Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Pro Tools Reference Guide PDF
Pro Tools Reference Guide PDF
Contents iii
Chapter 4. Using Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Accessing Guides in Pro Tools | Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Accessing the Help System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Help Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Using the Contents and Index Tabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Using the Search Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Search Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Copying from a Help Topic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Printing Help Topics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Chapter 8. Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Display Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Operation Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Editing Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Mixing Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Metering Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Processing Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
MIDI Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Synchronization Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Global and Local Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Contents v
Part III Sessions & Tracks
Chapter 11. Sessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Quick Start Session Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Creating a New Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Bit Depths and Sample Rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Mixed Audio File Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Interleaved Multichannel and Multi-Mono Audio Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Session Files and Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Opening a Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Opening Recent Sessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Opening a Session with Plug-Ins Deactivated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Saving a Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Saving a Copy of a Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Session Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Closing a Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Exiting or Quitting Pro Tools | Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Contents vii
Indexing Workspace Databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
Workspace Browser Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
Workspace Right-Click Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
Workspace Browser Panes and Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
Column Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
Selecting Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
Moving, Copying, Duplicating, and Removing Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
Searching Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
Waveforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
Elastic Audio Files in the Workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Previewing Audio in Workspace Browsers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
Preview Controls and Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
Preview Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
Linking and Relinking Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
Transfer Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
Missing Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
Relink Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
Catalogs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
Task Manager Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
Contents ix
Record Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411
Configuring Default Names for Audio Files and Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
Assigning Hardware I/O on a Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415
Record Enabling Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416
Working with Hard Drives for Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
Selecting a Record Input Monitoring Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
Setting Monitor Levels for Record and Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
Reducing Monitoring Latency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
Part V Editing
Chapter 24. Editing Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485
Track Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486
Audio Clips and Waveforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487
MIDI Clips and MIDI Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491
Naming Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494
Displaying Clip Names, Clip Times, and Other Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495
Multiple Undo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496
Basic Editing Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498
Editing Across Multiple Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502
Contents xi
Time Compression/ Expansion Trim Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519
Scrub Trim Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521
Loop Trim Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521
Using the Selector Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523
Using the Grabber Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524
Using the Smart Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525
Using the Scrubber Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527
Numeric Keypad Set to Shuttle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530
Using the Pencil Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530
Edit/Tool Mode Keyboard Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531
Contents xiii
Part VI MIDI
Chapter 31. MIDI Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 641
MIDI Editing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 641
Setting the Grid Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 643
Using the Pencil Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 644
Inserting MIDI Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 646
Inserting a Series of Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 647
Manually Editing MIDI Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 648
Using the Grabber Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 650
Time Compression/Expansion Trim Tool Functionality on MIDI Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 658
Continuous Controller Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 660
Patch Select (Program and Bank Changes) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 663
System Exclusive Events. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 667
Note and Controller Chasing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 668
Offsetting MIDI Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 669
Stuck Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 671
Remove Duplicate Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 671
MIDI Real-Time Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 671
Real-Time Properties Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 673
Real-Time Properties on Tracks and Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 676
Writing Real-Time Properties to Tracks or Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 677
Real-Time Properties In the MIDI Event List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 677
Display of Real-Time Properties Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 678
Contents xv
Part VII Arranging
Chapter 35. Time, Tempo, Meter, Key, and Chords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 729
Timebase Rulers and Conductor Rulers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 729
Main Time Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 732
The Sub Counter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 733
Tick-Based Timing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 733
Tick- and Sample-Based Timebases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 734
Song Start Marker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 736
Tempo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737
Graphic Tempo Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 743
Editing Tempo Events in the Tempo Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 743
Changing the Linearity Display Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 749
Tempo Operations Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 750
Identify Beat Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 756
Meter Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 759
Time Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 762
Change Meter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 762
Insert Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 764
Cut Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 766
Move Song Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 767
Renumbering Bars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 768
Key Signatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 768
Chord Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 771
Contents xvii
Part VIII Processing
Chapter 39. AudioSuite Processing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 823
AudioSuite Menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 823
AudioSuite Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 823
AudioSuite Window Header . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 824
AudioSuite Window Footer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 828
Using AudioSuite Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 830
Conditions for AudioSuite Rendering with Handles, Fades, Clip Gain, and Metadata . . . . . 834
Part IX Mixing
Chapter 43. Basic Mixing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 905
Mixing Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 905
Metering and Calibration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 905
Signal Flow by Track Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 906
Audio Tracks and Signal Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 906
Auxiliary Input Tracks and Signal Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 907
Master Fader Tracks and Signal Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 908
Instrument Tracks and Signal Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 909
VCA Master Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 910
Inserts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 913
Configuring Inserts View in the Mix and Edit Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 914
HEAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 914
Stereo Pan Depth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 914
Views in the Mix and Edit Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 915
Audio Input and Output Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 919
Contents xix
Sends. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 921
Configuring Sends View in the Mix and Edit Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 925
Sends View Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 925
Editing Sends in the Mix and Edit Windows (Individual Send Views) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 927
Bus Interrogation Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 930
Output Windows for Tracks and Sends. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 931
Output Meters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 935
Signal Routing for Monitoring and Submixing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 936
Delay Compensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 943
Dither . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 950
Using an Ethernet Control Surface with Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 951
Using a MIDI Control Surface with Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 951
Contents xxi
Part X Surround
Chapter 47. Pro Tools Setup for Surround . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1065
Surround Mixing in Pro Tools | Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1065
Pro Tools Audio Connections for 5.1 Mixing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1065
7.1 and 7.0 Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1066
Configuring Pro Tools | Software for Multichannel Sessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1066
Default I/O Selectors in I/O Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1071
5.1 Track Layouts, Routing, and Metering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1072
Contents xxiii
Before Starting Your Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1156
Pro Tools Video Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1157
Video Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1157
Main Video Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1158
Video Track Controls and Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1159
Video Track Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1160
Locking Video Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1166
Video Engine Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1166
Importing Video into Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1167
Configuring Video Import Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1169
Importing Audio from a QuickTime Video Clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1170
Video Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1171
General Video Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1172
Renaming Video Disk Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1175
Video Clip Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1175
Using the Video Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1175
Browsing Video in the Video Universe Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1178
Playback of High-Definition Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1179
Optimized Video Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1180
Tips for Optimizing Video Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1180
Compensating for Video Monitoring Delays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1181
Playing Video to an External Monitor Using a Video Peripheral . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1181
Bouncing the Video Track to a QuickTime Movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1182
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1219
Contents xxv
xxvi Pro Tools Reference Guide
Part I: Introduction to
Pro Tools
Chapter 1: Welcome to Pro Tools
Convention Action
Core Audio
ASIO
The MIDI protocol provides 16 channels of MIDI There are multiple types of surround formats in use
per port. A single MIDI cable can transmit a sepa- (from three-channel LCR to 7.1, which has eight
rate set of messages for each of the 16 channels. channels).
These 16 channels can correspond to separate The most common surround format is 5.1, which
MIDI devices or to multiple channels within a sin- refers to having 5 speakers and a sub-woofer (the
gle device (if the device is multitimbral). Each “.1”). 5.1 is used in movie theaters and home enter-
channel can control a different instrument sound. tainment systems. Additionally, most DVDs are
Pro Tools provides powerful MIDI sequencing ca- mixed to 5.1. The standard speaker placement for
pabilities. You can record, enter, edit, and play 5.1 for surround monitoring is stereo left and right
back MIDI data on Pro Tools Instrument and speakers, and an additional center speaker in front,
MIDI tracks. These actions can be done in the Edit two more stereo left and right speakers in the rear,
window, the MIDI Editor window, the Score Edi- and the sub-woofer on the side.
tor window, and the MIDI Event List. Pro Tools® | HD Software supports mixing in sur-
MIDI data in Pro Tools can be anything from round formats. In Pro Tools, each surround format
MIDI note data (note number, on/off, velocity) to is considered to be a greater-than-stereo multi-
System Exclusive (Sysex) messages. MIDI data channel format.
can be recorded or played back from both external
MIDI devices with a MIDI interface and other
MIDI software (such as instrument plug-ins and
ReWire client applications).
Chapter 2: Pro Tools Concepts 7
Pro Tools Sessions
When you start a project in Pro Tools, you create a
session.
MIDI clip
Video Files
Clips
A clip is a segment of audio, MIDI, or video data.
A clip could be a drum loop, a guitar riff, a verse of
a song, a recording take, a sound effect, some dia-
log, or an entire sound file. Clips are especially
useful for arranging audio and MIDI. A clip can
Clip group (Mixed audio and MIDI multitrack clip
also have associated automation data. In group)
Pro Tools, clips are created from audio files or
MIDI data, and can be arranged in audio and MIDI
track playlists. Clips can also be grouped (a “clip
of clips”) and looped (repeated).
Channels
Playlist selector pop-up menu The term channel is used to describe several re-
lated components of a Pro Tools system.
On audio tracks, an edit playlist tells the hard disk
which audio clips to play in what order. For exam- The first example of channel refers to a physical
ple, you can have separate audio clips for a song input or output of your Pro Tools system. For ex-
introduction, the first verse, the first chorus, and so ample, Pro Tools® | HD I/O provides up to 16
on. You can also use the same audio clip to access channels of audio input and output to a HDX or
the same piece of audio multiple times at different Pro Tools® | HD Native system, while the
locations and not use additional disk space. Differ- Pro Tools® | Mbox® Pro audio interface provides
ent versions of the same original audio can be used up to eight inputs and eight outputs.
in different places and have different effects ap-
plied. On MIDI and Instrument tracks, edit play- The second use of the term channel refers to a
lists can store multiple MIDI sequences (or perfor- channel strip in the Pro Tools Mix window. Each
mances) on a track. track in a Pro Tools session has a corresponding
channel strip in the Mix window.
A playlist can be made up of a single clip or many
separate clips. It can be made up of similar ele- Audio and MIDI channel strips have similar con-
ments (such as clips from several different takes of trols, but those controls have slightly different ef-
a solo), or dissimilar elements (such as several fects. For example, audio, Auxiliary Input, and In-
sound effects). strument track channel strip faders control the
output gain to the mix bus for that channel, while
You can create any number of alternate edit play- MIDI channel strip faders send MIDI volume data
lists for a track. This lets you assemble different (MIDI controller 7) to the selected MIDI instru-
versions of performances or edits on a single track ment.
and choose between them from the Playlists menu
on the track. The term “MIDI channel” also describes a
separate aspect of MIDI operation. See
“MIDI” on page 7.
Inserts
Sends
Input from
Outputs to stereo
stereo bus bus path
path
Channel strip in the Mix window (audio track) Audio tracks Auxiliary Input
track
Submixing to an Auxiliary Input
Plug-In and Hardware Inserts Plug-In processing Audio in Pro Tools is sample-based by default.
occurs completely within the Pro Tools system. This means that if an audio clip is located at a par-
Hardware inserts use audio interface inputs and ticular sample location, it will not move from that
outputs for traditional insert routing to and from location if the tempo changes in the session—
external effects and other devices. MIDI and VCA though its Bar|Beat location will change.
Master tracks do not have inserts.
Pro Tools provides several ways to manage and • Audio, Auxiliary Input, Master Fader,
conserve resources to maximize the performance VCA Master, and Instrument tracks
of your system. As you begin working with • Track Inputs and Outputs
Pro Tools sessions and tracks, you can take advan- • Sends
tage of the following features to extend the effec-
tiveness of your available DSP and other re- • Side-chain inputs
sources: • Plug-Ins
Pro Tools lets you adjust the performance of • Hardware inserts
your system by changing system settings that af- • Paths (session-wide)
fect its capacity for processing, playback, and re-
cording. See “Configuring Pro Tools | Software MIDI tracks cannot be made inactive.
System Settings” on page 48.
In order to free up needed DSP resources, Side-chain inputs support direct active and
Pro Tools allows for certain items (such as tracks inactive switching, but do not follow switch-
and inserts) to be manually made inactive. Inactive ing all or all selected side-chain inputs.
elements are viewable, editable, and retained
within the session. See “Active and Inactive
Items” on page 15.
All Pro Tools systems provide flexible voice
options for audio tracks, to help maximize use of
available voices in your system. For more informa-
tion on voice management and options, see “Track
Priority and Voice Assignment” on page 227.
Embedded Media
Exporting to AAF or OMF with embedded media results in one large AAF or OMF file containing both the
metadata and all associated media files.
The main benefit to this approach is that fewer copies of media files may need to be made, so the
export and import process can be much faster. Using this approach, it is less likely that you will
encounter any file size limitations since the data is broken up into many smaller files.
The main disadvantage to this approach is that there are potentially many files (for example, one AAF or
OMF file and hundreds of media files) that must be transported between systems.
Linked to:
Pro Tools provides keyboard shortcuts for Group List Keyboard Focus When selected, Mix
moving plug-in controls, faders and sliders, the and Edit Groups can be enabled or disabled by typ-
Scrubber, and automation data. ing the Group ID letter (in either the Mix or Edit
window).
Command Windows Mac
Fine adjustment Hold Control Hold Command Commands Keyboard Focus Clip List
of sliders, while clicking while clicking (Edit window) Keyboard Focus
knobs, and the item the item
breakpoints
Keyboard Focus
The Keyboard Focus in Pro Tools determines how
the alpha keys function. Depending on which Key-
board Focus is enabled, you can use the keys on Group List
your computer (alpha) keyboard to select clips in Keyboard Focus
You can only enable one of the three Keyboard Fo- Keyboard Focus buttons
cus modes at a time. Enabling a Keyboard Focus
will disable the one previously enabled.
Click the a–z button for the focus you want to Click the Toolbar right above the MIDI Editor
enable. pane.
While pressing Command+Option (Mac) or Press Command+Option+5 (Mac) or
Control+Alt (Windows), press one of the fol- Control+Alt+5 (Windows).
lowing keys: 1 (Commands), 2 (Clip List), or 3
(Group List).
Toolbar Focus There are two Shuttle Lock modes (Classic and
Transport), and one Shuttle mode.
In the Edit window, the MIDI Editor pane can be
displayed in addition to the Tracks pane (View > No matter which Numeric Keypad mode is se-
Other Displays > MIDI Editor). When the MIDI Ed- lected, you can always use the numeric keypad to
itor pane is displayed, there are two separate Tool- select and enter values in the Event Edit Area, Edit
bars and Timelines in the Edit window: one for the Selection indicators, Main and Sub Counters, and
Tracks pane and one for the MIDI Editor pane. Transport fields.
Only one Toolbar and Timeline can be focused for
Menu and Toolbar commands (including the cor- To set the Numeric Keypad Mode:
responding keyboard shortcuts) at a time. The fo- 1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click the
cused Toolbar displays a yellow outline. Operation tab.
If Keyboard Focus for the Edit window is enabled, 2 In the Transport section, select a Numeric Key-
it follows the selected Toolbar focus. pad mode (Classic, Transport, or Shuttle).
3 Click OK.
To enable Toolbar focus for the Tracks pane, do
one of the following:
There are two Shuttle Lock modes (Classic and This mode lets you set a number of record and play
Transport). Both modes let you use the numeric functions, and also operate the Transport from the
keypad to shuttle forward or backwards at specific numeric keypad.
speeds.
Function Key
• 5 is normal speed.
• 6–9 provide increasingly greater fast- Click on/off 7
forward speeds. Countoff on/off 8
• 1–4 provide progressively greater rewind speeds MIDI Merge/Replace mode 9
(4 is the slowest, 1 is the fastest).
Loop Playback mode on/off 4
• Press 0 to stop Shuttle Lock, then press the num-
ber to resume Shuttle Lock speed. Loop Record mode on/off 5
• Press Escape or Spacebar to exit Shuttle Lock QuickPunch mode on/off 6
mode.
Rewind 1
Custom Shuttle Lock Speed Fast Forward 2
(Pro Tools HD Only)
Record enable 3
The highest fast-forward Shuttle Lock speed
(key 9) can be customized. Play/Stop 0
For more information, see “Custom Shuttle With the Numeric Keypad mode set to Transport,
Lock Speed” on page 529. you can also:
• Play up to two tracks of audio in Shuttle Lock
Classic Mode
mode. Press the Control key (Mac) or the Start
This mode emulates the way Pro Tools worked in key (Windows), followed by 1–9 for different
versions lower than 5.0. With the Numeric Keypad play speeds.
mode set to Classic, you can: • Press Plus or Minus to reverse direction.
• Play up to two tracks of audio in Shuttle Lock • Press 0 to stop Shuttle Lock, then press the num-
mode. Press the Control key (Mac) or the Start ber to resume Shuttle Lock speed.
key (Windows), followed by 1–9 for different
• Press Escape or Spacebar to exit Shuttle Lock
play speeds.
mode.
• Press Plus or Minus to reverse direction.
• Recall Memory Locations by typing Period (.),
• Press 0 to stop Shuttle Lock, then press the num- the Memory Location number, and
ber to resume Shuttle Lock speed. Period (.) again.
• Press Escape or Spacebar to exit Shuttle Lock
mode.
• Recall Memory Locations by typing the Mem-
ory Location, followed by a Period (.).
1x Forward 6
1x Rewind 4
4x Forward 9
4x Rewind 7
1/4x Forward 3
1/4x Rewind 1
2x Forward 8+9
2x Rewind 8+7
The Pro Tools Help menu provides quick access to Guides Accessible in Pro Tools
installed PDF documentation and online Help. The
The following guides are available from the
Help system is HTML-based and launches in the
Pro Tools Help menu:
Pro Tools in-application browser. It also runs on
most common web browsers. Audio Plug-Ins Guide Describes the plug-ins in-
cluded free with Pro Tools, as well as additional
The Pro Tools Help menu also provides direct ac-
plug-ins available for purchase separately.
cess to the online Pro Tools Knowledge Base,
Avid Audio Forums, and the Avid Support Center Pro Tools Reference Guide Explains Pro Tools
using the in-application browser (an internet con- systems and software in detail.
nection is required).
Pro Tools Shortcuts Lists keyboard and
The Pro Tools in-application Web browser Right-click shortcuts for Pro Tools, including
is not available outside Pro Tools. To use those shown in Pro Tools menus.
Pro Tools Help while Pro Tools is not
running, use the default Web browser for
your operating system. Accessing the Help System
There are several ways to access the Help system.
Accessing Guides in • Open Help at its Welcome page from the Help
Pro Tools | Software menu in Pro Tools
PDF (Portable Document Format) versions of the • Open Help at its Welcome page from within a
main Pro Tools guides are accessible from the Help browser in Pro Tools
Pro Tools Help menu. Adobe Reader is recom- • Open Help at its Welcome page outside of
mended for PDF documentation. Pro Tools
3 Follow the on-screen instructions to open a You can expand and collapse the contents to view
version of Help. the logical organization of the Help system, and
you can move to any topic by clicking its entry in
To close the Help system: the Contents.
Click the Help viewer’s Close button.
When you move to a new topic, the contents ex-
pands to the level of that topic and highlights the
topic. This feature, like the hierarchy links at the
Help Display top of each topic, lets you see exactly where the
The Help system includes the following display el- current topic is positioned within the logical orga-
ements: nization of the Help system.
Topics Help topics open in the right pane of the To display a topic from the contents:
Help viewer. Click the Contents tab, and then click a topic’s
Navigation Tools Contents, Index, and Search tabs entry in the contents.
open in the left pane of the Help viewer.
To expand or close a section in the contents:
Hierarchy Links Use these links to verify the
Click the Contents tab, and then click a book
location of the currently displayed topic within its
icon to the left of a link.
chapter and to jump to relevant higher-level topics,
including the Main Topic.
The Index provides an alphabetized list of entries 1 Click the Search tab.
similar to the index of a printed book. 2 In the Search pop-up menu (located below the
Search text box), click whether you want to
If Java is enabled in your browser, the Index dis-
search in “All Available Books” or a specific
plays as a dynamic index where the listing scrolls
book (such as Pro Tools Shortcuts).
as you type a word in the text box. If you do not
have Java enabled in your browser, or if your 3 In the Search text box, type the word or words
browser does not support Java implementations, a that you want to find.
JavaScript version of the index displays, which lets
4 Click Go.
you scroll manually through the entries.
A list of topics and ranking numbers appears.
To find topics by using the Index tab:
Additional Search Information
1 Click the Index tab.
The Search feature provides the best combination
2 Click the first character of the topic in the
of usefulness and speed:
Numerics, Letters, Symbols list.
• The Search feature uses a database of valid
To view the topic associated with an index entry: words. This database includes all words that are
Click the index entry. significant for identifying topics and excludes
all other words. When you type words in the
search text box, the system ignores any invalid
words that you have typed and searches for valid
Using the Search Tab words.
The Search tab lets you search the entire text of the • The Search feature cannot search for words in a
Help system for one or more words and then lists certain order. For example, if you type “TIFF
the topics that include those words. The list of re- graphics import” as a search entry, Search dis-
sults is ranked, placing the topics that the Search plays all topics that contains these three words
feature considers most likely to be relevant at the regardless of their location in the topic. The re-
top of the list. sults include topics where the three words ap-
pear together as a phrase, and also topics where
When you search for text, the text string automati-
the three words are scattered throughout the
cally highlights by default. You can turn these
topic.
highlights off. You can also stop displaying high-
lights after a search by using the Back and Forward • The Search feature cannot distinguish between
buttons to go to a different topic. When you come words that are similar but not identical. For ex-
back to your searched topic, the highlights no lon- ample, if you type “capture” as a search entry,
ger display. Search displays topics that include that word,
but it does not find topics that include related
For more guidelines on using the Search feature ef- words such as “captures” or “capturing.” If a
fectively, see “Search Guidelines” on page 32. search for a word fails to produce useful results,
you might be more successful if you search
again using one of the related words.
• Punctuation marks (such as the period, colon, 1 Click the topic pane within the browser
semicolon, comma, and hyphen) are ignored window that you want to print.
during a search, unless they are part of the topic 2 Do one of the following:
(such as .WAV).
• Click the Print button in the Topic pane.
• You can search for a literal phrase by using quo-
tation marks. You cannot search for quotation • Right-click in the Topic pane and select Print.
marks. • Select File > Print.
3 Select the print options.
You can copy information from a Help topic for Topics that you print from Help have limited
use in another document (such a text file). page layout and formatting features. If you
want to print a higher quality version of Help
To copy information from a Help topic to another information, Avid recommends that you print
document: all or part of the PDF version of the appro-
1 Open or click the topic to make it active. priate guide.
• Up to 256 tracks at 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz • DigiLink Mini cable for connecting HD Native
hardware to an audio interface
• Up to 128 tracks at 88.2 kHz or 96 kHz
• A MIDI interface (optional)
• Up to 64 tracks at 176.4 kHz or 192 kHz
For detailed information about installing
Each additional HDX card increases the possible HD Native PCIe hardware, see the HD Native
track count by the same amount. For example, at Installation Guide.
44.1 kHz, two HDX cards provide up to 512 audio For information about installing HD Native
tracks, and three HDX cards provide up to 768 Thunderbolt hardware, see the HD Native
audio tracks. Thunderbolt Guide.
• Audio processing with up to 10 inserts per track • HD I/O (up to 4 HD I/O interfaces can be used
(in any combination of real-time, host-based simultaneously)
plug-in and hardware inserts), depending on • HD MADI (full connectivity with 1 HD MADI
your computer’s capabilities, and the number interface is possible when both DigiLink ports
and type of installed audio interfaces of the HD MADI are connected to both Dig-
• Up to 10 sends per track iLink ports on the HD Native PCIe card or
Thunderbolt interface)
• Up to 256 internal mix busses for routing and
mixing
With HDX hardware accelerated systems, voice limits are dependent on the session sample rate and the
number of DSP chips dedicated to the system’s Playback Engine. Pro Tools HD can open sessions with up
to 768 audio tracks, but any audio tracks beyond that system’s voiceable track limit will be automatically
set to Voice Off.
s
Pro Tools HD audio playback, recording and voice limits by hardware configuration
Playback and
Recording
Voices Total
Sample
Core System Type Maximum I/O (Mono Tracks of Voiceable
Rate (kHz)
Simultaneous Tracks
Playback and
Recording)
176.4/192 64 768
176.4/192 64 768
Playback and
Recording
Voices Total
Sample
Core System Type Maximum I/O (Mono Tracks of Voiceable
Rate (kHz)
Simultaneous Tracks
Playback and
Recording)
176.4/192 64 768
HD OMNI is a professional digital audio interface • 8 channels of AES/EBU output (up to 192 kHz
designed for use with Pro Tools HD systems. Single Wire) using a DB-25 breakout cable (sold
HD OMNI provides a compact preamp, monitor- separately)
ing, and I/O solution for music production and re- • 2 channels of AES/EBU XLR input (up to
cording, and post production studios. 192 kHz Single Wire)
• 2 channels of S/PDIF RCA input and output (up
HD OMNI Features
to 192 kHz)
HD OMNI provides up to 8 discrete channels of • 8 channels of ADAT TOSLINK input and output
Pro Tools input and output, with 4-segment LED
• Support for ADAT S/MUX Optical for sample
meters for input or output (selectable).
rates of 88.2 kHz, 96 kHz, 176.4 kHz, and
Analog I/O
192 kHz
• 24-bit analog-to-digital (A/D) and digital-to-an- • Support for two channels of S/PDIF Optical
alog (D/A) converters, with support for sample with sample rates of up to 96 kHz
rates up to 192 kHz • Real-time sample rate conversion (SRC) on Dig-
• 2 high-quality Mic/DI preamps (Channels 1–2) ital Inputs 1–2 of either AES/EBU, S/PDIF, or
Optical (S/PDIF)
• 2 combined XLR and 1/4-inch TRS front panel
inputs for microphone and instrument level in- SRC is not supported with ADAT S/MUX.
put
Monitoring
• 2 XLR back panel microphone inputs
• An additional stereo “CUE” output path in
• 2 1/4-inch TRS Send and 2 1/4-inch TRS Return
Pro Tools® for headphone monitoring from the
back panel jacks for hardware inserts on chan-
front panel headphone jack
nels 1 and 2
• Front panel Control Room (MAIN/ALT) and
• 4 analog TRS line level back panel inputs
Headphone monitoring volume control
(Channels 1–4)
• Flexible monitoring with fold-down from all ste-
HD OMNI provides multiple analog input con- reo and surround formats (up to 7.1 surround)
nections, but only provides up to four channels
• Input mixer for low latency direct monitoring of
of simultaneous analog input for Pro Tools.
a variety of incoming signals (configured in the
• Soft Clip and Curv limiting circuits to protect Pro Tools Hardware Setup)
against clipping on analog input
Synchronization
• 8 channels of analog back panel output using a • Loop Sync input and output for connecting
DB-25 breakout cable (sold separately) with additional HD peripherals
variable output gain
• External Clock input and output for synchroniz-
• 2 channels of analog back panel output using ing HD OMNI with external Word Clock de-
TRS (Mirrors channels 1–2 or 7–8 on DB-25 vices
connector)
• Front panel stereo 1/4-inch headphone jack For more information, see the HD OMNI Guide.
HD I/O is a multichannel digital audio interface • Up to sixteen channels of 24-bit digital I/O, us-
designed for use with Pro Tools HD systems. ing AES/EBU, TDIF DB-25, or Optical at sam-
HD I/O features extremely high quality 24-bit an- ple rates of 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, and
alog-to-digital (A/D) and digital-to-analog (D/A) 192 kHz with a Digital HD I/O card
converters, and supports sample rates of up to • Real-time sample rate conversion on digital in-
192 kHz. puts with a Digital I/O card (up to sixteen chan-
nels of AES/EBU, Optical, or TDIF)
HD I/O comes in three standard configurations:
• Support for S/MUX Optical for sample rates of
• 8 x 8 x 8 (8 analog in, 8 analog out, and 8 digital 88.2 kHz and higher
in and out)
• Support for 2 channels of S/PDIF Optical
• 16 x 16 analog in and out (enclosed) with sample rates of up to 96 kHz
• 16 x 16 digital in and out • 2 channels of AES/EBU I/O (enclosed) with
You can also add or remove HD I/O Analog Ex- support for sample rates up to 192 kHz
pansion cards (ADC and DAC) and HD I/O Digi- • 2 channels of 24-bit-capable S/PDIF I/O
tal Expansion cards for custom configurations. (enclosed) with support for sample rates up to
192 kHz
HD I/O Features
Synchronization
HD I/O provides up to 16 discrete channels of
• Loop Sync input and output for connecting addi-
Pro Tools input and output, with 4-segment LED
tional Avid HD audio interfaces and peripherals
meters for input and output.
• External Clock input and output for synchroniz-
Analog I/O ing HD I/O with external Word Clock devices
• Up to sixteen channels of 24-bit D/A and A/D
Expandability
converters for superior analog input and output
at sample rates of 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 88.2 kHz, • Optional addition of I/O cards to expand analog
96 kHz, 176.4 kHz, and 192 kHz with Analog In or digital I/O
and Analog Out HD I/O cards • Simultaneous use of multiple Avid HD audio in-
• Soft Clip and Curv limiting circuits to protect terfaces to further expand system input and out-
against clipping on analog input put
You can review and update the setup of your sys- 7 Do one of the following, depending on your
tem to ensure it is configured for your needs. Pro Tools system:
• For HDX and HD Native systems, with the vol-
ume of all output devices lowered, turn on your
Starting Up or Shutting Down audio interfaces (such as HD OMNI). Wait at
Your System least fifteen seconds for your system hardware
to initialize.
To ensure that the components of your Pro Tools
system communicate properly with each other, you • For Pro Tools systems that use hardware requir-
need to start them in a particular order. ing external power (such as 003), with the vol-
ume of all output devices lowered, turn on the
Start up your Pro Tools system in this order: hardware.
1 Make sure all your equipment (including your 8 Turn on your computer.
computer) is off.
9 Launch Pro Tools or any third-party audio or
2 Lower the volume of all output devices in your MIDI applications.
system.
Shut down your Pro Tools system in this order:
3 For systems with an expansion chassis, turn on
the chassis. 1 Quit Pro Tools and any other running applica-
tions.
4 Turn on any external hard drives. Wait approxi-
mately ten seconds for them to spin up to speed. To quit Pro Tools, choose File > Exit
5 Turn on any control surfaces (such as (Windows) or Pro Tools > Quit (Mac).
D-Command or Avid Artist Control).
2 Turn off or lower the volume of all output
6 Turn on any MIDI interfaces, MIDI devices, or devices in your system.
synchronization peripherals.
3 Turn off your computer.
• For third-party audio interfaces with compatible You can configure the Input and Output options
Core Audio (Mac) or ASIO (Windows), select for Pro Tools Aggregate I/O in the Mac Audio
the name of the corresponding Core Audio Setup, which can be accessed from the Pro Tools
(Mac) or ASIO (Windows) compatible audio in- Hardware Setup.
terface.
If you need simultaneous input (recording)
• On Mac systems, if you are using built-in audio, and output (playback and monitoring) with
select any of the available built-in options for Pro Tools using the built-in audio options on
playback or select Pro Tools Aggregate I/O for Mac, use the Pro Tools Aggregate I/O option.
simultaneous input and output with the built-in If you only need to play back audio for editing
I/O hardware options. and mixing, select the appropriate built-in
3 Click OK. audio output option.
3 Click OK.
Configuring MIDI Setup
Cache Size
If you plan to use any external MIDI devices with
(Pro Tools HD Only)
Pro Tools (such as controllers, keyboards, synthe-
The Cache Size setting in the Playback Engine de- sizers, drum machines, samplers, sequencers, or
termines the amount of memory AAE allocates to sound modules), you may want to configure your
pre-buffer audio for playback and recording. In MIDI setup using Audio MIDI Setup (Mac) or
most cases, the default setting of Normal is the op- MIDI Studio Setup (Windows).
timum Cache Size for most sessions.
For more information, see Chapter 10,
Pro Tools HD can also load audio files used in “Configuring MIDI.”
Pro Tools sessions into RAM for cached playback.
Pro Tools prioritizes files closest to the current
play head location. This way, when you start play-
2 Select the sample rate from the Sample Rate 3 Click OK.
pop-up menu.
Your digital input device must be
3 Click OK. connected and powered on for Pro Tools to
synchronize to it. If your input device is not
powered on, leave the Clock Source set to
Internal.
6 Repeat the above steps for each additional audio 2 From the Peripherals list, select the audio
interface in your setup. interface connected to the first card in your
system. This will be the interface at the top of
the list.
Configuring Avid HD Audio
Interfaces 3 Click the Main tab.
HD OMNI supports up to eight channels of simul- Press Command+Left or Right Arrow keys
taneous I/O and multiple I/O formats (such as ana- (Mac) or Control+Left or Right Arrow keys
log, AES/EBU, ADAT Optical, and S/PDIF). (Windows) to move though the different
pages of the Hardware Setup.
HD I/O audio interfaces support sixteen channels
of simultaneous I/O and multiple I/O formats (such 4 From the Clock Source pop-up menu, select the
as analog, AES/EBU, ADAT Optical, S/PDIF, and appropriate clock source for the interface.
TDIF). HD MADI supports up to 64 channels of
MADI I/O. In many cases, you will use Internal. The other
choices are for resolving Pro Tools to external
The Main page of the Hardware Setup is where clock sources. Depending on your audio interface,
you define which physical inputs and outputs on Clock Source options can include: AES/EBU
your audio interface are routed to available inputs [Encl], S/PDIF, Optical [Encl], AES/EBU 1–8, TDIF,
and outputs in Pro Tools. You can think of this ADAT, and Word Clock (optional Word Clock rates
window as a patchbay that allows you to route any are available when operating at higher sample
of the inputs or outputs on your audio interfaces to rates).
channel assignments in the Pro Tools mixer.
5 If you want to send clock output to other de-
vices attached to the audio interface, select the
appropriate output from the Ext. Clock Output
pop-up menu.
6 Select which digital I/O port on your audio in-
terface enclosure is active by selecting the cor-
responding option under Digital Format.
Depending on the type of interfaces in your
system, choices include AES/EBU, S/PDIF, and
Optical (S/PDIF). Selecting Optical (S/PDIF) re-
Hardware Setup for HD I/O, Main page
sets the Optical I/O port (which is, by default,
eight channels of ADAT Optical I/O) to two
channels of S/PDIF Optical I/O.
Inputs and outputs of similar format are differenti- 3 Click the Monitor tab and configure the options.
ated in the input and output channel pop-up menus. When working with HD OMNI, you should al-
For example, the AES/EBU inputs and outputs in ways configure the Monitor page first.
the HD I/O enclosure are listed as AES/EBU [Encl],
while the AES/EBU inputs and outputs on the fac-
tory-installed Digital I/O card are listed (in pairs)
as AES/EBU 1–2, AES/EBU 3–4, AES/EBU 5–6,
and AES/EBU 7–8. For HD I/Os equipped with a
second Digital I/O Card, the additional AES/EBU
I/O ports on the optional card are listed as
AES/EBU 9–10, AES/EBU 11–12, AES/EBU
13–14, and AES/EBU 15–16.
9 Configure any specific controls for your audio HD OMNI Hardware Setup, Monitor page
interface:
4 Click the Main tab and configure the options.
• “Configuring HD OMNI Controls” on page 58.
• “Configuring HD I/O Controls” on page 59.
• “Configuring HD MADI Controls” on page 60.
10 For additional audio interfaces, select them in
the Peripherals list, and repeat the above steps.
HD OMNI Hardware Setup, Mixer page 5 If you have two HD I/O AD cards, click the
Analog In 9–16 tab and configure the options.
8 When you are finished, click OK.
6 If you have at least one HD I/O Digital card,
click the Digital tab and configure the options.
CPU Meters
The settings for HD MADI Port 1 and
HD MADI Port 2 are linked. Any changes are The CPU Total meter displays session performance
global regardless of which is selected in the for Elastic Audio processing, Clip Gain process-
Peripherals list. ing, and Native plug-in and mixer processing.
3 When you are finished, click OK. The individual CPU meters provide a general indi-
cation of how much Pro Tools is using each of the
processors in your computer.
The Activity section of the System Usage window The Memory meter displays how much of the in-
display meters for disk usage and memory usage. stalled physical RAM in the system is being used
by Pro Tools. This includes RAM used by the au-
Disk Meter dio engine, the video engine (if enabled), plug-ins,
and the disk cache. Other than Pro Tools, it does
As in previous versions of Pro Tools, the Disk me-
not show any other RAM usage by the system. If
ter displays the amount of hard disk processing ac-
the Memory meter approached 100%, install more
tivity.
physical RAM or lower the Disk Cache setting in
the Playback Engine dialog.
Disk Cache Meter
(Pro Tools HD Only)
DSP Usage Meters
Pro Tools HD provides a meter in the System Us- (HDX Systems Only)
age window for monitoring the Disk Cache. This
meter is only present if a fixed Cache Size is se- HDX systems provide additional meters below the
lected in the Playback Engine dialog. Activity meter:
Voices
Time Slots
System Usage window showing Disk Cache meter
The Time Slots meter displays the total number of
The Disk Cache meter indicates the amount of al- DSP Time Slots available and the number of DSP
located memory being used to cache audio in the Time Slots currently used.
timeline (up to the amount of RAM selected for the
Disk Cache setting in the Playback Engine). An DSP
additional peak-meter style indicator is included to The DSP meters display how much of each DSP
show how much of the allocated RAM is needed chip on each HDX card is currently being used for
for caching the session. mixer configurations and DSP-based plug-ins.
DSP Usage
The I/O Setup provides tools to label, format, and assign Pro Tools input, output, insert, and bus audio sig-
nal paths both for individual sessions as well as for your specific Pro Tools system. I/O Setup also provides
controls for PRE (Mic Preamp) signal paths, and Delay Compensation settings for hardware inserts.
The I/O Setup displays a graphical representation (cross-point matrix) of the signal routing for physical in-
put and output paths for each connected audio interface. Like a virtual patchbay, I/O Setup controls let you
route physical inputs and outputs on audio interfaces to Pro Tools input and output channels. For HDX and
HD Native systems, some of these controls mirror the routing controls found in the Hardware Setup—
changes made to physical routing in one is always reflected in the other. The I/O Setup also includes con-
trols for creating internal mix busses and for creating and mapping output busses.
Active/Inactive
Status
Channel Grid
Import/Export Settings
Closing the I/O Setup Main Paths Main paths are logical groupings of in-
puts, inserts, busses, or outputs. For example, a
To close the I/O Setup and save changes: master stereo output path will include both its left
Click OK. and right channels.
Click Cancel.
Opening an I/O Setup Page Configure input signal path names, formats, and
source channel (analog or digital) on the Input
To open an I/O Setup page: page. Multichannel input paths (stereo or greater)
can have any number of sub-paths. Input channels
Click the corresponding tab at the top of the I/O
can have overlapping input paths. Input names,
Setup.
channel widths, and physical input mappings are
Hold the Command key (Mac) or the saved with the system and the session, and can be
Control key (Windows) and use the Left or recalled from either.
Right Arrow keys to cycle through the
different pages of the I/O Setup.
Expand/Collapse
triangle Channel Grid
Active/Inactive
Status box
Channel Grid Assigns paths to specific interfaces Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) the
and channels. Import Settings button to import settings to all
pages of the I/O Setup.
Tracks soloed in AFL (After Fader Listen) or PFL 3 Adjust the AFL/PFL Path fader.
(Pre Fader Listen) Solo mode are routed to the cur-
4 Click on the new fader position (or press Esc) to
rent AFL/PFL Path, as set with the AFL/PFL Path
close the fader display.
selector.
To set the AFL/PFL Path level to 0 dB,
The AFL/PFL Path selector is available in the Out-
Control-Start-click (Windows) or Command-
put and Bus pages of the I/O Setup.
Control-click (Mac) any Solo button.
See “Solo Modes” on page 232 for more in-
formation on using AFL or PFL Solo modes. AFL/PFL Mutes (Output Path)
(Systems without a D-Control or D-Command
To select the AFL/PFL Path output: Control Surface)
Select a path from the AFL/PFL Path pop-up If you are not using a D-Control™ or D-Command®
menu. console, your regular Pro Tools output path can be
muted when you send a signal to the AFL/PFL
Selecting None as the AFL/PFL Path disables
Path. The muted path is set with the AFL/PFL
AFL and PFL Solo modes. When None is
Mutes (Output Path) selector.
selected, AFL and PFL cannot be used.
The AFL/PFL Mutes selector is available in the
Setting AFL or PFL Path Levels
Output and Bus pages of the I/O Setup.
You can set a separate master AFL/PFL Path level
See “Solo Modes” on page 232 for more
for all AFL solos and all PFL solos.
information on selecting and using AFL or
Tracks do not need to be soloed to have the PFL Solo modes.
master AFL/PFL Path level adjusted.
To set which output path is muted when tracks are
To set the AFL/PFL Path level for AFL or PFL soloed in AFL or PFL Solo mode:
solos: 1 Choose Setup > I/O.
1 Choose Options > Solo Mode, and select a Solo 2 Click the Output tab to display the Output page.
mode:
3 Select a path from the AFL/PFL Mutes (Output
• To set the level for AFL solos, select AFL.
Path) pop-up menu.
• To set the level for PFL solos, select PFL.
4 Click OK to save your changes to the I/O Setup
and close the I/O Setup.
With HD Native systems, the Output page of the The Default Monitor Format pop-up menu lets you
I/O Setup lets you enable (or disable) Low Latency select the default monitor format (Stereo, 5.1, or
Monitoring. It also lets you specify any available 7.1) for new Output paths and for when you click
Output path for Low Latency Monitoring. The the Default button.
Output path for Low Latency Monitoring can be of
any channel width (from Mono to 7.1). Low La- This setting does not affect existing path defini-
tency Monitoring uses Outputs 1–2 by default. tions or metering—it only specifies channel map-
ping in new 5.1-format paths.
To configure Low Latency Monitoring in the I/O
Setup:
The Default Monitor Format selector is only avail-
able in the Output page of I/O Setup.
1 Open the I/O Setup dialog (Setup > I/O).
2 Click the Output tab. To choose a Default Monitor Format:
You can prepare a session for use on a differ- • Name insert paths to match your studio configu-
ent system this way. Any paths for hardware ration. Name insert paths using standard indus-
that is not present on the current system will try terminology if possible, such as
appear as inactive. “Compressor,” “Reverb,” “EQ,” and so on.
• Click the H/W Insert Delay tab and enter the cor-
3 For HDX and HD Native systems, double-click rect insert delay in milliseconds for each in-
the label above an interface and enter a name. put/output pair that you are using for hardware
inserts. (See “H/W Insert Delay (Compensation)
With systems using HDX or HD Native hard-
Page” on page 69.)
ware, the I/O Setup bases default Input and
Output path names on the custom name given
to the interface.
The only limit to output choices is the number of The output name updates with a plus sign (“+”) be-
outputs available in your system. fore it to indicate that multiple output ports are se-
lected. In the pop-up menu, each physical port pair
0utput path assignments can overlap in certain assigned to that Pro Tools output pair is indicated
situations. See “Valid Paths and Require- by a check mark.
ments” on page 89 for details.
6 Repeat the above steps to select additional
Pro Tools outputs pairs can also be routed to mul- output destinations.
tiple audio interface outputs in the Hardware
7 Click OK to save changes and close the
Setup.
I/O Setup.
Input signal path from an HD OMNI to the Pro Tools mixer as mapped in I/O Setup
(1) Physical Input For Avid HD interfaces, such as (2) Input Path Main input paths and sub-paths are
the HD OMNI, the physical inputs that are avail- routed (patched) to physical inputs using cross-
able to Pro Tools are set on the Main page of the point matrix mapping in the I/O Setup. In this ex-
Hardware Setup (this selector is mirrored in the In- ample, audio input is routed from HD OMNI phys-
put page of the I/O Setup). ical inputs Analog 1–2 to Pro Tools Input channels
A 1–2.
For Pro Tools systems such as the Mbox Pro
and the 003, physical inputs are fixed. For (3) Track Input Input paths and sub-paths are
third-party and built-in hardware, in the routed to track inputs in the Pro Tools mixer by se-
Hardware Setup click the Launch Setup App lecting the path (or sub-path) from the Track Input
button for available configuration options. selector. In this example, input sub-path A1 is
routed to the input of track “Audio 1.”
Chapter 7: I/O Setup 79
Signal Path Routing for Audio Output
The following example shows the signal path from the output of an audio track through an output bus
mapped to an output path that is routed to a physical output on an HD I/O audio interface:
Output signal path from an audio track to a physical output as mapped in I/O Setup
(1) Track Output Audio is played back from disk (3) Output Path On the Output page of the I/O
and routed from the Track Output to Output Bus Setup, the Grid is used to route the output path (to
“B 1–2.” which the output bus is mapped) to physical out-
puts.
(2) Output Bus Path The Output Bus is defined on
the Bus page of the I/O Setup. On the Bus page of (4) Physical Output For Avid HD audio interfaces,
the I/O Setup, the Output Bus “B 1–2” is mapped such as the HD OMNI, the physical outputs that
to Output “B 1–2,” which is defined on the Output are available to Pro Tools are set on the Main page
page of the I/O Setup. of the Hardware Setup (this selector is mirrored in
the Output page of the I/O Setup).
Add/Remove Rows Click the Add Row button to LCR 1 Stereo (LR), Stereo: <main path
add more paths, or click Click the Remove Row 3 Mono (one for name >.LR
each channel) Mono: <main path
button to remove paths.
name >.L, .C, .R
Move Row Icon Drag a Move Row icon up or
down to reorder paths.
Input Names, formats, and source 4 Click OK to save changes and close the I/O
channel (physical input) Setup.
Path names can be customized in the I/O Setup. 1 Double-click the label above an interface.
Reordering Paths
Selected paths and sub-paths can be reordered
Selecting paths in the I/O Setup
higher or lower in the Path Name column to
To select a range of paths: change their menu order in track Input, Output,
1 Click the path name. Insert, and Bus selectors.
2 Shift-click an additional path name. To reorder paths in the I/O Setup and Track
selectors:
All paths between the first selected path name and
1 Drag one or more selected path names up or
the additional path name will also be
down.
selected.
2 Click OK to save changes and close the I/O
Setup.
Path definitions can be deleted from the current 1 Choose Setup > I/O.
session to reflect changes to your hardware setup, 2 Select a path type using the tabs at the top of the
or to clean up track selector menus by removing window.
unwanted or unnecessary path definitions. After
deleting a path, any tracks or send assignments to 3 Set the Active/Inactive control for the path.
that path are reset to No Output.
3 Click OK to save changes and close the I/O Any tracks that were assigned to the now inactive
Setup. path will show that path's name in italics on the
track's I/O selectors.
To delete all paths:
4 Click OK to save changes and close the I/O
1 Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) any
Setup. Path status is displayed as follows:
path name.
Italics Indicates the path is inactive.
2 Click Delete Path.
3 Click OK to save changes and close the I/O Non-Italics Indicates the path is active.
Setup. With overlapping output paths of different
channel widths, if the widest path is made in-
Making Paths Active or Inactive active, all other overlapped output paths will
not pass audio from Pro Tools.
Pro Tools paths can be Active (on) or Inactive (off,
or unavailable). Paths can be globally activated or
deactivated in the I/O Setup. Making a signal path
inactive will turn off the signal path on any and all
tracks currently assigned to it.
To assign channels:
5.1 Path Order setting
1 Select (or create) a main path or sub-path.
2 Select the channel Format (such as Stereo). Reassiging Paths
3 In the row for the selected path, click in the Grid You can move the individual assignments to dif-
column under an audio interface and channel. ferent channels, to reorder the path’s definition
(for example, changing a multichannel path to L-
R-C-LFE-Ls-Rs).
Valid Paths Channel assignment follows certain Output bus and internal mix bus settings are saved
rules regarding overlapping paths. with and recalled from the session. The advantage
• There can be no partial overlaps between any of this is that when you take a session from one
two output paths. system to another, track and send assignments are
maintained within the session. Where possible,
• A newly-created output path must either be Pro Tools can automatically remap the session’s
completely independent of other assignments output busses to the output paths of the system the
(not assigned to any other available I/O inter- session is being opened on.
face/channels), or it must be a path completely
contained within a larger path (for example, an See “Session Interchange” on page 95 for
LCR sub-path within a larger 5.1 path). more information exchanging sessions be-
tween systems, and on opening sessions in
lower version of Pro Tools. Output busses do
not exist in Pro Tools 8.0.x and lower.
Output busses are mapped (routed) to output paths, 1 On the Bus page of the I/O Setup, click New
as configured on the Output page of the I/O Setup. Path.
Output paths are then assigned to the system’s 2 In the New Paths dialog, specify the number of
physical audio outputs in the I/O Setups Grid (see new paths you want to create, the channel width
“Assigning Paths to Hardware I/O” on page 88). for each path, and the path name.
When you create a new output path on the Output
page of the I/O Setup, a new output bus of the same
width is automatically created and mapped to that
output path. Output busses are also created and
mapped according to default settings when creat-
ing a new session or restoring defaults (see “Re-
storing Default Paths and Path Names” on New Paths dialog
page 84).
3 Click Create to create the new paths.
Physical outputs for output paths are configured on
the Outputs page of the I/O Setups (see “Assigning
Paths to Hardware I/O” on page 88).
To assign ascending (cascading) channels to all 5 Click OK to save changes and close the I/O
selected mono busses mapped to a multichannel Setup.
output:
• Shift-click to select contiguous mono The Bus page of the I/O Setup displays the number
busses in the Name column. of active internal mix busses. If the number of ac-
• Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win- tive busses exceeds the number of available busses
dows) to select noncontiguous mono busses in (256), the display turns red. Delete or deactivate
the Name column. any active busses in excess of the available number
of busses to be able close the I/O Setup and save
2 Command-Option-Shift-click (Mac) or Con- your settings.
trol-Alt-Shift-click (Windows) the mono bus in-
dicator of the top-most mono bus and select the
first channel from the pop-up menu.
1 In the Bus page, click the Name column header. Using the “Stereo Mix” settings file has
the same effect as clicking Default for ev-
2 Click the Name column header again to toggle
ery individual tab in I/O Settings. See
between ascending and descending sort order.
“Restoring Default Paths and Path
To sort bus paths by Format: Names” on page 84.
When you export I/O settings, all pages of the I/O When a Pro Tools session is opened on a system
Setup are exported. for the first time, Pro Tools attempts to automati-
cally remap output busses.
To export and save an I/O Setup configuration as a
custom I/O Settings file: If Pro Tools does not find a matching system ID,
Pro Tools attempts to remap output busses accord-
1 Configure the I/O Setup settings.
ing to the following criteria (in order):
2 Click Export Settings.
Path Name and Format Path names must be ex-
3 Name and save the settings file. The settings file actly the same, and of the same format.
is appended with “.pio” to distinguish it as an
I/O settings file. Path Format Only If matching path names are not
found, Pro Tools remaps paths to existing paths of
To start sessions with a blank or empty the same format (channel width).
I/O Setup, you can create and export an I/O
Settings file in which all definitions have been Any output bus path that cannot be automatically
deleted. remapped is opened as Inactive. You must manu-
ally remap those paths to an active output path.
When exchanging a session between systems with When opening sessions created in Pro Tools 8.0.x
different versions of Pro Tools software (such as and lower in Pro Tools 8.1 or higher, output paths
your Pro Tools 11.0 system and a colleague’s from the legacy session are re-created as output
Pro Tools 7.x system), you can use the following busses. If the Sessions Overwrite Current I/O
to maintain paths and signal routing. Setup When Opened option is enabled, the output
busses are mapped to session output paths.
Pro Tools 8.1 and Higher
If your hardware configuration has changed,
When exchanging sessions among systems run- you may need to manually reconfigure output
ning Pro Tools 8.1 or higher, it is generally recom- assignments in the Grid on the Output page of
mended that the Sessions Overwrite Current I/O the IO Setup. See “Assigning Paths to Hard-
Setup When Opened option be disabled. This ware I/O” on page 88.
maintains any system IO settings when opening a
session from another system (see “Sessions Over- Path Order and Overlapping Output Paths
write Current I/O Setup When Opened” on
When exchanging sessions between Pro Tools 8.1
page 75).
or higher and Pro Tools 8.0.x and lower, output
Pro Tools 8.0.x and Lower paths and sub-paths are changed as follows, de-
pending on the order in which they appear in the
When exchanging sessions with systems running I/O Setups.
lower versions of Pro Tools, it is generally recom-
If a session created in Pro Tools 8.1 or higher
mended that the Sessions Overwrite Current I/O
Setup When Opened option be enabled (see “Ses-
contains overlapping paths with a larger path cre-
sions Overwrite Current I/O Setup When Opened” ated above smaller paths in the I/O Setup, the
on page 75). In this case, any custom settings smaller paths are converted to sub-paths of the
saved with the session that do not match your sys- larger path when the session is opened in Pro Tools
tem may need to be reconfigured manually in the 8.0.x and lower.
I/O Setup to match your current studio setup. If a session created in Pro Tools 8.1 or higher
Basics Section
Track Position Numbers Stay with Hidden
Tracks When selected, tracks keep their track
numbers even when hidden. When not selected,
numbers are only assigned to tracks that are
shown. In this case, shown tracks are then num-
bered sequentially, and hidden tracks are not num-
bered.
Chapter 8: Preferences 99
Tool Tips Display Options Manufacturer Organizes plug-ins by their manu-
facturer (such as Bomb Factory, Focusrite, or TL
Function Configures Tool Tips to show the basic
Labs), with individual plug-ins listed in the manu-
function of the item.
facturer submenus. Plug-Ins that do not have a
Details Configures Tool Tips to show the complete Manufacturer defined will appear in the “Other”
form of an abbreviated name or item (such as a manufacturer folder.
track name). Details view can also show the hidden
Category and Manufacturer Organizes plug-ins in
or abbreviated value of parameters, as well as input
two levels of menus. The top menus display plug-
and output assignments.
ins by process category (such as EQ, Dynamics,
Edit Window Default Length
and Delay), with individual plug-ins listed in the
category submenus. The bottom menus display
This preference sets a default length for the Edit plug-ins by manufacturer (such as Bomb Factory,
window in hours, minutes, seconds, and frames Focusrite, or TL Labs), with individual plug-ins
(Pro Tools HD only). This is useful if you want to listed in the manufacturer submenus.
assemble a session of a particular length or leave
extra room to expand the Edit window’s work area Language Options (Windows Only)
in your session. The maximum length is 24 hours.
You must have Administrator privileges for the
For best scrollbar sensitivity, set the length to
Pro Tools application Properties to change these
slightly longer (a minute or more) than the total
options.
session or song length.
Language Sets the language to use in the
“Organize Plug-In Menus By” Options Pro Tools application, independently of what lan-
These options customize how plug-in menus are guage version of Windows is used.
organized in the Insert selector or Plug-In selector. Default Automatic Naming to English Causes au-
Flat List Organizes plug-ins in a single list, in tomatically named session elements in a session to
alphabetical order. be named in English even when working with the
Pro Tools application set to another language.
Category Organizes plug-ins by process category
(such as EQ, Dynamics, and Delay), with individ- Auto-Switch Input Language
ual plug-ins listed in the category submenus. Plug-
When the Auto-Switch Input Language option is
Ins that do not fit into a standard category (such as
enabled, the input language is switched automati-
the Signal Generator), or third-party plug-ins that
cally from English to the current OS input lan-
have not had a category designated by their devel-
guage when entering text. It automatically
opers, appear in the Other category. Plug-Ins can
switches back to English for using Keyboard com-
appear in more than one category.
mands in Pro Tools. When disabled, English is
used when entering text regardless of the current
OS input language.
Always Display Marker Colors Lets you choose to None Turns off color assignment for clips. Clips
view Marker colors in the Markers ruler, regard- are drawn with black waveform or MIDI notes on
less of the settings you choose for Default Clip a light gray background.
Color Coding.
Tracks and MIDI Channels Assigns a color to each
MIDI Note Color Shows Velocity When enabled, clip in the Edit window according to its voice or
MIDI notes display varying shades of the assigned MIDI channel assignment.
track color in MIDI notes view in the Edit window
Tracks and MIDI Devices Assigns a color to each
and in MIDI Editor windows. Notes with high ve-
clip in the Edit window according to its voice as-
locities are darker and notes with lower velocities
signment or MIDI device assignment.
are lighter.
Groups Assigns a color to each clip according to
Default Track Color Coding Options the Group ID of its track. If groups are suspended
using the Suspend Groups command, all clips dis-
These color coding options determine the default
play black waveforms or MIDI notes on a light
color coding assignment for tracks in the Edit and
gray background.
Mix windows. The options are:
Track Color Assigns a clip color based on the color
None Turns off color assignment for tracks.
assigned to the track.
Tracks and MIDI Channels Assigns a color to each
Marker Locations Assigns a unique color to each
track in the Mix or Edit window according to its
marker area in the Marker ruler, including the area
voice or MIDI channel assignment.
preceding the first marker.
Tracks and MIDI Devices Assigns a color to each
Clip List Color Assigns a color to each clip based
track in the Mix or Edit window according to its
on its color in the Clip List.
voice assignment or MIDI device assignment.
Audio During Fast Forward/Rewind When se- For more information, see “Custom Shuttle
lected, audio is audible during fast forward or Lock Speed” on page 529.
rewind.
Custom FF/REW Speed Sets the speed for fast for-
ward and rewind in relation to normal playback.
The range for this setting is 100–3,200%.
“Separate Clip” Operates On All Related Specifies a default length for crossfades created by
Takes When selected, editing a clip with the QuickPunch or TrackPunch (Pro Tools HD only)
Separate Clip command also affects all other re- recordings. Crossfades occur before the punch in
lated takes (recording passes) with the same User and after the punch out.
Time Stamp. This option helps you compare dif-
Preserve Fades when Editing This option pre-
ferent sections from a group of related takes.
serves fade-ins and fade outs, and converts sepa-
Clip Gain Nudge Value This setting specifies the rated crossfades into corresponding fade-ins and
amount (from 0.1 dB to 6.0 dB) by which clip gain fade-outs.
settings are adjusted when nudging clip gain.
Default EQ
Metering Preferences Pro Tools lets you choose from several industry
standard meter types for visually monitoring audio
levels. You can link the Track (audio, Auxiliary In-
put, and Instrument tracks) and Master (Master
Fader) meter settings, or you can set them inde-
pendently of one another. The following Meter
Type options are available:
The PPM Digital option, like all other Meter Type K-12 (Pro Tools HD Only) The K-scales are RMS
options besides Sample Peak, does not report ev- based scales with an integrated sample peak meter
ery transient (such as a series of very fast tran- as a secondary value. K-Scales are popular with
sients). However, even though it under-reports the music mixers that are looking for a meaningful in-
actual digital dynamic range, it more closely dication of overall loudness. K-12 should be re-
matches human hearing of loudness over time. served strictly for audio to be dedicated to broad-
cast, though broadcast recording engineers may
choose K-14 if they feel it fits their program mate-
rial.
Peak/Clip Section Enable the Show Track Gain Reductions Meter op-
tion to show Gain Reduction meters in tracks on
Peak Hold Options
audio, Auxiliary Input, Instrument, and Master
These options determine how long the peak indica- Fader tracks in the Mix window. Note that even
tors on track meters stay lit after a peak is detected. when this option is enabled, Gain Reduction me-
ters are only displayed for those tracks with sup-
3 Seconds When selected, track meters display ported dynamics plug-in inserted. When this op-
the last peak level for three seconds. tion is disabled, Gain Reduction meters are not
Infinite When selected, track meters display the displayed on tracks.
last peak level until you click them to clear them.
Show Insert Assignments Gain Reduction
None When selected, track meters do not hold the Meter
peak level. (Pro Tools HD Only)
When this option is selected, VITC is inserted into This setting lets you select from the following op-
the outgoing video signal—assuming that a video tions for Bi-Phase or Tach wiring:
signal is present at a synchronization peripheral • Bi-Phase: FWD = A leads B
video input, and that the synchronization periph-
eral is in a valid mode for inserting VITC. • Bi-Phase: FWD = B leads A
• Tach:FWD = B is Low
Pitch Memory Enabled
• Tach: FWD = B is High
When this option is selected, the synchronization
peripheral will remain at a pitch (sample rate) that
corresponds to the last known incoming timecode
speed. When deselected, the Synchronization pe-
This button lets you set the Bi-Phase/Tach start Machine Control
frame from Pro Tools. Click the button to update
the Timecode Display on the synchronization pe- The Machine Control page lets you configure
ripheral to match the session timecode value. Pro Tools for use with MIDI Machine Control or
9-Pin Machine Control.
Enable Dub Window
For information about the MachineControl
When this option is selected, you can insert a time- Software Option for Pro Tools, see the
code window into a video signal with the follow- MachineControl Guide.
ing Window dub appearance settings:
Enable Enable
When the Enable option is selected, Pro Tools is When the Enable option is selected, Pro Tools is
the Master and it sends MMC commands to the the slave and it receives MMC commands from the
slave device and receives MTC information back master device and sends MTC information back to
from the slave device. the slave device.
The MIDI Out Port pop-up menu lets you select the The MMC ID setting lets you specify the MMC ID
MIDI Out port to which the slave device is con- number for which MMC information will be re-
nected. ceived.
MMC ID
9-Pin Machine Control (Deck
The MMC ID setting lets you specify the MMC ID Control)
number for which MMC information will be sent. (HDX and HD Native Systems with
MMC commands contain an ID number to identify MachineControl Only)
which machine should respond to the MMC com- The 9-Pin Machine Control (Deck Control) settings
mand. There are 128 MMC ID numbers, from let you configure a Machine Control device for Se-
0–127. The default of ID #127 is a special setting rial Deck Control mode with Pro Tools. Serial
that transmits to all 128 MMC IDs. With a setting Deck Control mode is available whenever Ma-
of 127, Pro Tools will transmit MMC commands chine Control is connected using the Serial Deck
to all MMC IDs. Control cable. When connected for Serial Deck
Control mode, Machine Control enables all
Preroll
Pro Tools track arming, synchronization, and
The Preroll setting lets you specify a pre-roll time Transport features, as available on your system.
in frames for your MMC slave device. Pre-roll is Serial Deck Control mode also supports 9-pin se-
needed to provide the device with sufficient time rial timecode.
to lock to the timecode transmitted by Pro Tools.
