You may have missed the recent news, almost a footnote in the Pro Tools 2023.6 release, but Pro Tools Carbon got some updates. It now makes it the most affordable DSP powered interface for use in post production. We explain.
A Soho Story
Once movies and TV were made in large studio facilities, like Pinewood, The BBC, CBS, or other large sound stages around the world. As technology got cheaper and smaller, what constituted a viable professional studio changed. Soho, the area in London with around 600 small post houses in four main streets, has often been regarded by some as the UK’s third main studio.
Then another revolution took place, which started before the COVID pandemic, but accelerated during that time, which was that TV and movies started getting made in bedrooms, sheds and basements.
The fact is, when it comes to where the work is getting done, post-production is as much about those small one-person operations, perhaps more so, than the large sound stages.
A Cost-Effective HDX Solution
Until now, to get on the HDX ladder with the latest generation of Avid audio interfaces, you needed something like an HDX Core PCIe Card and an MTRX Studio Audio Interface. Depending on your computer, you might also need a Thunderbolt 3 Chassis. The current cost for a package like that at Sweetwater is $10,999 (USD).
Until the recent Pro Tools 2023.6 announcement, it was possible to consider a Pro Tools Carbon interface, but perhaps because of its focus on stereo operation, Avid has steered clear of marketing it as a viable Pro Tools HDX solution for post.
With Pro Tools 2023.6, Carbon now supports surround monitoring from 5.1 to 7.1.2. It achieves this by combining the two TRS monitor outs with the 8 DB25 line outs to give up to 10 outputs, the level of which can be controlled from the front panel. Eucon support is not available at this time but is expected in a future update.
Pro Tools Carbon For Post
Taking into context that a lot of post users have small studios either in places like Soho, London, or working from home, Pro Tools Carbon now offers a perfect low cost solution for those post users who want HDX without the financial outlay.
Pro Tools Carbon is a 1U, self-contained HDX solution. The HDX chips are inside the unit, so there’s no extra cards and/chassis to have to buy.
Carbon comes loaded with a full complement of analog and digital I/O. Carbon offers 25 x 34 simultaneous ins and outs — including eight mic pres and four headphone outputs - more than enough for even the most demanding ADR or voice-over sessions.
8 mic preamps with Variable Z (impedance) on inputs 5–8
2 Variable Z instrument inputs
Stereo monitor outputs
8 x 8 line I/O
4 headphone outputs
16 channels ADAT I/O
Word Clock I/O
Footswitch
2 Ethernet ports
And now the best news, even if you don’t want HDX, then an MTRX Studio is going to set you back around $4,999. A Carbon, with a built-in HDX workflow, is going to cost you around $4,199. Nearly $1,000 less. In effect, with an HDX package coming in at $10,999, a Carbon system is $6,000 less than taking the MTRX Studio/HDX Card route. For a small post user, this is fantastic news.
There’s an excellent article from Dave Tyler at Avid comparing the Carbon and MTRX solutions. (note from over two years ago and before the new surround capability)
There’s also a useful comparison table here, again take into account that the info on output formats is now out of date, and Carbon now supports surround.
A note from the article; we’re going to italicise the information which is NOW incorrect;
Carbon and Post-Production
“There is nothing to stop you using Pro Tools | Carbon in a post-production workflow but there are a number of reasons that will make it less than optimal for post-production environments. Carbon is designed for music production and is therefore equipped with stereo monitoring capabilities and does not have surround monitoring. If you were to use Carbon’s line outputs for 5.1 or 7.1 audio then you would need to route them to a hardware monitoring device to allow you to set monitor levels. You would also not have access to the flexible surround routing and downmixing that is offered by MTRX Studio using DADman. Another important factor is that when you are working to picture then you need to ensure that the picture is accurately locked to audio, without any deviation. The only way to ensure that this is the case is to use frame edge sync. Frame edge sync is derived from a Video Reference sync source and requires an Avid SYNC HD to get frame edge sync into Pro Tools. The SYNC HD connects directly to the HDX card or HD Native Thunderbolt interface and therefore there is no way to lock to frame edge if you are using Carbon as your audio interface.”
For a lot of bread and butter work, the issues outlined above, such as the lack of frame edge sync, may not be an issue for you in your post workflow, certainly not $6,000 worth of an issue!
If you are concerned about needing more I/O in the future, then there’s Pro Tools Carbon Pre, which offers an expansion of the Carbon ecosystem.
Summary
Until the 2023.6 announcement, Pro Tools Carbon was largely ignored as a viable interface for modern post-production. However, if you are running a small post facility or, like many of us, now working from home, then Avid has just cut the cost of entry to HDX for post by $6,000!
It’s worth considering if HDX is what you need.