Pro Tools® Reference Guide

Version 2019.6
Legal Notices

© 2019 Avid Technology, Inc., (“Avid”), all rights reserved. This guide may not be duplicated in whole or in part without the written
consent of Avid.
For a current and complete list of Avid trademarks visit: www.avid.com/legal/trademarks-and-other-notices.
Bonjour, the Bonjour logo, and the Bonjour symbol are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc.
Thunderbolt and the Thunderbolt logo are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries.
This product may be protected by one or more U.S. and non-U.S. patents. Details are available at www.avid.com/patents.
Product features, specifications, system requirements, and availability are subject to change without notice.

Guide Part Number 9329-66062-00 REV A 6/19

Contents

Part I Introduction to Pro Tools

Chapter 1. Welcome to Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Avid Master Account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
System Requirements and Compatibility Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Conventions Used in Pro Tools Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Avid Link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Chapter 2. Pro Tools Concepts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Hard Disk Audio Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Nonlinear Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Audio Engines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Avid Video Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
MIDI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Synchronization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Surround Sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Pro Tools Sessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Pro Tools Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Tick-Based and Sample-Based Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
System Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Workspace Browsers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
AAF, MXF, and OMF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Pro Tools and Media Composer Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Embedded Media and Linked Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Contents iii
 Chapter 3. Keyboard and Mouse Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Mouse Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Global Key Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Keyboard Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Toolbar Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Numeric Keypad Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Chapter 4. Using Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Accessing Guides in Pro Tools Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Accessing the Help System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Help Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Using the Contents and Index Tabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Using the Search Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Search Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Copying from a Help Topic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Printing Help Topics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Part II System Configuration

Chapter 5. Pro Tools Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Pro Tools Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Pro Tools | Ultimate Software with Pro Tools | HDX Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Pro Tools | Ultimate Software with Pro Tools | HD Native Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Supported Pro Tools HD Audio Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Playback, Recording, and Voice Limits with Pro Tools | Ultimate Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Pro Tools HD Audio Interface Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Pro Tools Hardware Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Pro Tools | Ultimate Hardware Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Chapter 6. I/O Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Pro Tools Software Signal Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
I/O Setup Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
I/O Setup Signal Path Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
I/O Setup Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
I/O Setup Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Customizing I/O Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

iv Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Configuring Hardware in I/O Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Signal Path Routing for Audio Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Signal Path Routing for Audio Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Creating New Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Creating New Sub-Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Editing Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Assigning Paths to Hardware I/O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Valid Paths and Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Configuring Busses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Downmix and Upmix Output Busses to Outputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
I/O Settings Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Session or Project Interchange and I/O Mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
I/O Settings and the Playback Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Organize Track I/O Menus By Preference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
I/O Setup in Session Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Pro Tools Session Templates and I/O Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Chapter 7. System Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Starting Up or Shutting Down Your System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Checking a Pro Tools | HDX or Pro Tools | HD Native System with DigiTest . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Configuring Pro Tools Software System Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Configuring MIDI Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Configuring Hardware Settings in Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Configuring Pro Tools | HDX and Pro Tools | HD Native Hardware Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
System Usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Chapter 8. Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Display Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Operation Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Editing Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Mixing Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Metering Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Processing Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
MIDI Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Collaboration Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Synchronization Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Global and Local Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Contents v
 Chapter 9. Peripherals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Synchronization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Machine Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
MIDI Controllers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Ethernet Controllers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Mic Preamps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Satellites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
VENUE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Atmos. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Chapter 10. Configuring MIDI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

MIDI Studio Setup (Mac) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
MIDI Studio Setup (Windows) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Part III Sessions, Projects & Tracks

Chapter 11. Sessions and Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Sessions and Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Signing In and Out of Your Avid Master Account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Dashboard Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Bit Depths and Sample Rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Mixed Audio File Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Interleaved Multichannel and Multi-Mono Audio Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Session Files and Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Pro Tools Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Creating a New Session or Project from a Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Creating a New Blank Session or Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Opening a Recent Session or Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Opening Any Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Opening a Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Opening a Session or Project with Plug-Ins Deactivated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Saving Sessions and Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Save Copy In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Save As New Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Revision History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Saving a Session as a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Saving a Project as a Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

vi Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Session Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Project and Session Metadata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Project Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Closing a Session or Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Renaming Projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Remove Local Cache . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Deleting Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Restore Project from Cloud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Open Revision History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Backup to Cloud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Project Collaboration Invitations in the Dashboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Quitting or Exiting Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Chapter 12. Pro Tools Main Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Mix Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Edit Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Transport Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
MIDI Editor Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Score Editor Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Workspace Browsers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Task Manager Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Artist Chat Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
In-Application Web Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Managing Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
How Window Configurations Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Window Configuration Commands and Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Tool Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

Chapter 13. Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

Track Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Track Channel Strips in the Mix Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Track Controls and Indicators in the Edit Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Edit Window Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
Track Level Meters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Adjusting Track Width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Creating Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

Contents vii
 Track Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Setting Track Views in the Edit Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
Track Height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
Tracks List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Track Name Right-Click Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
Assigning Audio Inputs and Outputs to Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Track Priority and Voice Assignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Assigning MIDI Inputs and Outputs to Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Soloing and Muting Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
Making Tracks Inactive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
Color Coding for Tracks, Clips, Markers, and Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

Chapter 14. Track Presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

Creating and Saving Track Presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
Creating New Tracks from Track Presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
Recalling Inserts from Track Presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
Recalling Track Presets to Sends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
Track Presets in Workspace Browsers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

Chapter 15. Grouping Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

Grouping Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
Group Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
Working with Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
Setting Group Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
Enabling Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
Grouped Control Offsets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

Chapter 16. The Clips List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

Clips List Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
Sorting and Searching in the Clips List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
Selecting Clips in the Clips List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
Previewing Clips in the Clips List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
Stereo and Multichannel Clips in the Clips List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
Naming and Displaying Clips in the Clips List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
Managing Clips in the Clips List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
Clip Name Right-Click Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
Batch Renaming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305

viii Pro Tools Reference Guide

Chapter 17. Workspace Browsers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
Performance and Transfer Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
Databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
Workspace Browser Layout and Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
Working with Items in Workspace Browsers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
Indexing Workspace Databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
Workspace Browser Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
Workspace Right-Click Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
Workspace Browser Panes and Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
Column Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
Selecting Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
Moving, Copying, Duplicating, and Removing Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
Set Column Metadata Values for Multiple Selected Files in Workspace Browsers . . . . . . . . 328
Searching Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
Soundbase and Tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
Searching Based on Tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
Adding and Editing Tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
Waveforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
Elastic Audio Files in the Workspace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
Previewing Audio in Workspace Browsers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
Preview Controls and Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
Preview Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346
Linking and Relinking Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
Transfer Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
Missing Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
Relink Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
Catalogs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
Task Manager Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358

Chapter 18. Artist Chat Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363

Profile Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364
Contacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
Notifications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
Chat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370
Filtering Chat and Project Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374

Contents ix
 Editing Chat or Project Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374
Emoticon and Notations Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
Pinning or Unpinning Items in the Projects and Chat Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376
Leaving a Project or Group Chat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376
Move to or Restore from Artist Chat History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
Remaining Signed In to your Avid Account Offline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
Availability for Participation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379

Chapter 19. Track Collaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381

Sharing Projects and Collaborating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
What is Shared? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
What is Not Shared? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
Project Ownership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
Start Collaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
Track Collaboration Tools in the Edit Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
Track Collaboration Tools in the Transport Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384
Global Track Collaboration Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384
Track Collaboration Track View in the Edit and Mix Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
Track Collaboration Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388
Track Ownership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391
Conflicts Between Track Changes and the Cloud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394
Track Cloud Synchronization Indicator in the Tracks List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
Conductor Ruler Collaboration Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396

Chapter 20. Importing and Exporting Session Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401

Importing and Exporting Data to and from a Session or Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
Audio Conversion on Import . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402
Importing Files with Drag and Drop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404
Importing Audio Files and Clips Using the Import Audio Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407
Importing Audio from Audio CDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
Importing ACID and REX Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410
Importing Multichannel Audio Files from a Field Recorder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411
Import Options and Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
Exporting Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
Importing MIDI Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416
Exporting MIDI Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
Exporting Sibelius Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420

x Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Importing Session Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420
Import Session Data Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
Importing AAF and OMF Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430
Import Options when Importing AAF or OMF Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435
Import Sequence from Media Production. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440
Media Composer | Software Export Options for Audio and Video Mixdowns . . . . . . . . . . . . 440
Audio File Format Compatibility Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440
Exporting Pro Tools Tracks as AAF or OMF Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442
Exporting Pro Tools Tracks as MXF Audio Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444
Export Options when Exporting to AAF or OMF Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448
Export Selected Tracks to Sequence in Production Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452
Export Selected Tracks as New Session or Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453
Exporting Session Information as Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454
Export Session Information as Text Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455
Importing and Exporting Clip Group Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456

Chapter 21. File and Session Management and Compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459

Audio File Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460
WAV File Compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462
Sharing Projects Offline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463
Sharing Sessions Created on Different Computer Platforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463
Sharing Sessions Created on Different Pro Tools Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466
Opening Pro Tools Ultimate Sessions in Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466
Sharing Sessions Created on Different Pro Tools Software Versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467
Language Compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473

Part IV Playback and Recording

Chapter 22. Playing Back Track Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477
Playback Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478
Setting the Playback Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480
Scrolling Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484
Playing Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485
Transport Fade-in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487
Playing Timeline and Edit Selections with the Playhead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487
Playback Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488

Contents xi
 MIDI Beat Clock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493
MIDI Beat Clock Offsets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494

Chapter 23. Record Setup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497

Record Setup Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497
Configuring Pro Tools Hardware I/O for Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498
Connecting a Sound Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500
Recording with a Click . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500
Setting the Session Meter and Tempo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502
Record Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505
Configuring Default Names for Audio Files and Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508
Assigning Hardware I/O on a Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509
Record Enabling Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510
Working with Hard Drives for Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 512
Selecting a Record Input Monitoring Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515
Setting Monitor Levels for Record and Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517
Reducing Monitoring Latency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517

Chapter 24. Audio Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521

Recording Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523
Prime for Record Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524
Setting Punch and Loop Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524
Setting Pre- and Post-Roll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527
Audio Punch Recording Over a Specified Range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529
Recording Additional Takes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530
Loop Recording Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532
Alternate Takes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534
Recording from a Digital Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537
Half-Speed Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539

Chapter 25. MIDI Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541

Recording from MIDI Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541
Enabling Input Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 542
MIDI Thru . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543
MIDI Input Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 544
Input Quantize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 544
Wait for Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 544

xii Pro Tools Reference Guide

 MIDI Merge/Replace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545
Configuring MIDI or Instrument Tracks for Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 546
Recording MIDI and Instrument Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547
MIDI Input Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550
MIDI Punch Recording Over a Specified Range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 551
Loop Recording MIDI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553
MIDI Step Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 556
Recording System Exclusive Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 556
Recording Audio from a MIDI Instrument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 557
Retrospective Record for MIDI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558

Chapter 26. Punch Recording Modes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561

Introduction to Punch Recording Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561
Guidelines for Punch Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561
QuickPunch Audio Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566
TrackPunch Audio Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 567
Using TrackPunch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 569
DestructivePunch Audio Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 570
Using DestructivePunch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574
Example TrackPunch and DestructivePunch Workflows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 575

Part V Editing
Chapter 27. Editing Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 581
Track Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 582
Audio Clips and Waveforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 583
MIDI Clips and MIDI Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 587
Naming Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 590
Displaying Clip Names, Clip Times, and Other Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 591
Multiple Undo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 592
Basic Editing Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 594
Editing Across Multiple Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 598

Chapter 28. Edit Modes and Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 599

Edit Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 599
Shuffle Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 599
Slip Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600

Contents xiii
 Spot Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600
Grid Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600
Edit Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 602
Zooming Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 603
Zoom Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 603
Zoomer Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 605
Zoom Preset Buttons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 608
Zoom Toggle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609
Zooming with a Scroll Wheel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 612
Using the Trim Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 612
Trim Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 612
Time Compression/ Expansion Trim Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 614
Scrub Trim Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615
Loop Trim Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 616
Tandem Trimming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 618
Using the Selector Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 619
Using the Grabber Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 620
Using the Smart Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 620
Using the Scrubber Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 623
Numeric Keypad Set to Shuttle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 625
Using the Pencil Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 626
Edit/Tool Mode Keyboard Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 627

Chapter 29. Making Selections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 629

Linking or Unlinking Timeline and Edit Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 629
Linking or Unlinking Track and Edit Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 631
Selecting Track Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 631
Timeline Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 642
Auto-Scrolling Tracks in the Mix and Edit Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 645
Universe View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 646
Navigating a Pro Tools Session with Keyboard Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 648

Chapter 30. Editing Clips and Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 653

Creating New Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 653
Healing Separated Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 656
Trimming Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 657
Nudging Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 659

xiv Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Layered Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 662
Quantizing Clips to Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 663
Editing Stereo and Multichannel Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 664
Consolidating Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 665
Compacting an Audio File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 665
Processing Audio with AudioSuite Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 666
TCE (Time Compression and Expansion) Edit To Timeline Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 666
Rating Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 667

Chapter 31. Fades and Crossfades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 669

About Crossfades and Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 669
Fade Dialogs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 671
Fade and Crossfade Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 676
Fade Presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 676
Creating Fades at the Beginnings and Ends of Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 677
Creating a Crossfade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 679
Using AutoFades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 680
Creating Fades and Crossfades in Batches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 681
Manually Adjusting Fade Shapes in Fade Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 682
Adjusting the Start and End Points of a Crossfade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 682
Adjusting Fade Shapes with the Smart Tool in the Edit Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 683
Changing Fade Shapes in the Edit Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 684
Fades Options in the Edit Selection Right-Click Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 684
Moving and Nudging Fades and Crossfades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 685
Separating Clips that Include Fades or Crossfades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 687
Trimming Clips that Include Fades or Crossfades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 688
Fade Boundaries and Shapes Displayed in Automation View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689

Chapter 32. Playlists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 691

Working with Playlists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 691
Track Compositing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 694
Playlists View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 697
Matching Alternate Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 704
Matching Criteria Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 705
Selecting Alternate Takes on Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 706
Automatically Create New Playlists when Loop Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 707
Expanding Alternate Takes to New Playlists or Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 708

Contents xv
 Expanding Alternate Channels to New Playlists or Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 709
Target Playlist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 711
Track Compositing Keyboard Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 717

Chapter 33. Beat Detective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 719

Beat Detective and Source Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 719
Uses for Beat Detective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 719
Beat Detective Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 720
The Beat Detective Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 721
Beat Detective Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 721
Defining a Beat Detective Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 722
Beat Detective Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 723
Calculating Tempo with Beat Detective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 724
Generating Beat Triggers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 724
Editing Beat Triggers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 728
Generating Bar|Beat Markers with Beat Detective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 730
DigiGroove Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 731
Separating Clips with Beat Detective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 733
Conforming Clips with Beat Detective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 734
Edit Smoothing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737
Detection (Normal) and Collection Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739

Part VI MIDI
Chapter 34. MIDI Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 745
MIDI Editing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 745
Setting the Grid Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 747
Using the Pencil Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 748
Inserting MIDI Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 750
Inserting a Series of Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 751
Manually Editing MIDI Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 752
Using the Grabber Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 755
Time Compression/Expansion Trim Tool Functionality on MIDI Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 762
Continuous Controller Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 764
Keyboard Shortcuts for Navigating MIDI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 767
Patch Select (Program and Bank Changes) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 772
System Exclusive Events. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 776

xvi Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Note and Controller Chasing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 777
Offsetting MIDI Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 778
Stuck Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 780
Remove Duplicate Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 780
MIDI Real-Time Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 780
Real-Time Properties Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 782
Real-Time Properties on Tracks and Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 784
Writing Real-Time Properties to Tracks or Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 785
Real-Time Properties In the MIDI Event List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 786
Display of Real-Time Properties Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 786

Chapter 35. MIDI Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 787

Opening a MIDI Editor Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 788
MIDI Editor Window Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 789
MIDI Editor Zoom Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 795
Tracks List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 795
Groups List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 797
Timebase and Conductor Rulers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 797
Superimposed Notes View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 798
Notes Pane Right-Click Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 801
Notation View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 802
Velocity, Controller, and Automation Lanes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 804

Chapter 36. Score Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 805

Opening the Score Editor Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 806
Edit Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 806
Default Note Duration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 809
Default Note On Velocity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 809
Play MIDI Notes When Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 809
Link Timeline and Edit Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 809
Mirrored MIDI Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 810
Double Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 810
Cursor Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 810
Grid. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 811
Score Editor Window Target . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 811
Score Editor Window Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 812
Tracks List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 813

Contents xvii
 Page Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 814
Score Editor Zoom Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 815
Notation Display Track Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 816
Score Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 817
Editing Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 819
Score Editor Right-Click Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 822
Key Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 823
Meter Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 824
Chord Symbols and Diagrams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 824
Exporting Scores. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 826
Printing Scores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 826

Chapter 37. MIDI Event List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 827

Opening the MIDI Event List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 827
Inserting Events in the MIDI Event List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 830
Editing Events in the MIDI Event List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 832
MIDI Event List Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 834

Part VII Arranging

Chapter 38. Time, Tempo, Meter, Key, and Chords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 837
Timebase Rulers and Conductor Rulers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 837
Main Time Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 839
The Sub Counter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 840
Tick-Based Timing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 841
Tick- and Sample-Based Timebases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 841
Song Start Marker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 843
Tempo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 844
Graphic Tempo Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 850
Editing Tempo Events in the Tempo Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 851
Changing the Linearity Display Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 856
Tempo Operations Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 857
Identify Beat Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 863
Meter Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 866
Time Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 868
Change Meter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 868
Insert Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 870

xviii Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Cut Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 871
Move Song Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 872
Renumbering Bars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 873
Key Signatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 873
Chord Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 877
Extract Chords From Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 878

Chapter 39. Memory Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 881

Creating Memory Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 881
Creating Memory Locations During Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 882
Properties of Memory Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 883
Recalling Memory Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 885
Editing Memory Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 886
Deleting Memory Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 887
Copying Marker Memory Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 887
Memory Locations Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 888
Memory Locations Commands and Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 888

Chapter 40. Arranging Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 891

Placing Clips from the Clips List on to Track Playlists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 891
Working with Multiple Items from the Clips List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 892
Placing Clips at the Edit Insertion Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 893
Aligning Clips with the Edit Insertion Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 894
Arranging with Transparent Clip Overlays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 895
Moving Clips with the Grabber Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 895
Layered Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 896
Snapping to the Preceding or Next Clip on a Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 897
Arranging Clips in Shuffle Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 898
Arranging Clips in Slip Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 899
Spotting Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 900
Arranging Clips in Grid Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 901
Replacing Audio Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 903
Sync Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 905
Shift Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 907
Locking Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 907
Muting/Unmuting Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 909
Stripping Silence from Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 909

Contents xix
 Inserting Silence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 912
Duplicating Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 913
Repeating Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 914

Chapter 41. Clip Loops and Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 915

Clip Looping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 915
Creating Looped Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 916
Unlooping Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 917
Editing Looped Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 917
Clip Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 919
Creating Clip Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 920
Ungrouping Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 921
Regrouping Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 921
Multitrack Clip Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 921
Clip Groups on Tick-Based Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 923
Editing Clip Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 924
Fades and Crossfades on Clip Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 925
Clip Groups and Clip Gain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 926
Importing and Exporting Clip Group Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 926

Part VIII Processing

Chapter 42. AudioSuite Processing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 929
AudioSuite Menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 929
AudioSuite Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 929
AudioSuite Window Header . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 930
AudioSuite Window Footer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 934
Using AudioSuite Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 936
Conditions for AudioSuite Rendering with Handles, Fades, Clip Gain, and Metadata . . . . . 939

Chapter 43. Clip Gain and Clip Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 941

Clip Gain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 941
Clip Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 949
Clip Effects Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 955
Clip Effects Presets and Settings Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 962

xx Pro Tools Reference Guide

Chapter 44. Elastic Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 965
Example Elastic Audio Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 966
Elastic Audio Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 970
Disabling Elastic Audio Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 971
Elastic Audio Track Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 972
Elastic Audio Track Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 972
Elastic Audio Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 973
Real-Time and Rendered Elastic Audio Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 974
Elastic Audio Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 975
Editing in Warp View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 979
Warping Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 981
Editing in Analysis View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 986
Elastic Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 988
Elastic Properties Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 988
Elastic Audio Clip-Based Pitch Shifting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 991
AudioSuite Processing and Elastic Audio Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 992
Moving Elastic Audio Between Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 993
Approximate Waveforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 994
Elastic Audio Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 994

Chapter 45. Committing, Freezing, and Bouncing Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 995

Commit Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 995
Track Freeze . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1000
Bounce Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1003

Chapter 46. Event Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1005

Event Operations Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1005
Quantize Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1006
Grid Quantize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1008
Grid Quantize Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1010
Groove Quantize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1012
Quantizing Elastic Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1016
Quantizing Audio Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1017
Quantizing Mixed Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1017
Restore Performance Command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1018
Flatten Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1019
Change Duration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1021

Contents xxi
 Transpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1023
Select/Split Notes Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1025
Input Quantize Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1027
Step Input Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1028

Chapter 47. HEAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1031

Enabling HEAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1031
About HEAT Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1031
HEAT Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1033
Master Bypass and Track Bypass Indicators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1034
A Note About Other Track Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1035
DSP and Voice Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1035
Using HEAT with a Control Surface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1036

Part IX Mixing
Chapter 48. Basic Mixing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1041
Mixing Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1041
Metering and Calibration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1041
Signal Flow by Track Type. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1042
Audio Tracks and Signal Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1042
Auxiliary Input Tracks and Signal Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1043
Master Fader Tracks and Signal Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1044
Instrument Tracks and Signal Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1046
VCA Master Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1047
Inserts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1050
Configuring Inserts View in the Mix and Edit Windows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1050
HEAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1051
Stereo Pan Depth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1051
Views in the Mix and Edit Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1052
Audio Input and Output Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1056
Sends. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1058
Configuring Sends View in the Mix and Edit Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1064
Sends View Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1064
Editing Sends in the Mix and Edit Windows (Individual Send Views) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1066
Bus Interrogation Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1069
Output Windows for Tracks and Sends. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1070

xxii Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Output Meters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1073
Signal Routing for Monitoring and Submixing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1074
Delay Compensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1082
Dither . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1089
Using an Ethernet Control Surface with Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1089
Using a MIDI Control Surface with Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1090

Chapter 49. Plug-In and Hardware Inserts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1093

Types of Inserts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1093
Viewing Inserts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1095
Making Inserts Inactive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1096
Inserting Plug-Ins on Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1097
Plug-In Menu Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1099
Plug-in Insert Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1100
Default EQ and Dynamics Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1101
Plug-In Favorites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1101
Moving and Duplicating Plug-In and Hardware Inserts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1102
Plug-In Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1102
Opening Plug-In Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1105
Using Plug-In Window Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1105
Editing Plug-In Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1106
Plug-In Automation and Safe Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1107
Side-Chain Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1107
Plug-in Bus Outputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1108
Plug-In Presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1109
Plug-In Settings Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1111
Plug-In Mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1114
Bypassing Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1119
Linking and Unlinking Controls on Multi-Mono Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1121
Using Hardware Inserts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1121

Chapter 50. Automation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1125

Automation Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1125
Automation Playlists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1126
Automation Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1128
Automation Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1133
Viewing Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1135

Contents xxiii
 Indication of Automation in Track View and Automation Lane Selectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1138
Writing Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1138
Automating Sends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1140
Automating Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1141
AutoMatching Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1144
Priming Controls for Writing Automation in Latch Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1145
Enabling and Suspending Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1147
Deleting Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1149
Thinning Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1150
Drawing Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1151
Editing Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1152
Cutting, Copying, and Pasting Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1157
Glide Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1161
Trimming Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1162
Writing Automation to the Start, End, or All of a Track or Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1164
Writing Automation to the Next Breakpoint or to the Punch Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1166
Guidelines for “Write To” Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1169
Overwriting or Extending Mute Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1170
Creating Snapshot Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1172
Previewing Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1175
Capturing Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1177
VCA Master Track Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1180
Coalescing VCA Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1181

Chapter 51. Mixdown. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1185

Selecting Audio for Loops, Submixes, and Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1185
Using Dither . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1186
Bus Recording to Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1187
Bounce to Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1188
Bounce From Sends or Track Outputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1189
Bounce Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1190
Recording a Submix (with Bounce to Disk) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1197
Final Mixdown (with Bounce to Disk) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1197
Mastering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1198

xxiv Pro Tools Reference Guide

Part X Surround
Chapter 52. Pro Tools Setup for Surround . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1201
Surround Mixing in Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1201
Pro Tools Audio Connections for 5.1 Mixing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1201
7.1 and 7.0 Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1202
7.1.2 and 7.0.2 Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1202
Ambisonics Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1203
Configuring Pro Tools for Multichannel Sessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1203
Default I/O Selectors in I/O Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1208
5.1 Track Layouts, Routing, and Metering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1209

Chapter 53. Multichannel Tracks and Signal Routing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1211

Multichannel Audio Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1211
Multichannel Signal Routing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1214
Paths in Surround Mixes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1217
Example Paths and Signal Routing for a Surround Mix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1219

Chapter 54. Surround Panning and Mixing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1225

Introduction to Pro Tools Surround Panning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1225
Output Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1226
Standard Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1227
Surround Panner Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1228
Panning Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1230
Divergence and Center Percentage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1233
LFE Faders in Multichannel Panners. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1235
Pan Playlists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1236

Chapter 55. Mixing to Dolby Atmos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1237

Dolby Atmos Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1237
Installing and Configuring Dolby Atmos Software and Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1238
7.0.2 and 7.1.2 Surround Formats in Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1239
Configuring the Network Connection for Pro Tools and a Dolby Atmos Renderer. . . . . . . . 1239
Pro Tools Restrictions when Mixing to Dolby Atmos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1240
Configuring Session Setup for Dolby Atmos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1241
Configuring the I/O Setup for Dolby Atmos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1241
Mixing Bed Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1242
Mapping Busses to Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1243

Contents xxv
 Track Object Output Assignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1245
Monitoring Object Audio when not Connected to a Renderer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1246
Object View in the Edit and Mix Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1246
Object Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1247
7.0.2, 7.1.2, and Object Panner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1249
Object/Bus Toggle Automation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1253
Auto-Height Overrides Height Automation Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1253
Coalesce Pan Guide Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1254
Duplicating Object Track Pan Automation and Dolby Atmos Panner Plug-in Automation . . 1254
Object Controls Mix Attribute for Grouped Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1255
Importing Object-Related Track Data from Another Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1256
Import ADM files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1256
Dolby Atmos PEC/DIR Recorder Workflow Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1257

Chapter 56. Ambisonics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1259

Pro Tools Support for Ambisonics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1259
What is Ambisonics? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1259
Configuring the I/O Setup for Ambisonics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1260
Channel Ordering for Ambisonics Audio Signal Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1261
Ambisonics Mixes in Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1262

Part XI Sync and Video

Chapter 57. Working with Synchronization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1267
Pro Tools Synchronization Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1267
Session Setup Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1269
Format Displays and Controls in the Session Setup Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1270
SYNC Setup and Timecode Offsets in the Session Setup Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1272
Timecode Settings in the Session Setup Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1274
Preparing to Work with SMPTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1275
Configuring Pro Tools for SMPTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1275
Pull Up and Pull Down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1277
Effect of Using Pull Up or Pull Down. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1281
Generating Timecode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1282
Using MIDI Machine Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1283
Enabling MIDI Machine Control in Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1284
MMC Transport Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1286

xxvi Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Setting Minimum Sync Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1286
Remote Track Arming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1287
Spotting Clips to SMPTE Frame Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1287
The Spot Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1288
Capturing Timecode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1289
Auto-Spotting Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1290
Using the Trim Tools in Spot Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1290
Time Stamping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1290
Identifying a Synchronization Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1292
Troubleshooting SMPTE Synchronization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1292
Speed Correction for Film, NTSC Video, and PAL Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1294

Chapter 58. MachineControl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1297

MachineControl Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1297
Cables and Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1298
Connecting Machines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1299
Starting Up Your System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1300
MachineControl Communication Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1301
Setting Up Machine Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1302
Serial Deck Control Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1305
Configuring Serial Deck Control (Overview) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1305
Configuring a MachineControl Device for Deck Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1305
Preferences for Serial Deck Control Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1307
Session Setup Window and MachineControl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1309
Additional Pro Tools MachineControl Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1311
Selecting Pro Tools or the Machine as the Transport Master . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1313
Playback in Serial Deck Control Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1314
Remote Track Arming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1315
Configuring Track Arming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1315
Creating a Track Arming Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1316
Arming Tracks Remotely for Layback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1319
Remote 9-Pin Deck Emulation Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1319
Configuring Remote 9-Pin Deck Emulation Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1320
Preferences for Remote 9-Pin Deck Emulation Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1322
Playback in Remote 9-Pin Deck Emulation Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1323
Recording in Remote 9-Pin Deck Emulation Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1323
Track Arming in Remote 9-Pin Deck Emulation Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1323

Contents xxvii
 Using a Paddle Device in Local Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1324
Connecting a Supported Third-Party Paddle Device to Your Pro Tools System. . . . . . . . . 1324
Allow Track Arm Commands in Local Mode Preference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1325
Configuring Ports for a Deck and a Supported Third-Party Paddle Device . . . . . . . . . . . . 1325
Deck Control Key Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1326
Machine IDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1327
9-Pin Cable Pinouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1329

Chapter 59. Working with Field Recorders in Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1333

Field Recorder and Production Workflow Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1333
Supported Field Recorder Audio Files and Metadata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1335
Displaying Field Recorder Metadata in Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1336
Workspace Support for Field Recorder Metadata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1336
Field Recorder Workflows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1337
Ensuring Metadata of Source Files Have Been Preserved . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1337
Receiving Source Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1338
Importing Source Files into Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1339
Designating Field Recorder Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1341
Displaying Multichannel Files from a Field Recorder in the Clips List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1341
Selecting a Matching Field Recorder Channel to Replace a Clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1342
Expanding Matching Field Recorder Channels to New Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1346
Determining the Method of Expanding Matching Field Recorder Channels to New Tracks . 1347
Film Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1350
Video and Fully Non-Linear Workflows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1352

Chapter 60. Working with Video in Pro Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1355

Avid Video Engine (AVE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1355
QuickTime Movie Support in Pro Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1356
Before Starting Your Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1356
Pro Tools Video Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1357
Video Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1357
Main Video Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1358
Video Track Controls and Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1359
Video Track Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1360
Locking Video Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1366
Video Engine Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1366
Importing Video into Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1367

xxviii Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Configuring Video Import Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1369
Importing Audio from a QuickTime Video Clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1370
Video Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1371
Showing or Hiding Video Clips in the Clips List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1372
General Video Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1372
Renaming Video Disk Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1374
Video Clip Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1374
Using the Video Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1375
Browsing Video in the Video Universe Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1377
Playback of High-Definition Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1379
Optimized Video Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1379
Tips for Optimizing Video Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1380
Compensating for Video Monitoring Delays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1380
Playing Video to an External Monitor Using a Video Peripheral . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1381
Bouncing the Video Track to a QuickTime Movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1381

Part XII Satellite Systems

Chapter 61. Satellite Link. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1387
Satellite Link Requirements and Compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1387
Configuring Satellite Link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1388
Linking Satellite Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1390
Using Satellite Link with MachineControl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1394
Control Surface Support for Satellite Link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1395

Chapter 62. Pro Tools Video Satellite. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1397

Video Output Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1397
Connecting a Pro Tools Video Satellite System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1397
Linking the Pro Tools Video Satellite System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1398

Chapter 63. Avid Video Satellite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1401

Video Output Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1402
Supported Video Resolutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1403
Avid Video Satellite Workflows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1403
Using a Video Satellite in a MediaCentral | Production Management Environment . . . . . . . 1403
Connecting Pro Tools and a Video Satellite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1403
Matching Media Composer and Pro Tools Settings in a Video Satellite System . . . . . . . . . 1405

Contents xxix
 Linking or Unlinking Pro Tools and a Video Satellite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1411
Capturing Audio and Video with a Video Satellite System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1413
Re-Digitizing an Existing Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1414
Digitizing from an EDL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1414
Laying Back Audio and Video to Tape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1414

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1417

xxx Pro Tools Reference Guide

Part I: Introduction to
Pro Tools
Chapter 1: Welcome to Pro Tools

Welcome to Pro Tools®, brought to you by Avid®

Technology. Pro Tools Software integrates power- System Requirements and
ful multitrack digital audio and MIDI sequencing Compatibility Information
features, giving you everything you need to record, Avid can only assure compatibility and provide
arrange, compose, edit, mix, and master profes- support for hardware and software it has tested and
sional quality audio and MIDI for music, video, approved.
film, and multimedia.
For complete system requirements and a list of
qualified computers, operating systems, hard
Avid Master Account drives, and third-party devices, visit:
www.avid.com/compatibility
Your Avid Master Account simplifies access to all of
your user accounts and entitlements at my.avid.com.
To sign up, go to avid.com and click on “Sign In.”
Conventions Used in
Fill in the required fields located under the “Create
Pro Tools Documentation
Avid Master Account.”
Pro Tools documentation uses the following
The Master Account is divided into sections. Notice
conventions to indicate menu choices, keyboard
that the Avid Support Center, Download Center and
Avid Community need to be linked. Simply choose commands, and mouse commands:
:

“Link this account” if you already have an account or

Convention Action
choose “Create Account,” fill in the required fields
and click Submit. File > Save Choose Save from the
File menu

Control+N Hold down the Control

key and press the N key

Control-click Hold down the Control

key and click the mouse
button

Right-click Click with the right

mouse button

The names of Commands, Options, and Settings

that appear on-screen are in a different font.

Chapter 1: Welcome to Pro Tools 3

 The following symbols are used to highlight Training and Education
important information:
Study on your own using courses available online,
User Tips are helpful hints for getting the find out how you can learn in a classroom setting at
most from your Pro Tools system. an Avid-certified training center, or view video tu-
torials and webinars.
www.avid.com/education
Important Notices include information that
could affect your Pro Tools session data or
the performance of your Pro Tools system. Video Tutorials
The Get Started Fast with Pro Tools series of on-
Shortcuts show you useful keyboard or mouse line videos provide tutorials to help if you are new
shortcuts. to Pro Tools. They also provide videos for the ex-
perienced user that introduce new features found in
the latest versions of Pro Tools.
Cross References point to related sections in
www.avidblogs.com/get-started-fast-with-pro-
this guide and other Avid documentation.
tools/

Resources Products and Developers

The Avid website (www.avid.com) is your best Learn about Avid products, download demo soft-
online source for information to help you get the ware, or learn about our Development Partners and
most out of your Avid system. their plug-ins, applications, and hardware.
www.avid.com/products
Account Activation and Product
Registration
Activate your product to access downloads in your Avid Link
Avid account (or quickly create an account if you Avid Link is a free application for anyone wanting
do not have one). Register your purchase online, to connect with other artists, producers, mixers,
download software, updates, documentation, and composers, editors, videographers, movie-makers,
other resources. and graphic designers—and to the Avid Market-
www.avid.com/account place—to expand your creative capabilities and
possibilities. A desktop version is available for
macOS and Windows, a mobile version is avail-
Support and Downloads
able for iOS, it is available online using any
Contact Avid Customer Success (technical sup- browser, and it is integrated within Pro Tools using
port), download software updates and the latest on- the Avid Link menu.
line manuals, browse the Compatibility documents
for system requirements, search the online Knowl- Use Avid Link to manage your Avid account, li-
edge Base or join the worldwide Avid user com- censing and subscriptions, as well as access a num-
munity on the User Conference. ber of other services.
www.avid.com/support Visit www.avid.com/avid-link.

4 Pro Tools Reference Guide

The following are available under the Avid Link Lounges Looking to meet others to get or give ad-
menu in Pro Tools: vice, help, or feedback? Hang out in the Lounges,
which offer a variety of discussion topics for col-
Home Get informed and inspired with access to the
laboration seekers, areas of interest, tips and tricks,
latest industry news, customer stories, blogs, and
and more. Start or join a conversation, exchange
product info. You can filter your news feed by Au-
ideas, and contribute to discussions about prod-
dio, Video, Notation, Live Sound, and Broadcast,
ucts, workflows, and the industry, all in real time,
and see the latest features for your products, dis-
on your computer or mobile device.
cover great tips and tricks, be among the first to
hear about new product announcements, and gain Profile Showcase your work and talent for others
workflow insight from creative pros. to see and hear what you can do. Avid Link gives
you a powerful platform to tell your story and pro-
Marketplace Expand your creative capabilities
mote your work. Get discovered and increase your
further by shopping the Marketplace, conveniently
creative opportunities by tagging your profile with
accessible right within Avid Link. Whether you
your skills, specialties, and expertise, making it
need plugins, video effects, stock footage (coming
easier for others to find and connect with you.
soon), a control surface, or other software or hard-
ware to use with Pro Tools, Media Composer, Si- Products Lets you view all of your registered Avid
belius, or a third-party audio or video tool. products, including the System ID, Activation ID,
when Support Expires, and Support Status if rele-
Pro Tools Projects Lets you view your online Pro
vant. You can also add Notes for each product.
Tools Projects. When you are signed in, double-
click any project in the list to open it.
Messages With the ability to message your con-
nections right within Avid Link, it’s easy to stay in
touch with others. Share ideas and discuss projects
in real time with a group of collaborators. Seek ad-
vice and give it by forming mentorships within
your network. Or simply reach out and say hello to
your friends.
Find Talent Avid Link integrates with the entire
Avid Community, making it easy to search for and
find other artists, musicians, composers, video ed-
itors, producers, mixers, filmmakers, and media
professionals to collaborate with and follow. Se-
lect Find Talent to scope out the profiles of avail-
able talent, review their work, invite them to con-
nect, and send messages about how you can work
together.

Chapter 1: Welcome to Pro Tools 5

6 Pro Tools Reference Guide
Chapter 2: Pro Tools Concepts

Before you begin to use Pro Tools, you may find it

helpful to review Pro Tools concepts. These con- Nonlinear Editing
cepts are the foundation of Pro Tools operation Pro Tools is a nonlinear editing system that lets
and functionality. you rearrange and mix recorded material nonde-
structively. Nonlinear editing simply means that
you can cut, copy, paste, move, delete, trim, and
Hard Disk Audio Recording otherwise rearrange any audio, MIDI, or video in
the Pro Tools Edit window.
Hard disk recording is a nonlinear (or random ac-
cess) medium—you can go immediately to any Nonlinear editing provides significant advantages
spot in a recording without having to rewind or fast over dubbing (re-recording), and cutting and splic-
forward. ing magnetic tape. It gives you the greatest possi-
ble flexibility for editing and arranging, and it is all
This differs from tape-based recording, which is a
nondestructive and “undoable.” Additionally, with
linear medium—where you need to rewind or fast
nonlinear editing in Pro Tools, you will never in-
forward to hear a particular spot in a recording. To
troduce any degradation of audio fidelity as you
rearrange or repeat material in a linear system, you
would with tape.
need to re-record it, or cut and splice it.

Nonlinear systems have several advantages. You

can easily rearrange or repeat parts of a recording
by making the hard disk read parts of the recording
in a different order or multiple times. In addition,
this re-arrangement is nondestructive, meaning
that the original recorded material is not altered.

Chapter 2: Pro Tools Concepts 7

 plication the exclusive access to a specific audio
Audio Engines device. (To access the WASAPI Device Settings in
Pro Tools can stream audio between the applica- Windows Media Center, choose Tools > Options >
tion and your audio hardware using the Avid Au- Audio > Audio Device > Device settings.)
dio Engine (Avid audio hardware only), Core Au-
dio (Mac only with third-party audio hardware), or
ASIO (Windows only with third-party audio hard- Avid Video Engine
ware).
Pro Tools uses the Avid Video Engine (AVE) for
real-time digital video playback. AVE is installed
Avid Audio Engine
automatically with Pro Tools. AVE provides com-
The Avid audio engine (AAE) is a real-time oper- patibility and interoperability across the full prod-
ating system for digital audio recording, playback, uct line of Avid audio and video editing solutions,
and processing with Pro Tools and Avid audio and provides support for a wide range of Avid HD
hardware. When you install Pro Tools, AAE is au- and SD MXF video formats on Pro Tools video
tomatically installed on your system. AAE pro- tracks without transcoding (including Avid
vides the foundation for much of the hard disk re- DNxHD®). AVE also lets you monitor Avid HD
cording, digital signal processing, and mix and SD MXF, and QuickTime media using a sup-
automation required by Pro Tools and other prod- ported Avid video peripheral.
ucts from Avid and its Development Partners.

Core Audio MIDI

Apple’s Core Audio provides audio connectivity MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a
between software applications and audio hardware communication protocol for musical instruments.
on macOS. Pro Tools software can use audio inter- This industry standard enables connections be-
faces with supported Core Audio drivers for play- tween a variety of devices from different manufac-
back and recording with up to 32 channels of I/O. turers. Examples of MIDI-compatible equipment
include synthesizers, drum machines, MIDI patch
ASIO bays, effects processors, MIDI interfaces, MIDI
Steinberg’s Audio Stream Input/Output (ASIO) control surfaces, and MIDI sequencers.
provides audio connectivity between software ap-
MIDI devices are equipped with 5-pin DIN con-
plications and audio hardware on Windows.
nectors, labeled as either IN, OUT, or THRU. The
Pro Tools software can use audio interfaces with
MIDI OUT port transmits messages. The MIDI IN
supported ASIO drivers for playback and record-
port receives messages. The MIDI THRU outputs
ing with up to 32 channels of I/O.
whatever is received from the IN port. MIDI de-
vices are connected with MIDI cables that are
WASAPI
available at most music stores.
The Windows Audio Session API (WASAPI) lets
USB and FireWire-compatible MIDI devices send
client applications manage the flow of audio data
and receive MIDI messages to and from the com-
between the application and an external audio in-
puter over USB or FireWire.
terface. WASAPI provides benefits similar to
those of ASIO. It also allows any single audio ap-

8 Pro Tools Reference Guide

The MIDI protocol provides 16 channels of MIDI
per port. A single MIDI cable can transmit a sepa- Surround Sound
rate set of messages for each of the 16 channels. (Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)
These 16 channels can correspond to separate
Surround sound simply means having one or more
MIDI devices or to multiple channels within a sin-
speakers with discrete audio signals (channels)
gle device (if the device is multitimbral). Each
placed behind the listener in addition to the typical
channel can control a different instrument sound.
stereo pair.
Pro Tools provides powerful MIDI sequencing ca-
There are multiple types of surround formats in use
pabilities. You can record, enter, edit, and play
(from three-channel LCR to 7.1, which has eight
back MIDI data on Pro Tools Instrument and
channels).
MIDI tracks. These actions can be done in the Edit
window, the MIDI Editor window, the Score Edi- The most common surround format is 5.1, which
tor window, and the MIDI Event List. refers to having 5 speakers and a sub-woofer (the
“.1”). 5.1 is used in movie theaters and home enter-
MIDI data in Pro Tools can be anything from
tainment systems. Additionally, most DVDs are
MIDI note data (note number, on/off, velocity) to
mixed to 5.1. The standard speaker placement for
System Exclusive (Sysex) messages. MIDI data
5.1 for surround monitoring is stereo left and right
can be recorded or played back from both external
speakers, and an additional center speaker in front,
MIDI devices with a MIDI interface and other
two more stereo left and right speakers in the rear,
MIDI software (such as instrument plug-ins and
and the sub-woofer on the side.
ReWire client applications).
Pro Tools | Ultimate Software supports mixing in
surround formats. In Pro Tools, each surround for-
Synchronization mat is considered to be a greater-than-stereo mul-
tichannel format.
When you are working with multiple time-based
systems, such as Pro Tools and an external deck,
you want the systems to be synchronized. Syn-
chronization is where one system outputs clock Pro Tools Sessions
source (such as timecode or MIDI Beat Clock) and When you start a session in Pro Tools, you create a
another device synchronizes to or follows that session.
clock source so that they work together. Pro Tools
can be synchronized to other devices (or other de-
vices can be synchronized to Pro Tools) using
Session Files
SMPTE/EBU timecode or MIDI Timecode. A session file is the document that Pro Tools cre-
ates when you choose File > New Session and con-
figure a new session. Pro Tools can open only one
session file at a time. The session file is named
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

Chapter 2: Pro Tools Concepts 9

 any media files (audio or video). Instead, it refer- Audio, MIDI, Instrument, and video track data can
ences audio, video, MIDI, and other files. You can be edited into clips or repeated in different loca-
make changes to a session and save those changes tions to create loops, re-arrange sections or entire
in a new session file. This lets you create multiple songs, or to assemble tracks using material from
versions of a session or back up your editing and multiple takes.
mixing work.
Auxiliary Input tracks can route internal audio bus-
ses or physical inputs to internal busses or physical
outputs. Auxiliary Inputs are typically used for au-
dio effects busses, audio throughput (monitoring),
and submixing.

Session file icon

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

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.

Audio, Auxiliary Input, Master Fader, and Instru-

ment tracks can be mono, stereo, or multichannel
Audio track in the Edit window (stereo track shown) (Pro Tools Ultimate only). When creating a new
track, select from the list of channel formats sup-
ported by your system.

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.

10 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Typically, each audio channel for each track in
your Pro Tools session uses a single voice. So, for
a mono audio track, a single voice is used; for a ste-
reo audio track, two voices are used; for a 5.1
track, six voices are used. When using Punch Re-
cording, two voices are needed for every single au-
Audio file icon
dio channel (one for playback and one for record-
ing on punch in and out). In some situations, with Audio files for each session are stored in a folder
Pro Tools | HDX systems, more than one voice named “Audio Files.” Audio files are listed in the
may be necessary for a single channel (such as Pro Tools Clips List and can appear in an audio
when using host processing on a DSP bus). track. A section of an audio file can be defined as a
clip. See “Clips” on page 12.
On HDX systems, the number of available voices
is dependent on the amount of dedicated DSP pro- MIDI Files
cessing in your system (see “Playback, Recording,
and Voice Limits with When you record or enter MIDI into a Pro Tools
Pro Tools | Ultimate Software” on page 42). session, all MIDI data is stored in the Pro Tools
session file. You can import and export MIDI files
On all other Pro Tools systems, the full number of to and from Pro Tools sessions, but MIDI
available voices for your system may be limited by recorded or otherwise created in a Pro Tools
the host processing power of your computer (see session does not automatically create new MIDI
“Pro Tools Capabilities with Different Hardware files.
Configurations” on page 38).

For more information about voicing in

Pro Tools, see “Track Priority and Voice
Assignment” on page 255.

Media Files MIDI file icon

Pro Tools sessions create, import, export, and ref- Video Files
erence media files. Media files are audio, MIDI,
and video files. Audio and video media files are When you record or import video into a Pro Tools
stored separately from the Pro Tools session file. session, all video data is stored as the correspond-
MIDI data is stored in the session file. ing video file type (such as QuickTime). Video
files can be created in (or copied to) the Video
Audio Files Files folder in the session folder. However, in most
cases, Pro Tools references video files that have
When you record audio into a Pro Tools session, been captured by another application, such as Avid
audio files are created. Media Composer® | Software.

Chapter 2: Pro Tools Concepts 11

 Clips Playlists
A clip is a segment of audio, MIDI, or video data. A playlist is a sequence of clips arranged on an au-
A clip could be a drum loop, a guitar riff, a verse of dio, MIDI, or video track. Tracks have edit play-
a song, a recording take, a sound effect, some dia- lists and automation playlists.
log, or an entire sound file. Clips are especially
useful for arranging audio and MIDI. A clip can
also have associated automation data. In
Pro Tools, clips are created from audio files or
MIDI data, and can be arranged in audio and MIDI
track playlists. Clips can also be grouped (a “clip
of clips”) and looped (repeated).

Playlist selector pop-up menu

On audio tracks, an edit playlist tells the hard disk

which audio clips to play in what order. For exam-
Audio clip ple, you can have separate audio clips for a song
introduction, the first verse, the first chorus, and so
on. You can also use the same audio clip to access
the same piece of audio multiple times at different
locations and not use additional disk space. Differ-
ent versions of the same original audio can be used
MIDI clip in different places and have different effects ap-
plied. On MIDI and Instrument tracks, edit play-
lists can store multiple MIDI sequences (or perfor-
mances) on a track.

A playlist can be made up of a single clip or many

separate clips. It can be made up of similar ele-
Video clip (Frames view) ments (such as clips from several different takes of
a solo), or dissimilar elements (such as several
sound effects).

You can create any number of alternate edit play-

lists for a track. This lets you assemble different
versions of performances or edits on a single track
and choose between them from the Playlists menu
on the track.

Clip group (Mixed audio and MIDI multitrack clip

group)

12 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Each audio, Auxiliary Input, Instrument, Master
Fader, and VCA track also has a single set of auto-
mation playlists. Automation playlists can include
volume, pan, mute, and each automation-enabled
control for the insert and send assignments on that
track.

MIDI controller data on Instrument and MIDI

tracks is always included as part of the track play-
list.

Channels
The term channel is used to describe several re-
lated components of a Pro Tools system.

The first example of channel refers to a physical

input or output of your Pro Tools system. For ex-
ample, Pro Tools | HD I/O provides up to 16 chan-
nels of audio input and output to a HDX or
Pro Tools | HD Native system, while the
Pro Tools | Mbox® Pro audio interface provides up
to eight inputs and eight outputs.

The second use of the term channel refers to a

channel strip in the Pro Tools Mix window. Each
track in a Pro Tools session has a corresponding
channel strip in the Mix window.

Audio and MIDI channel strips have similar con-

trols, but those controls have slightly different ef-
fects. For example, audio, Auxiliary Input, and In-
strument track channel strip faders control the
output gain to the mix bus for that channel, while
MIDI channel strip faders send MIDI volume data
(MIDI controller 7) to the selected MIDI instru-
ment.

The term “MIDI channel” also describes a

separate aspect of MIDI operation. See
“MIDI” on page 8.
Channel strip in the Mix window (audio track)

Chapter 2: Pro Tools Concepts 13

 Signal Routing Signal Routing Options

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.

Sends MIDI Tracks MIDI tracks are generally used for

routing MIDI from internal or external sources to
Input from external MIDI devices. MIDI data can also be
Outputs to stereo
stereo bus bus path
routed to plug-ins on Auxiliary Inputs or Instru-
path ment tracks.

Instrument Tracks Instrument tracks are the pri-

mary way to route MIDI to an instrument plug-in
and then route the plug-in’s sound to outputs,
sends and busses, or other inserts. Instrument
tracks can also be used to send MIDI to and moni-
tor audio from external MIDI devices.

Sends Sends route audio from tracks to hardware

outputs, or to internal busses that are in turn routed
to other tracks within Pro Tools. MIDI, Master
Fader, and VCA Master tracks do not have sends.

Plug-In and Hardware Inserts Plug-In processing

occurs completely within the Pro Tools system.
Hardware inserts use audio interface inputs and
outputs for traditional insert routing to and from
external effects and other devices. MIDI and VCA
Audio tracks Auxiliary Input Master tracks do not have inserts.
track
Submixing to an Auxiliary Input

14 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Instrument Plug-Ins Instrument plug-ins are dif- Online projects let you collaborate on a track-by-
ferent from processing plug-ins in that they gener- track basis with anyone in the Avid Artist Commu-
ate audio rather than process the audio signal from nity anywhere in the world; or, if you prefer, you
a track’s audio input or from hard disk. Instrument can choose your collaborators privately and invite
plug-ins are typically played by MIDI. them to join a project by email.

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 Ultimate 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)

You must be online and logged in to your Avid

Master Account the first time you create a project,
Pro Tools Projects but after that you can work offline. Pro Tools and
Projects are similar to sessions, but projects are Avid Link will synchronize your local project with
cloud enabled. Projects are written to a local proj- your account the next time you online. This pro-
ect cache that includes all project data and associ- cess runs in the background and can be monitored
ated media as well as mirrored in your Avid Cloud in Pro Tools by checking the Task Manager (Win-
Account. Offline projects store all media and proj- dow > Task Manager).
ect data in the local cache only. Online projects are
If a project is downloaded on another system when
stored in your Avid Cloud Account and mirrored
you log in to your Avid Master Account, all asso-
locally (though you can clear the local project
ciated media is downloaded inside of the project
cache and have the project and its media stored
bundle. This does not affect the location of the me-
only in the cloud).
dia on the originating system. Each system main-
tains its own unique placement of media without
duplication.

Chapter 2: Pro Tools Concepts 15

 Tick-Based Audio and MIDI
Tick-Based and
Sample-Based Time Tick-based audio is fixed to a Bars|Beat location,
and moves relative to the sample Timeline when
Pro Tools lets you set any track timebase to tempo and meter changes occur. However, MIDI
either sample-based or tick-based. You can also set events and tick-based audio respond differently to
the Timeline to be viewed as tick-based or sample- tempo changes with respect to duration. MIDI note
based. events change length when tempo or meter is ad-
Audio in Pro Tools is sample-based by default. justed, while audio clips do not (unless Elastic Au-
This means that if an audio clip is located at a par- dio is enabled). When Elastic Audio is not enabled
ticular sample location, it will not move from that on an audio track, meter and tempo changes affect
location if the tempo changes in the session— only the start point (or sync point) for each audio
though its Bar|Beat location will change. clip in a tick-based track. If Elastic Audio is en-
abled on an audio track, tempo changes apply Elas-
MIDI data in Pro Tools is tick-based by default. tic Audio processing, which changes the duration
This means that if a MIDI clip is located at a par- of the audio clip.
ticular Bar|Beat location, it will not move from that
Bar|Beat location if the tempo changes in the ses- Elastic Audio
sion—though its sample location will change.
Elastic Audio provides real-time and non-real-time
You can select whether a track is sample-based or (rendered) Time Compression and Expansion
tick-based when it is created, or change timebases (TCE) of audio. Tick-based Elastic Audio tracks
later. actually change the location of samples according
to changes in tempo. The audio stretches or com-
Sample-Based Audio and MIDI presses to match changes in tempo. Elastic Audio
also provides high-quality non-real-time clip-
With a sample-based audio track, all clips in the based pitch shifting.
track have an absolute location on the Timeline.
Clips stay fixed to the sample time, regardless of Pro Tools Elastic Audio uses exceptionally high-
where tempo or meter changes occur in a session. quality transient detection algorithms, beat and
tempo analysis, and real-time or rendered TCE
If you make a MIDI track sample-based, all MIDI processing algorithms. Elastic Audio lets you
events in the track have an absolute location on the quickly and easily tempo conform and beat match
Timeline. MIDI events stay fixed to sample time, audio to the session’s Tempo ruler. It also provides
regardless of any tempo or meter changes in a an unprecedented degree of control over transient
session. detection and TCE processing on an event-by-
event basis.

16 Pro Tools Reference Guide

With Elastic Audio, Pro Tools analyzes entire au-  In order to free up needed DSP resources,
dio files for transient “events.” For example, an Pro Tools allows for certain items (such as tracks
event can be a drum hit, a sung note, or chord and inserts) to be manually made inactive. Inactive
played by a guitar. These detected events can then elements are viewable, editable, and retained
serve as control points for “warping” the audio. within the session. See “Active and Inactive
Pro Tools can warp (TCE) audio events automati- Items” on page 17.
cally, such as when automatically conforming au-
 All Pro Tools systems provide flexible voice
dio to the session tempo or quantizing audio
options for audio tracks, to help maximize use of
events, or you can warp audio manually using the
available voices in your system. For more informa-
standard editing tools with the audio track set to
tion on voice management and options, see “Track
Warp view.
Priority and Voice Assignment” on page 255.
Elastic Audio is useful in several common work-
flows: working with loops, correcting perfor- Active and Inactive Items
mances, remixing, beat and pitch matching, and
sound design and special effects. Pro Tools lets you make certain items (such as
tracks and inserts) inactive, in order to free up DSP
resources and mixer connections.

System Resources Items in Pro Tools that can be made inactive

include the following:
Track count, plug-in processing, signal path and
routing options, and voice availability are ulti- • Audio, Auxiliary Input, Master Fader,
mately limited by the combined resources avail- VCA Master, and Instrument tracks
able from the host computer and from your • Track Inputs and Outputs
Pro Tools hardware.
• Sends
Pro Tools provides several ways to manage and • Side-chain inputs
conserve resources to maximize the performance
• Plug-Ins
of your system. As you begin working with
Pro Tools sessions and tracks, you can take advan- • Hardware inserts
tage of the following features to extend the effec- • Paths (session-wide)
tiveness of your available DSP and other re-
sources: MIDI tracks cannot be made inactive.

 Pro Tools lets you adjust the performance of

your system by changing system settings that af- Side-chain inputs support direct active and
fect its capacity for processing, playback, and re- inactive switching, but do not follow switch-
cording. See “Configuring Pro Tools Software ing all or all selected side-chain inputs.
System Settings” on page 92.

Chapter 2: Pro Tools Concepts 17

 In addition to manually setting Active and Inactive Display of Inactive Items
modes, Pro Tools automatically makes items inac-
When items are inactive, their names appear in
tive if there are insufficient or unavailable re-
italics, and their background becomes dark gray.
sources.
When a track is inactive, the entire channel strip is
When active, items are fully engaged and opera- grayed out.
tional.
Active plug-in Inactive plug-in
When inactive, items are silent and off, although
most associated controls can still be adjusted. Dif-
ferent inactive items affect available system re-
sources in specific ways, as follows:

Plug-Ins When a plug-in is inactive on a track, its

DSP is made available for other plug-ins and pro-
cessing. Plug-In assignments can be made inactive
manually or automatically.

Paths and Path Assignments When a path or path

assignment is inactive, its mixer resources are
made available for other signal routing purposes in
the session. Paths and assignments can be made in-
active manually or automatically. Inactive
track
Tracks When a track is made inactive, its voices
become available for another track. Inactive mono
tracks free up one voice; inactive stereo and multi-
channel tracks free up one voice per channel. Ad-
ditionally, when an audio, Auxiliary Input, Instru-
ment, or Master Fader track is made inactive, its
plug-ins, inserts, sends, and I/O assignments be-
come inactive, and the associated DSP used is
freed up for use elsewhere in the session.

Active and inactive plug-ins, sends, and tracks

18 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Workspace Browsers AAF, MXF, and OMF
The Workspace is a database management tool for Pro Tools lets you exchange audio, video, and se-
Pro Tools. Workspace browsers expand upon ba- quences with other AAF-, MXF-, and OMF-com-
sic Pro Tools search and import capabilities by patible applications (such as Media Composer).
providing powerful tools to manage your data both
inside and outside of your sessions, on any hard Media Data (Media Files)
drive connected to the system.
Media data represents raw audio or video material
A database is a way of organizing data such that it and is stored in individual media files. Every time
can easily be searched, sorted, managed, and uti- you record a piece of video or audio material into
lized. Your checkbook is an example of a database an application, you are creating a media file. Audio
file. For every check you write, you enter a new re- media files hold samples (such as 44,100 or 48,000
cord. That record contains information about the samples per second of recording) while video me-
check, such as when you wrote it, to whom you dia files use frames (24, 25, or 30 frames per sec-
wrote it, and for what amount. This information is ond of recording).
written in specific columns, or fields. Everything
you need to know (the check’s metadata) is there, The size of each media file depends on how much
even though the check itself is not. audio or video material it contains. For example, a
file containing ten minutes of high resolution video
Workspace browsers let you search, sort, and might be approximately 2 GB in size, whereas a
mange these databases by volume or catalog. You ten-minute audio recording at the might result in a
can use Workspace browsers not only to organize 100 MB file. Media files tend to be large, since
your Pro Tools sessions and media files (audio, high quality audio and video signals are data inten-
MIDI, and video), but also to audition and import sive. Video data generally requires considerably
by drag and drop. more storage than audio data.
For more information, see Chapter 17,
“Workspace Browsers.”

Chapter 2: Pro Tools Concepts 19

 Metadata In the simplest case, only an AAF or OMF se-
quence is exchanged. If this sequence points to ex-
Metadata is used to describe the following:
isting media files, the size of the sequence file is
• Information embedded in a media file. This may relatively small and the export/import process is
include scene, take, sample rate, bit depth, exter- relatively fast.
nal clip names, the name of the videotape from
which the media file was captured, and even AAF and OMF sequences can also have media
timecode values. data embedded in them. This creates a single,
larger file that is slower to export and import, but
• Information embedded in Pro Tools sessions or
which may be easier to manage than thousands of
other sequences, including what files are used,
files stored on different volumes.
where they appear in a timeline, and automation.
• For AAF or OMF sequences, metadata also in- AAF
cludes information embedded in unrendered Au-
AAF is a sequence file format. AAF sequences are
dioSuite™ effects (such as real-time EQ) for
the best way to exchange projects and maintain
Media Composer. Pro Tools skips unrendered
valuable metadata. An AAF sequence can refer to
effects on import. Rendered effects are media
OMF or MXF media files, or have OMF and MXF
files that can be imported into Pro Tools.
media files embedded within them. There is no
• For AAF or OMF sequences, information about such thing as an AAF audio or video media file.
automation (clip-based gain or keyframe gain).
Pro Tools will import, play back, and export an
AAF sequence that either links to media files or
AAF, OMF, and MXF Basics
has audio embedded within it.
AAF and OMF files are mechanisms for storing
and retrieving media files and metadata so that When you import an AAF sequence with embed-
projects can be freely exchanged between different ded audio into Pro Tools, the audio will be
applications and platforms. MXF is a media file extracted into mono tracks using the current ses-
format that can be used with AAF (but not OMF) sion’s audio file format.
files.

Media data and metadata enable an application that

receives AAF and OMF sequence files (such as
Pro Tools) to automatically and quickly reassem-
ble the composition. A simple metaphor for this
approach is that media data files are the pieces of a
puzzle and metadata is the set of instructions for
assembling the puzzle.

20 Pro Tools Reference Guide

MXF
Pro Tools and
MXF is a media file format. There are MXF video Media Composer
files and MXF audio files, but there are no MXF Terminology
sequences. An AAF sequence may refer to or
include MXF media files, but OMF sequences can- Pro Tools and Media Composer use different
not refer to or include MXF files. terms to describe the same items. For example, a
Pro Tools session is equivalent to a Media Com-
poser sequence. The following table lists common
Pro Tools elements and their Media Composer
equivalents.

Media Composer
Pro Tools
MXF file icon (AAF or OMF)

Pro Tools can import and play back MXF audio session sequence
and video files created in Media Composer. whole file clip master clip

OMF clip subclip

OMF is both a media file and sequence format. plug-ins real-time audio effects
OMF media files can be audio or video, and volume automation gain Media Composer key-
Pro Tools can import and play back OMF audio, frame volume
but not OMF video. Pro Tools can also export
OMF audio, but not OMF video.
Whole audio files in the Clips List normally
Pro Tools can import and play back OMF audio appear in bold type. However, master clip au-
files created in Media Composer or other applica- dio files imported from AAF or OMF into
tions. Pro Tools will not appear in bold type (indi-
cating clips) in the Pro Tools Clips List even
An OMF sequence cannot reference or have MXF
though they are audio files.
media embedded within it.

Pro Tools can import an OMF sequence with em-

bedded audio, but not embedded video.

Chapter 2: Pro Tools Concepts 21

 Embedded Media and Linked Media
There are two types of AAF and OMF files: ones with embedded media, and ones with linked media.

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.

Original Source Media Files

Media Composer Edited Sequence
Refers to:

Export AAF/OMF with Embedded Media

creates...

Embedded AAF/OMF File (metadata and media)

Sequence (metadata) Consolidated Media Files

(with Handle)

AAF/OMF Interchange Workflow with Embedded Media

22 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Linked Media
Exporting AAF or OMF with linked media results in a single metadata file (.AAF or .OMF) and all
associated media stored as separate 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.

Media Composer Edited Sequence

Li
nk

Original Source Media Files

de
to
:

Media Composer exports

sequence edits and
file information as AAF
or OMF sequence

AAF/OMF File (metadata only)

Linked to:

Pro Tools Imports

Session File
:
to
d
ke

Translated Pro Tools Session File

n
Li

AAF and OMF Interchange Workflow with Linked Media

Chapter 2: Pro Tools Concepts 23

24 Pro Tools Reference Guide
Chapter 3: Keyboard and Mouse Shortcuts

For increased operational speed and ease of use,

there are many Pro Tools keyboard and Global Key Commands
Right-click shortcuts. Some keyboard shortcuts apply to many functions
in Pro Tools.
A full list of Pro Tools shortcuts is available in
online Help and in a PDF guide. For a complete list of keyboard shortcuts, see
the Shortcuts Guide (Help > Pro Tools
To access the full list of Pro Tools shortcuts in
online Help:
Shortcuts).

1 Choose Help > Pro Tools Help. Track Functions

2 Click Pro Tools Shortcuts on the Contents page Pro Tools provides keyboard shortcuts for the fol-
(in the left pane of Help). lowing track functions:

To access the full list of Pro Tools shortcuts in the

• Changing Automation mode
Pro Tools Shortcuts Guide: • Enabling playlists
 Choose Help > Pro Tools Shortcuts. • Adding plug-ins
• Record enabling, soloing, and muting tracks
• Record safing and solo safing tracks
Mouse Shortcuts
• Assigning inputs, outputs, and sends
Right-Click Shortcuts
• Toggling volume/peak/delay display
Pro Tools provides Right-Click shortcuts for • Clearing meters
choosing various Pro Tools commands and menus
• Changing track heights
with any Right-Click capable mouse.

For a complete list of Right-Click shortcuts,

see the Shortcuts Guide.

Scroll-wheel Functions

Pro Tools lets you increment or decrement values

in numerical fields by selecting the value and mov-
ing the mouse scroll wheel up or down.

Chapter 3: Keyboard and Mouse Shortcuts 25

 Controls and Editing Tools

Command Mac Windows Pro Tools provides keyboard shortcuts for moving
plug-in controls, faders and sliders, the Scrubber,
Apply action to all Option+ Alt+
and automation data.
channel strips/tracks action action

Command Mac Windows

Apply action to Option+ Alt+Shift+
selected channel Shift+ action Fine adjustment Hold Command Hold Control
strips/tracks action of sliders, while clicking while clicking
knobs, and the item the item
Vertically con- breakpoints
strained, fine adjust-
ment for automation For extra-fine Hold Command Hold Control
and control break- adjustment of +Shift while +Shift while
points breakpoints in adjusting auto- adjusting
Grid mode mation break- automation
points breakpoints
List and Parameter Selection

Pro Tools provides keyboard shortcuts for the fol-

lowing items:
Keyboard Focus
• Selection of tracks in Tracks List The Keyboard Focus in Pro Tools determines how
the alpha keys function. Depending on which Key-
• Enabling of groups in Groups List
board Focus is enabled, you can use the keys on
• Automation Enable window parameters your computer (alpha) keyboard to select clips in
• Setting Memory Location parameters the Clips List, enable or disable groups, or perform
an edit or play command.
Command Windows Mac
You can only enable one of the three Keyboard Fo-
Toggle item and set Alt-click item Option-click cus modes at a time. Enabling a Keyboard Focus
all others to same item will disable the one previously enabled.
new state
There are three types of Keyboard Focus:
Toggle item and set Control-click Command-
all others to opposite item click item
Commands Keyboard Focus When selected in
state
the Tracks pane in the Edit window or in the Notes
pane of any MIDI Editor window, this provides a
wide range of single key shortcuts from the com-
puter keyboard for editing and playing. The front-
most Edit or MIDI Editor window always receives
Commands Keyboard Focus when it is enabled.

With Commands Keyboard Focus disabled, you

can still access any of its key shortcuts by pressing
the Start key Control (Mac) or (Windows) along
with the key. See the Shortcuts Guide for a com-
plete list of Commands Keyboard Focus shortcuts.

26 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Commands Keyboard Focus provides single-key shortcuts for a range of edit and play commands. Avid as
well as other vendors supply custom keyboards for Mac and Windows labeled with Pro Tools commands
when in Commands Keyboard Focus.

Pro Tools Custom Keyboard labeled with keyboard commands (Mac keyboard shown)

Clips List Keyboard Focus When selected, audio To set the Keyboard Focus, do one of the
clips, MIDI clips, and clip groups can be located following:
and selected in the Clips List by typing the first few  Click the a–z button for the focus you want to
letters of the clip’s name. enable.
Groups List Keyboard Focus When selected, Mix  While pressing Command+Option (Mac) or
and Edit Groups can be enabled or disabled by typ- Control+Alt (Windows), press one of the fol-
ing the Group ID letter (in either the Mix or Edit lowing keys: 1 (Commands), 2 (Clips List), or 3
window). (Groups List).

Although multiple plug-in windows can have a

Commands Keyboard Focus Clips List
(Edit window) Keyboard Focus keyboard focus enabled, only the front-most
window receives any keyboard input.

Toolbar Focus
In the Edit window, the MIDI Editor pane can be
displayed in addition to the Tracks pane (View >
Groups List Other Displays > MIDI Editor). When the MIDI Ed-
Keyboard Focus itor pane is displayed, there are two separate Tool-
bars and Timelines in the Edit window: one for the
Tracks pane and one for the MIDI Editor pane.
Only one Toolbar and Timeline can be focused for
Keyboard Focus buttons Menu and Toolbar commands (including the cor-
responding keyboard shortcuts) at a time. The fo-
cused Toolbar displays a yellow outline.

Chapter 3: Keyboard and Mouse Shortcuts 27

 If Keyboard Focus for the Edit window is enabled, Shuttle Lock Modes
it follows the selected Toolbar focus.
There are two Shuttle Lock modes (Classic and
To enable Toolbar focus for the Tracks pane, do Transport). Both modes let you use the numeric
one of the following: keypad to shuttle forward or backwards at specific
speeds.
 Click the Toolbar at the top of the Edit window.
• 5 is normal speed.
 Press Command+Option+4 (Mac) or
Control+Alt+4 (Windows). • 6–9 provide increasingly greater fast-forward
speeds.
To enable Toolbar focus for the MIDI Editor pane, • 1–4 provide progressively greater rewind speeds
do one of the following: (4 is the slowest, 1 is the fastest).
 Click the Toolbar right above the MIDI Editor • Press 0 to stop Shuttle Lock, then press the num-
pane. ber to resume Shuttle Lock speed.
 Press Command+Option+5 (Mac) or • Press Escape or Spacebar to exit Shuttle Lock
Control+Alt+5 (Windows). mode.

Custom Shuttle Lock Speed

Numeric Keypad Modes (Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)

The Operation preference for Numeric Keypad The highest fast-forward Shuttle Lock speed
mode determines how the numeric keypad func- (key 9) can be customized.
tions for Transport.
For more information, see “Custom Shuttle
There are two Shuttle Lock modes (Classic and Lock Speed” on page 625.
Transport), and one Shuttle mode.
Classic Mode
No matter which Numeric Keypad mode is se-
This mode emulates the way Pro Tools worked in
lected, you can always use the numeric keypad to
versions lower than 5.0. With the Numeric Keypad
select and enter values in the Event Edit Area, Edit
mode set to Classic, you can:
Selection indicators, Main and Sub Counters, and
Transport fields. • Play up to two tracks of audio in Shuttle Lock
mode. Press the Control key (Mac) or the Start
To set the Numeric Keypad Mode: key (Windows), followed by 1–9 for different
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click the play speeds.
Operation tab. • Press Plus or Minus to reverse direction.
2 In the Transport section, select a Numeric Key- • Press 0 to stop Shuttle Lock, then press the num-
pad mode (Classic, Transport, or Shuttle). ber to resume Shuttle Lock speed.

3 Click OK. • Press Escape or Spacebar to exit Shuttle Lock

mode.
• Recall Memory Locations by typing the Mem-
ory Location, followed by a Period (.).

28 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Transport Mode Shuttle Mode
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)
This mode lets you set a number of record and play
functions, and also operate the Transport from the Pro Tools offers another form of shuttling, differ-
numeric keypad. ent from that of the two Shuttle Lock modes. With
the Numeric Keypad mode set to Shuttle, playback
Function Key of the current Edit selection is triggered by press-
Click on/off 7 ing and holding the keys on the numeric keypad—
playback stops once the keys are released. Various
Countoff on/off 8 playback speeds are available in both forward and
MIDI Merge/Replace mode 9 reverse. In this mode, pre- and post-roll are ig-
nored.
Loop Playback mode on/off 4
Playback Speeds Key
Loop Record mode on/off 5
1x Forward 6
QuickPunch mode on/off 6
1x Rewind 4
Rewind 1
4x Forward 9
Fast Forward 2
4x Rewind 7
Record enable 3
1/4x Forward 3
Play/Stop 0
1/4x Rewind 1
With the Numeric Keypad mode set to Transport,
you can also: 1/2x Forward 5+6

• Play up to two tracks of audio in Shuttle Lock 1/2x Rewind 5+4

mode. Press the Control key (Mac) or the Start 2x Forward 8+9
key (Windows), followed by 1–9 for different
play speeds. 2x Rewind 8+7

• Press Plus or Minus to reverse direction. 1/16x Forward 2+3

• Press 0 to stop Shuttle Lock, then press the num- 1/16x Rewind 2+1
ber to resume Shuttle Lock speed.
Loop Selection (1x) 0
• Press Escape or Spacebar to exit Shuttle Lock
mode. With the Numeric Keypad mode set to Shuttle, you
• Recall Memory Locations by typing Period (.), can also recall Memory Locations by typing Period
the Memory Location number, and Period (.) (.), the Memory Location number, and Period (.)
again. again.

Shuttle Lock modes are not available when

the Numeric Keypad mode is set to Shuttle.

Chapter 3: Keyboard and Mouse Shortcuts 29

30 Pro Tools Reference Guide
Using Help

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

To access guides in Pro Tools: • Open a different version or language of

Pro Tools Help
 Choose Help, then a guide name.

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
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.

Show in Contents Button Use this button to

locate the current topic in the Contents.

Previous Topic and Next Topic Buttons Use

these buttons to browse through the topics in the
order in which they appear in the Contents.

Print Click this button to print one or more topics.

32 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Index Tab To perform a basic search:

The Index provides an alphabetized list of entries 1 Click the Search tab.
similar to the index of a printed book. 2 In the Search pop-up menu (located below the
Search text box), click whether you want to
If Java is enabled in your browser, the Index dis-
search in “All Available Books” or a specific
plays as a dynamic index where the listing scrolls
book (such as Pro Tools Shortcuts).
as you type a word in the text box. If you do not
have Java enabled in your browser, or if your 3 In the Search text box, type the word or words
browser does not support Java implementations, a that you want to find.
JavaScript version of the index displays, which lets
4 Click Go.
you scroll manually through the entries.
A list of topics and ranking numbers appears.
To find topics by using the Index tab:
Additional Search Information
1 Click the Index tab.
The Search feature provides the best combination
2 Click the first character of the topic in the
of usefulness and speed:
Numerics, Letters, Symbols list.
• The Search feature uses a database of valid
To view the topic associated with an index entry: words. This database includes all words that are
 Click the index entry. significant for identifying topics and excludes
all other words. When you type words in the
search text box, the system ignores any invalid
words that you have typed and searches for valid
Using the Search Tab words.
The Search tab lets you search the entire text of the • The Search feature cannot search for words in a
Help system for one or more words and then lists certain order. For example, if you type “TIFF
the topics that include those words. The list of re- graphics import” as a search entry, Search dis-
sults is ranked, placing the topics that the Search plays all topics that contains these three words
feature considers most likely to be relevant at the regardless of their location in the topic. The re-
top of the list. sults include topics where the three words ap-
pear together as a phrase, and also topics where
When you search for text, the text string automati-
the three words are scattered throughout the
cally highlights by default. You can turn these
topic.
highlights off. You can also stop displaying high-
lights after a search by using the Back and Forward • The Search feature cannot distinguish between
buttons to go to a different topic. When you come words that are similar but not identical. For ex-
back to your searched topic, the highlights no lon- ample, if you type “capture” as a search entry,
ger display. Search displays topics that include that word,
but it does not find topics that include related
For more guidelines on using the Search feature ef- words such as “captures” or “capturing.” If a
fectively, see “Search Guidelines” on page 34. search for a word fails to produce useful results,
you might be more successful if you search
again using one of the related words.

Using Help 33
 Search Guidelines Printing Help Topics
Use the following rules for formulating search You can print Help topics if you need to refer to
queries: them during a complicated procedure or to use for
• Searches are not case-sensitive, so you can type reference later.
your search in uppercase or lowercase charac- See your browser documentation for more infor-
ters. mation on print options.
• You can search for any combination of letters
(a–z) and numbers (0–9). To print a Help topic:

• Punctuation marks (such as the period, colon, 1 Click the topic pane within the browser window
semicolon, comma, and hyphen) are ignored that you want to print.
during a search, unless they are part of the topic 2 Do one of the following:
(such as .WAV).
• Click the Print button in the Topic pane.
• You can search for a literal phrase by using quo-
tation marks. You cannot search for quotation • Right-click in the Topic pane and select Print.
marks. • Select File > Print.
3 Select the print options.

Copying from a Help Topic 4 Click Print.

You can copy information from a Help topic for Topics that you print from Help have limited
use in another document (such a text file). page layout and formatting features. If you
want to print a higher quality version of Help
To copy information from a Help topic to another information, Avid recommends that you print
document: all or part of the PDF version of the appro-
1 Open or click the topic to make it active. priate guide.

2 Select the text that you want to copy.

3 Choose Edit > Copy.
4 Place the mouse pointer in another application,
such as a word processing application.
5 Choose Edit > Paste to paste the copied text into
a document. (You can also paste the text into the
Search text box.)

34 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Part II: System Configuration
Chapter 5: Pro Tools Systems

There are three types of Pro Tools systems: Pro Tools | Ultimate Software with Avid or
Third-Party Hardware
Pro Tools Software with Avid or Third-Party
Hardware These systems include Pro Tools | Ultimate soft-
ware with any compatible non-HDX or non-
These systems include Pro Tools software with HD Native Avid audio interfaces (such as Mbox
Avid audio hardware (visit the Avid Knowledge Pro), or Core Audio (Mac), ASIO (Windows), or
Base online for the latest information on supported WASAPI hardware.
Avid interfaces). These systems also include
Pro Tools software using third-party audio inter-
faces with supported Core Audio (Mac, including Pro Tools Software
the built-in audio on Mac computers), ASIO (Win-
dows), or WASAPI (Windows). Pro Tools software provides the following
capabilities, depending on your hardware
For a list of qualified audio interfaces and configuration:
computers for all Pro Tools systems, visit
• Up to 32 channels of I/O depending on your sys-
www.avid.com/compatibility.
tem and audio hardware
Pro Tools | Ultimate Software with HDX or • Up to a total of 128 mono or stereo audio tracks
HD Native Hardware per session:
Hardware accelerated Pro Tools HD systems in- • Playback of up to 128 tracks, or a combina-
clude Pro Tools | Ultimate software with HDX or tion of playing back and recording up to 128
HD Native (PCIe or Thunderbolt) hardware. Hard- tracks, mono or stereo, at 44.1 kHz and
ware accelerated systems provide expanded I/O 48 kHz
capabilities and low latency monitoring. HDX sys- • Playback of up to 64 tracks, or a combination
tems also provide dedicated DSP for plug-in pro- of playing back and recording up to 64 tracks,
cessing and for large mixer configurations. mono tracks or stereo, at 88.2 kHz and
96 kHz
Pro Tools | Ultimate software (versions
2018.4 and later) was previously • Playback of up to 32 tracks, or a combination
Pro Tools | HD software (versions of playing back and recording up to 32 tracks,
2018.3 and lower). mono or stereo, at 176.4 kHz and 192 kHz

Chapter 5: Pro Tools Systems 37

 • Up to 128 Auxiliary Input tracks Processing Capacity
• Up to 64 Master Fader tracks The total processing capacity of a Pro Tools sys-
• Up to 1,024 MIDI tracks tem depends on the processing power of your com-
puter. Contact your dealer or visit www.avid.com
• Up to 512 Instrument tracks
for the latest system requirements and compatibil-
• A single QuickTime video track ity information.
• 16-bit, 24-bit, or 32-bit floating point audio
resolution, at sample rates up to 192 kHz Pro Tools Capabilities with Different
Hardware Configurations
• Automatic Delay Compensation (up to 16,383
samples at 48 kHz) Pro Tools supports up to 32 channels of audio in-
• Fixed RAM Disk Cache allocation options put and output, but the available input and output
capabilities with Pro Tools varies depending on
• Non-destructive, random-access editing and mix your audio interface. For information about the in-
automation put and output capabilities of your audio interface,
• Audio processing with up to 10 real-time refer to the documentation that came with your
plug-ins per track, depending on your hardware.
computer’s capabilities
If you open a Pro Tools session created on a
• Up to 10 hardware inserts per track Pro Tools | Ultimate system that contains more
• Up to 10 sends per track than the number of tracks supported on your
Pro Tools system, audio tracks beyond the sys-
For more information about the I/O tem’s voiceable track limit will be automatically
capabilities of your audio interface with set to inactive.
Pro Tools, see the documentation that came
with your audio interface. For details on transferring session material
between Pro Tools | Ultimate and Pro Tools
Supported Hardware systems, see “Sharing Sessions Created on
Configurations with Pro Tools Different Pro Tools Systems” on page 466.
Software
Pro Tools Software works seamlessly with
non-HD Avid audio hardware (such as
Pro Tools | Ultimate Software
Pro Tools | Quartet). For the latest information on
with Pro Tools | HDX
supported hardware configurations with Pro Tools
Hardware
Software, visit: Each system requires at least one Avid HD audio
http://www.avid.com/compatibility interface (sold separately). HDX systems can be
expanded by adding HDX cards to increase track
count and the amount of plug-in and mixer pro-
cessing, and by adding additional audio interfaces.

38 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Pro Tools Ultimate Capabilities Audio Recording and Playback
with HDX Hardware Capabilities

Pro Tools Ultimate with HDX hardware provides Number of Voices

the following capabilities:
Each channel in an audio track requires a voice for
• Up to 256 channels of I/O depending on your
playback. For example, while a mono track uses
system
one voice and a stereo track uses two voices, a 5.1
• Up to a total of 1,024 voiceable audio tracks of track uses six voices.
any channel width (unvoiced tracks are made in-
active) Each HDX card adds to the possible voice count.

• Up to 256 voices per HDX card HDX 1 256 voices at 48 kHz, 128 voices at 96 kHz,
• Up to 512 Auxiliary Input tracks and 64 voices at 192 kHz.

• Up to 64 Master Fader tracks HDX 2 512 voices at 48 kHz, 256 voices at 96 kHz,
and 128 voices at 192 kHz.
• Up to 128 VCA Master tracks
• Up to 1,024 MIDI tracks HDX 3 786 voices at 48 kHz, 384 voices at 96 kHz,
and 192 voices at 192 kHz.
• Up to 512 Instrument tracks
• Up to 64 video tracks per session Number of Voiced Audio Tracks

• 16-bit, 24-bit, or 32-bit floating point audio Pro Tools | Ultimate supports up to 1,024 voiced
resolution, at sample rates up to 192 kHz mono audio tracks. The number of simultaneous
• Up to 7.1.2 surround mixing capability tracks of audio recording or playback depends on
your system configuration and system resources.
• Automatic Delay Compensation (up to 16,348
samples at 48 kHz) Each HDX card increases the possible voiced
• Fixed RAM Disk Cache allocation options mono audio track count by the same amount:

• No-latency monitoring HDX 1 Up to 256 mono audio tracks at 48 kHz, 128

• Non-destructive, random-access editing and mix mono audio tracks at 96 kHz, and 64 mono audio
automation tracks at 192 kHz.

• Audio processing with up to 10 inserts per track HDX 2 Up to 512 mono audio tracks at 48 kHz, 256
(any combination of real-time plug-in and hard- mono audio tracks at 96 kHz, and 128 mono audio
ware inserts), depending on your computer’s ca- tracks at 192 kHz.
pabilities HDX 3 Up to 786 mono audio tracks at 48 kHz, 384
• Up to 10 sends per track mono audio tracks at 96 kHz, and 192 mono audio
tracks at 192 kHz.

Chapter 5: Pro Tools Systems 39

 • Up to a total of 384 voiced mono audio tracks
Pro Tools | Ultimate Software (up to 768 voiced mono audio tracks are possible
with Pro Tools | HD Native with additional Pro Tools | Ultimate Voice
Hardware Packs)
Each system requires at least one Pro Tools HD
Pro Tools | Ultimate Voice Packs increase the
audio interface (sold separately). HD Native sys-
voice count for Pro Tools | Ultimate on non-
tems can be expanded by adding additional HD au-
HDX systems. See “Pro Tools | Ultimate
dio interfaces.
Voice Packs” on page 48.
Pro Tools HD systems with HD Native hardware
• Up to 512 Auxiliary Input tracks
consist of the following:
• Up to 64 Master Fader tracks
• One of the following:
• HD Native PCIe card • Up to 128 VCA Master tracks

• HD Native Thunderbolt interface • Up to 1,024 MIDI tracks

• Pro Tools | Ultimate • Up to 256 Instrument tracks

• An authorized iLok for running • Up to 64 video tracks per session

Pro Tools Ultimate software • 16-bit, 24-bit, or 32-bit floating point audio res-
• One or more Avid HD audio interfaces (sold olution, at sample rates up to 192 kHz
separately) • Non-destructive, random-access editing and mix
• DigiLink Mini cable for connecting HD Native automation
hardware to an audio interface • Up to 7.1.2 surround mixing capability
• A MIDI interface (optional) • Automatic Delay Compensation (up to 16,348
samples at 48 kHz)
For detailed information about installing
HD Native PCIe hardware, see the HD Native • Fixed RAM Disk Cache allocation options
Installation Guide. • FPGA-based low latency monitoring (LLM)
For information about installing HD Native
• Audio processing with up to 10 inserts per track
Thunderbolt hardware, see the HD Native
(in any combination of real-time, host-based
Thunderbolt Guide.
plug-in and hardware inserts), depending on
your computer’s capabilities, and the number
Pro Tools Ultimate Capabilities and type of installed audio interfaces
with HD Native Hardware
• Up to 10 sends per track
Pro Tools Ultimate with HD Native hardware pro-
vides the following capabilities:
• Up to 64 channels of I/O depending on your sys-
tem, and the number and type of installed audio
interfaces
• Up to a total of 1,024 voiceable audio tracks of
any channel width (unvoiced tracks are made in-
active)

40 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Maximum I/O Configuration with
Supported Pro Tools HD HD Native
Audio Interfaces
HD Native supports up to a maximum combina-
The following Pro Tools HD audio interfaces are tion of up to 4 total of the following audio inter-
compatible with HDX and HD Native hardware: faces:
• Pro Tools | HD I/O • HD OMNI (only 1 HD OMNI interface is sup-
• Pro Tools | HD OMNI ported in a single HD Native system)
• Pro Tools | HD MADI • HD I/O (up to 4 HD I/O interfaces can be used
simultaneously)
• Pro Tools | MTRX
• HD MADI (full connectivity with 1 HD MADI
HDX and HD Native systems require at least interface is possible when both DigiLink ports
one HD I/O, HD OMNI, HD MADI, or MTRX. of the HD MADI are connected to both Dig-
iLink ports on the HD Native PCIe card or
Maximum I/O Configuration with Thunderbolt interface)
HDX
• MTRX (up to 4 MTRX interfaces can be used si-
HDX supports up to a maximum combination of multaneously)
12 total of the following audio interfaces:
• HD OMNI (only 1 HD OMNI interface is sup-
ported in a single system)
• HD I/O (up to 12 HD I/O interfaces can be used
simultaneously—requires 3 HDX cards)
• HD MADI (up to 3 HD MADI interfaces can be
used simultaneously—requires 3 HDX cards)
• MTRX (up to 12 MTRX interfaces can be used
simultaneously—requires 3 HDX cards)

Chapter 5: Pro Tools Systems 41

 Playback, Recording, and Voice Limits with
Pro Tools | Ultimate Software
The table below lists the audio playback, recording, and voiceable track limits with Pro Tools Ultimate
software with HDX, HD Native, Core Audio, and ASIO hardware. Playback and recording voices refers to
the number of unique simultaneous playback and record tracks on your system. Total voiceable tracks re-
fers to the maximum number of audio tracks that can share the available voices on your system. (Mono
tracks take up one voice. Stereo and multichannel tracks take up one voice per channel.)

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. With Pro Tools | Ultimate on HD Native,
Core Audio, and ASIO systems, voice limits are dependent on session sample rate and the number of
Pro Tools | Ultimate Voice Packs installed. Pro Tools | Ultimate can open sessions with up to 1,024 audio
tracks on any system, but any audio tracks beyond that system’s voiceable track limit will be automatically
made inactive.
s

Pro Tools Ultimate audio playback, recording, and voice limits by hardware configuration

Playback and
Recording Voices
Sample Rate (number of channels
Core System Type Maximum I/O
(kHz) for simultaneous
Playback and
Recording)

HDX, 1 card 64 channels 44.1/48 256

88.2/96 128

176.4/192 64

HDX, 2 cards 128 channels 44.1/48 512

88.2/96 256

176.4/192 128

HDX, 3 cards 192 channels 44.1/48 768

88.2/96 384

176.4/192 192

42 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Pro Tools Ultimate audio playback, recording, and voice limits by hardware configuration

Playback and
Recording Voices
Sample Rate (number of channels
Core System Type Maximum I/O
(kHz) for simultaneous
Playback and
Recording)

HD Native 64 channels 44.1/48 384

(no Pro Tools | Ultimate
Voice Packs) 88.2/96 192

176.4/192 96

Pro Tools | Ultimate on 32 channels 44.1/48 384

Core Audio or ASIO
(no Pro Tools | Ultimate 88.2/96 192
Voice Packs)
176.4/192 96

Add optional Pro Tools | Ultimate Voice Packs to increase the voice count for Pro Tools | Ultimate on
non-HDX systems. See “Pro Tools | Ultimate Voice Packs” on page 48.

Pro Tools HD Audio Interface Features

The following table lists the input and output capabilities of the various Pro Tools HD audio interfaces for
HDX and HD Native systems. Each HDX card in your system supports a maximum of 64 channels of I/O.
HD Native hardware supports a maximum of 64 channels of I/O. To record and play audio with
Pro Tools Ultimate with any of these hardware configurations, you must have at least one Pro Tools HD
audio interface connected to the first port of the first card (or Thunderbolt interface) in the system.

Avid HD audio interface channel capabilities

Number of I/O Sample A/D D/A

Interface Type Digital I/O
Channels Rates (kHz) Conversion Conversion

HD I/O 16 in/16 out 44.1, 48, 24-bit 24-bit 24-bit

88.2, 96,
176.4, 192

HD OMNI 8 in/8 out 44.1, 48, 24-bit 24-bit 24-bit

88.2, 96,
176.4, 192

Chapter 5: Pro Tools Systems 43

 Avid HD audio interface channel capabilities

Number of I/O Sample A/D D/A

Interface Type Digital I/O
Channels Rates (kHz) Conversion Conversion

HD MADI 64 in/64 out 44.1, 48, None None 24-bit

88.2, 96,
176.4, 192

MTRX up to 64 44.1, 48, 24-bit 24-bit 24-bit

88.2, 96,
176.4, 192

HD OMNI Audio Interface • 4 analog TRS line level back panel inputs
(Channels 1–4)
HD OMNI is a professional digital audio interface
designed for use with Pro Tools HD systems. HD OMNI provides multiple analog input con-
HD OMNI provides a compact preamp, monitor- nections, but only provides up to four channels
ing, and I/O solution for music production and re- of simultaneous analog input for Pro Tools.
cording, and post production studios.
• Soft Clip and Curv limiting circuits to protect
HD OMNI Features against clipping on analog input

HD OMNI provides up to 8 discrete channels of • 8 channels of analog back panel output using a
Pro Tools input and output, with 4-segment LED DB-25 breakout cable (sold separately) with
meters for input or output (selectable). variable output gain
• 2 channels of analog back panel output using
Analog I/O TRS (Mirrors channels 1–2 or 7–8 on DB-25
• 24-bit analog-to-digital (A/D) and digital-to-an- connector)
alog (D/A) converters, with support for sample • Front panel stereo 1/4-inch headphone jack
rates up to 192 kHz
• 2 high-quality Mic/DI preamps (Channels 1–2) Digital I/O

• 2 combined XLR and 1/4-inch TRS front panel • 8 channels of AES/EBU output (up to 192 kHz
inputs for microphone and instrument level in- Single Wire) using a DB-25 breakout cable (sold
put separately)

• 2 XLR back panel microphone inputs • 2 channels of AES/EBU XLR input (up to
192 kHz Single Wire)
• 2 1/4-inch TRS Send and 2 1/4-inch TRS Return
back panel jacks for hardware inserts on chan- • 2 channels of S/PDIF RCA input and output (up
nels 1 and 2 to 192 kHz)
• 8 channels of ADAT TOSLINK input and output

44 Pro Tools Reference Guide

• Support for ADAT S/MUX Optical for sample HD I/O Audio Interface
rates of 88.2 kHz, 96 kHz, 176.4 kHz, and
HD I/O is a multichannel digital audio interface
192 kHz
designed for use with Pro Tools HD systems.
• Support for two channels of S/PDIF Optical HD I/O features extremely high quality 24-bit an-
with sample rates of up to 96 kHz alog-to-digital (A/D) and digital-to-analog (D/A)
• Real-time sample rate conversion (SRC) on Dig- converters, and supports sample rates of up to
ital Inputs 1–2 of either AES/EBU, S/PDIF, or 192 kHz.
Optical (S/PDIF)
HD I/O comes in three standard configurations:
SRC is not supported with ADAT S/MUX. • 8 x 8 x 8 (8 analog in, 8 analog out, and 8 digital
in and out)
Monitoring
• 16 x 16 analog in and out
• An additional stereo “CUE” output path in
Pro Tools for headphone monitoring from the • 16 x 16 digital in and out
front panel headphone jack
You can also add or remove HD I/O Analog Ex-
• Front panel Control Room (MAIN/ALT) and pansion cards (ADC and DAC) and HD I/O Digi-
Headphone monitoring volume control tal Expansion cards for custom configurations.
• Flexible monitoring with fold-down from all ste-
reo and surround formats (up to 7.1 surround) HD I/O Features

• Input mixer for low latency direct monitoring of HD I/O provides up to 16 discrete channels of
a variety of incoming signals (configured in the Pro Tools input and output, with 4-segment LED
Pro Tools Hardware Setup) meters for input and output.

Synchronization Analog I/O

• Loop Sync input and output for connecting • Up to sixteen channels of 24-bit D/A and A/D
additional HD peripherals converters for superior analog input and output
• External Clock input and output for synchroniz- at sample rates of 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 88.2 kHz,
ing HD OMNI with external Word Clock de- 96 kHz, 176.4 kHz, and 192 kHz with Analog In
vices and Analog Out HD I/O cards
• Soft Clip and Curv limiting circuits to protect
For more information, see the HD OMNI Guide. against clipping on analog input

Chapter 5: Pro Tools Systems 45

 Digital I/O HD MADI Digital Audio Interface
• Up to sixteen channels of 24-bit digital I/O, us- HD MADI is a 64-channel, digital audio interface
ing AES/EBU, TDIF DB-25, or Optical at sam- designed for use with Avid HD systems.
ple rates of 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, and HD MADI supports the Multichannel Audio Digi-
192 kHz with a Digital HD I/O card tal Interface (MADI) format and sample rates of up
• Real-time sample rate conversion on digital in- to 192 kHz. HD MADI provides simplified con-
puts with a Digital I/O card (up to sixteen chan- nectivity between your Avid HD system and
nels of AES/EBU, Optical, or TDIF) MADI-compatible audio equipment.
• Support for S/MUX Optical for sample rates of
HD MADI Features
88.2 kHz and higher
• 2 MADI Optical and Coaxial inputs and 2
• Support for 2 channels of S/PDIF Optical
MADI Optical and Coaxial outputs for up to 64
(enclosed) with sample rates of up to 96 kHz
discrete channels of digital input and output (32
• 2 channels of AES/EBU I/O (enclosed) with channels per DigiLink Mini port)
support for sample rates up to 192 kHz
• Supports sample rates of 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96,
• 2 channels of 24-bit-capable S/PDIF I/O 176.4, and 192 kHz
(enclosed) with support for sample rates up to
• 24- or 16-bit resolution
192 kHz
• Sample Rate Conversion (SRC) on input or out-
Synchronization put
• Loop Sync input and output for connecting addi- • Front panel clock and SRC indicators
tional Avid HD audio interfaces and peripherals
• Front panel signal present LEDs for input and
• External Clock input and output for synchroniz- output
ing HD I/O with external Word Clock devices
• BNC Word Clock I/O for synchronizing
Expandability
HD MADI with external 1x Word Clock

• Optional addition of I/O cards to expand analog • BNC Loop Sync I/O for synchronizing
or digital I/O HD MADI with additional Avid HD audio
interfaces and peripherals (such as HD I/O,
• Simultaneous use of multiple Avid HD audio in- HD OMNI, or SYNC HD)
terfaces to further expand system input and out-
put • Dedicated BNC Word Clock input and XLR
AES/EBU input (clock input only) for external
For more information, see the HD I/O Guide. MADI synchronization (when using SRC on
output)
• Clock support for the following formats: Inter-
nal, Loop Sync, Word Clock, AES/EBU, and
MADI
• Varispeed modes (supports both 64- and 56-
channel standards)

For more information, see the HD MADI Guide.

46 Pro Tools Reference Guide

MTRX Audio Interface Synchronization

Pro Tools | MTRX is a multichannel digital audio • Sample rates of 44.1–384 kHz as well as
interface designed for use with Pro Tools HD sys- DSD64/DSD 128 with high precision internal
tems. clock and PLL.
• Sample rate can be adapted to the setting of an
Depending on installed analog expansion I/O external device.
cards, MTRX features extremely high quality 24-
bit analog-to-digital (A/D) and digital-to-analog • Synchronization by Word Clock, AES11, Video,
(D/A) converters, and supports sample rates of up and all digital audio inputs.
to 192 kHz.
Remote Control
MTRX comes in three standard configurations: • Operation using MTRX Control software (ma-
• 8 x 8 x 8 (8 analog in, 8 analog out, and 8 digital cOS or Windows)—some settings can be con-
in and out) trolled on the front panel.

• 16 x 16 analog in and out • All settings are controlled over Ethernet.

• 16 x 16 digital in and out Pro Tools | MTRX I/O Expansion Options

You can also add or remove analog and digital I/O • 2 to 48 analog channels depending on the in-
expansion cards for custom configurations. stalled analog I/O cards (Mic/Line AD cards in-
clude microphone preamplifiers with relay-
MTRX Features based gain circuits):
• MTRX 8 Line Pristine AD Card
Pro Tools MTRX provides up to 64 discrete chan-
nels of audio for Pro Tools with two DigiLink Mini • MTRX 2 Mic/Line Pristine AD Card
ports (Primary and Primary/Expansion). • MTRX 8 Mic/Line Pristine AD Card
• MTRX Pristine 8 DA Card
Digital I/O
• Digital I/O Expansion Cards:
• Built-in 8 AES3 interfaces with 16 channels of
I/O. • MTRX 8 AES3 I/O Card
• Built-in MADI coax interface with 64 channels • MTRX Dual SDI/HD/3G Card
of I/O. • MTRX Dante 128 Card
• Compliant with the Dante Controller and Dante • MTRX 64-Channel IP Audio Dante Module
Virtual Sound Card. • MTRX Dual MADI I/O Card
• Ethernet IP audio interface for 64 I/O channels • MTRX SPQ Processing Cards
using Dante with configurable redundant net-
work. For more information, see the Pro Tools MTRX
Installation and the Pro Tools MTRX Opera-
• Digital router and format converter between all
tion guides.
analog and digital inputs and outputs.

Chapter 5: Pro Tools Systems 47

 HDX and HD Native Systems
Pro Tools Hardware Options with MachineControl
Pro Tools software systems also supports the fol-
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)
lowing Pro Tools hardware options.
• Pro Tools | PRE (Eight-channel microphone Pro Tools | Ultimate software provides Machine-
preamp) Control™ with HDX and HD Native systems. Ma-
chineControl enables serial communication with
• Eleven Rack (guitar processor) Sony® 9-pin compatible synchronizers, and video
• Control surfaces (such as Avid S6, S3, Dock, or audio machines. For more information, see
Pro Tools | Control app, and Artist Series con- Chapter 58, “MachineControl.”
trollers)
Pro Tools with VENUE Link
For Pro Tools systems that are connected to
Pro Tools | Ultimate
VENUE systems using Ethernet, VENUE Link
Hardware Options
provides Pro Tools and VENUE system integra-
Pro Tools Ultimate also supports the following tion and interoperability.
Avid HD hardware options.
• SYNC HD synchronization peripheral (HDX Pro Tools | Ultimate Voice
and HD Native systems only): Packs
• Pro Tools | PRE (Eight-channel microphone (Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)
preamp)
You can increase the voice count for any native-
• Eleven Rack (guitar processor)
based Pro Tools | Ultimate system (non-HDX)
• Control surfaces (such as Avid S6, S3, Dock, with Pro Tools | Ultimate Voice Packs (available
Pro Tools | Control app, and Artist Series con- for purchase separately).
trollers)
A single Pro Tools | Ultimate Voice Pack license
provides an additional 128 voices at 48 kHz, 64
Pro Tools Software Options voices at 96 kHz, and 32 voices at 192 kHz for any
native system (HD Native, Core Audio, or ASIO)
running Pro Tools | Ultimate software. Up to three
HEAT
Pro Tools | Ultimate Voice Pack licenses can be
HEAT (Harmonically Enhanced Algorithm Tech- used simultaneously to provide up to 768 voices at
nology) is a software option that adds “analog 48 kHz, 384 voices at 96 kHz, and 192 voices at
color” to your Pro Tools mixes. For more informa- 192 kHz.
tion, see Chapter 47, “HEAT.”

48 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Voice counts with Pro Tools | Ultimate Voice Packs running on non-HDX hardware

Number
Number of Voices at Number of Voices at Number of Voices at
of Voice
48 kHz 96 kHz 192 kHz
Packs

0 384 192 96

1 512 256 128

2 640 320 160

3 786 384 192

Depending on your system resources and session configuration (such as large mix sessions), not all
possible voices may be available. To ensure that you only purchase as many Pro Tools | Ultimate
Voice Packs as your system is capable of using, try trial versions of Pro Tools | Ultimate Voice Packs
to determine your system capacity before making a purchase.

Chapter 5: Pro Tools Systems 49

50 Pro Tools Reference Guide
Chapter 6: I/O Setup

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.

Path Type tabs Path Format selector Interface Name label

Path Name column

Input and Output
selectors

Active/Inactive
Status

Channel Grid

Path tools Options

Import/Export Settings

I/O Setup on an HDX system with HD OMNI and HD I/O

Chapter 6: I/O Setup 51

 Opening the I/O Setup
Pro Tools Software Signal
The I/O Setup can be opened from the application Paths
window (with a session closed), or from within a
session (when a session is open). A signal path is a logical grouping of multiple in-
puts, outputs, or busses that has a single name and
To open the I/O Setup: (channel) format. The I/O Setup lets you create,
define and name paths according to the configura-
1 Make sure your audio interfaces are enabled
tion of your studio and the needs of each project.
and configured properly in the Hardware Setup.
24 busses are created by default, but you can create
See “Configuring Hardware Settings in
as many as you need.
Pro Tools” on page 97.
2 Choose Setup > I/O. Main Paths and Sub-Paths
Paths in Pro Tools tracks and I/O Setup include
Closing the I/O Setup
main paths and sub-paths.
To close the I/O Setup and save changes:
Main Paths
 Click OK.
Main paths are logical groupings of inputs, inserts,
Pro Tools checks several settings for routing valid- busses, or outputs. For example, a master stereo
ity (to prevent feedback loops). If there are any output path will include both its left and right chan-
overlapping or invalid settings, you will be re- nels.
quired to correct them (see “Valid Paths and Re-
quirements” on page 77). Sub-Paths

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:

 Press Option+Page Up/Down (Mac) or

Alt+Page Up/Down (Windows).

Main and sub-paths in I/O Setup (Input page)

52 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Sub-paths for Output Paths Default Sub-Paths

Pro Tools lets you create sub-paths for physical Main

Sub-Paths Sub-Path Name
Path
output paths in the Output page. Using output bus
sub-paths rather than physical output sub-paths is 5.0 – 1 Stereo (LR) Stereo: <main path
sufficient for most workflows. Use physical output 6.0 – 5–7 Mono name >.LR
sub-paths only when you need alternate mix for- 7.0 (one for each Mono: <main path
channel) name >.L, .C, .R,
mats for the same physical output (including ex- .Ls, .Rs, and so on
plicit downmix paths).
5.1 – 1 Stereo (LR) Stereo: <main path
Default Bus Sub-paths 6.1 – 6–8 Mono name >.LR
7.1 (one for each Mono: <main path
Pro Tools lets you create the default sub-paths for channel) name >.L, .C, .R,
busses in the New Sub-Path dialog when accessed .Ls, .Rs, and so on,
and LFE
from the Bus page. Enable the Create Default Sub-
Paths option to have Pro Tools automatically cre- 7.0.2 1 each: 7.0, 5.0, multichannel sub-
ate the default set of sub-paths for the path format (Dolby Quad, LCR, Ste- paths: <main path
(channel width) of the selected main bus path, as Atmos reo, Overhead name >.<channel
only) (LR); format>
follows:
and 9 Mono Mono: <main path
Default Sub-Paths (one for each name >.L, .C, .R,
channel) .Lss, .Rss, .Lsr, .Rsr,
Main .Lts, .Rts
Sub-Paths Sub-Path Name
Path
7.1.2 1 each: 7.1, 7.0, Stereo: <main path
Mono N/A N/A (Dolby 5.1, 5.0, Quad, name >.LR
Atmos LCR, Stereo, Mono: <main path
Stereo 2 mono <main path
name > followed by only) Overhead (LR); name >.L, .C, .R,
and10 Mono .Lss, .Rss, .Lsr, .Rsr,
channel designation
(one for each .LFE, .Lts, .Rts
.L and .R
channel)
LCR 1 Stereo (LR) Stereo: <main path
3 Mono (one for name >.LR When the Create Default Sub-Paths option is en-
each channel) Mono: <main path
abled, all other custom options in the New Sub-
name >.L, .C, .R
Paths dialog are grayed-out and unavailable.
LCRS 1 Stereo (LR) Stereo: <main path
4 Mono (one for name > .LR It is especially useful to define and name
each channel) Mono: <main path sub-paths for complex mixing setups, such
name>.L, .C, .R, .S as a 5.1 surround mix.
Quad 1 Stereo (LR) Stereo: <main path
4 Mono (one for name > .LR
each channel) Mono: <main path
name>.L, .R, .Ls, .Rs

Chapter 6: I/O Setup 53

 Paths in Sessions When you create a new session, you can specify
which I/O Settings to use. For example, you can
In sessions, signals are routed to and from tracks,
use the factory installed default settings, the “Last
sends, and inserts using track Input, Output, Insert,
Used” setting, or one of any available custom I/O
and Send selectors.
settings files.
When you click a track Input, Output, Insert, or
See “Factory I/O Settings” on page 83 and
Send selector, the paths created and defined in the
“I/O Settings Files” on page 84 for more
IO Setup appear in the list of available paths (see
information.
“Assigning Audio Inputs and Outputs to Tracks”
on page 249). Default I/O Settings

Pro Tools comes with default I/O Setup settings to

Path Configurations and
get you started (see “Factory I/O Settings” on
I/O Settings
page 83). You should only need to open the I/O
Each Pro Tools system can have a different path Setup if you want to customize I/O paths or if you
configuration, determined by: change your system hardware (for example, add-
• On Pro Tools systems, the type of audio inter- ing an expansion card to HD I/O, or adding or re-
face or other physical I/O (including built-in moving an audio interface).
hardware)
You can always return to the default settings for an
• On HDX and HD Native systems, the number I/O Settings page by clicking the Default button.
and types of audio interfaces These paths are available in session tracks and are
reflected in the I/O Setup.
Path configurations in Pro Tools are saved as
I/O settings. You can customize your I/O Setup configuration at
any time, according to the needs of each project
I/O Settings are saved with both the session and
(see “Customizing I/O Settings” on page 64).
with the system. You can choose to overwrite the
I/O settings saved with the system with those
saved with the session (see “Restore from Session”
on page 85).

Unavailable items (including hardware, paths, or

required resources) remain in the session as inac-
tive items (see “Making Paths Active or Inactive”
on page 76).

54 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Input Page
I/O Setup Pages
The Input page of the I/O Setup lets you create and
The I/O Setup provides tabs to open pages for con- assign Pro Tools Input channels to receive audio
figuring specific I/O Settings. from the physical inputs of your audio hardware.

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.

It is recommended that if you choose to cus-

tomize your I/O Setup, configure the system-
specific options first: Input, Output, Insert,
Mic Preamps, and H/W Insert Delay. Then
configure the Bus page. Once you have config-
ured your system, you should not need to
change it unless you add or remove hardware
(such as audio interfaces) from your system.
See “Customizing I/O Settings” on page 64.

I/O Setup, Input page

Chapter 6: I/O Setup 55

 Output Page Bus Page
The Output page of the I/O Setup lets you create The Bus page of the I/O Setup lets you create and
and assign Pro Tools Output channels to send au- edit internal mix busses and output busses. The
dio to the physical outputs of your audio hardware. Bus page also lets you map output busses to output
paths (as configured in the Output page of the I/O
Configure output signal path names and formats on Setup).
the Output page. Output channels can have over-
lapping output paths. Multichannel Output paths Configure bus path names and formats, and map
(stereo or greater) can have any number of sub- any main bus path to any available output of the
paths. Output names, channel widths, and physical same width or greater. Multichannel bus paths
output assignments are saved with the system and (stereo or greater) can have any number of sub-
the session, and can be recalled from either. paths. Output bus and internal mix bus names and
channel widths are saved with and recalled from
the session.

I/O Setup, Output page

I/O Setup, Bus page

For more information, see “Configuring

Busses” on page 78.

56 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Insert Page Mic Preamps Page
The Insert page of the I/O Setup lets you create and On the Mic Preamps page of the I/O Setup, signal
edit hardware insert signal paths for the Pro Tools paths for one or more PRE multi-purpose micro-
mixer. Hardware inserts can route audio through phone preamplifiers can be mapped to
an external device connected to parallel inputs and audio interfaces. For more information, see the
outputs of a Pro Tools audio interface. This lets PRE Guide.
you process audio on a track with a hardware insert
in real time.

Insert paths require audio interface inputs and out-

puts, and are determined by the configuration of
the Insert page in the I/O Setup for your system.

Mic Preamps page

H/W Insert Delay

(Compensation) Page
To compensate for the delay (latency) of any exter-
nal hardware devices (such as an effects unit) used
in your session, you can set the amount of Hard-
ware Insert Delay Compensation (in milliseconds)
for each external device. These times will be used
I/O Setup, Insert page
by the Delay Compensation Engine to time-align
input paths when the hardware insert is in use and
Delay Compensation is enabled.
For more information, see “Using Hard-
ware Inserts” on page 1121.

Insert offset delay field

For more information, see “Setting a

Hardware Insert Delay Offset” on
page 1088.

Chapter 6: I/O Setup 57

 Active/Inactive Status Box Shows and changes
I/O Setup Signal Path the active/inactive status of each path.
Controls
Path Format Selector Shows and selects the
Depending on the I/O Setup page, the I/O Setup type/format (such as Mono, Stereo, Quad, or 5.1)
provides the following controls in its graphical of each defined path (greater-than-stereo multi-
section for configuring signal routing paths. channel formats are supported with
Pro Tools Ultimate only).
Path Name Path Format selector
column
Input selector Channel Grid Assigns paths to specific interfaces
and channels.

I/O Setup Buttons

Depending on the I/O Setup page, the I/O Setup
can provide the following buttons for configuring
signal routing.
Expand/Collapse
triangle Channel Grid

Active/Inactive
Status box

I/O Setup, Signal Path controls (Input page shown)

Input and Output Selectors (HDX and HD Native

Systems Only) Let you select the physical ports on I/O Setup, Signal Path buttons (Output page shown)
your audio interface to route to Pro Tools inputs New Path Button Lets you create a new path on
and outputs. Ports are selectable in channel pairs. signal path pages for Input, Output, Insert, Bus, or
Available ports for each displayed interface are Mic Preamp.
based on Hardware Setup settings; for example, if
the AES/EBU inputs and outputs of an interface New Sub-Path Button Lets you create a new sub-
are enabled in Hardware Setup, they are available path on signal path pages for Input, Output, Insert,
for routing in I/O Setup. The functionality pro- or Bus.
vided with the Input and Output selector is the
Delete Path Button Lets you delete any selected
same as that provided on the Main page of the
path or sub-path on signal path pages for Input,
Hardware Setup.
Output, Insert, or Bus.
Path Name Column Shows paths that are available
Default Button Resets a path type to its default
for selection, including the name of each defined
path configuration, depending on the physical
path. Path names can be renamed.
hardware I/O you are using and how your hard-
Expand/Collapse Triangle Shows or hides the sub- ware is configured.
paths associated with a main path (Input and Bus
Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows)
paths only).
the Default button to restore defaults to paths
in all pages of the I/O Setup.

58 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Import Settings Button Lets you import an I/O Compensate for Delays After
settings file to reconfigure I/O Setup. Import Set- Record Pass
tings only imports the settings for the currently (HDX and HD Native Systems Only)
viewed page of the I/O Setup (such as the Input
page). Pro Tools provides two options for compensating
for input and output latency (due to any inherent
Apply to All Tabs Applies imported I/O settings to latency in the analog to digital and digital to analog
all pages of the I/O Setup. converters of the audio interface) after recording.

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 86. 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

When enabled, this option provides automatic

compensation for any analog or digital output de-
I/O Setup Options lay with Avid HD audio interfaces. Enable this op-
tion when you are synchronized to an external
Pro Tools systems have several additional
clock source. When recording from a digital
I/O Setup options depending on which page of the
source, both the Compensation for Input Delays
I/O Setup you are viewing. These include default
After Record Pass and the Compensation for
signal routing for metering and auditioning, and
Output Delays After Record Pass options must be
default track layout for multichannel mix formats.
enabled.

The Compensation for Output Delays After Record

Pass option is only available in the Output page of
the I/O Setup.

I/O Setup, Signal Path options (Output page shown)

Chapter 6: I/O Setup 59

 Monitor Path Pro Tools assigns a default Audition Path to the
first available main Output path of the correspond-
Pro Tools provides a Monitor Path setting in the
ing format. You can also select a different Audi-
Output page of the I/O Setup. Using the selected
tion Path in the I/O Setup.
Monitor path for the main mix output of your
Pro Tools sessions ensures that a session created Configuring Audition Paths
on another Pro Tools system will always have at
least one audible output. You can specify the monitoring outputs for audi-
tioning audio in the Clips List and Workspace
Pro Tools automatically downmixes or upmixes browsers, or for previewing AudioSuite process-
the session Monitor path to the system Monitor ing, using the Audition Paths pop-up menu.
path so that you always hear session playback re-
gardless of name and width of the Output path on Audition Paths Main Menu The main menu con-
either system. sists of all path format choices available on the cur-
rent system (Mono and Stereo on all systems, and
The Monitor path is graphically indicated by a LCR and greater with Pro Tools Ultimate only).
speaker icon in track and send Output selectors,
Output paths, and in the Output and Bus pages of Audition Paths Submenus Each path format
the I/O Setup. choice has a submenu listing Output paths of that
given format. (The mono submenu lists Output
paths of any format.)
Audition Path
You can specify the output path through which To configure an Audition Path:
files and clips are previewed (auditioned) from the  Select a path from the Audition Paths pop-up
Clips List or Workspace browsers, as well as when menu or submenus.
previewing AudioSuite processing. Pro Tools lets
you assign the Audition path to any available Out-
put path regardless of its channel width. For mis-
Object Fold Down Path
(Pro Tools | Ultimate with Dolby Atmos Only)
matched channel widths, the Audition path is auto-
matically downmixed or upmixed to the selected Dolby Atmos® mixes are monitored from the
Output path. Dolby Atmos Renderer. If Pro Tools is discon-
nected from or can’t communicate with the Ren-
The Audition Path selector is available in the Out-
derer, you can monitor the mix in Pro Tools over
put page of the I/O Setup.
the output path designated as the Object Fold Down
For information on previewing audio, see Path. When Pro Tools can’t recognize a connec-
“Previewing Clips in the Clips List” on tion to the Renderer, it automatically re-routes all
page 299 or “Previewing Audio in Work- object output paths, and folds them down to the se-
space Browsers” on page 343. lected output format using coefficients for down
mixing 7.1.2 panning.
Using the Default Audition Path

When you preview a file or clip in the Clips List or

in a Workspace browser, or when previewing Au-
dioSuite processing, Pro Tools routes the audio
output through the specified Audition Path.

60 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To designate the Object Fold Down Path: To set the Output Meter Paths:
1 Open the I/O Setup (Setup > I/O) and click the 1 Choose Setup > I/O Setup.
Output tab.
2 Select the Output tab.
2 In the Output page, ensure that there is an avail-
able output path with the channel format that you 3 From the Output Meter Path selector, select the
want. If not, create one. desired output path for metering.
3 From the Object Fold Down Path selector, output
path you want to use to monitor panned object au- Default Output Bus
dio
You can specify the default output bus path
assignment for new tracks, in each available
format.

The Default Output Bus selector is available in the

Bus page of the I/O Setup.

The Default Output Bus can be set for

I/O Setup, Object Fold Down Path selector
internal mix bus paths, as well as for
4 Click OK to save your changes and close the I/O output bus paths.
Setup.
To specify a default output for new tracks in the
Make sure that Pro Tools is not connected to a Ren- I/O Setup:
derer, start playback and you will hear all object au-
dio downmixed to the designated Object Fold Down  Click the Default Output Bus pop-up menu and
Path. select a format and output bus path.

Because the Object Fold Down Path activates

an invisible internal bus, it cannot be metered
AFL/PFL Path
on a Master Fader or the Edit Window Output Tracks soloed in AFL (After Fader Listen) or PFL
Meter Path display. (Pre Fader Listen) Solo mode are routed to the cur-
rent AFL/PFL Path, as set with the AFL/PFL Path
Output Meter Path selector.
The Output Meter Path selector determines the Pro Tools provides a combined AFL/PFL Path set-
which output or bus paths are monitored by the ting that can use any available Output path, regard-
Output Meters in the transport (see “Output Me- less of channel width. For mismatched channel
ters” on page 1073). It also determines the path widths, the AFL/PFL path is automatically down-
displayed across the Output meters of D-Control or mixed or upmixed to the selected Output path.
D-Command worksurfaces as well as in the
Pro Tools transport. For more details, see your
control surface documentation.

The Output Meter Path selector is available in the

Output and Bus pages of the I/O Setup.

Chapter 6: I/O Setup 61

 Note that if you assign the AFL/PFL Path to a phys- 4 Click on the new fader position (or press Esc) to
ical output used for monitoring, that signal is close the fader display.
muted when soloed and the solo path is used for
monitoring instead. However, if the AFL/PFL Path To set the AFL/PFL Path level to 0 dB,
is assigned to a different output, the main output Command-Control-click (Mac) or
continues to pass signal even when the AFL/PFL Control-Start-click (Windows) any Solo
path is soloed. This lets you use XMON “Broad- button.
cast Mode” without XMON (ICON) hardware.
Low Latency Monitoring
The AFL/PFL Path selector is available in the Out- (HD Native Systems Only)
put page of the I/O Setup.
With HD Native systems, the Output page of the
See “Solo Modes” on page 259 for more in- I/O Setup lets you enable (or disable) Low Latency
formation on using AFL or PFL Solo modes. Monitoring. It also lets you specify any available
Output path for Low Latency Monitoring. The
To select the AFL/PFL Path output:
Output path for Low Latency Monitoring can be of
 Select a path from the AFL/PFL Path pop-up any channel width (from Mono to 7.1). Low La-
menu. tency Monitoring uses Outputs 1–2 by default.

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.

1 Choose Options > Solo Mode, and select a Solo

mode: Default Format
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)
• To set the level for AFL solos, select AFL.
• To set the level for PFL solos, select PFL. The Default Format selector lets you select the de-
fault format (Mono, Stereo, and all multichannel
2 In the Mix or Edit window, Control-click Com- formats) for new paths and for when you click the
mand-click (Mac) or (Windows) a Solo button Default button.
on any track.
3 Adjust the AFL/PFL Path fader.

62 Pro Tools Reference Guide

The Default Format selector is available in the To choose a new default path order (track layout):
Input, Output, and Insert pages of I/O Setup. The 1 Choose Setup > I/O.
Default Format settings on each page are set inde-
pendently of one another. The Input and Insert 2 Click the Output tab.
pages only provide Mono and Stereo options. The 3 Use the Default Path Order setting to select the
Output page provides all available formats. channel order you want for the corresponding
channel width.
Depending on which page of the I/O Setup is cur-
rently shown, the Default Format setting deter-
mines the width of the first output (or input or in- Embed Eleven Settings From
sert) when clicking the Default button. If mono or (Systems with Eleven Rack Only)
stereo is selected, all outputs (or inputs or inserts)
With an Eleven Rack connected to your Pro Tools
are created accordingly.
system, Pro Tools lets you embed the current
To choose a Default Format: Eleven Rack Rig settings into audio clips as you
record them, so that you can retrieve that same set-
 Select the desired channel format from the De- ting for further use later. This can also be helpful
fault Format pop-up menu. when collaborating or bringing sessions or clips to
a different system using Eleven Rack, because
For more information about multichannel
your settings travel with the files.
mixing, see Chapter 52, “Pro Tools Setup for
Surround.” The Embed Eleven Setting From selector deter-
mines the audio input used for routing audio from
Path Order an Eleven Rack into a separate audio interface.
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)
The Embed Eleven Setting From selector is avail-
The Path Order selector lets you specify the de- able in the Input page of the I/O Setup.
fault channel order for all new paths created. The
selected Path Order setting determines the channel To embed Rig setting in recorded audio:
order for the following: 1 Choose Setup > I/O Setup.
• Channels added to newly created path (first
2 Select the Input tab.
paths) when hitting the Default button.
• Channels added to empty paths when penciling 3 Set the Embed Setting From menu to the input
in channel assignments. you plan to record through, such as Eleven Rig
L/R.
• Channels added when creating a new path and
selecting the Add default channel assignments This same method applies when using Eleven
option. Rack as an insert with any Pro Tools system

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.

Chapter 6: I/O Setup 63

 7 The settings of the currently loaded Rig will be 4 Click the Input tab and do the following:
embedded in each audio clip that is recorded • Create input paths and sub-paths with appropri-
from the input you select in the Embed Setting ate widths and physical input assignments that
From menu. match your studio configuration (see “Signal
Audio clips with embedded Rig data are marked Path Routing for Audio Output” on page 68).
with a small Eleven Rack logo icon in both the Edit • Rename input paths and sub-paths to match your
Window and the Clips List in Pro Tools. studio configuration.
5 Click the Output tab and do the following:
• Create output paths with appropriate widths and
Customizing I/O Settings
physical output assignments that match your stu-
The following shows how to customize your I/O dio configuration.
settings for your particular studio setup.
• Rename output paths to match your studio con-
If you are using an HD OMNI, be sure to con- figuration.
figure the Monitor page of the Hardware 6 If you plan on using hardware inserts, click the
Setup for HD OMNI before configuring the Insert tab and do the following:
I/O Setup. For more information, see the
• Create insert paths with appropriate widths and
HD OMNI Guide.
physical input and output assignments that
To customize I/O Settings: match your studio configuration.
1 Open the I/O Setup (Setup > I/O). • Name insert paths to match your studio configu-
ration. Name insert paths using standard indus-
2 Import I/O settings from an existing I/O settings try terminology if possible, such as
.pio file or a Pro Tools session file (.ptx) (see “Compressor,” “Reverb,” “EQ,” and so on.
“Importing I/O Settings” on page 84).
• Click the H/W Insert Delay tab and enter the cor-
You can prepare a session for use on a differ- rect insert delay in milliseconds for each in-
ent system this way. Any paths for hardware put/output pair that you are using for hardware
that is not present on the current system will inserts. (See “H/W Insert Delay (Compensation)
appear as inactive. Page” on page 57.)

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 78).

Output busses are automatically created and

mapped to outputs when new output paths are
created.

64 Pro Tools Reference Guide

10 Export your I/O settings to create a backup of 4 From the pop-up menu, select a physical port
your current settings (see “Exporting I/O Set- pair (such as Analog 1–2), to route to a
tings” on page 85). Pro Tools channel pair (such as A 1–2) in the
Path Name column on the left.
11 Click OK. You should not have to open the I/O
Setup again unless you add or remove hardware
to or from your system, or if you open a session
created on a different system (see “Session or
Project Interchange and I/O Mapping” on
page 86).

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 97). 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).

Chapter 6: I/O Setup 65

 The only limit to output choices is the number of
outputs available in your system.

0utput path assignments can overlap in certain

situations. See “Valid Paths and Require-
ments” on page 77 for details.

Pro Tools outputs pairs can also be routed to mul-

tiple audio interface outputs in the Hardware
Setup.

To route a Pro Tools output channel pair to

multiple audio interface output ports:
1 Choose Setup > I/O.
2 Click the Output tab.
3 Click the Output selector for an interface chan-
nel pair, just below an audio interface icon.
4 From the pop-up menu, select a physical port
pair (such as Analog 1–2) to route to the corre-
sponding Pro Tools channel pair (such as A
1–2) in the Path Name column on the left.
5 Control-click (Mac) or Start-click (Windows)
the same Output selector and select an addi-
tional output pair from the same pop-up menu.

The output name updates with a plus sign (“+”) be-

fore it to indicate that multiple output ports are se-
lected. In the pop-up menu, each physical port pair
assigned to that Pro Tools output pair is indicated
by a check mark.
6 Repeat the above steps to select additional
output destinations.
7 Click OK to save changes and close the
I/O Setup.

66 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Signal Path Routing for Audio Input
The following example shows the signal path from the physical analog input of an HD OMNI audio
interface, through the Pro Tools audio input path, to the Input of an audio track in the Pro Tools mixer:

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 67
 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.

68 Pro Tools Reference Guide

(4) Physical Output For Avid HD audio interfaces, 5 Do one of the following:
such as the HD OMNI, the physical outputs that • To add more paths, click the Add Row
are available to Pro Tools are set on the Main page button (“+”).
of the Hardware Setup (this selector is mirrored in
the Output page of the I/O Setup). • To remove a path, click the Remove Row
button (“–”).
For Pro Tools systems such as the Mbox Pro
and the 003, physical outputs are fixed. For Add a new path by pressing Command+N
third-party and built-in hardware, click the (Mac) or Control+N (Windows), or by pressing
Launch Setup App button in the Hardware Command+Plus (+) (Mac) or Control+Plus
Setup for available configuration options. (+) (Windows) on the numeric keypad.

To remove the last path from the New Path

Creating New Paths dialog Command+Minus (–) (Mac) or
The I/O Setup lets you create new paths with cus- Control+Minus (–) (Windows).
tom names, formats, and assignments to physical
6 Enable (or disable) the New Paths options Add
I/O. Custom path names appear in a session’s track
the Default Channel Assignments and Auto-
Input, Output, Insert, and Bus selectors.
Create Sub-paths.
To create a new path: 7 Click Create.
1 Choose Setup > I/O.
When you create a new Output path, an out-
2 Click the Input, Output, Insert, or Bus tab to dis- put bus is automatically created on the Bus
play the corresponding path type. page of the IO Setup, and is automatically
mapped to the output path you created. See
3 Click New Path.
“Output Busses” on page 78.
4 In the New Path dialog, specify the number of
new paths you want to create, the channel width 8 Assign the path to a specific audio interface (In-
for each path, and the path name. put, Output, and Insert pages only) in the Grid
column. See “Assigning Paths to Hardware
I/O” on page 76.
9 Repeat the previous steps to configure all path
types (Input, Output, Insert, or Bus).
10 Click OK to save changes and close the I/O
Setup. If there are any identically named paths,
New Paths dialog
you will be instructed to correct them before the
I/O Setup will close. For more information, see
“Valid Paths and Requirements” on page 77.

Multichannel paths and mixing are explained in

Chapter 52, “Pro Tools Setup for Surround.”

Chapter 6: I/O Setup 69

 New Paths Dialog Add Default Channel
Assignments Option
The New Paths dialog lets you create new paths on
the Input, Output, Bus, and Insert pages of the I/O Enable Add Default Channel Assignments option if
Setup. you want Pro Tools to automatically assign input,
output, and insert paths to physical inputs and out-
Number of new paths Add/Remove Row puts in the Channel Grid (from the first available
Path Format Path Name channel to the maximum number of channels
available). If the number of new paths of a certain
width exceeds the number of available channels,
Pro Tools wraps around and starts over at the first
physical input or output of your audio interface.

New Paths dialog Auto-Create Sub-Paths Option

New Path Row Settings For input, bus, and insert paths, enable the Auto
Create Sub-Paths option to have Pro Tools auto-
Number of New Paths Enter the number of new matically create the default set of sub-paths for the
paths you want to create (or a certain type, like path format (channel width), as follows:
“Bus”).
Default Sub-Paths
Path Format Select the channel width from the Main
Path Format selector. Sub-Paths Sub-Path Name
Path

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

Quad 1 Stereo (LR), Stereo: <main path

4 Mono (one for name > .LR
each channel) Mono: <main path
name>.L, .R, .Ls, .Rs

Move Row icon in the New Paths dialog

70 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Default Sub-Paths
Creating New Sub-Paths
Main
Sub-Paths Sub-Path Name
Path You can create sub-paths for main paths in the
5.0 – 1 Stereo (LR), Stereo: <main path Input, Output, Bus, and Insert pages of the I/O
6.0 – 5–7 Mono name >.LR Setup.
7.0 (one for each Mono: <main path
channel) name >.L, .C, .R, To create a new sub-path:
.Ls, .Rs, and so on
1 Select the page of the I/O Setup where you want
5.1 – 1 Stereo (LR), Stereo: <main path to create sub-paths (such as the Input page).
6.1 – 6–8 Mono name >.LR
7.1 (one for each Mono: <main path 2 Select the Main path for which you want to cre-
channel) name >.L, .C, .R, ate sub-paths.
.Ls, .Rs, and so on,
and LFE 3 Click New Sub-Path.

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

New Sub-Paths dialog for Input main path

Chapter 6: I/O Setup 71

 New Sub-Path Row Settings Create Default Sub-Paths Option
(Bus Sub-Paths Only)
Number of New Sub-Paths Enter the number of
new sub-paths you want to create for the selected Pro Tools lets you create the default sub-paths for
main path. busses in the New Sub-Path dialog when accessed
from the Bus page. Enable the Create Default Sub-
Sub-Path Format Select the channel width from
Paths option to have Pro Tools automatically cre-
the Path Format selector.
ate the default set of sub-paths for the path format
Sub-Path Name Enter the sub-path name. If you (channel width) of the selected main bus path, as
are creating more than one sub-path, the number of shown in the following table.
each new sub-path will be appended to the sub- Default Sub-Paths
path name (for example, Bus 1, Bus 2, Bus 3, and
Main
so on). Sub-Paths Sub-Path Name
Path
Add/Remove Rows Click the Add Row button to Mono N/A N/A
add more paths, or click Click the Remove Row
button to remove paths. Stereo 2 mono <main path
name > followed by
Move Row Icon Drag a Move Row icon up or channel designation
down to reorder paths. .L and .R

LCR 1 Stereo (LR), Stereo: <main path

3 Mono (one for name >.LR
each channel) Mono: <main path
name >.L, .C, .R
LCRS 1 Stereo (LR), Stereo: <main path
4 Mono (one for name > .LR
Move Row icon in the New Sub-Paths dialog each channel) Mono: <main path
name>.L, .C, .R, .S

Add Default Channel Quad 1 Stereo (LR), Stereo: <main path

Assignments Option 4 Mono (one for name > .LR
(Input, Output, and Insert Sub-Paths Only) each channel) Mono: <main path
name>.L, .R, .Ls, .Rs
Enable Add Default Channel Assignments option if
5.0 – 1 Stereo (LR), Stereo: <main path
you want Pro Tools to automatically assign input, 6.0 – 5–7 Mono name >.LR
output, and insert sub-paths to physical inputs and 7.0 (one for each Mono: <main path
outputs in the Grid (from the first available channel channel) name >.L, .C, .R,
to the maximum number of channels available). If .Ls, .Rs, and so on
the number of new sub-paths of a certain width ex- 5.1 – 1 Stereo (LR), Stereo: <main path
ceeds the number of available channels, Pro Tools 6.1 – 6–8 Mono name >.LR
wraps around and starts over the first physical in- 7.1 (one for each Mono: <main path
put or output of your audio interface. channel) name >.L, .C, .R,
.Ls, .Rs, and so on,
and LFE

72 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Default Sub-Paths In addition, you can import and export your
Main I/O Setup configurations as I/O Settings files, as
Sub-Paths Sub-Path Name well as set default path parameters. See “I/O Set-
Path
tings Files” on page 84.
7.0.2 1 each: 7.0, 5.0, multichannel sub-
(Dolby Quad, LCR, Ste- paths: <main path The following table lists the available attributes for
Atmos reo, Overhead name >.<channel
each path type:
only) (LR); format>
and 9 Mono Mono: <main path Path options that can be edited by type
(one for each name >.L, .C, .R,
channel) .Lss, .Rss, .Lsr, .Rsr, Path Type Path Options (Attributes)
.Lts, .Rts
Input Names, formats, and source
7.1.2 1 each: 7.1, 7.0, Stereo: <main path channel (physical input)
(Dolby 5.1, 5.0, Quad, name >.LR
Output Names, formats, and destination
Atmos LCR, Stereo, Mono: <main path
channel (physical output)
only) Overhead (LR); name >.L, .C, .R,
and10 Mono .Lss, .Rss, .Lsr, .Rsr, Insert Names, formats, and destination
(one for each .LFE, .Lts, .Rts (physical inputs and outputs)
channel)
Bus Names, formats, output mapping
When the Create Default Sub-Paths option is en-
abled, all other custom options in the New Sub- Interfaces can also be renamed.
Paths dialog are grayed-out and unavailable.
Restoring Default Paths and
Path Names
Editing Paths You can restore I/O Setup paths to their default
The I/O Setup lets you edit or customize signal state at any time. You may want to restore defaults
path definitions. if, for example, you replace or add an audio inter-
face to your system.
Paths can be:
To restore default paths and path names:
• Restored to default configurations
1 Choose Setup > I/O.
• Renamed, for easier identification after chang-
ing or renaming audio interfaces 2 Click the Input, Output, Insert, or Bus tab to dis-
• Selected and reordered to change menu order in play the corresponding path type.
track selectors 3 Click Default. Pro Tools does the following:
• Selected and deleted • If a session is open, deletes any paths that are not
• Remapped to or from different sources or desti- in use.
nations • Creates new default paths up to the capacity of
• Deactivated (or reactivated) to manage unavail- your system’s available physical I/O and re-
able or unnecessary I/O resources sources.

Chapter 6: I/O Setup 73

 • Resets path names to the default path names (see Renaming Interfaces
“Default Path Names” on page 74). These de-
fault path names appear in track Input and Out-
put Path selectors.

Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows)

the Default button to set all pages of I/O
Setup to the default settings.

4 Click OK to save changes and close the I/O

Setup. New mono Input sub-path for Main path A 1-2

Audio interfaces can be renamed in the IO Setup.

When you rename Avid HD audio interfaces, de-
fault path names are based on the custom name
given to the interface.

To rename an audio interface in the I/O Setup:

Default stereo output paths 1 Double-click the label above an interface.

Renaming Paths
Path names can be customized in the I/O Setup.

I/O paths can also be renamed directly from

the Edit or Mix window by Right-clicking the
Input or Output selector and choosing Rename.

To rename a path in the I/O Setup: Interface Name

1 Double-click the path name.
2 Type a new interface name.
2 Type a new path name.
3 Click OK to save changes and close the I/O
3 Click OK to save changes and close the I/O Setup.
Setup.
Default Path Names

Default names for input, output, and insert paths

are based on the hardware you are using for physi-
cal I/O.

For HDX and HD Native systems, default path

names are based on the names of interfaces you are
using. If you have renamed your interface, default
path names are based on the custom name.

74 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Selecting Paths To deselect all paths and sub-paths:

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:

1 Drag one or more selected path names up or

down.
2 Click OK to save changes and close the I/O
Setup.

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.

Chapter 6: I/O Setup 75

 Making Paths Active or Inactive 4 Click OK to save changes and close the I/O
Setup. Path status is displayed as follows:
Pro Tools paths can be Active (on) or Inactive (off,
or unavailable). Paths can be globally activated or Italics Indicates the path is inactive.
deactivated in the I/O Setup. Making a signal path
inactive will turn off the signal path on any and all Non-Italics Indicates the path is active.
tracks currently assigned to it. With overlapping output paths of different
Pro Tools also sets unavailable paths to inactive. channel widths, if the widest path is made in-
Paths can be unavailable when hardware or other active, all other overlapped output paths will
system resources are unavailable, such as when not pass audio from Pro Tools.
opening a session saved on a different
system.
Assigning Paths to Hardware
Tracks can also be made active or inactive. For in- I/O
formation, see “Making Track Inputs and Outputs
Paths are assigned to specific inputs, outputs, and
Inactive from the Edit or Mix Window” on
inserts in the Grid. Paths can be assigned to physi-
page 254.
cal I/O in the Grid, and can be reassigned at any
To globally activate or deactivate a path: time.

1 Choose Setup > I/O. To assign channels:

2 Select a path type using the tabs at the top of the 1 Select (or create) a main path or sub-path.
window.
2 Select the channel Format (such as Stereo).
3 Set the Active/Inactive control for the path.
3 In the row for the selected path, click in the Grid
column under an audio interface and channel.

Active (top) and inactive (bottom) path settings

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).

To reassign channels in a path, see

“Reassiging Paths” on page 77.

76 Pro Tools Reference Guide

4 Click OK to save changes and close the I/O Channel Shuffling
Setup.
Moving a signal from right to left results in a shuf-
If there are any invalid settings, you will be re- fle of other signals after the new destination chan-
quired to correct them before the I/O Setup will nel. Moving a signal from left to right shuffles any
close. For more information, see “Valid Paths and and all signals after the new destination channel
Requirements” on page 77. and leaves the previous channel empty.

Assigning Paths with the Surround Mixer Changing a path’s format erases any cur-
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software 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 59).
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.

Chapter 6: I/O Setup 77

 • A newly-created output path must either be Where possible, Pro Tools can automatically re-
completely independent of other assignments map the session’s output busses to the output paths
(not assigned to any other available I/O inter- of the system on which the session is being opened.
face/channels), or it must be a path completely
contained within a larger path (for example, an See “Session or Project Interchange and I/O
LCR sub-path within a larger 5.1 path). Mapping” on page 86 for more information
exchanging sessions between systems, and on
opening sessions in lower version of
Pro Tools. Output busses do not exist in
Pro Tools 8.0.x and lower.

Output Busses
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 76).

When you create a new output path on the Output

page of the I/O Setup, a new output bus of the same
width is automatically created and mapped to that
output path. Output busses are also created and
Invalid (partial) output path
mapped according to default settings when creat-
ing a new session or restoring defaults (see “Re-
storing Default Paths and Path Names” on
Configuring Busses page 73).

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 76).

• Internal mix busses

Internal Mix Busses
Output bus, internal mix bus, and Object bus set-
Pro Tools provides internal mix busses that can be
tings are saved with and recalled from the session.
used to route audio signal from track outputs and
The advantage of this is that when you take a ses-
sends to other track inputs and plug-in side-chains.
sion from one system to another, track and send as-
Common uses for internal mix busses include ef-
signments are maintained within the session.
fects sends and returns (such as bussing sends from
audio tracks to an Auxiliary Input track for plug-in
effects processing) and bus recording.

78 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Object Paths 3 Click Create to create the new paths.
(Pro Tools | Ultimate with Dolby Atmos Only)

Object paths are busses mapped (routed) to Object

Input paths, as defined by the Dolby Atmos Ren-
derer (see “Mapping Busses to Objects” on
page 1243).
Unmapped “MAIN” output bus
For more information about Pro Tools au-
thoring to Dolby Atmos, see Chapter 55, 4 Enable Mapping To Output for the path.
“Mixing to Dolby Atmos.”
5 Select an output path from the Mapping To Out-
put selector.
Creating and Mapping Busses to
Outputs
Any available bus can be mapped to any of the
available output paths of the same channel width
or greater. For example, a mono bus can be
mapped to a mono output path, a stereo bus can be
mapped to a stereo output path, and a 5.1 surround
bus can be mapped to a 5.1 surround output path.
Mapping the “MAIN” output bus to output path “A 1–2”
You can unmap busses from outputs at any time.
Command-click (Mac) or Control-click
To create a bus and map it to an output path: (Windows) to select multiple outputs in the
Mapping to Output menu in the Bus page of
1 On the Bus page of the I/O Setup, click New
the I/O Setup (I/O Setup > Bus > Mapping
Path.
to Output).
2 In the New Paths dialog, specify the number of
new paths you want to create, the channel width Any signals from tracks or sends sent to the bus are
for each path, and the path name. now sent to the hardware outputs assigned to the
corresponding Output paths.

To map all output busses of the same format to an

output path:

 Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) the

Mapping To Output selector and select an out-
put path (mono or stereo).
New Paths dialog
All mapped output busses of the same format (such
as stereo) are all assigned to the same output path.
For example, you can assign all stereo output bus-
ses to output path A 1–2.

Chapter 6: I/O Setup 79

 To map all output busses of the same format to To map a mono bus to a channel of a surround
one output path: output path:

1 Do one of the following: 1 On the Bus page of the I/O Setup, click New
• Shift-click to select contiguous Output Path.
busses. 2 In the New Paths dialog, specify Mono channel
• Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win- width for the bus path, type a path name, and
dows) to select noncontiguous Output busses. click Create.

2 Option-Shift-click (Mac) or Alt-Shift-click 3 Enable Mapping To Output for the path.

(Windows) the Mapping To Output selector for
4 Select a multichannel output path from the Map-
one of the selected Output busses and select an
ping To Output selector. The mono bus indicator
output path (mono or stereo).
changes to “C” (Center) by default, and a pop-
Only the selected mapped output busses of the up menu becomes available.
same format (such as stereo) are assigned to the
same output path. For example, you can assign
only the selected stereo output busses to output
path A 1–2.

To map all busses of the same format to unique Selecting a multichannel output path
ascending output paths (cascading):
5 To assign another channel, click the mono bus
 Command-Option-click (Mac) or Control-Alt-
indicator and select the channel from the pop-up
click (Windows) the Mapping to Output selec-
menu.
tor of the top-most output path and select the
first output path.

All busses of the same channel format are automat-

ically assigned to unique output path assignments
in ascending order. For example, for stereo output
paths, output bus A 1–2 is assigned to output path
A 1–2, A 3–4 to A 3–4, A 5–6 to A 5–6, and so on.
Assigning a channel to a mono bus
Mapping Mono Busses to Surround
Paths To assign the same channel to all mono busses
mapped to a multichannel output path:
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)
 Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) the
You can map a mono bus to any channel of a sur- mono bus indicator and select the channel from
round output path. For example, route a dialogue the pop-up menu.
track to the center channel of 5.1 output path. (This
capability is available for all output channel widths
except Stereo and Quad outputs.)

80 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To assign the same channel to all selected mono Using Keyboard Modifiers When
busses mapped to a multichannel output path: Enabling or Assigning Output
1 Do one of the following: Busses
• Shift-click to select contiguous mono Pro Tools lets you use keyboard modifiers when
busses in the Name column. enabling or assigning Output busses. These key-
• Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win- board modifiers behave in the same way as when
dows) to select noncontiguous mono busses in assigning track inputs, and track and send outputs.
the Name column. Being able to assign a single output bus to multiple
physical outputs is useful in cases where you want
2 Option-Shift-click (Mac) or Alt-Shift-click to route a single source signal to two or more out-
(Windows) a mono bus indicator and select the puts. Rather than assigning multiple outputs on a
channel from the pop-up menu. track-by-track basis, you can do it once in the
I/O Setup.
To assign ascending (cascading) channels to all
mono busses mapped to a multichannel output: In the I/O Setup, the following keyboard modifiers
 Command-Option-click (Mac) or Control-Alt- apply:
click (Windows) the mono bus indicator of the • Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) to
top-most mono bus and select the first channel apply to all busses.
from the pop-up menu.
• Command-Option-Shift-click (Mac) or Control-
Alt-Shift-click (Windows) to apply only to se-
To assign ascending (cascading) channels to all
selected mono busses mapped to a multichannel lected Output busses.
output: • Control-click (Mac) or Start-click (Windows)
1 Do one of the following: for each additional Output path you want to as-
sign an Output bus to.
• Shift-click to select contiguous mono
busses in the Name column. • Command-Option-click (Mac) or Control-Alt-
click (Windows) to assign a bus to the selected
• Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win-
Output path and all subsequent busses to the
dows) to select noncontiguous mono busses in
next available Output path sequentially.
the Name column.
2 Command-Option-Shift-click (Mac) or Con-
trol-Alt-Shift-click (Windows) the mono bus in-
dicator of the top-most mono bus and select the
first channel from the pop-up menu.

Chapter 6: I/O Setup 81

 Resetting Busses Sorting Bus Paths
You can reset the number of available internal mix The Bus page provide controls to sort busses by
busses in your session to match your system’s full name (ascending or descending), format (ascend-
capabilities by reverting to the default bus config- ing or descending), or by mapped to output status
uration. (ascending only).

Pro Tools creates 24 internal busses by de- Click to sort by Name Click to sort by map-
ping to output status
fault. Click to sort by Format

To revert to the default bus configuration for your

system:
1 Open the I/O Setup.
2 Click the Bus tab in the upper left.
3 From the pop-up menu to the right of the Default
button, select one of the following: Sorting bus paths in the I/O Setup

• All Busses To sort bus paths by Name:

• Output Busses 1 In the Bus page, click the Name column header.
• Internal Busses 2 Click the Name column header again to toggle
between ascending and descending sort order.
4 Click Default.

Resetting busses to the default setting will re- To sort bus paths by Format:
name all busses to their default name (Bus 1 In the Bus page, click the Format column
1–2, Bus 3–4, and so on). header.

5 Click OK to save changes and close the I/O 2 Click the Format column header again to toggle
Setup. between ascending and descending sort order.

Active Busses To sort bus paths by Mapping To Output status:

 In the Bus page, click the Mapping To Output

The Bus page of the I/O Setup displays the number
column header.
of active internal mix busses. If the number of ac-
tive busses exceeds the number of available bus-
ses, the display turns red. Delete or deactivate any
active busses in excess of the available number of
busses to be able close the I/O Setup and save your
settings.

82 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Factory I/O Settings Narrower formats automatically map to wider ones
with one-to-one matching connections (for exam-
Pro Tools provides factory I/O settings for stereo
ple, L to L, R to R, and so on). In cases where cer-
and surround mixing, and are automatically in-
tain channels do not match (such as mono to stereo
stalled with Pro Tools. These settings provide new
Left and Right, or LCRS to 5.1), Pro Tools lets you
sessions with generic path and sub-paths for either
upmix by distributing the mismatched channels of
mixing format.
an output bus channel to more than one physical
Factory I/O settings are available in the I/O Set- output channel. For example, Pro Tools let you up-
tings pop-up menu in the Dashboard. mix a mono output bus to both channels of a stereo
output path, or the Surround path from an LCRS
source to the Left Surround and Right Surround
Stereo Mix Settings paths of a 5.1 output.
This Stereo Mix setting creates the maximum
number of stereo paths, as determined by the avail- It is not recommended that you mix while
able system’s I/O Setup and hardware configura- monitoring the session through a downmixed
tion. or unmixed Output path. Uses downmixed or
upmixed monitoring for editing and other
Using the “Stereo Mix” settings file has non-mixing tasks.
the same effect as clicking Default for ev-
To assign downmix or upmix Output bus paths:
ery individual tab in I/O Settings. See
“Restoring Default Paths and Path 1 Open the I/O Setup (Setup > I/O).
Names” on page 73.
2 Select the Bus page (I/O Setup > Bus).

Surround Mix Settings 3 Click the Mapping to Output column on the row
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only) for the Output bus that you want to remap to a
lower or higher channel format (from the avail-
The Surround Mix setting provides additional, sur- able Output paths).
round-specific Output and Bus settings files.

See Chapter 52, “Pro Tools Setup for

Surround.”
Selecting a stereo Output path for a 5.1 Output Bus

Downmix and Upmix Output

Busses to Outputs
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)

Pro Tools lets you “downmix” session output Selecting a 5.1 Output path for an LCRS Output Bus
buses to physical output paths with channel for-
mats of a lesser width. For example, you can listen 4 Click OK to save your changes and close I/O
to a 5.1 mix on a stereo system without modifying Setup.
the actual session routing.

Chapter 6: I/O Setup 83

 Downmix and Upmix Indicators Custom I/O Settings
for Output Paths
Custom I/O Settings files can be created by chang-
When a track or send is set to an Output path of a ing I/O Setup settings (see “Customizing I/O Set-
different channel width, the source audio is down- tings” on page 64), and then exporting the settings.
mixed or to upmixed accordingly. The Output se- These I/O settings can then be restored by import-
lector in the Mix, Edit, and Output windows dis- ing them into a system.
plays a > (downmix) or a < (upmix) symbol
respectively. This lets you easily identify any track This lets you save settings for different projects,
that is downmixing or upmixing to an Output path import settings to reconfigure the I/O Setup, and
of a different channel width. manage path definitions and signal routing setups.

Importing I/O Settings

Pro Tools lets you import I/O Settings from session
files (.ptx) I/O settings files (.pio) before or after
5.1 track with Downmix indicator you open a session. I/O Settings are only imported
for the current page of the I/O Setup. For example,
if you are viewing the Output page and import I/O
I/O Settings Files Settings, only the settings for the Output page are
imported. This helps to avoid overwriting your
I/O settings files (.pio files) provide default path custom I/O Settings on other pages.
configurations for new sessions. I/O settings can
be imported and exported for use with sessions When you import I/O Settings, you can choose to
shared between systems. I/O settings files are also delete any unused path definitions before import-
available in the I/O Settings pop-up menu in the ing the new paths, or leave unused path definitions
Dashboard. intact and add the new paths to the current I/O
Setup configuration.
For I/O settings files to be available in the Dash-
board, I/O settings files must be saved to the IO To import I/O settings for your Pro Tools system
Settings folder in the Root Settings Folder. You from a Pro Tools session file:
can change the location of the Root Settings Folder 1 Open the I/O Setup (Setup > I/O).
in the Operation Preferences (see “User Media and
Settings Location” on page 112). 2 Select the tab for the page where you want to
import settings.
Last Used I/O Settings 3 Click Import Settings.
If any changes are made to the I/O Setup, these Enable the Apply to all tabs option or press
changes are automatically saved to the IO Settings Option (Mac) or Alt (Windows) while click-
folder as the Last Used settings file when the I/O ing Import Settings to overwrite I/O Settings
Setup is closed (by clicking OK). in all pages with the settings imported from a
session file.
Last Used settings are available in the I/O Settings
pop-up menu in the Dashboard, or when importing 4 In the Open dialog, navigate to and select the
I/O Settings in the I/O Setup. session or I/O settings file you want.

84 Pro Tools Reference Guide

5 Click Open. Exporting I/O Settings
6 Click OK to save your changes and close I/O When you export I/O settings, all pages of the I/O
Setup. Setup are exported.

You can also import I/O paths and path To export and save an I/O Setup configuration as a
names, as well as other session data, from custom I/O Settings file:
a different session by using the Import Ses- 1 Configure the I/O Setup settings.
sion Data command (File > Import > Ses-
sion Data). For information, see “Import- 2 Click Export Settings.
ing Session Data” on page 420. 3 Name and save the settings file. The settings file
To import I/O Settings:
is appended with “.pio” to distinguish it as an
I/O settings file.
1 Click the tab for the page of the I/O Setup for
which you want to import settings. To start sessions with a blank or empty
I/O Setup, you can create and export an I/O
2 Click Import Settings.
Settings file in which all definitions have been
Enable the Apply to all tabs option or press deleted.
Option (Mac) or Alt (Windows) while click-
ing Import Settings to overwrite I/O Settings Restore from Session
in all pages with the settings imported from a
Pro Tools provides a Restore from Session button
session file or I/O settings file.
that only affects the currently viewed page in I/O
3 Select an I/O settings file (.pio) or a Pro Tools Setup. For example, if you are viewing the Output
session file (.ptx) in the Import Settings dialog page, only the Output settings are overwritten by
and click Import. the settings saved with the session.

4 A dialog appears asking whether you want to To restore I/O settings from the session:
delete existing paths. Do one of the following: 1 Open the I/O Setup (Setup > I/O).
• Click Yes to remove any unused paths and add
2 Select the tab for the page that you want to re-
the imported paths to the current I/O Setup con-
store from the session.
figuration.
• Click No to add the imported paths to the current 3 Click Restore from Session.
I/O Setup configuration.
Enable the Apply to all tabs option or press
If the import results in overlapping paths, the new Option (Mac) or Alt (Windows) while click-
paths will appear in the I/O Setup as Inactive. See ing Restore from Session to restore settings
“Making Paths Active or Inactive” on page 76. for all I/O Setup pages from the session.

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 52.

Chapter 6: I/O Setup 85

 Indication of Remapping in the
Session or Project Bus Page
Interchange and I/O Mapping
Where the system Output path name or format has
I/O Setup mappings are saved both with the last changed, session Output busses that are success-
used .pio file (Pro Tools I/O settings file) and the fully remapped are displayed in green.
session or project. When opening a session or proj-
ect on a system that has a different I/O Setup,
Pro Tools follows these rules to ensure the best
possible re-mapping of the session’s or project’s
I/O Setup to the new system:
• Output busses are mapped to system Output
paths by unique ID if possible. Remapped Output Busses displayed in green
• Pro Tools always maps the Monitor Path of the Additionally, a Previous Output Mappings column
session or project to the Monitor path of the cur- appears to the right of the Output Mappings col-
rent system. (If Monitor subpaths exist in the umn. This lets you take note of the output map-
session, Pro Tools uses the best matching format pings that the session used the last time it was
for the system Monitor subpaths.) saved.
• Otherwise, Output busses that are mapped to
system Output paths by name and format if there
is an exact match.

If there is no match between Output busses and

system Output paths, you can manually remap
Output busses. Pro Tools uses the manually re- Previous Output Mappings column
mapped unique ID the next time the session is
opened on that system. Once you save the session, the Output mapping
changes from green to black and is saved both with
After configuring the I/O Setup on any given sys- the system and with the session.
tem for a session or project, the settings are re-
tained with the session file or the project. Show Last Saved or Current
Setup
You can recall the I/O settings saved with the
session or project and overwrite the system When opening a session that was saved with a dif-
settings (see “Restore from Session” on ferent I/O Setup configuration for either hardware
page 85). inputs or outputs, Pro Tools lets you switch be-
tween the I/O Setup last saved with the session and
the current system I/O Setup. This lets you take
note of the hardware Input and Output configura-
tion of the I/O Setup saved with the session.

86 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Both the Input and Output pages of the I/O Setup To show the last saved I/O settings:
window provide the Show Last Saved Setup but- 1 Open the I/O Setup (Setup > I/O).
ton. When the last saved I/O setup is shown, the
button is highlighted. 2 Click either the Input or Output tab.
3 Click the Show Last Saved Setup button (the
Once you save the session, the Show Last Saved
button highlights).
Setup button is grayed out.
You can restore the I/O settings saved with
the session and overwrite the system settings
(see “Restore from Session” on page 85).

When viewing the I/O Setup last saved with

the session, the OK option is not available for
Show Last Saved Setup button in the Input page saving and closing I/O Setup.
When showing the I/O Setup last saved with the
To show the current I/O settings:
session, any unavailable hardware Inputs or Out-
puts are displayed in italics. 1 If not already open, open the I/O Setup (Setup >
I/O).

2 Click either the Input or Output tab.

3 Click the highlighted Show Last Saved Setup
button (the button becomes unhighlighted).

Unavailable hardware Input shown in italics I/O Settings and the Playback
Engine
Additionally, when showing the I/O Setup last
saved with the session, the Monitor Path, Audition When you change the Playback Engine (for exam-
Path, Output Meter Path, and AFL/PFL Path set- ple, from HDX to Built-in) Pro Tools automati-
tings that were saved with the session are shown cally creates and recalls I/O Settings (.pio) files
grayed out. based on the Playback Engine. The first time that
you use a new Playback Engine, Pro Tools uses the
stereo defaults for the selected Playback Engine
and corresponding hardware. Thus, even on the
same computer, Pro Tools treats different Play-
back Engines as if they are different systems. This
facilitates changing the Playback Engine without
having to manually remap Output Busses in the
I/O Setup. These I/O Settings files are named after
the corresponding Playback Engine and are saved
both on the system and with the session.

Chapter 6: I/O Setup 87

 Pro Tools remembers the individual I/O settings Type and Width Displays both Type and Width as
for your system for each Playback Engine avail- I/O categories in Track I/O menus.
able to your system. This includes all Inputs, Out-
4 Click OK.
put, Insert, and Hardware Delay settings, and also
settings such as the selected Monitor and Audition
paths. The session’s output bus mappings are
stored in the I/O Settings of the selected Playback I/O Setup in Session Notes
Engine, ensuring that you can hear the main mix When opening a Pro Tools session or project, the
from the session from any Playback Engine. Session Notes dialog provides a complete list of
any mismatched Output bus mappings. In addition
to being able to see this information and save it to
Organize Track I/O Menus By a text file, you can also open the I/O Setup from the
Preference Session Notes dialog to resolve any unmapped
Output busses.
Pro Tools lets you organize track I/O Menus by
Type, Width, or both Type and Width.

Track IO menus organized by both Type and Width

To specify the organization of Track I/O Menus:

1 Choose Setup > Preferences. Session Notes with unmapped Output busses

2 Select the Display tab. To open the I/O Setup from the Session Notes
dialog:
3 Select one of the following options from the Or-
ganize Track IO Menus By selector: 1 If the Session Notes dialog reports unmapped
bus paths, click the I/O Setup button.
Type Displays only the I/O Type (Interface or Bus)
2 In I/O Setup, reassign any unmapped bus paths
as I/O categories in Track I/O menus.
as necessary.
Width Displays only the I/O Channel Width (such
3 Click OK to save your changes and close I/O
as stereo or 5.1) as I/O categories in Track I/O
Setup.
menus.

88 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Pro Tools Session Templates
and I/O Settings
Pro Tools session templates include the I/O Set-
tings of the system on which the template was cre-
ated. The I/O Settings selector is available when
creating a new session from a template. This set-
ting determines the configuration of the physical
inputs and outputs of your system. The new ses-
sion uses the busses from the selected template, but
these busses are automatically mapped to the phys-
ical outputs of the system (the selected Playback
Engine).

Chapter 6: I/O Setup 89

90 Pro Tools Reference Guide
Chapter 7: System Setup

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.

Chapter 7: System Setup 91

 4 Do one of the following depending on your
Pro Tools system: Configuring
Pro Tools Software System
• For HDX and HD Native systems, turn off your
Settings
Pro Tools audio interfaces.
Pro Tools lets you adjust the performance of your
• For Pro Tools systems that use hardware requir-
system by changing system settings that affect its
ing external power (such as 003), turn off the
capacity for processing, playback, and recording.
hardware.
These system settings are available in the Playback
5 For systems with an expansion chassis, turn off Engine (Setup > Playback Engine).
the chassis.
In most cases, the default settings for your
6 Turn off any MIDI interfaces, MIDI devices, or system provide optimum performance, but you
synchronization peripherals. may want to adjust them to accommodate large or
7 Turn off any worksurfaces (such as processing-intensive Pro Tools sessions.
D-Command) or control surfaces (such as
Command|8).
8 Turn off any external hard drives.

Checking a Pro Tools | HDX

or Pro Tools | HD Native
System with DigiTest
Before you use Pro Tools, you may want to run the
DigiTest diagnostic application to ensure that all
HDX cards in the system are recognized, installed
Playback Engine for a HDX system
in the proper order, and have valid connections.
You can also use DigiTest to validate your
HD Native PCIe card or Thunderbolt interface.
See the Avid DigiTest Guide for more information.

Playback Engine with 3 Pro Tools | Ultimate Voice

Packs

92 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Playback Engine On HDX systems, changing engines requires that
you quit and relaunch Pro Tools for the new setting
In the Playback Engine dialog, Pro Tools lets you
to take effect.
select the audio engine for use with your audio in-
terfaces. The available options are determined by When changing engines on any Pro Tools
which audio interfaces are connected and have system, you may need to reset the default
compatible drivers installed. I/O settings to match the selected audio
interface.
Changing the Playback Engine setting can be use-
ful if you have multiple audio interfaces connected Pro Tools Aggregate I/O
to your computer with different routing configura-
(Mac Only)
tions in your studio, or if you want to prepare a ses-
sion for use with a specific interface on a different On Mac systems using Core Audio, you can use
system (for example, you might want to prepare a Pro Tools with the built-in audio inputs and out-
session created on your HDX system for use with puts on your Mac by selecting any of the available
the built-in audio on your Mac laptop). built-in inputs and outputs, or by selecting the
Pro Tools Aggregate I/O option for using a combi-
To select which audio engine Pro Tools uses: nation of built-in inputs and outputs simultane-
1 Choose Setup > Playback Engine. ously (for recording and monitoring).

2 From the Playback Engine selector, select your

audio interface:
• For HDX and HD Native systems, use the de-
fault setting of HDX or HD Native.
• For supported Avid audio interfaces (such as
Mbox Pro or Pro Tools | Duet), selecting the
name of the corresponding interface uses the Selecting Pro Tools Aggregate I/O in the Playback
Avid Audio Engine for Pro Tools. Engine (Mac only)

• 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.

When changing engines with a Pro Tools session

open, Pro Tools closes and reopens the session to
initialize the new engine.

Chapter 7: System Setup 93

 Hardware Buffer Size Host Engine
The Hardware Buffer Size (H/W Buffer Size) in the The Host Engine settings provide options for error
Playback Engine controls the size of the buffer suppression during playback and recording, and
used to handle host processing tasks such as pro- the option to use dynamic plug-in processing.
cessing with host-based, or “Native” plug-ins.
Ignore Errors During
• Lower Hardware Buffer Size settings are useful
Playback/Recording
for improving latency issues in certain recording
situations or for improving certain system per- The Ignore Errors During Playback/Record option
formance problems: determines how Pro Tools responds to error re-
• On all Pro Tools systems, lower settings re- porting from the Avid Audio Engine (AAE) during
duce MIDI-to-audio latency (such as when playback and recording. This can be useful when
playing a virtual instrument live and monitor- working with instrument plug-ins where you care
ing the instrument’s output). Lower settings less about clicks and pops in the audio signal while
can also improve screen response or the accu- you work on composing and arranging. Once you
racy of plug-in and mute automation data. are ready to work on the final mix you should dis-
able this option. Observe the following guidelines
• On host-based Pro Tools systems, lower set-
as to whether or not to enable or disable error sup-
tings reduce all input-to-output monitoring
pression:
latency on any record-armed tracks or Auxil-
iary Input tracks with live inputs. • Enable error suppression only if you are experi-
• On HDX systems, lower settings reduce mon- encing frequent errors that are interrupting your
itoring latency that occurs on tracks that have creative workflow. When error suppression is
one or more Native plug-ins. Lower settings enabled, you can experience a degradation of au-
can also improve the accuracy of MIDI track dio quality. However, this may be acceptable in
timing on systems without a MIDI interface order to avoid interrupting playback and record-
that supports time stamping. Lower settings ing when working with instrument plug-ins.
also improve MIDI track timing on tracks us- • Disable error suppression when you need to en-
ing MIDI virtual instruments that do not sup- sure the highest possible audio quality, such as
port time stamping. for a final mix.
• Higher Hardware Buffer Size settings are useful
To enable error suppression:
for sessions that are using more Native plug-ins
for playback. These settings allow for more au- 1 Choose Setup > Playback Engine.
dio processing. They can also be useful to re- 2 Select Ignore Errors During Playback/Record.
duce errors on machines that require a higher
buffer size. 3 Click OK.

To change the Hardware Buffer Size:

1 Choose Setup > Playback Engine.

2 From the H/W Buffer Size pop-up menu, select
the audio buffer size, in samples.
3 Click OK.

94 Pro Tools Reference Guide

If the Ignore Errors During Playback/Record option Dynamic Plug-In Processing
is enabled and too many CPU intensive Native
When enabled, the Dynamic Plug-In Processing
plug-ins are active in the session (such as Eleven
option maximizes plug-in counts by dynamically
Free or various virtual instrument plug-ins), you
reallocating host-based processing resources as
may experience badly distorted audio. If you en-
needed. This means that plug-ins only use CPU
counter this problem, remove or make inactive any
cycles when they are actually processing audio.
unnecessary Native plug-ins. You can also isolate
and bus record any tracks that use virtual instru-
To enable dynamic plug-in processing:
ments, and then make those source tracks inactive
to free up processing resources. 1 Choose Setup > Playback Engine.
2 Select Dynamic Plug-In Processing.
Minimize Additional I/O Latency
(Host-based Pro Tools Systems Only)
3 Click OK.

When the Minimize Additional I/O Latency option is Number of Voices

enabled, any additional latency due to ignoring er-
(HDX Systems Only)
rors during playback and recording is minimized to
128 samples. Ignoring errors requires at least 128 On HDX systems, the Number of Voices setting in
samples of additional buffering on some systems. the Playback Engine lets you control the number of
If this option is disabled, the buffer is half the H/W available voices.
Buffer Size, or at least 128 samples (whichever is
greater). If you are using a slower computer, you Changing the number of voices affects the total
may want to disable this option to avoid adverse number of voiceable tracks.
performance. Depending on the session sample rate and the
This option is only available if the Ignore Errors number of HDX cards in your system, there are
During Playback/Record option is enabled and the different choices for voice count. For voice limits
Pro Tools system you are using requires additional on different HDX systems, see “Playback, Record-
buffering for error suppression, as follows: ing, and Voice Limits with
Pro Tools | Ultimate Software” on page 42.
• Windows:
• Mbox Pro and Mbox 2 Pro To change the Number of Voices:

• Mac: 1 Choose Setup > Playback Engine.

• 003 family devices 2 Select a value from the Number of Voices pop-
• Eleven Rack up menu.
• Mbox family devices 3 Click OK.
• Pro Tools Aggregate I/O

Chapter 7: System Setup 95

 Sample Rate Cache Size
(HDX Systems Only)
The Cache Size setting in the Playback Engine de-
The Sample Rate setting in the Playback Engine termines the amount of memory AAE allocates to
shows the default sample rate used when you cre- pre-buffer audio for playback and recording. In
ate a new session. If a session is open, the current most cases, the default setting of Normal is the op-
session sample rate is displayed, but cannot be timum Cache Size for most sessions.
changed. If no session is open, you can set the de-
Pro Tools can also load audio files used in
fault sample rate for new sessions.
Pro Tools sessions into RAM for cached playback.
Pro Tools prioritizes files closest to the current
Video Engine play head location. This way, when you start play-
Enable the Video Engine option to import, edit, and back, those files are already cached for playback.
playback a wide range of Avid HD and SD MXF This is especially useful when working with shared
video formats on Pro Tools video tracks without media storage (such as with Avid Unity ISIS
transcoding (including Avid DNxHD) as well as shared storage systems).
QuickTime video. With the Video Engine enabled To determine the maximum amount of RAM avail-
you can simultaneously view desktop video and able for the Disk Cache, Pro Tools polls the com-
video monitored using a video peripheral puter for the amount of RAM installed and sub-
(Media Composer | Nitris DX, tracts 4 GB of RAM. For example, if your
Media Composer | Mojo DX, and other Avid qual- computer has 16 GB of RAM installed, the total
ified third-party video interfaces). amount of RAM available for the Disk Cache will
be 12 GB.
To enable the Avid Video Engine for Pro Tools:
1 Choose Setup > Playback Engine. You can use the Disk Cache and Memory
meters in the System Usage window to deter-
2 Select the Video Engine option.
mine whether to assign more or less RAM to
3 Click OK. the Disk Cache for the current session. See
“System Usage” on page 104.
Max Voices To set the amount of RAM for use by the Disk
(Pro Tools | Ultimate on non-HDX Systems Cache:
Only)
1 Choose Setup > Playback Engine.
Displays the maximum number of voices available
2 From the Disk Cache selector, select the amount
as well as the number of Pro Tools | Ultimate
of RAM you want to allocate for Disk Cache.
Voice Packs enabled (up to 6). For more informa-
tion, see “Pro Tools | Ultimate Voice Packs” on 3 Click OK.
page 48.

