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Pro Tools 5 -- MIDI Included
At long last, Digidesign is getting serious about MIDI. So while Pro Tools 5.0.1 continues to be the world's best-selling, pro-caliber multitrack audio editor, just how well does it rate as a sequencer? We put it to the test.
by David Korn
June 28, 2000
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Summing it Up
I was generally impressed by this new version of Pro Tools and its MIDI features. Most of what you need to record and edit MIDI has been implemented, and withstands the comparison with established professional packages. And many of these features are efficiently implemented, from duplicate and "fill paste" commands that will let you build a track in no time, to muting of MIDI regions, and duplicating, inserting or erasing whole song sections.
Unfortunately, despite these strengths, Pro Tools 5.0.1 still leaves me wishing for a laundry list of MIDI-related features found in true pro-caliber MIDI sequencers, such as:
- recording on multiple MIDI tracks
- groove quantizing
- MIDI scrubbing
- an event list
- integrated synthesizer editors
- specialized editing environments (such as a nested drum loop window)
- full-blown notation display and editing
One further let-down for composers, audio post engineers, and other users who work to picture: While MIDI regions can be spotted to a timecode position, they cannot be locked to a timecode location (which would let them stay in place when the tempo is changed).
Of course, MIDI power users who need these features can always continue to use them in concert with Pro Tools. Besides, I welcome Digidesign's first serious effort to support MIDI -- and Pro Tools 5.0.1 shows promise for all that it does deliver. (As you might expect, Digidesign claims there will be frequent updates to the MIDI sequencing engine.)
All in all, Pro Tools deservedly enjoys its reputation for being the best multitrack editing software, not to mention all of its integrated mixing and signal processing features. Finally blessed with a MIDI sequencer and a bunch of new commands specially geared towards musical use, it's great to see Pro Tools evolving into a truly complete audio -- and music -- production environment.
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Be it Steinberg's Cubase VST, Emagic's Logic Audio, Cakewalk Pro Audio or Mark of the Unicorn's Digital Performer, most MIDI sequencers today include many digital audio recording and editing features -- and most of their newest features are in the audio processing area. No doubt that Digidesign has been watching carefully as each of these programs has became more like Pro Tools, the planet's most-popular multitrack audio editing solution.
So it's no big surprise to learn that Pro Tools -- which has long supported rudimentary MIDI tracking and playback features -- now includes full-blown MIDI sequencing capabilities. Along with numerous audio-related enhancements, Pro Tools 5.0.1 offers up to 128 MIDI tracks that share many of the same editing and recording tools that apply to audio tracks.
Not your father's Pro Tools.
(click image for 84k full screen image)
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Sounds great on paper -- but does Pro Tools have what it takes, MIDI-wise, to compete with the likes of Cubase and Digital Performer? Does it have the sequencing chops to satisfy the most demanding users? The answers are yes -- and not quite.
Pro Tools 5.0.1 is available for Mac OS and Windows NT, while the "light" version, Pro Tools LE, compatible with Digi001 and Audiomedia III systems, is available for Mac OS and Windows 98 SE. Pro Tools LE conveniently includes all the MIDI features of the full version of Pro Tools. (For the details, please see Supported Platforms & System Requirements.)
I recently spent a bunch of time with Pro Tools 5.0.1, and found loads of MIDI-related features to consider, including:
To learn more what Pro Tools has to offer in each of these areas, simply click on the links above. You'll also find more screenshots (and don't forget to check out Pro Tools 5.0.1 in Action).
Next page:
Editing
David Korn has been writing on digital audio technology since the day it became as much fun to use as his Minimoog. His articles have been published in various magazines around the world, such as Keyboards (France), Audiomedia (UK), and Keyboard (Japan). He is based in Paris. |
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