Professional Documents
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Version 12.8.2
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Contents
Contents iii
Toolbar Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Numeric Keypad Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Contents v
MIDI Controllers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Ethernet Controllers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Mic Preamps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Satellites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
VENUE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Atmos. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Contents vii
Tracks List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Track Name Right-Click Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
Assigning Audio Inputs and Outputs to Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Track Priority and Voice Assignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Assigning MIDI Inputs and Outputs to Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Soloing and Muting Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
Making Tracks Inactive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Color Coding for Tracks, Clips, Markers, and Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Contents ix
Chapter 18. Track Collaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
Sharing Projects and Collaborating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
What is Shared? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
What is Not Shared? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
Project Ownership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
Track Collaboration Tools in the Edit Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
Track Collaboration Tools in the Transport Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
Global Track Collaboration Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364
Track Collaboration Track View in the Edit and Mix Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
Track Collaboration Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368
Track Ownership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
Conflicts Between Track Changes and the Cloud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374
Track Cloud Synchronization Indicator in the Tracks List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
Conductor Ruler Collaboration Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376
Contents xi
Record Enabling Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492
Working with Hard Drives for Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495
Selecting a Record Input Monitoring Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498
Setting Monitor Levels for Record and Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500
Reducing Monitoring Latency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500
Part V Editing
Chapter 26. Editing Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563
Track Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 564
Audio Clips and Waveforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565
MIDI Clips and MIDI Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 569
Naming Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 572
Displaying Clip Names, Clip Times, and Other Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573
Multiple Undo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574
Basic Editing Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 576
Editing Across Multiple Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 580
Contents xiii
Tandem Trimming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 601
Using the Selector Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 601
Using the Grabber Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 602
Using the Smart Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 603
Using the Scrubber Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 605
Numeric Keypad Set to Shuttle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 608
Using the Pencil Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 608
Edit/Tool Mode Keyboard Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609
Contents xv
Separating Clips with Beat Detective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 707
Conforming Clips with Beat Detective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 708
Edit Smoothing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 711
Detection (Normal) and Collection Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 713
Part VI MIDI
Chapter 33. MIDI Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 719
MIDI Editing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 719
Setting the Grid Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 721
Using the Pencil Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 722
Inserting MIDI Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 724
Inserting a Series of Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 725
Manually Editing MIDI Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 726
Using the Grabber Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 728
Time Compression/Expansion Trim Tool Functionality on MIDI Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 736
Continuous Controller Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737
Keyboard Shortcuts for Navigating MIDI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 741
Patch Select (Program and Bank Changes) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 743
System Exclusive Events. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 748
Note and Controller Chasing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 749
Offsetting MIDI Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 750
Stuck Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 752
Remove Duplicate Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 752
MIDI Real-Time Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 752
Real-Time Properties Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 754
Real-Time Properties on Tracks and Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 756
Writing Real-Time Properties to Tracks or Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 757
Real-Time Properties In the MIDI Event List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 758
Display of Real-Time Properties Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 758
Contents xvii
Part VII Arranging
Chapter 37. Time, Tempo, Meter, Key, and Chords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 811
Timebase Rulers and Conductor Rulers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 811
Main Time Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 813
The Sub Counter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 814
Tick-Based Timing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 815
Tick- and Sample-Based Timebases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 815
Song Start Marker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 817
Tempo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 818
Graphic Tempo Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 824
Editing Tempo Events in the Tempo Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 825
Changing the Linearity Display Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 830
Tempo Operations Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 831
Identify Beat Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 837
Meter Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 840
Time Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 842
Change Meter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 842
Insert Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 844
Cut Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 845
Move Song Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 846
Renumbering Bars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 847
Key Signatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 847
Chord Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 851
Contents xix
Clip Groups and Clip Gain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 898
Importing and Exporting Clip Group Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 898
Contents xxi
Part IX Mixing
Chapter 47. Basic Mixing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1013
Mixing Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1013
Metering and Calibration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1013
Signal Flow by Track Type. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1014
Audio Tracks and Signal Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1014
Auxiliary Input Tracks and Signal Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1015
Master Fader Tracks and Signal Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1016
Instrument Tracks and Signal Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1017
VCA Master Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1018
Inserts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1022
Configuring Inserts View in the Mix and Edit Windows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1022
HEAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1022
Stereo Pan Depth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1023
Views in the Mix and Edit Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1023
Audio Input and Output Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1027
Sends. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1029
Configuring Sends View in the Mix and Edit Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1033
Sends View Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1033
Editing Sends in the Mix and Edit Windows (Individual Send Views) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1035
Bus Interrogation Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1038
Output Windows for Tracks and Sends. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1039
Output Meters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1043
Signal Routing for Monitoring and Submixing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1044
Delay Compensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1051
Dither . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1058
Using an Ethernet Control Surface with Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1059
Using a MIDI Control Surface with Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1060
Contents xxiii
Previewing Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1142
Capturing Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1144
VCA Master Track Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1146
Coalescing VCA Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1147
Part X Surround
Chapter 51. Pro Tools Setup for Surround . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1167
Surround Mixing in Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1167
Pro Tools Audio Connections for 5.1 Mixing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1167
7.1 and 7.0 Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1168
7.1.2 and 7.0.2 Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1168
Ambisonics Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1169
Configuring Pro Tools for Multichannel Sessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1169
Default I/O Selectors in I/O Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1174
5.1 Track Layouts, Routing, and Metering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1175
Contents xxv
Part XI Sync and Video
Chapter 56. Working with Synchronization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1233
Pro Tools Synchronization Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1233
Session Setup Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1235
Format Displays and Controls in the Session Setup Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1236
SYNC Setup and Timecode Offsets in the Session Setup Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1238
Timecode Settings in the Session Setup Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1240
Preparing to Work with SMPTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1241
Configuring Pro Tools for SMPTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1241
Pull Up and Pull Down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1243
Effect of Using Pull Up or Pull Down. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1247
Generating Timecode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1248
Using MIDI Machine Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1249
Enabling MIDI Machine Control in Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1250
MMC Transport Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1252
Setting Minimum Sync Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1252
Remote Track Arming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1253
Spotting Clips to SMPTE Frame Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1253
The Spot Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1254
Capturing Timecode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1255
Auto-Spotting Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1256
Using the Trim Tools in Spot Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1256
Time Stamping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1256
Identifying a Synchronization Point. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1258
Troubleshooting SMPTE Synchronization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1258
Speed Correction for Film, NTSC Video, and PAL Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1260
Contents xxvii
Part XII Satellite Systems
Chapter 59. Satellite Link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1317
Satellite Link Requirements and Compatibility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1317
Configuring Satellite Link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1318
Linking Satellite Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1320
Using Satellite Link with MachineControl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1324
Control Surface Support for Satellite Link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1325
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1347
Avid Master Account If updates are available for Pro Tools or any plug-
ins, Application Manager reports what updates (if
Your Avid Master Account simplifies access to all of any) are available and how important the updates
your user accounts and entitlements at my.avid.com. are for your system. You can visit the Avid website
To sign up, go to avid.com and click on “Sign In.”
to locate, download, and install the appropriate up-
Fill in the required fields located under the “Create dates for your system.
Avid Master Account.”
To manually check for updates:
The Master Account is divided into sections. Notice
that the Avid Support Center, Download Center and 1 Launch Avid Application Manager.
Avid Community need to be linked. Simply choose 2 If you are not already logged in, click the
“Link this account” if you already have an account or
Account tab and login to your Avid Master
choose “Create Account,” fill in the required fields
Account.
and click Submit.
3 Click the Apps tab to review what updates are
available and follow the on-screen instructions.
System Requirements and
Compatibility Information For more information about the Avid Appli-
cation Manager, refer to the Avid Applica-
Avid can only assure compatibility and provide tion Manager Guide.
support for hardware and software it has tested and
approved.
Convention Action
Registration
File > Save Choose Save from the
Activate your product to access downloads in your
File menu
Avid account (or quickly create an account if you
Control+N Hold down the Control don?t have one). Register your purchase online,
key and press the N key download software, updates, documentation, and
Control-click Hold down the Control other resources.
key and click the mouse www.avid.com/account
button
The MIDI protocol provides 16 channels of MIDI Surround sound simply means having one or more
per port. A single MIDI cable can transmit a sepa- speakers with discrete audio signals (channels)
rate set of messages for each of the 16 channels. placed behind the listener in addition to the typical
These 16 channels can correspond to separate stereo pair.
MIDI devices or to multiple channels within a sin-
There are multiple types of surround formats in use
gle device (if the device is multitimbral). Each
(from three-channel LCR to 7.1, which has eight
channel can control a different instrument sound.
channels).
Pro Tools provides powerful MIDI sequencing ca-
The most common surround format is 5.1, which
pabilities. You can record, enter, edit, and play
refers to having 5 speakers and a sub-woofer (the
back MIDI data on Pro Tools Instrument and
“.1”). 5.1 is used in movie theaters and home enter-
MIDI tracks. These actions can be done in the Edit
tainment systems. Additionally, most DVDs are
window, the MIDI Editor window, the Score Edi-
mixed to 5.1. The standard speaker placement for
tor window, and the MIDI Event List.
5.1 for surround monitoring is stereo left and right
MIDI data in Pro Tools can be anything from speakers, and an additional center speaker in front,
MIDI note data (note number, on/off, velocity) to two more stereo left and right speakers in the rear,
System Exclusive (Sysex) messages. MIDI data and the sub-woofer on the side.
can be recorded or played back from both external
Pro Tools | HD Software supports mixing in sur-
MIDI devices with a MIDI interface and other
round formats. In Pro Tools, each surround format
MIDI software (such as instrument plug-ins and
is considered to be a greater-than-stereo multi-
ReWire client applications).
channel format.
Synchronization
Pro Tools Sessions
When you are working with multiple time-based
When you start a session in Pro Tools, you create a
systems, such as Pro Tools and an external deck,
session.
you want the systems to be synchronized. Syn-
chronization is where one system outputs clock
source (such as timecode or MIDI Beat Clock) and Session Files
another device synchronizes to or follows that A session file is the document that Pro Tools cre-
clock source so that they work together. Pro Tools ates when you choose File > New Session and con-
can be synchronized to other devices (or other de- figure a new session. Pro Tools can open only one
vices can be synchronized to Pro Tools) using session file at a time. The session file is named
SMPTE/EBU timecode or MIDI Timecode. with a .ptx (Pro Tools file) extension. Session files
contain maps of all elements associated with a
project, including audio files, MIDI data, and all
your edit and mix information. It is important to re-
alize that a Pro Tools session file does not contain
Pro Tools tracks are where audio, MIDI, video, VCA Master tracks provide control of tracks in a
and automation data are recorded and edited. Mix Group that has been assigned to the VCA
Pro Tools tracks also provide audio channels for Master.
routing internal busses, and physical inputs and
Video tracks support QuickTime movies (all
outputs for audio and MIDI.
Pro Tools systems) and VC-1 video files (Win-
Pro Tools provides multiple types of tracks: dows only). Additionally, Pro Tools supports Avid
Audio, Auxiliary Input, Master Fader, VCA video using a the Avid Video Engine (AVE) either
Master, MIDI, Instrument, and Video. natively or with a supported Avid video peripheral.
An individual video track can play back only one
type of video at a time.
Voices
In Pro Tools, voices are unique, discrete audio
MIDI track in the Edit window streams that can be routed to and from Pro Tools
audio tracks, and physical audio outputs and inputs
on your Pro Tools audio interfaces. The audio
paths to and from Pro Tools software routed to
Pro Tools hardware use voices. If you exceed the
number of available voices in your system, you
have effectively exceeded the available number of
Video track in Frames view audio paths. Voices are allocated dynamically.
Video Files
For more information about voicing in
Pro Tools, see “Track Priority and Voice When you record or import video into a Pro Tools
Assignment” on page 249. session, all video data is stored as the correspond-
ing video file type (such as QuickTime). Video
Media Files files can be created in (or copied to) the Video
Pro Tools sessions create, import, export, and ref- Files folder in the session folder. However, in most
erence media files. Media files are audio, MIDI, cases, Pro Tools references video files that have
and video files. Audio and video media files are been captured by another application, such as Avid
stored separately from the Pro Tools session file. Media Composer® | Software.
MIDI data is stored in the session file.
Clips
Audio Files
A clip is a segment of audio, MIDI, or video data.
When you record audio into a Pro Tools session, A clip could be a drum loop, a guitar riff, a verse of
audio files are created. 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
also have associated automation data. In
Audio clip
Channels
The term channel is used to describe several re-
lated components of a Pro Tools system.
Pro Tools provides software-based mixing and Signal routing options include the following:
signal routing controls for audio and MIDI. These
Track Input and Output (I/O) Controls The most
controls are located in the Mix window. Some of
these controls can also be accessed from the Edit basic type of signal routing is track input and out-
window. put. A track needs to have an assigned input path to
record audio, and an assigned mapped output path
A common audio signal routing task is to submix in order to be audible through a hardware output.
multiple tracks to a single channel strip (such as an Signals can also be routed to or from other tracks in
Auxiliary Input) for shared processing and level Pro Tools (or hardware inputs and outputs) using
control. The following example shows two audio internal busses.
tracks submixed to a stereo Auxiliary Input.
Auxiliary Input and Master Fader Tracks Auxil-
iary Inputs can be used as returns, submixers, and
bus masters. Master Fader tracks are used as bus
Inserts and output master level controls. Both Auxiliary
Input and Master Fader tracks can have plug-in and
hardware inserts.
Paths Paths are any routing option in Pro Tools, You can only collaborate with projects, never with
including internal or external inputs, outputs, bus- sessions. Otherwise, projects work just like ses-
ses, and inserts. Pro Tools lets you name these sions. Projects have all of the same recording, ed-
paths, and these path names appear in the Audio iting, mixing, and processing capabilities as do
Input and Output Path selectors and other menus. sessions (you can save a copy of a session as a
For more information, see Chapter 6, “I/O Setup.” project or a project as a session using the Save
Copy In command). Throughout this Reference
Mixing Formats Sessions can include combina-
Guide, “sessions” refers to session and projects un-
tions of mono, stereo, and greater-than-stereo mul-
less otherwise noted.
tichannel format tracks, busses, inputs, outputs,
and inserts. Greater-than-stereo multichannel for- Project data and media are bundled and cached on
mats are supported with Pro Tools HD only. local storage, but you cannot open a project by
navigating through the file system. You can only
Grouping and VCA Tracks Tracks can be grouped
access projects through the Pro Tools Dashboard.
together for mixing so that their relative mix set-
Projects are differentiated from sessions by their
tings are maintained when changing a mix setting
file icon.
for any track in the group. For example, changing
the volume of one track affects the volume of all
the other tracks in the group. VCA Master tracks
control the relative mix settings for all tracks
within the selected group. Project icon (online, left; offline, right)
session sequence
MXF file icon
whole file clip master clip
Pro Tools can import and play back MXF audio
and video files created in Media Composer or clip subclip
other Avid applications.
plug-ins real-time audio effects
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:
Apply action to Option+ Alt+Shift+ For extra-fine Hold Command Hold Control
selected channel Shift+ action adjustment of +Shift while +Shift while
strips/tracks action breakpoints in adjusting auto- adjusting
Grid mode mation break- automation
Vertically con- points breakpoints
strained, fine adjust-
ment for automation
and control break-
points
With Commands Keyboard Focus disabled, you While pressing Command+Option (Mac) or
can still access any of its key shortcuts by pressing Control+Alt (Windows), press one of the fol-
the Start key Control (Mac) or (Windows) along lowing keys: 1 (Commands), 2 (Clips List), or 3
with the key. See the Shortcuts Guide for a com- (Groups List).
plete list of Commands Keyboard Focus shortcuts.
Although multiple plug-in windows can have a
Clips List Keyboard Focus When selected, audio keyboard focus enabled, only the front-most
clips, MIDI clips, and clip groups can be located window receives any keyboard input.
and selected in the Clips List by typing the first few
letters of the clip’s name.
To enable Toolbar focus for the Tracks pane, do 1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click the
one of the following: Operation tab.
Click the Toolbar at the top of the Edit window. 2 In the Transport section, select a Numeric Key-
Press Command+Option+4 (Mac) or pad mode (Classic, Transport, or Shuttle).
Control+Alt+4 (Windows). 3 Click OK.
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-forward Click on/off 7
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 607. 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 Period (.)
ber to resume Shuttle Lock speed. 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
Using Help 31
To open Help within Pro Tools, do one of the
following: Using the Contents and Index
Choose Help > Pro Tools Help.
Tabs
The left pane of the Help browser is the display
From the Pro Tools Online browser window,
area for most of the Help system’s main navigation
choose Help.
tools, including the Contents and Index tabs.
To open Help outside of Pro Tools (or to select a
different version or language of Help): Contents Tab
1 Open your favorite online browser (such as
The Contents tab displays a complete hierarchical
Safari or Explorer).
list of all topics in the Help system. This lets you
2 Visit the Pro Tools Help launch page quickly see the overall organization of the Help
(http://apps.avid.com/ProToolsHelp/). system.
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.
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There are three types of Pro Tools systems: Pro Tools HD Software with Avid or Third-Party
Hardware
Pro Tools Software with Avid or Third-Party
Hardware These systems include Pro Tools HD software
with any compatible non-HDX or non-HD Native
These systems include Pro Tools software with Avid audio interfaces (such as Mbox Pro), or Core
Avid audio hardware (such as Pro Tools | Quartet, Audio (Mac), ASIO (Windows), or WASAPI
Pro Tools | Duet, Pro Tools | Fast Track family, hardware.
Pro Tools | Mbox® family (third generation),
Pro Tools | Eleven® Rack, or Avid 003™ family
audio interfaces). These systems also include Pro Tools Software
Pro Tools software using third-party audio inter-
faces with supported Core Audio (Mac, including Pro Tools software provides the following
the built-in audio on Mac computers), ASIO (Win- capabilities, depending on your hardware
dows), or WASAPI (Windows). configuration:
• Up to 32 channels of I/O depending on your sys-
For a list of qualified audio interfaces and
tem and audio hardware
computers for all Pro Tools systems, visit
www.avid.com/compatibility. • Up to a total of 128 mono or stereo audio tracks
per session:
Pro Tools HD Software with HDX or HD Native
• Playback of up to 128 tracks, or a combina-
Hardware
tion of playing back and recording up to 128
Hardware accelerated Pro Tools HD systems in- tracks, mono or stereo, at 44.1 kHz and
clude Pro Tools HD software with HDX or 48 kHz
HD Native (PCIe or Thunderbolt) hardware. Hard- • Playback of up to 64 tracks, or a combination
ware accelerated systems provide expanded I/O of playing back and recording up to 64 tracks,
capabilities and low latency monitoring. HDX sys- mono tracks or stereo, at 88.2 kHz and
tems also provide dedicated DSP for plug-in pro- 96 kHz
cessing and for large mixer configurations. • Playback of up to 32 tracks, or a combination
of playing back and recording up to 32 tracks,
mono or stereo, at 176.4 kHz and 192 kHz
• Up to 128 Auxiliary Input tracks
• Up to 64 Master Fader tracks
• Up to 512 MIDI tracks
The total processing capacity of a Pro Tools sys- Pro Tools HD with HDX hardware provides the
tem depends on the processing power of your com- following capabilities:
puter. Contact your dealer or visit www.avid.com • Up to 256 channels of I/O depending on your
for the latest system requirements and compatibil- system
ity information. • Up to a total of 768 voiced audio tracks
• Up to 512 Auxiliary Input tracks
• Up to 64 Master Fader tracks
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
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
To close the I/O Setup without saving changes: A sub-path represents a signal path within a main
path. For example, a default stereo output bus path
Click Cancel.
consists of two mono sub-paths, left and right.
Mono tracks and sends can be routed to either
Navigating in the I/O Setup mono sub-path of the stereo output bus path.
To scroll left or right in the I/O Setup:
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 Control saved with the system and the session, and can be
key (Windows) and use the Left or Right Arrow recalled from either.
keys to cycle through the different pages of the
I/O Setup.
Active/Inactive
Status box
Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) the Compensation for Input Delays After
Import Settings button to import settings to all Record Pass
pages of the I/O Setup.
When enabled, this option provides automatic
Export Settings Button Lets you save I/O settings compensation for any analog or digital input delay
as a file that can be imported into other sessions or with Avid HD interfaces. Enable this option for all
used on other Pro Tools systems. Export Settings recording situations. When recording from a digi-
exports the settings for all pages of the I/O Setup. tal source, both the Compensation for Input Delays
After Record Pass and the Compensation for Out-
Show Last Saved Setup Appears in the I/O Setup
put Delays After Record Pass options must be en-
in certain session transfer situations. For details on
abled.
this feature, see “Show Last Saved or Current
Setup” on page 84. The Compensation for Input Delays After Record
Pass option is only available in the Input page of
Cancel Button Closes the I/O Setup without
the I/O Setup.
saving changes.
OK Button Closes the I/O Setup and saves any Compensation for Output Delays After
changes. Record Pass
Selecting None as the AFL/PFL Path disables To configure Low Latency Monitoring in the I/O
AFL and PFL Solo modes. When None is Setup:
selected, AFL and PFL cannot be used. 1 Open the I/O Setup dialog (Setup > I/O).
Setting AFL or PFL Path Levels 2 Click the Output tab.
You can set a separate master AFL/PFL Path level 3 Enable the Low Latency Monitoring option.
for all AFL solos and all PFL solos.
4 From the Low Latency Monitoring pop-up menu,
Tracks do not need to be soloed to have the select the Output path you want to use for Low
master AFL/PFL Path level adjusted. Latency Monitoring.
5 Click OK to save your changes and close the I/O
To set the AFL/PFL Path level for AFL or PFL
solos:
Setup.
The Path Order selector is available in the Input, 4 Create an audio track, and set its input to the
Output, and Insert pages of I/O Setup. Setting the corresponding input on your audio interface.
Path Order on any page of I/O Setup affects the
other pages. 5 Record enable the track.
6 Record your part.
3 For HDX and HD Native systems, double-click 7 If you are using one or more PRE peripherals,
the label above an interface and enter a name. click the Mic Preamps tab and configure it ac-
cordingly (see the PRE Guide).
With systems using HDX or HD Native hard-
8 Click the Bus tab.
ware, the I/O Setup bases default Input and
Output path names on the custom name given 9 Create internal mix bus paths and sub-paths.
to the interface. Ensure that output busses are mapped to the cor-
rect output paths (see “Output Busses” on
page 76).
Configuring Hardware in
I/O Setup
I/O Channel selector pop-up menu
(Pro Tools HDX and HD Native Systems Only)
5 Repeat the above step for additional channel
With HDX and HD Native systems, you can define
pairs.
which physical ports on your audio interface are
routed to available input and output channels in the 6 Click OK to save changes and close the I/O
I/O Setup. Any changes made here are also re- Setup.
flected in the Hardware Setup, and vice-versa (see
“Configuring Hardware Settings in Pro Tools” on The Monitor path for HD OMNI is fixed
page 93). and cannot be changed in the I/O Setup.
The Monitor path for HD OMNI can be
HD MADI and Pro Tools systems such as configured in the Monitor page of the
Mbox Pro and 003 are “hard-wired” and Hardware Setup.
cannot be changed. For third-party and built-
in hardware, in the Hardware Setup click the Routing a Pro Tools Output Pair
Launch Setup App button to for available to Multiple Destinations
configuration options.
Pro Tools channel pairs can be routed to
To configure I/O routing in I/O Setup: multiple outputs on an audio interface through the
I/O Setup. For example, if you assign both Analog
1 Choose Setup > I/O.
1–2 and Analog 3–4 interface outputs to Pro Tools
2 Click the Input or Output tab to display the Output pair 1–2, when you send a signal to
corresponding path type. Pro Tools Outputs 1–2, that signal will be routed
simultaneously to both pairs of output ports on
3 Click the Input or Output selector for the first
your audio interface.
interface channel pair, located below the first
audio interface icon. This lets you send the same signal (such as a stereo
pair, a stem mix, or a multichannel mix) to multi-
ple destinations (such as multiple mastering de-
vices).
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 6: I/O Setup 65
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 and routed from the Track Output to Output Bus “B 1–2.”
(2) Output Bus Path The Output Bus is defined on the Bus page of the I/O Setup. On the Bus page of the
I/O Setup, the Output Bus “B 1–2” is mapped to Output “B 1–2,” which is defined on the Output page of
the I/O Setup.
(3) Output Path On the Output page of the I/O Setup, the Grid is used to route the output path (to which the
output bus is mapped) to physical outputs.
Path Name Enter the path name. If you are creat- Mono N/A N/A
ing more than one path, the number of each new
Stereo 2 mono <main path
path will be appended to the path name (for exam- name > followed by
ple, Bus 1, Bus 2, Bus 3, and so on). channel designation
.L and .R
Add/Remove Rows Click the Add Row button to
add more paths, or click Click the Remove Row LCR 1 Stereo (LR), Stereo: <main path
button to remove paths. 3 Mono (one for name >.LR
each channel) Mono: <main path
Move Row Icon Drag a Move Row icon up or name >.L, .C, .R
down to reorder paths. LCRS 1 Stereo (LR), Stereo: <main path
4 Mono (one for name > .LR
each channel) Mono: <main path
name>.L, .C, .R, .S
7.0.2 1 each: 7.0, 5.0, multichannel sub- 4 Configure the New Sub-Paths dialog as desired
(Dolby Quad, LCR, Ste- paths: <main path and click Create.
Atmos reo, Overhead name >.<channel
only) (LR); format> 5 Click in the Grid to assign the new sub-path
and 9 Mono Mono: <main path channels to available main path channels.
(one for each name >.L, .C, .R,
channel) .Lss, .Rss, .Lsr, .Rsr,
.Lts, .Rts New Sub-Path Dialog
7.1.2 1 each: 7.1, 7.0, Stereo: <main path The New Sub-Path dialog lets you create new sub-
(Dolby 5.1, 5.0, Quad, name >.LR paths for main paths on the Input, Output, Bus, and
Atmos LCR, Stereo, Mono: <main path Insert pages of the I/O Setup.
only) Overhead (LR); name >.L, .C, .R,
and10 Mono .Lss, .Rss, .Lsr, .Rsr,
Number of new sub-paths Add/Remove Row
(one for each .LFE, .Lts, .Rts
channel) Sub-Path Format Sub-Path Name
Renaming Paths
Path names can be customized in the I/O Setup.
Individual and multiple paths can be selected in the Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) any
I/O Setup Path Name column. Selected paths and path name that is highlighted.
sub-paths can be reordered higher or lower in the
Path Name column to change their menu order in Reordering Paths
track Input, Output, Insert, and Bus selectors.
Selected paths and sub-paths can be reordered
Paths can also be deleted. Sub-paths follow their
higher or lower in the Path Name column to
main paths when they are moved in the I/O Setup.
change their menu order in track Input, Output,
To select a main path or sub-path: Insert, and Bus selectors.
Click the path name. To reorder paths in the I/O Setup and Track
selectors:
Deleting Paths
Selecting paths in the I/O Setup Path definitions can be deleted from the current
session to reflect changes to your hardware setup,
To select a range of paths:
or to clean up track selector menus by removing
1 Click the path name. unwanted or unnecessary path definitions. After
2 Shift-click an additional path name. deleting a path, any tracks or send assignments to
that path are reset to No Output.
All paths between the first selected path name and
the additional path name will also be To delete a main path or sub-path:
selected. 1 In the I/O Setup, select the path you want to
delete.
To select or deselect noncontiguous paths, do one
of the following: 2 Click Delete Path.
Command-click (Mac) or Control-click 3 Click OK to save changes and close the I/O
(Windows) path names that are unhighlighted to Setup.
select them.
To delete all paths:
Command-click (Mac) or Control-click
(Windows) path names that are highlighted to 1 Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) any
deselect them. path name.
2 Click Delete Path.
To select all paths and sub-paths:
3 Click OK to save changes and close the I/O
Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) any
Setup.
path name that is unhighlighted.
Any tracks that were assigned to the now inactive Assigning channels
path will show that path's name in italics on the
Other channels for the path type, if any, fill to the
track's I/O selectors.
right. For example, when assigning a new stereo
path, clicking in the path row under output channel
1 fills both channel 1 and 2 (left to 1, right to 2).
Assigning Paths with the Surround Mixer Changing a path’s format erases any cur-
(Pro Tools HD Only) rent channel assignment.
When assigning multichannel paths, the left chan- Sub-Paths Follow Main Paths
nel (L) is assigned first to the clicked Grid box, and
When a main path is reassigned, its sub-paths (if
remaining channels fill immediately to the right
any) are reassigned automatically to maintain con-
according to the default path order.
sistent routing. For example, reassigning a stereo
Because some multichannel mixing formats use path to different hardware outputs results in any of
unique track layouts, Pro Tools lets you set the de- its sub-paths moving with it.
fault format in the I/O Setup (see “I/O Setup Op-
tions” on page 57).
Valid Paths and
Requirements
While configuring the I/O Setup, certain rules ap-
ply for path definition and channel assignment. All
Default Format and Path Order settings paths must be valid before the I/O Setup configu-
ration can be applied.
Reassiging Paths
Though it is possible to set up invalid assignments
You can move the individual assignments to dif- in the Channel Grid, Pro Tools will not accept an
ferent channels, to reorder the path’s definition I/O Setup configuration unless all paths meet the
(for example, changing a multichannel path to path definition and channel assignment require-
L-R-C-LFE-Ls-Rs). ments, as follows:
To reassign channels in a path: Minimum Path Definitions All paths must have a
name, be of a specific format, and have a valid I/O
Drag the channel to the new location in the
assignment.
Grid. Other channel assignments move (shuffle)
to accommodate dragged channels. Valid Paths Channel assignment follows certain
rules regarding overlapping paths.
• There can be no partial overlaps between any
two output paths.
Output Busses
Output busses are mapped (routed) to output paths,
Valid (complete) output path as configured on the Output page of the I/O Setup.
Output paths are then assigned to the system’s
physical audio outputs in the I/O Setups Grid (see
“Assigning Paths to Hardware I/O” on page 74).
Busses appear on the Bus page of the IO Setup. Physical outputs for output paths are configured on
Pro Tools provides two types of busses: the Outputs page of the I/O Setups (see “Assigning
• Output busses Paths to Hardware I/O” on page 74).
For more information about Pro Tools au- 4 Enable Mapping To Output for the path.
thoring to Dolby Atmos, see Chapter 54,
“Mixing to Dolby Atmos.” 5 Select an output path from the Mapping To Out-
put selector.
1 On the Bus page of the I/O Setup, click New To map all output busses of the same format to an
Path. output path:
2 In the New Paths dialog, specify the number of Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) the
new paths you want to create, the channel width Mapping To Output selector and select an out-
for each path, and the path name. put path (mono or stereo).
Pro Tools lets you use keyboard modifiers when To revert to the default bus configuration for your
system:
enabling or assigning Output busses. These key-
board modifiers behave in the same way as when 1 Open the I/O Setup.
assigning track inputs, and track and send outputs.
2 Click the Bus tab in the upper left.
Being able to assign a single output bus to multiple
physical outputs is useful in cases where you want 3 From the pop-up menu to the right of the Default
to route a single source signal to two or more out- button, select one of the following:
puts. Rather than assigning multiple outputs on a • All Busses
track-by-track basis, you can do it once in the
I/O Setup. • Output Busses
• Internal Busses
4 Click Default.
The Bus page of the I/O Setup displays the number Factory I/O Settings
of active internal mix busses. If the number of ac-
tive busses exceeds the number of available bus- Pro Tools provides factory I/O settings for stereo
ses, the display turns red. Delete or deactivate any and surround mixing, and are automatically in-
active busses in excess of the available number of stalled with Pro Tools. These settings provide new
busses to be able close the I/O Setup and save your sessions with generic path and sub-paths for either
settings. mixing format.
Last Used settings are available in the I/O Settings 3 Click Import Settings.
pop-up menu in the Dashboard, or when importing
Enable the Apply to all tabs option or press
I/O Settings in the I/O Setup.
Option (Mac) or Alt (Windows) while click-
ing Import Settings to overwrite I/O Settings
Custom I/O Settings in all pages with the settings imported from a
Custom I/O Settings files can be created by chang- session file.
ing I/O Setup settings (see “Customizing I/O Set-
4 In the Open dialog, navigate to and select the
tings” on page 62), and then exporting the settings.
session or I/O settings file you want.
These I/O settings can then be restored by import-
ing them into a system. 5 Click Open.
This lets you save settings for different projects, 6 Click OK to save your changes and close I/O
import settings to reconfigure the I/O Setup, and Setup.
manage path definitions and signal routing setups.
You can also import I/O paths and path
names, as well as other session data, from
Importing I/O Settings a different session by using the Import Ses-
Pro Tools lets you import I/O Settings from session sion Data command (File > Import > Ses-
files (.ptx) I/O settings files (.pio) before or after sion Data). For information, see “Import-
you open a session. I/O Settings are only imported ing Session Data” on page 400.
for the current page of the I/O Setup. For example,
To import I/O Settings:
if you are viewing the Output page and import I/O
Settings, only the settings for the Output page are 1 Click the tab for the page of the I/O Setup for
imported. This helps to avoid overwriting your which you want to import settings.
custom I/O Settings on other pages. 2 Click Import Settings.
When you import I/O Settings, you can choose to Enable the Apply to all tabs option or press
delete any unused path definitions before import- Option (Mac) or Alt (Windows) while click-
ing the new paths, or leave unused path definitions ing Import Settings to overwrite I/O Settings
intact and add the new paths to the current I/O in all pages with the settings imported from a
Setup configuration. session file or I/O settings file.
After importing I/O Settings, you can then reassign 4 Click OK to save your changes and close I/O
path routing definitions in the I/O Setup by remap- Setup.
ping, renaming, and deleting paths. See “Pro Tools
Software Signal Paths” on page 50.
Session or Project
Exporting I/O Settings Interchange and I/O Mapping
When you export I/O settings, all pages of the I/O I/O Setup mappings are saved both with the last
Setup are exported. used .pio file (Pro Tools I/O settings file) and the
session or project. When opening a session or proj-
To export and save an I/O Setup configuration as a ect on a system that has a different I/O Setup,
custom I/O Settings file: Pro Tools follows these rules to ensure the best
1 Configure the I/O Setup settings. possible re-mapping of the session’s or project’s
I/O Setup to the new system:
2 Click Export Settings.
• Output busses are mapped to system Output
3 Name and save the settings file. The settings file paths by unique ID if possible.
is appended with “.pio” to distinguish it as an • Pro Tools always maps the Monitor Path of the
I/O settings file. session or project to the Monitor path of the cur-
To start sessions with a blank or empty
rent system. (If Monitor subpaths exist in the
I/O Setup, you can create and export an I/O
session, Pro Tools uses the best matching format
Settings file in which all definitions have been
for the system Monitor subpaths.)
deleted. • Otherwise, Output busses that are mapped to
system Output paths by name and format if there
Restore from Session is an exact match.
Pro Tools provides a Restore from Session button If there is no match between Output busses and
that only affects the currently viewed page in I/O system Output paths, you can manually remap
Setup. For example, if you are viewing the Output Output busses. Pro Tools uses the manually re-
page, only the Output settings are overwritten by mapped unique ID the next time the session is
the settings saved with the session. opened on that system.
When viewing the I/O Setup last saved with Organize Track I/O Menus By
the session, the OK option is not available for Preference
saving and closing I/O Setup. Pro Tools lets you organize track I/O Menus by
Type, Width, or both Type and Width.
To show the current I/O settings:
1 If not already open, open the I/O Setup (Setup >
I/O).
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 Pro Tools >
5 Turn on any control surfaces (such as Quit (Mac) or File > Exit (Windows).
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.
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 98.
• “Configuring HD I/O Controls” on page 99.
• “Configuring HD MADI Controls” on
page 100.
10 For additional audio interfaces, select them in
the Peripherals list, and repeat the above steps.
Activity Meters The Memory meter displays how much of the in-
stalled physical RAM in the system is being used
The Activity section of the System Usage window
by Pro Tools. This includes RAM used by the au-
display meters for disk usage and memory usage.
dio engine, the video engine (if enabled), plug-ins,
and the disk cache. Other than Pro Tools, it does
Disk Meter
not show any other RAM usage by the system. If
As in previous versions of Pro Tools, the Disk me- the Memory meter approached 100%, install more
ter displays the amount of hard disk processing ac- physical RAM or lower the Disk Cache setting in
tivity. the Playback Engine dialog.
Pro Tools HD provides a meter in the System Us- HDX systems provide additional meters below the
age window for monitoring the Disk Cache. This Activity meter:
meter is only present if a fixed Cache Size is se-
lected in the Playback Engine dialog. Voices
Time Slots
These options determine how plug-in menus are These options determine how track I/O menus are
organized in the Insert selector or Plug-In selector. organized in the Track Input selector, and Send
and Track Output selectors.
Flat List Organizes plug-ins in a single list, in
alphabetical order. Type Displays only the I/O Type (Interface or Bus)
as I/O categories in Track I/O menus.
Category Organizes plug-ins by process category
(such as EQ, Dynamics, and Delay), with individ- Width Displays only the I/O Channel Width (such
ual plug-ins listed in the category submenus. Plug- as stereo or 5.1) as I/O categories in Track I/O
Ins that do not fit into a standard category (such as menus.
the Signal Generator), or third-party plug-ins that
Type and Width Displays both Type and Width as
have not had a category designated by their devel-
opers, appear in the Other category. Plug-Ins can I/O categories in Track I/O menus.
appear in more than one category.
Language Options
Manufacturer Organizes plug-ins by their manu-
You must have Administrator privileges for the
facturer (such as Bomb Factory, Focusrite, or TL
Pro Tools application Properties to change these
Labs), with individual plug-ins listed in the manu-
options.
facturer submenus. Plug-Ins that do not have a
Manufacturer defined will appear in the “Other” Language Sets the language to use in the
manufacturer folder. Pro Tools application, independently of what lan-
guage is used by your OS.
Category and Manufacturer Organizes plug-ins in
two levels of menus. The top menus display plug- Default Automatic Naming to English Causes au-
ins by process category (such as EQ, Dynamics, tomatically named session elements in a session to
and Delay), with individual plug-ins listed in the be named in English even when working with the
category submenus. The bottom menus display Pro Tools application set to another language.
plug-ins by manufacturer (such as Bomb Factory,
Focusrite, or TL Labs), with individual plug-ins Auto-Switch Input Language
listed in the manufacturer submenus.
When the Auto-Switch Input Language option is
enabled, the input language is switched automati-
cally from English to the current OS input lan-
guage when entering text. It automatically
switches back to English for using Keyboard com-
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
Clips List Color Assigns a color to each clip based
track in the Mix or Edit window according to its
on its color in the Clips List.
voice assignment or MIDI device assignment.
Project Media Cache When selected, the Enable Hardware During Scrub
option lets you monitor video using video hard-
Click the Change button to set the Root directory ware (such as Avid Mojo DX or Nitris DX video
for caching all project media. peripherals) while scrubbing. When this option is
disabled, you can only monitor video in the
Sound Libraries
Pro Tools Video window while scrubbing. If you
When Pro Tools is installed, any included audio experience performance issues when scrubbing
loops are stored in the Sound Libraries folder by de- video while monitoring video using video hard-
fault: ware, disable this option.
Mac Macintosh HD/Users/<username>/
Play Start Latency
Documents/Pro Tools/Sound Libraries
If you are working on a slower computer, set the
Windows C:\Users\<username>\Documents\
Play Start Latency setting to a higher value. The
Pro Tools\Sound Libraries
range is from 1-Shortest to 5-Longest.
Click the Change button to direct Pro Tools to ref-
erence another location for the Sound Libraries Record Section
folder and Loops content.
Latch Record Enable Buttons When selected,
Show Sound Libraries in Workspace Locations multiple audio tracks can be record-enabled. When
not selected, multiple audio tracks cannot be re-
Enable the Show Sound Libraries in Workspace/ cord-enabled. Record-enabling an audio track
Locations option to show Sound Libraries in the takes all other audio tracks out of record-enabled
Locations pane of Workspace browsers. mode.
REX Selects the default envelope shape for fades Levels of Undo
and crossfades between clips (“slices”) in im-
This preference sets the maximum number of ac-
ported REX files.
tions that can be undone with the multiple undo
feature. Setting this to a lower number can speed
up the performance of slower computers.
Pro Tools supports up to 64 levels of Undo.
Default EQ
K-14 Use K-14 for mastering when working in a The Decay settings determine the decibel range
calibrated mastering suite. (dBs) that the meters fall at the specified rate in
seconds after peak level is registered. For some
K-20 Using K-20 during mix encourages a clean- Meter Types, these settings are not adjustable
sounding mix that is advantageous to the mastering (such as VU).
engineer. At that point, the producer and mastering
engineer should discuss whether the program 0 dBFS
should be converted to K-14, or remain at K-20. If
mixing to analog tape, work at K-20, and realize The 0 dBFS setting determines the unity reference
that the peak levels off tape will not exceed about level for the meter scale in decibels compared to
+14. digital 0 dB. Exceeding this level should result in
clipping at the digital to analog converters or to the
K-scale meters are RMS based scales with an specified clipping level for broadcast. For some
integrated sample peak meter as a secondary Meter Types, this setting is not adjustable (such as
value. For more information about K-scale K-meters).
metering, see the paper “An Integrated Ap-
proach to Metering, Monitoring, and Leveling Integration Time
Practices” by Bob Katz, Digital Domain, Inc. The Integration Time setting determines the
amount of time it takes, in milliseconds, to average
VENUE Peak Provides the same ballistics as Sam-
the peak level as registered on the meter display.
ple Peak, but with VENUE meter scaling to
You can think of this as the attack time for regis-
+20 dB.
tering peak levels on the meters. For some Meter
VENUE RMS Provides the same ballistics as RMS, Types, this setting is not adjustable (such as Peak).
but with VENUE meter scaling to +20 dB.
The Color Break High setting determines the high These options determine how long the clip indica-
point in dB where the color changes for metering. tors on plug-in, send, and track meters stay lit after
Typically, this will be the ceiling level for the cur- a clip is detected.
rent Meter Type. When this level is exceeded clip-
3 Seconds When selected, meters display the last
ping will occur. Levels registering on the meters
between the Color Break High setting and the Color clip indication for three seconds.
Break Low setting should be considered the “sweet Infinite When selected, meters display the last clip
spot” for the loudness of the program material. indications until you click them to clear them.
Color Break Low None When selected, meters do not hold the clip
indication.
The Color Break Low setting determines the low
point in dB where the color changes for metering.
Typically, this will be the minimum level for the Display Section
current Meter Type. Use this setting to provide a The Display section of the Metering preferences
visual indication in the meters for the lowest level provides options for configuring the display of the
of the dynamic range of the program material for new Gain Reduction meters on tracks and in sends.
the intended delivery format (such as film, DVD,
CD, MP3, or broadcast). Show Send Assignment Level Meter
Processing Preferences
Gain Reduction Meter Type
Convert Copied Files to Session Format When The Drag and Drop From Desktop Conforms to
selected, files that have different file formats from Session Tempo options determine whether or not
the current session file format are copied and con- REX, ACID, and audio files are imported as tick-
verted to the current session audio file format on based Elastic Audio and conformed to the session
import. For example, if the session file format is tempo.
WAV and you import an AIF, the files is copied No Files When enabled, REX and ACID files, and
and converted to WAV on import. When this op- all other audio files are not conformed to the ses-
tion is not selected, copied files retain their original sion tempo when imported by drag and drop from
format (unless that file format is incompatible with Windows Explorer or the Mac Finder. They are
Pro Tools, in which case it must be converted). imported as sample-based files and converted to
Do Not Convert Sample Rate on Import When se- the sessions audio file format.
lected, files with different sample rates than the REX and ACID Files Only When enabled, only
session sample rate are not automatically con- REX and ACID files are conformed to the session
verted when imported into the session. This means tempo when imported by drag and drop from Win-
that files with mis-matched sample rates playback dows Explorer or the Mac Finder. REX files are
at a different speed (and pitch transpositions than imported either as tick-based Elastic Audio or, if
when they were originally recorded (or converted). the Import REX Files as Clip Groups option is en-
abled, as tick-based clip groups.
Use MIDI to Tap Tempo When enabled, you can Global MIDI Playback Offset
tap a MIDI keyboard to enter a new tempo value
into a tempo field. This option lets you set an offset in samples to
compensate for MIDI latency. Entering a value
Display Events as Modified by Real-Time Proper- here has the same effect as setting an offset with
ties When enabled, Pro Tools displays the effects the MIDI Track Offsets command. Offset values
of Real-Time Properties in the Edit, MIDI Editor, can be positive (later) or negative (earlier).
and Score Editor windows, and the MIDI Event
List. Double-Clicking a MIDI Clip Opens
Use F11 Key for Wait for Note When enabled, This option lets you specify what happens when
pressing the F11 Function key puts MIDI record- you double-click MIDI clips with the Grabber tool.
ing in Wait for Note mode.
MIDI Editor Opens the MIDI clip in a MIDI Editor
Automatically Create Click Track in New window.
Sessions When enabled, Pro Tools automatically
creates a new click track in new sessions. Score Editor Opens the MIDI clip in the Score Ed-
itor window.
Default Thru Instrument
MIDI Event List Opens the MIDI clip in the MIDI
This option lets you set the default MIDI Thru in- Event List.
strument. You can select a predefined device from
your available MIDI instruments, or select First Name Dialog Opens the Name dialog for the MIDI
Selected MIDI Track to use the assigned MIDI out- clip.
put of the first selected MIDI or Instrument track.
MIDI Merge Release Mode
When multiple MIDI or Instrument tracks are se-
lected, the instrument in the selected track that is MIDI Merge Release mode determines how
closest to the top of the Edit window (or closest to Pro Tools writes MIDI CC data when recording
the left edge of the Mix window) is used. Select MIDI in MIDI Merge mode.
None to only route MIDI Thru record enabled
MIDI and Instrument tracks. Latch Continues writing the last value. Any exist-
ing events are overwritten until you stop recording.
Delay Before Locking to Serial Timecode (HDX Delay After Play Command Sets the amount of
and HD Native Systems Only) Sets the amount of time (in frames) for Pro Tools to wait after receiv-
time (in frames) for Pro Tools to wait before at- ing a Play command before starting the audio en-
tempting to lock to machines that issue servo lock gine. This can prevent false starts when locking to
messages. This setting allows time for the servo synchronizers that are not fully supported by
mechanisms to achieve stable lock. Pro Tools.
Ignore Track Arming Sets Pro Tools to ignore in- Satellite Link lets you link up to 12 Pro Tools HD
coming track arming (record enable) commands. systems, or 11 Pro Tools HD systems and an Avid
This is useful if you are using a master controller to Video Satellite (Media Composer or Avid Sym-
arm tracks on other machines, but you do not want phony Nitris DX) or a Pro Tools Video Satellite
to arm tracks in Pro Tools. system, over an Ethernet network so that you can
cue, play, and stop the transport, make play selec-
Set Servo Lock Bit at Play Enable this option tions, and solo tracks across any of the systems
when using a synchronizer to control Pro Tools in from any linked workstation.
Remote mode to minimize lock-up times during
recording. Transmit Solos Causes a linked Pro Tools system
to send the solo status of its tracks to all other
Allow 9-Pin Track Arm Commands in Local linked Pro Tools systems. On other linked systems
Mode Sets Pro Tools to respond to incoming track
that are set to receive solos, tracks follow solo be-
arming (record enable) commands even when the
havior as if the solo were on the local system.
system is not in Remote mode. This is useful if you
are using a paddle device to control Pro Tools Receive Solos Causes a linked Pro Tools system
track arming or punching. to receive solos from all other linked Pro Tools
systems that are set to transmit solo status of their
Allow 9-Pin Transport Commands in Local
tracks. Tracks on the receiving system follows solo
Mode Sets Pro Tools to respond to incoming trans-
behavior as if the solos were on the local system.
port commands even when the system is not in Re-
mote mode. This is useful when using Satellite Solo Independent of Linked State Causes a
Link in conjunction with a 9-pin controller. You Pro Tools system to send the solo status of its
can receive the transport controls from the 9-pin tracks to other satellite systems even when it is un-
controller, but not experience the lag-time associ- linked. This allows control of solo status across
ated with a 9-pin device. systems even when transport control is not en-
abled.
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.
The Port setting lets you select the 9-pin Machine The Port setting lets you select the 9-pin Machine-
Control port. The available choices depend on Control port. The available choices depend on
your platform and configuration your platform and configuration
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
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.
Monitor Format
Enable
Connection Status
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 745.
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
Dashboard window
• Create a new blank session or project. Cancel Click to close the Dashboard window with-
out creating or opening a session or project.
• Open any of the last ten most recent sessions and
projects. Create/Open Click Create to close the Dashboard
• Open any other session on your system. and create a new session or project with the speci-
fied session or project settings (on the Create tab
• Open any projects you created or projects that
only). Click Open to open the selected session or
you are collaborating on.
project (on the Recent and Project tabs only). You
To open or close the dashboard window, do any of can also press Return (Mac) or Enter (Windows) to
the following: Create or open a session or project.
Choose File > New or press Command+N (Mac) Show on Startup Disable to skip the Dashboard
or Control+N (Windows). when Pro Tools starts. To resume showing the
Dashboard when Pro Tools starts, enable the Show
Choose File > Open Project or press Com-
Dashboard window when Pro Tools starts option
mand+Option+N (Mac) or Control+Alt+N
(Settings > Preferences > Display).
(Windows).
Create Tab Settings
Dashboard Commands, Options,
and Settings To show the Create tab (if not already shown, do
one of the following:
The Dashboard provides several options for creat-
ing and opening sessions and projects. In the Dashboard, click the Create tab.
In the Dashboard, press Command+1 (Mac) or
Global Dashboard Commands and Control+1 (Windows).
Settings
In the Dashboard, press Command+Up/Down
Sign In/Out The Sign In/Out link is present in all Arrows to toggle through the tabs.
tabs. Click Sign In to sign in to your Avid Master
Account. Once you are signed in, your Display In Pro Tools, choose File > Create New, or press
Name will be shown and you will also see the per- Command+N (Mac) or Control+N (Windows).
centage of your Avid Cloud storage that you are In Pro Tools, choose File > Create New, or press
using all of the projects you own. Any media you Command+N (Mac) or Control+N (Windows).
post to a shared project that you do not own will
count against the project owner’s Cloud storage al- Local Storage (Session) Select this option to
location. To sign out, click your Display Name and create a session using local storage only.
choose Sign Out.
File Type Sets the File Type (WAV or AIFF) for In the Dashboard, click the Recent tab, or press
the session or project. Press Command+F (Mac) or Command+2 (Mac) or Control+2 (Windows) to
Control+F (Windows) to toggle between the two show the Recent tab. The Recent tab lists your 10
options. most recent sessions and projects, but otherwise it
has no unique commands, options, or settings.
Sample Rate Sets the sample rate for the session or Double-click any session or project in the list to
project. Press Command+R (Mac) or Control+R open it. Recent projects are not shown if you are
(Windows) to scroll not logged in.
Bit Depth Sets the Bit Depth (16-bit, 24-bit, or
Projects Tab
32-bit floating) for the session or project. Press
Command+B (Mac) or Control+B (Windows) to In the Dashboard, click the Projects tab, or press
toggle through the available options. Command+3 (Mac) or Control+3 (Windows) to
show the Projects tab. The Projects tab lists all
I/O Settings Sets which I/O Settings to use for the
projects stored in the cloud that you have created
session or project. Press Command+I (Mac) or
or collaborated on. Double-click any project in the
Control+I (Windows) to toggle through the avail-
list to open it. No projects are shown if you are not
able I/O Settings options.
logged in.
Interleaved Enable the Interleaved option to create
interleaved stereo (or greater) audio files in the ses-
sion or project. Press Command+G (Mac) or Con-
trol+G (Windows) to enable or disable the Inter-
leaved option.
When selecting a bit depth or sample rate for your To change the Bit Depth for the Pro Tools session
session or project, consider fidelity, any compati- or project:
bility issues with others systems, and storage 1 Choose Setup > Session.
space.
2 In the Session Setup window, select a bit depth
Bit depth and sample rate also have an effect on from the Bit Depth selector.
the amount of mixing power available in a session
or project. Fewer mixer channels are available
with 24-bit and 32-bit floating point sessions and
projects, and with sessions at higher sample rates.
Opening a Session
When you open a session, Pro Tools looks in the
session folder for audio and fade files linked to the
session.
How the Save Copy In Command 32-bit float to 16-bit Yes Yes
Works
24-bit to 32-bit float No No
Unlike the Save As command, Save Copy In does
not close the original session, so subsequent edits 24-bit to 24-bit No No
are made to the original session. Session copies
can be used to archive important sessions, for ver- 24-bit to 16-bit Yes Yes
sioning, or as a means to prepare sessions for trans-
fer to another Pro Tools system. 16-bit to 32-bit float No No
Save Copy In can save only the audio being used in 16-bit to 24-bit No No
the session. Any audio that was recorded or im-
16-bit to 16-bit No No
ported and then later removed from the session, but
not deleted from disk, is not included in the new
session or project copy. The dither setting used for any conversion is the
Dither plug-in with Noise Shaping enabled.
To include all audio being used in the session
or project, select the All Audio Files option. For more information about using Dither,
see “Dither” on page 1058.
Using the Save Copy In command is the only way
to change the sample rate of a session or project.
The sample rate of each of the session or project
copied audio files is converted to the selected sam-
ple rate. When saving a session copy to a different
sample rate, Pro Tools uses the selected Sample
Rate Conversion Quality option in the Import sec-
tion of the Processing Preferences page (Setup >
Preferences).
When saving a copy of a session or project, the You can save the session or project at a Bit Depth
Save Copy In command provides the following of 16 Bit, 24 Bit, or 32 Bit Float.
options.
Pro Tools 10.0 and higher sessions can use audio
Format files with different bit depths. If your original ses-
sion or project has mixed bit depths, they are not
When saving a copy of a session or project with the converted to the selected bit depth unless you spec-
Save Copy In command, you can save the session ify that they be converted by selecting the Convert
or project copy in the following formats: to Specified Format option in the Items To Copy
• Project; lets you save a copy of the session as a section (see “Items to Copy” on page 167).
project.
When saving to a Session Format lower than 10.0,
• Latest; supports Pro Tools 10.x and higher if your session or project is in a different bit depth,
sessions (.ptx) audio files are converted to the new session bit
• Pro Tools 7.x -> 9.x Session (.ptf) depth, and copied to the specified location. Also,
32 Bit Float is not available for session formats
• Pro Tools 5.1 -> 6.9 Session (.pts)
lower than 10.0.
Session Parameters
For information on bouncing to disk and
When saving a copy of a session or project with the dither, see “Using Dither” on page 1152.
Save Copy In command, the following Session Pa-
Sample Rate
rameters are available:
You can save the session or project at various sam-
Audio File Type
ple rates depending on your system hardware. See
You can save the session or project to reference “Supported Hardware Configurations with
BWF (.WAV) or AIFF audio files. Pro Tools Software” on page 38.
When saving a Pro Tools 7.x or higher session to a When the Convert To Specified Format option is
lower version, enable the Enforce Mac/PC Com- selected, all copied audio files are converted to the
patibility option to force Windows or Mac versions specified audio file format settings in the Session
of Pro Tools to create sessions and audio files that Parameters section. When this option is not se-
are compatible on both platforms. lected, any copied audio files retain their original
audio file format settings (including sample rate
For more information, see “Saving Copies and bit depth), and are exactly copied, bit-by-bit.
of Mac Sessions to be Compatible with Win-
dows” on page 445. Note that copying formats bit-by-bit is much
faster than converting files.
Limit Character Set
This option is automatically selected if you do any
When saving a copy of a session or project to the
of the following:
current session or project format, you can choose
to limit the character set to a single language by se- • Save to a session format lower than 10.0.
lecting the Limit Character Set option. • Enable Enforce Mac/PC Compatibility.
When saving a copy of a session or project to a Don’t Copy Elastic Audio Rendered Files
lower session format, the Limit Character Set op-
tion is automatically selected. Select a language When this option is selected, Elastic Audio Ren-
from the Limit Character Set pop-up menu. dered files are not copied to the new session’s Ren-
dered Files folder or project bundle.
To choose the language encoding when saving a
copy of a session or project: When opening the new session or project,
Pro Tools opens the session or project with all
1 Choose File > Save Copy In.
available media and any missing Rendered files
2 Select the Limit Character Set option. are regenerated automatically.
3 Choose the language you want to use from the Main Playlist Only
Limit Character Set pop-up menu.
When this option is selected, only the main play-
Items to Copy lists are included with the copy. Any alternate
playlists are not included with the copy.
When saving a copy of a session or project with the
Save Copy In command, you can select which When this option is not selected, all playlists are
items are copied, as follows: included with the copy.
When this option is selected, all audio files are When this option is selected, only the selected
copied to the new location. This setting is automat- tracks in the source session or project are saved
ically selected if you select a Session Format lower with the copy. This option is automatically enabled
than 10.0. when choosing File > Export > Selected Tracks As
New Session.
3 Type any notes for this version of the project un- To open the revision history window, do one of the
der Project Notes. This is optional—you can al- following:
ways add or edit Project Notes for any given Choose File > Revision History.
version later (see “Project Notes” on page 177).
Press Command+Control+O (Mac) or
4 Click OK. Control+Start+O (Windows).
On the Project page of the Dashboard, choose
Open Revision History from the Project pop-up
menu.
If you selected the Install Template In System op- The Name setting is only available if the Install
tion, your session template will be available in the Template In System option is enabled. This lets
Dashboard. you project a new name for the template file. From
the Name pop-up menu (to the right of the Name
If you selected the Select Location For Template field), you can select from a list of all of the tem-
option, you are prompted by the Save As Template plates available in the currently selected Category.
dialog to save the file to another location on your Selecting one places that name in the Name field,
system. letting you overwrite, or create a incremental ver-
sion of, an existing template.
