I just got an email from Avid about a "groundbreaking announcement" to be unveiled April 8th. Could this be Pro Tools 11? Seems that Beta testing has been secretly underway for a while now so it just might be. It's going to take a lot to bring me back to Pro Tools other than just 64 bit but rumor has it that PT has been totally rebuilt. We will see

 

they have been bought out by another company . . . . "thanks for ya money, we're off to spend it!"

 

64-bit Pro Tools. You didn't hear that from me.

 

64-bit PT just may be enough.

 

Avid has been in poor financial health for a while, the company has been shedding jobs on a regular basis to try and keep costs down. They have lost a lot cash, a whopping $150 million in 2008, getting better year on year to just over a $20 million loss for the year ending December 31st, 2012.

In October 2011, Avid laid off 10% of their workforce and later on the year it announced that they intended to reduce the headcount further by another 20%.In July 2012, Avid announced that it will sell off its consumer audio and video product lines to focus on “Media Enterprise and Post & Professional customers and to drive improved operating performance."

Avid still owns Protools and Avid video software, but decided to sell M-Audio to "inMusic." This is the parent company of well-known gear makers Akai, Alesis, and Numark. Its video editing apps, such as the recently launched Avid Studio for iPad was sold to "Corel Corporation." Wow, hope these products retain their quality or are improved upon.

We hope for the best. But it’s much more sensible to ask how much longer Avid has got. And how much more support do Pro Tools users have in front of them? How long will their systems last past that? Think about it. What company would really want to step up and conquer this apparently profitless – and often thankless – sector when Avid’s leadership ultimately inverts into a void? For everyone in music production the red flags are flying stronger than ever: A future without Pro Tools is a real possibility. Time will tell!
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If Pro Tools does become a thing of the past, I am very curious as to what will happen on the pro level. Will there be another "industry standard". My guess is that there will no longer be a so called industry standard anymore. With so many quality DAWs on the market now, I can see a possible sigh of relief on the pro level as no one will feel obligated to work with PT and can use a DAW that suits their workflow. It could however pose a problem moving from studio to studio if different DAWs are used. Only time will tell!

 

Well there ya go!

 

Pro Tools 11 will also include a video engine that will allow editing in HD. Looks like it truly is Pro Tools 11 being unveild on April 8 and will be released in May!