DigiDesign Pro Tools, Pro Tools 7.2 Reference Manual

Pro Tools

Reference Guide

Version 7.2

This guide is copyrighted ©2006 by Digidesign, a division of Avid Technology, Inc. (hereafter “Digidesign”), with all rights reserved. Under copyright laws, this guide may not be duplicated in whole or in part without the written consent of Digidesign.

96 I/O, 96i I/O, 192 I/O, 888|24 I/O, 882|20 I/O, 1622 I/O, 24-Bit ADAT Bridge I/O, AudioSuite, Avid, AVoption, Digi 002, Digi 002 Rack, DigiDelivery, Digidesign, DigiTranslator, DINR, DV Toolkit, M-Audio, Mbox, Pro Tools M-Powered, Pro Tools, Pro Tools|HD, Pro Tools LE, Smack!, SoundReplacer, and TL Space Native are trademarks or registered trademarks of Digidesign and/or Avid Technology, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Product features, specifications, system requirements, and availability are subject to change without notice.

PN 9106-55481-00 REV A 06/06

Part I Introduction

Chapter 1. Welcome to Pro Tools

The Pro Tools Guides Compatibility Information About www.digidesign.com

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Chapter 2. Pro Tools System Configurations

Pro Tools|HD Systems Pro Tools LE Systems Pro Tools M-Powered Pro Tools LE with DV Toolkit 2 and Pro Tools LE or M-Powered with Music Production Toolkit

Chapter 3. Pro Tools Concepts

Hard Disk Audio Recording The Digidesign Audio Engine Pro Tools Sessions System Resources MIDI Concepts

Chapter 4. Pro Tools Main Windows

The Mix Window The Edit Window The Transport Window Menus and Windows Tool Tips

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Chapter 5. Keyboard and Right-Click Mouse Shortcuts

Right-Click Mouse Shortcuts Global Key Commands Keyboard Focus Numeric Keypad Modes

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Contents

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Part II Sessions & Tracks

Chapter 6. Sessions

Starting Up or Shutting Down Your System Configuring Pro Tools System Settings (in the Playback Engine) Configuring Pro Tools Hardware Settings Creating a New Session Session Files and Folders Opening a Session Saving a Session Creating Custom Session Templates Closing a Session Quitting Pro Tools System Usage Preferences

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Chapter 7. I/O Setup

The I/O Setup Dialog Routing Hardware I/O to Pro Tools I/O Creating and Editing Paths I/O Settings Files I/O Setup Options H/W Insert Delay Compensation

Chapter 8. Tracks

Track Types Track Channel Strips Track Controls and Indicators Adjusting Track Width Creating Tracks The Track List Track Name Right-Click Pop-Up Menus Assigning Inputs and Outputs to Tracks Track Priority and Voice Assignment Setting MIDI Input and Output Soloing and Muting Tracks Making Tracks Inactive Color Coding for Tracks, Regions, Markers and Groups Grouping Tracks Group Controls Working with Groups Setting Group Attributes Enabling Groups Grouped Control Offsets

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Pro Tools Reference Guide

Chapter 9. Importing and Exporting Session Data

Importing Audio Conversion Quality Importing Audio Files and Regions Importing Tracks and Track Attributes Exporting Audio Exporting Pro Tools Tracks as OMFI or AAF Sequences Exporting Sessions as Text Send via DigiDelivery Importing MIDI Files Exporting MIDI Files Importing and Exporting Region Group Files

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Chapter 10. File and Session Management and Compatibility

Audio File Management WAV File Compatibility Sharing Sessions Created on Different Computer Platforms Sharing Sessions Created on Different Pro Tools Systems Sharing Sessions Created on Different Pro Tools Software Versions Multilingual Application Support for Pro Tools Systems

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Part III Recording

Chapter 11. Record Setup

Input Connections and Audio Levels Record Enabling Tracks Record Monitoring Modes Monitor Levels for Record and Playback Monitoring Latency Low Latency Monitoring with Delay Compensation Default Track Names Disk Allocation Allocating Hard Drive Space for Recording Monitoring Drive Space Record Modes Recording with a Click Setting the Default Meter and Tempo

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Chapter 12. Basic Audio Recording

Recording an Audio Track Record Shortcuts Record Pause Mode Recording Additional Takes

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Punch Recording Audio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

Loop Recording Audio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

Auditioning Different Record Takes in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Setting Punch/Loop Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

Recording from a Digital Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

Half-Speed Recording and Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

Chapter 13. MIDI Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

Recording from MIDI Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

Enabling Input Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

MIDI Thru . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

MIDI Input Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

Input Quantize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

Wait for Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

MIDI Merge/Replace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

Configuring MIDI or Instrument Tracks for Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220

Recording to MIDI and Instrument Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

Punch Recording MIDI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223

Loop Recording MIDI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

MIDI Step Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

Recording System Exclusive Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

Chapter 14. Advanced Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

QuickPunch Audio Recording. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

TrackPunch Audio Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

DestructivePunch Audio Recording. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

Part IV Editing

Chapter 15. Editing Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

Pro Tools Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

Track Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254

Displaying Region Names, Region Times, and Other Data in Playlists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259

Audio Regions and Waveforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260

MIDI Regions and MIDI Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

Timebase Rulers and Conductor Rulers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

Main Time Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266

Tick-Based Timing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

Playlists. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270

Multiple Undo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

The Region List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

Edit Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280

Edit Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

Pro Tools Reference Guide

Using the Zoomer Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284

Using the Trim Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Using the Selector Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

Using the Grabber Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

Using the Smart Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294

Using the Scrubber Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296

Using the Pencil Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299

The Universe Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299

Chapter 16. Playing and Selecting Track Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301

Playing Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301

Auto-Scrolling Tracks in the Mix and Edit Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306

Scrolling Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307

Linking or Unlinking Timeline and Edit Selections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308

Linking or Unlinking Track and Edit Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310

Selecting Track Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310

Playing Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320

Timeline Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322

TCE (Time Compression and Expansion) Edit To Timeline Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323

Playing Timeline and Edit Selections with the Playhead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324

Chapter 17. Working with Regions and Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327

Creating New Regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327

Trimming Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331

Healing Separated Regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333

Placing Regions in Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333

Sync Points. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344

Nudging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345

Shift Command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347

Quantizing Regions to Grid. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348

Locking Regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348

Muting/Unmuting Regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349

Replacing Audio Regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349

Choosing an Alternate Channel for a Specific Region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352

Edit Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353

Duplicate Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358

Repeat Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359

Editing Stereo and Multichannel Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360

Processing Audio with AudioSuite Plug-ins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361

Waveform Repair with the Pencil Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361

Region Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362

Region Looping. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370

Contents vii

Chapter 18. Fades and Crossfades. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375

Using Crossfades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375

Creating a Crossfade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381

Creating Fades at the Beginnings and Ends of Regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383

Using AutoFades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384

Creating Fades and Crossfades in Batches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385

Moving and Nudging Fades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386

Separating Regions That Include Fades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389

Trimming Regions That Include Fades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389

Fade Boundaries and Shapes in Displayed Automation View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390

Chapter 19. Managing Regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391

Stripping Silence from Regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391

Inserting Silence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394

Consolidate Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395

Compacting an Audio File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395

Naming and Displaying Regions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396

Chapter 20. Conductor Tracks and Memory Locations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399

Song Start Marker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399

Tempo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400

Graphic Tempo Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404

Changing the Linearity Display Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409

Tempo Operations Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410

Identify Beat Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416

Meter Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420

Time Operations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422

Renumbering Bars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428

Memory Locations and Markers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428

Memory Locations Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435

Chapter 21. Beat Detective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437

Beat Detective Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438

The Beat Detective Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439

Beat Detective Modes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439

Defining a Beat Detective Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440

Calculating Tempo with Beat Detective. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441

Generating Beat Triggers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442

Generating Bar|Beat Markers with Beat Detective. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447

DigiGroove Templates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448

Separating Regions with Beat Detective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450

Conforming Regions with Beat Detective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452

Edit Smoothing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454

Detection (Normal) and Collection Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456

Pro Tools Reference Guideviii

Part V MIDI Editing

Chapter 22. MIDI Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461

Mirrored MIDI Editing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461

The Pencil Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462

Custom Note Duration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463

Setting the Grid Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464

Inserting MIDI Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464

Manually Editing MIDI Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465

Time Compression/Expansion Trim Tool Functionality on MIDI Regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470

Continuous Controller Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472

Patch Select (Program and Bank Changes) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474

System Exclusive Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478

Note and Controller Chasing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479

Offsetting MIDI Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480

Stuck Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481

Remove Duplicate Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481

Chapter 23. MIDI Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483

MIDI Operations Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483

Grid/Groove Quantize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484

Restore Performance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494

Flatten Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495

Change Velocity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496

Change Duration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498

Transpose. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500

Select/Split Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501

Input Quantize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503

Step Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503

MIDI Real-Time Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506

Chapter 24. MIDI Event List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513

The MIDI Event List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513

Inserting Events in the MIDI Event List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516

Editing in the MIDI Event List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518

MIDI Event List Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 520

Contents ix

Part VI Mixing

Chapter 25. Basic Mixing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523

Mixing Concepts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523

Metering and Calibration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523

Track Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524

Inserts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531

Views in the Mix and Edit Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532

Audio Input and Output Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535

Sends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537

Output Windows for Tracks and Sends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543

Submixing for Signal Routing and Effects Processing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 548

Delay Compensation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553

Dither . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 557

Using a Control Surface with Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558

Chapter 26. Plug-in and Hardware Inserts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559

Inserting Plug-ins on Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563

Plug-in Menu Organization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565

Default EQ and Dynamics Plug-ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 567

Moving and Duplicating Plug-in and Hardware Inserts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 567

The Plug-in Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 568

Using the Librarian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 571

Editing Plug-in Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 576

Using Hardware Inserts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 578

Connecting and Integrating External Devices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 579

Chapter 27. Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 581

Automation Quick Start. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 581

Automation Playlists. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 582

Automation Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 584

Automation Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589

Viewing Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 591

Writing Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 592

Enabling and Suspending Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 601

Deleting Automation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 603

Thinning Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 604

Drawing Automation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 605

Editing Automation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 606

Trimming Automation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615

Writing Automation to the Start, End, or All of a Track or Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 617

Writing Automation to the Next Breakpoint or to the Punch Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 619

Guidelines for “Write To” Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 622

Overwriting or Extending Mute Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 623

Pro Tools Reference Guidex

Creating Snapshot Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 625

Previewing Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 628

Capturing Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 630

VCA Master Track Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 632

Chapter 28. Mixdown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 635

Recording to Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 637

Bounce to Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 638

Bounce Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 639

Recording a Submix (with Bounce to Disk). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 645

Final Mixdown. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 646

Mastering. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 647

Part VII Video, Sync, & Surround

Chapter 29. Working with Video in Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 651

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 651

About QuickTime. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 652

Before Starting Your Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 652

Video Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 653

Video Track Controls and Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 654

Locking Video Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 656

Setting the Video Engine Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 656

Importing Video into Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 657

Extracting Audio from QuickTime-Compatible Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 660

Video Regions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 661

General Video Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 662

Video Region Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 665

Using the Video Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 665

Browsing Video in the Video Universe Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 666

Playback of HD QuickTime Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 668

FireWire Playback of QuickTime DV Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 668

Bouncing the Video Track to a QuickTime Movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 671

Chapter 30. Working with Synchronization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 673

Pro Tools Synchronization Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 673

Session Setup Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 675

Preparing to Work with SMPTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 679

Configuring Pro Tools for SMPTE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 679

Pull Up and Pull Down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 682

Putting Pro Tools Online. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 686

Generating Time Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 686

Using MIDI Machine Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 687

Contents xi

Setting Minimum Sync Delay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 690

Remote Track Arming. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 690

MIDI Beat Clock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 691

Spotting Regions to SMPTE Frame Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 691

Time Stamping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 694

Identifying a Synchronization Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 696

Troubleshooting Synchronization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 696

Chapter 31. Pro Tools Setup for Surround (Pro Tools HD Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 699

Pro Tools Audio Connections for 5.1 Mixing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 699

Configuring Pro Tools for Multichannel Sessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 700

Default I/O Selectors in I/O Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 703

5.1 Track Layouts, Routing, and Metering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 704

Chapter 32. Multichannel Tracks and Signal Routing (Pro Tools HD Only). . . . . . . . . . . . . 705

Multichannel Quick Start. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 705

Multichannel Audio Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 706

Multichannel Signal Routing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 709

Paths in Surround Mixes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 712

Example Paths and Signal Routing for a Surround Mix. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 714

Chapter 33. Surround Panning and Mixing (Pro Tools HD Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 719

Introduction to Pro Tools Surround Panning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 719

Output Windows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 720

Standard Controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 721

Surround Panner Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 722

Panning Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 724

Divergence and Center Percentage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 727

LFE Faders in Multichannel Panners. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 729

Pan Playlists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 730

Surround Scope Plug-in. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 730

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 731

Pro Tools Reference Guidexii

Part I: Introduction

Chapter 1: Welcome to Pro Tools

Welcome to Pro Tools®. Pro Tools integrates powerful multitrack digital audio and MIDI sequencing features, giving you everything you need to record, arrange, edit, mix, and master quality audio for music, video, ﬁlm, and multimedia.

The Pro Tools Guides

Pro Tools systems include the following guides:

Getting Started Guide Instructions for installing your Pro Tools system and connecting your studio. For Pro Tools LE and M-Powered, these guides also contain speciﬁc methods for accomplishing common tasks (such as recording in a Pro Tools session, importing audio from a CD, and creating an audio CD from a Pro Tools session).

Pro Tools Reference Guide Full details on all Pro Tools functionality and operations. (Pro Tools LE and M-Powered systems only include an electronic PDF version of the Reference Guide.)

DigiRack Plug-ins Guide Electronic PDF guide with instructions for using the DigiRack plugins (included with Pro Tools) for both real-time and file-based audio processing in Pro Tools.

Digidesign Plug-ins Guide Electronic PDF guide with instructions for using optional Digidesign plug-ins for both real-time and file-based audio processing in Pro Tools.

DigiBase Guide Full details on using Pro Tools DigiBase databasing and browsers for data and media management. (Pro Tools LE and M-Powered systems only include an electronic PDF version of this guide.)

Expanded Systems Guide (Pro Tools|HD Systems Only) Instructions for expanding a Pro Tools|HD

system with optional Digidesign cards or an expansion chassis.

MachineControl™ Guide (Pro Tools|HD Systems Only) Electronic PDF guide for MachineControl

option, includes installation and operation instructions for using the MachineControl option for Pro Tools to enable serial communication with remote audio and video transports.

Pro Tools Menus Guide Electronic PDF guide to the Pro Tools on-screen menus.

Pro Tools Keyboard Shortcuts Separate electronic PDF guides for Windows and Mac that list keyboard and Right-click shortcuts, including those shown in Pro Tools menus.

Additional Guides

Additional PDF guides (such as a Glossary) are installed with Pro Tools. Refer to your Pro Tool documentation folder.

Chapter 1: Welcome to Pro Tools 3

Digidesign also provides guides with audio interfaces, dedicated worksurfaces (such as D-Control) and controllers (such as Command|8), and other Digidesign options (such as MIDI I/O, PRE, and SYNC I/O). Refer to the separate guide provided with each Digidesign product.

Conventions Used in These Guides

The Pro Tools guides use the following conventions to indicate menu choices, keyboard commands, and mouse commands:

Convention Action

File > Save Choose Save from the

File menu

Control+N Hold down the Control

key and press the N key

Control-click Hold down the Control

key and click the mouse button

Right-click Click with the right

mouse button

The following symbols are used to highlight important information:

User Tips are helpful hints for getting the most from your Pro Tools system.

Compatibility Information

Digidesign can only assure compatibility and provide support for hardware and software it has tested and approved.

For a list of Digidesign-qualified computers, operating systems, hard drives, and third-party devices, refer to the Digidesign Web site (www.digidesign.com).

About www.digidesign.com

The Digidesign Web site (www.digidesign.com) is your best online source for information to help you get the most out of your Pro Tools system. The following are just a few of the services and features available.

Registration Register your purchase online. See the registration form included with your system for instructions.

Support Contact Digidesign Technical Support or Customer Service; download software updates and the latest online manuals; browse the Compatibility documents for system requirements; search the online Answerbase or join the worldwide Pro Tools community on the Digidesign User Conference.

Important Notices include information that could affect your Pro Tools session data or the performance of your Pro Tools system.

Shortcuts show you useful keyboard or mouse shortcuts.

Cross References point to related sections in this guide and other Digidesign guides.

Pro Tools Reference Guide4

Training and Education Study on your own using courses available online or find out how you can learn in a classroom setting at a certified Pro Tools training center.

Products and Developers Learn about Digidesign products; download demo software or learn about our Development Partners and their plugins, applications, and hardware.

News and Events Get the latest news from Digidesign or sign up for a Pro Tools demo.

Chapter 2: Pro Tools System Conﬁgurations

There are three types of Pro Tools systems:

Pro Tools|HD These systems include Pro Tools HD tem hardware.

Pro Tools LE These systems include Pro Tools LE™ software for Digi 002 Digi 002 Rack™, Mbox

Pro Tools M-Powered™ These systems include Pro Tools M-Powered software for Digidesignqualified M-Audio

software for Pro Tools|HD sys-

2, or Mbox® hardware.

interfaces.

Optional Systems

Pro Tools LE with DV Toolkit 2 Pro Tools LE systems that have been upgraded with the DV Toolkit™ 2 software option.

Pro Tools LE or M-Powered with Music Production Toolkit Pro Tools LE or M-Powered systems that

have been upgraded with the Music Production Toolkit software option.

Pro Tools|HD Systems

Pro Tools|HD systems are available in the conﬁgurations shown on page 6. Each system requires at least one Digidesign audio interface (sold separately). Pro Tools|HD systems can be expanded by adding Pro Tools|HD system cards to increase track count, add to the amount of possible plug-in and mixer processing, and connect additional audio interfaces.

Pro Tools system performance depends on factors such as computer processor speed, amount of system memory, and hard drive performance. Contact your Digidesign dealer or visit Digidesign’s Web site for the latest system requirements and compatibility information.

Chapter 2: Pro Tools System Conﬁgurations 5

Pro Tools|HD Systems

Pro Tools|HD 1

Includes:

• HD Core card

• Pro Tools HD software

Pro Tools|HD 2 Accel

Includes:

• HD Core card

• HD Accel card

• Pro Tools HD software

Pro Tools|HD 3 Accel

Includes:

• HD Core card

• Two HD Accel cards

• Pro Tools HD software

Pro Tools|HD 2

Supported Audio Interfaces

(Pro Tools|HD Systems Only)

The following audio interfaces are compatible with Pro Tools|HD systems:

• 192 I/O™

• 192 Digital I/O™

• 96 I/O™

• 96i I/O™

Pro Tools|HD systems require the use of at least one 192 I/O, 192 Digital I/O, 96 I/O, or 96i I/O.

The following “Legacy” Digidesign audio interfaces are supported with Pro Tools|HD systems:

• 888|24 I/O™ and 882|20 I/O™

• 1622 I/O™

• 24-bit ADAT Bridge I/O™

“Legacy” I/Os (such as 888|24 I/O) require the use of at least one 192 I/O, 192 Digital I/O, 96 I/O, or 96i I/O.

Includes:

• HD Core card

• HD Process card

• Pro Tools HD software

Pro Tools|HD 3

Includes:

• HD Core card

• Two HD Process cards

• Pro Tools HD software

HD Accel and HD Process cards can be used in the same system. For more information, refer to the Pro Tools|HD Getting Started Guide.

Pro Tools Reference Guide6

Pro Tools|HD System Playback, Recording and Voice Limits

The following table lists the audio playback, recording, and voiceable track limits of each type of Pro Tools|HD system. Playback and recording voices refer to the number of unique simultaneous playback and record tracks on your system. Total voiceable tracks refers to the maximum number of audio tracks that can share the available voices on your system. (Mono tracks take up one voice. Stereo and multichannel tracks take up one voice per channel.) Voice limits are dependent on the session sample rate and the number of DSP chips dedicated to the system’s Playback Engine. Pro Tools|HD systems can open sessions with up to 256 audio tracks, but any audio tracks beyond that system’s voiceable track limit will be automatically set to Voice Off.

Table 3. Pro Tools|HD system audio playback, recording and voice limits

Playback

Sample

Core System Type

Pro Tools|HD 1 44.1/48 96 96 112

Pro Tools|HD Accel 2, Pro Tools|HD Accel 3

Pro Tools|HD 2, Pro Tools|HD 3, or any expanded Pro Tools|HD system

Rate (kHz)

88.2/96 48 48 48

176.4/192 12 12 12

44.1/48 192 192 224

88.2/96 96 96 120

176.4/192 36 36 36

44.1/48 128 128 224

88.2/96 64 64 80

176.4/192 24 24 24

Voices (Mono Tracks of Simultaneous Playback)

Recording Voices (Mono Tracks of Simultaneous Recording)

Total Voiceable Tracks

Pro Tools|HD systems provide up to 160 Auxiliary Input tracks and a total of 128 internal mix busses. These systems also provide up to 5 inserts and 10 sends per track (depending on the DSP capacity of your system). In addition, Pro Tools|HD systems support up to 128 Instrument tracks and 256 MIDI tracks.

Chapter 2: Pro Tools System Conﬁgurations 7

Audio Interfaces for Pro Tools|HD Systems

Table 4 lists the input and output capabilities of the various audio interfaces for Pro Tools|HD systems.

