Just started poking around on ProToolsFREE recently and have made some preliminary observations:

- Professional look: *ProTools (except for the waveform)
- Flexibility/Routing: *ProTools (more complex, but more powerful)
- Editing: *Vegas (Editing in ProTools is slow & cumbersome - at least so far. Almost NONE of the obvious keyboard shortcuts work in ProTools - like cursor movement & magnification using the arrow keys. Also, ProTools does NOT scroll the waveform while dragging the scroll bar at the bottom!)
- Session set-up *Vegas (ProTools even makes you create a Master Buss track)
- Hi res. digital audio support *Vegas (Only up to 24 bit/48k in ProTools - except for new release - but who can afford it?!)
- Included plug-ins *ProTools (The compressors are pretty darn transparent!)
- Learning curve: *Vegas (much more straightforward UI - more intuitive)
- Price: *ProToolsFREE (duhhhh, it's FREE)
- Overall: *Vegas (I like ProTools and I'm sure I will use it for quite a few projects. However, as far as editing goes, I found I can work much faster in Vegas and I like the fact that I can get into the hi-res. digital audio market at an affordable price.

BTW -
Any word on when the next Vegas Audio upgrade will show up?

Jeff Lowes
On-Track Recording