Pro Tools | First

Gary May 13, 2016 Need To Know No Comments

Introduction

So it’s that time of the year where musicians and engineers eagerly anticipate what Avid are going to launch to the world, and this year we have seen something very unexpected indeed…..a free version of Pro Tools!

First

Avid have announced Pro Tools | First while lots of details have still been kept under wraps, they have certainly said enough to spark a big sense of curiosity, and for good reason!

The product is marketed as:

“Pro Tools | First is simple enough for beginners, yet sophisticated for experienced musicians, enabling you to quickly compose, record, edit, and mix music. Entry to the industry’s most trusted audio workstation has never been easier.”

You can connect your mic or instrument directly into your computer using either a USB audio interface, or by a cable adapter.
Choose from a selection of pre-built session templates.
Use loop recording so you can nail the perfect take.
Xpand 2 Virtual instrument included!
Functionality such as Midi Editor, Elastic Pitch and Elastic Time.
A range of processing plug-ins included!
Comes with an introductory amount of cloud storage to host your sessions!

Not a bad list for a product which is going to cost you nothing!

Simply said, this is a great offering from Avid, and one they will no doubt hope will bring in more users to the Pro Tools workstation.

Why bother buying Pro Tools?

While this product does offer a great amount of options and functionality for the startup user, there are of course going to be limitations to try and move people up the paid versions.

Sessions are limited to 16 tracks.
Limited to four simultaneous inputs.
Limited to 20 in-built effects/processors.
Limited cloud storage offering up to three projects stored at one time.

Ok so the product is limited, but these limitations really are not going to affect users who perhaps just want to jot an idea down, in fact if your session is going to end up at a maximum of 16 tracks and you only intend on recording each one at a time, you really aren’t going to notice a limitation at all! Promising stuff from a product that many would like to use but may not have been able to previously afford!

Conclusion

We were quite frankly amazed when we heard the news that an introductory product with this much capability was going to be launched to the world, and even more so when we discovered it was going to be free!

Avid certainly have the right idea here, give users a taster of what is the best DAW around and let the software itself convince people.

You can sign up to get your hands on the software here.

Let us know your thoughts below!