Pinnacle Systems Pro Tools - 7.0 Reference Guide

Pro Tools

Reference Guide

Version 7.0

This guide is copyrighted ©2005 by Digidesign, a division of Avid Technology, Inc. (hereafter “Digidesign”), with all rights reserved. Under copyright laws, this guide may not be duplicated in whole or in part without the written consent of Digidesign.

DIGIDESIGN, AVID, M-Audio, and PRO TOOLS are trademarks or registered trademarks of Digidesign and/or Avid Technology, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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

PN 9106-17743-00 REV A 011/05

Part I Introduction

Chapter 1. Welcome to Pro Tools

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

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Chapter 2. Pro Tools System Configurations

Pro Tools|HD Systems Pro Tools LE Systems Pro Tools M-Powered

Chapter 3. Pro Tools Concepts

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

Chapter 4. Pro Tools Windows

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

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Chapter 5. Keyboard Shortcuts

Global Key Commands Keyboard Focus Numeric Keypad Modes

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Contents

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Part II Sessions & Tracks

Chapter 6. Sessions

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

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Chapter 7. I/O Setup

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

Chapter 8. Tracks

Track Types Track Channel Strips Track Controls and Indicators Adjusting Track Width Creating Tracks The Track List Assigning Inputs and Outputs to Tracks Track Priority and Voice Assignment Setting MIDI Input and Output Soloing and Muting Tracks Making Tracks Inactive Color Coding for Tracks, Regions, Markers and Groups Grouping Tracks

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Chapter 9. Importing and Exporting Session Data

Importing Audio Conversion Quality Importing Audio Files and Regions Importing Tracks and Track Attributes

Pro Tools Reference Guide

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

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Chapter 10. File and Session Management and Compatibility

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

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Part III Recording

Chapter 11. Record Setup

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

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Chapter 12. Basic Audio Recording

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

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Contents

Auditioning Different Record Takes in the Timeline Setting Punch/Loop Points Recording from a Digital Source Half-Speed Recording and Playback

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Chapter 13. MIDI Recording

Recording from MIDI Devices

Enabling Input Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

MIDI Thru . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

MIDI Input Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

Input Quantize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

Wait for Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

MIDI Merge/Replace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

Configuring MIDI or Instrument Tracks for Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

Recording to MIDI and Instrument Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

Punch Recording MIDI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

Loop Recording MIDI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

MIDI Step Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

Recording System Exclusive Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

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Chapter 14. Advanced Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

QuickPunch Audio Recording. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

TrackPunch Audio Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

Part IV Editing

Chapter 15. Editing Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

Pro Tools Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

Track Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220

Displaying Region Names, Region Times, and Other Data in Playlists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Audio Regions and Waveforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

MIDI Regions and MIDI Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

Timebase Rulers and Conductor Rulers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

Main Time Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232

Tick-Based Timing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

Playlists. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

Multiple Undo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

The Region List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

Edit Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246

Edit Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248

Zooming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249

Trimming. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254

Using the Selector Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

Pro Tools Reference Guide

Grabbing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

Using the Smart Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259

Scrubbing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260

Using the Pencil Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

The Universe Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

Chapter 16. Playing and Selecting Track Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

Playing Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

Auto-Scrolling Tracks in the Mix and Edit Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270

Scrolling Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

Linking or Unlinking Timeline and Edit Selections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272

Linking or Unlinking Track and Edit Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274

Selecting Track Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274

Playing Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

Timeline Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

TCE (Time Compression and Expansion) Edit To Timeline Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

Playing Timeline and Edit Selections with the Playhead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288

Chapter 17. Working with Regions and Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Creating New Regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Trimming Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

Healing Separated Regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

Placing Regions in Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

Sync Points. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303

Nudging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305

Shift Command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307

Quantizing Regions to Grid. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308

Locking Regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308

Muting/Unmuting Regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

Replacing Audio Regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

Edit Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312

Duplicate Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317

Repeat Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318

Editing Stereo and Multichannel Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318

Processing Audio with AudioSuite Plug-Ins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319

Waveform Repair with the Pencil Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320

Region Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321

Region Looping. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328

Chapter 18. Fades and Crossfades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333

Using Crossfades. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333

Creating a Crossfade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340

Creating Fades at the Beginnings and Ends of Regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341

