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Avid makes its pitch to loop-based music makers. Pro Tools Sketch: industry-standard DAW gets Ableton Live-style clip launching and a free iPad app, but will it convince you to switch?

Like many other DAW developers, Avid has introduced an Ableton Live-style clip launching window in Pro Tools. Known as Pro Tools Sketch, this is also available as a free iPad app.

Pro Tools has long held quite a distinct position within the DAW market. In certain circles it’s something of an industry standard – still the go-to application for a lot of larger recording studios and producers who regularly record bands or large-scale projects. However, it has far less of a foothold among dance music producers and home studio musicians, who tend to gravitate towards the likes of Live, Logic, Cubase or FL Studio.

Recent years have seen Avid make moves aimed at addressing this latter fact. The primary way it’s done this is through the launch of Pro Tools Artist, its most affordable tier, which offers a slightly scaled-back version of the DAW with more emphasis on virtual instruments and a generous library of loops. Now, with the launch of Pro Tools Sketch – part of the 2023.9 update – Avid is making an even bolder play for the Logic and Live market.

On desktop, Sketch is available as a dedicated window within all versions of Pro Tools (including Artist), and is designed to function as a self-contained music making environment. There are various ways, however, to integrate it with Pro Tools’ traditional timeline.

Sketch is focused around a clip launching workflow that owes an obvious debt to Ableton Live. However, Sketch also has whiffs of Apple’s GarageBand’s Live Loops and Touch Instruments.

In its current state, Sketch offers a significantly pared-back take on the Pro Tools toolset. It enables users to create using up to 16 tracks of audio or MIDI clips and an unlimited number of scenes.

Tracks can make use of an included 1GB+ library of loops and samples, along with over 30 instruments for Avid’s Playcell sample player and more than 100 presets for the SynthCell virtual synth. There are also nine effects that can be applied to individual tracks. Simple audio and MIDI editing tools enable users to program and adjust their loops.

The main drawback compared to working with the full DAW is a lack of plugin support, although Avid tells us that AAX plugin support is on the roadmap for the near future, for the desktop version of Sketch at least. Given Pro Tools’ use of the AAX format, it will be interesting to see if and how plugin support might come to the iOS version, which would likely need to rely on Apple’s AUv3 format.

The most appealing aspect of Sketch right now is how seamlessly it works with the main Pro Tools timeline. While the Sketch window has its own clock/transport, it can be synced with the main Pro Tools transport at a click of a button, enabling users to trigger loops and make longer recordings on the timeline simultaneously. Clips can also be dragged to and from Sketch, although in the current version this results in MIDI parts being rendered to audio in the Pro Tools timeline.

Given its slightly limited nature, it’s difficult to imagine Sketch luring across Logic, Live or even GarageBand users by itself. Similarly, those who currently use Live (or possibly Bitwig Studio) alongside Pro Tools are unlikely to be swayed.

As an addition to the overall Pro Tools workflow though, Sketch represents a significant step forward, and could convince those who dabble in or are curious about the DAW to take another look. Avid is being open about this merely being the first step on a long roadmap too, so Sketch is likely to grow and expand with future updates.

And of course, this is all great news for existing Pro Tools users. The Sketch iPad app is totally free to download on the App Store, so they now have a purpose-built jamming and composing tool that can be used anywhere. Projects created in Sketch are saved using a new .ptsketch file format that includes all audio and MIDI clips, and these can be emailed or sent via the cloud for transfer between iOS and desktop.

In other big Pro Tools news, Avid is reinstating the sale of perpetual licences for all Pro Tools tiers. Regular users will be aware that recent years have seen the company pivot to a purely subscription model for the DAW, which suits some more than others.

As of now, you can once again buy Pro Tools outright, but only via official Avid resellers. Prices range from $199 for the Artist tier up to $1,499 for Pro Tools Ultimate.

Find out more about Pro Tools Sketch on the Avid website.

Groove Synthesis 3rd Wave synth module does away with the keyboard and is ready for your desktop. The Advanced Wavetable synth, a more compact version of the PPG-inspired instrument is just around the corner.

Drawing on the heritage of the classic PPG range, the 3rd Wave synth has something for nostalgia fans and more forward-thinking producers alike. And following the launch of the keyboard version, manufacturer Groove Synthesis has now taken the obvious next step and released a desktop model.

