Production Expert

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Pro Tools Intro - A Free Version Of Pro Tools

Julian Rodgers

There’s a new free version of Pro Tools, Pro Tools Intro, and it’s far more powerful than any previous free version of Pro Tools. We have the details.

Since Pro Tools First was discontinued, there hasn’t been a free version of Pro Tools. With the release of Pro Tools 2022.4, what had been a two-tier family of products, Pro Tools and Pro Tools Ultimate, became three - Pro Tools Artist, Pro Tools Studio and Pro Tools Ultimate. As someone who started their Pro Tools journey back in the 90s with Pro Tools Free (8 mono tracks - but that was more than my computer could handle anyway!) I’ve always felt strongly about the importance of an easy-to-access, free version of Pro Tools, and unfortunately, Pro Tools First just wasn’t it.

Pro Tools Intro sounds very much like the worthy successor to Pro Tools Free. It is a replacement for Pro Tools First, and importantly it’s built on the same codebase as the rest of the Pro Tools family. Pro Tools First wasn’t, and because of this, it didn’t benefit from updates to the other products and used to lag behind, sometimes for a long time, when new features were introduced.

Pro Tools Intro

A feature-limited version, unlike Pro Tools First, it works with Sessions which can be locally saved; there is no longer a prerequisite to work with Projects. There is no limitation on the plugins which can be used with Pro Tools Intro, the old model of only being able to use Avid Marketplace-purchased plugins in Pro Tools First has gone, and any third-party AAX plugins can be used.

If you want to download some really great free plugins, then check out our free Pro Tools plugin list here.

Pro Tools Intro is aimed at new users and, as such, has its own dedicated product page, which is populated with content appropriate for these users, including product-specific Fast Start videos and an extensive FAQ.

Free But Still Licensed

If you are new to Pro Tools, You obviously need to download it, but before you can access Pro Tools Intro, you need to licence it too. Intro uses PACE disc-based licensing, Pro Tools usually requires either a physical iLok or a Cloud licensing, again making it more accessible to new users.

But Pro Tools Intro isn’t only of interest to new or novice users. All versions of Pro Tools will default to Pro Tools Intro if their licence expires, meaning that for example subscription customers who authorise from month to month would still be able to access a version of Pro Tools, albeit a feature-limited version.

Pro Tools Intro shares the same codebase as the other versions of Pro Tools so users of higher tiers don’t need to download it, but they do still need to get a free licence. Your Pro Tools won’t default to Pro Tools Intro when your higher tier licence isn’t present if you haven’t licensed Intro.

However perpetual licence holders who aren’t on a current support and update plan shouldn’t install Intro as it will replace their installed version, you’d need to reinstall your full version of Pro Tools to get back again.

Pro Tools Intro can open standard Pro Tools Session files. If that Session exceeds the maximum track count of Pro Tools Intro the session will get truncated and tracks beyond the track limit will be inactive. When opening a session with more than eight audio, MIDI, and instrument tracks, Pro Tools Intro will prompt you to “save as” a new session and then truncate to the first eight tracks of each track type.

Pro Tools Intro Features

  • Stereo Only

  • 8 Mono or Stereo Audio Tracks

  • 8 Instrument Tracks

  • 8 MIDI Tracks

  • 4 Aux Tracks or Routing Folders

  • No VCAs

  • 1 Master Fader

  • 4 Simultaneous Recording Inputs

  • 2000 Basic Folders

  • Clip FX - Playback Only

  • Third Party Hardware Support (Core Audio, ASIO, WASAPI)

  • ARA2 Support for Melodyne, but no bundled version of Melodyne. If you have a copy it will integrate

  • Bundle of 35 Core effect plugins

  • Xpand! 2 virtual instrument Plugin

Plugins Included With Pro Tools Intro

  • Dyn III Compressor / Limiter

  • Dyn III De-Esser

  • Dyn III Expander / Gate

  • EQ III 1-Band

  • EQ III 7-Band

  • Channel Strip

  • BF-76

  • Maxim

  • D-Verb

  • Mod Delay III

  • Time Shift (AudioSuite Only)

  • Lo-Fi

  • Recti-Fi

  • Sci-Fi

  • Vari-Fi (AudioSuite Only)

  • Pitch II

  • Pitch Shift Legacy (AudioSuite Only)

  • Time Compression / Expansion (AudioSuite Only)

  • Click II

  • DC Offset Removal (AudioSuite Only)

  • Dither

  • Gain (AudioSuite Only)

  • Invert (AudioSuite Only)

  • Normalize (AudioSuite Only)

  • POW -r Dither

  • Reverse (AudioSuite Only)

  • ReWire

  • Signal Generator

  • Time Adjuster

  • Trim

  • Down Mixer

  • Duplicate (AudioSuite Only)

  • MasterMeter

  • SansAmp PSA-1

  • Eleven Lite

Also included:

  • Avid Loopmasters Sample pack

  • 30-day Melodyne Essential trial

The Best News

It’s free and it’s enough to do meaningful work. I could edit the Production Expert Podcast using this and probably will at some point. As I said earlier, as someone who started with Pro Tools Free and has taught hundreds of students how to use Pro Tools I can see the benefit Pro Tools Intro will bring. ARA 2 is cool, Aux IO is going to fix a previously intractable issue for me but in ten years I think this is the Pro Tools development I’ll remember 2002 for.

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