96 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Selecting an Audio Interface to
Configuring MIDI Setup Configure
If you plan to use any external MIDI devices with The Peripherals list in the Hardware Setup lets you
Pro Tools (such as controllers, keyboards, synthe- select any audio interface connected to your
sizers, drum machines, samplers, sequencers, or Pro Tools system associated with the selected Cur-
sound modules), you may want to configure your rent Engine setting in the Playback Engine dialog.
MIDI setup using Audio MIDI Setup (Mac) or
MIDI Studio Setup (Windows). To change the Playback Engine setting to use a
specific audio interface or AAE (such as HDX,
For more information, see Chapter 10, 003, a third-party Core Audio or ASIO interface,
“Configuring MIDI.” or Pro Tools Aggregate I/O), see “Playback En-
gine” on page 93).

Configuring Hardware For Avid HD audio interfaces (such as HD OMNI

Settings in Pro Tools or HD I/O) you can configure the signal routing,
digital I/O format, default sample rate, clock
Pro Tools lets you configure the signal routing, source, and other hardware-based settings for each
digital I/O format, default sample rate, clock HD peripheral connected to your system.
source, and other hardware-based settings depend-
ing on your system configuration. These system For some Avid audio interfaces (such as 003), you
settings are available in the Hardware Setup can configure the signal routing, digital I/O format,
(Setup > Hardware). default sample rate, clock source, and other hard-
ware-based settings, depending on your system
configuration.

For third-generation Mbox family audio inter-

faces, and third-party Core Audio (Mac) and ASIO
(Windows) compatible audio interfaces, use the
Launch Control Panel button to launch the control
panel for configuring your specific audio interface.

Hardware Setup for HD OMNI, Main page

Hardware Setup for Mbox (third generation)

Chapter 7: System Setup 97

 Launch Control Panel or Setup Configuring Pro Tools
App Aggregate I/O
(Pro Tools with Avid Hardware or Third-Party (Mac Only)
Audio Interfaces with Control Panel Software)
On Mac systems using Core Audio, you can select
Using the control panel or setup application for Pro Tools Aggregate I/O as the Current Engine to
your audio interface, you can change settings in the use the built-in audio inputs and outputs on your
following areas, depending on your audio inter- Mac computer. You can configure the Pro Tools
face: Aggregate I/O setting in the Mac Audio Setup,
• Mixer Settings which can be accessed from the Pro Tools Hard-
ware Setup.
• Output Settings
• Hardware Settings (including sample rate, To configure Pro Tools Aggregate I/O settings:
hardware buffer size, and sync source). 1 Choose Setup > Hardware.
You can set the sample rate when creating a 2 In the Peripherals list, select Pro Tools Aggre-
new Pro Tools session by selecting a different gate I/O, or whichever Built-in input or output
sample rate in the New Session dialog. option is selected as the Current Engine in the
Playback Engine.
To change control panel settings:
1 In the Hardware Setup dialog, click the Launch
Control Panel button or Launch Setup App but-
ton (depending on your audio interface).
2 To change settings in the control panel or setup
application, see the documentation that came
with your audio interface.
3 When finished, close the control panel or setup
application.
Hardware Setup for Pro Tools Aggregate I/O
(Mac only)

3 Click the Launch Setup App button.

4 In the Audio Devices window of the Mac Audio
Setup, configure the Pro Tools Aggregate I/O
settings.

The Pro Tools Aggregate I/O device is

intended for use only with the built-in
audio on your Mac computer. For best
performance, use the default settings.

98 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Configuring Default Sample Rate Configuring Clock Source
Setting in Hardware Setup
The Pro Tools Hardware Setup lets you select the
The Sample Rate setting in the Hardware Setup di- Clock Source for the system.
alog determines the default sample rate when you
create a new session. This setting is available only Changes made to Clock Source in the Session
when there is no session open. Otherwise, the cur- Setup window are reflected in the Hardware
rent session sample rate is displayed, but cannot be Setup window.
changed.
Internal If you are recording an analog signal
With HDX and HD Native hardware, you can directly into Pro Tools, you will usually use the
change the default Sample Rate in the Hardware Pro Tools Internal clock source.
Setup, or in the Playback Engine.
External If you are transferring material into
With HDX and HD Native hardware, the Pro Tools from an external digital device, or if you
Sample Rate setting can affect the number utilize a common house clock signal, you will syn-
of available voices. chronize Pro Tools to that digital device or com-
mon signal.
On other Pro Tools systems, you can only change
the default sample rate in the Hardware Setup or Depending on your audio interface, external
using the control panel for third-party audio inter- options can include AES/EBU [Encl], S/PDIF,
faces. Optical [Encl], AES/EBU 1–8, TDIF, ADAT, and
Word Clock. For details, see the guide for your au-
You can set the sample rate when creating a dio interface.
new Pro Tools session by selecting a different
sample rate in the New Session dialog. To select the Clock Source:
1 Choose Setup > Hardware.
To change the default Sample Rate in the
Hardware Setup: 2 Choose the clock source from the Clock Source
1 Choose Setup > Hardware Setup. pop-up menu.

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.

Chapter 7: System Setup 99

 Configuring Digital Format and
Hardware Routing Configuring Pro Tools | HDX
and Pro Tools | HD Native
The Hardware Setup includes additional settings Hardware Settings
for configuring the digital format and hardware
routing for your system’s audio interfaces. On HDX and HD Native systems, you configure
Hardware settings for each audio interface con-
For an outline of the configuration of an HDX or nected to your system (see Chapter 5, “Pro Tools
HD Native system with one or more Pro Tools HD Systems.”)
interfaces, see “Configuring Pro Tools | HDX and
Pro Tools | HD Native Hardware Settings” on HDX and HD Native systems can have HD I/O,
page 100. HD OMNI, HD MADI or Pro Tools | MTRX au-
dio interfaces connected to HDX cards or
To configure specific hardware settings for HD Native hardware. HD I/O, HD OMNI, and
other Pro Tools or third-party audio inter- MTRX can also have additional interfaces at-
faces, see the documentation that came with tached using the Expansion port on each interface.
your audio interface.
Identifying Audio Interfaces
Selecting Footswitch Control
(003 Only) If you have multiple audio interfaces of the same
type connected to your system, before you make
The footswitch connector on your 003 family in- audio connections to them, you should confirm the
terface lets you use a footswitch pedal to control identity of each interface. This ensures that you
either playback start/stop or recording choose the appropriate interface in the Peripherals
punch in/out. Both QuickPunch audio punch-in list when you define its inputs and outputs in the
and punch-out and MIDI punch-in and punch-out Hardware Setup.
recording are supported.
To identify audio interfaces in your system:
Record Punch In/Out Select this option to use a
footswitch connected to your 003 family interface 1 Choose Setup > Hardware.
to punch in and punch out during recording. 2 From the Peripherals list, select an audio inter-
face connected to your system.
Playback Start/Stop Select this option to use a
footswitch connected to your 003 family interface Use the Up and Down Arrow keys to scroll
to start and stop playback. though the Peripherals list in the Hardware
Setup.

3 Make sure the Main page is shown.

100 Pro Tools Reference Guide

4 Select the Identify option, located in the lower Additional pages are available to configure other
left corner of the Hardware Setup. This illumi- controls for each audio interface (such as setting
nates all the LEDs on the front panel of the se- operating levels).
lected audio interface.
To configure Avid HD audio interfaces:
5 Make a note of which interface in your studio
setup corresponds to the identified interface. 1 Choose Setup > Hardware.

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.

Chapter 7: System Setup 101

 7 For S/PDIF compatibility with Tascam DA-30 Configuring HD OMNI Controls
DAT recorders, select the Tascam option under
S/PDIF Format. For detailed information about configuring
HD OMNI, see the HD OMNI Guide.
8 From the Input and Output channel pop-up
menus, select the physical ports (such as Analog To configure HD OMNI in Pro Tools:
1–2 or Optical 1–2), that will be routed to the
1 Choose Setup > Hardware.
corresponding Pro Tools input and output chan-
nels (such as Ch 1–2, Ch 3–4), listed on the left 2 From the Peripherals list, select the HD OMNI
side of the Main page. audio interface.

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 102.
• “Configuring HD I/O Controls” on page 103.
• “Configuring HD MADI Controls” on
page 104.
10 For additional audio interfaces, select them in
the Peripherals list, and repeat the above steps.

See your audio interface guide for additional

configuration details and restrictions. HD OMNI Hardware Setup, Main page

102 Pro Tools Reference Guide

5 Click the Analog In tab and configure the Configuring HD I/O Controls
options.
For detailed information about configuring
HD I/O, see the HD I/O Guide.

To configure controls for HD I/O:

1 Choose Setup > Hardware.

2 From the Peripherals list, select the HD I/O
audio interface.
3 Click the Main tab and configure the options.

HD OMNI Hardware Setup, Analog In page

6 Click the Analog Out tab and configure the

options.

HD I/O Hardware Setup, Main page

4 If you have at least one HD I/O AD card, click

the Analog In tab and configure the options. If
you have two HD I/O AD cards, this tab is la-
HD OMNI Hardware Setup, Analog Out page beled Analog In 1–8.

7 Click the Mixer tab and configure the options.

HD I/O Hardware Setup, Analog In page

HD OMNI Hardware Setup, Mixer page

8 When you are finished, click OK.

Chapter 7: System Setup 103

 5 If you have two HD I/O AD cards, click the Configuring MTRX Controls
Analog In 9–16 tab and configure the options.
MTRX is configured using DADman Control
6 If you have at least one HD I/O Digital card,
software. For information about configuring
click the Digital tab and configure the options.
MTRX, see the Pro Tools | MTRX Operation
7 If you have two HD I/O Digital cards, click the Guide.
second Digital tab and configure the options.
8 When you are finished, click OK.

Configuring HD MADI Controls

For detailed information about configuring
HD MADI, see the HD MADI Guide.

To configure controls for HD MADI:

1 Choose Setup > Hardware.

Pro Tools | MTRX Hardware Setup
2 From the Peripherals list, select either
HD MADI Port 1 or HD MADI Port 2 and con-
figure the options. System Usage
Meters in the System Usage window indicate how
much of your system’s processing power is being
used when processing audio, and when writing and
playing back automation.

As these meters approach their limits, host pro-

cessing and recording or playback of automation
data can be affected. If CPU or PCI Activity are
high, a system error may occur. If Disk Activity is
high, Pro Tools may miss playback of some auto-
HD MADI Hardware Setup mation data during particularly dense periods of
activity, such as while using the Bounce to Disk
The settings for HD MADI Port 1 and command.
HD MADI Port 2 are linked. Any changes are
global regardless of which is selected in the
Peripherals list.

3 When you are finished, click OK.

System Usage window

104 Pro Tools Reference Guide

CPU Meters Disk Cache Meter

The CPU Total meter displays session performance The System Usage window lets you monitor use of
for Elastic Audio processing, Clip Gain process- the Disk Cache. This meter is only present if a
ing, and Native plug-in and mixer processing. A fixed Cache Size is selected in the Playback En-
3-second peak indicator provides visual indication gine dialog.
of peak CPU usage.

System Usage window, CPU peak meter indicator System Usage window, Disk Cache meter

The individual CPU meters provide a general indi- The Disk Cache meter indicates the amount of al-
cation of how much Pro Tools is using each of the located memory being used to cache audio in the
processors in your computer. timeline (up to the amount of RAM selected for the
Disk Cache setting in the Playback Engine). An
additional peak-meter style indicator is included to
show how much of the allocated RAM is needed
for caching the session.

System Usage window, individual CPU meters Memory Meter

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.

System Usage window, Disk meter System Usage window, Memory meter

Chapter 7: System Setup 105

 DSP Usage Meters Managing System Resources
(HDX Systems Only)
To monitor the usage of resources during a
HDX systems provide additional meters below the Pro Tools session:
Activity meter.  Choose Window > System Usage.

To reduce processing load, do one of the

following:

 Reduce the density of automation in places

where it shows the most activity. For details, see
“Thinning Automation” on page 1150.
Voices
Time Slots  Make unnecessary track inputs and outputs in-
active. For details, see “Making Track Inputs
and Outputs Inactive from the Edit or Mix Win-
dow” on page 254.

DSP Usage
 Make unnecessary tracks inactive. For details,
see “Making Tracks Inactive” on page 262.
 Make unnecessary DSP plug-ins inactive. For
details, see “Making Inserts Inactive” on
page 1096.
System Usage window (HDX 2 shown)

Voices

The Voices meter displays the total number of

voices that can be allocated and the number of
voices currently allocated. This includes all voices
whether they are allocated explicitly or dynami-
cally, as well as any voices used for routing host-
based processing.

Time Slots

The Time Slots meter displays the total number of

DSP Time Slots available and the number of DSP
Time Slots currently used.

DSP

The DSP meters display how much of each DSP

chip on each HDX card is currently being used for
mixer configurations and DSP-based plug-ins.

106 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Chapter 8: Preferences

The settings in the Pro Tools Preferences define Basics Section

how Pro Tools features work. The Preferences di-
Track Position Numbers Stay with Hidden
alog has several tabbed pages in which you can
Tracks When selected, tracks keep their track
specify your preferred settings.
numbers even when hidden. When not selected,
numbers are only assigned to tracks that are
To change Pro Tools preferences:
shown. In this case, shown tracks are then num-
1 Choose Setup > Preferences. bered sequentially, and hidden tracks are not num-
2 Click the tab for the page that has preferences bered.
you want to change.
Tool Tips Display Options
3 Change preferences.
Function Configures Tool Tips to show the basic
4 Click OK to save your changes and close the function of the item.
Preferences dialog.
Details Configures Tool Tips to show the complete
form of an abbreviated name or item (such as a
track name). Details view can also show the hidden
Display Preferences or abbreviated value of parameters, as well as input
and output assignments.

Edit Window Default Length

This preference sets a default length for the Edit

window in hours, minutes, seconds, and frames
(Pro Tools Ultimate only). This is useful if you
want to assemble a session of a particular length or
leave extra room to expand the Edit window’s
work area in your session. The maximum length is
24 hours. For best scrollbar sensitivity, set the
length to slightly longer (a minute or more) than
the total session or song length.

Chapter 8: Preferences 107

 “Organize Plug-In Menus By” Options “Organize Track I/O Menus By” Options

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.

108 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Warnings and Dialogs Section Groups Assigns a color to each track according to
its Group ID. If groups are suspended using the
Reset “Don’t Show This Again” Settings If you
Suspend Groups command, the tracks color bars
have made any changes by selecting the Don’t
are not shown.
Show This Again setting for any dialog in
Pro Tools, you can click this Reset button to Track Type Assigns a color to each track according
revert to the default settings. to its type (audio, Auxiliary Input, Master Fader,
VCA Master, MIDI, Instrument, or Video).
Show Dashboard Window When Pro Tools
Starts When selected, Pro Tools shows the Dash-
Default Clip Color Coding Options
board window on launch. Deselect this option if
you do not want to see the Pro Tools Dashboard These color coding options determine the default
window on launch. color coding assignment for tracks, Marker Loca-
tions, and clips residing in the track playlist and
Color Coding Section Clips List. The options are:

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.

Chapter 8: Preferences 109

 Latch Forward/Rewind When selected, fast for-
Operation Preferences ward and rewind latch and continue until you press
Stop, Play, Return To Zero, or Go To End on the
Transport. When disabled, the Fast Forward and
Rewind only last as long as you hold the mouse af-
ter clicking either button on the Transport (or hold
the corresponding switch on a Control Surface).

Play Start Marker Follows Timeline

Selection When enabled, the Play Start Marker
snaps to the Timeline Selection In Point when you
move the Timeline Selection, draw a new Timeline
Selection, or adjust the Timeline Selection Start.
When disabled, the Play Start Marker doesn’t
move with the Timeline selection.

Reserve Voices for Preview in Context (HDX and

HD Native Only) When enabled, Pro Tools re-
serves the appropriate number of voices for pre-
view in context (previewing audio files from
Workspace browsers during session playback).
The number of available voices is reduced by the
Transport Section
channel width of the selected audition paths on the
Timeline Insertion/Play Start Marker Follows Output page of the I/O Setup window. For exam-
Playback When selected, the Timeline Insertion ple, if the number of playback voices is set to 48 in
and the Play Start Marker both move to the point in the Playback Engine, and you have a stereo audi-
the Timeline where playback stops. When dese- tion path selected in the I/O Setup, only 46 voices
lected, the Timeline Insertion and Play Start will be available for tracks. If you have a 5.1 audi-
Marker do not follow playback, but return to the tion path, only 42 voices will be available. When
location where playback began. this option is disabled, you will not be able to pre-
view in context if there are not enough available
Press Control+N (Mac) or Start+N (Win-
voices.
dows) to toggle the Timeline Insertion/Play
Start Marker Follows Playback preference Custom Shuttle Lock Speed Sets the highest fast-
on and off. forward Shuttle Lock speed (key 9) for Shuttle
Lock modes (Classic or Transport).
Edit Insertion Follows Scrub/Shuttle When se-
The range for this setting is 50–800%.
lected, the edit cursor automatically locates to the
point where scrubbing stops. For more information, see “Custom Shuttle
Lock Speed” on page 625.
Audio During Fast Forward/Rewind When se-
lected, audio is audible during fast forward or Custom FF/REW Speed Sets the speed for fast for-
rewind. ward and rewind in relation to normal playback.
The range for this setting is 100–3,200%.

110 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Back/Forward Amount (Pro Tools | Ultimate Shuttle (Pro Tools | Ultimate Only) Selects a type
Only) Sets the default length of Back, Back and of shuttling different from that of Shuttle Lock
Play, Forward and Forward and Play. The timebase mode. With the Numeric Keypad mode set to Shut-
of the Back/Forward Amount settings follows the tle, playback is triggered by pressing and holding
Main Time Scale by default, or you can deselect the keys on the numeric keypad—playback stops
the Follow Main Time Scale option and select an- once the keys are released. Various playback
other timebase format: Bars|Beats, Min:Sec, Time- speeds are available in both forward and reverse.
code, Feet+Frames, or Samples. You can also recall Memory Locations by typing
Period (.), the Memory Location number, and Pe-
Numeric Keypad Mode riod (.) again.
Numeric Keypad mode determines how the nu-
Use Separate Play and Stop Keys
meric keypad functions. You can always use the
numeric keypad to select and enter values in the When enabled, this option lets you start playback
Event Edit Area, Edit Selection indicators, Main with the Enter key and stop playback with the 0
and Sub Counters, and Transport fields. key on the numeric keypad. This is useful for
quickly starting and stopping playback when audi-
Classic Selects a Shuttle Lock mode that emulates
tioning loop transitions. The Use Separate Play
the way Pro Tools worked in versions lower than
and Stop Keys option is only available in Trans-
5.0. With the Numeric Keypad mode set to Classic,
port Numeric Keypad mode.
you can play up to two tracks of audio in Shuttle
Lock mode. Press Control (Mac) or the Start key When this option is enabled, it overrides
(Windows), followed by 0–9 for different play using the Enter key to add Memory Location
speeds. Press Plus (+) or Minus (–) to reverse di- markers. Instead, press Period (.) and then
rection. Recall Memory Locations by typing the Enter on the numeric keypad to add a
Memory Location number, followed by Period (.). Memory Location marker.
Transport Selects a Shuttle Lock mode that lets
you set a number of record and play functions, and Auto Backup Section
also operate the Transport from the numeric key- Enable Session File Auto Backup When se-
pad. With the Numeric Keypad mode set to Trans- lected, Pro Tools automatically saves backups of
port, you can play up to two tracks of audio in your Pro Tools session file while you work. Back-
Shuttle Lock mode. Press Control (Mac) or the ups are saved to in the Session File Backups folder
Start key (Windows), followed by 0–9 for different in your session folder.
play speeds. Press Plus (+) or Minus (–) to reverse
direction. Recall Memory Locations by typing Pe- Keep n Most Recent Session Backups Specifies
riod (.), the Memory Location number, and Period the total number of incremental backups that are
(.) again. kept for sessions (backups for projects are handled
separately by Revision History).
To customize the highest fast-forward
Shuttle Lock speed, see “Custom Shuttle Backup Every Specifies how often the session is
Lock Speed” on page 625. saved.

Chapter 8: Preferences 111

 User Media and Settings Record Section
Location
Latch Record Enable Buttons When selected,
Documentation and Settings multiple audio tracks can be record-enabled. When
not selected, multiple audio tracks cannot be re-
Click the Change button to set the Root directory cord-enabled. Record-enabling an audio track
for all user files including Documentation, takes all other audio tracks out of record-enabled
Grooves, IO Settings, Plug-In Maps, Plug-In Set- mode.
tings, Session Templates, and Video Test Patterns.
Enable Automation in Record When this option is
Project Media Cache enabled, automation can be written during record-
ing as well as during playback. When this option is
Click the Change button to set the Root directory
disabled, automation can only be written during
for caching all project media.
playback.
Sound Libraries Note that when the Enable Automation in Record
When Pro Tools is installed, any included audio option is selected, the Link Record and Play Faders
loops are stored in the Sound Libraries folder by de- option is automatically disabled and is unavailable.
fault:
Link Record and Play Faders When selected,
Mac Macintosh HD/Users/<username>/ Pro Tools does not remember separate fader levels
Documents/Pro Tools/Sound Libraries for tracks when they are record-enabled, allowing
you to maintain the same monitoring level for
Windows C:\Users\<username>\Documents\
tracks during recording and playback.
Pro Tools\Sound Libraries
Audio Track RecordLock (Pro Tools | Ultimate
Click the Change button to direct Pro Tools to ref-
Only) This option configures Pro Tools tracks to
erence another location for the Sound Libraries
either emulate a digital dubber, or to maintain leg-
folder and Loops content.
acy behavior for track record status.
Show Sound Libraries in Workspace Locations • When selected, the record-enabled audio tracks
remain record-enabled when playback or re-
Enable the Show Sound Libraries in Workspace/ cording stops.
Locations option to show Sound Libraries in the
Locations pane of Workspace browsers. • When not selected, record-enabled audio tracks
are taken out of record enable when Pro Tools is
stopped. This prevents tracks from remaining
armed from pass to pass, emulating track record
behavior of a digital dubber.

112 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Transport RecordLock (Pro Tools | Ultimate Mute Record-Armed Tracks While Stopped
Only) This option lets the Transport Record (the (Pro Tools | Ultimate Only) This setting deter-
Record button in the Transport controls) be config- mines monitor status of record-armed tracks.
ured to either emulate a digital dubber, or to main- • When selected, Pro Tools mutes all record-en-
tain legacy behavior for the Transport master Re- abled tracks when the transport is stopped. Input
cord. can still be monitored while stopped using the
• When selected, the Transport Record remains TrackInput Monitor button.
armed when playback or recording stops. This • When not selected, Pro Tools does not mute au-
saves having to re-arm the Transport between dio input on record-enabled tracks when the
takes, emulating digital dubber behavior. transport is stopped.
• When not selected, the Transport Record dis-
PEC/Direct Style Input Monitoring
arms when Pro Tools is manually stopped or
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Only) This option changes
stops due to a loss of timecode. This replicates
the way the TrackInput monitoring mode is indi-
standard Pro Tools recording behavior.
cated on-screen (and on supported control sur-
The Transport RecordLock option is automatically faces) to emulate “PEC” (playback) and “Direct”
disabled and grayed out when Destructive Record (input/bus) indication on some large format con-
mode is enabled. soles.
• When not selected, the TrackInput button shows
Disable “Input” When Disarming Track
(In “Stop”) (Pro Tools | Ultimate Only) For flexi- the letter “I.” The button remains gray to indi-
bility, TrackInput monitoring can be customized to cate Auto Input mode and lights green to indi-
remain selected regardless of track record status, cate Input Only mode.
or to automatically switch to Auto Input monitor- • When selected, the TrackInput button remains
ing after a recording pass. This lets you optimize gray and shows the letter “D” to indicated Input
monitoring for a typical dubbing workflow (in Only mode (“Direct”); it lights green and shows
which you might want tracks to remain in Input the letter “P” to indicate Auto Input mode (“Pec”
Only mode until explicitly switched to Auto Input or playback).
monitoring) or a typical music tracking workflow
Automatically Create New Playlists When Loop
(in which leaving a track in Input Only monitoring
Recording When selected, copies loop recorded
mode after recording can result in accidental dou-
alternate takes to new playlists in the track. This is
ble-monitoring).
especially useful to prepare for track compositing
• When selected, taking an audio track out of re- in Playlists view after loop recording multiple al-
cord enable (any mode) takes it out of Input ternate takes.
Only mode, regardless of the global monitor
mode, and switches it to monitor audio from Online Options
disk only.
Record Online at Timecode (or ADAT)
• When not selected, audio tracks remain in Input Lock When selected, online recording begins as
Only monitoring mode until explicitly switched soon as Pro Tools receives and locks to incoming
to Auto Input monitoring. timecode.

Chapter 8: Preferences 113

 Record Online at Insertion/Selection When se- Clip Auto Fade In/Out Length
lected, online recording begins at the edit cursor (Pro Tools | Ultimate Only)
location. Recording continues until Pro Tools
This setting determines the default length for fade-
stops receiving timecode. If you make a selection,
ins and fade-outs that are automatically applied to
Pro Tools records online for the length of the se-
clip boundaries on playback. Using automatic
lection.
fade-ins and fade-outs saves you the trouble of ed-
DestructivePunch File Length
iting to zero-crossings or creating numerous ren-
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Only) dered fades in order to eliminate clicks or pops in
playback. Autofades are not written to disk. Value
This preference sets the duration of consolidated range is from 0–10 ms for the Auto Clip Fade
audio files when preparing tracks for Destructive- In/Out Length setting. A value of zero means that
Punch mode. The default value for this setting is 25 no auto-fading will occur. The Auto Fade value is
minutes. saved with the session, and is automatically ap-
plied to all free-standing clip boundaries until you
Misc (Miscellaneous) Section change it.

Mouse Wheel Scrolling Snaps to Track Calibration Reference Level

(HDX and HD Native Systems Only)
The Operations page of the Preferences window
includes a new Mouse Wheel Scrolling Snaps to This setting determines a default calibration refer-
Track option. When this option is enabled, the top ence level in dB when Pro Tools is in Calibration
of tracks in the Edit window snap to fit as you mode. For audio interfaces that have trims (such as
scroll with the mouse wheel and tracks in the Mix the HD I/O), see the interface’s guide for calibra-
window snap to the left. When this option is dis- tion instructions.
abled, scrolling with the mouse wheel is smooth
If your system includes one or more EUCON
and continuous.
controllers, be sure to disable “Auto-bank to
Press Control (Mac) or Start (Windows) selected track” in EuControl software before
while scrolling the mouse wheel to accelerate enabling Pro Tools Calibration Mode to en-
scrolling tracks vertically in the Edit window sure that faders remain silent. To make sure
or horizontally in the Mix window. “Auto-bank to select track” is not enabled,
open the EuControl Settings window, click to
go to the General tab, and verify the setting is
Press Command (Mac) or Control (Windows)
not enabled. If necessary, click to disable
while scrolling the mouse wheel to slow down
“Auto-bank to selected track.” After exiting
scrolling tracks vertically in the Edit window
Calibration Mode, be sure to re-enable the
or horizontally in the Mix window.
“Auto-bank to selected track” setting (if nec-
essary).

114 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Most Recent Local Waveform Cache Versions Play Start Latency
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)
If you are working on a slower computer, set the
The Local Waveform Cache Versions preference Play Start Latency setting to a higher value. The
determines whether or not one or more copies of the range is from 1-Shortest to 5-Longest.
Waveform cache are stored locally for sessions on
network storage systems (such as Avid NEXIS).

Keeping a short history of the Waveform cache Editing Preferences

stored locally can greatly speed up opening sessions
on network storage. Rendering tasks and redrawing
waveforms are also quicker when the Waveform
cache is stored locally.

A setting of 0 means that no local Waveform cache is

stored and the Waveform cache is only saved on the
network storage system. A setting of 1 always only
saves the most recent version of the Waveform cache
locally and deletes the previously locally saved
Waveform cache. You can store up to 99 versions of
the Waveform cache locally. When the designated
number of versions to be stored locally is exceeded
creation of a new Waveform cache, the oldest locally
stored Waveform cache is deleted.

The local Waveform cache (if any) is saved to the

Documents/Pro Tools/Local Waveform Cache
folder on your system drive.

Video Section
Clips Section
Enable GPU
Clips List Selection Follows Edit Selection When
Pro Tools video processing is done on the GPU selected, selecting a clip in a track also selects it in
(Graphics Processing Unit) in order to free up the the Clips List.
CPU for Pro Tools audio and MIDI. If you are us-
ing a slower GPU and encounter poor video play- Edit Selection Follows Clips List Selection When
back, you may want to disable this option and have selected, selecting a clip in the Clips List causes
the video processing done on the CPU. Pro Tools to highlight that clip’s occurrence in a
track.
Prevent Tearing
Auto-Name Separated Clips When selected,
When enabled, Pro Tools buffers video to prevent Pro Tools automatically names newly separated
visual artifacts with horizontal movement in situa- clips by appending a number to the clip’s name.
tions where video sync does not match the screen
refresh rate. This options is not available when the
Enable GPU option is disabled.

Chapter 8: Preferences 115

 “Separate Clip” Operates On All Related Tracks Section
Takes When selected, editing a clip with the
Separate Clip command also affects all other re- New Tracks Default To Tick Timebase When
lated takes (recording passes) with the same User selected, all new tracks default to ticks. When
Time Stamp. This option helps you compare dif- deselected, audio, Auxiliary Input, Master Fader,
ferent sections from a group of related takes. and VCA tracks default to samples.

Send Fully Overlapped Clips to Playlist while Suppress Name Dialog When Creating New
Editing Whenever a whole clip is fully overlapped Playlists Enable this option to automatically name
by another clip when editing it is moved from the new playlists without opening the Name New
main playlist to a new playlist (or the first available, Playlist dialog. This applies when creating both
empty playlist). This is true for editing on all play- new of duplicate playlists.
lists, not just the main playlist.
Show Target Playlist(s) After Sending Clip
Send Fully Overlapped Clips to Playlist while Selection Enable this option to show Target play-
Recording Whenever a whole clip is fully over- list(s) in the Main playlist after moving or copying
lapped by another clip when recording it is moved an Edit selection to that playlist.
from the main playlist to a new playlist (or the first
available, empty playlist).
Memory Locations Section
Clip Gain Nudge Value This setting specifies the
Auto-Name Memory Locations When
amount (from 0.1 dB to 6.0 dB) by which clip gain Playing When selected, Pro Tools gives new
settings are adjusted when nudging clip gain. Memory Locations default names based on their
Clip Matching Options Lets you assign number time location in the session. The time units cur-
keys 1–5 to control either Zoom Presets or Clip Ef- rently chosen in the View menu determine the
fects Presets. Press Control+1–5 (Mac) or units for the names.
Start+1–5 (Windows) to recall the corresponding Recall Memory Location at Original Track When
preset in your session or project for the selected selected, Memory Locations that recall a selection
option. If Commands Keyboard Focus is also en- also recall the track in which the selection was
abled in the Edit window, just press the number for made.
the preset you want (1–5).

Press Command+Control+1–5 (Mac) or Fades Section

Control+Start+1–5 (Windows) to apply the
Crossfade Preview Pre-Roll This setting specifies
number keys to the opposite of what is set for
the amount of pre-roll to be added when you are
the 1–5 Number Keys Control preference (for
auditioning crossfades in the Fades dialog.
example, if Zoom Presets is selected, these
key combinations would apply to Clip Effects Crossfade Preview Post-Roll This setting speci-
Presets instead). If Commands Keyboard Fo- fies the amount of post-roll to be added when you
cus is enabled for the Edit window, press are auditioning crossfades in the Fades dialog.
Command+1–5 (Mac) or Control+1–5 (Win-
dows).

116 Pro Tools Reference Guide

QuickPunch/TrackPunch Crossfade Length Crossfade Selects the default envelope shape for
crossfades when using the Smart Tool.
Specifies a default length for crossfades created by
QuickPunch or TrackPunch (Pro Tools Ultimate To apply a Fade In, Fade Out, or Crossfade
only) recordings. Crossfades occur before the to an Edit selection using the Default Fade
punch in and after the punch out. settings, and without opening the Fades dia-
log, press Command+Control+F (Mac) or
Preserve Fades when Editing This option pre-
Control+Start+F (Windows).
serves fade-ins and fade outs, and converts sepa-
rated crossfades into corresponding fade-ins and REX Selects the default envelope shape for fades
fade-outs. and crossfades between clips (“slices”) in im-
Auto Accept Adjust Bounds This option automat-
ported REX files.
ically adjusts fade boundaries without presenting
the Invalid Fades dialog. Zoom Toggle Section
Vertical Zoom Selects either Selection or Last
Smart Tool Fade Adjustment
Used for the Zoom Toggle Vertical Zoom setting.
Determines whether adjusting fade and crossfade
Horizontal Zoom Selects either Selection or Last
shapes in the Edit window using the Smart Tool is al-
Used for the Zoom Toggle Horizontal Zoom set-
ways on or if it requires that you also use the Com-
ting.
mand key (Mac) or the Control key (Windows) to ad-
just fades and crossfades with the Smart Tool (see Remove Range Selection After Zooming
“Adjusting Fade Shapes with the Smart Tool in the In When selected, the current Edit selection col-
Edit Window” on page 683). lapses into an insertion point after zoom toggling
in. Zoom toggling back out reverts to the previous
Always On Adjust fade and crossfade shapes in the
selection.
Edit window using the Smart Tool.
Track Height Selects Last Used, Medium, Large,
Requires Command Key (Mac) or Requires Con-
Extreme, or Fit To Window for the Zoom Toggle
trol Key (Windows) adjust fade and crossfade
shapes in the Edit window using the Smart Tool only Track Height setting.
when the Command key (Mac) or Control key (Win-
Track View Selects Waveform/Notes, Warp/Notes,
dows) is pressed.
Last Used, or No Change for the Zoom Toggle
Default Fade Settings Track View setting.

Fade In Selects the default envelope shape for Separate Grid Settings When Zoomed In When
fade-ins when using the Smart Tool. selected, the Grid setting stored with Zoom toggle
is recalled when zoom toggling in. When this op-
Fade Out Selects the default envelope shape for tion is deselected, the same (current) grid setting is
fade-outs when using the Smart Tool. used whether zoom toggling in or out.

Chapter 8: Preferences 117

 Zoom Toggle Follows Edit Selection When se- Send Pans Default to Follow Main Pan When se-
lected, zoom toggle automatically follows the cur- lected, newly created sends have Follow Main Pan
rent Edit selection. When disabled, changing the turned on, so the Send Pan controls follow the pan
Edit selection has no affect on the currently tog- controls of the track. When not selected, newly
gled-in track. created sends have Follow Main Pan turned off.

Use Absolute Pan Linking (Pro Tools | Ultimate

Levels of Undo Only) This option affects behavior of grouped
This preference sets the maximum number of ac- pan controls.
tions that can be undone with the multiple undo • When selected, grouped pan controls do not
feature. Setting this to a lower number can speed maintain relative offsets when any of the
up the performance of slower computers. grouped pan controls is adjusted. All grouped
Pro Tools supports up to 64 levels of Undo. pan controls snap to the absolute value of the ad-
justed control.
• When not selected, grouped pan controls main-
Mixing Preferences tain relative offsets when any of the linked con-
trols is adjusted.

Allow Sends to Persist During LLM (Core Audio,

ASIO, and HD Native Systems Only) All plug-ins
and sends are bypassed by default when Low La-
tency Monitoring (LLM) is enabled (Options >
Low Latency Monitoring). Enable the Allow Sends
to persist during LLM option to maintain audio sig-
nal output for sends when using Low Latency
Monitoring.

Default EQ

This preference lets you choose any installed EQ

plug-in as the default, which makes it available for
quick assignment, both on-screen and on ICON
controllers (Pro Tools Ultimate only). On-screen,
the plug-in appears at the top of the Insert selector
pop-up menu. On ICON controllers, the plug-in
appears first in the list of menu choices on the ro-
Setup Section tary encoders.
Sends Default to –INF When selected, the initial
Insert Slot The specified Insert slot (none, or a–j)
fader level of newly-created sends is set to – (no
is used (if it is available) when inserting the default
audible signal level). When not selected, the initial
EQ plug-in from a S6 control surface. If the speci-
fader level of newly-created sends is set to 0 dB.
fied slot is not available, the next available plug-in
slot is used. When None is selected, S6 control sur-
faces insert the selected default plug-in in the first
available insert slot.
118 Pro Tools Reference Guide
Default Dynamics Always Fill Channel Strips When Banking If you
are using an ICON controller (Pro Tools Ultimate
This preference lets you choose any installed Dy-
only), or other supported control surface, you can
namics plug-in as the default, which makes it
select this option to maximize the number of chan-
available for quick assignment, both on-screen and
nels displayed when banking. This setting opti-
on ICON controllers (Pro Tools Ultimate only).
mizes the Bank commands to prevent the display
On-screen, the plug-in appears at the top of the In-
of a small number of channels at the extremes of
sert selector pop-up menu. On ICON controllers,
the surface.
the plug-in appears first in the list of menu choices
on the rotary encoders. Touch Timeout If you are writing automation in
Touch mode and you stop moving a non-touch
Insert Slot The specified Insert slot (none, or a–j)
sensitive fader or encoder, Pro Tools continues to
is used (if it is available) when inserting the default
write automation for the Touch Timeout value.
Dynamics plug-in from a EUCON control surface.
If the specified slot is not available, the next avail- After the Touch Timeout period, writing of auto-
able plug-in slot is used. When None is selected, mation stops and the automation data returns to its
EUCON control surfaces insert the selected de- previous automation value at the rate specified in
fault plug-in in the first available insert slot. the AutoMatch Time setting.
Auto Insert Default Plug-Ins from EUCON EUCON Surfaces EQ Dyn cycling Starting at
Surfaces When selected, the default EQ and Insert (S6 Consoles Only) Lets you specify the
default Dynamics plug-ins are automatically avail- starting slot for EQ/Dyn cycling with S6 consoles
able when creating new tracks from EUCON to optimize EQ and Dyn cycling (via repeated
surfaces. pressing of the EQ or Dyn switches) to start from
either a specific slot, or from the most recently cy-
Controllers Section cled slot. Choose <none> to have Pro Tools begin
cycling from most recently cycled slot.
Edit Window Follows Bank Selection If you are
using a supported control surface with Pro Tools,
this option scrolls the Edit window to display the Automation Section
selected bank of tracks when you switch banks on Smooth and Thin Data After Pass When se-
the control surface, ensuring that the current bank lected, Pro Tools automatically smooths and then
is viewable on-screen. applies the specified amount of thinning to the au-
tomation data created in an automation pass.
Mix Window Follows Bank Selection If you are
using a supported control surface with Pro Tools, Degree of Thinning Specifies the amount of thin-
this option scrolls the Mix window to display the ning performed on automation data when you us-
selected bank of tracks when you switch banks on ing the Thin Automation command, or if you have
the control surface, ensuring that the current bank selected the Smooth and Thin Data After Pass op-
is viewable on-screen. tion.
“Scroll to Track” Banks Controllers When using
a control surface (such as D-Control) you can se-
lect this option to bank control surface faders to a
numbered track when using the Scroll to Track
command.
Chapter 8: Preferences 119
 Plug-In Controls Default to Auto-Enabled When Standard VCA Logic for Group Attributes This
selected, all applicable controls of newly added option determines which Mix group attributes may
plug-ins are enabled for automation. When not se- be selected in the Group dialog when the group is
lected, the controls of newly added plug-ins must assigned to a VCA Master.
be manually enabled for automation. • When selected, the Main Volume, Mute, Solo,
Suppress Automation “Write To” Warnings Record Enable, and Input Monitoring controls
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Only) When selected, on slave tracks follow the VCA Master only and
Pro Tools suppresses the warnings that appear af- are not available to be independently linked.
ter invoking any of the Write Automation To Start, (This emulates the behavior of analog console
Selection, End, or Punch commands and then stop- VCA masters.)
ping the transport. • When deselected, the Main Volume, Mute, Solo,
Record Enable, and Input Monitoring controls
Latching Behavior for Switch Controls in
“Touch” This option determines the behavior of follow the VCA Master, but also remain avail-
switch-type controls (such as mute or plug-in by- able for independent linking with groups.
pass) when writing automation in Touch mode. Include Sends in Trim Mode (Pro Tools | Ultimate
• When selected, controls in Touch mode will Only) This option determines the Trim status of
latch in their current state. If an existing break- Send faders when a track is put in Trim mode.
point is encountered, writing of automation • When selected, Send faders go into Trim mode
stops. If the transport is stopped while writing, along with the Main Volume fader.
the control will AutoMatch to the underlying
• When deselected, the Main Volume fader goes
value.
into Trim mode, but the Send fader stays in the
• When not selected, controls in Touch mode will corresponding standard Automation mode.
not latch.
Include Control Changes in Undo Queue This
Allow Latch Prime in Stop (Pro Tools | Ultimate option determines whether certain mixer control
Only) When selected and any tracks are in Latch changes, such as moving a fader or pan control, are
mode, any automation-enabled controls on those entered into the Undo queue.
tracks can be set to new values while the transport
is stopped by touching or moving controls, to pre- • When selected, mixer control changes appear in
pare for the next automation pass. the Undo queue, and are undone if any prior op-
eration is undone.
Coalesce when Removing Slaves from VCA • When deselected, mixer control changes will not
Group This option determines the behavior when
appear in the undo queue, allowing you to undo
removing slave tracks from a VCA-controlled
other types of operations without losing the cur-
group.
rent mixer settings.
• When selected, any automation on the VCA
Master is automatically coalesced (without con- Any set to default operations that affect mixer con-
firmation) to its slave tracks when the tracks are trols will be entered into the Undo queue.
removed from the group.
• When not selected, a confirmation dialog lets
you choose whether or not to coalesce the VCA
Master automation to the slave tracks.

120 Pro Tools Reference Guide

AutoMatch Time If you are writing automation in Manually Trim Automation can be coalesced only
Touch mode, when you release a fader or control, with the Coalesce Trim Automation command. A
writing of automation stops and the automation Composite Playlist can be viewed before commit-
data returns to its previous value. The rate of return ting Trim moves.
to the previous value is the AutoMatch Time.

AutoGlide Time (Pro Tools | Ultimate Only) Spec- Delay Compensation Section
ifies how quickly Pro Tools transitions (glides)
from one automation value to another, when Auto-
Glide mode is used.

After Write Pass, Switch To Options Delay Compensation Time Mode

These options select the Automation mode that When Delay Compensation is enabled (Options >
Pro Tools tracks automatically switches to after an Delay Compensation), this option lets you choose
automation pass in Write (or Write Trim) mode. whether information in the Delay Manager is dis-
Select one of the following options: played in milliseconds or samples.

Touch Switches to Touch mode after an automa- Compensate Side Chains

tion pass in Write (or Write Trim) mode. (HDX Systems Only)

Latch Switches to Latch mode after an automation When Delay Compensation is enabled (Options >
pass in Write (or Write Trim) mode. Delay Compensation), this option applies Delay
Compensation to plug-in sidechain signals.
No Change Stays in Write mode after an automa-
tion pass in Write (or Write Trim) mode.

After an automation pass in Write Trim mode, Metering Preferences

tracks automatically switch to the Trim version of
the specified setting.

Coalesce Trim Automation Options

(Pro Tools | Ultimate Only)

These options determine when Trim automation is

committed to the main automation playlist on a
track.

After Every Pass Sets Trim automation to co-

alesce when the transport is stopped at the end of
each Trim automation pass. No Composite Playlist
is indicated.

On Exiting Trim Mode Sets Trim Automation to

coalesce on a track when the track is taken out of
Trim mode. A Composite Playlist can be viewed
Metering preferences (Pro Tools Ultimate shown)
before committing Trim moves.

Chapter 8: Preferences 121

 Track and Master Meter Types Linear Use Linear for post-production and music
mixing scenarios. Using a fast decay time, Linear
The Track Meters section of the Mixing prefer- provides direct one-to-one linear metering of sam-
ences let you set the Meter Type and associated ple peaks in the audio signal with a metering range
metering ballistics and displays settings for audio, down to –40 dB. This offers higher metering reso-
Auxiliary Input, and Instrument tracks. The Master lution closer to 0 dB (which can be particularly
Meters sections let you configure these settings in- useful for mixing and mastering).
dependently for Master Fader tracks.
Linear (Extended) Provides the same ballistics as
Track and Master Meter Types Linked Linear, but the meter scaling extends to –60 dB.
Enable the Track and Master Meter Types Linked RMS Provides metering ballistics that display the
option to ensure that Track (audio, Auxiliary Input, average loudness (Root Mean Square of the signal)
and Instrument tracks) and Master (Master Fader) over a range of time. Peak metering, on the other
meters always use the same Meter Type setting. hand, displays the peak signal level at any given
Disable this option if you want the Track and Mas- point in time.
ter meters to use different Meter Type settings (for
example, you may want to use VU metering for VU Popular for music and dialog mixing, the VU
your Track meters, but Peak for your Master me- scale used in Pro Tools is extended on the low end
ters). from –23 dB to –40 dB to accommodate a wide
range of material without the need for stage re-cal-
Track Meters and Master Meters ibration.

Pro Tools lets you choose from several industry Digital VU Provides VU ballistics with a modern
standard meter types for visually monitoring audio digital scale.
levels. You can link the Track (audio, Auxiliary In-
PPM Digital Popular in Europe and Asia with
put, and Instrument tracks) and Master (Master
Fader) meter settings, or you can set them inde- broadcasters, and also with US Film consoles
pendently of one another. The following Meter (such as the Avid System5 consoles), PPM Digital
Type options are available:
has a similar integration time to Sample Peak me-
tering, but different scales and decay times.
Sample Peak Provides the default Pro Tools me-
tering. The scale and the decay time is calculated in The PPM Digital option, like all other Meter Type
dB/second, which results in slower decay in meter- options besides Sample Peak, does not report ev-
ing compared to previous versions of Pro Tools. ery transient (such as a series of very fast tran-
The Sample Peak option is the only Meter Type sients). However, even though it under-reports the
that has a 0 sample integration time, and as such actual digital dynamic range, it more closely
shows all dynamic activity of the digital signal at matches human hearing of loudness over time.
every moment in time. PPM BBC Adopted by commercial broadcasters in
Pro Tools Classic Provides legacy Pro Tools scale the UK, BBC scaling uses 4 dB spacing between
and metering ballistics. scale marks. Other organizations around the world,
including the EBU, CBC, and ABC used the same
dynamics but with slightly different scales.

122 Pro Tools Reference Guide

PPM Nordic A Scandinavian variant of the DIN should be converted to K-14, or remain at K-20. If
PPM has the same integration and return times but mixing to analog tape, work at K-20, and realize
a different scale, with “TEST” corresponding to that the peak levels off tape will not exceed about
Alignment Level (0 dBu) and +9 corresponding to +14.
Permitted Maximum Level (+9 dBu). Compared to
the DIN scale, the Nordic scale is more logarithmic K-scale meters are RMS based scales with an
and covers a somewhat smaller dynamic range. integrated sample peak meter as a secondary
value. For more information about K-scale
PPM EBU Is a variant of the British PPM designed metering, see the paper “An Integrated Ap-
for the control of program levels in international proach to Metering, Monitoring, and Leveling
program exchange (Type IIb PPM in IEC 60268- Practices” by Bob Katz, Digital Domain, Inc.
10). It is identical to the British PPM (BBC) except
for the meter scale. The meter scale is calibrated in VENUE Peak Provides the same ballistics as Sam-
dB relative to the Alignment Level, which is ple Peak, but with VENUE meter scaling to
marked “TEST.” There are ticks at 2 dB intervals +20 dB.
and at +9 dB, which corresponds to the Permitted
VENUE RMS Provides the same ballistics as RMS,
Maximum Level.
but with VENUE meter scaling to +20 dB.
PPM DIN Used in German broadcasting, the nomi-
nal analog signal corresponding to Permitted Max- Advanced Meter Type Settings
imum Level was standardized by ARD at 1.55
volts (+6 dBu), and this is the usual sensitivity of a The Advanced Meter Type settings let you adjust
DIN-type PPM for an indication of 0 dB. The the scale and ballistics of the selected Meter Type.
Alignment Level (−3 dBu) is shown on the meter These settings update automatically to match the
by a scale mark at −9. specifications of the selected Meter Type. In some
system configurations you may want to make man-
K-12 The K-scales are RMS based scales with an ual adjustments to these settings in order to ensure
integrated sample peak meter as a secondary value. that Pro Tools metering matches the meter re-
K-Scales are popular with music mixers that are sponse your broadcast console (some broadcast
looking for a meaningful indication of overall consoles use variations from the standard Meter
loudness. K-12 should be reserved strictly for au- Types that are provided in Pro Tools). However, in
dio to be dedicated to broadcast, though broadcast most cases these settings should be left at the de-
recording engineers may choose K-14 if they feel it fault values.
fits their program material.
Decay
K-14 Use K-14 for mastering when working in a
calibrated mastering suite. The Decay settings determine the decibel range
(dBs) that the meters fall at the specified rate in
K-20 Using K-20 during mix encourages a clean- seconds after peak level is registered. For some
sounding mix that is advantageous to the mastering Meter Types, these settings are not adjustable
engineer. At that point, the producer and mastering (such as VU).
engineer should discuss whether the program

Chapter 8: Preferences 123

 0 dBFS Peak/Clip Section
The 0 dBFS setting determines the unity reference Peak Hold Options
level for the meter scale in decibels compared to
digital 0 dB. Exceeding this level should result in These options determine how long the peak indica-
clipping at the digital to analog converters or to the tors on track meters stay lit after a peak is detected.
specified clipping level for broadcast. For some
3 Seconds When selected, track meters display
Meter Types, this setting is not adjustable (such as
the last peak level for three seconds.
K-meters).
Infinite When selected, track meters display the
Integration Time last peak level until you click them to clear them.
The Integration Time setting determines the None When selected, track meters do not hold the
amount of time it takes, in milliseconds, to average peak level.
the peak level as registered on the meter display.
You can think of this as the attack time for regis- Clip Indication Options
tering peak levels on the meters. For some Meter
Types, this setting is not adjustable (such as Peak). These options determine how long the clip indica-
tors on plug-in, send, and track meters stay lit after
Color Break High a clip is detected.

The Color Break High setting determines the high 3 Seconds When selected, meters display the last
point in dB where the color changes for metering. clip indication for three seconds.
Typically, this will be the ceiling level for the cur-
Infinite When selected, meters display the last clip
rent Meter Type. When this level is exceeded clip-
indications until you click them to clear them.
ping will occur. Levels registering on the meters
between the Color Break High setting and the Color None When selected, meters do not hold the clip
Break Low setting should be considered the “sweet indication.
spot” for the loudness of the program material.

Color Break Low

Display Section
The Display section of the Metering preferences
The Color Break Low setting determines the low
provides options for configuring the display of the
point in dB where the color changes for metering.
new Gain Reduction meters on tracks and in sends.
Typically, this will be the minimum level for the
current Meter Type. Use this setting to provide a Show Send Assignment Level Meter
visual indication in the meters for the lowest level
of the dynamic range of the program material for Enable the Show Send Assignment Level Meter
the intended delivery format (such as film, DVD, option to show Level meters in Sends Assignments
CD, MP3, or broadcast). on audio, Auxiliary Input, and Instrument tracks in
the Mix window. When this option is disabled,
Reset level meters are not displayed in Send Assign-
ments on tracks.
Click the Reset button to reset the Advanced Me-
ter Type preferences to the default settings for the
selected Meter Type.

124 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Show Track Gain Reduction Meter Priority Compressor/Limiter When selected, if a
Compressor/Limiter is inserted on a track, only
Enable the Show Track Gain Reductions Meter op-
gain reduction applied by Compressor/Limiter
tion to show Gain Reduction meters in tracks on
plug-ins is displayed in the gain reduction meter.
audio, Auxiliary Input, Instrument, and Master
However, if no Compressor/Limiter plug-in is on a
Fader tracks in the Mix window. Note that even
track, any gain reduction applied by other dynam-
when this option is enabled, Gain Reduction me-
ics processing plug-ins on the track is displayed on
ters are only displayed for those tracks with sup-
that track.
ported dynamics plug-in inserted. When this op-
tion is disabled, Gain Reduction meters are not Priority Expander/Gate When selected, if an Ex-
displayed on tracks. pander/Gate plug-in is inserted on a track, only
gain reduction applied by Expander/Gate plug-ins
Show Insert Assignments Gain Reduction is displayed in the gain reduction meter. However,
Meter if no Expander/Gate plug-in is on a track, any gain
Enable the Show Insert Assignment Gain Reduc- reduction applied by other dynamics processing
tions Meter option to show Gain Reduction meters plug-ins on the track is displayed on that track.
in Insert Assignments on audio, Auxiliary Input, All – Summed When selected, the sum of all gain
Instrument, and Master Fader tracks in the Mix reduction applied on a track by dynamics plug-ins
window. Note that even when this option is en- inserted on that track is displayed in the gain re-
abled, Gain Reduction meters are only displayed duction meter.
for those tracks with supported dynamics plug-in
inserted. When this option is disabled, Gain Re-
duction meters are not displayed in Insert Assign-
ments on tracks.
Processing Preferences

Gain Reduction Meter Type

The Gain Reduction Meter Type settings determine

which dynamics processing plug-ins display Gain
Reduction meters on audio, Auxiliary Input, In-
strument, and Master Fader tracks in the Mix win-
dow. Note that even Gain Reduction Meters are
only displayed for those tracks with supported dy-
namics plug-in of the corresponding type inserted.

Compressor/Limiter When selected, only gain re-

duction applied by Compressor/Limiter plug-ins
on tracks are displayed in the gain reduction meter.

Expander/Gate When selected, only gain reduc-

tion applied by Expander/Gate plug-ins on tracks
are displayed in the gain reduction meter.

Chapter 8: Preferences 125

 AudioSuite Section and converted to WAV on import. When this op-
tion is not selected, copied files retain their original
Default Handle Length format (unless that file format is incompatible with
The Default Handle Length options let you set the Pro Tools, in which case it must be converted).
default length for AudioSuite and clip gain han- Do Not Convert Sample Rate on Import When se-
dles. lected, files with different sample rates than the
Whole File When enabled, AudioSuite and clip session sample rate are not automatically con-
gain rendering renders the whole file referenced by verted when imported into the session. This means
the selection or clip. that files with mis-matched sample rates playback
at a different speed (and pitch transpositions than
Length This setting lets you specify the default when they were originally recorded (or converted).
Handle Length (from 0.00 to 60.00 seconds) for
AudioSuite and clip gain rendering. AudioSuite Import REX Files as Clip Groups When selected,
and clip gain rendering renders the selection plus REX flies are imported as clip groups, all the un-
any additional available audio up to the specified derlying slices are imported as individual clips
Handle Length. contained within the clip group. When this option
is not selected, importing REX files into a session
converts them to the session’s audio file format,
Import Section the individual slices are consolidated, and the slice
Convert Imported “WAV” Files To AES31/Broad- information is used for Elastic Audio analysis.
castWave When selected, this option applies to all These files remain tick-based after import and con-
newly imported WAV files, making them compli- version.
ant with the AES31/EBU Broadcast standard.
Automatically Create Fades When selected,
Automatically Copy Files on Import When se- crossfades are applied automatically to the sliced
lected, all audio files that are imported by dragging clips within clip groups created by importing REX
and dropping are copied to the current session’s files. If the Import REX Files as Clip Groups option
Audio Files folder, regardless of whether the files is not selected, the Automatically Create Fades op-
need to be converted to the current session’s file tion is not available.
type, bit depth or sample rate. Additionally, when
selected, the Copy from Source Media option is au- To change the default fade settings for REX files,
tomatically enabled in the Import Session Data di- click the REX button in the Default Fade Settings
alog. The Automatically Copy Files on Import pref- section on the Editing Preferences page.
erence does not affect the Import Audio command.
Drag and Drop From Desktop Conforms to
Convert Copied Files to Session Format When Session Tempo
selected, files that have different file formats from The Drag and Drop From Desktop Conforms to
the current session file format are copied and con- Session Tempo options determine whether or not
verted to the current session audio file format on REX, ACID, and audio files are imported as tick-
import. For example, if the session file format is based Elastic Audio and conformed to the session
WAV and you import an AIF, the files is copied tempo.

126 Pro Tools Reference Guide

No Files When enabled, REX and ACID files, and TC/E (Time Compression/
all other audio files are not conformed to the ses- Expansion) Section
sion tempo when imported by drag and drop from
TC/E Plug-In Lets you select the plug-in used for
Windows Explorer or the Mac Finder. They are
Time Compression and Expansion when you edit
imported as sample-based files and converted to
audio with the Time Compression/Expansion Trim
the sessions audio file format.
tool. This Trim tool works by using Time Com-
REX and ACID Files Only When enabled, only pression/Expansion to match an audio clip to the
REX and ACID files are conformed to the session length of another clip, a tempo grid, a video scene,
tempo when imported by drag and drop from Win- or other reference point. The Time Shift plug-in is
dows Explorer or the Mac Finder. REX files are selected by default.
imported either as tick-based Elastic Audio or, if
Default Settings Specifies the default settings
the Import REX Files as Clip Groups option is en-
used by the chosen Time Compression/Expansion
abled, as tick-based clip groups.
plug-in.
All Files When enabled, all audio files (including
REX and ACID files) imported by drag and drop Elastic Audio Section
from Windows Explorer or the Mac Finder are im-
ported as tick-based Elastic Audio and conform to These preferences determine Elastic Audio usage
the session tempo. and settings on new tracks, as well as for preview-
ing and importing tick-based audio.
Sample Rate Conversion Quality
Default Plug-In Lets you select any Real-Time
The Sample Rate Conversion Quality pop-up menu Elastic Audio plug-in as the default for previewing
lets you select the default sample rate conversion and importing Elastic Audio. The selected default
quality for importing audio files by drag and drop Elastic Audio plug-in is also used when new tracks
from any Workspace browser, or Windows Ex- are created with the Enable Elastic Audio on New
plorer or Mac Finder. The higher the quality of Tracks option enabled.
sample rate conversion you select, the longer
Default Input Gain Lets you attenuate the signal
Pro Tools will take to process the audio file.
input to Elastic Audio plug-ins by 0 to –6 dB for
preview and import. If you experience clipping
Commit Section due to Elastic Audio processing during preview or
after import, you may want to set the Default Input
Rendered File Bit Depth
Gain to slightly attenuate the audio signal input for
The Rendered File Bit Depth options determine the Elastic Audio processing. This preference also ap-
bit depth of new audio files created using the Track plies to any audio imported to an Elastic Audio-en-
Commit command. abled track.

Always Use 32-bit When selected, new audio files The Elastic Properties window inherits the
created using Track Commit command are 32-bit Default Input Gain setting. To apply further clip-
files regardless of the session bit depth. based input gain attenuation for Elastic Audio pro-
cessing, select the clip and adjust the Input Gain
Follow Session Settings When selected, new au-
setting in the Elastic Properties window (see “Elas-
dio files created using Track Commit command are tic Properties Window” on page 988).
the same bit depth as the session.

Chapter 8: Preferences 127

 Enable Elastic Audio on New Tracks When se- Miscellaneous Section
lected, new tracks are created with Elastic Audio
enabled. The selected default Elastic Audio plug- Parallel Task Optimization
in is used. (Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)

The Parallel Task Optimization preference lets you

If the Enable Elastic Audio on New Tracks
select the optimal possible number of parallel pro-
option is selected, you may want to also se-
cessing tasks that can happen at the same time on
lect the New Tracks Default to Tick Time-
your computer. Relevant factors include how
base option in the Editing Preferences page.
many core processors your computer has, how fast
the processors are, how fast or how fragmented
DSP Management Section your hard drives are, how fast your network stor-
These preferences determine DSP management age connection is, and so on. The optimal possible
behavior for converting DSP plug-ins to Native number of parallel processing tasks is usually pro-
and also for the HEAT software option. portional to the number of core processors in your
computer.
Open Unresourced DSP Plug-Ins as
Native (HDX Systems Only) When this option is Affected parallel processing tasks include:
enabled, any DSP plug-ins that exceed the avail- • Waveform calculation
able DSP processing are converted to Native for- • File indexing
mat plug-ins wherever possible. When this option
• Rendering Clip Gain, Clip Effects, and Elastic
is disabled, any DSP plug-ins that exceed the avail-
Audio
able DSP processing are made inactive.
Compare different settings to see what works best
Enable HEAT in New Sessions When enabled,
with your system.
new sessions are created with HEAT enabled for
all audio tracks. When disabled, HEAT is disabled Off Only a single task is processed at a time
in new sessions by default. This option is only
Low Up to 4 tasks can be processed simultaneously
available if the HEAT software option is installed.
For more information, see Chapter 47, “HEAT.” Med Up to 6 tasks can be processed simultaneously

High Up to 8 tasks can be processed simultaneously

When working with an Avid NEXIS network stor-

age system, select the optimal setting for your net-
work connection as follows:

Low 1 Gb Connection

Med Dual 1 Gb Connection

High 10 Gb Connection

128 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Automatically Create Click Track in New
MIDI Preferences Sessions When enabled, Pro Tools automatically
creates a new click track in new sessions.

Default Thru Instrument

This option lets you set the default MIDI Thru in-
strument. You can select a predefined device from
your available MIDI instruments, or select First
Selected MIDI Track to use the assigned MIDI out-
put of the first selected MIDI or Instrument track.
When multiple MIDI or Instrument tracks are se-
lected, the instrument in the selected track that is
closest to the top of the Edit window (or closest to
the left edge of the Mix window) is used. Select
None to only route MIDI Thru record enabled
MIDI and Instrument tracks.

Pencil Tool Resolution When Drawing

Controller Data

This option lets you set the default resolution for

Basics Section MIDI controller data created with the Pencil tool.
Setting this to a lower resolution helps avoid creat-
Remove Range Selection After Opening the
MIDI/Score Editor When selected, the MIDI Editor ing controller data that is unnecessarily dense. The
and Score Editor open with no Edit selection. value range is from 1 to 100 milliseconds.
When this option is disabled, the MIDI Editor and
Global MIDI Playback Offset
Score Editor open with the current Edit selection
intact. This option lets you set an offset in samples to
compensate for MIDI latency. Entering a value
Use MIDI to Tap Tempo When enabled, you can
here has the same effect as setting an offset with
tap a MIDI keyboard to enter a new tempo value
the MIDI Track Offsets command. Offset values
into a tempo field.
can be positive (later) or negative (earlier).
Display Events as Modified by Real-Time Proper-
ties When enabled, Pro Tools displays the effects Double-Clicking a MIDI Clip Opens
of Real-Time Properties in the Edit, MIDI Editor,
This option lets you specify what happens when
and Score Editor windows, and the MIDI Event
you double-click MIDI clips with the Grabber tool.
List.
MIDI Editor Opens the MIDI clip in a MIDI Editor
Use F11 Key for Wait for Note When enabled,
window.
pressing the F11 Function key puts MIDI record-
ing in Wait for Note mode. Score Editor Opens the MIDI clip in the Score Ed-
itor window.

Chapter 8: Preferences 129

 MIDI Event List Opens the MIDI clip in the MIDI MIDI Notes and Controllers When selected,
Event List. Pro Tools applies Delay Compensation to MIDI
notes and MIDI controller data. This is useful
Name Dialog Opens the Name dialog for the MIDI
when monitoring playback or when recording in-
clip. put from external MIDI devices.
MIDI Merge Release Mode
MIDI/Score Editor Display
MIDI Merge Release mode determines how
Pro Tools writes MIDI CC data when recording Additional Empty Bars in the Score Editor
MIDI in MIDI Merge mode.
This setting lets you specify the default number of
Latch Continues writing the last value. Any exist- empty bars that appear in the Score Editor window
ing events are overwritten until you stop recording. after the end of the last MIDI clip in the session.

Latch Until Next Event Continues writing the last

value until the next event even if you are still re-
cording.
Collaboration Preferences

Touch Immediately stops writing any new values

(only use this mode to add pedal-based control
data, not to modify existing data).

Note Display Options

These options set the reference for middle C as C3,
C4, or MIDI note number 60.

Delay Compensation for

External Devices Options
These options only apply when a Delay Compen-
sation Engine is selected in the Playback Engine
and Delay Compensation is enabled in Pro Tools.
These options are distinct from the hardware off-
sets available for hardware inserts in the I/O Setup.
Misc
MIDI Timecode When selected, Pro Tools applies
New Tracks Are Shared When enabled, new
Delay Compensation to Pro Tools-generated
tracks are automatically shared when they are cre-
MIDI Timecode (MTC). Enable this option when
ated.
synchronizing video to Pro Tools using MTC.
First Invite Shares All Tracks When enabled, all
MIDI Beat Clock When selected, Pro Tools applies
tracks are automatically shared when you invite
Delay Compensation to Pro Tools-generated
anyone to join your project.
MIDI Beat Clock.

130 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Joining Project Downloads All Shared Machine Follows Edit Insertion/Scrub When se-
Tracks When enabled, all shared tracks in the proj- lected, navigating to a specific location in a session
ect are automatically downloaded when you join a by moving the selection point or by scrubbing a
project. track will cause a connected transport to chase to
that location.
Enable “Track Notes” Dialog When enabled, the
Track Notes dialog is presented whenever opening When the connected device is a linear device (such
a project that reports information such as mis- as a tape deck), select Linear Devices (jog) to set
matched I/O Settings or missing plug-ins and so Pro Tools to send jog commands.
forth. When this option is disabled, the Track
Notes dialog is suppressed when opening a project When the connected device is a non-linear
even there are reportable discrepancies. device (such as a random-access video recorder or
another Pro Tools system), select Non-Linear De-
Automatically Download New Shared vices (cue) to set Pro Tools to send cue
Tracks When enabled, any new remote shared commands.
tracks are automatically downloaded.
Machine Cues Intelligently (HDX and HD Native
Systems Only) When selected, if you navigate to a
Synchronization Preferences cue point that is more than 10 seconds from the
current location, Pro Tools will command a con-
nected transport to fast wind to the new location at
full speed to within 10 seconds of the cue point.
Cueing will then slow to normal speed until the
point is reached. This can significantly speed up
tape cueing with certain video transports.

Stop at Shuttle Speed Zero (HDX and HD Native

Systems Only) Causes Pro Tools to send a Stop
command whenever you stop shuttling. This is
useful if you have a machine that requires an ex-
plicit stop command to park correctly.

Non-Linear Transport Error Suppression (HDX

and HD Native Systems Only) When Transport =
Pro Tools, keeps Pro Tools from sending a Stop
command when taken offline. This prevents
Pro Tools from stopping any other 9-pin devices
Machine Control Section connected to the system.

Machine Chases Memory Location When se-

lected, navigating to a specific location in a session Synchronization Section
with a Memory Location causes a connected trans- Minimum Sync Delay Sets the initial amount of
port to chase to that location. prime time (in frames) your system’s devices need
to achieve synchronization “lock.” This amount
varies for each device. Pro Tools lock up delay is
set by entering a value for Minimum Sync Delay in

Chapter 8: Preferences 131

 the Synchronization page of the Preferences. The Allow 9-Pin Track Arm Commands in Local
lowest value available is 15 frames. Find the short- Mode Sets Pro Tools to respond to incoming track
est possible lock-up time that your equipment can arming (record enable) commands even when the
operate at consistently, and set this as the Minimum system is not in Remote mode. This is useful if you
Sync Delay. On systems using MachineControl, are using a paddle device to control Pro Tools
enabling the Use Serial Timecode option will track arming or punching.
make machines lock up much faster. (Serial time-
Allow 9-Pin Transport Commands in Local
code requires both a qualified synchronization pe- Mode Sets Pro Tools to respond to incoming trans-
ripheral and external devices to be locked to house port commands even when the system is not in Re-
video reference.) mote mode. This is useful when using Satellite
Delay Before Locking to Longitudinal Timecode Link in conjunction with a 9-pin controller. You
(HDX and HD Native Systems Only) Sets the can receive the transport controls from the 9-pin
amount of time (in frames) for Pro Tools to lock to controller, but not experience the lag-time associ-
incoming LTC. Use this option when locking ated with a 9-pin device.
Pro Tools to a stable timecode source (such as a
Punch In Frame Offset Sets an offset (in frames)
non-linear tape machine or LTC generator) and not
to compensate for punch in timing advances or
a linear tape machine.
delays.
Delay Before Locking to Serial Timecode (HDX
Punch Out Frame Offset Sets an offset (in frames)
and HD Native Systems Only) Sets the amount of
to compensate for punch out timing advances or
time (in frames) for Pro Tools to wait before at-
delays.
tempting to lock to machines that issue servo lock
messages. This setting allows time for the servo Delay After Play Command Sets the amount of
mechanisms to achieve stable lock. time (in frames) for Pro Tools to wait after receiv-
ing a Play command before starting the audio en-
Remote Mode Section gine. This can prevent false starts when locking to
(HDX and HD Native Systems Only) synchronizers that are not fully supported by
Pro Tools.
Ignore Track Arming Sets Pro Tools to ignore in-
coming track arming (record enable) commands.
This is useful if you are using a master controller to Satellites Section
(HDX and HD Native Systems Only)
arm tracks on other machines, but you do not want
to arm tracks in Pro Tools. Satellite Link lets you link up to 12 Pro Tools HD
Set Servo Lock Bit at Play Enable this option
systems, or 11 Pro Tools HD systems and an Avid
when using a synchronizer to control Pro Tools in Video Satellite (Media Composer or Avid Sym-
Remote mode to minimize lock-up times during phony Nitris DX) or a Pro Tools Video Satellite
recording. system, over an Ethernet network so that you can
cue, play, and stop the transport, make play selec-
tions, and solo tracks across any of the systems
from any linked workstation.

132 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Transmit Solos Causes a linked Pro Tools system
to send the solo status of its tracks to all other Global and Local Preferences
linked Pro Tools systems. On other linked systems Pro Tools preferences are either global (system-
that are set to receive solos, tracks follow solo be- wide) or local (for the current session or project
havior as if the solo were on the local system. only).
Receive Solos Causes a linked Pro Tools system Global (System-Wide) Preferences Global prefer-
to receive solos from all other linked Pro Tools ences are applied to all sessions. These preferences
systems that are set to transmit solo status of their become the default preferences for any existing
tracks. Tracks on the receiving system follows solo sessions that you subsequently open or any new
behavior as if the solos were on the local system. sessions that are created.
Solo Independent of Linked State Causes a Local (Current Session) Preferences Local pref-
Pro Tools system to send the solo status of its erences are applied to the current session (if one is
tracks to other satellite systems even when it is un- open). Local preferences are not applied to older
linked. This allows control of solo status across sessions that are subsequently opened.
systems even when transport control is not en-
abled. Preferences and New Sessions

AAE Errors Stop All Linked Systems Causes an New sessions use global preference settings, plus
AAE error on any linked Pro Tools system to stop the most recent local preference settings. The most
the transport on all linked systems. When this op- recent local settings refer to the last open session
tion is not selected, linked systems will not stop if (unless subsequent changes were made in the Pref-
an AAE error occurs on one system. erences from the application window).
Transmit Play Selections Causes a linked
Pro Tools system to send the Edit window selec- Local (Session or Project Only)
tion to all other linked Pro Tools systems. On other Preferences
linked systems that are set to receive play selec- All Preferences are global (system-wide), except
tions, the selection is mirrored in the Edit window. for the following, which are local:
Receive Play Selections Causes a linked • Display Preferences
Pro Tools system to receive Edit window selec- • Edit Window Default Length
tions from all other linked Pro Tools systems that
• Always Display Marker Colors
are set to transmit play selections.
• Default Track Color Coding options
• Default Clip Color Coding options

Chapter 8: Preferences 133

 • Operation Preferences
• Latch Forward/Rewind
• Custom Shuttle Lock Speed
• Custom FF/REW Speed
• Back/Forward Amount (Pro Tools Ultimate
only)
• PEC/Direct Style Input Monitoring
(Pro Tools Ultimate only)
• DestructivePunch File Length
(Pro Tools Ultimate only)
• Clip Auto Fade In/Out Length
(Pro Tools Ultimate only)
• Delay Comp Time Mode
• Compensate side chains
(HDX systems only)
• Editing Preferences
• None
• Mixing Preferences
• Coalesce When Removing Slaves from VCA
Group (Pro Tools Ultimate only)
• Metering Preferences
• None
• Processing Preferences
• Convert Imported “WAV” Files To
AES31/BroadcastWave
• MIDI Preferences
• Display Events as Modified by Real-Time
Properties
• Automatically Create Click Track in New
Sessions
• Default Thru Instrument
• Pencil Tool Resolution When Drawing Con-
troller Data
• Delay for External Devices Options
• Synchronization Preferences
• None

134 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Chapter 9: Peripherals

The settings in the Peripherals dialog define how

Pro Tools works with various audio, synchroniza- Synchronization
tion and controller devices, as well as with The Synchronization page lets you configure
VENUE systems. Pro Tools for use with MIDI Timecode and a syn-
chronization peripheral.
To configure settings for Pro Tools peripherals:
1 Choose Setup > Peripherals. For information about synchronization
peripherals, see the SYNC HD Guide.
2 Click the tab for the type of peripheral you want
to configure.
3 Change the settings.
4 Click OK to save your changes and close the
Peripherals dialog.

Chapter 9: Peripherals 135

 MTC Reader and Generator ripheral reverts to the selected sample rate. If Pitch
Memory is disabled and the selected external clock
The MIDI Timecode (MTC) settings let you select
reference is not available, then the synchronization
the MIDI In and Out ports for MTC.
peripheral reverts to the nominal, selected internal
MTC Reader Port The MTC Reader Port setting sample rate setting.
lets you select the MIDI In port to which the MTC
Idle MTC Enabled
slave device is connected (the source of MTC in-
formation from the slave device). When this option is selected, MTC is continuously
output. When not enabled, MTC output is muted
MTC Generator Port The MTC Generator Port set-
when playback is idle.
ting lets you select the MIDI Out port to which the
master device is connected (this the destination of
LTC Output Level
MTC information from Pro Tools).
This setting adjusts the analog audio level of the
Synchronization Device LTC output, from –24 dBu to +9 dBu.
(HDX and HD Native Systems Only)
VITC Read Lines
The Synchronization Device settings let you con-
This setting determines which line pair of incom-
figure a synchronization peripheral (SYNC HD).
ing video signal is used for the VITC source. When
Enable SYNC Peripheral set to Auto, the synchronization peripheral
searches for the first valid line pair automatically.
When this option is selected, any connected syn- Alternatively, this value can be set to specific
chronization peripheral is enabled for use with VITC line pairs.
Pro Tools.
VITC Generate Lines
Current Firmware Version
This setting determines the line pair of the outgo-
This displays the firmware version for the con- ing video signal onto which the synchronization
nected synchronization peripheral, such as a peripheral inserts VITC. Normally, this should be
SYNC HD. left at the default (and preferred) setting of 14/16.

VITC Insertion Enabled Bi-Phase/Tach Wiring

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-

136 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Bi-Phase/Tach Pulses/Frame (2–254) Color Sets the color of the timecode numbers and
background of the window dub. The choices in-
There are several different standards for the num-
clude White on Black Bkgnd, Black on White Bk-
ber of pulses-per-frame output by Bi-Phase or
gnd, White on Video Bkgnd, or Black on Video
Tach devices. You can set the synchronization pe-
Bkgnd. (Video Bkgnd means that the background
ripheral to operate from 2 to 254 pulses per frame
of the window dub is transparent, so that the time-
from Pro Tools. The setting should match the PPF
code numbers are displayed directly on top of the
rate of the Bi-Phase/Tach encoder on the external
video signal, without a contrasting background
device.
box.) The default setting is White on Black Bkgnd.
Reset Bi-Phase

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 | Ultimate for use with MIDI Machine
Control or 9-Pin Machine Control.
Enable Dub Window
For information about using MachineControl
When this option is selected, you can insert a time- with Pro Tools | Ultimate, see Chapter 58,
code window into a video signal with the follow- “MachineControl.”
ing Window dub appearance settings:

Vertical Position Sets the vertical position of the

window dub, relative to the bottom of the video
picture. The choices range from 10% From Bottom
to 50% From Bottom, in 10% increments.

“10% from Bottom” vertical position is out-

side the standard “safe title” area, which
means it may not be visible on some video
monitors.

Horizontal Position Sets the relative horizontal

position of the window dub within the video pic-
ture. The choices include Extreme Left, Left, Cen-
ter, Right and Extreme Right.

The “Extreme” horizontal positions are out-

side the standard “safe title” area, which
means they may not be visible on some video
monitors.

Size Sets the relative size of the window dub

(Small or Large).

Chapter 9: Peripherals 137

 MIDI Machine Control (Master) MIDI Machine Control (Slave)
Pro Tools provides the following for configuring Pro Tools provides the following for configuring
MIDI Machine Control (Master) settings. MIDI Machine Control (Slave) 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.

MIDI Out Port MMC ID

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 | Ultimate.
that transmits to all 128 MMC IDs. With a setting Serial Deck Control mode is available whenever
of 127, Pro Tools will transmit MMC commands Machine Control is connected using the Serial
to all MMC IDs. Deck 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.

138 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Port Port

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

Machine Type Machine Type

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)

The 9-Pin Remote (Deck Emulation) settings let

you configure Pro Tools | Ultimate for 9-Pin Re-
mote (Deck Emulation) mode. This mode makes
Pro Tools operate as a virtual tape deck, supporting
most standard Sony P2 9-pin commands. By de-
fault, Pro Tools emulates a Sony BVW-75 model
video deck. You can also configure Pro Tools to
emulate other machines.

Enable

When the Enable option is selected, Pro Tools is in

9-Pin Remote (Deck Emulation) mode.
Chapter 9: Peripherals 139
 Number and Color
Ethernet Controllers
The number of the row indicates the order of the
selected controllers. The color corresponds to the The Ethernet Controllers page lets you configure
controller focus around Pro Tools track and plug- up to seven different Ethernet controllers for
in controls. Pro Tools.

Type

The Type setting lets you select the MIDI control-

ler connected to your computer. Choose from any
of the following types of MIDI controllers:
• Command|8
• HUI
• Surround Panner
• M-Audio Keyboard

Receive From

The Receive From setting lets you select the MIDI

In port to which your MIDI controller is con-
Enable
nected.
When selected, Pro Tools is enabled for control by
Send To
one or more Ethernet controllers (such as D-Com-
The Send To setting lets you select the MIDI Out mand or C|24).
port to which your MIDI controller is connected.
Ethernet Port
Number of Channels
The Ethernet Port setting lets you specify the
The Number of Channels (# Ch’s) setting displays Ethernet port on your computer to which your con-
the number of control channels supported by the troller is connected.
selected MIDI controller type.
Number and Color

The number of the row indicates the order of the

selected controllers. The color corresponds to the
colored controller focus border around Pro Tools
track and plug-in controls.

Ethernet Controller

From the Ethernet Controller pop-up menu, select

the Ethernet controller that you want to use.

140 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Name Type

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.

Remote Lock-Out Mode

When the Remote Lock-Out Mode option is se-

lected, all connected PREs ignore their front panel
controls.

Chapter 9: Peripherals 141

 System Name
Satellites
Type a name for the local system. This name
The Satellites page lets you configure synchroni- appears in the list of available satellites in other
zation between multiple Pro Tools systems (in- connected systems with the Satellite Link option.
cluding an Avid Video Satellite system) using Sat-
ellite Link. Mode

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.

Satellite When enabled, the Satellite option sets

Media Composer Video Satellite lets you link an
the local system to be a satellite system on the net-
HDX or HD Native system and a Media Composer
work. When a system is in Satellite mode, it be-
system for monitoring Avid video. Pro Tools
comes available to be declared as a satellite from
Video Satellite lets you link an HDX or HD Native
any administrator system on the network.
system and a Pro Tools host-based system for
monitoring Avid or QuickTime video.
Administrator (HDX and HD Native Systems
Only)
For more information, see Chapter 61,
“Satellite Link.” When the local system is in Administrator mode,
the Administrator settings let you declare satellites
from that system.

System 1–12 These pop-up menus let you declare

up to 11 satellite systems (in addition to the admin-
istrator system itself) from an administrator sys-
tem. The number of the system indicates the order
of the declared satellites in the Transport window.

Advanced Network Settings

The Advanced Network Settings options let you

manually configure the satellite network. Typi-
cally, these options should be left at the default set-
tings.

Interface Lets you select the Ethernet interface if

more than one interface is available on your sys-
tem.

142 Pro Tools Reference Guide

TCP/UDP Port Lets you enter the TCP/UDP Port System Name
number. By default, Satellite Link uses TCP/UDP
The System Name field lets you enter a name for
port 28282. If the default port is already in use, or
your Pro Tools system.
if you want to set up separate Satellite Link net-
works, you can select a different TCP/UDP port
VENUE System
for Satellite Link communication.
The VENUE System selector lets you select a re-
For Satellite Link to function properly, mote VENUE system for recording to (or playback
you must select a TCP/UDP port number from) your Pro Tools system. You can also manu-
between 1024 and 65534. ally enter the IP addresses of the VENUE system.
Reset Network Lets you reset the entire satellite
Advanced Network Settings
network. Click the Reset Network button to auto-
matically disconnect and reconnect all satellites on The Advanced Network settings let you specify an
the network. IP address and port for VENUE Link communica-
tion.

Interface For systems that have more than one

VENUE Ethernet network connection, the Interface setting
The VENUE page lets you configure Pro Tools for lets you select which connection to use for
use with a VENUE system over Ethernet using VENUE Link communication.
VENUE Link.
TCP/UDP Port For systems that have more than
Pro Tools VENUE Link lets you import VENUE one Ethernet network connection, you can enter
Settings into Pro Tools, create Pro Tools markers the TCP/UDP port number to be used for VENUE
from VENUE Snapshots, and locate to Pro Tools Link communication.
markers from VENUE Snapshots.

Chapter 9: Peripherals 143

 RMU Host
Atmos
(Pro Tools | Ultimate with Dolby Atmos Only)
Enter the IP Address for the RMU (or rendering
and mastering workstation) on the network that
The Atmos page in the Peripherals dialog lets you you want to use or select it from the from the drop-
configure Pro Tools for use with a Rendering Mas- down list. Enter localhost if you are mixing to the
tering Unit (RMU) in a Dolby Atmos system. Dolby Atmos Renderer application included with the
Dolby Atmos Production Suite.

Link Object and Audio Recording

When this option is enabled, Pro Tools links re-

cording and monitoring of audio and metadata for
tracks with object output assignments. For more
information, see “Dolby Atmos PEC/DIR Re-
corder Workflow Example” on page 1257).

Monitor Format

Monitor Format displays the current monitoring

mode of the connected Dolby Atmos Renderer.

Atmos page in the Peripherals dialog

Enable

When this option is selected, Pro Tools is enabled

for communication with the Renderer over the net-
work. This option must be selected to mix to Dolby
Atmos regardless of whether you are connected to
the Renderer.

Connection Status

When Pro Tools is successfully connected to the

Dolby Atmos Renderer, the Connection Status in-
dicator lights solid. This indicator flashes on and
off when Dolby Atmos is enabled, but the connec-
tion failed and Pro Tools is unable to communicate
with the Renderer. Note that you can still work on
the session even if not connected to the Renderer
as long as Enable is selected.

If Dolby Atmos is not enabled, the Connection Sta-

tus indicator is unlit.

144 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Chapter 10: Configuring MIDI

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 > Show MIDI Studio.
you can customize your MIDI studio setup to dis-
play the names of your MIDI devices in Pro Tools.

MIDI Studio Setup (Mac)

Pro Tools recognizes the ports on your MIDI inter-
face as generic ports. With Mac OS X, you use Ap-
ple’s Audio MIDI Setup (AMS) utility to identify
external MIDI devices connected to your MIDI in-
terface and configure your MIDI studio for use Audio MIDI Setup, MIDI Devices window
with Pro Tools.
AMS scans your system for connected MIDI inter-
To ensure optimum performance, do not faces. If your MIDI interface is properly con-
change the AMS configuration while nected, it appears in the window with each of its
Pro Tools is playing back. Stop the Pro Tools ports numbered.
transport before launching AMS. 3 To create a custom MIDI device for any exter-
nal MIDI devices connected to your MIDI inter-
To configure your MIDI studio in AMS:
face, click the + button at the top of the window.
1 Do one of the following: A new external device icon with the default
• Launch Audio MIDI Setup (located in MIDI keyboard image appears.
Applications/Utilities). 4 Drag the new device icon to a convenient loca-
• In Pro Tools, choose Setup > MIDI > MIDI tion within the window.
Studio.

Chapter 10: Configuring MIDI 145

 5 Connect the MIDI device to the MIDI interface 2 Select a manufacturer and model for the new
by clicking the arrow for the appropriate output device from the corresponding pop-up menus.
port of the device and dragging a connection or (If the Manufacturer and Model pop-up menus
“cable” to the input arrow of the corresponding do not provide a name for your particular de-
port of the MIDI interface. vice, you can type a name.)

Making MIDI input and output connections

6 Click the arrow for the appropriate input port of

the device and drag a cable to the output arrow
of the corresponding port of the MIDI interface.

To remove a connection, select the cable and

press Delete.
Naming a new MIDI device
7 Repeat steps 3–6 for each MIDI device in your
MIDI setup.
For Manufacturer and Model names, AMS
refers to one or more files with the suffix
To customize an external MIDI device in AMS:
“.middev” in the directory Root/Library/
1 Double-click the new device icon. Audio/MIDI Devices. Pro Tools installs a file
that contains information for many commer-
cially available MIDI devices, named
“Digidesign Device List.middev.” If the
Manufacturer or Model names for any of
your external MIDI devices is not available in
External Device Icon
the AMS Manufacturer and Model pop-up
menus, you can add them by editing the
.middev file in any text editor (such as
TextEdit).

For more information, see “MIDI Patch

Names” on page 773.

146 Pro Tools Reference Guide

3 If necessary, click Properties, then enable the
appropriate MIDI channels (1–16) for the MIDI Studio Setup (Windows)
Transmits and Receives options. (These deter- MIDI Studio Setup (MSS) lets you configure the
mine which channels the device will use to send MIDI controllers and sound modules that are con-
and receive MIDI.) nected to your system, and control the routing of
4 Click the device image. The window expands to MIDI data between your MIDI equipment and
show images for various MIDI devices (such as Pro Tools.
keyboards, modules, interfaces, and mixers).
MSS automatically finds MIDI interfaces, and lets
Select an icon for your device.
you specify a custom name for each of the MIDI
ports within the MIDI Studio Setup document.

MSS also supports XML-based patch file names

for storing and importing patch names for your ex-
ternal MIDI devices.

Entire MIDI Studio Setup configurations created

within MSS can be imported and exported.

To configure your MIDI studio with MSS:

1 In Pro Tools, choose Setup > MIDI > MIDI
Studio.

2 Configure the MIDI Studio Setup windows.

3 When you are finished configuring the MIDI
Studio Setup, close the MIDI Studio Setup
window.
Selecting a device icon
MIDI Studio Setup Window
To use your own custom icons, you can place The MIDI Studio Setup window is organized into
TIFF image files in /Library/Audio/MIDI De- three sections. Interface controls are at the top of
vices/Generic/Images, and they will appear as the window. All the currently defined instruments
choices in the AMS device window. are displayed in the Instrument Name list on the
left side of the window. A detailed view of MIDI
5 Select a device image and click Apply. parameters is shown in the Properties section on
6 Close the AMS window to quit the AMS appli- the right.
cation.

The device names you enter appear as MIDI

input and output choices in Pro Tools.

Chapter 10: Configuring MIDI 147

 Properties Section

The Properties section lets you edit information for

new instruments, or instrument currently selected
in the Instrument list.

When a previously defined instrument is selected

in the Instrument list, the Properties section
changes to reflect the properties of the selected in-
strument.
MIDI Studio Setup window
To define an instrument with MIDI Studio Setup:
Interface Controls 1 Choose Setup > MIDI > MIDI Studio.
Create Adds a new instrument to the Instrument 2 Click Create.
Name list.
3 In the Instrument Name field, type the name of
Delete Deletes the instrument or instruments your instrument, and press Enter.
selected in the Instrument Name list.
If you do not enter an instrument name, the
Import Imports an existing MIDI Studio Setup file. Instrument Name field will automatically in-
herit information from the Manufacturer and
Export Exports the current MIDI Studio Setup file.
Model pop-up menu.
Show Duplicate Emulated Ports When this option
is selected and you are using a MIDI interface that 4 Set a manufacturer and model for the new de-
supports time-stamping, the MIDI Studio setup vice from the corresponding pop-up menus. If
window shows both the DirectMusic time-stamped the Manufacturer and Model pop-up menus do
output ports, and non-stamped duplicate emulated not provide a name for your particular device,
output ports. choose None.
5 From the Input pop-up menu, choose the input
Some MIDI Interfaces will not properly load
port on your MIDI interface that is connected to
or unload their drivers unless you quit and
the MIDI Out of your instrument.
re-launch Pro Tools. Refer to the documenta-
tion that came with your MIDI interface for 6 From the Output pop-up menu, choose the out-
more information. put port on your MIDI interface that is con-
nected to the MIDI In of your instrument.
Instrument List
7 Enable the appropriate MIDI channels (1–16)
The Instrument list contains all the currently de- for the Send Channels and Receive Channels
fined instruments. Selecting an instrument in the options (These determine which channels send
list displays that instrument’s properties in the and receive MIDI.)
Properties section of the window.

148 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Instrument Name Output Port

The Instrument Name field shows the user-defin- The Output Port pop-up menu displays a list of
able instrument name for the currently selected in- available MIDI interface output ports. The port set
strument. and displayed here is the port through which MIDI
data is sent from your MIDI interface to the MIDI
Manufacturer device specified in the Instrument Name field.
The Manufacturer pop-up menu provides a list of If you set the output port to None, the defined
MIDI equipment manufacturers. This list is de- instrument will not appear as a choice in a
rived from the XML-based MIDI device files. MIDI Output Selector.
For more information, see “MIDI Patch Send Channels
Names” on page 773.
The Send Channels grid sets the send channels for
Model the MIDI device specified in the Instrument Name
field.
The Model pop-up menu provides a list of MIDI
devices, filtered by the manufacturer name. This
Receive Channels
list is derived from the XML-based MIDI device
files provided with your Pro Tools installation. The Receive Channels grid sets the receive chan-
nels for the MIDI device specified in the Instru-
For more information, see “MIDI Patch ment Name field.
Names” on page 773.

Input Port

The Input Port pop-up menu displays a list of

available MIDI interface input ports. The MIDI in-
terface port that is set and displayed here is the port
through which MIDI data is sent from the external
MIDI device specified in the Instrument Name
field into your MIDI interface.

If you set the input port to None, the defined

instrument will not appear as a choice in a
MIDI Input Selector.

Chapter 10: Configuring MIDI 149

150 Pro Tools Reference Guide
Part III: Sessions, Projects &
Tracks
Chapter 11: Sessions and Projects

Projects can also be online or offline (Pro Tools

Sessions and Projects 12.8 or higher). Online projects are stored in the
The first step to working in Pro Tools is creating a cloud and mirrored locally (though the local cache
new session or project. can be cleared to free up local storage and down-
loaded later). Offline projects are not backed up to
Sessions are represented by session files that can the cloud and are only stored in the local project
be saved, copied, and made into templates. Ses- cache (you might want to do this to free up online
sions and all associated media and settings files are storage for other active projects). You can only
stored locally on connected qualified storage sys- collaborate with online projects.
tems (such as internal and external hard drives, or
certain network storage systems (such as Avid Projects store all associated media and project data
ISIS). in the cloud while caching it locally. Sessions store
all associated media and session data locally, ei-
Projects are similar to sessions except that they ther on hard drives in your computer or networked
store your media and project data online (as well as storage. For example, with a session, you can go to
caching it locally) in your Avid Cloud account. the session folder and find all of the audio files as-
Projects also let you collaborate on a track-by- sociated with that session in the Audio Files folder
track basis with anyone in the Avid Artist Commu- (note that if you have configured Pro Tools to store
nity anywhere in the world; or, if you prefer, you audio in other locations, those files will not be in
can choose your collaborators privately and invite the session’s Audio Files folder). With projects
them to join a project by email as long as everyone you must export media from the project as a new
is using Pro Tools 12.5 or higher. Otherwise, proj- file. While media is cached locally it is all bundled
ects operate just like sessions. Projects have all of with the project data, so you cannot simply go and
the same recording, editing, mixing, and process- find individual audio files in the local cache.
ing capabilities as sessions. As such, throughout
most of this Reference Guide, unless otherwise You can save a copy of a session as a project using
noted, any feature or function for sessions works the Save Copy In command. This lets you take an
for projects as well. existing session and save it as a project for cloud
collaboration. Likewise, you can save a copy of a
project as a session. You might want to do this with
the project is complete so that you can archive it as
a session and free up storage space in your Avid
Cloud Account.

Chapter 11: Sessions and Projects 153

 To sign out of your Avid Master Account, do one of
Signing In and Out of Your the following:
Avid Master Account  If the Dashboard is not open, choose File > Sign
To be able to create or open a project, you must first Out (<username>).
be signed in to your Avid Master Account. You will  In the Dashboard window, click Sign Out.
have already created your Avid Master Account
when you registered Pro Tools. Once you are signed  In the Dashboard window, press Command+S
in and have created or opened a project, you can (Mac) or Control+S (Windows).
choose to work online or offline.

To sign in to your Avid Master Account from Dashboard Window

Pro Tools:
1 Do one of the following: Pro Tools presents the Dashboard window on
launch. The Dashboard lets you quickly and easily
• If the Dashboard is not open, choose File > Sign In.
create a new session or project, or open an existing
• In the Dashboard window, click Sign In. one. You can choose to show or hide the Dash-
• In the Dashboard window, press Command+S board on launch in the Pro Tools Display Prefer-
(Mac) or Control+S (Windows). ences (Settings > Preferences > Display).

Sign In link in the Dashboard

2 Enter your email and password for your Avid

Master Account.

Dashboard window

Avid Master Account sign in

3 Click Sign In.

154 Pro Tools Reference Guide

When you first launch Pro Tools, you are Open from Disk (Sessions Only) Click to navi-
prompted by the Dashboard window to do one of gate to and open any session stored on your local
the following: system. you can also press Command+O (Mac) or
• Create a new session or project from a template. Control+O (Windows).

• 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.

Chapter 11: Sessions and Projects 155

 Collaboration and Cloud Backup Prompt for Location (Sessions Only) Enable to
(Projects) Select this option to create an online be prompted for where you want to save the ses-
project for collaboration and cloud back up. The sion. When Prompt for Location is enabled, Loca-
number of projects you currently have is displayed in tion is automatically disabled.
relation to the total number of projects you are enti-
tled to base on your Avid Cloud Storage Account. Location (Sessions Only) Click the Location but-
ton to specify the default location for saving ses-
Press Command+Left/Right Arrow (Mac) or sions. When Location is enabled, Prompt for Loca-
Control+Left/Right Arrow (Windows) to tog- tion is automatically disabled.
gle between these options.
Backup to Cloud (Projects Only) Select the
Name Type a name for your session or project. Backup to Cloud option to create an online project.
Create from Template Enables the options to cre-
Disable this option if you want to create an offline
ate a session or project from a template. project (you can always put the project online later
with the Backup To Cloud command in the Projects
Template Group Select the Template Group you tab). For more information, see “Backup to Cloud:
want to review. Press Option+Up/Down Arrows Online and Offline Projects” on page 161.
(Mac) or Alt+Up/Down Arrows (Windows) to
scroll through the available Template Groups. Recent Tab

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.

156 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Additional Dashboard Keyboard Bit Depths
Shortcuts
16-Bit Using 16-bit for audio files is useful for
To navigate through the focused Template, Ses- keeping audio file sizes down. You may want to
sion, or Project list, press the Up/Down Arrows use 16-bit for sessions and projects with few
(Mac) or Alt+Up/Down Arrows (Windows). tracks, and little mixing and plug-in processing.
CDs (Compact Discs) use 16-bit.
To select the item at the top or bottom of the dis-
played list, press Home/End (Mac and Windows). 24-Bit Using 24-bit for audio files is commonly
used for most music production and post-produc-
To scroll up or down through the focused Tem- tion sessions and projects with multiple audio
plate, Session, or Project list, press Page Up/Down tracks, mixing, and plug-in processing. 24-bit files
(Mac and Windows). take up a third as much space as 16-bit files.

32-Bit Floating Point Using a 32-bit floating point

Showing or Hiding the
Dashboard on Start bit depth for audio files in Pro Tools sessions and
projects can help avoid clipping or unnecessary
To show or hide the Dashboard on startup, do one dithering with AudioSuite rendering. It can also
of the following: help avoid rounding errors in signal processing
 In the Dashboard, enable (or disable) the Show (which can occur during bit depth conversion for
on startup option. file playback and real-time plug-in insert process-
ing). However, 32-bit files take up a third more
 In the Warnings & Dialogs section of the Dis- disk space and audio streaming bandwidth, which
play Preferences page (Setup > Preferences), can be problematic with higher track counts when
select (to show) or deselect (to hide) the Show using slower hard drives.
Dashboard window when Pro Tools starts op-
tion. Click OK. You can change the bit depth for all newly re-
corded or imported (and converted) files in the ses-
sion or project by selecting a different Bit Depth
Bit Depths and Sample Rates option in the Session Setup window.

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.

Session Setup window, selecting 32 Bit Float

Chapter 11: Sessions and Projects 157

 Sample Rates To change the Audio Format for the Pro Tools
session or project:
44.1 kHz Is the sample rate used for CDs and is
1 Choose Setup > Session.
used in most common music production environ-
ments. 2 In the Session Setup window, select an audio
file format (AIF or WAV) from the Audio For-
48 kHz Is the standard sample rate for film and
mat selector.
video projects, and is commonly used in post-pro-
duction environments. It is the sample rate used for
DVDs.
Interleaved Multichannel and
88.2 kHz and 96 kHz Each of these sample rates Multi-Mono Audio Files
are twice the standard sample rates for CD audio
For stereo and greater-than-stereo multichannel
and DVD audio respectively. Audio files recorded
audio, Pro Tools supports both interleaved
at higher sample rates take up more drive space,
multichannel audio files and multi-mono audio
but provide higher resolution for time-based plug-
files.
in processing (which can help avoid aliasing).
These options are only available if you are running An interleaved audio file contains all channel in-
Pro Tools with audio hardware that supports these formation, stored in an alternating single audio
sample rates. “stream.” Interleaving distributes and “inter-
176.4 kHz and 192 kHz Each of these sample rates
leaves” the consecutive bits of data. This helps
are four times the standard sample rates for CD au- protect against consecutive errors when the data is
dio and DVD audio respectively. Audio files re- read back.
corded at higher sample rates take up more drive Multi-mono, or “split-mono” multi-channel audio
space, but provide higher resolution for time-based files are separate mono audio files that are treated
plug-in processing (which can help avoid aliasing). together as a multichannel group of audio files.
These options are only available if you are running This lets you each channel (file) independently.
Pro Tools with audio hardware that supports these For example, with stereo files, two separate files
sample rates. are created, where one file contains the left chan-
nel, and the other file contains the right channel.
The files are identified by the suffixes of “.L” and
Mixed Audio File Formats “.R”. The two files are linked, and are edited as a
pair in stereo tracks in Pro Tools. However, you
Pro Tools supports mixed audio file formats (such
can decouple them and split them to individual
as WAV and AIF) in a single session or project.
mono audio tracks in Pro Tools so that the can be
When importing audio files into a Pro Tools ses-
edited, processed, and mixed independently.
sion or project, you can choose to Add them rather
than Convert them regardless of the audio file for- You can change the Interleaved setting for the cur-
mat. rently open session or project in the Session Setup
window. When this option is enabled, all newly re-
You can change the audio file format for all newly
corded or imported (and converted) stereo or
recorded or imported (and converted) files in a ses-
greater-than-stereo multichannel files in the ses-
sion or project by selecting a different Audio For-
sion will be interleaved audio files.
mat option in the Session Setup window.

158 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To enable (or disable) interleaved audio files for Audio Files Folder
the Pro Tools session or project:
The Audio Files folder contains all audio recorded
1 Choose Setup > Session.
or converted during the session.
2 In the Session Setup window, select (or dese-
lect) the Interleaved option. When you record a new audio track, the track is
saved as a new audio file to the Audio Files folder.
You can also import other audio files into the ses-
sion, and work with them as well.
Session Files and Folders
When you create a new session, Pro Tools auto- For details on allocating audio tracks to
matically creates a new folder named for your ses- different hard drive locations, including
sion. Within this folder is the session file, a Wave- shared media volumes, see “Recording with
Cache.wfm file, and several subfolders (including, Multiple Hard Drives” on page 513.
but not limited to, an Audio Files folder and a Clip
Group folder). Fade Files Folder
The Fade Files folder may be present in legacy
Pro Tools sessions. Versions of Pro Tools lower
than 10.0 use rendered fades and cross-fades that
are written to the “Fade Files” folder in the session
folder.

Rendered Files Folder

The Rendered Files folder contains any temporary
files created by Rendered Elastic Audio processing
in the session. It may also contain temporary fil-
tered analysis files (.aan) as a result of any changes
to Elastic Audio analysis.

Typical session folder contents (macOS shown)

Clip Groups Folder
Session File The Clip Groups folder is the default directory for
The session file is the document that Pro Tools cre- any clip groups that you export from your
ates when you start a new project. Pro Tools can Pro Tools session.
open only one session file at a time. The session
file is appended with the extension .ptx.

Chapter 11: Sessions and Projects 159

 WaveCache File
Pro Tools Projects
The WaveCache.wfm file stores all of the wave-
form display data for the session. If you delete the A Pro Tools project is like an online session. It lets
WaveCache.wfm file, Pro Tools creates a new one you access your session from any system with on-
the next time you open the session. line access. Projects also let you collaborate re-
motely with other people. Pro Tools synchronizes
By storing waveform data in the WaveCache file, your local project and associated media with your
sessions open more quickly. The session Wave- online account automatically.
Cache file can be included whenever a session is
transferred to another Pro Tools system (7.x and You must be online and signed in to your Avid
later). Master Account the first time you create a project
(see “Signing In and Out of Your Avid Master Ac-
Pro Tools also maintains a distinct WaveCache file count” on page 154), but after that you can work
inside the Databases folder, which retains wave- offline. Pro Tools synchronizes your local project
form data for all files used on the system. with your online account the next time you are on-
line. This process runs in the background and can
Deleting or trashing a WaveCache file does not be monitored in Pro Tools by checking the Task
harm the session or your system. However, the ses- Manager (Window > Task Manager).
sion will take longer to open because it has to re-
calculate waveform data for any associated audio Project data and media are bundled and cached on
files and store that data in a new WaveCache file. local storage, but you cannot open a project by
navigating through the file system. You can only
Session File Backups Folder access projects through the Pro Tools Dashboard.
Projects are differentiated from sessions by the
The Session File Backups folder contains automat- Project icon in the Dashboard.
ically-generated backups of your Pro Tools ses-
sions. These files are created when working on a
session and the Operations preference for Enable
Session File Auto Backup is enabled. (See “Enable
Session File Auto Backup” on page 111.) Project icon (online project)

You can save a session as a project using the Save

Renamed Audio Files Folder Copy In command. This lets you take an existing
session and save it as a project for cloud collabora-
This folder includes file names that have been re-
tion. Likewise, you can save a project as a session.
named when you open a session that contains au-
You might want to do this when the project is com-
dio file names with incompatible characters, or, in
plete so that you can archive it as a session and free
certain situations, save a copy of a session to a
up storage space in your Avid Cloud Account.
Pro Tools version that does not support long file
names.

For more information, see “Renamed Audio

Files” on page 461.

160 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Backup to Cloud: Online and pear in the Projects List in the Dashboard. Note
Offline Projects that you cannot disable the Backup to Cloud option
for shared projects or if the local project cache has
The Backup to Cloud option determines whether or
been cleared.
not a project is online (stored in the cloud) or of-
fline (stored in the local project cache only). Dis-
abling Backup to Cloud for online projects can be Shared Projects and Ownership
useful for freeing up storage in your Avid Cloud Whoever creates a project, owns the project. All
Account for other projects. This option is only media posted to the project, whether by the owner
available for projects (not sessions). or a collaborator, counts against the owner’s cloud
storage allocation. Posted media never counts
Online Projects
against a collaborator’s cloud storage allocation.
When the Backup to Cloud option is enabled for a
You can hover the cursor over a project icon in the
project, the project is online and all associated me-
Dashboard and a tooltip identifying the project
dia are copied to your Avid Cloud Storage Ac-
name and the project owner appears.
count as well as being stored in the local desig-
nated project cache. You can collaborate with
other users on online projects as well as access
your project from any computer when you are
signed in to your Avid Master Account. Enabling
the Backup to Cloud option for an offline project
copies the project and all associated media to your
Avid Cloud Account.

Offline Projects Tooltip displaying project name and project owner

When the Backup to Cloud option is disabled for a

Setting the Location of the Local
project, the project is offline and all associated me-
Cache
dia is only stored in the local project cache.
All project data and media is stored both in your
Avid Cloud account and in a local cache. The local
project cache is stored on your system drive by de-
fault. However, for the best performance with
Project icon (offline project)
Pro Tools, it is generally recommended that you do
You cannot collaborate with other users on offline not use your system drive for recoding audio, so
projects nor can you access offline projects from you should set the local project cache to an exter-
any other computer. Disabling the Backup to Cloud nal drive if possible. You can change the location
option for an online project deletes the project and of where the project cache is stored in the
all associated media from your Avid Cloud Ac- Pro Tools Operation Preferences.
count, leaving only the local cached copy of the
project. Offline projects do not appear in the Proj-
ects List in the Artist Chat window, they only ap-

Chapter 11: Sessions and Projects 161

 To set the location for storing the local project
cache:

1 Choose Setup > Preferences.

2 Click the Operation tab.
3 Click the Change button for the Project Media
Cache.

4 In the Open dialog, navigate to the location

where you want to store the Project Media
Cache and click Open.

Creating a New Session or

Project from a Template
To create a new session or project from a template:
1 In the Dashboard, click the Create tab if it is not
Dashboard, Create From Template option enabled
already shown, or press Command+1 (Mac) or
Control+1 (Windows). 7 If you want to change any of the session or proj-
ect parameters, do any of the following:
You can create your own custom categories.
• Select the Audio File Type (WAV or AIF).
For more information, see “Session Tem-
plates” on page 178. • Select the Bit Depth (16 bit, 24 bit, or 32 bit float).
• Select the Sample Rate.
2 For Type, select either Project (cloud) or Ses-
sion (local). • To create interleaved multichannel audio files in
the session or project, enable Interleaved.
3 Type a Name for the session or project.
• For sessions only, select either the Prompt for lo-
4 Enable the Create From Template option. cation option or the Location option. If you se-
lect the Location option, you can specify the
5 From the Template Group pop-up menu, select
default location for saving sessions by clicking
the category of templates you want (for exam-
the Location button.
ple, Guitar or Songwriter).
• For projects only, select the Backup to Cloud op-
6 Select the template you want to use from the list
tion to create an online project. Disable this op-
(on the right).
tion if you want to create an offline project.

162 Pro Tools Reference Guide

8 Click Create. 3 Type a Name for the session or project.
9 For sessions only, in the Save dialog, specify 4 Ensure that the Create From Template option is
where you want to save the session, and then deselected.
click Save.
5 If you want to change any of the session or proj-
For optimum compatibility between Mac and ect parameters, do any of the following:
Windows, set the file project to BWF (.WAV). • Select the audio File Type (WAV or AIF).
• Select the Bit Depth (16 bit, 24 bit, or 32 bit float).

Creating a New Blank • Select the Sample Rate.

Session or Project • Select the I/O Settings to use for the session or
project. Several pre-configured I/O Settings are
To create a new blank session or project:
included with your system, or you can select a
1 In the Dashboard, click the Create tab if it is not custom I/O Setting. For more information, see
already shown, or press Command+1 (Mac) or Chapter 6, “I/O Setup.”
Control+1 (Windows).
• To create interleaved multichannel audio files in
the session or project, enable Interleaved.
• For sessions only, select either the Prompt for lo-
cation option or the Location option. If you se-
lect the Location option, you can specify the
default location for saving sessions by clicking
the Location button.
• For projects only, select the Backup to Cloud op-
tion to create an online project. Disable this op-
tion if you want to create an offline project.
6 Click Create.
7 For sessions only, in the Save dialog, specify
where you want to save the session, and then
click Save.

Dashboard, creating a new project

2 For Format, select either Project (cloud) or Ses-

sion (local).

You must be online and signed in to your

Avid Master Account to create a new project
(see “Signing In and Out of Your Avid Mas-
ter Account” on page 148).

Chapter 11: Sessions and Projects 163

 Opening a Recent Session or Opening Any Session
Project
To open any session:
To open a recent session or project: 1 Do one of the following:
1 In the Dashboard, select Recent, or press Com- • In the Dashboard, click the Open from Disk but-
mand+2 (Mac) or Control+2 (Windows). ton.
• In Pro Tools, choose File > Open Session.
• Press Command+O (Mac) or Control+O (Win-
dows).
2 In the Open dialog, navigate to the location of
the session file you want to open and select it.
3 Click Open.

Opening a Session
When you open a session, Pro Tools looks in the
session folder for audio and fade files linked to the
session.

For more information on opening sessions

created on different platforms, Pro Tools sys-
Dashboard, Recent Sessions/Projects list
tems, or versions of Pro Tools software, see
Chapter 21, “File and Session Management
The Open Recent Session option is not avail- and Compatibility.”
able the first time you launch Pro Tools (or if
you have cleared the Recent Sessions list by To open an existing session:
choosing File > Open Recent > Clear). 1 Do one of the following:
2 Select any of the last ten recent sessions or proj- • If Pro Tools is running, choose File > Open Ses-
ects from the list (on the right). sion.
• To open a session from the Dashboard, click the
You must be online and signed in to your Avid
Open from Disk button or press Command+O
Master Account to open a project. If you are
(Mac) or Control+O (Windows).
not signed in, no projects appear in this list
(see “Signing In and Out of Your Avid Master 2 In the Open dialog, locate the session you want
Account” on page 148). to open and click Open.

3 Click Open. You can also open a session from a Work-

space browser by double-clicking it.

164 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Opening a Session that Contains Yes. The Notes report is named with the session
Fade Files name, followed by Notes.txt. You can choose to
save this file in your Session folder, or in another
When opening a session created in a version of
location.
Pro Tools lower than 10.0, Pro Tools calculates
and plays back all fades in real time. The “Fade The following occurs when opening a session with
Files” folder in the session folder is neither deleted unavailable items:
nor used. Any rendered fades created in legacy ses-
sions are calculated and played back in real time. With all Pro Tools Systems:
Any new fades created in the session do not gener-
 Inserts assigned to unavailable plug-ins are
ate any new rendered fade files in the pre-existing
made inactive.
“Fade Files” folder.
 Inputs, outputs, and sends that are assigned to
unavailable paths are made inactive.
Opening a Session that Contains
Unavailable Files
With HDX Systems Only:
Pro Tools notifies you if files are found but reside
 Any tracks beyond the maximum number of
on Transfer volumes, or if any required files can-
available voices on the current system are made in-
not be found. For more information, see
active.
“Locating Audio Files” on page 460.
With Pro Tools Host-based Systems Only:
Opening a Session from a Any tracks beyond the maximum number of
Transfer Volume


available voices on the current system are set to

When opening a session from a Transfer volume voice off.
(such as a CD or DVD), Pro Tools prompts you to
save the session on a Performance volume, and Opening a Session with Audio
copy and convert any referenced media files. For File Names that Contain Illegal
more information, see “Locating Audio Files” on Characters
page 460.
Pro Tools does not support audio file names that
contain the following ASCII characters:
Opening a Session that Contains / (Forward Slash)
Unavailable Resources
\ (Backslash)
Pro Tools prompts you when opening a session
: (Colon)
that contains unavailable voices, I/O paths, DSP
* (Asterisk)
resources, or plug-ins. This is common when trans-
ferring sessions between systems with different ? (Question mark)
Pro Tools hardware. “ (Quotation marks)
< (Less-than symbol)
The Unavailable Resources dialog provides an ini-
tial report of the missing session components. To > (Greater-than symbol)
save a text (.txt) file containing a more detailed | (vertical line or pipe)
Notes report, along with the resulting action, click

Chapter 11: Sessions and Projects 165

 When opening a session that contains audio files
with illegal characters, Pro Tools automatically Opening a Session or Project
creates a renamed copy of each file (replacing with Plug-Ins Deactivated
these characters with an underscore “_”). Renamed Pro Tools lets you open sessions and projects with
files are copied to the Renamed Audio Files folder. all plug-ins set to inactive. Since sessions and proj-
The original files are left intact in the Audio Files ects with a lot of plug-ins can take a long time to
folder. load, this lets you quickly open any session or proj-
ect for immediate visual inspection and audio play-
Before the session opens, you are prompted to save
back (without plug-ins). If it is the session or proj-
a detailed report of the renamed files and their
ect that you want to work with, you can easily
original file names to a Notes text file. Follow the
reopen the session or project with plug-ins acti-
on-screen instructions. By default, the Notes text
vated.
file is saved to the Session folder.
To open a Pro Tools session with all plug-ins set to
Opening a Session that was inactive:
Saved with +6 dB Fader Gain 1 In Pro Tools, choose File > Open Session.
All Pro Tools 7.x and later sessions have a +12 dB 2 In the Open Session dialog, locate and select the
fader gain level. However, when saving a session you want.
Pro Tools 7.x or higher session to a lower version
of Pro Tools that supports +6 dB and +12 dB fader 3 Shift-click Open.
gain, the new session can be saved with either a
+6 dB or a +12 dB maximum fader gain. To open a Pro Tools project with all plug-ins set to
inactive:
When saving a +12 dB session as a +6 dB session, 1 In Pro Tools, choose File > Open Project.
Pro Tools alerts you that any automation settings
over +6 dB will be lowered to +6 dB. See “Save 2 In the Dashboard Projects list, select the project
Copy In” on page 168. you want.
3 Shift-click Open.
In Pro Tools 7.x or higher, when opening a session
that was saved with a +6 dB maximum gain level,
the session will update to a +12 dB range.

166 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To re-open the same session or project with all Saving Projects
plug-ins set to active, do one of the following:
Projects are saved to the cloud when changes are
 Choose File > Revert To Saved (for sessions
uploaded by any collaborator. The local cache
only).
keeps your local working copy distinct from the
 Choose File > Open Recent and select the most cloud version (and from other collaborators’ ver-
recent session or project in the submenu. sions) until all changes are uploaded and down-
loaded (you can set this to happen automatically).
Press Command+Shift+O (Mac) or Con-
trol+Shift+O (Windows) to open the most
Reverting to a Previously Saved
recent session or project.
Session or Project
If you have made changes to a session or project
Instead of reverting to the saved version of
since you last saved it, you can discard those
the session or project to open the session with
changes and revert to its previously saved state.
all plug-ins active, you can simply make an
individual plug-in active by Command-Con- To revert to the last saved version of a session or
trol-clicking (Mac) or Control-Start-clicking project:
(Windows) it. To make an entire row of plug-
 Choose File > Revert to Saved.
ins active, Command-Option-Control-click
(Mac) or Control-Alt-Start-click (Windows) If you have enabled the Operation preference
any plug-in in the row of inserts. for Auto Backup, you can also open up a
backup copy of your session or project. This
feature lets you specify the total number of in-
Saving Sessions and Projects cremental backups that are kept and how often
the session or project is saved. See “Auto
Saving the Session File Backup Section” on page 111.
The Save command saves the changes you have
made to your session and writes them over the pre- Reverting to a previously saved session or
viously saved version of the session file. The Save project can also be used to open a session or
command cannot be undone. Consider saving reg- projects with all of its plug-ins active, after
ularly while working on your session to ensure that opening it with all of its plug-ins inactive. See
your work is preserved on your hard drive. “Opening a Session or Project with Plug-Ins
Deactivated” on page 166.
To save a session or project:

 Choose File > Save.

Press Command+S (Mac) or Control+S

(Windows) to save the session or project.

Chapter 11: Sessions and Projects 167

 Saving the Session File with a
New Name Save Copy In
To save a copy of the current session with a new To save a copy of the current session or project,
name or to a different hard drive location, use the use the Save Copy In command. In addition, you
Save As command. The Save As command closes can specify the session or project file format, audio
the current session and lets you keep working on file format, bit depth, and sample rate for the copy.
the renamed copy. This is useful if you are experi-
For information on sharing sessions between
menting and want to save successive versions of
different platforms, Pro Tools systems, or
the session.
Pro Tools software versions, see Chapter 21,
By working this way, you can quickly retrace your “File and Session Management and Compati-
steps if you want to go back to an earlier version of bility.”
your session. The Save As command saves a new
version of the session file only, and does not dupli-
cate versions of the audio or fade files.

To save a session with a new name:

1 Choose File > Save As.
2 Type a new name for your session.
3 Click Save.

Press Command+Control+S (Mac) or

Control+Start+S (Windows) for the Save
As command.

The renamed session file is saved in the session

folder along with the original session (unless you
specify a different destination). Any new audio
Save Copy In dialog
files that you record in your renamed session will
be placed into the same Audio Files folder that was To save a session or project copy as new session
created for your original session. or project:

1 Choose File > Save Copy In.

2 Specify the Format for the copy, such as Ses-
sion (Latest).

3 Set the audio File Type for the copy: BWF

(.WAV) or AIFF.
4 Set the Sample Rate and Bit Depth for the copy.
5 If applicable, select a Fader Gain level for the
copy.

168 Pro Tools Reference Guide

6 If applicable, select Enforce Mac/PC Compati- When you save a copy of the session or project to
bility to create session and audio files that can be a lower bit depth, Dither (and Noise Shaping) are
used on both Windows and Mac Pro Tools sys- applied automatically.
tems (see “Saving Copies of Mac Sessions to be
Compatible with Windows” on page 464). See the following table:
Dither and Noise Shaping with Save Copy In
7 Select the Items to Copy for the copy.
Noise
Bit Depth Dither
To include all audio being used in the session, Shaping
select the All Audio Files option.
32-bit float to 32-bit float No No
8 Click Save.
32-bit float to 24-bit Yes Yes

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 1089.
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).

Chapter 11: Sessions and Projects 169

 Save Copy In Options Bit Depth

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 later 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 171).
project.
When saving to a Session Format lower than 10.0,
• Latest; supports Pro Tools 10.x and later 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 1186.
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.

Using Mixed File Types If your session or project is at a different sample

rate, audio files are converted to the new session or
Sessions and projects can use mixed audio file
project sample rate, and copied.
projects. If your original session or project has
mixed file projects, they are not converted to the Fader Gain
selected file project unless you specify that they be
converted by selecting the Convert to Specified When saving a Pro Tools 7.x or higher session to a
Format option in the Items To Copy section (see lower version that supports +12 dB fader gain, you
“Items to Copy” on page 171). can save the new session with either a +6 dB or a
+12 dB maximum fader gain. When saving a
+12 dB session as a +6 dB session, any automation
over +6 dB will be lowered to +6 dB.

170 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Enforce Mac/PC Compatibility Convert To Specified Format

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 464. 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.

Audio Files Selected Tracks Only

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.

Chapter 11: Sessions and Projects 171

 When this option is not selected, all tracks in the Preserve Folder Hierarchy
source session or project are saved with the copy. (Sessions Only)
This option is automatically disabled when choos-
When this option is selected, the relative arrange-
ing File > Save Session Copy.
ment of session audio files located across different
drives or folders is maintained. The main folder for
Backup to Cloud
(Projects Only) the session copy will include subfolders for each
drive or folder in the original session and the des-
When saving a copy of a session or project as a tination subfolders will use the same names as the
new project, enable the Backup to Cloud option to source drives and folders.
create an online project. Disable this option to cre-
ate an offline project. When this option is not selected, the Save Copy In
command copies all files of the same project, re-
Session Plug-In Settings Folder gardless of their location, into a single destination
(Sessions Only) folder.
When this option is selected, the session’s Plug-In Session Fade Settings Folder
Settings folder is copied to the new location. The (Sessions Only)
references to these settings in the session are redi-
rected to the copied settings files. When this option is selected, the session’s Fade
Settings folder is copied to the new location. The
Root Plug-In Settings Folder references to these settings in the session are redi-
(Sessions Only) rected to the copied settings files.
When this option is selected, the contents of the Root Fade Settings Folder
root-level Plug-In Settings Folder are copied into a (Sessions Only)
folder named Place in Root Settings Folder, indi-
cating that these files will need to be moved to the When this option is selected, the contents of the
root level plug-in settings folder on the destination root-level Fade Settings Folder are copied into a
system before you can use them. The references to folder named Place in Root Settings Folder, indi-
these settings files in the session are not redirected cating that these files will need to be moved to the
to point to the copied files. root level Fade settings folder on the destination
system before you can use them. The references to
Movie/Video Files these settings files in the session are not redirected
to point to the copied files.
When this option is selected, video files (Avid or
QuickTime) are copied, and references are updated Clip Effects Quick Presets
to point to the copied video files.
Enable this option to export any custom Clip Ef-
fects Presets with the copy of the session or proj-
ect.

172 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 The title bar at the top of the Edit and Mix win-
Save As New Version dows, and the Revision History window update to
(Projects Only) read “<project name>—<version title>.”
You can save different versions of Pro Tools projects Enter a unique title for the new version of the
using the Save As New Version command (similar project. No project can contain two separate
to using the Save As command for sessions).
versions with the same name nor can one ver-
Pro Tools lets you review and restore any version of
sion overwrite another.
a project from the Project Revision History window.

To save a new version of the current project:

Revision History
1 Choose File > Save As New Version.
(Projects Only)
Press Command+Control+S (Mac) or
Revision History keeps track of all versions of a proj-
Control+Start+S (Windows) to save a new
ect, including any automatically and manually saved
version of the open project. histories for each version.

The left pane of the Revision History window lists all

versions for the project, and the right side displays
Project Notes (if any) for the selected version of the
project.

Save New Version window

2 In the Save New Version window, type the Title

for the new version of the project (for example,
“Ver. 3” or “acapella version”). Revision History window

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 181).
 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.

Chapter 11: Sessions and Projects 173

 Save History
Automatic and manual save histories are readily ac-
cessible for any version of a project. However, they
are automatically thinned out over time—always
keeping the most recent while gradually deleting
older save histories from your local cache and cloud
storage for the project (automatic saves are deleted
Opening Revision History for a project from the
first). Revision History maintains a reasonable distri-
Dashboard bution of older to more recent save histories in rela-
tion to your available storage.
To close the revision history window:
Save histories are deleted (or not deleted) according
 Click Done.
to the following rules:
Press Esc to close the Revision History win- • Original versions are always kept.
dow. • The latest manual save for each version is always
kept.
Version List • If at least one save (manual or auto) is contained in
the version, it is always kept.
The Version List displays the versions you have
saved by name and are always sorted by date (with • The last two automatically saved backups are al-
the most recent at the top of the list). Any manually ways kept for all versions.
or automatically saved histories of any version in the • Every manual save for the last two hours is kept.
list can be displayed by clicking the reveal triangle to • A save for every half hour, if any, is kept for up to
the left of the version title. You can also rename any 24 hours for all versions.
version of the project in the list.
• Manual saves are preferred over auto-saves.
• A save for every hour, if any, is kept for a week for
all versions.
• The last manual save of every day, if any, is always
kept for all versions.
• The automatic deletion of save histories in both the
cloud and the local cache that are to be “thinned
out” for the project happens directly after any save
(manual or automatic).
• The version history for a project is synchronized
across all machines sharing the project.
Version List
The Auto Backup settings in the Operation prefer-
ences determine how often the active version of a
Use the Up and Down Arrow keys to navigate project is automatically saved and how many auto-
the Region History List, and use the Right matically saved backups are maintained for that ver-
and Left Arrow keys to Show or Hide the save sion.
history for the selected version.

174 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Renaming Versions of a Project Restoring a Version of the
Project
To rename any version of a project:
The Revision History window lets you restore any
1 Open the Revision History window. version of a project and still maintain access to all
2 Do one of the following: other versions. Restoring a version closes the cur-
rently open, active version of the project (you will be
• Right-click the version you want to rename and
prompted to save any changes) and opens the se-
choose Rename.
lected version of the project. The date and time are
reset for the most recently opened version of the proj-
ect and it moves to the top of the Version List.

To restore a version of a project:

1 Select the version you want to restore in the Ver-
sion List.

Right-click any version of a project to rename it 2 Do one of the following:

• Click the Restore button.
• Click the name of the version you want to rename.
• Double-click the version in the Version List.
• Press Return or Enter.
• Press the R key.
3 You may be prompted to Save the currently open
Renaming a version of a project version of the project before restoring the selected
version.
• Select Window > Metadata Inspector and type the
Title that you want for this version of the project.
However, you can only do this if you are the owner Conflicts Between Shared
of the project; collaborators cannot edit the Meta- Tracks in Different Versions of a
data Inspector. Project
3 Type the new name. It is possible to have conflicts with shared tracks and
project data in the active version of a project if they
4 Press Enter. do not match the latest version on the cloud. This
may be a common occurrence when working with
When renaming a version of a project, it must
different versions of a shared project. For example, if
be a name that is not already used by another
you save version X of a shared project, make some
version of the project. No project can contain edits without saving or uploading your changes, then
two separate versions with the same name nor save as new version Y and upload your changes, and
can one version overwrite another. then restore version X, there will be conflicts be-
tween the version in the cloud (Y) and the local, ac-
tive version (X).

Chapter 11: Sessions and Projects 175

 example, you might have the best guitar solo in one
version of the project, but you want to keep every-
thing else in the currently active version. Use the Im-
port command in the Revision History window to im-
port just that one track.

To import project data from another version

into the current version of the project:
1 In the Version List, select the version from which
you want to import data.
2 Do one of the following:
• Click the Import button.
• Press I on your computer keyboard.
• Right-click the version you want to import data
from and choose Import.
Shared Tracks Conflict warning 3 Configure the Import Session Data dialog as de-
Pro Tools warns you of conflicts and lists the sired.
names of mismatched tracks so that you can make
an informed decision on how to proceed:
• Upload and overwrite tracks and project data in the
cloud.
• Download and overwrite local tracks and project
data.
• Do nothing and leave both the local version and
the cloud version unaltered.
• Unshare any conflicting tracks and leave the cloud
version unaltered.

Even if the Auto Upload All or Auto Download All

Track Collaboration options are enabled in a shared
project, Pro Tools never automatically overwrites the
cloud version with the local version, nor the local
version with the cloud version, when conflicts are de-
tected.
Import Session Data
Importing Data from Another 4 Click OK.
Version of a Project
For detailed information on the Import Session
You can import project data from any version into the
currently active version of the project (much like Data dialog, see “Importing and Exporting
when importing data from another session into the Data to and from a Session or Project” on
current session). This can be useful if you only want page 401.
to use some of the data from another version of the
project and not have to restore that entire version. For
176 Pro Tools Reference Guide
Deleting a Version of a Project The more you can do to lighten up your session be-
fore saving it as a project, the better. It will save
You can delete any version (or manual or automatic
you and your collaborators both time and online
save) of a project in the Revision History window.
storage space.
To delete any version of a project:
To save a copy of a session as a project:
1 In the Version List, select the version you want to
delete. 1 Prepare the session for saving as a project (for
example, remove extraneous files from the ses-
2 Do one of the following: sion, consolidate clips that only reference part
• Click the Delete button. of large files, and so on).
• Press the D key.
2 Select only the tracks that you want in the proj-
• Right-click the version you want to delete and ect (optional).
choose Delete.
3 Ensure that you are logged in to your Avid Mas-
3 Click Delete.
ter Account through Pro Tools (File > Sign In or
The selected version of the project and its entire save click Sign In in the upper right corner of the
history are permanently deleted. When deleting one Dashboard).
of the automatically or manually saved histories for a
version, only that one history of the version is de- 4 Choose File > Save Copy In.
leted.
5 In the Save Copy In dialog, set the Format to
Project.

Saving a Session as a Project

Pro Tools lets you save a copy of a session as a
project. This facilitates taking an existing session
and converting it to a project for online collabora-
tion (and you will still have the original session for
reference).

Before saving a copy of a session as a project, con-

sider your allocated online storage space and avail-
able bandwidth. For example, if you are working
with clips that only reference only a little bit of au-
dio in much larger files, you might want to consol-
idate each of those clips. If you don’t have the fast-
est internet connection, it might take awhile to
upload large referenced files whereas small whole
file clips might upload and download relatively Saving a copy of a session as a project
quickly. Maybe you don’t need to share every al- 6 Set the Session Parameters as desired. For the
ternate playlist, perhaps just a track’s main playlist sake of bandwidth and storage, you may con-
will do. Or, maybe you can have your collaborators sider saving the session to a project with a lower
record to a scratch track rather than the whole mix. sample rate and bit depth.

Chapter 11: Sessions and Projects 177

 7 Select which Items To Copy. Saving a session as 4 Set the Session Parameters as desired.
a project always copies all Audio Files. and only
5 Select which Items To Copy. Note that Audio
the main playlist on tracks. Also, you might not
Files and Movie/Video Files will always be cop-
want to copy rendered Elastic Audio files.
ied.
8 Enable Selected Tracks Only (optional).
6 Click OK.
9 Enable (or disable) Backup to Cloud to save as
an online project (or an offline project).
10 Click OK. Session Templates
In addition to the Session Templates provided in
the Dashboard, Pro Tools lets you create and share
Saving a Project as a Session your own custom Session Templates. Pro Tools
Session Template files use the suffix “.ptxt” to dif-
Pro Tools lets you save a copy of a project as a ses-
ferentiate them from regular Pro Tools session
sion. When you are done working on a project you
files (“.ptx”).
can archive it as a session locally and delete the on-
line project to free up cloud storage in your Avid
Cloud Account. Creating and Saving Custom
Templates
To save a copy of a project as a session: (Sessions Only)
1 Ensure that you have accepted or rejected all To create a custom Pro Tools Session Template:
changes to shared tracks.
1 Create a new Pro Tools session and configure it
2 Choose File > Save Copy In. for the session template you want.
3 In the Save Copy In dialog, set the Format to
For example, if you are a songwriter you
Session (Latest).
might simply want a session consisting of a
stereo Instrument track with an instrument
plug-in (such as Xpand! 2 with a piano pre-
set), a mono audio track (for tracking vocals),
a stereo Auxiliary Input track (for an effects
bus), and a stereo Master Fader track. You
can then use this template every time you sit
down to work on a new song.

2 Choose File > Save As Template.

Saving a copy of a project as a session

Save Session Template dialog

178 Pro Tools Reference Guide

3 Configure the Save Session Template dialog Category
(see “Save Session Template Dialog” on
The Category pop-up menu is only available if the
page 179).
Install Template In System option is enabled. The
4 Select the Include Media option if there is any Category pop-up menu lets you select the subdi-
audio, MIDI, or video media in the session that rectory in which to save the template file. It also
you want included in the template. provides options for adding a category and reveal-
ing the Session Templates folder in Windows Ex-
When the Include Media option is enabled, plorer or the Mac Finder.
all media in the session is included in the
template. If you want to include media in Add Category Select this option from the Cate-
your session template, be sure that your ses- gory pop-up menu to create a new subdirectory in
sion only contains the media you want. the Session Templates folder.

5 Click OK. Name

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 162. 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 112).
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.

Chapter 11: Sessions and Projects 179

 Creating New Sessions or Metadata Inspector Window
Projects from Templates
The Metadata Inspector window displays the fol-
You can create new session or project from tem- lowing information about your session or project.
plates by opening a template. You can open any Some metadata can be edited and some is display
Pro Tools Session Template file (.ptt) to start a only.
new session based on that template.
Name (Sessions Only) Displays the name of the
For information on creating new sessions session.
from templates using the Dashboard, see
Project Name (Projects Only) Displays the name
“Creating a New Session or Project from a
of the project.
Template” on page 162.
Project Owner (Projects Only) Displays the name
of the project owner.
Project and Session
Metadata Title Enter a title that is independent of the name of
the session or project.
Pro Tools provides a Metadata Inspector window
for sessions and projects. Sessions and projects Artist(s) Enter the name of the artist (or artists) for
have slightly different Metadata options.This win- the session or project.
dow lets you view and edit metadata for sessions
Contributor(s) Enter the names of the contributors
and projects. However, certain metadata is display
to the session or project.
only (such as Sample Rate and Bit Depth). Meta-
data is stored with the session file (.ptx) or with the Sample Rate Displays the session or project sam-
project bundle. ple rate. The Sample Rate can also be viewed in
the Workspace.
To open the Metadata Inspector:
Bit Depth Displays the session or project bit depth.
 Choose Window > Metadata Inspector.
The Bit Depth can also be viewed in the Work-
space.

Location Enter the location where the session or

project was recorded.

Date Created Display the date and time that the

session or project was created. The Date Created
can also be viewed in the Workspace.

Date Modified Displays the date and time that the

session or project was last modified. The Date
Modified can also be viewed in the Workspace.

BPM Displays the tempo or range of tempos used

in the session or project in beats per minute. BPM
can also be viewed in the Workspace as Tempo.
Session Metadata Inspector window

180 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 To close a session or project:
Project Notes
 Choose File > Close Session/Project.
Pro Tools lets you add and edit Project Notes for any
version of a project. Use Project Notes for anything
from reminders to descriptions, or a to do list. You
can add and edit Project Notes when you create a new Renaming Projects
version of a project or in the Project Notes window. You can rename any project you own that is not
Project Notes are always saved with the specific ver- currently open on the Projects tab of the Dash-
sion of the project.
board.
To add or edit Project Notes: To rename a project:
1 Do one of the following:
1 Ensure that you are logged in to your Avid Mas-
• Choose File > Save as New Version to open the ter Account through Pro Tools (File > Sign In or
Save New Version dialog. click Sign In in the upper right corner of the
• Select Window > Project Notes to open the Proj- Dashboard).
ect Notes window for the current version of the
project. 2 In the Dashboard window, select the Projects
tab to view your current projects; or if Pro Tools
2 Type and edit the Project Notes as desired.
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.
3 To the right of the project list, click the pop-up
menu for the project you want to rename.

Project Notes window

Closing a Session or Project Dashboard, Rename Project

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.

Chapter 11: Sessions and Projects 181

 Remove Local Cache Deleting Projects
Use the Remove Local Cache command for any Once you have completed work on a project and
project that is not currently open to free up storage exported the final mix or archived it as a session
space on your local system. Your project will re- using the Save Copy In command, you can delete
main intact and retrievable from the cloud. You the project to free up online storage space for other
can always restore your project from your online projects. Use the Dashboard window to delete any
MyAvid account cloud storage. project that you no longer need.

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.

Notice the Cloud icon to the right of the project.

Pro Tools deletes the local cache for the project
while keeping the project intact in the cloud. Click
the Cloud icon to download the project media and
synchronize the local and online versions of the
project. Dashboard, Delete project

4 Choose Delete.

182 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Pro Tools deletes the project and updates the per-
centage of your available storage used. Open Revision History
Use the Open Revision History command to open
the Revision History window and restore the proj-
Restore Project from Cloud ect from any version or from any version’s save
history.
If you have deleted the local cache for a project,
you can restore your project from the cloud. To open the latest auto-backup for a project:

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.

Dashboard, Cloud icon Dashboard, Open Revision History

Pro Tools downloads all data from the cloud to the 4 Choose Open Revision History.
local cache on your system for the selected project.
Download progress is shown to the right of the Pro Tools opens the Revision History window
project name. where you can view, restore, import, and delete
versions of the project as well as their save histo-
ries.

For more information about working with the

Restore History window, see “Revision History”
on page 173.

Dashboard, download progress

Chapter 11: Sessions and Projects 183

 To take an online project offline (or to put an offline
Backup to Cloud project online):

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.

Dashboard, Projects tab, deselecting Backup to Cloud

for a project

Dashboard, Projects tab, offline projects are indicated

by a gray Project icon and online projects are blue

184 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Project Collaboration Quitting or Exiting Pro Tools
Invitations in the Dashboard
When you quit (Mac) or exit (Windows) the
The Dashboard lets you accept or reject project par- Pro Tools application, Pro Tools prompts you to
ticipation requests. When another user invites you to save any open session before exiting or closing the
join a project, that project appears in the Project List application.
in the Dashboard along with Reject and Accept icons.
To quit Pro Tools on the Mac:

 Choose Pro Tools > Quit Pro Tools.

To exit Pro Tools in Windows:

 Choose File > Exit.

Dashboard, project participation requests

To accept or reject project participation requests

from the Dashboard:

1 Ensure that you are logged in to your Avid Mas-

ter Account through Pro Tools (File > Sign In or
click Sign In in the upper right corner of the
Dashboard).
2 In the Dashboard, select the Projects tab. Proj-
ects that you have been invited to display Ac-
cept and Reject icons to the right of the project
name.
3 Do one of the following:
• Click the Accept icon to join the project.
• Click the Reject icon to reject the collaboration re-
quest and remove the project from the project list.

For more information about project partici-

pation requests, see “Projects” on page 367.

Chapter 11: Sessions and Projects 185

186 Pro Tools Reference Guide
Chapter 12: Pro Tools Main Windows

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 190).
Mix Window Shows tracks as channel strips, like a
mixing board (see “Mix Window” on page 188). To toggle between the Mix and Edit windows,
press Control+Equals (=) (Windows), or
press Command+Equals (=) (Mac).

Edit window

Workspace browser Mix window

Transport window

Plug-In window

Pro Tools windows

Chapter 12: Pro Tools Main Windows 187

 Pro Tools provides several other types of
windows: Mix Window
Transport Window Lets you control the transport
In the Mix window, tracks appear as channel strips
and transport-related functions (see “Transport just like a mixing console, with controls for:
Window” on page 196). • Inserts

Plug-In Windows Let you control plug-in parame- • Sends

ters, such as Frequency and Q for an EQ (see • Input and output assignments
“Plug-In Windows” on page 1102). • Volume
MIDI Editor Windows Lets you edit MIDI data (see • Panning
Chapter 35, “MIDI Editors”).
• Record enable
Score Editor Window lets you edit MIDI data as • Track Input monitoring
music notation (see Chapter 36, “Score Editor”).
• Automation mode
Workspace Browsers Let you manage, audition, • Solo and Mute
and import media for Pro Tools sessions (see
• Instrument controls
“Workspace Browsers” on page 311).
• HEAT controls
Artist Chat Lets you find, invite, and chat with
• Mic preamps
project collaborators (see Chapter 18, “Artist Chat
Window”).
To display the Mix window:
In-App Web Browsers Let you access the Avid  Choose Window > Mix.
Marketplace and Pro Tools Online (see “In-Appli-
cation Web Browser” on page 202). To display all Mix window view options:

 Select View > Mix Window > All.

For information on selecting individual view

options, see “Views in the Mix and Edit Win-
dows” on page 1052.

188 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Channel strips
(page 217)

Instrument
Tracks List View
(page 245) (page 1053

Inserts View
(page 1053)

Sends View
(page 1054)

Track Path selectors

(page 249 and
Group ID page 257)
indicator Automation
(page 284) Mode selector
Input Monitoring / (page 1128)
Record Enable
Pan knob
(page 515 and
(page 224)
page 510)

Solo/Mute
(page 259)

Volume
fader
(page 224)

Level meter
Voice selector (page 225)
(page 256)

AutoMatch
indicator Track Name
(page 1137) (page 235)

Mix Groups List

(page 281) Track
Comments
View
Delay (page 1053)
Compensation
View (page 1055)

Show/Hide Mono MIDI Stereo

Track List/Groups Audio Track Track Audio Track
List View (page 216) (page 219) (page 216)
(page 246)
Mix Window Instrument Auxiliary Master
View selector Track Input Fader
(page 1052) (page 219) (page 217) (page 218)

Pro Tools Mix window

Chapter 12: Pro Tools Main Windows 189

 To display the Edit window:
Edit Window
 Choose Window > Edit.
The Edit window provides a Timeline display of
audio, video, MIDI notes, as well as other MIDI To display all Edit window view options:
data and mixer automation for recording, editing,  Select View > Edit Window > All.
and arranging on tracks. As in the Mix window,
each track has controls for record enable, solo, Edit window view options can be selected individ-
mute, and automation mode. ually. See “Views in the Mix and Edit Windows”
on page 1052.

Universe view
Grid and
(page 646)
Nudge values
Zoom buttons (page 603) Collaboration (page 381) (page 192) Edit Window
Counters and Edit Toolbar and menu
Edit Mode Selection indicators
Edit tools (page 190)
buttons (page 644)
(page 599) (page 602)

Timebase and Clip

Conductor List
rulers (page 293)
(page 837)

Tracks List
(page 245)
Tracks
(page 215)

Edit
Groups
List

Playlists MIDI Editor pane Elastic Audio Automation Edit Window

Track View (Notation view) Warp Track View (page 1125) Zoom buttons
(page 697) (page 200) (page 965) (page 194)

Selected Clip MIDI Controller

(page 632) lanes (page 804)

Pro Tools Edit window

190 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Edit Window Toolbar Counters and Edit Selection Indicators

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.

Edit Toolbar Controls and Displays

The following controls and displays in the Edit

Window Toolbar are always shown. Cursor Location Track Mute
indicator
Cursor Value
Edit Modes Timeline Data Online Status Track Solo
Session Data Online Status indicator
The Edit mode affects the movement and place- Automatic Delay Compensation Global Freeze Tracks
ment of audio and MIDI clips (and MIDI notes), Task Manager Status
how commands like Copy and Paste function, and
Edit window indicators
also how the various Edit tools (Trim, Selector,
Grabber, and Pencil tools) work. For more infor- Main Counter Displays the current Edit insertion
mation, see “Edit Modes” on page 599. location in the Main Timebase ruler.

Sub Counter Displays the current Edit insertion

location in the Sub Timebase ruler.

Cursor Location Displays the current cursor loca-

tion in the Main Timebase ruler.
Edit mode buttons
Cursor Value Displays the value of the current cur-
Edit Tools
sor value in peak amplitude (audio), pitch (MIDI),
Edit tools are used for editing audio, MIDI, and au- or according to the current automation or control-
tomation data in Pro Tools. For more information, ler data type.
see “Edit Tools” on page 602.
Edit Selection Indicators Display the Start, End,
and Length of the current Edit selection.

MIDI Selection Indicators and Controls Display

the current MIDI Edit selection (MIDI note num-
Edit tools ber, and Note On and Note Off velocities) and pro-
vide controls for MIDI editing.

Chapter 12: Pro Tools Main Windows 191

 Timeline Data Online Status Indicator Is green
when all files in use in track playlists are available If any of the Include options are deselected,
for playback. If files are offline, being processed, you can Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click
or otherwise unavailable for playback, this indica- (Windows) the Global Freeze icon to freeze
tor is red. (or unfreeze) all tracks. The previously se-
lected Include options remain selected.
Session Data Online Status Indicator Is green
when all audio files referenced by the session are Track Solo Indicator Lights yellow when any
available for playback. If files are offline, being pro- track in the session is soloed. When no tracks in the
cessed, or otherwise unavailable for playback, this session are soloed, the Track Solo indicator ap-
indicator is red. If any files are offline, you can click pears dim green. For systems using Satellite Link,
the indicator to open the Relink window and relink to the Track Solo indicator lights dim yellow when a
offline files. track is soloed on any satellite system.

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 601. 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 660.
(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.

192 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Showing and Hiding Additional Synchronization When selected, the Synchroniza-
Controls in the Edit Window tion controls and indicators are displayed in the
Edit window toolbar.
To show or hide controls in the Edit window
toolbar:

1 Do one of the following:

• Click the Edit Window Toolbar menu (in the
upper-right corner of the window).
• Right-click in the Toolbar. Output Meters When selected, the Output meters
2 From the menu, select or deselect any of the fol- are displayed in the Edit window toolbar.
lowing depending on which window you are
configuring:

Zoom Controls When selected, the Zoom controls

are displayed in the Edit window toolbar.

Track Collaboration (Projects Only) When se-

lected, the Track Collaboration controls are dis-
played in the Edit window toolbar.

Transport When selected, the Transport controls

are displayed in the Edit window toolbar.

Eleven Rack (Eleven Rack Only) This option is

available only when an Eleven Rack is connected
to your Pro Tools system. When selected, Eleven
MIDI Controls When selected, the MIDI controls Rack controls are displayed in the Edit window
are displayed in the window toolbar. toolbar. For more information, refer to the Eleven
Rack User Guide.

Minimal When selected, the Zoom, Transport,

MIDI, and Synchronization controls are not dis-
played in the Edit window toolbar.

Chapter 12: Pro Tools Main Windows 193

 All When selected, the Zoom, Transport, MIDI, Rearranging Controls and
and Synchronization controls are all displayed in Displays
the Edit window toolbar.
To rearrange controls and displays in the Edit,
Expanded Transport When selected, the MIDI Editor, or Score Editor window toolbar:
Expanded Transport controls are displayed in the  Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win-
Edit window toolbar if Transport is also dows) the control or display you want to move
selected. and drag it to a new location in the toolbar.

For example, if you want the Counters and Edit Se-

lection indicators to the right of the Transport con-
trols in the toolbar, Command-click (Mac) or Con-
trol-click (Windows) and drag them to the right of
the Transport controls.
Universe When selected, Universe view is shown
near the top of the Edit window.

Clip Effects When selected, Clip Effects view is

shown near the top of the Edit window.

Tracks List When selected, the Tracks List is

shown on the left of the Edit window.

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

In addition to the Zoom controls in the Toolbar,

Pro Tools provides horizontal and vertical zoom
buttons in the lower-right corner of the Edit win-
dow.

194 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Vertical Zoom buttons (Edit window) Audio Zoom button (Edit window)

MIDI Zoom button (Edit window)

Horizontal Zoom buttons (Edit window) Edit Window Default Length

Vertical Zoom Buttons Zoom the track heights Pro Tools lets you set a default length for the Edit
proportionally in the Edit window. window in hours, minutes, seconds, and frames.
This is useful if you want to assemble a session of
Horizontal Zoom Buttons Zoom the Timeline just
a particular length or leave extra room to expand
like the Horizontal Zoom controls in the Edit win-
the Edit window’s work area in your session. The
dow toolbar.
maximum length is 12 hours and 25 minutes at
48 kHz, and proportionally less at higher sample
Audio and MIDI Zoom In and Out Buttons
rates. For best scrollbar sensitivity, set the length
Pro Tools also provides Audio and MIDI Zoom In to slightly longer (a minute or more) than the total
and Out buttons in the upper-right corner of the session or song length.
Edit window. These controls function exactly the
same as the Audio and MIDI Zoom controls in the To set the default length for the Edit window:
Toolbar, and let you zoom in and out vertically on 1 Choose Setup > Preferences.
audio waveforms and MIDI notes respectively.
2 On the Display page, enter the value in hours,
In the Edit window, MIDI Vertical Zoom only minutes, seconds, and frames for the Edit Win-
affects tracks not in Clips view. dow Default Length setting.

3 Click OK.

Chapter 12: Pro Tools Main Windows 195

 Transport Window You can Right-click the Return to Zero but-
ton to access the Write to Start and Write to
The Transport window can be set to show basic
All automation commands.
transport controls, counters, MIDI controls, and
expanded features. The counters in the Transport Rewind Rewinds from the current play location.
window mirror the controls and counters at the top You can also click repeatedly to rewind incremen-
of the Edit window. tally, by an amount based on the Main Time Scale,
as follows:
To display the Transport window:

 Choose Window > Transport. With the Numeric Keypad mode set to Trans-
port, you can rewind by pressing 1.

Basic Transport Controls and

Counters
Rewind and Fast Forward Increments

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.

Return to Zero Locates to the beginning of the ses-

sion. You can Right-click the Go to End button to
access automation commands Write to End
Press Return (Mac) or Enter (Windows) to and Write to All.
Return to Zero.

196 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Stop Stops playback or recording. Record Arms Pro Tools for recording (the button
flashes). Clicking Play then starts recording on re-
You can also stop the transport by pressing cord-enabled tracks only.
the Spacebar, or with the Numeric Keypad
mode set to Transport, pressing 0. You can also begin recording immediately by
pressing F12, pressing Command+Spacebar
Play Starts playback or (if the Record button was (Mac) or Control+Spacebar (Windows), or
clicked first) recording from the Timeline insertion with the Numeric Keypad mode set to Trans-
point or the Play Start Marker location if Dynamic port, pressing 3.
Transport mode is enabled.
Right-clicking the Record button lets you select
You can also begin playback by pressing the the record mode from a pop-up menu:
Spacebar, or with the Numeric Keypad mode
set to Transport, pressing 0. • Normal
• Loop
Right-clicking the Play button lets you select the
• Destructive
playback mode from a pop-up menu:
• QuickPunch
• Half-Speed
• TrackPunch (Pro Tools HD only)
• Prime for Playback
• Destructive Punch (Pro Tools HD only)
• Loop
• Dynamic Transport You can also cycle through the Pro Tools record
modes with the Transport stopped, by Control-
To initiate playback at half-speed, you can clicking (Mac) or Start-clicking (Windows) the
also press Shift+Spacebar (Windows or Record button.
Mac) or Shift-click (Mac) the Play button.
The Record button changes to indicate the cur-
With the Transport stopped, Control-click Play rently selected mode: blank for Nondestructive,
(Mac) or Start-click Play (Windows) to toggle “D” for Destructive, a loop symbol for Loop Re-
Loop Playback mode. When enabled, a loop sym- cord, “P” for QuickPunch, “T” for TrackPunch,
bol appears in the Play button and Pro Tools plays and “DP” for DestructivePunch.
continuously from the beginning of the selection to
the end. To initiate recording at half-speed, you can
press Command+Shift+Spacebar (Mac) or
For more information on loop playback and Control+Shift+Spacebar (Windows).
Dynamic Transport mode, see “Loop Play-
back Mode” on page 489. Track Record Enable Indicator When lit (red), in-
dicates that at least one audio track is currently re-
cord-enabled. When off (gray), no tracks are cur-
rently record-enabled.

Chapter 12: Pro Tools Main Windows 197

 TrackInput Monitor Indicator When lit (green), in- Length Specifies the length for the play or record
dicates that at least one audio track is currently set range. You can set the length by entering a location
to Input Only monitoring (regardless of record en- in this field, or by selecting a range in any Time-
able status). When off (gray), all tracks are in Auto base ruler.
Input monitoring.
When the Timeline and Edit selections are
Transport Window Menu Lets you select what op- linked, you can make an Edit selection in a
tions to show in the Transport window: Counters, track’s playlist to set the play and record
MIDI Controls, Synchronization, Minimal, All, and range. See “Linking or Unlinking Timeline
Expanded Transport. and Edit Selections” on page 629.

Pre-Roll During playback or record, specifies the

amount of audio that plays before the Play (Time-
MIDI Controls
line) Cursor or Play Start Marker location, or be-
Tempo Resolution (Beat Value) pop-up menu
ginning of the Timeline selection. Pre-roll is par-
ticularly useful with punch recording since it gives
you time to “catch the beat” before reaching the Count Off Meter
punch-in point. To set the pre-roll amount, type a Tempo
new value in this field, or drag the Pre-Roll flag in
the Main Timebase ruler.

Post-Roll During playback or record, specifies the Wait for Note

Tempo Ruler
amount that plays after the end of a Timeline selec- Metronome Click Enable
tion. Post-roll is useful in punch recording since MIDI Merge
playback continues after the punch-out point so
Transport window, MIDI controls
you can check for a smooth transition to previously
recorded material. To set the post-roll amount, To view the MIDI controls in the Transport, do one
type a new value in this field, or drag the Post-Roll of the following:
flag in the Main Timebase ruler.  Select View > Transport > MIDI Controls.
Start Specifies the beginning of the play or record  Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win-
range. You can set the start point by entering a lo- dows) the Expand/Collapse “+” button in the
cation in this field, or by dragging the correspond- Transport window to display the MIDI controls.
ing Timeline Selection or Play Start Marker in the
Main Timebase ruler. For more information, see
“Timeline Selection Markers” on page 525.

End Specifies the end of the play or record range.

You can set the end point by entering a location in
this field, or by dragging the corresponding Time-
line Selection Marker in the Main Timebase ruler.
For more information, see “Timeline Selection
Expand/Collapse button, Transport Window with MIDI
Markers” on page 525. controls

198 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Wait for Note When selected, recording does not MIDI Merge When selected (Merge mode),
begin until a MIDI event is received. This ensures recorded MIDI data is merged with existing track
that you begin recording when you’re ready to material. When deselected (Replace mode), re-
play, and that the first note, or other MIDI data, is corded MIDI data replaces existing track material.
recorded precisely at the beginning of the record
range. With the Numeric Keypad mode set to Trans-
port, press 9 to enable MIDI Merge.
You can press F11 to turn on Wait for Note,
unless the MIDI preference for “Disable F11 Tempo Ruler Enable (Conductor) When selected,
for Wait for Note” is enabled. Pro Tools uses the tempo map defined in the
Tempo ruler. When deselected, Pro Tools switches
to Manual Tempo mode and ignores the Tempo
On Mac, the Desktop Keyboard Shortcut uses ruler.
the same key command that Pro Tools uses
for Wait For Note (F11). To use F11 for Wait In Manual Tempo mode, you can enter a BPM
For Note in Pro Tools, be sure to disable the value in the tempo field, or tap in the tempo with
Desktop Keyboard Shortcut in the Apple Sys- the T key on your alphanumeric keyboard.
tem Preferences.
Current Meter Displays the session’s current me-
Metronome Click When selected, Pro Tools gen- ter based on the play location. Double-click the
erates a metronome pulse that can be set to trigger Current Meter indicator to open the Change Meter
built-in sounds or MIDI instruments during play- window.
back and recording.
Current Tempo Displays the session’s current
The Pro Tools metronome is configured in the tempo based on the play location. In Manual
Click/Countoff Options dialog. Double-click the Tempo mode, you can enter a BPM value into this
Metronome Click button to open the Click/Coun- field, or manually tap in a tempo with a computer
toff Options dialog. keyboard or an external MIDI keyboard.

With the Numeric Keypad mode set to Trans- Output Meters

port, press 7 to enable the Metronome Click.
Pro Tools provides Output meters in the Transport
Count Off When selected, Pro Tools counts off a that display the monitoring levels for signals
specified number of measures (indicated in the routed to the physical outputs on your audio inter-
button) before playback or recording begins. faces from your session or to internal busses in the
session. The top LED is red and indicates clipping
Double-click the Count Off button, to open the
at the converters on your audio interface (DAC) on
Click/Count Off Options dialog.
the corresponding channels or on internal busses.
With the Numeric Keypad mode set to Trans-
port, press 8 to enable the Count Off.

Chapter 12: Pro Tools Main Windows 199

 To view the Output Meters in the Transport: To view the Output Meters in the Transport:
1 Do one of the following: 1 Do one of the following:
• Select View > Transport > Output Meters. • Select View > Transport > Output Meters.
• Click the Transport Window menu (in the • Click the Transport Window menu (in the
upper-right corner of the window) and select or upper-right corner of the window) and select or
deselect Output Meters. deselect Track Collaboration.
• Right-click in the Transport window and select • Right-click in the Transport window and select
or deselect Output Meters. or deselect Track Collaboration.

For more information, see “Global Track

Collaboration Tools” on
page 384“Global Track Collaboration
Tools” on page 384.
Transport Window menu

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 1073.
For more information, see Chapter 35,
Track Collaboration “MIDI Editors.”
(Projects Only)

The Track Collaboration controls can be shown or

hidden in the Transport window. They mirror the
controls at the top of the Edit window.

200 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Displaying the MIDI Editor in the Browsers in Pro Tools are analogous to windows
Edit Window in your computer’s operating system (such as Win-
dows Explorer or the Mac Finder), but are spe-
You can choose to show (or hide) a MIDI Editor
cially designed for working in Pro Tools. Multiple
pane at the bottom of the Edit window (below the
browsers can be displayed simultaneously, and ar-
Tracks pane).
ranged independently with custom display settings
To show (or hide) the MIDI Editor view in the Edit
for each.
window, do one of the following:
Browsers let you search and sort audio files, video
 Select (or deselect) View > Other Displays > files, and sessions. These files are displayed in
MIDI Editor. browsers and can be dragged directly into the cur-
rent Pro Tools session.
 Click the MIDI Editor Show/Hide icon in the
lower left corner of the Tracks pane in the Edit When offline items are needed, Pro Tools lets you
window. find the correct matching files, then relink to on-
 Double-click the divider below the Tracks pane line media.
in the Edit window.
To open/close a Workspace browser focused
 From the Edit Window menu, select (or dese- on Volumes, press Option+; (Mac) or Alt+;
lect) MIDI Editor. (Windows).

 Press Shift+Option+Control+“=” (Mac) or To open a default Workspace browser focused

Shift+Alt+Start+“=” (Windows). on Volumes, press Option+I (Mac) or Alt+I
(Windows). Press these key combinations again
to open additional Workspace browsers.
Score Editor Window
To open a Workspace browser with Soundbase
The Score Editor window lets you view and edit and the Tags pane revealed, press Option+
Instrument and MIDI tracks as music notation. It Control+I (Mac) or Alt+Start+I (Windows).
automatically transcribes MIDI performances in Press these key combinations again to open ad-
real-time. You can print a score of your session or ditional Workspace browsers with Soundbase.
just parts from individual tracks.
To bring all browsers to the front, press
For more information, see Chapter 36, Option+J (Mac) or Alt+J (Windows).
“Score Editor.”
To send all browsers to the back, press Option+
Shift+J (Mac) or Alt+Shift+J (Windows).
Workspace Browsers The main elements of a Workspace browser (see
Pro Tools can database your session and media the figure below) include the following:
files and directories using Workspace browsers.
View Presets Let you store up to 5 different
Browsers provide an intuitive user interface within
browser views.
Pro Tools to quickly access both online and offline
media files and sessions. Preview Controls Provide tools for auditioning
audio files from the browser.

Chapter 12: Pro Tools Main Windows 201

 Search Tools Let you search your system for files
and folders by simple or advanced search criteria. Artist Chat Window
Browser Menu Provides commands for file man- The Artist Chat window lets you invite and com-
agement. municate using text chat with collaborators for
your Pro Tools projects.
Column Headers Display the type of metadata dis-
played in the Items List. Column Headers can be: For detailed information about the Artist
Chat window, see Chapter 18, “Artist Chat
• Resized by dragging the column border, or rear-
Window.”
ranged by dragging the Column headers.
• Dragged to either of two available panes, the
Fixed or Scrolling panes. In-Application Web Browser
Soundbase Lets you tag audio files with descrip- Pro Tools provides easy access to web-based
tive metadata that you can then use as search crite- Pro Tools Help, the Knowledge Base, and the
ria. Avid Support Center using an in-application Web
browser.
Locations Pane Provides a view of Volumes (and
folders and files), Catalogs, and the currently open To launch the Pro Tools in-application Web
Session for your system. browser for online resources, choose one of the
following from the Help menu:
Browser Pane Provides a view of items on your
• Pro Tools Help
system contained within the Volume (or folder),
Catalog, or open session that is selected in the Lo- • Pro Tools Knowledge Base
cations pane. Alternatively, the Browser pane dis- • Avid Audio Forums
plays search results.
• Avid Support Center
For detailed information about Workspace
browsers, see Chapter 17, “Workspace Pro Tools In-Application Web
Browsers.”. Browser Navigation Controls
The Pro Tools in-application Web browser pro-
vides a few simple navigation controls in the Web
Task Manager Window
Browser Tool Bar.
The Task Manager window is a utility for viewing
and managing all of the background tasks that you Go Backward Clicking the Go Backward button
initiate with Pro Tools. Use the Task window to navigates back to the previously viewed page.
monitor, pause, or cancel background tasks such as Go Forward Clicking the Go Forward button navi-
file copies, searches, indexing, and fade creation. gates forward to the next page.
For detailed information about the Task win- Go Home Clicking the Home button navigates to
dow, see “Task Manager Window” on the starting page for the currently selected Loca-
page 358. tion.

Refresh Clicking the Refresh button reloads the

currently viewed page.

202 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Locations Clicking a location button navigates to To launch the currently viewed page in an external
the corresponding starting page on the Avid web- browser:
site. The Avid Marketplace and Pro Tools Online  Click the Launch in External Web Browser icon
browsers provide different Location options. in either the Avid Marketplace window or the
Pro Tools Online window.
Launching an External Web Browser

You can launch the currently viewed page in the

default Web browser for your operating system.

Go Backward
Go Forward Locations Open in external browser
Refresh

Pro Tools Web browser

Chapter 12: Pro Tools Main Windows 203

 Managing Windows

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.

204 Pro Tools Reference Guide

6 Type any comments for the new Window Undoing Window Configurations
Configuration.
Pro Tools lets you revert to the previous Window
7 Click OK to store the new Window Configura- Layout and Window Settings with a single level of
tion, or Cancel. undo. This is useful, for example, if you recall a
Window Configuration, but then decide you want
The new Window Configuration is added to the
to revert to the previous screen state.
Window Configuration List.
To undo a Window Configuration:
To create a new Window Configuration at a
specific numbered slot:  On the numeric keypad, press Period (.), 0, and
then Asterisk (*).
 On the numeric keypad, type Period (.), a num-
ber (1–99), and then Plus (+) to add a new Win-
To redo a Window Configuration:
dow Configuration at that number slot.
 On the numeric keypad, press Period (.), 0, and
If a Window Configuration already exists then Asterisk (*).
at that numbered slot, the new Window
Configuration overwrites it. If Auto-Update Active Configuration is enabled, un-
doing the Window Configuration reverts to the
Recalling Window previously stored Window Configuration without
Configurations automatically saving changes (see “Updating Win-
dow Configurations” on page 206).
You can use the Window Configuration List to re-
call stored Window Configurations. You can also
use the Number Keypad on your computer key-
Editing Window Configurations
board to recall a specific Window Configuration. You can change which properties are stored with
Window Configurations, as well as the number,
To recall a Window Configuration, do one of the name, or comments.
following:

 Select the Window Configuration from Window To edit a Window Configuration:

> Configurations. 1 In the Window Configuration List, select the
 In the Window Configuration List, click the Window Configuration you want to edit.
Window Configuration to recall it. 2 From the Window Configuration List pop-up
 On the numeric keypad, press Period (.), the menu, select Edit <Name>.
number of the Window Configuration (1–99), 3 In the Edit Window Configuration dialog, edit
and then Asterisk (*). the configuration and click OK.
The Pro Tools session’s screen layout updates with
the stored Window Configuration.

Chapter 12: Pro Tools Main Windows 205

 Updating Window Clearing Window Configurations
Configurations
Clearing a window configuration removes it and
After you recall a stored Window Configuration, its associated slot number while keeping the slot
you can make changes to the window layout and numbers of other window configurations un-
window settings, and then update the stored Win- changed. The Clear command is useful if you want
dow Configuration with your changes. You can do to insert another configuration in the same slot.
this manually, or you can have Pro Tools automat-
ically update the active configuration. To clear a Window Configuration:
1 In the Window Configuration List, select the
To manually update a Window Configuration, do
Window Configuration you want to clear.
one of the following:

 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.

206 Pro Tools Reference Guide

3 If you only want to import Window Configura- To hide or show all floating windows:
tions, click the Session Data to Import pop-up  Select or deselect Window > Hide All Floating
menu and select None. Windows.
4 Click OK.
Press Command+Option+Control+W (Mac)
or Control+Alt+Start+W (Windows) to hide
Arranging Windows or show all floating windows.
Pro Tools provides commands to tile or cascade all
open windows. Floating windows (such as plug-in Closing Windows
windows) and the Transport window are not af-
To close an open window:
fected by these commands.
1 Make sure the window you want to close is in
To arrange windows: the foreground.
 Choose Window > Arrange and select one of the 2 Do one of the following:
following:
• Click the Close button for the window.
Tile Arranges all open windows in a tiled pattern • Choose Window > Close Window.
on the screen.
Press Command+W (Mac) or Control+W
Tile Horizontal Arranges all open windows in a (Windows) to close the frontmost window.
horizontally tiled pattern on the screen. This option
is not available if there are too many windows
open. How Window Configurations
Tile Vertical Arranges all open windows in a verti-
Work
cally tiled pattern, side by side, on the screen. This A Window Configuration can store the location
option is not available if there are too many win- and size of all open windows, including:
dows open.
• Edit window
Cascade Arranges all open windows in cascading • Mix window
pattern on the screen.
• Targeted MIDI Editor window
• Score Editor window
Hiding All Floating Windows
• Workspace browsers
The Hide All Floating Windows command hides or
shows all floating windows. This is useful for • Session Setup window
quickly clearing the screen of all floating windows • Time, Tempo, and Event Operations windows
so that you can work in the Edit or Mix windows. • MIDI Event List
• Real-time MIDI Properties window
• Beat Detective window
• Plug-In windows
• Panner windows

Chapter 12: Pro Tools Main Windows 207

 • Mic Pre windows To open 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.

A Window Configuration can also store the Win-

dow Display settings for the Edit, Mix, Targeted
MIDI Editor, Score Editor, and Transport win-
dows.

Window Configuration List

The Window Configuration List lets you recall and Edit Window Configuration dialog
manage stored Window Configurations, as well as
create new Window Configurations. Number Is the number of the slot in which the
Window Configuration is stored (1–99). You can
type Period (.), the number of the Window Config-
uration, and then Asterisk (*) on the numeric key-
pad on your computer keyboard to recall the Win-
dow Configuration stored in that slot.

Name Is the name of the stored Window Configu-

ration.

Window Layout When enabled, stores the size and

location of all open windows.
Window Configuration List

208 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Include Edit, Mix, Targeted MIDI Editor, Score Ed- • Transport Window Display Settings
itor, and Transport Display Settings When en-
• Counters display
abled, stores all window display settings for the
Edit, Mix, Targeted MIDI Editor, Score Editor, • MIDI controls display
and Transport windows with the Window Config- • Expanded view
uration (such as whether or not the Clips List is
Include MIDI Lanes in Display Settings Stores the
shown in the Edit window). This option is only
layout of MIDI Automation Lanes in MIDI Editor
available when the Window Layout option is en-
windows, whether docked in the Edit window or
abled.
when open as a separate window. Any Window
Window Display Settings Stores only the window Configuration that includes MIDI Lanes in Dis-
display settings for the selected window (Edit, play Settings will recall that exact window and
Mix, Targeted MIDI Editor, Score Editor, or MIDI Automation Lane layout.
Transport):
Comments Lets you type comments for the
• Edit Window Display Settings Window Configuration.
• Width of the Tracks List and Groups List
• Height of the Tracks List
• Width of the Clips List Window Configuration
Commands and Options
• What rulers are shown (the main ruler is
always shown) There are three main types of Window Configura-
• What track columns are shown (such as tion commands and options
Inserts, Sends, or Comments) • View Filter icons
• Tempo editor display • Window Configuration List pop-up menu items
• Whether Transport controls are shown in the • Active Window configuration options
Edit window
• Edit Window Toolbar arrangement View Filter Icons
• Mix Window Display Settings
Using the View Filter icons, the Window Configu-
• Width of the Tracks List and Groups List ration List lets you show or hide Window Config-
• Height of the Tracks List urations based on whether or not they are stored
• What track rows are shown (such as Inserts, with Window Layout, Edit Window settings, Mix
Sends, or Comments) Window settings, Score Editor window settings,
MIDI Editor Window settings, or Transport Win-
• Narrow/wide mixer view
dow settings.
• Score Editor
• MIDI Editor (Targeted)
• MIDI Editor (Untargeted)

Chapter 12: Pro Tools Main Windows 209

 Window Configuration List
MIDI Editor Window (targeted) settings Pop-Up Menu
Transport Window settings
Score Editor Window settings You can select viewing and sorting options, along
Mix Window settings with commands for creating and removing Win-
Edit Window settings dow Configurations, from the pop-up menu in the
Window Layout Window Configuration List.