Using AutoFades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343

Creating Fades and Crossfades in Batches. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343

Contents vii

Chapter 19. Managing Regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345

Stripping Silence from Regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345

Inserting Silence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347

Consolidate Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348

Compacting an Audio File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349

Naming and Displaying Regions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350

Chapter 20. Conductor Tracks and Memory Locations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353

Song Start Marker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353

Tempo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354

Graphic Tempo Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358

Changing the Linearity Display Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363

Tempo Operations Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364

Identify Beat Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370

Meter Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374

Time Operations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376

Renumbering Bars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382

Memory Locations and Markers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382

Memory Locations Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389

Chapter 21. Beat Detective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391

Beat Detective Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392

The Beat Detective Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393

Beat Detective Modes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393

Defining a Beat Detective Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394

Calculating Tempo with Beat Detective. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395

Generating Beat Triggers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396

Generating Bar|Beat Markers with Beat Detective. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401

DigiGroove Templates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402

Separating Regions with Beat Detective (Audio Only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404

Conforming Regions with Beat Detective (Audio Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406

Edit Smoothing (Audio Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408

Detection (Normal) and Collection Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410

Part V MIDI Editing

Chapter 22. MIDI Editing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415

Mirrored MIDI Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415

The Pencil Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416

Custom Note Duration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417

Setting the Grid Value. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418

Inserting MIDI Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418

Manually Editing MIDI Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419

Pro Tools Reference Guideviii

Time Compression/Expansion Trim Tool Functionality on MIDI Regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425

Continuous Controller Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426

Patch Select (Program and Bank Changes) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429

System Exclusive Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432

Note and Controller Chasing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433

Offsetting MIDI Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434

Stuck Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436

Remove Duplicate Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436

Chapter 23. MIDI Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437

MIDI Operations Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437

Grid/Groove Quantize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438

Restore Performance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448

Flatten Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449

Change Velocity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449

Change Duration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451

Transpose. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453

Select/Split Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454

Input Quantize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456

Step Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457

MIDI Real-Time Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460

Chapter 24. MIDI Event List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467

The MIDI Event List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467

Inserting Events in the MIDI Event List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470

Editing in the MIDI Event List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472

MIDI Event List Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474

Part VI Mixing

Chapter 25. Basic Mixing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477

Mixing Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477

Metering and Calibration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477

Signal Flow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478

Inserts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482

Views in the Mix and Edit Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483

Audio Input and Output Paths. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486

Sends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488

Output Windows for Tracks and Sends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494

Contents ix

Sends and Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499

Submixing for Signal Routing and Effects Processing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499

Delay Compensation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505

Dither . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509

Using a Control Surface with Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510

Chapter 26. Plug-In and Hardware Inserts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511

Inserting Plug-Ins on Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515

Plug-In Menu Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517

Moving and Duplicating Plug-In and Hardware Inserts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519

The Plug-In Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 520

Using the Librarian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523

Editing Plug-In Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528

Using Hardware Inserts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530

Connecting and Integrating External Devices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530

Chapter 27. Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533

Automation Quick Start. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533

Automation Playlists. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534

Automation Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536

Automation Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 540

Viewing Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 542

Writing Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543

Enabling and Suspending Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547

Deleting Automation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549

Thinning Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549

Drawing Automation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550

Editing Automation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 552

Trimming Automation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 560

Writing Automation to the Selection, Selection Start, or Selection End. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561

Writing Automation to the Next Breakpoint. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563

Mute Automation Overwrite/Extend Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565

Creating Snapshot Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 568

Chapter 28. Mixdown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 571

Recording to Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573

Bounce to Disk. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574

Bounce Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 575

Recording a Submix (with Bounce to Disk) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 582

Final Mixdown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 583

Mastering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 584

Pro Tools Reference Guidex

Part VII Surround

Chapter 29. Surround Concepts (Pro Tools HD Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589

Mixing Formats and Surround Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589

Pro Tools Mixing Formats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 590

Speaker Layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 590

Surround Monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 592

Formats and Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 593

Surround Mixing Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 596

Chapter 30. Pro Tools Setup for Surround (Pro Tools HD Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 599

Pro Tools Audio Connections for 5.1 Mixing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 599

Configuring Pro Tools for Multichannel Sessions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600

