Avid’s Pro Tools 2026.11 update gives audio producers a built-in way to separate recordings into stems and brings third-party production tools into the application’s Edit window.
The software was released November 3, according to Avid’s release notes; the company issued its announcement November 5.
Avid says Stem Separator can extract up to six components: vocals, drums, bass, guitar, keys and other material. Processing takes place on the user’s computer without uploading the audio. The feature is included across Pro Tools editions, including free Intro.
The new Extensions format supports work across tracks or entire sessions. Announced partners include Pro Sound Effects and Soundly for sound libraries, Forte for track organization and Pibox for collaboration. The update also adds MIDI Polyphonic Expression and Windows high-resolution display support.
For station production teams and independent audio creators, local processing offers a way to test separation without sending source recordings to another service. RNN has not benchmarked processing speed or separation quality.
Avid’s technical overview notes that third-party plugins need updated support for full dynamic Windows scaling. Before changing a production workstation, check the release notes against its operating system, plugins and audio interface, and test a copy of a working session.