The company says that the 3rd Wave Desktop Module offers “all the power, all the features, all the ins & outs, and all the awesome sound of the keyboard”.

You probably know what’s coming next: 3rd Wave desktop offers all the power of the fully-fledged model, but in a smaller form factor and at a lower price. So, you’re getting a 3-oscillator, 24-voice, 4-part multitimbral wavetable synth that sits on your desk rather than your keyboard stand.

Each oscillator can host a PPG-era wavetable, a high-res “complex” wavetable or an analogue-modelled waveform. You can also create up to 64 of your own wavetables in the Wavemaker, sampling live into the keyboard if you wish.

Sound-shaping options include two analogue filters and a modulation matrix, and onboard composing can be done using the built-in pattern sequencer. You can use up to two effects per part, and there are four LFOs and six envelopes.

In addition, they’ve added MPE support to the 3rd Wave.

Features:

• 3 High-resolution Digital Oscillators Per Voice
• 64 total user wavetable positions with 48 wavetables that contain 64 waveforms per table (32 legacy PPG waves with room for another 16 of this type)
• 32 original 8 bit wavetables from the PPG 2 series instruments with room for 16 more user created 8 bit wavetables
• 7 high-resolution modeled analog waveforms (sine, saw, triangle, supersaw, pulse, white noise, pink noise)
• VCO sync
• Linear FM
• 6-stage wave envelope per oscillator with variable time and position that can be looped
• Optional wave flow section that allows for no wavetable as well as no waveform interpolation
• Upper wavetable mode as with the original PPG 2 series
• Unison mode and chord mode with variable voice count
• 1 Analog Low-pass Filter
• 1 State-Variable Filter
• 4 ADSR+ Delay Envelopes
• 4 Low-Frequency Oscillators
• 2 Digital Effects, including BBD, stereo delay, tape delay, chorus, phaser, flanger, distortion pedal, rotating speaker, ring mod, room reverb, hall reverb, super plate reverb – most modeled on famous hardware devices
• Syncable to master clock BPM
• Parameters modulatable via mod matrix
• Sequencer and Arpeggiator
• 16-slot Modulation Matrix Per Multi-Part
• 500 factory programs. User rewritable
• Connectivity:
  • 4 Stereo outputs
  • Headphone out
  • MIDI In, MIDI Out, and MIDI Thru
  • USB port for bidirectional MIDI communication
  • Audio Input for creating user wavetables from external audio source
  • Audio Input can also route audio through the filters, output chain, and effects
  • Sustain/footswitch input
  • Volume pedal input
  • Expression pedal input

Groove Synthesis shared 3^rd. Wave Advanced Wavetable Desktop Synth audio demo:

The 3rd Wave desktop synth module will be available in November priced at $3,495. Find out more on the Groove Synthesis website.

Pulsar is giving away a software version of the 3-band equalizer that became a mastering legend and is still in use today.

Could this Neumann w495 emulation be the most useful free EQ plugin you download this year?

There is an argument for saying that you shouldn’t download every free plugin that gets released – limiting your gear choices can certainly make you more productive – but when that plugin is what looks like a solid emulation of a classic EQ, it is hard to pass it up.

Pulsar w495 reboots the much-loved Neumann EQ of the same – the one that Pulsar reckons was “used to master 90% of the vinyl records manufactured from the 1970s to the 1990s”. There was a reason for this, of course: it sounds lovely, even when pushed to extreme levels, and remains popular to this day.

The new plugin promises to recreate that sound, and can be applied both to individual tracks and an entire mix. Additional features that weren’t present in the hardware include visual curve editing and a spectrum analyser, though you can still just twist the knobs and ‘mix with your ears’ if you wish.

Pulsar claims to have gone right down to component level with its w495 modelling, taking into account its subtle band saturations, the unique sound of its output transformers and the distinct sonic characteristics in the low, mid and high frequencies. There are also mid/side routing options, presets, a resizable GUI and comprehensive metering options.

The Pulsar w495 will ultimately retail for $49, but it is free until the end of October. It runs on PC and Mac in VST/AU/AAX formats, so should work for almost everyone.

Find out more and download it on the Pulsar website.