Pinnacle Systems Pro Tools - 12.7 Reference Guide

Pro Tools® Reference Guide

Version 12.7

Legal Notices

003, 192 Digital I/O, 192 I/O, 96 I/O, 96i I/O, Adrenaline, AirSpeed, ALEX, Alienbrain, AME, AniMatte, Archive, Archive II, Assistant Station, AudioPages, AudioStation, AutoLoop, AutoSync, Avid, Avid Active, Avid Advanced Response, Avid DNA, Avid DNxcel, Avid DNxHD, Avid DS Assist Station, Avid Ignite, Avid Liquid, Avid Media Engine, Avid Media Processor, Avid MEDIArray, Avid Mojo, Avid Remote Response, Avid Unity, Avid Unity ISIS, Avid VideoRAID, AvidRAID, AvidShare, AVIDstripe, AVX, Beat Detective, Beauty Without The Bandwidth, Beyond Reality, BF Essentials, Bomb Factory, Bruno, C|24, CaptureManager, ChromaCurve, ChromaWheel, Cineractive Engine, Cineractive Player, Cineractive Viewer, Color Conductor, Command|8, Control|24, Cosmonaut Voice, CountDown, d2, d3, AAE, D-Command, D-Control, Deko, DekoCast, D-Fi, D-fx, Digi 002, Digi 003, DigiBase, Digidesign, Digidesign Audio Engine, Digidesign Development Partners, Digidesign Intelligent Noise Reduction, Digidesign TDM Bus, DigiLink, DigiMeter, DigiPanner, DigiProNet, DigiRack, DigiSerial, DigiSnake, DigiSystem, Digital Choreography, Digital Nonlinear Accelerator, DigiTest, DigiTranslator, DigiWear, DINR, DNxchange, Do More, DPP-1, D-Show, DSP Manager, DS-StorageCalc, DV Toolkit, DVD Complete, D-Verb, Eleven, EM, Euphonix, EUCON, EveryPhase, Expander, ExpertRender, Fairchild, FastBreak, FastTrack, FilmCutter, FilmScribe, Flexevent, FluidMotion, Frame Chase, FXDeko, HD Core, HD Process, HDpack, Home-to-Hollywood, HyperSPACE, HyperSPACE HDCAM, iKnowledge, Impact, Improv, iNEWS, iNEWS Assign, iNEWS ControlAir, InGame, Instantwrite, Instinct, Intelligent Content Management, Intelligent Digital Actor Technology, IntelliRender, Intelli-Sat, Intelli-Sat Broadcasting Recording Manager, InterFX, Interplay, inTONE, Intraframe, iS Expander, iS9, iS18, iS23, iS36, ISIS, IsoSync, LaunchPad, LeaderPlus, LFX, Lightning, Link & Sync, ListSync, LKT-200, Lo-Fi, MachineControl, Magic Mask, Make Anything Hollywood, make manage move|media, Marquee, MassivePack, MassivePack Pro, Maxim, Mbox, Media Composer, MediaFlow, MediaLog, MediaMix, MediaReader, Media Recorder, MEDIArray, MediaServer, MediaShare, MetaFuze, MetaSync, MIDI I/O, Mix Rack, Moviestar, MultiShell, NaturalMatch, NewsCutter, NewsView, NewsVision, Nitris, NL3D, NLP, NSDOS, NSWIN, OMF, OMF Interchange, OMM, OnDVD, Open Media Framework, Open Media Management, Painterly Effects, Palladiium, Personal Q, PET, Podcast Factory, PowerSwap, PRE, ProControl, ProEncode, Profiler, Pro Tools, Pro Tools|HD, Pro Tools LE, Pro Tools M-Powered , P ro Transfer, QuickPunch, QuietDrive, Realtime Motion Synthesis, Recti-Fi, Reel Tape Delay, Reel Tape Flanger, Reel Tape Saturation, Reprise, Res Rocket Surfer, Reso, RetroLoop, Reverb One, ReVibe, Revolution, rS9, rS18, RTAS, Salesview, Sci-Fi, Scorch, ScriptSync, SecureProductionEnvironment, Shape-to-Shape, ShuttleCase, Sibelius, SimulPlay, SimulRecord, Slightly Rude Compressor, Smack!, Soft SampleCell, Soft-Clip Limiter, SoundReplacer, SPACE, SPACEShift, SpectraGraph, SpectraMatte, SteadyGlide, Streamf actory, Streamgenie, StreamRAID, SubCap, Sundance,

Sundance Digital, SurroundScope, Symphony, SYNCHD, SYNC I/O, Synchronic, SynchroScope, Syntax, TDM FlexCable, TechFlix, Tel-Ray, Thunder, TimeLiner, Titansync, Titan, TL Aggro, TL AutoPan, TL Drum Rehab, TL Everyphase, TL Fauxlder, TL In Tune, TL MasterMeter, TL Metro, TL Space, TL Utilities, tools for storytellers, Transit, TransJammer, Trillium Lane Labs, TruTouch, UnityRAID, Vari-Fi, Video the Web Way, VideoRAID, VideoSPACE, VTEM, Work-N-Play, Xdeck, X-Form, and XMON are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.

Bonjour, the Bonjour logo, and the Bonjour symbol are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc.

Thunderbolt and the Thunderbolt logo are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries.

This product may be protected by one or more U.S. and nonU.S. patents. Details are available at www.avid.com/patents.

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

Guide Part Number 9329-65799-00 REV A 12/16

Part I Introduction to Pro Tools

Chapter 1. Welcome to Pro Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

System Requirements and Compatibility Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

About www.avid.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Conventions Used in Pro Tools Documentation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Chapter 2. Pro Tools Concepts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Hard Disk Audio Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Nonlinear Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Audio Engines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Avid Video Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

MIDI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Synchronization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Surround Sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Pro Tools Sessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Pro Tools Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Tick-Based and Sample-Based Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

System Resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Workspace Browsers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

AAF, MXF, and OMF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Pro Tools and Media Composer Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Embedded Media and Linked Media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Chapter 3. Keyboard and Mouse Sho rtcuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Mouse Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Global Key Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Keyboard Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Toolbar Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Numeric Keypad Modes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Contents iii

Chapter 4. Using Help. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Accessing Guides in Pro Tools Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Accessing the Help System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Help Display. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Using the Contents and Index Tabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Using the Search Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Search Guidelines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Copying from a Help Topic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Printing Help Topics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Part II System Configuration

Chapter 5. Pro Tools Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Pro Tools Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Pro Tools | HD Software with Pro Tools | HDX Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Pro Tools | HD Software with Pro Tools | HD Native Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Supported Pro Tools HD Audio Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Playback, Recording, and Voice Limits with Pro Tools | HD Software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Pro Tools HD Audio Interface Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Additional Pro Tools Hardware Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Additional Pro Tools HD Hardware Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Pro Tools Software Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Avid Application Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Chapter 6. System Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Starting Up or Shutting Down Your System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Checking a Pro Tools | HDX or Pro Tools | HD Native System with DigiTest. . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Configuring Pro Tools Software System Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Configuring MIDI Setup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Configuring Hardware Settings in Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Configuring Pro Tools | HDX and Pro Tools | HD Native Hardware Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

System Usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Pro Tools Reference Guideiv

Chapter 7. I/O Setup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Pro Tools Software Signal Paths. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

I/O Setup Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

I/O Setup Signal Path Controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

I/O Setup Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

I/O Setup Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Customizing I/O Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Configuring Hardware in I/O Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Signal Path Routing for Audio Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Signal Path Routing for Audio Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Creating New Paths. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Creating New Sub-Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Editing Paths. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Assigning Paths to Hardware I/O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Valid Paths and Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Configuring Busses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Downmix and Upmix Output Busses to Outputs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

I/O Settings Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Session or Project Interchange and I/O Mapping. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

I/O Settings and the Playback Engine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Organize Track I/O Menus By Preference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

I/O Setup in Session Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Pro Tools Session Templates and I/O Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Chapter 8. Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Display Preferences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Operation Preferences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Editing Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Mixing Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Metering Preferences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Processing Preferences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

MIDI Preferences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Collaboration Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Synchronization Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Global and Local Preferences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Contents v

Chapter 9. Peripherals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Synchronization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Machine Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

MIDI Controllers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Ethernet Controllers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Mic Preamps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Satellites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

VENUE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Chapter 10. Configuring MIDI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

MIDI Studio Setup (Mac). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

MIDI Studio Setup (Windows) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Part III Sessions, Projects & Tracks

Chapter 11. Sessions and Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Sessions and Projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Dashboard Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Bit Depths and Sample Rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Mixed Audio File Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Interleaved Multichannel and Multi-Mono Audio Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Session Files and Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Pro Tools Projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Creating a New Session or Project from a Template. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Creating a New Blank Session or Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Opening a Recent Session or Project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Opening Any Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Opening a Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Opening a Session or Project with Plug-Ins Deactivated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Saving Sessions and Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Save Copy In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Save As New Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Revision History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Saving a Session as a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Saving a Project as a Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

Session Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

Project and Session Metadata. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Pro Tools Reference Guidevi

Project Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Closing a Session or Project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Renaming Projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Remove Local Cache. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Deleting Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

Restore Project from Cloud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

Open Revision History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

Project Collaboration Invitations in the Dashboard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

Quitting or Exiting Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

Chapter 12. Pro Tools Main Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Mix Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180

Edit Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

Transport Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

MIDI Editor Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

Score Editor Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Workspace Browsers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Task Manager Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

Artist Chat Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

In-Application Web Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

Managing Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

How Window Configurations Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

Window Configuration Commands and Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

Tool Tips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

Chapter 13. Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

Track Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

Track Channel Strips in the Mix Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

Track Controls and Indicators in the Edit Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

Edit Window Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

Track Level Meters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

Adjusting Track Width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

Creating Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Track Views. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

Setting Track Views in the Edit Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Track Height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

Contents vii

Track List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

Track Name Right-Click Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

Assigning Audio Inputs and Outputs to Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

Track Priority and Voice Assignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

Assigning MIDI Inputs and Outputs to Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247

Soloing and Muting Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249

Making Tracks Inactive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

Color Coding for Tracks, Clips, Markers, and Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

Chapter 14. Grouping Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

Grouping Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

Group Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259

Working with Groups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

Setting Group Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264

Enabling Groups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266

Grouped Control Offsets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

Chapter 15. The Clip List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

Clip List Menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

Sorting and Searching in the Clip List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

Selecting Clips in the Clip List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

Previewing Clips in the Clip List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

Stereo and Multichannel Clips in the Clip List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

Naming and Displaying Clips in the Clip List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

Managing Clips in the Clip List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

Clip Name Right-Click Commands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280

Chapter 16. Workspace Browsers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

Performance and Transfer Volumes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282

Databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

Workspace Browser Layout and Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284

Working with Items in Workspace Browsers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

Indexing Workspace Databases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288

Workspace Browser Menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Workspace Right-Click Menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

Workspace Browser Panes and Display. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

Column Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

Selecting Items. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296

Pro Tools Reference Guideviii

Moving, Copying, Duplicating, and Removing Items. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296

Searching Items. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

Soundbase and Tags. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302

Searching Based on Tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305

Adding and Editing Tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306

Waveforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308

Elastic Audio Files in the Workspace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308

Previewing Audio in Workspace Browsers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310

Preview Controls and Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311

Preview Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312

Linking and Relinking Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315

Transfer Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315

Missing Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316

Relink Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318

Catalogs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322

Task Manager Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325

Chapter 17. Artist Chat Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329

Profile Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330

Contacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331

Notifications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332

History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333

Projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333

Chat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337

Filtering Chat and Project Messages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340

Editing Chat or Project Messages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341

Emoticon and Notations Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341

Pinning or Unpinning Items in the Projects and Chat Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342

Taking Artist Chat Offline or Back Online. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343

Chapter 18. Track Collabora t io n. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345

Sharing Projects and Collaborating. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345

What is Shared? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345

What is Not Shared? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347

Project Ownership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347

Track Ownership and Conflicting Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347

Track Collaboration Tools in the Edit Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347

Contents ix

Track Collaboration Tools in the Transport Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348

Global Track Collaboration Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348

Track Collaboration Track View in the Edit and Mix Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351

Track Collaboration Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352

Ruler Collaboration Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357

Chapter 19. Importing and Exporting Session Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361

Importing and Exporting Data to and from a Session or Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361

Audio Conversion on Import . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362

Importing Files with Drag and Drop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364

Importing Audio Files and Clips Using the Import Audio Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367

Importing Audio from Audio CDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369

Importing ACID and REX Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370

Importing Multichannel Audio Files from a Field Recorder. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371

Import Options and Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372

Exporting Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374

Importing MIDI Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376

Exporting MIDI Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378

Exporting Sibelius Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380

Importing Session Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380

Import Session Data Dialog. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383

Importing AAF and OMF Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389

Import Options when Importing AAF or OMF Sequences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394

Media Composer | Software Export Options for Audio and Video Mixdowns. . . . . . . . . . . . 399

Audio File Format Compatibility Issues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399

Exporting Pro Tools Tracks as AAF or OMF Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401

Exporting Pro Tools Tracks as MXF Audio Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403

Export Options when Exporting to AAF or OMF Sequences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407

Export Selected Tracks as New Session or Project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411

Exporting Session Information as Text. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412

Export Session Information as Text Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413

Importing and Exporting Clip Group Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414

Pro Tools Reference Guidex

Chapter 20. File and Session Management and Compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419

Audio File Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419

WAV File Compatibility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422

Sharing Projects Offline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422

Sharing Sessions Created on Different Computer Platforms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423

Sharing Sessions Created on Different Pro Tools Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426

Opening Pro Tools HD Sessions in Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426

Sharing Sessions Created on Different Pro Tools Software Versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427

Language Compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433

Part IV Playback and Recording

Chapter 21. Playing Back Track Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437

Playback Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438

Setting the Playback Location. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440

Scrolling Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444

Playing Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445

Transport Fade-in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447

Playing Timeline and Edit Selections with the Playhead. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447

Playback Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448

MIDI Beat Clock. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453

MIDI Beat Clock Offsets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455

Chapter 22. Record Setup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457

Record Setup Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457

Configuring Pro Tools Hardware I/O for Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458

Connecting a Sound Source. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460

Recording with a Click . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460

Setting the Session Meter and Tempo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462

Record Modes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465

Configuring Default Names for Audio Files and Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468

Assigning Hardware I/O on a Track. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469

Record Enabling Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470

Working with Hard Drives for Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473

Selecting a Record Input Monitoring Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 476

Setting Monitor Levels for Record and Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478

Reducing Monitoring Latency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478

Contents xi

Chapter 23. Audio Recording. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481

Recording Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483

Prime for Record Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484

Setting Punch and Loop Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484

Setting Pre- and Post-Roll. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487

Audio Punch Recording Over a Specified Range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489

Recording Additional Takes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490

Loop Recording Audio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493

Alternate Takes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494

Recording from a Digital Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498

Half-Speed Recording. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500

Chapter 24. MIDI Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501

Recording from MIDI Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501

Enabling Input Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502

MIDI Thru . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503

MIDI Input Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504

Input Quantize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504

Wait for Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504

MIDI Merge/Replace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505

Configuring MIDI or Instrument Tracks for Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506

Recording MIDI and Instrument Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507

MIDI Punch Recording Over a Specified Range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509

Loop Recording MIDI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511

MIDI Step Input. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 514

Recording System Exclusive Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 514

Recording Audio from a MIDI Instrument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515

Chapter 25. Punch Recording Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517

Introduction to Punch Recording Modes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517

Guidelines for Punch Recording. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518

QuickPunch Audio Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 522

TrackPunch Audio Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524

Using TrackPunch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 526

DestructivePunch Audio Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527

Using DestructivePunch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531

Example TrackPunch and DestructivePunch Workflows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532

Pro Tools Reference Guidexii

Part V Editing

Chapter 26. Editing Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539

Track Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 540

Audio Clips and Waveforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541

MIDI Clips and MIDI Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545

Naming Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 548

Displaying Clip Names, Clip Times, and Other Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549

Multiple Undo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550

Basic Editing Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 552

Editing Across Multiple Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 556

Chapter 27. Edit Modes and Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 557

Edit Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 557

Shuffle Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 557

Slip Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558

Spot Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558

Grid Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558

Edit Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561

Zooming Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561

Zoom Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562

Zoomer Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 564

Zoom Preset Buttons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566

Zoom Toggle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 567

Zooming with a Scroll Wheel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 570

Using the Trim Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 570

Trim Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 570

Time Compression/ Expansion Trim Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 572

Scrub Trim Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573

Loop Trim Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574

Tandem Trimming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 576

Using the Selector Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 577

Using the Grabber Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 578

Using the Smart Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 578

Using the Scrubber Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 581

Numeric Keypad Set to Shuttle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 583

Using the Pencil Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 584

Contents xiii

Edit/Tool Mode Keyboard Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 585

Chapter 28. Making Selections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 587

Linking or Unlinking Timeline and Edit Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 587

Linking or Unlinking Track and Edit Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589

Selecting Track Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589

Timeline Selections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 599

Auto-Scrolling Tracks in the Mix and Edit Windows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 602

Universe View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 603

Navigating a Pro Tools Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 605

Chapter 29. Editing Clips and Selec tions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609