When you are ready to use a template as the
basis for a new session, see “Creating a New
Select Location For Template
Session or Project from a Template” on
page 158. Select this option to save the template file to any
directory location on your system. Note that the
Save Session Template Dialog saved session template will not appear in the Dash-
board unless it is in a subdirectory (Category) in
The Save Template dialog provides the following
the Session Templates folder in the Pro Tools Root
options:
Settings folder. You can change the location of the
Root Settings Folder in the Operation Preferences
Install Template In System
(see “User Media and Settings Location” on
Select this option to save the template file in the page 108).
system folder referenced by the Dashboard (the
Session Templates in the Pro Tools application Include Media
folder).
Select this option to include any audio, MIDI, or
video media in the session with the template.
4 Choose Rename.
Pro Tools only lets you work on just one session or
project at a time. The Close Session/Project com- 5 In the resulting dialog, project the new name for
mand closes your current Pro Tools session or the project.
project but leaves the Pro Tools application run-
6 Click OK.
ning. Pro Tools prompts you to save the session or
project when closing it, but it is recommended that
you save your work using the Save or Save As
command before closing a session or project.
To remove the local cache for a project: You cannot undo the Delete Project command. If
you delete a project that you do not own, but are
1 Ensure that you are logged in to your Avid Mas-
only collaborating on, you simple remove yourself
ter Account through Pro Tools (File > Sign In or
as a collaborator for that project. The project re-
click Sign In in the upper right corner of the
mains available to the owner and other collabora-
Dashboard).
tors. However, once you delete a project that you
2 In the Dashboard window, select the Projects own, it is permanently deleted and is unrecover-
tab to view your current projects; or if Pro Tools able.
is already running, choose File > Open Proj-
ect—Command+Option+O (Mac) or Con- To delete a project:
trol+Alt+O (Windows)—to access Projects tab 1 Ensure that you are logged in to your Avid Mas-
in the Dashboard window. ter Account through Pro Tools (File > Sign In or
3 To the right of the project list, click the pop-up click Sign In in the upper right corner of the
menu for the project whose local cache you Dashboard).
want to clear. 2 In the Dashboard window, select the Projects
tab to view your current projects; or if Pro Tools
is already running, choose File > Open Proj-
ect—Command+Option+O (Mac) or Con-
trol+Alt+O (Windows)—to access Projects tab
in the Dashboard window.
Dashboard, Remove Local Cache 3 To the right of the Project list, click the pop-up
menu for the project you want to delete.
4 Choose Remove Local Cache.
5 When prompted, click Delete.
4 Choose Delete.
To restore a project from the cloud: 1 Ensure that you are logged in to your Avid Mas-
ter Account through Pro Tools (File > Sign In or
1 Ensure that you are logged in to your Avid Mas-
click Sign In in the upper right corner of the
ter Account through Pro Tools (File > Sign In or
Dashboard).\
click Sign In in the upper right corner of the
Dashboard). 2 In the Dashboard window, select the Projects
tab to view your current projects; or if Pro Tools
2 In the Dashboard window, select the Projects
is already running, choose File > Open Proj-
tab to view your current projects; or if Pro Tools
ect—Command+Option+O (Mac) or Con-
is already running, choose File > Open Proj-
trol+Alt+O (Windows)—to access Projects tab
ect—Command+Option+O (Mac) or Con-
in the Dashboard window.
trol+Alt+O (Windows)—to access Projects tab
in the Dashboard window. 3 To the right of the Project list, click the pop-up
menu for the project for which you want to open
3 To the right of the Project list, click the Cloud
the Revision History.
icon for the project you want to restore.
Using the Backup to Cloud option in the Projects 1 Ensure that you are logged in to your Avid Mas-
tab in the Dashboard, you can take existing online ter Account through Pro Tools (File > Sign In or
projects offline or put offline projects online at any click Sign In in the upper right corner of the
time. Since shared projects cannot be taken offline, Dashboard).
the Backup to Cloud option is grayed out and un- 2 Choose File > Open Project, or press Com-
available. mand+Option+O (Mac) or Control+Alt+O
For projects you are taking offline, all project data (Windows) to open the Dashboard showing the
and associated media is deleted from your Avid Projects tab.
Cloud Storage Account and the Project icon turns 3 In the list of projects list, deselect (or select)
gray. Backup to Cloud from the pop-up menu to the
right of the project you want to take offline (or
For projects you are putting online, all project data
put online).
and associated media are uploaded to your Avid
Cloud Storage Account and the Project icon turns
blue.
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 186).
Mix Window Shows tracks as channel strips, like a
mixing board (see “Mix Window” on page 184). To toggle between the Mix and Edit windows,
press Control+Equals (=) (Windows), or
press Command+Equals (=) (Mac).
Edit window
Transport window
Plug-In window
Instrument
Tracks List View
(page 241) (page 1025
Inserts View
(page 1025)
Sends View
(page 1025)
Solo/Mute
(page 254)
Volume
fader
(page 222)
Level meter
Voice selector (page 223)
(page 250)
AutoMatch
indicator Track Name
(page 1105) (page 231)
Universe view
Grid and
(page 627)
Nudge values
Zoom buttons (page 585) Collaboration (page 361) (page 188) Edit Window
Counters and Edit Toolbar and menu
Edit Mode Selection indicators
Edit tools (page 186)
buttons (page 624)
(page 581) (page 584)
Tracks List
(page 241)
Tracks
(page 211)
Edit
Groups
List
At the top of the Edit window is the Edit Window The Counters and Edit selection indicators provide
Toolbar and menu. This Toolbar provides access information where selections are in the Timeline.
to the editing modes, tools, options, indicators, and
displays for Pro Tools. You can customize the MIDI Selection
Toolbar in the Edit, MIDI Editor, or Score Editor Edit Selection
windows by re-arranging, showing, and hiding the Main and Sub Counters
available controls and displays.
Delay Compensation Status Indicator Is dis- If the Track Solo indicator is lit, you can click it to
played when Delay Compensation is enabled (Op- clear all soloed tracks in the session.
tions > Delay Compensation). When Delay Com-
Track Mute Indicator Lights orange when any
pensation is disabled, this indicator is not
track in the session is muted. When no tracks in the
displayed.
session are muted, the Track Mute indicator ap-
Task Manager Status Lights and animates when pears dim green. (Note that because Mute is an au-
the Task Manager is busy. When no tasks are in tomatable mixing function, the Track Mute indica-
progress, it is unlit. The indicator turns red if the tor does not function to clear all mutes when
Task Manager requires your attention. Click the clicked.)
Task Manager Status indicator to open or close the
Task Manager window. Grid and Nudge
Global Freeze Tracks Indicator lights when one or The Grid and Nudge selectors let you set the Grid
more tracks in the session are frozen. When it is and Nudge values for editing in Pro Tools. For in-
unlit, Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) formation on the Grid Value selector, see “Config-
the Global Freeze Tracks button to freeze all audio, uring the Grid” on page 584. For information on
Auxiliary Input, and Instrument tracks in the ses- the Nudge Value selector, see “Defining the
sion. When it is lit, Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click Nudge Value” on page 640.
(Windows) it to unfreeze all tracks in the session.
You can also Right-click the Global Freeze Tracks
Grid Value selector
button to specify which track types you want (or Nudge Value selector
don’t want) to freeze.
Tracks cannot be frozen while hidden or Grid and Nudge value selectors
inactive.
Clips List When selected, the Clips List is shown Moving the Counters and Edit Selection indicators
on the right of the Edit window.
Edit Window Zoom Buttons
MIDI Editor When selected, the MIDI Editor view
is shown at the bottom of the Edit window. The Edit window also provides Zoom buttons in
the lower right and upper right corners of the tracks
MIDI Input Display When selected, the MIDI Input pane.
display is shown in the Edit window toolbar.
Vertical and Horizontal Zoom In and Out
Buttons
3 Click OK.
Choose Window > Transport. With the Numeric Keypad mode set to Trans-
port, you can rewind by pressing 1.
Increment
Main Time Scale Format
Transport Window menu Amount
Track Record Enable indicator
Go to End Min:Sec 1 second
Fast Forward Stop
Rewind Play Timecode 1 frame
Return to Zero Record
Online Bars|Beats 1 bar
Feet+Frames 1 foot
Sample 1 second
Pre-
Roll
Post- Fast Forward Fast forwards from the Timeline in-
Roll sertion point. You can also click repeatedly to fast
forward incrementally (by an amount based on the
Start, End, and Length
Selection indicators Main Time Scale).
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
shown) Go to End Locates to the end of the session.
Online Puts Pro Tools online so that playback and You can press Option+Return (Mac) or Con-
recording is triggered by an external timecode trol+Enter (Windows) on the alphanumeric
source. keyboard to locate to the end of the session.
2 From the menu, select or deselect Output Me- MIDI Editor Windows
ters.
MIDI Editor windows let you view and edit MIDI
notes and controller data. You can open multiple
MIDI Editor windows to work on different parts of
your MIDI arrangements separately. MIDI Editor
windows show Instrument and MIDI track data su-
perimposed in Notes view, or on separate tracks in
Output meters in the Transport window Notation view, and lets you view and edit MIDI
controller data (such as velocity, pitch bend, and
mod wheel) in controller lanes under the Notes
For more information, see “Output Me-
pane.
ters” on page 1043.
For more information, see Chapter 34,
Track Collaboration “MIDI Editors.”
(Projects Only)
Go Backward
Go Forward Locations Open in external browser
Refresh
Click Help and choose one of the following: The Avid Support Center command provides ac-
cess to the online Avid Support Center using the
• Pro Tools Help Pro Tools in-application web browser. The Avid
• Pro Tools Knowledge Base Support Center provides support instructions for
• Avid Audio Forums your Avid products.
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 • Select Window Layout and whether or not to in-
the template when you start a new session, or clude the Edit, Mix, Targeted MIDI Editor,
you can use Import Session Data to import Score Editor, and Transport window display set-
Window Configurations into your current tings.
session.
• Select a Window Display Settings option from
the pop-up menu (Edit Window, Mix Window,
Creating New Window
Configurations MIDI Editor (Targeted), Score Editor Window, or
Transport Window.
To create a new Window Configuration:
• If there are any shown MIDI CC lanes that you
1 Open the windows you want to include in the want to save with the configuration, enable In-
Window Configuration and position them clude MIDI Lanes in Display Settings.
where you want on the screen.
4 Name the Window Configuration.
2 Do one of the following:
5 You can type a different number for the new
• Choose Window > Configurations > New Config- Window Configuration. If the number you type
uration. is already used by another Window Configura-
• If the Window Configuration List is open, tion, you are prompted to replace it or Cancel.
choose New Configuration from the Window Otherwise, Pro Tools automatically fills in the
Configuration List pop-up menu. first available number (1–99) for the Window
Configuration.
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 Importing Window
and Window Display Settings. Configurations
Window Configurations that do not include Win- You can import Window Configurations from an-
dow Layout and only store Window Display Set- other session using Import Session Data.
tings cannot be made active and thus won't auto-
To import Window Configurations:
matically update. If you want to update a Window
Configuration with changes to the Window Dis- 1 Choose File > Import > Session Data.
play Settings (such as the width of the Clips List in
2 Select the Window Configurations option.
the Edit window), use the Update command in the
Window Configuration List.
• All floating windows listed in the Window Select Window > Configurations > Window
menu: Configuration List.
• Task Manager window
Press Command+Option+J (Mac) or
• Transport window Control+Alt+J (Windows) to show or hide
• Big Counter window the Window Configuration List.
• Automation window
• Memory Locations window
Window Configuration
Properties
• Machine Track Arming window
Window Configurations can be stored and
• Video Universe window
recalled with the layout of windows in your
• Video window Pro Tools session, as well as with the settings for
• Color Palette window the Edit, Mix, and Transport windows. You can
• Undo History window specify which of these properties are stored for
each Window Configuration either in the New
• Disk Space window
Window Configuration dialog or the Edit Window
• System Usage window Configuration dialog.
The location and size of the Window Con-
figuration List is not stored with Window
Configurations.
For more information, see “Track Name 2 In the Basics section, enable the Tool Tips op-
Right-Click Menu” on page 244. tions you want displayed.
Clip Name Right-Click Menu (Edit Window Only) Function Shows the functional name of different
Pro Tools items (such as specific buttons, indica-
Right-clicking a clip name in the Clips List pro-
tors, modes, selectors, and Edit tools).
vides commands to clear, rename, time stamp, or
replace clips (Pro Tools HD software only). The Details Shows abbreviated or hidden Pro Tools
pop-up menu also lets you export clip definitions names or values for different Pro Tools items
or selected clips as files, recalculate waveform (such as insert names, gain levels, settings, and
overviews, select the parent file of selected clips in routing assignments).
a Workspace Browser, or select a clip as an object
in the Edit window. To turn off Tool Tips, leave both options
deselected.
For more information, see Chapter 15,
“The Clips List.” 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, MIDI, In- Master Fader tracks have additional uses (such as
strument, and video tracks. controlling submix levels). For more information,
see “Master Fader Tracks and Signal Flow” on
Video track features are described in page 1016.
Chapter 58, “Working with Video in
Pro Tools” VCA Master Tracks VCA Master tracks (or VCA
Masters) emulate the operation of voltage-con-
Audio, Auxiliary Input, Master Fader, and VCA trolled amplifier channels on analog consoles,
Master Tracks where a VCA channel fader would be used to con-
trol, group, or offset the signal levels of other chan-
Pro Tools provides mono, stereo, and multichan-
nels on the console.
nel format audio, Auxiliary Input, Master Fader,
and VCA Master tracks. VCA Master tracks do not pass audio, so they do
not have inputs, outputs, inserts, or sends. A Mix
Audio Tracks Audio tracks let you record to disk
Group is assigned to a VCA Master track, which
and play back from disk recorded or imported au-
appears in the VCA track’s Assignment selector.
dio files.
Auxiliary Input Tracks Auxiliary Input tracks can The controls of the tracks in that Group, called the
be used as effects sends, destinations for submixes, slave tracks, are modified by the controls on the
as a bounce destination, as inputs to monitor or VCA Master. For more information, see “VCA
process audio (such as audio from external MIDI Master Tracks” on page 1018.
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
Record
TrackInput Enable MIDI Volume fader
Solo Mute
MIDI Velocity meter
Volume
fader
Level meter Patch Select
MIDI Volume indicator
Track Type indicator
Track Name button
Volume indicator
Track Type indicator 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
Playlist
selector Show/Hide Automation lanes
Timebase selector
Playlist
Playlist selector selector
Track View
selector
Track View selector
Instruments View
Edit window track controls for a video track (medium
track height) Instruments view provides MIDI controls for In-
strument tracks: MIDI Input selector, MIDI Output
selector, MIDI Volume, MIDI Pan, and MIDI
Edit Window Views Mute.
In addition to track controls and playlists (of clips For more information, see “Assigning MIDI
of events on the Timeline), the Edit window pro- Input and Output for Instrument Tracks” on
vides the following views that correspond to chan- page 253.
nel strip controls in the Mix window:
• Comments Inserts View (A–E and F–J)
• Mic Preamps Inserts view provides up to ten inserts (software
• Instruments plug-ins and hardware I/O inserts for generating
and processing audio) on each audio, Auxiliary In-
• Inserts (A–E and F–J)
put, Master Fader, and Instrument track.
• Sends (A–E and F–J)
• I/O For more information on inserts, see
Chapter 48, “Plug-In and Hardware
• Object (Pro Tools HD with Dolby Atmos only)
Inserts.”
• Real-Time Properties
• Track Color Sends View (A–E and F–J)
• Track Collaboration (projects only) Sends view shows send assignments in each audio,
• All Auxiliary Input, and Instrument track.
• Minimal For more information, see “Configuring
Sends View in the Mix and Edit Windows” on
See also “Views in the Mix and Edit
page 1033.
Windows” on page 1023.
Input Path selector Edit window I/O view, Volume pop-up fader (audio
Output Window button track)
Volume indicator
Pan indicator
Peak Indicator Functions as a headroom indicator
Output Path selector
based on the last peak playback level. To reset the
peak counter, click anywhere in the meter. Values
Edit window I/O view (audio track)
range from – (no signal) to 0 dB.
To show the I/O View in the Edit window:
Pan Indicator
Select View > Edit Window > I/O.
The Pan indicator displays the current pan setting
Channel strips in the Mix window always dis- of a track. Pan values range from <100 (full left) to
play Input and Output selectors as well as 100> (full right). Pan controls are only available
volume and pan values, so there is no I/O for stereo tracks or for mono tracks routed to a ste-
view display option for the Mix window. reo output.
To toggle the Volume indicator display: Edit window I/O view, Pan pop-up slider (audio track)
Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win-
dows) the indicator to toggle it between the fol- Greater-than-stereo multichannel tracks do
lowing modes: not provide a Pan indicator in I/O view. You
can view and adjust multichannel panning in
Volume Indicator (and Pop-Up Fader) Shows the the track’s Output window or in the Mix win-
current volume, or input level of a track as set by dow.
the track Volume fader. In I/O view (Edit win-
dow), click the Volume indicator to display the
Volume pop-up fader, which can be used to adjust
the volume.
Pro Tools meters provide a Peak Hold feature with 1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click the
three options: 3 Second, Infinite, or None. Metering tab.
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,
32-bit floating point files will not clip).
Master Fader track clip indicators display red Command-Option-Control-click (Mac) or Con-
when the audio signal exceeds 0 dBFS, causing trol-Alt-Start-click (Windows) any track level
clipping at the output converters on your audio in- meter in the Mix or Edit window.
terface. This behavior is mirrored in the Output
Meters in the Transport.
Wide Meters View From the Mix Window View selector, select (or
deselect) Meters and Faders.
Wide Meters view expands the width of the level
meters for tracks in both the Mix and Edit win-
dows, to make the track level meters easier to read.
Wide Meters view are also available Narrow Mix
view.
Meter Type
scale
Advanced Metering
Peak VU
Pro Tools lets you change metering ballistics and Different Meter Type scales
scales to match your needs for visually monitoring
audio levels. For most users, the default settings Gain Reduction Meter Placement to
for each of the Meter Type settings work best. Scale
However, for some broadcasters, post production The placement of the Gain Reduction meter (when
facilities, and mixing and mastering facilities, shown) depends on the scale for the selected Meter
other metering options may be desired so that Type. The top of the Gain Reduction meter will al-
Pro Tools metering matches the metering on vari- ways match the reference level for the selected
ous external consoles or other devices. Meter Type. Likewise, the bottom the Gain Reduc-
tion meter scales to the range of the selected Meter
Fader and Meter Scales
Type.
In the Mix window, Pro Tools shows a gain boost
and attenuation scale, measured in dB, to the left of
the track Volume fader from +12 dB down to
–INF dB. This scale shows how much changes to
the fader affect the audio level for the track. In
some cases, such as with Wide Meters view or
greater-than-stereo channel widths, the Fader scale
may not be displayed.
Peak VU K-20
5 Click OK.
Right-click on any Track meter and select the Deselect View > Narrow Mix.
desired option from the Gain Reduction sub-
You can toggle track width by pressing
menu in the Gain Reduction Meter Type menu.
Command+Option+M (Mac) or
Control+Alt+M (Windows).
Creating Tracks
You can create mono and stereo tracks on all
Pro Tools systems. With Pro Tools HD option,
you can also create multichannel tracks (from LCR
to 7.1).
8 Click Create.
Double-click in the empty area of the Mix win- Control-double-click (Mac) or Start-double-
dow below or to the right of any current tracks. click (Windows) in the empty area below any
current tracks in the Tracks list.
Double-click in the empty area of the Edit win-
dow below any current tracks. If no tracks exist in the session, a stereo Auxiliary
Input track is created by default.
Double-click in the empty area below any cur-
rent tracks in the Tracks list. To add a new Master Fader track of the same
channel width as the last new track, do one of the
If no tracks exist in the session, a stereo audio track following:
is created by default.
Shift-double-click on the empty area of the Mix
To add a new audio track of the same channel window below or to the right of any current
width as the last new track, do one of the tracks.
following:
Shift-double-click on the empty area of the Edit
Command-double-click (Mac) or Control-dou- window below any current tracks.
ble-click (Windows) on the empty area of the
Mix window below or to the right of any current Shift-double-click (Mac) in the empty area be-
tracks. low any current tracks in the Tracks list.
To rename a track:
1 Do one of the following:
• In the Mix or Edit window, double-click the
Track Name button for the track you want to re-
name.
• In the Tracks List, or Mix or Edit window,
Right-click the track name for the track you
want to rename.
2 In the Track Name/Comments dialog, type a
new track name.
3 Click Previous or Next to rename other dis-
played tracks.
4 Click OK.
With Track Number view enabled, each track is as- All tracks between the first track selected and the
signed a number corresponding to its position in additional track will also be selected.
the Mix and Edit Windows. When tracks are reor-
To select or deselect noncontiguous tracks, do
dered, they are renumbered to maintain positional one of the following:
sequence.
Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win-
To enable Track Number view: dows) Track Name buttons that are unhigh-
lighted to select them.
Choose View > Track Number.
Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win-
dows) Track Name buttons that are highlighted
to deselect them.
Pro Tools lets you link Track selection with Edit Scroll To Track dialog
selections. When Track and Edit selections are 4 Press Return (Mac) or Enter (Windows), or
linked, you can make a selection within a track or click OK.
across multiple tracks for editing and each associ-
ated track is selected (track names automatically The specified track is selected and scrolled into
highlight). view.
To link Track and Edit selections: To scroll a track into view from the Tracks List
Right-click menu:
Select Options > Link Track and Edit Selection.
In the Tracks List, or Mix or Edit window,
Right-click the track name and select Scroll into
Scrolling a Track into View View.
The Scroll to Track dialog lets you type the name
of the track you want to scroll to. As you type a Deleting Tracks
track name, only those tracks whose names begin
with the letter you enter appear in the scroll to track When you delete tracks, your audio or MIDI clip
list. You can also Right-click a track name in the data remains in the Clips List, but your arrange-
Tracks List and choose to scroll it into view. ment of the clips on the deleted track (the track’s
playlist) will be lost.
To scroll to a track by name in the Edit or Mix
window: If the track contains playlists that are not assigned
to any track, you are prompted to delete or retain
1 Choose Track > Scroll to Track. them.
Press Command+Option+F (Mac) or Con- The Delete Track command cannot be un-
trol+Alt+F (windows) to open the Scroll to done.
Track dialog.
• Choose Track > Duplicate. • To maintain all Mix and Edit Group assign-
ments, select Group Assignments.
• Press Option+Shift+D (Mac) or Alt+Shift+D
(Windows).
• Right-click the name of the track in the Tracks
List, or Mix or Edit window, and select
Duplicate.
For audio, Auxiliary Input, MIDI, and Instrument To toggle Track Views on tracks containing the edit
tracks, you can change to the next or previous cursor (or an Edit selection):
Track View, or toggle between pre-defined com- 1 Click in the track you want to toggle. To toggle
mon views. multiple tracks, Shift-click or drag with the Se-
lector tool to select additional tracks.
Changing to Previous or Next Track View
2 Do one of the following:
When changing to the next or previous Track
• Press Control+Minus (Mac) or Start+Minus
View, Track View list ordering is maintained as
(Windows) on the alphanumeric keyboard.
shown in the Track View selector.
• With Commands Keyboard Focus enabled (see
Track Views at the beginning of the list (such “Keyboard Focus” on page 27), press Minus on
as Blocks for audio or MIDI tracks) cannot the alphanumeric keyboard.
be changed to the previous Track View.
Tracks Views at the end of the list (such as a To toggle Track Views for all tracks, press
MIDI controllers option) cannot be changed Option+Control+Minus (Mac) or
to the next Track View. Alt+Start+Minus (Windows) on the
alphanumeric keyboard.
To change to the previous or next Track View:
1 Click in the track you want to change. To To toggle Track Views for all tracks with
change views on multiple tracks, Shift-click or Command Focus enabled, press
drag the Selector tool to select additional tracks, Option+Minus (Mac) or Alt+Minus
or select a group. (Windows) on the alphanumeric keyboard.
• Audio tracks: Waveform and Blocks The track is resized to the new height. If the track is
• MIDI and Instrument tracks: Clips, Blocks, and part of an Edit Group, all tracks in the group are set
Notes (when using the Selector tool) to the new height.
Track Show/Hide
Track Color Code
Track Type icon
Track name
Tracks List menu
Show/Hide Tracks List /Groups List, in Edit Window
Tracks List
Showing and Hiding Tracks In the Tracks List (or on the track channel strip),
Right-click the track name and select Show (or
The Mix and Edit windows are linked in terms of Show and Make Active if the track is inactive
which tracks are shown or hidden. However, the and you also want to make it active).
Score Editor window and MIDI Editor windows
are all unique in terms of which tracks are shown To show all tracks:
or hidden. For example, hiding a specific track in
Click the Tracks List menu and choose Show All
the Edit window also hides it in the Mix window,
Tracks.
but not in the Score Editor or MIDI Editor win-
dows. Also, hiding a specific track in a MIDI Edi- You can also show all tracks by Option-click-
tor window hides it only in that MIDI Editor win- ing (Mac) or Alt-clicking (Windows) the
dow. Show/Hide icon of any track that is hidden.
Hide and Make Inactive Hides the track and makes Field Recorder Guide Track (Audio Tracks on
it inactive (or selected tracks if any). Pro Tools HD Only) Sets the selected track to be
the guide track for field recorder workflows.
Make Active/Inactive Toggles the active status of
the track (or all selected tracks in the Mix or Edit MIDI Real-Time Properties (MIDI and Instrument
window only). Tracks Only) Opens the Real-Time Properties
window for the track.
Scroll Into View Scrolls the track to the top of the
Edit window or to the left of the Mix window. Open in New MIDI Editor (MIDI and Instrument
Tracks Only) Opens the track in a new MIDI
Export MIDI (MIDI and Instrument Tracks Editor window.
Only) Exports the MIDI data from one or more
MIDI or Instrument tracks to a standard MIDI file. Open in Score Editor (MIDI and Instrument Tracks
Only) Opens the track in the Score Editor window.
For more information, see “Exporting MIDI Files”
on page 398. Open in MIDI Event List (MIDI and Instrument
Tracks Only) Opens the track in the MIDI Event
List.
244 Pro Tools Reference Guide
Notation Display Track Settings (MIDI and Instru- Automatic Input and Output
ment Tracks Only) Opens the Notation Display Assignments
Track Settings window for the track. Music nota-
tion can only be viewed in the Score Editor or in When adding tracks to a new session, inputs are
MIDI Editor windows set to Notation view. automatically assigned in ascending order. For ex-
ample, if you have an audio interface with eight in-
Expand Channels to New Tracks Expands multi- puts, creating four new mono audio tracks will au-
channel audio files imported from a field recorder tomatically add four audio tracks with inputs
to new tracks, such that every channel resides on assigned to the first four paths defined in the I/O
its own mono audio track. Pro Tools also automat- Setup dialog. When creating stereo tracks, inputs
ically conforms all expanded tracks to the edits in are automatically assigned to subsequent input
the guide (expanded) track. You can expand multi- pairs.
channel files to new tracks ordered by channel
name, by channel number, by channel name and The outputs automatically assigned to new tracks
number, or by Timecode only. are determined by the New Track Default Output
Bus specified in the I/O Setup dialog.
Inputs for audio, Auxiliary Input, and Instrument To assign an audio input of an audio, Auxiliary
tracks can be assigned to audio interface channels Input, or Instrument track:
or busses. Outputs for audio, Auxiliary Input, Mas- 1 In order to assign audio track inputs in the Edit
ter Fader, and Instrument tracks can also be as- window, select View > Edit Window > I/O.
signed to audio interface channels or busses.
2 In the Mix or Edit window, click the track’s In-
Track Input Track Input Track set to put Path selector and choose from the available
set to Audio 2 set to Bus 2 No Input
audio interface channels and busses. Stereo and
multichannel surround tracks have inputs avail-
able as pairs and multichannel groups.
The Input Path selector lets you route any audio in-
put or any of the Pro Tools internal busses to an au-
dio, Auxiliary Input, or Instrument track. The
Input/output assignments for three mono audio tracks choices available in this pop-up menu are deter-
mined by the Input Path configuration in the I/O
For stereo and multichannel surround tracks, in-
Setup. Inputs in use by another track appear bold in
puts and outputs appear as stereo pairs and multi-
the Input Path selector pop-up menu.
channel groups. The available inputs, outputs, and
busses are defined as paths in the I/O Setup dialog Instrument tracks automatically assign the
(see Chapter 6, “I/O Setup”). audio output from the instrument plug-in in-
serted on the track to the track audio Input.
While your Pro Tools hardware allows a fixed You can also adjust the relative priority of tracks
number of voices, Pro Tools software allows for by freeing up the voices of individual tracks, mak-
additional audio tracks beyond that fixed number ing them available to other tracks in the session.
of voices. While all of these tracks can be recorded
to or imported, arranged, and cued for playback, To free up the voice of a track, do one of the
not all of them can be played back simultaneously. following:
For information on assigning MIDI input to MIDI tracks in Pro Tools cannot contain
Instrument tracks, see “Assigning MIDI In- multiple channels of MIDI data.
put and Output for Instrument Tracks” on
page 253.
For information on assigning MIDI output to
To assign a MIDI track input: Instrument tracks, see “Assigning MIDI In-
put and Output for Instrument Tracks” on
Click the track’s MIDI Input selector and assign
page 253.
a port and channel for MIDI input. Channels al-
ready assigned to another track appear in bold. To assign a MIDI track (and all its clips) to a
specific MIDI device channel:
In the Edit window, select View > Edit
Click the track’s MIDI Output selector and as-
Window > I/O to access any track’s Input
sign a port and channel for MIDI output. Chan-
selector.
nels already assigned to another track appear in
bold.
To assign multiple destinations to a single MIDI Channels in use by another track input appear bold
track: in the MIDI Input pop-up menu.
Control-click (Mac) or Right-click (Mac or
To assign an Instrument track MIDI input:
Windows) the MIDI Output selector and select
additional channels from any device. Click the track’s MIDI Input selector and assign
a port and channel for MIDI input. Channels al-
For information on recording and ready assigned to another track appear in bold.
importing MIDI data, see Chapter 24,
“MIDI Recording.” Instrument Track MIDI Output
In addition to assigning MIDI input and out- Channels in use by another track input appear as
put for recording and playing back MIDI bold in the MIDI Input pop-up menu.
data, Instrument tracks can also be used to
monitor the audio from your hardware MIDI
instruments and instrument plug-ins. See
“Signal Routing for Monitoring and Submix-
ing” on page 1044.
To make one or more tracks inactive or active, do Tracks List Track colors are displayed in vertical
one of the following: color bars that appear to the left of each track
Select the track and select Track > Make Inac- name.
tive/Active. Groups List Track colors are displayed in vertical
Right-click the Track Name in the Tracks List, color bars that appear to the left of each Group
or Mix or Edit windows and choose Make Inac- Name.
tive/Active.
Default colors are automatically assigned to tracks,
To select multiple tracks, Command-click but you can override those colors by choosing
(Mac) or Control-click (Windows) additional from a color palette of 96 possible colors. For more
Track Names. information, see “Color Palette” on page 259.
7 Select a Default Clip Color Coding option. Track Type Assigns a color to each track according
to its type (audio, Auxiliary Input, Master Fader,
8 Click OK.
VCA Master, MIDI, Instrument, or video).
Always Display Marker Colors
Default Clip Color Coding
This option lets you view Marker colors in the
The Default Clip Color Coding options determine
Markers ruler, regardless of the option you choose
how colors are assigned to the display of tracks,
for the Default Clip Color Coding option.
clips in the track playlist and Clips List, and
Marker Locations.
MIDI Note Color Shows Velocity
None Turns off default color assignment for clips.
When this option is enabled, MIDI notes display
varying shades of the assigned track color in MIDI Clips are drawn as black waveforms or black MIDI
notes view in the Edit window and in MIDI Editor notes on a light gray background.
windows. Notes with high velocities are darker Tracks and MIDI Channels Assigns a color to each
and notes with lower velocities are lighter. clip in the Edit window according to its voice or
MIDI channel assignment.
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.
Grouping Limitations 2 Deselect the Link Mix and Edit Group Enables
option.
Grouping does not affect these parameters:
3 Click OK.
• Voice assignment
• Output assignment
• Inserting plug-ins
• Elastic Audio plug-ins
Group Controls
Colors Group IDs Show/Hide
Menus and commands for creating and modifying Groups List
groups are accessible in the following:
• Groups List Groups List
Hollow Circle
Filled In Circle
Group Dialog
Whether you are creating or modifying groups
with the Groups List, a track's Group ID indicator,
or the Track > Group menu command, you use the
Groups dialog.
2 Do one of the following: • To replace all tracks in the group with the tracks
that are currently selected in the session, click
• Choose Track > Group.
the Replace button at the bottom of the Group
• Choose New Group from the Groups List menu. dialog.
3 Type a name for the group. In either list, Shift-click to select a range of
4 Select the type of group to create: Edit, Mix, or track names. Command-click (Mac) or Con-
Mix/Edit. trol-click (Windows) to select discontiguous
track names.
5 Choose a Group ID from the ID pop-up menu.
Four banks of 26 are available: a–z, 2a–z, 3a–z, 7 If the group is a Mix Group or a Mix/Edit
4a–z. (If you do not choose a Group ID, Group, do the following:
Pro Tools automatically assigns the next avail-
• Set the Attributes for the Group (see “Setting
able ID to a new group.)
Group Attributes” on page 268).
• If you want to assign the group to an available
VCA, select the VCA Master track from the
VCA pop-up menu.
8 Click OK.
Track controls:
• Main Volume
• Main Mute
• Main Pan
• Main LFE Level (Pro Tools HD only)
To disable a group:
Groups List Keyboard Focus enabled
In the Groups List, click the name of the group
To enable and disable groups using the Edit and
you want to disable. The name is unhighlighted
Mix Groups List Keyboard Focus:
to indicate that it is not enabled.
With Groups List Keyboard Focus enabled,
type the Group ID letter (a–z) to automatically
enable or disable the corresponding group.
The Edit Window displays all audio clips, MIDI Because clip information can become lengthy, the
clips, and clip groups in a single, comprehensive Clips List can be scrolled or resized as necessary.
Clips List.
Use the Clips List as a bin for storing your
Drag to resize width Keyboard Focus favorite audio loops and MIDI clips. Save
of Clips List the session as a template and the clips are
Clips List menu
available for future sessions (see “Session
Templates” on page 174).
Clips List
Hiding Auto-Created clips can be useful File Name Displays the parent file name.
when importing clip groups (or REX files
Disk Name Displays the name of the hard drive on
as clip groups), because these file types can
which referenced file resides.
contain so many separate clips that it be-
comes difficult to read the Clips List. Full Path Displays the full directory path of the
clip’s parent file.
In the Clips List, whole-file audio clips are dis-
played in bold, and stereo and multichannel audio Channel Name Displays the channel name for
clips can be expanded to display individual chan- audio files imported from field recorders.
nels.
Scene and Take Displays the scene and take for
audio files imported from field recorders.
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 275. • Start in Parent
3 To set whether clips are listed in ascending or • End in Parent
descending order, click the Clips 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 Clips 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 Path” on
an AudioSuite plug-in. Whole-file audio clips ref- page 58).
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 Clips 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 Clips List during ses-
sion or importing a track. Offline clips appear in sion playback.
the Clips List as italicized and dimmed; they ap-
pear 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 525).
“Select Unused” Ignores Parent Clip Enabling
the “Select Unused” Ignores Parent Clip option af-
fects the behavior of the Select Unused command.
When it is enabled, all unused clips are selected ex-
cept for any unused whole clips that have related
sub-clips currently on tracks in the session.
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 Clips List • From the Clips 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-
Clips 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 Clips 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:
Managing Clips in the Clips To ensure that you keep any specific auto-created
List clips, rename them. When you name a clip, it is
promoted from being an auto-created clip to a user-
In the course of editing a session, the Clips List can
defined clip (see “Renaming Clips” on page 281).
quickly fill up with many clips—with ones you
have created intentionally and also with those that
are automatically created by cutting, pasting, and Clearing Unwanted Clips
separating other clips, or importing Clip Group In the Clips List, you can select unwanted clips and
files (or REX files as clip groups). Pro Tools lets then use the Clear command to remove them from
you hide or remove clips in your session so you do the session. Whole-file clips can also be perma-
not have to scroll through a long Clips List. nently removed from the hard drive on which they
are stored.
Hiding Auto-Created Clips
The Clear command cannot be undone.
You can hide clips that were automatically created
during the course of editing. To find and remove unused clips in a session:
Replace Clip (Pro Tools HD Only) Replaces multi- Renaming tasks are applied in order from
ple instances of a clip with another clip. top to bottom: Replace, then Trim, then Add,
and finally Numbering.
Compact Compacts selected clips.
Enable (or disable) the Replace option to replace Enable (or disable) the Trim option to remove the
text in the names of clips or tracks. specified number of characters from the beginning
or end of names.
Press Command+R (Mac) or Control+R
(Windows) to select (or deselect) Replace. Press Command+T (Mac) or Control+T
(Windows) to select (or deselect) Replace.
For more information about using regular Range Enable Range and then enter the number of
expressions for batch renaming tasks, see characters From the beginning and the number of
“Regular Expressions Workflow Examples” character To the end of the range that you want to
on page 289. trim (or crop) the selected names to. The From and
To values can be counted from the beginning or
from the end of the selected names.
Enable (or disable) the Add option to add prefixes Enable (or disable) the Numbering option to add
or suffixes to names. You can also insert text into numbers to the names of selected items.
the middle of names.
Press Command+N (Mac) or Control+N
Press Command+D (Mac) or Control+D (Windows) to select (or deselect) Numbering.
(Windows) to select (or deselect) Add.
\
Suffix Enable the Suffix option and type the text Number of Places Enter the number of places you
you want to add to the names of selected items as a want for numbering (for example, type 3 for three
suffix. places 000).
Delete Current Settings File Permanently deletes For more information about regular expres-
the current settings file (.ptpreset) from disk. sions, visit https://www.regex101.com.
Some commonly used regular expressions for advanced find and replace text operations:
\-\ Lets the character following the second \ be considered differently. For
example, since . (period) is used to match any character, type \. to match an
actual . (period) in a search string.
\s Matches any instance of a single space (such as the space bar or tab).
+ Any of the above regular expressions or any literal character can be fol-
lowed with + to match one or more of the preceding characters (for exam-
ple, \w+ can be used to find any number of spaces created by the spacebar
or tab).
With Regular Expressions enabled, any number of text patterns can be matched and replaced when batch
renaming tracks or clips. In the Find field, type the pattern you want to match inside parentheses and then
separate patterns using | (the pipe symbol). For example:
find replace
(Audio)|(VCA)|(Aux) (?1)(?2)(?3)
The text following ?1 will replace the text Audio, the text following ?2 will replace VCA, and the text fol-
lowing ?3 will replace Aux—(?1Aud)(?2Group Master)(?Bus)
Use the following regular expressions to remove all instances of .dup1, .dup2, or up to any number of du-
plicates from track or clip names by replacing them with no character at all.
find replace
\.dup\d+
\. searches for literal periods—as opposed to the special token . (period) since . itself is used to match any
character—followed by dup, then \d (the regular expression for any number) followed by + (which matches
any number of digits that follow .dup) and replaces all matches with nothing (effectively deleting that text).
Use the following regular expressions to find text automatically added by common AudioSuite processes
and remove them or replace them with something more appropriately descriptive.
find replace
(-Norm)|(-EQ3-1B) (?1)(?2-HPF)
This replaces -Norm with nothing (effectively deleting that text), and replaces -EQ3-1B with -HPF to indi-
cate that the EQ3-1B AudioSuite processing on the selected clips was used to roll off low frequencies.
The Pro Tools Workspace combines an intuitive, When offline items are needed, Pro Tools lets you
browser-style interface with an integrated databas- find the correct matching files, then relink to on-
ing engine, optimized for metadata and media line media.
management.
The Workspace browser provides access to all
Workspace browsers provide extensive databasing your mounted volumes, as well as the folders and
tools for searching, sorting, auditioning, and im- files they contain.
porting of audio, MIDI, video, plug-in settings
(.tfx), Guitar Rig Settings (Eleven Rack only), and Using the Workspace browser, you can:
session files. Multiple browsers can be displayed • Use Soundbase to tag and find audio files with
and arranged, with custom display settings pro- musically descriptive metadata
vided to customize your work environment. • Access all mounted volumes
For information on dragging and dropping • Access all Catalogs
files from Workspace browsers to your • Search across multiple volumes and Catalogs
Pro Tools session, see “Importing Files with simultaneously
Drag and Drop” on page 384.
• Designate volumes for Record and Playback,
Playback Only, or Transfer
Workspace Browsers
• View, manage, audition, and import individual
Workspace browsers provide an intuitive user in- items in any catalog or mounted volume
terface to databases with many convenient features
for various file management tasks (such as search • Update databases for entire volumes
and sort functions).
Sound Libraries
Workspace browsers in Pro Tools are analogous to
At the top of the list in the Location pane of any
windows in your computer’s operating system, but
Workspace browser is the Sound Libraries direc-
are specifically designed for Pro Tools workflow.
tory. Sound Libraries provides easy access to
Multiple browsers can be displayed simultane-
tagged audio files, and search on criteria that in-
ously, and arranged independently with custom
cludes musically useful information about the au-
display settings for each.
dio content—especially Time Base, Duration
Workspace browsers let you search and sort audio (Min:Sec or Bars|Beats), Tempo, Key, Time Sig-
files, video files, and sessions. Audio, video, and nature, Favorites, Rating, and Tags. Use Sound-
session files displayed in browsers can be dragged base in Workspace browsers to find audio files us-
directly into the current Pro Tools session. ing tags (WAV and AIFF only). Tags are
Transfer Volumes These are volumes that are not When opening sessions created in lower versions
supported for media playback in Pro Tools (such of Pro Tools in Pro Tools 12.7 or higher, you are
as shared network volumes or CD-ROMs), or stor- prompted to update the database file and to man-
age volumes (hard drives) that have been desig- ually back up the database file from the lower
nated in the Workspace browser as Transfer (T) version of Pro Tools. This is important if you (or
volumes. Transfer volumes cannot be used to re- anyone else for that matter) expect to continue to
cord or play back media in a Pro Tools session. work on the session in a version of Pro Tools
lower than 12.7. Back up that database file to fa-
Designated Transfer (T) volumes can be useful for
cilitate session interchange between different
transferring session and media files between dif-
versions Pro Tools. This helps to maintain things
ferent Pro Tools systems. like Catalogs created in lower versions of
Pro Tools or Favorites and Ratings created in
For more information, see “Volume
Pro Tools 12.7 or higher.
Permissions” on page 296.
When opening a session last saved in Pro Tools
12.7 in a lower version of Pro Tools, any
Databases Pro Tools 12.7 database file is backed up auto-
matically and appended with the version of the
The information displayed in Workspace browsers
backup starting with “.1” (Workspace.wksp.1).
is stored in the system-wide Pro Tools database.
The appended number increases incrementally
Pro Tools creates a centralized database automati-
for each subsequent backup.
cally for all mounted volumes, including Transfer
volumes, on your system drive. Pro Tools uses a With Pro Tools 11 and higher, the database file
single database file that maintains an index of all is versioned and is not backward compatible with
volumes (hard drives, networked drives, and re- previous versions of Pro Tools. When using a
movable media) and catalogs. system where Pro Tools 11 or higher and
Pro Tools 10 are co-installed, there will be sepa-
On Mac, the database file is stored in
rate database files for each version of Pro Tools.
/Users/Shared/Pro Tools.
Database files of the same version are cross-
On Windows, the database file is stored in platform compatible (Mac and Windows).
<Systemdrive>/Users/Public/Pro Tools.
Pro Tools databases use two file types:
The waveform cache for audio files indexed by the
Workspace.wksp Stores media and session file
database are stored within the database file. This
metadata for a particular volume or catalog.
includes the mini thumbnail waveforms for pre-
viewing (waveform cache files for sessions con- Wavecache.wfm Stores waveform overviews for
tinue to be stored in the session folder). all audio files referenced by each session.
There is also the MiscSettings file which stores the
directory path for the Sound Libraries folder.
Toolbar
Column headers
Items List
Locations pane
Browser pane
Show/Hide
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.
Choose Window > New Workspace > Sound- Select Sound Libraries, or a volume, folder, or
base. Catalog, and press the Right Arrow key to ex-
pand, or the left Arrow key to collapse.
Press Option+Control+I (Mac) or
Control+Alt+I (Windows). To move up one level in a browser:
To open a new Workspace browser focused Click the Browse Back arrow in the toolbar.
on the Project:
To move up one level in a browser,
Press Option+O (Mac) or Alt+O (Windows). press Command+Up Arrow key (Mac)
or Control+Up Arrow key (Windows).
To send all Workspace browsers to the T (Transfer) Can only be used for storing, transfer-
background, press Option+Shift+J (Mac) ring, or auditioning files, and cannot be used for re-
or Alt+Shift+J (Windows). cording or playback.
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
To change a volume designator:
foreground:
1 Open a Workspace browser.
Choose Window > Browsers, and select an open
Workspace browser from the submenu. 2 In the Locations pane, select Volumes.
3 In the Browser pane, click and select the appro-
To cycle to the next or previous Workspace
priate permissions for any volume.
browser:
Press Command+Left/Right Arrow keys (Mac) You can also Right-click any volume in either
or Control+Left/Right Arrow keys (Windows). 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:
Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) the
Close box of any Workspace browser.
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
Browser pane of any Workspace browser.
• Drag the AAF or OMF sequence from the
Browser pane of any Workspace browser to the
Timeline in an open session.
2 Configure the Import Session Data dialog.
3 Click OK.
To scroll to the top or bottom of the active If a volume or folder has not been indexed, it is in-
pane: dexed automatically the first time it is opened in a
Workspace browser. Volumes or folders contain-
Press Home (for the top) or End (for the
ing a lot of media files can take a long time to in-
bottom).
dex. For this reason, you may want to manually in-
dex specific volumes or files prior to starting a
To move items up or down in the current
Workspace browser:
project to help expedite workflow.
Manual Indexing
Manual indexing fills in all missing data, and up-
dates changed data for selected folders and all of
their sub-folders.
To update the index for a folder and all sub- Workspace Browser menu icon
folders: Loop Preview Previews the selected file by loop-
Right-click the item in a Workspace browser ing playback of the file. If multiple files are se-
Items List and choose Update Index. lected, only the first selected file previews. When
Loop Preview mode is enabled, the Preview button
To update the index for an entire volume: updates to show a Loop Preview Mode icon.
Right-click the volume to update in the Work- Auto-Preview Enables or disables automatic pre-
space browser and choose Update Index. view of files. When this option is enabled, select-
ing a file in the browser starts preview. The Pre-
Last Indexed Date Display view button updates to show that Auto-Preview is
enabled.
The Date Indexed column shows the date that the
index for that folder and all of its sub-folders was
updated. Keep in mind that individual sub-folders
may have been updated more recently.
Chapter 16: Workspace Browsers 299
Spacebar Toggles File Preview Enables or dis- Show Offline Volumes Select (or deselect) the
ables the Spacebar for starting and stopping pre- Show Offline Volumes command to show (or hide)
view. When this option is disabled, use the Pre- all indexed offline volumes from the database in
view button to start and stop preview. In this mode, the Locations pane.
the Spacebar starts and stops session playback.
Delete Index for All Offline Volumes Deletes the
This lets you play back the session and, with the
Audio Files Conform to Session Tempo option en-
index for all offline volumes from the database.
abled, preview the selected audio file in time with Keep Window on Top Select (or deselect) the Keep
the session. Window On Top option in the Workspace Browser
menu to ensure that the Workspace remains in the
When a browser is front-most, Command+P
foreground when working with other windows. This
(Mac) or Control+P (Windows) starts and
can be helpful when working with the Workspace
stops preview. Also, the Esc key stops preview.
and the Edit window in particular. When this option
Audio Files Conform to Session Tempo Con- is disabled, clicking on another window (such as the
forms all tick-based audio files with Elastic Audio Edit or Mix windows) brings that window to the front
analysis, as well as REX and ACID files, to the and the Workspace may be hidden behind it. When
session tempo. This option lets you play back the enabled, all open Workspace browser remain in front
session and simultaneously preview the selected of all other windows with the focused Workspace al-
files in time with the session. This option is only ways in the foreground.
available when a session is open. For more infor-
mation, see “Conforming Preview to the Session
Tempo” on page 327. Workspace Right-Click Menu
When the Audio Files Conform to Session Tempo Pro Tools lets you Right-click on items in the Lo-
option is enabled, Pro Tools analyzes un-analyzed cations pane (such as volumes and folders) and the
files on preview or import. Audio files that have Browser pane (such as folders and files) to access
been analyzed as tick-based can then be previewed relevant contextual commands. These commands
at the session tempo and conform to the session are specific to the type of items selected in the Lo-
tempo on import. cations pane or the Browser pane, as described be-
low.
When the Audio Files Conform to Session Tempo
option is disabled, any tick-based audio files with New Folder Creates a new folder on the currently
Elastic Audio analysis, and REX and ACID files selected volume or folder, or within the currently
preview and import at their native tempo. selected catalog. For volumes and folders, a new
folder is created on disk. For more information, see
Don’t Limit Search Results Select (or deselect) “Creating and Opening Workspace Browser Fold-
the Don’t Limit Search Results option to show all ers” on page 297.
search results past the default 1,000 item limit. If a
search returns more than 1,000 items you are notified Create Catalog from Selection Creates a fully in-
to the left of the simple search field that 1,000+ items dexed catalog of all items selected in either the Lo-
were found. You can click the 1,000+ link to show cations or the Browser pane.
all items found or you can enable the Don’t Limit
Search Results option to always show all search re-
sults.
Spot To Edit Insertion Spots the selected audio Load Guitar Rig Settings (Eleven Rack
Only) Loads the Guitar Rig Settings for selected
file to the current Edit insertion location. Note that
audio files with embedded Guitar Rig Settings
the channel width of the file must match the chan-
from an Eleven Rack.
nel width of the target audio track.
Select Offline Files Selects all files that are
Update Index Updates the index for the currently
currently offline.
selected volumes or folders.
Select Online Files Selects all files that are online.
Delete Index Deletes the index of files for the
items in the selected volume or folder from the da- Select Transfer Files Selects all files identified as
tabase. Transfer files (files found on media that do not
support playback).
Delete Index for All Offline Volumes Deletes the
index for all offline volumes from the database. Relink Offline Opens the Relink window for items
selected in the current session.
Invert Selection Reverses (inverts) the current
selection. Relink Opens the Relink window, with all selected
files from the current browser displayed and se-
Select All Selects all items shown in the browser.
lected as Files to Match. This command is avail-
Calculate Waveform Calculates the waveform dis- able for catalogs and sessions only.
plays for selected audio files, or for all audio files
Copy and Relink Copies items selected in the cur-
within selected volumes, folders, or catalogs.
rent session browser to a chosen location, and
For more information, see “Waveforms” on relinks the session to the copies instead of the orig-
page 321. inals. Use this to easily move files from a Transfer
to a Performance volume. This command is also
Calculate Elastic Analysis Calculates Elastic Au- available in selected catalogs to copy items and
dio analysis data for all selected audio files. Ana- relink the current catalog to the copies.
lyzed files are indicated by a blue clock for sam-
ple-based files and by a green metronome for tick-
Chapter 16: Workspace Browsers 301
Duplicate Creates a duplicate of the selected items Moving Columns
in the same location.
To move a column:
Rename Renames the selected item.
Drag the column to a new location in the
Permissions Lets you set Transfer, Playback, or Workspace.
Record permissions for the selected volume (see
“Volume Permissions” on page 296).
Resizing Columns
Lock Locks all selected items. Any files already
locked remain so. Locking a folder locks all files To resize a column, do one of the following:
and sub-folders it contains. Drag the right column boundary to a new width.
Unlock Unlocks the selected items. Double-click the right column boundary to re-
size the column to the widest element in col-
Delete Lets you delete selected files, folders, and
umn.
catalogs from disk, or move selected items to the
Trash (Mac) or to the Recycle Bin (Windows).
Showing and Hiding Columns
You can show or hide individual columns in
Workspace Browser Panes Workspace browsers to fit your workflow. The de-
and Display fault column display includes the items you would
use in most sessions.
Workspace browsers display an Items List consist-
ing of various columns (such as file name, size,
To show or hide individual columns, do one
creation date, and sample rate). of the following:
Right-click a column label and select or dese-
Showing (or Hiding) the
Size Displays the size of a file. This field cannot be Time Signature Displays the assigned Time Sig-
edited. nature of the file. Click in the Time Signature col-
umn and select the meter (such as 4/4).
SMPTE ID Displays the 32-bit unique ID for spe-
cific MXF files that were made with the SMPTE Unique ID Displays the standard 8-bit Unique ID
standard identifier. for most media and Pro Tools files.
Sound Roll Displays sound roll number data (This User Bits Displays text information embedded in
data is usually named “Tape” in BWF files, but is audio files. This field can be used for user com-
distinct from the date displayed in the Workspace ments, or auto-generated info with certain field re-
Tape column). This field cannot be edited. corders.
Sound Roll TC Displays the starting timecode of User Time Stamp Displays the user time stamp, if
audio files. This field cannot be edited. any, of audio files only.
Sound Roll TC Rate Displays the frame rate infor- Video Compression Displays the compression ra-
mation embedded in audio files: 24, 25, 29.97, 30, tio of video files where applicable.
drop or non-drop. This field cannot be edited.
Waveform Displays a graphical overview of an au-
Tags Displays, and lets you add and edit tags. dio file. See “Waveforms” on page 321 for more
Click in the Tags column for an item to add or edit information.
tags. You can also mark items as Favorites and
Rate them from zero to five stars. For more infor- Comments Fields
mation, see “Soundbase and Tags” on page 315.
Comments about individual files can be stored in
Take Displays take number data embedded in au- the database, and embedded with the file’s meta-
dio files. data wrapper. There are two types of comments
fields: File Comments and Database Comments.
Tape This column displays the original Avid tape
name if the item is an OMF file (audio or video). If File Comments
an audio file was originally recorded in Pro Tools,
this field displays the name of the original session. File Comments are stored with the metadata of the
file itself. Not all file types support File Com-
Tape ID Displays tape ID information embedded in ments. Indexing stores File Comments in the data-
audio files. This field cannot be edited. base, allowing them to be searched and viewed
TC Rate This column displays the frame rate of the even if the file is offline. File Comments can be ed-
item if the item is an AAF sequence or an OMF se- ited in Workspace browsers, as long as the files or
quence or file: 24, 25, 29.97, 30, drop or non-drop. their parent media are not defined as read-only.
For sequences, the frame rate at the start of the se-
You can also add and edit File Comments to
quence is displayed.
Pro Tools Session files. File Comments cannot be
edited in Catalogs.
306 Pro Tools Reference Guide
Database Comments To select all Transfer files in the current
(Sessions and Catalogs Only) window:
Database Comments, which can be up to 256 char- Choose Select Transfer Files from the Browser
acters in length, are searchable, cross-platform, menu.
and editable.
To select all offline files:
Adding and Editing Comments Choose Select Offline Files from the Browser
menu.
To add, view, or edit a comment:
1 Click the Comments field. The field expands to To select all online files:
display the entire contents of the field if neces- Choose Select Online Files from the Browser
sary. menu.
2 Enter or edit a comment.
To reverse the current selection:
3 Press Enter, or click outside the text box to close
Choose Invert Selected from the Browser menu.
it.
Number of items
in the Browser List Tags button
Search tools
Initiating a search with no search criteria returns all items on the system.
Location selected for search Browser Search field Simple Search enabled
Search results
Volume selected for search Advanced Search settings Advanced Search enabled
Search Checked
option (disabled) Search results
6 Click in the Search Text field and type text for the search.
If you want to refine your search, click the Add Row button to add further constraints to the search.
Repeat steps 4–6 for each row you add.
Folders checked for search Advanced Search settings Advanced Search enabled
Search Checked
option (enabled) Search results
6 Click in the Search Text field and type text for the search. (Use spaces between text strings
for either/or searches and use quotes around text strings with spaces for and searches.)
7 Press Return (Mac) or Enter (Windows).
Click the Simple Search button (“X”). Use the Search Text field to search the selected
column type according to the selected column type
Advanced Search Features and search criteria.
Once you have initiated an advanced search, the Add/Remove Row Buttons
Workspace browser displays additional advanced
search features. Pro Tools lets you refine your search by up to 8
rows of search criteria.
Add Row button
Add Row Button Click the Add button (“+”) to
Search Text field add another row to refine the advanced search.
Search Column selector
Press Shift + “+” (plus) or to add a new row.
Pro Tools lets you change the location of the An alias of that folder is added to Sound Libraries.
Sound Libraries folder in the Operation prefer- Directories (and all folders and files in that folder)
ences. However, you will have to manually copy or that are added as a Sound Library Location are col-
move any media to the new location. ored blue, whereas files and folders actually lo-
cated in the default (or assigned) Sound Libraries
To change the location of the Sound location are gray.
Libraries folder:
1 Choose Setup > Preferences.
2 Click the Operations tab.
3 Click the Change button for Sound Libraries un-
der User Media and Settings Location.
4 Navigate to the new location you want for the
Sound Libraries folder and click Open.
5 Click OK to close the Preferences dialog.
Added folders that point to other locations are blue
3 Select the tags you want to add or type in a new Creating a new tag for the selected audio file
tag. You can add as many tags to any audio file
(WAV or AIFF only) as you like. If more than one Choose from the Recently Used Tags options
audio file is selected, you are prompted to confirm in the Right-click menu to quickly add any of
that you want to add the tag to all selected files. the last used tags to the selected audio files.
