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** This thread discusses the Content article: Huge price drop on Pro Tools HD when you upgrade from LE **

Avid is getting into the holiday spirit early! They have announced the Digidesign Audio Q4 stimulus package with some huge price drops and extra incentives to try to get LE users to upgrade to Pro Tools HD. It's now possible to get an HD1 and an IO for under $5,000 if you have an LE system to trade.There are also special trade in deals for Pro Control owners wanting to trade up to an ICON, and a free Massive pack with the purchase of a regular priced Pro Tools HD core system.Click here to visit www.rspe.com/avidpromo for more information and pricing.

I see there's an offer to upgrade your Pro Tools LE to HD for $4,500. Has anyone out there up-graded their Pro Tools LE to HD?
Other than having more tracks with the HD system, is there really that much of a difference in quality?

Hey

I'm an LE user but have worked with HD systems and there are pretty big differences in terms of workflow particularly as regards automation. There are things you can do on a HD system in a heartbeat that takes a bit of work on an LE system but the point is, there are still workarounds on LE.

The biggest difference is that on a HD system the weight is taken off the computer's CPU. The sound processing is performed on the DSP chips on the HD card which should lead to more stable system

This may or may not be important to you. If you find that with your projects you need to bounce tracks down regularly to free up system resources you may be in a position to think about a HD system for practical purposes.

I'd suggest that given the power of modern computers the difference between LE and HD is narrowing (particularly if you add MP and DV Toolkits). 5 years ago the difference between the systems was vast, now its less so.

There are still the workflow benefits of a HD system which are still absent from LE systems

If you're happy with your system as it is you may be better off leaving it alone but it all depends on what you want to achieve and if you're having problems with your current system getting to that point and also what you see your returns being on this (pretty significant) investment

This is just feedback rather than advice but hope it gives a little insight