Creating New Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609

Healing Separated Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 612

Trimming Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 613

Nudging Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615

Layered Editing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 618

Quantizing Clips to Grid. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 619

Editing Stereo and Multichannel Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 620

Consolidating Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 621

Compacting an Audio File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 621

Processing Audio with AudioSuite Plug-Ins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 622

TCE (Time Compression and Expansion) Edit To Timeline Selection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 622

Rating Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 623

Chapter 30. Fades and Crossfades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 625

About Crossfades and Curves. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 625

Fade Dialogs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 627

Fade and Crossfade Preferences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 632

Fade Presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 632

Creating Fades at the Beginnings and Ends of Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 633

Creating a Crossfade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 635

Using AutoFades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 636

Creating Fades and Crossfades in Batches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 637

Manually Adjusting Fade Shapes in Fade Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 638

Adjusting the Start and End Points of a Crossfade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 638

Adjusting Fade Shapes with the Smart Tool in the Edit Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 639

Changing Fade Shapes in the Edit Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 639

Pro Tools Reference Guidexiv

Fades Options in the Edit Selection Right-Click Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 640

Moving and Nudging Fades and Crossfades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 640

Separating Clips that Include Fades or Crossfades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 643

Trimming Clips that Include Fades or Crossfades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 643

Fade Boundaries and Shapes Displayed in Automation View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 644

Chapter 31. Playlists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 645

Working with Playlists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 645

Track Compositing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 648

Playlists View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 651

Matching Alternate Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 658

Matching Criteria Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 659

Selecting Alternate Takes on Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 660

Automatically Create New Playlists when Loop Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 661

Expanding Alternate Takes to New Playlists or Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 662

Expanding Alternate Channels to New Playlists or Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 663

Chapter 32. Beat Detective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 667

Beat Detective and Source Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 667

Uses for Beat Detective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 667

Beat Detective Requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 668

The Beat Detective Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 669

Beat Detective Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 669

Defining a Beat Detective Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 670

Beat Detective Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 671

Calculating Tempo with Beat Detective. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 672

Generating Beat Triggers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 672

Editing Beat Triggers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 676

Generating Bar|Beat Markers with Beat Detective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 678

DigiGroove Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 679

Separating Clips with Beat Detective. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 681

Conforming Clips with Beat Detective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 682

Edit Smoothing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 685

Detection (Normal) and Collection Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 687

Contents xv

Part VI MIDI

Chapter 33. MIDI Editing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 693

MIDI Editing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 693

Setting the Grid Value. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 695

Using the Pencil Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 696

Inserting MIDI Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 698

Inserting a Series of Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 699

Manually Editing MIDI Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 700

Using the Grabber Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 702

Time Compression/Expansion Trim Tool Functionality on MIDI Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 709

Continuous Controller Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 711

Patch Select (Program and Bank Changes) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 714

System Exclusive Events. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 718

Note and Controller Chasing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 719

Offsetting MIDI Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 720

Stuck Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 722

Remove Duplicate Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 722

MIDI Real-Time Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 722

Real-Time Properties Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 724

Real-Time Properties on Tracks and Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 726

Writing Real-Time Properties to Tracks or Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 727

Real-Time Properties In the MIDI Event List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 728

Display of Real-Time Properties Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 728

Chapter 34. MIDI Editors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 729

Opening a MIDI Editor Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 730

MIDI Editor Window Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 731

MIDI Editor Zoom Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 736

Track List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 736

Group List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 738

Timebase and Conductor Rulers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739

Superimposed Notes View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739

Notes Pane Right-Click Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 742

Notation View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 744

Velocity, Controller, and Automation Lanes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 746

Pro Tools Reference Guidexvi

Chapter 35. Score Editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 747

Opening the Score Editor Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 748

Edit Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 748

Default Note Duration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 751

Default Note On Velocity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 751

Play MIDI Notes When Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 751

Link Timeline and Edit Selection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 751

Mirrored MIDI Editing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 752

Double Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 752

Cursor Location. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 752

Grid. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753

Score Editor Window Target. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753

Score Editor Window Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 754

Customizable Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 755

Track List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 755

Page Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 756

Score Editor Zoom Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 757

Notation Display Track Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 758

Score Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 759

Editing Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 761

Score Editor Right-Click Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 764

Key Changes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 765

Meter Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 766

Chord Symbols and Diagrams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 766

Exporting Scores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 768

Printing Scores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 768

Chapter 36. MIDI Event List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 769

Opening the MIDI Event List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 769

Inserting Events in the MIDI Event List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 772

Editing Events in the MIDI Event List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 774

MIDI Event List Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 776

Contents xvii

Part VII Arranging

Chapter 37. Time, Tempo, Meter , Key, and Chords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 779

Timebase Rulers and Conductor Rulers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 779

Main Time Scale. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 781

The Sub Counter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 782

Tick-Based Timing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 783

Tick- and Sample-Based Timebases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 784

Song Start Marker. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 786

Tempo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 787

Graphic Tempo Editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 793

Editing Tempo Events in the Tempo Editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 793

Changing the Linearity Display Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 799

Tempo Operations Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800

Identify Beat Command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 806

Meter Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 809

Time Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 811

Change Meter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 811

Insert Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 813

Cut Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 814

Move Song Start. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 815

Renumbering Bars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 816

Key Signatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 816

Chord Symbols. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 820

Chapter 38. Memory Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 823

Creating Memory Locations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 823

Creating Memory Locations During Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 824

Properties of Memory Locations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 825

Recalling Memory Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 827

Editing Memory Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 828

Deleting Memory Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 829

Copying Marker Memory Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 829

Memory Locations Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 830

Memory Locations Commands and Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 830

Pro Tools Reference Guidexviii

Chapter 39. Arranging Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 833

Placing Clips from the Clip List on to Track Playlists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 833

Working with Multiple Items from the Clip List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 834

Placing Clips at the Edit Insertion Point. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 835

Aligning Clip Start Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 836

Arranging with Transparent Clip Overlays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 837

Moving Clips with the Grabber Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 837

Layered Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 838

Snapping to the Preceding or Next Clip on a Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 839

Arranging Clips in Shuffle Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 840

Arranging Clips in Slip Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 841

Spotting Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 842

Arranging Clips in Grid Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 843

Replacing Audio Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 845

Sync Points. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 847

Shift Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 848

Locking Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849

Muting/Unmuting Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 850

Stripping Silence from Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 850

Inserting Silence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 853

Duplicating Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 854

Repeating Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 855

Chapter 40. Clip Loops and Groups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 857

Clip Looping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 857

Creating Looped Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 858

Unlooping Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 859

Editing Looped Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 859

Clip Groups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 861

Creating Clip Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 862

Ungrouping Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 863

Regrouping Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 863

Multitrack Clip Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 863

Clip Groups on Tick-Based Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 865

Editing Clip Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 866

Fades and Crossfades on Clip Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 867

Clip Groups and Clip Gain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 868

Contents xix

Importing and Exporting Clip Group Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 868

Part VIII Processing

Chapter 41. AudioSuite Processing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 871

AudioSuite Menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 871

AudioSuite Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 871

AudioSuite Window Header. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 872

AudioSuite Window Footer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 876

Using AudioSuite Plug-Ins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 878

Conditions for AudioSuite Rendering with Handles, Fades, Clip Gain, and Metadata . . . . . 881

Chapter 42. Clip Gain and Clip Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 883

Clip Gain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 883

Clip Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 892

Clip Effects Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 898

Clip Effects Presets and Settings Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 906

Chapter 43. Elastic Audio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 909

Example Elastic Audio Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 910

Elastic Audio Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 914

Disabling Elastic Audio Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 915

Elastic Audio Track Co ntrols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 916

Elastic Audio Track Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 916

Elastic Audio Analysis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 917

Real-Time and Rendered Elastic Audio Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 918

Elastic Audio Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 919

Editing in Warp View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 923

Warping Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 925

Editing in Analysis View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 930

Elastic Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 932

Elastic Properties Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 932

Elastic Audio Clip-Based Pitch Shifting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 935

AudioSuite Processing and Elastic Audio Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 936

Moving Elastic Audio Between Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 937

Approximate Waveforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 938

Elastic Audio Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 938

Pro Tools Reference Guidexx

Chapter 44. Committing, Freezing, and Bouncing Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 939

Commit Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 939

Track Freeze. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 944

Bounce Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 947

Chapter 45. Event Operations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 949

Event Operations Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 949

Quantize Command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 950

Grid Quantize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 952

Grid Quantize Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 954

Groove Quantize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 956

Quantizing Elastic Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 960

Quantizing Audio Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 961

Quantizing Mixed Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 961

Restore Performance Command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 962

Flatten Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 963

Change Duration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 965

Transpose. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 967

Select/Split Notes Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 969

Input Quantize Command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 971

Step Input Command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 972

Chapter 46. HEAT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 975

Enabling HEAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 975

About HEAT Processing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 975

HEAT Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 977

Master Bypass and Track Bypass Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 978

A Note About Other Track Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 979

DSP and Voice Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 979

Using HEAT with a Control Surface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 980

Part IX Mixing

Chapter 47. Basic Mixing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 985

Mixing Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 985

Metering and Calibration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 985

Signal Flow by Track Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 986

Contents xxi

Audio Tracks and Signal Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 986

Auxiliary Input Tracks and Signal Flow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 987

Master Fader Tracks and Signal Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 988

Instrument Tracks and Signal Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 989

VCA Master Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 990

Inserts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 994

Configuring Inserts View in the Mix and Edit Windows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 994

HEAT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 994

Stereo Pan Depth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 995

Views in the Mix and Edit Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 995

Audio Input and Output Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 999

Sends. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1001

Configuring Sends View in the Mix and Edit Windows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1005

Sends View Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1005

Editing Sends in the Mix and Edit Windows (Individual Send Views) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1007

Bus Interrogation Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1010

Output Windows for Tracks and Sends. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1011

Output Meters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1015

Signal Routing for Monitoring and Submixing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1016

Delay Compensation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1023

Dither. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1030

Using an Ethernet Control Surface with Pro Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1031

Using a MIDI Control Surface with Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1032

Chapter 48. Plug-In and Hardware Inserts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1035

Types of Inserts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1035

Viewing Inserts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1037

Making Inserts Inactive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1038

Inserting Plug-Ins on Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1039

Plug-In Menu Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1041

Moving and Duplicating Plug-In and Hardware Inserts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1043

Plug-In Windows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1043

Opening Plug-In Windows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1046

Using Plug-In Window Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1046

Editing Plug-In Controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1047

Plug-In Automation and Safe Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1048

Side-Chain Input. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1048

Pro Tools Reference Guidexxii

Plug-In Presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1049

Plug-In Settings Dialog. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1052

Plug-In Mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1054

Bypassing Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1059

Linking and Unlinking Controls on Multi-Mono Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1061

Using Hardware Inserts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1061

Chapter 49. Automation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1065

Automation Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1065

Automation Playlists. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1066

Automation Modes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1068

Automation Preferences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1072

Viewing Automation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1074

Writing Automation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1077

Automating Sends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1079

Automating Plug-Ins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1080

AutoMatching Controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1083

Priming Controls for Writing Automation in Latch Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1084

Enabling and Suspending Automation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1086

Deleting Automation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1088

Thinning Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1089

Drawing Automation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1090

Editing Automation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1091

Cutting, Copying, and Pasting Automation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1096

Glide Automation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1100

Trimming Automation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1101

Writing Automation to the Start, End, or All of a Track or Selection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1103

Writing Automation to the Next Breakpoint or to the Punch Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1105

Guidelines for “Write To” Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1107

Overwriting or Extending Mute Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1108

Creating Snapshot Automation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1111

Previewing Automation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1113

Capturing Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1115

VCA Master Track Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1118

Coalescing VCA Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1119

Contents xxiii

Chapter 50. Mixdown. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1121

Selecting Audio for Loops, Submixes, and Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1121

Using Dither . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1122

Bus Recording to Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1123

Bounce to Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1124

Bounce From Sends or Track Outputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1125

Bounce Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1126

Recording a Submix (with Bounce to Disk). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1133

Final Mixdown (with Bounce to Disk) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1133

Mastering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1134

Part X Surround

Chapter 51. Pro Tools Setup for Surround . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1137

Surround Mixing in Pro Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1137

Pro Tools Audio Connections for 5.1 Mixing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1137

7.1 and 7.0 Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1138

Configuring Pro Tools for Multichannel Sessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1138

Default I/O Selectors in I/O Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1143

5.1 Track Layouts, Routing, and Metering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1144

Chapter 52. Multichannel Tracks and Signal Routing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1145

Multichannel Audio Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1145

Multichannel Signal Routing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1148

Paths in Surround Mixes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1151

Example Paths and Signal Routing for a Surround Mix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1153

Chapter 53. Surround Panning and Mixing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1159

Introduction to Pro Tools Surround Panning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1159

Output Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1160

Standard Controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1161

Surround Panner Controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1162

Panning Modes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1164

Divergence and Center Percentage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1167

LFE Faders in Multichannel Panners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1170

Pan Playlists. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1170

Pro Tools Reference Guidexxiv

Part XI Sync and Video

Chapter 54. Working with Synchroniza tio n. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1173

Pro Tools Synchronization Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1173

Session Setup Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1175

Format Displays and Controls in the Session Setup Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1176

SYNC Setup and Timecode Offsets in the Session Setup Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1178

Timecode Settings in the Session Setup Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1180

Preparing to Work with SMPTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1181

Configuring Pro Tools for SMPTE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1181

Pull Up and Pull Down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1183

Effect of Using Pull Up or Pull Down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1187

Generating Timecode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1188

Using MIDI Machine Control. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1189

Enabling MIDI Machine Control in Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1190

MMC Transport Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1192

Setting Minimum Sync Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1192

Remote Track Arming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1193

Spotting Clips to SMPTE Frame Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1193

The Spot Dialog. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1194

Capturing Timecode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1195

Auto-Spotting Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1196

Using the Trim Tools in Spot Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1196

Time Stamping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1196

Identifying a Synchronization Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1198

Troubleshooting SMPTE Synchronization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1198

Speed Correction for Film, NTSC Video, and PAL Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1200

Chapter 55. Working with Field Recorders in Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1203

Field Recorder and Production Workflow Terminology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1203

Supported Field Recorder Audio Files and Metadata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1205

Displaying Field Recorder Metadata in Pro Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1206

Workspace Support for Field Recorder Metadata. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1206

Field Recorder Workflows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1207

Ensuring Metadata of Source Files Have Been Preserved . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1207

Receiving Source Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1208

Importing Source Files into Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1209

Contents xxv

Designating Field Recorder Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1211

Displaying Multichannel Files from a Field Recorder in the Clip List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1211

Selecting a Matching Field Recorder Channel to Replace a Clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1212

Expanding Matching Field Recorder Channels to New Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1216

Determining the Method of Expanding Matching Field Recorder Channels to New Tracks. 1217

Film Workflow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1220

Video and Fully Non-Linear Workflows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1222

Chapter 56. Working with Video in Pro Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1225

Avid Video Engine (AVE). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1225

QuickTime Movie Support in Pro Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1226

Before Starting Your Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1226

Pro Tools Video Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1227

Video Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1227

Main Video Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1228

Video Track Controls and Indicators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1229

Video Track Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1230

Locking Video Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1236

Video Engine Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1236

Importing Video into Pro Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1237

Configuring Video Import Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1239

Importing Audio from a QuickTime Video Clip. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1240

Video Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1241

Showing or Hiding Video Clips in the Clip List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1242

General Video Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1242

Renaming Video Disk Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1244

Video Clip Groups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1244

Using the Video Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1245

Browsing Video in the Video Universe Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1247

Playback of High-Definition Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1249

Optimized Video Playback. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1249

Tips for Optimizing Video Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1250

Compensating for Video Monitoring Delays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1250

Playing Video to an External Monitor Using a Video Peripheral . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1251

Bouncing the Video Track to a QuickTime Movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1251

Pro Tools Reference Guidexxvi

Part XII Satellite Systems

Chapter 57. Satellite Link. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1257

Satellite Link Requirements and Compatibility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1257

Configuring Satellite Link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1258

Linking Satellite Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1260

Using Satellite Link with MachineControl. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1264

Control Surface Support for Satellite Link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1265

Chapter 58. Pro Tools Video Satellite. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1267

Video Output Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1267

Connecting a Pro Tools Video Satellite System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1267

Linking the Pro Tools Video Satellite System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1268

Chapter 59. Avid Video Satellite. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1271

Video Output Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1272

Supported Video Resolutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1273

Avid Video Satellite Workflows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1273

Using a Video Satellite in an Avid Interplay Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1273

Connecting Pro Tools and a Video Satellite. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1273

Matching Media Composer and Pro Tools Settings in a Video Satellite System. . . . . . . . . 1275

Linking or Unlinking Pro Tools and a Video Satellite. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1281

Capturing Audio and Video with a Video Satellite System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1283

Re-Digitizing an Existing Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1284

Digitizing from an EDL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1284

Laying Back Audio and Video to Tape. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1284

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1287

Contents xxvii

Pro Tools Reference Guidexxviii

Part I: Introduction to

Pro Tools

Chapter 1: Welcome to Pro Tools

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

System Requirements and Compatibility Information

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

For complete system requirements and a list of qualified computers, operating systems, hard drives, and third-party devices, visit:

www.avid.com/compatibility

About www.avid.com

The Avid website (www.avid.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.

