Avid brings M1 support to Pro Tools in 2021.6 update

About one year ago, Apple famously announced a transition from Intel to its own in-house silicon M1 chips. In the months since, the company has already released its latest computers with M1 onboard. Throughout this time, Pro Tools users have raised one main question — when will Avid bring M1 support to its software updates? Now, the answer has finally arrived as Avid just announced the arrival of Pro Tools 2021.6, taking full advantage this powerful tech. Here is what to expect when installing 2021.6, which Avid calls “the most powerful Pro Tools system we’ve ever made.”

Avid Pro Tools 2021.6

The first point of excitement with Avid’s latest Pro Tools update, is its support for Apple M1 Silicon computers. The transition from Intel to Apple’s in-house chips was exhilarating, however it happened quicker than many initially suspected. With this brief turnover, the team at Avid had to work quickly on a version of Pro Tools that would support the new chips. Luckily, M1-based system users can now finally use any variation of Pro Tools on these systems.

Outside of M1 support, there are lots of other key features for engineers to enjoy with the 2021.6 update. Anyone operating Pro Tools | Ultimate gets a boost of up to 2,048 simultaneous voices that can be used on every sample rate. Until now, ‘Ultimate’ users could run only 384 at a time, so this is a whopping 5 times more tracks that can be played at once. Those on the standard Pro Tools system also get a boost, and can now run 256 tracks at one.

Pro Tools 2021.6 also expands to the number of I/O channels, doubling it from 32 to 64. This will be particularly helpful for engineers taking advantage of the heftier interfaces released recently. Users can now edit both dark and classic UI Pro Tools themes as well. This allows for more fine-tuned preference adjustments to software visuals. Finally, Avid brings improvements to Quicktime and file support, as well as automatic delay compensation when working with side-chaining tracks.

To sum up, Avid really pulled out a heavy-hitter with the Pro Tools 2021.6 update. Any way you look at it, this version offers something for every user of the software, no matter what version — and especially so if you’ve recently made a purchase of an Apple silicon-based machine. Pro Tools 2021.6 is available now to install for any users who have a current subscription plan. To download, or for more information, head over to Avid’s website.