Window Configuration List pop-up menu

Window Configuration List view filter icons View Filter Lets you show or hide Window Con-
To show or hide Window Configurations in the figuration filter icons in the Window Configura-
Window Configuration List, do one of the tion List as well as show or hide Window Config-
following: urations with Window Layout, Edit Window
 Click the View Filter icon to show or hide Win- Settings, Mix Window Settings, Score Editor Win-
dow Configurations that include that property dow Settings, MIDI Editor Window Settings, or
(Window Layout, Edit Window Settings, Mix Transport Window Settings.
Window Settings, Score Editor Window Set-
tings, MIDI Editor Window Settings, or Trans-
port Window Settings).
 Select or deselect the View Filter item in the
Window Configuration List pop-up menu.

210 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Show Comments Lets you show or hide Com- Active Window Configuration
ments in the Window Configuration List.
The active Window Configuration is indicated by a
New Configuration Creates a new Window Con- diamond to the left of the Window Configuration
figuration. This command is also available from Number in the Window Configuration List and in
Window > Configurations. the Configurations submenu (Window > Configura-
tion). If Auto-Update Active Configuration is en-
Update <Name> Updates the selected Window
abled, the number of the active configuration is
Configuration with any changes to the layout and
also displayed in the Window menu. Only Window
settings of windows depending on the Window
Configurations that include Window Layout can
Configuration’s properties. This command is also
be made active.
available from Window > Configurations.

Edit <Name> Opens the Edit Window Configura-

tion dialog where you can edit the properties of the
selected Window Configuration.

Clear <Name> Clears the selected Window Con-

figuration without deleting the slot (number).

Delete All Deletes all Window Configurations.

Insert Slot Before <Name> Inserts a new slot be-

fore the selected Window Configuration and, if Window Configuration List showing active
configuration
necessary, increments the number of each follow-
ing slot.

Delete <Name> Slot Deletes the selected Window Menus

Configuration and its slot (number), and renum- Pro Tools menus provide commands and options
bers each subsequent slot. for configuring and working with Pro Tools, ses-
Auto-Update Active Configuration Automatically sions, and session material.
updates the active Window Configuration as you
make changes to the layout and settings of win- Pro Tools Main Menus
dows. If Auto-Update Active Configuration is en-
Pro Tools includes the following main menus:
abled, the number of the active configuration is
also displayed in the Window menu. This com- File Provides commands that are used to create and
mand is also available from Window > Configura- maintain Pro Tools sessions.
tions.
Edit Provides commands that are used to edit and
manipulate the current selection and affect data in
the Timeline or the clipboard.

View Provides options and commands to custom-

ize what is shown in various windows.

Chapter 12: Pro Tools Main Windows 211

 Track Provides commands that are used to create, Track, Clip, and Groups List
manage, and edit tracks. Menus
Clip Provides commands that are used to manage The Track, Clip, and Groups Lists provide pop-up
and edit clips. menus for managing and working with the con-
tents of each list, as follows:
Event Provides commands for editing audio and
MIDI events. Tracks List Menu Provides commands to show
and hide tracks in the Mix, Edit, MIDI Editor, and
AudioSuite Provides AudioSuite plug-ins. Score Editor windows. The Tracks List pop-up
Options Provides commands that let you select menu also lets you sort the contents of the Tracks
several editing, recording, monitoring, playback, List.
and display options.
For more information, see “Tracks List” on
Setup Provides commands to open dialogs and page 245.
windows or configure various Pro Tools hardware
Groups List Menu (Edit Groups and Mix
and software parameters.
Groups) Provides commands to create, display,
Window Provides commands to toggle the display suspend, and delete Mix and Edit Groups.
of various Pro Tools windows.
For more information, see “The Groups
Avid Link Provides access to the online Avid Mar- List” on page 283
ketplace, your Pro Tools projects and messages,
Clips List Menu (Edit Window Only) Provides
the Avid Find Talent service, Avid Lounges, your
online Profile, and your registered Avid products. commands to find, select, sort, clear, rename, time
stamp, compact, export, and recalculate waveform
Help Provides access to searchable Pro Tools Help, overviews of items in the Clips List. The pop-up
the online Pro Tools Knowledge Base, and the on- menu also lets you set the drop order for clips
line Avid Audio Forums. The Help menu also pro- dragged from the Clips List and dropped in the
vides easy access to PDF documentation (installed Timeline.
with Pro Tools).
For more information, see Chapter 16,
The Help menu also provides access to the Avid “The Clips List.”
Support Center.

212 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Track Name and Clip Name
Right-Click Menus Tool Tips
Track and clip names provide Right-click menus Pro Tools provides Tool Tips in all main windows.
for managing and working with tracks or clips, as Holding the cursor for a few seconds over an ab-
follows: breviated name, or unlabeled icon or tool, displays
either the function or details of the item (depend-
Track Name Right-Click Menu Right-clicking a ing on the Tool Tips preferences settings).
track name in the Edit window, Mix window, or
the Tracks List provides access to various track To configure Tool Tips for Pro Tools:
commands (such as show/hide, make active/inac- 1 Choose Setup > Preferences, and click the Dis-
tive, rename, duplicate, and delete tracks). play tab.

For more information, see “Track Name 2 In the Basics section, enable the Tool Tips op-
Right-Click Menu” on page 248. 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 16,
“The Clips List.” 3 Click OK.

Group Name and Track Group ID

Indicator Pop-Up Menus
When you click and hold on a group name in the
Groups List, or click on a Group ID indicator in a
track, a pop-up menu provides access to various
group commands (such as selecting tracks in a
group).

For more information, see “Group Name and

Track Group ID Indicator Pop-Up Menus”
on page 284.

Chapter 12: Pro Tools Main Windows 213

214 Pro Tools Reference Guide
Chapter 13: Tracks

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 1044.
Chapter 60, “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 1047.
instruments), and for many other audio routing
tasks.

Chapter 13: Tracks 215

 MIDI Tracks Track Formats
MIDI tracks record, store, and playback MIDI Mono Tracks
data. You cannot select a track format when you
create a MIDI track, because audio does not pass A mono audio, Auxiliary Input, Master Fader, or
through it. Instrument track controls volume, and, in some
cases, panning, for a single channel of audio. A
Instrument Tracks mono audio track uses a single voice. A mono
track can also be routed to a multichannel output.
Instrument tracks are a special type of track that
provide both MIDI and audio capabilities in a sin- Stereo Tracks
gle channel strip. Instrument tracks simplify using
software and hardware instruments to record and A stereo audio, Auxiliary Input, Master Fader, or
monitor MIDI instruments. Instrument track is a single channel strip for two
channels of audio as a stereo pair. Stereo audio
Video Tracks tracks use two voices.

Video tracks let you add or import QuickTime Multichannel Tracks

(Windows and Mac). (Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)

With an Avid video peripheral and Pro Tools, you A multichannel track is a single channel strip that
can add or import Avid video to the Pro Tools plays multiple channels of audio (from 3 to 8 chan-
Timeline (see Chapter 60, “Working with Video in nels at a time). This lets Pro Tools support multi-
Pro Tools.”) channel mixing formats including LCRS, 5.1, 6.1,
and others. Audio, Auxiliary Input, Master Fader,
Video tracks only appear in the Edit window, and
and Instrument tracks can all use any supported
video can be viewed in the Video window.
multichannel format.

For more information on surround mixing with

Pro Tools, see the following:
• Chapter 52, “Pro Tools Setup for Surround”
• Chapter 53, “Multichannel Tracks and
Signal Routing”
• Chapter 54, “Surround Panning and Mixing”

216 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Auxiliary Input Track Channel
Track Channel Strips in the Strips
Mix Window
Each Auxiliary Input track has its own set of chan-
nel strip controls, including volume, pan, automa-
Audio Track Channel Strips
tion mode, solo, and mute.
Each audio track has its own set of channel strip
controls, including volume, pan, record enable, in-
put monitoring, automation mode, solo, mute, and
voice assignment. Inserts (A–E shown)

Track Color Coding

HEAT track controls
Sends (A–E shown)

Inserts (A–E shown)

Audio Input/Output Path selectors
Output Window button
Automation Mode selector
Sends (A–E shown) Group ID

Pan knobs
Pan indicators
Audio Input/Output Paths
Output Window button Solo/Mute buttons
Automation Mode selector
Group ID
Pan knob
Volume fader
Pan indicator
TrackInput Monitor button Level meters
Track Record Enable button
Solo/Mute buttons

Volume fader
Level meter Peak/Delay and Headroom indicators
Track Type indicator
Track Name button
Delay Compensation view

Voice selector Track Comments

Peak/Delay and Headroom indicators

Track Type indicator Track Color Coding
Track Name button
Delay Compensation view Stereo Auxiliary Input track channel strip

Track Comments

Track Color Coding

Mono audio track channel strip

Chapter 13: Tracks 217

 Master Fader Track Channel VCA Master Track Channel
Strips Strips
Each Master Fader track has its own set of channel Each VCA Master track has its own set of channel
strip controls, including volume and automation strip controls, including volume, record enable, in-
mode. put monitoring, automation mode, solo, and mute.

For more information, see “VCA Master

Tracks” on page 1047.
Inserts (A-E shown)

Group ID
Automation Mode selector

Audio Output Path selectors

Output Window button
Automation Mode selector Record
TrackInput Enable
Group ID
Solo Mute

Volume
fader
Level meter

Volume fader

Level meters
Volume indicator
Track Type indicator

Peak/Delay and Headroom indicators

Track Type indicator Track Comments
Track Name button
Delay Compensation view Track Color Coding

Track Comments VCA Master track

Track Color Coding

Stereo Master Fader track channel strip

218 Pro Tools Reference Guide

MIDI Track Channel Strips
MIDI Volume
Each MIDI track has its own set of channel strip MIDI Input selector
controls, including MIDI volume, pan, record en- MIDI Mute button
able, automation mode, solo, mute, patch assign- MIDI Output selector
ment, and channel assignment. MIDI meter (Velocity)
MIDI Pan

MIDI Input selector Inserts (A–E shown)

MIDI Output selector
Automation Mode selector
Group ID
Sends (A–E shown)
MIDI Pan knob
MIDI Pan indicator
Record Enable Audio Input/Output Path selectors
Output Window button
Solo/Mute buttons
Automation Mode selector
Group ID
MIDI Volume fader
Pan knobs
MIDI Velocity meter Pan indicators
Record Enable

Solo/Mute buttons

Patch Select
Volume fader
MIDI Volume indicator
Track Type indicator Level meters
Track Name button

Track Comments
Patch Select
Peak/Delay and Headroom indicators
Track Color Coding
Track Type indicator
Track Name
MIDI channel strip
Delay Compensation view

Instrument Track Channel

Strips
Track Comments

Each Instrument track has its own set of channel Track Color Coding
strip controls, including audio (like an Auxiliary
Stereo Instrument track channel strip, Instruments
Input track) volume, pan, automation mode, solo, view shown
and mute, and MIDI (like a MIDI track) record en-
able. Instrument tracks have an additional Instru-
ments view that provides controls for MIDI input,
output, mute, volume, and pan (like on a MIDI
track).

Chapter 13: Tracks 219

 Auxiliary Input Track Controls
Track Controls and
Indicators in the Edit Window Each Auxiliary Input track has its own set of track
controls, including Track Name, Solo, Mute,
Audio Track Controls Track View, Track Height, Track Freeze, Time-
base, and Automation mode.
Each audio track has its own set of track controls,
including Track Name, Playlist, Record Enable, Solo button
Track Height selector
Input Monitoring, Solo, Mute, Track View, Track
Track Name
Height, Track Freeze, Timebase, Elastic Audio,
Voice Assignment, and Automation mode.
Mute button
Track Height selector Track View
Track Name selector
Record Enable button Automation Mode
TrackInput Monitor button selector
Solo button
Mute button

Timebase selector
Playlist
selector Show/Hide Automation lanes

Freeze Track icon

Track View
selector Edit window track controls for a stereo Auxiliary Input
track (medium track height)

Master Fader Track Controls

Each Master Fader track has its own set of track
Automation Mode selector
Elastic Audio plug-in selector
controls, including Track Name, Track View,
Voice selector Track Height, Timebase, and Automation mode.
Timebase selector
Show/Hide Automation lanes Track Height Track View
Freeze Track icon selector selector
Track Name
Edit window track controls for a mono audio track
(medium track height)

Timebase selector

Show/Hide Automation lanes Automation mode selector

Edit window track controls for a stereo Master Fader

track (medium track height)

220 Pro Tools Reference Guide

VCA Master Track Controls MIDI Track Controls
Each VCA Master track has its own set of track Each MIDI track has its own set of track controls,
controls, including Track Name, Playlist, Record including Track Name, Playlist, Record Enable,
Enable, Input Monitoring, Solo, Mute, Track Solo, Mute, Track View, Track Height, Patch,
View, Track Height, Timebase, and Automation Timebase, and Automation mode.
mode.
Track Height selector
Track Height selector Record Enable button
Track Name Track Name
Solo button
Record Enable button
Mute button
TrackInput Monitor button
Solo button
Mute button
Track View Playlist selector
selector

Track View selector

Automation Mode selector

Patch selector
Automation Mode selector Timebase selector
Timebase selector
Show/Hide Controller lanes
Show/Hide Automation lanes
Edit window track controls for a MIDI track (medium
Edit window track controls for a VCA Master track
track height)
(medium track height)

Chapter 13: Tracks 221

 Instrument Track Controls
Edit Window Views
Each Instrument track has its own set of track con-
trols, including Track Name, Playlist, Record En- In addition to track controls and playlists (of clips
able, Solo, Mute, Track View, Track Height, Track of events on the Timeline), the Edit window pro-
Freeze, Patch, Timebase, and Automation mode. vides the following views that correspond to chan-
nel strip controls in the Mix window:
Track Height selector
• Comments
Record Enable button
Track Name • Mic Preamps
Solo button
Mute button
• Instruments
• Inserts (A–E and F–J)
Playlist
selector • Sends (A–E and F–J)
• I/O
Track View
selector • Object (Pro Tools Ultimate with Dolby Atmos
only)
• Real-Time Properties
• Track Color

Automation Mode selector

• Track Collaboration (projects only)
Patch selector • All
Timebase selector
Show/Hide Automation and Controller lanes • Minimal
Freeze Track icon
See also “Views in the Mix and Edit
Edit window track controls for a stereo Instrument
track (medium track height) Windows” on page 1052.

Video Track Controls Comments View

Each video track has its own set of track controls, Comments view lets you type and view comments
including Track Name, Playlist, Online, Track for a specific track.
View, and Track Height.
For more information on Comments view,
Track Height selector see “Adding Comments to Tracks” on
Track Name Playlist selector page 237.

Mic Preamps View

Online button The Mic Preamps view shows controls for tracks
Track View selector with physical audio inputs routed through PRE.
Frame Rate indicator
For more information, see the PRE Guide.

Edit window track controls for a video track (medium

track height)

222 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Instruments View To show the I/O View in the Edit window:

Instruments view provides MIDI controls for In-  Select View > Edit Window > I/O.
strument tracks: MIDI Input selector, MIDI Output
Channel strips in the Mix window always dis-
selector, MIDI Volume, MIDI Pan, and MIDI
play Input and Output selectors as well as
Mute.
volume and pan values, so there is no I/O
For more information, see “Assigning MIDI view display option for the Mix window.
Input and Output for Instrument Tracks” on
page 258. For details on Input and Output selectors, see
“Assigning Audio Inputs and Outputs to
Inserts View (A–E and F–J) Tracks” on page 249.
Inserts view provides up to ten inserts (software Volume/Peak/Channel Delay Indicator
plug-ins and hardware I/O inserts for generating
and processing audio) on each audio, Auxiliary In- The Volume indicator on an audio track has three
put, Master Fader, and Instrument track. display modes: Volume, Peak, and Channel Delay.

For more information on inserts, see To toggle the Volume indicator display:
Chapter 49, “Plug-In and Hardware
 Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win-
Inserts.”
dows) the indicator to toggle it between the fol-
lowing modes:
Sends View (A–E and F–J)
Volume Indicator (and Pop-Up Fader) Shows the
Sends view shows send assignments in each audio,
current volume, or input level of a track as set by
Auxiliary Input, and Instrument track.
the track Volume fader. In I/O view (Edit win-
For more information, see “Configuring dow), click the Volume indicator to display the
Sends View in the Mix and Edit Windows” on Volume pop-up fader, which can be used to adjust
page 1064. the volume.

I/O View
In the Edit window, I/O view provides Input and
Output selectors on audio, Auxiliary Input, Master
Fader (output only), MIDI, and Instrument tracks
(corresponding to the controls of the same name in
the Mix window).
Edit window I/O view, Volume pop-up fader (audio
track)
Input Path selector
Output Window button Peak Indicator Functions as a headroom indicator
Volume indicator based on the last peak playback level. To reset the
Pan indicator
peak counter, click anywhere in the meter. Values
Output Path selector
range from – (no signal) to 0 dB.
Edit window I/O view (audio track)

Chapter 13: Tracks 223

 Pan Indicator Volume Fader

The Pan indicator displays the current pan setting The Volume fader controls the playback level of a
of a track. Pan values range from <100 (full left) to track when it is playing back, and the monitor level
100> (full right). Pan controls are only available of the track when it is recording. You can link the
for stereo tracks or for mono tracks routed to a ste- record and monitor levels by enabling the Link Re-
reo output. cord and Play Faders option in the Operation pref-
erences.
In I/O view (Edit window), click the Pan indicator
to display the Pan pop-up slider, which can be used The maximum fader gain for a volume fader is
to adjust panning. +12 dB.

MIDI Volume Fader

If your MIDI sound module supports volume, the

volume fader on a MIDI or Instrument track can
send a value of 0–127 to the MIDI volume control-
ler.
Edit window I/O view, Pan pop-up slider (audio track)

Greater-than-stereo multichannel tracks do Real-Time Properties

not provide a Pan indicator in I/O view. You In the Edit window, Real-Time Properties view
can view and adjust multichannel panning in provides access to Real-Time Properties controls
the track’s Output window or in the Mix win- (such as Quantize or Transpose) on MIDI and In-
dow. strument tracks. For more information, see “MIDI
Real-Time Properties” on page 780.
Pan Slider

The Pan slider controls the balance of a track be- Track Color
tween the assigned output pair. It only appears if
you are using stereo tracks or mono tracks routed In the Edit window, Track Color view displays the
to a stereo output. Track Color strip at the left-most side of the Track
controls.
The Pan slider on a MIDI track is effective only if
you are controlling a sound module that supports
Track Collaboration
MIDI panning.
(Projects Only)
Send Pan controls can be linked to the Main In the Edit window, Track Collaboration view pro-
Pan controls of a track by enabling the vides access to the Track Collaboration controls
Follow Main Pan button in Send window. for all track types except VCA and Video tracks.
Track Collaboration controls are only available in
projects and never in sessions. For more informa-
tion, see “Track Collaboration Track View in the
Edit and Mix Windows” on page 387.

224 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Meter Type Scale Displays the meter scale for the
Track Level Meters selected Meter Type (see “Advanced Metering” on
On audio tracks, level meters indicate the level of page 228).
the signal being recorded or played back from the Gain Reduction Meter Pro Tools provides the op-
hard drive. When an audio track is record-enabled tion to display a Gain Reduction Meter just to the
or input monitoring–enabled, these meters indicate right of the track signal meters on audio, Auxiliary
record or input monitoring levels respectively. Input, Instrument, and Master Fader tracks with
On Auxiliary Input, Master Fader, and Instrument supported dynamics plug-ins (such as the Avid
tracks, level meters indicate the level of the signal Pro Compressor or Pro Expander). For more infor-
being played through the channel output. mation, see “Configuring Gain Reduction Meters”
on page 230.
On MIDI tracks, and in Instruments view for In-
Track Signal Meter For audio, Auxiliary Input, In-
strument tracks, the meter shows the MIDI veloc-
strument, VCA, and Master Fader tracks, meters
ity of the most recent MIDI event.
show a green hash mark to indicate where digital
0 dB sits on the selected Meter scale. If digital
0 dB sits above the current Meter scale, the hash
mark moves to the top of the Meter and is colored
orange.

Meter Type Clip Indicator Displays Red when clipping at the

scale audio interface input or output converters, or when
Clip indicator clipping while writing to a 16- or 24-bit audio file.
Fader Gain
scale The clip indicator displays yellow when the audio
Gain Reduction signal exceeds 0 dBFS in the internal mixer. For
meter more information, see “Clip Indication” on
page 226.

Track signal Pre- and Post-Fader Metering

meters
You can globally set audio track level meters to in-
dicate pre- or post-fader levels. When pre-fader
metering is selected, the level meters show levels
independent of fader position. With post-fader me-
tering, the level meters respond to fader position.
Stereo audio track with Signal and Gain Reduction
meters in the Mix window To toggle track level metering between pre- fader
and post-fader metering:
Fader Gain Scale
 Select Options > Pre-Fader Metering.
The Fade Gain scale indicates the amount of gain
boost or attenuation of the signal by the Fader con-
trol.

Chapter 13: Tracks 225

 Peak Hold To choose a Clip Indication setting:

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.

2 Select a Clip Indication option.

To choose a Peak Hold setting:
3 Click OK.
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click the
Metering tab. To clear a clip indicator:
2 Select a Peak Hold option.  Click anywhere on the meter.
3 Click OK.
To clear all clip indicators, do one of the following:
To clear a meter:  Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) any
 Click anywhere on the meter. meter.
 Choose Track > Clear All Clip Indicators.
To clear all meters, do one of the following:
 Press Option+C (Mac) or Alt+C (Windows).
 Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) any
meter.
 Choose Track > Clear All Clip Indicators.
 Press Option+C (Mac) or Alt+C (Windows).

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).

Pro Tools meters provide Clip Indication with

three options:3 Second, Infinite, or None. If clip-
ping occurs, the topmost LED will stay lit.
Audio, Auxiliary Input, Instrument, and Master Fader
tracks showing clipping
Clip indicators appear in plug-in, send, and
track windows.

226 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Master Fader Track Clip Indicators Wide Meters View
Master Fader track clip indicators display red Wide Meters view expands the width of the level
when the audio signal exceeds 0 dBFS, causing meters for tracks in both the Mix and Edit win-
clipping at the output converters on your audio in- dows, to make the track level meters easier to read.
terface. This behavior is mirrored in the Output Wide Meters view are also available Narrow Mix
Meters in the Transport. view.

Audio Track Clip Indicators To toggle Wide Meters View on or off:

Audio track clip indicators display red under the  Command-Option-Control-click (Mac) or Con-
following circumstances, otherwise they display trol-Alt-Start-click (Windows) any track level
yellow: meter in the Mix or Edit window.

• When an audio track is record enabled or set to

input monitoring and the input assignment is set
to a physical input signal that exceeds 0 dBFS
causing clipping at the converters.
• When an audio track is recording to a fixed-
point bit depth (16- or 24-bit) and the audio writ-
ten to disk exceeds 0 dBFS causing clipping in
the file.

Auxiliary Input and Instrument Track,

and Sends Clip Indicators

Auxiliary Input and Instrument tracks, as well as

Sends clip indicators display yellow when the au- Wide Meters view, Mix and Edit windows
dio signal exceeds 0 dBFS (even though there is no
internal clipping). This provides a warning that
these audio streams can clip at the output convert-
ers or when writing fixed-point file formats to disk.

Chapter 13: Tracks 227

 Showing or Hiding Meters and Advanced Metering
Faders
Pro Tools lets you change metering ballistics and
Pro Tools lets you show or hide Meters and Faders scales to match your needs for visually monitoring
in the Mix window. This can be useful for conserv- audio levels. For most users, the default settings
ing screen space, especially if you are working for each of the Meter Type settings work best.
with a control surface. However, for some broadcasters, post production
facilities, and mixing and mastering facilities,
To show (or hide) meters and faders in the Mix other metering options may be desired so that
window, do one of the following:
Pro Tools metering matches the metering on vari-
 Select (or deselect) View > Mix Window Views > ous external consoles or other devices.
Meters and Faders.
Fader and Meter Scales
 From the Mix Window View selector, select (or
deselect) Meters and Faders. 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.

The values between the fader and the meters

change depending on the selected Meter Type. For
example, for the Peak Meter Type, the meter scale
is from 0 dB down to –60 dB, while for the VU Me-
ter Type, the meter scale is from +3 dB down to
–20 dB.

Meter Type
scale

Mix Window View selector

Peak VU
Different Meter Type scales

228 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Gain Reduction Meter Placement to To set the Meter Type for Track and Master meters
Scale in the Pro Tools Preferences:

1 Choose Setup > Preferences.

The placement of the Gain Reduction meter (when
shown) depends on the scale for the selected Meter 2 Click the Metering tab.
Type. The top of the Gain Reduction meter will al-
3 Enable or disable the Track and Master Meter
ways match the reference level for the selected
Types Linked setting as desired.
Meter Type. Likewise, the bottom the Gain Reduc-
tion meter scales to the range of the selected Meter 4 Do one of the following:
Type.
• If the Track and Master Meter Types Linked set-
ting is enabled, select the desired Meter Type
from either the Track Meters or Master Meters
pop-up menus.
• If the Track and Master Meter Types Linked set-
ting is disabled, select the desired Meter Type
for Track meters from the Track Meters pop-up
menu and select the desired Meter Type for
Master meters from the Master Meters pop-up
menu.
Peak VU K-20
Option-Right-click (Mac) or Alt-Right-Click
Different Gain Meter locations to Meter Type scale (Windows) any track meter and select the de-
sired Meter Type to set all track types to the
Setting the Meter Type same setting regardless of the Track and
You can set the Meter Type either in the Pro Tools Master Meter Types Linked option is setting.
Metering preferences or using the Right-click Me-
5 Click OK.
ter menu. Depending on the Track and Master Me-
ter Types Linked setting, you can set the Track (au- To set the Track Meter Type in the Mix or Edit
dio, Auxiliary Input, and Instrument tracks) or windows:
Master (Master Fader tracks) Meter Type settings
1 Right-click on any Track meter.
independently.
2 From the Meter Type menu, select the desired
For details on the available Meter Types, see option.
“Track and Master Meter Types” on
page 122. If the Track and Master Meter Types Linked
option is enabled in the Pro Tools Metering
Preferences, Master meters are also set to the
selected Meter Type

Chapter 13: Tracks 229

 To set the Master Meter Type in the Mix or Edit Configuring Gain Reduction Meters
windows:
You can configure the Gain Reduction meters ei-
1 Right-click on any Master meter.
ther in the Pro Tools Metering preferences or using
2 From the Meter Type menu, select the desired the Right-click Meter menu. The Gain Reduction
option. Meters setting applies equally to Track and Master
meters regardless of the Track and Master Meter
If the Track and Master Meter Types Linked Types Linked setting.
option is enabled in the Pro Tools Metering
Preferences, all Track meters are also set to To configure Gain Reduction Meter Type, do one of
the selected Meter Type the following:

 Choose Setup > Preference > Metering and se-

lect the desired Gain Reduction Meter Type op-
tion.
 Right-click on any Track meter and select the
desired option from the Gain Reduction sub-
menu in the Gain Reduction Meter Type menu.

Selecting the Meter Type in the Mix window

Enabling Gain Reduction Meters in the Mix window

230 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 To create new tracks:
Adjusting Track Width
1 Do one of the following to open the New Tracks
(Mix Window) dialog:
The Narrow Mix command lets you view all • Choose Track > New.
tracks/channels in the Mix window at a reduced • Right-click any Track Name in the Mix or Edit
width to conserve screen space in a large session. windows, or Tracks List, and choose New.
(See “Track Height” on page 244, to adjust track
height in the Edit Window.) • Press Command+Shift+N (Mac) or Con-
trol+Shift+N (Windows).
To reduce the width of tracks in the Mix window:
2 Configure the New Tracks dialog as desired
 Select View > Narrow Mix. (see “New Tracks Dialog” on page 232).
3 Click Create.
To display tracks at normal width:

 Deselect View > Narrow Mix.

You can toggle track width by pressing

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 Ultimate op-
tion, you can also create multichannel tracks (from
LCR to 7.1).

When new tracks are created, they are given a

name that can be changed at any time.
 To insert new tracks next to a specific track in a
session, select that track by clicking the track’s
name in the Mix or Edit window before opening
the New Tracks dialog. The new tracks are added
immediately after the selected track.
 To insert new tracks after the last tracks in a ses-
sion, make sure that no track names are selected
on-screen before opening the New Tracks dialog.

You can also add tracks to your session by

importing them from preexisting sessions.
See “Importing Session Data” on page 420.

Chapter 13: Tracks 231

 New Tracks Dialog

Number of new tracks Track Type Track Timebase

Track Format Track Name Add/Remove Row

New Tracks dialog

Number of New Tracks Track Type

Enter the number of tracks of the specified type Select the track type (audio, Auxiliary Input, Mas-
and formate that you want to create. ter Input, MIDI, or Instrument) from the Track
Type pop-up menu.
In the New Tracks dialog, press the Tab key to
move forward from the Number of tracks field To auto-scroll the Track Type pop-up menu
to the Name field and down row by row. Press in the New Tracks dialog, press Command
Shift+Tab to move backward from the Name (Mac) or Control (Windows) and use the
field to the Number of tracks field and up row Up/Down Arrow keys.
by row.
If there are multiple rows for new tracks, press Track Timebase
Option+Tab (Mac) or Control+Tab to move Select the timebase (samples or ticks) from the
down the column for either the Number field Track Timebase pop-up menu.
or the Name field. Press Option+Shift+Tab
(Mac) or Control+Shift+Tab (Windows) to To auto-scroll the Track Timebase pop-up
move up the column. menu, press Command+Option (Mac) or
Control+Alt (Windows) and use the
Track Format Up/Down Arrow keys.
Select the track format (mono, stereo, or one of the
Track Name
multichannel surround formats) from the Track
Format pop-up menu. Surround formats are only If desired, name the track something other than the
available with Pro Tools Ultimate. default name. If you are creating multiple tracks,
each track name is appended with a number se-
To auto-scroll the Track Format pop-up quentially (for example, “name 1,” “name 2,”
menu, press Command (Mac) or Control “name 3,” and so on).
(Windows) and use the Left/Right Arrow
keys.

232 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 If you clear the track name for any row, the
new tracks are created and named with num-
bers sequentially. For example, if you create
5 new mono audio tracks and clear the name
field, the resulting tracks are named 1, 2, 3, 4,
and 5 respectively.

Move Row icon in the New Tracks dialog

Chapter 13: Tracks 233

 Add Tracks To add a new track of the same type and channel
width as the last new track, do one of the
To add more tracks, click the Add Row button. following:

To add a new track, press Command+N  Double-click in the empty area of the Mix win-
(Mac) or Control+N (Windows), or press dow below or to the right of any current tracks.
Command+Plus (+) (Mac) or Control+Plus  Double-click in the empty area of the Edit win-
(+) (Windows) on the numeric keypad. dow below any current tracks.

Remove Tracks  Double-click in the empty area below any cur-

rent tracks in the Tracks List.
To remove track, click the Remove Row button.
If no tracks exist in the session, a stereo audio track
To remove the last track from the New Tracks is created by default.
dialog, press Command+Minus (–) (Mac) or
Control+Minus (–) (Windows). To add a new audio track of the same channel
width as the last new track, do one of the
Reordering Track Rows following:

To reorder tracks, drag a Move Row icon up or  Command-double-click (Mac) or Control-dou-

down. ble-click (Windows) on the empty area of the
Mix window below or to the right of any current
tracks.
Adding New Tracks by Double-
Clicking in the Edit or Mix  Command-double-click (Mac) or Control-dou-
Windows ble-click (Windows) on the empty area of the
Pro Tools lets you add new tracks by double-click- Edit window below any current tracks.
ing in blank space below tracks in the Edit window  Command-double-click (Mac) or Control-dou-
or below or to the right of tracks in the Mix win- ble-click (Windows) in the empty area below
dow. any current tracks in the Tracks List.

If no tracks exist in the session, a stereo audio track

is created by default.

To add a new Auxiliary Input track of the same

channel width as the last new track, do one of the
following:

 Control-double-click (Mac) or Start-double-

click (Windows) on the empty area of the Mix
window below or to the right of any current
tracks.
 Control-double-click (Mac) or Start-double-
click (Windows) on the empty area of the Edit
window below any current tracks.

234 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Control-double-click (Mac) or Start-double- Default Track Names
click (Windows) in the empty area below any
When creating new audio, Auxiliary Input, Master
current tracks in the Tracks List.
Fader, VCA Master, MIDI, and Instrument tracks,
If no tracks exist in the session, a stereo Auxiliary Pro Tools names them as “Audio,” “Aux,” “Mas-
Input track is created by default. ter,” “VCA,” “MIDI, or “Inst” accordingly and
numbers them consecutively. For example, when
To add a new Master Fader track of the same you create the first two audio tracks in a new ses-
channel width as the last new track, do one of the sion, their default names are “Audio 1” and
following:
“Audio 2.” You can change the default track name
 Shift-double-click on the empty area of the Mix when you create the track (see “Creating Tracks”
window below or to the right of any current on page 231). You can also change track names
tracks. anytime after (see “Renaming Tracks” on
page 235).
 Shift-double-click on the empty area of the Edit
window below any current tracks.
Renaming Tracks
 Shift-double-click (Mac) in the empty area be-
low any current tracks in the Tracks List. Track names are used to auto-name recorded audio
files and clips. You can rename tracks and also log
If no tracks exist in the session, a stereo Master comments for each track in the session.
Fader track is created by default.

Track Name/Comments dialog

Chapter 13: Tracks 235

 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.

To move to the previous or next track in the

Track Name/Comments dialog, press Command
(Mac) or Control (Windows) and use the
Up/Down or Left/Right Arrows.

4 Click OK.

Batch Renaming Tracks

The Batch Rename command for tracks is only
available in the Track Name Right-click menu.
Batch Track Rename dialog
To rename selected tracks in batches:
1 Select the tracks you want to rename. 4 Configure the Batch Track Rename dialog as
desired.
2 Right-click any selected track name in the
Tracks List, Edit window, Mix window, Score 5 Click OK.
Editor window, or a MIDI Editor window. All selected tracks are renamed accordingly.
3 Choose Batch Rename.
For details on batch renaming tracks or
Press Option+Shift+R (Mac) or Alt+Shift+R clips, see “Batch Renaming” on page 305.
(Windows) to open the Batch Track Rename
dialog.

236 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Adding Comments to Tracks
To add comments to a track, do one of the
following:

 From the track channel strip, click directly in

the Comments area, type any comments for the
track, and press Return (Mac) or Enter (Win-
dows).
 In the Edit or Mix window, double-click the
Track Name button for a track. Then click di-
rectly in the Comments area, type any com-
ments for the track, and press Return (Mac) or
unselected track
Enter (Windows). selected track
Selected and unselected tracks
To enter a carriage return in the Comments
area, press Shift+Return (Mac) or Shift+En- To select a range of tracks:
ter (Windows) on the alphanumeric key- 1 Click the name of an unhighlighted track in its
board. track channel strip.

Track Numbering 2 Shift-click an additional button.

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 (or disable) Track Number view: dows) Track Name buttons that are unhigh-
 Select (or deselect) View > Track Number. lighted to select them.
 Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win-
Selecting Tracks dows) Track Name buttons that are highlighted
to deselect them.
Tracks need to be selected for operations such as
duplicating tracks or adding tracks to a group. One To select all tracks:
or more tracks can be selected at a time.
 Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) any
To select a track: Track Name button that is unhighlighted.

 Click the name of an unhighlighted track in its To deselect all tracks:

track channel strip.
 Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) any
Track Name button that is highlighted.

Chapter 13: Tracks 237

 Selecting Tracks when Making Edit Selections The specified track is selected and scrolled into
view.
Pro Tools lets you link Track selection with Edit
selections. When Track and Edit selections are To scroll a track into view from the Tracks List
linked, you can make a selection within a track or Right-click menu:
across multiple tracks for editing and each associ-
 In the Tracks List, or Mix or Edit window,
ated track is selected (track names automatically
Right-click the track name and select Scroll into
highlight).
View.
To link Track and Edit selections:
Control-Shift-click (Mac) or Start-Shift-click
 Select Options > Link Track and Edit Selection. (Windows) the track name in the Edit window,
Mix window, or Track List.
Scrolling a Track into View
Deleting Tracks
The Scroll To Track dialog lets you type the name
of the track you want to scroll to. As you type a When you delete tracks, your audio or MIDI clip
track name, only those tracks whose names begin data remains in the Clips List, but your arrange-
with the letter you enter appear in the Scroll To ment of the clips on the deleted track (the track’s
Track list. You can also Right-click a track name in playlist) will be lost.
the Tracks List and choose Scroll Into View.
If the track contains playlists that are not assigned
To scroll to a track by name in the Edit or Mix
to any track, you are prompted to delete or retain
window: them.
1 Choose Track > Scroll To Track. The Delete Track command cannot be un-
done.
Press Command+Option+F (Mac) or Con-
trol+Alt+F (windows) to open the Scroll to To delete a track:
Track dialog.
1 Click the name of the track in its track channel
2 In the Scroll To Track dialog, type the first few strip to select it.
letters of the track name you want to scroll to.
To select multiple tracks, Command-click (Mac)
3 From the Scroll To Track list, select the track or Control-click (Windows) additional Track
name you want to scroll to using the Up and Names.
Down Arrow keys. To select a range of tracks, Shift-click additional
Track Names.

2 Do one of the following:

• Choose Track > Delete.
• In the Tracks List, or Mix or Edit window,
Right-click the track name and select
Scroll To Track dialog
Delete.
4 Press Return (Mac) or Enter (Windows), or
3 Click OK to remove the selected tracks from the
click OK.
session.

238 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Duplicating Tracks 3 In the Duplicate Tracks dialog, configure the
following options:
The Duplicate Track command lets you duplicate
one or more tracks, including their audio or MIDI • Enter how many copies you want to create in the
data, playlists, automation, and other attributes. Number of Duplicates filed.
• To copy the currently active (visible) Edit play-
To duplicate one or more tracks: list from the source track, select Active Playlist.
1 Select the tracks you want to duplicate. • To copy all Edit playlists on the source track,
select Alternate Playlists
For information, see “Selecting Tracks” on
page 237. • To copy all automation from the source track,
select Automation.
2 Do one of the following:
• To copy all plug-in and insert assignments,
• Choose Track > Duplicate. select Inserts.
• Press Option+Shift+D (Mac) or Alt+Shift+D • To copy all sends and send assignments,
(Windows). select Sends.
• Right-click the name of the track in the Tracks • To maintain all Mix and Edit Group assign-
List, or Mix or Edit window, and select ments, select Group Assignments.
Duplicate.
4 If duplicating multiple tracks, do one of the fol-
lowing:
• If you want all the newly created tracks to follow
the last selected source track (to the far-right of
the Mix window, and at the bottom of the Edit
window), select the Insert after Last Selected
Track option.
• If you want each newly-created track to be in-
serted directly after its source track, deselect the
Insert after Last Selected Track option.

5 Click OK to duplicate tracks according to the

settings in the Duplicate Tracks dialog. Click
Cancel to close the dialog and not create dupli-
cate tracks.
Duplicate Tracks dialog

Chapter 13: Tracks 239

 Duplicating VCA Slave Tracks “piano roll” format. Use Clips view to edit and ar-
range MIDI clips. Use Notes view for inserting and
Duplicating a VCA slave track without duplicating
editing MIDI notes. Other MIDI track views are
its group assignments will coalesce any automa-
useful for editing velocity, controller data, pro-
tion on the duplicate track. The coalesced dupli-
gram changes, and Sysex events.
cate plays back exactly as if it were in the VCA
group. For more information, see “VCA Master Instrument Tracks Can be set to Blocks, Clips,
Tracks” on page 1047. Notes, Velocity, Volume, Mute, Pan, Pitch Bend,
Mono After Touch, Program Change, Sysex, and
any continuous controller type for MIDI; as well as
Track Views Volume, Volume Trim, Mute, Pan, Send controls,
or any plug-in controls that enabled for automa-
The Track View determines which data is dis- tion. Instrument tracks are commonly set to Notes
played and edited in the track’s playlist area. Track or Clips, each of which displays notes in a “piano
View data can be set to Playlists, Blocks, Analysis, roll” format. Use Notes view for inserting, editing,
Warp, Waveform, Volume, Volume Trim, Mute, and copying and pasting MIDI notes. Use Clip
Pan, Send, or an automated control or continuous view to arrange, capture, or consolidate clips.
controller, based on the track type and your Other Instrument track views are useful for editing
Pro Tools system. automation, controller data, program changes, and
Audio Tracks Can be set to Blocks, Playlists, Anal- Sysex events.
ysis, Warp, Waveform, Volume, Volume Trim, Video Tracks For information on video track
Mute, Pan, Send controls, or any plug-in controls views, see “Video Track View” on page 1359.
that are enabled for automation. By default, audio
tracks are set to Waveform view where track mate-
rial is graphically drawn with amplitude wave-
Blocks Track View
forms (a time-domain representation of sound). With the Track View set to Blocks, audio and
This Track View provides the necessary detail for MIDI clips are displayed as empty blocks bearing
important clip edits. the clip’s name. This Track View is most useful
once you have finished capturing and editing clips
Auxiliary Input Tracks Can be set to Volume, Vol-
at the waveform or MIDI event level and are mov-
ume Trim, Mute, Pan, Send controls, or any plug-in
ing and rearranging them. Screen redraws are fast-
controls that are enabled for automation.
est with this format.
Master Fader Tracks Can be set to Volume, Vol-
ume Trim, or any plug-in controls that are enabled Playlists Track View
for automation. (Audio Tracks Only)
VCA Master Tracks Can be set to Volume, Volume With the Track View set to Playlists, alternate
Trim, or Mute. playlists for audio tracks are revealed in Playlist
lanes under the Main Playlist on the track. This
MIDI Tracks Can be set to Blocks, Clips, Notes, Ve-
view is useful for track compositing, letting you
locity, Volume, Mute, Pan, Pitch Bend, Mono After
select the best parts from a track’s alternate play-
Touch, Program Change, Sysex, and any continu-
lists and copy them to the main playlist.
ous controller type. MIDI tracks are commonly set
to Notes or Clips, each of which displays notes in a

240 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Analysis and Warp Track View Notes View
(Audio Tracks Only) (MIDI Only)

With the Track View set to Analysis or Warp, you With the Track View set to Notes, you can insert
can edit Elastic Audio analysis and warp markers and edit MIDI notes on MIDI and Instrument
on Elastic Audio-enabled tracks. tracks.

Waveform View Automation and Controller

(Audio Only) Views
With the Track View set to Waveform, you can edit When an audio or Instrument track is displayed as
and arrange audio clips on audio tracks. Wave- Volume, Pan, or another automated control, or
forms are time-domain representations of the au- when a MIDI or Instrument track is set to one of
dio data and can be shown as normal or rectified the continuous controller types (such as Volume or
waveforms, and calculated using Peak or Power Pitch Bend), the data for that track appears in the
mode. form of a line graph with a series of editable break-
points. The breakpoints can be dragged to modify
the automation data, and new breakpoints can be
inserted with the Pencil tool or a Grabber tool.
MIDI and Instrument tracks also provide Velocity
view for editing MIDI velocities.
Track View set to Waveform for audio track

On audio tracks, the Waveform is also visi-

ble in Playlists, Analysis, Warp, and Auto-
mation views.
Track View set to Pan for audio track
Clips View
(MIDI Only) For details on inserting and editing controller
With the Track View set to Clips, you can edit and data for MIDI tracks, see “Continuous Con-
arrange MIDI clips on MIDI and Instrument troller Events” on page 764.
tracks.
You can also edit automation and controller
data in lanes below the track’s main playlist
view. For details on editing automation data for
audio tracks, see Chapter 50, “Automation.”

Track View set to Clips for MIDI track

Chapter 13: Tracks 241

 Setting Track Views in the
Edit Window
To set the Track View:

 Click the Track View selector for the track and

select the view from the pop-up menu.

The track displays the new view. If the track is part

of an active Edit Group, all tracks in the group are
set to the new view.
MIDI Track View selector

Audio Track View selector

Auxiliary Track View selector Instrument Track View selector

Changing Track Views

For audio, Auxiliary Input, MIDI, and Instrument
tracks, you can change to the next or previous
Track View, or toggle between pre-defined com-
mon views.
Master Fader Track View selector

VCA Master Track View selector

242 Pro Tools Reference Guide

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
“Keyboard Focus” on page 26), press Minus on
Track Views at the beginning of the list (such
the alphanumeric keyboard.
as Blocks for audio or MIDI tracks) cannot
be changed to the previous Track View. To toggle Track Views for all tracks, press
Tracks Views at the end of the list (such as a Option+Control+Minus (Mac) or
MIDI controllers option) cannot be changed Alt+Start+Minus (Windows) on the
to the next Track View. alphanumeric keyboard.

To change to the previous or next Track View:

To toggle Track Views for all tracks with
1 Click in the track you want to change. To
Commands Keyboard Focus enabled, press
change views on multiple tracks, Shift-click or
Option+Minus (Mac) or Alt+Minus
drag the Selector tool to select additional tracks,
(Windows) on the alphanumeric keyboard.
or select a group.
2 Do one of the following: Audio tracks are toggled between Waveform and
Volume view. MIDI and Instrument tracks are tog-
• To change to the previous or next Track View on
gled between Notes and Clips view.
all selected tracks, press Control+Command
(Mac) or Control+Start (Windows) and the Left
or Right Arrow key. Master Views for Tracks
• To change to the previous or next Track View on Audio, MIDI, and Instrument tracks have Track
all tracks, press Command+Option+Control Views that act as “master.” When a track is dis-
(Mac) or Control+Alt+Start (Windows) and the played in its Master view, any edits performed ap-
Left or Right Arrow key. ply to all data in the track. For instance, when an
audio track is set to Waveform, copying and past-
Toggling Common Track Views ing affects not just the waveform information, but
The most common editing view for audio tracks all of the automation data as well.
are Waveform and Volume view. The most com- The Master view is based on the type of track, as
mon editing views for MIDI and Instrument tracks follows:
are Notes and Clips view. Pro Tools provides an
easy way to toggle these views. • Audio tracks: Waveform and Blocks
• MIDI and Instrument tracks: Clips, Blocks, and
To toggle Track Views on tracks containing the edit Notes (when using the Selector tool)
cursor (or an Edit selection):

1 Click in the track you want to toggle. To toggle

multiple tracks, Shift-click or drag with the Se-
lector tool to select additional tracks.

Chapter 13: Tracks 243

 To resize all tracks proportionally:
Track Height
 Click Edit window Vertical Zoom In or Out but-
Tracks can be viewed in the Edit window at any of ton.
eight heights: Micro, Mini, Small, Medium, Large,
Jumbo, Extreme and Fit To Window. Larger track
heights are particularly useful for precise editing,
especially for MIDI. Smaller track heights are use-
ful for conserving screen space in a large session.

You can adjust track heights on an individual track

basis or set all tracks to the same height. Track
heights can be changed during playback.
Vertical Zoom In and Out buttons, Edit window

To set the Track Height, do one of the following:

Continuously Variable Track
 Click the small arrow to the left of the Track Height
name to get the Track Height pop-up menu.
In the Edit window, you can continuously resize
the Track Height of any given track by dragging
the lower boundary of the Track Controls column.

To resize the Track Height of any track in the Edit

window:

 Drag the bottom line of any given track’s Track

Controls column up or down. The cursor
Track Height pop-up menu changes to indicate that you can resize the track.
 Right-click on the vertical zoom scale just to the
The track’s Track Height changes incrementally.
right of the track controls and choose the height
from the pop-up menu.

The track is resized to the new height. If the track is

part of an Edit Group, all tracks in the group are set
to the new height.

Press Control+Up/Down Arrow key (Mac)

or Start+Up/Down Arrow key (Windows) to
increase/decrease track height of any track Adjusting the Track Height of an audio track
that contains a selection or in which the edit
cursor is currently placed. Hold Command (Mac) or Control (Windows)
while adjusting track height for continuous,
non-incremental adjustments.

To continuously resize all tracks, Option-drag

(Mac) or Alt-drag (Windows).

244 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 To continuously resize all selected tracks, Tracks List
Option-Shift-drag (Mac) or Alt-Shift-drag
The Tracks List (at the left of both the Mix and
(Windows).
Edit windows) shows all tracks in the session. It al-
lows you to show or hide a track in the Mix, Edit,
Track Controls and Track Height MIDI Editor, and Score Editor windows. Even
The Track Height affects how the various track though a track is hidden, the material on the track
controls appear in the Edit window. For instance, will still play as part of the session. Inactive tracks
when a track’s height is set to Small, most of the appear in italics in the Tracks List.
buttons are reduced in size.
The Tracks List can also be used to create
new tracks when importing media by drag
and drop from a Workspace browser. See
“Importing Files with Drag and Drop” on
Track Height set to Small page 404.
When the Track Height is set to Mini or Micro, only
controls for Record, Solo, and Mute appear, and
Track Show/Hide
the menus for Playlist, Track Timebase, Track
Track Color Code
Height, and Track View are accessed from the same
Track Type icon
selector. Track name
Tracks List menu

Track Height set to Mini

When the Track Height is set to Medium, Large,

Jumbo, or Extreme, all track controls are displayed
at their full size.

Tracks List

Track Height set to Large

Chapter 13: Tracks 245

 Show/Hide Tracks List and The Sort Tracks By command lets you set the track
Groups List order according to Name, Type, Edit Group, Mix
Group, or Voice. The sort order will be reflected in
To show (or hide) the Tracks List (and Groups the Tracks List in the Mix, Edit, MIDI Editor, and
List), do one of the following:
Score Editor windows.
 From the Edit window menu, select (or dese-
lect) Tracks List.
 Click the Show/Hide Tracks List/Groups List
View button in the Mix or Edit window.

Sort Tracks By options

When a track that is a member of an active group is

hidden from view, editing operations performed on
other members of the group in the Edit window
will not affect the hidden track. In the Mix win-
dow, however, all operations other than record-en-
Show/Hide Tracks List /Groups List, in Edit Window
able will affect a hidden track that is a member of
an active group.
Tracks List Menu
The Tracks List menu (at the top right of the The options in the Tracks List menu in the Score
Tracks List) provides commands that allow you to Editor window are different from the Mix, Edit,
show or hide all tracks, tracks currently selected and MIDI Editor windows. For more information,
on-screen, or specific types of tracks (audio, Aux- see “Tracks List” on page 812.
iliary Input, Master Fader, MIDI, Instrument,
VCA Master, or Inactive tracks). Showing and Hiding Tracks
The Mix and Edit windows are linked in terms of
which tracks are shown or hidden. However, the
Score Editor window and MIDI Editor windows
are all unique in terms of which tracks are shown
or hidden. For example, hiding a specific track in
the Edit window also hides it in the Mix window,
but not in the Score Editor or MIDI Editor win-
dows. Also, hiding a specific track in a MIDI Edi-
Show Only option
tor window hides it only in that MIDI Editor win-
dow.

246 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To hide a track, do one of the following: To hide all tracks:

 Click the Track Show/Hide icon in the Tracks  Click the Tracks List menu and choose Hide All
List. Tracks.

 In the Tracks List (or on the track channel strip), You can also hide all tracks by Option-clicking
Right-click the track name and select Hide (or (Mac) or Alt-clicking (Windows) the
Hide and Make Inactive if the track is active and Show/Hide icon of any track that is shown.
you also want to make it inactive).

To reorder tracks on-screen, drag the track

names to new positions within the Tracks List
or in the Mix or Edit window.

To show a range of tracks:

1 Select a range of hidden tracks in the Tracks
Shown track icon in the Tracks List List.
2 Click the Show/Hide icon of hidden track at the
top of the Tracks List.
3 Shift-click the Show/Hide icon of hidden track
at the bottom of the selection.

All tracks that occur between the first track se-

lected and the last track will also be selected.
Hidden track icon in the Tracks List

To show a track that is currently hidden, do one of To show or hide a range of tracks in the Tracks List
the following: with the Marquee:

 Click the Track Show/Hide icon in the Tracks 1 Move the cursor to the left of a track name until
List. the Marquee with a small “+” symbol appears.

 In the Tracks List (or on the track channel strip), 2 Click on the track in the list and drag up or down
Right-click the track name and select Show (or over the Show/Hide icons (to show or hide the
Show and Make Active if the track is inactive track and the tracks immediately above or be-
and you also want to make it active). low it).

To show all tracks: To show or hide non-contiguous tracks:

 Click the Tracks List menu and choose Show All  Click the Show/Hide icon for the tracks you
Tracks. want to show or hide.

You can also show all tracks by Option-click- To restore previously shown tracks after using the
ing (Mac) or Alt-clicking (Windows) the Show All Tracks, Show Only Selected Tracks, or
Show Only Tracks by <Track Type> commands:
Show/Hide icon of any track that is hidden.
 From the Tracks List menu, choose the Restore
Previously Shown Tracks option.

Chapter 13: Tracks 247

 To show selected hidden tracks and hide all shown
tracks: Track Name Right-Click
1 In the Tracks List, select the hidden tracks you Menu
want to show. (Mix Window, Edit Window, MIDI Editor
Windows, or Tracks List)
2 Option-Shift-click (Mac) or Alt-Shift-click
(Windows) the Show/Hide icon for one of the When you Right-click a track name in the Mix
selected hidden tracks. window, Edit window, MIDI Editor windows, or
the Tracks List, a pop-up menu provides access to
the following commands:
Mix/Edit Groups and Hidden
Tracks Download (Tracks List, Remote Shared Tracks
In the Mix window, if a hidden track is part of an Only) Downloads the track data without importing.
Track data can be imported at a later time.
enabled group, all Mix window operations per-
formed on other members of the group also affect Ignore for Future Download (Tracks List, Re-
the hidden track—with the exception of audio or mote Shared Tracks Only) Does not download or
MIDI record-enabling. If you solo, mute, or auto- import the track data.
mation write-enable a grouped track, any group
Import (Tracks List, Remote Shared Tracks
members that are hidden are soloed, muted, or au-
Only) Downloads and imports the track data imme-
tomation write-enabled as well.
diately.
In the Edit window, however, editing operations
For more information about downloading re-
performed on members of an enabled group do not
mote shared tracks, see “Track Cloud Syn-
affect hidden tracks that are also members of the
chronization Indicator in the Tracks List” on
enabled group.
page 395.

Track Numbering and Hidden Hide/Show Hides (or shows) the track (or selected
Tracks tracks if any).

In the Mix and Edit windows, Track Position Hide and Make Inactive Hides the track and makes
Numbers can either include hidden tracks in their it inactive (or selected tracks if any).
numbering sequence, or ignore them
Make Active/Inactive Toggles the active status of
• When Track Position Numbers Stay with Hidden the track (or all selected tracks in the Mix or Edit
Tracks is not selected in the Display Preferences window only).
page, numbers are only assigned to tracks that
are shown. In this case, active tracks are then Scroll Into View Scrolls the track to the top of the
numbered sequentially. Hidden tracks are un- Edit window or to the left of the Mix window.
numbered.
Export MIDI (MIDI and Instrument Tracks
• When Track Position Numbers Stay With Hidden Only) Exports the MIDI data from one or more
Tracks is selected in the Display Preferences MIDI or Instrument tracks to a standard MIDI file.
page, tracks keep their Track Position Numbers For more information, see “Exporting MIDI Files”
even when hidden. on page 418.

248 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Coalesce VCA Master Automation (VCA Master Notation Display Track Settings (MIDI and Instru-
Tracks Only) Coalesces the VCA automation to ment Tracks Only) Opens the Notation Display
the slave tracks of the VCA. Track Settings window for the track. Music nota-
tion can only be viewed in the Score Editor or in
Coalesce Trim Automation (Pro Tools Ultimate
MIDI Editor windows set to Notation view.
Only) Coalesces Trim automation on the track (or
selected tracks if any). Expand Channels to New Tracks Expands multi-
channel audio files imported from a field recorder
Clear Trim Automation (Pro Tools Ultimate
Only) Clears Trim automation on the track (or
to new tracks, such that every channel resides on
selected tracks if any). its own mono audio track. Pro Tools also automat-
ically conforms all expanded tracks to the edits in
Locked (Video Track Only) Toggles the the guide (expanded) track. You can expand multi-
locked/unlocked status of the video track (or channel files to new tracks ordered by channel
selected video tracks if any). name, by channel number, by channel name and
number, or by Timecode only.
New Opens the New Track dialog.
EUCON Control (Master Fader Tracks Only) On
Rename Opens the Track Name dialog.
systems configured for use with EUCON,
Batch Rename Opens the Batch Track Rename di- Pro Tools lets you use a single Master Fader to act
alog. as a Monitor Path control for EUCON control sur-
faces.
Duplicate Duplicates the track (or selected tracks
if any).

Split Into Mono (Multichannel Tracks Only) Splits Assigning Audio Inputs and
a multichannel track (or selected multichannel Outputs to Tracks
tracks if any) into their mono component tracks. Inputs for audio, Auxiliary Input, and Instrument
Delete Deletes the track (or selected tracks if any). tracks can be assigned to audio interface channels,
busses, or plug-in output busses (such as with
Field Recorder Guide Track (Audio Tracks on some Virtual Instrument or multi-band processing
Pro Tools Ultimate Only) Sets the selected track to plug-ins). Outputs for audio, Auxiliary Input, Mas-
be the guide track for field recorder workflows. ter Fader, and Instrument tracks can also be as-
signed to audio interface channels or busses.
MIDI Real-Time Properties (MIDI and Instrument
Tracks Only) Opens the Real-Time Properties
Track Input Track Input Track set to
window for the track. set to Audio 2 set to Bus 2 No Input

Open in New MIDI Editor (MIDI and Instrument

Tracks Only) Opens the track in a new MIDI
Editor window.

Open in Score Editor (MIDI and Instrument Tracks

Only) Opens the track in the Score Editor window.
Input/output assignments for three mono audio tracks
Open in MIDI Event List (MIDI and Instrument
Tracks Only) Opens the track in the MIDI Event
List.
Chapter 13: Tracks 249
 For stereo and multichannel surround tracks, in- The Input Path selector lets you route any audio in-
puts and outputs appear as stereo pairs and multi- put or any of the Pro Tools internal busses to an au-
channel groups. The available inputs, outputs, and dio, Auxiliary Input, or Instrument track. The
busses are defined as paths in the I/O Setup dialog choices available in this pop-up menu are deter-
(see Chapter 6, “I/O Setup”). mined by the Input Path configuration in the I/O
Setup. Inputs in use by another track appear bold in
Automatic Input and Output the Input Path selector pop-up menu.
Assignments
Instrument tracks automatically assign the
When adding tracks to a new session, inputs are audio output from the instrument plug-in in-
automatically assigned in ascending order. For ex- serted on the track to the track audio Input.
ample, if you have an audio interface with eight in-
puts, creating four new mono audio tracks will au- To automatically assign all track inputs (of the
same type and channel width) to unique ascending
tomatically add four audio tracks with inputs Input paths (cascading):
assigned to the first four paths defined in the I/O
Setup dialog. When creating stereo tracks, inputs  Command-Option-click (Mac) or Control-Alt-
are automatically assigned to subsequent input click (Windows) the Input Path selector of the
pairs. left-most Input Path selector and select the first
Input Path (mono or stereo, depending on
The outputs automatically assigned to new tracks whether your tracks are mono or stereo).
are determined by the New Track Default Output
Bus specified in the I/O Setup dialog. All visible tracks of the same channel width (mono
or stereo) are auto-assigned to unique Input Path
assignments in ascending order. For example,
Assigning Audio Inputs Track 1 to A1, Track 2 to A2, Track 3 to A3, and so
(Audio, Auxiliary Input, and Instrument Tracks)
on.
To assign an audio input of an audio, Auxiliary ‘

Input, or Instrument track:

1 In order to assign audio track inputs in the Edit
window, select View > Edit Window > I/O.
2 In the Mix or Edit window, click the track’s In-
put Path selector and choose from the available
audio interface channels and busses. Stereo and
multichannel surround tracks have inputs avail-
able as pairs and multichannel groups.
Input Path selector

To remove an input assignment:

 Select No Input from the Input Path selector.

250 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Assigning Audio Outputs To remove an output assignment:
(Audio, Auxiliary Input, Master Fader, and  Select No Output from the Output Path selector.
Instrument Tracks) Playlists become dimmed for tracks with no
output assignment.
To assign an audio output of an audio, Auxiliary
Input, Master Fader, or Instrument track:
Assigning an audio track, Auxiliary Input,
1 In order to assign audio track outputs in the Edit Master Fader, or Instrument track to “No
window, select View > Edit Window > I/O. Output” will cause its automation data for
2 In the Mix or Edit window, click the track’s pan and plug-in controls to be lost.
Output Path selector and choose from the avail-
Create and Assign New Track from
able audio interface channels and busses. Stereo Track Output
and multichannel surround tracks have outputs
available as pairs and multichannel paths. Pro Tools lets you create a new Auxiliary Input,
Audio, or Instrument track from the Output selec-
tor and automatically assign the Output of the orig-
inal track to the Input of the new track using an
available internal mix bus.

To create a new track from a track output:

1 On an existing track, click the Output selector
for the track and select New Track.
Output Path selector 2 In the New Track dialog, select the Width, Type,
The Output Path selector lets you route a track to and Time Base for the new track.
any configured audio output or internal bus. The
choices available in this pop-up menu are deter-
mined by the Output Bus Path configuration in the
I/O Setup. Outputs in use by another track appear
bold in the Output Path selector’s pop-up menu. New Track dialog

Command-Option-click (Mac) or Control- 3 Type a Name for the new track.

Alt-click (Windows) the Output Path selector
4 Select (or deselect) whether you want the new
of the left-most track and select the first Out-
track to be created next to the current track.
put Path (mono or stereo). All visible tracks
are automatically assigned to unique Output 5 Click OK.
Bus Path assignments in ascending order.
For example, Track 1 to A1–2, Track 2 to Pro Tools creates a new track with the output of the
A3–4, Track 3 to A5–6, and so on. originating track automatically routed to the input
of the new track using an available internal mix
bus.

Chapter 13: Tracks 251

 When creating a new internal mix bus, the new bus To assign the output of a track to an available input
will be named after what you typed for the new on an existing track:
track. For example, if you entered the name “Drum 1 On an existing track, click the Output selector
Sub,” Pro Tools creates a new Auxiliary Input for a track and select Track.
track named “Drum Sub” and also creates an inter-
2 From the Track submenu, select the destination
nal mix bus named “Drum Sub.”
track you want.

Assigning a track output to an existing Auxiliary Input

track

Pro Tools automatically routes the track or send to

the input of the selected track using an available in-
ternal mix bus.

Searching Track Input and

Track Output Path Selectors
To search for a path in an Input or Output selector:
1 Click the path selector for the input or output
you want to assign and do one of the following:
• Type the first character of the path name you
New Auxiliary Input track with audio track output want.
automatically assigned to Bus 1–2
• Click Search.
Assign Existing Track from a Track Output • Press Tab.
Pro Tools lets you assign the Output of a track to
the Input of an existing track using an available in-
ternal mix bus. Note that the destination track must
be set to either an internal mix bus or to No Input in
order to be available for assignment.

Searching a path selector (Track Output)

252 Pro Tools Reference Guide

2 Type a few letters included the path name that To search for and assign multiple paths (Sends
you want. Only paths whose names that include and Track Outputs only):
those letters (highlighted yellow) now appear in 1 Type to search for each additional path assign-
the list (maximum of 20). ment, do one of the following:
• Tab to confirm current tag that you are typing.
• Press Shift+Return.
• Click the entry.
2 Press Return to close the selector menu and as-
sign the outputs.

Searching a path selector, typing to find a path

3 Select the desired path with the mouse, or use

the Up and Down arrow keys to select the path
name.

Searching and assigning multiple outputs

Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) to

assign outputs to the same path for all tracks
of the same type.

Option-Shift-click (Mac) or Alt-Shift-click

(Windows) to assign outputs to the same path
for all selected tracks.
Searching a path selector—single path found by
typing the first letters of its name

4 Do one of the following:

• Press Return again to close the selector menu.
• Click anywhere outside the menu.

Chapter 13: Tracks 253

 Renaming Track Inputs and You can make track inputs and outputs inactive (or
Outputs from the Edit or Mix active) directly from the Edit or Mix windows. In-
Window active I/O Paths are grayed out.
I/O path names can be renamed in the Edit or Mix You can also make a path globally inactive
windows, or in the I/O Setup. (or active) in the I/O Setup dialog. See “Mak-
ing Paths Active or Inactive” on page 76.
To rename an I/O path in the Edit or Mix window:
1 In the Edit or Mix window, Right-click the In- To make a track’s Input or Output Path inactive (or
put selector or Output selector for a track, and active), do one of the following:

choose Rename from the pop-up menu.  In the Edit or Mix window, Right-click the In-
put selector or Output selector for a track, and
2 In the Rename I/O dialog, type a name for the
choose Make Inactive (or Make Active) from the
I/O Path, and click OK.
pop-up menu.
‘

 Command-Control-click (Mac) or Control-

Start-click (Windows) the Input or Output se-
lector in the Mix or Edit window.

To make all tracks’ Inputs or Outputs assigned to

the same path inactive (or active), do one of the
Rename I/O dialog following:

In the Edit or Mix window, Option-Right-click

Making Track Inputs and


(Mac) or Alt-Right-click (Windows) the Input

Outputs Inactive from the Edit
selector or Output selector for a track, and
or Mix Window
choose Make Inactive (or Make Active) from the
Track Input, Output, and Bus Path assignments can pop-up menu.
be made inactive using the corresponding selector
 Command-Option-Control-click (Mac) or Con-
on the track. Making a track’s Input or Output in-
trol-Alt-Start-click (Windows) the Input or Out-
active silences that Input or Output, while retain-
put selector in the Mix or Edit window.
ing all automation and playlist data. For HDX sys-
tems, inactive Inputs and Outputs do not consume
To make all selected tracks’ Inputs or Outputs
resources for DSP mixer connections, but any ac- assigned to the same path inactive (or active), do
tive assigned plug-ins on the track continue to use one of the following:
their required DSP resources. For Pro Tools host-
 In the Edit or Mix window, Option-Shift-Right-
based systems, inactive Inputs and Outputs do not
click (Mac) or Alt-Shift-Right-click (Windows)
consume host-processing resources. Host-based,
the Input selector or Output selector for a track,
or Native plug-ins require CPU resources, and
and choose Make Inactive (or Make Active)
DSP-based plug-ins use the DSP available on
from the pop-up menu.
HDX cards.
 Command-Option-Control-Shift-click (Mac) or
Control-Alt-Start-Shift-click (Windows) the In-
put or Output selector in the Mix or Edit win-
dow.

254 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Toggling Multiple Paths Track Priority
If a track has only one main output assignment, While your Pro Tools hardware allows a fixed
Command-Control-click (Mac) or Control-Start- number of voices, Pro Tools software allows for
click (Windows) the track’s Output Path selector additional audio tracks beyond that fixed number
to toggle the main output to inactive. When there of voices. While all of these tracks can be recorded
are multiple assignments, the track selector will be to or imported, arranged, and cued for playback,
displayed for you to specify the Input, Output, In- not all of them can be played back simultaneously.
sert, or Bus Path by Control-clicking (Mac) or
Start-clicking (Windows). When the number of tracks exceeds the number of
available voices, tracks with lower priority may
If a Send (A–J) has multiple Output Path as- not be heard. For these situations, Pro Tools as-
signments and one of those is toggled active signs priorities to tracks that compete for the avail-
or inactive, then all of the Output Path as- able voices. Because there can be more tracks than
signments for that Send (A–J) are toggled ac- available voices, Pro Tools provides multiple ways
tive or inactive. of adjusting the playback priority of audio tracks.
See “Changing a Track’s Playback Priority” on
page 255 and “Freeing up Voices on a Track” on
Track Priority and Voice page 256.
Assignment
Changing a Track’s Playback Priority
Track priority and voice assignment are dependent
on your Pro Tools hardware and software configu- Tracks with higher positions (leftmost in the Mix
ration. window or topmost in the Edit window) have pri-
ority over tracks in lower positions in a session.
HDX systems provide a certain number of voices
(simultaneous channels of audio playback and re- To increase a track’s priority, do any of the
cording), depending on the number of cards in the following:
system. For details on Pro Tools system capabili-  In the Mix window, drag the Track Name button
ties, see “Playback, Recording, and Voice Limits to the left of other tracks in the session. Tracks
with Pro Tools | Ultimate Software” on page 42. at the left of the Mix window have higher prior-
Pro Tools | Ultimate running on non-HDX hard- ity than those on the right.
ware provides a certain number of voices, depend-  In the Edit window, drag the Track Name button
ing on whether any optional Pro Tools | Ultimate above other tracks in the session. Tracks at the
Voice Packs are installed. For information about top of the Edit window have higher priority than
Pro Tools | Ultimate Voice Packs, see those below.
“Pro Tools | Ultimate Voice Packs” on page 48.
 In the Tracks List, drag the Track Name to a
Pro Tools systems let you play or record up to 128 higher position in the list. Tracks at the top of
simultaneous stereo or mono tracks in any combi- this list have higher priority than those below.
nation. For details on system capabilities, see
“Pro Tools Capabilities with Different Hardware
Configurations” on page 38.

Chapter 13: Tracks 255

 Freeing up Voices on a Track To set the voice assignment for a track:

You can also adjust the relative priority of tracks  Click the Voice selector and set the track to Dyn
by freeing up the voices of individual tracks, mak- or Off.
ing them available to other tracks in the session.

To free up the voice of a track, do one of the

following:

 Click the Voice selector of the track and set it to Voice selector for an audio track
Off. See “Setting Voice Assignment” on Track Priority and Dynamic Voicing
page 256.
The lowest-numbered (highest priority) audio
 Deactivate the track by Command-Control-
tracks that are active and have their voice assign-
clicking (Mac) or Control-Start-clicking (Win-
ment set to DYN (Dynamically Allocated Voicing)
dows) its track type icon in the Mix window.
are the tracks that play back. (The total number of
 Make sure the track does not have an Output tracks that play back depends on the maximum
Path or Send assignment. number of voiced audio tracks allowed by your
system.)
Setting Voice Assignment Tracks that are higher-numbered (lower priority)
A track’s voice assignment can be turned off or set than these tracks do not play back and you cannot
to be dynamically allocated. Use Dynamically Al- record to them. Their Dynamically Allocated Voic-
located Voicing to automatically take care of voice ing button are blue to indicate they are unavailable
management in the background, assigning voices for playback or recording.
not in use by other tracks.

With Pro Tools Ultimate, QuickPunch,

TrackPunch, and DestructivePunch require
No free voice available for a lower priority audio track
additional voices. For more information, see
Chapter 26, “Punch Recording Modes.”
Tracks do not play back when they are inac-
tive or their voice assignment is set to Off.
With HDX systems, the initial insert of a Na-
tive (host-based) plug-in may uses additional When working with more than the maximum num-
voices in certain situations. See “Inserting ber of voiced audio tracks allowed by your system,
Native and DSP Plug-Ins on Tracks” on you can only play back audio from higher-num-
page 1098. bered (lower priority) tracks by changing the track
priority by doing any of the following:
• Make a lower-numbered track inactive (click the
Track Name and select Track > Make Inactive).
• Set the voice assignment in a lower-numbered
track to Off (click the Voice selector and select
Off).

256 Pro Tools Reference Guide

• Drag the Track Name button of the higher-num- To assign a MIDI track input:
bered track to the left (Mix window) or upwards  Click the track’s MIDI Input selector and assign
(in the Edit window or Tracks List) until it is in a port and channel for MIDI input. Channels al-
the range of the maximum number of voiced au- ready assigned to another track appear in bold.
dio tracks allowed by your system. The previ-
ously last voiced audio track is moved out of In the Edit window, select View > Edit
range and its voice assignment is changed to Off. Window > I/O to access any track’s Input
selector.
When the priority of the higher-numbered track is
changed, its voice assignment is automatically
changed from Off to DYN.

Assigning MIDI Inputs and

Outputs to Tracks
MIDI recording and playback is supported with
MIDI tracks and Instrument tracks.

MIDI ports in your system can be named and con-

figured for use in Pro Tools (for Windows, see
“Configuring MIDI Studio Setup” and for Mac,
see “Configuring AMS”).

Assigning MIDI Track Input

Pro Tools lets you assign specific MIDI ports and
channels to a MIDI track input. The default selec-
tion of All receives all incoming MIDI data from
all ports on all channels. Use the MIDI Input selec- MIDI Input selector (MIDI Track shown)
tor to specify a MIDI port and channel for input.

For information on assigning MIDI input to

Instrument tracks, see “Assigning MIDI In-
put and Output for Instrument Tracks” on
page 258.

Chapter 13: Tracks 257

 Assigning MIDI Track Output To assign multiple destinations to a single MIDI
track:
Pro Tools lets you assign specific MIDI ports and
 Control-click (Mac) or Right-click (Mac or
channels to a MIDI track output. The default selec-
Windows) the MIDI Output selector and select
tion of none sends MIDI data to no port on any
additional channels from any device.
channel. Use the MIDI Output selector to specify a
MIDI port and channel for output. For information on recording and
importing MIDI data, see Chapter 25,
MIDI tracks in Pro Tools cannot contain
“MIDI Recording.”
multiple channels of MIDI data.

Assigning MIDI Input and Output

For information on assigning MIDI output to for Instrument Tracks
Instrument tracks, see “Assigning MIDI In-
Instrument tracks have a specific view for MIDI
put and Output for Instrument Tracks” on
controls, including MIDI Input and Output selec-
page 258.
tors.
To assign a MIDI track (and all its clips) to a
specific MIDI device channel: In addition to assigning MIDI input and out-
put for recording and playing back MIDI
 Click the track’s MIDI Output selector and as-
data, Instrument tracks can also be used to
sign a port and channel for MIDI output. Chan-
monitor the audio from your hardware MIDI
nels already assigned to another track appear in
instruments and instrument plug-ins. See
bold.
“Signal Routing for Monitoring and Submix-
In the Edit window, select View > Edit Window ing” on page 1074.
> I/O to access any track’s Output selector. To view Instrument track MIDI controls, do one of
the following:

 Select View > Mix Window > Instruments.

 Select View > Edit Window > Instruments.

MIDI Input selector

MIDI Output selector

Instruments view, Mix window

Instrument Track MIDI Input

Pro Tools lets you assign specific MIDI ports and

channels to an Instrument tracks’ MIDI input. The
default selection of All receives all incoming MIDI
data from all ports on all channels. Use the MIDI
Input selector to specify a MIDI port and channel
for input.
MIDI Output selector (MIDI track shown)

258 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Channels in use by another track input appear bold Soloing Tracks
in the MIDI Input pop-up menu.
To solo tracks:
To assign an Instrument track MIDI input: 1 Click the Solo button on a track. The button is
 Click the track’s MIDI Input selector and assign highlighted and all other tracks are muted.
a port and channel for MIDI input. Channels al- 2 Click the Solo button on another track. The but-
ready assigned to another track appear in bold. tons for both tracks are highlighted and all other
tracks are muted.
Instrument Track MIDI Output

Pro Tools lets you assign specific MIDI ports and To un-solo tracks:
channels to an Instrument tracks’ MIDI output.  Click the Solo button on soloed tracks.
The default selection of none sends MIDI data to
no device, port, or node on any channel. Use the For information on creating and modifying
MIDI Output selector to specify a MIDI port and groups for track soloing and muting, see
channel for output. “Grouping Tracks” on page 281.

Channels in use by another track input appear as Solo Button

bold in the MIDI Input pop-up menu.
The Solo button normally mutes other tracks so
To assign an Instrument track MIDI output: that the selected track can be auditioned inde-
pendently.
 Click the track’s MIDI Output selector and as-
sign a port and channel for MIDI output. Chan- With Pro Tools Ultimate, this behavior is selected
nels already assigned to another track appear in as a Solo mode, called “Solo In Place.” Additional
bold. Solo modes are provided to change how the Solo
button works. See “Solo Modes” on page 259.

Soloing and Muting Tracks Solo Modes

The Solo and Mute buttons can be engaged at any Pro Tools lets you use the Solo button to:
time during playback. The Solo and Mute buttons
• Mute other tracks so that the selected track can
affect MIDI as well as audio tracks. It is possible to
be auditioned alone.
have more than one track soloed or muted at the
same time in a session. • Route a selected track to a separate output.

Instrument tracks have separate sets of Solo button behavior is defined by the Solo mode,
Solo and Mute buttons for MIDI and audio as follows:
monitoring.
SIP (Solo In Place) The Solo button mutes other
Track grouping also affects mute and solo behav- tracks. When this mode is enabled, tracks can be
ior. Muting or soloing a track that is a member of solo safed (see “Solo Safe Mode” on page 261).
an active Mix Group will mute or solo all other
tracks that are a member of that active Mix Group
as well.

Chapter 13: Tracks 259

 AFL (After Fader Listen) The Solo button routes To select a Solo mode:
the track’s post-fader/post-pan signal to the 1 Choose Options > Solo Mode.
AFL/PFL Path output. The AFL/PFL Path is con-
figured in the Output page of the I/O Setup dialog 2 Select SIP, AFL, or PFL.
(see “AFL/PFL Path” on page 61).
The Solo mode for all soloed tracks can be
With AFL, the level you hear is dependent on the changed from any Solo mode to either SIP or
fader level for that track. Additionally, there is a AFL. Previously soloed tracks will switch
separate master level setting for AFL that affects their solo behavior to the new mode.
the output of any or all tracks you solo in AFL
Switching the Solo mode for all soloed tracks
mode (see “AFL/PFL Path” on page 61). This
to PFL clears all previously soloed tracks
level setting is independent of the PFL level
before entering PFL mode. This prevents
setting.
potentially large boosts in level.
PFL (Pre Fader Listen) The Solo button routes the
DSP Usage when Using AFL or PFL Mode
track’s pre-fader/pre-pan signal to the AFL/PFL
Path output. The AFL/PFL Path is configured in AFL and PFL are accomplished by Pro Tools cre-
the Output page of the I/O Setup dialog (see ating a “behind the scenes” mixer to route the sig-
“AFL/PFL Path” on page 61). nal to the chosen AFL/PFL Path. Depending on the
size of your main mixer, Pro Tools will devote a
With PFL, the fader level and pan are ignored, and
substantial portion of its available DSP when using
the level you hear is dependent on the signal’s re-
AFL/PFL mode.
corded level. Additionally, there is a separate mas-
ter level setting for PFL that affects the output of Un-declaring the AFL/PFL Path will free up all
any or all tracks you solo in PFL mode (see DSP resources previously used for AFL/PFL
“AFL/PFL Path” on page 61). This level setting is mode.
independent of the AFL level setting.
Using AFL/PFL on Pro Tools Systems with a
AFL and PFL Solo modes require the D-Control or D-Command
Surround Mixer plug-in.
AFL/PFL is optimized for Pro Tools systems using
a D-Control or D-Command control surface,
Custom Pan Depth settings are unavailable where the XMON automatically switches its mon-
when either AFL or PFL Solo mode is itor source between the main output and the
enabled. AFL/PFL output from Pro Tools.

For more information on using XMON and

If Mute Frees Assigned Voice is enabled,
AFL/PFL, see your control surface guide.
muted tracks will not be audible in PFL
mode.

260 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Solo Latch Options 3 While holding the first Solo button, press addi-
tional Solo buttons. Solo buttons remain soloed
Solos can be latched (where pressing subsequent
as long as one Solo button is held.
buttons adds them to the soloed mix of tracks), un-
latched, or temporarily latched As long as at least one Solo button is held, all
(Pro Tools Ultimate only). the solos will remain latched.

To select a Solo Latch mode:

Solo Safe Mode
 Choose Options > Solo Mode and select from
Pro Tools lets you solo safe a track. This prevents
the following options:
the track from being muted even if you solo other
Latch When selected, pressing subsequent Solo tracks. This feature is useful for tracks such as
buttons adds them to the soloed mix of tracks. Auxiliary Inputs that are being used as a submix of
audio tracks, or effects returns, allowing the audio
X–OR (Cancels Previous Solos) When selected, or effects track to remain in a mix even when other
pressing subsequent Solo buttons cancels previous tracks are soloed. It is also useful to solo safe MIDI
solos. tracks so that their playback is not affected when
you solo audio tracks.
To override X–OR mode and solo more than
one track at a time, hold the Solo button on AFL or PFL soloed tracks cannot be solo
the first track. Subsequently pressed Solo but- safed.
tons will latch.
To solo safe a track:
Momentary (Pro Tools | Ultimate Only) When se-
lected, Solo buttons are not sticky. A track is so-  Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win-
loed only when its Solo switch is held down. dows) the Solo button on the track. This pre-
vents the track from being muted even if you
With a qualified control surface, additional tracks solo other tracks. The Solo button changes to a
can be soloed by pressing their SOLO switches (as transparent color in Solo Safe mode.
long as at least one Solo button is held down).
When no SOLO switch is held down, all soloed To return a solo safe track to normal:
tracks will unsolo.  Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win-
dows) the Solo button on the track again.
Temporarily Latching Solos in Momentary
Solo Mode
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only) Mute Button
The Mute button silences a chosen track. More
To temporarily latch solos:
than one track can be muted at one time.
1 Choose Options > Solo Mode > Momentary.
To mute a track:
2 Press the Solo button on the first track that will
be soloed.  Click the Mute button on the track.

To unmute a track:

 Click the Mute button again.

Chapter 13: Tracks 261

 MIDI Mute To make one or more tracks inactive or active, do
one of the following:
The Mute button on a MIDI track mutes MIDI
 Select the track and select Track > Make Inac-
data, not audio. Muting MIDI results in no MIDI
tive/Active.
data being passed to the MIDI output. On Instru-
ment tracks, the track’s Mute button mutes the au-  Right-click the Track Name in the Tracks List,
dio signal and the MIDI Mute button is only avail- or Mix or Edit windows and choose Make Inac-
able in Instruments view. tive/Active.

To select multiple tracks, Command-click

(Mac) or Control-click (Windows) additional
Track Names.

To select a range of tracks, Shift-click the

Track Names bounding the range of tracks
you want selected.
MIDI Mute button, Instruments view, Mix window

Color Coding for Tracks,

Making Tracks Inactive Clips, Markers, and Groups
Audio, Auxiliary Input, Master Fader, VCA Mas- Separate colors can be assigned to audio and MIDI
ter, and Instrument tracks can be made inactive. In- clips, tracks, markers, and groups. Clips shown in
active tracks use no DSP or voices. Plug-Ins, Waveform and Block Views in the Edit window
sends, voices, and automation on inactive tracks are drawn in color. Tracks shown in the Tracks
are all disabled. Tracks may also be automatically List, Groups List, and Mix and Edit windows have
made inactive if a session is opened on a system associated color bars.
with less DSP power than the system that it was
created on. Color Bars

MIDI tracks cannot be made inactive. Color coding at the track level is displayed using
color bars, as follows:
To toggle a track active/inactive:
Mix Window Track colors are displayed in hori-
 Command-Control-click (Mac) or Control- zontal color bars that appear above each channel
Start-click (Windows) the Track Type indicator strip, and below the track name.
in the Mix window.
Edit Window Track colors are displayed in vertical
Playlists for inactive tracks are dimmed and track color bars that appear to the left of each track.
controls are grayed out.
Tracks List Track colors are displayed in vertical
color bars that appear to the left of each track
name.

Groups List Track colors are displayed in vertical

color bars that appear to the left of each Group
Name.

262 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Default colors are automatically assigned to tracks, Default Track Color Coding
but you can override those colors by choosing
The Default Track Color Coding options determine
from a color palette of 96 possible colors. For more
how colors are assigned to the display of tracks.
information, see “Color Palette” on page 264.
None Turns off default color assignment for
Display Page Preferences for tracks.
Color Coding
Tracks and MIDI Channels Assigns a color to each
Color Coding options determine how colors are as- track in the Mix or Edit window according to its
signed to the display of tracks and clips. voice assignment or MIDI channel assignment.

To change Color Coding options: Tracks and MIDI Devices Assigns a color to each
track in the Mix or Edit window according to its
1 Choose Setup > Preferences.
voice assignment or MIDI device assignment.
2 Click the Display tab.
Groups Assigns a color to each track according to
3 Select or deselect the Always Display Marker its Mix or Edit Group ID. If groups are suspended
Colors option. using the Suspend Groups command, the tracks
4 Select the MIDI Note Color Shows Velocity op- color bars are not shown.
tion. Track Type Assigns a color to each track according
5 Select or deselect the Apply Color Coding to to its type (audio, Auxiliary Input, Master Fader,
Track Channel Strip option. VCA Master, MIDI, Instrument, or video).

6 Select a Default Track Color Coding option. Default Clip Color Coding
7 Select a Default Clip Color Coding option. The Default Clip Color Coding options determine
8 Click OK. how colors are assigned to the display of tracks,
clips in the track playlist and Clips List, and
Always Display Marker Colors Marker Locations.

This option lets you view Marker colors in the None Turns off default color assignment for clips.
Markers ruler, regardless of the option you choose Clips are drawn as black waveforms or black MIDI
for the Default Clip Color Coding option. notes on a light gray background.

Tracks and MIDI Channels Assigns a color to each

MIDI Note Color Shows Velocity
clip in the Edit window according to its voice or
When this option is enabled, MIDI notes display MIDI channel assignment.
varying shades of the assigned track color in MIDI
Tracks and MIDI Devices Assigns a color to each
notes view in the Edit window and in MIDI Editor
clip in the Edit window according to its voice as-
windows. Notes with high velocities are darker
signment or MIDI device assignment.
and notes with lower velocities are lighter.

Chapter 13: Tracks 263

 Groups Assigns a color to each clip according to The Color Palette supports independent clip color
the Group ID of its track. If groups are suspended coding in the Clips List and in tracks.
(using the Suspend Groups command) all clips
display black waveforms or MIDI notes on a light To apply a color from the Color Palette:
gray background. 1 Choose Window > Color Palette.
Track Color Assigns a clip color based on the color 2 Do one of the following:
assigned to the track. (See “Color Palette” on
• In the Apply to Selected pop-up menu, select the
page 264.)
destination for color coding: Tracks, Marker,
Marker Locations Assigns a unique color to each Group, Clips in Tracks, or Clips in Clips List.
marker area in the Marker ruler, including the area • Select a track, marker, group, track clip, or Clips
preceding the first marker. List clip in the appropriate Pro Tools window.
The Apply to Selected menu will display the
Clips List Color Assigns a color to each clip based
type of item you have selected.
on its color in the Clips List. When this Default Clip
Color Coding option is enabled, the assigned clip If selecting a marker does not display the
color is maintained even if the clip is placed in a Marker option in the Apply to Selected
track set to a different color coding. pop-up menu, then the Always Display
Marker Colors option in the Display Prefer-
Enabling any Default Clip Color Coding op-
ences page is deselected. See “Always Dis-
tion other than Clips List Color will override
play Marker Colors” on page 263 for more
Clips List Color and reassign the parent track
information.
color to copies of the clip placed in tracks.
Copies of the clip in the Clips List will retain 3 Select a color from the palette, or select one of
their unique color. the following:

Color Palette Default Removes any custom coloring and restores

the color to the default color orientation. See “Dis-
The Color Palette lets you make color selections play Page Preferences for Color Coding” on
for tracks, clips, groups and markers. page 263 for more information.

Apply to Selected None Turns off color assignment. Affected clips

Apply to Channel Strip None are drawn with black waveform or MIDI notes on
Saturation Default light gray background. Affected tracks and groups
Brightness
no longer show their color bars.

Last assigned color Hold

Color Palette window

264 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Using the Hold Button Applying Track Color Coding to
Channel Strips
The Color Palette provides a Hold button to sim-
plify the process of assigning the same colors to The Color Palette lets you apply the Track color
multiple items (such as track and clips). coding to channel strips in the Mix and Edit win-
dows.
By default, the Hold button is off. When off, the
Color Palette automatically highlights the assigned To apply track color coding to channel strips:
color (if any) of items as you select them.
1 Enable the Apply to Channel Strip button.
When the Hold button is enabled, the assigned 2 If necessary, adjust the Saturation slider to get
color selected in the Color Palette persists and does the color saturation you want.
not change when a different track or clip is se-
lected. 3 If necessary, adjust the Brightness slider.

To use the Hold button to assign the same color to

multiple items:

1 Click the Hold button to enable it. The Hold but-

ton becomes white, and the currently selected
color is now highlighted with a wider white out-
line.
2 Select additional tracks or clips to which you
want to assign the same color. Because the Hold
button is enabled, the Color Palette does not fol-
low item selection; it remains (or “holds”) at the
last currently assigned color.
3 Click the assigned color again to assign it to the
new selection of tracks or clips. Use the Apply to
Selected pop-up menu to determine which se-
lected elements are affected.
4 To turn off Hold and return the Color Palette to
its default mode, click the Hold button until it Color Coding applied to channel strips, Mix window
turns off.

Chapter 13: Tracks 265

266 Pro Tools Reference Guide
Chapter 14: Track Presets

Pro Tools lets you create, save, overwrite, and re-

call Track Presets. A Track Preset captures the cur- Creating and Saving Track
rent configuration of the selected track or tracks, Presets
and can include the track type, format, level, pan- You can save any selected track or tracks in your
ning, plug-in and send configurations, and more. session as a Track Preset. A Track Preset captures
You can recall Track Presets to create new pre- the current configuration of the selected track or
configured tracks in your session. You can also re- tracks.
call Inserts or Sends configurations from Track
Presets to tracks that are already in your session. To create and save a new Track Preset:

Track Presets are available for recall in the Track 1 Create and configure one or more tracks for any
Type selector in the New Tracks dialog. Track Pre- of your common workflow scenarios (such as
sets can also be recalled from a Workspace “lead vocal input chain,” or “drums parallel
browser to create new tracks. You can use Work- compression bus,” and so on).
space browsers to organize, manage, and search 2 Do one of the following:
your collection of Track Presets, so you always
• Select the track or tracks and choose Track >
have easy access to the perfect Track Presets for
Save Track Preset.
any session or project.
• Right-click the track name and choose Save
Track Preset.
• Select the track or tracks and press Op-
tion+Shift+P (Mac) or Alt+Shift+P (Win-
dows).
3 Configure the Save Track Preset dialog as de-
sired (see “Save Track Preset Dialog Settings”
on page 268).
4 Click OK.

Chapter 14: Track Presets 267

 Save Track Preset Dialog
Settings
The Save Track Preset dialog lets you name the
preset, assign it to a category, and include audio
and MIDI clips (all clips or only clips within the
current Edit selection). Add metadata tags to your
Adding a Track Preset Category
Track Presets to make searching for the perfect
Track Preset in a Workspace browser even easier. 2 In the resulting dialog, type the name for the
You can rename and re-categorize Track Presets New Category.
later in any Workspace browser.

Naming a new Track Preset Category

3 If desired, select the directory in which you

want your new category to be created.

Save Track Preset dialog

Category
Selecting the directory in which to create a new Track
From the Category selector, assign the Track Pre- Preset Category
set to an appropriate category. If the appropriate 4 Click OK.
category for the preset doesn’t yet exist, create a
new one. The new category is added to the available Track
Preset Categories.
To create a new Track Preset Category:
Press Command+Left/Right Arrow keys (Mac)
1 In the Save Track Preset dialog, choose Add
or Control+Left/Right Arrow keys (Windows)
Category from the Category selector.
to cycle through the available Categories.

268 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Name Auto-populate tags from Track Data

The Name field is pre-populated with the track Enable Auto-populate tags from Track Data to au-
name. You can continue using the track name for tomatically create tags based on the following
the preset, type a new name, or select the name of Track Data: Plug-in Manufacturers, Plug-in
an existing preset to overwrite it. Names, Plug-in Categories, Plug-in Preset (if un-
modified), Track Types, Track Names, and Track
Press Command+Up/Down Arrow keys (Mac) Width.
or Control+Up/Down Arrow keys (Windows)
to cycle through the Name menu. Press Command+T (Mac) or Control+T (Win-
dows) to enable or disable the Auto-populate
Include Audio and MIDI Clips Tags from Track Data option.
Enable Include Audio and MIDI Clips to include any Tags Field
audio or MIDI clips on the track with the Track
Preset. This can be useful if you often work with Type descriptive tags for the Track Preset in the
loops, for example. Tags field.

Press Command+I (Mac) or Control+I (Win- To add a tag to a Track Preset:

dows) to enable or disable the Include Audio 1 Click in the Tags filed and type the tag you want
and Media Clips option. (for example, “Strings,” “Synth,” or “Pad”).
Clips in Edit Selection Only 2 Press Return (Mac) or Enter (Windows) to as-
sign each new tag that you type.
Enable Clips in Edit Selection Only to include only
whole audio and MIDI clips, and any associated
automation data that is within the current Edit se-
lection. Use this option in conjunction with Track
Offset Options set in the Track Data To Recall di-
alog to place included media at any desired Time-
line location in any other session or project (see
“Track Data to Recall” on page 270).

The beginning of the Edit selection is defined

as the first sample of the saved Track Preset.
Entering tags in the Tags field

Press Command+N (Mac) or Control+N To remove a tag from a Track Preset:

(Windows) to enable or disable the Clips in  Click the X on the right-edge of the tag.
Edit Selection Only option.
Use the Left and Right Arrow keys to navigate
Tags tags. Press Delete to remove a selected tag.
Add metadata tags to Track Presets to narrow
searches for Track Presets in Workspace browsers.

Chapter 14: Track Presets 269

 Track Data to Recall
Pro Tools lets you specify what Track and Session data to recall with the Track Preset. These settings can
be modified in a Workspace browser for any selected Track Preset (see “Track Presets in Workspace
Browsers” on page 277).

Track Data to Recall dialog

Press Command+R (Mac) or Control+R (Windows) to open the Track Data To Recall dialog from the
Save Track Preset dialog.

When recalling a Track Preset by any means, press Control (Mac) or Start (Windows) to open and
edit the Track Data to Import dialog. You can then specify what Track Data you want to recall.

Clips and media will only be stored with a Track Preset if the Clips and Media option is enabled.

270 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Track Data to Recall Presets Save Settings Saves the current settings. This
command overwrites any previous version of the
Pro Tools lets you store and recall different config- preset.
urations of the Track Data to Recall dialog as pre-
sets. The Presets controls for the Track Data to Re- Press Command+Shift+S (Mac) or Control+
call dialog work much like the Presets controls for Shift+S (Windows) to save the current settings.
Batch Renaming, Fades, and Clip Effects.
Save Settings As Saves the current settings as a
Presets Buttons new preset. You can name the preset and save it to
any location on your system.
The Track Data to Recall dialog provides five Pre-
sets buttons that let you store and recall your most Import Settings Opens the Choose a Settings File
commonly used Track Data to Recall configura- dialog focused on the default Track Data to Recall
tions. You can also save and recall Track Data to folder. Track Data to Recall Settings files stored in
Recall settings using the Librarian menu. this location are listed by name under <factory de-
fault> in the Librarian menu. In the Choose a Set-
To store a Track Data to Recall preset: tings File dialog, you can navigate to any location
1 Configure the Track Data to Recall dialog as on your system to select and import the Track Data
you like. to Recall Settings preset file you want.

2 Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win- Delete Current Settings File Permanently deletes
dows) the Presets button where you want to the current settings file from disk.
store the current Track Data to Recall settings.
Lock (Unlock) Settings File Locks (or unlocks)
To recall a Track Data to Recall preset: the selected Settings file so that it cannot (or can)
be edited.
 Click the Presets button that contains the set-
tings you want to recall. Track Data

Librarian Menu Pro Tools lets you include (or exclude) Track Data
with Track Presets. For a complete list of Track
Use the Librarian menu to save and recall presets
Data options with descriptions, see “Track Data to
files (.ptpreset). These are usually saved to and re-
Import” on page 426.
called from the Track Data to Recall folder
(/Documents/Pro Tools/Pro Tools Presets/Track Session Data
Data to Recall/). However, you can save to and re-
call from any directory location on your system. Pro Tools lets you include (or exclude) the follow-
Preset files can be shared and used on any other ing Session Data with Track Presets: For a com-
Pro Tools system as well. plete list of Session Data options with descriptions,
see “Importing Session Data” on page 420.
The Librarian menu commands include:

<factory default> Restores the default settings for

the Track Data to Recall dialog.

Chapter 14: Track Presets 271

 Track Offset Options Track Presets Files
Pro Tools lets you specify a Track Offset in addi- All Track Presets are stored as and recalled from
tion to any offset incurred with the Timecode Map- Track Presets files (.ptxp). By default, Pro Tools
ping Options. Any imported audio is offset in the installs and looks for Track Presets files in the fol-
current session or project Timeline by the specified lowing locations:
amount.
Mac Macintosh HD/Users/<username>/
Select one of the following options: Documents/Pro Tools/Track Presets

No Offset No Track Offset is applied. Windows C:\Users\<username>\Documents\

Pro Tools\Track Presets
Offset To Lets you specify the Track Offset to a
Timeline location in Bars|Beats, Min:Sec, Time- Customize the location for storing Track Pre-
code, Feet+Frames, or Samples. set files in Preferences > Operation > Docu-
mentation and Settings.
Offset to Song Start Marker Locates the Track
Offset to the Session Song Start Marker.
Track Presets can be stored in sub-folders
Offset to Timeline Selection Locates the Track within the designated directories so you can
Offset to the start of the current Timeline Selec- organize your Track Presets by sub-catego-
tion. ries. Pro Tools displays these as sub-menus
when selecting Track Presets in the applica-
Other Options tion.

Pro Tools lets you set et the current Track Preset to

Recall settings to be Tick-based or as a Sample-
Creating New Tracks from
based track.
Track Presets
Force to Timebase You can create new tracks from Tracks Presets us-
ing the New Tracks dialog or the Track Right-click
Enable the Force to Timebase option to ensure that
menu, or by drag and drop from a Workspace
the Track Preset is always imported in the selected
browser (see “Track Presets in Workspace Brows-
Timebase:
ers” on page 277).
Ticks Ensures that the Track Preset imports as
Tick-based.

Samples Ensures that the Track Preset imports as

Sample-based.

272 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Track Presets in the New Tracks Dialog
To create a new track from a Track Preset:

1 Choose Tracks > New Track.

2 From the Track Type selector, choose Track Presets and select the Track Preset Category (such as
“Avid”).

Selecting the Track Preset Category

3 Select the Track Preset.

Selecting a Track Preset

4 Click Create.

The Track Preset is recalled into the session as a new track (or as new tracks) according to the current Track
Data to Recall settings.

Chapter 14: Track Presets 273

 Track Presets in the New Tracks Dialog from Track Output Selector
To create a new track from a Track Preset using the Track Output Selector:

1 Click the Output selector of a track and choose New Track.

Creating a New Track from a Track Output selector

2 From the Track Type selector, choose Track Presets and select the Track Preset Category (such as
“Avid”).

Selecting the Track Preset Category

3 Select the Track Preset.

Creating a new track from a Track Preset

4 Click Create.

The Track Preset is recalled into the session as a new track (or as new tracks) according to the current Track
Data to Recall settings.

274 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Track Presets in the Tracks
Right-Click Menu Recalling Inserts from Track
Presets
To configure a track from a Track Preset using the
Track Right-click menu: Pro Tools lets you recall Inserts saved in a Track
Preset. This lets you quickly configure any track
1 Right-click any Track Name in the Tracks List,
with common effects chains saved in Track Pre-
or in the Edit or Mix windows.
sets.
2 From the Right-click menu, choose Recall
Track Preset and select the Track Preset you Plug-ins recalled from Track Presets adapt
want to recall. to the format of the current track when possi-
ble. For example, if a Track Preset was saved
as stereo, but you are recalling Inserts from it
to a 5.1 track, any plug-ins stored with that
Track Preset that support 5.1 are recalled as
5.1 inserts. However, if a plug-in does not
support the track format (for example, in this
case, if there is no 5.1 version of a plug-in
saved with the Track Preset), it is not re-
called.

Selecting a Track Preset from the Track Right-click

menu

Chapter 14: Track Presets 275

 To recall inserts from a Track Preset, do one of the
following: Recalling Track Presets to
 Drag and drop a Track Preset from a Workspace
Sends
browser to the Inserts view of an existing track. Pro Tools lets you recall Sends configurations
saved in a Track Preset. This lets you quickly con-
 Choose a Track Preset from the Recall Inserts
figure any track with common send configurations
submenu in the Inserts selector of an existing
saved in Track Presets.
track.
To recall sends from a Track Preset, do one of the
following:

 Drag and drop a Track Preset from a Workspace

browser to the Sends view of an existing track.
 Choose a Track Preset from the Recall Sends
submenu in the Sends selector of an existing
track.

Recalling inserts from a Track Preset

Recalling sends from a Track Preset

276 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Track Presets in Workspace Browsers
Workspace browsers provide easy access to all of your Track Presets from the Track Presets alias in the
Locations pane. Subdirectories of the Track Presets location let you organize Track Presets by Category—
each subdirectory appears as a Track Preset Category in the New Tracks dialog. Search for Track Presets
by name, category, or by matching metadata tags (just like with Soundbase) in any Workspace browser.

To recall Track Presets from the Workspace into a session and create new tracks, do one of the following:

 Drag and drop a Track Preset to the Tracks List or to blank space in the Mix or Edit windows.
 Double-click a Track Preset.
 Right-click a Track Preset and choose Recall Track Preset.

Track Preset selected in a Workspace browser showing Track Data to Recall

Tagging Track Presets

Pro Tools lets you add metadata tags to Track Presets just like with Soundbase. For more information about
working with tags, see the Pro Tools Reference Guide.

Chapter 14: Track Presets 277

 Searching Track Presets
Pro Tools lets you search for track presets in a Workspace browser using basic or advanced search criteria,
or by searching on metadata tags. For more information about searching in Workspace browsers, see
“Searching Items” on page 329.

Searching Track Presets with Tags in a Workspace

Filtering Track Data when Recalling Track Presets from Workspace

When a Track Preset is selected in the search pane of a Workspace browser, the Track Data to Recall
settings for the selected Track Preset appears in its own pane on the right side of the Workspace browser.
These settings are the same as those in the Track Data to Recall dialog. You can edit the Track Data to
Recall settings for the selected Track Preset in the Workspace browser. The Track Preset is updated with
any changes you make. These settings are applied when you recall the Track Preset from the Workspace
browser or when you create a new track (Track > New) from the Track Preset.

For more information about the Track Data to Recall settings, see “Track Data to Recall”
on page 270.

278 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Dragging Track Presets from a Importing Multiple Presets from
Workspace Browser Workspace Browser
Simultaneously
You can recall Track Presets by dragging and
dropping them from Workspace browsers to your Pro Tools lets you import an entire folder of Track
session or project. Presets from Workspace browsers with a single
command. Similarly, you can import a selection of
Dragging to the Tracks List, or Edit or multiple Track Presets at once.
Mix Windows
To import all of the Track Presets in a folder:
Drag and drop a Track Preset from a Workspace
browser to the Tracks List, or to the Edit or Mix 1 Locate the folder of Track Presets you want to
window to create new tracks from the Track Pre- recall in a Workspace browser.
set. See also “Creating New Tracks from Track 2 Right-click the folder and choose Import Track
Presets” on page 272. Preset.

Dragging to Inserts All Track Presets are recalled to create new tracks
in your session or project.
Drag and drop a Track Preset from a Workspace
browser to a track’s Inserts view in the Edit or Mix To recall a selection of Track Presets:
window to recall Inserts from the Track Preset. See
1 Locate the Track Presets you want to recall in a
also “Recalling Inserts from Track Presets” on
Workspace browser.
page 275.
2 Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win-
Dragging to Sends dows) the Track Presets you want to import.
Drag and drop a Track Preset from a Workspace 3 Right-click one of the selected Track Presets
browser to a track’s Sends view in the Edit or Mix and choose Import Track Preset.
window to recall Sends configurations from the
Track Preset. See also “Recalling Track Presets to All selected Track Presets are imported to create
Sends” on page 276. new tracks in your session or project.

Dragging to a Track Name

Drag and drop a Track Preset from a Workspace

browser to a Track Name in the Edit or Mix win-
dow to configure that track based on the Track Pre-
set. If the Track Preset contains more than one
track, on the first track stored with the Track Preset
is recalled.

Press Option+Shift (Mac) or Alt+Shift (Win-

dows) when dragging and dropping to config-
ure all tracks based on the Track Preset.

Chapter 14: Track Presets 279

280 Pro Tools Reference Guide
Chapter 15: Grouping Tracks

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.

Chapter 15: Grouping Tracks 281

 Mix Groups Grouping Limitations

Mix Groups can be set to affect the following Grouping does not affect these parameters:
items: • Voice assignment
• Main Mute • Output assignment
• Solo
• Inserting plug-ins
• Send Level
• Elastic Audio plug-ins
• Send Mute
• Main Volume Selectable Group Attributes
• Main Pan
You can select which parameters, or attributes, are
• Main LFE Level (Pro Tools Ultimate only) linked in groups by the following methods:
• Record Enable
• By making the group an Edit Group, a Mix
• Input Monitoring Group, or both (Mix/Edit Group).
• Automation Mode • With Mix and Mix/Edit Groups, by selecting
• Object Controls (Pro Tools Ultimate with Dolby from a list of attributes for the group.
Atmos only) • With Mix Groups in Pro Tools Ultimate only, by
• Send Pan choosing whether the selected attributes apply
• Send LFE Level (Pro Tools Ultimate only) globally to all groups or to individual groups.
• Plug-In Controls
• Plug-In Bypass

In Pro Tools Ultimate, when the Main Pan at-

tribute is enabled for groups, grouped behav-
ior applies to the Link, Front inverse, Rear in-
verse and Front/Rear inverse controls in
stereo and multichannel panner windows.

282 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Mix Groups and VCA Masters By default, every session has a group named All,
which includes every track in the session. The All
An existing Mix Group can be assigned to a VCA
group cannot be edited or deleted.
Master, or a new Mix Group can be assigned to a
VCA Master while it is being created. Only one Groups List menu
group can be assigned to a VCA Master at a time. Click to
select a
A VCA Master cannot control a group that in- group by
cludes itself. typing its
letter
Click to
For information on assigning groups to VCA select Click to
group activate a
Masters, see “Assigning Groups to VCA members group
Masters” on page 1049. on-screen

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

• Group name in the Groups List Show/Hide Tracks List/Groups List

View Button
• Group ID indicator on a track
• Track > Group menu To show the Groups List (and Tracks List):

 Click the Show/Hide Tracks List/Groups List

The Groups List View button in the Mix, Edit, or MIDI Editor
window.
The Pro Tools track grouping functions are located
at the left side of the Mix, Edit, and MIDI Editor
Group ID
windows in the Groups List. This scrolling win-
dow contains the names of all the groups in your To the left of each name in the Groups List is a let-
session, as well as a pop-up menu for accessing ter denoting its Group ID (“a” through “z”).
grouping commands. From this menu, you can se-
lect and enable groups.

Chapter 15: Grouping Tracks 283

 Group Symbols Modify Groups Opens Group dialog to modify ex-
isting groups only.
To the left of each Group ID (“a” through “z”) is a
symbol indicating whether that group is selected in Delete Active Groups Deletes only currently ac-
the current window (either the Mix or Edit win- tive groups.
dow). There are three types of Group symbols, as
shown in the following figure:

Hollow Circle

Filled In Circle

Circle with a Dot Groups List menu

Group Symbols Group Name and Track Group ID

Indicator Pop-Up Menus
The Group symbols indicate the following:
When you Right-click on a group name in the
Filled-in Circle Indicates that all members of the Groups List or click a Group ID indicator in a
group are currently selected, and no members from track, a pop-up menu provides the following com-
outside the group are selected. mands:
Hollow Circle Indicates that only some members Tracks Displays track membership in group.
of the group are currently selected.
Attributes Displays attributes of group.
Circle with a Dot Indicates that all members of the
group are currently selected, plus additional mem- Modify Opens Group dialog to modify existing
bers outside the group. groups only.

Duplicate Opens Group dialog for duplicated

Groups List Menu
group.
The pop-up menu at the top of the Groups List pro-
Delete Deletes a single group.
vides the following commands:
Select Tracks in Group Selects tracks in the
New Group Executes the Track > Group com-
group.
mand.
Show/Hide Tracks in Group Shows or hides tracks
Display Provides commands to show Edit groups
in the current group.
only, Mix groups only, or all groups (Edit, Mix,
and Mix/Edit). Show Only Tracks in Group Shows only the
tracks in the group and hides all other tracks.
Suspend All Groups Suspends group behavior for
all Mix and Edit groups.

284 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Show All Tracks Shows all tracks in the session. Group Dialog

The Group dialog has three pages:

Tracks Lets you add and remove tracks from the

current group.

Attributes Lets you select which parameters are

linked for the current Mix or Mix/Edit Group.

Globals Lets you select parameters to use as a tem-

plate that can be applied to individual groups by
selecting the Follow Globals option.
Group Name pop-up menu

Group ID indicator pop-up menu

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.

The Group dialog lets you create new groups and

assign attributes to groups.
Group dialog

Chapter 15: Grouping Tracks 285

 6 Click Tracks in the Group dialog, and do any of
Working with Groups the following:
• To add the tracks that are currently selected in
Creating Groups the session to the group, click the Add button at
You can select the tracks you want to add to a the bottom of the Group dialog.
group before creating it, or add and remove tracks • To add tracks to the group, select the track
from a group after it has been created. names in the Available Tracks List, and click
Add or press A on the computer keyboard.
Creating Groups
• To remove tracks from the group, select the track
To create a group: names in the Currently In Groups List, and click
Remove or press R on the computer keyboard.
1 Select the tracks you want to include in the
group. (If you do not select tracks at this time, • Double-click track names in either list to move
you can add tracks later.) them to the opposite column.

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 288).
• 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.

286 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Modifying Groups
To modify a group:

1 Do one of the following:

• Choose Modify Groups from the Groups List
menu.
• In the Mix window, click the Group ID indicator
on a track and choose Modify from the pop-up
menu.
• Right-click the Group name in the Groups List
and choose Modify from the pop-up menu.
2 In the Groups dialog, choose the group you
want to modify from the ID pop-up menu.
3 Change any of the following for the current
group:
• Group name
• Group type (Edit, Mix, or Mix/Edit)
• VCA status
• Follows Global status
Modify ALL Group dialog
• Track membership
3 For Mix or Mix/Edit Groups, you can change
• Attributes any of the following:
• Linked Within Group items • Follows Globals status
4 Click OK. • Mix Attributes

To modify the settings for the “All” group: 4 Click OK.

1 Right-click the “All” group name in the Groups

List and choose Modify from the pop-up menu. Deleting Groups
2 In the Group dialog, select Edit, Mix, or Mix/Edit One or all groups can be deleted at a time.
to change the settings for the “All” group. If you
Deleting a group cannot be undone.
select Edit only or Mix only, the “All” group will
apply only to that Group type. To delete a single group, do one of the following:

 In the Mix window, click the Group ID indica-

tor on a track and choose Delete from the pop-
up menu.
 Right-click the Group name in the Groups List
and choose Delete from the pop-up menu.

Chapter 15: Grouping Tracks 287

 To delete all currently active groups
Setting Group Attributes
 Choose Delete Active Groups from the Groups
List menu. When creating a Mix Group or a Mix/Edit Group,
you can select the Mix window parameters that
The “All” group cannot be deleted. will be linked for that group. These linked param-
eters are the attributes of the group.
Duplicating Groups
You can select attributes in the Globals page and
You can duplicate a group and modify its settings then set individual groups to follow the Global set-
in order to quickly set up a mix. tings, or you can select attributes for groups indi-
vidually.
To duplicate a group:
Do one of the following:
1
Selecting Attributes in the
• Click the Group ID indicator on a track and Globals Page
choose Duplicate from the pop-up menu.
To select attributes in the Globals page:
• Right-click the Group name in the Groups List
and choose Duplicate from the pop-up menu. 1 While creating or modifying a group, click Glo-
bals in the Group dialog.
2 Change any of the following for the current
group:
• Group name
• Group type (Edit, Mix, or Mix/Edit)
• VCA status (Pro Tools Ultimate only)
• Follows Global status (Pro Tools Ultimate only)
• Track membership
• Attributes (Pro Tools Ultimate only)
• Linked Within Group items (Pro Tools Ultimate
only)
3 Click OK.

Globals page of Group dialog

288 Pro Tools Reference Guide

2 Select the base set of attributes for groups in 2 Click OK to save the settings.
your session.
3 Click OK to save the group and the new Globals
settings.

For information on selecting attributes, see

“Selecting Group Attributes” on page 289.

To select attributes for an individual group:

1 While creating or modifying a Mix Group or a
Mix/Edit Group, do one of the following:
• Click Attributes in the Group dialog, and select
the attributes you want to link.
• Enable Follow Globals to follow the base set of
attributes. The Attributes page grays out to indi-
cate that the group is following the selections in
the Globals page.

For information on selecting attributes, see

“Selecting Group Attributes” on page 289.

Attributes page of Group dialog

Selecting Group Attributes

The following attributes can be selected for Global
settings and for individual groups.

Track controls:
• Main Volume
• Main Mute
• Main Pan
• Main LFE Level (Pro Tools Ultimate only)

Chapter 15: Grouping Tracks 289

 Insert controls (Inserts A–J): Saving Group Attribute Presets
• Plug-In Controls You can define six Group presets that can be re-
• Insert Bypass called on either the Attributes or Globals page
whenever you are creating or modifying a Mix or
Send controls (Sends A–J): Mix/Edit Group.
• Send Level
To save the current attribute settings as a Group
• Send Mute preset:
• Send Pan 1 In the Groups dialog, click Save. (Follow Glo-
• Send LFE Level (Pro Tools Ultimate only) bals must be deselected to save a setting from
the Attributes page.)
Mix Attributes:
• Record Enable
• Input Monitoring
• Solos Saving a Group preset

• Automation Mode 2 In the Save Group Settings dialog, select one of

the six preset locations from the Location pop-
• HEAT Pre/Post
up menu, and click Save.
• HEAT Bypass
• Object Controls (Pro Tools Ultimate with Dolby
Atmos only)

To select the attributes for a group, do any of the

following:

 Select individual attributes. Selecting a Group Settings Location

 To select or deselect all attributes, Option-Shift-
click (Mac) or Alt-Shift-click (Windows) any To save the current attribute settings
attribute. directly to a preset location, Command-
click (Mac) or Control-click (Windows) the
 To select or deselect all attributes for a single
preset button.
Send or Insert (across a row), Control-click
(Mac) or Start-click (Windows) any attribute in To recall a Group preset:
that row.
 Click the corresponding Preset button (1–6) in
 To select or deselect attributes for a single con- the Groups dialog. (Follow Globals must be de-
trol across all Sends, all Inserts, or for the four selected to recall a setting in the Attributes
track controls (down a column), Option-click page.)
(Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) any attribute in
that column.

Recalling a Group preset

290 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Keyboard Selection of Groups
Enabling Groups
The Groups List Keyboard Focus lets you type a
Editing operations are not applied to members of a Group ID letter to automatically toggle that
group that are hidden with the Tracks List. Mix op- group’s enable status.
erations (with the exception of record-enabling of
tracks) are applied to hidden tracks.  In the Mix window, the Groups List Keyboard
Focus is always enabled.
Pro Tools lets you create separate groups for edit-
ing and mixing. You set this option when you use  In the Edit window, you need to enable the
the New Group command. Groups that apply to Groups List Keyboard Focus to use it.
both editing and mixing can be decoupled.
To enable the Edit Groups List Keyboard Focus, do
one of the following:
To enable a group:
 Click the Keyboard Focus button in upper right
 In the Groups List, click the name of the group
of the Edit Groups List.
you want to enable. The name is highlighted to
indicate that it is enabled.  Press Command+Option+3 (Mac) or Con-
trol+Alt+3 (Windows).
To enable additional groups, click their names in
the Groups List.

Moving a fader of a group member causes all other

group members to move relative to it. If a fader be-
longs to multiple groups, and the groups conflict
when faders are moved, the fader will follow the
top-most or “parent” group to which it belongs.

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.

Chapter 15: Grouping Tracks 291

 Temporarily Isolating Control of
an Item from Group Operation Grouped Control Offsets
You can temporarily isolate control of a group When the following controls are grouped with off-
item from group operation by Right-clicking on sets and moved to their extremes, relative offsets
the item. are preserved when the controls are moved back
from their extremes:
You can also temporarily suspend group • Main Volume
behavior for a track by Control-clicking
(Mac) or Start-clicking (Windows) a group • Main Pan
function. • Send Level
• Send Pan
The following items can be isolated from group
operation: For example, when a grouped Volume fader is
• Pan slider moved to its maximum value, any other faders in
that group that had higher values will remember
• Channel Record Enable
their relative offset whenever the first fader is
• Channel TrackInput pulled down again.
• Send Pan slider
In Automation views, this “overflow” is indicated
• Channel Volume fader on the automation playlist by blue automation
• Channel Pan slider breakpoints at the extremes of the automation
playlist.
• Channel Mute button
• Channel Solo button
Setting Group Pan Controls to
• Channel Record Enable button Ignore Offsets
• Channel TrackInput button By default, offsets are preserved for grouped pan
• Send fader controls. In some workflows, it is desirable to have
• Send Pan slider grouped pan controls match absolute values rather
than preserve offsets.

To set grouped pan controls to ignore offsets:

1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click Mixing.
2 Select the Use Absolute Pan Linking option.

When this option is enabled, grouped pan controls

will snap to the absolute value of the pan control
that is being adjusted.

292 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Chapter 16: The Clips List

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 178).

Clips List Menu

The Clips List menu provides tools to search, se-
lect, sort, export, clear, and manage items in the
Clips List.

To access the Clips List menu:

 In the Edit window, click the Clips List menu.

Click Show/Hide Clips List but-

ton to hide Clips List

Clips List

All clips of all types that are recorded, imported, or

created by editing appear in the Clips List. Items
can be dragged from the list to tracks and arranged
in any order. You can also preview audio and
Clips List menu
MIDI clips and clip groups in the Clips List.

Chapter 16: The Clips List 293

 Displaying Clips in the Clips List In the Clips List, whole-file audio clips are dis-
played in bold, and stereo and multichannel audio
The Clips List can show all clip types (audio,
clips can be expanded to display individual chan-
MIDI, video, Groups, Auto-Created), or only cer-
nels.
tain clip types. This is useful for isolating the type
of clips you want to work with while editing and If the Clips List Selection Follows Edit Selection
arranging. For example, when arranging clip option is enabled in the Editing preferences, select-
groups, you may want the Clips List to show only ing a clip or clip group in the Clips List selects it on
clip groups. any track where it is present in assigned playlists.
Likewise, selecting a clip or clip group on a track
To show or hide certain types of clips in the Clips selects it in the Clips List.
List:

 Click the Clips List menu (at the top of the Clips Displaying File Info for Audio
List) and choose Show. From the submenu, Clips
select or deselect the clip type you want to show
or hide. In addition to clip names, the Clips List can also
display information about the clip’s color coding,
Control-click (Mac) or Start-click (Windows) type (audio, MIDI, and clip group), timebase, Elas-
to select (or deselect) multiple items in the tic Audio processing, and parent file:
Show submenu without closing the menu.
Timebase Displays the timebase (samples or ticks)
Audio Shows or hides audio clips in the Clips List. for audio and MIDI clips, and clip groups.

MIDI Shows or hides MIDI clips in the Clips List. Color Displays Track Color Coding as assigned
with Default Clip Color Coding option in Display
Video Shows or hides video clips in the Clips List. Preferences page, or as assigned in the Color Pal-
Groups Shows or hides clip groups in the Clips ette.
List. Processing State Displays the Warp Indicator
Auto-Created Shows or hides automatically-cre- icon if Elastic Audio processing has been applied
ated clips (of all types) in the Clips List. These are to the clip.
clips that were created as a by-product of cutting, Guitar Settings (Eleven Rack Only) Displays the
pasting, and separating other clips. Since these Eleven Rack icon if guitar settings are embedded
auto-created clips can become numerous, hiding in the clip.
them (by deselecting the option) helps you to avoid
scrolling through an unnecessarily long Clips List. File Type Displays the File Type icon for audio
and MIDI clips, and clip groups.
Hiding Auto-Created clips can be useful
when importing clip groups (or REX files File Name Displays the parent file name.
as clip groups), because these file types can
Disk Name Displays the name of the hard drive on
contain so many separate clips that it be-
which referenced file resides.
comes difficult to read the Clips List.

294 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Full Path Displays the full directory path of the Sorting Clips
clip’s parent file.
To sort clips in the Clips List:
Channel Name Displays the channel name for
1 Click the Clips List menu (at the top of the Clips
audio files imported from field recorders.
List) and choose Sort By.
Scene and Take Displays the scene and take for
2 From the submenu, select a basis for sorting.
audio files imported from field recorders.
Different options are available for audio and
MIDI clips. See “Sort By Options” on page 295.
3 To set whether clips are listed in ascending or
descending order, click the Clips List menu,
choose Sort By, and select Ascending or
Descending.

Sort By Options
Clips with file information shown in the Clips List The Sort By options let you sort clips to help keep
track of large numbers of clips.
Pro Tools displays only the clip name in the Clips
List by default. Audio clips can be sorted by:
When editing, the Clips List can become • Clip Type
cluttered with auto-created clips. You can • Name
hide auto-created clips by choosing Show
• Length
in the Clips List menu, and deselecting
Auto-Created. • Original Time Stamp
• User Time Stamp
• Timebase
Sorting and Searching in the
Clips List • Start in Parent

Most sessions will contain many clips, which can • End in Parent
make it challenging to swiftly locate a particular • File Name
clip in the Clips List. Pro Tools lets you sort and • File Length
search clips in the Clips List to quickly locate any
clip you want. • File Creation Date
• File Modification Date
• Disk Name (audio and clip groups only)
• Track Format/Width
• By Channel Name
• By Scene and Take
• Guitar Settings

Chapter 16: The Clips List 295

 MIDI clips can be sorted by: 2 In the Find Clips dialog, do any of the follow-
• Name ing:

• Length • Select By Name and type the name, or any por-

tion of the name, for clips you want to find. The
• Original Time Stamp search string appears at the top of the Clips List.
• User Time Stamp • Select Include Subsequently Added Clips to
• Timebase limit the display to newly added clips. A plus (+)
• Start in Parent sign appears at the top of the Clips List to indi-
cate this option is selected.
• End in Parent
• Select both options to start with a list of named
Clips can also be sorted by Clip Type (Audio and clips and allow display of added clips.
MIDI), or in Ascending or Descending order.

Finding Clips
Use the Find command to display all clips in a list
whose names contain a particular word or phrase. Found Clips in the Clips List

To find and display clips in the Clips List: Clips of any type whose name match the word or
phrase you searched are displayed in the Clips List.
1 Do one of the following:
The search string is displayed at the top of the
• Click the Clips List menu and choose Find. Clips List in brackets.
• Press Command+Shift+F (Mac) or
Text entered into the Find dialog is saved in
Control+Shift+F (Windows).
a Find History, letting you quickly
repeat previous searches with a minimum
of retyping.

3 Click OK.

To repeat a previous search:

1 Click the Clips List menu, and choose Find.

Find Clips dialog
2 Click the small arrow to the right of the text
field in the Find dialog and select a text string
from the Find History pop-up menu.

An example of a Find history

296 Pro Tools Reference Guide

The Find History is saved with the session. Select Parent in Workspace
In addition to storing each text string previously Enable this option to highlight the parent file of
entered, you can insert multiple entries into the any selected clips in a Workspace browser.
Find History manually (without having to perform
each Find in order to store words or phrases).
Selecting Clips in the Clips
To compile a Find History without performing each List
search:

1 Click the Clips List menu, and choose Find. In the Clips List, you can select clips so they can be
dragged to tracks, processed with AudioSuite
2 Click and hold the small arrow to the right of the plug-ins, or exported.
text field in the Find dialog and select the item
in the Found History list before which you want To select or deselect a clip in the Clips List, do the
to insert the new entry. following:

3 Type the name, or any portion of the name, for  Click a clip name that is unhighlighted to
the clips you want to find. select it.

4 Click and hold the small arrow to the right of the  Click a clip name that is highlighted to
text field in the Find dialog and choose deselect it.
Insert Entry from the pop-up menu.
To select a range of clips in the Clips List, do one
of the following:

 Move the cursor to the left of the clip names, so

the Marquee appears, and drag around the clips
you want to select.

Clips List while searching

5 If desired, type another entry and choose Insert

Entry again to add additional search strings to
the Found History list.

To remove an entry from the history: Clips selected with Marquee

1 Select it from the Find History pop-up menu so it
 Click the name of a clip in the Clips List, and
is displayed in the text field.
Shift-click an additional clip name.
2 Choose Remove Entry from the Find History
All clips that occur between the first clip
pop-up menu.
selected and the additional clip will also be
To clear the Find History: selected.

 Choose Remove All Entries from the Find

History pop-up menu.

Chapter 16: The Clips List 297

 To select or deselect a range of clips with the To enable and use the Clips List Keyboard Focus:
Marquee:
1 Click the Keyboard Focus button in the upper
1 Move the cursor to the left of the clip name right of the Clips List.
until the Marquee icon with a small “+” symbol
appears:
• To select clips, the Marquee should be to the left
of an unhighlighted clip name.
• To deselect clips, the Marquee should be to the
left of a highlighted clip name.
2 Click on the clip name and drag up or down (to
select or deselect clips immediately above or Clips List Keyboard Focus enabled
below the clip name).
2 Type the first or first few letters of the clip to au-
To select multiple noncontiguous clips in tomatically locate and select it. Once a clip is lo-
the Clips List, hold Command (Mac) or cated and selected, it can be dragged to a track.
Control (Windows) when making subse-
Keyboard selection of audio clips locates clips
quent selections.
based on their clip name, not on the names for their
To select or deselect noncontiguous clips, do one parent audio files or the volumes on which they re-
of the following: side.
 Command-click (Mac) or Control-click
(Windows) clip names that are unhighlighted to Select Options
select them.
In the Clips List, you can select specific clips so
 Command-click (Mac) or Control-click they can be dragged to tracks, processed with Au-
(Windows) clip names that are highlighted to dioSuite plug-ins, or exported.
deselect them.
To select specific clips in the Clips List:

Keyboard Selection of Clips  From the Clips List menu, choose Select, and
then choose one of the Select options:
If Clips List Keyboard Focus is enabled, you can
type the first few letters of a clip’s name and All Selects all clips in the Clips List.
Pro Tools will automatically locate and select the
Unused Selects clips that have not been placed in a
clip in the Clips List.
track in the current session. Offline clips appear in
the Clips List italicized and dimmed.

298 Pro Tools Reference Guide

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 60).
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 543).
“Select Unused” Ignores Parent Clip Enabling
the “Select Unused” Ignores Parent Clip option af-
Auditioning Discrete Signals in
fects the behavior of the Select Unused command.
Multichannel Items
When it is enabled, all unused clips are selected ex-
cept for any unused whole clips that have related In the Clips List, multichannel clips are auditioned
sub-clips currently on tracks in the session. through the Audition Path specified in the I/O
Setup. Signals can be auditioned “in-place,” or
through all outputs, as described below.
Previewing Clips in the Clips
List
Audition In-Place

When auditioning a mono component of a mono

You can preview audio and MIDI clips and clip
component clip, the mono clip can be played from
groups in the Clips List. Previewing follows the
the corresponding channel of its parent mono com-
master Audition path as selected in the Output
ponent clip. This playback method is called audi-
page of the I/O Setup. The base level for preview-
tion in-place.
ing is determined by the Master Fader (or Auxil-
iary Input) level assigned to the Audition path. To audition in-place:

The Preview Volume control in the Import 1 In the Clips List, make sure the stereo or multi-
Audio dialog also affects the preview channel clip is in expanded view (showing .L,
volume when auditioning clips in the .R, and other component channels).
Clips List.
2 Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) the
clip for the channel you want to audition.

Chapter 16: The Clips List 299

 Audition to All Outputs Individual items of an expanded-view stereo or
multichannel clip can be selected independently of
When auditioning a mono component of a mono
the other associated clips in the Clips List.
component clip, the clip can be routed equally to
all outputs of the parent clip’s Audition Path.
Rules for Stereo and
To audition through all channels of the main Multichannel Clips
audition path:
For stereo and multichannel audio clips to be
 Shift-Option-click (Mac) or Shift-Alt-click shown as collective clips, the component clips
(Windows) on the signal in the Clips List. must be the same length. If an existing stereo or
multichannel clip has been dragged onto multiple
mono tracks and edited such a way that one or
Stereo and Multichannel more components are no longer the same length,
Clips in the Clips List the stereo display is removed and the clips are dis-
played as individual clips in the Clips List.
Stereo and multichannel clips, whether imported
or recorded into Pro Tools, are displayed as single
items in the Clips List. For example, two mono
source clips named “Main Piano.L” and “Main Pi-
Naming and Displaying Clips
ano.R” are listed as “Main Piano (Stereo).” An ex-
in the Clips List
pand/collapse triangle indicates stereo and multi- A typical session can become cluttered with doz-
channel clips. ens of tracks and hundreds of clips. There are a
number of things you can do to keep track of and
Stereo and multichannel clips are displayed in the
manage a session’s clips, including:
Clips List by default in collapsed view. The indi-
vidual clips can be displayed by clicking the arrow • Renaming existing clips
to the left of the clip to expand the name. • 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
Stereo clips, expanded (top) and collapsed (bottom) that was auto-created during editing, the clip be-
comes a user-defined clip and is displayed in the
To expand or collapse all stereo and multichannel Clips List even when auto-created clips are hidden.
clips:

 Press Option (Mac) or Alt (Windows) while If a clip resides in a track, you can easily rename it
clicking the expand/collapse triangle. by double-clicking it with one of the Grabber tools.
However, if the clip does not reside in a track, or if
you want to rename several clips, use the Rename
command in the Clips List.

300 Pro Tools Reference Guide

You can also rename a clip in a track using the Clip Info
Rename command in the Clips List menu or the
The Name dialog provides the option to view in-
Right-click menu.
formation about the selected clip. This information
To rename one or more clips from the Clips List: is not editable from the Name dialog. The follow-
ing clip information is available:
1 If you will be renaming an auto-created clip, se-
lect Show > Auto-Created from the Clips List Instances Displays the number of instances of the
menu. clip used in the session.
2 Select one or more clips to be renamed in the Rating Displays the Rating for the clip (see “Rat-
Clips List. ing Clips” on page 667).

If the Clips List Selection Follows Edit Selec- File Name Displays the file name of the parent file
tion option in the Editing Preferences page is for the clip.
enabled, you can highlight a clip in the Clips
List by selecting it in a track. Start Displays the start time of the selected clip ac-
cording to the main timebase.
3 Do one of the following:
Sync Displays the Sync point time of the selected
• From the Clips List menu, choose Rename. clip according to the main timebase.
• Right-click on any selected clip and select Re-
End Displays the end time of the selected clip ac-
name from the pop-up menu.
cording to the main timebase.
4 In the Name dialog, type a new name for the
Duration Displays the duration of the selected clip
clip. If a whole-file audio clip was selected,
according to the main timebase.
specify whether to rename just the clip, or both
the clip and the disk file. Original Time Stamp Displays the original time
stamp of the selected clip according to the main
timebase.

User Time Stamp Displays the user time stamp of

the selected clip according to the main timebase.

Name dialog

5 Click OK to rename the clip. If renaming multi-

ple clips, you are prompted, successively, to re-
name each clip.

You can resize the Name dialog by dragging

the boundaries of the dialog.

Chapter 16: The Clips List 301

 To show (or hide) information for the selected clip: 3 In the Rename Selected Clips dialog, enter the
 In the Name dialog, click the show/hide triangle text to be used when naming clips created from
for Clip Info. the selected clip.

Rename Selected Clips dialog

Name Determines the root name for the auto-cre-

ated clips.

Starting Number Sets the start number for the se-

quentially numbered new clips.

Number of Places Determines the number of dig-

its that occur before the auto numbers.
Name dialog (Clip Info shown)
Suffix Specifies text to be appended to the end of
Auto-Naming Options the name, following the auto numbering.

You can specify the auto-naming options for a clip 4 Click OK.
when new clips are created from it in the course of
editing. Batch Clip Renaming
Auto-naming of clips does not affect the names of The Batch Rename command for clips is only
parent audio files. Instead, it stores pointers to the available in the Clips List.
clips within the parent source file.
Clip Groups and clips contained within are
To set auto-naming options for a clip: ignored by Batch Clip Renaming.

1 Select a clip in the Clips List. To batch rename selected clips:

2 Choose Auto Rename from the Clips List menu. 1 In the Clips List, select the clips you want to re-
name.
2 Do one of the following:
• Click the Clips List menu.
• Right-click a selected Clip in the Clips List.

302 Pro Tools Reference Guide

3 Choose Batch Rename. All selected clips are renamed accordingly.

Press Control+Shift+R (Mac) or For details on batch renaming tracks or

Start+Shift+R (Windows) to open the clips, see “Batch Renaming” on page 305.
Batch Clip Rename dialog.

Managing Clips in the Clips

List
In the course of editing a session, the Clips List can
quickly fill up with many clips—with ones you
have created intentionally and also with those that
are automatically created by cutting, pasting, and
separating other clips, or importing Clip Group
files (or REX files as clip groups). Pro Tools lets
you hide or remove clips in your session so you do
not have to scroll through a long Clips List.

Hiding Auto-Created Clips

You can hide clips that were automatically created
during the course of editing.

To hide auto-created clips:

 From the Clips List menu, deselect Show >

Auto-Created. With this option deselected, only
user-defined clips appear in the Clips List.

User-defined clips include:

• Whole-file clips
• Clips created during recording
• Imported clips
• Renamed clips
• Clips created as a result of AudioSuite
Batch Clip Rename dialog processing
4 Configure the Batch Clip Rename dialog as de- • New clips created with the Clip >
sired. Capture command or the Edit > Separate
Clip commands
5 Click OK.
• Clips created by trimming whole-file
audio clips

Chapter 16: The Clips List 303

 When auto-created clips are hidden, Pro Tools 4 Do one of the following:
warns you if the number of auto-created clips ex- • Click Remove to remove the unused clips from
ceeds a certain threshold, and gives you the option the session.
of deleting them. If you choose to delete them, all
auto-created clips are deleted at the same time. • If clearing a whole-file audio clip and you want
to permanently remove the audio file from your
To ensure that you keep any specific auto-created hard drive, click Delete.
clips, rename them. When you name a clip, it is
promoted from being an auto-created clip to a user- When deleting audio files for multiple clips,
defined clip (see “Renaming Clips” on page 300). Pro Tools presents a warning dialog for each audio
file.

Clearing Unwanted Clips To bypass repeated warning dialogs:

In the Clips List, you can select unwanted clips and  Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) the
then use the Clear command to remove them from Delete button in the Clear dialog. This perma-
the session. Whole-file clips can also be perma- nently deletes each successive audio file from
nently removed from the hard drive on which they your hard drive (for each of the unused clips)
are stored. without any further warning.

The Clear command cannot be undone. Use this “power delete mode” with caution.
Deletion of these files cannot be undone.
To find and remove unused clips in a session:

1 Do any of the following:

• For MIDI clips, from the Clips List menu, Clip Name Right-Click
choose Select > Unused. Commands
• For audio clips, from the Clips List menu, When you Right-click a clip name in the Clips List,
choose Select, then choose Unused, Unused Ex- a pop-up menu provides access to the
cept Whole Files, or Offline. following commands:

2 After all unused clips are selected, choose Clear Clear Removes selected clips from the session.
from the Clips List menu. The Clear Selected
Rename Renames selected clips.
dialog opens.
3 In the Clear Selected dialog, select the Automat- Time Stamp Redefines the time stamp of selected
ically select all unused clips option if you want clips.
to ensure that all unused clips, including whole Replace Clip (Pro Tools | Ultimate Only) Re-
file clips, are selected for deletion or removal. places multiple instances of a clip with another
Any selections previously made in the Clips clip.
List are ignored.
Compact Compacts selected clips.

Export Clip Definitions Exports definitions for se-

lected clips.

304 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Export Clips as Files Exports selected clips as Replace
files.
Enable (or disable) the Replace option to replace
Recalculate Waveform Overviews Redraws text in the names of clips or tracks.
waveforms for selected clips.
Press Command+R (Mac) or Control+R
Reveal in Workspace Lets you reveal the parent (Windows) to select (or deselect) Replace.
file for any individual clip in a Workspace
browser.

Reveal in Finder/Reveal in Explorer lets you re-

veal the parent file for any individual clip in the
Mac Finder or Windows Explorer.

Object Select in Edit Window Selects clip as an

object in the Edit window. Batch Rename, Replace options

Find Type the text you want replaced in the names

of selected items.
Batch Renaming
Replace Type the text you want to use in the
Pro Tools lets you rename selected tracks or clips names of selected items instead.
in batches. This can be very useful for managing
auto-named tracks and clips, especially in a large Clear Existing Name Enable to completely clear
session. the existing names of selected items.

Regular Expressions Enable to use advanced find

Batch Renaming Dialog Options and replace operations using regular expressions.
and Settings
For more information about using regular
The Batch Track Renaming and Batch Clip Re- expressions for batch renaming tasks, see
naming dialogs provide controls for changing the “Regular Expressions Workflow Examples”
names of all selected items (tracks or clips) by Re- on page 308.
placing text, Trimming characters, Adding charac-
ters, and sequential Numbering. The Batch Clip
Renaming dialog also provides controls for setting
the order for numbering selected clips based on
timeline order or Clips List sort order. Both dialogs
also offer presets so you can store and recall com-
mon renaming schemes best suited to your work-
flow.

Renaming tasks are applied in order from

top to bottom: Replace, then Trim, then Add,
and finally Numbering.

Chapter 16: The Clips List 305

 Trim Add

Enable (or disable) the Trim option to remove the Enable (or disable) the Add option to add prefixes
specified number of characters from the beginning or suffixes to names. You can also insert text into
or end of names. the middle of names.

Press Command+T (Mac) or Control+T Press Command+D (Mac) or Control+D

(Windows) to select (or deselect) Replace. (Windows) to select (or deselect) Add.

Batch Rename, Add options

Prefix Enable the Prefix option and type the text

Batch Rename, Trim options
you want to add to the names of selected items as a
From Beginning Enter the number of characters prefix.
you want to trim from the beginning of the names
of selected items. Insert Enable the Insert option and type the text
you want to insert into the names of selected items.
From End Enter the number of characters you Enter a number in the At Index field to specify after
want to trim from the end of the names of selected which character you want to insert the text (for ex-
items. ample, type 3 to insert text after the third character
in names).
Range Enable Range and then enter the number of
characters From the beginning and the number of Suffix Enable the Suffix option and type the text
character To the end of the range that you want to you want to add to the names of selected items as a
trim (or crop) the selected names to. The From and suffix.
To values can be counted from the beginning or
from the end of the selected names.

Count From Beginning Enable to count the From

and To values for Range from the beginning of the
selected names.

Count From End Enable to count the From and To

values for Range from the end of the selected
names.

306 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Numbering Process Order
(Batch Clips Renaming Only)
Enable (or disable) the Numbering option to add
numbers to the names of selected items. The Process Order options are only in the Batch
Clips Rename dialog and determine the order by
Press Command+N (Mac) or Control+N
which numbering is applied to selected clips.
(Windows) to select (or deselect) Numbering.
\

Batch Clips Rename, Process Order

Timeline Order (Left to Right, Top to

Bottom) Applies numbering according to the time-
line order of selected clips from left to right and
then from top to bottom.

Batch Rename, Numbering options Clips List Sort Order Applies number according
to the current Clips List sort order for selected
Position Select whether you want numbers to be
clips.
added at the Beginning or End of names, or at the
specified character index (At Index) in names. If
Presets
you select At Index, also enter a number in the In-
dex field to specify after which character in names Pro Tools lets you store and recall common renam-
you want to insert the numbers. ing schemes best suited to your workflow in both
the Batch Track Renaming and Batch Clip Renam-
Starting Number Enter the number from which
ing dialogs. The Presets controls for Batch Renam-
you want to start.
ing work much like the Preset controls for Fades
Number of Places Enter the number of places you and Clip Effects.
want for numbering (for example, type 3 for three
places 000). Presets Buttons

Increment Enter the value by which you want the Both the Batch Track Renaming dialog and the
numbering to increment. Batch Clip Renaming dialog provide five preset
buttons that let you store and recall your most com-
Separate With Enable to separate added numbers monly used naming conventions. You can also
with a space or any other single character after (if save and import additional Batch Naming settings
placed at the beginning) or before (if placed at the using the Librarian menu.
end), or before and after the specified character in- \

dex (if inserted at the specified index).

Use A.Z Enable to use capital letters instead of

numbers.

Batch Rename Presets, Librarian menu shown

Chapter 16: The Clips List 307

 To store a Batch Naming preset: Save Settings As Saves the current settings as a
1 Configure the Batch Naming dialog as you like. new preset. You can name the preset and save it to
any location on your system.
2 Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win-
dows) the Preset button where you want to store Import Settings Opens the Choose a Settings File
the current Batch Naming settings. dialog focused on the default Batch Rename
folder. Batch Naming Settings files (.ptpreset)
To recall a Batch Naming preset: stored in this location are listed by name just under
<factory default> in the Librarian menu. In the
 Click the Preset button that contains the settings
Choose a Settings File dialog, you can navigate to
you want to recall.
any location on your system to select and import
Librarian Menu the Batch Settings file you want.

Use the Librarian menu to save and recall Batch Delete Current Settings File Permanently deletes
Naming Settings files (.ptpreset). These are usu- the current settings file (.ptpreset) from disk.
ally saved to and recalled from the Batch Track Lock (Unlock) Settings File Locks (or unlocks)
Rename folder or the Batch Clip Rename folder the selected Settings file so that it cannot (or can)
accordingly (/Documents/Pro Tools/Pro Tools be edited.
Presets/Batch Track Rename/). Of course you can
save to and import from any directory location on
your system. Batch Name preset files can be Regular Expressions Workflow
shared and used on any other Pro Tools system as Examples
well. Regular expressions are standardized text strings
that describe search patterns. Use regular expres-
The Librarian menu commands include:
sions when batch renaming tracks or clips to find
<factory default> Restores the default settings for and replace text based on more advanced criteria
Batch Naming. than simple find and replace text operations.

Save Settings Saves the current settings. This For more information about regular expres-
command overwrites any previous version of the sions, visit https://www.regex101.com.
preset.

Press Command+Shift+S (Mac) or Control+

Shift+S (Windows) to save the current settings.

308 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Some commonly used regular expressions for advanced find and replace text operations:

regular expressions function

. Matches any single character.

\-\ 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).

\d Matches a single number.

\w Matches a single “word character” or letter.

+ 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).

[abc] Match a single instance of a, b, or c.

[^abc] Match any character except a, b, or c.

Performing Multiple Find and Replace Commands

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)

Chapter 16: The Clips List 309

 Removing Automatic Names Generated By Track Duplication

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).

Replacing Multiple Common AudioSuite Suffixes from Clip Names

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.

310 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Chapter 17: Workspace Browsers

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 404.
• 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

Chapter 17: Workspace Browsers 311

 descriptive metadata saved to and read from the Using Catalogs, you can:
header of an audio file. You can create, add, and • Collect and organize files from any combination
edit tags for any WAV or AIFF file accessible of volumes
through the Workspace.
• Create catalogs of complete volumes to view
Volumes and search even if a volume is offline
• View, manage, audition, and import individual
Workspace browsers provide file management for
items in the catalog
local and network volumes. Volumes are formatted
partitions on a physical drive (hard drive). Any • Update a database for contents of catalog
changes made in the Workspace (such as copying,
For more information, see “Catalogs” on
or moving files and folders) is mirrored on the vol-
page 355.
umes themselves. Volumes include mounted hard
drives, network storage, and removable media
(such as CD-ROMs). Task Manager Window
The Task Manager window is a utility for viewing
When Volumes are focused in the Locations pane
and managing all of the background tasks that you
you can:
initiate with Pro Tools. Use the Task Manager
• View, manage, audition, and import individual window to monitor, pause, or cancel background
items on the volume tasks such as file copies, searches, and indexing.
• Update a database for contents of the volume
For more information, see “Task Manager
Session Window” on page 358.

Workspace browsers provide powerful search and Relink Window

management tools for the files referenced in your
current session, regardless of where they are The Relink window provides tools and features for
stored. relinking sessions and catalogs to media files. Use
Relink tools to search and reacquire missing files
When the currently open session is focused in the for use in the current session.
Locations pane you can:
For more information, see “Relink Window”
• Show all the media files associated with the cur-
on page 351.
rent session, including any missing files
• View, manage, audition, and spot individual
items Performance and Transfer
Volumes
Catalogs
Workspace browsers let you view, manage, and
Catalogs provide the highest level of Pro Tools file import sessions and media from both Performance
management. Catalogs make it easy to organize and Transfer volumes.
files from multiple sources into libraries of favorite
files. Catalogs can be sorted and searched, even
when the files they reference are offline.

312 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Performance Volumes These are storage volumes There is also a global waveform cache file used to
(hard drives) that are suitable for playback and store audio file metadata when no session is open,
have been designated in the Workspace browser as or for files that reside on read-only volumes. As in
Record and Playback (R) or Playback Only (P) of previous versions of Pro Tools, this is a separate
media files in a Pro Tools session. file that is stored next to the database file.

Transfer Volumes These are volumes that are not When opening sessions created in previous ver-
supported for media playback in Pro Tools (such sions of Pro Tools in Pro Tools 12.7 or later, you
as shared network volumes or CD-ROMs), or stor- are prompted to update the database file and to
age volumes (hard drives) that have been desig- manually back up the database file from the
nated in the Workspace browser as Transfer (T) lower version of Pro Tools. This is important if
volumes. Transfer volumes cannot be used to re- you (or anyone else for that matter) expect to
cord or play back media in a Pro Tools session. continue to work on the session in a version of
Pro Tools lower than 12.7. Back up that database
Designated Transfer (T) volumes can be useful for
file to facilitate session interchange between dif-
transferring session and media files between dif-
ferent versions Pro Tools. This helps to maintain
ferent Pro Tools systems. things like Catalogs created in previous versions
of Pro Tools or Favorites and Ratings created in
For more information, see “Volume
Pro Tools 12.7 or later.
Permissions” on page 316.
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 later, the database file is
single database file that maintains an index of all 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.

Chapter 17: Workspace Browsers 313

 Workspace Browser Layout and Tools
Workspace browsers display all files in their database, including Pro Tools and non-Pro Tools files.
Unknown file types can be shown, as well as aliases, and desktop folders.

Parent Folder button

Title bar
View Presets Preview controls Columns Search tools Browser menu

Toolbar
Column headers

Items List

Locations pane
Browser pane
Show/Hide

Pane split

Basic Workspace browser tools, panes, and columns

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.

314 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Columns Identifies the type of metadata displayed To open a new Workspace browser from a
in the items list (such as file name and format) for selected volume, catalog, or folder, do one of
volumes, folders, and files in the Items List. Col- the following:
umns can be resized by dragging the column bor-  Command-double-click (Mac) or Control-dou-
der, or rearranged by dragging the Column head- ble-click (Windows) a volume, catalog, or
ers. folder in the currently open Workspace browser.
Each row of data in a Workspace browser rep-  Press Option+Down Arrow (Mac) or
resents an Item (such as a file or folder). Data Alt+Down Arrow (Windows) to open the cur-
about each item is displayed in columns. rently selected volume, catalog, or folder in a
new Workspace browser.
Locations Pane Used to navigate the Sound Li-
braries, volumes (local and networked drives) on  Press Option+; (Mac) or Alt+; (Windows). to
your system, the currently open session, indexed open and close a single Workspace browser.
Catalogs of media, and the system User directory.
Option+; (Mac) or Alt+; (Windows) also
Browser Pane Displays the contents of items se- close the Workspace browser if the selection
lected in the Locations pane or search results. in the Locations pane is on the Volumes root
folder. If another item is selected in the Loca-
Opening Workspace Browsers tions pane, these key commands will open a
new browser focused on that item.
There are several ways to open, close, and navigate
one or more Workspace browsers.
Viewing the Contents of Sound
Libraries, or a Volume, Folder, or
To open a new Workspace browser focused Catalog
on Volumes, do one of the following:
 Choose Window > New Workspace > Default. To expand or collapse the currently selected
folder, do one of the following:
 Press Option+I (Mac) or Alt+I (Windows).
 Click the Expand/Collapse icon next to the vol-
ume, folder, session, or catalog in either the
To open a new Workspace browser focused
on Soundbase: Browser pane or the Locations pane.

 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).

Chapter 17: Workspace Browsers 315

 Moving Workspace Browsers to Volume Permissions
the Foreground or Background
The Workspace includes a permissions column
To bring all open Workspace browsers to the (Permissions) for Volume permissions. This col-
foreground: umn displays, and let you designate, whether a vol-
ume has permissions for Record, Playback, or
 Choose Window > Browsers > Bring to Front.
Transfer of media files.
To bring all Workspace browsers to the R (Record and Playback) Able to play audio and
foreground, press Option+J (Mac) or video files already on the volume, and record new
Alt+J (Windows). audio files.
To send all Workspace browsers to the P (Playback Only) Can play audio and video files
background: already on the volume, but cannot have new files
 Choose Window > Browsers > Send to Back. recorded to it.

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.

Because the Task window is a utility and not a

browser, it remains open.
Designating a volume in the Workspace

316 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Unmounting Volumes Creating and Opening
Workspace Browser Folders
Use the Finder (Mac) or Windows Explorer (Win-
dows) to mount and unmount volumes while Workspace browsers let you create and manipulate
Pro Tools is running. folders (file system sub-directories). All folders
have Expand/Collapse icons to show their con-
tents. Dragging items onto a folder icon is the same
Working with Items in as dragging into an open Workspace browser.
Workspace Browsers
To create a new folder in a volume, folder, or
catalog:
Opening Sessions
1 Select the volume, folder, or catalog in which
To open a Pro Tools session listed in a you want to create a new folder.
Workspace browser:
2 Right-click the item and choose New Folder.
 With no Pro Tools session currently open, dou-
3 Type a name for the folder and click OK.
ble-click a Pro Tools session file in the Browser
pane of any Workspace browser. 4 For volumes and folders, the folder is created on
disk. In Catalogs, the folder is created in the cat-
Opening AAF and OMF alog database only. The Items List updates as
Sequences new items are added.

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.

Chapter 17: Workspace Browsers 317

 To open a folder in its own new Workspace To revert to the previous text and cancel a
browser: text edit:
 Command-double-click (Mac) or Control-dou-  Press Esc.
ble-click (Windows) the folder. The previous
(parent) Workspace browsers window remains For details on column editing, see “Column
open. Data” on page 324.

With a browser in the foreground and the

folder selected, press Command+ Indexing Workspace
Option+Down Arrow (Mac) or Databases
Control+Alt+Down Arrow (Windows) to
Indexing is the process of reading media files, ex-
open a folder in its own new browser.
tracting just the metadata for each file, then storing
that data in an associated database so that it may be
Scrolling and Moving Selections displayed in the columns of a Workspace browser.
To scroll the active pane up or down:
Once a volume or folder has been fully indexed, it
can be searched very quickly because all of the
 Press the Page Up or Page Down key. metadata has already been sorted and organized.

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.

1 Select items in a Workspace browser, and make

sure that window is in the foreground.
Indexing while Browsing
The first time you open a browser for a volume or
2 Press the Up Arrow or Down Arrow key.
folder that has never been indexed, Pro Tools auto-
matically begins to fill the database for that level of
Text Entry in Workspace the volume. Files and folders appear in the browser
Browsers Items List, along with metadata in the columns for
Many text fields can be edited to replace or update each item. Indexing continues until you either
data for an item. close the browser, or until that folder is completely
indexed.
To enter an edit to a text field and exit, and
return to the previous display state:
 Press Enter.

318 Pro Tools Reference Guide

The next time you open that browser, metadata for Automatic Updating for Pro Tools Actions
items that have already been indexed is visible im-
Whenever Pro Tools adds, deletes, or modifies a
mediately. If the browser or folder was closed be-
file on a volume or in a session, the appropriate da-
fore indexing was complete, or if the contents of
tabase is immediately updated to reflect the
the folder have changed since the last time it was
change.
browsed, Pro Tools automatically updates the da-
tabase the next time it is opened. This way, the da- Changes that are made with Windows Ex-
tabase is always up to date for the folder you are plorer or the Mac Finder (such as copying or
browsing. (View the Task Manager to see current moving files) are not tracked by Pro Tools and
activity.) are only indexed if the necessary folder is
browsed or if a manual index is performed.
Indexing while Browsing saves time because it
only fills the database for items on the level of the
volume that you are currently browsing. For exam-
ple, if you are browsing the root level of the vol- Workspace Browser Menu
ume, it indexes only the folders and files on the All Workspace browsers provide a Browser menu
root level. If you open a folder, Pro Tools indexes in the upper right corner of their toolbar. The
just the items in that folder. As a result, a database Browser menu provides access to global work-
is only indexed for the parts of the volume that you space commands. When enabled, these commands
have browsed. However, searches are faster and apply to all items in all open browsers.
more complete when a volume is already com-
pletely indexed.

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 17: Workspace Browsers 319
 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 347. 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 317.
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.

320 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Reveal in Finder/Explorer Opens the correspond- based files. Analyzed files where a tempo has been
ing parent window in the Finder (Mac) or Explorer detected are also updated as tick-based, display
(Windows) for the currently selected file. their duration in Bars|Beats, and display their na-
tive tempo in the Tempo column. You can view the
Open in New Workspace Opens the selected item
progress of Elastic Audio analysis in the Task win-
in a new browser. The selected item is highlighted
dow.
in the new browser.
Clear Elastic Analysis Clears Elastic Audio analy-
Tags Opens the Assign Tags popover window for
sis data for all selected audio files. Files cleared of
audio files (WAV or AIFF only). For details on the
Elastic Audio analysis data revert to sample time-
Assign Tags popover window, see “Soundbase and
base, display their duration in minutes and sec-
Tags” on page 335).
onds, and do not report a tempo.
Recently Used Tags Lets you assign any of the
For more information, see “Elastic Audio
last 10 used tags to the selected audio file (WAV or
Files in the Workspace” on page 342.
AIFF only).

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 341. 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 17: Workspace Browsers 321
 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 316).
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:
creation date, and sample rate).
 Right-click a column label and select or dese-
lect checkboxes for column names in the pop-
Showing (or Hiding) the
Locations Pane over menu.

The Locations pane can be hidden.

To show or hide the Locations pane:

 Click the Show/Hide icon in the lower right cor-
ner of the left-hand pane.

Show/Hide Locations Pane icon

Showing and hiding columns

322 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Selected items appear in new columns. Deselected
items are hidden.

Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) a

column to hide it. The item is deselected in the
Column menu.

To show all columns:

 Right-click a column label and Option-click
(Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) any unchecked
checkbox in the popover menu.

To hide all columns:

 Right-click a column label and Option-click
(Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) any checked Browser View preset buttons
checkbox in the popover menu.
To recall a saved preset:
To show the default set of columns:  Click the appropriate View Preset button.
 Right-click a column header and choose
DEFAULT from the popover menu. Sorting Columns
Columns can be sorted in ascending or descending
View Presets order, and multiple sorts can be applied (up to four
Pro Tools lets you save up to five preset views for levels).
the Workspace browser and for the Relink win-
dow. Presets can be recalled by clicking a View To sort by columns:
Preset button.  Click the column title header.

To store a View Preset: To toggle the current sort order between

1 Open a Workspace browser or the Relink ascending and descending:
window.  Click the column title header a second time.
2 Arrange columns and views.
To sort by multiple columns:
3 Command-click (Mac) or Control-click
 Shift-click successive column headers.
(Windows) any of the Preset buttons 1–5.

Chapter 17: Workspace Browsers 323

 Clip Name Displays the name of the file, or the
Column Data Avid clip name when the item is an AAF or OMF
In Workspace browsers, each row of data rep- file. The Clip Name is what appears in the Time-
resents an item in a database (such as a file, ses- line and Clips List when a file is imported into a
sion, or volume). Each column displays specific session.
data for an item. Copyright Displays the assigned Copyright for the
ALL Choose to show all columns. item. Click in the Copyright column for an item and
type the copyright.
NONE Choose to hide all but the Name column
(which is always shown). Database Comment Displays user comments
stored with the database, with support for Finder
DEFAULT Choose to show the default columns. comments. See “Comments Fields” on page 326
for more information.
SOUNDBASE Choose to show only Soundbase re-
lated columns. Date Created Displays the creation date of an
item. This field cannot be edited.
# of Channels Displays the number of channels in
an audio file: mono, stereo, or 3–8 as appropriate Date Modified Displays the last modified date for
for supported multichannel files. This field cannot the item. This field cannot be edited.
be edited.
Date Indexed Displays the last indexed date for the
Author Displays the assigned Author of the item. item. This field cannot be edited.
Click in the Author column for an item and type the
name of the author or authors. Duration Displays the duration of a file in absolute
time (minutes and seconds), regardless of the time-
Bit Depth Displays an audio file’s bit depth. This code format. For clip groups, MIDI, tick-based
field cannot be edited. Elastic Audio files, REX, and ACID files, Dura-
tion displays Bars and Beats. This field cannot be
Capacity Displays the total capacity of a volume.
edited.
This field cannot be edited.
Favorite Select (or deselect) the heart icon to des-
Channel Names Displays the channel name and
ignate an item as a Favorite. Only items in the se-
number data embedded in multichannel audio
lected Location that are marked as a Favorite are
files. You can edit the Channel name for mono
shown when the Favorites (heart) icon is enabled
BWF files only. When editing the channel name,
in the Workspace Toolbar.
anything entered in parentheses is discarded. How-
ever, the channel number will always be preserved.

Circled Indicates if the status of a take is set to “cir-

cled” (No or Yes) in audio files. This is usually for
indicating which take should be used.

324 Pro Tools Reference Guide

File Comment Displays any embedded comments Name Displays the name of the file, folder, vol-
associated with the file. File comments are sup- ume, catalog, or session. For offline items, the
ported with BWF and SD II files, but are not sup- name is italicized. The Name column is always
ported with AIFF files. File Comments always re- shown.
main with the file when copied, converted, or
Original Time Stamp Displays the original time
transferred. See “Comments Fields” on page 326
for more information. stamp (timecode location) of audio or video files.

Path Displays the directory path to the item.

When importing SD II files into Pro Tools,
they must first be converted to a supported Permissions Displays the designated permissions
audio file format (.WAV or .AIF). for volumes for media recording, playback, or
transfer only.
Format Displays the audio file format: WAV,
WAV (ACID) for ACID files, WAV (BWF), For more information, see “Volume
AIFF, MP3, or ReCycle for REX files. This field Permissions” on page 316.
cannot be edited.
Plug-In Manufacturer Name Displays the plug-in
Frame Rate Displays the frame rate of video files manufacturer’s name for Plug-In Settings files
where applicable. (.tfx).
Free Displays the unused space on volumes. This Plug-In Name Displays the name of the plug-in for
field cannot be edited. Plug-In Settings files (.tfx).
ISRC Displays the ISRC (International Standard Project Displays the project name data embedded
Recording Code), if any, for the selected file. Click in audio files.
the ISRC field to add or edit the ISRC for a file.
Rating Lets you rate the item from zero to five
For more information about ISRC, visit stars. Click the Stars to set the rating for an item.
www.usisrc.org.
Sample Rate Displays an audio file’s sample rate.
Key Displays the assigned key of the file. Click in This field can be edited in Workspace browsers for
the Key column for an item and select the key (such WAV and SD II files only. This can be useful
as C) and mode (such as Major). when dealing with audio that has been pulled up or
down, or to force a sample rate conversion to occur
Kind Displays whether the item is a volume,
if that is necessary before importing a file that oth-
folder, catalog, or file. For files, this column dis-
erwise would not require conversion.
plays what kind of file it is: session file, audio file,
video file, or other. This field cannot be edited. For Scene Displays scene number data embedded in
audio files, this column also indicates whether the audio files.
file is sample-based to tick-based.
Shoot Date Displays origination date and time in-
Link Path Displays the path to the file used for formation embedded in audio files. However,
relinking. Available in the Relink window only. many field recorders do not populate the Shoot
Date field, relying instead on the file’s Creation
Loop Click the Loop icon for an item to enable (or
Date to indicate date of production. When
disable) its Loop designation.
Pro Tools imports a field recorder file, it checks to

Chapter 17: Workspace Browsers 325

 see if the Shoot Date field is populated. If it is Tempo Displays the tempo associated with clip
empty, Pro Tools copies the Creation Date of the group, MIDI, tick-based Elastic Audio files, REX,
original source file to the Shoot Date field of the and ACID files, and session files. This field cannot
new imported files. This field cannot be edited. be edited.

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 341 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 335.
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.
326 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.

Moving, Copying, Duplicating,

Selecting Items and Removing Items
To select a single item in the Locations pane: Moving, copying, duplicating, and removing items
 Click the icon for an item. When selected, the in Workspace browsers follow the same rules and
item is highlighted. The contents of the selected behavior as in the operating system. For example,
item (volume, folder, session, or catalog) are moving a file to another volume copies the file, and
displayed in the Browser pane. Pro Tools warns you if an items is about to be
overwritten or replaced. Dragging an item from a
If there is already a selection in the Locations Catalog to a Volume folder always makes a new
or Browser pane, you can also type the first copy of the item.
letters of the item you want to select.

To select multiple items in the Browser pane:

Moving Items
 Drag to select a group of items, or Shift-click To move items:
additional items. Command-click (Mac) or
 Select one or more items and drag them to a new
Control-click (Windows) to select multiple non-
location. Moving to a new location on the same
contiguous items.
volume moves the item, while moving to a dif-
ferent volume copies the item.
To select all items listed:
 Press Command-A (Mac) or Control-A You can drag items directly into the Time-
(Windows). line or Clips List of the current session.
See “Importing Files with Drag and
Drop” on page 404.

Chapter 17: Workspace Browsers 327

 Copying Items
Set Column Metadata Values
To copy and move items: for Multiple Selected Files in
Workspace Browsers
 Select one or more items and Option-drag
(Mac) or Alt-drag (Windows) them to a new lo- Pro Tools lets you select multiple files in a Work-
cation. space browser and then set certain metadata (by
column) for the selected items to the same value si-
multaneously. The following columns can be ed-
Duplicating Items
ited in this fashion: Permissions, Circled, Key,
To duplicate one or more items: Time Signature, Tags, Favorite, Rating, and Loop.

1 Select one or more items.

To set the column metadata for all selected
2 Choose Duplicate Selected from the Browser files in a Workspace browser to the same
menu. value:
1 Select multiple files in a Workspace browser.
To Duplicate selected items in Work- The selected files can be contiguous or discon-
space browser, press Command-D (Mac) tiguous.
or Control-D (Windows).
2 Do one of the following:
Removing Session Items • Option-Shift-click (Mac) or Alt-Shift-click
(Windows) the column drop-down menu
Workspace browsers let you remove or delete files
(Permissions, Circled, Key, Time Signature,
from the currently open session. If a selected item
or Tags) and select the desired value.
resides on a read-only volume, it can be removed
from the session, but it cannot be deleted. • Option-Shift-click (Mac) or Alt-Shift-click
(Windows) the Rating, Favorite, or Loop
To delete one or more items from the column.
session: • Click on the Rating, Favorite, or Loop icon
1 Select the current session in the Locations pane. and drag up or down.

2 Select one or more items in the Browser pane.

3 Choose Delete from the Right-click menu.
4 Do one of the following:
• Click Move to Trash (Mac) or Move to Recycle
Bin (Windows) to remove the item from session.
• Click Delete to remove the items from your sys-
tem.
• Click Cancel to leave selected items unchanged.

328 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Number of Items
Searching Items
The Number of items listed in the Browser pane is
Pro Tools lets your search your entire system, or displayed to the left of the Browser Search field in
specific volumes, directories, or catalogs with the Workspace Toolbar. If a search returns more
ease. Workspace browsers provide a simple set of than 1,000 items you are notified that 1,000+ items
search tools so you can quickly search and find are returned from the search. You can click this to
files (both online and offline) on your system. show all items returned in the search.
Performing a search filters items listed in the
Browser Search Field
Browser pane to display only those items that
match the search criteria. Type the names of files, dates, durations, and so
forth into the Browser Search field. As soon as you
The Relink window provides specialized search
start typing, Pro Tools initiates the search for
capabilities for finding and relinking missing files.
matches to the text you type. Results are displayed
For more information, see “Linking and Relinking
in the Browser pane.
Files” on page 348.
Simple Search Button
Searching for Either/Or or And
Text Strings Click the Search button to initiate a simple search
before typing any text into the Browser Search
When typing in a search query in either simple or field. The Simple Search button changes from a
advanced search mode, use spaces for OR magnifying glass icon to an “X” and immediately
searches. For example, to search for file names that initiates a search. Click the Search button again to
contain either guitar or bass, type guitar bass. end the search (or press the Esc key).
Similarly, use quotes around text strings separated
Advanced Search Button
by spaces for AND searches. For example, to
search for file names that contain both bass and Click the Advance Search button to open the Ad-
guitar, type “bass guitar”. vanced search toolbar (see “Advanced Search” on
page 331).
Search Tools
Tags Button
The top of every Workspace browser provides a set
of search tools for finding files on your system Click the Tags button to show the Tags pane. (see
quickly and easily. “Tags Pane” on page 337).

Advanced Search button

Simple Search button
Browser Search field

Number of items
in the Browser List Tags button
Search tools

Chapter 17: Workspace Browsers 329

 Simple Search
Pro Tools provides a simple text search with the Browser Search Field that lets you quickly search all vol-
umes for items by file name as well as any other text field available in the Workspace browser (such as File
Comment, Database Comment, Scene, Take, Plug-In Name, and so on).

Initiating a search with no search criteria returns all items on the system.

To initiate a simple search:

1 In the Locations pane, select the Volume, Catalog, Session, or Folder that you want to search. If you do
not make a selection, the entire system is searched (including shown offline volumes).
2 Do one of the following:
• Click the Simple Search button.
• Press Command+F (Mac) or Control+F
(Windows).
3 Type in the Browser Search field.
4 Click in the Browser Search field and type text for the search.

Search results are displayed in the Browser pane.

