Setup Guide
Pro Tools
Version 8.0
®
M-Powered
™
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contents
Chapter 1. Welcome to Pro Tools M-Powered . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Pro Tools M-Powered Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Pro Tools M-Powered Capabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
How Pro Tools M-Powered Differs from Pro Tools LE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
System Requirements and Compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Conventions Used in This Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Chapter 2. Installing Pro Tools on Mac . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Installation Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Uninstalling Pre-Existing M-Audio Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Installing M-Audio Drivers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Connecting Your M-Audio Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Installing Pro Tools M-Powered Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Launching Pro Tools M-Powered . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Additional Software on the Pro Tools Installer Disc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Uninstalling Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Chapter 3. Installing Pro Tools on Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Installation Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Uninstalling Pre-Existing M-Audio Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Installing M-Audio Drivers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Connecting Your M-Audio Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Installing Pro Tools M-Powered Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Launching Pro Tools M-Powered . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Additional Software on the Pro Tools Installer Disc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Uninstalling Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Contents iii
Chapter 4. Configuring Your Pro Tools System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Starting Up or Shutting Down Your System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Configuring Pro Tools M-Powered Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Optimizing a Mac System for Pro Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Optimizing a Windows System for Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Appendix A. Configuring AMS (Mac OS X Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Audio MIDI Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
MIDI Patch Name Support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Appendix B. Configuring MIDI Studio Setup (Windows Only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
MIDI Studio Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
MIDI Patch Name Support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Appendix C. Hard Drive Configuration and Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Avoid Recording to the System Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Supported Drive Formats and Drive Types. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Formatting an Audio Drive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Partitioning Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Hard Disk Storage Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Appendix D. Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
About the Pro Tools Guides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
About www.digidesign.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Pro Tools M-Powered Setup Guideiv
chapter 1
Welcome to Pro Tools M-Powered
Welcome to Pro Tools® M-Powered™ from
Digidesign
stall and configure Pro Tools M-Powered software on M-Powered systems.
®
. This guide documents how to in-
Pro Tools M-Powered Systems
The basic components of an M-Powered system
are as follows:
• Digidesign-qualified M-Audio interface
(not included)
• Digidesign-qualified Windows or Mac computer (not included)
• Pro Tools M-Powered software (included)
For a list of Digidesign-qualified M-Audio
interfaces and computers, refer to the compatibility information on the Digidesign
website (www.digidesign.com)
.
Pro Tools M-Powered Capabilities
Pro Tools M-Powered software provides the following capabilities:
• Playback of up to 48 mono or stereo digital
audio tracks, or a combination of playing
back and rec ording up to 48 mono or stereo
digital audio tracks, depending on your
computer’s capabilities.
• Up to 128 audio tracks (with up to 48 active
tracks), 128 Auxiliary Input tracks, 64 Master Fader tracks, 256 MIDI tracks, and 32 Instrument tracks per session.
• 16-bit or 24-bit audio resolution, at sample
rates up to 96 kHz (depending on the specific M-Audio device).
• Non-destructive, random-access editing
and mix automation.
• Audio processing with up to 10 inserts per
track (RTAS
• Up to 10 sends per track.
• Up to 32 internal mix busses.
®
plug-ins or hardware inserts).
Pro Tools M-Powered uses your computer’s
CPU to mix and process audio tracks (host
processing). Computers with faster clock
speeds yield higher track counts and more
plug-in processing.
Chapter 1: Welcome to Pro Tools M-Powered 1
How Pro Tools M-Powered Differs from Pro Tools LE
System Requirements and Compatibility
Configuration Dialogs and Procedures
Some Pro Tools M-Powered configuration dialogs differ from the Pro Tools LE configuration
dialogs that are presented in the Pro Tools Refer-
ence Guide. For specific Pro Tools M-Powered
configuration dialogs, see Chapter 2, “Installing
Pro Tools on Mac” or Chapter 3, “Installing
Pro Tools on Windows.”
Unsupported Options
Pro Tools M-Powered does not support the following Pro Tools LE options:
• Complete Production Toolkit
• DV Toolkit 2
• Digidesign Ethernet-based control surfaces
(such as C|24
• Avid video peripherals
• HFS+ Disk Support
Pro Tools M-Powered does support the Music Production Toolkit 2 option.
™
)
Pro Tools M-Powered can be used with a Digidesign-qualified M-Audio interface, running on
a Digidesign-qualified Windows or Mac computer.
A DVD drive is required to use the Pro Tools Installer disc.
Digidesign can only assure compatibility and
provide support for hardware and software it
has tested and approved.
For complete system requirements and a list of
Digidesign-qualified computers, operating systems, hard drives, and third-party devices, refer
to the latest information on the Digidesign website:
www.digidesign.com/compatibility
Pro Tools M-Powered Setup Guide2
Pre-Authorized iLok
MIDI Requirements
M-Powered software is authorized using the iLok
USB Smart Key (iLok) from PACE Anti-Piracy.
Pre-Authorized iLok
The iLok is similar to a dongle, but unlike a dongle, it is designed to securely authorize multiple
software applications from a variety of software
developers.
This key can hold over 100 authorizations for all
of your iLok-enabled software. Once an iLok is
authorized for a given piece of software, you can
use the iLok to authorize that software on any
computer.
Pro Tools M-Powered includes one iLok, which
is pre-authorized for ProTools M-Powered software.
The M-Powered pre-authorized iLok must
be inserted in an available USB port on your
computer to run Pro Tools M-Powered.
For additional information about iLok technology and authorizations, see the electronic PDF of the iLok Usage Guide.
USB MIDI interfaces work effectively with
Pro Tools systems on Windows or Mac. Serial
MIDI interfaces are supported on Windows systems only.
Only USB MIDI interfaces are compatible
with Pro Tools systems for Mac OS X.
Modem-to-serial port adapters and serial
MIDI devices are not supported.
For a list of supported adapters, visit the Digidesign website at:
www.digidesign.com/compatibility
Hard Drive Requirements
For optimal audio recording and playback, all
Pro Tools systems require one or more Digidesign-qualified drives.
For a list of Digidesign-qualified hard drives,
visit the Digidesign website:
www.digidesign.com/compatibility
If you are using an ATA/IDE or FireWire hard
drive, initialize your drive with the Disk Utility
application included with Apple System software (Mac) or the Windows Disk Management
(Windows).
For more information, see Appendix C, “Hard
Drive Configuration and Maintenance.”
Avoid Recording to the System Drive
Recording to your system drive is not recommended. Recording and playback on a system
drive may result in lower track and plug-in
counts.
Chapter 1: Welcome to Pro Tools M-Powered 3
Conventions Used in This Guide
Digidesign 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
Control-click Hold down the Control key
Right-click Click with the right mouse
The names of Commands, Options, and Settings
that appear on-screen are in a different font.
The following symbols are used to highlight important information:
and press the N key
and click the mouse button
button
User Tips are helpful hints for getting the
most from your Pro Tools system.
Important Notices include information that
could affect your data or the performance of
your system.
Shortcuts show you useful keyboard or
mouse shortcuts.
Cross References point to related sections in
this guide and other Digidesign guides.
Pro Tools M-Powered Setup Guide4
chapter 2
Installing Pro Tools on Mac
This chapter contains information for Mac systems only. If you are installing Pro Tools M-Powered on a Windows computer, see Chapter 3,
“Installing Pro Tools on Windows.”
Before installing this version of Pro Tools,
refer to the Read Me information included
on the Pro Tools Installer disc.
Installation Overview
Installation of Pro Tools M-Powered on a Mac
includes the following steps:
1 “Uninstalling Pre-Existing M-Audio Drivers”
on page 5.
2 “Installing M-Audio Drivers” on page 6.
3 “Connecting Your M-Audio Interface” on
page 6.
4 “Installing Pro Tools M-Powered Software” on
page 7.
5 “Launching Pro Tools M-Powered” on page 8.
(This step includes inserting the pre-authorized
iLok into an available USB port on your computer.)
7 Making audio connections to the M-Audio in-
terface. (See your M-Audio documentation for
details.)
Before you begin the installation process,
make sure you disconnect your M-Audio
interface if it’s plugged into your computer.
Uninstalling Pre-Existing M-Audio Drivers
Before you install Pro Tools M-Powered, you
must first uninstall any pre-existing M-Audio
drivers. If your system does not have M-Audio
drivers on it, you can skip this section and continue with “Installing M-Audio Drivers” on
page 6.
If you are using multiple interfaces, follow
these same steps for uninstalling the drivers
for all your interfaces.
Using multiple M-Audio interfaces at the
same time is not supported in Pro-Tools
M-Powered.
6 Configuring your system for improved perfor-
mance (see Chapter 4, “Configuring Your
Pro Tools System”).
Chapter 2: Installing Pro Tools on Mac 5
To uninstall a pre-existing M-Audio driver from your
computer:
1 Disconnect your M-Audio device before pro-
ceeding.
To install the M-Audio driver for your M-Audio
interface
1 Disconnect your M-Audio device before pro-
ceeding.
2 Visit the support page of the M-Audio website
(http://www.m-audio.com/drivers).
3 Go to Drivers and Software Search to locate
the latest driver for your M-Audio interface.
4 Follow the on-screen instructions to down-
load the correct driver for your M-Audio device.
5 Double-click the driver package to extract the
disk image and open the Drivers Installer/Uninstaller dialog.
Drivers Installer/Uninstaller for an M-Audio Transit interface
6 Click Uninstaller. (Scissors icon)
7 Following the remaining on-screen instruc-
tions, then shut down your computer.
2 Visit the support page of the M-Audio website
(http://www.m-audio.com/drivers).
3 Go to Drivers and Software Search to locate
the latest driver for your M-Audio interface.
4 Follow the on-screen procedures to download
your driver.
5 Double-click the driver package to extract the
dmg and see the Drivers Installer/Uninstaller dialog.
6 Click the installer (the box and arrow icon)
7 Following the remaining on-screen instruc-
tions, then shut down your computer.
Connecting Your M-Audio Interface
1 Connect your M-Audio interface (USB, PCI, or
FireWire) according to the instructions that
came with it.
If you are using an M-Audio FireWire interface, do the following:
Installing M-Audio Drivers
Follow these steps below to install the most current drivers from the M-Audio web site.
