Now THIS is what I’m talking about. I may not have been as excited as I should about Pro Tools 10, but this definitely gets my blood boiling. HDX is a HUGE leap forward in DSP driven Pro Tools HD systems. You get 5 times the processing power, more headroom, more tracks… What more could you ask for?! A Pro Tools HD system with a 64 bit DAW you say? Well not yet, but I’m sure it will show up eventually.

The Pro Tools|HDX system enables customers to mix bigger, more complex productions, with the rock-solid performance and stability that Pro Tools|HD customers have come to expect. This new system represents a milestone in Avid’s development of DSP-accelerated hardware, delivering up to 5x more DSP per card, over a thousand dB of additional headroom, and up to 4x the track counts and 2x the I/O compared to its Pro Tools|HD Accel predecessor. And as customers’ needs grow, the system can be scaled to increase track counts, power, and I/O, using up to three Pro Tools|HDX cards and multiple Pro Tools HD Series interfaces.

With this addition to the Pro Tools|HD family, there are now two powerful system choices. Customers can choose the Pro Tools|HD Native system if they need the advanced workflows and sound quality of Pro Tools HD, and want to leverage their host computer to get the best performance and lowest latency. Or customers can choose the new flagship DSP-accelerated Pro Tools|HDX system if they require consistent peak performance and near-zero latency to handle extremely large and complex productions. Together, the Pro Tools|HD product family provides the highest performance, lowest latency, and greatest sound quality available for the most demanding audio post and music production professionals.

Mix bigger, better projects faster

• Get up to 5x the processing power of previous generation cards
• Manage larger productions with fewer cards, with up to 4x the playable track counts
• Work with up to 64 channels of I/O per card, enabling larger configurations with fewer cards

Get more headroom—less headaches

• Dramatically improve recording and mixing audio quality with over 1,000 dB additional headroom and higher resolution sound, thanks to the new floating-point architecture
• Capture, monitor, and output audio in pristine clarity with a choice of Pro Tools HD Series interfaces

New AAX plug-in format—built for the future

• Pro Tools HD 10 introduces the new AAX (Avid Audio eXtension) plug-in format, enabling better workflows and sound parity when sharing sessions between DSP-accelerated and native-based Pro Tools systems
• With two formats available—AAX DSP and AAX Native—AAX opens the door to future advancements in Pro Tools technology

 Pro Tools HD 10 software—included

• Record and play back up to 256 audio tracks per card (or play back up to 768 tracks with three cards) to support the most massive mixes
  • Get great recording and playback responsiveness with the extended disk cache, which can load entire sessions into RAM, and ensures maximum track counts from networked-attached storage, such as Avid Unity™ ISIS®, and slower local drives
  • Control up to 12 Pro Tools|HD systems from one using the Satellite Link option
  • Mix audio from up to two Pro Tools|HD systems with a D-Command® control surface through Multi-mode

Complete Pro Tools|HDX systems, which include the Pro Tools|HDX PCIe card, Pro Tools HD 10 software, and a choice of Pro Tools HD Series interface, will be available worldwide on November 18, 2011. Pricing is as follows:

• New Pro Tools|HDX systems start at $9,999 US MSRP
• Pro Tools|HD 1 owners can crossgrade to Pro Tools|HDX starting at $7,999
• Pro Tools|HD 2 owners can crossgrade to Pro Tools|HDX starting at $6,999
• Pro Tools|HD 3 owners can crossgrade to Pro Tools|HDX starting at $5,999
• Pro Tools|HD Native owners can crossgrade to Pro Tools|HDX for $7,499

For more info, click HERE

I got the email in my inbox today announcing Pro Tools 10 and immediately my heart started racing. My hopes were quickly bashed into the wall repeatedly when I looked at the features and DIDN’T see 64 Bit support. Don’t get me wrong, the new features are very impressive but until I have the other half of my mammoth 8 Core Nehalem Mac Pro can be used for Pro Tools, I find it hard to get as excited as I should about all of these advancements.

I am the biggest Avid fanboy. I will use no other DAW because none come close and I know going from 32 bit to 64 is a huge task. I just really want to use the rest of the $6000.00 Machine I bought. Will I upgrade to 10? You bet your pasty butt I will.