Location selected for search Browser Search field Simple Search enabled

Search results

Simple search results for the selected location

330 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Advanced Search
Pro Tools provides advanced tools for searching files and volumes by specific categories. You can refine
your search by providing multiple constraints on the search parameters. You can also easily switch from an
advanced search to a simple search.

Volume selected for search Advanced Search settings Advanced Search enabled

Search Checked
option (disabled) Search results

Advanced search results for the selected Volume

To initiate an advanced search on a selected item in the Locations pane:

1 Do one of the following:
• Click the Advanced Search button.
• Press Command+Shift+F (Mac) or Control+Shift+F (Windows).
2 If it is disabled, enable the Search Checked option at the left of the Locations pane header by clicking it.
3 In the Locations pane, select the Volume, Catalog, Session, or Folder that you want to search.

Chapter 17: Workspace Browsers 331

 4 Select the Column name.

Selecting the Column name

5 Select the Search Criteria.

Selecting the Search Criteria

6 Click in the Search Text field and type text for the search.

Type what to search for

7 Press Return (Mac) or Enter (Windows).

The search results are displayed in the Browser pane.

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.

332 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To initiate an advanced search on checked items in the Locations pane:
1 Do one of the following:
• Click the Advanced Search button.
• Press Command+Shift+F (Mac) or Control+Shift+F (Windows).
2 If it is disabled, enable the Search Checked option at the left of the Locations pane header by clicking it.
3 In the Locations pane, check each of the Volumes, Catalogs, Sessions, or Folders that you want to
search.

Folders checked for search Advanced Search settings Advanced Search enabled

Search Checked
option (enabled) Search results

Advanced search results for checked folders

4 Select the Column type.

5 Select the Search Criteria.

Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Windows) to select multiple criteria for an either/or

search.

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).

Chapter 17: Workspace Browsers 333

 The search results are displayed in the Workspace Column Search Selector
pane.
You can search text by all columns or only be spe-
If you want to refine your search, click the Add cific columns in the browser.
Row button to add further constraints to the search.
Repeat steps 4-6 for each row you add. Search Criteria Selector

You can search for items in the selected column

To switch from an advanced search to a according to the following search criteria:
simple search, do one of the following:
Contains Select this option to search for items that
 Click the Advanced Search button so that it is
include the text you type into the Search Text field.
unhighlighted.
 Press Command+Shift+F (Mac) or Con- Does Not Contain Select this option to exclude
trol+Shift+F (Windows). items from the search that contain the text you type
into the Search Text field.
To switch from an simple search to an Starts With Select this option to search for items
advanced search, do one of the following:
that start with the text that you type into the Search
 Click the Advanced Search button so that it is Text field.
highlighted.
Contains Exactly Select this option to search for
 Press Command+F (Mac) or Control+F (Win- items that are an exact match to the text you type
dows). into the Search Text field.

To cancel the search entirely: Search Text Field

 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.

Command-Option-click (Mac) or Control-

Alt-click (Windows) a column header to add
it as search criteria.

Search Criteria selector

Remove Row button
Advanced Search tools

334 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Remove Row Button Click the Remove button To open a Workspace browser with
(“–”) for a row to remove that row. Soundbase, do one of the following:
 Choose Window > New Workspace > Sound-
Press Shift + “–” (minus) to remove the bot-
base.
tom row.
 Press Option+Control+I (Mac) or Alt+Start+I
(Windows).
Saving Search Results as a
Catalog
To save the results of your search as a
Catalog:
1 Choose Edit > Select All, or press Command+A
(Mac) or Control+A (Windows), to select all
items in the Items List.
2 Right-click any selected item and choose
Create Catalog.

For more information, see “Catalogs” on

page 355.
Workspace showing Soundbase with Sound Libraries
and Tags pane

Soundbase and Tags Sound Libraries

Use Soundbase in Workspace browsers to find au- At the top of the list in the Location pane of any
dio files using tags (WAV and AIFF only). Tags Workspace browser is the Sound Libraries folder. It
are descriptive metadata saved to and read from the is an essential part of Soundbase that provides a spe-
header of audio file. You can create, add, and edit cial location for easy access to tagged audio files. In
tags for any WAV or AIFF file accessible through addition to descriptive metadata tagging, you can in-
clude musically useful information about the audio
the Workspace. Use the Sound Libraries folder in
content through column data, especially Time Base,
the Locations pane to store and organize the audio
Duration (Min:Sec or Bars|Beats), Tempo, Key,
files in your sound library collection. Time Signature, Favorites, Rating, and Tags.
Tags are written to and read from the file
To show (or hide) Sound Libraries in
header.
Workspace Locations:
Choose Setup > Preferences.
Opening a Workspace Browser 1

with Soundbase 2 Click the Operations tab.

By default, Workspace browsers open without the 3 Enable (or disable) the Show Sound Libraries in
Tags pane shown (see “Tags Pane” on page 337). Workspace Locations option.
However, you can open a new Workspace browser 4 Click OK to close the Preferences dialog.
with the Tags pane shown for ready access to Sound-
base. The Workspace browser also opens with col-
umns relevant to Soundbase shown (such as Key,
Time Signature, and Tags).

Chapter 17: Workspace Browsers 335

 When you install Pro Tools, this folder is created in Adding and Removing Sound Library
the following locations: Locations

macOS HD/Users/<username>/Documents/ You can add (or remove) different directories on

Pro Tools/Sound Libraries/ your system whose contents are not actually copied
or moved to the Sound Libraries folder. Added loca-
Windows C:\Users\<username>\Documents\ tions are essentially aliases that point to the original
Pro Tools\Sound Libraries location of the designated folder and no media is cop-
ied or moved from the original location.
You can install audio content for Sound Libraries
available from Avid as well as third-party vendors.
Of course, you can also add your own content by ei- To add a location to the Sound Library:
ther actually copying it to the location Sound Librar- 1 In any Workspace browser, navigate to the loca-
ies folder on your system or by adding alias to other tion of the folder you want to add to the Sound Li-
locations on your system. brary.
2 Right-click the folder and choose Add Sound Li-
To show (or hide) Sound Libraries in brary Location.
Workspace Locations:
1 Choose Setup > Preferences.
2 Click the Operations tab.
3 Enable (or disable) the Show Sound Libraries in
Workspace Locations option.
4 Click OK to close the Preferences dialog.

Sound Libraries Location Adding a folder to Sound Libraries

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

336 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To remove a location from the Sound Library: To show (or hide) the Tags pane in a
1 In the Locations pane of any Workspace browser, Workspace browser:
reveal the contents of Sound Libraries.  Click the Tags pane icon at the top of the Work-
2 Right-click the folder you want to remove from space browser. It is highlighted only when the
the Sound Library and choose Remove Sound Li- Tags pane is shown.
brary Location.

Removing a folder from Sound Libraries

The folder is removed from Sound Libraries. How-

ever, the folder and all files within it remain at the
original location. Only the alias is removed. Tags pane shown, Tags pane icon highlighted

Tags Pane Press Command+Option+Control+T (Mac)

You can show or hide the Tags pane in any Work- or Control+Alt+Start+T (Windows) to show
space browser. The Tags pane shows all tags for me- or hide the Tags pane.
dia in the selected folder in the Locations pane. Click
any Tag in the Tags pane to show only media with
that Tag in the browser. Searching Based on Tags
Tags appear in the Tags Pane in order from Use tags in Soundbase to find all audio files in the se-
most used to least used for any selected loca- lected Location that have the selected tags. Any
tion in Sound Libraries folder. After adding a WAV or AIFF audio file can be assigned multiple
new Sound Library that has existing tags tags so you can refine you search criteria using as
many descriptive tags as necessary. Be sure to be
(such as the Avid Loopmasters Sample Pack)
consistent in how you tag your audio files so that you
or after tagging a number of files, relaunch
can quickly and reliably call up the audio files you
Pro Tools to ensure that these tags appear in need, based on tags that accurately describe the au-
the proper order. dio, for whatever project you are working on.

Chapter 17: Workspace Browsers 337

 To search audio files based on tags: Exclude Files from Search
1 Show the Tags pane in any Workspace browser. Results with Selected Tags
2 Navigate to the location you want to search in the Not only can you find audio files by what tags they
Locations pane. do have, you can also find files by what tags they do
not have.
3 Click the desired tags in the Tags pane to limit the
search to those criteria, or type in the name of
To exclude files from the search results that
Tags in the search field.
have the specified tag:
1 Show the Tags pane in any Workspace browser.
2 Navigate to the location you want to search in the
Locations pane.
3 Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) any
tags in the Tags pane that you want to exclude
from the search results. Those tags turn gray in the
Search Tags field.

Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) any gray

tags in the Search Tags field again to include files
with those tags in the search results. Those tags turn
back to blue.

A single audio file found with two matching tags

4 Click the “X” on the right side of any tag in the

Tag Search field to clear it from the search criteria.
The search results in the Browser list update auto-
matically.

Press the Esc key to clear the search criteria.

5 Audition and use the audio in the search results

that best suits your needs.

Search results based on tags “R&B” included (blue)

and Melodic excluded (gray)

The search results include only files with the blue

tags and exclude those with the gray tags.

338 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 When searching on tags, all audio files in the selected
Adding and Editing Tags location with matching tags appear in the search re-
Pro Tools lets you add and edit tags for audio files in sults—the more tags you specify, the more selective
Soundbase. If you want to search your existing sam- your searches can be.
ple libraries or custom audio files, you will need to
add tags manually.

To add tags to an audio file:

1 Locate and select one or more audio files that you
want to tag in any Workspace browser.
2 Right-click on a selected audio file in the Work-
space browser and choose Tags.

Adding tags to selected audio files

Choosing Tags in the Right-click menu for selected

audio files

You can also assign tags by clicking in the

Tags column.

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.

Chapter 17: Workspace Browsers 339

 Assign Tags Popover Window To assign 0–5 stars for the rating of selected
audio files in the Assign Tags popover
Access the Assign Tags popover window for one or window:
more selected items either through the Right-click
menu or from the Tags column. Here you can add, re-  Click the Star icons so that the number of stars you
move, and create new tags assigned to the selected want for the rating are highlighted.
audio files. You can also mark a file as a favorite and
rate it from zero to five stars. Press Control+0–5 (Mac) or Start+0–5
(Windows) to assign the number of stars for
Rating.

To mark (or unmark) a file as a loop in the

Tags pop-up window:
 In the Tags pop-up window, select (or deselect)
the Loop icon in the lower-right corner of the
pop-up window. The icon highlights when se-
lected.

Assign Tags popover window

Press Option+Control+T (Mac) or

Alt+Start+T (Windows) to show or hide the
Assign Tags popover window for selected
items.
Loop indicator enabled in Tags pop-up menu
To enable (or disable) the Favorite marker for
selected audio files in the Assign Tags
popover window: Press Control+O (Mac) or Start+O (Win-
 Click the Heart icon so that it is highlighted (or dows) to mark (or unmark) the selected file as
unhighlighted). a loop.

Press Control+F (Mac) or Start+F (Windows)

to enable or disable the Favorite designation
in the Assign Tags popover window.

340 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Favorites
Waveforms
Pro Tools lets you mark audio files as Favorites, so
you can quickly filter the Items List to show only Fa- The Waveform column displays waveforms for
vorites. audio files. Waveform display depends on the fol-
lowing:
To mark an audio file as a favorite, do one of • Waveforms are displayed if they have already
the following:
been calculated and stored, either with the file
 Select the Heart icon in the Assign Tags popover metadata or in the global Waveform cache.
window.
• When a file is imported into a session, a wave-
 Select the Heart icon in the Favorite column. form is automatically calculated for it.

To filter for Favorites:

 Select the Heart icon in the Workspace Browser
Toolbar.

Waveform displays in a Workspace browser

The waveform overview is stored in the file, or in

the Pro Tools Databases folder on your system
drive. For more information, see “WaveCache” on
page 342.

To scale the vertical zoom on waveforms

Favorites filter enabled
displayed in the Workspace browser, press
Command+Option+[ or Command+Op-
Press Command+Option+Control+F (Mac) tion+] (Mac), or Control+Alt+[ or Con-
or Control+Alt+Start+F (Windows) to show trol+Alt+] (Windows).
or hide Favorites for the selected Location or
search results. Summed Waveforms for Multichannel Files

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.
Select either Set or Not Set for the Search Crite-
Calculating Waveforms for
Display
2
ria.
3 Press Enter or Return. If an audio file item does not have a waveform, the
waveform must be calculated to be visible in a
Workspace browser Waveform display.

Chapter 17: Workspace Browsers 341

 To calculate waveforms in a Workspace To calculate Elastic Audio analysis:
browser:
1 In a Workspace browser, select the files you
1 Select online audio files, or folders containing want to analyze.
audio files, in a Workspace browser.
2 Do one of the following:
2 Right-click any selected item and choose
• Right-click one of the selected files and choose
Calculate Waveform.
Calculate Elastic Analysis from the pop-up
menu.
WaveCache • Preview the file with the Audio Files Conform to
A global WaveCache file stores waveforms that Session Tempo option enabled.
cannot be written back to the sound file, such as
Analyzed files in which a regular tempo was de-
read-only files, files on network and other read-
tected are updated as tick-based, display their du-
only volumes, and interleaved files.
ration in Bars|Beats, and display their native tempo
On Mac, the WaveCache file is stored in in the Tempo column.
/Users/Shared/Pro Tools.
Analyzed files in which no tempo was detected re-
On Windows, the WaveCache file is stored in main sample-based. These files typically contain
<Systemdrive>/Users/Public/Pro Tools. only a single transient (such as a snare hit) or they
are longer files without a readily identifiable regu-
lar tempo (such as entire songs).
Elastic Audio Files in the On Mac, if you do not see the Elastic Audio
Workspace Analysis icon or the duration does not
You can both calculate and clear Elastic Audio change to tick-based during the preview pro-
analysis for selected audio files in Workspace cess, check the permissions for the folder in
browsers. Only AIFF and WAV files are supported the Mac Finder. You must have write access
for Elastic Audio analysis and processing. Any of the directory for this feature to work.
other file format (such as MP3) must be converted
to AIFF or WAV for Elastic Audio analysis and To clear Elastic Audio analysis:
processing. 1 In a Workspace browser, select the files with
Elastic Audio analysis that you want to clear.
Even though the MP3 file formats are not
directly supported by Elastic Audio, you 2 Right-click one of the selected files and choose
can import them into a WAV- or AIFF- Clear Elastic Analysis from the pop-up menu.
based session and then use the converted
Files cleared of Elastic Audio analysis data revert
files on Elastic Audio-enabled tracks. File
to sample timebase, display their duration in min-
formats that do not match the session are
utes and seconds, and do not report a tempo.
converted automatically on import.

For more information, see Chapter 44,

“Elastic Audio.”

342 Pro Tools Reference Guide

File Timebase and Elastic Audio
Analysis Icons Previewing Audio in
Workspace Browsers
Workspace browsers provide two different icons
for time-based or tick-based files. For time-based Audio files can be previewed in Workspace brows-
files, the time-based icon is color coded to indicate ers. Previewing follows the master Audition path
whether or not a file includes Elastic Audio analy- as selected in the Output pane of the I/O Setup (see
sis. “Audition Path” on page 60). The base level for
previewing is determined by the Master Fader (or
Tick-based Sample-based Auxiliary Input) level assigned to the Audition
file icon file icon
path. You can also adjust the Preview Volume in
the Workspace browser.

To preview an audio file in a Workspace

browser:
1 Select an audio file in a browser Items List.
Make sure the Workspace browser is the fore-
Elastic Audio and Timebase icons in Workspace ground (active) window.
browsers
2 Do one of the following:
Sample-Based File Icon Indicates that the file is • Click the Waveform Preview button (the speaker
sample-based. The icon is color coded to display icon to the left of the waveform display). Click
whether or not the file includes Elastic Audio anal- again to stop auditioning.
ysis data. Sample-based WAV and AIF files with-
• If Spacebar Toggles File Preview is selected in
out elastic audio analysis data display a gray clock
the Browser menu, press the Spacebar. Press the
icon. Sample-based WAV and AIF files with elas-
Spacebar again to stop auditioning.
tic audio analysis data display a blue clock icon.
The file’s duration is displayed in minutes and sec- • Press Command+P (Mac) or Control+P (Win-
onds. dows) to start and stop previewing.

Tick-Based File Icon Indicates that the file is tick- • Press the Esc key to stop previewing.
based. The file’s duration is displayed in If the Auto-Preview option is enabled,
Bars|Beats and the file’s native tempo is displayed previewing starts as soon as the file is
in the tempo column. MIDI, REX and ACID files selected in a Workspace browser.
are tick-based and contain their own tempo and
Bar|Beat metadata. WAV and AIF files with elas-
tic audio analysis that are tick-based also display a
green metronome icon.

Chapter 17: Workspace Browsers 343

 To audition from a specific location within
the file: Preview Controls and
Indicators
 Click in the waveform display at the location.
Every Workspace browser provides the following
preview controls in the Toolbar: Preview, Volume,
Meters, Audio Files Conform to Session Tempo,
and Elastic Audio Plug-In.

Audio Files Conform

to Session Tempo
Preview button
Auditioning an audio file button
Volume
Interleaved Files Meters

When previewed in Workspace browsers, inter-

leaved audio files with more than two channels are
summed to mono for auditioning.

Multi-Mono Files

Multi-mono files must be previewed one file at a

time. Preview controls in Workspace browsers

Split Stereo Files Preview Together Preview Button

When selecting one of a pair of Split Stereo files, The Preview button starts and stops preview of au-
such as “Drums.L” and “Drums.R,” both files pre- dio files selected in Workspace browsers. You can
view together. To preview only the selected chan- also Right-click the Preview button to change the
nel of a split stereo pair, press the Shift key and Preview mode and set whether or not the Spacebar
start preview. toggles file preview.

Some Pro Tools operations can cause

temporary interruptions in Workspace
auditioning.

MIDI files can be previewed from the

session Clips List, but not from Workspace Workspace Browser, Preview button Right-click menu
browsers. See “Previewing Clips in the
Volume
Clips List” on page 299.
The Volume control in Workspace browsers lets
you boost or attenuate the gain for previewing se-
lected files.

344 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To change the volume for previewing in When the Audio Files Conform to Session Tempo
Workspace browsers: button is enabled, Pro Tools analyzes any un-ana-
1 Click the Volume control (Fader icon) to dis- lyzed files on preview or import. Tick-based audio
play the Volume fader. files conform to the session tempo during preview
and on import. Sample-based files, those where no
2 Adjust the Volume fader (from –INF to tempo has been detected, always preview and im-
+12 dB). port at their original speed and duration.

When the Audio Files Conform to Session Tempo

button is disabled, any tick-based audio files with
Elastic Audio analysis, and REX and ACID files
preview at their native tempo.

For more information, see “Conforming Pre-

view to the Session Tempo” on page 347
Workspace Browser, Preview Volume fader
Elastic Audio Plug-In Selector
Meters
The Elastic Audio Plug-In selector lets you select
The meters display the level of the audio and also any Real-Time Elastic Audio plug-in as the default
provide clip indicators. For mono files, the mono plug-in for previewing and importing Elastic Au-
signal is shown in both meters. For stereo files, the dio files. Changing the plug-in in any Workspace
left and right meters show the left and right chan- browser also affects the Elastic Audio Default Plug-
nels respectively. Greater than stereo multichannel In option in the Processing preferences.
files are displayed as summed mono in both me-
ters. To the Elastic Audio plug-in for preview in
context:
Audio Files Conform to Session Tempo Button
1 Right-click the Audio Files Conform to Session
The Audio Files Conform to Session Tempo but- Tempo button.
ton mirrors the corresponding Browser menu com-
2 Select the desired Elastic Audio plug-in.
mand. When enabled, all tick-based audio files
with Elastic Audio analysis, as well as REX and
ACID files, conform to the session tempo. This
lets you play back the session, and then simultane-
ously preview the selected files in time with the
session. The Audio Files Conform to Session
Tempo button is only available when a session is
open, otherwise it is disabled and grayed out.
Workspace Browser, selecting Elastic Audio plug-in
for previewing Elastic Audio files.

For more information, see “Elastic Audio

Plug-Ins” on page 975.

Chapter 17: Workspace Browsers 345

 3 Do one of the following:
Preview Modes
• Click the Browser Preview button.
Workspace browsers provide three Preview
• Click the Waveform Preview button.
modes: Normal Preview, Loop Preview, and Auto-
Preview. • If Spacebar Toggles File Preview is selected in
the Browser menu, press the Spacebar.

Normal Preview • Press Command+P (Mac) or Control+P

(Windows).
Normal Preview simply plays the selected audio
file and stops at the end of the file. Deselect Loop To stop loop audition:
Preview and Auto-Preview for Normal Preview
mode.  Do one of the following:
• Click the Browser Preview button again.
Loop Preview • If Spacebar Toggles File Preview is selected in
the Browser menu, press the Spacebar again.
Loop Preview plays the selected file by looping
playback of the file. If multiple files are selected, • Press Command+P (Mac) or Control+P
only the first selected file previews. When Loop (Windows).
Preview mode is enabled, the Preview button up- • Press the Esc key.
dates to show a Loop Preview Mode icon.

Control-click (Mac) or Start-click (Win- Auto-Preview

dows) the Preview button to toggle Loop Auto-Preview plays the audio file as soon as it is
Preview mode on and off. selected. Additionally, the Preview button
updates to show an Auto-Preview icon.
To loop preview a file in a Workspace
browser: Command-click (Mac) or Control-click
1 Do one of the following: (Windows) the Preview button to toggle
• In the Browser menu, select Loop Preview. The Auto-Preview mode on and off.
Browser Preview button updates to show the To automatically preview files when
Loop Preview icon. selected:
• Right-click the Preview button and select Loop
 Do one of the following:
Preview.
• 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-
Workspace Preview button, Loop Preview mode
Preview.
2 Select an audio file in a Workspace browser’s
Items List. Make sure the Workspace browser is
the foreground (active) window.

Workspace Preview button, Auto-Preview enabled

346 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Conforming Preview to the Preview in Context
Session Tempo
Pro Tools lets you preview audio files in Work-
Pro Tools lets you preview Elastic Audio analyzed space browsers while playing back a Pro Tools
files at the session tempo. The selected default session. Tick-based audio files (those with tempo
Elastic Audio plug-in is used for previewing Elas- detected Elastic Audio analysis, as well as REX
tic Audio analyzed audio files at the session tempo. and ACID files) can play back in tempo, and at the
Additionally, other tick-based files, such as REX corresponding bar and beat location, with session
and ACID files, can also be previewed at the ses- playback. Tick-based audio files audition at the
sion tempo and in time with playback. session tempo when the Audio Files Conform to
Session Tempo option is enabled.
To preview files at the session tempo:
Deselect the Spacebar Toggles File Preview
1 In the session, place the insertion point at the lo-
option in the Browser menu to start and stop
cation where you want to preview the file in
session playback with the Spacebar without
Workspace.
previewing in the Workspace browser. Use
2 In a Workspace browser, select the file you want Command+P (Mac) or Control+P (Win-
to preview. dows) to start and stop preview in the front-
most Workspace browser during session
3 Do one of the following:
playback.
• Click the Audio Files Conform to Session
Tempo button. It highlights when enabled. Reserve Voices for Preview in Context
• From the Browser menu, select Audio Files Con- (Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)
form to Session Tempo.
Preview in context (previewing audio files in
• Right-click the file you want to preview and se- Workspace during session playback) uses disk
lect Audio Files Conform to Session Tempo from voices for playback. The number of voices re-
the pop-up menu. quired depends on the channel width of the se-
lected Audition Paths on the Output page of the I/O
4 Click the Preview button in the Workspace
Setup window. For example, if a stereo audition
browser and the file plays at the session tempo.
path selected in the I/O Setup requires 2 voices for
preview in context, whereas a 5.1 audition path re-
quires 6 voices. If one or more voices are not avail-
able for preview in context because they are in use
by disk tracks (or routing for Native processing on
HDX systems), the Preview button in Workspace
browsers will be unavailable during session play-
back.

Chapter 17: Workspace Browsers 347

 Pro Tools provides an option to reserve voices for The process of reacquiring missing files is referred
preview in context. The number of reserved voices to as relinking. Relinking can involve certain sub-
is determined by the channel width of the selected tasks, depending on the situation.
Audition Paths in the I/O Setup. Voices reserved • Transfer files must first be copied to a suitable
for preview in context are unavailable for disk Performance volume. The session is then
tracks. relinked to the copies on the Performance vol-
umes instead of the original Transfer files.
To reserve for voices for preview in context:
• Volumes may be searched for missing files and,
1 Choose Setup > Preferences. when the files are found, Pro Tools relinks the
2 Select the Operation tab. session to the file's new location.

3 Enable the Reserve Voices For Preview In • Files that reside on offline volumes must first
Context option. have their volumes mounted (brought online)
before they can be relinked.
4 Click OK to close the Preferences dialog.
Catalogs have unique linking characteristics.
See “Relinking and Aliases in Catalogs” on
Linking and Relinking Files page 354.

A Pro Tools session is made up of references, or Choosing When to Relink

links, to audio files and other session media. Audio
and video files must be stored on suitable Perfor- Pro Tools lets you relink files while opening a ses-
mance volumes and be properly linked in order to sion or after a session is already open, as follows:
be playable in the session.  Relinking when opening a session ensures that

the session opens with all media playable. Auto-

The following types of files are not playable:
matic and manual relinking can be performed. See
Transfer Files Files that are stored on volumes not “Opening a Session with Missing Files” on
suitable for playback, such as network volumes or page 350.
CD-ROMs.
 Relinking later (after a session is already open)
Missing Files Files that cannot be found where the is the fastest way to open the session, but all miss-
session expects them, either because they have ing items remain offline and unplayable. See
been moved, or because they are stored on vol- “Relink Window” on page 351.
umes that are not currently mounted (offline vol-
umes). Forcing a Relink

If you cannot relink to the original file, you can

force a relink to another file. See “Force Relinking
Files” on page 354.

348 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Copy and Relink
Transfer Files
The Copy and Relink command is a file manage-
Unlike missing files, Transfer files are files that ment option for session and catalogs in the Work-
have been found but which reside on volumes un- space browser.
suitable for playback, such as CD-ROMs or net-
work drives. These volumes appear as Transfer Copy and Relink provides a convenient way to
volumes in the Workspace browser. copy files and relink the session or Catalog to the
copies rather than to the originals.
Opening a Session with Transfer
Files To copy items to a new location and Relink to
the copies:
If a session finds files on a volume unsuitable for
1 Do one of the following:
playback, a dialog appears prompting you to copy
them to a suitable volume. • Choose Window > New Workspace and select
the current session in the Locations pane.
To copy Transfer files found when opening a • Open a Catalog.
session, do one of the following:
2 Select the items you want to copy and relink.
 Click Yes to open the Copy and Relink dialog. You can select any media files (online, offline,
 Click No to open the session with all Transfer and Transfer files).
files offline. When opened, the session’s Work- 3 Choose Copy and Relink Selected from the
space browser indicates Transfer files with a Browser menu.
“T” in their Status column.
4 If the default location for the copies (the ses-
Transfer Files in an Open Session sion’s Audio Files folder) is not appropriate,
specify a different location and click Choose.
To make Transfer files playable in the current
5 The files are copied to the chosen destination
session:
and the session or Catalog is relinked in the
1 Select the current session in the Locations pane. background.
2 Double click the Audio Files folder to display
all of the audio files.
Missing Files
3 Choose Select Transfer Files from the Browser
menu. Files are missing if they are not found in the same
location as when the session was last saved. This
4 Choose Copy and Relink from the Browser
could be because you moved the files or the ses-
menu.
sion folder, or because the files are on a volume
5 Specify a location for the copied files on a valid that is not currently mounted.
Performance volume and click OK.
6 Repeat for video files, as necessary.

Chapter 17: Workspace Browsers 349

 Opening a Session with Missing Automatically Find and Relink Is the simplest
Files method to relink sessions to required media, but it
provides no way to compare files or verify links.
To open a session with missing files: This option cannot be undone. The Automatically
1 When you open a session, Pro Tools opens the Find and Relink option does the following:
session with all available media, then shows • Searches all Performance volumes for all miss-
you how many files are missing (if any) and ing items with matching Name, ID, Format, and
asks how you want to proceed. (If told that files Length
are unsuitable for playback, see “Transfer Files”
• Links missing items to the first matches found
on page 349.)
• Commits links for all items possible
2 Select one of the following:
• Skip All—or press Command+S (Mac) or Links, once committed, cannot be undone
Control+S (Windows). once the session is saved. The only way to re-
vert to previous links is to close the session
• Manually Find Relink—or press Command+M without saving changes.
(Mac) or Control+M (Windows).
• Automatically Find Relink—or press If some files remain unlinked, the Task window
Command+A (Mac) or Control+A (Windows). opens and a failed task appears in the Paused Tasks
pane. Double-click the Task icon to open the
3 Select Regenerate Missing Rendered Files Relink window and manually find and relink files.
Without Searching to exclude rendered Elastic
Audio files from the relink process and regener- Even if all of the missing files are later found
ate them instead. and relinked, the failed task remains in the
Task Window. Like all failed tasks, it must be
4 Click OK.
manually selected and deleted. See “About
Skip All Skips all missing files. This option is the Failed Tasks” on page 360.
fastest way to open the session utilizing all avail-
Regenerate Missing Rendered Files Without
able media. Missing files are offline in the session,
Searching
and shown in the Clips List and the Workspace
browser with italic text. Enable this option to exclude rendered Elastic Au-
dio files from the relinking process (rendered files
Manually Find and Relink Opens the Relink win-
are recalculated instead). This option is available
dow. Use the Relink window to search, compare,
when Automatically Find and Relink or Manually
verify, and relink missing files. Files can be
Find and Relink is enabled.
relinked one at a time or in batches. See “Relink
Window” on page 351 for more information.

350 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Relink Window
The Relink window provides tools for all relinking tasks.

Menu and toolbar

Areas to Search

Files to Relink

Candidates

Main elements in the Relink window

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.

Files to Relink Lists missing files.

To access the Relink window from an open
Candidates Lists files that match the “relinking session:
criteria” for a particular missing file. The Link icon 1 In the Workspace browser, select the item you
next to the candidate can be toggled on or off to want to relink.
link (or unlink) the proposed candidate to the se-
2 Choose Relink Offline from the Browser menu.
lected missing file.
The Session Data Online Status indicator in
The Relink window controls each phase of the
the Edit window (under the Edit Selection in-
relinking process.
dicators) is green when all audio files refer-
enced by the session are available for play-
back. However, if files are offline, being
processed, or otherwise unavailable for play-
back, this indicator is red. If any files are of-
fline, click the indicator to open the Relink
window and relink to offline files.

Chapter 17: Workspace Browsers 351

 Selecting Areas to Search Single and Multi-File Relinking
Selecting volumes and folders in the Areas to The Relink window can be used to relink one miss-
Search pane lets you focus the search for missing ing file at a time, or to relink missing files in
files. This can speed the relinking process by lim- batches.
iting the number of volumes or folders to search. In
addition, excluding folders from a search for miss- Relinking Individual Missing Files
ing files also lets you redirect a session or Catalog
In some situations, individual files must be
to a more appropriate copy of an item.
relinked one at a time in order to relink the session
to the correct file. This is necessary if multiple cop-
ies of a media file are online, or whenever you
want the most control and flexibility over the
relinking process.

To relink a missing file:

1 Configure the Areas to Search pane.
2 Select one item in the Files to Relink list.
3 Click Find All Candidates.
Volumes selected to include in the search

To select volumes or folders to include or

exclude in a search:
1 Configure the Areas to Search pane to display
the appropriate volume, Catalog, or folder.
2 Click each item’s Search column to toggle it to
be included or excluded in the search. A check
next to an item indicates it will be included in
the search. All folders within items are also
checked.

Find All Candidates, for relinking a selected missing

file

352 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Pro Tools searches the selected volumes and dis- Relinking Multiple Missing Files
plays all files that match File Name, SMPTE ID, or
Using the Find Links button, multiple files can be
Unique ID in the Candidates list. Link icons indi-
matched and linked in one procedure.
cate if a Candidate is already linked.

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 352.)
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 353. 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.

Link icon, indicating Linked status

5 Click the Link icon next to other Candidates, if

Linking options
you want to relink to additional missing files.
5 Click OK to continue (or click Cancel to return
6 Click the Commit Links button.
to the Relink window).

Pro Tools searches for an acceptable candidate for

the first missing file (the first item selected in the
Files to Relink list). A link icon appears next to
each file as Pro Tools finds and links the first ac-
ceptable candidate to the missing file. The Link

Chapter 17: Workspace Browsers 353

 Path column shows the location of the selected Committing Links
candidate. Pro Tools continues searching, match-
There is no Undo for relinking. Once a file has
ing, and linking for each missing file in the Files to
been relinked and the session saved, the session al-
Relink list.
ways remembers the new link (the original link is
6 To view a candidate for a missing file, select to forgotten). For this reason, no files are actually
highlight the missing file. That file’s candidate relinked until you click Commit Links.
appears in the Candidates pane, where you can
view its information and waveform. The Automatically Find and Relink option
is the only relinking process that does not
7 If you are not satisfied with the candidate for a ask you to verify links before they are
particular missing file, you can click Find All committed. If you use this option and are
Candidates for the selected file (see “Relinking unsatisfied with the results, close the
Individual Missing Files” on page 352). session without saving to prevent the new
links from being committed.
Force Relinking Files
To commit links:
If you want to link to a substitute file (for example,
1 Use the Relink window to link files as explained
if you know a file has the same audio or video but
in “Single and Multi-File Relinking” on
does not have a matching File Name, SMPTE ID,
page 352.
or Unique ID), you can force a relink.
2 Click Commit. You are asked to verify commit-
 To force relink an audio file, its file format
ting links.
(WAV, AIFF, or MXF), sample rate and bit depth
must match those of the original file. 3 Do one of the following:
 To force relink a video file, its format (Quick- • Click Yes to commit links.
Time, Avid, MXF, or OMF) and frame rate must • Click No to stop without affecting files.
match those of the original file.

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.

4 Navigate in the Areas to Search pane to locate To relink a Catalog:

the file you want to relink.
1 Open the Catalog.
5 Drag the file to the Candidates pane in the
2 Select items to relink.
Relink window.
3 Choose Relink Selected from the Browser menu
6 Click the Link icon next to the file you dragged
in that Catalog window.
to the Candidates pane.
7 Click the Commit Links button.

354 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Creating Catalogs of Folders
Catalogs
Catalogs are similar to having a Favorites folder, To create a Catalog of an entire folder and all
its contents:
and serve as a way to collect and organize fre-
quently used items regardless of where they are 1 Open the Workspace browser, if not already
stored. A Catalog is analogous to a folder full of open.
aliases or shortcuts. Placing a file in a Catalog does
2 Drag and drop a single folder onto the Catalog
not create a copy of the file, and does not change
icon in the Workspace browser.
where the file is stored. Rather, it stores a reference
(or alias) to the file so that it can be found and ma- Pro Tools first indexes the folder, then a fully in-
nipulated without having to search for its physical dexed Catalog is created, with the same name as
location. the dropped folder.

Creating Catalogs Renaming a Catalog

Catalogs can be added to the Workspace as new, Catalogs can be renamed at any time.
empty Catalogs, or you can select items first and
then save a Catalog of all selected items. To rename a Catalog:
1 Click the Catalog item in the Workspace
To create a new, empty Catalog:
browser until its name highlights.
1 Open a Workspace browser.
2 Type a new name for the Catalog.
2 Choose New Catalog from the Browser menu.
3 Type a unique name and click OK. Modifying Catalogs

To catalog a selection of items: To add items to a Catalog, do one of the

following:
1 Open a Workspace browser.
 Open the Catalog and drop new items from an-
2 Select the items you want to include in the new other Workspace browser.
Catalog.
 Click the main Catalogs icon in the Workspace,
3 Choose Create Catalog from Selection from the to expand your view of all existing Catalogs,
Browser menu. then drop items onto any Catalog.
A new, fully indexed Catalog database of the se-
To add a folder to a Catalog:
lected items is created.
1 Open the Catalog.
2 Choose New Folder from the Browser menu.

Chapter 17: Workspace Browsers 355

 Removing Catalog Items Updating Catalogs
When you remove a folder or file from a Catalog, Since a Catalog database is not linked to any par-
Pro Tools lets you choose whether to delete only ticular volume, there is a limit to the abilities of the
the alias from the Catalog, or also delete the origi- Update Index command. When Update Index for
nal files from disk. Selected Items is selected from the Browser menu
in a Catalog, Pro Tools searches for the items rep-
To delete an item from a Catalog. resented by the aliases in the Catalog and updates
1 Select a catalog in the Locations pane. the following information:

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 348.
dows).

Consolidating Files with Removing Catalogs

Catalogs To delete a Catalog:
Catalogs are excellent tools for consolidating files 1 Select a catalog in the Locations pane.
from a variety of sources.
2 Select the catalog in the Browser pane.
For example, create a Catalog named “Thumps”
and fill it with sound effects from three different 3 Choose Remove Selected Items from the
volumes. You can then drag the Catalog from the Browser menu. A warning dialog appears.
Workspace browser to another volume, and a 4 In the warning dialog, do one of the following:
folder named “Thumps” is created on that volume.
• Click Cancel to cancel the delete operation.
All of the files referenced by the Catalog are auto-
matically copied to the volume. Folders and sub- • Click Move to Trash (Mac) or Move to Recycle
folders, if any, and their contents are included in Bin (Windows) to remove aliases and associated
the copy. files from disk.
• Click Remove to remove only the aliases from
the catalog (and not the associated files on disk).

This operation cannot be undone.

356 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Importing Catalog Items Whenever the volume containing the offline items
is mounted, Pro Tools automatically starts to im-
You can import online and offline items from Cat-
port the files, in the background. This is true even
alogs into the current session.
if you have saved the session, quit, and relaunched
Pro Tools.
Importing Online Items from a Catalog
Once the items are completely imported, they ap-
Dragging and dropping audio files to the Pro Tools
pear as online items in the Timeline, Clips List,
Clips List and Timeline is identical to dragging
and in the Workspace browser.
and dropping from Workspace browsers.
If the offline items match the session sample rate,
For more information, see “Importing Files
bit depth, and file format, no conversion is neces-
with Drag and Drop” on page 404.
sary. As long as the volume is playable, the items
Importing Offline Items from a Catalog become playable in the session as soon as the vol-
ume is mounted.
With Catalogs, it is possible to search and import
files that are offline. For example, if you have a If the volume is unsuitable for playback, you are
music cue that you know you want to use, but it re- informed that some items must be copied to suit-
sides on a CD-ROM or other unmounted volume, able volumes first.
you can spot the file from a Catalog to the session
For more information on Transfer files, miss-
Timeline, and it is automatically imported into the
ing files, and relinking, see “Relink Window”
session when the volume is mounted.
on page 351.
The first step is to add files to a Catalog (files must
be online to be added to a Catalog). Once added to
a Catalog, if the items are taken offline they are
listed in italicized text.

Offline files can be dropped from a Catalog to the

Timeline just like online files. When you drop the
files, a dialog appears asking if you want to relink
the files or skip relinking. Click Skip All to load all
the items as offline files (in the Timeline, their
clips appear in light blue).

Chapter 17: Workspace Browsers 357

 Task Manager Window
For maximum performance and flexibility with file management tasks, Pro Tools provides the Task Man-
ager window. File management with Pro Tools involves nearly constant creating, copying, converting,
processing, searching, and indexing files. These tasks occur in the background, letting you continue record-
ing, editing, and mixing without delay.

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.

View Toggle (Maximize/Minimize)

Status

Active Tasks

Paused Tasks

Task window, maximum view

Opening the Task Window Task Manager Status

To open the Task Window, do one of the The Task Manager Status indicator lights and ani-
following: mates when the Task Manager is busy. When no
tasks are in progress, it is unlit. The indicator turns
 In Pro Tools, choose Window > Task Manager. red if the Task Manager requires your attention.
 Press Option+’ (Mac) or Alt+’ (Windows) to
open the Workspace browser.
 Click the Task Manager Status indicator in the
Edit Window toolbar.

Task Manager Status indicator, tasks in progress

358 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Task Window Messages Progress Indicates the progress of the task or its
sub-tasks, which include assessing the size of the
If any background task cannot be successfully items and the estimated amount of time necessary
completed, the Task window comes to the fore- to complete the task.
ground to notify you. The incomplete task is
shown in the Paused Tasks pane of the Task win- Progress Indicator Indicates processing is ongo-
dow. ing.

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

The upper Active Tasks pane shows the tasks that

Task Window Views are in progress or waiting to start. The currently ex-
ecuting task is at the top. Tasks in this pane will be
The Task window provides a maximized and min-
processed.
imized view.
As tasks complete, they disappear from the queue.
To toggle between maximized and minimized
views: Any task that fails to complete successfully is
moved to the Paused Tasks pane (see below). The
 Click the View Toggle icon in the top of the
Status column displays a description of the failure.
Task window.
Paused Tasks Pane

The Paused Tasks pane is displayed below the Ac-

tive Tasks pane, and is separated by a movable hor-
Task window, minimum view izontal divider. Tasks listed in this pane will not be
processed until they are moved back to the Active
Task Window Tools, Columns, Tasks pane.
and Displays
The Task window menu provides commands for Pausing and Canceling Tasks
Task window operations.
The Task window lets you pause, resume, and can-
The following data is always displayed in the Task cel tasks.
window (both views):
To pause a task:
Item Name Indicates affected item, whether a file,
database, or other supported item.  Drag the appropriate task from the Active Tasks
pane to the Paused Tasks pane.
Status Action being taken (for example, copying,
processing, indexing and so on). To pause all tasks:
 Choose Pause All from the Task window menu.

Chapter 17: Workspace Browsers 359

 To resume a task: Closing Sessions with Pending
 Drag a task from the Paused Tasks pane to the
Tasks
Active Tasks pane. The task returns to its previ- If you close a session or quit Pro Tools while tasks
ous position in the queue. are still pending (either in the Active or Paused
Tasks panes of the Task window) Pro Tools asks if
To resume all paused tasks: you want to cancel, or complete the pending tasks.
 Select Resume All from the Task window menu. You can choose to open the Task window and wait
All tasks in the Paused Tasks pane (except for pending tasks to complete, cancel the pending
failed tasks) are moved to the Active Tasks tasks, or quit. If you quit, some tasks are canceled.
pane. Tasks that involve file copies are remembered and
restarted when you relaunch Pro Tools.
To cancel a task:
About Failed Tasks
1 Highlight any task in either pane of the Task
window. The Paused Tasks pane shows any tasks that could
not be completed. The reason for the failure is
2 Press Delete to remove it from the Task win- shown in the Status column.
dow.
Failed Tasks cannot be resumed, and must be de-
To cancel all tasks: leted manually from the Paused Tasks pane.
1 Select any single task in either pane. If Automatically Find and Relink was unable to find
2 Press Command+A (Mac) Control+A (Win- all files in a session, a failed task is placed in the
dows) to select all the tasks in that pane. Paused Tasks pane of the Task window. It remains
there unless you manually remove it from the Task
3 Press Delete. window (even if you have since found the files
This command cannot be undone. through a subsequent search and relink task).

About Canceling Tasks Task Prioritization

Some tasks involve one or more sub-tasks. Delet- A task that is in progress may be interrupted by a
ing a task cannot undo sub-tasks already com- task of higher priority. When this happens, the par-
pleted. For example, if importing and converting tially completed task is halted and rescheduled
multiple files appears as a single task, deleting that later in the queue, and shown with a progress bar in
task before it is completed stops the import and the Active Tasks pane. When the higher priority
conversion process, but files already converted and task is finished the first incomplete task in the
imported remain on disk. If you want to cancel a queue resumes.
task involving multiple sub-tasks, you can instead
let the process complete and then use Undo to com-
pletely undo all sub-tasks, as available.

360 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Pausing Tasks During Playback
A global preference Pause During Playback is pro-
vided in the Task window Browser menu. When
enabled, Active Tasks are paused whenever
Pro Tools is playing (or recording). This setting is
especially useful when working on slower CPUs,
or whenever you want to minimize system load for
maximum playback and recording performance.
This preference maintains its setting until the next
time it is changed.

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.

If there is more than one grouped task in the queue,

all of the sub-tasks for the first group must be com-
pleted before the sub-tasks of the second group can
be processed.

If the session is saved and closed while several of

these group tasks are in the queue, and if those
tasks are the type that can be interrupted and saved
when closing the session, all of the tasks reappear
as part of the same group when the session is
reopened.

Chapter 17: Workspace Browsers 361

362 Pro Tools Reference Guide
Chapter 18: Artist Chat Window

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.

To open (or close) the Artist Chat window:

1 Launch Pro Tools.
2 Log in to your Avid Master Account, either through the Dashboard window or by selecting File > Sign
In. You must be signed in to access the Artist Chat window.

3 Do one of the following:

• Choose Window > Artist Chat.
• Press Command+Shift+= (equals) (Mac) or Control+Shift+= (equals) (Windows).

Artist Chat window

Chapter 18: Artist Chat Window 363

 To edit your Artist Profile:
Profile Setup
1 Click the avatar icon in the upper-right corner of
The first time you open the Artist Chat window, the Artist Chat window and choose Profile.
you are prompted to setup up your Profile. The in-
formation in your profile will help other Pro Tools
users find you in the Avid directory.

Selecting Profile from the Avatar menu

2 Update the information for you Artist Profile in

the Profile Setup.

Artist Profile Setup

You must enter at least your Display Name (this is

what other users will see), all other fields are op-
tional, but they will help other users find you in the
Avid directory. This is also the name you will see
in the Dashboard after you sign in to your Avid
Master Account, for your Avatar in the Artist Chat
window, in collaboration transaction logs for any Your Artist Profile
actions you took, and in the Track Ownership con-
3 Click Save.
trol when you have ownership of a track in a shared
project.

You can always edit your Profile and change your

Display Name at a later time if you want.

364 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 5 Click the + (plus) button to the right of their
Contacts Display Name.
Contacts view in the Artist Chat window lets you 6 Type a message to the person you want to add to
add and delete contacts, as well as initiate text chat your contacts and click Send.
with any of your contacts. You can find new con-
tacts through the Avid directory or email people
you want to work with directly.

Add Contacts
To add a contact:
1 Click Contacts in the left column of the Artist
Chat window. Send a contact request

7 Once you have sent the contact request, that

user will have the opportunity to deny or ap-
prove your request.

To add a contact not listed in the Avid directory:

1 Click Contacts in the left column of the Artist
Chat window.
2 Click the Add Contacts tab.
3 If the person you are looking for is not found in
the Avid directory, type the complete email ad-
Add Contact
dress for their Avid Master Account.
2 Click the Add Contacts tab.
3 Type at least the first three letters of the user’s
Display Name or their complete e-mail address
in the search field and press Return (Mac) or
Enter (Windows).
4 If the user you are looking for has set up their Add Contact with email address
Artist Profile, they should be found in the Avid
directory. 4 Click the Send Invite link.

The person will receive an email invite to be added

to your contacts.

Add Contact with their Display Name

Chapter 18: Artist Chat Window 365

 My Contacts 5 Click the “–” (minus) symbol.

Once you have added other users to your contacts,

you can chat with them and invite them to collab-
orate on your projects, just as they can invite you to
join their projects. You can also delete contacts.

To view your contacts:

1 Click Contacts in the left column of the Artist Edit My Contacts
Chat window.
6 Click Remove to remove that contact or click
2 The My Contacts tab should be shown, but if Cancel to keep it.
not, click it.

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.

2 The My Contacts tab should be shown, but if

not, click it.
3 Click Edit in the upper-right corner of the My One notification
Contacts pane. It will turn blue.
2 Click Notifications in the left column of the Art-
4 Move the mouse cursor over the far right of the ist Chat window to review your notifications.
contact you want to delete. A “–” (minus) sym-
bol appears. 3 Review the notification and then decide to ac-
cept or reject the request.

Notification to collaborate on a project

366 Pro Tools Reference Guide

4 Click the “check mark” button to accept the re-
quest or click the “x” button to reject the re- Projects
quest. The Projects list shows all of the online projects
5 Once you have accepted the request, you can that you are currently own or collaborating on. Of-
open and download the project (either by dou- fline projects are only shown in the Projects list in
ble-clicking the project icon in the Artist Chat the Dashboard. In the Projects pane, you can show
Project list or from the Dashboard), and begin or hide the collaboration transaction log, review
collaborating. the collaboration transaction logs for the selected
project, invite contacts to collaborate on the proj-
You can also accept or reject invitations to ect, and chat with users who are collaborating on
collaborate on a project in the Dashboard the project. You can also “pin” projects to the top
(see “Project Collaboration Invitations in the of the list or leave a project (if you are not the proj-
Dashboard” on page 185). ect owner).

Only the owner of the project can invite or remove

History collaborators from the project. Though all collabo-
rates can message each other independently or as a
Artist Chat History provides a comprehensive list group.
of all contact requests and collaboration invita-
tions, as well as archived items from the Project list To view Projects in the Artist Chat window:
and the Chat list (see “Move to or Restore from 1 Click the Projects list in the left column of the
Artist Chat History” on page 377). Artist chat window. If the Projects list was col-
Each item lists the contact name, whether it is a lapsed, it is revealed to show all projects that
contact request or collaboration invitation (includ- you own or are collaborating on. You can reveal
ing project name), and date. The list is always or collapse the Projects list by click the re-
sorted by date (most recent first). veal/collapse triangle to the left of Projects.
2 Select the project you want.
To view Artist Chat History:

 Click History in the left column of the Artist

Chat window.

Projects view, TearInTheVeil project selected

3 The chat for the selected project appears and

shows who is working on the project, the col-
laboration transaction logs, and lets you invite
Artist Chat History collaborators to the project from your contacts.

Chapter 18: Artist Chat Window 367

 Project Chat Controls 2 To hide the collaboration transaction logs for
the project, click the Show/Hide Collaboration
The chat for projects provides controls for manag-
Transaction Logs icon so that it turns gray.
ing who can participate in the project, messaging
between project participants, and whether or not to Invite Contacts to Collaborate
show the project collaboration transaction logs.
(Project Owner Only)
Show/Hide Participants Show/Hide Collaboration
Transaction Logs To invite a contact to collaborate on the selected
Project Name
project:

1 Click the Invite Contacts to Collaborate icon.

Invite Contacts
Participant Name Participant menu
to Collaborate
Project Chat controls

Collaboration Transaction Logs

The collaboration transaction logs show all actions

taken by the owner and all contributors on the proj-
ect. These are useful for tracking all changes to the
project. However, if you find that they clutter the
chat for the project, you can hide them.

To show or hide the collaboration transcript logs

for the project: Invite a contact to collaborate on the project

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.

The selected contacts are notified that you invited

them to collaborate on your project. They can
choose to accept or reject your invitation.

Project Chat, Collboration Transcript Logs shown

368 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Revoke an Invitation to Collaborate Show or Hide Project Participants
(Project Owner Only)
Under the Shared Project icon, there is a
Use the Participant menu to revoke the invitation Show/Hide Participants icon. You can hide the
to collaborate from an individual who has not yet Participants List (collaborators and the owner) on
accepted the invitation. Only the owner of the proj- the project to have more a little more room to view
ect can revoke an invitation. the project chat. Show the participants if you want
to message (all participants) or remove any one of
them (project owner only).

Hide the participants list for the project chat

Remove a participant from a project
Message a Participant on the Project
Chat with All Project Participants
Use the Participant menu to message an individual
Use the Chat field to enter text chat to be commu- participant on the project without messaging all
nicate with all participants on the project. For more participants.
information about chat, see “Chat” on page 370. s

You can also add emoticons and music notation

symbols to your chat (for more information, see
“Emoticon and Notations Panel” on page 375).

Message a particular project participant

Remove a Participant from the Project

(Project Owner Only)

Use the Participant menu to remove an individual

participant from the project. Only the owner of the
project can remove participants.

Project chat

Remove a participant from a project

Chapter 18: Artist Chat Window 369

 Project Notifications
Collapse/Reveal Chat List Chat Topic
When any participant make any changes to the Start New Chat
(Group Chat Only)
Invite Contacts
project, the number of changes appears to the right Group Chat Name to chat
of the project in the Projects list. To see what has
changed, review the collaboration transaction logs
for the project.

Project changes notification

Opening a Project from Artist

Chat
Chat pane
You can open any project listed in the Projects List Chat list
Text Chat field Show emoticons
from the Artist Chat window. and notation panel
Participants

To open a project: Chat view (group chat shown)

 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.

Chat view, group chat shown

370 Pro Tools Reference Guide

3 The selected Chat thread appears and shows • Click the “+” (plus) button to start a new chat
who is in the chat, collaboration transaction and select from your contacts to start a new chat.
logs, and lets you add or remove chat partici- If a chat thread has already been started with a
pants. contact, you will not be able to select that con-
tact in the New Chat list.
You can show or hide the chat collaboration trans-
actions log just like you can with projects. You can
also invite people from your contacts list to join a
chat just like you can with projects. For more infor-
mation, see “Project Chat Controls” on page 368.

Start a New Chat

You can start a new Chat thread by click the “+”
(plus) button to the right of the Chat list or by dou-
ble-clicking one of your contacts in the My Con-
tacts list. Chat view, group chat shown

2 Click Start to initiate a new chat with the se-

lected contact.

Chat view, individual chat shown

Individual Chat
New individual chat
To chat with an individual contact:
3 Type your message in the text chat field and
1 Do one of the following: 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- 4 If you want you can even add emoticons and no-
ready in progress with that contact, that chat tation symbols to your message (for more infor-
thread is shown. mation, see “Emoticon and Notations Panel” on
page 375).

Chapter 18: Artist Chat Window 371

 Group Chat Renaming a Group Chat Thread

You can add other contacts to create a group chat. When a group chat is started, it initially uses the
You can also specify a topic for group chat rooms names of the members of the chat as the name for
so you can stay focused on the essentials for that the chat. You can add a specific name to the group
chat. chat to help identify it in the Chat list. You can
only change the name for a group chat.
Group chats provide several additional options that
are not available with individual chats: To rename a group chat:
• Rename group chat 1 Do one of the following:
• Set a topic for a group chat • Double click the title of the group chat at the top
• Individually message a participant in a group of the chat pane.
chat. • Right-click the group chat in the Chat list and
• Add a participant to join your contacts if they are choose Rename.
not already one of your contacts.

To start a group chat:

1 Either add more contacts to an existing chat
thread or start a new one. Any participant on a
group chat thread can add any of their contacts
to the group chat.
2 Click the Invite Contacts to Chat icon in the up-
per-right corner of the Chat. Rename a group chat

2 Type the a name for the group chat and press

Return (Mac) or Enter (Windows).

Rename a group chat

Setting a Topic for a Group Chat

Any participant in a group chat can specify a topic

Invite a contact to join a group chat for the chat thread. This can help maintain focus
for the discussion in the group. Only a group chat
3 Type a message to the contact you want to add
can have a topic.
and click the Add button.

Your contact is notified and added to the group

chat. pending their acceptance of your invitation.

372 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To specify a topic for a group chat: Remove a Participant from a Group Chat
1 Double-click the topic field under the group If you initiated a group chat, you can remove any
chat title. other participant in that group chat.
2 Type the desired topic for the group chat and
To remove a participant from a group chat (only if
press Return (Mac) or Enter (Windows).
you started the chat):

1 Click the Participant menu for the person you

want to remove from the chat.
2 Choose Remove.

Set the group chat topic

Group Chat Participants

Use the Participant menu to privately message any

participant of a group chat. If you initiated the
group chat, you can remove participants from it.
Also, if a participant is not one of you contacts, you
Remove a participant from a group chat
can add them to your contacts.
That person is removed from the group chat.
Message a Group Chat Participant
Add a Participant to your Contacts
To privately message a participant in the group:
If there is a participant in a Group Chat with you
1 Click the Participant menu for the person you
who is not already in your contacts, you can add
want to message privately.
them.
2 Choose Message.
To add participant in a group to your contacts:
1 Click the Participant menu for the person you
want to add to your contacts.
2 Choose Add to Contacts.

Message a participant in a group chat privately

3 Send that person a private message.

Add a participant in a group chat to your contacts

That person is added to your contacts.

Chapter 18: Artist Chat Window 373

 Filtering Chat and Project Editing Chat or Project
Messages Messages
You can filter your chat and project messages to You can go back and edit any chat or project mes-
that you can quickly find any past or current con- sages that you have authored.
versation that you are looking for based on a key
word. To edit your chat or project messages:
1 Locate the message you want to edit.
To filter chat and project messages:
2 Right-click the message and choose Edit Mes-
1 Select the Project or Chat in the left column for
sage from the pop-up menu.
which you want to filter messages.
2 Type the key word that you want to filter your
messages by in Search field in the upper-left
corner of the Artist Chat window. It might be
something as simple as “bass” or “synths” or
another collaborators name.
3 Press Return (Mac) or Enter (Windows) to view
the results.
Right-click the message you want to edit

3 In the text chat field at the bottom of the win-

dow, you previous message is shown and you
can edit it as desired.

Type a word to filter your messages by

Edit the message

4 Pres Return (Mac) or Enter (Windows) when

you are done and want to send the edited mes-
sage.

Edited message identified by pencil icon

374 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Any edited message displays a pencil icon, which 2 At the top of the Emoticon and Notations pane,
is visible to all participants in the chat, indicating click the Emoticon symbol to show all available
that it has been edited. emoticons, the Eight-Note icon to show all
available Notation symbols, or the Chord Sym-
To remove your chat or project messages: bol to show all Chord symbols.
1 Locate the message you want to remove.
2 Right-click the message and choose Remove
from the pop-up menu.

Emoticons pane
Right-click the message you want to remove

The message is removed, and the chat log reports 3 Select the emoticon, notation, or chord symbol
to all participants in the chat that This message that you want to add to the chat.
has been removed.

Message removed
Notations pane

Emoticon and Notations

Panel
On the far right of the text chat field is an emoticon
icon. You can click that icon to show the Emoticon
and Notations pane where you can select emoti-
cons and notation symbols to add to the chat.

To add an emoticon or notation symbol to the chat:

1 Click the emoticon icon on the far right of the
text chat field.
Chord Symbols pane

Chapter 18: Artist Chat Window 375

 Pinning or Unpinning Items in
the Projects and Chat Lists
After you have been working with projects, adding
contacts, and collaborating for awhile, you can
imagine that the Projects and Chat lists might get
rather long. Pro Tools lets you “pin” items in either
list to the top of the list, or if you don’t need to keep Unpinning a chat thread
an item at the top of the list any longer, you can
“unpin” it. Note that pinning a project or a chat 3 The project or chat moves back to its original
also pins it for all participants in that project or chat location on the list.
(the same is true for unpinning). This can be useful This item will also be unpinned to for all partici-
for keeping the highest priority projects and chats pants the next time they go online
at the top of this list for all participants.

To pin a project or chat thread:

Leaving a Project or Group
Right-click the project or chat you want to pin
1
Chat
to the top of the list.
If you are a collaborator on a project (but not the
2 Choose Pin.
owner), you can leave it. Likewise, if you are a par-
ticipant in a group chat thread (but did not initiate
it), you can leave it.

Project owners cannot leave their own projects nor

can you leave a group chat you initiated (but you
can add and remove other collaborators and partic-
ipants using Invite Contacts and Participant com-
mands).
Pinning a chat thread
To leave a project or group chat thread:
3 The project or chat moves to the top of the list. 1 Right-click the project in the Projects list or the
group chat thread in the Chat list and choose
This item will also be pinned to the top of the list
Leave.
for all participants the next time they go online

To unpin a project or chat thread:

1 Right-click the project or chat you want to un-
pin from the top of the list.
2 Choose Unpin.

Leave a project

376 Pro Tools Reference Guide

When you leave a project, it is removed from the To restore an item from Artist Chat History:
Projects lists from both the Artist Chat window 1 In the Artist Chat window, click History.
and from the Dashboard. When you leave a a group
chat thread, it is removed from the Chat list in the 2 Locate the item you want to restore and double-
Artist Chat window. No other collaborators or par- click it.
ticipants are affected.

Move to or Restore from

Artist Chat History
You can move any project chat from the Projects Restoring a project from Artist Chat History
list or any chat thread from the Chat list to Artist This item is shown in the Chat window focused at
Chat History. This removes it from the Project list the time of the event and it appears in either the
or Chat list. You can also restore itemized events Project list or the Chat list accordingly.
from the Artist Chat History. No other collabora-
tor’s or participant’s Histories are affected.

To move a project or chat thread to Artist Chat

History:

 Right-click a project in the Projects list or a chat

thread in the Chat list and choose Move to His-
tory.

Project restored from Artist Chat History

Remaining Signed In to your

Avid Account Offline
Pro Tools lets you remain signed in to your Avid Ac-
count offline. This lets you continue to work on a
Move a project to Artist Chat History project offline. When working offline, you will not
When you move a project to the Artist Chat His- be able to send or receive any invitations, notifica-
tions, requests, messages, or changes to shared proj-
tory, it is removed from the Projects list in Artist
ects.
Chat. Likewise, when you move a chat thread to
the Artist Chat History, it is removed from the Chat Any changes you make while working offline will
list in Artist Chat. No other collaborators or partic- be uploaded to the cloud the next time you go back
ipants are affected. online. Likewise, any changes made to the cloud
and any messages and notifications that were sent
while you were offline can be received the next
time you go back online.

Chapter 18: Artist Chat Window 377

 To go offline and remain signed in to your account
while you are offline:
1 Ensure that you are connected to the internet.
2 Launch Pro Tools | First and sign in with your
Avid Master Account credentials.
3 Open the Artist Chat window (Window > Artist
Chat).
Dashboard indicates the you remain signed in, but are
4 At the right-top corner of the Artist Chat window, working offline
click the Avatar icon and select Offline from the
menu. Going Offline Automatically
If you disconnect from the internet, Pro Tools au-
tomatically goes offline. If you go offline automat-
ically, it is recommended that you save your proj-
ect and quit Pro Tools. When going offline
automatically, there you may also be automatically
signed out from your account. If this happens, you
will no longer be able to work offline. If you want
to work offline, manually take your self offline.
This is more reliable than going offline automati-
cally.

Working Offline
Taking Artist Chat Offline
When working offline, you can open projects us-
A white dot appears on your Avatar icon to indicate
ing the Projects list in either the Artist Chat win-
that you are offline, but still signed in. You will not
dow or in the Dashboard, make changes in these
be able to receive or write any new messages while
projects and save those changes to the local project
Offline (whether you are still connected to the in-
cache, you can even create new projects. However,
ternet or not) and you appear offline to other col-
no collaboration features will be available until
laborators (signified by a white dot next to your
you re-connect to the internet and bring your ac-
name wherever you are listed as a participant).
count back online. Once you come back online,
you will be able to upload all of your cached
changes as well as download any changes made to
the cloud since you went offline.

Bringing Artist Chat Back Online

When you ready to bring Artist Chat back online,
Account Offline, but still signed in
make sure you are connected to the internet. You
You can now safely disconnect from the internet. can then check for any new notifications or chat
You will stay signed into your account and can messages, as well as send notifications and chat
continue to work on your projects offline. messages.

378 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To go back online: Away Indicates that you are online, but away from
1 Ensure that you are connected to the internet. your Pro Tools system.

2 In the Artist Chat window, click the Avatar icon Offline Indicates that you are offline and unavail-
and select Online able.

You will always appear to others as offline if

Pro Tools is not running.

Putting Artist Chat Online

A green dot appears on your Avatar icon to indicate

that Artist Chat is now back online and you can send
and receive notifications, and chat with any of your Setting your availability
contacts and collaborators. This way your contacts can recognize your avail-
ability for chatting and collaboration. Collaborator
status is displayed as a colored dot in the Project
Availability for Participation Chat.
Artist Chat publishes your status so both current and
potential collaborators can check on your availabil-
ity.

To set your status:

1 Launch Pro Tools and sign in with your Avid Mas-
ter Account credentials. Collaborator busy
running Pro Tools Ultimate
2 Open the Artist Chat window (Window > Artist
Chat). Collaborator offline
running Pro Tools | First
3 At the right-top corner of the Artist Chat window,
click the Avatar icon and select from the follow- Project chat, collaborator status
ing:

Online Indicates that you are online and available.

Busy Indicates that you are online, but busy work-

ing.

Chapter 18: Artist Chat Window 379

380 Pro Tools Reference Guide
Chapter 19: Track Collaboration

Sharing Projects and What is Shared?

Collaborating
Most project data, media, track data, and conduc-
Pro Tools lets you upload your projects to the tor rulers is shared when you choose to share a
cloud and collaborate on the same project with project. Some items are continuously shared, that
other users on a track-by-track basis. Obviously, is they can be constantly edited and posted or
you do not have to share a project and you can just downloaded. Other aspects of a project are only
use your cloud storage to keep your project and all shared the first time you upload or download a
associated media backed up online, but the real fun project, such as the sample rate, bit depth, and au-
of working with online projects is being able to dio file format for the project. Other project data is
collaborate with others. Once you have created a never shared.
project using the Dashboard, and you have created
your Artist Profile in the Artist Chat Settings, you Continually Shared Items
can find and invite other Pro Tools users to collab-
orate on the project. Likewise, other users can The following items are continually shared with all
share their projects with you and enlist your col- participants in the project:
laboration.
Tracks and Rulers
When you first get started with shared projects and
collaboration, you may want to use an existing ses- Tracks
sion rather than create a new project from scratch. • Audio, MIDI, Instrument, and Master Fader
In this case, open the session you want to work tracks
with and use the Save Copy In command to save it
• Main Playlists
and its associated media (for more information, see
“Saving a Session as a Project” on page 177). • Alternate Playlists
• Clips Associated with Playlists
For in depth information about creating,
opening, and saving projects, among other • Clip Gain
tasks, see “Pro Tools Projects” on page 160 • Clip Color
For detailed information about using the Art- • Elastic Audio Properties for Clips
ist Chat window to invite and communicate
with collaborators, see Chapter 18, “Artist • Media Associated with Clips
Chat Window.” • Track Color
• Volume Automation Settings
• Pan Automation Settings
Chapter 19: Track Collaboration 381
 • Mute Automation Settings Items Shared Only when a
• Plug-In Assignments Project is First Downloaded
• Plug-In Settings and Automation Project Level
• Sidechain Assignments • Sample Rate
• HW Insert Assignments • Bit Depth
• Track Metadata • File Format
• Track I/O assignments • Interleaved Audio Files option (enabled or dis-
abled)
Rulers
• Project Start Time
• Markers (Specific Markers)
• Project Length
• Tempo ruler
• Timecode Rate
• Meter
• Feet+Frames Rate
• Key
• Timecode 2 Rate
• Chords
• If the Conductor is enabled or not (whether or
Automation Mode Selector not to follow the project Tempo track)
• Pan depth
The track automation mode selector is continu-
ously shared, but not every change prompts an up- • Track level (initial fader settings, not volume au-
date. tomation)
• Track Voice assignments
While “Read” and “None” are continually shared,
“Write” modes are not (as this could cause prob-
lems for other project participants). Sending and Receiving Tracks
and Updates
I/O Setup A track must be shared to send or receive updates
New projects are received with the bus settings with other project participants. If a track is not
from the project owner. All existing busses on col- shared, it is usable only on the local system. This
laborator systems are cleared for the new project. can be desirable if you want to keep certain tracks
from being changed by other participants in the
Any received bus follows the standard I/O Setup project, or if you want to share only mixdowns of
mapping logic. Output mapped busses look for a the full mix rather than the entire mix (this can ac-
unique ID, followed by the assigned monitor path tually save time and online storage space).
(if any), followed by the name and channel format
of tracks. If none are found, the bus does not map A track must be shared by at least one user to show
to the collaborator’s system and they are notified up as “available for download” in the Tracks List.
through the project notes when they first receive an
open the project. If this occurs, they may have to
remap those busses manually.

382 Pro Tools Reference Guide

What is Not Shared? Start Collaboration
The following are not shared in a project: Use the Start Collaboration command to quickly
• Mix and Edit groups invite collaborators to join an existing session or
project, or to create a new collaborative online
• Clip groups project.
• VCA tracks
To start a collaboration:
• HEAT settings
1 Open an existing session or project (skip this
• Video
step to create a new collaborative project from
scratch).

Project Ownership 2 Choose File > Start Collaboration.

The owner of the project is the one who creates the 3 Configure the Dashboard to create a new online
project and invites others to collaborate on the project and click Create. (This step is unneces-
project. All media posted to the shared project sary if a session or a project is already open.)
counts only against the project owner’s storage al- 4 The Artist Chat window opens and you can im-
location. Be sure to communicate using the Artist mediately invite collaborators from your con-
Chat window to make sure all participants manage tacts to join the project.
the amount of media they post to the project so as
to not overburden the project owner. Only the proj- For detailed information about Artist Chat,
ect owner can invite participants to collaborate on see Chapter 18, “Artist Chat Window.”
the project and delete participants from the project.
When the project owner deletes the project, it is de-
leted for all participants. When a participant who is Track Collaboration Tools in
not the project owner deletes the project, it is the the Edit Window
same as if they simply leave the project and all
The Edit Window toolbar is host to the global
other participants will be able to continue collabo-
Track Collaboration tools.
rating on the project.
To show (or hide) the Track Collaboration tools in
the Edit window toolbar, do one of the following:

 Select (or deselect) View > Track Collaboration.

 From the Edit Window menu, select (or dese-
lect) Track Collaboration.

Chapter 19: Track Collaboration 383

 Track Collaboration Tools in Invite User
the Transport Window Upload All
New Changes
Just like the Edit window, the Transport window Download All
New Changes
can also be host to the Global Track Collaboration Download All
tools. These controls and their settings mirror each Shared Tracks

other in both the Edit Window toolbar and in the

Transport window.

To show (or hide) the Track Collaboration tools in

the Transport window, do one of the following:

 Select (or deselect) View > Transport > Track

Collaboration. Track Ownership Cloud Storage
Requests Usage
 From the Transport Window menu, select (or
Automatically
deselect) Track Collaboration. Show Artist Upload, Download,
Chat or Download All

Track Collaboration tools in the Edit window toolbar

If a project is offline, all collaborations tools

are grayed out. Collaboration is only possible
with online projects.

Track Collaboration view in the Transport window (in Invite User

Expanded view on top and non-Expanded view on the
bottom) Click the Invite User button to open the Artist Chat
window and invite one or more of your contacts to
participate on the project (see “Invite Contacts to
Global Track Collaboration Collaborate” on page 368).
Tools
The Global Track Collaboration tools provide a Show Artist Chat
high level means of posting and receiving all
Click the Show Artist Chat button to open the Art-
shared track data. For track-by-track collaboration
ist Chat window. The Show Artist Chat button
controls, see “Track Collaboration Controls” on
turns green when you receive a message from an-
page 388.
other participant in the Project Chat for the open
project.

See Chapter 18, “Artist Chat Window.”

384 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Track Ownership Request Download All New Changes
The Track Ownership Request indicator turns or- As soon as another collaborator has made any change
ange when you have ownership of a track and an- on any track whose Upload Track Changes control
other participant wants to take ownership of the turns green, your Download All New Changes but-
track. ton turns green as well. Since you probably won’t
want to download each change individually, you can
wait until you are ready to download all changes
from the cloud.

To receive all the new changes other collaborators

on the project have made on tracks in the project
since your last complete download:

Track Ownership Requested  Click the lit Download All New Changes button

If other participants have made changes to tracks and

Upload All New Changes
you decide that you do not want to receive these
As soon as you have made any change on any track changes, you can choose Ignore Changes. The Up-
whose own Upload Track Changes control turns load All New Changes light goes out and no changes
green, the Upload All New Changes button also are downloaded.
turns green. If you are busy working on the project
you probably won’t want to upload each change indi- To ignore all changes other collaborators on the
vidually, but rather wait until you feel ready to post project have made in the project since your last
all of your changes at once. complete download:
 Right-click the Download All New Changes but-
To post all the new changes you have made on ton and choose Ignore Changes
tracks in the project since the last complete
upload:
 Click the lit Upload All New Changes button

If you have made changes to tracks and decide that

you do not want to share your changes, you can
Abandon Changes. The Upload All New Changes
light goes out and your project reverts to the way it Auto Upload enabled
was right before you started making changes.
Download All Shared Tracks
To abandon all changes since the last upload:
 Right-click the Upload All New Changes button Typically, the Download All Shared Tracks button
and choose Abandon Changes. turns green the first time you join a project with
tracks. As with all collaboration transaction activ-
ity, you can monitor the progress of the download
in the Task Manger window (Window > Task Man-
ager). The Download All Tracks button turns
green again when any participant creates new
tracks and shares them. Tracks that are unshared,
and then re-shared do not trigger the lighting of the
Auto Upload enabled
Download All Tracks button.

Chapter 19: Track Collaboration 385

 To download all available tracks in a project: Cloud Storage Usage Meter
 If it is lit, click the Download All Tracks button to The Cloud Storage Usage Meter shows how much
download all available tracks in the project.
cloud storage is being used on the project owner’s
account. If you hover the mouse cursor over the
meter, a tooltip appears that shows how much of
the owner’s storage space is being used by the
project. Note that the Details Tool Tip option must
be enabled in the Pro Tools Display Preferences
for this to occur.
Download All Tracks button lights when any new
tracks are available What the Project Owner Sees

Automatically Upload All New The project owner sees the meter level rise or
Changes, Download All New lower as more media is posted to or deleted from
Changes, and Download All their Cloud Account. The tool tip informs you of
Shared Tracks how much storage is being used (both as a percent-
The Auto buttons directly below the Upload All age and as a hard number) on your Cloud Account
New Changes, Download All New Changes, and and how much total storage you have allocated to
Download All Shared Tracks buttons can be en- your account.
able for each so that their function is automatically
engaged when any corresponding change occurs.
For example, you might want to automatically up-
load your changes as they happen, but not want to Cloud Storage Meter and tool tip for the project owner
automatically receive changes from other collabo-
What a Project Collaborator Sees
rators as they happen. In that case enable Auto for
Upload All New Changes, but not for Download A collaborator does not see a meter level, but only
All New Changes and Download All Shared sees how full the project owner’s cloud storage is.
Tracks. The corresponding button flashes anytime
it is automatically activated by a change to one or
more shared tracks.

Cloud Storage Meter and tool tip for a collaborator

Auto Upload enabled for Upload All New Changes

386 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 To show (or hide) the Track Collaboration controls
Track Collaboration Track in the Mix window, do one of the following:
View in the Edit and Mix Select (or deselect) View > Mix Window Views >
Windows


Track Collaboration.
Track Collaboration controls can be shown or hid-
 From the Mix Window View selector, enable
den independently in both the Edit window and
(or disable) Track Collaboration.
Mix windows. In the Edit window, these controls
show up in the left-most column of all Track and
Ruler views. In the Mix window, these controls ap-
pear between the Sends and the I/O selectors.
These controls mirror each other for any given
track regardless of whether they are changed in the
Edit window or the Mix window.

To show (or hide) the Track Collaboration controls

in the Edit window, do one of the following:

 Select (or deselect) View > Edit Window Views >

Track Collaboration.

 From the Edit Window View selector, enable

(or disable) Track Collaboration.
Selecting Track Collaboration Track view, Mix window

Track Collaboration Track view, Mix window

Selecting Track Collaboration view for tracks in the

Edit window

Track Collaboration Track view, Edit window

Chapter 19: Track Collaboration 387

 Track Collaboration Controls
The Track Collaboration controls in the Edit and
Mix windows mirror each other on a track-by-
track basis. Use these controls to share a track, take
or release ownership of a track, upload changes on
a track, or download changes to a track.
Sharing a track
Share Track
Upload Track Changes The Share Track control turns blue when the track
is successfully shared.

Download Track Changes

Track Owner

Track Collaboration Track view, Edit window

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 387).
3 Click the Share Track control.

388 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Track, Not Shared When it is not shared, it is gray. Upload Track Changes Right-Click
When a track is not shared, none of the other Track Menu
Collaboration controls are available. You can keep
unshared tracks in your project as if they are “pri-
vate” tracks. In many cases you won’t need to
share all the tracks in your project. Consider dupli-
cating tracks to keep them as a reference against
other collaborators changes. Or, consider sharing
only mixed down tracks as a reference for your
collaborators rather than sharing the entire mix.
Upload Track Changes Right-Click menu
Shared Track When a track is shared, the Share
The Upload Track Changes control provides a few
Track control is blue. When a track is shared, any-
additional options in its right-click menu as fol-
one can take ownership of the track and make
lows:
changes to it.
Force Upload
Upload Track Changes
The Force Upload command is only available
When any participant makes a “share-able” change when the Upload Track Changes control is not lit.
to a shared track, they take ownership of that track, Choose Force Upload to force upload the entire
even if only temporarily, and the Upload Track track, replacing the cloud version.
Changes control on that track turns green. When
that person clicks the Upload Track Changes con- Upload
trol, it uploads the track changes to the cloud copy
The Upload command works just like clicking a
of the project. Other participants will notice that
green Upload Track Changes control and posts all
the Download Track Changes control for that track
of the changes on that track to the cloud copy of the
turns green in their local copy of the project and
project.
they can choose to download those changes or not.
Abandon Changes
To upload track changes:
1 Make changes on a shared track. Choosing the Abandon Changes command clears
the upload and resets all of the changes to how the
2 Do one of the following: track was prior to you working on the track.
 Click the Upload Track Changes control.
Manual Uploads Only
 Right-click the Upload Track Changes control
and choose Upload. Enable the Manual Uploads Only option to ensure
that the Upload All New Changes button does not
Command-click (Mac) or Control-Click automatically upload any of your changes on this
(Windows) an Upload Track Changes control track. Your changes will only be uploaded if you
to force upload the track. click the Upload Track Changes control for that
track. Disable this option to return to allowing the
Upload All New Changes button to automatically
upload all changes on this track.

Chapter 19: Track Collaboration 389

 Shared as Frozen Download Track Changes Right-Click
Menu
The Shared as Frozen option is especially useful if
you know that your collaborators do not have a
particular plug-in that you are using, but you want
them to be able to hear what you are doing on that
track. The Upload Track Changes control icon
shows a slightly different graphic to indicate that
the track has been shared as a frozen track.
Download Track Changes Right-Click menu

The Download Track Changes control provides a

few additional options in its right-click menu as
follows:
Upload Track Uploading Track Track Shared
as Frozen as Frozen as Frozen
Force Download
Share Track as Frozen indicators
The Force Download command is only available
A shared frozen track will be frozen on all systems
when the Download Track Changes control is not
that download that track. Also, note that tracks that
lit. Choose Force Download to force download of
are Shared as Frozen are exempt from Auto mode.
the entire track from the cloud, replacing the entire
local track.
Download Track Changes
Accept Download
When any participant makes a “share-able” change
to a shared track that you do not own and they up- The Accept Download command works just like
load it to the cloud copy of the project, your Down- clicking a green Download Track Changes control
load Track Changes control for that track turns and downloads all changes to the track from the
green. When you click the Download Track cloud copy of the project.
Changes control, your local copy of the project be-
gins to download the changes for that track. Ignore Changes

To download track changes, do one of the

Choosing the Ignore Changes command rejects
following: any changes to that track in the cloud copy of the
project and maintains your current version of the
 Click the Download Track Changes control. track.
 Right-click the Download Track Changes con-
trol and choose Accept Download.

Consider making an unshared duplicate of a

track before you download changes to it. This
way you will always have your original for
reference.

390 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Manual Downloads Only trol, even if it is yellow. Otherwise, you can click
the Download Track Changes button, even if it is
Enable the Manual Downloads Only option to en-
yellow, and overwrite your local track with the
sure that the Download All New Changes button
version from the cloud.
does not automatically download any changes
from the cloud copy of this track. You will only
download changes from the cloud copy of the proj- Taking Ownership of an
ect if you click the Download Track Changes con- Unowned Track
trol when it is green. Disable this option to return
Unowned Shared Track
to allowing the Download All New Changes but-
ton to automatically download all changes on this When no one owns a shared track, the Track Own-
track. ership control is gray and anyone is free to work on
it.

Track Ownership
The Track Ownership control lets you take owner-
ship of a shared track, release ownership of a Shared track, unowned
shared track, request ownership of a shared track, You can take ownership of an unowned track ei-
and show you if another participant currently owns ther by making changes on the track (in this case
the track. you automatically become the owner of the track)
or you can click on the Track Ownership control to
It is important to understand that the ownership of
manually take ownership of the track. The Display
shared tracks is not restrictive. Multiple partici-
Name for whoever takes ownership of a track is
pants can edit unowned tracks simultaneously, and
shown in the Track Ownership control for all par-
this can result in edit conflicts between the cloud
ticipants to see. It turns green when you own it, and
copy of the project and collaborators’ local copies
it turns orange when another participant owns it.
(see “Conflicts Between Track Changes and the
Cloud” on page 394).
Automatic Ownership
Generally speaking, no collaborator should take You automatically take ownership of an unowned
ownership of any track for any longer than they track by making a “share-able” change on it. The
need to work on that track and upload their Track Ownership control turns dim green (it turns
changes. This helps to avoid conflicting changes orange for every one else) and shows your Display
between collaborators. Name and the Upload Track Changes control turns
When any Upload Track Changes control or green. You automatically release ownership of the
Download Track Changes controls light yellow, it once your changes are uploaded. Any other collab-
indicates that there are edit conflicts between vari- orator can download your changes and even take
ous participants’ local copies of the project and the ownership of it if they want.
cloud copy of the project. You can upload your
changes and overwrite the cloud copy for a track
simply by clicking the Upload Track Changes con-
You automatically own the track

Chapter 19: Track Collaboration 391

 Manual Ownership Rescinding Your Request

You manually take ownership of an unowned track If you change you mind, you can rescind your re-
(or one that you took ownership of automatically) quest.
simply by clicking the Track Ownership control. It
shows your Display Name and turns solid green. To rescind your request for track ownership:
Even if you make changes to the track and then up-  Right-click the Track Ownership control and
load those changes, you retain ownership of the choose Rescind My Request.
track. Any other collaborator must request owner-
ship and be granted ownership, or seize ownership The Track Ownership control reverts to the
to take ownership of a manually owned track. owner’s name and remains colored orange.

Seizing Ownership

If you really need to work on a track owned by

You manually own the track someone else and they aren’t responding to your
request for ownership, you can seize ownership.
Requesting Track Ownership
To seize track ownership:
If another collaborator has manual ownership of a
 Right-click the Track Ownership control and
track, their Display Name appears in the Track
choose Seize.
Ownership control on the track and the control is
colored orange. You can request ownership, and The you now own the track, and the Track Owner-
they can relinquish ownership to you or deny your ship control displays your name and turns solid
request. green (or orange for every one else).

Relinquishing Track Ownership

If you own a track, you can relinquish ownership
Track owned by another participant
whether or not another collaborator requested
To request track ownership, do one of the ownership from you. If you relinquish a track that
following: no one else is requesting, it becomes an unowned
 Click the Track Ownership control. track.

 Right-click the Track Ownership control and To relinquish ownership of a track, do one of the
choose Request. following:

The Track Ownership control highlights and dis-  If you took ownership of the track automati-
plays the notification, “Ownership Pending.” cally, click the Track Ownership control.
 If you took ownership of the track either manu-
ally or automatically, Right-click the Track
Ownership control and choose Relinquish.

The Track Ownership control turns gray and is

Ownership request pending now unowned.

392 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To relinquish a track with change that have not yet Track Ownership Requested
been uploaded, Right-click the Track Ownership
control and choose one of the following options The Track Ownership control on the track for
(depending on whether you took ownership of the which ownership is being requested also highlights
track automatically or manually): and displays the text “Ownership Requested.”
Keep f you took ownership of the track automati-
cally, choose Keep to keep your changes without
posting and change the track to manual ownership.

Relinquish After Posting If you took ownership of

the track automatically, choose Relinquish After
Posting to do nothing until you upload your Ownership Request for a track
changes by clicking the Track or Global Upload Track Ownership Request Indicator
button. Once your changes have posted, track own-
ership is relinquished. The Track Ownership Request indicator turns or-
ange when you have ownership of a track and an-
Relinquish Now If you took ownership of the track other participant wants to take ownership of the
automatically, choose Relinquish Now to relin- track.
quish ownership immediately without uploading
your changes (but keeping your changes).

If you chose either the Relinquish After Posting

(and then uploaded your changes) or the Relin-
quish Now commands, the Track Ownership con-
trol turns gray and the track is unowned.
Track Ownership Requested indicator in the Edit
window toolbar
Responding to a Track
Ownership Request If you have many tracks in your project, it may not
be immediately clear for which track ownership is
If another collaborator requests ownership of a being requested. The Track Ownership Request in-
track from you, you are notified both on the track dicator lets you toggle between showing all tracks
requested and by the Track Ownership Request in- and only those tracks requested by another collab-
dicator in the Edit window toolbar. The collabora- orator.
tor who is requesting ownership can rescind the re-
quest, seize ownership, or be denied the transfer of To show only tracks requested by another
ownership. You can relinquish ownership (or not) collaborator:
at any time.
 Click the Track Ownership Request indicator to
show only the requested track (or tracks) in the
Edit window.

Chapter 19: Track Collaboration 393

 The Track Ownership Request indicator turns blue Relinquish Now If you have track changes that
and all tracks except those being requested are hid- have not yet been uploaded, choose Relinquish
den. Now to immediately surrender track ownership to
the collaborator making the request. Any track
changes are kept without uploading them.

If you chose either the Relinquish After Posting

(and then uploaded your changes) or the Relin-
quish Now commands, the Track Ownership con-
trol turns solid orange and shows the Display
Name of the new owner.

Showing only the requested track

Conflicts Between Track
 Click the Track Ownership Request indicator Changes and the Cloud
again to show all previously shown tracks in the
project. The Track Ownership Request indica- When any Upload Track Changes control or
tor again turns orange. Download Track Changes control turn yellow, it
indicates that there are conflicts between collabo-
To relinquish ownership or reject a request, Right- rators’ changes and the cloud.
click the Track Ownership control and choose one
of the following options (depending on whether or You can upload your changes and overwrite the
not you still have track changes to upload): cloud copy for a track simply by clicking the Up-
load Track Changes control, even if it is yellow.
Relinquish If you have no track changes that have
However, if you upload your changes, the cloud
not yet been uploaded, choose Relinquish to sur-
copy will be overwritten.
render track ownership to the collaborator making
the request.

Reject Collaborator Request If you do not want to

surrender track ownership (and regardless of
whether or not you have any track changes that
have not yet been uploaded), choose Reject Collab-
Track changes conflict with cloud copy
orator Request.
Likewise, you can click the Download Track
Relinquish After Posting If you have track
Changes control, even if it is yellow, and overwrite
changes that have not yet been uploaded, choose
your local track with the version from the cloud.
Relinquish After Posting to do nothing until you
upload your changes by clicking the Track or
Global Upload button. Once your changes have
posted, track ownership is surrendered to the col-
laborator making the request.

394 Pro Tools Reference Guide

If you make changes to a track while another par- Indication of Transfer of
ticipant uploads their changes to the cloud copy, Conflicting Changes
when you are notified that changes are available
The Download Track Changes control turns red
for download, the Download Track Changes con-
when a download for that track is currently in
trol turns yellow indicating that your local track
progress and the cloud copy is in conflict with the
changes will be overwritten by changes on the
local track changes. Once the transfer is complete
cloud.
it changes to yellow. You can then choose to ig-
nore those changes and keep your version of the
track, or download those changes and overwrite
your version of the track.

Cloud copy conflicts with your track changes

If you place the cursor over any yellow track Download from cloud in progress that conflicts with
local track changes
Upload Track Changes or Track Download
Changes control, a tool tip appears with a
warning about whether the track will be over- Track Cloud Synchronization
written by the cloud copy or the cloud copy Indicator in the Tracks List
will be overwritten by you track changes.
Pro Tools displays a Cloud icon in the Tracks List
Making Changes to Tracks for tracks in online projects that are shared but the
Owned by Another Collaborator track data is not downloaded to the local cache.
The Cloud icon is gray for tracks that are in the
You can make changes to a track that you do not cloud, but not mirrored in the local project cache.
own, in which case the Upload Track Changes The icon changes to clear with a black boarder and
control is darkened. You should request and take an arrow pointing down while the track is being
ownership of the track before uploading your downloaded. The Cloud icon is cleared once the
changes to avoid conflicts with other collabora- track is downloaded and synchronized between the
tor’s work. You will not be able to upload your cloud copy and the local cache.
changes until ownership is relinquished.
Top three tracks on the cloud, but not downloaded

Local track changes conflict with changes made by the

track owner

Bottom four tracks in the process of being downloaded

Two states of the cloud icon

Chapter 19: Track Collaboration 395

 To download a track from the cloud, do one of the It is important to understand, that unlike tracks in a
following: shared project (which can be shared or not), all
 In the Tracks List, click the gray Cloud icon to Conductor rulers in a shared project are always
the left of the track name to download and im- shared.
port all track data.
Download Ruler Changes
 In the Tracks List, right-click the gray Cloud Ruler Owner
icon to the left of the track name and select on of
the following options:

Download Downloads the track data without im-

porting. Track data can be imported at a later time.

Ignore for Future Download Does not download

or import the track data.

Import Downloads and imports the track data im- Upload Ruler Changes

mediately. Ruler Collaboration controls

Upload Conductor Ruler

Changes
When any participant makes a “share-able” change
to a Conductor ruler, the Upload Ruler Changes
control turns green. They can then click the control
to upload their changes to the cloud copy of the
project.

To upload Conductor ruler changes:

Tracks List Right-click menu for online, shared tracks
1 Make changes on a Conductor ruler (see “Track
Ownership” on page 391).
Do one of the following:
Conductor Ruler
2

Collaboration Controls  Click the Upload Ruler Changes control.

Conductor rulers have Ruler Collaboration con-  Right-click the Upload Ruler Changes control
trols that work just like the Track Collaboration and choose Upload.
controls. Each conductor ruler has its own Ruler
Command-click (Mac) or Control-Click
Collaboration controls—Tempo, Meter, Key,
(Windows) an Upload Ruler Changes control
Chords, and Markers—and they are shown any
to force upload the track.
time Track Collaboration is selected in the Edit
Window View.

396 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Upload Ruler Changes Right-Click Menu Download Conductor Ruler
Changes
The Upload Ruler Changes control provides a
right-click menu that offers similar controls to the When another participant makes a “share-able”
Upload Track Changes control right-click menu. change to a Conductor ruler and they then upload
their changes to the cloud copy of the project, the
corresponding Download Ruler Changes control
turns green for all other participants. They can
click the Download Ruler Changes control to
download the changes to the Conductor ruler from
the cloud copy of the project to their local copy.
Upload Ruler Changes Right-Click menu

Force Upload To download Conductor ruler changes, do one of

the following:
The Force Upload command d is only available
 Click the Download Ruler Changes control.
when the Upload Ruler Changes control is not lit.
Choose Force Upload to force upload the entire  Right-click the Download Ruler Changes con-
ruler as is, replacing the cloud version. trol and choose Accept Download.

Upload Download Ruler Changes Right-Click

Menu
The Upload command works just like clicking a
green Upload Ruler Changes control and posts all The Download Ruler Changes control provides a
of your changes on the ruler to the cloud copy of right-click menu that offers similar controls to the
the project. Download Track Changes control right-click
menu.
Abandon Changes

Choosing the Abandon Changes command clears

the upload and resets all of your changes to how
the Conductor ruler was prior to you working on
the it.

Manual Uploads Only Download Ruler Changes Right-Click menu

Force Download
Enable the Manual Uploads Only option to ensure
that the Upload All New Changes button does not The Force Download command is only available
automatically upload any of your changes on this when the Download Ruler Changes control is not
Conductor ruler. Your changes will only be up- lit. Choose Force Download to force download of
loaded if you click the Upload Ruler Changes con- the entire ruler from the cloud, replacing the entire
trol. Disable this option to return to allowing the local ruler.
Upload All New Changes button to automatically
upload all changes on this Conductor ruler.

Chapter 19: Track Collaboration 397

 Accept Download Ruler Ownership Right-Click Menu

The Accept Download command works just like The Conductor Ruler Ownership control right-
clicking the green Download Ruler Changes con- click menu provides different commands depend-
trol and downloads all changes on that ruler from ing on whether or not the ruler is unowned, owned
the cloud copy of the project. by you, or owned by another, and whether or not
changes are pending upload or download.
Ignore Changes

Choosing the Ignore Changes command clears the

download and keeps your Conductor ruler as is re-
gardless of any changes in the cloud copy of the
project.

Manual Downloads Only

Ruler Ownership Right-Click menu
Enable the Manual Downloads Only option to en- Request
sure that the Download All New Changes button
does not automatically download any changes Choose Request to request ownership of a Con-
from the cloud copy of the project to this Conduc- ductor ruler that is owned by another or to take
tor ruler. Cloud changes to the ruler will only be ownership of an unowned Conductor ruler.
downloaded if you click its Download Ruler
Changes control. Disable this option to return to al- Keep
lowing the Download All New Changes button to Choose Keep to keep ownership of a Conductor
automatically download all changes on this Con- ruler that you have changed without posting your
ductor ruler. changes.

Conductor Ruler Ownership Relinquish

The Conductor Ruler Ownership control lets you Choose Relinquish to surrender ownership of a
take ownership of a Conductor ruler, release own- Conductor ruler.
ership of a Conductor ruler, request ownership of a
Reject Collaborator Request
Conductor ruler, and show you if another partici-
pant currently owns that Conductor ruler. Choose Reject Collaborator Request to deny the
request for ownership of a Conductor ruler by an-
other collaborator, keeping ownership for yourself.

398 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Relinquish After Posting Automatic Ownership

Choose Relinquish After Posting to automatically When you automatically take ownership of a Con-
surrender ownership of a Conductor ruler right af- ductor ruler by making a “share-able” change on
ter posting changes. an unowned ruler, the Upload Ruler Changes con-
trol turns dim green.
Relinquish Now

Choose Relinquish Now to surrender ownership of

a Conductor ruler without posting changes.
You Automatically Own the Conductor ruler
Rescind My Request
Manual Ownership
Choose Rescind My Request to cancel your re-
When you manually take ownership of a Conduc-
quest for ownership of a Conductor ruler.
tor ruler by clicking its Conductor Ruler Owner-
Seize ship control, it turns solid green and no other par-
ticipant can take ownership of that Conductor ruler
Choose Seize to seize ownership of a Conductor simply by making a “share-able” change to their
ruler from another collaborator. copy of that Conductor ruler.

Unowned Conductor Rulers

When no one owns a Conductor ruler, anyone is

free to work on it and the Conductor Ruler Owner- You Manually Own the Conductor ruler
ship control is gray. Ownership Requested

If any other participant wants to take ownership of

that Conductor ruler, they must request ownership
Unowned Conductor ruler either by making a “share-able” change to that
Conductor ruler or by clicking the Conductor
You can take ownership of a Conductor ruler either Ruler Ownership control for that ruler in their local
by making “share-able” changes on that ruler (in copy of the project.
this case you automatically own the ruler for the
time being) or you can click the Ruler Ownership
control and manually take ownership of the ruler.
For whoever takes ownership of a ruler, the Con-
Conductor Ruler Ownership Requested
ductor Ruler Ownership control turns either dim
green or solid green. For all other participants, the You can click the Conductor Ruler Ownership
Conductor Ruler Ownership control turns orange control to relinquish ownership of that ruler and
in their local copy of the project. the other participant will take ownership of that
ruler.

Chapter 19: Track Collaboration 399

 Conductor Ruler Owned by Another
Participant

When another participant owns a Conductor ruler,

the Conductor Ruler Ownership control turns or-
ange for everyone else.

Conductor ruler owned by another participant

Ownership Pending

If you want to take control of a Conductor ruler

owned by another participant, you can make a
“share-able” change on the Conductor ruler or
click the Conductor Ruler Ownership control. The
other participant is notified that the ownership of
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.

Ownership request pending

400 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Chapter 20: Importing and Exporting Session
Data

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
Session or project data, audio files, and clips can
Pro Tools Ultimate, you have the option of import-
be imported to existing tracks, new tracks, the
ing any combination of track attributes from an-
Tracks List, or the Clips List in a Pro Tools session
other session, such as a track’s audio or MIDI play-
or project.
lists, signal routing, plug-ins, or automation (see
“Importing Session Data” on page 420). 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 60, “Working with Video in Pro Tools”).
• Using the Export to Sibelius or Send to Sibelius
command (MIDI only)

Importing and Exporting • Using the File menu Export commands:

Data to and from a Session or • Selected Tracks as New AAF/OMF
Project • Selected Tracks as New Session
• MIDI
Importing
• Sibelius
Pro Tools lets you import audio, video, MIDI, clip
• Session Info As Text
groups, or session files into the current Pro Tools
session or project by: • Using the Tracks Right-click menu:
• Dragging and dropping from: • Send To Sibelius command (Score Editor
only)
• A Workspace browser
• Export MIDI command
• Mac Finder or Windows Explorer

Chapter 20: Importing and Exporting Session Data 401

 • Using the Clips List menu: added to the session or project without conversion,
• Export Clip Definitions command but will playback at a different pitch and speed
from files that match the session or project sample
• Export Clips as Files command
rate.
• Export Clip Groups command
You can enable the Automatically Copy Files
on Import option in the Processing Prefer-
Audio Conversion on Import ences page to be sure to always copy files to
the session’s Audio Files folder when import-
Depending on the properties of the audio files you ing audio by drag and drop.
are importing, you can add, copy, or convert the
files: Files That Must Be Converted on Import

 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 later does not support au-
session retain their original file format, sample dio 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 461).
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

402 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Audio files of the following types can be imported The Sample Rate Conversion Quality options are
into Pro Tools sessions and projects, but will be available in the Import Audio and the Import Ses-
converted to the current session or project file for- sion Data dialogs. In each case, the Sample Rate
mat on import: Conversion Quality setting is local to that specific
• AAC audio (including audio with AAC, Mp4, dialog. The Sample Rate Conversion Quality pref-
and M4a file extensions) erence only applies to conversion on import by
drag and drop.
• ACID files
• MP3 To set the sample rate conversion quality for
importing audio by drag and drop:
• MXF audio
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click the
• QuickTime (Mac only) Processing tab.
• ReCycle (REX 1 and 2) files
2 From the Sample Rate Conversion Quality pop-
• Sound Resource (AIFL—Mac only) up menu, select a quality setting. For most ap-
plications, the Good or Better setting will yield
Pro Tools 11 and later cannot import SD I or
very good results.
SD II files. Please use Pro Tools 10 to open
older sessions that reference SD II files, or 3 Click OK.
use an audio file format conversion utility to
convert the files to AIFF or WAV. The Import Audio and Import Session Data
dialogs provide local controls for sample rate
conversion quality.
Pro Tools cannot import protected AAC or
MP4 files with the .M4p file extension. These Bit Depth Conversion and Dither
files are protected under the rules of digital
rights management. If the Convert Copied Files on Import preference is
enabled (Setup > Preferences > Processing), the
Sample Rate Conversion Quality following occurs when importing audio files with
different bit depths than the current session bit
The Sample Rate Conversion Quality setting deter- depth:
mines the quality of sample rate conversion used
• When importing audio at a lower bit depth than
when converting and importing audio into a ses-
the session, Pro Tools converts the file to match
sion. It can also applied when exporting files at dif-
the session bit depth by adding empty bits. For
ferent sample rate and when bouncing to disk.
example, when importing a 16-bit file into a
There are five possible settings, ranging from Low
24-bit session, Pro Tools converts the file to
(fastest, but lowest quality) to Tweak Head (high-
24-bit.
est quality, but slowest). The higher the quality of
sample rate conversion you choose, the longer • When importing audio at a higher bit depth than
Pro Tools will take to process the audio file. the session, Pro Tools automatically applies a
preset, noise-shaped dither and converts the file
to the session bit depth. For example, when im-
porting a 24-bit file into a 16-bit session, dither
is applied automatically and the file is converted
to 16-bit.

Chapter 20: Importing and Exporting Session Data 403

 Importing Interleaved Files To import files into the Clips List:

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 Ultimate, greater- dows Explorer, or Mac Finder.
than-stereo multichannel audio files are automati- 2 Drag the selected files onto the Clips List.
cally imported to tracks with the corresponding
multichannel 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 402.
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.

404 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Workspace

Drop media or session files to

existing tracks, or to the Drop files in the Clips
Tracks List to add as new List to import

Importing from the Workspace by drag and drop

Chapter 20: Importing and Exporting Session Data 405

 To import and spot files into a track: To snap to head and copy the file to the session
Audio files folder:
1 Enable Spot mode.
 Option-Control-drag (Mac) or Alt-Start-drag
2 Select the files you want to import in a Work-
(Windows) a file onto a track.
space browser, or Windows Explorer, or Mac
Finder. To snap to tail:
3 Drag the files onto an existing, compatible  Command-Control-drag (Mac) or Control-
track. The Spot dialog appears. Start-drag (Windows) a file onto a track.
4 Enter the appropriate timecode location (where
To snap to tail and copy the file to the session
you want to spot the imported file). Audio Files folder:
5 Click OK.  Command-Option-Control-drag (Mac) or Con-
trol-Alt-Start-drag (Windows) a file onto a
To import and spot an audio file by its Waveform in
track.
Workspace browsers:
1 In a Workspace browser, Command-click (Mac)
or Control-click (Windows) the file’s Wave-
Elastic Audio on Import
form display at the approximate reference point When importing any audio file by drag and drop to
you want to use for placement in a track. an Elastic Audio-enabled track, the audio file is
imported and analyzed (if not already analyzed). If
2 While continuing to press Control (Windows),
the imported audio file is tick-based, it is con-
or Command (Mac), drag the waveform onto an
formed to tempo using the track’s Elastic Audio
existing audio track (the source audio file and
plug-in. If it is a sample-based audio file, such as a
the destination audio track must have the same
single drum hit or short sound effect, it maintains
number of channels).
its original duration. Longer audio files with no de-
tectable tempo also remain sample-based.
Snapping to Head and Tail
You can also import audio by drag and drop to cre-
You can drag and drop files to tracks and have
ate new tick-based Elastic Audio-enabled tracks.
them snap to the head or the tail of the current Edit
selection or insertion point. When snapping to When importing tick-based audio by drag and drop
head, the beginning of the imported file snaps to from Workspace browsers to the Tracks List or
the beginning of the Edit selection. When snapping empty space in the Edit window, Pro Tools creates
to tail, the end of the imported file snaps to the be- a new tick-based, Elastic Audio-enabled track us-
ginning of the Edit selection. ing the default Elastic Audio plug-in selected in
the Processing Preferences page (see “Elastic Au-
To import and snap to head: dio Options” on page 413).
 Control-drag (Mac) or Start-drag (Windows) a
file onto a track.

406 Pro Tools Reference Guide

If you are importing an audio file by drag and drop
from Windows Explorer or Mac Finder to the Importing Audio Files and
Tracks List or to empty space in the Edit window, Clips Using the Import Audio
files are imported as sample-based or as tick-based Command
Elastic Audio depending on the Drag and Drop The Import Audio command lets you import audio
from Desktop Conforms to Session Tempo prefer- files or clips into your Pro Tools session or project.
ence (see “Drag and Drop From Desktop Con-
forms to Session Tempo” on page 412). To import entire tracks from other sessions,
see “Importing Session Data” on page 420.
Importing Elastic Audio from To import audio files or clips into a session or
Workspace to the Clips List project using the Import Audio command:
With the Audio Files Conform to Session Tempo 1 Choose File > Import > Audio.
option enabled, dragging and dropping tick-based
2 In the Import Audio dialog, locate and select an
audio from Workspace browsers to the Clips List
audio file to display its properties and associ-
(or to the Tracks List), creates two separate clips in
ated clips.
the Clips List. The first is a sample-based whole
file clip and the second is a tick-based copy of the You can choose to display only a certain file type
same clip. (such as WAV) by selecting the type from the
Show pop-up menu. To display all supported file
Importing Tempo from types, select All Documents from the Show pop-up
Tick-Based Audio menu.
If there are no tracks in the session, and you import
a tick-based audio file to the Clips List, Tracks
List, or empty space in the Edit window, you are
prompted to either import the tempo from the file
or use the default session tempo. To keep the de-
fault session tempo, and have the loop conform to
the session tempo, click Don’t Import.

If the session already contains at least one track

(regardless of track type), you are not prompted to
import the tempo from the file and the file is con-
formed to the session tempo.

Import Audio dialog

Chapter 20: Importing and Exporting Session Data 407

 In the import list, audio files are distinguished 4 Do any of the following:
from clips by their icons. • To place a file or clip in the Import list,
select the file and click Add or Convert.
Audio File icon
• To import all files and clips in the current direc-
tory, click Add All or Convert All.
Audio Clip icon
• To remove a file or clip from the Import list, se-
File and Clip icons in the Import Audio dialog lect it and click Remove.
• To remove all files and clips, click Remove All.
On Mac, Sound Resource files must have the
“.SFIL” extension to be imported by Pro Tools lets you add files to a session that
Pro Tools. are at a different sample rate than your
session. In the comments field of the Import
3 To preview a selected file or clip before you im- Audio dialog, a warning is posted that these
port it, click the Play and Stop buttons in the Im- files will play back at the wrong speed and
port Audio dialog. pitch if they are not converted.

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 60). the Processing Preferences page.
6 Click Done.

Press Command+W (Mac) or Alt+E (Win-

dows) to select Done. Press Command+ “.”
(Period) (Mac) or Esc to Cancel.

7 If you are copying or converting files, choose a

location for the new files. Choose a folder on a
valid audio drive, such as the Audio Files folder
for the current session.

408 Pro Tools Reference Guide

8 In the Audio Import Options dialog, select
where the imported files will go in the session: Importing Audio from
Audio CDs
Pro Tools lets you import tracks from audio CDs
using the same methods that you use to import au-
dio files, as follows:
• Drag CD audio from the CD folder.
• Drag files from a Workspace Browser.
• Use the Import Audio command.

Before importing CD audio, make sure your hard

Audio Import Options dialog
drive has enough space for the converted audio
New Track Each audio file is imported into its own files.
individual track and into the Clips List.
Importing CD audio with either drag and
When importing audio into a track, you can also drop method lets you continue working in the
choose the location in the track where the audio session foreground (such as in the Mix or Edit
file will begin (such as Session Start). window), while the Task Manager (Window >
Task Manager) works in the background (im-
Clips List Audio files are imported into the Clips
porting and converting the audio until the im-
List without creating a new track. Imported audio
port is completed). For more information on
files appear in the Clips List and can then be
the Task Manager, see “Task Manager Win-
dragged to audio tracks.
dow” on page 358.
9 If you chose to create a new track, choose a
location for the imported file in the track: Because the transfer is made in the digital domain,
there is no signal loss.
Session Start Places the file or clip at the start of
the session. The sample rate for audio CDs is 44.1 kHz. There-
fore, if your session’s sample rate is set to 48 kHz
Song Start Aligns the beginning of the file or clip or higher, Pro Tools will convert the sample rate
to the Song Start point. for the imported audio. Before importing CD au-
dio, set the Sample Rate Conversion Quality pref-
Selection Aligns the beginning of the file or clip to
erence accordingly. For more information, see
the edit cursor or to the beginning of a selection in
“Sample Rate Conversion Quality” on page 403.
the Timeline.

Spot Displays the Spot dialog, which lets you spot

the file or clip to a precise location based on any of
the Time Scales.
10 Click OK.

Chapter 20: Importing and Exporting Session Data 409

 To import ACID and REX files as tick-based Elastic
Importing ACID and REX Audio clips:
Files 1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click the
ACID files and REX 1 and 2 files are converted to Processing tab.
the session audio file type. Depending on the pref- 2 Disable the Import REX Files as Clip Groups
erences settings, ACID and REX files can be im- option.
ported as sample-based clips or as tick-based
Elastic Audio clips. For REX files only, Pro Tools 3 Select REX and ACID Files Only or All Files as
uses any slice data to create Event markers with the Drag and Drop from Desktop Conforms to
100% confidence. ACID files are analyzed for Session Tempo preference.
Elastic Audio events just like WAV files, and so 4 Click OK to close the Preferences dialog.
events are detected with varying degrees of confi-
dence. 5 Do one of the following:
• Import the REX files you want by drag and drop
For information on Elastic Audio, see
from a Workspace browser.
Chapter 44, “Elastic Audio.”
• Import the REX files you want by drag and drop
REX files can also be imported as tick-based clip from the Desktop.
groups. • Use the Import Audio command (see “Importing
Audio Files and Clips Using the Import Audio
For information on clip groups, see “Clip
Command” on page 407).
Groups” on page 919).

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 411).

4 Click OK to close the Preferences dialog. 4 Select REX and ACID Files Only or All Files as
the Drag and Drop from Desktop Conforms to
5 When importing by drag and drop from Work-
Session Tempo preference.
space browsers, make sure that the Audio Files
Conform to Session Tempo option is disabled. 5 Click OK to close the Preferences dialog.

6 Import the ACID and REX files you want by

drag and drop from a Workspace browser or the
Desktop, or using the Import Audio command
(see “Importing Audio Files and Clips Using
the Import Audio Command” on page 407).

410 Pro Tools Reference Guide

6 Do one of the following:
Importing Multichannel Audio
• Import the REX files you want by drag and drop
Files from a Field Recorder
from a Workspace browser
Pro Tools lets you use any of its import methods to
• Import the REX files you want by drag and drop
import monophonic and polyphonic audio files re-
from the Desktop.
corded by a field recorder. When you import these
• Use the Import Audio command (see “Importing types of files, they must be converted to an audio
Audio Files and Clips Using the Import Audio format compatible with Pro Tools.
Command” on page 407).
For more information on importing files from
Automatic Fades for Imported REX Files a field recorder, see Chapter 59, “Working
with Field Recorders in Pro Tools.”
If the Import REX Files as Clip Groups option is en-
abled in the Processing Preferences page,
Pro Tools can automatically apply real-time cross- Importing Monophonic Audio
fades to the clips or “slices” in imported REX for-
Files
mat files. A monophonic audio file contains one mono chan-
nel and relevant metadata from a single multichan-
To apply real-time crossfades to REX files: nel recording.
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click the Pro-
When you import monophonic audio files that
cessing tab.
were recorded simultaneously, they are converted
2 Enable the Import REX Files as Clip Groups op- to multichannel clips and displayed together in the
tion. Clips List. Any metadata is also imported with the
files.
3 Enable the Automatically Create Fades option.
In the Preferences dialog, click the Editing tab.
4
Importing Polyphonic Audio
5 Under Default Fade Settings, click REX. Files
6 In the REX Auto-Crossfades dialog, select the A polyphonic audio file contains multiple mono
shapes you want for crossfades, and click OK. channels and relevant metadata recorded simulta-
neously in a multichannel recording.
7 Click OK to close the Preferences dialog.
When imported into Pro Tools, a polyphonic audio
Depending on your edits or tempo changes file is divided into individual monophonic audio
after importing REX files, fades can be files written to disk—one file for each channel.
deleted and you will have to recreate them Clips for each channel appear in the playlist, and a
manually. multichannel clip appears in the Clips List with the
channels expandable underneath. Any metadata is
also imported with the files.

Chapter 20: Importing and Exporting Session Data 411

 Do Not Convert Sample Rate on Import When se-
Import Options and lected, files with different sample rates than the
Preferences session sample rate are not automatically con-
Pro Tools provides several options and prefer- verted when imported into the session. This means
ences that affect audio import. Configure that files with mis-matched sample rates play back
Pro Tools to match your most common workflows. at a different speed (and pitch transpositions than
For example, if you frequently work by importing when they were originally recorded (or converted).
REX files for loop-based composition, you can Import REX Files as Clip Groups When selected,
configure Pro Tools to always import REX files to REX flies are imported as clip groups, all the un-
conform to tempo and create new tick-based Elas- derlying slices are imported as individual clips
tic Audio tracks. contained within the clip group. When this option
Convert Imported “WAV” Files To AES31/Broad- is not selected, importing REX files into a session
castWave When selected, this option applies to all converts them to the session’s audio file format,
newly imported WAV files, making them compli- the individual slices are consolidated, and the slice
ant with the AES31/EBU Broadcast standard. information is used for Elastic Audio analysis.
These files remain tick-based after import and con-
Automatically Copy Files on Import When se- version.
lected, all audio files that are imported by dragging
and dropping are copied to the current session’s Automatically Create Fades When selected,
Audio Files folder, regardless of whether the files crossfades are applied automatically to the sliced
need to be converted to the current session’s file clips within clip groups created by importing REX
type, bit depth, or sample rate. Additionally, when files. If the Import REX Files as Clip Groups option
selected, the Import Session Data dialog defaults is not selected, the Automatically Create Fades op-
to Copy from Source Media. The Automatically tion does not apply.
Copy Files on Import preference does not affect the
To change the default fade settings for REX files,
Import Audio command.
click the REX button in the Default Fade Settings
Convert Copied Files to Session Format When section on the Editing Preferences page (see
selected, files that have different file formats from “Fades Editing Preference” on page 414).
the current session file format are copied and con-
verted to the current session audio file format, bit Drag and Drop From Desktop Conforms to
Session Tempo
depth, and sample rate on import. For example, if
the session file format is WAV, 24-bit, 48 kHz and The Drag and Drop From Desktop Conforms to
you import an AIF, 16-bit, 44.1 kHz file, the file is Session Tempo options determine whether or not
copied and converted to WAV, 24-bit, 48 kHz on REX, ACID, and all other audio file formats
import. When this option is not selected, copied dragged and dropped from Windows Explorer or
files retain their original format (unless that file Mac Finder are imported as tick-based Elastic Au-
format is incompatible with Pro Tools, in which dio and conformed to the session tempo.
case it must be converted).

412 Pro Tools Reference Guide

None When enabled, all audio files, including Default Plug-In Lets you select any Real-Time
REX and ACID files, are not conformed to the ses- Elastic Audio plug-in as the default plug-in for
sion tempo when imported by drag and drop from previewing and importing Elastic Audio. The se-
Windows Explorer or the Mac Finder. They are lected default Elastic Audio plug-in is also used
imported as sample-based files and converted to when new tracks are created with Elastic Audio en-
the sessions audio file format. abled. The Elastic Audio Plug-In selector in Work-
space browsers inherits the selected default plug-
REX and ACID Files Only When enabled, only
in. Likewise, changing the selected plug-in in
REX and ACID files are conformed to the session Workspace browsers updates the selected Default
tempo when imported by drag and drop from Win- Plug-In in the Processing preferences.
dows Explorer or the Mac Finder. REX files are
imported either as tick-based Elastic Audio or, if Default Input Gain Lets you attenuate the signal
the Import REX Files as Clip Groups option is en- input to Elastic Audio plug-ins by 0 to –6 dB for
abled, as tick-based clip groups. preview and import. If you experience clipping
due to Elastic Audio processing during preview or
All Files When enabled, all audio files are im-
after import, you may want to set the Default Input
ported as tick-based Elastic Audio and conform to Gain to slightly attenuate (lower) the audio signal
the session tempo. input for Elastic Audio processing. This preference
also applies to any audio imported to an Elastic
Sample Rate Conversion Quality
Audio-enabled track.
The Sample Rate Conversion Quality preference
determines the quality of sample rate conversion If you commit any clips on a track (by disabling
used when converting and importing audio into a Elastic Audio on the track) that were imported
session by drag and drop. Sample rate conversion with the Default Input Gain applied, their clip-
is used in a variety of Pro Tools processes includ- based In put Gain is reset to 0.
ing converting and importing audio files of differ- The Elastic Properties window inherits the Default
ent formats into a session, and bouncing and sav- Input Gain preference. To apply further clip-based
ing tracks to a different sample rate or bit depth. Input Gain for Elastic Audio processing, select the
The higher the quality of sample rate conversion clip and adjust the Input Gain setting in the Elastic
you choose, the longer Pro Tools will take to pro- Properties window (see “Elastic Properties Win-
cess the audio file. dow” on page 988).
Elastic Audio Options Enable Elastic Audio on New Tracks When se-
lected, new tracks are created with Elastic Audio
The Elastic Audio preferences determine which
enabled. The selected default Elastic Audio plug-
Elastic Audio plug-in is used for preview and im-
in is used. When importing audio to new tracks,
port, and whether or not new tracks are created
new tracks are created with Elastic Audio enabled
with Elastic Audio enabled using the selected de-
if this option is enabled.
fault plug-in.
If the Enable Elastic Audio on New Tracks op-
tion is selected, you may want to also
select the New Tracks Default to Tick Time-
base option in the Editing Preferences page.

Chapter 20: Importing and Exporting Session Data 413

 Tracks Preference This command also provides a way to convert clips
to a different audio format, sample rate, or bit
When the New Tracks Default To Tick Timebase
depth.
option is enabled, all new tracks default to ticks.
This includes importing audio to new tracks. When To export clips as new audio files:
deselected, audio, Auxiliary Input, Master Fader,
and VCA tracks default to samples. MIDI and In- 1 In the Clips List, select the clips you want to ex-
strument tracks always default to ticks. port.

Warped clips (Elastic Audio) will be exported

Fades Editing Preference
unwarped at their original duration.
The Default Fade Settings for REX files in the Ed-
iting preferences lets you select the default enve- 2 From the Clips List menu, choose Export Clips
lope shape for fades and crossfades between clips as Files.
(“slices”) in imported REX files. Fades are only
applied to imported REX files if the Import REX
Files as Clip Groups option and the Automatically
Create Fades option are both enabled on the Pro-
cessing Preferences page.

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.

You can also export audio from Pro Tools by

bouncing or consolidating audio tracks. For more
information, see “Bounce to Disk” on page 1188
and “Consolidating Clips” on page 665.
Export Selected dialog

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, choose the Destination Directory.
Export Clips as Files command. Use this
command if you intend to use a clip in other ses-
sions (or other audio applications) without using
its parent source file.

414 Pro Tools Reference Guide

When you export clips to a lower bit depth, Dither Exporting Stereo or
(with or without Noise Shaping) is applied as Multichannel Interleaved Files
shown in the following table:
You can use the Export Clips as Files command to
Dither and Noise Shaping with Export Selected dialog
export audio clips to stereo or multichannel inter-
Noise leaved files for use in other applications.
Bit Depth Dither (Pro Tools cannot use interleaved files directly in
Shaping
the Timeline—these must be converted into multi-
32-bit float to 32-bit float No No ple mono files.) For example, for this to work with
a stereo file, the selected clips must have identical
32-bit float to 24-bit Yes Yes
names with “.L” and “.R” suffixes (for instance,
32-bit float to 16-bit Yes Yes
vocals_01.L and vocals_01.R). These clips appear
as a stereo clip in the Clips List.
24-bit to 32-bit float No No
Pro Tools Ultimate also let you bounce multichan-
24-bit to 24-bit No No nel interleaved files of any supported file type.

24-bit to 16-bit Yes Yes To export clips as a stereo or multichannel

interleaved file:
16-bit to 32-bit float No No 1 Select the stereo or multichannel audio clip in
the Clips List or in the track playlist. If the clips
16-bit to 24-bit No No
appear on mono tracks in the session, select the
16-bit to 16-bit No No two mono clips.
2 From the Clips List menu, choose Export Clips
as Files.
The Avid Dither plug-in is used for any conversion
(with or without Noise Shaping enabled. 3 In the Export Selected dialog, select Stereo In-
terleaved in the Format pop-up menu. For mul-
For more information about using Dither, tichannel clips, the Stereo Interleaved option
see “Dither” on page 1089. produces a multichannel interleaved file.
4 Select an option for how Pro Tools should re- 4 Configure any other output settings, then click
solve duplicate file names. Export to export the new stereo interleaved file.

Prompting for Each Duplicate Prompts you for a

file name for any file that has the same name as a
file in your destination directory.

Auto Renaming Automatically changes the name

of any duplicate file by adding a number at the end
of the file name (such as file_01).

Replacing with New Files Replaces files with the

same name with the new files.
5 Click Export to export the new audio files.

Chapter 20: Importing and Exporting Session Data 415

 Exporting Clip Definitions Pro Tools does not import proprietary sequence
files. To use sequences from other MIDI applica-
Pro Tools stores clip definitions for audio files
tions in a Pro Tools session, you will need to first
within each session. If you want to use an audio
save them as Standard MIDI Files. See the manu-
file’s clips in another session, or with another ap-
facturer’s documentation for details on saving
plication that supports them, you can export the
Standard MIDI Files.
clip information.
There are two types of Standard MIDI Files, both
If you plan to transfer Pro Tools session of which are supported by Pro Tools:
data to another session, you should export
clip definitions for sessions containing mul- • Type 0 MIDI files store data for all MIDI chan-
tiple takes created with Loop Record. nels in a single track. When importing these
files, Pro Tools separates the data by channel
The Export Clip Definitions command does not ex- and places each track’s data in separate clips and
port clips as audio files (unlike the Export Clips as tracks.
Files command). Instead, it stores pointers to the • Type 1 MIDI files, sometimes referred to as mul-
clips within the parent source file. titrack MIDI files, contain multiple tracks of
MIDI data. When importing these files, each
To export clip definitions for an audio file:
track’s data is placed on its own new MIDI track
1 In the Clips List, select any clips or clip groups in the Pro Tools session.
for which you want to export definitions. You
do not have to select the parent file audio clip.
Importing MIDI Files Using
2 Choose Export Clip Definitions from the Clips Pro Tools Menu Commands
List menu. Pro Tools provides commands to import MIDI
3 Click Export. files.

To import Standard MIDI Files into a session or

project using the Pro Tools File menu:
Importing MIDI Files
1 Choose File > Import > MIDI and select the file
You can import Standard MIDI Files (SMF) into you want to import.
your Pro Tools sessions and projects.
2 Configure the MIDI Import Options dialog as
Pro Tools provides several ways to import MIDI desired (see “MIDI Import Options Dialog” on
files into an open session or project. page 417).
• “Importing MIDI Files Using Pro Tools Menu 3 Click OK.
Commands” on page 416.
The MIDI file will be imported according to the
• “Importing MIDI Files with Drag and Drop” on
settings in the Import MIDI Settings dialog.
page 418.
If the Standard MIDI File contains markers,
they are only imported if the current session
does not contain any markers.

416 Pro Tools Reference Guide

4 In the Mix window, click the MIDI Output Clips List
selector for each new track and assign a MIDI
The Clips List option imports the file into the Clips
instrument and channel.
List, where it will be available to place into tracks.

MIDI Import Options Dialog Location

The MIDI Import Options dialog lets you specify The Location options determine where imported
what Pro Tools does when importing MIDI files. MIDI is placed when the New Track(s) option is
selected.

Session Start Places the file or clip at the start of

the session.

Song Start Aligns the beginning of the file to the

Song Start point.

Selection Aligns the beginning of the file to the

edit cursor or to the beginning of a selection in the
Timeline.

Spot Displays the Spot dialog, which lets you spot

the file to a precise location based on any of the
Time Scales.

Additional Options

Import Tempo Map From MIDI File When

selected, overwrites any existing tempo and meter
map with tempo and meter information read from
MIDI Import Options dialog the MIDI file.
Destination
Import Key Signature From MIDI File When
The Destination options determine whether new selected, overwrites any existing key signatures
tracks are created for imported MIDI or if MIDI is with key signature information read from the MIDI
imported just to the Clips List. file.

Remove Existing Instrument Tracks When

New Track(s)
selected, deletes any existing Instrument tracks.
The New Track(s) option creates new tracks for Selecting this option does not remove any current
imported MIDI MIDI tracks. All existing MIDI clips will be left in
the Clips List.
Instrument Track Select this option to create new
Instrument tracks for imported MIDI.

MIDI Track Select this option to create new MIDI

tracks for imported MIDI.

Chapter 20: Importing and Exporting Session Data 417

 Remove Existing MIDI Tracks When selected, • Drag the files to the Tracks List.
deletes any existing MIDI tracks. Enabling this
option does not remove any current Instrument For more information, see Chapter 17,
tracks. All existing MIDI clips will be left in the “Workspace Browsers.”
Clips List.

Remove Existing MIDI Clips When selected, Exporting MIDI Files

deletes existing MIDI clips (all data on all MIDI
and Instrument tracks) but leaves existing MIDI To export a session’s MIDI tracks for use in an-
and Instrument tracks in place. other MIDI application, or for playback with an
external (hardware) MIDI sequencer, you can ex-
port Pro Tools MIDI and Instrument tracks as a
Importing MIDI Files with Drag Standard MIDI File.
and Drop
You can drag and drop MIDI files from a Work- MIDI can be exported from Pro Tools as a merged,
space browser, Windows Explorer, or Mac Finder single, multichannel track (Type 0), or as multiple
to the Timeline, a track, the Tracks List, or the tracks (Type 1).
Clips List. If your Pro Tools session uses key signatures and
meters, they are exported with the MIDI file.
To import MIDI into the Clips List:
1 Select MIDI files in a Workspace browser, or To export all MIDI and Instrument tracks in the
Windows Explorer, or Mac Finder. current session:

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.

To import MIDI into new tracks:

1 Select MIDI files in a Workspace browser, Win-
dows Explorer or Mac Finder.
2 Do one of the following:
• From the Workspace browser, Shift-drag the
files anywhere in the Edit window of the current
session.
Export MIDI Settings dialog
• Drag the files to the Timeline of the current ses-
sion.

418 Pro Tools Reference Guide

3 From the MIDI File Format pop-up menu, select Items Not Exported with MIDI Files
1 (multitrack) or 0 (single track).
Mute automation and muted clips do not affect ex-
4 If the Song Start time is different from the ported MIDI. As long as a MIDI track is not muted
Session Start time, select Session Start or by clicking its Mute button, or an Instrument track
Song Start from the Location Reference pop-up is not muted by clicking its MIDI Mute button (In-
menu. struments view), all of its MIDI data is exported.
5 Enable or disable the Apply Real-Time Chord symbols and chord diagrams are not ex-
Properties option. ported with MIDI files.
6 Click OK. When exporting MIDI files from Pro Tools, device
7 Specify a folder destination and name for the assignments for tracks are not retained (though
MIDI file. channel assignments are). If you export MIDI or
Instrument tracks from Pro Tools and later re-im-
Pro Tools automatically adds the “.mid” port them, you will need to reassign the tracks to
extension when exporting MIDI files. devices in your studio.

8 Click Save. All playlist information for MIDI and Instrument

tracks is lost when exporting. For example, tracks
Pro Tools exports all unmuted MIDI and Instru- that previously contained dozens of MIDI clips
ment tracks in the current session to a Standard will be flattened and only contain single clips after
MIDI File and writes it to your hard drive. Ex- exporting and re-importing.
ported MIDI information includes notes, controller
events, program changes, and System Exclusive
data, as well as events for tempo, meter, and mark- Exporting Individual MIDI and
ers. Instrument Tracks
You can also export individual MIDI and Instru-
The SMPTE start time for the session or the song
ment tracks as MIDI files. This can be useful for
(depending on the selection from the Location Ref-
storing libraries of your favorite MIDI sequences
erence pop-up menu) is also exported. This en-
or Sysex data (such as bulk or individual patch
sures that the exported tracks, when played from
dumps for your external MIDI devices), or for im-
another MIDI application, will align with the cor-
porting MIDI into notation applications (other than
rect SMPTE frames, and also synchronize cor-
Sibelius).
rectly to tape and video devices, or Pro Tools.
To export a single MIDI or Instrument track as a
See your third-party MIDI sequencer documenta-
MIDI file:
tion to determine whether it supports importing
SMPTE start times from MIDI files. 1 Do one of the following:
• Right-click the Track name of an unselected
track in the Edit or Mix window, or in the Tracks
List.
• In the Tracks List, or Mix or Edit window, Com-
mand-Right-click (Mac) or Control-Right-click
(Windows) the track name.

Chapter 20: Importing and Exporting Session Data 419

 2 From the Right-click menu, select Export MIDI.
Exporting Sibelius Files
3 Set the Export MIDI settings in the Export
MIDI Settings dialog. Pro Tools can export the score of your session or
project as a Sibelius file (.sib). You can choose to
4 Click OK. export the score as a Sibelius file for later use or
5 In the Save dialog, type a name for the MIDI score transfer, or to open the score in Sibelius im-
file, specify where you want to save it, and click mediately (if Sibelius) is installed on your com-
Save. puter. Sibelius uses the Pro Tools transcription of
MIDI in your session as seen in the Pro Tools
Option-Right-click (Mac) or Alt-Right-click Score Editor window (for more information, see
(Windows) to export all tracks to a single “Exporting Scores” on page 826).
MIDI file.
Sibelius 5.x or higher is required to open .sib
To export all selected Pro Tools Instrument or MIDI files exported from Pro Tools.
tracks as a MIDI file:

1 Select the tracks you want to export to a MIDI

file. Importing Session Data
2 Right-click the Track name of one of the se- You can import data and copy media from other
lected tracks in the Edit or Mix window, or in Pro Tools sessions into the current Pro Tools ses-
the Tracks List. sion or project using the Import Session Data com-
mand (or drag and drop). You can also import data
3 From the Right-click menu, select Export MIDI.
into sessions from versions of projects by means of
4 Set the Export MIDI settings. the Revision History window. The Import Session
Data dialog lets you import tracks and select spe-
5 Click OK.
cific session data (such as automation and routing)
6 In the Save dialog, type a name for the MIDI to import. You can also import main playlist op-
file, specify where you want to save it, and click tions—either replacing existing options or over-
Save. laying elements onto existing tracks.

Option-Shift-Right-click (Mac) or Alt-Shift- To import tracks or their attributes:

Right-click (Windows) to export all selected
1 Open or create a new session or project.
tracks as a single MIDI file.
2 Do one of the following:
• Choose File > Import > Session Data, select the
session to import data from, and click Open.
• Drag the session file whose tracks or attributes
you want to import from a Workspace browser,
Windows Explorer, or Mac Finder into empty
space in the Edit window or to the Tracks List.

420 Pro Tools Reference Guide

3 If the Fader Gain setting of the session is differ- 10 If the sample rates of the sessions are different,
ent, you will be prompted to keep or change the select the sample rate for the source session
Fader Gain before the Session Data dialog from the Source Sample Rate pop-up menu.
opens.
11 To import the meter and tempo maps from the
4 In the Source section, select tracks to import by source session, select the Import Tempo/
clicking the pop-up menu to the right of each Meter Map option.
track name and selecting New Track.
12 To import key signatures from the source ses-
To select multiple tracks, Opt-click sion, select the Import Key Signature Map op-
(Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) on any tion.
track pop-up menu and select Import As 13 To import Markers and Memory Locations from
New Track. the source session, select the Import
Marker/Memory Locations option.
If the destination Pro Tools system does not 14 To import Window Configurations, select the
support surround mixing, surround tracks Import Window Configurations option.
are not displayed in the Source Tracks List.
15 With Pro Tools Ultimate, select the Import Mic
5 For each track you select, you can choose to im- Pre Settings option to import any Mic Pre set-
port it as a new track, or choose a destination tings from the source session.
track from the corresponding pop-up menu.
16 Click OK when you are finished.
Click Match Tracks to automatically match
source and destination tracks with the same 17 If you chose to copy or consolidate media,
names. choose a location to place the media files.
6 Select any additional track data you want to im- Imported tracks are made inactive if their
port from the Track Data to Import pop-up source media is unavailable, or if the cur-
menu. rent session does not contain an equiva-
7 Select from among the Main Playlist Options to lent output path.
choose how you want to import the source
tracks. Importing Grouped Playlists
from Other Sessions
8 If applicable, choose options for how media
files should be imported from the Audio Media You can import tracks that use Grouped Playlists
Options and the Video Media Options pop-up from another Pro Tools session, and the playlist
menus. grouping function will remain intact for those im-
ported tracks. There is, however, a restriction for
Any tracks in a project containing media importing from pre-Pro Tools 6.1 sessions: After
linked to a local source file cannot be shared. importing a partial set of grouped playlists (such as
tracks 1–7 of a 10-track group), you cannot subse-
9 Choose the Timecode Mapping Options for im- quently import tracks 8–10 and have them rejoin
ported data. the playlist group for tracks 1–7.

Chapter 20: Importing and Exporting Session Data 421

 Importing Sessions and Tracks Copying During Import
by Drag and Drop
If no conversion is necessary, and the files
Session files can be dragged into the current reside on a suitable Performance volume,
session or project to import (and spot) audio, Pro Tools references the original version of the
video, MIDI, clip group, REX and ACID files, media. You can also choose to copy media while
tracks, and session data. importing by using key commands, or enabling the
• Dragging a session to the Clips List imports all Automatically Copy Files on Import preference.
the clips from that session (without importing Copies are created in the session’s Audio Files
tracks). Folder or, for projects, uploaded to the cloud.

• 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 423).
them as missing files the next time the session or
project is opened.

422 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Text Encoding
Import Session Data Dialog
Pro Tools allows entry and display of any lan-
The Import Session Data dialog lets you view the guage characters supported in Unicode anywhere
properties of the source session, select which in the Pro Tools application. This lets you use mul-
tracks to import, and with Pro Tools Ultimate, tiple languages in session names, and in path
choose which attributes of those tracks you want to names, file names and clip names.
import into the current session or project.
However, Pro Tools 7.3.x and lower does not sup-
port Unicode. When importing data from sessions
or OMF sequences created or saved with older ver-
sions of Pro Tools, you may need to identify the
language encoding used in the imported elements.

To choose the language encoding when importing

data from a legacy Pro Tools session:

1 Choose File > Import > Session Data.

2 Choose the language used in the legacy session
from the Text Encoding pop-up menu.

Audio Media Options

The following Audio Media Options are available
in the Import Session Data dialog:

Link to Source Media (Where Possible) This op-

tion lets you avoid duplicating audio files by refer-
ring to the original files when possible. If the
Import Session Data dialog (Pro Tools Ultimate)
source files do not reside on supported playback
media (such as a CDs or DVDs), or if they require
Source Properties bit depth or sample rate conversion, the source
files are copied instead. This option allows the cur-
The Import Session Data dialog displays proper- rent session or project to refer to files that do not
ties for the source session. These properties in- match the current session or project audio file for-
clude source session name, session type, start time mat.
of the session, audio bit depth, and sample rate. For
Pro Tools 5.1 or higher sessions, the program that Projects can link to media files on the local system
created the session and the session’s audio file type that are stored outside of the project bundle. In this
are listed. case, linked media it will still sync to the cloud, but
it will not be copied to the local project media
cache.

Chapter 20: Importing and Exporting Session Data 423

 Copy from Source Media This option copies all Video Media Options
audio files related to the imported tracks from the
source media to a new specified location (for ses- In the Import Session Data dialog, you can either
sions) or to the cloud (for projects), and converts choose to leave video media files in their original
the files to the current session or project sample locations or copy them to a new location. This is
rate if necessary. The source media’s audio file useful if you are importing tracks from a source
format and bit depth are not changed. This is useful such as CDs or DVDs or shared storage, and you
if you are importing tracks from a source such as want to place video files on a different drive.
CD or DVDs or shared storage, and you want to
Link to Source Media
place the audio files on a different hard drive.
Select this option to avoid duplicating video files
Consolidate from Source Media This option con-
by referring to the original files.
solidates audio while copying it. This is useful if
you want to copy only the clips of the audio files Copy from Source Media
used in the source tracks, without copying unused
audio. This option copies and converts consoli- Select this setting to copy all video files related to
dated audio to the current session or project audio the imported tracks from the source media to a new
file format, bit depth, and sample rate if necessary. specified location.

When you choose this option, you can also choose Import as Offline Satellite Media
the Handle Size (in milliseconds) applied to con- (Pro Tools | Ultimate Software 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.

424 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Timecode Mapping Options Track Offset Options
In the Import Session Data dialog, you can specify In the Import Session Data dialog, you can specify
where the imported tracks are placed in the current a track offset in addition to any offset incurred with
session. Times are indicated in timecode. the Timecode Mapping Options. Any imported au-
dio is offset in the current session or project Time-
The following Timecode Mapping Options are line by the specified amount. You can enter values
available: in Minutes:Seconds, Bars|Beats, Samples, Time-
Maintain Absolute Timecode Values This option code, or Feet/Frames.
places tracks at the locations where they were lo-
cated in the source session. For example, if the cur- Sample Rate Conversion (SRC)
rent session starts at 00:01:00:00, and the session Options
from which you are importing starts at
In the Import Session Data dialog, you can set op-
10:00:00:00, the earliest imported tracks can ap-
tions that control how sample rate conversion is
pear in your session is 9 hours and 59 minutes after
applied to imported audio files. If the source ses-
the start of the session.
sion and the current session have the same sample
Maintain Relative Timecode Values This option rate, this portion of the dialog is unavailable.
places tracks at the same offset from session start
The following Sample Rate Conversion (SRC)
as they had in the source session. For example, if
Options are available:
the source session starts at 01:00:00:00 and con-
tains a track that starts at 01:01:00:00, and the cur- Source Sample Rate For audio files created in any
rent session start is 02:00:00:00, the track will be session, no matter what the session sample rate is,
placed at 02:01:00:00 in the current session. you can have the sample rate conversion process
treat the files in several ways to compensate for
Map Start Timecode To This option places tracks
pull up, pull down, and NTSC or PAL frame rates.
relative to their original session start time. (Times
This setting allows you to choose the sample rate
are expressed in hh:mm:ss:ff) For example, if the
from which you want the sample rate conversion
current session starts at 00:01:00:00, and the ses-
process to start.
sion from which you are importing starts at
10:00:00:00, you can reset the start timecode to Destination Sample Rate The destination sample
00:01:00:00, to avoid placing files 9 hours and 59 rate is always set to the sample rate of your current
minutes from the start of your session. session.

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 403).
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.

Chapter 20: Importing and Exporting Session Data 425

 Source Tracks Matching Tracks
This area of the Import Session Data dialog lists In the Import Session Data dialog, you can make
the tracks in the source session that can be im- sure track names match when you are importing
ported, each with a corresponding pop-up menu. playlists from source tracks with the same name as
destination tracks in the current session or project
Operation/Destination Track (such as a new cut of a scene). Click Matching
Pop-Up Menus Tracks to automatically match the track names.
Tracks must have the same name, track type, and
In the Import Session Data dialog, each source channel format to be automatically matched.
track has a corresponding pop-up menu that lists
options for importing the track as well as for pos-
sible destination tracks in the current session or
Track Data to Import
project. The pop-up menus display the following Available through the Import Session Data dialog,
items: the Track Data to Import dialog lets you select
which attributes of the selected tracks you want to
Do Not Import Neither the source track nor any of
import into the current session or project.
its attributes are imported.
Selected attributes are applied to all tracks that you
Import as New Track The source track and all at-
choose to import into the current session or project.
tributes selected in the Track Data to Import pop-up
menu are imported into a new track in the current
Replacing Track Attributes
session or project.
When you import an attribute of the source track
Destination Track Names The names of possible
into an existing track in the current session or proj-
destination tracks in the current session or project
ect, it replaces the corresponding attribute in the
are listed at the bottom of the pop-up menu. Im-
destination track. If you choose not to import an at-
ported playlists and all attributes selected in the
tribute of the source track, the corresponding attri-
Track Data to Import pop-up menu will be placed
bute in the destination track is retained.
in the destination track you select.
Replacing Track Path Names
Only destination tracks that match the track type
(audio, Instrument, MIDI, Auxiliary Input, or When you import a track’s input, output, send out-
Master Fader) and the channel format (mono, ste- put or hardware insert assignments, any custom
reo, or any of the supported multichannel formats) path names and I/O configurations from the source
of the source track appear in the pop-up menu. session are not imported. You can import path
names and I/O configurations by importing I/O
Setup settings. For more information, see “Factory
I/O Settings” on page 83.

426 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Selecting Track Data to Import Clip Gain Recalls the clip gain settings for all im-
ported audio clips.
To select what Track Data to import:
Clip Effects Recalls the clip effects settings for all
1 In the Import Session Data dialog, click the
imported audio clips.
Choose button for Track Data to Import.
Main Volume Automation and Setting Recalls the
2 Configure the Track Data to Import dialog as
source track’s Volume fader setting and any auto-
desired.
mation data on the track’s Volume Automation
3 Click OK. playlist. The Volume fader setting and any Vol-
ume automation data in the destination track are re-
placed.

Main Pan Automation and Setting Recalls the

source track’s Pan Slider settings and any automa-
tion data on the track’s Pan Automation playlist.
The Pan Slider setting and any Pan automation
data in the destination track are replaced.

Main Mute Automation and Setting Recalls the

source track’s Mute setting and any automation
data on the track’s Mute automation playlist. The
Mute setting and any Mute automation data in the
destination track are replaced.

Main Output Assignments Recalls the source

track’s channel output assignments, including any
multiple output assignments. The channel output
assignments in the destination track are replaced.

Send Volume Automation and Setting Recalls the

Volume fader setting and any automation data for
sends on the source track. The Volume fader set-
Track Data to Import dialog ting and any Volume automation data for sends in
Pro Tools lets you include (or exclude) the follow- the destination track are replaced.
ing Track Data with Track Presets: Send Pan Automation and Setting Recalls the
Alternate Playlists Recalls all of the alternate
Pan slider setting and any automation data for
playlists from source tracks. The alternate playlists sends on the source track. The Pan slider setting
appear in the playlist selector of destination tracks. and any Pan automation data for sends in the des-
tination track are replaced.
Clips and Media Recalls all of the audio files or
Send Mute Automation and Setting Recalls the
clips in the source track, and places them in the
Clips List. Mute setting and any Mute automation data on the
source track. The Mute setting and any Mute auto-
mation data in the destination track are replaced.

Chapter 20: Importing and Exporting Session Data 427

 Send Output Assignments Recalls the source Track Comments Recalls the track comments as-
track’s send output assignments. Any Send output sociated with the source track. Any comments in
assignments in the destination track are replaced. the destination track are replaced.

Plug-In Assignments Recalls the source track’s Track Colors Recalls the track color associated
plug-in assignments. Any plug-ins in the destina- with the source track. Any color for the destination
tion track are removed, and their associated set- track is changed.
tings and automation are lost.
Record Safe/Solo Safe Settings Recalls the re-
If the source track uses a plug-in that is not avail- cord safe and solo safe settings of the source track
able on the destination system, it appears in the from the source session. Any record safe or solo
destination track and is made inactive. safe settings in the destination track are replaced.

Plug-In Settings and Automation When the Track View Settings Recalls the track height and
source track’s plug-in assignments are recalled, playlist view of the source track from the source
this option imports the track’s plug-in settings and session.
any automation data associated with the plug-ins.
Mix/Edit Groups Recalls track groups from the
If no plug-in assignments are imported, this option
source session.
has no effect.
Elastic Audio Track State Recalls the source ICON Custom Fader Groups (Pro Tools | Ultimate
Only) Recalls any ICON Custom Fader Groups
track’s Elastic Audio track state. Any Elastic Au-
from the source session.
dio settings in the destination track are replaced.
ICON Automation Snapshots
HW Insert Assignments Recalls the source track’s
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Only) Recalls any ICON
hardware Insert assignments. Any Insert assign-
Automation Snapshots from the source session.
ments in the destination track are replaced.
HEAT Switch Settings Recalls any stored HEAT
Voice Assignments Recalls the source track’s
switch settings from the source session.
voice assignment from the source session. Any
voice assignments in the destination track are re- Object Assignment and Toggle Setting
placed. (Pro Tools | Ultimate with Dolby Atmos Only) Re-
calls Object Output Path assignments and Bus/Ob-
Input Assignments Recalls the source track’s ject toggle settings for any tracks selected for import.
channel input assignment. The Input assignment in
the destination track is replaced. Track Data to Import Presets

Side-Chain Assignments When the source track’s Pro Tools lets you store and recall different config-
plug-in assignments are recalled, this option im- urations of the Track Data to Import dialog as pre-
ports any side-chain assignments associated with sets. The Presets controls for the Track Data to Im-
the plug-ins. If no plug-in assignments are im- port dialog work much like the Presets controls for
ported, this option has no effect. Batch Renaming, Fades, and Clip Effects.

Track Active State Recalls the active/inactive state

of the source track from the source session.

428 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Presets Buttons Import Settings Opens the Choose a Settings File
dialog focused on the default Track Data to Import
The Track Data to Import dialog provides five Pre-
folder. Track Data to Import Settings file stored in
sets buttons that let you store and recall your most
this location are listed by name under <factory de-
commonly used Track Data to Import configura-
fault> in the Librarian menu. In the Choose a Set-
tions. You can also save and import Track Data to
tings File dialog, you can navigate to any location
Import settings using the Librarian menu.
on your system to select and import the Track Data
to Import Settings preset file you want.
To store a Track Data to Import preset:
1 Configure the Track Data to Import dialog as Delete Current Settings File Permanently deletes
you like. the current settings file from disk.

2 Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win- Lock (Unlock) Settings File Locks (or unlocks)
dows) the Presets button where you want to the selected Settings file so that it cannot (or can)
store the current Track Data to Import settings. be edited.

Import Options
To recall a Track Data to Import preset:

 Click the Presets button that contains the set-

The following Import Options are available in the
tings you want to recall.
Import Session Data dialog:
Librarian Menu Import Tempo/Meter Map Imports the meter and
Use the Librarian menu to save and recall presets tempo maps, as they appear in the Tempo and Me-
files (.ptpreset). These are usually saved to and re- ter Conductor rulers, from the source session. Any
called from the Track Data to Import folder Tempo or Meter events in the destination session
(/Documents/Pro Tools/Pro Tools Presets/Track or project are replaced.
Data to Import/). However, you can save to and Import Key Signature/Chord Map Imports all key
import from any directory location on your system. signatures (if present) and chord markers into
Preset files can be shared and used on any other Pro Tools with the imported session data. Any key
Pro Tools system as well. signatures and chord markers in the destination
The Librarian menu commands include: session or project are replaced.

<factory default> Restores the default settings for Import Marker/Memory Locations Imports mark-
the Track Data to Import dialog. ers and Memory Locations as they appear in the
Marker ruler, from the source session. Any mark-
Save Settings Saves the current settings. This ers and Memory Locations in the destination ses-
command overwrites any previous version of the sion or project are retained. Imported marker and
preset. Memory Locations are assigned the next available
Marker/Memory Location numbers.
Press Command+Shift+S (Mac) or Control+
Shift+S (Windows) to save the current settings. Import Window Configurations Imports the Win-
dow Configurations from the source session.
Save Settings As Saves the current settings as a
new preset. You can name the preset and save it to
any location on your system.

Chapter 20: Importing and Exporting Session Data 429

 Import Mic Pre Settings Imports any Pro Tools Do Not Import Does not import the main playlist
Mic Pre settings from the source session. Any Mic from the source track. No audio is imported; only
Pre settings in the destination session or project are the attributes selected in the Track Data to Import
replaced. list are imported to the selected tracks. When se-
lected, importing all of the source track’s input,
Import HEAT Master Settings Imports any HEAT
output, send, insert and plug-in attributes is equiv-
Master settings from the source session, including alent to importing a channel strip.
Bypass, Drive, and Tone settings. The HEAT Mas-
ter settings in the destination session or project are
replaced.
Importing AAF and OMF
Sequences
Main Playlist Options
Pro Tools lets you open AAF and OMF sequences
In the Import Session Data dialog, you can select as new Pro Tools sessions or projects, or you can
from the following options to control how the main import AAF and OMF sequences into existing
playlist from each source track is imported to the Pro Tools sessions and projects. Pro Tools can
destination track in the current session or project. import AAF and OMF sequences exported from
Import – Replace Existing Playlists Imports the other Pro Tools sessions or projects, from Avid
main playlist from the source track. When you im- Media Composer, or from third-party applications
port the playlist into an existing track, the main (such as Final Cut Pro, Logic Audio, Adobe Pre-
playlist in the destination track is deleted and re- miere Pro, and Nuendo—consult your third-party
placed with the imported playlist. application’s documentation for information on
how they handle OMF and AAF export).
 If you select this option and import all of the
source track’s attributes, this is equivalent to im- When importing AAF sequences generated from
porting the entire track. an Avid video editing application, Pro Tools can
import mono, stereo, and 5.1 and 7.1 surround au-
 If you select this option and do not import any dio tracks. Mono tracks with 5.1 or 7.1 surround
of the source track’s attributes, you replace the au- panning can also be imported, with panning infor-
dio playlists while keeping your current mixer set- mation intact. (Greater-than-stereo multichannel
tings. formats are supported with Pro Tools Ultimate
Import – Overlay New On Existing Playlists Im- only.)
ports the main playlist from the source track. When
When opening and importing an AAF or OMF se-
you import the playlist into an existing track, any
quence, a modified version of the Dashboard win-
existing playlist data that overlaps data imported
dow opens and prompts you to name and save the
from the source track is trimmed and replaced with
sequence as a new session or project. Once you
the imported data. Any playlist data in the destina-
name and save the new session or project, the Im-
tion track that does not overlap remains in the des-
port Session Data dialog opens. For more informa-
tination track.
tion, see “AAF/OMF Source Track Translation
Settings” on page 438.

430 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Pro Tools can import the following types of files Importing an AAF or OMF
sourced from Avid editors: Sequence as a Pro Tools
• AAF or OMF sequences (including those with
Session
embedded audio) The easiest way of using Pro Tools to edit a
• Individual Avid video files in the MXF or OMF sequence exported from an Avid application (such
format as Media Composer) is to open it as a new session
or project.
• OMF and MXF audio files
Pro Tools cannot play video files embedded
Multi-channel import and export are only pos-
within an AAF or OMF sequence.
sible with AAF sequences.
To open and import an AAF or OMF sequence in
Pro Tools:
Avid Mojo SDI or Avid Mojo is required for im-
porting MXF and OMF video. 1 Launch Pro Tools.
2 Choose File > Open Session.
To import AAF or OMF sequences into Pro Tools,
do one of the following: 3 In the Open Session dialog, navigate to the AAF
 Use the File > Import > Session Data command. or OMF sequence you want to import.

 Use the File > Open Session command. 4 Click Open.

 Drag and drop them from any Workspace

browser or the desktop.

For more information, see “Importing an

AAF or OMF Sequence into an Existing
Session or Project” on page 433.

To import individual Avid MXF or OMF video files

into Pro Tools, do one of the following:

 Use the File > Import > Video command.

 Drag and drop them from any Workspace
Import Session Data dialog
browser or the desktop.
5 Set Type to Project (cloud) or Session (local).
To import individual OMF or MXF audio files into
Pro Tools, do one of the following: 6 Name your session or project.

 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.

Chapter 20: Importing and Exporting Session Data 431

 10 Click Save. The Import Session Data dialog Pro Tools creates a new online project or a new
opens. local session file in the location you specified,
along with the following new items (sessions
You can open and import OMF or AAF only):
sequences that reference audio files with
• Audio Files folder
mixed sample rates or bit depths.
• Clip Groups folder
• Session File Backups folder
• Video Files folder
• cache.wfm file

This session or project will match the audio file

type, sample rate, and bit depth of the audio in the
OMF or AAF you selected. Pro Tools does not im-
port video embedded in a sequence.

If a Video Satellite system is available, Pro Tools

can import the video metadata from a sequence to
a satellite track. In this case, the video itself is
played back from the Video Satellite machine, in
tandem with Pro Tools playback.

For more information, see Chapter 63, “Avid

Video Satellite.”

During the import, if there are any errors, clip

name truncations, or other notes (such as miss-
Import Session Data dialog
ing effect renderings), a dialog appears asking
11 Select an option for importing audio from the you if you want a detailed report of the changes.
Audio Media Options pop-up menu (see “Audio Click Yes and choose where you want to save
Media Options” on page 435). the log. The log is a text file that you can open in
any text editing application.
12 Select an option for importing video from the
Video Media Options pop-up menu (see “Video
Media Options” on page 436). Every AAF and OMF file has a filename and
unique identifier stored in the AAF and OMF
13 Change other settings and options as necessary metadata, and a name which is displayed on
(see “Import Options when Importing AAF or the desktop. Truncating a clip name in the
OMF Sequences” on page 435). translation process does not change the AAF or
14 Click OK. OMF filename, Unique ID, or SMPTE ID (only
Pro Tools 12.8 and later generate and recog-
nize both Unique ID and SMPTE ID for AIFF
and WAV files).

432 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Multi-Cam Resolution Files

On an Avid system, Multi-Cam Resolution files

display multiple individual camera angles of the
same scene. The Avid operator chooses which of
the Multi-Cam files (and therefore camera angles)
will be dominant, at the time of creating an AAF or
OMF export. When you import an AAF or OMF Source Tracks
sequence into a Pro Tools session, only the clip 4 Select the AAF/OMF translation settings (see
representing the dominant camera angle will be “AAF/OMF Source Track Translation Settings”
displayed. on page 438).
5 Select the Audio Media Options (see “Audio
Importing an AAF or OMF Media Options” on page 435).
Sequence into an Existing
Session or Project 6 Select the Video Media Options (see “Video
Media Options” on page 436).
You can import an AAF or OMF sequence con-
taining audio and video media into an existing 7 Select the Timecode Mapping Options (see
Pro Tools session or project. “Timecode Mapping Options” on page 436).

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 437).
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 437).
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 423).
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.)

Chapter 20: Importing and Exporting Session Data 433

 Pro Tools imports the audio and video media to the Importing Audio from AAF
Timeline. Audio tracks with mixed sample rates Sequences with Unsupported
are automatically converted to the same sample Video Formats
rate as the session.
Pro Tools lets you import audio from AAF se-
quences containing unsupported video formats, in-
Importing AAF/OMF Audio cluding high-definition Avid video files with
Sequences with Mixed Sample frame rates over 30 frames per second.
Rates or Bit Depth
The following rules apply when importing AAF
You can open and import AAF or OMF sequences
sequences of this type:
with mixed sample rates and bit depths into
Pro Tools. • Supported audio in these sequences will play
back, but unsupported video will not.
Audio files that are not of the same sample rate as
• Unsupported video appears in the Timeline as
a session or project must be converted to be used
orange blocks.
with the session or project. When an audio file is
converted, a new file with the correct file type, and
sample rate is created and placed in a folder you Importing AAF/OMF Sequences
choose. Audio files with mixed bit depths (and Containing Media Mixdowns
matching sample rates) can be imported without Pro Tools with an Avid video peripheral lets you
conversion. import AAF and OMF sequences exported from
Avid editing applications by selecting File > Import
You can use the Source Sample Rate settings
> Session Data or by dragging them from the desk-
to compensate for any pull up or pull down
top or a Workspace browser to Pro Tools. For
factors that may have been applied to the au-
more information, see “Importing Session Data”
dio prior to importing. In a sequence with files
on page 420.
of mixed sample rates, set the Source Sample
Rate in proportion to the Target sample rate If the sequence contains a video mixdown, the
of the session, and the pull up or pull down video mixdown and its corresponding metadata are
compensation will be applied correctly to all displayed in two separate video tracks on the
files in proportion with their original sample Timeline.
rate.
If the sequence contains an audio mixdown, the au-
dio mixdown and its corresponding metadata are
displayed in two separate video tracks on the
Timeline.

434 Pro Tools Reference Guide

SMPTE ID and Unique ID Link to Source Audio Media (Where Possible)

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 later only) provides optimal compatibility Pro Tools session points to the BWF (WAV) or
and interchange with other applications that utilize AIF files from the source project.
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

Use this setting to copy referenced audio to a new

Import Options when drive or folder.
Importing AAF or OMF
Sequences You can perform sample rate conversion on audio
during translation.
When importing AAF or OMF sequences,
Pro Tools provides the following import options OMFI Audio Media and Copy from Source Media
through the Import Session Data dialog: Mode

• Audio Media options When importing an AAF or OMF sequence with

• Video Media options the Copy from Source Media option enabled,
Pro Tools can copy OMFI format .WAV and .AIF
• Timecode Mapping options audio files directly into the session. However,
• Track Offset options Pro Tools treats OMFI audio files as read-only.
• Sample Rate Conversion options Destructive edits or processes (such as the Pencil
• AAF/OMF Source Track Translation tool) cannot be applied to these files, unless they
settings are first converted into standard audio files.
• Main Playlist options
To convert OMFI audio files during import:

Choose Force to Target Format mode, rather

Audio Media Options


than Copy from Source Media mode, when set-

When importing AAF or OMF tracks into ting import options. For more information, see
Pro Tools, use the Audio Media Options pop-up to “Force to Target Session Format” on page 436.
select whether to copy, consolidate, or link to the
source audio media.

Chapter 20: Importing and Exporting Session Data 435

 To convert an OMFI audio file that exists in the Video Media Options
current session or project:
When importing AAF or OMF tracks into
1 Select the audio to be converted.
Pro Tools, use the pop-up menu in the Video Me-
2 Apply the Consolidate command to convert the dia Options section to copy or link to the source
selected audio (Edit > Consolidate Clip). video media.
3 Edit and process your newly converted files as Link to Source Media
normal.
Select this option to avoid duplicating video files
Consolidate from Source Media by referring to the original files.
Use this setting to copy the audio from the source Copy from Source Media
sequence to the Pro Tools session or project, while
removing all unused areas in the copies. For exam- Select this setting to copy all video files related to
ple, you might only be using ten seconds of a ten- the imported tracks from the source media to a new
minute audio file in your project. Consolidating specified location.
this audio saves a great deal of disk space by pre-
serving only the audio you use and a user-defined Import as Offline Satellite Media
amount of handle, and discarding the rest. (Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)

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.

Handle Size (Milliseconds) Timecode Mapping Options

If you have selected Consolidate from Source Me- When importing AAF or OMF tracks into
dia, you can specify the number of milliseconds of Pro Tools, you can specify where the imported
each original audio file to retain both before and tracks are placed in the current session. Times are
after the clip boundaries defined in the source proj- indicated in timecode.
ect. This enables you to extend clip boundaries
Maintain Absolute Timecode Values
even after you’ve consolidated, by the amount you
specify. This option places tracks at the locations where
they were located in the source session. For exam-
It is a good idea to have at least 1000 milliseconds
ple, if the current session starts at 00:01:00:00, and
of handle, so you can “trim out” edits that sound
the session from which you are importing starts at
“clipped” or “up-cut.”
10:00:00:00, the earliest imported tracks can ap-
pear in your session is 9 hours and 59 minutes after
the start of the session.

436 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Maintain Relative Timecode Values Track Offset Options
This option places tracks at the same offset from When importing AAF or OMF tracks into
session start as they had in the source session. For Pro Tools, specify a track offset in addition to any
example, if the source session starts at 01:00:00:00 offset incurred with the Timecode Mapping op-
and a contains a track that starts at 01:01:00:00, tions. Any imported audio is offset in the current
and the current session start is 02:00:00:00, the session’s timeline by the specified amount. Values
track will be placed at 02:01:00:00 in the current can be entered in Bars|Beats, Min:Sec, Timecode,
session. Feet+Frames, or Samples.

Map Start Timecode to hh:mm:ss:ff

Sample Rate Conversion
This option places tracks relative to their original Options
session start time. For example, if the current ses- When importing AAF or OMF tracks into
sion starts at 00:01:00:00, and the session from Pro Tools, these settings let you convert the sam-
which you are importing starts at 10:00:00:00, you ple rate of the session’s audio files. For example,
can reset the start timecode to 00:01:00:00, to you can convert from 48 kHz to 44.1 kHz, or from
avoid placing files 9 hours and 59 minutes from the 44.1 kHz to 48 kHz. HDX and HD Native systems
start of your session. support sample rates higher than 48 kHz
(88.2 kHz, 96 kHz, 176.4 kHz, and 192 kHz).
Adjust Session Start Time to Match Source
Start Time These settings also enable you to convert to com-
pensate for the 0.1% speed change (pull up or pull
This option changes the start time of the current down) between 24 fps film and 29.97 fps NTSC
session to match the start time of the AAF or OMF video, or the 4% speed change (pull up or pull
sequence being imported. When this option is en- down) between 24 fps film and 25 fps PAL video.
abled, the Map Start Timecode to hh:mm:ss:ff op-
tion (and its timecode entry box) are disabled. See “Speed Correction for Film, NTSC Video,
and PAL Video” on page 1294 for information
If the sequence being imported has a later start about converting between different speeds and
time than the current session or project, the sample rates.
Maintain Absolute Timecode Values option is
disabled. Source Sample Rate

This setting lets you specify the sample rate of the

In some cases, when clips in the current ses- audio material you are working with in Pro Tools
sion or project are situated near the time independently of the source audio sample rate set-
boundaries of the session or project, en- tings.
abling Adjust Session Start Time and choos-
For example, you may receive a a sequence created
ing to Maintain Relative Timecode Values
on Media Composer at 44.1 kHz. If you want to
can put clips in danger of being moved out of
work at 48 kHz in Pro Tools, you should set the
bounds. In these cases, a warning is dis-
Source Audio Sample Rate setting to 44,100 and
played and Pro Tools does not adjust the ses-
the Destination Audio Sample Rate to 48,000.
sion start time.

Chapter 20: Importing and Exporting Session Data 437

 These settings can also be used to correct for pull AAF/OMF Source Track
up or pull down problems. For example, you may Translation Settings
receive an AAF or OMF transfer from a Film
Pro Tools provides specific options for “translat-
Composer that contains audio media at “film
ing” audio clips when importing AAF sequences
speed” when played back at 48 kHz. You may
or OMF files and sequences.
want to convert all the audio files and edits to play
back at NTSC video speed and 48 kHz. Import Rendered Audio Effects
In this case, set the Source Audio Sample Rate set- Enabling the Import Rendered Audio Effects op-
ting to 47,952 and the Destination Audio Sample tion imports clips as audio clips, retaining the ren-
Rate to 48,000. These settings tell Pro Tools that dered effects (such as EQ) that were applied to the
you want to fit 47,952 of the original “film speed” clip. You may want to disable this if you plan to
samples into 48,000 of the new “video speed” sam- use Pro Tools audio effects and audio processing
ples. With these settings, you sample-rate-convert exclusively for your audio post production work.
the material to NTSC video speed. The resulting audio with this setting disabled is the
unprocessed source material.
You can set the Source Audio Sample Rate either
by selecting one of the predefined sample rates
Import Clip Gain
from the pop-up menu, or by typing a value into
the text box. The Import Clip Gain setting lets you import clip-
based gain settings, or ignore clip-based gain en-
Destination Sample Rate tirely. Media Composer and other Avid products
provide clip-based gain to adjust the volume of an
This setting determines the target session or proj-
individual audio clip.
ect audio sample rate setting, as shown in the Ses-
sion Setup window, and the sample rate of all au- Clip-based gain differs from standard Pro Tools
dio files in the target session or project. Available volume adjustments for an entire track, or volume
settings include Pro Tools standard sample rates of breakpoint automation. Enable this option to im-
44.1 kHz or 48 kHz. HDX and HD Native systems port clip-based gain data from the incoming se-
support sample rates higher than 48 kHz quence.
(88.2 kHz, 96 kHz, 176.4 kHz, and 192 kHz).
Import Volume Automation
If this setting differs from the Source Audio Sam-
ple Rate setting, audio is sample-rate converted The Import Volume Automation setting lets you
digitally to the Destination Audio Sample Rate. import volume breakpoint automation, or ignore it
entirely. Media Composer and other Avid products
Conversion Quality Pop-Up Menu provide volume automation, for continuous vol-
ume change throughout a sequence.
This pop-up menu lets you select settings corre-
sponding to Pro Tools sample rate conversion set-
tings. The Tweak Head (Slowest) option provides
the best results.

438 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Pan Odd Tracks Left/Even Tracks Right To import Markers based on marker color:

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 426.
 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.

Chapter 20: Importing and Exporting Session Data 439

 To import plug-in settings when importing AAF
tracks or sequences: Media Composer | Software
1 Open the Track Data to Import menu. Export Options for Audio and
Video Mixdowns
2 Do one of the following:
You can request the following export options for
• Choose All. the AAF you are receiving from an Avid applica-
• Choose Some, and ensure that Plug-In tion:
Assignments is selected. • To export both a video mixdown and its corre-
sponding editing metadata, the Avid video editor
To avoid importing plug-in settings when
importing AAF tracks or sequences: should select Video Mixdown from the Export
Method pop-up menu, then select Mixdown with
1 Open the Track Data to Import menu. Video Edits in the Export Settings dialog.
2 Choose Some, and ensure that Plug-In • To export both an audio mixdown and its corre-
Assignments is deselected. sponding editing metadata, the Avid video editor
should select Add Audio Mixdown Track(s) in
Main Playlist Options the Export Settings dialog.

When importing AAF or OMF tracks into

Pro Tools, you can choose how the main playlist
from each source track is imported to the destina-
Audio File Format
tion track in the current session. See “Main Playlist
Compatibility Issues
Options” on page 430.
AIFC Audio File Format
Avid Media Composer and other Avid editors sup-
Import Sequence from Media port audio files in the AIFC format, a version of the
Production Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF) that sup-
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Only) ports compressed media. Pro Tools can import and
use this format, but not compress audio in this for-
Pro Tools | Ultimate lets you import sequences mat.
from Avid MediaCentral | Production Manage-
ment.
Sound Designer II Audio File
To import a sequence from Production
Format
Management:
Support for AAF Sequences Referencing SD II
1 Create a new session or use an existing session. Audio Files

2 Choose File > Import > Sequence from Produc- Pro Tools 11.x and later do not support Sound De-
tion Management. signer II (SD II) audio files. Open any AAF se-
quence that references SD II files in Pro Tools 10.x
For more information, see the Pro Tools and lower. Any referenced Sound Designer II files
Production Management Guide. are automatically converted to a supported audio
file format (WAV or AIF). You can then save the
session and open it in Pro Tools 11.x or higher.

440 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Translation Notes File Missing Renderings

If there are any errors, clip name truncations, or Example 1

other notes (such as missing effect renderings),
during import of an AAF or OMF file or sequence, A1<01:00:02:00–01:00:07:01> no rendering for
a dialog appears asking if you want a detailed re- effect:EFF_AUDIO_EQMB;using bypass clip.
port of the changes. Click Yes and choose where
This indicates the presence of an effect for which
you want to save the translation notes file.
there is no rendering. The “bypass clip” is the (un-
The Translation Notes File can be opened by most processed) source material for the effect.
word processing applications that can read plain
Example 2
text files.
V1<01:00:48:25–01:00:49:26>no rendering for
Translation Notes Format effect: omfi:effect: VideoRepeat;substituting
Translation Notes are presented in the following silence/video black.
format: For some effects, the length of the output is differ-
Track Name <Timecode Start–Timecode End> ent than the length of the input. In this case, substi-
“clip name (if available)”;message tuting a bypass when a rendering is missing doesn't
make sense, because it won't sync properly.
Translation Notes and Categories Pro Tools substitutes silence or video black.

The Translation Notes File is separated into differ- Ignored Effects

ent categories. The following are sample messages
in each category, with explanations of what has A1<01:00:02:00–01:00:07:01>ignoring render-
happened and solutions if necessary. ing for effect: EFF_AUDIO_EQMB;using bypass
clip.
Parsing Errors
This indicates that the user has selected “Ignore
Example Rendered Audio Effects” in Pro Tools. This note is
a convenience so that if something is odd in the
A1<01:00:00:00–01:00:04:20>error reading translated sequence, the user can determine if an
component “Assertion in OMF_Objects2x.cpp”, effect that was ignored is actually required.
line 2871;substituting fill.
Incomplete Rendering
This error indicates a problem that may have orig-
inated in Pro Tools or the application that pro- A1<00:00:28:29-00:00:31:17>incomplete
duced the AAF or OMF file. In the translated com- rendering for effect Audio MultiBand EQ;using
position, there will be silence or video black at the bypass clip.
given interval.

