The Entire History of Pro Tools

[@afunnylookingsquash]

Join the squash discord: discord.gg/gpbTJJBRQG

[@deiviprod]

Pro tools became huge because of their DSP hardware. Back in the day that was nothing like an "m1" chip, computers were very slow and in order to run hundreds of tracks at the same time at a low buffer size to record an entire orchestra, for example, you would definitely need extra DSP power, and pro tools provided that. This created the misconception that pro tools were faster and better optimized, but it was just their hardware doing its job. Since then it becomes the industry standard not only for recording and mixing but also for producing. there are a lot of producers that still use pro tools to this day like max martin, shellback, Benny Blanco, Ryan Tedder, charlie puth. But of course, Ableton, logic, and Cubase are more popular now for producing

[@DavidRavenMoon]

There also wasn’t any other pro audio interfaces. And only Pro Tools would run on the Digidesign hardware. Except for Logic Audio. A lot of producers used Logic with the Digi hardware. When I was still on DECK II the only sound card that was supported was one from Korg.

[@spht9ng]

Pro Tools is good for audio engineering but for production it feels so clunky. It still doesn't feel like a nice workflow even watching a producer on Pro Tools like Charlie Puth that knows what they're doing.

[@justase64]

You can still build these TDM rigs super cheap. The PCI-X cards fit in normal motherboards and the 64bit part of the connecter just hangs off the edge of the slot. Ebay Jetway NAF93-Q77 motherboard. I had a triple booting Win7/Win10/OSX 10.9.5 rig on this motherboard running Pro Tools 10 TDM HD4 accel when booted into win7 or osx, and when booted into Win 10, it ran Pro Tools 12 HD utilizing an Avid HD Native PCIe. It was insane. Completely tricked out.

[@DavidRavenMoon]

@@justase64 Why would you subject yourself to running Windows for audio production? 😁

[@justase64]

So I don't have to use a Mac😘 In all fairness, I would track on OSX via the PT10 TDM (the most stable system with the best latency) and I would reboot into Win10 to do my mixes on PT12 with the Avid Native pcie (64 bit support). All I had to do was swap the digilink cable from the pci-x core card to the adapter on my Avid Native anytime I wanted to use PT12 on win10. My entire digilink setup (apogee ad16x/da16x) was accessible on each system depending on which card it was plugged in to and which OS was booted.

[@Amplifimusic]

can you do Reaper next? I love this series!!!!

[@JPSAudioWorks]

I design sound for movies and TV series m, and work in Pro Tools almost everyday. A month ago or so I upgraded from the HD10 version from 2011 to the latest 2022 version of the software. I was very excited to check "all those" new features. I ended founding two or three “big” things (Track Folders, Dark graphic mode, the possibility to change eq and comp for each clip individually), but the rest was all the same, if not less functions, like for example now I can't import two videos in the same project to compare each other for example, and many of the glitches I remember from the 2011 version are still there and others are new. I don't really understand the guys paying every update Avid releases, because it's amazing how little this tool has changed over the last 11 years.

[@mikehunt576]

They implemented midi better i think., this was why many loved the audio editing but hated making music in PT

[@Doty6String]

you need the ultimate version for 2 videos....uuuuuuuugh

[@brimstone6533]

You are uploading proper quality content mate. Keep it up.

[@ruffnek]

Well done, we were waiting in anticipation for this video

[@christurbiville]

killer history, you missed one major step in their history - the release in 1999 of the Digi 001. It was the first single rack space pro IO for Protools based home studios. It wasnt cheap, but at just under $2k it was amazing for us to have a full digital studio at home.

[@davidheylen8488]

It got me started on ProTools and worked 17 years as a professional protools editor. Definitely should mention it.

[@zealforhumnity]

The 002 rack was my first introduction in 2009. I still have the preamp in storage, I just can’t seem to let it go, the hardware was epic at the time.