Table 4. Pro Tools|HD system audio interface channel capabilities

Interface Type

192 I/O 16 in/16 out 44.1, 48, 88.2,

192 Digital I/O 16 in/16 out 44.1, 48, 88.2,

96 I/O 16 in/16 out 44.1, 48, 88.2, 9624-bit 24-bit 24-bit

96i I/O 16 in/2 out 44.1, 48, 88.2, 9624-bit 24-bit 24-bit

888|24 I/O 8 in/8 out 44.1, 48 24-bit 24-bit (or

882|20 I/O 8 in/8 out 44.1, 48 20-bit 20-bit 24-bit

1622 I/O 16 in/2 out 44.1, 48 20-bit 24-bit 24-bit

24-bit ADAT Bridge I/O

Number of I/O Channels

16 in/16 out 44.1, 48 None 24-bit 24-bit

Sample Rates (kHz)

96, 176.4, 192

A/D Conversion

24-bit 24-bit 24-bit

None None 24-bit

D/A Conversion

20-bit, on older I/O)

Digital I/O

24-bit

You can expand your Pro Tools|HD system by adding Pro Tools|HD cards to your computer, either directly in the computer or using an expansion chassis. Expanding your Pro Tools system will provide an increased track count, add to the amount of possible plug-in and mixer processing, and let you connect additional audio interfaces. For more information, see the Expanded Systems Guide.

“Legacy” I/Os (such as 888|24 I/O) require the use of at least one 192 I/O, 192 Digital I/O, 96 I/O, or 96i I/O.

Pro Tools Reference Guide8

Pro Tools LE Systems

Pro Tools LE-based systems are available in the following configurations:

Digi 002

A Digi 002 system includes:

• Digi 002 combined audio and MIDI interface, with a controller

• Pro Tools LE software

Digi 002 Rack

A Digi 002 Rack system includes:

• Digi 002 audio and MIDI interface

• Pro Tools LE software

Mbox 2

An Mbox 2 system includes:

• Mbox 2 audio and MIDI interface

• Pro Tools LE software

Processing Capacity

The total processing capacity of a Pro Tools LE system depends on the processing power of your computer. Contact your Digidesign dealer or visit Digidesign’s Web site (www.digidesign.com) for the latest system requirements and compatibility information.

Mbox

An Mbox system includes:

• Mbox audio interface

• Pro Tools LE software

Chapter 2: Pro Tools System Conﬁgurations 9

Pro Tools LE System Capabilities

Table 5 lists the playback, recording, and input and output capabilities of each Pro Tools LE system. Mono tracks of simultaneous playback refers to the number of unique simultaneous playback and record tracks on your system. Total voiceable tracks refers to the maximum number of audio tracks that can share the available voices on your system. (Mono tracks take up a single audio track, while stereo tracks take up two tracks.) If you open a Pro Tools session created on a Pro Tools|HD system containing more than the number of tracks supported on the LE-based system, audio tracks beyond the LE system’s voiceable track limit will be automatically set to inactive.

Table 5. Pro Tools LE system audio playback, recording, and channel capabilities

System Type

Digi 002 or Digi 002 Rack

Mbox 2 or Mbox

Mono Tracks of Simultaneous Playback

32 128 up to 18 in/18 out

32 128 up to 2 in/2 out 24-bit 24-bit 24-bit

Total Voiceable Tracks

Number of I/O Channels

(48 kHz or lower)

up to 10 in/10 out (88.2 or 96 kHz)

A/D Conversion

24-bit 24-bit 24-bit

D/A Conversion

Digital I/O

Pro Tools LE systems provide up to 128 Auxiliary Input tracks, a total of 32 internal mix busses, and up to 5 inserts and 10 sends per track (depending on your computer’s processing capacity). In addition, Pro Tools LE systems support up to 32 Instrument tracks and 256 MIDI tracks.

For details on transferring session material between Pro Tools|HD and Pro Tools LE systems, see “Sharing Sessions Created on Different Pro Tools Systems” on page 170.

Pro Tools M-Powered

A Pro Tools M-Powered system includes:

• Pro Tools M-Powered software

• Digidesign-qualiﬁed M-Audio interface (not supplied with M-Powered software)

References to Pro Tools LE in this guide are usually interchangeable with Pro Tools M-Powered, except as noted in this guide and the Pro Tools M-Powered Getting Started Guide.

For the most current list of Digidesign-qualified M-Audio interfaces, see the Digidesign Web site (www.digidesign.com)

Pro Tools Reference Guide10

Pro Tools LE with DV Toolkit 2 and Pro Tools LE or M-Powered with Music Production Toolkit

In addition to all the regular capabilities provided with Pro Tools LE and Pro Tools M-Powered, Pro Tools LE systems equipped with DV Toolkit 2 and Pro Tools LE and M-Powered systems equipped with Music Production Toolkit provide expanded capabilities.

Support for 48 Mono or Stereo Tracks

Pro Tools LE systems with the DV Toolkit 2 option and Pro Tools LE or M-Powered systems with the Music Production Toolkit option let you play or record up to 48 simultaneous stereo or mono tracks. These higher track counts may require additional drives and faster Digidesignqualified computers.

Visit the Digidesign Web site for more information (www.digidesign.com).

For more information on track priority and voice assignment, see “Voice Assignment with Toolkit Options” on page 114.

Support for Up to 24 QuickPunch Tracks

With DV Toolkit 2 or Music Production Toolkit, up to 24 mono or stereo audio tracks can be simultaneously recorded with QuickPunch.

The combination of audio tracks and QuickPunch tracks cannot be greater than

48.

DV Toolkit 2 Capabilitites

(Pro Tools LE Only)

Pro Tools LE Features

DV Toolkit 2 enables the following features for working with audio, film, video, or digital video in Pro Tools LE:

• Session and track features:

• Up to 48 audio tracks of simultaneous playback or recording, mono or stereo

• Ability to use QuickPunch on up to 24 tracks

• Import Session Data options (Destination Track Names, Time Code Mapping, Find Matching Tracks, Session Data to Import, Track Playlist)

• MP3 export option (for bounce recording or exporting a region as an MP3 ﬁle)

• DigiBase Pro (including support for Catalog browsers and the ability to search on multiple criteria simultaneously in DigiBase browsers)

• Editing features:

• Universe window

• Continuous Scroll

• Scrub Trim tool

• Replace Region command

• TCE Edit to Timeline Selection command

• Mixing and Automation features

• Snapshot automation for writing or trimming automation data

• Glide Automation commands

Chapter 2: Pro Tools System Conﬁgurations 11

• Time code and synchronization features:

• Timebase rulers (Time Code and Feet+Frames)

• Time Code Rate selector

• Feet+Frame Rate selector

• Current Time Code Position command

• Current Feet+Frames Position command

• Use Subframes option

• Audio Rate Pull Up and Pull Down

• Video Rate Pull Up and Pull Down

Optional Software

DV Toolkit 2 includes the following optional software for working with audio or digital video in Pro Tools LE:

DINR™ (Digidesign Intelligent Noise Reduction™) LE Plug-in For reducing noise in audio.

DigiTranslator™ Software Option For exchanging

audio and video files, and sequences with other AAF and OMFI-compatible applications.

TL Space Native™ Convolution Reverb Plug-in For applying convolution reverbs to your

audio.

VocALign Project Plug-in from Synchro Arts Software For automatically adjusting the timing of

one audio signal to match another.

Music Production Toolkit Overview

(Pro Tools LE and Pro Tools M-Powered Only)

Pro Tools Features

Music Production Toolkit enables the following features in Pro Tools LE and M-Powered:

• Session and track features:

• Up to 48 audio tracks of simultaneous playback or recording, mono or stereo

• Ability to use QuickPunch on up to 24 tracks

• MP3 export option (for bounce recording or exporting a region as an MP3 ﬁle)

• Beat Detective features:

• Ability to apply Beat Detective across multiple tracks

• Collection Mode

Optional Software

Music Production Toolkit includes the following optional software for working with Pro Tools LE and M-Powered:

DINR™ (Digidesign Intelligent Noise Reduction™) LE Plug-in For reducing noise in audio.

Hybrid RTAS Synthesizer Plug-in For use as a vir-

tual instrument in your Pro Tools sessions.

Smack!™ LE Compressor Plug-in For applying compression to your audio.

SoundReplacer™ Plug-in For replacing one sound in a track with another (such as replacing only the snares in your drum track with a different one-hit sample)

TL Space Native™ Convolution Reverb Plug-in For applying convolution reverbs to your

audio.

Pro Tools Reference Guide12

Chapter 3: Pro Tools Concepts

This chapter explains the principles and concepts that form the foundation of Pro Tools operation and functionality.

Hard Disk Audio Recording

Tape-based recording is a linear medium—you need to rewind or fast forward a tape to hear a particular spot in a recording. To rearrange or repeat material in a linear system, you need to rerecord it, or cut and splice it.

Hard disk recording is a nonlinear (or random access) medium—you can go immediately to any spot in a recording without having to rewind or fast forward.

Nonlinear systems have several advantages. You can easily rearrange or repeat parts of a recording by making the hard disk read parts of the recording in a different order and/or multiple times. In addition, this re-arrangement is non- destructive, meaning that the original recorded material is not altered.

Pro Tools is a nonlinear recording system that lets you rearrange and mix recorded material nondestructively.

The Digidesign Audio Engine

DAE (or Digidesign Audio Engine) is Digidesign’s real-time operating system for digital audio recording, playback, and processing. When you install Pro Tools, DAE is automatically installed on your system.

In the same way that a computer’s operating system provides the foundation for programs that run on the computer, DAE provides the foundation for much of the hard disk recording, digital signal processing, and mix automation required by Pro Tools and other products from Digidesign and its Development Partners.

The DAE Playback Buffer Size determines the amount of memory DAE allocates to manage disk buffers.

For information on configuring the DAE Playback Buffer Size, see “DAE Playback Buffer Size” on page 45.

The DAE Playback Buffer Size can be changed in the Playback Engine dialog (see “Playback Engine Dialog” on page 14).

Chapter 3: Pro Tools Concepts 13

Playback Engine Dialog

Pro Tools takes advantage of your computer’s host processor for certain tasks and optional host-based DSP processing.

Pro Tools LE uses host (CPU) processing to provide audio track recording, playback, mixing, and effects processing. Pro Tools HD can also use host processing to run RTAS plug-ins for effects processing. Performance is determined by your system and its Playback Engine settings.

The Playback Engine dialog lets you set a hardware buffer size and allocate a percentage of CPU resources for these tasks.

Pro Tools Sessions

When you start a project in Pro Tools, you create a session. Some basic elements of sessions are explained in this section.

Session File

A session ﬁle is the document that Pro Tools cre- ates when you choose File > New Session and configure a new session. Pro Tools can open only one session file at a time. The session file is named with a .ptf (Pro Tools file) extension. Session files contain maps of all elements associated with a project, including audio files, MIDI data, and all your edit and mix information. It is important to realize that a Pro Tools session file does not contain any media files (audio or video). Instead, it references audio, video, MIDI, and other files. You can make changes to a session and save those changes in a new session file. This lets you create multiple versions of a session or back up your editing and mixing work.

Playback Engine dialog for Pro Tools HD

On Pro Tools|HD systems, you can select the number of voices and voiceable tracks for your system and its sessions. Voice count choices are based on how much DSP processing you want to allocate for voicing.

For more information, see “Configuring Pro Tools System Settings (in the Playback Engine)” on page 41. See also “System Resources” on page 18.

On Pro Tools|HD systems, the Playback Engine dialog is also where you assign dedicated DSP resources for Delay Compensation.

Pro Tools Reference Guide14

Pro Tools HD, Pro Tools LE, and Pro Tools MPowered have different session file icons.

Pro Tools HD

Session ﬁle icons

Although there are different session file icons, the session files may be opened by all three applications (with certain restrictions). See “Opening a Session” on page 51.

Pro Tools LE

Pro Tools M-Powered

When a session is transferred to a different Pro Tools system, its session file icon will change to the icon type of the destination system.

Tracks

Pro Tools tracks are where audio, MIDI, and automation data are recorded and edited. Pro Tools tracks also provide audio channels for routing internal busses, and physical inputs and outputs for audio and MIDI.

Pro Tools provides seven types of tracks: audio tracks, Auxiliary Inputs, Master Faders, VCA Masters, MIDI tracks, Instruments tracks, and video tracks.

Audio track in the Edit window (stereo track shown)

Video tracks support both QuickTime movies and Avid video, but an individual video track can play back only one of these types of video at a time.

Audio, Auxiliary Input, Master Fader, VCA Master (Pro Tools HD only), and Instrument tracks can be mono, stereo, or multichannel (Pro Tools HD only). When creating a new track, you can choose from a list of formats supported by your system.

Audio File

When you record audio into a Pro Tools session, audio files are created.

Audio ﬁle icon

MIDI track in the Edit window

Audio, MIDI, and Instrument track data can be edited into regions or repeated in different locations to create loops, re-arrange sections or entire songs, or to assemble tracks using material from multiple takes.

Auxiliary Input tracks can route internal audio busses or physical inputs to internal busses or physical outputs. Auxiliary Inputs are typically used for audio effects busses, audio throughput, and submixing.

Master Fader tracks provide controls for physical audio output channels, including the volume level of your mix, panning, and plug-in inserts.

VCA Masters (Pro Tools HD only) provide control of tracks in a Mix Group that has been assigned to the VCA Master.

Audio files for each session are stored in a folder named “Audio Files.” Audio files are listed in the Pro Tools Region List and can appear in an audio track. A section of an audio file can be defined as a region. See “Regions” on page 15.

Regions

Audio region

A region is a segment of audio or MIDI data. A re- gion could be a drum loop, a guitar riff, a verse of a song, a recording take, a sound effect, some dialog, or an entire sound file. A region can also have associated automation data. In Pro Tools, regions are created from audio or MIDI files, and can be arranged in audio and MIDI track playlists. Regions can also be grouped and looped.

Chapter 3: Pro Tools Concepts 15

Playlist

A playlist can be made up of a single region or many separate regions. It can be made up of similar elements, such as regions from several different takes of a solo, or dissimilar elements, such as several sound effects.

You can create any number of alternate edit playlists for a track. This lets you assemble different versions of performances or edits on a single track and choose between them from a popup menu on the track.

Playlist selector pop-up menu

A playlist is a sequence of regions arranged on an audio or MIDI track. Tracks have edit playlists and automation playlists.

On audio tracks, an edit playlist tells the hard disk which audio regions to play in what order. For example, you can use the same audio region to access the same piece of audio multiple times at different locations and not use additional disk space. Different versions of the same original audio can be used in different places and have different effects applied. On MIDI and Instrument tracks, edit playlists can store multiple MIDI sequences (or performances) on a track.

INPUTS 1-4

SW CTRL GAIN

2456

INPUTS 5-16

+4dBu/–12dBV

8910111213141516

OUTPUT

+4dBu/–10dBV

Each track also has a single set of automation playlists, for volume, pan, mute, and each automation-enabled control for the insert and send assignments on that track.

Channel

The term channel is used to describe several related components of a Pro Tools system. The first example of channel refers to a physical input or output of your Pro Tools system.

For example, a 96 I/O audio interface (Figure 1) provides up to 16 channels of input and output to a Pro Tools|HD system, while an Mbox 2 audio interface provides up to four inputs and two outputs

Figure 1. Back view of 96 I/O, with eight analog inputs, eight analog outputs, and eight digital input/output channels (using a lightpipe)

Pro Tools Reference Guide16

The second use of the term channel refers to a channel strip in the Pro Tools Mix window. Each track in a Pro Tools session has a corresponding channel strip in the Mix window.

Audio and MIDI channel strips have similar controls, but those controls have slightly different effects. For example, audio and Auxiliary Input channel strip faders control the output gain to the mix bus for that channel, while MIDI channel strip faders send MIDI volume data (MIDI controller 7) to the MIDI instrument. Instrument track channel strips combine a MIDI track and Auxiliary Input into a single channel strip.

Signal Routing

Pro Tools provides software-based mixing and signal routing controls. The Mix window is where these controls are located. (Some of these controls can also be accessed from the Edit window.)

A common signal routing task is to submix multiple tracks to a single channel strip (such as an Auxiliary Input or a Master Fader) for shared processing and level control. The following example shows three audio tracks submixed to a stereo Auxiliary Input.

Stereo

Inserts

Sends

Outputs to stereo bus path

plug-in

Input from stereo bus path

Output to stereo output path

Figure 2. Channel strip in the Mix window (audio track)

The term channel also describes a separate aspect of MIDI operation. See “MIDI Concepts” on page 20.

Audio tracks

Submixing to an Auxiliary Input

Chapter 3: Pro Tools Concepts 17

Auxiliary

Inputs

Signal Routing Options

Signal routing options include the following:

Track Input and Output (I/O) Controls The most basic type of signal routing is track input and output. A track needs to have an assigned input path to record audio, and an assigned output path in order to be audible through a hardware output. Signals can also be routed to or from other tracks in Pro Tools (or hardware inputs and outputs) using internal busses.

Auxiliary Inputs and Master Faders Auxiliary Inputs are tracks that can be used as returns, submixers, and bus masters. Master Faders are used as bus and output master level controls. Both Auxiliary Inputs and Master Faders can have plug-in and hardware inserts.

Instrument Tracks Instrument tracks let you route sound from a plug-in instrument to outputs, sends and busses, or other inserts.

Sends Sends route audio from tracks to hardware outputs, or to internal busses that are in turn routed to other tracks within Pro Tools. Master Faders and VCA Masters do not have sends.

Plug-in and Hardware Inserts Plug-in processing occurs completely within the Pro Tools system. Hardware inserts utilize audio interface inputs and outputs, for traditional insert routing to and from external effects and other devices.

Paths Paths are any routing option in Pro Tools, including internal or external inputs, outputs, busses, and inserts. Pro Tools lets you name these paths, and these path names appear in the Audio Input and Output Path selectors and other menus. See Chapter 7, “I/O Setup” for more information.

Mixing Formats Sessions can include combinations of mono, stereo, and multichannel format tracks, busses, inputs, outputs, and inserts. (Multichannel formats are supported on Pro Tools|HD systems only.)

System Resources

Track count, plug-in processing, signal path and routing options, and voice availability are ultimately limited by the combined resources available from the host computer, and from your Pro Tools hardware.

Pro Tools provides several ways to manage and conserve resources to maximize the performance of your system. As you begin working with Pro Tools sessions and tracks, you can take advantage of the following features to extend the effectiveness of your available DSP and other resources:

◆ Pro Tools lets you adjust the performance of

your system by changing system settings that affect its capacity for processing, playback, and recording. See “Conﬁguring Pro Tools System Settings (in the Playback Engine)” on page 41.

◆ In order to free up needed DSP resources,

Pro Tools allows for certain items (such as tracks and inserts) to be manually made inactive. Inactive elements are viewable, editable, and retained within the session. See “Active and Inactive Items” on page 19.

◆ All Pro Tools systems provide ﬂexible voice

options for audio tracks, to help maximize use of available voices in your system. For more information on voice management and options, see “Voice Borrowing” on page 115.

Pro Tools Reference Guide18

Active and Inactive Items

Pro Tools lets you make certain items (such as tracks and inserts) inactive, in order to free up DSP resources and mixer connections.

Items in Pro Tools that can be made inactive (or active) include the following:

• Audio, Auxiliary Input, Master Fader, VCA Master, and Instrument tracks

• Track Inputs and Outputs

• Sends

• Side-chain inputs

• Plug-ins

• Hardware inserts

• Paths (session-wide)

MIDI tracks cannot be made inactive.

In addition to manually setting Active and Inactive modes, Pro Tools automatically makes items inactive if there are insufficient or unavailable resources.

Tracks When a track is made inactive, its voices become available for another track. Mono inactive tracks free up one voice; stereo and multichannel tracks free up one voice per channel. Additionally, when an audio, Auxiliary Input, Instrument, or Master Fader track is made inactive, its plug-ins, inserts, sends, and I/O assignments become inactive, and the associated DSP used is freed up for use elsewhere in the session.

Display of Inactive Items

When items are inactive, their names appear in italics, and their background becomes dark grey. When a track is inactive, the entire channel strip is grayed out.

Active Inactive plug-in

When active, items are fully engaged and operational.

When inactive, items are silent and off, although most associated controls can still be adjusted. Different inactive items affect available system resources in specific ways, as follows:

Plug-ins When a plug-in is inactive on a track, its DSP is made available for other plug-ins and processing. Plug-in assignments can be made inactive manually, or automatically (see “Automatic and Manual Inactive Mode” on page 20).

Paths and Path Assignments When a path or path assignment is inactive, its mixer resources are made available for other signal routing purposes in the session. Paths and assignments can be made inactive manually, or automatically (see “Automatic and Manual Inactive Mode” on page 20).

Inactive track

Active and inactive items and tracks

Chapter 3: Pro Tools Concepts 19

Automatic and Manual Inactive Mode

Active and Inactive modes are powerful options for session transfer and system resource management. Pro Tools provides automatic and manual Inactive mode switching. You can manually make items inactive (or active) to selectively manage system resources while editing and mixing.

You can apply Active or Inactive modes to all or all selected tracks using standard Pro Tools modifiers (Alt and Alt+Shift in Windows, Option and Option+Shift on the Mac).

Side-chain inputs support direct active and inactive switching, but do not follow switching all or all selected side-chain inputs.

