Regarding the 'market value' of Pro Tools, it's quite interesting to see that things are pretty much the same in india as the rest of the world. Everyone asks "Do you have Pro Tools?" I don't, i'm not a pro recordist either. However i still do have an opinion, un-pro as it may be. I use Sonic Foundry Vegas Audio. Somehow it sounds pretty lame when i tell people that instead of pro tools i use this, dunno why tho. I downloaded the free version of pro tools to see what the fuss was all about. Haven't got into it in too much depth tho, probably wont unless someone gives me a reason why. I'd say get the demo of Vegas and check it out. You just might find that it is super user friendly, leaving much more time for any creativity. Sorry, maybe i'm not seeing something, but without bashing Pro tools, i love Vegas Audio! Oh, it's about a quarter of the price of PT :)
Sharmon

I have to agree with Uncle Bob on this - I personally use a Digi 002 system in my studio, and when I'm asked if I have Pro Tools, I simple say "yes - the 002" - I also boast my other DAW's andplug-ins but I'd never try to pass my system off as the HD3, because people do find out. When necessary, I take sessions to studios that have the TDM systems and finish there - or, often, I start the composition process in another DAW (typically Cubase, but Logic was my favorite for many years) and dump those track into Pro Tools for compatibility with other studios.

Now, I feel I must say that, for the money it costs, the lesser Pro Tools System (Mbox - 002, etc) don't include as many goodies as, say Logic Platinum or Cubase SX - the amount ofplug-insalone is skimpy in Pro Tools, so plan to invest more $$$ there if you don't already have RTAS compatibleplug-ins MIDI in pro tools, as a creative vehicle, is, in my humble opinion, still far from satisfactory. You just don't get the power of Cubase or Logic in terms of composition - but in terms of audio editing, I'd have to say PT is the easiest and, possibly, still the best. The old saying "you get what you pay for" - well that's where the TDM systems prove that true - it's a lot of bucks, and even theplug-insfor TDM are quite a bit more than the VST or DX version - but that's life.

In terms of bringing in revenue, I haven't seen it yet, but it HAS made the interchange with other studios MUCH easier.

As a non-business owner, although gainfully employed for 4 years now in professional audio, I don't entirely understand the argument against a pro level product being used professionally based on its retail worth. It seems to me that a product's worth (when speaking of pro-audio equipment/gear) is not at all determined by what you can sell it for in x amount of time, but rather what you charge for the product it provides. In going into business for myself, I don't think I would look at something and say, "That little box costs $12,000 now, but will only be worth $500 in 5 years." Rather, I'd say, "That box costs $12,000 now, and I can charge my clients $105/hour to use it, and $XXX for every finished piece of media I put in their hands by using it." Certainly there's an ROI to consider, but when speaking of a DAW, it doesn't make sense to me to consider the future retail value of it to be the deciding factor in whether or not to purchase it. If that rationale were the case, then in our personal lives, we should all stop buying automobiles, as they deppreciate rather quickly. But it's the beneifit that they provide, and the use that we get out of them that makes the constant spending and upgrading worthwhile. Apples and oranges, I know, but it's the only analogy I could think of at the moment.

Don't buy your DAW to sell it in the future. Buy it to charge an established fee for providing services and products to your clients. Most won't know that you don't have THE VERY LATEST AND GREATEST. If you can give them a product that they're happy with, and are willing to pay for, then you have what you need. Is this an unhealthy business philosophy?

First of all, the very most important thing is that NO DAW HAS THE SAME SOUND, like no tape or tape machine.
Sonic Solution has a transparent sound,
same with Logic Platinum, Nuendo and others.
Pro Tools has a problem in the digital summing thus no serious producer want to mix on it.

You have to consider that tape and analog devices change drastically the original sound, by adding distorsion, hiss and applying eq and limiting.
All those artifacts have been welcome in the audio industry.

DAW (supposed that it has a trasparent summing architecture) has a 1:1 sound. The problem is that the human ear is used to punchy, wowy, fluttery, hissy, limited sound, so if you want to get the same warmth and punch you had with your analog gears, you will have to put a lot of analog/valve gears before the AD.
And you will have to put some great plugin, great eq, great limiting and great convolution reverbs.

Conclusion; As far as a DAW is professional, and the plugin are of pristine quality, the converters are transparent and the pre are high end, you are able to do fantastic mix on your DAW.

Thanx for bringing the light to a dark world....

Olle

Conclusion; As far as a DAW is professional, and the plugin are of pristine quality, the converters are transparent and the pre are high end, you are able to do fantastic mix on your DAW.

........and there was me thinking that a great mix was mostly down to the engineer's skills. Still it's good to know that I can make world class mixes as long as I just use some pristine plugins and a pro DAW etc...(???!!!) all I need to do is twiddle some knobs, great!

Pro engineers be afraid, be very afraid, here I come!!!!!!!! HA HA! :s:

Pro Tools is not the only option. RADAR makes terrific products. David

I've worked with many different programs. Sonically, they will all produce slightly--and I mean slightly--different results to track. But the front end boxes and/or plug-in part impacts the sound about a million times more than the tracking software.

As for PT, I'm sceptical of the HD system's value. They are certainly powerful systems, but $15,000??? The digi001 at $700 or whatever they're getting rid of them for now is a tremendous value because the other components (pres, comps etc.) are so much more essential. Not to mention you'll need to slap $2500 for a Mac. You could get a very powerful pc for considerably less, but my experience with protools and pc is terrible. Digidesign unfortunately deals with microsoft as an afterthought. (unfortunate only because macs are $$$)

So what about ProTools LE? It's fine. It works just fine. From the pro side, I've never lost work because of LE for a simple reason--I'm not paying off a $15,000 HD system and can make good offers. The product comes out just great, everyone is happy, no one cares their stuff wasn't churned out on HD.

The digi001 plus a mac is an extremely stable combination in my experience. I can't speak on the digi002. As mentioned before, there are too many bugs being worked out with Apple's new operating system, so I've heard, and I'm not upgrading until stability is achieved. (This has been said many times, I know)

For someone looking to explore DAWs on the cheap, check out N-Track. I've even used this professionaly to great results.

http://www.ntrack.com/

$60 bucks. It does everything pro tools does and it does it very well AND it works like a charm on a pc. For $1000-$2000 you can setup a little computer project rig and cut you teeth: PC, $200 sound card, N-Track and maybe a handful of decentplug-ins Blow $6000 on a Pro Tools LE, Mac setup after you decide DAWS are for you. HD? Well, boy, I can think of so many things to spend that much money on....