Product Registration

online.

Support and Downloads

Success (technical support); download software updates and the latest online manuals; browse the Compatibility documents for system requirements; search the online Knowledge Base or join the worldwide Pro Tools community on the User Conference.

Training and Education

courses available online or find out how you can learn in a classroom setting at a certified Pro Tools training center.

Products and Developers

ucts; download demo software or learn about our Development Partners and their plug-ins, applications, and hardware.

Contact Avid Customer

Study on your own using

Learn about Avid prod-

News and Events

Get the latest news from Avid or

Chapter 1: Welcome to Pro Tools 3

Conventions Used in Pro Tools Documentation

Pro Tools documentation uses the following conventions to indicate menu choices, keyboard commands, and mouse commands:

Convention Action

File > Save Choose Save from the

Control+N Hold down the Control

Control-click Hold down the Control

Right-click Click with the right

File menu

key and press the N key

key and click the mouse button

mouse button

The names of Commands, Options, and Settings that appear on-screen are in a different font.

The following symbols are used to highlight important information:

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

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 Avid documentation.

Pro Tools Reference Guide4

Chapter 2: Pro Tools Concepts

Before you begin to use Pro Tools, you may find it helpful to review Pro Tools concepts. These concepts are the foundation of Pro Tools operation and functionality.

Hard Disk Audio Recording

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.

This differs from tape-based recording, which is a linear medium—where you need to rewind or fast forward to hear a particular spot in a recording. To rearrange or repeat material in a linear system, you need to re-record it, or cut and splice it.

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 or multiple times. In addition, this re-arrangement is nondestructive, meaning that the original recorded material is not altered.

Nonlinear Editing

Pro Tools is a nonlinear editing system that lets you rearrange and mix recorded material nondestructively. Nonlinear editing simply means that you can cut, copy, paste, move, delete, trim, and otherwise rearrange any audio, MIDI, or video in the Pro Tools Edit window.

Nonlinear editing provides significant advantages over dubbing (re-recording), and cutting and splicing magnetic tape. It gives you the greatest possible flexibility for editing and arranging, and it is all nondestructive and “undoable.” Additionally, with nonlinear editing in Pro Tools, you will never introduce any degradation of audio fidelity as you would with tape.

Chapter 2: Pro Tools Concepts 5

Audio Engines

Pro Tools can stream audio between the application and your audio hardware using the Avid Audio Engine (Avid audio hardware only), Core Audio (Mac only with third-party audio hardware), or ASIO (Windows only with third-party audio hardware).

those of ASIO. It also allows any single audio application the exclusive access to a specific audio device. (To access the WASAPI Device Settings in Windows Media Center, choose Tools > Options > Audio > Audio Device > Device settings.)

Avid Video Engine

Avid Audio Engine

The Avid audio engine (AAE) is a real-time operating system for digital audio recording, playback, and processing with Pro Tools and Avid audio hardware. When you install Pro Tools, AAE is automatically installed on your system. AAE provides the foundation for much of the hard disk recording, digital signal processing, and mix automation required by Pro Tools and other products from Avid and its Development Partners.

Core Audio

Apple’s Core Audio provides audio connectivity between software applications and audio hardware on Mac OS X. Pro Tools software can use audio interfaces with supported Core Audio drivers for playback and recording with up to 32 channels of I/O.

ASIO

Steinberg’s Audio Stream Input/Output (ASIO) provides audio connectivity between software applications and audio hardware on Windows. Pro Tools software can use audio interfaces with supported ASIO drivers for playback and recording with up to 32 channels of I/O.

WASAPI

The Windows Audio Session API (WASAPI) lets client applications manage the flow of audio data between the application and an external audio interface. WASAPI provides benefits similar to

Pro Tools uses the Avid Video Engine (AVE) for real-time digital video playback. AVE is installed automatically with Pro Tools. AVE provides compatibility and interoperability across the full product line of Avid audio and video editing solutions, and provides support for a wide range of Avid HD and SD MXF video formats on Pro Tools video tracks without transcoding (including Avid

DNxHD

). AVE also lets you monitor Avid HD

and SD MXF, and QuickTime media using Avid

Media Composer Media Composer

|Nitris®DX,

| Mojo® DX, and other Avid

qualified third-party video interfaces.

MIDI

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, drum machines, MIDI patch bays, effects processors, MIDI interfaces, MIDI control surfaces, and MIDI 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 outputs whatever is received from the IN port. MIDI devices are connected with MIDI cables that are available at most music stores.

Pro Tools Reference Guide6

USB and FireWire-compatible MIDI devices send and receive MIDI messages to and from the computer over USB or FireWire.

Surround Sound

(Pro Tools | HD Software Only)

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 can correspond to separate MIDI devices or to multiple channels within a single device (if the device is multitimbral). Each channel can control a different instrument sound.

Pro Tools provides powerful MIDI sequencing capabilities. You can record, enter, edit, and play back MIDI data on Pro Tools Instrument and MIDI tracks. These actions can be done in the Edit window, the MIDI Editor window, the Score Editor window, and the MIDI Event List.

MIDI data in Pro Tools can be anything from MIDI note data (note number, on/off, velocity) to System Exclusive (Sysex) messages. MIDI data can be recorded or played back from both external MIDI devices with a MIDI interface and other MIDI software (such as instrument plug-ins and ReWire client applications).

Synchronization

When you are working with multiple time-based systems, such as Pro Tools and an external deck, you want the systems to be synchronized. Synchronization is where one system outputs clock source (such as timecode or MIDI Beat Clock) and another device synchronizes to or follows that clock source so that they work together. Pro Tools can be synchronized to other devices (or other devices can be synchronized to Pro Tools) using SMPTE/EBU timecode or MIDI Timecode.

Surround sound simply means having one or more speakers with discrete audio signals (channels) placed behind the listener in addition to the typical stereo pair.

There are multiple types of surround formats in use (from three-channel LCR to 7.1, which has eight channels).

The most common surround format is 5.1, which refers to having 5 speakers and a sub-woofer (the “.1”). 5.1 is used in movie theaters and home entertainment systems. Additionally, most DVDs are mixed to 5.1. The standard speaker placement for

5.1 for surround monitoring is stereo left and right speakers, and an additional center speaker in front, two more stereo left and right speakers in the rear, and the sub-woofer on the side.

Pro Tools | HD Software supports mixing in surround formats. In Pro Tools, each surround format is considered to be a greater-than-stereo multi- channel format.

Pro Tools Sessions

When you start a session in Pro Tools, you create a session.

Session Files

A session file is the document that Pro Tools creates when you choose figure a new session. Pro Tools can open only one session file at a time. The session file is named with a .ptx (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

File > New Session and con-

Chapter 2: Pro Tools Concepts 7

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.

Audio, MIDI, Instrument, and video track data can be edited into clips 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 (monitoring), and submixing.

Session file icon

Tracks

Pro Tools tracks are where audio, MIDI, video, 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 multiple types of tracks: Audio, Auxiliary Input, Master Fader, VCA Master, MIDI, Instrument, and Video.

Audio track in the Edit window (stereo track shown)

MIDI track in the Edit window

Video track in Frames view

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

VCA Master tracks provide control of tracks in a Mix Group that has been assigned to the VCA Master.

Video tracks support QuickTime movies (all Pro Tools systems) and VC-1 video files (Windows only). Additionally, Pro Tools supports Avid video using a the Avid Video Engine (AVE) either natively or with a supported Avid video peripheral. An individual video track can play back only one type of video at a time.

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

Voices

In Pro Tools, voices are unique, discrete audio streams that can be routed to and from Pro Tools audio tracks, and physical audio outputs and inputs on your Pro Tools audio interfaces. The audio paths to and from Pro Tools software routed to Pro Tools hardware use voices. If you exceed the number of available voices in your system, you have effectively exceeded the available number of audio paths. Voices are allocated dynamically.

Pro Tools Reference Guide8

Typically, each audio channel for each track in your Pro Tools session uses a single voice. So, for a mono audio track, a single voice is used; for a stereo audio track, two voices are used. When using Punch Recording, two voices are needed for every single audio channel (one for playback and one for recording on punch in and out). In some situations, with Pro Tools | HDX systems, more than one voice may be necessary for a single channel (such as when using host processing on a DSP bus).

On HDX systems, the number of available voices is dependent on the amount of dedicated DSP processing in your system (see “Playback, Recording, and Voice Limits with Pro Tools | HD Software” on page 39).

On all other Pro Tools systems, the full number of available voices for your system may be limited by the host processing power of your computer (see “Pro Tools Capabilities with Different Hardware Configurations” on page 36).

For more information about voicing in Pro Tools, see “Track Priority and Voice Assignment” on page 245.

Media Files

Pro Tools sessions create, import, export, and reference media files. Media files are audio, MIDI, and video files. Audio and video media files are stored separately from the Pro Tools session file. MIDI data is stored in the session file.

Audio Files

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

Audio files for each session are stored in a folder named “Audio Files.” Audio files are listed in the Pro Tools Clip List and can appear in an audio track. A section of an audio file can be defined as a clip. See “Clips” on page 9.

MIDI Files

When you record or enter MIDI into a Pro Tools session, all MIDI data is stored in the Pro Tools session file. You can import and export MIDI files to and from Pro Tools sessions, but MIDI recorded or otherwise created in a Pro Tools session does not automatically create new MIDI files.

MIDI file icon

Video Files

When you record or import video into a Pro Tools session, all video data is stored as the corresponding video file type (such as QuickTime). Video files can be created in (or copied to) the Video Files folder in the session folder. However, in most cases, Pro Tools references video files that have been captured by another application, such as Avid

Media Composer

|Software.

Clips

A clip is a segment of audio, MIDI, or video data. A clip 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. Clips are especially useful for arranging audio and MIDI. A clip can also have associated automation data. In

Audio file icon

Chapter 2: Pro Tools Concepts 9

Pro Tools, clips are created from audio files or MIDI data, and can be arranged in audio and MIDI track playlists. Clips can also be grouped (a “clip of clips”) and looped (repeated).

Audio clip

MIDI clip

Video clip (Frames view)

Playlists

A playlist is a sequence of clips arranged on an audio, MIDI, or video track. Tracks have edit play- lists and automation playlists.

Playlist selector pop-up menu

On audio tracks, an edit playlist tells the hard disk which audio clips to play in what order. For example, you can have separate audio clips for a song introduction, the first verse, the first chorus, and so on. You can also use the same audio clip 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.

Clip group (Mixed audio and MIDI multitrack clip group)

Pro Tools Reference Guide10

A playlist can be made up of a single clip or many separate clips. It can be made up of similar elements (such as clips 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 the Playlists menu on the track.

Each audio, Auxiliary Input, Instrument, Master Fader, and VCA track also has a single set of automation playlists. Automation playlists can include volume, pan, mute, and each automation-enabled control for the insert and send assignments on that track.

MIDI controller data on Instrument and MIDI tracks is always included as part of the track playlist.

Channels

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, Pro Tools | HD I/O provides up to 16 channels of audio input and output to a HDX or Pro Tools | HD Native system, while the Pro Tools | Mbox to eight inputs and eight outputs.

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.

Pro audio interface provides up

Audio and MIDI channel strips have similar controls, but those controls have slightly different effects. For example, audio, Auxiliary Input, and Instrument track 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 selected MIDI instrument.

The term “MIDI channel” also describes a separate aspect of MIDI operation. See “MIDI” on page 6.

Channel strip in the Mix window (audio track)

Chapter 2: Pro Tools Concepts 11

Signal Routing

Input from stereo bus path

Outputs to stereo bus path

Audio tracks

Inserts

Sends

Auxiliary Input

track

Signal Routing Options

Pro Tools provides software-based mixing and signal routing controls for audio and MIDI. These controls are located in the Mix window. Some of these controls can also be accessed from the Edit window.

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

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 mapped 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 Input and Master Fader Tracks

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

MIDI Tracks

MIDI tracks are generally used for routing MIDI from internal or external sources to external MIDI devices. MIDI data can also be routed to plug-ins on Auxiliary Inputs or Instrument tracks.

Instrument Tracks

Instrument tracks are the primary way to route MIDI to an instrument plug-in and then route the plug-in’s sound to outputs, sends and busses, or other inserts. Instrument tracks can also be used to send MIDI to and monitor audio from external MIDI devices.

Submixing to an Auxiliary Input

Pro Tools Reference Guide12

Sends

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

Plug-In and Hardware Inserts

Plug-In processing occurs completely within the Pro Tools system. Hardware inserts use audio interface inputs and outputs for traditional insert routing to and from external effects and other devices. MIDI and VCA Master tracks do not have inserts.

Instrument Plug-Ins

Instrument plug-ins are different from processing plug-ins in that they generate audio rather than process the audio signal from a track’s audio input or from hard disk. Instrument plug-ins are typically played by MIDI.

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. For more information, see Chapter 7, “I/O Setup.”

Mixing Formats

Sessions can include combinations of mono, stereo, and greater-than-stereo multichannel format tracks, busses, inputs, outputs, and inserts. Greater-than-stereo multichannel formats are supported with Pro Tools HD only.

Grouping and VCA Tracks

Tracks can be grouped together for mixing so that their relative mix settings are maintained when changing a mix setting for any track in the group. For example, changing the volume of one track affects the volume of all the other tracks in the group. VCA Master tracks control the relative mix settings for all tracks within the selected group.

You can only collaborate with projects, never with sessions. Otherwise, projects work just like sessions. Projects have all of the same recording, editing, mixing, and processing capabilities as do sessions. Throughout this Reference Guide, “sessions” refers to session and projects unless otherwise noted.

Project data and media are bundled and cached on local storage, but you cannot open a project by navigating through the file system. You can only access projects through the Pro Tools Dashboard. Projects are differentiated from sessions by their file icon.

Project icon

You must be online and logged in to your Avid Master Account the first time you create a project, but after that you can work offline. Pro Tools and the Avid Application Manager will synchronize your local project with your account the next time you online. This process runs in the background and can be monitored in Pro Tools by checking the Task Manager (

Window > Task Manager).

Pro Tools Projects

Projects are similar to sessions, but projects are cloud enabled. Projects are stored in a similar format to that of a session, but all media and project data is automatically backed up to your Avid Cloud account.

Projects also let you collaborate on a track-bytrack basis with anyone in the Avid Artist Community anywhere in the world; or, if you prefer, you can choose your collaborators privately and invite them to join a project by email.

If a project is downloaded on another system when you log in to your Avid Master Account, all associated media is downloaded inside of the project bundle. This does not affect the location of the media on the originating system. Each system maintains its own unique placement of media without duplication.

You can save a copy of a session as a project or a project as a session using the

Save Copy In com-

mand.

Chapter 2: Pro Tools Concepts 13

Tick-Based and Sample-Based Time

Pro Tools lets you set any track timebase to either sample-based or tick-based. You can also set the Timeline to be viewed as tick-based or samplebased.

Audio in Pro Tools is sample-based by default. This means that if an audio clip is located at a particular sample location, it will not move from that location if the tempo changes in the session— though its Bar|Beat location will change.

MIDI data in Pro Tools is tick-based by default. This means that if a MIDI clip is located at a particular Bar|Beat location, it will not move from that Bar|Beat location if the tempo changes in the session—though its sample location will change.

justed, while audio clips do not (unless Elastic Audio is enabled). When Elastic Audio is not enabled on an audio track, meter and tempo changes affect only the start point (or sync point) for each audio clip in a tick-based track. If Elastic Audio is enabled on an audio track, tempo changes apply Elastic Audio processing, which changes the duration of the audio clip.

Elastic Audio

Elastic Audio provides real-time and non-real-time (rendered) Time Compression and Expansion (TCE) of audio. Tick-based Elastic Audio tracks actually change the location of samples according to changes in tempo. The audio stretches or compresses to match changes in tempo. Elastic Audio also provides high-quality non-real-time clipbased pitch shifting.

You can select whether a track is sample-based or tick-based when it is created, or change timebases later.

Sample-Based Audio and MIDI

With a sample-based audio track, all clips in the track have an absolute location on the Timeline. Clips stay fixed to the sample time, regardless of where tempo or meter changes occur in a session.

If you make a MIDI track sample-based, all MIDI events in the track have an absolute location on the Timeline. MIDI events stay fixed to sample time, regardless of any tempo or meter changes in a session.

Tick-Based Audio and MIDI

Tick-based audio is fixed to a Bars|Beat location, and moves relative to the sample Timeline when tempo and meter changes occur. However, MIDI events and tick-based audio respond differently to tempo changes with respect to duration. MIDI note events change length when tempo or meter is ad-

Pro Tools Elastic Audio uses exceptionally highquality transient detection algorithms, beat and tempo analysis, and real-time or rendered TCE processing algorithms. Elastic Audio lets you quickly and easily tempo conform and beat match audio to the session’s Tempo ruler. It also provides an unprecedented degree of control over transient detection and TCE processing on an event-byevent basis.

