Pro Tools - High end standard

Pro Tools is viewed as the standard when it comes to audio recording software. Most all studios employ Pro-Tools as their software of choice, using their Pro-Tools HD system. For home recording Digidesign has a smaller package called the Pro-Tools LE.

The difference between LE and HD, except for the thousands of dollars in cost is that the LE system is dependent on your CPU power and doesn't come with a dedicated DSP interface like the HD system. 

It also has a limit of 48 simultaneous tracks, but if you are just using it in your bedroom studio, that might be a limitation that you can deal with. 

It also has a lower sampling rate and a few other limitations that might prompt you to want the higher end HD system, but in most scenarios the LE system works nicely.

a short intro to Pro-Tools and the difference between LE and HD

If you are set on getting a Pro-Tools system in your home studio, be aware that you have to get a dedicated interface from Digidesign as well, like the Digidesign Mbox 2 or Digi 003 Rack. Digidesign also has the so called Pro Tools M-Powered that works with all the interfaces from M-Audio, which is a good choice if you don't like the M-box, or the Digi003 is too much for you.

Pro-Tools is a good choice if you are doing a lot of work with audio, as the general consensus is that there are other programs out there that work better with MIDI than Pro-Tools. Logic Studio or CubasePro. But as it is regarded as a standard in the professional audio industry you can always be sure that you can take your sessions to a professional studio for that final touch.

Here's a short video on music creation using Pro-Tools

Regardless of your music production needs, ProTools isn't an industry leader for no reason. There are certainly other DAWs out there that are different and maybe more suited for various applications, but Pro-Tools still remains an industry standard. How long remains to be seen as other recording packages like Logic or Nuendo as getting better and more popular every day, or every update as it is in the software world.

If you are thinking about the Mbox family, check it out here

If you are more serious about your production, maybe the Digi 003 is for you?

For a different Pro Tools experience, check out Pro Tools M powered

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