Avid first showed the Pro Tools MTRX Studio, a 1U interface and monitor controller developed in partnership with DAD at NAMM 2020. Avid is now pleased to announce that it is available to buy from your approved Avid dealer. In this article, we share all there is to know.

What Avid Say About Pro Tools MTRX Studio

“The Pro Tools MTRX Studio delivers high-quality I/O, extensive routing possibilities, and premium monitoring all in one audio interface, enabling you to consolidate multiple devices in your signal chain. From recording and monitoring to routing audio across multiple rooms and devices, tuning speakers, creating monitor profiles, and folding downmixes, it’s the ideal centrepiece for professional music and audio post facilities of all sizes.

Declutter your studio by connecting all your gear to a single 1U device. Route any input to any output. Customize monitor profiles with integrated speaker tuning for any setup and outfit sound design, sound editing, and smaller mix rooms for Dolby Atmos, enabling immersive mixing decisions to take place at any point in the post-production process.”

DAD Mic Preamps And AD/DA Conversion

The MTRX Studio interface has been designed to take many of the features of its bigger brother, the Pro Tools MTRX and fit it into a more compact, but still, comprehensive interface. The MTRX Studio features 18 channels of AD/DA conversion by Digital Audio Denmark, 2 premium mic preamps, and tight integration with Pro Tools HDX and HD Native, enabling you to be able to connect all your gear to a single compact interface, providing great studio efficiency in a small footprint.

Comprehensive Routing And Monitor Control

The MTRX Studio delivers the routing and monitoring capabilities of the Pro Tools MTRX with 64 channels of Dante connectivity and a 512x512 matrix, making routing audio to multiple devices and rooms much easier, together with flexible monitor control and built-in SPQ speaker calibration from DAD, enabling you to be able to work with any speaker format and ensure your monitoring environment is correctly configured from stereo through to Dolby Atmos for 7.1.4 and higher, in fact, any format up to 18 channels.

Connect All Your Gear

With 18 channels of analogue I/O, 64 channels of Dante, 2 DigiLink ports and 16 channels of ADAT I/O, the MTRX Studio has been designed by Avid and DAD to consolidate your studio, simplify your signal chain and make it easy to connect all your outboard gear to a single interface.

With its flexible digital patch bay and integration with Pro Tools software and Avid control surfaces, the MTRX Studio has been designed to eliminate manual tasks like switching inputs and patching in processors to taking remote control of sources, routing, and monitoring. All in all, the MTRX Studio has been designed to streamline your workflow for faster turnaround.

Pro Tools MTRX Studio Key Features

• General…

  • Get the versatility, flexible workflows, and all-in-one advantages of Pro Tools MTRX in a more compact interface for music and audio post-production environments of any size.

  • With DAD’s precision audio converters and premium mic preamps, you can capture and hear every vocal, instrument, and sound performance in great detail.

  • From analogue and ADAT, to DigiLink and Dante, MTRX Studio packs in a substantial number of ins and outs in a single 1U rack to connect both modern and vintage gear.

  • MTRX Studio combines I/O, routing, and monitoring control all in a single interface, effectively replacing multiple devices to free up rack space while simplifying your signal flow.

  • With 64 channels of Dante I/O, you can send and receive audio over IP to and from multiple Dante-enabled devices and rooms using your existing Ethernet network.

  • MTRX Studio is EUCON-enabled, so you can conveniently control all sources, routing, and monitoring directly from Pro Tools | Ultimate or your control surface.

  • Easily create and recall monitor profiles and speaker calibration settings for any speaker configuration in your room—from mono to immersive audio setups.

• For Music…

  • With 64 channels of Dante, plus analogue, DigiLink, and ADAT I/O, you can quickly access all your mics, instruments, speakers, processors, and other outboard devices without having to stop and manually patch things in.

  • MTRX Studio features premium mic preamps, plus ultra-low latency with Pro Tools | HDX and HD Native, to capture pristine vocals and acoustic instruments without any delay, providing higher quality sound while enabling artists and musicians to perform at their best.

• For Post…

  • With enough I/O to facilitate Dolby Atmos, plus SPQ processing and tools to calibrate speakers, tune your room, and handle 7.1.4 and larger setups, MTRX Studio lets you monitor and mix immersive audio in any room with great accuracy—from sound design and sound editing suites to ADR, Foley, and other mix rooms.

  • With 64 channels of Dante and a 512 x 512 matrix, you can route audio to different devices and destinations for ultimate workflow flexibility, without physically getting up and patching things in.

How Does The Pro Tools MTRX Studio Compare With The Pro Tools MTRX?

* Note all option cards for Pro Tools MTRX are sold separately.

Other differences we have learnt about are that the AD/DA aren't the same as you can get in the original MTRX, The MTRX Studio only handles up to 192kHz, whereas the MTRX can handle up to 384kHz, there is no AES I/O, the cross-point digital matrix is smaller, 512x512 instead of 1500x1500, the SPQ card has fewer filters 256 filters across 16 channels; with the delay management adjustable up to 150 ms per channel.

Pro Tools MTRX Studio Price And Availability

The MTRX Studio is priced at $4,999 USD MSRP and should be available from approved dealers from today. With the COVID-19 epidemic, it may take a little longer for them to get through but check with your dealer, as Avid assure us that they are on their way.

What We Say About The Pro Tools MTRX Studio From Avid

This has been exactly what Mike has been looking for…

“I have been working on upgrading my studio to be able to edit and mix in Dolby Atmos. As you may know, I have a 5.1 monitoring system with three PMC LB1s across the front and two TB1s as my surround speakers. To extend this to a 7.1.2 system, I have been on the lookout for some more PMC monitors on the secondhand market and have managed to pick up another pair of TB1s for the side surrounds and a pair of DB1s for the height channels. So that is the speakers sorted cost-effectively but what about monitor control and speaker calibration? Both my Avid HD Omni and my miniDSP with Dirac Live can only handle 8 channels so I would either need to work with 5.1.2 or get a new monitor controller that can handle 7.1.2.

As I value the integration of interface and monitor controller what I really want is something like the HD Omni with more outputs. The MTRX Studio is exactly that! What is more, the speaker calibration is built in as the MTRX Studio has the DAD SPQ card built-in. In addition, I will have 2 mic preamps so I won’t even lose those. What is not to like about this?

It’s great to see the partnership between Avid and DAD to develop a brand new product rather than another ‘rebadged’ product. Taking the technology and features in the MTRX and compressing them into a convenient 1U unit makes so much sense. Why reinvent the wheel, when the tech is already out there. Redesigning the MTRX into a more convenient form factor to suit smaller studios and for the growing cottage-ised user base with more and more of use working from home is exactly the right thing to do.

Hopefully, it won’t be long before I can get my hands on the Pro Tools MTRX Studio.”