here we go again....

Don't worry, Xavier, I have a lock button.

Fer, it's not your fault.

Let's just worry about the song.

Fer,
the main point about ProTools is marketing. It is said that a lot of studios use it. They have the ProTools HD version, which in some ways is really good. It is really good because it works, in the same way you expect an Airbus or Boeing jetplane to work every day. It can handle a lot of channels, say a hundred, and it keeps on working. On the other hand, if you buy something in the same price bracket as a new Ferrari, you would expect it to work. (Well, I am exaggerating the price a little, it is far out of my own reach though).

The reasons the studios own ProTools HD may be different, but if you ask them, a lot of them uses ProTools HD more or less lika a glorious tape machine. Often enough processing and mixing is done in outboard effects, they probably has one of these dinner table sized mixers as well. This is slowly changing, but the studios that goes this way seems to spend a lot on third party plugins, apart from all the other trimmings such as vintage mics and purposebuilt rooms.

Now there is something completely different, called ProTools LE. It is a decent product if all you want to handle is a few channels. It has its ups and downs as all budget products. It is clearly riding on the ProTools HD image when targeting quite another group of people. Avoid that pitfall, and evaluate the product for what it is instead.

And then there is marketing and peoples awareness. "Everyone" knows that a real pro uses professional tools, ProTools then. So if you haven´t got ProTools, you are not a professionel, eh? I would say BS.

Another point in the marketing is how easy it is to exchange files between a studio ProTools HD and a home ProTools LE. So if, say, you are an amateur, you may start your project at home and go into a studio later without problems. Guess what, this is only marketing. If from some unfathomable reason you would have a few seconds of home made audio you really want to use in a professional studio, well guess, ProTools HD is really good at importing just about any sound file.

So, if you like ProTools LE and one of the very few and a bit limited interfaces you can use there, go ahead. In their own right they are quite decent in my mind. I have and like an MBox, as it is cheap and does what it is designed to do.

If you do not like them, there are soo many others to choose from. On the other hand, if your budget is on the Ferrari level and you have to ask this question. Well, hire an experienced consultant to help you. Experience will save you many times the cost in getting the right thing.

Gunnar.

And that's about all that needs to be said.. and maybe this: Use whatever you like. It all ends up on a little plastic disc anyway.

thanks a lot gunnar. btw, David, my query just arose from a desire to satisfy curiosity, since I DO aknowledge what you said and agree: we have to use whatever we feel to be the right thing.

thanks again!!

fer