Automatically Inactive Items

When opening a session, it is possible that not all signal paths, plug-ins, or audio interfaces used in the session will be available as defined on the current system. When opening a session, sufficient voices may also be unavailable if the session was created on a different Pro Tools system type (for example, opening a session created on a Pro Tools HD system on a Pro Tools LE system).

Whenever this occurs, the session will open as it was last saved. All items that are unavailable, or cannot be loaded due to insufficient resources, are made inactive.

Manual Inactive Switching

You can manually apply Active or Inactive modes to manage system resources. By making an item inactive, its associated resources are made available elsewhere in the session.

The following are basic instructions for manually making items inactive. Throughout the Pro Tools Reference Guide, instructions are provided whenever an item can be made inactive.

MIDI Concepts

MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a communication protocol for musical instruments. This industry standard enables connections between a variety of devices from different manufacturers. Examples of MIDI-compatible equipment include synthesizers, sound modules, drum machines, patch bays, effects processors, MIDI interfaces, MIDI control surfaces, and sequencers.

MIDI devices are equipped with 5-pin DIN connectors, labeled as either IN, OUT, or THRU. The MIDI OUT port transmits messages. The MIDI IN port receives messages. The MIDI THRU echoes whatever is received from the IN port. MIDI devices are connected with MIDI cables that are available at most music stores.

echoed from IN

To toggle an item active or inactive:

■ Control-Start-click (Windows) or Command-

Control-click (Mac) the item.

Pro Tools Reference Guide20

MIDI signal ﬂow

Not all devices will have all three MIDI ports (IN, OUT, and THRU).

The MIDI protocol provides 16-channels of MIDI per port. A single MIDI cable can transmit a separate set of messages for each of the 16 channels. These 16 channels correspond to separate MIDI devices or to multiple channels within a single device (if the device is multi-tim- bral). Each channel can control a different instrument sound. For example, bass on channel 1, piano on channel 2, and drums on channel 10. Similar to a multitrack tape recorder, a MIDI sequencer can record complex arrangements—even using a single multi-timbral keyboard.

MIDI Terms

The following are some basic MIDI terms:

MIDI Instrument A hardware MIDI device or software plug-in (such as a virtual synth or instrument plug-in). In this guide, “instrument” usually refers to soft synths and plug-in instruments.

MIDI Interface Hardware that lets computers connect to and communicate with MIDI devices.

MIDI Device Any keyboard, sound module, effects device, or other equipment that can send or receive MIDI information.

MIDI Controller Any MIDI device that transmits MIDI performance data. These include keyboards, MIDI guitar controllers, MIDI wind instruments, and others. Controllers transmit MIDI from their MIDI OUT ports.

MIDI Control Surface Any device (such as the Digidesign Command|8), which uses a MIDI connection to send control messages to a software program, but is not generally used to record MIDI information.

MIDI Tone Generator (MIDI Sound Source) Any MIDI device capable of playing back MIDI-triggered sound. Sound sources receive MIDI from their MIDI IN ports.

Multi-Timbral The ability of one MIDI device to play several different instrument sounds (such as piano, bass, and drums) simultaneously on separate MIDI channels. This makes it possible for a single multi-timbral MIDI instrument to play back entire arrangements.

MIDI Channel Up to 16 channels of MIDI performance data can be transmitted on a single MIDI cable. The channel number separates the different messages so your sound sources can receive the right ones.

Program Change Event A MIDI command that tells a sound source which of its sounds (or sound patches) to use. The MIDI protocol lets you choose from a range of 128 patches.

Bank Select Message Many devices have more than 128 patches, which are arranged in banks. The Bank Select Message is a MIDI command that specifies the bank of patches from which to choose.

Local Control A controller setting found on most MIDI keyboards that lets them play their own sound source. Disabling “local control” ensures that a device’s internal sound source is only played by external MIDI messages (such as those sent from Pro Tools when MIDI in Pro Tools is routed to the MIDI keyboard). When using Pro Tools, “local control” should usually be disabled. When “local control” is off, your keyboard still transmits data to its MIDI OUT port.

Continuous Controller Events MIDI instructions that allow real-time changes to notes that are currently sounding. These include pitch bend, modulation, volume, pan, and many others.

Chapter 3: Pro Tools Concepts 21

System Exclusive Data MIDI data commonly used for sending and retrieving patch parameter information for storage purposes.

To actually hear an external MIDI instrument, you need to connect its audio outputs to a mixing console or connect it to one of the audio inputs of your Pro Tools audio interface.

Common MIDI Misconceptions

MIDI is not audio, and by itself makes no sound. MIDI is control information only. It is like the piano roll for a player piano; it provides control information for what note to play when, for how long, and at what volume. For example, when you strike a key on a MIDI keyboard, it sends a message to a MIDI instrument or tone generator to play that particular note at that particular velocity. This could be its internal tone generator, an external MIDI instrument, or an instrument plug-in, which can be contained completely within Pro Tools. In order to create or play a MIDI recording, you must have a MIDI instrument. Audio from your instrument can be sent to an external mixer or monitored through your Pro Tools audio interface.

If you are using an external MIDI instrument, it must be connected to MIDI ports that are recognized by your computer. These ports can be on a Pro Tools interface that has MIDI ports (such as MIDI I/O, Mbox 2, or a Digidesign-qualified MAudio interface) or some other MIDI interface.

Just as each Pro Tools system has unique hardware features, each MIDI device has its own features (and limitations) as to the number of voices and instruments it can play at one time. Consult the device’s documentation for information on its capabilities.

When using MIDI with instrument plug-ins in Pro Tools, virtual MIDI nodes. These nodes act like virtual MIDI ports and provide software MIDI connections between Pro Tools and other MIDI software, such as instrument plug-ins. For example, when you insert Propellerhead’s Reason as a ReWire client on a track, its various MIDI inputs to Reason become available to Pro Tools MIDI and Instrument track MIDI outputs.

Signal paths for external MIDI instruments

Pro Tools Reference Guide22

Chapter 4: Pro Tools Main Windows

Pro Tools provides two complementary ways of viewing a session: the Mix window and the Edit window. Pro Tools also lets you control the transport and transport-related functions using the Transport window.

To toggle between the Mix and Edit windows, press Control+Equals (=) (Windows), or press Command+Equals (=) (Mac).

For information on the main elements of the Mix window and Edit window, see the page references provided in Figure 3 on page 24, and Figure 4 on page 25.

The Mix Window

In the Mix window, tracks appear as channel strips, with controls for:

• inserts

• sends

• input and output assignments

• volume

• panning

• record enable

• automation mode

• solo/mute

• mic preamps (Pro Tools HD only)

To display the Mix window:

■ Choose Window > Mix.

To display all Mix window view options:

■ Select View > Mix Window > All.

For information on selecting individual view options, see “Views in the Mix and Edit Windows” on page 532.

The Edit Window

The Edit window provides a timeline display of audio, as well as MIDI data and mixer automation for recording, editing, and arranging tracks. As in the Mix window, each track has controls for record enable, solo, mute, and automation mode.

To display the Edit window:

■ Choose Window > Edit.

To display all Edit window view options:

■ Select View > Edit Window > All.

For information on selecting individual view options, see “Views in the Mix and Edit Windows” on page 532.

Chapter 4: Pro Tools Main Windows 23

Track List

(page 107)

Automation

Mode selector

(page 584)

Pan Slider

(page 100)

Output Window

button

(page 543)

Group ID indicator

(page 129)

Voice selector

(page 114)

Mix Group

List

(page 126)

AutoMatch

indicator

(page 592)

Delay

Compensation

View (page 534)

Show/Hide

Track List/Group List

View

(page 107)

Mix Window

View selector

(page 532)

Send with

Send controls

(page 537)

Stereo

Audio Track

(page 96)

Mono

Audio Track

(page 96)

Plug-in Insert

(page 528)

Instrument

(page 99)

Auxiliary

Input

(page 97)

Track

MIDI

Track

(page 99)

Track Color

Coding

(page 123)

Master

Fader

(page 98)

Instrument

View

(page 533)

Inserts

View

(page 533)

Sends

View

(page 533)

Track

Path Selectors

and Controls

(page 26)

Volume

Fader

(page 101)

Level meter

(page 101)

MIDI Track

Patch Select

button

(page 474)

Track Name

button

(page 103)

Track

Comments

View

(page 533)

Figure 3. Pro Tools Mix window

Pro Tools Reference Guide24

Commands Keyboard Focus

(page 36)

Graphic Tempo

Editor

(page 404)

Edit Mode

buttons

(page 280)

Tab to

Transients

(page 319)

Timebase

rulers

(page 265)

Track List

(page 107)

Audio Track

(page 95)

Track View

selector

(page 255)

Timebase

selector

(page 269)

Edit Group

List

(page 269)

Show/Hide

Track List/Group List

View

(page 107)

Timeline Selections

(page 322)

Zoom buttons

(page 284)

MIDI Track (page 96)

Edit tools (page 26)

MIDI Velocity View

(page 468)

Edit Selection indicators

(page 26)

Grid and

Nudge values

(page 27)

Selected Region

(page 311)

Event Edit Area

(page 26)

MIDI Notes View

(page 262)

Transport controls

(page 27)

Timeline

Region

List

(page 275)

Region

Group

(page 362)

Volume

Automation

View

(page 591)

Audio

Waveform

View

(page 260)

Show/Hide Region List (page 275)

Figure 4. Pro Tools Edit window

Chapter 4: Pro Tools Main Windows 25

Track Path Selectors and Controls

Audio Input Path selector (page 100)

Audio Output Path selector (page 100)

Automation Mode selector (page 584)

Record Enable button (page 180)

TrackInput Monitor button (page 183)

Mute Button (page 121)

Solo button (page 119)

Mix window track controls for mono audio track (Wide View)

Record Enable button (page 180)

Track Name button (page 103)

Playlist selector (page 270)

Edit Window Counters and Selection Indicators

Main and Sub Counters

Main and Sub Counters (page 305)

Edit window display showing counters

The Main and Sub Counters can be set for different Time Scale formats (such as Samples, Bars:Beats, or Minutes:Seconds). For more information, see “Main Time Scale” on page 266. These counters are also displayed in the Transport window.

Solo button (page 119)

Mute button (page 121)

Track Height selector (page 258)

Voice selector (page 114)

Automation Mode selector (page 584)

Track View selector (page 255)

TrackInput Monitor button (page 183)

Timebase selector (page 269)

Edit window track controls for stereo audio track (medium track height)

Edit Tools

Trim tools

(page 289)

Zoomer tool

(page 284)

Zoom Toggle

(page 284)

Selector

tool

(page 301)

Smart Tool (page 294)

Edit tools in Edit window

Grabber

(page 312)

Scrubber tool

tools

Duration button (page 463)

(page 296)

Pencil tool

(page 462)

Custom Note

Edit Selection Indicators

Edit Selection indicators (page 305)

Edit Selection indicators in the Edit window

The Edit Selection Start, End, and Length indicators display can be set for different Time Scale formats (such as Samples, Bars:Beats, or Minutes:Seconds). For more information, see “Main Time Scale” on page 266.

Event Edit Area

The Event Edit Area provides time, pitch, and other information for the currently selected audio or MIDI data. It also lets you deﬁne selections using the keyboard.

Note Attributes (page 469)

Release Velocity

Event Edit Area showing MIDI track information

Pitch

Attack Velocity

Pro Tools Reference Guide26

Edit Window Bar

The Edit Window bar contain various selectors, commands, indicators, and pop-up menus for working in the Pro Tools Edit window.

Cursor Location Indicators

View Selectors

Ruler View selector (page 532)

Edit window View selector (page 532)

View selectors in the Edit Window bar

Commands

Linearity Display

Mode (page 409)

Tab to Transients

(page 319)

Commands Keyboard Focus

(page 36)

Link Timeline and Edit Selection

Commands in the Edit Window bar

Mirrored MIDI

Editing

(page 461)

Link Track and Edit Selection

(page 310)

(page 308)

Grid/Nudge Value Indicators and PopUp Menus

Cursor Location indicator (page 301)

Cursor Location Value indicator

(page 301)

Cursor Location indicators in the Edit Window bar

The Transport Window

The Transport window can be set to show basic transport controls, counters, MIDI controls, and expanded features. The counters in the Transport window mirror the controls and counters at the top of the Edit window.

To display the Transport window:

■ Choose Window > Transport.

Basic Transport Controls and Counters

Track Record Enable indicator

Stop

Fast Forward

Play

Go to End

Record

Enable

Return to Zero

Rewind

Online

Grid Value indicator

(page 342)

Grid Value pop-up menu

(page 342)

Nudge Value indicator

(page 345))

Nudge Value

pop-up menu

(page 345)

Grid/Nudge Value indicators and pop-up menus in the Edit Window bar

Pre-Roll

Post-Roll

Transport Master

Pre-Roll indicator

Post-Roll indicator

Start, End, and Length

Selection indicators

TrackInput Monitor

indicator

Transport window showing basic transport controls and counters (Main and Sub Counters and MIDI not shown)

Chapter 4: Pro Tools Main Windows 27

Online Puts Pro Tools online so that playback and recording is triggered by an external time code source.

Return to Zero Locates to the beginning of the session.

Press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac) to Return to Zero.

Stop Stops playback or recording.

You can also stop the transport by pressing the Spacebar, or with the Numeric Keypad mode set to Transport, pressing 0.

Play Starts playback or (if the Record Enable button was clicked first) recording from the Timeline insertion point.

Right-clicking the Return to Zero button accesses the Write to Start and Write to All automation commands.

Rewind Rewinds from the current play location. You can also click repeatedly to rewind incrementally, by an amount based on the Main Time Scale, as follows:

Rewind Increments

Main Time Scale Format Increment Amount

Min:Sec 1 second

Time Code

(Pro Tools HD or Pro Tools LE with DV Toolkit 2)

Bars:Beats 1 bar

Feet+Frame

(Pro Tools HD or Pro Tools LE with DV Toolkit 2)

Sample 1 second

1 frame

1 foot

You can also begin playback by pressing the Spacebar, or with the Numeric Keypad mode set to Transport, pressing 0.

Right-clicking the Play button lets you choose a playback mode from the pop-up menu:

• Half Speed

• Prime for Playback

• Loop Playback

To initiate playback at half-speed, you can also press Shift+Spacebar (Windows or Mac) or Shift-click (Mac) the Play button.

With the Transport stopped, Start-click Play (Windows) or Control-click Play (Mac) to toggle Loop Playback mode. When enabled, a loop symbol appears in the Play button and Pro Tools plays continuously from the beginning of the selection to the end.

For more information on loop playback, see “Looping Playback” on page 321.

With the Numeric Keypad mode set to Transport, you can rewind by pressing 1.

Pro Tools Reference Guide28

Fast Forward Fast forwards from the Timeline insertion point. You can also click repeatedly to fast forward incrementally (by an amount based on the Main Time Scale).

Fast Forward Increments

Main Time Scale Format Increment Amount

Right-clicking the Record Enable button lets you choose a record mode from the pop-up menu.

You can also cycle through the Pro Tools record modes with the Transport stopped, by Startclicking (Windows) or Control-clicking (Mac) the Record Enable button.

Min:Sec 1 second

Time Code

(Pro Tools HD or Pro Tools LE with DV Toolkit 2)

Bars:Beats 1 bar

Feet+Frame

(Pro Tools HD or Pro Tools LE with DV Toolkit 2)

Sample 1 second

1 frame

1 foot

With Numeric Keypad mode set to Transport, you can fast forward by pressing 2.

Go to End Locates to the end of the session.

You can press Control+Enter (Windows) or Option+Return (Mac) on the QWERTY keyboard to locate to the end of the session.

You can also Right-click the Go to End button to access automation commands Write to End and Write to All.

Record Enable Arms Pro Tools for recording (the button flashes). Clicking Play then initiates recording on record-enabled tracks only.

The Record Enable button changes to indicate the currently selected mode: blank for Nondestructive, “D” for Destructive, a loop symbol for Loop Record, “P” for QuickPunch, “T” for TrackPunch, and “DP” for DestructivePunch.

To initiate recording at half-speed, you can press Control+Shift+Spacebar (Windows) or Command+Shift+Spacebar (Mac).

Track Record Enable Indicator When lit (red), indicates that at least one audio track is currently record-enabled. When off (grey), no tracks are currently record-enabled.

TrackInput Monitor Indicator When lit (green), indicates that at least one audio track is currently set to Input Only monitoring (regardless of record enable status). When off (grey), all tracks are in Auto Input monitoring.

Pre-Roll During playback or record, specifies the amount that plays before the play (timeline) Cursor location or beginning of the Timeline selection. Pre-roll is particularly useful with punch recording since it provides you with time to “catch the beat” before reaching the punch-in point. To set the pre-roll amount, enter a new value in this field, or drag the Pre-Roll flag in the Main Timebase ruler.

You can also begin recording by pressing F12, pressing Control+Spacebar (Windows) or Command+Spacebar (Mac), or with the Numeric Keypad mode set to Transport, pressing 3.

To enable pre-roll:

■ Click the Pre-Roll button to the left of the pre-

roll ﬁeld so it becomes highlighted.

Chapter 4: Pro Tools Main Windows 29

Post-Roll During playback or record, specifies the amount that plays after the end of a Timeline selection. Post-roll is useful in punch recording since playback continues after the punch-out point so you can check for a smooth transition to previously recorded material. To set the post-roll amount, enter a new value in this field, or drag the Post-Roll flag in the Main Timebase ruler.

To enable post-roll:

■ Click the Post-Roll button to the left of the

post-roll ﬁeld so it becomes highlighted.

Start Specifies the beginning of the play or record range. You can set the start point by entering a location in this field, or by dragging the corresponding Playback Marker in the Main Timebase ruler. For more information, see “Playback Markers” on page 208.

End Specifies the end of the play or record range. You can set the end point by entering a location in this field, or by dragging the corresponding Playback Marker in the Main Timebase ruler. For more information, see “Playback Markers” on page 208.

To set a Transport Master:

■ Click the Transport Master selector, click the

Transport pop-up menu, and select a Transport Master: Pro Tools, Machine, MMC (MIDI Machine Control), or Remote.

To take a device ofﬂine:

■ Click the Transport Master selector, click the

Online pop-up menu, and uncheck the device (MIDI or Machine). Device choices depend on the current Transport Master, and which devices have been set up in Pro Tools.

To bring the device back online, recheck it in the Online pop-up menu.

If you using an MMC device, see Chapter 30, “Working with Synchronization.”

If you are using the Digidesign MachineControl option, see the MachineControl Guide.

Length Specifies the length for the play or record range. You can set the length by entering a location in this field, or by selecting a range in any Timebase ruler.

When the Timeline and Edit selections are linked, you can drag in a track’s playlist to set the play and record range. See “Linking or Unlinking Timeline and Edit Selections” on page 308

Transport Master Selector Specifies the “master” for transport functions and provides a control to take enabled devices offline.

Pro Tools Reference Guide30

MIDI Controls

Countoff

Metronome Click

Wait for Note

Tempo Ruler

Enable

Tempo Resolution (Beat Value) pop-up menu

Transport window showing MIDI controls

Tempo slider

To view the MIDI controls in the Transport, do one of the following:

■ Select View > Transport > MIDI Controls.

– or –

■ Control-click (Windows) or Command-click

(Mac) the Expand/Collapse “+” button in the Transport window to display the MIDI controls.

Expand/Collapse “+” button

MIDI Merge

Current Meter

Current Tempo

Metronome Click When selected, Pro Tools will generate a metronome pulse that can be set to trigger built-in sounds or MIDI instruments during playback and recording.

The Pro Tools metronome is configured in the Click/Countoff Options dialog. Double-click the Metronome Click button to open the Click/Countoff Options dialog.

With the Numeric Keypad mode set to Transport, you can press 7 to enable the Metronome Click.

Countoff When selected, Pro Tools counts off a specified number of measures (indicated in the button) before playback or recording begins.

Double-click the Countoff button, to open the Click/Countoff Options dialog.

With the Numeric Keypad mode set to Transport, you can press 8 to enable the Countoff.

MIDI Merge When selected (Merge mode), recorded MIDI data is merged with existing track material. When deselected (Replace mode), recorded MIDI data replaces existing track material.

Transport Window with MIDI Controls

Wait for Note When selected, recording does not begin until a MIDI event is received. This ensures that you begin recording when you’re ready to play, and that the ﬁrst note, or other MIDI data, is recorded precisely at the beginning of the record range.

You can press F11 to turn on Wait for Note, unless the MIDI preference for “Disable F11 for Wait for Note” is selected.

With the Numeric Keypad mode set to Transport, you can press 9 to enable MIDI Merge.

Tempo Ruler Enable (Conductor) When selected, Pro Tools uses the tempo map defined in the Tempo ruler. When deselected, Pro Tools switches to Manual Tempo mode and ignores the Tempo ruler.

In Manual Tempo mode, you can enter a BPM value in the tempo field, or tap in the tempo by clicking the T key on your QWERTY keyboard.

Chapter 4: Pro Tools Main Windows 31

Tempo Slider When the Tempo Ruler Enable (Conductor) is disabled, Pro Tools ignores the tempo events in the Tempo track and instead plays back the speciﬁed Manual Tempo. This tempo can be set with the Tempo slider.

Current Meter Displays the session’s current meter based on the play location. Double-click the Current Meter indicator to open the Change Meter window.

