Avid has released Pro Tools 2018.7 with new features like being able to search to find that plug-in in a menu list, making multiple selections in a menu, maintain the relative grid position moving clips around and 9 pin track arming improvements for Pro Tools Ultimate users. We have all the low down on the next phase of Pro Tools development designed to help us be creative and not bogged down in technology.

Search To Find The Plug-ins And Busses You Need

Ever found yourself hunting through lists of plug-ins hunting for a plug-in you know you have but you can't find it? Now with Pro Tools 2018.7 you no longer need to scroll through lengthy menus to find the plug-in or bus you need.

Back in June 2016, we ran an article Pro Tools Plug-in Menu - Feature Request in which Dan Cooper asked...

I would love to be able to insert a plug-in and just type "h" and H-Delay by Waves appears in the search result alongside other plug-ins beginning with H. This feature would save me from having to use my eyes to read through what is currently a lengthy list of plug-ins. 

Well, Dan, the Avid Development team has integrated tag-like search capabilities into the Inserts, Sends, Inputs, and Outputs menus as well as the plug-in menus. Now you can simply start typing and Pro Tools will display all matching items, enabling you to find and assign VIs, effects, and busses so much more quickly.

Check out this video from Avid Application Specialist Daniel Lovell to see how this could help you...

Speed Up Your Workflow With Multi-item Menu Selections

With Pro Tools 2018.7 you can now select multiple items in a menu in one go. Use the key command Control+Click on a Mac or Start+Click on a Windows Pro Tools computer on a Track Insert, Send, or I/O Window and you can now select as many items as you want from the contextual menu.

In Pro Tools 2018.7 you can now quickly select multiple views, toolbar, window, and other preferences using checkboxes in pop-over menus, letting you select (and deselect) multiple items without closing the menu, for the following:

• Rulers View selector
• Edit Window View selector
• Mix Window View selector
• Edit Window Toolbar menu and Right-click menu
• Transport Window menu and Right-click menu
• Workspace (for show/hide of columns)—replaces Command-click (Mac) and Control-click (Windows) functionality

Check out this video from Avid Application Specialist Daniel Lovell to see how this could help you...

Edit Audio And MIDI And Keep The Groove

When rearranging a session, would you prefer that everything didn't perfectly align with the beat? Now in Pro Tools 2018.7, you can now have Pro Tools keep the relative grid position when copying, cutting, and pasting audio and MIDI clips and note selections.

This now preserves the perfectly imperfect feel of unquantised music by keeping all correct offsets established in your timeline. This feature is designed to keep the human feel and save time as you re-arrange your song.

With Relative Grid mode enabled, Pro Tools maintains any Relative Grid offset from the nearest grid line for audio clip selections and MIDI notes when pasting cut or copied audio or MIDI data. Relative Grid mode must be enabled when pasting.

Pasting Audio with Relative Grid Offset

Pro Tools maintains any Relative Grid offset when pasting cut or copied audio. To paste cut or copied audio while maintaining Relative Grid offset:

1. Enable Relative Grid mode.
2. Select and Cut or Copy audio that has a Relative Grid offset.
3. Place the Edit insertion at the grid location where you want to paste the audio.
4. Choose Edit > Paste.

The audio is pasted at the grid location, but with the same Relative Grid offset as the cut or copied audio.

Pasting MIDI with Relative Grid Offset

Pro Tools maintains any Relative Grid offset when pasting cut or copied MIDI data. To paste cut or copied MIDI notes while maintaining Relative Grid offset:

1. Enable Relative Grid mode.
2. In Notes view, select and Cut or Copy MIDI that has a Relative Grid offset.
3. Place the Edit insertion at the grid location where you want to paste the cut or copied MIDI notes.
4. Choose Edit > Paste. The MIDI notes are pasted at the grid location, but with the same Relative Grid offset as the cut or copied MIDI notes.

Merge MIDI with Relative Grid Offset

Pro Tools maintains any Relative Grid offset when merging cut or copied MIDI data. To merge cut or copied MIDI notes while maintaining Relative Grid offset:

1. Enable Relative Grid mode.
2. In Notes view, select and Cut or Copy MIDI that has a Relative Grid offset.
3. Place the Edit insertion at the grid location where you want to merge the cut or copied MIDI notes.
4. Choose Edit > Paste Special > Merge.

The MIDI notes are merged with any existing MIDI at the grid location, but with the same Relative Grid offset as the cut or copied MIDI notes.

In this next video, Avid Application Specialist, Greg Chin looks at improvements to the relative grid workflow. With Pro Tools 2018.7 you can now maintain the perfectly imperfect feel of your performance when copying, cutting, and pasting audio and MIDI clips and note selections in Relative Grid mode.