[@mikehunt576]

session 8 was one i worked on aka 8 track in out (possible to havk up as 16 track as well) , we gave one to metalica in the mid 90s

[@briguy1960]

Yeah the 001 was a pretty great piece of kit! still have there of them kicking around along with the G4 Macs they ran on ran on

[@mahler2112]

Actually Pro Tools 3.2 or something allowed you to run native up to 16 tracks. This was using built in audio on the Mac. Lots of stuff happened back then it was a good time.

[@mvvlm-22]

Come on bossman do Cakewalk next. It'll have a domino effect. Video = more attention More attention = more downloads more downloads = more tutorials more tutorials = more downloads and it goes in that loop

[@sedatefobia]

I used Cakewalk before commiting to a Reaper license. Guess it would make sense for him to make an episode about Cakewalk, given that I feel like said DAW's community is super passionate about it and would share the video everywhere.

[@Ishai1]

In the early 2000s, ProTools was the standard for live recording studios that went digital. It was either that, or recording to tape (and usually transferring to ProTools). It was just like Avid for video editing, which was the standard in post production facilities. That hasn't really changed since then. Most studios you can rent for a day still use ProTools just like most professional editing is still done with Avid. It's the rise of the independent creators that changed that.

[@georgwalt7978]

Since 1995 logic on digi hardware is the real standard

[@anandhuvasudev]

I love these kind of videos ❤❤

[@metrabyte03]

Your videos deserve more views. I think you’ll make it big soon with these type of videos. I love software history

[@l.ondracek]

Love this "history of software" series. Great work.

[@jacobharley7117]

I love these videos. REAPER and Pro Tools are the only ones I’ve watched thus far but I’m preparing myself to dive down the rabbit hole of all your audio program history vids!

[@MalikDJefferson]

0:47 Teddy Riley was the first computer was using sound tools in 1989 beta tester

[@BrokenScreen_desu]

I'm really enjoying these videos! You make such amazing content :D Also, I'd love to see you make a video on LMMS or free DAWs in general! I think that'd be interesting!

[@UXXV]

What an amazing series of videos bud! Well done! I started out on CLab Notator Alpha at school and went from there. Love seeing these deep dives!

[@popsiclyes4121]

i found out about your channel very recently and just yesterday i was looking through your uploads to see if you had a video on pro tools, you can imagine my reaction seeing it being up today

[@noisewaveofficial]

Fun fact: sometime in 2002/2003Linkin Park were making Meteora, for that, the guys at Avid updated the Pro Tools for Mike to help him create the album.

[@XXROGUE]

Just want to say how much I appreciate these 'history of' videos. Thank you for making these. Looks like you covered the major DAWs, but I'd love to see more plugin vids, maybe the majors like FabFilter, SoundToys, etc. I know it's more niche, but I'm sure other audio heads like myself would appreciate it! Thanks for your work!

[@possumnewsnetwork1191]

You are on to something for sure youtube sends me alot of new music channels that tend to go viral. I remember getting Rick Beato videos when he had around 10k subs now he's over 3 million. Great work so far & I know how hard it is to find some of this info on old daw's because I have been looking myself for years now. Really enjoyed this. Thanks 🙂

[@petefaders]

7:53 That's not Protools. It's Reason.

[@jensenraylight8011]

for a second i thought that Logic somehow had a Reason Rack like effect Rack

[@supakrunch]

I used Digidesign Session 8 back in the summer of 95. (Software that ran on Mac native audio I/O with an 8 track limit). A few months later, I landed a job at a studio that had PT 3.4 on an Apple Centris 650 with an 882 I/O connected via a NuBus slot (pre PCI). You got two installation authorizations on your 3 1/2" floppy installation disks. My favorite DAE error was the one that would create an SD2 audio file that would take up the entirety of remaining disk space on your SCSI hard drive when you went into record mode on a track. After 27yrs using PT, I'm too old to effectively learn any other DAW. That makes me an "institutionalized man, Andy." Great video!

[@dondrybones6693]

i never understood why this of all the daws is the most popular one, and by a wide margin too, like 60% of the entire market is huge!

