For years and years , I have been reading and listening about the end of Pro Tools as the "industry standard" and yet Pro Tools continue to be the dominant DAW in every major recording studio. I personally do not think that the end is near.
Indeed, there has always existed a love hate relationship with Pro Tools. The majority of the hate coming from non-serious users that simply repeat what they heard or read. Those of us who have been working with Pro Tools for decades have come to terms, and accept it for what it is. An imperfect DAW...just like every other DAW out there. During that journey, we have tried almost every other DAW but for an obvious reason, the majority have kept Pro Tools handy.
That obvious reason is the fact that it is the main DAW used in the majority of major recording studios. In other words, it is the "industry standard."
True, it is not the most popular. It is not the cheapest. It is not the first one to implement advances in technology. In fact, it is not even the easiest one to learn, and yet, if you go to any major university the majority of their music curriculum is based on Pro Tools. In sum, we can't overlook the fact that Pro Tools HD replaced the 2" as the industry multi-track standard.
I am asking of you to share your thoughts on whether or not Pro Tools will be dethrone in the next 10 years. If possible, explain why. Before reaching your conclusion, remember that for more than 15 years some of you have been stating that Studio One, Reaper, etc will be the queen DAW in professional studios. That has not taken place yet.
As a side note, I will like to add that I have migrated to Studio One but keep my subscription to Pro Tools out of necessity for reasons stated above.

Edit: Logic added. Voters allow to add another vote

 

Last edited: Dec 29, 2022

I can't comment on what will become the industry standard over the next 10 years as I think major recording studios are dying anyway, I think a select few will remain but most recording will move to cheaper home setups. I'm just hoping it becomes easier and cheaper to upgrade a perpetual Pro Tools license since I personally still enjoy using it.

 

For Live Recordings it will stay on top. Other than that i think using the DAW which fits best to your Workflow and the Grene you producing is the Key.

I think the Point of not changing for major Studios that they know Pro Tools very well and their Setup is matched to the Platform.

Maybe when the next Gen takes over Things will change who knows

 

In my country, many studios (including state studios) that work with movies have already switched to Nuendo.


The industry standard is losing users. Because users need right here, right now.

And Avid knows this. Just look at their free versions of PT

 

Pro Tools is a mainstay for those who have heavily invested in the DigiTech/Avid hardware/software system. Some smart folks have sold off their Avid hardware. Some have sold off both.

Composers tend to use multiple DAWs (usually on separate linked systems). Examples:

• Logic & Pro Tools
• Logic & Cubase
  
• Logic & Luna
  
• Digital Performer & Pro Tools

Sound Designers:

• Reaper
• Bitwig Studio
• Digital performer

Many other choices for EDM, Pop, Trap, Hip Hop. Akai MPC anyone??

With Luna being the closest Pro tools like DAW, UAD, could take the top spot if they complete development & improve customer support.
The release of Luna for Windows would also help. Make Windows 11 a require if need be & never look back.

Just my humble thoughts. Some, not all.

 

it's amazing to see such topics all the time,
I do work in Pro audio industry, so here's my totally biased thoughts of varied perspectives:

1) any big institutions heavily invested into ProTools cannot afford throwing everything away and starting anew, dinosaurs will remain drowned in AVID ecosystems, because it will remain cheaper option
2) big studios are on decline, smaller individuals are slowly taking over, being more flexible, more cost efficient, quicker to adopt new technologies, big projects are more and more rare, less and less full-time viable,
3) ProTools being really a replacement for tape recorder, cannot at all compete against specialized sound design, multimedia production or research environments, that doesn't make it inferior for mixing or TV audio work, so depends what direction audio industry will shift,
4) audio engineering is so overrated, 95% of youtube videos are more or less paid Ads for audio hardware, software and plugins, audio industry is honestly more about justifying spending outrageous amounts of money on things nobody really needs, same goes with educational facilities which are barely holding,
5) Reaper is already becoming kind of a new standard, because it's so flexible and free to start with, it offers way wider range of use and more diverse user base, limitless customizations and coding options, quickly evolving and integrating third-party content - its philosophy is so against audio being milking cow, it's a real threat to whole industry standard myth, not just ProTools, but all other paid DAWs and plugins which are made to make profit
6) Apple Silicon is the new avalanche wrecking ProTools, it's been over 2 and half years and AVID still hasn't adopted M1 without Rosetta2, frankly today should release native PT, which will inevitably cause mess with non-native AAX plugins, I'm expecting new plugin format, some kind of AAX-M or something like that - either we'll see major shift into new generation of ProTools, or huge mess in nested code emulation to remain backwards compatible - neither being optimal for audio industry

 

running pro tools 1 on a IIfx, 3.2 on a Quadra 950, 4.2 on another Quadra 950, 5.0.1 on a 8100/300, 5.1.3 on a G4 MDD, 2019 on a Mac mini intel i7

pro tools is a legacy, digidesign were the geniuses that bypassed hardware limits in the most artistic and technological way to make digital recording and later mixing possible. they will forever be relevant. that being said i personally see no reason to go beyond 2019 as i dont require atomos.

