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Mike I am sure Lexicon would not be silly enough to only release an AAX version. Currently it is AU and VST and RTAS etc. They will simply replace RTAS with AAX that is all.

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since ProTools 11 has been announced for Q2 2013 I would assume that AAX plugins would be released 2Q 2013 or 3Q 2013.

there isn't much information about ProTools 11 yet so probably have to wait til it's released to know all the specs compatibility etc.

Sorry Mike I misunderstood you. I am assuming you have PT is that right and you are currently using a RTAS version of a plugin. Good news (or bad) is that when PT11 comes out you wont be able to use RTAS or TDM at all. AVID in their usual style have gone to great lengths to make it as hard as possible to use any previous plugins etc.

AAX will be the only standard. I don't think there will be a wrapper either. You will probably have to buy the plugin again. AVID want you to spend money over and over again, simple as that. That is the main reason I refuse to invest in any of their products. You will have to spend $300 to get from PT10 to PT11 I would say and really $300 every year to keep up. Is it worth it?  PT is aimed at professional environments where the costs can be absorbed. They are not really interested in the small time user.

My son's girlfriend had PT8 on her Mac laptop and she upgraded her Mac OS rendering PT8 completely useless. There is no upgrade path from PT8 to PT10 or PT11. She has to spend $700 to buy a complete new version. Is that fair do you think.

I have advised her to go for Studio One Free which is free and does exactly what she needs. All versions of Studio One work on all Windows and Mac OS versions. Nice of them don't you agree.

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Jeff, 

I think I remember you mentioning a M-Box and Pro Tools, so I assume you're talking about Pro Tools LE. Just to be clear, there is an upgrade path for Pro Tools LE 8 or earlier, but not for the original M Box or 001 owners. 

http://www.sweetwater.com/feature/protools11/

Agreed, it does suck for original MBox owners. That being said,neither the 001 or the MBox are supported w/ PT 11.


For me the upgrade is $400 - I'm still evaluating my options. I'm using Logic for all my work these days but I'd hate to lose the upgrade path.

Rain thanks very much for that info. She does have the MBox 2 so yes you are right in that the upgrade is $400 and this is better than $700. But it does need Mac OS 10.8 and higher and she is on 10.7.5 so that also means she needs to upgrade her OS now for PT 11 to work.

To be honest it is still a lot though for an upgrade. She got PT8 with a purchase of a Nord synth. She is a very good singer/piano player and only needs a basic DAW to capture her ideas. I am recommending she goes with Studio One Free which costs nothing and will do everything she needs. She can always upgrade if she needs but for any serious stuff she comes to me to do the work anyway.

Pro Tools is a costly business to get into anyway you look at it. I think it is overpriced and the money just does not stop there. You have to keep paying out all the time. 

Mike be aware you don't get that much with a standard PT version. (Well on 10 anyway) In order to get some decent plugins and instruments you had to buy the production toolkit for another $700 before you start getting the same amount of stuff as in Sonar and other DAW's. That is why many other DAW's are very good value for your money. Maybe PT11 is better not sure. I will have a look into it and see what is standard in PT11.

I know what you mean. I'm still on 10.6.8 here and I have no intention to upgrade OS until I buy a new machine. In fact, considering the system requirements for version 11, I won't even bother installing version 11 on this machine. 

That being said, if she has a sufficiently powerful machine, it could maybe work - even if PT is not officially supported. For example, I'm running NI's Solid Mix on Snow Leopard even if officially, it requires Lion or Mountain Lion.

But it is quite expensive, as you say. And this upgrade in particular seems to be the object of much thoughts among my Pro Tools using pals. Particularly those who used to depend on the Production ToolKit (which was already darn expensive) - now their only option is to upgrade HD.

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