Default I/O Selectors in I/O Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 603

5.1 Track Layouts, Routing, and Metering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 604

Chapter 31. Multichannel Tracks and Signal Routing (Pro Tools HD Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 605

Multichannel Quick Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 605

Multichannel Audio Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 606

Multichannel Signal Routing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609

Paths in Surround Mixes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 612

Example Paths and Signal Routing for a Surround Mix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 614

Chapter 32. Surround Panning and Mixing (Pro Tools HD Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 619

Introduction to Pro Tools Surround Panning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 619

Output Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 620

Standard Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 621

Surround Panner Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 622

Panning Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 624

Divergence and Center Percentage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 627

LFE Faders in Multichannel Panners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 629

Pan Playlists. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 630

SurroundScope Metering Plug-In. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 630

Contents xi

Part VIII Synchronization

Chapter 33. Synchronization Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 633

Synchronization Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 633

Aspects of Synchronization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 633

Synchronizing Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 634

SMPTE Frame Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 637

Working with Film-Originated Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 638

Chapter 34. Working with Synchronization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 643

Pro Tools Synchronization Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 643

Session Setup Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 645

Preparing to Work with SMPTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 649

Configuring Pro Tools for SMPTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 649

Pull Up and Pull Down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 652

Putting Pro Tools Online . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 656

Generating Time Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 656

Using MIDI Machine Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 657

Setting Minimum Sync Delay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 660

Remote Track Arming. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 660

MIDI Beat Clock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 661

Spotting Regions to SMPTE Frame Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 661

Time Stamping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 664

Identifying a Synchronization Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 666

Troubleshooting Synchronization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 667

Chapter 35. Working with QuickTime Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 669

About QuickTime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 669

QuickTime Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 671

QuickTime Movie Playback Performance Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 671

Importing a QuickTime Movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 672

FireWire Playback of QuickTime DV Movies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 673

Setting the Movie Start Time (Movie Offset) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 676

Spotting Audio to a QuickTime Movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 677

Importing QuickTime Audio (and Other Compressed Video Files). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 678

Bouncing to a New Movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 679

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 681

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 691

Pro Tools Reference Guidexii

Part I: Introduction

Chapter 1: Welcome to Pro Tools

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

The Pro Tools Guides

Pro Tools systems include the following guides:

Getting Started Guide Instructions for installing your Pro Tools system and connecting your studio.

Basics Guide (Pro Tools LE and Pro Tools M-Powered Only) Designed for new users, these

guides provide speciﬁc methods for accomplishing common tasks (such as getting sound in and out of your Pro Tools LE or Digidesign-qualiﬁed M-Audio hardware, connecting a mic or instrument, and recording a session).

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

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

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide Instructions for using the DigiRack plug-ins (included with Pro Tools) for both real-time and file-based audio processing in Pro Tools. (Pro Tools LE and M-Powered systems only include an electronic PDF version of this guide.)

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

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

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

system with optional Digidesign cards or an expansion chassis.

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

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

Pro Tools Keyboard Shortcuts Separate electronic PDF guides for Windows and Macintosh that list keyboard shortcuts not shown in Pro Tools menus.

Chapter 1: Welcome to Pro Tools 3

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

Conventions Used in These Guides

The Pro Tools guides use the following conventions to indicate menu choices and key commands:

Convention Action

File > Save Choose Save from the

File menu

Control+N Hold down the Control

key and press the N key

Control-click Hold down the Control

key and click the mouse button

Right-click (Windows) Click with the right

mouse button

The following symbols are used to highlight important information:

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

Compatibility Information

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

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

About www.digidesign.com

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

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

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

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

Shortcuts show you useful keyboard or mouse shortcuts.

Cross References point to related sections in Digidesign guides.

Pro Tools Reference Guide4

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

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

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

Chapter 2: Pro Tools System Conﬁgurations

There are three types of Pro Tools systems:

Pro Tools|HD® These systems include Pro Tools HD software for Pro Tools|HD system hardware.

Pro Tools LE™ These systems include Pro Tools LE software for Digi 002 Digi 002 Rack™, Mbox 2™, or Mbox™ hardware.

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

interfaces.

