NAMM 2018: Avid release Pro Tools 2018 and you can download it today

25 Jan 2018 by Robin Vincent | Approximate reading time: 2 Minutes

Avid Pro Tools 2018 · Source: Avid

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At a big release event, Avid have moved on from silly version numbers to present us with Pro Tools 2018. It brings with it a whole load of features and improvements including Retrospective MIDI Record, MIDI Editing Enhancements, Track Presets, Playlist Comping Enhancements, Mixing UI Enhancements, “Start Collaboration” File Menu Item, and more Flexible Licensing and Deployment.

Pro Tools 2018

The first big feature is Retrospective MIDI Record. It sounds a lot like what Ableton have done in the still-not-here-yet version 10 of Live. Pro Tools 2018 goes into a listening mode whenever you’re not recording. So if you find yourself doing something awesome you can now recover your performance as a recording. Just make sure your track is record enabled.

More enhancements to the MIDI editing lets you move transpose events with the arrow keys, change MIDI tab-to-note and extract chords from MIDI clips.

Track Presets lets you save, catalogue and recall your favourite effects chains, vocal processing, session import criteria and all sorts of other track settings. You can also include MIDI and audio in the track preset.

With Playlist Comping Enhancements you can now build a playlist of your favourite takes, or the best performances from multiple playlists whilst in waveform view.

In the mixer, there have been a few UI improvements. All Mix window strips now feature an EQ curve. Pre-fader sends and Automation lane view menu entries are now colour-coded making them easier to distinguish.

If you like playing with other people then the “Start Collaboration” button is going to be an awesome feature. It automatically saves your project and reloads as a project in the cloud, ready to be shared.

Lastly, Pro Tools 2018 brings in iLok Cloud support which allows you to work iLok free if you’re the sort of person who trusts the internet.

Avid continues to work their magic creating an almost cultic appeal – evidenced in the AVID tattoos being offered on their booth. Pro Tools goes from strength to strength will genuinely innovative features coming through. It’s available now and you’ll find it in your account if you have a perpetual license.