Chapter 20: Importing and Exporting Session Data 441

 This indicates that an effect was not rendered com-
pletely at a fade boundary in an Avid system. On Pro Tools can export AAF or OMF se-
import, Pro Tools bypassed the incomplete render- quences linked to RF64 audio files, which are
ing and imported the audio without the effect. If special WAV files that can be larger than 2
you need the effect, re-render the effect and fade GB (normal WAVs must be under 2 GB).
on the Avid system, and export again.Miscella- However, Avid video editing applications
neous Errors (Misc Errors) cannot open WAV files larger than 2 GB.
Keep file size in mind when exporting
Example AAF/OMF for Avid video users.

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.

This Translation Note is primarily informational,

informing you that Pro Tools was not able to trans-
late the AAF or OMF sequence exactly, and has
had to make an adjustment so Pro Tools can under-
stand it.

This error occurs because applications do not al-

ways calculate the number of samples in a frame in
the same way. In some cases, there may be one too
few samples of media to support a given clip from
the Pro Tools standpoint. In this situation, there
can potentially be an audio “pop.”

Exporting Pro Tools Tracks

as AAF or OMF Sequences
Pro Tools lets you export individual tracks in AAF
or OMF format. Use the Export Selected Tracks as
AAF/OMF command.
Export to OMF/AAF dialog
AAF and OMF sequences exported from
Pro Tools do not support video files. They also do To export selected audio tracks as an AAF or OMF
not retain information about Elastic Audio, plug-in sequence:
assignments, parameters, markers, routing, or 1 In Pro Tools, select the tracks you want to ex-
grouping. It is recommended that you commit port. Choose either mixed or unmixed files.
Elastic Audio tracks, and any plug-in or hardware
insert processing prior to export. Clip effects and Shift-click to select multiple tracks; or
clip gain are automatically rendered on export to Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows)
AAF (but not to OMF). to select all tracks.

442 Pro Tools Reference Guide

2 Choose File > Export > Selected Tracks as 10 Click OK.
OMF/AAF.
11 In the Publishing Options dialog, type the
3 From the Export As pop-up menu, select AAF or Pro Tools Comment and Sequence Name.
OMF.

4 If desired, select Enforce Avid Compatibility.

Enforce Avid Compatibility limits the sample

rate options to 44.1 or 48 kHz, and enables
exporting of clip gain data. Dither without
noise shaping will be applied to files being
exported from 24-bit to 16-bit. Publishing Options dialog (Export Selected Tracks as
OMF/AAF) shown
5 Be sure to select the correct Target Project 12 Click OK.
Timecode Format option for the project as set
for the project in your target application (such 13 In the Save dialog, navigate to a folder where
as Avid Media Composer). you can easily locate the AAF or OMF se-
quence when it is time to distribute it to another
6 Set the Sample Rate Conversion Options as editor or import it into Media Composer.
necessary.
14 Click Save.
7 Set the Audio Media Options settings by doing
the following: 15 In the “Please Choose a Folder for Converted
Audio Files” dialog, navigate to a folder where
• Ensure that the Format and Bit Depth match the
the media files can be easily located (such as the
settings in your target project (as set for the proj-
same folder where AAF or OMF sequence re-
ect in your video software application).
sides).
• Select a Copy Option (Link to Source Media,
Copy from Source Media, or Consolidate from Some video editors (such as Avid
Source Media). Media Composer), require all media files to
be in specific folders to allow proper relink-
8 If you’re exporting a sequence that contains ste- ing.
reo, 5.1 or 7.1 tracks and want those tracks to re-
tain proper channel layouts upon export, enable 16 Click Choose (Mac) or Use Current Folder
the Export Stereo, 5.1 and 7.1 Tracks as Multi- (Windows).
Channel option.
Pro Tools exports the composition and related
9 Select other export options as desired. media to the appropriate folders.
For more information, see “Export Options
when Exporting to AAF or OMF Sequences” on
page 448.

Chapter 20: Importing and Exporting Session Data 443

 Exporting Multichannel Audio Exporting Fades
Tracks
While Pro Tools supports generating audio fades
When exporting AAF, stereo, 5.1, and 7.1 tracks in real time, all fades in the session are rendered to
can be exported as multichannel tracks, or as split- disk upon AAF or OMF export, to optimize com-
mono tracks. When exporting to OMF, multi- patibility with Avid video editing applications.
channel tracks are always exported as multiple
mono files. Fades are rendered and exported even when
creating an AAF/OMF sequence with the
Video tracks cannot be exported to AAF or Link to Source Media option enabled.
OMF from Pro Tools.
Clip Groups
Exporting Clip Gain
Pro Tools cannot export tracks with clip groups
When exporting to AAF with the Enforce Avid when exporting to AAF or OMF. Before exporting
Compatibility option on, Pro Tools generates tracks from a sequence containing clip groups to
Media Composer-style clip gain data, based on the AAF or OMF, ensure that any tracks containing
clip gain data on each track. clip groups are not selected or ungroup any clip
groups on tracks you want to export.
To export clip-based gain data, the Enforce
Avid Compatibility option must be enabled.

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

Exporting Volume Automation to AAF or OMF Exporting AAF Sequences

Pro Tools does export volume automation to AAF
Containing MXF Audio
and OMF, but only if the Enforce Avid Compatibil- Use Export Selected Tracks as OMF/AAF to export
ity and Quantize Edits to Frame Boundaries op- individual tracks or an entire Pro Tools session as
tions are disabled. an AAF sequence referring to MXF audio files.

Tracks are exported in their entirety and time

selections are ignored.

Volume and pan automation is not exported if

Quantize Edits to Frame Boundaries or Avid
Compatibility Mode are enabled.

444 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To export selected audio tracks from Pro Tools as 10 In the Publishing Options dialog, type the
an AAF sequence referring to MXF audio files: Pro Tools Comment and Sequence Name.
1 In Pro Tools, select the tracks you want to
Pro Tools will create a sequence with the name
export.
you supply. The comment appears in the Avid ap-
2 Choose File > Export > Selected Tracks as plication bin in the Pro Tools Comment column.
OMF/AAF.
11 Click OK.
3 Under OMF/AAF Options, select AAF from the
12 In the Name the AAF File to Export dialog,
Export As pop-up menu.
navigate to a folder where you can easily locate
An OMF sequence cannot reference MXF the AAF sequence when it is time to distribute it
media files. When using the Export Selected to another editor or import it into
Tracks as OMF/AAF dialog, choose AAF in the Media Composer.
Export As pop-up menu to enable MXF in the 13 Click Save.
Audio Format menu.
14 In the Please Choose a Folder for Converted
4 Select Enforce Avid Compatibility. Audio Files dialog, navigate to a folder where
the media files can be easily located (such as the
Enforce Avid Compatibility creates frame- same folder where AAF or OMF sequence re-
accurate edits, wraps the files as OMFI (unless sides).
you choose MXF), and limits the sample rate
options to 44.1 or 48 kHz. Dither without noise Some video editors (such as Avid
shaping will be applied to files being exported Media Composer), require all media files to be
from 24-bit to 16-bit. in specific folders to allow proper relinking.

5 Ensure the Target Project Timecode Format is 15 Click Choose (Mac) or Use Current Folder
correct for the Avid application project to which (Windows).
you are exporting the AAF sequence.
Pro Tools exports the AAF sequence to the se-
6 Under the Audio Media Options section, select lected folder, and exports the related media to the
MXF from the Audio Format pop-up menu. OMFI MediaFiles folder (OMF files) or the Avid
7 Verify the Audio Bit Depth setting is acceptable MediaFiles folder (MXF files).
for the recipient of this export. 16 If you are ready to import the files into the Avid
8 If you’re exporting a sequence that contains ste- video application, exit Pro Tools.
reo, 5.1 or 7.1 tracks and want to export those
For more information on working in Avid
tracks as multi-channel audio files, enable the
video applications, see the appropriate Avid
Export Stereo, 5.1 and 7.1 Tracks as Multi-
video application guide.
Channel option.

9 Click OK.

Chapter 20: Importing and Exporting Session Data 445

 Exporting MXF Audio Files Using 5 Select MXF for the File Type.
Bounce to Disk
You can use the Bounce to Disk command to create
pre-mixed MXF audio files of the current
Pro Tools session or project. This does not export
all of the individual files on the Timeline, but it
does guarantee that the mix you hear in another ap-
plication will be identical to the mix you hear in
Pro Tools, including all panning, effects, and auto-
mation.

To export to MXF using Bounce to Disk:

1 After you have finished recording and mixing a

session in Pro Tools, highlight the length of the
session in the timeline ruler (or on a track), plus
an additional amount of time to avoid cutting
off any reverb tails that might continue past the
end of the clip.
2 Choose File > Bounce To > Disk.
3 In the Bounce dialog, select the Bounce Source.
4 Select Enforce Avid Compatibility. Pro Tools Bounce to Disk dialog (MXF file type)

6 Select a Sample Rate and Bit Depth.

Enforce Avid Compatibility creates frame-
accurate edits, wraps the files as OMFI (unless 7 Type a different name for the bound file if de-
you choose MXF), and limits the sample rate sired.
options to 44.1 or 48 kHz. Dither without noise
8 Click Choose to specify the directory where
shaping will be applied to files being exported
you want the bounced file to be saved.
from 24-bit to 16-bit.
9 Click Bounce.

446 Pro Tools Reference Guide

10 In the Publishing Options dialog, do the To export clips as new MXF files:
following: 1 In the Clips List, select the clips you want to ex-
• Type the Pro Tools Comment and Clip Name. port.
• Choose a Target Project Timecode Format that 2 From the Clips List menu, choose Export Se-
matches the Avid application project to which lected As Files.
you are exporting the MXF audio.

Publishing Options dialog

11 Click OK.

All audible audio in the selection will be exported

to two multi-mono audio files.

Pro Tools begins bouncing to disk. Pro Tools

bounces are done in real time, so you hear audio
playback of your mix during the bounce process Pro Tools Bounce to Disk dialog (MXF file type)
(though you cannot adjust it). 3 In the Export Selected dialog, select the
Enforce Avid Compatibility option.
Exporting a Clip as a New MXF
File Enforce Avid Compatibility creates frame-
accurate edits, wraps the files as OMFI (unless
You can export clips as MXF audio files with the you choose MXF), and limits the sample rate
Export Selected As Files command. Use this com- options to 44.1 or 48 kHz. Dither without noise
mand if you intend to use a clip in other sessions or shaping will be applied to files being
other audio applications without using its parent exported from 24-bit to 16-bit.
source file. This command also provides a way to
convert clips to a different sample rate or bit depth. 4 Select MXF from the Audio Format pop-up
menu.
5 Set the bit resolution and sample rate.
6 Click Choose to specify the Destination Direc-
tory.

7 Click Export.

Chapter 20: Importing and Exporting Session Data 447

 Quantize Edits to Frame Boundaries
Export Options when
Exporting to AAF or OMF Pro Tools allows sample-accurate placement of
Sequences clips. In Pro Tools, you can place a clip of any
length at any position, without any requirement for
Pro Tools provides several translation settings aligning clips with frame boundaries.
when exporting tracks to OMF/AAF, including
OMF/AAF Options, Sample Rate Conversion Op- However, most video editing programs, such as
tions, and Audio Media Options. Media Composer, only support frame-accurate ed-
iting. In these programs, you can only edit sounds
on whole frame boundaries, limiting your preci-
OMF/AAF Options
sion.
When exporting tracks to AAF or OMF, Pro Tools
provides the following OMF/AAF Options: Selecting Enforce Media Composer Compatibility
will automatically select Quantize Edits to Frame
Enforce Media Composer Compatibility Boundaries.

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.

Target Project Timecode Format

Original clip
Select the timecode format for the project into
which this file or sequence will be imported. This
may be different from the timecode format of the
current session or project. This parameter allows
clips to be placed correctly in sessions or projects Clip exported with handles
with different timecode formats, and also calcu-
lates how many samples must be added to pad clips
to frame boundaries.

Subclip: Clip stretched to farthest frame boundaries

448 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 If Quantize Edits to Frame Boundaries is se-
lected, Pro Tools volume automation will not
Subclip with OFFs (One-frame files) laid over end
be exported.
frames
Export Stereo, 5.1, and 7.1 Tracks as Multi-
When you quantize edits to frame boundaries, you Channel
must enter a handle size (length) under Audio Me-
Select this option to make Pro_Tools export audio
dia Options. See “Consolidate Handle Size (Milli-
from multi-channel tracks as multi-channel audio
seconds)” on page 451.
files, rather than sets of multiple mono files.
A master clip consisting of the clip plus the handle
size (length) on both front and back will be ex- Sample Rate Conversion
ported. The exported sequence creates a subclip Options
which is equivalent to the original clip, but ex-
tended to the farthest frame boundaries. For exam- These settings allow you to convert the sample rate
ple, if the clip starts at 1:15 and 500 samples, the of your Pro Tools session or project during export
subclip would start at 1:15; and if the clip ends at to AAF or OMF by sample-rate converting each
4:00 and 500 samples, the subclip would end at audio file, and adjusting the edits in the resulting
4:01. AAF or OMF file to compensate for this change.

Because quantizing edits to frame boundaries ex- See “Speed Correction for Film, NTSC Video,
tends the clips, extra audio may be heard. To pre- and PAL Video” on page 1294, for information
vent this extra audio from playing, special one- about converting between different speeds and
frame sound files are rendered to duplicate the sample rates.
original boundaries of the clip. In the exported se-
You might want to change the sample rate of a ses-
quence, these one-frame files are placed over the
sion or project if you are exporting to a system or
start and end frames of the extended clip so you
are at a stage in the process that requires a different
cannot hear the extension.
sample rate.
One-frame files (OFFs) are imported into Avid
Check the Audio and Video pull options before
workstations as part of the AAF or OMF sequence
applying a sample rate conversion to the entire
like any other sound file. In the Avid Timeline,
session or project.
they appear as one-frame edits on either side of a
subclip.If you decide you need to extend the sub-
clip at any point, discard the OFF and trim the sub-
clip as needed.

This solution is only available when you

export a sequence, not when you export
individual files.

Chapter 20: Importing and Exporting Session Data 449

 For example, your session or project contains au- Audio Media Options
dio media at 29.97 fps (NTSC video) at 48 kHz,
When exporting tracks to AAF or OMF, Pro Tools
while the film composer to whom you are export-
provides the following Audio Media Options:
ing your session or project requires audio media at
24 fps (film speed) at 48 kHz. To convert all the
Audio Format
audio files and edits to play back at 24 fps (film
speed) at 48 kHz, you would set the Source Sam- Choose whether you want the resulting AAF or
ple Rate setting to 48,048 (a pull up rate of 0.1%) OMF file to refer to BWF (.WAV), AIFF, MXF
and the Destination Sample Rate to 48,000. These (AAF only), or embedded files. The audio files
settings tell Pro Tools that you want to fit 48,048 will be converted accordingly.
of the original video speed samples into 48,000 of
the new film speed samples. With these settings, If you create AIFF or BWF (.WAV) audio, the
you sample-rate convert the video material to film audio files have extra OMF data attached to
speed. them. Though most applications will not have
problems reading these audio files, they may
Source Sample Rate not be compatible with all applications.

This setting allows you to specify the sample rate

of the material you are working with in Pro Tools, MXF is only available if you have selected
independent of the session or project sample rate the Enforce Media Composer Compatibility
settings. option.

Destination Sample Rate Bit Depth

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

Sample Rate Conversion Quality

When exporting tracks from Pro Tools to AAF or
OMF, there are three ways that Pro Tools can han-
These settings correspond to Pro Tools sample rate dle source audio media (as set in the Export to
conversion settings. It is not recommended that OMF/AAF dialog’s Audio Media Options pop-up
you use the Low (Fastest) setting. The Tweak Head menu).
(Slowest) setting provides the highest quality sam-
ple rate conversion. Link To Source Media Creates an AAF or OMF
file that refers to as many of the original media
files as possible. In this case, the AAF or OMF file
points to the BWF (.WAV), AIFF, or MXF from
the source project.

Copy From Source Media Copies audio to another

drive or folder. You can sample-rate convert the
audio during this translation.

450 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Consolidate From Source Media Copies only the OMF Options
part of the files that are actually used by the session
Comments Identifies the source of the file, and de-
or project. For example, you may only be using a
faults to the name of the current session. The Com-
ten second clip of a ten-minute audio file in your
ment field does not appear if you are using the Ex-
session or project. Consolidating this audio saves a
port Selected as Tracks command, since audio on
great deal of disk space by copying only the audio
one track may have many different sources.
you use and discarding the rest.
Sequence Name This is the name that will be dis-
Consolidate Source Audio Media is the only us-
played when the file is imported into another AAF-
able option for a Pro Tools to AAF or OMF
or OMF-compatible program. The sequence name
translation when Quantize Edits to Frame
is not the file name that will appear in the finder.
Boundaries is selected. See “Quantize Edits to
This field defaults to the Pro Tools clip name.
Frame Boundaries” on page 448.
When exporting more than one clip, all clip names
Consolidate Handle Size (Milliseconds) Speci- are automatically set to the clip name.
fies the number of milliseconds of the original au- Target Project Timecode Format This is the time-
dio file to retain at the beginning and end of each code format for the project into which this file or
audio clip that is created. This lets you extend clip sequence will be imported. This may be different
boundaries even after you have consolidated, by from the timecode format of the current session or
the amount you specify. It is a good idea to have at project. This parameter allows clips to be placed
least 1000 milliseconds (one second) of handle, so correctly in sessions or project with different time-
you can “trim out” edits that sound “clipped” or code formats, and also calculates how many sam-
“up-cut.” Consolidate Handle Size is only avail- ples must be added to pad clips to frame boundar-
able when Consolidate From Source Media is se- ies.
lected.
Time Stamping
Export Stereo, 5.1, and 7.1 Tracks as Multi-
Channel When you export to AAF or OMF, all exported
media is time stamped. A time stamp is a specific
When exporting a sequence with multi-channel
timecode location stored within an individual me-
(stereo, 5.1 or 7.1) tracks, enable this option to re-
dia file.
tain proper channel layouts upon export.
The time stamp can indicate:
Publishing Options • Timecode location on the source tape
When exporting AAF or OMF files from • Where the file was originally recorded in the
Pro Tools, specific publishing options that provide Pro Tools Timeline
information about the sequence or media are avail-
• Where a clip was placed in an Avid or Pro Tools
able through the Publishing Options dialog. These
Timeline
options will vary depending on which method of
exporting files you use. • User-entered timecodes

Chapter 20: Importing and Exporting Session Data 451

 Time stamps can be stored in three different Exporting a File With No Time Stamp
places within a media file:
If you import a file that does not contain a time
• In a clip definition
stamp (such as a sound effect from a CD), the time
• In the file format metadata (for example, .WAV stamp will be 0 when it is exported.
file wrappers)
• In the AAF or OMF wrapper Importing Files from an Avid AAF or
OMF Sequence
Exporting a Clip
If you import a file from an Avid AAF or OMF se-
If you are exporting a clip, the time stamp will be quence, the media file's source tape time stamp be-
the start point of the clip, relative to the point comes the original time stamp of the new
where the file originally started to record. For ex- Pro Tools file. The User Timestamp maintains the
ample, if you record a file from 1:00 to 1:30, then original time stamp.
trim it to start at 1:15, the time stamp for the ex-
Workspace provides columns for specific
ported clip would be 1:15. This is true even if the
Avid OMF metadata, including Clip Name,
clip is slipped elsewhere in the Timeline.
Tape, FPS, Original Timestamp, and User
Exporting a Clip as Part of a Sequence Timestamp.

When you export a clip as part of a sequence, the

clip’s original time stamp reflects the clip’s posi- Export Selected Tracks to
tion in the Timeline of the sequence. Sequence in Production
Management
Exporting a File
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Only)
Recorded in Pro Tools If the file was recorded in
Pro Tools | Ultimate lets you export selected tracks
Pro Tools, the time stamp is the location in the
in your session as a sequence for check-in to Avid
Timeline at which the recording began. For in-
MediaCentral | Production Management.
stance, if you record the file from 1:00 to 2:00, the
time stamp would be 1:00. To export selected tracks as a sequence to
Production Management:
AudioSuite If the file was created by AudioSuite,
the time stamp depends on the rendering mode 1 Select the tracks you want to export as a se-
used when the file was rendered. If Create Individ- quence and check in to Production Manage-
ual Files mode is selected, the time stamp of the ment.
new file matches the original time stamp of the 2 Choose File > Export > Selected Tracks to Se-
source file. If Create Continuous File is selected, quence in Production Management.
the time stamp of the new file matches the position
of source file on the timeline. For more information, see the Pro Tools
Production Management Guide.
Existing Time Stamp If a file is imported with an
existing time stamp, it will remain the time stamp
for the exported file as well. If the original file con-
tained a time stamp in the format wrapper, it will
be copied to the OMF wrapper when exported.

452 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Export Selected Tracks as
New Session or Project
Pro Tools lets you export any selected tracks in a
session or project as a new session or project. This
feature is especially useful in collaborative situa-
tions.

For example, you might be working on a large

post-production session and you want your collab-
orator to work on only some dialog in the session
or project while you continue working on other
parts of the session. You can now select the dialog
tracks and export them as a new session or project.
Your collaborator can then open the new session or
project and edit the dialog. When your collaborator
Save Session Copy dialog
is done, you can import the session data from the
dialog session or project to update the dialog tracks 3 In the Save Copy In dialog, verify that the Se-
in your big session or project. lected Tracks Only option is enabled.

To export selected tracks as a new session or 4 Configure the Format (Project or Session) and
project: Session Parameters settings and options.

1 Select the tracks you want to export as a new 5 Configure the Items to Copy settings and
session or project. options.
2 Choose File > Export > Selected Tracks As New 6 For projects only, enable (or disable) the
Session. The Save Copy In dialog opens. (You Backup to Cloud options to create an online
can also open the Save Copy In dialog by project (or an offline project).
choosing File > Save Copy In.)
7 You can also enable the Main Playlist Only
option if you do not want to include any of
the alternate playlists associated with any of the
selected tracks in the new session or project.
8 Click OK.
9 Either the Save dialog opens or the Save Project
Copy dialog opens depending on the Format
setting. Type a name for the session or project.
10 For sessions only, navigate to where you want
to save the session.
11 Click Save.

Chapter 20: Importing and Exporting Session Data 453

 A copy of the session or project that contains only 6 When you have set your options, click OK.
the selected tracks from the source session or proj-
7 Select a location and type a filename for the ex-
ect is saved to the specified location for sessions
ported text file. In Windows, Pro Tools adds the
and to the cloud for projects.
correct 3-letter filename extension, while on the
For information on the Save Copy In dialog Mac, the file extension “.txt” is added.
settings and options, see “Save Copy In Op-
tions” on page 170. Exported Session Text Files
Session Information
Exporting Session The session text file starts with basic information
Information as Text about the session or project. This information in-
You can use the Export Session Info as Text com- cludes the session or project name, sample rate, bit
mand to create a text file that contains extensive in- depth, timecode format, and number of audio
formation about your session or project. tracks, audio clips, and audio files, as shown in the
following example.
This text file can contain a list of audio files, audio
Session Information example
clips, audio track EDL (Edit Decision List) infor-
mation, extended timestamp information, and in- SESSION NAME: Ripleys II-092700
formation about crossfades. SAMPLE RATE: 48000.000000

Track EDLs are exported as tab-delimited text, BIT DEPTH: 24-bit

with tabs between each column heading, and tabs
TIMECODE FORMAT: 30 Frame
between each event parameter. You can use this
data in a program for reading EDLs, or you can # OF AUDIO TRACKS: 19
format the EDL data into tables using a word pro-
# OF AUDIO CLIPS: 203
cessor or spreadsheet application.
# OF AUDIO FILES: 54
To export session information as text:
1 Choose File > Export > Session Info as Text. File List and Clips List

2 Select whether to include the File List, Clips Next, if you choose to include them, are the lists of
List, and track EDLs. audio files and clips.
3 If you choose to include track EDLs, select Track EDLs
whether to show subframes, and whether to in-
clude user timestamps. Also select an option for The final item, if exported, is the list of track
crossfade handling. EDLs. A track EDL lists the track name, and all ed-
its, including the event number, the clip name, clip
4 If you choose to include track EDLs, select the start and end time, and clip duration. The clip time-
Time Format for the exported session text from
stamp is also exported, if you select this option.
the pop-up menu. Subframes are shown in each time field if you se-
5 Select the File Format for exported text using lect this option.
the pop-up menu.

454 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Include Markers
Export Session Information
as Text Options Select this option to export a list of all markers in-
cluded in the session or project.

Include Plug-In List

Select this option to export a list of the plug-ins

used in the session or project.

Include Track EDLs (Playlists)

You can export track EDLs (playlists). Track

EDLs can be used to spot-check clip placement
and edits, or in a conforming program for post ap-
plications. In extreme circumstances the EDL can
be used to recreate the entire session or project.
You can export session text for All Tracks or for
Selected Tracks Only.

MIDI track EDLs are not exported.

When exporting track EDLs, the following options

are available:

Show Subframes This option allows you to export

subframe time information with track EDLs, if
used in your session or project.

Include User Timestamps You can include user

Export Session Text dialog
timestamps with track EDLs. User timestamps in-
Include File List dicate a user-defined session or project location for
the clip, or the original location of the clip when re-
Select this option to export a list of the session or
corded.
project audio files. The File List provides a list of
all the audio files in the session (and their hard Fade Handling
drive locations) or project.
For track EDLs, you can choose whether to show
Include Clips List crossfades, not to show them, or to combine cross-
faded clips. When clips are combined, their dura-
Select this option to export a list of the session or
tions and locations are listed up to the center of the
project audio clips. The Clips List provides a list of
crossfade (for the leading clip) and from the center
all of the audio clips in the session or project, as
of the crossfade (for the following clip).
well as the source audio file for each clip.

Chapter 20: Importing and Exporting Session Data 455

 Time Format Clip group files store the following metadata:
You can select the appropriate time format that ex- • References to all audio files within the clip
ported EDL information is based on. For example, group
for post work, you might select SMPTE time, but • Clip names and relative location in tracks
for music creation locked to a grid, you might se-
• Embedded fades and crossfades
lect Bars:Beats.
• Clip group names and format (single or multi-
File Format track)

On Mac, you can to export to TextEdit, UTF-8, MS • All MIDI data present in the clip group (such as
Excel, MS Word, Write Now, Word Perfect, and notes, controllers, and Sysex)
AppleWorks text formats. On Windows, you can • Track names
export to either TextEdit or UTF-8. • Elastic Audio Warp markers and TCE factor
• Clip timebase (samples or ticks)
Importing and Exporting Clip • Sync points
Group Files • Loops
Pro Tools can export and import the clip group file • Tempo map
format (.rgrp). This lets you do the following:
Clip group files do not store the following:
• Separate clip group metadata from audio files to
avoid unnecessary file copy operations when ex- • Audio
porting audio clip groups composed from multi- • Automation
ple source files. • Plug-Ins
• Export MIDI data as part of a clip group. • Track routing
• Create multitrack loops. • Meter map
• Clips List information

Pro Tools provides several ways to import clip

groups into an open session:
• “Importing Clip Groups with Pro Tools Menu
Commands” on page 457
• “Importing Clip Groups with Drag and Drop” on
page 457

456 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Importing Clip Groups with 4 If desired, enable the Import Tempo Map from
Pro Tools Menu Commands Clip Group File option, which replaces the ses-
sion tempo map with the tempo map of the clip
To import a clip group with Pro Tools menu group). This option is only available when im-
commands:
porting the clip group to the Session Start.
1 Choose File > Import > Clip Groups and select
the clip group you want to import. 5 Click OK.

In the Clip Group Import Options dialog,

Importing Clip Groups with Drag
2
choose where the clip group will go:
and Drop
New Track Creates a new track where the clip You can drag and drop clip groups from a
group will be imported. Workspace browser, or from Windows Explorer or
Clips List Imports the clip group into the Clips the Mac Finder to the Timeline, to a track, to the
List, where it will be where it will be available to Tracks List, or to the Clips List.
place into tracks.
To import clip groups into the Clips List:

1 Select one or more clip groups in a Workspace

browser, or Windows Explorer or Mac Finder.
2 Drag the files onto the Clips List of the current
session.

To import clip groups into an existing track:

1 Select one or more clip groups in a Workspace
browser, or from Windows Explorer or Mac
Finder.
2 Drag the files onto an existing track in the Edit
Clip Group Import Options dialog
window of the current session or project.
3 If you chose to create a new track, choose a lo-
cation for the imported group in the track. To import clip groups into new tracks:
1 Select one or more clip groups in a Workspace
Session Start Places the group at the start of the
browser, Windows Explorer or Mac Finder.
session or project.
2 Do one of the following:
Song Start Aligns the beginning of the group to
the Song Start point. • From the Workspace browser, Shift-drag the
files anywhere in the Edit window of the current
Selection Aligns the beginning of the group to the session or project.
edit cursor or to the beginning of a selection in the • Drag the files onto any empty space in the Edit
Timeline. window of the current session or project.
Spot Displays the Spot dialog, which lets you spot • Drag the files to the Tracks List.
the group to a precise location based on any of the
Time Scales.

Chapter 20: Importing and Exporting Session Data 457

 Exporting Clip Groups Exporting Clip Groups to Another Hard Drive

To export a clip group: Generally, if you are exporting clip groups to an-
other hard drive, you should copy any referenced
1 Select one or more clip groups in the Clips List.
audio files. This way you can move clip groups not
2 From the Clips List menu, choose Export Clip only from one session to another, but from one sys-
Groups. tem to another.

To export a clip group to a different hard drive and

include its audio files:

1 Export one or more clip groups to the new drive.

2 Create a new session or project on the new
drive.
3 Choose Setup > Preferences.
4 In the Preferences dialog, click the Processing
tab and select Automatically Copy Files on Im-
Export Clip Groups dialog
port.
3 In the Export Clip Groups dialog, the Destina-
5 Click OK to close the Preferences dialog.
tion Directory defaults to the auto-created Clip
Groups folder in the session folder. You can 6 Import all previously exported clip groups by
change the Destination Directory by clicking dragging and dropping them into the session or
the Choose button, navigating to a new loca- project.
tion, and clicking Open. Click Reset to reset the
Destination Directory to the default location. The audio files folder of the new session or the
cloud account for the project now contain all files
4 Enable one of the following options for resolv- referenced by the clip groups.
ing duplicate clip group file names:
• Prompting for Each Duplicate (default)
• Auto Renaming
• Replacing with New Files
5 Click Export.

458 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Chapter 21: File and Session Management
and Compatibility

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 512).
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 316).
Blank Session or Project” on page 163).

Chapter 21: File and Session Management and Compatibility 459

 Transfer Files
Audio File Management
Transfer files reside on volumes unsuitable for
Unique File IDs playback, such as CD or DVD discs, or network
drives.
Pro Tools tags each audio file in a session with a
unique identifier that allows it to distinguish a par- To open a session containing Transfer files:
ticular file even if its name or location has
 Open the Pro Tools session. If any files are on a
changed. This Unique ID is 8-bit and is used by
volume unsuitable for playback, Pro Tools
versions of Pro Tools lower than 12.8.
prompts you to do one of the following:
• Click Yes to open the Copy and Relink
SMPTE IDs window.
Pro Tools (version 12.8 and later) creates and • Click No to open the session with all
reads 32-bit SMPTE IDs. SMPTE ID provides op- Transfer files offline.
timal compatibility and interchange with other ap-
plications that utilize SMPTE IDs in media files To make Transfer files playable in the current
and AAF sequences (such as Avid Media Com- session:
poser), and ensures truly unique IDs for all AIFF 1 Select the session in the Locations pane.
and WAV files.
2 Double-click the Audio Files folder to display
all of the audio files.
Locating Audio Files
3 Choose Select Transfer Files from the Browser
With Pro Tools, you manage links to audio and
menu.
other media files using the Relink window.
4 Choose Copy and Relink from the Browser
Pro Tools classifies storage volumes according to menu.
their suitability for performance (recording or
playback) or transfer (storage or copying) of audio 5 Specify a location for the copied files on a valid
and other media files. Audio files must be stored Performance volume.
on suitable Performance volumes and be properly 6 Click OK.
linked in order to be playable in a Pro Tools
session. For more information, see “Linking and
Relinking Files” on page 348.
When you open a session, if Pro Tools determines
that audio files are not located on a Performance
volume, or if it is unable to locate audio files con-
tained in the session, you can locate or copy the
files in order to play back the session. This process
is called relinking.

For more information on storage volume

classifications, see “Performance and
Transfer Volumes” on page 312.

460 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Missing Files Renamed Audio Files
A file is missing if it is not found in the same loca- Renamed audio files are located in the auto-created
tion as when the session was last saved. Renamed Audio Files folder in the Pro Tools ses-
sion folder. Files can be renamed when you open a
To open a session with missing files: session that references audio file names with in-
1 Open the Pro Tools session. If any files are compatible characters. Files can also be renamed
missing, Pro Tools posts a Missing Files in certain situations when saving a copy of a ses-
warning. sion to a Pro Tools version that does not support
long file names

Opening a Session that Contains Audio File

Names with Illegal Characters

Pro Tools 7.x and later does not support audio file
names that contain the following ASCII charac-
ters:
/ (Forward Slash)
Missing files warning when opening a session
\ (Backslash)
2 Choose one of the following options:
: (Colon)
Skip All Ignores all missing files. Missing files ap- * (Asterisk)
pear offline in the session. ? (Question mark)
Manually Find and Relink Opens the Relink win- “ (Quotation marks)
dow, where you can search, compare, verify, and < (Less-than symbol)
relink missing files. > (Greater-than symbol)
Automatically Find and Relink Searches all Per- | (vertical line or pipe)
formance volumes for all missing files with match-
When opening sessions that contain audio file
ing name, unique file ID, format, and length, and
names with illegal characters, Pro Tools automati-
automatically commits links to missing files where
cally creates a renamed copy of each file that con-
possible.
tains illegal characters (replacing these characters
3 To exclude any Rendered Elastic Audio files with an underscore “_”). Renamed files are copied
from the relink process and regenerate them in- to the Renamed Audio Files folder. The original
stead, select Regenerate Missing Rendered files are left intact in the Audio Files folder.
Files Without Searching.

4 Click OK.

For more information, see “Linking and

Relinking Files” on page 348.

Chapter 21: File and Session Management and Compatibility 461

 Before the session opens, you are prompted to save
a detailed report of the renamed files and their WAV File Compatibility
original file names to a Notes text file. By default, Convert Imported WAV files to
the Notes text file is saved to the Session folder. AES31/Broadcast Wave

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 earlier 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.

Saving a Copy of a Session that Contains Long

AES31/Broadcast Wave is a variant of the stan-
Audio File Names dard audio WAV file type. The AES31 format con-
tains SMPTE time stamps and other information
When saving files to Pro Tools 6.9.x and lower beyond the raw PCM audio data.
(using Save Copy In), audio files with file names
that exceed the limits of the destination format are This variant complies with standards set by the
truncated and located in the Session folder, as fol- AES (Audio Engineering Society) and EBU (Eu-
lows: ropean Broadcasters Union). Choose this option to
ensure compatibility with other workstations that
• If the new session is saved to the same directory
recognize this file type.
as the original, a Renamed Audio Files folder is
created in the session’s original folder, and the To make imported WAV files compliant with the
renamed audio files are placed in it. AES31/EBU Broadcast standard:
• If the new session is saved to a different direc- 1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click the Pro-
tory than the original and the All Audio Files op- cessing tab.
tion is not selected, a new Session folder is
created, which includes an Audio Files folder 2 Select the Convert Imported “.wav” Files to
and a Renamed Audio Files folder. Renamed au- AES31/BroadcastWave option.
dio files are included in the Audio Files folder. 3 Click OK.
• If the new session is saved to a different direc-
tory than the original and the All Audio Files op-
tion is selected, a new Session folder is created,
which includes an Audio Files folder. Renamed
audio files are included in the Audio Files folder.

462 Pro Tools Reference Guide

WAVE Extensible File Format
Sharing Sessions Created on
Pro Tools supports the WAVE Extensible file for- Different Computer Platforms
mat for audio files. This file format specifies mul-
tiple audio channel data (surround sound) along Working with Mac-Based HFS+
with speaker positions, which is stored within the Drives on Windows Computers
audio file header. These audio files are identified
in Workspace browsers with the designation You can use the MacDrive Utility from Mediafour
“WAV (BWF EXT)” in the Attributes field. to mount HFS+ drives on an NTFS system for use
with Pro Tools.
If you are working with greater-than-stereo multi-
channel track formats in your Pro Tools sessions, it
Moving Sessions on Windows
is recommended that you use the WAV file format.
Systems to Mac-Based HFS+
When using the WAV file format in Pro Tools
Drives
(From Window-Based NTFS Drives Only)
sessions, the corresponding channel order for
each channel of greater-than-stereo, inter- There are specific steps for transferring session
leaved multichannel files is displayed in the files from Windows-based NTFS drives to Mac-
Clips List. based HFS+ drives.
RF64 To transfer Pro Tools Windows sessions from
NTFS drives to HFS+ drives:
Pro Tools supports the RF64 audio file format.
RF64 is an extension to the WAV audio file format 1 Set the MacDrive Options to Backup/File
that addresses the 4 gigabyte size limitation of Transfer.
other WAV audio file formats. RF64 audio files 2 Do one of the following:
are identified in Workspace browsers with the des-
ignation “MBWF” in the Attributes field. • Drag the session folder from the NTFS drive to
the HFS+ drive.
Earlier versions of Pro Tools cannot read • Open the Windows session on the NTFS drive,
RF64 files. These files have to be manually ed- choose Save Copy In, and save a copy of the ses-
ited and consolidated so that they are no sion to the HFS+ drive.
larger than 4 GB in order to be available to
systems running earlier versions of Pro Tools.
Moving Mac-Based Sessions on
HFS+ Drives to Windows
Systems
Sharing Projects Offline
(To Windows-Based NTFS Drives Only)
For Pro Tools projects, all media is stored in the
There are specific steps for transferring files from
cloud and cached locally as specified in the Project
Mac-based HFS+ drives to Windows-based NTFS
Media Cache setting in the Operation Preferences.
drives.
To share projects offline, you must save the project
as a session using the Save Copy In command, and
then share the session.

Chapter 21: File and Session Management and Compatibility 463

 When using MacDrive for recording and playback
To save (or create) Mac sessions to be com- on a Windows system, the session file and all audio
patible on Windows systems, see “Saving files must be stored on Mac-formatted (HFS+)
Copies of Mac Sessions to be Compatible drives. Recording and playback of a session from a
with Windows” on page 464. mixture of Windows- and Mac-formatted drives is
not supported.
When transferring Pro Tools sessions from
To record or play back from HFS+ drives with
HFS+ drives to NTFS drives, Pro Tools ses-
Windows using MacDrive:
sions cannot relink to audio files that have
Mac characters that are illegal in Windows. 1 In Windows, go to the MacDrive Control Panel.
These characters are automatically con- 2 Choose Options > File Names and select the In-
verted to underscore (“_”) characters. These ternational Use option.
files are saved to the Renamed Audio Files
folder. You need to manually relink each file 3 Delete all options listed under “File Name
by File ID. See “Missing Files” on page 461. Maps.”
4 In Pro Tools, choose Window > Workspace and
To transfer Pro Tools Mac sessions from HFS+
drives to NTFS drives: make sure that all Mac-formatted volumes are
set to R (record) or P (playback) in the A (Au-
1 Set the MacDrive Options to Normal Use.
dio) and V (Video) columns.
2 Do one of the following:
• Drag the session folder from the HFS+ drive to Saving Copies of Mac Sessions
the NTFS drive. to be Compatible with Windows
(Save Copy In to Pro Tools 6.9.x and Lower
• Open the Mac session on the HFS+ drive, and
Only)
when prompted, choose Save Copy In and save a
copy of the session to the HFS+ drive. Sessions created and saved as Pro Tools 7.x and
later sessions are always compatible on both Win-
If the session previously used SD II files, the files dows and Mac systems.
are converted to the new audio file format.
If you create a Pro Tools 6.9.x or earlier session on
Recording and Playback from a Mac system, the session is only compatible on
HFS+ Drives on Windows Windows systems if the Enforce Mac/PC Compat-
ibility option is selected when using the Save Copy
Windows supports recording and playback of ses- In command. In addition, there are cross-platform
sions directly from Mac-formatted (HFS+) drives limits to consider when completing the Save Copy
using the MacDrive software application. In command.

In older versions of Pro Tools, Mac-

Cross-Platform Session Limits
formatted HFS+ drives could only be used
as Transfer volumes when connected to When saving (or creating) a copy of a Pro Tools
Windows systems using MacDrive. session that you want to be compatible on both
Mac and Windows, keep in mind the following
limits and how Pro Tools deals with them:

464 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Audio File Types Saving Cross-Platform Sessions

The recommended file format for cross-platform To save an existing session to Pro Tools 6.9.x or
interoperability is BWF (.WAV). To support opti- earlier and maintain Mac and Windows
mal session interchange, Pro Tools defaults to compatibility:
BWF format for new sessions. 1 Choose File > Save Copy In.
Pro Tools lets you save, bounce, and export in a 2 In the Save Session Copy dialog, choose a des-
variety of audio file formats, including WAV, tination and type a name for the new session
AIFF, MP3, and QuickTime. file.

File Name Extensions 3 Set the Audio File Type to AIFF or BWF
(.WAV). These file formats are compatible with
For cross-platform compatibility, all files in a ses- either platform.
sion must have a 3-letter file extension added to the
file name. Pro Tools 5.1 to 6.9.x session files have 4 Set the Sample Rate and Bit Depth for the
the extension “.pts,” and Pro Tools 5 sessions have session.
the extension “.pt5.” Wave files have the “.wav” 5 Select Enforce Mac/PC Compatibility. This op-
file extension, and AIFF files have the “.aif” file tion must be selected to make the session cross-
extension. platform compatible.

Incompatible ASCII Characters 6 Select the Items to Copy options for the new
session.
Clip names, track names, file names, and plug-in
settings cannot use ASCII characters that are in- 7 Click Save.
compatible with either system. If the session previously used SD II files, the files
When importing files into a session, incompatible are converted to the new audio file format.
characters are converted to underscores (“_”) and
Pro Tools can convert a file created on a
the renamed files are placed in the
Mac and saved without the “Enforce Mac/PC
Renamed Files folder.
compatibility” option selected to a Windows
The following characters cannot be used in compatible file. For more information, see
Windows sessions: “Sharing Sessions Created on Different
Computer Platforms” on page 463.
/ (Forward Slash)
\ (Backslash)
: (Colon)
* (Asterisk)
? (Question mark)
“ (Quotation marks)
< (Less-than symbol)
> (Greater-than symbol)
| (vertical line or pipe)

Chapter 21: File and Session Management and Compatibility 465

 Sharing Sessions Created on Different Pro Tools Systems
Pro Tools makes it easy to share sessions between Pro Tools Ultimate and Pro Tools. There are some im-
portant differences between systems that can affect how session material is transferred.

For details on transferring sessions between Windows and Mac systems, see “Sharing Sessions Created
on Different Computer Platforms” on page 463.

Differences between Pro Tools systems

Pro Tools | Ultimate Pro Tools | Ultimate

Feature Pro Tools
on HDX Systems on non-HDX Systems

Maximum number of up to 1,152 tracks up to 1,152 tracks up to 128 tracks

audio tracks (up to 1,152 voiceable) (up to 384 voiceable (up to 256 voices)
with no Voice Packs;
up to 1,152 Voiceable
with 6 Voice Packs)

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

Inserts per track up to 10 inserts up to 10 inserts up to 10 inserts

Sends per track up to 10 sends up to 10 sends up to 10 sends

Opening Pro Tools Ultimate Sessions in Pro Tools

A Pro Tools Ultimate session can be opened with Pro Tools, but certain session components open differ-
ently or not at all.

When opening a Pro Tools Ultimate session in Pro Tools, 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.

466 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Video Sharing Sessions Between
• Only the main video track is displayed. Pro Tools 2018.x and Pro Tools
12.x
• Only the first QuickTime movie in the session is
displayed or played back. Pro Tools 2018.x and Pro Tools 12.x sessions are
cross-compatible. However, the following caveats
• If the session contains QuickTime movies in the
apply:
Clips List but no video track, the session opens
with a new QuickTime Movie track containing • Track Presets are not available in Pro Tools 12.x
the first QuickTime movie from the Clips List. and lower.
• The Timeline displays and plays back only the • EQ Curve view is not available in Pro Tools 12.x
video playlist that was last active. Alternate and lower.
video playlists are not available.
Sharing Sessions Between
Pro Tools 12.x and Pro Tools
Sharing Sessions Created on 11.x
Different Pro Tools Software Pro Tools 12.x and Pro Tools 11.x sessions are
Versions cross-compatible. However, the following caveats
Pro Tools makes it easy to share sessions between apply:
different software versions of a particular • When opening a session created Pro Tools
Pro Tools system. 12.8.2 session with any Ambisonics paths or
tracks in a lower version of Pro Tools, they are
Pro Tools 10.x sessions and later cannot be opened
dropped.
with earlier versions of Pro Tools. To save a
Pro Tools 10.x session or higher so it is compatible • When opening a session created Pro Tools 12.8
with a lower version of Pro Tools, use the File > session with any Dolby Atmos specific elements
Save Copy In command to select the appropriate in a lower version of Pro Tools, they are
session format. dropped.
• When opening a session created Pro Tools 12.8
Sharing Sessions Between session with 7.0.2 or 7.1.2 paths or tracks in a
Pro Tools 2019.1 and Pro Tools lower version of Pro Tools, those paths and
2018.x tracks are dropped.
Pro Tools 2019.1 and Pro Tools 2018.x sessions • Offline projects created by Pro Tools 12.8 or
are cross-compatible. However, the following ca- higher are not supported with earlier versions of
veats apply: Pro Tools.
• Voices beyond the available maximum are made • Pro Tools 12.8 and later can create and read
inactive. ISRC metadata for audio files (AIFF and WAV),
but earlier versions cannot.

Chapter 21: File and Session Management and Compatibility 467

 • When opening sessions created in Pro Tools When opening a session in Pro Tools 10.x that was
12.7 or higher in Pro Tools 12.6.1 or earlier, Re- created in Pro Tools 11.x or higher that uses more
vision History in not available. than 4 GB of RAM (due to plug-in usage), the ses-
• When opening sessions created in Pro Tools sion will not open.
12.7 or higher in Pro Tools 12.6.1 or earlier,
Sharing Sessions with Video
Soundbase in not available.
• When opening sessions created in Pro Tools When opening a session in Pro Tools 11.x or
12.7 or higher in Pro Tools 12.6.1 or earlier, the higher created in a lower version of Pro Tools that
database file for Soundbase is backed up and a contains SD video, the aspect ratio must be reset.
new database file is written.
When opening a session created in Pro Tools 11.x
• When opening sessions created in Pro Tools or higher that contains Avid video in a lower ver-
12.6 or higher in Pro Tools 12.5 or earlier, clip sion of Pro Tools, the track will be inactive unless
effects will be dropped. the Avid video is an SD resolution and a Mojo or
• When opening sessions created in Pro Tools Mojo SDI is attached.
12.2 or higher that have VCA Master tracks in
Pro Tools 12.1 or earlier, those tracks will be Saving Pro Tools 12.x–10.x
dropped. Sessions to Pro Tools 7 –> 9
• When opening sessions created in Pro Tools Format
12.1 or higher that have more than the maximum To save a Pro Tools 12.x or 10.x session so it is
number of audio tracks or instrument tracks in compatible with Pro Tools version 7.x through 9.x,
Pro Tools 12.0 or earlier, those tracks will be use the File > Save Copy In command to choose the
dropped. Pro Tools 7 –> 9 Session format.

Sharing Sessions Between When saving a Pro Tools 12.x–10.x session to

Pro Tools 11.x or Higher and Pro Tools 7 –> 9 format, the following occurs:
Pro Tools 10.x • Any audio tracks beyond 256 are made inactive
Pro Tools 11.x or higher and Pro Tools 10.x ses- • Clip effects and settings are dropped (sessions
sions are cross-compatible. However, for sessions created in Pro Tools HD 12.6 or higher). If you
with 64-bit AAX plug-ins that do not have 32-bit want to apply any clip effects prior to saving the
equivalents, those plug-ins will be made inactive session copy, you will need to manually render
when opening the session in Pro Tools 10.x. Like- clip effects.
wise, for sessions with 32-bit AAX, RTAS, and • Clip gain and settings are dropped. If you want
TDM plug-ins that do not have 64-bit AAX equiv- to apply any clip gain settings prior to saving the
alents, those plug-ins will be made inactive when session copy, you will need to manually render
opening the session in Pro Tools 10.x. clip gain settings.
Additionally, for sessions created or modified by • Fades have to be rendered when the session is
Pro Tools 11.x or higher, any instrument tracks be- opened in a lower version of Pro Tools.
yond 128 will be made inactive when the session is • Sessions with mixed file formats and bit depths
opened in Pro Tools 10.x. must convert all files to the same file format and
bit depth.

468 Pro Tools Reference Guide

• Sessions with files that have a bit depth of 32-bit When opening a Pro Tools 9.0 session with
floating point must be converted to 24-bit or 16- Pro Tools 8.0, the following occurs:
bit. • All that occurs when opening a Pro Tools 9.0
• For sessions with RF64 files larger than 4 GB, session with Pro Tools 8.1.
these files will be unavailable to earlier versions • Output bus assignments are removed.
of Pro Tools. (You will need to manually edit
• HEAT (if present) is removed.
and consolidate these files so that the audio can
be available to earlier versions of Pro Tools.)
Opening Pro Tools 9.0 Sessions
with Pro Tools 7.4.x
Opening Pro Tools 9.0 Sessions
with Pro Tools 8.1 and 8.5 A Pro Tools 9.0 session can be opened with
Pro Tools 7.4.x, but certain session components
A Pro Tools 9.0 session can be opened with
open differently or not at all.
Pro Tools 8.1 and 8.5, but certain session compo-
nents open differently or not at all. When opening a Pro Tools 9.0 session with
Pro Tools 7.4.x, you are warned that you are
When opening a Pro Tools 9.0 session with
opening a session created with a newer ver-
Pro Tools 8.1 or 8.5, you are warned that you
sion of Pro Tools and that not all session
are opening a session created with a newer
components will be available.
version of Pro Tools and that not all session
components will be available. When opening a Pro Tools 9.0 session with
Pro Tools 7.4.x, the following occurs:
When opening a Pro Tools 9.0 session with
Pro Tools 8.1 or 8.5, the following occurs: • All that occurs when opening a Pro Tools 9.0
session with Pro Tools 8.0.
• Any audio tracks beyond 256 are made inactive.
• Inserts F–J and any associated automation are
• Any internal mix busses beyond 128 are made
removed.
inactive.
• Clips from audio files larger than 2 GB
• The Stereo Pan Depth reverts to –2.5 dB.
appear offline.
• Pitch transpositions of Elastic clips are
Opening Pro Tools 9.0 Sessions removed.
with Pro Tools 8.0
• Chord markers are removed.
A Pro Tools 9.0 session can be opened with
Pro Tools 8.0, but certain session components
open differently or not at all. Opening Pro Tools 7.4 or Higher
Sessions with Pro Tools 7.3.x or
When opening a Pro Tools 9.0 session with 7.2
Pro Tools 8.0, you are warned that you are A Pro Tools 7.4–9.x session can be opened with
opening a session created with a newer Pro Tools 7.3.x or 7.2, but certain session compo-
version of Pro Tools and that not all session nents open differently or not at all.
components will be available.

Chapter 21: File and Session Management and Compatibility 469

 Tracks
When opening a Pro Tools 7.4–9.x session
• VCA Master tracks are removed and any unco-
with Pro Tools 7.3.x, you are warned that
alesced VCA automation is dropped.
you are opening a session created with a
newer version of Pro Tools and that not all • Any uncoalesced Trim automation is dropped.
session components will be available. Groups

When opening a Pro Tools 7.4.x or higher • All groups beyond the first 26 (Bank 1, Groups
session with Pro Tools 7.3.x or 7.2, the a–z) are dropped.
following occurs:
• Mix Groups keep only Main Volume informa-
• All that occurs when opening a Pro Tools 8.x or tion.
higher session with Pro Tools 7.4.x.
• Mix/Edit Groups keep only Main Volume and
• Elastic Audio-enabled tracks open without Elas- Automation Mode information.
tic Audio and clip durations revert to the timing
• Automation overflow information for grouped
of the original source file.
controls is not preserved.
• Sessions with mixed language characters sup-
• Group behavior of Solos, LFEs, Mutes, Send
ported in Unicode may not open or, if they do
Levels, Send Mutes is not preserved.
open, Pro Tools displays “garbage” text.
• Solo Mode and Solo Latch settings are dropped.
Opening Pro Tools 7.2 or Higher Video
Sessions with Pro Tools 7.1 or • Only the main video track is displayed.
7.0
• Only the first QuickTime movie in the session is
A Pro Tools 7.2–9.x session without video tracks displayed or played back.
or VCA Masters can be opened with Pro Tools 7.1
• If the session contains QuickTime movies in the
or 7.0, but certain session components open differ-
Clips List but no video track, the session opens
ently or not at all.
with a new QuickTime Movie track containing
When opening a Pro Tools 7.4–9.x session the first QuickTime movie from the Clips List.
with Pro Tools 7.2, 7.1, or 7.0, you are not • The Timeline displays and plays back only the
warned that not all session components will video playlist that was last active. Alternate
be available. video playlists are not available.
• Video clips and video clip groups are not shown
Sessions created with Pro Tools HD 7.2–9.x or saved.
that contain video tracks or VCA Masters can
only be opened with Pro Tools HD 7.1cs3 Opening Sessions Created with
and later. Pro Tools HD 7.2–9.x with
Pro Tools LE 8.0
When opening a Pro Tools 7.4–9.x session with
a version of Pro Tools 7.1 or 7.0 the following A session created with Pro Tools HD 7.2–9.x ses-
occurs: sion that does not contain video tracks or VCA
• All that occurs when opening a Pro Tools 7.4 or Masters can be opened with Pro Tools LE 8.0, but
higher session with Pro Tools 7.3.x or 7.2. certain session components open differently or not
at all.
470 Pro Tools Reference Guide
 • Automation overflow information for grouped
Session created with Pro Tools HD 7.2 or controls is be preserved.
higher that contain video tracks or VCA Mas-
• Group behavior of Solos, Mutes, Send Levels,
ter tracks can only be opened with Pro Tools
Send Mutes is be preserved.
LE 7.0cs3 and later.
• Solo Mode and Solo Latch settings are dropped.
When opening a session created with
Pro Tools HD 7.x–9.x in Pro Tools LE 8.0, the Video
following occurs: • Only the main video track is displayed.
Tracks • Only the first QuickTime movie in the session is
• Any tracks beyond the first 48, as well any inac- displayed or played back.
tive tracks, are set to voice off. • If the session contains QuickTime movies in the
• Any assignments to busses beyond 32 are made Clips List but no video track, the session opens
inactive. with a new QuickTime Movie track containing
the first QuickTime movie from the Clips List.
• Any Instrument tracks beyond 32 are made inac-
tive. • The Timeline displays and plays back only the
video playlist that was last active. Alternate
• TDM plug-ins with RTAS equivalents are con-
video playlists are not available.
verted; those without equivalents are made inac-
tive. • In Pro Tools LE 7.1 or earlier only, video clips
and video clip groups are not shown or saved.
• Multichannel surround tracks are removed from
the session.
• Unavailable input and output paths are made in-
Saving Pro Tools 12.x–10.x
Sessions to Pro Tools 5.1 -> 6.9
active. Format
• Any Delay Compensation settings are removed.
Pro Tools 7.x and later sessions cannot be opened
• VCA Master tracks are removed and any unco- with Pro Tools versions 6.9.x through 5.1.
alesced VCA automation is dropped.
To save a Pro Tools 12.x–10.x session so it is com-
• HEAT (if present) is removed (Pro Tools HD 8.1
patible with Pro Tools version 6.9.x through 5.1,
or higher sessions with HEAT option only).
use the File > Save Copy In command to choose the
• Output Bus assignments are removed Pro Tools 5.1 -> 6.9 Session format.
(Pro Tools HD 8.1 or higher sessions only).
Pro Tools 8.x and later supports file sizes up
Groups
to 3.4 GB, and Pro Tools 10 and later support
• In Pro Tools LE 7.1 or earlier only, all groups file sizes over 4 GB. Pro Tools 5.1 through 6.9
beyond the first 26 (Bank 1, Groups a–z) are on Mac only supports file sizes up to 2 GB. If
dropped. your session references audio files larger than
• Mix Groups keep only Main Volume informa- 2 GB, edit and consolidate clips to reference
tion. only files smaller than 2 GB.
• Mix/Edit Groups keep only Main Volume and
Automation Mode information.

Chapter 21: File and Session Management and Compatibility 471

 When saving a Pro Tools 12.x–10.x session to Groups
Pro Tools 5.1 -> 6.9 format, the following
• All groups beyond the first 26 (Bank 1, Groups
occurs:
a–z) are dropped.
• All that occurs when saving a Pro Tools
• Mix Groups keep only Main Volume informa-
12.x–10.x session to Pro Tools 7–>9 session for-
tion.
mat.
• Mix/Edit Groups keep only Main Volume and
Tracks
Automation Mode information.
• Any audio tracks beyond 256 are removed.
• Automation overflow information for grouped
• Any internal mix busses beyond 128 are re- controls is not preserved.
moved.
• Group behavior of Solos, LFEs, Mutes, Send
• Output bus assignments are removed. Levels, Send Mutes is not preserved.
• HEAT (if present) is removed. • Solo Mode and Solo Latch settings are dropped.
• Elastic Audio-enabled tracks are saved untrans- Video
posed, unwarped, and clip durations revert to the
• Only the main video track is displayed.
timing of the original source file.
• Only the first QuickTime movie in the session is
• Instrument tracks are split into separate Auxil-
displayed or played back.
iary Input and MIDI tracks.
• If the session contains QuickTime movies in the
• VCA Master tracks are removed and VCA auto-
Clips List but no video track, the session opens
mation is coalesced to the corresponding slave
with a new QuickTime Movie track containing
tracks.
the first QuickTime movie from the Clips List.
• Trim automation playlists are coalesced to their
• The Timeline displays and plays back only the
corresponding automation playlists.
video playlist that was last active. Alternate
• Fader Gain levels and automation breakpoints video playlists are not available.
higher than +6 dB are changed to +6 dB.
• Video clips and video clip groups are not shown
• Long names are shortened to 31 characters. or saved.
• The following attributes are dropped: Language Compatibility
• Clip groups • The Limit Character Set option must be enabled
• Clip loops and you must select a single language and char-
• Sample-based MIDI clips acter set.
• Sample-based MIDI tracks
• Inserts F–J and any associated automation
• Sends F–J and any associated automation
• Marker/Memory Locations 201–999

472 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Saving Pro Tools 12.x–10.x
Sessions to Pro Tools 5.0 Language Compatibility
Format
Unicode Support for Languages
Pro Tools 5.1 and later sessions cannot be opened
with Pro Tools version 5.0. Pro Tools supports entry and display of any lan-
guage characters supported in Unicode anywhere
To save a Pro Tools 12.x–10.x session so it is com- in the Pro Tools application. This lets you:
patible with Pro Tools version 5.0, use the File >
Save Copy In command to choose the • Use multiple languages in session names, and in
Pro Tools 5.0 Session format. path names, file names and clip names within
the same session.
When saving a Pro Tools 12.x–10.x session to • Search for terms in multiple languages in
Pro Tools 5.0 format, the following occurs: Workspace browsers.
• All that occurs when saving a Pro Tools
12.x–10.x session to Pro Tools 5.0 format. Pro Tools Automatic Naming
• Multichannel surround tracks are removed from Language
the session.
When working in a language other than English,
• Inactive tracks are removed from the session. you can set Pro Tools to automatically name ses-
• Tracks assigned to “No Output” are routed to sion elements (such as clips, tracks, and I/O paths)
busses 31 and 32. in English. This is useful when sharing sessions
with other users working in English.
• Tracks or sends assigned to busses 33–64 are
routed to busses 31 and 32. To set the Automatic Naming Language to match
• Tracks assigned to multichannel paths or sub- the language selected for the Pro Tools
application:
paths of multichannel paths are routed to busses
31 and 32. 1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click the Dis-
play tab.
• Sends assigned to multichannel paths or sub-
paths of multichannel paths are dropped. 2 Choose the language you want to use in
• Tracks or sends assigned to stereo paths refer- Pro Tools from the Language pop-up menu.
ring to even/odd channels (such as 2–3) are 3 Deselect the Default Automatic Naming to
routed to busses 31 and 32. English option.
• Multi-mono plug-in instances are dropped.

Chapter 21: File and Session Management and Compatibility 473

 Pro Tools Application Language 7 Do one of the following:

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)

Localized versions of Pro Tools can be opened on

a qualified Mac that supports English and the lo-
calized language versions of Mac. You can also se-
lect a different language in any localized version of
Pro Tools (including English) in the Apple System
Preferences.

To change to a different language version of

Pro Tools:
1 Quit Pro Tools if it is currently open.
2 Launch Apple System Preferences.
3 Click International (the “flag” icon).
4 Click the Language tab.
5 In the Languages column, drag the language
you want to the top of the list.
6 Close the International window.

474 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Part IV: Playback and
Recording
Chapter 22: Playing Back Track Material

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 1281).
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 1281). 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.

Chapter 22: Playing Back Track Material 477

 Playing Back MIDI 4 To have playback start from the beginning of
the session, click Return to Zero in the Trans-
To play back MIDI (and monitor the audio): port.
1 Import, record, or enter MIDI into an Instru-
5 Start playback.
ment or MIDI track.
6 The MIDI plays the selected MIDI device, and
2 For an Instrument track, do the following:
the audio from the MIDI device is monitored
• Set the Instrument track’s audio Output selector through the selected Output Path on the Auxil-
to the main monitoring path. iary Input or Instrument track. Adjust the MIDI,
• If you are using an Instrument Plug-In, insert the Auxiliary Input, or Instrument track’s volume
plug-in on the track. The track’s MIDI Output and pan faders as necessary.
selector (in Instrument view) should be automat- 7 When you are finished, stop playback.
ically set to the plug-in.
• If you are using an external MIDI device (not an For information about synchronizing exter-
Instrument plug-in), set the MIDI Output selec- nal MIDI devices with Pro Tools for play-
tor in Instrument view to the MIDI device (port) back and recording using MIDI Beat Clock,
and channel you want to play back. see “MIDI Beat Clock” on page 493, and for
information about using MIDI Timecode, see
• If you are using an external MIDI device (not an “Generating Timecode” on page 1282.
Instrument plug-in), set the Instrument track’s
audio Input selector to the Input path to which
your MIDI device’s audio outputs are con- Playback Location
nected.
The playback location is the point in the Pro Tools
3 For a MIDI track, do the following: Timeline where you can begin playing back audio
• If you are using an Instrument plug-in, create an or MIDI in your session.
Auxiliary Input or Instrument track insert the In-
strument plug-in on the track. The playback location is displayed in counters and
indicators in the Edit window, Transport window,
• If you are using an external MIDI device (not an and Big Counter. The playback location (or Edit
Instrument plug-in), create an Auxiliary Input or selection) is also indicated by a playback or edit
Instrument track to monitor the audio from an cursor in the Timeline or playlist of the Edit win-
external MIDI device or Instrument plug-in. dow.
• If you are using an external MIDI device (not an
Instrument plug-in), set the Auxiliary Input or Pro Tools also provides a pre-roll control for set-
Instrument track’s audio Input selector to the In- ting playback to begin before the playback loca-
put path to which your MIDI device’s audio out- tion. See “Basic Transport Controls and Counters”
puts are connected. on page 196.

• Set the Auxiliary Input or Instrument track’s au-

dio Output selector to the main monitoring path.
• Set the MIDI track’s output selector to the In-
strument plug-in, or MIDI device (port), and
channel you want to play back.

478 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Counters and Indicators that To display the Sub Counter in the Transport
Display the Playback Location window:

1 Select View > Transport > Counters.

Main and Sub Counters and Edit Selection
Indicators 2 Select View > Transport > Expanded.
At the top of the Edit window, the playback loca- To display Edit Selection indicators in the
tion is displayed in the Main and Sub counters, and Transport window:
the Edit Selection Start indicator. If no selection is
 Select View > Transport > Expanded.
made, the playback location is also displayed in the
Edit Selection End indicator. The Big Counter

The current playback location can also be dis-

played in the Big Counter.

Main and Sub Counters, Edit Selection indicators

Counters and Edit Selection indicators can also be

displayed in the Transport window. Big Counter window

To display the Big Counter:

 Choose Window > Big Counter.

Cursors that Indicate the

Transport with Counters displayed Playback (or Edit) Location
To display the Main Counter in the Transport There are two types of cursors in the Pro Tools
window:
Edit window for indicating the current playback or
 Select View > Transport > Counters. Edit selection:

Control-click (Mac) or Start-click (Win- Playback Cursor

dows) the Expand/Collapse button in the
Transport window to show or hide counters. The playback cursor is a solid line that moves
across the Edit window to indicate the current
playback location.
Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows)
the Expand/Collapse button in the Transport The selected Scrolling Option determines how the
window to show or hide counters and MIDI Edit window scrolls during playback, and how the
controls. playback cursor functions. See “Scrolling Op-
tions” on page 484 for details.

Chapter 22: Playing Back Track Material 479

 Edit Cursor To locate the playback cursor when it is off-
screen:
The edit cursor is a flashing line that appears when
you click with the Selector tool in a track’s playlist.  Click the Playback Cursor locator in the Main
The flashing edit cursor indicates the start point for Timebase ruler.
any editing tasks performed. If you make a selec- The Edit window changes to center the playback
tion and perform an edit, the selection is the target cursor on-screen.
of the edit.

Locating the Playback Cursor when It Is

Off-Screen Setting the Playback
Location
Use the Playback Cursor locator to locate the play-
back cursor when it is off-screen. Pro Tools provides commands for different ways
of setting or moving the playback location in a ses-
If the playback cursor is located after the time vis- sion. These include finding a passage in a song,
ible in the Edit window, the Playback Cursor loca- moving to a different section of your arrangement,
tor appears on the right edge of the Main Timebase or comparing different sections.
ruler. If the playback cursor is located before the
time visible in the Edit window, the Playback Cur- Setting Playback Location Using
sor locator appears on the left edge of the Main the Selector Tool
Timebase ruler.
To set where playback begins, you can click any-
where in a track with the Selector tool (as long as
the Timeline and Edit selections are linked). See
“Linking or Unlinking Timeline and Edit Selec-
tions” on page 629).

Playback Cursor locator, recording enabled (playback

cursor located after currently viewed audio)

For example, if the Scrolling option is set to None,

the playback cursor moves off-screen after it has
played past the time currently visible in the Edit Setting a playback point with the Selector tool
window. The Playback Cursor locator appears on
the right edge of the Main Timebase ruler after the
playback cursor has moved beyond the time visible
in the Edit window.

The Playback Cursor locator is red when a track is

record-enabled and blue when no track is
record-enabled.

480 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To begin playing from a specific point within a Setting Playback Location with
track: the Main Counter or Edit
1 Make sure that Options > Link Timeline and Edit Selection Start Indicator
Selection is enabled.
To set the playback location using a Main Counter
2 With the Selector tool, click in the track where (or the Edit Selection Start indicator):
you want playback to begin. 1 Do one of the following:
3 Start playback. • Click in one of the counters.
4 Stop playback. • Press asterisk (*) on the numeric keypad to high-
light the Main Counter in the Edit window (or
To jump to a different location and begin playing the Main Counter in the Transport window or
from there, do one of the following: Big Counter window, if either are displayed).
 When playback is stopped, click with the Selec- 2 Type in the new location. Press Period (.) to cy-
tor tool at the point you want to start playback cle through to the different time fields.
and click Play in the Transport window.
3 Press Enter to accept the new value and auto-
 During playback, click the new location in any matically locate there.
Timebase Ruler.

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 196. Bars|Beats Moves to the beginning of the previous
or next bar.

Min:Sec Moves back or forward in one-second

steps.

Chapter 22: Playing Back Track Material 481

 Timecode Moves back or forward in one-second To configure the Back/Forward Amount:
steps (while adjusting for current SMPTE 1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click the
format). Operation tab.
Feet+Frames Moves back or forward in one-foot The timebase of the Back/Forward Amount set-
steps. tings follows the Main Time Scale by default, or
Samples Moves back or forward in one-second you can deselect Follow Main Time and select any
steps. of the following timebase formats:
• Bars|Beats
Setting Playback Location with • Min:Sec
Back and Forward Commands
• Timecode
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)
• Feet+Frames
Pro Tools provides four Back/Forward commands
• Samples
(sometimes called “rollback”) for moving the
playback location in the Edit window. 2 Do one of the following:

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 483). custom amount.

Back/Forward commands also work when con- Using Back or Forward Commands
trolling a 9-pin device. For more information,
see Chapter 58, “MachineControl.” To move the playback location backward by the
Back/Forward Amount:
Back Moves the playback location backward by
 Press Command (Mac) or Control (Windows),
the Back/Forward Amount.
and click Rewind in the Transport window.
Back and Play Moves the current playback loca-
To move the playback location forward by the
tion backward by the Back/Forward Amount and
Back/Forward Amount:
automatically begins playback.
 Press Command (Mac) or Control (Windows),
Forward Moves the playback location forward by and click Fast Forward in the Transport win-
the Back/Forward Amount. dow.
Forward and Play Moves the current playback lo-
To move the playback location backward by the
cation forward by the Back/Forward Amount and Back/Forward Amount and then begin playback:
automatically begins playback.
 Press Command+Option (Mac) or
Setting the Back/Forward Amount Control+Alt (Windows), and click Rewind in
the Transport window.
The length of the Back/Forward move is deter-
mined by the Back/Forward Amount preference in
the Operation page (Setup > Preferences).

482 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To move the playback location forward by the 3 Do one of the following:
Back/Forward Amount and then begin playback:
• To extend the selection backwards by the
 Press Command+Option (Mac) or Back/Forward Amount, press Shift+Command
Control+Alt (Windows), and click Fast For- (Mac) or Shift+Control (Windows) and click
ward in the Transport window. Rewind in the Transport window.

Repeating Back/Forward Commands • To extend the selection backwards by the

Back/Forward Amount and then begin playback,
All the Back/Forward commands can be repeated press Shift+Command+Option (Mac) or
in order to increase the amount of the total Back or Shift+Control+Alt (Windows) and click Rewind
Forward move. in the Transport window.

To repeat Back/Forward moves:

Additional Ways of Moving the
1 Hold Command (Mac) or Control (Windows). Playback Location
2 Click Rewind or Fast Forward the number of You can also move the playback location with the
times you want to repeat moving the playback following:
location backwards or forwards by the specified
Back/Forward Amount. Shuttle Lock Modes With either Shuttle Lock
mode (Classic or Transport) you can use the nu-
Extending Selections with Back or Back and meric keypad to shuttle forward or backwards at
Play Commands specific speeds. For more information, see “Shut-
tle Lock Modes” on page 28.
The Back or Back and Play commands can be used
to extend a selection backwards by the length of Memory Locations Memory Locations can be
the specified Back/Forward Amount. used to move the playback location (or Edit selec-
tion). When a Memory Location is recalled, the
Although you cannot extend a selection with
playback location (or Edit selection) updates.
the Forward or Forward and Play com-
Memory Locations can be recalled from the Mem-
mands, you can use the following procedures
ory Locations window and from the numeric key-
with Forward or Forward and Play to move
pad. In addition, Marker Memory Selections can
the start point of a current selection.
be recalled by clicking them in the Markers ruler.
To extend a selection with Back or Back and Play For more information, see “Recalling Memory Lo-
commands: cations” on page 885.
1 Specify the Back/Forward Amount. (See “Set- Tabbing to Transients With the Tab to Transients
ting the Back/Forward Amount” on page 482.) button enabled, you can automatically navigate to
2 With the Selector tool, drag within a track to transients in audio waveforms, placing the cursor
make a selection. just before the detected transient peak. For more
information, see “Tabbing to Transients” on
page 641.

Chapter 22: Playing Back Track Material 483

 Scrolling Options You can change the Scrolling option while
the Transport is running.
You can configure how contents of the Edit
window scroll during playback and recording.
Page Scrolling During Playback
To configure Scrolling options: You can set Pro Tools to scroll the track display
 Choose Options > Scrolling and select one of the while playing, and also have the edit cursor appear
following options: wherever playback stops.

No Scrolling The Edit window does not scroll To make the track display and the edit cursor
during or after playback. The playback cursor follow playback:
moves across the Edit window, indicating the play-  Enable the Timeline Insertion/Play Start Marker
back location. Follows Playback button in the Edit window.
After Playback The playback cursor moves across
the Edit window, indicating the playback location.
When playback has stopped, the Edit window
scrolls to the final playback location.

Page The playback cursor moves across the Edit

window, indicating the playback location. When
the right edge of the Edit window is reached, its en- Timeline Insertion/Play Start Marker Follows Playback
button enabled
tire contents are scrolled, and the playback cursor
continues moving from the left edge of the win-
dow. For more information, see “Page Scrolling You can enable or disable the Timeline
During Playback” on page 484. Insertion/Play Start Marker Follows Play-
back option in the Operation Preferences.
Continuous See “Continuous Scrolling During
Playback” on page 484.
Press Control+N (Mac) or Start+N (Win-
Center Playhead (HDX and HD Native Systems dows) to toggle the Timeline Insertion/Play
Only) See “Center Playhead Scrolling” on Start Marker Follows Playback preference
page 485. on and off.
Making a selection in the Timeline or a play-
list, or manually scrolling the Timeline while Continuous Scrolling During
in Page Scroll or Continuous Scroll mode sus-
Playback
pends page scrolling. To resume page scroll- When this scrolling option is selected, the Edit
ing and jump to the current playback location, window’s contents scroll continuously past the
click the Playback Cursor locator in the Main playback cursor, which remains in the center of the
Timebase ruler (see “Locating the Playback window. With this option, playback is always
Cursor when It Is Off-Screen” on page 480). based on the Timeline selection (unlike the Center
Playhead Scrolling option).

484 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Continuous Scrolling During Playback uses host
processing power, so use this option with host- Center Playhead Scrolling and Dynamic Trans-
based Pro Tools systems only when absolutely port mode cannot be used at the same time. Se-
necessary. lecting Center Playhead Scrolling disables Dy-
namic Transport mode (if it is enabled). Likewise,
enabling Dynamic Transport mode when Center
Center Playhead Scrolling Playhead Scrolling is selected automatically
(HDX and HD Native Systems Only)
changes the Scrolling option to No Scrolling.
When this scrolling option is selected, the Edit
window’s contents scroll continuously past the Half-Screen Edit Window
Playhead, which is a blue line in the center of the When the Scrolling option is set to Continuous or
window (or a red line when recording). Center Playhead, a half-screen appears at the far
The Playhead indicates where playback begins left of the Edit window (before the beginning of
when clicking Play in the Transport window. the session) when the Playhead is at the beginning
of the session.

Center Playhead Scrolling option Half-screen for Center Playhead Scrolling option

To move the Playhead to a particular location for

playback, you can scroll there in a ruler (see
Playing Selections
“Scrolling in a Timebase Ruler” on page 644), use
the Edit window’s horizontal scroll bar, or type the Once an Edit selection is made, you can audition it
location into one of the Edit Selection indicators or by clicking Play in the Transport window. If en-
one of the Counters. abled, the pre- and post-roll amounts play as well.

Moving the Playhead with these methods does not To play a selection:
update the Timeline selection. However,
1 Select Options > Link Timeline and Edit
updating the Timeline selection automatically
Selection.
moves the Playhead to the Timeline insertion
point. 2 With the Selector or Time Grabber tool, make a
track selection.
With the Playhead enabled, you can jump to and
play an Edit or Timeline selection. For details, see 3 If you want to use pre-roll or post-roll, enable
“Playing Timeline and Edit Selections with the and set the pre-roll and post-roll amounts. For
Playhead” on page 487. details, see “Setting Pre- and Post-Roll” on
page 527.
4 Click Play in the Transport window, or press the
Spacebar.

Chapter 22: Playing Back Track Material 485

 All tracks play for the range of the selection, in-
cluding pre-roll and post-roll if enabled. plays start plays end
(for post-roll amount) (for pre-roll amount)

To play an Edit selection with Link Timeline and

Edit Selection disabled:

 Choose Edit > Selection > Play Edit.

To play a Timeline selection with Link Timeline and

Edit Selection disabled:

 Choose Edit > Selection > Play Timeline.

Auditioning Pre-Roll and Post-

Roll
plays pre-roll + start plays end + post-roll
You can audition and play just the pre-roll or post-
roll material for a selection. Playback ranges for auditioning start/end points

To audition a selection start point:

To play from the pre-roll point to the start of a
selection, or to the current Cursor location:  Press Command+Left Arrow (Mac) or
 Press Option+Left Arrow (Mac) or Alt+Left Control+Left Arrow (Windows).
Arrow (Windows). When auditioning the beginning of a selection, the
selection plays from the start point for a duration
To play to the post-roll point from the end of a
selection, or from the current Cursor location: equal to the post-roll amount.

 Press Command+Right Arrow (Mac) or To audition a selection start point with pre-roll:
Control+Right Arrow (Windows).
 Press Command+Option+Left Arrow (Mac) or
Control+Alt+Left Arrow (Windows).
Auditioning Start and End Points
for Selections To audition a selection end point:

There may be times when you want to audition the  Press Option+Right Arrow (Mac) or Alt+Right
start or end of an audio selection without hearing Arrow (Windows).
the entire selection. This allows you to check, for
instance, whether the beginning or end of a selec- When auditioning the end of a selection, playback
tion includes any unwanted clicks or pops. begins before the end point by the pre-roll amount.

To audition a selection end point with post-roll:

 Press Command+Option+Right Arrow (Mac)

or Control+Alt+Right Arrow (Windows).

486 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Transport Fade-in Be sure to disable the Fade-in Transport op-
tion when recording. Audio that is recorded
Pro Tools provides a Fade-in option for the Trans-
with the Fade-in Transport option enabled
port. Enable this option to fade in the levels for all
will include a fade based on the set Fade-in
source audio linearly, from silence to the current
duration.
levels of the source audio when the transport starts.
The Fade-in time can be set between 0.000 and
4.000 seconds. This option is useful for avoiding
Playing Timeline and Edit
pops and clicks, or sudden boosts in volume when
Selections with the Playhead
relocating the playback location during playback.
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)

When the Scrolling option is set to Center Play-

head, selections in the Timeline do not determine
when playback begins. The Playhead itself denotes
where playback begins.

Timeline and Edit selections, however, can still be

Fade-in time
played when the Playhead is enabled.
Fade-in enable
Transport window with Fade-in enabled (2 seconds) To play an Edit selection with the Playhead
enabled:
For music production scenarios, use shorter fade-
in times (250 ms). In certain post-production sce- 1 Deselect Options > Link Timeline and Edit
narios when synchronizing to external decks, use Selections.
longer fade-in times depending on how long it
2 Select Options > Scrolling > Center Playhead.
takes for all synchronized decks to lock to time-
code (up to 2 seconds). 3 With the Selector or Time Grabber tool, make a
track selection.
To enable (or disable) the Fade-in Transport
option: 4 Choose Edit > Selection > Play Edit.
1 Open the Expanded Transport window. To play a Timeline selection with the Playhead
enabled:
2 Click Fade-in so that it is lit (or unlit).
1 Deselect Options > Link Timeline and Edit
To set the Fade-in time for the Transport: Selections.
1 Open the Expanded Transport window. 2 Select Options > Scrolling > Center Playhead.
2 Click in the numeric field to the right of the 3 Drag with the Selector tool in any Timebase
Fade-in enable button. ruler to set the play range.
3 Type in the desired time. 4 Choose Edit > Selection > Play Timeline.
4 Press Return (Mac) or Enter (Windows) on your
computer keyboard.

Chapter 22: Playing Back Track Material 487

 Moving the Playhead To play at half-speed:

When the Scrolling option is set to Center 1 Do one of the following:

Playhead, the Playhead can be moved forward or • Shift-click the Play button in the Transport.
back to the next clip boundary in the selected track. • Right-click the Play button in the Transport and
select Half-Speed. Then click Play to start Half-
To move the Playhead through a track’s clip
boundaries:
Speed Playback.

1 Make sure the Tab to Transients button is not You can also play at half-speed by pressing
enabled (see “Tabbing to Transients” on Shift+Spacebar.
page 641).
2 Click Stop in the Transport to stop playback.
2 Click in the track with the Selector tool.
3 Do one of the following: Prime for Playback Mode
• Press Tab to move the Playhead forward to the When playing back a large number of tracks,
next clip boundary. Pro Tools may take a little longer to actually start
• Press Option+Tab (Mac) or Control+Tab (Win- playback. To avoid this delay, put Pro Tools in
dows) to move the Playhead back to the previous Prime for Playback mode before starting playback.
clip boundary.
To enable Prime for Playback mode and start
playback:

Playback Modes 1 Do one of the following:

• Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) Play
Pro Tools provides several Playback modes:
in the Transport to put Pro Tools in Prime for
• Normal Playback mode Playback mode.
• Half-Speed Playback mode • Right-click the Play button and select Prime for
• Prime for Playback mode Playback.

• Loop Playback mode The Stop button lights and the Play button flashes.
• Dynamic Transport mode
2 To begin playback instantaneously, click Play.
Click Stop to stop playback.
Normal Playback Mode 3

Normal Playback mode is simply when none of the When synchronizing to timecode, use Prime
other Playback modes are selected. In Normal for Playback mode to play back large num-
Playback mode, Pro Tools plays back at the ses- bers of tracks. This decreases the time it takes
sion sample rate. to lock to timecode.

Half-Speed Playback Mode

Use Half-Speed Playback mode to learn or tran-
scribe difficult passages in recorded tracks.

488 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Loop Playback Mode When enabled, a loop symbol appears in the Play
button in the Transport window.
When Loop Playback mode is enabled, the se-
lected track range repeats on playback. If there is
no selection, playback occurs normally from the
current Cursor location.

A selection must be at least 500 ms in length Loop Playback enabled

for it to loop on playback.
4 Click Play in the Transport window.
Looping playback is a useful way to check the Playback begins from the pre-roll point (if
rhythmic continuity of a selection when working enabled) and continues to the selection’s end point,
with musical material. If you’re working with one- where it loops back to the selection’s start point.
bar selections, you can loop playback to see if the
material loops cleanly. If it seems to skip, you 5 Click Stop in the Transport window to stop
should then adjust the length of the selection until playback.
it works “musically” within the context of the
playlist and the other tracks. Loop Playback and Audio Recording

Looping playback does not enable loop recording.

To loop playback of a selection:
Use Loop Record mode to loop during recording
1 Select Options > Link Timeline and Edit (see “Loop Recording Audio” on page 532).
Selection.

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.

Chapter 22: Playing Back Track Material 489

 To enable or disable Dynamic Transport mode, do To reposition the Play Start Marker, do one of the
one of the following: following:

 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.

To change the Timeline Selection Start or End

Center Playhead Scrolling (Pro Tools Ultimate Markers:
only) and Dynamic Transport mode cannot be 1 Make a Timeline selection with the Selector
used at the same time. Selecting Center Play- tool by dragging in the Main Timebase ruler. If
head Scrolling disables Dynamic Transport the Link Timeline and Edit Selection option is
mode (if it is enabled). Likewise, enabling Dy- enabled, you can make an Edit selection with
namic Transport mode when Center Playhead the Selector or any of the Grabber tools.
Scrolling is selected automatically changes the
Scrolling option to No Scrolling. 2 With any Edit tool selected, drag either the
Timeline Selection Start or End Markers left or
right, extending or constricting the Timeline se-
Play Start Marker strip lection.
Timeline selection
Changes to the Timeline selection during
Play Start Marker
playback temporarily interrupt playback. To
minimize this interruption, reduce the AAE
Playback Buffer size in the Playback Engine
dialog.

Dynamic Transport mode, Play Start Marker shown in

expanded Main Timebase ruler

490 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To move the Timeline selection: Timeline Insertion Follows Playback
 With any Edit tool selected, drag the selection When enabled, the Timeline Insertion follows
on the Main Timeline ruler to another location. playback.

To have the Timeline Insertion follow playback, do

one of the following:

 Select Option > Insertion Follows Playback.

 In the Edit window Toolbar, select the Insertion
Follows Playback button so that it is lit.
Dynamic Transport mode, moving the Edit selection

When the Link Timeline and Edit Selection

option is disabled, Option-drag (Mac) or
Alt-drag (Windows) the Timeline selection
to snap the Edit selection to the Timeline se-
lection and move both in tandem. Insertion Follows Playback button enabled

Play Start Marker Follows Timeline Selection

Press Control+N (Mac) or Start+N (Windows)
When enabled, the Play Start Marker snaps to the to toggle Insertion Follows Playback on and off.
Timeline Selection In Point when you move the
Timeline Selection, draw a new Timeline Selec- Using Dynamic Transport Mode
tion, or adjust the Timeline Selection Start. When with Loop Playback
disabled, the Play Start Marker doesn’t move with
Use Dynamic Transport mode in conjunction with
the Timeline selection.
Loop Playback to specify the loop start and end
To have the Play Start Marker always snap to the points with the Timeline selection while using the
Timeline Selection In Point: Play Start Marker to specify where playback be-
gins. This is especially useful for auditioning loop
1 Choose Setup > Preferences.
transitions. Note that enabling Dynamic Transport
2 Click the Operation tab. mode automatically enables Loop Playback mode.
3 Select Play Start Marker Follows Timeline To audition a loop transition:
Selection.
1 Enable Dynamic Transport mode.
4 Click OK.
2 Ensure that Loop Playback mode is enabled.
3 Make a Timeline selection to loop.
4 Reposition the Play Start Marker before the
Timeline Selection Out Point.

Chapter 22: Playing Back Track Material 491

 The Enter key starts playback. The Zero key stops
playback. Pressing Zero twice locates the Play
Start Marker to the Timeline Selection start.

Keyboard Shortcuts for

Relocating the Play Start Marker
In Dynamic Transport mode, you can use key-
board shortcuts to quickly relocate the Play Start
Dynamic Transport mode, auditioning the loop Marker either during playback or when the Trans-
transition
port is stopped.
5 Start playback.
To move the Play Start Marker to the Timeline
Playback starts before the loop end point and con- Selection Start:
tinues across the loop point through the loop start.
 Press Period (.) on the numeric keypad and then
You can reposition the Timeline Selection Start
the Left Arrow.
and End Markers by dragging them left or right,
even during playback. To move the Play Start Marker to the Timeline
Selection End:
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-
meric keypad. This is useful for quickly starting  Press Period (.) on the numeric keypad and then
and stopping playback when auditioning loop tran- the Down Arrow.
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
1 Choose Setup > Preferences. the Up Arrow.

2 Click the Operation tab. To nudge the Play Start Marker backward (rewind):
3 Select Transport for Numeric Keypad.  Press 1 on the numeric keypad.
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.

5 Click OK.

492 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To move the Play Start to a specific bar: 3 Select the devices you want to receive MIDI
 With Bars|Beats selected as the Main Timebase Beat Clock. If your MIDI interface does not
ruler, do the following on the numeric keypad: support transmitting MIDI Beat Clock to sepa-
rate ports, only the interface appears as a desti-
• Press Asterisk (*). nation.
• Type the bar number.
• Press Enter.

Recording in Dynamic Transport

Mode
Recording in Dynamic Transport mode lets you
start playback independently of the Timeline se-
lection. Use the Play Start marker as a manual pre-
roll before the Timeline selection. Recording
punches in and out based on the Timeline
selection.

MIDI Beat Clock

MIDI Beat Clock dialog
Pro Tools can transmit MIDI Beat Clock to syn-
4 Enter the correct negative offset values (such as
chronize external MIDI devices that receive MIDI
“–200” samples) for each port that is enabled
Beat Clock (such as drum machines, hardware se-
for transmitting MIDI Beat Clock (see “Mea-
quencers, or arpeggiators) with the Pro Tools ses-
suring Beat Clock Latency” on page 494).
sion tempo for playback and recording. Some in-
strument plug-ins also support MIDI Beat Clock 5 Click OK.
for synchronizing to the Pro Tools tempo.

For information about synchronizing exter-

Sending MIDI Beat Clock Over
IAC
nal MIDI devices with Pro Tools for play-
(Mac Only)
back and recording using MIDI Timecode,
see “Generating Timecode” on page 1282. You can synchronize other MIDI applications that
use the Apple Inter-Application Communication
Transmitting Beat Clock (IAC) driver to Pro Tools by transmitting MIDI
Beat Clock on the IAC bus.
To transmit MIDI Beat Clock:
1 Choose Setup > MIDI > MIDI Beat Clock. To transmit MIDI Beat Clock on the IAC bus:

2 In the MIDI Beat Clock dialog, select the 1 Choose Setup > MIDI > MIDI Studio.
Enable MIDI Beat Clock option. 2 In the MIDI Devices window of Audio MIDI
Setup, double-click the IAC Driver icon.

Chapter 22: Playing Back Track Material 493

 3 Configure the IAC Driver ports and confirm 3 Create a new Pro Tools session.In the MIDI
that it is online. Beat Clock dialog, ensure that MIDI Beat Clock
is enabled and that the device is selected.
4 Choose Setup > MIDI > MIDI Beat Clock.
4 Set the Main Time Scale to Bars|Beats.
5 In the MIDI Beat Clock dialog, select the
Enable MIDI Beat Clock option. 5 Create a new audio track and select the audio in-
put channels for your external MIDI device.
6 Select the IAC Driver ports you want to enable
for sending MIDI Beat Clock. 6 Record enable the audio track and start record-
ing. MIDI Beat Clock is sent to the external
7 Click OK.
MIDI device, which starts playing back the
pattern.

MIDI Beat Clock Offsets 7 Stop recording after a few bars.

You can set an offset for MIDI Beat Clock on a 8 Enable both Snap to Grid and Show Grid.
port-by-port basis with your MIDI interface and 9 With the Selector tool, place the edit cursor on
external MIDI devices. This lets you adjust the the beat grid prior to a prominent transient in the
timing for each device where some devices sound waveform that is “on the beat.”
late due to different, fixed latencies. Where appro-
priate, enter negative offset values in samples for 10 Enable Tab to Transients and Shift+Tab to the
each port to correctly synchronize the audio sig- transient. The duration of this selection is the
nals from your external MIDI devices with approximate amount of latency for your exter-
Pro Tools playback. nal MIDI device.
11 Switch the Main Time Scale to Samples. The
Measuring Beat Clock Latency length of the selected clip in samples is the
MIDI Beat Clock latency for that device.
To determine the correct MIDI Beat Clock offset for
an external MIDI device: 12 In the MIDI Beat Clock dialog, enter the Sam-
ple Offset value as a negative number.
1 Ensure that your computer and external MIDI
device are correctly connected and configured
for MIDI, and that its audio output is correctly
connected to audio inputs on your Pro Tools au-
dio interface.
2 Ensure that your external MIDI device is con-
figured to receive MIDI Beat Clock, and that it
is correctly configured to play back a simple
rhythmic pattern “on the beat.”

494 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Measuring the offset for MIDI Beat Clock in samples

MIDI Beat Clock Sample Offset

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.

Chapter 22: Playing Back Track Material 495

496 Pro Tools Reference Guide
Chapter 23: Record Setup

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 512
While some of the information here is relevant to • “Recording with a Click” on page 500
preparing to record MIDI, there are more • “Setting the Session Meter and Tempo” on
specific setup details for MIDI recording in page 502
Chapter 25, “MIDI Recording.”
• Setting a Record Mode. See “Record Modes”
For information on recording audio, see on page 505
Chapter 24, “Audio Recording.”
Track Setup for Recording
For information on digitizing (recording) • Configuring one or more tracks for recording:
video in Pro Tools, see Chapter 60, “Work-
• “Configuring Default Names for Audio Files
ing with Video in Pro Tools” or the Avid
and Clips” on page 508
Video Peripherals Guide.
• “Assigning Hardware I/O on a Track” on
page 509
Record Setup Overview • “Record Enabling Tracks” on page 510
Record setup includes the following: • “Recording with Multiple Hard Drives” on
page 513
Hardware Setup for Recording
Monitoring Setup for Recording
• “Configuring Pro Tools Hardware I/O for Re-
cording” on page 498 • “Selecting a Record Input Monitoring Mode” on
page 515
• “Connecting a Sound Source” on page 500
• “Setting Monitor Levels for Record and Play-
back” on page 517
• “Reducing Monitoring Latency” on page 517
• “Recording with Delay Compensation” on
page 518

Chapter 23: Record Setup 497

 For all systems, volume and pan controls for tracks
Configuring Pro Tools in Pro Tools only affect monitoring levels—not
Hardware I/O for Recording the recording input gain. The LED meters on HD
Before you start recording, make sure your audio interfaces (such as HD I/O or HD OMNI) in-
Pro Tools system hardware is connected and con- dicate both full-code (highest level before clip-
figured properly. For details on connecting ping) and true clipping of Pro Tools output signals.
Pro Tools to your studio and configuring your The on-screen meters in Pro Tools indicate true
Hardware in the Hardware Setup dialog, see the clipping on audio input and when recording to
User Guide that came with your system. For infor- disk. With Pro Tools, it is possible to clip at the in-
mation on how to route audio signal paths in put and output converters on your audio interface,
Pro Tools, see Chapter 6, “I/O Setup.” as well as when recording to a fixed-point file bit
depth (16- or 24-bit only, 32-bit floating point bit
depth will not clip).
Input Connections and Audio
Levels Digital Clipping
Avid HD audio interfaces operate as line-level de-
Clipping occurs when you feed a signal to a re-
vices and offer no pre-amplification. Low-level
corder or mixer that is louder or “hotter” than the
sources like microphones and electric guitars need
device allows. On many analog tape decks, a little
to be pre-amplified. You can do this with a quality
clipping adds a perceived warmth to the sound due
mixing board or dedicated preamp (such as PRE).
to tape compression. In digital recording, however,
PRE can be remote-controlled from within clipping causes digital distortion, which is undesir-
Pro Tools sessions. able and should always be avoided.

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.

498 Pro Tools Reference Guide

You can display a track’s input levels in its Audio
Volume indicator. Normally, this indicator is set to
be a Peak Volume indicator. You can also use the
Headroom indicator to compare the incoming peak
level of the signal with how much headroom is
available.

To display a track’s peak level:

 Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win-

dows) a track’s Volume indicator to step
through the different indicator modes (Volume
or Channel Delay) until the indicator displays
peak (pk) level.

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).

Chapter 23: Record Setup 499

 Creating a Click Track
Connecting a Sound Source
Pro Tools lets you create a Click track using the
Depending on your Pro Tools audio interfaces, Click plug-in. You can also create a click track us-
you can connect different types of sound sources ing the Click II plug-in (included with Pro Tools)
(such as musical instruments, mics, and mixer out- or using a MIDI instrument.
puts). See the User Guide for your Pro Tools sys-
tem. For additional information, see the documen- For more information on the Click II plug-in,
tation that came with your sound source. see the Audio Plug-Ins Guide.

If you connect a sound source to a Pro Tools input To create a click track using the Click plug-in:
that was not previously configured to accept input,
 Choose Track > Create Click Track.
you may need to reconfigure you hardware in the
Hardware Setup dialog (see your User Guide). Pro Tools creates a new Auxiliary Input track
You may also need to reset your I/O signal paths in named “Click” with the Click plug-in already in-
I/O Setup (see Chapter 6, “I/O Setup.”). serted. In the Edit window, the click track’s Track
Height is set to Mini. You can create more than one
click track and each subsequent click track is
Recording with a Click named in sequence. For example, Click 1, Click 2,
and Click 3.
If you intend to work with MIDI or Instrument
tracks in your session, or if the audio you’re work- To hear the click during playback and recording,
ing with is bar and beat-oriented, you can record configure the Click Options (see “Click Options”
your tracks while listening to a click. This ensures on page 502) and ensure that Click is enabled (see
that recorded material, both MIDI and audio, “Enabling the Click” on page 501).
aligns with the session’s bar and beat boundaries.
To create a click track using MIDI:
When your track material lines up with the beats,
1 Create a new (mono) Auxiliary Input or Instru-
you can take advantage of some very useful editing
ment track.
functions in Pro Tools, such as quantizing MIDI
and audio events or clips, quantizing individual 2 Do one of the following:
MIDI notes, and copying and pasting measures
• From the track’s Input selector, select the path to
and song sections in Grid mode.
which the MIDI device is connected.
Material that is recorded without listening to • Insert an instrument plug-in on the track (such as
a click can still be aligned to bar and beat Xpand2).
boundaries in Pro Tools with Beat Detective
3 Configure the Click/Countoff options, and be
(see Chapter 33, “Beat Detective”), or by us-
sure to select the port for the MIDI device or in-
ing the Identify Beat command to determine
strument plug-in from the Output pop-up menu
the tempo (see “Identify Beat Command” on
(see “Click Options” on page 502).
page 863).
4 Enable Click (see “Enabling the Click” on
page 501).

500 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Enabling the Click 2 In the Transport, click the Metronome button so
it is highlighted.
Click tracks must be enabled to be heard during
playback or recording.

To enable the click from the MIDI menu:

 Select Options > Click.

To enable the click in the Transport:

1 Display the MIDI controls in the Transport by
doing one of the following: Metronome button, enabled
• Select View > Transport > MIDI Controls. 3 To hear the click count off when recording or
• From the Transport window menu, select MIDI playing, click the Count Off button in the Trans-
Controls. port so it is highlighted.

Selecting MIDI Controls from the Transport window

Count Off button, enabled
menu

• Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win- Hearing the countoff before recording helps musi-
dows) the Expand/Collapse “+” button in the cians to start playing at the right time and in tempo.
Transport window to display the MIDI controls. The Count Off button in the Transport window dis-
plays the number of bars counted before the trans-
• Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) the port starts.
Expand/Collapse “+” button in the Transport
window to display the MIDI controls and the The countoff is ignored when Pro Tools is on-
Counters. line and synchronized to SMPTE timecode.

Expand/Collapse “+” button, Transport Window with

MIDI Controls

Chapter 23: Record Setup 501

 Click Options 3 Specify the note, velocity, and duration for the
accented and unaccented notes.
Pro Tools provides options and controls for driv-
ing a click. The following steps are for configuring If one is connected, you can also play new
and enabling a click using the Click II plug-in or note values on a MIDI controller keyboard.
MIDI.
When listening to the click in your Pro Tools ses-
To configure click options: sions, the accented note sounds on the first beat of
1 Open the Click/Countoff Options dialog by do- each measure and the unaccented note sounds on
ing one of the following: the remaining beats.

• 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 Click II plug-in, select None in the
Output pop-up menu. 6 Click OK.

• If playing a click using MIDI, select the port

number (device) and channel for the click from
the Output pop-up menu. Setting the Session Meter
and Tempo
(Optional)

Setting the Session Meter

When opening a new session in Pro Tools, the me-
ter defaults to 4/4. If you intend to record with a
click in a meter other than 4/4, make sure to set the
meter accordingly.

If a session’s meter does not match the music

you’re recording, the accented clicks will not line
up with what you’re playing, and, as a result, the
recorded material may not align with the bars and
beats in the Edit window.

Meter events, which can occur anywhere within a

Click/Countoff Options dialog
Pro Tools session, appear in the Meter ruler. For
more information on inserting and editing meter
events, see “Meter Events” on page 866.

502 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To set the meter for a session: Setting the Session Tempo
1 Double-click the Current Meter button in the When opening a new session in Pro Tools, the
Transport window. tempo defaults to 120 BPM. If you intend to record
with a click at a tempo other than 120 BPM, make
sure to set the tempo accordingly.

Tempo events, which can occur anywhere

within a Pro Tools session, appear in the
Meter button Tempo ruler. For more information on
inserting and editing tempo events, see
2 Enter the Meter for the session and set the “Tempo” on page 844.
Location to 1|1|000 (to ensure that the inserted
meter event replaces the default). To change the session tempo:
1 Double-click the Song Start Marker in the Edit
window (see “Song Start Marker” on page 843).
2 Enter the BPM value for the session.

You can type in a specific tempo, or you can

use the T key to tap in the tempo.

3 Set the Location to 1|1|000 (to ensure that the in-

serted tempo event replaces the default).

Meter Change window

3 From the Click pop-up menu, select a note value

for the beat. (For example, if you are in 6/8, se-
lect a dotted-quarter note).
4 Click OK to insert the new meter event.

Tempo Change window

4 From the Resolution pop-up menu, select the

note value for the beat. (For example, if you are
in 6/8, select a dotted-quarter note.)
5 Click OK.

Chapter 23: Record Setup 503

 Using Manual Tempo Mode To exit Manual Tempo mode and enable the Tempo
ruler:
In Manual Tempo mode, Pro Tools ignores tempo
 Click the Tempo Ruler Enable (Conductor) but-
events in the Tempo ruler and instead plays back a
ton in the Transport window so it becomes high-
Manual Tempo. This tempo can be set with the
lighted.
Tempo slider, or if you are not sure of the actual
tempo, by tapping in the tempo.
To set the Manual Tempo by tapping:
While you can adjust the Manual Tempo during 1 Ensure that the MIDI controls are shown in the
playback, doing so momentarily interrupts play- Transport window (select View > Transport >
back. MIDI Controls).

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.

504 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Record Modes When recording, you can preserve disk space
by removing unwanted record takes (see
For recording audio, Pro Tools provides the fol-
“Clearing Unwanted Clips” on page 304)
lowing Record modes:
and compacting audio files (see “Compact-
• Normal (Nondestructive) ing an Audio File” on page 665).
• Destructive
• Loop
Normal (Nondestructive) Record
Mode
• QuickPunch
In Normal, Nondestructive Record mode,
• TrackPunch (Pro Tools Ultimate only) Pro Tools records audio nondestructively, which
• DestructivePunch (Pro Tools Ultimate only) means that if you record over a track’s existing
clips, the audio is not erased from your hard drive.
To select the Record mode, do one of the Both the new and old audio files remain on your
following: hard drive, available as clips from the Clips List.
 Select the Record mode in the Options menu. If
In Normal Record mode, the record range can be
no Record mode is selected, Pro Tools is in Nor-
defined by selecting a range in a ruler or in a
mal (Nondestructive) Record mode.
track’s playlist, or by specifying start and end
 Right-click the Record button in the Transport points in the Transport window. If there is no se-
and select the Record mode from the pop-up lection, recording begins from the current Cursor
menu. location and continues until the Transport Stop
button is clicked.
You can also cycle through the Pro Tools re-
cord modes with the Transport stopped, by To set a record range by selecting within a
Control-clicking (Mac) or Start-clicking track’s playlist, the Timeline and Edit selec-
(Windows) the Record button. tions must be linked. See “Linking or Unlink-
ing Timeline and Edit Selections” on
The Record button changes to indicate the selected page 629.
Record mode as follows:
• Blank for Normal (Nondestructive) The pre- and post-roll settings allow material to be
heard up to and after the start and end points,
• “D” for Destructive
which is useful when punch recording (see “Audio
• Loop symbol for Loop Record Punch Recording Over a Specified Range” on
• “P” for QuickPunch page 529).

• “T” for TrackPunch (Pro Tools Ultimate only)

• “DP” for DestructivePunch (Pro Tools Ultimate
only)

Destructive Record mode enabled

Chapter 23: Record Setup 505

 Destructive Record Mode Loop Record Mode
In Destructive Record mode, recording over exist- Loop Record mode lets you record take after take
ing clips replaces the original audio permanently, (nondestructively) while the same section of audio
which allows you to keep disk use to a minimum. repeats. This is a convenient technique for quickly
However, if you have sufficient drive space, it is recording multiple takes of a part without losing
usually best to use Pro Tools in Nondestructive spontaneity.
Record mode, to avoid losing any previously re-
corded material. The time range that is looped and recorded—
which must be at least one second in length—is de-
When defining the record range and setting pre- fined by selecting a range in a ruler or in a track’s
and post-roll, Destructive Record mode works the playlist, or by specifying start and end points in the
same as Normal (Nondestructive) mode. Transport window. The pre-roll setting, if enabled,
is used during the first record pass, but on each
Unlike the other record modes, it is not possible to successive loop the pre- and post-roll times are
cancel or undo record takes when using Destruc- ignored.
tive Record mode (see “Canceling a Record Take”
on page 523). To set a record range by selecting within a
track’s playlist, enable the Link Timeline and
In Destructive Record mode, the waveform Edit Selection option. See “Linking or Un-
overview is not redrawn until you stop linking Timeline and Edit Selections” on
recording. page 629.

When using Loop Record mode, each successive

Destructive recording is not supported with
take appears as a clip in the Clips List and each is
AudioSuite rendered clips with handles. You
numbered sequentially. The various takes, which
can consolidate such clips if you need to use
are identical in length and start time, are easily au-
Destructive Record mode.
ditioned and placed in the track at the correct loca-
tion with the Matches pop-up menu (see “Selecting
Alternate Takes” on page 534).

In Loop Record mode, the waveform over-

view is not redrawn until you stop
recording.

506 Pro Tools Reference Guide

QuickPunch TrackPunch automatically creates clips in that file
at each punch-in and punch-out point. These clips
QuickPunch gives you the ability to manually and
appear in the track’s playlist, and the complete au-
instantaneously punch in (initiate recording) and
dio file appears in the Clips List along with the
punch out (stop recording) on record-enabled au-
TrackPunch created clips. Up to 200 of these “run-
dio tracks during playback by clicking the Record
ning punches” can be performed in a single pass.
button in the Transport. Recording with Quick-
Punch is nondestructive. For more information on TrackPunch, see
“TrackPunch Audio Recording” on
When using QuickPunch, Pro Tools begins record-
page 567.
ing a new file when playback begins, automati-
cally generating clips in that file at each punch
in/out point. These clips appear in the track’s play-
DestructivePunch
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)
list; and the complete audio file appears in the
Clips List along with the QuickPunch created Destructive Punch is a destructive recording mode
clips. Up to 200 of these “running punches” can be that lets you instantaneously punch in (start record-
performed in a single pass. ing) and punch out (stop recording) on individual
audio tracks during playback, while preserving a
Though you can punch record in the other record
contiguous audio file on each punched track.
modes by manually specifying the record range,
only QuickPunch provides instantaneous monitor For more information on DestructivePunch,
switching on punch-out. see “DestructivePunch Audio Recording” on
page 570.
For more information on QuickPunch, see
“QuickPunch Audio Recording” on
page 566. Record Modes and MIDI
In addition to the various record modes, there is
TrackPunch also a MIDI Merge button in the Transport win-
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only) dow that determines how MIDI is recorded. When
enabled (Merge mode), recording over existing
TrackPunch lets individual tracks be punched in,
MIDI clips results in the new data being merged
punched out, and taken out of record enable with-
with the old. When the MIDI Merge button is dis-
out interrupting online recording and playback.
abled (Replace mode), the new material replaces
TrackPunch is a nondestructive recording mode. the old.
When a track is TrackPunch-enabled, Pro Tools
begins recording a new file when playback begins.
During playback, you may record arm or disarm,
or punch in or out a combination of any or all
TrackPunch enabled tracks.

MIDI Merge button, enabled

Chapter 23: Record Setup 507

 MIDI recording works the same whether using Subsequent record takes on the same track are
Nondestructive or Destructive Record mode. In named identically, but the digits (indicating the
addition, neither QuickPunch nor TrackPunch take number) are incremented (for example, “Elec-
need to be enabled to punch on-the-fly with tric Gtr_02.”) A second set of digits (such as used
MIDI—this capability is available in Nondestruc- in “Electric Gtr_01-01”) indicates that the clip was
tive and Destructive Record modes. auto-created from an edit.

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 567.
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:

1 Do one of the following:

• In the Mix or Edit window, double-click the
Configuring Default Names Track Name button for the track you want to re-
for Audio Files and Clips name.
(Optional)
• In the Tracks List in the Mix, Edit, MIDI Editor,
Track names define new file and clip names when or Score Editor window, Right-click the track
recording to a track (see “Renaming Tracks” on name for the track you want to rename.
page 235).
2 In the Track Name/Comments dialog, type a
When recording to an audio track, the resulting file new track name.
and clip names are based on the name of the track. 3 Click OK.
For example, after recording for the first time on a
track called “Electric Gtr,” an audio file is created
with the name “Electric Gtr_01.” In addition, a clip
appears in the Clips List with the name “Electric
Gtr_01.” This clip is a whole-file clip.

508 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Names for Stereo Audio Tracks
Assigning Hardware I/O on a
When recording to stereo audio tracks, audio file Track
and clip names for the left and right channels are
appended with a “.L” and “.R” suffix. Before recording to a track, you must specify the
input and output signal path for the material you
are recording. You will do this by assigning a hard-
Names for Multichannel Tracks ware input (recording source) and an output bus
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only) (for monitoring recording) on the track.
When recording to multichannel surround tracks,
To assign I/O on a track:
audio file and clip names for each channel are ap-
pended with the following suffixes: 1 Assign a hardware input (recording source) by
doing one of the following:
Multichannel
File and Clip Suffixes • In the Mix window, select the corresponding
Format
hardware input for your source from the track’s
LCR L, C, R Input Path selector.
Quad L, R, Ls, Rs

LCRS L, C, R, S

5.0 L, C, R, Ls, Rs

5.1 L, C, R, Ls, Rs, LFE

6.0 L, C, R, Ls, Cs, Rs, LFE

6.1 L, C, R, Ls, Cs, Rs

7.0 L, C, R, Lss, Rss, Lsr, Rsr

Input Path selector (mono audio track, Mix window
7.1 L, C, R, Lss, Rss, Lsr, Rsr, LFE
• In the Edit window, with I/O view enabled, se-
7.0 SDDS L, Lc, C, R, Rc, Ls, Rs
lect the corresponding hardware input for your
7.1 SDDS L, Lc, C, R, Rc, Ls, Rs, LFE source from the track’s Input Path selector.

Input Path selector (stereo audio track), Edit window

Chapter 23: Record Setup 509

 2 Assign an output bus (for monitoring recording)
by doing one of the following: MIDI and Instrument tracks can be record-en-
abled during playback or record. To record en-
• In the Mix window, select the corresponding
able audio tracks, the Transport must be stopped,
output bus for monitoring (such as “Monitor” or
or QuickPunch, TrackPunch, or Destructive-
“A 1–2”) from the track’s Output Path selector.
Punch must be enabled. For more information on
QuickPunch, TrackPunch, and Destructive-
Punch, see “Record Modes” on page 505.

To record enable an audio, MIDI, or Instrument

track:

 From either the Mix or Edit window, click the

track’s Record Enable button to toggle record
enable on or off for the track. The track’s Re-
Output Path selector (stereo audio track), Mix window cord Enable button flashes red, the track’s fader
is solid red, and the Track Record Enabled indi-
• In the Edit window, with I/O view enabled, se-
cator in the Transport turns red (indicating at
lect the corresponding output bus for monitoring
least one track is record-enabled).
(such as “Monitor” or “A 1–2”) from the track’s
Output Path selector.

Edit window

Mix window

Output Path selector (stereo audio track), Edit window

Record Enabling Tracks

To record audio or MIDI to a track you must first
enable the track’s Record Enable button. To record
simultaneously to multiple tracks, record enable
multiple audio, Instrument, or MIDI tracks. Record-enabled audio track in Mix and Edit windows

When one or more tracks are record-enabled, click

the Record button in the Transport to arm record- Press Shift+R to record enable any track con-
ing, and then click the Play button in the Transport taining the Edit cursor on an Edit selection.
to start recording.

510 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To record enable multiple audio tracks: To record enable (or disable) all selected audio,
MIDI, and Instrument tracks:
 From either the Mix or Edit window, click each
audio track’s Record Enable button to toggle re-  Option-Shift-click (Mac) or Alt-Shift-click
cord enable on or off for each track. (Windows) the Record Enable button on any se-
lected audio, MIDI, or Instrument track to tog-
If Latch Record mode is not enabled, Shift- gle record enable on or off for all selected
click each track’s Record Enable button to tracks.
toggle record enable on or off for each track.
See “Latch Record Enable Buttons Prefer- Record enabling a track that is part of a Mix
ence” on page 511. Group does not record enable the other
tracks in the Group. To record enable all
To record enable multiple MIDI and Instrument tracks in a group, click directly to the left of
tracks: the group’s name in the Groups List to select
 From either the Mix or Edit window, Shift-click all tracks in the group, and then Option-Shift-
each MIDI or Instrument track’s Record Enable click (Mac) or Alt-Shift-click (Windows) the
button to toggle record enable on or off for each Record Enable button of one of the tracks to
track. record enable the selected tracks.

To record enable MIDI and Instrument tracks using Latch Record Enable Buttons
the Up/Down Arrows: Preference
 While pressing Command (Mac) or Control When the Latch Record Enable Buttons option is
(Windows), press the Up/Down Arrows to re- selected in the Operation Preferences, you can re-
cord enable the previous or next MIDI or Instru- cord enable additional audio tracks by clicking
ment track. The previous (or next) record track their Record Enable buttons. Previously record-en-
is no longer record-enabled. abled tracks remain enabled. The Latch
Record Enable Buttons option affects audio tracks
To keep the previous track record-enabled
only.
while enabling new tracks, press
Command+Shift+Up/Down (Mac) or When the Latch Record Enable Buttons option is
Control+Shift+Up/Down (Windows). deselected, record enabling a subsequent audio
track disables the previously record-enabled audio
To record enable (or disable) all audio, MIDI, and
Instrument tracks: track.

 Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) any To enable the Latch Record Enable Buttons
Record Enable button to toggle record enable preference:
on or off for all audio, Instrument, and MIDI 1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click the
tracks. Operation tab.

2 Select Latch Record Enable Buttons.

Chapter 23: Record Setup 511

 Record Safe Mode
Working with Hard Drives for
Pro Tools provides a Record Safe mode on a per Recording
track basis that prevents tracks from being record-
enabled by accident. Use Record Safe mode to pro- Monitoring Drive Space
tect important audio or MIDI data on a track from
being recorded over. Pro Tools lets you check how much drive space is
available. The Disk Usage window shows the
To put an audio, MIDI, or Instrument track in available drive space for each drive connected to
Record Safe mode: your system as text and as a gauge display.
 Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win-
To monitor available space on your drive during a
dows) the track’s Record Enable button. The
Pro Tools session:
Record Enable button is grayed out.
 Choose Window > Disk Space.
Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win-
dows) again to take the track out of Record Safe
mode.

To put all audio, MIDI, and Instrument tracks in

Record Safe mode:
Disk Usage window
 Command-Option-click (Mac) or Control-Alt-
click (Windows) the Record Enable button on To display available drive space in Text Only view
only:
any track.
 From the Disk Usage menu, select Text Only.
Command-Option-click (Mac) or Control-Alt-
click (Windows) again to take all tracks out of Re-
cord Safe mode.

To put all currently selected tracks into Record

Safe mode:

 Command-Option-Shift-click (Mac) or Con- Disk Usage window, selecting Text Only view
trol-Alt-Shift-click (Windows) the Record En-
able button on any of the selected tracks to
toggle them in and out of Record Safe mode.

512 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Recording with Multiple Hard Allocating Audio Drives in Your
Drives System
(Optional)
To allocate the audio drives in your system:
By default, Pro Tools records audio files to the Au- 1 Choose Setup > Disk Allocation.
dio Files folder inside the session folder. If you
have multiple hard drives for recording, you can 2 In the Disk Allocation window, assign a hard
use the Disk Allocation window to specify other drive for each track by clicking in the Root Me-
hard drive locations to record audio files on a dia Folder column and selecting a volume from
track-by-track basis. the Disk Allocation pop-up menu.

Hard drives that are full do not appear in the Disk

Allocation window.

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.

Navigating in the Disk Allocation Window

To resize the Disk Allocation window:

 Drag the lower-right corner of the window.

Disk Allocation window
To scroll up or down in the Disk Allocation
window: Only drives designated as R (Play and Record) can
be selected in the Disk Allocation window. For
 Press Page Up or Page Down.
more information, see “Performance and Transfer
Volumes” on page 312.

Disk Allocation pop-up menu

Chapter 23: Record Setup 513

 A folder with the session name is created on each
hard drive, containing subfolders for audio and If you want to exclude individual, valid,
fade files. mounted volumes from Round Robin Alloca-
tion passes, open the Workspace browser and
• To assign a track to a different hard drive, click
make the volume safe by designating it as P
the track and select a drive name.
(Playback only) or T (Transfer). For more in-
• To assign all tracks to the same hard drive, press formation, see “Volume Permissions” on
Option (Mac) or Alt (Windows) while selecting page 316.
a drive name.
5 When you are finished, click OK.
• To make a continuous selection, Shift-click a
track name (in the Track column) to
extend the selection to include already- Saving Disk Allocation Settings
selected tracks and all tracks in between. To save Disk Allocation settings for use with fu-
• To make a noncontiguous selection, ture sessions, save the session as a template. For
Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win- details, see “Session Templates” on page 178.
dows) a track name in the Track
column to extend the selection to include al- Disk Allocation and Cross-
ready-selected tracks without including tracks Platform Sessions
in-between.
To ensure cross-platform operation, it is required
3 To save recorded audio files to an existing that Mac Pro Tools sessions and their associated
folder (without creating another session folder), audio files be on Mac-formatted (HFS or HFS+)
select Customize Allocation Options, then click drives. Windows Pro Tools sessions and their as-
Change and choose the folder. To create sub- sociated audio files must be on Windows-format-
folders in this folder, select the Create Subfold- ted NTFS drives.
ers for Audio, Video, and Fade Files option.
See “Saving Copies of Mac Sessions to be
4 To automatically distribute any newly created
Compatible with Windows” on page 464 and
tracks among the drives connected to your sys-
“Sharing Sessions Created on Different
tem, select the Use Round Robin Allocation for
Computer Platforms” on page 463.
New Tracks option.

If you are using Round Robin Allocation and want Workspace Volume Designation
audio to be recorded to your system’s start-up
The Workspace volume designation can alter disk
drive, do the following:
availability, thus affecting Disk Allocation. From
• Open the Workspace browser (Window > Work- the Workspace browser, you can designate vol-
space) and set the Volume Designator for your umes as Record, Playback, or Transfer. If you
system volume to R (Record and Playback). See change a drive’s designation, making it read-only
“Workspace Volume Designation” on page 514. (Play Only or Transfer), check the Disk Allocation
window for any tracks formerly allocated to that
Round Robin Allocation is not supported with drive. For more information, see “Volume Permis-
partitioned hard drives. sions” on page 316.

514 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Recording to the System Volume
Selecting a Record Input
Although Pro Tools lets you record to your system Monitoring Mode
volume, this is generally not recommended. Per-
formance for audio recording and playback on sys- Pro Tools offers two modes of input monitoring:
tem drives is not as good as on non-system hard Auto Input and Input Only. These monitoring
drives. modes determine how input signals are monitored
during playback, recording, or while the transport
Record to system drives only when absolutely nec- is stopped.
essary, such as if your computer system has only
one hard drive, or if your other hard drives are Auto Input Monitoring
completely full.
In Auto Input mode, when session playback is
By default, the system volume is not included in stopped, Pro Tools monitors audio input. When
Round Robin Allocation (regardless of volume playback is started for a punch-in, Pro Tools mon-
designation in the Workspace browser). To include itors existing track material up until the punch
the System Volume in Round Robin Allocations, point. While punched in, the input signal is moni-
see “Allocating Audio Drives in Your System” on tored. On punch-out, monitoring switches back to
page 513. the existing track material. This is similar to the
auto-switching logic found on digital and analog
If you have a Pro Tools system with multiple
multitrack tape machines.
drives, and you intend to record multiple
tracks simultaneously, you may want to When in Auto Input mode, the switch back to
designate the System drive as a Playback only monitoring track material on punch-out is
or Transfer only drive for optimal not instantaneous.
performance.

Disk Allocation and Unavailable

Tracks are in Auto Input mode by default,
Volumes and a monitoring control (TrackInput but-
ton) is provided for each track. See “Se-
Pro Tools remembers disk allocation settings for lecting Record Monitor Modes with Track-
tracks and does not automatically reassign them if Input Monitoring” on page 516.
a volume becomes unavailable.

If a volume for a session becomes unavailable (be-

Input Only Monitoring
cause it went offline or its volume designation In Input Only mode, when a track is record-en-
changed), Pro Tools cannot record to tracks allo- abled, Pro Tools monitors audio input only, re-
cated to that volume. gardless of any punch-in/out selection or state.

To enable recording, bring the volume online, For Pro Tools, the Input Monitor Enabled Status
change its volume designation to R (Play and Re- indicator (in the Transport window) lights green
cord), or change the allocation of the affected when Input Only mode is enabled.
tracks to a valid record volume.

Chapter 23: Record Setup 515

 When the TrackInput button in a track is enabled
(green), the track monitors audio in Input Only
mode.

Input Monitor Enabled Status, Transport window

The indicator lights green when one or more tracks

have TrackInput enabled (see “Selecting Record
Monitor Modes with TrackInput Monitoring” on
page 516).
TrackInput Monitor button On (Input Only), in the Edit
Window
Selecting a Record Monitor
Mode When the TrackInput button in a track is disabled,
the track monitors in Auto Input mode.
For record-enabled tracks to use Auto Input
Monitoring:

 Select Track > Set Record Tracks to Input Only.

For record-enabled tracks to use Input Only

Monitoring:

 Select Track > Set Record Tracks to Auto Input.

To toggle between Auto Input and Input TrackInput Monitor button Off (Audio Input), in the Edit
Window
Only monitoring, press Option+K (Mac) or
Alt+K (Windows). To toggle the monitoring mode of audio tracks, do
one of the following:
Selecting Record Monitor Modes  To toggle individual tracks, click the TrackInput
with TrackInput Monitoring Monitor button for each track you want to tog-
TrackInput monitoring lets you toggle individual gle.
audio tracks between Auto Input and Input Only  To toggle all tracks in the session, Option-click
monitoring modes at any time, during playback, (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) a TrackInput
recording, while stopped, and even when a track is Monitor button.
not record-enabled. TrackInput monitoring pro-
vides the necessary monitoring flexibility for over-  To toggle all selected tracks in the session,
dubbing and mixing, and is similar to input switch- Option-Shift-click (Mac) or Alt-Shift-click
ing on analog multitrack recorders and similar (Windows) a selected track’s TrackInput Moni-
machines. tor button.

Press Shift+I to enable the TrackInput

Monitor button for any track containing the
Edit cursor on an Edit selection.

516 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To toggle the TrackInput button states of all Link Record and Play Faders
record-enabled tracks, do one of the following:
When the Link Record and Play Faders option is
 To change all record-enabled tracks to Auto In-
selected in the Operation Preferences, Pro Tools
put monitoring, select Track > Set Record
does not keep track of record and play levels for
Tracks to Auto Input.
audio tracks. In this case, record enabling an audio
 To change all record-enabled tracks to Input track has no effect on the fader level for the track.
Only monitoring, select Track > Set Record This lets you maintain a consistent mix regardless
Tracks to Input Only. of whether you are recording or just listening.

To toggle record-enabled tracks between

Auto Input and Input Only monitoring, press
Reducing Monitoring Latency
Option+K (Mac) or Alt+K (Windows).
There will inevitably be some audio delay, or
Disable “Input” When Disarming Track latency, in the monitoring signal (even if only a
few samples) due to the process of converting an
When the Disable “Input” When Disarming Track
analog signal to a digital signal (input) and back
(in “Stop”) option is enabled in the Operation Pref-
again (output). There may be additional latency
erences, TrackInput monitoring is disabled when-
due to mixer configurations and processing.
ever a track is taken out of record enable. This is
useful for certain workflows, such as when you are HDX systems have additional latency when using
recording on a series of tracks, one at a time. Native plug-ins because these plug-ins also use
your computer’s host processor.
Disabling this option allows TrackInput buttons to
remain enabled when deselecting the track Record Host-based Pro Tools systems use the host proces-
Enable button. sor in your computer for all audio processing, play-
back, and recording, so there is always a small
amount of latency in the system. For example,
Setting Monitor Levels for there may be some audible delay between the in-
Record and Playback coming signal and outgoing signal when monitor-
ing recording through Pro Tools.
Pro Tools remembers two different fader levels for
monitoring each audio track: one for when the With Pro Tools, latency occurs as follows:
track is record-enabled, and one for when it is not
• All Pro Tools systems can have Virtual Instru-
record-enabled.
ment plug-in MIDI-to-audio latency (such as
Pro Tools keeps track of these two states for fader when playing a virtual instrument live and mon-
levels automatically. If you adjust a fader when a itoring the instrument’s output).
track is record-enabled and then turn off record en- • Pro Tools systems have input-to-output moni-
able for the track, the fader returns to its playback toring latency on any record-armed tracks or
level. Auxiliary Inputs with live inputs.
When audio tracks are record-enabled, their vol- • HDX systems have monitoring latency on tracks
ume faders in the Mix window turn red, indicating that have one or more host-based plug-ins.
that the record monitor level is active.

Chapter 23: Record Setup 517

 The latency amount is related to the H/W Buffer Recording with Delay
Size setting—the larger the buffer size, the greater Compensation
the latency. You can reduce the amount of moni-
Generally, you will want to record with Delay
toring latency by reducing the H/W Buffer Size set-
Compensation enabled to maintain phase coherent
ting. However, even at the smallest buffer size,
time alignment between tracks with different DSP
there is still some latency.
delays. However, you will generally want to avoid
In addition, reducing the buffer size limits the using inserts on recording tracks or tracks used for
number of simultaneous audio tracks you can re- controlling the levels of cue mixes. For more infor-
cord without encountering performance errors. mation, see “Delay Compensation” on page 1082.

While there may be times when you want a larger

Zero Latency Monitoring
buffer size, such as when you have higher track
counts with more plug-ins, you will generally want Some Avid, and third-party Core Audio and ASIO
the smallest possible buffer size when latency is audio interfaces give you the ability to monitor
present during recording and monitoring. your analog input signals while recording, without
hearing any latency. This zero-latency analog
If you are monitoring the recording source with an monitoring is typically controlled by a Mix knob
external mixer before it is routed to Pro Tools, you on the audio interface, which you can use to blend
will not hear any latency. and adjust the mix between the interface’s analog
input and Pro Tools playback. For more informa-
To set the Hardware Buffer Size:
tion, see the documentation that came with your
1 Choose Setup > Playback Engine. audio interface.
2 Choose the number of samples from the H/W
Buffer Size pop-up menu. Low Latency Monitoring
(HD Native, 003, 003 Rack, 003 Rack+, Mbox
3 Click OK.
Pro, and Core Audio and ASIO Interfaces with
Built-in Mixers Only)
For more information on the H/W Buffer Size
setting, see “Hardware Buffer Size” on HD Native, 003, 003 Rack, 003 Rack+, and Mbox
page 94. Pro systems can use the Low Latency Monitoring
option to record with an extremely small amount
Computers with slower CPUs may not be of monitoring latency, to as many tracks as each
able to use a H/W Buffer Size setting lower system supports.
than 512 samples buffer size without encoun- Likewise, certain Core Audio and ASIO audio in-
tering performance errors. terfaces that have a built-in mixer can use the Low
Latency Monitoring option.

Only tracks with inputs set to a physical output

(not an internal mix bus) use Low Latency Moni-
toring.

518 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Software monitoring is automatically disabled for To maintain (or bypass) sends with Low Latency
all Record-enabled tracks and TrackInput Moni- Monitoring enabled:
toring–enabled tracks. This lets you use hardware 1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click the Mix-
monitoring with any output channels on your audio ing tab.
interface without having to re-configure your ses-
2 Select (or deselect) the Allow Sends to persist
sion.
during LLM option.
If your Core Audio or ASIO hardware does 3 Click OK.
not have a built-in mixer, Low Latency Mon-
itoring does not function. If you do enable Low Latency Monitoring and
Low Latency Monitoring with such hard- Bounce To Disk
ware, monitoring will not available for re-
cord-enabled tracks in Pro Tools. With Low Latency Monitoring enabled, only audio
tracks are included with the Bounce to Disk com-
To use Low Latency Monitoring: mand—Auxiliary Input and Instrument tracks are
1 Assign each track to the selected Low Latency ignored. To include Auxiliary Input and Instru-
Monitoring Path as set in the I/O Setup Output ment tracks, disable Low Latency Monitoring be-
page (see “Low Latency Monitoring” on fore using Bounce to Disk.
page 62). Only tracks assigned to these outputs
External input cannot be recorded during a
use Low Latency Monitoring.
Bounce to Disk. To include external input in
2 Record enable audio tracks by clicking their Re- your bounce, it must be recorded to new au-
cord Enable buttons. dio tracks before using Bounce to Disk (see
“Bounce to Disk” on page 1188).
3 Select Options > Low Latency Monitoring.

When Low Latency Monitoring is enabled, any

plug-ins and sends assigned to record-enabled
tracks are automatically bypassed, and must re-
main bypassed. Also, these tracks do not register
on meters for Master Faders.

Allow Sends to Persist During LLM

Preference

All plug-ins and sends are bypassed by default

when Low Latency Monitoring (LLM) is enabled
(Options > Low Latency Monitoring). Enable the Al-
low Sends to persist during LLM preference to
maintain sends audio signal output with Low La-
tency Monitoring.

Chapter 23: Record Setup 519

520 Pro Tools Reference Guide
Chapter 24: Audio Recording

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:

1 From the track’s Input Path selector, select the

When recording a mono source, record to a single,
audio Input Path you want to record (see “As-
mono audio track in Pro Tools. A single, mono au-
signing Hardware I/O on a Track” on page 509).
dio file is written to disk, and the file appears as a
clip both in the track’s playlist and in the Clips 2 From the track’s Output Path selector, select the
List. main monitoring path.

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.

Recording a multichannel source to a multichannel

track (Pro Tools Ultimate only) is similar to re-
cording stereo audio tracks. A single, mono audio
file is written for each channel in the track, and
these files appear as multichannel clips in both the
track’s playlist and in the Clips List (see “Multi-
channel Audio Tracks” on page 1211).
Record enabling a track in the Mix window

Before Recording 4 Adjust the output level of your sound source

(instrument, mixer, or preamp). Monitor the
Before you start recording in Pro Tools, you need track’s meter levels in Pro Tools to ensure that
to set up your Pro Tools system, a session, and one levels peak within at least –6 dB to –12 dB on
or more tracks for recording. You will also need to the input meter without triggering the clipping
configure how Pro Tools monitors the input you indicator on your audio interface.
intend to record. For information, see Chapter 23,
“Record Setup.”

Chapter 24: Audio Recording 521

 5 Do one of the following: The newly recorded audio is written to disk and ap-
• In the Mix window, adjust the track’s volume pears as an audio clip both in the track’s playlist
and pan faders. These settings are for monitoring and in the Clips List.
purposes only and do not affect the recorded ma-
To play back the audio track:
terial.
1 Click the Record Enable button for the audio
• In the Output window for the track, adjust the
track so that it is no longer record-enabled.
track’s Volume fader and Pan sliders. These set-
Track volume faders now function as playback
tings are for monitoring purposes only and do
level controls.
not affect the recorded material. (See “Output
Windows for Tracks and Sends” on page 1070.) If a record-enabled track is in Auto Input
6 Choose Window > Transport to display the Monitor mode, you will hear “through” the
Transport window. Click Return to Zero to go to input while the Transport is stopped. The
the beginning of the session. track automatically switches to playback
when you press play, then back to Input
Rewind mode when you either stop, or punch into re-
Return to Zero Fast Forward cord. For more information, see “Auto Input
Go to End Monitoring” on page 515.

2 To have playback start from the beginning of

the session, click Return to Zero in the Trans-
port.

Online Stop Record 3 To start playback, click Play in the Transport or

Play press the Spacebar.
Transport window

7 Click Record in the Transport window to arm Undo or Cancel Audio Recording
Pro Tools for recording. The Record button Once you have recorded an audio track and the
flashes red to indicate that Pro Tools is ready to transport is stopped, you can undo the record take.
record.
To undo an audio recording:
8 Ensure that Normal Record mode is selected
(see “Record Modes” on page 505).  Once the Transport has been stopped, choose
Edit > Undo Record Audio.
9 When you are ready to start recording, click
Play or press the Spacebar.

If using Countoff, Pro Tools counts off the speci-

fied number of measures and then begins record-
ing. See “Recording with a Click” on page 500.
10 Record your performance.
11 Click Stop in the Transport window or press the
Spacebar when you are finished recording.

522 Pro Tools Reference Guide

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-
• When in normal Record mode, only the most re- pears both in the track’s playlist and in the Clips
cent take is discarded. List.

• 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
• When using QuickPunch, TrackPunch, or tracks simultaneously, you may want to des-
DestructivePunch mode, all punches from the ignate the System drive as a Transfer only
last recording pass are discarded. drive for optimal performance.

If you undo a record pass during recording,

Pro Tools removes any previously undone re- Recording Shortcuts
cord pass from the session and lets you delete
In addition to clicking the Record button in the
the previous record pass from your hard drive.
Transport or Edit window to arm Pro Tools record-
If no actions are available to undo, the menu dis- ing, you can arm and start recording with the fol-
plays a grayed out Can’t Undo. lowing keyboard shortcuts:
• Press F12 to start recording immediately.
Canceling a Record Take
On Mac systems, to use F12 for recording, the
While recording, it is possible to discard the cur- Mac “Dashboard” feature must be disabled or
rent record take. This removes the audio (recorded remapped. See your User Guide for details.
up to that point) from your hard drive and deletes
the clip from the track’s playlist and the Clips List. • Press Command+Spacebar (Mac) or Con-
When using Loop Record mode, all takes from trol+Spacebar (Windows) to start recording.
each record pass are discarded. Canceling record-
On Mac systems, to use Command+Spacebar
ing when in Destructive Record mode is prohib-
for recording, the Mac “Spotlight” feature
ited.
must be disabled or remapped. Refer to Apple’s
To cancel a record take while recording:
documentation for more information.

 Press Command+Period (.) (Mac) or • Press 3 on the numeric keypad (when the Nu-
Control+Period (.) (Windows) before the meric Keypad mode is set to Transport) to start
Transport is stopped. recording.

To initiate recording at half speed, press

Recording Multiple Audio Tracks Command+Shift+Spacebar (Mac) or
Pro Tools can record multiple audio tracks simul- Control+Shift+Spacebar (Windows). See
taneously, up to the track recording limits of your “Half-Speed Recording” on page 539.
system. To record to multiple tracks, configure and
record enable each track, then record. Follow the
same steps as in “Basic Recording Steps” on
page 521.

Chapter 24: Audio Recording 523

 • Select a range in a Timebase ruler.
Prime for Record Mode
• Drag the Timeline Selection Markers in the
When recording a large number of tracks or chan- ruler.
nels, or playing back a large number of tracks
• Enter start and end times in the Transport win-
while recording, Pro Tools may take a little longer
dow.
to begin recording. To avoid this delay, put
Pro Tools in Prime for Record mode before begin- • Recall a Memory Location that includes an Edit
ning to record. selection (with Options > Link Timeline and Edit
Selection enabled).
To enable Prime for Record mode and start
recording: To set the record range in a track’s playlist:

1 Click Record in the Transport. The Record but- 1 If you want to constrain the selection to the cur-
ton flashes. rent Grid value, set the Edit mode to Grid.

2 Do one of the following: 2 Select Options > Link Timeline and Edit Selec-
tion.
• Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) Play
in the Transport to put Pro Tools in Prime for 3 Do one of the following:
Record mode.
• With the Selector tool, select the record range in
• Right-click the Play button and select Prime for a track’s playlist.
Record.

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.

When synchronizing to timecode, use Prime

for Record mode to record or play back large
numbers of tracks. This decreases the time it Playlist selection
takes to lock to timecode.
• If a clip’s start and end points define the record
range, select the entire clip.

Setting Punch and Loop You can also enter a start and end point
Points during playback. Press the Down Arrow to
set the start point, and press the Up Arrow to
The start and end points of a record range for
set the end points. Note that when in Grid
punch and loop recording can be set by the follow-
mode, start and end point when entered in
ing methods:
this manner do not snap to the grid.
• Select a range in a track’s playlist (with
Options > Link Timeline and Edit Selection
enabled).

524 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To set the record range in a Timebase ruler: To set the record range by dragging the Timeline
Selection Markers:
1 If you want to constrain the selection to the cur-
rent Grid value, set the Edit mode to Grid. 1 If you want the Timeline Selection Markers to
snap to the current Grid value, set the Edit mode
2 Select the record range in any Timebase ruler. to Grid
2 Drag the first Timeline Selection Marker (down
arrow) to the start point of the range.

Timeline selection

If the Selector tool is not active, you do not

Dragging a Timeline Selection Marker (start time) in
need to manually select it. Other Edit tools
the Main Timebase ruler
(such as the Time Grabber tool) automati-
cally turn into the Selector tool when used in 3 Drag the second Timeline Selection Marker (up
Timebase rulers. arrow) to the end point of the range.

Timeline Selection Markers If the current record range is already the

right length and the range needs only to be
When tracks are record-enabled, Timeline Selec- moved to a new location, Option-drag (Mac)
tion Markers for start and end times appear as red or Alt-drag (Windows) either Timeline Selec-
up and down arrows in the Main Timebase ruler. If tion Marker to move both to a new location
no tracks are record-enabled, the Timeline Selec- (while keeping the same length).
tion Markers are blue.
Start, End, and Length Fields
In its Expanded view, the Transport window can
display start, end, and length times, and pre- and
post-roll settings. When setting a record or play
Timeline Selection Markers in the Main Timebase range, the range is reflected in these fields.
ruler

The Timeline Selection Markers can be moved, ei-

ther separately or at the same time, to set record
and play ranges.

Transport window with Start, End, and Length fields

displayed

Chapter 24: Audio Recording 525

 You can enter locations in the start and end fields To save an Edit selection with a Memory Location:
to set the record or play range. The Timeline Selec- 1 Ensure that Options > Link Timeline and Edit
tion Markers in the Main Timebase ruler are up- Selection is selected.
dated accordingly.
2 Set the record range by making an Edit or Time-
To set the record range by entering start and end line selection, or by entering start and end times
times in the Transport window: in the Transport window.
1 To see the start, end, and length times, do one of 3 To save the pre- and post-roll values, enable and
the following: set the pre- and post-roll amounts by entering
• Select View > Transport > Expanded. them in the Transport window, or by dragging
the Pre- and Post-Roll Flags in the ruler that
• Shift-click the Expand/Collapse “+” button in
represents the Main Time Scale (see “Setting
the Transport window.
Pre- and Post-Roll” on page 527).
2 Do one of the following:
4 Press Enter on the numeric keypad or click the
• In the Transport window, click in the Start field. Add Marker/Memory Location button in the
• Press Option+/ (Mac) or Alt+/ (Windows) on the Edit window.
numeric keypad to select the start field in the
5 In the New Memory Location dialog, set Time
Transport window.
Properties to Selection, and if saving pre- and
3 Type in the start location and press Option+/ post-roll values, select the Pre/Post Roll Times
(Mac) or Alt+/ (Windows) on the numeric key- option in the General Properties section.
pad to enter the value and automatically move
to the end field.
4 Type in the end location and press Enter to ac-
cept the value.

Use the Period (.) or Left/Right Arrow keys to

move through the different time fields for
Start and End. Use the Up/Down Arrow keys
to increase or decrease the numerical values.

Memory Locations
You can store Edit selections as Memory Loca-
tions, which can also include current pre- and post-
roll values.

For more information on Memory Locations,

see Chapter 39, “Memory Locations.”

New Memory Location dialog

526 Pro Tools Reference Guide

6 Type a name for the new Memory Location. Pre- and post-roll amounts can be entered in the
Transport window, set from a track’s playlist or
7 Click OK.
Timebase ruler, or by recalling a Memory Loca-
To recall an Edit selection with a Memory Location:
tion.

1 Make sure to select Options > Link Timeline and

Edit Selection. Setting Pre- and Post-Roll in the
Transport Window
2 Choose Windows > Memory Locations.
Pre- and post-roll can be enabled and set in the
Transport window.

To set and enable the pre- and post-roll times in

the Transport window:
1 Select View > Transport > Expanded.
2 In the Transport window, click in the pre-roll
field.
Memory Locations window 3 Type in the pre-roll amount and press Forward
Slash (/) on the numeric keypad to enter the
3 Do one of the following:
value and automatically move to the post-roll
• In the Memory Locations window, click the field.
name or number of the Memory Location.
4 Type in the post-roll amount and press Enter to
• Recall the Memory Location by typing Period
accept the new value.
(.), the Memory Location number, and Period (.)
again on the numeric keypad. (See “Numeric
Keypad Modes” on page 28).

The start and end times and pre- and post-roll set-
tings stored with the Memory Location are re- Pre-roll enabled for 2 beats; Post-roll disabled
called.
5 To enable either pre- or post-roll, click the ap-
propriate button so it is highlighted.
Setting Pre- and Post-Roll Use the Period (.) or Left/Right Arrow keys to
Pre- and post-roll times appear as flags in the ruler move through the different time fields for pre
that represents the Main Time Scale. When pre- and post-roll. Use the Up/Down Arrow keys
and post-roll are enabled, the flags are green, oth- to increase or decrease the numerical values.
erwise they are gray.

Green Pre- and Post-Roll Flags (enabled) in the Main

Timebase ruler

Chapter 24: Audio Recording 527

 Setting Pre- and Post-Roll in a Enabling Pre/Post-Roll from the
Playlist Options Menu
You can use the Selector tool to enable and disable Pre- and post-roll (as a pair) can be enabled and
pre- and post-roll by clicking in a track’s playlist. disabled from the Options menu.

To set and enable the pre- and post-roll by clicking To enable both pre/post-roll from the Options
in a playlist: menu:
1 Select Options > Link Timeline and Edit Selec-  Select Options > Pre/Post-Roll.
tion.

2 With the Selector tool, select the record range in Dragging Pre- and Post-Roll
the track’s playlist. Flags in the Timebase Ruler
3 With the Selector tool, Option-click (Mac) or The Pre- and Post-Roll Flags can be moved in the
Alt-click (Windows) in the track’s playlist be- Main Timebase ruler, either separately or at the
fore the selection to enable the pre-roll at that same time, to set their location.
location.
To set the pre- and post-roll amounts by dragging
4 With the Selector tool, Option-click (Mac) or in the Main Timebase ruler:
Alt-click (Windows) in the track’s playlist after 1 If you want the Pre- and Post-Roll flags to snap
the selection to enable the post-roll at that to the current Grid value, set the Edit mode to
location. Grid.
To disable the pre- and post-roll by clicking in a 2 Drag the Pre-Roll Flag to a new location in the
playlist: ruler.
1 With the Selector tool, Option-click (Mac) or
Alt-click (Windows) in the Edit selection near
the start to disable the pre-roll.
2 With the Selector tool, Option-click (Mac) or
Alt-click (Windows) in the Edit selection near Dragging a Pre-Roll Flag in a Timebase ruler
the end to disable the post-roll.
3 Drag the Post-Roll Flag to a new location in the
In the Timeline, you can reset the pre- and Timebase ruler.
post-roll to zero. First, drag the Pre-Roll
To set pre- and post-roll values to the same
Flag to the Timeline Selection In Point, then
amount, Option-drag (Mac) or Alt-drag
drag the Post-Roll Flag to the Timeline Se-
(Windows) either the Pre- or the Post-Roll
lection Out Point.
Flag in the ruler. The deselected flag will im-
3 Drag the Pre-Roll Flag to the Timeline mediately reset to the same value, and will
Selection In Point. adjust accordingly as you drag the
selected flag.
4 Drag the Post-Roll Flag to the Timeline
Selection Out Point.

528 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Audio Punch Recording Over Pre-roll flag Post-roll flag
a Specified Range Punch In Punch Out

You can set Pro Tools to automatically punch

record over a specific range in an audio track (for
example, to replace a portion of a recorded track).
The range’s start (punch in) and end (punch out)
points must be specified before recording.

To manually punch in and out on record-en-

abled audio tracks during playback, see
Chapter 26, “Punch Recording Modes.”

Though there are several ways to set record and

play ranges (see “Setting Punch and Loop Points” Pre-roll Post-roll
enabled enabled
on page 524), perhaps the easiest is to select within
the track’s playlist the range for recording. Timeline selection for punch recording with Pre-roll
and Post-roll
To set a record or play range by selecting To punch record on an audio track:
within a playlist, the Edit and Timeline selec-
tions must be linked (select Options > Link 1 Do one of the following:
Timeline and Edit Selection). • To record nondestructively, make sure that
Options > Destructive Record is not selected.
During the recording process, playback begins at
• If you do want to permanently record over the
the pre-roll time (if enabled) and proceeds to the
specified record range, select Options >
start time (the punch-in point), where recording
Destructive Record.
begins. When the end time (the punch-out point) is
reached, Pro Tools automatically switches out of If you are recording in any mode other than
Record mode and continues playing through the Destructive Record mode, punches do not
specified amount of post-roll. This automated permanently replace previously recorded
punch-in/out feature is a powerful and precise way material. If you do want to permanently
of recording or re-recording on a track. record over the specified record range (and
keep only the most recent take), select
Options > Destructive Record.

2 Record enable the track.

3 Select Options > Link Timeline and Edit
Selection.

Chapter 24: Audio Recording 529

 4 With the Selector tool, drag in the track’s play-
list or in one of the Timebase rulers until the se- Recording Additional Takes
lection encompasses the punch range (see After recording to an audio track, you can record
“Setting Punch and Loop Points” on page 524). additional takes to the same track. Any of these ad-
5 To hear any existing track material up to the ditional takes can be used in the main playlist. For
start point, or after the end point, enable and set information about accessing alternate takes, see
pre- and post-roll times (see “Setting Pre- and “Alternate Takes” on page 534.
Post-Roll” on page 527).
Recording additional takes in Destructive Record
6 Click Record in the Transport to arm Pro Tools mode overwrites previous take. To keep the audio
for recording. from previous takes, record the new takes in Nor-
mal (Nondestructive) Record mode.
7 Click Play to start recording.
For information on audio file and clip
Pro Tools starts recording from the punch-in (start)
names for new takes, see “Configuring
point. If there is any pre-roll, recording starts when
Default Names for Audio Files and Clips”
the punch-in (start) point is reached. Recording
on page 508.
continues until the punch-out (end) point is
reached (unless you manually stop recording first). To nondestructively record a new take on the same
If post-roll is enabled, playback continues for the track:
specified post-roll amount. 1 Ensure that Normal Record mode is selected
If recording nondestructively, a new audio file is (see “Record Modes” on page 505).
written to your hard drive and a new audio clip ap- 2 Record enable the track.
pears both in the track and the Clips List.
3 Do one of the following:
If recording in Destructive Record mode, the new • To record from the beginning of the session,
audio overwrites the previous material in the exist- click Return to Zero in the Transport.
ing audio file and clip.
• If Options > Link Timeline and Edit Selection is
Monitoring during Punch-Ins enabled, click anywhere in the track’s playlist to
begin recording from that point.
Pro Tools provides two monitoring modes for re-
cording: Auto Input monitoring and Input Only To record a specific track range, with precise
monitoring (see “Selecting a Record Input Moni- start and end points, see “Audio Punch Re-
toring Mode” on page 515). cording Over a Specified Range” on
page 529.

4 Click Record in the Transport to arm Pro Tools

for recording.
5 Click Play to start recording.
6 Click Stop to stop recording.

530 Pro Tools Reference Guide

An audio file for the new take is written to disk and The audio for the new take is written to disk, per-
appears as an audio clip both in the track’s playlist manently overwriting the original. The new mate-
and in the Clips List. rial replaces the original material within the exist-
ing clip and the clip is not renamed.
The audio from the original take remains on your
hard drive, and is still available as a clip in the
Clips List. Appending New Material to the
End of a Track
To destructively record over a previous take: You can also append new material to the end of a
1 Do one of the following: track.
• Select Options > Destructive Record. When in
To append new material to the end of a track:
Destructive Record mode.
1 Do one of the following:
• Right-click the Record button in the Transport
and select Destructive. • Click the Go to End button in the Transport to lo-
cate to the end of the track (this locates the end
A “D” appears in the Record button. of the session).
• Tab to the end point of the last clip on the track.
2 From there, begin recording.

Pro Tools adds the new material to the end of the

Destructive Record mode enabled
track. If using Destructive Record mode, the new
2 Record enable the track. audio is appended to the audio file and clip from
the first take. In Nondestructive Record mode, a
3 Do one of the following:
new file and clip are created.
• To record from the beginning of the track, click
Return to Zero in the Transport.
Recording to a New Playlist
• If Options > Link Timeline and Edit Selection is
enabled, click anywhere in the track’s playlist to Instead of recording over existing audio clips,
begin recording from that point. there is another way to nondestructively record
new takes to the same track. Do this by creating a
To record a specific track range, with precise new playlist for the track, then record just as be-
start and end points, see “Audio Punch Record- fore.
ing Over a Specified Range” on page 529.
Tracks can have multiple edit playlists, each of
4 Click Record in the Transport to arm Pro Tools which stores a list of clips strung together in a par-
for recording. ticular order. Also, since playlists follow groups,
duplicating or selecting alternate playlists for a
5 Click Play to start recording. track in an enabled group will affect all tracks in
6 When finished, click Stop to stop recording. the group.

Chapter 24: Audio Recording 531

 To record to a new playlist for a track:
Loop Recording Audio
1 From the track’s Playlist selector, choose New.
Pro Tools provides a loop recording feature that
lets you record take after take while the same sec-
tion of audio repeats over and over. This is a con-
venient technique for quickly recording multiple
takes of a part without losing spontaneity.

When loop recording, you must first specify the

start and end points for the loop. Though there are
several ways to set record and play ranges (see
“Setting Punch and Loop Points” on page 524), the
easiest is to select the range to be looped in the
track’s playlist (ensure that Options > Link Time-
Playlist selector, creating new playlist
line and Edit Selection is selected).
2 Type a name for the new playlist.
The pre-roll setting, if enabled, is used only during
3 Click OK. the first record pass. Pre- and post-roll times are ig-
nored on each successive loop. To compensate for
When a new playlist is created, its name replaces
this, you may want to make the loop range slightly
the track name. Names for new audio files and
longer. Later, you can trim back the recorded takes
clips are based on the track name.
to the proper length with the Trim tool (see “Using
4 Record enable the track. the Trim Tools” on page 612).
5 To start from the beginning of the session, click When loop recording audio, Pro Tools creates a
Return to Zero in the Transport. single audio file that includes all takes. Takes ap-
6 Click Record in the Transport to arm Pro Tools pear as individual clips in the Clips List and are
for recording. numbered sequentially. Once you stop recording,
you can audition any of the recorded takes.
7 Click Play to start recording.
To use alternate takes created with Loop
8 Click Stop to stop recording.
Record in other sessions (such as when us-
An audio file for the new take is written to disk and ing Import Session Data), export clip defi-
appears as an audio clip both in the track’s new nitions (see “Exporting Clip Definitions”
playlist and in the Clips List. on page 416). If clip definitions are not ex-
ported, alternate takes created with Loop
Selecting a previous playlist from track’s Playlist Record will be inaccessible when im-
selector recalls its clips as they previously ap- ported into another session.
peared in the track. At any time, all clips from all
playlists are available in the Clips List, and can be
mixed and matched between playlists and tracks.

For more information on playlists and play-

list editing, see “Playlists” on page 691.

532 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To loop record an audio track: If you stop recording before you reach the mid-
1 Do one of the following: point of the loop, Pro Tools discards that take. If
you record more than half of the looped take,
• Select Options > Loop Record. When Loop Re-
Pro Tools leaves the take in the track when you
cord mode is enabled, a loop symbol appears in
stop recording.
the Record button.
• Right-click the Record button in the Transport The recorded takes appear as clips in the Clips List
and select Loop. and are numbered sequentially. The most recently
recorded take appears in the active playlist on the
track. For details on auditioning the different takes,
see “Selecting Alternate Takes” on page 534.

Loop Playback and Audio Recording

Loop Recording enabled
Pro Tools ignores Loop Playback when recording.
2 Record enable the audio track by clicking its
The only way to loop while recording is to enable
Record Enable button.
Loop Record mode.
3 Select Options > Link Timeline and Edit Selec-
tion.
Automatically Create New
4 With the Selector tool, select the loop range on Playlists When Loop Recording
the track. For other methods of setting the re- When loop recording, Pro Tools creates a single
cord range, see “Setting Punch and Loop file containing all recording passes where each re-
Points” on page 524. cording pass is a clip in the file. On the track, only
5 To hear track material up to the start point of the the last recording pass is present as a clip in the
loop, enable pre-roll and set the pre-roll time main playlist. All other clips (recording passes) are
(see “Setting Pre- and Post-Roll” on page 527). hidden and can only be recalled as matching alter-
nate clips (takes). When enabled, the new Auto-
6 Click Record in the Transport to arm Pro Tools matically Create New Playlists When Loop Record-
for recording. ing option in the Operation Preferences page
7 Click Play to start recording. automatically copies each clip (take) to a new play-
list in the track. This facilitates using Playlists
The Record button flashes during the pre-roll. view for auditioning and selecting alternate takes.
When the start point is reached, Pro Tools begins
recording. When the end point is reached, To automatically create new playlists when loop
Pro Tools loops back to the start time and contin- recording:
ues recording. 1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click the Op-
eration tab.
8 To cancel all recorded takes while loop record-
ing, press Command+Period (.) (Mac) or Con- 2 In the Recording section, enable the Automati-
trol+Period (.) (Windows). cally Create New Playlists When Loop Record-
ing option.
9 When finished, click Stop to stop recording.

Chapter 24: Audio Recording 533

 To select an alternate take:
Alternate Takes
1 Ensure that Track ID (or Track Name) is se-
When punch recording or loop recording, lected and that Clip Start is selected in the
Pro Tools creates matching alternate takes (clips). Matching Criteria window (see “Matching Cri-
Pro Tools lets you exchange clips in the main play- teria Window” on page 535).
list on tracks with matching alternate clips from
2 Do one of the following:
other playlists associated with the same track, from
other tracks, or from the Clips List. Matching alter- • Right-click the clip with the Selector or the
nate clips are clips that meet certain criteria, for ex- Grabber tool, and select a matching alternate
ample, clips that have the same User Time Stamp take from the Matches submenu in the pop-up
match (see “Matching Alternate Clips” on menu.
page 704).

Selecting Alternate Takes

After recording multiple takes with loop or punch
recording, you can replace the current take in the
track’s active playlist with any of the previous
takes. All takes are numbered sequentially.

Selecting Alternate Takes from the

Clips List

To select a take from the Clips List:

1 In the Edit window, select the current clip (take)

with the Time Grabber tool.
2 Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) Right-click Matches submenu
different clips in the Clips List to audition them.
• If the take currently residing in the track is se-
3 Control-drag (Mac) or Start-drag (Windows) lected, Command-click (Mac) or Control-click
the clip you want from the Clips List into the (Windows) anywhere on the selected take with
playlist. the Selector tool, and select a different take from
the Alternate Takes pop-up menu.
The clip replaces the previous take and snaps pre-
cisely to the correct location. • With the Selector tool, Command-click (Mac) or
Control-click (Windows) at the precise begin-
Selecting Alternate Takes on a Track ning of the loop or punch range and select a dif-
ferent take from the Alternate Takes pop-up
Each clip resulting from a punch or loop record menu.
pass has an identical start time (the User Time
Stamp). You can select and audition alternate takes To cycle through matches for the selected clip,
from the Right-click Matches submenu or the Al- press Command+Option+Up/Down Arrows
ternate Takes pop-up menu—even during play- (Mac) or Control+Alt+Up/Down Arrows
back. (Windows).

534 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 2 With the Selector tool, select the take range for
each track you want to replace.
3 Do one of the following:
• Right-click the Edit selection and select a differ-
ent matching alternate take from the Matches
submenu.
• Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win-
dows) the Edit selection and select a different
take from the Alternates pop-up menu.

The selected take replaces the previous take and

Alternate Takes pop-up menu
snaps precisely to the correct location on each
track.
The selected matching alternate clip (take) re-
places the clip in the main playlist and snaps pre-
Matching Criteria Window
cisely to the correct location.
The Matching Criteria window lets you select the
One way to ensure that subsequent recording takes criteria for matching alternate clips. This lets you
have the same User Time Stamp (and as such can refine the list of available matching clips in the Al-
be available as matching alternate clips) is to store ternate Takes pop-up menu and Clip Right-click
punch and loop record selections as Memory Loca- Matches submenu.
tions. Then, if you later need to record additional
takes, recall the corresponding Memory Location.

To change the User Time Stamp of other clips so

that they can be available as alternate matching
clips for a specific location, use the Time Stamp
command in the Clips List menu.

Matches and Multiple Tracks

If you have loop recorded on multiple tracks, and
each track contains multiple takes with identical
User Time Stamps, you can change all takes simul-
taneously.
Matching Criteria window
To switch takes for multiple tracks:
1 Configure the Matching Criteria window (see Matching Criteria affects MIDI as well as
“Matching Criteria Window” on page 535), so audio clips.
that the following options are enabled:
• Track Name
• Selection Range

Chapter 24: Audio Recording 535

 Alternates Match Options Expanding Alternate Takes to
New Playlists or Tracks
The following Alternates Match options can be se-
lected in any combination: Pro Tools lets you copy alternate takes to new
playlists or tracks. This is especially useful for au-
Track ID Any clips recorded to the same track are ditioning, editing, and mixing multiple alternate
considered matching. Use this option for selecting takes or channels. Alternate takes are created when
alternate takes from loop or punch recording. punch and loop recording.
Track Name Any clips that share the same root
Expanding Alternate Takes to New
name with the track or playlist are considered
Playlists
matching. For example, the Matches for a track
named “Gtr.L” would show the clips “Gtr.L_01” Expanding alternate takes to new playlists readily
and “Gtr.L_02-01,” but not “Guitar.L_01.” facilitates track compositing. Once you have ex-
panded alternate takes to new playlists on a track,
Clip Rating Any clips that have the same Rating
you can audition and edit them in Playlists view to
are considered matching. Enable this option if you
assemble the best takes in the main playlist.
have rated clips (see “Rating Clips” on page 667).
To expand alternate takes to new playlists:
In Addition To Match Options
1 Identify the clip on the main playlist with
The following In Addition To Match options are matching alternate clips (takes).
mutually exclusive.
2 Do one of the following:
All Any clips that include the time location of the
• Right-click the clip and choose Matches >
Edit cursor; or any clips that are either partly or
Expand Alternates To New Playlists.
fully within the current time range of the Edit se-
lection. • If the clip is selected, with the Selector tool,
Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win-
Clip Start Any clips that have the same start time dows) anywhere on the selected clip and choose
as the time location of the Edit cursor or Edit selec- Matches > Expand Alternates To New Playlists.
tion.
• If the clip is not selected, with the Selector tool,
Clip Start and End Any clips that have the same Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win-
start and end times as the Edit selection. dows) at the precise beginning of the loop or
punch range and choose Matches >
Within Selection Any complete clips that are en- Expand Alternates To New Playlists.
tirely within the Edit selection.
All matching alternate clips are copied to new
None No other criteria in addition to the selected
playlists on the track. To view all playlists for the
Alternates Match options are used to filter match- track, select Playlists view. In any track view, you
ing alternate clips. can also select any available alternate playlist as
the main playlist from the Playlist selector. For
more information, see “Playlists View” on
page 697.

536 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Expanding Alternate Takes to New
Tracks Recording from a Digital
Source
Expanding alternate takes to new tracks readily fa-
cilitates auditioning, editing, and mixing alternate If you plan to use a DAT player, digital-output CD
takes, each on separate tracks. recorder, or other digital device with your
Pro Tools system, make sure it supports the correct
To expand alternate takes to new tracks: digital format. For example, your Pro Tools audio
interface’s AES/EBU inputs and outputs should
1 Identify the clip on the main playlist with
only be connected to another AES/EBU device.
matching alternate clips (takes).
2 Do one of the following: For additional information on configuring
your particular Pro Tools system for record-
• Right-click the clip and choose Matches >
ing from a digital source, see your User
Expand Alternates To New Tracks.
Guide.
• If the clip is selected, with the Selector tool,
Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win- Pro Tools HD Audio Interface
dows) anywhere on the selected clip and choose Digital Options
Matches > Expand Alternates To New Tracks.
HD I/O and HD OMNI include AES/EBU,
• If the clip is not selected, with the Selector tool, S/PDIF, and ADAT digital options. Additionally,
Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win- the HD I/O with a Digital Expansion card includes
dows) at the precise beginning of the loop or TDIF digital I/O options.
punch range and choose Matches >
Expand Alternates To New Tracks. HD MADI includes both optical and coaxial
MADI I/O (for more information, see the
3 Then choose one of the following from the Ex-
HD MADI Guide).
pand Alternates To New Tracks sub-menu:
Pro Tools | MTRX includes built-in AES3 and
By Track Name Names all new tracks after the
MADI coaxial digital interfaces. Additionally, you
source track name.
can install optional digital I/O expansion cards for
By Clip Name Names each new tracks after the AES3 I/O, Dual SDI/HD/3G, and Dual MADI I/O,
corresponding original clip names that you see in and a 64-Channel IP Audio Dante module.
the Matches list.
On HD I/O and HD OMNI, Pro Tools can receive
By Track and Clip Name Names all new tracks af- digital audio from the factory-installed Optical
ter the source track name, but with the correspond- (ADAT) I/O at any time (if it is not set to S/PDIF).
ing original clip names in parenthesis. However, Pro Tools can only receive digital audio
from one of its enclosure [Encl] digital sources—
All matching alternate clips are copied to new AES/EBU, S/PDIF, or Optical (S/PDIF)—at a
tracks. time.

Chapter 24: Audio Recording 537

 Enclosure digital sources come standard with Avid Recording from Digital Sources
HD audio interfaces and are labeled on-screen as
[Encl] versions, to differentiate them from digital To record from a digital source with Pro Tools:
inputs and outputs available on the Digital card in- 1 Connect the digital output of the recording
stalled in HD I/O. For example, the AES/EBU in- source to the appropriate digital input of your
puts and outputs that come standard in the HD I/O audio hardware.
enclosure are identified as AES/EBU [Encl].
2 If you want to start a new session with a differ-
The additional digital ports on the HD I/O are ent sample rate, do the following:
TDIF, AES/EBU, and ADAT. Pro Tools can only • Choose File > New Session
receive digital audio from one of these ports at a
• Select the sample rate.
time.
• Configure the rest of the New Session dialog
Inputs on the HD I/O enclosure I/O and Digital accordingly.
card can be used simultaneously. For example, on
• Click Save.
an HD I/O, it is possible to clock off a source from
one of the enclosure inputs and have another digi- 3 Specify the format (digital) of the inputs of the
tal input from the digital ports doing a sample rate audio interface to which the digital recording
conversion, thus having two digital sources. source is connected:
• Choose Setup > Hardware.
Pro Tools Audio Interface Digital • Choose the audio interface.
Options
• Select the digital format for the appropriate
003, 003 Rack, and 003 Rack+ include S/PDIF channel pair (such as AES/EBU or S/PDIF).
and ADAT digital I/O.
Some Pro Tools audio interfaces only have
Eleven Rack includes S/PDIF and AES/EBU
two channels that can be set for analog or
digital I/O.
digital. For example, Mbox (3rd generation)
Mbox (3rd generation) include only the S/PDIF has S/PDIF L–R (Stereo) digital inputs and In
digital option. 1–2 analog inputs. Mbox (3rd generation)
can record through analog and digital inputs
All digital outputs are active at all times, so you simultaneously.
can actually send digital audio to different digital
devices simultaneously at mix time. 4 For Pro Tools Ultimate, select the appropriate
Clock Source in the Session Setup window or
Hardware Setup dialog.
5 Create a new stereo audio track.

538 Pro Tools Reference Guide

6 Assign the Input Path selector for the track to
the appropriate input. Since this is a digital Half-Speed Recording
transfer, you do not need to worry about input Pro Tools lets you play and record at half speed.
levels. This capability is similar to that of a tape deck
7 Assign the Output Path selector for the track to where you can record material at half-speed and
the appropriate output for monitoring (such as then play it back at normal speed (faster and up an
A 1–2). octave), or record material at normal speed and
play it back at half speed (slower and down an oc-
8 In the Options menu, ensure that the following tave), for special effects.
options are deselected: Destructive Record,
Loop Record, QuickPunch, TrackPunch, and Use half-speed recording to record difficult-to-
DestructivePunch. play MIDI tracks or to record complex automation
moves.
9 To have recording start from the beginning of
the session, click Return to Zero in the Trans- To record at half speed:
port.
1 Record enable the tracks you want to record at
10 Record enable the new audio track. half speed.
11 Click Record in the Transport to arm Pro Tools 2 Click Record in the Transport to arm Pro Tools
for recording. for recording.
12 Click Play to start recording. 3 Press Command+Shift+Spacebar (Mac) or
Control+Shift+Spacebar (Windows). Record-
13 Start playback on the recording source.
ing begins and all existing track material plays
14 When the material from the source has finished, at half speed.
click Stop in the Transport.
4 When you have finished recording, click Stop.
15 Stop playback on the recording source.
For information on Half-Speed Playback, see
After a Digital Transfer “Half-Speed Playback Mode” on page 488.
(HDX or HD Native Systems Only)

After you have finished recording digitally, set the

Clock Source pop-up menu in the Session Setup
window back to Internal. Otherwise, Pro Tools
will not switch back to its own internal clock and
may not record or play audio properly. Failure to
switch back to Internal synchronization typically
results in pitch problems (fast or slow playback),
clicks and pops, or AAE errors, since a DAT ma-
chine or CD Recorder that is idle can default to a
different sample rate or stop outputting a sample
rate clock altogether.

Chapter 24: Audio Recording 539

540 Pro Tools Reference Guide
Chapter 25: MIDI Recording

Although recording MIDI in Pro Tools is similar

to recording audio, there are some important dif- Recording from MIDI Devices
ferences: The MIDI Inputs for record-enabled MIDI and
 Unlike audio, MIDI recording is almost always Instrument tracks determine what MIDI data is
destructive. See “Record Modes and MIDI” on recorded in Pro Tools. MIDI Inputs can be set to a
page 507 for details. specific device (port) and channel, or they can be
set to All, where all channels for all devices are
 Unlike audio tracks, MIDI and Instrument merged to the track.
tracks can be record-enabled during playback or
recording. MIDI and Instrument tracks in Pro Tools do not
contain multiple channels and always play back on
 MIDI and Instrument tracks have an Input
the track’s assigned MIDI output device and chan-
selector that determines which port on your MIDI
nel. Multiple MIDI devices and channels can be si-
interface (devices) and which MIDI channel is
multaneously recorded to multiple tracks.
routed and recorded to the track. If the MIDI Input
selector is set to All, all channels for all devices are The following Pro Tools options determine
routed to the track. whether you can record from a MIDI controller
(such as a MIDI keyboard or drum pad):
 Similar to Auxiliary Inputs, Instrument 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 542.
Destructive Record mode.