If you do not have access to the web, use your
M-Audio Driver disc to install the driver for your
interface. (Follow the instructions that came
with the device.)
Pro Tools will not see your M-Audio interface
if you do not install the M-Audio drivers.
Pro Tools M-Powered Setup Guide6
Once your computer has shut down completely, connect your FireWire interface and
power it on.
2 Tur n on yo ur com puter.
In your M-Audio Control Panel, make sure
that output channels 1 and 2 are not set to
–Infinity (–
∞
).
Installing Pro Tools M-Powered Software
After the Apple System software settings are configured and you have installed your M-Audio interface and drivers, you are ready to install
Pro Tools M-Powered.
7 Click Install.
8 If prompted, enter your Administrator pass-
word and click OK to authenticate the installation.
9 Follow the remaining on-screen instructions.
10 When installation is complete, click Restart.
To install Pro Tools M-Powered:
1 Make sure you are logged in as an Administra-
tor for the account where you want to install
Pro Tools.
For details on Administrator privileges in
Mac OS X, see your Apple OS X documentation.
2 Insert the Pro Tools M-Powered Installer disc
in your DVD drive.
3 On the Installer disc, locate and double-click
Install Pro Tools MP.mpkg.
Install Pro Tools MP.mpkg icon
4 Follow the on-screen instructions to proceed
with installation.
5 Click Continue each time you are prompted.
6 At the Installation Type page, do one of the
following:
• To install all Pro Tools application files and
free plug-in suites (and associated content),
leave the default Installation options selected and click Continue.
– or –
• Select (or deselect) a custom configuration
of Installation options (see “Installation
Options” on page 7) and click Continue.
The Pro Tools Installer disc includes additional software for your system. For more information, see “Additional Software on the
Pro Tools Installer Disc” on page 8.
Installation Options
Pro Tools M-Powered Options
To install a subset of Pro Tools software and
plug-ins (and associated content), click the reveal triangle for the Pro Tools M-Powered 8.0 option in the installer, and deselect any of the following options that you do not want installed.
Application Files (Required for Pro Tools) Installs the Pro Tools application and supporting
library files needed to run Pro Tools. This option
must be selected to install Pro Tools.
DigiRack Plug-Ins Installs free plug-ins including
DigiRack plug-ins, free Bomb Factory plug-ins,
Eleven Free, TL Utilities, and Digidesign D-Fi
and Maxim plug-ins.
Pro Tools Creative Collection Installs a set of free
RTAS effects plug-ins and virtual instrument
plug-ins (including 4.4 GB of associated sample
content). For more information, see the Creative
Collection Plug-ins Guide.
Chapter 2: Installing Pro Tools on Mac 7
Additional Option
The Pro Tools M-Powered installer provides the
following additional option to install along
with Pro Tools software and plug-ins.
MIDI I/O Driver The MIDI I/O
quired if you are using the Digidesign MIDI I/O
interface.
™
Driver is re-
Launching Pro Tools M-Powered
To use Pro Tools M-Powered with an M-Audio
interface, you must have an iLok with a license
authorizing the version of M-Powered software
that you have installed. One pre-authorized
iLok is included with the Pro Tools M-Powered
package.
To authorize Pro Tools M-Powered software:
1 Make sure your M-Audio interface is con-
nected to your computer and powered on.
2 Insert the pre-authorized iLok into any avail-
able USB port on your computer.
3 Click the Pro Tools M-Powered shortcut in
your Dock, (or the application in Macintosh
HD/Applications/Digidesign/Pro Tools).
Do not remove the iLok during Pro Tools
launch or use.
4 Use the Quick Start dialog to do one of
the following:
• Create a new session from template.
• Create a new blank session.
• Open any other session on your system.
Quick Start dialog
For more information on the Quick
Start dialog and session templates, see the
Pro Tools Reference Guide (Help >
Pro Tools Reference Guide).
Additional Software on the Pro Tools Installer Disc
The Pro Tools M-Powered Installer disc provides
additional software for your system, including a
Pro Tools demo session.
Check your Pro Tools Installer disc for additional software and installers.
Third-Party Applications and
Plug-ins
Your Pro Tools package also includes several free
applications and plug-ins from selected Digidesign Third Party developers. Once you've
completed your Pro Tools installation, you can
install these separately. Go to the Additional
Files/3rd Party Content folder on the
Pro Tools M-Powered Installer disc.
Pro Tools M-Powered Setup Guide8
Pro Tools Demo Session
The Pro Tools M-Powered Installer disc includes
a demo session that you can use to verify that
your system is working.
Uninstalling Pro Tools
If you need to uninstall Pro Tools software from
your computer, use the Uninstaller application.
The demo session for Pro Tools M-Powered is
named “Filtered Dream.”
Before installing the demo session to your
audio drive, make sure the drive is configured as described in “Formatting an Audio
Drive” on page 40.
To install the demo session:
1 Insert the Pro Tools M-Powered Installer disc
into your DVD drive.
2 On the Pro Tools M-Powered Installer disc, lo-
cate and open the Additional Files/Pro Tools
Demo Sessions Installer folder.
3 Double-click Install demo session.pkg.
4 Follow the on-screen instructions.
5 When prompted, select your audio drive as
the install location and click Next to begin the
installation. When installation is complete,
click Close.
The demo session can be opened by doubleclicking the Filtered Dream.ptf file (located
in the Filtered Dream Demo Session folder).
To uninstall Pro Tools from your computer:
1 Make sure you are logged in as an Administra-
tor for the account where Pro Tools is installed.
For details on Administrator privileges in
Mac OS X, see your Apple OS X documentation.
2 Go to Applications/Digidesign/Pro Tools/
Pro Tools Utilities and double-click
Uninstall Pro Tools.
3 Click Continue to proceed with the uninstall.
4 Choose the type of uninstall you want to per-
form:
Safe Uninstall Leaves certain plug-ins and system files needed for compatibility with some
Avid products. Use Safe Uninstall if you are using an Avid application or preparing to update
to a CS (customer support) release.
Clean Uninstall Removes all Pro Tools files, including system files, Digidesign plug-ins, and
MIDI patch names. Use Clean Uninstall whenever you are preparing to upgrade, or to troubleshoot from a clean system.
5 Click Uninstall.
6 Enter your Administrator password and click
OK.
7 Click Finish to close the Installer window.
Chapter 2: Installing Pro Tools on Mac 9
Pro Tools M-Powered Setup Guide10
chapter 3
Installing Pro Tools on Windows
This chapter contains information for Windows
systems only. If you are installing Pro Tools
M-Powered on a Mac computer, see Chapter 2,
“Installing Pro Tools on Mac.”
Before installing this version of Pro Tools,
refer to the Read Me information included
on the Pro Tools Installer disc.
Installation Overview
Installing Pro Tools M-Powered on a Windows
computer includes the following steps:
1 “Uninstalling Pre-Existing M-Audio Drivers”
on page 11
2 “Installing M-Audio Drivers” on page 12
3 “Connecting Your M-Audio Interface” on
page 13.
4 “Installing Pro Tools M-Powered Software” on
page 13.
5 “Launching Pro Tools M-Powered” on
page 15. (This step includes inserting the pre-authorized iLok into an available USB port on your
computer.)
7 Making audio connections to the M-Audio in-
terface. (See your M-Audio documentation for
details.)
Before you begin the installation process,
make sure you disconnect your M-Audio
interface if it’s plugged into your computer.
Uninstalling Pre-Existing M-Audio Drivers
Before you install Pro Tools M-Powered, you
must first uninstall any pre-existing M-Audio
drivers. If your system does not have M-Audio
drivers on it, you can skip this section and continue with “Installing M-Audio Drivers” on
page 12.
If you are using multiple interfaces, follow
these same steps for uninstalling the drivers
for all your interfaces.
Using multiple M-Audio interfaces at the
same time is not supported with Pro Tools
M-Powered.
6 Configuring your system for improved perfor-
mance (see Chapter 4, “Configuring Your
Pro Tools System”).
Chapter 3: Installing Pro Tools on Windows 11
To uninstall a pre-existing M-Audio driver from your
computer:
1 Disconnect your M-Audio device before pro-
ceeding.
2 Visit the support page of the M-Audio website
(http://www.m-audio.com/drivers).
3 Go to Drivers and Software Search to locate
the latest driver for your M-Audio interface.
Installing M-Audio Drivers
Follow these steps below to install the most current drivers from the M-Audio web site.
If you do not have access to the web, use your
M-Audio Driver disc to install the driver for your
interface. (Follow the instructions that came
with it.)
4 Follow the on-screen instructions to down-
load and run the correct driver for your M-Audio
device.
5 When the installer detects a pre-existing
M-Audio driver, an Installation dialog appears.
Install dialog to remove an M-Audio driver
6 Select Remove and then click Next and follow
the remaining on-screen instructions.
7 When the process is complete, shut down
your computer.
Pro Tools will not see your M-Audio interface
if you do not install the M-Audio drivers.
To install the M-Audio driver for your M-Audio
interface
1 Disconnect your M-Audio device before pro-
ceeding.
2 Visit the support page of the M-Audio website
(http://www.m-audio.com/drivers).
3 Go to Drivers and Software Search to locate
the latest driver for your M-Audio interface.
4 Follow the on-screen instructions to down-
load and run the correct driver for your M-Audio
device.
Installation Wizard for an M-Audio driver
5 When the installation is complete, shut down
your computer.
Pro Tools M-Powered Setup Guide12
Connecting Your M-Audio Interface
1 Connect your M-Audio interface (USB, PCI, or
FireWire) according to the instructions that
came with it.
If you are using an M-Audio FireWire interface, do the following:
Once your computer has shut down completely, connect your FireWire interface and
power it on.
Installing Pro Tools M-Powered Software
After your M-Audio interface is installed and
connected, and the driver for your interface is
installed, you are ready to install Pro Tools software.
To install Pro Tools M-Powered:
1 Start Windows, logging in with Administrator
privileges. For details on Administrator privileges, refer to your Windows documentation.
2 Turn on your computer.
3 When your system recognizes the new hard-
ware, run the Found New Hardware Wizard. Follow the on-screen instructions.
