenses and not hacked copies.

Next up was the installation of the M-Audio Delta 66 PCI interface which is a 4x4 .

I had no issues with the downloads, installers , Ilok etc. it was very clean , but you gotta make sure the PC is up to snuff first, nothing running in the background and the proper Service Pack, do that first !

When grabbing the downloads from the list ( Avid site) grab PT12 latest version, the two AIR products and although Avid says to grab Expand II , it is not listed for Windows and is included in the Air Instrument download. That was the only thing that had any sort of question but really no big deal . As soon as Air Instruments downloaded it began the installation of Expand II automatically.

The old PT 8 projects open on 12, but the effects patches that I wrote don't translate so they have to be re-written. PT12 is a 64 bit Win 7 system, 8 is on an old XP system so if this is the worst thing I have to contend with good grief, no big deal.

With all the talk and criticism of Avid these days I would rate this download and installation as an " A ".

Reading the forums, the folks who are having difficulties really didn't follow PC, Windows and other basic specifications before the downloads and installations. READ THE INSTRUCTIONS, READ THE EMAILS from Avid once you setup the accounts for confirmation , this is where you link the ILOK to your PT's account. If they say to Re-Boot, RE-BOOT !

By the way I decided to use WIN 7 as it is a known and proven op system for Pro Tools and other DAW packages.

Thats all I got..

Oh yeh, the Eleven Rack processor interface is for sale , I have no desire to use it.

mtulbert · Post by **mtulbert** » 25 Sep 2015 4:15 am

Tony
I am with you. Most of my Pro Tools adventures over the years have been pretty easy with no sniglets. I am at Version 11. Have no desire to go forward. I also use 10 because I have several plug ins that I don't want to spend the cash to update.

Did move to windows 10. PT seems to be working well and it seems to be more efficient. I certainly can see your reluctance to do it however. Win 7 was great for me as well.

Happy recording. You have a great rig.

ATB

Mark

Tom Wolverton · Post by **Tom Wolverton** » 25 Sep 2015 4:37 am

I'm on PT11 using a mini Mac and the MBox Pro. Very solid system. Both Avid and Sweetwater have been great to work with. Very easy instalations and upgrades.

I'm happy to hear about PT12 and Win 7. Great news.

BTW, my friend had his house burn down in the Valley fire near Napa, CA last week. He had bought a Fender acoustic from Sweetwater a few years ago. Sweetwater learned of his loss and replaced the guitar for free. Those guys are a class act.

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 25 Sep 2015 7:52 am

+ a few more for Sweetwater, but I do have to say that M Friend has also been real good to me over the years. Customer Support for both is excellent, as it should be !

I really don't know what the advantages are from 11 to 12, or from 10 for that matter. I was expecting a bit more " questions for myself " but that didn't happen. This morning I spent an hour or so writing new patches for verbs, delays and compressor/limiters. The ones I wrote in 8 didn't translate in the projects which were written in 8 and opened in 12, but I didn't expect them to either. The stock embedded patches did translate. They would have translated from 10 or 11...

other than that, all is good and I did do a 30 second test session to just "see what happened "...

all is good.

Now time for a nap...

Tom Wolverton · Post by **Tom Wolverton** » 25 Sep 2015 11:37 am

Did you have Bounce to Disk-offline feature in PT8? That is nice. No longer waiting as it bounces down in real time.

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 26 Sep 2015 2:44 am

Yes bounce to disk in PT8 was for wav only, I now have both MP3 and wav. This is a great option when the mix is finalized and ready for mastering, I use this bounce option for every project.

t

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 4 Oct 2015 12:02 pm

ready to go, trying to reduce clutter, several of the outboard preamps are not needed and will be brought in "as" needed. 29"/ 2580 res monitor, Win 7 PC , 10 gig ram, PT 12.

For recording the Steel, I use the N112, input #2, XLR out to one of the preamps ( on the left in the rack) I also plug in a pair of phones to the N112 back panel so it disables the speaker.

Kyd Brenner · Post by **Kyd Brenner** » 28 Oct 2015 2:16 pm

Tony - nice studio, I especially like seeing the Teac. Cut teeth in AM radio in Durham early 70s, tape carts and mono 1" Ampex machines. In 80s had 2 Teac's (still in basement) - with a good grease pencil mark and very sharp click at start could do 8 tracks simul-synch. Question is, is the Teac there for utility or emotional comfort!

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 29 Oct 2015 3:17 am

Kyd Brenner wrote:Tony - nice studio, I especially like seeing the Teac. Cut teeth in AM radio in Durham early 70s, tape carts and mono 1" Ampex machines. In 80s had 2 Teac's (still in basement) - with a good grease pencil mark and very sharp click at start could do 8 tracks simul-synch. Question is, is the Teac there for utility or emotional comfort!

Question is, is the Teac there for utility or emotional comfort!

YES !

Truth is both the TEAC/2 track and the ZOOM 16 track are there should I need them, or if the occasion arises for the need.

How about this , as long as we are going back in time... AKG D19, way way back when, this was the only mic I owned and used. It still has nice qualities about it. Glad I stored it for 40 years or more !

Kyd Brenner · Post by **Kyd Brenner** » 11 Nov 2015 4:48 pm

Tony - must be something about magnetic tape people - this is still my best mic! Had it at least 30 years.

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Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 25 Nov 2015 2:27 am

Kyd Brenner wrote:Tony - must be something about magnetic tape people -

yep, it is said we have magnetic personalities !