Chapter 25: MIDI Recording 541

 In addition, the following options affect how MIDI To enable input devices:
data is recorded in Pro Tools: 1 Choose Setup > MIDI > Input Devices.
 The MIDI Input Filter can filter out MIDI mes- 2 Select the MIDI devices you want to record.
sages that you may not want to record, such as Also, select any device to be used as a control
Polyphonic Aftertouch or System Exclusive data. surface.
For more information, see “MIDI Input Filter” on
page 544. 3 Deselect any input devices you want to ignore
while recording MIDI.
 Input Quantize, when enabled, automatically
quantizes (time corrects) all MIDI notes that are re-
corded. For more information, see “Input Quan-
tize” on page 544.

Enabling Input Devices

To record from a MIDI device (such as a MIDI
keyboard) in Pro Tools, the device must be en-
abled in the MIDI Input Enable dialog. You can
also use this dialog to make sure unwanted notes
from certain devices, such as drum machines or ar-
peggiators, are not recorded.

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 1283. 4 Click OK.

542 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 The Default Thru Instrument
MIDI Thru
In addition to any MIDI tracks that are record-en-
To monitor MIDI tracks while recording, enable abled, you can also route MIDI to the Default Thru
MIDI Thru. When enabled, Pro Tools routes MIDI Instrument. This saves the extra steps of creating a
from your controllers to the device and channels MIDI track and record enabling it to hear a partic-
assigned to the currently record-enabled MIDI ular MIDI device and channel.
track.
Unlike MIDI tracks, which only receive MIDI
The MIDI preference for Global MIDI from the device and channel assigned to its MIDI
Playback Offset and individual MIDI track Input selector, all incoming MIDI data is routed to
offsets do not affect MIDI routed with the Default Thru Instrument.
MIDI Thru.
If the Default Thru Instrument is assigned to a re-
cord-enabled MIDI track, Pro Tools only routes
When MIDI Thru is enabled, System Ex-
incoming MIDI to the record-enabled track.
clusive (Sysex) events are echoed to the
MIDI device assigned to the record-en- To configure a default Thru instrument:
abled track—but only if the Sysex events
1 Choose Setup > Preferences.
are smaller than 256 bytes.
2 Click the MIDI tab.
To enable MIDI Thru:
3 Do one of the following:
 Select Options > MIDI Thru.
• Select a specific device from the Default Thru In-
When using MIDI Thru, you should disable strument pop-up menu to play MIDI through on
Local Control, if present, on your MIDI that device by default.
devices. Otherwise, your MIDI device may
• Select Follows First Selected MIDI Track to have
receive double MIDI notes, which can lead to
MIDI preview assignment follow MIDI track se-
stuck notes. If you are unsure how to disable
lection. When multiple MIDI tracks are selected,
Local Control for your instrument, see the
previewing uses the topmost MIDI track in the
manufacturer’s documentation.
Edit window or the leftmost MIDI track in the
Mix window.
• To disable the Default Thru Instrument, select
None.

The Default Thru Follows First Selected

MIDI Track Selection option also lets you
play an instrument without having to create
and record-enable a MIDI or Instrument
track.

Chapter 25: MIDI Recording 543

 MIDI Input Filter Input Quantize
Use the MIDI Input Filter to prevent certain types When Input Quantize is enabled in the Input Quan-
of MIDI messages from being recorded. The MIDI tize Event Operations dialog (Event > Event Oper-
Input Filter can be set to record All messages, Only ations > Input Quantize), all recorded MIDI notes
the specified messages, or All are quantized automatically. Quantizing MIDI on
Except the specified messages. input is useful for achieving rhythmically precise
MIDI recordings. However, to preserve all of the
For example, to filter out program changes: original nuance of your recorded MIDI tracks
1 Choose Setup > MIDI > Input Filter. (such as rubato phrasing), disable this option.

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 1027.
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).

Wait for Note can be used when recording nor-

mally, when punching in, or when loop recording.
If pre-roll is enabled, it occurs after the MIDI event
is received and before recording begins.

Wait for Note and Countoff are mutually ex-

MIDI Input Filter dialog clusive and cannot both be enabled at the
same time. If, for instance, Countoff is
4 Click OK.
enabled and you click the Wait for Note
When using the All Except option, the selected button, Countoff is disabled. Furthermore,
types of MIDI messages are not recorded. Con- Wait for Note starts recording immediately,
versely, when using the Only option, only the se- ignoring any specified Pre-roll.
lected types of MIDI messages are recorded.

544 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To enable Wait for Note: The MIDI Merge button can be turned on and off
1 To view the MIDI controls in the Transport win- during playback and recording. In Loop Record
dow, select View > Transport > MIDI Controls. mode, MIDI Merge has no effect, and the button is
dimmed.

To enable MIDI Merge with a keyboard

shortcut, set the Numeric Keypad mode to
Transport, and press the 9 key on the nu-
meric keypad.
Transport window with MIDI Controls
You can also paste and merge MIDI notes us-
2 In the Transport window, click the Wait for Note
ing Paste Special commands. See “Special
button so it becomes highlighted.
Paste Function for Automation Data” on
page 1160.

To enable MIDI Merge:

1 To view the MIDI controls in the Transport win-
dow, select View > Transport > MIDI Controls.
2 In the Transport window, click the MIDI Merge
button so it becomes highlighted.
Wait for Note button, enabled

With the Operation preference for “Use

F11 for Wait for Note” enabled, you can
press F11 to turn on Wait for Note. (On
Mac systems, the Mac “Desktop” keyboard
shortcut must be disabled or remapped.)
MIDI Merge button, enabled

MIDI Merge/Replace MIDI Merge Release Mode

The MIDI Merge button, located in the Transport MIDI Merge Release mode provides three options
window, determines how MIDI is recorded when for how Pro Tools writes MIDI Continuous Con-
overdubbing or punching in. When MIDI Merge is troller (CC) automation when recording MIDI in
on (Merge mode), recorded MIDI is merged with MIDI Merge mode. These options determine how
existing track material. When MIDI Merge is off MIDI CC data (such as the Sustain Pedal: MIDI
(Replace mode), existing data within the punched CC 64) is written. Select the desired MIDI Merge
clip is replaced by the newly recorded material. Release Mode option in the Pro Tools MIDI Pref-
erences or from the Right-click menu on the MIDI
Merge button.

Chapter 25: MIDI Recording 545

 To set the MIDI Merge Release mode:
1 Do one of the following:
• Right-click the MIDI Merge button.
• Choose Settings > Preferences > MIDI.
2 Select the best option for your workflow:

Latch Continues writing the last value. Any exist-

ing events are overwritten until you stop recording.

Latch Until Next Event Continues writing the last MIDI track Input selector
value until the next event even if you are still re-
cording.

Touch Immediately stops writing any new values

(only use this mode to add pedal-based control
data, not to modify existing data).

Configuring MIDI or Instrument track MIDI Input selector

Instrument Tracks for
Recording 4 From the MIDI Output selector, select the de-
vice and channel for MIDI playback.
To configure one or more MIDI or Instrument
tracks for recording:

1 Create a new MIDI or Instrument track, or use

an existing MIDI or Instrument track.
2 For Instrument tracks, select View > Mix
Window > Instruments or View > Edit Window >
Instruments.

3 From the track’s MIDI Input selector, select the

device and channel to be recorded. (For Instru- MIDI track Output selector
ment tracks, the MIDI Input selector is available
in Instruments view.)

Instrument track MIDI Input selector

546 Pro Tools Reference Guide

5 To assign multiple destinations to a single MIDI 13 Record enable the MIDI or Instrument track by
or Instrument track, Control-click (Mac) or clicking its Record Enable button.
Start-click (Windows) the MIDI Output selector
and select additional channels from any device. To record enable additional MIDI and
When multiple destinations are selected for a Instrument tracks, Shift-click their Record
single MIDI track, a plus sign (“+”) appears Enable buttons.
next to the first destination name in the track’s
14 Make sure that Options > MIDI Thru is selected,
MIDI Output selector.
then play your MIDI controller. The MIDI de-
6 To assign a default program change to the track, vice or instrument plug-in assigned to the
do the following: track’s MIDI Output sounds, and the track’s me-
• Click the Patch Select button. ters register MIDI activity (note velocity).

• Make the necessary selections for program and You are now ready to record MIDI data to the re-
bank select. cord-enabled MIDI and Instrument tracks.
• Click Done.
To monitor audio from an external MIDI in-
Default program changes are sent whenever strument, select the corresponding audio In-
the track is played. For more information, put Path for your MIDI instrument on the In-
see “Patch Select (Program and Bank strument track (or use an Auxiliary Input
Changes)” on page 772. track). See “Signal Routing for Monitoring
and Submixing” on page 1074.
7 If recording to multiple MIDI or Instrument
tracks, repeat the preceding steps for each track,
then continue to the next step. Recording MIDI and
Instrument Tracks
8 To use a click, enable and configure the click,
and set a default tempo and meter for the ses- In Pro Tools, you can record one or more MIDI
sion (see “Recording with a Click” on and Instrument tracks (up to 32 in any combination
page 500). simultaneously). Recording simultaneously to
multiple tracks lets you:
9 Enable either Wait for Note or Countoff in the
Transport window. • Record from multiple MIDI devices at the same
time, such as when recording several perform-
10 To replace existing track material, disable MIDI ers.
Merge in the Transport window (see “MIDI
• Record multiple channels from the same device,
Merge/Replace” on page 545).
such as recording from a split keyboard.
11 To automatically quantize material as it is
• Transfer MIDI tracks from an external MIDI se-
recorded, enable Input Quantize (Event > Event
quencer.
Operations > Input Quantize). See “Input Quan-
tize” on page 544.
12 To start recording from the beginning of the ses-
sion, click Return to Zero in the Transport.

Chapter 25: MIDI Recording 547

 To take full advantage of the MIDI editing ca- To optimize workflow efficiency, no more
pabilities in Pro Tools, make sure to record than any combination of up to 32 MIDI and
tick-based MIDI tracks with a click. This en- Instrument tracks can be record-enabled at
sures that recorded data aligns with the ses- the same time.
sion’s bar and beat boundaries. You can also
record to sample-based MIDI tracks without 3 Ensure that Normal Record mode is selected
a click and derive the tempo and meter from (see “Record Modes” on page 505).
the performance. 4 Click Record in the Transport to arm Pro Tools
for recording (Record Ready mode). The Track
To record audio from a MIDI instrument or Record Enabled indicator lights red.
instrument plug-in, bus the audio output of
the Instrument or Auxiliary Input track that is
monitoring the instrument to an audio track.
Record enable the audio track and start re-
cording. See “Recording Audio from a MIDI Record button in Record Ready mode
Instrument” on page 557.
5 Do one of the following:
To record to one or more MIDI or Instrument • Click Play to start recording. If using Countoff,
tracks:
Pro Tools counts off the specified number of
1 Configure a MIDI or Instrument track for re- measures and then begins recording.
cording (see “Configuring MIDI or Instrument
• If Wait for Note is enabled, do not click the Play
Tracks for Recording” on page 546).
button; recording will begin automatically as
2 Ensure that the track to which you want to re- soon as you start playing (when a MIDI event is
cord is record enabled. received).

To record enable additional MIDI and 6 Play your MIDI controller.

Instrument tracks, Shift-click their Record
Enable buttons.

To move record enable from the current

MIDI or Instrument track (containing the
current Edit selection) to the previous MIDI
or Instrument track, press Command Up Ar-
row (Mac) or Control+Up Arrow (Win-
dows).
To move record enable from the current
MIDI or Instrument track (containing the
current Edit selection) to the next MIDI or In-
strument track, press Command Down Arrow Recording progress indicated on an Instrument track
(Mac) or Control+Down Arrow (Windows).
7 When you are finished playing, click Stop in the
Transport to stop recording.

548 Pro Tools Reference Guide

For each record-enabled track, a new MIDI clip is MIDI Clips Are Created on
created and appears both in the playlist and in the Barlines
Clips List.
When recording MIDI, or when manually entering
Press F12 to start recording immediately. MIDI notes, the beginning and ending of MIDI
You can also press Command+Spacebar clips are created on bar boundaries. This greatly fa-
(Mac) or Control+Spacebar (Windows) to cilitates arranging MIDI clips in a musically mean-
start recording. For more information, see ingful way, in whole bar lengths.
“Recording Shortcuts” on page 523.
The beginning of a recorded MIDI clip always
starts on the barline immediately before the first
MIDI note (Note On) of the clip. Likewise, the
MIDI clip ends on the barline immediately follow-
ing the last note (Note Off) of the clip. The result-
ing clip contains all MIDI data recorded.

1. Start recording

2. Recording

3. Recorded

Recorded MIDI clip fits to nearest whole bars based on first and last recorded MIDI events

Chapter 25: MIDI Recording 549

 Recording Over Existing MIDI Undoing MIDI Recording
Clips
You can undo previous MIDI record takes.
Unlike audio clips, existing MIDI clips are never
overwritten even though MIDI data within clips To undo a MIDI recording:
can be overwritten. When MIDI Merge mode is  Once the Transport has been stopped, choose
disabled and recording MIDI on a track with exist- Edit > Undo MIDI Recording.
ing clips, newly recorded MIDI data overwrites
existing MIDI data within existing clips, but the The track’s playlist is restored to its previous state.
existing clip boundaries remain. New MIDI clips However, the following conditions apply:
are only created to fill the gaps between existing • If you punched in and out several times before
MIDI clip boundaries. Typically, new MIDI clips stopping the Transport, only the last punch is un-
are always created on barlines. However, if exist- done.
ing clip boundaries are not on barlines, newly cre-
ated clips are bound by the existing clips. • When using Loop Record mode, all takes from
each record pass are discarded.
It is possible to have the Note On of a MIDI
note be in one MIDI clip, and its Note Off be Canceling a Record Take
in a subsequent MIDI clip. It is also possible
to have the clip end before the Note Off, It is also possible to discard the current record take
resulting in notes that extend beyond the clip before the Transport is stopped.
boundary. However, Note Ons can never pre-
To cancel a take while recording:
cede the beginning of a clip.
 Press Command+Period (.) (Mac) or
Playing Back Recorded MIDI Control+Period (.) (Windows) before the
Transport is stopped.
To play back recorded MIDI and Instrument tracks:
When in Loop Record mode, all takes from each
1 To start from the beginning of the session, click
record pass are discarded.
Return to Zero in the Transport.
2 Click Play in the Transport to begin playback.

The recorded MIDI data plays back through each MIDI Input Display
track’s assigned Output device (port) and channel. The MIDI Input display in the Edit window toolbar
shows chord names as they are received by MIDI
To monitor audio from an external MIDI in-
and Instrument tracks.You can use this display to
strument, select the corresponding audio In-
ensure that you are playing the right chords for
put Path for your MIDI instrument on the In-
your music when recording MIDI.
strument track (or use an Auxiliary Input
track). See “Signal Routing for Monitoring The MIDI Input Display can also be shown in
and Submixing” on page 1074. MIDI Editor windows, see “MIDI Input Dis-
play” on page 791.

550 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To show (or hide) the MIDI Input display in the Edit To punch in on a MIDI or Instrument track:
window, do one of the following:
1 Configure a MIDI or Instrument track for re-
• Select (or deselect) View > Other Displays > cording (see “Configuring MIDI or Instrument
MIDI Input Display. Tracks for Recording” on page 546).
• Click the Edit Window Toolbar menu and select
2 Ensure that Normal Record mode is selected
(or deselect) MIDI Input Display.
(see “Record Modes” on page 505).
3 In the Transport window, disable Wait for Note
and Countoff.
4 Select Options > Link Timeline and Edit
Selection.

Editor Window toolbar, MIDI Input Display shows that 5 With the Selector tool, select the punch range in
a G augmented chord is received at an Instrument or the track’s playlist.
MIDI track input
For other methods of setting the record
range, see “Setting Punch and Loop Points”
MIDI Punch Recording Over a on page 524.
Specified Range
6 To hear existing track material up to the start
You can set Pro Tools to automatically punch re- point, or after the end point, enable and set pre-
cord over a specific range in a MIDI or Instrument and post-roll times (see “Setting Pre- and Post-
track. The range’s start (punch in) and end (punch Roll” on page 527).
out) points must be specified before recording. Re-
cording starts at the punch-in point and continues 7 Record enable the track containing the previous
until the punch-out point is reached. take.
8 Click Record in the Transport to arm Pro Tools
If pre-roll is enabled, the track material leading up
for recording. The Record button flashes.
to the punch-in point plays. You can start playing
during the pre-roll to get the “feel.” However, 9 Click Play to start recording.
MIDI is not recorded until the punch-in point is
reached. Only when that point is reached does 10 When you have finished recording, click Stop in
Pro Tools begin recording. Additionally, for any the Transport. The newly recorded MIDI data
note that is played before the punch-in point, but is appears in the track.
released after that point, it is recorded and the start
of the note is quantized to the punch-in point.

If post-roll is enabled, playback continues after re-

cording stops for the specified post-roll amount.

Chapter 25: MIDI Recording 551

 Punch Recording During MIDI Clips and Punch Recording
Playback with MIDI
Depending on the record range, new clips may be
You do not have to set a record range to punch in created after punch recording.
on a MIDI or Instrument track. In fact, you can
punch in and out at any time during playback. Un- For example, if MIDI Merge mode is disabled, re-
like audio tracks, it is not necessary to enable cording overwrites any existing MIDI data within
QuickPunch to perform real-time punch recording. the record range. Since the start and end times for
recording are located within both of the existing
To punch record with MIDI: clips, newly recorded notes are written into both of
the existing clips, and into a new clip created to fill
1 Configure a MIDI or Instrument track for re-
the space between them.
cording (see “Configuring MIDI or Instrument
Tracks for Recording” on page 546).
Before punch record
2 Ensure that Normal Record mode is selected
(see “Record Modes” on page 505).
3 In the Transport window, disable Wait for Note
and Countoff.
4 Record enable the track containing the previous
take.
After punch record
5 Click Play in the Transport to start playback.
6 When you reach the punch-in point, do one of
the following:
• Click Record in the Transport.
• For Pro Tools systems that support a connected
footswitch, press the footswitch at the punch-in
point. newly recorded new clip
material

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.

552 Pro Tools Reference Guide

If the MIDI data within a clip is altered because of Make sure that MIDI Merge is enabled in the
a record take, the original material is either lost Transport window, otherwise (in Replace mode)
(unless you choose Edit > Undo MIDI Recording) each subsequent take destructively replaces the
or combined with new material (if MIDI Merge previous take.
was enabled during recording). If an existing clip
contains material you want to keep, use Duplicate You can record enable a different MIDI or
to make a copy of the clip (“Duplicating Clips” on Instrument track while loop recording.
page 913), or duplicate the track’s playlist or re- While pressing Command (Mac) or Control
cord in a new playlist to keep a backup (see (Windows), use the Up/Down Arrows to re-
“Working with Playlists” on page 691). cord enable the previous or next MIDI or
Instrument track.

To loop record in MIDI Merge mode:

Loop Recording MIDI
1 Configure a MIDI or Instrument track for re-
Loop recording with MIDI is supported by two cording (see “Configuring MIDI or Instrument
methods: Tracks for Recording” on page 546).
• In Normal (Nondestructive) Record mode, 2 Ensure that Normal Record mode is selected
enable Loop Playback and MIDI Merge for (see “Record Modes” on page 505).
drum machine style loop recording.
3 Select Options > Loop Playback. When Loop
• Use Loop Record mode to record multiple takes Playback is enabled, a loop symbol appears in
on each record pass. This is similar to loop re- the Play button.
cording audio.

Loop Recording in MIDI Merge

Mode
For MIDI loop recording, use Normal (Nonde- Loop Playback enabled
structive) Record mode with Loop Playback and
4 Record enable the MIDI or Instrument track.
MIDI Merge enabled. With this method, MIDI is
Ensure that no audio tracks are record-enabled.
recorded and merged to the same clip with each
new record pass—for example, you can record hi- 5 In the Transport window, click the MIDI Merge
hats on the first pass and kick and snare on the button so it is highlighted.
next.
6 Disable Wait for Note and Countoff in the
For drum machine-style step entry, use Transport window.
Step Input (see “Step Input Command” on 7 Select Options > Link Timeline and Edit Selec-
page 1028). tion.

8 With the Selector tool, select the loop range in

the track’s playlist.

For other methods of setting the record

range, see “Setting Punch and Loop Points”
on page 524.

Chapter 25: MIDI Recording 553

 9 To hear track material up to the start point of the You can use MIDI loop recording to record
loop, enable and set the pre-roll time (see “Set- successive takes without stopping the record pro-
ting Pre- and Post-Roll” on page 527). cess, thereby capturing your creative spontaneity.
Another advantage with this method of recording
10 Click Record in the Transport to arm Pro Tools
MIDI, which is nondestructive, is that all existing
for recording. The Record button flashes.
and newly recorded clips remain intact (and avail-
11 Click Play to start recording. able in the Clips List).

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 546).
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 524.

554 Pro Tools Reference Guide

7 To hear track material up to the start point of the To select the various record takes:
loop, enable and set the pre-roll time (see “Set- 1 Ensure that the Matching Criteria window is
ting Pre- and Post-Roll” on page 527). correctly configured (see “Matching Criteria
8 Click Record in the Transport to arm Pro Tools Window” on page 535).
for recording. The Record button flashes. 2 Do one of the following:
9 Click Play to start recording. • Right-click the clip with the Selector or Grabber
tools, and select a take from the Matches sub-
The Record button flashes during the pre-roll.
menu in the pop-up menu.
When the start point is reached, Pro Tools begins
recording. When the end point is reached,
Pro Tools loops back to the start point and contin-
ues playing and recording.
10 Play your MIDI controller. A new MIDI clip
containing the newly recorded material is auto-
matically created and appears in the track’s
playlist, replacing the previous clip.

Clips are replaced (nondestructively) during sub-

sequent record passes when new MIDI material is
received. Selecting an alternate MIDI take
11 When you are finished recording, click Stop in • With the Selector tool, Command-click (Mac) or
the Transport. Control-click (Windows) at the precise begin-
ning of the loop or punch range and select a dif-
The recorded takes appear as clips in the Clips List
ferent take from the Alternates pop-up menu.
and are numbered sequentially. The takes, which
are the same length and easily interchangeable, can • If the take currently residing in the track is se-
be selected from the Matches pop-up menu—even lected, with the Selector tool, Command-click
while the session plays or loops. (Mac) or Control-click (Windows) anywhere on
the selected take and select a different take from
the Alternates pop-up menu.

The selected take (clip) replaces the previous take

and snaps precisely to the correct location.

For more information on auditioning and

managing takes, see “Selecting Alternate
Takes” on page 534.

Chapter 25: MIDI Recording 555

 8 When you are ready to begin recording, click
MIDI Step Input Record in the Transport window.
Step Input lets you use a MIDI keyboard (or any
The Record, Play, and Wait for Note buttons flash,
other MIDI controller that sends MIDI note data)
indicating that Pro Tools is waiting for MIDI data.
to enter notes individually, one step at a time. This
gives you precise control over note placement, du- 9 Initiate the Sysex transfer from the MIDI de-
ration, and velocity. With MIDI Step Input you can vice, according to the manufacturer’s instruc-
also create musical passages that might be difficult tions. Pro Tools automatically begins recording
to play accurately, or at faster tempos. as soon as it starts to receive Sysex data.

For more information on Step Input, see 10 When the Sysex transfer is complete, click Stop
“Step Input Command” on page 1028. in the Transport.

The newly recorded MIDI data appears as a MIDI

clip in the track’s playlist, and in the Clips List.
Recording System Exclusive MIDI clips that contain System Exclusive data ap-
Data pear blank when the Track View is set to Clips.
Pro Tools supports recording and playing System
To see the Sysex event blocks, which indicate the
Exclusive data (Sysex) with MIDI tracks. This al-
location of the data, set the Track View to Sysex
lows you to use MIDI tracks in Pro Tools to store
(see “Clips View for MIDI and Instrument Tracks”
patch and configuration data for your MIDI de-
on page 587).
vices, or to record real-time Sysex changes for a
particular parameter of a MIDI device that cannot For information on moving and copying of
be controlled by a standard MIDI controller. Sysex data, see “System Exclusive Events”
on page 776.
To record a Sysex dump at the beginning of a MIDI
track: To send Sysex data from Pro Tools to an external
1 Make sure that the MIDI OUT for the device MIDI device:
sending the Sysex is connected to your MIDI in- 1 For the device receiving the System Exclusive
terface’s MIDI IN. data, make sure its MIDI IN is connected to the
MIDI interface’s MIDI OUT. Also, make sure
2 In the MIDI Input Filter dialog, enable Only and
the device is set to receive Sysex. Some devices
System Exclusive.
require that memory protect be off. For more in-
3 Configure a MIDI track for recording (see formation, see the manufacturer’s instructions.
“Configuring MIDI or Instrument Tracks for
2 Make sure that the MIDI track containing the
Recording” on page 546).
Sysex data is not record enabled.
4 Ensure that Normal Record mode is selected
3 Click the track’s MIDI Output selector and as-
(see “Record Modes” on page 505).
sign the device from the pop-up menu.
5 Record enable a MIDI track.
4 Configure the external MIDI device to receive
6 Enable Wait for Note in the Transport window. Sysex data according to the manufacturer’s in-
structions.
7 To start recording from the beginning of the ses-
sion, click Return to Zero in the Transport.

556 Pro Tools Reference Guide

5 Click Play in the Transport to begin playback. 6 Set the audio track’s Audio Input Path selector
Pro Tools begins playing and transmits the pre- to the same bus.
viously recorded Sysex to the assigned MIDI
7 Set the audio track’s Audio Output Path selector
device.
to the main monitoring path).
8 Record enable the audio track.
Recording Audio from a MIDI 9 Do one of the following:
Instrument
• To record from the beginning of the session,
Typically, you will monitor the audio from MIDI click Return To Zero in the Transport.
instruments (both hardware and plug-ins) using In-
• Make a Timeline selection for the record range.
strument and Auxiliary Input tracks. During the fi-
nal mixdown, audio from Instrument and Auxil- 10 Click Record in the Transport to arm Pro Tools
iary Input tracks can be included when using for recording.
Bounce to Disk, or on a bussed recording path if
11 Click Play in the Transport to start recording.
recording to a new track.

When using instrument plug-ins, you may

want to record the audio from a MIDI in-
strument to a new track before mixing in
order to free up DSP resources.

Recording Audio from an

Instrument Plug-In
To record audio from an instrument plug-in:
1 Create a new Instrument track.
2 Insert an instrument plug-in on that track.
3 Do one of the following:
• Record your MIDI performance on the
Instrument track.
• Manually enter MIDI data in the Instrument
track.

You can also record the MIDI and audio from

your performance at the same time.

4 Create a new audio track with the same number

of channels as the Instrument track (such as ste-
reo). Bus recording audio from an instrument plug-in

5 Set the Instrument track’s Audio Output Path

selector to a bus (for example, Bus 1–2).

Chapter 25: MIDI Recording 557

 12 When your previously recorded MIDI perfor-
mance is finished playing, click Stop in the Retrospective Record for
Transport to stop recording. MIDI
When you play a MIDI controller (such as a USB
Recording Audio from an MIDI keyboard or trigger pad) along with the play-
External MIDI Instrument back of your Pro Tools session or project, your
MIDI performance is stored in a buffer by Pro
You can record audio from an external MIDI in-
Tools behind the scenes. As long as any MIDI or
strument in one of two ways:
Instrument is record-enabled, Pro Tools captures
• By bussing audio from the output of the Instru- any MIDI performance during playback whether
ment (or Auxiliary Input) track used to monitor you are recording or not. For example, if were
the MIDI instrument to an audio track for re- playing along with your session, but did not actu-
cording. ally record your performance, Pro Tools captures
• By setting the audio track’s Audio Input Path se- it for you. You can then place it on a MIDI or In-
lector to the same Audio Input Path as the Instru- strument track spotted to the exact time of your
ment (or Auxiliary Input) track used for original performance on the Timeline. Using Ret-
monitoring the external MIDI instrument. rospective Record, you won't lose that perfect
take or that great musical idea just because you
This second method avoids any additional latency were only playing along with the session but not
associated with bussing. However, be sure to mute actually recording.
the Instrument (or Auxiliary Input) track used for
monitoring while recording the same audio path to Retrospective Record takes into account the
the audio track. MIDI Import Filter settings. For example, if
Pitch Bend is filtered, but the Modulation
Wheel (MIDI CC 1) is not, when you perform
using both any Pitch Bend activity is excluded
while Modulation Wheel activity is included.

Pro Tools only captures your MIDI perfor-

mance when a MIDI or Instrument track is
record enabled, or if the Default Thru Instru-
ment in the Pro Tools MIDI preferences is set
to any option other than None (Setup > Pref-
erences > MIDI).

558 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To recover a MIDI performance that was played, but not recorded:
1 First, one of the following conditions must be met for Pro Tools to buffer any MIDI performance:
• There is at least one MIDI or Instrument track in the session and Default Thru Instrument is set to any
option other than None in the MIDI Preferences (Setup > Preferences > MIDI).
• Any MIDI or Instrument track is record enabled and its MIDI Input selector is set to either your MIDI
instrument or All.
2 Start playback of your Pro Tools session.
3 Play your MIDI controller along with session playback. You will hear your performance either from the
designated Default Thru Instrument (if one is assigned in the MIDI Preferences) or from the instrument
(virtual or hardware) assigned to the MIDI output of the record-enabled MIDI or Instrument track to
which your controller is assigned.

Instrument track record-enabled, Transport not record-enabled, MIDI performance sounds during playback

4 Choose Events > Retrospective Record.

Press Option+Shift+Z (Mac) or Alt+Shift+Z (Windows) to write your MIDI performance to the
record-enabled MIDI or Instrument track.

Chapter 25: MIDI Recording 559

 Pro Tools places your MIDI performance in the record-enabled track matching the time of the original per-
formance on the Timeline.

MIDI performance written to record enabled track using Retrospective Record command

Additional Behaviors with Retrospective Record for MIDI

 Pro Tools lets you apply Retrospective Record during playback.
 Pro Tools lets you play over a MIDI or Instrument track that already contains MIDI data. When using
Retrospective Record on a track that already contains MIDI data, your performance is written to and
merged with the existing MIDI data on that track.

560 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Chapter 26: Punch Recording Modes

Punch recording is used in many areas of audio TrackPunch (Pro Tools | Ultimate Only) A nonde-
production for film, video, and music. structive Record mode that lets individual tracks
be punched in, punched out, and taken out of re-
cord enable without interrupting online recording
Introduction to Punch and playback.
Recording Modes DestructivePunch (Pro Tools | Ultimate Only) A
Once basic track material has been recorded, it is destructive Record mode that maintains a single
often necessary to replace some, but not all, of the continuous audio file per punch track, and lets in-
audio that makes up each track. Punch recording dividual tracks be punched in, punched out, and
lets you manually punch one or more audio tracks taken out of record enable without interrupting
in and out of recording without stopping the Trans- online recording and playback.
port.
To automatically punch in and out on
You do not need to use QuickPunch or any record-enabled audio tracks over a specific
other audio punch recording mode to punch range, see “Audio Punch Recording Over a
record with MIDI tracks. MIDI tracks can be Specified Range” on page 529.
punched while in Normal (Nondestructive)
Record mode, and in Destructive Record
mode. Guidelines for Punch
Recording
Pro Tools Punch Recording This topic lists the basic settings and guidelines for
Modes Pro Tools punch recording, including the follow-
Pro Tools provides three different manual punch ing:
recording modes: • “Voice Requirements for Punch Recording” on
page 562.
QuickPunch A nondestructive Record mode that
lets record-enabled tracks be punched in and • “Delay Compensation and DestructivePunch
punched out during playback by clicking the Re- Mode” on page 563.
cord button in the Transport. QuickPunch mode is • “Audio Files, Clips and Takes” on page 563.
available on all systems.
• “Preferences for Punch Recording” on page 564
(for crossfades, as well as transport and monitor
configuration settings).

Chapter 26: Punch Recording Modes 561

 Voice Requirements for If the required number of voices for the record-en-
Punch Recording abled tracks is not available when switching to
QuickPunch, TrackPunch, or DestructivePunch
The maximum number of tracks that can be
mode, you are prompted to free up the necessary
punched depends on the type of system you are us-
voices.
ing, as well as the number of available voices. The
following topics provide guidelines for voice us- To make more voices available for punch
age with punch recording that can be useful when recording:
managing resources during sessions.
 Identify tracks that are not record-enabled, and
Pro Tools do not need to be heard while recording, and do
(QuickPunch Only) any of the following:
• Set voice assignments for tracks to Off.
QuickPunch capabilities for Pro Tools depends on
the total number of voices available. This will vary • Make tracks inactive.
depending on the number of tracks and plug-ins in • Group all Native plug-ins before DSP plug-ins.
use in the current session (which affects the num-
ber of available voices). Voices that are in use by other tracks, but not
record-enabled, may be “stolen” during punch re-
QuickPunch uses CPU processing power, cording as necessary.
and may reduce the number of tracks and
plug-ins you can use. When any punch recording mode is enabled, voice
playback priority is as follows (from highest to
lowest playback priority):
For details on voice capabilities, see
• Tracks with assigned voices that are not
“Pro Tools Capabilities with Different Hard-
record-enabled.
ware Configurations” on page 38.
• Tracks with assigned voices that are record-en-
To make more voices available for punch abled.
recording:
• Tracks with Dynamically Allocated Voicing that
1 Identify tracks that are not record-enabled, and are not record-enabled.
do not need to be heard while recording.
• Tracks with Dynamically Allocated Voicing that
2 Make those tracks inactive. are record-enabled.

Pro Tools Ultimate If a session has plenty of available voices, you

(QuickPunch, TrackPunch, and should have no trouble punch recording tracks us-
DestructivePunch) ing Dynamically Allocated Voicing. However, if
you are running out of voices, and want to ensure
When using any punch recording mode with
that a track is heard when punch recording, be sure
Pro Tools Ultimate, two voices are required for
to set the voicing tracks that you don’t need to
each record-enabled mono track. This means that
punch into to Off.
you can punch record up to half the total number of
voices available on your system.

562 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Delay Compensation and To apply Delay Compensation to all selected
DestructivePunch Mode tracks where Delay Compensation was
suspended, do one of the following:
When using DestructivePunch to punch in on an
 Shift-Right-click the Track Compensation indi-
existing recording, make sure the Delay Compen-
cator on the track and select Auto Low Latency
sation settings are the same as when the original
Off.
file was recorded. If they differ, the punched-in au-
dio will not be time-accurate to the original record-  Command-Control-Shift-click (Mac) or Con-
ing. trol-Start-Shift-click (Windows) the Track
Compensation indicator on the track.
 If Delay Compensation was inactive when re-
cording the original file, it should be deactivated For more information, see “Delay
while using DestructivePunch. Compensation” on page 1082.
 If Delay Compensation was active when record-
ing the original file, it should be kept active while Audio Files, Clips and Takes
using DestructivePunch.
QuickPunch and TrackPunch Modes
To ensure that the Delay Compensation path on re-
QuickPunch and TrackPunch are nondestructive
cord tracks remains consistent while using De-
recording modes. Instead of replacing audio while
structivePunch, you need to prevent Pro Tools
punching, QuickPunch and TrackPunch create
from using the Low Latency monitoring path when
new audio files for each pass (a pass is one cycle of
record tracks switch to Input monitoring.
starting and stopping the Transport).
To apply Delay Compensation to a track where Pro Tools begins recording a new audio file when
Delay Compensation was suspended, do one of
playback begins, automatically generating clips in
the following:
that file at each punch-in and punch-out point. Up
 Right-click the Track Compensation indicator to 200 of these “running punches” can be per-
on the track and select Auto Low Latency Off. formed in a single pass. QuickPunch and Track-
 Command-Control-click (Mac) or Control- Punch provide instantaneous monitor switching on
Start-click (Windows) the Track Compensation punch-out.
indicator on the track. After recording with QuickPunch or TrackPunch,
the new audio clips appear in the Clips List. This
includes the whole-file audio clip encompassing
all punches from the record pass, along with the
clips derived for each punch.

Names for the punched clips are numbered consec-

utively starting with “01.” For example, if Quick-
Punch is used to punch in twice on a track called
“Lead Gtr,” a clip for the parent audio file appears
and is named “Lead Gtr_01,” and two clips for the
punches are named “Lead Gtr_01-01” and “Lead
Gtr_01-02.”

Chapter 26: Punch Recording Modes 563

 If you stop playback and record additional punches QuickPunch/TrackPunch Crossfade Length
with QuickPunch (or TrackPunch), a new whole
Pro Tools can automatically write a crossfade for
file clip is created (since one is created for each
each punch point when using QuickPunch and
pass), and subsequent clips are named by incre-
TrackPunch. The length for these crossfades is set
menting the first two digits in the name. For exam-
with the QuickPunch/TrackPunch Crossfade
ple, on the second pass, the punched clips are
Length option on the Editing Preferences page.
named “Lead Gtr_02-01,” “Lead Gtr_02-02,” and
so forth. To set the QuickPunch/TrackPunch Crossfade
Length:
DestructivePunch Mode
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click the
DestructivePunch is a destructive recording mode Editing tab.
which permanently replaces pre-existing track ma-
terial with newly recorded “punch” audio. 2 Enter a new value (in msec) for the Quick-
Punch/TrackPunch CrossFade Length. A good
Pro Tools only records while tracks are punched
in, inserting new material and replacing audio in general-purpose crossfade length for punches is
the track playlist. 10 milliseconds. If you set the preference to
zero, Pro Tools will not create any crossfades at
the punch-in/out points.
Preferences for Punch
Recording 3 Click OK.
(Crossfade, Transport, and Record Settings)
If a value other than zero is specified for the Quick-
Pro Tools provides several punch-related prefer- Punch/TrackPunch Crossfade Length, Pro Tools
ence settings that let you specify how crossfades, writes a pre-crossfade at the punch-in point (the
monitoring and transport functions are to perform fade occurs up to but not into the punched clip
during and after recording passes. These settings boundary), and a post-crossfade at punch-out (after
optimize Pro Tools fades, transport and track be- the punched clip).
havior for different types of tasks, including dub-
Regardless of the current QuickPunch/TrackPunch
bing, mixing, and overdubbing.
Crossfade Length setting, Pro Tools always exe-
Crossfades while Punch Recording cutes a 4 millisecond “monitor only” crossfade
(which is not written to disk) to avoid distracting
Pro Tools places crossfades at each in and out pops or clicks that might occur as you enter and
point, for smooth transitions between punch clips. exit record mode.
You can specify the crossfade length for Quick-
DestructivePunch and Crossfades
Punch and TrackPunch modes (DestructivePunch
uses a fixed crossfade length which cannot be DestructivePunch uses a fixed 10-millisecond lin-
changed). After punch recording is completed, all ear crossfade at each in and out point. After punch
crossfades can be edited in the same manner as recording is completed, crossfades can be edited in
standard crossfades (see Chapter 31, “Fades and the same manner as standard crossfades (see
Crossfades”). Chapter 31, “Fades and Crossfades”).

564 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Transport and Record Settings Destructive Recording and Transport RecordLock

Transport and Record preferences for punch re- As a precaution against accidentally recording
cording appear on the Operation Preferences page. over previous material, the Transport RecordLock
These preferences specify how track and Transport option is automatically disabled and grayed out
record status respond during, between, and after when Destructive record mode is enabled.
punches and passes.
Audio Track RecordLock

This setting lets Pro Tools tracks either emulate a

digital dubber, or maintain legacy behavior for
track record status.
 When the Audio Track RecordLock option is en-
abled, the record-enabled audio tracks remain
armed when playback or recording stops.
 When the Audio Track RecordLock option is not
enabled, record-enabled audio tracks are taken out
of record enable when Pro Tools is stopped. This
prevents tracks from remaining armed from pass to
pass, emulating track record behavior of a digital
dubber.

For examples of how these settings can be ap-

TrackPunch preferences plied, see “Example TrackPunch and De-
Transport RecordLock structivePunch Workflows” on page 575.

This setting lets the Transport Record be config- Synchronization and Track
ured to either emulate a digital dubber, or to main- Arming Options for Punch
tain legacy behavior for the Transport master Re- Recording
cord. (SYNC HD Only)
 When not enabled, the Transport Record dis- Synchronization settings for online punch record-
arms when Pro Tools is manually stopped or stops ing vary depending on the type and capabilities of
due to a loss of timecode. This replicates legacy your Pro Tools system and other devices in your
Pro Tools recording behavior. studio.
 When enabled, the Transport Record remains
For basic timecode and synchronization
armed when playback or recording stops. This
information for Pro Tools, see Chapter 57,
saves having to re-arm the Transport between
“Working with Synchronization.”
takes, emulating digital dubber behavior.

Punching out of record by pressing Record

on the Transport takes the transport out of re-
cord enable.

Chapter 26: Punch Recording Modes 565

 Pro Tools Ultimate with MachineControl lets you 2 Check or reconfigure the crossfade setting for
remotely arm tracks on supported 9-pin decks (or punch recording (see “QuickPunch/TrackPunch
V-LAN for Transport only). Crossfade Length” on page 564).

Choose Setup > Machine Track Arming 3 Click the track Record Enable button to record
Profiles to configure your system, and choose enable each track on which you want to punch
Window > Machine Track Arming to display in.
the Machine Track Arming window.
If you cannot record enable tracks due to
voice limitations, see “Voice Requirements
For information on remote track arming for Punch Recording” on page 562.
with MachineControl, see Chapter 57,
“MachineControl.” 4 Prepare to record by cueing Pro Tools to an ap-
propriate location. To use pre-roll, enable a pre-
roll value in the Transport window.
QuickPunch Audio Recording 5 Start playback by clicking Play in the Transport
QuickPunch is available on all systems and lets window.
you instantaneously punch in and out all record- 6 Do one of the following:
enabled audio tracks during playback by clicking
• When you reach the punch-in point, click Re-
the Record button in the Transport.
cord in the Transport.
Many Pro Tools systems also let you use a • For Pro Tools systems that support using a con-
footswitch to punch in and out. See the guide nected footswitch, step on the footswitch at the
that came with your Pro Tools audio inter- punch-in point.
face or control surface.
The Record button stops flashing and stays lit
Recording with QuickPunch during recording.
7 To punch out, click Record again (or step on the
To punch record with QuickPunch:
footswitch).
1 Do one of the following:
As Pro Tools continues playing, you can perform
• Select Options > QuickPunch.
additional punches (up to 200). When recording
• Right-click the Record button in the Transport multiple punches during a single pass, a single au-
and select QuickPunch. dio file is recorded from which Pro Tools creates
the appropriate clips.
When QuickPunch is enabled, a “P” appears in the
Record button in the Transport. After a QuickPunch recording pass, the punched
track’s playlist in the Edit window displays the
clips created by punching. You can use any of the
Trim tools after punch recording to open up the
head or tail of QuickPunch recorded clips, or to re-
veal the parent audio file that was recorded in the
background. This lets you compensate for any late
QuickPunch enabled or missed punches.

566 Pro Tools Reference Guide

For information on file and clip naming, see “Au- TrackPunch Setup
dio Files, Clips and Takes” on page 563.
Before using TrackPunch in a record pass you
QuickPunch with an Edit Selection must configure Pro Tools, session, and track set-
tings.
If you make an Edit selection and use QuickPunch,
the following rules apply: Configuring Pro Tools
• If the Transport is not online, recording begins
To configure Pro Tools:
and stops whenever you click the Record button
in the Transport—regardless of the selection’s 1 Configure tracks, voicing, and other Track-
start or end point. Punch settings as needed (see “Guidelines for
Punch Recording” on page 561).
• If the Transport is online, punch-in/out behavior
is controlled by the Online Options setting on 2 Make sure Pro Tools is not recording or playing
the Operation Preferences page. back (the Transport is stopped).
• If you select Record Online at Insertion/
Selection, QuickPunch punches in and out Enabling TrackPunch Mode
only within the selection (or in the case of an
insertion point, only after the insertion point). To enable TrackPunch mode:

• If you select Record Online at Timecode  Do any of the following:

Lock, QuickPunch disregards the selection • Select Options > TrackPunch.
and punches in and out whenever you want
• Right-click the Record button in the Transport,
(after Pro Tools has locked to timecode).
and select TrackPunch from the pop-up menu.
For information about online playback with • Control-click (Mac) or Start-click (Windows)
Pro Tools, see the User Guide that came with the Record button in the Transport to cycle
your system. For information about synchro- through available Record modes until Track-
nization with TrackPunch and Destructive- Punch mode is selected (a “T” indicates Track-
Punch recording, see “Synchronization and Punch mode).
Track Arming Options for Punch Recording”
• Press Command+Shift+T (Mac) or Con-
on page 565.
trol+Shift+T (Windows).

Transport Display of TrackPunch Status

TrackPunch Audio Recording
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only) TrackPunch Record Enable
enabled Status indicator
TrackPunch mode lets you punch tracks in and out
individually (one at a time) or punch multiple
tracks in and out simultaneously. TrackPunch is a
nondestructive punch mode which leaves previous
Input Status
material on disk. (To destructively replace audio indicator
on disk, see “DestructivePunch Audio Recording” TrackPunch and TrackInput Status indicators in the
on page 570). Transport window

Chapter 26: Punch Recording Modes 567

 The Transport Record button indicates Track- To TrackPunch enable or disable all selected audio
Punch and Record status as follows: tracks:

 Option-Control-Shift-click (Mac) or
When TrackPunch mode is enabled: Alt-Start-Shift-click (Windows) a track’s
 A “T” appears in the Record button in the Record Enable button.
Transport.
When TrackPunch enabled, Track record enable
 If at least one track is TrackPunch-enabled, the buttons light solid blue.
Record button lights solid blue.
Create track groups for each stem or set of
tracks on which you plan to punch, then use
the Groups List to quickly select all tracks in
the group.

TrackPunch mode, with at least one TrackPunch- Track Record Status Display
enabled track
Each track’s Record Enable button indicates its
When TrackPunch mode is enabled and the
transport is armed for recording:
TrackPunch and record enable status as follows:
• When a track is TrackPunch-enabled but not re-
 If no tracks are TrackPunch-enabled, the Re-
cord-enabled, its Record Enable button lights
cord button in the Transport flashes gray and red.
solid blue.
 If at least one track is TrackPunch-enabled, the
Record button flashes blue and red.
 If at least one TrackPunch-enabled track is also
record-enabled, the Record button flashes blue and
red, and the record LED lights.
 Whenever at least one audio track is recording,
the Transport Record button lights solid red.

TrackPunch Enabling Tracks

Before each pass, you must TrackPunch enable all
tracks that you intend to punch (you can Track-
Punch enable tracks without record enabling
them). Record Enable button, enabled

To TrackPunch enable one audio track: • When a track is both TrackPunch-enabled and
record-enabled, its Record enable button flashes
 Control-click (Mac) or Start-click (Windows)
blue and red.
the track’s Record Enable button.
• When a track is record-enabled only, its Record
To TrackPunch enable or disable all audio tracks: Enable button flashes red.
 Option-Control-click (Mac) or Alt-Start-click • While a track is recording (in any mode), its Re-
(Windows) a track’s Record Enable button. cord Enable button lights solid red.

568 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 2 Control-click (Mac) or Start-click (Windows)
the Record Enable button for each track you
want to punch in, so that the track is Track-
Punch-enabled only. The track’s Record Enable
button should light solid blue.

Red (not flashing) indicates recording (all modes) 3 Click Record in the Transport to enter the
TrackPunch Record Ready mode. The Record
Monitoring and Levels button flashes blue and red.

To complete the setup for TrackPunch: 4 Click Play in the Transport to begin playback.

1 Configure monitoring for record-enabled tracks 5 During playback, punch in and out on individ-
by selecting a mode from the Track menu, or us- ual TrackPunch-enabled tracks by clicking their
ing the TrackInput button, as appropriate. respective Record Enable buttons.
Choices include: 6 While continuing local or remote playback, do
• Set Record Tracks to Auto Input any of the following:
• Set Record Tracks to Input Only • Punch in on other TrackPunch enabled tracks in-
dividually.
Selecting either monitoring mode only affects
tracks that are record-enabled. • After punching out, take tracks out of record en-
able then record enable different TrackPunch en-
2 Start playback and compare levels of the input abled tracks.
source with audio on disk. Click the TrackInput
• Repeat as needed to punch other stems, tracks,
button to toggle the track source. When lit
or takes.
(green), the track is monitoring input. When un-
lit (gray), the track is monitoring from disk (see 7 Stop playback. When you are finished with the
“Selecting Record Monitor Modes with Track- record pass, track Record Enable status and
Input Monitoring” on page 516). transport Record Arm status follow the current
Audio Track RecordLock and Transport Record-
3 When you are satisfied with your levels, you are
Lock preference settings.
ready to start punch recording.
After a TrackPunch recording pass, the punched
track’s playlist in the Edit window displays the
Using TrackPunch clips created by punching. You can use any of the
Trim tools after punch recording to open up the
After you have configured Pro Tools, tracks, and head or tail of TrackPunch recorded clips, or to re-
levels, you can record with TrackPunch in veal the parent audio file that was recorded in the
several ways. background. This lets you compensate for any late
or missed punches.
Punching In on Individual Tracks
For information on file and clip naming, see “Au-
To punch in on individual tracks: dio Files, Clips and Takes” on page 563.
1 Make sure Pro Tools is in TrackPunch mode.

Chapter 26: Punch Recording Modes 569

 Punching In on Multiple Tracks 5 During playback, punch out and back in on in-
Simultaneously dividual TrackPunch-enabled tracks by clicking
their respective Record Enable buttons.
To punch in on multiple tracks simultaneously:
6 Stop playback. When you are finished with the
1 Enable TrackPunch mode.
record pass, track Record Enable status and
2 Click the Record Enable button on each track transport Record Arm status follow the current
you want to punch in, so that the track is both Audio Track RecordLock and Transport Record-
TrackPunch- and Record-enabled. The track’s Lock preference settings.
Record Enable button flashes blue and red.
3 Do one of the following:
DestructivePunch Audio
• During playback, click Record in the Transport
Recording
to punch in and out on all TrackPunch-enabled
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)
tracks simultaneously.
• Click Record in the Transport first, then Option- DestructivePunch is a destructive recording mode
Shift-click (Mac) or Alt-Shift-click (Windows) a that lets you punch in and out on during playback,
track’s Record Enable button to simultaneously while preserving a contiguous audio file on each
punch in and out on all currently selected Track- punched track. Like TrackPunch mode, Destruc-
Punch enabled tracks. tivePunch mode lets you punch tracks in and out
individually (one at a time) or punch multiple
4 Stop playback. When you are finished with the tracks in and out simultaneously.
record pass, track Record Enable status and
transport Record Arm status follow the current Unlike QuickPunch and TrackPunch, Destructive-
Audio Track RecordLock and Transport Record- Punch replaces audio within the target parent file.
Lock preference settings. DestructivePunch is essentially a destructive ver-
sion of TrackPunch mode. Where TrackPunch al-
Start Recording on All Tracks ways records audio to a new file in the background,
DestructivePunch destructively records audio di-
You can choose to begin a punch pass in record, to rectly into the original file, using a fixed 10-milli-
punch out and back in as needed. second linear crossfade. No additional clips are
created when recording in DestructivePunch
To punch in on all tracks:
mode. Up to 200 “running punches” can be per-
1 Enable TrackPunch mode (see “Transport Dis- formed in a track during a single DestructivePunch
play of TrackPunch Status” on page 567). pass.
2 Click the Record Enable button on each track DestructivePunch recording is not supported
you want to punch in, so that the track is both with AudioSuite rendered clips with handles.
TrackPunch- and Record-enabled. The track’s You can consolidate such clips if you need to
Record Enable button flashes blue and red. use DestructivePunch.
3 Click Record in the Transport to enter the
TrackPunch Record Ready mode. The Record
button flashes blue and red.
4 Click Play in the Transport to begin playback.
570 Pro Tools Reference Guide
DestructivePunch Setup Transport Display of DestructivePunch
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only) Status

Before using DestructivePunch in a record pass When DestructivePunch mode is enabled:

you must configure Pro Tools, session, and track  The letters “DP” appear in the Record button in
settings. the Transport.
Configuring Pro Tools for  If at least one track is DestructivePunch-en-
DestructivePunch abled, the Record button in the Transport lights
solid blue.
To configure Pro Tools:
1 Configure tracks, voicing, and other settings as
needed (see “Guidelines for Punch Recording”
on page 561).
2 Make sure Pro Tools is not recording or playing Transport Record Enable button with
DestructivePunch mode enabled
back (the Transport is stopped).
When DestructivePunch mode is enabled and the
Enabling DestructivePunch
transport is armed for recording:

Mode  If no tracks are DestructivePunch-enabled, the

Record button in the Transport flashes gray and
To enable DestructivePunch mode:
red.
 Do one of the following:
 If at least one track is DestructivePunch-en-
• Select Options > DestructivePunch. abled, the Record button flashes blue and red.
• Right-click the Record button in the Transport  If at least one DestructivePunch-enabled track
and select DestructivePunch. is also record enabled, the Record button flashes
• Control-click (Mac) or Start-click (Windows) blue and red, and the record LED lights.
the Record button in the Transport to cycle
 Whenever at least one audio track is recording,
through available Record modes until Destruc-
the Record button lights solid red.
tivePunch mode is indicated by “DP” in the
Transport Record Enable button.

Power waveform view is not available in

Destructive Punch mode.

Chapter 26: Punch Recording Modes 571

 Preparing Tracks for Using the Prepare DPE Tracks
DestructivePunch Recording Command

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 571).
• 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 573).
“DestructivePunch File Length” on page 572).
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 572.)
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 573.)
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click the
Operation tab.

2 Type a value for DestructivePunch File Length.

3 Click OK.

572 Pro Tools Reference Guide

DestructivePunch Enabling Tracks DestructivePunch-Enabling and
without Record Enabling Them Record-Enabling Tracks
Simultaneously
This method lets you use the Prepare DPE Tracks
command to consolidate files for Destructive- This method can be used when tracks already meet
Punch recording. the requirements for DestructivePunch recording.

To DestructivePunch-enable an audio track: To simultaneously DestructivePunch enable and

record enable an audio track:
 Control-click (Mac) or Start-click (Windows)
the track’s Record Enable button to toggle the  Click the track’s Record Enable button. The
button to solid blue. track’s Record Enable button flashes blue and
red.
To DestructivePunch-enable all audio tracks:
To simultaneously DestructivePunch enable and
 Option-Control-click (Mac) or Alt-Start-click record enable all audio tracks:
(Windows) a track’s Record Enable button to
 Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) a
toggle all Record Enable buttons to solid blue.
track’s Record Enable button. All tracks’ Re-
To DestructivePunch-enable all selected audio cord Enable buttons flash blue and red.
tracks:
To simultaneously DestructivePunch enable and
 Control-Option-Shift-click (Mac) or Alt-Start- record enable all selected audio tracks:
Shift-click (Windows) a track’s Record Enable
 Option-Shift-click (Mac) or Alt-Shift-click
button to toggle the Record Enable buttons for
(Windows) a track’s Record Enable button. The
the selected audio tracks solid blue.
Record Enable buttons for the selected audio
Create a VCA group for each stem or set of tracks flash blue and red.
tracks on which you plan to punch, and use
the VCA Record Enable button to arm all Track Record Status Display
tracks in the group for DestructivePunch. For When Pro Tools is in DestructivePunch mode,
more information, see “VCA Master Tracks” each track’s Record Enable button indicates its De-
on page 1047. structivePunch and record enable status as follows:
• When a track is both DestructivePunch-enabled
and record-enabled, its Record Enable button
flashes blue and red.
• When a track is DestructivePunch-enabled but
not record-enabled, its Record Enable button
lights solid blue.
• When a track is record-enabled only, its
Record Enable button flashes red.
• While a track is recording (in any mode), its
Record Enable button lights solid red.

Chapter 26: Punch Recording Modes 573

 Monitoring and Levels 3 Click Record in the Transport to enter Record
Ready mode. The Record Enable button flashes
To complete the setup for DestructivePunch: blue and red.
1 Configure monitoring for record-enabled tracks
4 Click Play in the Transport to begin playback.
by selecting a mode from the Track menu, as ap-
propriate. Choices include: 5 During playback, punch in and out on individ-
ual DestructivePunch-enabled tracks by click-
• Set Record Tracks to Auto Input
ing their Record Enable buttons.
• Set Record Tracks to Input Only
6 Stop playback. When you are finished with the
Selecting either monitoring mode only affects record pass, track Record Enable status and
tracks that are record-enabled. transport Record Arm status follow the current
Audio Track RecordLock and Transport Record-
2 Start playback.
Lock preference settings.
3 To compare levels of the input source with au-
dio on disk, click the TrackInput button. When
Punching In on Multiple Tracks
lit (green), the track is monitoring input. When
unlit (gray), the track is monitoring from disk To punch in on multiple tracks simultaneously:
(see “Selecting Record Monitor Modes with
1 Enable DestructivePunch mode (“Enabling De-
TrackInput Monitoring” on page 516).
structivePunch Mode” on page 571).
When you are satisfied with your levels, you are 2 Click the Record Enable button on each track
ready to start punch recording. you want to punch in, so that the track is both
DestructivePunch-enabled and Record-enabled.
Each track’s Record Enable button flashes blue
Using DestructivePunch and red.
After you have configured Pro Tools, tracks, and 3 Click Play in the Transport to begin playback.
levels, you can use DestructivePunch to record in
4 During playback, click Record in the Transport
several ways.
to punch in and out on all DestructivePunch-en-
abled tracks simultaneously.
Punching In On Single Tracks
5 Stop playback. When you are finished with the
To punch in on single tracks: record pass, track Record Enable status and
1 Enable DestructivePunch mode (“Enabling De- transport Record Arm status follow the current
structivePunch Mode” on page 571). Audio Track RecordLock and Transport Record-
Lock preference settings.
2 Control-click (Mac) or Start-click (Windows)
the Record Enable button for each track you
want to punch in, so that the track is Destruc-
tivePunch-enabled only. The track’s Record En-
able button lights solid blue.

574 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Starting Recording Immediately Keyboard shortcuts and preference settings for re-
on Multiple Tracks cording and input monitoring provide flexibility
that makes TrackPunch or DestructivePunch
To punch in on multiple tracks: equally useful for the following workflows com-
1 Enable DestructivePunch mode (“Enabling De- monly performed in film, video, and music pro-
structivePunch Mode” on page 571). duction:
2 Click the Record Enable button on each track • Loading dailies (see “Loading Dailies Using Re-
you want to punch in, so that the track is both cordLock” on page 576)
DestructivePunch-enabled and Record-enabled. • Recording Foley (see “Foley Recording” on
Each track’s Record Enable button flashes blue page 577)
and red.
• Tracking and overdubbing in music production
3 Click Record in the Transport to enter Record and any other recording situation (see “Tracking
Ready mode. The Record button flashes blue and Overdubbing Music” on page 577)
and red.
Throughout these examples, references to
4 Click Play in the Transport to begin playback. TrackPunch can also be applied to Destruc-
5 During playback, punch out and back in on in- tivePunch (just remember that TrackPunch is
dividual DestructivePunch-enabled tracks by nondestructive, while DestructivePunch is a
clicking their respective Record Enable buttons. destructive punch mode).

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

Example TrackPunch and Film dubbing and mixing features of TrackPunch

DestructivePunch Workflows and DestructivePunch let you do the following:
• Arm and punch Pro Tools audio tracks remotely
TrackPunch and DestructivePunch let you use
from a master synchronizer such as SoundMas-
Pro Tools punch recording in many ways. For ex-
ter through P2 commands, at any time, without
ample, DestructivePunch lets Pro Tools be used as
having to stop playback and while maintaining
a digital dubber for film re-recording (dubbing)
timecode lock (requires MachineControl).
and mixing (see “Film Dubbing and Mixing” on
page 575). • Toggle Pro Tools audio tracks between input and
disk monitoring.
If you are not already familiar with routing,
selecting, and grouping Pro Tools tracks, Do not use any Native plug-ins on any tracks
see Chapter 13, “Tracks” and Chapter 48, that are Record or TrackInput–enabled. You
“Basic Mixing.” will hear an audible click as Native plug-ins
on those tracks are automatically bypassed.

Chapter 26: Punch Recording Modes 575

 • Use Pro Tools as the timecode master (generat-
ing) or when slaving. Use the Groups List to quickly select all
tracks in the group, and Option-Shift-click
• Punch non-destructively with TrackPunch, or
(Mac) or Alt-Shift-click (Windows) to record-
destructively with DestructivePunch.
enable all the tracks in the group.
A typical pre-dub session includes the following 10 Assign the console paddles to the first eight-
steps:
track group in the session.
1 Configure synchronization between Pro Tools
and other devices as appropriate. 11 Begin the pre-dub pass. Use the console paddles
to arm Pro Tools, and to punch in and out on the
2 Choose Setup > Preferences and click the first group.
Operation tab.
12 When the first pre-dub is over and all tracks are
3 Select (enable) Transport RecordLock. This punched out, clear all TrackPunch or Destruc-
keeps the Transport Record armed after the tivePunch enabled tracks.
transport stops.
13 Select the next group of tracks and TrackPunch-
In Remote mode, Transport RecordLock has or DestructivePunch-enable them.
no effect. The synchronizer determines the
14 Punch in and out on the second group of tracks.
behavior.
15 Repeat the preceding steps as necessary.
4 Deselect Audio Track RecordLock. This causes
the audio track record to disarm when the trans-
Loading Dailies Using
port stops.
RecordLock
In Remote mode, Audio Track RecordLock Dailies and similar types of transfers are com-
has no effect. The synchronizer determines prised of multiple takes or scenes, each recorded
the behavior. while locked to unique time-of-day timecode. In
between each take, timecode does not continue but
5 Do one of the following:
stops completely. Because of this, the timecode on
• Select Options > TrackPunch to enable dailies and similar source material is said to be
TrackPunch mode for non-destructive punch “discontinuous” (also known as broken timecode).
recording.
By default, Pro Tools drops out of recording when
• Select Options > DestructivePunch to enable
it goes offline due to broken timecode. However,
DestructivePunch recording.
you can change this behavior so that Pro Tools will
6 Create 32 new tracks instead remain armed, waiting to begin recording
again when lock is re-established with the time-
7 Assign the track inputs.
code of the next take.
8 Group the tracks into groups of eight.
To configure RecordLock for loading:
9 Click the record enable buttons in the first eight
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click the
tracks to TrackPunch enable the first eight
Operation tab.
tracks (or, the group for the first pre-dub).
2 Enable Transport RecordLock.

576 Pro Tools Reference Guide

3 Enable Audio Track RecordLock. When recording online and Mute Record-Armed
Tracks While Stopped is enabled, record-enabled
4 Configure synchronization and other settings as
tracks mute when the Transport is stopped. Input
required.
can still be monitored at any time by using the
5 Put Pro Tools online, and start the external TrackInput switch.
source player.
6 Whenever timecode drops out or stops, Tracking and Overdubbing
Pro Tools remains online and waits to receive Music
new timecode. The Transport and record-en- Modern multitrack recording requires the flexibil-
abled tracks remain record-enabled. When ity to “capture the moment” by allowing on-the-fly
timecode resumes, Pro Tools begins recording record enabling and punch recording, as provided
to a new audio file (properly time stamped by TrackPunch. Features of TrackPunch for all
based on the incoming code). tracking, overdubbing, and punching situations in-
clude the following:
Because Pro Tools has a 24-hour Timeline
limit, you must use multiple sessions to load • Record enable tracks while the transport is mov-
dailies if the span is more than 24 hours. ing.
• Punch tracks in and out using on-screen Record
Foley Recording Enable buttons, remotely from a synchronizer,
from a control surface, or using a foot switch.
Foley recording is one of the more specialized
forms of recording in film production with unique • Compare and match levels using TrackInput
monitoring requirements. Between punches and switching.
takes, inputs must be muted while Foley artists
move themselves and equipment as they progress “In-the-box” Dubbing
through a scene. (HDX Only)
TrackInput monitoring can be configured to sup- Pro Tools Ultimate software with HDX hardware
port Foley style TrackPunch recording using the lets you punch in and out of cascaded tracks. You
Mute Record-Armed Tracks While Stopped prefer- can activate and deactivate recording or input
ence. monitoring on tracks in all punch modes (and in
punch modes only): QuickPunch, TrackPunch, and
To configure Pro Tools for Foley-style punch
DestructivePunch.
record monitoring:

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 578).
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.

Chapter 26: Punch Recording Modes 577

 3 When encoding an LTRT, also route your stem 8 Disable Auto Low Latency for all Record-en-
source tracks to a 5.1 Auxiliary Input track with abled and InputMonitoring-enabled audio
an AAX DSP LTRT encoder plug-in; or, use a tracks (blue mode) by doing one of the follow-
pre-fader send from the print master track for ing:
LTRT encoding. Note that only AAX DSP • Right-click the Track Compensation indica-
LTRT encoders are supported with this work- tor on the track and select Auto Low Latency
flow. Off.
4 Route the output of the LTRT encoded track to a • Command-Control-click (Mac) or Control-
stereo Auxiliary Input track for monitoring (ste- Start-click (Windows) the Track Compensa-
reo). tion indicator on the track.
5 Route the LTRT Auxiliary Input track to a ste- 9 Ensure that all plug-ins on tracks that are Re-
reo audio track for recording. cord-enabled or InputMonitoring-enabled are
AAX DSP plug-ins. Using AAX Native plug-
6 Route the output of your LTRT-encoded stereo
ins will result in audible artifacts as they will be
audio track to an Auxiliary Input track to moni-
bypassed and unbypassed as you punch in and
tor LTRT decoding (stereo to 5.1). Note that
out.
only AAX DSP LTRT decoders are supported
with this workflow. 10 Prepare your punch tracks and begin your
punch-in and punch-out record pass.
7 Cascade as many tracks as you want for punch
recording.

Figure 1. In-the-box punch recording workflow example with cascading tracks

578 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Part V: Editing
Chapter 27: Editing Basics

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 30, tools work destructively (can permanently change
“Editing Clips and Selections.” Also, see audio files on your hard disk), as noted in other
Chapter 40, “Arranging Clips.” topics.
Editing Fades and Crossfades See Chapter 31, 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 44, “Elastic important MIDI tracks and clips safe when per-
Audio.” forming edits (see “Nondestructive MIDI Editing”
on page 590).
Editing MIDI See Chapter 34, “MIDI Editing.”

Editing Automation See Chapter 50, “Automa- Editing During Playback

tion.” Pro Tools lets you perform many editing tasks
Editing Video See Chapter 60, “Working with while the session plays. This powerful capability
Video in Pro Tools.” lets you interactively modify and edit a session,
hearing the changes as you make them.

Use Loop and Dynamic Transport modes for

auditioning and editing loops during play-
back. See “Playback Modes” on page 488.

Chapter 27: Editing Basics 581

 Following are just a few examples of editing and In addition to audio and MIDI clips, tracks provide
arranging tasks that can be performed while play- automation playlists of any automation data (such
ing back a Pro Tools session: as volume and pan). Automation can be recorded
• Capture, separate, cut, copy, paste, and trim clips and edited in the Mix, Edit, and MIDI Editor win-
dows (see Chapter 50, “Automation”).
• Place, spot, or rearrange clips
• Add fades or crossfades to audio clips Clip Types
• Quantize MIDI notes and audio events
There are different types of audio and MIDI clips,
• Transpose and otherwise modify MIDI tracks based on how they are created:
• Nudge audio or MIDI clips
For information on video clips, see
• Audition different playlists Chapter 60, “Working with Video in
• Adjust or scale automation and MIDI Pro Tools.”
continuous controller data
Whole-File Audio Clips These audio clips are cre-
• Insert real-time plug-ins ated when recording or importing audio, consoli-
• Apply Real-Time (and Rendered) Elastic dating existing clips, and when nondestructively
Audio processing processing with an AudioSuite plug-in. Whole-file
• Process audio with an AudioSuite plug-in audio clips reference an entire audio file that re-
sides on your hard drive. Whole-file audio clips are
• Automation editing displayed in bold in the Clips List (see Chapter 16,
There are a few things that cannot be changed “The Clips List”). Normal clips often reference
while Pro Tools plays, as noted in relevant topics. only a portion of the parent audio file and are cre-
ated in the course of editing and, in some instances,
when punch recording or loop recording.

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 300.
The order and location of clips in a track define its
playlist.

582 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Offline Clips Clips are offline when their parent
files cannot be located, or are not available, when Audio Clips and Waveforms
opening a session or importing a track. Offline When the Track View for audio tracks is set to
clips appear in the Clips List as italicized and Waveform, Pro Tools draws a waveform diagram
dimmed; they appear in playlists as light blue clips of the audio. Audio waveforms tell you several
with italicized names. Offline clips can be edited things about the recorded sound.
like other clips, but they cannot be processed with
AudioSuite plug-ins.

Multichannel Clips These clips, which are dis-

played as a single clip in the Clips List, reference
multiple clips and audio files for stereo and sur-
round tracks. Multichannel clips can be expanded Audio waveform of a drum track
(by clicking the triangle next to their name) to see
In the figure above, the “peaks” represent places in
the individual channels, which can be dragged in-
the recording where the attack of the sound causes
dependently to tracks.
the volume to increase momentarily. These are fol-
Clip Groups A clip group is a collection of any lowed by “valleys,” where the volume decreases.
combination of audio and MIDI clips that looks
and acts like a single clip. Clip groups are essen- Different types of sounds produce different types
tially containers holding one or more clips. Clip of waveforms. Drums, for example, generally pro-
groups can be created on a single track or on mul- duce waveforms with sharp transients (peaks of
tiple adjacent audio, MIDI, and Instrument tracks. short duration) that are clearly defined. A drum hit
Clip groups let you “nest” multiple clips into has a loud, sharp attack and a rapid decay.
“macro” clips for groove and tempo manipulation, Other sounds, such as vocals or sustained synthe-
editing, and arranging (see “Clip Groups” on sizer pads, produce very different waveforms.
page 919). These sounds have less pronounced peaks and val-
Warped Clips Clips on Real-Time Elastic Audio- leys because they generally have softer attacks and
enabled tracks can be warped. Warped clips are longer decays.
identified with a Warp Indicator icon in the upper-
right corner of clips on tracks and to the left of clip
names in the Clips List. Warped clips result from
the application of Elastic Audio processing. Elastic
Audio processing can be applied manually in Warp
view or using the TCE Trim Tool in Waveform
view, or automatically using tempo conform,
quantization, or transposition (see “Warped Clips”
on page 984).

Chapter 27: Editing Basics 583

 Waveform Views Power When selected, the wave form display is
calculated according to the Root Mean Square
Pro Tools provides a several different Waveform (RMS). Power view can be used for normal or rec-
View options. Depending on the editing task, you tified views. Power view is useful for better seeing
may want to display waveforms in any number of the characteristics of the audio in the waveform
different ways. representation when zoomed out beyond the sam-
ple level. For mastering applications in particular,
Calculating Waveform it can be more revealing of the sonic characteristics
Overviews of the audio than Peak view.
Waveforms can be calculated using Peak or Power
overviews.

To set how the Waveform view is calculated:

 Choose View > Waveforms and select Peak or

Normal Power Waveform view with Outlines
Power

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.

584 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To show waveforms rectified (or normally):

 Select (or deselect) View > Waveforms >

Rectified.

Power Waveform view without Outlines

Rectified Peak Waveform view with Outlines

Rectified Peak Waveform view without Outlines

Rectified Power Waveform view with Outlines

When zoomed in to the sample level,

Pro Tools always displays waveforms in Nor- Rectified Power Waveform view without Outlines
mal Peak view.
Overlapped Crossfades
Outlined Waveforms
Overlapped Crossfades view (View > Waveforms
Outlined waveforms provide more visual defini- > Overlapped Crossfades) lets you see the wave-
tion of the waveform, especially when viewed forms for both the end of the first clip and the be-
from a distance. However, you may want to disable ginning of the second clip within a crossfade. Use
Outlines when you need to do precise, detailed ed- this view option to help visually align crossfaded
iting in Peak waveform view. Outlines are not dis- audio.
played when you are zoomed in to the sample
level.

To show (or hide) waveform outlines:

 Select (or deselect) View > Waveforms >

Overlapped Crossfades view
Outlines.

Peak Waveform view without Outlines

Chapter 27: Editing Basics 585

 Guidelines for Editing Avoiding Clicks and Pops
Waveforms
If an edited clip begins or ends at a point of high
With the Selector tool in the Edit window, you can amplitude, you may hear a click when Pro Tools
select portions of audio waveforms and divide plays from one clip to another. In order to avoid
them into segments called clips, so that you can re- clicks or pops do any of the following:
arrange and manipulate them in tracks.
 Make sure that the start and end points of your
While editing musical material, try to create clips selection are as close as possible to the point where
that let you maintain a consistent beat. If you al- the amplitude of the waveform tapers down to
ways define clips so that they contain a whole meet the zero-crossing line (the center line of the
number of beats, you will be able to string the clips track’s waveform display). If necessary, use the
together and maintain a smooth, steady rhythm. zooming tools in the Edit window (see “Zooming
Options” on page 603) to display waveforms in
It is sometimes useful to have a steady, well-de- greater detail.
fined reference waveform (such as a drum track or
click track) as a guide when selecting and defining
other clips. If you have played in time with the
beat, it should be easier to create rhythmically ac-
curate clips by referring to the reference wave-
form. Selection that begins and ends at zero crossings

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 679 for details.
 Whenever possible, begin a clip precisely
before a volume peak, and end it immediately be-  With Pro Tools Ultimate, use the AutoFade fea-
fore another volume peak. ture to apply real-time fade-ins/outs to all clip
boundaries that do not touch or overlap other clips.
 Whenever possible, make sure a clip starts and See “Using AutoFades” on page 680 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 641.) and splicing analog tape. Instead, Pro Tools cre-
• Editing to a Grid (see “Grid Mode” on page 600) ates a map of the audio file on your hard disk,
• Beat Detective (see Chapter 33, “Beat Detec- which describes the order in which to play various
tive”) portions of the audio.

When trimming audio clips with any of the Trim

tools, or when editing the placement or order of
clips within a track, you can use multiple playlists
to easily return to a track’s previous state. For more
information, see “Playlists” on page 691.

586 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Audio Clips and Automation Clips View for MIDI and
Data Instrument Tracks
Automation data for audio resides in tracks and not MIDI and Instrument tracks can be viewed as
in the Clips List. This means that when you drag an Clips, which is similar to Waveform view for au-
audio clip from the Clips List to a new track, no au- dio tracks. While a track’s notes are visible in Clips
tomation data is placed in the track. However, if view, individual note editing is not available in this
you drag an audio clip from an existing track (that view. Instead, all editing occurs across a time
contains automation data) to another track, the au- range encompassing all track data, including con-
tomation from the source track is placed in the des- tinuous controller events, program changes, and
tination track. System Exclusive events.

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 50, “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 35,
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 240.  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.

Chapter 27: Editing Basics 587

 MIDI Clips Created on Barlines

When recording MIDI, or when manually entering

MIDI notes, the beginning and ending of resulting
MIDI clips are constrained to bar boundaries. This
facilitates arranging MIDI clips in a musically
meaningful way, in whole bar lengths.

The beginning of a recorded MIDI clip always

starts on the barline immediately before the first
MIDI note (Note On) of the clip. Likewise, the
MIDI clip ends on the barline immediately follow-
ing the last note (Note Off) of the clip.

MIDI Clips and Continuous Controller

Events
Cutting a MIDI clip with note overlap
Continuous controller events reside in MIDI clips
 Similar rules also apply when MIDI clips or clip
and not in tracks. This means that when dragging
groups containing MIDI clips are trimmed with
clips that contain controller data from either a track
any of the Trim tools. If the MIDI clip’s start point
or the Clips List, the controller data is written to
is moved beyond a note’s start point, the note is re-
the destination track.
moved. If the clip’s end point is trimmed so that a
note’s start point is within the clip but its end point You can edit continuous controller events by
is not, the note remains and overlaps the edge of switching track views or by revealing the control-
the clip. ler lanes under the track.

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 34, “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).

588 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Notes View for MIDI and To scroll the Notes display up or down for a MIDI or
Instrument Tracks Instrument track, do one of the following:

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).

Up Arrow MIDI note above the current display

Scrolling notes with the Up Arrow on mini-keyboard

 With any of the Edit tools (such as the Time

Grabber tool) selected, press Command+Op-
tion+Control (Mac) or Control+Alt+Start (Win-
dows) and drag up or down on the mini-
keyboard.

Down Arrow Keyboard reference MIDI note

MIDI track displaying notes

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 752. page 752.

In Notes view, the pitch range of MIDI notes that

can be displayed depends on the track height, and
on the current zoom value. Any time a track’s
notes do not fit within its current height, notes
above or below the viewed area are displayed as
single-pixel lines at the very top and bottom of the
range.

Chapter 27: Editing Basics 589

 Nondestructive MIDI Editing
Naming Clips
While editing audio clips is usually nondestruc-
tive, this is generally not the case for MIDI clips. You can rename clips to give them more descrip-
For instance, if a MIDI clip resides in just one track tive names, or to simplify existing names. When
at a single location, editing for that clip is destruc- renaming a clip that was auto-created during edit-
tive. This means that altering the pitch, duration, or ing, the clip becomes a user-defined clip and is dis-
placement of notes in Notes view permanently al- played in the Clips List even when auto-created
ters the clip. clips are hidden.

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 300.
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 691). 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 747). 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.

590 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 To enable or disable the display of clip data on all
Displaying Clip Names, Clip channels:
Times, and Other Data  Select or deselect View > Clip > Display on All
Clip names and times can sometimes get in the Channels.
way of editing audio waveforms and MIDI data. In
these instances, you may want to disable their dis- Displaying Other Clip Information
play. In other instances, such as arranging or spot- You can also choose to display the following in
ting Foley, displaying clip names and times is ex- clips:
tremely useful.
Sync Points Can be displayed on clips in playlists.
To enable or disable the display of clip names in This is useful when visually spotting to timecode
playlists: or in arranging in Grid mode. For more informa-
 Select or deselect View > Clip > Name. tion, see “Sync Points” on page 905.

Processing State For clips that are processed with

To display clip times:
Elastic Audio, displays a Warp indicator in play-
 From View > Clip, select one of the following lists and in the Clips List. See “Warped Clips” on
options: page 984.
No Time Disables display of clip times. Channel Name and Scene And Take
Information Can be displayed in clips in playlists
Current Time Displays start and end times for
and in the Clips List. This is useful for working
clips.
with multichannel recordings and metadata made
Original Time Stamp Displays the Original Time by field recorders. For detailed information on
Stamp for each clip. The Original Time Stamp is workflows for field recorders, see Chapter 59,
the original timecode location for the clip when it “Working with Field Recorders in Pro Tools.”
was first recorded or created.
Rating Can be displayed on clips in playlists. This
User Time Stamp Displays the User Time Stamp is useful for arranging when working with multiple
for each clip. The User Time Stamp, which de- playlists and alternate takes. See “Rating Clips” on
faults to the Original Time Stamp, can be redefined page 667.
with the Time Stamp command.
Overlap Shadows When enabled, overlapping
clips cast shadows over any partially overlapped
clips. This is useful for arranging and when work-
ing with tick-based audio tracks. See “Tempo
Changes and Tick-Based Audio Tracks” on
page 849.
Display enabled for clip names, Overlap, and times
Transparency When enabled, this option shows
Displaying Clip Data on All Channels transparent clip overlays when moving clips on the
For stereo and greater-than-stereo multichannel timeline. This can be useful for visually aligning
tracks, clip data can be shown on all channels. clips over other clips when arranging. See “Ar-
ranging with Transparent Clip Overlays” on
page 895.

Chapter 27: Editing Basics 591

 Overwrite Indicator When Overwrite Indicator is Clip Gain Info Shows the Clip Gain Fader icon at
enabled (View > Clip > Clip Overwrite Indicator), the beginning of the clip, in the lower left corner. If
Pro Tools provides a visual indication that an off- the clip uses static clip gain, the static Clip Gain
screen clip is being fully overlapped by a larger value (–144 dB to +36.0 dB) for a clip is displayed
clip that you are moving. The clip you are moving to the right of the Clip Gain Fader icon. For a clip
highlights red at the edge of the screen if a smaller that has dynamic clip gain (using breakpoint gain
off-screen clip is being overwritten. If the Send settings), the Clip Gain value is not shown. For
Fully Overlapped Clips to Available Playlist While more information, see “Clip Effects Status View”
Editing preference is enabled (Setup > Preferences on page 953.
> Editing), it highlights blue indicating that a
Clip Effects Status When Clip Effects Status is
smaller off-screen clip is being fully overlapped
and moved to an alternate playlist. enabled (View > Clip > Clip Effects Status), ø, EQ,
and DYN are displayed in the upper right corner of
the clip depending on which effects are being ap-
plied to the clip. ø is displayed when the phase is
inverted. EQ is displayed when EQ or Filtering is
applied to the clip. DYN is displayed when Dynam-
ics processing or Input Gain is set to any value
other than 0.0 dB. See “Clip Effects” on page 949.

Moving an audio clip so that it overwrites a smaller off-

screen clip highlights blue

Copy/Move Indicators When Copy/Move Indica-

tors is enabled (View > Clip > Copy/Move Indica-
tors), Pro Tools provides a visual indication of any
Clip Effects Status shown
clips being sent to an alternate playlist whether or
not the track is in Playlist view. The indicator ap-
pears as a blue animated down arrow.
Multiple Undo
Pro Tools can keep track of up to 32 of the last un-
doable operations, allowing you to return to a pre-
vious editing state.

The Undo operations in Pro Tools are stored in a

queue, in the order in which they were invoked.
Overlapped clip being sent to a new playlist When choosing Edit > Undo, the most recent oper-
ation is undone. If you choose Undo again, the next
Clip Gain Line Shows the Clip Gain Line for all operation in the queue is undone. You can also
clips in the Edit window. The Clip Gain Line lets choose Edit > Redo to redo an operation, which
you edit the clip gain settings for any given clip us- moves back through the Undo queue by one step.
ing breakpoint editing, much like with track-based
volume automation. See “Clip Gain Line” on
page 592.

592 Pro Tools Reference Guide

When the number of operations in the Undo queue To show (or hide) the Undo History window:
reaches the maximum specified level of Undo (set  Choose Window > Undo History.
in the Editing Preferences page), performing an-
other undoable operation will remove the oldest To undo operations in the Undo History window:
operation at the top of the queue.
 Click the operation (bold) in the list to undo.
To undo the last operation, do one of the following:
All operations in the queue that were performed af-
 Choose Edit > Undo. ter the operation you select are also undone. In the
Undo History window, undoable operations are
 Press Command+Z (Mac) or Control+Z (Win-
shown in bold and redoable operations (operations
dows).
that have already been undone) are shown in ital-
If no actions are available to undo, the menu ics.
displays Can’t Undo.
To redo operations in the Undo History window:
To redo the last undone operation, do one of the  Click the operation (italics) in the list to redo.
following:

 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

Clearing the Undo Queue

Undoable To manually clear the Undo Queue

operations
 Click the Options pop-up menu and choose
Redoable Clear Undo Queue.
operations

Creation times

Undo History Window

Chapter 27: Editing Basics 593

 Other operations that clear the Undo Queue in-
clude: Basic Editing Commands
• Deleting a track, or clearing a clip from the Clips Pro Tools provides many standard edit commands
List (such as Cut, Copy, and Paste). Pro Tools also pro-
vides many specialized edit commands that are op-
• Selecting Select > Unused, or Select > Unused
timized for audio and MIDI production (such as
Audio Except Whole Files in the Clips List menu
Repeat Paste to Fill).
When the number of operations in the Undo His-
tory reaches the maximum level of Undo, perform- Cut, Copy, Paste, and Clear
ing another undoable operation removes the oldest
operation at the top of the Undo History queue. Use the Cut, Copy, Paste, and Clear commands to
When the oldest operation is one operation away rearrange and edit track material. Edits can operate
from being pushed out of the queue, it is shown in on entire clips selected with the Time Grabber tool,
red. or on track ranges selected with the Selector tool.
Edits can also work across multiple tracks (see
“Editing Across Multiple Tracks” on page 598).
Levels of Undo and Memory
Because Pro Tools needs to keep track of the play- You can Cut, Copy, and Paste noncontiguous
lists for all tracks that are edited, the use of multi- clips by selecting them with the Object Grab-
ple levels of Undo can be memory intensive. You ber tool.
can lower the Levels of Undo setting (Editing Pref-
erences) in Pro Tools to reduce the amount of sys- Track View and Edit Content
tem memory (RAM) used by the Undo queue. If When cutting or copying track material, the Track
you have plenty of memory available for View determines the type of data placed on the
Pro Tools, you can use a higher Levels Of Undo Clipboard. When editing in a track’s Master View
setting. (Waveform view for audio tracks and Clips view
for MIDI or Instrument tracks), selections can in-
Use the Undo History window to view a
clude all underlying automation and controller
queue of undo operations and return to a pre-
data (“Automation Follows Edit Option” on
vious state.
page 1134). Thus, cutting an audio clip can also
To set the Levels of Undo in Pro Tools: cut any volume, pan, mute, send, continuous con-
troller, or plug-in automation that is also on the
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click the
track. This saves you from having to individually
Editing tab.
cut from each automation playlist on the track.
2 Click in the Levels of Undo field and type a
value between 1–64.

Levels of Undo preference Audio waveform data

3 Click OK.

594 Pro Tools Reference Guide

When selecting groups of MIDI notes in Notes If tracks are grouped, copying and pasting on any
view with any of the Grabber tools (by drawing a of the tracks affects each of the other tracks in the
rectangle around them), only the note data is group. Tracks that are hidden—even if they are
placed on the Clipboard. When selecting a time part of a group being edited—are not affected by
range of MIDI notes (in Notes view) with the Se- edits.
lector tool, all controller data in the track is se-
lected (similar to selecting with the Selector tool The Shuffle Clips option affects how material is
for audio tracks in Waveform view). cut and pasted:
• When Shuffle Clips is enabled, the Cut com-
When a track is displaying automation data or con- mand leaves no empty space, since the clips to
troller data, only that data is placed on the Clip- the right of the cut slide over, closing the gap.
board. Also, whenever you cut or copy automation Otherwise the Cut command leaves an empty
data, bounding breakpoints are created at each end space corresponding to the data removed from
of the selected area, in order to preserve the slope the track.
of the automation both inside and outside the se-
lection. • When Shuffle Clips is enabled, pasted data
causes all clips to slide over to make room for
the pasted material. Otherwise, pasted data can
overlap an adjacent clip.

For more information on the Shuffle Clips

option, see “Shuffle Mode” on page 599.

New clips are often auto-created when performing

Automation data with Cut and Pasted audio clip edits. For instance, when clearing a selection from
a clip, new clips are auto-created from the material
Use Command+Control+V (Mac) or Con- residing outside of the selection.
trol+Start+V (Windows) to special paste
automation data into another automation Cut and Copy Commands
type. For example, you can copy Pan automa-
tion into a Volume automation playlist. Use the Cut command to remove the selection
from the track and place it on the Clipboard.

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.

Chapter 27: Editing Basics 595

 When displaying waveforms for audio tracks, or Paste Command
notes or clips for MIDI tracks, selections include
Use the Paste command to place the contents of
underlying automation and controller data. If the
the Clipboard at the Edit insertion point, and over-
track is displaying automation data, only the auto-
write any material already there.
mation data is affected by the edits.
3 Make an Edit selection of the material you want To paste a selection or clip:
to Cut or Copy. 1 If you want to constrain the insertion point or
the selection to the current Grid value, enable
For information on making Edit selections,
Snap to Grid.
see “Selecting Track Material” on page 631.
2 Do one of the following:
4 Do one of the following:
• With the Selector tool, click in a track at the
• Choose Edit > Cut to remove the selection and point where you want to paste the material.
place it on the Clipboard.
• Use the Selector or Time Grabber tool to make a
• Choose Edit > Copy to place the selection on the selection where the material will be placed.
Clipboard, without removing it.
With the Grabber tool, Control-click (Mac)
If a portion of a clip was cut or copied, the material or Start-click (Windows) a clip to conform it
on the Clipboard appears as a new clip in the Clips to the current selection.
List. If a portion of a clip was cut, new clips are
auto-created from the material residing outside of 3 Choose Edit > Paste.
the selection.
If pasting at an insertion point with Shuffle Clips
When Shuffle Clips is enabled, any subsequent enabled, material to the right of the paste point is
clips slide over to fill any empty space. shifted to the right. Otherwise, any material within
the paste range is overwritten.
Deleting Underlying Clip Data
If pasting into a selection with Shuffle Clips en-
When removing a clip or selection, you can choose abled, the selection is replaced by the Clipboard’s
to remove or keep the underlying clip data. contents with the adjacent material slid left or right
as necessary. Otherwise, the selection is also re-
To delete a clip or selection along with the
underlying clip data:
placed but with the surrounding material remain-
ing unchanged.
 Choose Edit > Cut.
When working with MIDI, you can merge the
To delete a clip or selection without removing the contents of the Clipboard with material in the
underlying clip data: destination track using Edit > Paste Special
 Choose Edit > Clear. > Merge. For more information, see “Paste
Special” on page 1159.

596 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Special Cut, Copy, Paste, and
Non-automated plug-in parameters need to Clear Commands
be the same between different instances of a
plug-in, or the pasted automation can have Use the four “special” Edit menu commands (Cut
unpredictable results. Special, Copy Special, Paste Special, and Clear
Special) for cutting, copying, pasting, and clearing
Clear Command automation (volume, pan, mute, and plug-in auto-
mation) on audio, Auxiliary Input, Master Fader,
Use the Clear command to remove a selection from VCA Master, and Instrument tracks. These com-
a track without placing it on the Clipboard. mands can also be used for MIDI controller data on
MIDI and Instrument tracks. There are also Cut
To clear a selection or clip:
Special, Copy Special, and Clear Special com-
1 If you want to constrain the selection to the cur- mands for cutting, copying, and clearing clip gain
rent Grid value, enable Snap to Grid. settings (see “Clip Gain” on page 941) and clip ef-
fects settings (see “Clip Effects” on page 949).
2 Set the Track View for the tracks you want to
edit. You cannot paste MIDI controller data to
When displaying waveforms for audio tracks, or automation data nor automation to MIDI.
notes or clips for MIDI tracks, selections include
underlying automation and controller data. If the For more information, see “Cutting, Copying,
track is displaying automation data, only the auto- and Pasting Automation” on page 1157.
mation data is affected by the edits.
The Repeat to Fill Selection command lets you au-
3 Make an Edit selection.
tomatically fill a selection with audio or MIDI
4 Choose Edit > Clear to remove the selection. clips or data without requiring that you manually
duplicate the clips. To use Repeat to Fill Selection,
If the Layered Editing option is disabled (Options > Cut or Copy a clip, then make a selection and use
Layered Editing) and a portion of a clip was the command to fill the selection. When pasting
cleared, new clips are auto-created from the mate- audio clips, you are prompted to specify a cross-
rial residing outside of the selection. When Shuffle fade to be used for the pasted clips.
mode is enabled, any subsequent clips slide over to
fill any empty space. If you fill an area that is an exact multiple of the
copied clip size (for example, filling 16 bars with a
4-bar clip), the copied selection is pasted as many
times as it takes to fill the selection. If you fill an
area that is not an exact multiple of the copied clip
size (for example, filling 15 seconds of a track with
a 2-second clip of room noise), the remaining se-
lection area is filled with an automatically trimmed
version of the original selection.

Chapter 27: Editing Basics 597

 To fill a selection with Repeat to Fill Selection: To copy all types of automation on all selected
tracks when copying only automation or controller
1 Select the clip you want to copy. data:
2 Choose Edit > Copy.  Choose Edit > Copy Special > All Automation.
3 Select the area you want to fill using the Selec-
To paste to multiple tracks:
tor tool and choose Edit > Paste Special > Re-
peat to Fill Selection. 1 Do one of the following:

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 243), edits affect not only audio and MIDI for
enabled.
the selected tracks, but all automation and control-
ler data as well.

If all selected tracks are displayed as automation

data, edits only affect the type of automation data
displayed in each track. Furthermore, if track 1 dis-
plays Pan automation, track 2 displays Volume au-
tomation, and track 3 displays Mute automation,
the Cut command cuts only pan data from track 1,
volume data from track 2, and mute data from
track 3.

For more information on selecting data on

multiple tracks, see “Selecting Across Multi-
ple Tracks” on page 638.

598 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Chapter 28: Edit Modes and Tools

Pro Tools provides four Edit modes and various then “shuffle” their order, but you cannot separate
Edit tools to help you successfully edit material. them from each other and you cannot make them
overlap as in Slip mode. However, if there is si-
lence between existing clips, and the clips are shuf-
Edit Modes fled, the silence is maintained, and not removed.

Pro Tools has four Edit modes: Shuffle, Spot, Slip, In Shuffle mode, adding another clip to the begin-
and Grid. Grid mode provides two modes of oper- ning of a track moves all subsequent clips to the
ation, Relative and Absolute, explained below. right (later in time) by the length of the added clip.
The Edit mode is selected by clicking the corre-
When using any of the Trim tools in Shuffle mode,
sponding button in the upper left of the Edit win-
changing a clip’s start or end point automatically
dow.
moves any subsequent clips as necessary. The
placement and insertion of MIDI notes is not af-
fected by Shuffle mode.

Press F1 to enable Shuffle mode.

Edit mode buttons

Shuffle Lock
The Edit mode affects the movement and place-
With certain workflows, it is important to exclude
ment of audio and MIDI clips (and MIDI notes),
Shuffle mode in order to ensure that clips stay
how commands like Copy and Paste function, and
time-aligned while editing. Shuffle Lock prevents
also how the various Edit tools (Trim, Selector,
you from inadvertently entering Shuffle mode by
Grabber, and Pencil tools) work.
disabling all key commands and control surface
Use the Accent key ( ` ) to toggle through the switches for Shuffle mode. You cannot invoke
Edit modes. Shuffle Lock while in Shuffle mode.

Shuffle Mode
In Shuffle mode, you can move, trim, delete, cut,
or paste clips freely within a track or to other Shuffle Lock enabled
tracks, but their movement is constrained by other
clips. That is, if you place several clips in a track,
they automatically snap to each other. You can

Chapter 28: Edit Modes and Tools 599

 To lock out Shuffle Mode: When Spot mode is enabled, Pro Tools asks you to
 While in any Edit mode other than Shuffle specify a destination location when a clip is
mode, Command-click (Mac) or Control-click dragged from the Clips List, a Workspace browser,
(Windows) the Shuffle button on-screen. A lock Windows Explorer, or the Mac Finder.
icon appears in the Shuffle button.
Press F3 to enable Spot mode.
To unlock Shuffle Mode:

 Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win- Grid Mode

dows) the locked Shuffle button on-screen.
In Grid mode, clips and MIDI notes that are
moved, trimmed or inserted “snap” to the currently
selected Grid value, or to precise increments on a
Slip Mode user-definable time grid.
In Slip mode, clips can be moved freely within a
track or to other tracks. In this mode, it is possible Press F4 to enable Grid mode.
to place a clip so that there is space between it and
other clips in a track. When the track is played Displaying Grid Lines
back, this space is silent. It is also possible to move
To show (or hide) the Grid lines in the Edit window
a clip so that it overlaps or completely covers an- or in a MIDI Editor window, do one of the following:
other clip.
 Select (or deselect) the Grid button.
Use Slip mode when you want the Trim, Selector,
Grabber, and Pencil tools to work without any re-
strictions to placement in time.

Press F2 to enable Slip mode.

Grid button selected in the Edit window

To temporarily suspend Slip mode and switch
to Grid mode while editing, Command-click  Click the Name of the currently selected Time-
(Mac) or Control-click (Windows) while mak- base ruler.
ing the edit.

Spot Mode
Use Spot mode to place clips at precise locations.
In Spot mode you can specify a frame location (or
a location based on any of the other time formats),
capture an incoming Timecode address, or use a
clip’s time stamps as reference points for spotting.
This can be particularly useful when performing
Turning on Grid lines from a Timebase ruler
post production tasks around SMPTE frame loca-
tions.

600 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Absolute and Relative Grid For example, in Shuffle mode, with Snap To Grid
enabled, you can make a selection in a clip based
Grid mode can be applied in Absolute or Relative
on the Grid, cut the selection, and any clips to the
mode:
right of the edit shuffle to the left.
 In Absolute Grid mode, moving any clip (or se-
lected MIDI data) snaps the clip start to Grid
boundaries. If a clip’s start point falls between
beats, and the Grid is set to 1/4 notes, dragging the
clip will snap its start time to the nearest 1/4 note
(the current absolute Grid value).
 In Relative Grid mode, clips (or selected MIDI
Shuffle mode with Snap To Grid enabled
data) can be moved by Grid (or Nudge) units. If a
clip’s start point falls between beats and the Grid is To enable Snap To Grid while in another Edit
set to a 1/4 note (assuming the 1/4 note gets the mode:
beat), dragging the clip will be constrained to 1/4  Shift-click the Grid mode button.
notes, preserving the clip’s relative position to the
nearest beat. For more information on Relative Press Shift+F4 to enable Snap To Grid while
Grid mode, see “Arranging Clips in Grid Mode” in another Edit mode.
on page 901.
To enable Shuffle, Slip, or Spot while in Grid mode:
To select Absolute or Relative Grid mode:  Shift-click the Shuffle, Slip, or Spot mode but-
 Click the Grid mode selector and choose Abso- ton.
lute or Relative.
Press F1+F4 to enable Snap To Grid and
To temporarily suspend Grid mode and switch Shuffle mode; press F2+F4 to enable Snap
to Slip mode while editing, Command-click To Grid and Slip mode; and press F3+F4 to
(Mac) or Control-click (Windows) while mak- enable Snap To Grid and Spot mode.
ing the edit.
Configuring the Grid
Snap To Grid The actual Grid size, chosen from the Grid value
Pro Tools lets you enable Snap To Grid while in selector can be based on a time value using the
Shuffle, Slip, or Spot mode. When in any of these Main Time Scale; or, if the Follow Main Time
modes with Snap To Grid also enabled, placing the Scale option is deselected, another time format can
Edit cursor and making Edit selections is con- be used for the Grid size.
strained by the Grid, but any clip editing is also af-
The Grid Value indicator and selector are located
fected by the other selected Edit mode.
in the Edit window. Also, the Score Editor window
and MIDI Editor windows each provide an inde-
pendent Grid Value indicator and selector.

Chapter 28: Edit Modes and Tools 601

 Grid Mode Lock
To ensure that you do not inadvertently change the
Grid mode setting when using Edit mode keyboard
shortcuts, you can enable Edit/Tool Mode Key-
board Lock.

To lock (or unlock) the selected Grid mode:

1 Click the Grid mode selector and choose
Absolute or Relative.

2 Select (or deselect) Options > Edit/Tool Mode

Keyboard Lock.

Edit Tools
Grid Value indicator and pop-up menu Pro Tools provides the following Edit tools: the
Zoomer, Trim, Selector, Grabber, Scrubber, and
The current Grid value is also used for the Pencil tools, and the multifunctional Smart Tool.
Quantize to Grid command (see “Quantizing
Clips to Grid” on page 663) and Separated Zoomer Scrubber
Zoom buttons Smart Tool Pencil
Clip At Grid command (see “Separate Com-
mands” on page 654).

To increase the grid value incrementally:

 Press Shift+Equal (=)

Zoom Toggle Grabber
To decrease the grid value incrementally: Selector
Trim
 Press Shift+Minus (–)
Zoom buttons and Edit tools
The Clips/Markers option in the Grid Value menu
To select an Edit tool:
allows events to be placed freely (as in Slip mode),
but they will snap to clip locations (start, end, and  Click the icon for the tool you want in the Tool-
sync points), markers, and Edit selections when bar.
placed near them.

MIDI notes inserted with the Pencil tool ig-

nore the Clips/Markers option, and instead
snap to the time value selected in the Grid
Value selector.

602 Pro Tools Reference Guide

The Zoomer, Trim, Grabber, and Pencil tools have Pencil Tool Use the Pencil tool to draw automation
multiple modes, which you can select from a pop- and MIDI data.
up menu when you click the tool.
For information on using the Edit tools in
You can use F5 (Zoomer), F6 (Trim), F7 (Se- Notes view on MIDI and Instrument tracks,
lector), and F8 (Grabber), F9 (Scrubber), see Chapter 34, “MIDI Editing.”
and F10 (Pencil) to select and toggle through
the modes for each tool.
For information on using the Edit tools in
Warp view and Analysis view on Elastic
Press the Escape key to toggle through the Audio-enabled tracks, see “Editing in Warp
Edit tools. View” on page 979 and “Editing in Analysis
View” on page 986.
Zoom Buttons Use the Zoom buttons to zoom in
and out vertically and horizontally on MIDI and
audio track material. You can also store and recall Zooming Options
five Zoom presets.
Zooming options in Pro Tools include Zoom but-
Zoomer Tool Use the Zoomer tool to select a zoom tons, the Zoomer tool, the Zoom Preset buttons,
view in a track. and the Zoom Toggle command.
Zoom Toggle Use the Zoom Toggle to switch be-
tween the current zoom view and a defined zoom
view. Zoom Buttons
Trim Tools Use the Trim tools to trim clips and clip Pro Tools includes different Zoom buttons for
groups. zooming in and out on track data.

Selector Tool Use the Selector to make selections The Edit window, MIDI Editor windows, and the
on tracks. Score Editor window also provide Zoom buttons
above and below the right vertical scroll bar (see
Grabber Tools Use the Grabber tools to select, “Edit Window Zoom Buttons” on page 194,
separate, or move clips on tracks. “MIDI Editor Zoom Controls” on page 795, and
“Score Editor Zoom Controls” on page 815.)
Smart Tool Use the Smart tool to Trim, Select, or
Grab clips, or apply or adjust fades in tracks.
Horizontal Zoom In and Out
Scrubber Tool Use the Scrubber tool to scrub Buttons
through track material.
The Horizontal Zoom In and Out buttons let you
zoom in and out horizontally on track data.

Horizontal Zoom Out and In buttons

Chapter 28: Edit Modes and Tools 603

 To zoom in horizontally for all tracks, do one of the
following: MIDI Vertical Zoom only affects tracks in not
in Clips view.
 Click the Horizontal Zoom In button.
 Drag on the Horizontal Zoom In button to zoom To zoom in vertically for all audio tracks, do one of
the following:
in continuously.
 Click the Audio Zoom In button.
 Press Command+] (Mac) or Control+] (Win-
dows).  Drag on the Audio Zoom In button to zoom
continuously.
To zoom out horizontally for all tracks, do one of
the following:  Press Command+Option+] (Mac) or Con-
trol+Alt+] (Windows).
 Click the Horizontal Zoom Out button.
 Drag on the Horizontal Zoom Out button to To zoom out vertically for all audio tracks, do one
of the following:
zoom out continuously.
 Click the Audio Zoom Out button.
 Press Command+[ (Mac) or Control+[ (Win-
dows).  Click the Audio Vertical Zoom buttons.
 Press Command+Option+[ or Command+Op-
Audio and MIDI Zoom In and Out tion+] (Mac) or Control+Alt+[ or Con-
Buttons trol+Alt+] (Windows).
The Audio and MIDI Zoom buttons let you zoom
To zoom all audio vertically to show the default
in and out vertically on audio and MIDI data
waveform height:
respectively.
 Press Command+Option+Control+[ (Mac) or
Control+Alt+Start+[ (Windows).

To zoom in vertically for all MIDI and Instrument

tracks, do one of the following:

 Click the MIDI Zoom In button.

 Press Command+Shift+] (Mac) or Con-
Audio Vertical Zoom button
trol+Shift+] (Windows).

To zoom out vertically for all MIDI and Instrument

tracks, do one of the following:

 Click the MIDI Zoom Out button.

 Press Command+Shift+[ (Mac) or Con-
trol+Shift+[ (Windows).

MIDI Vertical Zoom button

604 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To zoom MIDI vertically to show all notes (lowest to To zoom horizontally to show the entire session,
highest) in MIDI and Instrument tracks: do one of the following:

 Press Command+Control+Shift+[ (Mac) or  Double-click the Zoomer tool in the toolbar.

Control+Start+Shift+[ (Windows).
 Press Option+A (Mac) or Alt+A (Windows).
To zoom in or out vertically for a single MIDI or Audio waveforms revert to the default vertical
Instrument track:
zoom; on tracks set to Notes view, MIDI notes
1 Make sure the Track View is not set to Clips. zoom vertically to show all notes in the track (same
2 Select the Zoomer tool. as the vertical zoom in Clips view); and the Tempo
Editor zooms vertically to show all tempo events.
3 Hold Control (Mac) or Start (Windows) and
drag upwards to zoom in, or downward to zoom To zoom horizontally to show the entire session
out. without affecting vertical zoom or scrolling, do
one of the following:

Additional Zoom Key Commands  Press Option+Control+A (Mac) or Alt+Start+A

(Windows).
To return to the previous zoom level, do one of the
following:  Press Command+Control+[ (Mac) or Con-
trol+Start+[ (Windows).
 Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) any
of the Horizontal, Audio, or MIDI Zoom but- To set horizontal zoom to “overview scale” (256
tons. samples per pixel):

 Press Command+Option+E (Mac) or Con-  Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win-

trol+Alt+E (Windows). dows) the Zoomer tool.

To zoom in horizontally on the Edit selection

without affecting vertical zoom:
Zoomer Tool
 Press Option+F (Mac) or Alt+F (Windows).
Use the Zoomer tool to zoom in and out around a
If the selection contains MIDI notes, the selected particular area within a track.
MIDI notes are vertically scrolled to show in tracks
The Zoomer tool offers two modes:
as necessary.
Normal Zoom The Zoomer tool remains selected
To zoom in horizontally on a selection without
after zooming.
affecting vertical zoom or scrolling, do one of the
following: Single Zoom The previously selected Edit tool is
 Press Option+Control+F (Mac) Alt+Start+F automatically reselected after zooming.
(Windows).
Press the F5 key to select the Zoomer tool
 Press Command+Control+] (Mac) or Con- and toggle between Normal and Single Zoom
trol+Start+] (Windows). modes.

Chapter 28: Edit Modes and Tools 605

 Normal Zoomer Tool
To zoom around a certain point in a track:

1 Do one of the following:

• Click the Zoomer tool pop-up menu and select
Normal Zoom mode.

Zoomer tool

• Right-click on any track and select Tools > Zooming horizontally with Zoomer tool
Zoomer Tools > Normal Zoom. The zoomed area fills the entire Edit window.
2 Click once with the Zoomer tool at a location
within the track. All tracks are zoomed in by Single Zoom Mode
one level and the Edit window is centered
around the zoomed location. Single Zoom mode returns you to the previously
selected tool after a zoom has been performed.
3 To zoom back to the previous level, Option-
click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) with the For example, when using the Smart Tool you can
Zoomer tool. click the Single Zoomer tool, and once the Zoom
operation has been performed, Pro Tools automat-
To zoom into a particular track area: ically switches back to the Smart Tool.
1 Do one of the following:
To use Single Zoom mode, do one of the following:
• Click the Zoomer tool pop-up menu and select
 Click the Zoomer tool pop-up menu and select
Normal Zoom mode.
Single Zoom mode.
• Right-click on any track and select Tools >
Zoomer Tools > Normal Zoom.  Right-click on any track and select Tools >
Zoomer Tools > Single Zoom.
2 Do one of the following:
 Press the F5 key to toggle to Single Zoom
• To zoom horizontally only, drag with the
mode.
Zoomer tool in the track’s playlist.
• To zoom horizontally and vertically, press Com-
mand (Mac) or Control (Windows) while drag-
ging in the track’s playlist.

606 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Single Zoom is identified with an arrow to the right Continuous Zoom with the
of the Zoomer icon. Zoomer Tool
Use the Zoomer tool to zoom in or out continu-
ously.

To use continuous zoom on one track or a group of

Single Zoom mode
tracks:
Normal Zoom mode does not have the arrow. 1 Select the Zoomer tool.
2 Hold the Control (Mac) or Start key (Windows)
Zooming in a Ruler and do one of the following:
To zoom horizontally in a ruler: • Drag up to continuously zoom in vertically.
1 Press Command+Control (Mac) or Con- • Drag down to continuously zoom out vertically.
trol+Start (Windows) and move the cursor into
• Drag to the right to continuously zoom in hori-
the ruler area, so the Zoomer tool appears.
zontally.
• Drag to the left to continuously zoom out hori-
zontally.

For horizontal zoom, all tracks zoom together.

Tracks will zoom in or out centered horizontally
on the location where you click.

Vertical Zooming In or Out of All

Audio Tracks Continuously
Zooming in a ruler
To vertically zoom in or out of all audio tracks
2 Do one of the following: using continuous zoom:

• Click once to zoom in one level around a certain  Drag up or down on the Audio Zoom In or Out
point. button.
• Drag to zoom in around a particular ruler range.
To vertically zoom in or out of all MIDI and
Instrument tracks that are set to Notes view using
continuous zoom:

 Drag up or down on the MIDI Zoom In or Out

button. Any waveform height offsets will be
maintained.

Chapter 28: Edit Modes and Tools 607

 To zoom horizontally and show the entire session
or project, and to reset the audio waveform to Zoom Preset Buttons
show the default height, zoom MIDI to show all
notes in a track, and zoom the Tempo Editor to Pro Tools lets you save up to five horizontal Edit
show all tempo events, do one of the following: window Zoom presets, which can be recalled by
typing a number or by clicking a Zoom Preset but-
 Double-click the Zoomer tool.
ton.
 Press Option+A (Mac) or Alt+A (Windows).
To store a view as a Zoom preset:
This will also affect your MIDI note heights.
1 Use the Zoomer tool to configure the Track
View.
To reset the default audio waveform heights
2 Click and hold one of the Zoom Preset buttons
without affecting the horizontal zoom level or
(1–5) and choose Save Zoom Preset from the
MIDI note heights, press Command+
Zoom Preset pop-up menu. The preset button
Option+Control+[ (Mac) or Control+
flashes momentarily, and any previously stored
Alt+Start+[ (Windows).
Zoom preset at that number is replaced.
To only zoom horizontally to show the entire
session without affecting vertical zoom or
scrolling:

 Press Option+Control+A (Mac) or Alt+Start+A

(Windows).

To set all audio track waveform heights to match Zoom Preset pop-up menu
the waveform height of the topmost audio track in
To recall a saved Zoom preset, do one of the
the Edit window:
following:
 Command-Shift-click (Mac) or Control-Shift-
 Click the appropriate Zoom Preset button (1–5).
click (Windows) the Audio Zoom button. All
waveform height offsets will be lost.  Click and hold the Zoom Preset button and
choose Recall Zoom Preset from the Zoom Pre-
To set all MIDI and Instrument track note heights to set pop-up menu.
match the note height of the topmost MIDI or
Instrument track in the Edit window: If the 1–5 Number Keys Control Editing
 Command-Shift-click (Mac) or Control-Shift- Preference is set to Zoom Presets, press
click (Windows) the MIDI Zoom button. All Control+1–5 (Mac) or Start+1–5 (Windows)
note height offsets will be lost. to recall the corresponding Zoom preset.

608 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Zoom Toggle For MIDI Editing, set the Zoom Toggle pref-
erences as follows: Vertical Zoom to Last
Zoom Toggle lets you define and toggle between
Used, Horizontal Zoom to Last Used, Track
zoom states in the Edit window.
View to Waveform/Notes, and Track Height
to Fit to Window.
Zoom Toggle Parameters
The Zoom Toggle stores and recalls the following For audio editing, set the Zoom Toggle
parameters: preferences as follows: Vertical Zoom to
• Vertical Zoom Selection, Horizontal Zoom to Selection,
Track Height to Fit to Window, and Track
• Horizontal Zoom
View to No Change.
• Track Height
4 Click OK.
• Track View
• Grid setting Vertical Zoom

Selection When selected, zoom toggling in zooms

Zoom Toggle Preferences vertically to the current Edit Selection.
The Zoom Toggle preferences determine how Last Used When selected, zoom toggling in
Zoom Toggle works. Adjust the Zoom Toggle zooms vertically to the last stored Zoom Toggle
preferences to fit your workflow. state for MIDI notes in Notes view only.
To change the Zoom Toggle preferences:
Horizontal Zoom
1 Choose Setup > Preferences.
Selection When selected, zoom toggling in zooms
2 Click the Editing tab. horizontally to the current selection. This is espe-
cially useful for audio editing.
3 Change the Zoom Toggle settings and options.
Last Used When selected, zoom toggling in
zooms horizontally to the last stored Zoom Toggle
state. This option can emulate a separate editor
window. This is especially useful for editing MIDI
notes.

Remove Range Selection After Zooming In

When the Remove Range Selection After Zoom-

ing In option is selected, the current Edit selection
collapses into an insertion point after zoom tog-
Zoom Toggle preferences
gling in.

Chapter 28: Edit Modes and Tools 609

 Track Height Separate Grid Settings When Zoomed In

Last Used When selected, zoom toggling in When this option is selected, the Grid setting
changes all tracks containing an Edit Selection to stored with Zoom toggle is recalled when zoom
the last used Track Height. toggling in. When this option is deselected, the
same (current) grid setting is used whether zoom
Medium When selected, zoom toggling in changes
toggling in or out.
all tracks containing an Edit Selection to the Me-
dium Track Height. Zoom Toggle Follows Edit Selection
Large When selected, zoom toggling in changes When selected, this option ensures that zoom tog-
all tracks containing an Edit Selection to the Large gle automatically follows the current Edit selec-
Track Height. tion. When disabled, changing the Edit selection
Jumbo When selected, zoom toggling in changes
has no affect on the currently toggled-in track.
all tracks containing an Edit Selection to the
Jumbo Track Height. Using Zoom Toggle
Extreme When selected, zoom toggling in changes Depending on the Zoom Toggle preference set-
all tracks containing an Edit Selection to the Ex- tings, the Zoom Toggle button in the Edit window
treme Track Height. lets you define a zoom state and toggle between it
and the current zoom state, or it zooms to the set-
Fit To Window When selected, zoom toggling in tings in the Zoom Toggle preferences. When
changes all tracks containing an Edit Selection to Zoom Toggle is enabled, the Edit window displays
the Fit To Window Track Height. the stored zoom state. Additionally, any changes
made to the view while Zoom Toggle is enabled
Track View
are also stored in the zoom state.
Waveform/Notes When selected, zoom toggling in
When Zoom Toggle is disabled, the Edit window
changes the Track View for audio tracks to Wave-
reverts to the last zoom state.
form view, and changes the Track View for Instru-
ment and MIDI tracks to Notes view. To store a zoom state using Zoom Toggle:
Warp/Notes When selected, zoom toggling in 1 Set the Zoom Toggle preferences.
changes the Track View for audio tracks to Warp
2 Make an Edit selection.
view, and changes the Track View for Instrument
and MIDI tracks to Notes view. 3 Click the Zoom Toggle button. It lights to indi-
cate that Zoom Toggle is enabled and Pro Tools
Last Used When selected, zoom toggling in
zoom toggles in based on the settings of the
changes the Track View to the last used Track
Zoom Toggle preferences.
View that was stored with Zoom Toggle.

No Change When selected, the track view does not

change when zoom toggling in or out.

610 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 To clear the stored Zoom Toggle state:
1 Make sure the Zoom Toggle button is lit (en-
abled).
2 Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) the
Zoom Toggle button.

Zoom Toggle button in the Edit window To use Zoom Toggle without changing playlist
views:
If Last Used is selected for any of the following,
you can adjust the corresponding zoom, height, or 1 Make a selection on one or more tracks.
view in the Edit window to update the stored zoom
2 Do one of the following:
state:
• Press Option+Control+E (Mac) or Alt+Start+E
• Vertical Zoom
(Windows).
• Horizontal Zoom
• With Commands Keyboard Focus enabled (see
• Track Height “Keyboard Focus” on page 26), press Option+E
• Track View (Mac) or Alt+E (Windows).

In Commands Keyboard Focus mode (see

“Keyboard Focus” on page 26), press the
E key to enable or disable Zoom Toggle.

Press Option+Shift+E (Mac) or Alt+Shift+E

(Windows) to cancel Zoom Toggle without
reverting to the previous view.

To modify the stored Zoom Toggle state if Last

Used is selected:

1 Make sure the Zoom Toggle button is lit (en- Using the Zoom Toggle
abled).
2 Adjust the Track Height, Vertical Zoom, Track
View, or the Grid depending on which prefer-
ences are set to Last Used. Changes are stored
as the new Zoom Toggle state.

Chapter 28: Edit Modes and Tools 611

 Auto-Toggle When Changing To scroll the contents of the Edit window or Mix
Selection window horizontally:

1 Focus the window you want to scroll by click-

When Zoom Toggle is enabled, selecting a differ-
ing in it or bringing it forward.
ent range of material, or selecting material on a dif-
ferent track affects Zoom Toggle as follows: 2 Hold the Shift key while turning the mouse
• Changing the selection length does not re-zoom scroll wheel.
the window, the current zoom level is main-
tained.
• Changing the selection to a different track sets Using the Trim Tools
the toggle-in state for track height and view. Trim tools provide clip, note, and data trimming
However, horizontal zoom remains unchanged. functions. The following Trim tools are available:
When moving the selection from a toggled in
• Trim tool; also called the Standard Trim tool
track, the toggled out track height and view are
restored. • Time Compression/Expansion Trim tool; also
called the TCE Trim tool
Auto-Toggle does not work for Edit se-
• Scrub Trim tool (Pro Tools Ultimate Only)
lections across multiple tracks that are
Zoom-toggled to Fit to Window. • Loop Trim tool

The Standard and Scrub Trim tools are only con-

strained by the boundaries of the whole-audio file
Zooming with a Scroll Wheel referenced by the clip. The TCE Trim tool is only
If you have a mouse with a scroll wheel, you can constrained by the maximum TCE amount when
use the scroll wheel to zoom in and out of tracks, using the TCE Trim tool.
both vertically and horizontally.
The TCE, Scrub, and Loop Trim tools do not apply
To continuously zoom horizontally using a scroll to fades.
wheel:

 Hold Option (Mac) or Alt (Windows) while

turning the mouse scroll wheel. Trim Tool
With the Trim tool, you can quickly shorten or ex-
To continuously zoom audio (vertical zoom) in the
pand a clip (up to the entire length of the source au-
Edit window:
dio file). The first time you trim a clip, Pro Tools
 Hold Option+Shift (Mac) or Alt+Shift (Win- automatically adds it to the Clips List as a new clip
dows) while turning the mouse scroll wheel. (with a name derived from the original) in order to
differentiate it from the original.
To continuously zoom MIDI (vertical zoom) in the
Edit window: The Trim tool is a nondestructive tool and does not
 Hold Option+Control (Mac) or Alt+Start (Win- actually modify the original audio or MIDI data
dows) while turning the mouse scroll wheel. (when working on clips). To return to the length of
the original clip, drag it from the Clips List, or re-
size the edited clip with the Trim tool to its original
length.

612 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Use of the Trim tool is affected by the current Edit 4 Do one of the following:
mode: Shuffle, Slip, Spot, or Grid (see “Edit • If trimming the end, drag left to shorten the clip,
Modes” on page 599). right to lengthen.
The Trim tool can also be used to lengthen • If trimming the start, drag right to shorten the
and shorten MIDI notes (see “Trimming Note clip, left to lengthen.
Start and End Times” on page 756), and also
to scale automation and controller data up or When working with audio, you cannot trim
down. See “Drawing Automation” on past the boundaries of adjacent clips.
page 1151.
When trimming clips in a stereo or multichannel
To trim a clip with the Trim tool: track, all channels are trimmed.

1 Select the Trim tool. The standard Trim tool trims the edges of all selected
clips (not just the one you click and trim).
2 Do one of the following:
• Click the Trim tool pop-up menu and select
Standard.

Trim tool

• Right-click on any track and select Tools > Trim

Tools > Standard.

3 Move the cursor near the start or end of the clip,

so the Trim Tool cursor appears.
Trimming all selected clips

When using Shuffle mode, subsequent clips are

slid as necessary to make room for the edited clip.
If using Grid mode, the dragged start/end times
snap to the nearest Grid boundary. If using Spot
Trim tool mode, the Spot dialog opens, where you can enter
To reverse the direction of the Trim tool, press Op- the new location for the clip’s start or end point.
tion (Mac) or Alt (Windows).

Chapter 28: Edit Modes and Tools 613

 AudioSuite TCE Trim Tool
Time Compression/
Expansion Trim Tool On audio tracks without Elastic Audio enabled, the
Time Compression/Expansion Trim tool works by
The Time Compression/Expansion Trim tool using the Time Compression/Expansion (TCE)
(TCE Trim) is a convenient tool for matching an AudioSuite plug-in selected in the Pro Tools Pro-
audio clip to the length of another clip, a tempo cessing preferences to create a new audio file.
grid, a video scene, or to practically any other ref-
erence point you want.
Time Compression/Expansion
Plug-In Preferences
You can select which AudioSuite plug-in is used
for trimming with the TCE Trim tool on non-Elas-
tic Audio-enabled audio tracks.

Time Compression/Expansion Trim tool over a clip To set the AudioSuite plug-in for use with the TCE
Trim tool:
The TCE Trim tool unloops and consolidates 1 Choose Setup > Preferences.
looped clips.
2 Click the Processing tab.
3 From the TC/E Plug-In pop-up menu, select the
You can match an Edit selection to the length
AudioSuite plug-in to be used with the Time
of a Timeline selection by selecting Edit > TCE
Compression/Expansion Trim tool.
Edit to Timeline Selection command (see
“TCE (Time Compression and Expansion)
Edit To Timeline Selection” on page 666.

When using the TCE or Elastic trimmer, hold

Control (Mac) or Start (Windows) to con-
strain the trim to the edge of adjacent clips. TC/E Preferences

4 From the Default Settings pop-up menu, select

Elastic Audio TCE Trim Tool the plug-in setting best suited to the material
On Elastic Audio-enabled tracks, the TCE tool you work with most (such as Stereo Mix De-
fault).
uses the track’s selected Elastic Audio plug-in
(Real-Time or Rendered) to apply Real-Time or 5 Click OK.
Rendered Elastic Audio processing. The resulting
clip displays a Warp indicator to indicate Elastic For more information about AudioSuite
Audio processing. plug-ins, see Chapter 42, “AudioSuite
Processing.”
For information on Elastic Audio plug-ins,
see “Elastic Audio Plug-Ins” on page 975.

614 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Using the TCE Trim Tool in Grid Using the TCE Trim Tool in Slip
Mode Mode
The TCE Trim tool can be used in Grid mode to To use the TCE Trim tool in Slip mode:
match a clip to the tempo of a session or a section
1 Set the Edit mode to Slip.
of a session. For example, you might import a one-
bar drum loop with a tempo of 90 BPM into a ses- 2 Click the Trim tool pop-up menu and select
sion with a tempo of 120 BPM. In Grid mode, you TCE.
can use this tool to simply and quickly “time com-
3 With the TCE Trim tool, drag the clip’s start or
press” the drum loop to the length of one measure,
end point to compress or expand the clip freely.
with no noticeable to minimal loss of audio fidel-
ity.
Using the TCE Trim Tool in Spot
Trimming clips while in Relative Grid mode Mode
will trim the clips in grid increments while
In Spot mode, clicking with the TCE Trim tool in a
maintaining their relative offset (if any) from
clip opens the Spot dialog. You can specify the lo-
the grid.
cation you want the clip to start or end at, or the du-
To use the TCE Trim tool in Grid mode: ration of the clip, and the clip is automatically
compressed or expanded as specified.
1 Set the Edit mode to Grid.
2 Do one of the following: To use the TCE Trim tool in Spot mode:

• Click the Trim tool pop-up menu and select 1 Set the Edit mode to Spot.
TCE. 2 Click the Trim tool pop-up menu and select
TCE.
3 Click the clip near its start or end point. The
Spot dialog opens. Using any Time Scale, enter
a new start or end time (or duration) for the clip,
Time Compression/Expansion Trim tool
then click OK.
• Right-click on any track and select Tools >
Trim Tools > TCE.

3 With the TCE Trim tool, drag the audio clip’s

Scrub Trim Tool
start or end point to compress or expand the clip (Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)
to the Grid (for example, by quarter notes).
The Scrub Trim tool is a convenient tool for audi-
tioning material (on up to two tracks) to find a trim
point. You can drag in a track to hear the audio in-
formation, then trim at a specific location by re-
leasing the mouse button.

Chapter 28: Edit Modes and Tools 615

 This action creates a new clip. Note that the Scrub
Trim tool changes into a “right trim” or “left trim” Loop Trim Tool
shape as it is placed over the right or left side of a Use the Loop Trim tool to create or trim looped
clip. To reverse the direction of the Scrub Trim clips (see “Clip Looping” on page 915).
tool, press Option (Mac) or Alt (Windows) before
you click the clip.

Loop Trim tool

Creating Loops with the Loop

Scrub Trim tool over a clip Trim Tool
Scrub playback speed and direction vary with con- To create loop clips using the Loop Trim tool:
troller movement. Scrubbed audio is routed 1 Do one of the following:
through the track signal path, so you hear any ef-
• Click the Trim tool pop-up menu and select
fects in the signal path.
Loop.
To scrub trim a track: • Right-click on any track and select Tools >
1 Do one of the following: Trim Tools > Loop.

• Click the Trim tool pop-up menu and select 2 Position the cursor over the top half of an un-
Scrub. looped audio or MIDI clip, or clip group. The
cursor changes to indicate that you can loop
• Right-click on any track and select Tools >
trim the clip. (Positioning the cursor over the
Trim Tools > Scrub.
bottom half of the clip results in the Standard
The tool changes to a speaker with a bracket. Trim cursor.)

2 Drag within a track to the left or right. Audio

from a scrubbed track is routed through the
track signal path, including any DSP effects.
When you locate the trim point, release the
mouse button to trim the clip.
• To scrub trim two tracks, drag with the Scrub Loop Trim cursor
Trim tool between two adjacent tracks.
• To scrub with finer resolution (without having to
zoom in), press Command (Mac) or Control
(Windows) while scrubbing.

616 Pro Tools Reference Guide

3 Do one of the following: To Loop Trim a looped clip:

• Click at the end of the clip, and drag left or right 1 Select the Loop Trim tool.
to the point you want the loop to stop.
2 Move the cursor over the top half of the looped
• Click at the beginning of the clip, and drag left or clip (not over a Loop icon). The cursor indicates
right to the point you want the loop to start. the Loop Trim tool.
Loop Trim tool

Loop icon

Looped clip Loop Trim tool

Trimming Looped Clips 3 Trim the looped clip.

You can trim looped clips in two ways:

• Loop Trim a looped clip to change how long the
clip is looped. For example, Loop Trim a looped
clip from 2 bars to four bars. With a 1 bar clip,
the number of loops changes from 2 to 4. Each
loop iteration remains the same length, but the Loop trimming a looped clip
length of the entire looped clip changes. The number of loops increases or decreases to fill
• Trim the source clip (loop iteration) while keep- the new length of the entire looped clip.
ing the overall loop length unchanged. The num-
ber of loop iterations within the looped clip Hold the Start key (Windows), or the
changes accordingly. For example, trim a 2 bar Control key (Mac) while trimming to trim
loop iteration of a 4 bar looped clip to 1 bar. The in loop iteration increments.
4 bar looped clip remains constant, but the num-
ber of loop iterations changes from 2 to 4. Each Trimming a looped clip does not trim any un-
loop iteration’s length changes, but how long the derlying Fades.
clip is looped does not.

Chapter 28: Edit Modes and Tools 617

 To trim the source clip (loop iteration) of a looped
clip: Tandem Trimming
1 Select the Loop Trim tool. Tandem trimming lets you trim the start and end of
two adjacent clips in tandem as long as one clip over-
2 Move the cursor over a Loop icon in the looped
laps the other. Tandem trimming can be used in con-
clip, or anywhere along the bottom of the clip. junction with Loop trimming and Scrub trimming.
The cursor indicates the Trim tool icon. However, TCE and Elastic trim do not support tan-
dem trimming.

To use Tandem trimming:

1 Select the Trim tool (or the Smart tool).
2 Command-Control-trim (Mac) or Control-
Start-trim (Windows) between two adjacent
overlapping clips. The cursor updates to show
two brackets and an arrow to show the direction
Loop Trim tool of the tandem trim.

3 Trim the start or end of the loop iteration.

Tandem trimming
Trimming a looped clip
When in Slip mode, Grid mode can be tempo-
The number of trimmed loop iterations increases
rarily enabled by holding the Command key
or decreases to fill the original length of the entire
after releasing the Control key (Mac) or by
looped clip.
holding the Control key after releasing the
Start key.

Trimmed looped clip

618 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Making an Edit Selection with
Using the Selector Tool the Selector Tool
Use the Selector tool to place the edit cursor in a
To make an Edit selection with the Selector tool:
track or Timebase ruler, or to make Timeline selec-
tions or Edit selections on tracks. 1 Select the Selector tool in the Edit window.
2 Do one of the following:
Placing the Edit Cursor • To make an Edit selection in a single track, drag
in the track.
To place the edit cursor with the Selector tool:
• To make an Edit selection across multiple tracks,
1 Select the Selector tool in the Edit window.
drag across the tracks.
2 Click the location in a track or on a Timebase
• If Link Timeline and Edit Selection is enabled,
ruler.
drag on the Timebase ruler to make an Edit se-
lection across all tracks.

Placing the edit cursor with the Selector tool

Making a selection with the Selector tool

To select an entire clip with the Selector tool:

1 Select the Selector tool in the Edit window.
2 Double-click a clip on a track.

To select an entire track with the Selector tool:

1 Select the Selector tool in the Edit window.
2 Triple-click in the track.

Chapter 28: Edit Modes and Tools 619

 Making a Timeline Selection Object Grabber Lets you select multiple, noncon-
with the Selector Tool tiguous clips. For more information, see “Object
Selections” on page 633.
To make a Timeline selection with the Selector
tool:

1 Select the Selector tool in the Edit window.

2 Do one of the following:
Object Grabber tool
• Drag on a Timebase ruler.
• If Link Timeline and Edit Selection is enabled, To select one of the Grabber tools, do one of the
following:
drag in a track.
 Click the Grabber tool in the Edit window and
select the Grabber tool from the pop-up menu.
Using the Grabber Tools
Use the Grabber tools to select, move, separate,
and arrange clips on tracks. There are three modes
for the Grabber tool: Time Grabber, Separation
Grabber, and Object Grabber. For more informa-
tion about arranging clips, also see Chapter 40,
“Arranging Clips.”

Time Grabber Selects an entire clip on a track with

a single click. For more information on selecting
clips, see “Selecting Track Material” on page 631. Selecting a Grabber tool

 Right-click on any track and select the Grabber

tool from Tools > Grabber Tools.

Time Grabber tool

Using the Smart Tool
Separation Grabber Cuts and pastes an Edit selec-
tion from one location to another by dragging. For With the Smart Tool, you can instantly access the
more information, see “Separation Grabber Tool” Selector, Grabber, and Trim tools, and you can
on page 655. also apply and adjust fades and crossfades. The po-
sition of the cursor in relation to a clip or note, or
within an automation playlist, determines how the
Smart Tool functions.

Separation Grabber tool

Smart Tool enabled in the Edit window

620 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To select the Smart Tool, click its icon in the upper  For a crossfade, position the cursor between two
left of the Edit window, or press F6+F7 (or F7+F8) adjacent audio clips, near the bottom of the clip.
simultaneously. Once the Crossfade cursor appears drag left or
right to set the crossfade length. The crossfade is
The Smart Tool in Waveform created automatically with the Default Fade Set-
View (Audio) or Clips View tings (in the Editing Preferences page).
(MIDI)  To adjust a fade-in, fade-out, or crossfade (if
present), position the cursor over the fade in the
Fade In Selector tool Fade Out
vertical middle of the clip. Once the corresponding
Fade or Crossfade cursor appears, drag to the left
or right to adjust fade shape.
Trim Trim
tool tool
(start) (end)
To temporarily switch the Smart Tool to the
Scrubber, place the cursor over the clip so
that the Selector tool is enabled, then press
Adjust Fade Crossfade Control (Mac) or Start (Windows).
(if present)
Grabber tool

The Smart Tool in Warp View

Smart Tool in Waveform view
Trim Trim
tool tool
The following capabilities are available with the (start)
Selector tool
(end)
Smart Tool when working with audio tracks in
Waveform or Blocks view, or MIDI or Instrument
tracks in Clips view:
 For the Selector tool, position the cursor over
the middle of the clip, in the upper half of the clip.
 For the Grabber tool, position the cursor over Grabber tool
the middle of a clip, in the lower half of the clip.
Smart Tool in Warp view
 For the Trim tool, position the cursor near the
The following capabilities are available with the
clip’s start or end point.
Smart Tool when working with Elastic Audio-en-
 For a fade-in or fade-out, position the cursor abled audio tracks in Warp view, or MIDI or In-
near an audio clip’s start or end point, near the top strument tracks in Clips view:
of the clip. Once the Fade cursor appears, drag into
 For the Selector tool, position the cursor over
the clip to set the fade length. The fade is created
the middle of the clip, in the upper half of the clip.
automatically with the Default Fade Settings (in
the Editing Preferences page).  For the Grabber tool, position the cursor over
the middle of a clip, in the lower half of the clip,
but not over an Event marker or Warp marker.

Chapter 28: Edit Modes and Tools 621

  For Elastic Audio warping, position the cursor  For the Velocity Trim tool, position the cursor
over an Event marker or a Warp marker, in the over the note and press Command (Mac) or Con-
lower half of the clip (for more information on trol (Windows).
warping audio, see “Editing in Warp View” on
page 979).
 For the Trim tool, position the cursor near the
clip’s start or end point, in the upper half of the
clip.

To temporarily switch the Smart Tool to the

Scrubber, place the cursor in the upper half
of the clip so that the Selector tool is en-
abled, then press Control (Mac) or Start Trimming the velocity of a note
(Windows).
To temporarily switch the Smart Tool to
The Smart Tool in Notes View the Pencil tool, press Control (Mac) or
Start (Windows).
Selector tool (marquee)

To temporarily switch the Smart Tool to the

Eraser, press Option+Control (Mac) or
Alt+Start (Windows).

The Smart Tool in Automation

Trim note start Grabber tool Trim note end and Controller Views
Smart Tool in Notes view The following capabilities are available with the
Smart Tool when working in both automation and
The following capabilities are available with the controller views:
Smart Tool when working with MIDI and Instru-
• For the Selector tool, position the cursor any-
ment tracks in Notes view in the Edit window and
where in the bottom 75% of the playlist for the
in MIDI Editor windows:
Selector tool. Drag with the Selector tool to se-
 For the Marquee Selector, position the cursor so lect breakpoints.
it does not cover any notes. • For Trim tools, position the cursor in the top
 For the Grabber tool, position the cursor over 25% of the playlist for the Trim tool. Drag with
the note, near its middle. the Trim tool to trim breakpoints. Press Com-
mand+Shift (Mac) or Control+Shift (Windows)
 For the Trim tool, position the cursor near the while trimming for fine control.
note start or end point.

622 Pro Tools Reference Guide

• To add a breakpoint with the Smart Tool, press While viewing an audio waveform in Pro Tools
Command (Mac) or Control (Windows) to tem- can be helpful in visually finding an edit point,
porarily change the cursor from the trimmer to sometimes a waveform display (because of its
the insertion grabber. When this occurs, other sonic characteristics) may not reveal the desired
command key behaviors such a Grid toggle and spot in the audio material. By scrubbing back and
High Resolution editing are superseded by the forth in Pro Tools, you can listen and locate an ex-
insertion operation. act edit point.
• For Grabber tools, Command (Mac) or Control When the Edit Insertion Follows Scrub/Shuttle op-
(Windows) for the Grabber tool, then click in on tion is enabled in the Operation Preferences page,
the automation line to create breakpoints. the edit cursor automatically locates to the point
• To edit existing breakpoints, move the cursor where scrubbing stops.
near a breakpoint for the Grabber tool.
When the Scrolling option is set to Continuous
• To vertically constrain Grabber tool movement, (Pro Tools Ultimate only) or Center Playhead
press Shift. (Pro Tools Ultimate only), clicking with the
• To vertically constrain Grabber tool movement Scrubber in a track’s playlist centers the Edit win-
with fine control, press Command+Shift (Mac) dow around that point, and moves the Playhead
or Control+Shift (Windows). there. With these Scrolling Options, scrubbed ma-
terial moves past the Playhead, which remains sta-
The Smart Tool with Stereo and tionary and centered.
Multichannel Tracks
To scrub a single audio track:
When using the Smart Tool on stereo and multi-
1 Select the Scrubber tool.
channel tracks, individual channels cannot be inde-
pendently edited. All edits affect all channels as a 2 Drag within the track: left for reverse or right
whole. for forward.

Tool switching for the Smart Tool in stereo and

multichannel tracks is determined by the position
within the entire track, and not within individual
channels.

Scrubbing an audio track with the Scrubber

Using the Scrubber Tool The distance and speed with which you drag (with
either the mouse, or the scrub wheel on a control
The Scrubber tool lets you “scrub” up to two tracks
surface) determine the length and speed of the
of audio in the Edit Window. Scrubbing is a tech-
scrubbed audio. Audio from the scrubbed track is
nique that originated in tape editing, where the tape
routed to its output, along with any effects as-
was rocked back and forth past the playhead at
signed to the track.
slower than normal speeds to find a particular loca-
tion (usually for cutting and splicing).

Chapter 28: Edit Modes and Tools 623

 The resolution for the Scrubber is dependent on the To scrub in Shuttle mode (at several times normal
zoom factor for the scrubbed track. speed):

1 Select the Scrubber tool.

You can temporarily switch the Selector tool
to the Scrubber tool by Control-clicking 2 While pressing Option (Mac) or Alt (Windows),
(Mac) or Start-clicking (Windows). For finer drag within the track—left for reverse, right for
resolution, Command-Control-click (Mac) or forward. The Fast Forward and Rewind buttons
Control-Start-click (Windows). in the Transport window engage.

To scrub multiple audio tracks, do one of the The distance and speed dragged determine the
following: speed for the scrubbed audio.
 With the Scrubber selected, drag between two
adjacent tracks. Shuttle Lock Mode
Shuttle Lock mode lets you use the numeric key-
pad to shuttle up to two tracks forward or back-
wards at specific speeds: 5 is normal speed, num-
bers from 6 up to 9 provide increasingly faster fast-
forward speeds, and numbers from 4 down to 1
provide progressively faster rewind speeds (4 is
the slowest rewind Shuttle Lock speed, 1 is the
fastest). If multiple tracks are selected, only the
first two tracks are shuttled.
Scrubbing between two audio tracks
To play one or two tracks with the shuttle lock:
 Scrub within a selection that contains multiple
1 With Pro Tools Ultimate, make sure the Opera-
tracks.
tion preference for Numeric Keypad mode is
When scrubbing multiple tracks, only the first two not set to Shuttle (see “Operation Preferences”
tracks are heard. on page 110).
2 With the Selector tool, click in the track where
The maximum number of channels scrubbed
you want playback to begin. To shuttle on two
in Pro Tools is eight, which lets you scrub a
tracks, Shift-click in a second track.
7.1 track, two stereo tracks (four channels),
but not two 5.1 surround tracks (12 chan- 3 Press the Control (Mac) or Start key (Windows)
nels). and a number on the numeric keypad: 0–9 (9 is
fastest, 5 is normal speed, and 0 stops shuttling).
Scrub/Shuttle Mode
Once Shuttle Lock mode is initiated, Fast Forward
When scrubbing normally, you can scrub at nor- and Rewind become highlighted in the Transport
mal playback speeds or slower. Scrub/Shuttle window.
mode, however, lets you scrub at several times nor-
mal speed, which is helpful in playing through 4 Press additional keys to change the playback
large ranges and locating material. speed, or press Plus (+) or Minus (–) to switch
the playback direction (plus for forward, minus
for backward).

624 Pro Tools Reference Guide

5 To stop playback, press Control+0 (Mac) or
Start+0 (Windows). Numeric Keypad Set to
Shuttle
To exit Shuttle Lock mode, do one of the following: (Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)
 Press Stop in the Transport window. Pro Tools offers another form of shuttling, differ-
 Press the Spacebar. ent from that of Shuttle Lock mode. With the Nu-
meric Keypad mode set to Shuttle, playback of the
current Edit selection is triggered by pressing and
Custom Shuttle Lock Speed
holding the keys on the numeric keypad—play-
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)
back stops once the keys are released. Various
Use the Custom Shuttle Lock Speed preference to playback speeds are available in both forward and
customize the highest fast-forward Shuttle Lock reverse. In this mode, pre- and post-roll are ig-
speed (key 9) to better match your editing and au- nored.
ditioning needs.
To shuttle with the Numeric Keypad mode set to
To configure Custom Shuttle Lock Speed: Shuttle:

1 In Pro Tools, select Setup > Preferences and 1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click the
click the Operation tab. Operation tab.

2 Be sure that the Numeric Keypad mode is set to 2 Set the Numeric Keypad mode to Shuttle and
Transport or Classic (see “Operation Prefer- click OK.
ences” on page 110). 3 With the Selector tool, click in the track where
3 Enter a percentage for the Custom Shuttle Lock you want playback to begin. To shuttle on two
Speed setting. The range for this setting is tracks, Shift-click in a second track.
50–800%. You can use the Up and Down Arrow 4 Hold any of the following keys (or key combi-
keys to increase or decrease the setting. nations) on the numeric keypad to trigger play-
4 Click OK. back.

The Custom Shuttle Lock Speed setting is saved Shuttle Speed Rewind Key Forward Key
with your Pro Tools system preferences (not with 1 X Speed 4 6
the session).
4 X Speed 7 9
To enable Custom Shuttle Lock Speed:
1/4 X Speed 1 3
 Press Control+ 9 (Mac) on the numeric keypad
1/2 X Speed 4+5 5+6
or Start+9 (Windows).
2 X Speed 7+8 8+9

5 Press a different key to switch the playback

direction or speed. Release to stop.

Chapter 28: Edit Modes and Tools 625

 Although you can Undo a Pencil tool edit, it is rec-
Using the Pencil Tool ommended that you create a backup copy of the
The Pencil tool lets you draw several types of target audio before using the Pencil tool. You can
Pro Tools data: do this by using the AudioSuite Duplicate plug-in.

• Audio waveforms (see “Waveform Repair with The Pencil tool is a destructive editing tool
the Pencil Tool” on page 626) that permanently modifies the audio file on
• MIDI data (see “Using the Pencil Tool” on disk and should be used with caution.
page 748)
• Tempo changes (see “Editing Tempo Events in For information about the AudioSuite Du-
the Tempo Editor” on page 851) plicate plug-in, see the Audio Plug-Ins
• Automation (see “Drawing Automation” on Guide.
page 1151). To destructively edit an audio waveform with the
Pencil tool:
When editing automation or MIDI control
data with the Pencil tool, you can switch be- 1 Locate the area you want to edit.
tween the current Pencil Tool shape (such as 2 Using the Zoomer tool or the Zoom buttons,
Line) and Free Hand pencil editing using the zoom down to the sample level so the waveform
Command key (Mac) or the Control key (Win- appears as a continuous thin line. Adjust the
dows). When editing with the selected Pencil Track Height, as necessary, to edit the wave-
shape, the Pencil cursor angles to the left. form with greater precision. You can also use
When editing in Free Hand with the key mod- vertical zoom for greater visual resolution.
ifier, the Pencil cursor angles to the right.
You can recall zoom levels with the Zoom
Waveform Repair with the Pencil Preset buttons (see “Zooming Options” on
Tool page 603), or with Memory Locations (see
“Recalling Memory Locations” on
On audio tracks, the Pencil tool lets you destruc-
page 885). The default setting for Zoom Pre-
tively “redraw” waveform data. This tool is most
set 5 is at the sample level for Pencil editing.
commonly used to repair a pop or click in an audio
file. A pop or click appears as a sudden sharp spike 3 Select the Pencil tool.
in a waveform. This tool only becomes active
when the Edit window is zoomed in to the sample
level.

Pencil tool

4 Carefully draw with the Pencil tool by dragging

over the area of the waveform.

626 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Do not over-edit or the results may be undesirable. To lock (or unlock) the current Edit Tool modes:
However, you can use the Undo command to undo 1 Select the Edit Tool modes you want (such as
your previous edit. the Standard Trim tool, Time Grabber tool, and
the Free Hand Pencil tool).
2 Select (or deselect) Options > Edit/Tool Mode
Keyboard Lock.

Repairing a “pop” with the Pencil tool

The Pencil tool can independently edit different

channels of a multichannel track.

Try to limit editing to smoothing over a very small

problem area, and keep the “fixes” in character
with the shape of the surrounding waveform.

Edit/Tool Mode Keyboard

Lock
Enable Options > Edit/Tool Mode Keyboard Lock
to lock the currently selected Edit Tools (Zoom,
Trim, Grabber, and Pencil only) in place and pre-
vent them from being inadvertently changed when
using keyboard shortcuts. For example, with
Edit/Tool Mode Keyboard Lock enabled and the
Trim tool is set to Standard, pressing F6 repeatedly
will only select the Standard Trim tool and will not
toggle through the other Trim tools (TCE, Scrub,
and Loop). This way you can switch between Edit
tools (such as switching from the Grabber to the
Trim) using keyboard shortcuts without acciden-
tally cycling through Edit tool types.

Even when Edit/Tool Mode Keyboard Lock is

enabled, Edit Tool types can still be changed
using the mouse or by using the Right-click
menu.

When enabled, this option also locks the current

Grid mode (Grid or Relative Grid) in place.

Chapter 28: Edit Modes and Tools 627

628 Pro Tools Reference Guide
Chapter 29: Making Selections

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:

 Select or deselect Options > Link Timeline and

Edit Selection.
Linking or Unlinking Timeline In the Edit window, a MIDI Editor window, or
and Edit Selections


the Score Editor window, click the Link Time-

Pro Tools lets you link or unlink the Timeline and line and Edit Selection button so it becomes
Edit selections. highlighted (selected) or unhighlighted (not se-
lected). Enabling or disabling the Link Timeline
When the Timeline and Edit selections are linked, and Edit Selection button in any editor window
selecting in a track’s playlist (making an Edit se- affects all editor windows.
lection) also defines the play and record range (the
Timeline selection).

Unlinking Timeline and Edit selections lets you

make a selection within a track for editing pur-
poses that is distinct from the selection in the
Timeline (which determines the playback and re-
cording range). Link Timeline and Edit Selection button enabled in the
Edit window

Press Shift+Forward Slash (/) to toggle Link

Timeline and Edit Selection on and off.

Chapter 29: Making Selections 629

 If you are working on a film or video scene, you Timeline and Edit Selection
may want to unlink the Timeline and Edit selec- Markers
tions to find or audition material that is at a differ-
Timeline selections are displayed in the Main
ent location than the current Timeline selection.
Timebase ruler with Timeline Selection Markers,
Edit selections can be played (choose Edit > Selec-
which appear as blue arrows (red when recording).
tion > Play Edit) without disrupting the current
In addition, there are Pre- and Post-Roll Flags
Timeline selection. Once you find the material,
(which are green when enabled) indicating the lo-
you can then go back to the Timeline selection and
cation for pre- and post-roll.
place it within the context of the scene.

The following figure illustrates another reason

why you might want to unlink the Timeline and
Edit selections. In this example, the Timeline se- Timeline Selection Markers with Pre- and Post-Roll
Flags
lection sets a range to be looped on playback, while
a MIDI clip (residing within the loop) is selected When the Timeline and Edit selections are un-
for editing purposes. linked, Edit selections are displayed in the ruler
with Edit Markers, which appear as black brackets.
During playback, the Edit selection can be nudged,
quantized, or transposed while the loop plays back
completely independent and uninterrupted.
Edit Markers

If the Timeline and Edit selections are linked, Edit

selections are represented by the blue Timeline Se-
lection Markers.

See the following topics for more information on

working with Timeline and Edit selections:
Timeline and Edit selections unlinked
• “Selecting Track Material” on page 631
While you could theoretically do this with the
• “Timeline Selections” on page 642
Timeline and Edit selections linked, as soon as
playback is stopped, the playback range would • “Setting Punch and Loop Points” on page 524
then be updated to that of the more recent edit • “Setting Pre- and Post-Roll” on page 527
range, or to a single note when editing MIDI.

630 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Linking or Unlinking Track Selecting Track Material
and Edit Selections
Before audio and MIDI material can be edited, it
Pro Tools lets you link or unlink Track selection must first be selected. The Track View determines
with Edit selections. how the material is viewed and selected.

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.

When Track and Edit selections are unlinked,

making an Edit selection does not automatically
select all associated tracks.

To link or unlink Track and Edit selection, do one of

the following:

 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 629 for details.

Selections and Edit Groups

When making selections on tracks that are part of

an Edit Group, all tracks within the group become
selected.

Link Track and Edit Selection enabled Selections and Hidden Tracks

When editing tracks that are part of an active Edit

Group, any tracks within the group that are hidden
are not affected by the edits. To edit all members of
a group, make sure they are visible by highlighting
their names in the Tracks List.

Chapter 29: Making Selections 631

 Selections in Multiple Tracks To select an entire track, do one of the following:

To make a selection in multiple tracks:

 Click in the track with the Selector tool and then
choose Edit > Select All.
 With the Selector tool, drag vertically to include
adjacent tracks in a selection (drag horizontally  Triple-click with the Selector tool in the track.
to define the time range).
Press Command+A (Mac) or Control+A
(Windows) for Select All.
Selecting Clips
To select all clips in all tracks:
To select a portion of a clip:
1 Select the “All” Edit Group in the Groups List
 With the Selector tool, drag within a clip (left or menu.
right) to select the material on a single track.
2 Do one of the following:
(You can also use the Selector tool across mul-
tiple, adjacent tracks to make multitrack selec- • Click in any track with the Selector tool and
tions.) choose Edit > Select All.
• Triple-click with the Selector tool in any track.

Another way to select all clips in all tracks,

without having to select the “All” Edit
Group, is to press Return (Mac) or Enter
(Windows), then press Command+A (Mac)
or Control+A (Windows). The Link Timeline
Selecting a portion of a clip and Edit Selection option must be enabled.
To select an entire clip, do one of the following:
Clips List Selection Follows Edit
 Click the clip with the Time Grabber tool. Selection
 Double-click the clip with the Selector tool. When the Editing preference for Clips List Selec-
tion Follows Edit Selection is enabled, selecting a
To select two clips and the time range between
clip in a track also causes the clip to become se-
them:
lected in the Clips List.
1 With the Time Grabber, click the first clip.
Conversely, if the Editing preference for Edit
2 Shift-click the second clip. Both clips are se-
Selection Follows Clips List Selection is enabled,
lected, along with the time range between them
selecting a clip in the Clips List causes the initial
(including any other clips).
occurrence of that clip to become selected within
the track.

632 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Selecting All from Timebase 5 Press the Up Arrow key at the point where you
Rulers want the selection to end. The selected range
becomes highlighted.
To select all material in all displayed audio and
MIDI tracks: 6 To stop playback, click Stop in the Transport (or
1 Enable Link Timeline and Edit Selection press the Spacebar).
(Options > Link Timeline and Edit Selection). To automatically scroll to the beginning of the se-
2 Double-click in any Timebase ruler. All clips in lection (or to the location of the on-screen cursor),
all displayed audio and MIDI tracks are se- press the Left Arrow key. To scroll to the end of
lected. Tracks that are hidden are not selected. the selection, press the Right Arrow key.

To select all material in all tracks, including

While in Page Scroll or Continuous Scroll mode,
Conductor events: making a selection in the Timeline or a playlist
during playback as the playback cursor moves off-
1 Enable Link Timeline and Edit Selection
screen suspends page scrolling. To resume page
(Options > Link Timeline and Edit Selection).
scrolling and jump to the current playback loca-
2 While pressing Option (Mac) or Control (Win- tion, click the Playback Cursor locator in the Main
dows), double-click in any Timebase ruler. All Timebase ruler (see “Locating the Playback Cur-
clips in all displayed audio and MIDI tracks are sor when It Is Off-Screen” on page 480).
selected, including all events in each of the
Conductor tracks. Object Selections
Use the Object Grabber tool to select noncontigu-
Making Selections While Playing
ous clips on one or more tracks. Noncontiguous se-
Pro Tools lets you make selections during play- lections must encompass entire clips. If you want a
back with the Up and Down Arrow keys. noncontiguous selection to include a portion of a
clip, first turn the portion into a new clip with the
To make a selection while playing: Separate Clip command (see “Separate Com-
1 Enable Link Timeline and Edit Selection mands” on page 654).
(Options > Link Timeline and Edit Selection).
The Object Grabber is not available when the
2 With the Selector tool, click somewhere near Edit mode is set to Shuffle or Spot.
the beginning of the track in which you want to
make the selection. To select noncontiguous clips:
1 Set the Edit mode to either Slip or Grid.
3 Click Play in the Transport window (or press
the Spacebar) to begin playback. 2 Click the Grabber tools pop-up menu and
select Object.
4 When playback reaches the point where you
want the selection to begin, press the Down Ar-
row key.

Object Grabber tool

Chapter 29: Making Selections 633

 3 Shift-click each clip you want to include in the To change a Time selection to an Object selection:
selection. The clips can even reside on different 1 Drag with the Selector tool in any track to de-
tracks. fine a selection, or select in a Timebase ruler to
select across all tracks.

Noncontiguous selection

Each clicked clip is surrounded by a dark border, Selected clips

indicating it is selected.
2 With the Object Grabber tool selected, double-
The Object Grabber tool ignores Edit Groups when click the Grabber icon in the toolbar. Clips fall-
making selections. For instance, selecting a clip on ing within the selection range become selected
a grouped track does not cause clips in the other as objects. Clips that were partially selected be-
tracks in the group to become selected. come deselected.

Object to Time Selection

You can convert between Time- and Object-based
selections. Time selections are made with the Se-
lector and Time Grabber tools. Object selections
are made with the Object Grabber tool.
Clips selected as objects
Converting to an Object selection is useful when
you are working with large selections, especially To select clips that were partially selected, press
across multiple tracks, and you want to remove Control (Mac) or Start (Windows) while double-
certain clips from the selection. clicking the Grabber icon.

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.

When using the Object Grabber tool on tracks that

belong to an Edit Group, clips in the other grouped
tracks are selected if they fall within the range of
the selected clip.

634 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Changing a Selection Length Nudging a Selection Range
The selection range can be shortened or length- The selection range (not the material within the se-
ened. This does not affect the material within the lection) can be moved by the Nudge value.
selection.
To nudge a selection range:
To change the length of a selection, do one of the 1 Configure the Nudge value. For details, see
following:
“Defining the Nudge Value” on page 660.
 With the Selector tool, position the cursor over
2 Make the initial selection with the Selector tool.
one end of the current selection and Shift-click,
or Shift-drag left or right. 3 While pressing Shift, press Plus (+) or
Minus (–) on the numeric keypad to move the
 In the Main Timebase ruler, drag the Timeline
selection range by the Nudge value.
Selection Marker for the selection’s start or end
point.
Nudging Selection Start/End
Points
Start and end points for selections can be moved by
nudging them.

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 660.
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.

Chapter 29: Making Selections 635

 Extending Selections in Time To extend the selection to a Marker or Memory
Location:
You can extend the Edit selection to clip start and
1 With Link Timeline and Edit Selection enabled,
end points, to include an adjacent clip, to Markers
do one of the following:
and Memory Locations (Edit and/or Timeline se-
lections). • Click in a track with the Selector tool at the start
or end point.
To extend the selection to a clip start or end point: • Make a selection with the Selector or Time
1 With the Selector tool, select a portion of a clip, Grabber tool.
or click anywhere in the clip.
2 Do one of the following:
2 Do one of the following: • Shift-click a Marker in the Markers ruler.
• Press Shift+Tab to extend the selection to the • Shift-click a Memory Location in the Memory
clip’s end point. Locations window.
• Press Option+Shift+Tab (Mac) or Con-
trol+Shift+Tab (Windows) to extend the selec- The selection is extended from the original Inser-
tion to the clip’s start point. tion point to the Marker or Memory Location.

To extend the selection to include an adjacent clip: Doubling or Halving the Edit
1 Select the first clip with the Time Grabber tool. Selection
2 Do one of the following: Pro Tools lets you double or halve the current Edit
selection. This can be especially useful for music
• With Tab to Transients disabled, press Con-
production when working with audio loops and
trol+Shift+Tab (Mac) or Start+Shift+Tab (Win-
MIDI in Grid mode.
dows) to extend the selection to the next clip
boundary. To double the Edit selection, do one of the
• Press Option+Control+Shift+Tab (Mac) or Con- following:
trol+Start+Shift+Tab (Windows) to extend the  Choose Edit > Selection > Double Selection.
selection to include the previous clip boundary.
 Press Command+Option+Control+Shift+’
(Mac) or Control+Alt+Start+Shift+’
(Windows).

To halve the Edit selection, do one of the following:

 Choose Edit > Selection > Halve Selection.

 Press Command+Option+Control+Shift+L
(Mac) or Control+Alt+Start+Shift+L
(Windows).

636 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Duplicating and Extending the Using the Edit Selection
Edit Selection Indicators (Start, End, and
Length)
Pro Tools lets you Duplicate and Extend the Edit
selection. This can be especially useful for music The Edit Selection indicators at the top of the Edit
production when working with audio loops and window can define precise Edit selections. Time
MIDI in Grid mode. values for the Edit Selection indicators use the
time format for the Main Time Scale.
To duplicate and extend the Edit selection, do one
of the following:

 Choose Edit > Selection > Duplicate and Extend

Selection.
Edit Selection indicators
 Press Command+Option+Control+Shift+D
(Mac) or Control+Alt+Start+Shift+D To make a selection with the Edit Selection
indicators:
(Windows).
1 Click with the Selector tool in the track you
Any track content in the Edit selection is dupli- want to select.
cated and the selection extends from the original
start time to the end of the duplicate. 2 Click in the Start field at the top of the Edit win-
dow.

Moving the Edit Selection in 3 Type in the start point for the selection and press
Time the Forward Slash key (/) to enter the value and
automatically move to the end field.
Pro Tools lets you move the Edit selection earlier
or later by the selection amount. You can also 4 Type in the end point for the selection and press
move the Edit selection to the next track above or Enter to accept the value.
below the current Edit selection.
Numeric Entry Shortcuts for Selection
To move the Edit selection earlier by the selection Indicators
amount, do one of the following:
You can use the following shortcuts for entering
 Choose Edit > Selection > Move Edit Left. values in the Edit Selection indicators:
 Press Command+Option+Control+L (Mac) or • Press the Forward Slash (/) key to cycle through
Control+Alt+Start+L (Windows). the three Edit Selection indicators.
• Use Period (.) or the Left and Right Arrow keys
To move the Edit selection later by the selection
amount, do one of the following:
to move through the different time fields in each
Edit Selection indicator.
 Choose Edit > Selection > Move Edit Right.
• Press the Up or Down Arrow keys to increase or
 Press Command+Option+Control+’ (Mac) or decrease numerical values.
Control+Alt+Start+’ (Windows).
• Move the mouse scroll wheel up or down to in-
crease or decrease numerical values.

Chapter 29: Making Selections 637

 • Drag in a field to scroll to a new value. For finer Selecting Across Multiple
resolution, Command-drag (Mac) or Control- Tracks
drag (Windows).
To perform edits across multiple tracks or all
• Press Command (Mac) or Control (Windows) tracks, you must first select the tracks. Do this by
and Plus (+) or Minus (–), then type a number, to including other tracks in the selection, or by select-
add or subtract from the current field value. For ing in a Timebase ruler (for all tracks).
example, to add 10 to a current field value, press
Command (Mac) or Control (Windows) and To make a selection in multiple tracks:
Plus (+) key, type “10,” and press Enter.
 With the Selector tool, drag vertically to include
• Press Escape to exit the Edit Selection indicators adjacent tracks in a selection (drag horizontally
without entering any values. to define the time range).

These shortcuts can also be used to enter start To extend a selection to another track:
and end values in the Transport window.
1 Using the Selector or Time Grabber tool, make
Calculator Entry Mode a selection in the first track or tracks.

You can perform calculator-style editing of values 2 Shift-click in additional tracks with the Selector
in the Edit Selection indicators. tool. An identical range is selected for each ad-
ditional track.
To subtract time values:
To shorten or lengthen the selection across each of
1 In the Edit Selection indicator, highlight the the tracks, press Shift while dragging to change the
time field you want to change. range of the selection.
2 Press Minus (–) on the numeric keypad.
To select across all tracks, do one of the following:
3 Type the amount you want to subtract from the
 Enable the All Edit Group and make a selection
current time value, then press Enter.
in any track.
4 Press Enter again to apply the change.
 Drag with the Selector tool in any Timebase
To add time values:
ruler (make sure the Timeline and Edit Selec-
tions are linked).
1 In the Edit Selection indicator, highlight the
time field you want to change. These selections include all tracks in the Edit win-
dow, but do not include the Conductor tracks (for
2 Press Plus (+) on the numeric keypad.
Tempo, Meter, and Markers).
3 Type the amount you want to add to the current
time value, then press Enter. To select across all tracks, including the
Conductor tracks (for Tempo, Meter, and Markers):
4 Press Enter again to apply the change.
 Option-drag (Mac) or Alt-drag (Windows) with
the Selector tool in any Timebase ruler.

638 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Moving the Edit Selection To remove the top track from an Edit selection
Across Tracks spanning more than one track, do one of the
following:
To move the Edit selection to the next track above  Choose Edit > Selection > Remove Edit From
the current selection:
Top.
 Press Control+P (Mac) or Start+P (Windows).
 Press Option+Control+P (Mac) or Alt+Start+P
To move the Edit selection to the next track below (Windows).
the current selection:
To remove the bottom track from an Edit selection
 Press Control+; (Mac) or Start+; (Windows). spanning more than one track, do one of the
following:

Extending (or Contracting) the  Choose Edit > Selection > Remove Edit From
Edit Selection Over Multiple Bottom.
Tracks
 Press Option+Control+; (Mac) or Alt+Start+;
To extend the Edit selection to the next track above (Windows).
the current selection, do one of the following:

 Shift-click with the Selector tool (within the Moving and Extending
same time as the current Edit selection) on the Selections Between Tracks with
track just above the current Edit selection. Commands Keyboard Focus
 Choose Edit > Selection > Extend Edit Up. With Commands Keyboard Focus enabled, Edit
selections can be moved or extended to adjacent
 Press Control+Shift+P (Mac) or Start+Shift+P
tracks.
(Windows).
To move a selection to an adjacent track:
To extend the Edit selection to the next track below
the current selection, do one of the following: 1 Enable Commands Keyboard Focus (see “Key-
board Focus” on page 26).
 Shift-click with the Selector tool (within the
same time as the current Edit selection) on the
track just below the current Edit selection.
 Choose Edit > Selection > Extend Edit Down.
 Press Control+Shift+; (Mac) or Start+Shift+;
(Windows).

Commands Keyboard Focus button enabled

2 With the Selector or Time Grabber tool, make a

selection.

Chapter 29: Making Selections 639

 3 Do one of the following: 3 Do one of the following:
• Press P on your computer keyboard to move the • Press Tab to move the cursor to the next clip or
selection to the previous track. clip group start, end, or sync point.
• Press semicolon (;) to move the selection to the • Press Option+Tab (Mac) or Control+Tab (Win-
next track. dows) to move the cursor to the previous clip or
clip group start, end, or sync point.
In either instance, the original Edit selection be-
comes deselected. To make a selection with the Scrubber:

To extend a selection to an adjacent track:

1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click the
Operation tab.
1 Enable Commands Keyboard Focus (see “Key-
board Focus” on page 26). 2 Select the option for “Edit Insertion Follows
Scrub/Shuttle,” then click OK.
2 With the Selector or Time Grabber tool, make a
selection. 3 Scrub with the Scrubber to find an appropriate
start point for the selection, then release.
3 Do one of the following:
4 While pressing Shift, scrub to an appropriate
• Press Shift+P to extend the selection to the pre-
end point for the selection, then release. The
vious track.
range between the initial and final scrub be-
• Press Shift+Semicolon (;) to extend the selection comes selected.
to the next track.
To move a selection to an adjacent clip on the
In either instance, the original Edit selection re- same track:
mains selected.
1 Select a clip with the Time Grabber.

Other Useful Selection 2 Do one of the following:

Techniques • Press Control+Tab (Mac) or Start+Tab (Win-
dows) to move the selection to the next clip.
Following are some additional useful selection ed-
iting techniques. • Press Option+Control+Tab (Mac) or Con-
trol+Start+Tab (Windows) to move the selection
To position the edit cursor precisely at a clip start, to the previous clip.
end, or sync point:
In either instance, the original clip becomes dese-
1 Make sure the Tab to Transients button is not
lected.
enabled. (See “Tabbing to Transients” on
page 641.)
2 Click with the Selector tool in the track.

640 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To slide an Edit selection in the Main Timebase To apply a command to an object while keeping the
ruler: current selection:

1 With the Selector or Time Grabber tool, make a  Command-Right-click (Mac) or Control-Right-
selection. click (Windows) the object and choose a com-
mand from the pop-up menu.
2 While pressing Option (Mac) or Alt (Windows),
move the cursor over either of the Timeline Se-
lection Markers in the ruler (the Time Grabber Tabbing to Transients
appears).
With the Tab to Transients button enabled, you can
automatically navigate to transients in audio wave-
forms in Waveform view, placing the cursor just
before the detected transient peak. This lets you
define selections and play ranges, as well as start
and end points for new clips, without having to
zoom in on the waveform.
Sliding an Edit selection in the Main Timebase ruler

3 Drag left or right to move the Edit selection

back or forward in time while preserving its
length.

If Link Timeline and Edit Selection is disabled

(Options > Link Timeline and Edit Selection), Op- Tab to Transients button enabled
tion-drag (Mac) or Alt-drag (Windows) the Edit
Markers instead. To toggle Tab to Transients on and off,
press Command+Option+Tab (Mac) or
Right-Click Commands and Control+Alt+Tab (Windows).
Selection Preservation
In Warp view, Tab to Transients tabs to all Event
You can use Right-click commands with key com- and Warp markers in a clip. Normal Tab tabs to
binations to perform operations on objects while clip boundaries and all Warp markers. In Analysis
maintaining selections in the Edit and Mix win- view, pressing Tab always tabs to Event markers,
dows. For example, you can maintain selections in regardless of whether or not Tab to Transients is
the following areas while carrying out certain com- enabled.
mands:
• Clip selections in the Timeline With MIDI and Instrument tracks when Tab to
Transients is disabled, pressing Tab moves the in-
• Clip name selections in the Clips List sertion point to the next MIDI clip boundary re-
• Track selections gardless of the track view (just like with audio
clips).

Chapter 29: Making Selections 641

 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, see “Keyboard Short- Transients tabs to the first transient on any of those
cuts for Navigating MIDI” on page 767. tracks.

To set the start and end points of a selection with

Tab to Transients:
Timeline Selections
1 In the upper left of the Edit window, click the
Tab to Transients button so it becomes selected. With the Link Timeline and Edit Selection option
disabled, selections can be made in the Timeline
2 If you will be setting the play range with this se- that are distinct and separate from Edit selections.
lection, enable Options > Link Timeline and Edit
Selection. With the Timeline and Edit selections linked, any
Edit selections that are made are mirrored in the
3 Click in the audio track just before the begin- Timeline, and any Timeline selection is mirrored
ning of the material you want to select. as an Edit selection across all tracks.
4 Press Tab repeatedly until the cursor locates to
Whether the Timeline and Edit selections are
the transient where you want to start the selec-
linked or not, the range indicated by the Timeline
tion.
Selection Markers always determines the range for
If necessary, you can move to the previous tran- playback and recording (except when in Dynamic
sient by pressing Option+Tab (Mac) or Con- Transport mode, see “Dynamic Transport Mode”
trol+Tab (Windows). on page 489).