Current Tempo Displays the session’s current tempo based on the play location. In Manual Tempo mode, you can enter a BPM value into this field, or manually tap in a tempo with a computer keyboard or an external MIDI keyboard.

Menus and Windows

Pro Tools menus provide commands and options for configuring and working with Pro Tools, sessions, and session material.

For detailed information on Pro Tools main menus and Region List pop-up menus, see the Pro Tools Menus Guide.

Pro Tools Main Menus

Pro Tools includes the following main menus:

File Provides commands that are used to create and maintain Pro Tools sessions.

Region Provides commands that are used to manage and edit regions.

Event Provides commands for editing audio and MIDI events.

AudioSuite Provides AudioSuite plug-ins.

Options Provides commands that let you select

several editing, recording, monitoring, playback, and display options.

Setup Provides commands to open dialogs and windows or configure various Pro Tools hardware and software parameters.

Window Provides commands to toggle the display of various Pro Tools windows.

Track, Region, and Group List Menus

The Track, Region, and Group Lists provide popup menus for managing and working with the contents of each list, as follows.

Track List Pop-Up Menu Provides commands to show and hide tracks in the Mix and Edit windows. The Track List pop-up menu also lets you sort the contents of the Track List.

For a complete list, see “The Track List” on page 107.

Group List Pop-Up Menus (Edit Groups and Mix Groups) Provides commands to create, display,

suspend, and delete Mix and Edit Groups.

Edit Provides commands that are used to edit and manipulate the current selection and affect data in the timeline or the clipboard.

View Provides options and commands to customize what is shown in various windows.

Track Provides commands that are used to create, manage, and edit tracks.

Pro Tools Reference Guide32

For a complete list, see “The Group List” on page 127

Region List Pop-Up Menu (Edit Window Only) Provides commands to find, select, sort,

clear, rename, time stamp, compact, export, and recalculate waveform overviews of items in the Region List. The pop-up menu also lets you set the drop order for regions dragged from the Region List and dropped in the timeline.

For a complete list, see “The Region List” on page 275.

Track Name and Region Name RightClick Pop-Up Menus

Group Name and Track Group ID Indicator Pop-Up Menus

When you click and hold on a group name in the Group List, or click on a Group ID indicator in a track, a pop-up menu provides access to various group commands (such as selecting tracks in a group).

For a complete list, see “Group Name and Track Group ID Indicator Pop-Up Menus” on page 129.

Track and region names provide pop-up menus for managing and working with tracks or regions, as follows:

Track Name Right-Click Pop-Up Menu Rightclicking a track name in the Edit window, Mix window, or the Track List provides access to various track commands (such as show/hide, make active/inactive, rename, duplicate, and delete tracks).

For a complete list, see “Track Name RightClick Pop-Up Menus” on page 110.

Region Name Right-Click Pop-Up Menu (Edit Window Only) Right-clicking a region name in

the Region List provides commands to clear, rename, time stamp, or replace regions. The popup menu also lets you export region definitions or selected regions as files, recalculate waveform overviews, select the parent file of selected regions in the DigiBase Workspace Browser, or select a region as an object in the Edit window.

For a complete list, see “The Region List” on page 275.

Tool Tips

Pro Tools provides Tool Tips in all main windows. Holding the cursor for a few seconds over an abbreviated name, or unlabeled icon or tool, displays either the function or details of the item (depending on the Tool Tips preferences settings).

To conﬁgure Tool Tips for Pro Tools:

1 Choose Setup > Preferences, and click the Dis-

play tab.

2 In the Basics section, click the Tool Tips op-

tions you want displayed.

Function Shows the functional name of different Pro Tools items (such as specific buttons, indicators, modes, selectors, and Edit tools).

Details Shows abbreviated or hidden Pro Tools names or values for different Pro Tools items (such as insert names, gain levels, settings, and routing assignments).

Leave both options unchecked to turn off Tool Tips.

3 Click OK.

Chapter 4: Pro Tools Main Windows 33

Pro Tools Reference Guide34

Chapter 5: Keyboard and Right-Click Mouse Shortcuts

This chapter provides an overview of Pro Tools keyboard and mouse shortcuts.

Global Key Commands

A PDF listing of all shortcuts is available in Pro Tools. Choose Help > Keyboard Shortcuts.

Right-Click Mouse Shortcuts

Pro Tools provides Right-click shortcuts for choosing various Pro Tools commands and menus with any Right-click capable mouse.

For a complete list of Right-click shortcuts, refer to the PDF versions of the

Shortcuts Guides

Keyboard

This section shows keyboard shortcuts that apply to many functions in Pro Tools.

Track Functions

Pro Tools provides keyboard shortcuts for the following track functions:

• Changing Automation mode

• Enabling playlists

• Adding plug-ins

• Record enabling, soloing, and muting tracks

• Record saﬁng and solo saﬁng tracks

• Assigning inputs, outputs, and sends

• Toggling volume/peak/delay display

• Clearing meters

• Changing track heights

Command Windows Mac

Apply action to all channel strips/tracks

Apply action to selected channel strips/tracks

Alt+ action

Alt+ Shift+ action

Option+ action

Option+ Shift+ action

Chapter 5: Keyboard and Right-Click Mouse Shortcuts 35

List and Parameter Selection

There are three types of Keyboard Focus:

Pro Tools provides keyboard shortcuts for the following items:

• Selection of tracks in Track List

• Enabling of groups in Group List

• Automation Enable window parameters

• Setting Memory Location parameters

Command Windows Mac

Toggle item and set all others to same new state

Toggle item and set all others to opposite state

Alt-click item Option-click

item

Control-click item

Commandclick item

Controls and Editing Tools

Pro Tools provides keyboard shortcuts for moving plug-in controls, faders and sliders, the Scrubber, and automation data.

Command Windows Mac

Fine adjustment of sliders, knobs, and breakpoints

Hold Control while clicking the item

Hold Command while clicking the item

Commands Keyboard Focus When selected, this provides a wide range of single key shortcuts from the QWERTY keyboard for editing and playing.

With Commands Keyboard Focus disabled, you can still access any of its key shortcuts by pressing the Start key (Windows) or Control (Mac) along with the key.

Region List Keyboard Focus When selected, audio regions, MIDI regions, and Region Groups can be located and selected in the Region List by typing the first few letters of the region’s name.

Group List Keyboard Focus When selected, Mix and Edit Groups can be enabled or disabled by typing the Group ID letter (in either the Mix or Edit window).

Commands Keyboard Focus

(in the Edit Window bar)

Group List

Keyboard Focus

Region List

Keyboard Focus

The Keyboard Focus in Pro Tools determines how the alpha keys function. Depending on which Keyboard Focus is enabled, you can use the keys on your QWERTY (alpha) keyboard to select regions in the Region List, enable or disable groups, or perform an edit or play command.

You can only enable one of the three Keyboard Focus modes at a time. Enabling a Keyboard Focus will disable the one previously enabled.

Pro Tools Reference Guide36

Keyboard Focus buttons

To set the Keyboard Focus, do one of the following:

■ Click the a–z button for the focus you want to

enable.

– or –

■ While pressing Control+Alt (Windows) or

Command+Option (Mac), press one of the following keys: 1 (Commands), 2 (Region List), or 3 (Group List).

Although multiple plug-in windows can have a keyboard focus enabled, only the front-most window will receive any keyboard input.

Shuttle Lock Modes

With either Shuttle Lock mode (Classic or Transport) you can use the numeric keypad to shuttle forward or backwards at speciﬁc speeds.

• 5 is normal speed.

• 6–9 provide increasingly faster fast-forward speeds.

• 1–4 provide progressively faster rewind speeds (4 is the slowest rewind Shuttle Lock speed, 1 is the fastest).

• Press 0 to stop Shuttle Lock, then press the number to resume Shuttle Lock speed.

• Press Escape or Spacebar to exit Shuttle Lock mode.

Numeric Keypad Modes

The Operation preference for Numeric Keypad mode determines how the numeric keypad functions for Transport.

There are two Shuttle Lock modes (Classic and Transport), and one Shuttle mode.

No matter which Numeric Keypad mode is selected, you can always use the numeric keypad to select and enter values in the Event Edit Area, Edit Selection indicators, Main and Sub Counters, and Transport fields.

To set the Numeric Keypad Mode:

1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click the Op-

eration tab.

2 In the Transport section, select a Numeric Key-

pad mode (Classic, Transport, or Shuttle).

3 Click OK.

For more information on each mode, see “Numeric Keypad Mode” on page 63.

Custom Shuttle Lock Speed

(Pro Tools HD and Pro Tools LE with DV Toolkit 2 Only)

The highest fast-forward Shuttle Lock speed (key 9) can be customized.

For information, see “Custom Shuttle Lock Speed” on page 298.

Classic Mode

This mode emulates the way Pro Tools worked in versions lower than 5.0. With the Numeric Keypad mode set to Classic, you can:

• Play up to two tracks of audio in Shuttle Lock mode. Press the Start key (Windows) or Control (Mac), followed by 1–9 for different play speeds.

• Press Plus or Minus to reverse direction.

• Press 0 to stop Shuttle Lock, then press the number to resume Shuttle Lock speed.

• Press Escape or Spacebar to exit Shuttle Lock mode.

• Recall Memory Locations by typing the Memory Location, followed by a Period (.).

Chapter 5: Keyboard and Right-Click Mouse Shortcuts 37

Transport Mode

This mode allows you to set a number of record and play functions, and also operate the Transport from the numeric keypad.

Function Key

Click on/off 7

Countoff on/off 8

MIDI Merge/Replace mode 9

Loop Playback mode on/off 4

Loop Record mode on/off 5

QuickPunch mode on/off 6

Rewind 1

Fast Forward 2

Record enable 3

Play/Stop 0

With the Numeric Keypad mode set to Transport, you can also:

• Play up to two tracks of audio in Shuttle Lock mode. Press the Start key (Windows) or Control (Mac), followed by 1–9 for different play speeds.

• Press Plus or Minus to reverse direction.

• Press 0 to stop Shuttle Lock, then press the number to resume Shuttle Lock speed.

• Press Escape or Spacebar to exit Shuttle Lock mode.

• Recall Memory Locations by typing Period (.), the Memory Location number, and Period (.) again.

Shuttle Mode

(Pro Tools HD Only)

Pro Tools offers another form of shuttling, different from that of the two Shuttle Lock modes. With the Numeric Keypad mode set to Shuttle, playback of the current Edit selection is triggered by pressing and holding the keys on the numeric keypad—playback stops once the keys are released. Various playback speeds are available in both forward and reverse. In this mode, pre- and post-roll are ignored.

Playback Speeds Key

1x Forward 6

1x Rewind 4

4x Forward 9

4x Rewind 7

1/4x Forward 3

1/4x Rewind 1

1/2x Forward 5+6

1/2x Rewind 5+4

2x Forward 8+9

2x Rewind 8+7

1/16x Forward 2+3

1/16x Rewind 2+1

Loop Selection (1x) 0

With the Numeric Keypad mode set to Shuttle, you can also:

• Recall Memory Locations by typing Period (.), the Memory Location number, and Period (.) again.

Shuttle Lock modes are not available when the Numeric Keypad mode is set to Shuttle.

Pro Tools Reference Guide38

Part II: Sessions & Tracks

Chapter 6: Sessions

This chapter covers the basics of starting a project in Pro Tools, including how to set up and save a Pro Tools session.

Starting Up or Shutting Down Your System

To ensure that the components of your Pro Tools system communicate properly with each other, you need to start them in a particular order.

Start up your Pro Tools system in this order:

1 For Pro Tools|HD systems with an expansion

chassis, turn on the chassis.

2 Turn on any external hard drives. Wait ap-

proximately ten seconds for them to spin up to speed.

3 Turn on any MIDI interfaces, MIDI devices, or

synchronization peripherals.

4 Lower the volume of all output devices in

your system.

5 For Pro Tools|HD systems, turn on your

Pro Tools audio interfaces. Wait at least ﬁfteen seconds for your system hardware to initialize.

6 Turn on your computer.

7 Launch Pro Tools or any third-party audio or

MIDI applications.

Shut down your Pro Tools system in this order:

1 Quit Pro Tools and any other running applica-

tions.

• To quit Pro Tools, choose File > Exit (Windows) or Pro Tools > Quit (Mac)

2 Turn off or lower the volume of all output de-

vices in your system.

3 Turn off your computer.

4 For Pro Tools|HD systems, turn off audio inter-

faces.

5 For Pro Tools|HD systems with an expansion

chassis, turn off the chassis.

6 Turn off any MIDI interfaces, MIDI devices, or

synchronization peripherals.

7 Turn off any external hard drives.

Conﬁguring Pro Tools System Settings (in the Playback Engine)

Pro Tools allows you to adjust the performance of your system by changing system settings that affect its capacity for processing, playback, and recording.

These system settings are changed in the Playback Engine Dialog (Setup > Playback Engine).

Chapter 6: Sessions 41

In most cases, the default settings for your system provide optimum performance, but you may want to adjust them to accommodate large or processing-intensive Pro Tools sessions.

Hardware Buffer Size

The Hardware Buffer Size (H/W Buffer Size) controls the size of the hardware cache used to handle host-based tasks such as Real-Time AudioSuite (RTAS) plug-in processing.

◆ Lower Hardware Buffer Size settings reduce

monitoring latency, and are useful when you are recording live input.

◆ Higher Hardware Buffer Size settings allow for

more audio processing and effects, and are useful when you are mixing and using more RTAS plug-ins.

In addition to causing slower screen response and monitoring latency, higher Hardware Buffer Size settings can affect the accuracy of plug-in automation, mute data, and timing for MIDI tracks.

To change the Hardware Buffer Size:

1 Choose Setup > Playback Engine.

2 From the H/W Buffer Size pop-up menu, select

the audio buffer size, in samples.

3 Click OK.

bination with the CPU Usage Limit setting, the RTAS Processors setting lets you control the way RTAS processing and other Pro Tools tasks are carried out by the system.

For example:

• For sessions with large numbers of RTAS plugins you can allocate 2 or more processors to RTAS and set a high CPU Usage Limit.

• In sessions with few RTAS plug-ins, you can allocate fewer processors to RTAS and set a low CPU Usage Limit to leave more CPU resources available for automation accuracy, screen response, or video.

• Increase or decrease these settings to accommodate TDM/RTAS plug-in conversion. TDM/RTAS conversion can be desirable during recording, depending on the latencies, voicing needs, and record-monitoring capabilities of TDM and RTAS plug-ins.

• Depending on the importance of video and overall screen response, and on the density of automation being employed, different combinations of RTAS Processing and CPU Usage Limit settings may achieve the best results. For example, to improve screen response in a medium-sized session using a moderate number of RTAS plug-ins, try reducing the number of RTAS processors but keep the CPU Usage Limit set to the maximum (99%) on a single processor system.

RTAS Processors

The RTAS Processors setting determines the number of processors in your computer allocated for RTAS (real-time plug-ins) plug-in processing.

With computers that have multiple processors, or that feature multi-core processing or hyperthreading, this setting lets you enable multi-processor support for RTAS processes. Used in com-

Pro Tools Reference Guide42

The System Usage window shows the combined amount of RTAS processing occurring on all enabled processors with a single indicator, regardless of how many CPUs are in the system. If the System Usage Window shows that you are at the limit of available resources, increase the number of RTAS processors and/or the CPU Usage Limit setting. (For more information, see “System Usage” on page 59.)

To set the number of RTAS Processors:

1 Choose Setup > Playback Engine.

Playback Engine dialog

2 From the RTAS Processing pop-up menu, se-

lect the number of available processors you want to allocate. The number of processors available varies depending on how many processors are available on your computer:

• Choose 1 Processor to limit RTAS processing to one CPU in the system.

• Choose 2 Processors to enable load balancing across two available processors.

• On systems running four or more processors, choose the desired number of RTAS processors as needed.

◆ Higher CPU Usage Limit settings allocate

more processing power to Pro Tools, and are useful for playing back large sessions or using more real-time plug-ins.

The maximum CPU Usage Limit is 85 percent for single-processor computers (except for Digi 002, which has a limit of 99 percent), and 99 percent for multi-process computers. (The 99 percent setting dedicates one entire processor to Pro Tools.

On multi-processor computers, the maximum CPU Usage Limit is reduced when you use all your processors (as selected in the RTAS Processing pop-up menu). For example, on dual-processors, the limit will be 90%. On four-processor computers, the limit will be 95%.

Increasing the CPU Usage Limit may slow down screen responses on slower computers.

To change the CPU Usage Limit:

1 Choose Setup > Playback Engine.

2 From the CPU Usage Limit pop-up menu, se-

lect the percentage of CPU processing you want to allocate to Pro Tools.

3 Click OK.

CPU Usage Limit

The CPU Usage Limit controls the percentage of CPU resources allocated to Pro Tools host processing tasks. Used in combination with the RTAS Processors setting, the CPU Usage Limit setting lets you control the way Pro Tools tasks are carried out by the system.

◆ Lower CPU Usage Limit settings limit the ef-

fect of Pro Tools processing on other CPU-intensive tasks, such as screen redraws, and are useful when you are experiencing slow system response, or when running other applications at the same time as Pro Tools.

3 Click OK.

Number of Voices

(Pro Tools HD Only)

On Pro Tools|HD systems, the Number of Voices setting lets you control the number of available voices and how those voices are allocated to DSPs in your system. For example, the default number of voices on a Pro Tools|HD 1 system is 48 voices, using one DSP (at sample rates of

44.1 kHz or 48 kHz).

Changing the number of voices affects DSP usage, the total number of voiceable tracks, and overall system performance.

Chapter 6: Sessions 43

Depending on the current sample rate and the number of Pro Tools|HD cards in your system, you will have different choices for voice count. For voice limits on different Pro Tools|HD systems, see “Pro Tools|HD System Playback, Recording and Voice Limits” on page 7.

Default Sample Rate

The Sample Rate setting appears as the default sample rate when you create a new session. (This setting is available only when there is no session open.)

To change the number of voices and DSP to allocate for voicing:

1 Choose Setup > Playback Engine.

Playback Engine dialog

2 Select the number of voices and DSPs to allo-

cate for voicing by selecting a value from the Number of Voices pop-up menu.

• Select higher voice numbers when your Pro Tools|HD cards are the only PCI cards in your computer, or when you are using an expansion chassis to run higher track counts.

• Select medium voice numbers when your Pro Tools|HD cards are in an expansion chassis, or when you are using other PCI cards along with Pro Tools|HD cards.

• Select minimum voice numbers if you are using high-bandwidth PCI cards (such as video capture cards) along with your Pro Tools|HD cards. In addition, to free up DSP for plug-ins and processing, select the minimum number of voices and DSPs needed to play back the current session.

With Pro Tools HD, the Sample Rate setting can affect the number of available voices.

To change the default Sample Rate:

1 Choose Setup > Playback Engine.

2 Select the sample rate from the Sample Rate

pop-up menu.

3 Click OK.

You can change the sample rate when creating a new Pro Tools session by selecting a different sample rate in the New Session dialog. (

See “Creating a New Session” on

page 49.)

Delay Compensation Engine

(Pro Tools HD Only)

The Delay Compensation Engine lets you manage DSP delays in the Pro Tools mixer.

There are three settings in the Playback Engine dialog for dedicating DSP resources for Delay Compensation:

None Allocates no DSP resources for Delay Compensation.

Short Allocates minimal DSP resources for Delay Compensation for each channel. This is the most efficient setting for Pro Tools|HD Accel systems.

3 Click OK.

Pro Tools Reference Guide44

Long Allocates maximum DSP resources for Delay Compensation for each channel. Long Delay Compensation uses the SRAM contained on DSPs needed by DSP-intensive plug-ins.

To conﬁgure the Delay Compensation Engine:

1 Choose Setup > Playback Engine.

2 From the Delay Compensation Engine pop-up

menu, select a Delay compensation setting.

3 Click OK.

The Delay Compensation setting is saved as a session and system preference.

For more information, see “Delay Compensation” on page 553.

DAE Playback Buffer Size

The DAE Playback Buffer Size determines the amount of memory DAE allocates for disk buffers. The optimum DAE Playback Buffer Size for most disk operations is Level 2.

◆ DAE Playback Buffer Size settings lower than

Level 2 may improve playback and recording initiation speed, but may make it difﬁcult to play or record tracks reliably with sessions containing a large number of tracks or a high density of edits, or running on slower or heavily fragmented hard drives.

◆ DAE Playback Buffer Size settings higher than

Level 2 will allow for a higher density of edits in a session or a higher track count when using slower hard drives. However, a higher setting can also cause a time lag to occur when starting playback or recording, and result in a longer audible time lag while editing during playback.

Using a larger DAE Playback Buffer Size leaves less system memory for other tasks. The default setting of Level 2 is recommended unless you are encountering -9073 (“Disk too slow or fragmented”) errors.

To change the DAE Playback Buffer Size:

1 Choose Setup > Playback Engine.

Playback Engine dialog

2 From the DAE Playback Buffer pop-up menu,

select a buffer size. Memory requirements for each setting are shown at the bottom of the Playback Engine dialog.

3 Click OK.

4 If Pro Tools needs more system memory for

the DAE Playback Buffer, it will prompt you to restart your computer.

System Memory Allocation

(Pro Tools HD Only)

When you start your computer, Pro Tools automatically reserves a portion of system memory for the DAE Playback Buffer. This reserved memory is unavailable to other applications, even if Pro Tools is not running.