If you are prompted to run the Found New
Hardware Wizard a second time, run it
again.
In your M-Audio Control Panel, make sure
that output channels 1 and 2 are not set to
–Infinity (–
∞
).
2 Insert the Pro Tools M-Powered Installer disc
for Windows in your DVD drive.
3 On the Installer disc, locate and open the
Pro Tools Installer folder.
4 Locate and double-click Setup.exe.
Setup.exe icon
In Vista, if the User Account Control dialog
appears, click Allow.
5 Follow the on-screen instructions to proceed
with installation and click Next when prompted.
6 To install the complete compliment of
Pro Tools software and plug-ins, leave Pro Tools
selected.
Chapter 3: Installing Pro Tools on Windows 13
7 At the Select Features page, do one of the fol-
lowing:
• To install all Pro Tools application files and
free plug-in suites (and associated content),
leave the default Installation options selected and click Continue.
– or –
• Select (or deselect) a custom configuration
of Installation options (see “Installation
Options” on page 14) and click Continue.
8 Click Next.
9 Click Install.
In Windows Vista, a series of Windows
Security dialogs may appear.Click “Install”
on each one until they go away.
In Windows XP, a series of Software Installation dialogs about the driver not passing
Windows Logo testing may appear. Click
Continue Anyway on each one until they go
away.
If any other dialogs appear (such as the
“Found New Hardware” dialog), leave them
open and do not click on them. These dialogs
will close on their own.
10 Wait for the installer to finish installing all
software components, drivers, and PACE System
files before proceeding to the next step.
11 When installation is complete, click Finish.
Installation Options
Pro Tools M-Powered Options
To install a subset of Pro Tools software and
plug-ins (and associated content), click the plus
(+) next to Pro Tools M-Powered 8.0 option in the
Se lect Featu res pa ge of the installer, and deselect
any of the following options that you do not
want installed.
Application Files (Required for Pro Tools) Installs the Pro Tools application and supporting
library files needed to run Pro Tools. This option
must be selected to install Pro Tools.
DigiRack Plug-Ins Installs free plug-ins including
DigiRack plug-ins, free Bomb Factory plug-ins,
Eleven Free, TL Utilities, and Digidesign D-Fi
and Maxim plug-ins.
Pro Tools Creative Collection Installs a set of free
RTAS effects plug-ins and virtual instrument
plug-ins (including 4.4 GB of associated sample
content). For more information, see the Creative
Collection Plug-ins Guide.
Additional Option
The Pro Tools installer provides the following
additional option to install along with Pro Tools
software and plug-ins.
Command|8 Controller and Driver The Command|8
Digidesign Command|8 control surface.
®
driver is required if you are using the
The Pro Tools Installer disc includes additional software for your system. For more information, see “Additional Software on the
Pro Tools Installer Disc” on page 15.
Pro Tools M-Powered Setup Guide14
Installing QuickTime
QuickTime is required for Pro Tools if you plan
to include movie files, or import MP3 or MP4
(AAC) files in your sessions. QuickTime for Windows XP is available as a free download from the
Apple website (www.apple.com).
For information on which version of QuickTime is compatible with your version of
Pro Tools, visit the compatibility pages of
the Digidesign website
(www.digidesign.com).
To install QuickTime:
1 Visit www.apple.com and go to the Quick-
Time page.
2 Download the QuickTime installer applica-
tion to your computer.
3 Double-click the QuickTime installer applica-
tion and follow the on-screen installation instructions.
3 Double-click the Pro Tools M-Powered short-
cut on your desktop (or the application in
Program Files\Digidesign\Pro Tools).
Do not remove the iLok during Pro Tools
launch or use.
4 Use the Quick Start dialog to do one of
the following:
• Create a new session from template.
• Create a new blank session.
• Open any other session on your system.
Quick Start dialog
4 Restart your computer.
Launching Pro Tools M-Powered
To use Pro Tools M-Powered with an M-Audio
interface, you must have an iLok with a license
authorizing the version of M-Powered software
that you have installed. One pre-authorized
iLok is included with the Pro Tools M-Powered
package.
To authorize Pro Tools M-Powered software:
1 Make sure your M-Audio interface is con-
nected to your computer and powered on.
2 Insert the pre-authorized iLok into an avail-
able USB port on your computer.
For more information on the Quick
Start dialog and session templates, see the
Pro Tools Reference Guide.
Additional Software on the Pro Tools Installer Disc
The Pro Tools Installer disc provides additional
software for your system, including a Pro Tools
demo session.
Refer to your Pro Tools Installer disc for additional software and installers.
Chapter 3: Installing Pro Tools on Windows 15
Third-Party Applications and
Plug-ins
Your Pro Tools package also includes several free
applications and plug-ins from selected Digidesign Third Party developers. Once you've
completed your Pro Tools installation, you can
install these separately. Go to the Additional
Files\3rd Party Content folder on the
Pro Tools M-Powered Installer disc.
Pro Tools Demo Session
The Pro Tools M-Powered disc includes a demo
session that you can use to verify that your system is working.
The demo session for Pro Tools M-Powered is
named “Filtered Dream.”
Before installing the demo session to your
audio drive, make sure the drive is configured
as described in “Formatting an Audio Drive”
on page 40.
To install the demo session:
1 Insert the Pro Tools M-Powered Installer disc
in your DVD drive.
Uninstalling Pro Tools
Use the Uninstall Pro Tools application to uninstall Pro Tools software from your computer.
To uninstall Pro Tools from your computer:
1 Start Windows, logging in with Administrator
privileges. For details on Administrator privileges, refer to your Windows documentation.
2 Go to C:\Program Files\Digidesign\
Pro Tools\Pro Tools Utilities and double-click
Uninstall Pro Tools.exe.
3 Click Next.
4 Click Uninstall to proceed with the uninstalla-
tion.
2 On the Pro Tools M-Powered Installer disc, lo-
cate and open the Additional Files\Pro Tools
Demo Sessions Installer folder.
3 Double-click Demo Session Setup.exe.
4 Follow the onscreen instructions.
5 When prompted, select your audio drive as
the install location and click Next to begin the
install.
6 When installation is complete, click Finish.
The demo session can be opened by doubleclicking the Filtered Dream.ptf file (located
in the Filtered Dream Demo Session folder).
Pro Tools M-Powered Setup Guide16
chapter 4
Configuring Your Pro Tools System
After you have connected your system and installed Pro Tools software, you are ready to start
up and configure your Pro Tools system.
Starting Up or Shutting Down Your System
To ensure that the components of your
Pro Tools system communicate properly with
each other, you need to start them in a particular order.
Start up your Pro Tools system in this order:
1 Lower the volume of all output devices in
your system.
2 Turn on any external hard drives. Wait ap-
proximately ten seconds for them to spin up to
speed.
3 Turn on any control surfaces.
4 Turn on any MIDI interfaces, MIDI devices, or
synchronization peripherals.
5 For M-Powered systems that use hardware re-
quiring external power, turn on the hardware.
6 Turn on your computer.
7 Launch Pro Tools or any third-party audio or
MIDI applications.
Shut down your Pro Tools system in this order:
1 Quit Pro Tools and any other running applica-
tions.
To quit Pro Tools, choose File > Exit
(Windows) or Pro Tools > Quit (Mac).
2 Turn off or lower the volume of all output de-
vices in your system.
3 Turn off your computer.
4 For M-Powered systems that use hardware re-
quiring external power, turn off the hardware.
5 Turn off any MIDI interfaces, MIDI devices, or
synchronization peripherals.
6 Turn off any control surfaces.
7 Turn off any external hard drives.
Configuring Pro Tools M-Powered Software
Pro Tools System Settings
In the Playback Engine dialog, Pro Tools lets you
adjust the performance of your system by
changing system settings that affect its capacity
for processing, playback, and recording
Chapter 4: Configuring Your Pro Tools System 17
In most cases, the default settings for your system provide optimum performance, but you
may want to adjust them to accommodate large
or processing-intensive Pro Tools sessions.
For some M-Audio interfaces, you can only
change the Hardware Buffer Size in the M-Audio
interface’s control panel (while Pro Tools is
closed). For more information, see “Pro Tools
Hardware Settings and M-Audio Control Panel”
on page 22.
Playback Engine dialog for Pro Tools M-Powered, with
Structure plug-in installed (Firewire 410 shown)
Hardware Buffer Size
The Hardware Buffer Size (H/W Buffer Size) controls the size of the buffer used to handle host
processing tasks such as Real-Time AudioSuite
(RTAS) plug-ins. The H/W Buffer setting can also
be used to manage monitoring latency.
Lower Hardware Buffer Size settings reduce
monitoring latency, and are useful when you are
recording live input.
Higher Hardware Buffer Size settings allow for
more audio processing and effects, and are useful when you are mixing and using more RTAS
plug-ins.
In addition to causing slower screen response and monitoring latency, higher
Hardware Buffer Size settings can increase
the latency caused by RTAS plug-ins, and
affect the accuracy of plug-in automation,
mute data, and MIDI track timing.
To change the Hardware Buffer Size:
1 Choose Setup > Playback Engine.
2 From the H/W Buffer Size pop-up menu, select
the audio buffer size, in samples.
3 Click OK.
RTAS Processors
The RTAS Processors setting determines the
number of processors in your computer allocated for RTAS (Real-Time AudioSuite) plug-in
processing.
With computers that have multiple processors,
or that feature multi-core processing or hyperthreading, this setting lets you enable multiprocessor support for RTAS plug-ins. Used in combination with the CPU Usage Limit setting, the
RTAS Processors setting lets you control the way
RTAS processing and other Pro Tools tasks are
handled by the system.
For example:
• For sessions with large numbers of RTAS plugins, you can allocate 2 or more processors to
RTAS processing and set a high CPU Usage
Limit.
• For sessions with few RTAS plug-ins, you can
allocate fewer processors to RTAS processing
and set a low CPU Usage Limit to leave more
CPU resources available for automation accuracy, screen response, and video.
Pro Tools M-Powered Setup Guide18
• Depending on the importance of video and
overall screen response, and on the density of
automation being employed, try different
combinations of RTAS Processors and CPU Us-
age Limit settings to achieve the best results.
