This year I made the switch from Ableton (the system I used to record “Who Is Malan D?”) to Pro Tools. I bought an Mbox2, cuz I’m still a pc guy and wasn’t ready to blow a ton of cash on a Mac yet. The mBox came with Pro Tools LE 7 and works great. The problem has been that when I want to share sessions with Cody, Justin and Mike (Born A Number) we have issues because they all use Pro Tools 6.
Pro Tools refuses to allow their sessions to degrade gracefully, meaning that if you have a session built in Pro Tool 7 there is no way to save it as an earlier version without losing a ton of your session data, rendering it almost 100% useless. Right now I have to consolidate each track from zero and export each track out separately so that whoever is on the other end can import them into the older version of Pro Tools for use. This… sucks.
I spent the weekend trying to install Pro Tools LE 6 on my machine and after hours wasted on unsuccessful attempts I’ve learned that Pro Tools 6 is not compatible with the newer mBoxes and I am basically left with only a few decisions and each mean giving the people at Digidesign more money.
My gripe is that 90% of all the software in the world allows you to save files down into versions that are compatible with early versions of the software. The fact that it is “impossible” to do with Digidesign stuff is a slap in the face. I’m not sure I agree with their policy of forcing their consumers to spend more money with them over and over and over, I mean… I guess it’s a good business model for them… but sucks for me.
If ANYONE knows a way I can improve my work flow. Feel free to comment.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi,
You should be able to go to >file >save copy in and save the session as a PT 6 .pts file. This will allow PT6 users the ability to open the session and work on it.
DigiCS
Hey DigCS,
that’s a great theory and believe me… I WISH that worked but the problem is that when you save down to PT6 you lose so much. You lose markers, any regions you’ve created and all kinds of other stuff. The session ends up missing so much information that it’s unusable.
If I am doing something wrong please advise. I’d LOVE to find a way around it. If I can I’ll praise the Digidesign name from now on…
actually, taking into consideration who im hanging out with this week, and what ive learned, im onto some sick ass shit that will provide solutions for us….i cant say anything here cuz i aint lettin it float around so every band can be hip to it…
(note to others):sorry folks, i just dont care to tell you because im a cock and im going to horde this info for myself..so, learn something on your own for once and quit asking me to solve your problems……psh
..love you and your dutchess…..time for fish tacos…..tijuana rules and the internet works…….sweeeeet
well, as long as we can share sessions i’m good… I hate exporting single tracks… and I’m worried the tracks are degrading when they bounce out. I’m a nut, this.. i know.
come home. teach us.
um-yeah as long as your just consolidating there is zero degredation. Unfortunately this lack of compatibility is in fact new to digidesign as of 7. It really is OK, you do lose groups and markers and the occassional plug, but it is in no way a lost cause. Times can be written in a text document.(It’s a few steps back, but people recording have been doing it for 50 years) groups and stuff not such a big deal. As for fx and plugs if they are pertinent to the track you can simply bounce that individual track with the fx drag it back into sess. and there you go, or simply save the fx take the effect off the track and audiosuite it (only after duplicating for safety) and add that will add said effect to the track. It may be a bit of a pain, but this is something everyone everywhere is dealing with. You are not alone.
p.s. Don’t praise DIGI, praise me and c and the fact that I live two blocks away and you never call or write
Just tell ‘em to go get 7! Just kidding. Had the same problem, though. Got the Mbox for my house and our studio still had V6. Some things worked, some didn’t. Had to get V7 for the studio. So yea, tell ‘em to get V7!
BTW - love the new stuff Malan. Sounds great!
yeah dude two words ALTI VERB or one word altiverb-either way its a good good word
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