You can set Pro Tools to reserve only the minimum amount of required memory, so that system memory is available to other applications.

Chapter 6: Sessions 45

To minimize system memory allocation:

1 Choose Setup > Playback Engine.

2 Select the “Minimize System Memory Alloca-

tion” option.

3 Click OK.

4 Do one of the following:

• On Windows systems, restart your computer.

– or –

• On Mac systems, enter your password when prompted, then restart your computer.

Conﬁguring Pro Tools Hardware Settings

96 I/O can have additional interfaces attached (including older Digidesign audio interfaces, or Legacy I/Os, such as the 888|24 I/O, 882|20 I/O or 1622 I/O). For more information, see Chapter 2, “Pro Tools System Configurations.”

Conﬁguring Hardware Setup

The Main page of the Hardware Setup dialog is where you define which physical inputs and outputs on your audio interface are routed to available inputs and outputs in Pro Tools.

Pro Tools allows you to configure the signal routing, digital I/O format, default sample rate, clock source, and other hardware-based settings depending on your system configuration.

The following section outlines the configuration of a Pro Tools|HD system with one or more Pro Tools|HD interfaces (with one or more Legacy interfaces attached).

To configure a Pro Tools LE system, refer to the

Getting Started Guide that came with

that system.

Conﬁguring Pro Tools|HD Hardware

On Pro Tools|HD systems, you configure Hardware settings for each audio interface connected to your system. For example, Pro Tools|HD systems can have 192 I/O, 192 Digital I/O, 96 I/O, or 96i I/O audio interfaces connected to HD Core and HD Accel or HD Process cards in the system. The 192 I/O, 192 Digital I/O, and

Hardware Setup dialog for 96 I/O (Main page)

Additional pages are available to configure other controls for each audio interface (such as setting operating levels). For details, refer to the Getting Started Guide for your system, or to the guide for your audio interface.

You can identify audio interface connections at any time by selecting the interface name in the Peripherals list, then clicking Identify. All the LEDs on the interface front panel will illuminate.

To conﬁgure audio interfaces on a Pro Tools|HD system:

1 Choose Setup > Hardware.

2 From the Peripherals list, select the Digidesign

audio interface connected to the ﬁrst card in your system. This will be the interface at the top of the list.

3 Click the Main tab.

Pro Tools Reference Guide46

4 From the Clock Source pop-up menu, select

the appropriate clock source for the system. In many cases, you will use Internal. The other choices are for resolving Pro Tools to external clock sources. Depending on your audio interface, Clock Source options can include: AES/EBU [Encl], S/PDIF, Optical [Encl], AES/EBU 1–8, TDIF, ADAT, and Word Clock (optional Word Clock rates are available when operating at higher sample rates).

5 From the Ext. Clock Output pop-up menu, se-

lect the appropriate clock output to send to devices attached to your audio interface.

6 Select which digital I/O port on your audio in-

terface enclosure is active under Digital Format. Choices include: AES/EBU, S/PDIF, and Optical (S/PDIF). Selecting Optical (S/PDIF) resets the Optical I/O port (which is, by default, eight channels of ADAT I/O) to two channels of S/PDIF Optical I/O.

7 For S/PDIF compatibility with Tascam DA-30

DAT recorders select the Tascam option under S/PDIF Format.

8 For the 96 I/O, click the Meters pop-up menu

and select whether to meter the input or output signal.

9 From the Input and Output pop-up menus, se-

lect the physical ports (such as Analog 1–2 or Optical 1–2), that will be routed to the corresponding Pro Tools input and output channels (such as Ch 1–2 or Ch 3–4), listed on the left side of the Main page.

Inputs and outputs of similar format are differentiated in the input and output channel popup menus. For example, the AES/EBU inputs and outputs in the 192 I/O enclosure are listed as AES/EBU [Encl], while the AES/EBU inputs and outputs on the factory-installed Digital I/O card are listed (in pairs) as AES/EBU 1–2, AES/EBU 3–4, AES/EBU 5–6, and AES/EBU 7–8.

For 192 I/Os equipped with the optional Digital I/O Card, the additional AES/EBU I/O ports on the optional card are listed as AES/EBU 9–10, AES/EBU 11–12, AES/EBU 13–14, and AES/EBU 15–16.

10 Click other tabs (such as Analog In and Ana-

log Out) for additional conﬁguration options speciﬁc to the audio interface. These include:

• On the 96 I/O, conﬁguring the operating levels of analog inputs and outputs (+4 dBu or –10 dBV).

• On the 96i I/O, conﬁguring the operating levels of analog inputs and outputs (+4 dBu or –10 dBV).

• On the 192 I/O analog input, setting the input connector and Soft Limit

• On the 192 I/O, conﬁguring the two sets of trims for analog inputs and outputs.

• On the 192 I/O and 192 Digital I/O, conﬁguring real-time Sample Rate Conversion for digital inputs.

• On the 192 I/O and 192 I/O Digital, conﬁguring inputs and outputs on any optional A/D card, D/A card, or Digital I/O cards installed in the unit.

For more information on Hardware Setup controls for each Pro Tools|HD audio interface, refer to the Pro Tools|HD Getting Started Guide or the guide for that audio interface.

11 Repeat the above steps for each additional

Pro Tools|HD audio interface.

Use the Up and Down Arrow keys to scroll though peripherals in the Peripherals list.

Chapter 6: Sessions 47

12 Repeat the above steps for any Legacy I/Os

connected to the Pro Tools|HD audio interfaces in your system. Before you can conﬁgure a Legacy I/O, it must ﬁrst be initialized in Hardware Setup.

See “Initializing MIX-Series Legacy Peripherals (on a Pro Tools|HD System)” on page 48.

8 Repeat the above steps for each additional

Legacy I/O.

For information on Hardware Setup controls for each Legacy audio interface, refer to the guide that came with the interface.

Conﬁguring I/O Setup

13 Click OK.

Initializing MIX-Series Legacy Peripherals (on a Pro Tools|HD System)

Before you can configure a Legacy I/O, it must first be initialized in Hardware Setup.

To initialize a Legacy I/O on a Pro Tools|HD system:

1 Start up your Pro Tools system. See “Starting

Up or Shutting Down Your System” on page 41.

2 Make sure to lower the volume of your output

devices. Very loud digital noise may be emitted before the Legacy I/O is initialized.

3 Turn on your Legacy I/O.

4 From the Peripherals list, choose the primary

audio interface (the Pro Tools|HD interface to which your Legacy I/O is connected).

5 In the Main page of the Hardware Setup dia-

log, select the Legacy I/O option under Port Settings.

6 In the Peripherals list, “No Interface” is listed

twice, directly below the primary audio interface. Click the ﬁrst “No Interface.” An Interface pop-up menu appears in the Hardware Setup dialog, listing supported I/O choices.

7 From the Interface pop-up menu, select the

type of Legacy I/O you connected.

The I/O Setup dialog provides a graphical representation of the signal routing for each connected audio interface, with controls to route physical ports on the audio interface to Pro Tools inputs and outputs. These controls mirror the routing controls found in the Hardware Setup dialog—changes made to physical routing in one dialog are always reflected in the other.

The I/O Setup dialog lets you label and map Pro Tools input, output, insert, and bus signal paths. The I/O Setup dialog also provides important audition, meter, and surround settings. For more information, see Chapter 7, “I/O Setup.”

Routing a Pro Tools Output Pair to Multiple Destinations

Pro Tools channel pairs can be routed to multiple outputs on an audio interface through the Hardware Setup dialog. For example, if you assign both Analog 1–2 and Analog 3–4 interface outputs to Pro Tools Output pair 1–2, when you send a signal to Pro Tools Outputs 1–2, that signal will be routed simultaneously to both pairs of output ports on your audio interface.

This lets you send the same signal (such as a stereo pair, a stem mix, or a multichannel mix) to multiple destinations (such as multiple mastering devices).

The Main page updates with controls that can be configured.

Pro Tools Reference Guide48

To select multiple output ports for a Pro Tools output channel pair:

1 Choose Setup > Hardware.

2 From the Peripherals list, select an interface.

Creating a New Session

The first step in beginning a Pro Tools project is creating a new session.

3 Click the Main tab.

4 Select an output port pair from an Output

pop-up menu.

5 Start-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac)

the same pop-up menu a second time to choose an additional output port pair.

The output name updates with a plus sign (“+”) before it to indicate that multiple output ports are selected. In the pop-up menu, each physical port pair assigned to that Pro Tools output pair is indicated by a check mark.

Hardware Setup dialog for 96 I/O (Main page)

6 Repeat the above steps to select additional

output destinations. The only limit to output choices is the number of outputs available in your system.

Pro Tools output pairs can also be routed to multiple audio interface outputs in the I/O Setup dialog. For more information, see “Routing Hardware I/O to Pro Tools I/O” on page 79.

To create a new session:

1 Choose File > New Session.

New Session dialog

2 Choose the drive where you want to save the

session. The session should be saved on a dedicated audio drive.

3 Select the audio ﬁle format for the session.

For optimum compatibility between Windows and Mac, set the file type to BWF (.WAV).

Sound Designer II (SD II) files are not supported on Windows systems or at sample rates above 48 kHz.

4 Select the bit depth (16 bit or 24 bit) and the

sample rate.

5 Select the I/O Settings to use for the session.

Several pre-conﬁgured I/O Settings are included with your system, or you can select a custom I/O Setting that you have created. See Chapter 7, “I/O Setup” for more information.

6 Name the Session.

7 Click Save.

Chapter 6: Sessions 49

Selecting Bit Depth and Sample Rate

Audio Files Folder

When selecting a bit depth or sample rate for your session, consider fidelity, any compatibility issues with others systems, and storage space.

Bit depth and sample rate also have an effect on the amount of mixing power available in a session. Fewer mixer channels are available with 24-bit sessions and with sessions at higher sample rates. (For more information, see the Pro Tools|HD Getting Started Guide.)

It is not possible to combine different bit depths within a single Pro Tools session; files of different bit depths must be converted and imported into the session.

Session Files and Folders

When you create a new session, Pro Tools automatically creates a new folder named for your session. Within this folder is the session file, a WaveCache.wfm file, and several subfolders (an Audio Files folder, a Fade Files folder, a Region Group folder, and a Session File Backups folder).

The Audio Files folder contains all audio recorded or converted during the session.

When you record a new audio track, the track is saved as a new audio file to the Audio Files folder. You can also import other audio files into the session, and work with them as well.

For details on allocating audio tracks to different hard drive locations, including shared media volumes, see “Disk Allocation” on page 187.

Fade Files Folder

The Fade Files folder contains any crossfaded audio data generated by the session.

Region Groups Folder

The Region Groups folder is the default directory for any region groups that you export from your Pro Tools session.

WaveCache File

The WaveCache.wfm file stores all of the waveform display data for the session. If you delete the WaveCache.wfm file, Pro Tools will create a new one the next time you open the session.

Typical session folder contents

Session File

The session file is the document that Pro Tools creates when you start a new project. Pro Tools can open only one session file at a time. The session file is named with a .ptf (Pro Tools file) extension.

Pro Tools Reference Guide50

By storing waveform data in the WaveCache file, sessions are able to open more quickly. The session WaveCache file can be included whenever a session is transferred to another Pro Tools 7.x system.

Pro Tools also maintains a distinct WaveCache file inside the local Digidesign Databases folder (C:\\Digidesign Databases) which retains waveform data for all files used on the system. Additional WaveCache files are created on each external hard drive attached to your system, and stored in the Digidesign Databases folder on each drive.

Deleting or trashing any of the WaveCache files will not harm the session or your system. Each session will merely need more time to open due to having to recalculate waveform data for associated audio (and store that data in a new WaveCache file).

Session File Backups Folder

The Session File Backups folder contains automatically-generated backups of your Pro Tools sessions. These files are created when working on a session and the Operations preference for Enable Session File Auto Backup is enabled. (See “Enable Session File Auto Backup” on page 64.)

To open an existing session:

1 Choose File > Open Session.

2 Locate the session you want to open and click

Open.

Renamed Audio Files Folder

This folder includes file names that have been renamed when you open a session that contains audio file names with incompatible characters, or, in certain situations, save a copy of a session to a Pro Tools version that does not support long file names.

For more information, see “Renamed Audio Files and the Renamed Audio Files Folder” on page 164.

Opening a Session

When you open a session, Pro Tools looks in the session folder for audio and fade files linked to the session.

For more information on opening sessions created on different platforms, Pro Tools systems, or Pro Tools software versions, see Chapter 10, “File and Session Management and Compatibility.”

Open Session dialog

Opening a Session that Contains Unavailable Files

The DigiBase feature will prompt you if files are located but reside on Transfer volumes (such as CD or DVD discs), or if any required files cannot be found. See “Locating Audio Files” on page 163 for more details.

Opening a Session from a Transfer Volume

When opening a session from a Transfer volume (such as a CD or DVD disc), the DigiBase feature will prompt you to save the session on a Performance volume, and copy and convert any referenced media files. See “Locating Audio Files” on page 163 for more details.

Chapter 6: Sessions 51

Opening a Session that Contains Unavailable Resources

Pro Tools prompts you when opening a session that contains unavailable voices, I/O paths, DSP resources, or plug-ins. This is common when transferring sessions to systems with different Digidesign hardware.

The Unavailable Resources dialog provides an initial report of the missing session components. To save a text (.txt) file containing a more detailed Notes report, along with the resulting action, click Yes. The Notes report will be named with the session name, followed by Notes.txt. You can choose to save this file in your Session folder, or in another location.

The following will occur when opening a session with unavailable items:

With all Pro Tools Systems:

◆ Inserts assigned to unavailable plug-ins are

made inactive.

◆ Inputs, outputs, and sends that are assigned to

unavailable paths are made inactive.

Opening a Session with Audio File Names that Contain Illegal Characters

Pro Tools 7.x does not support audio file names that contain the following ASCII characters:

/ (Forward Slash)

\ (Backslash)

: (Colon)

* (Asterisk)

? (Question mark)

“ (Quotation marks)

< (Less-than symbol)

> (Greater-than symbol)

| (vertical line or pipe)

Any “high order” ASCII character (created

with a key combination)

When opening sessions that contain audio files with illegal characters, Pro Tools automatically creates a renamed copy of each file (replacing these characters with an underscore “_”). Renamed files are copied to the Renamed Audio Files folder. The original files are left intact in the Audio Files folder.

With Pro Tools HD Only:

◆ Any tracks beyond the maximum number of

available voices on the current system are made inactive.

With Pro Tools LE and M-Powered Only:

◆ Any tracks beyond the maximum number of

available voices on the current system are set to voice off.

Pro Tools Reference Guide52

Before the session opens, you are prompted to save a detailed report of the renamed files and their original file names to a Notes text file. Follow the on-screen instructions. By default, the Notes text file is saved to the Session folder.

Opening a Session that Was Saved with +6 dB Fader Gain

All Pro Tools 7.x sessions have a +12 dB fader gain level. However, when saving a Pro Tools

7.x session to a lower version of Pro Tools that supports +6 dB and +12 dB fader gain, the new session can be saved with either a +6 dB or a +12 dB maximum fader gain.

When saving a +12 dB session as a +6 dB session, Pro Tools alerts you that any automation breakpoints over +6 dB will be lowered to +6 dB. See “Saving a Copy of the Session” on page 54.

In Pro Tools 7.x, when opening a session that was saved with a +6 dB maximum gain level, the session will update to a +12 dB range.

Saving the Session File with a New Name

To save a copy of the current session with a new name or to a different hard drive location, you can use the Save As command. Because the Save As command closes the current session and lets you keep working on the renamed copy, it is useful if you are experimenting and want to save successive versions of the session.

Saving a Session

You should save regularly while working on your session to ensure that your work is preserved on your hard drive.

Saving the Session File

The Save command saves the changes you have made to your session and writes them over the previously saved version of the session file. The Save command cannot be undone.

To save a session:

■ Choose File > Save.

Revert to Saved Command

If you have made changes to a session since you last saved it, you can discard the changes and revert to its previously saved state.

To revert to the last saved version of a session:

■ Choose File > Revert to Saved.

By working this way, you can quickly retrace your steps if you want to go back to an earlier version of your session. The Save As command saves a new version of the session ﬁle only—not duplicate versions of the audio or fade files.

To save a session with a new name:

1 Choose File > Save As.

2 Enter a new name for your session.

Pro Tools 7.x lets you name files with as many characters as your operating system supports.

3 Click Save.

The renamed session file is saved in the session folder along with the original session (unless you specify a different destination). Any new audio files that you record in your renamed session will be placed into the same Audio Files folder that was created for your original session.

You can also open up a backup copy of your session, if you have enabled the Operation preference for Auto Backup. This feature lets you specify the total number of incremental backups that are kept and how often the session is saved. See “Auto Backup Section” on page 64.

Chapter 6: Sessions 53

Saving a Copy of the Session

To save a copy of the current session with or without its audio files and fade files, you can use the Save Copy In command. In addition, you can specify a session file format, audio file format, bit depth, and sample rate for the session copy.

For information on sharing sessions between different platforms, Pro Tools systems, or Pro Tools software versions, see Chapter 10, “File and Session Management and Compatibility.”

Using the Save Copy In command is the only way to change the sample rate of a session.

When you save a copy of the session to a lower bit depth, Dither (and Noise Shaping) are applied. See the following table:

Dither and Noise Shaping with Save Copy In

Session Bit Depth Dither

24-bit to 24-bit No No

16-bit to 24-bit No No

24-bit to 16-bit Yes Yes

16-bit to 16-bit No No

Noise Shaping

The Dither setting used for any conversion is the Digidesign Dither plug-in with Noise Shaping enabled.

For more information about using Dither, see “Dither” on page 557.

To save a session copy in a new location:

1 Choose File > Save Copy In.

Save Copy In dialog

Unlike the Save As command, Save Copy In does not close the original session, so subsequent edits are made to the original session. Session copies can be used to archive important sessions, or as a means to prepare sessions for transfer to another Pro Tools system.

Save Copy In can save only the audio being used in the session. Any audio that was recorded or imported and then later removed from the session will not be included in the new session copy.

To include audio with the session copy, All Audio Files must be selected in the Items to Copy section.

Pro Tools Reference Guide54

2 In the Save Copy In dialog, choose a destina-

tion and enter a name for the new session ﬁle.

3 Choose a session ﬁle format for the copied ses-

sion.

4 Set the Audio File Type for the copied session.

If the audio ﬁles need to be compatible with either Windows or Mac, select BWF (.WAV) or AIFF.

5 Set the session Sample Rate and Bit Depth for

the copied session.

6 If applicable, select a Fader Gain level for the

copied session.

7 If applicable, select “Enforce Mac/PC Compat-

ibility” to create session and audio ﬁles that can be used on both Windows and Mac Pro Tools systems. See “Saving Copies of Mac Sessions to be Compatible with Windows” on page 168.

8 Select the Items to Copy for the copied ses-

sion.

Session Parameters

Audio File Type

You can save the session to reference BWF (.WAV) or AIFF audio ﬁles. On the Mac, you can also save the session to reference SD II audio ﬁles (at sample rates up to 48 kHz).

To include audio with the session copy, All Audio Files must be selected.

9 Click Save.

Session Format

You can save the session copy in the following formats, depending on your platform:

Windows:

• Pro Tools Session (.ptf); supports Pro Tools

7.x

• Pro Tools 5.1 -> 6.9 Session (.pts);

• Pro Tools 5.0 Session (.pt5)

• Pro Tools 4 24-Bit Session (.p24)

• Pro Tools 4 16-Bit Session (.pt4)

Mac:

• Latest; supports Pro Tools 7.x

• Pro Tools 5.1 -> 6.9 Session

• Pro Tools 5.0 Session

• Pro Tools 4 24-Bit Session

• Pro Tools 4 16-Bit Session

• Pro Tools 3.2 Session

When saving sessions to versions lower than

5.1, multichannel tracks (including stereo) and multi-mono plug-ins are lost. In this case, make sure to first separate the tracks and plug-ins to individual mono tracks.

SD II sessions are not supported with Pro Tools on Windows, or with sample rates higher than 48 kHz.

Using Mixed File Types

A session can use mixed audio file types. If your original session has mixed file types, they are not converted to a different file type unless you specify that they be converted. However, when using mixed file types, audio performance will be reduced (due to additional file handling required for some file formats).

Bit Depth

You can save the new session at 16-bit or 24-bit depth. If your session is in a different bit depth, audio ﬁles are converted to the new session bit depth, and copied to the location you specify.

For information on bouncing to disk and dither, see “Dither and Bounce to Disk” on page 636.

Sample Rate

You can save the new session at sample rates of

44.1 kHz or 48 kHz (on Mbox 2 and Mbox) and at sample rates up to 96 kHz (on Digi 002, Digi 002 Rack and Pro Tools|HD systems with a 96 I/O or 96i I/O) or up to 192 kHz (on Pro Tools|HD systems with a 192 I/O or 192 Digital I/O). If your session is at a different sample rate, audio ﬁles are converted to the new session sample rate, and copied to the location you specify.

Chapter 6: Sessions 55

The higher the quality of sample rate conversion you choose, the longer Pro Tools will take to process the audio file.