For example, to improve screen response in a
medium-sized session using a moderate number of RTAS plug-ins, try reducing the number
of RTAS plug-ins, but keep the CPU Usage Limit
set to the maximum (up to 99% on a single
processor system).
To set the number of RTAS Processors:
1 Choose Setup > Playback Engine.
2 From the RTAS Processing pop-up menu, select
the number of available processors you want to
allocate. The number of processors available varies depending on how many processors are
available on your computer:
• Select 1Processor to limit RTAS processing
to one CPU in the system.
• Choose 2 Processors to enable load balancing across two available processors.
• On systems running four or more processors, choose the number of processors for
RTAS processing.
3 Click OK.
System Usage Window and RTAS Processing
The System Usage window (Windows > System
Usage) displays the combined amount of RTAS
processing occurring on all enabled processors
with a single indicator, regardless of how many
processors are available in the system. If the System Usage Window shows that you are at the
limit of available resources, increase the number
of RTAS processors and adjust the CPU Usage
Limit setting.
CPU Usage Limit
The CPU Usage Limit setting controls the percentage of CPU resources allocated to Pro Tools
host processing tasks. Used in combination with
the RTAS Processors setting, the CPU Usage Limit
setting lets you control the way Pro Tools tasks
are carried out by the system.
•Lower CPU Usage Limit settings limit the effect
of Pro Tools processing on other CPU-intensive tasks, such as screen redraws, and are useful when you are experiencing slow system
response, or when running other applications
at the same time as Pro Tools.
•Higher CPU Usage Limit settings allocate more
processing power to Pro Tools, and are useful
for playing back large sessions or using more
RTAS plug-ins.
The maximum available CPU Usage Limit depends on the number of processors in your computer and on the number of processors you
specify for RTAS processing. This value can
range from 85% for single-processor computers,
and 99% for multiprocessor computers (which
dedicate one entire processor to Pro Tools).
On multiprocessor computers, the maximum
CPU Usage Limit is reduced when you use all your
processors (as selected in the RTAS Processing
pop-up menu). For example, on dual-processors,
the limit is 90%. On four-processor computers,
the limit is 95%.
Increasing the CPU Usage Limit may slow
down screen responses on slower computers.
To change the CPU Usage Limit:
1 Choose Setup > Playback Engine.
2 From the CPU Usage Limit pop-up menu, select
the percentage of CPU processing you want to
allocate to Pro Tools.
3 Click OK.
Chapter 4: Configuring Your Pro Tools System 19
RTAS Engine (RTAS Error Suppression)
The RTAS Engine option determines RTAS error
reporting during playback and recording. This is
especially useful when working with instrument
plug-ins.
You should only enable RTAS error suppression
if you are experiencing frequent RTAS errors
that are interrupting your creative workflow.
When RTAS error suppression is enabled, you
can experience a degradation of audio quality.
However, this may be acceptable in order to
avoid interrupting playback and recording
when working with instrument plug-ins. Be sure
to disable RTAS error suppression when you
need to ensure the highest possible audio quality, such as for a final mix.
To enable RTAS error suppression:
1 Choose Setup > Playback Engine.
2 Select Ignore Errors During Playback/Record.
3 On Mac, you can also select Minimize Additional
I/O Latency.
4 Click OK.
RTAS Error Suppression Options
Ignore Errors During Playback/Record When en-
abled, Pro Tools continues to play and record
even if the RTAS processing requirements exceed the selected CPU Usage Limit. This can result
in pops and clicks in the audio, but does not
stop the transport.
Minimize Additional I/O Latency When enabled,
any additional latency due to suppressing RTAS
errors during playback and record is minimized
to 128 samples. Suppressing RTAS errors requires at least 128 samples of additional buffering on some systems. If this option is disabled,
the buffer is half the H/W Buffer Size, or at least
128 samples (whichever is greater). If you are on
an older, slower computer, you may want to disable this option to avoid adverse performance.
This option is only available if the Ignore Errors
During Playback/Record option is enabled.
DAE Playback Buffer Size
The DAE Playback Buffer Size setting determines
the amount of memory DAE allocates for disk
buffers. In addition to levels, the DAE Playback
Buffer Size shows values in milliseconds, which
indicate the amount of audio buffered when the
system reads from disk.
The optimum DAE Playback Buffer Size for most
disk operations is 1500 msec; Level 2 (Default).
• DAE Playback Buffer Size settings lower than
1500 msec; Level 2 (Default) may improve
playback and recording initiation speed, as
well as preview in context in DigiBase browsers. However, a lower setting may make it difficult to play or record tracks reliably with
sessions containing a large number of tracks
or a high density of edits, or with systems that
have slower or heavily-fragmented hard
drives.
• DAE Playback Buffer Size settings higher than
1500 msec; Level 2 (Default) allow higher track
count, higher density of edits in a session, or
the use of slower hard drives. However, a
higher setting may increase the time lag when
starting playback or recording, starting preview in context from DigiBase browsers, or
cause a longer audible time lag while editing
during playback.
Pro Tools M-Powered Setup Guide20
Using a larger DAE Playback Buffer Size
leaves less system memory for other tasks.
The default setting of 1500 msec (Level 2) is
recommended unless you are encountering
–9073 (“Disk too slow or fragmented”)
errors.
To change the DAE Playback Buffer Size:
1 Choose Setup > Playback Engine.
2 From the DAE Playback Buffer pop-up menu,
select a buffer size. Memory requirements for
each setting are shown at the bottom of the
Playback Engine dialog.
3 Click OK.
If Pro Tools needs more system memory for the
DAE Playback Buffer, it will prompt you to restart your computer.
Cache Size
The Cache Size setting determines the amount
of memory DAE allocates to pre-buffer audio for
playback and looping when using Elastic Audio.
Minimum Reduces the amount of system memory used for disk operations and frees up memory for other system tasks. However, performance when using Elastic Audio features may
decrease.
Normal Is the optimum Cache Size for most sessions.
Large Improves performance when using Elastic
Audio features, but it also decreases the amount
of memory available for other system tasks, such
as RTAS processing.
Using a larger Cache Size leaves less system
memory for other tasks. The default setting
of Normal is recommended unless you are
encountering -9500 (“Cache too small”)
errors.
To change the Cache Size:
1 Choose Setup > Playback Engine.
2 From the Cache Size pop-up menu, select a
disk cache size.
3 Click OK.
Plug-in Streaming Buffer Size
(Structure Plug-in Only)
This setting appears in the Playback Engine dialog only if Structure, Structure LE, or
Structure Free is installed on your system. The
Plug-in Streaming Buffer Size determines the
amount of memory DAE allocates for streaming
playback from disk with the Structure plug-in.
This setting only affects playback if disk streaming is activated in Structure’s plug-in controls
(see the Structure Plug-in Guide for more information).
The optimum Plug-in Streaming Buffer Size for
most sessions is 250 ms (Level 2).
• Plug-in Streaming Buffer Size settings lower
than 250 msec (Level 2) reduce the amount of
system memory used for sample playback and
frees up memory for other system tasks. However, audio quality of sample playback may
decrease.
• Plug-in Streaming Buffer Size settings higher
than 250 msec (Level 2) improve the audio
quality of sample playback, but they also decrease the amount of memory available for
other system tasks, such as RTAS processing.
Chapter 4: Configuring Your Pro Tools System 21
Using a larger Plug-in Streaming Buffer Size
leaves less system memory for other tasks.
The default setting of 250 ms (Level 2) is
recommended unless you are experiencing
problems with the audio quality of sample
playback.
To change the Plug-in Streaming Buffer Size:
1 Choose Setup > Playback Engine.
2 From the Plug-in Streaming Buffer Size pop-up
menu, select a buffer size.
3 Click OK.
Optimizing the Plug-in Streaming Buffer
Size
(Structure Plug-in Only)
This option appears in the Playback Engine dialog only if one of the Structure sampler instrument plug-in is installed on your system. This
option is useful when you are playing samples
from the same drive that contains audio for the
current session. When this option is selected,
Pro Tools automatically optimizes the size of
the Plug-in Streaming Buffer to facilitate disk access from both Pro Tools and Structure. The
Plug-in Streaming Buffer Size pop-up menu is
unavailable when this option is selected.
To set Pro Tools to optimize the Plug-in Streaming
Buffer Size:
1 Choose Setup > Playback Engine.
2 Select the Optimize for Streaming Content op-
tion.
3 Click OK.
Pro Tools Hardware Settings and
M-Audio Control Panel
The Hardware Setup dialog in Pro Tools (Setup >
Hardware) displays the name of your M-Audio
peripheral, and tells you that various hardware
functions can be changed in the M-Audio Control Panel.
Using the M-Audio Control Panel, you can
change settings in the following areas:
•Mixer Settings
• Output Settings
• Hardware Settings (including sample rate,
hardware buffer size, and sync source).
You can set the sample rate when creating a
new Pro Tools session by selecting a different sample rate in the New Session dialog.
(Refer to
details.)
To change M-Audio Control Panel settings:
1 If Pro Tools M-Powered is running, exit
Pro Tools.
2 Launch the M-Audio Control Panel as follows:
• For FireWire interfaces, launch M-Audio
FW Audio.
• For PCI interfaces, launch M-Audio Delta
Audio.
• For USB Interfaces, launch the M-Audio
control panel with the name of your interface.
3 To change settings in the M-Audio Control
Panel, refer to the documentation that came
with your M-Audio interface.
4 When finished, close the M-Audio Control
Panel.
the Pro Tools Reference Guide for
Pro Tools M-Powered Setup Guide22
Sync Source (Pro Tools Clock Source)
Mixer output 1–2 control
Low Latency Monitoring
If your M-Audio interface has digital I/O (such
as a S/PDIF I/O), use the M-Audio Control Panel
to select the Sync Source for the system.
With Pro Tools M-Powered, Sync Source
cannot be set in the Pro Tools Session Setup
window.
To select the Sync Source:
1 If Pro Tools M-Powered is running, exit
Pro Tools.
2 Launch the M-Audio Control Panel as follows:
• For FireWire interfaces, launch M-Audio
FW Audio.
• For PCI interfaces, launch M-Audio Delta
Audio.
