Protools LE Not supported by Windows OR Mac?

Eric Walker · **Voice Talent** Joined: 20 Nov 2007 Posts: 4

I was talked into buying the M Box 2 Mini audio interface for my new home studio (by sales "expert" at Sweetwater). The M Box 2 comes with the Pro Tools LE audio editing program.

After a harrowing experience (3 crashes) trying to install Pro Tools LE on my PC (with the "help" of a Sweetwater technician) I discovered that my Windows XP Media Center Edition was incompatible with Pro Tools LE (the guys at Sweetwater only asked what "edition" I had after three failures) and that Windows in general did not support Pro Tools.

Fine, so I figured I'd break down and finally buy my first Mac. THEN I discovered just in the nick of time (I almost clicked buy) that current versions of the Mac (Leopard program) do not support Pro Tools either!

So here's my question. If not Windows or Mac, what system does support Pro Tools? I thought it was the "industry standard." Also, if I have to bag Pro Tools is there an alternate program you could recommend that is good quality that can run on my XP Media Center Edition? I can't believe it has to be this hard (and expensive) to solve this.

Eric Walker

Diane Havens · **Voice Talent** Joined: 09 Jun 2006 Posts: 1281

I run my ProTools LE on a Mac Pro with OS X, and have used it no prob since I bought it in 2006. I never upgrade anything on the Mac software. This computer is dedicated solely to my voice work. I had to go to the Digidesign site to download the upgrade of the ProTools I needed to set it up the first time, but ever since, all is well.
Did you try contacting Digidesign?

Thomas C. Gass · **Voice Talent** Joined: 11 May 2006 Posts: 179

Eric

I suppose it is your Media Center Windows that causes the problems. I have ProTools LE (M-Audio version) running on both Mac and Windows without any (problems. The only problem for me was the Digidesign hardware - that's why I switched over to m-audio. But ProTools itself runs fine on both systems.

On the other hand I once had a PC with Media Center installed - a "crippled" XP version that was highly unstable and incompatible with a lot of software - I then decided to erase the whole system and install a normal XP pro.

Thomas

Eric Walker · **Voice Talent** Joined: 20 Nov 2007 Posts: 4

Hey Diane and Thomas,
Thanks for the feedback. I'm going to contact Digidesign today. Its interesting that if you talk to Microsoft or Apple neither will tell you their systems support or are compatible with Pro Tools. I may have to "wipe" my system after all and try installing XP Home or Pro.

Thanks again, Eric

Lisa Foster · **Voice Talent** Joined: 13 Sep 2006 Posts: 24

Eric, the Leopard OS is brand new on the MAC (within the last few months - they just rolled it out in January I believe) and it takes a few months for some software to come up with upgrades to make it run on the new OS. I just bought a MAC this January and made a point to find out if my ProTools would run on it. It wouldn;t, so I instead bought an Mac that was still running TIGER OS - it loaded perfectly. Not to worry though, they will have a patch/upgrade soon for the Leopard so you can load your Pro-Tools then.

Kara Edwards · **Voice Talent** Joined: 26 Oct 2006 Posts: 347

Eric,

ProTools works great with Windows XP Pro and I believe Home Edition (I use Pro). I know most PC's come standard with vista or Media center, but Digidesign's website has a list of programs that are incompatible.

When I bought my computer, I printed the list of requirements and gave them to a kid I hired to re-install my hard drive with the appropriate configurations. A bit of an annoyance, yes, but I rarely have issues with Pro Tools.

You will also want to disable any updates on your computer, as this can interupt sessions. It's happened to me...

I know it is frustrating- but good luck!

On a side note: are you doing production or just VO? If you are just doing VO, you may want to look at Adobe Audition. For only recording voice tracks and e-mailing them...having Pro Tools is like driving next door in an 18-wheeler. It may be more than you need.