PT is hyped up biggest time because its been in industry for a very long time. true... almost all studios use it and even schools are teaching on the platform. 

in the early days of DAW, PT was, i think, the only one that could cut it; especially on the latency issues. if memory serves, it was Digidesign that demanded specific hardware to be used while others would face some teething issues. personally the set of Layla 24/96 & ADAT would work well on CW Pro and others; even on a very simple MAC based multitrack. When it came to PT, there was always some delay or lag somewhere, even with world sync. It was until i tried Nuendo, i gave up working with PT as it became apparent the software was hardware dependent. however, fast forwarding to present day, almost any hardware today would work fine...

with regard to days of old, most will attribute lag to Windows drivers not being up to scratch but how can one compare to specific drivers written for specifically designed audio hardware against generic drivers and a 1001 different devices...

the problem with major studios is that they have invested too much into both hardware & software and also engineers have been too accustomed to familiar GUI and workflows to want to change. in the production world; time is $$$... and to restart the learning curve is almost non existent. 

ultimately its not the brand of tools but what we choose to do with them productively.

looking at current day products, many GUIs resemble physical hardware, only instead of using physical fingers, we use the mouse to click and drag; their principal function remains the same. it only provides the user to a familiar look and feel; perhaps something similar to that of a security blanket. 

the marketing hype has to go on and will go on. how else would companies make their payday?

i remembered buying my WaveStation hardware synth for almost $3000 and until today its still working as my pride and joy. for over 10yrs i have not been a customer at Korg until i got the Legacy System. comparing $3000 then for 1 synth and $300 for all their stuff, including the M1 plus all the additional sound cards... its like Christmas morning all over again.... but to Korg, this wouldnt sound too good eh...  

hope this hype doesnt get us down... its just a tool... content is king.... good luck all  Cheers!!!

my 2c....
(one thing i am glad of CWPA till Sonar is their automatic latency compensation... it just works no bs nor bragging...)

Jim Roseberry

You know? About real engineers, who know how to mic a drum or a guitar cabinet. Who mix other things than samples and synths. I'm talking about guys like Joe Baressi, recording Tool or Queens of the Stone Age. 

Though ProTools is very common, there are folks in the industry who aren't using ProTools or Logic.
Mastering Engineers, Film and Game Composers, Mix Engineers, Record Company Execs, Radio Production Engineers, etc.
These folks have looked at what ProTools offers vs. the cost... and decided Sonar, Cubase/Nuendo, Samplitude/Sequoia, DP, etc was a better fit.  Many of these folks are clients... so I know they exist.   
ie: Recent client works on numerous 30 minute radio spots each week.  Offline bounce saves this client literally hours of production time each/every week.

A professional isn't hired because of the tools he/she uses.
They're hired based on reputation and results.
If a client cares more about your DAW software than your skills as an engineer, run the opposite direction.

This is true. 


I started a thread here a while back, asking what did Sonar offer the Songwriter. Most of the answers were features that are found in just about any DAW & Sonar, simply didn't provide a "better" solution than any of them. 


I figured as much, since Sonar is not written for the "Songwriter" yes, you can write songs on it... but if you were to develop a program specifically for the song writer, it would look & feel totally different than Sonar. 


In this case, Sonar is an Abrams tank, when all you "need" is a pellet gun. 


Same thing with mastering & several of the other tasks you mentioned. Pro Tools is overkill. But you didn't see that guy harping about how great Pro Tools was for mastering. 


Watch the video. The things they talked about, are the things Pro Tools excels at & Cubase, Sonar, Nuendo can't touch. 

Another factor is that it's a very known brand. I work in broadcasting and I can't tell you how many times people ask if I use Pro Tools. Now these are mostly people who don't really know much about actual recording, but that's the one "brand" they are familiar with. They don't understand that we don't use Pro Tools for a host of reason, cost, hardware, it ain't exactly expedient which will kill you in my industry, you have to pay extra for MP3 support. The list could go on. But mention SONAR or Adobe Audition and they will think you have 3 heads. Not because this is bad software, but because they've never heard of it. I had a consultant in a while back who tried to convince our engineers that pro Tools should be the DAW of choice. I calmly set him straight by showing him what SONAR could do and how it suited our needs better (and faster). He really couldn't argue with what I showed him, and in fact came away quite impressed with the program both in cost and perfomrance.

But mention SONAR or Adobe Audition

FWIW, My girlfriend is part of the morning show on QFM-96 (local classic-rock station).
They use Adobe Audition to produce radio spots... (pretty common for radio production)
Their needs are simple... and Audition is quick/easy/full-featured.