This value will vary depending on the external de- Enable
vice. If the pre-roll time is insufficient, the device When the Enable option is selected, Pro Tools is in
may not be ready to lock until after the current Serial Deck Control mode.
timecode position has passed.
Port
After you select a port, Pro Tools automatically The Machine Type setting lets you select the ma-
polls the port to see what kind of machine is con- chine description for specific machine controllers
nected. If the machine is recognized, Pro Tools (such as the Soundmaster ATOM). By default,
loads the corresponding Machine Type. This in- Pro Tools emulates a Sony BVW-75.
cludes the corresponding track layout and auto-
matically enters the name of that machine into the Chase LTC
Machine Track Arming window. However, if the
When Chase LTC is enabled, Pro Tools still re-
machine is not recognized, the “Generic 1” per-
sponds to track arming and record commands.
sonality is automatically loaded.
However, Pro Tools will chase incoming LTC in-
stead of behaving as a master or slave device with
Preroll
the machine controller. By slaving Pro Tools to the
The Preroll setting lets you specify a variable LTC source instead of slaving the machine to
amount of machine preroll to account for the time Pro Tools timecode, you can avoid the waiting
it may take the machine to achieve servo lock. (and tape wear) that occurs while a machine trans-
Shorter preroll values are usually better for non- port locates and bumps tape to the cue point.
linear machines. Longer preroll values are usually
better for older tape transports. The Machine pre-
roll value is added to any preroll specified in the MIDI Controllers
Transport window.
The MIDI Controllers page lets you configure up
to four different MIDI controllers for Pro Tools.
9-Pin Remote (Deck Emulation)
(HDX and HD Native Systems with
MachineControl Only)
Enable
Port
Type
Receive From
Ethernet Controller
Click the Name button to enter a name for the se- The Type setting lets you select none or PRE.
lected Ethernet controller. Select the PRE option to declare any connected
PRE.
Enable EUCON (Extended User Control)
Receive From
When selected, Pro Tools is enabled for control by
one or more EUCON-compatible controllers. EU- The Receive From setting lets you specify the
CON is an innovative high-speed Ethernet proto- MIDI In port to which the PRE is connected.
col developed by Avid to allow hardware control
surface to directly communicate with a software Send To
application.
The Send To setting lets you specify the MIDI Out
For more information about using Pro Tools port to which the PRE is connected.
with EUCON, see the documentation
Defaults
included with your controller.
Click the Reset button reset the corresponding
PRE to its default settings.
Mic Preamps
Retain Current Settings
The Mic Preamps page lets you configure up to
nine different Mic Preamps (PRE) for Pro Tools. Select the Retain Current Settings option to retain
PRE channel settings when an existing session
For information about the PRE, see the with different settings is loaded. New sessions will
PRE Guide. automatically retain the current settings.
Satellite Link lets you link up to 12 HDX or The Mode settings let you configure the satellite
HD Native systems (or any combinations of 11 behavior of the local system.
HDX or HD Native systems and an Avid Video
Administrator When enabled, the Administrator
Satellite system or a Pro Tools Video Satellite sys-
tem) over an Ethernet network so that you can cue, option sets the local system to be the administrator
play, and stop the transport, make play selections, system for any satellite systems on the network.
and solo tracks across any of the systems from any Satellite systems can be declared from the admin-
linked workstation. istrator system.
System Name
VENUE System
If you are using external MIDI devices with 2 If the MIDI Studio window is not showing,
Pro Tools (such as controllers or sound modules), choose Window > MIDI Studio.
you can customize your MIDI studio setup to dis-
play the names of your MIDI devices in Pro Tools.
Making MIDI input and output connections For Manufacturer and Model names, AMS
refers to one or more files with the suffix
6 Click the arrow for the appropriate input port of “.middev” in the directory Root/Library/
the device and drag a cable to the output arrow Audio/MIDI Devices. Pro Tools installs a file
of the corresponding port of the MIDI interface. that contains information for many commer-
cially available MIDI devices, named
To remove a connection, select the cable and
“Digidesign Device List.middev.” If the
press Delete.
Manufacturer or Model names for any of
7 Repeat steps 3–6 for each MIDI device in your your external MIDI devices is not available in
MIDI setup. the AMS Manufacturer and Model pop-up
menus, you can add them by editing the
To customize an external MIDI device in AMS: .middev file in any text editor (such as
TextEdit).
1 Select the external device icon and click Show
Info (or double-click the new device icon).
For more information, see “MIDI Patch
Names” on page 664.
Interface Controls
MSS also supports XML-based patch file names
for storing and importing patch names for your ex- Create Adds a new instrument to the Instrument
ternal MIDI devices. Name list.
Entire MIDI Studio Setup configurations created Delete Deletes the instrument or instruments
within MSS can be imported and exported. selected in the Instrument Name list.
To configure your MIDI studio with MSS: Import Imports an existing MIDI Studio Setup file.
1 In Pro Tools, choose Setup > MIDI > MIDI Export Exports the current MIDI Studio Setup file.
Studio.
Show Duplicate Emulated Ports When this option
2 Configure the MIDI Studio Setup windows. is selected and you are using a MIDI interface that
3 When you are finished configuring the MIDI supports time-stamping, the MIDI Studio setup
Studio Setup, close the MIDI Studio Setup window shows both the DirectMusic time-stamped
window. output ports, and non-stamped duplicate emulated
output ports.
MIDI Studio Setup Window Some MIDI Interfaces will not properly load
The MIDI Studio Setup window is organized into or unload their drivers unless you quit and
three sections. Interface controls are at the top of re-launch Pro Tools. Refer to the documenta-
the window. All the currently defined instruments tion that came with your MIDI interface for
are displayed in the Instrument Name list on the more information.
left side of the window. A detailed view of MIDI Instrument List
parameters is shown in the Properties section on
the right. The Instrument list contains all the currently de-
fined 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 The Instrument Name field shows the user-defin-
new instruments, or instrument currently selected able instrument name for the currently selected in-
in the Instrument list. strument.
6 From the Output pop-up menu, choose the out- If you set the input port to None, the defined
put port on your MIDI interface that is con- instrument will not appear as a choice in a
nected to the MIDI In of your instrument. MIDI Input Selector.
Send Channels
Receive Channels
The first step in beginning a Pro Tools project is Creating a New Session from a
creating a new session. Sessions are represented by Template
session files that can be saved, copied and made
into templates. To create a new session from a template:
1 Select Create Session from Template.
2 From the Session Template pop-up menu,
Quick Start Session Dialog select the category for the session templates you
Pro Tools provides a Quick Start dialog on launch want.
that lets you quickly and easily create a new ses-
sion or open an existing one. You can choose to
show or hide the Quick Start dialog on launch in
the Pro Tools Operation Preferences.
Press Control+Up Arrow or Down Arrow Session Template pop-up menu, Quick Start dialog
(Windows) or Command+Up Arrow or
Down Arrow (Mac) to select different Session
You can create your own custom categories.
Quick Start options. Also, you can use the Up
For more information, see “Session Tem-
and Down Arrows to select different items in
plates” on page 158.
the Recent Sessions and Session Templates
lists.
2 Select any of the last ten recent sessions from Show Quick Start Dialog when Pro Tools Starts option
the list (on the right). 4 Click OK.
3 Click OK.
9 Click OK.
10 In the Save dialog, name the session, navigate to
the location where you want to save the new
session and click Save.
Bit Depths
Session Setup window, selecting 32 Bit Float
16-Bit Using 16-bit for audio files is useful for
keeping audio file sizes down. You may want to Sample Rates
use 16-bit for sessions with few tracks, and little
44.1 kHz Is the sample rate used for CDs and is
mixing and plug-in processing. CDs (Compact
used in most common music production environ-
Discs) use 16-bit.
ments.
24-Bit Using 24-bit for audio files is commonly
48 kHz Is the standard sample rate for film and
used for most music production and post-produc-
video projects, and is commonly used in post-pro-
tion sessions with multiple audio tracks, mixing,
duction environments. It is the sample rate used for
and plug-in processing. 24-bit files take up a third
DVDs.
as much space as 16-bit files.
88.2 kHz and 96 kHz Each of these sample rates
32-Bit Floating Point Using a 32-bit floating point
are twice the standard sample rates for CD audio
bit depth for audio files in Pro Tools sessions can
and DVD audio respectively. Audio files recorded
help avoid clipping or unnecessary dithering with
at higher sample rates take up more drive space,
AudioSuite rendering. It can also help avoid
but provide higher resolution for time-based plug-
rounding errors in signal processing (which can
in processing (which can help avoid aliasing).
occur during bit depth conversion for file playback
These options are only available if you are running
and real-time plug-in insert processing). However,
Pro Tools with audio hardware that supports these
32-bit files take up a third more disk space and au-
sample rates.
dio streaming bandwidth, which can be problem-
atic with higher track counts when using slower 176.4 kHz and 192 kHz Each of these sample rates
hard drives. are four times the standard sample rates for CD au-
dio and DVD audio respectively. Audio files re-
You can change the bit depth for all newly re-
corded at higher sample rates take up more drive
corded or imported (and converted) files in the ses-
space, but provide higher resolution for time-based
sion by selecting a different Bit Depth option in the
plug-in processing (which can help avoid aliasing).
Session Setup window.
These options are only available if you are running
Pro Tools with audio hardware that supports these
sample rates.
You can change the audio file format for all newly An interleaved audio file contains all channel in-
recorded or imported (and converted) files in a ses- formation, stored in an alternating single audio
sion by selecting a different Audio Format option “stream.” Interleaving distributes and “inter-
in the Session Setup window. leaves” the consecutive bits of data. This helps
protect against consecutive errors when the data is
To change the Audio Format for the Pro Tools read back.
session:
1 Choose Setup > Session. Multi-mono, or “split-mono” multi-channel audio
files are separate mono audio files that are treated
2 In the Session Setup window, select an audio together as a multichannel group of audio files.
file format (AIF or WAV) from the Audio For- This lets you each channel (file) independently.
mat selector. For example, with stereo files, two separate files
are created, where one file contains the left chan-
nel, and the other file contains the right channel.
The files are identified by the suffixes of “.L” and
“.R”. The two files are linked, and are edited as a
pair in stereo tracks in Pro Tools. However, you
can decouple them and split them to individual
mono audio tracks in Pro Tools so that the can be
edited, processed, and mixed independently.
By storing waveform data in the WaveCache file, For more information on opening sessions
sessions open more quickly. The session Wave- created on different platforms, Pro Tools sys-
Cache file can be included whenever a session is tems, or versions of Pro Tools software, see
transferred to another Pro Tools system (7.x and Chapter 18, “File and Session Management
higher). and Compatibility.”
Pro Tools also maintains a distinct WaveCache file To open an existing session:
inside the Databases folder, which retains wave- 1 Choose File > Open Session.
form data for all files used on the system.
2 Locate the session you want to open and click
Deleting or trashing a WaveCache file does not Open.
harm the session or your system. However, the ses-
sion will take longer to open because it has to re- You can also open a session from a Work-
calculate waveform data for any associated space browser by double-clicking it.
audio files and store that data in a new WaveCache
file. When importing SD II files into Pro Tools,
they must be converted to a supported audio
Session File Backups Folder file format (.WAV or .AIF).
If you have made changes to a session since you 2 Type a new name for your session.
last saved it, you can discard those changes and re- 3 Click Save.
vert to its previously saved state.
The renamed session file is saved in the session
To revert to the last saved version of a session: folder along with the original session (unless you
Choose File > Revert to Saved. specify a different destination). Any new audio
files that you record in your renamed session will
If you have enabled the Operation preference be placed into the same Audio Files folder that was
for Auto Backup, you can also open up a created for your original session.
backup copy of your session. This feature lets
you specify the total number of incremental
backups that are kept and how often the ses-
sion is saved. See “Auto Backup Section” on
page 103.
16-bit to 16-bit No No
When saving a copy of a session with the Save You can save the session at various sample rates
Copy In command, the following Session Parame- depending on your system hardware. See “Sup-
ters are available: ported Hardware Configurations with Pro Tools
Software” on page 36.
Audio File Type
If your session is at a different sample rate, audio
You can save the session to reference BWF files are converted to the new session sample rate,
(.WAV) or AIFF audio files. and copied to the specified location.
Using Mixed File Types
Fader Gain
A session can use mixed audio file types. If your
When saving a Pro Tools 7.x or higher session to a
original session has mixed file types, they are not
lower version that supports +12 dB fader gain, you
converted to the selected file type unless you spec-
can save the new session with either a +6 dB or a
ify that they be converted by selecting the Convert
+12 dB maximum fader gain. When saving a
to Specified Format option in the Items To Copy
+12 dB session as a +6 dB session, any automation
section (see “Items to Copy” on page 157).
over +6 dB will be lowered to +6 dB.
Bit Depth
Enforce Mac/PC Compatibility
You can save the session at a Bit Depth of 16 Bit,
When saving a Pro Tools 7.x or higher session to a
24 Bit, or 32 Bit Float.
lower version, enable the Enforce Mac/PC Com-
Pro Tools 10.0 and higher sessions can use audio patibility option to force Windows or Mac versions
files with different bit depths. If your original ses- of Pro Tools to create sessions and audio files that
sion has mixed bit depths, they are not converted to are compatible on both platforms.
the selected bit depth unless you specify that they
be converted by selecting the Convert to Specified For more information, see “Saving Copies
Format option in the Items To Copy section (see
of Mac Sessions to be Compatible with Win-
“Items to Copy” on page 157). dows” on page 370.
When saving to a Session Format lower than 10.0, Limit Character Set
if your session is in a different bit depth, audio files When saving a copy of a session to the current ses-
are converted to the new session bit depth, and sion format, you can choose to limit the character
copied to the specified location. Also, 32 Bit Float set to a single language by selecting the Limit Char-
is not available for session formats lower than acter Set option.
10.0.
When saving a copy of a session to a lower session
For information on bouncing to disk and format, the Limit Character Set option is automati-
dither, see “Using Dither” on page 1046. cally selected. Select a language from the Limit
Character Set pop-up menu.
Convert To Specified Format When this option is selected, only the selected
tracks in the source session are saved with the ses-
When the Convert To Specified Format option is sion copy. This option is automatically enabled
selected, all copied audio files are converted to the when choosing File > Export > Selected Tracks As
specified audio file format settings in the Session New Session.
Parameters section. When this option is not se-
lected, any copied audio files retain their original When this option is not selected, all tracks in the
audio file format settings (including sample rate source session are saved with the session copy.
and bit depth), and are exactly copied, bit-by-bit. This option is automatically disabled when choos-
ing File > Save Session Copy.
Note that copying formats bit-by-bit is much
faster than converting files. Session Plug-In Settings Folder
This option is automatically selected if you do any When this option is selected, the session’s Plug-In
of the following: Settings folder is copied to the new location. The
references to these plug-in settings in the session
• Save to a session format lower than 10.0.
are redirected to the copied settings files.
• Enable Enforce Mac/PC Compatibility.
5 Click OK.
The Category pop-up menu is only available if the Select this option to include any audio, MIDI, or
Install Template In System option is enabled. The
video media in the session with the template.
Category pop-up menu lets you select the subdi-
rectory in which to save the template file. It also Creating New Sessions from
provides options for adding a category and reveal- Templates
ing the Session Templates folder in Windows Ex- You can create new session from templates by
plorer or the Mac Finder. opening a template. You can open any Pro Tools
Add Category Select this option from the Cate- Session Template file (.ptt) to start a new session
gory pop-up menu to create a new subdirectory in based on that template.
the Session Templates folder.
For information on creating new sessions
from templates using the Quick Start dialog,
see “Creating a New Session from a Tem-
plate” on page 143.
To close a session:
Exiting or Quitting
Pro Tools | Software
When you exit (Windows) or quit (Mac) the
Pro Tools application, Pro Tools prompts you to
save any open session before exiting or closing the
application.
Pro Tools provides two complementary ways of Edit Window Shows tracks and track material
viewing tracks in a session: against the Timeline (see “Edit Window” on
page 164).
Mix Window Shows tracks as channel strips, like a
mixing board (see “Mix Window” on page 162). To toggle between the Mix and Edit windows,
press Control+Equals (=) (Windows), or
press Command+Equals (=) (Mac).
Plug-In window
Edit window
Mix window
Workspace browser
Transport window
Instrument
Track List View
(page 218) (page 917)
Inserts View
(page 917)
Sends View
(page 917)
Solo/Mute
(page 232)
Volume
fader
(page 199)
Level meter
Voice selector (page 200)
(page 228)
AutoMatch
indicator Track Name
(page 997) (page 208)
Universe view
Grid and (page 549)
Nudge values
Zoom buttons (page 508) (page 166) Edit Window
Counters and Edit Toolbar and menu
Edit Mode
Edit tools Selection indicators Transport controls (page 165)
buttons
(page 503) (page 507) (page 546) (page 169)
Track List
(page 218)
Tracks
(page 189)
Edit Group
List
(page 735)
ment of audio and MIDI clips (and MIDI notes), Automatic Delay Compensation
Transport When selected, the Transport controls Minimal When selected, the Zoom, Transport,
are displayed in the Edit window toolbar. MIDI, and Synchronization controls are not dis-
played in the Edit window toolbar.
MIDI Controls When selected, the MIDI controls Expanded Transport When selected, the
are displayed in the window toolbar. Expanded Transport controls are displayed in the
Edit window toolbar if Transport is also
selected.
Transport Window
The Transport window can be set to show basic
transport controls, counters, MIDI controls, and
expanded features. The counters in the Transport
window mirror the controls and counters at the top
of the Edit window.
MIDI Zoom button (Edit window)
To display the Transport window:
Sample 1 second
Pre-
Roll
Fast Forward Fast forwards from the Timeline in-
Post-
Roll sertion point. You can also click repeatedly to fast
forward incrementally (by an amount based on the
Start, End, and Length Main Time Scale).
Selection indicators
TrackInput Monitor
indicator
With Numeric Keypad mode set to Trans-
port, you can fast forward by pressing 2.
Transport window showing basic transport controls
and counters (Main and Sub Counters and MIDI not Go to End Locates to the end of the session.
shown)
Online Puts Pro Tools online so that playback and You can press Control+Enter (Windows) or
recording is triggered by an external timecode Option+Return (Mac) on the alphanumeric
source. keyboard to locate to the end of the session.
You can Right-click the Return to Zero but- You can also stop the transport by pressing
ton to access the Write to Start and Write to the Spacebar, or with the Numeric Keypad
All automation commands. mode set to Transport, pressing 0.
Rewind Rewinds from the current play location. Play Starts playback or (if the Record button was
You can also click repeatedly to rewind incremen- clicked first) recording from the Timeline insertion
tally, by an amount based on the Main Time Scale, point or the Play Start Marker location if Dynamic
as follows: Transport mode is enabled.
With the Numeric Keypad mode set to Trans- You can also begin playback by pressing the
port, you can rewind by pressing 1. Spacebar, or with the Numeric Keypad mode
set to Transport, pressing 0.
Search Tools Let you search your system for files For detailed information about the Task win-
and folders by simple or advanced search criteria. dow, see “Task Manager Window” on
page 305.
Browser Menu Provides commands for file man-
agement.
Column Headers Display the type of metadata dis- In-Application Web Browser
played in the Items List. Column Headers can be:
Pro Tools provides easy access to the online Avid
• Resized by dragging the column border, or rear- Store, as well as web-based Pro Tools Help, the
ranged by dragging the Column headers. Avid Support Center, and other online resources
• Dragged to either of two available panes, the using two in-application Web browsers.
Fixed or Scrolling panes.
Avid Marketplace Provides a secure web connec-
Locations Pane Provides a view of Volumes (and tion to Avid’s online commerce web pages for
folders and files), Catalogs, and the currently open Pro Tools.
Session for your system. Pro Tools Online Provides easy access to web-
Browser Pane Provides a view of items on your based Pro Tools Help, the Knowledge Base, and
system contained within the Volume (or folder), Avid Audio community forums.
Catalog, or open session that is selected in the Lo-
To launch the Pro Tools in-application Web
cations pane. Alternatively, the Browser pane dis-
browser for online commerce, choose one of the
plays search results. following from the Marketplace menu:
The Pro Tools in-application Web browser pro- Click the Launch in External Web Browser icon
vides a few simple navigation controls in the Web in either the Avid Marketplace window or the
Browser Tool Bar. Pro Tools Online window.
Go Backward
Go Forward
Go Home
Refresh
Locations
Avid Marketplace
Pro Tools Web browser
The Marketplace menu in Pro Tools lets you ac-
Go Backward Clicking the Go Backward button cess your Avid Account, the Avid online store (to
navigates back to the previously viewed page. shop for plug-ins, upgrades, or Avid support).
Go Forward Clicking the Go Forward button navi- To log in to your online Avid account:
gates forward to the next page.
Choose Marketplace > Your Account.
Go Home Clicking the Home button navigates to
the starting page for the currently selected Loca- To access the Avid online store for plug-ins:
tion. Choose Marketplace > Plug-ins.
Refresh Clicking the Refresh button reloads the You can also access the Avid online store
currently viewed page. from the AudioSuite menu and from track In-
Locations Clicking a location button navigates to sert selectors for plug-ins by choosing the
the corresponding starting page on the Avid web- Avid Marketplace option.
site. The Avid Marketplace and Pro Tools Online
To access the Avid online store for support and
browsers provide different Location options. training, do one of the following:
You can launch the currently viewed page in the Choose Help > Avid Support and Training.
default Web browser for your operating system.
To access the Avid online store for software
upgrades:
In addition to the local resources that are installed The Pro Tools Knowledge Base command pro-
with Pro Tools, the Help menu provides access to vides access to the online Avid Knowledge Base
the Pro Tools Online browser. using the Pro Tools in-application web browser.
The Avid Knowledge Base provides extensive in-
To access the Pro Tool online resources from the formation for you to solve problems you may en-
Help menu: counter with Pro Tools (including compatibility
Click Help and choose one of the following: information and software updates).
• Pro Tools Help Avid Audio Forums
• Pro Tools Knowledge Base
The Avid Audio Forums command provides access
• Avid Audio Forums to the online Avid Audio Forums using the
Pro Tools in-application web browser. The Avid
Pro Tools Help
Audio Forum provide a broad-based user commu-
The Pro Tools Help command provides access to nity where you can interact with other Pro Tools
web-based Pro Tools Help within the Pro Tools users.
web browser. You will always have access to the
latest Pro Tools Help files as they become avail- Avid Support Center
able. You will also have access to localized The Avid Support Center command provides ac-
Pro Tools Help files as translations become avail- cess to the online Avid Support Center using the
able. Pro Tools in-application web browser. The Avid
If you are not connected to the Internet, Pro Tools Support Center provides support instructions for
will open the local English Help files that are in- your Avid products.
stalled with Pro Tools.
Check for Updates
You can also access Pro Tools Help online
To check for the latest updates for Pro Tools
using Safari or Explorer. This can be useful software, hardware drivers, and plug-ins:
if Pro Tools is not running, or if you want to
change the version or language of Help you Choose Help > Check for Updates.
are using. For more information, visit
(http://apps.avid.com/ProToolsHelp).
Window Configurations
Pro Tools provides a powerful means of managing
the configuration of windows in your session, as
well as the internal configurations of the Edit, Mix,
MIDI Editor, Score Editor, and Transport win-
dows. Use the Window Configuration List to cre-
ate (or delete) and manage stored Window Config-
urations. Pro Tools lets you store up to 99 Window
Configurations. Window Configurations are saved New Window Configuration dialog
with the session.
3 In the New Window Configuration dialog, do
Create a session template with your favorite one of the following:
Window Configurations. You can then use the • Select Window Layout and whether or not to in-
template when you start a new session, or you clude the Edit, Mix, Targeted MIDI Editor,
can use Import Session Data to Score Editor, and Transport window display set-
import Window Configurations into your cur- tings.
rent session.
• Select a Window Display Settings option from
the pop-up menu (Edit Window, Mix Window,
Creating New Window MIDI Editor (Targeted), Score Editor Window, or
Configurations
Transport Window.
To create a new Window Configuration: 4 Name the Window Configuration.
1 Open the windows you want to include in the
5 You can type a different number for the new
Window Configuration and position them
Window Configuration. If the number you type
where you want on the screen.
is already used by another Window Configura-
2 Do one of the following: tion, you are prompted to replace it or Cancel.
• Choose Window > Configurations > New Config- Otherwise, Pro Tools automatically fills in the
uration. first available number (1–99) for the Window
Configuration.
• If the Window Configuration List is open,
choose New Configuration from the Window
Configuration List pop-up menu.
Choose Window > Configurations > Update Ac- 2 From the Window Configuration List pop-up
tive Configuration. The active Window Config- menu, select Clear <Name>.
uration updates to include any changes to its
included properties (Window Layout and Win- Deleting Window Configurations
dow Display Settings).
Deleting a Window Configuration removes it and
From the Window Configuration List pop-up its slot number, and renumbers any subsequent
menu, choose Update <Name>. The selected Window Configurations.
Window Configuration updates with any
changes to its included properties. To delete a Window Configuration:
1 In the Window Configuration List, select the
To have Pro Tools automatically update the active Window Configuration you want to delete.
Window Configuration, do one of the following:
2 From the Window Configuration List pop-up
Select Window > Configurations > Auto-Update
menu, select Delete <Name>.
Active Configuration.
From the Window Configuration List pop-up To delete all Window Configurations:
menu, select Auto-Update Active Configuration. From the Window Configuration List pop-up
When Auto-Update Active Configuration is menu, select Delete All.
selected, the active Window Configuration
updates with every change to the Window Layout
and Window Display Settings.
1 Choose File > Import > Session Data. To hide or show all floating windows:
2 Select the Window Configurations option. Select or deselect Window > Hide All Floating
Windows.
3 If you only want to import Window Configura-
tions, click the Session Data to Import pop-up Press Control+Alt+Start+W (Windows) or
menu and select None. Command+Option+Control+W (Mac) to
hide or show all floating windows.
4 Click OK.
Closing Windows
Arranging Windows
To close an open window:
Pro Tools provides commands to tile or cascade all
open windows. Floating windows (such as plug-in 1 Make sure the window you want to close is in
windows) and the Transport window are not af- the foreground.
fected by these commands. 2 Do one of the following:
To arrange windows:
• Click the Close button for the window.
• Choose Window > Close Window.
Choose Window > Arrange and select one of the
following: Press Control+W (Windows) or
Tile Arranges all open windows in a tiled pattern Command+W (Mac) to close the
on the screen. frontmost window.
• Beat Detective window The location and size of the Window Con-
• Plug-In windows figuration List is not stored with Window
Configurations.
• Panner windows
• Mic Pre windows A Window Configuration can also store the Win-
dow Display settings for the Edit, Mix, Targeted
MIDI Editor, Score Editor, and Transport win-
dows.
Comments Lets you type comments for the Window Configuration List view filter icons
Window Configuration.
Pro Tools Main Menus The Help menu also provides access to the Avid
Support Center and to the Check For Updates
Pro Tools includes the following main menus: command.
File Provides commands that are used to create and
maintain Pro Tools sessions.
Track List Menu Provides commands to show and Track Name Right-Click Menu Right-clicking a
hide tracks in the Mix, Edit, MIDI Editor, and track name in the Edit window, Mix window, or
Score Editor windows. The Track List pop-up the Track List provides access to various track
menu also lets you sort the contents of the Track commands (such as show/hide, make active/inac-
List. tive, rename, duplicate, and delete tracks).
For more information, see “Track List” on For more information, see “Track Name
page 218. Right-Click Menu” on page 221.
Group List Menu (Edit Groups and Mix Clip Name Right-Click Menu (Edit Window Only)
Groups) Provides commands to create, display,
suspend, and delete Mix and Edit Groups. Right-clicking a clip name in the Clip List pro-
vides commands to clear, rename, time stamp, or
For more information, see “The Group List” replace clips (Pro Tools HD software only). The
on page 243 pop-up menu also lets you export clip definitions
or selected clips as files, recalculate waveform
Clip List Menu (Edit Window Only) Provides com- overviews, select the parent file of selected clips in
mands to find, select, sort, clear, rename, time a Workspace Browser, or select a clip as an object
stamp, compact, export, and recalculate waveform in the Edit window.
overviews of items in the Clip List. The pop-up
menu also lets you set the drop order for clips For more information, see Chapter 15,
dragged from the Clip List and dropped in the “The Clip List.”
Timeline.
Group Name and Track Group ID
For more information, see Chapter 15, Indicator Pop-Up Menus
“The Clip List.”
When you click and hold on a group name in the
Group List, or click on a Group ID indicator in a
track, a pop-up menu provides access to various
group commands (such as selecting tracks in a
group).
3 Click OK.
Pro Tools provides different types of tracks for Master Fader Tracks Master Fader tracks control
working with audio, MIDI, and video in Pro Tools the overall level of audio paths that are routed to
sessions. physical output paths. For example, you could
have 24 tracks in a session with channels 1–8
routed to Analog Output 1–2, channels 9–16 to
Track Types Analog Output 3–4, and channels 17–24 to Analog
Output 5–6. You could then create three master
In a Pro Tools session, you can have several differ- faders, one to control each of these output pairs.
ent types of tracks. These can include audio, Aux-
iliary Input, Master Fader, VCA Master Master Fader tracks have additional uses (such as
(Pro Tools HD only), MIDI, Instrument, and video controlling submix levels). For more information,
tracks. see “Master Fader Tracks and Signal Flow” on
page 908.
Video track features are described in
Chapter 52, “Working with Video in VCA Master Tracks (Pro Tools HD Only) VCA
Pro Tools” Master tracks (or VCA Masters) emulate the oper-
ation of voltage-controlled amplifier channels on
Audio, Auxiliary Input, Master Fader, and VCA analog consoles, where a VCA channel fader
Master Tracks would be used to control, group, or offset the sig-
nal levels of other channels on the console.
Pro Tools provides mono, stereo, and multichan-
nel format audio, Auxiliary Input, Master Fader, VCA Master tracks do not pass audio, so they do
and VCA Master tracks. not have inputs, outputs, inserts, or sends. A Mix
Group is assigned to a VCA Master track, which
Audio Tracks Audio tracks let you record to disk
appears in the VCA track’s Assignment selector.
and play back from disk recorded or imported au-
dio files. The controls of the tracks in that Group, called the
Auxiliary Input Tracks Auxiliary Input tracks can slave tracks, are modified by the controls on the
be used as effects sends, destinations for submixes, VCA Master. For more information, see “VCA
as a bounce destination, as inputs to monitor or Master Tracks” on page 910.
process audio (such as audio from external MIDI
instruments), and for many other audio routing
tasks.
Volume fader
Level meter
Voice selector
Peak/Delay and Headroom indicators
Track Type indicator
Track Name button
Delay Compensation view
Track Comments
Group ID Group ID
Pan knobs
Pan indicators
Solo/Mute buttons
Volume fader
Volume fader
Level meters
Level meters
Solo/Mute buttons
Volume
fader Patch Select
MIDI Volume indicator
Level meter
Track Type indicator
Track Name button
Track Comments
Pan knobs
Pan indicators
Record Enable
Solo/Mute buttons
Volume fader
Level meters
Patch Select
Peak/Delay and Headroom indicators
Track Type indicator
Track Name
Delay Compensation view
Track Comments
Timebase selector
Each video track has its own set of track controls, For more information on Comments view,
including Track Name, Playlist, Online, Track see “Adding Comments to Tracks” on
View, and Track Height. page 209.
Instruments view provides MIDI controls for In- Select View > Edit Window > I/O.
strument tracks: MIDI Input selector, MIDI Output
Channel strips in the Mix window always dis-
selector, MIDI Volume, MIDI Pan, and MIDI
play Input and Output selectors as well as
Mute.
volume and pan values, so there is no I/O
For more information, see “Assigning MIDI view display option for the Mix window.
Input and Output for Instrument Tracks” on
page 231. For details on Input and Output selectors, see
“Assigning Audio Inputs and Outputs to
Inserts View (A–E and F–J) Tracks” on page 222.
Inserts view provides up to ten inserts (software Volume/Peak/Channel Delay Indicator
plug-ins and hardware I/O inserts for generating
and processing audio) on each audio, Auxiliary In- The Volume indicator on an audio track has three
put, Master Fader, and Instrument track. display modes: Volume, Peak, and Channel Delay.
For more information on inserts, see To toggle the Volume indicator display:
Chapter 44, “Plug-In and Hardware
Control-click (Windows) or Command-click
Inserts.”
(Mac) the indicator to toggle it between the fol-
lowing modes:
Sends View (A–E and F–J)
Volume Indicator (and Pop-Up Fader) Shows the
Sends view shows send assignments in each audio,
current volume, or input level of a track as set by
Auxiliary Input, and Instrument track.
the track Volume fader. In I/O view (Edit win-
For more information, see “Configuring dow), click the Volume indicator to display the
Sends View in the Mix and Edit Windows” on Volume pop-up fader, which can be used to adjust
page 925. the volume.
I/O View
In the Edit window, I/O view provides Input and
Output selectors on audio, Auxiliary Input, Master
Fader (output only), MIDI, and Instrument tracks
(corresponding to the controls of the same name in
the Mix window).
Edit window I/O view, Volume pop-up fader (audio
track)
Input Path selector
Output Window button Peak Indicator Functions as a headroom indicator
Volume indicator based on the last peak playback level. To reset the
Pan indicator
peak counter, click anywhere in the meter. Values
Output Path selector
range from – (no signal) to 0 dB.
Edit window I/O view (audio track)
The Pan indicator displays the current pan setting The Volume fader controls the playback level of a
of a track. Pan values range from <100 (full left) to track when it is playing back, and the monitor level
100> (full right). Pan controls are only available of the track when it is recording. You can link the
for stereo tracks or for mono tracks routed to a ste- record and monitor levels by enabling the Link Re-
reo output. cord and Play Faders option in the Operation pref-
erences.
In I/O view (Edit window), click the Pan indicator
to display the Pan pop-up slider, which can be used The maximum fader gain for a volume fader is
to adjust panning. +12 dB.
The Pan slider controls the balance of a track be- Track Color
tween the assigned output pair. It only appears if
you are using stereo tracks or mono tracks routed In the Edit window, Track Color view displays the
to a stereo output. Track Color strip at the left-most side of the Track
controls.
The Pan slider on a MIDI track is effective only if
you are controlling a sound module that supports
MIDI panning.
Pro Tools meters provide a Peak Hold feature with To clear a clip indicator:
three options: 3 Second, Infinite, or None.
Click anywhere on the meter.
To choose a Peak Hold setting:
To clear all clip indicators, do one of the following:
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click the
Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) any
Metering tab.
meter.
2 Select a Peak Hold option.
Choose Track > Clear All Clip Indicators.
3 Click OK.
Press Option+C (Mac) or Alt+C (Windows).
To clear a meter:
Clip Indication
Because Pro Tools uses 64-bit floating point calcu-
lations for the mixer, there will never be any inter-
nal clipping in the mixer. However, it is possible to
clip at the converters on your audio interface. It is
also possible to clip when writing audio to disk in
fixed point audio files (16-bit or 24-bit files only, Audio, Auxiliary Input, Instrument, and Master Fader
tracks showing clipping
32-bit floating point files will not clip).
Audio track clip indicators display red under the Command-Option-Control-click (Mac) or Con-
following circumstances, otherwise they display trol-Alt-Start-click (Windows) any track level
yellow: meter in the Mix or Edit window.
Meter Type
Mix Window View selector scale
Peak VU
Different Meter Type scales
The placement of the Gain Reduction meter (when 2 Click the Metering tab.
shown) depends on the scale for the selected Meter 3 Enable or disable the Track and Master Meter
Type. The top of the Gain Reduction meter will al- Types Linked setting as desired.
ways match the reference level for the selected
Meter Type. Likewise, the bottom the Gain Reduc- 4 Do one of the following:
tion meter scales to the range of the selected Meter • If the Track and Master Meter Types Linked set-
Type. ting is enabled, select the desired Meter Type
from either the Track Meters or Master Meters
pop-up menus.
• If the Track and Master Meter Types Linked set-
ting is disabled, select the desired Meter Type
for Track meters from the Track Meters pop-up
menu and select the desired Meter Type for
Master meters from the Master Meters pop-up
menu.
You can set the Meter Type either in the Pro Tools 5 Click OK.
Metering preferences or using the Right-click Me-
ter menu. Depending on the Track and Master Me- To set the Track Meter Type in the Mix or Edit
ter Types Linked setting, you can set the Track (au- windows:
dio, Auxiliary Input, and Instrument tracks) or 1 Right-click on any Track meter.
Master (Master Fader tracks) Meter Type settings
independently. 2 From the Meter Type menu, select the desired
option.
For details on the available Meter Types, see
“Track and Master Meter Types” on If the Track and Master Meter Types Linked
page 112. option is enabled in the Pro Tools Metering
Preferences, Master meters are also set to the
selected Meter Type
3 Click OK.
To select a range of tracks: Select Options > Link Track and Edit Selection.
1 Click the name of an unhighlighted track in its
track channel strip. Scrolling a Track into View
2 Shift-click an additional button. To scroll a track into view:
All tracks between the first track selected and the In the Track List, or Mix or Edit window, Right-
additional track will also be selected. click the track name and select Scroll into View.
5 Click OK to duplicate tracks according to the Auxiliary Input Tracks Can be set to Volume, Vol-
settings in the Duplicate Tracks dialog. Click ume Trim, Mute, Pan, Send controls, or any plug-in
Cancel to close the dialog and not create dupli- controls that are enabled for automation.
cate tracks. Master Fader Tracks Can be set to Volume, Vol-
ume Trim, or any plug-in controls that are enabled
for automation.
Video Tracks For information on video track Track View set to Waveform for audio track
views, see “Video Track View” on page 1159.
On audio tracks, the Waveform is also visi-
Blocks Track View ble in Playlists, Analysis, Warp, and Auto-
mation views.
With the Track View set to Blocks, audio and
MIDI clips are displayed as empty blocks bearing
the clip’s name. This Track View is most useful Clips View
once you have finished capturing and editing clips (MIDI Only)
at the waveform or MIDI event level and are mov- With the Track View set to Clips, you can edit and
ing and rearranging them. Screen redraws are fast- arrange MIDI clips on MIDI and Instrument
est with this format. tracks.
1 Click in the track you want to toggle. To toggle The Master view is based on the type of track, as
multiple tracks, Shift-click or drag with the Se- follows:
lector tool to select additional tracks. • Audio tracks: Waveform and Blocks
2 Do one of the following: • MIDI and Instrument tracks: Clips, Blocks, and
Notes (when using the Selector tool)
• Press Start+Minus (Windows) or Control+
Minus (Mac) on the alphanumeric keyboard.
• With Commands Keyboard Focus enabled (see
Track Height
“Keyboard Focus” on page 24), press Minus on
the alphanumeric keyboard. Tracks can be viewed in the Edit window at any of
eight heights: Micro, Mini, Small, Medium, Large,
To toggle Track Views for all tracks, press Jumbo, Extreme and Fit To Window. Larger track
Option+Control+Minus (Mac) or heights are particularly useful for precise editing,
Alt+Start+Minus (Windows) on the especially for MIDI. Smaller track heights are use-
alphanumeric keyboard. ful for conserving screen space in a large session.
Right-click on the vertical zoom scale just to the The track’s Track Height changes incrementally.
right of the track controls and choose the height
from the pop-up menu.
Track Show/Hide
Track Color Code
Track Height set to Mini
Track Type icon
When the Track Height is set to Medium, Large, Track name
Track List menu
Jumbo, or Extreme, all track controls are displayed
at their full size.
Click the Track Show/Hide icon in the Track Click the Track List menu and choose Hide All
List. Tracks.
In the Track List (or on the track channel strip), You can also hide all tracks by Option-clicking
Right-click the track name and select Hide (or (Mac) or Alt-clicking (Windows) the
Hide and Make Inactive if the track is active and Show/Hide icon of any track that is shown.
you also want to make it inactive).
Hidden track icon in the Track List To show or hide a range of tracks in the Track List
with the Marquee:
To show a track that is currently hidden, do one of
the following: 1 Move the cursor to the left of a track name until
Click the Track Show/Hide icon in the Track the Marquee with a small “+” symbol appears.
List. 2 Click on the track in the list and drag up or down
In the Track List (or on the track channel strip), over the Show/Hide icons (to show or hide the
Right-click the track name and select Show (or track and the tracks immediately above or be-
Show and Make Active if the track is inactive low it).
and you also want to make it active).
To show or hide non-contiguous tracks:
To show all tracks: Click the Show/Hide icon for the tracks you
Click the Track List menu and choose Show All want to show or hide.
Tracks.
To restore previously shown tracks after using the
You can also show all tracks by Option-click- Show All Tracks, Show Only Selected Tracks, or
Show Only Tracks by <Track Type> commands:
ing (Mac) or Alt-clicking (Windows) the
Show/Hide icon of any track that is hidden. From the Track List menu, choose the Restore
Previously Shown Tracks option.
In the Mix and Edit windows, Track Position Scroll Into View Scrolls the track to the top of the
Numbers can either include hidden tracks in their Edit window or to the left of the Mix window.
numbering sequence, or ignore them
Export MIDI (MIDI and Instrument Tracks
• When Track Position Numbers Stay with Hidden Only) Exports the MIDI data from one or more
Tracks is not selected in the Display Preferences MIDI or Instrument tracks to a standard MIDI file.
page, numbers are only assigned to tracks that For more information, see “Exporting MIDI Files”
are shown. In this case, active tracks are then on page 326.
numbered sequentially. Hidden tracks are un-
numbered. Coalesce VCA Master Automation (VCA Master
Tracks with Pro Tools HD Only) Coalesces the
• When Track Position Numbers Stay With Hidden VCA automation to the slave tracks of the VCA.
Tracks is selected in the Display Preferences
page, tracks keep their Track Position Numbers Coalesce Trim Automation (Pro Tools HD Only)
even when hidden.
Coalesces Trim automation on the track (or se-
lected tracks if any).
Open in New MIDI Editor (MIDI and Instrument Input/output assignments for three mono audio tracks
Tracks Only) Opens the track in a new MIDI
Editor window. For stereo and multichannel surround tracks, in-
puts and outputs appear as stereo pairs and multi-
Open in Score Editor (MIDI and Instrument Tracks channel groups. The available inputs, outputs, and
Only) Opens the track in the Score Editor window.
busses are defined as paths in the I/O Setup dialog
Open in MIDI Event List (MIDI and Instrument (see Chapter 7, “I/O Setup”).
Tracks Only) Opens the track in the MIDI Event
List. Automatic Input and Output
Notation Display Track Settings (MIDI and Instru-
Assignments
ment Tracks Only) Opens the Notation Display When adding tracks to a new session, inputs are
Track Settings window for the track. Music nota- automatically assigned in ascending order. For ex-
tion can only be viewed in the Score Editor or in ample, if you have an audio interface with eight in-
MIDI Editor windows set to Notation view. puts, creating four new mono audio tracks will au-
tomatically add four audio tracks with inputs
Expand Channels to New Tracks Expands multi-
assigned to the first four paths defined in the I/O
channel audio files imported from a field recorder
Setup dialog. When creating stereo tracks, inputs
to new tracks, such that every channel resides on
are automatically assigned to subsequent input
its own mono audio track. Pro Tools also automat-
pairs.
ically conforms all expanded tracks to the edits in
the guide (expanded) track. You can expand multi- The outputs automatically assigned to new tracks
channel files to new tracks ordered by channel are determined by the New Track Default Output
name, by channel number, by channel name and Bus specified in the I/O Setup dialog.
number, or by Timecode only.
choose Rename from the pop-up menu. In the Edit or Mix window, Right-click the In-
put selector or Output selector for a track, and
2 In the Rename I/O dialog, type a name for the
choose Make Inactive (or Make Active) from the
I/O Path, and click OK.
pop-up menu.
‘
You can also adjust the relative priority of tracks Click the Voice selector and set the track to Dyn,
by freeing up the voices of individual tracks, mak- Off.
ing them available to other tracks in the session.
In the Edit window, select View > Edit Control-click (Mac) or Right-click (Mac or
Window > I/O to access any track’s Output Windows) the MIDI Output selector and select
selector. additional channels from any device.
Select View > Mix Window > Instruments. Instrument Track MIDI Output
Select View > Edit Window > Instruments. Pro Tools lets you assign specific MIDI ports and
channels to an Instrument tracks’ MIDI output.
MIDI Input selector The default selection of none sends MIDI data to
MIDI Output selector no device, port, or node on any channel. Use the
MIDI Output selector to specify a MIDI port and
channel for output.
Instruments view, Mix window
Channels in use by another track input appear as
bold in the MIDI Input pop-up menu.
Solo Latch Options 1 Choose Options > Solo Mode > Momentary.
Solos can be latched (where pressing subsequent 2 Press the Solo button on the first track that will
buttons adds them to the soloed mix of tracks), un- be soloed.
latched, or temporarily latched (Pro Tools HD 3 While holding the first Solo button, press addi-
only). tional Solo buttons. Solo buttons remain soloed
as long as one Solo button is held.
To select a Solo Latch mode:
As long as at least one Solo button is held, all
Choose Options > Solo Mode and select from
the solos will remain latched.
the following options:
The Mute button on a MIDI track mutes MIDI To toggle a track active/inactive:
data, not audio. Muting MIDI results in no MIDI
Command-Control-click (Mac) or Control-
data being passed to the MIDI output. On Instru-
Start-click (Windows) the Track Type indicator
ment tracks, the track’s Mute button mutes the au-
in the Mix window.
dio signal and the MIDI Mute button is only avail-
able in Instruments view. Playlists for inactive tracks are dimmed and track
controls are grayed out.
Default colors are automatically assigned to tracks, MIDI Note Color Shows Velocity
but you can override those colors by choosing When this option is enabled, MIDI notes display
from a color palette of 96 possible colors. For more varying shades of the assigned track color in MIDI
information, see “Color Palette” on page 238. notes view in the Edit window and in MIDI Editor
windows. Notes with high velocities are darker
and notes with lower velocities are lighter.
Track Type Assigns a color to each track according Enabling any Default Clip Color Coding op-
to its type (audio, Auxiliary Input, Master Fader, tion other than Clip List Color will override
VCA Master, MIDI, Instrument, or video). Clip List Color and reassign the parent track
color to copies of the clip placed in tracks.
Default Clip Color Coding Copies of the clip in the Clip List will retain
their unique color.
The Default Clip Color Coding options determine
how colors are assigned to the display of tracks,
clips in the track playlist and Clip List, and Marker
Locations.
To apply a color from the Color Palette: When the Hold button is enabled, the assigned
color selected in the Color Palette persists and does
1 Choose Window > Color Palette.
not change when a different track or clip is se-
2 Do one of the following: lected.
• In the Apply to Selected pop-up menu, select the
To use the Hold button to assign the same color to
destination for color coding: Tracks, Marker,
multiple items:
Group, Clips in Tracks, or Clips in Clip List.
1 Click the Hold button to enable it. The Hold but-
• Select a track, marker, group, track clip, or Clip
ton becomes white, and the currently selected
List clip in the appropriate Pro Tools window.
color is now highlighted with a wider white out-
The Apply to Selected menu will display the
line.
type of item you have selected.
2 Select additional tracks or clips to which you
If selecting a marker does not display the want to assign the same color. Because the Hold
Marker option in the Apply to Selected button is enabled, the Color Palette does not fol-
pop-up menu, then the Always Display low item selection; it remains (or “holds”) at the
Marker Colors option in the Display Prefer- last currently assigned color.
ences page is deselected. See “Always Dis-
play Marker Colors” on page 236 for more 3 Click the assigned color again to assign it to the
information. new selection of tracks or clips. Use the Apply to
Selected pop-up menu to determine which se-
3 Select a color from the palette, or select one of lected elements are affected.
the following:
4 To turn off Hold and return the Color Palette to
its default mode, click the Hold button until it
turns off.
Pro Tools provides a relative grouping function for Mix Groups, Edit Groups, and
linking tracks and their controls. Mix/Edit Groups
Mix Groups only affect mixing functions and Edit
Groups only affect editing. Mix/Edit Groups link
Grouping Tracks the grouping functions of the Mix Group and the
Groups are useful for editing several tracks in ex- Edit Group.
actly the same way, or for mixing several tracks
(such as a pair of stereo tracks or a submix) while Edit Groups
keeping them at the same relative volume level. Edit Groups affect the following items in the Edit
and MIDI Editor windows:
Pro Tools provides the following grouping
features: • Track View
• Up to 104 different groups are available, ar- • Track Height
ranged in 4 banks of 26 Group IDs. • Track Timebase
• Groups can be nested (subgroups within • Audio and MIDI editing functions
groups).
• Automation editing functions
• Grouped faders or controllers preserve their lev-
els relative to each other.
• Groups are assignable to an available VCA Mas-
ter track (Pro Tools HD only).
Mix Groups in Pro Tools HD can be set to affect Grouping does not affect these parameters:
the following items: • Voice assignment
• Main Mute • Output assignment
• Solo
• Inserting plug-ins
• Send Level
• Elastic Audio plug-ins
• Send Mute
• Main Volume Selectable Group Attributes
• Main Pan
You can select which parameters, or attributes, are
• Main LFE Level linked in groups by the following methods:
• Record Enable
• By making the group an Edit Group, a Mix
• Input Monitoring Group, or both (Mix/Edit Group).
• Automation Mode • With Mix and Mix/Edit Groups, by selecting
• Send Pan from a list of attributes for the group.
• Send LFE Level • With Mix Groups in Pro Tools HD only, by
• Plug-In Controls choosing whether the selected attributes apply
globally to all groups or to individual groups.
• Plug-In Bypass
In Pro Tools HD, when the Main Pan attri- Linking Mix and Edit Groupings
bute is enabled for groups, grouped behavior
The Link Mix and Edit Group Enables option links
applies to the Link, Front inverse, Rear in-
group enabling between the Mix and Edit
verse and Front/Rear inverse controls in ste-
windows. Pro Tools lets you create groups that are
reo and multichannel panner windows.
both Mix and Edit Groups, but in some cases you
Mix Groups in Pro Tools may want them to be enabled at the same time. For
example, when you are using the Mix window for
Mix Groups in Pro Tools always affect the follow- mixing, you may prefer to work with large, nested
ing: groups. However, in the Edit window or a MIDI
• Main volume Editor window, you may want to perform editing
tasks within a smaller group. Disabling the Link
• Automation mode
Mix and Edit Group Enables option lets you work
Mix Groups in Pro Tools can also be set to affect with different groups in the two windows.
the following:
To unlink Mix and Edit Groups:
• Main Mute
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click Mixing.
• Solo
2 Deselect the Link Mix and Edit Group Enables
• Send Level
option.
• Send Mute
3 Click OK.
• Group name in the Group List Click the Show/Hide Track List/Group List
• Group ID indicator on a track View button in the Mix, Edit, or MIDI Editor
window.
• Track > Group menu
Group ID
The Group List
To the left of each name in the Group List is a letter
The Pro Tools track grouping functions are located denoting its Group ID (“a” through “z”).
at the left side of the Mix, Edit, and MIDI Editor
windows in the Group List. This scrolling window
contains the names of all the groups in your ses-
sion, as well as a pop-up menu for accessing
grouping commands. From this menu, you can se-
lect and enable groups.
Hollow Circle
Hollow Circle Indicates that only some members Modify Opens Group dialog to modify existing
of the group are currently selected. groups only.
Circle with a Dot Indicates that all members of the Duplicate Opens Group dialog for duplicated
group are currently selected, plus additional mem- group.
bers outside the group. Delete Deletes a single group.
Group Dialog
Whether you are creating or modifying groups
with the Group List, a track's Group ID indicator,
or the Track > Group menu command, you use the
Groups dialog.
In Pro Tools, the Group dialog has a single page. • Choose Track > Group.
• Choose New Group from the Group List menu.
3 Type a name for the group.
4 Select the type of group to create: Edit, Mix, or
Mix/Edit.
To duplicate a group:
1 Do one of the following:
• Click the Group ID indicator on a track and
choose Duplicate from the pop-up menu.
Modify ALL Group dialog (Pro Tools shown) • Right-click the Group name in the Group List
and choose Duplicate from the pop-up menu.
3 For Mix or Mix/Edit groups, you can change
any of the following Linked Within Groups 2 Change any of the following for the current
options: group:
• Mutes • Group name
• Solos • Group type (Edit, Mix, or Mix/Edit)
• Send Mutes • VCA status (Pro Tools HD only)
• Send Levels • Follows Global status (Pro Tools HD only)
• Main Volume
Saving Group Attribute Presets
• Main Mute
You can define six Group presets that can be re-
• Main Pan
called on either the Attributes or Globals page
• Main LFE Level whenever you are creating or modifying a Mix or
Mix/Edit Group.
Insert controls (Inserts A–J):
• Plug-In Controls To save the current attribute settings as a Group
preset:
• Insert Bypass
1 In the Groups dialog, click Save. (Follow Glo-
Send controls (Sends A–J): bals must be deselected to save a setting from
• Send Level the Attributes page.)
• Send Mute
• Send Pan
• Send LFE Level Saving a Group preset
Mix Attributes: 2 In the Save Group Settings dialog, select one of
• Record Enable the six preset locations from the Location pop-
up menu, and click Save.
• Input Monitoring
• Solos
• Automation Mode
• HEAT Pre/Post (HDX only)
• HEAT Bypass (HDX only)
To select the attributes for a group, do any of the Selecting a Group Settings Location
following:
To enable a group:
To disable a group:
The Edit Window displays all audio clips, MIDI Because clip information can become lengthy, the
clips, and clip groups in a single, comprehensive Clip List can be scrolled or resized as necessary.
Clip List.
Use the Clip List as a bin for storing your
Drag to resize width Keyboard Focus favorite audio loops and MIDI clips. Save
of Clip List the session as a template and the clips are
Clip List menu
available for future sessions (see “Session
Templates” on page 158).
Clip List
2 From the submenu, select a basis for sorting. • User Time Stamp
Different options are available for audio and • Timebase
MIDI clips. See “Sort By Options” on page 257. • Start in Parent
3 To set whether clips are listed in ascending or • End in Parent
descending order, click the Clip List menu,
choose Sort By, and select Ascending or Clips can also be sorted by Clip Type (Audio and
Descending. MIDI), or in Ascending or Descending order.
Unused Except Whole Files Selects clips that To preview a clip in the Clip List:
have not been placed in a track in the current ses-
Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) the
sion, but do not include Whole-file clips. Whole-
clip name.
file clips are clips that were created when record-
ing or importing audio, consolidating existing Audio clips and clip groups play back through the
clips, and when nondestructively processing with specified Audition Path (see “Audition Paths” on
an AudioSuite plug-in. Whole-file audio clips ref- page 72).
erence an entire audio file that resides on your hard
drive. Whole-file audio clips are displayed in bold Sample-based clips play back at their native
in the Clip List tempo. Tick-based MIDI and Elastic Audio pro-
cessed clips play back at the session tempo (based
Offline Selects clips whose parent files cannot be on the location of the playback cursor). You can
located, or are not available, when opening a ses- also preview clips from the Clip List during ses-
sion or importing a track. Offline clips appear in sion playback.
the Clip List as italicized and dimmed; they appear
in playlists as light blue clips with italicized MIDI clips play back using the Default Thru In-
names. strument selected in the MIDI Preferences page
(see “The Default Thru Instrument” on page 449).
When auditioning a mono component of a mono Stereo clips, expanded (top) and collapsed (bottom)
component clip, the clip can be routed equally to To expand or collapse all stereo and multichannel
all outputs of the parent clip’s Audition Path. clips:
in the Clip List • From the Clip List menu, choose Rename.
A typical session can become cluttered with doz- • Right-click on any selected clip and select Re-
ens of tracks and hundreds of clips. There are a name from the pop-up menu.
number of things you can do to keep track of and 4 In the Name dialog, type a new name for the
manage a session’s clips, including: clip. If a whole-file audio clip was selected,
• Renaming existing clips specify whether to rename just the clip, or both
the clip and the disk file.
• Specifying how auto-created clips are named
• Hiding auto-created clips
• Removing unused clips
Renaming Clips
In the course of a session you can rename clips to
give them more descriptive names, or to shorten or
simplify existing names. When renaming a clip
that was auto-created during editing, the clip be- Name dialog
comes a user-defined clip and is displayed in the 5 Click OK to rename the clip. If renaming multi-
Clip List even when auto-created clips are hidden. ple clips, you are prompted, successively, to re-
If a clip resides in a track, you can easily rename it name each clip.
by double-clicking it with one of the Grabber tools. You can resize the Name dialog by dragging
However, if the clip does not reside in a track, or if the boundaries of the dialog.
you want to rename several clips, use the Rename
command in the Clip List.
The Name dialog provides the option to view in- In the Name dialog, click the show/hide triangle
formation about the selected clip. This information for Clip Info.
is not editable from the Name dialog. The follow-
ing clip information is available:
Suffix Specifies text to be appended to the end of • Clips created by trimming whole-file
the name, following the auto numbering. audio clips
The Pro Tools Workspace combines an intuitive, Workspace browsers let you search and sort audio
browser-style interface with an integrated databas- files, video files, and sessions. Audio, video, and
ing engine, optimized for metadata and media session files displayed in browsers can be dragged
management. directly into the current Pro Tools session.
Workspace browsers provide extensive databasing When offline items are needed, Pro Tools lets you
tools for searching, sorting, auditioning, and im- find the correct matching files, then relink to on-
porting of audio, MIDI, video, plug-in settings line media.
(.tfx), Guitar Rig Settings (Eleven Rack only), and
session files. Multiple browsers can be displayed The Workspace browser provides access to all
and arranged, with custom display settings pro- your mounted volumes, as well as the folders and
vided to customize your work environment. files they contain.
Workspace browsers provide file management for Catalogs provide the highest level of Pro Tools file
local and network volumes. Volumes are formatted management. Catalogs make it easy to organize
partitions on a physical drive (hard drive). Any files from multiple sources into libraries of favorite
changes made in the Workspace (such as copying, files. Catalogs can be sorted and searched, even
or moving files and folders) is mirrored on the vol- when the files they reference are offline.
umes themselves. Volumes include mounted hard
drives, network storage, and removable media Using Catalogs, you can:
(such as CD-ROMs). • Collect and organize files from any combination
of volumes
When Volumes are focused in the Locations pane
you can: • Create catalogs of complete volumes to view
and search even if a volume is offline
• View, manage, audition, and import individual
items on the volume • View, manage, audition, and import individual
items in the catalog
• Update a database for contents of the volume
• Update a database for contents of catalog
Session
For more information, see “Catalogs” on
Workspace browsers provide powerful search and page 302.
management tools for the files referenced in your
current session, regardless of where they are Task Manager Window
stored.
The Task Manager window is a utility for viewing
When the currently open session is focused in the and managing all of the background tasks that you
Locations pane you can: initiate with Pro Tools. Use the Task Manager
window to monitor, pause, or cancel background
• Show all the media files associated with the cur-
tasks such as file copies, searches, and indexing.
rent session, including any missing files
• View, manage, audition, and spot individual For more information, see “Task Manager
items Window” on page 305.
Relink Window
The Relink window provides tools and features for
relinking sessions and catalogs to media files. Use
Relink tools to search and reacquire missing files
for use in the current session.
Toolbar
Column headers
Items List
Pane split
To maximize processing speed and protect vital The main elements of a Workspace browser
components, Workspace browsers do not display include the following.
all folders. For example, in Windows, Workspace
Toolbar Provides the Browser menu, Search icon,
browsers do not display the WU Temp or System
Volume Information folders; and on Mac, Work- View Presets (numbered 1–5), Workspace browser
space browsers do not display the System folder. navigation tools, and preview tools.
This excludes them from being indexed, searched, Items List Displays the contents of a volume,
sorted, or affected in any way by Workspace tasks. folder, session, or Catalog database in rows.
You should not store Pro Tools session or media
files in any of these folders.
Each row of data in a Workspace browser rep- Press Option+O (Mac) or Alt+O (Windows).
resents an Item (such as a file or folder). Data
To open a new Workspace browser from a selected
about each item is displayed in columns. volume, catalog, or folder, do one of the following:
Locations Pane Used to navigate the volumes (lo- Command-double-click (Mac) or Control-dou-
cal and networked drives) on your system, the cur- ble-click (Windows) a volume, catalog, or
rently open session, indexed Catalogs of media, folder in the currently open Workspace browser.
and the system User directory.
Press Option+Down Arrow (Mac) or
Browser Pane Displays the contents of items se- Alt+Down Arrow (Windows) to open the cur-
lected in the Locations pane or search results. rently selected volume, catalog, or folder in a
new Workspace browser.
Opening Workspace Browsers
Viewing the Contents of a
There are several ways to open, close, and navigate
Volume, Folder, or Catalog
one or more Workspace browsers.
To expand or collapse the currently selected
To open the Workspace browser if no workspace folder, do one of the following:
browser is currently open, do one of the following:
Click the Expand/Collapse icon next to the vol-
Choose Window > Workspace. ume, folder, session, or catalog in either the
Press Option+; (Mac) or Alt+; (Windows). to Browser pane or the Locations pane.
open and close a single Workspace browser. If Select a volume, folder, or Catalog, and press
multiple Workspace browsers are open, these the Right Arrow key to expand, or the left
key commands bring successive Workspace Arrow key to collapse.
browsers to the foreground.
To move up one level in a browser:
These key commands also close the Work-
space browser if the selection in the Loca- Click the Browse Back arrow in the toolbar.
tions pane is on the Volumes root folder. If
To move up one level in a browser, press
another item is selected in the Locations
Command+Up Arrow key (Mac) or Con-
pane, these key commands will open a new
trol+Up Arrow key (Windows).
browser focused on that item.
All open Workspace browsers are moved to the If you have a Pro Tools system with multiple
background, bringing the other windows to the drives, and you intend to record multiple
foreground. Nonetheless, all Workspace browsers tracks simultaneously, you may want to des-
remain open and accessible. ignate the System drive as a Playback only or
Transfer only drive for optimal performance.
