Update 2: Avid has now released Pro Tools 2020.9.1 to resolve this. The updated version is being added into users’ Avid Master Accounts but it may take a little while until it is posted in everyone’s account.
For more details on the Pro Tools 2020.9.1 release see our article Avid Pro Tools 2020.9.1 Released To Fix The Voice Count Issue In Pro Tools Vanilla.
But remember you will need an active Support Plan for perpetual licenses or an Active Subscription Plan for rental licenses to be eligible for Pro Tools 2020.9.
Update: Avid explain this was not an intentional change. We have an honest explanation from Avid’s Francois Quereuil, Director of Product Management – Pro Tools & Control Surfaces. See further down this article.
There is a thread on the Avid Audio Forum, better known as the DUC (Digidesign User Conference) that with the release of Pro Tools 2020.9 the voice count has been halved, so now you can only play 64 stereo tracks instead of 128 in Pro Tools 2020.5.
‘goshalev’ posted…
“Pro Tools (not Ultimate)
Voices reduced from 64 stereo to 32 stereo tracks in 2020.9.
In 2020.5 in System Usage window shows Voices 128/128.
in 2020.9 shows 64/64.
I can not open 2020.5 projects”
We need to point out that in this post ‘goshalev’ should have said 128 stereo tracks in 2020.5 and 64 stereo tracks in 2020.9.
Avid Tech Support team has said…
“This has been reported. I've started a ticket for you as well. Will post more info as we move forward.”
The Problem
As the image above shows, by creating a 128 stereo track session (256 voices) in the standard version of Pro Tools 2020.5, when you open that session in the standard version of 2020.9 you get this error message…
“There are not enough voices available to make all audio tracks active. As a result, one or more audio tracks will not play.”
So to recap in Pro Tools 2020.5 you can have 128 stereo tracks playing, but in Pro Tools 2020.9 you can only have 64 stereo tracks playing.
We did some further research and going back to an article on Pro Tools 12, this was what Avid were saying about maximum tracks and voices…
Pro Tools Ultimate Not Affected
It does not appear that Pro Tools Ultimate is affected by this issue, it is only Pro Tools Standard users who are affected.
Avid Explain That This Was NOT An Intentional Change
Francois Quereuil, Director of Product Management – Pro Tools & Control Surfaces has reached out to us at pains to explain that the Pro tools Standard voice count reduction was in no way an intentional change. Francois says…
“It was very jarring for myself personally and the entire Pro Tools team to wake up this morning and seeing so many Pro Tools users facing this major issue in the latest 2020.9 release. I know this has directly affected many users, and we are deeply sorry for the significant inconvenience caused. Please know that this was in no way intentional on our part, the team has identified the root cause of the problem and already fixed it.
We are now in the process of creating updated software builds and have to go through a round of testing before we can release them to the public. We expect this process to be completed in a matter of a few days.
It is likely that the macOS version will be made available slightly earlier than the Windows version due to the build process, but we’re doing everything we can and have mobilized our teams to work through the weekend to get them both out the door as quickly as possible.
In the meantime, version 2020.5 is available in our download center and users can easily revert to that version until we have an update. Again I would like to express my sincere apologies, as well as those of the entire Pro Tools team, to all affected users.”
Our Advice For Now - Pro Tool Standard Users - Hold Off Upgrading To Pro Tools 2020.9
Based on what we know, our advice to Pro Tools Standard users is to think very carefully before upgrading to Pro Tools 2020.9. If you need more than 64 stereo track or 128 voices then you probably should not upgrade to Pro Tools 2020.9 until this has been resolved.
If you have updated to 2020.9, we recommend that you reinstall 2020.5 for now, either using the 2020.5 installers from your own backup, or by using the Avid Download Center to download fresh 2020.5 installers.
More To Follow
Francois and his team have told us that as soon as there is a fix they will let us know and we will update this article with the details and how to get the updated installers.