We frequently cut VOs here...
For that, I like Reaper or Samplitude... as the Object based editing is extensive/helpful

As a brand... everyone has heard of ProTools.
Most of those folks have no idea about the pros/cons.
I think a lot of it is psychological.  I'm using Pro Tools...

Jim, I don't envy her being in this business these days. We use Adobe as well for quick on-air stuff....version 3.0, but SONAR is the main DAW here in the production studios. What blew the consultants mind was being able to open wave files with Audition in SONAR. He was unfamiliar with that even though we've doing it since the days of Pro Audio 9. Obviously that can't be done in Pro Tools. He left seeing that we had the best of both worlds.

emwhy


Another factor is that it's a very known brand. I work in broadcasting and I can't tell you how many times people ask if I use Pro Tools. Now these are mostly people who don't really know much about actual recording, but that's the one "brand" they are familiar with. They don't understand that we don't use Pro Tools for a host of reason...

Yeah, Pro Tools may be a generic term nowadays, for all I know. Like Channel Locks or Coke (if you're in the south).

thunderkyss

 

This is true. 

The things they talked about, are the things Pro Tools excels at & Cubase, Sonar, Nuendo can't touch. 

Are you on drugs?
 
Please enlighten us with just one single feature exclusive found in in Pro Tools that Cubase, SONAR, LOGIC and Samplitude or the rest DAW already have? You should definitely stop taking those AVID Kool Aid pills.
 
 
In fact Cubase run over Pro Tools and back it up and run it over twice and third and fourth time.
I'm not a Pro Tools hater. Its not my fault that PRO TOOLS are years behind. I'm glad that finally PRO TOOLS 11 add Native x64bit support. Another fix they finally have add is surround ability 5.1, working and syncing with film projects.
 
I think not the film companies  like Walt Disney picture,  Pixar Animation Studios and other "score music to film"- producers like Remote Control Productions in the industry will drop Nuendo and Sequoia over Pro Tools 11. I think that will never happen, not now at least.  
Pro tools is still years behind the rest of the DAW's regarding all other features and mixing. That's the truth & the reality no matter some of you don't like it or not.
 
Over and Out and Bye all!

Jim Roseberry

You know? About real engineers, who know how to mic a drum or a guitar cabinet. Who mix other things than samples and synths. I'm talking about guys like Joe Baressi, recording Tool or Queens of the Stone Age. 

Though ProTools is very common, there are folks in the industry who aren't using ProTools or Logic.
Mastering Engineers, Film and Game Composers, Mix Engineers, Record Company Execs, Radio Production Engineers, etc.
These folks have looked at what ProTools offers vs. the cost... and decided Sonar, Cubase/Nuendo, Samplitude/Sequoia, DP, etc was a better fit.  Many of these folks are clients... so I know they exist.   
ie: Recent client works on numerous 30 minute radio spots each week.  Offline bounce saves this client literally hours of production time each/every week.

A professional isn't hired because of the tools he/she uses.
They're hired based on reputation and results.
If a client cares more about your DAW software than your skills as an engineer, run the opposite direction.

I totally agree with that - and I know it and I was clear about that in my post. Some folks use other software. I use Logic and IMHO it's the best thing since sliced bread. Hans Zimmer uses Cubase, we heard about it. One guy tracked Ray Charles using Sonar.


But I think it's sad that every time someone point out that Pro Tools is still the industry standard (which doesn't mean the only thing anyone anywhere ever use), people insist on the exceptions. In french we have a saying which goes something like - the exception only proves the rule.

Obviously, there isn't such a thing as a standard among the independents, songwriters, jingle writers etc... But where a standard IS necessary - in big commercial recording facilities and such, the one name that pops up is PT. 

And it's also very likely that among all those projects that have been put together in Ableton Live or DP many will end up part of a Pro Tools session at some point - either when taken to a pro mix engineer or to a mastering engineer or whatnot...

$ 699 ??  I don't think so.

Jim, I don't envy her being in this business these days. We use Adobe as well for quick on-air stuff....version 3.0, but SONAR is the main DAW here in the production studios. What blew the consultants mind was being able to open wave files with Audition in SONAR. He was unfamiliar with that even though we've doing it since the days of Pro Audio 9. Obviously that can't be done in Pro Tools. He left seeing that we had the best of both worlds.

Yeah, she's been on air here for 20+ years...
It's a pretty cut-throat business... as it sounds you're well aware.  
She's fortunate to be very talented (voice and skills) and can hold her own with all the guys.


I've got Audition setup that way too...   
Makes a great combo