Pinnacle Systems Pro Tools - 7.2 Reference Guide

Pro Tools

®

Reference Guide

Version 7.2

Copyright

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

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

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

PN 9106-55481-00 REV A 06/06

Contents

Part I Introduction

Chapter 1. Welcome to Pro Tools

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

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Chapter 2. Pro Tools System Configurations

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

Chapter 3. Pro Tools Concepts

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

Chapter 4. Pro Tools Main Windows

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

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Chapter 5. Keyboard and Right-Click Mouse Shortcuts

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

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Contents

iii

Part II Sessions & Tracks

Chapter 6. Sessions

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

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Chapter 7. I/O Setup

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

Chapter 8. Tracks

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

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Pro Tools Reference Guide

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

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Chapter 10. File and Session Management and Compatibility

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

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Part III Recording

Chapter 11. Record Setup

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

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Chapter 12. Basic Audio Recording

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Part IV Editing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pro Tools Reference Guide

vi

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Contents vii

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pro Tools Reference Guideviii

Part V MIDI Editing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Contents ix

Part VI Mixing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pro Tools Reference Guidex

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Part VII Video, Sync, & Surround

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Contents xi

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pro Tools Reference Guidexii

Part I: Introduction

1

2

Chapter 1: Welcome to Pro Tools

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

The Pro Tools Guides

Pro Tools systems include the following guides:

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

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

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

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

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

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

system with optional Digidesign cards or an ex­pansion chassis.

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

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

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

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

Additional Guides

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

Chapter 1: Welcome to Pro Tools 3

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

Conventions Used in These Guides

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

:

Convention Action

File > Save Choose Save from the

File menu

Control+N Hold down the Control

key and press the N key

Control-click Hold down the Control

key and click the mouse
button

Right-click Click with the right

mouse button

The following symbols are used to highlight im­portant information:

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

Compatibility Information

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

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

About www.digidesign.com

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

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

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

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

Shortcuts show you useful keyboard or
mouse shortcuts.

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

Pro Tools Reference Guide4

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

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

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

Chapter 2: Pro Tools System
Configurations

There are three types of Pro Tools systems:

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

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

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

®

software for Pro Tools|HD sys-

®

®

2, or Mbox® hardware.

®

interfaces.

,

Optional Systems

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

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

have been upgraded with the Music Production
Toolkit software option.

Pro Tools|HD Systems

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

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

Chapter 2: Pro Tools System Configurations 5

Pro Tools|HD Systems

Pro Tools|HD 1

Includes:

• HD Core card

• Pro Tools HD software

Pro Tools|HD 2 Accel

Includes:

• HD Core card

• HD Accel card

• Pro Tools HD software

Pro Tools|HD 3 Accel

Includes:

• HD Core card

• Two HD Accel cards

• Pro Tools HD software

Pro Tools|HD 2

Supported Audio Interfaces

(Pro Tools|HD Systems Only)

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

• 192 I/O™

• 192 Digital I/O™

• 96 I/O™

• 96i I/O™

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

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

• 888|24 I/O™ and 882|20 I/O™

• 1622 I/O™

• 24-bit ADAT Bridge I/O™

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

Includes:

• HD Core card

• HD Process card

• Pro Tools HD software

Pro Tools|HD 3

Includes:

• HD Core card

• Two HD Process cards

• Pro Tools HD software

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

Pro Tools Reference Guide6

Pro Tools|HD System Playback, Recording and Voice Limits

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

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

Playback

Sample

Core System Type

Pro Tools|HD 1 44.1/48 96 96 112

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

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

Rate
(kHz)

88.2/96 48 48 48

176.4/192 12 12 12

44.1/48 192 192 224

88.2/96 96 96 120

176.4/192 36 36 36

44.1/48 128 128 224

88.2/96 64 64 80

176.4/192 24 24 24

Voices
(Mono Tracks of
Simultaneous
Playback)

Recording
Voices
(Mono Tracks of
Simultaneous
Recording)

Total
Voiceable
Tracks

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

Chapter 2: Pro Tools System Configurations 7

Audio Interfaces for Pro Tools|HD Systems

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

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

Interface Type

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

24-bit ADAT
Bridge I/O

Number of I/O
Channels

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

Sample Rates
(kHz)

96, 176.4, 192

96, 176.4, 192

A/D
Conversion

24-bit 24-bit 24-bit

None None 24-bit

D/A
Conversion

20-bit, on
older I/O)