[@cloqout2412]

Because for actual recording, editing, mixing and mastering there is nothing close to as good

[@frankymino8773]

@@cloqout2412 Was a Pro Tools user since the didi001 days. Nowadays it makes no difference what daw one uses. It's all about workflow, preference and requirements. All the tools are identical no mater what daw and same results are achieved. Though when it comes to midi sequencing.... pro tools is terrible. So far behind in comparison to other daws. One of the main reasons pro tools remains dominant throughout studios is most likely because of session compatibility when collaborating with other major recording studios/artists and customers. From a business perspective pro tools makes sense. With such a huge gear outlay of connectivity and familiarity they wouldn't even think about transitioning to another daw. You will generally find that these studios are 'recording' studios. Not in the box studios where all they do is load samples/midi seq's and use pro tools purely as a sequencer. Anyhow... sorry for my rant. Off I go!

[@cloqout2412]

@@frankymino8773 I used it for years in recording studios (large orchestras for soundtracks) and editing massive amounts of music/audio assets for AAA video games. There is nothing else that comes close on that scale. The audio editing/mixing workflow is so much faster than any home studio daw. For composing you can use any daw and pro tools isn’t the best for it when it comes to MIDI for sure. But the reason it became and stayed professionally popular is because trying to efficiently run a professional studio with say Ableton as your system of choice you could not produce content anywhere near as fast. And I’ve used PT, Ableton, and logic for going on 20 years.

[@Francisco-dr4yi]

@@frankymino8773 i believe one reason it stayed is because how stable it is..

[@austinnichols7939]

skipped right past the digi 001 the fact that the packaged cubase for there midi use and reason with rewire

[@jamludentertainment]

Same here!

[@TavardoReasias]

This gives me a deeper appreciation for the DAW that I love :D

[@MalumeDee]

Big thanks for this one man! I'm letting all the homies know 🙏🏾

[@rudetee]

Great job with these videos!

[@strat002]

Love these videos!!

[@jcsfx710]

at 7:53 isn't that Reason? from Reason studios? is NOT Pro Tools...

[@afunnylookingsquash]

I think it is, i have many b roll clips and it might have gotten mixed in 🤫 don't tell no1 im working on that video too

[@johnnydswing]

Man im loving these videos 👏👏👏

[@Retrodbryant]

🔥🔥🔥🔥 great video. Keep them coming.

[@brendanhoffmann8402]

I got hold of the old pro tools computers that were used in the studio I once recorded in. (Mac G4 MDD towers). They still had the pro tools pci cards in them! Unfortunately only one of the three had a working power supply and none would chime. I asked if I could have them but the guy who owns them said he wanted them back so my heart wasn't really in it. I also got a couple of bags full of ide hard drives that had been used in production. I was looking for my friend's bands music from about 2004 but had no luck. I ended up using a hard drive caddy and emulation on my PC to read the drives.

[@gitarman666]

Still got my scsi’! 10 stacked in an old tower and some Zip drives From working with 6 and adat right after covering up the reel to reel stuff from the Les Paul, Mary Ford years 1955 And the ‘76 Otari MC units Now certified since PT8 and today running iMacs with 2022.9 and melodyne studio Tech moving so fast that my 1.5 year old intel 5k will very soon be outdated Maybe I’ll live long enough to experience Apple M4s and point to point amp “replication” no simulations in tomorrow land sorry Fractal but still no flying cars either!

[@PrestigeRoadman]

back with another banger!

[@NealMiskinMusic]

I started with Pro Tools 6.3 when I was at recording school and the first version I owned myself was version 7.4.2, I'm pretty sure Elastic Audio was available in that version as an add-on (paid maybe I don't remember) and I think it was included as standard in versions 8 forward.

[@Threemicsrecords]

You right, PT7.4 came with Elastic audio for a first time, but it wasn't as elegantly integrated like in PT8.

[@fish-rv6lz]

im addicted to these vids

[@mitschcrafter6766]

fun fact. Its now used here in german studios to produce Dubbed content. Big studios like DMT and Studio Hamburg use it, to record for Naruto and movies.

