Anyone familiar with ProTools?

[bobsaget]

Hello.

I'm just trying to understand what protools is. I have a mac and a PC, if I were to ever get it I'd install it on mac. But anyways, is ProTools a huge assortment of Mics, Mixers, and software? Or can you buy the stuff you need separately?

Why is Protools such a better program than Cubase, Logic Pro or Cool Edit (adobe audition)?

I've seen the Digidesign mBox and mBox 2 just lookin around. Is this the main hub of Protools? Could I use my own mics, keyboards and whatnot? Would any firewire based Recorder/mixer work with protools?

Thanks in advance for answering this onslaught of questions.

 

[blendingnoise]

I used mostly hardware stuff when I was djing back in the day but from what I know, protools lets you lay out sounds/clips/loops and so on into a song. Ex: you can load 303 drum machine sounds into it and use them in your song.

I think the advantage is possibly being able to interface with other studio equipment and being what most people now use?

 

[phide]

I'll try to knock out all the direct questions first.

Pro Tools is what is technically referred to as a computer-based digital audio workstation. Its primary purpose is to allow you to record, arrange, edit and mix audio files, though it also has some fairly extensive MIDI support (nearly as good as the famed Logic in 7.2+) and plug-in support. Pro Tools is exclusive to Digidesign and M-Audio interfaces (naturally), and the interfaces are more-or-less useless outside of Pro Tools. You can use mics, line instruments and MIDI devices with most of the interfaces (save the Mbox 2 mini), and there are now dedicated instrument tracks for instrument plug-ins in 7.0+, and there are thousands of instrument plug-ins available.

Pro Tools really isn't "better" than many other programs. It's fairly restrictive in some senses, and you pay quite a bit for what you get. What sets Pro Tools apart is that it's the industry-standard, meaning a Pro Tools rig (or two, or three) is in practically any studio in the world, and the fact that most any session is transportable between LE, M-powered and HD systems. You can take a project you've built with a prosumer Mbox 2, plug the drive into an HD-powered system, and your session is now in professional system. Pro Tools also allows you to work fantastically quickly. I've seen some of Digidesign's representatives work, and it's pretty mind-blowing (though I'm not half-bad myself).

As for your last question, only Digidesign and certain M-Audio interfaces work with Pro Tools, and I'm not a big fan of the M-Audio stuff. I think you get what you pay for. My suggestion is to buy new, so you'll get an interface bundled with 7.3.1.

And yeah, use it on the Mac if it's a decent enough Mac. PC support is pretty decent these days, but Pro Tools is more-or-less flawless on OS X.

If you ever need to ask any other Pro Tools-related questions, just drop me a line.