• For USB Interfaces, launch the M-Audio
control panel with the name of your interface.
3 Click the Hardware tab.
4 Select a Sync Source.
Your digital input device must be connected
and turned on. If your input device is not
turned on, leave the Sync Source set to Internal.
Direct or low-latency monitoring is not available from within Pro Tools M-Powered.
However, with M-Audio devices that have Control Panel mixers with a direct monitoring feature, it is possible to use this feature as a low-latency monitoring path while recording in
Pro Tools M-Powered.
To use the M-Audio mixer direct monitoring
feature while recording:
1 In Pro Tools, record-enable the tracks you
want to record and mute their output.
2 Open the M-Audio Control Panel for your
M-Audio interface.
3 In the Control Panel mixer for your interface,
route the input channels you want to monitor
to the main outputs of the mixer (usually Outputs 1–2) by clicking the corresponding output
control.
For more information on selecting the Sync
Source for your M-Audio interface, refer to
your M-Audio interface documentation.
5 Click OK.
Control Panel mixer for M-Audio FireWire 410)
Chapter 4: Configuring Your Pro Tools System 23
4 Adjust the output level and balance with the
Control Panel mixer volume and pan controls.
5 In Pro Tools, begin recording.
6 To listen back to the recorded tracks, unmute
the tracks in Pro Tools and begin playback.
7 When you are finished recording, turn off the
mixer output control in the Control Panel
mixer.
You can leave the M-Audio Control Panel
open while working in Pro Tools M-Powered.
Configuring I/O Setup
Using the I/O Setup dialog, you can label
Pro Tools input, output, insert, and bus signal
paths. The I/O Setup dialog provides a graphical
representation of the inputs, outputs, and signal
routing of the M-Audio interface.
Pro Tools M-Powered bypasses the M-Audio
mixer that is displayed in the M-Audio Control Panel. The interface’s hardware inputs
and outputs show up directly in Pro Tools
I/O Setup.
Pro Tools M-Powered has default I/O Setup settings that will get you started. Use the I/O Setup
dialog only if you want to rename or remap the
default I/O paths.
To rename I/O paths in I/O Setup:
1 Choose Setup > I/O.
I/O Setup dialog for Pro Tools M-Powered
(M-Audio FireWire 1814 shown)
2 Click the Input, Output, Insert, or Bus tab to dis-
play the corresponding connections.
3 To change the name of a path or subpath,
double-click directly on the Path Name, type a
new name for the path, and press Enter.
4 Click OK.
See the Pro Tools Reference Guide (Help >
Pro Tools Reference Guide) for more information on renaming I/O paths.
Pro Tools M-Powered Setup Guide24
Configuring MIDI Setup
If you plan to use any MIDI devices with Pro Tools,
do one of the following:
On Mac, configure your MIDI setup with Au-
dio MIDI Setup. See Appendix A, “Configuring
AMS (Mac OS X Only)” for details.
– or –
On Windows, configure your MIDI setup with
MIDI Studio Setup. See Appendix B, “Configuring MIDI Studio Setup (Windows Only)” for details.
Backing Up Your System
Configuration
After configuring your system and Pro Tools,
you should save an image of your system drive
using a backup utility such as Norton Ghost. By
doing this, you can quickly restore your system
configuration and settings if you encounter any
problems.
Do not use the Mac OS X automatic Software Update feature, as it may upgrade
your system to a version of Mac OS that has
not yet been qualified for Pro Tools.
For details on qualified versions of Mac OS,
refer to the latest compatibility information
on the Digidesign website
(www.digidesign.com/compatibility).
Turning Off Software Update
To turn off the Software Update feature:
1 Choose System Preferences from the Apple
menu and click Software Update.
2 Click the Software Update tab.
3 Deselect Check for Updates.
Turning Off Energy Saver
To turn off the Energy Saver feature:
1 Choose System Preferences from the Apple
menu and click Energy Saver.
Optimizing a Mac System for Pro Tools
To ensure optimum performance with
Pro Tools, configure your computer before using
Pro Tools software.
For Windows System Optimization, see
“Optimizing a Windows System for
Pro Tools” on page 27.
Before configuring your computer, make sure
you are logged in as an Administrator for the account where you want to install Pro Tools. For
details on Administrator privileges in Mac OS X,
refer to your Apple OS X documentation.
2 Click the Sleep tab and do the following:
• Set the computer sleep setting to Never.
• Set the display sleep setting to Never.
• Deselect Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when
possible option.
Setting Processor Performance
(Mac G5 Computers and G4 Powerbooks Only)
To set the Processor Performance:
1 Choose System Preferences from the Apple
menu and click Energy Saver.
2 Click the Options tab and set Processor Perfor-
mance to Highest.
Chapter 4: Configuring Your Pro Tools System 25
Disable or Reassign Mac Keyboard
Shortcuts Used by Pro Tools
To have the full complement of Pro Tools keyboard shortcuts, you need to disable or reassign
any conflicting Mac OS X Keyboard Shortcuts in
the Apple System Preferences, including the following:
• “Show Help menu”
• Under “Keyboard Navigation”
• “Move focus to the window drawer”
• Under “Dock, Exposé, and Dashboard”
• “Automatically hide and show the Dock”
•“All windows”
• “Application windows”
•“Desktop”
•“Dashboard”
•“Spaces”
• Under “Spotlight”
• “Show Spotlight search field”
• “Show Spotlight window”
For a complete list of Pro Tools keyboard
shortcuts, see the Keyboard Shortcuts Guide
(Help > Keyboard Shortcuts).
To disable or reassign Mac OS X keyboard
shortcuts:
1 Choose System Preferences from the Apple
menu and click Keyboard & Mouse.
Reassign Spaces Keyboard Shortcuts
If you want to use Spaces, you should reassign
the Spaces keyboard shortcuts to avoid conflicts
with important Pro Tools keyboard shortcuts.
You can reassign Spaces keyboard shortcuts to
use a combination of modifier keys (Command+Option+Control+Shift) in addition to
the default Spaces keyboard shortcut assignments to avoid these conflicts.
To reassign Spaces keyboard shortcuts to use
modifier key combinations that do not conflict
with Pro Tools keyboard shortcuts:
1 Choose System Preferences from the Apple
menu and click Exposé & Spaces.
2 Click the Spaces tab.
3 Ensure that Enable Spaces is selected.
4 Press and hold Command+Option+Con-
trol+Shift and select “Control+Option+Shift+Command+F8” from the “To activate Spaces” pop-up
menu.
5 Press and hold Command+Option+Con-
trol+Shift and select “Control+Option+Shift+Command+Arrow Keys” from the “To switch between
spaces” pop-up menu.
6 Press and hold Command+Option+Con-
trol+Shift and select “Control+Option+Shift+Command+Number Keys” from the “To switch directly
to a space” pop-up menu.
2 Click the Keyboard Shortcuts tab.
3 Do one of the following:
• Deselect the Mac OS X options that conflict
with Pro Tools keyboard shortcuts.
– or –
• Assign different, non-conflicting keyboard
shortcuts to the corresponding Mac OS X
options.
Pro Tools M-Powered Setup Guide26
Disabling Spotlight Indexing
The Mac OS X Spotlight feature automatically
indexes files and folders on local hard drives in
the background. In most cases, this is not a concern for normal Pro Tools operation. However,
if Spotlight starts indexing drives while recording in a Pro Tools session with high track counts
for an extended period of time, it can adversely
affect Pro Tools system performance. You may
want to disable Spotlight indexing for all local
drives before using Pro Tools for big recording
projects.
Disabling Spotlight indexing also disables
the Find function in Mac OS X.
To disable Spotlight indexing:
1 Choose System Preferences from the Apple
menu and click Spotlight.
2 In the Spotlight window, click the Privacy tab.
3 To prevent indexing of a drive, drag its icon
from the desktop into the list.
Enabling Journaling for Audio Drives
To yield higher performance from audio drives,
enable journaling.
To enable journaling:
1 Launch the Disk Utility application, located in
Macintosh HD/Applications/Utilities.
2 Select the volume in the left column of the
Disk Utility window.
Optimizing a Windows System for Pro Tools
To ensure optimum performance with
Pro Tools M-Powered, configure your computer
before using Pro Tools hardware and software.
For Mac System Optimization, see “Optimizing a Mac System for Pro Tools” on
page 25.
Before configuring your computer, make sure
you are logged in as an Administrator for the account where you want to install Pro Tools. For
details on Administrator privileges, see your
Windows documentation.
Required Optimizations
To ensure optimum performance with
Pro Tools, configure the following settings before using Pro Tools hardware and software.
When you are finished changing Windows
system settings, restart your computer.
Enabling DMA
Enabling your computer's DMA (Direct Memory
Access) frees up CPU bandwidth so your computer can do other Pro Tools tasks.
In most cases the DMA option will already be set
correctly, as Windows detects and activates
DMA mode by default.
3 Click Enable Journaling in the toolbar.
Chapter 4: Configuring Your Pro Tools System 27
To enable DMA for any IDE hard drives:
1 Right-click Computer (Windows Vista) or My
Computer (Windows XP).
2 In the left-hand pane of the Computer Man-
agement window under System Tools, click on
Device Manager.
3 In the right-hand pane, click the plus (+) sign
to expand IDE ATA/API Controllers.
4 Right-click on the Primary IDE Controller and se-
lect Properties.
5 Click the Advanced Settings tab.
6 For each device, do one of the following de-
pending on your operating system:
• Check the box Enable DMA (Windows Vista)
– or –
• Set the Transfer Mode to DMA if available
(Windows XP)
7 Click OK.
8 Repeat the above steps for any additional IDE
Channels.
9 Close the Computer Management window.
Disabling System Standby and Power
Management
When using Pro Tools, the Windows System
Standby power scheme must be set to Always On.
This helps prevent long record or playback
passes from stopping due to system resources
powering down.
To configure Windows Power Management
(Windows Vista):
1 Choose Start > Control Panel.
2 Double-click Power Options.
3 In the Power Options window, select High Per-
formance.
4 Click Change plan settings.
5 In the Edit Plan Settings window, click Change
advanced power settings.
6 In the Power Options dialog, reveal Hard disk
> Turn off hard disk after.
