Although no official announcement thus far from Avid, Pro Tools 12.1 should be shipping today and with some surprise new features.

They include for owners of Pro Tools 12 native:

• 128 audio tracks
• 512 instrument tracks
• Input monitoring
• Copy to send feature for fast set-up of headphone mixes
• Native support for HEAT when used with HD licence
• Solo tracks in PFL or AFL

Some of these things were unexpected and it may be Avid's way of calming down the dissent amongst those who put out for Pro Tools 12 (some months ago in many cases) but have not seen the promised track freeze and cloud collaboration features.

Only time will tell, but to see input monitoring in native Pro Tools at last will see some heave a sigh of relief - enough to get them to upgrade to Pro Tools, who knows?

Registered Pro Tools 12 users should see the download in their Avid account.