With Elastic Audio, Pro Tools analyzes entire audio files for transient “events.” For example, an event can be a drum hit, a sung note, or chord played by a guitar. These detected events can then serve as control points for “warping” the audio. Pro Tools can warp (TCE) audio events automatically, such as when automatically conforming audio to the session tempo or quantizing audio events, or you can warp audio manually using the standard editing tools with the audio track set to Warp view.

Pro Tools Reference Guide14

Elastic Audio is useful in several common workflows: working with loops, correcting performances, remixing, beat and pitch matching, and sound design and special effects.

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 Software System Settings” on page 48.

 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 15.

 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 “Track Priority and Voice Assignment” on page 245.

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 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.

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

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

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

DSP is made available for other plug-ins and processing. Plug-In assignments can be made inactive manually or automatically.

When a plug-in is inactive on a track, its

Chapter 2: Pro Tools Concepts 15

Paths and Path Assignments

Active plug-in Inactive plug-in

Inactive track

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.

Tracks

When a track is made inactive, its voices become available for another track. Inactive mono tracks free up one voice; inactive 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.

When a path or path

Display of Inactive Items

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

Active and inactive plug-ins, sends, and tracks

Pro Tools Reference Guide16

Workspace Browsers

AA F, MXF, and OMF

The Workspace is a database management tool for Pro Tools. Workspace browsers expand upon basic Pro Tools search and import capabilities by providing powerful tools to manage your data both inside and outside of your sessions, on any hard drive connected to the system.

A database is a way of organizing data such that it can easily be searched, sorted, managed, and utilized. Your checkbook is an example of a database file. For every check you write, you enter a new record. That record contains information about the check, such as when you wrote it, to whom you wrote it, and for what amount. This information is written in specific columns, or fields. Everything you need to know (the check’s metadata) is there, even though the check itself is not.

Workspace browsers let you search, sort, and mange these databases by volume or catalog. You can use Workspace browsers not only to organize your Pro Tools sessions and media files (audio, MIDI, and video), but also to audition and import by drag and drop.

For more information, see Chapter 16, “Workspace Browsers.”

Pro Tools lets you exchange audio, video, and sequences with other AAF-, MXF-, and OMF-compatible applications (such as Avid editors).

Media Data (Media Files)

Media data represents raw audio or video material and is stored in individual media files. Every time you record a piece of video or audio material into an application, you are creating a media file. Audio media files hold samples (such as 44,100 or 48,000 samples per second of recording) while video media files use frames (24, 25, or 30 frames per second of recording).

The size of each media file depends on how much audio or video material it contains. For example, a file containing ten minutes of high resolution video might be approximately 2 GB in size, whereas a ten-minute audio recording at the might result in a 100 MB file. Media files tend to be large, since high quality audio and video signals are data intensive. Video data generally requires considerably more storage than audio data.

Chapter 2: Pro Tools Concepts 17

Metadata

Metadata is used to describe the following:

• Information embedded in a media file. This may

include scene, take, sample rate, bit depth, external clip names, the name of the videotape from which the media file was captured, and even timecode values.

• Information embedded in Pro Tools sessions or

other sequences, including what files are used, where they appear in a timeline, and automation.

• For AAF or OMF sequences, metadata also in-

cludes information embedded in unrendered AudioSuite™ effects (such as real-time EQ) on Avid workstations. Pro Tools skips unrendered effects on import. Rendered effects are media files that can be imported into Pro Tools.

• For AAF or OMF sequences, information about

automation (clip-based gain or keyframe gain).

AAF, OMF, and MXF Basics

AAF and OMF files are mechanisms for storing and retrieving media files and metadata so that projects can be freely exchanged between different applications and platforms. MXF is a media file format that can be used with AAF (but not OMF) files.

Media data and metadata enable an application that receives AAF and OMF sequence files (such as Pro Tools) to automatically and quickly reassemble the composition. A simple metaphor for this approach is that media data files are the pieces of a puzzle and metadata is the set of instructions for assembling the puzzle.

In the simplest case, only an AAF or OMF sequence is exchanged. If this sequence points to existing media files, the size of the sequence file is relatively small and the export/import process is relatively fast.

AAF and OMF sequences can also have media data embedded in them. This creates a single, larger file that is slower to export and import, but which may be easier to manage than thousands of files stored on different volumes.

AAF

AAF is a sequence file format. AAF sequences are the best way to exchange projects and maintain valuable metadata. An AAF sequence can refer to OMF or MXF media files, or have OMF and MXF media files embedded within them. There is no such thing as an AAF audio or video media file.

Pro Tools will import, play back, and export an AAF sequence that either links to media files or has audio embedded within it.

When you import an AAF sequence with embedded audio into Pro Tools, the audio will be extracted into mono tracks using the current session’s audio file format.

MXF

MXF is a media file format. There are MXF video files and MXF audio files, but there are no MXF sequences. An AAF sequence may refer to or include MXF media files, but OMF sequences cannot refer to or include MXF files.

MXF file icon

Pro Tools Reference Guide18

Pro Tools can import and play back MXF audio and video files created in Media Composer or other Avid applications.

OMF

OMF is both a media file and sequence format. OMF media files can be audio or video, and Pro Tools can import and play back OMF audio, but not OMF video. Pro Tools can also export OMF audio, but not OMF video.

Pro Tools can import and play back OMF audio files created in Media Composer or other applications.

Pro Tools and Media Composer Terminology

Pro Tools and Avid Media Composer use different terms to describe the same items. For example, a Pro Tools session is equivalent to an Avid se- quence. The following table lists common Pro Tools elements and their Avid equivalents.

Pro Tools Avid (AAF or OMF)

session sequence whole file clip master clip

An OMF sequence cannot reference or have MXF media embedded within it.

Pro Tools can import an OMF sequence with embedded audio, but not embedded video.

clip subclip plug-ins real-time audio effects volume automation gain Avid keyframe volume

Whole audio files in the Clip List normally appear in bold type. However, master clip audio files imported from AAF or OMF into Pro Tools will not appear in bold type (indicating clips) in the Pro Tools Clip List even though they are audio files.

Chapter 2: Pro Tools Concepts 19

Embedded Media and Linked Media

Avid Workstation Edited Sequence

Embedded AAF/OMF File (metadata and media)

Export AAF/OMF with Embedded Media

Refers to:

Original Source Media Files

Sequence (metadata)

Consolidated Media Files

(with Handle)

creates...

There are two types of AAF and OMF files: ones with embedded media, and ones with linked media.

Embedded Media

Exporting to AAF or OMF with embedded media results in one large AAF or OMF file containing both the metadata and all associated media files.

AAF/OMF Interchange Workflow with Embedded Media

Pro Tools Reference Guide20

Linked Media

Lin

Linked to:

Avid Workstation Edited Sequence

AAF/OMF File (metadata only)

Original Source Media Files

Translated Pro Tools Session File

Pro Tools Imports

Session File

Avid Workstation exports

sequence edits and

file information as AAF

or OMF sequence

Exporting AAF or OMF with linked media results in a single metadata file (.AAF or .OMF) and all associated media stored as separate files.

The main benefit to this approach is that fewer copies of media files may need to be made, so the export and import process can be much faster. Using this approach, it is less likely that you will encounter any file size limitations since the data is broken up into many smaller files.

The main disadvantage to this approach is that there are potentially many files (for example, one AAF or OMF file and hundreds of media files) that must be transported between systems.

AAF and OMF Interchange Workflow with Linked Media

Chapter 2: Pro Tools Concepts 21

Pro Tools Reference Guide22

Chapter 3: Keyboard and Mouse Shortcuts

For increased operational speed and ease of use, there are many Pro Tools keyboard and Right-click shortcuts.

A full list of Pro Tools shortcuts is available in online Help and in a PDF guide.

To access the full list of Pro Tools shortcuts in online Help:

1 Choose Help > Pro Tools Help.

2 Click Pro Tools Shortcuts on the Contents page

(in the left pane of Help).

To access the full list of Pro Tools shortcuts in the Pro Tools Shortcuts Guide:

 Choose Help > Shortcuts.

Mouse Shortcuts

Right-Click 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, see the Shortcuts Guide.

Scroll-wheel Functions

Pro Tools lets you increment or decrement values in numerical fields by selecting the value and moving the mouse scroll wheel up or down.

Chapter 3: Keyboard and Mouse Shortcuts 23

Global Key Commands

Some keyboard shortcuts apply to many functions in Pro Tools.

For a complete list of keyboard shortcuts, see the Shortcuts Guide.

Track Funct ions

List and Parameter Selection

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

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 Mac Windows

Apply action to all channel strips/tracks

Apply action to selected channel strips/tracks

Vertically constrained, fine adjustment for automation and control breakpoints

Option+ action

Option+ Shift+ action

Alt+ action

Alt+Shift+ action

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 Mac Windows

Fine adjustment of sliders, knobs, and breakpoints

For extra-fine adjustment of breakpoints in Grid mode

Hold Command while clicking the item

Hold Command +Shift while adjusting automation breakpoints

Hold Control while clicking the item

Hold Control +Shift while adjusting automation breakpoints

Pro Tools Reference Guide24

Keyboard Focus

Clip List

Keyboard Focus

Group List

Keyboard Focus

Commands Keyboard Focus

(Edit window)

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 computer (alpha) keyboard to select clips in the Clip 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.

There are three types of Keyboard Focus:

Commands Keyboard Focus

the Tracks pane in the Edit window or in the Notes pane of any MIDI Editor window, this provides a wide range of single key shortcuts from the computer keyboard for editing and playing. The frontmost Edit or MIDI Editor window always receives Commands Keyboard Focus when it is enabled.

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

Clip List Keyboard Focus

clips, MIDI clips, and clip groups can be located and selected in the Clip List by typing the first few letters of the clip’s name.

Group List Keyboard Focus

and Edit Groups can be enabled or disabled by typing the Group ID letter (in either the Mix or Edit window).

When selected, audio

When selected, Mix

When selected in

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.

 While pressing Command+Option (Mac) or

Control+Alt (Windows), press one of the following keys: 1 (Commands), 2 (Clip List), or 3 (Group List).

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

Chapter 3: Keyboard and Mouse Shortcuts 25

Toolbar Focus

Numeric Keypad Modes

In the Edit window, the MIDI Editor pane can be displayed in addition to the Tracks pane (

Other Displays > MIDI Editor

). When the MIDI Ed-

View >

itor pane is displayed, there are two separate Toolbars and Timelines in the Edit window: one for the Tracks pane and one for the MIDI Editor pane. Only one Toolbar and Timeline can be focused for Menu and Toolbar commands (including the corresponding keyboard shortcuts) at a time. The focused Toolbar displays a yellow outline.

If Keyboard Focus for the Edit window is enabled, it follows the selected Toolbar focus.

To enable Toolbar focus for the Tracks pane, do one of the following:

 Click the Toolbar at the top of the Edit window.

 Press Command+Option+4 (Mac) or

Control+Alt+4 (Windows).

To enable Toolbar focus for the MIDI Editor pane, do one of the following:

 Click the Toolbar right above the MIDI Editor

pane.

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

Operation tab.

2 In the Transport section, select a Numeric Key-

pad mode (Classic, Transport, or Shuttle).

3 Click OK.

 Press Command+Option+5 (Mac) or

Control+Alt+5 (Windows).

Pro Tools Reference Guide26

Shuttle Lock Modes

Transport Mode

There are two Shuttle Lock modes (Classic and Transport). Both modes let you use the numeric keypad to shuttle forward or backwards at specific speeds.

• 5 is normal speed.

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

• 1–4 provide progressively greater rewind speeds (4 is the slowest, 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.

Custom Shuttle Lock Speed (Pro Tools HD Only)

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

For more information, see “Custom Shuttle Lock Speed” on page 583.

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 Control key (Mac) or the Start key (Windows), 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 (.).

This mode lets you 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 Control key (Mac) or the Start key (Windows), 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.

Chapter 3: Keyboard and Mouse Shortcuts 27

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 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

Shuttle, playback

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 Guide28

Using Help

The Pro Tools Help menu provides quick access to installed PDF documentation and online Help. The Help system is HTML-based and launches in the Pro Tools in-application browser. It also runs on most common web browsers.

The Pro Tools Help menu also provides direct access to the online Pro Tools Knowledge Base, Avid Audio Forums, and the Avid Support Center using the in-application browser (an internet connection is required).

The Pro Tools in-application Web browser is not available outside Pro Tools. To use Pro Tools Help while Pro Tools is not running, use the default Web browser for your operating system.

Accessing Guides in Pro Tools Software

PDF (Portable Document Format) versions of the main Pro Tools guides are accessible from the Pro Tools mended for PDF documentation.

To access guides in Pro Tools:

 Choose Help, then a guide name.

Help menu. Adobe Reader is recom-

Guides Accessible in Pro Tools

The following guides are available from the Pro Tools

Audio Plug-Ins Guide

Help menu:

Describes the plug-ins included free with Pro Tools, as well as additional plug-ins available for purchase separately.

Pro Tools Reference Guide

Explains Pro Tools

systems and software in detail.

Pro Tools Shortcuts

Lists keyboard and Right-click shortcuts for Pro Tools, including those shown in Pro Tools menus.

Accessing the Help System

There are several ways to access the Help system.

• Open Help at its Welcome page from the Help

menu in Pro Tools

• Open Help at its Welcome page from within a

Help browser in Pro Tools

• Open Help at its Welcome page outside of

Pro Tools

• Open a different version or language of

Pro Tools Help

Using Help 29

To open Help within Pro Tools, do one of the following:

 Choose Help > Pro Tools Help.

 From the Pro Tools Online browser window,

choose

Help.

To open Help outside of Pro Tools (or to select a different version or language of Help):

1 Open your favorite online browser (such as

Safari or Explorer).

2 Visit the Pro Tools Help launch page

(http://apps.avid.com/ProToolsHelp/).

Using the Contents and Index Tabs

The left pane of the Help browser is the display area for most of the Help system’s main navigation tools, including the Contents and Index tabs.

Contents Tab

The Contents tab displays a complete hierarchical list of all topics in the Help system. This lets you quickly see the overall organization of the Help system.

3 Follow the on-screen instructions to open a

version of Help.

To close the Help system:

 Click the Help viewer’s Close button.

Help Display

The Help system includes the following display elements:

Topics

Help viewer.

Navigation Tools

open in the left pane of the Help viewer.

Hierarchy Links

location of the currently displayed topic within its chapter and to jump to relevant higher-level topics, including the Main Topic.

Show in Contents Button

locate the current topic in the Contents.

Previous Topic and Next Topic Buttons

these buttons to browse through the topics in the order in which they appear in the Contents.

Help topics open in the right pane of the

Contents, Index, and Search tabs

Use these links to verify the

Use this button to

Use

You can expand and collapse the contents to view the logical organization of the Help system, and you can move to any topic by clicking its entry in the Contents.

When you move to a new topic, the contents expands to the level of that topic and highlights the topic. This feature, like the hierarchy links at the top of each topic, lets you see exactly where the current topic is positioned within the logical organization of the Help system.

To display a topic from the contents:

 Click the Contents tab, and then click a topic’s

entry in the contents.

To expand or close a section in the contents:

 Click the Contents tab, and then click a book

icon to the left of a link.

Click this button to print one or more topics.

Pro Tools Reference Guide30

Index Tab

The Index provides an alphabetized list of entries similar to the index of a printed book.

If Java is enabled in your browser, the Index displays as a dynamic index where the listing scrolls as you type a word in the text box. If you do not have Java enabled in your browser, or if your browser does not support Java implementations, a JavaScript version of the index displays, which lets you scroll manually through the entries.

To find topics by using the Index tab:

1 Click the Index tab.

2 Click the first character of the topic in the

Numerics, Letters, Symbols list.

To view the topic associated with an index entry:

 Click the index entry.

Using the Search Tab

The Search tab lets you search the entire text of the Help system for one or more words and then lists the topics that include those words. The list of results is ranked, placing the topics that the Search feature considers most likely to be relevant at the top of the list.

When you search for text, the text string automatically highlights by default. You can turn these highlights off. You can also stop displaying highlights after a search by using the Back and Forward buttons to go to a different topic. When you come back to your searched topic, the highlights no longer display.

For more guidelines on using the Search feature effectively, see “Search Guidelines” on page 32.

To perform a basic search:

1 Click the Search tab.

2 In the Search pop-up menu (located below the

Search text box), click whether you want to search in “All Available Books” or a specific book (such as Pro Tools Shortcuts).

3 In the Search text box, type the word or words

that you want to find.

4 Click Go.

A list of topics and ranking numbers appears.

Additional Search Information

The Search feature provides the best combination of usefulness and speed:

• The Search feature uses a database of valid

words. This database includes all words that are significant for identifying topics and excludes all other words. When you type words in the search text box, the system ignores any invalid words that you have typed and searches for valid words.

