Avid are ditching the 003 line. The Digi interfaces are being dropped. No more support. If you own a Digi, it's time to sell or you can wait for the next thing. The next thing you say? Yeah. I know this is going to cause an uproar when it get's released. We've seen the video. Here it is:

"This is a prototype" but it exists. They could put it out this year but for now they are pushing the Native cards. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with the Native cards. They are a nice bit of hardware. I don't know if they are the holy grail for home studios that Avid claim that they are but they do offer some nice interfaces and then there's HDX and compatibility with their future 64 bit release(finally).

What I fear is that in the very near future there will be this new TB interface which will not only be as close to latency free as an external peripheral could possibly be but, I suspect that this new interface will very likely be able to run both Pro Tools as well as PT HDX. It's also highly likely that this interface will have built in DSP a la UA's Apollo. I have a strong suspicion that the Apollo is in fact a fore gleam of the new interface if they did not take part in the development altogether.

In fact, I can't help but think that the next iteration of Pro Tools will be further unbound. What do I mean? It's very likely that you will be able to buy Pro Tools ....let's call it "11" or HDX1. Yes. Just like Steinberg have Cubase and Cubase Studio or more like Nuendo and Cubase. HD 10 as it is will run without their hardware. That's right. You can run HD 10 on any machine so long as you have the license on an iLok. So, it just stands to reason.

I know a lot of people were saying before Pro Tools 9 that Avid would never let go of that grasp. They would never unleash their software from their hardware but there it is now. Ever since Pro Tools 9 they have given you the choice. I think they are trying to do this in baby steps. It's kind of retarded but I can understand their reasoning.

Let's face it. The world of media production is full of snobs. Not the least of whom are Pro Tools certified engineers. I'm not talking about anyone in specific but I can tell you that the air at those Avid presentations is thick. Thick with testosterone and knowitallism. They've got to let them down easy or they will be choked. They're gonna be choked anyway but at least this will lessen the blow.

I wanted to go on about how they are leaving the Digi owners in the lurch but that just seems petty. Why bother continuing development and support for an interface that has never worked all that great in the first place if they're just going to dump it in the next year? They've got to get those upgrade dollars somehow.

Nothing against the Digi interfaces either. They are really nice units. It's the drivers that really suck. If they could just get those drivers up to par, they would sell a lot more units. I was on the verge of buying one the other day.

Anyway. Just trying to stir the pot a bit. Maybe create some discussion.

As a Pro Tools 9 User, I just want to express my disgust at Avid's push for Pro Tools 10/HDX. It has been just over a year since I bought Pro Tools 9 and at around 9 months later Pro Tools 10 came out. The upgrade cost being $300 for standard and $999 for HDX. Fine. There are some nice upgrades for Pro Tools since they went "open".

What upsets me is the fact that there was no amnesty for those of us who had just forked over the for the very new version 9. They offered a month of leeway. And, it's not even that. The fact is that PT 9 has some glaring issues with it. It is far from stable. You need only visit the DUC to see that. PT 10 only fixes some of the more apparent issues that should be dealt with in a CS update. Many of the "new" features have been available in MANY other DAWs for a long time now. Let's face it. 32 bit float has been around since at least '99. I had 32 bit float with Cubase VST 32.

But, the worst of it is the push. Pro Tools 10 adds some long sought after features. I went to the HDX presentation here in Vancouver BC, Canada. One statement that came up quite a bit was "finally, after ten years". Seriously? It took ten years to resolve issues?

"Support for Legacy hardware". Well what they're not saying is that this is the last version of Pro Tools to support the Accel cards. From here on in it will cost you yet another upgrade to HDX cards. In which case, why bother to upgrade to 10 at all? If you want continued support, you will have to buy into a whole new system. There is no other option.

And, if you want the upgrade, you WILL have to pay for it. Either directly or via the support package. The support package is $600 and good for one year of extended tech support. This gives you the free upgrade, if it gets released before your support term is up. Of course, if your support plan ends before the release, you end up paying for the upgrade. Which means you've pretty well paid full price by this time. What a racket!
Sure, I'm whining.

I just bought Sonar X1 Producer upgrade for $99. It was over 10 gigs of download. Many, many tools and sound libraries included. 64 bit float. They are about to release version D which is a free update with, get this, added functionality. That's right, this is the fourth update this year which is ADDING features and it's free.

To boot, I have yet to experience an error other than my own lack of experience with the program.

End of rant.

Here's some highlights of Sonar X1 Producer Expanded and Production Suite: