The news of the new tiers in the product lineup and the changes to the licensing in Pro Tools 2022.4 are likely to be the biggest news of this release but there are some very significant changes in pro Tools in terms of its features and the bundle of content and software which comes with a subscription. Here are the details:

New Features In Pro Tools

The dividing line between the middle and top tier products, formerly the ‘HD’ and ‘Non-HD’ features continues to shift, with more and more of what used to be HD/Ultimate only features available to the new middle tier product - Pro Tools Studio. Here’s how it looks with this release:

While there is a lot in this release which is new in terms of new versions and features being made available in versions in which there previously weren’t, when if comes to genuinely new features, there are some, and one of them which will be welcomed by many os the ability to customise keyboard shortcuts.

Keyboard Shortcuts

The new Keyboard Shortcuts window offers not only the ability to change keyboard shortcuts from the standard set which have been something of a studio standard for years but also a comprehensive and deep search facility for keyboard shortcuts so even people like me with no intention of customising their keystrokes can benefit by being able to search for forgotten ones. Previously finding specific shortcuts would be a combination of web searches and referencing the shortcuts pdf from Avid. This is a great feature.

The new Shortcuts Window flags up conflicts with existing keystrokes when assigning new ones and custom keystroke sets can be saved to one of 5 preset locations or exported and imported. Crucially the default set of keystrokes can be reset with a single click.

There is a new Pro Tools Search function which lets you search for pretty much anything in Pro Tools from a single window from Tracks to Clips to Memory Locations. For the Post users there are improvement in the way Pro Tools handles colour spaces with video tracks, meaning that when checking a mix with a client they are less likely to be preoccupied with how the video looks and more focused on how the mix sounds!

New Video Colour Space Settings

New to Pro Tools are changes to how it supports video color spaces so that video colour is represented correctly. Video tracks provide a color space setting, which control how the file is processed. There are lots of options but thankfully the choices presented in the UI is be limited to those relevant to your requirements.

Bundled Content

Annual Pro Tools Flex subscribers will get a subscription to SoundFlow Cloud Avid Edition. All Avid Edition subscriptions will currently run until March 31, 2025 for now, but SoundFlow hope to expand that before the expiration date so its not just a one year subscription. This SoundFlow subscription is equivalent to the lowest level of SoundFlow subscription SoundFlow Cloud Indie but is Pro Tools specific, meaning that all the non-Pro Tools content isn’t installed and ships with over 1600 Pro Tools Macros. 

Pro Tools Flex annual subscribers also get 90 day trial of SoundFlow Pro, three times the length of the standard free trial length.

The Plugin Bundle

Since Pro Tools 2018.4 Pro Tools users with active subscriptions or support plans have the Avid Complete plugin bundle of more than 120 plugins including the excellent Pro Series. This remains the case with the new Pro Tools Studio and Pro Tools Flex tiers. The big change is that while Pro Tools First didn’t allow use of third party plugins, Pro Tools Artist does and rather than shipping with 23 plugins, Pro Tools Artist ships with over 100 plugins, very nearly all of the Complete bundle.

The Pro series of plugins aren’t included, though a great deal of the functionality of Pro Compressor and Pro Expander are available in the Avid Channel Strip. Revibe II isn’t included either. I was concerned about the omissions from the Complete bundle and whether they would leave any weaknesses in the offer which I felt would harm the appeal. With the omission of Revibe II I I hoped that Reverb is well catered for. As well as D Verb, which I’ve always felt is OK for drums but I wouldn’t use it on some pitched material, Reverb One is included. This is good to see. Also the inclusion of the full Eleven MKII as well as the cut down Eleven Lite is a helpful inclusion considering the number of guitarists I anticipate will be using Pro Tools Artist. A lot of this tranche of plugins are pretty old but they are perfectly serviceable and you could make the same comment about some of the positively ancient plugins which ship with Logic Pro.

Comparing the lists of plugins included in the Complete Bundle and the bundle which ships with Pro Tools Artist the plugins which aren’t available to Pro Tools Artist users but are available to the higher tiers are:

• Pro Compressor

• Pro Subharmonic

• X Form

• Space

• Revibe II

• 304E

• 304C

• Pro Expander

• Pro Limiter

• Pro Multiband Dynamics

Improved User Experience

Avid are also turning their attention to the experience of users, particularly new users, in light of the attention being paid to next gen producers and the new Pro Tools Artist. This is being achieved by simplifying and improving the process of going from purchase to producing, Avid refer to this as reducing the “time to fun”.

Getting software installed and licensed, downloading additional content and of course orientating the new user in their new software are being addressed through improvements to the Avid website, with new ‘persona driven’ Pro Tools pages with clear, accessible information including dedicated ‘what’s included’ pages and inspiring artist content. 

The sometimes maligned Avid Link has been overhauled and offers help with licence activation, automatic software and content installation and integrated access to tutorials and blogs. Importantly the system load of Link has been addressed as previous versions had issues with performance.

Pro Tools itself has received a refreshed Dashboard, includes a new demo session, and session templates and presets have been updated. A new addition to the Dashboard is the ‘Get Started’ tab which features links to new video content and templates.

The ‘onboarding’ process for new users is being supported through the commission of new getting started videos, along with fast start, first steps and quick tips videos making the chance of a new user being left unclear about how to get up and running with Pro Tools much less likely.