Digital I/O

24-bit

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

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

Pro Tools Reference Guide8

Pro Tools LE Systems

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

Digi 002

A Digi 002 system includes:

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

• Pro Tools LE software

Digi 002 Rack

A Digi 002 Rack system includes:

• Digi 002 audio and MIDI interface

• Pro Tools LE software

Mbox 2

An Mbox 2 system includes:

• Mbox 2 audio and MIDI interface

• Pro Tools LE software

Processing Capacity

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

Mbox

An Mbox system includes:

• Mbox audio interface

• Pro Tools LE software

Chapter 2: Pro Tools System Configurations 9

Pro Tools LE System Capabilities

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

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

System
Type

Digi 002
or
Digi 002
Rack

Mbox 2
or Mbox

Mono Tracks of
Simultaneous
Playback

32 128 up to 18 in/18 out

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

Total
Voiceable
Tracks

Number of I/O
Channels

(48 kHz or lower)

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

A/D
Conversion

24-bit 24-bit 24-bit

D/A
Conversion

Digital
I/O

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

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

Pro Tools M-Powered

A Pro Tools M-Powered system includes:

• Pro Tools M-Powered software

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

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

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

Pro Tools Reference Guide10

.

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

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

Support for 48 Mono or Stereo Tracks

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

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

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

Support for Up to 24 QuickPunch Tracks

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

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

48.

DV Toolkit 2 Capabilitites

(Pro Tools LE Only)

Pro Tools LE Features

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

• Session and track features:

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

• Ability to use QuickPunch on up to 24
tracks

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

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

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

• Editing features:

• Universe window

• Continuous Scroll

• Scrub Trim tool

• Replace Region command

• TCE Edit to Timeline Selection command

• Mixing and Automation features

• Snapshot automation for writing or trim­ming automation data

• Glide Automation commands

Chapter 2: Pro Tools System Configurations 11

• Time code and synchronization features:

• Timebase rulers (Time Code and
Feet+Frames)

• Time Code Rate selector

• Feet+Frame Rate selector

• Current Time Code Position command

• Current Feet+Frames Position command

• Use Subframes option

• Audio Rate Pull Up and Pull Down

• Video Rate Pull Up and Pull Down

Optional Software

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

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

DigiTranslator™ Software Option For exchanging

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

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

audio.

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

one audio signal to match another.

Music Production Toolkit Overview

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

Pro Tools Features

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

• Session and track features:

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

• Ability to use QuickPunch on up to 24
tracks

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

• Beat Detective features:

• Ability to apply Beat Detective across mul­tiple tracks

• Collection Mode

Optional Software

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

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

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

tual instrument in your Pro Tools sessions.

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

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

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

audio.

Pro Tools Reference Guide12

Chapter 3: Pro Tools Concepts

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

Hard Disk Audio Recording

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

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

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

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

The Digidesign Audio Engine

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

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

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

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

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

Chapter 3: Pro Tools Concepts 13

Playback Engine Dialog

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

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

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

Pro Tools Sessions

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

Session File

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

Playback Engine dialog for Pro Tools HD

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

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

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

Pro Tools Reference Guide14

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

Pro Tools HD

Session file icons

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

Pro Tools LE

Pro Tools M-Powered

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

Tracks

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

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

Audio track in the Edit window (stereo track shown)

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

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

Audio File

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

Audio file icon

MIDI track in the Edit window

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

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

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

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

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

Regions

Audio region

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

Chapter 3: Pro Tools Concepts 15

Playlist

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

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

Playlist selector pop-up menu

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

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

INPUTS 1-4

SW CTRL GAIN

3

17

2456

INPUTS 5-16

+4dBu/–12dBV

8910111213141516

OUTPUT

+4dBu/–10dBV

1

2

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

Channel

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

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

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

Pro Tools Reference Guide16

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

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

Signal Routing

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

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

Stereo

Inserts

Sends

Outputs to
stereo bus
path

plug-in

Input from
stereo bus
path

Output to
stereo output
path

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

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

Audio tracks

Submixing to an Auxiliary Input

Chapter 3: Pro Tools Concepts 17

Auxiliary

Inputs

Signal Routing Options

Signal routing options include the following:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

System Resources

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

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

◆ Pro Tools lets you adjust the performance of

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

◆ In order to free up needed DSP resources,

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

◆ All Pro Tools systems provide flexible voice

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

Pro Tools Reference Guide18