• The Search feature cannot search for words in a

certain order. For example, if you type “TIFF graphics import” as a search entry, Search displays all topics that contains these three words regardless of their location in the topic. The results include topics where the three words appear together as a phrase, and also topics where the three words are scattered throughout the topic.

• The Search feature cannot distinguish between

words that are similar but not identical. For example, if you type “capture” as a search entry, Search displays topics that include that word, but it does not find topics that include related words such as “captures” or “capturing.” If a search for a word fails to produce useful results, you might be more successful if you search again using one of the related words.

Using Help 31

Search Guidelines

Printing Help Topics

Use the following rules for formulating search queries:

• Searches are not case-sensitive, so you can type your search in uppercase or lowercase characters.

• You can search for any combination of letters (a–z) and numbers (0–9).

• Punctuation marks (such as the period, colon, semicolon, comma, and hyphen) are ignored during a search, unless they are part of the topic (such as .WAV).

• You can search for a literal phrase by using quotation marks. You cannot search for quotation marks.

Copying from a Help Topic

You can copy information from a Help topic for use in another document (such a text file).

To copy information from a Help topic to another document:

1 Open or click the topic to make it active.

You can print Help topics if you need to refer to them during a complicated procedure or to use for reference later.

See your browser documentation for more information on print options.

To print a Help topic:

1 Click the topic pane within the browser window

that you want to print.

2 Do one of the following:

• Click the Print button in the Topic pane.

• Right-click in the Topic pane and select Print.

• Select

3 Select the print options. 4 Click Print.

File > Print.

Topics that you print from Help have limited page layout and formatting features. If you want to print a higher quality version of Help information, Avid recommends that you print all or part of the PDF version of the appropriate guide.

2 Select the text that you want to copy. 3 Choose Edit > Copy.

4 Place the mouse pointer in another application,

such as a word processing application.

5 Choose Edit > Paste to paste the copied text into

a document. (You can also paste the text into the Search text box.)

Pro Tools Reference Guide32

Part II: System Configuration

Chapter 5: Pro Tools Systems

There are three types of Pro Tools systems:

Pro Tools Software with Avid or Third-Party Hardware

These systems include Pro Tools software with Avid audio hardware (such as Pro Tools | Quartet, Pro Tools | Duet, Pro Tools | Fast Track family,

Pro Tools | Mbox Pro Tools | Eleven

family (third generation),

Rack, or Avid 003™ family audio interfaces). These systems also include Pro Tools software using third-party audio interfaces with supported Core Audio (Mac, including the built-in audio on Mac computers), ASIO (Windows), or WASAPI (Windows).

For a list of qualified audio interfaces and computers for all Pro Tools systems, visit www.avid.com/compatibility.

Pro Tools HD Software with HDX or HD Native Hardware

Hardware accelerated Pro Tools HD systems include Pro Tools HD software with HDX or HD Native (PCIe or Thunderbolt) hardware. Hardware accelerated systems provide expanded I/O capabilities and low latency monitoring. HDX systems also provide dedicated DSP for plug-in processing and for large mixer configurations.

Pro Tools HD Software with Avid or Third-Party Hardware

These systems include Pro Tools HD software with any compatible non-HDX or non-HD Native Avid audio interfaces (such as Mbox Pro), or Core Audio (Mac), ASIO (Windows), or WASAPI hardware.

Pro Tools Software

Pro Tools software provides the following capabilities, depending on your hardware configuration:

• Up to 32 channels of I/O depending on your system and audio hardware

• Up to a total of 128 mono or stereo audio tracks per session:

• Playback of up to 128 tracks, or a combina-

tion of playing back and recording up to 128 tracks, mono or stereo, at 44.1 kHz and 48 kHz

• Playback of up to 64 tracks, or a combination

of playing back and recording up to 64 tracks, mono tracks or stereo, at 88.2 kHz and 96 kHz

• Playback of up to 32 tracks, or a combination

of playing back and recording up to 32 tracks, mono or stereo, at 176.4 kHz and 192 kHz

• Up to 128 Auxiliary Input tracks

• Up to 64 Master Fader tracks

• Up to 512 MIDI tracks

Chapter 5: Pro Tools Systems 35

• Up to 512 Instrument tracks

• A single QuickTime video track

• 16-bit, 24-bit, or 32-bit floating point audio resolution, at sample rates up to 192 kHz

• Automatic Delay Compensation (up to 16,383 samples at 48 kHz)

• Fixed RAM Disk Cache allocation options

• Non-destructive, random-access editing and mix automation

• Audio processing with up to 10 real-time plug-ins per track, depending on your computer’s capabilities

• Up to 10 hardware inserts per track

• Up to 10 sends per track

For more information about the I/O capabilities of your audio interface with Pro Tools, see the documentation that came with your audio interface.

Pro Tools Capabilities with Different Hardware Configurations

Pro Tools supports up to 32 channels of audio input and output, but the available input and output capabilities with Pro Tools varies depending on your audio interface. For information about the input and output capabilities of your audio interface, refer to the documentation that came with your hardware.

If you open a Pro Tools session created on a Pro Tools HD system that contains more than the number of tracks supported on your Pro Tools system, audio tracks beyond the system’s voiceable track limit will be automatically set to inactive.

For details on transferring session material between Pro Tools HD and Pro Tools systems, see “Sharing Sessions Created on Different Pro Tools Systems” on page 426.

Supported Hardware Configurations with Pro Tools Software

Pro Tools Software works seamlessly with non-HD Avid audio hardware (such as Pro Tools | Quartet). For the latest information on supported hardware configurations with Pro Tools Software, visit:

http://www.avid.com/compatibility

Processing Capacity

The total processing capacity of a Pro Tools system depends on the processing power of your computer. Contact your dealer or visit www.avid.com for the latest system requirements and compatibility information.

Pro Tools Reference Guide36

Pro Tools | HD Software with Pro Tools | HDX Hardware

Each system requires at least one Avid HD audio interface (sold separately). HDX systems can be expanded by adding HDX cards to increase track count and the amount of plug-in and mixer processing, and by adding additional audio interfaces.

Pro Tools HD Capabilities with HDX Hardware

Pro Tools HD with HDX hardware provides the following capabilities:

• Up to 256 channels of I/O depending on your system

• Up to a total of 768 voiced audio tracks

• Up to 512 Auxiliary Input tracks

• Up to 64 Master Fader tracks

• Up to 128 VCA Master tracks

• Up to 512 MIDI tracks

• Up to 256 Instrument tracks

• Up to 64 video tracks per session

• 16-bit, 24-bit, or 32-bit floating point audio resolution, at sample rates up to 192 kHz

• Up to 7.1 surround mixing capability

• Automatic Delay Compensation (up to 16,348 samples at 48 kHz)

• Fixed RAM Disk Cache allocation options

• No-latency monitoring

• Non-destructive, random-access editing and mix automation

• Audio processing with up to 10 inserts per track (any combination of real-time plug-in and hardware inserts), depending on your computer’s capabilities

• Up to 10 sends per track

Audio Recording and Playback Capabilities

The number of simultaneous tracks of audio recording or playback depends on your system configuration. A Pro Tools HD system with a single HDX card provides recording and playback of 24-bit or 16-bit audio files with the following voiced track counts:

• Up to 256 tracks at 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz

• Up to 128 tracks at 88.2 kHz or 96 kHz

• Up to 64 tracks at 176.4 kHz or 192 kHz

Pro Tools | HD Software with Pro Tools | HD Native Hardware

Each system requires at least one Pro Tools HD audio interface (sold separately). HD Native systems can be expanded by adding additional HD audio interfaces.

Pro Tools HD systems with HD Native hardware consist of the following:

• One of the following:

• HD Native PCIe card

• HD Native Thunderbolt interface

• Pro Tools HD

• An authorized iLok for running Pro Tools HD software

• One or more Avid HD audio interfaces (sold separately)

• DigiLink Mini cable for connecting HD Native hardware to an audio interface

• A MIDI interface (optional)

For detailed information about installing HD Native PCIe hardware, see the HD Native Installation Guide. For information about installing HD Native Thunderbolt hardware, see the HD Native Thunderbolt Guide.

Pro Tools HD Capabilities with HD Native Hardware

Each additional HDX card increases the possible track count by the same amount. For example, at

44.1 kHz, two HDX cards provide up to 512 audio tracks, and three HDX cards provide up to 768 audio tracks.

Pro Tools HD with HD Native hardware provides the following capabilities:

• Up to 64 channels of I/O depending on your system, and the number and type of installed audio interfaces

Chapter 5: Pro Tools Systems 37

• Up to a total of 256 voiced audio tracks (up to 768 voiceable audio tracks):

• Up to 256 voices at 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz

• Up to 128 voices at 88.2 kHz or 96 kHz

• Up to 64 voices at 176.4 kHz or 192 kHz

• Up to 512 Auxiliary Input tracks

• Up to 64 Master Fader tracks

• Up to 128 VCA Master tracks

• Up to 512 MIDI tracks

• Up to 256 Instrument tracks

• Up to 64 video tracks per session

• 16-bit, 24-bit, or 32-bit floating point audio resolution, at sample rates up to 192 kHz

• Non-destructive, random-access editing and mix automation

• Up to 7.1 surround mixing capability

• Automatic Delay Compensation (up to 16,348 samples at 48 kHz)

• Fixed RAM Disk Cache allocation options

• FPGA-based low latency monitoring (LLM)

• Audio processing with up to 10 inserts per track (in any combination of real-time, host-based plug-in and hardware inserts), depending on your computer’s capabilities, and the number and type of installed audio interfaces

• Up to 10 sends per track

Supported Pro Tools HD Audio Interfaces

The following Pro Tools HD audio interfaces are compatible with HDX and HD Native hardware:

• Pro Tools | HD I/O

• Pro Tools | HD OMNI

• Pro Tools | HD MADI

•ProTools|MTRX

HDX and HD Native systems require at least one HD I/O, HD OMNI, HD MADI, or MTRX.

Maximum I/O Configuration with HDX

HDX supports up to a maximum combination of 12 total of the following audio interfaces:

• HD OMNI (only 1 HD OMNI interface is supported in a single system)

• HD I/O (up to 12 HD I/O interfaces can be used simultaneously—requires 3 HDX cards)

• HD MADI (up to 3 HD MADI interfaces can be used simultaneously—requires 3 HDX cards)

• MTRX (up to 12 MTRX interfaces can be used simultaneously—requires 3 HDX cards)

Maximum I/O Configuration with HD Native

HD Native supports up to a maximum combination of up to 4 total of the following audio interfaces:

• HD OMNI (only 1 HD OMNI interface is supported in a single HD Native system)

• HD I/O (up to 4 HD I/O interfaces can be used simultaneously)

• HD MADI (full connectivity with 1 HD MADI interface is possible when both DigiLink ports of the HD MADI are connected to both DigiLink ports on the HD Native PCIe card or Thunderbolt interface)

• MTRX (up to 4 MTRX interfaces can be used simultaneously)

Pro Tools Reference Guide38

Playback, Recording, and Voice Limits with Pro Tools | HD Software

The table below lists the audio playback, recording, and voiceable track limits with Pro Tools HD software with HDX, HD Native, Core Audio, and ASIO hardware. Playback and recording voices 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 one voice. Stereo and multichannel tracks take up one voice per channel.)

With HDX hardware accelerated systems, 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 can open sessions with up to 768 audio tracks, but any audio tracks beyond that system’s voiceable track limit will be automatically set to Voice Off.

Pro Tools HD audio playback, recording and voice limits by hardware configuration

Playback and Recording

Core System Type Maximum I/O

HDX, 1 card 64 channels 44.1/48 256 768

Sample Rate (kHz)

88.2/96 128 768

Voices (Mono Tracks of Simultaneous Playback and Recording)

Total Voiceable Tracks

176.4/192 64 768

HDX, 2 cards 128 channels 44.1/48 512 768

88.2/96 256 768

176.4/192 128 768

HDX, 3 cards 192 channels 44.1/48 1024 768

88.2/96 512 768

176.4/192 128 768

HD Native 64 channels 44.1/48 256 768

88.2/96 128 768

176.4/192 64 768

Chapter 5: Pro Tools Systems 39

Pro Tools HD audio playback, recording and voice limits by hardware configuration

Playback and Recording Voices (Mono Tracks of Simultaneous Playback and Recording)

Core System Type Maximum I/O

Sample Rate (kHz)

Total Voiceable Tracks

Core Audio and ASIO (Pro Tools HD)

32 channels 44.1/48 256 768

88.2/96 128 768

176.4/192 64 768

Pro Tools HD Audio Interface Features

The following table lists the input and output capabilities of the various Pro Tools HD audio interfaces for HDX and HD Native systems. Each HDX card in your system supports a maximum of 64 channels of I/O. HD Native hardware supports a maximum of 64 channels of I/O. To record and play audio with Pro Tools HD with any of these hardware configurations, you must have at least one Pro Tools HD audio interface connected to the first port of the first card (or Thunderbolt interface) in the system.

Avid HD audio interface channel capabilities

Interface Type

HD I/O 16 in/16 out 44.1, 48,

HD OMNI 8 in/8 out 44.1, 48,

Number of I/O Channels

Sample Rates (kHz)

88.2, 96,

176.4, 192

88.2, 96,

176.4, 192

A/D Conversion

24-bit 24-bit 24-bit

D/A Conversion

Digital I/O

HD MADI 64 in/64 out 44.1, 48,

88.2, 96,

176.4, 192

MTRX up to 44.1, 48,

88.2, 96,

176.4, 192

Pro Tools Reference Guide40

None None 24-bit

24-bit 24-bit 24-bit

HD OMNI Audio Interface

HD OMNI is a professional digital audio interface designed for use with Pro Tools HD systems. HD OMNI provides a compact preamp, monitoring, and I/O solution for music production and recording, and post production studios.

HD OMNI Features

HD OMNI provides up to 8 discrete channels of Pro Tools input and output, with 4-segment LED meters for input or output (selectable).

Analog I/O

• 24-bit analog-to-digital (A/D) and digital-to-analog (D/A) converters, with support for sample rates up to 192 kHz

• 2 high-quality Mic/DI preamps (Channels 1–2)

• 2 combined XLR and 1/4-inch TRS front panel inputs for microphone and instrument level input

• 2 XLR back panel microphone inputs

• 2 1/4-inch TRS Send and 2 1/4-inch TRS Return back panel jacks for hardware inserts on channels 1 and 2

• 4 analog TRS line level back panel inputs (Channels 1–4)

HD OMNI provides multiple analog input connections, but only provides up to four channels of simultaneous analog input for Pro Tools.

• Soft Clip and Curv limiting circuits to protect against clipping on analog input

• 8 channels of analog back panel output using a DB-25 breakout cable (sold separately) with variable output gain

• 2 channels of analog back panel output using TRS (Mirrors channels 1–2 or 7–8 on DB-25 connector)

• Front panel stereo 1/4-inch headphone jack

Digital I/O

• 8 channels of AES/EBU output (up to 192 kHz Single Wire) using a DB-25 breakout cable (sold separately)

• 2 channels of AES/EBU XLR input (up to 192 kHz Single Wire)

• 2 channels of S/PDIF RCA input and output (up to 192 kHz)

• 8 channels of ADAT TOSLINK input and output

• Support for ADAT S/MUX Optical for sample rates of 88.2 kHz, 96 kHz, 176.4 kHz, and 192 kHz

• Support for two channels of S/PDIF Optical with sample rates of up to 96 kHz

• Real-time sample rate conversion (SRC) on Digital Inputs 1–2 of either AES/EBU, S/PDIF, or Optical (S/PDIF)

SRC is not supported with ADAT S/MUX.

Monitoring

• An additional stereo “CUE” output path in Pro Tools for headphone monitoring from the front panel headphone jack

• Front panel Control Room (MAIN/ALT) and Headphone monitoring volume control

• Flexible monitoring with fold-down from all stereo and surround formats (up to 7.1 surround)

• Input mixer for low latency direct monitoring of a variety of incoming signals (configured in the Pro Tools Hardware Setup)

Synchronization

• Loop Sync input and output for connecting additional HD peripherals

• External Clock input and output for synchronizing HD OMNI with external Word Clock devices

For more information, see the HD OMNI Guide.

Chapter 5: Pro Tools Systems 41

HD I/O Audio Interface

HD I/O is a multichannel digital audio interface designed for use with Pro Tools HD systems. HD I/O features extremely high quality 24-bit analog-to-digital (A/D) and digital-to-analog (D/A) converters, and supports sample rates of up to 192 kHz.

HD I/O comes in three standard configurations:

• 8 x 8 x 8 (8 analog in, 8 analog out, and 8 digital in and out)

• 16 x 16 analog in and out

• 16 x 16 digital in and out

You can also add or remove HD I/O Analog Expansion cards (ADC and DAC) and HD I/O Digital Expansion cards for custom configurations.

HD I/O Features

HD I/O provides up to 16 discrete channels of Pro Tools input and output, with 4-segment LED meters for input and output.

