Avid were promising a big announcement at AES in San Fransisco, and they didn't disappoint.

One of the most often heard complaints about Pro Tools for years has been their closed approach where you can only use their software with their hardware.

The big news is that Avid have moved away from their closed hardware systems and opened the new Pro Tools 9 up so that it can run on any computer for $599.

Automatic Delay Compensation, and other pro features included as standard, such as Digibase Pro and MP3 etc.

Actually there is one piece of hardware - it uses iLock USB Key so you can use it on any computer like mixing on your laptop with headphones just by plugging in your iLock.

You can of course use it with your existing Avid/Digidesign hardware like Mbox if you want to.

They have also integrated it with their recently acquired Euphonix controllers.

It is available right now in the Avid Store - but don't be surprised if the store is running slow, I was one of more than 1,000 people who watched the launch live and I'm pretty sure a large percentage of them are hitting the store right now.

Here's the promo video they ran during the launch:

For more information go to Pro Tools

Related News:
DAW Controller Roundup
Pro Tools 11 Update