[@zero72Alk]

awesome :) would love to see the entire history of reaper also

[@vonohlson]

Pro Tools is basically an old school analog studio but in your computer. To get any sound out of it you need to create everything. A master track, a track, route them. Too many steps to get to work. That’s a weakness if you ask me.

[@TheAerovons]

ost of us use templates we makeup. And you have to do whT you are talking about in any DAW…..

[@PoipoleMujigae]

I currently use Logic and Ableton as my DAWs, but I have been thinking about trying out Cubase.

[@prodtylerfrz]

Love your channel bro. Great job as always 🔥

[@MaxCarola]

I was using SoundTools in 1990 end I had my personal using ProTools 4.0 in 1997. It's still my main DAW and still the one that feels like a "real" studio. Every move or path is possible in PT just like a real studio and I now work happily on my M1 Pro laptop for my daily mixing and mastering. A real dream come true. And the plugins today are as good as any hardware around, and the recall is there in seconds, AND I can mix on my terrace looking to the seashore... Midi is improving but I still use other DAW for production... Room for improvement. Still expensive though :-(

[@anatomicallymodernhuman5175]

All the feels looking at those images from the 90s. I entered the world of DSP with Soundtools and Deck. From the mid-90s on, I used Pro Tools almost every working day in studios around Nashville. A lot of good work was done in those days with Core III, an expansion chassis, and a three 888s. The plugins weren’t very good, so you had to get your sounds on the way in. That wasn’t a problem, though, for those of us who had already been doing that to analog tape for years.

[@sonicart1808]

Ha ha I enjoyed this way more than I should.... great video thanks!

[@nivenvojkovic9201]

I have a cool request. Could you please make a video timeline comparing the release of features by year and month, for each DAW? I would love to see how steinberg, apple, avid and the rest innovate or copy from each other.

[@afunnylookingsquash]

possible, got a lot on my plate but i'll right it down

[@SantaAnaCreations]

To be honest everyone copied Steinberg. Yamaha has bin around longer than avid or apple ill trust a musical instrument maker for recording gear over a software developer creating recording gear

[@jasongonzalez2856]

Still have the demo from 2000 Digi design on both my 2001 iBook g3 and my power Mac g4 ... Couldn't afford the full software plus,I tried to get it free with a zip from the recording studio in my college.lol

[@david_farmer]

Cool video. Nostalgic to see OS7, 8, 9.... One major factor in PT history that put it in more people's hands is when they allowed 3rd party interfaces. Somewhere around PT7 I think. They held out as long as they could but the market forced their hand.

[@christianmartinez1]

The man David! How’s sky? Still using reaper?

[@david_farmer]

@@christianmartinez1 Reaper every day. Even when I'm not working! :) I still use Pro Tools too.

[@christianmartinez1]

@@david_farmer Good to hear. Sadly, I don’t think we’ll ever see reaper make it to the dub stage but all programs have their place!

[@benderbi]

It was PT9, but that version wasn't so popular. Most people went from 7 or 8 to 10.

[@piotrix90]

Goat back at it again 🫡

[@lilfernguy]

Pro tools 8 looks so modern for 2008 omg

[@mattmattga]

I wish we could have hour long documentaries like this

[@kelvinfunkner]

great video and an awesome walk through memory lane for me! I've been a ProTools user since version 5.3.2 so much of this felt like going through an old photo album...very cool! Anyway, I just noticed one small error though...ProTools Free wasn't the first free version ever...there was an 8 track free version way back in the early 2000's I believe...I actually learned on it before I got my first rig and even though it was a bit glitchy, it still helped me get my chops up to speed and helped me make the move from analog tape into an actual DAW 🙂

[@KieseMusic]

Great content! Would love to see the same about Reaper, but no clue if there is enough material for a whole video :D

[@afunnylookingsquash]

I am writing a script for it, however it's very hard to find any info on early version of it is their wikipedia article as well as web archives are pretty bare, but i will!

[@MIHAO]

Sweet!