Analog I/O

• Up to sixteen channels of 24-bit D/A and A/D converters for superior analog input and output at sample rates of 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 88.2 kHz, 96 kHz, 176.4 kHz, and 192 kHz with Analog In and Analog Out HD I/O cards

• Soft Clip and Curv limiting circuits to protect against clipping on analog input

Digital I/O

• Up to sixteen channels of 24-bit digital I/O, using AES/EBU, TDIF DB-25, or Optical at sample rates of 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, and 192 kHz with a Digital HD I/O card

• Real-time sample rate conversion on digital inputs with a Digital I/O card (up to sixteen channels of AES/EBU, Optical, or TDIF)

• Support for S/MUX Optical for sample rates of

88.2 kHz and higher

• Support for 2 channels of S/PDIF Optical (enclosed) with sample rates of up to 96 kHz

• 2 channels of AES/EBU I/O (enclosed) with support for sample rates up to 192 kHz

• 2 channels of 24-bit-capable S/PDIF I/O (enclosed) with support for sample rates up to 192 kHz

Synchronization

• Loop Sync input and output for connecting additional Avid HD audio interfaces and peripherals

• External Clock input and output for synchronizing HD I/O with external Word Clock devices

Expandability

• Optional addition of I/O cards to expand analog or digital I/O

• Simultaneous use of multiple Avid HD audio interfaces to further expand system input and output

For more information, see the HD I/O Guide.

Pro Tools Reference Guide42

HD MADI Digital Audio Interface

MTRX Audio Interface

HD MADI is a 64-channel, digital audio interface designed for use with Avid HD systems. HD MADI supports the Multichannel Audio Digital Interface (MADI) format and sample rates of up to 192 kHz. HD MADI provides simplified connectivity between your Avid HD system and MADI-compatible audio equipment.

HD MADI Features

• 2 MADI Optical and Coaxial inputs and 2 MADI Optical and Coaxial outputs for up to 64 discrete channels of digital input and output (32 channels per DigiLink Mini port)

• Supports sample rates of 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96,

176.4, and 192 kHz

• 24- or 16-bit resolution

• Sample Rate Conversion (SRC) on input or output

• Front panel clock and SRC indicators

• Front panel signal present LEDs for input and output

• BNC Word Clock I/O for synchronizing HD MADI with external 1x Word Clock

• BNC Loop Sync I/O for synchronizing HD MADI with additional Avid HD audio interfaces and peripherals (such as HD I/O, HD OMNI, or SYNC HD)

• Dedicated BNC Word Clock input and XLR AES/EBU input (clock input only) for external MADI synchronization (when using SRC on output)

• Clock support for the following formats: Internal, Loop Sync, Word Clock, AES/EBU, and MADI

• Varispeed modes (supports both 64- and 56channel standards)

Pro Tools | MTRX is a multichannel digital audio interface designed for use with Pro Tools HD systems.

Depending on installed analog expansion I/O cards, MTRX features extremely high quality 24bit analog-to-digital (A/D) and digital-to-analog (D/A) converters, and supports sample rates of up to 192 kHz.

MTRX comes in three standard configurations:

• 8 x 8 x 8 (8 analog in, 8 analog out, and 8 digital in and out)

• 16 x 16 analog in and out

• 16 x 16 digital in and out

You can also add or remove analog and digital I/O expansion cards for custom configurations.

MTRX Features

Pro Tools MTRX provides up to 64 discrete channels of audio for Pro Tools with two DigiLink Mini ports (Primary and Primary/Expansion).

Digital I/O

• Built-in 8 AES3 interfaces with 16 channels of I/O.

• Built-in MADI coax interface with 64 channels of I/O.

• Compliant with the Dante Controller and Dante Virtual Sound Card.

• Ethernet IP audio interface for 64 I/O channels using Dante with configurable redundant network.

• Digital router and format converter between all analog and digital inputs and outputs.

For more information, see the HD MADI Guide.

Chapter 5: Pro Tools Systems 43

Synchronization

• Sample rates of 44.1–384 kHz as well as DSD64/DSD 128 with high precision internal clock and PLL.

• Sample rate can be adapted to the setting of an external device.

• Synchronization by Word Clock, AES11, Video, and all digital audio inputs.

Remote Control

• Operation using MTRX Control software (Mac OS X or Windows)—some settings can be controlled on the front panel.

• All settings are controlled over Ethernet.

Additional Pro Tools Hardware Options

Pro Tools software systems also supports the following Pro Tools hardware options.

• Pro Tools | PRE (Eight-channel microphone preamp)

• Eleven Rack (guitar processor)

• Control surfaces (such as Avid Artist Series controllers)

Additional Pro Tools HD Hardware Options

Pro Tools | MTRX I/O Expansion Options

• 2 to 48 analog channels depending on the installed analog I/O cards (Mic/Line AD cards include microphone preamplifiers with relaybased gain circuits):

• MTRX 8 Line Pristine AD Card

• MTRX 2 Mic/Line Pristine AD Card

• MTRX 8 Mic/Line Pristine AD Card

• MTRX Pristine 8 DA Card

• Digital I/O Expansion Cards:

• MTRX 8 AES3 I/O Card

• MTRX Dual SDI/HD/3G Card

• MTRX 64-Channel IP Audio Dante Module

• MTRX Dual MADI I/O Card

For more information, see the Pro Tools | MTRX Guide.

Pro Tools HD also supports the following Avid HD hardware options.

• SYNC HD synchronization peripheral (HDX and HD Native systems only):

• PRE (Eight-channel microphone preamp)

• Eleven Rack (guitar processor)

• Control surfaces (such as S6, D-Command, or D-Control)

Pro Tools Reference Guide44

Pro Tools Software Options

Avid Application Manager

Pro Tools HD

HEAT (Harmonically Enhanced Algorithm Technology) is a paid software option that adds “analog color” to Pro Tools HD systems. For more information, see Chapter 46, “HEAT.”

HDX and HD Native Systems with MachineControl

The MachineControl™ software option for Pro Tools HD is supported with HDX and HD Native systems. MachineControl is a paid software option for Pro Tools HD that enables se-

rial communication with Sony

9-pin compatible

synchronizers, and video or audio machines. For more information, see the MachineControl Guide.

Pro Tools with VENUE Link

For Pro Tools systems that are connected to VENUE systems using Ethernet, VENUE Link provides Pro Tools and VENUE system integration and interoperability.

The Avid Application Manager is installed with Pro Tools. The Avid Application Manager is used to manage your software and entitlements related to your MyAvid account. The Avid Application Manager helps you maintain the most current Pro Tools software and audio plug-in updates that you are entitled to when new versions become available. For more information about the Avid Application Manager, see the Avid Application Manager Guide (available online through the Avid Knowledgebase).

Chapter 5: Pro Tools Systems 45

Pro Tools Reference Guide46

Chapter 6: System Setup

You can review and update the setup of your system to ensure it is configured for your needs.

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 Make sure all your equipment (including your

computer) is off.

2 Lower the volume of all output devices in your

system.

3 For systems with an expansion chassis, turn on

the chassis.

4 Turn on any external hard drives. Wait approxi-

mately ten seconds for them to spin up to speed.

5 Turn on any control surfaces (such as

D-Command

6 Turn on any MIDI interfaces, MIDI devices, or

synchronization peripherals.

or Avid Artist Control).

7 Do one of the following, depending on your

Pro Tools system:

• For HDX and HD Native systems, with the volume of all output devices lowered, turn on your audio interfaces (such as HD OMNI). Wait at least fifteen seconds for your system hardware to initialize.

• For Pro Tools systems that use hardware requiring external power (such as 003), with the volume of all output devices lowered, turn on the hardware.

8 Turn on your computer.

9 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 Pro Tools > Quit (Mac) or File > Exit (Windows).

2 Turn off or lower the volume of all output

devices in your system.

3 Turn off your computer.

Chapter 6: System Setup 47

4 Do one of the following depending on your

Pro Tools system:

• For HDX and HD Native systems, turn off your Pro Tools audio interfaces.

• For Pro Tools systems that use hardware requiring external power (such as 003), turn off the hardware.

5 For systems with an expansion chassis, turn off

the chassis.

6 Turn off any MIDI interfaces, MIDI devices, or

synchronization peripherals.

7 Turn off any worksurfaces (such as

D-Command) or control surfaces (such as Command|8).

8 Turn off any external hard drives.

Checking a Pro Tools | HDX or Pro Tools | HD Native System with DigiTest

Before you use Pro Tools, you may want to run the DigiTest diagnostic application to ensure that all HDX cards in the system are recognized, installed in the proper order, and have valid connections. You can also use DigiTest to validate your HD Native PCIe card or Thunderbolt interface. See the Avid DigiTest Guide for more information.

Configuring Pro Tools Software System Settings

Pro Tools lets you adjust the performance of your system by changing system settings that affect its capacity for processing, playback, and recording. These system settings are available in the Playback Engine (

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.

Playback Engine for a HDX system

Setup > Playback Engine).

Pro Tools Reference Guide48

Playback Engine

In the Playback Engine dialog, Pro Tools lets you select the audio engine for use with your audio interfaces. The available options are determined by which audio interfaces are connected and have compatible drivers installed.

Changing the ful if you have multiple audio interfaces connected to your computer with different routing configurations in your studio, or if you want to prepare a session for use with a specific interface on a different system (for example, you might want to prepare a session created on your HDX system for use with the built-in audio on your Mac laptop).

To select which audio engine Pro Tools uses:

1 Choose Setup > Playback Engine. 2 From the Playback Engine selector, select your

audio interface:

• For HDX and HD Native systems, use the default setting of

• For supported Avid audio interfaces (such as the Mbox Pro), selecting the name of the corresponding interface uses the Avid Audio Engine for Pro Tools.

• For third-party audio interfaces with compatible Core Audio (Mac) or ASIO (Windows), select the name of the corresponding Core Audio (Mac) or ASIO (Windows) compatible audio interface.

• On Mac systems, if you are using built-in audio, select any of the available built-in options for playback or select simultaneous input and output with the built-in I/O hardware options.

3 Click OK.

Playback Engine setting can be use-

HDX or HD Native.

Pro Tools Aggregate I/O for

On HDX systems, changing engines requires that you quit and relaunch Pro Tools for the new setting to take effect.

When changing engines on any Pro Tools system, you may need to reset the default I/O settings to match the selected audio interface.

Pro Tools Aggregate I/O

(Mac Only)

On Mac systems using Core Audio, you can use Pro Tools with the built-in audio inputs and outputs on your Mac by selecting any of the available built-in inputs and outputs, or by selecting the

Pro Tools Aggregate I/O option for using a combi-

nation of built-in inputs and outputs simultaneously (for recording and monitoring).

Selecting Pro Tools Aggregate I/O in the Playback Engine (Mac only)

You can configure the Input and Output options for Pro Tools Aggregate I/O in the Mac Audio Setup, which can be accessed from the Pro Tools Hardware Setup.

If you need simultaneous input (recording) and output (playback and monitoring) with Pro Tools using the built-in audio options on Mac, use the Pro Tools Aggregate I/O option. If you only need to play back audio for editing and mixing, select the appropriate built-in audio output option.

When changing engines with a Pro Tools session open, Pro Tools closes and reopens the session to initialize the new engine.

Chapter 6: System Setup 49

Hardware Buf fer Size

Host Engine

The Hardware Buffer Size (H/W Buffer Size) in the Playback Engine controls the size of the buffer used to handle host processing tasks such as processing with host-based, or “Native” plug-ins.

• Lower Hardware Buffer Size settings are useful for improving latency issues in certain recording situations or for improving certain system performance problems:

• On all Pro Tools systems, lower settings reduce MIDI-to-audio latency (such as when playing a virtual instrument live and monitoring the instrument’s output). Lower settings can also improve screen response or the accuracy of plug-in and mute automation data.

• On host-based Pro Tools systems, lower settings reduce all input-to-output monitoring latency on any record-armed tracks or Auxiliary Input tracks with live inputs.

• On HDX systems, lower settings reduce monitoring latency that occurs on tracks that have one or more Native plug-ins. Lower settings can also improve the accuracy of MIDI track timing on systems without a MIDI interface that supports time stamping. Lower settings also improve MIDI track timing on tracks using MIDI virtual instruments that do not support time stamping.

• Higher Hardware Buffer Size settings are useful for sessions that are using more Native plug-ins for playback. These settings allow for more audio processing. They can also be useful to reduce errors on machines that require a higher buffer size.

The Host Engine settings provide options for error suppression during playback and recording, and the option to use dynamic plug-in processing.

Ignore Errors During Playback/Recording

The Ignore Errors During Playback/Record option determines how Pro Tools responds to error reporting from the Avid Audio Engine (AAE) during playback and recording. This can be useful when working with instrument plug-ins where you care less about clicks and pops in the audio signal while you work on composing and arranging. Once you are ready to work on the final mix you should disable this option. Observe the following guidelines as to whether or not to enable or disable error suppression:

• Enable error suppression only if you are experiencing frequent errors that are interrupting your creative workflow. When error suppression is enabled, you can experience a degradation of audio quality. However, this may be acceptable in order to avoid interrupting playback and recording when working with instrument plug-ins.

• Disable error suppression when you need to ensure the highest possible audio quality, such as for a final mix.

To enable error suppression:

1 Choose Setup > Playback Engine. 2 Select Ignore Errors During Playback/Record. 3 Click OK.

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.

Pro Tools Reference Guide50

If the Ignore Errors Dur ing Playback/Record option is enabled and too many CPU intensive Native plug-ins are active in the session (such as Eleven Free or various virtual instrument plug-ins), you may experience badly distorted audio. If you encounter this problem, remove or make inactive any unnecessary Native plug-ins. You can also isolate and bus record any tracks that use virtual instruments, and then make those source tracks inactive to free up processing resources.

Minimize Additional I/O Latency

(Host-based Pro Tools Systems Only)

Dynamic Plug-In Processing

When enabled, the Dynamic Plug-In Processing option maximizes plug-in counts by dynamically reallocating host-based processing resources as needed. This means that plug-ins only use CPU cycles when they are actually processing audio.

To enable dynamic plug-in processing:

1 Choose Setup > Playback Engine. 2 Select Dynamic Plug-In Processing. 3 Click OK.

When the Minimize Additional I/O Latency option is enabled, any additional latency due to ignoring errors during playback and recording is minimized to 128 samples. Ignoring errors requires at least 128 samples of additional buffering on some systems. If this option is disabled, the buffer is half the

Buffer Size

, or at least 128 samples (whichever is

H/W

greater). If you are using a slower computer, you may want to disable this option to avoid adverse performance.

This option is only available if the

During Playback/Record

option is enabled and the

Ignore Errors

Pro Tools system you are using requires additional buffering for error suppression, as follows:

•Windows:

• Mbox Pro and Mbox 2 Pro

•Mac:

• 003 family devices

• Eleven Rack

• Mbox family devices

• Pro Tools Aggregate I/O

Number of Voices

(HDX Systems Only)

On HDX systems, the Number of Voices setting in the Playback Engine lets you control the number of available voices.

Changing the number of voices affects the total number of voiceable tracks.

Depending on the session sample rate and the number of HDX cards in your system, there are different choices for voice count. For voice limits on different HDX systems, see “Playback, Recording, and Voice Limits with Pro Tools | HD Software” on page 39.

To change the Number of Voices:

1 Choose Setup > Playback Engine. 2 Select a value from the Number of Voices pop-

up menu.

3 Click OK.

Chapter 6: System Setup 51

Sample Rate

(HDX Systems Only)

The Sample Rate setting in the Playback Engine shows the default sample rate used when you create a new session. If a session is open, the current session sample rate is displayed, but cannot be changed. If no session is open, you can set the default sample rate for new sessions.

Video Engine

Enable the Video Engine option to import, edit, and playback a wide range of Avid HD and SD MXF video formats on Pro Tools video tracks without transcoding (including Avid DNxHD) as well as QuickTime video. With the Video Engine enabled you can simultaneously view desktop video and video monitored using a video peripheral (Media Composer | Nitris DX, Media Composer | Mojo DX, and other Avid qualified third-party video interfaces).

To enable the Avid Video Engine for Pro Tools:

1 Choose Setup > Playback Engine. 2 Select the Video Engine option.

back, those files are already cached for playback. This is especially useful when working with shared media storage (such as with Avid Unity ISIS shared storage systems).

To determine the maximum amount of RAM available for the Disk Cache, Pro Tools polls the computer for the amount of RAM installed and subtracts 4 GB of RAM. For example, if your computer has 16 GB of RAM installed, the total amount of RAM available for the Disk Cache will be 12 GB.

You can use the Disk Cache and Memory meters in the System Usage window to determine whether to assign more or less RAM to the Disk Cache for the current session. See “System Usage” on page 61.

