The distant rumble of Thunderbolt has been echoing around in the background now for the past couple of years and whilst it promises to be the one connector to rule them all at some point, that still feels to be somewhere in far off distant future. What we have seen so far have been a couple of flagship high end solutions from a number of firms eager to give some early support to this still young protocol it appears that Avid too this week have thrown their hat into the ring with the unveiling of the Pro Tools|HD Native Thunderbolt Interface.
The Offical Line On The Avid HD Native Thunderbolt Edition:
Avid® today announced the new Pro Tools|HD Native Thunderbolt™ interface, delivering the lowest latency and the highest sound quality of any host based audio workstation for Thunderbolt technology equipped CPUs. The Pro Tools|HD Native Thunderbolt interface brings the industry-standard Pro Tools® HD toolset and premium conversion of Pro Tools HD Series interfaces to a broader group of customers who use a laptop or other computer with Thunderbolt technology, at a great value.
With its elegantly implemented Thunderbolt connectivity, the Pro Tools|HD Native Thunderbolt interface gives producers, engineers, and mixers the incredible sound quality, low latency, and sheer power of the award-winning Pro Tools|HD Native system in a mobile-based hardware solution, while connecting with Pro Tools HD Series interfaces (such as HD OMNI and HD I/O) for capturing and monitoring audio with pristine clarity. In addition, customers can conveniently monitor mixes using the interface’s built-in audiophile-grade headphone output, which is powerful enough to drive headphones with high impedance loads.
Pro Tools|HD Native enables customer to:
- Harness the power of your desktop or laptop computer with choice of Thunderbolt interface or PCIe card
- Attain the highest performance and lowest latency of any native DAW
- Achieve pristine audio clarity with Pro Tools HD Series interfaces
- Get the advanced tools and workflows of Pro Tools HD 10 software
- Monitor every mix detail with the built in audiophile-grade headphone output
“Pro Tools|HD Native makes it easy for professionals to get top quality sound and performance in an affordable, host-based solution,” says Chris Gahagan, senior vice president of products at Avid. “With Avid’s new solution, pros now can choose from two Pro Tools|HD Native designs: the new Thunderbolt interface for Thunderbolt-equipped laptop and desktop computers, or the original PCIe card.”
We are still waiting for UK pricing but the release goes on to discuss the packages available and that Pro Tools|HD Native is sold as a system that includes a choice of HD Native core —Thunderbolt interface or PCIe card — Pro Tools HD software, and a choice of Pro Tools HD Series audio interface. System prices are the same for both core systems and these range from $4000 to $6000 depending on the options selected.