Pro Tools 12 Now Available To Try, Buy Or Rent

Avid has released Pro Tools 12, the latest version of their studio standard DAW.

The Pro Tools 12 comes with Avid Cloud Collaboration, Avid Marketplace and Avid Artist Community:

  • Cloud Collaboration is a set of workflows that allow for groups of people to work on the same project, eliminating manual file management.
  • Avid Marketplace and Artists Community allows customers to get plug-ins and apps immediately, share and store work and collaborate with other Pro Tools users. Avid Marketplace currently has nine new plug-in bundles available.

With the new version, users can buy the software outright, sign up for a monthly subscription or use a free version. 

New Features:

  • Easier access – Subscribe, own, or use a free version of Pro Tools—the choice is yours.
  • Collaborate in the cloud – work with other artists and producers, anywhere in the world.
  • Get your work heard – Share and sell your music and audio in the Marketplace.
  • Get credit, get paid – keep track of all contributors in a session with integrated metadata.
  • Add new sounds anytime – buy VIs, plug-ins, and more from the updated in-app Marketplace.
  • Stay current – Have the latest features at your fingertips with future upgrades included.

Pricing:

  • Pro Tools’ monthly subscription service, which includes one-month license subscription with updates and support, starts at $29.99/month with an annual subscription starting at $299.
  • Pro Tools annual upgrade plan, featuring 12 months of updates and support, starts at $199.
  • Perpetual licenses for Pro Tools software, including 12 months of updates and supports, starts at $899.

See the Avid site for details.

19 thoughts on “Pro Tools 12 Now Available To Try, Buy Or Rent

    1. adobe has photoshop, thats what everybody wants
      avid has protools, that a few ppl want
      now they are trying to do business the same way as adobe
      say good night to avid

  1. After some time of reluctantly looking into Logic, I’ve decided ditching PT is going to be a more than easy transition. I still don’t understand how people migrate to Reaper though. If I wanted to become a masochist I could always get an EMU or FS1R and get something useful out of menu diving… sorry, I just hate Reaper (as a program) almost as much as I hate AVID (as a company)

  2. Aw, accept your assimilation into Logic, heh. I struggled with a couple of rather unstable DAWs until I went for it. The gain in productivity has been notable and the overall bundle is just stupid good now. You eventually develop the right muscle memory for things, but Logic feels so grab-&-go to me, I hardly notice the mechanical aspects anymore. It makes use of the good things I had previously picked up and doesn’t trip me up with any of the old bad ones. Picking your main work environment is a sobering thing, but c’mon, you’ll love Mom’s Old Apple Robot Oil.

      1. Yea, I think that is a very strong argument for creating a stable configuration — i.e., an OS & DAW combination that you just lock down and stop updating. You keep that running on some old Laptop that you NEVER update. You can keep a clean clone of the fresh install just in case.

        That way your investment never goes away and you can keep using it for tracking and other basic work.

  3. I think Avid would have probably made a better splash with this concept if they had priced it more nicely. $10/mo, or $99/yr.

    And instead of one year of updates, they should make that 4 years.

    Some people LOVE using Pro Tools. From what I’ve seen, it is a mature program with some well developed features. I also think that collaboration thing is well-time. However, I don’t know how much I’d trust having to move tons of files to & from the cloud (esp with my current slow upload speed).

  4. Not a single new feature dedicated to the actual process of making music. Instead, multiple ways to give Avid more money.

    Ridiculous.

    1. I’m curious about the down vote I received, here. Am I wrong that there are no new music-related features that were added? I searched the product announcement and page on the Avid site and could not find any details about the move to 12 that didn’t involve money or marketplace.

      This is another foul step from Avid. First, they bought out M-Audio and decimated almost the entire product line by not developing new drivers or supporting “legacy” products that were a couple of years old. Then, they did the same thing to Euphonix, effectively turning the control surface I used to love into a glorified paperweight.

      Now I see their true mission: make more money by buying out and killing the competition, even if it means ditching their loyal customer base in the process.

      No thanks. I’ll support other companies that actually believe in making quality tools for musicians.

  5. These subscription models for software purchases have got to stop. What ever happened to paying a fair price and then actually owning the product?

    1. I TOTALLY agree!

      However, one context I could see working with the “subscription” model is if I have a project and I know I only need the software for a limited time; THEN I could see having a reasonable monthly price for a temporary use situation.

      I guess though with subscriptions, it must be tricky for a developer to set a price that doesn’t seem over-the-top, but doesn’t bite you in the A$$.

      Buying and owning the software makes more sense as an investment, but only if the developer knows that part of that price is to keep the user supported and updated for a nice, and reasonably long period of time.

  6. So theres nothing different about the new version other than theyve made it easier to spend your cash on extras and share your music on a platform aimed at the mainstream.

  7. I think PT10 is it for me. Music is just a hobby so this new business model looks more suited to pros. Glad I haven’t invested too much in their DAW and didn’t bite on PT11.

    1. Good to know I am not the only one. Sorry haters but I like PT 10, it works well for me. I have become more of a hardware person, and I have found the software I will stick with. I’m pretty simple really, Spectrasonics and Soundtoys, I can spend a few more years just exploring those combinations without ever upgrading the DAW .

  8. A different perspective: If you want to track and mix a record, you can now rent protools for two months for 60 clams. Use the same software the pros use for your record for a measily $60 and don’t pay for it while you don’t need it. For those that want to track and mix all the time it may not be the best deal (though it remains competitive) but for those that want to do it all at once (like going into a ‘proper’ studio) this is pretty rad. I don’t think you can rent an SM-57 for two months for $60, let alone a tape machine.

    I gave up on PT at v8 but I can see this as a pretty good deal.

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