Avid are currently pushing that savings that can be had before the end of 2015 for HD Trade Up deals, as they are planning to completely changing the trade up deals as of January 1st 2016. But are there real savings to be made by trading up now?
New Avid Trade Up offers From Jan 1st 2016
As they are currently announced, these are the planned trade up offers from Avid as of the beginning of January 2016...
- Any legacy Pro Tools | HD Core card to Pro Tools | HDX Systems $1500 off the list price of selected Pro Tools | HDX core system.
- 002, 003, Mbox Pro, Duet or Quartet to Pro Tools | HD Native Systems $500 off the list price of selected Pro Tools | HD Native core system.
- Blue | HD interface to HD Series I/O $500 off the list price of selected Pro Tools | HD Series interface.
If you are an HD system owner, what this means is that Avid will only be offering a trade up deals on your HD Core card and your blue interfaces. From 2016 there will be NO trade up deals available on your HD DSP cards.
So what about the the deals Avid are making, offering up to 40% off? Should you upgrade your Pro Tools HD hardware before the end of 2015? We do the sums and show the winners and the losers.
What Savings Can Be Made Before The End Of 2015?
If you own an HD1 system (just a core card and an interface), there are no savings to be made doing a trade up deal before the end of the year. The offer remains unchanged.
Where savings can be made are if you have systems with DSP cards as well. For example, if you own an HD3 system and you want to upgrade to an HDX1 system with a new 8x8x8 interface, if you upgrade before the end of 2015 you will save £1,400 or $2,000 over the trade up prices that will be offered in 2016, because Avid are including the value of your DSP cards until the end of 2015.
Pro Tools HD Software Upgrade Price Changes
Pro Tools HD9, 10 or 11 license owners can purchase HD upgrade plans for £380 ex vat ($599) before the end of the year which will include the time limited plug-in bundle, technical support and a years worth of upgrades. Dealers are offering electronic delivery and their customers will have until 15th Feb to activate their upgrade plan and it will provide a bundled 10/11 and 12HD license for backwards compatibility. Then from Jan 1st 2016 Avid have announced that the price for the PT12HD upgrade plan will increase to £659 ex vat ($999).
Talk To Your Dealer
We have given a couple of examples of the saving that can be made before the end of the year, but as we often say, you are best to have a conversation with your dealer to get a specific price for you. For example you can save $1,000 if you have an HD Omni instead of an 16x16 HD I/O interface. We also are aware that some dealers are offering deals too.
If you haven't got a dealer then we suggest you might want to talk to any one of the 3 dealers that support the Pro Tools Expert Community...
- RSPE Audio Solutions (USA)
- Jigsaw24 (UK)
- HHB/Scrub (UK)
Are you planning to upgrade your HD hardware, or stick with it?