7 Click the Setting option.
8 Select the value in the Setting (Minutes) field
and press Backspace on your computer keyboard.
9 Press Enter. The hard disk setting changes to
Never and the Power Options dialog closes.
10 In the Edit Plan Settings window, click Save
changes and close the window.
To configure Windows Power Management
(Windows XP):
1 Choose Start > Control Panel.
2 Double-click Power Options.
3 Click the Power Schemes tab.
4 From the Power Schemes pop-up menu, select
Always.
5 Verify that the following settings are set to
Never:
• Turn off hard disks
• System standby
•System hibernates
6 Click OK.
Pro Tools M-Powered Setup Guide28
Disabling User Account Control
(Windows Vista Only)
For optimal performance with Pro Tools on
Windows Vista, disable User Account Control
(UAC).
To disable User Account Control (UAC):
1 Choose Start > Control Panel.
2 Double-click User Accounts.
3 Click Turn User Account Control on or off.
4 Deselect the Use User Account Control (UAC) to
help protect your computer option.
5 Click OK.
Recommended Optimizations
Pro Tools can also be affected by other software
and hardware drivers installed on your computer. For best possible performance, it is recommended (but not required) that you do the following:
• Avoid running any unneeded programs at
the same time as Pro Tools.
• Turn off any software utilities that run in
the background, such as Windows Messenger, calendars, and disk maintenance programs.
• Turn off any non-essential USB devices
while running Pro Tools.
• If your video display card supports it, enable Bus Mastering in the manufacturer’s
Control Panel. See the manufacturer’s instructions for details.
Optional Optimizations
The following system optimizations may help
Pro Tools perform better on some systems. It is
recommended that you only try these optimizations if necessary, as they may disable or adversely affect the functionality of other programs on your system.
Disabling Network Cards
If applicable, disable any networking cards
(other than a FireWire card that you might use
to connect an external drive to your system).
To disable a network card:
1 Right-click Computer (Windows Vista) or My
Computer (Windows XP) and choose Manage.
2 Under System Tools, select Device Manager.
3 In the Device Manager window, double-click
Network adapters, then double-click the Network
Adapter card you want to disable.
4 Under the General tab, choose “Do not use this
device (disable)” from the Device Usage pop-up
menu, and click OK.
5 Close the Computer Management window.
Chapter 4: Configuring Your Pro Tools System 29
Adjusting Processor Scheduling
Disabling System Startup Items
To adjust Processor Scheduling performance:
1 Right-click Computer (Windows Vista) or My
Computer (Windows XP) and choose Properties.
2 in the System Properties window, click the Ad-
vanced tab.
3 Under the Performance section, click the Set-
tings button.
4 In the Performance Options window, click the
Advanced tab.
5 Under the Processor Scheduling section, select
the Background Services option.
6 Under the Memory Usage section, select the
System cache option.
7 Click OK to close the Performance Options
window.
8 Click OK to close the System Properties win-
dow.
9 Restart the computer for the changes to take
effect.
The fewer items in use by your computer, the
more resources are available for Pro Tools. Some
startup applications may be consuming unnecessary CPU resources, and can be turned off.
If you disable any of the following startup items,
do so carefully:
• Portable media serial number (required for
some applications that utilize a copy protection key)
• The Plug and Play service
•Event log
• Cryptographic services
To Disable System Startup Items:
1 From the Start menu, type “msconfig” in Start
Search (Windows Vista) or in Run (Windows XP)
and click OK to open the System Configuration
Utility.
2 Under the General tab, choose Selective Star-
tup.
3 Deselect Load Startup Items and click OK.
4 Click Restart to restart the computer.
5 After restarting, the computer displays a Sys-
tem Configuration message. Check to see if
Pro Tools performance has increased before you
deselect the Don't show this message again option. If performance has not changed, run
“msconfig” and return your computer Startup
Selection back to Normal Startup - load all device
drives and services. Alternatively, try disabling
Startup items and non-essential processes individually.
Pro Tools M-Powered Setup Guide30
appendix a
Configuring AMS (Mac OS X Only)
2 Click the MIDI Devices tab. AMS scans your
Audio MIDI Setup
Pro Tools recognizes the ports on your MIDI interface as generic ports. With Mac OS X, you use
Apple’s Audio MIDI Setup (AMS) utility to identify external MIDI devices connected to your
MIDI interface and configure your MIDI studio
for use with Pro Tools.
To ensure optimum performance, do not
change the AMS configuration while
Pro Tools is playing back. Stop the
Pro Tools transport before launching AMS.
To configure your MIDI studio in AMS:
1 Do one of the following:
• Launch Audio MIDI Setup (located in Applications/Utilities).
– or –
• In Pro Tools, choose Setup > MIDI > MIDI
Studio.
system for connected MIDI interfaces. If your
MIDI interface is properly connected, it appears
in the window with each of its ports numbered.
Audio MIDI Setup (MIDI Devices tab)
3 For any MIDI devices connected to the MIDI
interface, click Add Device. A new external device icon with the default MIDI keyboard image
will appear.
4 Drag the new device icon to a convenient lo-
cation within the window.
Appendix A: Configuring AMS (Mac OS X Only) 31
5 Connect the MIDI device to the MIDI inter-
face by clicking the arrow for the appropriate
output port of the device and dragging a connection or “cable” to the input arrow of the corresponding port of the MIDI interface.
Making MIDI input and output connections
6 Click the arrow for the appropriate input port
of the device and drag a cable to the output arrow of the corresponding port of the MIDI interface.
To configure an external MIDI device:
1 Select the external device icon and click Show
Info (or double-click the new device icon).
External Device Icon
2 Select a manufacturer and model for the new
device from the corresponding pop-up menus.
(If the Manufacturer and Model pop-up menus
do not provide a name for your particular device, you can type a name.)
Naming a new MIDI device
To remove a connection, select the cable and
press Delete.
7 Repeat steps 3–6 for each MIDI device in your
MIDI setup.
Pro Tools M-Powered Setup Guide32
For Manufacturer and Model names, AMS
refers to one or more files with the suffix
“.middev” in the directory Root/Library/
Audio/MIDI Devices. Pro Tools installs a
file that contains information for many
commercially available MIDI devices,
named “Digidesign Device List.middev.” If
the Manufacturer or Model names for any of
your external MIDI devices is not available
in the AMS Manufacturer and Model popup menus, you can add them by editing the
.middev file in any text editor (such as
TextEdit).
3 Click the More Information arrow to expand
Patch Select button
(Edit window)
Patch Select button
(Mix window)
the dialog, then enable the appropriate MIDI
channels (1–16) for the Transmits and Receives
options. (These determine which channels the
device will use to send and receive MIDI.)
Enabling MIDI channels
4 Click the device image. The window expands
to show images for various MIDI devices (such
as keyboards, modules, interfaces, and mixers).
Select an icon for your device.
5 Select a device image and click Apply.
6 Close the AMS window to quit the AMS appli-
cation.
The device names you enter appear as MIDI input and output choices in Pro Tools.
MIDI Patch Name Support
Pro Tools supports XML (Extensible Markup
Language) for storing and importing patch
names for you external MIDI devices. Pro Tools
installs MIDI patch name files (.midnam) for the
factory default patch names of many common
MIDI devices. These files reside in directories,
sorted by manufacturer, in /Library/Audio/MIDI
Patch Names/Digidesign.
To import MIDI patch names into Pro Tools:
1 Verify the MIDI Device name in the Audio
MIDI Setup window (see “Audio MIDI Setup” on
page 31).
Selecting a device icon
To use your own custom icons, you can
place TIFF image files in /Library/
Audio/MIDI Devices/Generic/Images, and
they will appear as choices in the AMS
device window.
2 Verify the Instrument or MIDI track output is
correctly assigned to the MIDI device.
3 Click the Instrument or MIDI track Patch Se-
lect button.
Patch Select button
Appendix A: Configuring AMS (Mac OS X Only) 33
4 In the Patch Select dialog, click Change.
Change button
Patch Select dialog
5 In the Open dialog, navigate to /Library/Au-
dio/MIDI Patch Names/Digidesign/<name of
manufacturer>, and select the MIDI Patch Name
file (.midnam) for the MIDI device.
6 Click Open.
The Patch Select dialog is populated with patch
names and the Patch Name Bank pop-up menu
appears in the upper left hand corner of the window.
Once patch names have been imported into
Pro Tools, they are available for that MIDI device in all sessions.
To clear patch names:
In the Patch Select dialog, click Clear, and the
click Done.
Pro Tools M-Powered Setup Guide34
MIDI patch name files (.midnam) can be
edited in any text editor, or you can use
third-party patch librarian and editor software to create your own custom patch
names.
appendix b
Configuring MIDI Studio Setup (Windows Only)
MIDI Studio Setup
MIDI Studio Setup (MSS) lets you configure the
MIDI controllers and sound modules that are
connected to your system, and control the routing of MIDI data between your MIDI equipment
and Pro Tools.
MSS automatically finds MIDI interfaces, and
lets you specify a custom name for each of the
MIDI ports within the MIDI Studio Setup document.
MSS also supports XML-based patch file names
for storing and importing patch names for your
external MIDI devices.
Entire MIDI Studio Setup configurations created
within MSS can be imported and exported.
MIDI Studio Setup Window
The MIDI Studio Setup window is organized
into three sections. Interface controls are at the
top of the window. All the currently defined instruments are displayed in the Instrument
Name list on the left side of the window. A detailed view of MIDI parameters is shown in the
Properties section on the right.
MIDI Studio Setup window
Appendix B: Configuring MIDI Studio Setup (Windows Only) 35
Interface Controls
Properties Section
Create Adds a new instrument to the Instrument Name list.
Delete Deletes the instrument or instruments
selected in the Instrument Name list.
Import Imports an existing MIDI Studio Setup
file.
Export Exports the current MIDI Studio Setup
file.
Show Duplicate Emulated Ports When this option is selected and you are using a MIDI interface that supports timestamping (such as MIDI
I/O), in addition to the MIDI ports on Mbox 2,
the MIDI Studio setup window shows both the
DirectMusic time-stamped output ports, and
non-stamped duplicate emulated output ports.