4 When done, press Enter.
To use the Favorites designation in an Waveform displays for stereo and multichannel
Advanced Search: files are summed.
1 Select Favorites for the Column type.
2 Select either Set or Not Set for the Search Crite-
ria.
3 Press Enter or Return.
Tick-based Sample-based
file icon file icon
To audition from a specific location within MIDI files can be previewed from the
the file: session Clips List, but not from Workspace
Click in the waveform display at the location. browsers. See “Previewing Clips in the
Clips List” on page 279.
Meters
• Click the Browser Preview button again. 1 In the session, place the insertion point at the lo-
cation where you want to preview the file in
• If Spacebar Toggles File Preview is selected in
Workspace.
the Browser menu, press the Spacebar again.
2 In a Workspace browser, select the file you want
• Press Command+P (Mac) or Control+P
to preview.
(Windows).
• Press the Esc key. 3 Do one of the following:
• Click the Audio Files Conform to Session
Auto-Preview Tempo button. It highlights when enabled.
• From the Browser menu, select Audio Files Con-
Auto-Preview plays the audio file as soon as it is
form to Session Tempo.
selected. Additionally, the Preview button
updates to show an Auto-Preview icon. • Right-click the file you want to preview and se-
lect Audio Files Conform to Session Tempo from
Command-click (Mac) or Control-click the pop-up menu.
(Windows) the Preview button to toggle
Auto-Preview mode on and off. 4 Click the Preview button in the Workspace
browser and the file plays at the session tempo.
To automatically preview files when
selected:
Do one of the following:
• From the Browser menu, select Auto-Preview.
The Preview button updates to show that Auto-
Preview is enabled.
• Right-click the Preview button and select Auto-
Preview.
Catalogs have unique linking characteristics. To copy Transfer files found when opening a
See “Relinking and Aliases in Catalogs” on session, do one of the following:
page 335.
Click Yes to open the Copy and Relink dialog.
Choosing When to Relink Click No to open the session with all Transfer
files offline. When opened, the session’s Work-
Pro Tools lets you relink files while opening a ses-
space browser indicates Transfer files with a
sion or after a session is already open, as follows:
“T” in their Status column.
Relinking when opening a session ensures that
the session opens with all media playable. Auto- Transfer Files in an Open Session
matic and manual relinking can be performed. See
“Opening a Session with Missing Files” on To make Transfer files playable in the current
page 330. session:
1 Select the current session in the Locations pane.
Relinking later (after a session is already open)
is the fastest way to open the session, but all miss- 2 Double click the Audio Files folder to display
ing items remain offline and unplayable. See all of the audio files.
“Relink Window” on page 332.
3 Choose Select Transfer Files from the Browser
Forcing a Relink menu.
4 Choose Copy and Relink from the Browser
If you cannot relink to the original file, you can
menu.
force a relink to another file. See “Force Relinking
Files” on page 335. 5 Specify a location for the copied files on a valid
Performance volume and click OK.
6 Repeat for video files, as necessary.
• Choose Window > New Workspace and select 1 When you open a session, Pro Tools opens the
the current session in the Locations pane. session with all available media, then shows
you how many files are missing (if any) and
• Open a Catalog.
asks how you want to proceed. (If told that files
2 Select the items you want to copy and relink. are unsuitable for playback, see “Transfer Files”
You can select any media files (online, offline, on page 329.)
and Transfer files).
2 Select one of the following:
3 Choose Copy and Relink Selected from the • Skip All—or press Command+S (Mac) or
Browser menu. Control+S (Windows).
4 If the default location for the copies (the ses- • Manually Find Relink—or press Command+M
sion’s Audio Files folder) is not appropriate, (Mac) or Control+M (Windows).
specify a different location and click Choose.
• Automatically Find Relink—or press
5 The files are copied to the chosen destination Command+A (Mac) or Control+A (Windows).
and the session or Catalog is relinked in the
3 Select Regenerate Missing Rendered Files
background.
Without Searching to exclude rendered Elastic
Audio files from the relink process and regener-
ate them instead.
4 Click OK.
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. The Relink window can also be accessed
search for missing items. after a session is open.
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 333.)
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.
To control matching and linking criteria 4 Configure criteria for relinking, if necessary, in
when relinking an individual missing file, the Linking Options dialog:
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 334. 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
Relinking Catalog Items
the Catalog, click Remove.
If files are ever missing from a Catalog, use the
• To delete the selected items from disk (and re-
Relink window to locate, copy, and relink files.
move their aliases from the Catalog), click Move
For more information, see “Linking and Relinking
To Trash (Mac) or Move To Recycle Bin (Win-
Files” on page 328.
dows).
The Task window lets you monitor, pause and cancel ongoing tasks including file copying, fade regener-
ation, and indexing. You can also use the Task Manager to monitor upload and download progress with
projects.
Status
Active Tasks
Paused Tasks
Because the Task window is a floating window, it Quantification Shows percentage of progress of
does not interrupt current work. This allows you to the current task.
continue recording and editing, and postpone file
management until a more convenient time. Active Tasks Pane
Stored Tasks
Any task that imports files into a session is stored
with a session when it is closed, and resumes when
the session is re-opened. For example, if you Im-
port Session Data with Copy From Source Media
selected, then Save and Close the session before
the copy completes, the copy tasks resume when
the session is reopened.
Grouped Tasks
Some tasks consist of many smaller tasks. For in-
stance, Copy and Relink may require hundreds of
individual files to be copied. To help manage these
tasks, they are grouped under the originating com-
mand. So in the example of a Copy and Relink
command, one copy task would appear with an Ex-
pand/Collapse icon in the Task window. Clicking
the icon shows each of the individual sub-tasks.
Use the Artist Chat window to find and invite other Pro Tools users to collaborate on projects. Use text chat
to communicate during the collaboration process. The Artist Chat window is a floating window.
Add Contacts
To add a contact:
1 Click Contacts in the left column of the Artist
Chat window. Send a contact request
Notifications
When you receive and invitation to collaborate on
a project, you are informed by Notifications. You
can choose to accept or reject the request to collab-
My Contacts
orate.
3 You can double-click one of your contacts to
start a text chat with them. Accepting or rejecting an invitation to collaborate
on a project:
To delete a contact: 1 When you receive a notification, a number ap-
1 Click Contacts in the left column of the Artist pears to the right of Notifications in the left col-
Chat window. umn of the Artist Chat window.
Invite Contacts
Participant Name Participant menu
to Collaborate
Project Chat controls
1 To show the collaboration transaction logs for 2 Search your contacts or select one or more con-
the project, click the Show/Hide Collaboration tacts from the list.
Transaction Logs icon so that it turns blue.
3 Click Add.
Project chat
Double-click the Project icon in the Project List. To view the Chat list in the Artist Chat window:
1 Click the Chat list in the left column of the Art-
ist chat window. If the Chat list was collapsed, it
Chat is revealed to show all chat threads that you are
participating in. You can reveal or collapse the
The Chat section of the Artist Chat window keeps
Chat list by clicking the reveal/collapse triangle
track of all of your of your individual and group
to the left of Chat.
chats that are independent of project chats. You
can collapse and reveal the Chat list in the left col- 2 Select the Chat thread you want to view.
umn of the Artist Chat window just like you can
with the Projects list. Also, when you are not view
a specific chat thread, a number shows up to the
right of the chat thread name in the list if you have
received any messages or actions have taken place
with the chat thread while you were not viewing it.
As soon as you select that chat thread in the list, the
number will disappear as you will be able to re-
view all messages and transactions in the chat sec-
tion.
Individual Chat
New individual chat
To chat with an individual contact:
1 Do one of the following: 3 Type your message in the text chat field and
press Return (Mac) or Enter (Windows) to send
• Double-click the contact with whom you want to
the message.
chat in the My Contacts list. If a chat thread is al-
ready in progress with that contact, that chat 4 If you want you can even add emoticons and no-
thread is shown. tation symbols to your message (for more infor-
mation, see “Emoticon and Notations Panel” on
page 355).
Any participant in a group chat can specify a topic If you initiated a group chat, you can remove any
for the chat thread. This can help maintain focus other participant in that group chat.
for the discussion in the group. Only a group chat
can have a topic. To remove a participant from a group chat (only if
you started the chat):
To specify a topic for a group chat: 1 Click the Participant menu for the person you
1 Double-click the topic field under the group want to remove from the chat.
chat title. 2 Choose Remove.
2 Type the desired topic for the group chat and
press Return (Mac) or Enter (Windows).
Set the group chat topic Remove a participant from a group chat
Group Chat Participants That person is removed from the group chat.
Use the Participant menu to privately message any Add a Participant to your Contacts
participant of a group chat. If you initiated the
group chat, you can remove participants from it. If there is a participant in a Group Chat with you
Also, if a participant is not one of you contacts, you who is not already in your contacts, you can add
can add them to your contacts. them.
Emoticons pane
Message removed
3 Select the emoticon, notation, or chord symbol
that you want to add to the chat.
Notations pane
Collaborator busy
running Pro Tools HD
Collaborator offline
running Pro Tools | First
Project Ownership
The owner of the project is the one who creates the
project and invites others to collaborate on the Selecting Edit Window Track Collaboration view from
project. All media posted to the shared project the Edit Window View selector
counts only against the project owner’s storage al-
location. Be sure to communicate using the Artist
Chat window to make sure all participants manage Track Collaboration Tools in
the amount of media they post to the project so as the Transport Window
to not overburden the project owner. Only the proj- Just like the Edit window, the Transport window
ect owner can invite participants to collaborate on can also be host to the Global Track Collaboration
the project and delete participants from the project. tools. These controls and their settings mirror each
When the project owner deletes the project, it is de- other in both the Edit Window toolbar and in the
leted for all participants. When a participant who is Transport window.
not the project owner deletes the project, it is the
same as if they simply leave the project and all To show (or hide) the Track Collaboration tools in
other participants will be able to continue collabo- the Transport window, do one of the following:
rating on the project.
Select (or deselect) View > Transport > Track
Collaboration.
Track Collaboration Tools in From the Transport Window menu, select (or
the Edit Window deselect) Track Collaboration.
The Global Track Collaboration tools provide a See Chapter 17, “Artist Chat Window.”
high level means of posting and receiving all
shared track data. For track-by-track collaboration Track Ownership Request
controls, see “Track Collaboration Controls” on
The Track Ownership Request indicator turns or-
page 368.
ange when you have ownership of a track and an-
other participant wants to take ownership of the
Invite User
Upload All track.
New Changes
Download All
New Changes
Download All
Shared Tracks
Select (or deselect) View > Edit Window Views > Select (or deselect) View > Mix Window Views >
Track Collaboration. Track Collaboration.
From the Edit Window View selector, enable From the Mix Window View selector, enable
(or disable) Track Collaboration. (or disable) Track Collaboration.
Share Track
Shared track
Enable the Share Track control to share a track
with other participants in the project. When a track Share Track Indicators
is shared, the Share Track icon is blue. When a
There are three different states that the track can be
track is not shared, it is gray. Anyone can share or
in with sharing. The clearest is when a track is ei-
unshare any track in the project that has been
ther shared or not shared. Anyone can click any
posted to the cloud and that they have downloaded
Share Track control to share it or unshare it just as
from the cloud. Any participant can create new
long as they already have that track in their local
tracks and keep them private in their own local
copy of the project.
copy of the project by not sharing them at all.
To share a track:
1 Create a new track (or use an existing one).
2 Show Track Collaboration view to access the
Track not Track
Track Collaboration controls (see “Track Col- shared shared
laboration Track View in the Edit and Mix Win- Share Track indications
dows” on page 366).
3 Click the Share Track control.
You manually own the track The Track Ownership control reverts to the
owner’s name and remains colored orange.
Requesting Track Ownership
Seizing Ownership
If another collaborator has manual ownership of a
track, their Display Name appears in the Track If you really need to work on a track owned by
Ownership control on the track and the control is someone else and they aren’t responding to your
colored orange. You can request ownership, and request for ownership, you can seize ownership.
they can relinquish ownership to you or deny your
request. To seize track ownership:
The you now own the track, and the Track Owner-
Track owned by another participant ship control displays your name and turns solid
To request track ownership, do one of the green (or orange for every one else).
following:
The Download Track Changes control turns red To download a track from the cloud, do one of the
when a download for that track is currently in following:
progress and the cloud copy is in conflict with the In the Tracks List, click the gray Cloud icon to
local track changes. Once the transfer is complete the left of the track name to download and im-
it changes to yellow. You can then choose to ig- port all track data.
nore those changes and keep your version of the
In the Tracks List, right-click the gray Cloud
track, or download those changes and overwrite
icon to the left of the track name and select on of
your version of the track.
the following options:
Download from cloud in progress that conflicts with Ignore for Future Download Does not download
local track changes or import the track data.
Force Upload
The Conductor Ruler Ownership control lets you Choose Relinquish After Posting to automatically
take ownership of a Conductor ruler, release own- surrender ownership of a Conductor ruler right af-
ership of a Conductor ruler, request ownership of a ter posting changes.
Conductor ruler, and show you if another partici-
pant currently owns that Conductor ruler. Relinquish Now
Ruler Ownership Right-Click menu When no one owns a Conductor ruler, anyone is
free to work on it and the Conductor Ruler Owner-
Request
ship control is gray.
Choose Request to request ownership of a Con-
ductor ruler that is owned by another or to take
ownership of an unowned Conductor ruler.
Unowned Conductor ruler
Keep
You can take ownership of a Conductor ruler either
Choose Keep to keep ownership of a Conductor by making “share-able” changes on that ruler (in
ruler that you have changed without posting your this case you automatically own the ruler for the
changes. time being) or you can click the Ruler Ownership
control and manually take ownership of the ruler.
Relinquish For whoever takes ownership of a ruler, the Con-
ductor Ruler Ownership control turns either dim
Choose Relinquish to surrender ownership of a
green or solid green. For all other participants, the
Conductor ruler.
Conductor Ruler Ownership control turns orange
in their local copy of the project.
You Automatically Own the Conductor ruler Conductor ruler owned by another participant
When you manually take ownership of a Conduc- If you want to take control of a Conductor ruler
tor ruler by clicking its Conductor Ruler Owner- owned by another participant, you can make a
ship control, it turns solid green and no other par- “share-able” change on the Conductor ruler or
ticipant can take ownership of that Conductor ruler click the Conductor Ruler Ownership control. The
simply by making a “share-able” change to their other participant is notified that the ownership of
copy of that Conductor ruler. the Conductor ruler is being requested and you will
see that the request is pending. If they relinquish
ownership of that Conductor ruler, you will take
ownership of it.
You Manually Own the Conductor ruler
Ownership Requested
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 or project data, audio files, and clips can
you have the option of importing any combination
be imported to existing tracks, new tracks, the
of track attributes from another session, such as a
Tracks List, or the Clips List in a Pro Tools session
track’s audio or MIDI playlists, signal routing,
or project.
plug-ins, or automation (see “Importing Session
Data” on page 400). Exporting
When you are working with video, you can import Pro Tools lets you export audio, video, MIDI, clip
and export video files from a session (see groups, and session data by:
Chapter 58, “Working with Video in Pro Tools”).
• Using the Export to Sibelius or Send to Sibelius
command (MIDI only)
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 or
the original files wherever they are on your system. project audio file format on import. Also, if the
Additionally, the files referenced by the session re- session or project is not enabled for Interleaved
tain their original file format, sample rate, and bit files, Pro Tools splits interleaved audio files into
depth. multiple mono files on import.
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 441).
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 and projects
without conversion:
Files That Can Be Added to a Session or Project
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 and projects without con-
version. Audio files with sample rates that do not
match the session or project sample rate can be
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 Clips 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 Tracks 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 382.
Finder to the Pro Tools application icon, the ses-
sion Timeline, a track, the Tracks List, or the Clips
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 con-
the horizontal slider under the Play and Stop but- version 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 Clips 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 Path” on page 58). 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 391).
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.
Exporting Audio
Pro Tools supports exporting audio clips as audio
files, exporting left and right audio files as stereo
interleaved files, and exporting clip information.
Exporting a Clip as a New Audio 3 In the Export Selected dialog, set the File Type,
File Format, Bit Depth, and Sample Rate. In addi-
You can export clips as audio files with the tion, specify the Conversion Quality, and choose
Export Clips as Files command. Use this the Destination Directory.
command if you intend to use a clip in other ses-
sions (or other audio applications) without using
its parent source file.
Additional Options
2 Drag the files onto the Clips List of the current 1 Make sure to unmute any MIDI tracks in the
session. session that you want included in the exported
MIDI file. (Or, conversely, mute any MIDI
To import MIDI into an existing track: tracks you do not want included in the exported
MIDI file.) For Instrument tracks, enable or dis-
1 Select MIDI files in a Workspace browser, Win-
able the MIDI mute button (Instruments view).
dows Explorer, or Mac Finder.
2 Choose File > Export > MIDI. The Export MIDI
2 Drag the files onto an existing track in the Edit
Settings dialog opens.
window of the current session.
• Dragging a session to a track in Pro Tools lets To manually copy files on import:
you import tracks.
Option-drag (Mac) or Alt-drag (Windows) the
• Dragging a session to a track playlist in files. A copy is created in the session Audio
Pro Tools opens the Import Session Data dialog, Files folder or, for projects, uploaded to the
letting you select tracks and attributes to import. cloud.
The imported session data will begin wherever
you drop the session in the Timeline. When importing sessions or tracks, the Import Ses-
sion Data dialog lets you specify whether to refer-
To import tracks and other session data by drag ence the source media, or copy it.
and drop:
1 Open a Workspace browser. To automatically copy files on import:
2 Drag a Pro Tools session file, or an AAF or 1 Choose Setup > Preferences, and click the
OMF sequence, into the current session, as Processing tab.
follows: 2 Select Automatically Copy Files on Import.
• Drag onto an existing track to overlay or over- 3 Click OK to close the Preferences dialog.
write data on the target tracks. Hold the Shift key
while dragging if you intend to replace the cur-
rent track playlists with those being imported Using Undo after Importing
(the Shift key pre-configures the settings in the Using Undo after importing any files to the Time-
Import Session Data dialog). line removes the files from the Timeline. However,
• Drag to empty space in the Edit window to cre- the files remain in the session or project (in the
ate new tracks for the imported session data. Clips List and Workspace browser) and are offline.
If you do not remove or delete the files from the
• Configure the Import Session Data options (see
session or project manually, Pro Tools will report
“Import Session Data Dialog” on page 403).
them as missing files the next time the session or
project is opened.
When you choose this option, you can also choose Import as Offline Satellite Media
the Handle Size (in milliseconds) applied to con- (Pro Tools HD Only)
solidated audio. Handle is the amount of the origi-
nal audio file that is preserved before and after Select this option to import a video track with of-
each clip in case you need to make any edits (such fline media. You will be able to see cuts and clip
as applying fades or trimming) to the new clips. names, but the video media remains offline. You
can view the video media on a connected Video
Consolidate From Source Media is not avail- Satellite system. This option is only available
able when importing Elastic Audio tracks. when New Satellite Track is selected for the video
track.
Force to Target Session Format This option cop-
ies and converts all source media files to the cur-
rent session or project file format, bit depth, and
sample rate. Files are copied even if they already
match the current session or project format.
Adjust Session Start Time to Match Source Conversion Quality This option lets you set the
Start Time quality of the sample-rate conversion process (see
“Sample Rate Conversion Quality” on page 383).
When selected, the Adjust Session Start Time to
Match Source Start Time option lets you automat-
ically set the start time of the current Pro Tools ses-
sion to match the start time of the session, or AAF
or OMF sequence you are importing.
Clip Effects Imports the clip effects settings for all Elastic Audio Track State Imports the source
imported audio clips. track’s Elastic Audio track state. Any Elastic Au-
dio settings in the destination track are replaced.
Volume Automation and Setting Imports the
source track’s Volume fader setting and any auto- HW Insert Assignments Imports the source
mation data on the track’s Volume Automation track’s hardware Insert assignments. Any Insert
playlist. The Volume fader setting and any Vol- assignments in the destination track are replaced.
ume automation data in the destination track are re-
Voice Assignments Imports the source track’s
placed.
voice assignment from the source session. Any
Pan Automation and Setting Imports the source voice assignments in the destination track are re-
track’s Pan Slider settings and any automation data placed.
on the track’s Pan Automation playlist. The Pan
Input Assignments Imports the source track’s
Slider setting and any Pan automation data in the
channel input assignment. The Input assignment in
destination track are replaced.
the destination track is replaced.
Mute Automation and Setting Imports the source
Side-Chain Assignments When the source track’s
track’s Mute setting and any automation data on
plug-in assignments are imported, this option im-
the track’s Mute automation playlist. The Mute
ports any side-chain assignments associated with
setting and any Mute automation data in the desti-
the plug-ins. If no plug-in assignments are im-
nation track are replaced.
ported, this option has no effect.
Record Safe/Solo Safe Settings Imports the re- Import Key Signature/Chord Map Imports all key
cord safe and solo safe settings of the source track signatures (if present) and chord markers into
from the source session. Any record safe or solo Pro Tools with the imported session data. Any key
safe settings in the destination track are replaced. signatures and chord markers in the destination
session or project are replaced.
Track View Settings Imports the track height and
playlist view of the source track from the source Import Marker/Memory Locations Imports mark-
session. ers and Memory Locations as they appear in the
Marker ruler, from the source session. Any mark-
Mix/Edit Groups Imports track groups from the
ers and Memory Locations in the destination ses-
source session.
sion or project are retained. Imported marker and
ICON Custom Fader Groups (Pro Tools HD Memory Locations are assigned the next available
Only) Imports any ICON Custom Fader Groups Marker/Memory Location numbers.
from the source session.
Import Window Configurations Imports the Win-
ICON Automation Snapshots (Pro Tools HD dow Configurations from the source session.
Only) Imports any ICON Automation Snapshots
from the source session. Import Mic Pre Settings Imports any Pro Tools
Mic Pre settings from the source session. Any Mic
HEAT Switch Settings (Pro Tools HD with the Pre settings in the destination session or project are
HEAT Software Option Only) Imports any stored replaced.
HEAT switch settings from the source session.
Import HEAT Master Settings (Pro Tools HD with
Object Assignment and Toggle Setting the HEAT Software Option Only) Imports any
(Pro Tools HD with Dolby Atmos Only) Imports HEAT Master settings from the source session, in-
Object Output Path assignments and Bus/Object tog- cluding Bypass, Drive, and Tone settings. The
gle settings for any tracks selected for import. HEAT Master settings in the destination session or
project are replaced.
Use the File > Import > Audio command. 7 Select the Audio File Type, Sample Rate, and Bit
Depth to use for the session.
Drag and drop them from any Workspace
browser or the desktop. 8 To create interleaved multichannel audio files in
the session. select Interleaved.
9 Click OK.
To open and import audio and/or video tracks from 8 Set the Track Offset Options (see “Track Offset
an OMF or AAF sequence: Options” on page 416).
1 Launch Pro Tools, and open an existing 9 Set the Sample Rate Convert Options (see
Pro Tools session or project. “Sample Rate Conversion Options” on
page 416).
2 Choose File > Import > Session Data, and select
the AAF or OMF sequence that you want to im- 10 Change other settings and options as necessary
port. (for more information about the Import Session
Data dialog, see “Import Session Data Dialog”
You can also open an AAF or OMF sequence on page 403).
by dragging it from any location on your com-
puter or the Workspace browser to the 11 Click OK.
Pro Tools Timeline.
If there are any errors or clip name truncations,
3 In the Import Session Data dialog, deselect any a dialog will appear asking you if you want a
source tracks that you do not want imported. detailed report of the changes. Click Yes and
(If importing Session Data from AAF or OMF choose where you want to save the log.
sequences, all tracks are selected by default.
12 If your audio or video source media is on a vol-
However, if you are importing tracks from a
ume that is not suitable for playback (shown as
Pro Tools session, no tracks are selected by
a Transfer volume in the Workspace browser),
default.)
Pro Tools displays a dialog that guides you to
copy the media to a volume designated for Play-
back or Record. (Click Yes.)
Pro Tools recognizes and creates two different Select this option to translate the AAF or OMF file
unique IDs for media files (AIFF and WAV only): to a Pro Tools session that refers to as many of the
Unique ID and SMPTE ID. SMPTE ID (Pro Tools original media files as possible. In this case, the
12.8 and higher only) provides optimal compatibil- Pro Tools session points to the BWF (WAV) or
ity and interchange with other applications that uti- AIF files from the source project.
lize SMPTE IDs in media files and AAF sequences
(such as Avid Media Composer), and ensures truly When importing audio embedded in an AAF se-
unique IDs for AIFF and WAV files. quence, Pro Tools copies the audio to a new drive
or folder even if this setting is selected.
8-bit Unique ID Legacy ID format used with ver-
sions of Pro Tools lower that 12.8. For projects, you should always copy or consoli-
date from source media. Any tracks in a project
SMPTE ID 32-bit SMPTE IDs created and sup- that contain linked local media cannot be shared.
ported with Pro Tools 12.8 or higher.
Copy from Source Media
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 project or session file format.
The Pan Odd Tracks Left/Even Tracks Right set- 1 Click the Markers to Import menu.
ting enables you to set the basic track pan setting so 2 Select the colors of markers you want to import.
that odd-numbered tracks translate with full-left Check marks appear next to the selected colors.
panning, and even-numbered tracks translate with
full-right panning. This is useful if you want to pan Once imported, the new Markers can be edited as
the currently unpanned audio full-left or full-right. normal.
The Pan Odd Tracks Left/Even Tracks Right Unlike Pro Tools Markers, which only mark
setting is not supported when importing specific points in time in a session,
multi-channel audio tracks from an AAF. Media Composer Markers point specifically
When importing multi-channel tracks, the to individual audio or video tracks. Informa-
setting is greyed-out and any imported stereo tion on which track each Marker was associ-
channels are panned hard right and hard left. ated with can be found in the Comments sec-
tion in the Memory Locations window in
Markers To Import Pro Tools.
Avid Media Composer sequences can contain
metadata points called Markers that serve a similar When Media Composer Markers are im-
purpose to the Markers in Pro Tools, adding color- ported to Pro Tools as Markers, the associ-
coded contextual information to the timeline. Even ated comment text is added to the Marker
though markers are associated with specific tracks name in Pro Tools (up to 31 characters).
in Media Composer, you can import markers into Comments over 31 characters can be viewed
Pro Tools without importing those tracks. in full in the Memory Locations window in
Pro Tools.
When exporting an AAF from Media Composer,
Marker information is included and can be im- Track Data to Import Pop-Up Menu
ported into Pro Tools, thus preserving this data.
The Track Data to Import pop-up menu lets you se-
Markers can only be imported from AAF lect which attributes of the selected tracks you
sequences. want to import into the current session or project.
The selected attributes are applied to all tracks that
To import all Markers: you choose to import into the current session or
Click the Markers to Import menu and select All. project. For more information about Track Data To
Import options, see “Track Data to Import” on
To import no Markers: page 406.
Click the Markers to Import menu and select When importing an AAF into Pro Tools, use the
None. Track Data to Import menu to specify whether or
not to import the plug-ins and plug-in settings.
A1<01:00:00:00–01:00:16:06>“Jag film to
Whirl.01.Sub.06.new.01”; insufficient source
material for clip;shortening clip by 1 sample.
Pro Tools can export AAF or OMF se- Shift-click to select multiple tracks; or
quences linked to RF64 audio files, which are Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows)
special WAV files that can be larger than 2 to select all tracks.
GB (normal WAVs must be under 2 GB).
2 Choose File > Export > Selected Tracks as
However, Avid video editing applications
OMF/AAF.
cannot open WAV files larger than 2 GB.
Keep file size in mind when exporting 3 From the Export As pop-up menu, select AAF or
AAF/OMF for Avid video users. OMF.
9 Select other export options as desired. 16 Click Choose (Mac) or Use Current Folder
(Windows).
For more information, see “Export Options
when Exporting to AAF or OMF Sequences” on Pro Tools exports the composition and related
page 427. media to the appropriate folders.
10 Click OK.
The clip gain of Pro Tools clips with static volume Exporting Pro Tools Tracks
between -inf dB and +12 dB will translate directly as MXF Audio Files
to clip-based gain upon export. Dynamic clip gain You can export MXF audio files using the follow-
and values above 12 dB will be rendered for each ing commands:
clip in the resulting media, to optimize compatibil-
ity with Avid video editing applications. • Export Selected Tracks as OMF/AAF
• Bounce to Disk
Clip-based gain is not exported when
exporting to OMF format.
• Export Selected Clips as Files
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
video 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- video applications, see the appropriate Avid
reo, 5.1 or 7.1 tracks and want to export those video 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.
11 Click OK.
7 Click Export.
If the Enforce Media Composer Compatibility op- The Quantize Edits to Frame Boundaries option al-
tion is enabled, all AAF and OMF files and se- lows Pro Tools to export your sample-accurate
quences will meet the specific requirements of Me- Pro Tools edits into an AAF or OMF file so they
dia Composer. Sample rates are limited to appear as frame-accurate.
44.1 kHz or 48 kHz. Exported clips will be padded
to the nearest frame boundaries (Quantize Edits to The Quantize Edits to Frame Boundaries set-
Frame Boundaries). This padding ensures that the ting must be selected when you are translating
placement of a file in the Timeline will be the same your Pro Tools session or project for use in
on sample-accurate as well as frame-accurate sys- frame-accurate editing workstations. There-
tems. fore, it is automatically selected whenever you
export tracks with Enforce Media Composer
When exporting a sequence with multi-chan- Compatibility selected.
nel audio tracks, the Enforce Media Com-
poser Compatibility option must be enabled.
This setting allows you to specify the sample rate Select 16-bit or 24-bit as the target bit depth for the
for audio files after the AAF or OMF translation. exported media. Pro Tools automatically applies
dither, without noise shaping, when reducing bit
If this setting differs from the Source Sample Rate depth from 24-bit to 16-bit.
setting, audio is sample-rate converted digitally to
the Destination Sample Rate. Source Media
Exporting Session
Information as Text
You can use the Export Session Info as Text com-
mand to create a text file that contains extensive in-
formation about your session or project.
7 You can also enable the Main Playlist Only 1 Choose File > Export > Session Info as Text.
option if you do not want to include any of 2 Select whether to include the File List, Clips
the alternate playlists associated with any of the List, and track EDLs.
selected tracks in the new session or project.
8 Click OK.
# OF AUDIO TRACKS: 19
Select this option to export a list of all markers in- Time Format
cluded in the session or project.
You can select the appropriate time format that ex-
ported EDL information is based on. For example,
Include Plug-In List
for post work, you might select SMPTE time, but
Select this option to export a list of the plug-ins for music creation locked to a grid, you might se-
used in the session or project. lect Bars:Beats.
You can export track EDLs (playlists). Track On Mac, you can to export to TextEdit, UTF-8, MS
EDLs can be used to spot-check clip placement Excel, MS Word, Write Now, Word Perfect, and
and edits, or in a conforming program for post ap- AppleWorks text formats. On Windows, you can
plications. In extreme circumstances the EDL can export to either TextEdit or UTF-8.
be used to recreate the entire session or project.
You can export session text for All Tracks or for
Selected Tracks Only. Importing and Exporting Clip
MIDI track EDLs are not exported.
Group Files
Pro Tools can export and import the clip group file
When exporting track EDLs, the following options format (.rgrp). This lets you do the following:
are available:
• Separate clip group metadata from audio files to
Show Subframes This option allows you to export avoid unnecessary file copy operations when ex-
subframe time information with track EDLs, if porting audio clip groups composed from multi-
used in your session or project. ple source files.
• Export MIDI data as part of a clip group.
• Create multitrack loops.
• Embedded fades and crossfades 1 Choose File > Import > Clip Groups and select
the clip group you want to import.
• Clip group names and format (single or multi-
track) 2 In the Clip Group Import Options dialog,
• All MIDI data present in the clip group (such as choose where the clip group will go:
notes, controllers, and Sysex) New Track Creates a new track where the clip
• Track names group will be imported.
• Elastic Audio Warp markers and TCE factor Clips List Imports the clip group into the Clips
• Clip timebase (samples or ticks) List, where it will be where it will be available to
place into tracks.
• Sync points
• Loops
• Tempo map
Pro Tools provides several ways to import clip 3 If you chose to create a new track, choose a lo-
groups into an open session: cation for the imported group in the track.
• “Importing Clip Groups with Pro Tools Menu Session Start Places the group at the start of the
Commands” on page 435 session or project.
• “Importing Clip Groups with Drag and Drop” on Song Start Aligns the beginning of the group to
page 436 the Song Start point.
1 Select one or more clip groups in a Workspace Export Clip Groups dialog
browser, or Windows Explorer or Mac Finder.
3 In the Export Clip Groups dialog, the Destina-
2 Drag the files onto the Clips List of the current tion Directory defaults to the auto-created Clip
session. Groups folder in the session folder. You can
change the Destination Directory by clicking
To import clip groups into an existing track: the Choose button, navigating to a new loca-
1 Select one or more clip groups in a Workspace tion, and clicking Open. Click Reset to reset the
browser, or from Windows Explorer or Mac Destination Directory to the default location.
Finder.
4 Enable one of the following options for resolv-
2 Drag the files onto an existing track in the Edit ing duplicate clip group file names:
window of the current session or project. • Prompting for Each Duplicate (default)
1 Select one or more clip groups in a Workspace • Replacing with New Files
browser, Windows Explorer or Mac Finder. 5 Click Export.
2 Do one of the following:
• From the Workspace browser, Shift-drag the
files anywhere in the Edit window of the current
session or project.
• Drag the files onto any empty space in the Edit
window of the current session or project.
• Drag the files to the Tracks List.
When working with Pro Tools, you will encounter In Pro Tools sessions, use the Disk Allocation
several different kinds of computer files. Pro Tools command to specify where you want newly re-
systems require that you keep certain files in spe- corded audio files to be stored (see “Working with
cific hard drive locations in order to function prop- Hard Drives for Recording” on page 495).
erly:
Although Pro Tools lets you record to your
• Pro Tools software files (such as the application
system drive, this is generally not recom-
and plug-ins files) should be located on your
mended. You should record to system drives
Startup drive (the drive that contains your oper-
only when necessary—for example, if your
ating system and other system-related files).
computer system has just one hard drive, or it
• Data files (such as session files, audio files, and your other hard drives are completely full.
video files) can be located on any compatible
drive connected to your computer’s internal or
If you have a system with multiple drives,
external SAS, SATA, IDE/ATA, FireWire, or
you can designate the System drive as a
Thunderbolt busses.
Playback only or Transfer only drive for op-
You can specify the location of new session files timal performance (see “Volume Permis-
when creating new sessions (see “Creating a New sions” on page 296).
Blank Session or Project” on page 159).
4 Click OK.
It is possible to have a Pro Tools 7.x or Pro Tools always creates AES31/Broadcast com-
higher session that contains audio file names pliant BWF (.wav) files when the file originates in
with illegal characters. If you Save Copy In Pro Tools. Non-BWF .wav files can be added to
the session to Pro Tools 6.9.x or lower with BWF (WAV) format Pro Tools sessions without
Mac/PC Compatibility on, the tracks are re- conversion. This option ensures that all WAV files
named with legal characters. If Mac/PC are imported, and if necessary, converted to BWF
Compatibility is off, the characters are not (WAV), compliant with the AES31/EBU Broad-
changed. cast standard.
Pro Tools supports the RF64 audio file format. Moving Sessions on Windows
RF64 is an extension to the WAV audio file format
Systems to Mac-Based HFS+
Drives
that addresses the 4 gigabyte size limitation of
(From Window-Based NTFS Drives Only)
other WAV audio file formats. RF64 audio files
are identified in Workspace browsers with the des- There are specific steps for transferring session
ignation “MBWF” in the Attributes field. files from Windows-based NTFS drives to Mac-
based HFS+ drives.
Lower versions of Pro Tools cannot read
RF64 files. These files have to be manually ed- To transfer Pro Tools Windows sessions from
ited and consolidated so that they are no NTFS drives to HFS+ drives:
larger than 4 GB in order to be available to 1 Set the MacDrive Options to Backup/File
systems running lower versions of Pro Tools. Transfer.
For details on transferring sessions between Windows and Mac systems, see “Sharing Sessions Created
on Different Computer Platforms” on page 443.
Maximum number of 512 Aux Input tracks 512 Aux Input tracks 128 Aux Input tracks
Auxiliary Input tracks
Maximum number of 512 Instrument tracks 512 Instrument tracks 512 Instrument tracks
Instrument tracks
When opening a Pro Tools HD 12.x session in Pro Tools 12.x, the following occurs:
Tracks
• Any tracks beyond the first 128 are deleted.
• Any Auxiliary Input tracks beyond 128 are deleted.
• DSP plug-ins with Native equivalents are
converted; those without equivalents are made inactive.
• Multichannel surround tracks are removed from the session.
• Unavailable input and output paths are made inactive.
• HEAT (if present) is removed.
You can choose the language you want to use in • If you are changing from a localized language to
the Pro Tools application, independently of what English, launch Pro Tools.
language the OS is using. • If you are changing from one language to an-
other (or from English to a localized language),
To select the language for Pro Tools: log out and log in from the Apple menu, then
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and select the Dis- launch Pro Tools.
play tab.
If you want your computer to start with the
2 Choose the language you want to use in previous language (after working on a dif-
Pro Tools from the Language pop-up menu. ferent language version) follow the above
steps and change the International prefer-
Multilingual Application Support ence back to the previous language.
for Pro Tools Systems
(Localized OS on Mac Only)
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 “4% audio
• With the Numeric Keypad mode set to Transport
pull rates are not available in 176.4 and 192 kHz
or Shuttle, press 0 on the numeric keypad.
sample rate sessions.Putting Pro Tools Online”
• If the Numeric Keypad mode is set to Transport, on page 1247).
and the Use Separate Play and Stop Keys option
is enabled, press Enter on the numeric keypad.
Playing Back Audio
• If you have a worksurface or MIDI control sur-
face connected and configured, press the Play To play back audio:
switch. 1 Import or record audio to a track.
• If Pro Tools is online and slaved to another deck,
2 Assign the track’s Output selector to your main
press play on the master deck (see “4% audio
monitoring path.
pull rates are not available in 176.4 and 192 kHz
sample rate sessions.Putting Pro Tools Online” 3 To have playback start from the beginning of
on page 1247). 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 28. 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 192. 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 465). custom amount.
To play a selection:
1 Select Options > Link Timeline and Edit
Selection.
Choose Edit > Selection > Play Timeline. To audition a selection start point:
To play from the pre-roll point to the start of a To audition a selection start point with pre-roll:
selection, or to the current Cursor location:
Press Command+Option+Left Arrow (Mac) or
Press Option+Left Arrow (Mac) or Alt+Left
Control+Alt+Left Arrow (Windows).
Arrow (Windows).
To audition a selection end point:
To play to the post-roll point from the end of a
selection, or from the current Cursor location: Press Option+Right Arrow (Mac) or Alt+Right
Arrow (Windows).
Press Command+Right Arrow (Mac) or
Control+Right Arrow (Windows). When auditioning the end of a selection, playback
begins before the end point by the pre-roll amount.
Auditioning Start and End Points
for Selections To audition a selection end point with post-roll:
There may be times when you want to audition the Press Command+Option+Right Arrow (Mac)
start or end of an audio selection without hearing or Control+Alt+Right Arrow (Windows).
the entire selection. This allows you to check, for
instance, whether the beginning or end of a selec-
tion includes any unwanted clicks or pops.
1 Open the Expanded Transport window. 1 Deselect Options > Link Timeline and Edit
Selections.
2 Click in the numeric field to the right of the
Fade-in enable button. 2 Select Options > Scrolling > Center Playhead.
3 Type in the desired time. 3 Drag with the Selector tool in any Timebase
ruler to set the play range.
4 Choose Edit > Selection > Play Timeline.
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.
Using Separate Play and Stop Press Period (.) on the numeric keypad and then
Keys the Right Arrow.
When enabled, the Use Separate Play and Stop To move the Play Start Marker to the Edit Selection
Keys option lets you start playback with the Enter Start:
key and stop playback with the 0 key on the nu-
Press Period (.) on the numeric keypad and then
meric keypad. This is useful for quickly starting
the Down Arrow.
and stopping playback when auditioning loop tran-
sitions. To move the Play Start Marker to location of the
Playhead:
To use separate play and stop keys on the numeric
keypad: Press Period (.) on the numeric keypad and then
the Up Arrow.
1 Choose Setup > Preferences.
2 Click the Operation tab. To nudge the Play Start Marker backward (rewind):
4 Select Use Separate Play and Stop Keys. To nudge the Play Start Marker forward (fast
forward):
This option overrides using the Enter key to
add Memory Location markers. Press Pe- Press 2 on the numeric keypad.
riod (.) and then Enter on the numeric key-
pad to add a Memory Location marker.
For information about synchronizing exter- 4 Enter the correct negative offset values (such as
nal MIDI devices with Pro Tools for play- “–200” samples) for each port that is enabled
back and recording using MIDI Timecode, for transmitting MIDI Beat Clock (see “Mea-
see “Generating Timecode” on page 1248. suring Beat Clock Latency” on page 476).
5 Click OK.
1 Choose Setup > MIDI > MIDI Studio. 2 Ensure that your external MIDI device is con-
figured to receive MIDI Beat Clock, and that it
2 In the MIDI Devices window of Audio MIDI is correctly configured to play back a simple
Setup, double-click the IAC Driver icon. rhythmic pattern “on the beat.”
3 Configure the IAC Driver ports and confirm 3 Create a new Pro Tools session.
that it is online.
4 In the MIDI Beat Clock dialog, ensure that MIDI
4 Choose Setup > MIDI > MIDI Beat Clock. Beat Clock is enabled and that the device is se-
5 In the MIDI Beat Clock dialog, select the lected.
Enable MIDI Beat Clock option. 5 Set the Main Time Scale to Bars|Beats.
6 Select the IAC Driver ports you want to enable 6 Create a new audio track and select the audio in-
for sending MIDI Beat Clock. put channels for your external MIDI device.
7 Click OK. 7 Record enable the audio track and start record-
ing. MIDI Beat Clock is sent to the external
MIDI device, which starts playing back the
MIDI Beat Clock Offsets pattern.
You can set an offset for MIDI Beat Clock on a 8 Stop recording after a few bars.
port-by-port basis with your MIDI interface and 9 Enable both Snap to Grid and Show Grid.
external MIDI devices. This lets you adjust the
timing for each device where some devices sound 10 With the Selector tool, place the edit cursor on
late due to different, fixed latencies. Where appro- the beat grid prior to a prominent transient in the
priate, enter negative offset values in samples for waveform that is “on the beat.”
each port to correctly synchronize the audio sig- 11 Enable Tab to Transients and Shift+Tab to the
nals from your external MIDI devices with transient. The duration of this selection is the
Pro Tools playback. approximate amount of latency for your exter-
nal MIDI device.
12 Switch the Main Time Scale to Samples. The
length of the selected clip in samples is the
MIDI Beat Clock latency for that device.
13 In the MIDI Beat Clock dialog, enter the Sample Offset value as a negative number.
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 495
While some of the information here is relevant to • “Recording with a Click” on page 482
preparing to record MIDI, there are more • “Setting the Session Meter and Tempo” on
specific setup details for MIDI recording in page 484
Chapter 24, “MIDI Recording.”
• Setting a Record Mode. See “Record Modes”
For information on recording audio, see on page 487
Chapter 23, “Audio Recording.”
Track Setup for Recording
For information on digitizing (recording) • Configuring one or more tracks for recording:
video in Pro Tools, see Chapter 58, “Work-
• “Configuring Default Names for Audio Files
ing with Video in Pro Tools” or the Avid
and Clips” on page 490
Video Peripherals Guide.
• “Assigning Hardware I/O on a Track” on
page 491
Record Setup Overview • “Record Enabling Tracks” on page 492
Record setup includes the following: • “Recording with Multiple Hard Drives” on
page 495
Hardware Setup for Recording
Monitoring Setup for Recording
• “Configuring Pro Tools Hardware I/O for Re-
cording” on page 480 • “Selecting a Record Input Monitoring Mode” on
page 498
• “Connecting a Sound Source” on page 482
• “Setting Monitor Levels for Record and Play-
back” on page 500
• “Reducing Monitoring Latency” on page 500
• “Recording with Delay Compensation” on
page 501
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 32, “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 837).
(see “Click Options” on page 484).
4 Enable Click (see “Enabling the Click” on
page 483).
Selecting MIDI Controls from the Transport window Count Off button, enabled
menu
Hearing the countoff before recording helps musi-
• Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win- cians to start playing at the right time and in tempo.
dows) 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.
• Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) 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 Command (Mac) or Control (Win-
button, then set the default tempo for the Song
dows) while dragging.
Start Marker to the new tempo.
• Click the Tempo value, type a new number, and
press Enter.
Unlike audio loop recording, the state of the MIDI QuickPunch, TrackPunch, and Destructive
Merge toggle determines whether existing material Punch modes use a different method for num-
is replaced or merged. bering clips. For details, see “TrackPunch
Audio Recording” on page 548.
Unless MIDI Merge is enabled, MIDI recording is
destructive (though you can undo a MIDI record When recording MIDI tracks, a similar naming
pass), either overwriting or adding to clip material. scheme is used, though with only one set of digits.
One exception to this rule is when Loop Record For example, after recording to a track called
mode is enabled; in this mode, existing track clips “Synth 1,” a clip is created called “Synth 1-01.”
are replaced with new clips when new material is Subsequent clips for that track, generating either
recorded. The old clips remain intact and available from additional record takes or clip edits, are num-
from the Clips List, and from the Matches pop-up bered sequentially (for example, “Synth 1-02”).
menu. In Loop Record mode, MIDI Merge has no
effect, so its button is dimmed. To rename a track:
Monitoring Drive Space By default, Pro Tools records audio files to the Au-
dio Files folder inside the session folder. If you
Pro Tools lets you check how much drive space is have multiple hard drives for recording, you can
available. The Disk Usage window shows the use the Disk Allocation window to specify other
available drive space for each drive connected to hard drive locations to record audio files on a
your system as text and as a gauge display. track-by-track basis.
To monitor available space on your drive during a Hard drives that are full do not appear in the Disk
Pro Tools session: Allocation window.
Choose Window > Disk Space.
To increase system performance, Pro Tools can re-
cord and play each track from a different hard
drive. You can also automatically distribute any
newly created tracks to multiple audio drives with
Round Robin Allocation.
5 When you are finished, click OK. Record to system drives only when absolutely nec-
essary, such as if your computer system has only
one hard drive, or if your other hard drives are
Saving Disk Allocation Settings completely full.
To save Disk Allocation settings for use with fu-
By default, the system volume is not included in
ture sessions, save the session as a template. For
Round Robin Allocation (regardless of volume
details, see “Session Templates” on page 174.
designation in the Workspace browser). To include
the System Volume in Round Robin Allocations,
Disk Allocation and Cross- see “Allocating Audio Drives in Your System” on
Platform Sessions page 496.
To ensure cross-platform operation, it is required
If you have a Pro Tools system with multiple
that Mac Pro Tools sessions and their associated
drives, and you intend to record multiple
audio files be on Mac-formatted (HFS or HFS+)
tracks simultaneously, you may want to
drives. Windows Pro Tools sessions and their as-
designate the System drive as a Playback only
sociated audio files must be on Windows-format-
or Transfer only drive for optimal
ted NTFS drives.
performance.
See “Saving Copies of Mac Sessions to be
Compatible with Windows” on page 445 and
“Sharing Sessions Created on Different
Computer Platforms” on page 443.
When in Auto Input mode, the switch back to Select Track > Input Only Monitoring.
monitoring track material on punch-out is
To toggle between Auto Input and Input
not instantaneous.
Only monitoring, press Option+K (Mac) or
Alt+K (Windows).
TrackInput monitoring lets you toggle individual To toggle individual tracks, click the TrackInput
audio tracks between Auto Input and Input Only Monitor button for each track you want to tog-
monitoring modes at any time, during playback, gle.
recording, while stopped, and even when a track is To toggle all tracks in the session, Option-click
not record-enabled. TrackInput monitoring pro- (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) a TrackInput
vides the necessary monitoring flexibility for over- Monitor button.
dubbing and mixing, and is similar to input switch-
ing on analog multitrack recorders and similar To toggle all selected tracks in the session,
machines. Option-Shift-click (Mac) or Alt-Shift-click
(Windows) a selected track’s TrackInput Moni-
When the TrackInput button in a track is enabled tor button.
(green), the track monitors audio in Input Only
mode. Press Shift+I to enable the TrackInput
Monitor button for any track containing the
Edit cursor on an Edit selection.
TrackInput Monitor button On (Input Only), in the Edit To change all record-enabled tracks to Input
Window Only monitoring, select Track > Set Record
Tracks to Input Only.
When the TrackInput button in a track is disabled,
the track monitors in Auto Input mode. To toggle record-enabled tracks between
Auto Input and Input Only monitoring, press
Option+K (Mac) or Alt+K (Windows).
Pro Tools keeps track of these two states for fader With Pro Tools, latency occurs as follows:
levels automatically. If you adjust a fader when a • All Pro Tools systems can have Virtual Instru-
track is record-enabled and then turn off record en- ment plug-in MIDI-to-audio latency (such as
able for the track, the fader returns to its playback when playing a virtual instrument live and mon-
level. itoring the instrument’s output).
When audio tracks are record-enabled, their vol- • Pro Tools systems have input-to-output moni-
ume faders in the Mix window turn red, indicating toring latency on any record-armed tracks or
that the record monitor level is active. Auxiliary Inputs with live inputs.
• HDX systems have monitoring latency on tracks
Link Record and Play Faders that have one or more host-based plug-ins.
When the Link Record and Play Faders option is The latency amount is related to the H/W Buffer
selected in the Operation Preferences, Pro Tools Size setting—the larger the buffer size, the greater
does not keep track of record and play levels for the latency. You can reduce the amount of moni-
audio tracks. In this case, record enabling an audio toring latency by reducing the H/W Buffer Size set-
track has no effect on the fader level for the track. ting. However, even at the smallest buffer size,
This lets you maintain a consistent mix regardless there is still some latency.
of whether you are recording or just listening.
In addition, reducing the buffer size limits the
number of simultaneous audio tracks you can re-
cord without encountering performance errors.
Reducing Monitoring Latency
While there may be times when you want a larger
There will inevitably be some audio delay, or
buffer size, such as when you have higher track
latency, in the monitoring signal (even if only a
counts with more plug-ins, you will generally want
few samples) due to the process of converting an
the smallest possible buffer size when latency is
analog signal to a digital signal (input) and back
present during recording and monitoring.
again (output). There may be additional latency
due to mixer configurations and processing. If you are monitoring the recording source with an
external mixer before it is routed to Pro Tools, you
HDX systems have additional latency when using
will not hear any latency.
Native plug-ins because these plug-ins also use
your computer’s host processor.
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:
When recording a stereo audio source, record to a 3 Click the Record Enable button for the audio
single, stereo audio track in Pro Tools. A single, track. It lights red.
mono audio file is written to disk for each channel
of a stereo track: one for the left channel, and one
for the right channel. These files appear as a stereo
clip both in the track’s playlist and in the Clips
List.
8 Ensure that Normal Record mode is selected 3 To start playback, click Play in the Transport or
(see “Record Modes” on page 487). press the Spacebar.
The track’s playlist is restored to its previous state For each record-enabled track, a new audio file is
and material is discarded as follows: written to disk, and a new clip is created that ap-
pears both in the track’s playlist and in the Clips
• When in normal Record mode, only the most re-
List.
cent take is discarded.
• When in Loop Record mode, all takes from each If you have a Pro Tools system with multiple
record pass are discarded. drives, and you intend to record multiple
tracks simultaneously, you may want to
• When using QuickPunch, TrackPunch, or
designate the System drive as a Transfer only
DestructivePunch mode, all punches from the
drive for optimal performance.
last recording pass are discarded.
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.
Memory Locations
Transport window with Start, End, and Length fields You can store Edit selections as Memory Loca-
displayed tions, which can also include current pre- and post-
You can enter locations in the start and end fields roll values.
to set the record or play range. The Timeline Selec- For more information on Memory Locations,
tion Markers in the Main Timebase ruler are up- see Chapter 38, “Memory Locations.”
dated accordingly.
To save an Edit selection with a Memory Location:
To set the record range by entering start and end
times in the Transport window: 1 Ensure that Options > Link Timeline and Edit
Selection is selected.
1 To see the start, end, and length times, do one of
the following: 2 Set the record range by making an Edit or Time-
line selection, or by entering start and end times
• Select View > Transport > Expanded.
in the Transport window.
• Shift-click the Expand/Collapse “+” button in
the Transport window.
The start and end times and pre- and post-roll set-
tings stored with the Memory Location are re-
called.
7 Click OK.
Setting Pre- and Post-Roll in the To set and enable the pre- and post-roll by clicking
Transport Window in a playlist:
Pre- and post-roll can be enabled and set in the 1 Select Options > Link Timeline and Edit Selec-
Transport window. tion.
Pre-roll enabled for 2 beats; Post-roll disabled 2 With the Selector tool, Option-click (Mac) or
Alt-click (Windows) in the Edit selection near
5 To enable either pre- or post-roll, click the ap- the end to disable the post-roll.
propriate button so it is highlighted.
In the Timeline, you can reset the pre- and
Use the Period (.) or Left/Right Arrow keys to post-roll to zero. First, drag the Pre-Roll
move through the different time fields for pre Flag to the Timeline Selection In Point, then
and post-roll. Use the Up/Down Arrow keys drag the Post-Roll Flag to the Timeline Se-
to increase or decrease the numerical values. lection Out Point.
• 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 511. page 511.
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.
Pro Tools adds the new material to the end of the 4 Record enable the track.
track. If using Destructive Record mode, the new 5 To start from the beginning of the session, click
audio is appended to the audio file and clip from Return to Zero in the Transport.
the first take. In Nondestructive Record mode, a
new file and clip are created. 6 Click Record in the Transport to arm Pro Tools
for recording.
Recording to a New Playlist 7 Click Play to start recording.
Instead of recording over existing audio clips, 8 Click Stop to stop recording.
there is another way to nondestructively record
new takes to the same track. Do this by creating a An audio file for the new take is written to disk and
new playlist for the track, then record just as be- appears as an audio clip both in the track’s new
fore. playlist and in the Clips List.
Tracks can have multiple edit playlists, each of Selecting a previous playlist from track’s Playlist
which stores a list of clips strung together in a par- selector recalls its clips as they previously ap-
ticular order. Also, since playlists follow groups, peared in the track. At any time, all clips from all
duplicating or selecting alternate playlists for a playlists are available in the Clips List, and can be
track in an enabled group will affect all tracks in mixed and matched between playlists and tracks.
the group. For more information on playlists and play-
list editing, see “Playlists” on page 671.
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 Clips List and are (see “Setting Pre- and Post-Roll” on page 509).
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 396). 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
file containing all recording passes where each re- Clips 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 Clips 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 Clips 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 Clips 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. Selecting Alternate Takes on a Track
2 In the Recording section, enable the Automati- Each clip resulting from a punch or loop record
cally Create New Playlists When Loop Record- pass has an identical start time (the User Time
ing option. Stamp). You can select and audition alternate takes
from the Right-click Matches submenu or the Al-
ternate Takes pop-up menu—even during play-
back.
Clip Start Any clips that have the same start time
as the time location of the Edit cursor or Edit selec-
tion.
Clip Start and End Any clips that have the same
start and end times as the Edit selection.
Pro Tools lets you copy alternate takes to new Expanding alternate takes to new tracks readily fa-
playlists or tracks. This is especially useful for au- cilitates auditioning, editing, and mixing alternate
ditioning, editing, and mixing multiple alternate takes, each on separate tracks.
takes or channels. Alternate takes are created when
punch and loop recording. To expand alternate takes to new tracks:
have audio Input and Output selectors. These Devices that are assigned as a MIDI Controller
selectors are different than the Instrument track’s in the Peripherals dialog (Setup > Peripherals) are
selectors for MIDI Input and Output and are pri- ignored when MIDI tracks are recorded. This is to
marily 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 524.
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 1249. 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 999.
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).
1 Do one of the following: 3 From the track’s MIDI Input selector, select the
device and channel to be recorded. (For Instru-
• Right-click the MIDI Merge button.
ment tracks, the MIDI Input selector is available
• Choose Settings > Preferences > MIDI. in Instruments view.)
2 Select the best option for your workflow:
1. Start recording
2. Recording
3. Recorded
Recorded MIDI clip fits to nearest whole bars based on first and last recorded MIDI events
Footswitches are supported by 003 family in- Clip added after punch record
terfaces, Mbox Pro, and Mbox 2 Pro, as well When selecting an entire clip, or a section within a
as any Pro Tools system with a supported con- clip, before punching, no new clips are created. In
trol surface. this instance, only the material residing within the
existing clip changes, with no new material re-
The Record button in the Transport and the track’s
corded outside the clip.
Record Enable button stop flashing and stay lit
during recording. Unlike audio recording, MIDI recording in this
7 To punch out, click Record again (or press the scenario is destructive. Newly recorded MIDI data
footswitch). overwrites existing MIDI data while leaving the
existing clip boundaries intact.
Pro Tools exits Record mode and continues play-
ing. You can perform additional punches during
the same pass.
