Create at the speed of inspiration
From numerous new MIDI editing enhancements and retrospective MIDI recording, to the ability to save your favorite effects chains and instrument sounds as track presets, Pro Tools 2018 enables you to keep your creativity flowing.
July
Search to access the plugins and busses you need
Forget scrolling through lengthy menus to find the plugin or bus you need. With tag-like search capabilities integrated into the Inserts, Sends, Inputs, and Outputs menus, you can simply start typing and Pro Tools will instantly display all matching items, enabling you to assign VIs, effects, and busses much faster than before.
Speed up multi-item menu selections
Pro Tools now makes it easy to select multiple items in a menu in one fell swoop to boost your workflow speed. Control-click (Mac) or Start-click (Windows) on a track Insert, Send, or I/O mapping slot and select as many items as desired from the context menu. And quickly select multiple view, toolbar, window, and other preferences using checkboxes in pop-over menus.
Edit audio in the groove
Don’t want everything to perfectly align to the beat when rearranging a session? You can now have Pro Tools maintain the relative grid position when copying, cutting, and pasting audio and MIDI clips and note selections. Not only does this expedite the editing process, it preserves the perfectly imperfect feel of unquantized music by retaining all correct offsets established in your timeline.
January
Build sessions on the fly with Track Presets
Kick time-consuming tasks to the curb. With Track Presets, you can quickly save, catalog, and recall your favorite effects chains, vocal processing, session import criteria, and other track settings—boosting your efficiency—so you can spend more time creating.
Capture performances retroactively
Ever jam along to a song and nail the perfect run before hitting record? With retrospective MIDI recording, Pro Tools goes into “listen” mode even when you’re not recording, so you can retroactively drop those inspired improvisations into a track post performance, without missing a beat.
Take deeper control of your MIDI
Making music has never been easier. With numerous MIDI improvements and enhancements, you can fix and finesse every note to perfection—from transposing and trimming notes with the arrow keys, to building chords and scores faster than ever before.
Comp together the best takes
Build a Target Playlist of the best performances—from multiple playlists—right in Waveform view. It’s ideal when working with grouped tracks, making playlist management and viewing no longer a challenge. You can also now cycle through different takes within a clip using the arrow keys for faster review.
Retire your iLok key
Pro Tools and all Avid audio plugins now support iLok Cloud. That means you now have the option of putting your trusty old iLok key to rest and freeing an extra USB port for a MIDI keyboard or audio interface. Or continue using your iLok as before.
Get a better view of your mix
With new EQ curve graphs on all Mix window channel strips, you can see how your settings and automation are impacting each track in real time—even those with multiple EQs (supported plugins only). In addition, pre-fader sends and Automation lane view menu entries are now color-coded, making them easier to distinguish.
Start collaborating more easily
Got a session that you’re dying to work on with others? Select File > Start Collaboration, and Pro Tools will automatically save your current session, close it, and reopen it as a project in the cloud, with all tracks converted and ready to be shared.
