Back in February, we posted a story exploring Avid's roadmap for Pro Tools and whether there were any clues in the Avid Customer Association survey. At the Avid Connect event just before NAB2017 in Las Vegas Avid has announced some of the outcomes from this survey.
Section 1 - Pro Tools Features
In the first part of the survey, they asked about Pro Tools Features and we were asked to drag and drop the topics below to rank them on the level of importance. Avid has announced their plans for each of the features as shown in this table...
Feature | Feature Details | Announced Outcome |
---|---|---|
New Post workflows | Folder tracks, multiple sessions open at one time. | Planned 2017 Release |
Enhanced MIDI Functionality | New MIDI tools to further music creation workflow. | Planned 2017 Release |
Enhanced AVE (Avid Video Engine) Workflows | Support of new codecs, enhancements to existing video interop inside Pro Tools. | Planned 2017 Release |
Virtual Instrument Upgrades | New VI tools inside Pro Tools and better integration with 3rd party VIs. | Under investigation |
Enhanced Voice Capability for Pro Tools Native HD Systems | Larger voice count for Pro Tools HD Native. | In the queue for 2018 |
iOS App for Pro Tools | iOS version of Pro Tools for mobile recording, editing & sharing of ideas for collaboration. | Under investigation |
Immersive / 3D Audio Integration | Further integration of Dolby ATMOS and other 3D formats into Pro Tools mixer. | Announced April 2017 |
New low cost hardware audio interface with network capabilities and sync | Adding a new hardware interface for Pro Tools that would retail under $1K US and include DANTE and up to 16 I/O. | Under investigation |
On Premises Collaboration | Bringing current cloud collaboration to work on premises with local storage. | Under investigation |
Enhanced Integration: Pro Tools & Sibelius | Improved workflows to allow better integration between Sibelius and Pro Tools app. | In the queue for 2018 |
What do you make of these announcements? Has Avid prioritised the correct ones? Do share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Section 2 - Alliance Partners
In this section, Avid asked what third party product would you most like to see integrated into Avid's ecosystem? There were 5 choices...
Celemony
UVI
Native Instruments
Antares
Universal Audio
Avid have announced that Native Instruments and Universal Audio were the 2 most requested 3rd party products. How would you like to see NI and UAD products integrated into Pro Tools?
Comment
At face value, these announcements show some promise even though they were only posted as an image on social media, but when you compare them, to the Blackmagic Design DaVinci 14 With Fairlight Audio, the speed of Avid's developments seems very slow.