Fader Gain

When saving a Pro Tools 7.x session to a lower version of Pro Tools that supports +6 dB and +12 dB fader gain, you can save the new session with either a +6 dB or a +12 dB maximum fader gain. When saving a +12 dB session as a +6 dB session, Pro Tools alerts you that any automation breakpoints over +6 dB will be lowered to +6 dB.

Enforce Mac/PC Compatibility

When saving a Pro Tools 7.x session to a lower version of Pro Tools, this setting forces Windows or Mac versions of Pro Tools to create sessions and audio ﬁles that are usable on both platforms.

For more information, see “Saving Copies of Mac Sessions to be Compatible with Windows” on page 168.

Items to Copy

All Audio Files

When this option is selected, all audio files are copied to the new location.

This setting is automatically selected if you are changing the bit depth or sample rate of the session.

All “Non-Native” Audio Files

The name of this option varies depending on the audio file type you select. If you are changing the audio file type of the session, this option ensures that all files in the copied session are converted to the selected file type. Use this option to avoid the reduced performance of a session with mixed file types.

This option is automatically selected if you are changing bit depth or sample rate, or copying a session on the Mac from SD II format to AIFF or BWF (.WAV) format with Enforce Mac/PC Compatibility selected.

Don’t Copy Fade Files

When this option is selected, Fade Files are not copied to the new session Fade Files folder.

Pro Tools opens the session with all available media, then shows you how many ﬁles are missing (if any) and asks how you want to proceed. You can choose to locate the existing fades, using Manually Find Relink or Automatically Find Relink, or choose to Skip All to let Pro Tools recreate the fades from the session document. You can also select Regenerate Missing Fades to exclude fade ﬁles from the relink process and regenerate them instead.

Session Plug-in Settings Folder

When this option is selected, the session’s Plugin Settings folder is copied to the new location. The references to these plug-in settings in the session are redirected to the copied settings files.

Root Plug-in Settings Folder

When this option is selected, the contents of the root-level Plug-in Settings Folder are copied into a folder named Place in Root Settings Folder, indicating that these files will need to be moved to

Pro Tools Reference Guide56

the root level plug-in settings folder on the destination system before you can use them. The references to these settings files in the session are not redirected to point to the copied files.

Movie/Video Files

When this option is selected, session movie files (such as Avid or QuickTime video files) are copied to the new location, and session references are updated to point to the copied movie files.

Preserve Folder Hierarchy (Pro Tools HD Only) When selected, the relative arrangement

of session audio files located across different drives or folders is maintained. The main folder for the session copy will include subfolders for each drive or folder in the original session and the destination subfolders will use the same names as the source drives and folders.

When this option is not selected, the Save Copy In command copies all files of the same type, regardless of their location, into a single destination folder.

To create a custom session template in Windows:

1 Create a session and arrange its elements as

you want them to appear in the template. You can also deﬁne elements such as signal routings, insert and send conﬁgurations, Track Views, ruler settings, and Preference settings.

2 Choose File > Save As.

3 Name the session and click Save.

4 Close the session.

5 Locate the session ﬁle that you just saved.

6 Right-click the ﬁle and choose Properties.

7 Under Attributes, select Read Only.

Creating Custom Session Templates

You can create custom session documents that are pre-configured to the track setups, mixer setups, window arrangements, and zoom level Memory Locations that you use most frequently. Doing this will save you the trouble of having to create your studio setup from scratch every time you start a new session.

Creating Windows Templates

In Windows, you can create a session template by making a session file a Read Only document.

Making a session a Read Only ﬁle (Windows)

8 Click OK.

To use this template, double-click it or open it with the Open Session command. When you first save the session, Pro Tools will ask you to give the session a new name. Your original session template will remain unchanged.

To modify the session template, you will need to reopen its Properties, deselect the Read Only option, make your modifications, then change it back to a Read Only file.

Chapter 6: Sessions 57

Creating Mac Templates

On the Mac, you can create a session template by saving a session ﬁle as a Stationery Pad document. Once a session is saved as a Stationery Pad, it acts as a template that you can open and then resave as a normal session.

To create a custom session template on the Mac:

1 Create a session and arrange its elements as

you want them to appear in the template. In addition to track setup, you can also deﬁne elements such as signal routings, insert and send conﬁgurations, Mix and Edit window views, ruler settings, and Preference settings.

10 Select the Locked option.

11 Close the information window.

To use this template, double-click it or open it with the Open Session command if you are already running Pro Tools.

When you open a session saved as a Stationery Pad, Pro Tools gives you the option of editing the template or starting a new session using the template settings. If you choose New Session, Pro Tools will create a new folder containing a copy of your session template and Audio and Fades folders.

2 Choose File > Save As.

3 Name the session and click Save.

4 Close the session.

5 Locate the session ﬁle that you just saved.

6 Click once on the ﬁle to select it.

7 Choose File > Get Info.

Saving a session as a Stationery Pad (Mac)

8 If necessary, click the General expand/collapse

triangle to display the General information and options.

9 Select the Stationery Pad option.

Closing a Session

Because Pro Tools lets you work on just one session at a time, you must close the current session if you want to work on another. The Close Session command closes your current Pro Tools session but leaves the Pro Tools application open. You can save your work using the Save or Save As command before closing a session.

To close a session:

■ Choose File > Close Session.

Quitting Pro Tools

Although Pro Tools will warn you before allowing you to quit without saving changes, you should generally save your work before quitting.

To exit Pro Tools in Windows:

■ Choose File > Exit.

To quit Pro Tools on the Mac:

■ Choose Pro Tools > Quit Pro Tools.

Pro Tools Reference Guide58

System Usage

About Processing Bandwidth

Meters in the System Usage window indicate how much of your system’s processing power is being used in processing audio, and when writing and playing back automation.

Pro Tools HD, LE, and M-Powered have three common meters, showing PCI bus activity, CPU processing activity, and Disk processing activity.

If CPU or PCI Activity are high, a system error may occur. If Disk Activity is high, Pro Tools may miss playback of some of your automation data during particularly dense periods of activity, such as while using the Bounce to Disk command.

To monitor the usage of resources during a Pro Tools session:

■ Choose Window > System Usage.

For more information, see “Bounce to Disk” on page 638.

System activity meters

System Usage window (Pro Tools LE shown)

With Pro Tools HD, there are addition meters, showing TDM Time Slot usage and DSP usage of each Pro Tools|HD system card.

System activity meters

TDM Time Slot usage

DSP usage

System Usage window (Pro Tools HD shown)

As these meters approach their limits, recording or playback of automation data may be affected.

To reduce processing load, try one of the following:

■ Reduce the density of automation in places

where it shows the most activity. For details, see “Thinning Automation” on page 604.

■ Turn off meters in Sends View, if enabled (by

disabling Show Meters in Sends View in the Display Preferences page). For details, see “Individual Send Views and Meters” on page 540.

System Usage Views

(Pro Tools HD Only)

With Pro Tools HD, there are five different System Usage Views: Small, Large, Detailed, Gas Gauge, and Activity Only. The Detailed and Gas Gauge formats show the percentage of each DSP chip in use.

To change the System Usage View:

■ Choose View > System Usage, and one of the

System Usage View formats (such as Small).

For information on using different views to monitor DSP usage, see the Pro Tools|HD Getting Started Guide.

Chapter 6: Sessions 59

Preferences

The Preferences dialog has several tabbed pages in which you can specify your preferred settings for various session parameters. Each new session will use these preferences.

Display Preferences

Recompute Invalid Overviews Prompts Pro Tools to look for missing or corrupted overview data (the data used to create waveform displays) when it opens sessions. If Pro Tools finds that overview data is missing or corrupted, it will recreate one or more overviews for the session. This may take some time if there are many tracks in the session. If you suspect that overview data for a session has become corrupted, or if you import audio files which have no overview data into a session, make sure this preference is enabled for the session, save and close the session, then reopen it. Pro Tools will recreate any overviews for the session when it opens.

Track Position Numbers Stay with Hidden Tracks When selected, tracks keep their track

numbers even when hidden. When not selected, numbers are only assigned to tracks that are shown. In this case, shown tracks are then numbered sequentially, and hidden tracks are not numbered.

Basics Section

Draw Grids in Edit Window Adds grid lines to the Edit window. Grid line resolution is based on the zoom level of the Edit window.

Draw Waveforms Rectiﬁed Displays audio waveform data in rectified view. In this view, audio waveforms are displayed so that their positive and negative waveform excursions (the portions that fall above and below the center line) are summed together and viewed as a single positive-value signal. This view allows more waveform detail to be seen in either normal or reduced track height views. It can be particularly useful when editing volume automation data, since it depicts waveform levels as starting at the bottom of the track.

Pro Tools Reference Guide60

Tool Tips Display Options

Function Configures Tool Tips to show the basic

function of the item.

Details Configures Tool Tips to show the complete name of an abbreviated name or item. Details view can also show the hidden or abbreviated value of parameters, as well as input and output assignments.

Edit Window Default Length

This preference sets a default length for the Edit window in hours, minutes, seconds, and frames (Pro Tools HD or Pro Tools LE with DV Toolkit 2 only). This is useful if you want to assemble a session of a particular length or leave extra room to expand the Edit window’s work area in your session. The maximum length is 12 hours and 25 seconds at 48 kHz, and proportionally less at higher sampling rates.

“Organize Plug-in Menus By” Options

Meters Section

These option customize how plug-in menus are organized in the Insert selector or Plug-in selector.

Flat List Organizes plug-ins in a single list, in alphabetical order.

Category Organizes plug-ins by process category (such as EQ, Dynamics, and Delay), with individual plug-ins listed in the category submenus. Plug-ins that do not fit into a standard category (such as the DigiRack Signal Generator), or third-party plug-ins that have not had a category designated by their developers, appear in the Other category. Plug-ins can appear in more than one category.

Manufacturer Organizes plug-ins by their manufacturer (such as Digidesign, Eventide, Line 6, and McDSP), with individual plug-ins listed in the manufacturer submenus. Plug-ins that do not have a Manufacturer defined will appear in the “Other” manufacturer folder.

Most Digidesign-distributed third party plug-ins will be grouped under Digidesign when Manufacturer view is enabled.

Peak Hold Options

These options determine how long the peak indicators on track meters stay lit after a peak is detected.

3 Second Peak Hold When selected, track meters display the last peak level for three seconds.

Inﬁnite Peak Hold When selected, track meters display the last peak level until you click them to clear them.

No Peak Hold When selected, track meters do not hold the peak level.

Clip Indication Options

These options determine how long the clip indicators on plug-in, send, and track meters stay lit after a clip is detected.

3 Second Clip Hold When selected, meters display the last clip indication for three seconds.

Inﬁnite Clip Hold When selected, meters display the last clip indications until you click them to clear them.

Category and Manufacturer Organizes plug-ins in two levels of menus. The top menus display plug-ins by process category (such as EQ, Dynamics, and Delay), with individual plug-ins listed in the category submenus. The bottom menus display plug-ins by manufacturer (such as Digidesign, Eventide, Line 6, or McDSP), with individual plug-ins listed in the manufacturer submenus.

No Clip Hold When selected, meters do not hold the clip indication.

Show Meters in Sends View

When the Sends View is displaying individual send controls, you can select this option to show send level meters. Deselecting this option can help speed up screen redraws and processing.

Chapter 6: Sessions 61

Color Coding

Default Region Color Coding Options

Always Display Marker Colors Lets you choose to

view Marker colors in the Markers ruler, regardless of the settings you choose for Default Region Color Coding.

Default Track Color Coding Options

These color coding options determine the default color coding assignment for tracks in the Edit and Mix windows. Choices are:

None Turns off color assignment for tracks.

Tracks and MIDI Channels Assigns a color to

each track in the Mix or Edit window according to its voice assignment or MIDI channel assignment.

Tracks and MIDI Devices Assigns a color to each track in the Mix or Edit window according to its voice assignment or MIDI device assignment.

Groups Assigns a color to each track according to its Group ID. If groups are suspended using the Suspend Groups command, the tracks color bars are not shown.

Track Type Assigns a color to each track according to its type (audio, MIDI, Instrument, Auxiliary or Master Fader).

These color coding options determine the default color coding assignment for regions in the track playlist. Choices are:

None Turns off color assignment for regions. Regions are drawn with black waveform or MIDI notes on a light gray background.

Tracks and MIDI Channels Assigns a color to each region in the Edit window according to its voice or MIDI channel assignment.

Tracks and MIDI Devices Assigns a color to each region in the Edit window according to its voice assignment or MIDI device assignment.

Groups Assigns a color to each region according to the Group ID of its track. If groups are suspended using the Suspend Groups command, all regions display black waveforms or MIDI notes on a light gray background.

Track Color Assigns a region color based on the color assigned to the track.

Marker Locations Assigns a color to data across all tracks based on the nearest preceding marker.

Region List Color Assigns a color to each region based on its color in the Region List.

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Operation Preferences

Transport Section

Timeline Insertion Follows Playback This option causes the screen’s play cursor to update its location to the point where playback stops.

Edit Insertion Follows Scrub/Shuttle When selected, the edit cursor automatically locates to the point where scrubbing stops.

Audio During Fast Forward/Rewind When selected, audio is audible during fast forward or rewind.

Custom Shuttle Lock Speed Sets the highest fastforward Shuttle Lock speed (key 9) for Shuttle Lock modes (Classic or Transport). The range for this setting is 50–800%.

For more information, see “Custom Shuttle Lock Speed” on page 298.

Back/Forward Amount Sets the default length of Back, Back and Play, Forward and Forward and Play. The timebase of the Back/Forward Amount settings follows the Main Time Scale by default, or you can deselect Follow Main Time Scale and select another timebase format: Bars:Beats, Min:Sec, Time Code, Feet+Frames, or Samples

Numeric Keypad Mode

Numeric Keypad mode determines how the numeric keypad functions. You can always use the numeric keypad to select and enter values in the Event Edit Area, Edit Selection indicators, Main and Sub Counters, and Transport fields.

Classic Selects a Shuttle Lock mode that emulates the way Pro Tools worked in versions lower than 5.0. With the Numeric Keypad mode set to Classic, you can play up to two tracks of audio in Shuttle Lock mode. Press the Start key (Windows) or Control (Mac), followed by 0–9 for different play speeds. Press Plus (+) or Minus (–) to reverse direction. Recall Memory Locations by typing the Memory Location number, followed by Period (.).

To customize the highest fast-forward Shuttle Lock speed, see “Custom Shuttle Lock Speed” on page 298.

Transport Selects a Shuttle Lock mode that lets you set a number of record and play functions, and also operate the Transport from the numeric keypad. With the Numeric Keypad mode set to Transport, you can play up to two tracks of audio in Shuttle Lock mode. Press the Start key (Windows) or Control (Mac), followed by 0–9 for different play speeds. Press Plus (+) or Minus (–) to reverse direction. Recall Memory Locations by typing Period (.), the Memory Location number, and Period (.) again.

To customize the highest fast-forward Shuttle Lock speed, see “Custom Shuttle Lock Speed” on page 298.

Shuttle (Pro Tools HD Only) Selects a type of shuttling different from that of Shuttle Lock mode. With the Numeric Keypad mode set to Shuttle, playback is triggered by pressing and holding the keys on the numeric keypad—playback stops once the keys are released. Various

Chapter 6: Sessions 63

playback speeds are available in both forward and reverse. You can also recall Memory Locations by typing Period (.), the Memory Location number, and Period (.) again.

Video Section

QuickTime Playback Priority Options

Normal This is the default setting for QuickTime

Movie Playback Priority. It gives no extra priority to movie playback over other screen update tasks such as metering, moving faders, and so on. In most cases you should use this setting.

Medium This setting gives QuickTime movie playback a higher priority relative to other Pro Tools screen update tasks. Use this setting if you experience inconsistent QuickTime movie playback with the Normal setting.

Highest This setting gives QuickTime movie playback highest priority. In this mode, Pro Tools disables screen activity and requires you to use the Spacebar to stop playback. Use this setting if you require uninterrupted QuickTime movie playback.

Avid Video Errors Stop Playback

(Pro Tools HD Only)

When selected, Pro Tools automatically stops playback of audio and video if a single frame of video is dropped.

When not selected, Pro Tools continues playback of audio even if frames are dropped. In most cases, video playback will recover within a few frames and continue playing audio and video in sync.

Avid Video NTSC Has Setup (NTSC-J)

(Pro Tools HD Only)

This preference lets you adjust the level of NTSC video black output between 7.5 IRE (standard) or 0 IRE. When this option is selected, output level is 0 IRE.

Auto Backup Section

Enable Session File Auto Backup When selected, Pro Tools automatically saves backups of your Pro Tools session file while you work. Backups are saved to in the Session Files Backup folder in your session folder.

Keep speciﬁes the total number of incremental backups that are kept.

Backup Every Speciﬁes how often the session is saved.

Record Section

Latch Record Enable Buttons When selected, multiple audio tracks can be record-enabled. When not selected, multiple audio tracks cannot be record-enabled. Record-enabling an audio track takes other audio tracks out of recordenabled mode.

Link Record and Play Faders When selected, Pro Tools does not remember separate fader levels for tracks when they are record-enabled, allowing you to maintain the same monitoring level for tracks during recording and playback.

Pro Tools Reference Guide64

Audio Track RecordLock This option configures Pro Tools tracks to either emulate a digital dubber, or to maintain legacy behavior for track record status.

• When selected, the record-enabled audio tracks remain record-enabled when playback or recording stops.

• When not selected, record-enabled audio tracks are taken out of record enable when Pro Tools is stopped. This prevents tracks from remaining armed from pass to pass, emulating track record behavior of a digital dubber.

Transport RecordLock This option lets the Transport Record (the Record Enable button in the Transport controls) be configured to either emulate a digital dubber, or to maintain legacy behavior for the Transport master Record.

• When selected, the Transport Record remains armed when playback or recording stops. This saves having to re-arm the Transport between takes, emulating digital dubber behavior.

• When not selected, the Transport Record disarms when Pro Tools is manually stopped or stops due to a loss of time code. This replicates standard Pro Tools recording behavior.

The Transport RecordLock preference is automatically disabled and greyed out when Destructive record mode is enabled.

Disable “Input” When Disarming Track (In “Stop”) For flexibility, TrackInput monitor-

ing can be customized to remain selected regardless of track record status, or to automatically switch to Auto Input monitoring after a recording pass. This lets you optimize monitoring for a typical dubbing workflow (in which you might want tracks to remain in Input Only mode until explicitly switched to Auto Input monitoring) or a typical music tracking workflow (in which leaving a track in Input Only monitoring mode after recording can result in accidental double-monitoring).

• When selected, taking an audio track out of record enable (any mode) takes it out of Input Only mode, regardless of the global monitor mode, and switches it to monitor audio from disk only.

• When not selected, audio tracks remain in Input Only monitoring mode until explicitly switched to Auto Input monitoring.

Mute Record-Armed Tracks While Stopped This setting determines monitor status of recordarmed tracks.

• When selected, Pro Tools mutes all recordenabled tracks when the transport is stopped. Input can still be monitored while stopped using the TrackInput Monitor button.

• When not selected, Pro Tools does not mute audio input on record-enabled tracks when the transport is stopped.

Chapter 6: Sessions 65

PEC/Direct Style Input Monitoring (Pro Tools HD Only) This option changes the way the Track-

Input monitoring mode is indicated on-screen (and on supported control surfaces) to emulate “PEC” (playback) and “Direct” (input/bus) indication on some large format consoles.

• When not selected, the TrackInput button shows the letter “I.” The button remains gray to indicate Auto Input mode and lights green to indicate Input Only mode.

• When selected, the TrackInput button remains gray and shows the letter “D” to indicated Input Only mode (“Direct”); it lights green and shows the letter “P” to indicate Auto Input mode (“Pec” or playback).

Online Options

Record Online at Time Code (or ADAT) Lock When selected, online recording begins as

soon as Pro Tools receives and locks to incoming time code.

Record Online at Insertion/Selection When selected, online recording begins at the edit cursor location. Recording continues until Pro Tools stops receiving time code. If you make a selection, Pro Tools records online for the length of the selection.

Limit To Sets the maximum allowable recording duration. This can help reduce the time it takes to begin recording by allocating only a portion of your hard drive. The number of minutes specified is allocated for each record-enabled track. You may want to experiment with this number to achieve the recording performance you want.

DestructivePunch File Length

This preference sets the duration of consolidated audio files when preparing tracks for DestructivePunch mode. The default value for this setting is 25 minutes.

Misc (Miscellaneous) Section

Auto Region Fade In/Out Length Sets a default length for fade-ins and fade-outs automatically applied to region boundaries. Using automatic fade-ins and fade-outs saves you the trouble of editing to zero-crossings or creating numerous rendered fades in order to eliminate clicks or pops in playback. Autofades are not written to disk. Value range is from 0–10 ms for the Auto Region Fade In/Out Length. A value of zero means that no auto-fading will occur. The Auto Fade value is saved with the session, and is automatically applied to all free-standing region boundaries until you change it.

Open Ended Record Allocation

This preference determines how much of your available hard drive space is allocated for recording.

Use All Available Space When selected, the drive’s entire available space is allocated. This can sometimes slow down the recording process for hard drives that use certain file systems, including HFS+ and NTFS.

Pro Tools Reference Guide66

Calibration Reference Level (Pro Tools HD Only)

Sets a default calibration reference level in dB when Pro Tools is in Calibration mode. For audio interfaces that have trims (such as the 192 I/O), see the interface’s guide for calibration instructions.