[@G_handle]

Yeah…..for someone who never heard of ProTools this is a good teaser. For anyone who lived through this history, there’s a lot missing, or twisted, or just….doesn’t do the justice history. I say that in defense of a company I have a right to loath. I bought my first ProTools rig, their first “affordable“ system ProTools Project (I still have the 882 interface. 16-bit only!) in 1996. ProTools Free was like version 5. And I didn’t hear mention of Digi001, probably the thing that most made them leave the strictly professional arena and get some mass appeal.

[@afunnylookingsquash]

It’s hard for me to make content that is longer than 10-20 min since youtube isn’t my full time job, otherwise I would love to include more in each!

[@misodocolomansky4675]

Nice video! But I still remember, that I was able to meet with FREE version of Pro Tools sometime in 2005 or later (don´t remember ...), It was 4 audio tracks version for Windows (Perhaps it was on XP?), It can also handle and edit MIDI Tracks and for my opinion very well..!!! The sound was very good thanks to few implemented plugins as some EQ, Dynamics, Dverb, Delay etc. Very nice version to discover this "forbidden" 🙂world of very expensive piece of software for average music producer like me at that time. Thanks for your good work! Like to see a History of Cakewalk!!!

[@VinceJackson1]

It was called Pro Tools free & I had it on my office computer & I learned Pro Tools on company time 😂

[@FransvandenBergeMuziekschuur]

I hope you will make another video on Pro Tools (Avid and Digidesign). Describing all the hardware they ever made.

[@ChaceBonanno]

Can you please make “The Entire History of Plugins”?

[@pappyprimetime7510]

Did you skip over the digi001?

[@goldiemusic8394]

thank you for your work !

[@olhsson]

One important missing event was Digidesign's invention of the third-party audio plug-in as part of Sound Tools.

[@bolttracks]

The audacity of Avid to still lock some of their 20-year old plug-ins behind paywalls and not updating the absolute essentials like EQ7 is mind numbing. Every other stock EQ has several times the amount of features than what their outdated offerings come with.

[@AlEx-ro7kd]

where was this when i wrote my dissertation on cubase and pro tools

[@AmagrasMUSIC]

The PT11 era was slightly darker, the jump to 64 was a mess that made pro tools throw errors for several updates

[@ENCARCERATED100]

ive been literally working in pro tools since pt 6. i love it, but probably only cause thats all i know. i hear a lot of haters suggest trying studio one, logic pro, and reaper, but im not ready to go thru the process of having to re-learn new software when ive already mastered pt. but yeah he ran past the digi001, the 3rd gen mbox and the fact that with 10 you no longer needed the pt hardware, you can use any interface now

[@stephenallenmusic]

I started on protools 8

[@kid_missive]

7:55 😅guessing there is more than one person in your production team

[@thefantasticmro3619]

When I went to audio school in the early 2000s I learned pro 26 there was a demo song called salvation that I cannot find. Sad, I would love to have that session to see what it sounds like today.

[@johnnylizardjohnnylizard]

And now we wait for the Presonus Studio One history

[@hoossembechiri6136]

Thnx bro .still .studio one ...plz do it ...and nuendo plllllllz

[@toufiquzzaman_sabbir]

I like this video. Can you make these kinda videos for other software like 'Avid Media Composer' and 'Premiere Pro' type of software? We would love to watch them...

[@MrSmithUK]

You missed the fact that PT was a hardware/ software package. This is why it was expensive. You could not run PT without the hardware. Plus it was years ahead of everyone else. The use of DSP cards on nubus sockets meant real-time effects and mixing. It wasn’t host -cpu driven, like the later Cubase VST was. It meant you could expand the system with more cards.

[@djdren]

hate pro tools for the price and i use to hang out in studio in studios just to see how it works .. thank god .. for new daw that comes out after that .. pro tools is just history for me now..

[@meinanina347]

i remember on a school visit, we went to our local radio station .. the only place that have Pro Tools ...

[@davidbistolas]

There were free versions of PT 3 - ProTools First was NOT the first 'free' version. FYI.

[@slow222]

Nice video. I think it's called elastic time, not elastic pitch. also, i believe there was a free version of pro tools long before Pro Tools First ever came out. it was limited to 8 tracks.