Arm Up To 112 Track Remotely With Sony 9-pin Protocol Improvements

For those mixing large-scale audio post or Dolby Atmos productions on a console that uses the Sony P2 9-pin protocol over a 9-pin MachineControl Deck Emulation connection. With Pro Tools Ultimate 2018.7 you can now remotely arm, change Input Monitoring, mute, and solo up to 112 tracks (up from 64 tracks) to handle the bigger and more complex sessions you get with immersive formats like Dolby Atmos. There is no need to find workarounds or abandon your trusted old analog console.

Shortcuts Added To Edit Menu With Extra New Shortcut

Avid has added a number of keyboard shortcuts to Pro Tools 2018.7 and to help to show how they fit into workflows as well as adding certain commands that were only available as shortcuts to the Edit menu.

Commands related to the Edit selection are now organised in the Selection submenu as follows:

Move Edit Left - Moves the entire current Edit selection to the left by the duration of the selection.

• Command+Option+Control+L (Mac)
• Control+Alt+Start+L (Windows)
• In Commands Keyboard focus, press L.

Move Edit Right - Moves the entire current Edit selection to the right by the duration of the selection.

• Command+Option+Control+’ (single quote) (Mac)
• Control+Alt+Start+’ (single quote) (Windows)
• In Commands Keyboard focus, press ’ (single quote)

Halve Selection - Maintains the current Edit selection start time but reduced its duration by half.

• Command+Option+Control+Shift+L (Mac)
• Control+Alt+Start+Shift+L (Windows)

Double Selection - Maintains the current Edit selection start time and doubles its duration.

• Command+Option+Control+Shift+’ (single quote) (Mac)
• Control+Alt+Start+Shift+’ (single quote) (Windows)

Duplicate and Extend Selection - Pro Tools now lets you duplicate the Edit selection (including all track data in the selection), keep the selection start, and extend the selection to the end of the duplicate. This facilitates working with audio loops and repeating MIDI content.

To duplicate the Edit selection, maintain the current selection start, and extend the selection to end of the duplicate, do one of the following:

• Choose Edit > Selection > Duplicate And Extend Selection.
• Press Command+Option+Control+Shift+D (Mac) or Control+Alt+Start+Shift+D (Windows).

Move Edit Up - Moves the Edit selection up one track. If more than one track is included in the current Edit selection, those tracks are removed from the selection and the selection is only on the one track.

• Control+P (Mac)
• Start+P (Windows)
• In Commands Keyboard focus, press P

Move Edit Down - Moves the Edit selection down one track. If more than one track is included in the current Edit selection, those tracks are removed from the selection and the selection is only on the one track.

• Control+; (semicolon) (Mac)
• Start+; (semicolon) (Windows)
• In Commands Keyboard focus, press ; (semicolon)

Extend Edit Up - Extends the Edit selection up one track.

• Control+Shift+P (Mac)
• Start+Shift+P (Windows)

Extend Edit Down - Extends the Edit selection down one track.

• Control+Shift+; (semicolon) (Mac)
• Start+Shift+; (semicolon) (Windows)

Remove Edit from Top - Removes the top track from the Edit selection.

• Option+Control+P (Mac)
• Alt+Start+P

Remove Edit from Bottom - Removes the bottom track from the Edit selection.

• Option+Control+; (Mac)
• Alt+Start+; (semicolon)

Playlist Navigation Improvements

When the Edit selection (or Edit insertion point) is on the Main playlist, you can navigate playlists on full-sized keyboards or laptop keyboards using the following key commands:

To navigate to the first playlist:

• Press Shift+Home (full-sized keyboard).
• Press fn+Shift+Left arrow (laptop).

To navigate to the last playlist:

• Press Shift+End (full-sized keyboard).
• Press fn+Shift+Right arrow (laptop).

To move ahead five playlists:

• Press Shift+Page Down (full-sized keyboard).
• Press fn+Shift+Down arrow (laptop).

To move back five playlists:

• Press Shift+Page Up (full-sized keyboard).
• Press fn+Shift+Up arrow (laptop).

Set Target Playlist in All Tracks, Selected Tracks, or Tracks of the Same Type

Key modifiers can be used to target the same playlist in all tracks of the same type or in all selected tracks of the same type (audio, MIDI, Instrument, or Video).

To target the same playlist in all audio tracks:

• In Playlists view, Option-click the Target button for the playlist you want to target.
• Hold down Option (Mac) or Alt (Windows), and click on the Playlist Selector menu, then click the Target Playlist sub-menu and click on the playlist you want to target.

To target the same playlist in all selected audio tracks:

• In Playlists view, Option-Shift-click (Mac) or Alt-Shift-click (Windows) the Target button for the playlist you want to target.
• Hold down Option-Shift (Mac) or Alt-Shift (Windows), click on the Playlist Selector menu, then click the Target Playlist sub-menu and click on the playlist you want to target.