Some MIDI Interfaces will not properly load
or unload their drivers unless you quit and
re-launch Pro Tools. Check the documentation that came with your MIDI interface for
more information.
Instrument List
The Instrument list contains all the currently
defined instruments. Selecting an instrument in
the list displays that instrument’s properties in
the Properties section of the window.
The Properties section lets you edit information
for new instruments, or instrument currently selected in the Instrument list.
MIDI Studio Setup Properties section
When a previously defined instrument is selected in the Instrument list, the Properties section changes to reflect the properties of the selected instrument.
To define an instrument with MIDI Studio Setup:
1 Choose Setup > MIDI > MIDI Studio.
2 Click Create.
3 In the Instrument Name field, type the name
of your instrument, and press Enter.
If you do not enter an instrument name, the
Instrument Name field will automatically
inherit information from the Manufacturer
and Model pop-up menu.
4 Set a manufacturer and model for the new de-
vice from the corresponding pop-up menus. If
the Manufacturer and Model pop-up menus do
not provide a name for your particular device,
select None.
5 From the Input pop-up menu, select the input
po rt on your MID I interface that is connected to
the MIDI Out of your instrument.
Pro Tools M-Powered Setup Guide36
6 From the Output pop-up menu, select the out-
put port on your MIDI interface that is connected to the MIDI In of your instrument.
7 Enable the appropriate MIDI channels (1–16)
for the Send Channels and Receive Channels options (These determine which channels send
and receive MIDI.)
face port that is set and displayed here is the
port through which MIDI data is sent from the
external MIDI device specified in the Instrument Name field into your MIDI interface.
If you set the input port to None, the defined
instrument will not appear as a choice in a
MIDI Input selector.
Instrument Name
The Instrument Name field shows the user-definable instrument name for the currently selected instrument.
Manufacturer
The Manufacturer pop-up menu provides a list
of MIDI equipment manufacturers. This list is
derived from the XML-based MIDI device files.
For more information, see “MIDI Patch
Name Support” on page 37.
Model
The Model pop-up menu provides a list of MIDI
devices, filtered by the manufacturer name. This
list is derived from the XML-based MIDI device
files provided with your Pro Tools installation.
For more information, see “MIDI Patch
Name Support” on page 37.
Input Port
Output Port
The Output Port pop-up menu displays a list of
available MIDI interface output ports. The port
set and displayed here is the port through which
MIDI data is sent from your MIDI interface to
the MIDI device specified in the Instrument
Name field.
If you set the output port to None, the defined instrument will not appear as a choice
in a MIDI Output selector.
Send Channels
The Send Channels grid sets the send channels
for the MIDI device specified in the Instrument
Name field.
Receive Channels
The Receive Channels grid sets the receive channels for the MIDI device specified in the Instrument Name field.
The Input Port pop-up menu displays a list of
available MIDI interface input ports. Inputs will
include Mbox 2 and any additional MIDI interfaces enabled on your system. The MIDI inter-
MIDI Patch Name Support
Pro Tools supports XML (Extensible Markup
Language) for storing and importing patch
names for your external MIDI devices. Pro Tools
installs MIDI patch name files (.midnam) for the
factory default patch names of many common
MIDI devices. These files reside in directories,
sorted by manufacturer, in C:\Program Files\
Common Files\Digidesign\MIDI Patch Names\
Digidesign.
Appendix B: Configuring MIDI Studio Setup (Windows Only) 37
To import MIDI patch names into Pro Tools:
Patch Select button
(Edit window)
Patch Select button
(Mix window)
Change button
1 Verify the MIDI Device name in the MIDI Stu-
dio Setup window (see “MIDI Studio Setup” on
page 35).
2 Verify the Instrument or MIDI track output is
correctly assigned to the MIDI device.
3 Click the Instrument or MIDI track Patch Se-
lect button.
Patch Select button
4 In the Patch Select dialog, click Change.
The Patch Select dialog is populated with patch
names and the Patch Name Bank pop-up menu
appears in the upper left hand corner of the window.
Patch Select dialog with patch names
Once patch names have been imported into
Pro Tools, they are available for that MIDI device in all sessions.
To clear patch names:
In the Patch Select dialog, click Clear and then
click Done.
Patch Select dialog
5 In the Open dialog, navigate to C:\Program
Files\Common Files\Digidesign\MIDI Patch
Names\Digidesign\<name of manufacturer>,
and select the MIDI Patch Name file (.midnam)
for the MIDI device.
6 Click Open.
Pro Tools M-Powered Setup Guide38
MIDI patch name files (.midnam) can be
edited in any text editor, or you can use
third-party patch librarian and editor software to create your own custom patch
names.
appendix c
Hard Drive Configuration and Maintenance
It is recommended that you start with a newly
formatted external or secondary internal audio
drive. You should also periodically defragment
your audio drive to ensure continued system
performance.
Supported Drive Formats and Drive Types
Drive Formats
Always back up any important data on your
drive before formatting it, as it will erase all
data on the drive.
Avoid Recording to the System Drive
Recording to your system drive is not recommended. Recording and playback on a system
drive may result in lower track counts or fewer
plug-ins.
Mac Mac systems should use drives formatted
with HFS+ or HFS file system only.
HFS drives are supported as Transfer drives
only.
Windows Windows XP systems should use drives
formatted as NTFS only.
Windows systems can also support Mac
drives formatted with HFS+ system (also
commonly referred to as Mac OS Extended).
Refer to the Pro Tools Reference Guide for
more information (Help > Pro Tools Reference Guide).
Hard drive performance depends on factors including system configuration, number of tracks,
session sample rate, density of edits, and the use
of crossfades and other processes such as Beat
Detective in a session.
For complete hard drive requirements, visit the
Digidesign website at:
www.digidesign.com/compatibility
Appendix C: Hard Drive Configuration and Maintenance 39
SCSI Hard Drives
Digidesign recommends qualified SCSI hard
drives and a qualified SCSI host bus adapter
(HBA) card or (on Windows systems) a qualified
built-in SCSI HBA connector on the motherboard.
For complete information on track count and
the supported number and configuration of
SCSI drives, visit the Digidesign website at:
www.digidesign.com/compatibility
FireWire Hard Drives
2 Click the Erase tab.
Digidesign recommends qualified FireWire
drives and (on Windows systems) a qualified
FireWire host adapter.
For complete information on track count and
the supported number and configuration of
FireWire drives, visit the Digidesign website at:
www.digidesign.com/compatibility
IDE/ATA/SATA Hard Drives
A qualified internal IDE/ATA/SATA drive may be
used as a dedicated audio drive.
For complete information on track count with
internal drives, visit the Digidesign website at:
www.digidesign.com/compatibility
Formatting an Audio Drive
Formatting Mac Audio Drives
For optimum performance, audio drives should
be formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
To format an audio drive:
1 Launch the Disk Utility application, located in
Macintosh HD/Applications/Utilities.
Disk Utility (Mac OS X)
3 Select the drive you want to initialize in the
column on the left side of the window.
4 Choose the Mac OS Extended (Journaled) for-
mat.
Do not choose the “Case-Sensitive” format
option. Pro Tools will not operate properly
with case-sensitive formatted drives.
5 Type a name for the new volume.
6 If you plan to connect the drive to a Mac OS 9
computer, select Install Mac OS 9 Drivers.
7 Click Erase.
The drive appears on the Desktop with the new
volume name.
Formatting Windows Audio Drives
For optimal performance, audio drives should
be formatted as NTFS.
Pro Tools only supports Basic drive types.
Do not convert the drive to a Dynamic type.
Pro Tools M-Powered Getting Started40
To format an audio drive:
1 Right-click Computer (Windows Vista) or My
Computer (Windows XP) and choose Manage.
2 Under Storage, choose Disk Management.
Disk Management window (Windows XP)
3 If the volume is “Healthy,” do the following:
Healthy volumes are volumes that have previously been partitioned and formatted.
• In the Disk Management window, rightclick the hard drive you will use for audio
and choose Format.
• In the Format window, name the volume.
• Choose a file system. For optimum performance, audio drives should be formatted as
NTFS.
• Select Perform a quick format.
•Make sure Enable file and folder compression
is not selected.
• Set the Allocation unit size to Default.
• Click OK.
4 If the volume is “Unallocated,” do the follow-
ing:
• In the Disk Management window, Rightclick the hard drive you will use for audio
and choose New Partition.
• In the New Partition Wizard window, click
Next.
• When prompted, select the partition type.
Digidesign recommends using Primary partitions, instead of Extended partitions.
• Follow the on-screen instructions to select
a partition size and other partition settings.
• When prompted, choose a file system. For
optimum performance, audio drives
should be formatted as NTFS.
• Select Perform a quick format.
•Make sure Enable file and folder compression
is not selected.
• Set the Allocation unit size to Default.
• Click OK.
Partitioning Drives
Partitioning creates a logical volume or volumes
on a physical drive, almost as if you were creating virtual hard drives. Partitions can then be
formatted with the appropriate file system
(NTFS for Windows, HFS+ for Mac).
Mac OS allows drives larger than 4096 MB
to be seen as whole volumes. Drives must be
initialized with a disk utility that recognizes the 2 terabyte limit. Single Pro Tools
audio files cannot exceed 3.4 GB in size.
Windows XP allows drives formatted with
the NTFS file system to be seen as whole
volumes. Single Pro Tools audio files cannot exceed 3.4 GB in size.
Appendix C: Hard Drive Configuration and Maintenance 41
Seek Times on Partitioned Drives
Seek times are actually faster on partitioned
drives (assuming that reads and writes are performed on a single partition), since the heads
only have to seek within the partition boundaries, rather than the whole capacity of the
drive.
Smaller partitions perform faster than larger partitions, but this comes at the expense of contiguous storage space. When you partition a drive,
you will need to find the compromise that best
suits your performance and storage requirements.
Avoid distributing audio files within a session over different partitions on the same
drive since this will adversely affect drive
performance.
Mac Systems
When working with larger files (such as video),
you can limit fragmentation by backing up your
important files to another disk, erasing the files
from the original hard disk, then copying the
files back, instead of doing a defragmentation.
Window Systems
Periodically defragment audio drives to maintain
system performance.
