SRSound said:
...It sounds like you've never actually used pro tools, or at least never taken the time to learn it. I've used every major audio production DAW interface and none has offered me the processing power that pro tools has (except sonic studio for the realtime duck-fade curve processing).
i'm not about to get into a heated thing over this because as we all know this topic is highly prone to opinion and personal taste. my dislike for Pro Tools comes from being forced to use to it off and on over a number of years, going back from and forth from one DAW to the next. every time we went back to Pro Tools after any extended period of time there were always issues with their latest offering. another thing that annoys me is their proprietary hardware requirements for using the software. back when computers were slow this was useful because PT hardware allowed you to get a whole lot done with very little machine. but those days are way gone. one would also think that this system would make things rock solid, ala Apple, but from the laundry list of Pro Tools 6 problems out there right now this is obviously not the case. Tiger support came super late, and with a ton of problems. they've dropped future support for the Digi 001, not as if the Digi 002 is light years ahead, this just strikes me as sleazy.
PT used to be relied on for its stability and rock solid timing. currently it isn't capable of anything that any other major DAW can't handle, and without the headaches of waiting around for the latest OS support because they can't make it get along with QuickTime 7. QT is a core element of OS X, has been for a very long time. one would think that developers of advanced DSP software would be able to make this happen. it's virtual instrument support is extremely limited and its MIDI features are nothing to write home about. most troubling of all for me is its GUI/interface. modern UI design has come a very long way and this convoluted system of huge drop down menus and a separate floating window for every single function are just counterproductive.
one could certainly argue that every DAW out there suffers from similar problems, true. but in my opinion Digidesign just seem concerned with the wrong things when taking their products forward. they remind me of Microsoft and PT feels like the MS Word of audio software. of course this all 100% my opinion and i would be a fool to ignore that thousands and thousands of songs (and dollars) are made every day on PT systems. my experiences with it and what i see and hear from peers who use it just leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Logic certainly ain't perfect either, but it's improving. in reality it will probably undergo a drastic redesign in the near future. Reason is dated and old fashioned as well, but it's still great. Ableton Live, which is my primary DAW of choice due to its speed, simplicity and outside-the-box approach, has even taken on some bloat and extra bugs as of late. nothing is perfect and it all comes down to what makes you comfortable. i just can't get psyched on PT, that's just me.
so often i see new folks just have this idea in their head that they "need" Pro Tools because they see these senior citizens using it in the magazines and think it makes them "Pro". at the end of the day Pro Tools is nothing more than a big ole' tape recorder, just like every other DAW. some people need all of its features but 90% of the people out there that drop $1000 on an LE setup take it home and spend 3 months resolving software conflicts, 6 months learning to record a track and another year adding third party upgrades that will add to their "pro-ness". and at the end of the day the music they produce could have been made on GarageBand, and it actually would have been fun. IMHO, of course.
