Pro Tools
More info
- Creator
- Digidesign
- Released
- Owner
- Avid Technology
- Type
- DAW
- Website
- avid.com
The DAW that became the recording studio's shared language — to the point where "send me the Pro Tools session" still just means "send me the project".
Digidesign, founded by Peter Gotcher and Evan Brooks, shipped Sound Tools for stereo editing on the Macintosh in 1989 and followed it in 1991 with Pro Tools for multitrack recording. Avid bought the company in 1995. For a long time the software required Digidesign's own DSP hardware, and the big studios' investment in it locked the standard in place for a couple of decades.
Only with version 9 in 2010 could it run on any audio interface through ASIO or Core Audio. Plugins are accepted only in Avid's own AAX format, not VST, which forces every developer to build one more version. Film sound and tracking studios remain its stronghold; electronic music moved elsewhere long ago.