Enable/Disable Target Playlist Now Undoable

Enabling or Disabling the Target Playlist is an undoable action that appears in the Undo History.

Miscellaneous Improvements

Change Edit Window Scrolling Mode During Playback and Recording

Pro Tools 2018.7 now lets you change the Edit Window Scrolling mode during playback and recording. With the transport running, you can select the desired Edit Window Scrolling mode from the Options menu. Select Edit Window Scrolling and one of the following: 

• No Scrolling,
• After Playback 
• Page 
• Continuous (HDX only)

The Edit Window Scrolling mode updates without interrupting the Transport.

Punch Recording and Retrospective Record for MIDI

Retrospective Record for MIDI captures your performance regardless of the recording mode. When applying Retrospective Record for MIDI, MIDI performances are placed at the exact Timeline location of the performance on the appropriate MIDI or Instrument track even when punch recording. In lower versions of Pro Tools, there were issues with Retrospective Record and punch recording.

MIDI Thru Improvements

During playback, if the Default Thru Instrument is set to Follows First Selected MIDI Track (Setup > Preferences > MIDI), matching MIDI data is buffered for the first selected MIDI track.

Likewise, matching MIDI data is buffered for each record-enabled MIDI (or Instrument) track. So, when applying Retrospective MIDI Record, MIDI data is recalled from each track buffer on a track-by-track basis.

Avid Audio EQ Plug-ins Supporting EQ Curve View

In addition to EQ III and Channel Strip, the following Avid Audio EQ plug-ins now support EQ Curve view in the Mix window:

• Focusrite D2
• Pultec EQP-1A
• Pultec EQH-2
• Pultec MEQ-5
• VC5

Low Latency Monitoring Enhancements

Pro Tools HD Native, Core Audio, and ASIO systems provide the following enhancements with Low Latency Monitoring:

• Software monitoring is automatically disabled for all TrackInput Monitoring–enabled tracks.
• Software monitoring is automatically disabled for all Record-enabled tracks.

This lets you use hardware monitoring with any output channels on your audio interface without having to re-configure your session. Previously when Low Latency Monitoring was enabled, software monitoring was disabled only for tracks assigned to physical outputs 1 or 2 on your audio interface.

Allow Sends to Persist During LLM Preference

All plug-ins and sends are bypassed by default when Low Latency Monitoring (LLM) is enabled in the Options menu. Pro Tools 2018.7 now lets you enable the Allow Sends to persist during LLM option to maintain sends audio signal output with Low Latency Monitoring.

To maintain (or bypass) sends with Low Latency Monitoring enabled:

1. Choose Preferences > Mixing and click the Setup tab.
2. Select (or deselect) the Allow Sends to persist during LLM option.
3. Click OK.

System Usage CPU Peak Indicator

Pro Tools 2018.7 now provides a 3-second peak indicator for visual indication of peak CPU usage in the System Usage window on the Elastic Audio processing, Clip Gain processing, and Native plug-in and mixer processing displays.

Enable EUCON Monitor Path Option

Pro Tools lets you use a Master Fader to act as a Monitor Path control for EUCON control surfaces. 

Your EUCON control surface controls the Master Fader track for monitoring. For example, on the Dock with a Master Fader assigned to EUCON Monitor:

• Rotating the Monitor/Control Room knob raises and lowers the Master Fader level.
• Pressing the knob sets Master Fader level to –INF (effectively Muting or “Cutting” the monitor level). Press again to return to the previous level.

Pro Tools 2018.7 Operating System Compatibility

Pro Tools 2018.7 has the same OS compatibility as 208.4 released back in April according to the latest version of the Pro Tools Operating System Compatibility Chart. There are no new versions of either the Mac or Windows operating systems. 

• macOS - 10.11.6, 10.12.6, 10.13.3
• Windows - Windows 8.1, Windows 10 (Pro Tools 11 and higher only support 64-bit OS)

Avid is still saying in the Pro Tools 2018.7 Release Info that macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 and later is not recommended due to performance issues at lower buffer sizes.

Pro Tools 2018 Features And Compatibility

You can see in this table what features have been added to Pro Tools so far during 2018.

Check Your Avid Master Account

As long as you have a current upgrade plan for Pro Tools or Pro Tools Ultimate. you should find Pro Tools 2018.7 in your Avid Master Account. If it is not there, then please be patient, as long as you have a current upgrade plan it will arrive very soon.

More On The Way

Rob D'Amico who is Director, Market Solutions for Pro Audio & Digital Business Development at Avid told us...

We are very excited to deliver this latest Pro Tools release, which introduces new features that speed up workflows and addresses top stability requests. We are also continually working on new features and enhancements to inspire our customers and address their needs.

We understand the dedicated Pro Tools Development team are working as hard as they can to bring us new features and they are already working on the next release.