The Record button flashes during pre-roll. When To record MIDI in Loop Record mode:
the start point is reached, Pro Tools begins record-
1 Configure a MIDI or Instrument track for re-
ing. When the end point is reached, Pro Tools
cording (see “Configuring MIDI or Instrument
loops back to the start point and continues playing
Tracks for Recording” on page 528).
and recording.
2 Select Options > Loop Record. When Loop Re-
12 Play your MIDI controller. Newly recorded
cord mode is enabled, a loop symbol appears in
MIDI data appears as a clip in the record track.
the Record button.
On each successive take, recorded material
shows up in the clip, without replacing material
from previous takes.
13 To switch to a new record track, press Com-
mand (Mac) or Control (Windows), and press Loop Recording enabled
the Up/Down Arrow keys to record enable the
previous or next MIDI or Instrument track. 3 If you have not done so already, record enable
the MIDI or Instrument track by clicking its Re-
14 When you are finished recording, click Stop in cord Enable button. Make sure no audio tracks
the Transport. are record-enabled.
The newly recorded MIDI data appears as a MIDI 4 Disable Wait for Note and Countoff in the
clip in the track’s playlist, and in the Clips List. Transport window.
5 Select Options > Link Timeline and Edit
Loop Recording Multiple Takes Selection.
When recording MIDI in Loop Record mode, new 6 With the Selector tool, select the loop range in
clips are created each time new material is received the track’s playlist.
during a record pass. This differs somewhat from
loop recording audio, where Pro Tools creates a For other methods of setting the record
single audio file that comprises all takes, which ap- range, see “Setting Punch and Loop Points”
pear as individual clips in the Clips List. on page 506.
For more information on Step Input, see 10 When the Sysex transfer is complete, click Stop
“Step Input Command” on page 1000. in the Transport.
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 Groups 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.
In order for a track to be enabled for Destructive- To prepare a track for DestructivePunch
Punch recording, the track must contain a contigu- recording:
ous audio file that meets the following require- 1 Enable DestructivePunch mode (“Enabling De-
ments: structivePunch Mode” on page 552).
• The file must start at the beginning (sample 0) of
2 Make sure the tracks you want to prepare are
the session.
DestructivePunch-enabled (see “Destructive-
• The File Length must be equal to or greater than Punch Enabling Tracks without Record En-
the DestructivePunch File Length setting (see abling Them” on page 554).
“DestructivePunch File Length” on page 553).
3 Choose Options > Prepare DPE Tracks.
If a track does not contain a file that meets these re-
quirements, you can do any of the following to Pro Tools consolidates audio on all Destructive-
meet the requirements: Punch-enabled tracks from the beginning of the
session to the value specified in the Destructive-
• Move the current file in the track Timeline so Punch File Length preference.
that its beginning aligns with the session start.
• Use the Consolidate command to create a con- For clips with any clip gain settings other
tinuous file of the required length. than 0 dB, the Prepare DPE Tracks com-
mand automatically renders all clip gain and
• Change the DestructivePunch File Length set-
resets all clip gain to 0 dB.
ting so that the current file is equal to or greater
than the required length.
Enabling Tracks for
• Use the Prepare DPE Tracks command to con- DestructivePunch Recording
solidate audio on all DestructivePunch-enabled
You can enable tracks for DestructivePunch with-
tracks. (See “Using the Prepare DPE Tracks
out record enabling them. This lets you punch in on
Command” on page 553.)
individual tracks at any time after starting play-
DestructivePunch File Length back by clicking their respective Record Enable
buttons.
To use DestructivePunch on an audio track, the
track must contain a contiguous audio file of a You can also simultaneously DestructivePunch en-
minimum length, which is set in the Pro Tools Op- able tracks and record enable them. This lets re-
eration preferences page. cording begin as soon as the transport is record-
armed and playback begins. (See “Destructive-
To set DestructivePunch File Length: Punch-Enabling and Record-Enabling Tracks Si-
multaneously” on page 554.)
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click the
Operation tab.
6 Stop playback. When you are finished with the Because Pro Tools can be networked, TrackPunch
record pass, track Record Enable status and (and all other) audio files and whole sessions can
transport Record Arm status follow the current be available for secure transfer to other systems for
Audio Track RecordLock and Transport Record- review, editing, and archiving.
Lock preference settings.
Film Dubbing and Mixing
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click the Workflow example for configuring “in-the-box”
Operation tab. dubbing:
2 Enable Mute Record-Armed Tracks While 1 Using internal busses, route your source tracks,
Stopped. by stem (for example, dialog, music, and ef-
fects), to your record tracks (see Figure 1 on
3 Configure synchronization and other settings page 559).
for Pro Tools and your other devices.
2 Route your stem source tracks to your print
4 Enable TrackPunch or DestructivePunch mode master track (such as a 5.1 audio track).
and proceed with punch recording.
Use the Edit window in Pro Tools to edit and ar- Nondestructive Editing
range audio, video, and MIDI. Track material can
The vast majority of audio editing in Pro Tools is
be edited nondestructively and in real time during
nondestructive. Whether cutting, pasting, trim-
playback.
ming, separating, or clearing clips, you are only
The Edit window also lets you graphically edit performing these functions on a map of the actual
other data, as follows: media (such as audio files). The source files re-
main untouched. However, certain processes or
Editing Clips and Selections See Chapter 29, tools work destructively (can permanently change
“Editing Clips and Selections.” Also, see audio files on your hard disk), as noted in other
Chapter 39, “Arranging Clips.” topics.
Editing Fades and Crossfades See Chapter 30, While editing for MIDI tracks is in some instances
“Fades and Crossfades.” destructive, with a few precautions you can keep
Editing Elastic Audio See Chapter 43, “Elastic important MIDI tracks and clips safe when per-
Audio.” forming edits (see “Nondestructive MIDI Editing”
on page 572).
Editing MIDI See Chapter 33, “MIDI Editing.”
Track Material User-Defined Clips These are clips that are explic-
itly defined, such as when you record or import au-
Each time you record or import audio, video, and
dio or MIDI; capture, separate, or consolidate a se-
MIDI, Pro Tools creates clips for the new track
lection; trim a whole-file audio clip; or rename an
data, which not only indicate where the material
existing clip.
begins and ends, but also provides visual feedback
on its general character and content. When you re- Auto-Created Clips These clips are automatically
cord additional takes, or “punch in” on a specific created in the course of editing, and, in some in-
location within a track, Pro Tools creates addi- stances, when punch recording over existing clips.
tional clips. Since these clips can accumulate rapidly in a ses-
sion, you can hide them in the Clips List. Auto-cre-
Clips are also created by cutting and pasting, resiz-
ated clips can be turned into user-defined clips by
ing, separating, and re-capturing existing clips.
renaming them.
Clips in a session are listed in the Clips List, where
they can be dragged to existing tracks. A track can For more information, see “Naming and Dis-
contain any number of clips, in any arrangement. playing Clips in the Clips List” on page 281.
The order and location of clips in a track define its
playlist.
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.
Rectified Waveforms
Rectified waveforms are displayed so that their
Normal Peak Waveform view with Outlines positive and negative waveform excursions (the
portions that fall above and below the center line)
When zoomed in to the sample level, are summed together and viewed as a single posi-
Pro Tools always displays Peak view. tive-value signal. This view lets you see more
waveform detail in normal or reduced track height
views. It can be particularly useful when editing
volume automation data, since it depicts waveform
levels as starting at the bottom of the track. Recti-
fied view is available in both Peak and Power
views.
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 659 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 660 for details.
ends on exactly the same part of a beat.
Use the following Pro Tools features to help Nondestructive Audio Editing
you edit rhythmic material or audio with clear tran-
sients into precise clips: When editing an audio track’s playlist in
Pro Tools, you are not actually cutting and moving
• Tab to Transients (see “Tabbing to Transients” pieces of sound as you would if you were cutting
on page 622.) and splicing analog tape. Instead, Pro Tools cre-
• Editing to a Grid (see “Grid Mode” on page 582) ates a map of the audio file on your hard disk,
• Beat Detective (see Chapter 32, “Beat Detec- which describes the order in which to play various
tive”) portions of the audio.
You can edit automation data by switching track Use Clips view to define clips that represent song
views or by revealing the automation lanes under sections and clips, or to rearrange or assemble
the track. track material.
For more information on automation, see In Clips view, the vertical zoom is automatically
Chapter 49, “Automation.” scaled to fit the entire range of pitches of MIDI
notes on a track.
MIDI Clips and MIDI Data You can double-click a MIDI clip to open it in
the MIDI Editor window. See Chapter 34,
The two most common Track Views you will use “MIDI Editors.”
for MIDI and Instrument tracks are Notes and
Clips: There are a few things to consider when selecting,
copying and cutting, and trimming MIDI clips:
Use Clips view for arranging clips.
When cutting or clearing a clip or clip group se-
Use Notes view for inserting and editing indi-
lection that includes a note’s start point, the entire
vidual MIDI notes, and for working with and af-
note is removed. This is even the case when only a
fecting groups of notes.
portion of the note (that includes its start point) is
For more information on setting Track View, selected.
see “Track Views” on page 235. When cutting or clearing a clip or clip group se-
lection that includes a note’s end point (but not its
To toggle the Track View between Notes and start point), the note remains and overlaps the edge
Clips, click in the track you want to toggle of the clip.
and press Control+Minus (Mac) or
Start+Minus (Windows) on the alphanu-
meric keyboard.
When moving and placing MIDI clips with over- For more information on editing MIDI con-
lapping notes, the notes always move with the troller data, see Chapter 33, “MIDI Editing.”
clips. When placing MIDI clips with overlapping
notes next to or near another clip, the overlapping MIDI Mute Automation
notes extend into the next clip on the track.
Unlike continuous controller events, which repre-
To separate MIDI notes, rather than leave sent nuances that are part of a MIDI performance,
them hanging, when separating, cutting or Mute in Pro Tools is an automation playlist that ac-
copying clips, make the Edit selection you tually mutes the MIDI engine. Mute automation
want, switch to Notes view and use the does not correspond to actual MIDI events and is
Separate At Selection command, then switch therefore not exported when saving as a Standard
back to Clips view and make the edit MIDI File.
(separating, cutting, or copying).
When a MIDI or Instrument track’s Track View is Click either the up or down arrow of the mini-
set to Notes, MIDI notes are displayed in a keyboard.
“piano roll” format. Each note is displayed as a
small rectangle with its vertical placement indicat-
ing pitch and its horizontal placement indicating
location in time (and duration).
To the left of the MIDI or Instrument track’s play- Scrolling Notes display by dragging
list is a vertical mini-keyboard, complete with oc-
tave numbering, for pitch reference. You can click If you have a mouse with a scroll wheel, move
the mini-keyboard to play pitches using the track’s the cursor over the track and Command-Option-
selected MIDI output. Arrows at the top and bot- Control-scroll (Mac) or Control-Alt-Start-scroll
tom of the mini-keyboard (not available in the (Windows) up or down to scroll the notes dis-
smaller track heights) are used to scroll the Notes play up or down.
display up and down.
Using the Edit tools, notes can be inserted, deleted,
Clicking the mini-keyboard clears the cur- transposed, trimmed, and moved. For more infor-
rent Edit selection. For more information, mation, see “Manually Editing MIDI Notes” on
see “Selecting MIDI Notes” on page 726. page 726.
However, if the Mirror MIDI Editing option is dis- For more information, see “Renaming
abled, when editing a MIDI clip that appears else- Clips” on page 281.
where in the session (either on the same track at an-
To rename a clip on a track:
other location or in a different playlist, or in
another track), editing is nondestructive and cre- 1 Do one of the following:
ates a new auto-created clip. To go back to the pre- • Select the clip you want to rename and then
vious material, drag the original clip from the Clips choose Clip > Rename.
List, or return to a previously saved playlist.
• With any of the Edit tools, Right-click the clip
One way to safely return to a track’s previous that you want to rename and select Rename
state is with playlists. Before you edit notes, from the pop-up menu.
trim clips, or rearrange the order of clips, • Press Command+Shift+R (Mac) or Con-
make a duplicate of the track’s existing play- trol+Shift+R (Windows).
list and then edit the duplicate (see “Play- • With the Grabber tool, double-click the clip you
lists” on page 671). want to rename. For MIDI clips, the Name Dia-
log option must be selected as the Double-Click-
To apply edits to all instances of a MIDI clip, ing a MIDI Clip Opens setting in the MIDI
enable Mirrored MIDI Editing mode (see Preferences.
“Mirrored MIDI Editing” on page 721). 2 In the Name dialog, type a new name for the
clip. If a whole-file audio clip was selected,
specify whether to rename just the clip, or both
the clip and the disk file.
3 Click OK to rename the clip.
Choose Edit > Redo. The operation you choose, as well as all the opera-
tions in the queue before it, are redone.
Press Shift+Command+Z (Mac) or Shift+Con-
trol+Z (Windows). To toggle display of creation times in the Undo
History window:
If no actions are available to redo, the menu
Click the Options pop-up menu and choose
displays Can’t Redo.
Show Creation Times.
Undo History Window To undo all the operations in the Undo Queue:
You can use the Undo History window to view the Click the Options pop-up menu and choose
queue of the undoable and redoable operations and Undo All.
return to any previous state. The Undo History can
show edit creation times, enabling you to revert to To redo all the operations in the Redo Queue:
the state a session held at a particular time.
Click the Options pop-up menu and choose
Redo All.
Options selector
Creation times
3 Click OK.
You cannot cut or copy automation data Use the Copy command to place a copy of the se-
from an automation playlist unless that lection on the Clipboard so it can be pasted to an-
playlist includes at least one breakpoint in other track, or to the same track at a different loca-
it. The selection you are cutting or copying tion, while leaving the original intact and in place.
does not need to include any breakpoints,
To cut or copy a selection or clip:
but without at least one breakpoint on an
automation playlist, there is no automation 1 If you want to constrain the selection to the cur-
data to copy. rent Grid value, enable Snap to Grid.
2 Set the Track View for the tracks you want to
edit.
4 Do one of the following: • Place the insertion point in each of the destina-
tion tracks by Shift-clicking in them.
• If pasting audio clips to larger areas, the Batch
Fades dialog opens. Configure the dialog to cre- • Make a selection in one of the Timebase rulers.
ate crossfades between each pasted clip, then 2 Choose Edit > Paste.
click OK.
When you paste multiple types of data, whatever
• If you do not want crossfades for the pasted au-
data has been copied is pasted into the correct type
dio, click Cancel in the Batch Fades dialog.
of playlist. Automation data is pasted into the cor-
responding automation playlist. Audio or MIDI
data is pasted into the audio or MIDI playlist. You
Editing Across Multiple do not need to set target tracks to the specific type
Tracks of data being pasted for the paste to work correctly.
When working with data from multiple tracks,
If all destination tracks in a multitrack paste are
there are some important points to remember.
displayed as automation, the paste replaces any
For example, if any selected tracks are set to their
previous data on the target track without shuf-
master view (see “Master Views for Tracks” on
fling—regardless of whether Shuffle Clips is
page 239), edits affect not only audio and MIDI for
enabled.
the selected tracks, but all automation and control-
ler data as well.
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.
Spot Mode
Shuffle Lock enabled
Use Spot mode to place clips at precise locations.
To lock out Shuffle Mode: In Spot mode you can specify a frame location (or
While in any Edit mode other than Shuffle a location based on any of the other time formats),
mode, Command-click (Mac) or Control-click capture an incoming Timecode address, or use a
(Windows) the Shuffle button on-screen. A lock clip’s time stamps as reference points for spotting.
icon appears in the Shuffle button. This can be particularly useful when performing
post production tasks around SMPTE frame loca-
To unlock Shuffle Mode: tions.
Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win- When Spot mode is enabled, Pro Tools asks you to
dows) the locked Shuffle button on-screen. specify a destination location when a clip is
dragged from the Clips List, a Workspace browser,
Windows Explorer, or the Mac Finder.
Slip Mode
Press F3 to enable Spot mode.
In Slip mode, clips can be moved freely within a
track or to other tracks. In this mode, it is possible
to place a clip so that there is space between it and Grid Mode
other clips in a track. When the track is played
back, this space is silent. It is also possible to move In Grid mode, clips and MIDI notes that are
a clip so that it overlaps or completely covers an- moved, trimmed or inserted “snap” to the currently
other clip. selected Grid value, or to precise increments on a
user-definable time grid.
The actual Grid size, chosen from the Grid value Grid Mode Lock
selector can be based on a time value using the
Main Time Scale; or, if the Follow Main Time To ensure that you do not inadvertently change the
Scale option is deselected, another time format can Grid mode setting when using Edit mode keyboard
be used for the Grid size. shortcuts, you can enable Edit/Tool Mode Key-
board Lock.
The Grid Value indicator and selector are located
in the Edit window. Also, the Score Editor window To lock (or unlock) the selected Grid mode:
and MIDI Editor windows each provide an inde- 1 Click the Grid mode selector and choose
pendent Grid Value indicator and selector. Absolute or Relative.
Edit Tools
Pro Tools provides the following Edit tools: the
Zoomer, Trim, Selector, Grabber, Scrubber, and
Pencil tools, and the multifunctional Smart Tool.
Zoomer Scrubber
Zoom buttons Smart Tool Pencil
Press Command+[ (Mac) or Control+[ (Win- To zoom in vertically for all audio tracks, do one of
dows). the following:
The Zoomer tool offers two modes: 3 To zoom back to the previous level, Option-
click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) with the
Normal Zoom The Zoomer tool remains selected Zoomer tool.
after zooming.
To zoom into a particular track area:
Single Zoom The previously selected Edit tool is
automatically reselected after zooming. 1 Do one of the following:
• Click the Zoomer tool pop-up menu and select
Press the F5 key to select the Zoomer tool Normal Zoom mode.
and toggle between Normal and Single Zoom
modes. • Right-click on any track and select Tools >
Zoomer Tools > Normal Zoom.
Zooming in a Ruler
To zoom horizontally in a ruler:
1 Press Command+Control (Mac) or Con-
trol+Start (Windows) and move the cursor into
the ruler area, so the Zoomer tool appears.
Zoom Toggle Follows Edit Selection Zoom Toggle button in the Edit window
When selected, this option ensures that zoom tog- If Last Used is selected for any of the following,
gle automatically follows the current Edit selec- you can adjust the corresponding zoom, height, or
tion. When disabled, changing the Edit selection view in the Edit window to update the stored zoom
has no affect on the currently toggled-in track. state:
• Vertical Zoom
Using Zoom Toggle • Horizontal Zoom
Depending on the Zoom Toggle preference set- • Track Height
tings, the Zoom Toggle button in the Edit window
• Track View
lets you define a zoom state and toggle between it
and the current zoom state, or it zooms to the set- In Commands Keyboard Focus mode (see
tings in the Zoom Toggle preferences. When “Keyboard Focus” on page 27), press the
Zoom Toggle is enabled, the Edit window displays E key to enable or disable Zoom Toggle.
the stored zoom state. Additionally, any changes
made to the view while Zoom Toggle is enabled
are also stored in the zoom state. Press Option+Shift+E (Mac) or Alt+Shift+E
(Windows) to cancel Zoom Toggle without
When Zoom Toggle is disabled, the Edit window reverting to the previous view.
reverts to the last zoom state.
To modify the stored Zoom Toggle state if Last
To store a zoom state using Zoom Toggle: Used is selected:
1 Set the Zoom Toggle preferences. 1 Make sure the Zoom Toggle button is lit (en-
abled).
2 Make an Edit selection.
2 Adjust the Track Height, Vertical Zoom, Track
3 Click the Zoom Toggle button. It lights to indi- View, or the Grid depending on which prefer-
cate that Zoom Toggle is enabled and Pro Tools ences are set to Last Used. Changes are stored
zoom toggles in based on the settings of the as the new Zoom Toggle state.
Zoom Toggle preferences.
Using the Zoom Toggle Hold Option (Mac) or Alt (Windows) while
turning the mouse scroll wheel.
Trim tools provide clip, note, and data trimming To trim a clip with the Trim tool:
functions. The following Trim tools are available:
1 Select the Trim tool.
• Trim tool; also called the Standard Trim tool
2 Do one of the following:
• Time Compression/Expansion Trim tool; also
• Click the Trim tool pop-up menu and select
called the TCE Trim tool
Standard.
• Scrub Trim tool (Pro Tools HD Only)
• Loop Trim tool
The TCE, Scrub, and Loop Trim tools do not apply 3 Move the cursor near the start or end of the clip,
to fades. so the Trim Tool cursor appears.
Trim Tool
With the Trim tool, you can quickly shorten or ex-
pand a clip (up to the entire length of the source au-
dio file). The first time you trim a clip, Pro Tools Trim tool
automatically adds it to the Clips List as a new clip To reverse the direction of the Trim tool, press Op-
(with a name derived from the original) in order to tion (Mac) or Alt (Windows).
differentiate it from the original.
To use the TCE Trim tool in Spot mode: 1 Do one of the following:
1 Set the Edit mode to Spot. • Click the Trim tool pop-up menu and select
Scrub.
2 Click the Trim tool pop-up menu and select
TCE. • Right-click on any track and select Tools >
Trim Tools > Scrub.
3 Click the clip near its start or end point. The
Spot dialog opens. Using any Time Scale, enter The tool changes to a speaker with a bracket.
a new start or end time (or duration) for the clip, 2 Drag within a track to the left or right. Audio
then click OK. from a scrubbed track is routed through the
track signal path, including any DSP effects.
When you locate the trim point, release the
Scrub Trim Tool mouse button to trim the clip.
(Pro Tools HD Only) • To scrub trim two tracks, drag with the Scrub
The Scrub Trim tool is a convenient tool for audi- Trim tool between two adjacent tracks.
tioning material (on up to two tracks) to find a trim • To scrub with finer resolution (without having to
point. You can drag in a track to hear the audio in- zoom in), press Command (Mac) or Control
formation, then trim at a specific location by re- (Windows) while scrubbing.
leasing the mouse button.
Tandem trimming
Placing the edit cursor with the Selector tool
Click the Grabber tool in the Edit window and Trim Trim
select the Grabber tool from the pop-up menu. tool tool
(start) (end)
Trim Trim
tool Selector tool tool
(start) (end)
For the Selector tool, position the cursor over For the Grabber tool, position the cursor over
the middle of the clip, in the upper half of the clip. the note, near its middle.
For the Grabber tool, position the cursor over For the Trim tool, position the cursor near the
the middle of a clip, in the lower half of the clip, note start or end point.
but not over an Event marker or Warp marker.
2 Drag within the track: left for reverse or right Scrub within a selection that contains multiple
for forward. tracks.
The distance and speed dragged determine the Custom Shuttle Lock Speed
speed for the scrubbed audio. (Pro Tools HD Only)
To shuttle with the Numeric Keypad mode set to When editing automation or MIDI control
Shuttle: data with the Pencil tool, you can switch be-
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click the tween the current Pencil Tool shape (such as
Operation tab. Line) and Free Hand pencil editing using the
Command key (Mac) or the Control key (Win-
2 Set the Numeric Keypad mode to Shuttle and dows). When editing with the selected Pencil
click OK. shape, the Pencil cursor angles to the left.
3 With the Selector tool, click in the track where When editing in Free Hand with the key mod-
you want playback to begin. To shuttle on two ifier, the Pencil cursor angles to the right.
tracks, Shift-click in a second track.
Waveform Repair with the Pencil
4 Hold any of the following keys (or key combi- Tool
nations) on the numeric keypad to trigger play-
back. On audio tracks, the Pencil tool lets you destruc-
tively “redraw” waveform data. This tool is most
Shuttle Speed Rewind Key Forward Key commonly used to repair a pop or click in an audio
file. A pop or click appears as a sudden sharp spike
1 X Speed 4 6
in a waveform. This tool only becomes active
4 X Speed 7 9 when the Edit window is zoomed in to the sample
level.
1/4 X Speed 1 3
For information about the AudioSuite Du- The Pencil tool can independently edit different
plicate plug-in, see the Audio Plug-Ins channels of a multichannel track.
Guide.
Try to limit editing to smoothing over a very small
To destructively edit an audio waveform with the problem area, and keep the “fixes” in character
Pencil tool: with the shape of the surrounding waveform.
1 Locate the area you want to edit.
Using the Zoomer tool or the Zoom buttons,
Edit/Tool Mode Keyboard
2
zoom down to the sample level so the waveform
appears as a continuous thin line. Adjust the Lock
Track Height, as necessary, to edit the wave- Enable Options > Edit/Tool Mode Keyboard Lock
form with greater precision. You can also use to lock the currently selected Edit Tools (Zoom,
vertical zoom for greater visual resolution. Trim, Grabber, and Pencil only) in place and pre-
vent them from being inadvertently changed when
You can recall zoom levels with the Zoom
using keyboard shortcuts. However, even when
Preset buttons (see “Zooming Options” on
Edit/Tool Mode Keyboard Lock is enabled, Edit
page 585), or with Memory Locations (see
Tool types can still be changed using the mouse or
“Recalling Memory Locations” on
by using the Right-click menu. You can also
page 857). The default setting for Zoom Pre-
switch between tools (such as switching from the
set 5 is at the sample level for Pencil editing.
Grabber to the Trim) using keyboard shortcuts.
3 Select the Pencil tool.
To lock (or unlock) the current Edit Tool modes:
Pro Tools provides many tools for selecting To link or unlink the Timeline and Edit selections,
material in the Edit window. do one of the following:
When Track and Edit selections are linked, you When you make a selection, it appears as a high-
can make a selection within a track or across mul- lighted area of the tracks, and is also indicated by
tiple tracks for editing and each associated track is blue start and end arrows (Timeline Selection
selected (track names automatically highlight). Markers) in the Main Timebase ruler. If any track
This lets you quickly apply track-level commands (audio or MIDI) in the session is record-enabled,
(such as Track View toggle, change track heights) even if it is hidden, these markers appear red.
and have the command apply to all tracks you are
working on.
Select or deselect Options > Link Track and Edit Timeline Selection Markers indicating Edit selection
Selection.
If the Timeline and Edit selections are unlinked,
In the upper left of the Edit window, under the the Edit selection range is indicated by Edit Mark-
Edit tools, click the Link Track and Edit Selec- ers in the Main Timebase ruler. See “Linking or
tion button so it becomes highlighted (selected) Unlinking Timeline and Edit Selections” on
or unhighlighted (not selected). page 611 for details.
Link Track and Edit Selection enabled Selections and Hidden Tracks
Noncontiguous selection
Converting to a Time selection is useful if you To change an Object selection to a Time selection:
want to select all clips between a noncontiguous
1 Select any number of clips with the Object
Object selection.
Grabber tool.
2 Double-click the Selector tool in the toolbar.
The time range between the first and last clip
becomes selected.
Dragging a Timeline Selection Marker To move a selection start or end point by the
Nudge value:
If Link Timeline and Edit Selection is disabled,
drag the Edit Marker to change the selection 1 Configure the Nudge value. For details, see
length. “Defining the Nudge Value” on page 640.
2 Make the initial selection with the Selector tool.
3 Do one of the following:
Edit Markers • While pressing Option+Shift (Mac) or Alt+Shift
To make a long-length selection: (Windows), press Plus (+) or Minus (–) on the
numeric keypad to move the selection’s start
1 With the Selector tool, click at where you want point by the Nudge value.
the selection to start.
• While pressing Command+Shift (Mac) or Con-
2 Scroll to the end point and Shift-click at the trol+Shift (Windows), press Plus (+) or
point where you want the selection to end. Minus (–) on the numeric keypad to move the
selection’s end point by the Nudge value.
To verify the start and end points of a long selec-
tion, press the Left Arrow key to scroll to the be-
ginning of the selection, or press the Right Arrow
key to scroll to the end.
• With Tab to Transients disabled, press Con- 2 Click in the Start field at the top of the Edit win-
trol+Shift+Tab (Mac) or Start+Shift+Tab (Win- dow.
dows) to extend the selection to the next clip 3 Type in the start point for the selection and press
boundary. the Forward Slash key (/) to enter the value and
• Press Option+Control+Shift+Tab (Mac) or Con- automatically move to the end field.
trol+Start+Shift+Tab (Windows) to extend the
4 Type in the end point for the selection and press
selection to include the previous clip boundary.
Enter to accept the value.
To extend a selection to a Marker or Memory
Numeric Entry Shortcuts for Selection
Location:
Indicators
1 Do one of the following:
You can use the following shortcuts for entering
• Click in a track with the Selector tool at the start
values in the Edit Selection indicators:
or end point.
• Press the Forward Slash (/) key to cycle through
• Make a selection with the Selector or Time
the three Edit Selection indicators.
Grabber tool.
• Use Period (.) or the Left and Right Arrow keys
2 Do one of the following: to move through the different time fields in each
• Shift-click a Marker in the Markers ruler. Edit Selection indicator.
• Shift-click a Memory Location in the Memory • Press the Up or Down Arrow keys to increase or
Locations window. decrease numerical values.
2 Press Minus (–) on the numeric keypad. Enable the All Edit Group and make a selection
in any track.
3 Type the amount you want to subtract from the
current time value, then press Enter. Drag with the Selector tool in any Timebase
ruler (make sure the Timeline and Edit Selec-
4 Press Enter again to apply the change. tions are linked).
To add time values: These selections include all tracks in the Edit win-
1 In the Edit Selection indicator, highlight the dow, but do not include the Conductor tracks (for
time field you want to change. Tempo, Meter, and Markers).
2 Press Plus (+) on the numeric keypad. To select across all tracks, including the
Conductor tracks (for Tempo, Meter, and Markers):
3 Type the amount you want to add to the current
time value, then press Enter. Option-drag (Mac) or Alt-drag (Windows) with
the Selector tool in any Timebase ruler.
4 Press Enter again to apply the change.
To move a selection to an adjacent track: In either instance, the original Edit selection re-
1 Enable Commands Keyboard Focus (see “Key- mains selected.
board Focus” on page 27).
With Commands Keyboard Focus dis-
abled, press Control+Shift+P (Mac) of
Start+Shift+P (Windows) to extend the se-
lection to the previous track, or Con-
trol+Shift+Semicolon (;) (Mac) or
Start+Shift+Semicolon (;) (Windows) to
extend the selection to the next track.
Commands Keyboard Focus button enabled To remove the bottom track from a selection:
2 With the Selector or Time Grabber tool, make a Press Option+Control+Semicolon (;) (Mac) or
selection. Alt+Start+Semicolon (;) (Windows) to remove
the bottom track.
3 Do one of the following:
• Press P on your computer keyboard to move the Other Useful Selection
selection to the previous track. Techniques
• Press semicolon (;) to move the selection to the Following are some additional selection tech-
next track. niques.
In either instance, the original Edit selection be-
To position the edit cursor precisely at a clip start,
comes deselected. end, or sync point:
With Commands Keyboard Focus disabled, 1 Make sure the Tab to Transients button is not
press Control+P (Mac) or Start+P (Win- enabled. (See “Tabbing to Transients” on
dows) to move the selection to the previous page 622.)
track, or Control+Semicolon (;) (Mac) or
2 Click with the Selector tool in the track.
Start+Semicolon (;) (Windows) to move the
selection to the next track. 3 Do one of the following:
• Press Tab to move the cursor to the next clip or
To extend a selection to an adjacent track:
clip group start, end, or sync point.
1 Enable Commands Keyboard Focus (see “Key-
• Press Option+Tab (Mac) or Control+Tab (Win-
board Focus” on page 27).
dows) to move the cursor to the previous clip or
2 With the Selector or Time Grabber tool, make a clip group start, end, or sync point.
selection.
4 While pressing Shift, scrub to an appropriate 3 Drag left or right to move the Edit selection
end point for the selection, then release. The back or forward in time while preserving its
range between the initial and final scrub be- length.
comes selected. If Link Timeline and Edit Selection is disabled
(Options > Link Timeline and Edit Selection), Op-
To move a selection to an adjacent clip on the
same track: tion-drag (Mac) or Alt-drag (Windows) the Edit
Markers instead.
1 Select a clip with the Time Grabber.
2 Do one of the following: Right-Click Commands and
• Press Control+Tab (Mac) or Start+Tab (Win- Selection Preservation
dows) to move the selection to the next clip. You can use Right-click commands with key com-
• Press Option+Control+Tab (Mac) or Con- binations to perform operations on objects while
trol+Start+Tab (Windows) to move the selection maintaining selections in the Edit and Mix win-
to the previous clip. dows. For example, you can maintain selections in
the following areas while carrying out certain com-
In either instance, the original clip becomes dese- mands:
lected.
• Clip selections in the Timeline
To slide an Edit selection in the Main Timebase • Clip name selections in the Clips List
ruler:
• Track selections
1 With the Selector or Time Grabber tool, make a
selection. To apply a command to an object while keeping the
current selection:
2 While pressing Option (Mac) or Alt (Windows),
move the cursor over either of the Timeline Se- Command-Right-click (Mac) or Control-Right-
lection Markers in the ruler (the Time Grabber click (Windows) the object and choose a com-
appears). mand from the pop-up menu.
Tab to Transients button enabled If necessary, you can move to the previous tran-
sient by pressing Option+Tab (Mac) or Con-
To toggle Tab to Transients on and off,
trol+Tab (Windows).
press Command+Option+Tab (Mac) or 5 Press Shift+Tab until the cursor locates to the
Control+Alt+Tab (Windows). end of the material you want to select.
In Warp view, Tab to Transients tabs to all Event To move the selection end point to the previous
and Warp markers in a clip. Normal Tab tabs to transient, press Option+Shift+Tab (Mac) or Con-
clip boundaries and all Warp markers. In Analysis trol+Shift+Tab (Windows).
view, pressing Tab always tabs to Event markers,
regardless of whether or not Tab to Transients is Once selected, the material can be looped for re-
enabled. cording or playback, or it can be turned into a new
clip with the Separate or Capture command.
With MIDI and Instrument tracks when Tab to
Transients is disabled, pressing Tab moves the in- Peak transients are usually visible in the
sertion point to the next MIDI clip boundary re- waveform. However, some low-frequency
gardless of the track view (just like with audio transients may not appear as visible peaks in
clips). the waveform.
With MIDI and Instrument tracks when Tab to Tab to Transients Across Multiple
Transients is enabled, pressing Tab moves the Edit Tracks
insertion to the beginning of the next note or clip With the edit cursor inserted across multiple
boundary regardless of the track view (just like tracks, you can use Tab to Transients to tab to the
with audio transients), but does not make note se- next transient on any of those tracks. When tran-
lections. sients on multiple tracks are closely aligned, Tab to
For more information on navigating
Transients tabs to the first transient on any of those
MIDI, see XXX tracks.
Choose Edit > Selection > Change Timeline to The Edit Selection indicators (to the right of the
Match Edit. Main and Sub counters) display the Start and End
times, and Length of the current Edit selection ac-
Press Option+Shift+5 (Mac) or cording to the Main Timebase.
Alt+Shift+5 (Windows) to change the
Timeline selection to match the Edit The Main and Sub Counters, as well as the Edit Se-
selection. lection indicators, also appear in the Transport
window when it is set to display Counters.
You can scroll the contents of the Edit window by 1 Place the mouse over the window you want to
dragging in a ruler. While this does not actually up- scroll (for example, in the Edit window you
date the session’s Current Location, it does let you might want to scroll either the track display or
conveniently shift the display left or right for the the Clips List).
sake of finding and editing material. 2 Shift-scroll the scroll wheel up or down to scroll
This method of scrolling is especially useful when the window to the left or right.
using the Continuous Scrolling option, which does
not update or follow Timeline selections.
Scrolling in a ruler
This overview represents audio and MIDI material on all tracks in the session that are not hidden (including
tracks that are inactive, or that contain offline clips). The order in which material is displayed in the Uni-
verse view corresponds to the track order in the Edit window.
In the Universe view, audio, MIDI, and video clips on tracks are represented by horizontal lines that are the
same colors as the clips on the tracks. Each audio track is represented at the same height regardless of how
many channels it has. Additionally, tracks that show Automation, Controller, or Playlist lanes are repre-
sented with increasing height for each lane shown.
Since Auxiliary Input, Master Fader, and VCA Master tracks do not contain audio or MIDI clips, they are
displayed as blank areas in the Universe view.
Showing the Universe Window Double-click the divider above the Main Time-
base ruler.
To show or hide the Universe view in the Edit
window, do one of the following: From the Edit window menu, select or deselect
Universe.
Select or deselect View > Other Displays >
Universe.
3 Press the Down Arrow to place the Edit cursor Press Command+Control+Option+’ (single
at the current playback location and mark the quote) (Mac) or Control+Alt+Start+’ (single
beginning of the Edit selection. quote) (Windows).
4 Press the Up Arrow to mark the end point of the To move the selection backward by the selection
Edit selection. amount:
5 Stop playback. Press Command+Control+Option+L (Mac) or
Control+Alt+Start+L (Windows).
6 Do one of the following:
• Press the Left arrow to locate the beginning of To double the Edit selection:
the Edit selection.
Press Command+Control+Option+Shift+’ (sin-
• Press the Right arrow to locate the end of the gle quote) (Mac) or Control+Alt+Start+Shift+’
Edit selection. (single quote) (Windows).
Press Command+Control+Option+Shift+L
Pro Tools provides several keyboard shortcuts for
(Mac) or Control+Alt+Start+Shift+L (Win-
moving and extending or decreasing the range of
dows).
an Edit (or Timeline) selection.
You can also press Command+Option+Z To change Track views for all tracks together:
(Mac) or Control+Alt+Z (Windows) to restore Press Command+Option+Control+Left or
the previous selection. Right arrows (Mac) or Control+Alt+Start+Left
or Right arrows (Windows).
Clips are the basic building blocks for arranging Capture Clip Command
audio and MIDI in Pro Tools. Understanding how
The Capture Clip command defines a selection as a
clips are created, edited, and arranged is essential
new clip and adds it to the Clips List. From there,
to taking full advantage of the editing capabilities
the new clip can be dragged to any existing tracks.
of Pro Tools.
This chapter covers basic editing functions as they To capture a new clip:
apply to clips and clip groups, and selections, 1 With the Selector tool, drag in an existing clip to
which for the most part apply to both MIDI and au- select the material for the new clip.
dio data. For editing procedures more specific to
MIDI, see Chapter 33, “MIDI Editing.” For edit-
ing procedures specific to video, see “Video Clips”
on page 1301.
The Separate commands define a selection within • Choose Edit > Separate > At Selection.
an existing clip, or a partially selected clip, as a • With an Edit selection, Right-click near the cur-
new clip and separate it from surrounding material. sor position or selection and choose Separate
The Separate commands can also be applied to from the pop-up menu.
MIDI notes (see “Separating MIDI Notes” on
page 731). Press Command+E (Mac) or Control+E
(Windows) for Separate At Selection.
New clips appear in the tracks in which they are
created, separate from the data surrounding them. 3 If the Editing preference for Auto-Name Sepa-
They also appear in the Clips List. rated Clips is disabled, type a name for the new
clip when prompted, then click OK.
There are three different Separate commands:
To separate clips (or MIDI notes) according to the
At Selection (or Edit Cursor) Creates new clip current grid resolution:
boundaries at the selection start and end points. If
there is no selection and the edit cursor is placed 1 Make an Edit selection.
within the clip, the clip is split into two new clips at 2 Choose Edit > Separate > On Grid.
the insertion point. Likewise, MIDI notes can be
separated at the selection start and end points (or at 3 In the Pre-Separate Amount dialog, type a
the Edit cursor). pre-separate amount in milliseconds. This can
be useful to pad the beginnings of the new clips.
On Grid Creates new clips according to the se-
lected Grid value (see “Defining the Grid Value”
on page 873). Likewise, MIDI notes can be sepa-
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 685). 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.
1 With the Selector tool, make an Edit selection. To heal a separation between two clips:
The selection can reside within a single clip,
1 With the Selector tool, make a selection that in-
across adjacent clips within the same track, or
cludes part of the first clip, the entire separation
across multiple tracks.
between the clips, and part of the second clip.
2 From the Grabber tools pop-up menu, choose
2 Choose Edit > Heal Separation.
the Separation Grabber tool.
Press Command+H (Mac) or Control+H
(Windows) to Heal Separation.
to the next or previous clip boundary depending on 1 Configure the Nudge value (see “Defining the
which command you use. Nudge Value” on page 640).
The Nudge value determines how far clips and se- Press Shift+Option+Equal (=) (Mac) or
lections are moved when nudging. Shift+Alt+Equal (=) (Windows)
Start and end points for selections can also be To decrease the nudge value incrementally:
moved by the Nudge value (see “Nudging Selec- Press Shift+Option+Minus (–) (Mac) or
tion Start/End Points” on page 617). In addition, Shift+Alt+Minus (–) (Windows)
clips can be trimmed by the Nudge value (see
“Trimming with Nudge” on page 639).
Nudging Clips by the Nudge
To set the Nudge value: Value
1 Do one of the following: To nudge one or more clips:
• From the View > Main Counter menu, select the 1 Configure the Nudge value (see “Defining the
Time Scale for the Nudge value. Nudge Value” on page 640).
• To keep the Main Time Scale and use a different 2 With the Time Grabber or Selector tool, select
time format for the Nudge value, deselect Follow the clip, clips, or clip groups you want to nudge.
Main Timebase in the Nudge Value pop-up The clips can reside on multiple tracks. Only
menu. clips that are completely selected are nudged.
2 Specify a Nudge value by doing one of the fol- 3 Do one of the following:
lowing:
• On the numeric keypad, press Plus (+) to move
• From the Nudge value pop-up menu in the Edit the selection forward by the Nudge value.
window, select the Nudge value.
• Press Minus (–) to move the selection back by
• To specify a Nudge value not listed in the Nudge the Nudge value.
Value pop-up menu, click the Nudge Value indi-
cator and type in the value. The Nudge command works the same regardless of
the Edit mode. Adjacent clips are overlapped in
Shuffle mode, the Spot dialog does not appear
when in Spot mode, and shifted material does not
snap to the Grid when in Grid mode.
For MIDI clips, only the clips are quantized and all
MIDI data contained within the clips (such as
notes) are moved equally, thereby retaining their
rhythmic relationships.
You can quickly and easily apply fade-ins, fade- The type of selection you make determines the
outs on audio clips, and crossfades between adja- character of the crossfade.
cent audio clips. Crossfading is the process of fad-
ing between two clips of audio to prevent pops, Since crossfades are created by fading between
clicks, or sudden changes in sound. Crossfades overlapping audio material, a crossfade cannot
have many applications, from smoothing transi- be performed on clips that do not contain audio
tions between clips to creating special audio ef- material beyond their clip boundaries.
fects. The crossfade duration, position, 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 or to adjust the
About Crossfades and Curves bounds of the selection to execute those fades.
Use the Fades dialog to select, view, and manipu- Centered crossfade
late the curves used to perform fades and cross-
fades. Different volume curves can be assigned to This type of selection creates a crossfade on both
the fade-out and fade-in portions of crossfades. sides of the splice point, which affects the volume
The Fades dialog can also be used to audition a of clip 1 and clip 2. It is the most common type of
fade or crossfade before applying it. crossfade.
splice
sp lice splice
point point
clip 11
clip clip 22
clip clip 1 clip 2
This type of selection creates a crossfade before This type of selection creates a crossfade after the
the splice point. This lets you maintain the volume splice point. It is useful if you want to maintain the
of the very beginning of clip 2 instead of fading amplitude of clip 1 until its very end. When mak-
across it, which is useful if there is a strong attack ing selections for crossfades that occur on the bor-
at the beginning of clip 2 that you want to preserve. der of two clips, you can use the Tab key to move
When making selections for crossfades that occur the cursor to the exact beginning or end of a clip.
on the border of two clips, you can use the Tab key
to move the cursor to the exact beginning or end of This crossfade type requires that clip 1 contain au-
a clip. dio material beyond its end point.
Fade Out dialog If you are cross-fading between more than one
track this button allows you to view and preview
the audio of the second in a pair of adjacent tracks.
Preset Curve 6
Preset Curve 7
Preset Curve 6
Preset Curve 7
Preset Curve 4 fades in with a linear fade curve. Equal Gain Recommended for material that is
This is the default curve. phase-coherent or nearly phase-coherent. With this
fade, you can Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click
(Windows) the fade curve to reset it to its default
shape.
Preset Curve 5
Fade Link
For more information on adjusting the fade Overlap Fade This combination of curves keeps
shape, see “Manually Adjusting Fade Shapes both clips at full amplitude throughout the cross-
in Fade Windows” on page 662. fade: clip 2 “jumps in” at the beginning and clip 1
“jumps out” at the end.
For information on adjusting the start and end
1. Out 2. In
points of fades in a crossfade, see “Adjusting
the Start and End Points of a Crossfade” on
page 662
<factory default> Restores the default settings for Clip with a fade-in
the Fades dialog.
Creating Fade-Ins and Fade-
Save Settings Saves the current settings. This Outs
command overwrites any previous version of the
Depending on how you make the selection, you
preset.
can position a fade-in or fade-out at the exact be-
Save Settings As Saves the current settings as a ginning or end of a clip, or position it so it extends
new preset under a different name. into a blank area of the track. The length of the se-
lection in the clip determines the length of the
Import Settings Imports a fade settings file (.fd- fade-in or fade-out.
preset) from a location other than the Root Settings
folder or Session folder. You can also fade to the beginning or end of a clip
from an insertion point.
Delete Current Settings File Permanently deletes
the current fade settings file (.fdpreset) from disk. Although fades appear to be discrete clips, they
cannot be separated from the clips in which they
Save Fade Settings To Selects the folder where were created.
Fades preset files (.fdpreset) are saved. If you se-
lect Session Folder, the settings are saved in a When changing tempo in a tick-based audio track,
folder named “Fades Presets” within the current fade-ins and fade-outs remain with their parent
Session folder. If you select Root Settings Folder, clips. Fades maintain their absolute duration and
the settings are saved in the Pro Tools Root folder are consequently recalculated after any tempo
specified in the Operation preferences. changes.
Selecting the beginning of a clip for a fade-in Selecting the end of a clip for a fade-out
To apply a Fade In using the Default Fade To apply the Fade Out using the Default
In setting (in the Editing Preferences page), Fade Out setting (in the Editing Preferences
and without opening the Fades dialog, page), and without opening the Fades dia-
press Command+Control+F (Mac) or log, press Command+Control+F (Mac) or
Control+Start+F (Windows). Control+Start+F (Windows).
3 Select the fade-in curve and configure the other 3 Select the fade-out curve and configure the
Fade settings. other Fade settings.
4 Click the Audition button to audition the fade. 4 Click the Audition button to audition the fade.
5 Adjust the curve by dragging it or by selecting a 5 Adjust the curve by dragging it or by selecting a
different shape from the In Shape pop-up menu. different shape from the Out Shape pop-up
menu.
6 Click OK.
6 Click OK.
The selected fade curve appears in the clip.
Pro Tools calculates the fade and the selected fade
curve appears in the clip.
• Choose Edit > Fades > Fade To End. • Drag the Fade-In and Fade-Out curves to a cus-
tom shape. By choosing None as the Linking op-
• Press Control+G (Mac) or Start+G (Windows).
tion, you can drag the beginning or end points of
The fade is applied based on the Fade Out prefer- a fade curve to adjust its beginning or end point.
ences (see “Fade and Crossfade Preferences” on 8 Click the Audition button to audition the cross-
page 656). fade again.
9 When the crossfade sounds right, click OK.
Creating a Crossfade Crossfade lengths can be resized with any of
the Trim tools, including Nudge Trim com-
To create a crossfade between two clips:
mands. See “Using the Trim Tools” on
1 With the Selector tool, click at the point where page 595 and “Trimming with Nudge” on
you want the crossfade to begin in the first clip page 639.
and drag to where you want it to end in the sec-
ond clip. Crossfade selections can begin and To remove a crossfade, do one of the following:
end anywhere in their respective clips. Select the area of the track containing any cross-
2 Do one of the following: fades you want to delete and choose Edit >
Fades > Delete.
• Choose Edit > Fades > Create.
• Press Command+F (Mac) or Control+F (Win- Select the crossfade with the Time Grabber tool
dows). and press Delete (Mac) or Backspace (Win-
dows).
To apply a Crossfade using the Default
Right-click the crossfade with any of the edit
Crossfade setting (in the Editing Prefer-
tools and select Delete Fades from the pop-up
ences), and without opening the Fades dia-
menu.
log, press Command+Control+F (Mac) or
Control+Start+F (Windows).
Pre and Post Crossfade Pro Tools HD can automatically apply real-time
Selections fade-ins and fade-outs to all clip boundaries in the
session on playback. Specify the duration (0 to
By making a selection that begins or ends precisely
10 ms) for automatic real-time fades with the Auto
on the border of two clips, you can create “pre” or
Clip Fade In/Out Length preference in the Opera-
“post” crossfades. Use the Tab key to place the in-
tion Preferences page). These fade-ins and fade-
sertion point at the exact beginning or end of a clip.
outs are performed during playback and do not ap-
To create a pre- or post-crossfade:
pear in the Edit window.
1 With the Selector tool, click in the track that AutoFades are not applied to AudioSuite
contains the clips you want to crossfade. processing.
2 Do one of the following: This feature is especially useful in post production
• Press Tab to move forward to the next situations such as dialogue tracking. For example,
clip boundary. you can assign both a dialogue track and a “room
• Press Option+Tab (Mac) or Control+Tab (Win- tone” track with matching background to the same
dows) to move back to the previous clip bound- voice. You can then set the AutoFade option to a
ary. moderate length (4 ms or so) so that whenever a si-
lence occurs in the dialog, playback switches
smoothly to and from the background track with-
out clicks or pops.
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, Adjust Existing
session, and is automatically applied to all free- Shape & Slope, Adjust Existing Length, or a
standing clip boundaries until you change it. combination of these options for fade ins, cross-
fades and fade outs.
Fade lengths can subsequently be resized Manually adjusting the fade shape
with any of the Trim tools, including
Nudge Trim commands. See “Using the
For Crossfades, you can edit only the fade-in
Trim Tools” on page 595 and “Trimming
shape of the curve by pressing Option (Mac)
with Nudge” on page 639.
or Alt (Windows) while dragging left or right.
To edit only the fade-out portion of the curve,
press Command (Mac) or Control (Windows)
Manually Adjusting Fade while dragging.
Shapes in Fade Windows
If the Fade Shape setting for a Fade In, Fade Out, 4 Click OK.
or Crossfade is set to Standard or S-Curve, Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows)
Pro Tools lets you adjust the fade shape in the any the fade curve to reset it to its default shape.
of the corresponding Fade window (Fade In, Fade
Out, and Crossfade) using the mouse. This in-
cludes Batch Fades and Fade windows in the Edit-
Adjusting the Start and End
ing preferences.
Points of a Crossfade
To adjust the fade (or crossfade) shape: If the Link setting for a Crossfade is set to Standard
1 Create a new fade (or crossfade) or open the or None, Pro Tools lets you adjust the start and end
Fade (or Crossfade) window for an existing points of the fade in and fade out of the crossfade
fade (or crossfade). independently. This includes the Batch Fades and
Crossfade windows in the Editing preferences.
2 Ensure that the Fade Shape is set to either Stan-
dard or S-Curve, and not to one of the seven To adjust the start and end points of a crossfade:
preset Fade Shapes.
1 Create a crossfade or open the Crossfade win-
dow for an existing crossfade.
2 Ensure that the Link setting for the Crossfade is
set to None.
• Use the Time Grabber tool to select the fade. 1 Do one of the following:
• Use the Selector tool to select a range that in- • Click a clip with the Time Grabber tool (or dou-
cludes the fade. ble-click with the Selector tool) to select the clip
along with the fade (in or out).
• Select multiple clips that include the fades and
crossfades you want to move.
1 Select the clip, but not the fade. 5 Drag the selected clip with the Grabber.
If you nudge a clip beyond the boundary of avail- Where your selection overlaps any fade-ins or
able audio for the crossfade, the fade is removed. fade-outs, the fade is trimmed to fit the selection.
To rename a track’s assigned playlist: To show the previous playlist in the main
playlist for tracks that contain the Edit
1 Double-click the track’s name. cursor:
2 Type a new name and click OK. Press Shift+Up Arrow.
You can also delete playlists in Playlists view. Two tracks, Audio 1 with main playlist only (gray) and
Audio 2 with multiple playlists (blue)
Right-click the Playlist Name on a lane or in
Playlists and Edit Groups
the Tracks List and choose Delete.
Right-click on the Playlist lane and choose 1 Once you have identified the best take, make
Hide. any changes to the Edit selection. This is the se-
lection that will be copied to the main playlist.
With the same Edit selection that you used for
loop recording intact, Right-click the Track 2 Do one of the following:
Name or any of the Playlist Lane Names and • Choose Edit > Copy Selection To > Main
choose Filter Lanes > Show Only Lanes With > Playlist.
Clips Within the Edit Selection.
• Right-click the selection and choose Copy
Selection to Main Playlist.
• Click the Copy Selection to Main Playlist button
for the Playlist lane.
Copy Selection to
Main Playlist button
Click the name of the alternate playlist and drag To resize a single Playlist lane, do one of the
it to the location you want. following:
• Hide Only Lanes With > Clips Within The Edit • When duplicating playlists (audio or MIDI),
Selection there will be matching alternate clips between
playlists.
• Hide Only Lanes With > Clips Outside The Edit
Selection • When importing multichannel audio from a field
recorder, there will be matching alternate clips
• Hide Only Lanes With > “Clips Rated >= 1–5” between channels.
Playlist lanes are shown and hidden accordingly. Pro Tools also provides several ways to access and
audition multiple matching alternate clips:
• Use the Clip Right-click menu to select match-
ing alternate clips according to certain criteria.
• Use the Alternate Takes pop-up menu to select
matching alternate clips.
• Use the Expand Alternates to New Tracks com-
mand to copy matching alternate clips to new
tracks.
• Use the Expand Alternates to New Playlists
command to copy matching alternate clips to
new alternate playlists on the same track. Then
use Playlists view to access the alternate play-
lists.
The following In Addition To Match options are 1 Configure the Matching Criteria window if nec-
mutually exclusive. essary (see “Matching Criteria” on page 685).
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 with the Selector or the
fully within the current time range of the Edit se- Grabber tool, and select a matching alternate
lection. take from the Matches submenu in the pop-up
menu.
Clip Start Any clips that have the same start time
as the time location of the Edit cursor or Edit selec-
tion.
Clip Start and End Any clips that have the same
start and end times as the Edit selection.
Expanding alternate takes to new playlists readily • If the clip is selected, with the Selector tool,
facilitates track compositing. Once you have ex- Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win-
panded alternate takes to new playlists on a track, dows) anywhere on the selected clip and choose
you can audition and edit them in Playlists view to Matches > Expand Alternates To New Tracks.
assemble the best takes in the main playlist. • If the clip is not selected, with the Selector tool,
Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win-
To expand alternate takes to new playlists: dows) at the precise beginning of the loop or
1 Identify the clip on the main playlist with punch range and choose Matches > Expand
matching alternate clips (takes). Alternates To New Tracks.
2 Do one of the following: 3 Then choose one of the following from the Ex-
• Right-click the clip and choose Matches > pand Alternates To New Tracks sub-menu:
Expand Alternates To New Playlists. By Track Name Names all new tracks after the
• If the clip is selected, with the Selector tool, source track name.
Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win-
By Clip Name Names each new tracks after the
dows) anywhere on the selected clip and choose
corresponding original clip names that you see in
Matches > Expand Alternates To New Playlists.
the Matches list.
• If the clip is not selected, with the Selector tool,
Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win- By Track and Clip Name Names all new tracks af-
dows) at the precise beginning of the loop or ter the source track name, but with the correspond-
punch range and choose Matches > Expand ing original clip names in parenthesis.
Alternates To New Playlists.
All matching alternate clips are copied to new
All matching alternate clips are copied to new tracks.
playlists on the track. To view all playlists for the
track, select Playlists view. In any track view, you
can also select any available alternate playlist as
the main playlist from the Playlist selector.
It is not possible to rename files encoded with 6 The Pro Tools editor Right-clicks the name of
XML metadata. The file extension will always the guide track and selects Expand Channels to
be .A1 and .A2 (even for stereo files). Also, it New Tracks > By Timecode Only. The original
is not possible to rename files with a .L/.R source tracks expand to new tracks with edits
suffix. As a result, Pro Tools does not always and fades that match the guide track.
recognize these channels as a stereo pair.
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 Command+8 (Mac) or Control+8 (Win-
Bar|Beat Marker Generation Generates Bar|Beat
dows) 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 714.
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.
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.
• Higher percentage values align the clips more • If necessary, select Edit > Undo, and repeat steps
tightly to the groove templates grid, with 100% 4–9 trying a different groove template or Groove
aligning precisely to the template grid. Conform settings.
• If the slider is set to 200%, clips move to a loca- • If necessary, apply Edit Smoothing (see “Edit
tion that is twice the difference between the orig- Smoothing” on page 711).
inal clip location and the position of the
referenced template event.
Edit Smoothing
For example, if a note was played at Bar 1|1|060 (a
(Audio Only)
16th note), and the corresponding template event is
at 1|1|073, a slider value of 100% results in the note After clips are conformed, there may be gaps be-
being shifted to 1|1|073; a slider value of 200% tween the clips. These gaps can cause the material
shifts the note to 1|1|086. to sound unnatural on playback.
8 To conform the material before applying the
groove template, enable the Pre-Process Using
Standard Conform option.
1. Beat triggers
detected in Kick track
added to collection
Overhead mic track displaying a collection of beat triggers containing unique triggers generated from the kick,
snare, and hi-hat tracks
11 Repeat steps 7–10 for each additional track you are analyzing.
The beat triggers stored in the Collection mode are saved with sessions. Therefore, when a session is
opened later, the previous collection material is still there (until it is cleared).