To set the amount of RAM for use by the Disk Cache:

1 Choose Setup > Playback Engine. 2 From the Disk Cache selector, select the amount

of RAM you want to allocate for Disk Cache.

3 Click OK.

Cache Size

The Cache Size setting in the Playback Engine determines the amount of memory AAE allocates to pre-buffer audio for playback and recording. In most cases, the default setting of timum Cache Size for most sessions.

Pro Tools can also load audio files used in Pro Tools sessions into RAM for cached playback. Pro Tools prioritizes files closest to the current play head location. This way, when you start play-

Pro Tools Reference Guide52

Normal is the op-

Configuring MIDI Setup

If you plan to use any external MIDI devices with Pro Tools (such as controllers, keyboards, synthesizers, drum machines, samplers, sequencers, or sound modules), you may want to configure your MIDI setup using Audio MIDI Setup (Mac) or MIDI Studio Setup (Windows).

For more information, see Chapter 10, “Configuring MIDI.”

Configuring Hardware Settings in Pro Tools

Pro Tools lets you configure the signal routing, digital I/O format, default sample rate, clock source, and other hardware-based settings depending on your system configuration. These system settings are available in the Hardware Setup

Setup > Hardware).

(

Selecting an Audio Interface to Configure

The Peripherals list in the Hardware Setup lets you select any audio interface connected to your Pro Tools system associated with the selected

rent Engine

To change the

setting in the Playback Engine dialog.

Playback Engine setting to use a

specific audio interface or AAE (such as HDX, 003, a third-party Core Audio or ASIO interface, or Pro Tools Aggregate I/O), see “Playback Engine” on page 49).

For Avid HD audio interfaces (such as HD OMNI or HD I/O) you can configure the signal routing, digital I/O format, default sample rate, clock source, and other hardware-based settings for each HD peripheral connected to your system.

Cur-

Hardware Setup for HD OMNI, Main page

Hardware Setup for Mbox (third generation)

For some Avid audio interfaces (such as 003), you can configure the signal routing, digital I/O format, default sample rate, clock source, and other hardware-based settings, depending on your system configuration.

For third-generation Mbox family audio interfaces, and third-party Core Audio (Mac) and ASIO (Windows) compatible audio interfaces, use the

Launch Control Panel button to launch the control

panel for configuring your specific audio interface.

Chapter 6: System Setup 53

Launch Control Panel or Setup App

(Pro Tools with Avid Hardware or Third-Party Audio Interfaces with Control Panel Software)

Using the control panel or setup application for your audio interface, you can change settings in the following areas, depending on your audio interface:

• Mixer Settings

• Output Settings

• Hardware Settings (including sample rate, hardware buffer size, and sync source).

Configuring Pro Tools Aggregate I/O

(Mac Only)

On Mac systems using Core Audio, you can select

Pro Tools Aggregate I/O as the Current Engine to

use the built-in audio inputs and outputs on your Mac computer. You can configure the Pro Tools Aggregate I/O setting in the Mac Audio Setup, which can be accessed from the Pro Tools Hardware Setup.

To configure Pro Tools Aggregate I/O settings:

1 Choose Setup > Hardware.

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

To change control panel settings:

1 In the Hardware Setup dialog, click the Launch

Control Panel

button or Launch Setup App but-

ton (depending on your audio interface).

2 To change settings in the control panel or setup

application, see the documentation that came with your audio interface.

3 When finished, close the control panel or setup

application.

2 In the Peripherals list, select Pro Tools Aggre-

gate I/O

option is selected as the

, or whichever Built-in input or output

Current Engine in the

Playback Engine.

Hardware Setup for Pro Tools Aggregate I/O (Mac only)

3 Click the Launch Setup App button.

4 In the Audio Devices window of the Mac Audio

Setup, configure the Pro Tools Aggregate I/O settings.

The Pro Tools Aggregate I/O device is intended for use only with the built-in audio on your Mac computer. For best performance, use the default settings.

Pro Tools Reference Guide54

Configuring Default Sample Rate Setting in Hardware Setup

The Sample Rat e setting in the Hardware Setup dialog determines the default sample rate when you create a new session. This setting is available only when there is no session open. Otherwise, the current session sample rate is displayed, but cannot be changed.

With HDX and HD Native hardware, you can change the default Sample Rate in the Hardware Setup, or in the Playback Engine.

With HDX and HD Native hardware, the Sample Rate setting can affect the number of available voices.

On other Pro Tools systems, you can only change the default sample rate in the Hardware Setup or using the control panel for third-party audio interfaces.

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

To change the default Sample Rate in the Hardware Setup:

1 Choose Setup > Hardware Setup. 2 Select the sample rate from the Sample Rate

pop-up menu.

3 Click OK.

Configuring Clock Source

The Pro Tools Hardware Setup lets you select the

Clock Source for the system.

Changes made to Clock Source in the Session Setup window are reflected in the Hardware Setup window.

Internal

directly into Pro Tools, you will usually use the Pro Tools

External

Pro Tools from an external digital device, or if you utilize a common house clock signal, you will synchronize Pro Tools to that digital device or common signal.

Depending on your audio interface, external options can include

Optical [Encl], AES/EBU 1–8, TDIF, ADAT, and Word Clock. For details, see the guide for your au-

dio interface.

To select the Clock Source:

1 Choose Setup > Hardware. 2 Choose the clock source from the Clock Source

3 Click OK.

If you are recording an analog signal

Internal clock source.

If you are transferring material into

AES/EBU [Encl], S/PDIF,

pop-up menu.

Your digital input device must be connected and powered on for Pro Tools to synchronize to it. If your input device is not powered on, leave the Clock Source set to Internal.

Chapter 6: System Setup 55

Configuring Digital Format and Hardware Routing

The Hardware Setup includes additional settings for configuring the digital format and hardware routing for your system’s audio interfaces.

For an outline of the configuration of an HDX or HD Native system with one or more Pro Tools HD interfaces, see “Configuring Pro Tools | HDX and Pro Tools | HD Native Hardware Settings” on page 56.

To configure specific hardware settings for other Pro Tools or third-party audio interfaces, see the documentation that came with your audio interface.

Selecting Footswitch Control

(003 Only)

The footswitch connector on your 003 family interface lets you use a footswitch pedal to control either playback start/stop or recording punch in/out. Both QuickPunch audio punch-in and punch-out and MIDI punch-in and punch-out recording are supported.

Record Punch In/Out

footswitch connected to your 003 family interface to punch in and punch out during recording.

Playback Start/Stop

footswitch connected to your 003 family interface to start and stop playback.

Select this option to use a

Configuring Pro Tools | HDX and Pro Tools | HD Native Hardware Settings

On HDX and HD Native systems, you configure Hardware settings for each audio interface connected to your system (see Chapter 5, “Pro Tools Systems.”)

HDX and HD Native systems can have HD I/O, HD OMNI, HD MADI or Pro Tools | MTRX audio interfaces connected to HDX cards or HD Native hardware. HD I/O, HD OMNI, and MTRX can also have additional interfaces attached using the Expansion port on each interface.

Identifying Audio Interfaces

If you have multiple audio interfaces of the same type connected to your system, before you make audio connections to them, you should confirm the identity of each interface. This ensures that you choose the appropriate interface in the Peripherals list when you define its inputs and outputs in the Hardware Setup.

To identify audio interfaces in your system:

1 Choose Setup > Hardware.

2 From the Peripherals list, select an audio inter-

face connected to your system.

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

3 Make sure the Main page is shown.

Pro Tools Reference Guide56

4 Select the Identify option, located in the lower

left corner of the Hardware Setup. This illuminates all the LEDs on the front panel of the selected audio interface.

5 Make a note of which interface in your studio

setup corresponds to the identified interface.

6 Repeat the above steps for each additional audio

interface in your setup.

Configuring Avid HD Audio Interfaces

Additional pages are available to configure other controls for each audio interface (such as setting operating levels).

To configure Avid HD audio interfaces:

1 Choose Setup > Hardware.

2 From the Peripherals list, select the 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.

HD OMNI supports up to eight channels of simultaneous I/O and multiple I/O formats (such as analog, AES/EBU, ADAT Optical, and S/PDIF).

HD I/O audio interfaces support sixteen channels of simultaneous I/O and multiple I/O formats (such as analog, AES/EBU, ADAT Optical, S/PDIF, and TDIF). HD MADI supports up to 64 channels of MADI I/O.

The Main page of the Hardware Setup is where you define which physical inputs and outputs on your audio interface are routed to available inputs and outputs in Pro Tools. You can think of this window as a patchbay that allows you to route any of the inputs or outputs on your audio interfaces to channel assignments in the Pro Tools mixer.

Hardware Setup for HD I/O, Main page

Press Command+Left or Right Arrow keys (Mac) or Control+Left or Right Arrow keys (Windows) to move though the different pages of the Hardware Setup.

4 From the Clock Source pop-up menu, select the

appropriate clock source for the interface.

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:

[Encl], S/PDIF, Optical [Encl], AES/EBU 1–8, TDIF, ADAT,

and Word Clock (optional Word Clock rates

AES/EBU

are available when operating at higher sample rates).

5 If you want to send clock output to other de-

vices attached to the audio interface, select the appropriate output from the

Ext. Clock Output

pop-up menu.

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

terface enclosure is active by selecting the corresponding option under

Digital Format.

Depending on the type of interfaces in your system, choices include

Optical (S/PDIF)

AES/EBU, S/PDIF, and

. Selecting Optical (S/PDIF) re-

sets the Optical I/O port (which is, by default, eight channels of ADAT Optical I/O) to two channels of S/PDIF Optical I/O.

Chapter 6: System Setup 57

7 For S/PDIF compatibility with Tascam DA-30

DAT recorders, select the

Tascam option under

S/PDIF Format.

8 From the Input and Output channel pop-up

menus, select the physical ports (such as

1–2

or Optical 1–2), that will be routed to the

Analog

corresponding Pro Tools input and output channels (such as Ch 1–2, Ch 3–4), listed on the left side of the Main page.

Configuring HD OMNI Controls

For detailed information about configuring HD OMNI, see the HD OMNI Guide.

To configure HD OMNI in Pro Tools:

1 Choose Setup > Hardware.

2 From the Peripherals list, select the HD OMNI

audio interface.

Inputs and outputs of similar format are differentiated in the input and output channel pop-up menus. For example, the AES/EBU inputs and outputs in the HD 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)

AES/EBU 1–2, AES/EBU 3–4, AES/EBU 5–6,

as and AES/EBU 7–8. For HD I/Os equipped with a second 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.

9 Configure any specific controls for your audio

interface:

• “Configuring HD OMNI Controls” on page 58.

• “Configuring HD I/O Controls” on page 59.

• “Configuring HD MADI Controls” on page 60.

10 For additional audio interfaces, select them in

the Peripherals list, and repeat the above steps.

See your audio interface guide for additional configuration details and restrictions.

3 Click the Monitor tab and configure the options.

When working with HD OMNI, you should always configure the Monitor page first.

HD OMNI Hardware Setup, Monitor page

4 Click the Main tab and configure the options.

HD OMNI Hardware Setup, Main page

Pro Tools Reference Guide58

5 Click the Analog In tab and configure the

options.

HD OMNI Hardware Setup, Analog In page

6 Click the Analog Out tab and configure the

options.

HD OMNI Hardware Setup, Analog Out page

Configuring HD I/O Controls

For detailed information about configuring HD I/O, see the HD I/O Guide.

To configure controls for HD I/O:

1 Choose Setup > Hardware.

2 From the Peripherals list, select the HD I/O

audio interface.

3 Click the Main tab and configure the options.

HD I/O Hardware Setup, Main page

4 If you have at least one HD I/O AD card, click

Analog In tab and configure the options. If

the you have two HD I/O AD cards, this tab is la-

Analog In 1–8.

beled

7 Click the Mixer tab and configure the options.

HD OMNI Hardware Setup, Mixer page

8 When you are finished, click OK.

HD I/O Hardware Setup, Analog In page

Chapter 6: System Setup 59

5 If you have two HD I/O AD cards, click the

Analog In 9–16 tab and configure the options.

6 If you have at least one HD I/O Digital card,

click the

7 If you have two HD I/O Digital cards, click the

second

8 When you are finished, click OK.

Digital tab and configure the options.

Configuring HD MADI Controls

For detailed information about configuring HD MADI, see the HD MADI Guide.

Configuring MTRX Controls

MTRX is configured using MTRX Control software. For information about configuring MTRX, see the Pro Tools | MTRX Guide.

To configure controls for HD MADI:

1 Choose Setup > Hardware.

2 From the Peripherals list, select either

HD MADI Port 1 or HD MADI Port 2 and configure the options.

HD MADI Hardware Setup

The settings for HD MADI Port 1 and HD MADI Port 2 are linked. Any changes are global regardless of which is selected in the Peripherals list.

3 When you are finished, click OK.

Pro Tools | MTRX Hardware Setup

Pro Tools Reference Guide60

System Usage

Meters in the System Usage window indicate how much of your system’s processing power is being used when processing audio, and when writing and playing back automation.

As these meters approach their limits, host processing and recording or playback of automation data can be affected. If CPU or PCI Activity are high, a system error may occur. If Disk Activity is high, Pro Tools may miss playback of some automation data during particularly dense periods of activity, such as while using the Bounce to Disk command.

Disk Meter

As in previous versions of Pro Tools, the Disk meter displays the amount of hard disk processing activity.

Disk Cache Meter

(Pro Tools HD Only)

Pro Tools HD provides a meter in the System Usage window for monitoring the Disk Cache. This meter is only present if a fixed

Cache Size is se-

lected in the Playback Engine dialog.

System Usage window showing Disk Cache meter

System Usage window

CPU Meters

The CPU Total meter displays session performance for Elastic Audio processing, Clip Gain processing, and Native plug-in and mixer processing.

The individual

CPU meters provide a general indi-

cation of how much Pro Tools is using each of the processors in your computer.

Activity Meters

The Activity section of the System Usage window display meters for disk usage and memory usage.

The Disk Cache meter

located

memory being used to cache audio in the

indicates the amount of al-

timeline (up to the amount of RAM selected for the

Disk Cache setting in the Playback Engine). An

additional peak-meter style indicator

show how

for caching

Memory Meter

much of the allocated RAM is needed

the session.

is included to

The Memory meter displays how much of the installed physical RAM in the system is being used by Pro Tools. This includes RAM used by the audio engine, the video engine (if enabled), plug-ins, and the disk cache. Other than Pro Tools, it does not show any other RAM usage by the system. If the Memory meter approached 100%, install more physical RAM or lower the Disk Cache setting in the Playback Engine dialog.

Chapter 6: System Setup 61

DSP Usage Meters

Voices

Time Slots

DSP Usage

(HDX Systems Only)

HDX systems provide additional meters below the Activity meter:

Managing System Resources

To monitor the usage of resources during a Pro Tools session:

 Choose Window > System Usage.

Voices

The Voices meter displays the total number of voices that can be allocated and the number of voices currently allocated. This includes all voices whether they are allocated explicitly or dynamically, as well as any voices used for routing hostbased processing.

Time Slots

The Time Slots meter displays the total number of DSP Time Slots available and the number of DSP Time Slots currently used.

DSP

The DSP meters display how much of each DSP chip on each HDX card is currently being used for mixer configurations and DSP-based plug-ins.

To reduce processing load, do one of the following:

 Reduce the density of automation in places

where it shows the most activity. For details, see “Thinning Automation” on page 1089.

 Make unnecessary track inputs and outputs in-

active. For details, see “Making Track Inputs and Outputs Inactive from the Edit or Mix Window” on page 244.

 Make unnecessary tracks inactive. For details,

see “Making Tracks Inactive” on page 253.

 Make unnecessary DSP plug-ins inactive. For

details, see “Making Inserts Inactive” on page 1038.

System Usage window (HDX 2 shown)

Pro Tools Reference Guide62

Chapter 7: I/O Setup

Channel Grid

Path Type tabs

Active/Inactive Status

Path Format selector

Path Name column

Path tools

Input and Output selectors

Interface Name label

Import/Export Settings

Options

The I/O Setup provides tools to label, format, and assign Pro Tools input, output, insert, and bus audio signal paths both for individual sessions as well as for your specific Pro Tools system. I/O Setup also provides

controls for PRE (Mic Preamp) signal paths, and Delay Compensation settings for hardware inserts. The I/O Setup displays a graphical representation (cross-point matrix) of the signal routing for physical in-

put and output paths for each connected audio interface. Like a virtual patchbay, I/O Setup controls let you route physical inputs and outputs on audio interfaces to Pro Tools input and output channels. For HDX and HD Native systems, some of these controls mirror the routing controls found in the Hardware Setup— changes made to physical routing in one is always reflected in the other. The I/O Setup also includes controls for creating internal mix busses and for creating and mapping output busses.

I/O Setup on an HDX system with HD OMNI and HD I/O

Chapter 7: I/O Setup 63

Opening the I/O Setup

The I/O Setup can be opened from the application window (with a session closed), or from within a session (when a session is open).