To bring an open Workspace browser to the
foreground: To change a volume designator:
Choose Window > Browsers, and select an open 1 Open a Workspace browser.
Workspace browser from the submenu.
2 In the Locations pane, select Volumes.
To cycle to the next or previous Workspace 3 In the Browser pane, click and select the appro-
browser:
priate permissions for any volume.
Press Control+Left/Right Arrow keys (Win-
dows) or Command+Left/Right Arrow keys You can also Right-click any volume in either
(Mac). the Locations pane or the Browser pane and set
the desired permissions setting for the selected
volume.
Closing Workspace Browsers
To close all Workspace browsers:
AAF and OMF sequences can be opened from To open a folder in the current Workspace
Workspace browsers. browser:
You can also drag and drop AAF and OMF se- Double-click the folder, or click the
quences from Workspace browsers into the current Expand/Collapse icon for the item.
session.
With a browser in the foreground and the
To open an AAF or OMF sequence from a
folder selected, press Command+Down
Workspace browser: Arrow (Mac) or Control+Down Arrow
(Windows) to open a folder in the
1 Do one of the following:
current Workspace browser.
• With no Pro Tools session currently open, dou-
ble-click the AAF or OMF sequence in the To open a folder in its own new Workspace
browser:
Browser pane of any Workspace browser.
• Drag the AAF or OMF sequence from the Command-double-click (Mac) or Control-dou-
Browser pane of any Workspace browser to the ble-click (Windows) the folder. The previous
Timeline in an open session. (parent) Workspace browsers window remains
open.
2 Configure the Import Session Data dialog.
With a browser in the foreground and the
3 Click OK.
folder selected, press Command+
Option+Down Arrow (Mac) or
Control+Alt+Down Arrow (Windows) to
open a folder in its own new browser.
Many text fields can be edited to replace or update The next time you open that browser, metadata for
data for an item. items that have already been indexed is visible im-
mediately. If the browser or folder was closed be-
To enter an edit to a text field and exit, and return fore indexing was complete, or if the contents of
to the previous display state: the folder have changed since the last time it was
Press Enter. browsed, Pro Tools automatically updates the da-
tabase the next time it is opened. This way, the da-
To revert to the previous text and cancel a text edit: tabase is always up to date for the folder you are
browsing. (View the Task Manager to see current
Press Esc.
activity.)
For details on column editing, see “Column
Indexing while Browsing saves time because it
Data” on page 279.
only fills the database for items on the level of the
volume that you are currently browsing. For exam-
ple, if you are browsing the root level of the vol-
Indexing Workspace ume, it indexes only the folders and files on the
Databases root level. If you open a folder, Pro Tools indexes
Indexing is the process of reading media files, ex- just the items in that folder. As a result, a database
tracting just the metadata for each file, then storing is only indexed for the parts of the volume that you
that data in an associated database so that it may be have browsed. However, searches are faster and
displayed in the columns of a Workspace browser. more complete when a volume is already com-
Once a volume or folder has been fully indexed, it pletely indexed.
can be searched very quickly because all of the
metadata has already been sorted and organized.
Load Guitar Rig Settings (Eleven Rack Delete Lets you delete selected files, folders, and
Only) Loads the Guitar Rig Settings for selected catalogs from disk, or move selected items to the
audio files with embedded Guitar Rig Settings Trash (Mac) or to the Recycle Bin (Windows).
from an Eleven Rack.
To recall a saved preset: Size Displays the size of a file. This field cannot be
edited.
Click the appropriate View Preset button.
Waveform Displays a graphical overview of an au-
Sorting Columns dio file. See “Waveforms” on page 288 for more
information.
Columns can be sorted in ascending or descending
order, and multiple sorts can be applied (up to four Duration Displays the duration of a file in absolute
levels). time (minutes and seconds), regardless of the time-
code format. For clip groups, MIDI, tick-based
To sort by columns: Elastic Audio files, REX, and ACID files, Dura-
Click the column title header. tion displays Bars and Beats. This field cannot be
edited.
To toggle the current sort order between
Date Indexed Displays the last indexed date for the
ascending and descending:
item. This field cannot be edited.
Click the column title header a second time.
Capacity Displays the total capacity of a volume.
To sort by multiple columns: This field cannot be edited.
Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) suc- Free Displays the unused space on volumes. This
cessive column headers. field cannot be edited.
Chapter 16: Workspace Browsers 279
File Comment Displays any embedded comments Tempo Displays the tempo associated with clip
associated with the file. File comments are sup- group, MIDI, tick-based Elastic Audio files, REX,
ported with BWF and SD II files, but are not sup- and ACID files, and session files. This field cannot
ported with AIFF files. File Comments always re- be edited.
main with the file when copied, converted, or
Video Compression Displays the compression ra-
transferred. See “Comments Fields” on page 281
for more information. tio of video files where applicable.
Circled Indicates if the status of a take is set to “cir- 1 Click the Comments field. The field expands to
cled” (No or Yes) in audio files. This is usually for display the entire contents of the field if neces-
indicating which take should be used. sary.
Plug-In Name Displays the name of the plug-in for 2 Enter or edit a comment.
Plug-In Settings files (.tfx). 3 Press Enter, or click outside the text box to close
it.
Volume selected for search Advanced Search settings Advanced Search enabled
Folders checked for search Advanced Search settings Advanced Search enabled
Search Checked
option (enabled) Search results
Add Row button Pro Tools lets you refine your search by up to 8
Search Text field rows of search criteria.
Search Column selector
Add Row Button Click the Add button (“+”) to
add another row to refine the advanced search.
1 In a Workspace browser, select the files you Files cleared of Elastic Audio analysis data revert
want to analyze. to sample timebase, display their duration in min-
utes and seconds, and do not report a tempo.
2 Do one of the following:
• Right-click one of the selected files and choose
Calculate Elastic Analysis from the pop-up
menu.
• Preview the file with the Audio Files
Conform to Session Tempo option enabled.
Multi-Mono Files
4 Click the Preview button in the Workspace Pro Tools provides an option to reserve voices for
browser and the file plays at the session tempo. preview in context. The number of reserved voices
is determined by the channel width of the selected
Audition Paths in the I/O Setup. Voices reserved
Preview in Context for preview in context are unavailable for disk
Pro Tools lets you preview audio files in Work- tracks.
space browsers while playing back a Pro Tools
session. Tick-based audio files (those with tempo To reserve for voices for preview in context:
detected Elastic Audio analysis, as well as REX 1 Choose Setup > Preferences.
and ACID files) can play back in tempo, and at the
corresponding bar and beat location, with session 2 Select the Operation tab.
playback. Tick-based audio files audition at the 3 Enable the Reserve Voices For Preview In
session tempo when the Audio Files Conform to Context option.
Session Tempo option is enabled.
4 Click OK to close the Preferences dialog.
Areas to Search
Files to Relink
Candidates
Menu and Toolbar Includes the Relink menu, Opening the Relink Window
View Presets, and relinking buttons. Status is dis-
played at the far right. When opening a session with missing files, use the
Manually Find and Relink option to open the Relink
Areas to Search Selects volumes on which to window.
search for missing items.
The Relink window can also be accessed after a
Files to Relink Lists missing files. session is open.
Candidates Lists files that match the “relinking To access the Relink window from an open
criteria” for a particular missing file. The Link icon session:
next to the candidate can be toggled on or off to
1 In the Workspace browser, select the item you
link (or unlink) the proposed candidate to the se-
want to relink.
lected missing file.
2 Choose Relink Offline from the Browser menu.
The Relink window controls each phase of the
relinking process.
OMF video clips can only be relinked to a To relink multiple missing files:
session if they have matching Unique IDs. 1 Configure Areas to Search. (See “Selecting Ar-
eas to Search” on page 299.)
QuickTime video clips can only be relinked to 2 Select one or more items in the Files to Relink
a session by file name and file format (Quick- list. The Find Links button becomes available.
Time).
3 Click Find Links.
4 Configure criteria for relinking, if necessary, in
To control matching and linking criteria
the Linking Options dialog:
when relinking an individual missing file,
use the Find Links button. Find Links is ex- • By default, Find by Name and ID is enabled.
plained in “Relinking Multiple Missing • To add additional matching criteria, select an op-
Files” on page 300. tion from the Linking Options dialog. (Modifi-
cation Date is only applicable to Catalogs.)
4 Click the Link icon next to the appropriate Can-
didate to which you want to relink. A Link icon • If Match Duration is enabled, Pro Tools only se-
next to an item indicates it will be relinked to lects files of the same length or greater.
the item currently selected in the Files to Relink
list.
To force a relink:
Relinking and Aliases in
Catalogs
1 Select the items you want to relink.
Catalogs are collections of “aliases” or “shortcuts”
2 Choose Relink Offline from the Browser menu. to actual files. If the files are moved, an item in a
3 In the Relink window, select one item in the Catalog can become unlinked from the file it refer-
Files to Relink list. ences.
2 In the Browser pane, select one or more items in Metadata Metadata for all files found online, in-
the catalog that you want to remove. cluding File comments, are updated.
3 Choose Remove Selected Items from the Database Comments Database Comments are not
Browser menu. updated, because they are unique to each Catalog
and are not part of the file’s metadata.
4 When prompted, do one of the following:
• To remove the aliases for the selected items from
the Catalog, click Remove.
Relinking Catalog Items
• To delete the selected items from disk (and re- If files are ever missing from a Catalog, use the
move their aliases from the Catalog), click Move Relink window to locate, copy, and relink files.
To Trash (Mac) or Move To Recycle Bin (Win- For more information, see “Linking and Relinking
dows). Files” on page 295.
The Task window lets you monitor, pause and cancel ongoing tasks including file copying, fade regener-
ation, and indexing.
Status
Active Tasks
Paused Tasks
The Task window provides a maximized and min- Any task that fails to complete successfully is
imized view. moved to the Paused Tasks pane (see below). The
Status column displays a description of the failure.
To toggle between maximized and minimized
views: Paused Tasks Pane
Click the View Toggle icon in the top of the
The Paused Tasks pane is displayed below the Ac-
Task window.
tive Tasks pane, and is separated by a movable hor-
izontal divider. Tasks listed in this pane will not be
processed until they are moved back to the Active
Tasks pane.
Task window, minimum view
Pausing and Canceling Tasks
Task Window Tools, Columns, The Task window lets you pause, resume, and can-
and Displays cel tasks.
The Task window menu provides commands for
Task window operations. To pause a task:
Item Name Indicates affected item, whether a file, To pause all tasks:
database, or other supported item. Choose Pause All from the Task window menu.
Status Action being taken (for example, copying,
To resume a task:
processing, indexing and so on).
Drag a task from the Paused Tasks pane to the
Progress Indicates the progress of the task or its Active Tasks pane. The task returns to its previ-
sub-tasks, which include assessing the size of the ous position in the queue.
items and the estimated amount of time necessary
to complete the task. To resume all paused tasks:
Progress Indicator Indicates processing is ongo- Select Resume All from the Task window menu.
ing. All tasks in the Paused Tasks pane (except
failed tasks) are moved to the Active Tasks
Quantification Shows percentage of progress of pane.
the current task.
To cancel a task:
Active Tasks Pane
1 Highlight any task in either pane of the Task
The upper Active Tasks pane shows the tasks that window.
are in progress or waiting to start. The currently ex- 2 Press Delete to remove it from the Task win-
ecuting task is at the top. Tasks in this pane will be dow.
processed.
Pro Tools lets you import and export a variety of • Using the File menu Import commands:
data into and out of a session, including audio and • Session Data
MIDI files, clip groups, video files, track playlists,
• Audio
I/O configurations, and signal routing configura-
tions. • MIDI
• Video
You can import individual audio and MIDI files
• Clip Groups
into a session, or import entire audio or MIDI
tracks, along with all of their attributes, from an- • VENUE Channel Names as Track Names
other session. Additionally, with Pro Tools HD,
Session data, audio files and clips can be imported
you have the option of importing any combination
to existing tracks, new tracks, the Track List, or the
of track attributes from another session, such as a
Clip List in a Pro Tools session.
track’s audio or MIDI playlists, signal routing,
plug-ins, or automation (see “Importing Session Exporting
Data” on page 328).
Pro Tools lets you export audio, video, MIDI, clip
When you are working with video, you can import groups, and session data by:
and export video files from a session (see
• Using the Export to Sibelius or Send to Sibelius
Chapter 52, “Working with Video in Pro Tools”).
command (MIDI only)
• Using the File menu Export commands:
Importing and Exporting • Selected Tracks as New AAF/OMF
Data to and from a Session • Selected Tracks as New Session
• MIDI
Importing
• Sibelius
Pro Tools lets you import audio, video, MIDI, clip
• Session Info As Text
groups, or session files into the current Pro Tools
session by: • Using the Tracks Right-click menu:
• Dragging and dropping from: • Send To Sibelius command (Score Editor
only)
• A Workspace browser
• Export MIDI command
• Mac Finder or Windows Explorer
When files are added to a Pro Tools session, Audio files formats other than WAV and AIFF
they remain at their current hard drive location and must be converted on import. Pro Tools automati-
are not moved or copied. The session references cally converts these files to the current session file
the original files wherever they are on your system. format on import. Also, if the session is not en-
Additionally, the files referenced by the session re- abled for Interleaved files, Pro Tools splits inter-
tain their original file format, sample rate, and bit leaved audio files into multiple mono files on im-
depth. port.
When files are copied into the session, the orig- If clip definitions are present in an audio file, you
inal files remain wherever they are on your system can convert and import the audio for a clip without
and are copied to the session’s Audio Files folder importing the entire parent audio file using the Im-
and are then added to the session. The session ref- port Audio command.
erences the copied files, not the original files. Ad-
ditionally, the copied files referenced by the Pro Tools 7.x and higher does not support
session retain their original file format, sample audio file names that contain certain ASCII
rate, and bit depth. characters (see “Opening a Session that
Contains Audio File Names with Illegal
When files are converted into the session, the
Characters” on page 367).
original files remain wherever they are on your
system, converted to the session file format, sam-
Supported Audio File Formats
ple rate, and bit depth, and are written to the ses-
sion’s Audio Files folder. The session references Audio files of the following types can be
the converted files, not the original files. imported into Pro Tools sessions without
conversion:
Files That Can Be Added to a Session Without
Conversion • AIFF
• WAV or BWF (.WAV) (including support for
Any audio file of a supported file format (WAV
WAV Extensible and RF64)
and AIFF) and bit depth (16, 24, and 32-bit float)
can be added to sessions without conversion. Au-
dio files with sample rates that do not match the
When using the Import Audio command, inter- 1 Select audio, video, MIDI, clip group, REX, or
leaved stereo files are automatically imported to ACID files in a Workspace browser, or Win-
stereo tracks. With Pro Tools HD, greater-than- dows Explorer, or Mac Finder.
stereo multichannel audio files are automatically 2 Drag the selected files onto the Clip List.
imported to tracks with the corresponding multi-
channel audio file format. To import files into an existing track:
If the Interleaved option is enabled for the session, 1 Select the files you want to import in a Work-
or is enabled on import, interleaved files are im- space browser, or Windows Explorer or Mac
ported to the session and remain interleaved files. Finder.
If this option is not enabled, interleaved files are 2 Drag the selected file to a location on an exist-
split into multi-mono. ing, compatible track. The file is imported and
placed where it was dropped.
Conversely, split stereo (dual mono) audio files
can be automatically imported to stereo tracks. To import files as new tracks:
Split stereo audio files must have the channel iden-
tifiers “.L” and “.R” in their names (for example, 1 Select the files you want to import in a Work-
filename.L and filename.R), and the files must be space browser, or Windows Explorer or Mac
the same length. In Windows, or in Mac/PC Com- Finder.
patibility mode, these files will have a 3-letter file 2 Do any of the following:
extension appended after the “.L” or “.R” channel
• Shift-drag files and drop anywhere in the Edit
identifier.
window.
• Drop files to the Track List.
Importing Files with Drag • Drop files to empty space in the Edit window,
and Drop below or between tracks.
Pro Tools lets you import audio, MIDI, video, and Importing does not always convert or copy
session files by dragging and dropping files from a audio files. See “Audio Conversion on Im-
Workspace browser, Windows Explorer, or Mac port” on page 310.
Finder to the Pro Tools application icon, the ses-
sion Timeline, a track, the Track List, or the Clip
List. Importing using drag and drop does not
necessarily bring the Edit window to the
The following figure illustrates some of the foreground. For example, dragging and
options available to import files using drag and dropping a file from a browser into a track
drop from Workspace browsers. leaves the source browser in the fore-
ground (not the Edit window). Always
verify the active, foreground window or
browser before continuing.
Adjust the preview volume with the vertical slider. 5 When you have added all audio files and clips to
To navigate to a particular location in the file, use the Import list, you can apply sample rate
the horizontal slider under the Play and Stop but- conversion by doing the following:
tons.
• Enable Apply SRC.
The Preview Volume control in the Import • Specify the Source Sample Rate either by typ-
Audio dialog also affects the preview volume ing a number, or by selecting a sample rate from
when auditioning clips in the Clip List. the pop-up menu.
The audition output path defaults to channels 1–2. • Select the sample rate conversion quality from
For Pro Tools systems with more than 2 channels the Quality pop-up menu. This setting overrides
of output, the audition path can be changed in the the Sample Rate Conversion Quality setting in
I/O Setup (see “Audition Paths” on page 72). the Processing Preferences page.
6 Click Done.
To import ACID and REX flies as sample-based To import REX files as tick-based clip groups:
clips: 1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click the
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click the Pro- Processing tab.
cessing tab.
2 Select the Import REX Files as Clip Groups
2 Disable the Import REX Files as Clip Groups op- option.
tion.
3 To apply real-time crossfades to the files, enable
3 Select No Files as the Drag and Drop from the Automatically Create Fades option (see
Desktop Conforms to Session Tempo prefer- “Automatic Fades for Imported REX Files” on
ence. page 319).
4 Click OK to close the Preferences dialog. 4 Select REX and ACID Files Only or All Files as
the Drag and Drop from Desktop Conforms to
5 When importing by drag and drop from Work-
Session Tempo preference.
space browsers, make sure that the Audio Files
Conform to Session Tempo option is disabled. 5 Click OK to close the Preferences dialog.
6 Import the ACID and REX files you want by 6 Do one of the following:
drag and drop from a Workspace browser or the • Import the REX files you want by drag and drop
Desktop, or using the Import Audio command from a Workspace browser
(see “Importing Audio Files and Clips Using
• Import the REX files you want by drag and drop
the Import Audio Command” on page 315).
from the Desktop.
4 In the Preferences dialog, click the Editing tab. When you import monophonic audio files that
were recorded simultaneously, they are converted
5 Under Default Fade Settings, click REX.
to multichannel clips and displayed together in the
6 In the REX Auto-Crossfades dialog, select the Clip List. Any metadata is also imported with the
shapes you want for crossfades, and click OK. files.
7 Click OK to close the Preferences dialog.
Importing Polyphonic Audio
Depending on your edits or tempo changes Files
after importing REX files, fades can be
deleted and you will have to recreate them
A polyphonic audio file contains multiple mono
manually.
channels and relevant metadata recorded simulta-
neously in a multichannel recording.
The Default Fade Settings for REX files in the Ed- Exporting a Clip as a New Audio
iting preferences lets you select the default enve- File
lope shape for fades and crossfades between clips
(“slices”) in imported REX files. Fades are only You can export clips as audio files with the
applied to imported REX files if the Import REX Export Clips as Files command. Use this
Files as Clip Groups option and the Automatically command if you intend to use a clip in other ses-
Create Fades option are both enabled on the Pro- sions (or other audio applications) without using
cessing Preferences page. its parent source file.
Noise
Bit Depth Dither
Shaping
16-bit to 24-bit No No
16-bit to 16-bit No No
32-bit float to 32-bit float Yes Yes Auto Renaming Automatically changes the name
of any duplicate file by adding a number at the end
32-bit float to 24-bit Yes Yes of the file name (such as file_01).
32-bit float to 16-bit Yes Yes Replacing with New Files Replaces files with the
same name with the new files.
32-bit float to 8-bit Yes No
6 Click Export to export the new audio files.
24-bit to 32-bit float No No
24-bit to 24-bit No No
3 In the Export Selected dialog, select Stereo In- Pro Tools provides several ways to import MIDI
terleaved in the Format pop-up menu. For mul- files into an open session.
tichannel clips, the Stereo Interleaved option • “Importing MIDI Files Using Pro Tools Menu
produces a multichannel interleaved file. Commands” on page 325.
4 Configure any other output settings, then click • “Importing MIDI Files with Drag and Drop” on
Export to export the new stereo interleaved file. page 326.
• Type 1 MIDI files, sometimes referred to as mul- Song Start Aligns the beginning of the file to the
titrack MIDI files, contain multiple tracks of Song Start point.
MIDI data. When importing these files, each
Selection Aligns the beginning of the file to the
track’s data is placed on its own new MIDI track
edit cursor or to the beginning of a selection in the
in the Pro Tools session.
Timeline.
Importing MIDI Files Using Spot Displays the Spot dialog, which lets you spot
Pro Tools Menu Commands the file to a precise location based on any of the
Time Scales.
Pro Tools provides commands to import MIDI
files. 4 Select any of the following Import options:
Pro Tools exports all unmuted MIDI and Instru- Exporting Individual MIDI and
ment tracks in the current session to a Standard Instrument Tracks
MIDI File and writes it to your hard drive. Ex-
You can also export individual MIDI and Instru-
ported MIDI information includes notes, controller
ment tracks as MIDI files. This can be useful for
events, program changes, and System Exclusive
storing libraries of your favorite MIDI sequences
data, as well as events for tempo, meter, and mark-
or Sysex data (such as bulk or individual patch
ers.
dumps for your external MIDI devices), or for im-
The SMPTE start time for the session or the song porting MIDI into notation applications (other than
(depending on the selection from the Location Ref- Sibelius).
erence pop-up menu) is also exported. This en-
To export a single MIDI or Instrument track as a
sures that the exported tracks, when played from
MIDI file:
another MIDI application, will align with the cor-
rect SMPTE frames, and also synchronize cor- 1 Do one of the following:
rectly to tape and video devices, or Pro Tools. • Right-click the Track name of an unselected
track in the Edit or Mix window, or in the Track
See your third-party MIDI sequencer documenta-
List.
tion to determine whether it supports importing
SMPTE start times from MIDI files. • In the Track List, or Mix or Edit window, Con-
trol-Right-click (Windows) or Command-Right-
Items Not Exported with MIDI Files click (Mac) the track name.
Mute automation and muted clips do not affect ex- 2 From the Right-click menu, select Export MIDI.
ported MIDI. As long as a MIDI track is not muted 3 Set the Export MIDI settings in the Export
by clicking its Mute button, or an Instrument track MIDI Settings dialog.
is not muted by clicking its MIDI Mute button (In-
struments view), all of its MIDI data is exported. 4 Click OK.
13 To import Markers and Memory Locations from • Dragging a session to a track in Pro Tools lets
the source session, select the Import you import tracks.
Marker/Memory Locations option. • Dragging a session to a track playlist in
Pro Tools opens the Import Session Data dialog,
14 To import Window Configurations, select the
letting you select tracks and attributes to import.
Import Window Configurations option.
The imported session data will begin wherever
15 With Pro Tools HD, select the Import Mic Pre you drop the session in the Timeline.
Settings option to import any Mic Pre settings
from the source session.
16 Click OK when you are finished.
In the Import Session Data dialog, you can make You can select All, None, or any combination of the
sure track names match when you are importing listed track data to import. The following are avail-
playlists from source tracks with the same name as able for import:
destination tracks in the current session (such as a
All Imports all of the source track’s playlists, ac-
new cut of a scene). Click Matching Tracks to au-
cording to the Main Playlist Option setting, and all
tomatically match the track names. Tracks must
of the attributes in the Track Data to Import list.
have the same name, track type, and channel for-
mat to be automatically matched. None Imports only the source track’s main play-
list, according to the Main Playlist Options setting,
Track Data to Import and no other attributes of the source track.
In the Import Session Data dialog, the Track Data Alternate Playlists Imports all of the alternate
to Import pop-up menu is where you select which playlists from source track. The alternate playlists
attributes of the selected tracks you want to import appear in the playlist pop-up menu of the destina-
into the current session. tion track.
Selected attributes are applied to all tracks that you Clips and Media Imports all of the audio files or
choose to import into the current session. clips in the source track, and places them in the
Clip List.
Replacing Track Attributes
Clips Gain Imports the clip gain settings for all im-
When you import an attribute of the source track ported audio clips.
into an existing track in the current session, it re-
places the corresponding attribute in the destina- Volume Automation and Setting Imports the
tion track. If you choose not to import an attribute source track’s Volume fader setting and any auto-
of the source track, the corresponding attribute in mation data on the track’s Volume Automation
the destination track is playlist. The Volume fader setting and any Vol-
retained. ume automation data in the destination track are re-
placed.
Replacing Track Path Names
Pan Automation and Setting Imports the source
When you import a track’s input, output, send out- track’s Pan Slider settings and any automation data
put or hardware insert assignments, any custom on the track’s Pan Automation playlist. The Pan
path names and I/O configurations from the source Slider setting and any Pan automation data in the
session are not imported. You can import path destination track are replaced.
names and I/O configurations by importing I/O
Mute Automation and Setting Imports the source
Setup settings. For more information, see “Factory
track’s Mute setting and any automation data on
I/O Settings” on page 93.
the track’s Mute automation playlist. The Mute
setting and any Mute automation data in the desti-
nation track are replaced.
Import Marker/Memory Locations Imports mark- If you select this option and do not import any
ers and Memory Locations as they appear in the of the source track’s attributes, you replace the au-
Marker ruler, from the source session. Any mark- dio playlists while keeping your current mixer set-
ers and Memory Locations in the destination ses- tings.
sion are retained. Imported marker and Memory Import – Overlay New On Existing Playlists Im-
Locations are assigned the next available ports the main playlist from the source track. When
Marker/Memory Location numbers. you import the playlist into an existing track, any
Import Window Configurations Imports the Win- existing playlist data that overlaps data imported
dow Configurations from the source session. from the source track is trimmed and replaced with
the imported data. Any playlist data in the destina-
Import Mic Pre Settings Imports any Pro Tools tion track that does not overlap remains in the des-
Mic Pre settings from the source session. Any Mic tination track.
Pre settings in the destination session are replaced.
Do Not Import Does not import the main playlist
Import HEAT Master Settings (HDX with HEAT from the source track. No audio is imported; only
Only) Imports any HEAT Master settings from the the attributes selected in the Track Data to Import
source session, including Bypass, Drive, and Tone list are imported to the selected tracks. When se-
settings. The HEAT Master settings in the destina- lected, importing all of the source track’s input,
tion session are replaced. output, send, insert and plug-in attributes is equiv-
alent to importing a channel strip.
When importing AAF sequences generated from Avid Mojo SDI or Avid Mojo is required for im-
an Avid video editing application, Pro Tools can porting MXF and OMF video.
import mono, stereo, and 5.1 and 7.1 surround au-
dio tracks. Mono tracks with 5.1 or 7.1 surround To import AAF or OMF sequences into Pro Tools,
panning can also be imported, with panning infor- do one of the following:
mation intact. (Greater-than-stereo multichannel Use the File > Import > Session Data command.
formats are supported with Pro Tools HD only.)
Use the File > Open Session command.
When opening and importing an AAF or OMF se-
Drag and drop them from any Workspace
quence, the New Session dialog opens and
browser or the desktop.
prompts you to name and save the sequence as a
new session. Once you name and save the new ses- For more information, see “Importing an
sion, the Import Session Data dialog opens. For AAF or OMF Sequence into an Existing
more information, see “AAF/OMF Source Track Session” on page 339.
Translation Settings” on page 344.
To import individual Avid MXF or OMF video files
into Pro Tools, do one of the following:
8 Name your session in the Save As field. 11 Select an option for importing video from the
Video Media Options pop-up menu (see “Video
9 Click Save. The Import Session Data dialog Media Options” on page 342).
opens.
12 Change other settings and options as necessary
You can open and import OMF or AAF (see “Import Options when Importing AAF or
sequences that reference audio files with OMF Sequences” on page 341).
mixed sample rates or bit depths.
13 Click OK.
If there are any errors or clip name truncations, You can use the Source Sample Rate settings
a dialog will appear asking you if you want a to compensate for any pull up or pull down
detailed report of the changes. Click Yes and factors that may have been applied to the au-
choose where you want to save the log. dio prior to importing. In a sequence with files
of mixed sample rates, set the Source Sample
12 If your audio or video source media is on a vol- Rate in proportion to the Target sample rate
ume that is not suitable for playback (shown as of the session, and the pull up or pull down
a Transfer volume in the Workspace browser), compensation will be applied correctly to all
Pro Tools displays a dialog that guides you to files in proportion with their original sample
copy the media to a volume designated for Play- rate.
back or Record. (Click Yes.)
Pro Tools imports the audio and video media to the Importing Audio from AAF
Timeline. Audio tracks with mixed sample rates Sequences with Unsupported
are automatically converted to the same sample
Video Formats
rate as the session. Pro Tools lets you import audio from AAF se-
quences containing unsupported video formats, in-
cluding high-definition Avid video files with
frame rates over 30 frames per second.
You can sample-rate convert the audio during Select this option to import a video track with of-
translation. fline media. You will be able to see cuts and clip
names, but the video media remains offline. You
Force to Target Session Format can view the video media on the connected Video
Satellite system. This option is only available
Use this setting to convert source media to the ses- when New Satellite Track is selected for the video
sion audio file format if the source media file for- track.
mat differs from the session file format.
The Import Volume Automation setting lets you Click the Markers to Import menu and select
import volume breakpoint automation, or ignore it None.
entirely. Media Composer and other Avid products
To import Markers based on marker color:
provide volume automation, for continuous vol-
ume change throughout a sequence. 1 Click the Markers to Import menu.
5 Ensure the Target Project Timecode Format is Pro Tools exports the AAF sequence to the se-
correct for the Avid application project to which lected folder, and exports the related media to the
you are exporting the AAF sequence. OMFI MediaFiles folder (OMF files) or the Avid
MediaFiles folder (MXF files).
6 Under the Audio Media Options section, select
MXF from the Audio Format pop-up menu. 16 If you are ready to import the files into the Avid
application, exit Pro Tools.
7 Verify the Audio Bit Depth setting is acceptable
for the recipient of this export. For more information on working in Avid
8 If you’re exporting a sequence that contains ste- applications, see the appropriate Avid
reo, 5.1 or 7.1 l tracks and want to export those application guide.
tracks as multi-channel audio files, enable the
Export Stereo, 5.1 and 7.1 Tracks as Multi-
Channel option.
9 Click OK.
10 In the Publishing Options dialog, type the
Pro Tools Comment and Sequence Name.
4 Select Enforce Avid Compatibility. 6 Select a Sample Rate and Bit Depth.
7 Click Bounce.
Enforce Avid Compatibility creates frame-
accurate edits, wraps the files as OMFI (unless 8 In the Publishing Options dialog, do the
you choose MXF), and limits the sample rate following:
options to 44.1 or 48 kHz. Dither without noise • Type the Pro Tools Comment and Clip Name.
shaping will be applied to files being
exported from 24-bit to 16-bit. • Choose a Target Project Timecode Format that
matches the Avid application project to which
5 Select MXF for the File Type. you are exporting the MXF audio.
2 Choose File > Export > Selected Tracks As New 8 In the Save dialog, name the session.
Session. The Save Session Copy dialog opens.
9 Navigate to where you want to save the session.
(You can also open the Save Session Copy dia-
log by choosing File > Save Copy In.) 10 Click Save.
2 Select whether to include the File List, Clip Next, if you choose to include them, are the lists of
List, and track EDLs. audio files and clips.
3 If you choose to include track EDLs, select Track EDLs
whether to show subframes, and whether to in-
clude user timestamps. Also select an option for The final item, if exported, is the list of track
crossfade handling. EDLs. A track EDL lists the track name, and all ed-
its, including the event number, the clip name, clip
4 If you choose to include track EDLs, select the start and end time, and clip duration. The clip time-
Time Format for the exported session text from
stamp is also exported, if you select this option.
the pop-up menu. Subframes are shown in each time field if you se-
5 Select the File Format for exported text using lect this option.
the pop-up menu.
To export a clip group: Generally, if you are exporting clip groups to an-
other hard drive, you should copy any referenced
1 Select one or more clip groups in the Clip List.
audio files. This way you can move clip groups not
2 From the Clip List menu, choose Export Clip only from one session to another, but from one sys-
Groups. tem to another.
Transfer Files
AES31/Broadcast Wave is a variant of the stan- When using the WAV file format in Pro Tools
dard audio WAV file type. The AES31 format con- sessions, the corresponding channel order for
tains SMPTE time stamps and other information each channel of greater-than-stereo, inter-
beyond the raw PCM audio data. leaved multichannel files is displayed in the
Clip List.
This variant complies with standards set by the
AES (Audio Engineering Society) and EBU (Eu- RF64
ropean Broadcasters Union). Choose this option to
Pro Tools supports the RF64 audio file format.
ensure compatibility with other workstations that
RF64 is an extension to the WAV audio file format
recognize this file type.
that addresses the 4 gigabyte size limitation of
To make imported WAV files compliant with the
other WAV audio file formats. RF64 audio files
AES31/EBU Broadcast standard: are identified in Workspace browsers with the des-
ignation “MBWF” in the Attributes field.
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click the Pro-
cessing tab. Lower versions of Pro Tools cannot read
2 Select the Convert Imported “.wav” Files to RF64 files. These files have to be manually ed-
AES31/BroadcastWave option. ited and consolidated so that they are no
larger than 4 GB in order to be available to
3 Click OK. systems running lower versions of Pro Tools.
2 Do one of the following: To transfer Pro Tools Mac sessions from HFS+
drives to NTFS drives:
• Drag the session folder from the NTFS drive to
the HFS+ drive. 1 Set the MacDrive Options to Normal Use.
• Open the Windows session on the NTFS drive, 2 Do one of the following:
choose Save Copy In, and save a copy of the ses- • Drag the session folder from the HFS+ drive to
sion to the HFS+ drive. the NTFS drive.
• Open the Mac session on the HFS+ drive, and
when prompted, choose Save Copy In and save a
copy of the session to the HFS+ drive.
To record or play back from HFS+ drives with When saving (or creating) a copy of a Pro Tools
Windows using MacDrive: session that you want to be compatible on both
1 In Windows, go to the MacDrive Control Panel. Mac and Windows, keep in mind the following
limits and how Pro Tools deals with them:
2 Choose Options > File Names and select the In-
ternational Use option. Audio File Types
3 Delete all options listed under “File Name The recommended file format for cross-platform
Maps.” interoperability is BWF (.WAV). To support opti-
mal session interchange, Pro Tools defaults to
4 In Pro Tools, choose Window > Workspace and
BWF format for new sessions.
make sure that all Mac-formatted volumes are
set to R (record) or P (playback) in the A (Au- Pro Tools lets you save, bounce, and export in a
dio) and V (Video) columns. variety of audio file formats, including WAV,
AIFF, MP3, and QuickTime.
Clip names, track names, file names, and plug-in To save an existing session to Pro Tools 6.9.x or
settings cannot use ASCII characters that are in- lower and maintain Mac and Windows
compatible with either system. compatibility:
1 Choose File > Save Copy In.
When importing files into a session, incompatible
characters are converted to underscores (“_”) and 2 In the Save Session Copy dialog, choose a des-
the renamed files are placed in the tination and type a name for the new session
Renamed Files folder. file.
The following characters cannot be used in 3 Set the Audio File Type to AIFF or BWF
Windows sessions: (.WAV). These file formats are compatible with
/ (Forward Slash) either platform.
\ (Backslash) 4 Set the Sample Rate and Bit Depth for the
: (Colon) session.
* (Asterisk) 5 Select Enforce Mac/PC Compatibility. This op-
? (Question mark) tion must be selected to make the session cross-
“ (Quotation marks) platform compatible.
< (Less-than symbol) 6 Select the Items to Copy options for the new
> (Greater-than symbol) session.
| (vertical line or pipe) 7 Click Save.
Any “high order” ASCII character (created with
If the session previously used SD II files, the files
a key combination)
are converted to the new audio file format.
For details on transferring sessions between Windows and Mac systems, see “Sharing Sessions Created
on Different Computer Platforms” on page 369.
Maximum number of 512 Aux Input tracks 512 Aux Input tracks 128 Aux Input tracks
Auxiliary Input tracks
Maximum number of 256 Instrument tracks 256 Instrument tracks 128 Instrument tracks
Instrument tracks
Maximum number of 256 internal mix bus- 256 internal mix bus- 256 internal mix busses
internal mix busses ses ses
When opening a Pro Tools 9.0 session with When opening a Pro Tools 9.0 session with
Pro Tools 8.1 or 8.5, you are warned that you Pro Tools 7.4.x, you are warned that you are
are opening a session created with a newer opening a session created with a newer ver-
version of Pro Tools and that not all session sion of Pro Tools and that not all session
components will be available. components will be available.
When opening a Pro Tools 9.0 session with When opening a Pro Tools 9.0 session with
Pro Tools 8.1 or 8.5, the following occurs: Pro Tools 7.4.x, the following occurs:
• Any audio tracks beyond 256 are made inactive. • All that occurs when opening a Pro Tools 9.0
• Any internal mix busses beyond 128 are made session with Pro Tools 8.0.
inactive. • Inserts F–J and any associated automation are
• The Stereo Pan Depth reverts to –2.5 dB. removed.
• Clips from audio files larger than 2 GB
Opening Pro Tools 9.0 Sessions appear offline.
with Pro Tools 8.0 • Pitch transpositions of Elastic clips are
removed.
A Pro Tools 9.0 session can be opened with
Pro Tools 8.0, but certain session components • Chord markers are removed.
open differently or not at all.
• Any assignments to busses beyond 32 are made • If the session contains QuickTime movies in the
inactive. Clip List but no video track, the session opens
with a new QuickTime Movie track containing
• Any Instrument tracks beyond 32 are made inac- the first QuickTime movie from the Clip List.
tive.
• The Timeline displays and plays back only the
• TDM plug-ins with RTAS equivalents are con- video playlist that was last active. Alternate
verted; those without equivalents are made inac- video playlists are not available.
tive.
• In Pro Tools LE 7.1 or lower only, video clips
• Multichannel surround tracks are removed from and video clip groups are not shown or saved.
the session.
• Unavailable input and output paths are made in- Saving Pro Tools 11.x–10.x
active. Sessions to Pro Tools 5.1 -> 6.9
• Any Delay Compensation settings are removed. Format
• VCA Master tracks are removed and any unco- Pro Tools 7.x and higher sessions cannot be
alesced VCA automation is dropped. opened with Pro Tools versions 6.9.x through 5.1.
• HEAT (if present) is removed (Pro Tools HD 8.1 To save a Pro Tools 11.x or 10.x session so it is
or higher sessions with HEAT option only). compatible with Pro Tools version 6.9.x through
• Output Bus assignments are removed 5.1, use the File > Save Copy In command to
(Pro Tools HD 8.1 or higher sessions only). choose the Pro Tools 5.1 -> 6.9 Session format.
2 Choose the language you want to use in To change to a different language version of
Pro Tools from the Language pop-up menu. Pro Tools:
1 Close Pro Tools if it is currently open.
2 Launch Apple System Preferences.
3 Click International (the “flag” icon).
4 Click the Language tab.
5 In the Languages column, drag the language
you want to the top of the list.
6 Close the International window.
7 Do one of the following:
• If you are changing from a localized language to
English, launch Pro Tools.
• If you are changing from one localized
language to another (or from English to a local-
ized language), log out and log in from the Ap-
ple menu, then launch Pro Tools.
After importing or recording audio or MIDI to To stop playback, do one of the following:
tracks, you will want to play back the material • Click Stop in the Transport.
when editing and mixing.
• Press the Spacebar.
• With the Numeric Keypad mode set to Transport
Starting and Stopping Playback
or Shuttle, press 0 on the numeric keypad.
To start playback, do one of the following: • If you have a control surface connected and con-
• Click Play in the Transport. figured, press the Stop switch.
• Press the Spacebar. • If Pro Tools is online and slaved to another deck,
press stop on the master deck (see “Putting
• With the Numeric Keypad mode set to Transport
Pro Tools Online” on page 1115).
or Shuttle, press 0 on the numeric keypad.
• If the Numeric Keypad mode is set to Transport,
and the Use Separate Play and Stop Keys option
Playing Back Audio
is enabled, press Enter on the numeric keypad. To play back audio:
• If you have a worksurface or MIDI control sur- 1 Import or record audio to a track.
face connected and configured, press the Play
switch. 2 Assign the track’s Output selector to your main
monitoring path.
• If Pro Tools is online and slaved to another deck,
press play on the master deck (see “Putting 3 To have playback start from the beginning of
Pro Tools Online” on page 1115). the session, click Return to Zero in the Trans-
port.
For more information about the Numeric
Keypad modes, see “Numeric Keypad 4 Start playback.
Modes” on page 25. 5 The audio plays through the selected Output
Path. Adjust the track’s volume and pan faders
as necessary.
6 When you are finished, stop playback.
With the Timeline and Edit selections linked, you Setting Playback Location with
can click a clip or MIDI note with the Time Grab- Fast Forward/Rewind
ber tool to automatically update the Timeline with You can use the Fast Forward and Rewind buttons
the selection’s start time, letting you play from that in the Transport window to move the playback lo-
point. cation. If the Operation preference for Audio
During Fast Forward/Rewind is selected, the
Setting Playback Location with scanned audio is heard (similar to a CD player)
Basic Transport Controls when clicking the Fast Forward and Rewind but-
tons.
Transport controls in the Transport window and
top of the Edit window can be used to move the You can also fast forward or rewind incrementally
playback location. These include Rewind, Fast by repeatedly clicking the appropriate button. The
Forward, and Return to Zero (to move playback lo- size of these increments is determined by the Main
cation to the beginning of the session). For more Time Scale:
information, see “Basic Transport Controls and
Counters” on page 170. Bars|Beats Moves to the beginning of the previous
or next bar.
You can also move the playback location in multi- • Select a preset amount in the Back/Forward
ple increments by repeating the command (See Amount pop-up menu.
“Repeating Back/Forward Commands” on • In the Back/Forward Amount field, enter a
page 389). custom amount.
You can audition and play just the pre-roll or post- To audition a selection start point:
roll material for a selection. Press Command+Left Arrow (Mac) or
Control+Left Arrow (Windows).
To play from the pre-roll point to the start of a
selection, or to the current Cursor location: When auditioning the beginning of a selection, the
Press Option+Left Arrow (Mac) or Alt+Left selection plays from the start point for a duration
Arrow (Windows). equal to the post-roll amount.
To play to the post-roll point from the end of a To audition a selection start point with pre-roll:
selection, or from the current Cursor location: Press Command+Option+Left Arrow (Mac) or
Press Command+Right Arrow (Mac) or Control+Alt+Left Arrow (Windows).
Control+Right Arrow (Windows).
To audition a selection end point:
Auditioning Start and End Points Press Option+Right Arrow (Mac) or Alt+Right
for Selections Arrow (Windows).
There may be times when you want to audition the When auditioning the end of a selection, playback
start or end of an audio selection without hearing begins before the end point by the pre-roll amount.
the entire selection. This allows you to check, for
instance, whether the beginning or end of a selec- To audition a selection end point with post-roll:
tion includes any unwanted clicks or pops. Press Command+Option+Right Arrow (Mac)
or Control+Alt+Right Arrow (Windows).
2 With the Selector tool, select the track range Dynamic Transport Mode
you want to loop.
Dynamic Transport mode lets you decouple the
3 Enable Loop Playback by doing one of the playback location from the Timeline selection.
following: This means that you can start playback from any-
where on the Timeline without losing your Time-
• Select Options > Loop Playback.
line or Edit selections. For example, you can use
• Right-click the Play button in the Transport win- Dynamic Transport mode in conjunction with
dow and select Loop from the pop-up menu. Loop Playback mode to quickly audition loop tran-
• Control-click (Mac) or Start-click sitions.
(Windows) the Play button in the Transport win-
When Dynamic Transport mode is enabled, the
dow.
Main Timebase ruler expands to double-height and
• Press Command+Shift+L (Mac) or reveals the Play Start Marker. The Play Start
Control+Shift+L (Windows). Marker determines where playback starts when the
• With the Numeric Keypad mode set to Trans- Transport is engaged. You can position the Play
port, press 4 on the numeric keypad. Start Marker independently of the Timeline Selec-
tion. The Play Start Marker can be repositioned
during playback and playback continues from the
new location.
Select or deselect Options > Dynamic With any Edit tool selected, click in the Play
Transport. Start Marker strip in the Main Timebase ruler.
Right-click the Play button in the Transport With any Edit tool selected, drag the Play Start
window and select Dynamic Transport from the Marker to a new location.
pop-up menu.
Click Fast Forward or Rewind in the Transport
Press Command+Control+P (Mac) or to relocate the Play Start Marker forward or
Control+Start+P (Windows) to toggle Dynamic backward by the standard Fast Forward and Re-
Transport mode on or off. wind increment amount.
Enabling Dynamic Transport mode automat- Double-click anywhere in the Play Start
ically disables Link Timeline and Edit Selec- Marker strip in the Main Timebase ruler to
tion, and automatically enables Loop Play- move the Play Start Marker to that location
back mode. and start playback.
4 Click OK.
2 Ensure that Loop Playback mode is enabled. 2 Click the Operation tab.
4 Reposition the Play Start Marker before the 4 Select Use Separate Play and Stop Keys.
Timeline Selection Out Point.
This option overrides using the Enter key to
add Memory Location markers. Press Pe-
riod (.) and then Enter on the numeric key-
pad to add a Memory Location marker.
5 Click OK.
5 Start playback.
Since MIDI is not sample accurate, you may want to make several measurements at different grid
locations and average them to come up with the best value for the MIDI Beat Clock Offset.
Once you have measured the latency for your MIDI Beat Clock-enabled devices, be sure to keep
a record of these values in case you need to re-enter the MIDI Beat Clock Sample Offset in other
sessions.
Before you start recording in Pro Tools, you need Session Setup for Recording
to set up your Pro Tools system, a session, and one • Configuring a new or existing session for
or more tracks for recording. You will also need to recording:
configure how Pro Tools monitors the input you
• “Working with Hard Drives for Recording”
intend to record.
on page 418
While some of the information here is relevant to • “Recording with a Click” on page 406
preparing to record MIDI, there are more • “Setting the Session Meter and Tempo” on
specific setup details for MIDI recording in page 408
Chapter 22, “MIDI Recording.”
• Setting a Record Mode. See “Record Modes”
For information on recording audio, see on page 411
Chapter 21, “Audio Recording.”
Track Setup for Recording
For information on digitizing (recording) • Configuring one or more tracks for recording:
video in Pro Tools, see Chapter 52, “Work-
• “Configuring Default Names for Audio Files
ing with Video in Pro Tools” or the Avid
and Clips” on page 414
Video Peripherals Guide.
• “Assigning Hardware I/O on a Track” on
page 415
Record Setup Overview • “Record Enabling Tracks” on page 416
Record setup includes the following: • “Recording with Multiple Hard Drives” on
page 419
Hardware Setup for Recording
Monitoring Setup for Recording
• “Configuring Pro Tools Hardware I/O for Re-
cording” on page 404 • “Selecting a Record Input Monitoring Mode” on
page 421
• “Connecting a Sound Source” on page 406
• “Setting Monitor Levels for Record and Play-
back” on page 423
• “Reducing Monitoring Latency” on page 423
• “Recording with Delay Compensation” on
page 424
003 Rack+ has eight inputs with preamps, to which Set Input Levels
you can connect low-level signals.
When you feed a signal into any audio recording
003 and 003 Rack have four inputs with preamps, system, including Pro Tools, make sure to adjust
to which you can connect low-level signals, and the input level to optimize the dynamic range and
four additional line-level inputs with switchable signal-to-noise ratio of the recorded file. If the in-
gain. put level is too low, you will not take full advan-
tage of the dynamic range of your Pro Tools sys-
Eleven Rack has one Mic input with a preamp and tem. If the input level is too high, the waveform
1 instrument-level Guitar input with a special vari- can clip and distort the recording. Set the input lev-
able-impedance circuit called True-Z (for more in- els high, but not high enough to clip.
formation, see the Eleven Rack User Guide.)
As a general rule of thumb, try to set levels so that
Mbox (3rd generation), Mbox 2, Mbox Pro, Mbox they peak within –3 dB to –12 dB on the input me-
2 Pro, Mbox Mini, and Mbox 2 Mini each have two ter without triggering the clipping indicator on
inputs with preamps, to which you can connect your audio interface. Depending on the type of ma-
low-level signals. terial you are recording and its dynamic range and
peak content, you may want to record with higher
or lower levels.
Headroom Indicator
Headroom indicator
Pro Tools provides a numeric display (in dB) of Audio Volume indicator
the available headroom on tracks based on the last
Audio Volume and Headroom indicators
registered sample peak level in relation to the ref-
erence level of the currently selected Meter Type. Calibration Mode
The Headroom indicator is just to the right of the (HDX and HD Native Systems Only)
Audio Volume indicator below the faders and me-
ters in the Mix window. Click the Headroom indi- You can use the Calibration mode in Pro Tools to
cator to reset the current value. adjust the input and output levels for your audio in-
terface so they match those of your mixing console
Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) to and other audio devices in your studio.
reset all Headroom indicators. Shift-Option-
click (Mac) or Shift-Alt-click (Windows) to HD I/O has one set of adjustable trim pots for its
reset the Headroom indicators for only se- inputs. Additionally, the reference level for the in-
lected tracks. put can be set to +4 dBu or –10 dBV. For more in-
formation on calibrating HD I/O, see the HD I/O
If the Headroom indicator is displayed in blue, Guide.
it is measuring below the dB value of the lowest
scale marking for the currently selected Meter There are no input or output trims on the following
Type. audio interfaces: HD OMNI, HD MADI. Some
Pro Tools audio interfaces that do not have output
trims (such as the HD OMNI) offer software-con-
trollable input levels, adjustable from Setup >
Hardware (see the guide for your particular audio
interface).
When your track material lines up with the beats, To create a click track using MIDI:
you can take advantage of some very useful editing
1 Create a new (mono) Auxiliary Input or Instru-
functions in Pro Tools, such as quantizing MIDI
ment track.
and audio events or clips, quantizing individual
MIDI notes, and copying and pasting measures 2 Do one of the following:
and song sections in Grid mode.
• From the track’s Input selector, select the path to
Material that is recorded without listening to which the MIDI device is connected.
a click can still be aligned to bar and beat • Insert an instrument plug-in on the track (such as
boundaries in Pro Tools with Beat Detective TL Metro or Xpand2).
(see Chapter 30, “Beat Detective”), or by us-
3 Configure the Click/Countoff options, and be
ing the Identify Beat command to determine
sure to select the port for the MIDI device or in-
the tempo (see “Identify Beat Command” on
strument plug-in from the Output pop-up menu
page 756).
(see “Click Options” on page 408).
4 Enable Click (see “Enabling the Click” on
page 407).
Selecting MIDI Controls from the Transport window Count Off button, enabled
menu
Hearing the countoff before recording helps musi-
• Control-click (Windows) or Command-click cians to start playing at the right time and in tempo.
(Mac) the Expand/Collapse “+” button in the The Count Off button in the Transport window dis-
Transport window to display the MIDI controls. plays the number of bars counted before the trans-
port starts.
• Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac) the
Expand/Collapse “+” button in the Transport The countoff is ignored when Pro Tools is on-
window to display the MIDI controls and the line and synchronized to SMPTE timecode.
Counters.
• Choose Setup > Click/Countoff. 4 Select whether the click is heard During Play
and Record, or Only During Record, or Only
• Double-click the Metronome button in the
During Countoff.
Transport window.
5 If using a countoff, specify the number of Bars
2 In the Click/Countoff Options dialog, do one of
to be counted off. To hear the countoff only
the following:
when recording, select that option.
• If using the TL Metro or Click plug-in, select
None in the Output pop-up menu. 6 Click OK.
To set the Manual Tempo with the Tempo slider: 2 In the Transport window, click the Tempo Ruler
Enable (Conductor) button so it becomes un-
1 To view the MIDI controls in the Transport win-
highlighted. Pro Tools switches to Manual
dow, select View > Transport > MIDI Controls.
Tempo mode. In this mode, any tempo events in
2 In the Transport window, click the Tempo Ruler the Tempo ruler are ignored.
Enable button (Conductor) button so it becomes
3 Do one of the following:
unhighlighted. Pro Tools switches to Manual
Tempo mode. In this mode, any tempo events in • Click in the Tempo field so it becomes high-
the Tempo ruler are ignored. lighted and tap the “T” key on your computer
keyboard repeatedly at the new tempo.
Tempo Resolution selector • If the Use MIDI to Tap Tempo option is enabled
Tempo value in BPM in the MIDI Preferences, click in the Tempo
Tempo Ruler field so it becomes highlighted and tap in the
Enable button tempo by playing a note repeatedly at the new
Manual Tempo mode tempo on your MIDI keyboard controller.
3 To base the BPM value on something other than To compute the new tempo, Pro Tools averages
the default quarter-note, click the Tempo Reso- the last eight (or fewer) taps to determine the cor-
lution selector and select a different note value. rect tempo. The computed BPM value appears in
(For example, if you are in 6/8, select a dotted- the Transport window’s Tempo field.
quarter note.)
To lock in the new tempo:
4 To enter a new tempo, do one of the following:
Take Pro Tools out of Manual Tempo mode by
• Drag the Tempo value up or down. For finer res-
clicking the Tempo Ruler Enable (Conductor)
olution, press Control (Windows) or Command
button, then set the default tempo for the Song
(Mac) while dragging.
Start Marker to the new tempo.
• Click the Tempo value, type a new number, and
press Enter.
(Optional)
• In the Mix or Edit window, double-click the
Track Name button for the track you want to re-
Track names define new file and clip names when name.
recording to a track (see “Naming Tracks” on • In the Track List in the Mix, Edit, MIDI Editor,
page 208). or Score Editor window, Right-click the track
When recording to an audio track, the resulting file name for the track you want to rename.
and clip names are based on the name of the track. 2 In the Track Name/Comments dialog, type a
For example, after recording for the first time on a new track name.
track called “Electric Gtr,” an audio file is created
with the name “Electric Gtr_01.” In addition, a clip 3 Click OK.
appears in the Clip List with the name “Electric
Gtr_01.” This clip is a whole-file clip. Names for Stereo Audio Tracks
Subsequent record takes on the same track are When recording to stereo audio tracks, audio file
named identically, but the digits (indicating the and clip names for the left and right channels are
take number) are incremented (for example, “Elec- appended with a “.L” and “.R” suffix.
tric Gtr_02.”) A second set of digits (such as used
in “Electric Gtr_01-01”) indicates that the clip was
auto-created from an edit.
To record enable multiple audio tracks: To record enable all selected audio tracks, or all
selected MIDI and Instrument tracks:
From either the Mix or Edit window, click each
audio track’s Record Enable button to toggle re- Option-Shift-click (Mac) or Alt-Shift-click
cord enable on or off for each track. (Windows) the Record Enable button on any se-
lected audio, or MIDI or Instrument track to
If Latch Record mode is not enabled, Shift- toggle record enable on or off for all selected
click each track’s Record Enable button to audio, or MIDI and Instrument tracks.
toggle record enable on or off for each track.
See “Latch Record Enable Buttons Prefer- Record enabling a track that is part of a Mix
ence” on page 418. Group does not record enable the other
tracks in the Group. To record enable all
To record enable multiple MIDI and Instrument tracks in a group, click directly to the left of
tracks: the group’s name in the Group List to select
From either the Mix or Edit window, Shift-click all tracks in the group, and then Option-Shift-
each MIDI or Instrument track’s Record Enable click (Mac) or Alt-Shift-click (Windows) the
button to toggle record enable on or off for each Record Enable button of one of the tracks to
track. record enable the selected tracks.
When the Latch Record Enable Buttons option is Command-Option-click (Mac) or Control-Alt-
selected in the Operation Preferences, you can re- click (Windows) the Record Enable button on
cord enable additional audio tracks by clicking any track.
their Record Enable buttons. Previously record-en- Command-Option-click (Mac) or Control-Alt-
abled tracks remain enabled. The Latch click (Windows) again to take all tracks out of Re-
Record Enable Buttons option affects audio tracks cord Safe mode.
only.
To put all currently selected tracks into Record
When the Latch Record Enable Buttons option is Safe mode:
deselected, record enabling a subsequent audio
track disables the previously record-enabled audio Command-Option-Shift-click (Mac) or Con-
track. trol-Alt-Shift-click (Windows) the Record En-
able button on any of the selected tracks to
To enable the Latch Record Enable Buttons toggle them in and out of Record Safe mode.
preference:
If you are using Round Robin Allocation and want Workspace Volume Designation
audio to be recorded to your system’s start-up
The Workspace volume designation can alter disk
drive, do the following:
availability, thus affecting Disk Allocation. From
• Open the Workspace browser (Window > Work- the Workspace browser, you can designate vol-
space) and set the Volume Designator for your umes as Record, Playback, or Transfer. If you
system volume to R (Record and Playback). See change a drive’s designation, making it read-only
“Workspace Volume Designation” on page 420. (Play Only or Transfer), check the Disk Allocation
window for any tracks formerly allocated to that
Round Robin Allocation is not supported with drive. For more information, see “Volume Permis-
partitioned hard drives. sions” on page 272.
Press Shift+I to enable the TrackInput When audio tracks are record-enabled, their vol-
Monitor button for any track containing the ume faders in the Mix window turn red, indicating
Edit cursor on an Edit selection. that the record monitor level is active.
In Pro Tools, you record audio to audio tracks. Au- Basic Recording Steps
dio tracks can be mono, stereo, or multichannel as
appropriate for the recording source. To record an audio track:
7 Click Record in the Transport window to arm Undo or Cancel Audio Recording
Pro Tools for recording. The Record button Once you have recorded an audio track and the
flashes red to indicate that Pro Tools is ready to transport is stopped, you can undo the record take.
record.
To undo an audio recording:
8 Ensure that Normal Record mode is selected
(see “Record Modes” on page 411). Once the Transport has been stopped, choose
Edit > Undo Record Audio.
9 When you are ready to start recording, click
Play or press the Spacebar. The track’s playlist is restored to its previous state
and material is discarded as follows:
If using Countoff, Pro Tools counts off the speci-
fied number of measures and then begins record- • When in normal Record mode, only the most re-
ing. See “Recording with a Click” on page 406. cent take is discarded.
10 Record your performance. • When in Loop Record mode, all takes from each
record pass are discarded.
11 Click Stop in the Transport window or press the
Spacebar when you are finished recording.
Pro Tools can record multiple audio tracks simul- • Press 3 on the numeric keypad (when the Nu-
taneously, up to the track recording limits of your meric Keypad mode is set to Transport) to start
system. To record to multiple tracks, configure and recording.
record enable each track, then record. Follow the
same steps as in “Basic Recording Steps” on To initiate recording at half speed, press
page 427. Command+Shift+Spacebar (Mac) or
Control+Shift+Spacebar (Windows). See
“Half-Speed Recording” on page 446.
The Stop button lights and both the Play and Re-
cord buttons flash.
3 To begin recording instantaneously, click Play.
4 Click Stop to stop recording.
Timeline selection
Memory Locations
You can store Edit selections as Memory Loca-
tions, which can also include current pre- and post-
roll values.
Transport window with Start, End, and Length fields For more information on Memory Locations,
displayed see Chapter 36, “Memory Locations.”
You can enter locations in the start and end fields To save an Edit selection with a Memory Location:
to set the record or play range. The Timeline Selec-
1 Ensure that Options > Link Timeline and Edit
tion Markers in the Main Timebase ruler are up-
Selection is selected.
dated accordingly.
2 Set the record range by making an Edit or Time-
To set the record range by entering start and end line selection, or by entering start and end times
times in the Transport window: in the Transport window.
1 To see the start, end, and length times, do one of
3 To save the pre- and post-roll values, enable and
the following:
set the pre- and post-roll amounts by entering
• Select View > Transport > Expanded. them in the Transport window, or by dragging
• Shift-click the Expand/Collapse “+” button in the Pre- and Post-Roll Flags in the ruler that
the Transport window. represents the Main Time Scale (see “Setting
Pre- and Post-Roll” on page 433).
2 Do one of the following:
4 Press Enter on the numeric keypad or click the
• In the Transport window, click in the Start field.
Add Marker/Memory Location button in the
• Press Option+Forward Slash (/) (Mac) or Edit window.
Alt+Forward Slash (/) (Windows) on the nu-
meric keypad to select the start field in the 5 In the New Memory Location dialog, set Time
Transport window. Properties to Selection, and if saving pre- and
post-roll values, select the Pre/Post Roll Times
3 Type in the start location and press Option+For- option in the General Properties section.
ward Slash (/) (Mac) or Alt+Forward Slash (/)
(Windows) on the numeric keypad to enter the
value and automatically move to the end field.
4 Type in the end location and press Enter to ac-
cept the value.
The start and end times and pre- and post-roll set-
tings stored with the Memory Location are re-
called.
New Memory Location dialog Green Pre- and Post-Roll Flags (enabled) in the Main
Timebase ruler
6 Type a name for the new Memory Location.
Pre- and post-roll amounts can be entered in the
7 Click OK. Transport window, set from a track’s playlist or
Timebase ruler, or by recalling a Memory Loca-
To recall an Edit selection with a Memory Location: tion.
1 Make sure to select Options > Link Timeline and
Edit Selection.
To set and enable the pre- and post-roll times in To set and enable the pre- and post-roll by clicking
the Transport window: in a playlist:
1 Select View > Transport > Expanded. 1 Select Options > Link Timeline and Edit Selec-
tion.
