After only a couple of weeks I can only tell you what strikes me first, after all writing a comprehensive review on Pro tool 8 would have me at this keyboard to the wee hours of the morning, it really is that extensive.

Ok, what I like.

Notation.

Midi to score feature is going to be great for passing on my compositions for horn and string arrangements, I can’t write notes and humming it to a would be session musician just doesn’t cut it. Love it!

Um..Mini Grand, sounds great to my ears, maybe not to a concert pianist but within a pop style mix, purfect!

Pro tools 8 with the Mini Grand

The DB-33 organ, growls like the real thing, I’ve heard NI’s B4 and there is a difference in tone but I’m not particularly concerned whether an organ sounds exactly like a real Hammond, I just want a good sounding organ and this one sounds lovely.

Pro tools 8 with the DB-33

Automation is much smoother, you know how in previous versions nailing your automation with a mouse was real tricky.

Smoother automation edits

The new AIR plugin in list is extensive.

New Frequency Shifter plugin

• Effects Plug-ins:
• Chorus
• Decimator
• Distortion
• Dynamic Delay
• Enhancer
• Ensemble
• Filter-Gate-Sequencer
• Flanger
• Frequency Shifter
• FuzzWah
• KillEQ
• MultiChorus
• MultiTap Delay
• Nonlinear Reverb
• Phaser
• Reverb
• Spring Reverb
• StereoWidth
• Talkbox
• Vintage Filter

Now that’s a sweet list ain’t it? I haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of what these can do for my creativity but I’m real happy about having all these new options, Previously trying to find these effects from third party developers was time consuming and expensive.

Ok, check out the above graphic, this is real nice, see how you can highlight GRID mode and SHUFFLE mode at the same time, a new feature in Pro tools 8. This is really helpful, one less move  when pushing around those regions. Also the Universe is great new feature. Just above bars and beats you can see a series of blue lines which overview the layout of my tracks without having to waste time zooming out. Clicking around this box will navigate me to that particular area in a flash.

As I said, there are so many features but is it really worth that expensive upgrade?

Well I think it’s a bit pricey but then again consider replacing just what I’ve listed here with third party products and you’d be up for thousands.

In a nutshell Pro tools 8 is empowering and it’s more of a one stop shop than ever.

Improved midi performance, state of the art design, a super plugin database, awesome virtual instruments. yep sold me.

A definite thumbs up!

BTW Upgrading from 7.4 to PT8 was a breeze, I thought I would at least lose a few of plugins with incompatibility issues but surprisingly they have all survived.

If I find more interesting stuff I’ll post it here soon.

Happy playing,

Mike de Velta