Pro Tools Essentials


Last Year
I reviewed Pro Tools Essentials and basically killed it. It is harder to use, and at the same time more limiting than GarageBand. It also locks you to a particular piece of M-Audio gear, which is lame.

But…
This year I’m buying it for our lab.

Whaaa??
OK it’s more like this: we are upgrading our computers to Mac Minis. These don’t have mics like the old eMacs we had (yes, eMacs). So I needed a not-junky mic, but didn’t want the price or cable clutter of an interface at each station. So I chose the M-Audio Pro Tools Vocal Studio, which bundles a fairly nice USB mic (M-Audio Producer) with Pro Tools Esentials.

Will I use it?
Of course I will. Level 2 can now learn mixing and mastering using the right tool for the job. While I personally prefer Logic, PTE will give a similar learning experience at a fraction of the cost.

A good review
To contrast with my scathing mini review, here’s a pretty fair review of all the PTE bundles:

AV Review looks at all three PTE bundles

I’ll update with some in depth looks once the new gear is up and running.

Author: Will Kuhn

I teach music technology to high schoolers. I do some other stuff too. @willkuhn on Twitter.

2 thoughts on “Pro Tools Essentials”

    1. Jim, thanks for reading! I’m still taking in all the bids from our various dealers – Robin’s been very helpful in getting quotes. Although I can’t always buy from ST, the shopping experience is by far the best!

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