2 In the Transport window, click in the pre-roll
field. 2 With the Selector tool, select the record range in
the track’s playlist.
3 Type in the pre-roll amount and press Forward
Slash (/) on the numeric keypad to enter the 3 With the Selector tool, Option-click (Mac) or
value and automatically move to the post-roll Alt-click (Windows) in the track’s playlist be-
field. fore the selection to enable the pre-roll at that
location.
4 Type in the post-roll amount and press Enter to
accept the new value. 4 With the Selector tool, Option-click (Mac) or
Alt-click (Windows) in the track’s playlist after
the selection to enable the post-roll at that
location.
• To record from the beginning of the session, • To record from the beginning of the track, click
click Return to Zero in the Transport. Return to Zero in the Transport.
• If Options > Link Timeline and Edit Selection is • If Options > Link Timeline and Edit Selection is
enabled, click anywhere in the track’s playlist to enabled, click anywhere in the track’s playlist to
begin recording from that point. begin recording from that point.
To record a specific track range, with precise To record a specific track range, with precise
start and end points, see “Audio Punch Re- start and end points, see “Audio Punch Re-
cording Over a Specified Range” on cording Over a Specified Range” on
page 435. page 435.
4 Click Record in the Transport to arm Pro Tools 4 Click Record in the Transport to arm Pro Tools
for recording. for recording.
6 Click Stop to stop recording. 6 When finished, click Stop to stop recording.
To append new material to the end of a track: 2 Type a name for the new playlist.
1 Do one of the following: 3 Click OK.
• Click the Go to End button in the Transport to lo-
When a new playlist is created, its name replaces
cate to the end of the track (this locates the end
the track name. Names for new audio files and
of the session).
clips are based on the track name.
• Tab to the end point of the last clip on the track.
4 Record enable the track.
2 From there, begin recording.
5 To start from the beginning of the session, click
Pro Tools adds the new material to the end of the Return to Zero in the Transport.
track. If using Destructive Record mode, the new
6 Click Record in the Transport to arm Pro Tools
audio is appended to the audio file and clip from
for recording.
the first take. In Nondestructive Record mode, a
new file and clip are created. 7 Click Play to start recording.
8 Click Stop to stop recording.
Recording to a New Playlist
An audio file for the new take is written to disk and
Instead of recording over existing audio clips,
appears as an audio clip both in the track’s new
there is another way to nondestructively record
playlist and in the Clip List.
new takes to the same track. Do this by creating a
new playlist for the track, then record just as be- Selecting a previous playlist from track’s Playlist
fore. selector recalls its clips as they previously ap-
peared in the track. At any time, all clips from all
Tracks can have multiple edit playlists, each of
playlists are available in the Clip List, and can be
which stores a list of clips strung together in a par-
mixed and matched between playlists and tracks.
ticular order. Also, since playlists follow groups,
duplicating or selecting alternate playlists for a For more information on playlists and play-
track in an enabled group will affect all tracks in list editing, see “Playlists” on page 597.
the group.
When loop recording audio, Pro Tools creates a 5 To hear track material up to the start point of the
single audio file that includes all takes. Takes ap- loop, enable pre-roll and set the pre-roll time
pear as individual clips in the Clip List and are (see “Setting Pre- and Post-Roll” on page 433).
numbered sequentially. Once you stop recording, 6 Click Record in the Transport to arm Pro Tools
you can audition any of the recorded takes. for recording.
To use alternate takes created with Loop 7 Click Play to start recording.
Record in other sessions (such as when us-
ing Import Session Data), export clip defi- The Record button flashes during the pre-roll.
nitions (see “Exporting Clip Definitions” When the start point is reached, Pro Tools begins
on page 324). If clip definitions are not ex- recording. When the end point is reached,
ported, alternate takes created with Loop Pro Tools loops back to the start time and contin-
Record will be inaccessible when im- ues recording.
ported into another session. 8 To cancel all recorded takes while loop record-
ing, press Command+Period (.) (Mac) or Con-
trol+Period (.) (Windows).
9 When finished, click Stop to stop recording.
When loop recording, Pro Tools creates a single Selecting Alternate Takes from the Clip
file containing all recording passes where each re- List
cording pass is a clip in the file. On the track, only
the last recording pass is present as a clip in the To select a take from the Clip List:
main playlist. All other clips (recording passes) are 1 In the Edit window, select the current clip (take)
hidden and can only be recalled as matching alter- with the Time Grabber tool.
nate clips (takes). When enabled, the new Auto-
2 Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) dif-
matically Create New Playlists When Loop Record-
ferent clips in the Clip List to audition them.
ing option in the Operation Preferences page
automatically copies each clip (take) to a new play- 3 Control-drag (Mac) or Start-drag (Windows)
list in the track. This facilitates using Playlists the clip you want from the Clip List into the
view for auditioning and selecting alternate takes. playlist.
To automatically create new playlists when loop The clip replaces the previous take and snaps pre-
recording: cisely to the correct location.
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click the Op-
eration tab.
The following In Addition To Match options are 1 Identify the clip on the main playlist with
mutually exclusive. matching alternate clips (takes).
2 Do one of the following:
All Any clips that include the time location of the
Edit cursor; or any clips that are either partly or • Right-click the clip and choose Matches >
fully within the current time range of the Edit se- Expand Alternates To New Playlists.
lection. • If the clip is selected, with the Selector tool,
Clip Start Any clips that have the same start time
Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win-
as the time location of the Edit cursor or Edit selec- dows) anywhere on the selected clip and choose
Matches > Expand Alternates To New Playlists.
tion.
• If the clip is not selected, with the Selector tool,
Clip Start and End Any clips that have the same
Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win-
start and end times as the Edit selection. dows) at the precise beginning of the loop or
Within Selection Any complete clips that are en- punch range and choose Matches >
tirely within the Edit selection. Expand Alternates To New Playlists.
None No other criteria in addition to the selected All matching alternate clips are copied to new
Alternates Match options are used to filter match- playlists on the track. To view all playlists for the
ing alternate clips. track, select Playlists view. In any track view, you
can also select any available alternate playlist as
the main playlist from the Playlist selector. For
Expanding Alternate Takes to more information, see “Playlists View” on
New Playlists or Tracks
page 602.
Pro Tools lets you copy alternate takes to new
playlists or tracks. This is especially useful for au- Expanding Alternate Takes to New
ditioning, editing, and mixing multiple alternate Tracks
takes or channels. Alternate takes are created when
Expanding alternate takes to new tracks readily fa-
punch and loop recording.
cilitates auditioning, editing, and mixing alternate
takes, each on separate tracks.
Expanding Alternate Takes to New
Playlists
To expand alternate takes to new tracks:
Expanding alternate takes to new playlists readily 1 Identify the clip on the main playlist with
facilitates track compositing. Once you have ex- matching alternate clips (takes).
panded alternate takes to new playlists on a track,
you can audition and edit them in Playlists view to 2 Do one of the following:
assemble the best takes in the main playlist. • Right-click the clip and choose Matches >
Expand Alternates To New Tracks.
• If the clip is selected, with the Selector tool,
Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win-
dows) anywhere on the selected clip and choose
Matches > Expand Alternates To New Tracks.
By Clip Name Names each new tracks after the On HD I/O and HD OMNI, Pro Tools can receive
corresponding original clip names that you see in digital audio from the factory-installed Optical
the Matches list. (ADAT) I/O at any time (if it is not set to S/PDIF).
However, Pro Tools can only receive digital audio
By Track and Clip Name Names all new tracks af-
from one of its enclosure [Encl] digital sources—
ter the source track name, but with the correspond-
AES/EBU, S/PDIF, or Optical (S/PDIF)—at a
ing original clip names in parenthesis.
time.
All matching alternate clips are copied to new
Enclosure digital sources come standard with Avid
tracks.
HD audio interfaces and are labeled on-screen as
[Encl] versions, to differentiate them from digital
inputs and outputs available on the Digital card in-
Recording from a Digital stalled in HD I/O. For example, the AES/EBU in-
Source puts and outputs that come standard in the HD I/O
If you plan to use a DAT player, digital-output CD enclosure are identified as AES/EBU [Encl].
recorder, or other digital device with your
The additional digital ports on the HD I/O are
Pro Tools system, make sure it supports the correct
TDIF, AES/EBU, and ADAT. Pro Tools can only
digital format. For example, your Pro Tools audio
receive digital audio from one of these ports at a
interface’s AES/EBU inputs and outputs should
time.
only be connected to another AES/EBU device.
Inputs on the HD I/O enclosure I/O and Digital
For additional information on configuring card can be used simultaneously. For example, on
your particular Pro Tools system for record- an HD I/O, it is possible to clock off a source from
ing from a digital source, see your User one of the enclosure inputs and have another digi-
Guide. tal input from the digital ports doing a sample rate
conversion, thus having two digital sources.
Half-Speed Recording
Pro Tools lets you play and record at half speed.
This capability is similar to that of a tape deck
where you can record material at half-speed and
then play it back at normal speed (faster and up an
octave), or record material at normal speed and
play it back at half speed (slower and down an oc-
tave), for special effects.
have audio Input and Output selectors. These se- Devices that are assigned as a MIDI Controller
lectors are different than the Instrument track’s se- in the Peripherals dialog (Setup > Peripherals) are
lectors for MIDI Input and Output and are ignored when MIDI tracks are recorded. This is to
primarily used for monitoring audio from MIDI in- avoid recording data from MIDI control surfaces
struments or instrument plug-ins. (such as Command|8).
It is not necessary to use QuickPunch, Track- To record and play MIDI, the device must be
Punch, or DestructivePunch to punch in with MIDI enabled in the MIDI Input Enable dialog. For more
or Instrument tracks. This capability is available information, see “Enabling Input Devices” on
both in Normal (Nondestructive) Record mode and page 448.
Destructive Record mode.
MIDI Control Surfaces In order to use any MIDI MIDI Input Enable dialog
control surfaces (such as Command|8), they must
be enabled in the MIDI Input Enable dialog.
Devices do not need to be selected to receive
MMC In order for Pro Tools to synchronize to MIDI data from Pro Tools. For example, a
MIDI Machine Control (MMC), the MMC source device used exclusively as a sound module
must be enabled in the MIDI Input Enable dialog. does not need to be selected in the MIDI
For more information on using MMC with Input Enable dialog.
Pro Tools, see “Using MIDI Machine Control” on
page 1117. 4 Click OK.
2 In the MIDI Input Filter dialog, select the All Ex- For more information on Input Quantize, see
cept option. “Input Quantize Command” on page 891.
3 Select the option for Program Changes. Leave
all other messages deselected.
Wait for Note
The Wait for Note button, located in the Transport
window, determines how Pro Tools begins record-
ing. When enabled, Pro Tools does not start re-
cording until a MIDI event is received. This en-
sures that recording begins only when you start
playing, and that the first note, or other MIDI data,
is recorded precisely at the beginning of the set re-
cord range (start time).
4 Select Options > Link Timeline and Edit 1 Configure a MIDI or Instrument track for re-
Selection. cording (see “Configuring MIDI or Instrument
Tracks for Recording” on page 452).
5 With the Selector tool, select the punch range in
the track’s playlist. 2 Ensure that Normal Record mode is selected
(see “Record Modes” on page 411).
For other methods of setting the record
range, see “Setting Punch and Loop Points” 3 In the Transport window, disable Wait for Note
on page 430. and Countoff.
4 Record enable the track containing the previous
6 To hear existing track material up to the start
take.
point, or after the end point, enable and set pre-
and post-roll times (see “Setting Pre- and Post- 5 Click Play in the Transport to start playback.
Roll” on page 433).
6 When you reach the punch-in point, do one of
7 Record enable the track containing the previous the following:
take. • Click Record in the Transport.
8 Click Record in the Transport to arm Pro Tools • For Pro Tools systems that support a connected
for recording. The Record button flashes. footswitch, press the footswitch at the punch-in
point.
9 Click Play to start recording.
10 When you have finished recording, click Stop in Footswitches are supported by 003 family in-
the Transport. The newly recorded MIDI data terfaces, Mbox Pro, and Mbox 2 Pro, as well
appears in the track. as any Pro Tools system with a supported con-
trol surface.
3 Select Options > Loop Playback. When Loop 13 To switch to a new record track, press Com-
Playback is enabled, a loop symbol appears in mand (Mac) or Control (Windows), and press
the Play button. the Up/Down Arrow keys to record enable the
previous or next MIDI or Instrument track.
14 When you are finished recording, click Stop in
the Transport.
Loop Playback enabled The newly recorded MIDI data appears as a MIDI
clip in the track’s playlist, and in the Clip List.
4 Record enable the MIDI or Instrument track.
Ensure that no audio tracks are record-enabled.
5 In the Transport window, click the MIDI Merge
button so it is highlighted.
6 Disable Wait for Note and Countoff in the
Transport window.
7 Select Options > Link Timeline and Edit Selec-
tion.
Punch recording is used in many areas of audio Pro Tools Punch Recording
production for film, video, and music. Modes
Pro Tools provides three different manual punch
recording modes:
Introduction to Punch
Recording Modes QuickPunch A nondestructive Record mode that
lets record-enabled tracks be punched in and
Once basic track material has been recorded, it is punched out during playback by clicking the Re-
often necessary to replace some, but not all, of the cord button in the Transport. QuickPunch mode is
audio that makes up each track. Punch recording available on all systems.
lets you manually punch one or more audio tracks
in and out of recording without stopping the Trans- TrackPunch (Pro Tools HD Only) A nondestruc-
port. tive Record mode that lets individual tracks be
punched in, punched out, and taken out of record
You do not need to use QuickPunch or any enable without interrupting online recording and
other audio punch recording mode to punch playback.
record with MIDI tracks. MIDI tracks can be
punched while in Normal (Nondestructive) DestructivePunch (Pro Tools HD Only) A de-
Record mode, and in Destructive Record structive Record mode that maintains a single
mode. continuous audio file per punch track, and lets in-
dividual tracks be punched in, punched out, and
taken out of record enable without interrupting
online recording and playback.
• Tracks with assigned voices that are record-en- Command-Control-click (Mac) or Control-
abled. Start-click (Windows) the Track Compensation
indicator on the track.
• Tracks with Dynamically Allocated Voicing that
are not record-enabled. To apply Delay Compensation to all selected
• Tracks with Dynamically Allocated Voicing that tracks where Delay Compensation was
are record-enabled. suspended, do one of the following:
Transport and Record preferences for punch re- Punching out of record by pressing Record
cording appear on the Operation Preferences page. on the Transport takes the transport out of re-
These preferences specify how track and Transport cord enable.
record status respond during, between, and after
Destructive Recording and Transport RecordLock
punches and passes.
As a precaution against accidentally recording
over previous material, the Transport RecordLock
option is automatically disabled and grayed out
when Destructive record mode is enabled.
Audio Track RecordLock
Choose Setup > Machine Track Arming • Select Options > QuickPunch.
Profiles to configure your system, and choose • Right-click the Record button in the Transport
Window > Machine Track Arming to display and select QuickPunch.
the Machine Track Arming window.
When QuickPunch is enabled, a “P” appears in the
Record button in the Transport.
For information on remote track arming
with MachineControl, see the Machine-
Control Guide.
QuickPunch enabled
Before each pass, you must TrackPunch enable all Each track’s Record Enable button indicates its
tracks that you intend to punch (you can Track- TrackPunch and record enable status as follows:
Punch enable tracks without record enabling • When a track is TrackPunch-enabled but not re-
them). cord-enabled, its Record Enable button lights
solid blue.
To TrackPunch enable one audio track:
Option-Control-Shift-click (Mac) or
Alt-Start-Shift-click (Windows) a track’s
Record Enable button.
When TrackPunch enabled, Track record enable Record Enable button, enabled
buttons light solid blue.
• When a track is both TrackPunch-enabled and
Create track groups for each stem or set of record-enabled, its Record enable button flashes
tracks on which you plan to punch, then use blue and red.
the Group List to quickly select all tracks in • When a track is record-enabled only, its Record
the group. Enable button flashes red.
• While a track is recording (in any mode), its Re-
cord Enable button lights solid red.
To complete the setup for TrackPunch: 5 During playback, punch in and out on individ-
ual TrackPunch-enabled tracks by clicking their
1 Configure monitoring for record-enabled tracks respective Record Enable buttons.
by selecting a mode from the Track menu, or us-
ing the TrackInput button, as appropriate. 6 While continuing local or remote playback, do
Choices include: any of the following:
• Set Record Tracks to Auto Input • Punch in on other TrackPunch enabled tracks in-
dividually.
• Set Record Tracks to Input Only
• After punching out, take tracks out of record en-
Selecting either monitoring mode only affects able then record enable different TrackPunch en-
tracks that are record-enabled. abled tracks.
2 Start playback and compare levels of the input • Repeat as needed to punch other stems, tracks,
source with audio on disk. Click the TrackInput or takes.
button to toggle the track source. When lit
7 Stop playback. When you are finished with the
(green), the track is monitoring input. When un-
record pass, track Record Enable status and
lit (gray), the track is monitoring from disk (see
transport Record Arm status follow the current
“Selecting Record Monitor Modes with Track-
Audio Track RecordLock and Transport Record-
Input Monitoring” on page 422).
Lock preference settings.
3 When you are satisfied with your levels, you are
ready to start punch recording. After a TrackPunch recording pass, the punched
track’s playlist in the Edit window displays the
clips created by punching. You can use any of the
Trim tools after punch recording to open up the
Using TrackPunch head or tail of TrackPunch recorded clips, or to re-
After you have configured Pro Tools, tracks, and veal the parent audio file that was recorded in the
levels, you can record with TrackPunch in background. This lets you compensate for any late
several ways. or missed punches.
4 Click Play in the Transport to begin playback. Before using DestructivePunch in a record pass
you must configure Pro Tools, session, and track
5 During playback, punch out and back in on in-
settings.
dividual TrackPunch-enabled tracks by clicking
their respective Record Enable buttons.
6 Stop playback. When you are finished with the
record pass, track Record Enable status and
transport Record Arm status follow the current
Audio Track RecordLock and Transport Record-
Lock preference settings.
When DestructivePunch mode is enabled: • The File Length must be equal to or greater than
the DestructivePunch File Length setting (see
The letters “DP” appear in the Record button in “DestructivePunch File Length” on page 477).
the Transport.
If a track does not contain a file that meets these re-
If at least one track is DestructivePunch-en-
quirements, you can do any of the following to
abled, the Record button in the Transport lights
meet the requirements:
solid blue.
• Move the current file in the track Timeline so
that its beginning aligns with the session start.
• Use the Consolidate command to create a con-
tinuous file of the required length.
This method can be used when tracks already meet Monitoring and Levels
the requirements for DestructivePunch recording.
To complete the setup for DestructivePunch:
To simultaneously DestructivePunch enable and 1 Configure monitoring for record-enabled tracks
record enable an audio track:
by selecting a mode from the Track menu, as ap-
Click the track’s Record Enable button. The propriate. Choices include:
track’s Record Enable button flashes blue and
• Set Record Tracks to Auto Input
red.
• Set Record Tracks to Input Only
To simultaneously DestructivePunch enable and
record enable all audio tracks: Selecting either monitoring mode only affects
tracks that are record-enabled.
Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) a
track’s Record Enable button. All tracks’ Re- 2 Start playback.
cord Enable buttons flash blue and red. 3 To compare levels of the input source with au-
dio on disk, click the TrackInput button. When
To simultaneously DestructivePunch enable and
record enable all selected audio tracks:
lit (green), the track is monitoring input. When
unlit (gray), the track is monitoring from disk
Option-Shift-click (Mac) or Alt-Shift-click (see “Selecting Record Monitor Modes with
(Windows) a track’s Record Enable button. The TrackInput Monitoring” on page 422).
Record Enable buttons for the selected audio
tracks flash blue and red. When you are satisfied with your levels, you are
ready to start punch recording.
8 Group the tracks into groups of eight. By default, Pro Tools drops out of recording when
it goes offline due to broken timecode. However,
9 Click the record enable buttons in the first eight
you can change this behavior so that Pro Tools will
tracks to TrackPunch enable the first eight
instead remain armed, waiting to begin recording
tracks (or, the group for the first pre-dub).
again when lock is re-established with the time-
Use the Group List to quickly select all tracks code of the next take.
in the group, and Alt-Shift-click (Windows) or
To configure RecordLock for loading:
Option-Shift-click (Mac) to record-enable all
the tracks in the group. 1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click the
Operation tab.
10 Assign the console paddles to the first eight-
track group in the session. 2 Enable Transport RecordLock.
11 Begin the pre-dub pass. Use the console paddles 3 Enable Audio Track RecordLock.
to arm Pro Tools, and to punch in and out on the 4 Configure synchronization and other settings as
first group. required.
12 When the first pre-dub is over and all tracks are 5 Put Pro Tools online, and start the external
punched out, clear all TrackPunch or Destruc- source player.
tivePunch enabled tracks.
6 Whenever timecode drops out or stops,
13 Select the next group of tracks and TrackPunch- Pro Tools remains online and waits to receive
or DestructivePunch-enable them. new timecode. The Transport and record-en-
14 Punch in and out on the second group of tracks. abled tracks remain record-enabled. When
timecode resumes, Pro Tools begins recording
15 Repeat the preceding steps as necessary. to a new audio file (properly time stamped
based on the incoming code).
Use the Edit window in Pro Tools to edit and ar- While editing for MIDI tracks is in some instances
range audio, video, and MIDI. Track material can destructive, with a few precautions you can keep
be edited nondestructively and in real time during important MIDI tracks and clips safe when per-
playback. forming edits (see “Nondestructive MIDI Editing”
on page 494).
The Edit window also lets you graphically edit
other data, as follows:
Editing During Playback
Editing Clips and Selections See Chapter 27,
Pro Tools lets you perform many editing tasks
“Editing Clips and Selections.” Also, see
while the session plays. This powerful capability
Chapter 37, “Arranging Clips.”
lets you interactively modify and edit a session,
Editing Fades and Crossfades See Chapter 28, hearing the changes as you make them.
“Fades and Crossfades.”
Use Loop and Dynamic Transport modes for
Editing Elastic Audio See Chapter 40, “Elastic auditioning and editing loops during play-
Audio.” back. See “Playback Modes” on page 394.
Editing MIDI See Chapter 31, “MIDI Editing.” Following are just a few examples of editing and
arranging tasks that can be performed while play-
Editing Automation See Chapter 45, “Automa-
ing back a Pro Tools session:
tion.”
• Capture, separate, cut, copy, paste, and trim clips
Editing Video See Chapter 52, “Working with
Video in Pro Tools.” • Place, spot, or rearrange clips
• Add fades or crossfades to audio clips
Nondestructive Editing • Quantize MIDI notes and audio events
The vast majority of audio editing in Pro Tools is • Transpose and otherwise modify MIDI tracks
nondestructive. Whether cutting, pasting, trim- • Nudge audio or MIDI clips
ming, separating, or clearing clips, you are only
• Audition different playlists
performing these functions on a map of the actual
media (such as audio files). The source files re- • Adjust or scale automation and MIDI
main untouched. However, certain processes or continuous controller data
tools work destructively (can permanently change • Insert real-time plug-ins
audio files on your hard disk), as noted in other
• Apply Real-Time (and Rendered) Elastic
topics.
Audio processing
Peak When selected, the waveform display is cal- Peak view is always shown during recording.
culated based on the sample-by-sample peak level. Power waveform view is calculated and
Peak view is traditionally how Pro Tools calcu- shown only after you stop recording.
lates the waveform overview and can be used for
normal or rectified views. Peak view clearly dis-
plays any clipping in the waveform. Power view is not available in Destructive
Punch mode or when zoomed to the sample
level.
Some important rules to keep in mind when Apply a crossfade between clips where a click
defining clips: or pop occurs. See “Creating a Crossfade” on
page 588 for details.
Whenever possible, begin a clip precisely
before a volume peak, and end it immediately be- With Pro Tools HD, use the AutoFade feature to
fore another volume peak. apply real-time fade-ins/outs to all clip boundaries
that do not touch or overlap other clips. See “Using
Whenever possible, make sure a clip starts and AutoFades” on page 589 for details.
ends on exactly the same part of a beat.
Use the following Pro Tools features to help
you edit rhythmic material or audio with clear tran-
sients into precise clips:
• Tab to Transients (see “Tabbing to Transients”
on page 544.)
• Editing to a Grid (see “Grid Mode” on page 505)
• Beat Detective (see Chapter 30, “Beat Detec-
tive”)
Cutting a MIDI clip with note overlap MIDI Clips and Continuous Controller
Events
Similar rules also apply when MIDI clips or clip
groups containing MIDI clips are trimmed with Continuous controller events reside in MIDI clips
any of the Trim tools. If the MIDI clip’s start point and not in tracks. This means that when dragging
is moved beyond a note’s start point, the note is re- clips that contain controller data from either a track
moved. If the clip’s end point is trimmed so that a or the Clip List, the controller data is written to the
note’s start point is within the clip but its end point destination track.
is not, the note remains and overlaps the edge of
You can edit continuous controller events by
the clip.
switching track views or by revealing the control-
ler lanes under the track.
When a MIDI or Instrument track’s Track View is To scroll the Notes display up or down for a MIDI or
set to Notes, MIDI notes are displayed in a Instrument track, do one of the following:
“piano roll” format. Each note is displayed as a Click either the up or down arrow of the mini-
small rectangle with its vertical placement indicat- keyboard.
ing pitch and its horizontal placement indicating
location in time (and duration).
Clip Gain Line Shows the Clip Gain Line for all
Display enabled for clip names, Overlap, and times clips in the Edit window. The Clip Gain Line lets
you edit the clip gain settings for any given clip us-
Displaying Clip Data on All Channels ing breakpoint editing, much like with track-based
For stereo and greater-than-stereo multichannel volume automation. See “Clip Gain Line” on
tracks, clip data can be shown on all channels. page 567.
To undo the last operation, do one of the following: Choose Window > Undo History.
Choose Edit > Undo. To undo operations in the Undo History window:
Press Control+Z (Windows) or Command+Z Click the operation (bold) in the list to undo.
(Mac).
All operations in the queue that were performed af-
If no actions are available to undo, the menu ter the operation you select are also undone. In the
displays Can’t Undo. Undo History window, undoable operations are
shown in bold and redoable operations (operations
that have already been undone) are shown in ital-
ics.
To redo all the operations in the Redo Queue: To set the Levels of Undo in Pro Tools:
Click the Options pop-up menu and choose 1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click the
Redo All. Editing tab.
Cut, Copy, Paste, and Clear When a track is displaying automation data or con-
troller data, only that data is placed on the Clip-
Use the Cut, Copy, Paste, and Clear commands to
board. Also, whenever you cut or copy automation
rearrange and edit track material. Edits can operate
data, bounding breakpoints are created at each end
on entire clips selected with the Time Grabber tool,
of the selected area, in order to preserve the slope
or on track ranges selected with the Selector tool.
of the automation both inside and outside the se-
Edits can also work across multiple tracks (see
lection.
“Editing Across Multiple Tracks” on page 502).
Edit mode buttons When using any of the Trim tools in Shuffle mode,
changing a clip’s start or end point automatically
The Edit mode affects the movement and place-
moves any subsequent clips as necessary. The
ment of audio and MIDI clips (and MIDI notes),
placement and insertion of MIDI notes is not af-
how commands like Copy and Paste function, and
fected by Shuffle mode.
also how the various Edit tools (Trim, Selector,
Grabber, and Pencil tools) work. Press F1 to enable Shuffle mode.
To show (or hide) the Grid lines in the Edit window In Relative Grid mode, clips can be moved by
or in a MIDI Editor window, do one of the following: Grid (or Nudge) units. If a clip’s start point falls
between beats and the Grid is set to a 1/4 note (as-
Select (or deselect) the Grid button.
suming the 1/4 note gets the beat), dragging the
clip will be constrained to 1/4 notes, preserving the
clip’s relative position to the nearest beat. For more
information on Relative Grid mode, see “Sliding
Clips in Grid Mode” on page 795.
Grid button selected in the Edit window To select Absolute or Relative Grid mode:
Click the Name of the currently selected Time- Click the Grid mode selector and choose Abso-
base ruler. lute or Relative.
2 Select (or deselect) Options > Edit/Tool Mode The Zoomer, Trim, Grabber, and Pencil tools have
Keyboard Lock. multiple modes, which you can select from a pop-
up menu when you click the tool.
Grabber Tools Use the Grabber tools to select, The Edit window, MIDI Editor windows, and the
separate, or move clips on tracks. Score Editor window also provide Zoom buttons
above and below the right vertical scroll bar (see
Smart Tool Use the Smart tool to Trim, Select, or “Edit Window Zoom Buttons” on page 168,
Grab clips in tracks. “MIDI Editor Zoom Controls” on page 686, and
“Score Editor Zoom Controls” on page 707.)
Scrubber Tool Use the Scrubber tool to scrub
through track material.
Horizontal Zoom In and Out
Pencil Tool Use the Pencil tool to draw automation Buttons
and MIDI data.
The Horizontal Zoom In and Out buttons let you
For information on using the Edit tools in zoom in and out horizontally on track data.
Notes view on MIDI and Instrument tracks,
see Chapter 31, “MIDI Editing.”
The Audio and MIDI Zoom buttons let you zoom Press Control+Alt+Start+[ (Windows) or
in and out vertically on audio and MIDI data Command+Option+Control+[ (Mac).
respectively.
To zoom in vertically for all MIDI and Instrument
tracks, do one of the following:
MIDI Vertical Zoom only affects tracks in not To zoom in or out vertically for a single MIDI or
Instrument track:
in Clips view.
1 Make sure the Track View is not set to Clips.
To zoom in vertically for all audio tracks, do one of
the following: 2 Select the Zoomer tool.
Click the Audio Zoom In button. 3 Hold Start (Windows) or Control (Mac) and
drag upwards to zoom in, or downward to zoom
Drag on the Audio Zoom In button to zoom
out.
continuously.
Press Control+Alt+] (Windows) or
Command+Option+] (Mac).
To zoom horizontally and show the entire session, To store a view as a Zoom preset:
and to reset the audio waveform to show the
1 Use the Zoomer tool to configure the Track
default height, zoom MIDI to show all notes in a
track, and zoom the Tempo Editor to show all View.
tempo events, do one of the following:
2 Click and hold one of the Zoom Preset buttons
Double-click the Zoomer tool. (1–5) and choose Save Zoom Preset from the
Zoom Preset pop-up menu. The preset button
Press Alt+A (Windows) or Option+A (Mac).
flashes momentarily, and any previously stored
This will also affect your MIDI note heights. Zoom preset at that number is replaced.
Last Used When selected, zoom toggling in When this option is selected, the Grid setting
changes all tracks containing an Edit Selection to stored with Zoom toggle is recalled when zoom
the last used Track Height. toggling in. When this option is deselected, the
same (current) grid setting is used whether zoom
Medium When selected, zoom toggling in changes
toggling in or out.
all tracks containing an Edit Selection to the Me-
dium Track Height. Zoom Toggle Follows Edit Selection
Large When selected, zoom toggling in changes When selected, this option ensures that zoom tog-
all tracks containing an Edit Selection to the Large gle automatically follows the current Edit selec-
Track Height. tion. When disabled, changing the Edit selection
Jumbo When selected, zoom toggling in changes
has no affect on the currently toggled-in track.
all tracks containing an Edit Selection to the
Jumbo Track Height. Using Zoom Toggle
Extreme When selected, zoom toggling in changes Depending on the Zoom Toggle preference set-
all tracks containing an Edit Selection to the Ex- tings, the Zoom Toggle button in the Edit window
treme Track Height. lets you define a zoom state and toggle between it
and the current zoom state, or it zooms to the set-
Fit To Window When selected, zoom toggling in tings in the Zoom Toggle preferences. When
changes all tracks containing an Edit Selection to Zoom Toggle is enabled, the Edit window displays
the Fit To Window Track Height. the stored zoom state. Additionally, any changes
made to the view while Zoom Toggle is enabled
Track View
are also stored in the zoom state.
Waveform/Notes When selected, zoom toggling in
When Zoom Toggle is disabled, the Edit window
changes the Track View for audio tracks to Wave-
reverts to the last zoom state.
form view, and changes the Track View for Instru-
ment and MIDI tracks to Notes view.
Trim tool
Time Compression/Expansion Trim tool over a clip To set the AudioSuite plug-in for use with the TCE
Trim tool:
The TCE Trim tool unloops and consolidates 1 Choose Setup > Preferences.
looped clips.
2 Click the Processing tab.
3 From the TC/E Plug-In pop-up menu, select the
You can match an Edit selection to the length
AudioSuite plug-in to be used with the Time
of a Timeline selection by selecting Edit > TCE
Compression/Expansion Trim tool.
Edit to Timeline Selection command (see
“TCE (Time Compression and Expansion)
Edit To Timeline Selection” on page 576.
• Click the Trim tool pop-up menu and select 1 Set the Edit mode to Spot.
TCE. 2 Click the Trim tool pop-up menu and select
TCE.
3 Click the clip near its start or end point. The
Spot dialog opens. Using any Time Scale, enter
a new start or end time (or duration) for the clip,
Time Compression/Expansion Trim tool
then click OK.
• Right-click on any track and select Tools >
Trim Tools > TCE.
• Click at the end of the clip, and drag left or right 1 Select the Loop Trim tool.
to the point you want the loop to stop.
2 Move the cursor over the top half of the looped
• Click at the beginning of the clip, and drag left or clip (not over a Loop icon). The cursor indicates
right to the point you want the loop to start. the Loop Trim tool.
Loop Trim tool
Loop icon
Trim Trim
tool tool
(start) (end)
The following capabilities are available with the Tool switching for the Smart Tool in stereo and
Smart Tool when working in both automation and multichannel tracks is determined by the position
controller views: within the entire track, and not within individual
channels.
For the Selector tool, position the cursor any-
where in the bottom 75% of the playlist for the Se-
lector tool. Drag with the Selector tool to select
breakpoints. Using the Scrubber Tool
For Trim tools, position the cursor in the top The Scrubber tool lets you “scrub” up to two tracks
25% of the playlist for the Trim tool. Drag with the of audio in the Edit Window. Scrubbing is a tech-
Trim tool to trim breakpoints. Press Control (Win- nique that originated in tape editing, where the tape
dows) or Command (Mac) while trimming for fine was rocked back and forth past the playhead at
control. slower than normal speeds to find a particular loca-
tion (usually for cutting and splicing).
For Grabber tools, Control (Windows) or Com-
mand (Mac) for the Grabber tool, then click in on While viewing an audio waveform in Pro Tools
the automation line to create breakpoints. can be helpful in visually finding an edit point,
sometimes a waveform display (because of its
• To edit existing breakpoints, move the cursor
sonic characteristics) may not reveal the desired
near a breakpoint for the Grabber tool.
spot in the audio material. By scrubbing back and
• For fine control with the Grabber tool, press forth in Pro Tools, you can listen and locate an ex-
Control (Windows) or Command (Mac)—or act edit point.
continue to hold the key if you are creating a
new breakpoint. When the Edit Insertion Follows Scrub/Shuttle op-
tion is enabled in the Operation Preferences page,
• To vertically constrain Grabber tool movement,
the edit cursor automatically locates to the point
press Shift.
where scrubbing stops.
• To vertically constrain Grabber tool movement
with fine control, press Control+Shift (Win- When the Scrolling option is set to Continuous
dows) or Command+Shift (Mac). (Pro Tools HD only) or Center Playhead
(Pro Tools HD only), clicking with the Scrubber in
a track’s playlist centers the Edit window around
that point, and moves the Playhead there. With
these Scrolling Options, scrubbed material moves
past the Playhead, which remains stationary and
centered.
2 Drag within the track: left for reverse or right When scrubbing multiple tracks, only the first two
for forward. tracks are heard.
The distance and speed with which you drag (with Scrub/Shuttle Mode
either the mouse, or the scrub wheel on a control When scrubbing normally, you can scrub at nor-
surface) determine the length and speed of the mal playback speeds or slower. Scrub/Shuttle
scrubbed audio. Audio from the scrubbed track is mode, however, lets you scrub at several times nor-
routed to its output, along with any effects as- mal speed, which is helpful in playing through
signed to the track. large ranges and locating material.
The resolution for the Scrubber is dependent on the
To scrub in Shuttle mode (at several times normal
zoom factor for the scrubbed track. speed):
You can temporarily switch the Selector tool 1 Select the Scrubber tool.
to the Scrubber tool by Start-clicking (Win-
2 While pressing Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac),
dows) or Control-clicking (Mac). For finer
drag within the track—left for reverse, right for
resolution, Control-Start-click (Windows) or
forward. The Fast Forward and Rewind buttons
Command-Control-click (Mac).
in the Transport window engage.
To scrub multiple audio tracks, do one of the
The distance and speed dragged determine the
following:
speed for the scrubbed audio.
With the Scrubber selected, drag between two
adjacent tracks.
Shuttle Lock Mode
Shuttle Lock mode lets you use the numeric key-
pad to shuttle up to two tracks forward or back-
wards at specific speeds: 5 is normal speed, num-
bers from 6 up to 9 provide increasingly faster fast-
forward speeds, and numbers from 4 down to 1
provide progressively faster rewind speeds (4 is
the slowest rewind Shuttle Lock speed, 1 is the
fastest). If multiple tracks are selected, only the
first two tracks are shuttled.
Scrubbing between two audio tracks
3 Press the Start key (Windows) or Control (Mac) 1 In Pro Tools, select Setup > Preferences and
and a number on the numeric keypad: 0–9 (9 is click the Operation tab.
fastest, 5 is normal speed, and 0 stops shuttling). 2 Be sure that the Numeric Keypad mode is set to
Transport or Classic (see “Operation Prefer-
Once Shuttle Lock mode is initiated, Fast Forward
ences” on page 102).
and Rewind become highlighted in the Transport
window. 3 Enter a percentage for the Custom Shuttle Lock
Speed setting. The range for this setting is
4 Press additional keys to change the playback
50–800%. You can use the Up and Down Arrow
speed, or press Plus (+) or Minus (–) to switch
keys to increase or decrease the setting.
the playback direction (plus for forward, minus
for backward). 4 Click OK.
5 To stop playback, press Start+0 (Windows) or The Custom Shuttle Lock Speed setting is saved
Control+0 (Mac). with your Pro Tools system preferences (not with
the session).
To exit Shuttle Lock mode, do one of the following:
Press Stop in the Transport window. To enable Custom Shuttle Lock Speed:
4 Hold any of the following keys (or key combi- Although you can Undo a Pencil tool edit, it is rec-
nations) on the numeric keypad to trigger play- ommended that you create a backup copy of the
back. target audio before using the Pencil tool. You can
do this by using the AudioSuite Duplicate plug-in.
Shuttle Speed Rewind Key Forward Key
The Pencil tool is a destructive editing tool
1 X Speed 4 6
that permanently modifies the audio file on
4 X Speed 7 9 disk and should be used with caution.
1/4 X Speed 1 3
For information about the AudioSuite Du-
1/2 X Speed 4+5 5+6
plicate plug-in, see the Audio Plug-Ins
2 X Speed 7+8 8+9 Guide.
Pencil tool
Timeline Selection Markers with Pre- and Post-Roll Select or deselect Options > Link Track and Edit
Flags Selection.
When the Timeline and Edit selections are un- In the upper left of the Edit window, under the
linked, Edit selections are displayed in the ruler Edit tools, click the Link Track and Edit Selec-
with Edit Markers, which appear as black brackets. tion button so it becomes highlighted (selected)
or unhighlighted (not selected).
Edit Markers
Double-click the clip with the Selector tool. When the Editing preference for Clip List Selection
Follows Edit Selection is enabled, selecting a clip
To select two clips and the time range between in a track also causes the clip to become selected in
them: the Clip List.
1 With the Time Grabber, click the first clip. Conversely, if the Editing preference for Edit
2 Shift-click the second clip. Both clips are se- Selection Follows Clip List Selection is enabled, se-
lected, along with the time range between them lecting a clip in the Clip List causes the initial oc-
(including any other clips). currence of that clip to become selected within the
track.
To select an entire track, do one of the following:
Click in the track with the Selector tool and then Selecting All from Timebase
choose Edit > Select All. Rulers
Triple-click with the Selector tool in the track. To select all material in all displayed audio and
MIDI tracks:
Press Control+A (Windows) or
1 Enable Link Timeline and Edit Selection
Command+A (Mac) for Select All.
(Options > Link Timeline and Edit Selection).
To select all clips in all tracks: 2 Double-click in any Timebase ruler. All clips in
1 Select the “All” Edit Group in the Group List all displayed audio and MIDI tracks are se-
pop-up menu. lected. Tracks that are hidden are not selected.
• Press Escape to exit the Edit Selection indicators 1 Using the Selector or Time Grabber tool, make
without entering any values. a selection in the first track or tracks.
2 Shift-click in additional tracks with the Selector
These shortcuts can also be used to enter start
tool. An identical range is selected for each ad-
and end values in the Transport window.
ditional track.
1 Enable Commands Keyboard Focus (see “Key- In either instance, the original Edit selection re-
board Focus” on page 24). mains selected.
To position the edit cursor precisely at a clip start, In either instance, the original clip becomes dese-
end, or sync point: lected.
1 Make sure the Tab to Transients button is not
enabled. (See “Tabbing to Transients” on To slide an Edit selection in the Main Timebase
ruler:
page 544.)
1 With the Selector or Time Grabber tool, make a
2 Click with the Selector tool in the track. selection.
3 Do one of the following: 2 While pressing Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac),
• Press Tab to move the cursor to the next clip or move the cursor over either of the Timeline Se-
clip group start, end, or sync point. lection Markers in the ruler (the Time Grabber
• Press Control+Tab (Windows) or appears).
Option+Tab (Mac) to move the cursor to the pre-
vious clip or clip group start, end, or sync point.
2 Select the option for “Edit Insertion Follows Sliding an Edit selection in the Main Timebase ruler
Scrub/Shuttle,” then click OK.
3 Drag left or right to move the Edit selection
3 Scrub with the Scrubber to find an appropriate back or forward in time while preserving its
start point for the selection, then release. length.
4 While pressing Shift, scrub to an appropriate If Link Timeline and Edit Selection is disabled
end point for the selection, then release. The (Options > Link Timeline and Edit Selection), Alt-
range between the initial and final scrub be- drag (Windows) or Option-drag (Mac) the Edit
comes selected. Markers instead.
To apply a command to an object while keeping the To toggle Tab to Transients on and off,
current selection: press Control+Alt+Tab (Windows) or
Command+Option+Tab (Mac).
Control-Right-click (Windows) or Command-
Right-click (Mac) the object and choose a com- To set the start and end points of a selection with
mand from the pop-up menu. Tab to Transients:
2 Drag left or right to move the Timeline selection All Edit window counters and indicators (except
back or forward in time, while preserving its the Sub Counter) let you enter a location in their
length. counter display to navigate to a specific time loca-
tion.
The Main and Sub Counters, as well as the Edit Se- Scrolling in a ruler
lection indicators, also appear in the Transport
window when it is set to display Counters. Scrolling with a Scroll Wheel
If you have a mouse with a scroll wheel, you can
To navigate with the Edit window Main Counter (or use the scroll wheel to scroll vertically or horizon-
one of the Edit Selection indicators):
tally in any Pro Tools window that has a scroll bar
1 Do one of the following: (such as the MIDI Event List).
• Click in one of the counters.
To scroll a Pro Tools window vertically:
• Press asterisk (*) on the numeric keypad to high-
light the Main Counter in the Edit window (or 1 Place the mouse over the window you want to
the Main Counter in the Transport window or scroll (for example, in the Edit window you
Big Counter window, if either are displayed). might want to scroll either the track display or
the Clip List).
2 Type in the new location. Press Period (.) to cy-
cle through to the different time fields. 2 Scroll the scroll wheel up or down to scroll the
window up or down.
3 Press Enter to accept the new value and auto-
matically locate there. To scroll a Pro Tools window horizontally:
1 Place the mouse over the window you want to
Scrolling in a Timebase Ruler scroll (for example, in the Edit window you
might want to scroll either the track display or
You can scroll the contents of the Edit window by
the Clip List).
dragging in a ruler. While this does not actually up-
date the session’s Current Location, it does let you 2 Shift-scroll the scroll wheel up or down to scroll
conveniently shift the display left or right for the the window to the left or right.
sake of finding and editing material.
The track becomes selected, and the Mix and Edit Press Control+Alt+F (Windows) or
windows both scroll to display the selected track. Command+Option+F (Mac) to
Scroll to Track.
This overview represents audio and MIDI material Since Auxiliary Input, Master Fader, and VCA
on all tracks in the session that are not hidden (in- Master tracks do not contain audio or MIDI clips,
cluding tracks that are inactive, or that contain of- they are displayed as blank areas in the Universe
fline clips). The order in which material is dis- view.
played in the Universe view corresponds to the
track order in the Edit window.
2 Click anywhere in the Universe view to move Scrolling the Universe View
the framed area and the Edit window updates
accordingly. If you have more tracks in the session than are vis-
ible in the Universe view, you can scroll up or
down to show the other tracks.
Zooming to the Entire Session Set the Track Height option for Zoom Toggle
and to the Edit Selection to Fit To Window in the Editing Preferences.
Press F7 for the Selector tool or F8 for the Press Control+Alt+Tab (Windows) or Com-
Grabber tool. mand+Option+Tab (Mac)
2 Press Alt+Start (Windows) or Option+Con- To navigate and extend selections forward with
trol+F (Mac) to fit the length of the selection to Tab to Transients:
the length of the Edit window. 1 With the Selector tool, place the Edit cursor be-
3 Press Control+Start+Up Arrow (Windows) or fore the first transient your want in your
Command+Control+Up Arrow (Mac) to zoom selection.
the Track Height of the Edit selection to fit to 2 Press Tab to place the Edit cursor at the first
the height of the Edit window. transient.
3 Press Shift+Tab to extend the selection to the
next transient.
Making an Edit Selection During To extend the Edit selection down across
Playback tracks, Press Start+Shift+; (semicolon)
(Windows) or Control+Shift+; (semicolon)
To make an Edit selection during playback: (Mac).
1 Place the Edit cursor in the track or across mul-
tiple tracks where you want to make the selec- To move the selection up to the next track:
You can also press Control+Alt+Z (Windows) To change Track views for all tracks together:
or Command+Option+Z (Mac) to restore the Press Control+Alt+Start+Left or Right arrows
previous selection. (Windows) or Command+Option+
Control+Left or Right arrows (Mac).
Clips are the basic building blocks for arranging To capture a new clip:
audio and MIDI in Pro Tools. Understanding how 1 With the Selector tool, drag in an existing clip to
clips are created, edited, and arranged is essential select the material for the new clip.
to taking full advantage of the editing capabilities
of Pro Tools.
For editing procedures more specific to MIDI, see Selecting a portion of a clip
Chapter 31, “MIDI Editing.” For editing proce- 2 Choose Clip > Capture.
dures specific to video, see “Video Clips” on
page 1171. Press Control+R (Windows) or Com-
mand+R (Mac) for Capture Clip.
Pro Tools provides several commands for creating The new clip appears in the Clip List. The original
clips and clip groups, each of them having a clip remains intact and unchanged.
slightly different effect on the selection. When you
create a new clip or clip group, it appears in the Separate Commands
Clip List and in the track’s playlist. When creating
The Separate commands define a selection within
a new clip from an existing clip, the original clip
an existing clip, or a partially selected clip, as a
remains in the Clip List. New clips are named au-
new clip and separate it from surrounding material.
tomatically (see “Auto-Naming Options” on
The Separate commands can also be applied to
page 265).
MIDI notes (see “Separating MIDI Notes” on
page 653).
Capture Clip Command
New clips appear in the tracks in which they are
The Capture Clip command defines a selection as a created, separate from the data surrounding them.
new clip and adds it to the Clip List. From there, They also appear in the Clip List.
the new clip can be dragged to any existing tracks.
On Grid Creates new clips according to the se- 3 In the Pre-Separate Amount dialog, type a
lected Grid value (see “Defining the Grid Value” pre-separate amount in milliseconds. This can
on page 795). Likewise, MIDI notes can be sepa- be useful to pad the beginnings of the new clips.
rated on the grid.
This option helps you compare different sections Once separated, this material can be moved or cop-
from a group of related takes. For example, you ied to another location.
can quickly separate an entire group of related vo-
cal takes into sections, then audition and select the Separation Grabber Tool
best material from each section independently.
You can use the Separation Grabber tool to auto-
If this option is selected, make sure the Track matically separate an Edit selection and move it to
Name and Clip Start and End options are also se- another location or another track.
lected in the Matching Criteria window (see
“Matching Criteria” on page 608). If they are not, To separate a selection with the Separation
all clips in the session that have the same User Grabber tool:
Time Stamp will be affected. 1 With the Selector tool, make an Edit selection.
The selection can reside within a single clip,
In most instances, you will want to disable the
across adjacent clips within the same track, or
Separate Clip Operates On All Related Takes op-
across multiple tracks.
tion, to prevent a large number of clips from being
created when you use the Separate Clip command.
If you have trimmed or otherwise changed the start To trim unwanted data from a clip or note:
or end points of the two clips, or moved them fur- 1 With the Selector tool, select a portion of a clip
ther away from each other, you will not be able to or note (or a range of notes).
repair them with the Heal Separation command. It
is not possible to heal two clips created from dif- 2 Choose Edit > Trim Clip > To Selection to
ferent audio files. remove material outside of the selection.
The Trim to Fill Selection command is the inverse 2 Choose Edit > Trim Clip > To File Boundaries.
of the Trim to Fit Selection command: where the
To trim the selected clip to both the beginning
Trim to Fill Selection command trims a clip out to
and end of the file, press Command+Con-
match the Edit selection, the Trim to Fit Selection
trol+T (Mac) or Control+Start+T.
command trims a clip in to match the Edit selec-
tion.
To trim a clip’s start or end point by the Nudge Start and end points for selections can also be
value: moved by the Nudge value (see “Nudging Selec-
1 Configure the Nudge value (see “Defining the tion Start/End Points” on page 539). In addition,
Nudge Value” on page 562). clips can be trimmed by the Nudge value (see
“Trimming with Nudge” on page 562).
2 With the Time Grabber tool, select the clip you
want to trim. To set the Nudge value:
3 While pressing the Start key (Windows) or Con- For Elastic Audio clips, only the clips are quan-
trol (Mac), press Plus (+) or Minus (–) on the tized and all Elastic Audio Events contained within
numeric keypad to move the material by the the clips (such as transient events) are moved
Nudge value. equally, thereby retaining their rhythmic relation-
ships.
Split Selected Tracks Dragging a stereo clip to two mono audio tracks
To edit a specific channel within a stereo or When dragging clips to or from stereo or
multichannel track without affecting the other multichannel tracks, the following rules apply:
channels, you can split the track into separate
Provided the number of tracks and channels are
mono tracks. Once the edits have been made to the
the same for the source and destination, you can
separated material, you can then drag or copy it
drag clips between multichannel tracks and mono
back to the original multichannel track.
tracks.
To split a stereo or multichannel track: The source and destination for dragged clips
1 Select one or more stereo or multichannel tracks can be mixed. For example, you can drag clips
(see “Selecting Tracks” on page 210). from a 5.0 track (containing five channels) to a ste-
reo track and three mono audio tracks.
2 Choose Track > Split Into Mono. Clips from the
channels on the selected tracks are placed on When dragging multichannel clips to mono
new, mono audio tracks. tracks, the destination tracks must be adjacent.
Names for the new tracks are based on the source When dragging clips from mono tracks to a
track name and channel suffix. For example, if a multichannel track, the source tracks need not be
stereo track called “Funkit” is split, two new tracks adjacent.
called “Funkit.L” and “Funkit.R” are created.
Conversely, a collection of single, mono clips can You can have either static or dynamic clip gain set-
be dragged from the Clip List to multichannel tings for a single clip. Static clip gain simply
tracks—provided the dragged number of clips means that there is a single gain setting for the en-
matches the number of channels in the destination tire clip (see “Simple Clip Gain Adjustment” on
track. page 568). Dynamic clip gain means that you can
have gain settings for a clip that vary over time (see
“Graphically Editing Clip Gain” on page 569).
Clip Gain
Clip Gain Info View
Pro Tools provides clip-based gain for quick and
easy gain matching of clips (formerly called re- When Clip Gain Info view is enabled (View >
gions in Pro Tools) from different sources in a Clip > Clip Gain Info), the Clip Gain Fader icon is
Pro Tools session. Clip-based gain is applied pre- shown at the beginning of the clip, in the lower left
mixer (pre-fader and before any plug-in process- corner. If the clip uses static clip gain, the static
ing). This is especially useful when working with Clip Gain value (–144 dB to +36.0 dB) for the clip
field recordings and sample libraries in post-pro- is displayed to the right of the Clip Gain Fader
duction sessions. icon. For a clip that has dynamic clip gain (using
breakpoint gain settings), the Clip Gain value is
By adjusting the clip gain for individual clips on a not shown.
single track, you can match their relative gain lev-
els so that you do not have to execute complex Clip Gain commands (including the Clip Gain
track volume automation to compensate. Fader and its Right-click commands) only apply to
the single, whole clip with which it is associated.
Clip gain is applied on a clip-by-clip basis. When You can adjust clip gain using the Clip Gain Fader
cross-fading between clips, the Clip Gain Line for icon for quick and easy clip gain adjustments.
the first clip carries through the fade out segment
of the crossfade and the Clip Gain Line for the sec- To boost or attenuate the current clip gain settings
ond clip carries through the fade in segment of the for a single clip:
crossfade. Consequently, crossfades can display 1 Ensure that the Clip Gain Info option is enabled.
two Clip Gain Lines, one for the first clip and one
2 Click the Clip Gain Fader icon on the clip and
for the second clip.
drag the Clip Gain fader up or down to boost or
attenuate the clip gain settings for the clip.
The Pencil tool lets you create new breakpoints by 1 Ensure that the Clip Gain Line option is enabled.
clicking once on the graph line. Pro Tools lets you 2 Select the Pencil tool.
use the Free Hand, Line, Triangle, Square, and
Random Pencil Tool shapes for drawing clip gain. 3 Do one of the following:
The Parabolic and S-Curve Pencil Tool shapes are • Click once on the Clip Gain Line to add a single
not available for editing clip gain. breakpoint.
• Drag on the Clip Gain Line to draw breakpoints.
Pro Tools lets you convert clip gain settings to Pro Tools lets you coalesce clip gain settings to
track-based volume automation, as well as letting track-based volume automation, as well as letting
you convert track-based volume automation to clip you coalesce track-based volume automation to
gain settings. clip gain settings.
When converting clip gain settings to volume au- When coalescing clip gain settings to volume auto-
tomation, the clip gain settings are cut from the clip mation, the clip gain settings are cut from the clip
and pasted to track-based volume automation at and coalesced with track-based volume automa-
the same timeline locations as the clip. tion at the same timeline locations as the clip.
When converting track-based volume automation When coalescing track-based volume automation
to clip gain, the volume automation is cut from the to clip gain, the volume automation is cut from the
track volume automation playlist and pasted to the track volume automation playlist and coalesced
clip. Once volume automation has been converted with the selected clip gain settings. Once volume
to clip gain, the clip gain settings stay with the clip automation has been coalesced to clip gain, vol-
when moved, cut, copied, or pasted. ume automation is set to 0 dB for the selection.
To convert clip gain settings to track-based To coalesce clip gain settings to track-based
volume automation: volume automation:
1 Select a clip or make an Edit selection. 1 Select a clip or make an Edit selection.
2 Choose Edit > Automation > Convert Clip Gain 2 Choose Edit > Automation > Coalesce Clip Gain
to Volume Automation. to Volume Automation.
Any clip gain settings above +12 dB are lost To coalesce track-based volume automation to
when converted to volume automation. Also, clip gain settings:
clip gain settings within crossfades are cross- 1 Select a clip or make an Edit selection.
faded as part of the volume automation.
2 Choose Edit > Automation > Coalesce Volume
To convert track-based volume automation to clip to Clip Gain.
gain:
1 Select a clip or make an Edit selection. Any clip gain settings above +12 dB are lost
when it is coalesced to volume automation.
2 Choose Edit > Automation > Convert Volume to Also, clip gain within crossfades is cross-
Clip Gain. faded as part of the volume automation.
To bypass (or unbypass) clip gain for a clip, do one To render clip gain for a clip, do one of the
of the following: following:
Select one or more whole clips and choose Clip Select one or more whole clips and choose
> Clip Gain > Bypass Clip Gain (or choose Clip > Clip > Clip Gain > Render Clip Gain.
Clip Gain > Unbypass Clip Gain).
Right-click the Clip Gain Fader icon for a clip
Right-click the Clip Gain Fader icon for a clip and choose Render Clip Gain.
and select (or deselect) Bypass.
Right-click a clip or an Edit selection and
Right-click a clip or an Edit selection and choose Clip Gain > Render Clip Gain.
choose Clip Gain > Bypass Clip Gain (or choose
Clip Gain > Unbypass Clip Gain). Clip gain for any whole clips within the Edit selec-
tion is rendered and their clip gain settings are reset
The clip gain settings for any whole clips within to 0 dB.
the Edit selection are bypassed (or unbypassed).
For clips with any clip gain settings other
than 0 dB, the Prepare DPE Tracks com-
mand (for DestructivePunch) automatically
renders all clip gain settings and resets all
clip gain settings to 0 dB.
To rate a clip:
1 Select the clip.
2 Do one of the following:
• Choose Clip > Rating, and select a ranking of
1 to 5.
• Right-click the clip, choose Rate, and select a
ranking of 1 to 5.
Pro Tools calculates fades and crossfades in RAM The type of selection you make determines the
in real-time. You can quickly and easily apply a character of the crossfade.
fade-in or fade-out on a audio clip, as well as apply
crossfades between adjacent audio clips. Crossfad- Since crossfades are created by fading
ing is the process of fading between two clips of between overlapping audio material, a
audio to prevent pops, clicks, or sudden changes in crossfade cannot be performed on clips
sound. Crossfades have many applications, from that do not contain audio material
smoothing transitions between clips to creating beyond their clip boundaries.
special audio effects. The crossfade duration, posi-
tion, and shape are all user-definable. If a clip references insufficient data to
execute a selected fade or crossfade, you
are prompted to either skip those fades
About Crossfades and Curves or to adjust the bounds of the selection to
execute those fades.
To create a crossfade between two clips, use the
Selector tool to select across the end point of the
first clip and the start point of the second. The
Standard Crossfade (Centered)
length of the selection determines the length of the splice
crossfade. Though fades may appear to be discrete fade-out curve point fade-in curve
clips, they cannot actually be separated from the
clips in which they were created. You can, how-
ever, create fade-ins and fade-outs for individual clip 1 clip 2
Use the Fades dialog to select, view, and manipu- crossfade selection
late the curves used to perform fades and cross- Centered crossfade
fades. Different volume curves can be assigned to
the fade-out and fade-in portions of crossfades. This type of selection creates a crossfade on both
The Fades dialog can also be used to audition a sides of the splice point, which affects the volume
fade or crossfade before applying it. of clip 1 and clip 2. It is the most common type of
crossfade.
This crossfade type requires that clip 2 contain au- Select (or deselect) View > Waveform > Over-
lapping Crossfades.
dio material before its start point.
Post Crossfade
Fades Dialog
splice
point
When choosing the Edit > Fades command you
can use the Fades dialog to select, view, and pre-
view fades and crossfades, and to edit the curves
used to perform fades and crossfades. A fade-in
clip 1 clip 2 shows the In Shape settings, but not the Out Shape
settings, and likewise a fade-out shows the Out
Shape settings, but not the In Shape settings.
crossfade selection
Post crossfade
Audition
Click this button to display the specified fade Click this button to scale the view of the wave-
curves without showing the actual audio wave- form’s amplitude upwards. Control-click (Win-
forms. This is the default view when you open the dows) or Command-click (Mac) for the default
Fades dialog. view scale.
Fade Curves and Separate Waveforms Zoom Out
Click this button to display the specified fade Click this button to scale the view of the wave-
curves along with separate views of the fade-in and form’s amplitude downwards. Control-click (Win-
fade-out waveforms. dows) or Command-click (Mac) for the default
view scale.
Fade Curves and Superimposed Waveforms
the fade, then immediately drops the volume at the Preset Curve 4
end of the fade. Preset Curve 5 fades out quickly at the begin-
ning of the crossfade.
Preset Curve 1
Preset Curve 3 fades out slightly faster, keeping Preset Curve 7 silences any audio at the begin-
the volume slightly lower during the fade. ning of the fade.
Link Settings
(Crossfades Only)
Fade Link
Preset Curve 1
Preset Curve 4
of the fade.
Linear Crossfade
Preset Curve 6
Preset Curve 7 silences any audio until the end Equal Power Crossfade
of the fade.
Preset Curve 7
To create a fade-in:
Selecting the end of a clip for a fade-out
1 Select the beginning of the clip that you want to
fade in. The selection must extend to the exact 2 Do one of the following:
beginning of the clip or a blank area prior to the • Choose Edit > Fades > Create.
clip in the track. • Press Control+F (Windows) or
Command+F (Mac).
• Choose Edit > Fades > Create. 3 Select the fade-out curve and configure the
• Press Control+F (Windows) or other Fade settings.
Command+F (Mac).
4 Click the Audition button to audition the fade.
To apply a Fade In using the Default Fade In 5 Adjust the curve by dragging it or by selecting a
setting (in the Editing Preferences page), and different shape from the Out Shape pop-up
without opening the Fades dialog, press Con- menu.
trol+Start+F (Windows) or
Command+Control+F (Mac). 6 Click OK.
• Press Alt+D (Windows) or 3 Use the view buttons to adjust the view of the
Control+D (Mac). crossfade. It may take a few moments to calcu-
late the waveform display for long selections.
The fade is applied based on the Fade In prefer-
ences (see “Fade and Crossfade Preferences” on 4 Select an Out Shape and an In Shape.
page 586).