12 Once the beat triggers have been added to the collection, you can use them to generate Bar|Beat Markers
or groove template, or separate clips. However, this must be done from the Collection Mode section
(when the triggers are displayed in multiple colors).
To separate clips across multiple tracks, make sure to extend the selection to any additional tracks be-
fore separating.
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.
When using a Grabber tool, if any portion of the You can also select notes in the Select/Split
rectangle touches a note (either its start or end Notes window. See “Select/Split Notes Com-
point), the note is included in the selection. How- mand” on page 997.
ever, selections made with a Grabber tool are ob-
ject selections and do not include underlying con-
troller and automation data for the MIDI track.
With the Selector tool, drag across a range of
notes.
1 Set the MIDI or Instrument track to Notes view. • Select the Trim tool.
• Use the Pencil tool.
2 With the Pencil tool or any Grabber tool, drag
the note left or right (press Shift while dragging 4 Move the cursor near the beginning of any of
to preserve the note’s pitch). the highlighted notes, so the Trim tool appears.
Drag right to shorten the notes, or drag left to
As the note is dragged, the Cursor Location Value lengthen them.
indicator (in the Edit window) displays the new
start point.
Trimming Note Start and End When in Grid mode, use the Command key
Times (Mac) or Control key (Windows) to temporar-
ily disable Grid mode.
Like clips, start and end points for MIDI notes can
be adjusted with the Trim tool. If several notes are Notes can also be trimmed with the Trim Clip to Se-
selected when performing the trim, each note is lection command (see “Trim to Selection Com-
changed. mand” on page 637) and the Trim To Insertion
command (see “Trimming with Nudge” on
The Trim tool can also be used on MIDI clips. page 639).
For more informations, see “Time Compres-
sion/Expansion Trim Tool Functionality on
MIDI Clips” on page 736.
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 Command+M (Mac) or Control+M
To consolidate MIDI notes: (Windows) to mute and unmute selected
MIDI notes.
1 Select the MIDI notes you want to consolidate.
2 Do one of the following: Manually Editing Note Velocities
• Choose Edit > Consolidate. When a MIDI or Instrument track is set to Velocity
• Right-click the selected notes and choose Con- view, or when the Velocity lane is revealed under a
solidate. track, each note’s attack velocity is represented
with a velocity stalk. The taller the velocity stalk,
Press Option+Shift+3 (Mac) or Alt+Shift+3 the higher the velocity value (0–127).
(Windows) to consolidate adjacent selected
MIDI notes of the same pitch.
The velocities for a range of notes can be edited 1 Set the MIDI or Instrument track to Velocity
with any Pencil tool. view.
For fine-resolution editing of velocity values, 2 Using the Selector tool or any Grabber tool, se-
Command-click-drag (Mac) or Control-click- lect the range of notes to be edited.
drag the top of the velocity stalk to the desired
value.
Multiple notes in the Event Edit area To delete a single MIDI note with the Pencil tool:
Values entered in the pitch and velocity fields add With the Pencil tool selected, Option-click
to or subtract from the values for all selected notes. (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) the note. The
For example, to transpose all selected notes down Pencil tool changes to an Eraser when Option
an octave, enter a value of –12 for pitch. (Mac) or Alt (Windows) is pressed.
3 Click OK.
The controller is automatically added to the Selecting Add/Remove Controllers from the Controller
Automated MIDI Controllers list when you Type selector on a Controller lane
record controller information from an exter-
2 In the Automated MIDI Controllers dialog, se-
nal device.
lect the MIDI Controllers range for the control-
To manually enable a continuous controller for ler you want to automate.
automation:
The default program change for each MIDI track is 3 Click Done.
specified by clicking on the Patch Select button, Once selected, the program number (or patch
from either the Mix or Edit window. Once speci- name) appears in the Patch Select button in the
fied, the default program change message is sent to Edit window.
your instrument when playing the track.
Unlike recorded and inserted program change 3 Verify the Instrument or MIDI track output is
events, the default program change does not ap- correctly assigned to the MIDI device.
pear in the track’s playlist.
4 Click the Instrument or MIDI track Patch Select
To clear the default program change, select None button.
in the Patch Select dialog.
On Mac, these files reside in /Library/Audio/ 5 In the Patch Select dialog, click Change.
MIDI Patch Names/Avid.
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.
Auditioning Programs
Program change event When the Patch Select dialog is open, Pro Tools
can automatically scroll through the different
To edit a program change event:
patches for a track’s assigned MIDI device.
1 With the Pencil tool or any Grabber tool, dou-
ble-click the program change event you want to To audition patches:
edit.
1 If you want to audition patches for a MIDI track
2 In the Patch Select dialog, select the new pro- or Instrument during playback, click Play in the
gram number, or name and specify a bank Transport.
change value (if necessary).
2 Open the Patch Select dialog by clicking the
3 Click Done. Patch Select button, or by inserting or editing a
program change event in a MIDI or Instrument
To move a program change event: track.
With the Pencil tool or any Grabber tool, drag 3 Click a program number (or patch name)—the
the program change event left or right. starting point from which you will scroll
through the patches.
If the Edit mode is set to Grid, the dragged event
snaps to the nearest Grid boundary. If the Edit 4 Type a value for the number of seconds that will
mode is set to Spot, the Spot dialog opens. elapse between each program change.
The placement of program changes can also 5 Select the Increment Patch option.
be adjusted with Shift (see “Shift Command”
After the specified number of seconds, Pro Tools
on page 878) or Nudge (see “Nudging Clips”
selects the next patch and transmits the program
on page 639).
change to the track’s assigned MIDI output.
Chapter 33: MIDI Editing 747
6 When you are finished auditioning settings, de-
select the Increment Patch option and select the System Exclusive Events
program number (or patch name) you want and System Exclusive (Sysex) events can be recorded
click Done. to MIDI or Instrument tracks in Pro Tools (see
“MIDI Step Input” on page 538). Once the events
are recorded, they appear in the track’s playlist as
blocks when the Track View is set to Sysex or a
Controller lane set to Sysex is shown.
Choose Event > All MIDI Notes Off. For MIDI Real-Time Properties to apply to
incoming MIDI data with MIDI Thru
Press Command+Shift+Period (.) (Mac) or
enabled, the corresponding MIDI and
Control+Shift+Period (.) (Windows) for the
Instrument tracks must be record-enabled.
All MIDI Notes Off command.
Duration Amount
Duration
If the Ticks/Notes pop-up menu is set to ticks, en-
Duration can be used to increase or decrease the
ter a duration as a number of quarter notes plus a
duration of MIDI notes by a fixed amount or by a
number of ticks, such as 4|000. If the Ticks/Notes
percentage. This is useful for creating legato or
pop-up menu is set to a note size, enter a number to
staccato passages.
by which to multiply that note size, such as seven
Duration cannot be applied as a Real-Time 16th notes.
Property to MIDI Input and Thru.
Ticks/Notes Pop-Up Menu
Duration Mode Pop-Up Menu
The Ticks/Notes pop-up menu lets you select ei-
Select one of the following options from the Dura- ther Ticks or a note size for Note Durations. There
tion Mode pop-up menu: Set, Add, Subtract, is also a Ticks/Notes pop-up menu for the Mini-
Scale, Legato/Gap, or Legato/Overlap. mum and Maximum Durations options.
Set Select to set notes to the specified duration. Minimum and Maximum Durations
Add Select to add the specified duration to the cur- Enable either or both minimum and maximum du-
rent duration of each note. rations and enter a value in quarter notes plus ticks
or as a multiple of a note size. The Minimum (Min)
Subtract Select to subtract the specified duration and Maximum (Max) Durations options are only
from the current duration of each note. available in the expanded Real-Time Properties
window.
Scale Select to scale the current duration of each
note by a percentage from 1 to 400%.
Velocity
Real-Time Properties on
Velocity lets you change MIDI velocity by a per- Tracks and Clips
centage or by constant value. Enter a percentage
Real-Time Properties can be configured to apply to
value in the Dynamics field to scale velocity
an entire track (all clips on that track), or on a clip-
around the median velocity of 64. You can also en-
by-clip basis. Track-level properties also provide
ter an offset by adding (+) or subtracting (–) values
real-time MIDI input processing of velocity and
between 1 and 127. You can also enter Minimum
transposition.
and Maximum Velocity value limits. The Mini-
mum (Min) and Maximum (Max) Velocity options The presence of track-based Real-Time Properties
are only available in the expanded Real-Time are indicated by a “T” displayed in the upper right-
Properties window. hand corner of MIDI clips. Clip-based Real-Time
Properties are indicated by an “R” displayed in the
Velocity can be applied as a Real-Time Prop-
upper right-hand corner of the clip. Clips boundar-
erty to MIDI Input and Thru on record-en-
ies including the “T” and the “R” displays are indi-
abled MIDI and Instrument tracks.
cated in Notes view and in MIDI Editor windows,
but not in the Score Editor window.
Clip-based Real-Time Properties can only be ap- 2 Select one or more tracks to which you want to
plied using the Real-Time Properties window apply Real-Time Properties.
(Event > MIDI Real-Time Properties). Real-Time 3 Open the Real-Time Properties window (Event
Properties can be applied to multiple clips. Once > MIDI Real-Time Properties).
Real-Time Properties have been assigned to a clip,
the clip can be moved or copied and pasted and re- 4 Select Tracks from the Real-Time Properties
Apply To pop-up menu.
tain its Real-Time Properties.
5 Configure the Real-Time Property settings.
Track-Based Real-Time Properties
6 Do one of the following:
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-
ties will take precedence over any track-based • Choose Track > Write MIDI Real-Time Proper-
Real-Time Properties. You can clear clip-based ties.
Real-Time Properties by selecting the clip and
To write Real-Time Properties to clips:
clicking the Clear Clip Properties button in the
Real-Time Properties window (see “Writing Real- 1 Select one or more clips to which you want to
Time Properties to Tracks or Clips” on page 757). apply Real-Time Properties.
For greater flexibility, when Real-Time Properties 2 Open the Real-Time Properties window (Event
are assigned on a track basis they are actually con- > MIDI Real-Time Properties).
tained in a track playlist. This lets you create mul- 3 If Link Track and Edit Selection is enabled, se-
tiple playlists containing different Real-Time lect Clips from the Real-Time Properties Apply
Property settings. To pop-up menu.
4 Click the Clear Clip Properties button. Real-Time Properties Effects Displayed in the
MIDI Event List
Pro Tools provides MIDI Editor windows for detailed MIDI editing.
Record enable
Solo Track Edit selector
Default Note Duration
Mute
Default Note Velocity
Notation Key Focus
View Play MIDI Notes While Editing
Edit Mirrored MIDI Editing MIDI Editor menu
Tools Link Timeline and Edit Selection
Edit modes Grid Chord Cursor Target
selector display location
Tracks List
Velocity, Controller and Superimposed MIDI Zoom controls
Groups List Automation lanes and Instrument tracks
MIDI Editor window
Mute
The Mute button lets you mute all the tracks cur-
rently displayed in the MIDI Editor window.
Cursor Location Display To show (or hide) the MIDI Input display in a MIDI
Editor window:
The Cursor Location display in MIDI Editor win- 1 Click the MIDI Editor Window menu or Right-
dows functions exactly the same way in MIDI Ed- click anywhere in the MIDI Editor window
itor windows as in the Edit window. toolbar.
2 Select (or deselect) MIDI Input Display.
Edit Selection Display
The Edit Selection display in MIDI Editor win- Note names are displayed as the note letter
dows functions exactly the same way for MIDI name and register number (for example, C3
data in MIDI Editor windows as in the Edit win- or C4) or as the MIDI note number (for ex-
dow. The Selection display can be shown or hid- ample, 60) according to the specified Note
den in the Toolbar. Display option in the Pro Tools MIDI Prefer-
ences (Setup > Preferences > MIDI).
To show (or hide) the Edit Selection display in a
MIDI Editor window, do one of the following:
Target
Generally, the Target button for MIDI Editor win-
dows functions just like the Target button for Plug-
In, Output, and Send windows. Additionally, the
Target button in a MIDI Editor window synchro-
nizes its Timeline location view to the Timeline lo-
cation view in the Edit window. Any changes to
Untargeted MIDI Editor window
the Edit selection in the Edit window are reflected
in the Targeted MIDI Editor window. There can
MIDI Editor Window Menu
only be one targeted MIDI Editor window at a
time. The targeted MIDI Editor window can also The MIDI Editor Window menu provides access to
be stored in a Window Configuration. MIDI Editor Window Display options and Scroll-
ing options.
One or more untargeted MIDI Editor windows can
remain open and available at the same time, just MIDI Editor Window Display Options
like untargeted Plug-In windows. Targeting an un-
targeted MIDI Editor window disables any other Expanded Edit Tools
targeted MIDI Editor window.
When selected, the Expanded Edit Tools option
The front-most window, regardless of whether it is displays all of the Edit Tools in the MIDI Editor
targeted, always receives Keyboard Command fo- window toolbar.
cus and control surface focus.
Tracks List
Scrolling Submenu
Expanded Grid/Nudge Display No Scrolling The MIDI Editor window does not
scroll during or after playback. The playback cur-
When selected, the Expanded Grid/Nudge Display sor moves across the MIDI Editor window, indi-
option displays the Nudge selector in addition to cating the playback location.
the Grid selector in the MIDI Editor window tool-
bar. After Playback The playback cursor moves across
the MIDI Editor window, indicating the playback
location. When playback has stopped, the MIDI
Editor window scrolls to the final playback loca-
tion.
Grid and Nudge selectors
Selection Display Page The playback cursor moves across the MIDI
Editor window, indicating the playback location.
When selected, the Selection Display option shows When the right edge of the MIDI Editor window is
the Edit Selection Display in the MIDI Editor win- reached, its entire contents are scrolled, and the
dow toolbar. playback cursor continues moving from the left
edge of the window.
Tracks List
MIDI Zoom In and Out Buttons Show/Hide Indicates which tracks are shown or
hidden in the MIDI Editor window.
Pro Tools provides MIDI Zoom In and Out buttons
in the upper-right corner of MIDI Editor windows. Track Color Displays the track color for each track
These controls function exactly the same as the by type or by track.
MIDI Zoom controls in the toolbar, and let you Name Displays the name for each track.
zoom in and out vertically on MIDI notes.
Pencil Lets you enable a track for manually enter-
ing MIDI notes with the Pencil tool.
To show only selected MIDI, Instrument, and Type Sorts the order of tracks in the Tracks List by
Auxiliary Input tracks in a MIDI Editor window: Track Type.
1 In the Tracks List, select the MIDI, Instrument,
Edit Group Sorts the order of tracks in the Tracks
and Auxiliary Input tracks you want to show in
List by Edit Groups.
the MIDI Editor window.
Mix Group Sorts the order of tracks in the Tracks
2 From the Tracks List pop-up menu, select Show
List by Mix Groups.
Only Selected Tracks.
Voice Sorts the order of tracks in the Tracks List by
To show all tracks of a single type (MIDI or Voice allocations.
Instrument) in a MIDI Editor window:
Groups List
The Groups List in MIDI Editor windows provides the same functionality as in the Edit window. You can
create, edit, and delete Edit Groups using the Groups List in any MIDI Editor window. The Groups List is
linked between the Edit window and all MIDI Editor windows.
You can also view and edit MIDI notes in Notation view in the Notes pane (see “Notation View”
on page 775).
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 Tracks 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.
Inserting a MIDI note on track “Inst 3” The Tools submenu lets you select any Edit tools
relevant to the Score Editor.
To pencil-enable multiple contiguous Zoomer Selects the Zoomer tool.
tracks, Shift-click in the Pencil column of
the range of tracks you want. To pencil-en- Trim Selects the Trim tool.
able multiple discontiguous tracks, Com- Selector Selects the Selector tool.
mand-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win-
dows) in the Pencil column of any Grabber Selects the Grabber tool.
additional tracks. Option-click (Mac) or
Scrubber Selects the Scrubber tool.
Alt-click (Windows) to pencil-enable all
tracks. Manually inserted notes are written Pencil Selects the Pencil tool.
to all pencil-enabled tracks.
Smart Selects the Smart tool.
The Insert submenu lets you insert key changes, The Consolidate command lets you consolidate se-
meter changes, and chord symbols at the location lected multiple consecutive MIDI notes of the
of the Edit cursor. same pitch.
The Paste command pastes the clipboard to the Open In New MIDI Editor
current Edit selection or at the current Edit cursor
Selecting the Open In New MIDI Editor option
location. Any MIDI notes already present at the
opens all shown tracks in a new MIDI Editor win-
same location are overwritten.
dow.
Merge
Open In Score Editor
The Merge command pastes the clipboard to the
The Open In Score Editor option opens the shown
current Edit selection or at the current Edit cursor
tracks in the Score Editor window.
location and merges the pasted data with any MIDI
notes already present at the same location.
Open in MIDI Event List
Clear The Open In MIDI Event List option opens the se-
lected track in the MIDI Event List.
The Clear command clears (deletes) the current
Edit selection. Display Notation
In MIDI Editor windows, notation is displayed as a Right-click in the Notes pane and select
continuous timeline and not in page view as in the Notation View.
Score Editor window.
Editing in Notation view in a MIDI Editor window
For information on editing notation, see works the same way as in the Score Editor win-
“Editing Notes” on page 793. dow, but with the advantage of having access to
Velocity, Controller, and Automation lanes.
To enable Notation view, do one of the following:
In Notation view, the Trim tool functions as
Enable the Notation view button in the MIDI
the Grabber tool when over a note and as the
Editor window toolbar.
Note Selector tool when not over a note.
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 Single Zoom The previously selected Edit tool is
Tracks List of the Edit, Mix, or MIDI Editor automatically reselected after zooming.
window.
Press the F5 key to select the Zoomer tool
3 From the Right-click menu, choose Open In and toggle between Normal and Single Zoom
Score Editor. modes.
If the Score Editor option is selected as the 2 Click once with the Zoomer tool at a location
“Double Clicking a MIDI Clip Opens” set- within the score. The score is zoomed in by one
ting in the MIDI Preferences page, you can level and is centered around the zoomed loca-
double-click a MIDI clip to open it in the tion.
Score Editor.
3 To zoom back to the previous level, Option-
click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) 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 783).
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 785).
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 783).
Velocity setting (see “Default Note On Velocity”
on page 783). The start time for each note is determined by the
selected Grid value (see “Grid” on page 785).
The minimum duration of the note is determined
by the selected Default Note Duration (see “De- Random
fault Note Duration” on page 783).
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 783).
Note Duration (see “Default Note Duration” on
The duration is determined by the selected Default page 783).
Note Duration (see “Default Note Duration” on
The start time for each note is determined by the
page 783).
selected Grid value (see “Grid” on page 785).
The start time for each note is determined by the
selected Grid value (see “Grid” on page 785).
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 783).
Selection display
Keep Score Editor Window On
Top
Tracks List
The Score Editor window lets you set it to remain
When selected, the Tracks List option displays the in the foreground even when clicking on and fo-
Tracks List in the Score Editor window. cusing another window (such as the Edit or Mix
windows).
Scrolling
Enable the Keep Window On Top option in the
The Scrolling submenu lets you select the scrolling Score Editor window menu to ensure that the win-
options for the Score Editor window inde- dow remains in the foreground when working with
pendently of the Edit window and any MIDI Editor other windows. When this option is disabled,
windows. The scrolling options include: clicking on another window (such as the Edit or
Mix windows) brings that window to the front and
No Scrolling The Score Editor window does not
the Score Editor window (whichever one you are
scroll during or after playback. The playback cur-
working with) may be hidden behind it.
sor moves across the Edit window, indicating the
playback location.
Changing Toolbar Display Options From the Score Editor Window menu, select or
deselect Tracks List.
To change the toolbar display options in the Score
Editor window toolbar:
Showing and Hiding Tracks
1 Do one of the following:
Use the Tracks List to show and hide MIDI and In-
• Click the Score Editor Window Toolbar menu. strument tracks as staves in the score.
• Right-click in the Toolbar.
To show MIDI and Instrument tracks in the Score
2 From the pop-up menu, select or deselect any of Editor:
the following:
Enable the Track Show/Hide icon in the Tracks
• Selection Display List for tracks you want to show in the score.
• Expanded Edit Tools
Display Transposition
Information
On pages where the music is vertically justi- The Score Editor provides simple score editing
fied, the distance between staves and systems tools for entering, moving, and transposing MIDI
will be larger than the numbers specified. notes as music notation:
Below Title and Composer Enter the spacing you • The Trim tool lets you lengthen or shorten the
want between the Title and Composer and the first duration of notes.
staff of the score. • The Note Selector tool lets you make object se-
lections of notes in the score.
Below Chord Symbols and Diagrams Enter the
spacing you want between Chord Symbols and Di- • The Grabber tool lets you select and move notes
agrams and the top stave of each system. to another time or pitch location on the same
track.
Layout • The Pencil tool lets you insert notes and move
them to another time or pitch location on the
Page Size Select the page size (Letter, Legal, Tab-
same track.
loid, or A4).
Page Margins Enter the size for the top, bottom, 1 Click the Note Selector tool.
left, and right page margins.
2 Drag in the score to highlight the notes you
Inches Select to enter Stave Size and Page Mar- want to select.
gins in inches.
Moving Notes
Use the Grabber tool to move selected notes from
one time location to another time location on the
Selecting notes with the Grabber tool same staff. When moving notes in the Score Edi-
tor, the underlying MIDI notes maintain their posi-
Transposing Notes tion relative to the Grid.
You can use the Grabber tool or the Pencil tool to To move notes to another time location:
manually transpose a note up or down. You can
1 Click the Grabber tool.
also use the Transpose Event Operation (Event >
Event Operations > Transpose) to transpose se- 2 If you want to move more than one note, drag
lected notes. around the notes you want to move to select
them.
To transpose a single note:
3 Drag any of the selected notes to another time
1 Click the Grabber tool. location on the same staff.
2 Drag the note you want to transpose up or down.
Cut
Entering multiple note of the same pitch with the Line
Pencil tool The Cut command cuts the current Edit selection.
Rests Copy
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
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 Print (Mac) or OK (Windows).
3 Select a destination and click Save.
Press Command+P (Mac) or Control+P
To send the score from your Pro Tools session to (Windows) 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.
When several events reside at the same location, Example: To filter the display of aftertouch and
the location is only indicated for the top event, with System Exclusive Messages in the MIDI Event
List:
the others dimmed. The dimmed locations can be
edited by double-clicking them. 1 In the MIDI Event List, choose View Filter from
the MIDI Event List menu.
• Press Tab or the Down Arrow to move to the 4 Enter the location you want to go to, then click
next event (with or without the edit field se- OK.
lected).
• Press Option+Tab (Mac) or Control+Tab (Win-
dows) or the Up Arrow to move to the previous
event (with or without the edit field selected).
With the MIDI Event List as the front-most To insert a controller event in the MIDI Event List:
window, press Command+N (Mac) or Con- 1 From the MIDI Event List menu, choose Insert
trol+N (Windows) to Insert a note. > Controller.
2 Enter the location, pitch, attack (Note On) and With the MIDI Event List as the front-most
release (Note Off) velocities, and length for the window, press Command+L (Mac) or Con-
new note. To move between the Event Entry trol+L (Windows) to Insert a controller
fields, use the Left and Right Arrow keys. event.
To edit an event in the MIDI Event List: Selecting Events in the MIDI
1 Do one of the following: Event List
• Double-click the event field you want to edit. To select a range of events in the MIDI Event List,
do one of the following:
• To edit a selected event, press Command+Enter
(Mac) or Control+Enter (Windows). Click the event at the beginning of the selection
and drag to the ending event.
Shift-click the event at the beginning of the se-
lection, then Shift-click the ending event.
Displaying Rulers
To display all rulers:
If a Timebase ruler is displayed, click its name From the Main Counter selector, select (or dese-
so it becomes highlighted. lect) the Show Sub Counter option.
Setting the Main Time Scale to the timebase To show the Sub Counter in the Transport window:
currently displayed in the Sub Counter
From the Transport Window menu, ensure that
switches the two Time Scales, setting the Sub
the Counters and Expanded Transport options
Time Scale to the previous timebase of the
are enabled.
Main Time Scale.
To set the Time Scale for the Sub Counter:
When working in Bars|Beats, you will often want Tick- and Sample-Based
to specify tick values for a number of operations, Timebases
including:
Pro Tools lets you set any track timebase to either
• Placing and spotting clips
sample-based or tick-based.
• Setting lengths for clips or MIDI notes
Audio tracks in Pro Tools are sample-based by de-
• Locating and setting play and record ranges (in-
fault. This means that audio clips and events are lo-
cluding pre- and post-roll)
cated at specific sample locations, and they do not
• Specifying settings in the Quantize and Change move from that location if the tempo changes in
Duration pages of the Event Operations window the session—even though their bar and beat loca-
• Setting the Grid and Nudge values tions do change.
When the Main Time Scale is set to MIDI and Instrument tracks in Pro Tools are tick-
Bars|Beats, and you are using tempo based by default. This means that MIDI clips and
changes, set the Linearity Display Mode to events are located at a specific bar and beat loca-
Linear Tick Display (see “Changing the tions, and they do not move from that location if
Linearity Display Mode” on page 830). the tempo changes in the session—even though its
This will keep the Bars|Beats ruler fixed (at sample location does change.
the selected zoom level) and sample-based
rulers such as Minutes:Seconds will scale Sample-Based Audio and MIDI
to fit any tempo changes while bar lengths
With a sample-based audio track, all audio clips in
remain constant.
the track have an absolute location on the absolute
Timeline (for example, on the Samples or Min-
utes:Seconds Timebase ruler). Audio stays fixed to
the sample time, regardless of any tempo or meter
changes occur in a session.
Switching Timebases
All Pro Tools tracks can be switched between be-
Track Height pop-up menu
ing sample-based or tick-based.
When you change the timebase for an audio track Do not select the material with any of the Grab-
that is part of an active Edit group, all the tracks in ber tools (or by double-clicking with the Selector
the group will change to the same timebase. tool).
In the Tempo ruler with any Edit tool, drag the Select View > Rulers > Tempo.
Song Start Marker left or right.
To set the default session tempo, see “Setting
the Session Meter and Tempo” on page 484.
4 To place the inserted tempo event cleanly on the Dragging a tempo event
first beat of the nearest measure, select the Snap
If the Edit mode is set to Grid, the dragged event
To Bar option.
snaps to the current Grid value.
5 To base the BPM value on something other than
the default quarter note, select a different note To edit a tempo event:
value. 1 In the Tempo ruler, double-click the tempo
6 Click OK. The new tempo event is inserted and event.
appears in the Tempo ruler. 2 In the Tempo Change window, enter a new
Location or BPM value for the tempo event.
3 Click OK.
Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) the 1 If you want to constrain the selection to the cur-
tempo event (the cursor changes to a Grabber rent Grid value, set the Edit mode to Grid.
with a “–”).
2 Drag with the Selector tool in the Tempo ruler to
To copy and paste several tempo events:
select the tempo events you want to remove.
1 With the Selector tool, drag in the Tempo ruler 3 Choose Edit > Clear to delete the selected tempo
to select the range of bars that includes the events.
tempo events.
Tap Tempo
You can manually set the tempo for a Pro Tools
session by tapping on your computer keyboard.
You can also use a connected MIDI keyboard to
Tempo events selected tap tempo.
Press Option (Mac) or Alt (Windows) while To set the Manual Tempo by tapping on a computer
dragging to select across all Conductor keyboard:
tracks. 1 To view the MIDI controls in the Transport win-
dow, select View > Transport > MIDI Controls.
2 Choose Edit > Copy.
2 In the Transport window, click the Tempo Ruler
3 Click in the Tempo ruler at the point where you Enable (Conductor) button so it becomes un-
want to paste the tempo events. highlighted. Pro Tools switches to Manual
4 Choose Edit > Paste. The contents of the Clip- Tempo mode. In this mode, any tempo events in
board are pasted from the insertion point, re- the Tempo ruler are ignored.
placing any existing tempo events.
Graphic Tempo Editor Click the Tempo Editor Zoom Out button (“–”).
Tempo Editor
With the Grabber tool, drag a tempo event up or Selecting a single tempo event
down. To Select a tempo curve in the Tempo Editor:
To adjust the location of the tempo change: Using the Selector tool or any Grabber tool, tri-
ple-click on a horizontal tempo line in the curve
With the Grabber tool, drag a tempo event to the that you want to select.
left or right.
You can extend Tempo selections to the next or the 1 Open the Tempo Editor.
previous tempo event. 2 With the Selector tool, select the area you want
to edit.
To extend a tempo selection:
3 With the Trim tool, click within the selected
1 With the Selector tool, select a range of tempo
area, and drag up or down. Dragging up in-
events.
creases the tempo values of the selection in
2 Do one of the following: BPM; dragging down decreases them.
• Press Shift+Tab to extend the selection to the
next tempo event.
• Press Shift+Option+Tab (Mac) or Shift+Con-
trol+Tab (Windows) 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 Option+2 (Mac) or Alt+2 (Windows)
available in Manual Tempo mode.
on the number keypad to open the Tempo Op-
The Tempo Operations window has six pages, one erations window and display the last active
for each type of tempo operation. 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 Return (Mac) or Enter (Windows) 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.
836 Pro Tools Reference Guide
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 Command (Mac) or Control (Windows)
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
Current meter displayed in Transport window
Transport window.
2 In the Meter Change window, enter the Loca-
tion and Meter for the meter change.
3 If you want the inserted meter event to fall
cleanly on the first beat of the nearest measure,
select the Snap To Bar option.
5 Click OK to insert the new meter event. The Press Option (Mac) or Alt (Windows) while
new meter event is inserted and appears in the dragging to select across all Conductor tracks.
Meter ruler.
3 Choose Edit > Copy.
4 Click in the Meter ruler at the point where you
want to paste the meter events.
5 Choose Edit > Paste. The contents of the Clip-
Inserted meter event board are pasted from the insertion point, re-
placing any existing meter events.
Each meter event has a small yellow triangle next
to it that indicates its location. These triangles can To extend an Edit selection in a track to the Meter
be selected for copying and pasting, and they can ruler:
be double-clicked to edit the meter event. 1 Using the Selector tool or any Grabber tool, se-
lect a track range.
Editing Meter Events 2 Shift-click in the Meter ruler.
Existing meter events can be edited, deleted, cop-
Shift-click again in the Meter ruler to remove it
ied, and pasted.
from the selection.
To edit a meter event:
To select all meter events:
1 In the Meter ruler, double-click the meter event.
With the Selector tool, double-click in the Me-
2 In the Meter Change dialog, enter a new Loca- ter ruler.
tion or Meter for the event.
To clear a range of selected meter events:
3 Click OK.
1 If you want to constrain the selection to the cur-
To delete a meter event: rent Grid value, set the Edit mode to Grid.
Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) the 2 Drag in the Meter ruler to select the meter
meter event. events you want to remove.
3 Choose Edit > Clear to delete the selected meter
events.
As necessary, Pro Tools will create a partial mea- Choose Event > Time Operations > Time Oper-
sure to accommodate the inserted meter event. ations Window.
When a meter event is preceded by a partial mea-
Press Option+1 (Mac) or Alt+1 (Win-
sure, the meter event is displayed in italics in the
dows) on the number keypad to open the
Meter ruler.
Time Operations window and display the
last active Time Operations window.
Change Meter
Partial measure of 4/4
Change Meter in the Time Operation window lets
Partial measures can also occur when pasting me- you specify complex meter changes for Bar|Beat-
ter events to locations other than the first beat of a based material. You can enter meter changes at a
measure. particular bar, make a meter change over a selected
To insert meter events while avoiding partial area of time, or add meter changes sequentially one
bars, use the Change Meter command in the bar at a time.
Time Operations window. See “Change Me-
ter” on page 842.
Time Operations
The Time Operations window lets you:
• Change Meter
• Insert Time
• Cut Time
• Move Song Start
Pitched tracks are MIDI or Instrument tracks that The Import MIDI dialog includes the Import Key
can be affected by transpositions due to key Signature from MIDI File option. When selected,
changes (including constrain to key). MIDI and In- key signatures (if present) are imported into
strument tracks are “pitched” by default. However, Pro Tools with any other MIDI data.
if you have MIDI or Instrument tracks assigned to
drum machines or samplers, you do not want those
tracks to be affected by key changes because of
key mappings. You can deselect the Pitched option
for specific MIDI and Instrument tracks so that
they will not be affected by key changes.
Select View > Rulers > Chord Symbols. To delete a chord symbol, do one of the following:
From the Ruler View selector in the Edit win- Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) the
dow or in a MIDI Editor window, select Chords. Chord Symbol marker in the Chords ruler.
Make a selection in the Chords ruler that in-
cludes the chord symbols you want to delete and
choose Edit > Clear or press Delete.
Chord Diagrams
Chord Change dialog
Memory Locations provide a powerful way to nav- When creating Memory Locations, the next avail-
igate your session while editing and arranging. able number is assigned to it (1–999). This number
is used in recalling the Memory Location from the
Each session can save up to 999 Memory Loca- numeric keypad.
tions that can be used to recall:
• Markers to important locations in the session To create a Marker Memory Location:
• Edit selections across one or more tracks 1 Configure any session settings you will save
with the Marker Memory Location, such as
• Record and play ranges, along with pre- and
zoom settings, pre- and post-roll times,
post-roll times
Show/Hide status for tracks, Track Heights, and
• Track settings that include Show/Hide status, Edit and Mix Group enables.
Track Heights, and zoom values
2 If necessary, enable Options > Link Timeline and
• Edit and Mix Groups enables Edit Selection.
• Window Configurations
3 Ensure that the Markers ruler is displayed (View
Memory Locations are viewed and sorted in the > Rulers > Markers).
Memory Locations window, where they can be re- 4 Do one of the following:
called by clicking the Memory Location.
• Click with the Selector tool in any track or ruler
at the location where you want to place the
Marker. To place a Marker at the beginning of a
Creating Memory Locations clip, select the clip with the Time Grabber tool.
Memory Locations can be created in different Click the Add Marker/Memory Location button
ways, based on the type of Memory Location: (or press Enter on the numeric keypad).
• In the Marker ruler, double-click the Marker to 2 Select a range of material in one or more tracks.
open the Edit Memory Location dialog and relo-
3 In the Memory Locations window, Control-
cate the insertion point at the marker location.
click (Mac) or Right-click (Windows) the
• In the Marker ruler, Control-click (Mac) or Memory Location that you want to redefine.
Start-click (Windows) the Marker to open the
4 Enter a name for the Memory Location and
Edit Memory Location dialog without locating
click OK.
the insertion point at the marker location.
4 Enter a name for the Marker and click OK. If the beginning of the selection includes a Marker,
press Command (Mac) or Control (Windows) so
the Selector tool appears.
Deleting Memory Locations Press Option (Mac) or Alt (Windows) while
To delete a Memory Location, do one of the dragging to select across all Conductor
following: tracks.
Select the Memory Location and choose Delete 3 Choose Edit > Copy.
Memory Location from the Memory Locations
Window menu. 4 Click in the Markers ruler at the point where
you want to paste the tempo events.
In the Memory Locations window, Option-click
(Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) the Memory Lo- 5 Choose Edit > Paste. The contents of the Clip-
cation. board are pasted from the insertion point, re-
placing any existing Markers.
In the Memory Locations windows, Memory Lo- View Filter Submenu Provides commands to show
cations are listed with assigned number, name, and or hide specific memory location properties:
View Filter icons. Locations can be recalled or ed- • Show Icons
ited from this window.
• View Markers
• View Selections
• View Locations with Zoom Info
• View Locations with Pre/Post Roll Info
• View Locations with Track Show/Hide Info
• View Locations with Track Height Info
• View Locations with Group Info
Memory Locations window with View Filter icons
• View Locations with Window Configuration
To recall a Memory Location from the Memory Info
Location window:
• Show Markers Only
Click the Memory Location.
• View All
With the Numeric Keypad mode set to
Classic, press the Memory Location number
followed by Period (.). With the Numeric
Keypad mode set to Transport or Shuttle,
press Period (.), the Memory Location
number, and Period (.) again.
Main/Sub Counters in the Memory Locations window Sort by Time When selected, Markers are sorted
by their order in the Timeline, followed by Selec-
You can click at the top of the Main Time Scale tion and General Properties Memory Locations,
column for a pop-up menu that lets you change the which are listed in the order in which they were
Main Time Scale. created.
Delete <Name> Slot Deletes the selected Memory Marker Window Configuration
Zoom Show/Hide
Location, and renumbers all subsequent Memory Settings Track Heights
Locations.
Auto-Name Memory Location When selected, Memory Locations View Filter icons
Memory Locations are created automatically with- To show or hide Memory Locations containing a
out encountering the New Memory Location dia- specific property:
log. If the Default To Marker option is selected, a
Marker Memory Location is auto-created. Other- Click the appropriate icon.
wise, the Memory Location type is determined by
Color and Properties
whatever type (Marker, Selection, or None) was
created last. When a view icon is enabled, it appears in color.
When it is disabled, it appears gray.
Pro Tools provides several ways of arranging clips If dragging multiple clips, the clips are placed on
on tracks including, but not limited to, moving adjacent tracks left to right or on multiple tracks
them with the Grabber tool, nudging, cutting or from top to bottom depending on the selected
copying and pasting, spotting them to a time loca- Timeline Drop Order option (see “Setting Timeline
tion, and so on. The exact placement of clips in a Drop Order” on page 864). If dragging a stereo au-
track depends on whether the Edit mode is set to dio clip, it must be placed in a stereo track or in two
Shuffle, Slip, Spot, or Grid (see “Edit Modes” on mono tracks.
page 581).
Clips are placed according to the current Edit
mode:
Placing Clips from the Clips • In Shuffle mode, existing track clips are slid as
List on to Track Playlists necessary to make room for the new clip.
• In Spot mode, you are prompted by the Spot di-
Once you have created a clip, it appears in the
alog to enter a location for the dragged clip (see
Clips List. From the Clips List you can drag it to a
“Spotting Clips” on page 872).
track to add to an existing arrangement of clips on
a track, or you can create a new track and start add- • In Grid mode, the dragged clip snaps to the near-
ing clips from scratch. est Grid boundary.
You can locate clips in the Clips List by You can temporarily disable Grid mode while
typing the first few letters of their name dragging a clip by holding down the Com-
(see “Keyboard Selection of Clips” on mand key (Mac) or Control key (Windows)
page 278). after clicking with the mouse.
To place a clip from the Clips List on a track: • In Slip mode, the clips are placed exactly where
1 In the Clips List, select the clip or clips you they are dropped in the destination track.
want to place.
2 Drag the selected clips from the Clips List to a
location in a track.
Choose Clips List > Timeline Drop Order, and New tracks after dropping multiple Clips List items,
with Timeline Drop Order set to Top to Bottom mode
then Top to Bottom or Left to Right.
To place multiple items across multiple existing
tracks:
Dragging and Dropping Multiple
Items from the Clips List 1 From the Clips List menu, choose Timeline
Drop Order > Top to Bottom.
To drag and drop multiple items from the Clips List
to multiple new tracks: 2 Select multiple items in the Clips List and drop
them in the playlist of a compatible track at the
1 From the Clips List menu, choose Timeline
target location. When the cursor is over a com-
Drop Order > Top to Bottom.
patible destination, the clip outlines appear at
2 Search and sort the Clips List to configure the the location.
order in which items will be placed.
1 With the Selector tool, click in the track at the 1 Place the Edit insertion point where you want.
time location where you want to place the sync
2 Do one of the following:
point of the clip.
• Command-Control-drag (Mac) or Control-Start-
2 Do one of the following: drag (Windows) a clip from the Clips List to an-
• While pressing Control+Shift (Mac) or other track.
Start+Shift (Windows), drag the clip from the • If the clip is already in the track, Command-
Clips List, or from another track, to the destina- Control-click (Mac) or Control-Start-click
tion track. (Windows) the clip you want to move with the
• If the clip is already in the track, Shift-Control- Time Grabber tool (or with the Smart tool posi-
click (Mac) or Shift-Start-click (Windows) the tioned over the middle, lower-third of the clip).
clip with the Time Grabber tool.
Command-Option-Control-click (Mac) or
Start-Alt-Start-click (Windows) and drag to
Insertion Point
the clip.
To shuffle clips:
1 Enable Shuffle mode (see “Edit Modes” on
page 581).
2 Drag a mono clip from the Clips List to an
empty track. The clip snaps to the beginning of
the track.
3 Drag a second clip from the Clips List to the
same track, somewhere in the middle. The start
point for the second clip snaps to the end of the
first clip.
4 With the Time Grabber tool, drag the second
clip to the beginning of the track.
You can also use the Snap To commands with 5 Experiment more with Shuffle mode by drag-
an Edit selection that includes multiple clips ging additional clips to the track and rearrang-
on one or more tracks. ing them.
For more information on using SMPTE with 4 If the Time Scale is set to Timecode, select the
Pro Tools, see Chapter 56, “Working with Use Subframes option to display subframes in
Synchronization.” the fields for improved accuracy.
5 Do one of the following:
To spot a clip:
• Click in the field for Start, Sync Point, or End
1 Enable Spot mode (see “Edit Modes” on
and type in a new location. Changing one of
page 581).
these locate points automatically updates the
2 Do one of the following: other locate points.
• Drag a clip from the Clips List, or drag audio • Click one of the up arrows next to Original Time
files or sessions from a Workspace browser to an Stamp or User Time Stamp to enter the associ-
existing track. ated values into the currently selected field.
• Click a clip already in a track with the Time • If you are using an external SMPTE timecode
Grabber tool. source, click the down arrow next to the Current
Timecode display—or press Equal (=) on the nu-
3 In the Spot dialog, select a time format from the
meric keypad—to capture an incoming time-
Time Scale pop-up menu.
code address.
6 Click OK. The clip is moved to the new location
specified for its start, end, or sync point.
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 581).
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.
Locking Clips
In many cases you may want to “lock” clips or clip Edit Lock icon
groups to a specific time location to keep them
from being moved or otherwise edited inadver- When Edit-locked, a small Edit Lock icon appears
tently. Pro Tools provides two different commands in the clip and it cannot be moved, deleted, or ed-
for locking clips: Edit locking and Time locking. ited. If you attempt to perform edits on a locked
clip, Pro Tools alerts you (see “Allowing Editing
of Edit-Locked Clips” on page 880).
Edit Locking Clips
In Shuffle mode, Edit-locked clips, and all clips
If you have a clip or group of clips that you want to
occurring after the locked clip, are not displaced
protect from being inadvertently edited, you can
when other neighboring clips are moved.
Edit lock them. Clips that are Edit-locked cannot
be edited (such as cutting, deleting, separating, On tick-based Elastic Audio-enabled tracks, Edit-
trimming, or adjusting clip gain) or moved to a dif- locked clips conform to tempo changes, but not
ferent time location. Copied edit-locked clips can other Elastic Audio processing (such as Quantize
be pasted to any other track or time location, but or manual warping) can be applied.
the copy will also be Edit-locked at the new time
location.
For example, if you set these naming options to: For finer resolution on these controls, press Com-
• Name = SFX mand (Mac) or Control (Windows) while adjusting
them.
• Auto Number Start = 23
• Leading Zeros = 1
• Suffix = .Reel1
Inserting Silence
The Insert Silence command is a simple and con-
Strip Silence rectangles
venient way to insert silence on audio, MIDI, and
Strip Threshold Sets the amplitude threshold Instrument tracks. This command lets you make a
(from –96 dB to 0 dB) for Strip Silence. Audio selection on a track (or tracks) and insert precisely
falling below this threshold is considered silence that amount of silence.
and removed. Audio above the threshold is re-
tained and defined as new clips. The Insert Silence command also affects
markers in any selected Conductor Rulers
Minimum Strip Duration Sets the minimum dura- (such as the Tempo or Meter rulers).
tion (from 0 to 4,000 ms) that the material above
the threshold must last to be considered silence. In Shuffle mode, all data on the track is shuffled
Use this control to avoid countless small clips that later in the track by an amount equal to the
may occur within a selection. selection.
Clip Start Pad Specifies a time value to be added In Grid mode, the Insert Silence command works
to the beginning of each new clip created with just like the Clear command.
Strip Silence. This is useful for preserving musical
material that falls below the threshold, such as the Shuffle Mode When inserting silence on multiple
breath before a vocal phrase, or the finger slide be- tracks in Shuffle mode, the following conditions
fore a guitar chord. apply:
If any track is displayed as audio or MIDI data,
Clip End Pad Specifies a time value to be ap-
the selected duration of silence is inserted into the
pended to the end of each new clip created with
audio or MIDI data and all underlying automation
Strip Silence, thereby preserving the nuances in
data on all selected tracks. All subsequent clips are
the decay of the material.
shuffled by the amount of silence inserted. On
Strip Clears the detected silence, but leaves the MIDI tracks, only notes that are selected from the
clips containing audio on the track. beginning are affected, so if you have selected the
tail of a note and you Insert Silence, the note will
Extract Clears the audio and leaves the silent por- remain unchanged.
tions of the track (in other words, an “inverse” strip
silence feature that is ideal for generating room If all selected tracks are displayed as automa-
tone or ambience to use elsewhere). tion data, the selected range is cleared of automa-
tion data only of the type visible on each track.
Clips are not shuffled. Instead, a blank gap appears
equal to the length of the selection.
tion data, press the Control (Mac) or Start key Duplicating Clips
(Windows) while choosing the Insert Silence com- The Duplicate command copies a selection and
mand to inserts silence on all automation playlists places it immediately after the end of the selection.
for all selected tracks. Clips are not shuffled. Though this is similar to using Copy and Paste,
Duplicate is more convenient and faster, particu-
Slip Mode When inserting silence on multiple
tracks in Slip mode, the following conditions ap- larly when working with data on multiple tracks.
ply: To make more than one copy of a selection, use the
If any track is displayed as audio or MIDI data, Repeat command (see “Repeating Clips” on
the selected range is cleared of audio or MIDI data page 885). You can also loop clips (see “Clip
and all underlying automation data on all selected Looping” on page 887).
tracks.
As with the Copy and Paste commands, certain
If all selected tracks are displayed as automa- rules apply when duplicating material on multiple
tion data, silence is inserted only into the automa- tracks (see “Editing Across Multiple Tracks” on
tion type visible on each track. page 580).
If all selected tracks are displayed as automa-
To duplicate a selection or clip:
tion data, press the Control (Mac) or Start key
(Windows) while choosing the Insert Silence com- 1 If working with material that is bar- and beat-
mand to insert silence on all automation playlists based, such as loops, set the Main Time Scale to
for all selected tracks. Bars|Beats.
2 If you want to constrain the selection to the cur-
To insert silence into a track: rent Grid value, set the Edit mode to Grid.
1 Make a selection in a track or tracks. The length
3 Make an Edit selection.
of the selection determines the duration of the
silence inserted. 4 Choose Edit > Duplicate. The material is placed
immediately after the selection’s end point.
2 Choose Edit > Insert Silence.
Press Command+D (Mac) or Control+D
In Shuffle mode, Pro Tools inserts the selected
(Windows) to Duplicate any selected clips.
amount of silence. In the process, it splits the clips
at the beginning of the insertion point, and moves In Shuffle mode, the duplicated data is placed di-
the new clips later in the track by an amount equal rectly after the end of the selection. Clips occurring
to the length of the selection. after it slide to accommodate the duplicated mate-
rial. In Slip mode, the duplicated material overlaps
any adjacent data.
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
Clip Ungroup functions on loops the same as Manually warping any part of a looped clip
using the Unloop command and choosing in Warp view separates only that iteration
Flatten. from the looped clip.
To unloop and ungroup a selection down to its To select a looped clip as a group (all loop
individual clips: iterations), do one of the following:
1 Select a looped clip that contains one or more With the Grabber tool or Smart Tool, single-
clip groups. click the looped clip.
2 Choose Clip > Ungroup All. With the Selector tool, double-click the looped
clip.
Unlooping and Flattening Looped Clips with
Separate Clips Menu Commands The source clip and all its loop iterations are
selected.
The Separate Clips commands (At Selection, On
Grid, and At Transients) automatically unloop and
flatten looped clips before separating.
Tabbing to Transients and Clip Boundaries 2 Choose Edit > Trim Clip and one of the Trim Clip
commands (To Selection, To Fill Selection, Start
With Tab to Transients enabled you can tab both to to Fill Selection, or End to Fill Selection).
transients and clip boundaries in a looped clip.
Normal Tab (Tab to Transients disabled) tabs to
the start and end boundaries of the entire looped Automation and Looped Clips
clip. For more information, see “Tabbing to Tran- Looping an audio clip does not loop any automa-
sients” on page 622. tion associated with the source clip. This lets you
apply automation across an entire looped clip. For
Trimming Looped Clips example, you may want to have a long volume fade
across part or all of a looped clip that is indepen-
Trimming looped clips can be done using the Trim dent of any one single loop iteration.
tool, the Loop Trim tool, or one of the Trim Clip
commands. The Loop Trim tool trims the entire You can also repeat automation on each loop iter-
looped clip. The Trim tool trims only the individ- ation. For looped audio clips, use the Copy Special
ual loop iteration while increasing or decreasing and Paste Special Repeat to Fill Selection com-
the number of loop iterations to fill the total length mands to copy and paste any or all automation data
of the looped clip. from the source clip to some or all of its loop iter-
ations.
For information on trimming looped clips us-
ing the Loop Trim tool, see “Loop Trim
Tool” on page 599.
The size of the selection determines the size of the Clip groups are created in the same timebase for-
clip group. The selection can start and end on any mat (samples or ticks) as the tracks on which they
clip boundary, empty space, or even in the middle are created. Multitrack clip groups can include
of a clip. Selections starting or ending within a clip both sample-based and tick-based tracks.
will separate the clip at the selection boundary
when you create a clip group. Clip groups created
from object-based selections include all selected
and unselected clips between the first and last se-
lected clip on the track.
2 Do one of the following:
• Choose Clip > Group. Audio Clip Group icon on an audio track
• Right-click the Edit selection and choose Group.
If a MIDI clip within a clip group is modified in For more information, see “Tabbing to Tran-
any way, a new clip copy is created and placed sients” on page 622.
over the clip group. For example, if you record,
draw in a new note, edit MIDI controller data, or
quantize a Timeline selection, a new clip is created
over the clip group.
Recording
Clip groups that contain clips with fades are
When recording audio or MIDI, new clips are cre-
not allowed on Elastic Audio-enabled tracks.
ated over (in front) of clip groups instead of being
included in the clip group. To record into a clip
group, first ungroup the clip group, then record, When changing tempo with clip groups on
and then regroup the clip group. The clip group tick-based tracks, you may need to Ungroup,
will be recreated intact with the newly recorded redo or create new fades, and then Regroup
material. in order to maintain the fades.
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 Clips List Applies AudioSuite processing only to
plug-in installed in your Plug-Ins folder. Plug-Ins selected clips in the Clips 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 Clips List being selected in the Se-
lection Reference pop-up menu, the process-
ing will be applied to the selected clip in both
the playlist and the Clips List.
4 Click OK.
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.
Clip Gain Fader Icon Right-Click Menu Show/Hide Clip Gain Line
You can Right-click the Clip Gain Fader icon for Select Show/Hide Clip Gain Line in the Right-click
any individual clip to access relevant clip gain menu to show or hide the Clip Gain Line for all
commands for that clip. clips.
Clip Gain Lines after applying a crossfade Clip Gain fader, adjusting all breakpoint clip gain
values
Editing Clip Gain
Press Command (Mac) or Control (Windows)
Pro Tools lets you adjust the gain settings for a clip
while adjusting the Clip Gain fader for fine
using the Clip Gain Fader for quick and easy ad-
control.
justments, or using breakpoint editing on the Clip
Gain Line for detailed clip gain control.
Using the Pencil tool (Free Hand) to draw clip gain 2 Make an Edit selection that includes the clip
settings bound by the Edit selection gain settings that you want to adjust.
To add clip gain breakpoints with the Pencil tool: 3 Select the Trim tool.
1 Ensure that the Clip Gain Line option is enabled. 4 Drag up or down over the Clip Gain Line within
2 Select the Pencil tool. the Edit selection.
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.
Clip effects settings always stay with the clip, which means you can move, and Cut or Copy and Paste clips
along with their corresponding clip effects settings (clip effects settings are also maintained with other edit com-
mands, such as Duplicate or Loop). You can also Cut Special > Cut Clip Effects or Copy Special > Copy Clip
Effects, and Paste Clip Effects settings independently of the selected clip’s audio.
You can save and import clip effects settings as presets. You can also use your computer keyboard to quickly
store and recall presets just like you can with plug-in inserts and AudioSuite plug-ins.
Clip effects are fully supported with Pro Tools HD software. However, while Pro Tools software can open and
playback sessions and projects with clip effects as well as Bypass, Clear, and Render clip effects (if present),
it cannot create or edit clip effects. Clip effects use the host processor (Native processing) on all systems.
With Pro Tools HD, clip effects controls are dis- The header at the top of the Clip Effects display
played at the top of the Edit window below the provides controls for Presets, Compare, and By-
toolbar in the same space as the Universe display pass controls as well as displaying the name of the
(see Figure 1 on page 922). You can toggle be- selected, whole Clip.
tween Clip Effects display and Universe display,
but they cannot both be viewed at the same time. Clip Bypass
Clip Effects Settings menu
To show or hide the Clip Effects display, do one of
the following:
Clip Effects icon (upper right) and the Display Bypass Lets you bypass clip effects processing
Show/Hide icon (lower right) (see “Bypassing Clip Effects” on page 924).
Press Option+6 (Mac) or Alt+6 (Windows).
The behavior of this key command varies
slightly depending on the edit selection: if no
whole clip is selected, it shows or hides the Clip
Effects display while leaving the Edit window
focused; if one or more whole clips are selected,
it shows and focuses the Clip Effects display (if
the display is shown, but not focused, it be-
comes focused) or hides the display.
Clip effects are applied after elastic audio and before clip gain. The signal chain from an audio clip on a
track to the track fader is as follows:
Audio File > Elastic Audio > Clip Effects > Clip Gain > AudioSuite > Fades > Inserts > Fader
Rendering always leaves down-stream processing in place while rendering upstream elements. The follow-
ing examples show what is rendered in the signal chain depending on which commit or render command
is used.
What is rendered by process
Audio Elastic Clip Clip Audio
command Fades Inserts Fader
File Audio Effects Gain Suite
Select or deselect View > Clip > Clip Effects Sta- To paste clip effects:
tus.
1 Special Cut or Copy Clip Effects from one or
more whole clips.
Clip Effects Special Edit
Commands 2 Select one or more whole clips with or without
clip effects.
(Pro Tools HD Only)
3 Do one of the following:
Cut Clip Effects • Choose Edit > Paste Clip Effects.
Cutting clip effects copies the clip effects settings • Right-click the edit selection and choose Clip Ef-
to the clipboard and resets the settings for the se- fects > Paste Clip Effects.
lected whole clip (or clips) to <factory default>. • Press Command+V (Mac) or Control+V (Win-
dows).
To cut clip effects:
1 Select one or more whole clips with clip effects. Clear Clip Effects
2 Do one of the following: Clearing clip effects resets the settings for the se-
lected whole clip (or clips) to <factory default>.
• Choose Edit > Cut Special > Cut Clip Effects.
• Press Command+Option+Control+X (Mac) or To clear clip effects:
Control+Alt+Start+X (Windows). 1 Select one or more whole clips with clip effects.
Copy Clip Effects 2 Do one of the following:
Copying clip effects copies the clip effects settings • Choose Edit > Clear Special > Copy Clip Effects.
for selected whole clips to the clipboard while • Right-click the edit selection and choose Clip Ef-
leaving the settings for those clips intact. fects > Clear Clip Effects.
• Press Command+Option+Control+B (Mac) or
To copy clip effects:
Control+Alt+Start+B (Windows).
1 Select one or more whole clips with clip effects.
2 Do one of the following:
• Choose Edit > Copy Special > Copy Clip Effects.
• Right-click the edit selection and choose Clip Ef-
fects > Copy Clip Effects.
EQ controls
Frequency Graph
The Phase Invert button at the top of the Input sec- Control-Shift-click (Mac) or Start-Shift-click
tion inverts the phase (polarity) of the input signal, (Windows) the control point for any frequency
to help compensate for phase anomalies that can band to solo that frequency band. Drag left or
occur either in multi-microphone environments or right to change the frequency value.
because of mis-wired balanced connections.
Gain
(y-axis)
Frequency
(x-axis)
Figure 2. Frequency Graph
Frequency Dragging a control point to the right in- Q Click within the curve of an EQ control point
creases the Frequency setting. Dragging a control and drag up or down to increase or decrease the Q
point to the left decreases the Frequency setting. setting. For the Low and High Frequency Bands,
the Q control is only available when the EQ Type
Press the Shift key while clicking and drag- is set to Peak. For Filter control points, drag it up or
ging an EQ control point up or down to adjust down to adjust the Q for that filter. The Q control is
the Gain setting without changing the Fre- only available when the Filter Type is set to Band
quency. Likewise, press the Shift key while Pass or Notch.
clicking and dragging an EQ control point left
or right to adjust the Frequency setting with- You can also Control-click (Mac) or Start-
out changing the Gain setting. click (Windows) and drag a control point up
or down to increase or decrease the Q setting.
Gain Dragging a control point up increases the
Gain setting. Dragging a control point down de-
creases the Gain setting.
Clip Effects let you view the gain scale on the Fre- Enable the HF button for the high frequency band
quency Graph display either in 3 dB increments of the EQ and the LF button for the low frequency
from –12 dB to +12 dB or in 6 dB increments from band. The both the high and low frequency band
–24 dB to +24 dB. can be set to be either a Peak or Low Shelf EQ.
