Avid Announces Pro Tools SE Family of Music Creation Tools

Avid continues to expand their line of Pro Tools products, today announcing the introduction of Pro Tools SE. For the most part, the software will come packaged along with hardware bundles designed to ease first-time PT users and emerging artists into Avid’s ubiquitous music creation environment.

M-Audio Fast Track, the heart of Avid Recording Studio along with Pro Tools SE

Music composition, editing, and production are all intended to be streamlined with the following new bundles:

— Avid KeyStudio ($129.00 USMSRP) Pairs a 49-note, velocity-sensitive M-Audio KeyStudio keyboard with Pro Tools SE music creation software

— Avid Recording Studio ($119.00 USMSRP) For recording guitars, instruments and vocals at 24-bit/48 kHz, using Pro Tools SE and an M-Audio® Fast Track® audio interface

— Avid Vocal Studio ($99.99 USMSRP ) Optimized for recording vocals for use in songs, soundtracks, podcasts or voice-overs, with Pro Tools SE and the M-Audio Producer USB microphone

As experienced in a recent press preview demo, Pro Tools SE software appears to provide users with a lean-and-mean PT suite. It allows up to 24 tracks (16 audio tracks, 8 virtual instrument tracks), with the standard collection of PT plug-ins — reverb, EQ, guitar amp/distortion effects, etc… It also offers more than 100 different virtual instruments, and 3 GB+ of audio loops. Integrated video tutorials about compose/record/edit/mix functions on the Pro Tools SE platform are also included.

The announcement of Pro Tools SE follows last month’s introduction of a number of all-new Pro Tools HD hardware and software products. It is also coming concurrently with what appears to be a low-key rollout of the Mbox 3 interfaces, news of which has just begun to appear around the Web.

Avid Vocal Studio

According to Avid, their renewed commitment to two-way communication with customers, along with the current market environment makes it very timely for Pro Tools SE to hit the shelves.

“Following the introduction of the Pro Tools M-Powered Essential last fall, we’ve continued to work closely with our customers and as a result we’ve implemented as much of their feedback as possible to deliver the new Pro Tools SE hardware bundles,” says Andreas Panizza, Segment Marketing Manager, Consumer Audio/Video for Avid. “For example, the Quick Start interface and the learning content included with the Pro Tools SE application are the direct result of ongoing conversations with our customers and make the application even easier to use.

“With the advent of music talent shows like ‘American Idol’, ‘America’s Got Talent’ and ‘Singing Bee’, in addition to the explosion of music-based video games like Rockband, Guitar Hero and others, Avid has not only fostered a new potential market — by providing a lot of the technology behind aforementioned shows/games — but is now also offering another creative outlet for today’s youth and the general public interested in recording, mixing and creating their own music.”

Avid KeyStudio

Avid sees applications for users beyond the primary consumer target market. “By design Pro Tools SE is a simplified version of the recording and mixing tools used by the pros in the recording industry,” Panizza notes. “Any user who begins music creation with Pro Tools SE  can actually save a recording session on a memory stick and walk into a professional recording studio with a Pro Tools HD system and continue mixing and recording without having to learn a new interface or application.”

— David Weiss

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