5 Press Shift+Tab until the cursor locates to the With Pro Tools Ultimate, when the Scrolling op-
end of the material you want to select. tion is set to Center Playhead, it determines where
playback begins (see “Playing Timeline and Edit
To move the selection end point to the previous Selections with the Playhead” on page 487).
transient, press Option+Shift+Tab (Mac) or Con-
trol+Shift+Tab (Windows). To make a Timeline selection with the Selector
tool:
Once selected, the material can be looped for re-
cording or playback, or it can be turned into a new 1 If you want to constrain the selection to the cur-
clip with the Separate or Capture command. rent Grid value, set the Edit mode to Grid.
2 Drag with the Selector tool in any Timebase
Peak transients are usually visible in the
ruler.
waveform. However, some low-frequency
transients may not appear as visible peaks in
the waveform.

642 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 2 Do one of the following:
• In the Transport window, click in the start field.
• Press Option+Forward Slash (/) (Mac) or
Alt+Forward Slash (/) (Windows) on the nu-
meric keypad to select the start field in the
Making a Timeline selection with the Selector tool Transport window.
The Timeline selection is indicated in the Main 3 Type in the new start location and press For-
Timebase ruler by the blue Timeline Selection ward Slash (/) to enter the value and automati-
Markers (or if a track is record-enabled, the Time- cally move to the end field.
line Selection Markers are red). The start, end, and
4 Type in the new end location and press Enter to
length for the Timeline selection is displayed in the
accept the value.
corresponding fields in the Transport window.
Shortcuts for entering start and end values in
To select all tracks, including Conductor
the Transport window are listed in “Numeric
tracks, press Option (Mac) or Alt (Windows)
Entry Shortcuts for Selection Indicators” on
while dragging in a Timebase ruler with the
page 637.
Selector tool.

To set the Timeline selection by dragging the Sliding a Timeline Selection

Timeline Selection Markers:
Like Edit selections, Timeline selections can be
1 If you want to constrain movement to the cur- slid in the Main Timebase ruler.
rent Grid value, set the Edit mode to Grid.
To move a Timeline selection in the Main Timebase
2 With the Time Grabber, drag the first Timeline
ruler:
Selection Marker (down arrow) to set the start
point. 1 While pressing Option (Mac) or Alt (Windows),
move the cursor over either of the Timeline Se-
3 Drag the other Timeline Selection Marker (up lection Markers (the Time Grabber appears).
arrow) to set the end point.
2 Drag left or right to move the Timeline selection
back or forward in time, while preserving its
length.

Timeline Selections to/from Edit

Dragging a Timeline Selection Marker Selections
To set the Timeline selection by typing into the When the Timeline and Edit selections are un-
Transport window: linked, you can copy selections between them.
1 If necessary, resize the Transport window to Ex-
panded view so the start and end times are dis- To change the Timeline selection to match the
current Edit selection:
played (View > Transport > Expanded).
 Choose Edit > Selection > Change Timeline to
Match Edit.

Chapter 29: Making Selections 643

 The Main and Sub Counters, as well as the Edit Se-
Press Option+Shift+5 (Mac) or lection indicators, also appear in the Transport
Alt+Shift+5 (Windows) to change the window when it is set to display Counters.
Timeline selection to match the Edit
selection. To navigate with the Edit window Main Counter (or
one of the Edit Selection indicators):
To change the Edit selection to match the current
Timeline selection: 1 Do one of the following:

 Choose Edit > Selection > Change Edit to Match • Click in one of the counters.
Timeline. • Press asterisk (*) on the numeric keypad to high-
light the Main Counter in the Edit window (or
Press Option+Shift+6 (Mac) or the Main Counter in the Transport window or
Alt+Shift+6 (Windows) to change Big Counter window, if either are displayed).
the Edit selection to match the Time-
line selection. 2 Type in the new location. Press Period (.) to cy-
cle through to the different time fields.
Navigating the Timeline with the 3 Press Enter to accept the new value and auto-
Edit Window Counters and matically locate there.
Indicators
The counters and indicators at the top of the Edit Scrolling in a Timebase Ruler
window display the current playback location and
Edit selection. These include the Main and Sub You can scroll the contents of the Edit window by
Counters, and the Edit Selection Start, End, and dragging in a ruler. While this does not actually up-
Length indicators. date the session’s Current Location, it does let you
conveniently shift the display left or right for the
All Edit window counters and indicators (except sake of finding and editing material.
the Sub Counter) let you enter a location in their
counter display to navigate to a specific time loca- This method of scrolling is especially useful when
tion. using the Continuous Scrolling option, which does
not update or follow Timeline selections.

To scroll the entire contents of the Edit window

from a ruler:

Main and Sub Counters, Edit Selection indicators  While pressing Command+Option+Control
(Mac) or Control+Alt+Start (Windows), drag
The Main Counter displays the playback location left or right in any of the Timebase rulers.
in the time format for the Main Time Scale. The
Sub Counter can be set to any of the other Time
Scale formats for another timing reference.

The Edit Selection indicators (to the right of the

Scrolling in a ruler
Main and Sub counters) display the Start and End
times, and Length of the current Edit selection ac-
cording to the Main Timebase.

644 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Scrolling with a Scroll Wheel
Auto-Scrolling Tracks in the
If you have a mouse with a scroll wheel, you can Mix and Edit Windows
use the scroll wheel to scroll vertically or horizon-
tally in any Pro Tools window that has a scroll bar If you are working with more tracks than can be
(such as the MIDI Event List). displayed at one time in the Mix or Edit windows,
you can select a track in one window and Pro Tools
To scroll a Pro Tools window vertically: will automatically scroll to that track in both win-
dows.
1 Place the mouse over the window you want to
scroll (for example, in the Edit window you To auto-scroll the Mix and Edit windows to show a
might want to scroll either the track display or track, do one of the following:
the Clips List).
 In the Tracks List, Right-click the track name
2 Scroll the scroll wheel up or down to scroll the and select Scroll Into View.
window up or down.
 In the Tracks List, Control-click (Mac) the track
To scroll a Pro Tools window horizontally: name and select Scroll Into View.

1 Place the mouse over the window you want to The track becomes selected, and the Mix and Edit
scroll (for example, in the Edit window you windows both scroll to display the selected track.
might want to scroll either the track display or
the Clips List).
2 Shift-scroll the scroll wheel up or down to scroll
the window to the left or right.

Chapter 29: Making Selections 645

 Universe View
The Universe view displays an overview of the entire Pro Tools session above the tracks pane in the Edit
window.

Universe view at the top of the Edit window

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.

646 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Showing the Universe Window  Click the Show/Hide Universe/Clip Effects
view button.
To show or hide the Universe view in the Edit
window, do one of the following:

 Select or deselect View > Other Displays > Uni-

verse.

 Double-click the divider above the Main Time-

base ruler.
 From the Edit window menu, select or deselect
Universe. Show/Hide Universe/Clip Effects view button

 Press Option+7 (Mac) or Alt+7 (Windows).

Framed Area in the Universe

View
The framed area in the Universe view represents
what is visible in the Tracks pane in the Edit win-
dow. If you change what is displayed in the Edit
window—by zooming, scrolling horizontally or
vertically, hiding or showing tracks, or changing
track heights—the framed area in the Universe
view relocates and resizes accordingly. During
playback, if the Edit window is set to scroll, the
framed area in the Universe view also scrolls.

When all tracks are visible in the Edit window and

the session is zoomed all the way out, with all clips
visible, the entire Universe window is framed.

Selecting Universe view from the Edit window menu

Framed area representing what part of the session is

viewed in the Tracks pane of the Edit window

Chapter 29: Making Selections 647

 Navigating with the Universe
View
By clicking in the Universe view, you can scroll
the material displayed in the Edit window horizon-
tally, vertically, or both. This provides a conve-
nient method of focusing the Edit window any-
where in the session.

To navigate the session using the Universe view:

1 Ensure that Universe view is shown (View >

Other Displays > Universe). Resizing the Universe view

2 Click anywhere in the Universe view to move Scrolling the Universe View
the framed area and the Edit window updates
accordingly. If you have more tracks in the session than are vis-
ible in the Universe view, you can scroll up or
down to show the other tracks.

To scroll the Universe view up or down:

 Click the Scroll Up or Scroll Down Arrows on

the right of the Universe view.

Resizing the Universe View

You can resize the height of the Universe view to
fit the total number of tracks in the session, or to
Scroll Up and Down Arrows in the Universe view
show more of the Edit window.

To resize the height of the Universe view:

Navigating a Pro Tools
1 Click the area between the bottom of the Uni- Session with Keyboard
verse window and the top of the Timebase rul- Shortcuts
ers. The cursor changes to show that you can
resize the Universe view. In addition the Universe view, Pro Tools lets you
quickly and easily navigate a session using key-
2 Drag up to decrease the height of the Universe board shortcuts. This topic provides an overview
view or drag down to increase the height of the of the essential key commands for navigating and
Universe view. making Edit selections in a session.

648 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Zooming to the Entire Session 3 Do one of the following:
and to the Edit Selection • Press Control+E (Mac) or Start+E (Windows)
To zoom your entire session into view:
again to revert to the preview zoom state.

1 Press Option+Control+A (Mac) or Alt+Start+A • Press Option+Shift+E (Mac) or Alt+Shift+E

(Windows) to horizontally fit the beginning and (Windows) to cancel Zoom Toggle without re-
end of the session to the length of the Edit win- verting to the previous view.
dow.
Creating Edit Selections with
Press Option+Control+Up Arrow (Mac) or
2
Tab to Transients
Alt+Start+Up Arrow (Windows) to fit all of the
tracks in the session to the height of the Edit If you are editing audio with clear transients, you
window. can use Tab to Transients to make Edit selections.

To zoom to an Edit selection: To toggle Tab to Transients on and off:

1 With the Selector or the Grabber tool, make an  Press Command+Option+Tab (Mac) or Con-
Edit selection. trol+Alt+Tab (Windows).

Press F7 for the Selector tool or F8 for the To navigate and extend selections forward with
Grabber tool. Tab to Transients:

1 With the Selector tool, place the Edit cursor be-

2 Press Option+Control+F (Mac) or Alt+Start
fore the first transient your want in your selec-
(Windows) to fit the length of the selection to
tion.
the length of the Edit window.
2 Press Tab to place the Edit cursor at the first
3 Press Command+Control+Up Arrow (Mac) or
transient.
Control+Start+Up Arrow (Windows) to zoom
the Track Height of the Edit selection to fit to 3 Press Shift+Tab to extend the selection to the
the height of the Edit window. next transient.

To zoom to an Edit selection using Zoom Toggle: To navigate and extend selections backward with
Tab to Transients:
1 With the Selector or the Grabber tool, make an
Edit selection. • Press Option+Tab (Mac) or Control+Tab (Win-
dows) to move the Edit cursor to the previous
Press F7 for the Selector tool or F8 for the transient.
Grabber tool.
• Press Option+Shift+Tab (Mac) or Con-
2 Press Control+E (Mac) or Start+E (Windows) trol+Shift+Tab (Windows) to extend the selec-
to enable Zoom Toggle. tion to the previous transient.

Set the Track Height option for Zoom Toggle

to Fit To Window in the Editing Preferences.

Chapter 29: Making Selections 649

 Making an Edit Selection During To move the selection up to the next track:
Playback  Press Control+P (Mac) or Start+P (Windows).
To make an Edit selection during playback:
To extend the Edit selection up across
1 Place the Edit cursor in the track or across mul- tracks, Press Control+Shift+P (Mac) or
tiple tracks where you want to make the selec- Start+Shift+P (Windows).
tion.
To move the selection forward by the selection
2 Start playback. amount:

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).

Moving the Edit Selection To halve the Edit selection:

 Press Command+Option+Control+Shift+L
Pro Tools provides several keyboard shortcuts for
(Mac) or Control+Alt+Start+Shift+L
moving and extending or decreasing the range of
(Windows).
an Edit (or Timeline) selection.
To go to and select the previous clip, do one of the
To move the selection down to the next track:
following:
 Press Control+; (semicolon) (Mac) or Start+;
 Press Option+Control+Tab (Mac) or
(semicolon) (Windows).
Alt+Start+Tab (Windows).
To extend the Edit selection down across  Press Command+Control+L (Mac) or
tracks, Press Control+Shift+; (semicolon) Control+Start+L (Windows).
(Mac) or Start+Shift+; (semicolon) (Win-
dows).

650 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To go to and select the next clip, do one of the Restoring the Last Selection
following:
There are times when editing that you can lose
 Press Control+Tab (Mac) or Start+Tab
your selection. If you lose the current Edit (or
(Windows).
Timeline) selection and want to restore it, use the
 Press Command+Control+’ (single quote) Restore Last Selection command.
(Mac) or Control+Start+’ (single quote)
(Windows). To restore the last selection:

 Choose Edit > Restore Last Selection.

To extend the selection to include the previous
clip, do one of the following: You can also press Command+Option+Z
 Press Option+Control+Shift+Tab (Mac) or (Mac) or Control+Alt+Z (Windows) to restore
Alt+Start+Shift+Tab (Windows). the previous selection.

Press Command+Control+Shift+L (Mac) or


Changing Track Heights
Control+Start+Shift+L (Windows).
To fit the Track heights of tracks containing he Edit
To extend the selection to include the next clip, do selection to the height of the Edit window:
one of the following:
 Press Command+Control+Up Arrow (Mac) or
 Press Control+Shift+Tab (Mac) or Control+Start+Up Arrow (Windows).
Start+Shift+Tab (Windows).
To change Track height proportionally for tracks
 Press Command+Control+Shift+’ (single
containing the Edit selection:
quote) (Mac) or Control+Start+Shift+’ (single
quote) (Windows).  Press Control+Up or Down Arrows (Mac) or
Start+Up or Down Arrows (Windows).
Moving the Insertion to the To change Track views for all tracks together:
Beginning or End of the
Selection  Press Option+Control+Up or Down Arrows
(Mac) or Alt+Start+Up or Down Arrows
With the Transport stopped, you can use the Down
(Windows).
and Up Arrows on your alphanumeric keyboard to
the beginning or end of the Edit (or Timeline) se-
lection (and collapse the selection). Changing Track Views
To change Track views for tracks containing the
To move the insertion to the beginning of the
Edit selection:
selection:
 Press Command+Control+Left or Right arrows
 Press the Down Arrow.
(Mac) or Control+Start+Left or Right arrows
To move the insertion to the end of the selection: (Windows).

 Press the Up Arrow. To change Track views for all tracks together:

 Press Command+Option+Control+Left or
Right arrows (Mac) or Control+Alt+Start+Left
or Right arrows (Windows).

Chapter 29: Making Selections 651

652 Pro Tools Reference Guide
Chapter 30: Editing Clips and Selections

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 34, “MIDI Editing.” For edit-
ing procedures specific to video, see “Video Clips”
on page 1371.

Creating New Clips

Selecting a portion of a clip
Pro Tools provides several commands for creating
clips and clip groups, each of them having a 2 Choose Clip > Capture.
slightly different effect on the selection. When you Press Command+R (Mac) or Control+R
create a new clip or clip group, it appears in the (Windows) for Capture Clip.
Clips List and in the track’s playlist. When creat-
ing a new clip from an existing clip, the original 3 Type a name for the new clip and click OK.
clip remains in the Clips List. New clips are named
automatically (see “Auto-Naming Options” on The new clip appears in the Clips List. The original
page 302). clip remains intact and unchanged.

Chapter 30: Editing Clips and Selections 653

 Separate Commands 2 Do one of the following:

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 757). 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 901). Likewise, MIDI notes can be sepa-
rated on the grid.

At Transients Automatically creates clip boundar-

ies on detected transients within a selection. This
uses the same algorithm for transient detection as Pre-Separate Amount dialog
the Tab to Transients feature (see “Tabbing to
Transients” on page 641). On Elastic Audio-en- 4 Click OK.
abled tracks, the Separate At Transients command
To separate audio clips at transients:
uses the transient events detected by Elastic Audio
analysis (see “Elastic Audio Analysis” on 1 Make an Edit selection.
page 973). Separate At Transients only applies to 2 Choose Edit > Separate > At Transients.
audio and is not applicable to MIDI notes or clips.
3 In the Pre-Separate Amount dialog, type a
To separate one or more clips (or MIDI notes) at the pre-separate amount in milliseconds. This can
selection (or at the edit cursor): be useful to pad the beginnings of the new clips.
1 Do one of the following: 4 Click OK.
• With the Selector tool, make an Edit selection.
• With the Selector tool, click at the point where
you want to separate the clip (or MIDI note).

654 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Auto-Name Separated Clips Separating Multiple Tracks
Option
The following figure illustrates a separation across
With the Auto-Name Separated Clips option in the one mono audio track and two stereo tracks. For
Editing Preferences page selected, Pro Tools auto- some tracks, the selection resides within a clip,
matically names separated clips for you. The name while others reside at the start or end of a clip.
is a numbered variation of the original clip’s name.

By separating a clip, additional clips are auto-cre-

ated from data on either side of the separation,
which have new numbers assigned to their names.
The original clip remains intact and unchanged on
the Clips List.

The Clips List can quickly fill up with auto-

created clips. For easier clip management,
click the Clips List menu, deselect Show >
Auto-Created to hide all auto-created clips in
the Clips List.

“Separate Clip” Operates On All

Related Takes
When the “Separate Clip” Operates on All Related
Takes option is enabled in the Editing Preferences,
editing a clip with the Separate Clip command also
affects all other related takes with the same User
Time Stamp. Separating across multiple tracks

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 705). 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.

Chapter 30: Editing Clips and Selections 655

 2 From the Grabber tools pop-up menu, choose 3 While pressing Option (Mac) or Alt (Windows),
the Separation Grabber tool. drag the selection to the new location, or to an-
other track.

Separation Grabber tool

3 Drag the selection to the new location, or to an-

other track.

Dragging to another track with the Separation Grabber

tool

New clips containing the previous selection are

created and placed at the new location. The origi-
nal selection and clips remain intact.

Healing Separated Clips

The Heal Separation command returns separated
clips to their original state—provided the clips are
Dragging selection to later in track with Separation still next to each other and their relative start and
Grabber tool end points have not changed since the separation.
A new clip (or clips) containing the previous selec-
If you have trimmed or otherwise changed the start
tion is created, separate from the original selection.
or end points of the two clips, or moved them fur-
New clips are also created from the material out-
ther away from each other, you will not be able to
side the original selection.
repair them with the Heal Separation command. It
is not possible to heal two clips created from dif-
To separate a selection without affecting the
original clips: ferent audio files.

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.

656 Pro Tools Reference Guide

If the clips do not heal with Heal Separation, do one Trim to Insertion Commands
of the following to return the separated clips to a
single clip: You can trim a clip or MIDI note by automatically
removing the material between the Edit insertion
 Delete one of the two separated clips (verify
point and the start or end point of the clip.
that Slip mode is enabled so the gap does not
close) and use the Trim tool to expand the re-
To trim from a start point to insertion:
maining clip to its original length (see “Using
the Trim Tools” on page 612). 1 With the Selector tool, click inside the clip or
note where you want the new start point to be.
 Delete both of the separated clips and drag the
original clip from the Clips List to the original 2 Choose Edit > Trim Clip > Start To Insertion. The
location (see “Placing Clips from the Clips List clip’s start point is automatically trimmed to the
on to Track Playlists” on page 891). insertion point.

Press Option+Shift+7 (Mac) or Alt+Shift+7

(Windows) to Trim Start To Insertion.
Trimming Clips
To trim from an end point to insertion:
In addition to the Trim tools (see “Using the Trim
Tools” on page 612), Pro Tools provides several 1 With the Selector tool, click inside the clip or
options for editing clip and clip group boundaries. note where you want the new end point.
2 Choose Edit > Trim Clip > End To Insertion. The
Trim to Selection Command clip’s end point is automatically trimmed to the
insertion point.
The Trim to Selection command removes data be-
fore and after a clip or MIDI note selection, leaving
only the selection. This command lets you quickly
remove all data in a clip (and in some instances the
entire track) except for the current selection.

To trim unwanted data from a clip or note:

1 With the Selector tool, select a portion of a clip
or note (or a range of notes).
2 Choose Edit > Trim Clip > To Selection to
remove material outside of the selection.

Clip end trimmed to insertion

Press Option+Shift+8 (Mac) or Alt+Shift+8

(Windows) to Trim Start To Insertion.

Chapter 30: Editing Clips and Selections 657

 Trim to Fill Selection Commands The end point of the clip in front of the gap is au-
tomatically trimmed (expanded) to the next clip, or
The Trim to Fill Selection commands let you auto-
as far as possible if there is not enough underlying
matically reveal underlying material in the gaps
material to cover the gap.
between clips, or before and after individual clips,
as follow:

To trim from a start point to fill gaps:

1 With the Selector tool, select across at least one
gap between clips.
2 Choose Edit > Trim Clip > Start to Fill Selection.

The start point of the clip behind the gap is auto-

matically trimmed (expanded) to the previous clip,
or as far as possible if there is not enough underly-
ing material to cover the gap. Clip end trimmed to fill gap

To trim from a clip’s start and end points to fill the

Edit selection:
1 With the Selector tool, make an Edit selection
that includes the clip you want to trim out.
2 Choose Edit > Trim Clip > To Fill Selection.

The start point of the clip is automatically trimmed

(expanded) to the Edit selection start, or as far as
possible if there is not enough underlying material
to cover the selection, and the end point of the clip
Clip start trimmed to fill gap is automatically trimmed out (expanded) to the
To trim from an end point to fill gaps:
Edit selection end, or as far as possible if there is
not enough underlying material to cover the selec-
1 With the Selector tool, select across at least one tion.
gap between clips.
The Trim to Fill Selection command is the inverse
2 Choose Edit > Trim Clip > End To Fill
of the Trim to Fit Selection command: where the
Selection.
Trim to Fill Selection command trims a clip out to
match the Edit selection, the Trim to Fit Selection
command trims a clip in to match the Edit selec-
tion.

658 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Trim Clip to File Commands Trimming with Nudge
There are three Trim Clip to File commands that let You can trim the start and end points of clips (or
you trim a clip to the end of the file, the beginning MIDI notes) by the current Nudge value.
of a file, or both. However, clips trimmed to file
boundaries do not overlap other clips on the same To trim a clip’s start or end point by the Nudge
track. Instead, the selected clip is trimmed out only value:

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 660).

To trim out the selected audio clip to the start of

2 With the Time Grabber tool, select the clip you
the referenced file: want to trim.
1 Select the entire clip. 3 Do one of the following:
2 Choose Edit > Trim Clip > To File Start. • While pressing Option (Mac) or Alt (Windows),
press Plus (+) or Minus (–) on the numeric key-
To trim the selected clip to the file start, press pad to trim the clip’s start point by the Nudge
Command+Control+R (Mac) or Con- value.
trol+Start+R.
• While pressing Command (Mac) or Control
To trim out the selected audio clip to the end of the (Windows), press Plus (+) or Minus (–) on the
referenced file: numeric keypad to trim the clip’s end point by
the Nudge value.
1 Select the entire clip.
2 Choose Edit > Trim Clip > To File End.

To trim the selected clip to the file end, press

Nudging Clips
Command+Control+Y (Mac) or Con- Pro Tools can nudge clips (or MIDI notes) by pre-
trol+Start+Y. cise increments with the Plus (+) and Minus (–)
keys on the numeric keypad. The amount of the
To trim out the selected audio clip to the start and
nudge is determined by the value specified in the
end of the referenced file:
Nudge Value pop-up menu. The Nudge function
1 Select the entire clip. can be used in any of the Edit modes.
2 Choose Edit > Trim Clip > To File Boundaries.
Nudging can be invaluable for adjusting the
To trim the selected clip to both the beginning “groove” of a musical phrase or a sound effect rel-
and end of the file, press Command+Con- ative to other elements in the session. Since
trol+T (Mac) or Control+Start+T. Pro Tools can nudge material during playback,
you can nudge continuously in real time to adjust
the timing relationship between tracks.

Nudge can also be used to adjust the placement of

automation breakpoints. For more information, see
“Editing Automation” on page 1152.

Chapter 30: Editing Clips and Selections 659

 Defining the Nudge Value To increase the nudge value incrementally:

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 635). In addition, Shift+Alt+Minus (–) (Windows)
clips can be trimmed by the Nudge value (see
“Trimming with Nudge” on page 659).
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 660).
• 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.

Nudging Clips on Multiple

Tracks and in Multichannel
Tracks
When nudging a selection of multiple clips within
a single track or across multiple tracks, that also
contains silence, any automation data residing
Nudge Value pop-up menu showing Timecode within the silence is also nudged.

660 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Nudging by Next Nudge Value Nudging the Contents of a Clip
In addition to nudging by the current Nudge value, Often a clip’s start point will reside at the correct
you can also nudge by the next larger value in the location, perhaps at a SMPTE frame or barline, but
Nudge pop-up menu. the material within the clip starts too late or early.
You can, in effect, nudge a clip’s audio waveform
For example, if the Nudge value is set to 1 frame or MIDI notes without displacing the clip start and
and you want to nudge by a larger value, you can end points.
nudge by the Nudge value of 10 frames.

To nudge forward or back by the next larger Nudge

value:
1 Enable Commands Keyboard Focus (see “Key-
board Focus” on page 26).
2 Select the clips or notes you want to nudge.
3 Do one of the following:
• Press Forward Slash (/) to nudge the selected
material forward by the next Nudge value.
Nudging clip contents without changing clip
• Press M to nudge the selection back by the next boundaries
Nudge value. This “sliding” of clip contents is only possible if
When Commands Keyboard Focus is not there is material residing outside the clip’s start
enabled, press Control+Forward Slash (/) and end points—from the clip having been
(Mac) or Start+Forward Slash (/) (Win- trimmed, or perhaps captured from a larger clip.
dows) to nudge the selected material for-
To nudge the contents of a clip without changing
ward by the next Nudge value, and press the clip start and end points:
Control+M (Mac) or Start+M (Windows)
to nudge the selected material back by the 1 Configure the Nudge value (see “Defining the
next Nudge value. Nudge Value” on page 660).
2 With the Time Grabber tool, select the clip
whose contents you want to nudge.
3 While pressing the Control (Mac) or Start key
(Windows), press Plus (+) or Minus (–) on the
numeric keypad to move the material by the
Nudge value.

Chapter 30: Editing Clips and Selections 661

 Layered Editing
Pro Tools provides the option to enable layered edit- 1
ing so that you don’t lose partially overlapped clips
while editing. This is true for both audio and MIDI.

To enable (or disable) layered editing, do one 2

of the following:
 Select (or deselect) Options > Layered Editing.
 Click the Layered Editing button in the Edit Win-
dow toolbar so that it is lit (or unlit).
3

Layered Editing button (enabled) Figure 1. Editing with Layered Editing enabled

When the Layered Editing option is enabled, any

partially overlapped clips are revealed when cut- Press Command+Delete (Mac) or Control+
ting, clearing (deleting), or moving the overlap- Delete (Windows) to clear all track data
ping clip. Note that if any clip is fully overlapped within the edit selection regardless of whether
by another, larger clip, it is removed from the time- or not Layered Editing is enabled.
line. In Figure 1, the clip “Audio 1_01” (1) is
moved (2) to fully cover one clip and partially
cover another clip (3). When that clip (“Audio
1_02-01”) is cleared, the fully covered clip is gone,
but the partially covered clip is revealed (4).

662 Pro Tools Reference Guide

When the Layered Editing option is disabled, over-
lapped clips remain “trimmed” to the start or end Quantizing Clips to Grid
time of the overlapping clip. In Figure 2, the clip
The Quantize to Grid command adjusts the place-
“Audio 1_01” (1) is moved to cover the middle of a
larger clip (2). When that clip (“Audio 1_01”) is
ment of selected audio and MIDI clips so that their
cleared, the overlapped clip has a hole punched in it start points (or sync points, if present) align pre-
(3). If Layered Editing is enabled in this case, the un- cisely to the nearest Grid boundary.
derlying clip is completely revealed and healed (4).
To quantize individual MIDI notes or Elastic Au-
dio Events, use the Quantize Event Operations.
You can also use the Quantize Event Operation to
1 quantize audio clips (see “Quantize Command” on
page 1006).

To quantize one or more clips:

2
1 Select the Grid value (see “Defining the Grid
Value” on page 901).
2 With the Selector or Time Grabber tool, select
the clip or clips you want to quantize. The clips
3 can be on multiple tracks. Only clips that are en-
tirely selected will be quantized.
3 Choose Clip > Quantize to Grid. Clip start times
(or sync points) are aligned to the nearest
4 boundaries for the defined Grid.

Press Command+0 (Mac) or Control+0

Figure 2. Editing with Layered Editing disabled
(Windows) to Quantize to Grid.

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.

Chapter 30: Editing Clips and Selections 663

 For Elastic Audio clips, only the clips are quan- To split a stereo or multichannel track:
tized and all Elastic Audio Events contained within 1 Select one or more stereo or multichannel tracks
the clips (such as transient events) are moved (see “Selecting Tracks” on page 237).
equally, thereby retaining their rhythmic relation-
ships. 2 Choose Track > Split Into Mono. Clips from the
channels on the selected tracks are placed on
To quantize individual MIDI notes or Elastic new, mono audio tracks.
Audio Events, use the Quantize Event Opera-
tions. You can also use the Quantize Event Names for the new tracks are based on the source
Operation to quantize audio clips. For more track name and channel suffix. For example, if a
information see “Quantize Command” on stereo track called “Funkit” is split, two new tracks
page 1006). called “Funkit.L” and “Funkit.R” are created.

Output and send assignments and volume and pan

settings are retained in the new tracks. Mono
Editing Stereo and equivalents of stereo and multi-mono plug-in as-
Multichannel Tracks signments are assigned in the new tracks. How-
Clips on individual channels within stereo and ever, multichannel plug-in assignments are not as-
multichannel tracks cannot be independently se- signed in the new tracks.
lected. All selections for these tracks are time-
based, which means that selections made with the Dragging Clips to and from
Selector or Time Grabber tool extend to each and Stereo and Multichannel Tracks
every channel in the track.

When clips in multichannel tracks are edited with

any of the Trim tools or dragged with the Time
Grabber tool, material on all channels is affected
equally as a group.

Split Selected Tracks

To edit a specific channel within a stereo or multi-
channel track without affecting the other channels,
you can split the track into separate mono tracks.
Once the edits have been made to the separated
material, you can then drag or copy it back to the
original multichannel track.
Dragging a stereo clip to two mono audio tracks

664 Pro Tools Reference Guide

When dragging clips to or from stereo or multi- When consolidating, muted clips are treated as si-
channel tracks, the following rules apply: lence. Otherwise, whether or not a track is muted,
or contains Mute automation, does not affect the
 Provided the number of tracks and channels are
Consolidate command.
the same for the source and destination, you can
drag clips between multichannel tracks and mono Consolidating an audio track does not
tracks. consolidate underlying automation data. To
 The source and destination for dragged clips create a single file with automation data ap-
can be mixed. For example, you can drag clips plied to the audio, use Bounce to Disk (see
from a 5.0 track (containing five channels) to a ste- “Bounce to Disk” on page 1188).
reo track and three mono audio tracks.
To consolidate clips within a track:
 When dragging multichannel clips to mono 1 Do one of the following:
tracks, the destination tracks must be adjacent.
• Using the Time Grabber or Selector tool, select
 When dragging clips from mono tracks to a the clips you want to consolidate.
multichannel track, the source tracks need not be
• To select all clips in a track, triple-click in its
adjacent.
playlist with the Selector tool.
Multichannel clips can also be dragged from the 2 Choose Edit > Consolidate.
Clips List, to multichannel tracks of the same for-
mat, groups of mono audio tracks, or a combina- Press Option+Shift+3 (Mac) or Alt+Shift+3
tion of both. (Windows) to Consolidate.

Conversely, a collection of single, mono clips can

be dragged from the Clips List to multichannel Compacting an Audio File
tracks—provided the dragged number of clips
matches the number of channels in the destination The Compact command deletes unused portions of
track. audio files to conserve disk space, and to prepare
for cleaner hard drive back-ups. The Compact Se-
lected command also deletes any audio files for
Consolidating Clips which there are no clips on tracks referencing those
files.
During the course of normal edit operations, any
track can accumulate many clips. However, once a Because it permanently deletes audio data, the
track or track range (such as a verse or chorus) Compact command should be used only after you
reaches a satisfactory state, you may want to con- have completely finished your editing and are sure
solidate multiple clips into a single clip. that you have no further use for the unused audio
data.
When consolidating an entire audio track or just an
Edit selection, a new audio file is written that con-
sists of the entire selection, including any blank
space.

Chapter 30: Editing Clips and Selections 665

 The Compact command can pad the clips of the
compacted file by a selectable amount. If clips in TCE (Time Compression and
your session use crossfades, or if you want to pad Expansion) Edit To Timeline
the clips for the sake of any future trimming, you Selection
should enter an appropriate amount of padding (in (Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)
milliseconds).
When the Edit and Timeline selections are un-
The Compact command is destructive and linked, you can compress or expand an audio se-
cannot be undone. It permanently alters the lection to fit the Timeline selection. On audio
original audio files. There is no way to tracks, TCE Edit to Timeline Selection uses the
recover data deleted by this command. TCE AudioSuite Plug-In selected in the Process-
ing preferences (see “Processing Preferences” on
To compact an audio file: page 125). On Elastic Audio-enabled tracks, TCE
1 In the Clips List, select the clip or clips you Edit To Timeline Selection uses the track’s selected
want to compact. Elastic Audio plug-in (see “Elastic Audio Plug-
Ins” on page 975).
2 From the Clips List menu, choose Compact.
To fit an Edit selection to the Timeline:
3 Enter the amount of padding in milliseconds
that you want for each clip in the file. 1 Deselect Options > Link Timeline and Edit
Selection.
4 Click Compact to compact the file or Cancel to
cancel the command. 2 With the Selector tool, select the audio material
to be compressed or expanded.
Once the Compact command has been completed,
the session is saved automatically. 3 In any Timebase ruler, select the time range
where you want to fit the audio material.
4 Choose Edit > TCE Edit to Timeline Selection.
Processing Audio with The Edit selection is compressed or expanded to
AudioSuite Plug-Ins the length of the Timeline selection.
The AudioSuite plug-ins included with your
Pro Tools system can be used to process and mod- TCE Edit to Timeline Selection
ify audio clips or even entire audio files. Do this in on Multiple Tracks and Channels
order to apply a specific AudioSuite process (such The TCE Edit to Timeline command can be used on
as Normalization or DC Offset Removal) to any multichannel selections, and selections across
number of audio clips in your session. multiple tracks. All clips are compressed or ex-
panded equally by the same percentage value,
For more information about AudioSuite
based on Edit selection range. This ensures that the
plug-ins, see Chapter 42, “AudioSuite Pro-
rhythmic relationship between the different chan-
cessing.”
nels or tracks is maintained.

666 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Fitting an Audio Clip to an Edit
Selection Rating Clips
Clips can be dragged from the Clips List to fit You can rate different clips on a scale of 1 to 5,
within an Edit selection. The dragged clip is com- where 5 is the highest (or best) and 1 is the lowest
pressed or expanded to fit within the selection. On (or worst). Clip rating is useful for identifying
audio tracks, fitting an audio clip to the Edit selec- which takes (clips) you like the most when com-
tion uses the TCE AudioSuite Plug-In selected in positing playlists. You can display or hide the clip
the Processing preferences (see “Processing Pref- rating in clips to facilitate track compositing or
erences” on page 125). On Elastic Audio-enabled regular editing. You can also show or hide Playlist
tracks, it uses the track’s selected Elastic Audio lanes based on the ratings of clips in the playlist
plug-in (see “Elastic Audio Plug-Ins” on (see “Filtering Lanes” on page 704).
page 975).
To rate a clip:
To fit an audio clip to an Edit selection: 1 Select the clip.
1 With the Selector tool, make an Edit selection in 2 Do one of the following:
an audio track.
• Choose Clip > Rating, and select a ranking of
2 Command-Option-drag (Mac) or Control-Alt- 1 to 5.
drag (Windows) the clip from the Clips List to
• Right-click the clip, choose Rate, and select a
the track with the selection. The start of the clip
ranking of 1 to 5.
is positioned at the selection start, and the clip is
compressed or expanded to match the length of You can rate selected clips during playback
the selection. by pressing Command+Option+Control
(Mac) or Control+Alt+Start (Windows) and
Fit to Selection on Multiple then typing the rating number (1–5) on the
Tracks and Channels numeric keypad.

The Fit to Selection command supports dragging To display ratings in clips:

multiple clips from the Clips List to multiple
 Select View > Clip > Rating.
tracks, or multichannel tracks.

All dragged clips are compressed or expanded

equally by the same percentage value, based on
length of the clip last clicked before dragging.

Clip with Rating shown

To hide ratings in clips:

 Deselect View > Clip > Rating.

Chapter 30: Editing Clips and Selections 667

668 Pro Tools Reference Guide
Chapter 31: Fades and Crossfades

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.

To create a crossfade between two clips, use the

Selector tool to select across the end point of the
Standard Crossfade (Centered)
first clip and the start point of the second. The splice
length of the selection determines the length of the fade-out curve point fade-in curve
crossfade. Though fades may appear to be discrete
clips, they cannot actually be separated from the
clips in which they were created. You can, how- clip 1 clip 2

ever, create fade-ins and fade-outs for individual

clips (see “Creating Fades at the Beginnings and
Ends of Clips” on page 677). crossfade selection

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.

This crossfade type requires that clip 1 contain au-

dio material beyond its end point, and clip 2 con-
tain audio material before its start point.

Chapter 31: Fades and Crossfades 669

 Pre Crossfade Post Crossfade

splice
sp lice splice
point point

clip 11
clip clip 22
clip clip 1 clip 2

crossfade selection crossfade selection

Pre crossfade Post crossfade

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.

This crossfade type requires that clip 2 contain au-

Overlapping Crossfades View
dio material before its start point.
Pro Tools lets you view overlapping waveforms in
crossfades.

Overlapping Crossfades view

To show (or hide) overlapping crossfades:

 Select (or deselect) View > Waveform > Over-

lapping Crossfades.

670 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 The controls in the Fades dialog include:
Fade Dialogs
Audition
Choose Edit > Fades > Create to apply the appro-
priate fade to the Edit selection. Use the corre-
sponding Fade dialog (Fade In, Fade Out, Cross-
fade) to select, view, preview fades and crossfades,
and edit fade curves. Click this button to audition fades. Pro Tools sup-
ports fade auditioning directly from your audio in-
terface outputs.

View First Track (Crossfades Only)

If you are cross-fading between more than one

track, this button allows you to view and preview
the audio of the first in a pair of adjacent tracks.

View Second Track (Crossfades Only)

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.

View Both Tracks (Crossfades Only)

Click this button to display the waveforms of the

first two adjacent tracks in a multitrack crossfade.

Fade Curves Only

Click this button to display the specified fade

curves without showing the actual audio wave-
Crossfade dialog forms. This is the default view when you open the
Fades dialog.

Chapter 31: Fades and Crossfades 671

 Fade Curves and Separate Waveforms Fade-Out Shape Settings
The Out Shape setting lets you define the shape of
the fade-out from a clip for a fade, or from clip 1
for a crossfade.
Click this button to display the specified fade
curves along with separate views of the fade-in and
fade-out waveforms.

Fade Curves and Superimposed Waveforms

Click this button to display the specified fade Fade-Out Shape

curves along with superimposed views of the fade-
Standard Selects a single continuous fade curve.
in and fade-out waveforms.
This creates a general-purpose fade that can be ed-
Fade Curves and Summed Waveform ited by clicking and dragging the curve in the curve
editor.

S-Curve Selects an S-shaped curve, which inverts

its beginning and end characteristics. This makes it
Click this button to display the specified fade possible to fade out faster at the curve’s start and
curves along with a single waveform representing slower at its end, for example. S-shaped curves can
the summation of the any crossfaded audio. be useful with material that is difficult to crossfade
effectively. S-curves can be edited by clicking and
Zoom In dragging the curve in the curve editor.

Preset Curves Seven commonly used preset

curves are provided for fast fade creation. These
cannot be edited by clicking and dragging in the
Click this button to scale the view of the wave-
curve editor.
form’s amplitude upwards. Command-click (Mac)
or Control-click (Windows) for the default view For more information on adjusting the fade
scale. shape, see “Manually Adjusting Fade Shapes
Zoom Out in Fade Windows” on page 682.

Click this button to scale the view of the wave-

form’s amplitude downwards. Command-click
(Mac) or Control-click (Windows) for the default
view scale.

672 Pro Tools Reference Guide

The seven presets are as follows:  Preset Curve 6 drops the volume even more
quickly at the beginning of the fade.
 Preset Curve 1 stays at full volume throughout

the fade, then immediately drops the volume at the

end of the fade.

Preset Curve 6

 Preset Curve 7 silences any audio at the begin-

Preset Curve 1 ning of the fade.
 Preset Curve 2 fades out relatively slowly, keep-

ing the volume fairly high throughout the duration

of the fade.

Preset Curve 7

Fade-In Shape Settings

Preset Curve 2 The Shape setting lets you define the shape of the
fade-in to a clip for a fade, or to clip 2 for a cross-
 Preset Curve 3 fades out slightly faster, keeping fade.
the volume slightly lower during the fade.
Standard Selects a single continuous fade curve.
This creates a general-purpose fade that can be ed-
ited by clicking and dragging the curve in the curve
editor.
Preset Curve 3
S-Curve Selects an S-shaped curve, which inverts
 Preset Curve 4 fades out with a linear fade. This its beginning and end characteristics. This makes it
is the default curve. possible to fade out faster at the curve’s start and
slower at its end, for example. S-shaped curves can
be useful with material that is difficult to crossfade
effectively. S-curves can be edited by clicking
dragging the curve in the curve editor.
Preset Curve 4 Preset Curves Seven commonly used preset
 Preset Curve 5 fades out quickly at the begin- curves are provided for fast fade creation. These
ning of the crossfade. cannot be edited by clicking and dragging in the
curve editor.

For more information on adjusting the fade

shape, see “Manually Adjusting Fade Shapes
in Fade Windows” on page 682.
Preset Curve 5

Chapter 31: Fades and Crossfades 673

 The seven presets are as follows:  Preset Curve 6 fades in even more slowly than
the previous curve.
 Preset Curve 1 fades in at full volume immedi-
ately at the beginning of the fade and keeps it there
throughout the fade.

Preset Curve 6

 Preset Curve 7 silences any audio until the end

Preset Curve 1 of the fade.
 Preset Curve 2 fades in quickly in the begin-
ning, reaching full amplitude fairly early in the
fade.

Preset Curve 7

Fade Slope Settings

Preset Curve 2 The Fade In and Fade Out dialogs provide two op-
tions for the slope of the fade. The Slope setting
 Preset Curve 3 fades in moderately fast.
lets you define the slope of the fade.

Equal Power Recommended for material that is

not phase coherent. With this fade, you can Op-
tion-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) the fade
Preset Curve 3 curve to reset it to its default shape.

 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 4 Link Settings

(Crossfades Only)
 Preset Curve 5 fades in slowly at the beginning
of the fade.

Preset Curve 5

Fade Link

674 Pro Tools Reference Guide

The Link setting links the selected fade-out and Linear Crossfade This is a good general purpose
fade-in curves of a crossfade. If you adjust one crossfade with a smooth, even transition between
curve, the corresponding curve is also adjusted. clip 1 and clip 2.
This ensures that the resulting crossfade is an
equal power or equal gain crossfade, depending on 1. Out 2. In
which one you select.

Equal Power Recommended for material that is

not phase coherent, as in the case of a crossfade be-
tween two completely different types of material.
Use this option to avoid the volume drop that can
occur with an Equal Gain crossfade. With this
fade, you can Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click Linear Crossfade
(Windows) the fade curve to reset it to its default
Equal Power Crossfade This is a good general
shape.
purpose crossfade useful in cases where a linear
Equal Gain Recommended for material that is crossfade seems to create a noticeable drop in vol-
phase-coherent or nearly phase-coherent, as in the ume across the splice point.
case of a crossfade between identical clips/instru-
ments (for example, a repeated drum loop). Use
1. Out 2. In
this option to avoid clipping that can occur when
using an Equal Power crossfade. With this fade,
you can Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Win-
dows) the fade curve to reset it to its default shape.

None Disables linking between the fade-out and

fade-in curves, and lets you freely adjust them sep-
arately, including start and end points. Equal Power Crossfade

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 682. 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 682

Typical Curve Combinations

Following are the available combinations of fade-
out and fade-in curves.
Overlap Crossfade

Chapter 31: Fades and Crossfades 675

 Fade and Crossfade Fade Presets
Preferences
Pro Tools provides five Fade Presets so that you
You can set default fade and crossfade settings. can easily store and recall your most commonly
These settings load as your “base” settings when used fade settings. You can also save and import
you use the Create Fades command, and the Fade Fade Preset settings.
to Start and Fade to End commands.

To set the fade and crossfade preferences:

1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click the
Editing tab.

2 Set the Pre-Roll and Post-Roll times for Fade

previews.

Presets at the top of the Crossfade dialog

To store a Fade preset:

Fade preferences 1 Configure the Fades dialog as you like.
3 Click Fade In and set the default shape for fade- 2 Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win-
ins when using the Smart Tool, then click OK. dows) the Preset button where you want to store
4 Click Fade Out and set the default shape for the current Fades dialog settings.
fade-outs when using the Smart Tool, then click
To recall a Fade preset:
OK.
 Click the Preset button that contains the settings
5 Click Crossfade and set the default shape for
you want to recall.
crossfades when using the Smart Tool, then
click OK. Press Control+1–5 (Mac) or Start+1–5
6 Click OK. (Windows) to recall the corresponding pre-
set.
To apply the default fade or crossfade
shape, make an Edit selection and press
Command+Control+F (Mac) or Con-
trol+Start+F (Windows).

676 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Fade Settings Menu
Creating Fades at the
Use the Fade Settings menu commands to save, Beginnings and Ends of Clips
copy, paste, and manage fade settings as presets
(Fade settings files). Pro Tools lets you create fade-ins and fade-outs at
the beginnings and ends of clips.

With Pro Tools Ultimate, you can also use an au-

tomatic fade-in/out option, which applies real time
fade-ins/outs to all clips during playback automat-
ically. For more information, see “Using Auto-
Fades” on page 680.

Fade Settings menu

Fades Settings menu commands include:

<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.

Chapter 31: Fades and Crossfades 677

 To create a fade-in: To create a fade-out:
1 Select the beginning of the clip that you want to 1 Select the end of the clip that you want to fade
fade in. The selection must extend to the exact out. The selection must extend to the exact end
beginning of the clip or a blank area prior to the of the clip or a blank area after the clip in the
clip in the track. track.

Selecting the beginning of a clip for a fade-in Selecting the end of a clip for a fade-out

2 Do one of the following: 2 Do one of the following:

• Choose Edit > Fades > Create. • Choose Edit > Fades > Create.
• Press Command+F (Mac) or Control+F (Win- • Press Command+F (Mac) or Control+F (Win-
dows). dows).

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.

Fade lengths can be resized with any of the

Trim tools, including Nudge Trim commands.
See “Using the Trim Tools” on page 612 and
“Trimming with Nudge” on page 659.

678 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To fade from the insertion point to a clip start 3 Use the view buttons to adjust the view of the
point: crossfade. It may take a few moments to calcu-
1 Place the cursor at a location in the clip. late the waveform display for long selections.

2 Do one of the following: 4 Select an Out Shape and an In Shape.

• Choose Edit > Fades > Fade To Start. 5 Select a Linking option.
• Press Control+D (Mac) or Start+D (Windows). 6 Click the Audition button to audition the cross-
fade. For long crossfades, it may take Pro Tools
The fade is applied based on the Fade In prefer-
a few moments to calculate and load the audio
ences (see “Fade and Crossfade Preferences” on
into playback RAM.
page 676).
7 Do one of the following:
To fade from the insertion point to a clip end point:
• Adjust the curves by selecting different preset
1 Place the cursor at a location in the clip. shapes with the Out Shape and In Shape pop-up
2 Do one of the following: menus.

• 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 676). 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 612 and “Trimming with Nudge” on
you want the crossfade to begin in the first clip page 659.
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).

Chapter 31: Fades and Crossfades 679

 To trim a crossfade: 3 Extend the selection by doing one of the follow-
1 Select the crossfade with the Time Grabber tool, ing:
or double-click it with the Selector tool. • Shift-drag to adjust your selection, or press
Shift+Tab to extend the selection forward to the
2 With any of the Trim tools, trim either side of
next clip boundary.
the crossfade. The crossfade is recalculated to
reflect the newly trimmed length. • Press Option+Shift+Tab (Mac) or
Control+Shift+Tab (Windows) to extend the
selection back to the previous clip boundary.
Crossfades on Tick-Based Audio
Tracks 4 Do one of the following:
Crossfades are re-rendered after changing tempo • Choose Edit > Fades > Create.
in a tick-based audio track. The new crossfade is • Press Command+F (Mac) or Control+F
the same duration as the crossfade prior to the (Windows).
tempo change.
5 Select a fade type and click OK.
If there is not enough audio material to complete
the crossfade, or if the new crossfade area falls out-
side of valid clip boundaries, the crossfade is re-
Using AutoFades
moved.
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)

Pre and Post Crossfade Pro Tools | Ultimate can automatically apply real-
Selections time fade-ins and fade-outs to all clip boundaries
in the session on playback. Specify the duration (0
By making a selection that begins or ends precisely
to 10 ms) for automatic real-time fades with the
on the border of two clips, you can create “pre” or
Auto Clip Fade In/Out Length preference in the Op-
“post” crossfades. Use the Tab key to place the in-
eration Preferences page). These fade-ins and
sertion point at the exact beginning or end of a clip.
fade-outs are performed during playback and do
To create a pre- or post-crossfade:
not appear 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.

680 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Using automatic fade-ins/outs saves you the trou- To apply crossfades between multiple clips:
ble of editing to zero-crossings or creating numer- 1 With the Selector tool, click in the first clip in
ous rendered fades in order to eliminate clicks or which you want to create a crossfade. Make
pops in playback. However, those clicks or pops sure that the selection includes the entire clip.
still exist in the underlying sound file. Conse-
quently, those anomalies still appear if the Dupli- 2 Drag to extend the selection to include the last
cate AudioSuite plug-in or the Export Clips As clip you want to crossfade. Make sure that the
Files command (from the Clips List) are used to selection includes the entire clip.
duplicate multiple clips as a continuous file. To
render these real-time auto fades to disk, choose
File > Bounce to > Disk.
Selected clips for Batch Fades
To set the length of automatic fade-ins/outs:
3 Do one of the following:
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click the
Operation tab. • Choose Edit > Fades > Create.

2 Type a value between 0 and 10 ms for the Clip • Press Command+F (Mac) or Control+F (Win-
Auto Fade In/Out Length. A value of zero (the dows).
default) means that no auto-fading will occur. 4 In the Batch Fades dialog, select whether you
3 Click OK. The AutoFade value is saved with the want to Create New Fades, 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.

If you choose to create new fades and new fade-ins

Creating Fades and and outs, new crossfades are created at each clip
Crossfades in Batches boundary that is bordered by another selected clip,
a fade-in is created at the start of the first clip, and
Using Batch Fades, you can create many fades at
a fade-out is created at the end of the last clip.
once. Select across several clips and use the Create
Fades command to create crossfades for each clip
transition. If your selection includes clips that al-
ready have crossfades, you can modify them.

Batch Fades dialog

Chapter 31: Fades and Crossfades 681

 5 Select the placement of the Fades: Pre-Splice, 3 In the Fade (or Crossfade) window, click on the
Centered, or Post-Splice (see “About Cross- fade shape and drag to the left or the right until
fades and Curves” on page 669). you get the fade shape you want.
6 Enter a length in milliseconds for Fade In,
Crossfades, and Fade Out.
7 Click OK.

Pro Tools creates the fades and crossfades for all

selected clips.

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 612 and “Trimming
shape of the curve by pressing Option (Mac)
with Nudge” on page 659.
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.

682 Pro Tools Reference Guide

3 Do one or both of the following:
Adjusting Fade Shapes with
• To adjust the start point of either the Fade In or
the Smart Tool in the Edit
Fade Out of the crossfade, click and drag the
Window
black square the appears at the beginning of the
fade to the right (or to the left if you have already Pro Tools lets you adjust fade and crossfade shapes in
changed the start point from the default loca- the Edit window using the Smart Tool.
tion).
To adjust a fade-in, fade-out, or crossfade in
• To adjust the end point of either the Fade In or the Edit window:
Fade Out of the crossfade, click and drag the
1 Select the Smart Tool.
black square the appears at the end of the fade to
the left (or to the right if you have already 2 Position the cursor over the fade in the vertical
changed the end point from the default location). middle of the clip until the corresponding Fade or
Crossfade cursor appears.

Smart Tool showing Fade-out cursor

If the Smart Tool Fade Adjustment prefer-

ence is set to use the Command key (Mac) or
Adjusting the Fade In start point of a crossfade the Control key (Windows), press the Com-
mand key (Mac) or the Control key (Win-
4 Once you have set the start and end points of the
dows) while positioning the cursor.
fades as you like, click OK to close the Cross-
fade window and apply your changes. 3 Click (the fade shape highlights yellow) and drag
to the left or right to adjust the fade shape.

Task Manager Status indicator, tasks in progress

Chapter 31: Fades and Crossfades 683

 4 Release the mouse when the fade shape is what To change the fade shape of any fade in the
you want. Edit window:
1 Make an edit selection that includes the fade (or
Command-click (Mac) or Control-click
fades) you want to change. Only completely se-
(Windows) with the Selector Tool to adjust
lected fades will be affected.
fades in the same way as with the Smart Tool.
2 Do one of the following:
• Press Option+Control+Left Arrow (Mac) or
If the Edit selection includes two or more Alt+Start+Left Arrow (Windows) to change to
tracks with more than one fade, hold the Shift the previous preset fade shape.
key while adjusting the shape of a fade to • Press Option+Control+Right Arrow (Mac) or
change all fades in the Edit selection. Alt+Start+Right Arrow (Windows) to change
to the next preset fade shape.
While adjusting a fade shape in the Fades di-
alog or using the Smart Tool in the Edit win-
dow, the exact curve and waveform update to Fades Options in the Edit
match. After adjusting the fade curve and see- Selection Right-Click Menu
ing the exact, real-time updates to the curve Pro Tools lets you set the Fade Shape (Standard or
and waveform, the persistent fade drawn in S-Curve) and the Fade Slope (Equal Power or Equal
the Edit window is a more general represen- Gain) for fades and crossfades from the Right-click
tation that may not look exactly like the fade menu in the Edit window. The corresponding Shape
curve when you were adjusting it. and Slope for the selected fade are checked in the
menu. If the edit selection includes two or more fades
with different Shape settings, the Standard and
Changing Fade Shapes in the S-Curve options appear in italics (and with no check
marks). Likewise, if the edit selection includes two or
Edit Window more fades with different Slope settings, the Equal
Pro Tools lets you change the shape of any selected Power and Equal Gain options appear in italics (and
fade in the Edit window using keyboard shortcuts to with no check marks).
cycle through all available fade shapes in order: Stan-
You can also edit Batch Fades from the Right-click
dard, S-Curve, and seven parabolic fade shapes (see
menu in the Edit window.
“Fade-Out Shape Settings” on page 672 and “Fade-
In Shape Settings” on page 673).
To set the Shape for a fade or crossfade in
the Edit window:
1 Right-click the fade you want to change.
2 Select the desired Shape from Fades submenu:
Standard or S-Curve.

To set the Slope for a fade or crossfade in the Edit

window:
1 Right-click the fade you want to change.
2 Select the desired Slope from Fades submenu:
Equal Power or Equal Gain.

684 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To edit Batch Fades in the Edit window: 2 Move the fade by doing one of the following:
1 Make an Edit selection that includes multiple • Drag the fade with the Time Grabber tool to a
whole clips with fades. new location on the track.
2 Right-click the Edit selection and choose Fades > • Nudge the fade by pressing Plus (+) or
Batch Fades. Minus (–) on the numeric keypad to move the
3 Configure the Batch Fades dialog as desired and fade forward or backward on the track.
click OK.

Moving and Nudging Fades

and Crossfades
Fades and crossfades can be moved or nudged in Dragging the fade with the Time Grabber
tracks, independently of their contributing clips.
Moving or nudging fade-ins or fade-outs reveals or
hides audio as the fade is moved from the edge of
a contributing clip. Moving or nudging crossfades
changes the overlap point of the contributing clips.
Moving or nudging fades is also constrained by
underlying clip boundaries. Result of moved fade

Moving Clips Containing Fades

Moving or Nudging Fades or or Crossfades
Crossfades within Clips
When you move or nudge a clip selection that con-
To move or nudge a fade or crossfade within its tains a fade-in, fade-out, or crossfade, the fade
contributing clips:
moves with the selection.
1 Select the fade or crossfade by doing one of the
following: To move a clip selection with fades or crossfades:

• 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.

Selecting a fade with the Time Grabber

Chapter 31: Fades and Crossfades 685

 2 Move the clip selection by doing one of the fol- Moving Clips Adjacent to
lowing: Crossfades
• Drag the clip selection with the Grabber tool to a When you move either of the clips that contributes
new location on the track. to a crossfade, the clips separate. The status of the
• Nudge the clip selection by pressing Plus (+) or fade depends on the Preserve Fades when Editing
Minus (–) on the numeric keypad to move the preference (in the Editing Preferences page).
clip forward or backward on the track.
To separate crossfaded clips and retain the
corresponding fades:
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click the
Editing tab.

2 Select Preserve Fades when Editing.

Dragging a clip with its fade
3 Click OK to close the Preferences dialog.
Nudging Clips Adjacent to
Use the Time Grabber or Separation Grabber
Fade-Ins or Fade-Outs 4
tool to select one of the contributing clips to a
When you nudge a clip selection adjacent to a crossfade.
fade-in or fade-out, but do not select the fade, the
adjacent fade stretches or shrinks to maintain the
fade start or end point. The amount of change de-
pends on the amount of audio material outside the
fade start or end point.

To a nudge clip without its fade: Selecting a clip with a crossfade

1 Select the clip, but not the fade. 5 Drag the selected clip with the Grabber.

Selecting a clip without its fade

Separating clips while preserving fades
2 Nudge the clip by pressing Plus (+) or Minus (–)
on the numeric keypad. To separate crossfaded clips and remove the fade:
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click the
Editing tab.

2 Deselect Preserve Fades when Editing.

3 Click OK to close the Preferences dialog.
Nudging a clip without its fade

686 Pro Tools Reference Guide

4 Use the Time Grabber or Separation Grabber 2 Nudge the clip by pressing Plus (+) or
tool to select one of the contributing clips to a Minus (–) on the numeric keypad.
crossfade.

Selecting a clip with a crossfade

Stretching the crossfade by nudging
5 Drag the selected clip with the Grabber.

Separating Clips that Include

Fades or Crossfades
You can create clips from track material that over-
laps with fades or crossfades. If the Preserve
Separating clips while removing fades
Fades when Editing option is enabled in the Edit-
ing Preferences page, the fades from the source
Nudging Clips Adjacent to clip are adjusted to the new clip.
Crossfades
To separate a clip that overlaps with a fade or
When you nudge either of the clips that contributes crossfade:
to a crossfade, the fade stretches to preserve the 1 With the Selector tool, drag to select the mate-
relative position of the crossfade start and end rial for the new clip.
points. The amount of stretch depends on the
amount of overlap between the contributing clips. 2 Choose Edit > Separate Clip > At Selection.

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 nudge a clip and stretch its crossfade:

1 Use the Time Grabber tool to select one of the
contributing clips to the crossfade.

Selecting material that overlaps a fade-in

Selecting a clip with a crossfade

Result of Separate Clip command on fade-in

Chapter 31: Fades and Crossfades 687

 Where your selection overlaps a crossfade, the
crossfade is separated into a fade-out and fade-in at Trimming Clips that Include
the selection boundary. Fades or Crossfades
You can trim clips that include fades or crossfades.

Trimming a Clip to a Fade

Boundary
You can trim clips that are adjacent to fade and
Selecting material that overlaps a crossfade crossfade boundaries.

To trim a clip on a fade boundary:

 With the Trim tool, click the clip boundary and

drag to trim the clip. The fade remains constant
and follows the new clip boundary.

Result of Separate Clip command on crossfade

If the Preserve Fades when Editing option is

not enabled in the Editing preferences, any
fades within the selection are deleted when
Dragging a clip boundary with the Trim tool
editing.

Result of trimming the clip

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Trimming to a Selection Across
Fades or Crossfades Fade Boundaries and Shapes
Displayed in Automation
You can trim clips to selections that include fades View
or crossfades.
Fade boundaries and fade shapes are shown and
To trim a clip to a selection that includes fades, do can be edited in Automation views, allowing for
one of the following: more precise viewing and editing of automation
 Make a selection in the track and choose Edit > data. For more information on Automation and
Trim > To Selection. You can Trim across mul- Automation views, see Chapter 50, “Automation.”
tiple clips and fades. Affected fades are adjusted
to the new clip boundaries.
 Click with the Selector in the clip and choose
Edit > Trim > Start to Insertion or End to Inser-
tion. You can trim to clip or fade boundary in the
Fade information in Automation view
track.

Trimming to a selection across multiple fades

Chapter 31: Fades and Crossfades 689

690 Pro Tools Reference Guide
Chapter 32: Playlists

The ability to create playlists is a powerful feature

of Pro Tools. Each track maintains a “main” play- Working with Playlists
list and any number of “alternate” edit playlists. When you create a new track, it contains a single,
empty playlist until you record, import, or drag and
Edit playlists let you take a snapshot of a track’s
drop material to it.
current arrangement of clips, thereby freeing you
to experiment with alternate arrangements, return- Audio material can be dragged and dropped
ing as necessary to previously saved playlists. onto a track from the Clips List, Workspace
A playlist, which can consist of a single clip or browsers, from Windows Explorer or the Mac
many clips, can only be assigned to a track if it is Finder.
not in use by another track. While you can create
New playlists can be created that are empty or du-
an almost unlimited number of edit playlists,
plicates of the current playlist. Once created, you
which are shared among all tracks, each track has
can recall, rename, and delete playlists as needed
its own dedicated automation playlist.
by using the Playlist selector.
Automation playlists for audio, Auxiliary Input,
Master Fader, and Instrument tracks store data for
volume, pan, mute, and plug-in controls. Automa-
tion playlists for MIDI tracks, however, store only
mute information; continuous controller events,
program changes, and Sysex events are stored in
MIDI clips and therefore reside within edit play-
lists for both MIDI and Instrument tracks (see
Chapter 50, “Automation”).

Playlist selector

New and duplicated playlists are auto-named with

the track name, followed by a Period (.) and the
playlist number. For example, the first duplicated
playlist on a track named “Kick” is auto-named
“Kick.01,” subsequent duplicated playlists are
auto-named “Kick.02,” “Kick.03,” and so on.

Chapter 32: Playlists 691

 Creating a Playlist Assigning a Playlist to Another
Track
You can create new empty playlists for recording
or importing audio and MIDI. This can be useful By default, a playlist is typically available only for
for creating alternate takes of audio or MIDI, or for the track on which it was created. However, if the
constructing alternate arrangements. playlist is no longer in use on its original track or
any other track, it can be reassigned in another
To create a new (empty) playlist: track using the Other Playlists feature. When a
1 Click the track’s Playlist selector and choose playlist is reassigned to another track (assigned on
New. any track), it is unavailable to other tracks includ-
ing the track on which it originated.
2 Type a name for the new playlist and click OK.
An audio playlist’s timebase is saved with the
An empty playlist with the specified name appears playlist. When assigning an unassigned playlist to
in the track. any track, the track assumes the saved timebase of
the playlist.
Press Control+\ (Mac) or Start+\ (Windows)
to create a new playlist for the first selected To assign a track playlist:
track in the session.
 Click the track’s Playlist selector and do one of
Duplicating a Playlist the following:
• Select one of the track’s playlists.
When you edit a track, you can work with a copy of
the track's playlist and keep the original playlist ar- • Select a playlist from a different track by click-
rangement intact. ing the Other Playlists submenu, and selecting a
playlist.
To duplicate a track’s current playlist:
1 Click the track’s Playlist selector and choose
Duplicate from the pop-up menu.

2 Type a name for the new playlist and click OK.

The duplicated playlist appears in the track and the

track’s name is changed to the name of the new
playlist.

Press Command+Control+\ (Mac) or

Control+Start+\ (Windows) to duplicate the
Selecting a playlist from a different track
main playlist for first selected track in the ses-
sion. The selected playlist appears in the track and the
track’s name is updated to that of the selected play-
list.

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Renaming a Playlist To show the next playlist in the main playlist
for tracks that contain the Edit cursor:
You can rename a playlist by renaming the track to
which it is assigned.  Press Shift+Down Arrow.

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.

Both the track and playlist names are updated.

Additional Playlists Indicator
Deleting a Playlist When a track contains only the main playlist, the
Playlist selector is gray. However, when a track con-
You can delete a playlist from a session entirely. tains more than one playlist, the Playlist selector
However, since playlists require minimal disk turns blue.
space, you do not need to delete them to conserve
storage.

To delete one or more playlists from a track:

1 Click the track’s Playlist selector and choose

Delete Unused.

2 Select the unassigned playlists you want to

delete. Shift-click (Windows or Mac), Control-
click (Windows), or Command-click (Mac) to
select multiple playlists.
3 Click OK to delete the selected playlists. This
operation cannot be undone.

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.

Creating new playlists with grouped tracks auto-

When deleting a track from a session, you
matically increments the suffixes of the playlist
have the option of deleting or keeping its
names for each track of the active edit group. This
playlists, so they can be used on other tracks.
lets you revert back to an earlier take by switching
the playlist takes by group.
Show Next and Previous Playlist
Pro Tools lets you quickly and easily cycle through Using this method, you can add new tracks to the
playlists on any track containing the Edit cursor us- existing group and the suffixes for their playlist
ing keyboard shortcuts. names are synchronized with the original tracks.

Chapter 32: Playlists 693

 Empty playlists are created automatically to keep All the playlists will now have the same suffix ap-
the playlist takes synchronized when switching pended to them. (Creating additional playlists in
back to the earliest playlist takes in the group. any of the group tracks will increment all of their
playlists to keep them synchronized.)
To keep your playlist names and performances
synchronized (example workflow): 7 If you want to hear the .01 take on the first
group of tracks, you can switch any playlist in
1 Create new tracks and group them together.
the group back to playlist .01.
For more information on grouping tracks,
All tracks in the group have playlists numbered
see “Grouping Tracks” on page 281.
with .01 suffixes (even those tracks that were
2 Make sure the group is enabled. added to the original group after the earlier takes).
Empty playlists are automatically created on these
3 Create a new playlist (by clicking the Playlist newly-added members so that playlist numbers
selector in one of the tracks in the group and match across all members of the group.
choosing New). The default suffix will now be
“.01”—signifying take 1.
Elastic Audio and Alternate
4 Record take 1, then create a new playlist. The Playlists
playlists on all tracks in the group increment to
Alternate playlists on Elastic Audio-enabled, tick-
“.02.”
based tracks are only affected by tempo changes.
5 Create new tracks (for example, for an addi- Otherwise, alternate playlists are not affected by
tional musician or microphone), then add these editing Warp or Event markers in the main playlist.
tracks to the group (or create a new group with
all the tracks).
6 Increment all the playlists by clicking the Play- Track Compositing
list selector in one of the tracks in the group and Pro Tools provides track compositing tools for au-
choosing New. dio tracks. Track compositing is the process of as-
sembling various selections from alternate takes,
or playlists, to construct the best possible version
of a performance from multiple recording passes.
Using Playlists view for an audio track, you can se-
lect the best parts from the track’s alternate play-
lists and copy them to the main playlist. This lets
you quickly and easily create the “perfect take”
from multiple alternate playlists.

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Track Compositing Example 6 Make sure that Options > Link Timeline and Edit
Selection is selected.
In this workflow, you will be introduced to some
common track compositing tasks: 7 With the Selector tool, select the loop range on
the track.
• Configure a session for this workflow.
• Loop record multiple takes on an audio track. 8 Record enable the audio track by clicking its
Record Enable button.
• Audition and select the best take.
9 Click Record in the Transport to arm Pro Tools
• Copy the best take to the target playlist.
for recording.
To configure a session: 10 Click Play to start recording.
1 Open an existing Pro Tools session or create a
11 When finished, click Stop to stop recording.
new one.
12 If you do not want to make another loop record
2 Choose Setup > Preferences, and click the
pass, record disable the audio track.
Operation tab.
After you have stopped loop recording, notice that
3 On the Operation page, in the Record section,
all of the loop recording takes are revealed in Play-
select the Automatically Create New Playlists
list lanes below the main playlist (including the
When Loop Recording option.
whole audio file clip of all of the loop record
4 Click OK. passes).

To loop record multiple takes:

1 Create a new audio track (stereo or mono), or
use an existing track.
2 Make sure the source you want to record is cor-
rectly connected and routed to the track input.
3 From the Track View selector, select Playlists.
4 To hear track material up to the start point of the
loop, enable pre-roll and set the pre-roll time.
5 Enable Loop Recording by doing one of the fol-
lowing:
• Select Options > Loop Playback.
Playlists view showing multiple alternate playlists
• Right-click the Play button in the Transport and
select Loop. If the Automatically Create New Playlists
When Loop Recording option was disabled
before you started loop recording, Right-
click the clip in the main playlist and choose
Matches > Expand Alternates to New Play-
lists.

Chapter 32: Playlists 695

 To hide the playlist for the whole file clip, do one of To select and copy the best take to the target
the following: playlist:

 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 target 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 > Target
choose Filter Lanes > Show Only Lanes With > Playlist.
Clips Within the Edit Selection.
• Right-click the selection and choose Copy
Selection to Target Playlist.
• Click the Copy Selection to Target Playlist but-
ton for the Playlist lane.

Copy Selection to
Main Playlist button

Filtering Playlist lanes viewed

To audition alternate playlists:

1 Enable Loop Playback by doing one of the fol-

lowing:
• Select Options > Loop Playback.
• Right-click the Play button in the Transport and
select Loop.
2 With the same Timeline selection intact, and the
same pre-roll/post-roll settings enabled, start
playback. The main playlist plays back.
3 Click the Solo button for the alternate playlist
lane you want to audition. Repeat this step for
each playlist lane. (Soloing a Playlist lane only Copying the Edit selection in an alternate playlist to
solos the playlist in the track, it does not mute the target playlist
any other tracks in the session.)
Press Option+Control+V or Op-
tion+Shift+Up Arrow (Mac) or Alt+Start+V
or Alt+Shift+Up Arrow (Windows) to copy
the selection to the target playlist.

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 If the track does not contain any alternate playlists
Playlists View in addition to the main playlist, only a single,
Playlists view lets you view the main playlist in the empty Playlist lane is shown under the main play-
track, and also any alternate playlists associated list. You can drag and drop audio to this lane from
with the track. Alternate playlists are displayed di- the Clips List, Workspace Browsers, or other audio
rectly below the track in Playlist lanes. tracks to create an alternate playlist for the track, in
addition to the main playlist.
You can edit alternate playlists in Playlists view
just like the main playlist in Waveform view. In
Playlists view, edits that are applied to range selec-
tions are applied to all shown alternate playlists.
Alternate playlists that are not shown are not af-
fected.

Before starting work with Track Composit-

ing, duplicate the track’s Main Playlist to Dropping audio from Clips List to create an alternate
playlist
keep it intact as a backup alternate playlist.
If the track contains one or more alternate playlists
Clip groups are not supported in Playlists in addition to the main playlist, they are displayed
Track View. in lanes under the main playlist. Regardless, the
bottom Playlist lane is always empty and can be
To view the Playlist lanes for a track: used for adding clips to create new alternate play-
lists.
 From the Track View selector, select Playlists.

Selecting Playlists Track view

\

You can also Command-Control-click (Mac)

or Control-Alt-click (Windows) the Playlist
selector to toggle between Playlists view and Track with alternate playlists in Playlists Track view
Waveform view.

Chapter 32: Playlists 697

 Auditioning Alternate Playlists Copying and Pasting Edit
Selections to Other Playlists
Only the main playlist plays back through the track
audio output path. To hear an alternate playlist, Once you have found a selection in a playlist that
you need to solo the Playlist lane. The soloed lane you want to use in another playlist (such as the
then plays through the track audio output path in- main playlist), copy and paste the selection to the
stead of the main playlist. target playlist. In this way you can construct the
best combination of selections from alternate play-
To audition an alternate playlist: lists.
1 Click the Solo button for the Playlist lane you
In addition to manually copying and then pasting
want to audition. (Soloing a Playlist lane only
the selection to another playlist, Pro Tools pro-
solos the playlist in the track; it does not mute
vides several commands for copying and pasting
any other tracks in the session.)
the selection to any other playlist:

Copy Selection To Target Playlist Copies and

pastes the selection to the target playlist. Any ma-
terial already on the target playlist at the same lo-
cation is overwritten.

Copy Selection to New Playlist Creates a new,

empty target playlist and copies and pastes the se-
lection to the new target playlist.

Copy Selection to Duplicate Playlist Duplicates

the current target playlist and copies and pastes the
selection to the duplicate of the target playlist. The
Soloing an alternate playlist previous target playlist moves to a new Playlist
lane.
2 Start Pro Tools playback.

Press Shift+S to solo any one Playlist lane

containing the Edit cursor. If more than one
Playlist lane contains the Edit cursor, the
topmost lane is soloed.

Use Control+P and Control+“;” (Mac) or

Start+P and Start+“;” (Windows) to move
the Edit cursor up and down through Playlist
lanes.

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To copy a selection in an alternate playlist to the The selection from the alternate playlist is copied
target playlist: to the same time location in the target playlist.
1 In Playlists view, make a selection in an alter-
nate playlist.

Selection copied to the target playlist

To copy a selection in an alternate playlist to a new

target playlist:
Making a selection in an alternate playlist
1 In Playlists view, make a selection in an alter-
2 Do one of the following: nate playlist.
• Click the Copy Selection To Target Playlist but- 2 Do one of the following:
ton in the Playlist Lane controls. • Choose Edit > Copy Selection To > New Play-
• Choose Edit > Copy Selection to Target Playlist. list.
• Right-click the Edit selection and choose Copy
• Right-click the selection and choose Copy
To > New Playlist.
Selection To Target Playlist.
• Press Control+Shift+Left Arrow (Mac) or
Press Option+Control+V (Mac) or Start+Shift+Left Arrow (Windows).
Alt+Start+V (Windows) to copy the
selection to the target playlist.

Selection copied to a new target playlist

Chapter 32: Playlists 699

 To copy a selection in an alternate playlist to a In addition to manually cutting and then pasting to
duplicate of the target playlist: another playlist, Pro Tools provides several com-
1 In Playlists view, make a selection in an alter- mands for moving the selection to other playlists:
nate playlist.
Move Selection To Target Playlist Cuts and pastes
2 Do one of the following: the selection to the target playlist. Any material al-
• Choose Edit > Copy Selection To > Duplicate ready on the target playlist at the same location is
Playlist. overwritten.
• Right-click the Edit selection and choose Copy
To > Duplicate Playlist. Move Selection to New Playlist Creates a new,
empty target playlist and cuts and pastes the selec-
tion to the new target playlist.

Move Selection to Duplicate Playlist Duplicates

the current target playlist, and cuts and pastes the
selection to the duplicate of the target playlist. The
result being that the previous target playlist moves
to a new Playlist lane and the new target playlist is
empty.

To move a selection in an alternate playlist to the

target playlist:
1 In Playlists view, make a selection in an alter-
nate playlist.

Selection copied to a duplicate of the target playlist

To copy the current edit selection to an existing

playlist:
1 Make an Edit selection.
2 Right-click the Edit selection and choose
Copy To > <playlist>.

Cutting and Pasting Edit

Selections to Other Playlists
Once you have found a selection in any playlist
that you want to use in another playlist, you can
move (cut and paste) the selection to any other Making a selection in an alternate playlist
playlist.

700 Pro Tools Reference Guide

2 Do one of the following:
• Choose Edit > Move Selection To > Target
Playlist.
• Right-click the Edit selection and choose Move
To > Target Playlist.
• Press Option+Control+M (Mac) or
Alt+Start+M (Windows).

The selection from the alternate playlist is moved

to the same time location in the target playlist.

Selection moved to a new playlist

To move a selection in an alternate playlist to a

duplicate of the target playlist:

1 In Playlists view, make a selection in an alter-

nate playlist.
2 Do one of the following:
• Choose Edit > Move Selection To > Duplicate
Selection moved to the target playlist Playlist.
To move a selection in an alternate playlist to a • Right-click the Edit selection and choose Move
new playlist: To > Duplicate Playlist.

1 In Playlists view, make a selection in any play-

list.
2 Do one of the following:
• Choose Edit > Move Selection To > New Play-
list.
• Right-click the Edit selection and choose Move
To > New Playlist.
• Press Control+Shift+N (Mac) or Start+Shift+N
(Windows).

Selection copied to a duplicate of the target playlist

Chapter 32: Playlists 701

 To move the current edit selection to an Reordering Playlist Lanes
existing playlist:
You can reorder Playlist lanes the same way you
1 Make an Edit selection.
reorder tracks.
2 Right-click the Edit selection and choose
Move To > <playlist>. To reorder Playlist lanes:

 Click the name of the alternate playlist and drag

Dragging Clips to Playlists it to the location you want.
Lanes
You can drag and drop clips to any available Play-
list lane on any track that has the same channel
width. For example, you cannot drag and drop a
stereo clip to a mono track Playlist lane. Similarly,
you can drag clips from any Playlist lane to any
other track of the same channel width.

Editing in Playlist Lanes

You can edit clips in Playlist lanes in the same way
that you do in the main playlist. You can even
Reordering Playlist lanes
move clips between different Playlist lanes (in-
cluding the main playlist), between different Resizing Playlist Lanes
tracks, and to different points in time. However,
you will not be able to hear your edits on Playlist You can resize Playlist lanes the same way you re-
lanes unless the lane you are editing is soloed (see size tracks.
“Auditioning Alternate Playlists” on page 698).
To resize the track and all Playlist lanes together,
do one of the following:

 Click the line in between lanes and drag up or

down. The track and all Playlist lanes resize ac-
cordingly.
 Right-click the vertical scale between the play-
list area and the Playlist Lane controls and se-
lect the lane size you want. The track and all
Playlist lanes resize accordingly.

Press Control+Up/Down Arrow key (Mac) or

Start+Up/Down Arrow key (Windows) to
resize heights for tracks, playlists, and lanes
containing the Edit cursor or Edit selection.

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To resize a single Playlist lane, do one of the Renaming Alternate Playlists
following:
You can rename alternate playlists the same way
 Control-click the line in between lanes and drag
you rename tracks.
up or down. The upper lane resizes accordingly.
To rename an alternate playlist:
1 Double-click the name of the alternate playlist.
2 In the resulting Name dialog, type the name you
want.
3 Click OK.

Alternate Playlists in the Tracks

List
When an audio track is set to Playlists view, all of
its associated playlists appear listed under the track
Resizing a Playlist lane name in the Tracks List. The names of associated
alternate playlists are indented to distinguish Play-
 Control-Right-click the vertical scale between
list lanes from tracks. From the Tracks List you can
the playlist area and the Playlist Lane controls
show and hide alternate playlists. You can also ac-
and select the lane size you want.
cess the Right-click menu for alternate playlists,
which lets you apply Show or Hide, Scroll Into
View, Rename, Delete, and Filter Lanes com-
mands.

Selecting a preset size for a Playlist lane Tracks List showing Playlist lanes for “Audio 1” track

Chapter 32: Playlists 703

 Filtering Lanes
Matching Alternate Clips
You can filter Playlist lanes to show or hide them
based on different criteria. Pro Tools lets you exchange clips in the main play-
list on tracks with matching alternate clips from
To filter Playlist lanes: other playlists associated with the same track, from
other tracks, or from the Clips List. Matching alter-
1 Right-click the Track Name or the Playlist
nate clips are clips that meet certain criteria. For
Name.
example, clips that have the same User Time Stamp
2 From the Right-click menu, select one of the are matches.
following:
There are several ways to create matching alternate
• Show All Lanes clips in Pro Tools:
• Show Only Lanes With > Clips Within The Edit • When punch recording (audio or MIDI),
Selection Pro Tools creates matching clips for the original
• Show Only Lanes With > Clips Outside The Edit clip (if any) and the new punch recorded clip.
Selection • When loop recording (audio or MIDI),
• Show Only Lanes With > “Clips Rated >= 1–5” Pro Tools creates multiple matching clips for
• Hide All Lanes each recording pass.

• 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.

704 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Matching Criteria 3 Select one of the following In Addition To
options:
The Matching Criteria window lets you select the
• All
criteria for matching alternate clips. This lets you
refine the list of available matching clips in the Al- • Clip Start
ternate Takes pop-up menu and Clip Right-click • Clip Start and End
Matches submenu. • Within Selection
• None

4 Leave the Matching Criteria window open to

change the settings as appropriate while com-
positing tracks. Close the Matching Criteria
window when you are done.

Matching Criteria settings are saved with

your Pro Tools session.

Matching Criteria Options

Matching Criteria window

Alternates Match Options
The following Alternates Match options can be se-
Matching Criteria affects MIDI as well as au- lected in any combination:
dio clips.
Track ID Any clips recorded to the same track are
To configure the Matching Criteria options for considered matching. Use this option for selecting
matching alternate clips: alternate takes from loop or punch recording.
1 Do one of the following: Track Name Any clips that share the same root
• Right-click the clip with the Selector or the name with the track or playlist are considered
Grabber tool and select Matches > Match matching. For example, the Matches for a track
Criteria. named “Gtr.L” would show the clips “Gtr.L_01”
and “Gtr.L_02-01,” but not “Guitar.L_01.”
• With the Selector tool, Command-click (Mac) or
Control-click (Windows) at the precise begin- Clip Rating Any clips that have the same Rating
ning of the loop or punch range and select Match are considered matching. Enable this option if you
Criteria. have rated clips (see “Rating Clips” on page 667).
2 In the Matching Criteria window, select any
combination of the following Alternates Match
options:
• Track ID
• Track Name
• Clip Rating

Chapter 32: Playlists 705

 In Addition To Match Options To select an alternate take:

The following In Addition To Match options are 1 Configure the Matching Criteria window if nec-
mutually exclusive. essary (see “Matching Criteria” on page 705).
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.

Within Selection Any complete clips that are en-

tirely within the Edit selection.

None No other criteria in addition to the selected

Alternates Match options are used to filter match-
ing alternate clips.

Selecting Alternate Takes on

Tracks
Right-click Matches submenu
Each clip resulting from a punch or loop record
pass has an identical start time (the User Time • If the take currently residing in the track is se-
Stamp). You can select and audition alternate takes lected, with the Selector tool, Command-click
from the Right-click Matches submenu or the Al- (Mac) or Control-click (Windows) anywhere on
ternate Takes pop-up menu—even during play- the selected take and select a different take from
back. the Alternate Takes pop-up menu.
• With the Selector tool, Command-click (Mac) or
Control-click (Windows) at the precise begin-
ning of the loop or punch range and select a dif-
ferent take from the Alternate Takes pop-up
menu.

To cycle through matches for the selected clip,

press Command+Option+Up/Down Arrows
(Mac) or Control+Alt+Up/Down Arrows
(Windows).

706 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 3 Do one of the following:
• Right-click the Edit selection and select a differ-
ent matching alternate take from the Matches
submenu.
• Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win-
dows) the Edit selection and select a different
take from the Alternates pop-up menu.

The selected take replaces the previous take and

snaps to the correct location on each track.
Alternate Takes pop-up menu

The selected matching alternate clip (take) re-

places the clip in the main playlist and snaps pre- Automatically Create New
cisely to the correct location. Playlists when Loop
One way to ensure that subsequent recording takes
Recording
have the same User Time Stamp (and as such can When loop recording, Pro Tools creates a single
be available as matching alternate clips) is to store file containing all recording passes where each re-
punch and loop record selections as Memory Loca- cording pass is a clip in the file. On the track, only
tions. Then, if you later need to record additional the last recording pass is present as a clip in the
takes, recall the corresponding Memory Location. main playlist. All other clips (recording passes) are
hidden, but can be recalled as matching alternate
To change the User Time Stamp of other clips so
clips (takes).
that they can be available as alternate matching
clips for a specific location, use the Time Stamp When enabled, the new Automatically Create New
command in the Clips List menu. Playlists When Loop Recording option in the Oper-
ation Preferences page automatically copies each
Matches and Multiple Tracks clip (take) to a new playlist in the track. This facil-
itates using Playlists view for auditioning and se-
If you have loop recorded on multiple tracks, and lecting alternate takes.
each track contains multiple takes with identical
User Time Stamps, you can change all takes simul- To automatically create new playlists when loop
taneously. recording:

1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click the

To switch takes for multiple tracks:
Operation tab.
1 Configure the Matching Criteria window (see
2 In the Recording section, enable the Automati-
“Matching Criteria” on page 705), so that the
cally Create New Playlists When Loop Record-
following options are enabled:
ing option.
• Track Name
3 Click OK.
• Selection Range
2 With the Selector tool, select the take range for For more information on loop recording, see
each track you want to replace. “Loop Recording Audio” on page 532.

Chapter 32: Playlists 707

 Expanding Alternate Takes to
Expanding Alternate Takes New Tracks
to New Playlists or Tracks
Expanding alternate takes to new tracks readily fa-
Pro Tools lets you copy alternate takes and chan- cilitates auditioning, editing, and mixing alternate
nels to new playlists or tracks. This is useful for au- takes, each on separate tracks.
ditioning, editing, and mixing multiple alternate
takes or channels. Alternate takes are created when To expand alternate takes to new tracks:
punch and loop recording. Alternate channels are
1 Identify the clip on the main playlist with
included with files imported into Pro Tools from
matching alternate clips (takes).
field recorders.
2 Do one of the following:
Expanding Alternate Takes to • Right-click the clip and choose Matches >
New Playlists Expand Alternates To New Tracks.

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.

708 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 With multichannel recordings from one or more
Expanding Alternate field recorders, both channels must overlap at least
Channels to New Playlists or once between their start timecode and end time-
Tracks code positions, and must also meet one of the fol-
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only) lowing conditions:
When working with a mono clip that is part of a • Matching Scene and Take
multichannel recording imported from a field re- • Matching Shoot Date (applies only if Scene and
corder, you can expand that clip (or a selected por- Take contain any information for both channels)
tion of it) to new playlists that reflect its matching
• Matching Tape name
alternate channels while preserving any edits or
fades (see Chapter 59, “Working with Field Re- • Matching Sound Roll name
corders in Pro Tools”). • Alternate channel Sound Roll name matches
current channel Tape name
Conditions for Alternate • Alternate channel Tape name matches
Channel Availability current channel Sound Roll name
An alternate channel is available to replace the
original channel (represented by the clip or portion Expanding Channels to New
of a clip selected on the Timeline) if all of the fol- Playlists
lowing are true:
To expand alternate channels to new playlists:
• Both channels are part of a multichannel record-
1 In the Timeline, do one of the following:
ing made simultaneously on one or more field
recorders. • To expand only a portion of the clips on the
track, make a selection that includes or overlaps
• Certain metadata matches between the original
any number of clips on a track, and Right-click
channel and the alternate channel.
(Windows or Mac) or Control-click (Mac) the
• The metadata embedded during shooting and re- selection.
cording has been preserved prior to import into
Pro Tools. • To expand all of the clips on the track, Right-
click (Windows or Mac) or Control-click (Mac)
the track name.
2 Choose the Expand to New Playlists pop-up
menu, and select one of the following methods
by which to expand alternate channels for the
selection to new tracks:
• By Channel Name
• By Channel Number
• By Channel Name and Number
• By Timecode Only

Chapter 32: Playlists 709

 If alternate channels are available, Pro Tools ex- Expanding Channels by
pands them to new playlists (including the channel Timecode Only
represented in the original track) according to the
The Expand To New Tracks By Timecode Only
selected option.
command lets you expand an entire track or only
selected clips to new playlists on the same track or
Expanding Channels to New to new separate tracks, thus revealing all other
Tracks clips recorded at the same timecode location, re-
gardless of channel name or number. This is espe-
To expand alternate channels to new tracks:
cially useful when expanding edited guide tracks
1 In the Timeline, do one of the following: to original source audio that was recorded while
• To expand only a portion of the clips on the referenced to timecode, but where channel names
track, make a selection that includes or overlaps or numbers were not written to the audio files.
any number of clips on a track, and Right-click
(Windows or Mac) or Control-click (Mac) the Example Workflow: Working with a Guide Track for
Live Concert Videos
selection.
1 Multitrack audio is recorded in Pro Tools while
• To expand all of the clips on the track, Right-
chasing timecode. A mono or stereo mix is re-
click (Windows or Mac) or Control-click (Mac)
corded simultaneously as a guide track for the
the track name.
video editor.
2 Choose the Expand Channels to New Tracks
2 The picture and audio guide tracks are edited in
pop-up menu, and select one of the following
a video editing application.
methods by which to expand alternate channels
for the selection to new tracks: 3 The edited audio guide tracks are exported from
• By Channel Name the video editor as an AAF (or OMF) sequence,
including handles of at least 2 frames.
• By Channel Number
4 The AAF (or OMF) sequence is imported into
• By Channel Name and Number
Pro Tools as a new session. The original source
• By Timecode Only audio files and unedited guide track are also im-
ported into the session.
If alternate channels are available, Pro Tools ex-
pands them to new tracks (including the channel 5 The original unedited guide track is relinked to
represented in the original track) according to the the session (see “Relinking the Original Uned-
chosen parameters. ited Guide Track” on page 711).

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.

710 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Relinking the Original Unedited Guide Track
Target Playlist
After importing the AAF (or OMF) sequence and
original source audio files into the session, it is rec- Pro Tools lets you designate any playlist on a track
ommended that you relink the edited guide track to as the Target playlist. You can then use key com-
the original unedited source audio. mands to do the following when compositing—or
“comping”—multiple takes of a performance:
To relink the original unedited guide track: • Quickly cycle through and audition Edit selec-
1 In the Workspace browser, locate the session tions for clips in other playlists, whether in
and open the Audio Files folder. Waveform or Playlist view.

2 Right-click the edited guide track audio file in • Copy or move an Edit selection to the Target
the browser and choose Relink Selected. playlist from Waveform view without having to
switch to Playlist view.
3 In the upper pane of the Relink window, navi-
• Composite Grouped tracks.
gate to the original unedited guide track audio
file that was recorded in Pro Tools. The Main playlist is the Target playlist by de-
fault.
If the original unedited file is not available,
you can relink to any of the source audio files
as long as they have the same start and end Designating the Target Playlist
times as the guide track. The designated Target playlist is the destination
for all edits whether you are editing in Playlist
4 In the Select Files To Relink pane, select the ed-
view or Waveform view. Editing to Target play-
ited guide track file.
lists in Waveform view is especially useful when
5 Drag the original unedited guide track audio file editing grouped tracks.
into the Candidates pane. If a dialog appears
stating that one or more files are shorter than the To designate any playlist as the Target playlist
from any track view:
media file you are trying to relink, click Yes to
select it for relinking anyway. 1 Click the Playlist selector.

6 Check the box to the left of the file in the Can- 2 Select Target Playlist > Main Playlist or <playlist
didates pane so that the Link icon appears. name> for any other available playlist.

7 Click Commit Links at the top of the Relink win-

dow and then close the Relink window.
8 You can now Right-click the name of the guide
track and select Expand To New Tracks >
By Timecode Only. All expanded tracks should
be synchronous with the guide track.

Chapter 32: Playlists 711

 To designate any playlist as the Target playlist
from Playlists view:

1 Select Playlists view for the track you want to

work with.
2 Click the Target button for the Playlist you want
to designate as the target. The button turns blue.

Click the Target button again to make the

Main playlist the Target playlist.

Designating the Target Playlist for a stereo audio track

In Playlist view, the Target button for the targeted

playlist turns blue. If the Target playlist is dis-
played as the main playlist, the Playlist selector is
blue. If the Target playlist is not displayed as the
main playlist, the Playlist selector is orange.

Active Edit Groups are observed and kept in

sync on the Timeline. For example, if 10
tracks are grouped and a Target playlist is
Designating an alternate playlist in Playlists view
defined on one of those tracks, the playlists on (Playlist selector is orange to indicate that the playlist
the other 9 tracks that correspond to that displayed as the Main playlist is not the target)
playlist are also designated as the Target
To designate the playlist currently displayed as the
playlist for their respective track. Main playlist as the Target playlist using key
commands:

If a Clip Group spans multiple tracks, the 1 Place the Edit cursor in the playlist you want to
Clip Group is broken if the any of the tracks target.
in the Clip Group are not also Edit grouped
2 Press Command+Shift+Right Arrow (Mac) or
when switching to Playlists view.
Control+Shift+Right Arrow (Windows).

Designating alternate playlists as the Target

playlist using keyboard shortcuts is not cur-
rently supported.

712 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Working with Target Playlists To target the same playlist in all tracks:

After you have designated Target playlists for 1 In Playlists view, Option-click (Mac) or Alt-
tracks you can work quickly when comping from click (Windows) the Target button for the play-
different playlists using key commands. Key mod- list you want to target.
ifiers can also be used to target the same playlist in 2 Hold Option (Mac) or Alt (Windows), click on
all tracks of the same type or in all selected tracks the Playlist Selector menu, then click the Target
of the same type (audio, MIDI, Instrument, or Playlist sub-menu and click on the playlist you
Video). want to target.

To show the Target playlist as the Main Playlist: To target the same playlist in all selected tracks:
 Press Shift+Right Arrow. 1 In Playlists view, Option-Shift-click (Mac) or
Alt-Shift-click (Windows) the Target button for
To toggle between the two most recently viewed the playlist you want to target.
Main playlists:
2 Hold Option-Shift (Mac) or Alt-Shift (Win-
 Press Shift+Left Arrow.
dows), click on the Playlist Selector menu, then
To copy the current Edit selection to the Target
click the Target Playlist sub-menu and click on
playlist, do one of the following: the playlist you want to target.

 Choose Edit > Copy To > Target Playlist. To focus the first playlist:
 Right-click and choose Copy To > Target Play-  Press Shift+Home (full-sized keyboard).
list.
 Press fn+Shift+Left arrow (laptop).
 Press Option+Shift+Up Arrow (Mac) or
Alt+Shift+Up Arrow (Windows). To focus the last playlist:

 Press Control+Option+V (Mac) or Start+Alt+V  Press Shift+End (full-sized keyboard).

(Windows).
 Press fn+Shift+Right arrow (laptop).
To move the current Edit selection to the Target
To move ahead five playlists:
playlist, do one of the following:
 Press Shift+Page Down (full-sized keyboard).
 Choose Edit > Move To > Target Playlist.
 Press fn+Shift+Down arrow (laptop).
 Right-click and choose Move To > Target Play-
list.
To move back five playlists:
 Press Option+Shift+T (Mac) or Alt+Shift+T  Press Shift+Page Up (full-sized keyboard).
(Windows).
 Press fn+Shift+Up arrow (laptop).
This key combination replaces Option+Shift+
M (Mac) or Alt+Shift+M (Windows) in exe-
cuting the Move to Main Playlist command in
earlier versions of Pro Tools.

Chapter 32: Playlists 713

 Cycling Audio Within a Selection
To cycle in audio in the Edit selection from the previous playlist:

 Press Command+Shift+Up Arrow (Mac) or Control+Shift+Up Arrow (Windows).

To cycle in audio in the Edit selection from the next playlist:

 Press Command+Shift+Down Arrow (Mac) or Control+Shift+Down Arrow (Windows).

Home icon indicating that the audio selection cycled through all alternate playlists to its original playlist

When cycling through playlists, when you return to the starting playlist a “home” icon appears, no clip
edits are made, and any previous clip separation edits are healed.

714 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Visual Indicators when Working in Waveform View
The following indicators provide visual feedback when working with Targeted Playlists in Waveform
view.
• Immediately following the execution of either the Copy To Target Playlist or the Move To Target Playlist
commands, a green check-mark icon, a light blue overlay the size of the selection, and the name of cur-
rent Target playlist are briefly displayed in the center of the selection.

Green checkmark over clip promoted to the Target playlist

• If you designate the playlist in the Main playlist view as the Target playlist (using either the keyboard
shortcut or the menu command), a blue target icon and light blue overlay the size of the Main playlist are
briefly displayed.

Blue target indicating that the Main playlist is the Target playlist

Chapter 32: Playlists 715

 • If you disable the Main playlist as the Target playlist (using either the keyboard shortcut or the menu
command), a gray target icon and a light blue overlay the size of the Main playlist are briefly displayed.

Gray target indicating that the Main playlist is no longer the Target playlist

Table 1. If you send a selection to the Target playlist from the Target playlist, a red “not allowed” icon is briefly
displayed at the center of the selection.

“Not allowed” icon indicating a disallowed action

716 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Track Compositing Keyboard Shortcuts
Pro Tools provides a powerful combination of keyboard shortcuts to streamline track comping workflows.
Table 2. Keyboard Shortcuts for Track Comping tasks
Action Mac Windows

Solo the Playlist lane containing the Edit Shift+S Shift+S

cursor

Move the Edit cursor up and down through Control+P and Control+ Start+P and Start+
Playlist lanes Semicolon (;) Semicolon (;)

Show the previous or next playlist in the Shift+Up Arrow/Shift+Down Shift+Up Arrow/Shift+Down
main playlist for tracks that contain the Edit Arrow Arrow
cursor

To designate the Target playlist for the Command+Shift+Right Arrow Control+Shift+Right Arrow
playlist containing the Edit insertion

To designate the Target playlist for the Command+Option+Shift+ Control+Alt+Shift+Right Arrow

playlist containing the Edit insertion for all Right Arrow
tracks

To show the Target playlist as the Main Shift+Right Arrow Shift+Right Arrow
Playlist

To toggle between the current and most Shift+Left Arrow Shift+Left Arrow
recent Main playlists

Copy the selection to the Target playlist Option+Shift+Up Arrow or Alt+Shift+Up Arrow or
Option+Control+V Alt+Start+V

Move the selection to the Target playlist Option+Shift+T Alt+Shift+T

Copy the selection to a new playlist Option+Shift+Down Arrow Alt+Shift+Down Arrow

Move the selection to a new playlist Option+Shift+N Alt+Shift+N

To cycle in material in the Edit selection Command+Shift+Up Arrow Control+Shift+Up Arrow

from the previous playlist

To cycle in material in the Edit selection Command+Shift+Down Arrow Control+Shift+Down Arrow

from the next playlist

Create a new playlist for the first selected Control+\ Start+\

track in the session

Create a new playlist for each track in the Control+Option+\ Start+Alt+\

session

Create a new playlist for each selected Control+Option+Shift+\ Start+Alt+Shift+\

track in the session

Chapter 32: Playlists 717

 Table 2. Keyboard Shortcuts for Track Comping tasks
Action Mac Windows

Duplicate the main playlist for the first Command+Control+\ Control+Start+\

selected track in the session

Duplicate the main playlist for each track in Command+Option+Control+\ Control+Alt+Start+\

the session

Duplicate the main playlist for Command+Option+ Control+Alt+Start+Shift+\

each selected track in the session Control+Shift+\

Focus the first playlist Shift+Home (full-sized key- Shift+Home (full-sized key-
(with Edit selection in the Main playlist) board) board)
fn+Shift+Left Arrow (laptop) fn+Shift+Left Arrow (laptop)

Focus the last playlist Shift+End (full-sized keyboard) Shift+End (full-sized keyboard)
(with Edit selection in the Main playlist) fn+Shift+Right Arrow (laptop) fn+Shift+Right Arrow (laptop)

Move ahead five playlists Shift+Page Down (full-sized Shift+Page Down (full-sized
(with Edit selection in the Main playlist) keyboard) keyboard)
fn+Shift+Down Arrow (laptop) fn+Shift+Down Arrow (laptop)

Move back five playlists Shift+Page Up (full-sized key- Shift+Page Up (full-sized key-
(with Edit selection in the Main playlist) board) board)
fn+Shift+Up Arrow (laptop) fn+Shift+Up Arrow (laptop)

Target the same playlist in all audio tracks Shift-click the Target button for Shift-click the Target button for
the playlist you want to target the playlist you want to target

To target the same playlist in all tracks of Shift-click the playlist you want Shift-click the playlist you want
the same type (audio, MIDI, Instrument, or to target in the Playlist selector to target in the Playlist selector
Video) menu menu

Target the same playlist in all selected In Playlists view, Option-Shift- In Playlists view, Alt-Shift-click
audio tracks click the Target button for the the Target button for the play-
playlist you want to target list you want to target

Target the same playlist in all selected Option-Shift-click the playlist Alt-Shift-click the playlist you
tracks of the same type (audio, MIDI, you want to target in the Play- want to target in the Playlist
Instrument, or Video) list selector menu selector menu

718 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Chapter 33: Beat Detective

Beat Detective is a powerful tool for analyzing, ed-

iting, and manipulating audio or MIDI data that Beat Detective and Source
has an inherent rhythmic character. Material
Beat Detective is most effective with audio or
Beat Detective analyzes an audio or MIDI selec-
MIDI that has clear attack transients or accent pat-
tion, identifies its peak transients or accented
terns (including most instruments used in popular
notes, and generates beat triggers based on the de-
music, such as drums, guitar, or bass). Beat Detec-
tected peak transients or MIDI notes. From these
tive will be less successful with audio material
beat triggers, Beat Detective can:
with soft attacks, or legato phrasing (such as
• Extract tempo and beat information to create strings and vocals).
Bar|Beat Markers that can be used to define the
session’s tempo map. See “Generating Bar|Beat
Markers with Beat Detective” on page 730.
Uses for Beat Detective
• Extract tempo and groove information as groove
templates, called DigiGrooves. These templates Beat Detective can be useful in many situations,
can be applied to audio or MIDI using Beat De- including:
tective or Groove Quantize (see “DigiGroove Extracting Tempo from Audio and MIDI Beat De-
Templates” on page 731. tective can generate Bar|Beat Markers, from which
• Separate an audio selection into discrete clips, it can extract the tempo—even if the audio or
and then conform (or “quantize”) separated clips MIDI contains varying tempos, or material with a
to the session’s tempo map, or to groove tem- swing feel. Additionally, once Bar|Beat Markers
plates. See “Separating Clips with have been generated, other audio and MIDI clips
Beat Detective” on page 733 and “Conforming and events can be quantized to them.
Clips with Beat Detective” on page 734.
Creating DigiGrooves Beat Detective can extract
groove templates, called DigiGrooves, from an au-
dio or MIDI selection. DigiGrooves can be used to
apply the groove, or feel of the captured passage to
other audio selections (using Groove Conform) or
MIDI data (using Groove Quantize).

Conforming Audio Clips Beat Detective can con-

form (“quantize”) audio with a different tempo, or
with varying tempos, to the session’s current
tempo map, or to a groove template.

Chapter 33: Beat Detective 719

 “Tightening Up” Performances Beat Detective
can be used to improve the timing of some audio Beat Detective Requirements
material by calculating and extracting its average Beat Detective is available with all Pro Tools
tempo, and then conforming its rhythmic compo- systems.
nents—clips separated with Beat Detective—to
the session’s tempo map. RAM Requirements for Beat Detective
Loop Matching Since Beat Detective can extract Beat Detective operations can require a large
tempo and beat information from audio and MIDI, amount of RAM, especially when working with
and conform audio to an existing tempo map or multiple tracks and lengthy selections. To avoid
groove template, this makes it very useful for low memory situations with Beat Detective, do the
aligning loops with different tempos or grooves. If following:
a loop is at a different tempo than the current ses-
• If you begin to experience slower Beat Detective
sion, Beat Detective lets you quickly separate each
response, add more RAM to your computer.
beat in the loop and conform them to the tempo
map (as an alternative to time compressing or ex- • If your computer does not have extra RAM,
panding the loop, which can alter the pitch and work with shorter selections, or individual
tone of the audio). tracks.
• Set the Editing preference for Levels of Undo to
Remixes Beat Detective can be used for remixes
a smaller value (see “Levels of Undo and Mem-
or creating new rhythms. It can extract tempo from
ory” on page 594). Memory-intensive editing
the original drum tracks, or in some instances the
operations, such as Edit Smoothing (audio only)
original stereo mix. New audio or MIDI tracks can
with Beat Detective, can use up a large amount
then be conformed to the original material, or the
of memory when in the Undo queue.
original material can be conformed to new drum
tracks, achieving an entirely new feel.

When working with tick-based audio, use

Beat Detective’s Clip Separation command to
quickly separate audio clips into individual
“hits” (or slices). You can also create a clip
group of the separated clips to facilitate
editing and arranging.

Smoothing Post Production Edits (Audio

Only) Beat Detective’s Edit Smoothing can be
used to automatically clean up Foley tracks that
contain many clips requiring trimming and cross-
fading, effectively removing the gaps of silence
between the clips (thus retaining the room tone
throughout the track).

720 Pro Tools Reference Guide

The Beat Detective Window
Beat Detective is managed from the Beat Detective window.

Beat Detective window

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.

Edit Smoothing (Audio Only) Fills the gaps be-

tween conformed clips by automatically trimming
them, and inserts crossfades.

Chapter 33: Beat Detective 721

 Make sure the selection’s start and end points fall
Defining a Beat Detective cleanly on the beat. To zero in on an audio clip’s
Selection start and end points, zoom to the sample level and
Whether you will be generating Bar|Beat Markers, use the Tab to Transients option (see “Tabbing to
extracting a DigiGroove template, or separating Transients” on page 641).
clips to be conformed, you must always define the
To avoid losing an existing selection, save
audio or MIDI selection to be analyzed. The Beat
and recall an Edit selection by saving it as a
Detective window provides tools to define and
Memory Location. See Chapter 39, “Memory
capture the selection range, time signature, and
Locations.”
swing (sub-division) content for the selected au-
dio. 2 Choose Event > Beat Detective.
To ensure the best possible results with Beat 3 You must define or capture the selection every
Detective, make sure the selected passage time you make a new selection or change the
starts exactly on the attack of the first beat. tempo map. To define the selection range, do
one of the following:
For Beat Detective to generate beat triggers that
• If the tempo and meter of the audio selection do
are metrically accurate, the length and meter of the
not match the session’s default tempo and meter,
selection must be correctly defined. In addition,
enter the Time Signature, and Start Bar|Beat and
the selection should not contain any meter or
End Bar|Beat locations. For a four-bar selection
tempo changes.
that starts on beat 1, enter 1|1 and 5|1.
Use Loop playback to check the accuracy of • If the tempo and meter of the audio selection do
your selection. not match the session’s default tempo and meter,
and you are unsure of the length of the material,
To define a selection for Beat Detective:
enter the Time Signature and the Start Bar|Beat
1 In the Edit window, select a range of audio or location; then start playback, and click the Tap
MIDI material in a single track or in multiple End B|B button repeatedly to automatically cal-
tracks. culate the End Bar|Beat. When using Tap End
B|B with long selections, continue to tap until
To keep the Edit selection intact while play-
the End Bar|Beat stabilizes. Once stabilized, you
ing or looping from any location, deselect
may need to manually adjust the number to the
Options > Link Timeline and Edit Selection.
nearest bar boundary.

Making an audio selection for Beat Detective

722 Pro Tools Reference Guide

• If the selection’s tempo and meter match the ses-
sion tempo and meter (see “Calculating Tempo Beat Detective Analysis
with Beat Detective” on page 724), and it aligns Beat Detective provides several analysis algo-
correctly with the session’s bars and beats, click rithms for beat detection appropriate to different
the Capture Selection button. The correct Time types of audio material.
Signature, and Start Bar|Beat and End Bar|Beat
values will be filled in automatically. High Emphasis Works well with high frequency,
inharmonic material, such as cymbals and hi-hats,
while avoiding low frequency material.

Low Emphasis Works well with low frequency

material, such as bass guitar and kick drum, as well
as with most harmonic material, such as piano or
rhythm guitar.

Enhanced Resolution Works well with the broad-

Beat Detective, Selection options est range of material, such as full mixes and loops.

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 740.

Chapter 33: Beat Detective 723

 Calculating Tempo with Beat Generating Beat Triggers
Detective
Once you have accurately defined the selection
If you know the meter, and start and end points of range, Beat Detective can generate beat triggers
the audio selection, use Beat Detective to calculate based on detected MIDI notes or audio peak tran-
its tempo. sients. The range and type of transients found can
be adjusted with the Detection settings, allowing
To calculate a selection’s tempo with Beat you to zero in on the bars, beats, and sub-beats in
Detective: the material, while avoiding the non-rhythmic con-
1 Make an Edit selection in the Edit window or a tent.
MIDI Editor window (MIDI only) and define
the selection in the Beat Detective window as To generate beat triggers from an audio selection:
described in “Defining a Beat Detective Selec- 1 In the Edit window, make an audio selection.
tion” on page 722.
2 Select Audio from the Operation pop-up menu.
2 Select Bar|Beat Marker Generation.
3 In the Beat Detective window, select one of the
3 In the Detection section (Normal mode), click following modes:
Analyze.
• Bar|Beat Marker Generation
4 Set Sensitivity set to 0%. • Groove Template Extraction
• Clip Separation (audio only)
4 Define or capture the selection as described in
“Defining a Beat Detective Selection” on
page 722.
5 From the Analysis pop-up menu, choose a
detection algorithm.
Beat Detective, Detection mode
6 Click Analyze.
5 Click Generate. 7 Depending on the rhythmic content of the selec-
Bar|Beat Markers are automatically generated at tion, set the Resolution to Bars, Beats, or Sub-
the beginning and end of the selection, indicating Beats.
the material’s tempo and meter. 8 Adjust the Sensitivity until beat triggers appear
on the beats and sub-beats in the selection.

Beat Detective generated Bar|Beat Markers

identifying tempo and meter

724 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Bar triggers are indicated with thick lines, beat To generate beat triggers from a MIDI selection:
triggers with medium lines, and sub-beat triggers 1 In the Edit window, set the MIDI track you want
with thin lines. to use to Notes view.
2 In the Edit window, or in a MIDI Editor win-
dow, make a selection across a range of MIDI
notes. Make certain that the selection start and
end points are at musically relevant locations,
such as barlines.
Beat Sub-Beat Bar 3 Choose Event > Beat Detective.
Beat triggers
4 Select MIDI from the Operation pop-up menu.
9 You can zoom to the sample level and click the
5 In the Beat Detective window, select one of the
Scroll Next button to scroll to the next trigger
following modes:
within the selection. To scroll to the previous
trigger, Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Win- • Bar|Beat Marker Generation
dows) the Scroll Next button (see “Navigating • Groove Template Extraction
Consecutive Beat Triggers” on page 729). This
is useful to confirm that the beat triggers are ap- 6 Define the selection range. If the tempo and me-
pearing in the appropriate locations. If false ter of the audio selection do not match the ses-
triggers appear between the beats or sub-beats sion’s default tempo and meter, enter the Time
(representing non-rhythmic material), delete Signature, and Start Bar|Beat and End Bar|Beat
them (see “Deleting Beat Triggers” on locations. For example, for a four-bar selection
page 728), or reduce the Sensitivity value. that starts on beat 1, enter 1|1 and 5|1.

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.

Chapter 33: Beat Detective 725

 MIDI Chord Recognition Realign Session
Since MIDI notes in a chord may be played at Beat Detective’s Realign Session function lets you
slightly different moments, Beat Detective inter- generate Bar|Beat markers without tick-based ma-
prets notes that are close together (closer than half terial shifting. This is useful if you want to extrap-
the time value that is set in the Selection Contains olate Bar|Beat markers from tick-based material to
field) as a chord. align the tempo map and Bar|Beat grid to the tick-
based material.
Highest Note
You can also switch tick-based material, such
as a MIDI performance, to be sample-based
First and then manually insert Bar|Beat markers.
Note Last
Note Generating Bar|Beat markers in sessions with tick-
based material, such as MIDI tracks and tick-based
Lowest Note audio tracks, can cause the tick-based material to
MIDI chord analysis shift in absolute time. This can be useful if you
want to align the tick-based material to Bar|Beat
Beat Detective uses the criteria you set in the Anal-
markers generated from sample-based material.
ysis pop-up menu to interpret the location of the
beat in relation to the chord. When you generate Bar|Beat Markers in a session
that contains tick-based audio or MIDI, Beat De-
Last Note Sets the beat trigger to the start of the
tective gives you the option to preserve the posi-
last note played in the chord.
tion of the session’s tick-based material, or to al-
First Note Sets the beat trigger to the start of the low the material to shift.
first note played in the chord.

Loudest Note Sets the beat trigger to the start of

the note in the chord played with the highest veloc-
ity.

Average Location Sets the beat trigger to a point

that represents the average between the start of the
first note played in the chord, and the last note
played in the chord.
Realign Session dialog
Highest Note Sets the beat trigger to the start of the
highest note played in the chord.

Lowest Note Sets the beat trigger to the start of the

lowest note played in the chord.

726 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To generate Bar|Beat Markers with Beat Detective Tips for Getting Useful Beat
in a session with tick-based tracks: Triggers
1 In the Edit window, make an audio or MIDI
Use the following tips to verify beat triggers:
selection.
 To focus on a particular area in the selection,
2 In the Beat Detective window, select Bar|Beat
unlink the Timeline and Edit Selections and set the
Marker Generation.
playback range by clicking or dragging in any
3 Define or capture the selection as described Timebase ruler.
in“Defining a Beat Detective Selection” on
 Check the thickness of the beat triggers to see if
page 722.
they align properly with the audio material. Thick
4 Set the Resolution to Bars or Beats. triggers fall on barlines, medium triggers fall on
beats, and thin triggers fall on sub-beats.
5 Click Generate.
 Select the option for Show Trigger Time and see
6 Do one of the following:
if the (assumed) metric locations of the triggers
• In the Realign Session dialog, choose align with the material. A false trigger should be
Preserve Tick Position if you want to let the tick- moved or deleted because it can cause subsequent
based material shift in absolute time. triggers to appear in the wrong locations (see “Ed-
• Choose Preserve Sample Position if you want to iting Beat Triggers” on page 728).
have the tick-based material maintain its abso-  Consider whether lengthy selections should
lute position. This option can be useful when first be broken down into smaller selections, which
adding a meter and tempo map to a freely played could be more easily managed. For example,
performance. working in 8- or 4-bar sections might yield better
7 Click OK. results more quickly.
 Beat triggers are preserved when switching be-

tween audio and MIDI modes. This allows using

MIDI triggers for editing audio, or collecting trig-
gers from combinations of MIDI and audio tracks.
 For selections across multiple tracks, consider
whether it may be easier to work with them indi-
vidually, or in Collection mode. See “Detection
(Normal) and Collection Mode” on page 739.

Chapter 33: Beat Detective 727

 Moving Beat Triggers
Editing Beat Triggers
You can adjust the placement of triggers to allow
Even though Beat Detective offers a great deal of for the attack of their transients, or to compensate
flexibility in how transients are detected, there for an individual transient that is slightly ahead of
may be times when beat triggers must be deleted, or behind the beat.
moved, or manually inserted. Additionally, trig-
gers can be promoted so they are retained at lower To move a beat trigger:
sensitivity settings.
1 With the Beat Detective window open, select
any Grabber tool in the Edit window.
Deleting Beat Triggers
2 Locate the beat trigger you want to move and
False triggers, which do not represent an actual drag it left or right.
beat or sub-beat in the source material, may appear
when raising the Sensitivity to detect quiet mate-
rial. In these instances you can locate and manually
delete any false triggers.

To delete a beat trigger:

1 With the Beat Detective window open, select

any Grabber tool in the Edit window.
2 Locate the false trigger you want to delete.
Transients for false triggers usually have Moving a beat trigger
smaller peaks than the other trigger points, and
typically fall between the sub-beats. Inserting Beat Triggers
If an important beat or sub-beat is not detected, be-
cause it is too quiet, you can manually insert a beat
trigger.

To insert a beat trigger:

Deleting a beat trigger
1 With the Beat Detective window open, select
3 Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) the any Grabber tool in the Edit window.
trigger to delete it.
2 Click in the selection where you want to insert
the new trigger. After inserting a beat trigger,
you can drag it left or right to adjust its place-
ment (see “Moving Beat Triggers” on
page 728).

If you click too close to an existing trigger,

the existing trigger will be moved to the new
location.

728 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Promoting Beat Triggers Redefining a Beat Trigger’s
Metric Location
To ensure that important beat triggers do not disap-
pear when lowering the Sensitivity, you can pro- It is vital that beat triggers are accurately placed at
mote them. This is useful if a selection has numer- the correct metric location. If a detected transient is
ous false triggers (too many to bother deleting) at a slightly off the beat, Beat Detective may assign it,
Sensitivity level where crucial, necessary beat trig- as well as other transients in the selection, to the
gers are also displayed. If lowering the Sensitivity wrong metric location.
and the needed triggers to disappear, simply pro-
For example, if you have a bass track where a note
mote them first.
was intended to be a downbeat, but was played too
To promote a beat trigger: early, Beat Detective may define its location as oc-
curring a little before the downbeat. If you then
1 Raise the Sensitivity until the transient is de-
separate and conform the clip containing this note,
tected and a beat trigger appears.
it will be moved to the wrong location. Subsequent
2 Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win- clips may be moved to the wrong locations as well.
dows) the beat trigger to promote it.
If a beat trigger is not assigned the correct metric
location, relocate it using Identify Trigger.

To change the metric location of a beat trigger:

1 Double-click the beat trigger you want to relo-
cate. The Identify Trigger dialog opens.
Promoting a beat trigger
2 In the Identify Trigger dialog, enter the correct
3 If necessary, repeat steps 1–2 to promote addi- location for the trigger, then click OK.
tional beat triggers.
4 Lower the Sensitivity to a value where the false
triggers disappear.

Once beat triggers are promoted, they will only

disappear if the Sensitivity value is set to 0%. To
demote all beat triggers in the selection—returning Identify Trigger dialog
them to their original state—click the Analyze but-
ton. Navigating Consecutive Beat
Triggers
Use the Scroll Next button to move from the cur-
rently selected beat trigger to the next beat trigger.
To move to the previous beat trigger, Option-click
(Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) the Scroll Next but-
ton. This is particularly useful for editing consecu-
tive beat triggers when zoomed in at the sample
level.

Chapter 33: Beat Detective 729

 Bar|Beat Markers are generated, based on the beat
Generating Bar|Beat Markers triggers, and appear in the Tempo ruler.
with Beat Detective
Once Beat Detective has accurately detected the
peak transients in the audio selection and accu-
rately generated beat triggers, the triggers can be
converted to Bar|Beat Markers. Bar|Beat Markers
generated by Beat Detective create a tempo map Bar|Beat Markers generated at Bar resolution
that can be used throughout the session.

Once a tempo map has been generated, other audio

clips and MIDI notes can be conformed to the
Bar|Beat Markers generated by Beat Detective.

If you want to match the audio material to the ses-

sion’s existing tempo map or a groove template, do Bar|Beat Markers generated at Beat resolution
not generate Bar|Beat Markers from the material.
Instead, use Beat Detective to separate and con- Working with Sub-Beats
form the material (see “Separating Clips with Tempo is derived from Bar|Beat Markers. Groove,
Beat Detective” on page 733). or feel, is derived from Sub-Beats—the deviation
of subdivisions of the beat from the strict tempo
If you are simply aligning a sloppy part to the
grid determines the groove or feel.
other tracks, you probably do not need to
generate Bar|Beat markers. To extract the groove from a selection, set the De-
tection Resolution to Sub-Beats. This ensures that
To generate Bar|Beat Markers with Beat Detective:
the inner rhythms within each bar (if they indeed
1 Make an Edit selection. exist) are represented when generating Bar|Beat
2 In the Beat Detective window, select Bar|Beat Markers. These Bar|Beat Markers can then be used
Marker Generation mode. to quantize other audio clips or MIDI tracks,
thereby conforming to the Bar|Beat Markers gen-
3 Define or capture the selection as described in erated by Beat Detective.
“Defining a Beat Detective Selection” on
page 722. When quantizing clips or MIDI notes to
Bar|Beat Markers on sub-beats that
4 Set the Resolution to Bars or Beats, and config-
represent a swing feel, make sure to use a
ure the Detection setting so the selection’s peak
straight quantize value (with the Swing
transients (or MIDI Note Ons) are accurately
option for Quantize disabled).
detected (see “Generating Beat Triggers” on
page 724).
5 Click Generate.

730 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Capturing this information is very important to
DigiGroove Templates preserving the feel of a performance, and can add
Beat Detective allows the fine timing nuances of a life to MIDI tracks that lack dynamics.
rhythmic performance to be extracted and saved as
Beat Detective only captures duration data
a groove template, called a DigiGroove template.
from MIDI tracks, not from audio tracks.
DigiGrooves can be saved locally to the Groove
Clipboard, or saved to disk as DigiGrooves.
Extracting Groove Templates
Groove templates can be used to transfer the feel of
To extract a Groove Template:
a particular performance to:
1 In the Edit window, make an Edit selection (in-
• Selected audio clips using Groove Conform (see
cluding audio or MIDI). The selection should
“Groove Conform” on page 736).
consist of one or more complete bars, starting
• Selected MIDI data using Groove Quantize (see and ending on downbeats.
“Groove Quantize” on page 1012).
When extracting Groove Templates, the
Groove templates are “quantization maps” derived captured selection must not include Bar|Beat
from real musical performances. The rhythmic Markers. Otherwise, the accuracy of the
character of each performance is analyzed and Groove Template will be compromised.
stored as a groove template. Beat Detective ana-
lyzes an audio selection for transient peaks accord- 2 In the Beat Detective window, select Groove
ing to a defined threshold and maps the rhythmic Template Extraction.
relationships to a 960 parts per quarter note (ppq)
3 Define or capture the selection as described in
template.
“Defining a Beat Detective Selection” on
When creating DigiGroove templates, Beat Detec- page 722.
tive also analyzes the dynamics of a performance.
4 Configure the Detection options so the selec-
MIDI velocity data is saved from MIDI tracks, and
tion’s peak transients (or MIDI Note Ons) are
accents and peak levels in audio data are incorpo-
accurately detected (see “Generating Beat Trig-
rated into the groove template as velocity data,
gers” on page 724).
which can be applied to change the dynamics of
MIDI tracks. 5 Click Extract.

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.

Chapter 33: Beat Detective 731

 Swing Content for Generating
Groove Templates
When defining swing content of the selection, se-
lect the Contains eighth-note option if the audio se-
lection has a heavily swung eighth-note groove. If
the audio selection has relatively straight eighth-
notes, use the Contains sixteenth-note option. This
lets the resultant DigiGroove template be applied
more easily elsewhere. Although a groove might
be based upon non-swung eighth-note material,
you might want to apply the template to material
that contains sixteenth-notes. If a template only
has eighth-note resolution, but the material being
conformed contains sixteenth-notes, adjacent six-
teenth-notes will be mapped to the same eighth-
Extract Groove Template dialog note location.
7 Do one of the following:
• To save the extracted template for use in the cur- Groove Extrapolation
rent session, without writing the template file to Beat Detective’s ability to extract tempo data from
disk, click Save To Groove Clipboard. (This a wide range of material is enhanced by its power-
template will be lost when you close the current ful “groove extrapolation” logic. Groove extrapo-
session.) lation automatically generates beat triggers for in-
• To save the extracted template to disk in order to clusion in groove templates even if a peak transient
use it in other sessions or share it with other is not detected. For example, a drum loop might
Pro Tools users, click Save To Disk. Enter a not have a hit on beat 3, consequently no peak tran-
name for the template and click Save. (Do not sient is detected and no beat trigger is generated.
change the location of DigiGroove template files Beat Detective will extrapolate from other beat
and folders or they will not be available in your triggers in the selection and create a trigger for beat
sessions.) 3 in the groove template.
• Click Cancel to cancel without saving the tem- In addition, extrapolated triggers preserve the feel
plate. of triggers generated from detected peak tran-
sients. For example, if a bar of kick drum detected
Use folders and subdirectories to organize
three beat triggers, all of which were 20 ticks ahead
DigiGroove templates. However, be sure they
of the beat, any extrapolated beat triggers will also
are always located in Applications/
be mapped 20 ticks ahead of the beat.
Avid/Pro Tools/Grooves (Mac) or
C:\Program Files\Avid\Pro Tools\
Grooves (Windows). Groove template files
located elsewhere will not be available in ei-
ther Groove Quantize or Beat Detective.

732 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Trigger Pad
Separating Clips with
Beat Detective When separating clips, the Beat Detective window
displays an option called Trigger Pad.
(Audio Only)

Once beat triggers appear in your selection, they

can be used to define start and end points for new
clips that can be separated automatically. The new
clips can then be conformed to the session’s exist-
ing tempo map, or to a groove template.

If you want to clean up the timing for the selection,

without affecting the tempo, make sure to first cal- Detection settings, Clip Separation mode
culate the tempo by generating Bar|Beat Markers
(see “Calculating Tempo with Beat Detective” on Type a value (0–50 ms) in this field to pad clip
page 724). start points—where the point of separation is lo-
cated in relation to the beat trigger (transient). This
To separate clips with Beat Detective: creates a space between the clip start point and the
clip sync point, thereby ensuring that the attack
1 In the Edit window, make an audio selection.
portion of the material remains intact.
2 In the Beat Detective window, select Clip Sepa-
ration.

3 Define or capture the selection as described in

“Defining a Beat Detective Selection” on
page 722.
4 Configure the Detection options so the selec-
tion’s peak transients are accurately detected
20 ms
(see “Generating Beat Triggers” on page 724). Clip start Sync point
(point of separation) (beat trigger)
5 Click Separate.
Separated clip with 20 ms Trigger Pad
Clips are separated based on the detected beat trig- When conforming separated clips, the clip sync
gers. point determines where the clip is placed (see
“Sync Points” on page 905).

Chapter 33: Beat Detective 733

 Separating Multiple Tracks The separated clips can then be conformed as a
group.
You can use beat triggers from a single track, or
subset of tracks, to separate a group of tracks. You can also use Collection mode when working
with multiple tracks. Collection mode lets you an-
In the following example, the defined selection is a
alyze and detect triggers on tracks individually,
drum loop consisting of two bars of 5/4. The kick,
and if you choose, add only the unique triggers
snare, hi-hat, and overhead microphones are re-
from the current track to the overall collection. For
corded to separate tracks.
more information, see “Detection (Normal) and
Analyzing the loop’s kick drum track, with the de- Collection Mode” on page 739.
tection Resolution set to Beats, Beat Detective
places beat triggers at the transients on beats 1 and
4. Conforming Clips with Beat
Detective
(Audio Only)

After clips have been separated with Beat Detec-

tive, the clips can then be conformed using one of
two modes:
Kick drum track with beat triggers
Standard Conform Uses the session’s current
Extending the selection to the snare, hi-hat, and tempo map (Grid)
overhead microphones tracks, and then performing
Groove Conform Uses groove templates.
the separation, results in separated clips in each of
the drum tracks at the same location, based on the Beat Detective will conform any selected clip,
beat triggers from the kick drum track. whether or not it was separated with Beat Detec-
tive. However, in order to successfully conform
clips with Beat Detective, the clip start points must
correspond to the start of the material that will
align with the session’s bars and beats. This should
generally not be a problem if the clips were sepa-
rated with Beat Detective (rather than manually
separated or trimmed).

Kick drum, snare, hi-hat, and overhead microphones

tracks with beat triggers

734 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Standard Conform 6 To affect which clips are conformed, select the
Exclude Within option and specify a percentage
This is similar to using the Clip > Quantize to Grid
value with the slider or by typing in a value:
command, but with one important difference: With
a single operation, Beat Detective can adjust the • Lower percentage values ensure that clips fur-
position of all clips, whether they have a straight or ther away from the Grid are conformed, while
swing feel. those closer to the Grid are not.
• Higher percentage values ensure that
clips closer to the Grid, as well as those
further away, are conformed.

To “tighten up” the original feel while

retaining it, set the Exclude Within option to
10–15%.

7 To achieve a swing feel for the conformed clips,

Beat Detective, Standard Conform options
select the Swing option and whether the swing
To conform clips using Standard Conform: is based on eighth-notes or sixteenth-notes, then
1 In the Beat Detective window, select Clip specify a percentage value with the slider or by
Conform. typing in a value:
• Smaller percentage values yield less swing, with
2 Make sure Standard is selected.
0% yielding none.
3 In the Edit window, if not already selected,
• Larger percentage values yield more swing, with
select the separated clips you want to conform.
100% yielding a triplet, swing feel.
Make sure the selection’s start and end points
fall cleanly on the beat. • Percentage values between 100–150 move the
clips beyond a triplet, swing feel, toward the
4 In the Beat Detective window, define or recap- next sixteenth-note boundary (provided the
ture the selection as described in “Defining a Swing note value is set to eighth-notes).
Beat Detective Selection” on page 722.
If Beat Detective has successfully captured
5 To affect how strongly the clips are conformed
enough of the sub-beats from a selection
to the Grid (tempo map), select the Strength op-
before separating, you can successfully
tion and specify a percentage value with either
conform with the Swing option to change the
the slider or by typing in a value:
groove from a “straight” feel to one that is
• Lower percentage values preserve the original swung. You can also import a groove tem-
feel of the clips. plate containing a swing feel (see “Groove
• Higher percentage values align the clips more Conform” on page 736).
tightly to the tempo map, with 100% aligning
precisely to the tempo map.

To “tighten up” the original feel while

retaining it, set the Strength option to
85–88%.

Chapter 33: Beat Detective 735

 8 Click Conform to automatically conform all To conform clips using Groove Conform:
clips in the selection. 1 In the Beat Detective window, select Clip
Conform.

2 Select Groove.

Clips conformed with Beat Detective

9 Audition the new conformed clips by clicking

Play in the Transport.
10 Do one of the following:
Beat Detective, Groove Conform options
• If necessary, select Edit > Undo, and repeat steps
4–8 trying a different set of Conform settings. 3 In the Edit window, if not already selected, se-
lect the separated clips you want to conform.
• If necessary, apply Edit Smoothing (see “Edit Make sure the selection’s start and end points
Smoothing” on page 737). fall cleanly on the beat.
In the Beat Detective window, define or recap-
Groove Conform
4
ture the selection as described in “Defining a
Instead of using a grid based on the session’s Beat Detective Selection” on page 722.
tempo map, Groove Conform uses a grid based on
a groove template, or DigiGroove. DigiGrooves When using Groove Conform, the captured
can be used to apply the feel of a captured passage selection must not include Bar|Beat Markers.
to the selected audio clips. For information about Otherwise, the accuracy of the Groove Tem-
creating DigiGroove templates, see “DigiGroove plate will be compromised.
Templates” on page 731.
5 From the Groove Template pop-up menu, select
the Groove Clipboard or a saved groove tem-
plate (for information on creating groove tem-
plates, see “DigiGroove Templates” on
page 731).
6 To see comments about the selected template,
click Show Info.

736 Pro Tools Reference Guide

7 To affect how strongly the clips are conformed 9 Click Conform to automatically conform all
to the groove template, select the Timing option clips in the selection.
and specify a percentage value with either the
10 Audition the new conformed clips by clicking
slider or by typing in a value:
Play in the Transport.
• Lower percentage values preserve the original
feel of the clips. 11 Do one of the following:

• 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 737).
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.

With this option enabled, Beat Detective conforms

clips to the current Standard Conform settings be-
fore applying the groove template. For material in
which the performance was not accurate, enabling
Pre-Process Using Standard Conform can lead to Beat Detective, Smoothing options
better results by ensuring that the performance is Beat Detective can automatically fill the gaps
accurately mapped to the correct bars, beats, and between clips, and even add crossfades if you
sub-beats before the groove template is applied. choose. The Edit Smoothing option can be used
Experimentation is the best way to determine when with clips that have been conformed, or with a
it is appropriate to use this option. track that contains many clips that need to be
trimmed and crossfaded (such as in a sound effects
When conforming an audio passage to a
track). This automated process of smoothing clip
heavily swung groove template, enabling
edits can save many hours of tedious editing.
Pre-Process using Standard Conform will
often yield better results.

Chapter 33: Beat Detective 737

 To use Edit Smoothing on conformed clips: Edit Smoothing Creates Sync
1 In the Beat Detective window, select Edit Points
Smoothing. After smoothing edits with Beat Detective, sync
2 Select a Smoothing option: points (corresponding to the material’s start point)
are automatically created for the conformed clips.
Fill Gaps Select this option to trim clip end points This allows you to later conform the clips to a dif-
so that the gaps between clips are filled. ferent tempo map or groove template, or use differ-
ent Conform settings.
Fill And Crossfade Select this option to trim clip
end points and automatically add a pre-fade (in ms) However, sync points are only created as they are
directly before each clip start point. needed: If gaps between clips are created during
3 In the Edit window, if not already selected, se- Clip Conform, Fill Gaps in Edit Smoothing mode
lect the range of conformed audio clips you will trim clips to fill the gap and a sync point will
want to smooth. Make sure the selection’s start be created at each clip’s original start point. If there
and end points fall cleanly on the beat. is no gap between clips, no sync point will be cre-
ated by Edit Smoothing.
4 Click Smooth to smooth the edits for the se-
lected clips. For more information on clip sync points, see
“Sync Points” on page 905.

Consolidating Clips after Edit

Smoothing
The process of separating, conforming, and
smoothing with Beat Detective can leave tracks
with many clips and many crossfades. If you are
working with multiple tracks, the density of these
edits may lead to system performance problems.
Clips before and after Edit Smoothing If performance is not an issue, use the Clip
5 Audition the results by clicking Play in the Group command for easier editing and ma-
Transport. nipulation of clips. This can be useful for
arranging beats that were sliced with Beat
6 If necessary, select Edit > Undo, and repeat steps Detective, especially if you plan on chang-
2–5 trying a different Crossfade Length. ing tempos with tick-based audio tracks.
For more information on clip groups, see
“Clip Groups” on page 919.

738 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Once you are satisfied with the results from Beat Drum Tracks and Collection
Detective, it is recommended that you flatten the Mode
tracks with the Consolidate command. For all clips
Suppose you have drum tracks for kick, snare, hi-
selected, Consolidate creates a single, contiguous
hat, and overhead mics. If you analyze a selection
audio file to reduce the session’s edit density. See
across all of the tracks, you may get many false
“Consolidating Clips” on page 665.
triggers when you raise the Sensitivity slider high
Before consolidating a large selection across enough to capture the hi-hat material (coming
multiple tracks, make sure there is enough mainly from the tracks for the overhead mics).
RAM available. See “RAM Requirements for
However, if you analyze only the track for the
Beat Detective” on page 720.
overhead mics, the resulting beat triggers are
slightly later than the material on the other tracks
(since it will take more time for the sound to reach
Detection (Normal) and the overhead mics). If you then extend the selec-
Collection Mode tion to the other drum tracks and separate them, the
In some instances, it may be difficult for Beat De- clips from the kick, snare, and tom tracks will be
tective to successfully analyze multiple tracks with cut slightly late.
the same Detection settings. With Beat Detective’s
Collection mode, you can collect a set of beat trig-
gers from different tracks, each with different De-
tection settings, and use the collection of triggers
to generate Bar|Beat Markers or DigiGroove tem-
plates, or separate new clips. Collection mode is
the only way to analyze and create beat triggers on
one track, and apply them to another track.

This method of selectively adding beat triggers

from separate analysis passes on different tracks, Overhead mics generate late beat triggers
until you get only the triggers you want, is poten- Using Collection mode, you can analyze each
tially much more effective than manually deleting, drum track separately, one at a time, optimizing
inserting, or adjusting incorrect or false triggers. the Detection settings for each track until you get
the triggers you want. The triggers for each track
can be added successively to the collection, or you
can choose to collect only the unique triggers from
a track. The collection of triggers that results can
then be used to generate Bar|Beat Markers or a Di-
giGroove template, or separate new clips.

Chapter 33: Beat Detective 739

 Using Collection Mode 6 In the Detection (Collection Mode) section,
click Add All to add all the current beat triggers
Collection mode is available in Bar|Beat Marker
to the collection.
Generation, Groove Template Extraction, or Clip
Separation mode (audio only), and is accessed by 7 From the Detection pop-up menu, select Normal
selecting Collection in the Detection pop-up menu. and move the selection to the next track you
want to analyze. Make sure to keep the selection
range constant for each track.

Press Control+P (Mac) or Start+P (Win-

dows) to move the selection up, or Con-
trol+Semi-colon (Mac) or Start+Semi-colon
(Windows) to move the selection down.

With Commands Keyboard Focus enabled,

Beat Detective, Collection mode options
press “P” to move the selection up, or Semi-
To use Collection mode: colon (;) to move the selection down. Hold the
1 In the Edit window, make an audio selection on Shift key to retain and add to the current se-
a single track. Make sure the selection’s start lection
and end points fall cleanly on the beat.
8 Configure the Detection options so the selec-
2 In the Beat Detective window, select one of the tion’s peak transients are accurately detected
following modes: (see “Generating Beat Triggers” on page 724).
• Bar|Beat Marker Generation 9 Select Collection again.
• Groove Template Extraction
10 Do one of the following:
• Clip Separation (audio only)
• In the Detection (Collection Mode) section,
3 Define or capture the selection as described in click Add Unique to add only the unique triggers
“Defining a Beat Detective Selection” on from the track to the collection. When you
page 722. choose to add unique triggers, Pro Tools looks
for triggers that are close to triggers already col-
4 Configure the Detection options so the selec-
lected from other tracks. Where triggers already
tion’s peak transients are accurately detected
exist, the newly detected triggers are discarded.
(see “Generating Beat Triggers” on page 724).
• Click Add All to add all triggers to the collection.
5 From the Detection pop-up menu, select Collec-
• Click Clear All to clear all triggers from the col-
tion.
lection.

740 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Each new set of triggers added to the collection appears in a different color. If successive triggers in the col-
lection are located closely together (for example, because of microphone leakage), Beat Detective keeps
only the earlier triggers.

1. Beat triggers
detected in Kick track
added to collection

2. Unique beat triggers

detected in Snare track
added to collection

3. Unique beat triggers

detected in Hi-hat track
added to collection

4. Collected beat triggers

applied to Overhead
microphones track

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.

Chapter 33: Beat Detective 741

742 Pro Tools Reference Guide
Part VI: MIDI
Chapter 34: MIDI Editing

Pro Tools provides powerful MIDI editing tools.

You can create and edit individual MIDI notes and MIDI Editing Options
controller events with the Pencil, Trim, and Grab- Pro Tools provides a few options for determining
ber tools in the Edit window, MIDI Editor win- MIDI editing behavior. These options are available
dows (see Chapter 35, “MIDI Editors”), and the in the Edit window, MIDI Editor windows, and the
Score Editor window (Chapter 36, “Score Edi- Score Editor window. However, these options are
tor”). only available if there is at least one MIDI or In-
strument track in your Pro Tools session.
For information on clip-specific editing
for both MIDI and audio, see Chapter 30,
“Editing Clips and Selections.”
Play MIDI Notes When Editing
You can use the various Event Operations (such as Default Note On Velocity
Quantize, Transpose, Change Velocity, and
Change Duration) to destructively transform
Default Note Duration
groups of MIDI notes in terms of pitch, timing, dy-
namics, and phrasing (see Chapter 46, “Event Op- MIDI Editing Controls in the Edit window
erations”).
Play MIDI Notes When Editing
Additionally, you can use Real-Time Properties to
When enabled, the Play MIDI Notes When Editing
nondestructively affect MIDI on playback or play-
option causes MIDI notes to play (send a MIDI
through (see “MIDI Real-Time Properties” on
Note On message) when editing.
page 780).

Pro Tools also provides numerous zoom and view

tools that are optimized for MIDI editing.

Chapter 34: MIDI Editing 745

 Default Note Duration 3 To define a dotted or triplet duration, do one of
the following:
The Default Note Duration setting lets you define
the default note duration for inserting notes manu- • To dot the selected Default Note Duration value,
ally. The Edit window, MIDI Editor windows, and click the Default Note Duration setting and se-
Score Editor window can each have a different De- lect Dotted.
fault Note Duration setting. • To make the selected Default Note Duration
value a triplet, click the Default Note Duration
To select a Default Note Duration: setting and select Triplet.
1 Click the Default Note Duration setting in the
Edit window, a MIDI Editor window, or the Follow Grid
Score Editor window. Select the Follow Grid option to have the Default
2 Select the Default Note Duration value you Note Duration follow the selected Grid value. To
want. (For example, select the 1/4 Note option stop following the Grid value, select the rhythmic
to insert quarter notes with the Pencil tool.) value for the Default Note Duration setting.

Default Note On Velocity

The Default Note On Velocity setting lets you de-
fine the default Note On velocity for inserting
notes manually. The Edit window, MIDI Editor
windows, and Score Editor window can each have
a different Default Note On Velocity setting.

To define the Default Note On Velocity, do one of

the following:

 Click the Default Note On Velocity setting in

the Edit window, a MIDI Editor window, or the
Selecting a Default Note Duration in the Edit window Score Editor window and drag up or down.

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.

Default Note Duration, quarter note selected

Default Note On Velocity

746 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Mirrored MIDI Editing
Setting the Grid Value
Mirrored MIDI Editing lets you edit MIDI clips
and have your edits apply to every copy of the When inserting MIDI notes with the Pencil tool,
same MIDI clip. This can be particularly useful the Grid value determines the Note On location of
when editing looped MIDI clips. each note, or other characteristics, based on the
Pencil tool shape (see “Using the Pencil Tool” on
To enable Mirrored MIDI Editing, do one of the page 748). The Edit window, MIDI Editor win-
following: dows, and Score Editor window can each be set to
a different Grid value.
 Select Options > Mirror MIDI Editing.
 Enable the Mirrored MIDI Editing button in the To set the Grid value for MIDI editing:
Edit window, MIDI Editor window, or Score 1 Click the Grid Value selector and select
Editor window. Bars|Beats. If the Follow Main Time Scale op-
tion is enabled you can simply set the Main
Time Scale to Bars|Beats (see “Setting the Main
Time Scale” on page 840).
2 Click the Grid Value selector again and select a
note value (such as 1/4, 1/8, or 1/16).
Mirrored MIDI Edit button in the Edit window

In Mirrored MIDI Editing mode, the Mirrored

MIDI Editing button flashes Red once as an edit is
made to alert you that your edit is being applied to
more than one clip.

To disable Mirrored MIDI Editing, do one of the

following:

 Deselect Options > Mirror MIDI Editing.

 Disable the Mirrored MIDI Editing button in
the Edit window, MIDI Editor window, or Score
Editor window.

If Mirrored MIDI Editing mode is disabled,

and you edit notes of looped clips in Notes Selecting the Grid value in the Edit window
view, the edit flattens the loop. Similarly ed-
iting clip groups separates the clip groups.

Chapter 34: MIDI Editing 747

 3 To define a dotted or triplet value, do one of the useful for drawing and editing different types of
following: MIDI control data—for example, try using Line
• To dot the selected Grid value, click the Grid for volume, Triangle for pan, Free Hand for pitch
Value selector again and select Dotted. bend, and Square or Random for velocity.

• To make the selected Grid value a triplet, click Parabolic and S-Curve Pencil shapes are
the Grid Value selector again and select Triplet. used for drawing tempo events only in the
Tempo Editor. See “Drawing Tempo Events”
4 Verify the default session meter and tempo (see
on page 851.
“Setting the Session Meter” on page 502 and
“Setting the Session Tempo” on page 503). To select the Pencil tool shape:

For more information on Grid mode, see 1 Click the Pencil tool icon in the Toolbar for the
“Grid Mode” on page 600. Pencil tool shape pop-up menu.

To show (or hide) grid lines in the Edit window or in

2 Select a Pencil tool shape.
a MIDI Editor window:

 Select (or deselect) the Grid button.

Grid button selected in the Edit window

To increase the grid value incrementally:

 Press Shift+Equal (=).

Pencil tool shapes available for MIDI
To decrease the grid value incrementally:
Pencil Tool Shapes for MIDI
 Press Shift+Minus (–).
Free Hand

In the Edit window on MIDI and Instrument tracks

Using the Pencil Tool in Notes view, in MIDI Editor windows, and in the
The Pencil tool is useful for creating and editing Score Editor, the Free Hand shape inserts a single
MIDI data. The first five Pencil tool shapes (Free MIDI note whose velocity is defined by the De-
Hand, Line, Triangle, Square, and Random) can be fault Note On Velocity setting. The pitch, location,
used to create MIDI notes with varying durations and duration of the note are determined by where
and velocities. In the Edit window MIDI Editor on the track you click with the mouse.
windows, and the Score Editor window, note ve-
locities are determined by the Pencil tool shape).
The various Pencil tool shapes can be particularly

748 Pro Tools Reference Guide

When editing MIDI velocities or continuous con- ting and 127 according to a triangle pattern. The
troller data, the Free Hand shape draws freely ac- duration and spacing for the inserted notes are de-
cording to the movement of the mouse. The shape termined by the current Grid value and the Default
is reproduced as a series of steps according to the Note Duration setting.
Pencil Tool Resolution When Drawing Controller
Data MIDI preference. When editing MIDI velocities or continuous con-
troller data, the Triangle shape draws a triangular
When editing automation or MIDI control pattern that changes direction according to the cur-
data with the Pencil tool, you can switch be- rent Grid value. MIDI controller values change in
tween the current Pencil Tool shape (such as steps according to the Pencil Tool Resolution
Line) and Free Hand pencil editing using the When Drawing Controller Data option in the MIDI
Command key (Mac) or the Control key (Win- Preferences page.
dows). When editing with the selected Pencil
shape, the Pencil cursor angles to the left. Square
When editing in Free Hand with the key mod- In the Edit window on MIDI and Instrument tracks
ifier, the Pencil cursor angles to the right. in Notes view, in MIDI Editor windows, and in the
Line
Score Editor, the Square shape inserts a series of
MIDI notes on a single pitch whose velocities al-
In the Edit window on MIDI and Instrument tracks ternate between the Default Note On Velocity set-
in Notes view, in MIDI Editor windows, and in the ting and 127. The duration and spacing for the in-
Score Editor, the Line shape inserts a series of serted notes are determined by the current Grid
MIDI notes on a single pitch whose velocities are value and the Default Note Duration setting.
defined by the Default Note On Velocity setting.
The duration and spacing for the inserted notes are When editing MIDI velocities or continuous con-
determined by the current Grid value and the De- troller data, the Square shape draws a square pat-
fault Note Duration setting. tern that repeats at a rate based on the current Grid
value.
When editing MIDI velocities or continuous con-
troller data, the Line shape draws in a straight line Random
from click to release. MIDI continuous controller
In the Edit window on MIDI and Instrument tracks
values change in steps according to the Pencil Tool
in Notes view, in MIDI Editor windows, and in the
Resolution When Drawing Controller Data option
Score Editor, the Random shape inserts a series of
in the MIDI Preferences page.
MIDI notes on a single pitch whose velocities
Triangle
change randomly within the range between the De-
fault Note On Velocity setting and 127. The dura-
In the Edit window on MIDI and Instrument tracks tion and spacing for the inserted notes are deter-
in Notes view, in MIDI Editor windows, and in the mined by the current Grid value and the Default
Score Editor, the Triangle shape inserts a series of Note Duration setting.
MIDI notes on a single pitch whose velocities os-
cillate between the Default Note On Velocity set- When editing MIDI velocities or continuous con-
troller data, the Random shape draws a series of
random values that change at a rate based on the
current Grid value.

Chapter 34: MIDI Editing 749

 When using the Pencil tool, the Cursor location
Inserting MIDI Notes and value are displayed in the Window Toolbar.
In addition to recording, step recording, and im-
porting MIDI into Pro Tools, you can manually in- Cursor pitch location
Pencil Cursor
sert MIDI notes using the Pencil tool. r Timeline location

When inserting MIDI notes or other MIDI

data with the Pencil tool, MIDI clip boundar-
ies are created on the nearest barlines.

To insert a MIDI Note on a track in the Edit window:

1 In the Edit window, set the MIDI or Instrument

track to Notes view.
2 Select the Pencil tool and make sure it is set to
Free Hand. The cursor will change to the Pencil
tool when located over the playlist area of a
MIDI or Instrument track in Notes view.
Cursor location and value
3 To insert quarter notes on the beat, do the fol-
lowing: 5 When you reach the pitch and time location you
want, click to insert the note.
• Set the Main Time Scale to Bars|Beats.
• Set the Edit mode to Grid.
• Set the Grid value to quarter notes.
• Set the Default Note Duration value either to
quarter notes (or to Follow Grid).
4 Move the Pencil tool into the playlist area for MIDI note inserted with the Pencil tool
the MIDI or Instrument track. Use the Edit win-
dow’s ruler and the track’s mini-keyboard as a With the Smart Tool active (see “Using the
reference to locate the pitch and time location Smart Tool” on page 620), Control-click
you want.h (Mac) or Start-click (Windows) to change the
cursor to the Pencil tool and insert MIDI
notes; Option-Control-click (Mac) or
Alt-Start-click (Windows) to delete notes.

With Grid mode enabled, the start point of the

MIDI note snaps to the nearest Grid bound-
ary by default. With the Free Hand Pencil
tool, press Command (Mac) or Control (Win-
dows) after clicking and holding to temporar-
ily suspend Snap to Grid.

750 Pro Tools Reference Guide

The velocity for inserted notes is determined by The note velocities are determined by the Pencil
the Default Note On Velocity setting. The duration tool shape:
is determined by the Default Note Duration value. • Use the Line shape to enter notes with identical
When in Grid mode, the Note On location is deter- velocities.
mined by the Grid value.
• Use the Triangle shape for a ramp up and down
If the Play MIDI Notes When Editing option is en- of velocities.
abled, each note sounds as it is inserted. • Use the Square shape for alternating velocities
The Pencil tool can be dragged after clicking (and of loud and soft.
before releasing) to adjust the note’s pitch or dura- • Use the Random shape for a series of notes with
tion. Drag right to lengthen the note without random velocities.
changing its start point. Drag left to shorten the
note without changing its end point. For example, to insert a series of notes with
random velocities in the Edit window:

1 In the Edit window, set the MIDI or Instrument

track to Notes view.
2 Select the Pencil tool and make sure it is set to
Random.
Adjusting the duration for an inserted note 3 To insert consecutive quarter notes on the beat,
do the following:
With the Grid mode enabled, the end point of • Set the Main Time Scale to Bars|Beats.
the MIDI note snaps to the nearest Grid
boundary by default. Command-drag (Mac)
• Set the Edit mode to Grid.
or Control-drag (Windows) with the Pencil • Set the Grid value to quarter notes.
tool to temporarily suspend Snap to Grid. • Set the Default Note Duration value either to
quarter notes (or to Follow Grid).

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 the Default Note Duration is greater than the

Grid value, the inserted notes are truncated to
match the Grid value and not overlap.
Inserting a series of notes with the Pencil tool

Chapter 34: MIDI Editing 751

  With the Selector tool, drag across a range of
Manually Editing MIDI Notes notes.
All aspects of a MIDI note can be edited in the Edit
window or in a MIDI Editor window, including
start and end points, duration, pitch, and velocity.
The Selector, Grabber, and Pencil tools can oper-
ate on individual notes or groups of notes.

Selecting MIDI Notes

MIDI notes must be selected before they can be ed- Selecting notes with the Selector tool
ited.
When using the Selector tool, a note’s start point
To select MIDI notes, do one of the following: must be included in order for it to be selected.
When a MIDI or Instrument track is in Notes or
 With the Pencil tool or any Grabber tool, Shift- Clips view, selections made with the Selector tool
click each note. are range selections and include all underlying
 With any Grabber tool, move the cursor to controller and automation data.
where there are no notes (the Marquee appears)
With the Selector tool, Option-click (Mac) or
and click and draw a rectangle around the group
Alt-click (Windows) to get the Note Selector
of notes you want to edit.
tool in the Edit window and MIDI Editor win-
dows (the Selector tool always makes note se-
lections in the Score Editor). The Note Selec-
tor tool selects all MIDI notes within the
duration of the selection as objects and does
not select any other MIDI events (such as con-
troller data or program changes).

To deselect one or more notes from a selection:

Selecting notes with a Grabber tool
 With the Pencil tool or any Grabber tool, Shift-
When using a Grabber tool, if any portion of the click the notes so they become deselected.
rectangle touches a note (either its start or end
point), the note is included in the selection. How- You can also select notes in the Select/Split
ever, selections made with a Grabber tool are ob- Notes window. See “Select/Split Notes Com-
ject selections and do not include underlying con- mand” on page 1025.
troller and automation data for the MIDI track.

752 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Selecting and Auditioning MIDI To select and play a range of notes on a MIDI or
Notes with the Mini-Keyboard Instrument track:

Use the mini-keyboard on MIDI and Instrument  With any Edit tool selected, click a key and drag
tracks to select and play notes on that track. You up or down on the mini-keyboard.
can click on the mini-keyboard with any Edit tool.

Use the scroll wheel on your mouse or the

track pad on your laptop to scroll the piano
roll up or down on a MIDI or Instrument track
to view the note range you want to work with.
Playing a range of notes with the mini-keyboard and
selecting all notes of including those pitches
To play a note on a MIDI or Instrument track, and
select all notes of that pitch on the track:

 With any Edit tool selected, click a key on the You can also Shift-click on the mini-keyboard
mini-keyboard. to extend or contract the range of notes.

Selecting Only MIDI Notes Using

the Note Selector Tool
In Notes or Velocity view on MIDI and Instrument
tracks in the Edit window, or in a MIDI Editor win-
dow, the Selector tool makes a time range selection
that includes all MIDI event types in addition to
MIDI notes and velocities (such as program
changes, and continuous controller data). The Note
Playing a note with the mini-keyboard and selecting all Selector tool can be used to select only MIDI notes
notes of that pitch and velocities in a time range selection.

Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) to

play notes without making a selection.

Command-click (Mac) or Control-click

(Windows) to select or deselect notes, and to
make noncontiguous selections.

Chapter 34: MIDI Editing 753

 To select only MIDI notes and velocities with the Editing MIDI Notes in Grid or
Note Selector tool: Relative Grid Mode
1 Select the Selector tool.
When sequencing MIDI for music (such as drum
2 On MIDI or Instrument tracks in the Edit win- patterns or synth pads), you will typically set the
dow in Notes or Velocity view, or in a MIDI Ed- Main Timebase ruler to Bars|Beats—and keeping
itor window, Option-drag (Mac) or Alt-drag the default Timebase setting of ticks for MIDI and
(Windows) over the time range that includes the Instrument track—in order to maintain alignment
notes you want to select. with the tempo and meter of the music. Thus, you
will typically want to edit MIDI notes (and other
MIDI data) in Grid mode with the Grid set to the
lowest common rhythmic value—for instance, if
the shortest rhythm in the sequence is a sixteenth-
note, set the Grid value to a sixteenth note (see
“Setting the Grid Value” on page 747).

However, if recorded a MIDI performance to a

click and you may want to keep the timing of the
performance intact in relation to the Grid rather
than quantizing the performance to the Grid when
Selecting only MIDI notes using the Note Selector tool editing it. If so, use Relative Grid mode when edit-
ing. With Relative Grid mode is enabled, any part
When using the Smart tool and pressing Option of the MIDI performance maintains its relative off-
(Mac) or Alt (Windows), the Selector is available set from the Grid when moving, when cutting or
in the upper part of the Track and the Note Selector copying and pasting, or when cutting or copying
is available in the lower part of the track. and merge pasting (Edit > Paste Special > Merge)
selected MIDI notes.

Also see “Absolute and Relative Grid Mode”

on page 902.

754 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 While dragging, each new note sounds and the
Using the Grabber Tools Cursor Location Value indicator (in the Edit win-
Use the Grabber tools to select, move, separate, dow) indicates the number of semitones and direc-
and arrange clips on tracks. There are three modes tion (+/–) for the transposition.
for the Grabber tool: Time Grabber, Separation
Hold Control (Mac) or Start (Windows), and
Grabber, and Object Grabber. For more informa-
then press Plus (+) on the numeric keypad to
tion about arranging clips, also see Chapter 40,
transpose the selected MIDI notes up by one
“Arranging Clips.”
semitone, or press Minus (–) on the numeric
When in Grid mode and in Notes view on MIDI keypad to transpose the selected MIDI notes
and Instrument tracks, clicking anywhere in the down by one semitone.
timeline outside of a clip with the Grabber tool
places the Edit insertion point at the nearest grid To transpose a copy of the note, leaving the
location. original unchanged, press Option (Mac) or
Alt (Windows) while dragging.
Press Command (Mac) or Control (Windows)
while clicking with the Grabber tool in notes
view temporarily toggle to Slip mode. MIDI notes can also be transposed using the
Transpose Event Operation (see “Trans-
Transposing Notes pose” on page 1023) or MIDI Real-Time
Properties (see “MIDI Real-Time Proper-
MIDI notes can be transposed by dragging them up
ties” on page 780).
or down with the Pencil tool or any Grabber tool. If
several notes are selected before dragging, each is
transposed.
Moving Notes
Like clips, MIDI notes can be dragged left or right
To transpose a MIDI note: with the Pencil tool or any Grabber tool to change
1 Set the MIDI or Instrument track to Notes view. their start point. If several notes are selected before
dragging, they are all moved together.
2 Select the Pencil tool or any Grabber tool.
3 While pressing Shift, drag the note up or down. To move a MIDI note:
1 Set the MIDI or Instrument track to Notes view.
2 With the Pencil tool or any Grabber tool, drag
the note left or right (press Shift while dragging
to preserve the note’s pitch).

As the note is dragged, the Cursor Location Value

indicator (in the Edit window) displays the new
start point.
Transposing with a Grabber tool

The Shift key ensures that the transposed note

maintains its original start point.

Chapter 34: MIDI Editing 755

 If the Edit mode is set to Grid, the dragged note 4 Move the cursor near the beginning of any of
snaps to the nearest Grid boundary. If the Edit the highlighted notes, so the Trim tool appears.
mode is set to Spot, the Spot dialog opens. Drag right to shorten the notes, or drag left to
lengthen them.
To copy the selected notes, leaving the origi-
nals intact, press Option (Mac) or Alt (Win-
dows) while dragging.

The placement of MIDI notes can also be ad-

justed with Shift (see “Shift Command” on
page 907) or Nudge (see “Nudging Clips” on
page 659).
Changing note end times with the Trim tool
Trimming Note Start and End If the Edit mode is set to Grid, the dragged start or
Times end point snaps to the nearest Grid boundary. If the
Like clips, start and end points for MIDI notes can Edit mode is set to Spot, the Spot dialog opens,
be adjusted with the Trim tool. If several notes are where you can enter the new location for the note’s
selected when performing the trim, each note is start or end point.
changed.
When in Grid mode, use the Command key
The Trim tool can also be used on MIDI clips. (Mac) or Control key (Windows) to temporar-
For more informations, see “Time Compres- ily disable Grid mode.
sion/Expansion Trim Tool Functionality on
MIDI Clips” on page 762. Notes can also be trimmed with the Trim Clip to Se-
lection command (see “Trim to Selection Com-
To change the start or end points for a group of mand” on page 657) and the Trim To Insertion
MIDI notes: command (see “Trimming with Nudge” on
1 Set the MIDI or Instrument track to Notes view. page 659).

2 Using the Pencil tool or any Grabber tool, Shift-

click each note you want to trim.
3 Do one of the following:
• Select the Trim tool.
• Use the Pencil tool.

756 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Trimming MIDI Notes with Transposing MIDI Notes with
Nudge Nudge
You can trim the start and end points of selected You can transpose selected MIDI notes by semi-
MIDI notes by the current Nudge value. tonal increments using Plus (+) or Minus (–) on the
numeric keypad.
To trim the selected MIDI notes start or end points
by the Nudge value: To transpose the selected MIDI notes by
1 Configure the Nudge value (see “Defining the semitones:
Nudge Value” on page 660). 1 With the Time Grabber tool, select the MIDI
notes you want to transpose.
2 With the Time Grabber tool, select the MIDI
notes you want to trim. 2 Do one of the following:
3 Do one of the following: • While pressing Control (Mac) or Start (Win-
dows), press Plus (+) on the numeric keypad
• While pressing Option (Mac) or Alt (Windows),
transpose the selected MIDI notes up by one
press Plus (+) or Minus (–) on the numeric key-
semitone.
pad to trim the start point of the selected MIDI
notes by the Nudge value. • While pressing Control (Mac) or Start (Win-
dows), press Minus (–) on the numeric keypad
• While pressing Command (Mac) or Control
transpose the selected MIDI notes down by one
(Windows), press Plus (+) or Minus (–) on the
semitone.
numeric keypad to trim the numeric keypad to
trim the end point of the selected MIDI notes by
the Nudge value. Separating MIDI Notes
The Separate command lets you separate MIDI
notes at the Edit cursor location or at the boundar-
ies of the Edit selection. When in Notes view in the
Edit window and in MIDI Editor windows, sepa-
rating MIDI clips creates new MIDI notes but does
not create new MIDI clips. However, when in
Clips view in the Edit window, separating MIDI
clips only creates new MIDI clips. Also, if the Edit
selection includes any audio tracks, the Separate
command separates only clips on MIDI and Instru-
ment tracks regardless of the Track View setting.

Chapter 34: MIDI Editing 757

 To separate MIDI notes at the Edit cursor location To separate a MIDI note with the Separation tool:
or at the boundaries of the Edit selection:
 With the Grabber or Pencil tool, Control-Shift-
1 Make an Edit selection or place the Edit cursor click (Mac) or Start-Shift-click (Windows) on
at the location where you want to separate one the MIDI note at the location where you want
or more MIDI notes. the separation.
2 Do one of the following:
• Choose Edit > Separate > At Selection.
• Right-click in the Notes pane and choose Sepa-
rate.

Press Command+E (Mac) or Control+E

(Windows) to separate MIDI notes at the
selection.

To separate MIDI notes on the grid:

1 Set the Grid value.
MIDI note separated into two using the Separate Tool
2 Make an Edit selection or a marquee selection
that includes the MIDI notes you want to sepa- To consolidate MIDI notes with the Consolidate
tool:
rate.
 With the Grabber or Pencil tool, Control-Shift-
3 Choose Edit > Separate > On Grid.
click (Mac) or Start-Shift-click (Windows) be-
4 In the Pre-Separate Amount dialog, click OK. tween the separated MIDI notes.

Separate and Consolidate Tools

for MIDI Notes
In Notes view in the Edit window and in MIDI Ed-
itor windows, both the Pencil and Grabber tools
can be used to separate MIDI notes and to consol-
idate MIDI notes.

The cursor updates to show a “knife” for the Sepa-

rate tool and a “bandage” for the Consolidate tool.

Consolidating MIDI notes into one using the

Consolidate Tool

758 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Consolidating MIDI Notes To unmute one or more MIDI notes:

The Consolidate command lets you combine two 1 Select the MIDI notes you want to unmute.
or more consecutive MIDI notes of the same pitch 2 Do one of the following:
into a single MIDI note.
• Choose Edit > Unmute Notes.
To consolidate MIDI notes: • Right-click the selected MIDI notes and choose
1 Select the MIDI notes you want to consolidate. Unmute Notes.

2 Do one of the following: Press Command+M (Mac) or Control+M

(Windows) to mute and unmute selected
• Choose Edit > Consolidate.
MIDI notes.
• Right-click the selected notes and choose Con-
solidate. Manually Editing Note Velocities
Press Option+Shift+3 (Mac) or Alt+Shift+3 When a MIDI or Instrument track is set to Velocity
(Windows) to consolidate adjacent selected view, or when the Velocity lane is revealed under a
MIDI notes of the same pitch. track, each note’s attack velocity is represented
with a velocity stalk. The taller the velocity stalk,
Muting MIDI Notes the higher the velocity value (0–127).
The Mute command lets you mute individual MIDI To edit MIDI velocity in the Edit window:
notes. If entire clips are selected, the Mute com-
mand prompts you to either mute clips or MIDI 1 Do one of the following:
notes. • Set the MIDI or Instrument track to Velocity
view.
To mute one or more MIDI notes:
• Reveal the Controller lane for the MIDI or In-
1 Select the MIDI notes you want to mute. strument track and show Velocity.
2 Do one of the following:
• Choose Edit > Mute Notes.
• Right-click the selected MIDI notes and choose
Mute Notes.

Revealing the Velocity Lane

Chapter 34: MIDI Editing 759

 2 Select any Grabber tool. You can also use the Trim tool to scale the veloci-
ties for all selected notes. This is useful if you like
3 Drag the top (diamond) of the velocity stalk up
the velocity relationship between the notes, but
or down.
want them all to be louder or softer.

When in Velocity view, the Trim tool can be

used to trim note durations in addition to
changing velocities.

To scale velocities with the Trim tool:

1 Set the MIDI or Instrument track to Velocity
view.
Dragging a velocity stalk
2 Using the Selector tool or any Grabber tool, se-
The velocities for a range of notes can be edited lect the range of notes to be edited.
with any Pencil tool.
3 With the Trim tool, click near the range of se-
For fine-resolution editing of velocity values, lected notes and drag up or down. Dragging up
Command-click-drag (Mac) or Control-click- increases the velocities for each note and drag-
drag the top of the velocity stalk to the desired ging down decreases them.
value.

To draw velocity values for a crescendo:

1 Do one of the following:
• Set the MIDI or Instrument track to Velocity
Changing velocities with the Trim tool
view.
• Reveal the Controller lane for the MIDI or In- Velocity Trim Tool
strument track and show Velocity.
To trim the velocity of one or more selected MIDI
2 Select the Pencil tool with the shape set to Line. notes:

3 Click at the beginning of the note range, near  With the Grabber tool selected, Command-click
the bottom of the velocity range, and drag to the (Mac) or Control-click (Windows) the note and
right and up until the line encompasses the drag up or down. Notice that the Grabber tool
range of notes you want to include in the fade. changes to the Velocity Trim tool.

Changing velocities with the Line shape

Editing simultaneous velocities

760 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Drag up to increase the velocity value, or down to 2 Click in the Attributes text box and do one of
decrease it. While dragging, the diamond turns the following:
blue and the associated note becomes selected. The • Enter the new value on the numeric keypad.
dragged velocity values are reflected in the Cursor
Location Value indicator (in the Edit window). • Press the Up or Down Arrow to increment or
decrement to the new value.
If two notes have the same start time (with ve- • Drag up or down to scroll to the new value.
locity stalks on top of each other), Command-
• Play the new note value on your MIDI keyboard
drag (Mac) or Control-drag (Windows) the
controller.
actual note up or down to adjust its velocity.
Press Forward Slash (/) to move between the fields
Auditioning Velocity Changes in the Event Edit area.
If the Play MIDI Notes When Editing option is en-
You can also change attributes of MIDI notes
abled, Pro Tools plays the note at the new velocity
in the MIDI Event List (see Chapter 37,
when editing velocities for MIDI notes with the
“MIDI Event List”).
Grabber tool. This lets you hear when you have the
velocity setting you want for a MIDI note.
Multiple Notes and Event Edit
Area
Typing in Note Attributes
When multiple notes are selected, you can enter
When an individual note is selected with the Pencil values in the Event Edit area fields to affect all se-
tool or any Grabber tool, its attributes are dis- lected notes. A triangle (delta symbol) to the left of
played in the Event Edit area. the displayed note indicates that multiple notes are
selected.