Delay Compensation Time Mode This option lets you choose whether information in the Delay Manager is displayed in milliseconds or samples. This option is only available when Delay Compensation is enabled (Options > Delay Compensation).

Editing Preferences

Regions Section

Includes Take Region Names That Match Track Names When selected, only regions that share

the same root name with the track and playlist appear in the Takes List pop-up menu.

Includes Take Region Lengths That Match When selected, only regions that match the length of the current selection appear in the Takes List pop-up menu.

“Separate Region” Operates On All Related Takes When selected, editing a region with the

Separate Region command also affects all other related takes (recording passes) with the same User Time Stamp. This option helps you compare different sections from a group of related takes.

Region List Selection Follows Edit Selection When selected, selecting a region in a

track also selects it in the Region List.

Edit Selection Follows Region List Selection When selected, selecting a region in

the Region List causes Pro Tools to highlight that region’s occurrence in a track.

Auto-Name Separated Regions When selected, Pro Tools automatically names newly separated regions by appending a number to the region’s name. Disabling this option can be useful when importing region groups, REX files, or ACID files, because these file types can contain so many separate regions that it becomes difficult to read the Region List.

“Matching Start Time” Takes List

When you Control-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac) a region in a track, Pro Tools displays a list of regions whose time stamp matches the current Cursor location. The following preferences determine which regions, or takes, appear in this list:

Memory Locations Section

Auto-Name Memory Locations When Playing When selected, Pro Tools gives new

Memory Locations default names based on their time location in the session. The time units currently chosen in the View menu determine the units for the names.

Recall Memory Location at Original Track When selected, Memory Locations that recall a selection also recall the track in which the selection was made.

Fades Section

Crossfade Preview Pre-Roll This option specifies the amount of pre-roll to be added when you are auditioning crossfades in the Fades dialog.

Crossfade Preview Post-Roll This option specifies the amount of post-roll to be added when you are auditioning crossfades in the Fades dialog.

Chapter 6: Sessions 67

QuickPunch/TrackPunch Crossfade Length Specifies a default length for crossfades created by QuickPunch or TrackPunch recordings. Crossfades occur before the punch in and after the punch out.

Preserve Fades when Editing This option preserves fade-ins and fade outs, and converts separated crossfades into corresponding fade-ins and fade-outs.

Default Fade Settings

Fade In Selects the default envelope shape for

fade-ins.

Mixing Preferences

Crossfade Selects the default envelope shape for crossfades.

Fade Out Selects the default envelope shape for fade-outs.

REX/ACID Selects the default envelope shape for fades and crossfades between regions (“slices”) in imported REX and ACID files.

Automatically Create Fades for Imported REX and ACID ﬁles

When selected, this option automatically applies fades between regions (“slices”) within imported REX and ACID files to minimize clicks or pops during playback. If there is overlap between slices, a crossfade is applied. If there is a gap between slices, a fade out is applied to the end of the first region. (The fade shapes applied to REX/ACID files follow the Default Fade Settings for REX/ACID.)

Levels of Undo

This preference sets the maximum number of actions that can be undone with the multiple undo feature. Setting this to a lower number can speed up the performance of slower computers. Pro Tools supports up to 32 Levels of Undo.

Setup Section

Sends Default to –INF When selected, the initial fader level of newly-created sends is set to –∞ (no audible signal level). When not selected, the initial fader level of newly-created sends is set to 0 dB.

Send Pans Default to Follow Main Pan When selected, newly created sends have Follow Main Pan turned on, so the Send Pan controls follow the pan controls of the track. When not selected, newly created sends have Follow Main Pan turned off.

Link Mix and Edit Group Enables When selected, this option links enabling and disabling of Mix and Edit Groups. For example, enabling Group A in the Mix Window automatically enables Group A in the Edit window.

Use Absolute Pan Linking This option affects behavior of grouped pan controls.

• When selected, grouped pan controls do not maintain relative offsets when any of the grouped pan controls is adjusted. All grouped pan controls snap to the absolute value of the adjusted control.

Pro Tools Reference Guide68

• When not selected, grouped pan controls maintain relative offsets when any of the linked controls is adjusted.

Default EQ

“Scroll to Track” Banks Controllers When using

a control surface (such as D-Control or ProControl) you can select this option to bank control surface faders to a numbered track when using the Track > Scroll to Track command.

This preference lets you choose any installed EQ plug-in as the default, which makes it available for quick assignment, both on-screen and on ICON work surfaces. On-screen, the plug-in appears at the top of the Insert selector pop-up menu. On ICON work surfaces, the plug-in appears first in the list of menu choices on the rotary encoders.

Default Dynamics

This preference lets you choose any installed Dynamics plug-in as the default, which makes it available for quick assignment, both on-screen and on ICON work surfaces. On-screen, the plug-in appears at the top of the Insert selector pop-up menu. On ICON work surfaces, the plug-in appears first in the list of menu choices on the rotary encoders.

Controllers

Edit Window Follows Bank Selection If you are using a supported control surface with Pro Tools, this option scrolls the Edit window to display the selected bank of tracks when you switch banks on the control surface, ensuring that the current bank is viewable on-screen.

Mix Window Follows Bank Selection If you are using a supported control surface with Pro Tools, this option scrolls the Mix window to display the selected bank of tracks when you switch banks on the control surface, ensuring that the current bank is viewable on-screen.

Always Fill Channel Strips When Banking If you are using an ICON worksurface, you can select this option to maximize the number of channels displayed when banking. This setting optimizes the Bank commands to prevent the display of a small number of channels at the extremes of the surface.

Touch Timeout If you are writing automation in Touch mode and you stop moving a non-touch sensitive fader or encoder, Pro Tools continues to write automation for the Touch Timeout value.

After the Touch Timeout period, writing of automation stops and the automation data returns to its previous automation value at the rate specified in the AutoMatch Time setting.

Automation Section

Smooth and Thin Data After Pass When selected, Pro Tools automatically smooths and then applies the specified amount of thinning to the automation data created in an automation pass.

Degree of Thinning Specifies the amount of thinning performed on automation data when you using the Thin Automation command, or if you have selected the Smooth and Thin Data After Pass option.

Plug-in Controls Default to Auto-Enabled When selected, all applicable controls of newly added plug-ins are enabled for automation. When not selected, the controls of newly added plug-ins must be manually enabled for automation.

Chapter 6: Sessions 69

Suppress Automation “Write To” Warnings When selected, Pro Tools suppresses the warnings that appear after invoking any of the Write Automation To Start, Selection, End, or Punch commands and then stopping the transport.

Latching Behavior for Switch Controls in “Touch” This option determines the behavior of

switch-type controls (such as mute or plug-in bypass) when writing automation in Touch mode.

• When selected, controls in Touch mode will latch in their current state. If an existing breakpoint is encountered, writing of automation stops. If the transport is stopped while writing, the control will AutoMatch to the underlying value.

• When not selected, controls in Touch mode will not latch.

Allow Latch Prime in Stop When selected and any tracks are in Latch mode, any automationenabled controls on those tracks can be set to new values while the transport is stopped by touching or moving controls, to prepare for the next automation pass.

Coalesce When Removing Slaves from VCA Group (Pro Tools HD Only) This option determines the

behavior when removing slave tracks from a VCA-controlled group.

• When selected, any automation on the VCA Master is automatically coalesced (without conﬁrmation) to its slave tracks when the tracks are removed from the group.

• When not selected, a conﬁrmation dialog lets you choose whether or not to coalesce the VCA Master automation to the slave tracks.

Standard VCA Logic for Group Attributes (Pro Tools HD Only) This option determines

which Mix group attributes may be selected in the Group dialog when the group is assigned to a VCA Master.

• When selected, Main Volume, Mute, Solo, Record Enable, and Input Monitoring controls on slave tracks follow the VCA Master only and are not available to be independently linked. (This emulates the behavior of analog console VCA masters.)

• When deselected, Main Volume, Mute, Solo, Record Enable, and Input Monitoring controls follow the VCA Master, but also remain available for independent linking with groups.

Include Sends in Trim Mode This option determines the Trim status of Send faders when a track is put in Trim mode.

• When selected, Send faders go into Trim mode along with the Main Volume fader.

• When deselected, the Main Volume fader goes into Trim mode, but the Send fader stays in the corresponding standard Automation mode.

Include Control Changes in Undo Queue This option determines whether certain mixer control changes, such as moving a fader or pan control, are entered into the Undo queue.

• When selected, mixer control changes appear in the Undo queue, and are undone if any prior operation is undone.

• When deselected, mixer control changes will not appear in the undo queue, allowing you to undo other types of operations without losing the current mixer settings.

Any set to default operations that affect mixer controls will be entered into the Undo queue.

Pro Tools Reference Guide70

AutoMatch Time If you are writing automation in Touch mode, when you release a fader or control, writing of automation stops and the automation data returns to its previous value. The rate of return to the previous value is the AutoMatch Time.

AutoGlide Time (Pro Tools HD Only) Specifies how quickly Pro Tools transitions (glides) from one automation value to another, when AutoGlide mode is used.

Amount of Memory to Reserve for Automation Recording Allocates memory for automation.

After Write Pass, Switch To (Pro Tools HD Only) Selects the Automation mode that

Pro Tools tracks automatically switch to after an automation pass in Write (or Write Trim) mode. You can choose to switch to Touch or Latch mode, or stay in Write mode by selecting No Change. After an automation pass in Write Trim mode, tracks automatically switch to the Trim version of the specified setting.

Processing Preferences

AudioSuite Section

Buffer Size

AudioSuite Buffer Size sets the size of the memory buffer used for audio processing and previewing with AudioSuite plug-ins. If AudioSuite preview stutters, set the buffer to Mini or Small.

Coalesce Trim Automation Options

(Pro Tools HD Only)

These options determine when Trim automation is committed to the main automation playlist on a track.

After Every Pass Sets Trim automation to coalesce when the transport is stopped at the end of each Trim automation pass. No Composite Playlist is indicated.

On Exiting Trim Mode Sets Trim Automation to coalesce on a track when the track is taken out of Trim mode. A Composite Playlist can be viewed before committing Trim moves.

Manually Trim Automation can be coalesced only with the Coalesce Trim Automation command. A Composite Playlist can be viewed before committing Trim moves.

Use AudioSuite Dither When selected, applies a selectable dither plug-in to specific AudioSuite processing tasks (such as Gain and Normalize).

Plug-in Specifies the plug-in used for dither processing when the Use AudioSuite Dither option is selected.

Bit Depth Lets you select a bit depth for the dithered audio (24-bit, 20-bit, 18-bit, or 16-bit).

TC/E (Time Compression/Expansion) Section

TC/E Plug-in Lets you choose the plug-in used

for Time Compression and Expansion when you edit audio with the Time Compression/Expansion Trim tool. This Trim tool works by using Time Compression/Expansion to match an audio region to the length of another region, a tempo grid, a video scene, or other reference point.

Chapter 6: Sessions 71

Default Settings Specifies the default settings used by the chosen Time Compression/Expansion plug-in.

Import Section

Convert Imported “WAV” Files To AES31/BroadcastWave When selected, this option applies to

all newly imported WAV files, making them compliant with the AES31/EBU Broadcast standard.

Automatically Copy Files on Import When selected, all audio files that are imported by dragging and dropping are copied to the current session’s Audio Files folder, regardless of whether the files need to be converted to the current session’s file type, bit depth or sample rate. Additionally, when selected, the Import Session Data dialog defaults to “Copy from Source Media.” The Automatically Copy Files on Import preference does not affect the Import Audio command.

Sample Rate Conversion Quality Lets you select the default sample rate conversion quality. Sample rate conversion is used in a variety of Pro Tools processes including converting and importing audio files of different formats into a session, and bouncing and saving tracks to a different sample rate or bit depth. The higher the quality of sample rate conversion you choose, the longer Pro Tools will take to process the audio file.

MIDI Preferences

Basics Section

Play MIDI Notes When Editing When selected, causes MIDI notes to sound when you insert them with the Pencil tool or drag them with any of the Grabber tools.

Use MIDI to Tap Tempo When selected, you can tap a MIDI keyboard to enter a new tempo value into a tempo field.

Display Events as Modiﬁed by Real-Time Properties When selected, Pro Tools displays the ef-

fects of Real-Time Properties in both the Edit window and the MIDI Event List.

Use F11 Key for Wait for Note When selected, pressing the F11 Function key puts MIDI recording in Wait for Note mode.

Default Note On Velocity Sets the default Note On velocity for MIDI notes inserted in the Edit window and the MIDI Event List.

Default Thru Instrument Sets the default MIDI Thru instrument. You can select a predefined device from your available MIDI instruments, or select “First Selected MIDI Track” to use the assigned MIDI output of the first selected MIDI or Instrument track. When multiple MIDI or In-

Pro Tools Reference Guide72

strument tracks are selected, the instrument in the selected track that is closest to the top of the Edit window (or closest to the left edge of the Mix window) will be used.

Pencil Tool Resolution When Drawing Controller Data Sets the default resolution for MIDI con-

troller data created with the Pencil tool. Setting this to a lower resolution helps avoid creating controller data that is unnecessarily dense. The value range is from 1 to 100 milliseconds.

Global MIDI Playback Offset Sets an offset in samples to compensate for MIDI latency. Entering a value here has the same effect as setting an offset with the MIDI Track Offsets command. Offset values can be positive (later) or negative (earlier).

Synchronization Preferences

These preferences determine how a connected transport responds to Pro Tools.

Note Display Options

These options set the reference for middle C as C3, C4, or MIDI note number 60.

Delay for External Devices Options

(Pro Tools HD Only)

These options let you apply Delay Compensation to Pro Tools-generated MIDI Time Code or MIDI Beat Clock. Generally, this delay should be applied when the external MIDI instrument is mixed externally, and should not be applied when the external MIDI instrument is mixed through the Pro Tools mixer.

These options are only available when a Delay Compensation Engine is chosen in the Playback Engine dialog and Delay Compensation is enabled in Pro Tools.

This option is distinct from the hardware offsets available for hardware inserts (in I/O Setup).

Machine Control Section

Machine Chases Memory Location When selected, navigating to a specific location in a session with a Memory Location causes a connected transport to chase to that location.

Machine Follows Edit Insertion/Scrub When selected, navigating to a specific location in a session by moving the selection point or by scrubbing a track will cause a connected transport to chase to that location.

Machine Cues Intelligently When selected, if you navigate to a cue point that is more than 10 seconds from the current location, Pro Tools will command a connected transport to fast wind to the new location at full speed to within 10 seconds of the cue point. Cueing will then slow to normal speed until the point is reached. This can significantly speed up tape cueing with certain video transports.

Chapter 6: Sessions 73

Stop at Shuttle Speed Zero Causes Pro Tools to send a Stop command whenever you stop shuttling. This is useful if you have a machine that requires an explicit stop command to park correctly.

Non-Linear Transport Error Suppression

Punch In Frame Offset Sets an offset (in frames)

to compensate for punch in timing advances or delays.

Punch Out Frame Offset Sets an offset (in frames) to compensate for punch out timing advances or delays.

When Transport = Pro Tools, keeps Pro Tools from sending a Stop command when taken offline. This prevents Pro Tools from stopping any other 9-pin devices connected to the system.

Delay Before Locking to Time Code Sets the amount of time (in frames) for Pro Tools to wait before attempting to lock to machines that issue servo lock messages. This setting allows time for the servo mechanisms to achieve stable lock.

Remote Mode (9-Pin Deck Emulation) Section

(Pro Tools HD Only)

Ignore Track Arming Sets Pro Tools to ignore in-

coming track arming (record enable) commands. This is useful if you are using a master controller to arm tracks on other machines, but you do not want to arm tracks in Pro Tools.

Set Servo Lock Bit at Play (Tamura Support) Enable this option when using a Tamura synchronizer to control Pro Tools in Remote mode to minimize lock-up times during recording.

Delay After Play Command Sets the amount of time (in frames) for Pro Tools to wait after receiving a Play command before starting the audio engine. This can prevent false starts when locking to synchronizers that are not fully supported by Pro Tools.

Synchronization Section

(Pro Tools HD)

Stable LTC Source When selected, this option

suppresses the normal 1-second wait time before Pro Tools attempts to lock to incoming LTC. Enable this option when locking Pro Tools to a stable time code source (such as a non-linear tape machine or LTC generator) and not a linear tape machine.

Allow Track Arm Commands in Local Mode

Sets Pro Tools to respond to incoming track arming (record enable) commands even when the system is not in Remote Mode. This is useful if you are using a paddle device to control Pro Tools track arming or punching.

Pro Tools Reference Guide74

Chapter 7: I/O Setup

The I/O Setup dialog provides tools to label, format, and map Pro Tools input, output, insert, or bus signal paths for each session.

A signal path is a logical grouping of multiple inputs, outputs or busses that has a single name and (channel) format. In Pro Tools, paths are similar to stems, known to the film and video industries (see “Stems and Stem Mixes” on page 77). The I/O Setup dialog lets you define and name paths according to the needs of each project.

With Pro Tools HD, the I/O Setup dialog provides a graphical representation of the signal routing for each connected audio interface, with controls to route physical ports to Pro Tools inputs and outputs. These controls mirror the routing controls found in the Hardware Setup dialog—changes made to physical routing in one dialog are always reflected in the other.

Each Pro Tools system can have a different I/O Setup configuration, determined by:

• Whether it is a Pro Tools LE, Pro Tools M-Powered, or Pro Tools|HD system

• On Pro Tools|HD systems, the number and types of audio interfaces

• On Pro Tools|HD systems, the Mixer plugin currently installed (Stereo or Surround)

Each Pro Tools session retains its path configurations as I/O Settings. The I/O Settings saved with the session are loaded automatically when the session is opened. Unavailable items (including hardware, paths, or required resources) remain in the session as inactive items (see “Active and Inactive Paths” on page 86).

When you create a new session, you can specify a default I/O Setup configuration, including presets for stereo or multichannel mixing formats. Multichannel mixing requires a Pro Tools|HD system.

The I/O Setup dialog also lets you save and import I/O Settings files.

Navigating in the I/O Setup Dialog

To resize the I/O Setup dialog:

■ Drag the lower-right corner of the window ac-

cording to standard convention for your operating system (Windows or Mac).

To scroll up or down in the Disk Allocation dialog:

■ Press Page Up or Page Down.

To scroll left or right in the I/O Setup dialog:

■ Press Alt+Page Up/Down (Windows) or Op-

tion+Page Up/Down (Mac).

Chapter 7: I/O Setup 75

Paths in Sessions

Paths and I/O Setup

In sessions, audio is routed using the track Input, Output, Insert, Plug-in, and Send selectors. These selectors let you assign tracks to hardware inputs and outputs, internal busses, and other Pro Tools signal paths.

Paths comprise the lists of available signal routing choices in track Input, Output, Insert and Send selectors.

Input Path selector and paths

The signal routing choices available in a session are defined in the I/O Setup dialog.

I/O Setup dialog Output paths (Pro Tools HD)

Main Paths and Sub-Paths

Paths in the I/O Setup dialog include main paths and sub-paths.

Stereo main path

mono sub-path

Output Path selector and paths

Pro Tools Reference Guide76

Main and sub-paths in the I/O Setup Channel Grid

Main Paths

Main paths are logical groupings of inputs, inserts, busses, or outputs. For example, a master stereo output path could be named Main Out. Path names in a stereo path are often appended with “.L” and “.R” for left and right.

Sub-Paths

Stems and Stem Mixes

A sub-path represents a signal path within a main path. For example, a default stereo output path consists of two mono sub-paths, left and right. Mono tracks and sends can be routed to either mono sub-path of the stereo output path.

It is especially useful to define and name sub-paths for complex mixing setups, such as a 5.1 Surround mix.

Default I/O Settings

A default I/O Settings ﬁle is installed automatically by Pro Tools, so you have a set of default paths that will get you started, without the need to conﬁgure the I/O Setup dialog. You can then customize your I/O Setup conﬁguration at any time, according to the needs of each project (see “The I/O Setup Dialog” on page 78).

Default Settings Files

The default Stereo settings file is available on all Pro Tools systems, and provides stereo main paths, each with its own mono sub-paths.

The use of stems and stem mixes originated in the post production industry as a method to organize and manage elements of a mix by type or content.

For example, a film mix often requires a stem mix for Foley, a stem mix for sound effects, a stem mix for dialog, and another for music. In this scenario, the dialog stem would contain all the dialog elements mixed relative to each other. The dialog stem can then be mixed with the other stems during the final mix of the scene or reel. The final mix is simplified by the ability to control the level of each stem, rather than the multitude of individual tracks that comprise a typical film mix.

In Pro Tools, you can work with main and subpaths as you would stem mixes. These can be assigned as needed, including the ability to assign multiple outputs to individual tracks and sends. For more information, see “Multiple Output Assignments” on page 536.

Multichannel settings files are available on Pro Tools|HD systems. These settings provide specialized path definitions for surround mixing. See “Configuring Pro Tools for Multichannel Sessions” on page 700.

Default Path Names

Default names for input, output, and insert paths are based on the type of system (Pro Tools LE systems) or type and number of interfaces (Pro Tools|HD systems) you are using.

Chapter 7: I/O Setup 77

The I/O Setup Dialog

The I/O Setup dialog deﬁnes Pro Tools input, output, insert, and bus paths. Routing I/O ports to Pro Tools inputs and outputs can also be done here.