Frequency Graph Gain Resolution toggle Q Sets the width of the EQ band. Higher Q values
represent narrower bandwidths. Lower Q values
To change the Frequency Graph Gain resolution:
represent wider bandwidths. The Q control is only
Click the Graph Resolution toggle. available when the EQ Type is set to Peak.
Enable/Disable EQ Bands and Filters High Mid and Low Mid Frequency EQ
Controls
Click the Enable/Disable button for an EQ fre-
quency band (HF, HMF, LMF, or LF) or a filter (1 or Enable the HMF button for the high mid–frequency
2) to enable or disable that frequency band or filter. band of the EQ and the LMF button for the low
Buttons are lit when enabled, and unlit when dis- mid–frequency band. Both bands are peak EQs.
abled.
Frequency Sets the center frequency for the fre-
quency band.
Dynamics controls
Dynamics Graph
Filter 1 and 2 controls
Type Lets you select from the following Filter The Dynamics Graph display shows a curve that
Type options: High Pass, Low Pass, Band Pass, represents the level of the input signal (on the hor-
and Notch. izontal x-axis) and the amount of gain reduction
applied (on the vertical y-axis). The display shows
Freq (Frequency) Sets the center frequency for the two vertical lines representing the Threshold set-
selected Filter Type (from 20 Hz to 21.0 kHz). ting for the Expander/Gate and the Compres-
sor/Limiter, respectively. Use this graph as a visual
Slope Sets the slope for the filter from the selected
guide to see how much dynamics processing you
Frequency to –INF (12 dB/O or 24 dB/O). The
are applying to the incoming audio signal.
Slope control is only available when the Filter
Type is set to Low Pass or High Pass. Expander/Gate Threshold
Compressor/Limiter Threshold
Q Sets the width of the filter around the center fre- Knee
quency band. Higher Q values represent narrower
bandwidths. Lower Q values represent wider band-
widths. The Q control is only available when the
Filter Type is set to Band Pass or Notch.
Output Signal
(y-axis)
Input Signal
(x-axis)
Dynamics Graph
• Expander/Gate Knee Attack Sets the attack time, or the rate at which
gain is reduced after the input signal crosses the
• Expander/Gate Threshold
threshold. Use this along with the Ratio setting to
• Gate Depth control how soft the Expander gain reduction
• Hysteresis curve is.
• Compressor/Limiter Ratio Ratio Sets the amount of expansion. For example,
• Compressor/Limiter Knee if this is set to 2:1, it will lower signals below the
threshold by one half. At higher ratio levels the Ex-
• Compressor/Limiter Threshold
pander/Gate functions like a gate by cutting off
• Limiter Depth signals that fall below the threshold. As you adjust
the ratio control, refer to the Dynamics Graph dis-
play to see how the shape of the expansion curve
changes.
The Detection options include Peak or Avg (Aver- To enable (or disable) Listen on the Side Chain:
age).
Click the Listen button (speaker icon) in the
Peak Applies side-chain processing according to Side Chain section so that it is highlighted.
the detected peak amplitude. Click it again so that it is not highlighted to dis-
able it.
Average Applies sidechain processing according
to the detected average amplitude.
Filter Frequency
Clip Effects Presets and
Settings Files
The Filter Frequency control lets you set the fre-
quency for the selected Filter Type. (Pro Tools HD Only)
Notch Applies a notch filter to the side-chain pro- 2 Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win-
cessing at the selected frequency. dows) the Preset button where you want to store
the current clip effects settings.
Band Pass Applies a band pass filter to the side-
chain processing at the selected frequency.
Elastic Audio provides track-based Real-Time and you like, drag it from the browser and drop it into
Rendered Time Compression and Expansion the session. The loop automatically conforms to
(TCE) and clip-based pitch shifting (transposi- the session tempo map and Bar|Beat grid. You can
tion). Pro Tools Elastic Audio uses exceptionally then further manipulate its timing and also trans-
high-quality transient detection algorithms, beat pose the clip to match the pitch of other loops in
and tempo analysis, and real-time TCE and pitch your session.
shifting processing algorithms. Elastic Audio lets
you quickly and easily transpose the pitch of audio Correcting Performances
clips and tempo conform (beat match) audio to the
Elastic Audio lets you quantize audio to tighten up
session’s Tempo map. It also provides an unprece-
a performance or even manually re-align that one
dented degree of control over transient detection
note that was played just a little late. Or, you might
and TCE processing on an event-by-event basis.
decide that the performance is excellent, but just a
With Elastic Audio, Pro Tools analyzes entire au- little under tempo. Tick-based Elastic Audio auto-
dio files for transient events. For example, an event matically warps audio to conform to tempo
can be a drum hit, a sung note, or chord played by changes. When you change your tracks to tick-
a guitar. These detected events can then serve as based and increase the session tempo, the audio au-
control points for warping the audio. Pro Tools can tomatically time compresses to match.
warp (TCE) audio events automatically, such as
Remixing
automatically conforming audio to the session
tempo or quantizing audio events, or you can warp Elastic Audio lets you quickly beat match an entire
audio manually using standard editing tools in song to the session tempo and Bar|Beat grid. You
Warp view. can also transpose clips to match pitch.
Elastic Audio is useful in several common work- Sound Design and Special Effects
flows: working with loops, correcting perfor-
mances, remixing, sound design and special ef- Use Elastic Audio to achieve special effects with
fects, and film scoring. extreme or widely variable TCE or pitch manipu-
lation. Use the Varispeed algorithm to achieve
Working with Loops tape-like effects for speed and pitch change.
If you work with loops, Elastic Audio lets you pre-
view your loops in Workspace browsers at their
native tempo (BPM) or at the session tempo
(BPM). You can even preview the loop while the
session is playing back. When you find the loop
If you are scoring a film scene, use Elastic Audio 1 Create a new Pro Tools session or project.
to fit the music to the required duration. You can 2 Set the session’s Main Timebase ruler to
even use tempo changes to achieve accelerandos Bars|Beats.
and ritardandos.
3 Be sure to display the Tempo and Meter rulers.
Remember, when using tempo adjustments
4 Use the default tempo of quarter-note equals
for sessions that include multiple cues, tempo
120 BPM.
changes may affect the timecode position of
other cues later on the Timeline. Locate and preview a loop in a Workspace browser
at the session tempo:
Elastic Audio is not recommended for pull up 1 Open the Workspace (Window > Workspace).
and pull down workflows. Use the Session
2 Navigate to the folder where you keep your
Setup window real time pull up or pull
drum loops. Double-click the folder name to
downs, or the presets included with Time
open a browser window showing just the
Shift or X-Form AudioSuite plug-ins.
folder’s contents.
3 Select the loop you want to preview.
Example Elastic Audio
Workflow Audition Paths for previewing are selected in
the I/O Setup window (Choose Setup > I/O
In this workflow, you will be introduced to some and click the Output tab).
common Elastic Audio tasks for working with
loops: 4 Click the Preview button to preview the loop at
its native tempo.
• Create and configure a new session for this
workflow.
Audio Files Conform
• Locate and preview a loop in a Workspace Preview button to Session Tempo button
browser at the session tempo.
• Import the loop at the session tempo on a tick-
based, Elastic Audio-enabled track.
• Change the session tempo to change the tempo
of the clip on tick-based, Elastic Audio-enabled
tracks.
• Quantize the audio to apply a Groove Template
to the rhythm.
• Transposition the clip to match the pitch of the Preview and Audio Files Conform to Session Tempo
imported audio to other audio and MIDI in the buttons in a Workspace browser
session.
Dragging and dropping a tick-based audio file from a Workspace browser to the Tracks List
Warp indicators
The Polyphonic plug-in provides a single control The Decay Rate control determines how much of
for adjusting the analysis window size for TCE the decay from a transient is heard in the processed
processing. Experiment with adjusting the Win- audio when time stretching. When the Rhythmic
dow size for different types of material until you plug-in is selected, any gaps between transients re-
achieve the best results. The following table pro- sulting from time stretching are filled in with au-
vides some recommended Window sizes for dif- dio. The Decay Rate determines how much of this
ferent types of material. audio is heard by applying a fade out rate. Adjust
the Decay Rate up to 100% to hear the audio that is
If you frequently work with distinct types of filling the gaps created by the time stretching with
material, you may want to find the best Win- only a slight fade, or adjust down to 1.0% to com-
dow settings for each type of material and pletely fade out between the original transients.
save them as plug-in settings for quick and
easy recall.
Monophonic Plug-In
The Monophonic plug-in is best suited to mono-
Recommended
Type of Material
Window Size
phonic material where you want to keep the for-
mant relationships intact, such as with vocals. The
General purpose 30–40 ms Monophonic plug-in is also well suited to mono-
Percussive 20 ms or lower
phonic instrumental lines, such as a bass track. The
Monophonic plug-in provides no plug-in specific
Pads and other legato 60 ms or higher parameters.
material
Rhythmic Plug-In
The Rhythmic plug-in is best suited to material
with clear attack transients, such as drums. The
Rhythmic plug-in supports clip-based pitch shift-
ing.
Elastic Audio plug-in: Monophonic
Varispeed Plug-In
Elastic Audio plug-in: X-Form
Use the Varispeed plug-in to link time and pitch
changes for tape-like speed change effects, and Quality
post production workflows. The Varispeed plug-in Select either Maximum or Low (Faster) from the
provides no plug-in specific controls. Quality pop-up menu. Maximum is the slowest pro-
cessing algorithm, but provides the highest quality
results. Low (Faster) produces relatively good re-
sults and is much faster than the Maximum setting.
Formant
• 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, Option-click
• With the Grabber tool, Control-click (Mac) or (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) a Warp marker.
Start-click (Windows) anywhere in the clip to
• With any Edit tool, Right-click a Warp marker
add a Warp marker at that location. If you click
and select Remove Warp Marker from the pop-
on an Event marker, a Warp marker is created on
up menu.
top of the Event marker.
• With the Grabber tool, if no Warp markers are To delete all Warp markers in a selection:
present in the clip, or if Warp markers are only 1 In Warp view, make an Edit selection that in-
present prior to the location where you want to cludes only the Warp markers you want to de-
add a new Warp marker, double-click an Event lete (and none of the Warp markers you want to
marker to add a Warp marker on top of the Event keep).
marker.
2 Do one of the following:
• With the Grabber tool, double-click anywhere in
the clip where an Event marker is not present to • Press Delete or Backspace on your computer
add a Warp marker at that location. keyboard.
• With the Grabber tool, single-click any Event • With any Edit tool, Right-click the Edit selection
marker prior to another existing Warp marker in and select Remove Warp Marker from the pop-
the clip to add a Warp marker on top of that up menu.
Event marker.
• 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.
(Tick-Based Tracks Only) 1 Open the Elastic Properties window for the clip.
The Source Length property in the Elastic Proper- 2 Select the correct note value for the beat from
ties window displays the length of the clip based the Tempo Resolution pop-up menu. For exam-
on the source file in bars and beats. If the length of ple, if the source file is in 5/8, select 1/8 note.
the source file was analyzed incorrectly, you can 3 Do one of the following:
change it.
• Type the tempo in the Source Tempo field.
To change the Source Length of a clip: • If the tempo was incorrectly analyzed as being
1 Open the Elastic Properties window for the clip. half the tempo of the source file, click the x2 but-
ton.
2 Do one of the following:
• If the tempo was incorrectly analyzed as being
• Type the correct bar, beat, and tick values in the twice the tempo of the source file, click the 1/2
Source Length field. button.
• If the duration was incorrectly analyzed as being
half the duration of the source file, click the x2 Meter Field
button. (Tick-Based Only)
• If the duration was incorrectly analyzed as being
twice the duration of the source file, click the 1/2 Elastic Audio analysis does not calculate meter
button. and assumes all files are in 4/4. If you work with
meters other than 4/4, use the Meter property to
Changing the duration of a clip on an Elastic correctly identify the source meter.
Audio-enabled track using the TCE Trim tool
updates the Source Length in the Elastic To change Meter of a clip:
Properties window. 1 Open the Elastic Properties window for the clip.
2 Click in the Meter nominator field and type the
correct number of beats per measure. For exam-
ple, if the clip is in 3/4, type 3.
3 Click the Meter denominator field and type the
correct note value. For example, if the meter is
in 6/8, type 8.
Event Sensitivity Property When you change the Event Sensitivity prop-
The Event Sensitivity property in the Elastic Prop- erty, Pro Tools writes temporary filtered
erties window lets you filter Event markers based Elastic Audio analysis files (.aan) to the ses-
on the analysis confidence level. The confidence sion’s Rendered Files folder. Any unused
level for any detected transient event is based, in temporary filtered analysis files are purged
part, on the clarity of the transient. For example, if when you close the session.
the file is a drum loop, loud accented hits will be
analyzed with a higher degree of confidence than a Reset Button
soft, unaccented hit.
Click the Reset button in the Elastic Properties
The Event Sensitivity acts like a threshold for window to reset event analysis data for the clip to
showing only the transient events that were de- match the original file. The Event Sensitivity prop-
tected with a high degree of confidence. In Warp or erty is reset to 100%.
Analysis track views you will see the number of
Event markers decrease or increase as you lower or Input Gain Property
raise the Event Sensitivity.
It is possible to encounter clipping when time com-
Lowering the event sensitivity can help reduce the pressing audio. Real-Time Elastic Audio plug-ins
number of erroneously detected transients. In turn, provide a Clip indicator to let you know when clip-
this can result in better sounding Elastic Audio ping has occurred and the Elastic Audio plug-in
processing. Pro Tools preserves the detected tran- button turns red. Rendered Elastic Audio clips dis-
sients when applying TCE in order to avoid flam- play a Clip indicator on the clip when clipping has
ming and granulation of the transients. Conse- occurred (see “Clipping Indicator” on page 947).
quently, false transients are also preserved and the
If you encounter clipping when processing Elastic
resulting sound quality can be less than desirable.
Audio, use the Input Gain property in the Elastic
If you are working with audio material that does
Properties window to attenuate the gain of the au-
not have clearly defined transients, you may want
dio signal before it is processed.
to lower the Event Sensitivity in the Elastic Prop-
erties, or you may want to even edit the Event
markers in Analysis view.
(Polyphonic, Rhythmic, and X-Form Only) To transpose the pitch of an audio clip in the
Transpose window:
In addition to Pro Tools Elastic Audio time com-
pression and expansion capabilities, you can also 1 Make sure the clip, or clips, you want to Trans-
change the pitch of whole audio clips in semitones pose are on Elastic Audio-enabled tracks (using
and cents in the range of +/– 2 octaves. the Polyphonic, Rhythmic, or X-Form algo-
rithm).
Elastic Audio pitch transposition is not sup-
2 With the Grabber or Selector tool, select the au-
ported with the Monophonic algorithm.
dio clip you want to transpose. Only clips that
However, if you switch to the Monophonic
are completely selected will be affected.
plug-in after pitch shifting with another plug-
in, the pitch metadata for the clip is main- 3 Choose Event > Event Operations > Transpose.
tained.
• Adjust the Transpose By settings by an amount 1 Select the clip for which you want to remove
in Semitones and Cents. warping.
• Adjust the Transpose From and To settings by 2 Do one of the following:
an amount in Semitones and Cents.
• Choose Clip > Remove Pitch Shift.
The Transpose All Notes To and the Trans- • With any Edit tool, Right-click the clip and se-
pose In Key settings can only be applied to lect Remove Pitch Shift.
MIDI notes. When only audio clips are se-
lected, these options are unavailable. Remove Pitch Shift can only be applied to
clips and cannot be applied to clip groups. To
5 Click Apply. remove pitch shifting from clip groups you
must first ungroup the clip, then apply Re-
Varispeed and Pitch Shifting move Pitch Shift to the underlying clips, and
then regroup those clips.
When using the Varispeed algorithm, pitch trans-
position and time compression/expansion are al-
ways linked. If you apply pitch transposition to an AudioSuite Processing and
audio clip using the Polyphonic or Rhythmic algo- Elastic Audio Clips
rithms, that transposition data is stored in the meta-
data for the clip. Consequently, if you then switch Real-Time Elastic Audio processing is non-de-
to Varispeed, change the TCE factor, and then structive. However, since AudioSuite plug-ins pro-
switch back to the original Elastic Audio algo- cess the entire clip and write a new audio file (or
rithm, the clip will revert to the original amount of actually apply destructive processing), when ap-
pitch shifting while maintaining the amount of plying AudioSuite processing to clips on Elastic
time compression/expansion applied by the Vari- Audio-enabled tracks, any Elastic Audio process-
speed algorithm. ing is rendered first, the rendered file is then pro-
cessed by AudioSuite, and the resulting new audio
file is analyzed for Elastic Audio processing.
Removing Clip Pitch Shifting
If you have applied any pitch shifting to a clip, you
can remove pitch shifting and revert the clip to its
original pitch. This can be useful if you are not sat-
isfied with the results and want to revert to the
pre–pitch shifted clip.
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 943.)
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 960).
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.
2 Configure the resulting Commit Tracks dialog The following source track data can optionally be
as desired (see “Commit Tracks Dialog” on rendered if selected in the Commit Tracks dialog:
page 968). • Pan automation
3 Click OK. • Volume automation
Select either Selected Tracks or Edit Selection to The Copy options determine whether or not sends
determine what is committed. or Group assignments are copied to committed
tracks.
Selected Tracks Commits all selected tracks from
the beginning of the first clip on the track to the end Sends Select to copy sends from the source track to
of the last clip on the track. If the Consolidate Clips the committed track.
option is disabled, all clip boundaries are main-
‘
Pro Tools lets you “freeze” audio, Auxiliary Input, Select one or more tracks and choose Track >
and Instrument tracks. When you freeze a track, Freeze (or Unfreeze).
the source material (audio and MIDI) on the track
Click the Track Freeze icon in the Track con-
is replaced with audio that has been processed by
trols so that it is highlighted (or unhighlighted).
all of the plug-ins on the track (or only up to a spec-
ified insert), including instrument plug-ins. This Right-click on the track name and select Freeze
process is reversible, so you can “unfreeze” frozen (or Unfreeze).
tracks.
Option-Shift-Click (Mac) or Alt-Shift-Click
Freezing tracks is useful for freeing up processing (Windows) to freeze all selected tracks. Op-
power in your session for other tracks and process- tion-Click (Mac) or Alt-Click (Windows) to
ing tasks. It is especially useful for exchanging ses- freeze all audio, Auxiliary Input, and Instru-
sions with other systems that may not have all of ment tracks.
the same plug-ins as your system. Rather than
committing tracks as final print tracks, you can When a track is frozen, any plug-ins on the track
freeze tracks that you want to share but might want are made inactive. On Instrument tracks, the wave-
to keep editing while that track is shared or out for form of the frozen audio is superimposed over the
review. MIDI data on the track as a visual cue.
1 Ensure that Inserts view is shown in either the • Editing clips or clip contents is disallowed.
Edit or Mix window. • Elastic Audio is disallowed.
2 Right-click on the insert up to which you want • Clip gain and clip effects are disallowed on fro-
to freeze the track and choose Freeze Up To zen tracks.
This Insert. • AudioSuite rendering is disallowed on frozen
tracks.
• Tempo changes, Song Start changes, and en-
abling or disabling the Conductor Track are not
allowed when there are frozen tracks in the ses-
sion.
• Insert and Cut Time operations are disallowed in
a session if there are frozen tracks.
• HEAT is unavailable for frozen Auxiliary Input
Freeze Up To This Insert (Freezing up to insert B)
and Instrument tracks.
When any plug-in processing on a track is frozen, • Instrument Tracks are removed from the MIDI
frozen inserts are italicized and grayed out. The Editor window while frozen and MIDI parame-
also display the Track Freeze icon. ters including Real Time Quantize settings can-
not be adjusted until the track is unfrozen.
• Clips used on a source playlist for a frozen track
cannot be removed from the session until the
Track Freeze icon
track is unfrozen.
Bounce Track
Pro Tools lets you bounce individual tracks from
your session or project. Track Bounce is useful for
Global Freeze Tracks, one or more tracks frozen
delivering audio files from tracks in the session
To globally freeze or unfreeze tracks, do one without having to re-route sub-master stems or in-
of the following: dividual tracks for bus recording. You can just se-
lect the desired source tracks and Bounce them to
Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) the
Global Freeze icon so that it is lit (frozen) or unlit disk.
(unfrozen). You can Bounce the following track types: audio,
Right-click the Global Freeze icon and choose Auxiliary Input, Master Fader, and Instrument
Freeze All or Unfreeze All. tracks.
To freeze (or unfreeze) only certain track types: To bounce a track from your session or project:
1 Right-click the Global Freeze icon and select (or 1 Do one of the following:
deselect) which track types you want to include (or
exclude): • Select the track you want to bounce and then
• Include all Audio Tracks choose Track > Bounce.
• Include all Aux Tracks • Right-click the track you want to bounce and se-
• Include all Instrument Tracks lect Bounce.
• Press Command+Option+Shift+B (Mac) or
Control+Alt+Shift+B (Windows).
2 In the Track Bounce dialog, configure the op-
tions as desired.
Only Include Instrument Tracks selected in the Global
Freeze Right-click menu
3 Click Bounce.
Render Automation
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.
Show Comments The Comments field displays Beat Detective does not extract duration
any comments saved with the groove template information from audio performances. Di-
from Beat Detective. The Comments field cannot giGroove templates created using Beat De-
be edited in the Quantize page, but can be edited tective contain a fixed duration value that
when saving a groove template from the Groove is 50% of the selected template resolution
Quantize page. (see “Defining a Beat Detective Selection”
on page 696).
Pre-Quantize Enable to hard quantize the
selected MIDI notes to a sixteenth-note grid Velocity Enable to influence the velocities of the
before applying Groove Quantize. selected MIDI notes. The Velocity option does not
apply to audio selections. If the slider is set to 0%
Groove Quantize Options there is no change to the selected velocities, a set-
ting of 100% sets all velocities to match the current
Timing Enable to apply Groove Quantize to the se-
groove template. A velocity setting of 200% typi-
lected MIDI notes, Elastic Audio events, or audio
cally results in over-exaggerated velocities—loud
clips. Use the slider to change the amount of quan-
notes increasing and soft notes decreasing in vol-
tization applied to the selection. If the slider is set
ume.
to 0%, there is no change in timing. A setting of
100% moves notes to the underlying template lo- For example, if two adjacent notes have equal ve-
cations. If the slider is set to 200%, events move to locities of 80, and the two corresponding template
a tick location that is twice the difference between velocities are 70 and 90, setting the slider to 200%
the original event location and the position of the changes the velocities to 60 and 100.
referenced template event.
The default value for the Velocity slider is 100%.
For example, if an event was played at Bar 1|1|060
(a 16th note), and the corresponding template
Recalling Options Slider
event is at 1|1|073, a slider value of 100% results in Settings
the event being shifted to 1|1|073 (a slider value of
200% shifts the note to 1|1|086). To Save the groove template with the current
Options Slider Settings:
The default value for the Timing slider is 100%.
1 In the Quantize window, select Recall with Tem-
Duration Enable to influence the durations of the plate if you want to restore all Groove Quantize
selected MIDI notes. The Duration option does not Options to the settings that are saved with the
apply to audio selections. At a setting of 100%, du- current template.
rations are changed to match the current groove
2 Click the Save button.
A DigiGroove template (derived from the audio shown) applied to a series of sixteenth-notes with Timing and
Velocity both set to 100%
Pro Tools applies groove templates relative to the In cases where the Groove Templates and track se-
song start. For example, a two-bar groove template lections are based on different meters, the template
repeats starting at every odd-numbered bar in the will be repeated or truncated to match the number
session (bar 1, 3, 5, 7…). of beats in the selection.
If a selection starts on an even bar, only the appro- 4/4 1-bar selection
priate portion of the groove template will be used.
For example, if the selection is two bars long and
starts on an even bar, the template applies bar 2 be-
fore bar 1. 6/4 bar 1 (beats 3–6
not used)
4/4 1-bar selection
Applying a 1-bar groove template in 6/4 to a 1-bar
selection in 4/4
4/4 bar 1 (not used) 4/4 bar 2
Restore Performance can be used to remove quan- 1 With the Grabber or Selector tool, select the
tization on input for MIDI notes. For example, if MIDI notes you want to flatten.
you recorded a performance with Input Quantize 2 Choose Event > Event Operations > Flatten Per-
on, you can still restore the performance as it was formance to open the Flatten Performance page.
actually played.
3 Select the note attributes to flatten. (For descrip-
For information on Input Quantize, see tions of these attributes, see “Restore Perfor-
“Input Quantize Command” on page 999. mance Command” on page 990).
4 Click Apply.
Flatten Performance
Change Velocity
The Flatten Performance command in the Event
Operations window “locks in” the current perfor- The Change Velocity command in the Event Oper-
mance for selected notes, creating a new “restore ations window automatically adjusts Note On (at-
to” state for the specified note attributes when us- tack) and Note Off (release) velocities for selected
ing Restore Performance. MIDI notes. Use it to make notes louder or softer,
or to create crescendos or decrescendos.
Original velocities
Change Smoothly Allows velocities to change For example, if a note with a velocity 64 is scaled
smoothly from one value to another over time. by 200%, the new velocity would be 127.
Attempting to scale or increase the velocity any
Change Smoothly by Percentage Allows veloci-
further yields no further change.
ties to change smoothly from one percentage value
to another over time.
The curve for this change can be adjusted (+/– 99) Change Duration
to affect how gradually the change occurs.
The Change Duration command in the Event Op-
Limit To When selected, restricts the Change erations window adjusts durations for selected
Velocity command to a minimum and maximum MIDI notes. Use it to affect the articulation of the
range after the selected Change Velocity option selected notes by making them more staccato or
has been applied (and also after any randomization legato.
has been applied).
You can also change note duration non-
Randomize When selected, the selected Change destructively in real-time using MIDI
Velocity option is randomized by the specified Real-Time Properties. See “MIDI Real-
percentage value after the selected Change Veloc- Time Properties” on page 752.
ity option has been applied. For example, with the
Remove Overlap
Add Adds to the durations by a specified number The Change Continuously option lets you change
of quarter notes and ticks. the duration of notes continuously in ticks or by
percentage. Adjust the Curve slider to modify the
Subtract Subtracts from the durations by a speci-
shape of the change.
fied number of quarter notes and ticks.
Change Continuously in Ticks Allows note
Scale by Shortens or lengthens durations based on
lengths to change smoothly from one duration to
a percentage value (1–400%).
another over time. Duration values are specified in
quarter notes and ticks.
3 Select the option for Scale By with a percentage The Transpose command can also be applied to
value of 50. whole clips on Elastic Audio-enabled tracks using
the Polyphonic, Rhythmic, or X-Form plug-ins.
4 Click Apply. The durations for the selected notes
are reduced by 50%. For information on Transposing Elastic
Audio clips, see “Elastic Audio Clip-Based
With this option you may have to experiment with Pitch Shifting” on page 963.
the percentage value to achieve the desired effect.
To make notes more legato: Elastic Audio pitch transposition is not sup-
1 Select the range of MIDI notes to be edited. ported with the Monophonic algorithm.
Transpose All Notes To Transposes all selected 1 Select the MIDI notes you want to transpose.
notes to the same pitch. Use the slider or the num- 2 Choose Event > Event Operations > Transpose.
ber entry box to enter the pitch to which to trans-
pose all selected notes. This option is not applica- 3 Select Transpose in Key.
ble to Elastic Audio clips. 4 Adjust the slider (or type a number) for the
Transpose In Key Transposes selected notes in number of scale steps (+ or –) by which you
key up or down by scale steps (based on the Key want to transpose the selection. For example, to
Signature ruler). This option is not applicable to transpose down a third, enter “–2.”
Elastic Audio clips. 5 Click Apply.
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.
Undo Step When the previous note has been re- If you use a continuous controller as a
leased from the MIDI keyboard, and the insertion trigger (such as Pitch Bend), you should
point has moved forward to the next note, Undo make certain to use an extreme controller
Step removes the entire last note. value to avoid erroneous data input.
When a note is being held on the MIDI keyboard, 5 Press Enter to confirm the MIDI trigger assign-
Undo Step changes to read “Decrement,” and re- ment.
moves the last Step Increment length that was
added to the held note.
Numeric Keypad Shortcuts for
Next Step (or Increment) When no note is being Step Input
held on the MIDI keyboard, Next Step moves the When Enable Numeric Keypad Shortcuts is se-
insertion point by the Step Increment value, essen- lected, you can apply many of the controls in the
tially inserting a musical rest. Step Input page, as well as several selection con-
When a note is being held on the MIDI keyboard, trols, using your computer’s numeric keypad.
:
While the note is being held, the Step Increment 1/2 note 2
value can be changed, allowing you to create notes 1/4 note 4
of any musical length.
1/8 note 5
Redo Step Reinserts the last note that was
removed by the Undo Step operation. 1/16 note 6
1/32 note 7
Triggering the Undo Step, Next
Step, or Redo Step Buttons
1/64 note 8
To set Undo Step, Next Step and Redo Step MIDI Undo step 0
triggers:
Nudge forward +
1 Place the Edit insertion on a track at the location
where you want to enter the first MIDI note. Nudge back –
2 Choose Event > Event Operations > Step Input. Select Main Counter =
3 Locate the button you want to assign a MIDI Edit Selection indicators /
event to, and click in the field below the button.
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 Pro Tools | HD systems. HEAT is avail- Select (or deselect) Options > Activate HEAT.
able in both DSP and Native formats. To use
HEAT, iLok authorizations are required for both Select (or deselect) the HEAT On/Off button in
Pro Tools | HD Software and HEAT. the Mix window in HEAT view.
HEAT is applied to all active audio tracks in your You can also enable the Enable HEAT in New Ses-
session, emulating magnetic recording tape com- sions option in the Pro Tools Preferences to have
bined with harmonic coloration commonly experi- HEAT automatically enabled for all new sessions.
enced with analog mixing consoles. Use HEAT to
To enable (or disable) HEAT for new sessions:
open up your mixes with warm, analog-modeled
soft-saturated distortion. 1 Choose Setup > Preferences.
2 Click the Processing tab.
With HDX systems, HEAT uses DSP resources on About HEAT Processing
all active audio tracks. This is important to know
because as you increase (or decrease) the number HEAT provides global controls for Drive and
of audio tracks in the session, you also increase (or Tone. These affect all audio tracks where HEAT is
decrease) the amount of DSP resources required to not bypassed.
keep HEAT hot. Note that HEAT does not use
DSP resources on inactive audio tracks. Drive
With Pro Tools | HD Software on Native systems, The Drive control introduces non-linear processing
HEAT uses the host-processor. that emulates magnetic recording tape combined
with harmonic information commonly found in an-
alog gear.
HEAT Master Controls HEAT Master controls can be viewed in the Mix
window.
The HEAT Master controls let you adjust the
amount and color of HEAT processing for all au- To show (or hide) HEAT Master controls:
dio tracks. Take some time to experiment with dif-
Click the Show/Hide HEAT View button in the
ferent settings until you get the desired tone color
lower right corner of the Mix window.
for your mix.
Drive Adjusts the amount of Drive for HEAT, HEAT Track controls
which emulates the distortion you get when over-
Bypass (BYP) Bypasses HEAT processing for the
driving an analog channel strip on a console. At the
individual audio track. Note that bypassing HEAT
default 12 o’clock position, no HEAT processing
on individual tracks does not free up the DSP re-
is applied. Turn the knob counter-clockwise to add
sources used by HEAT for that track.
odd harmonics to the mix (a magnetic tape satura-
tion–like effect). Turn the knob clockwise to add Pre/Post Insert (PRE) Sets HEAT processing to be
even harmonics to the odd harmonic series for the Pre or Post inserts on the individual track. HEAT
effect of simulating a triode tube circuit. processing is Pre Inserts when the PRE button is
lit.
Select (or deselect) HEAT in the Mix Window HEAT Track and Master controls with bypassed track
View selector.
When the Master Bypass is enabled, it is bright or-
ange and any explicitly bypassed track BYP but-
tons also remain bright orange. For any implicitly
bypassed track, the BYP button changes to dark or-
ange.
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 1010.
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.
This ensures that even when a VCA Master track is • Automate a submix by automating its VCA
not visible, the true state of its slave tracks is accu- Master track
rately displayed.
VCA Master Track Controls
VCA Slave Track Controls and The controls on a VCA Master track affect the cor-
Group Behavior responding controls on the slave tracks in its as-
When a group is assigned to a VCA Master, the signed Mix group. VCA Master tracks have the
VCA-modifiable controls (Volume, Mute, Solo, following controls:
Record Enable and TrackInput) on its slave tracks,
Volume
by default, do not follow any grouped behavior
that may be set in the Attributes page of the Groups The VCA Volume fader controls the Volume fader
dialog. This lets you control the output levels of the on audio, Auxiliary Input, Instrument, Master
group’s member tracks while retaining the ability Fader, and other VCA Master tracks in a VCA-
to adjust individual member track levels. controlled group. (Volume faders on MIDI tracks
are not affected.) Volume faders on slave tracks
Slave tracks can be set to follow normal grouped
move to show the composite level, or the level on
behavior. See “Assigning Groups to VCA Mas-
each track resulting from the position of the VCA
ters” on page 1021.
Master Volume fader.
The VCA Mute button controls the mute state of The VCA TrackInput button toggles the input
audio, Auxiliary Input, Instrument, MIDI, and monitor status of only those audio tracks in a
other VCA Master tracks in a VCA-controlled VCA-controlled group that are record-enabled.
group. Muting a VCA-controlled group does not You can toggle input monitor status for those
change the underlying mute state of slave tracks. tracks using the VCA Master TrackInput button.
(Mute buttons on slave tracks that were previously
unmuted show an implicit mute.) To temporarily force all slave tracks to toggle their
input monitoring status:
Solo Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) the
The VCA Solo button controls the solo state of au- VCA Master TrackInput button on the VCA
dio, Auxiliary Input, Instrument, MIDI, and other Master.
VCA Master tracks in a VCA-controlled group.
Level Meter
• Soloing a VCA Master will implicitly mute all
tracks except its slave tracks, thereby indirectly On VCA Master tracks, level meters indicate the
soloing the slave tracks. highest level occurring on any of its individual
tracks, not a summed level of all slave tracks.
• Soloing a VCA Master will clear any explicit so-
los on its slave tracks, leaving them indirectly The channel format of level meters on the VCA
soloed, and implicitly mute all other tracks. Master is set according to the channel formats of
• Explicitly soloing a slave track while its VCA its slave tracks, as follows:
Master track is soloed will override the VCA • If all slave tracks are the same channel format
Master solo. (mono, stereo or a multichannel format), the
number of level meters on the VCA Master track
Record Enable is identical to that of the slave tracks.
The VCA Record Enable button toggles the Re- • If the slave tracks are different formats, the num-
cord Enable status of only those audio, Instrument, ber of level meters on the VCA Master track is
and other VCA tracks that have already been re- set to one.
cord-enabled individually. You can then toggle re-
cord enable on and off for those tracks using the
VCA Master Record Enable.
The Surround Mixer requires slightly more For greater than stereo formats (such as 5.1),
DSP resources than the Stereo Mixer. Conse- all surround output panning is fixed at
quently, if you plan to regularly mix in stereo –3.0 dB. The variable pan depth options are
and use a Pan Depth of –2.5, you may want to only available for stereo outputs.
use the Stereo Mixer plug-in.
To set the stereo pan depth: Views in the Mix and Edit
1 Choose Setup > Session to open the Session Windows
Setup window. The Mix and Edit windows can be configured to
2 Select an option from the Pan Depth selector. show or hide various mixing controls, using menu
commands or view selectors.
HEAT View
I/O View (Edit Window Only) Shows Input and Object view (Edit window)
Output selectors, and Volume and Pan indicators
Real-Time Properties View (Edit Window
in each track.
Only) Shows controls for Real-Time Properties for
MIDI and Instrument tracks. For more information
on Real-Time Properties, see “MIDI Real-Time
Properties” on page 752.
Track Compensation
indicator Input Path selectors determine the source input for
audio, Auxiliary Input, and (optionally) Instrument
Delay Compensation View tracks. Track inputs can be set from hardware in-
Delay values can be specified in either samples or puts or internal bus paths or subpaths. For detailed
milliseconds, as selected in the Operation Prefer- information on assigning track inputs, see “As-
ences page. For more information on Delay Com- signing Audio Inputs” on page 245.
pensation, see “Delay Compensation” on
Hardware input and bus paths can be configured in
page 1051.
the I/O Setup. For more information, see
Track Color View Shows track color in each track. Chapter 6, “I/O Setup.”
For detailed information, see “Color Coding for
You can also define what physical ports are routed
Tracks, Clips, Markers, and Groups” on page 257.
to Pro Tools input ports in the Hardware Setup di-
Track Collaboration View (Projects Only) .Shows alog. For more information, see “Configuring
the collaboration controls for tracks. For more in- Pro Tools Software System Settings” on page 88.
formation about collaboration, see “Track Collab-
oration Track View in the Edit and Mix Windows” Output Audio Path
on page 366.
Track Output Path selectors route the post-fader
signals to the assigned output or bus paths. The
Output Path selector routes the main track output
to the chosen main or sub-path. Tracks can be
routed directly to hardware output or internal bus
paths and subpaths for submixing (main or sub-
paths).
Track Collaboration View (Edit window)
The track format (mono, stereo, or multichannel)
determines the available main and sub-path
choices for track output. For detailed information
on assigning track outputs, see “Assigning Audio
Outputs” on page 246.
Track Collaboration View (Mix window)
2 Click the Send selector on the track and choose • Adjust the Send Level fader.
a path from the pop-up menu. • Set the send level to unity gain (0 dB) by Op-
tion-clicking (Mac) or Alt-clicking (Windows)
the Send Level fader.
Click the Mute button for the send. To create a new track from a send:
1 On an existing track, click the Send selector and
To mute (or unmute) sends from the Track menu:
select New Track.
1 Select the tracks on which you want to mute
sends. Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Win- 2 In the resulting New Track dialog, select the
dows) to select all tracks shown in the session. Width, Type, and Time Base for the new track.
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 120). 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.
To move a send:
Copying Track Settings to Sends
Drag the send name to a new position in the (Pro Tools HD Only)
original track or in a different track.
Sometimes you need send settings to match the
To copy a send: settings in the track itself—for example, to provide
a headphone mix based on the main mix. You can
Option-drag (Mac) or Alt-drag (Windows) the
copy the current values or the entire automation
send to a new position.
playlist from selected tracks to any of their sends.
Moving or copying a send maintains all routing as-
For more information, see “Copying Track
signments, automation, level/pan/mute settings,
Automation to Sends” on page 1108.
and output format.
To show all tracks based on the track Input or To open a track Output window:
Output assignment, Send assignment, or
Hardware Insert assignment: Click the Output Window button in the channel
strip.
Right-click the assignment selector and choose
Show Assignments To for the bus you want.
Any hidden tracks with the corresponding as-
signment are shown.
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 6, 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.
Discrete Submix Output You can also bounce a submix to disk to free up the
voices for use by other tracks. See Chapter 50,
Pro Tools lets you discretely route source audio “Mixdown” for more information.
through a submix. This is preferred for dither or
other mastering processing, where you do not want
unprocessed audio heard in addition to the pro- Send and Return Submixing for
cessed signals. Use track outputs (not sends) to as- Effects Processing
sign tracks to a bus path for discrete submixing. In When you are submixing for reverb, delay, and
this arrangement, the balance of processed and un- similar effects processing, use sends to achieve tra-
processed signal is controlled by plug-in wet/dry ditional send/return bussing. You can use a real-
settings. time plug-in or a hardware insert as a shared re-
source for all tracks included in a submix. The
To create a discrete submix: wet/dry balance in the mix can be controlled using
1 Set the output of the tracks you want to include the track faders (dry level) and Auxiliary Input
in the submix to a stereo bus path. fader (effect return, or wet, level).
2 Pan each track. See Chapter 48, “Plug-In and Hardware
3 Choose Track > New. Inserts” for more information.
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
2 Specify the track type (Master Fader), and To create a “stereo” effect from a mono source,
mono, stereo, or any of the supported multi- you must use reverb, delay, or other time domain
channel formats for surround mixing. effects.
3 Click Create.
4 Do one of the following: Delay Compensation
• Set the output of the Master Fader to the same
Pro Tools provides automatic Delay Compensa-
path that you are using to send to an Auxiliary
tion for managing DSP and host-based delays from
Input track.
plug-in inserts, and mixer routing (bussing and
• Set the output of the Master Fader to match the sends). With Delay Compensation enabled,
path that you have chosen for your effects send. Pro Tools maintains phase coherent time align-
ment between tracks that have plug-ins with differ-
You can then adjust send levels to balance the
ing delays, tracks with different mixing paths,
source tracks, and use the Master Fader as a master
tracks that are split off and recombined within the
level control for the entire submix.
mixer, and tracks with hardware inserts.
To solo safe an Auxiliary Input: To maintain phase coherent time alignment, Delay
Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win- Compensation should always be enabled during
dows) the Solo button on the Auxiliary Input playback and mixing. Delay Compensation should
track. also be used in most recording situations.
Delay Compensation view only shows the in- This field lets you adjust track delays manually
sert delay for each track. To view the com- while Delay Compensation is enabled. The User
plete system delay, including mixer delays, Offset is added to or subtracted from the amount of
check the System Delay in the Session Setup delay applied by Track Compensation. The User
window (see “System Delay” on page 1052). Offset is useful for the following cases:
Tracks that are not record-enabled still apply De- Command-Control-Shift-click (Mac) or Con-
lay Compensation. Pro Tools automatically com- trol-Start-Shift-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 selected tracks.
Command-Option-Control-click (Mac) or
Control-Alt-Start-click (Windows) the Track
Compensation indicator to override Low La-
tency Monitoring for all tracks.
Refer to the documentation for your external hard- With dither there is a trade-off between signal-to-
ware to see if it identifies the hardware noise performance and less-apparent distortion.
latency, or use the following procedure in Proper use of dither lets you get better subjective
Pro Tools to determine the latency for hardware performance when reducing the bit depth of audio.
inserts.
For more information on using Noise Shaping, 3 If your Ethernet control surface consists of
see the Audio Plug-Ins Guide. more than one unit, select the units in numerical
order as you want them arranged left to right.
Click OK.
Using an Ethernet Control
4
Surface with Pro Tools For more information, see the documentation
that came with your Ethernet control surface.
Avid offers several Ethernet-based control surface
options for Pro Tools. To enable EUCON control in Pro Tools:
MIDI Control Surfaces add hands-on control to To connect a (non-USB or FireWire) MIDI control
many Pro Tools functions, allowing you to adjust surface:
faders and knobs, activate transport controls, or 1 Using a standard 5-pin MIDI cable, connect the
edit plug-in parameters. MIDI Out port on your MIDI control surface to
the MIDI In port on your Pro Tools hardware or
Command|8
MIDI interface.
Command|8 is a compact USB-based MIDI con- 2 Using a standard 5-pin MIDI cable, connect the
trol surface for Pro Tools systems. MIDI In port on your MIDI control surface to
the MIDI Out port on your Pro Tools hardware
For complete instructions on connecting
or MIDI interface.
and configuring Command|8, see the
Command|8 Guide. 3 If you have a multi-port MIDI interface, note
which MIDI port the control surface is con-
Other MIDI Control Surfaces
nected to.
Pro Tools supports some MIDI control surfaces
that use HUI controller personalities. Configuring Your System for a
MIDI Control Surface
MIDI Control Surface A MIDI Control Surface is configured in the same
Personalities way as any other MIDI device in Pro Tools, using
MIDI Control Surface Personalities are files that Audio MIDI Setup (Mac) or MIDI Studio Setup
allow Pro Tools to communicate with the MIDI (Windows).
control surface. When you install Pro Tools, these
For complete instructions on configuring
files are installed by default in the Controllers
your MIDI studio, see the User Guide that
folder inside the Pro Tools application folder. If
came with your system.
the files are not present, run the Pro Tools installer
to install the personality files.
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 50, “Mix-
down” for more information).
Types of Inserts
h
Insert selector
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 1068. 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:
Command-Control-click (Mac) or Control-
Start-click (Windows) the Insert button.
Right-click the Insert button and select Make In-
active.
Command-Control-Option-Shift-click (Mac) or
Control-Start-Alt-Shift-click (Windows) an In-
sert button in the position you want to toggle.
• 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:
Track selector
Map Options Menu Lets you create, rename, save, Link Enable buttons
Channel Selector Accesses a specific channel To close all currently open plug-in windows:
within a multichannel track for plug-in control ed-
Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) the
iting. This menu appears only on multi-mono plug-
close box of any currently open plug-in win-
ins inserted on tracks with more than one channel.
dow.
Shift-clicking this selector opens a separate Plug-
In window for each channel of the multichannel
track on which the plug-in is
inserted. Using Plug-In Window
Controls
All plug-ins provide standard Pro Tools controls
Opening Plug-In Windows for track and insert selection, bypass, and other
controls, in addition to the EQ, dynamics, and
To open a plug-in window: other processor-specific controls.
Click the plug-in button in Inserts view in the
Mix or Edit window. To select a different plug-in on the same track:
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, Command-drag (Mac) or ing “k” after a number value will multiply the
Control-drag (Windows) 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, Option-
click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) the control.
Side-Chain Filters
Plug-In Automation and Safe Some plug-ins feature key high-pass and low-pass
Modes filters. These controls let you define a specific fre-
quency range in the side-chain signal with which
All real-time plug-ins can be fully automated, and
to trigger the plug-in effect. A common production
support all Pro Tools Automation modes (Write,
technique is to use these controls to filter a drum
Touch, and Latch, plus Trim).
track so that only specific high frequency sounds
The Auto button opens the Plug-In Automation di- (such as a hi-hat) or low frequency ones (such a
alog, where you can enable individual plug-in con- tom or a kick) trigger the effect.
trols for automation recording (see “Automating
Plug-Ins” on page 1109). Using a Key Input for External
Side-Chain Processing
The Safe button engages Automation Safe mode.
When enabled, existing plug-in automation is pro- To use a key input for external side-chain
tected from being overwritten (see “Record Safing processing:
Plug-In Automation” on page 1111). 1 Click the plug-in’s Key Input selector and select
the input or bus carrying the audio you want to
use to trigger the plug-in.
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
signal. However, some plug-ins let you switch be-
tween internal and external side-chain processing.
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 Media and folders for them.
Settings Location” on page 108).
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 Command+Shift+V (Mac) or Con-
ing Controls on Multi-Mono Plug-Ins” on trol+Shift+V (Windows) to paste plug-in
page 1089. 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 Command+Shift+S (Mac) or Con-
trol+Shift+S (Windows) 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 Command+Shift+C (Mac) or Con-
and Previous Setting buttons. Always save
trol+Shift+C (Windows) to copy plug-in
your plug-in settings to the selected Root Set-
settings.
tings folder.
3 Click Done.
When you create a custom plug-in map, its param- Map Presets menu
eters are arranged in pages that correspond to the Learn button
controls on the control surface. The size of a page
depends on the type of control surface. Each cus-
Parameter menu
tom plug-in map allows up to 200 pages of mapped
Plug-In Map controls in the plug-in window
parameters.
Map Options Menu Lets you create, rename, save,
Plug-In mapping is stored according to the follow- delete, import, export, and set default plug-in
ing types of control surfaces: maps.
• 003
Map Presets Menu Lets you choose from avail-
• C|24 able custom Plug-In Maps for the plug-in.
• Command|8
Learn Button Puts the plug-in in Learn mode,
• D-Control where you can map plug-in parameters to a control
• D-Command surface.
• EUCON-compatible controllers Parameter Menu When in Learn mode, lets you
• M-Audio controllers select a parameter on the plug-in for mapping. If
you click a parameter in the plug-in window while
If you import a plug-in map that was created in Learn mode, this menu shows the name of the
on a different type of control surface, it will parameter.
appear as an inactive choice in the Map Pre-
sets menu. Plug-In Map controls can be shown or hidden.
When you first put a plug-in into Learn mode, a 4 On the control surface, do one of the following:
new plug-in map is created (with the default name • Turn the encoder or press the channel Select
“Custom Map”), and the plug-in is focused on the switch where you want to map the parameter.
control surface, but with a blank page of controls,
• If the control surface is in Flip mode, move the
ready for mapping.
fader or press the channel Select switch where
Only one plug-in can be in Learn mode at a time. you want to map the parameter.
5 Repeat steps 3-4 for each parameter you want to
To put a plug-in into Learn mode, do one of the
following:
map.
Click the Learn button in the plug-in window. 6 Take the plug-in out of Learn mode.
From the Map Options pop-up menu, choose To change parameter mapping in a plug-in map:
New Map.
1 Open the plug-in whose custom map you want
to change.
To take a plug-in out of Learn mode, do one of the
following: 2 Choose the map you want to change from the
Click the active Learn button in the plug-in win- Map Preset pop-up menu.
dow. 3 Put the plug-in into Learn mode. The plug-in is
Close the plug-in window. focused on the control surface.
Click the Learn button in a different plug-in 4 Do the following for each parameter mapping
window. you want to change:
• In the plug-in window, click the new plug-in pa-
Plug-Ins are automatically taken out of Learn
rameter you want to map. The parameter name
mode when moved to a different insert
appears in the Parameter menu.
position, made inactive, or converted
between DSP and Native formats. • On the control surface, page to the encoder or
switch where you want to change the mapping,
and turn the encoder or press the switch.
Saving Plug-In Maps 4 Enter a new name for the plug-in map.
You can save plug-in maps as presets for reuse on 5 Click OK.
the same Pro Tools system.
Deleting Plug-In Maps
Plug-In maps are saved as global preferences on a
Pro Tools system, so they are available to all ses- From the plug-in window, you can delete individ-
sions created on the system. ual plug-in maps.
When you create a map for a plug-in, that map be- You can also delete all custom plug-in maps on the
comes available to all other plug-ins of the same system, reverting all plug-ins to their Factory De-
type and channel format. fault plug-in maps.
If you want to map the same plug-in in On D-Control and D-Command systems,
different channel formats (such as mono, when you delete all plug-in maps, you are
stereo and 5.1 surround) you need to create also deleting all Custom Fader Plug-In
a separate plug-in map for each format. mappings.
You can also export plug-in maps for use on other To delete a custom plug-in map:
Pro Tools systems with a similar control surface 1 Open the plug-in whose map you want to delete.
(see “Exporting and Importing Plug-In Maps” on
page 1087. 2 Choose the map you want to delete from the
Map Presets pop-up menu.
Setting a Custom Plug-In Map as To set a custom plug-in map as the default plug-in
the Default Map map:
You can set a custom plug-in map as the default 1 Open the plug-in whose default plug-in map
map for a plug-in, instead of the Factory Default you want to change.
map. 2 Choose the map you want to use as the new
default 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 Set As Default.
map, or to another custom default map, change to
the new default. Hiding Default Plug-In Map
If you change parameter mapping in the custom Pages
plug-in map that has been set as the default, the When you create a custom plug-in map, its param-
changes will propagate to all instances of the plug- eters are arranged in pages that correspond to the
in using that default. groups of controls that appear on a control surface.
When you export a plug-in map, the default When you page through the controls for a plug-in
map setting for that plug-in is also exported. on a control surface, the pages for custom plug-in
When that map is imported, the default setting maps appear first, and the pages for the Factory
is also updated, and all instances of the plug- Default map appear after the custom pages.
in change to the new default.
You can hide the Factory Default pages of a plug-
in, so that only the custom pages appear on the
control surface. This applies to all instances of the
plug-in.
Deselect the Master Link button. 1 Choose Setup > I/O, then click the Insert tab.
2 Select an insert path, or click New Path to create
To access controls for a specific channel:
a new Insert path.
Select the channel from the Channel selector.
3 Double-click the Path Name to enter a custom
To link the controls of specific channels: path name for the insert.
1 Deselect the Master Link button if it is not al- 4 Make sure the insert path is set to the correct
ready deselected. format (mono, stereo, or other).
2 Click the Link Enable buttons for the channels 5 Map inserts in the Channel Grid as needed. In-
whose controls you want to link. sert and Output paths have special rules regard-
ing channel mapping (see “Valid Paths and
Requirements” on page 75).
Pro Tools can receive external clock from the Op- Pro Tools can receive external clock from the
tical input or S/PDIF input. S/PDIF input on these interfaces.
To select an external clock source for a Pro Tools To select an external clock source from Pro Tools
system with 003, 003 Rack+, or 003 Rack: with an Mbox Pro or Mbox (3rd generation):
• mono aftertouch
Automation Playlists with Audio
• program change and MIDI Clips
• sysex
Pro Tools handles audio clips and their automation
• controllers playlists differently from MIDI clips and their au-
• Audio Volume tomation playlists.
You can display and edit each of these automatable Trim Automation Playlists
playlists individually from Pro Tools, even during (Pro Tools HD Only)
playback. Separate Trim automation playlists are available
for Volume trim and Send Level trim. Volume trim
is available on all track types except MIDI tracks.
Send Level trim is available on audio tracks only.
Touch mode writes automation only while a fader See also “Writing Automation to the Start,
or switch is touched or clicked with the mouse. End, or All of a Track or Selection” on
When the fader is released, the writing of automa- page 1131.
tion stops and the fader returns to any previously
automated position, at a rate determined by the Au- AutoJoin with Latch Mode
toMatch and Touch Timeout settings. See “Auto- (Pro Tools HD Only)
mation Preferences” on page 1101.
Pro Tools provides two different methods to
In Touch mode, certain control surfaces start writ- resume writing automation on controls that were
ing automation as soon as you touch them. These active at the point where the transport stopped:
include touch-sensitive fader controllers, such as
D-Control, D-Command, C|24, 003, or Com- AutoJoin Lets you automatically resume writing
mand|8. automation in Latch mode.
With other control surfaces in Touch mode, writ- Join Lets you manually resume writing automa-
ing of automation does not begin until the fader tion in Latch mode. To Join, Command-click
hits the pass-through point, or the previously auto- (Mac) or Control-click (Windows) the Auto Join
mated position. Once you reach the pass-through button in the Automation window (Window > Au-
point with the fader, or a non-touch sensitive rotary tomation). Join is also available with supported
control, writing of automation begins and contin- control surfaces.
ues until you stop moving the fader.
AutoJoin Enable button in the Automation window AutoJoin indicator in the Edit window
Trim Mode Trim Off turns off reading and writing of all auto-
(Pro Tools HD Only) mation (main and trim) for a track. All automation
moves are ignored during playback. Trim faders
Pro Tools HD can adjust (or trim) existing track
are temporarily set to zero when a track is set to
volume and send level automation data in real
Trim Off mode.
time. Pan, mute and plug-in automation cannot be
trimmed in this manner. Trim mode works in com- Depending on the Coalesce Trim Automation pref-
bination with the other Automation modes (Read, erence setting, changing a track to Trim Off can
Touch, Latch, Touch/Latch, and Write) and is use- coalesce Trim automation on that track. See “Co-
ful when you want to preserve all of your volume alescing Trim Automation” on page 1130.
automation moves, but need to make levels a bit
louder or softer to balance a mix. For more infor- Automation can be switched from Trim Off to an-
mation, see “Trim Automation Modes” on other Automation mode during playback or record.
page 1099.
In Read Trim mode, Volume and Send level Trim In Latch Trim mode, Volume and Send level Trim
faders are disengaged from the main automation faders are disengaged from the main automation
playlist and follow any existing Trim automation. playlist and follow any existing Trim automation.
You can move a Trim fader during playback to au- When a Trim fader is touched, writing of Trim au-
dition new trim values, but no automation is writ- tomation begins. Writing of Trim automation con-
ten. When the Trim fader is released, it returns to tinues until playback stops, or until you punch out
any previously written Trim automation values. of writing automation.
If a track does not contain Trim automation, you When this mode is enabled, non-trimmable con-
can move a Trim fader during playback to audition trols (all controls other than track volume and send
new trim values, but no automation is written. The level) behave as if they are in regular Latch
Trim fader retains its position until the track is re- mode—they follow the previously written automa-
moved from Trim mode, or if you manually co- tion until touched. When they are touched, their
alesce the Trim level. absolute positions are written until playback is
stopped.
When this mode is enabled, non-trimmable con-
trols (all controls other than track volume and send Touch/Latch Trim
level) behave as if they are in regular Read mode—
no automation data is written. In Touch/Latch Trim mode, Volume and Send
level faders are disengaged from the main automa-
Touch Trim tion playlist and follow any existing Trim automa-
tion. The main Volume Trim fader follows Touch
In Touch Trim mode, Volume and Send level Trim Trim behavior, and Send level Trim faders follow
faders are disengaged from the main automation Latch Trim behavior.
playlist and follow any existing Trim automation.
When a Trim fader is touched, writing of Trim au- Write Trim
tomation begins. When the fader is released, writ-
ing stops and the fader returns to any previously In Write Trim mode, as soon as playback begins,
written Trim automation values. writing of Trim automation begins for Volume and
Send levels, and continues until playback stops, or
The rate of the fader’s return to previous trim val- until you punch out of writing automation.
ues is determined by the AutoMatch Time speci-
fied in the Automation Preferences page. See “Au-
toMatch Time” on page 1102 for more
information.
AutoMatch Time
AutoMatch Time is the amount of time it takes for
Automation Follows Edit indicator in the Edit window
a fader to return (by ramping up or down) to the
level of automation still on the track as the automa- Automation Safe
tion pass ends. This time value is set in the Auto-
mation Preferences page (see “Automation Prefer- Outputs, sends, and plug-ins can be placed in Au-
ences” on page 1101). tomation Safe mode. In Automation Safe mode,
any automation associated with an Output window
AutoMatch is automatically applied to all Touch (such as track or send level, panning, or mute), or
mode passes, and can be applied to Latch or Write plug-in on that track, is protected from being over-
passes. written while automating other items on that track.