Lets run through the new features:

New Pro Tools 10 software adds major new features to the world’s leading digital audio workstation, delivering on top requests from both audio post and music professionals. With it, Avid introduces several new tools and timesaving workflows, such as the top-requested Clip Gain, which separates pre-mix levels from Pro Tools software’s renowned mixing automation, greatly speeding up and improving the workflow between sound editors and mixers. Customers will also be able to achieve higher sound quality and better performance than ever, whether they’re recording, composing, editing, mixing, or playing back their sessions.

Work faster and easier with the most robust tools

• Speed up pre-mix and editing workflows with Clip Gain
• Experience better performance—even on network-attached or slow local drives—with disk handling improvements and real-time fades
• Get more flexibility—and 24-hour timeline capability—when conforming multiple projects into a single timeline

Sound your best, faster than ever

• Use multiple file formats and mixed bit depths in the same project—including interleaved—without converting files
• Record, edit, and mix in higher resolution with 32-bit floating-point file format support
• Get the sound of the renowned System 5 console EQ and dynamics with the Avid Channel Strip plug-in, now included with Pro Tools 10

Pro Tools 10 software (full version) retails for $699 US MSRP (please note that Pro Tools HD 10 software is bundled with Pro Tools|HD family systems only, and is not available for separate purchase except as an upgrade)
Pro Tools 9 owners can upgrade to Pro Tools 10 for $299
Pro Tools HD software owners can upgrade to Pro Tools HD 10 starting at $999

Crossgrade pricing is also available for owners of Pro Tools LE®, Pro Tools M-Powered™, and Complete Production Toolkit. For more pricing details, visit HERE

Alright everyone, listen up. Everything Recording has a new addition to the team to help me with the reviews. Please welcome DC Patterson to the Everything Recording family.

DC is a location sound & music recordist, composer for film and television and produces albums for eclectic artists. He live on the far side of the planet in New Zealand.

I’m going to give the floor to him to review this extremely intuitive software synth package from u-he.

I play the “Atmosperherics” position in my band – lots of evolving pads, simple leads and massive impacts. Not surprisingly I use Spectrasonics Omnisphere (under Live8) for most of this, but along comes Zebra (www.u-he.com/cms/zebra) to make me see things differently. Zebra neatly covers the evolving pads and (not so) simple leads department. And it comes with 3 really tricked out extras that make this a great package. Straight up front I knew I had something I could play live. But if you are recording, and have the time, you’ve just stepped into a word where you can get a vast amount of sounds from one interface. I played more than I programmed, and I’m sure I’ll learn new stuff for a long time as I get deeper, but since I want you to try the darned thing for yourself, go to their website and get the demos – then play the heck out of it and have some fun.

To get us all started, I run over some of the features, and share some of my discoveries.

Zebra

Zebra 2 is a modular synthesis environment. That’s the easy part. Every one’s seen that whole wall of Hanz Zimmer’s studio covered in one modular…this is the software equivalent. In fact, It’s probably replaced it’s hardware forbear as you can hear Zebra on The Dark Knight, and a few of Mr.Zimmer’s (we are not worthy) recent (more…)

We used to say GOT DAMAGE when we were younger because it sounded dirty so it was refreshing to be reminded of it. Now go out and say it all day!

Native Instruments have come out with Heavylocity Damage to make those huge sounding percussive drum tracks in movies but you can easily integrate them into all sorts of music (even redneck rock!.)

DAMAGE delivers breathtaking cinematic percussion right out of the box. Created by Heavyocity to give your music a tense, epic edge, DAMAGE provides an arsenal of deeply-sampled drums, crushing loops, and smashing one-shots, all recorded in brutal detail. From battered dumpsters and exploding cars to edgy electronics, the entire gamut of modern cinematic sound comes together in this uniquely playable and inspiring instrument. Deep, thrilling and intense – DAMAGE never sounded so good.

Here is a lovely trailer showing what Damage can do for you!

DAMAGE is available from November 1st at your local reseller or the NI Online Shop for $339 / 299 €
For more info, Click here GOT DAMAGE!!