Pro Tools|HD Systems

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

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

Chapter 2: Pro Tools System Conﬁgurations 5

Pro Tools|HD Systems

Pro Tools|HD 1

Includes:

• HD Core card

• Pro Tools HD software

Pro Tools|HD 2 Accel

Includes:

• HD Core card

• HD Accel card

• Pro Tools HD software

Pro Tools|HD 3 Accel

Includes:

• HD Core card

•Two HD Accel cards

• Pro Tools HD software

Pro Tools|HD 2

Supported Audio Interfaces

(Pro Tools|HD Systems Only)

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

• 192 I/O™

• 192 Digital I/O™

• 96 I/O™

• 96i I/O™

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

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

• 888|24 I/O™ and 882|20 I/O™

• 1622 I/O™

• 24-bit ADAT Bridge I/O™

Includes:

• HD Core card

• HD Process card

• Pro Tools HD software

Pro Tools|HD 3

Includes:

• HD Core card

•Two HD Process cards

• Pro Tools HD software

HD Accel and HD Process cards can be used in the same system. Refer to the Pro Tools|HD Getting Started Guide.

Pro Tools Reference Guide6

Pro Tools|HD System Playback, Recording and Voice Limits

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

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

Sample

Core System Type

Pro Tools|HD 1 44.1/48 96 96 112

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

Expanded Pro Tools|HD 1, Pro Tools|HD 2, Pro Tools|HD 3

Rate (kHz)

88.2/96 48 48 48

176.4/192 12 12 12

44.1/48 192 192 224

88.2/96 96 96 120

176.4/192 36 36 36

44.1/48 128 128 224

88.2/96 64 64 80

176.4/192 24 24 24

Playback Voices (Mono Tracks of Simultaneous Playback)

Recording Voices (Mono Tracks of Simultaneous Recording)

Total Voiceable Tracks

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

Chapter 2: Pro Tools System Conﬁgurations 7

Audio Interfaces for Pro Tools|HD Systems

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

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

Interface Type

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

24-bit ADAT Bridge I/O

Number of I/O Channels

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

Sample Rates (kHz)

96, 176.4, 192

A/D Conversion

24-bit 24-bit 24-bit

None None 24-bit

D/A Conversion

20-bit, on older I/O)

Digital I/O

24-bit

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

Pro Tools Reference Guide8

Pro Tools LE Systems

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

Digi 002®

A Digi 002 system includes:

• Digi 002 combined audio interface and controller

• Pro Tools LE software

Digi 002 Rack™

A Digi 002 Rack system includes:

• Digi 002 audio interface

• Pro Tools LE software

Mbox 2™

An Mbox 2 system includes:

• Mbox 2 audio interface

• Pro Tools LE software

Processing Capacity

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

Mbox™

An Mbox system includes:

• Mbox audio interface

• Pro Tools LE software

Chapter 2: Pro Tools System Conﬁgurations 9

Pro Tools LE System Capabilities

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

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

System Type

Digi 002 or Digi 002 Rack

Mbox 2 or Mbox

Mono Tracks of Simultaneous Playback

32 128 up to 18 in/18 out

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

Total Voiceable Tracks

Number of I/O Channels

(48 kHz or lower)

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

A/D Conversion

24-bit 24-bit 24-bit

D/A Conversion

Digital I/O

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

For details on transferring session material between Pro Tools|HD and Pro Tools LE systems, see “Sharing Sessions Created on Different Pro Tools Systems” on page 146.

Pro Tools M-Powered

A Pro Tools M-Powered system includes:

• Pro Tools M-Powered software

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

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

For a list of Digidesign-qualified M-Audio interfaces, refer to the latest compatibility information on the Digidesign Web site (www.digidesign.com/compato)

Pro Tools Reference Guide10

Chapter 3: Pro Tools Concepts

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

Hard Disk Audio Recording

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

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

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

The Digidesign Audio Engine

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

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

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

For more information, see “DAE Playback Buffer Size” on page 41. The DAE Playback Buffer Size can be changed in the Playback Engine dialog, discussed below.

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

Chapter 3: Pro Tools Concepts 11

Playback Engine Dialog

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

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

The Playback Engine dialog lets you set a hardware buffer size and allocate a percentage of CPU resources for these tasks. For more information, see “Configuring Pro Tools System Settings (in the Playback Engine)” on page 37.