 

I think AVID is going to be around and continue it's studio dominance for a while yet.

It's not just Pro-Tools, It's also Maestro, Media Composer, the DSP behind it, and architecture like FastServe/MediaStream and a level of integration that is entrenched in Film and Television.

There are so many of the grunts in those fields that are just reliant on those platforms and these technicians are not interested in learning anything else. They want to clock in and clock out and just do their jobs the way they always have.

Same problems office managers have with MS Office and its applications. There are many applications that can do the same job just as well or better than MS Office but your secretary or the guys in accounting department are just not going to adapt or even try, just being able to click and point on EXCEL is a major accomplishment for some people, they consider it important enough that I don't recall reading a resume in the last 25 years that didn't mention MS OFFICE and sometimes even highlighting how competent they are at MS Word (proud of being a "PRO" using glorified typewriter.)

There are people who use different platform but for the most part at some point that audio stream or video clip is going to go through an AVID product.

Things are changing in some markets. Yamaha and Steinberg are making a push the same way SONY and PANASONIC did in the 90s, regardless it is going to take a bit longer than 10 years.

At least, I think so.

 

a new r2r release might give it a boost

 

i guess No standard is the new Standard

 

The latest reported statistical data show the contrary for the United States. Just saying.

 

I think Logic, but we know about FL Studio VS Ableton fight in the market, they're on top

 

contrary?
apart from being 5 years old stats, I still see noticeable drop, just because they merged some categories into one doesn't make it any less disturbing

 

Most important operation in industry: post production.

Now look at DAW who have all tools for it, from a box.

fl studio, ableton, logic, studio one - no.
Samllitude/sequoia, Nuendo, - yes

 

I think Ableton has become such a staple that every studio needs to have it if they're opening up a client's projects. Both platforms and available to everybody at every level. It has to be a huge time saver not to have to bounce everything and stay on the platform the track was created in... In that case Mac is essential to open AU plugins

Pro Tools is difficult for everyday people to wrap their heads around and like Cubase its old tech now. Most tutorials are done in Ableton, so its much easier to educate yourself following along. Cubase dropped the ball with that one...

Pro Tools still tends to be the choice for tutorials from the old timers, so its probably gonna hang in there for a bit, but that will probably fade when their knowledge isn't respected as much and the TikToks think they can repeat it, the students think their knowledge is sound and nobody wants to learn from the old timers

 

@reziduchamp for loop-based music production, Ableton totally can be, but for anything else (orchestra music, film scoring, computer games, tv/film voiceovers, radio drama and books, podcasts, commercials etc...) you need continuous/timeline based DAW, not beats grid

 

Not to argue but nevertheless argue, where is the data proving that your statement is accurate? Since what you see, and I see is totally different, I tried to back up my statement with best available data. Also, contrary to what you alleged, they did not mix the recording studio category with anything else. The blue graph represents recording studios. If anything, I see an increase, albeit 5 years ago. That is before Covid, however, this year after Covid I was able to sell my studio within 6 weeks. And it was not yet finished for ATMOS. Right now, if you have a major recording studio in cities like Miami they will grab it off your hands. The demand is there. The music market is strong. You have artists and production companies that reside in and operate from those cities making millions. They dont want to be stuck in a bedroom studio. Indeed, can give you a list of 20 major recording studios in Miami alone that were not around 10 years ago. Old ones that shut down during the 90's and early 2000 are being rescued, and brought back bigger and better than ever. What I have seen is the middle of the road studios struggling. They seem to be in a no man's land. Unable to compete with the big boys in terms of gear, facilities and staff. On the other hand too expensive when compared to the bedroom/garage studios. As I stated, both the major studio and bedroom studio will continue to co-exist. Am i certain of that? I am not betting $10 on it

 

Major studios and bedroom studios will always coexist. Because now they deal with different fields, and are complementary to each other.

 

we had protools hd6 in the studio. rock solid.
that changed when my colleagues decided to go native.
for me that was the only reason for protools.

 

As far as I'm concerned, and it's one thing I can attest to, using two DAWs is almost always the standard for a career in the industry. Each of us has his own personal DAW, Live, PT, S1, FL, etc, and Pro Tools for tracking and post production. PT is currently the fastest and more effective way to collaborate with the sessions of different producers and engineers.