In Pro Tools 2021.10 Avid have brought good news for HDX and HD Native users needing Apple Silicon support as well as new features for Music and Post users, and Pro Tools CARBON owners. We have the details.

Pro Tools CARBON Integrated Mic Preamp Control

The 8 integrated mic preamps in the CARBON interface are now remotely controllable and recallable from Pro Tools, from a qualifying control surface via Eucon and from the Avid Control App. In Pro Tools the mic preamp settings are accessible via both the Mix and Edit windows and a dedicated floating control strip can be created in much the same way as a send fader.

In Avid Control the settings are accessed from the Input function from the Channel page. Accessing the mic preamp settings from the Control App is particularly welcome, allowing remote control of gain, impedance, polarity and phantom power from the microphone, making auditioning mics from the live area in a studio quick and straightforward for solo engineers. No more running to and from the control room, and being able to check and switch phantom power from the mic makes this update worthwhile on its own!

With this new ability to control mic preamp settings from software comes the ability to save and recall the preamp settings. As well as being recalled with a Pro Tools session it is also possible to store and recall them as Track Presets as well as the option to isolate them so they persist while opening different sessions using a Retain Mic Pre Settings in the Hardware Setup window.

We’ve commented in the past on the way colour on the CARBON interface is used in Pro Tools, for example the use of colour to differentiate the cue mixes from each other. This approach continues in the use of colour on the impedance switch in the software UI which mirrors the colours used in the LED illuminated buttons on the CARBON unit itself along with stereo linking between preamps and gain bypass functions.

Optical S/PDIF Support In Pro Tools CARBON

Another update for Pro Tools CARBON is the introduction of Optical S/PDIF functionality to the ADAT ports. Previously ADAT only, these ports can now be individually toggled between ADAT and S/PDIF. Ports 1 and 2 can be freely  toggled between the two formats. Supported sample rates for S/PDIF are 44.1, 48, 88.2 and 96KHz.

Apple Silicon Support

Official Support via Rosetta 2 for Pro Tools Software has been in place since Pro Tools 2021.6. But this release brings Native support for HDX and HD Native hardware with the release of Universal Binary HD Drivers bringing Apple Silicon support to previously incompatible HDX hardware. 

This was an expected development as news of this HDX support before the end of October was made public by Francois Quereuil who is Vice President Audio, Product Management at Avid. We reported this at the time. 

What has been announced is a Universal Binary driver for Intel/ARM architectures. This is of immediate benefit because there is now a driver which can run on M1 Macs today running Pro Tools via Rosetta. In time it will enable native Apple Silicon support for HDX and HD Native systems when Pro Tools software is available running natively on Apple Silicon. Unlike applications like Pro Tools, a driver can't run via Rosetta. Because of this HDX and HD Native users can now use their Avid hardware on an M1 Mac with Pro Tools running via Rosetta 2 and the driver running natively.

It is important to make clear the fact that although Pro Tools itself can run on M1 Macs, at present it can only do so via Rosetta. The HDX ad HD Native driver might have M1 native support but at present, an HDX or HD Native user would still be running Pro Tools itself via Rosetta 2.

Avid has also announced Apple Silicon support for the Avid Video Engine, which means that Video can now be played on Apple silicon-based machines, but please note that with Pro Tools 2021.10 video hardware is not supported at this time.

Flexible Track Routing

There has been a significant upgrade to the way in which Pro Tools handles routing between signal paths of different channel widths in the new Flexible Track Routing features. In Pro Tools 2021.10 it is now possible to route to outputs and sends of any width without needing to manage the process by instantiating downmixers. The process is now automatic both for Downmix and Fanout routing to narrower or wider destinations.

The need for sub-paths is vastly reduced and this Downmix and Fanout intelligence comes with a level of customisation with user-adjustable coefficients for the LFE, sides and rears etc. The user is notified of these fold-down and up-mix operations through the inclusion of a < or a > prepending the bus name in the Pro Tools mixer. The routing coefficients allow for a degree of customisation, for example, one might choose to downmix Lss/Rss direct to Ls/Rs when downmixing 7.1 to 5.1 or to split the LSS/Rss to the L/R and Ls/Rs.