In multitrack recording, audio tracks are written
in discrete files, spaced evenly across the disk.
While fragmentation of individual files may be
zero, the tracks may be far enough apart that
playback will still be very seek-intensive. Also,
the remaining free space on the disk will be discontiguous, increasing the likelihood of file
fragmentation on subsequent record passes.
Increased fragmentation increases the chance of
disk errors, which can interfere with playback of
audio, and result in performance errors.
On Windows, to avoid fragmentation, format drives with higher cluster sizes (such as
32K).
Optimizing (Defragmenting) Drives
To prevent fragmentation, you can optimize
your drive, which rearranges your files into a
contiguous format. Most optimizing software
lets you run a check on a drive to find out the
percentage of fragmentation. If your drive
shows moderate to heavy fragmentation, you
should consider optimizing it.
If you use your system for intensive editing, or if
you frequently delete audio or fade files from
your hard drive, you may need to optimize your
drives on a weekly basis, or even every few days,
since it doesn’t take long for even a large hard
drive to become fragmented.
For maximum recording and playback efficiency, data should be written to your hard
drive in a contiguous fashion—minimizing the
seek requirements to play back the data. Unfortunately, your computer can’t always store the
sound files in this way and must write to disk
wherever it can find space.
Pro Tools M-Powered Getting Started42
Backing Up Data Before Optimizing
Since your files will be rewritten by the optimization process, always make a backup copy of
the data on your hard drive before you optimize
it. You should also use a hard drive utility to
find and repair any problems before optimizing
data or re-initializing your drives. If there is any
damage to your hard drive's directories prior to
optimizing, serious data loss may result.
Defragmenting Windows Audio Drives
To defragment an audio drive (Windows Vista):
1 Choose Start > Control Panel.
2 Click System and Maintenance.
3 Click Performance Information and Tools.
4 Click Advanced Tools.
5 Click Open Disk Defragmenter.
6 In the Disk Defragmenter window, click the
Defragment Now button.
The Defragment Now command defragments all your hard drives. This can take a
lot of time, especially on systems with multiple drives.
Advanced users can use the command line
tool Defrag.exe to defragment individual
drives. See your Windows Vista documentation for more information.
To defragment an audio drive (Windows XP):
1 Right-click My Computer and choose Manage.
2 Under Storage, choose Disk Defragmenter.
3 In the Disk Defragmenter window, choose the
drive you want to defragment
4 Click the Defragment button and follow the
on-screen instructions.
When defragmenting is complete, close the
Computer Management window.
Appendix C: Hard Drive Configuration and Maintenance 43
Hard Disk Storage Space
Mono audio tracks recorded with 16-bit resolution at 44.1 kHz (CD quality) require approximately
5 MB of hard disk space per minute. The same tracks recorded with 24-bit resolution require about
7.5 MB per minute.
Stereo audio tracks recorded with 16-bit resolution at 44.1 kHz (CD quality) require approximately
10 MB of hard disk space per minute. The same tracks recorded with 24-bit resolution require about
15 MB per minute.
Table 4 lists the required disk space for certain track numbers and track lengths, to help you estimate
your hard disk usage.
Table 4. Required hard drive space for audio tracks (44.1 kHz and 48 kHz sessions shown)
Number of Tracks and Length 16-bit at
44.1 kHz
1 mono track, 1 minute 5 MB 5.5 MB 7.5 MB 8.2 MB
16-bit at
48 kHz
24-bit at
44.1 kHz
24-bit at
48 kHz
1 stereo track (or two mono
tracks), 5 minutes
1 stereo track (or two mono
tracks), 60 minutes
24 mono tracks, 5 minutes 600 MB 662 MB 900 MB 991 MB
24 mono tracks, 60 minutes 7 GB 7.8 GB 10.5 GB 11.6 GB
32 mono tracks, 5 minutes 800 MB 883 MB 1.2 GB 1.3 GB
32 mono tracks, 60 minutes 9.4 GB 10.4 GB 14 GB 15.4 GB
50 MB 55 MB 75 MB 83 MB
600 MB 662 MB 900 MB 991 MB
Pro Tools M-Powered Getting Started44
appendix d
Resources
Whether you are new to Pro Tools or just starting out with your new system, we encourage
you to read and utilize the many guides that
Pro Tools provides. There are also useful online
resources available, giving you everything from
Pro Tools tips to Pro Tools answers.
About the Pro Tools Guides
In addition to any printed guides included with
your system, PDF versions of the printed guides
and many additional Pro Tools guides and Read
Mes are installed automatically during Pro Tools
installation (see “Documentation Installed Automatically with Pro Tools” on page 46).
Printed copies of the Pro Tools Reference
Guide and other guides in the Pro Tools
guide set can be purchased separately from
the DigiStore (www.digidesign.com).
Printed Setup Guide
This printed Setup Guide for your system gives
you detailed instructions for setting up and configuring software and hardware for optimum
performance.
Printed Getting Started with
Pro Tools Guide
The printed Getting Started with Pro Tools LE has
tutorials on using Pro Tools (such as recording
in a Pro Tools session, importing audio from a
CD, and creating an audio CD from a Pro Tools
session).
Guides Accessible in Pro Tools
The main Pro Tools guides are accessible from
the Pro Tools Help menu. (Choose Help, then select a guide.)
These include:
• Shortcuts Guide, which provides a complete list
of keyboard and Right-click shortcuts for
Pro Tools.
• DigiRack Plug-ins Guide, which describes the
DigiRack plug-ins included with Pro Tools for
both real-time and file-based audio processing.
• Pro Tools Menus Guide, which covers all the
Pro Tools on-screen menus.
• Pro Tools Reference Guide, which explains
Pro Tools software in detail.
Appendix D: Resources 45
Documentation Installed
Automatically with Pro Tools
When you install Pro Tools, you get useful PDF
versions of many Pro Tools guides and
Read Mes. This documentation can be found in
the following locations:
Mac Applications/Digidesign/Documentation
Windows C:\Program Files\Digidesign\
Documentation
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.
To view or print PDF guides, you can use
Adobe Reader or Apple Preview (Mac only).
Read Me Files
These contain late-breaking information and
known issues pertaining to Pro Tools software
and hardware configurations. Read Me files are
installed in Documentation folder when you install Pro Tools.
About www.digidesign.com
The Digidesign website (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.
Product Registration Register your purchase online.
Support and Downloads 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.
Pro Tools Accelerated Videos Watch the series of
free tutorial videos. Accelerated Videos are designed to help you get up and running with
Pro Tools and its plug-ins quickly.
Helpful Online Resources
Once you get going, here are some helpful online resources:
• Get useful information, help, and tips from
the worldwide community of Pro Tools users
at Digidesign User Conference (DUC). Go to:
http://duc.digidesign.com
• For questions about installation, visit
Digidesign’s online Answerbase. Go to:
http://www.digidesign.com/answerbase
• If you can’t find your answer on the DUC or
Answerbase, contact Digidesign
email support. Go to:
http://www.digidesign.com/tsr
Pro Tools M-Powered Setup Guide46
index
A
Audio MIDI Setup (AMS) (Mac) 31
authorizing Pro Tools
Mac 8
Windows 15
C
Cache Size 21
Clean Uninstall (Mac) 9
Clock Source 23
Connect your M-Audio interface 6, 13
CPU Usage Limit 19
D
DAE Playback Buffer Size 20
DMA option (Windows), enabling 27
drive formatting
Mac 40
Windows 41
drive maintenance 39
drive requirements 3
E
Energy Saver (Mac), turning off 25
F
FireWire requirements 40
H
hard drives
drive formats 39
FireWire requirements 40
formatting 40, 41
formatting (Mac) 40
IDE/ATA requirements 40
maintenance 39, 42
optimizing 42
partitioning 41
requirements 3
SCSI requirements 40
space requirements 44
Hardware Buffer Size 18
Hardware Setup dialog 22
I
I/O Setup 24
IDE/ATA requirements 40
Ignore Errors During Playback/Record option 20
install the driver 6, 12
installing Pro Tools
Mac 7
Windows 13
installing QuickTime (Windows) 15
J
journaling (Mac), enabling 27
K
key commands 4
Index 47
M
M-Audio Control Panel 22
M-Audio Driver Disc 6, 12
MIDI
setup (Mac) 31
setup (Windows) 35
MIDI Studio Setup (MSS) (Windows) 35
Minimize Additional I/O Latency option 20
N
network cards (Windows), disabling 29
O
optimizing hard drives 42
P
partitioning hard drives 41
Playback Engine
RTAS Processors setting 18
Plug-in Streaming Buffer 22
Plug-in Streaming Buffer Size 21
plug-ins
multiprocessors 19
RTAS Processors setting 18
power
management settings (Windows) 28
pre-existing M-Audio drivers 5, 11
Pro Tools
capabilities 1
configuration (Windows) 17
demo session (Windows) 9, 16
installing (Mac) 7
installing (Windows) 13
removing (Windows) 9, 16
processor performance (Mac) 25
Processor Scheduling performance (Windows) 30
Program Change dialog 34, 38
R
removing Pro Tools
Windows 9, 16
RTAS Processors setting 18, 19
S
Safe Uninstall (Mac) 9
SCSI requirements 40
Software Update (Mac), turning off 25
Spotlight indexing (Mac), disabling 27
Startup items (Windows), disabling 30
system
optimization (Mac) 25
optional optimizations (Windows) 29
recommended optimizations (Windows) 29
required optimizations (Windows) 27
shutting down 17
starting up 17
system optimization
Windows 29
system settings
Cache Size 21
Clock Source 23
CPU Usage Limit 19
Hardware Buffer Size 18
I/O Setup 24
Plug-in Streaming Buffer 22
Plug-in Streaming Buffer Size 21
U
uninstalling Pro Tools
Windows 9, 16
User Account Control (UAC)
disabling 29
W
website 46
Q
QuickTime
installing (Windows) 15
Pro Tools M-Powered Setup Guide48
www.digidesign.com
DIGIDESIGN
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Daly City, CA 94014-3886 USA
Tel: 650.731.6300
Fax: 650.731.6399
TECHNICAL SUPPORT (USA)
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Fax: 650.731.6375
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