5 Select a Linking option.
To fade from the insertion point to a clip end point: 6 Click the Audition button to audition the cross-
1 Place the cursor at a location in the clip. fade. For long crossfades, it may take Pro Tools
a few moments to calculate and load the audio
2 Do one of the following:
into playback RAM.
• Choose Edit > Fades > Fade To End.
7 Do one of the following:
• Press Alt+G (Windows) or
• Adjust the curves by selecting different preset
Control+G (Mac).
shapes with the Out Shape and In Shape pop-up
The fade is applied based on the Fade Out prefer- menus.
ences (see “Fade and Crossfade Preferences” on • Drag the Fade-In and Fade-Out curves to a cus-
page 586). tom shape. By choosing None as the Linking op-
tion, you can drag the beginning or end points of
a fade curve to adjust its beginning or end point.
Creating a Crossfade
8 Click the Audition button to audition the cross-
To create a crossfade between two clips: fade again.
1 With the Selector tool, click at the point where 9 When the crossfade sounds right, click OK.
you want the crossfade to begin in the first clip
and drag to where you want it to end in the sec- Crossfade lengths can be resized with any of
ond clip. Crossfade selections can begin and the Trim tools, including Nudge Trim com-
end anywhere in their respective clips. mands. See “Using the Trim Tools” on
page 517 and “Trimming with Nudge” on
2 Do one of the following: page 562.
• Choose Edit > Fades > Create.
To remove a crossfade, do one of the following:
• Press Control+F (Windows) or
Command+F (Mac). Select the area of the track containing any cross-
fades you want to delete and choose Edit >
Fades > Delete.
Crossfades are re-rendered after changing tempo 5 Select a fade type and click OK.
in a tick-based audio track. The new crossfade is
the same duration as the crossfade prior to the
tempo change. Using AutoFades
If there is not enough audio material to complete (Pro Tools HD Only)
the crossfade, or if the new crossfade area falls out- Pro Tools HD can automatically apply real-time
side of valid clip boundaries, the crossfade is re- fade-ins and fade-outs to all clip boundaries in the
moved. session on playback. Specify the duration (0 to
10 ms) for automatic real-time fades with the Auto
Pre and Post Crossfade Clip Fade In/Out Length preference in the Opera-
Selections tion Preferences page). These fade-ins and fade-
outs are performed during playback and do not ap-
By making a selection that begins or ends precisely
pear in the Edit window.
on the border of two clips, you can create “pre” or
“post” crossfades. Use the Tab key to place the in- AutoFades are not applied to AudioSuite
sertion point at the exact beginning or end of a clip. processing.
To create a pre- or post-crossfade: The automatic fade-in/out option also has an effect
1 With the Selector tool, click in the track that on Voice borrowing in a session. Whenever a
contains the clips you want to crossfade. lower-priority virtual track “pops thru” a silence in
a higher-priority track on the same voice, a fade-in
2 Do one of the following: and fade-out is applied to the transition.
• Press Tab to move forward to the next
clip boundary.
To set the length of automatic fade-ins/outs: Selected clips for Batch Fades
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click the 3 Do one of the following:
Operation tab.
• Choose Edit > Fades > Create.
2 Type a value between 0 and 10 ms for the Clip • Press Command+F (Mac) or Control+F (Win-
Auto Fade In/Out Length. A value of zero (the dows).
default) means that no auto-fading will occur.
4 In the Batch Fades dialog, select whether you
3 Click OK. The AutoFade value is saved with the want to Create New Fades, Create New Fade-
session, and is automatically applied to all free- Ins & Outs, Adjust Existing Fades, or a combi-
standing clip boundaries until you change it. nation of these options.
7 Click OK.
3 Click OK to close the Preferences dialog. 2 Nudge the clip by pressing Plus (+) or
Minus (–) on the numeric keypad.
4 Use the Time Grabber or Separation Grabber
tool to select one of the contributing clips to a
crossfade.
2 Type a new name and click OK. Using this method, you can add new tracks to the
existing group and the suffixes for their playlist
Both the track and playlist names are updated. names are synchronized with the original tracks.
1 Click the track’s Playlist selector and choose For more information on grouping tracks,
Delete Unused. see “Grouping Tracks” on page 241.
2 Select the unassigned playlists you want to 2 Make sure the group is enabled.
delete. Shift-click (Windows or Mac), Control-
3 Create a new playlist (by clicking the Playlist
click (Windows), or Command-click (Mac) to
selector in one of the tracks in the group and
select multiple playlists.
choosing New). The default suffix will now be
3 Click OK to delete the selected playlists. This “.01”—signifying take 1.
operation cannot be undone.
4 Record take 1, then create a new playlist. The
You can also delete playlists in Playlists view. playlists on all tracks in the group increment to
Right-click the Playlist Name on a lane or in “.02.”
the Track List and choose Delete. 5 Create new tracks (for example, for an addi-
tional musician or microphone), then add these
When deleting a track from a session, you tracks to the group (or create a new group with
have the option of deleting or keeping its all the tracks).
playlists, so they can be used on other tracks. 6 Increment all the playlists by clicking the Play-
list selector in one of the tracks in the group and
choosing New.
All the playlists will now have the same suffix ap-
pended to them. (Creating additional playlists in
any of the group tracks will increment all of their
playlists to keep them synchronized.)
Playlists view showing multiple alternate playlists Filtering Playlist lanes viewed
• Choose Edit > Copy Selection To > Main You can edit alternate playlists in Playlists view
Playlist. just like the main playlist in Waveform view. In
• Right-click the selection and choose Copy Playlists view, edits that are applied to range selec-
Selection to Main Playlist. tions are applied to all shown alternate playlists.
Alternate playlists that are not shown are not af-
• Click the Copy Selection to Main Playlist button fected.
for the Playlist lane.
Before starting work with Track Composit-
Copy Selection to ing, duplicate the track’s Main Playlist to
Main Playlist button
keep it intact as a backup alternate playlist.
Copy Selection to New Playlist Creates a new, Making a selection in an alternate playlist
empty main playlist and copies and pastes the se-
2 Do one of the following:
lection to the new main playlist
• Click the Copy Selection To Main Playlist but-
Copy Selection to Duplicate Playlist Duplicates ton in the Playlist Lane controls.
the current main playlist and copies and pastes the
• Choose Edit > Copy Selection to Main
selection to the duplicate of the main playlist. The
Playlist.
previous main playlist moves to a new Playlist
lane. • Right-click the selection and choose Copy
Selection To Main Playlist.
When an audio track is set to Playlists view, all of • Show Only Lanes With > Clips Outside The Edit
its associated playlists appear listed under the track Selection
name in the Track List. The names of associated al- • Show Only Lanes With > “Clips Rated >= 1–5”
ternate playlists are indented to distinguish Playlist
• Hide All Lanes
lanes from tracks. From the Track List you can
show and hide alternate playlists. You can also ac- • Hide Only Lanes With > Clips Within The Edit
cess the Right-click menu for alternate playlists, Selection
which lets you apply Show or Hide, Scroll Into • Hide Only Lanes With > Clips Outside The Edit
View, Rename, Delete, and Filter Lanes com- Selection
mands.
• Hide Only Lanes With > “Clips Rated >= 1–5”
Clip Start and End Any clips that have the same
Matching Criteria settings are saved with
start and end times as the Edit selection.
your Pro Tools session.
Within Selection Any complete clips that are en-
tirely within the Edit selection.
Matching Criteria Options
None No other criteria in addition to the selected
Alternates Match Options Alternates Match options are used to filter match-
ing alternate clips.
The following Alternates Match options can be se-
lected in any combination:
Track ID Any clips recorded to the same track are Selecting Alternate Takes on
considered matching. Use this option for selecting Tracks
alternate takes from loop or punch recording. Each clip resulting from a punch or loop record
Track Name Any clips that share the same root
pass has an identical start time (the User Time
name with the track or playlist are considered Stamp). You can select and audition alternate takes
matching. For example, the Matches for a track from the Right-click Matches submenu or the Al-
named “Gtr.L” would show the clips “Gtr.L_01” ternate Takes pop-up menu—even during play-
and “Gtr.L_02-01,” but not “Guitar.L_01.” back.
When enabled, the new Automatically Create New 2 Do one of the following:
Playlists When Loop Recording option in the Oper- • Right-click the clip and choose Matches >
ation Preferences page automatically copies each Expand Alternates To New Playlists.
clip (take) to a new playlist in the track. This facil-
• If the clip is selected, with the Selector tool,
itates using Playlists view for auditioning and se-
Control-click (Windows) or Command-click
lecting alternate takes.
(Mac) anywhere on the selected clip and choose
To automatically create new playlists when loop Matches > Expand Alternates To New Playlists.
recording: • If the clip is not selected, with the Selector tool,
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click the Control-click (Windows) or Command-click
Operation tab. (Mac) at the precise beginning of the loop or
punch range and choose Matches > Expand
2 In the Recording section, enable the Automati-
Alternates To New Playlists.
cally Create New Playlists When Loop Record-
ing option. All matching alternate clips are copied to new
playlists on the track. To view all playlists for the
3 Click OK.
track, select Playlists view. In any track view, you
For more information on loop recording, see can also select any available alternate playlist as
“Loop Recording Audio” on page 439. the main playlist from the Playlist selector.
To open the Beat Detective window, do one of the The Beat Detective modes include the following:
following:
Operation Lets you choose to analyze either MIDI
Choose Event > Beat Detective.
or audio material.
Press Control+8 (Windows) or Command+8
Bar|Beat Marker Generation Generates Bar|Beat
(Mac) on the numeric keypad.
Markers corresponding to transients detected in
Beat Detective is a floating window that can be left the audio selection or according to accent patterns
open while working. This lets you adjust the con- with MIDI notes.
trols in real time during playback, while viewing
Groove Template Extraction Extracts the rhyth-
the beat triggers that appear in your selection in the
mic and dynamic information from audio or MIDI,
Edit window.
and saves this information to the Groove Clip-
board, or as a DigiGroove template.
Beat Detective Modes Clip Separation (Audio Only) Separates and cre-
ates new clips based on transients detected in the
The Beat Detective window is divided into three audio selection.
sections: Operation, Selection, and Detection. De-
pending on the Operation mode, the controls in the Clip Conform (Audio Only) Conforms all sepa-
Action section change. The Selection options for rated clips within the selection to the current tempo
Beat Detective are available in each of the Opera- map. Beat Detective can conform audio clips to
tion modes. groove templates (such as DigiGroove templates)
in addition to standard quantization.
As long as the audio material is correctly Beat Detection Across Multiple Tracks
aligned with the session’s tempo map, use
When analyzing a selection with multiple tracks,
Capture Selection each time you make a new
Beat Detective analyzes each independently. Tran-
selection or make any changes to the tempo
sients that are detected in any track appear as Beat
map (such as changing tempo or meter).
Triggers across all selected tracks regardless of
whether or not the detected transient resides in any
The Selection definition is not retained when other track. However, for closely aligned events on
a session is closed and re-opened multiple tracks, Beat Detective only identifies the
first detected transient of a beat event.
4 To improve Beat Detective’s accuracy in ana-
lyzing swung notes, select the Contains option For example, if you have four drum tracks—kick,
that indicates the smallest sub-division of the snare, and a pair of overheads—transients in the
beat contained in the selection. The Contains overhead mics tracks occur a little later than the
option includes quarter-notes, eighth-notes, six- closely miked snare and kick tracks because it
teenth-notes (the default setting), thirty-second- takes more time for the sound to travel from the
notes, and a triplet modifier. The selected Con- source to the microphones. If you make a selection
tains option determines the groove template across all four tracks and analyze them using Beat
grid locations for DigiGroove templates. Detective, only the transients in the kick and snare
tracks will be identified as beat triggers because
the transients on overheads will be recognized as
being part of the same beat events (only a little bit
late). For information on individually analyzing
multiple tracks, see “Using Collection Mode” on
page 636.
10 To display the metric locations for the triggers, 7 If your MIDI track contains chords, choose one
select the Show Trigger Time option. of the following MIDI chord recognition algo-
rithms from the Analysis pop-up menu:
11 If you cannot get the beat triggers to appear at
• Last Note
the right locations, repeat steps 5–10, trying one
of the other Analysis algorithms (High or Low • First Note
Emphasis). • Loudest Note
• Average Location
• Highest Note
• Lowest Note
8 Click Analyze.
If you want to match the audio material to the ses- Bar|Beat Markers generated at Beat resolution
sion’s existing tempo map or a groove template, do
not generate Bar|Beat Markers from the material. Working with Sub-Beats
Instead, use Beat Detective to separate and con- Tempo is derived from Bar|Beat Markers. Groove,
form the material (see “Separating Clips with or feel, is derived from Sub-Beats—the deviation
Beat Detective” on page 629). of subdivisions of the beat from the strict tempo
grid determines the groove or feel.
If you are simply aligning a sloppy part to the
other tracks, you probably do not need to To extract the groove from a selection, set the De-
generate Bar|Beat markers. tection Resolution to Sub-Beats. This ensures that
the inner rhythms within each bar (if they indeed
To generate Bar|Beat Markers with Beat Detective:
exist) are represented when generating Bar|Beat
1 Make an Edit selection. Markers. These Bar|Beat Markers can then be used
2 In the Beat Detective window, select Bar|Beat to quantize other audio clips or MIDI tracks,
Marker Generation mode. thereby conforming to the Bar|Beat Markers gen-
erated by Beat Detective.
3 Define or capture the selection as described in
“Defining a Beat Detective Selection” on When quantizing clips or MIDI notes to
page 618. Bar|Beat Markers on sub-beats that
represent a swing feel, make sure to use a
4 Set the Resolution to Bars or Beats, and config-
straight quantize value (with the Swing
ure the Detection setting so the selection’s peak
option for Quantize disabled).
transients (or MIDI Note Ons) are accurately
detected (see “Generating Beat Triggers” on
page 620).
5 Click Generate.
Beat Detective translates the amplitude of signals 6 In the Extract Groove Template dialog, enter
in audio tracks to MIDI velocity according to a lin- comments about the groove. You can enter a
ear scale. For example: maximum of 255 characters to describe the
groove. Comments can be viewed using the
• A 0 dBFS signal equals a MIDI velocity of 127.
Show Info button in the Beat Detective window.
• A –6 dBFS signal equals a MIDI velocity of 64.
• A –12 dBFS signal equals a MIDI velocity of
32.
• A –48 dBFS signal equals a MIDI velocity of 1.
2 Select Groove.
Fill And Crossfade Select this option to trim clip For more information on clip sync points, see
end points and automatically add a pre-fade (in ms) “Sync Points” on page 799.
directly before each clip start point.
Consolidating Clips after Edit
3 In the Edit window, if not already selected, se- Smoothing
lect the range of conformed audio clips you
want to smooth. Make sure the selection’s start The process of separating, conforming, and
and end points fall cleanly on the beat. smoothing with Beat Detective can leave tracks
with many clips and many crossfades. If you are
4 Click Smooth to smooth the edits for the se- working with multiple tracks, the density of these
lected clips. edits may lead to system performance problems.
Clips before and after Edit Smoothing Once you are satisfied with the results from Beat
Detective, it is recommended that you flatten the
5 Audition the results by clicking Play in the
tracks with the Consolidate command. For all clips
Transport.
selected, Consolidate creates a single, contiguous
6 If necessary, select Edit > Undo, and repeat steps audio file to reduce the session’s edit density. See
2–5 trying a different Crossfade Length. “Consolidating Clips” on page 575.
1 In the Edit window, make an audio selection on 8 Configure the Detection options so the selec-
a single track. Make sure the selection’s start tion’s peak transients are accurately detected
and end points fall cleanly on the beat. (see “Generating Beat Triggers” on page 620).
2 In the Beat Detective window, select one of the 9 Select Collection again.
following modes:
10 Do one of the following:
• Bar|Beat Marker Generation
• In the Detection (Collection Mode) section,
• Groove Template Extraction click Add Unique to add only the unique triggers
• Clip Separation (audio only) from the track to the collection. When you
choose to add unique triggers, Pro Tools looks
3 Define or capture the selection as described in
for triggers that are close to triggers already col-
“Defining a Beat Detective Selection” on
lected from other tracks. Where triggers already
page 618.
exist, the newly detected triggers are discarded.
4 Configure the Detection options so the selec- • Click Add All to add all triggers to the collection.
tion’s peak transients are accurately detected
• Click Clear All to clear all triggers from the col-
(see “Generating Beat Triggers” on page 620).
lection.
5 From the Detection pop-up menu, select Collec-
tion. Each new set of triggers added to the collection ap-
pears in a different color. If successive triggers in
6 In the Detection (Collection Mode) section, the collection are located closely together (for ex-
click Add All to add all the current beat triggers ample, because of microphone leakage), Beat De-
to the collection. tective keeps only the earlier triggers.
Overhead mic track displaying a collection of beat triggers containing unique triggers generated from the kick,
snare, and hi-hat tracks
The Default Note Duration setting updates to show Click the Default Note On Velocity setting in
the selected note value. the Edit window, a MIDI Editor window, or the
Score Editor window, type a new number and
press Enter.
Inserting a Series of Notes With these settings, the notes are inserted spaced
one quarter note apart.
In the Edit window and in MIDI Editor windows,
the Line, Triangle, Square, and Random Pencil 4 Click at the point to insert the first note and drag
tool shapes can be used to enter a series of identical to the right until the number of notes you want
pitches with varying velocities. The duration and have been inserted.
spacing for the inserted notes are determined by
the current Grid value and the Default Note Dura-
tion setting.
Use the mini-keyboard on MIDI and Instrument With any Edit tool selected, click a key and drag
tracks to select and play notes on that track. You up or down on the mini-keyboard.
can click on the mini-keyboard with any Edit tool.
Transposing Notes
MIDI notes can be transposed by dragging them up
or down with the Pencil tool or any Grabber tool. If
several notes are selected before dragging, each is
transposed.
Changing note end times with the Trim tool Transposing MIDI Notes with
Nudge
If the Edit mode is set to Grid, the dragged start or
end point snaps to the nearest Grid boundary. If the You can transpose selected MIDI notes by semi-
Edit mode is set to Spot, the Spot dialog opens, tonal increments using Plus (+) or Minus (–) on the
where you can enter the new location for the note’s numeric keypad.
start or end point.
To transpose the selected MIDI notes by
When in Grid mode, use the Control key semitones:
(Windows) or the Command key (Mac) to 1 With the Time Grabber tool, select the MIDI
temporarily disable Grid mode. notes you want to transpose.
Notes can also be trimmed with the Trim Clip to Se- 2 Do one of the following:
lection command (see “Trim to Selection Com- • While pressing Start (Windows) or Control
mand” on page 559) and the Trim To Insertion (Mac), press Plus (+) on the numeric keypad
command (see “Trimming with Nudge” on transpose the selected MIDI notes up by one
page 562). semitone.
• While pressing Start (Windows) or Control
Trimming MIDI Notes with (Mac), press Minus (–) on the numeric keypad
Nudge transpose the selected MIDI notes down by one
You can trim the start and end points of selected semitone.
MIDI notes by the current Nudge value.
Consolidating MIDI notes into one using the 1 Select the MIDI notes you want to unmute.
Consolidate Tool
2 Do one of the following:
Consolidating MIDI Notes • Choose Edit > Unmute Notes.
The Consolidate command lets you combine two • Right-click the selected MIDI notes and choose
or more consecutive MIDI notes of the same pitch Unmute Notes.
into a single MIDI note.
Press Control+M (Windows) or
To consolidate MIDI notes: Command+M (Mac) to mute and unmute se-
lected MIDI notes.
1 Select the MIDI notes you want to consolidate.
2 Do one of the following:
• Choose Edit > Consolidate.
• Right-click the selected notes and choose Con-
solidate.
Pitch
Attack Velocity
Release Velocity
With the Pencil tool selected, Alt-click (Win- After trimming a MIDI clip with the Time Compression/
dows) or Option-click (Mac) the note. The Pen- Expansion Trim tool
cil tool changes to an Eraser when Alt
(Windows) or Option (Mac) is pressed.
To compress or expand MIDI clips in Grid mode: To compress or expand MIDI clips in Spot mode:
1 Set the Edit mode to Grid. 1 Set the Edit mode to Spot.
2 If necessary, set the MIDI or Instrument track to 2 Set the MIDI or Instrument track to Clips view.
Clips view.
3 Select the TCE Trim tool.
3 Select the TCE Trim tool.
4 Click the MIDI clip near its start or end point.
4 With the TCE Trim tool, drag the MIDI clip’s The Spot dialog opens. Using any Time Scale,
start or end point to compress or expand the clip enter a new start or end time (or duration) for
to the Grid (for example, by quarter notes). A the clip, and then click OK. A new MIDI clip is
new MIDI clip is automatically created, and ap- automatically created, and appears both in the
pears both in the playlist and in the Clip List. playlist and in the Clip List.
Patch Select button, Mix window Patch Select dialog with patch names
5 In the Patch Select dialog, click Change. 9 For MIDI devices that have multiple banks of
patches, select which bank of patches you want
from the Bank pop-up menu.
Change button
Patch Select dialog
To insert a program change with the Pencil tool: The placement of program changes can also
1 Do one of the following: be adjusted with Shift (see “Shift Command”
on page 800) or Nudge (see “Nudging Clips”
• Set the MIDI or Instrument track to Program on page 562).
Change view.
• Reveal the Controller lane for the MIDI or In- To delete a program change event:
strument track and show Program Change. 1 With the Track View or Controller lane set to
Program Change view, click the program
2 If you want the inserted event to snap to a Grid
change event with any Grabber tool to select it.
value, enable Grid mode.
3 Click with the Pencil tool in the track’s playlist If the clip contains other events you want to
at the point where you want to insert the pro- delete, you can delete the clip and the Pro-
gram change. gram Change event will also be deleted.
6 When you are finished auditioning settings, de- 3 Configure your MIDI device to send Sysex
select the Increment Patch option and select the (such as a bulk dump).
program number (or patch name) you want and 4 Start recording in the Transport.
click Done.
To begin recording the Sysex transfer from
your MIDI device at the Timeline insertion
point, enable Wait For Note.
Choose Event > All MIDI Notes Off. For MIDI Real-Time Properties to apply to
incoming MIDI data with MIDI Thru
Press Control+Shift+Period (.) (Windows)
enabled, the corresponding MIDI and
or Command+Shift+Period (.) (Mac) for the
Instrument tracks must be record-enabled.
All MIDI Notes Off command.
Real-Time Properties
Expand/collapse
triangles
Settings
Quantize
Quantize either can be based on a grid or a groove
template. For grid quantize, additional tuplet and
grid offset settings are available in addition to the
standard MIDI quantize properties. For groove
quantize, additional controls are provided to set the
extent to which the groove’s duration and veloci-
ties are applied. Both grid and groove quantize also
Real-Time Properties window, expanded view let you set a strength amount, an “include” range,
and a randomize amount.
Enabling Real-Time Properties
Quantize cannot be applied as a Real-Time
To enable Real-Time Properties: Property to MIDI Input and Thru.
1 Select a track, or make an Edit selection.
Quantize Pop-Up Menu Select the quantize value,
When using Real-Time Properties, enable including all standard note rhythm values between
Link Track and Edit Selection mode to make a whole notes and 64th notes, including dotted and
track selection from an Edit selection (see triplet options. This pop-up menu also provides ac-
“Linking or Unlinking Track and Edit Selec- cess to all standard and custom groove templates.
tions” on page 534).
To transpose by an interval, enter the number of The presence of track-based Real-Time Properties
octaves and semitones as a positive or negative are indicated by a “T” displayed in the upper right-
numbers. hand corner of MIDI clips. Clip-based Real-Time
Properties are indicated by an “R” displayed in the
To transpose to a specific pitch, enter the MIDI upper right-hand corner of the clip. Clips boundar-
note name. ies including the “T” and the “R” displays are indi-
cated in Notes view and in MIDI Editor windows,
To transpose in key by scale steps, enter the num- but not in the Score Editor window.
ber of steps as a positive or negative numbers. For
example, enter +2 to transpose up by thirds in key
Indicates Indicates
(a unison plus a second equals a third). track-based clip-based
Real-Time Properties Real-Time Properties
Transpose can be applied as a Real-Time
Property to MIDI Input and Thru on record-
enabled MIDI and Instrument tracks.
All track-based Real-Time Properties consistently • Click the Write to Track button in the Real-Time
apply to MIDI data throughout the entire track. Properties window.
However, clips with clip-based Real-Time Proper- • Choose Track > Write MIDI Real-Time Proper-
ties will take precedence over any track-based ties.
Real-Time Properties. You can clear clip-based
Real-Time Properties by selecting the clip and To write Real-Time Properties to clips:
clicking the Clear Clip Properties button in the 1 Select one or more clips to which you want to
Real-Time Properties window (see “Writing Real- apply Real-Time Properties.
Time Properties to Tracks or Clips” on page 677).
2 Open the Real-Time Properties window (Event
For greater flexibility, when Real-Time Properties > MIDI Real-Time Properties).
are assigned on a track basis they are actually con-
3 If Link Track and Edit Selection is enabled, se-
tained in a track playlist. This lets you create mul-
lect Clips from the Real-Time Properties Apply
tiple playlists containing different Real-Time
To pop-up menu.
Property settings.
4 Configure the Real-Time Property settings.
5 Click the Write to Clip button.
Writing Real-Time Properties
to Tracks or Clips To clear Real-Time Properties from a clip:
Once you have found the settings you want, you 1 Select the clip for which you want to clear Real-
can write Real-Time Properties to the selected Time Properties.
tracks or clips using the Real-Time Properties win-
2 Open the Real-Time Properties window (Event
dow. Real-Time Properties are applied to the cur-
> MIDI Real-Time Properties).
rent MIDI data on the track or in a clip.
3 Select Clips from the Real-Time Properties Ap-
To write Real-Time Properties to tracks: ply To pop-up menu.
1 Enable Link Track and Edit Selection. 4 Click the Clear Clip Properties button.
2 Select one or more tracks to which you want to
apply Real-Time Properties.
Open the Real-Time Properties window (Event
Real-Time Properties In the
MIDI Event List
3
> MIDI Real-Time Properties).
In the MIDI Event List, the presence of track-
4 Select Tracks from the Real-Time Properties
based Real-Time Properties are indicated by a “T”
Apply To pop-up menu.
displayed to the right of each event. Clip-based
5 Configure the Real-Time Property settings. Real-Time Properties are indicated by an “R.”
Pro Tools provides MIDI Editor windows for detailed MIDI editing.
Solo
Notation view enabled in a MIDI Editor window
The Solo button lets you solo all the tracks cur-
rently displayed in the MIDI Editor window. You can access the Notation Display Track
Settings in a MIDI Editor window when in
Notation view. Select the Notation Display
Track Settings option from the Track List
menu or Right-click in the Notes pane and se-
lect the Notation Display Track Settings op-
Mute tion from the Right-click menu. For more in-
formation, see “Notation Display Track
The Mute button lets you mute all the tracks cur-
Settings” on page 708.
rently displayed in the MIDI Editor window.
Scrolling Submenu
Customizable Toolbar
The Scrolling submenu lets you select the scrolling
options for the MIDI Editor window inde- You can customize the toolbar in MIDI Editor
pendently of other MIDI Editor windows and the windows by rearranging, and showing and hiding
Edit window. The scrolling options include: the available controls and displays just like in the
Edit window or the Score Editor window.
No Scrolling The MIDI Editor window does not
scroll during or after playback. The playback cur- Changing Toolbar Display Options
sor moves across the MIDI Editor window, indi-
cating the playback location. To change the toolbar display options in a MIDI
Editor window toolbar:
After Playback The playback cursor moves across 1 Do one of the following:
the MIDI Editor window, indicating the playback
location. When playback has stopped, the MIDI • Click the MIDI Editor Window Toolbar menu.
Editor window scrolls to the final playback loca- • Right-click in the toolbar.
tion.
2 From the pop-up menu, select or deselect any of
Page The playback cursor moves across the MIDI the following:
Editor window, indicating the playback location. • Expanded Edit Tools
When the right edge of the MIDI Editor window is
• Expanded Grid/Nudge Display
reached, its entire contents are scrolled, and the
playback cursor continues moving from the left • Selection Display
edge of the window.
You can rearrange the controls and displays in the Pro Tools provides MIDI Zoom In and Out buttons
MIDI Editor window toolbar just like in the Edit in the upper-right corner of MIDI Editor windows.
window or the Score Editor window. These controls function exactly the same as the
MIDI Zoom controls in the toolbar, and let you
To rearrange controls and displays in a MIDI Editor zoom in and out vertically on MIDI notes.
window toolbar:
Track List
The Track List menu lets you show and hide MIDI, Disable the Track Show/Hide icon for tracks
Instrument, and Auxiliary Input tracks in the MIDI you want to hide in the MIDI Editor window.
Editor window (see “Showing and Hiding Tracks”
on page 687). To hide all (but one) MIDI, Instrument, and
Auxiliary Input tracks in a MIDI Editor window:
The Track List menu also lets you sort tracks in the From the Track List pop-up menu, select Hide
Track List by Name, Type, Edit Group, Mix All Tracks.
Group, or Voice (see “Sorting Tracks in the Track
List” on page 688). All but the top MIDI or Instrument track in the
Track List are hidden. MIDI Editor windows re-
Showing and Hiding Tracks quire that at least one MIDI or Instrument track al-
ways be shown in the window.
To show MIDI, Instrument, and Auxiliary Input
tracks in a MIDI Editor window: To hide selected MIDI, Instrument, and Auxiliary
Input tracks in a MIDI Editor window:
Enable the Track Show/Hide icon in the Track
List for tracks you want to show in the MIDI 1 In the Track List, select the MIDI, Instrument,
Editor window. and Auxiliary Input tracks you want to hide.
2 From the Track List pop-up menu, select Hide
To show all MIDI, Instrument, and Auxiliary Input
Selected Tracks.
tracks in a MIDI Editor window:
You can sort tracks in the Track List by the follow- Rename Renames the selected track.
ing criteria:
Duplicate Duplicates the selected track.
Name Sorts the order of tracks in the Track List by
Split into Mono Splits the selected stereo Instru-
Track Name.
ment or Auxiliary Input track into two mono
Type Sorts the order of tracks in the Track List by tracks.
Track Type.
Delete Deletes the selected track.
Edit Group Sorts the order of tracks in the Track
MIDI Real-Time Properties Opens the MIDI Real-
List by Edit Groups.
Time Properties window for the selected track.
Mix Group Sorts the order of tracks in the Track
Open in New MIDI Editor Opens the tracks dis-
List by Mix Groups.
played in the current MIDI Editor window in a new
Voice Sorts the order of tracks in the Track List by MIDI Editor window. The new MIDI Editor win-
Voice allocations. dow will be untargeted.
MIDI Editor window, Notes pane with five superimposed Instrument tracks
When Color Coding by Track is enabled, tracks in the MIDI Editor are temporarily assigned one of
sixteen fixed colors, in the order they appear in the track list.
When Color Coding by Velocity is enabled, MIDI notes are all the same red color (hue) on all tracks dis-
played, and MIDI notes vary in color saturation (from a light red to a dark red) based on the Note On ve-
locity. Notes with low velocities are lighter in color and those with high velocities are darker.
When neither Color Coding by Track nor Color Coding by Velocity are enabled, notes are drawn in the
MIDI Editor in as the same color they are in the Edit window—using the color coding options as set in the
Track Color Coding settings in the Display Preferences.
Right-click anywhere in the Notes pane. The Cut command cuts the current Edit selection.
Copy
The Paste command pastes the clipboard to the Selecting the Open In New MIDI Editor option
current Edit selection or at the current Edit cursor opens all shown tracks in a new MIDI Editor win-
location. Any MIDI notes already present at the dow.
same location are overwritten.
Open In Score Editor
Merge
The Open In Score Editor option opens the shown
The Merge command pastes the clipboard to the tracks in the Score Editor window.
current Edit selection or at the current Edit cursor
location and merges the pasted data with any MIDI Open in MIDI Event List
notes already present at the same location.
The Open In MIDI Event List option opens the se-
lected track in the MIDI Event List.
Clear
Consolidate
Mute Notes
Event Operations
In MIDI Editor windows, notation is displayed as a To enable Notation view, do one of the following:
continuous timeline and not in page view as in the Enable the Notation view button in the MIDI
Score Editor window. Editor window toolbar.
For information on editing notation, see
“Editing Notes” on page 711.
Show/Hide lanes
Velocity lane
(2 tracks superimposed)
Remove lane
Add lane
Controller/Automation
Type selector
Paired Automation
lanes for separate
tracks
Velocity, Controller, and Automation lanes for two stereo Instrument tracks
The Score Editor window lets you view, edit, arrange, and print MIDI from your session as music
notation. MIDI notes are transcribed in real-time whether you record, import, draw (with the Pencil tool),
or Step Enter MIDI.
1 Ensure that there is no Edit selection. Normal Zoom The Zoomer tool remains selected
after zooming.
2 Right-click the Track name of an unselected
track in the Edit or Mix window, or in the Track Single Zoom The previously selected Edit tool is
List of the Edit, Mix, or MIDI Editor window. automatically reselected after zooming.
3 From the Right-click menu, choose Open In Press the F5 key to select the Zoomer tool
Score Editor. and toggle between Normal and Single Zoom
modes.
To open the Score Editor window with the current
Edit selection shown:
1 In the Edit window or in a MIDI Editor window, Also see “Score Editor Zoom Controls” on
make an Edit selection on one or more tracks page 707
that includes what you want shown in the Score
Normal Zoom Mode
Editor window.
2 Right-click the Edit selection and choose Open To zoom around a certain point in the score:
In Score Editor. 1 Click the Zoomer tool pop-up menu and select
Normal Zoom mode.
If the Score Editor option is selected as the
“Double Clicking a MIDI Clip Opens” set- 2 Click once with the Zoomer tool at a location
ting in the MIDI Preferences page, you can within the score. The score is zoomed in by one
double-click a MIDI clip to open it in the level and is centered around the zoomed loca-
Score Editor. tion.
3 To zoom back to the previous level, Alt-click
(Windows) or Option-click (Mac) with the
Zoomer tool.
Note Selector
Use the Note Selector tool to select notes on one or
more staves in the Score Editor window. Selected
notes highlight blue. Selected notes can be deleted,
moved, transposed, and processed (using Event
Operations).
Use the Pencil tools to insert, select, move, or de- The Triangle Pencil tool lets you draw a series of
lete notes in the Score Editor window. The various MIDI notes on a single pitch whose velocities os-
Pencil tools differ in how they draw note durations, cillate between the defined Default Note Velocity
repeated notes, and velocities, but function the and 127 in a triangle pattern. The duration of each
same when drawing notes on tracks in Notes view note is determined by the current Grid value.
in the Edit window or in a MIDI Editor window.
The duration is determined by the selected Default
To select a Pencil tool: Note Duration (see “Default Note Duration” on
page 701).
Click the Pencil tool pop-up menu and select the
Pencil tool you want. The start time for each note is determined by the
selected Grid value (see “Grid” on page 703).
Press the F10 key repeatedly to cycle through
the different Pencil tools. Square
The following Pencil tools are available in the The Square Pencil tool lets you draw a series of
Score Editor: MIDI notes on a single pitch whose velocities al-
ternate between the defined Default Note Velocity
Free Hand and 127 in a square pattern. The duration of each
note is determined by the current Grid value.
The Free Hand Pencil tool lets you draw single
notes of varying duration. The duration is determined by the selected Default
Note Duration (see “Default Note Duration” on
Note velocities are determined by the Default Note
page 701).
Velocity setting (see “Default Note On Velocity”
on page 701). The start time for each note is determined by the
selected Grid value (see “Grid” on page 703).
The minimum duration of the note is determined
by the selected Default Note Duration (see “De- Random
fault Note Duration” on page 701).
The Square Pencil tool lets you draw a series of
Line MIDI notes on a single pitch whose velocities
change randomly within the range between the de-
The Line Pencil tool lets you draw multiple notes
fined Default Note Velocity and 127 in a square
of the same pitch and duration.
pattern. The duration of each note is determined by
Note velocities are determined by the Default Note the current Grid value.
Velocity setting (see “Default Note On Velocity”
The duration is determined by the selected Default
on page 701).
Note Duration (see “Default Note Duration” on
The duration is determined by the selected Default page 701).
Note Duration (see “Default Note Duration” on
The start time for each note is determined by the
page 701).
selected Grid value (see “Grid” on page 703).
The start time for each note is determined by the
selected Grid value (see “Grid” on page 703).
If you want dotted note values, also select the Dot- Play MIDI Notes When Editing enabled in the Score
ted option. Editor window
When inserting MIDI notes with the Pencil tool When the Target is disabled, the Score Editor does
(using the Line, Triangle, Square, or Random not update to show the current Edit window selec-
shapes), the Grid value determines the Note On lo- tion or Edit cursor location.
cation and the Default Note Duration value deter-
mines the note duration (see “Default Note Dura-
tion” on page 701).
2 From the pop-up menu, select or deselect any of Use the Track List to show and hide MIDI and In-
the following: strument tracks as staves in the score.
Display Transposition
Spacing
Portrait Select to set the page orientation to Por- To select notes on one or more staves with the
trait. Note Selector tool:
Landscape Select to set the page orientation to 1 Click the Note Selector tool.
Landscape. 2 Drag in the score to highlight the notes you
Staff Size Enter the Staff Size. want to select.
The Score Editor automatically adds rests as nec- The Copy command copies the current Edit selec-
essary. Rests cannot be moved or inserted manu- tion.
ally.
Paste
Choosing the Score Setup option opens the Score 1 With the Grabber tool, double-click the Key
Setup dialog (see “Score Setup” on page 709). Signature you want to edit.
2 Enter values in the Key Change dialog and click
Send to Sibelius
OK.
Choosing the Send to Sibelius option command
To delete a Key Signature:
sends the score exactly as it appears in the Score
Editor window to Sibelius notation software (see With the Grabber tool, Alt-click (Windows) or
“Exporting Scores” on page 718). Option-click (Mac) the Key Signature you want
to delete.
Print Score
Chord Quality
selector
Chord selector Bass selector
To export a score from Pro Tools: 1 Open the Score Editor window and configure
your score.
1 Configure the score for your session in Score
Editor window. 2 Choose File > Print Score.
2 Choose File > Export > To Sibelius. 3 Configure the Print dialog as necessary and
click OK (Windows) or Print (Mac).
3 Select a destination and click Save.
Press Control+P (Windows) or Command+P
To send the score from your Pro Tools session to (Mac) to print the score.
Sibelius, do one of the following:
Track Selector
The Track selector in the MIDI Event List both in-
dicates the currently displayed MIDI or Instrument
track and can be used to choose a different MIDI or
Instrument track to be displayed.
Number of Events
MIDI Event List The number of MIDI events on the selected track
are displayed at the top of the MIDI Event List.
Events in the MIDI Event List can be copied and
pasted, selected, or deleted. Any MIDI event (ex-
cept Sysex data) can be inserted and edited in the Target
list. Certain MIDI event types can be hidden with The Target button for the MIDI Event List deter-
the View Filter. mines whether or not the MIDI Event List follows
the Edit cursor and Edit selections in the Edit win-
Unlike playlists in the Edit window, you can
dow and MIDI Editor windows. For example,
insert and display polyphonic aftertouch in
when the Target is enabled, the Events shown in
the MIDI Event List.
the MIDI Event List update to show the event in
The playback cursor appears as a blue arrow (red, When inserting an event type that has been
when tracks are record-enabled) in the Start col- filtered from the MIDI Event List, that event
umn. type will no longer be filtered.
Playback cursor
double-click
to edit
simultaneous
MIDI events
Go To dialog
4 Enter the location you want to go to, then click Pitch Release velocity
OK.
Attack velocity
The following items from the MIDI Event List Event Entry fields for note
menu affect navigating in the MIDI Event List:
When a field is selected, enter a value with any of
• When the Page Scroll During Playback option is the following methods:
selected, the MIDI Event List scrolls during
• Enter the value on the numeric keypad.
playback.
• Drag up or down to scroll to the value.
• When Scroll During Edit Selection is selected,
the MIDI Event List is scrolled automatically • Play the note on your MIDI controller keyboard,
when the Edit selection changes in the Edit win- then press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac) on
dow. the alphanumeric keyboard to confirm the value.
Controller value
2 Enter the location for the new event. From the MIDI Event List menu, select Insert >
Another Note.
3 Enter a Program Change number and Bank Se-
lect value (if necessary). The program change With the MIDI Event List as the front-most
name is displayed in the Info column. window, press Control+M (Windows) or
Command+M (Mac) to Insert a note.
With the Start field selected, you can auto- To edit an event in the MIDI Event List:
matically enter the location of another event
1 Do one of the following:
already in the track by clicking that event.
• Double-click the event field you want to edit.
4 Do one of the following:
• To edit a selected event, press Control+Enter
• To insert the program change and remain in (Windows) or Command+Enter (Mac).
Event Entry mode, press Enter on the numeric
keypad.
• To insert the program change and exit Event En-
try mode, press Enter (Windows) or Return
(Mac) on the alphanumeric keyboard.
• To exit Event Entry mode, without inserting the
program change, press Escape on the alphanu-
meric keyboard.
• Enter the new value on the numeric keypad. Control-click (Windows) or Command-click
(Mac) each event.
• While pressing Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac),
press the Up or Down Arrow to scroll to a new To deselect an event in the MIDI Event List:
value.
Control-click (Windows) or Command-click
• While pressing Control (Windows) or Com-
(Mac) the selected event.
mand (Mac), drag up or down to scroll to a new
value. Notes selected in the MIDI Event List can be
• Play the new note or controller value on your modified by any of the commands in the Event
MIDI controller keyboard, then press Enter Operations window (see Chapter 41, “Event
(Windows) or Return (Mac) on the alphanu- Operations”).
meric keyboard to confirm.
Deleting Events in the MIDI
3 Do one of the following: Event List
• To enter the new event value and move to an-
other field or event, use the Arrow keys. To delete an event in the MIDI Event List:
• To enter the new value and remain in Edit Entry Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac) the
mode, press Enter on the numeric keypad. event you want to delete.
• To enter the new value and exit Edit Entry mode, To delete a selection of events in the MIDI Event
press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac) on the List:
alphanumeric keyboard.
1 Select the events you want to delete by either
• To exit Edit Entry mode without entering the dragging in the Start column, or by Shift-click-
new value, press Escape on the alphanumeric ing each event.
keyboard.
2 To view only the events you want to delete, use
the View Filter (see “View Filter for MIDI
Selecting Events in the MIDI Event List” on page 720). Events not displayed
Event List cannot be deleted.
To select a range of events in the MIDI Event List, 3 Do one of the following:
do one of the following:
• Choose Edit > Clear to delete all selected events.
Click the event at the beginning of the selection
• Press Backspace (Windows) or Delete (Mac) on
and drag to the ending event.
the alphanumeric keyboard.
Shift-click the event at the beginning of the se-
lection, then Shift-click the ending event.
Displaying Rulers
To display all rulers:
The Main Time Scale determines the time format Main Counter selector (in the Edit window)
used for: If a Timebase ruler is displayed, click its name
• The Main Counter in the Transport so it becomes highlighted.
• The Main Counter at the top of the Edit window Setting the Main Time Scale to the timebase
or MIDI Editor window currently displayed in the Sub Counter
• Start, End, and Length values switches the two Time Scales, setting the Sub
• Pre- and post-roll amounts Time Scale to the previous timebase of the
Main Time Scale.
• Grid and Nudge values
From the Main Counter selector, select (or dese- In the Bars|Beats Time Scale, Pro Tools is
lect) the Show Sub Counter option. tick-based (960 ticks to a quarter note). Some
amount of sample-rounding may occur when
To show the Sub Counter in the Transport window: placing events at certain locations (see
“Sample Rounding and Edit Operations” on
From the Transport Window menu, ensure that
page 736).
the Counters and Expanded Transport options
are enabled. When working in Bars|Beats, you will often want
to specify tick values for a number of operations,
To set the Time Scale for the Sub Counter: including:
Click the Sub Counter selector and select a • Placing and spotting clips
Time Scale.
• Setting lengths for clips or MIDI notes
• Locating and setting play and record ranges (in-
cluding pre- and post-roll)
• Specifying settings in the Quantize and Change
Duration pages of the Event Operations window
• Setting the Grid and Nudge values
Sub Counter selector (in the Edit window)
When the Main Time Scale is set to
Bars|Beats, and you are using tempo
changes, set the Linearity Display Mode to
Linear Tick Display (see “Changing the
Linearity Display Mode” on page 749).
This will keep the Bars|Beats ruler fixed (at
the selected zoom level) and sample-based
rulers such as Minutes:Seconds will scale
to fit any tempo changes while bar lengths
remain constant.
Switching Timebases
All Pro Tools tracks can be switched between be- Timebase selector (ticks)
ing sample-based or tick-based.
If the track’s height is set to Small (or smaller),
Track height affects how various track controls ap- click the Track Height selector and select the
pear in the Edit window. The Timebase selector, timebase from the Track Timebase submenu.
which is used for switching a track’s timebase, is
only visible in Medium or larger track heights.
If the track’s height is set to Medium or larger, Track Height pop-up menu
click the Timebase selector for the track and se-
lect the timebase. The Timebase selector icon Alternate Playlist Timebases
changes to reflect your choice. When you change a track’s timebase, you can
.
Groups
When you change the timebase for an audio track
that is part of an active Edit group, all the tracks in
the group will change to the same timebase.
Tempo
The Tempo ruler lets you edit Tempo events one at
a time or according to tempo curves. You can edit Current Tempo in Transport window
tempo visually in the Tempo Editor, or make pre-
cise changes in tempo using the Tempo Operations Inserting Tempo Events
window.
To insert a tempo event:
To display the Tempo ruler: 1 Click in the Tempo ruler where you want to in-
Select View > Rulers > Tempo. sert the tempo event.
To set the default session tempo, see “Setting 2 Click the Add Tempo Change button at the left
the Session Meter and Tempo” on page 408. of the Tempo ruler.
Tempo events selected 1 To view the MIDI controls in the Transport win-
dow, select View > Transport > MIDI Controls.
Press Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac) while 2 In the Transport window, click the Tempo Ruler
dragging to select across all Conductor Enable (Conductor) button so it becomes un-
tracks. highlighted. Pro Tools switches to Manual
Tempo mode. In this mode, any tempo events in
2 Choose Edit > Copy.
the Tempo ruler are ignored.
3 Click in the Tempo ruler at the point where you
want to paste the tempo events.
4 Choose Edit > Paste. The contents of the Clip-
board are pasted from the insertion point, re-
placing any existing tempo events.
Tempo Ruler button (unhighlighted), set to Manual
Tempo mode
To extend an Edit selection in a track to the Tempo
ruler: 3 Click in the Tempo field so it becomes high-
1 With the Selector or Grabber tool, make a Time- lighted and tap the “T” key on your computer
line selection. keyboard repeatedly at the new tempo.
2 Shift-click in the Tempo ruler. You can apply the new tempo to the entire
session by changing the default tempo of the
To select all tempo events: Song Start Marker. See “Song Start Marker”
Double-click with the Selector tool in the on page 736.
Tempo ruler.
Tempo at 92 bpm
Tempo Editor
Editing Tempo Events in the
Tempo Editor
To display the Tempo Editor, do one of the
following:
Select View > Rulers > Tempo, then select Tempo events in the Tempo Editor can be edited
View > Rulers > Tempo > Tempo Editor. with any of the following methods:
Click the Tempo Editor expand/collapse Individual tempo events can be dragged with
triangle. any of the Grabber tools to adjust their location or
value.
A group of selected tempos can be scaled up or
down with the Trim tool.
New tempo events can be drawn in with the
Pencil tool to replace existing ones.
Tempo events can be copied and pasted,
nudged, and shifted.
Using the Selector tool or any Grabber tool, • Press Shift+Tab to extend the selection to the
double-click between two tempo events. The next tempo event.
first event is selected. • Press Shift+Control+Tab (Windows) or
Shift+Option+Tab (Mac) to extend the
selection to the previous tempo event.
The Tempo Operations window lets you define Choose Event > Tempo Operations, followed
tempo events over a range of time (or measures). by one of the Tempo Operations page com-
The time range is specified in the time format cho- mands (such as Constant).
sen for your Main Time Scale. In addition, the
Tempo Operations window lets you: If the Tempo Operations window is already
open, you can select any of the pages from the
• Fit a specific number of Bars|Beats into a precise pop-up menu at the top of the window.
time range.
To open the last active Tempo Operations window
• Create tempos that speed up or slow down, both
page:
linearly and over various curves.
Choose Event > Tempo Operations > Tempo
• Scale and stretch existing tempos.
Operations Window.
The Tempo Operations window is not
Press Alt+2 (Windows) or Option+2
available in Manual Tempo mode.
(Mac) on the number keypad to open the
The Tempo Operations window has six pages, one Tempo Operations window and display the
for each type of tempo operation. last active Tempo Operations page.
Constant Lets you create a constant tempo over a To define tempo events over a range of time:
selected range of time. 1 Make a selection in the Timebase or in a track.
Linear Lets you create tempos that change evenly 2 Choose Event > Tempo Operations > Tempo
over a selected range of time. Operations Window.
Parabolic Lets you create tempos that accelerate or 3 Select a Tempo Operation page from the pop-up
decelerate following a tempo curve that changes menu at the top of the Tempo Operation win-
the tempo more rapidly or less rapidly over the se- dow.
lection time.
4 Change the settings for the page you have cho-
S-Curve Lets you create tempos that accelerate or sen, as necessary.
decelerate following a tempo curve with a defin- 5 Do one of the following:
able breakpoint that determines mid-curve times
and tempo values. • Click Apply.
• Press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac) to auto-
Scale Lets you scale tempos within the selection
matically apply the values and close the window.
by a percentage amount.
Preserve Tempo after Selection If selected, the Calculate (Advanced Option) Calculates either
previous tempo setting that was in effect at the se- the selection end time, the start tempo, the end
lection end point is preserved after the selection. If tempo or the curvature of the tempo change.
unselected, the last tempo event created by the
Selection Start and End Displays the start and end
tempo operation continues to the end of the ses-
points for the tempo change in the currently se-
sion, or until the next tempo event beyond the se-
lected Main timebase. When an Edit selection is
lected range.
made, the Start and End fields will display the se-
lection boundaries. Changing start or end values
changes the selection range.
Resolution (Advanced Option) Lets you select the Scale page (Advanced Option)
BPM note value for your tempo setting. Advanced When this option is selected, the
selection range changes to the Main Time Scale
Select “Follow Metronome Click” will set the
format, and additional and modified options be-
tempo BPM note value to mirror the click
come available.
value set in the meter markers.
Calculate (Advanced Option) In combination with
Density (Advanced Option) Lets you specify the
settings chosen in the Scale pop-up menu, the Cal-
density of the tempo change events written to the culate pop-up menu lets you calculate the selection
Tempo ruler. end time, the average tempo, the start tempo, or the
end tempo.
Average Tempo Displays the Average Tempo, in Stretch To End Specifies a new end point for the
beats per minute (BPM), across the selected range. clip to which you want to apply the selected tempo
Changing the Average Tempo changes the Scale events. Changing the end point causes the Stretch
percentage. percentage to change.
Scale Displays the percentage by which the tempo Stretch To Start (Advanced Option) Specifies a
is scaled, in beats per minute (BPM), across the se- new start point for the clip to which you want to
lected range. Changing Scale changes Average apply the selected tempo events. Changing the end
Tempo. point causes the Stretch percentage to change.
Preserve Tempo after Selection If selected, the Stretch Specifies the percentage of time for the se-
previous tempo setting that was in effect at the se- lected tempo events to cover.
lection end point is preserved after the selection. If
unselected, the last tempo event created by the
tempo operation continues to the end of the ses-
sion, or until the next tempo event beyond the se-
lected range.
Chapter 35: Time, Tempo, Meter, Key, and Chords 755
Preserve Tempo after Selection If selected, the Choosing Bar|Beat Markers or
previous tempo setting that was in effect at the se- Tempo Events
lection end point is preserved after the selection. If
Because tempo events are tick-based, and Bar|Beat
unselected, the last tempo event created by the
Markers are sample-based, they cannot be mixed.
tempo operation continues to the end of the ses-
If a session contains tempo events and you attempt
sion, or until the next tempo event beyond the se-
to insert Bar|Beat Markers, existing tempo events
lected range.
are converted to Bar|Beat Markers (and vice
versa).
The Identify Beat command analyzes a selection 1 Press Control (Windows) or Command (Mac)
range (usually with a distinct number of beats or and click the Add Tempo Change button.
measures) and calculates its tempo based on the
2 Select either Tempo Events or Bar|Beat
specified meter. In doing this, Bar|Beat Markers
Markers from the pop-up menu.
for the calculated tempo are inserted and appear in
the Tempo ruler at the beginning and end of the se-
lection; in addition, meter events are inserted into
the Meter ruler.
Bar|Beat Marker
Current Meter
As meter events are encountered during playback,
the session’s current meter is displayed in the
Transport window.
6 Click Apply.
Set Meter If your Main Time Scale is Bars|Beats, If your Main Time Scale is sample-based,
Set Meter lets you specify a new meter for the in- Realign Meter Ruler Only is not available.
serted time. The selection is quantized to the near-
Meter, Tempo, Key, and Chord Rulers, Tick-Based
est bars, and the previous meter is inserted after the Markers and Tracks, and Sample-Based Markers
selection. If your Main Time Scale is sample- and Tracks Lets you insert time into the Meter,
based, Set Meter is not available. Tempo, Key, and Chord rulers, and all tick-based
markers and tracks. Events after the start point of
Realign the selection are shifted past the end point by the
The Realign settings let you select which items length of time inserted.
shift (occur later) when time is inserted, as follows: If the Timeline selection includes any audio clips
• If your Main Time Scale is set to Bars|Beats, you on tick-based tracks, the audio clips are separated
can choose to realign meter events only, or at the Start point, and the new clip containing the
choose to realign a combination of Meter and previous selection is shifted to the end point.
Tempo rulers, all tick-based markers and tracks,
and your choice of sample-based tracks. Using the pop-up menu, you can also choose to in-
sert time into All or No sample-based markers and
• If your Main Time Scale is set to an absolute tracks. If All is selected and the selection includes
timebase (such as Min:Secs), you can choose to any audio clips on sample-based tracks, the se-
independently realign conductor events, tick- lected portions of the audio clips are separated at
based markers and tracks, and your choice of the Start point, and the new clip containing the pre-
sample-based tracks. vious selection is shifted to the end point.
Move
To renumber bars:
1 Choose Event > Renumber Bars.
2 Specify the bar you want to renumber, along
with the new bar number, then click Renumber.
Key Signature ruler
Key Signatures To view the staff for the Key Signature ruler:
The Key Signature ruler lets you add key signa- 1 Show the Key Signature ruler.
tures to Pro Tools sessions. Key signatures can be
imported and exported with MIDI data. This is es- 2 Do one of the following:
pecially useful when exporting MIDI sequences • Select View > Rulers > Key Signature Staff.
for use in notation programs like Sibelius (see “Ex- • Click the Show/Hide triangle on the Key Signa-
porting Sibelius Files” on page 328). The default ture ruler.
key signature is C major.
To delete a key signature, do one of the following: Major Keys Displays the major keys from seven
flats to seven sharps.
Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac) the
Key Signature marker in the Key Signature Minor Keys Displays the minor keys from seven
ruler. flats to seven sharps. Pro Tools only applies the
natural minor mode.
Make a selection in the Key Signature ruler that
includes the key signature you want to delete Sharps Lets you select any of the sharp keys to
and choose Edit > Clear or press Delete. seven sharps and C major (or A minor).
Chords ruler
Add Chord Symbol
Chord Symbol markers
The Import Session Data dialog includes the Im- Chord Symbols ruler
port Key Signature/Chord Map option. When se- To view the Chord Symbols ruler, do one of the
lected, key signatures (if present) and chord mark- following:
ers (if present) are imported into the current
Select View > Rulers > Chord Symbols.
session with the imported session data.
From the Ruler View selector in the Edit win-
dow or in a MIDI Editor window, select Chords.
Chord Change Dialog Chord Diagram Select the chord diagram for
guitar tablature.
The Chord Change dialog lets you specify a com-
mercial chord symbol and chord diagram (guitar To show or hide chord symbols and diagrams
tab) to place in the Chords ruler or on the score in in the Score Editor, select or deselect the cor-
the Score Editor. The Chord Change dialog opens responding option in the Score Setup dialog.
whenever you add or edit a Chord marker.
• While pressing the Start key (Windows) or Con- 5 Enter a Name for the new Memory Location
trol (Mac), move the cursor into the Markers and select any General Properties you want to
ruler (where the cursor changes to the Grabber save with it.
with a “+”) and click at the location where you 6 Click OK. The Selection Memory Location is
want to place the Marker. created and appears in the Memory Locations
window.
When the Auto-Name Memory Locations When When Use Separate Play and Stop Keys op-
Playing option is enabled in the Editing Prefer- tion is enabled in the Operation Preferences
ences page, Memory Locations can be created page, it overrides using the Enter key to add
during playback, without opening the New Mem- Memory Location markers. When this option
ory Location dialog. This option can also be se- is enabled, press Period (.) and then Enter on
lected from the Memory Locations Window menu. the numeric keypad to add a Memory Loca-
tion marker. The new marker is created when
This capability is useful if you want to mark cer- you press Enter.
tain locations while listening during a record pass,
or if you want to mark frame locations while view-
ing a video scene.
Marker Recalls a Timeline location whose refer- None Recalls no Time Properties and is therefore
ence can be either Bar|Beat (tick-based) or Abso- referred to as a General Properties Memory Loca-
lute (sample-based). When recalling a Marker tion.
Memory Location, the playback cursor moves to
When set to Absolute, the Memory Location is Track Heights Recalls all Track Heights. Use this
sample-based and its bar and beat location shifts if option along with Zoom Settings to recall edit en-
the tempo is changed—though its sample location vironments that are suited for particular tasks, such
remains constant, along with its relation to audio as editing down to the sample level or trimming
material. MIDI notes.
• With the Numeric Keypad mode set to Classic, 2 Enter the new name for the Memory Location,
press the Memory Location number followed by and click OK.
Period (.).
To redefine the General Properties stored with a
• With the Numeric Keypad mode set to Transport Memory Location:
or Shuttle, press Period (.), the Memory Loca-
1 Make changes to the session’s zoom settings,
tion number, and Period (.) again.
pre- and post-roll times, Show/Hide status of
When recalling a Memory Location from the tracks, Track Heights, or Group Enables.
numeric keypad, the Memory Locations win- 2 Do one of the following:
dow does not need to be open.
• In the Memory Locations window, double-click
To recall a Marker from the Markers ruler: the Memory Location to open the Edit Memory
Location dialog.
1 Select View > Rulers > Markers to display the
Markers ruler. • In the Marker ruler, double-click the Marker to
open the Edit Memory Location dialog and relo-
2 Click the Marker you want. The playback cur-
cate the insertion point at the marker location.
sor locates to the Marker and any General Prop-
erties stored with the Marker are recalled. • In the Marker ruler, Start-click (Windows) or
Control-click (Mac) the Marker to open the Edit
Even if the Markers ruler is not displayed, Memory Location dialog without locating the
Markers can be recalled from the Memory Lo- insertion point at the marker location.
cations window, or from the numeric keypad.
To change a Memory Location from one type to 3 In the Memory Locations window, Right-click
another: (Windows) or Control-click (Mac) the Memory
Location that you want to redefine.
1 Do one of the following:
• In the Memory Locations window, double-click 4 Enter a name for the Memory Location and
the Memory Location to open the Edit Memory click OK.
Location dialog.
To move a Marker by dragging:
• In the Marker ruler, double-click the Marker to
open the Edit Memory Location dialog and relo- In the Markers ruler, drag the Marker left or
cate the insertion point at the marker location. right.
• In the Marker ruler, Start-click (Windows) or If the Edit mode is set to Grid, the dragged event
Control-click (Mac) the Marker to open the Edit snaps to the current Grid value. If using Spot
Memory Location dialog without locating the mode, the Spot dialog opens.
insertion point at the marker location.
To align a Marker to a different location:
2 In the Memory Location dialog, select either
Marker, Selection, or None as the Memory Lo- 1 If necessary, select Options > Link Timeline and
cation type. Edit Selection.
3 Enter a name for the Memory Location and 2 Do one of the following:
click OK. • In any of the Timebase rulers, click with the Se-
lector tool at the new location.
• Click in the playlist for any track. To align the
Marker to the start of a clip, select the clip with
the Time Grabber tool.
3 In the Memory Locations window or the Mark-
ers ruler, Start-click (Windows) or Control-
click (Mac) the Marker Memory Location that
you want to redefine.
4 Enter a name for the Marker and click OK.
Click the Memory Location. Show Main Counter When selected, a column ap-
pears in the Memory Locations window that dis-
With the Numeric Keypad mode set to plays the locations based on the Main Time-scale
Classic, press the Memory Location number for Markers, and the start times for Selection
followed by Period (.). With the Numeric Memory Locations. General Property Memory Lo-
Keypad mode set to Transport or Shuttle, cations display nothing in this column.
press Period (.), the Memory Location
number, and Period (.) again. Main Time Scale
Sub Time Scale
Memory Locations
Commands and Options
You can select viewing and sorting options, along
with commands for creating and removing Mem-
ory Locations, from the Memory Locations Win-
dow menu. Main/Sub Counters in the Memory Locations window
Once you have created a clip, it appears in the Clip If dragging multiple clips, the clips are placed on
List. From the Clip List you can drag it to a track to adjacent tracks left to right or on multiple tracks
add to an existing arrangement of clips, or you can from top to bottom depending on the selected
create a new track and start adding clips from Timeline Drop Order option (see “Setting Timeline
scratch. The exact placement of clips in a track de- Drop Order” on page 786). If dragging a stereo au-
pends on whether the Edit mode is set to Shuffle, dio clip, it must be placed in a stereo track or in two
Slip, Spot, or Grid (see “Edit Modes” on mono tracks.
page 503).