Flexible Track routing can be used for internal routing with Outputs or Sends, on any Bus which is mapped to an output and with the AFL/PFL and Audition paths. It can’t be used with Objects in Dolby Atmos, on Inputs or with hardware inserts.

Komplete Kontrol Integration

Pro Tools 2021.10 introduces support for Komplete Kontrol - Native Instrument’s product which brings together all the content from their enormous range of instruments into a unified browser via the Komplete plugin. Being able to search, filter and audition this massive library is useful if you are an NI user but this integration into Pro Tools is particularly interesting as it brings with it a degree of DAW control when used with a qualifying Native Instruments MIDI controller. This is MIDI based control but is still welcome, particularly in advanced controllers like these which offer visual feedback on the hardware.

Using a new MIDI Controller Profile in the Peripherals tab it is possible to Navigate, Mix and control Transport functions in Pro Tools from the MIDI controller in a way similar to that offered by M-Audio Hyper Control, as well as offering deep, hands-on control of Native Instruments plugins.

Using any of the A Series, S Series or the M32 keyboard controllers users can now control multiple parameters including Transport controls, Mixer parameters including levels, pan, mute, solo and track banking. Navigation around the Edit Window is possible including track and timeline selection and the encoder wheel can be used to move the playback position. It doesn’t offer the kind of control available via Eucon but the inclusion of a MIDI Controller Profile for these popular keyboards makes basic hardware DAW control more accessible to Pro Tools users who are yet to try Eucon with hardware.

High Contrast UI

Accessibility is something Avid have been prioritising for a long time, Avid’s accessibility panels at the NAMM show are something I have attended in the past and the phrase incremental gains is one which comes to mind when I think of the work put in by so many for so long in making something as visual as software accessible to as many users as possible.

The inclusion of a slew of new UI customisation options in Pro Tools 2021.6 was probably overshadowed by the huge performance gains offered by the Hybrid Engine but these UI customisations have been particularly helpful to users with sight impairments and new in Pro Tools 2021.10 is the new High Contrast UI option in the UI customisation panel of the Color Palette. 

This check box introduces changes to the UI which invokes colour changes which have been found to be helpful for users with a visual impairment with further tweaks are available through the newly expanded User Interface Customisation options including global colour control of Text and Lines, global control of backgrounds, the ability to put white borders around text fields and more. While the Dark UI has been well received, it did bring to the fore the fact that one size never fits all and the degree of UI customisation now available in Pro Tools can best be described as comprehensive.

Video Dropped Frames Indicator

A new dropped frame indicator light has been introduced to the Pro Tools UI. When I first saw this I referred to it as a “clip light for video”. That’s not strictly accurate but it does get across the simplicity of the feature. A new Dropped Video Frame Indicator next to the video track’s track header can be displayed if enabled from the View menu. If a frame is dropped during playback the Indicator lights red and by clicking on it a playback report is displayed giving the playback duration, the number of dropped frames, disk read time and possible reasons for the frame drop.

At this time video engine support is through Rosetta and video peripherals aren’t supported.

What We Think About The Pro Tools 2021.10 Release

Pro Tools 2021.10 offers the anticipated native HD driver providing the immediate benefit of allowing HDX and HD Native users to run their systems on their Apple Silicon Mac systems and putting another of the necessary pieces in place for the eventual complete native support of Pro Tools on Apple Silicon. In addition, the support of the Avid Video Engine on Apple Silicon powered Mac computers is a welcome addition for the post community although the lack of video hardware support will restrict take up in high-end facilities.

As well as this there are welcome developments for Pro Tools CARBON users with mic preamps not only being remotely controllable but also recallable.

Flexible Track Routing will be a very welcome addition for Post users as will the dropped frame indicator, a simple but very useful addition to video workflows in Pro Tools.

For music production the integration of Komplete Kontrol into Pro Tools offers workflow benefits for users of these very popular keyboards. As we said in our series of tutorials on the Avid Dock, the importance of hardware transport controls can’t be overstated and the navigation and control features introduced by the Kontrol integration mean that the NI keyboards can genuinely augment a user’s production workflow and changes like these offer additional functionality to those users who aren’t counting the days until full Apple Silicon support arrives, after all, however impressive the M1 powered computers maybe, other computers are still available…