Path Name column

Expand/collapse paths

Main and Sub-Paths

Active/Inactive Status

Path tools

Path Type tabs

Path Format selector

Figure 5. I/O Setup dialog on a Pro Tools|HD system with a 96 I/O

To open the I/O Setup dialog:

1 Make sure your audio interfaces are enabled

and conﬁgured properly in the Hardware Setup. See “Conﬁguring Pro Tools Hardware Settings” on page 46.

2 Choose Setup > I/O.

Closing the I/O Setup Dialog

You can click Cancel at any time to close the I/O Setup dialog. When you click OK, Pro Tools checks several settings for routing validity (to prevent feedback loops). If there are any overlapping or invalid settings, you will be required to correct them before the I/O Setup dialog will

To open the Input, Output, Insert, Bus, Mic Preamps, or H/W Insert Delay page in the I/O

close. For more information, see “Initializing I/O Setup” on page 85.

Setup dialog:

■ Click the corresponding tab at the top of the

I/O Setup dialog.

Interface label

Input and Output selectors

Channel Grid

Options

Pro Tools Reference Guide78

I/O Setup Dialog Controls

This section provides an overview of the controls in the I/O Setup dialog.

Path Type Tabs Select the type of I/O control to configure. Choices are Input, Output, Insert, Bus, Mic Preamps, or H/W Insert Delay.

Input and Output Selectors Select the physical ports on your audio interface to route to Pro Tools inputs and outputs. Ports are selectable in channel pairs. Available ports for each displayed interface are based on Hardware Setup settings; for example, if the AES/EBU inputs and outputs of an interface are enabled in Hardware Setup, they are available for routing in I/O Setup. The functionality provided with the Input and Output selector is the same as that provided on the Main page of the Hardware Setup dialog.

Path Name Column Shows paths that are available for selection, including the name of each defined path. Path names can be renamed.

Show Original Setup Appears in the I/O Setup dialog in certain session transfer situations. For details on this feature, see “Show Original Setup and Show Current Setup” on page 88.

Options Provide selectors with pop-up menus to set paths or orders for Controller Meter Path, Audition Paths (Region List previewing), New Track Default Output, and Default Path Order. See “I/O Setup Options” on page 90.

Routing Hardware I/O to Pro Tools I/O

The I/O Setup dialog lets you define which physical ports on your I/O peripheral are routed to available inputs and outputs in Pro Tools. Use the Input and Output selectors in the I/O Setup dialog to serve as a patchbay to route any of the physical inputs or outputs to your Pro Tools mixer.

Expand/Collapse Shows or hides the sub-paths associated with a main path.

Active/Inactive Status Shows and changes the active/inactive status of each path.

Path Format Selector Shows and selects the type/format (such as Mono, Stereo, Quad, or

5.1) of each defined path.

Channel Grid Maps paths to specific interfaces and channels.

Compensation for Input and Output Delays Allows automatic compensation for input and output delays caused by Digidesign analog-todigital and digital-to-analog hardware.

Path Tools Customize the I/O Setup configuration. Buttons include: New Path, New Sub-Path, Delete Path, and Default.

I/O Channel selector pop-up menu

Chapter 7: I/O Setup 79

To conﬁgure I/O routing in I/O Setup:

1 Choose Setup > I/O.

2 Click the Input or Output tab to display the

corresponding path type.

3 Click the Input or Output selector for the ﬁrst

interface channel pair, located below the ﬁrst audio interface icon.

4 From the pop-up menu, select a physical port

pair (such as Analog 1–2), to route to a Pro Tools channel pair (such as A 1–2) in the Path Name column on the left.

5 Repeat the above step for additional channel

pairs.

6 Click OK.

Routing a Pro Tools Output Pair to Multiple Destinations

Pro Tools channel pairs can be routed to multiple outputs on an audio interface through the I/O Setup dialog. For example, if you assign both Analog 1–2 and Analog 3–4 interface outputs to Pro Tools Output pair 1–2, when you send a signal to Pro Tools Outputs 1–2, that signal will be routed simultaneously to both pairs of output ports on your audio interface.

This lets you send the same signal (such as a stereo pair, a stem mix, or a multichannel mix) to multiple destinations (such as multiple mastering devices).

Pro Tools outputs pairs can also be routed to multiple audio interface outputs in the Hardware Setup dialog. For information, see “Routing a Pro Tools Output Pair to Multiple Destinations” on page 48.

To route a Pro Tools output channel pair to multiple audio interface output ports:

1 Choose Setup > I/O.

2 Click the Output tab.

3 Click the Output selector for an interface

channel pair, just below an audio interface icon.

4 From the pop-up menu, select a physical port

pair (such as Analog 1–2) to route to the corresponding Pro Tools channel pair (such as A 1–2) in the Path Name column on the left.

5 Start-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac)

the same Output selector and select an additional output pair from the same pop-up menu.

6 Repeat the above steps to select additional

output destinations.

7 Click OK.

The only limit to output choices is the number of outputs available in your system.

0utput path assignments cannot overlap. See “Valid Paths and Requirements” on page 86 for details.

Pro Tools Reference Guide80

Creating and Editing Paths

The I/O Setup dialog lets you create and customize signal path deﬁnitions.

Paths can be:

• Renamed, for easier identiﬁcation after changing or renaming audio interfaces

• Remapped, to or from different sources or destinations

• Deactivated (or reactivated) to manage unavailable or unnecessary I/O resources

• Deleted

In addition, you can import and export your I/O Setup conﬁgurations as I/O Settings ﬁles, as well as set default path parameters.

The following table lists the available path attributes for each path type.

Path options by type

Path Type Path Options (Attributes)

Input Names, formats, and source

channel (analog or digital audio interface)

Creating a Default Main or SubPath

You can set an I/O Setup path type to its default path configuration at any time.

To restore default paths and path names:

1 Choose Setup > I/O.

2 Click the Input, Output, Insert, or Bus tab to

display the corresponding path type.

3 Click Default.

Pro Tools creates all possible stereo main paths. Mono sub-paths are also auto-created for every stereo main path. These default path names appear in a session’s track Audio Input and Output Path selectors.

Output Names, formats, and destination

(audio interface output channel or internal send bus)

Insert Names, formats and destination

(audio interface channels)

Bus Names and formats

Default stereo output paths

To optimize Pro Tools DSP resources, it is best to create mono sub-paths for Outputs and Busses, rather than mono main paths.

Chapter 7: I/O Setup 81

Creating New Paths

You can create new main path and sub-paths with custom names, format, and mapping. Custom path names appear in a session’s track Input, Output, Insert, and Bus selectors.

To create a new path:

1 Choose Setup > I/O.

8 Click OK to close the I/O Setup dialog. If there

are any overlapping or identically named paths, you will be instructed to correct them before the I/O Setup dialog will close. For more information, see “Initializing I/O Setup” on page 85.

Multichannel paths and mixing are explained in Chapter 31, “Pro Tools Setup for Surround (Pro Tools HD Only).”

2 Click the Input, Output, Insert, or Bus tab to

display the corresponding path type.

3 Do one of the following:

• Click New Path, or press Control+N (Windows) or Command+N (Mac).

– or –

• Select a main path and click New Sub-Path.

4 Double-click in the Name ﬁeld and enter a

name for the path.

5 Press Tab to set the new path name and move

to the next path’s Name Field, or press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac) to set the new path name.

6 Choose a format from the Path Format selec-

tor (mono, stereo, or multichannel).

Path Format selector

7 Repeat the previous steps to conﬁgure other

path types (Input, Output, Insert, or Bus).

Changing Path Names

Path names can be customized in the I/O Setup dialog.

I/O paths can also be renamed directly from the Edit or Mix window by Right-clicking the Input or Output selector and choosing Rename.

To rename a path in the I/O Setup dialog:

1 Double-click the path name.

2 Enter a new path name.

3 Press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac).

Changing Interface Names

Audio interface names can be customized in the I/O Setup dialog. With Pro Tools HD only, the I/O Setup dialog then bases default Input and Output path names on the custom names.

To rename an audio interface in the I/O Setup dialog:

1 Double-click the label above an interface.

2 Enter a new interface name.

Pro Tools Reference Guide82

3 Press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac).

Interface Name

Interface Names

To select or deselect non-contiguous paths, do one of the following:

■ Control-click (Windows) or Command-click

(Mac) path names that are unhighlighted to select them.

– or –

■ Control-click (Windows) or Command-click

(Mac) path names that are highlighted to deselect them.

Selecting and Arranging Paths

Individual and multiple paths can be selected in the I/O Setup dialog Path Name column. Selected paths and sub-paths can be moved higher or lower in the Path Name column to change their menu order in track Input, Output, Insert, and Bus selectors. Paths can also be deleted. Subpaths follow their main paths when they are moved in the I/O Setup dialog.

To select a main path or sub-path:

■ Click the path name.

Selecting paths in the I/O Setup dialog

To select a range of paths:

1 Click the path name.

2 Shift-click an additional path name.

All paths that occur between the first path name selected and the additional path name will also be selected.

To select all paths and sub-paths:

■ Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac)

any path name that is unhighlighted.

To deselect all paths and sub-paths:

■ Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac)

any path name that is highlighted.

To rearrange paths:

■ Drag one or more path names up or down.

Resetting to Default Paths

The Default button in the I/O Setup dialog provides two primary functions:

• Creates new default paths up to the capacity of your system’s available audio interfaces and resources. See “Creating a Default Main or Sub-Path” on page 81.

• Resets selected path names to matching or corresponding paths in the current I/O Setup conﬁguration. For example, if you replace an audio interface on a Pro Tools|HD system, you can use the Default switch to update your I/O Setup deﬁnitions with the new hardware conﬁguration.

Interface names can be customized. See “Changing Interface Names” on page 82.

Chapter 7: I/O Setup 83

To reset path names:

■ Click Default.

If there are matching paths available with the new system configuration, existing paths will be updated to include new audio interfaces (Pro Tools|HD systems).

Resetting Mix Busses

(Pro Tools HD Only)

Pro Tools supports up to 128 mix busses (Pro Tools HD 7.x and Pro Tools TDM 6.9), 64 mix busses (Pro Tools TDM 6.7.x and lower), or 32 busses (Pro Tools 7.x and 5.0.1 and lower). When you open a session created with a lower version of Pro Tools, only the number of busses supported on the lower system are initially available. You can reset the number of available busses to match your system’s capabilities.

To delete a main path or sub-path:

1 In the I/O Setup dialog, select the path you

want to delete.

2 Click Delete Path.

To delete all paths:

1 Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac) any

path name.

2 Click Delete Path.

Channel Mapping

Once a path has been created and formatted, it can be mapped to specific audio interface, or bus channels in the Grid.

To map channels:

1 Select a main or sub-path.

To make all of your busses available in sessions created with a lower version of Pro Tools:

1 Open the I/O Setup dialog.

2 Click the Bus tab in the upper left.

3 Click Default.

Setting busses to the default setting will rename all busses to their default name.

Deleting Paths

Path definitions can be deleted from the current session to reflect changes to your hardware setup, or to clean up track selector menus by removing unwanted or unnecessary path definitions. After deleting a path, any tracks or send assignments to that path are reset to No Output.

Pro Tools Reference Guide84

2 In the row for the selected path, click in the

Grid column under an audio interface and channel. Other channels for the path type, if any, ﬁll to the right.

Mapping channels

For example, when mapping a new stereo path, clicking in the path row under output channel 1 ﬁlls both channel 1 and 2 (left to 1, right to 2).

To remap channels in a path, see “Remapping Channels” on page 85.

Channel Mapping and Surround Mixer

(Pro Tools HD Only)

When mapping multichannel paths, the left channel (L) is mapped first to the clicked Grid box, and remaining channels fill immediately to the right according to the default path order. Because some multichannel mixing formats use unique track layouts, Pro Tools lets you set the default format in the I/O Setup dialog (see “I/O Setup Options” on page 90).

Customized Output paths for a 5.1 mix

Remapping Channels

Channel Shufﬂing

Moving a signal from right to left results in a shuffle of other signals after the new destination channel. Moving a signal from left to right shuffles any and all signals after the new destination channel and leaves the previous channel empty.

Changing a path’s format erases any current channel mapping.

Sub-Paths Follow Main Paths

When a main path is remapped, its sub-paths (if any) will remap automatically to maintain consistent routing. For example, remapping a stereo path to different hardware outputs results in any of its sub-paths moving with it.

Initializing I/O Setup

To set the current I/O Setup conﬁguration:

■ Click OK in the I/O Setup dialog.

All paths must be valid before the I/O Setup configuration can be applied.

You can move the individual assignments to different channels, to reorder the path’s definition (for example, changing a multichannel map to L-R-C-LF-LS-RS).

To remap channels in a path:

■ Drag the channel to the new location in the

Grid. Other channel assignments will move (shufﬂe) to accommodate dragged channels.

Chapter 7: I/O Setup 85

Valid Paths and Requirements

While configuring the I/O Setup dialog, certain rules apply for path definition and channel mapping.

Though it is possible to set up invalid mappings in the Channel Grid, Pro Tools will not accept an I/O Setup configuration unless all paths meet the path definition and channel mapping requirements, as follows:

Minimum Path Deﬁnitions All paths must have a name, be of a specific format, and have a valid I/O mapping.

Overlapping Channels and Valid Paths Channel mapping follows certain rules regarding overlapping paths.

• There can be no partial or complete overlaps between any two main Output paths, any two Insert paths, or any two main Bus paths.

• A newly-created Output or Bus path must either be completely independent of other maps (not mapped to any other available I/O interface/channels), or it must be a subpath completely contained within a larger path (for example, an LCR sub-path within a larger 5.1 path).

• Output and Insert paths can overlap in I/O Setup, but only one or the other can be used at any given time in a session. (Inputs, however, can be routed to multiple tracks.)

Active and Inactive Paths

Pro Tools paths can be Active (on) or Inactive (off, or unavailable). You can manually switch paths between Active or Inactive on a track-bytrack or session-wide basis. In addition, Pro Tools sets paths to Inactive automatically when I/O is unavailable.

Track Path Assignments Track input, output, and bus path assignments can be switched to Inactive using the corresponding selector on the track. This leaves track playlists intact, while disconnecting that particular track from the output or bus path. Use this to remove a track from a signal path.

Session-Wide Path Assignments Paths can be globally activated or deactivated in the I/O Setup dialog. Use this to turn off a signal path on any and all tracks currently assigned to it. Pro Tools also sets unavailable paths to inactive. Paths can be unavailable when hardware or other system resources are unavailable, such as when opening a session saved on a different system.

Track Path Assignments

(Mix and Edit Windows)

To toggle a track path assignment to be Active or Inactive:

■ In the Mix or Edit window, Control-Start-click

(Windows) or Command-Control-click (Mac) the track’s Input, Output, Insert, or Send selector.

Inactive track path assignments are listed in italics and are unhighlighted.

Toggling All or All Selected

The Alt (Windows) and Option (Mac) modifiers apply the path toggle to all tracks. The Alt+Shift (Windows) and Option+Shift (Mac) modifiers apply the path toggle to all selected tracks. However, Pro Tools will only apply the change to identical path assignments, if any, in the current track or tracks. Toggling multiple tracks only affects tracks that have the same path assignment as the one you are explicitly toggling.

Pro Tools Reference Guide86

Toggling Multiple Paths

3 Set the Active/Inactive control for the path.

If a track has only one main output assignment, you can Control-start-click (Windows) or Command-Control-click (Mac) the track’s Output Path selector to toggle the main output to inactive. When there are multiple assignments, the track selector will be displayed for you to specify the input, output, insert, or bus path.

If a Send (A–J) has multiple output assignments and one of those is toggled, then all of the output assignments for that Send (A–J) will be toggled.

Session-Wide Path Assignments

(I/O Setup Dialog)

Paths can be globally configured for Active or Inactive status in the I/O Setup Dialog.

Display of Active and Inactive Status

Unhighlighted (Italics) Indicates the path is inac-

tive.

Highlighted (Non-Italics) Indicates the path is active.

Highlighted (Italics) Indicates the path is active, but there are not enough system resources available.

Active

Inactive

Active and inactive path settings in I/O Setup

To globally activate or deactivate a path:

1 Choose Setup > I/O.

2 Select a path type using the tabs at the top of

the window.

Any track path assignment can also be deactivated on a track-by-track basis. See “Track Path Assignments” on page 86.

Inactive paths are displayed in italics in the track path selectors.

Active and inactive paths in a track Output Path selector

Hardware Setup and Session Transfer

Pro Tools sessions store the type and order of au- dio interfaces connected and active when the session was last saved.

Unavailable I/O

When opening a session, Pro Tools checks to see if the hardware conﬁguration has changed since the session was last saved. If the current hardware conﬁguration differs from that saved in the session, paths associated with the unavailable I/O are made inactive.

Remapping

Remapping occurs when a session’s original I/O Setup does not match that of the current system and session paths are remapped to current hardware.

Chapter 7: I/O Setup 87

Systems of equivalent I/O capability are remapped directly. For example, a session tracked to a Pro Tools|HD system through two 192 I/O audio interfaces would include 32 input paths spread across the two 16-channel interfaces. The session is taken to a second Pro Tools system that has a 96 I/O audio interface (a 16channel I/O unit) and a 1622 I/O (with its 16 analog inputs) connected to its Legacy Port. When the session is first opened on the second system, Pro Tools will map the 32 input paths to the inputs of the two interfaces.

When hardware is unavailable to a session being opened, assignments can either be replaced using the remap option, or opened as Inactive. Any tracks left assigned to an unavailable path will not be audible. This can be beneficial, however, when you want to reassign tracks into your system’s mix one at a time.

See “Active and Inactive Paths” on page 86 for more information.

Show Original Setup and Show Current Setup

When a session is opened that contains path definitions for unavailable I/O interfaces, the I/O Setup dialog lists those paths in italics.

I/O Settings Files

I/O Settings can be managed when transferring sessions, and when developing I/O Setup conﬁgurations over the course of multiple sessions and projects.

Defaults, Settings Files, and Last Used Settings for New Sessions

When creating new sessions, you can set the session’s I/O Setup configuration using the following options:

Default I/O Setups The Pro Tools Installer provides factory presets for stereo and surround I/O Setups (surround mixing is only supported on Pro Tools|HD systems). See “Factory I/O Settings Files” on page 90 for more information.

Custom Presets You can store and recall custom presets using the export and import features of the I/O Setup dialog.

Last Used The most recent (or last used) I/O Setup configuration is saved as a Last Used settings file. See “Last Used I/O Settings” on page 89 for more information.

The Show Original Setup button displays the audio interfaces used in the original session. This temporary display lets you check the original I/O configuration for reference while configuring the session for your system.

Once a session has been opened with unavailable I/O retained, you can then reassign tracks to available I/O paths.

To redefine the paths, see “Creating and Editing Paths” on page 81.

Pro Tools Reference Guide88

Default I/O Settings at First Launch

The first time you create a session, you can choose default Stereo Mix or Surround Mix settings, depending on your system and installation choices. See “Factory I/O Settings Files” on page 90.

DigiDesign Pro Tools, Pro Tools 7.2 Reference Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Contents

Chapter 1: Welcome to Pro Tools

The Pro Tools Guides

Conventions Used in These Guides

Compatibility Information

About www.digidesign.com

Pro Tools|HD Systems

Pro Tools|HD Systems

Supported Audio Interfaces

Pro Tools|HD System Playback, Recording and Voice Limits

Audio Interfaces for Pro Tools|HD Systems

Pro Tools LE Systems

Processing Capacity

Pro Tools LE System Capabilities

Pro Tools M-Powered

Pro Tools LE with DV Toolkit 2 and Pro Tools LE or M-Powered with Music Production Toolkit

Support for 48 Mono or Stereo Tracks

Support for Up to 24 QuickPunch Tracks

DV Toolkit 2 Capabilitites

Music Production Toolkit Overview

Chapter 3: Pro Tools Concepts

Hard Disk Audio Recording

The Digidesign Audio Engine

Playback Engine Dialog

Pro Tools Sessions

Session File

Tracks

Audio File

Regions

Playlist

Channel

Signal Routing

System Resources

Active and Inactive Items

MIDI Concepts

MIDI Terms

Common MIDI Misconceptions

Chapter 4: Pro Tools Main Windows

The Mix Window

The Edit Window

Track Path Selectors and Controls

Edit Window Counters and Selection Indicators

Edit Tools

Event Edit Area

Edit Window Bar

The Transport Window

Basic Transport Controls and Counters

MIDI Controls

Menus and Windows

Tool Tips

Chapter 5: Keyboard and Right-Click Mouse Shortcuts

Global Key Commands

Right-Click Mouse Shortcuts

Keyboard Focus

Shuttle Lock Modes

Numeric Keypad Modes

Shuttle Mode

Chapter 6: Sessions

Starting Up or Shutting Down Your System

Hardware Buffer Size

RTAS Processors

CPU Usage Limit

Number of Voices

Default Sample Rate

Delay Compensation Engine

DAE Playback Buffer Size

System Memory Allocation

Creating a New Session

Session Files and Folders

Opening a Session

Opening a Session that Contains Unavailable Files

Opening a Session from a Transfer Volume

Opening a Session that Contains Unavailable Resources

Opening a Session with Audio File Names that Contain Illegal Characters

Opening a Session that Was Saved with +6 dB Fader Gain

Saving the Session File with a New Name