Posting in High End b/c I seek input from pros or perhaps hobbyists-gone-pro or "semi-pro."

I am a hobbyist, earn my living in IT. Don't see that changing, though I might not necessarily be against it. The only "work" I've done beyond my own recordings is to contribute guitar tracks for a couple of Youtube channels, to friends for their recordings, and for an indie video game (good friends starting out; didn't charge). I don't see myself ever becoming a pro in recording, post, etc.

I bought Pro Tools perpetual last year to over-prepare for some IT work with a studio. Came across a great deal on perpetual + two years support.

And now, I indeed know the basics of PT, but since I'm more proficient with Reaper and also have Logic on the Macbook, I'm inclined to sell the Pro Tools license. However... there's this nagging feeling that if I sell it, I might not be prepared for some future collaboration or work where having PT (or greater expertise in it) would benefit even someone like me, maybe even lead to something more interesting than what I do for a living now. Or am I likely just overthinking?

I am not asking anyone to make a choice for me but simply looking for thoughts on perhaps use cases or benefits (real or potential) that I might not be considering.

i am not a pro engineer but am a pro musician
leaning towards record engineering and orchestration on the side sort of.
i have not used protools since 2017 when i switched to cubase cos it handles better midi and 1000 plus tracks template and i can not get that out of protools so i switched but also use reaper for sound design really quick.
i did upgrade my pt12 perpetual license last year but it isnt active but ill wait,someday i might need it and then it will maybe be a totally diferent software than it is right now in a good way.
you can keep it and forget about it for awhile or you can sell it. keeping it wont destroy it and maybe a friend of your is setting up a gear for the first time and what do you know you have a licence all of a sudden for him/her.
id say keep it rather than sell it unless you really need the money.

If you're a hobbyist, there's no plausible reason to retain the PT license if you have no real use for it. If an opportunity came up, there are ways to collaborate without PT. If an opportunity came up that required you to have PT, then you could just buy it again. The DAW in either scenario would not be your limiting factor.

You are overthinking this.

I love Pro Tools, but for hobby work, I think it's kind of overkill.

Reaper/Logic won't stop you from making music, and if you're more proficient in one of those, why bother with anything else? I use Reaper all the time for paid work.

One of the only cool things about Avid's subscription model is that it's actually perfect for one-off occasions where you need PT to collaborate for a brief period. If you sell your license and end up needing PT in the future, you can just subscribe for a month or two when needed.

I am a huge fan of Pro Tools, I find it extremely fast, which is important when working with clients. The fact that so much of my work comes in on Pro Tools means, I would have to have a copy anyway, but even beyond that, I personally think it's a great program.

But I also am aware that my opinion may be influenced by the fact that Pro Tools is the software that I am most proficient in. Your comfort in the software is huge. Ideally you want the software to be so comfortable that it "disappears".

That's what PT is for me, but if Reaper is that for you, why look elsewhere?

If your collaborations involve you playing the guitar, I would not give it a second thought. If your collaborations involve you mixing, or involve people coming in to your studio while you engineer, then maybe...

If I call in sick, the owner of my studio has a much easier time finding a pro engineer who can run a Pro Tools session than finding a pro engineer who can run a Reaper session. Never mind the client's expectations. This is true of lot of commercial places. There is some 'mobility' still in PT expertise. But merely keeping a program "around" is not going to build expertise.

Do you want to work as an engineer, running the studio for someone else's musical performances? Even if you do, you should be aware of how rare openings for such "jobs" are.

Cubase or Studio One are better choices if you are not directly working the the AVID food chain feeding movie work. Cubase is more capable with MIDI, but Studio one is easier to use. Cubase integrates with RME great. The choice of DAW can be influenced by what hardware you are using.

Thanks very much to everyone for the input. This is exactly what I was looking for. I think my position is somewhat similar to Austmann up above, where I see its usefulness but just haven't used it much due to availability of other tools.

You know, as silly as it might sound, I think I'm so averse to SaaS in a personal setting that I seem to have subconsciously blocked that option, but it's an incredibly good point. Perfect situation for using a subscription, I have to admit.

Completely agree. I've seen plenty of ragging on it, but to the extent I've used Pro Tools, not a single crash or performance issue, and just my own opinion, but I find its default UI the most tasteful and sensible of all. I did modify some of my Reaper config and shortcuts after only a little exposure to Pro Tools.

This is a good point, because the few times I've been asked to do some initial mixing or other favors for people--even after I had PT installed--I always fired up Reaper, most likely because the work flow I've set up has definitely become the most transparent for me.

I believe that I would love to work as an engineer, because from what I've seen, occasionally involved elsewhere in production, you all seem to have quite high job satisfaction overall. But at my age and comparative experience levels in various things, it's just not realistic. I suppose it makes the most sense for me to sell that license.

If you're not going to use it in the foreseeable future and are only considering keeping it for some unforeseen contingency, then sell it and rent Pro Tools when you need it. You can rent Pro Tools Standard for 1 month for $34.99 and cancel and resubscribe whenever you want. Just make sure you to turn off auto-renewal and make sure not to get the monthly payment but annual commitment plan.