Clips are placed according to the current Edit
You can locate clips in the Clip List by mode:
typing the first few letters of their name • In Shuffle mode, existing track clips are slid as
(see “Keyboard Selection of Clips” on necessary to make room for the new clip.
page 260).
• In Spot mode, you are prompted by the Spot di-
alog to enter a location for the dragged clip (see
Placing Clips in Tracks “Spotting Clips” on page 793).
• In Grid mode, the dragged clip snaps to the near-
To place a clip in a track: est Grid boundary.
1 In the Clip List, select the clip or clips you want
to place. You can temporarily disable Grid mode while
dragging a clip by holding down the Control
2 Drag the selected clips from the Clip List to a key (Windows) or Command key (Mac) after
location in a track. clicking with the mouse.
• From the Grid value pop-up menu, select the Click the Grid mode selector and select Abso-
time value for the Grid boundaries. lute Grid or Relative Grid.
Grid value pop-up menu showing Bars|Beats The clip’s start point snaps to the closest Grid
boundary. If the clip has a sync point defined, the
• To define a Grid based on the session’s Markers, sync point snaps to the Grid boundary.
selections, and clip boundaries, select
Clips/Markers from the Grid value pop-up menu.
3 Configure the Replace Clip dialog (see “Re- 3 Configure the Replace Clip dialog (see “Re-
place Clip Dialog Options” on page 798). place Clip Dialog Options” on page 798).
Sync Points
The placement of clips in Grid and Spot mode can
be based on the definition of a clip sync point. Sync Point
Sync points can be added to audio, MIDI, and
video clips and also to clip groups. Sync points are To change the location of a sync point:
used when a specific point within a clip must be With the Selector tool, click at a point in a clip
aligned to the Grid or to a particular SMPTE or and choose Clip > Identify Sync Point. The new
bar/beat location. This capability is especially im- location is identified as the sync point for the
portant when placing music and sound effects for clip.
film and video work.
You can also move the location of a sync
For example, suppose you had an audio clip for a point by dragging it (see “Dragging Sync
door slam that included the creak of the door clos- Points” on page 800).
ing, the actual slam, and the reverb of the slam. Us-
ing a sync point for the slam sound in the clip lets Removing Sync Points
you spot it to a specific time in the session.
To remove a sync point, do one of the following:
Sync points in audio clips may displayed or 1 If you want the sync point to snap to the current
hidden. Grid value when you finish scrubbing, set the
Edit mode to Grid (see “Edit Modes” on
To disable the display of sync points in audio clips: page 503).
Deselect View > Clip > Sync Point. 2 Select the Scrubber tool.
3 Drag the sync point to a new location. The sync
To enable the display of sync points in audio clips:
point scrubs the audio as you move it.
Choose View > Clip > Sync Point.
In Shuffle mode, Time-locked clips, and all clips Stripping Silence from Clips
occurring after the locked clip, are not displaced
when other neighboring clips are moved. Strip Silence analyzes audio selections—across
multiple tracks—and removes (or extracts) any ar-
On tick-based Elastic Audio-enabled tracks, Time- eas of silence, dividing the selection into smaller
locked clips conform to tempo changes, but not clips and removing the silent areas.
other Elastic Audio processing (such as Quantize
or manual warping) can be applied. You can use Strip Silence to strip (remove) silence
from a clip, or instead, extract the audio and keep
the silence. Getting rid of silent areas is useful
Allowing Editing of Edit-Locked when preparing to compact audio (see “Compact-
Clips
ing an Audio File” on page 575). Strip Silence au-
If you attempt to edit an Edit-locked clip, tomatically separates the selection into separate
Pro Tools warns you and prompts you to Cancel or clips, which is useful if you want to quantize audio
Allow the edit. If you allow an edit that keeps any to musical values, or locate sound effects to
part of the clip intact, the clip remains locked. SMPTE locations.
Strip Silence, padding clip start and end points 5 Click the Extract button.
6 Once the Strip Silence rectangles encompass All audio above the designated threshold is deleted
the audio that you want to keep, press the Strip and the “silent” portions of the track are left.
button.
To separate clips using Strip Silence:
The material defined as silence is removed from
1 Make an Edit or Timeline selection.
the selection and new clips are created, which also
appear in the Clip List. 2 Choose Edit > Strip Silence.
Strip Silence is nondestructive and does not re- 3 To set the naming scheme for clips created with
move audio data from parent audio files. In addi- Strip Silence, click Rename to open the Re-
tion to the Undo command, you can use the Heal name Selected Clips dialog (see “Auto-Naming
Separation command to restore stripped material. for Strip Silence” on page 803).
Strip Silence works with stereo and multi- 4 In the Strip Silence window, adjust the settings
channel tracks, and keeps their audio clips for Strip Threshold and Minimum Strip Dura-
phase-coherent. tion (Min Strip) until the Strip Silence rectangles
appear in the selection.
5 Click the Separate button.
Inserting Silence
The Insert Silence command is a simple and con-
venient way to insert silence on audio, MIDI, and
Strip Silence rectangles Instrument tracks. This command lets you make a
selection on a track (or tracks) and insert precisely
Strip Threshold Sets the amplitude threshold that amount of silence.
(from –96 dB to 0 dB) for Strip Silence. Audio
falling below this threshold is considered silence The Insert Silence command also affects
and removed. Audio above the threshold is re- markers in any selected Conductor Rulers
tained and defined as new clips. (such as the Tempo or Meter rulers).
Minimum Strip Duration Sets the minimum dura- In Shuffle mode, all data on the track is shuffled
tion (from 0 to 4,000 ms) that the material above later in the track by an amount equal to the
the threshold must last to be considered silence. selection.
Use this control to avoid countless small clips that
may occur within a selection. In Grid mode, the Insert Silence command works
just like the Clear command.
Clip Start Pad Specifies a time value to be added
to the beginning of each new clip created with
Strip Silence. This is useful for preserving musical
material that falls below the threshold, such as the
breath before a vocal phrase, or the finger slide be-
fore a guitar chord.
When using Duplicate (or Repeat) for audio that 2 If you want to constrain the selection to the cur-
must fall cleanly on the beat (such as rhythmic rent Grid value, set the Edit mode to Grid.
loops), it is important that you select the audio ma- 3 Make an Edit selection.
terial with the Selector tool, or by typing in the
start and end points in the Event Edit area. If you
select an audio clip with the Time Grabber tool (or
by double-clicking it with the Selector tool), the
material may drift by several ticks because of sam-
ple-rounding.
Repeat dialog
Pro Tools lets you loop clips or a group of clips Looped clips (all iterations) display a Loop icon in
(called a clip group). the lower, right corner or each loop iteration.
Looped clip
For information on trimming looped clips us- 1 Select the source clip.
ing the Loop Trim tool, see “Loop Trim 2 Choose Edit > Copy Special and one of the Copy
Tool” on page 521. Special commands (All Automation, Pan Auto-
mation, or Plug-In Automation), depending on
If the source clip is extended to the left by using the
what automation you want to copy.
Trim tool to change the total length of the looped
clip, the source clip is moved earlier in the Time-
line and loop iterations fill in up to the point where
the last original loop iteration ended. If the trim to
the left is part of the source clip’s length, the
source clip is not moved and a partial loop iteration Selected Pan automation for Special Copy
is created to the left of the source clip. This is a
3 Select the entire looped clip.
powerful feature that lets you make quick changes
to your arrangement by using partial loops as up- 4 Choose Edit > Paste Special > Repeat to Fill
beats, or by extending looped sound effects or am- Selection.
bience earlier in a film score.
Clip groups are not supported on audio The Group and Ungroup Clip menu
tracks set to Playlists view. Changing an commands apply to any Edit selection
audio track to Playlist View automatically regardless of the current Track View.
ungroups any clip groups on the track.
Regrouping Clips
The Regroup menu command undoes the last Un-
group command and regroups all the individual
clips as a clip group. This lets you ungroup a
grouped clip, edit its underlying clips, and regroup
MIDI Clip Group icon on a MIDI track it to continue working on higher-level composition
and arranging.
Clip groups can be created from empty
selections. This can be useful when working
in Shuffle mode to preserve the gaps between
clips.
If you used the Ungroup All command, the Regroup Selecting clips to be grouped across multiple tracks
command recreates all previous nested clip groups.
2 Choose Clip > Group.
3 If you regrouped an ungrouped clip group that
was used more than once in the session, do one
of the following when the Change All dialog
opens.
• Choose Modify to apply your changes to all other
instances of the same clip group.
• Choose Copy to create a copy and apply your
changes only to the copied clip group.
If a MIDI clip within a clip group is modified in Trimming clip groups with the Standard Trim tool
any way, a new clip copy is created and placed works the same way as trimming regular clips, re-
over the clip group. For example, if you record, gardless of whether you are trimming a single-
draw in a new note, edit MIDI controller data, or track clip group or a multitrack clip group.
quantize a Timeline selection, a new clip is created
over the clip group. Trimming a clip group does not trim the underly-
ing clips, but rather trims the clip group boundar-
ies. All underlying clips retain their original length
Editing Audio Clip Groups and location. This is true for all underlying audio
Certain audio editing commands create new clips and MIDI clips, and nested clip groups. If you trim
over clip groups. To use these commands and the clip group shorter, underlying clips may not be
maintain the clip group, ungroup the clip group, heard on playback because they are outside the clip
perform the edit, and then regroup the clip group. boundaries of the trimmed clip group.
The following edit commands create new clips When trimming clip groups with the TC/E Trim
over clip groups: tool, it applies only to audio or MIDI clips, de-
pending on which clip type in the group you trim,
• AudioSuite processing of a grouped clip
and creates a new clip over the clip group.
results in a new clip over the clip group.
• Consolidating a selection of a grouped clip cre- If you ungroup clips after trimming a clip group in
ates a new audio file and clip over the clip group. (shorter), audio clips falling outside of the bounds
of the current clip group are trimmed to fit the clip
• Recording into a clip group creates a new
group boundary or removed.
audio file and clip over the clip group.
• Pencil tool waveform redraw results in a new
Recording
clip over the clip group.
When recording audio or MIDI, new clips are cre-
Tabbing to Transients and Clip ated over (in front) of clip groups instead of being
Boundaries included in the clip group. To record into a clip
group, first ungroup the clip group, then record,
With Tab to Transients enabled, the Tab key and then regroup the clip group. The clip group
moves the Location Cursor to transients and clip will be recreated intact with the newly recorded
boundaries within a clip group. material.
With Tab to Transients disabled, the Tab key
moves the Location Cursor to clip group boundar-
ies only (and the sync point, if present).
AudioSuite Menu
AudioSuite plug-ins are accessed through the Au-
dioSuite menu. Plug-ins can be organized in the
AudioSuite menu in Pro Tools by Flat List (with
plug-ins in alphabetical order), Category, Manu- AudioSuite window, EQ III 1-Band shown
facturer, or Category and Manufacturer.
From this menu you can select any AudioSuite Clip List Applies AudioSuite processing only to
plug-in installed in your Plug-Ins folder. Plug-Ins selected clips in the Clip List. Processing is not be
are listed in the Plug-In selector pop-up menu ac- applied to clips on the Timeline (playlists on audio
cording to the Organize Plug-Ins Menu By setting tracks).
in the Display Preferences page.
If the Use In Playlist option is enabled in ad-
dition to Clip List being selected in the Selec-
tion Reference pop-up menu, the processing
will be applied to the selected clip in both the
playlist and the Clip List.
Automatic File Naming of AudioSuite- Processing a locked clip will cause the clip to
Processed Audio become unlocked, and processing a muted
clip will cause it to become unmuted.
When new audio files are created as a result of Au-
dioSuite processing, Pro Tools will auto-name Only audio files on locally connected hard drives
these files according to the type of plug-in used. can be processed with AudioSuite plug-ins. You
The name of the clip determines the prefix, while cannot process audio files on remote hard drives
the type of AudioSuite plug-in determines the suf- over a network (unless it is an Avid Unity net-
fix. work).
Automatic file naming follows these rules: To process audio with an AudioSuite plug-in:
New clips are named beginning with the clip 1 Do one of the following:
name, followed by an abbreviation of the current • Make an Edit selection of the audio you want to
AudioSuite process, followed by standard process.
Pro Tools file and clip numbering.
• Select audio clips in the Clip List that you want
If a plug-in’s File Mode is set to Overwrite Files, to process.
the original clip’s name will not be changed.
2 Choose an AudioSuite plug-in from the
If a plug-in’s File Mode is set to Create Individ- AudioSuite menu.
ual Files, the resulting clips will have an abbrevi-
3 Adjust the plug-in controls for the effect you
ated version of the plug-in name appended to them.
want. These settings determine how the file is
processed and what effect the processing has on
the original clips.
• If you have selected multiple clips for process- To compensate for this, place the clip in a track and
ing and want to create a new file that connects select the audio plus an amount of blank space at
and consolidates all of these clips together, se- the end of the clip equal to the amount of delay or
lect Create Continuous File for the File Mode. reverb decay that you have added in the plug-in.
The plug-in will then have space at the end of the
4 Click the Preview button to audition the Audio-
clip in which to write the final delay or decay. If
Suite processing of the selected material.
you select more time than needed, you can trim it
5 Make any further adjustments to the plug-in after applying AudioSuite processing.
controls if necessary.
6 When you are satisfied with the results, click AudioSuite Handles
the Render button.
Pro Tools lets you render clips with AudioSuite
The selected audio is processed according to the plug-ins and include “handles” beyond the current
specified settings. Pro Tools appends text to the edit selection from 0.00 to 60.00 seconds, or even
clip name indicating the AudioSuite process that the whole file referenced by the clip. This means
has been applied. Any new audio files appear in the that you trim clips out past the rendered selection
Clip List. after processing.
• Select the Whole File option to render the whole Default Handle Length in the AudioSuite section of the
file. Note that only the current edit selection will Processing Preferences
appear in the Timeline.
4 Click OK.
5 Click Render.
Rendering Handle
File Mode Whole File Fades Clip Gain Metadata
Mode Behavior
Some plug-ins that rely on the Edit selection for processing (including plug-ins that require an anal-
ysis pass) may not work as expected when using handles. In this case, it is recommended that the han-
dle length be set to zero.
Destructive recording and Destructive Punch recording are not supported with AudioSuite rendered
clips with handles.
Use Elastic Audio to achieve special effects with • Create and configure a new session for this
extreme or widely variable TCE or pitch manipu- workflow.
lation. Use the Varispeed algorithm to achieve • Locate and preview a loop in a Workspace
tape-like effects for speed and pitch change. browser at the session tempo.
• Import the loop at the session tempo on a tick-
Film Scoring
based, Elastic Audio-enabled track.
If you are scoring a film scene, use Elastic Audio • Change the session tempo to change the tempo
to fit the music to the required duration. You can of the clip on tick-based, Elastic Audio-enabled
even use tempo changes to achieve accelerandos tracks.
and ritardandos.
• Quantize the audio to apply a Groove Template
Remember, when using tempo adjustments to the rhythm.
for sessions that include multiple cues, tempo • Transposition the clip to match the pitch of the
changes may affect the timecode position of imported audio to other audio and MIDI in the
other cues later on the Timeline. session.
7 Notice that if the loop was sample-based to be- • If there are no tracks in the session and the file is
gin with, once it is analyzed the file’s Duration tick-based, you are prompted to either import the
is now measured in Bars and Beats instead of tempo from the file or use the session tempo. To
Minutes and Seconds, the Sample-based icon is keep the session tempo and have the loop con-
replaced by the Tick-based icon, and the de- form to the session tempo, click Don’t Import.
tected tempo of the file is displayed in the • If there are tracks in the session, the file is im-
Tempo column. ported and automatically conformed to the ses-
sion tempo.
New tick-based,
Elastic Audio–enabled
track
Dragging and dropping a tick-based audio file from a Workspace browser to the Track List
Change the session tempo to change the tempo of Quantize audio to apply a Groove Template:
the clip:
1 Select the clip on the tick-based, Real-Time
1 Change the tempo from the default 120 BPM to Elastic Audio-enabled track.
110 BPM (see “Tempo” on page 737).
2 Choose Event > Event Operations > Quantize.
3 In the What to Quantize section, make sure
Elastic Audio Events option is selected.
Real-Time or
Elastic Audio Rendered
Plug-In selector Processing
indicator
Elastic Audio
Plug-In button Track View pop-up menu
Plug-In selector Librarian menu Plug-Ins Settings Select Button Accesses the
Target
Track selector Settings menu button Plug-In Settings dialog, which lists the presets for
the current plug-in. From this list, you can select a
new preset, or audition a series of presets.
Window
Quality
• With the Pencil tool, click anywhere in the clip 2 Do one of the following:
to add a Warp marker at that location. If you • With the Grabber tool, double-click a Warp
click on an Event marker, a Warp marker is cre- marker.
ated on top of the Event marker.
• With the Grabber or the Pencil tool, Alt-click
• With the Grabber tool, Start-click (Windows) or (Windows) or Option-click (Mac) a Warp
Control-click (Mac) anywhere in the clip to add marker.
a Warp marker at that location. If you click on an
• With any Edit tool, Right-click a Warp marker
Event marker, a Warp marker is created on top of
and select Remove Warp Marker from the pop-
the Event marker.
up menu.
• With the Grabber tool, if no Warp markers are
present in the clip, or if Warp markers are only To delete all Warp markers in a selection:
present prior to the location where you want to 1 In Warp view, make an Edit selection that in-
add a new Warp marker, double-click an Event cludes only the Warp markers you want to de-
marker to add a Warp marker on top of the Event lete (and none of the Warp markers you want to
marker. keep).
• With the Grabber tool, double-click anywhere in
2 Do one of the following:
the clip where an Event marker is not present to
add a Warp marker at that location. • Press Delete or Backspace on your computer
keyboard.
• With the Grabber tool, single-click any Event
marker prior to another existing Warp marker in • With any Edit tool, Right-click the Edit selection
the clip to add a Warp marker on top of that and select Remove Warp Marker from the pop-
Event marker. up menu.
• With any Edit tool, Right-click anywhere in the
clip and select Add Warp Marker from the pop-
up menu to add a Warp marker at that location. If
there is an Edit selection, Warp markers are
added at the selection start and end.
Telescoping Warp
Telescoping Warp can be applied to any audio clip
before or after a Warp marker as long as no other
Warp marker precedes or follows it accordingly.
The audio can be on a sample- or tick-based track. Before and after warping, applying Telescoping Warp
Telescoping Warp is especially useful for adjust- with the clip start fixed
ing audio files to match the session tempo map and
Bar|Beat grid.
Edit Groups and Warp Editing Analysis view is only available for Elastic
Audio-enabled tracks.
Elastic Audio-enabled tracks can be included in
Edit Groups. For Elastic Audio-enabled tracks that
In Analysis view, you can only edit Analysis
are part of an Edit Group, applying Elastic Audio
markers using the Edit tools. You cannot use
processing on one track likewise applies it to all
the Edit tools for any clip editing. Switch to
other tracks within that Edit Group.
Warp or Waveform views for clip-based edit-
If corresponding Warp markers are not already ing capabilities with the Edit tools.
present on Elastic Audio-enabled tracks that are
part of an Edit Group, new Warp markers are cre-
When manually editing Analysis markers,
ated on those tracks when you add or move a Warp
Pro Tools writes temporary Elastic Audio
marker on any track that is part of the Edit Group.
analysis files (.aan) to the session’s
Rendered Files folder. Any unused tempo-
rary analysis files are purged when you close
the session.
• With the Pencil tool, Alt-click (Windows) or The Elastic Properties window lets you view and
Option-click (Mac) the Event marker you want change the properties for selected clips. For exam-
to delete. ple, you can reduce the Input Gain for Elastic Au-
• With the Grabber tool, Alt-click (Windows) or dio processing to avoid clipping that can occur
Option-click (Mac) the Event marker you want during processing.
to delete. From the Elastic Properties window, you can also
• With the Selector tool, make an Edit selection filter Event markers for Elastic Audio clips on
that includes any Event markers you want to de- tick-based tracks. Filtering Event markers can re-
lete and press Delete or Backspace on your com- sult in better quality Elastic Audio processing of
puter keyboard. material with ambiguous transients.
• With the Selector tool, make an Edit selection
To view the Elastic Properties for a clip:
that includes any Event markers you want to de-
lete, Right-click the selection, and choose Re- 1 Select a clip on an Elastic Audio-enabled track.
move Event Marker from the pop-up menu. The track can be either sample- or tick-based.
2 Do one of the following:
• Choose Clip > Elastic Properties.
• Right-click the clip and choose Elastic
Properties.
Deleting an Event marker with the Pencil tool
Press Alt+5 (Windows) or Option+5 (Mac)
Edit Groups and Event Editing on the numeric keypad to open the Elastic
Properties window.
Elastic Audio-enabled tracks can be included in
Edit Groups. For Elastic Audio-enabled tracks that
are part of an Edit Group, editing Event markers on
one track likewise applies to all other tracks within
that Edit Group.
Elastic Properties window The Transpose All Notes To and the Trans-
pose In Key settings can only be applied to
To transpose the pitch of an audio clip in the
MIDI notes. When only audio clips are se-
Transpose window:
lected, these options are unavailable.
1 Make sure the clip, or clips, you want to Trans-
pose are on Elastic Audio-enabled tracks (using 5 Click Apply.
the Polyphonic, Rhythmic, or X-Form algo-
rithm).
2 With the Grabber or Selector tool, select the au-
dio clip you want to transpose. Only clips that
are completely selected will be affected.
Real-time Elastic Rendered Elastic Render clip with destination track’s Elastic Audio plug-in
Audio–enabled track Audio–enabled track
Real-time Elastic Audio track Render clip with source track’s Elastic Audio plug-in and
Audio–enabled track (no Elastic Audio) commit the clip to the destination track
Rendered Elastic Real-time Elastic Apply real-time Elastic Audio processing using the
Audio–enabled track Audio–enabled track destination track’s Elastic Audio plug-in
Audio track Real-time Elastic Calculate Elastic Audio analysis and apply real-time
(no Elastic Audio) Audio–enabled track Elastic Audio processing using the destination track’s
Elastic Audio plug-in
Audio track Rendered Elastic Calculate Elastic Audio analysis and render the clip
(no Elastic Audio) Audio–enabled track using the destination track’s Elastic Audio plug-in
Pitched Elastic Audio track Render clip pitch shift with source track’s Elastic Audio
Audio–enabled track (no Elastic Audio) plug-in and commit the clip to the destination track
Clips that are committed, either by disabling Elastic Audio on a track or by moving a clip to a track with-
out Elastic Audio enabled, are written to disk as new audio files (see “Committed Clips” on page 842.)
Elastic Audio Preferences The Elastic Properties window inherits the Default
Input Gain preference. To apply further clip-based
The Elastic Audio settings in the Processing Pref- Input Gain for Elastic Audio processing, select the
erences page determine which Elastic Audio plug- clip and adjust the Input Gain setting in the Elastic
in is used for preview and import, and whether or Properties window (see “Elastic Properties Win-
not new tracks are created with Elastic Audio en- dow” on page 860).
abled using the selected default plug-in.
Enable Elastic Audio on New Tracks When se-
lected, new tracks are created with Elastic Audio
enabled. The selected default Elastic Audio plug-
in is used.
Various events in Pro Tools (such as groups of The Event Operations window can be left open,
MIDI Notes, audio clip start times or sync points, This provides quick access to apply a command or
and whole clips) can be transformed with Event try out different options for a particular command.
Operations.
You can also apply quantize, duration,
delay, and transpose to MIDI nondestruc-
What to Quantize
The What to Quantize settings determine what as-
pects of any selected MIDI notes are quantized:
Note Ons (attacks), Note Offs (releases), or both.
You can also select whether to quantize audio clips
or Elastic Audio events. Depending on what type
of track material is selected, not all options will be
available. If only MIDI is selected, the Audio Clips
and Elastic Audio Events options are unavailable.
If only audio is selected, the Note On, Note Off, and
Before quantizing, followed by two examples showing
Preserve Note Duration options are not available. the results of different What To Quantize settings
Note On When selected, MIDI note start points are Audio Clips When selected in the What to Quan-
quantized. tize pop-up menu, Quantize is applied to clip start
times (or sync points if present) for selected audio
Note Off When selected, MIDI note end points are
clips. MIDI clips are not affected. Typically, you
quantized.
will only want to apply quantization to sliced audio
Preserve Note Duration When selected, MIDI clips or clip groups (such as imported REX files or
note durations are preserved. clips created using the Separate Clips at Transients
command or Beat Detective). Quantization can be
When deselected with the Note On option selected, applied to mixed selections of MIDI notes and au-
note end points are not moved. dio clips.
When deselected with the Note Off option selected, Elastic Audio Events When selected in the What
note start points are not moved. to Quantize pop-up menu, Quantize is applied to
detected transient events within the Edit selection
If the options for both Note On and Note Off are se-
on Elastic Audio-enabled tracks. Quantization can
lected, the Preserve Note Durations option is un-
be applied to mixed selections of MIDI notes and
available.
Elastic Audio events. Warp markers are created
The following figure shows how MIDI notes are automatically on top of Event markers nearest the
adjusted by the different What To Quantize op- quantize grid. Quantize then uses these Warp
tions. markers to apply quantization.
Straight Quantize
To quantize to a straight sixteenth note feel:
Strength When selected, MIDI notes, Elastic Au- 2 Choose Event > Event Operations > Quantize.
dio events, and audio clips are moved a percentage
3 Under What to Quantize, select the Note On op-
toward the Quantize Grid. Lower percentages pre-
tion for quantizing MIDI notes. To also quantize
serve the original feel of the events, higher per-
MIDI note durations, select the Note Off
centages align the notes more tightly to the Grid.
option. If you are quantizing audio, select Audio
Clips or Elastic Audio Events from the pop-up
menu.
4 From the Quantize Grid pop-up menu, select
sixteenth notes (1/16). Make sure that the other
options for Tuplet, Offset Grid By, and Swing
are not selected.
5 Ensure that the remaining Quantize options are
deselected.
6 Click Apply.
To quantize while preserving the original feel: To quantize with an eighth note swing feel:
1 Select the range of MIDI notes, Elastic Audio 1 Select the range of MIDI notes, Elastic Audio
events, or audio clips to be quantized. events, or audio clips to be quantized.
2 Choose Event > Event Operations > Quantize. 2 Choose Event > Event Operations > Quantize.
3 Under What to Quantize, select the Note On op- 3 Under What to Quantize, select the Note On op-
tion for quantizing MIDI notes. To also quantize tion for quantizing MIDI notes. To also quantize
MIDI note durations, select the Note Off MIDI note durations, select the Note Off
option. If you are quantizing audio, select Audio option. If you are quantizing audio, select Audio
Clips or Elastic Audio Events from the pop-up Clips or Elastic Audio Events from the pop-up
menu. menu.
4 From the Quantize Grid pop-up menu, select the 4 From the Quantize Grid pop-up menu, select
note value you want to use. eighth notes (1/8).
5 Ensure that the other options for Tuplet, Offset 5 Select the Swing option with the Swing percent-
Grid By, and Swing are not selected. age you want:
6 Select the Exclude Within option with a value of • For a light swing, use 12%.
10–15%. • For a tighter swing-like groove, use 24%.
7 Select the Strength option with a value of • For a true “triplet-like” swing feel, use 50–75%.
70–80%.
6 Ensure that the options for Tuplet, Offset Grid
8 Ensure that the remaining Quantize options are By, and Randomize are not selected.
deselected.
7 Click Apply.
9 Click Apply.
8 Audition the change. If the desired effect is not
10 Audition the change. If the desired effect is not achieved, undo the edit and experiment with
achieved, undo the edit and experiment with different Swing percentages.
different values for Exclude Within and
Strength.
Groove templates can be of any length and can be 1 With the Grabber or Selector tool, select the
applied to any number of bars. Typically, you will MIDI notes, Elastic Audio events, or audio clips
apply groove templates to selections of the same you want to Groove Quantize.
bar length and meter. However, groove templates 2 Choose Event > Event Operations > Quantize.
can be applied to different meters—for example, a
groove template in 6/8 can be applied to a selection 3 Select a groove template from the Grid Quan-
in 4/4. Also, it is not necessary to start on the tize pop-up menu.
downbeat when making a selection to apply a 4 Enable Timing, Duration, and Velocity, and ad-
groove template. just their sliders to the percentages you want.
5 If desired, enable Pre-Quantize.
6 Click the Apply button.
A DigiGroove template (derived from the audio shown) applied to a series of sixteenth-notes with Timing and
Velocity both set to 100%
4/4 bar 1
If the selection contains mixed meters, the groove You can reset the groove template grid by
template will always be mapped so that the down- adding a new meter marker (it can be the
beats are aligned. For example, if the Groove Tem- same meter). The groove template will
plate consists of one-bar of 4/4 and it is being ap- restart at the meter marker regardless of the
plied to a selection of one-bar of 4/4 followed by a measure number or whether or not the
bar of 7/16 and one-bar of 5/8, the downbeat of the meter has actually changed.
Groove Template is aligned with the downbeats in
the selection and only uses the appropriate number
of beats from the Groove Template. Quantizing Elastic Audio
Pro Tools lets you apply Quantize to Elastic Audio
events as well as MIDI notes. Quantize can be ap-
plied to Event and Warp markers closest to the
quantize grid on Elastic Audio-enabled tracks, re-
gardless of whether they are sample- or tick-based.
When quantizing, Event markers closest to the
quantize grid are promoted to Warp markers and
all Warp markers closest to the quantize grid are
quantized based on the Quantize settings.
3 In the Quantize window, select Elastic Audio 2 Choose Events > Event Operations > Quantize.
Events from the What to Quantize pop-up
menu. 3 In the Quantize window, select Audio Clips from
the What to Quantize pop-up menu.
4 Set the Quantize Grid and Options settings.
4 Set the Quantize Grid and Options settings.
5 Click Apply.
5 Click Apply.
The Warp and Event markers closest to the Quan-
tize Grid are quantized accordingly. TCE is ap- The clip start times (or sync points if present) are
plied between these markers and all other markers quantized according to the quantize settings.
maintain their position relative to the Quantize
Grid.
Event Operations window, Restore Performance page 3 Select which performance attributes to restore.
4 Click Apply.
The Restore Performance command can be
undone.
3 Select the Change Smoothly option with the 1 Select the range of MIDI notes to be edited.
range set from 127 to 0. 2 Choose Event > Event Operations > Change
4 Click Apply. Velocity.
Original velocities
Event Operations window, Change Velocity page Scale By Scales all velocities by a percentage
amount (1–400%).
Velocity values usually affect the loudness of Change Smoothly Allows velocities to change
MIDI notes. Depending on how velocity is smoothly from one value to another over time.
mapped with any MIDI instrument, velocities
may also affect other aspects of an Change Smoothly by Percentage Allows veloci-
instrument’s sound (such as filter cutoff, ties to change smoothly from one percentage value
envelopes, and modulations). to another over time.
3 Click Apply.
Velocity Ranges
The valid range for MIDI note velocities is 1–127.
The Change Velocity command will never result in
moving velocities outside this range; 1 is always
the lowest and 127 is always the highest. This
means that you can encounter situations where the
Change Velocity command has no effect on a par-
ticular note.
Set All To Sets all durations to a length specified in The Change Continuously option lets you change
quarter notes and ticks. the duration of notes continuously in ticks or by
percentage. Adjust the Curve slider to modify the
Add Adds to the durations by a specified number
shape of the change.
of quarter notes and ticks.
Change Continuously in Ticks Allows note
Subtract Subtracts from the durations by a speci-
lengths to change smoothly from one duration to
fied number of quarter notes and ticks.
another over time. Duration values are specified in
Scale by Shortens or lengthens durations based on quarter notes and ticks.
a percentage value (1–400%).
Change Continuously by Percentage Allows
note lengths to change smoothly from one percent-
Legato
age value to another over time.
Enable the legato option to add legato to the MIDI
selection. Select Gap or Overlap from the Legato The curve for this change can be adjusted (+/– 99)
pop-up menu and enter the gap or overlap in beats to affect how gradually the change occurs.
and ticks. Limit Range When selected, restricts the Change
Duration command to a minimum and maximum
Remove Overlap
range (in quarter notes and ticks).
The Remove Overlap option removes any note
Randomize When selected, the Change Duration
overlap for all notes of the same pitch. This com-
command is randomized by the specified percent-
mand is different from Legato in that non-overlap-
age value. For example, using “Set all to” with a
ping notes of the same or different pitches remain
value of 480 ticks, along with a Randomize value
unchanged. To create a gap between previously
of 50%, yields durations anywhere between 360
overlapping notes, enter the gap in beats and ticks.
and 600 (+/– 25% of the duration value).
Transform Sustain Pedal To Duration
Change Duration Examples
The Transform Sustain Pedal To Duration option
extends the length of all notes that are sounding To make notes more staccato:
when the sustain pedal (controller 64) is down (64
1 Select the range of MIDI notes to be edited.
to 127) to the point when the sustain pedal goes up
(0 to 63). Enable the Delete Sustain Pedal Events 2 Choose Event > Event Operations > Change
option to convert sustain pedal events to note dura- Duration.
tions. Converting sustain pedal events to note du-
ration can greatly simplify editing while maintain- Press Alt+P on Windows or Option+P on
ing the desired performance effect. For example, if Mac to open the Change Duration window.
a sustain pedal down event is deleted while editing,
3 Select the option for Scale By with a percentage
the subsequent MIDI performance loses its legato
value of 50.
effect.
4 Click Apply. The durations for the selected notes
are reduced by 50%.
1 Select the range of MIDI notes to be edited. Elastic Audio pitch transposition cannot be
applied to looped clips or clip groups.
2 Choose Event > Event Operations > Change
Duration.
Transpose
Event Operations window, Transpose
While the Grabber tools can be used to manually
transpose individual MIDI notes, or small groups Transpose By (Octaves) Transposes selected
of notes, the Transpose command in the Event Op- MIDI notes by up to +/– 10 octaves, or transposes
erations window can be used for entire MIDI selected Elastic Audio clips up to +/– 2
tracks and clips. One of the more common uses for octaves.
Transpose is to change the key for your MIDI
Transpose By (Semitones) Transposes selected
tracks. You can define an Edit Group for MIDI
MIDI notes up or down chromatically by up to
tracks that you want to transpose, making sure to
+/–127 semitones, or transposes selected Elastic
exclude any drum tracks from the group so they
Audio clips up or down chromatically by up to +/–
aren’t transposed. You can even transpose in key.
48 semitones (4 octaves).
You can also transpose MIDI notes nonde- Transpose (From and To) Transposes selected
structively in real-time using MIDI Real- MIDI notes, or selected Elastic Audio clips, by
Time Properties. See “MIDI Real-Time semitones, as expressed by the difference between
Properties” on page 671. the source and destination pitches. Transposing
from C3 to F#3, for example, transposes the notes
The Transpose command can also be applied to
up by an augmented fourth (six semitones).
whole clips on Elastic Audio-enabled tracks using
the Polyphonic, Rhythmic, or X-Form plug-ins.
5 Set the corresponding pitch fields. 3 Choose Event > Event Operations > Transpose.
4 Do one of the following:
With any pitch field selected, play a note on your
MIDI controller to automatically enter it as the • Adjust the Transpose By settings by an amount
pitch value. in semitones and cents.
Action
Event Operations window, Select/Split Notes Split Notes: A New Track per Pitch Copies all se-
lected data to multiple new tracks (one new track
Select/Split Notes Settings for each pitch). New tracks zoom to single-note
display. If the selection includes multiple tracks,
Pitch Criteria
each track has its data split separately.
All Notes Selects all notes.
Include All Continuous MIDI Data Includes all
Notes Between Selects a range of notes between continuous MIDI data, including pitch bend and
the specified upper and lower note. Values for the aftertouch, on the entire track, without any restric-
notes can be entered in pitch (C1–G8) or MIDI tion on time selection.
note numbers (0–127).
2 Choose Event > Event Operations > Select/Split To select only the hi-hats in a General MIDI drum
Notes. track:
Step Input in the Event Operations window lets 1 Make certain your external MIDI device is
you use a MIDI controller to enter notes individu- properly connected and working with
ally, one step at a time. This gives you precise con- Pro Tools.
trol over note placement, duration, and velocity. 2 Choose Event > Event Operations > Step Input.
With MIDI step input you can also create musical
passages that might be difficult to play accurately, 3 Select the Enable option.
or at a fast tempo.
When Step Input is enabled, each previously
record-enabled MIDI or Instrument track is
taken out of record enable, and if the
Default Thru Instrument preference is
defined, it is disabled.
The controls in the Step Increment section let you Enable Numeric Keypad Shortcuts When se-
set the spacing and duration of MIDI events en- lected, Step Input options can be selected from the
tered using the Step Input operation. You can se- numeric keypad. See “Numeric Keypad Shortcuts
lect any size from whole notes to sixty-fourth notes for Step Input” on page 894.
(including dotted values).
Undo Step, Next Step, and Redo Step
Tuplet Lets you input irregular note groupings
(such as triplets or quintuplets). The tuplet length Use the Undo Step and Next Step buttons to do the
is calculated from the note spacing selection and following:
the Tuplet values. For example, an eighth note • Move the step insertion point, by either remov-
equals 480 ticks, so tuplet eighth notes with 3 in ing the previous note or by advancing the inser-
time of 2 would yield a note spacing of 320 ticks tion point by the Step Increment value.
(480 ticks / 3 * 2). • Lengthen and shorten notes that are being held
Note Length Lets you select the note length as a on the MIDI controller, by adding or removing
percentage of the spacing value. For example, an Step Increment values. The Step Increment
eighth note equals 480 ticks, so an eighth note with value can be changed mid-note to create a note
an 80% duration would be 384 ticks long. with a hybrid note length.
the Step Increment value to the held note, increas- Step Input Shortcuts Key
ing its length by the Step Increment value.
Whole note 1
While the note is being held, the Step Increment
1/2 note 2
value can be changed, allowing you to create notes
of any musical length. 1/4 note 4
Redo Step Reinserts the last note that was 1/8 note 5
removed by the Undo Step operation.
1/16 note 6
The Undo Step, Next Step, and Redo Step buttons Dotted note . (decimal key)
can be set to be triggered by an external MIDI
Toggle Tuplet on/off 3
synth, drum pad, or other controller.
Next step Enter
To set Undo Step, Next Step and Redo Step MIDI
triggers: Undo step 0
HEAT (Harmonically Enhanced Algorithm Tech- To enable (or disable) HEAT in a session, do one of
nology) is a paid software option that adds “analog the following:
color” to HDX systems. Select (or deselect) Options > Activate HEAT.
HEAT is applied to all active audio tracks in your Select (or deselect) the HEAT On/Off button in
session, emulating magnetic recording tape com- the Mix window in HEAT view.
bined with harmonic coloration commonly experi-
enced with analog mixing consoles. Use HEAT to You can also enable the Enable HEAT in New Ses-
open up your mixes with warm, analog-modeled sions option in the Pro Tools Preferences to have
soft-saturated distortion. HEAT automatically enabled for all new sessions.
The amount of processing can result in subtle Meter Displays the average amount of HEAT pro-
changes or drastic changes depending on what the cessing across all audio tracks.
program is like, and how it was recorded. The dif-
Drive Adjusts the amount of Drive for HEAT,
ference between processing an analog or digital re-
which emulates the distortion you get when over-
cording can be subtle or drastic. It may be easier to
driving an analog channel strip on a console. At the
hear the effect of the processing in material that is
default 12 o’clock position, no HEAT processing
more “open,” as opposed to material that is more
is applied. Turn the knob counter-clockwise to add
dense. The amount of low frequency information
odd harmonics to the mix (a magnetic tape satura-
added also affects how you hear the processing.
tion–like effect). Turn the knob clockwise to add
even harmonics to the odd harmonic series for the
effect of simulating a triode tube circuit.
HEAT Controls
Tone Adjust the Tone (bass to treble) for HEAT.
HEAT provides a simple set of master controls for Turn the control to the right for a brighter sound
the tuning the color of the effect, and a set of con- and to the left for a darker sound.
trols for each audio track in your session.
Showing and Hiding HEAT Master
HEAT Master Controls Controls
The HEAT Master controls let you adjust the HEAT Master controls can be viewed in the Mix
amount and color of HEAT processing for all au- window.
dio tracks. Take some time to experiment with dif-
ferent settings until you get the desired tone color To show (or hide) HEAT Master controls:
for your mix. Click the Show/Hide HEAT View button in the
lower right corner of the Mix window.
The following table lists the number of mono au- Once the session is open, you can manage which
dio tracks per DSP chip that are available with tracks you want to have active with HEAT enabled
HEAT processing enabled. within the DSP limitations of your system. You
can also expand your HDX system with additional
Available number of mono audio tracks per DSP chip
cards to increase the available DSP resources for
DSP Chip 44.1/ 88.2/ 176.4/ HEAT.
Type 48 kHz 96 kHz 192 kHz
In some cases, if the session you are opening has a
HDX 86 42 19
lot of active DSP plug-ins, the session may open
Stereo tracks require twice the DSP of mono with HEAT enabled, but make some of the ses-
tracks, and surround formats require as much DSP sion’s DSP plug-ins inactive. This is because
per channel as the corresponding number of mono HEAT processing takes priority over DSP plug-in
tracks (for example, a 5.1 track uses the same processing.
amount of DSP as 6 mono tracks).
Master Controls
Press the Soft Keys switch in the Channel Bar. To exit, press the Soft Keys switch again.
HEAT Master Controls are mapped to the encoder and encoder switches of channel strips 21–24, as shown
in Table 1 on page 902.
When HEAT is enabled in a session, each channel strip provides HEAT Bypass and Pre/Post. You can ac-
cess these channel settings directly from C|24 channel strips. Channel HEAT controls follow Do To All
and Do to All Selected modifiers.
Rotate the channel encoder, or press the encoder switch, and choose Pre or Post.
Table 1. HEAT Master Controls on C|24
Encoder: 21 22 23 24
Master Fader track audio signal flow When a Master Fader track is inactive, its associ-
ated plug-ins, I/O assignments, and their resources
Master Faders do not consume any of your sys-
are made inactive.
tem’s audio processing power. Master Faders pro-
vide up to five post-fader inserts and no sends. When a Master Fader output assignment (path as-
Also, Master Fader tracks do not have Pan sliders, signment) is made inactive, the Master Fader no
or Mute and Solo buttons. longer controls the master gain of that path.
MIDI instrument.
Volume
4 In Instruments view, click the MIDI Output se-
lector, and assign the port and channel for the
Level meters
external MIDI instrument from the pop-up
menu.
5 Adjust the Instrument fader to set the volume.
VCA Track Type indicator
For information on assigning MIDI input
and output for Instrument tracks, see “As-
signing MIDI Input and Output for Instru-
ment Tracks” on page 231.
Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) the To assign an existing group to a VCA Master:
VCA Master TrackInput button on the VCA Click the Group Assignment selector on the
Master. VCA Master track and choose an available
group from the pop-up menu.
Level Meter
HEAT
(HDX Systems with HEAT Option Only)
HEAT View
I/O View
Instruments View
Track Compensation
indicator
Multichannel Sends (Pro Tools HD Only) When To display sends in the Mix window:
you click the Sends button on a track, you can Select any of the following:
choose from a list of multichannel output or bus
• View > Mix Window > Sends A–E.
paths.
• View > Mix Window > Sends F–J.
To show (or hide) meters in Send Assignments, do Send level and mute can follow Mix groups, to ad-
one of the following: just multiple send controls from a single set of con-
trols.
Choose Setup > Preferences > Metering and se-
lect (or deselect) the Show Send Assignment
Level Meter option (see “Show Send Assign- Individual Send Views and
ment Level Meter” on page 115). Meters
Right-click on a track meter and select (or dese- When you display the controls for an individual
lect) the Show Send Assignment Level Meter send, you also have the option of displaying send
option. level meters.
Inverse Pan Reflects one side’s panning location Path Meter View in a Send window
and direction in the other side (for example, left-
and right-channel Pan controls).
The audio paths monitored in the Output meters For all Pro Tools systems using stereo output
are determined by the Output Meter Path setting in paths, stereo meters are shown (L/R).
the Output page of the I/O Setup.
Selecting the Output Meter Path in the I/O Setup Selecting the Output Meters option in the Transport
Window menu
4 Click OK.
Monitoring and Mixing Audio 3 Select an instrument plug-in from the first Insert
with Auxiliary Input Tracks selector on the Instrument track (such as
Xpand2).
Use Auxiliary Input tracks to monitor and mix au-
dio from external sources, such as MIDI instru- 4 The virtual MIDI node (port) for the instrument
ments, tape, or microphone inputs, in a Pro Tools plug-in should be automatically selected for the
mix. Instrument track’s MIDI Output. If not, select
the MIDI channel and corresponding port for
To use an Auxiliary Input track to monitor and mix the instrument plug-in from the MIDI Output
external audio sources: selector.
1 Connect the audio outputs of your audio source
5 Assign the track audio output to the appropriate
(such as a MIDI synthesizer or tape output) to
path or paths for monitoring.
available inputs on your Pro Tools audio inter-
face. 6 Adjust the Instrument track fader to mix the au-
dio input.
2 If necessary, configure the I/O Setup dialog for
the input paths you plan to use (see Chapter 7, 7 If you are controlling the Instrument plug-in
“I/O Setup.”) from the Instrument track, you can also mix
using the MIDI Volume and Pan controls in the
3 Use an existing or create a new Auxiliary Input
Instrument View.
track with a channel format that corresponds to
the channel format of your audio source (mono, For information on configuring audio and
stereo, or multichannel). MIDI signal routing for controlling and mon-
4 Set the input of the Auxiliary Input track to the itoring ReWire client applications, see the
corresponding input path. Audio Plug-Ins Guide.
1 Assign each track’s main output to your main Send to external device
mix outputs.
Controls level of send
to external device
2 Assign a send (mono or stereo) and set the send
destinations on the source tracks to the output
path connected to the external device. Config-
ure the sends for pre- or post-fader, as needed.
Input set to device’s return
3 Choose Track > New. Output set to main mix outs
System Delay to monitor whether or not you are Delay Compensation View
close to exceeding the Delay Compensation limit.
Delay Compensation view only shows the in-
sert delay for each track. To view the com-
plete system delay, including mixer delays,
check the System Delay in the Session Setup
window (see “System Delay” on page 944).
The display color indicates reported track delay, as • Enter a positive number (with or without the “+”
follows: modifier) for a positive delay (later in time) or
negative number (with the “–” modifier) for a
Green Indicates that track delay reporting is en- negative delay (earlier in time).
abled and the track does not exceed the available
• Drag in the User Offset field to scroll to a new
amount of Delay Compensation.
value. For finer resolution, Control-drag (Win-
Orange Indicates that this is the track reporting the dows) or Command-drag (Mac).
longest plug-in and hardware insert delay in the • Press the Up and Down Arrow keys to increase
session. or decrease the numerical values.
Red Indicates that the amount of plug-in and hard- 3 Press Enter.
ware insert delay on the track exceeds the available
amount of Delay Compensation (see “Delay that To bypass the user delay:
Exceeds the Compensation Limit” on page 946). Command-Control-click (Mac) or Start-Con-
Gray Track delay report is bypassed. trol-click (Windows) the User Offset field. The
user-defined delay appears grayed out and does
not apply to the track.
Gray Indicates that Delay Compensation for the To compensate for delay that exceeds the
track is bypassed and no delay is applied to the compensation limit:
track. 1 Bypass the reported delay for the track by doing
one of the following:
Delay Compensation for Side- • Command-Control-click (Mac) or Control-
Chains Start-click (Windows) the Delay indicator.
(HDX Systems Only)
• Right-click the Delay indicator and select Dis-
HDX systems let you automatically compensate able Plug-In Delay.
for signal delays in side-chain processing. In some
cases, you may want to disable automatic delay The track information is grayed out once it is by-
compensation for side-chains (such as for sessions passed.
created on previous versions of Pro Tools where 2 Manually nudge any audio data on the track ear-
you have manually compensated for side-chain de- lier by the amount of delay reported in the
lays). track’s Delay indicator.
To enable (or disable) automatic delay Use the Time Adjuster plug-ins to manually
compensation for side-chains:
offset tracks in real-time. For more informa-
1 Choose Setup > Preferences. tion, see the Audio Plug-ins Guide.
2 Click the Operation tab.
3 Select (or deselect) the Compensate Side
Chains option.
4 Click OK.
When an audio track is armed for recording (re- Command-Control-click (Mac) or Control-
cord-enabled), TrackInput-enabled, Destructive- Start-click (Windows) the Track Compensation
Punch-enabled, or punched in, the track’s Delay indicator. Delay Compensations is applied to
Compensation is automatically suspended (and the the track and the Track Compensation indicator
Track Compensation indicator displays 0). This re- displays in blue.
duces monitoring latency on those track outputs.
Command-Control-Shift-click (Mac) or Con-
When the track is played back (with both record-
trol-Start-Shift-click (Windows) the Track
enable and TrackInput disabled) it is correctly
Compensation indicator to override Low La-
time-aligned with the other delay-compensated
tency Monitoring for all selected tracks.
tracks.
Tracks that are not record-enabled still apply De- Command-Option-Control-click (Mac) or
lay Compensation. Pro Tools automatically com- Control-Alt-Start-click (Windows) the Track
pensates for any timing discrepancies between the Compensation indicator to override Low La-
recorded material and the delay-compensated mix. tency Monitoring for all tracks.
When any Instrument or MIDI track is record To keep audio time-aligned when recording using
enabled, all Instrument and Auxiliary Input a MIDI controlled plug-in on an audio track:
tracks with Instrument plug-in inserts that Start-Control-click (Windows) or Command-
are configured to receive MIDI in Pro Tools Control-click (Mac) the Track Compensation
are set to low-latency mode. In this case, the indicator for the audio track to apply Delay
Delay Compensation indicators for those Compensation.
tracks display 0.
To keep audio time-aligned when recording using
Low-Latency Recording with a MIDI controlled plug-in on an Auxiliary Input:
Virtual MIDI Instruments and Start-Control-click (Windows) or Command-
Delay Compensation
1
Control-click (Mac) the Track Compensation
When a MIDI or Instrument track that is routing indicator for the Auxiliary Input to bypass De-
MIDI data to an instrument plug-in is record-en- lay Compensation.
abled, Pro Tools automatically suspends Delay
2 Enter the total system delay into the User Offset
Compensation through the main outputs of the au-
field.
dio track, Auxiliary Input, or Instrument track on
which the instrument plug-in is inserted. This al-
lows for latency-free monitoring of the instrument Configuring Cue Mixes with
plug-in during recording. Delay Compensation
If you already have a Pro Tools session that uses
Delay Compensation for Instrument plug-ins
various plug-in inserts and mixer routing, you will
works only when all MIDI and audio connec-
most likely want to have Delay Compensation en-
tions take place inside Pro Tools. While
abled. However, if you want to record overdubs
Pro Tools does not suspend Delay Compensa-
with a recording artist, “the talent,” you will need
tion when you are using ReWire to connect
to configure monitoring mixes (headphone or
software synthesizers and samplers in other
“cue” mixes).
ReWire client applications (such as Reason),
Pro Tools cannot account for any latency Use sends to bus cue mixes to audio output paths
within the ReWire client itself. for headphone monitoring by the talent. In addition
to the main mix, which will monitor in the control
MIDI and Audio Processing Plug-Ins
room, route track sends to one or more additional
Some audio processing plug-ins (such as Bruno audio output paths tracks for cue mix monitoring.
and Reso) and many instrument plug-ins let you Using sends lets you configure different mixes
process audio while allowing MIDI data to control
processing parameters. When you record enable a
MIDI or Instrument track that is controlling an au-
3 Enable the FMP (Follow Main Pan) button on To set an insert delay offset:
all of the sends so that the cue mix has the same
1 Choose Setup > I/O.
panning as the main mix.
2 Click the H/W Insert Delay tab.
4 Set all of the sends to unity and to post-fader.
This lets you use the same mix for the talent, but 3 Type a value, in milliseconds, in the field corre-
also lets you boost (or attenuate) the level of the sponding with the input where the hardware in-
talent’s signal in the cue mix by adjusting the sert is connected.
send level as needed.
Insert delay offsets only have an effect when
5 Choose Track > New. the I/O is used for hardware inserts.
6 Specify the track type (Master Fader) and for-
mat (stereo), then click Create. Determining Your Hardware’s
Insert Delay
7 From the Master Fader track’s Output Path se-
lector, select output paths 3 and 4 for monitor- Refer to the documentation for your external hard-
ing the mix. ware to see if it identifies the hardware
latency, or use the following procedure in
8 Adjust the Master Fader track’s fader to control Pro Tools to determine the latency for hardware
the overall volume for the cue mix. inserts.
With Delay Compensation enabled, it is rec- To determine your hardware’s insert delay:
ommended that you do not use any inserts on
any Auxiliary Input or Master Fader tracks 1 Ensure that Automatic Delay Compensation is
you may be using to control the cue mix vol- enabled (Options > Delay Compensation).
ume. Also, you should avoid using inserts on 2 Change your session’s Main Time Scale to
any record tracks. (Some low latency inserts Min:Sec.
may be acceptable depending on the talent’s
preference.) 3 Create two tracks.
4 Place a short tone (or other sound with a defini-
9 Repeat the preceding steps for additional cue
tive beginning) on track 1.
mixes on additional outputs on your audio inter-
face as necessary. 5 Insert the HW insert on track 1.
Avid offers several Ethernet-based control surface To enable EUCON control in Pro Tools:
options for Pro Tools.
1 Choose Setup > Peripherals.
D-Control and D-Command (Pro Tools HD 2 Select the Ethernet Controllers tab.
Only)
3 Select the EUCON option.
D-Control and D-Command tactile control sur-
faces are part of ICON, a flexible, integrated sys- 4 Click OK.
tem that extends the functionality of Pro Tools. When the EUCON option is selected, Pro Tools is
enabled for control by one or more EUCON-com-
C|24
patible controllers.
C|24 is a dedicated control surface that provides
access to nearly all Pro Tools recording, mixing, For more information about using Pro Tools
editing, signal routing, plug-in control, and auto- with EUCON, see the Pro Tools EUCON
mation features. Guide.
EUCON
Using a MIDI Control Surface
Pro Tools supports Avid control surfaces using with Pro Tools
EUCON (Extended User Control) control (see the
Pro Tools EUCON Guide). EUCON is an innova- MIDI Control Surfaces add hands-on control to
tive high-speed Ethernet protocol developed by many Pro Tools functions, allowing you to adjust
Avid to allow hardware control surfaces to directly faders and knobs, activate transport controls, or
communicate with software applications (such as edit plug-in parameters.
Pro Tools).
Command|8
To enable an Ethernet control surface in Pro Tools: For complete instructions on connecting
1 Choose Setup > Peripherals and click the Ether- and configuring Command|8, see the
net Controllers tab. Command|8 Guide.
3 If your Ethernet control surface consists of Pro Tools supports some MIDI control surfaces
more than one unit, select the units in numerical that use HUI controller personalities.
order as you want them arranged left to right.
4 Click OK.
A Pro Tools insert routes the signal from the track Inserts on audio tracks and Auxiliary Inputs and
to an effect of your choice and automatically re- Instrument tracks are pre-fader. You can cause
turns it to the same track. Inserts do not alter the clipping if you boost their gain to extremes, espe-
original audio source files, but process audio in cially on tracks recorded at high amplitude. Watch
real time, during playback. You can permanently on-screen metering for indication of clipping. (In-
apply real-time effects to tracks by recording or serts on Master Faders are post-fader.)
bouncing the effect to disk (see Chapter 46, “Mix-
down” for more information).
Insert selector
Types of Inserts
An insert can be either a software DSP plug-in or a
Insert button hardware insert.
Plug-In Inserts
Plug-In inserts are software inserts that process au-
Insert button and selector on a track dio material on a track in real time. For example,
the EQ, compressor, and delay plug-ins supplied
Pro Tools provides up to ten unity-gain inserts on
with your Pro Tools system can be used as real-
each audio, Auxiliary Input, Master Fader, and In-
time plug-in inserts.
strument track. Audio, Auxiliary Input, and Instru-
ment track inserts are pre-fader, and Master Faders For more information about the plug-ins
inserts are post-fader. included with your Pro Tools system, see the
Audio Plug-Ins Guide.
When more than one plug-in or hardware insert is
used on a track, they are processed in series. Each Additional real-time plug-ins are available from
effect is added to that of any previous inserts Avid and from many third-party developers.
(flowing from top to bottom in the Mix window In-
serts View, and left to right in the Edit window In- For information about optional plug-ins,
serts View). visit www.avid.com.
HDX Systems
DSP and Native plug-ins can be used on audio, Sends (F–J) View
Auxiliary Input, Master Fader, and Instrument
tracks.
I/O View
With HDX systems, Native plug-ins may
use additional voices and introduce extra inserts and Sends in the Mix window
latency based on the HW Buffer Size. See
“Inserting Native and DSP Plug-Ins on Select Inserts A–E or Inserts F–J from the Edit
Tracks” on page 960. Window or Mix Window View selector.
The current controller focus, if any, is indicated To make an insert inactive, do one of the following:
with a color outline around its name:
Control-Start-click (Windows) or Command-
Control-click (Mac) the Insert button.
Right-click the Insert button and select Make In-
active.
Control-Start-Alt-Shift-click (Windows) or
Command-Control-Option-Shift-click (Mac)
an Insert button in the position you want to tog-
gle.
958 Pro Tools Reference Guide
Inactive Plug-In Inserts
Inserting Plug-Ins on Tracks
Inactive plug-in inserts retain all associated auto-
mation playlists. In addition, any edits made in the To use a real-time plug-in, insert it on a track.
session affect the plug-in automation playlists.
Plug-Ins cannot be inserted or removed
You cannot record automation or
during recording.
adjust the controls for an inactive plug-in.
To insert a plug-in on a track:
Inactive Active
(italicized) (plain text) 1 Make sure the Inserts (A–E or F–J) View is
shown in the Mix or Edit window.
2 Click the Insert selector on the track and select
the plug-in that you want to use. (See “Plug-In
Formats” on page 957 for related information.)
• Specific plug-ins located in the plug-in subfold- The Effects subfolder organizes special effects,
ers (such as EQ III in the EQ subfolder) are indi- multi-effect processors, and other plug-ins. All
cated in green text. plug-ins that specify their plug-in category as an
“Effects” type will be displayed within the Effects
Control surfaces with single-color displays (such subfolder.
as Command|8) do not indicate plug-in view
choices. They display contents of a plug-in folder If no plug-ins within a certain category are
as a single list of plug-ins. installed on your system, the subfolder
named for that category will not appear in
“Organize Plug-In Menus By” the menu.
Setting
Manufacturer Organizes plug-ins by their manu-
Flat List Organizes plug-ins in a single list, in al- facturer, with individual plug-ins listed in the man-
phabetical order. ufacturer submenus. Plug-Ins that do not have a
Manufacturer defined will appear in the “Other”
Category Organizes plug-ins by process category
manufacturer folder.
(such as EQ, Dynamics, and Delay), with individ-
ual plug-ins listed in the category submenus. Plug- If no plug-ins by a certain manufacturer are
Ins that do not fit into a standard category (such as installed on your system, the subfolder
the Signal Generator), or third-party plug-ins that named for that manufacturer will not
have not had a category designated by their devel- appear in the menu.
opers, appear in the Other category. Plug-Ins can
appear in more than one category.
Default plug-in display in the Insert selector menu When selecting the plug-in favorite to change, you
can select the plug-in from the list of favorites at
the top of the plug-in menu, or in its plug-in cate-
gory (where the plug-in appears in bold).
To move an insert:
Moving a plug-in
To duplicate an insert:
Plug-In Selector Lets you select any real-time MIDI Node Display indicator (Transfuser shown)
plug-in installed in the Plug-Ins folder (that is cre-
ated when you install Pro Tools). Preset Controls in the Plug-In Window
Key Input Selector Lets you select audio on a par- Plug-In Settings menu
ticular input or bus and route it to trigger the plug-
in. This selector only appears on plug-ins that fea-
ture side-chain processing. Key inputs are mono- Plug-In Librarian menu
Compare button
phonic.
Settings Select
Next Setting
Previous Setting
Preset controls in the plug-in window
Key Input selector (Dyn III Compressor/Limiter shown) Plug-In Settings Menu Lets you copy, paste, save,
and import plug-in settings.
You will lose the current settings if they are When a supported control surface is declared in
not saved before you use the Next and Pre- Pro Tools, Plug-In Map controls appear in the
vious Setting buttons. Always save your plug-in window.
plug-in settings as a preset using the Plug-
In Settings menu. Map Options menu
lected plug-in. From this list, you can audition and Learn button
Editing Plug-In Parameters 2 Change the value by doing one of the following.
Using a Mouse • To increase a value, press the Up Arrow on your
You can adjust rotary controls by dragging hori- keyboard.
zontally or vertically. Parameter values increase as • To decrease a value, press the Down Arrow on
you drag upward or to the right, and decrease as your keyboard.
you drag downward or to the left.
• Type the value.
Keyboard Shortcuts
In fields that support values in kilohertz, typ-
For finer adjustments, Control-drag (Windows) ing “k” after a number value will multiply the
or Command-drag (Mac) the control. value by 1,000. For example, type “8k” to en-
ter a value of 8,000.
To return a control to its default value,
Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac) the
control.
Side-Chain Input
The side-chain input is the split-off signal used by
a plug-in's detector to trigger dynamics processing,
and is generally drawn internally from the input Selecting a Key Input
signal. However, some plug-ins let you switch be-
tween internal and external side-chain processing. 2 Click the External Key to activate external side-
chain processing.
