Avid to Release Free Version of Pro Tools

Today home studio heads will be happy to find out that Avid has released a new, free version of its flagship digital audio workstation software Pro Tools. Those own or know of the software will be aware of it’s high price tag, as well as the requirement of additional hardware purchases (Mbox, iLok) to activate this professional-grade program. This makes it very difficult to download a cracked copy unlike many other alternatives out there. There are, however, many deficiencies from this free edition, called Pro Tools First, that makes it inferior to the full or Express versions. For one, there is only a maximum input of four tracks instead of eight, a limit of 16 MIDI tracks as opposed to 512, and support for only three projects in total. And unfortunately, you cannot export your projects as MP3 to iTunes or to SoundCloud, which makes it nearly impossible to share or profit from the music you create with the software. There are many drawbacks but it certainly is an upgrade a traditional 30-day trial version; so see it as a small sample of features. It will be released sometime this quarter, as well as a $29.99-per-month plan for the full version as an alternative for its (at least) $899 price tag.