Avid Pro Tools | Carbon

The Avid Pro Tools | Carbon is an entirely new class of audio interface, built for capturing brilliance efficiently. It’s a powerful hybrid system that takes full advantage of your native CPU and HDX DSP processing system at the same time. Capture every detail with pristine converters and the best preamps Avid has to offer. During mixing and recording, monitor with near-zero latency within Pro Tools. Switch between HDX DSP and native functionality with a press of a button.

Move seamlessly between worlds. This unique hybrid engine maximizes Pro Tools performance without skipping a beat. Toggle tracks from to and from native to a from DSP mode freely. Both modes serve unique purposes that ensure you’re getting the most out of your session. The DSP Mode accelerates the performance of AAX-DSP plug-ins in real time, enabling you to record with zero latency. It also frees up the CPU for virtual instruments and other mixing tasks. Mixing in native mode allows Pro Tools to take care of all the technical tasks for you.

AAX architecture offers the same sound quality in both native and HDX systems, which makes collaborative work between studios possible. You’ll be confident with Pro Tools | Carbon’s unmatched dynamic range, headroom, and ability to handle 64-bit float processing. In addition to the included AAX plug-ins included with Pro Tools, Carbon comes bundled with premium plug-ins and sound to get you going. With thousands of AAX plug-ins available, Carbon can take your sound beyond limits.

Carbon features custom-designed FPGA and eight HDX DSPs at its core, freeing your creativity from constraint. FPGA routes audio lightning-fast—one sample at a time—with virtually no latency, while the HDX DSPs handle real-time plug-in processing, performing an amazing 22.4 billion operations per second. This allows you to push your CPU to the limit when working with virtual instruments and mixing in Pro Tools. With a simple button press, tap into a turbo-charged workflow to record through AAX DSP plug-ins in real-time. This eliminates the need to rely on third-party plug-ins or step away from Pro Tools. You won’t get bogged down with the technical ins and outs. Making music is the top priority.

Pro Tools | Carbon’s great sound quality and astonishing dynamic range begins with pristine converters. Avid designed these converters with four ADC’s per channel, resulting in 126 dB of dynamic range. From input to the HDX DSPs, and into Pro Tools, the entire gain structure works at uniform 32-bit precision, providing more headroom without any signal degradation. Capture clean, natural audio every time you record.

With a padless design, an incredible 126 dB dynamic range, and support for 32-bit/192 kHz audio conversion, the transparent microphone preamps built into the Pro Tools | Carbon capture performances without any coloration. In fact, they’re the most sonically detailed microphone preamps Avid has ever made. The bypass feature opens up the option to use outboard gear, while the variable impedance adjustment helps alter the tone of any microphone or instrument in your studio.

Precision clocking is crucial for distortionless, artifact-free audio. Avid designed a double-resolution implementation of the patented JetPLLTM jitter elimination technology that is twice as fast and accurate as the average JetPLL based clocks. This advanced clocking system provides improved sound and separation, ensuring high-fidelity recording and playback.

The Pro Tools | Carbon has no shortage of I/O. Whether you’re recording a solo artist, full band, or ensemble, this interface can handle it. First and foremost, its high-bandwidth ethernet port preserves the highest possible sound quality throughout 25 x 34 simultaneous I/O. Eight high-grade preamps, four headphone outputs, and 16 channels of ADAT I/O open up creative possibilities for miking, cue mixing, and expansion.

Total I/O:

• 8 mic preamps with Variable Z (impedance) on inputs 5–8
• 2 Variable Z instrument inputs
• Stereo monitor outputs
• 8 x 8 line I/O
• 4 headphone outputs
• 16 channels ADAT I/O
• Word Clock I/O
• Footswitch
• 2 Ethernet ports

Carbon connects to your computer over Ethernet. Based on AVB, Avid’s version of this high-bandwidth, low-latency connection streams audio to your host system at 32-bit float precision— the first in the industry. That means you’ll always have plenty of headroom throughout the system to optimize the sound quality and dynamics of your mix. And it primes Carbon for additional enhancements in the future.

When stacked with other equipment, Pro Tools | Carbon’s efficient thermal design keeps the interface quiet and cool at all times. By using fan speed modulation, heat is moved from the front to the back of the interface, dissipating heat. The axial fan doesn’t cause excess sound, so it’s quiet enough to keep in the same room you record in.

FEATURES:

• Achieve maximum Pro Tools performance with a hybrid system that harnesses onboard HDX DSP and native CPU power
• Record flawlessly through AAX DSP plug-ins in real-time, enabling you to create polished cue mixes and track with zero audible latency
• Toggle any track from native to DSP processing mode, freeing up your CPU cores to handle virtual instruments and more creative mixing
• Capture every performance detail with up to 32-bit/192 kHz audio conversion, double precision clocking, and Avid’s most transparent mic preamp design ever
• Create, record, edit, and mix professional-quality music with
• Pro Tools, thousands of instrument sounds, and studio-staple effects and sound processors
• Expand your sonic possibilities with a special pack of premium plug-ins from Arturia McDSP, Plug-in Alliance, UVI, Native Instruments, and more
• Get all the I/O you need to record an entire band, with 25 x 34 simultaneous channels, including four headphone outs
• Optimize or change up the tone of your mics, guitars, and basses with Variable Z inputs