Pro Tools Sessions

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

Session File

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

Playback Engine dialog for Pro Tools HD

On Pro Tools|HD systems, you can select the number of voices and voiceable tracks for your system and its sessions. Voice count choices are based on how much DSP processing you want to allocate for voicing. For more information, see “Conﬁguring Pro Tools System Settings (in the Playback Engine)” on page 37.

See also “System Resources” on page 16.

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

Pro Tools Reference Guide12

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

Pro Tools HD

Session ﬁle icons

Although there are different session file icons, the session files may be opened by all three applications (with certain restrictions). See “Opening a Session” on page 47.

Pro Tools LE

Pro Tools M-Powered

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

Tracks

Audio File

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

Pro Tools provides five types of tracks: audio tracks, Auxiliary Inputs, Master Faders, Instruments tracks, and MIDI tracks.

Audio track in the Edit window (stereo track shown)

MIDI track in the Edit window

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

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

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

Audio ﬁle icon

Audio files for each session are stored in a folder named “Audio Files.” Audio files are listed in the Pro Tools Region List and can appear in an audio track. A section of an audio file can be defined as a region. See “Regions” on page 13.

Regions

Audio region

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

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

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

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Playlist

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

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

Playlist selector pop-up menu

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

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

INPUTS 1-4

SW CTRL GAIN

2456

INPUTS 5-16

+4dBu/–12dBV

8910111213141516

OUTPUT

+4dBu/–10dBV

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

Channel

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

For example, a 96 I/O audio interface (Figure 1) provides up to 16 channels of input and output to a Pro Tools|HD system, while an Mbox 2 audio interface provides up to 4 inputs and 2 outputs

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

Pro Tools Reference Guide14

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

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

Signal Routing

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

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

Stereo

Inserts

Sends

Outputs to stereo bus path

plug-in

Input from stereo bus path

Output to stereo output path

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

The term channel also describes a separate aspect of MIDI operation. See “MIDI Concepts” on page 19.

Audio tracks

Submixing to an Auxiliary Input

Chapter 3: Pro Tools Concepts 15

Auxiliary

Inputs

Signal Routing Options

Signal routing options include the following:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

System Resources

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

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

◆ Pro Tools lets you adjust the performance of

your system by changing system settings that affect its capacity for processing, playback, and recording capabilities. See “Conﬁguring Pro Tools System Settings (in the Playback Engine)” on page 37.

◆ 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 17.

◆ All Pro Tools systems provide ﬂexible voice

options for audio tracks, to help maximize use of available voices in your system. For more information on voice management and options, see “Voice Borrowing” on page 104.

Pro Tools Reference Guide16

Active and Inactive Items

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

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

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

•Track Inputs and Outputs

• Sends

• Side-chain inputs

• Plug-ins

• Hardware inserts

• Paths (session-wide)

MIDI tracks cannot be made inactive.

Paths and Path Assignments When a path or path assignment is inactive, its mixer resources are made available for other signal routing purposes in the session. Paths and assignments can be made inactive manually, or automatically (see “Automatic and Manual Inactive Mode” on page 18).

Tracks When a track is made inactive, its voices become available for another track. Mono inactive tracks free up one voice, and 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.

In addition to manually setting Active and Inactive modes, Pro Tools will automatically make 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 When a plug-in is inactive on a track, its DSP is made available for other plug-ins and processing. Plug-in assignments can be made inactive manually, or automatically (see “Automatic and Manual Inactive Mode” on page 18).

Display of Inactive Items

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

Chapter 3: Pro Tools Concepts 17

Active Inactive plug-in

Inactive track

Automatically Inactive Items

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

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

Manual Inactive Switching

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

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

Active and inactive items and tracks

Automatic and Manual Inactive Mode

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

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To toggle an item active or inactive:

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

Control-click (Macintosh) the item.

You can apply Active or Inactive modes to all or all selected tracks using standard Pro Tools modifiers (Alt and Alt+Shift in Windows, Option and Option+Shift on the Macintosh). Side-chain inputs support direct active and inactive switching, but do not follow switching all or all selected side-chain inputs.

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