The AutoMatch Time also determines the rate at
which delta values written with the Trim will re-
turn to 0 dB (delta value of zero).
Track Views
You can view automation data by type by selecting
the corresponding Track View. Trim automation playlist
Show/Hide
Lanes button
Displaying a standard automation playlist
Remove Lane
Add Lane
Automation Type
selector
Revealing an Automation lane
To add a lane:
To remove lanes:
To reorder lanes:
To display the Trim automation playlist along with Display of Trim automation and the composite playlist
in a main Volume playlist
main automation playlist on tracks:
You can permanently store the initial position of When playback gets to the first muted section,
an automatable control by doing any of the follow- the Mute button becomes highlighted.
ing:
3 As long as the button is held, Pro Tools over-
• Place the track in Write mode and press Play to writes the underlying data on the track with the
write a few seconds of automation data to the current state of the switch (on or off) until play-
track back is stopped.
• Manually place a breakpoint on the automation
playlist somewhere after the initial breakpoint. Automating Switched Controls
(See “Graphical Editing of Automation Data” on in Touch Mode
page 1120 for more information.)
When automating switched controls (including
mute, plug-in bypass, and any switched control on
a plug-in) in Touch mode, these controls will latch
in their current state after they are touched.
3 Click OK to close the Preferences window. 6 Move the controls you want to automate.
7 When you have finished, stop playback.
Automating Sends Send level, mute, and pan can also be configured to
follow Mix Groups (see “Automation Preferences”
Pro Tools provides automation of send level, send on page 1101).
mute, and send pan (for stereo and multichannel
sends only). This makes it easy to control effect
levels and placement during mixdown with great
Copying Track Automation to
Sends
precision.
There may be times where you want a track’s send
Send level and mute can also be configured to fol- settings or automation to mirror the settings or au-
low groups. tomation in the track itself, for example, when cre-
ating a headphone mix based on the main mix, or
when an effect level needs to follow the levels in a
main mix. You can copy the current settings or the
entire automation playlist for the selected controls
to the corresponding playlist for the send.
On ICON worksurfaces, you can invoke Auto- If a track is in Latch or Touch/Latch automation
Match on individual controls or control types on mode, you can prime individual controls for writ-
single channels. ing automation while the transport is stopped. This
Latch Prime capability lets you prepare for an au-
To AutoMatch all controls of a type on a channel: tomation pass before starting playback.
Hold Command (Mac) or Control (Windows)
To prime controls for writing automation in Latch
and press any of the following in the Channel
mode while the transport is stopped:
Strip Mode controls for the track whose controls
you want to AutoMatch: 1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click Mixing.
6 While the transport is stopped, touch or move Latch Prime during an automation pass, the corre-
the controls you want to start writing at the be- sponding controls AutoMatch to their currently
ginning of the automation pass. When at least written values.
one control on a track is primed, the Automa- If you AutoMatch a control that is in a Latch
tion Mode selector displays in red. Prime state, the control will no longer be primed.
Option-Command-Shift-click (Mac) or Alt- 1 Locate the cursor where you want to punch in
Control-Shift-click (Windows) the Automation automation.
Mode selector on a track.
2 Prime controls for writing while the transport is
Alt-Shift-click (Windows) Option-Shift-click stopped. (See “Priming Controls for Writing
(Mac) the AutoMatch button in the Automation Automation in Latch Mode” on page 1112.)
window.
3 In the Automation window, click the AutoJoin
button.
To take an automation type out of Latch Prime on
all tracks, do one of the following: 4 In the Automation window, click the Capture
In the Automation window, Command-click button and then click the Punch Capture button.
(Mac) or Control-click (Windows) the button The AutoJoin marker (a vertical red line) ap-
for the automation type (Volume, Pan, Mute, pears on-screen at the punch point.
Plug-In, Send level, Send pan, or Send mute).
• Object/Bus (Pro Tools HD with Dolby Atmos To suspend Trim automation on all tracks
only) (Pro Tools HD only):
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 1124.
Drag the breakpoint down to mute a section. Drag Click an existing point on the line graph with
a breakpoint up to unmute the section. Drag a any Grabber tool and drag it to a new position.
breakpoint to the left or right to adjust the timing of
For vertically constrained, fine-resolution
the mute.
editing of any automation breakpoint,
Command-Shift-click-drag (Mac) or
Control-Shift-click-drag the breakpoint
to the desired value.
Automation for certain controls (such as MIDI To edit several breakpoints at once:
controller values or plug-in settings) appears as a Use the Selector tool to select a range in the au-
stepped pattern on the breakpoint line. Drag a tomation playlist that contains the breakpoints,
breakpoint up or down to a different step to change and do one of the following:
to a new control value. Drag a breakpoint to the left
• To move the breakpoints earlier or later in the
or right to adjust the timing of the stepped control
track, press the Plus key (+) to nudge them later
change.
(to the right) or the Minus key (–) to nudge them
earlier (to the left). The breakpoints move by the
current Nudge value.
If the data is deleted by pressing Delete (Mac) or The Master Views are:
Backspace (Windows), the automation data is re- • Audio tracks: Blocks and Waveform
moved, and automation values span the gap be-
tween pre-existing breakpoints, as shown in the • MIDI and Instrument tracks: Blocks, Clips, and
following figure. Notes
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 920. 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 Option+Forward Slash
track-based volume automation, as well as letting (/) (Mac) or Alt+Forward Slash (/) (Win-
you coalesce track-based volume automation to dows).
clip gain settings. For more information, see “Co-
alescing Clip Gain and Track Volume Automa-
tion” on page 920.
When a track’s Trim mode is enabled, its Volume On Exiting Trim Mode Trim moves are stored sep-
and Send Level faders turn yellow, and its Auto- arately in the Trim automation playlist until they
mation Mode selector is outlined in yellow. This are coalesced. Trim automation is automatically
outline appears solid if the track is trim-enabled, coalesced on a track only when you take the track
and flashes whenever trimming is occurring on the out of Trim mode. You can repeat an automation
track’s volume or send levels. pass, edit Trim automation manually on any of the
Trim playlists, or clear Trim automation before co-
alescing with this method.
Writing Trim Automation
The writing of Trim automation depends on how it Even when automation is set to coalesce on
is set to be coalesced. See “Coalescing Trim Auto- exiting Trim mode, you can use the
mation” on page 1130. If automation is not set to Coalesce Trim Automation command to com-
coalesce after every automation pass, Trim auto- mit Trim moves at any time.
mation moves are written to a separate Trim play-
Manually Trim moves are stored separately in the
list.
Trim automation playlist until they are coalesced.
To trim track Volume or Send levels:
With this setting, the only way to coalesce Trim
moves is with the Coalesce Trim
1 In the Automation window, make sure the auto- Automation command. You can repeat an automa-
mation type (Volume or Send level) is write-en- tion pass, edit Trim automation manually on any of
abled. the Trim playlists, or clear Trim automation before
2 Click the Automation Mode selector of the coalescing with this method.
track where you want to write automation and
To set the method by which Trim Automation is
choose the automation mode (Touch, Latch,
coalesced:
Touch/Latch, or Write).
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click Mixing.
2 Click the Write Automation to Next Breakpoint • Write to Start/Selection Start: Currently writing
on Stop button or the Write Automation to controls continue writing automation
Punch Point button. • Write to All/Selection: Currently writing con-
trols (except controls in Write mode) punch out
When this option is enabled, automation writing
of writing automation
will be performed automatically forward to the
next breakpoint after a valid automation pass has • Write to End/Selection End: Currently writing
been performed. controls (except controls in Write mode) punch
out of writing automation
To configure Write Automation to Punch Point on • Write to Next Breakpoint: Currently writing
Stop:
controls (except controls in Write mode) punch
1 Choose Window > Automation. out of writing automation
2 Click the Write Automation to Punch Point on • Write to Punch point: Currently writing controls
Stop button. continue writing automation
When this option is enabled, automation writing For MIDI automation, the Write To com-
will be performed automatically back to the auto- mands only apply to MIDI Volume, MIDI
mation punch-in point after a valid automation Pan, and MIDI Mute. MIDI parameters can-
pass has been performed. not use the Write To commands.
Overwriting or Extending
Mute Automation
(Pro Tools HD Only) Mute off event extended (up to automation pass end)
Extending a mute automation event
Pro Tools lets you overwrite or extend an existing
mute event in real time, without changing the cur- Mute Overwrite/Extend is
rent mute state. supported in Touch and Latch
mode, as follows:
A mute event can be overwritten when the automa-
tion pass begins before the first mute event and Touch Mode Writes the current state as long as the
ends after the second event. In this case, the current Mute button is held.
on/off state of the mute is maintained.
Latch Mode Writes the current state until you stop
or AutoMatch out.
Creating Snapshot
Automation
(Pro Tools HD Only)
2 In the Edit window, click the Track View selec- If you do not want the Write Automation command
tor to show the automation you want to edit. to write the selected automation value to the entire
playlist, you can:
3 Write a breakpoint in the playlist if none cur-
rently exists, as follows: • Anchor the automation data by placing the cur-
sor at the end of the session (or any other end
• Place the cursor in the playlist (or make an Edit
point) and choosing Write to Current.
selection), then press Command+Forward Slash
(/) (Mac) or Control+Forward Slash (/) (Win- • Click with any Grabber tool on each side of the
dows). selection.
• Select the Grabber tool and click anywhere in This lets the Write Automation command write
the playlist. only to the selected area.
4 Do one of the following:
• Select an area in the track’s playlist (or within
Writing Snapshot Automation
over Existing Automation Data
multiple tracks) where you want to apply the au-
tomation. When you move the playback cursor, the auto-
• Place the cursor at an Edit insertion point. mated controls in Pro Tools update to reflect the
automation data that is already on the track. To
5 Adjust the controls you want to automate. You keep the settings you have made for a snapshot,
can also change a plug-in preset. you can suspend automation parameters to prevent
6 Choose Edit > Automation and do one of the them from updating.
following:
To write snapshot automation over existing data:
• To write the current value to only the
1 In the Automation window, make sure that the
currently displayed automation parameter,
automation parameters you want to edit are
choose Write to Current.
write-enabled. Deselect any parameters whose
• To write the current settings for all automation automation you want to preserve.
parameters enabled in the Automation window,
choose Write to All Enabled. 2 Adjust the controls for the parameters you want
to automate.
Adding Snapshot Automation to 3 Click the Automation Mode selector and select
Empty Automation Playlists Off mode for the tracks where you want to apply
the automation.
When you use a Write Automation command on an
automation playlist with no previously written au- 4 With the Selector, select the range where you
tomation data, the selected value is written to the want to apply the automation.
entire playlist and not just the selected area.
Loading Captured Values into Preview When you are in Preview mode, you can capture
the values of isolated controls and apply them else-
You can preview and modify captured automation where on a track. By capturing preview values, you
values in Preview mode before punching the val- can leave the underlying automation unchanged at
ues to the automation playlist. the place where you capture.
To capture an automation value and use it to On ICON systems, you can use preview mode to
preview: capture multiple snapshots without changing auto-
1 Make sure the track where you want to preview mation.
the value is enabled for automation (Touch,
Latch, Touch/Latch or their corresponding To capture a preview value:
Trim modes). 1 Activate Preview mode and isolate a control.
(See “Previewing New Automation Values” on
2 Make sure the automation type you want to pre-
page 1142).
view is enabled in the Automation window
(Volume, Pan, Mute, Send level, Send pan, 2 Start playback and adjust the isolated control to
Send mute, or Plug-In). audition the changes.
3 Capture an automation value that you want to 3 When you are ready to capture preview value,
preview in another location on a track. (See click the Capture button in the Automation win-
“Capturing Automation Values” on page 1144.) dow.
4 Go to a location where you want to preview the The Punch Capture button in the Automation win-
captured automation states, and click the Pre- dow lights to indicate a captured value is available
view button in the Automation window. to punch.
5 Click the Punch Capture button.
The affected controls are isolated and updated to VCA Master Track
the captured values. The Punch Preview button in Automation
the Automation window lights to indicate the pre-
view value is available to punch. You can automate changes to VCA Master track
controls (as well as the controls for VCA slave
6 Start playback and adjust the isolated control to tracks).
audition the changes.
7 When you are ready to punch the preview value Displaying Automation on VCA
to the automation playlist, click the lit Punch Master Tracks
Preview button.
The following controls on VCA Master tracks can
be automated and have separate automation play-
lists:
• Volume
• Volume trim (Pro Tools HD only)
• Mute
Displaying the Composite 5 Move the fader on the VCA Master track.
Automation Playlist on Slave 6 Stop playback.
Tracks
Automation is written on the excluded slave track
When a track is a VCA slave, you can display a
such that the fader moves on the VCA Master track
composite automation playlist that shows the con-
are canceled out, and the fader on the excluded
tribution of the VCA Master to the Volume or
slave track does not move on subsequent playback.
Mute automation data on the slave track. This
composite playlist reflects the actual position of
the Volume fader on the slave track.The composite included slave
playlist display cannot be directly edited.
excluded slave
To display the composite playlist on VCA slave
tracks:
VCA Master
Select View > Automation > Composite Playlist.
4 Click OK.
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.
To set the resolution of the bounced file: 44.1 kHz This is the standard sample rate for com-
pact discs (CD), and is supported by DA-88/98,
Select a bit depth from the Bit Depth selector. DAT, and ADAT decks.
1160 Pro Tools Reference Guide
Additional sample rate options include 8 kHz, To export your mix to your iTunes library:
11.025 kHz, 16 kHz, 22.050 kHz, and 32 kHz. 1 Choose File > Bounce to > Disk.
Custom For a custom sample rate, click in the 2 In the Bounce to Disk dialog, select the Bounce
sample rate window and manually enter in a value Source and set the other options.
from 4,000 to 200,200 samples.
3 Enable the Add to iTunes Library option.
Pull Up and Pull Down Rates All available sam-
ple rates support pull up and pull down rates, or The Add to iTunes Library option is only
other specialized rates. available if the Bounce Source is set to a
mono or stereo path, and Format is set to
Mono (Summed) or Interleaved.
Enforce Avid Compatibility
Enable this option in the Bounce to Disk dialog to 4 Click Bounce.
create a bounced file with frame-accurate edits,
wrapped as OMFI (unless File Type is MXF), and Import After Bounce
with the sample rate options limited to 44.1 kHz or
The Import After Bounce option automatically im-
48 kHz. Dither without noise shaping will be ap-
ports the newly bounced files into the Clips List so
plied to files being exported from 24-bit to 16-bit.
you can place them in tracks. If your newly
bounced files are split stereo files (Multiple
Add to iTunes Library Mono), they are listed together in the Clips List.
Pro Tools lets you bounce your mix to your iTunes
The Import After Bounce option is only avail-
library using the Add to iTunes Library option in
able if the target file type and sample rate for
the Bounce to Disk dialog. When this option is se-
the bounce is the same as the file type and
lected, the bounced file is copied to your local
sample rate of the current session, and the
iTunes library. You can specify the location of
target resolution (bit rate) is the same or
your iTunes library using the new iTunes Library
lower than the resolution of the session. In
Folder setting in the Pro Tools Operation prefer-
addition, tracks bounced to a Stereo Inter-
ences.
leaved file cannot be automatically imported
If the Add to iTunes Library option is enabled when after a bounce.
bouncing to disk, the resultant audio file is auto-
matically imported into iTunes the next time you Bounce File Name
launch the iTunes application. If iTunes is not in- Pro Tools provides a File Name text entry field for
stalled on your computer, this option does not do Bounce to Disk. In the Bounce dialog, type the File
anything. Name you want for the bounced file. For multi-
source bounces, the entered file name is appended
with the name of the Bounce Source and a number
(incremented for each source): “<file
name>_<source name>_<n>.”
Click the Choose button to specify a different di- The speed of offline bounce can be affected by the
rectory for bounced files than the default location. following:
• CPU Usage—The speed of your CPU and how
Offline Bounce much CPU is in use by the system and other ap-
plications. You can monitor CPU usage in the
Pro Tools provides an Offline option for Bounce to
System Usage window.
Disk and Bounce to QuickTime. This lets you
bounce faster-than-real-time in most cases (de- • Disk Usage—For example, if the Disk meter in
pending on the session mixer size and DSP plug-in the System Usage window reads 50% when you
complement). are playing back the session, offline bounce will
max out at two times the speed of real-time sim-
To bounce audio to disk offline: ply because it is physically impossible to read
1 Make a Timeline selection to define the range to the disk data from the drive fast enough. If you
be bounced. can increase the Disk Playback Cache Size
(Setup > Playback Engine) to cache all audio on
2 Choose File > Bounce to > Disk. the timeline, this should not be an issue
3 In the Bounce dialog, enable the Offline option. (Pro Tools HD only).
• If there is an unbalanced use of your computer’s
4 Configure the Bounce options as desired.
core processors due to large mixers and Native
5 Click Bounce. plug-in usage, you can check to see if the indi-
vidual core CPU meters are unbalanced in the
Limitations of Offline Bounce CPU section of the System Usage window. Re-
moving or making Native plug-ins inactive on
When using the Offline Bounce option, the follow-
Auxiliary Input and Master Fader tracks may
ing are not included in the bounce:
help alleviate this problem.
• Hardware Inserts
• Some third-party plug-ins may slow down off-
• External MIDI driven audio (such as outboard line bounce due to their CPU requirements.
MIDI synthesizers or samplers).
Note that for some sessions that use very
• External audio sources monitored by Auxiliary
large mixer configurations with lots of DSP-
Input tracks.
based plug-ins and automation, it is possible
• DSP only plug-ins (Offline Bounce always uses that Offline Bounce may actually be slower
the Native version of DSP plug-ins, but only if than bouncing in real time.
they are available).
• Any audio source that is synchronized exter- Cancel
nally.
The Cancel button closes the Bounce to Disk dia-
On Pro Tools HD systems with HDX hard- log without initiating the bounce to disk conver-
ware, any HEAT processing in the bounce sion.
path is included with offline bounce.
You can also create a submix by recording to new Drag and drop the bounced files from a Work-
tracks. For details, see “Sample Rate Conversion space browser or the desktop.
and Bit Depth Reduction” on page 1153.
Pro Tools | HD Software lets you work with sur- In the following table, it is assumed that surround
round formats up to 7.1, and up to 7.1.2 with Dolby channels are assigned to outputs 1–6 of a Pro Tools
Atmos. audio interface. Use channels 7–8 to monitor a ste-
reo mix for a stereo version, or for cue mixes and
monitoring.
Surround Mixing in Pro Tools Track Layouts for 5.1 Formats
(Pro Tools | HD Software Only) Formats Track Layout
1 2 3 4 5 6
Pro Tools supports mixing in the following multi-
channel (greater than stereo) formats: LCR, Quad, Film L C R Ls Rs LFE
LCRS, 5.0, 5.1, 6.0, 6.1, 7.0, 7.0 SDDS (Sony Dy- (Pro Tools
default)
namic Digital Sound), 7.1, and 7.1 SDDS. With
Dolby Atmos, Pro Tools also supports 7.0.2 and SMPTE/ITU L R C LFE Ls Rs
7.1.2 formats. for Dolby
Digital (AC3)
For information on fundamental surround DTS L R Ls Rs C LFE
concepts, see the Pro Tools Sync & Surround
C|24 L C R Ls Rs Lf
Concepts Guide.
The following table shows the X-MON mono track
routing for a 7.1 SDDS mix. A 5.1 mix should use
Pro Tools Audio Connections the same routing, excluding outputs 2 and 4 (Lc
for 5.1 Mixing and Rc).
While all 5.1 mixing formats provide the same Default Track Layout for 7.1 SDDS Format
speaker arrangement, there are three primary stan- Formats Track Layout
dards in use for the track layout of the individual
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
channels that comprise the 5.1-format multichan-
nel mix. X-MON L Lc C Rc R Ls Rs LFE
7.1 and 7.0 Format Default Track Layout for 7.1 SDDS Format
Track Layout
HD-DVD and Blu-Ray systems use the following
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
track layout for 7.1 and 7.0 surround formats:
L Lc C Rc R Ls Rs LFE
3 front channels Left (L), Center (C), Right (R)
You can customize and redefine existing paths in 1 Choose File > New Session.
the I/O Setup dialog. For more information, see 2 Select the Create Blank Session option.
“Custom Multichannel Paths” on page 1172.
3 Select the Audio File Type, Sample Rate, and
Importing Session Data Bit Depth.
C24 Mix L C R Ls Rs Lf
All available 5.1 format (and greater) I/O Settings I/O Setup, Bus page, default 5.1 (Film) Output Bus
(Film, SMPTE/ITU, DTS, C24 Mix, or ICON X- assignments
MON Mix) provide the following default output Default Input and Insert Paths with 5.1 Settings
and bus paths for the new session:
The 5.1 Mix settings files provide default stereo
main paths and mono sub-paths for inputs and in-
serts. If you need multichannel input paths or in-
serts, you can create them in the I/O Setup (see
“Custom Multichannel Paths” on page 1172).
3 Select LCRS from the Path Format selector. • Select the LCRS path, click New Sub-Path, and
create a mono sub-path for the Center channel.
4 Name the path LCRS.
• Select the LCRS path, click New Sub-Path, and
5 In the Channel Grid, click in the box below the create a mono sub-path for the Surround chan-
first (left-most) audio interface channel for the nel.
path. Pro Tools automatically fills up the adja-
cent units to the right. If you click in the LCRS
row under channel 1, the LCRS path will be as-
signed to channels 1–4.
Pro Tools internal (on-screen) metering of 5.1 for- Monitor Path Selects the monitor path for the main
mat paths always follows the Film track layout: mix output of your Pro Tools sessions.
L C R Ls Rs LFE
Audition Path Selects the monitoring path for pre-
Pro Tools track layout of 5.1 format audio tracks in viewing audio in the Clips List, Import Audio dia-
the Edit window also conforms to the Film layout logs, and a Workspace browser. Only outputs on
(arranged top to bottom). See “5.1 Track Layouts, your primary interface can be used as your Audi-
Routing, and Metering” on page 1175. tion path.
In the I/O Setup dialog, you can route these signals Object Fold Down Path Selects the Output path
out of your audio interfaces according to any track for monitoring Object audio when not connected to
layout (such as DTS or SMPTE/ITU). a Dolby Atmos Renderer.
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
Surround sessions typically include a combination Multichannel audio tracks can be:
of mono, stereo, and multichannel audio, Auxiliary • Recorded directly into Pro Tools, using multiple
Input, Master Fader, and Instrument tracks, and in- microphones or microphone arrays, or routed to
serts and busses. appropriate multichannel Pro Tools Input paths
Multichannel surround mixing is supported • Imported from other Pro Tools sessions
with Pro Tools HD only. • Edited, processed, and mixed in combination
with mono and stereo tracks
Once the appropriate I/O Setup has been imported
or configured, audio, Auxiliary Input, Master
Fader, and Instrument tracks can be mixed in mul-
tichannel for surround using Pro Tools mixing fea-
tures.
To do so, the number of channels being dragged For discrete control of signals, multichannel tracks
must match the destination track format. For ex- can be converted into individual mono tracks. For
ample, you can only drag a stereo pair or two mono discrete level and phase adjustment, you can insert
clips onto a stereo audio track. Similarly, you can and unlink a multi-mono Trim plug-in. Both of
only place audio into an LCR track when you have these techniques are explained below.
selected three clips. With 5.1 tracks, you must se-
lect six mono files or clips. Once converted to mono, multichannel tracks
cannot be relinked into their original multi-
When dragged into a multichannel track, au- channel format. However, a multichannel
dio files are placed from top to bottom in the track can be reassembled by dragging the
exact order that they appear in the Clips List corresponding number of mono files (with the
or playlist from which they came (Top to Bot- appropriate file suffixes) into a multichannel
tom must be selected for in the Clips List track, although some automation data may
menu > Timeline Drop Order). For this rea- be lost. As an alternative, record the submix
son, you may want to rename audio files be- of the mono tracks to disk on a multichannel
fore dragging them, so that they are placed in track.
the preferred order. Rename them so that
sorting them By Clip Name in the Clips List To convert a multichannel track into discrete mono
tracks:
results in the preferred order. (For example,
with a 5.1-format track, you can rename the 1 Select the multichannel track.
audio tracks so that the arrangement of the 2 Choose Track > Split Into Mono.
tracks corresponds to L, C, R, Ls, Rs, and
LFE.) To have discrete control of gain on individual
channels of a multichannel track:
Mono meter
Multichannel tracks can be used to monitor and Multi-mono plugs-ins can also be inserted on ste-
route multichannel instrument plug-ins or multi- reo tracks, to apply unlinked plug-ins on the left
channel external MIDI instruments. and right channels.
Master Link button 1 Deselect the Master Link button if it is not al-
ready deselected.
2 Click the Link Enable buttons for the channels
whose controls you want to link.
Channel selector
Link Enable buttons
To help simplify large sessions, use sub-paths to route static (or, stationary) elements directly to the out-
put channel or channels.
For example, film dialog is often mixed to the center channel to anchor this essential sound element to the
picture. Instead of assigning a six-channel 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
Stereo Sub-Path The forward stereo sub-path. Use Extending Stereo Mixing Conventions to
this type of sub-path routing to mix music stems Surround Mixing
and effects to the front left and right speakers. Stereo mixing sets the precedent for active and
Center Sub-Path The front center-channel sub- static panning, and surround mixing can benefit
path provides a discrete mono path for the center from the same basic principles.
channel. Panning a sound back-and-forth between the left
Ls/Rs Sub-Path The surround, rear left and right and right speakers is best used as a special effect.
stereo sub-path. Use this type of sub-path to mix In a typical music mix, the basic tracks are placed
surround effects. in the stereo sound field and remain there.
LFE Path The LFE sub-path provides a discrete Surround mixes can become incoherent if too
mono path for the LFE channel. many elements are continuously moving, For spe-
cial effects, some tracks can be panned dynami-
5.0 Sub-Path The 5.0 path is a 5-channel sub-path. cally, bouncing between speakers or sweeping
Use this type of sub-path routing to conserve mix- from one side to the other.
ing resources with tracks you want to keep out of
the LFE channel.
FX stem
Music stem
LFE Examples
LFE tracks and other audio can contribute to the
LFE output in two ways:
• Using the LFE fader in Output windows. This
LFE signal is post-fader.
• Using a custom sub-path to route channels dis-
cretely.
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 %
The Position controls let you set the positions of Front, Rear, and F/R Divergence Provide sepa-
the panner. rate, automatable divergence control over front
speakers, rear speakers, and between front/rear,
Front Displays and controls the current front X- respectively.
axis (left/right) position of the panner.
For examples of how divergence settings
Rear Displays and controls the current rear X-axis
affect output panning, see “Divergence and
(left/right) position of the panner. In default X/Y Center Percentage” on page 1199.
Panning mode, Rear is linked to Front position and
cannot be controlled independently.
LFE Fader
Rear Inverse
The LFE fader determines how much of the current Panning Modes
track’s signal will be routed to the LFE channel.
The Panning Mode button provides access to four
LFE faders in Track and Send windows can follow
panning modes: X/Y mode, Divergence Editing,
groups. The Pro Tools LFE channel is always full-
3-Knob mode, and AutoGlide mode. Panning con-
bandwidth. For more information on how to use
trols can be automated in all four modes.
the LFE fader, see “LFE Faders in Multichannel
Panners” on page 1201. Pro Tools provides the following Panning Modes:
It is not necessary to click exactly on the Pan 3-Knob mode lets you do the following:
Location cursor. Clicking anywhere in the • Pan in straight lines, moving the Pan Location
Grid will move the Pan Location cursor rela- cursor using the Position rotary knobs with full
tive to where you click or take over with a movement of front, rear, and front-rear position
hardware panner. Panning does not jump to • Pan discretely between pairs of speakers.
the click position.
For example, when panning front-left to rear-right
To snap the Pan Location cursor to a location in in 3-Knob mode, audio will be heard from just
the Grid:
those two speakers (assuming full divergence is in
Command-Shift-click (Mac) or Control-Shift- effect).
click (Windows) at the location in the X/Y Grid.
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
result in audio being heard in some or all channels.
1 Adjust the Front and Rear Position knobs to set To do an AutoGlide automation pass:
the trajectory line. 1 Click the Panning Mode button until the
2 Rotate the Front/Rear Position knob to pan AutoGlide mode icon is displayed.
along the trajectory. The Pan Location cursor is
constrained to the white trajectory line.
Drag either end point (Front or Rear) of the tra- Panner Mode button set to AutoGlide mode
jectory line.
The Panning Mode button displays a slanted dotted
Adjust the Front or Rear Position controls. line that ends with a filled in dot (representing a
cursor) at its top right corner.
To change the current trajectory position (left-to-
right) and retain its current angles: 2 In the Mix or Edit window, click the Automa-
Drag the trajectory line (not its end points) to a tion Mode selector and select an Automation
new position. mode for the track you want to automate.
3 Press Play to begin playback.
Divergence
AutoGlide mode In the Panner Grid, the current divergence values
Panning Mode button (AutoGlide mode shown) are displayed using a purple outline.
Pan Location
cursor Panner Mode button set to Divergence Editing
Center % (Percentage)
In LCR, LCRS, 5.0, 5.1, 6.0, 6.1 7.0, 7.0 SDDS,
7.1, and 7.1 SDDS surround formats, the Center %
Front
Divergence controls whether there is a discrete center channel
for the track or a phantom center channel.
Adjust the Center Percentage knob. Adjust the Side Percentage knob.
As you reduce the Center Percentage value, the As you reduce the Side Percentage value, the
center speaker at the top of the Grid becomes less speakers at the sides of the Grid become less visi-
visible. At 0, the center speaker is completely in- ble. At 0, the side speakers are completely invisi-
visible, reflecting the setting for fully phantom ble, reflecting the setting for fully phantom center.
center.
LFE Enable
Some multichannel plug-ins, including the multi-
channel Dynamics III Compressor/Limiter, pro-
vide LFE Enable. This lets you enable or bypass
processing of the LFE channel if present.
[DigiLink] [MADI]
Pro Tools | HDX system
Figure 1. Example Pro Tools and Dolby Atmos hardware components and connections
Dolby also provides software-only solutions for 7.0.2 and 7.1.2 formats work in Pro Tools just like
rendering and mastering a Dolby Atmos mix, such any other multichannel surround format, but with
as the Dolby Atmos Renderer application that is the addition of two overhead channels. Because of
part of the Dolby Atmos Production Suite. the overhead channels, additional automatable
panning controls are provided (see “7.0.2, 7.1.2,
Contact Dolby for complete information and Object Panner” on page 1215).
about Dolby Atmos product solutions.
When mixing for Dolby Atmos, assign the output
of mono or stereo source tracks to a 7.1.2 (or 7.0.2)
7.0.2 and 7.1.2 Surround audio or Auxiliary Input track using a 7.1.2 (or
Formats in Pro Tools 7.0.2) bus to feed a bed mix. Use volume and pan
automation on the source tracks to mix them into
Pro Tools lets you create 7.0.2 and 7.1.2 surround
the final 7.1.2 (or 7.0.2) bed mix.
format input, output, insert, and bus paths in the
I/O Setup. Pro Tools can likewise create tracks
with 7.0.2 and 7.1.2 channel widths.
Configuring the Network
Once 7.0.2 or 7.1.2 paths have been created, they Connection for Pro Tools and
are available in any path input or output selector, a Dolby Atmos Renderer
such as track input and output assignments, sends,
The Atmos page in the Peripherals dialog lets you
and so on. configure the network connections required for send-
ing Dolby Atmos metadata between Pro Tools and
7.0.2 or 7.1.2 paths can also be used for internal
the Dolby Atmos Renderer. When properly config-
busses, monitoring, auditioning, and output meter-
ured, Pro Tools and the Renderer communicate with
ing. Dolby Atmos metadata over the network.
4 Specify the Renderer host in the RMU Host field Only Use a Supported Session Timecode Rate
by doing one of the following (if there is more For home theater workflows, the Dolby Atmos Ren-
than one Renderer on the network, make sure derer supports mixing and creating masters at the fol-
you specify the correct one for the Pro Tools lowing timecode rates: 23.976, 24, 25, 29.97, 29.97
system): drop frame, and 30 frames per second (fps).
• Enter the IP Address for the RMU (or rendering
For cinema workflows, the Dolby Atmos Renderer
and mastering workstation) on the network that
supports creating masters at 24 fps only. If mixing
has a MADI connection to your Pro Tools sys-
with a 24 fps session, set Audio Rate Pull Up/Down
tem. and Video Rate Pull Up/Down to None.
• Click the RMU Host drop-down selector to see
a list of RMUs (or other Dolby Atmos render- Set the Hardware Buffer Size to 1,024 Samples
ing and mastering workstations) identified on (Recommended)
the network and select one that has a MADI
connection to your Pro Tools system. Sessions used to author Dolby Atmos mixes tend to
be very large and processor intensive. Using the
• If your Pro Tools machine is using a software
highest available Hardware Buffer Size setting is rec-
Renderer (such as the Dolby Atmos Renderer ommended for optimal performance and reliability
application that is part of the Dolby Atmos on your Pro Tools system.
Production Suite), type localhost or select it
from the drop-down selector.
The Connection Status indicator lights solid if the
connection is successful. It flashes on and off if the
connection is not successful. You can still work on
the session even if not connected to the Renderer, but
Enable must be selected.
5 Enable Link Object and Audio Rendering if de-
sired (see “Link Object and Audio Recording” on
page 140).
1 Configure the Dolby Atmos Renderer. 4 Create a new 7.1.2 audio track.
2 In Pro Tools, ensure that Dolby Atmos is en- 5 Assign the 7.1.2 track Output to the 7.1.2 Out-
abled (Setup > Peripherals > Atmos). put path (“Bed Monitor”).
3 Open the I/O Setup (Setup > I/O) and click the 6 Assign the 7.1.2 track Input to the 7.1.2 internal
Bus tab. bus (“Bed Mix”).
4 Delete any existing busses. 7 Create as many new tracks as needed for source
audio.
To map busses to Objects in the I/O Setup: Mono bus mapped to Object 11, and Mono sub-paths
of stereo bus mapped to Objects 12 and 13
1 Open the I/O Setup (Setup > I/O) and click the
Bus tab.
1 Open the I/O Setup (Setup > I/O) and click the Select (or deselect) View > Edit Window Views >
Output tab. Object.
2 In the Output page, ensure that there is an avail- From the Edit Window View selector, enable
able output path with the channel format that you (or disable) Object.
want. If not, create one.
3 From the Object Fold Down Path selector, output
path you want to use to monitor panned object au-
dio
Master Object assigned, Set by default if no other tracks are already assigned to this
sending metadata object, use this mode to control an object on the renderer.
Record Object assigned, Use this mode in a re-recording workflow to record pan
record mode automation sent from a Master panner on the network.
Off/bypass Object assigned, no Use this mode to mix multiple tracks of audio to the same
metadata being sent object output path. In this workflow, one track set as Master
controls the panning, while one or more other tracks with
the same object output path assignment but set to
Off/bypass feed audio to the object output path but without
sending pan metadata.
Figure 2. Output window in standard (2D) view for a mono track assigned to a 7.1.2 bus (left) and an Object (right)
Theater Mode
The Pro Tools Panning Mode selector provides the Theater option, which is only available with the 7.0.2, 7.1.2,
and Object panners. When this mode is selected, the panner displays a 3D/Theater view.
Height Mode
Sets the Height mode for the track. Choices include
FreeForm mode (manual height adjustment), and
Wedge, Sphere, and Ceiling modes (automatic height
modes). Height mode can be automated.
Zones
The Zones selector sets the speaker Zone (Zone
Mask). Choices include All, F/S (front and side), F/R
(front and rear), FC/R (front, center and rear), Front,
and Rear. Speaker icons surrounding the panner grid
appear as appropriate for the current Zone.
Size indicator in standard 2D view
Speaker Snap
You can toggle Dolby Atmos Speaker Snap on or
Zones selector off for tracks assigned to an Object.
To select the Zone:
To enable (or disable) Speaker Snap:
Right-click, or click and hold on the Zones selec-
tor and set the Zone. Click the Speaker Snap icon to toggle on/off.
Speaker Snap
Speaker Snap icon (shown disabled)
Across the top of the Output window are the Audio The Pan Dot control in Output windows, and in the
Output Path selector, the Object Output Path selec- graphic panner in I/O view on tracks in both the Edit
tor, and the Object Control button. and Mix windows changes color to show whether
track audio follows the selected output bus path
Object Control Mode button shown in the I/O view or the selected object output
path shown in the Object view as well whether the
Object Output Path selector
Track Automation mode is set to Read, any Write
mode, or is Off.
Pan Dot Color Indication
Pan Dot Automation
Object/Bus
Color Mode
Height mode and Height Enable
Bus Read
Available only on tracks assigned to an object output Green
path, these controls let you assign the track to a dif-
Object Read
ferent Object and configure its Object Control mode,
respectively. These controls are also available in Ob- Orange
ject view in the Edit and Mix windows. Any Any Write mode
Red
Object Output Path Selector
Any Off
Click the Object Output Path selector to assign the
Yellow
track to an Object (see “Object Path Selector” on
page 1213). Object, but
Gray off/bypassed
Toggling Object/Bus Assignment
About Object Bypass
Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Windows)
the Object Output Path selector or the pan dot to tog- Bypass can be used to establish a workflow where
gle the track audio output between the selected Ob- multiple source tracks are assigned to the same object
ject path or selected track output (output bus). Tog- but only one of them is sending pan metadata to con-
gling between object output and bus output trol the panning on the Renderer. For more informa-
assignments can be automated (see “Bus/Object Tog- tion, see “Dolby Atmos PEC/DIR Recorder Work-
gle” on page 1213). flow Example” on page 1223.
Object Control
To import object tracks from another Pro Tools can import a .wav (ADM BWF) file cre-
session: ated by the Dolby Atmos Conversion Tool into a
1 Choose File > Import > Session Data. session with all audio and metadata converted to
pan automation.
2 Navigate to the session from which you want to
import object tracks, select it and click Open.
To import an ADM file into Pro Tools:
3 In the Tracks section of the Import Session Data
1 Create a new session.
dialog, identify the tracks you want to import
(Source) and specify the Destination for each 2 Choose File > Import > Session Data.
track (either create a new object track or replace 3 Navigate to and select the .wav (ADM BWF) file
an existing object track). you want to import.
4 In the Track Data to Import selector, ensure that 4 Click Open.
the Object Assignment and Toggle Setting op-
tion is enabled (this option is selected by default).
5 Configure the rest of the Import Session Data dia-
log as desired and click OK.
You can also import audio from .wav (ADM Configuring the Pro Tools
BWF) files using the Import Audio command
Recorder
or by dragging and dropping the file into a To configure the Pro Tools recorder system:
session. However, only the audio is imported.
1 Choose Setup > Peripherals, click to display the
Atmos tab, then do the following:
For more information about .wav (ADM • If necessary, establish communication with the
BWF) files, contact Dolby. Dolby Atmos Renderer (see “Configuring the
Network Connection for Pro Tools and a Dolby
Atmos Renderer” on page 1205).
• Disable Link Object and Audio Recording only
if you do not want to record object metadata
along with object audio.
When PEC/Direct Style Input Monitoring is 5 When ready, punch in/out on the record tracks.
enabled, the Pro Tools Input Monitor switch
label lights green and shows P (for PEC,
playing back from disk), or is unlit and shows
D (for Direct, input monitoring). When this
setting is not enabled, the Input Monitor
switch label shows I (Input) either lit green
when Input mode is active, or unlit when
playing back from disk.
Pro Tools | HD software provides support for 1st-, 1st Order Ambisonics correspond to physical mi-
2nd-, and 3rd-Order Ambisonics channel formats crophone pickup patterns using an omni-direc-
(4-, 9-, and 16-channel formats respectively). Im- tional microphone in conjunction with figure-eight
port Ambisonics audio recordings, record Ambi- capsules oriented along three spatial axes. Miking
sonics audio in Pro Tools using Ambisonics for 1st Order Ambisonics is a three-dimensional
miking techniques, or use supported 3rd-party extension of common Mid/Side stereo (M/S)
AAX Ambisonics panning, and encoding and de- miking techniques that adds additional difference
coding plug-ins to create your own Ambisonics channels for height and depth. This results in
mixes from source audio tracks. B-format audio (WXYZ), or 1st Order Ambison-
ics, which consists of four discrete audio channels:
W for sound pressure (omni-directional—the M in
What is Ambisonics? M/S), X for the front-minus-back sound pressure
gradient, Y for left-minus-right (the S in M/S), and
Ambisonics is a “full-sphere” surround sound Z for up-minus-down.
technique that is capable of representing sound
sources that are stationary or in motion, and at vari- 1st Order Ambisonics is most commonly used for
able distances from above, below, and all around horizontal-only surround because of positional er-
the listener. More interestingly though, higher or- rors and shading effects that result from adding a
der Ambisonics can represent sound sources that fourth microphone. Higher-order Ambisonics pro-
seem to remain fixed in a sound field while the lis- vide greater positional resolution of sound sources
tener’s perspective changes with their head posi- in the sound field. Higher-order difference signals
tion (as opposed to “head-locked” stereo mixes). are derived from several spatially distributed (usu-
Ambisonics audio mixes are used for 3D audio in ally omni-directional) capsules using sophisticated
virtual reality and gaming applications, as well as digital signal processing. Higher-order Ambison-
360 video. However, the possibilities for Ambi- ics can also be rendered from channel-based audio
sonics are only just beginning to be explored com- recordings (such as mono and stereo) strictly using
mercially. Ambisonics plug-in processing in Pro Tools.
Selecting 1st Order Ambisonics as the format for a new bus path
4 Click Create.
5 Click OK to close the I/O Setup.
Figure 5. Ambisonics bus paths with standard channel orders in the I/O Setup
The individual channels of Ambisonics formats do not correspond to speaker signal mappings like other
surround formats (such as 5.1—L C R Ls Rs LFE). In most cases, use Ambisonics panning, encoder and
decoder plug-ins to accurately mix and monitor Ambisonics mixes over headphones. However, even
though Ambisonics formats do not directly map to common channel-based surround speaker configura-
tions, various alternate speaker configurations can be used for the playback of Ambisonics mixes.
Do not use multi-mono plug-ins following any Ambisonics plug-ins. Likewise, any plug-in processing
of source tracks should only be inserted before Ambisonics plug-ins.
Figure 6. Mono audio mixed in 2nd Order Ambisonics to stereo for headphone monitoring
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 Time-
code. 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 Command+2 (Mac) or Control+2
(Windows) to open the Session Setup win- To show Timecode Settings section:
dow. 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
Freewheel
The choices in the Freewheel section let you con-
figure how Pro Tools will freewheel, or continue
playback if timecode is interrupted or corrupted.
Use these options to protect against errors that can
occur if your SMPTE timecode source has “drop
Redefine External Timecode Offset dialog outs” or temporary lost signals.
2 In the Redefine External Timecode Offset None No freewheel is applied.
dialog, enter the offset you want in the Desired
Timecode Position field. Frames Sets a number of frames to freewheel,
from 1 to 120 frames. This value defaults to 8
3 Click OK. frames, which is the recommended setting for most
applications.
Sample Offset (Sync Offset)
Jam Sync Lets Pro Tools trigger synchronization
This field creates an offset that lets you fine-tune to incoming timecode, and continue to play back
the point at which Pro Tools synchronizes relative even if timecode input is completely interrupted. It
to incoming timecode. Use this to compensate for can be useful if timecode is damaged, or has been
timing differences between various SMPTE-to- accidentally erased from your source tape.
MIDI Timecode converters or analog-to-digi-
tal/digital-to-analog converters. For example, a
value of –50 makes an event in Pro Tools occur 50 Pull Up/Down
samples before the same event in incoming LTC, When Pro Tools is used in conjunction with a
MTC, VITC, or Serial Timecode. However, this SYNC HD, this option lets you “pull up” or “pull
does not apply to synchronization for Satellite sys- down” the current sample rate.
tems.
For more information on applying pull factors in
The Sample Offset field allows a range of plus or Pro Tools, see “Pull Up and Pull Down” on
minus roughly one frame's length in samples. For page 1243.
instance, if the session is at 48 kHz and the Time-
code Rate is 24 FPS, the range is +/–2002 samples Pull up and pull down are applied differently
(1 frame). in different workflows. Make sure you check
each project’s specific workflow before you
begin your work.
Synchronization and MachineControl system set- If you are generating timecode, it is a good practice
tings are enabled in the Pro Tools Peripherals dia- to stripe your timecode beginning at 01:00:00:00
log (Setup > Peripherals). These settings are sys- (subtracting time for the head format, such as ini-
tem settings, and remain constant regardless of the tial black, bars and tone, or logos). This prevents
particular session you are working on. Configure problems that can occur with some synchronizers
these settings before opening a session. when the striped timecode crosses from
23:59:59:29 to 00:00:00:00 (commonly referred to
MachineControl is supported on HDX and as the “midnight” boundary).
HD Native systems only.
To set a SMPTE Start Time for your session:
Other settings are configured in the Session Setup
1 Choose Setup > Session.
window, such as the session Timecode rate, the
Feet+Frames rate, the session start frame, and time 2 Enter a SMPTE frame number in the Session
display format. These settings are session-specific Start field.
settings. These settings can only be configured
when a session is open. To capture an incoming SMPTE address as the
session start time:
Pro Tools displays timecode values in the cur- Press Command+2 (Mac) or Control+2
rently selected SMPTE frame rate. (Windows) 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 1244. • 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.
Plug-Ins and Pull Up and Pull Clicking the Online button in the Transport
Down
The Online button flashes while Pro Tools waits
For proper operation at larger (4%) pull rates, for a SMPTE frame to trigger playback. When
plug-ins must utilize sample clock instead of an timecode is received, playback begins and the On-
absolute time clock. All Pro Tools audio plug-ins line button becomes highlighted. The Edit Selec-
are based on sample clock. tion indicators in the Edit window, and the Incom-
ing Time field in the Session Setup window
display the incoming timecode.
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 1236.)
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 1250.
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 Setting Minimum Sync Delay
location. Lock-up time delay is the initial amount of prime
time your system’s devices need to achieve syn-
chronization “lock.” This amount varies for each
device. Pro Tools lock up delay is set by entering a
value for Minimum Sync Delay in the Synchroniza-
tion preferences. The lowest value available is 15
frames. Find the shortest possible lock-up time that
your equipment can operate at consistently, and set
1252 Pro Tools Reference Guide
this as the Minimum Sync Delay. On systems utiliz-
ing MachineControl, enabling the Use Serial Choose Setup > Machine Track Arming
Timecode setting in the Session Setup window will Profiles to configure your system, and choose
make machines lock up much faster. (Serial time- Window > Machine Track Arming to display
code requires both the SYNC HD and external de- the Machine Track Arming window.
vices to be locked to house video reference.)
Press Command+Option+Control+J (Mac)
To set a Minimum Sync Delay:
or Control+Alt+Start+J (Windows) to en-
1 Choose Setup > Preferences, and click the able (or disable Remote mode. If using a
Synchronization tab. D-Command or D-Control work surface,
press the 9-pin Remote button.
2 Enter a number of frames in the Minimum Sync
Delay field.
For information on remote track arming with
3 Click OK to close the Preferences dialog.
MachineControl, see the MachineControl
Configuring Minimum Sync Delay for External Guide.
MMC Devices Locked to House Sync
Spot dialog
Select (or deselect) View > Clip > Original Time User Time Stamp dialog
Stamp. 3 Enter a new SMPTE time by doing one of the
following:
Creating a User Time Stamp • Enter the numbers manually (with the help of the
If you want to create a separate user-defined arrow keys).
SMPTE time stamp, you can use the Time Stamp • To capture the incoming timecode address, click
command in the Clips List menu. This command the Current Timecode button (or press the Equal
lets you select a clip (or clips) and redefine its key).
SMPTE time stamp. The Original Time Stamp and • To enter the start time of the current on-screen
the User-Time Stamp are then stored with your selection, click the Current Selection button.
session.
4 Click OK.
When audio is first recorded, the User Time Stamp
will match the Original Time Stamp, but you can This command can be used in “batch mode” to set
change the User Time Stamp at any time using the new time stamps for several clips at a time. To do
Time Stamp command. This feature is particularly this, select several clips and choose the Time
useful in post production situations where the Stamp command. One after another, a dialog will
SMPTE timecode on video “work prints” often open for each clip, allowing you to quickly enter
changes from one edit revision to another. new values.
To time stamp a clip (or clips) with a new SMPTE Once entered, the user time stamps can be dis-
frame number: played in all clips currently placed in tracks.
1 In a track, select the clip that you want to time To show (or hide) User Time Stamps in clips:
stamp.
Select (or deselect) View > Clip > User Time
2 From the Clips List menu, choose the Time Stamp.
Stamp command.
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 lets you import multichannel audio Digital Field Recorders
files and metadata recorded by field recorders.
A field recorder, also known as a hard disk loca-
(Field recorder workflows are not available with
tion audio recorder, is a device used by a produc-
Pro Tools Software.)
tion sound mixer during a film or video shoot to
make a multichannel recording of multiple micro-
phone inputs recorded simultaneously.
Field Recorder and
Production Workflow Depending on the capabilities and settings of a
Terminology field recorder, multichannel recordings can in-
clude one or more tracks (up to 32) and are saved
Before working with field recorders in
as monophonic or polyphonic audio files on a hard
Pro Tools HD, you may want to review a brief
drive, DVD-RAM, or Flash media.
glossary of common field recorder and production
terms. Multichannel recordings made by a field recorder
should be encoded with start and end time stamps
Field Recorder Terminology representing SMPTE timecode or linear timecode
(also known as LTC). Most field recorders also al-
The following terminology applies to field record- low manual entry of additional types of metadata,
ers in general: including Channel Name/Number, Scene, Take,
Circled Take, User Bits, and more.
Metadata
Pro Tools can import monophonic and polyphonic
Metadata is used to describe the following:
files and certain types of metadata entered on field
• Information embedded in a media file. This may recorders.
include scene, take, sample rate, bit depth, exter-
nal clip names, the name of the videotape from Production Sound Mix
which the media file was captured, and even
For each multichannel recording made by a field
timecode values.
recorder, the production sound mixer may desig-
• Information embedded in Pro Tools sessions or nate a production sound mix comprising either a
other sequences, including what files are used, representative channel or a mixdown of other se-
where they appear in a timeline, and automation. lected channels in the recording.
• For AAF or OMF sequences, information about
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
• Raw Production source files representing multi- Production Source Audio in Timeline Auto-
channel recordings from a field recorder Synced to Edited Production Sound Mix The
production source audio in the Avid Bin has been
You will receive these files either separately (from auto-synced to the edited located sound mix, and
the Avid video editor and production sound mixer) all audio channels reside in the Avid Timeline.
or together as part of an AAF or OMF sequence ex-
port including raw production source audio (from When you import this type of sequence into
the Avid video editor). Pro Tools, the edited video, edited production
sound mix, and all production source audio will be
available to import directly into the Timeline.
Separate Deliveries of Source
Files Production Source Audio Auto-Synced and Re-
sides Only in the Avid Bin In an Avid video edit-
When you receive an AAF or OMF sequence from
ing application, the raw production source audio
the Avid editor and raw production source audio
has been auto-synced to the edited production
from the production sound mixer, you import the
sound mix, but all audio channels reside only in the
sequence, then either import the raw production
Avid Bin.
source audio, or instruct Pro Tools to search for
matching audio outside the session. In this case, the AAF or OMF sequence does
not contain or reference the production
Once the production audio is imported or
source audio when imported into Pro Tools.
located, Pro Tools will be able to match them
The Avid editor must deliver the production
together.
files to Pro Tools separately. The Avid editor
See “Importing an AAF or OMF Sequence may either deliver the production audio files
into Pro Tools” on page 1269 and “Import- from the Avid or OMFI Media Files folder, or
ing Raw Production Source Audio Directly they may deliver the raw production source
into Pro Tools” on page 1270. audio files, which have not passed through
Media Composer.
When you use Pro Tools to import raw production 2 Select the Processing tab.
source audio that was not exported from an Avid 3 In the Import section, find the Don’t Convert
video editing application—such as audio delivered Sample Rates on Import preference setting.
separately from an AAF or OMF sequence—that
audio may be offset with the audio in the AAF or 4 Enable that preference to activate real-time pull
OMF sequence by as much as half a frame. down for 48.048 kHz audio files.
2 Click Field Recorder Guide Track. • Same clip name prefix (such as Audio File or
Audio File_01)
3 Repeat for each field recorder track in the
• Consecutively-numbered clip name suffix, from
session.
A1 through A8
Each mono field recorder track must be
For example, the clips Audio File_01.A1 and Au-
designated to enable the special Pro Tools
dio File_01.A2 would be grouped as a multichan-
field recorder features for that track.
nel clip in the Clips List.
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 1275.
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 1279).
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
In a film workflow, the Avid editor batch digitizes 7 When you are finished editing, export the edited
the telecine videotape to digital video and audio sequence as an AAF or OMF sequence so that it
files in order to edit them. can be imported into Pro Tools.
The following describes an overview of the steps After loading the digital video storage into the
that are necessary in these workflows: camera, the camera operator gives it a unique
name. The production sound mixer must enter that
1 Set up before shooting.
exact name in the Tape BEXT or iXML metadata
2 Shoot. field inside the Broadcast WAV file.
3 Digitize video in Avid video editing application To ensure that metadata are preserved for
(video workflow only) or import digital video the Pro Tools editor, it is critical to enter the
files directly into Avid video editing application Tape name character for character. For ex-
(fully non-linear workflow only). ample, if the metadata was T001 (with two
Following these steps ensures that timecode and zeroes), enter T001 with two zeroes—not T01
other metadata are preserved from the moment with one zero or T0001 with three zeroes.
shooting begins to the final delivery of source files
to the Pro Tools editor. Shooting (Video and Fuly Non-
Linear Workflows)
Shooting proceeds as follows:
Setting Up Before Shooting 1
In a video workflow, the Avid editor digitizes the To import video into the Avid video editing
videotape to digital video and audio files in order application:
to edit them. Before doing so, however, the Avid
1 In the Avid video editing application, create a
editor must name the tape.
Bin.
To digitize a videotape to digital source files: 2 Import the video files directly into the Bin.
1 Load the videotape into the Avid system. 3 When the Disk Label Import dialog appears, en-
2 When prompted to name the videotape, enter ter the exact Tape name used by the camera op-
the exact Tape name used by the camera opera- erator and the production sound mixer.
tor and the production sound mixer.
To ensure that metadata are preserved for
To ensure that metadata are preserved for the Pro Tools editor, it is critical to enter the
the Pro Tools editor, it is critical to enter the Tape name character for character. For ex-
Tape name character for character. For ex- ample, if the metadata was T001 (with two
ample, if the metadata was T001 (with two zeroes), enter T001 with two zeroes—not T01
zeroes), enter T001 with two zeroes—not T01 with one zero or T0001 with three zeroes.
with one zero or T0001 with three zeroes.
4 Use the Avid video editing application to edit
3 Digitize the videotape loaded into the Avid. audio and video.
4 When the digitize is complete, use the Avid 5 When you are finished editing, export the edited
video editing application to edit audio and sequence as an AAF or OMF sequence so that it
video. 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 for Avid DX and DNxIO hardware. 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 only available
Use the Video Quality selector to set the video with Avid Mojo and Nitris DX.
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 To bypass the Video Import Options dialog when
importing video into Pro Tools:
existing video tracks will be deleted before
Pro Tools imports video into the session. Option-drag (Mac) or Alt-drag (Windows) one
or more video files from a Workspace browser,
Remove Existing Video Clips When selected, all
Windows Explorer, or Mac Finder into the Clips
existing video clips will be removed from the
List or the Timeline.
Timeline and the Clips List before Pro Tools im-
ports video into the session (but left on disk). This
option is useful if you want to import a video file
into the session with a video frame rate that does Importing Audio from a
not match the current video engine rate. QuickTime Video Clip
For QuickTime Video clips, Pro Tools lets you
See “Video Engine Rate” on page 1296 for
right-click on selected clips to import the audio
more information.
from the QuickTime movie clips even if you im-
Clear Main Video Track Playlist When selected, ported QuickTime video without its associated au-
all existing video clips in the currently-selected dio.
playlist on the main video track will be removed
To import audio from a QuickTime video clip:
from the track before Pro Tools imports video into
the session. No other playlists, video tracks, or 1 Right-click on a QuickTime video clip in a
video clips will be affected. (This option is only video track or in the Clips List.
enabled if the main video track is selected as the 2 Choose Import Audio From Movie.
Destination option.)
3 In the resulting dialog, specify the location
where you want to save the audio and click
Open.
The Clips List menu provides commands that let • Selecting within video frame boundaries (see
you show or hide video clips in the Clips List. “Selecting within Video Frame Boundaries” on
page 1304)
To show or hide video clips in the Clips List: • Selecting and editing across multiple tracks (see
1 In the Edit window, click the Clips List menu, “Selecting and Editing Across Multiple Audio
and choose Show. and Video Tracks” on page 1303)
2 Select the Video option to show or hide video • Link or unlink track and Edit selections
clips. • Auto-scroll video tracks
• Loop playback
• Video Universe window (see “Browsing Video
in the Video Universe Window” on page 1307)
• Nudging (quantized to frame boundaries) • Waveform Repair with the Pencil tool
Managing Clips
• Insert space (see “Using the Insert Silence Com-
mand to Insert Space in Video Tracks” on
page 1304)
• Compact Selected (nothing happens to the
video, and at least one audio track must be se-
lected)
• All naming and displaying of clip commands
Pro Tools does not let you select, play back, or edit To insert space into a video track:
a partial video frame. The following rules apply
1 Make a selection in a track or tracks. The length
when selecting or editing video:
of the selection determines the duration of the
• When you make a selection in a video track, the space inserted.
selection boundaries follow the current Grid set-
2 Choose Edit > Insert Silence.
ting but round to the nearest video frame bound-
ary, as follows:
• If the selection includes more than half of a
video frame, the full video frame is included
Renaming Video Disk Files
within the selection. When renaming audio clips in either the Timeline
• If the selection includes less than half of a or the Clips List, you have the option of also re-
video frame, that video frame is not included naming the audio files on disk. However, this does
in a video selection. not apply to video files on disk.
