Pro Tools Carbon Pre

Avid has unveiled Pro Tools Carbon Pre at the AES Show 2022 in New York City. The product allows individual artists, bands, and producers using Pro Tools Carbon, or third-party audio interfaces to easily expand their studio setups to capture every sonic detail of large tracking sessions. Pro Tools Carbon Pre is a pristine multi-mic pre interface that enables the highest-quality audio at 32-bit resolution to maximise dynamic range from input to output across the entire audio production workflow.

“The Pro Tools Carbon system eliminates the barriers and tedious tasks that detract from productivity and creativity to enable artists and musicians to focus on capturing great performances and mixes,” said Francois Quereuil, Vice President, Product Management for Audio and Music Solutions, Avid. “Pro Tools Carbon Pre is a high-quality I/O expansion option for users who need to record full bands. Pro Tools Carbon Pre delivers the flexibility of additional mic/line inputs and outputs to enable brilliant sound quality on every track while leveraging the system’s Hybrid Engine, with complete remote control, and recall capabilities that are fully integrated with Pro Tools.”

Matching the audio performance of Avid’s groundbreaking Pro Tools Carbon interface, Pro Tools Carbon Pre enables users to expand their system with 24 channels of world-class mic/line preamps and line outputs. This allows users to capture large tracking sessions and multi-mic live recordings delivering impeccable sound quality from capture to output. In addition, Pro Tools Carbon’s extremely low-noise mic preamps have variable impedance — which lets users subtly change the tone of their mics — so they can be confident of capturing every sonic detail in the studio.

Existing Pro Tools HD systems needing more mic preamps can leverage Pro Tools Carbon Pre as an eight-channel ADAT preamp expansion unit to scale up I/O. Users can control up to nine Pro Tools Carbon Pre units in a Pro Tools HD system, while also tapping into the Pro Tools Hybrid Engine for low-latency input processing.

To help capture impeccable sound quality across the entire system, Pro Tools Carbon Pre also uses stacked AD converters on each input, while also providing industry-leading double-precision clocking. Pro Tools Carbon Pre allows artists to optimise and colour the tone of mic or instrument inputs with Variable Z impedance switching, so users hear and feel every nuance in their recordings.

Pro Tools Carbon Pre accelerates audio workflows without the need for users to access the interface to make changes. Artists can remotely control, save, and recall all preamp settings — including phantom power, gain, and impedance switching directly in Pro Tools across all Pro Tools Carbon-connected interfaces. With an instant session recall courtesy of the virtual assistant, users can quickly switch between sessions without any delays from manual setup and reconfiguration.

Raising The Bar On Audio Interface Performance
The Pro Tools Carbon audio interface empowers artists, bands, engineers, and producers to record every detail of every performance with the utmost clarity and precision. Built to capture brilliance, this hybrid audio production system features incredible sound quality and intelligent Pro Tools integration that combines the power of the user’s native CPU with the unparalleled performance of HDX DSP acceleration.

Always Innovating For Music Creators
In addition to debuting Pro Tools Carbon Pre today at the Audio Engineering Society Show 2022 (booth 155), Avid is showcasing its brand-new Mbox Studio which brings professional recording power to personal studios with the most comprehensive desktop interface ever made. Avid is also demonstrating the latest version of Pro Tools featuring tightly integrated Celemony Melodyne software via ARA 2 for quick vocal tuning and creating harmonies, re-voicing instruments, fixing rhythm timing, and much more.

Pricing And Availability
Pro Tools Carbon Pre will be available later this month through resellers, starting at U$2,999.