Pro Tools 2020.11: Dark mode, audio-to-MIDI, and improved file handling

12 Nov 2020 by Lyubomir Dobrev | Approximate reading time: 2 Minutes

· Source: AVID

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Developers have silently agreed that November is the best month to announce a DAW. First Steinberg reported with Cubase 11 (read our review), then Ableton came around the corner with Live 11, and then a teaser video from Avid made the rounds for a few days. Today, it’s showtime! Enter Pro Tools 2020.11.

Avid Pro Tools 2020.11 is here!

There are lots of additions and improvements to look at. As it was already evident from the teaser video, the latest Pro Tools has a Dark mode. This is something that users have probably wished for in a long time, but the rest of the new features are even more interesting. For example, the ability to convert audio to MIDI is here, and it comes straight out of Melodyne as Celemony was the development partner.

The new Space Clips Command is also here to speed up your workflow. With it, chosen clips are automatically given a predetermined distance in the timeline.

The new bounce functionality (Bounce Mix, previously called Bounce to Disk) exports your mixes (including sub-mixes) in different audio formats without creating new audio tracks in the session. New file formats are available for importing – QuickTime, AAC / M4A, and MXF OP-1. Additionally, Pro Tools now imports mute settings when opening AAF files created in Avid Media Composer 2020.9 or later. AAF file exports also contain mute settings.

Bounce Mix to MOV is another new feature, albeit one that’s still in beta. It aims to offer the very useful option of transcoding video files with audio in mono, stereo or Surround. In the end, this will probably become an Ultimate-exclusive feature. Speaking of Ultimate, Pro Tools Ultimate now supports 512 master faders and improvements have been made to Dolby Atmos support. For example, you can now export ADM BWF files via Bounce Mix, or import them via Import Session Data.

Pro Tools is still standard in major recording studios, and plays an important part for film and television work. As you can tell, many of the new or improved features highlight these aspects.

Price plans and system requirements

Pro Tools 2020.11 is still available on a subscription basis, starting at USD $ 30 per month. Pro Tools Ultimate starts at USD $ 80 per month. Students and teachers get discounted prices, as usual. Note that Pro Tools 2020.11 is a mandatory requirement if you happen to be interested in the new Pro Tools | Carbon interface which Avid debuted today. The software itself runs under macOS 10.13.6 to 10.15.7 and Windows 10 Home, Pro, and Enterprise 64-bit editions.