Pro Tools users, already switching to the latest-and-greatest Mac or Windows operating system? Avid has added compatibility with Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard and Windows 7 in the company’s 8.0.3 upgrade to Pro Tools. Oddly, some of the Windows support is still listed as “beta,” while the Mac support is “official.” Nonetheless, I’ve heard reports of people using Windows 7 unofficially without issue.
Here’s the status of the different operating systems and Pro Tools flavors:
Windows 7
Beta support, available to download today: Pro Tools HD 8, Pro Tools LE 8, Pro Tools M-Powered 8
Full “official” support, not yet ready for download, coming soon: Pro Tools M-Powered Essential
Mac OS X Snow Leopard
Official support, available to download today: Pro Tools HD 8, Pro Tools LE 8, Pro Tools M-Powered 8
Full “official” support, not yet ready for download, coming soon: Pro Tools M-Powered Essential
Even if you don’t use Windows 7 or Snow Leopard, you should consider downloading 8.0.3; the release includes numerous bug fixes, including solutions for some significant issues and crashes and a whole bunch of video fixes.
I’m a little disappointed that Avid is this slow with Windows 7 support, given the relatively minor differences between Windows 7 and Vista, and, well, the fact that Windows 7 is an improvement over Vista. If you’re already on Windows 7 and try the “beta” 8.0.3, let us know how it works for you. As for Snow Leopard support, Leopard works well enough that it’s still the OS release on the Mac I’m most inclined to use; there aren’t any major changes in terms of audio and music support I’ve seen that would compel me to upgrade. That could change in the future, though, if developers take advantage of some of Apple’s under-the-hood improvements in the OS.
Pro Tools 8 Product Page with downloads, changelogs
Updated – this is not a “legacy”-compatible release. Note that 8.0.3 does not have support for PowerPC architectures or some older Digidesign hardware. 8.0.1 is the last release with support for that equipment. See, previously:
DAW Day – Pro Tools 8.0.1: No Windows 7 or 10.6 Support, End of the Road for Legacy
Upshot – if you want to support that hardware, you’ll likely need to stick with Mac OS X 10.5.x and earlier. (Some users have experienced good results with Windows 7 and earlier Pro Tools versions, because the OS is so similar to Windows Vista. That’s also an officially-unsupported configuration, however.)
See comments for some largely positive results with Windows 7 and 10.6, however.