• When you paste a selection containing video to a To rename video files on disk, you must rename
video track, the insertion point automatically them in a Workspace browser or in Windows Ex-
aligns with the closest video frame boundary. plorer or Mac Finder.
When you paste audio and video simultane- Changes made in the operating system will
ously, this video frame re-alignment may re- not automatically update the information
sult in the audio not being positioned displayed in the Workspace browser.
exactly where you placed it. A warning
dialog displays when this occurs.
Video Clip Groups
Using the Insert Silence (Pro Tools HD Only)
Command to Insert Space in
Video Tracks You can include video clips within clip groups for
the following operations:
The Insert Silence command lets you make a selec-
tion on a track (or tracks) and insert precisely that • Creating clip groups
amount of space. You can also select across video • Creating multitrack clip groups (including audio
and audio tracks, and use the Insert Silence com- tracks)
mand to insert audio silence and space simultane-
• Editing clip groups
ously.
• Creating fades and crossfades for audio files in
clip groups
• Importing and exporting clip group files
For information on enabling (or disabling) 3 With the Selector tool, click in the audio track
video scrubbing with video hardware, see where you want playback to begin. To shuttle on
“Enable Hardware During Scrub” on two tracks, Shift-click in a second audio track.
page 1287.
4 Press the Control (Mac) or Start key (Windows)
To scrub a video track: and a number on the numeric keypad: 0–9 (9 is
fastest, 5 is normal speed, and 0 stops shuttling).
1 Select the Scrubber tool.
Once Shuttle Lock mode is initiated, Fast Forward
2 Click in the video track and drag the Scrubber.
and Rewind become highlighted in the Transport
To scrub with finer precision, press the Com- window.
mand key while scrubbing. 5 Press additional keys to change the playback
speed, or press Plus (+) or Minus (–) to switch
the playback direction (plus for forward, minus
for backward).
To exit Shuttle Lock mode, do one of the following: To increase or decrease the size of video frames in
the Video Universe window:
Click Stop in the Transport.
Right-click (Windows or Mac) or Control-click
Press the Spacebar. (Mac) anywhere in the Universe, and select In-
crease or Decrease.
1 Move the cursor over the top half of any video 1 Move the cursor over the bottom half of any
frame until it becomes a zoom tool. video frame until it becomes a selector tool.
2 Do one of the following: 2 Do one of the following:
• To move the beginning of a video clip to the far • To place the cursor at the beginning of a video
left of the Timeline while maintaining the cur- clip, click the video frame representing the video
rent zoom resolution in the Edit window, click clip.
the video frame representing the clip once. • To select an entire video clip from start to end,
• To zoom in on a video clip so that it fills the en- double-click the video frame representing that
tire Edit window, double-click the video frame clip.
representing the clip. • To select one or more entire clips from start to
• To zoom a range of selected clips so that they fill end, drag the video frames representing the
the Edit window, drag on the video frames that video clips.
represent the clips.
If the Edit window does not display the
selected video clips, it will automatically
Selecting Ranges in the Video scroll to show the beginning of the selection.
Universe
When you move the cursor over the bottom half of Selecting Zoom Resolutions and
a video frame in the Video Universe, it displays Ranges Simultaneously in the
and behaves as a selector tool. This tool lets you Video Universe
select ranges within one or more video clips in the
When you move the cursor over a video frame in
Edit window.
the Video Universe while pressing Option (Mac)
or Alt (Windows), the cursor appears as a selector
tool. This tool lets you zoom and select ranges si-
multaneously.
QuickTime Settings
Movie Settings dialog
Pro Tools lets you transcode video to QuickTime
5 Click OK.
using the QuickTime Settings options (the encoder
plug-in for QuickTime must be installed). When 6 In the QuickTime Bounce dialog, configure the
bouncing to QuickTime, if the video in the session other settings as desired.
is not a valid video resolution or codec for Quick-
7 Click Bounce.
Time, you are prompted to use the QuickTime Set-
tings to transcode the video to a valid QuickTime When bouncing to QuickTime from Pro Tools,
resolution and codec. the Sounds settings in the Movie Settings dia-
log are ignored.
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 60, The following is required for each Pro Tools HD
“Pro Tools Video Satellite” and system on the network:
Chapter 61, “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.
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
1 Choose Setup > Peripherals and click Satellites. 2 Under Administrator, declare the systems you
want to use as satellites from the System 2-12
2 In the System Name text box, enter a name for pop-up menus.
the system.
3 Click OK.
3 Under Mode, choose Administrator.
The administrator and declared satellite systems
4 Under Administrator, choose the current system
appear in the Synchronization section of the Trans-
from the System 1 pop-up menu.
port. The display resizes to show all available sys-
5 Click OK. tems.
3 Make sure the systems are linked. AFL and PFL Modes With Solo Link, AFL and
PFL solos on a linked system have no effect on
Using Solo Link without Linking other systems.
Transport Controls
An AFL-soloed track on a linked system can be
If you are synchronizing multiple Pro Tools sys- muted by a Solo In Place on another system. To
tems to an external synchronizer, you can still take avoid this, use PFL instead of AFL.
advantage of the Solo Link feature.
Clearing Errors on Linked Systems If one or more satellite systems on the network en-
counters a problem and the network becomes un-
By default, linked systems continue to operate if stable, Pro Tools lets you reset all Satellites on the
one of the systems experiences an error and its network to get back up and running as quickly as
transport stops. The Satellite Link button for the possible.
remote system reporting the error highlights red on
all other systems in the network. Any error mes- To reset all satellite systems on a network, do one
sage on a linked system appears in the tool tip for of the following:
the corresponding Satellite Link button in the Command-Option-Control-Click (Mac) or
Transport. Control-Alt-Start-Click (Windows) the Satellite
Link button in the Transport of any Pro Tools
You can set each system independently to stop
Satellite system on the network.
playback when it encounters an error.
In the Satellite page of the Peripherals window
To clear an error dialog on a remote linked system: (Setup > Peripherals > Satellite), click the Re-
In the Transport on any other system in the net- set Network button, and then click OK.
work, Shift-click the Satellite Link button for
the affected system.
Using Satellite Link with
To set a linked system to stop the transport on all MachineControl
systems when an error occurs:
MachineControl Deck Control Mode can be used
Make sure the DAE Errors Stop All Linked Sys-
to operate a 9-pin synchronization device (such as
tems option is selected in the Synchronization
a Soundmaster ATOM or a CB Electronics 9-Pin
Preferences.
synchronizer), allowing Pro Tools to act as a “code
To set all systems to stop the transport when an er- only master” for systems controlled by the syn-
ror occurs, make sure this option is selected on all chronizer.
linked systems.
Satellite Link lets you use MachineControl on one
Playback and Modal Dialogs
linked Pro Tools system at a time.
When one linked Pro Tools system is already
Linked systems stop playback (or prevent play-
online and you go online with another linked
back from starting) if a modal dialog (such as the
Pro Tools system, Satellite Link will automatically
I/O Setup, Hardware Setup, or Playback Engine di-
take the first system offliine.
alog) is opened on any linked system.
Any linked Pro Tools systems set to
To avoid interrupting playback on another “Transport=Pro Tools” will follow Satellite Link
system when opening a modal dialog, transport commands.
unlink the system before opening the dialog.
Any linked Pro Tools systems set to
“Transport=Machine” cannot transmit Satellite
Link transport commands, but will follow Satellite
Link transport commands if they are offline.
To set up the Pro Tools Video Satellite system: The administrator Pro Tools system does not
See “Configuring Satellite Systems” on respond to playback commands from the
page 1319. Pro Tools Video Satellite system. Transport
commands must originate from the main
Pro Tools system.
Declaring the Pro Tools Video
Satellite System
Link Controls
When the Pro Tools Video Satellite system has
When a Pro Tools system has been declared as a
been configured as a satellite, it becomes available
satellite, the following controls appear in the
on the administrator system. The satellite system is
Transport window:
then declared by the Administrator.
Link Button Controls the link status of the local
To declare the satellite system on the
system.
administrator system:
See “Adding Satellites to the Network” on Satellite Link Buttons control the link status of the
page 1320. other satellite systems. On every system, one of
these buttons corresponds to that system’s main
The systems appear, in order, from left to right, in Link button.
the Synchronization section of the Transport win-
dow. Link buttons highlight to indicate linked status.
Linked systems will stop playback if a modal dia- 1 In Pro Tools, go to Setup > Session. The
log box (such as the I/O Setup, Hardware Setup, or Session Setup window appears.
Playback Engine dialog) is opened on any linked 2 In the Timecode Offsets section, compensate
system. The corresponding Satellite Link button for the offset between Pro Tools and a Pro Tools
for that system highlights red on all other systems. Video Satellite as follows:
.
A system cannot play back when a modal • If the start time of the video clip in video satellite
dialog box is open. falls before the start time of the administrator
Pro Tools session, type a positive timecode
Spotting Video to the Pro Tools value into the Satellite Offset field.
Timeline • If the start time of the video clip in video satellite
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 Compensating for Monitor-
spotted to the desired start time by matching time- Induced Output Delay
code or feet+frames values. Many monitors add a delay to the video output of
one or more frames. You can compensate for this
Compensating for Different delay by advancing the video output by the neces-
Start Times in Pro Tools and a sary number of frames.
Pro Tools Video Satellite
To set the number of frames to offset video output:
In some cases, you may want the Pro Tools Video
Satellite system to be offset from the administrator 1 On the video satellite system, choose Setup >
system to accommodate for external deck offsets Video Sync Offset.
or differences in session start time. 2 In the Video Sync Offset field, type a positive
You can control the amount of offset by changing value that matches the amount of delay in the
the Timecode Offset parameters on the Pro Tools monitors. You may need to try a few different
Video Satellite system. settings.
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 devices,
Press Shift-Alt-L (Windows) to toggle the link 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.
Source Record
Track Track Record Enable Preview
button button
Index 1347
ASIO 8 Create Individual Files command 903
aspect ratios (Video window) 1305 Default Handle Length preferences 121
Assign Tags pop-up window 320 Entire Selection mode 904
Assignments View (Sends View option) 1033 File Mode selector 903
Attributes (Group List) command 264 Handle Length setting 907
attributes (groups) 268 multichannel processing 907
Audio During Fast Forward/Rewind option 106, 463 Overwrite File command 903
audio file formats 154, 1157 Playlist command 902
audio files 11 Preview 906
compacting 646 Preview Volume 906
default names 490 Render button 907
importing 382 Reverse button 907
mixed file types 166 Selection Reference selector 902
Audio Files Conform to Session Tempo 300 Target button 905
Audio Files Conform to Session Tempo button 325 Use in Playlist button 903
Audio Files folder 155 using 908
audio format 429, 1237 Whole File button 907
Audio Media options 403 AudioSuite window 901
on export 429 Audition Paths selector 58
on import 414 auditioning
Audio MIDI Setup (AMS) (Mac) 92, 141 clips in the Clip List 58, 279
Audio Pull Up and Pull Down 1243, 1335 fades 651
Audio Pull Up/Down setting 1336 in browsers 323
Audio Pull-Up and Edit Play Rate 1336 MIDI notes 727
audio signal paths 50 pre/post-roll 468
Audio Track RecordLock option 109, 545 programs 747
audio tracks 10 selection start and end points 468
5.1 format 1167 takes 516
and Output format 1179 Auto Accept Adjust Bounds option 112
and surround sessions 1177 Auto Backup option 107
bouncing to disk 1154 Auto button (plug-ins) 1073
channel strips 213 Auto buttons
creating a tempo map for 837 upload, download, and download all shared
disabling Elastic Audio 943 tracks 366
enabling Elastic Audio 942 Auto Input Monitoring mode 498
loop recording 515 Auto Insert Default Plug-Ins preference 114
placing audio in multichannel tracks 1178 Auto Match Pull Factors 1244
punch recording 511 Auto Rename Clip List command 282
recording multiple 505 auto-created clips 564
signal flow 1014 hiding 284
track controls 217 renaming 281
Waveform View 565 AutoFades 660
Audio Zoom In button 586 AutoGlide mode 1198
Audio Zoom Out button 586 AutoGlide Time preference 116, 1198
AudioSuite menu 209 Auto-Height Overrides Height Automation option
AudioSuite plug-ins 901, 902, 908, 1065 1219
Bypass button 906 AutoJoin
Clip by Clip mode 904 command 1097
Clip List command 902 indicator 1098
Create Continuous File command 904
Index 1349
Auto-Spot Clips command 1256 Collection Mode 713
Auxiliary Inputs 14, 211 conforming clips 708
channel strips 214 defining a selection 696
monitoring and mixing 1044 detecting transients 698
signal flow 1015 DigiGroove templates 705
track controls 217 edit smoothing 711
Avid Application Manager 47 extrapolation 706
Avid Artist Community 5 generating Bar|Beat Markers 704
Avid Audio Engine (AAE) 8 groove templates 705
Avid Audio Forums command 200 Scroll Next 703
Avid Master Account 150 separating clips 707
signing in 150 system requirements 694
signing out 150 templates 705
Avid Video Engine (AVE) 92, 1285 Trigger Pad 707
Avid Video Satellite 1331 window 695
with multiple tracks 708
B Bed Audio (or Bed Material) 1203
Back and Play command 464 Big Counter window 461
Back command 464 Bi-Phase/Tach
Back/Forward Amount 107, 464 pulses-per-frame setting 133
Back/Forward commands 464 Wiring setting 132
backing up sessions automatically 107, 156 bit depth 153, 429, 1236
Backup to Cloud 157, 180 Blocks View
bank select 744 audio track 236
Bar|Beat Markers video track 1289
and tempo events 838 Bounce
audio with varying tempos 839 track 975
editing 839 Bounce to Disk command 1151, 1154, 1156, 1163
from Identify Beat command 837 bit depth options 1160
generated with Beat Detective 704 channel format options 1159
moving 838 Choose directory 1162
bars dither 1152
renumbering 847 File Type 1157
Bars|Beats Time Scale 811 Format 1159
Batch Clip Renaming dialog 285 Offline option 1162
Batch Rename Output Path selector, from the 1155
clips 283 recording a submix 1163
tracks 231 sample rate conversion options 1160
Batch Rename Clips 283 Send Path selector, from the 1155
Batch Rename Tracks 231 source path 1156
Batch Rename Tracks command 244 time stamps 1155
batch renaming 285 Bounce to QuickTime Movie command 1311
Batch Track Renaming dialog 285 breakpoints 1122
Beat Detective 693, 694, 695 Avid keyframes 1120
beat triggers clip gain 916
deleting 702 Bring to Front command 823
generating 698 browsers 294
inserting 702 display options 302
moving 702 opening 295
promoting 703 sorting 303
Index 1351
converting volume automation to clip gain 920 repeating a previous search 276
copying 919 selecting clips 277
cutting 919 sorting 275
Default Handle Length preferences 121 Clip List Keyboard Focus 278
dynamic 913 Clip List menu 1257
editing 915 Auto Rename command 282
editing with the Grabber tool 916 Clear command 284
editing with the Pencil tool 917 Compact command 645
pasting 919 Export Clip Definitions command 396
rendering 921 Export Selected As Files command 426
static 913 Find command 276
static clip gain value display 913 Rename command 281
Clip Gain Fader 915 Select options 279
Clip Gain Fader icon 913 Selected Unused command 284
Clip Gain Info view 913 Show Auto-Created option 284
Clip Gain Line 914 Sort By options 275
Clip Gain Nudge Value setting 112 Time Stamp Selected command 873
clip group file format (.rgrp) 434, 898 Timeline Drop Order option 864
clip groups 565, 891 Clip List Selection Follows Edit Selection option
changing timebase format 895 111, 274, 614
creating 892 Clip Matching Options setting 112
editing 896 Clip menu 209
exporting to different hard drives 437 Bring to Front command 823
fades and crossfades 897 Capture command 633
importing 435 Identify Sync Point command 1258
importing and exporting 434 Lock command 879
mixed 893 Mute/Unmute command 880
multitrack 893 Quantize to Grid command 643
regrouping 893 Remove Sync Point command 877
separated 894 Send to Back command 823
tick-based 895 Ungroup All Clips command 893
timebase format 892 Ungroup Clips command 893
trimming 897 Unlock command 879
ungrouping 893 Unloop Clips command 889
video 1304 Clip Name
Clip Groups folder 155 Right-click menu 210, 285
Clip Hold options 120, 224 View option 573
Clip Info dialog 1339 Clip Time View option 573
Clip information 282 Clip Transparency view 867
Clip List 273 Clip Views
and MIDI clips 273 Transparency 867
auditioning clips 279 clip-based effects 922
displaying file info for audio clips 274 clip-based gain 417, 913
dragging from 863 clipping 480
Export Clips as Files command 394 clips 11, 235, 565
Find History 277 aligning to clip start points 866
finding clips 276 auto-created 564
Keyboard Focus 27 automation 569
pop-up menu 273 auto-naming options 282
previewing clips 279 auto-spotting 1256
Index 1353
Collaboration Preferences 126 Constant command (Tempo Operations) 832
collaboration transaction logs 348 Continuous Scroll with Playhead option 467
Collection Mode (Beat Detective) 713 Continuous Scrolling During Playback option 466,
Color Coding 467
Apply to Channel Strip 260 continuous zoom 586
options 105, 257 control surfaces
Color Palette window 259 C|24 1059
Color setting (for window dub) 133 Command|8 1060
Column 198 D-Command 1059
Command|8 1060 D-Control 1059
Commands Keyboard Focus 27 controller events 737
Comments View 232, 1025 and MIDI clips 570
Commit Track 967 editing 738
Commit Tracks dialog 968 editing with Smart Tool 605
Commit Up To This Insert 970 inserting 738
Committing Elastic Audio 943 Controller lanes 737, 1103
Compact command 645 in MIDI Editor windows 777
Compact Selected command 285 in the Edit window 1103
compacting audio files 646 Controllers folder (controller personalities) 1060
Compare button (plug-ins) 1072 Conversion Quality option 383, 1301
compatibility 3, 1337 Convert Clip Gain to Volume Automation command
compensating 920
for monitor delay 1330, 1340 Convert Plug-In selector 1073
for video satellite offsets 1330 Convert Volume to Clip Gain command 920
Compensation for Input Delays After Record Pass Convert WAV files to AES31/BroadcastWave
option 57 option 122, 392, 442
Compensation for Output Delays After Record Pass converting sessions 164
option 57 Copy Clip Gain command 919
compositing 674 Copy command 577
Conductor button 195 Copy From Source Media 429
Conductor Ruler Ownership control 378 Copy from Source Media (Video) 404, 415
Conductor Ruler Ownership control right-click Copy Settings command 1077
menu 378 Copy Source Audio Media 414
Conductor rulers 812 Copy Special commands 1127
including in selections 619 Copy to Send command 1109
configuring Copy/Move Indicators 574
MMC 1250, 1251 copying
SMPTE 1241 MIDI notes with the Split command 997
Conform to Tempo command 823 plug-in settings 1079
connecting selections and clips 577
external audio devices 1090, 1091 track automation to sends 1108
Consolidate command track control settings to sends 1037
audio 645 Core Audio 8
MIDI notes 732 count off 483
Consolidate From Source Media 430 Countoff button 195
Consolidate Handle Length 415, 430 Create Catalog from Selection 300
Consolidate Handle Size 430 Create Click Track command 482
Consolidate Source Audio Media 415 Create Fades command 659, 660
consolidating media 337 Create tab 151
Index 1355
exceeding compensation limit 1054 Digital Cut Tool (Media Composer) 1345
H/W Insert 55 DigiTest 88
hardware insert delays 55, 1057 Disable “Input” When Disarming Track (In “Stop”)
MIDI Beat Clock 126 option 109
MIDI Timecode 126 discrete signal control 1178
mode 1052 Disk Allocation 496
Time Mode option 117 and cross-platform sessions 497
User Offset (+/–) field 1053 and system volume 497
viewing 228, 1027 Disk Space window 495
Delay Compensation Status indicator 188 Display (Group List) command 264
Delay Compensation Time Mode option 117, 1052 Display Events as Modified by Real-Time
Delay Compensation View 228, 1027, 1053 Properties option 125, 758
Delay Compensation View option 1053 Display Name 344
Delay for External Devices options 126 Display Preferences 103
Delay plug-ins 1063 Clip Hold options 120
Delay setting (Real-Time Properties) 756 Draw Grids in Edit Window option 583
Delete Active Groups (Group List) command 264, Language options 104
268 Peak Hold options 120
Delete Current Settings File command 1077 displaying
Delete Current Settings File command (fades) 657 all rulers 813
Delete Fades command 659 clip names 573
Delete Group command 264, 267 clip times 573
Delete Index for All Offline Volumes 300 file info for audio clips 274
Delete Track command 234, 244 Meter Ruler 840
delete version Original Time Stamps 1257
Revision History Tempo ruler 818
Delete version 173 User Time Stamps 1257
deleting dither
automation 1117, 1124 and Bounce to Disk 1152
groups 267 on Master Faders 1152
Memory Locations 859 resolution and Bounce to Disk 1160
MIDI Event List items 807 divergence
MIDI notes 735 drawing 1200
paths in I/O Setup 73 using 1199
playlists 673 Documentation and Settings setting 108
program changes 747 Dolby Atmos 1203
sysex events 749 Bed Audio (or Bed Material) 1203
tracks 233 Bus/Object toggle 1213
unused clips 284 Dolby Atmos Metadata 1203
Destination Audio Sample Rate 417, 429 Enable 1206
destination folder for plug-in settings 1078 mapping busses to Objects 1209
destructive editing 646 mixing bed material 1208
Destructive Record mode 488, 513 Network configuration 1205
destructive recording 513 Object Audio (or Objects) 1203
DestructivePunch 551 Object Control Mode 1214
crossfades 545 Object controls 1213
Prepare DPE Tracks command 553 object output path 1211
preparing for 553 Object Path selector 1213
DestructivePunch File Length preference 110, 553 PEC/DIR Recorder Workflow example 1223
DigiGroove templates 705 Renderer Connection Status indicator 1214
Index 1357
Strip Silence command 880, 881 Universe view 627
TCE Edit to Timeline Selection command 646 View options 186
Thin All Automation command 1118 Edit Window Default Length preference 103, 191
Thin Automation command 1118 Edit Window Follows Bank Selection option 115
Trim Automation to All Enabled command 1142 Edit window View options 1024
Trim Automation to Current command 1142 Edit Window View selector 1024
Trim Clip End to Fill Selection command 638 Edit Window Views
Trim Clip End to Insertion command 637 Track Collaboration 366
Trim Clip Start to Fill Selection command 638 Edit/Tool Mode Keyboard Lock 609
Trim Clip Start to Insertion command 637 editing
Trim Clip to File commands 639 across multiple tracks 580
Trim Clip to Fill Selection command 638 and Edit modes 581
Trim Clip to Selection command 637 automation 1120
Undo command 575 Bar|Beat Markers 839
Write Automation commands 1140, 1141 breakpoints 1122
Edit mode buttons 187, 581 controller events 738
Edit modes 581 during playback 564
and placing clips 863 Edit modes 581
Grid 582 Grid mode 582, 584
Relative Grid 583 Grid modes 874
Shuffle 581 hidden tracks 243
Shuffle Lock 582 Markers 858
Slip 582 Memory Locations 858
Spot 582, 1253 meter events 841
Edit Play Rate setting 1335, 1336 MIDI clips 569
edit playlists 671 MIDI Event List 806
Edit Selection Follows Clip List Selection option MIDI notes 726
111, 614 nondestructively 563
Edit Selection indicators 618 nondestructively (audio) 568
Edit selections nondestructively (MIDI) 572
auditioning with Playhead enabled 469 note attributes 734
copied from Timeline selection 624 note durations 993
copied to Timeline selection 624 note velocities 732, 991
making with the Selector tool 602 program changes 747
sliding in the Ruler 621 Shuffle Lock mode 582
edit smoothing (Beat Detective) 711 Shuffle mode 581
Edit tools 584 Slip mode 582
Grabber 584, 615 Spot mode 582
Pencil 584, 608 tempo events 819
Scrubber 584, 605 Track View 576
Selector 462, 584 waveforms 568
Smart Tool 584 Editing Preferences 111
Trim 584, 595 Auto-Name Memory Locations While Playing
Zoomer 584, 585 option 854
Edit window 185, 186 Auto-Name Separated Clips option 635
All View option 1024 Clip List Selection Follows Edit Selection
half-screen 467 option 274, 614
None Views option 1024 Conversion Quality option 383
scrolling from the Ruler 625 Crossfade Preference for Pre/Post-Roll option
112, 656
Index 1359
MIDI commands 977 Sibelius (.sib) files 800
MIDI Event List 801 stereo interleaved files 395
MIDI Track Offsets command 751 Ext. Clock Output 97, 1234
Remove Duplicate Notes command 752 extending selections 618, 828
Renumber Bars command 847 to adjacent tracks 619, 620
Tempo commands 831 to clip boundaries 618
Time commands 842 to include adjacent clips 618
Event Operations commands 977 to Markers and Memory Locations 618
Change Duration command 993 to next tempo event 828
Change Velocity command 991 external clock source 1091
Flatten Performance command 991 external MIDI instruments 540
Input Quantize command 999 external side-chain processing 1076
Quantize command 978 External Timecode Offsets 1239
Restore Performance command 990 extrapolation 706
Select/Split Notes command 998
Step Input command 1000 F
Transpose command 995 factory I/O settings 80
Event Operations window 977, 978 Fade Files folder 155
Exit command (Windows) 181 Fade settings 656
Expand Channels to New Playlists 689 Fade Settings menu 657
Expand to New Tracks command 245 Fade To End command 659
Expanded Transport View 206, 508 Fade To Start command 659
Export fade-in shapes 653
Audio Media options 429 fade-out shapes 652
OMF/AAF Options 427 fades 657
Sample Rate Conversion options 428 adjusting with Smart Tool 604
Export Clip Definitions command 285, 396 AutoFades 660
Export Clip Groups command 436 creating 657
Export Clips as Files command 285, 394 creating with Smart Tool 603
Export MIDI command 398 equal gain 654
Export MIDI Settings dialog equal power 654
Apply Real-Time Properties option 399 in batches 661
MIDI File Format pop-up menu 399 moving 665
Export Selected As Files command 426 nudging 665
Export Selected Tracks as OMF/AAF command presets 656
421, 423
Slope setting 654
Export Session Info as Text command 432 Fades command 651
Export Settings button (I/O Setup) 83 Fades dialog 651
exporting 381 In Shape 653
AAF files 421, 429, 430 Link option 655
audio 394 Out Shape 652
clip definitions 396 Fast Forward 463
clip groups 436 Fast Forward button 192
markers 399 FB360 Audio plug-ins 1229
MIDI tracks 398 Feet+Frame Rate setting 1237
OMF files 429, 430 Feet+Frames
OMFI files 421 redefining position 1242
Score to Sibelius 800 Feet+Frames Time Scale 812
sessions as text 432
Index 1361
groups HDX systems 38
attributes 268 Heal Separation command 636
automation editing 1124 HEAT 47, 1003
control offsets 272 import Master Settings 408
creating 266 Help 209
deleting 267 Tool Tips 103, 210
duplicating 268 Help menu 25, 209
Edit Groups 266 HFS+ drives
enabling 271 and Windows systems 443
hidden tracks 243 hidden tracks
keyboard selection 271 and selections 613
linking Mix and Edit Groups 262 group edits 243
Mix Groups 266 groups 243
modifying 267 Hide All Floating Windows command 204
renaming 267 Hide and Make Inactive Track command 244
unlinking Mix and Edit Groups 262 Hide/Show Track command 244
Groups dialog 265 hiding
guitar tablature 852 auto-created clips 284
High-Definition video
H playback 1309, 1332
H/W Buffer Size 501 Horizontal Position setting 133
H/W Insert Delay 55 Horizontal Zoom In button 586
half-screen 467 Horizontal Zoom Out button 586
half-speed playback 470 Host Engine 90
half-speed recording 522
hard drives I
and Compacting Audio 645 I/O Settings 80
recording to system volume 497 I/O Setup 49
Round Robin Allocation 496 Bus page 54
Hardware Buffer Size 88, 90 controls 56
hardware I/O inserts 1064 customizing 62
delays 55 dialog 50
hardware I/O sends 1033 factory settings files 80
Hardware Insert Delay Compensation 55, 1057 H/W Insert Delay page 55
Hardware Setup I/O routing 63
Buffer Size 501 importing for surround 1172
Ext. Clock Output 97 Input page 53
HD I/O 99 Insert page 55
HD MADI 100 last used 83
HD OMNI 98 Low Latency Monitoring 60
Launch Setup App 94 Mic Preamps 55
MTRX 100 options 57
HD audio interfaces 40 Output page 54
HD I/O 44 paths 67
configuration 99 settings files 80
HD MADI 45 sub-paths 69
configuration 100 surround 1185
HD Native systems 39 surround formats 1170
HD OMNI 43 surround mix settings file 80
configuration 98 I/O View 221, 1026
1362 Pro Tools Reference Guide
Identify Beat command 837, 838 tracks for other sessions 400
Identify Sync Point command 877, 1258 using drag and drop 384
Idle MTC Enabled option 132 Window Configurations 408
Ignore Changes command 370 importing audio from QuickTime movies 1300
Ignore Errors During Playback/Record option 90 importing video 1297
Ignore for Future Download 244 inactive 17
Ignore Track Arming option 128 inputs 248
illegal characters 161, 441 inserts 1066
Import 244 Master Faders and assignments 1016
Audio Media options 414 outputs 248
Sample Rate Conversion options 416 paths 74
Timecode Mapping options 415 paths, global 74
Import as Offline Satellite Media 404, 415 sends 1036
Import Audio dialog 387 track path assignments 248
Import Audio to Track command 387 tracks 257
Import Clip Groups command 435 Include Control Changes in Undo Queue option 116
Import HEAT Master Settings 408 Include Sends in Trim Mode option 116
Import Key Signature Map option 408 Incoming Time display 1237
Import Markers 408 in-place auditioning 280
Import Memory Locations 408 input connections 13, 480
Import MIDI 396 Input Devices command 524
Import project version data 172 Input Filter command 526
Import Rendered Audio Effects 417 MIDI Event List View Filter dialog 803
Import REX Files as Clip Groups option 122, 392 MIDI Input Filter dialog 526
Import Session Data command 400 input levels 480
Import Settings button (I/O Setup) 82 Input Only Monitoring mode 498
Import Settings command (plug-ins) 1077 Input Path selector 221, 245
Import Settings command fades) 657 Input Quantize command 977, 999
Import Video command 1298 Insert Position selector 1072
Import Volume Automation 417 Insert Silence command 883
Import Window Configurations 408 Insert Time command 842, 844
importing 381 inserting
audio 382 controller events 738
clip groups 435 events in MIDI Event List 804
copying during 402 meter events 840
copying imported files 402 MIDI notes 724
HEAT Master Settings 408 plug-ins on tracks 1067
key signature map 408 program changes 746
Markers 396, 408 tempo events 819
Memory Locations 408 Insertion Follows Playback option 473
MIDI tracks 396 inserts 1022, 1063
multichannel audio files from a field recorder duplicating 1071
391 hardware I/O 1064
multichannel I/O Settings 1172 hardware insert delays 55
offline items from Catalogs 338 labeling 1089
plug-in settings 1079 making inactive (and active) 1066
PRE settings 408 mono 1064
referencing imported files 402 mono-to-stereo 1064
session data 403 moving 1071
tempo and meter map 408 plug-ins 1063
Index 1363
post-fader on Master Faders 1016, 1063 keyboard shortcuts 1075
send and return processing 1064 global key commands 26
shared within a submix 1047 numeric entry 618
single track processing 1064 recording 505
stereo 1064 Knowledge Base 209
Inserts View 1025
Inserts View options 1022 L
Instrument plug-ins 539 Language options 104
Instrument tracks 212 Last Used 83
channel strips 216 Latch automation mode 1097
Clips View 235 AutoJoin 1097
MIDI Input selector 253 Join 1097
MIDI Output selector 254 Latch option 255
monitoring and mixing 1044 Latch Record Enable Buttons option 108
Notes View 235 Latch Trim automation mode 1100
recording 528 Latching Behavior for Switch Controls in “Touch”
signal flow 1017 option 115
surround mixing 1181 latency 90
track controls 219 Launch Setup App button 94
Instruments View 1025 Layered Editing option 642, 868
Interchange Workflow LCRS path examples 1173
linked media 23 Level meters
Interchange workflow for audio tracks 223
embedded media 22 for Aux Input, Master Fader, and Instrument
interleaved audio file 154 tracks 223
interleaved option (sessions) 154, 1237 Levels of Undo preference 113, 576
Internal mode (Clock Source option) 1236 LFE
internal side-chain processing 1076 enable in plug-ins 1202
Inverse linked panning 1041 faders 1202
Invite Contacts to Collaborate 348 routing examples 1188
Items to Copy 167 Librarian menu 1072
Preserve Folder Hierarchy command 168 Limit Character Set option 167
Linear command (Tempo Operations) 832
J linear crossfades 655
Jam Sync 1240 Linear Sample Display 830
Join command 1097 Linear Tick Display 830
Joining Project Downloads All Shared Tracks Linearity Display Mode 830
option 126 Link controls
accessing mini-link buttons from a control
K surface 1342
Keep Window on Top 300 linking systems to a control surface 1342
key input 1072, 1076 link controls 1341
Key Input selector 905, 1072 displaying 1342
key signature map 408 link button 1341
Keyboard Focus 26 Satellite Link buttons 1341
Clip List 27, 278 Link Enable buttons 1074
Commands 27 in multi-mono plug-ins 1182
Group List 27 Link Mix and Edit Group Enables option 114
Link Record and Play Faders option 109, 500
Index 1365
Master Faders 1016 meter
as a stereo master volume control 1017 current 840
as master send level control 1051 default 484
channel strips 214 display 195
inactive 1016 Meter button 485
inserts 1063 meter events 840
meters pre/post fader 1016 editing 841
multichannel 1181 inserting 840
post-fader inserts 1016 meter map 408
signal flow 1016 Meter Ruler
track controls 218 displaying 840
trimming the input to a submix 1017 extending an Edit selection to 841
Master Link button 1074 Meter Type 227
in multi-mono plug-ins 1182 Metering Preferences 117
Master View for tracks 239, 1125 metering, advanced 226
mastering 1164 Advanced Meter Type settings 119
Matches 686 Digital VU option 118
Matches (alternate takes) 516, 686 Fader and Meter scales 226
Matching Criteria window 518, 685 Gain Reduction meter 226
Media Composer K options 119
Edit Play Rate 1335 Linear (Extended) option 118
linking and unlinking from 1342 Linear option 118
linking to Pro Tools 1341 Meter Type setting 227
Project Type 1335 PPM options 118
Starting TC Timecode setting 1335 Pro Tools Classic option 118
Timecode Format 1335 RMS option 118
troubleshooting satellite connections 1334 Sample Peak option 118
Video Satellite 138, 1331 VENUE options 119
media data 19 VU option 118
Memory Locations 853, 856 meters
creating 853, 854 for MIDI tracks 223
deleting 859 pre/post fader levels 223
editing 858 Sends View 1035
extending selections to 618 Meters and Faders View 1026
importing 408 Metronome button 483
Markers 855 Metronome Click button 195
recalling 857 Mic Preamps
recalling Edit selections 509 configuring 137
renaming 858 I/O Setup 55
Selection Memory Locations 856 Mic Preamps View 1025
storing Edit selections 508 MIDI 8
Memory Locations window 855, 857 assigning channels 252
View Filter 862 configuring MIDI setup 92
viewing options for Markers 860 consolidating notes 732
Merge mode (see MIDI Merge mode) controller events 737
metadata 20, 1263 Default Thru Instrument 525
Metadata Inspector window 176 editing in a MIDI Editor window 772
import by drag and drop 398
importing 396
loop recording 535
Index 1367
MIDI Setup commands mixing down to stereo 1163
Input Devices command 524 Mixing Preferences 114
Input Filter command 526 MMC (see MIDI Machine Control)
MIDI Beat Clock command 475 Modify Group command 264
MIDI Studio Setup (MSS) (Windows) 92, 144, 745 Modify Groups command 264
MIDI Thru command 525 Mojo DX 1285
MIDI Timecode (MTC) Momentary Solo Latch option 255
Idle MTC Output 132 monitoring
MIDI Track Offsets command 751 during punch recording 512
MIDI tracks MIDI recording with MIDI Thru 525
and MIDI offsets 750 monitoring modes 498
assigning to multiple channels 529 Auto Input 498
channel strips 215 Input Only 498
Clips View 235, 236, 569 Move Song Start command 842, 846
default program change 744 moving
input 252 Bar|Beat Markers 838
loop recording 535 clips with fades 665
note chasing 749 fades 665
Notes View 235, 236, 571 inserts 1071
output 252 Markers 859
punch recording 533, 534 MIDI notes 729
recording 523, 528 program changes 747
selecting a pitch range in 998 sysex events 749
Sysex View 748 MP3 file format 1157
track controls 219 importing 383
Velocity View 732 MTC (MIDI Timecode) 1240
MIDI Volume fader 222 MTC Generator Port setting 132
MIDI Zoom In button 586 MTC Reader Port setting 132
MIDI Zoom Out button 586 MTRX 45
mini-keyboard 571, 727 configuration 100
Minimize Additional I/O Latency option 91 Multi-Cam Resolution files 412
Minimum Sync Delay option 127, 1252 multichannel clips 565
Minutes:Seconds Time Scale 812 multichannel plug-ins 1181
Mirror MIDI Editing 721 multichannel tracks 503
missing files 441 and automation 1123
skipping 331 dragging clips to 645
mix busses 1033 names for 491
Mix Groups 266 replacing clips in 875
Mix window 184, 185 splitting 644
All View option 184, 1024 multilingual application support 455
None Views option 1024 multi-mono
track controls 184 plug-in Channel selector 1182
track width 228 plug-ins 1181
Mix Window Follows Bank Selection option 115 multi-mono audio files 154
Mix window View options 1024 multiple tracks
Mix Window View selector 1024 and Beat Detective 708
Mix Window Views audition takes 517, 687
Track Collaboration 367 editing across 580
mixed bit depths 166 extending selections to 619, 620
mixed file types 166 fitting audio clips to Edit selection 647
Index 1371
Playhead 467, 766 Plug-In Settings menu 1072, 1077
and Edit selections 469 Plug-In Settings Select button 1072
and Timeline selections 469 plug-in windows
moving to clip boundaries 470 opening and closing 1074
playing plug-ins
and making selections 615 and pull rates 1247
at half-speed 470 and surround mixing 1181
audio 459 automating 1109
Edit selections with Playhead enabled 469 bypassing from window 1087
from a track point 463 Category 1069
MIDI 460 Category and Manufacturer 1070
selections 467 Channel selector for multi-mono 1182
Timeline selections with Playhead enabled 469 creating a default setting 1079
tracks 459, 504 enabling for automation 1076, 1110
Playlist lanes 677 favorites 1070
Playlist selector 12, 671 Flat List 1069
playlists 12, 671 for surround 1181
adding 672 inserting on tracks 1067
and groups 673 Librarian menu 1072
and multichannel tracks 1123 linking and unlinking 1089, 1182
and nondestructive MIDI editing 572 Manufacturer 1069
assigning 672 mono-to-stereo 1064
automation playlists 671, 1094, 1103 multichannel 1064
auto-naming 671 multi-mono 1064, 1181
changing timebase of 817 Next Setting button 1072
deleting 673 Organize Plug-In Menus By command 1069
duplicating 672 Plug-In Settings menu 1072
edit playlists 671 Plug-In Settings Select button 1072
Playlist selector 671 presets 1077
recalling 672 Previous Setting button 1072
recording to new 514 removing from tracks 1067
renaming 673 post crossfades 650, 660
setting pre/post-roll in 510 Post-Roll button 194
Playlists view 677 Power view 566
plug-in controls PRE 46
adjusting 1075 configuring 137
linking 1089 I/O Setup 55
Plug-In Controls Default to Auto-Enabled option 115 pre crossfades 650, 660
plug-in inserts 1063 Pre Fader Listen (PFL) mode 254
plug-in maps 1082 PRE settings 408
creating 1084 Pre/Post Fader button 1042
deleting 1085 Pre/Post Roll option 511
importing and exporting 1087 pre/post-fader inserts 1063
Learn mode 1082 pre/post-roll
managing 1085 and loop recording 515
setting default 1086 and punch recording 511
Plug-In selector auditioning 468
for AudioSuite plug-ins 902 setting 509
for real-time plug-ins 1072 Pre/Post-Roll Flags 511, 612
plug-in settings 1079 Pre-Fader Metering option 223
Index 1373
project messages quantizing
filtering 354 MIDI notes 980, 984
Project Notes window 177 MIDI on input 526, 999
Project Notifications 350 QuickPunch 489, 542, 546
project ownership 363 clip/take numbering 544
Project Type (Media Composer) 1335 crossfades 544
projects 15, 156 Pro Tools HD systems 542
deleting 178 QuickPunch Crossfade Length preference 112, 544
leaving 357 QuickTime file formats 1158
moving to History 357 QuickTime movies
offline 157 importing audio from 1300
online 157 optimizing for playback 1310
putting online 180 requirements 1286
renaming 177 sync 1310
restore from cloud 179 Quit command (Mac) 181
sharing 361
taking offline 180 R
Projects list 350 R (Record and Playback volumes) 296
pinning items 355 randomizing
unpinning items 355 note durations 995
Projects tab 152 note locations 981
pull up and pull down 1243, 1247 Read automation mode 1096
pulses-per-frame Read Trim automation mode 1100
Bi-Phase/Tach 133 real-time plug-ins 1063
Punch Capture button 1145 Real-Time Properties
Punch In Frame Offset preference 128 clearing 758
Punch Out Frame Offset preference 128 clip-based 757
punch points 506 Delay 756
Timeline Selection Markers 507 Display Events as Modified by Real-Time
Punch Preview button 1143 Properties option 125
punch recording Duration 755
and monitoring 512 enabling 754
and pre/post-roll 511 in the Edit window 758
audio 511 in the MIDI Event List 758
MIDI 533 on tracks and clips 756
MIDI tracks 534 Quantize 754
settings 754
Q track-based 757
Quantize Transpose 756
audio clips 980, 989 Velocity 756
Elastic Audio events 980, 988 View 752
quantizing clips to grid 643 viewing 752
Real-Time Properties 754 writing to clips 757
Quantize Clips to Grid command 873 writing to tracks 757
Quantize command 977, 978 Real-Time Properties View 752, 1026
Quantize Edits to Frame Boundaries option 427 Real-Time Properties window 753
Quantize to Grid command 643 Rear Divergence 1199
Quantize window 981 Recalculate Waveform Overviews command 285
Index 1375
Replace mode (see MIDI Replace mode) Satellite Link
Reserve Voices For Preview In Context option 106, option 138
328 preferences 128
Reset Bi-Phase button 133 Satellites 138
Restore Performance command 977, 990 Save As command 164
Restore version 171 Save command 163
rests (Score Editor) 796 Save Copy In command 164, 446
Return to Zero button 192 Save History 170
Reveal in Explorer command (Windows) 285 saving a copy of a session 164
Reveal in Finder command (Mac) 285 saving Fades settings
Reveal in Finder/Explorer 301 Save Settings As command 657
Revert to Saved command 163 Save Settings command 657
Revision History 169 saving plug-in settings 1079
Restore 171 Save fade settings to command 657
Version List 170 Save Plug-In Settings To command 1078
Rewind 463 Save Settings As command 1077
Rewind button 192 Save Settings command 1077
REX files 383 saving sessions with a new name 164
importing 390 Scale command (Tempo Operations) 835
Root Settings folder 657, 1077, 1078 scaling note velocities 733, 992
Round Robin Allocation 496 Score Editor
Ruler View options 813 chord symbols and diagrams 798
Bars|Beats Time Scale 811 editing in 793
Feet+Frames Time Scale 812 exporting a score 800
Minutes:Seconds Time Scale 812 opening 780
Samples Time Scale 812 page controls 788
Timecode Time Scale 812 printing 800
Ruler View selector 813 rests 796
rulers zoom controls 789
changing display order 813 Score Setup window 791
Conductor rulers 812 Scroll Into View command 233, 244
displaying all 813 Scroll to Track Banks Controllers option 115
pull up and pull down 1247 Scroll To Track command 626
scrolling in 625 scroll wheel
Timebase rulers 811 and MIDI track Note display 571, 594
zooming in 589 scrolling a Pro Tools window 625
zooming in the Edit window 594
S zooming in the Edit windows 594
safing automation 1102 scrolling
Sample Offset (Sync Offset) 1240 a track into view 233
Sample Rate Conversion options 405, 416, 428 in the ruler 625
Sample Rate Conversion Quality 123, 383, 393, MIDI Notes View 571
417, 429, 1301
Mix and Edit windows to tracks 626
Sample Rate Convert Audio 416 Notes View up or down 594
Sample Rate setting 1160 Pro Tools window vertically or horizontally 625
Hardware Setup dialog 95 Scrolling options 466
Playback Engine dialog 92 After Playback 466
sample-based timing 815, 856 Center Playhead 467
Samples Time Scale 812 Continuous Scrolling During Playback 466
Index 1377
sends 1029 interleaved 154, 1237
adding 1030 interleaved multichannel audio files 154
and multichannel mixing 1180 mixed audio formats 154, 166
Assignments View 1033 mixed bit depths 166
automating 1108 multi-mono audio files 154
changing default setting 1031 opening 160
copying track automation to 1108 opening from a Transfer volume 161
default level 1030 sample rate 153, 1236
displaying controls for 1035 start frame 1237
for hardware I/O 1033 templates 174
for mix busses 1033 Set As User Default command 1078
labeling 1089 Set Plug-In Default To command 1078
mono or stereo 1033 Set Record Tracks to Auto Input command 499
multichannel 1180 Set Record Tracks to Input Only command 499
removing 1031 Set Servo Lock Bit at Play option 128
view options 1033 setting
Sends Default to -INF option 114 punch/loop points 506
Sends View 1025 satellite start time offset 1330
Separate Clip commands 634 settings
and multiple tracks 635 choosing a destination for 1078
and related takes 635 copying 1079
At Selection 634 creating 1079
At Transients 634 creating subfolders 1078
On Grid 634 pasting 1079
Separate Clip Operates On All Related Takes saving 1079
option 112, 635 Settings Preferences command 1078
Separate MIDI notes 731 Setup menu 209
Separation Grabber tool 602, 635 Click/Countoff Options dialog 484
session Disk Allocation 496
save as a project 173 I/O Setup 50
session data MIDI Studio 745
importing 400 Preferences command 103
Session Data Online Status indicator 188 Session Setup 1235
Session Data to Import menu 406 Video Sync Offset command 1310
session file 155 Share Track control 368
Session File Backups folder 156 Shared as Frozen option 370
Session Length 1237 Shared track, unowned 371
session parameters 166 Shared Tracks Conflict 172
Session Setup Shift command 878
Session Length 1237 shortcuts for keyboard input 1075
Session Setup window 1235 Show All Tracks Group command 265
Session Start setting 1335 Show Artist Chat button 364
sessions 9 Show Auto-Created option 284
audio format 1237 Show Offline Volumes 300
backups 107, 156 Show Only Tracks in Group command 264
bit depth 153, 1236 Show/Hide Clip List button 273
closing 177 Show/Hide Track List/Group List View button 241,
creating for surround mixing 1169 263
files 9 Show/Hide Tracks in Group command 264
frame rate 1237 Shuffle Lock mode 582
Index 1379
SRC (Sample Rate Conversion) options 405 side center percentage (%) 1201
Standard MIDI Files 396 using paths 1183
exporting 398 using sub-paths, examples 1184
importing 396 Suspend All Groups (Group List) command 264
Standard VCA Logic for Group Attributes option 116 suspending
start frame (sessions) 1237 automation 1115
start time for Media Composer sequences 1340 writing automation 1115
Start To Insertion command 637 swing 981, 983
Start, End, and Length display 508 Sync Offset 1240
Starting TC Timecode setting SYNC peripherals
matching to Session Start setting 1335 generating timecode with 1248
Step Input command 977, 1000 resolving with 1233
stepped control automation 1122 sync options 1234
stereo interleaved files, exporting 395 Sync Point View option 878
stereo tracks sync points 1258
dragging clips to 645 for clips 877
names for 490 from Beat Detective 712
replacing clips in 875 identifying 877, 1258
splitting 644 synchronization 131
Stop at Shuttle Speed Zero option 127 black burst 1258
Stop button 193 MIDI Beat Clock 475
Stretch command (Tempo Operations) 836 MMC 1249
Strip Silence command 880, 881, 882 options 1233
stuck notes 752 resolving 1258
stutter 1332 troubleshooting 1258, 1333, 1335
Sub Counter selectors 814 Synchronization Device settings 132
Sub Time Scale 814, 1243 synchronization peripherals 46
subfolders, creating for settings 1078 Synchronization Preferences 127
subframes 1254 Sysex View 748
submixes System Exclusive data 748
applying an insert to 1047 deleting 749
bouncing to disk 1153 moving 749
soloing tracks in 1051 recording 538
sub-paths 50, 69 system resources 17
examples for surround 1184 system settings
Suppress Automation “Write To” Warnings option Cache Size 92
115 Clock Source system setting 95
surround Hardware Buffer Size 88, 90
5.1 format paths 1174 Hardware Setup 95
and sends 1180 Host Engine 90
basic signal routing 1180 Number of Voices 91
center percentage (%) 1200 Playback Engine 89
configuring Pro Tools 1169, 1177 Sample Rate 92
discrete level, solo, mute 1178 System Usage window 100, 102
importing I/O Settings 1172
pan playlists and automation 1202
panning grids 1192
settings files 1170
Index 1381
Timebase rulers 811 Touch automation mode 1097
and Timeline selections 623 Touch Timeout option 115
Edit Markers 612 Touch Trim automation mode 1100
Pre/Post-Roll Flags 612 Touch/Latch automation mode 1099
sliding Edit selections 621 Track and Master Meter Types Linked option 117
sliding Timeline selections 624 Track Bounce 975
Timecode 2 812 Track Bounce dialog 976
Timeline Selection Markers 612 Track Collaboration controls 368
timecode 1335 Track Collaboration tools 363
and Jam Sync 1240 Track Color View 1027
and Pro Tools Drop Frame limitations 1339 Track Commit 967
capturing 1255 Track Compensation (cmp) indicator 1054
compensating for start time offsets 1330, 1340 track compositing 674
forcing a match on a satellite system 1339 track controls
freewheeling 1240 audio tracks 217
generating 1248 Auxiliary Input tracks 217
matching between Pro Tools/satellite 1340 Edit window 217, 218, 219, 220
matching format for 1339 Elastic Audio 944
redefining position 1242 Instrument tracks 219
Timecode 2 Rate setting 1237 Master Fader tracks 218
Timecode 2 ruler 812 MIDI tracks 219
Timecode Format 1335 VCA Master tracks 218
Timecode Mapping options 405 video tracks 220
on import 415 track data 564
Timecode Rate setting 1237, 1335 Track Freeze 972
Timecode Time Scale 812 Track Height 239
Timeline and Edit selection, unlinked 611 resizing 240
Timeline Data Online Status indicator 188 track layout
Timeline Drop Order option 864 default path order 60
Timeline Insertion/Play Start Marker Follows track level meters 223
Playback option 466, 473 Track List 241
Timeline Selection Markers 507, 612 hiding 241
and Edit selections 613 pop-up menu 241
selection length 617 showing 241
Timeline selections 623 Track List Right-click menu
Timeline selections 623 Download 244
auditioning with Playhead enabled 469 Ignore for Future Download 244
copied from Edit selection 624 Import 244
copied to Edit selection 624 Track menu 209
in Timebase rulers 623 Auto Input Monitoring mode 498
making with the Selector tool 602 Clear All Clip Indicators command 224, 1036
sliding in the Ruler 624 Delete command 234
start, end, and length fields 194 Duplicate command 234, 1096
Timeline Selection Markers 623 Group command 266
Time-locking clips 880 Input Only Monitoring mode 498
toggling Make Inactive command 257
track height 239 New Track command 229
Track View 238 Scroll to Track command 626
Tool Tips 103, 210 Set Record Tracks to Auto Input 499
Toolbar focus 28 Set Record Tracks to Input Only 499
Index 1383
Transport 192 Time Compression/Expansion Trim tool 123,
Count Off 483 596, 736
Meter 485 trimming automation 828, 1121
Metronome 483 trimming clip gain 917
Transport Master 1252 trimming
Transport Numeric Keypad mode 29, 107 automation breakpoints 828, 1121, 1129
Transport Online option 1247 clip gain breakpoints 917
Transport RecordLock option 109, 545, 557 clip start/end points 595
Transport View options 194, 461, 508, 510 clips by Nudge value 639, 730
Transport window 192 clips to Edit insertion point 637
MIDI controls 194 clips with Scrub Trim tool 598
pre/post-roll 194, 510 crossfades 660
record status display 548 note start/end points 729
start, end, and length fields 194, 508 unwanted clip and track data 637
transport controls 192 Tweak Head setting (Conversion Quality) 1301
Transpose
Elastic Audio 963 U
MIDI notes 995 unavailable resources 161
Real-Time Properties 756 Undo command 505, 575
Transpose command 977, 995 Undo History window 575
transposing 995 Undo Queue 575
by octave 996 Ungroup All Clips command 893
key 996 Ungroup Clips command 893
MIDI notes 728 Unique ID 414, 440
tracks 995 Universe view 627
Trim automation unlinked Timeline and Edit selection 611
coalescing 1130 unlinking plug-in controls 1089, 1182
Trim Automation commands 1142 Unlock Clip command 879
Trim to All Enabled 1142 Unloop Clips command 889
Trim to Current 1142 Upload All New Changes button 364
Trim Clip commands Upload command 369
End to Fill Selection 638 Upload Ruler Changes control 376
End to Insertion 637 Upload Ruler Changes Right-click menu 376
Start to Fill Selection 638 Upload Track Changes control 369
Start to Insertion 637 Use Absolute Pan Linking option 114
To File 639 Use F11 for Wait for Note option 125, 527
To Fill Selection 638 Use MIDI to Tap Tempo option 125
To Selection 637 Use Separate Play and Stop Keys option 107
Trim Clip to File Boundaries command 639 Use Subframes option 1254
Trim Clip to File End command 639 User Default setting 1079
Trim Clip to File Start command 639 User Offset (+/–) field 1053
Trim to All Enabled Automation command 1142 User Time Stamp 873, 1257
Trim to Current Automation command 1142 user-defined clips 281, 284, 564
trim tool
tandem trimming 601
Trim tools 584, 595
Loop Trim tool 599
Scrub Trim tool 598
Index 1385
W Undo History command 575
Wait for Note 195, 526 Workspace command 497
Warp indicator 956 windows
Warp markers 951 arranging 204
adding 952 Cascade 204
deleting 952 closing 204
relocating (without applying warping) 952 hiding all floating windows 204
Warp view 944, 951 Tile 204
warped clips (Elastic Audio) 565 Tile Horizontal 204
warping audio (Elastic Audio) 953 Tile Vertical 204
WAV file format 442, 1157 Windows sessions
AES31/Broadcast compliant 442 compatibility with Mac 445
WaveCache 322 Word Clock 97, 1343
WaveCache.wfm file 156, 293 workflows 556
Waveform View 565 Workspace 291
Waveform View options 566 Audio Files Conform to Session Tempo 300
Outlines 567 auditioning 323
Peak 566 Automatically Find and Relink 331
Power 566 Auto-Preview mode 327
Rectified 566 browser display options 302
waveforms 565 browser menu 299
and zero-crossing 568 Calculate Waveform 322
avoiding clicks and pops 568 candidates for relinking 332
guidelines for editing 568 Catalogs 292, 336, 337
repairing with Pencil tool 608 Comments 306
WaveCache 322 Copy and Relink 330
Workspace 321 copying database items 307
Whole File button (AudioSuite) 907 Create Catalog from Selection 300
whole-file clips 564 database 293
Wide Meters View 225 database items 304, 306
Window Configuration List 205 Delete Index for All Offline Volumes 300
Window Configurations 201 deleting database items 307
importing 408 Don’t Limit Search Results 300
window dub Elastic Audio analysis 322
horizontal position 133 Elastic Audio Plug-In selector 326
setting color 133 exclude tags from search 318
size 133 Failed Tasks 341
vertical position 133 Find Links 334
Window menu 209 indexing 298
Automation Enable command 1106 Keep Window on Top 300
Big Counter command 461 Linking Options 334
Color Palette 259 links 328
Disk Space command 495 Loop Audition mode 326
Edit command 186 Manually Find and Relink 331
Machine Track Arming command 1253 Missing files 328, 330
Memory Locations command 857 moving database items 307
Mix command 184 navigating 295
System Usage command 102 Open in New Workspace 301
Task Manager command 389 Paused Tasks 340
Transport command 192 Performance Volume 293
Index 1387
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