To open the I/O Setup:

1 Make sure your audio interfaces are enabled

and configured properly in the Hardware Setup. See “Configuring Hardware Settings in Pro Tools” on page 53.

Pro Tools Software Signal Paths

A signal path is a logical grouping of multiple inputs, outputs, or busses that has a single name and (channel) format. The I/O Setup lets you create, define and name paths according to the configuration of your studio and the needs of each project. 24 busses are created by default, but you can create as many as you need.

2 Choose Setup > I/O.

Closing the I/O Setup

To close the I/O Setup and save changes:

 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 (see “Valid Paths and Requirements” on page 89).

To close the I/O Setup without saving changes:

 Click Cancel.

Navigating in the I/O Se tup

To scroll left or right in the I/O Setup:

 Press Option+Page Up/Down (Mac) or

Alt+Page Up/Down (Windows).

Main Paths and Sub-Paths

Paths in Pro Tools tracks and I/O Setup include main paths and sub-paths.

Main Paths

Main paths are logical groupings of inputs, inserts, busses, or outputs. For example, a master stereo output path will include both its left and right channels.

Sub-Paths

A sub-path represents a signal path within a main path. For example, a default stereo output bus 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 bus path.

Main and sub-paths in I/O Setup (Input page)

Pro Tools Reference Guide64

Sub-paths for Output Paths

Pro Tools lets you create sub-paths for physical output paths in the Output page. Using output bus sub-paths rather than physical output sub-paths is sufficient for most workflows. Use physical output sub-paths only when you need alternate mix formats for the same physical output (including explicit downmix paths).

Default Bus Sub-paths

Pro Tools lets you create the default sub-paths for busses in the New Sub-Path dialog when accessed from the Bus page. Enable the

Paths

option to have Pro Tools automatically cre-

Create Default Sub-

ate the default set of sub-paths for the path format (channel width) of the selected main bus path, as follows:

Default Sub-Paths

Main Path

Mono N/A N/A Stereo 2 mono <

LCR 1 Stereo (LR),

Sub-Paths Sub-Path Name

main path

name

> followed by channel designation .L and .R

3 Mono (one for each channel)

Stereo: <

name

Mono: <

name

main path

>.LR

main path

>.L, .C, .R

Default Sub-Paths

Main Path

LCRS 1 Stereo (LR),

Quad 1 Stereo (LR),

5.0 –

6.0 –

7.0

5.1 –

6.1 –

7.1

When the

Sub-Paths Sub-Path Name

Stereo: < 4 Mono (one for each channel)

4 Mono (one for each channel)

1 Stereo (LR), 5–7 Mono (one for each channel)

1 Stereo (LR), 6–8 Mono (one for each channel)

Create Default Sub-Paths option is en-

name

Mono: <main path

name>.L, .C, .R, .S

Stereo: <

name

Mono: <main path

name>.L, .R, .Ls, .Rs

Stereo: <

name

Mono: <

name

.Ls, .Rs, and so on

Stereo: <

name

Mono: <

name

.Ls, .Rs, and so on,

and LFE

main path

> .LR

main path

> .LR

main path

>.LR

main path

>.L, .C, .R,

main path

>.LR

main path

>.L, .C, .R,

abled, all other custom options in the New SubPaths dialog are grayed-out and unavailable.

It is especially useful to define and name sub-paths for complex mixing setups, such as a 5.1 surround mix.

Paths in Session s

In sessions, signals are routed to and from tracks, sends, and inserts using track Input, Output, Insert, and Send selectors.

When you click a track Input, Output, Insert, or Send selector, the paths created and defined in the IO Setup appear in the list of available paths (see “Assigning Audio Inputs and Outputs to Tracks” on page 240).

Chapter 7: I/O Setup 65

Path Configurations and I/O Settings

Each Pro Tools system can have a different path configuration, determined by:

• On Pro Tools systems, the type of audio interface or other physical I/O (including built-in hardware)

• On HDX and HD Native systems, the number and types of audio interfaces

Path configurations in Pro Tools are saved as I/O settings.

I/O Settings are saved with both the session and with the system. You can choose to overwrite the I/O settings saved with the system with those saved with the session (see “Restore from Session” on page 97).

Unavailable items (including hardware, paths, or required resources) remain in the session as inactive items (see “Making Paths Active or Inactive” on page 87).

When you create a new session, you can specify which I/O Settings to use. For example, you can use the factory installed default settings, the “Last Used” setting, or one of any available custom I/O settings files.

See “Factory I/O Settings” on page 94 and “I/O Settings Files” on page 95 for more information.

Default I/O Settings

Pro Tools comes with default I/O Setup settings to get you started (see “Factory I/O Settings” on page 94). You should only need to open the I/O Setup if you want to customize I/O paths or if you change your system hardware (for example, adding an expansion card to HD I/O, or adding or removing an audio interface).

You can always return to the default settings for an I/O Settings page by clicking the Default button. These paths are available in session tracks and are reflected in the I/O Setup.

You can customize your I/O Setup configuration at any time, according to the needs of each project (see “Customizing I/O Settings” on page 75).

I/O Setup Pages

The I/O Setup provides tabs to open pages for configuring specific I/O Settings.

Opening an I/O Setup Page

To open an I/O Setup page:

 Click the corresponding tab at the top of the I/O

Setup.

Hold the Command key (Mac) or the Control key (Windows) and use the Left or Right Arrow keys to cycle through the different pages of the I/O Setup.

It is recommended that if you choose to customize your I/O Setup, configure the systemspecific options first: Input, Output, Insert, Mic Preamps, and H/W Insert Delay. Then configure the Bus page. Once you have configured your system, you should not need to change it unless you add or remove hardware (such as audio interfaces) from your system. See “Customizing I/O Settings” on page 75.

Pro Tools Reference Guide66

Input Page

Output Page

The Input page of the I/O Setup lets you create and assign Pro Tools Input channels to receive audio from the physical inputs of your audio hardware.

Configure input signal path names, formats, and source channel (analog or digital) on the Input page. Multichannel input paths (stereo or greater) can have any number of sub-paths. Input channels can have overlapping input paths. Input names, channel widths, and physical input mappings are saved with the system and the session, and can be recalled from either.

The Output page of the I/O Setup lets you create and assign Pro Tools Output channels to send audio to the physical outputs of your audio hardware.

Configure output signal path names and formats on the Output page. Output channels can have overlapping output paths. Multichannel Output paths (stereo or greater) can have any number of subpaths. Output names, channel widths, and physical output assignments are saved with the system and the session, and can be recalled from either.

I/O Setup, Input page

I/O Setup, Output page

Chapter 7: I/O Setup 67

Bus Page

Insert Page

The Bus page of the I/O Setup lets you create and edit internal mix busses and output busses. The Bus page also lets you map output busses to output paths (as configured in the Output page of the I/O Setup).

Configure bus path names and formats, and map any main bus path to any available output of the same width or greater. Multichannel bus paths (stereo or greater) can have any number of subpaths. Output bus and internal mix bus names and channel widths are saved with and recalled from the session.

The Insert page of the I/O Setup lets you create and edit hardware insert signal paths for the Pro Tools mixer. Hardware inserts can route audio through an external device connected to parallel inputs and outputs of a Pro Tools audio interface. This lets you process audio on a track with a hardware insert in real time.

Insert paths require audio interface inputs and outputs, and are determined by the configuration of the Insert page in the I/O Setup for your system.

I/O Setup, Bus page

For more information, see “Configuring Busses” on page 89.

Pro Tools Reference Guide68

I/O Setup, Insert page

For more information, see “Using Hardware Inserts” on page 1061.

Mic Preamps Page

Input selector

Expand/Collapse

Path Format selector

Channel Grid

triangle

Active/Inactive Status box

Path Name column

On the Mic Preamps page of the I/O Setup, signal paths for one or more PRE multi-purpose microphone preamplifiers can be mapped to audio interfaces. For more information, see the PRE Guide.

Mic Preamps page

H/W Insert Delay (Compensation) Page

To compensate for the delay (latency) of any external hardware devices (such as an effects unit) used in your session, you can set the amount of Hardware Insert Delay Compensation (in milliseconds) for each external device. These times will be used by the Delay Compensation Engine to time-align input paths when the hardware insert is in use and Delay Compensation is enabled.

I/O Setup Signal Path Controls

Depending on the I/O Setup page, the I/O Setup provides the following controls in its graphical section for configuring signal routing paths.

I/O Setup, Signal Path controls (Input page shown)

Input and Output Selectors

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.

Let you select the

Insert offset delay field

For more information, see “Setting a Hardware Insert Delay Offset” on page 1029.

Path Name Column

Shows paths that are available for selection, including the name of each defined path. Path names can be renamed.

Expand/Collapse Triangle

Shows or hides the subpaths associated with a main path (Input and Bus paths only).

Active/Inactive Status Box

Shows and changes

the active/inactive status of each path.

Chapter 7: I/O Setup 69

Path Format Selector

Shows and selects the type/format (such as Mono, Stereo, Quad, or 5.1) of each defined path (greater-than-stereo multichannel formats are supported with Pro Tools HD only).

Import Settings Button

settings file to reconfigure I/O Setup.

tings

only imports the settings for the currently

Lets you import an I/O

Import Set-

viewed page of the I/O Setup (such as the Input page).

Channel Grid

Assigns paths to specific interfaces

and channels.

I/O Setup Buttons

Depending on the I/O Setup page, the I/O Setup can provide the following buttons for configuring signal routing.

I/O Setup, Signal Path buttons (Output page shown)

New Path Button

signal path pages for Input, Output, Insert, Bus, or Mic Preamp.

New Sub-Path Button

path on signal path pages for Input, Output, Insert, or Bus.

Delete Path Button

path or sub-path on signal path pages for Input, Output, Insert, or Bus.

Default Button

path configuration, depending on the physical hardware I/O you are using and how your hardware is configured.

Lets you create a new path on

Lets you create a new sub-

Lets you delete any selected

Resets a path type to its default

Apply to All Tabs

Applies imported I/O settings to

all pages of the I/O Setup.

Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) the Import Settings button to import settings to all pages of the I/O Setup.

Export Settings Button

Lets you save I/O settings as a file that can be imported into other sessions or used on other Pro Tools systems.

Export Settings

exports the settings for all pages of the I/O Setup.

Show Last Saved Setup

Appears in the I/O Setup in certain session transfer situations. For details on this feature, see “Show Last Saved or Current Setup” on page 98.

Cancel Button

Closes the I/O Setup without

saving changes.

OK Button

Closes the I/O Setup and saves any

changes.

I/O Setup Options

Pro Tools systems have several additional I/O Setup options depending on which page of the I/O Setup you are viewing. These include default signal routing for metering and auditioning, and default track layout for multichannel mix formats.

Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) the Default button to restore defaults to paths in all pages of the I/O Setup.

Pro Tools Reference Guide70

I/O Setup, Signal Path options (Output page shown)

Compensate for Delays After Record Pass

(HDX and HD Native Systems Only)

Pro Tools provides two options for compensating for input and output latency (due to any inherent latency in the analog to digital and digital to analog converters of the audio interface) after recording.

Monitor Path

Pro Tools provides a Monitor Path setting in the Output page of the I/O Setup. Using the selected Monitor path for the main mix output of your Pro Tools sessions ensures that a session created on another Pro Tools system will always have at least one audible output.

Compensation for Input Delays After Record Pass

When enabled, this option provides automatic compensation for any analog or digital input delay with Avid HD interfaces. Enable this option for all recording situations. When recording from a digital source, both the

After Record Pass put Delays After Record Pass

Compensation for Input Delays

and the Compensation for Out-

options must be en-

abled.

Compensation for Input Delays After Record

The

Pass

option is only available in the Input page of

the I/O Setup.

Compensation for Output Delays After Record Pass

When enabled, this option provides automatic compensation for any analog or digital output delay with Avid HD audio interfaces. Enable this option when you are synchronized to an external clock source. When recording from a digital source, both the

After Record Pass Output Delays After Record Pass

Compensation for Input Delays

and the Compensation for

options must be

enabled.

Compensation for Output Delays After Record

The

Pass

option is only available in the Output page of

the I/O Setup.

Pro Tools automatically downmixes or upmixes the session Monitor path to the system Monitor path so that you always hear session playback regardless of name and width of the Output path on either system.

The Monitor path is graphically indicated by a speaker icon in track and send Output selectors, Output paths, and in the Output and Bus pages of the I/O Setup.

Selecting the Monitor Path

Audition Path

You can specify the output path through which files and clips are previewed (auditioned) from the Clip List or Workspace browsers, as well as when previewing AudioSuite processing. Pro Tools lets you assign the Audition path to any available Output path regardless of its channel width. For mismatched channel widths, the Audition path is automatically downmixed or upmixed to the selected Output path.

Chapter 7: I/O Setup 71

The Audition Path selector is available in the Output page of the I/O Setup.

For information on previewing audio, see “Previewing Clips in the Clip List” on page 275 or “Previewing Audio in Workspace Browsers” on page 310.

Using the Default Audition Path

When you preview a file or clip in the Clip List or in a Workspace browser, or when previewing AudioSuite processing, Pro Tools routes the audio output through the specified Audition Path. Pro Tools assigns a default Audition Path to the first available main Output path of the corresponding format. You can also select a different Audition Path in the I/O Setup.

Configuring Audition Paths

You can specify the monitoring outputs for auditioning audio in the Clip List and Workspace browsers, or for previewing AudioSuite processing, using the

Audition Paths Main Menu

Audition Paths pop-up menu.

The main menu consists of all path format choices available on the current system (Mono and Stereo on all systems, and LCR and greater with Pro Tools HD only).

Output Meter Path

The Output Meter Path selector determines the which output or bus paths are monitored by the Output Meters in the transport (see “Output Meters” on page 1015). It also determines the path displayed across the Output meters of D-Control or D-Command worksurfaces as well as in the Pro Tools transport. For more details, see your control surface documentation.

Output Meter Path selector is available in the

The Output and Bus pages of the I/O Setup.

To set the Output Meter Paths:

1 Choose Setup > I/O Setup. 2 Select the Output tab.

3 From the Output Meter Path selector, select the

desired output path for metering.

Default Output Bus

You can specify the default output bus path assignment for new tracks, in each available format.

Default Output Bus selector is available in the

The Bus page of the I/O Setup.

Audition Paths Submenus

Each path format choice has a submenu listing Output paths of that given format. (The mono submenu lists Output paths of any format.)

To configure an Audition Path:

 Select a path from the Audition Paths pop-up

menu or submenus.

Pro Tools Reference Guide72

The Default Output Bus can be set for internal mix bus paths, as well as for output bus paths.

To specify a default output for new tracks in the I/O Setup:

 Click the Default Output Bus pop-up menu and

select a format and output bus path.

Pinnacle Systems Pro Tools - 12.7 Reference Guide

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Contents

Chapter 1: Welcome to Pro Tools

System Requirements and Compatibility Information

About www.avid.com

Conventions Used in Pro Tools Documentation

Chapter 2: Pro Tools Concepts

Hard Disk Audio Recording

Nonlinear Editing

Audio Engines

Avid Video Engine

MIDI

Surround Sound

Synchronization

Pro Tools Sessions

Pro Tools Projects

Tick-Based and Sample-Based Time

System Resources

Workspace Browsers

AA F, MXF, and OMF

Pro Tools and Media Composer Terminology

Embedded Media and Linked Media

Chapter 3: Keyboard and Mouse Shortcuts

Mouse Shortcuts

Global Key Commands

Keyboard Focus

Toolbar Focus

Numeric Keypad Modes

Using Help

Accessing Guides in Pro Tools Software

Accessing the Help System

Using the Contents and Index Tabs

Help Display

Using the Search Tab

Search Guidelines

Printing Help Topics

Copying from a Help Topic

Part II: System Configuration

Chapter 5: Pro Tools Systems

Pro Tools Software

Pro Tools | HD Software with Pro Tools | HDX Hardware

Pro Tools | HD Software with Pro Tools | HD Native Hardware

Supported Pro Tools HD Audio Interfaces

Playback, Recording, and Voice Limits with Pro Tools | HD Software

Pro Tools HD Audio Interface Features

Additional Pro Tools Hardware Options

Additional Pro Tools HD Hardware Options

Pro Tools Software Options

Avid Application Manager

Chapter 6: System Setup

Starting Up or Shutting Down Your System

Checking a Pro Tools | HDX or Pro Tools | HD Native System with DigiTest

Configuring Pro Tools Software System Settings

Configuring MIDI Setup

Configuring Hardware Settings in Pro Tools

Configuring Pro Tools | HDX and Pro Tools | HD Native Hardware Settings

System Usage

Chapter 7: I/O Setup

Pro Tools Software Signal Paths

I/O Setup Pages

I/O Setup Signal Path Controls

I/O Setup Buttons

I/O Setup Options