Pro Tools 8 is out! and along with that comes a whole plethora of compatibility worries and woes.
Pro Tools has never been very WindowsVista friendly, and still, it is not. No Windows Vista 64 compatibility still, and no Windows Vista Basic compatibility.
Pro Tools 8 LE Compatibility
As far as interfaces go, Pro Tools 8 is all set with all past and present interfaces outside of the 001 and before.
- Windows XP Home/Pro, 32 Bit
- Windows Vista Business/Ultimate, 32 Bit
No Specifics are given as far as system specs, but from their listed compatible workstations, heres my best guess.
- Intel Core 2 Duo Tested OK
- Intel Core 2 Quad Tested OK
- Intel Dual Core Xeon Tested OK
- Intel Quad Core Xeon Tested OK
- 1 Gig Ram Min
- 2.5 Gig Ram for Max Tracks
If your hardware isn’t listed there, keep in mind, this only what has been tested. See Digi Designs List of Workstations.
Pro Tools 8 M-Powered Compatibility
Pro Tools 8 M-Powered’s Compatibility is a lot more open, as no specific workstations are listed, only a few basic minimum system requirements.
Also, their hardware compatibility is quite extensive, and can be found HERE.
- Windows XP Home/Pro, 32 Bit
- Windows Vista Business/Ultimate, 32 Bit
- 1 Gig Minimum Ram
- 2.5 Gig Ram for Max Tracks
How PT LE 8 and PT MP 8 are so different with compatibility, I have no idea. I can only guess that PT LE’s list will grow and become as general as PT MP quite soon.
Pro Tools 8 HD Compatibility
When working with Pro Tools HD i would always recommend getting one of the exact systems they recommend. Why you ask? Its a big investment for the HD system to start with, picking up one of these workstations isn’t much more. It’ll give you piece of mind KNOWING you’ll most likely never run into any of the issues another desktop will give you with Pro Tools HD.
- Windows XP Home/Pro, 32 Bit
- Windows Vista Business/Ultimate, 32 Bit
The system list is even smaller than Pro Tools LE 8′s was. I have a feeling this, and PT LE’s list will grow exponentially quite soon.
- Dell XPS 420 Desktop
- Dell Precision Workstation 690
- HP xw4600 Workstation
- HP xw8600 Workstation
- HP xw8400 Workstation
- HP xw 8200 Workstation
When ordering a workstation to use with Pro Tools HD, make sure you get the correct (above) operating system.
Well, still no updates to open up Windows Vista 64, but one can hope for it soon. With M-Audio (a company owned by AVID, who owns DigiDesign) comming out with Beta 64 Bit drivers, I’d think Digidesign isn’t far behind.