With external side-chain processing, a plug-in's
3 Press the Spacebar to begin playback. The plug-
detector is triggered by an external signal (such as
in uses the input or bus that you chose as a key
a separate reference track or audio source) known
input to trigger its effect.
as the key input.
Set As User Default Defines the current preset as To select a destination folder:
the User Default for the selected plug-in. From the Plug-In Settings menu, choose
Settings Preferences > Save Plug-In Settings
Settings Preferences To, and select Session Folder or Root Settings
Folder.
The Settings Preferences submenu provides com-
mands for configuring preferences for saving and If you selected Root Settings Folder, Pro Tools
importing presets. They include: saves to the default Root Plug-In Settings folder
unless you have specified a different location for
Set Plug-In Default To Sets the default preset to ei-
the Root Settings folder.
ther Factory Default (the standard default setting
for that plug-in) or User Default (your custom set- To select a different Root Settings folder:
ting).
1 From the Plug-In Settings menu, choose Set-
Save Plug-In Settings To Selects the folder where tings Preferences > Set Root Settings Folder.
presets (plug-in settings files) are saved. If you se-
2 Select the folder you want to use as your Root
lect Session Folder, the settings are saved in a
folder and click Select.
folder named “Plug-In Settings” within the current
Session folder. If you select Root Settings Folder,
the settings are saved in the folder you specified Creating Subfolders for Settings
with the Set Root Settings Folder command. You To make it easier to find specific types of settings,
can change the location of the Root Settings Folder you can subdivide settings files by creating sub-
in the Operation Preferences (see “User Library folders for them.
Section” on page 104).
To create a settings subfolder:
To save plug-in settings to any location other
than the default Plug-In Settings folder, you 1 From the Plug-In Settings menu, choose Save
must first create a folder named “Plug-In Settings.
Settings” in the new location and then save to 2 Click the New Folder button and type a name for
that folder. the subfolder.
3 Name the preset and click Save. The plug-in
settings file is saved within the subfolder.
Use the Plug-In Settings menu to manage plug-in 1 Open the destination plug-in.
presets. 2 Choose Paste Settings from the Plug-In Set-
tings menu.
Unlinked multi-mono plug-ins have specific
rules for settings. See “Linking and Unlink- Press Control+Shift+V (Windows) or
ing Controls on Multi-Mono Plug-Ins” on Command+Shift+V (Mac) to paste plug-
page 981. in settings.
To save a preset: To create a custom User Default preset:
1 Choose Save Settings from the Plug-In Settings 1 Create and save a plug-in settings file.
menu.
2 Select Set As User Default from the Plug-In Set-
2 Type a name and click OK. The setting appears tings menu.
in the Plug-In Librarian menu.
To make a plug-in default to your custom preset:
Press Control+Shift+S (Windows) or
Command+Shift+S (Mac) to save plug-in From the Plug-In Settings menu, select Settings
settings. Preferences > Set Plug-In Default To > User
Setting.
To load a plug-in preset:
Choose the name of the preset from the Plug-In Changing Presets with the Next
Librarian menu. (+) and Previous (–) Setting
Buttons
To import a preset:
These buttons let you select the next or previous
1 Choose Import Settings from the Plug-In Set- preset in the Plug-In Librarian menu.
tings menu.
To change plug-in presets using the +/– buttons:
2 Locate the settings file you want to import and
click Open. Pro Tools loads the setting and cop- Click the Plus (+) or Minus (–) buttons to select
ies it to the root destination folder. the next or previous preset. The next (or previ-
ous) preset is enabled, and the Plug-In Librarian
To copy plug-in settings: menu changes to show the name of the new pre-
set.
Choose Copy Settings from the Plug-In Settings
menu. You will lose the current plug-in settings if
they are not saved before you use the Next
Press Control+Shift+C (Windows) or
and Previous Setting buttons. Always save
Command+Shift+C (Mac) to copy plug-in
your plug-in settings to the selected Root Set-
settings.
tings folder.
3 Click Done.
Click the Learn button in the plug-in window. To change parameter mapping in a plug-in map:
To create a custom map of plug-in parameters: 1 Open the plug-in whose custom map you want
to change.
1 Open the plug-in whose mapping you want to
customize. 2 Choose the map you want to change from the
Map Preset pop-up menu.
2 Put the plug-in into Learn mode. The plug-in is
focused on the control surface, but with a blank 3 Put the plug-in into Learn mode. The plug-in is
page of controls, ready for mapping. focused on the control surface.
3 In the plug-in window, click the plug-in param- 4 Do the following for each parameter mapping
eter you want to map. The parameter name ap- you want to remove:
pears in the Parameter menu. • Make sure the Parameter menu displays No Con-
4 On the control surface, do one of the following: trol.
• Turn the encoder or press the channel Select • On the control surface, page to the encoder or
switch where you want to map the parameter. switch where you want to remove the mapping,
and turn the encoder or press the switch.
• If the control surface is in Flip mode, move the
fader or press the channel Select switch where 5 Take the plug-in out of Learn mode.
you want to map the parameter.
5 Repeat steps 3-4 for each parameter you want to
map.
You can also export plug-in maps for use on other 1 Open the plug-in whose map you want to delete.
Pro Tools systems with a similar control surface 2 Choose the map you want to delete from the
(see “Exporting and Importing Plug-In Maps” on Map Presets pop-up menu.
page 979.
3 From the Map Options pop-up menu, choose
To save a copy of a custom plug-in map: Delete Current Map.
1 Open the plug-in whose map you want to copy. 4 Click Delete.
2 Choose the map you want to copy from the Map
To delete all plug-in maps from the system:
Presets pop-up menu.
1 Open any plug-in in the session.
3 From the Map Options pop-up menu, choose
Save Map As. 2 From the Map Options pop-up menu, choose
Delete All Maps.
4 Enter a name for the plug-in map.
3 Click Delete.
5 Click OK. The new copy becomes the active
plug-in map.
Setting a Custom Plug-In Map as
To rename a custom plug-in map: the Default Map
1 Open the plug-in whose map you want to re- You can set a custom plug-in map as the default
name. map for a plug-in, instead of the Factory Default
map.
2 Choose the map you want to rename from the
Map Presets pop-up menu. When you set a custom plug-in map as the default,
it applies across the entire session. All instances of
3 From the Map Options pop-up menu, choose
that plug-in that were set to the Factory Default
Rename Map.
map, or to another custom default map, change to
4 Enter a new name for the plug-in map. the new default.
When you export a plug-in map, the default To hide the Factory Default pages of a plug-in map:
map setting for that plug-in is also exported.
1 Open the plug-in whose default plug-in map
When that map is imported, the default setting
pages you want to hide.
is also updated, and all instances of the plug-
in change to the new default. 2 From the Map Options pop-up menu, choose
Hide Factory Default Pages.
How Default Plug-In Map Settings are Stored
Default map settings are stored as global (system- Exporting and Importing Plug-In
wide) Pro Tools preferences, so they are applied to Maps
all sessions that you subsequently open or create Plug-In maps can be exported as .pim files for use
on that system. on other Pro Tools systems.
If you plan to work with the same plug-in When exporting plug-in maps, you can choose to
mapping on multiple sessions, back up your save individual map files for each plug-in, or a sin-
settings by exporting all plug-in maps on a gle map file containing all the plug-in maps for the
regular basis and saving the .pim file with system.
your sessions.
On D-Control and D-Command systems,
To set a custom plug-in map as the default plug-in
when you export all plug-in maps, you are
map:
also exporting Custom Fader Plug-In map-
1 Open the plug-in whose default plug-in map ping to the same file. For more information,
you want to change. see the D-Control Guide or D-Command
2 Choose the map you want to use as the new Guide.
default from the Map Presets pop-up menu. To export an individual plug-in map:
3 From the Map Options pop-up menu, choose 1 Open the plug-in whose map you want to ex-
Set As Default. port.
2 Choose the map you want to export from the
Hiding Default Plug-In Map Map Presets pop-up menu.
Pages
3 From the Map Options pop-up menu, choose
When you create a custom plug-in map, its param-
Export Current Plug-In Map.
eters are arranged in pages that correspond to the
groups of controls that appear on a control surface. 4 Choose a location for the map file.
When you page through the controls for a plug-in 5 Click Save.
on a control surface, the pages for custom plug-in
maps appear first, and the pages for the Factory
Default map appear after the custom pages.
Press Shift+E to bypass (or un-bypass) all EQ To access controls for a specific channel:
plug-ins on selected tracks. Select the channel from the Channel selector.
Press Shift+C to bypass (or un-bypass) all Dy-
namics plug-ins on selected tracks. To link the controls of specific channels:
1 Deselect the Master Link button if it is not al-
Press Shift+V to bypass (or un-bypass) all Re-
ready deselected.
verb plug-ins on selected tracks.
2 Click the Link Enable buttons for the channels
Press Shift+D to bypass (or un-bypass) all De-
whose controls you want to link.
lay plug-ins on selected tracks.
Press Shift+W to bypass (or un-bypass) all
Connecting Effects Units 5 Optionally, configure the I/O Setup dialog with
Digitally new path names for effects routing.
If you want to use the digital inputs and outputs on If you set the Optical Format to S/PDIF,
your Pro Tools system as effects sends and returns Pro Tools will watch the Optical port for
to a digital effects device, Pro Tools should be the any audio input, and ignore any audio in-
clock master in most cases. Set your digital effects put on the S/PDIF RCA jacks.
device to accept an external digital clock so that it
synchronizes to Pro Tools. Using External Clock Sources
(for Recording and Monitoring)
To set up a digital send to an external device for
HDX and HD Native systems: When recording or monitoring, Pro Tools can syn-
1 Choose Setup > Hardware chronize to an external clock source. Options for
external clock vary according to the type of
2 Select the audio interface from the Peripherals Pro Tools system you are using.
list (HD I/O, HD MADI, or HD OMNI).
3 Select an audio format and clock format, and set
the appropriate channel pair to Digital.
On MIDI tracks and Instrument tracks, all control- When you copy or cut audio data from a track
ler automation data except for MIDI Mute data, or while it is in Waveform view, the underlying auto-
audio mute (Instrument tracks only), is stored in mation data is cut or copied with it.
the MIDI clip that contains it. Each edit playlist on If you paste audio data from other locations or
the track is separate, and represents a distinct per- tracks into an edit playlist, you may change the un-
formance, complete with controller automation. derlying automation data on the track.
MIDI Mute data is independent of the When you trim clips using Edit > Trim, the un-
MIDI data in a MIDI clip. This lets you derlying automation data remains unchanged.
mute playback of individual MIDI or
Instrument tracks in Pro Tools without For more information, see “Editing
altering the controller data. Automation” on page 1013.
Automation can be switched from Off to another In Touch mode, certain control surfaces start writ-
Automation mode during playback or record. ing automation as soon as you touch them. These
include touch-sensitive fader controllers, such as
D-Control, D-Command, C|24, 003, or Com-
Read Mode mand|8.
Read mode plays any automation that was previ-
ously written for a track. With other control surfaces in Touch mode, writ-
ing of automation does not begin until the fader
hits the pass-through point, or the previously auto-
Write Mode mated position. Once you reach the pass-through
Write mode writes automation from the time play- point with the fader, or a non-touch sensitive rotary
back starts to the time it stops, erasing any previ- control, writing of automation begins and contin-
ously written automation for the duration of the au- ues until you stop moving the fader.
tomation pass.
Latch mode works in the same way as Touch 1 Choose Window > Automation.
mode, writing automation only if you touch or 2 Click the AutoJoin button.
move a control. However, unlike Touch, writing of
automation continues until you stop playback or
“punch out” of the automation pass by changing
the Automation mode to Read or Touch.
AutoJoin with Latch Mode AutoJoin Enable button in the Automation window
(Pro Tools HD Only)
Pro Tools provides two different methods to See your control surface guide for details on
resume writing automation on controls that were using Join and AutoJoin with a control surface.
active at the point where the transport stopped:
To use Join or AutoJoin to resume writing Pro Tools HD can adjust (or trim) existing track
on controls that were writing when the volume and send level automation data in real
transport stopped, restart the transport be- time. Pan, mute and plug-in automation cannot be
fore the AutoJoin indicator. trimmed in this manner. Trim mode works in com-
bination with the other Automation modes (Read,
Touch, Latch, Touch/Latch, and Write) and is use-
ful when you want to preserve all of your volume
automation moves, but need to make levels a bit
louder or softer to balance a mix. For more infor-
mation, see “Trim Automation Modes” on
page 991.
Touch/Latch Trim
Viewing Automation
Pro Tools creates a separate playlist in the Edit
window for each type of automation in a track, in-
cluding a playlist for each type of Trim automa-
tion. This data can be viewed and edited in the
same way as audio and MIDI data. You can either
change Track Views to show the automation you
want, or you can reveal an Automation lane under
the track regardless of its Track View.
Show/Hide
Lanes button
Remove Lane
Add Lane
Automation Type
selector
Displaying a standard automation playlist
Revealing an Automation lane
To add a lane:
Displaying Trim automation playlists
Click the Add Lane button.
To remove lanes:
The composite playlist is shown in both the main Triangular AutoMatch indicator on a channel strip
automation playlist and the Trim automation play-
list.
Writing Automation
To display the composite playlist:
You can write automation for all automatable con-
Select View > Automation > Composite Playlist. trols by moving those controls during playback or
recording.
Volume
Trim
data Select the Enable Automation in Record op-
tion in the Operation Preferences to write au-
tomation while recording.
Composite
playlist
To write automation on tracks:
1 Choose Window > Automation.
Volume 2 Make sure the automation type is write-
data enabled.
Display of Trim automation and the composite playlist
in a main Volume playlist
Copy To Send dialog Automation Enable button for accessing the Plug-In
Automation dialog
3 In the Copy to Send dialog, do any of the fol-
lowing: • Control-Alt-Start-click (Windows) or
Command-Option-Control-click the Track View
• Select Current Value to copy the current settings selector in the Edit window.
of the corresponding controls.
3 In the plug-in automation dialog, choose the
• Select Automation to copy the entire automation
controls to automate and click Add. If there are
playlist for the corresponding controls.
multiple plug-ins on the same track, you can se-
4 Select the controls you want to copy. lect from among them by clicking their buttons
in the Inserts section of this dialog.
5 Select the sends to which to copy the automa-
tion, and click OK.
To automate a plug-in:
1 In the Plug-In Automation Enable window,
make sure plug-in automation is enabled for the
controls you want to automate.
2 In the Mix or Edit window, for each track con-
Enabling plug-in automation for individual parameters
taining plug-ins you want to automate, click the
Automation Mode selector and set the Automa-
Enabling Automation for All
tion mode. For the initial automation pass, se- Plug-In Parameters
lect Write.
To enable all plug-in parameters:
3 Start playback to begin writing automation, and
move the controls you want to automate. 1 Make sure the plug-in window is open for the
plug-in you want to automate.
4 When you have finished, stop playback.
2 Command+Option+Control-click (Mac) or
Control+Alt+Start-click (Windows) on the
Auto button at the top of the plug-in window.
Touch,
Automation
Off Read Latch,
Mode:
Write AutoMatch button in the Automation window
No Control none Green Red
Surface
All currently writing controls stop writing automa- On ICON worksurfaces, you can invoke Auto-
tion and return to any previously written values ac- Match on individual controls or control types on
cording to the AutoMatch Time setting in the Mix- single channels.
ing preferences.
To AutoMatch all controls of a type on a channel:
1 Press the switch in the Channel Strip Mode con- 1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click Mixing.
trols to display the Pan controls or the top level
2 Under Automation, select Allow Latch Prime in
of Inserts or Sends for the channel.
Stop.
2 Hold Control (Windows) or Command (Mac)
3 Click OK to close the Preferences window.
and press the Rotary Encoder Select switch for
the control you want to AutoMatch: 4 In the Automation window, make sure the con-
• For Sends, the Send level, pan, and mute will trols you want to automate are write-enabled.
AutoMatch. 5 Click the Automation Mode selector on the
• For Inserts, all automated controls will track where you want to write automation and
AutoMatch. do one of the following:
• For Pan, all pan sliders on the channel will • Choose Latch mode to allow priming of all auto-
AutoMatch. mation-enabled controls on the track.
• Choose Touch/Latch mode to leave the main
To AutoMatch all controls for a plug-in displayed Volume fader in Touch mode and allow priming
in the Dynamics or EQ section:
of all other automation-enabled controls.
Hold Control (Windows) or Command (Mac)
6 While the transport is stopped, touch or move
and press the Auto switch in the Dyn or EQ sec-
the controls you want to start writing at the be-
tion of the console.
ginning of the automation pass. When at least
one control on a track is primed, the Automa-
tion Mode selector displays in red.
Priming Controls for Writing
Automation in Latch Mode
(Pro Tools HD Only)
8 Stop playback to finish the automation pass. All Alt-Control-click (Windows) or Option-Com-
tracks are taken out of their Latch Prime state. mand-click (Mac) the Automation Mode selec-
tor on a track.
You can use the Write to Punch command at
Click the AutoMatch button in the Automation
the end of your automation pass to write the
window.
current value back to the start of the pass.
Not Enabled
Automation data takes the form of a line graph 2 Press Control+Delete (Mac) or Start+Back-
with editable breakpoints. The easiest way to re- space (Windows).
move automation in a track or selection is to man-
All automation data within the selection is re-
ually delete breakpoints from the automation play-
moved for all automation playlists on that track,
list.
regardless of whether automation is write-enabled
Removing data in this manner is different from us- for those controls.
ing the Cut command, which creates anchor break-
points at the boundaries of the remaining data. For
details, see “Cutting, Copying, and Pasting Auto-
mation” on page 1017.
Drag the breakpoint down to mute a section. Drag Click with the Pencil tool or any Grabber tool
a breakpoint up to unmute the section. Drag a on the line graph.
breakpoint to the left or right to adjust the timing of
To edit a single breakpoint:
the mute.
Click an existing point on the line graph with
any Grabber tool and drag it to a new position.
Automation for certain controls (such as MIDI Use the Selector tool to select a range in the au-
controller values or plug-in settings) appears as a tomation playlist that contains the breakpoints,
stepped pattern on the breakpoint line. Drag a and do one of the following:
breakpoint up or down to a different step to change • To move the breakpoints earlier or later in the
to a new control value. Drag a breakpoint to the left track, press the Plus key (+) to nudge them later
or right to adjust the timing of the stepped control (to the right) or the Minus key (–) to nudge them
change. earlier (to the left). The breakpoints move by the
current Nudge value.
After deleting the automation data To edit all automation types on an Auxiliary Input
or Master Fader track, do one of the following:
In addition, if cut or copied data is pasted else-
where in a track, breakpoints are created at the end Make an Edit selection that includes at least one
points of the pasted data to preserve its “neighbor- audio or MIDI track that is displayed in its main
ing” (incoming and outgoing) automation value format.
and slope, as shown in the following figure. Press Control while cutting or copying the auto-
mation data.
If cut or copied data contains a type of automa- Pan Automation Cuts only pan automation or
tion not currently on the target track, Pro Tools MIDI pan data whether it is shown or not.
prompts you before allowing you to paste the data.
Plug-In Automation Cuts only the plug-in automa-
Cut or copied automation data for plug-ins or tion that is shown.
sends that do not exist on the target track is ignored
when pasted.
The Paste Special commands let you paste auto- Pan Automation Clears only pan automation or
mation data into another clip (without affecting as- MIDI pan whether it is shown or not.
sociated audio or MIDI notes) in the following
Plug-In Automation Clears only the plug-in auto-
ways:
mation that is shown.
Merge Lets you add the pasted data to any existing
automation data of the same type in the destination Special Paste Function for
selection. This can be useful for consolidating Automation Data
MIDI data from several tracks into a single MIDI
Normally, when you copy and paste automation
track. For example, you like the pitch bend on the
data, it is pasted in an automation playlist of the ex-
synth trombones and want to apply it to the synth
act same type (for example, Left Pan data is pasted
guitar.
into the Left Pan playlist).
Repeat to Fill Selection Pastes multiple iterations
However, there may be times when you want to
of the automation data to the entire selection range.
paste from one data type to another (for example,
If you select an area that is not an exact multiple of
Left Pan data into the Right Pan playlist).
the copied clip size, the remaining selection area is
filled with a trimmed version of the original selec- The Special Paste command lets you copy one
tion. This lets you easily create drum loops and data type to another.
other repetitive effects. Before the data is pasted,
Pro Tools prompts you to specify a crossfade to If you want to paste automation or MIDI controller
smooth transitions between clips. data only (without its associated audio or MIDI
notes), use the Paste Special command.
Pro Tools lets you convert clip gain settings to 2 Click the Track View selector to choose the
track-based volume automation, as well as letting automation type you want to automate.
you convert track-based volume automation to clip 3 Drag with the Selector tool in the track to
gain settings. For more information, see “Convert- select the area you want to write the glide to.
ing Clip Gain and Track Volume Automation” on
page 573. 4 Change the automation parameter to the value
you want at the end of the selection. For exam-
ple, to glide automation volume to –Infinity,
Coalescing Volume Automation move the Volume fader to –Infinity.
and Clip Gain
(Pro Tools HD Only) 5 Choose Edit > Automation > Glide to Current.
Pro Tools lets you coalesce clip gain settings to You can also press Alt+Forward Slash (/)
track-based volume automation, as well as letting (Windows) or Option+Forward Slash (/)
you coalesce track-based volume automation to (Mac).
clip gain settings. For more information, see “Co-
alescing Clip Gain and Track Volume Automa-
tion” on page 573.
Latch Mode The control for the parameter must be To write current trim delta values to the start, end,
changed (touched) during the automation pass. or all of a track or selection:
Overwriting or Extending
Mute Automation
(Pro Tools HD Only)
To overwrite mute states on multiple tracks, 9 When you have finished the automation pass,
set all tracks to the same Automation mode. stop playback.
Creating Snapshot
Placing the cursor before the start of a mute event
Automation
6 Start playback. (Pro Tools HD Only)
7 Press Control (Windows) or Command (Mac) Pro Tools HD lets you write automation data val-
and the track Mute button before the start of the ues for multiple parameters in a single step. You
mute event you want to extend. can write snapshot automation in two ways:
To extend mute states on multiple tracks, To a Selection Automation data is written to the
press Alt+Control (Windows) or Option+ Timeline selection (as well as the Edit selection if
Command (Mac) and the Mute button on the linked). Anchor breakpoints are placed just before
track. and after the selection so that data outside the se-
lection is not affected.
8 Before the end of the second mute event, release
the key and the Mute button. To a Cursor Location Automation data is written
at the insertion point. After the insertion point, the
If you extend past the subsequent on or off automation ramps to the next breakpoint value, or
event, the entire event will be changed. if no breakpoints exist, remains at the newly writ-
ten value for the remainder of the session.
2 In the Edit window, click the Track View selec- This is because a playlist with no automation data
tor to show the automation you want to edit. contains only a single automation breakpoint that
corresponds to the current position of the control
3 Write a breakpoint in the playlist if none cur-
for the parameter. The position of the breakpoint is
rently exists, as follows:
updated whenever the parameter value is changed.
• Place the cursor in the playlist (or make an Edit
selection), then choose Control+Forward Slash If you do not want the Write Automation command
(/) (Windows) or Command+Forward Slash (/) to write the selected automation value to the entire
(Mac). playlist, you can:
• Select the Grabber tool and click anywhere in • Anchor the automation data by placing the cur-
the playlist. sor at the end of the session (or any other end
point) and choosing Write to Current.
4 Do one of the following:
• Click with any Grabber tool on each side of the
• Select an area in the track’s playlist (or within selection.
multiple tracks) where you want to apply the au-
tomation. This lets the Write Automation command write
only to the selected area.
• Place the cursor at an Edit insertion point.
5 Adjust the controls you want to automate. You
can also change a plug-in preset.
• To write the current settings for all automation 6 With the Selector tool, select the location where
parameters enabled in the Automation window, you want to apply the automation.
choose Write to All Enabled. 7 Enable the automation parameters previously
6 Click the Automation Mode selector and select suspended.
Read mode for the tracks you want to play back 8 Choose Edit > Automation and select one of the
with automation. following from the submenu:
• To write the current value to only the automation
parameter currently displayed in the Edit win-
dow, choose Write To Current.
• To write the current settings for all automation
parameters enabled in the Automation Enable
window, choose Write To All Enabled.
4 To isolate a control, touch or move an automa- To isolate all currently write-enabled controls:
tion-enabled control.You can isolate controls Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac) the
during playback or while the transport is Preview button.
stopped.
To isolate all write-enabled controls on all selected
tracks:
You can capture the current automation values of 1 Move to a location where you want to apply the
actively writing controls. captured automation states. You can do this
during playback or while the transport is
To capture automation values: stopped.
1 Make sure all tracks whose automation values 2 Click the Punch Capture button in the Automa-
you want to capture are in a write-enabled state tion window to apply the captured automation
(Write, Touch, Latch, Touch/Latch or Latch). states. The captured states are applied to all au-
tomation types that are currently enabled in the
2 Make sure the automation types you want to
Automation window.
capture are enabled in the Automation window
(Volume, Pan, Mute, Send level, Send pan,
Send mute, or Plug-In). Capturing Automation Values for
All Controls
3 Start playback. When you reach a location
where you want to capture the current automa- You can capture the state of all automatable con-
tion states, click the Capture button in the Auto- trols (except on tracks with their Automation
mation window. Mode set to Off) in a session, regardless of whether
they are currently writing automation.
The Punch Capture button in the Automation win-
dow lights to indicate a captured value is available To capture the automation values of all controls:
to punch. When you reach a location where you want to
capture the current automation states, Alt-click
Punching Captured Automation (Windows) or Option-click (Mac) the Capture
Values button.
After automation values are captured, they can be
To capture the automation values of all controls on
punched (written) to another location in the track. selected tracks only:
Any tracks set to Read or Off are unaffected.
When you reach a location where you want to
If you punch during playback, the automation capture the current automation states, Alt-Shift-
mode of any track set to Touch is set to Latch and click (Windows) or Option-Shift-click (Mac)
writing begins at the captured value. the Capture button.
If you punch while the transport is stopped, the
automation mode of any track set to Touch is set to
Latch and the control is primed at the captured
value.
To punch the automation values of all controls: To capture an automation value and use it to
preview:
When you reach a location where you want to
1 Make sure the track where you want to preview
apply the captured automation states, Alt-click
the value is enabled for automation (Touch,
(Windows) or Option-click (Mac) the Punch
Latch, Touch/Latch or their corresponding
Capture button. Any track set to Read or Touch
Trim modes).
are set to Latch. Any tracks set to Off are unaf-
fected. 2 Make sure the automation type you want to pre-
view is enabled in the Automation window
To punch the automation values of all controls on (Volume, Pan, Mute, Send level, Send pan,
selected tracks only:
Send mute, or Plug-In).
When you reach a location where you want to
3 Capture an automation value that you want to
apply the captured automation states, Alt-Shift-
preview in another location on a track. (See
click (Windows) or Option-Shift-click (Mac)
“Capturing Automation Values” on page 1038.)
the Punch Capture button. Any selected tracks
set to Read or Touch are set to Latch. Any se- 4 Go to a location where you want to preview the
lected tracks set to Off are unaffected. captured automation states, and click the Pre-
view button in the Automation window.
Capture and Trim Mode 5 Click the Punch Capture button.
The Capture and Punch Capture commands work The affected controls are isolated and updated to
with Trim automation in the same way as regular the captured values. The Punch Preview button in
automation. Pro Tools saves Trim status when the Automation window lights to indicate the pre-
capturing, so if you attempt to punch captured view value is available to punch.
Trim values while displaying a non-Trim automa-
tion playlist, Pro Tools will automatically apply 6 Start playback and adjust the isolated control to
the values to the corresponding Trim playlist. audition the changes.
7 When you are ready to punch the preview value
Punch Capture and “Write To” to the automation playlist, click the lit Punch
Commands Preview button.
After issuing a Punch Capture command, the af-
fected controls are writing automation (in Latch
mode), so any of the Write Automation To com-
mands can be used to extend the punched value in
the same manner as other automation.
VCA Master
This action cannot be undone. The slave track is removed from the VCA group,
and the composite Volume level and Mute state are
Removing a Slave Track from a coalesced to the track.
VCA Group
You can remove an individual slave track from a
VCA group, which commits the VCA automation
to that track, leaving the VCA Master and the other
slave tracks untouched. The coalesced slave track
plays back exactly as it did when it was in the VCA
group.
1 Select the slave track whose automation you 1 Select the VCA Master track whose automation
want to coalesce. you want to coalesce.
2 Choose Track > Duplicate. 2 Make an Edit selection in the VCA Master track
that includes the range of automation you want
3 In the Duplicate Track dialog, deselect Group
to coalesce.
Assignments.
3 Do one of the following:
4 Click OK.
• Hold Start (Windows) or Control (Mac) and
The composite Volume level and Mute state are choose Track > Coalesce VCA Master
coalesced to the duplicate track. The original slave Automation.
track is preserved, and the VCA group is un-
• Hold Start (Windows) or Control (Mac) and
changed.
Right-click the VCA Master track name and
choose Coalesce VCA Master Automation.
Selection or Track Length If you make a selection Track Output Right-Click menu in the Mix window
in a track, the bounced mix will be the length of the
selection. If there is no selection in any track, the
bounce will be the length of the longest audible
track in the session.
Bounced Files Are Delay-Compensated Send Right-Click menu in the Mix window
Pro Tools compensates for any bus and plug-in de- To Bounce an Output or Send path to disk:
lays when bouncing to disk. This means that if a 1 Right-click the Output Path selector or the Send
bounced file is imported back into a session, and Path selector for the desired track Output or
placed directly in time against the source mix, it is Send.
time-aligned with the original source mix.
2 From the right-click menu, choose Bounce
Record-Enabled Tracks and TrackInput- <path>.
Enabled Tracks Cannot Be Bounced
3 The Bounce dialog opens with the Output or
Pro Tools does not include tracks that are either re- Send path selected as the Bounce Source.
cord-enabled or in Input Only monitoring mode in 4 Configure the other Bounce settings as desired
the bounce. and click Bounce.
All currently active output paths (both internal mix 5 Repeat steps 3 and 4 as desired (up to 16 simul-
busses and output busses) and physical outputs as taneous bounce sources).
defined in the I/O Setup dialog are available as the
Bounce Source.
1 Choose File > Bounce To > Disk. To log into (and, if necessary, set up) your
SoundCloud account:
2 In the Bounce to Disk dialog, select the Bounce 1 Choose Setup > Connect To > SoundCloud.
Source, File Type, Bit Depth, and Sample Rate
settings. 2 Do one of the following:
3 Ensure that Format is set to Mono (Summed) or • To use an existing account, enter the Email\Login
Interleaved. and Password for your SoundCloud account,
and click the Connect button.
4 Select SoundCloud from the Share With pop-up
• To create a new account, click the Not a mem-
menu.
ber? Signup! button. Once the SoundCloud site
5 Click Bounce. opens in your default web browser, follow the
on-screen instructions.
6 Configure the Share With SoundCloud dialog
(see “Share With SoundCloud Dialog” on
Share With SoundCloud Dialog
page 1057).
The Share with SoundCloud dialog provides text
7 Click Share.
entry fields, settings, and options that determine
8 If you are not already logged in to your Sound- what information is included with the track you
Cloud account, you are prompted to log in. upload to SoundCloud. It also includes licensing
and permissions settings for what your track can be
The bounced file is written to your local drive and used for and who can access it. The information,
then posted directly to your SoundCloud account if options, and settings associated with your track
you are logged in. can also be edited online later from your Sound-
Cloud account.
Monitoring the Progress of the Upload
For more information, visit
You can monitor the progress of the upload in the
www.soundcloud.com.
Task Manager (Window > Task Manager).
Type in the Title for the track you are uploading to Enable the Notify me when the upload is complete
SoundCloud. option to be notified when your track has finished
uploading to your SoundCloud account.
Description
Type in a Description for the track you are upload- Bounce File Name
ing to SoundCloud.
Pro Tools provides a File Name text entry field for
Bounce to Disk. In the Bounce dialog, type the File
License
Name you want for the bounced file. For multi-
Select the License option appropriate to the track source bounces, the entered file name is appended
you are uploading to SoundCloud. with the name of the Bounce Source and a number
(incremented for each source): “<file
Type name>_<source name>_<n>.”
Select the Type of track you are uploading to
SoundCloud. Directory
Click the Choose button to specify a different di-
Downloadable
rectory for bounced files than the default location.
Select the Downloadable option if you want your
track to be downloadable from SoundCloud. If this Offline Bounce
option is not enabled, your track can only be
streamed (listened to) online and cannot be down- Pro Tools provides an Offline option for Bounce to
loaded. Disk and Bounce to QuickTime. This lets you
bounce faster-than-real-time in most cases (de-
Genre pending on the session mixer size and DSP plug-in
complement).
Type a Genre for the track you are uploading to
SoundCloud. To bounce audio to disk offline:
5 Verify the bit resolution for the bounced file 4 Assign the output of each of the tracks you want
matches the bit resolution of the session. to include in your bounce to the same output or
bus path.
6 Verify the sample rate for the bounced file is
supported by the session and the audio inter- 5 Add dither (see “Using Dither” on page 1046).
face. 6 Do one of the following:
7 If required, verify the file type and format for • To bounce the entire session, click Return to
the bounced file matches the file type and for- Zero in the Transport to go to the beginning of
mat of the session. the session.
8 Click Bounce.
Pro Tools HD let you work with surround formats Track Layouts for 5.1 Formats
up to 7.1.
Formats Track Layout
1 2 3 4 5 6
For information on fundamental surround The following table shows the X-MON mono track
concepts, see the Pro Tools Sync & Surround routing for a 7.1 SDDS mix. A 5.1 mix should use
Concepts Guide. the same routing, excluding outputs 2 and 4 (Lc
and Rc).
Pro Tools Audio Connections Default Track Layout for 7.1 SDDS Format
The surround mix I/O Settings provide output and • One 5.1 main output bus path, with sub-paths for
bus paths for six specific track layout standards in 5.0 (no LFE), left/right (stereo), LCR, and center
the new session. (For information on inputs and in- (mono).
sert paths, see “Default Input and Insert Paths with • One stereo main output bus path with two mono
5.1 Settings” on page 1068.) sub-paths.
Settings Files and Track Layouts
5.1 Settings Track Layout
C24 Mix L C R Ls Rs Lf
Importing Multichannel
I/O Setups
The I/O Setup dialog can import and export set-
tings files. This is useful when you want to remix a
stereo session in surround. You can also use this
I/O Setup, Output page, default 5.1 (Film) Output feature to prepare a session for transfer to a differ-
assignments ent Pro Tools system, or to save and exchange
I/O Settings.
1 Choose Setup > I/O, and click the Output tab. • Select the LCRS path, click New Sub-Path, and
create a mono sub-path for the Surround chan-
2 Click New Path. nel.
3 Select LCRS from the Path Format selector.
4 Name the path LCRS.
5 In the Channel Grid, click in the box below the
first (left-most) audio interface channel for the
path. Pro Tools automatically fills up the adja- Bus page, LCRS output bus with sub-paths
cent units to the right. If you click in the LCRS
row under channel 1, the LCRS path will be as- 10 Click OK to close the I/O Setup.
signed to channels 1–4.
5.1 Tracks, Formats,
Assignments, and Metering
Path definitions in I/O Setup determine how audio
is routed through, and metered on, your audio in-
terfaces.
Default 5.1 Path Order I/O Setup Options Default Path Order for 5.1
Tracks
Default selectors in the I/O Setup dialog
You can specify the default track layout for all new
Default Monitor Format Sets the default monitor 5.1 format paths you create.
format (Stereo, 5.1, or 7.1) for new Output paths
and for when you click the Default button. To choose a new default 5.1-format path order
(track layout):
5.1 Path Order Selects the default track layout (or, 1 Choose Setup > I/O.
path order) for new 5.1 format (six-channel) Out-
put paths. 2 Click the Output tab.
3 Use the 5.1 Default Path Order setting to select
the track layout you want (Film, SMPTE/ITU, or
DTS Monitoring).
Film
(Pro Tools Standard,
and C|24 Mix)
L C R Ls Rs LFE
L C R Ls Rs LFE
L C R Ls Rs LFE
same same
SMPTE/ITU
L C R Ls Rs LFE L C R Ls Rs LFE
(Control|24 Mix) (top to bottom)
L R C LFE Ls Rs (left to right)
L R C LFE Ls Rs
DTS
same same
L R Ls Rs C LFE L C R Ls Rs LFE L C R Ls Rs LFE
L R Ls Rs C LFE
same same
ICON X-MON L C R Ls Rs LFE L C R Ls Rs LFE
(8-channel 7.1) (top to bottom) (left to right)
L x C x R Ls Rs LFE
L x C x R Ls Rs LFE
Multichannel I/O and signal routing is determined • Imported from other Pro Tools sessions
by the paths defined in the I/O Setup dialog. • Edited, processed, and mixed in combination
with mono and stereo tracks
When you create new tracks, you specify mono, When a track is assigned to more than one path of
stereo, or a supported multichannel format for the differing formats, the main output for that track
new tracks. will match the format of the assigned path with the
greatest number of channels.
In the Mix and Edit windows, the track format of a
track’s output is always visible by the number of Multiple Outputs and Automation Playlists
track meters contained in its fader strip (for exam-
ple, a single meter for mono tracks, a pair of meters When a track has multiple output assignments,
for stereo tracks, and six meters for 5.1 tracks). Pro Tools sorts panning data appropriately for
each assigned path. For example, if you assign a
Assigning track output determines the format of mono track to a stereo path and a 5.1 path simulta-
that output. For example, a mono track always has neously, that track will have a 5.1 panner in the
a single track meter, even when assigned to a ste- Mix or Edit window. When you pan the track,
reo output path. If that same mono track is assigned Pro Tools interprets the 5.1 panning moves into
to a 5.1 output path, it's output will be split among stereo panning moves.
those six output channels, depending on the posi-
tion of its panner. This provides a type of parallel mixing. You can
create a variety of mixes of differing formats all at
Changing Format the same time by routing your elements to multiple
paths.
Changing the output format for a given track has
several effects: Command-Control-click (Mac) or Control-
• The panner that appears in the track will change Start-click (Windows) any control in an Out-
to reflect the new output format. put window to show its automation playlist
in the Edit window and view any pan auto-
• It may be necessary for one or more pan related mation.
automation playlists to be created or deleted.
Multichannel send
Multichannel output
path
Multi-mono plugs-ins can also be inserted on ste- Channel selector and Link controls
reo tracks, to apply unlinked plug-ins on the left
and right channels. Channel Selector Accesses a specific channel
within a multichannel track for plug-in parameter
Multichannel Plug-Ins Are designed for use on editing. This menu appears only on multi-mono
stereo and multichannel tracks that require cor- plug-ins inserted on tracks with more than two
related processing, including stereo and multi- channels.
channel limiting, compression, and similar effects.
Master Link Button When enabled, links the con-
trols on all channels of a multi-mono plug-in so
that they can be adjusted in tandem.
Deselect the Master Link button. It is lit when The following figure illustrates an example of how
linked, unlit when unlinked. panning and signal routing can be combined in a
multichannel mix.
To access controls for a specific channel:
See “Extending Stereo Mixing Conventions
Select the channel from the Channel selector.
to Surround Mixing” on page 1083 for re-
To open a plug-in window for all channels of a lated information.
multi-mono plug-in:
When to Use Assign Multichannel Outputs
Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac) the
Assign 5.1 paths only to those tracks that need
Channel selector.
to be panned to all six channels.
To link the controls of specific channels:
For example, a sound effects track with a jet fly-
1 Deselect the Master Link button if it is not al- over should be assigned a 5.1 path to fly the sound
ready deselected. from front-to-back. In a music mix, you can fly a
solo instrument or make a synth pad swirl around
2 Click the Link Enable buttons for the channels
the room as a special effect.
whose controls you want to link.
Elements that need to be heard in all speakers si-
multaneously can also be assigned to the multi-
Paths in Surround Mixes channel output, whether or not they require active
panning in the sound field.
Because Pro Tools provides a flexible routing and
submixing environment, you can maximize your When to Use Sub-Paths
system’s available resources by first identifying
the elements that you want to pan dynamically and To help simplify large sessions, use sub-paths to
those that can be placed in certain channels only route static (or, stationary) elements directly to
(see “Mixing with Paths and Sub-Paths” on the output channel or channels.
page 1079).
For example, film dialog is often mixed to the cen-
Once you have identified these elements in your ter channel to anchor this essential sound element
session, you can use a combination of main and to the picture. Instead of assigning a six-channel
sub-path assignments, and multichannel panning. panner to dialog tracks and panning the tracks to
the center speaker only, you can route the dialog
track’s main output to a mono (Center) sub-path.
Effect
bus routing
Outputs to
sub-paths
FX stem
Music stem
Most of the music tracks in this example are routed LFE Examples
to the front left/right channels, using a stereo sub-
LFE tracks and other audio can contribute to the
path. A 5.1 Auxiliary Input controls the bus and
LFE output in two ways:
stem output.
• Using the LFE fader in Output windows. This
Multiple Output Assignments LFE signal is post-fader.
Multiple output assignments make it possible to • Using a custom sub-path to route channels dis-
configure a number of multi-format mixes. For ex- cretely.
ample, you can assign an additional stereo output
to tracks and create a stereo mix at the same time as
a 5.1 mix. For more information, see “Multiple
Output Assignments” on page 920.
LFE fader
Show meters
Track selector Path selector Target icon
This section identifies all the controls and features found in Pro Tools multichannel panners.
LFE fader
Pan Location
cursor
Track Automation.
Solo, and Mute
X/Y Grid
Position
(knob panners)
Divergence
Center %
Yellow The track is in automation Off mode (or For examples of how divergence settings
Automation Suspend) mode. affect output panning, see “Divergence and
Center Percentage” on page 1095.
Rear Displays and controls the current rear X-axis The LFE fader determines how much of the current
(left/right) position of the panner. In default X/Y track’s signal will be routed to the LFE channel.
Panning mode, Rear is linked to Front position and LFE faders in Track and Send windows can follow
cannot be controlled independently. groups. The Pro Tools LFE channel is always full-
bandwidth. For more information on how to use
F/R (Front/Rear) Displays and controls the current the LFE fader, see “LFE Faders in Multichannel
Y-axis position of the panner. Panners” on page 1098.
Link
To pan in X/Y mode:
Front Inverse
1 Click on the Panning Mode button until the X/Y
mode icon is displayed.
Front/Rear Inverse
2 Drag the Pan Location cursor, or click any-
Rear Inverse where in the Grid and drag to pan the track. The
Stereo multichannel panner controls showing default location of the Pan Location cursor determines
linking the pan position of the signal. For example, to
pan something to the left rear speaker, move the
Pan Location cursor to the lower-left corner of
Panning Modes the Grid.
The Panning Mode button provides access to four
It is not necessary to click exactly on the Pan
panning modes: X/Y mode, Divergence Editing,
Location cursor. Clicking anywhere in the
3-Knob mode, and AutoGlide mode. Panning con-
Grid will move the Pan Location cursor rela-
trols can be automated in all four modes.
tive to where you click or take over with a
Pro Tools provides the following Panning Modes: hardware panner. Panning does not jump to
the click position.
X/Y Mode Joystick-style panning by dragging the
Pan Location cursor within the X/Y Speaker Grid.
See “X/Y Panning” on page 1092 for more infor-
mation.
Snap Pan to Speaker Click one of the Snap Pan to 3-Knob mode
Speaker icons to force the panner to that speaker Panning and metering in 3-Knob mode
location.
By comparison, in X/Y mode a diagonal pan may
Display Automation in Edit Window Control- result in audio being heard in some or all channels.
Start-click (Windows) or Command-Control-click
(Mac) a control to display that control’s playlist in The difference is that 3-Knob mode pans discretely
the Edit window. between the front and rear position of the panning
trajectory, while X/Y mode panning takes place in
All Pan controls can be automated, including the full 360° Panning Grid. Divergence and Center
pan position and divergence. See Chapter 45, Percentage are variable in both Panning modes.
“Automation” for details.
To enable 3-Knob Panning mode:
3-Knob Panning Click on the Panning Mode button until the 3-
Pro Tools provides 3-Knob mode as an additional Knob mode icon is displayed.
way to input pan moves.
To change the current trajectory position (left-to- 2 In the Mix or Edit window, click the Automa-
right) and retain its current angles: tion Mode selector and select an Automation
mode for the track you want to automate.
Drag the trajectory line (not its end points) to a
new position. 3 Press Play to begin playback.
4 Set a new destination for the cursor by doing
AutoGlide Mode one of the following:
AutoGlide mode lets you quickly write Surround • Click a Snap Pan to Speaker icon to glide to its
Panner automation by clicking new locations in the speaker location.
Surround Panner window, instead of manually • Click in the pan window to glide to a specific lo-
moving the Surround Panner controls. cation in the X/Y Grid.
When writing automation in AutoGlide
Snap Pan to
mode, the Pan Location cursor cannot be Speaker
dragged from its location. icons
The time it takes to glide from point to point (from Pan Location
cursor
the Pan Location cursor to the new destination) is
called the AutoGlide Time. This time is set in the
Mixing Preferences page and has a range of
10 msec to 10000 msec (10 seconds).
2 Set the AutoGlide Time in the Automation Panning Mode button (AutoGlide mode shown)
section.
Pan Location
cursor
To adjust divergence:
Adjust the LFE fader in any “.1” surround for- LFE Enable in the multichannel Dynamics III
Compressor/Limiter
mat Output window.
To process the LFE channel in a multichannel
LFE Faders and Groups
plug-in:
Pan Playlists
Multichannel panners have an automation playlist
for each position and divergence control.
Synchronization allows one system to output time- SMPTE Trigger Resolved with a
code and the other device to chase (follow) that SYNC HD
timecode. Pro Tools is synchronized to other de- (HDX and HD Native Systems Only)
vices using SMPTE/EBU timecode or MIDI
Timecode. You can use SYNC HD to resolve Pro Tools re-
cording and playback speed with any of the follow-
ing clock reference sources while slaving
Pro Tools to timecode:
Pro Tools Synchronization
Options • LTC
• Video source
There are several options for synchronizing
Pro Tools to an external source or using Pro Tools • House video reference (SD or HD)
as the master device. • VITC
• 1x Word Clock
SMPTE Trigger Only
• AES/EBU “null” clock
This solution is useful for short projects if both • Pilot Tone
systems are extremely close in speed, but even the
best systems will rarely stay perfectly synchro- • Bi-Phase
nized for longer than a couple of minutes. This enables long-term, high-fidelity synchroniza-
tion when all transports within the system are re-
solved to this common synchronization source, or
by resolving to any variations in incoming time-
code while slaving to timecode.
The Session Setup window is organized into three sections. The Format section is at the top of the window.
The SYNC Setup & Timecode Offsets section and the Timecode Settings section can be shown or hidden.
Format Section
SYNC Setup
& Timecode Offsets
section
External Timecode
SYNC Setup settings Offset settings
Timecode Reader
Timecode section offset
Freewheel settings
To show the Session Setup window: The controls in this section configure SYNC HD
From a Pro Tools session, choose Setup > settings. Settings are provided for Clock and Posi-
Session. tional Reference, Video Ref Format, Video In For-
mat, and Variable Speed Override.
Press Control+2 (Windows) or
Command+2 (Mac) to open the Session To show Timecode Settings section:
Setup window. Click the Timecode Settings expand/collapse
triangle.
To expand SYNC Setup & Session Offset section:
Click the SYNC Setup & Timecode Offsets ex- The controls in this section provide timecode gen-
pand/collapse triangle. eration and freewheel options, and separate pull up
and down selectors for audio and video rates.
The SYNC Setup and Timecode Offsets section of Video Ref Format
the Session Setup window includes displays and
menus for timecode-related settings on your sys- Sets the video reference format for the SYNC HD.
tem.
Video In Format
This menu lets you set the Pro Tools clock refer- Varispeed maximum sample rate limits
ence. Nominal Channel Maximum
sample rate Count Frequency
When using a SYNC HD, the Clock Reference
selector lists all supported clock types. 44.1/48 kHz 64 48.8 kHz
When using HDX or HD Native systems with- 44.1/48 kHz 56 55.6 kHz
out a SYNC HD, choices include any currently-en- 88.2/96 kHz 32 97.5 kHz
abled digital format or source available from your
Avid HD audio interface (such as AES, S/PDIF, or 88.2/96 kHz 28 111.5 kHz
1x Word arriving at the HD audio interface’s Word 176.4/192 kHz 16 194.9 kHz
Clock In port).
176.4/192 kHz 14 223.0 kHz
Pro Tools displays timecode values in the cur- Press Control+2 (Windows) or
rently selected SMPTE frame rate. Command+2 (Mac) to open the Session
Setup window.
Sub Counter and Sub Time Scale Display
2 From the Timecode Settings section of the Ses-
You can display a Sub Time Scale in the Sub sion Setup window, select a Pull Up/Down
Counter. For example, if the Main Time Scale is Rate.
set to Timecode, and you want to compare SMPTE
time to “wall clock,” when you are using 29.97
Non-Drop frame rate, click the Sub Counter selec-
tor and select Min:Secs as the Sub Time Scale.
Video Frame Rate Pull Up and With no video hardware, Pro Tools supports 0.1%
Down pull up and pull down at all project frame rates
when monitoring video in the Pro Tools Video
The Video Pull Up/Down setting lets you change
window.
the frame rate of video playback independently
from the audio pull up/down rate. Note that video However, when monitoring with video hardware,
pull rates are saved with the session. certain frame rates only support pull in certain di-
rections (as follows):
See also “Auto Match Pull Factors” on
page 1112. • 23pNTSC can only pull up by 0.1%
• 24pNTSC can only pull down by 0.1%
The choices available for Video Rate Pull Up/Down
depend on the file format and frame rate of the • 24pPAL can only pull up by 4%
video, and whether or not you are using video • 25pPAL can only pull down by 4%
hardware.
* Suggested pull rates for any given project frame rates appear highlighted in the Video Rate Pull Up /Down
selector.
When working with 25 fps Avid media and the Clicking the Online button in the Transport
video is set to pull down by 4%, set the session
Frame Rate to 24 fps. The Online button flashes while Pro Tools waits
for a SMPTE frame to trigger playback. When
timecode is received, playback begins and the On-
Plug-Ins and Pull Up and Pull
line button becomes highlighted. The Edit Selec-
Down
tion indicators in the Edit window, and the Incom-
For proper operation at larger (4%) pull rates, ing Time field in the Session Setup window
plug-ins must utilize sample clock instead of an display the incoming timecode.
absolute time clock. All Pro Tools audio plug-ins
are based on sample clock. To take Pro Tools offline, do one of the following:
window.
4% audio pull rates are not available in 176.4 and
192 kHz sample rate sessions.
To generate MIDI Timecode from Pro Tools: 5 Click OK to close the Peripherals dialog.
1 Choose Setup > Peripherals and click the 6 Choose Setup > Session, and choose the appro-
Synchronization tab. priate frame rate for the Timecode Rate setting.
2 From the MTC Generator Port setting, select the 7 In the SYNC Setup section of the Session Setup
MIDI output port on which you want to transmit window, choose a clock reference from the
MIDI Timecode (MTC). Clock Reference selector. Not all clock choices
are available at all sample rates. See “External
Clock Sources” on page 1104.)
8 From the Transport Window menu (or the Edit
Window menu), select Synchronization.
To slave Pro Tools to an external device using MIDI Pro Tools will now respond to MMC commands
Machine Control: from the external device.
1 Connect a MIDI In port on your Pro Tools MIDI
interface to an appropriate port on the master Operating MMC Devices with the
device. Pro Tools Transport
2 Connect a MIDI Out port on your Pro Tools You can use the Pro Tools Transport window as
MIDI Interface to the MTC in port on the mas- the remote controller for all your enabled devices
ter device. (such as a nonlinear video deck). To do so, set the
enabled devices to listen to the address you enter
3 In Pro Tools, choose Setup > Session. for MMC. The Transport window will then drive
4 In the Timecode Settings section of the Session the Pro Tools transport and any slaved devices.
Setup window, select Using MTC.
5 Choose Setup > Peripherals and click the Syn-
chronization tab.
Machine Chases Memory Location When se- To set up MIDI devices, see “Enabling MIDI
lected, navigating to a specific location in a session Machine Control in Pro Tools” on
with a Memory Location causes a connected trans- page 1118.
port to chase to that location. To set up machine devices, see the Machine-
Machine Follows Edit Insertion/Scrub When se- Control Guide.
lected, navigating to a specific location in a session
by moving the selection point or by scrubbing a
track causes a connected transport to chase to that
location.
Spot Mode
In Spot mode, a clip in a track can be quickly spot-
ted by simply clicking it with the Time Grabber
tool.
Spot dialog
3 Enter a new SMPTE time by doing one of the For more information on Sync Points, see
following: “Sync Points” on page 799.
• Enter the numbers manually (with the help of the
To create a sync point in a clip:
arrow keys).
1 Do one of the following:
• To capture the incoming timecode address, click
the Current Timecode button (or press the Equal • Click with the Selector tool at the point in the
key). clip that you want to synchronize to a SMPTE
frame location.
• To enter the start time of the current on-screen
selection, click the Current Selection button. • Press the Down Arrow key while playing back.
4 Click OK. 2 Choose Clip > Identify Sync Point. The current
SMPTE time is automatically entered as the
This command can be used in “batch mode” to set SMPTE location for the sync point. A small
new time stamps for several clips at a time. To do down arrow appears at the bottom of the clip,
this, select several clips and choose the Time with a vertical, light gray line indicating the
Stamp command. One after another, a dialog will location of the sync point.
open for each clip, allowing you to quickly enter
new values.
To show (or hide) User Time Stamps in clips: Sync Point in an audio clip
Select (or deselect) View > Clip > User Time
Stamp.
By the time you get the tape, you may have no idea
what’s actually on it. Feeding 29.97 Non-Drop to
Pro Tools when it is set for 30 fps Non-Drop will
result in timing errors of about 1.8 frames per min-
ute, causing audio playback to trigger out of sync.
faster
25 fps
slower
NTSC PAL +0.1% then 45983 50050 91967 100100 n/a n/a
Video +4.1667%
PAL NTSC –4.0% then 42294 46034 84587 92068 n/a n/a
Video 0.1%
Sample Rate Conversion Using Destination Sample Rates at Pull Up and Pull Down Setting
NTSC PAL +0.1% then 42294 46034 84587 92068 n/a n/a
Video +4.1667%
PAL NTSC –4.0% then 45983 50050 91967 100100 n/a n/a
Video 0.1%
Pro Tools HD software lets you import multichan- Digital Field Recorders
nel audio files and metadata recorded by field
A field recorder, also known as a hard disk loca-
recorders.
tion audio recorder, is a device used by a produc-
tion sound mixer during a film or video shoot to
make a multichannel recording of multiple micro-
Field Recorder and phone inputs recorded simultaneously.
Production Workflow
Terminology Depending on the capabilities and settings of a
field recorder, multichannel recordings can in-
Before working with field recorders in
clude one or more tracks (up to 32) and are saved
Pro Tools HD, you may want to review a brief
as monophonic or polyphonic audio files on a hard
glossary of common field recorder and production
drive, DVD-RAM, or Flash media.
terms.
Multichannel recordings made by a field recorder
Field Recorder Terminology should be encoded with start and end time stamps
representing SMPTE timecode or linear timecode
The following terminology applies to field record- (also known as LTC). Most field recorders also al-
ers in general: low manual entry of additional types of metadata,
including Channel Name/Number, Scene, Take,
Metadata
Circled Take, User Bits, and more.
Metadata is used to describe the following:
Pro Tools can import monophonic and polyphonic
• Information embedded in a media file. This may files and certain types of metadata entered on field
include scene, take, sample rate, bit depth, exter- recorders.
nal clip names, the name of the videotape from
which the media file was captured, and even Production Sound Mix
timecode values.
For each multichannel recording made by a field
• Information embedded in Pro Tools sessions or recorder, the production sound mixer may desig-
other sequences, including what files are used, nate a production sound mix comprising either a
where they appear in a timeline, and automation. representative channel or a mixdown of other se-
• For AAF or OMF sequences, information about lected channels in the recording.
automation or clip-based gain.
BEXT and iXML Chunks SMPTE Timecode Also known as LTC or linear
timecode. The generating clock of this timecode
BEXT and iXML chunks are sets of metadata can be based on the time of day or can be set to as-
found within a Broadcast WAV file. cend beginning from a certain starting time of day.
Limitations Minutes:Seconds Timecode based on minutes and
seconds.
The following limitations apply to handling of im-
ported metadata from field recorders. Wild No timecode. Most consumer digital video
• The BEXT specification as described here adds recorders do not have the ability to generate time-
some features that conform to standards used by code.
Avid video editing applications and Pro Tools—
Production Sound Mixer
specifically, Description metadata is interpreted
differently. The production sound mixer uses a field recorder
• When you import multiple files in which the to record multichannel audio during a shoot, and
same metadata are populated with different val- later delivers those source files to one or more par-
ues, Pro Tools imports the value that is first pres- ties:
ent based on the following order: • Telecine operator (film workflow only)
• Avid OMF-wrapped media or MXF media • Avid video editor
• Any iXML chunk metadata in a BWF • Pro Tools editor
• Any BEXT chunk metadata in a BWF
1 Launch Pro Tools. 11 In the Source Tracks section, select tracks to im-
port by clicking the pop-up menu to the right of
2 Choose File > Open Session. each track name and selecting Import As New
3 In the Open Session dialog, navigate to the AAF Track.
or OMF sequence you want to import. To select multiple tracks, Option-click (Mac)
4 Click Open. or Alt-click (Windows) on any track pop-up
menu and select Import As New Track.
If you plan to import audio at 48.048 kHz and want Pro Tools lets you specially designate field re-
Pro Tools to apply the 48 kHz pull down in real corder tracks after importing them, ensuring that
time, do the following: Po Tools only does field-recorder-specific file op-
erations on channels that actually contain field re-
To set the Don’t Convert Sample Rate on Import corder data.
Preference:
To designate a field recorder track:
1 Choose File > Preferences.
1 Right-click on the name of the track you want to
2 Select the Processing tab.
designate as a field recorder track.
3 In the Import section, find the Don’t Convert
Sample Rates on Import preference setting. To designate more than one track as a field
recorder track, select the tracks and right-
4 Enable that preference to activate real-time pull click the name of one of the selected tracks.
down for 48.048 kHz audio files.
2 Click Field Recorder Guide Track.
3 Repeat for each field recorder track in the
session.
Name and Sort Tracks By The Reset button toggles all criteria to their
default values.
This option lets you set the method Pro Tools uses
to name and sort the audio files created by expand-
Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows)
ing matching field recorder channels.
any item to select or deselect all criteria in
the dialog.
By default, Pro Tools searches for matching field • Click Save to close the Select Areas to Search
recorder files in the Audio Files folder for the cur- dialog and save the new search area settings.
rent session. Because field recorders often accu- • Click Save & Index to save the new search area
mulate large amounts of audio data, importing the settings and re-index the selected folders. For
necessary files into your Pro Tools session can be a more information, see “Re-Indexing” on
slow and complex task. page 1144.
For example, this feature lets you easily create dif- If matching field recorder channels are available,
ferent versions of an edited dialogue track corre- Pro Tools expands them (plus the channel repre-
sponding to multiple channel inputs (microphones) sented in the original track) to new tracks accord-
that were recorded simultaneously. ing to the chosen parameters.
5 The original source audio files and unedited 5 Drag the original unedited guide track audio file
guide track are also imported into the session. into the Candidates pane. If a dialog appears
stating that one or more files are shorter than the
6 The original unedited guide track is relinked to media file you are trying to relink, click Yes to
the session (see “Relinking the Original Uned- select it for relinking anyway.
ited Guide Track” on page 1148).
6 Check the box to the left of the file in the Can-
7 The Pro Tools editor Right-clicks the name of didates pane so that the Link icon appears.
the guide track and selects Expand Channels to
New Tracks > By Timecode Only. The original 7 Click Commit Links at the top of the Relink win-
source tracks expand to new tracks with edits dow and then close the Relink window.
and fades that match the guide track.
You can now Right-click the name of the guide
and select Expand To New Tracks > By Timecode
Only. All expanded tracks should be synchronous
with the guide track.
• Multichannel location audio 8 Insert a blank videotape into the VTR con-
nected to the telecine, and manually assign lin-
• Written shootlist and sound log
ear timecode (LTC) information to the
The telecine operator generates the dailies (a vid- videotape.
eotape containing the day’s shots) by transferring 9 Begin the telecine capture. During the telecine
the film and audio to a videotape. The shootlists capture, the following occurs:
will be used as a guide.
• The telecine begins capturing the synchronized
To use a telecine to create dailies: film and audio to the videotape, with linear time-
code (LTC) assigned to the videotape beginning
1 Load film and audio into the telecine.
from where you entered the start timecode.
2 Enter the Tape name or Sound Roll name • A FLEx file is created, where scene and take in-
(whichever was used during the production) formation is automatically written and associ-
character for character into the telecine. ated to the film keycode and telecine videotape
timecode relative to audio timecode.
To ensure that metadata are preserved for
the Pro Tools editor, it is critical to enter the 10 When the telecine transfer is complete, deliver
Tape name or Sound Roll name character for the following to the Avid editor:
character. For example, if the metadata was
• Telecine videotape
T001 (with two zeroes), enter T001 with two
zeroes—not T01 with one zero or T0001 with • FLEx file
three zeroes. • Shootlist
• Both the field recorder and the video camera • Camera begins rolling.
should be locked to the same production time- • One or more field recorders begin recording.
code. The production sound mixer has designated one
or two channels as a production sound mix,
Matching Tape Name to Sound Roll Metadata which is a consolidation of one or more channels
for Video Shoots
in each multichannel recording.
