Avid has introduced a series of new hardware and software solutions designed to enhance the quality and performance of the Pro Tools|HD digital audio workstation.Thenew HD Series interfaces — HD I/O, HD OMNI and HD MADI — offer customers flexible configurations to support a variety of analog and open digital formats for audio recording, mixing and playback. Additionally, new HEAT (Harmonically Enhanced Algorithm Technology) software allows customers to add the realism of vintage analog sound to the Pro Tools mixer via a single global control, eliminating the time-consuming and complex task of managing plug-in changes across multiple tracks and allowing customers to remain focused on the craft of mixing.
HD I/O, HD OMNI and HD MADI interfaces for Pro Tools|HD are designed to enable customers to achieve the highest-quality audio with improvements to digital audio conversion quality, a variety of new configuration options and increased support for open digital standards, such as the MADI protocol. Features include advances in design, filtering and clocking, and flexible digital I/O connectivity, which offers support for a variety of formats. Furthermore, Curv, a new soft-knee analog limiter in HD OMNI and HD I/O, cuts the time customers spend rerecording and editing by tracking hotter signals when recording, preventing distortion when overloading inputs.
The new I/O options include the following:
- HD I/O enables customers to achieve the highest-quality audio record and playback with the option of three space-saving configurations — 16 x 16 analog, 16 x 16 digital and 8 x 8 x 8 analog and digital — in a 2RU interface.
- HD OMNI frees up customer workspace by integrating the functionality of numerous costly outboard components into an all-in-one premium sound solution for recording, mixing and monitoring. Features include state-of-the-art conversion, two world-class mic pre-amps, headphone outputs, a full-featured surround monitor section and a 14 x 26-channel persistent mixer that functions even when the computer is off, so users listen to CDs, MP3 players, keyboards and drum machines without the need for an additional mixer.
- HD MADI opens up workflows and speeds production time for broadcast, live sound and post-production sound professionals by offering the ability to easily connect Pro Tools|HD systems to industry-standard MADI infrastructures without the need for a format converter. Built-in sample rate conversion on all inputs and outputs allows customers to integrate into workflows with multiple sample rates (upstream and downstream) using a single, 64-channel 1RU interface.
In addition, the HEAT software option for Pro Tools|HD systems, designed in collaboration with digital/analog engineer Dave Hill, is designed for mixers who value the warmth and sound qualities of tubes, tape machines and analog consoles, but want to eliminate the complications and expenses of using tape machines and vintage outboard processors or managing track changes across multiple plug-ins. Customers can now directly add the best sounding euphonic qualities to every track in the Pro Tools mixer using a single, global control, dramatically enhancing sound quality and improving settings management