[@polrogi]

awesome video

[@jayarecordsofficial]

Valuable contents friend !

[@DavidRavenMoon]

Emu. Like the bird. Not E M U. DECK II was my first DAW. There was no MIDI. Pro Tools didn’t have MIDI either. DECK synced to a program called Metro for MIDI. That’s why I switched to Cubase in 1998 after Deck II faded into obscurity instead of Pro Tools.

[@johnmellor932]

Deck II faded into obscurity because it's developer was threatened to walk away. Read my post at the top.

[@johnmellor932]

It's most controversial and unpopular change was going rental, if you don't keep up monthly or annual payments it just stops working until you renew it. Rental is fine if you are a top tier professional as you can pass that on to the client but if you're a small indie like me who works part time it was deeply unpopular amongst us. There are good reasons not to go rental, first of all I only change my hardware once every 5 to 10 years, second I don't need the absolute latest version the whole time. 'stay up to date' This is false marketing.

[@IDMtv]

Man till this day I love the Mbox 1….. I have mines under the bed 😫

[@playgroundentertainment3838]

Pro tools can actually use VST plugins, but you just need to convert them to AXX, I am currently using some of FL Studio instrument plugins in Pro tools.

[@martins1254]

blue cat patchwork?

[@TheInsanityofGab]

you had me till you said "pro tools is not your traditional daw", it literally is

[@afunnylookingsquash]

haha, it is the traditional daw in that sense, but i came into the scene late when all of the other newer daws were already out like a lot of kids learning on youtube, that's what i meant. but it is literally the traditional daw in that sense!

[@G_handle]

Yeah….that’s like calling the Model-T not your traditional car.

[@Threemicsrecords]

Great video, but Pro Tools First wasn't first free version released by Digi/Avid. It was PT 5 released for win98 and OS9.

[@afunnylookingsquash]

thank you for the info!

[@jorgegaladi6732]

It was called Protools Free by the way. Original M-Box was USB 1 also. Good video!

[@makegamemusic]

Awesome video. Just as a note. There was a free version of Protools based on version 5. I’ve still got it somewhere, only works on windows 9x or Mac os9 though!

[@barkmonster]

Pro Tools First wasn’t the first free Pro Tools, Pro Tools Free was. The Mbox wasn’t the first system with Pro Tools LE either. The Audiomedia III card was. It came with LE 4.5.

[@SPsounds100]

All engineers are using this for mixing, but the Piano roll is too good Can't Switch

[@Iwantapplez109]

7:51 lmao that's reason

[@igny567]

Please do Cakewalk/sonar or cakewalk by bandllab

[@nelgluhak6709]

It should also be mentioned that Pro Tools is used the most for sound editing and mixing in the film industry

[@Lukepuke311]

GarageBand next pls

[@grxengine6188]

You skipped Sound Designer II. We used the hell outta that to master audio tracks.

[@sieje]

This is the only program they taught in school for a long time.

[@billybobyoutube]

Do history of Arturia!

[@Beatsbasteln]

cool. make bitwig next :>

[@johnchill]

Sound designer software was a pre cursor to pro tools an an audio media card for mac

[@Wilizm]

I don’t know if you said this, but Pro Tools let people use the program without hardware (audio interface, etc.)

[@h8f8]

This vids are some top notice quality

[@johnmellor932]

As for your history, that's the official story. I was told recently by someone very close to the industry in silicon valley that the dual edit and mix window model that was patented by Digidesign was in fact stolen from an individual developer. Threats to family members were made - allegedly, and that Steve Jobs was said to be aware of this incident. So the Pro Tools we all enjoy, if it's to be believed was built on threats of violence up to and including murder.

[@criswellscurse5860]

Please do a video about sonar (cakewalk)

[@TazzSmk]

looking forward to history of Reaper DAW, the new industry standard ;)

[@swanjaymusic]

THANK YOU

[@benderbi]

7:51 that's not Pro Tools, that's Reason.

[@benderbi]

Also, very important. Since Pro Tools 9 you don't need Avid hardware to run Pro Tools, before it was mandatory.