Before loading the videotape into the video cam- 2 During shooting, the following timecode infor-
era, the camera operator physically labels the vid- mation is captured:
eotape with a unique name. The production sound
mixer must enter that exact name in the Tape • The camera captures images to video or file em-
BEXT or iXML metadata field inside the Broad- bedded with SMPTE timecode based on time of
cast WAV file. day (or longitudinal timecode).
• One or more field recorders simultaneously
After you import a file containing Tape meta- make multichannel recordings that are embed-
data into Pro Tools, the metadata displays in ded with SMPTE timecode based on time of day
the Sound Roll field in Workspace browsers. (or longitudinal timecode).
3 The slate operator claps the slate to indicate the
beginning of the take. The field recorder records
the audio of the clap, and the film camera cap-
tures the following images:
• Scene and take number (displayed on the slate)
• Exact moment the slate closes
4 When the digitize is complete, use the Avid 4 Use the Avid video editing application to edit
video editing application to edit audio and audio and video.
video.
5 When you are finished editing, export the edited
When you are finished editing, export the edited sequence as an AAF or OMF sequence so that it
sequence as an AAF or OMF sequence so that it can be imported into Pro Tools.
can be imported into Pro Tools.
When working with someone who is preparing Separate Video-Only and Audio-Only Drives For
QuickTime movies for use with Pro Tools, ensure best results, always use separate video-only and
that you communicate the following: audio-only drives. For complete information on
hard drive requirements, visit www.avid.com.
Consolidated and Referenced Media QuickTime
DV movies can be either complete (consolidated)
QuickTime files (where media is copied into a
QuickTime file) or QuickTime reference files
(where just a small composition is in the Quick-
Time file which references the original media
files).
Video Tracks
Video tracks let you add or import video to the
New Video options in the Pro Tools Operation Timeline, as follows:
preferences • Pro Tools lets you add or import one video track
The Video section of the Pro Tools Operation per session, with a limit of one video playlist and
Preferences provides the following options: one Avid or QuickTime video file on that track.
• Pro Tools HD lets you add multiple video tracks
Enable GPU to the Timeline, with multiple video playlists
Pro Tools video processing is done on the GPU and multiple video files per track.
(Graphics Processing Unit) in order to free up the • Pro Tools HD lets you mix QuickTime and Avid
CPU for Pro Tools audio and MIDI. If you are us- video tracks in the Timeline (but not on the same
ing a slower GPU and encounter poor video play- video track).
back, you may want to disable this option and have
the video processing done on the CPU. To create a video track in Pro Tools, do one of the
following:
Prevent Tearing Use File > Import to import a video file.
When enabled, Pro Tools buffers video to prevent Drag a video file to the Timeline.
visual artifacts with horizontal movement in situa-
tions where video sync does not match the screen Use File > Import > Session Data to import a
refresh rate. This options is not available when the session or AAF sequence containing a video
Enable GPU option is disabled.
track.
Frames do not display properly if you change Video tracks displaying a QuickTime icon
zoom settings during playback. Blank frames are
You can add any supported video to an empty
drawn until playback is stopped. You should stop
video track.
playback before changing zoom settings if you
want to view frames.
Project Type
Video Quality
Output Settings
Project Type
While Pro Tools does not allow mixed frame rates,
Video Online button (offline (top) and online (bottom)
it does allow different resolutions. The Project
To switch a video track online or offline: Type selector lets you set the Project Type (resolu-
tion) to best match mixed resolutions for the ses-
Click the Video Online button of any track that
sion. In general, you will not need to change the
is offline (gray) to put it online (blue), making
Project Type.
that track the main video track.
Click the Video Online button of the main video For Avid MXF video, Project Type is set automat-
track to take it offline, and Pro Tools will not ically. However, when you are working with
output video. mixed resolutions, Pro Tools lets you set the clos-
est matching resolution for the session using the
With Pro Tools HD, press Shift+J to cycle Project Type setting.
through all shown video tracks to determine
which one is online.
Pro Tools provides an Output Settings window for In the Video Output Tool window, click the Op-
configuring your Avid or Avid-qualified third- tions tab to configure the options for video output
party video peripheral. The Output Settings are that are relevant to your video hardware and proj-
saved with the system. The Output Settings button ect type.
is unavailable when working with video without a
video peripheral.
The Sync Lock setting locks your video peripheral The options for HDMI Color Space are dynamic
to an external reference or an internal clock. depending on whether a Mojo DX or Nitris DX is
Pro Tools automatically detects the type of Avid connected, as well as other settings. The HDMI
video hardware you have and displays the appro- Color Space setting determines the color standard
priate options from the following: (either YCbCr or Convert to RGB) to use for your
• Mojo DX options: HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface)
output. You must have HDMI-compatible Avid
• Internal
video hardware attached to your system.
• Reference
• Nitris DX options: HDMI Format
If a SYNC HD is installed and enabled, and Clock Output PSF or True Progressive
Reference is set to Video Reference in the Session
Setup window, suggested formats are highlighted When working with HD video, this setting lets you
in the Video Ref Format selector of the Session toggle the hardware between PSF and Progressive
Setup window. output formats:
• PSF Output
• True Progressive
The Sub Pixel H Phase setting lets you adjust the Select the Best Performance option to process and
horizontal blanking interval used to synchronize play back the full image raster for the project using
the timing of two or more video signals. The Sub 1/16 of the image information. The Best Perfor-
Pixel H Phase setting is available on some systems mance option uses a bit depth of 8 bits. This option
for S Video, Component, or Composite output. subsamples 25% of the raster width. For interlaced
projects, this option uses 50% of the lines in one
field. For progressive projects, this option uses
Video Quality 25% of the scan lines. This option is not available
Use the Video Quality selector to set the video with third-party video hardware.
quality for the track on playback. You can choose
from options that range from best performance
(lower video quality) to full quality.
Remove Existing Video Tracks When selected, all Importing Audio from a
existing video tracks will be deleted before QuickTime Video Clip
Pro Tools imports video into the session. For QuickTime Video clips, Pro Tools lets you
Remove Existing Video Clips When selected, all right-click on selected clips to import the audio
existing video clips will be removed from the from the QuickTime movie clips even if you im-
Timeline and the Clip List before Pro Tools im- ported QuickTime video without its associated au-
ports video into the session (but left on disk). This dio.
option is useful if you want to import a video file
To import audio from a QuickTime video clip:
into the session with a video frame rate that does
not match the current video engine rate. 1 Right-click on a QuickTime video clip in a
video track or in the Clip list.
See “Video Engine Rate” on page 1166 for
more information. 2 Choose Import Audio From Movie.
3 In the resulting dialog, specify the location
Clear Main Video Track Playlist When selected,
where you want to save the audio and click
all existing video clips in the currently-selected
Open.
playlist on the main video track will be removed
from the track before Pro Tools imports video into 4 In the Audio Import Options dialog, select
the session. No other playlists, video tracks, or whether you want to import the audio to the Clip
video clips will be affected. (This option is only List or to a New Track.
enabled if the main video track is selected as the
5 If you selected New Track, select the Location
Destination option.)
for the audio:
• Session Start
Bypassing the Video Import
Options Dialog • Song Start
ated by Pro Tools HD, only the main or first 1 In the Edit window, click the Clip List menu,
available video track containing QuickTime and choose Show.
clips will be imported. You can play back and
2 Select the Video option to show or hide video
view multiple clips, and tab through clip bound-
clips.
aries. However, you cannot edit them.
Renaming Video Disk Files To display the Video window, do one of the
following:
When renaming audio clips in either the Timeline
Select Window > Video.
or the Clip List, you have the option of also renam-
ing the audio files on disk. However, this does not Press Control+9 (Windows) or Command+9
apply to video files on disk. (Mac).
Pillarbox/Letterbox
Pro Tools lets you scrub video directly on a video 1 With Pro Tools HD, make sure the Operation
track. When scrubbing on a video track, only the preference for Numeric Keypad mode is not set
video scrubs (no audio plays). Video scrubbing is to Shuttle (see “Operation Preferences” on
displayed in the Video window. If video hardware page 102).
is connected, you can choose to scrub video with 2 Make sure the Video Online button in the video
external video monitoring as well as in the Video track you want to scrub is set to an online (blue)
window. status.
When scrubbing audio with a video track online, 3 With the Selector tool, click in the audio track
both audio and video scrub synchronously. where you want playback to begin. To shuttle on
two tracks, Shift-click in a second audio track.
For information on enabling (or disabling)
video scrubbing with video hardware, see 4 Press the Start key (Windows) or Control (Mac)
“Enable Hardware During Scrub” on and a number on the numeric keypad: 0–9 (9 is
page 1157. fastest, 5 is normal speed, and 0 stops shuttling).
To scrub a video track: Once Shuttle Lock mode is initiated, Fast Forward
and Rewind become highlighted in the Transport
1 Select the Scrubber tool.
window.
2 Click in the video track and drag the Scrubber.
5 Press additional keys to change the playback
To scrub with finer precision, press the Com- speed, or press Plus (+) or Minus (–) to switch
mand key while scrubbing. the playback direction (plus for forward, minus
for backward).
Shuttling the Video Track 6 To stop playback, press Start+0 (Windows) or
Control+0 (Mac).
Shuttle Lock mode lets you use the numeric key-
pad to shuttle a video track and one or two audio
To exit Shuttle Lock mode, do one of the following:
tracks forward or backwards at specific speeds.
Numbers 0 through 9 provide progressively faster Click Stop in the Transport.
speeds, as follows: Press the Spacebar.
• To stop shuttling, press 0.
• To increase the speed progressively towards nor-
mal speed, press numbers 1 through 4.
• To shuttle at normal speed, press 5.
• To increase the speed progressively faster than
normal speed, press numbers 6 through 9.
5 Do one of the following: 8 Configure the File Type, Format, Bit Depth, and
other Bounce options as desired (see “Bounce
• To bounce the entire session, click Return to
Options” on page 1050).
Zero in the Transport to go to the beginning of
the session.
11 If you are bouncing Avid to QuickTime and you Enable this option to include the online video track
want to configure QuickTime video settings, in the bounced QuickTime file.
click QuickTime Settings.
Same as Source
Refer to Apple’s documentation for detailed
information on configuring QuickTime movie Select the Same As Source option to bounce to
settings. QuickTime using the same video resolution as the
online video track. The Same As Source option is
12 Enable the Offline option for faster-than-real- not always available with some types of LongGOP
time bounce. QuickTime media (such as XDCAM), or when
mixing multiple Codecs on a track.
13 Click Bounce.
14 Select a destination for the new QuickTime Use Avid Codecs
movie, enter a new name, and click Save. The Use Avid Codecs option is only available
when using codecs that are installed with the Avid
Bouncing video may can take longer than
LE (available from www.avid.com) or PE Codec
real-time, depending on the format of the
packs (included with the Pro Tools installer). Se-
source video, the format of the bounced
lect this option if two similar codecs are present on
video, and processing speed.
a system. For example, DV25 is usually included
with a standard QuickTime installation, but Avid
also offers a DV25 codec that is optimized for use
with Avid products (such as Pro Tools and
Media Composer).
5 Click OK.
6 In the QuickTime Bounce dialog, configure the
other settings as desired.
7 Click Bounce.
Avid Satellite Link lets you link up to twelve On systems with a D-Control or D-Command con-
Pro Tools HD systems over an Ethernet network sole, Satellite Link can work in conjunction with
so that you can cue, play, and stop the transports, ICON Multi-mode. This lets you operate the trans-
make play selections, and solo tracks across any of port selectively for up to four networked
the systems from any linked workstation. Pro Tools HD systems from a single D-Control
console, or up to two Pro Tools HD systems from a
Alternatively, you can link up to eleven D-Command.
Pro Tools HD systems and one of the following:
• A Pro Tools Video Satellite system, which uses a
separate Pro Tools system for video playback. Satellite Link Requirements
• An Avid Video Satellite system, which uses an and Compatibility
Avid Media Composer or Avid Symphony sys-
tem for video playback, capture, and conversion. Satellite System Requirements
For more information, see Chapter 54, The following is required for each Pro Tools HD
“Pro Tools Video Satellite” and system on the network:
Chapter 55, “Avid Video Satellite.” • Avid-qualified computer
From each linked Pro Tools HD system, Satellite • Pro Tools | HD Software
Link lets you link and unlink networked systems • HDX or HD Native hardware
and see the link status of other connected systems.
• Pro Tools | SYNC HD
By setting Satellite Link preferences, you can con- • Ethernet connection to a Local Area Network
figure linked Pro Tools HD systems for single- or (LAN)
multi-operator workflows.
All Pro Tools systems in a Satellite Link
Satellite Link can be used simultaneously with network must be resolved to a common
Avid MachineControl, allowing one linked video reference, or “house sync,” using
Pro Tools HD system to go online and drive a SYNC HD.
9-pin capable device.
Satellite Link systems communicate over Ethernet If the default port is already in use, or if you want
Local Area Networks. You can configure the net- to set up separate Satellite Link networks, you can
work settings on each Pro Tools HD system to select a different TCP/UDP port for Satellite Link
build one or more Satellite Link networks on the communication.
same LAN.
To select the TCP/UDP port for Satellite Link
Satellite Link requires all linked systems to be con- communication:
nected to an Ethernet Local Area Network. All sys- 1 Choose Setup > Peripherals and click Satellites.
tems should be on the same subnet. If possible,
they should also be on the same Ethernet switch, to 2 Under Advanced Network Settings, enter the
minimize response time over the network. TCP/UDP port number you want the system to
use.
Ethernet Interface
For Satellite Link to function properly,
On computers with multiple Ethernet interfaces, you must select a TCP/UDP port number
you can select the interface you want to use for Sat- between 1024 and 65534.
ellite Link communications.
3 Click OK.
To select the Ethernet interface for Satellite Link:
1 Choose Setup > Peripherals and click Satellites.
2 Under Advanced Network Settings, choose the
Ethernet interface from the Interface pop-up
menu.
3 Click OK.
Other systems on the network are configured as 3 In the Video Satellite Settings window, select
satellite systems, and are added to the network Video Satellite Mode.
from the administrator system.
4 Click OK.
Configuring Satellite Systems To configure a non-HD Pro Tools System system
as a video satellite:
Do the following for each Pro Tools system you
want to configure as a Satellite Link satellite: 1 On the satellite Pro Tools system, choose Setup
> Peripherals and click Satellites.
1 Choose Setup > Peripherals and click Satellites.
2 In the System Name text box, enter a name for
2 In the System Name text box, enter a name for
the system.
the system.
3 Under Mode, choose Enable Satellite Mode.
3 Under Mode, choose Satellite.
4 Click OK.
4 Click OK.
Configuring a satellite in the Satellites page of the Configuring a Pro Tools Video Satellite system in the
Peripherals dialog Satellites page of the Peripherals dialog
To configure a Pro Tools system as a Satellite Link When systems have been configured as satellites,
administrator: they become available on the administrator sys-
1 Choose Setup > Peripherals and click Satellites. tem. The satellite systems are then declared from
the Administrator system to build the Satellite
2 In the System Name text box, enter a name for Link network.
the system.
To declare satellite systems:
3 Under Mode, choose Administrator.
1 On the administrator system, choose Setup >
4 Under Administrator, choose the current system Peripherals and click Satellites.
from the System 1 pop-up menu.
2 Under Administrator, declare the systems you
5 Click OK. want to use as satellites from the System 2-12
pop-up menus.
3 Click OK.
Configuring the Administrator system in the Satellites Declared satellites in the Synchronization section of
page of the Peripherals dialog the Transport window
When a Pro Tools system has been declared as a Choose View > Transport > Synchronization and
satellite, it can then be placed in a linked state from View > Transport > Expanded.
the local machine or from another satellite. When a
system is linked, the following features and com- Link button
mands can be controlled across all linked systems:
• Linking and unlinking of the system
• Transport controls (Stop, Play, FF, Rew)
• Play selections
• Scrub/Shuttle location Satellite Link buttons
• Channel solo (including Solo clear) Satellite Link controls in the Transport window
• Clearing system errors (such as DAE errors) To link or unlink the local Pro Tools system:
Link Button Controls the link status of the local To link or unlink all declared satellite systems:
system. Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac) the
Satellite Link Buttons Control the link status of Link button or a Satellite Link button in the
the other satellite systems. On every system, one of Transport window.
these buttons corresponds to that system’s main
Linking Systems During Playback
Link button.
You can link or unlink a system while it or any
Link buttons highlight to indicate linked status.
other linked system is playing back (“join in
play”), and the transports will play in sync. In
cases where both systems are playing back, the
newly linked system will cue to the location of the
system on which the link was initiated.
• Choose Setup > Preferences and click 1 On the systems that you want to solo tracks, do
Synchronization. the following:
• In the Satellites section of the Synchronization • Choose Setup > Preferences and click
page, select the Transmit Play Selections option. Synchronization.
2 On the systems that you want to mirror the play • In the Satellites section of the Synchronization
selections, do the following: page, select the Transmit Solos option.
• Choose Setup > Preferences and click 2 On the systems where you want tracks to follow
Synchronization. solo behavior for solos on other systems, do the
following:
• In the Satellites section of the Synchronization
page, select the Receive Play Selections option. • Choose Setup > Preferences and click
• Click OK to close the Preferences window. Synchronization.
• In the Satellites section of the Synchronization
3 Make sure the systems are linked.
page, select the Receive Solos option.
• Click OK to close the Preferences window.
3 Make sure the systems are linked.
Any linked Pro Tools systems set to 1 Hold Control (Mac) or Alt (Windows) and press
“Transport=Pro Tools” will follow Satellite Link the Modes switch in the Automation Soft Keys
transport commands. section.
Any linked Pro Tools systems set to 2 Press the Soft Key that corresponds to the name
“Transport=Machine” cannot transmit Satellite of the system that you want to link or unlink.
Link transport commands, but will follow Satellite
The Soft Key lights solid to indicate that the corre-
Link transport commands if they are offline.
sponding system is linked, and flashes to indicate
that the corresponding system is displaying an er-
ror.
When a Pro Tools system has been declared as a You can link the Pro Tools Video Satellite system
satellite, the following controls appear in the while the administrator Pro Tools HD system is
Transport window: playing back, and the transports will synchronize.
A system cannot play back when a modal falls before the start time of the administrator
dialog box is open. Pro Tools session, type a positive timecode
value into the Satellite Offset field.
Spotting Video to the Pro Tools
• If the start time of the video clip in video satellite
Timeline
falls after the start time of the administrator
Once a session is created (or an existing session Pro Tools session, type a negative timecode
opened) on the satellite Pro Tools system, and the value into the Satellite Offset field.
video has been imported, the video must be set to
the correct start time so that it runs in sync with the
audio on the main Pro Tools system. Video can be
spotted to the desired start time by matching time-
code or feet+frames values.
Avid Video Satellite is a powerful post-production • Media Composer or Symphony System Identifi-
option for Pro Tools, employing a separate com- cation Number and serial number, or Avid Ap-
puter running Avid Media Composer or Sym- plication Key (included with Media Composer
phony software for synchronized video playback, or Symphony)
capture, and conversion. • Avid video peripheral (optional; required for
Avid Video Satellite can use either a single high-quality video output)
Media Composer or Symphony system in a Satel-
Avid Video Peripherals
lite configuration. Avid Video Satellite can play
full sequences and does not require a video mix- For high-quality frame edge-aligned playback of
down. Avid Video Satellite requires a HD or SD video (or 1080 HD video converted to
Pro Tools HD Administrator in the Satellite con- SD video), you must add the I/O capabilities of an
figuration. Avid video peripheral.
Media Composer or Symphony software with the Media Composer supports the following Avid
Video Satellite option can output and capture video peripherals:
video using the following Avid video peripherals:
• Media Composer | Nitris DX
• Media Composer | Nitris DX
• Media Composer | Mojo DX
• Media Composer | Mojo DX
When using an Avid video peripheral, the follow-
ing is required:
Avid Video Satellite
Requirements • An NTSC/PAL black burst generator
Avid Video Satellite requires the following system • A tri-level sync generator (when working with
components: HD-capable Avid video peripherals)
• Avid-qualified computer
• Pro Tools | HD Software
• HDX or HD Native hardware
• Pro Tools | SYNC HD
• A second Avid-qualified computer for
Media Composer or Symphony
When working with 24p and 23.976 projects, The Project Type is also established when
Media Composer defaults to displaying frames creating a new project in Media Composer.
mapped to 29.97 fps timecode. In order to keep the
3 In Pro Tools, choose Setup > Session.
Pro Tools and Media Composer or Symphony
timecode displays in sync when working in 24p or 4 Select a timecode setting from the Timecode
23.976 projects, click the timecode display above Rate pop-up menu that is compatible to the
the Record monitor and choose Sequence > Time- Media Composer Project Type setting.
code > 24 > Mas.
5 Make sure that a compatible clock source is
To avoid sync problems during later stages of available and connected correctly.
post production, it is strongly recommended 6 Select the connected clock reference from the
in most cases to change the settings in Clock Reference pop-up menu.
Pro Tools to match those of the sequence
open in Media Composer. 7 Select a compatible video format from the
Video Ref Format pop-up menu.
The following table describes compatibility between Avid Project Format and Edit Play Rate, and
Pro Tools Timecode Rates, Audio Pull Up/Down Rate, Clock Reference, and Video Format.
Rate and Sync Ref Compatibility between Avid and Pro Tools
25 PAL 25 4% Up PAL
*Although Media Composer standalone supports locking the video peripheral to black burst or tri-level
sync at these HD rates, Video Satellite will only support locking the Media Composer video peripheral to
tri-level sync when using these HD rates.
In almost all cases, the first frame of video is You can compensate for any offsets that might oc-
located at the start of the Media Composer se- cur if the start times of an Avid sequence differ be-
quence. However, Pro Tools sessions often have tween Media Composer and Pro Tools.
silence at the head to create countoffs or silence.
To compensate for different sequence start times:
For example, a Media Composer sequence may
1 In Pro Tools, go to Setup > Session. The Ses-
start at 01:00:00:00 while the matching Pro Tools
sion Setup window will appear.
session starts at 00:59:55:00—allowing five sec-
onds of silence before the audio starts. 2 In the External Timecode Offset section, com-
pensate for the offset between Pro Tools and
In some cases, starting playback from Video Satellite as follows:
Media Composer at a point which is more
• If the start time of the video satellite sequence
than a minute earlier than the start of the
falls before the start time of the Pro Tools se-
Pro Tools session may fail. Change the
quence, type a positive timecode value into the
Pro Tools session start time to be earlier.
Satellite Offset field.
To set the default start time for new sequences in • If the start time of the video satellite sequence
Media Composer:
falls after the start time of the Pro Tools se-
1 In the Project window, click the Settings tab and quence, type a negative timecode value into the
then double-click the General setting. Satellite Offset field.
2 Type in the desired starting timecode in the De-
fault Starting TC field. Compensating for Monitor-
Induced Output Delay
To change the start time of an existing sequence in
Media Composer:
Many monitors add a delay to the video output of
one or more frames. You can compensate for this
1 In Media Composer, open the bin containing delay by advancing the video output by the neces-
the existing sequence. sary number of frames.
2 If needed, re-size the bin window so that you
can see the Start column of the bin window. To set the number of frames to offset video output:
1 In Media Composer, choose Settings > Video
3 In the Start column for the sequence for which
Satellite Settings.
you want to set a new start time, type the new
start time using semi-colons (for Drop Frame) 2 In the Video Satellite Offset field, type a posi-
or colons (for Non-Drop Frame), and press En- tive value that matches the amount of delay in
ter. the monitors. You may need to try a few differ-
ent settings.
4 Click OK to confirm.
To link or unlink other satellite systems: 3 The softkeys corresponding with each machine
can then be pressed to link or unlink that ma-
Click the corresponding Satellite Link button in
chine.
the Transport window.
Video Satellite and EUCON Control and
To link or unlink the video satellite system from
Work Surfaces
within Media Composer, do one of the following:
Click the Satellite Link button to change it to a A selection of system linking controls have been
linked (green) or unlinked (grey) state. EUCONized. For more information on controlling
Video Satellite functions from EUCON
Press Shift-Alt-L (Windows) to toggle the link devices, see the Pro Tools EUCON Guide.
state between linked and unlinked.
Since video and audio are streamed in one signal 1 In Pro Tools, choose Setup > Session, and en-
over FireWire, it is not necessary to connect any sure the following:
audio inputs. • Clock Source pop-up menu is set to SYNC.
If you are capturing video using FireWire, you • Clock Reference pop-up menu is set to Video
must capture both audio and video into Reference.
Media Composer, because a single FireWire cable • If Clock Reference pop-up menu is set to an-
provides both video and audio. This audio can then other source, like Word Clock, make sure that
be exported over to Pro Tools. the Ref Present LED is lit, and that the clock ref-
erence that the SYNC is locked to matches that
of the VTR.
2 Route the audio inputs to the desired tracks.
Avid Video Satellite supports video capture to a When using this procedure with a video satellite,
new or existing sequence using the Capture Tools you must capture the audio to Media Composer
in Media Composer or Symphony. See and then export an AAF sequence referencing or
Media Composer or Symphony documentation for containing the embedded audio to Pro Tools.
configuration details.
Playing Back Captured Audio and Video Laying Back Audio and Video
with a Video Satellite System
to Tape
Once you have finished capturing with a video sat- You can layback audio from Pro Tools and video
ellite system, the captured clip appears in the Re- from Media Composer to tape using the Digital
cord Monitor and in the Timeline. Audio appears Cut Tool in Media Composer. See
in the Pro Tools Timeline. Media Composer documentation for configuration
details. Note that the 9-pin connection must be on
To view the captured clip, do the following:
the Media Composer composer system.
Click Play (or press the Spacebar) in Pro Tools
or Media Composer. The Universal Mastering feature in Sym-
phony is not supported with Video Satellite.
Source Record
Track Track Record Enable Preview
button button
Index 1219
Audio Media options 331 AudioSuite window 823
on export 355 Audition Paths selector 72
on import 341 auditioning
Audio MIDI Setup (AMS) (Mac) 52, 135 clips in the Clip List 72, 261
Audio Pull Up and Pull Down 1111, 1207 fades 581
Audio Pull Up/Down setting 1208 in browsers 290
Audio Pull-Up and Edit Play Rate 1208 MIDI notes 649
audio signal paths 64 pre/post-roll 392
Audio Track RecordLock option 104, 469 programs 667
audio tracks 8 selection start and end points 392
5.1 format 1065 takes 440
and Output format 1075 Auto Backup option 103
and surround sessions 1073 Auto button (plug-ins) 965
bouncing to disk 1048 Auto Input Monitoring mode 421, 422
channel strips 191 Auto Insert Default Plug-Ins preference 109
creating a tempo map for 756 Auto Match Pull Factors 1112
disabling Elastic Audio 842 Auto Rename Clip List command 265
enabling Elastic Audio 841 auto-created clips 486
loop recording 439 hiding 265
placing audio in multichannel tracks 1074 renaming 263
punch recording 435 AutoFades 589
recording multiple 429 AutoGlide mode 1094
signal flow 906 AutoGlide Time preference 111, 1094
track controls 195 AutoJoin
Waveform View 487 command 989
Audio Zoom In button 509 indicator 990
Audio Zoom Out button 509 AutoMatch
AudioSuite menu 186 all controls 1004
AudioSuite plug-ins 823, 824, 830, 957 button 1003
Bypass button 829 indicators 997
Clip by Clip mode 826 individual automation types 1004
Clip List command 824 individual controls 1004
Create Continuous File command 826 AutoMatch Time preference 111, 993
Create Individual Files command 826 Automatically Copy Files on Import option 117, 320,
Default Handle Length preferences 116 330
Entire Selection mode 826 Automatically Create Click Track in New Sessions
File Mode selector 825 option 119
Handle Length setting 829 Automatically Find and Relink 366
multichannel processing 829 automating
Overwrite File command 826 plug-ins 1001, 1002, 1003
Playlist command 824 sends 1000
Preview 828 switched controls 999
Preview Volume 828 VCA Masters 1040
Render button 829 automation 985
Reverse button 829 and multichannel pan 1098
Selection Reference selector 824 and multiple output assignments 1075
Target button 827 breakpoints 1015
Use in Playlist button 825 capturing and applying elsewhere 1034, 1037
using 830 clips 491
Whole File button 829 coalescing clip gain to volume automation 573
Index 1223
Export Clip Definitions command 324 displaying times 495
Export Selected As Files command 353 dragging from Clip List 785
Find command 258 dragging to multichannel tracks 565
Rename command 263 duplicating 807
Select options 261 Edit-locking 801
Selected Unused command 266 exporting as audio files 322
Show Auto-Created option 265 extending selections to include 540
Sort By options 257 finding 258
Time Stamp Selected command 795 fitting to an Edit selection 576
Timeline Drop Order option 786 gain 566
Clip List Selection Follows Edit Selection option healing separations 559
107, 256, 536 hiding auto-created 265
Clip menu 186 inserting silence into 806
Bring to Front command 559 locking 801
Capture command 555 looping 809
Identify Sync Point command 1126 managing 263
Lock command 801 MIDI 454
Mute/Unmute command 803 moving clips with fades 592
Quantize to Grid command 564 moving in Grid mode 796
Remove Sync Point command 799 multichannel 487
Send to Back command 559 muting 803
Ungroup All Clips command 814 nudging 563
Ungroup Clips command 814 nudging clips with fades 592
Unlock command 801 offline 487
Unloop Clips command 810 Original Time Stamp 795
Clip Name pasting 500
Right-click menu 187, 266 placing at Edit insertion point 787
View option 495 placing in tracks 785
Clip Time View option 495 quantizing 564, 880
clip-based gain 344, 566 removing pitch shift (Elastic Audio) 864
clipping 404 removing silence from 804
clips 10, 213, 487 removing unused 266
aligning to clip start points 788 removing warp (Elastic Audio) 857
auto-created 486 renaming in the Clip List 263
automation 491 renaming on a track 494
auto-naming options 265 repeating 808
auto-spotting 1124 replacing 796
bringing to front 559 Select options 261
capturing 555 selecting 524, 535
clearing 500 selecting all in a track 536
clearing Real-Time Properties 677 sending to back 559
Conform to Tempo 742 separating 555
conforming with Beat Detective 630 separating with Beat Detective 629
consolidating 575 separating with Separation Grabber 557
copying 499 shifting 800
creating 555 shuffling 790
crossfading between 588 sliding 789
cutting 499 slipping 793
default names 414 snapping to 791
displaying names 495 snapping to next 792
Index 1225
Convert WAV files to AES31/BroadcastWave Current Time display 1105
option 117, 320, 368 Current Timecode Position command 1110
converting sessions 154 Custom FF/REW Speed preference 102
Copy Clip Gain command 572 Custom Note Duration
Copy command 499 Follow Grid 642
Copy From Source Media 356 custom session templates 158
Copy from Source Media (Video) 332, 342 Custom Shuttle Lock Speed preference 102, 529
Copy Settings command 970 Cut Clip Gain command 572
Copy Source Audio Media 341 Cut command 499
Copy Special commands 1020 Cut Special commands 1019
Copy to Send command 1001 All Automation 1019
copying Pan Automation 1019
MIDI notes with the Split command 889 Plug-In Automation 1019
plug-in settings 972 Cut Time command 762, 766
selections and clips 499 cutting
track automation to sends 1000 automation 1017
track control settings to sends 929 MIDI notes with the Split command 889
Core Audio 6 selections and clips 499
count off 407
Countoff button 173 D
Create Click Track command 406 DAT recorder, recording from 445
Create Fades command 588, 589 D-Command 44, 951
creating D-Control 44, 951
clip groups 813 default
clips 555 audition path 72
crossfades 588 meter 408
fade-ins/outs 586 metering path 71
Mac and PC compatible sessions 370 output path 72
Markers and Memory Locations 773 path order 74
sessions 145 paths 84
settings subfolders 971 program change 663
Crossfade Preference for Pre/Post-Roll option 107, start time for Media Composer sequences
586
1212
crossfades tempo 409
creating with Smart Tool 525 Default (Paths) 84
DestructivePunch 469 Default Automatic Naming to English option 100
equal gain 584 Default Clip Color Coding options 101
equal power 584, 585 Default Dynamics preference 109, 962
Fades dialog 580 Default EQ preference 109, 962
in batches 590 Default Fade Settings 108
linear 585 Default Handle Length options 116
overlap 586 Default Input Gain preference 118
Overlapping Waveforms view 580 Default Monitor Format selector 74
pre/post 589 Default Note Duration 642
removing 588 Default Note On Velocity setting 642
TrackPunch 468 Default Plug-In preference 118
trimming 589 Default Settings, for TC/E plug-in 118
Current Feet+Frames command 1110 Default Thru Instrument 449
Current Meter indicator 173, 759 Default Thru Instrument preference 119
current tempo 173, 737 Default Track Color Coding options 101
1226 Pro Tools Reference Guide
Degree of Thinning preference 110 destructive editing 575
delay 1201, 1212 Destructive Record mode 412, 437
MIDI Track Offsets 670 destructive recording 437
Delay (dly) indicator 945 DestructivePunch 475
Delay After Play Command preference 122 crossfades 469
Delay Before Locking to LTC option 121 Prepare DPE Tracks command 477
Delay Before Locking to Timecode option 121 preparing for 476
Delay Compensation 943 DestructivePunch File Length preference 106, 477
applying to automatically bypassed tracks 467, DigiGroove templates 627
947 Digital Cut Tool (Media Composer) 1217
bypassing 945 DigiTest 48
changing track delay 945 Disable “Input” When Disarming Track (In “Stop”)
Delay (dly) indicator 945 option 105
enabling 943 discrete signal control 1074
exceeding compensation limit 946 Disk Allocation 419
H/W Insert 69 and cross-platform sessions 420
hardware insert delays 69, 949 and system volume 421
MIDI Beat Clock 120 Disk Space window 418
MIDI Timecode 120 Display (Group List) command 244
mode 944 Display Events as Modified by Real-Time
Time Mode option 106 Properties option 119, 678
User Offset (+/–) field 945 Display Preferences 99
viewing 206, 918 Clip Hold options 115
Delay Compensation Status indicator 166 Draw Grids in Edit Window option 505
Delay Compensation Time Mode option 106, 944 Language options 100
Delay Compensation View 206, 918, 945 Peak Hold options 115
Delay Compensation View option 945 displaying
Delay for External Devices options 120 all rulers 731
Delay plug-ins 955 clip names 495
Delay setting (Real-Time Properties) 675 clip times 495
Delete Active Groups (Group List) command 244, file info for audio clips 256
249 Meter Ruler 759
Delete Current Settings File command 970 Original Time Stamps 1125
Delete Fades command 588 Tempo ruler 737
Delete Group command 244, 249 User Time Stamps 1126
Delete Track command 211, 222 dither
deleting and Bounce to Disk 1046
automation 1010, 1017 on Master Faders 1046
groups 249 resolution and Bounce to Disk 1054
Memory Locations 780 divergence
MIDI Event List items 725 drawing 1096
MIDI notes 658 using 1095
paths in I/O Setup 87 Double-Clicking a MIDI Clip Opens option 119
playlists 599 drag and drop
program changes 666 from the Clip List to tracks 786, 787
sysex events 668 importing audio files 312
tracks 211 importing MIDI files 326
unused clips 266 Drag and Drop From Desktop Conforms to Session
Destination Audio Sample Rate 344, 355 Tempo options 117, 320
destination folder for plug-in settings 971 Draw Grids in Edit Window option 505
Index 1227
DSP Copy command 499
active and inactive items 15 Copy Special commands (automation) 1020
and inactive inputs and outputs 226 Copy to Send command 1001
and inactive outputs 921 Create Fades command 588, 589
and inactive sends 928 Cut command 499
and no output 921 Cut Special commands 1019
and overall resources 15 Delete Fades command 588
and Send meters 927 Duplicate command 807
DSP usage meters 61 Fade To End command 588
dubber emulation 105, 469 Fade To Start command 588
Duplicate command 807 Fades command 580
Duplicate Group command 244 Heal Separation command 559
Duplicate Track command 211, 222, 987 Identify Sync Point command 799
duplicating Insert Silence command 806
inserts 963 Paste command 500
MIDI note selections 807 Play Edit Selection command 393
playlists 598 Play Timeline Selection command 393
selections and clips 807 Redo command 496
sends 929 Repeat command 808
Duration Repeat to Fill Selection command 501
Real-Time Properties 674 Select All command 536
durations, for MIDI notes Separate Clip commands 555
editing with Change Duration command 885 Shift command 800
making more legato 887 Strip Silence command 803, 804
making more staccato 886 TCE Edit to Timeline Selection command 576
randomizing 886 Thin All Automation command 1011
Dynamic Plug-In Processing option 51 Thin Automation command 1011
Dynamic Transport mode 395 Trim Automation to All Enabled command
Dynamics plug-ins 955 1035
Trim Automation to Current command 1035
E Trim Clip End to Fill Selection command 560
Edit commands 498, 499, 500 Trim Clip End to Insertion command 560
edit cursor 386 Trim Clip Start to Fill Selection command 560
and scrubbing 527 Trim Clip Start to Insertion command 560
moving to clip boundaries 543 Trim Clip to File commands 561
placing with the Selector tool 523 Trim Clip to Fill Selection command 561
Edit Groups 246 Trim Clip to Selection command 559
and selections 535 Undo command 496
Edit Insertion Follows Scrub/Shuttle option 102, 527 Write Automation commands 1033, 1034
Edit insertion point Edit mode buttons 165, 503
placing clips at 787 Edit modes 503
trimming clips to 560 and placing clips 785
Edit Markers 534 Grid 505
and selection length 539 Relative Grid 505
Edit menu 186 Shuffle 503
Change Edit to Match Timeline command 546 Shuffle Lock 504
Change Timeline to Match Edit command 546 Slip 504
Clear command 500 Spot 504, 1122
Clear Special commands 1020 Edit Play Rate setting 1207, 1208
Consolidate command 575 edit playlists 597
Index 1229
out of range processing 856 plug-in automation 969
pitch shift 863 End To Insertion command 560
Plug-In selector in browsers 292 Enforce Avid Compatibility option 353
plug-ins 846 Enforce Mac/PC Compatibility option 156, 370
Polyphonic plug-in 847 EQ plug-ins 955
preview at session tempo 294 equal gain crossfades 584
processing types 845 equal power crossfades 584, 585
promoting Event markers 858 error suppression 50
properties 859 Ethernet Controllers 130
quantizing 879 EUCON 131, 951, 985
Range Warp 854 Event Edit Area 656
removing pitch shift 864 Event menu 186
removing warp 857 All MIDI Notes Off command 671
Rendered files 846 Beat Detective command 617
regenerating 297, 366 Change Meter command 760
Rhythmic plug-in 848 Event commands 867
TCE algorithms 846 Identify Beat command 756
Telescoping Warp 853 MIDI commands 867
tempo detection 844 MIDI Event List 719
Tempo Event–generated Warp markers 853 MIDI Track Offsets command 670
tempo-based warping 741 Remove Duplicate Notes command 671
track controls 843 Renumber Bars command 768
track views 843 Tempo commands 750
tracks 841 Time commands 762
transpose 863 Event Operations commands 867
Varispeed plug-in 849 Change Duration command 885
Warp indicator 856 Change Velocity command 883
Warp markers 851 Flatten Performance command 882
Warp view 843, 851 Input Quantize command 891
warped clips 856 Quantize command 868
workflows 835, 836 Restore Performance command 881
X-Form plug-in 850 Select/Split Notes command 890
Elastic Audio Plug-In Selector 843 Step Input command 892
Elastic Audio preferences 118 Transpose command 887
Elastic Audio-enabled tracks 841 Event Operations window 867, 868
Elastic Properties window 859 Exit command (Windows) 160
Eleven Rack 36 Expand Channels to New Playlists 612
Embed Eleven Setting From selector 75 Expand to New Tracks command 222
embedded media 20 Expanded Transport View 184, 432
Enable Dub Window option 127 Export
Enable Elastic Audio on New Tracks preference 118 Audio Media options 355
Enable GPU option 104 OMF/AAF Options 353
Enable Hardware During Scrub option 104 Sample Rate Conversion options 355
Enable Session File Auto Backup option 103 Export Clip Definitions command 266, 324
Enable SYNC Peripheral option 126 Export Clip Groups command 363
enabling Export Clips as Files command 266, 322
Auto Backup option 103 Export MIDI command 326
automation 1008 Export MIDI Settings dialog
groups 252 Apply Real-Time Properties option 327
MIDI input devices 448 MIDI File Format pop-up menu 326
Index 1233
paths 87 Instrument tracks 190
paths, global 87 channel strips 194
sends 928 Clips View 213
track path assignments 226 MIDI Input selector 231
tracks 235 MIDI Output selector 231
Include Control Changes in Undo Queue option 111 monitoring and mixing 936
Include Sends in Trim Mode option 111 Notes View 213
Incoming Time display 1105 recording 452
in-place auditioning 262 signal flow 909
input connections 11, 404 surround mixing 1077
Input Devices command 448 track controls 197
Input Filter command 450 Instruments View 917
MIDI Event List View Filter dialog 721 Interchange Workflow
MIDI Input Filter dialog 450 linked media 21
input levels 404 Interchange workflow
Input Only Monitoring mode 422 embedded media 20
Input Path selector 198, 223 interleaved audio file 148
Input Quantize command 867, 891 interleaved option (sessions) 148, 1105
Insert Position selector 964 Internal mode (Clock Source option) 1104
Insert Silence command 806 internal side-chain processing 969
Insert Time command 762, 764 Inverse linked panning 933
inserting Items to Copy 157
controller events 661 Preserve Folder Hierarchy command 158
events in MIDI Event List 722
meter events 760 J
MIDI notes 646 Jam Sync 1108
plug-ins on tracks 959 Join command 989
program changes 666
tempo events 737
Insertion Follows Playback option 102, 397 K
inserts 913, 955 key input 964, 969
duplicating 963 Key Input selector 827, 964
hardware I/O 956 key signature map 336
hardware insert delays 69 Keyboard Focus 23
labeling 982 Clip List 24, 260
making inactive (and active) 958 Commands 24
mono 956 Group List 24
mono-to-stereo 956 keyboard shortcuts 968
moving 963 global key commands 23
plug-ins 955 numeric entry 541
post-fader on Master Faders 908, 955 recording 429
send and return processing 956 Knowledge Base 186
shared within a submix 940
single track processing 956 L
stereo 956 Language options 100
Inserts View 917 Last Used 95
Inserts View options 914 Latch automation mode 989
Instrument plug-ins 462 AutoJoin 989
Join 989
Latch option 234
Index 1237
MIDI Operations window 867 MIDI Volume fader 199
MIDI Output selector 198, 230 MIDI Zoom In button 509
Instrument track 231 MIDI Zoom Out button 509
MIDI Preferences 118 mini-keyboard 493, 649
Global MIDI Playback Offset preference 669 Minimize Additional I/O Latency option 51
Pencil Tool Resolution When Drawing Minimum Sync Delay option 121, 1121
Controller Data option 119, 661, 1012 Minutes:Seconds Time Scale 730
MIDI Preferences page 118 Mirror MIDI Editing 643
MIDI program changes missing files 366
chasing 669 skipping 297
MIDI Real-Time Properties 671 mix busses 372, 925
on tracks and clips 676 Mix Groups 246
settings 673 Mix window 162, 163
MIDI recording 447 All View option 162, 916
canceling takes 455 None Views option 916
enabling input devices 448 track controls 162
Input Filter 450 track width 206
Merge/Replace mode 451 Mix Window Follows Bank Selection option 110
monitoring with MIDI Thru 449 Mix window View options 916
quantizing on input 450, 891 Mix Window View selector 915
System Exclusive data 460 mixed bit depths 156
undoing a take 455 mixed file types 156
Wait for Note 450 mixing down to stereo 1060
MIDI Replace mode 173, 413, 451 Mixing Preferences 109
MIDI Setup commands MMC (see MIDI Machine Control)
Input Devices command 448 Modify Group command 244
Input Filter command 450 Modify Groups command 244
MIDI Beat Clock command 399 Mojo DX 1155
MIDI Studio Setup (MSS) (Windows) 52, 138, 664 Momentary Solo Latch option 234
MIDI Thru command 449 monitoring
MIDI Timecode (MTC) during punch recording 436
Idle MTC Output 126 MIDI recording with MIDI Thru 449
MIDI Track Offsets command 670 monitoring modes 421
MIDI tracks Auto Input 421
and MIDI offsets 669 Input Only 422
assigning to multiple channels 452 Move Song Start command 762, 767
channel strips 193 moving
Clips View 212, 213, 491 Bar|Beat Markers 757
default program change 663 clips with fades 592
input 229 fades 591
loop recording 457 inserts 963
note chasing 668 Markers 779
Notes View 212, 213, 493 MIDI notes 651
output 230 program changes 666
punch recording 455, 456 sysex events 668
recording 447, 452 MP3 file format 1051
selecting a pitch range in 890 importing 311
Sysex View 667 MTC (MIDI Timecode) 1108
track controls 196 MTC Generator Port setting 126
Velocity View 655 MTC Reader Port setting 126
Index 1239
offline Loop Record mode 439
clips 487 MIDI Thru command 449
files, selecting in Workspace 277 Mirror MIDI Editing command 643
Offline (faster-than-real-time) Bounce 1058 Pre/Post Roll option 435
offset Pre-Fader Metering option 201
setting for video satellite start time 1201 Scrolling options 390
OMF 348 Solo Latch options 234
embedded media 20 Transport Online command 1115
exporting 353 Organize Plug-In Menus By option 100, 961
import translation settings 344 Original Time Stamp 795, 1125
importing 337 Other Playlists menu 598
linked media 21 Output Meter Path selector 71
media data 17 Output Options
metadata 18, 1131 Conversion Quality option 1055
opening in Pro Tools 338 Sample Rate 1055
publishing options 356 Output Path selector 198, 224
Online button 170 Output Window button 1089
online help 1205 Output windows 919
Online options 106 outputs
online recording 1116 assigning multiple outputs 920
on-the-fly punch recording default 5.1 paths and sub-paths 1068
QuickPunch 412, 470 format and tracks 1075
Open Session command 150 to multichannel paths 1076
Open Unresourced DSP Plug-Ins as Native overlap crossfades 586
preference 118 overlapping paths 89
Opening an AAF sequence in Pro Tools 338
Opening an OMF sequence in Pro Tools 338 P
opening plug-in windows 967 P (Playback Only volumes) 272
Operation Preferences 102 Page Scrolling option 390, 685, 704
Audio During Fast Forward/Rewind option 387 Pan automation 1014
Clip Auto Fade In/Out Length preference 590 Pan Depth 914
Edit Insertion Follows Scrub/Shuttle option 527 Pan indicator 199
Link Record and Play Faders option 423 Pan Odd Tracks Left/Even Tracks Right 345
Machine Chases Memory Location option 1120 Pan slider 199
Machine Follows Edit Insertion/Scrub option panning
1120
3-knob 1093
Record Online option 1116 automation and groups 1017
Use F11 for Wait for Note 451 fine-adjust mode 1093
Operation/Destination Track pop-up menus 333 grids 1088
Operations menu guidelines 1081, 1083
Calibration Mode command 405 linked stereo 933, 1092
Link Timeline and Edit Selection option 533 multichannel automation playlists 1098
Link Track and Edit Selection 210, 534 take over in grid 1092
Low Latency Monitoring option 425 trajectory 1094
Options menu 186 Use Absolute Pan Linking option 109
Auto-Spot Clips command 1124 X/Y mode 1092
Delay Compensation option 943 Parabolic command (Tempo Operations) 752
Destructive Record mode 437 pass-through point 988
Link Track and Edit Selection option 210, 534 Paste command 500
Loop Playback option 395 Paste Settings command 970
1240 Pro Tools Reference Guide
Paste Special commands (automation) 1020 Pencil Tool Resolution When Drawing Controller
pasting Data option 119, 661, 1012
automation 1020 pending tasks 307
multiple data types 502 Performance Volume 269
plug-in settings 972 Peripherals
selections and clips 500 Ethernet controllers 130
to multiple tracks 502 Machine Control 127
with Repeat to Fill Selection command 501 MIDI Controllers 129
Patch Select button 663 PRE 131
paths 64 Satellites 132
active and inactive 87 Synchronization 125
audition 72 VENUE 133
creating 81 Peripherals dialog 125, 447
creating multichannel 1069 Peripherals list 56, 57
customizing 84 personalities 952
default mono and stereo 84 PFL (Pre Fader Listen) 233
default order 74 pitch (MIDI notes)
default output 72 transposing 650
deleting 87 Pitch Memory Enabled option 126
editing 84 pitch shifting 863
for surround 1079 pitch, for MIDI notes
last used 95 transposing with Transpose command 887
main 64 Play button 170
mapping 88 Play Edit Selection command 392, 393
multichannel example 88 Play MIDI Notes When Editing option 641
overlapping 89 Play Start Follows Timeline Selection option 102
reordering 86 Play Start Latency setting 104
selecting 86 Play Start Marker Follows Timeline Selection option
sub-path surround examples 1082 397
sub-paths 64 Play Timeline Selection command 392, 393
Peak Hold options 115, 201 playback
Peak indicator 198 audio 383
Peak view 488 MIDI 384
PEC/Direct Style Input Monitoring option 105 no scrolling 390
Pencil tool 507, 530, 644 starting 383
as Eraser 658 stopping 383
drawing automation 1012 playback cursor 385
editing breakpoints 1014 Playback Cursor locator 386
editing clip gain 570 Playback Engine 48
editing Tempo 744 Cache Size 52
Free Hand 645 Hardware Buffer Size 50
inserting MIDI notes 646 Host Engine 50
Line 645, 744 Number of Voices 51
Random 645 Sample Rate 52
repairing waveforms with 530 Playback Engine setting 49
resolution for inserted controller events 661 Playhead 391, 685
selecting the Pencil tool shape 644 and Edit selections 393
shapes 644, 1012 and Timeline selections 393
Square 645 moving to clip boundaries 394
Triangle 645
Index 1241
playing plug-in windows
and making selections 537 opening and closing 967
at half-speed 394 plug-ins
audio 383 and pull rates 1115
Edit selections with Playhead enabled 393 and surround mixing 1078
from a track point 387 automating 1001
MIDI 384 bypassing from window 980
selections 391 Category 961
Timeline selections with Playhead enabled 393 Category and Manufacturer 962
tracks 383, 428 Channel selector for multi-mono 1078
Playlist lanes 602 creating a default setting 972
Playlist selector 11, 597 enabling for automation 969, 1002, 1003
playlists 11, 597 favorites 962
adding 598 Flat List 961
and groups 599 for surround 1078
and multichannel tracks 1016 inserting on tracks 959
and nondestructive MIDI editing 494 Librarian menu 964
assigning 598 linking and unlinking 981, 1078
automation playlists 597, 986, 994 Manufacturer 961
auto-naming 597 mono-to-stereo 956
changing timebase of 735 multichannel 956
deleting 599 multi-mono 956, 1078
duplicating 598 Next Setting button 965
edit playlists 597 Organize Plug-In Menus By command 961
Playlist selector 597 Plug-In Settings menu 964
recalling 598 Plug-In Settings Select button 965
recording to new 438 presets 970
renaming 599 Previous Setting button 965
setting pre/post-roll in 434 removing from tracks 959
Playlists view 602 post crossfades 580, 589
plug-in controls Post-Roll button 171
adjusting 968 Power view 488
linking 981 PRE 44
Plug-In Controls Default to Auto-Enabled option 110 configuring 131
plug-in inserts 955 I/O Setup 68
plug-in maps 975 pre crossfades 580, 589
creating 976 Pre Fader Listen (PFL) mode 233
deleting 978 PRE settings 336
importing and exporting 979 Pre/Post Fader button 934
Learn mode 975 Pre/Post Roll option 435
managing 978 pre/post-fader inserts 955
setting default 978 pre/post-roll
Plug-In selector and loop recording 439
for AudioSuite plug-ins 824 and punch recording 435
for real-time plug-ins 964 auditioning 392
plug-in settings 972 setting 433
Plug-In Settings menu 964, 970 Pre/Post-Roll Flags 435, 534
Plug-In Settings Select button 965 Pre-Fader Metering option 201
Index 1243
punch recording Duration 674
and monitoring 436 enabling 673
and pre/post-roll 435 in the Edit window 678
audio 435 in the MIDI Event List 677
MIDI 455 on tracks and clips 676
MIDI tracks 456 Quantize 673
settings 673
Q track-based 677
Quantize Transpose 676
audio clips 870, 880 Velocity 675
Elastic Audio events 870, 879 View 671
quantizing clips to grid 564 viewing 671
Real-Time Properties 673 writing to clips 677
Quantize Clips to Grid command 795 writing to tracks 677
Quantize command 867, 868 Real-Time Properties View 672, 918
Quantize Edits to Frame Boundaries option 354 Real-Time Properties window 672
Quantize to Grid command 564 Rear Divergence 1095
Quantize window 871 Recalculate Waveform Overviews command 266
quantizing Recall Memory Location Selection at Original Track
MIDI notes 870, 874 option 107
MIDI on input 450, 891 Record button (Transport) 171
Quick Start dialog 143 Record Enable button 416, 472
QuickPunch 412, 466, 470 record modes 411
clip/take numbering 468 and MIDI 413
crossfades 468 Destructive Record mode 412
Pro Tools HD systems 466 Loop Record mode 412
QuickPunch Crossfade Length preference 107, 468 Nondestructive Record mode 411
QuickTime file formats 1053 QuickPunch 412
QuickTime movies Record Online at Insertion/Selection option 106
importing audio from 1170 Record Online at Timecode (or ADAT) Lock option
106
optimizing for playback 1180
requirements 1156 Record Online option 1116
sync 1181 Record Safe mode 418
Quit command (Mac) 160 recording 427
a mono audio track 427
a stereo audio track 427
R a submix to disk 1047
R (Record and Playback volumes) 272 additional takes 437
randomizing at half-speed 446
note durations 886 bouncing to disk 1048
note locations 871 canceling takes 429
Read automation mode 988 destructively 437
Read Trim automation mode 991 from a digital source 444
real-time plug-ins 955 from Record Pause mode 430
Real-Time Properties Instrument tracks 452
clearing 677 keyboard shortcuts 429
clip-based 676 Loop Record 439
Delay 675 MIDI clips 454
Display Events as Modified by Real-Time MIDI tracks 452
Properties option 119 multichannel tracks 427
Index 1247
Set As User Default command 971 Master Faders 908
Set Plug-In Default To command 971 signal paths 64
Set Record Tracks to Auto Input command 423 signal routing
Set Record Tracks to Input Only command 423 and default path order 74
Set Servo Lock Bit at Play option 121 basics for surround 1076
setting example 12
punch/loop points 430 surround examples 1083
satellite start time offset 1201 Single Zoom mode 512, 699
settings SIP (Solo In Place) 232
choosing a destination for 971 Size setting (for window dub) 127
copying 972 Skip All 366
creating 972 slices 616
creating subfolders 971 sliding clips 789
pasting 972 Slip mode 504
saving 972 and moving clips 793
Settings Preferences command 971 Smart Tool 507, 525
Setup menu 186 creating crossfades with 525
Click/Countoff Options dialog 408 creating fades with 525
Disk Allocation 419 editing automation 527
I/O Setup 64 editing controller events with 527
MIDI Studio 664 Elastic Audio tracks 526
Preferences command 99 MIDI tracks 526
Session Setup 1103 multichannel tracks 527
Video Sync Offset command 1181 Smooth and Thin Data After Pass option 110, 1011
Share With SoundCloud option 1056 smoothing automation 993
Shift command 800 SMPTE
shortcuts for keyboard input 968 configuration 1109
Show All Tracks Group command 245 start frame (sessions) 1105
Show Auto-Created option 265 Snap Pan to Speaker icons 1091
Show Only Tracks in Group command 244 Snap To Bar option 760
Show/Hide Clip List button 255 Snap To commands 791
Show/Hide Track List/Group List View button 219, Snap To Grid 506
243 snapping to the following or preceding clip 791
Show/Hide Tracks in Group command 244 snapshot automation 1032
Shuffle Lock mode 504 adding to empty automation playlists 1033
Shuffle mode 503 and trim values 1035
and locked clips 802 writing over existing automation 1034
and moving clips 789 software updates 45
shuttle Solo button 232
fixed mode option 529 Solo in Place (SIP) mode 232
Shuttle Numeric Keypad mode 27, 103, 530 Solo Latch options 234
Sibelius (.sib) file 718 Solo modes 232, 233
Side % (Percentage) 1095 Solo Safe mode 234
side-chain 969 soloing
filters 969 tracks 232
processing 964 tracks in a submix 943
signal flow Song Start Marker 736
audio tracks 906 editing tempo 737
Auxiliary Inputs 907 moving 736
Instrument tracks 909 Sony Dynamic Digital Sound (SDDS) 1066
Index 1249
Synchronization Preferences 120 tempo
Sysex View 667 current 737
System Exclusive data 667 default 409
deleting 668 display 173
moving 668 effects on Markers and Memory Locations 777
recording 460 Manual Tempo mode 410
system resources 15 tapping in 410
system settings Tempo Edit Density pop-up menu 745
Cache Size 52 Tempo Editor 743
Clock Source system setting 55 Tempo Event Warp markers 742
Hardware Buffer Size 48, 50 Tempo Event–generated Warp markers 853
Hardware Setup 55 tempo events 737
Host Engine 50 and Bar|Beat Markers 757
Number of Voices 51 editing 738
Playback Engine 49 extending selections to 746
Sample Rate 52 inserting 737
System Usage window 60, 62 tempo map 336
from Identify Beat command 756
T Tempo Operations commands
T (Transfer volumes) 272 Constant command 751
Tab to Transients button 389, 544 Linear command 751
take over (surround pan) 1092 Parabolic command 752
takes Scale command 754
auditioning 440 S-Curve command 753
default names 414 Stretch command 755
matching alternates 441, 609 Tempo Operations window 750
MIDI 460 Tempo Resolution selector 744
multiple tracks 442, 610 Tempo ruler
numbering for QuickPunch 468 displaying 737
recording additional 437 extending an Edit selection to 739, 780
selecting an alternate take 441, 610 Tempo Ruler Enable button 173
tapping in the tempo 410 Thin All Automation command 1011
Target button (plug-ins) 966 Thin Automation command 1011
Target Project Timecode Format 353 thinning automation 993, 1011
Task Manager 305, 317 tick-based timing 733, 777
tasks Time Compression/Expansion plug-in 576
failed 307 Time Compression/Expansion Trim tool 118, 519
grouped 308 trimming MIDI 658
paused 306 Time Grabber tool 524, 538
pausing during playback 308 Time Operations commands 762
pending 307 Change Meter command 762
TC/E Plug-In preference 118, 519 Cut Time command 766
TCE Edit to Timeline command 576 Insert Time command 764
TCE Trim tool 519, 520 Move Song Start command 767
templates Time Operations window 759, 762
Beat Detective 627 Time Scale 732
DigiGroove 627 Bars|Beats 729
Pro Tools session 158 Feet+Frames 730
Main 732, 1111
Minutes:Seconds 730
Index 1251
Write MIDI Real-Time Properties command moving selections between 542
677 muting 235
Track Name commands 221 names 206, 208
Track Name/Comments dialog 208 placing clips in 785
Track Number command 209, 548 playback priority 228
Track Offset options 333, 343 playing 383, 428
Track Position Numbers Stay with Hidden Tracks record enabling 416
option 99 removing from a selection 543
Track Record Enable indicator 171 scrolling shortcut 548
Track selector 964 selecting across multiple 541
Track View 212 selecting clips 536
Blocks 213 selecting in Timebase rulers 542
changing 215 selecting material in 535
Clips 212, 213, 491 soloing 232
edit content 498 surround 1073
Master View 1018 Track Height 216
Notes 212, 213, 493 Track View 212, 215
Playlists 602 transposing 887
Sysex 667 trimming unwanted data from 559
toggling 216 types 189
Velocity 655 video 1157
Waveform 487 Tracks (Group List) command 244
Track View selector 214 trajectory panning 1094
Track View Toggle 216 Transfer files 366
track width 206 selecting in Workspace 277
TrackInput Monitor button 422 Transfer volume 269
TrackInput Monitor indicator 171 transients 487
TrackPunch detecting with Beat Detective 620
crossfades 468 tabbing to 389, 544
preferences 469 Transport 169
tracks 8 Count Off 407
5.1 format track layout 1073 Meter 409
adding comments 209 Metronome 407
adding to selection 541, 542 Transport Master 1120
appending new material to end of 438 Transport Numeric Keypad mode 26, 103
Color Coding options 236 Transport Online option 1115
converting multichannel tracks into mono Transport RecordLock option 105, 469, 480
tracks 1074 Transport View options 172, 385, 432, 434
creating a click track 406 Transport window 169
creating new Elastic Audio tracks 842 MIDI controls 172
deleting 211 pre/post-roll 171, 434
duplicating 211, 987 record status display 472
Elastic Audio 841 start, end, and length fields 172, 432
formats 190 transport controls 169
grouping 241 Transpose
hiding 220 Elastic Audio 863
locating with Fast Forward/Rewind 387 MIDI notes 887
making inactive/active 235 Real-Time Properties 676
Master View 216, 1018 Transpose command 867, 887
metering 201
Index 1255
writing
automation 997
automation on stop 1026
automation to next breakpoint 1026
automation to selection, selection start or end
1024
snapshot automation 1033
X
XML (MIDI patch names) 664
X–OR (Cancels Previous Solos) Solo Latch option
234
Z
zero-crossing 490
Zoom buttons 508
Zoom Presets 513
Zoom Toggle 514
Zoom Toggle preferences 108, 514
Zoomer tool 507, 508, 510
zooming 508
a track area 511, 699
around a track point 511, 698
continuously 508
horizontally for all tracks 508
in the ruler 512
in the Tempo Editor 743
on a selection 510
out to the entire session 510
recalling zoom levels 513
return to the previous zoom level 510
storing zoom levels 513
to make all clips visible 510
vertically 509
with a scroll wheel 517
Zoom Toggle 514