All the new versions of Pro Tools in Pro Tools 2022.4 feature the two new virtual instruments, GrooveCell and SynthCell, These two instruments have been developed in collaboration with UJAM and address one of the areas in which Pro Tools can currently be seen to be lacking compared to other DAWs in an area which is of particular interest to the kind of next-gen music creators Avid are trying to engage with Pro Tools Artist.

GrooveCell

In what might be a nod to the very first days of Digidesign as a manufacturer of aftermarket drum machine sounds, GrooveCell is a drum machine instrument. GrooveCell is the kind of simple to use, fast to operate drum machine sampler which has always been missing from Pro Tools. Structure Free provides basic sampling but has no drum machine features and Boom! ships with a small library of sounds but has no facility to host custom samples. GrooveCell features drag and drop simplicity for loading up to three samples to any of its 16 pads, drum ‘modes’ add the colour of classic drum machines like the SP1200 to samples. It features extensive editing capabilities with amp and pitch envelopes, send effects and multi-out capability for feeding the Pro Tools Mixer. The 32 step, 16 track drum machine style sequencer offers the kind of randomisation and humanise functionality you’d expect and with its emphasis on speed and simplicity it looks like an excellent addition to all three tiers of Pro Tools. So useful is the sequencer that I’d have liked to have seen a way of using it to drive control sequences to other instruments. Maybe in an update but for now MIDI can be exported and dragged and dropped in to Pro Tools.

The Export functions go beyond just MIDI, once samples have been stacked, manipulated and tweaked using the built in effects, they can be exported as a set of one-shots for use elsewhere so if you prefer to use drum samples as audio clips in the timeline GrooveCell still has relevance to you.

SynthCell

SynthCell is a straight ahead subtractive synth. It’s designed to be intuitive to use and has very nearly all of its parameters visible in the UI without menu-diving or tab switching. It’s a two oscillator affair with the expected complement of filter types, a couple of envelopes, an LFO and an arpeggiator. It’s a very conventional synth and I suspect this is a conscious decision. Looking at the bundled instruments which ship with Pro Tools SynthCell clearly plugs a gap in the offering. Vacuum is an analogue style subtractive synth but its a character instrument with a rather busy and slightly quirky UI. By comparison SynthCell is clean and uncluttered. I used to teach synthesis and would never have used Vacuum for introducing synths. I’d use this without hesitation.

With any software synth the decision has to made about where to stop when adding features. Make a synth too simple and it will be frustrating and ultimately won’t get used but to hit the sweet spot between features which will actually get used in people’s music and avoiding the clutter of seldom, or never, used features a line has to be drawn. The Mod matrix is as complex as SynthCell gets, with eight user definable modulation sources and destinations each with its own depth control. You can’t modulate a modulator, I checked.