Pitch A new value in the Start field moves the first note
Attack Velocity in the selection to that location, with all other notes
Release Velocity moving with it.

Event Edit Area showing MIDI track information

Pitch is listed by note name and octave number.

Attack and release velocities are listed with their
MIDI values (0–127). Edit Selection Start, End,
and Length times are displayed in the Main Time Multiple notes in the Event Edit area
Scale. Values entered in the pitch and velocity fields add
to or subtract from the values for all selected notes.
To change an attribute for a MIDI note:
For example, to transpose all selected notes down
1 In the Edit window, with a MIDI or Instrument an octave, enter a value of –12 for pitch.
track set to Notes View, select the note with the
Pencil tool or any Grabber tool.

Chapter 34: MIDI Editing 761

 Deleting MIDI Notes
Time Compression/
In addition to deleting selected notes with the Clear Expansion Trim Tool
command in the Edit menu, individual notes can Functionality on MIDI Clips
also be deleted with the Pencil tool.
The Time Compression/Expansion Trim tool is
To delete a group of MIDI notes with the Clear useful for matching a MIDI clip to the length of an-
command: other clip, a tempo grid, or any other reference
1 Using the Grabber or Selector tool, select the point.
notes to be deleted (see “Selecting MIDI Notes” With the Time Compression/Expansion Trim tool,
on page 752). you can move the MIDI clip’s start or end point to
2 Do one of the following: expand or compress the clip, scaling the MIDI data
accordingly regardless of the track’s timebase
• Choose Edit > Clear to delete the selected notes.
(ticks or samples).
The track’s underlying controller data remains
intact.
• With any Edit tool, Right-click any selected note
and choose Clear.
• Press the Delete (Mac) key or Backspace (Win-
dows). Before trimming a MIDI clip with the Time
Compression/Expansion Trim tool
When deleting MIDI notes within a time
range selection, all underlying controller
and automation data is also deleted.

To delete a single MIDI note with the Pencil tool:

 With the Pencil tool selected, Option-click After trimming a MIDI clip with the Time Compression/
(Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) the note. The Expansion Trim tool
Pencil tool changes to an Eraser when Option
(Mac) or Alt (Windows) is pressed. Using the Time Compression/
Expansion Trim Tool in Grid
Mode
The Time Compression/Expansion Trim tool
(TCE Trim tool) can be used in Grid mode to
match a clip to the tempo of a session or a section
of a session, or to create “double time” or “half
Deleting a note with Pencil tool
time” performances.

Program change events and Sysex events can

also be deleted by Option-clicking (Mac) or
Alt-clicking (Windows) them with the Pencil
tool.

762 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To compress or expand MIDI clips in Grid mode: To compress or expand MIDI clips in Spot mode:
1 Set the Edit mode to Grid. 1 Set the Edit mode to Spot.
2 If necessary, set the MIDI or Instrument track to 2 Set the MIDI or Instrument track to Clips view.
Clips view.
3 Select the TCE Trim tool.
3 Select the TCE Trim tool.
4 Click the MIDI clip near its start or end point.
4 With the TCE Trim tool, drag the MIDI clip’s The Spot dialog opens. Using any Time Scale,
start or end point to compress or expand the clip enter a new start or end time (or duration) for
to the Grid (for example, by quarter notes). A the clip, and then click OK. A new MIDI clip is
new MIDI clip is automatically created, and ap- automatically created, and appears both in the
pears both in the playlist and in the Clips List. playlist and in the Clips List.

Using the Time Compression/ Using the Time Compression/

Expansion Trim Tool in Slip Expansion Trim Tool in Shuffle
Mode Mode
To compress or expand MIDI clips in Slip mode: In Shuffle mode, the trimmed clip will always be-
gin at the original clip’s start point regardless of
1 Set the Edit mode to Slip.
whether you trim from the front to the rear or from
2 Set the MIDI or Instrument track to Clips view. the rear to the front.
3 Select the TCE Trim tool. To compress or expand MIDI clips in Shuffle mode:
4 With the TCE Trim tool, drag the MIDI clip’s 1 Set the Edit mode to Shuffle.
start or end point to compress or expand the clip
freely A new MIDI clip is automatically cre- 2 Set the MIDI or Instrument track to Clips view.
ated, and appears both in the playlist and in the 3 Select TCE Trim tool.
Clips List.
4 With the Time Compression/Expansion Trim
tool, drag the MIDI clip’s start or end point to
Using the Time Compression/ compress or expand the clip freely. A new MIDI
Expansion Trim Tool in Spot clip is automatically created, and appears both
Mode
in the playlist and in the Clips List.
In Spot mode, clicking with the TCE Trim tool in a
clip opens the Spot dialog. You can specify the lo-
cation where you want the clip to start or end, or
the duration of the clip, and the clip is automati-
cally compressed or expanded as specified.

Chapter 34: MIDI Editing 763

 Continuous controller events that can be inserted
Continuous Controller Events and edited in Pro Tools include:
Continuous controller events for MIDI and Instru- • volume
ment tracks are displayed in the form of a line
• pan
graph with a series of editable breakpoints. Con-
troller events for MIDI and Instrument tracks dif- • pitch bend
fer from automation data for audio tracks in that • aftertouch (mono)
the breakpoints are stepped (instead of vector-
• MIDI controllers, 0–127
based), where each breakpoint represents a single
controller event. Polyphonic aftertouch cannot be viewed in
the Edit window. To view polyphonic after-
To show MIDI Controller data for a track, do one of touch in Pro Tools, use the MIDI Event List
the following:
(see Chapter 37, “MIDI Event List”).
 Select the corresponding Track View from the
Track View menu. MIDI controller #7 (volume) and #10 (pan) are
treated by Pro Tools as automation data. This
means that these controller events (along with
Mutes) can be recorded and automated from the
Mix window; in addition, each MIDI or Instrument
track’s automation mode affects how these events
are played back and recorded. While a MIDI
track’s volume, pan, and mute events can be sus-
Instrument track displaying MIDI Volume events in pended, all other controller events in the track al-
MIDI Volume view
ways play. Instrument tracks support both MIDI
 Reveal the corresponding MIDI Controller lane volume, pan, and mute, and audio volume, pan,
under the track. and mute.

To avoid overwriting existing MIDI volume and

pan automation data, record in MIDI Merge mode.
When recording in MIDI Merge mode, existing
volume and pan data play back while recording
new MIDI data.

Continuous controller events (including volume

Controller Type selector
and pan) can be recorded from an external MIDI
Reveal Controller lanes controller (such as a keyboard or control surface),
Instrument track displaying MIDI Volume lane and they can be inserted in a MIDI track’s playlist
using the Pencil tool or any Grabber tool.

764 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Inserting and Editing Controller Setting Resolution for Inserted
Events Controller Events
Continuous controller events can b edited with any When inserting controller events with the Pencil
of the following methods: tool, the density of the events is determined by the
Pencil Tool Resolution When Drawing Controller
 Individual breakpoints can be dragged with any
Data setting in the MIDI Preferences page.
Grabber tool to adjust their location or value.
 A group of selected breakpoints can be scaled To set the Pencil tool resolution:
up or down with any of the Trim tools. 1 Choose Setup > Preferences, then click the
 New controller events can be drawn in with the MIDI tab.
Pencil tool to replace existing events. Events can 2 Type a value (1 to 100 milliseconds) for Pencil
be drawn with the Pencil tool (set to Free Hand, Tool Resolution When Drawing Controller Data.
Line, Triangle, Square, or Random).
3 Click OK.
 Controller events can be cut or copied and
pasted, as well as nudged or shifted. To edit a continuous controller event with the Pen-
cil tool, the controller first has to be added to the
For vertically constrained, fine-resolution Automated MIDI Controllers list.
editing of any control breakpoint,
Command-Shift-click-drag (Mac) or The controller is automatically added to the
Control-Shift-click-drag the breakpoint Automated MIDI Controllers list when you
to the desired value. record controller information from an exter-
nal device.

To copy continuous MIDI controller events To manually enable a continuous controller for
and paste to a different MIDI controller, use automation:
Special Paste (Edit > Paste Special > To 1 Do one of the following:
Current Automation Type). For example, you
• Click the Track View selector for the MIDI or
might want to use the same control data for
Instrument track you want to edit, and select
volume and a cut-off filter, or for pan and
Add/Remove Controller from the controllers
pitch bend. For more information, see “Spe-
submenu.
cial Paste Function for Automation Data” on
page 1160.

Edits to volume data affect all tracks within

an enabled Edit Group. This is not the case,
however, for other controller playlists (such
as pan). To insert and edit other controller
types across all tracks in an Edit Group,
press the Control key (Mac) or Start key
(Windows) while performing the edits.

Selecting Add/Remove Controllers from the Track

View selector

Chapter 34: MIDI Editing 765

 • If Controller lanes are revealed under the MIDI 3 Select the controller that you want to automate
or Instrument track you want to edit, click the from the list on the left, and click Add. The se-
Controller Type selector for the Controller lane lected controller is added to the Automated
under the track and select Add/Remove Control- MIDI Controllers list on the right.
ler from the controllers submenu.

Automated MIDI Controllers dialog

Selecting Add/Remove Controllers from the Controller
Type selector on a Controller lane 4 Repeat steps 2 and 3 as necessary until you have
2 In the Automated MIDI Controllers dialog, se- added all of the MIDI controllers you want for
lect the MIDI Controllers range for the control- automation.
ler you want to automate. 5 To remove a controller from the Automated
MIDI Controllers list, select it in the list on the
Right and click Remove.
6 Click OK to close the Automated MIDI Control-
ler dialog.

When you record continuous controller infor-

mation from an external MIDI device, the
Selecting the MIDI Controllers range controller is automatically added to the MIDI
Controllers list.

766 Pro Tools Reference Guide

MIDI Controller Numbers Shown
in Track View and Controller
Lane Selectors
MIDI Continuous Controller (CC) numbers are
shown in parenthesis in the Track View and Con-
troller Lane selectors. Aside from common con-
troller number assignments like “Mod Wheel” (1), Clip boundaries shown around MDI control data in
Mod Wheel Track view
“Volume” (7), or “Sustain Pedal” (64), many
MIDI continuous controllers are simply “unas-
signed” in the standard MIDI specification. This
Keyboard Shortcuts for
can be confusing if you are editing data for several
Navigating MIDI
“unassigned” or otherwise generic continuous con-
trollers, so by having the controller number always
shown next to the name in parenthesis, you can Using Tab to Transients with
easily see which continuous controller you are ed-
MIDI Clips and MIDI Notes
iting. Tab to Transients works with MIDI clips and
MIDI notes and MIDI CC events on MIDI and In-
strument tracks much like it does with audio clips
and audio transients on audio tracks.

Tab to Transients Disabled

When Tab to Transients is disabled, pressing Tab

moves the insertion point to the next MIDI clip
boundary regardless of the track view (just like
with audio clips).
MIDI CC numbers shown in Track View and
Controller Lane selectors (in addition to the
standard name, if any)

Clip Boundaries Shown in MIDI

Control Automation Track Views
When working on Instrument and MIDI tracks in
any MIDI Controller Automation view (such as
Velocity, Pitch Bend, or Mod Wheel) Clip bound-
aries are displayed. This provides context for note
and MIDI Controller data visible on the track as
you are editing. MIDI clip boundaries are also
shown in MIDI Editor windows. This is useful for
navigating various MIDI views when editing and
Insertion point tabbed to next clip boundary on a MIDI
arranging MIDI clips and MIDI data.
track in notes view (Tab to Transients disabled)

Chapter 34: MIDI Editing 767

 Tab to Transients Enabled Tabbing to Notes and MIDI CC Events in
Notes View with Controller Lanes
When Tab to Transients is enabled, pressing Tab Shown
moves the Edit insertion to the beginning of the
next note on, note off, or clip boundary regardless When a MIDI or Instrument track is set to Notes
of the track view (just like with audio transients), view and Tab to Transients is enabled, press the
but does not make note selections. Tab key to move to the next MIDI note or MIDI
CC event (such as MIDI CC 64 Sustain Pedal)
shown in a revealed controller lane. Press Op-
tion+Tab (Mac) or Alt+Tab (Windows) to move to
the previous note or MIDI event.

Insertion point tabbed to next MIDI event on a MIDI

track in notes view (Tab to Transients enabled)

Press Option+Tab (Mac) or Alt+Tab (Win-

dows) to move the insertion point to the pre-
vious clip boundary or MIDI event.

In Notes view with MIDI controller lanes shown and

Hold the Shift key while pressing Tab—or
Tab to Transients enabled, Tab to move to a MIDI CC
Option+Tab (Mac) or Alt+Tab (Windows)— event
to move the insertion point and make or ex-
tend the edit selection.

768 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Tabbing to MIDI CC Events in MIDI CC Using the Arrow Keys in Notes
Track Views or Velocity View or in MIDI
Editor Windows
When a MIDI or Instrument track is set to any
MIDI Controller track view and Tab to Transients In Notes or Velocity view on MIDI and Instrument
is enabled, press the Tab key to move to the next tracks, or in MIDI Editor windows, you can use the
MIDI event shown in that track view. Press Op- Arrow Keys (with or without modifier keys) to
tion+Tab (Mac) or Alt+Tab (Windows) to move to navigate, select, transpose, or trim MIDI notes, or
the previous MIDI event. edit velocities.

Navigating Notes

Use the Left and Right Arrow keys to navigate to

and select the previous or the next note.

In Pitch Bend view, moving from one pitch bend event

to the next using the Tab to Transients

In Notes view, moving from one note to the next using

the Right Arrow key

For MIDI and Instrument tracks in Notes view

where any MIDI Controller lanes shown, the
Left and Right Arrow keys only navigate
through MID notes and skip all MIDI CC
events shown in any Controller lane.

Chapter 34: MIDI Editing 769

 Selecting Notes Use the Shift key with the Left and Right Arrow
keys to select more than a single note in a chord.
Hold the Shift key while using the Left and Right
Arrow keys to extend the note selection.

In Notes view, selecting the notes of a chord using the

Right Arrow key while holding the Shift key

Transposing MIDI Notes with the Arrow

Keys

Use the Up and Down Arrow keys, with or without

additional key modifiers, to transpose selected
MIDI notes up and down on MIDI and Instrument
tracks in Notes or Velocity view, or in MIDI Editor
In Notes view, selecting notes using the Right Arrow
key while holding the Shift key windows.

Navigating and Selecting Notes in To transpose selected notes up or down by

Chords semitones:

When navigating through chords with the Left and  Press the Up Arrow to transpose up or the Down
Right Arrow keys, each note in the chord is recog- Arrow to transpose down a semitone.
nized as a single event. This lets you move through
each note in the chord, selecting each individually. To transpose selected notes up or down by an
octave:

 Press Shift+Up Arrow to transpose up or

Shift+Down Arrow to transpose down by an oc-
tave.

To transpose notes in key according to Key

markers in the Key ruler:

 Press Control+Up/Down Arrows (Mac) or

Start+Up/Down Arrows (Windows).

To duplicate and transpose selected notes up or

down by semitone:

 Press Option+Up/Down Arrows (Mac) or

In Notes view, navigating the notes of a chord with the Alt+Up/Down Arrows (Windows).
Right Arrow key

770 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To duplicate and transpose selected notes up or To trim the note on value of selected notes
down by octave: incrementally by the current grid value, do one of
the following:
 Press Option+Shift+Up/Down Arrows (Mac) or
Alt+Shift+Up/Down Arrows (Windows).  Press Option+Control+Left Arrow (Mac) or
Alt+Start+Left Arrow (Windows) to lengthen
To duplicate notes when transposing in key (to selected notes.
create chords):
 Press Option+Control+Right Arrow (Mac) or
1 Press Control+Option+Up/Down Arrows Alt+Start+Right Arrow (Windows) to shorten
(Mac) or Start+Alt+Up/Down Arrows (Win- selected notes.
dows) to duplicate the notes in key.
2 Then Press Control+Up/Down Arrows (Mac) or To trim the note off value of selected notes
incrementally by the next larger grid value of the
Start+Up/Down Arrows (Windows) to trans- current grid value, do one of the following:
pose the duplicate notes to the desired chord
tone in the key.  Press Option+Control+Shift+Left Arrow (Mac)
or Alt+Start+Shift+Left Arrow (Windows) to
3 Repeat steps 1 and 2 to add more notes to the shorten selected notes.
chord.
 Press Option+Control+Shift+Right Arrow
Trimming MIDI Notes with the Arrow (Mac) or Alt+Start+Shift+Right Arrow (Win-
Keys dows) to lengthen selected notes.

Use the Left and Right Arrow keys with key mod- Editing MIDI Note Velocities with the
ifiers to trim selected MIDI notes on MIDI and In- Arrow Keys
strument tracks in Notes or Velocity view, or in
MIDI Editor windows. Use the Up and Down Arrow keys with key modi-
fiers to change the velocities of selected MIDI
To trim the note off value of selected notes notes on MIDI and Instrument tracks in Notes or
incrementally by the current grid value, do one of Velocity view, or in MIDI Editor windows.
the following:

 Press Option+Left Arrow (Mac) or Alt+Left To increase or decrease the velocities of selected
notes in increments of 5:
Arrow (Windows) to shorten selected notes.
 Press Command+Up/Down Arrow (Mac) or
 Press Option+Right Arrow (Mac) or Alt+Right
Control+Up/Down Arrow (Windows).
Arrow (Windows) to lengthen selected notes.
To increase or decrease the velocities of selected
To trim the note off value of selected notes notes in increments of 15:
incrementally by the next larger grid value of the
current grid value, do one of the following:  Press Command+Shift+Up/Down Arrow (Mac)
or Control+Shift+Up/Down Arrow (Windows).
 Press Option+Shift+Left Arrow (Mac) or
Alt+Shift+Left Arrow (Windows) to shorten se-
lected notes.
 Press Option+Shift+Right Arrow (Mac) or
Alt+Shift+Right Arrow (Windows) to lengthen
selected notes.

Chapter 34: MIDI Editing 771

 Default Program Change
Patch Select (Program and
Bank Changes) The default program change for each MIDI track is
specified by clicking on the Patch Select button,
Each MIDI and Instrument track can have a default from either the Mix or Edit window. Once speci-
program change that is sent each time the track fied, the default program change message is sent to
plays. Additional program changes can be inserted your instrument when playing the track.
at any point within the track.
To set the default program change for a MIDI or
Program changes are sent to external Instrument track:
MIDI devices. Instrument plug-ins in
1 From the Mix or Edit window, click the Patch
Pro Tools do not respond to program
Select button.
change information.

About Program and Bank

Changes
The MIDI protocol lets you choose from a range of
128 programs (0–127). However, most MIDI in-
struments have several banks of 128 programs. To
specify a bank, a bank select message must be sent.
Some instruments use Controller 0 to switch the
bank while others use Controller 32; some use a
combination of the two. The Patch Select dialog in
Pro Tools lets you use either of these bank select
messages when inserting a program change event.
Refer to the manufacturer’s documentation for
your MIDI device to see which Controller value it
uses.
Patch Select buttons
If you do not know what bank select command
2 Do one of the following:
your instrument uses, you can record MIDI to
Pro Tools while making a bank change from • In the Patch Select dialog, select a program
the instrument. Then review the bank select number.
information your instrument has recorded
into Pro Tools in the MIDI Event List.

Some older MIDI devices (such as the Kurz-

weil K1000) use a program change instead of
a Bank Select message to switch banks. For
these devices you may find it necessary to send
two program change messages to access a
particular program, where the first sets the
Patch Select dialog
bank and the second sets the program.

772 Pro Tools Reference Guide

• If you are using patch name files, select a patch To import MIDI patch names into Pro Tools:
name (see “MIDI Patch Names” on page 773). 1 Choose Setup > MIDI > MIDI Studio.
3 Click Done. 2 Do one of the following depending on your
computer platform:
Once selected, the program number (or patch
name) appears in the Patch Select button in the • On Mac, verify the MIDI Device name in the
Edit window. MIDI Studio window (see “MIDI Studio Setup
(Mac)” on page 145).
• On Windows, verify the MIDI Device name in
the MIDI Studio Setup window (see “MIDI Stu-
dio Setup (Windows)” on page 147).

For information on configuring MIDI on

Patch Select button, Edit window Windows and Mac systems, see Chapter 10,
Unlike recorded and inserted program change “Configuring MIDI.”
events, the default program change does not ap-
3 Verify the Instrument or MIDI track output is
pear in the track’s playlist.
correctly assigned to the MIDI device.
To clear the default program change, select None 4 Click the Instrument or MIDI track Patch Select
in the Patch Select dialog. button.

MIDI Patch Names

Pro Tools supports XML (Extensible Markup Lan-
guage) for storing and importing patch names for
external MIDI devices (such as MIDI instru-
ments). Pro Tools installs MIDI patch name files
(.midnam) for the factory default patch names of
many common MIDI devices. Patch Select button, Edit window

MIDI patch name files (.midnam) can be ed-

ited in any text editor, or you can use third-
party patch librarian and editor software to
create your own custom patch names.

On Mac, these files reside in /Library/Audio/ Patch Select button, Mix window
MIDI Patch Names/Avid.

On Windows, these files reside in Program Files\

Common Files\Avid\Pro Tools\MIDI Patch
Names\.

Chapter 34: MIDI Editing 773

 5 In the Patch Select dialog, click Change. 9 For MIDI devices that have multiple banks of
patches, select which bank of patches you want
from the Bank pop-up menu.

Change button
Patch Select dialog

6 In the Open dialog, do one of the following:

• On Mac, navigate to /Library/Audio/MIDI
Patch Names/Avid/<name of manufacturer>,
and select the MIDI Patch Name file (.mid-
Choosing a bank in Patch Select dialog
nam) for the MIDI device.
• On Windows, navigate to Program Once patch names have been imported into
Files\Common Files\Avid\Pro Tools\MIDI Pro Tools, they are available for that MIDI device
Patch Names\<name of manufacturer>, and in all sessions.
select the MIDI Patch Name file (.midnam)
To clear patch names:
for the MIDI device.
1 In the Patch Select dialog, click the Clear but-
7 Select the MIDI Patch Name file (.midnam) for
ton.
the MIDI device.
2 Click Done.
8 Click Open. The Patch Select dialog is popu-
lated by patch names from the selected file.
Inserting and Editing Program
Changes
Program changes can be inserted into a track’s
playlist with the Pencil tool. Existing program
changes can be edited, moved, and copied and
pasted.

On some instruments, changing programs

during playback can interrupt playback. To
avoid this, place program change events in
the track where there are no notes sounding.

Patch Select dialog with patch names

774 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To insert a program change with the Pencil tool: If the Edit mode is set to Grid, the dragged event
1 Do one of the following: snaps to the nearest Grid boundary. If the Edit
mode is set to Spot, the Spot dialog opens.
• Set the MIDI or Instrument track to Program
Change view. The placement of program changes can also
• Reveal the Controller lane for the MIDI or In- be adjusted with Shift (see “Shift Command”
strument track and show Program Change. on page 907) or Nudge (see “Nudging Clips”
on page 659).
2 If you want the inserted event to snap to a Grid
value, enable Grid mode. To delete a program change event:

3 Click with the Pencil tool in the track’s playlist 1 With the Track View or Controller lane set to
at the point where you want to insert the pro- Program Change view, click the program
gram change. change event with any Grabber tool to select it.

4 In the Patch Select dialog, select a program If the clip contains other events you want to
number (or patch name) and, if necessary, spec- delete, you can delete the clip and the Pro-
ify a bank change value. gram Change event will also be deleted.
5 Click Done to insert the program change event 2 Do one of the following:
in the track’s playlist.
• Choose Edit > Clear to remove the selected
events from the track.
• Press Delete (Mac) or Backspace (Windows).

Individual program change events can also

be deleted by Option-clicking (Mac) or Alt-
Program change event clicking (Windows) them with the Pencil tool.
To edit a program change event:
Auditioning Programs
1 With the Pencil tool or any Grabber tool, dou-
ble-click the program change event you want to When the Patch Select dialog is open, Pro Tools
edit. can automatically scroll through the different
patches for a track’s assigned MIDI device.
2 In the Patch Select dialog, select the new pro-
gram number, or name and specify a bank To audition patches:
change value (if necessary).
1 If you want to audition patches for a MIDI track
3 Click Done. or Instrument during playback, click Play in the
Transport.
To move a program change event:
2 Open the Patch Select dialog by clicking the
 With the Pencil tool or any Grabber tool, drag Patch Select button, or by inserting or editing a
the program change event left or right. program change event in a MIDI or Instrument
track.

Chapter 34: MIDI Editing 775

 3 Click a program number (or patch name)—the To record a Sysex event:
starting point from which you will scroll 1 Create a new MIDI track.
through the patches.
2 Set the MIDI track Input to the MIDI port to
4 Type a value for the number of seconds that will which your MIDI device is connected.
elapse between each program change.
3 Configure your MIDI device to send Sysex
5 Select the Increment Patch option. (such as a bulk dump).
After the specified number of seconds, Pro Tools 4 Start recording in the Transport.
selects the next patch and transmits the program
change to the track’s assigned MIDI output. To begin recording the Sysex transfer from
your MIDI device at the Timeline insertion
6 When you are finished auditioning settings, de- point, enable Wait For Note.
select the Increment Patch option and select the
program number (or patch name) you want and 5 Start the Sysex transfer from your MIDI device.
click Done.
6 When the Sysex transfer from your MIDI de-
vice is complete, click Stop in the Transport.

System Exclusive Events To move a Sysex event:

System Exclusive (Sysex) events can be recorded 1 Do one of the following:

to MIDI or Instrument tracks in Pro Tools (see • Set the MIDI or Instrument track to Sysex view.
“MIDI Step Input” on page 556). Once the events
are recorded, they appear in the track’s playlist as • Reveal the Controller lane for the MIDI or In-
blocks when the Track View is set to Sysex or a strument track and show Sysex.
Controller lane set to Sysex is shown. 2 With any Grabber tool, drag the Sysex event left
or right.

If the Edit mode is set to Grid, the dragged event

snaps to the nearest Grid boundary. If the Edit
mode is set to Spot, the Spot dialog opens.

Sysex event block, Sysex view shown The placement of Sysex event blocks can
also be adjusted with Shift (see “Shift
While the contents of recorded System Exclusive Command” on page 907) or Nudge (see
events cannot be directly edited in Pro Tools, the “Nudging Clips” on page 659).
events can be moved or nudged, copied and pasted,
or deleted.

776 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To delete one or more Sysex events: To enable Note Chasing for a MIDI track:
1 Do one of the following:  Click the track’s Playlist selector and select the
• Set the MIDI or Instrument track to Sysex view. Note Chasing option.

• Reveal the Controller lane for the MIDI or In-

strument track and show Sysex.
2 Do one of the following:
• Choose Edit > Clear to remove the selected
events from the track.
• Press Delete (Mac) or Backspace (Windows).

Individual Sysex event blocks can also be

deleted by Option-clicking (Mac) or Alt-
clicking (Windows) them with the Pencil
Note Chasing enabled in Playlist selector
tool.
Make sure to disable Note Chasing when working
with samplers that are playing loops. If a MIDI
Note and Controller Chasing track, for example, is triggering a 4-bar drum loop
and you begin playing at bar 3, the loop will begin
Note Chasing playing at the wrong time and be out of synchroni-
zation with the other tracks.
Note Chasing allows long, sustained MIDI notes to
be heard when playing from a point after their start
time. For example, if a note’s start time is at Controller and Program Chasing
1|1|000 and lasts for 8 measures (until 9|1|000), Pro Tools always chases continuous controller
note chasing lets you begin playing from bar 5 and events and program changes for MIDI tracks. This
still hear the note that started at 1|1|000 as it con- ensures that controller values and patches for
tinues to sustain until 9|1|000. MIDI devices are always set correctly.
Note Chasing is an option that can turned on and For example, suppose a MIDI track lasting 32
off individually for each MIDI or Instrument track. measures starts with a MIDI volume of 127 and in
By default, new MIDI and Instrument tracks have the last bar fades down to 0. If after playing the
Note Chasing enabled. track in its entirety you attempt to play from bar 8,
the initial MIDI volume of 127 is chased and sent
to the track’s assigned device—otherwise the track
would not be heard since the most recent volume
event sent would have been 0.

Chapter 34: MIDI Editing 777

 Chasing also occurs for a MIDI track’s default pro- Global MIDI Playback Offset
gram change, along with any program change
Pro Tools provides a preference for MIDI offset
events residing within the track. Therefore, if you
that lets MIDI and Instrument tracks play back ear-
have chosen a default program change for a track,
lier or later (than audio tracks) by the specified
when playing from any point within the track, the
number of samples. The offset affects playback
program change event is sent to the track’s as-
only and does not alter in any way how MIDI data
signed device.
is displayed in the Edit window.

Default Controller Values and This capability is provided in large part to compen-
Chasing sate for the audio monitoring latency in host-based
Pro Tools. If you are monitoring the output of ex-
Though new MIDI tracks appear to have default
ternal MIDI instruments with an external mixer or
values for continuous controller playlists, this is
sound system (or headphones), there is no latency.
actually not the case. For example, when viewing a
If, however, you are monitoring the output of your
MIDI track’s Mod Wheel playlist, you’ll see that
MIDI devices through a Pro Tools interface (such
the breakpoint line is set to a default of zero. How-
as 003 family devices), your MIDI tracks sound
ever, since the modulation wheel on your MIDI
slightly later than your audio tracks. The larger the
controller may be purposely set to a different
setting for the H/W Buffer Size (128, 256, 512, or
value, the default value in the track is not transmit-
1024 samples), the larger the latency.
ted when playing.
By configuring the Global MIDI Playback Offset
For example, if you record Mod Wheel automation
setting, you can align your MIDI tracks to play
that changes from 0–90 towards the end of the
back slightly earlier (by a specified number of
track, and you then play from the beginning of the
samples), thereby compensating for any latency
track, or from anywhere before the change, having
when monitoring audio in Pro Tools host-based
the Mod Wheel value remains at 90 until the 0
systems.
value is reached is not likely to be what you want.

To ensure that the default controller value for a To configure the Global MIDI Playback Offset:
playlist is sent (and chased), click the initial break- 1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click the MIDI
point at the beginning of the track, move it slightly, tab.
and set it back to the default value.
2 Enter the number of samples (–10,000 to
10,000) for the Global MIDI Playback Offset set-
ting. A negative value causes the MIDI tracks to
Offsetting MIDI Tracks play back earlier than the audio tracks; a posi-
Pro Tools can offset MIDI tracks globally or indi- tive value causes the MIDI tracks to play back
vidually. later.

When Delay Compensation is active, MIDI To allow for monitoring latency in Pro Tools host-
and Instrument tracks are automatically de- based systems, set the offset to a value that is
lay-compensated to provide low latency mon- roughly equivalent to the H/W Buffer Size.
itoring. For more information, see “Delay
Compensation for MIDI” on page 1086.

778 Pro Tools Reference Guide

3 Click OK. To configure a MIDI or Instrument track offset for a
track:
The Global MIDI Playback Offset can also be 1 Choose Event > MIDI Track Offsets.
set from the MIDI Track Offsets window. You
can also apply MIDI Real-Time Properties
delay to offset MIDI (see “MIDI Real-Time
Properties” on page 780).

Individual MIDI and Instrument Track

Offsets

You can offset individual MIDI and Instrument

track offsets in Pro Tools to compensate for delays
in MIDI devices (the time it takes to trigger events
on a sampler or synth).

For example, if you have some kick drums that are MIDI Track Offsets window
being played by an audio track in Pro Tools and
2 Click in the Sample Offset column for the MIDI
want them to be exactly synchronized with kick
or Instrument track and enter the number of
drums that are being played by a MIDI device, you
samples (–10,000 to 10,000) for the offset. A
may need to use a MIDI offset. In this example, it
negative value causes the MIDI or Instrument
will usually take at least 5 ms to trigger the MIDI
tracks to play back earlier than the audio tracks;
notes, and it could take even longer, depending on
a positive value causes the MIDI or Instrument
the MIDI device.
tracks to play back later.
You can measure the latency for a MIDI device as-
The equivalent offset in milliseconds is displayed
signed to a MIDI track by recording its audio out-
in the msec Offset column. This value cannot be
put back into Pro Tools. Compare the sample loca-
edited, but updates when a new value is entered in
tions for the recorded audio events against the
the Sample Offset column.
original MIDI notes to calculate the latency.
3 Press Return (Mac) or Enter (Windows) to ac-
cept the entered offset value.

To reset all offsets for all MIDI and Instrument

tracks, click the Reset button in the upper left of
the window.

Approximate offset
in samples
Audio Transient recorded
from MIDI device
MIDI Note On

Measuring MIDI latency

Chapter 34: MIDI Editing 779

 Stuck Notes MIDI Real-Time Properties
If you encounter stuck notes with any of your MIDI Real-Time Properties let you change some
MIDI devices, you can silence them with the All MIDI properties of MIDI and Instrument tracks (or
MIDI Notes Off command. MIDI clips) during playback. There are five types
of MIDI Real-Time Properties: Quantize, Dura-
To turn off all stuck notes: tion, Delay, Velocity, and Transpose.
 Choose Event > All MIDI Notes Off.
MIDI Real-Time Properties can be adjusted during
Press Command+Shift+Period (.) (Mac) or playback, so you can listen to the results. Once you
Control+Shift+Period (.) (Windows) for the have found the settings you want, you can write the
All MIDI Notes Off command. settings to the selected tracks or clips. This over-
writes the corresponding MIDI properties on se-
lected tracks or clips and resets the Real-Time
Remove Duplicate Notes Properties display to its default settings.

The Remove Duplicate Notes command is used to Real-Time Properties can be adjusted in the Real-
remove duplicate MIDI notes. If a note starts Time Properties view in the Edit window, or in the
within the first 25% of the duration of a note of the Real-Time Properties window.
same pitch which is already sounding (or within an
For MIDI Real-Time Properties to apply to
eighth-note, whichever is shorter), it is considered
incoming MIDI data with MIDI Thru
a duplicate and is combined with the previous note.
enabled, the corresponding MIDI and
If it starts later than that, the first note is shortened
Instrument tracks must be record-enabled.
so that it ends at the same tick at which the new one
starts.
Real-Time Properties View
To remove duplicate notes: Real-Time Properties view in the Edit window
1 Make an Edit selection including the duplicate only applies to tracks. To apply Real-Time Proper-
notes you want to remove. ties to clips, use the Real-Time Properties window
(see “Real-Time Properties Window” on
2 Choose Event > Remove Duplicate Notes.
page 781).

To enable Real-Time Properties view in the Edit

window:

 Select View > Edit Window > Real-Time

Properties.

Real-Time Properties column in the Edit window

780 Pro Tools Reference Guide

For Micro, Mini, and Small track heights, the Real- The Real-Time Properties window can be used to
Time Properties column only displays one or two apply either track-based or clip-based Real-Time
properties, accordingly. The first one or two prop- Properties by making an Edit selection and select-
erties that are enabled are displayed automatically. ing tracks or clips from the Apply To pop-up
menu.
To select a different Real-Time Property in Mini or
Small track height view: Expanded Real-Time Properties Window
 Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win- In the Real-Time Properties window, Quantize,
dows) on a real-time property element to select Duration, and Velocity each provide an expand/
a different element from the pop-up menu. collapse triangle to show or hide additional set-
tings.

Real-Time Properties pop-up menu with Mini Track Expand/collapse

Height triangles

Real-Time Properties Window

Using the Real-Time Properties window, you can
apply Real-Time Properties to selected tracks or
clips.

To open the Real-Time Properties window:

 Choose Event > MIDI Real-Time Properties.

Real-Time Properties window, expanded view

Enabling Real-Time Properties

To enable Real-Time Properties:
1 Select a track, or make an Edit selection.

When using Real-Time Properties, enable

Link Track and Edit Selection mode to make a
Real-Time Properties window with properties enabled
track selection from an Edit selection (see
“Linking or Unlinking Track and Edit Selec-
tions” on page 631).

Chapter 34: MIDI Editing 781

 2 In Real-Time Properties view in the Edit win- Quantize Pop-Up Menu Select the quantize value,
dow, or in the Real-Time Properties window, se- including all standard note rhythm values between
lect Real-Time Properties by clicking the whole notes and 64th notes, including dotted and
property name (Quantize, Duration, Delay, Ve- triplet options. This pop-up menu also provides ac-
locity, or Transpose). Enabled Real-Time Prop- cess to all standard and custom groove templates.
erties are highlighted and display their settings.
3 If you are using the Real-Time Properties win-
dow and Link Track and Edit Selection mode is
enabled, select the track or clip to affect from
the Apply To pop-up menu.
4 Configure the Real-Time Properties settings
(see “Real-Time Properties Settings” on
page 782).

Enabled Real-Time Properties are heard on play- Selecting a Grid Quantize value or a Groove Template
back and play through for the selected tracks and
clips. Swing Value Enter the amount of swing as a per-
centage between 0 and 300%.

Tuplet Value Enable Tuplet and enter the ratio for

Real-Time Properties the tuplet (1–99), such as 3 to 2 or 5 to 4. Tuplet is
Settings only available in the expanded Real-Time Proper-
ties window.
Quantize
Offset Value Enable Offset and enter the offset
Quantize either can be based on a grid or a groove value in Ticks between –2000 and 2000. Offset is
template. For grid quantize, additional tuplet and only available in the expanded Real-Time Proper-
grid offset settings are available in addition to the ties window.
standard MIDI quantize properties. For groove
quantize, additional controls are provided to set the Strength Value Enable Strength and enter the
extent to which the groove’s duration and veloci- amount as a percentage between 0 and 100%.
ties are applied. Both grid and groove quantize also Strength is only available in the expanded Real-
let you set a strength amount, an “include” range, Time Properties window.
and a randomize amount. Include Enable Include and enter the range be-
Quantize cannot be applied as a Real-Time
tween 0 and 100%. Include is only available in the
Property to MIDI Input and Thru.
expanded Real-Time Properties window.

Random Enable Random and enter a percentage

between 0 and 100%. Random is only available in
the expanded Real-Time Properties window.

782 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Duration Duration Amount

Duration can be used to increase or decrease the If the Ticks/Notes pop-up menu is set to ticks, en-
duration of MIDI notes by a fixed amount or by a ter a duration as a number of quarter notes plus a
percentage. This is useful for creating legato or number of ticks, such as 4|000. If the Ticks/Notes
staccato passages. pop-up menu is set to a note size, enter a number to
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.

Selecting a Duration mode Real-Time Properties Ticks/Notes pop-up menus

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
Scale Select to scale the current duration of each window.
note by a percentage from 1 to 400%.

Legato/Gap Select to extend each note to the fol-

lowing note. The specified duration is the sub-
tracted to create a consistent gap between notes.

Legato/Overlap Select to extend each note to the

following note. The specified duration is then
added to create a consistent amount of overlap.

Chapter 34: MIDI Editing 783

 Delay Transpose
Delay lets you delay or advance all MIDI data in Transpose lets you transpose MIDI notes up or
the selected clip or track. Select “+” from the De- down by a specified number of octaves and semi-
lay pop-up menu to delay MIDI data, or select “–” tones, or in key by scale steps (based on the Key
to advance MIDI data. Select Ticks or Millisec- Signature ruler). You can also transpose to a spec-
onds (MS) from the Ticks/Milliseconds pop-up ified pitch. Select By, To, or In from the Transpose
menu. Enter the Delay amount in Tick or Millisec- pop-up menu to transpose by an interval, to a spe-
ond values. Delay is limited to a maximum of cific pitch, or in key by scale steps.
value of 2000 ms or 999 ticks.
To transpose by an interval, enter the number of
octaves and semitones as a positive or negative
numbers.

To transpose to a specific pitch, enter the MIDI

note name.

To transpose in key by scale steps, enter the num-

ber of steps as a positive or negative numbers. For
example, enter +2 to transpose up by thirds in key
Real-Time Properties Ticks/Milliseconds pop-up (a unison plus a second equals a third).
menus
Transpose can be applied as a Real-Time
Property to MIDI Input and Thru on record-
Duration cannot be applied as a Real-Time
enabled MIDI and Instrument tracks.
Property to MIDI Input and Thru.

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.

784 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Writing Real-Time Properties
to Tracks or Clips
Indicates Indicates
track-based clip-based
Real-Time Properties Real-Time Properties
Once you have found the settings you want, you
can write Real-Time Properties to the selected
tracks or clips using the Real-Time Properties win-
dow. Real-Time Properties are applied to the cur-
rent MIDI data on the track or in a clip.
Track-based and clip-based Real-Time Property
indicators To write Real-Time Properties to tracks:

Clip-Based Real-Time Properties 1 Enable Link Track and Edit Selection.

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 785). 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 Configure the Real-Time Property settings.

5 Click the Write to Clip button.

Chapter 34: MIDI Editing 785

 To clear Real-Time Properties from a clip: To enable or disable the Display Events as
Modified by Real-Time Properties option:
1 Select the clip for which you want to clear Real-
Time Properties. 1 Choose Setup > Preferences, and click the MIDI
tab.
2 Open the Real-Time Properties window (Event
> MIDI Real-Time Properties). 2 Enable or disable the Display Events as Modi-
fied by Real-Time Properties option.
3 Select Clips from the Real-Time Properties Ap-
ply To pop-up menu. 3 Click OK.

4 Click the Clear Clip Properties button. Real-Time Properties Effects Displayed in the
MIDI Event List

The MIDI Event List takes into account the effect

Real-Time Properties In the of Real-Time Properties whenever the Display
MIDI Event List Events as Modified by Real-Time Properties option
In the MIDI Event List, the presence of track- is enabled. When editing or inserting an event in a
based Real-Time Properties are indicated by a “T” track or clip with active Real-Time Properties,
displayed to the right of each event. Clip-based Pro Tools takes the properties into account and ed-
Real-Time Properties are indicated by an “R.” its or inserts the event in a different place if neces-
sary to match the effect of the Real-Time Proper-
For more information on the MIDI Event ties.
List, see Chapter 37, “MIDI Event List.”
Real-Time Properties Effects Displayed in the
Edit Window
Display of Real-Time MIDI events appear where they sound in the Edit
Properties Effects window, MIDI Editor windows, and the Score Ed-
The Display Events as Modified by the Real-Time itor window, with the Display Events as Modified
Properties option determines if Pro Tools displays by Real-Time Properties option enabled in the
the effects of Real-Time Properties in both the Edit MIDI preferences. However, MIDI events are not
window, MIDI Editor windows, the Score Editor actually written to their modified locations until
window, and the MIDI Event List. The Edit win- you write the Real-Time Properties to the track or
dow, MIDI Editor windows, the Score Editor win- clip.
dow, and the MIDI Event List all display the ef-
When moving MIDI events, the actual locations
fects of Real-Time Properties when the Display
(pitch or time) move by the amount the events are
Events as Modified by Real-Time Properties option
dragged, but the effect of Real-Time Properties is
is enabled. With this option disabled, the effects of
displayed.
Real-Time Properties are heard but not seen—you
see the notes and other MIDI events at their origi- When inserting an event in a track or clip with ac-
nal locations, pitches, durations, and velocities, but tive properties, Pro Tools takes the properties into
you hear them as they are affected by the Real- account and edits or inserts the event in a different
Time Properties settings. place if necessary to match the effect of the Real-
Time Properties.

786 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Chapter 35: MIDI Editors

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

Chapter 35: MIDI Editors 787

 Superimposed MIDI and Instrument Tracks
Opening a MIDI Editor
MIDI Editor windows display and let you edit Window
MIDI data (notes, velocities, and continuous con-
troller data) for one or more MIDI or Instrument To open a MIDI Editor window, do one of the
tracks. When displaying multiple tracks in a MIDI following:
Editor window, MIDI notes from different tracks  Choose Window > MIDI Editor.
are superimposed. MIDI Editor windows can also
show Auxiliary Input tracks.  In the Edit window, Right-click a MIDI clip on
the track, or the track name in the track controls
Automation and Controller Lanes or in the Tracks List, and choose Open In MIDI
Editor.
Velocity, other continuous controller data (MIDI
and Instrument tracks), and automation data (In-  In the Score Editor window, Right-click any-
strument and Auxiliary Input tracks only), can be where on the score, or on a track name in the
edited along with MIDI notes and appear in Con- Tracks List, and choose Open In MIDI Editor.
troller lanes under the Notes pane. Velocities for
Press Control+“=” (Mac) or Start+“=”
MIDI notes on multiple tracks are also superim-
(Windows) to open a MIDI Editor window.
posed in the Velocity lane. However, for all other
automation and controller data, additional lanes
are shown for each automation or controller type If the MIDI Editor option is selected as the
for each track. “Double Clicking a MIDI Clip Opens” set-
ting in the Pro Tools MIDI Preferences, you
For example, if two Instrument tracks are shown in can double-click a MIDI clip to open it in a
a MIDI Editor window, the MIDI notes for each MIDI Editor.
track are superimposed in the Notes pane and the
velocities for each track are superimposed in the To open additional MIDI Editor windows, do one of
Velocity lane. However, you would see two Mod the following:
Wheel Controller lanes, one for each track; and  Deselect the Target button in the open MIDI
you would see two Volume lanes, one for each Editor window and open another MIDI Editor
track. window.
 Right-click in the open MIDI Editor window
and select Open in New MIDI Editor.

To bring an open MIDI Editor window to the front:

 Choose Window > MIDI Editor and select the

MIDI Editor window you want.

To cycle through all open MIDI Editor

windows, press Control+“=” (Mac) or
Start+“=” (Windows) repeatedly until the
window you want is in the front.

788 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Mute
MIDI Editor Window Toolbar
The Mute button lets you mute all the tracks cur-
The MIDI Editor window toolbar is similar to the rently displayed in the MIDI Editor window.
Edit window toolbar, but with a few exceptions.
Each MIDI Editor window and the Edit window Mixed Record-Enable, Mute, and Solo
can be configured independently of one another. States
For example, you can have Notation view enabled
in one MIDI Editor window, but not another; or The Record-enable, Solo, and Mute buttons in
you can have a MIDI Editor window set to Grid MIDI Editor windows are global controls in that
mode, but the Edit window set to Slip mode. You they affect all tracks shown in a MIDI Editor win-
can also customize the toolbar in MIDI Editor win- dow. If you independently record-enable, solo, or
dows. mute tracks in the Edit window that are also shown
in a MIDI Editor window, the appearance of the
Record-enable, Solo, and Mute buttons update to
Record-Enable, Solo, and Mute indicate mixed states. Mixed states occur when
Buttons
one or more tracks shown in the MIDI Editor win-
dow, but not all, are record-enable, soloed, or
muted respectively.

Notation View
In a MIDI editor window, the Record-enable, Solo,
and Mute buttons affect tracks in all windows. The Notation view button lets you view MIDI
They let you either audition the tracks shown in the notes in the MIDI Editor window as music nota-
current MIDI Editor window without the rest of tion. In Notation view, MIDI and Instrument tracks
the mix, or let you hear just the mix without the are not superimposed, but are shown as staves just
tracks shown in the MIDI Editor window. Addi- like in the Score Editor window.
tionally, these buttons provide a quick visual indi-
cation as to whether or not any MIDI or Instrument
tracks are record-enabled, soloed, or muted.

Record-Enable
Notation view enabled in a MIDI Editor window
The Record-enable button lets you record-enable
(or record-disable) all the tracks currently dis- You can access the Notation Display Track
played in the MIDI Editor window. Settings in a MIDI Editor window when in
Notation view. Select the Notation Display
Solo Track Settings option from the Tracks List
menu or Right-click in the Notes pane and se-
The Solo button lets you solo all the tracks cur-
lect the Notation Display Track Settings op-
rently displayed in the MIDI Editor window.
tion from the Right-click menu. For more in-
formation, see “Notation Display Track
Settings” on page 816.

Chapter 35: MIDI Editors 789

 Edit Tools
Play MIDI Notes When Editing, Link Time-
The Edit tools in MIDI Editor windows can be line and Edit Selection, and Mirrored MIDI
viewed as a single tool with a pop-up menu for se- Editing are all global settings that are avail-
lecting other tools, or as an expanded, complete able in the Edit window, MIDI Editor
row of Edit tool icons just like in the Edit window. windows, and in the Score Editor window.
The Edit tools in MIDI Editor windows function
exactly the same way for MIDI data as in the Edit Track Edit Selector
window. Edit tool settings can be set inde-
If more than one MIDI or Instrument track is
pendently in each MIDI Editor window, and are in-
shown in the MIDI Editor window, the Track Edit
dependent of tool selection in the Edit window and
selector lets you select which track is “pencil-en-
Score Editor.
abled.” You can manually insert MIDI notes only
To view the Expanded Edit tools in a MIDI Editor
in pencil-enabled tracks. You can also pencil-en-
window, do one of the following: able tracks in the Tracks List (see “Manually In-
serting MIDI Notes” on page 800).
 Click the MIDI Editor Window Toolbar menu
and select Expanded Edit Tools. Default Note Duration
 Right-click in the toolbar and select Expanded
The Default Note Duration selector lets you define
Edit Tools.
the default note duration for manually inserted
notes.
To revert to the single Edit Tool icon with the Edit
Tool pop-up menu:
Default Note On Velocity
 Deselect Expanded Edit Tools.
The Default Note On Velocity setting lets you de-
fine the default Note On velocity for manually in-
MIDI Editing Controls
serted notes.
The MIDI Editing controls function exactly the
same way in MIDI Editor windows as in the Edit Play MIDI Notes When Editing
window.
When enabled, Play MIDI Notes When Editing
Track Edit selector
causes MIDI notes to sound when you insert them
Default Note Duration with the Pencil tool, click them with the Grabber
Default Note Velocity tool, Tab to them, or select them with the Note Se-
Play MIDI Notes While Editing lector tool.
Mirrored MIDI Editing
Link Timeline and
Edit Selection
Link Timeline and Edit Selection

When this button is enabled, the Timeline and Edit

selections are linked. When it is disabled, you can
MIDI Editing controls make Timeline and Edit selections independently
of one another.

790 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Mirrored MIDI Editing MIDI Input Display
Mirrored MIDI Editing lets you edit MIDI clips The MIDI Input display shows note and chord
and have your edits apply to every copy of the names as they are received by tracks shown in the
same MIDI clip. This can be particularly useful Edit and MIDI Editor windows. For example,
when editing looped MIDI clips. when an Instrument or MIDI track is record-en-
abled and a MIDI controller is assigned to its Input,
If Mirrored MIDI Editing mode is disabled, note names and recognized chords are displayed as
and you edit notes of looped clips in Notes you play your controller.
view, the edit flattens the loop. Similarly, ed-
iting clip groups separates the clip groups.

Edit Modes Display of a single note being played

The Edit modes in MIDI Editor windows function
exactly the same way for MIDI data as in the Edit
window. Edit mode settings are unique to each
MIDI Editor window and are also set inde-
Display of a known chord being played
pendently of the Edit window.

Display of several notes being played simultaneously

that Pro Tools does not recognize as a chord

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:

 Click the MIDI Editor Window Toolbar menu

and select (or deselect) Selection Display.
 Right-click in the toolbar and select (or
deselect) Selection Display.

Chapter 35: MIDI Editors 791

 Grid and Nudge Selectors To enable or disable the Target for a MIDI Editor
window:
When the Expanded Grid/Nudge Display option is
 Click the Target button for the MIDI Editor
enabled in the MIDI Editor Window menu, the
window so that it is highlighted (targeted) or un-
Grid and Nudge selectors in MIDI Editor windows
highlighted (untargeted).
function exactly the same way for MIDI data in
MIDI Editor windows as in the Edit window.

When the Expanded Grid/Nudge Display option is

disabled in the MIDI Editor Window menu, you
can toggle between Grid Display and Nudge Dis-
play using the Grid/Nudge Display selector.

Targeted MIDI Editor window

Grid/Nudge Display selector, selecting Nudge display

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 Commands Keyboard window toolbar.
Focus and control surface focus.

Expanded Edit tools displayed in a MIDI Editor window

792 Pro Tools Reference Guide

When this option is not selected, only the icon for MIDI Input Display
the selected Edit tool is displayed. Any of the other
When selected, the MIDI Input Display option
Edit tools can be selected from the Edit Tool pop-
shows the MIDI Input display in the MIDI Editor
up menu.
window.

Display of a known chord being played

Tracks List

When selected, the Tracks List option displays the

Tracks List in the MIDI Editor window.

Scrolling Submenu

The Scrolling submenu lets you select the scrolling

options for the MIDI Editor window inde-
pendently of other MIDI Editor windows and the
Edit Tool pop-up menu Edit window. The scrolling options include:

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.

Continuous The MIDI Editor window scrolls con-

tinuously past the playback cursor, which remains
Selection display in the center of the window. With this option, play-
back is always based on the Timeline selection
(unlike the Center Playhead Scrolling option).

Chapter 35: MIDI Editors 793

 Center Playhead (Pro Tools Ultimate Only) The Customizable Toolbar
MIDI Editor window scrolls continuously past the
Playhead, which is represented as a blue line in the You can customize the toolbar in MIDI Editor
center of the window (or a red line when record- windows by rearranging, and showing and hiding
ing). the available controls and displays just like in the
Edit window or the Score Editor window.
Follow Edit Window When selected, the MIDI Ed-
itor window follows the scrolling option selected Changing Toolbar Display Options
for the Edit window (Options > Edit Window Scroll-
ing). To change the toolbar display options in a MIDI
Editor window toolbar:

Do one of the following:

Keep MIDI Editor Window On
1

Top • Click the MIDI Editor Window Toolbar menu.

The MIDI Editor window lets you set it to remain • Right-click in the toolbar.
in the foreground even when clicking on and fo- 2 From the pop-up menu, select or deselect any of
cusing another window (such as the Edit or Mix the following:
windows).
• Expanded Edit Tools
Enable the Keep Window On Top option in the • Expanded Grid/Nudge Display
MIDI MIDI Editor window menu to ensure that
• Selection Display
the window remains in the foreground when work-
ing with other windows. When this option is dis-
Rearranging Controls and Displays
abled, clicking on another window (such as the
Edit or Mix windows) brings that window to the You can rearrange the controls and displays in the
front and the MIDI Editor window may be hidden MIDI Editor window toolbar just like in the Edit
behind it. window or the Score Editor window.

To keep the MIDI Editor window always in front of To rearrange controls and displays in a MIDI Editor
all other windows: window toolbar:
 From the MIDI Editor window menu, select the  Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win-
Keep Window On Top option. dows) the controls or displays you want to move
and drag them to the location in the Toolbar you
want.

794 Pro Tools Reference Guide

MIDI Editor Zoom Controls Tracks List
Vertical and Horizontal Zoom In and Out The Tracks List in MIDI Editor windows lets you
Buttons show or hide MIDI, Instrument, and Auxiliary In-
put tracks in the MIDI Editor window. The Tracks
In addition to the Zoom controls in the Toolbar, List settings are unique to each MIDI Editor win-
Pro Tools provides horizontal and vertical zoom dow. However, the order of tracks in the Tracks
buttons in the lower-right corner of MIDI Editor List is global. Sorting or changing the order of
windows. tracks affects the Tracks List in every window.
Vertical Zoom Buttons Zoom the lane heights pro-
Track Show/Hide
portionally for Automation and Controller lanes.
Track Color Code
Horizontal Zoom Buttons Zoom the Timeline just Track Type icon
like the Horizontal Zoom controls in the MIDI Ed- Track name
itor window toolbar. Pencil Enable

Tracks List menu

Tracks List

Tracks List Columns

In MIDI Editor windows there are four columns
for the Tracks List:
Horizontal and Vertical Zoom In and Out buttons

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.

Tracks List Menu

The Tracks List menu lets you show and hide
MIDI, Instrument, and Auxiliary Input tracks in
the MIDI Editor window (see “Showing and Hid-
MIDI Zoom In and Out buttons ing Tracks” on page 796).

Chapter 35: MIDI Editors 795

 The Tracks List menu also lets you sort tracks in All but the top MIDI or Instrument track in the
the Tracks List by Name, Type, Edit Group, Mix Tracks List are hidden. MIDI Editor windows re-
Group, or Voice (see “Sorting Tracks in the Tracks quire that at least one MIDI or Instrument track al-
List” on page 796). ways be shown in the window.

Showing and Hiding Tracks

To hide selected MIDI, Instrument, and Auxiliary
Input tracks in a MIDI Editor window:

To show MIDI, Instrument, and Auxiliary Input 1 In the Tracks List, select the MIDI, Instrument,
tracks in a MIDI Editor window: and Auxiliary Input tracks you want to hide.
 Enable the Track Show/Hide icon in the Tracks 2 From the Tracks List menu, select Hide Se-
List for tracks you want to show in the MIDI lected Tracks.
Editor window.

To show all MIDI, Instrument, and Auxiliary Input Sorting Tracks in the Tracks List
tracks in a MIDI Editor window:
You can sort tracks in the Tracks List by the fol-
 From the Tracks List menu, select Show All lowing criteria:
Tracks.
Name Sorts the order of tracks in the Tracks List
To show only selected MIDI, Instrument, and by Track Name.
Auxiliary Input tracks in a MIDI Editor window:
Type Sorts the order of tracks in the Tracks List by
1 In the Tracks List, select the MIDI, Instrument, Track Type.
and Auxiliary Input tracks you want to show in
the MIDI Editor window. Edit Group Sorts the order of tracks in the Tracks
List by Edit Groups.
2 From the Tracks List menu, select Show Only
Selected Tracks. Mix Group Sorts the order of tracks in the Tracks
List by Mix Groups.
To show all tracks of a single type (MIDI or
Instrument) in a MIDI Editor window: Voice Sorts the order of tracks in the Tracks List by
Voice allocations.
 From the Tracks List menu, choose Show Only,
and select the track type you want.
Tracks List Right-Click Menu
To hide MIDI, Instrument, and Auxiliary Input
tracks in a MIDI Editor window:
In addition to common track management com-
mands, the Tracks List Right-click menu shares
 Disable the Track Show/Hide icon for tracks commands with both the Tracks List menu and the
you want to hide in the MIDI Editor window. Notes Pane Right-click menu.

To hide all (but one) MIDI, Instrument, and To access the MIDI Editor Tracks List Right-click
Auxiliary Input tracks in a MIDI Editor window: menu:
 From the Tracks List menu, select Hide All  Right-click on any Track Name in the Tracks
Tracks. List.

796 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Tracks List Right-click Menu Options
Groups List
The following options are available depending on
the track type (Auxiliary Input, Instrument, or The Groups List in MIDI Editor windows provides
MIDI). the same functionality as in the Edit window. You
can create, edit, and delete Edit Groups using the
Hide Hides the selected track. Groups List in any MIDI Editor window. The
Groups List is linked between the Edit window and
Hide and Make Inactive Hides the selected track
all MIDI Editor windows.
and makes it inactive.
For information on grouping tracks, see
Make Inactive Makes the selected track inactive.
Chapter 15, “Grouping Tracks.”
Export MIDI Exports the selected track as a MIDI
file.
Timebase and Conductor
New Opens the New Track dialog.
Rulers
Rename Renames the selected track. Timebase and Conductor rulers in MIDI Editor
Duplicate Duplicates the selected track. windows function exactly the same as in the Edit
window. However, the Edit window and each
Split into Mono Splits the selected stereo Instru- MIDI Editor window can have a unique view of
ment or Auxiliary Input track into two mono the Timeline in terms of which Timebase and Con-
tracks. ductor rulers are shown, and in terms of zoom level
and time location.
Delete Deletes the selected track.

MIDI Real-Time Properties Opens the MIDI Real-

Time Properties window for the selected track.

Open in New MIDI Editor Opens the tracks dis-

played in the current MIDI Editor window in a new
MIDI Editor window. The new MIDI Editor win-
dow will be untargeted.

Open in Score Editor Opens the shown tracks in

the Score Editor window.

Open in MIDI Event List Opens the selected track

in the MIDI Event List.

Notation Display Track Settings Opens the Nota-

tion Display Track Settings window.

Chapter 35: MIDI Editors 797

 Superimposed Notes View
The Notes pane in MIDI Editor windows lets you view and edit MIDI notes superimposed from different
MIDI and Instrument tracks such that you can easily edit multitrack arrangements in a single constellation
of color-coded notes. The Notes pane lets you edit MIDI notes much the same way as in Notes view on
MIDI and Instrument tracks in the Edit window, except you can edit MIDI notes on multiple MIDI and In-
strument tracks at the same time.

You can also view and edit MIDI notes in Notation view in the Notes pane (see “Notation View”
on page 802).

MIDI Editor window, Notes pane with five superimposed Instrument tracks

Color Coding MIDI Notes

You can color code MIDI notes by Track or by Velocity.

Color Coding by Track

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.

798 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To Color Code MIDI notes by Track:

 Enable the Color Code MIDI Notes By Track button

Color Code MIDI Note By Track Enabled in MIDI Editor window

Color Coding by Velocity

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.

To Color Code MIDI notes by Velocity:

 Enable the Color Code MIDI Notes By Velocity button.

Color Code MIDI Notes By Velocity enabled in MIDI Editor window

No Color Coding

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.

No Color Code enabled in MIDI Editor window

Chapter 35: MIDI Editors 799

 Editing MIDI Notes • Click the Pencil column in the Tracks List to
pencil-enable the track you want.
You can edit any note on any track shown in the
Notes pane. You edit MIDI notes in the Notes pane
the same way as in Notes view for MIDI and In-
strument tracks in the Edit window, except that
notes from different tracks are superimposed.

For more information on editing MIDI notes,

see Chapter 34, “MIDI Editing.”

Manually Inserting MIDI Notes

Using the Pencil tool, you can manually insert “Blad Pad Midi” track pencil-enabled
MIDI notes to any pencil-enabled track shown in 2 With the Pencil tool, click at a time and pitch lo-
the Notes pane. If only one track is viewed in the cation to insert a MIDI note on the pencil-en-
MIDI Editor window, that track will automatically abled track with the default Note On velocity
be pencil-enabled. If multiple superimposed tracks and the selected Default Note Duration.
are shown in the Notes pane, MIDI notes will be
inserted on the pencil enabled tracks only.

For more information on manually inserting

MIDI notes, see “Inserting MIDI Notes” on
page 750.

To insert MIDI notes on a specific track in the

Notes pane:
1 Do one of the following:
• Select the track you want pencil-enabled from
Inserting a MIDI note on track “Inst 3”
the Track Edit selector in the Toolbar.

To pencil-enable multiple contiguous

tracks, Shift-click in the Pencil column of
the range of tracks you want. To pencil-en-
able multiple discontiguous tracks, Com-
mand-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win-
Selecting a track for editing
dows) in the Pencil column of any
additional tracks. Option-click (Mac) or
Only tracks that are currently shown in the
Alt-click (Windows) to pencil-enable all
MIDI Editor window are available in the
tracks. Manually inserted notes are written
Track Edit selector pop-up menu.
to all pencil-enabled tracks.

800 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Cut
Notes Pane Right-Click Menu
The Cut command cuts the current Edit selection.
The Notes Pane Right-click menu provides several
useful commands for editing, exporting, and view- Copy
ing MIDI data.
The Copy command copies the current Edit
To access the MIDI Editor Right-click menu: selection.
 Right-click anywhere in the Notes pane. Paste

The Paste command pastes the clipboard to the

Notes Pane Right-Click Menu
current Edit selection or at the current Edit cursor
Options
location. Any MIDI notes already present at the
Tools same location are overwritten.

The Tools submenu lets you select any Edit tools Merge
relevant to the Score Editor.
The Merge command pastes the clipboard to the
Zoomer Selects the Zoomer tool. current Edit selection or at the current Edit cursor
location and merges the pasted data with any MIDI
Trim Selects the Trim tool.
notes already present at the same location.
Selector Selects the Selector tool.
Clear
Grabber Selects the Grabber tool.
The Clear command clears (deletes) the current
Scrubber Selects the Scrubber tool. Edit selection.
Pencil Selects the Pencil tool. Separate
Smart Selects the Smart tool. The Separate command lets you separate MIDI
Zoomer Tools Lets you select Normal Zoom or notes at the Edit cursor location.
Single Zoom.
Consolidate
Pencil Tools Lets you select any of the Pencil
The Consolidate command lets you consolidate se-
tools.
lected multiple consecutive MIDI notes of the
Insert same pitch.

The Insert submenu lets you insert key changes, Mute Notes
meter changes, and chord symbols at the location
The Mute Notes (or Unmute Notes) command lets
of the Edit cursor.
you mute (or unmute) selected MIDI notes.
Key Inserts a key change.
MIDI Real-Time Properties
Meter Inserts a meter change.
Selecting the MIDI Real-Time Properties option
Chord Inserts a chord symbol. opens the MIDI Real-Time Properties window.

Chapter 35: MIDI Editors 801

 Event Operations Display Notation

The Event Operations submenu lets you select any Selecting the Display Notation option changes the
of the Event Operations windows (such as Quan- MIDI Editor to Notation view. Deselecting this op-
tize or Change Velocity). tion reverts the MIDI Editor to Notes view.

Open In New MIDI Editor

Selecting the Open In New MIDI Editor option Notation View

opens all shown tracks in a new MIDI Editor win- The Notes pane in MIDI Editor windows can also
dow. display MIDI notes in standard music notation.
In Notation view, each MIDI and Instrument track
Open In Score Editor
is displayed independently, with one track per
The Open In Score Editor option opens the shown staff.
tracks in the Score Editor window.
In MIDI Editor windows, notation is displayed as a
Open in MIDI Event List continuous timeline and not in page view as in the
Score Editor window.
The Open In MIDI Event List option opens the se-
lected track in the MIDI Event List. For information on editing notation, see
“Editing Notes” on page 819.

MIDI Editor window, Notes pane in Notation view

802 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To enable Notation view, do one of the following: When the Double Bar option is disabled, there will
 Enable the Notation view button in the MIDI be a number of empty bars at the end of the last
Editor window toolbar. event in the session. The number of empty bars is
determined by the Additional Empty Bars In The
Score Editor setting in the MIDI Preferences page
(Setup > Preferences). Disable the Double Bar op-
tion to manually enter notes in the Score Editor af-
ter the last MIDI clip or event in the session.
Notation view enabled in a MIDI Editor window

 Right-click in the Notes pane and select Notation View Right-Click Menu
Notation View.
When in Notation view, the Notes Pane Right-
Editing in Notation view in a MIDI Editor window click menu provides slightly different options than
works the same way as in the Score Editor win- when in Superimposed Notes view.
dow, but with the advantage of having access to
Velocity, Controller, and Automation lanes. In both views, the following options are available:
• Tools
In Notation view, the Trim tool functions as
• Insert
the Grabber tool when over a note and as the
Note Selector tool when not over a note. • Cut
• Copy
In Notation view, the Edit mode is • Paste
automatically set to Grid and cannot be
• Clear
changed.
• Separate
Double Bar in Notation View • Consolidate
The Double Bar button is only available in Nota- • Mute
tion view. When enabled, the Double Bar option • MIDI Real-Time Properties
shows the final double bar line in the MIDI Editor
• Event Operations
window. The double bar line is located at the end
of the last MIDI clip or event in the session. • Open In New MIDI Editor
• Open In Score Editor
• Open In MIDI Event List.
• Display Notation

In Notation view, the additional Notation Display

Track Settings option is available in the Right-
click menu. Select this option to open the Notation
Double Bar enabled in a MIDI Editor window Display Track Settings dialog and configure the

Chapter 35: MIDI Editors 803

 display settings for tracks in Notation view. For in- To show or hide lanes under the Notes pane:
formation on the Notation Display Track Settings  Click the Show/Hide Lanes button.
dialog, see “Notation Display Track Settings” on
page 816. To add lanes:

 Click the Add Lane button.

Velocity, Controller, and To remove lanes:

Automation Lanes
 Click the Remove Lane button.
MIDI Editor windows let you edit velocities, MIDI
controller data, and automation for all shown To change the Automation or Controller type for a
MIDI, Instrument, and Auxiliary Input tracks in lane:
lanes under the Notes pane. You can move and re-  Click the Automation or Controller Type selec-
size Automation and Controller lanes just like in tor and select the Automation or Controller type
the Edit window. When viewing multiple MIDI you want.
and Instrument tracks, the velocities for notes on
separate tracks are superimposed in a single lane,
just like notes in the Notes pane. However, all
other Controller lanes are grouped by automation
and controller type, and provide individual lanes
for each shown track.

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

804 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Chapter 36: Score Editor

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.

Default Note Duration

Default Note Velocity
Play MIDI Notes While Editing
Mirrored MIDI Editing Score Editor menu
Link Edit and Timeline Selection
Double Bar
Selection
Edit tools Cursor location Grid selector Target

Page controls Zoom controls

Tracks List

Score Editor window

Chapter 36: Score Editor 805

 Opening the Score Editor Edit Tools
Window
The Edit tools in the Score Editor window function
To open the Score Editor window: much the same as in the Edit window, but with a
few differences for editing music notation.
 Choose Window > Score Editor.

Press Option+Control+“=” (Mac) or Zoomer

Alt+Start+“=” (Windows) to show the Score
Use the Zoomer tool to zoom in and out around a
Editor window.
particular area in the score.
To open the Score Editor window with a single
MIDI or Instrument track shown:
The Zoomer tool provides two modes:

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.

To open the Score Editor window with the current

Edit selection shown: Also see “Score Editor Zoom Controls” on
1 In the Edit window or in a MIDI Editor window, page 815
make an Edit selection on one or more tracks
Normal Zoom Mode
that includes what you want shown in the Score
Editor window. To zoom around a certain point in the score:
2 Right-click the Edit selection and choose Open 1 Click the Zoomer tool pop-up menu and select
In Score Editor. Normal Zoom mode.

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.

806 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To marquee zoom to a particular area of the score: Trim
1 Click the Zoomer tool pop-up menu and select The Trim tool lets you lengthen or shorten the du-
Normal Zoom mode. ration of a note in the Score Editor window.
2 Drag in the score, making a marquee selection
Press the F6 key to select the Trim tool.
of the area to which you want to zoom.

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).

Press the F7 key to select the Note Selector

tool.

The Note Selector tool makes a range

Marquee zooming with the Zoomer tool selection that only includes MIDI notes and
velocities. It does not include any other MIDI
The zoomed area fills the entire Edit window. data, such as program changes or
continuous controller data.
Single Zoom Mode

Single Zoom mode returns you to the previously Grabber

selected tool after a zoom has been performed.
Use the Grabber tool to select one or more notes in
For example, when using the Pencil tool you can the Score Editor window. You can also use the
select the Single Zoomer tool, and once the Zoom Grabber tool to move single notes, or all selected
operation has been performed, Pro Tools automat- notes, to a different pitch or time location.
ically switches back to the Pencil tool.
Press the F8 key to select the Grabber tool.
Single Zoom is identified with an arrow to the right
of the Zoomer icon. (Normal Zoom mode does not
show the arrow.)

To use Single Zoom mode:

 Click the Zoomer tool pop-up menu and select

Single Zoom mode.

Chapter 36: Score Editor 807

 Pencil Triangle

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 809).
 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 811).
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 809).
Velocity setting (see “Default Note On Velocity”
on page 809). The start time for each note is determined by the
selected Grid value (see “Grid” on page 811).
The minimum duration of the note is determined
by the selected Default Note Duration (see “De- Random
fault Note Duration” on page 809).
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 809).
Note Duration (see “Default Note Duration” on
The duration is determined by the selected Default page 809).
Note Duration (see “Default Note Duration” on
The start time for each note is determined by the
page 809).
selected Grid value (see “Grid” on page 811).
The start time for each note is determined by the
selected Grid value (see “Grid” on page 811).

808 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Default Note Duration Play MIDI Notes When
Editing
The Default Note Duration selector lets you define
the default note duration for manually inserted When enabled, the Play MIDI Notes When Editing
notes. option causes MIDI notes to sound when you in-
sert them with the Pencil tool or drag them with the
To define the Default Note Duration: Grabber tool.
 From the Default Note Duration selector, select
a note value. Select the Follow Grid option if
you want the Default Note Duration to use the
selected Grid value.

If you want dotted note values, also select the Dot- Play MIDI Notes When Editing enabled in the Score
ted option. Editor window

If you want triplet note values, also select the Trip-

let option. Link Timeline and Edit
Selection
When this button is enabled, the Timeline and Edit
selections are linked. When it is disabled, you can
make Timeline and Edit selections independently
Default Note Duration selector of one another.

Default Note On Velocity

The Default Note On Velocity setting lets you de-
fine the default Note On velocity for manually in-
Link Timeline and Edit Selection enabled in the Score
serted notes.
Editor window

Chapter 36: Score Editor 809

 Mirrored MIDI Editing Double Bar
Mirrored MIDI Editing lets you edit MIDI clips When enabled, the Double Bar option shows the fi-
and have your edits apply to every copy of the nal double bar line in the Score Editor window.
same MIDI clip. This can be particularly useful The double bar line is located at the end of the last
when editing looped MIDI clips. MIDI clip or event in the session. Enable the Dou-
ble Bar option when you are ready to print the
In Mirrored MIDI Editing mode, the Mirrored score.
MIDI Editing button flashes Red once as an edit is
made to alert you that your edit is being applied to When the Double Bar option is disabled, there will
more than one clip. be a number of empty bars at the end of the last
MIDI clip in the session. The number of empty
To enable Mirrored MIDI Editing, do one of the bars is determined by the Additional Empty Bars In
following: The Score Editor setting in the Pro Tools MIDI
 Select Options > Mirror MIDI Editing. Preferences (Setup > Preferences). Disable the
Double Bar option to manually enter notes in the
 Select the Mirrored MIDI Editing button in the
Score Editor after the last MIDI clip.
Edit window, MIDI Editor window, or Score
Editor window.

Double Bar enabled in the Score Editor window

Mirrored MIDI Editing disabled in the Score Editor

window
Cursor Location
To disable Mirrored MIDI Editing, do one of the
following: The Cursor Location display provides information
about the current cursor location in
 Deselect Options > Mirror MIDI Editing. Bars|Beats|Ticks and pitch.
 Disable the Mirrored MIDI Editing button in
the Edit window, MIDI Editor window, or Score
Editor window.

If Mirrored MIDI Editing mode is disabled,

and you edit notes of looped clips in Notes
view, the edit flattens the loop. Similarly, ed-
iting clip groups separates the clip groups.

Cursor Location indicator in the Score Editor window

810 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 For example, if the Default Note Duration is set to
Grid quarter notes and the Grid is set to half notes,
The Grid selector lets you define the Grid value for drawing with the Line Pencil tool creates alternat-
MIDI notes inserted and displayed in the Score Ed- ing quarter notes and quarter note rests.
itor window.

To set the Grid value for the Score Editor window:

 From the Grid Value pop-up menu, select a note

value.
Inserting notes on the Grid
If you want dotted note values, also select the
Dotted option. If the selected Grid value is shorter than the De-
fault Note Duration, the Grid value determines
If you want triplet note values, also select the both the Note On location and note duration for
Triplet option. notes inserted with the Pencil tool. For example, if
the Default Note Duration is set to quarter notes
and the Grid is set to eighth notes, drawing with the
Line Pencil tool creates a sequence of eighth notes.

Score Editor Window Target

When the Target is enabled for the Score Editor
window, navigating the Edit window automati-
cally navigates the Score Editor window as well.
For example, if in the Edit window you navigate to
bar 32, beat 3 in a MIDI track, when you view the
Setting the Grid value
Score Editor window it too will show the same lo-
Inserting Notes on the Grid cation.

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 809).

Chapter 36: Score Editor 811

 After Playback The playback cursor moves across
Score Editor Window Menu the Score Editor window, indicating the playback
The Score Editor Window menu provides access to location. When playback has stopped, the Score
the Expanded Edit Tools, Selection Display, Editor window scrolls to the final playback loca-
Tracks List, and Scrolling options. tion.

Page The playback cursor moves across the Score

Expanded Edit Tools Editor window, indicating the playback location.
When the right edge of the current page shown in
When selected, the Expanded Edit Tools option
the Score Editor window is reached, it scrolls to the
displays all of the relevant Edit Tools in the Score
next page and the playback cursor continues mov-
Editor window toolbar.
ing from the left edge of the window.
When this option is not selected, only the icon for
Follow Edit Window When selected, the Score Ed-
the selected Edit tool is displayed. Any of the other
itor window follows the scrolling option selected
Edit tools can be selected from the Edit Tool pop-
for the Edit window (Options > Edit
up menu.
Window Scrolling).

Selection Display For Pro Tools HD systems, the Continuous

and Center Playhead scrolling options are
When selected, the Selection Display option shows not available in the Score Editor window. If
the Edit Selection Display in the MIDI Editor win- the Score Editor window is set to the Follow
dow toolbar. Edit Window scrolling option and the Edit
window is set to either the Continuous or
Center Playhead scrolling options, the Score
Editor window scrolls by page.

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.

812 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To keep the Score Editor window always in front of
all other windows: Tracks List
 From the Score Editor window menu, select the The Tracks List lets you show and hide MIDI and
Keep Window On Top option. Instrument tracks in the Score Editor. It also pro-
vides access to the Notation Display Track Set-
Customizable Toolbar tings and Score Setup (see “Notation Display
Track Settings” on page 816 and “Score Setup” on
You can customize the toolbar in the Score Editor
page 817).
window by re-arranging, and showing or hiding
the available controls and displays just like in the To show or hide the Tracks List in the Score Editor
Edit window or MIDI Editor windows. window:

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

Rearranging Controls and Displays

To rearrange controls and displays in a MIDI Editor

window toolbar:

 Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win-

dows) the controls or displays you want to move
and drag them to a new location in the Toolbar.

Partial Score: Violin I and Violin II shown; all other

tracks are hidden

Chapter 36: Score Editor 813

 To show all MIDI and Instrument tracks in the
Score Editor: Page Controls
 From the Tracks List menu, select Show All The Score Editor window provides controls for
Tracks. navigating forward and backward by page. The
current page number is displayed in the lower-left
To show only selected MIDI and Instrument tracks corner of the window.
in the Score Editor:

1 In the Tracks List, select the MIDI and Instru-

ment tracks you want to show in the score.
2 From the Tracks List menu, select Show Only
Selected Tracks.

To hide MIDI and Instrument tracks in the Score

Editor:

 Disable the Track Show/Hide icon in the Tracks

List for tracks you want to hide in the score. Page Forward
Page Back
To hide all MIDI and Instrument tracks in the Score Current Page Display
Editor:
Score Editor Page controls
 From the Tracks List menu, select Hide All
Tracks. To display the next page of the score:

 Click the Page Forward button.

To hide selected MIDI and Instrument tracks in the
Score Editor: To display the previous page of the score:
1 In the Tracks List, select the MIDI and Instru-  Click the Page Back button.
ment tracks you want to hide in the score.
2 From the Tracks List menu, select Hide Se- To display any specific page of the score:
lected Tracks. 1 Click the Current Page display.
2 Type the page number for the page you want to
view.
3 Press Return (Mac) or Enter (Windows).

814 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Score Editor Zoom Controls
In addition to the Zoomer tool, the Score Editor
provides Zoom In and Out buttons in the lower
right hand corner of the window. It also provides a
Zoom selector that lets you zoom to a preset per-
centage or page size. When using these Zoom con-
trols, the Score Editor zooms around the current
Edit selection.

Selecting a zoom percentage from the Zoom pop-up

menu

Zoom In To zoom to a page size:

Zoom Out 1 Click the Zoom selector.
Zoom selector
Score Editor Zoom controls
2 From the Zoom pop-up menu, select the page
size.
To zoom in one level:

 Click the Zoom In button. Zoom to Page Sizes

To zoom out one level: The Zoom pop-up menu provides the following
page sizes:
 Click the Zoom Out button.
Fit Page Width Zooms so that the width of one
To zoom to a preset percentage: page fits in the Score Editor window.
1 Click the Zoom selector.
Fit Page Height Zooms so that the height of the
2 From the Zoom pop-up menu, select the zoom page fits in the Score Editor window.
percentage.
Fit Page Zooms so that an entire page fits in the
Score Editor window.

Fit 2 Pages Zooms so that two pages fit horizon-

tally in the Score Editor window.

Chapter 36: Score Editor 815

 Notation Display Track Settings
Notation Display Track Options
Settings
Track
The Notation Display Track settings determine
how individual MIDI and Instrument tracks appear From the Track pop-up menu, select the track you
in the Score Editor. You can set the Clef, Display want to configure.
Quantization, and whether or not to display the
track at “concert pitch” or as a transposing instru- Clef
ment (such as a B-flat tenor sax).
From the Clef pop-up menu, select the Clef you
want for the selected track from the following op-
tions:
• Grand Staff
• Treble Clef
• Bass Clef
• Alto Clef
• Tenor Clef

Display Transposition

From the Key pop-up menu, select the key of

Transposition for the track. For instruments that
transpose from another octave, you can also adjust
the Octave slider. For example, for a Bass Clarinet
track, select the Key of B-flat and set the Octave
Notation Display Track Settings
slider to +1. This way, when you print the Bass
To configure the Notation Display Track settings: Clarinet part, the player will be able to read the part
1 Do one of the following: and concert pitch will sound correctly a major
ninth below where the part is written.
• From the Track menu in the Score Editor, select
Notation Display Track Settings. Attributes
• Right-click in the Score Editor and select Nota-
The Attributes tab lets you specify the notation dis-
tion Display Track Settings.
play quantization settings for the selected track. If
• Double-click a Clef on a Staff. the Clef is set to Grand Staff, you can also set the
2 From the Track pop-up menu, select the MIDI Split Point to divide notes between the treble and
or Instrument track whose Notation Display bass clefs.
Settings you want to change.
3 Configure the settings.
4 Repeat the preceding steps for other MIDI and
Instrument tracks as necessary.

816 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Split Point

When the Clef for the selected track is set to Grand

Staff, the selected Split Point setting determines at
which pitch the notes are placed in either the upper
or lower staff of the Grand Staff.

Automatic When selected, Pro Tools splits notes

between the upper and lower staves of the Grand
Staff based on logical note groupings.

Fixed When selected, you can specify a particular

Notation Display Track Settings window, Attributes tab pitch at which to split notes between the upper and
Follow Globals lower staves of the Grand Staff.

When the Follow Globals option is selected, the Globals

track attributes use the global attributes settings
(see “Globals” on page 817). This option is en- The Globals tab provides the same settings as the
abled for all tracks by default. Attributes tab (see “Attributes” on page 816). You
can select which tracks follow the settings in the
Display Quantization Globals tab in the Attributes tab for each track.

The Display Quantization setting lets you select the

quantization grid for the display of MIDI notes in
music notation. MIDI notes in Pro Tools still
Score Setup
maintain their original start time and duration, but The Score Setup window lets you set up the page
this setting affects what note values are displayed. layout and staff spacing. You can enter the Title
The notation display is quantized to the nearest se- and Composer for the score. You can also select
lect note value. what elements of the score to display. Changes to
the Score Setup update instantly in the Score Edi-
Straighten Swing tor.
When enabled, the Straighten Swing option causes
To open the Score Setup, do one of the following:
“swung” notes to be displayed as straight notation.
For example, a run of swung eighth notes will be  Choose File > Score Setup.
displayed as straight eighth notes.
 From the Tracks List menu in the Score Editor
window, select Score Setup.
Allow Note Overlap
 Right-click in the Score Editor window and se-
Pro Tools only displays a single rhythmic line on a
lect Score Setup.
single staff. When two notes that start at different
times overlap, the first note will be truncated when
the second note begins. If the Allow Note Overlap
option is enabled, Pro Tools displays the full
length of overlapping notes using tied notes.

Chapter 36: Score Editor 817

 Score Setup Window Options Display

The Display options determine which score ele-

ments you want displayed in the score. Deselect
the elements you do not want displayed in the
score.

Title and Composer Select to display the Title and

Composer on the score.

Page Numbers Select to display Page Numbers at

the bottom of each page.

Bar Numbers Select to display Bar Numbers at the

beginning of each system above the top staff.

Track Names Select to display Track Names for

each staff at the beginning of the score.

Chord Symbols Select to display chord symbols in

the score.

Chord Diagrams Select to display Chord Dia-

grams (guitar tablature) in the score (see “Chord
Symbols and Diagrams” on page 824).

Disable the Chord Diagrams option when

printing charts and lead sheets where you just
want to see chord symbols.
Score Setup window

Information

Title Enter the Title for the score. This appears at

the top of the first page.

Composer Enter the Composer for the score. This

appears in the upper right-hand corner of the first
page.

818 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Spacing
Editing Notes
Between Staves Enter the spacing you want
between staves. MIDI note editing in the Edit window, MIDI Edi-
tor windows, and the Score Editor window all af-
Between Systems Enter the spacing you want be- fect the same MIDI data. When editing in one win-
tween systems. dow, your edits are reflected in all other windows.

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).

Portrait Select to set the page orientation to Por- Selecting Notes

trait.
You can use either the Note Selector tool or the
Landscape Select to set the page orientation to Grabber tool to select notes on one or more staves.
Landscape.
To select notes on one or more staves with the
Staff Size Enter the Staff Size. Note Selector tool:

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.

Millimeters Select to enter Stave Size and Page

Margins in millimeters.
Selecting notes with the Note Selector tool

Chapter 36: Score Editor 819

 To make a marquee selection on one or more 3 Drag any of the selected notes up or down to
staves with the Grabber tool: transpose them.
1 Click the Grabber tool.
2 Drag in the score to highlight the notes you
want to select.

Transposing selected notes with the Grabber tool

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.

Transposing a note with the Grabber tool

To transpose all selected notes:

1 Click the Grabber tool.
Moving selected notes with the Grabber tool
2 Drag around the notes you want to Transpose to
select them.
You can also Nudge notes in the Score Editor
by the currently selected Grid value.

820 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Inserting Notes • Click at the time location and pitch and drag to
the right to increase the duration of the note.
Use the Pencil tool to manually insert notes in the
Score Editor. When you insert a note, the Score
Editor automatically places it on the Grid and cre-
ates rests where appropriate.

You can also enter notes by recording MIDI, im-

porting MIDI from a file, or using Step Input
(Event > Event Operations > Step Input).
Entering a single longer note with the Pencil tool
To manually insert a note: To manually insert multiple notes of the same
1 Select the Default Note Duration setting (see pitch:
“Default Note Duration” on page 809). 1 Select the Default Note Duration setting (see
“Default Note Duration” on page 809).
2 Select the Grid setting (see “Grid” on
page 811). 2 Select the Grid setting (see “Grid” on
page 811).
3 Select the Default Note On Velocity (see “De-
fault Note On Velocity” on page 809). 3 Select the Default Note On Velocity (see “De-
fault Note On Velocity” on page 809).
4 Click the Pencil tool and select Free Hand.
4 Click the Pencil tool and select any of the fol-
5 With the Free Hand Pencil tool, do any of the
lowing shapes:
following:
• Line
• Single-click at the time location and pitch you
want to enter a single note of the selected De- • Triangle
fault Note Duration. • Square
• Random

Entering a single note with the Pencil tool

Chapter 36: Score Editor 821

 5 Click at the time location and pitch and drag to Grabber Selects the Grabber tool.
the right. Repeated notes of the selected Default
Pencil Selects the Pencil tool.
Note Duration are entered on the selected Grid.
The Note On velocities for each note are deter-
Insert
mined in part by the Default Note On Velocity
setting and the selected Pencil tool shape (see The Insert submenu lets you insert key changes,
“Pencil” on page 808). meter changes, and chord symbols into the score at
the location of the Edit cursor.

Key Inserts a key change.

Meter Inserts a meter change.

Chord Inserts a chord symbol.

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

The Paste command pastes the clipboard to the

Score Editor Right-Click current Edit selection or at the current Edit cursor
Menu location. Any MIDI notes already present at the
The Score Editor Right-click menu provides sev- same location are overwritten.
eral useful commands for editing, exporting, and
formatting the score and MIDI data. Merge

The Merge command pastes the clipboard to the

To access the Score Editor Right-click menu:
current Edit selection or at the current Edit cursor
 Right-click anywhere on the score. location and merges the pasted data with any MIDI
notes already present at the same
Score Editor Right-Click Menu location.
Items
Clear
Tools
The Clear command clears (deletes) the current
The Tools submenu lets you select any Edit tools Edit selection.
relevant to the Score Editor.

Zoomer Selects the Zoomer tool.

Note Selector Selects the Note Selector tool.

822 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Event Operations
Key Changes
The Event Operations submenu lets you select any
of the Event Operations windows (such as Quan- You can add, edit, and delete Key Signatures in
tize or Change Velocity). your score. Key Signatures affect the note spelling
of MIDI notes in the score. For example, MIDI
Open in MIDI Editor note number 58 (“B-flat 3”) is B-flat in F major,
but it is A-sharp in B major.
Choosing the Open in MIDI Editor option opens the
tracks shown in the Score Editor in a MIDI Editor You can also add and delete Key Signatures
window. in the Key Signatures ruler in the Edit
window or in any MIDI Editor window.
Open in MIDI Event List
To add a Key Signature:
The Open In MIDI Event List option opens the se-
lected track in the MIDI Event List. 1 With the Note Selector, Grabber, or Pencil tool,
Right-click at the location in the score where
Notation Display Track Settings you want to change key and select Insert > Key
Change.
Choosing the Notation Display Track Settings op-
tion opens the Notation Display Track Settings di- 2 In the Key Change dialog, select the mode (ma-
alog (see “Notation Display Track Settings” on jor or minor), the key, its location and range,
page 816). and how you want it to affect pitched tracks.
3 Click OK.
Score Setup
The selected Key Signature is displayed in the
Choosing the Score Setup option opens the Score
score and the note spellings for notes after the key
Setup dialog (see “Score Setup” on page 817).
change are updated accordingly.
Send to Sibelius
To edit a Key Signature:
Choosing the Send to Sibelius option command 1 With the Grabber tool, double-click the Key
sends the score exactly as it appears in the Score Signature you want to edit.
Editor window to Sibelius notation software (see
“Exporting Scores” on page 826). 2 Enter values in the Key Change dialog and click
OK.
Print Score
To delete a Key Signature:
Choosing the Print Score command prints the
 With the Grabber tool, Option-click (Mac) or
score (see “Printing Scores” on page 826).
Alt-click (Windows) the Key Signature you
want to delete.

Chapter 36: Score Editor 823

 4 Select a note value for the number of clicks to
Meter Changes sound in each measure. For a dotted-note click
You can add, edit, and delete Meters in your score. value, select the dot (.) option in addition to the
Meter changes affect the number of bars in the note value.
score (and in your session). When changing meter,
For some meters, it may be desirable to use a
notes are not moved, but the barlines will be re-
dotted value for the click. For instance, if us-
drawn.
ing a meter of 6/8, a dotted quarter note click
You can also add and delete Meters in the (yielding two clicks per measure) is generally
Meter ruler in the Edit window and in MIDI more suitable than a straight eighth note click
Editor windows. (six clicks per measure).

To add a Meter change: 5 Click OK to insert the new meter.

1 Do one of the following: To edit a Meter change:
• Choose Event > Time Operations > Change 1 With the Grabber tool, double-click the Meter
Meter. event you want to edit.
• With the Note Selector, Grabber, or Pencil tool,
2 Enter values in the Meter Change dialog and
Right-click at the location in the score where
click OK.
you want to change meter and select
Insert > Meter Change. To delete a Meter change:
2 In the Meter Change dialog, enter the Location  With the Grabber tool, Option-click (Mac) or
and Meter for the meter change. Alt-click (Windows) the Meter event you want
to delete.

Chord Symbols and Diagrams

You can add, edit, and delete chord symbols and
chord diagrams (guitar tablature) in your score.
Chord symbols have no effect on MIDI data. Also,
chord symbols are not included when exporting
MIDI data from Pro Tools to a MIDI file, but they
are included when exporting to a Sibelius file (.sib)
Meter Change dialog
or when using the Send to Sibelius command.
3 If you want the inserted meter event to fall
cleanly on the first beat of the nearest measure, You can also add and delete chord symbols in
select the Snap To Bar option. the Chord Symbol ruler in the Edit window
and in MIDI Editor windows. However, Chord
Diagrams (guitar tab) are only displayed in
the Score Editor window.

824 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To insert a chord symbol: The selected chord symbol is placed above the top
1 With the Note Selector, Grabber, or Pencil tool, staff in the system.
Right-click at the location in the score where
you want to add a chord symbol and select In-
sert > Chord.

2 In the Chord Change dialog, select the name for

the root of the Chord from the Chord selector
(such as D).

Chord Quality
selector
Chord selector Bass selector

Chord symbol and diagram in the score

To edit a chord symbol:

1 With the Grabber tool, double-click the chord

symbol you want to edit.
2 Make changes in the Chord Change dialog, and
click OK.

To move a chord symbol:

 With the Grabber tool, drag the chord symbol to

a new location.

To delete a chord symbol:

 With the Grabber tool, Option-click (Mac) or

Alt-click (Windows) the chord symbol you
want to delete.
Chord Diagrams
Chord Change dialog To display or hide chord symbols in the score:
3 Select the quality from the Chord Quality  In the Score Settings dialog (File > Score
selector (such as major or minor). Setup), enable or disable the Chord Symbols
option.
4 Select the bass note of the chord from the Bass
selector (such as B-flat for an inverted G minor
To display or hide chord diagrams (guitar tab) in
chord). the score:
5 Select a Chord Diagram (guitar tablature) from  In the Score Settings dialog (File > Score
the available options. Setup), enable or disable the Chord Diagrams
6 Click OK. option.

Chapter 36: Score Editor 825

 Exporting Scores Printing Scores
Pro Tools lets you export the score from your ses- Pro Tools lets you print the score from your
sion as a Sibelius (.sib) file. You can then open Pro Tools session. The score will be printed ex-
your score in Sibelius as transcribed by Pro Tools, actly as it appears in the Score Editor window.
edit the notation in Sibelius, and print the score and Configure the Score Setup and show or hide any
parts from Sibelius. MIDI and Instrument tracks. Only those tracks that
are shown in the score will be printed.
Sibelius 5.x or higher is required to open .sib
files exported from Pro Tools. To print the score from your Pro Tools session:

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:

1 Configure the score for your session in the

Score Editor window.
2 Do one of the following:
• Choose File > Send to Sibelius.
• Right-click in the Score Editor and choose Send
to Sibelius.

Pro Tools exports all Instrument and MIDI tracks

shown in the Score Editor to Sibelius as a .sib file
and launches Sibelius if it is installed on your com-
puter. You can then further edit the notation in Si-
belius and print the score or parts from Sibelius.

826 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Chapter 37: MIDI Event List

The MIDI Event List displays a detailed list of all

events in a single MIDI or Instrument track. The Opening the MIDI Event List
events are displayed with text and numbers, allow-
To open the MIDI Event List, do one of the
ing you to precisely edit their location, length, and following:
event values.
 Choose Window > MIDI Event List.
Number of Events MIDI Event List menu
 Right-click a MIDI or Instrument track name in
Track selector Target the Mix or Edit window, or in the Tracks List.

Press Option+Equal (Mac) or

Alt+Equal (Windows) to open the
MIDI Event List.

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

Mute data for MIDI and Instrument tracks is

not displayed in the MIDI Event List.

Chapter 37: MIDI Event List 827

 the Edit selection in the Edit window. When the Event Column Displays the event type, indicated
Target is disabled, the MIDI Event List shows the by an icon, and associated event values.
same events regardless of changes to the Edit se-
Length/Info Column Displays the end point or
lection in other windows.
length for notes, depending on which option is se-
lected in the Options pop-up menu. Also displayed
MIDI Event List Menu are the names for continuous controller events and
The MIDI Event List menu contains commands program changes.
and options for the MIDI Event List (see “MIDI
Event List Options” on page 834). View Filter for MIDI Event List
You can use the View Filter to specify which event
Columns in the MIDI Event List types are displayed in the MIDI Event List. This
Information for the events in the MIDI Event List can help you zero in on only the events you want to
is displayed in the following three columns: affect; it also protects MIDI events from being ed-
ited or deleted. Events not displayed in the MIDI
Start Column Displays the start location, using the Event List still play back.
Main Time Scale, for each event. Locations can
also be displayed in the Sub Time Scale when the The View Filter can be set to display “all” mes-
Show Sub Counter option is selected in the Op- sages, “only” the specified messages, or “all ex-
tions pop-up menu. cept” the specified messages.

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.

With the MIDI Event List as the front-most

Playback cursor
window, press Command+F (Mac) or Con-
trol+F (Windows) to open the MIDI Event
List View Filter dialog.
double-click
to edit
simultaneous
MIDI events

MIDI Event List columns

828 Pro Tools Reference Guide

2 In the MIDI Event List View Filter dialog, se- • Press Option+Tab (Mac) or Control+Tab (Win-
lect the All Except option. dows) or the Up Arrow to move to the previous
event (with or without the edit field selected).
• With an edit field selected, press the Right Ar-
row to move to the next edit field to the right.
• With an edit field selected, press the Left Arrow
to move to the next edit field to the left.

To keep the last event selected, press Shift while

moving to the next or previous event.

To go to the Edit start point:

 In the MIDI Event List, choose Scroll To Edit

Selection from the MIDI Event List menu.

To go to a specific location in the MIDI Event List:

1 In the MIDI Event List, choose Go To from the
MIDI Event List View Filter dialog
MIDI Event List menu.
3 Select the options for Mono Aftertouch, Poly-
phonic Aftertouch, and System Exclusive. Leave With the MIDI Event List as the front-most win-
all other messages deselected. dow, press Command+G (Mac) or Control+G
(Windows) to open the Go To dialog.
When using the All Except option, the selected
events are not displayed. Conversely, when using 2 In the Go To dialog, choose a format from the
the Only option, only the selected events are dis- Time Scale pop-up menu.
played.
4 Click OK.

Navigating in the MIDI Event List

You can use the Tab and Arrow keys to move
through the MIDI Event List. You can also locate
to the Edit start point, or any other specified loca-
tion.

To move through the MIDI Event List, do any of the

following: Go To dialog

• Double-click to edit a value. 3 If using Timecode, you can select the Use Sub-
• Press Tab or the Down Arrow to move to the frames option.
next event (with or without the edit field se- 4 Enter the location you want to go to, then click
lected). OK.

Chapter 37: MIDI Event List 829

 The following items from the MIDI Event List When a field is selected, enter a value with any of
menu affect navigating in the MIDI Event List: the following methods:
• When the Page Scroll During Playback option is • Enter the value on the numeric keypad.
selected, the MIDI Event List scrolls during • Drag up or down to scroll to the value.
playback.
• Play the note on your MIDI controller keyboard,
• When Scroll During Edit Selection is selected, then press Return (Mac) or Enter (Windows) on
the MIDI Event List is scrolled automatically the alphanumeric keyboard to confirm the value.
when the Edit selection changes in the Edit win-
dow. With the Start field selected, you can auto-
matically enter the location of another event
already in the track by clicking that event.
Inserting Events in the MIDI
Do one of the following:
Event List 3

• To insert the note and remain in Event Entry

You can insert events in the MIDI Event List by
mode, press Enter on the numeric keypad.
choosing an event type from the MIDI Event List
menu. Following are several examples of inserting • To insert the note and exit Event Entry mode,
events in the MIDI Event List. press Return (Mac) or Enter (Windows) on the
alphanumeric keyboard.
To insert a note in the MIDI Event List: • To exit Event Entry mode, without inserting the
1 From the MIDI Event List menu, select Insert > note event, press Escape on the alphanumeric
Note. keyboard.

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.

2 Enter the location, controller “type” number,

and controller value for the new event. The con-
troller name is displayed in the Length/Info col-
umn, to the right of the controller value. To
Pitch Release velocity move between the Event Entry fields, use the
Attack velocity Left and Right Arrow keys.
Event Entry fields for note

830 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 To insert a program change in the MIDI Event List:
1 From the MIDI Event List menu, choose Insert
> Program Change.

With the MIDI Event List as the front-most win-

dow, press Command+P (Mac) or Control+P
Controller number Controller name
(Windows) to Insert a program change event.
Controller value
2 Enter the location for the new event.
Event Entry fields for controller event
3 Enter a Program Change number and Bank Se-
When a field is selected, enter a value with any of lect value (if necessary). The program change
the following methods: name is displayed in the Info column.
• Enter the value on the numeric keypad.
• Press the Up or Down Arrow to scroll to the
value.
• While pressing Command (Mac) or Control
(Windows), drag up or down to scroll to the Program number Program name
value.
Controller 32 value
• Play the controller event on your MIDI control- Controller 0 value
ler keyboard, then press Return (Mac) or Enter
Event Entry fields for program change
(Windows) on the alphanumeric keyboard to
confirm the value. You can click in the Length/Info column to open
the Program Change window (for details, see
With the Start field selected, you can auto- “Patch Select (Program and Bank Changes)” on
matically enter the location of another event page 772).
already in the track by clicking that event.
With the Start field selected, you can auto-
3 Do one of the following: matically enter the location of another event
• To insert the controller event and remain in already in the track by clicking that event.
Event Entry mode, press Enter on the numeric
keypad. 4 Do one of the following:

• To insert the controller event and exit Event En- • To insert the program change and remain in
try mode, press Return (Mac) or Enter (Win- Event Entry mode, press Enter on the numeric
dows) on the alphanumeric keyboard. keypad.

• To exit Event Entry mode, without inserting the • To insert the program change and exit Event En-
controller event, press Escape on the alphanu- try mode, press Return (Mac) or Enter (Win-
meric keyboard. dows) on the alphanumeric keyboard.
• To exit Event Entry mode, without inserting the
program change, press Escape on the alphanu-
meric keyboard.

Chapter 37: MIDI Event List 831

 Inserting Another Event 2 Enter a new value with any of the following
methods:
After inserting an event, you can easily insert an-
other event of the same type. The event type to be • Enter the new value on the numeric keypad.
inserted is indicated at the bottom of the Insert • While pressing Option (Mac) or Alt (Windows),
menu. press the Up or Down Arrow to scroll to a new
value.
Example: After inserting a note, to insert another,
do one of the following: • While pressing Command (Mac) or Control
(Windows), drag up or down to scroll to a new
 From the MIDI Event List menu, select Insert > value.
Another Note.
• Play the new note or controller value on your
With the MIDI Event List as the front-most MIDI controller keyboard, then press Return
window, press Command+M (Mac) or Con- (Mac) or Enter (Windows) on the alphanumeric
trol+M (Windows) to Insert a note. keyboard to confirm.
3 Do one of the following:
When the option for Insert At Playback Lo- • To enter the new event value and move to an-
cation is enabled (see “MIDI Event List Op- other field or event, use the Arrow keys.
tions” on page 834), you can use the key-
• To enter the new value and remain in Edit Entry
board shortcuts for inserting “another”
mode, press Enter on the numeric keypad.
event to insert events on-the-fly.
• To enter the new value and exit Edit Entry mode,
press Return (Mac) or Enter (Windows) on the
Editing Events in the MIDI alphanumeric keyboard.
Event List • To exit Edit Entry mode without entering the
Events in the MIDI Event List can be edited, se- new value, press Escape on the alphanumeric
lected, deleted, and copied and pasted. keyboard.

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.

832 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To select noncontiguous events in the MIDI Event Copying and Pasting Events in
List: the MIDI Event List
 Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win-
To copy and paste events in the MIDI Event List:
dows) each event.
1 Select the events you want to copy in the MIDI
To deselect an event in the MIDI Event List: Event List.
 Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win-
dows) the selected event.

Notes selected in the MIDI Event List can be

modified by any of the commands in the Event
Operations window (see Chapter 46, “Event
Operations”).

Deleting Events in the MIDI

Event List
To delete an event in the MIDI Event List:

 Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) the

event you want to delete.
Selecting in the MIDI Event List
To delete a selection of events in the MIDI Event
List: 2 Choose Edit > Copy.
1 Select the events you want to delete by either
3 Do one of the following:
dragging in the Start column, or by Shift-click-
ing each event. • To paste the material at an existing event’s loca-
tion, click the event in the MIDI Event List.
2 To view only the events you want to delete, use
• To paste the material at any location, choose Go
the View Filter (see “View Filter for MIDI
To from the Options menu in the MIDI Event
Event List” on page 828). Events not displayed
List, enter the location where you want to paste,
cannot be deleted.
and click OK.
3 Do one of the following:
4 Choose Edit > Paste. The events from the Clip-
• Choose Edit > Clear to delete all selected events. board are pasted, replacing any existing events
• Press Delete (Mac) or Backspace (Windows) on already there.
the alphanumeric keyboard.
To paste events without overwriting other
events, use the Merge Paste Special
command.

Chapter 37: MIDI Event List 833

 Keep Window On Top Keeps the MIDI Event List
MIDI Event List Options window in the foreground even when clicking on
The MIDI Event List menu provides the following and focusing another window (such as the Edit or
options: Mix windows). Enable the Keep Window On Top
option in the MIDI Event List menu to ensure that
Show Sub Counter Displays event times in the the window remains in the foreground when work-
Sub Time Scale. ing with other windows. When this option is dis-
abled, clicking on another window (such as the
Go To Opens the Go To dialog, where you can
Edit or Mix windows) brings that window to the
specify a location, based on any of the supported
front and the MIDI Event List may be hidden or
Time Scales, to which the Edit insertion point is
partially covered behind it.
moved.

Scroll To Edit Selection Scrolls the MIDI Event

List to the Edit start point or Edit insertion point.

Page Scroll During Playback Scrolls the MIDI

Event List during playback.

Show Note Length Displays note lengths, instead

of note end times, in the Length/Info column of the
MIDI Event List.

Show Note End Time Displays note end times, in-

stead of note lengths, in the Length/Info column of
the MIDI Event List.

Insert Provides a submenu of options that let you

insert any type of MIDI event.

Insert At Edit Location Defaults the location for

inserted events defaults to the Edit start point or
Edit insertion point.

Insert At Playback Location Lets you insert

events in the MIDI Event List in real time while
listening to the session playback.

Insert At Playback Location With Grid Snaps the

location for events inserted in real time to the grid.

View Filter Opens the View Filter dialog, where

you can specify which events are displayed in the
MIDI Event List (see “View Filter for MIDI Event
List” on page 828).

834 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Part VII: Arranging
Chapter 38: Time, Tempo, Meter, Key, and
Chords

In Pro Tools, editing and arranging is typically

done on tracks against a fixed Timeline. Timebase Rulers and
Conductor Rulers
Clips and events can be anchored to points in abso-
lute time, or relative time, as measured on the ses-
sion’s Timeline. The Timeline includes two differ-
ent types of rulers for measuring time: Timebase
rulers and Conductor rulers.

Pro Tools also provides a Markers ruler

for Memory Location (see Chapter 39,
“Memory Locations”).

The Timebase rulers can measure time in two dif-

ferent ways: sample-based time (absolute time) All rulers displayed
and tick-based time (relative time). For example,
the Minutes:Seconds ruler measures absolute time Timebase Rulers
and the Bars|Beats ruler measures relative time.
Any or all of the following Timebase rulers can be
The relative time of the Bars|Beats ruler is deter- displayed at the top of the Edit window and in
mined in part by tempo and meter. Tempo, Meter, MIDI Editor windows:
and Key Signature rulers reside in Conductor Bars|Beats Displays the Time Scale in bars and
tracks. Tempo and meter events affect the timing beats. Use this Time Scale if you are working with
of tick-based tracks, and also provide the tempo musical material that must align with bars and
and meter map for the Bar:Beat grid and Click. beats. The Bars|Beats Time Scale is relative and is
You can edit tempo events in the Tempo ruler or affected by the session’s tempo and meter map.
Tempo Editor.

Key changes can affect MIDI notes when applying

transposition. You can edit key and key changes in
the Key Signature ruler.

Chapter 38: Time, Tempo, Meter, Key, and Chords 837

 The Timecode 2 ruler can also display the follow-
To ensure your tracks align with the bars and ing additional frame rates:
beats in your session, record with a click (see
• 50 FPS
“Recording with a Click” on page 500). Ma-
terial that is recorded without listening to a • 59.94 FPS
click can still be aligned to bar and beat • 59.94 FPS Drop
boundaries in Pro Tools with the Identify
• 60 FPS
Beat command (see “Identify Beat Com-
mand” on page 863), or with Beat Detective • 60 FPS Drop
(see Chapter 33, “Beat Detective”).
Feet+Frames Displays the Time Scale in feet and
Minutes:Seconds Displays the Time Scale in min- frames for referencing audio-for-film projects. The
utes and seconds. As you zoom in farther with the Feet+Frames time display is based on the 35 milli-
Zoomer tool, the Time Scale begins to display meter film format. The Feet+Frames Time Scale is
tenths, hundredths, and thousandths of a second. absolute, based on the frame rate.
The Minutes:Seconds Time Scale is absolute.
Samples Displays the Time Scale in samples. This
Timecode Displays the Time Scale in SMPTE format is very useful for high-precision sample ed-
frames. The Timecode Rate and Session Start time iting. The Samples Time Scale is absolute, based
are set from the Session Setup window. The Time- on the sample rate.
code Time Scale is absolute, based on the frame
In addition to providing a timing reference for
rate.
track material, the Timebase rulers are also used to
Pro Tools supports the following frame rates: define Edit selections for track material, and Time-
line selections for record and play ranges.
• 23.976 FPS
• 24 FPS With the Selector tool, drag in any Timebase
ruler to select material across all tracks in the
• 25 FPS
Edit window or MIDI Editor window. To in-
• 29.97 FPS clude the Conductor tracks in the selection,
• 29.97 FPS Drop press Option (Mac) or Alt (Windows) while
dragging.
• 30 FPS
• 30 FPS Drop Conductor Rulers
Secondary Timecode Ruler A secondary time- Any or all of the following Conductor rulers can be
code ruler, labeled Time Code 2, lets you refer- displayed:
ence video frame rates in the Timeline that are dif-
• Markers
ferent from the session Timecode rate. However,
you cannot Spot to the Timecode 2 ruler and it can- • Tempo (and Tempo Editor)
not be set as the Main Time Scale. The secondary • Meter
timecode ruler can be set to show any Pro Tools
• Keys (and Key Signature Staff)
supported frame rate.
• Chords

838 Pro Tools Reference Guide

The Meter and Tempo rulers indicate changes in Ruler View Selector
meter and tempo within the Session. The Key Sig-
The Timebase and Conductor rulers can also be
nature ruler indicates changes of key. The Chord
configured with the Ruler View selector.
Symbols ruler shows chord markers. The Markers
ruler displays markers to important track locations.

For more information on Memory Location

markers, see Chapter 39, “Memory Locations.”

Displaying Rulers
To display all rulers:

 Select View > Rulers > All.

To remove a ruler from the display, do one of the

following:

 Option-click the ruler’s name (to the left of the

ruler display).
 Choose View > Rulers, and deselect a ruler
option.

To display only the Main Time Scale in the

Timebase ruler:

 Select View > Rulers > None (“Main Time Ruler View selector in the Edit Window.
Scale” on page 839.)

To add a specific ruler to the display, such as the Main Time Scale
Markers ruler, for instance:
While all Timebase rulers can be displayed simul-
 Select View > Rulers > Marker.
taneously in the Edit and MIDI Editor windows,
To change the display order for the rulers:
there is only one that represents the Main Time
Scale. This ruler is also called the Main Timebase
 Drag a ruler’s name up or down to a new ruler.
location.
The Main Time Scale determines the time format
To copy the range selection from a Conductor used for:
ruler to make an Edit selection in the top track in
the Edit window (or in the Notes pane in MIDI • The Main Counter in the Transport
Editor windows): • The Main Counter at the top of the Edit window
 Press Control+; (semicolon) (Mac) or or MIDI Editor window
Start+; (semicolon) (Windows). • Start, End, and Length values
• Pre- and post-roll amounts
• Grid and Nudge values

Chapter 38: Time, Tempo, Meter, Key, and Chords 839

 The Main Time Scale can be set to the following Navigating with the Main
formats: Counters
• Bars|Beats The Main Counters (at the top of the Edit window
• Minutes:Seconds and in the Transport window) provide a convenient
way to navigate to a specific time location.
• Timecode
• Feet+Frames The Main Counter indicator in the
Transport window only displays when the
• Samples
Transport is set to display Counters.

Setting the Main Time Scale To navigate with a Main Counter:

1 Click in a Main Counter.
To set the Main Time Scale, do one of the
following: 2 Type in a location.
 Click a Main Counter selector (located at the 3 Press Enter (Windows or Mac) or Return (Mac)
top of the Edit or Transport window (when it is to automatically navigate to a new location.
set to display Counters) and select a Time Scale.

The Sub Counter

Below each Main Counter is a Sub Counter that
can be shown or hidden. The Sub Counter provides
an additional timing reference.

To show (or hide) the Sub Counter in the Edit

Main Counter selector (in the Edit window) window:

 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:

 Click the Sub Counter selector and select a

Time Scale.

Switching the Main Time Scale from Bars|Beats to

Min:Sec
Sub Counter selector (in the Edit window)

840 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Tick-Based Timing Note Value Normal Dotted Triplet

Pro Tools is a sample-based program with an inter- 1/2 note 1920 2880 1280
nal MIDI resolution of 960,000 pulses per quarter
1/4 note 960 1440 640
note (ppq). However, when the Time Scale is set to
Bars|Beats, the display resolution in Pro Tools is 1/8 note 480 720 320
960 ppq and the Timebase is tick-based.
1/16 note 240 360 160
In the Bars|Beats Time Scale, Pro Tools is 1/32 note 120 180 80
tick-based (960 ticks to a quarter note). Some
amount of sample-rounding may occur when 1/64 note 60 90 40
placing events at certain locations (see
“Sample Rounding and Edit Operations” on
page 843). Tick- and Sample-Based
Timebases
When working in Bars|Beats, you will often want
to specify tick values for a number of operations, Pro Tools lets you set any track timebase to either
including: sample-based or tick-based.

• Placing and spotting clips Audio tracks in Pro Tools are sample-based by de-
• Setting lengths for clips or MIDI notes fault. This means that audio clips and events are lo-
cated at specific sample locations, and they do not
• Locating and setting play and record ranges (in-
move from that location if the tempo changes in
cluding pre- and post-roll)
the session—even though their bar and beat loca-
• Specifying settings in the Quantize and Change tions do change.
Duration pages of the Event Operations window
MIDI and Instrument tracks in Pro Tools are tick-
• Setting the Grid and Nudge values
based by default. This means that MIDI clips and
When the Main Time Scale is set to events are located at a specific bar and beat loca-
Bars|Beats, and you are using tempo tions, and they do not move from that location if
changes, set the Linearity Display Mode to the tempo changes in the session—even though its
Linear Tick Display (see “Changing the sample location does change.
Linearity Display Mode” on page 856).
This will keep the Bars|Beats ruler fixed (at Sample-Based Audio and MIDI
the selected zoom level) and sample-based
With a sample-based audio track, all audio clips in
rulers such as Minutes:Seconds will scale
the track have an absolute location on the absolute
to fit any tempo changes while bar lengths
Timeline (for example, on the Samples or Min-
remain constant.
utes:Seconds Timebase ruler). Audio stays fixed to
The following table lists the number of ticks for the sample time, regardless of any tempo or meter
each of the main note sizes: changes occur in a session.

Chapter 38: Time, Tempo, Meter, Key, and Chords 841

 On sample-based MIDI and Instrument tracks, all Track height affects how various track controls ap-
MIDI events in the track have an absolute location pear in the Edit window. The Timebase selector,
on the absolute Timeline (for example, on the which is used for switching a track’s timebase, is
Sample or Minutes:Seconds Timebase ruler). only visible in Medium or larger track heights.
MIDI events stay fixed to the sample time, regard-
less of where tempo or meter changes occur in a To switch the timebase of a track, do one of the
session. following:

 If the track’s height is set to Medium or larger,

Tick-Based Audio and MIDI click the Timebase selector for the track and se-
lect the timebase. The Timebase selector icon
Tick-based audio is fixed to the relative time of the changes to reflect your choice.
Bars|Beats Timebase ruler, and moves relative to .

the sample Timeline when tempo and meter

changes occur. However, MIDI and Elastic Audio
events, and tick-based audio clips (non–Elastic
Audio) respond differently to tempo changes in re-
spect to duration. MIDI note events and Elastic
Audio clips change their duration when tempo is
adjusted, while non–Elastic Audio audio clips do
not. Tempo changes affect only the location of the
beginning (or sync point) of each audio clip in a Timebase selector (samples)
tick-based (non–Elastic Audio) audio track. .

You can select whether a track is sample-based or

tick-based when it is created, or change timebases
later.

To have all new tracks default to tick-based,

enable the New Tracks Default to Tick Time-
base option in the Editing Preferences.

Tick-Based Elastic Audio Timebase selector (ticks)

Tick-based Elastic Audio tracks automatically ap-  If the track’s height is set to Small (or smaller),
ply Real-Time (or Rendered) Elastic Audio pro- click the Track Height selector and select the
cessing (TCE) when changing tempo. For more in- timebase from the Track Timebase submenu.
formation, see “Tempo Changes and Tick-Based
Elastic Audio Tracks” on page 848.

Switching Timebases
All Pro Tools tracks can be switched between be-
Track Height pop-up menu
ing sample-based or tick-based.

842 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Alternate Playlist Timebases audio clips to fall cleanly on the beat (as when
looping) and notice that the material is sometimes
When you change a track’s timebase, you can
a tick or two off. With a few simple precautions,
choose to apply the timebase change to that track
this can be avoided.
only, or to the active Playlist and all alternate play-
lists for that track. To ensure that selections are precisely aligned
to the grid for looping, copying, duplicating, or re-
To configure a timebase change to affect peating, consider the following:
timebases of all playlists in a track:
 If you use the Selector tool, enable Grid mode
 Click the Timebase selector (or Track Height
and select the appropriate grid value (such as six-
Selector) and enable the Selection Changes
teenth notes).
Alternate Playlists option.
 For the greatest accuracy, type the selection
Groups Start and End points in the Event Edit area.

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).

Audio Clip Location

Song Start Marker
In tick-based audio tracks, the location of an audio
The Song Start Marker defines the initial tempo for
clip is determined by the clip’s start point, unless
Bar|Beat-based material. New sessions open with a
the clip contains a sync point.
default tempo of 120 BPM.
If the clip contains a sync point, the sync point de-
When a new session is created, the Song Start
termines where the audio clip is fixed to the grid.
Marker has no associated meter event. A meter
event is added automatically at the Song Start if
Marker Location you add another meter event anywhere else on the
When creating markers and Selection Memory Lo- Meter ruler.
cations, you can specify whether they have an Ab-
solute (sample-based) or Bar|Beat (tick-based) ref-
erence. For more information, see “Bar|Beat and
Absolute Reference” on page 884.

Sample Rounding and Edit Song Start Marker

Operations
The Song Start Marker can be moved, but it cannot
When audio material in Pro Tools is sample-based, be deleted.
some amount of sample-rounding may occur with
some edits when the Main Time Scale is set to The position of the Song Start Marker can
Bars|Beats. This is most evident when you need also be changed in the Time Operations win-
dow, see “Move Song Start” on page 872.

Chapter 38: Time, Tempo, Meter, Key, and Chords 843

 To move the Song Start Marker by dragging: To display the Tempo ruler:

 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 502.

You can use Beat Detective to generate

Dragging the Song Start Marker
Bar|Beat markers (tempo map). For more in-
formation, see “Generating Bar|Beat Mark-
If the Edit mode is set to Grid, the Song Start ers with Beat Detective” on page 730.
Marker moves in increments of the current Grid
value.
When working with tempo changes and tick-
To move the Song Start Marker only, without based material, set the Linearity Display
moving any tick-based data, press Con- Mode to Linear Tick Display.
trol+Shift (Mac) or Start+Shift (Windows)
while dragging. When dragging the Song Tempo Events
Start Marker only, dragging is constrained to
Tempo events can be assigned to the Song Start
whole bar increments only.
Marker to replace the default tempo (of 120 BPM),
To edit the initial tempo in the Song Start Marker: and they can be inserted anywhere else within the
session to change tempo.
1 In the Tempo ruler, double-click the Song Start
Marker. In Manual Tempo mode, the Tempo ruler is
2 In the Change Tempo dialog, enter a new BPM ignored and the session plays at the tempo
value. defined in the Transport window, See “Using
Manual Tempo Mode” on page 504.
3 Click OK.
Current Tempo

As tempo events are encountered during playback,

Tempo the session’s current tempo is displayed in the
The Tempo ruler lets you edit Tempo events one at Transport window.
a time or according to tempo curves. You can edit
tempo visually in the Tempo Editor, or make pre-
cise changes in tempo using the Tempo Operations
window.

Current Tempo in Transport window

844 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Inserting Tempo Events
To insert a tempo event:

1 Click in the Tempo ruler where you want to in-

sert the tempo event.
2 Click the Add Tempo Change button at the left
Inserted tempo event
of the Tempo ruler.
Each tempo event has a small green triangle next to
it that indicates its location. These triangles can be
dragged to move the tempo event, and they can be
double-clicked to edit the tempo event.

Add Tempo Change button

Moving and Editing Tempo
3 In the Tempo Change window, enter the Loca- Events
tion and BPM value for the tempo change.
Existing tempo events can be moved, edited,
deleted, copied, and pasted.

To move a tempo event by dragging:

 In the Tempo ruler, drag the triangle for the

tempo event left or right.

Tempo Change dialog

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.

Chapter 38: Time, Tempo, Meter, Key, and Chords 845

 To delete a tempo event: To clear a range of selected tempo events:

 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.

To extend an Edit selection in a track to the Tempo

ruler:
1 With the Selector or Grabber tool, make a Time-
line selection. Tempo Ruler button (unhighlighted), set to Manual
Tempo mode
2 Shift-click in the Tempo ruler.
3 Click in the Tempo field so it becomes high-
To select all tempo events: lighted and tap the “T” key on your computer
keyboard repeatedly at the new tempo.
 Double-click with the Selector tool in the
Tempo ruler. You can apply the new tempo to the entire
session by changing the default tempo of the
Song Start Marker. See “Song Start Marker”
on page 843.

846 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To set the Manual Tempo by tapping on an external Generally, when applying tempo changes with
MIDI keyboard: tick-based MIDI and Elastic Audio, this is desir-
1 To view the MIDI controls in the Transport win- able. In fact, you will probably want to set all of the
dow, select View > Transport > MIDI Controls. tracks in your session that contain automation to
tick-based. This way any tempo changes affect all
2 Choose Setup > Preferences and click the MIDI
tick-based track automation and track material
tab.
equally. However, when working with sample-
3 Ensure that Use MIDI to Tap Tempo is selected. based (non-Elastic) audio on tick-based tracks,
tempo changes affect the start location of audio
4 In the Transport window, click the Tempo Ruler
clips, but not their duration.
Enable (Conductor) button so it becomes un-
highlighted. Pro Tools switches to Manual Since the length of each sample-based audio clip in
Tempo mode. In this mode, any tempo events in a track is unaffected by changes in tempo, existing
the Tempo ruler are ignored. automation data is not aligned with the audio after
a tempo change is made to a tick-based audio track.
5 Click in the Tempo field so it becomes high-
lighted and tap in the tempo by playing a note
repeatedly at the new tempo on your MIDI key-
board controller.

To compute the new tempo, Pro Tools averages

the last eight (or fewer) taps to determine the cor-
rect tempo. The computed BPM value appears in
the Transport Tempo field. Tempo at 120 bpm
No Elastic Audio

Tempo and Automation Drift

Tick-based

(With Sample-Based Clips on Tick-Based

Tracks Only)

When a track is sample-based, the track’s automa-

tion playlist is unaffected by changes in tempo.
This means that automation is always aligned with
any sample-based audio on the track with sample
Tempo at 146 bpm
accuracy.
Tempo change applied to long sampled-based audio
clip on a tick-based track, showing automation drift
When a track is tick-based, the automation break-
points change to match the changes in tempo.

Chapter 38: Time, Tempo, Meter, Key, and Chords 847

 Minimizing Automation Drift Tempo Changes and Tick-Based
Elastic Audio Tracks
In general, automation drift is more pronounced
with larger sample-based audio clips. By creating Clips on tick-based, Elastic Audio-enabled tracks
many small clips, the effects of automation drift apply Time Compression and Expansion (TCE)
can be minimized, because the start points of each based on tempo changes. For simple tempo
subsequent clip changes as the tempo changes. changes, clips on tick-based Elastic Audio-enabled
When tempo is decreased, automation expands. tracks automatically conform to match the new
When tempo is increased, automation contracts. tempo. Tempo changes do not affect sample-
based, Elastic Audio-enabled tracks.

In the following figure, the first two-bar clip is at

its native tempo of 120 bpm. The second two-bar
clip has been conformed to the tempo change of
100 bpm. Since the second clip has been warped to
remain two bars long at the slower tempo, it dis-
plays the Clip Warp indicator in the upper right-
Tempo at 110 bpm hand corner of the clip.
No Elastic Audio
Tick-based

Tempo conformed audio, linear tempo change

For tempo curves, such as an accelerando or ritar-

Tempo at 92 bpm
dando, Tempo Event Warp markers are automati-
cally created corresponding to each tempo event,
Tempo change applied to small sample-based clips on and the clip conforms accordingly. The following
a tick-based track, showing minimal automation drift
figure shows a clip in Warp view. Notice how the
audio conforms to the tempo curve.
To break an audio clip into smaller clips, use
Beat Detective. For more information, see
Chapter 33, “Beat Detective.”

You can also separate clips at transients or

based on the current grid resolution. For
more information, see “Separate Com-
mands” on page 654

Tempo conformed audio, tempo curve

848 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Tempo Event-generated Warp markers cannot be 2 Do one of the following:
edited. They only show where the audio has been • Choose Clip > Bring to Front to make the clip
warped in order to conform to tempo changes. overlap the neighboring clips.
If you change the track timebase from ticks to • Choose Clip > Send to Back to make the clip
samples, any Tempo Event–generated Warp underlap the neighboring clips.
markers convert to regular, editable Warp
If multiple overlapping clips are selected,
markers.
Pro Tools will apply the command to each clip as
that clip relates to the neighboring clip on the right.
Tempo Changes and Tick-Based
Audio Tracks
Conform to Tempo
When a tick-based audio track has multiple clips,
and Elastic Audio is not enabled, an increase in Pro Tools lets you conform clips on Elastic Audio-
tempo can cause neighboring clips to overlap. Au- enabled tracks (both sample- and tick-based) to the
dio clips can be set to display a “shadow” to indi- session tempo. If necessary, the Conform to Tempo
cate overlapping clip boundaries. command analyzes the selected clips to determine
its tempo and duration (in bars and beats), and then
Overlap clip Overlap clip
applies Elastic Audio processing to conform the
clip to match the session tempo.

To conform a clip to the session tempo:

1 Select the clip you want to conform to the ses-
sion tempo.
Underlap clip
2 Do one of the following:
Outer clips overlapping middle clip, Overlap Shadows
enabled • Choose Clip > Conform to Tempo.
To toggle the display of Overlap Shadows: • Right-click the clip you wan to conform to
tempo and select Conform to Tempo.
 Choose View > Clip > Overlap Shadows.
Pro Tools analyzes the clip’s entire file for Elastic
Changing Clip Overlap/Underlap Audio events and tempo. If a tempo is detected,
and a duration in bars and beats is determined, the
After tempo changes with tick-based audio, and
clip conforms automatically to the session tempo.
other edits, clips may overlap in undesired ways.
If a tempo and duration is not detected (such as
To correct this, a clip can be brought to the front, or
with a clip that is a single drum hit or with a long
sent behind neighboring clips as needed.
clip with no clear tempo), the clip is not conformed
To change the clip overlap or underlap: to the session tempo.
1 In the Edit window, choose the clip or clips you You can also use telescoping warp in Warp
want to re-order. view to manually conform a long clip to the
session tempo. See “Telescoping Warp” on
page 981.

Chapter 38: Time, Tempo, Meter, Key, and Chords 849

 To display the Tempo Editor, do one of the
Conform to Tempo can only be applied to following:
clips and cannot be applied to clip groups. To
 Select View > Rulers > Tempo, then select
conform clip groups to the tempo, ungroup
View > Rulers > Tempo > Tempo Editor.
the clip group, then apply Conform to Tempo
to the underlying clips, and then regroup  Click the Tempo Editor expand/collapse
those clips. triangle.

Alternate Playlists and Tempo Zooming and Scrolling in the

Alternate playlists on Elastic Audio-enabled, tick-
Tempo Editor
based tracks are only affected by tempo changes. To zoom in vertically in the Tempo Editor:
Otherwise, alternate playlists are not affected by
editing Warp or Event markers in the main playlist.  Click the Tempo Editor Zoom In button (“+”).

To zoom out vertically in the Tempo Editor:

Graphic Tempo Editor  Click the Tempo Editor Zoom Out button (“–”).

The Tempo Editor, a resizeable window beneath

the Tempo ruler in the Edit Window, lets you view
and edit tempo information graphically.

Displaying the Tempo Editor

The Tempo Editor is an expansion of the Tempo
ruler, opening in the rulers section of the Edit Win- Zoom In and Out buttons in the Tempo Editor
dow. To scroll vertically in the Tempo Editor, do any of
the following:
Tempo Editor expand/collapse triangle
Tempo Resolution  Click the Scroll Up Arrow to scroll up.
Tempo Density
 Click the Scroll Down Arrow to scroll down.
Add Tempo Change
Tempo events  Drag the Scroll bar up or down.

Tempo Editor

850 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Selecting Tempo Resolution
Editing Tempo Events in the (BPM Rate)
Tempo Editor
The Tempo Editor lets you specify the beat note
Tempo events in the Tempo Editor can be edited value for tempo events by changing the Tempo
with any of the following methods: Resolution. The beat note value selected for the
 Individual tempo events can be dragged with Tempo Resolution is usually based on the meter.
any of the Grabber tools to adjust their location or For example, in 4/4 the beat is a quarter note and in
value. 6/8 the beat is (usually) a dotted-quarter note.

 A group of selected tempos can be scaled up or

down with the Trim tool.
 New tempo events can be drawn in with the
Pencil tool to replace existing ones.
 Tempo events can be copied and pasted,
nudged, and shifted.
Tempo Resolution selector and pop-up menu
Drawing Tempo Events
To select the Tempo Resolution (BPM rate) for
Tempo events can be drawn in the Tempo Editor Pencil tool edits, do one of the following:
using the follow Pencil tool shapes.  Click the Tempo Resolution selector and select
Free Hand The Free Hand shape draws freely ac- the appropriate note value from the pop-up
cording to the movement of the mouse. The shape menu. The Tempo Resolution for tempo events
is reproduced as a series of steps according to the created by drawing with the Pencil tool are set
Tempo Edit Density setting. (For more informa- to the specified note value for the BPM rate.
tion, see “Selecting Tempo Edit Density” on  Click the Tempo Resolution selector and select
page 852.) Follow Metronome Click. The Tempo Resolu-
tion for tempo events created by drawing with
Line The Line shape draws in a straight line from
the Pencil tool automatically mirror the click
click to release. Tempo values change in steps ac-
values set by meter events in the Meter ruler.
cording to the Tempo Edit Density and Resolution.

Parabolic The Parabolic shape draws the best pos-

A tempo curve can have different BPM values if
sible curve to fit your freehand drawing. The shape there are meter click changes within the selected
is reproduced as a series of steps according to the range.
Tempo Edit Density setting. Because it can be unnecessarily complicated
S-Curve The S-Curve shape draws a best possible to set meter events separately for each Tempo
fit of an S-Curve to your freehand drawing. The event, selecting Follow Metronome Click is
shape is reproduced as a series of steps according recommended in most cases.
to the Tempo Edit Density setting.

The Triangle, Square, and Random Pencil

tool shapes do not apply to tempo events.

Chapter 38: Time, Tempo, Meter, Key, and Chords 851

 Curve Adjustment Mode
Quarter-note click Dotted quarter-note click
Immediately after you draw new tempos using the
Pencil tool, a tempo curve appears in blue, outlin-
ing the newly created tempo graph. Blue adjust-
ment handles on the curve let you adjust the shape
and size of the new tempo graph.

Tempo curve with different click values

Selecting Tempo Edit Density

The Tempo Editor lets you specify the density of
tempo events created in the Tempo ruler when you
draw a tempo curve with the Pencil tool.

Tempo Curve Adjustment handles

All the new tempo events under the curve will

Tempo Edit Density selector and pop-up menu change as you move the Tempo Curve Adjust-
ment Handles. To adjust the curve shape
To select the Tempo Edit Density for Pencil tool without the track data adjusting immediately,
edits:
press Control (Mac) or Start (Windows)
 Click the Tempo Edit Density selector and se- while adjusting the curve. Tempo events will
lect a time value from the pop-up menu. Tempo change to fit the new curve when you release
events created by drawing with the Pencil tool the mouse button.
are placed in the Tempo ruler at the specified
density. The blue adjustment handles are only active
until a new tool is selected or a new command is
Pressing Control (Mac) or Start (Windows) executed.
before drawing a pencil line conforms
already created tempo events to the drawn
line rather than creating new tempo events.

852 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Creating New Tempo Settings Selecting Tempo Events
with Grabber Tools
You can easily select a single tempo event, or an
The Grabber tools let you create new tempo entire tempo curve within the Tempo Editor.
settings by dragging tempo events in the Tempo
Editor. To Select a tempo event in the Tempo Editor:

 Using the Selector tool or any Grabber tool,

double-click between two tempo events. The
first event is selected.

Using a Grabber tool to change a tempo event

To change the tempo of a tempo event:

 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.

To remove a tempo event:

 With the Grabber tool, Option-click (Mac) or

Alt-click (Windows) the tempo event.

Selecting a tempo curve

Chapter 38: Time, Tempo, Meter, Key, and Chords 853

 Extending Tempo Selections To scale selected tempo events with the Trim tool:

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.

Scaling and Stretching Tempo

Events with the Trim Tool
Changing selected tempo events with the Trim tool
The Trim tool lets you scale all the tempo events of
the session, or within a Timeline selection. The To adjust the rate of tempo change over absolute
Trim tool also lets you stretch a clip of tempo time with the Trim tool:
events to cover a longer or shorter area in the 1 Open the Tempo Editor.
Timeline.
2 With the Selector tool, select the area you want
To scale all the session’s tempo events with the to edit.
Trim tool:
3 With the Trim tool, click either the start or end
1 Open the Tempo Editor. handle for the selected range, and drag up or
2 With the Trim tool, click above any tempo event down. The BPM values for tempo events scale
and drag up or down. Dragging up increases the accordingly and tempo events scale over a lon-
tempo values for all tempo event in BPM; drag- ger or shorter amount of absolute time.
ging down decreases them.

Adjusting the rate of tempo change with the

Trim tool
Changing all tempo events with the Trim tool

854 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To scale the duration of tempo changes with the To copy and Paste tempo events in the Tempo
Trim tool: Editor:

1 Open the Tempo Editor. 1 Open the Tempo Editor.

2 With the Selector tool, select the area you want 2 With the Selector tool, select the area you want
to edit. to copy.
3 With the Trim tool, click at the start or end of the 3 Choose Edit > Copy.
selection, and drag horizontally. Tempo events
4 Click in the Tempo Editor at the point where
do not change in terms of actual BPM values,
you want to paste the tempo events.
but they are scaled over a longer or shorter
amount of absolute time. 5 Choose Edit > Paste. Your copied selection is
pasted from the insertion point, replacing any
existing tempo events.

To nudge a selection in the Tempo Editor:

1 Open the Tempo Editor.
2 With the Selector tool, select the area you want
to nudge.
3 Do one of the following:
Scaling the duration of selected tempo events with the
Trim tool
• On the numeric keypad, press Plus (+) to move
the selected tempo events forward by the Nudge
Moving, Cutting, Pasting and value.
Nudging in the Tempo Editor • Press Minus (–) to move the selection back by
the Nudge value.
To move a selected group of tempo events in the
Tempo Editor:
1 Open the Tempo Editor.
2 With the Selector tool, select the area you want
to move.
3 With any Grabber tool, click on any selected
tempo event and drag horizontally to move the
tempo events to a new location.

Press Option (Mac) or Alt (Windows) while

dragging to move a copy of the tempo events.

Chapter 38: Time, Tempo, Meter, Key, and Chords 855

 Linear Tick Display The display of tempo events is
Changing the Linearity tick-based and tempo event Bar|Beat locations re-
Display Mode main constant after the tempo curve is drawn and
The Timeline can be viewed in either a Linear Tick all sample-based events move against bar beat lo-
(relative) scale or a Linear Sample (absolute) Time cations in the Timeline. When working on any
Scale. MIDI and Instrument tracks, audio tracks, tick-based material, such as MIDI notes or Elastic
and Tempo curves can appear and function very Audio events, make sure that Linear Tick Display
differently depending on the timebase display set- is selected. This is especially true if you will be
tings. making tempo changes, but want the bars and beats
to remain fixed in the Timeline.

Drawing tempo events using the Linear Tick

Display causes Bar|Beat based material to
move. This can make it difficult to work on
tick-based material. In most cases, you will
want to use Linear Sample Display when
drawing tempo changes.

To change the timebase display:

 Click the Linearity Display Mode selector and

select a timebase from the pop-up menu.

Linearity Display Mode selector and pop-up menu

Tempo Edit Density and
The Linearity Display Mode pop-up menu deter- Linearity Display Mode
mines whether the Tempo Editor displays tempo When the Tempo Edit Density setting (in the
events in an absolute (samples) timebase or a rela- Tempo Editor) and the Linearity Display Mode
tive (ticks) timebase. setting are both set to either a Bars|Beats Time
Linear Sample Display The display of the Time- Scale or to an absolute Time Scale, Tempo edits
line is sample-based and the location of tick-based appear evenly spaced. When the Tempo Edit Den-
events (like Bars and Beats) shift after a tempo sity setting and the Linearity Display Mode setting
curve is drawn. That is, as you change tempo, the are set so that one is set to an absolute Time Scale
location of bars and beats move against the fixed and the other is set to a Bars|Beats Time Scale, the
sample-based Timeline (such as Minutes:Sec- number of Tempo edits appear to increase or de-
onds). When working with sample-based material, crease over time (against absolute time).
such as when you are tracking or mixing, make
sure that Linear Sample Display is selected. This is
especially true if you intend to align the tempo and
meter map to sample-based events.

856 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 To open a specific Tempo Operations window
Tempo Operations Window page:

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.

Stretch Lets you select a clip of tempo events and

apply them to a larger or smaller selection area.

Chapter 38: Time, Tempo, Meter, Key, and Chords 857

 Constant Resolution (Advanced Option) Lets you select the
BPM note value for your tempo setting.
The Constant page in the Tempo Operations win-
dow lets you create a constant tempo over a se- Selecting “Follow Metronome Click” will set
lected range of time. the tempo BPM note value to mirror the click
value set in the meter markers.

Density (Advanced Option) Lets you specify the

density of the tempo change events written to the
Tempo ruler.

Preserve Tempo after Selection If selected, the

previous tempo setting that was in effect at the se-
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.

Constant page (Advanced Option)

Linear
Advanced When this option is selected, the
selection range changes to the Main Time Scale The Linear page in the Tempo Operations window
format, and additional and modified options be- lets you create tempos that change evenly over a
come available. selected range of time.

Calculate (Advanced Option) Calculates either

the tempo, or the selection end time.

Selection Start and End Specifies the start and

end point for the tempo change in Bars|Beats.
When an Edit selection is made, the Start and End
fields will display the selection boundaries.

End Time (Advanced Option) Displays the selec-

tion end time. When the Main Time Scale is set to
Bars|Beats, the end time is displayed in the Sub
Time Scale. When the Main Time Scale is set to
any absolute timebase, the end time is calculated
and displayed in Bars|Beats. Changing the end Linear page (Advanced Option)
time value causes the tempo to change.
Advanced When this option is selected, the
Tempo Specifies the tempo, in beats per minute selection range changes to the Main Time Scale
(BPM), to apply to the selected range. format, and additional and modified options be-
come available.

858 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Calculate (Advanced Option) Calculates either Parabolic
the selection end time, the start tempo, or the end
tempo. The Parabolic page in the Tempo Operations win-
dow lets you create tempos that accelerate or de-
Selection Start and End Displays the start and celerate by following a tempo curve, which
end points for the tempo change in the currently se- changes the tempo more rapidly or less rapidly
lected Main timebase. When an Edit selection is over the selection time.
made, the Start and End fields will display the se-
lection boundaries. Changing start or end values
changes the selection range.

End Time (Advanced Option) Displays the abso-

lute time for the selection end. When the Main
Time Scale is set to Bars|Beats, the end time is dis-
played in the Sub Time Scale. When the Main
Time Scale is set to any absolute timebase, the end
time is calculated and displayed in Bars|Beats.
Changing the end time value causes the tempo to
change.

Tempo Start and End Displays the tempo, in beats

per minute (BPM), for the start and end points of
the selected range. Changing the tempo causes the
end time value to change.
Parabolic page (Advanced Option)
Resolution (Advanced Option) Lets you select the Advanced When this option is selected, the
BPM note value for your tempo setting. selection range changes to the Main Time Scale
format, and additional and modified options be-
Selecting “Follow Metronome Click” will set
come available.
the tempo BPM note value to mirror the click
value set in the meter markers. Calculate (Advanced Option) Calculates the se-
lection end time, the start tempo, the end tempo, or
Density (Advanced Option) Lets you specify the
the curvature of the tempo change.
density of the tempo change events written to the
Tempo ruler. Selection Start and End Displays the start and end
points for the tempo change in the currently se-
Preserve Tempo after Selection If selected, the
lected Main timebase. When an Edit selection is
previous tempo setting that was in effect at the se-
made, the Start and End fields will display the se-
lection end point is preserved after the selection. If
lection boundaries. Changing start or end values
unselected, the last tempo event created by the
changes the selection range.
tempo operation continues to the end of the ses-
sion, or until the next tempo event beyond the se-
lected range.

Chapter 38: Time, Tempo, Meter, Key, and Chords 859

 End Time (Advanced Option) Displays the abso- S-Curve
lute time for the selection end. When the Main
Time Scale is set to Bars|Beats, the end time is dis- The S-Curve page in the Tempo Operations win-
played in the Sub Time Scale. When the Main dow lets you create tempos that accelerate or de-
Time Scale is set to any absolute timebase, the end celerate by following a tempo curve with a defin-
time is calculated and displayed in Bars|Beats. able breakpoint that determines mid-curve times
Changing the end time value causes the tempo to and tempo values.
change.

Tempo Start and End Displays the tempo, in beats

per minute (BPM), for the start and end points of
the selected range. Changing the tempo causes the
end time value to change.

Curvature Specifies and displays a numerical and

graphic representation of the tempo curve. Nega-
tive numbers indicate a more rapid tempo change
at the beginning of the time range, and positive
numbers indicate a more rapid tempo change at the
end of the time range. This value can be set with
the Curvature slider.

Resolution (Advanced Option) Lets you select the

BPM note value for your tempo setting.

Selecting “Follow Metronome Click” will set

the tempo BPM note value to mirror the click S-Curve page (Advanced Option)
value set in the meter markers.
Advanced When this option is selected, the
Density (Advanced Option) Lets you specify the selection range changes to the Main Time Scale
density of the tempo change events written to the format, and additional and modified options be-
Tempo ruler. come available.

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.

860 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Start and End Time (Advanced Option) Displays Preserve Tempo after Selection If selected, the
the absolute time for the selection end. When the previous tempo setting that was in effect at the se-
Main Time Scale is set to Bars|Beats, the end time lection end point is preserved after the selection. If
is displayed in the Sub Time Scale. When the Main unselected, the last tempo event created by the
Time Scale is set to any absolute timebase, the end tempo operation continues to the end of the ses-
time is calculated and displayed in Bars|Beats. sion, or until the next tempo event beyond the se-
lected range.
Tempo Start and End Displays the tempo, in beats
per minute (BPM), for the start and end points of
the selected range. Changing the tempo causes the Scale
end time value to change. The Scale page in the Tempo Operations window
lets you scale tempos within the selection by a per-
Curvature Specifies and displays a numerical and
centage amount.
graphic representation of the tempo curve. Nega-
tive numbers indicate a more rapid tempo change
at the start and end of the of the time range, with a
low rate of change around the midpoint. Positive
numbers indicate a low rate of change near the start
and end of the selected range, with rapid tempo
change around the midpoint. This value can be set
with the Curvature slider.

Mid Point Specifies the Main Time Scale location

for the curve mid point. This value can be set with
the Mid Point slider.

Mid Tempo Specifies the tempo at the mid point.

This value can be set with the Mid Tempo slider.

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.

Chapter 38: Time, Tempo, Meter, Key, and Chords 861

 Scale (Advanced Option) In combination with Stretch
settings chosen in the Calculate pop-up menu, the
Scale pop-up menu lets you scale all tempos, the The Stretch page in the Tempo Operations window
start tempo, or the end tempo. lets you select a clip of tempo events and apply
them to a larger or smaller selection area.
Scaling all tempos scales each tempo in the se-
lected range equally. Scaling the start tempo scales
the tempos unevenly, scaling the first tempo event
the most, scaling each consecutive tempo event
less until the end tempo which is not scaled. Scal-
ing the end tempo scales the tempos unevenly,
scaling the last tempo the most, scaling each previ-
ous tempo event less until the start tempo which is
not scaled.

Selection Start and End Displays the start and end

points for the tempo operation in the currently se-
lected Main timebase. When an Edit selection is
Stretch page (Advanced Option)
made, the Start and End fields will display the se-
lection boundaries. Changing start or end values Advanced When this option is selected, the
changes the selection range. selection range changes to the Main Time Scale
format, and additional and modified options be-
Start and End Time Displays the absolute time for come available.
the selection start and end points. When the Main
Time Scale is set to Bars|Beats, times are displayed Selection Start and End Specifies the range of
in the Sub Time Scale. When the Main Time Scale tempo events that you want to modify. When an
is set to any absolute timebase, times are calculated Edit selection is made, the Start and End fields will
and displayed in Bars|Beats. display the selection boundaries.

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.
862 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).

Identify Beat Command Tempo events can also be manually converted to

Bar|Beat Markers and vice versa. When converting
The Identify Beat command lets you establish a
between Tempo events and Bar|Beat Markers,
tempo/meter map for audio that was recorded
some amount of sample rounding may occur.
without a click, or for imported audio with un-
known tempos. To use either tempo events or Bar|Beat Markers:

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.

Use Beat Detective to generate Bar|Beat

Tempo ruler pop-up menu
Markers within a selection that includes
rhythmic changes on beats or sub-beats (see
Identifying Beats
Chapter 33, “Beat Detective”).
Identifying the beat of a one-bar drum loop and
Bar|Beat Markers creating Bar|Beat Markers for it:

1 Place a one-bar drum loop at the beginning of

Bar|Beat Markers look similar to tempo events, but
an audio track.
instead have small blue triangles to indicate their
location. 2 Select View > Rulers > Samples. This ensures
that the selected audio material will be sample-
accurate.
3 Select the audio clip with the Time Grabber tool
and choose Event > Identify Beat.

Bar|Beat Marker

Chapter 38: Time, Tempo, Meter, Key, and Chords 863

 4 In the Bar|Beat Markers dialog, specify the start To accurately define tempos for a range of audio
and end locations for the inserted Bar|Beat with the Identify Beat command, make certain that
Markers. Since this example deals with a one- the initial selection represents an accurate length of
bar loop, enter 1|1|000 and 2|1|000. bars and beats. You may want to first loop the se-
lection on playback to see if it plays accurately (see
“Loop Playback Mode” on page 489). To avoid
drift, and remain sample-accurate, select the audio
material with the Time Scale set to Samples rather
than Bars|Beats.

When identifying beats, select as large an

area as possible. For example, if you
have a four-bar-long audio file you want to
identify, select the entire four bars instead
of just one bar, in order to minimize rounding
errors (see “Sample Rounding and Edit Op-
erations” on page 843).
Identify Beat dialog

5 If necessary, specify a time signature for the Dragging Bar|Beat Markers

start and end range.
Bar|Beat Markers can be dragged to new locations
6 Click OK to automatically calculate the new so they can align with audio clips that have been
tempo and insert the necessary Bar|Beat Mark- moved, or so that they can align to a slightly differ-
ers and meter events. Any existing tempo and ent point within an audio clip. This results in
meter events residing within the selection are neighboring MIDI data being adjusted to align
deleted. with the new tempo map.

Because Bar|Beat Markers are sample-based and

tempo events are tick-based, they behave differ-
ently when you drag them in the Tempo ruler.

When dragging a Bar|Beat Marker:

• Its BPM value is recalculated along with the
Bar|Beat Marker to its immediate left. Bar|Beat
Markers to the right of the dragged marker re-
main unchanged.
Bar|Beat Markers inserted
• Its bar and beat location is dragged with the
When working with a selection, the Identify Beat Bar|Beat Marker. If the Bar|Beat Marker was
command only calculates a single tempo for the se- originally placed at 3|1|000, it remains there (un-
lected range. If the tempo varies from measure to less it is edited).
measure, or beat to beat, you’ll need to use the
Identify Beat command for each tempo variance
• Its sample and SMPTE locations change, as cal-
(making sure to accurately define a precise selec- culated for by the new tempo for the Bar|Beat
tion range or beat location for the tempo change). Marker.

864 Pro Tools Reference Guide

• Neighboring MIDI events, along with the To edit a Bar|Beat Marker:
Bars|Beats ruler, shrink or expand as necessary 1 In the Tempo ruler, double-click the Bar|Beat
to adjust for the new tempo. Marker.
2 In the Edit Bar|Beat dialog, enter a new Loca-
tion for the Bar|Beat Marker.
3 Enter a new Time Signature.
4 Click OK.

To delete a Bar|Beat Marker:

 With the Grabber tool, Option-click (Mac) or

Dragging a Bar|Beat Marker Alt-click (Windows) the Bar|Beat Marker.

When dragging a tempo event:

Inserting Bar|Beat Markers One
• The tempo event is placed at a new bar and beat at a Time
location. The sample and SMPTE locations for Sample-Based Material with Varying Tempos
the event are updated as well.
You can insert Bar|Beat Markers one at a time by
• The BPM value for the dragged tempo event re-
setting an Edit insertion point (instead of making a
mains constant, as do any other tempo events in
selection) before using the Identify Beat com-
the session.
mand. The ability to identify each beat, one at a
• Neighboring MIDI events and audio clips on time, is especially useful when working with sam-
tick-based tracks, along with the ruler, shrink or ple-based material with varying tempos.
expand as necessary to adjust for the new tempo
location. For instance, if you have a measure that accelerates
slightly, you can insert a Bar|Beat Marker on each
beat so the tempo is accurately reflected.
Editing Bar|Beat Markers
A Bar|Beat Marker can be edited to redefine its bar
and beat location, which also redefines the start or
end point of the range being analyzed for tempo.
This is different from dragging a Bar|Beat Marker.

Bar|Beat Markers on each beat

After the Bar|Beat Markers are inserted, further ad-

justments in the tempo map are possible by drag-
ging each of the Markers, as necessary, to align
with the associated beat within the audio.

Edit Bar|Beat dialog

Chapter 38: Time, Tempo, Meter, Key, and Chords 865

 • With the Grabber, Control-click (Mac) or Start-
Meter Events click (Windows) at the location where you want
You can change meter in the Meter ruler, or make to insert the event.
precise meter changes in the Time Operations win-
dow.

Meter events can be inserted at the beginning of a

session to replace the default meter (of 4/4), and
Manually inserting a meter event
they can be inserted anywhere within the session
for additional meter changes. • Double click the meter display in the Transport
window.
To display the Meter ruler:

 Select View > Rulers > Meter.

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.

Current meter displayed in Transport window

Inserting Meter Events

To insert a meter event:

1 Do one of the following:

• Choose Event > Time Operations > Change Me-
ter.
• Click the Add Meter Change button at the right
of the Meter ruler.
Meter Change window

Add Meter Change button

866 Pro Tools Reference Guide

4 Select a note value for the number of clicks to To copy and paste several meter events:
sound in each measure. For a dotted-note click 1 If you want to constrain the selection to the cur-
value, select the dot (.) option. rent Grid value, set the Edit mode to Grid.
For some meters, it may be desirable to use a 2 Drag in the Meter ruler to select the range that
dotted value for the click. For instance, if us- includes the meter events.
ing a meter of 6/8, a dotted quarter note click
(yielding two clicks per measure) is generally If the beginning of the selection includes a meter
more suitable than a straight eighth note click event, press Command (Mac) or Control (Win-
(six clicks per measure). dows) so the Selector tool appears.

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.

Chapter 38: Time, Tempo, Meter, Key, and Chords 867

 Partial Measures To open the last active Time Operations window:

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 868.

Time Operations
The Time Operations window lets you:
• Change Meter
• Insert Time
• Cut Time
• Move Song Start

To open a specific Time Operations window:

Change Meter window
 Choose Event > Time Operations, followed by
one of the Time Operations commands (such as
Change Meter).

If the Time Operations window is already

open, you can select any Time Operation
from the pop-up menu at the top of the win-
dow.

868 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Change Meter Examples 5 Click Apply to enter the new meter and to move
the insertion point to the end of the new mea-
To change the meter over a range of bars: sure.
1 Do one of the following:
6 Specify a new meter and click setting for the
• Drag with the Selector tool to select a range of next measure.
bars to change.
7 Repeat steps 5–6 for every additional meter
• To have the meter change apply until the next change you want to insert.
meter event, click where you want the meter
change to begin with the Selector tool. The me-
ter change will be made at the beginning of the
Change Meter Options
nearest bar. Options for the Change Meter command include:
2 Choose Event > Time Operations > Change New Meter Lets you specify a new time signature.
Meter. The first field lets you enter the number of beats
3 Specify a new meter and click setting. Pro Tools (up to 99) in a measure, and the second field lets
will automatically set the selection options to fit you enter the note length that counts as one beat.
the new meter to the selected range as closely as Click Lets you specify the note value that will trig-
possible, adding or subtracting beats a neces- ger the metronome click. For example, if an eighth
sary. note is chosen, a click is played for every eighth
4 Select To Selected Range in the Apply Change note, regardless of tempo.
pop-up menu.
Starting at Bar Sets the bar where the meter
5 Select which rulers and tracks you want to re- change is added. Meter changes made in the
align after meter changes have been made. Change Meter page can only be made at the begin-
ning of a bar.
6 Click Apply.
Apply Change To Lets you apply the meter change
To add a series of meter changes, one measure at to the selected range, to the end of the session, or
a time:
until the next bar.
1 Do one of the following:
Change The Change fields let you specify the
• With the Selector tool, click where you want the number of bars of the new meter that you want to
meter change to begin. The meter change will be have replace the selected range.
made at the beginning the nearest bar.
• Enter the first measure number in the Starting At Pro Tools automatically calculates the nearest
Bar field. whole bar number, or you can specify a number of
bars to be affected. Time is inserted or deleted, in
2 Choose Event > Time Operations > Change whole bar increments, at the end of the selection,
Meter. as necessary on all affected tracks when you over-
3 Specify a new meter and click setting. ride the calculated range.

4 Select Until the Next Bar from the Apply Change

To pop-up menu.

Chapter 38: Time, Tempo, Meter, Key, and Chords 869

 Realign Insert Time Example
The Realign controls let you choose which items to To insert four empty measures of 4/4 time into a
realign after a meter change has been made. You session:
can choose to realign meter events, or choose to re- 1 Set the Main Time Scale to Bars|Beats.
align meter and tempo events, tick-based markers
and tracks, and also all or none of the sample-based 2 Choose Event > Time Operations > Insert Time.
markers and tracks. 3 Enter the measure where you want to insert the
Meter Ruler Only Applies the meter change and measures in the Start field.
realigns only the Meter ruler. All other rulers and 4 Enter four measures in the Length field.
tracks are unaffected.
5 Select the Realign option for Meter, Tempo,
Meter, Tempo, Key, and Chord Rulers, all Tick- Key, and Chord Rulers, Tick-Based Markers
Based Markers and Tracks, and Sample-Based and Tracks and All Sample-Based Markers and
Markers and Tracks Applies the meter change and Tracks.
realigns the Meter, Tempo, Key, and Chord rulers,
and all tick-based markers and tracks. Using the 6 Click Apply.
pop-up menu, you can also choose to realign All or
No sample-based markers and tracks. Time is in- Insert Time Options
serted or deleted as needed at the end of the selec-
tion to preserve the alignment of material follow- Options for the Insert Time command include:
ing the selection. Start, End, and Length Sets the start and end
points for the selection, and the selection length.

Insert Time Set Meter If your Main Time Scale is Bars|Beats,

Set Meter lets you specify a new meter for the in-
Insert Time in the Time Operation window lets you serted time. The selection is quantized to the near-
insert an amount of blank time (silence) into Con- est bars, and the previous meter is inserted after the
ductor rulers, MIDI tracks, and audio tracks. selection. If your Main Time Scale is sample-
based, Set Meter is not available.

Insert Time window

870 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Realign
Cut Time
The Realign settings let you select which items
shift (occur later) when time is inserted, as follows: Cut Time in the Time Operation window lets you
cut a specified amount of time (both Timebase and
• If your Main Time Scale is set to Bars|Beats, you track data) from Conductor rulers, MIDI tracks,
can choose to realign meter events only, or and audio tracks.
choose to realign a combination of Meter and
Tempo rulers, all tick-based markers and tracks,
and your choice of sample-based tracks.
• If your Main Time Scale is set to an absolute
timebase (such as Min:Secs), you can choose to
independently realign conductor events, tick-
based markers and tracks, and your choice of
sample-based tracks.

Meter Ruler Only If your Main Time Scale is

Bars|Beats, you have the option to insert time into
the Meter ruler only. Meter events after the start
point of the selection are shifted past the end point
by the length of time selection. Cut Time window

If your Main Time Scale is sample-based,

Cut Time Example
Realign Meter Ruler Only is not available.
To cut thirty seconds of time from a session:
Meter, Tempo, Key, and Chord Rulers, Tick-Based
Markers and Tracks, and Sample-Based Markers 1 Set the Main Time Scale to Minutes:Seconds.
and Tracks Lets you insert time into the Meter,
2 Choose Event > Time Operations > Cut Time.
Tempo, Key, and Chord rulers, and all tick-based
markers and tracks. Events after the start point of 3 With the Selector tool, click at the beginning of
the selection are shifted past the end point by the the area that you want to cut.
length of time inserted.
4 Enter thirty seconds (0:30.000) in the Length
If the Timeline selection includes any audio clips field.
on tick-based tracks, the audio clips are separated 5 Select the Realign option for Meter, Tempo,
at the Start point, and the new clip containing the Key, and Chord Rulers, all Tick-Based Markers
previous selection is shifted to the end point. and Tracks and All Sample-Based Markers and
Using the pop-up menu, you can also choose to in- Tracks.
sert time into All or No sample-based markers and 6 Click Apply.
tracks. If All is selected and the selection includes
any audio clips on sample-based tracks, the se-
lected portions of the audio clips are separated at
the Start point, and the new clip containing the pre-
vious selection is shifted to the end point.

Chapter 38: Time, Tempo, Meter, Key, and Chords 871

 Cut Time Options Using the pop-up menu, you can also choose to cut
time from All or No sample-based markers and
Options for the Cut Time command include:
tracks. If All is selected and the selection includes
Start, End, and Length Sets the start and end any audio clips on sample-based tracks, the se-
points for the selection, and the selection length. lected area of the clips is deleted, and clips follow-
ing the selection are shifted forward.
Realign

The Realign controls let you choose which items

shift when time is cut, as follows:
Move Song Start
• If your Main Time Scale is set to Bars|Beats, you Move Song Start in the Time Operation window
can choose to realign meter events only, or lets you redefine the location of the Song Start
choose to realign a combination of Meter and Marker.
Tempo rulers together, all tick-based markers
and tracks, and your choice of sample-based
tracks.
• If your Main Time Scale is set to an absolute
timebase (such as Min:Secs), you can choose to
independently realign conductor events, tick-
based markers and tracks, and your choice of
sample-based tracks.
Meter Ruler Only

If your Main Time Scale is Bars|Beats, you have

the option to remove time from the Meter ruler
only. Meter events within the selection are re-
Move Song Start window
moved, and meter events that occur after the end
point of the selection are shifted to the selection Move Song Start Example
start point.
To move the Song Start Marker to 15 seconds on
If your Main Time Scale is sample-based, the Timeline:
Realign Meter Ruler Only is not available.
1 Choose Event > Time Operations > Move Song
Meter, Tempo, Key, and Chord Rulers, Tick-Based Start.
Markers and Tracks, and Sample-Based Markers
and Tracks Cuts time and realigns the Meter, 2 Select Minutes:Seconds from the Timebase
Tempo, Key, and Chord rulers, and all tick-based pop-up menu.
markers and tracks. 3 In the Move Song Start To field, enter
“0:15:000” to move the song start forward by 15
If the time selection includes any tick-based clips,
seconds.
the selected area of the clips is deleted, and clips
following the selection are shifted forward.

872 Pro Tools Reference Guide

4 If you want to renumber the bars so that the
Song Start Marker sits at a different bar, select Renumbering Bars
the Renumber Song Start option, and enter the You can use the Renumber Bars command to re-
bar number. number all bars in the session, effectively chang-
5 Select whether you want to move All or No sam- ing the bar locations for all clips, meter and tempo
ple-based markers and tracks. events while leaving their position intact. In doing
so, however, the SMPTE and sample locations of
6 Click Apply. the session data are not changed.

Move Song Start Options To renumber bars:

1 Choose Event > Renumber Bars.
Options for the Move Song Start command in-
clude: 2 Specify the bar you want to renumber, along
with the new bar number, then click Renumber.
Timebase Lets you precisely redefine the position
of the Song Start Marker measured by any sup-
ported timebase.

Move Start To Sets the location for the Song Start

Marker in the chosen timebase.

Renumber Song Start To When enabled, this lets

you set the Song Start Marker to any bar Renumber Bars dialog
number.

Move Key Signatures

The Move controls let you choose which items The Key Signature ruler lets you add key signa-
shift when the Song Start is moved, as follows: tures to Pro Tools sessions. Key signatures can be
imported and exported with MIDI data. This is es-
Song Start Only Moves the Song Start Marker
pecially useful when exporting MIDI sequences
only.
for use in notation programs like Sibelius (see “Ex-
Meter, Tempo, Key, and Chord Rulers, all Tick- porting Sibelius Files” on page 420). The default
Based Markers and Tracks, and Sample-Based key signature is C major.
Markers and Tracks Moves the Song Start
Marker, events in the Meter, Tempo, Key, and
Chord rulers, all tick-based markers and tracks,
and your choice of all or no sample-based markers
and tracks.

Chapter 38: Time, Tempo, Meter, Key, and Chords 873

 Key Signature Ruler Changing Key Signatures
The Key Signature ruler lets you add, edit, and de- You can add, edit, or delete key signatures.
lete key signatures. You can use key signatures to
indicate key and key changes in your Pro Tools To add a key signature:
session. Key signatures can also be used for certain 1 Place the cursor in the Timeline where you want
diatonic functions, such as transposing in key or to add a key signature.
constraining pitches to the specified key.
2 Do one of the following:
• Choose Event > Add Key Change.
• Click the Plus (+) button in the Key Signature
ruler.
3 In the Key Change dialog, select the mode (ma-
Key Signature ruler jor or minor), the key, its location and range,
To view the Key Signature ruler, do one of the
and how you want it to affect pitched tracks.
following: 4 Click OK.
 Select View > Rulers > Key Signature.
To edit a key signature:
 From the Ruler View selector in the Edit win-
1 Double-click the Key Signature marker in the
dow, select Key.
Key Signature ruler.
You can also show or hide the Key Signature Staff
2 Make changes in the Key Change dialog.
for the Key Signatures ruler.
3 Click OK.
To view the staff for the Key Signature ruler:
To delete a key signature, do one of the following:
1 Show the Key Signature ruler.
 Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) the
2 Do one of the following:
Key Signature marker in the Key Signature
• Select View > Rulers > Key Signature Staff. ruler.
• Click the Show/Hide triangle on the Key Signa-  Make a selection in the Key Signature ruler that
ture ruler. includes the key signature you want to delete
and choose Edit > Clear or press Delete.

874 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Key Change Dialog Snap to Bar Snaps the Key Signature marker to
the barline.
The Key Change dialog lets you specify the mode
(major or minor), the key (from seven flats to Edit Pitched Tracks Enabling the Edit Pitched
seven sharps), the range affected (for example, Tracks option lets you transpose existing MIDI
from Bar 1 to the next key change), and whether or notes on Pitched tracks up or down, either diatoni-
not MIDI notes on pitched tracks are transposed or cally or chromatically based on the key change, or
constrained to key (see “Pitched Tracks” on constrain pitches to the new key. For more infor-
page 876). The Key Change dialog opens when- mation on Pitched tracks, see “Pitched Tracks” on
ever you add or edit a Key Signature marker. page 876.

Transpose When the Edit Pitched Tracks option is

enabled, lets you transpose existing MIDI notes on
Pitched tracks up or down, diatonically or chro-
matically. For example, if the session is in C major
and you are adding a key change to D minor, select
Edit Pitched Tracks, Transpose, Up, and Diatoni-
cally to transpose notes on Pitched tracks up a
whole step and then lower the third, sixth, and sev-
enth scale degrees by a half step. The sequence C,
D, E is transposed to D, E, F (natural, rather than
sharp as happens when transposing chromatically).

When transposing diatonically, chromatic notes

are maintained when changing key. For example,
Key Change dialog
when changing key from C major to E major, the
Major Keys Displays the major keys from seven note B-flat is transposed to D-natural. This lets you
flats to seven sharps. maintain “blue-notes” when changing keys and ap-
plying diatonic transposition.
Minor Keys Displays the minor keys from seven
flats to seven sharps. Pro Tools only applies the Constrain Pitches To Key When the Edit Pitched
natural minor mode. Tracks option is enabled, lets you constrain pitches
to the notes of the new key. This means that any
Sharps Lets you select any of the sharp keys to
diatonic pitches of the old key on Pitched tracks
seven sharps and C major (or A minor).
that are not in the new key are individually trans-
Flats Lets you select any of the flat keys to seven posed to the nearest diatonic pitch of the new key.
flats and C major (or A minor). For example, when changing from C major to D
major, the sequence C, D, E, F, G changes to C-
From Lets you specify where to place the Key Sig- sharp, D, E, F-sharp, G.
nature marker in Bars|Beats.
Constraining pitches to key also constrains any
To Lets you specify to where you want the key chromatic pitches to the new diatonic scale. For
change to take effect: to the next Key Signature example, when changing from C major to D major,
marker, to a selection, or to the end of the the sequence C, D, D-sharp, E changes to C-sharp,
session. D, D, E.

Chapter 38: Time, Tempo, Meter, Key, and Chords 875

 Pitched Tracks Import MIDI

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.

To select (or deselect) Pitched tracks:

 Click the track’s Playlist selector and select (or

deselect) the Pitched option.

Import MIDI dialog

Import Session Data

The Import Session Data dialog includes the Im-

port Key Signature/Chord Map option. When se-
lected, key signatures (if present) and chord mark-
ers (if present) are imported into the current
Pitched enabled in Playlist selector
session with the imported session data.
Importing Key Signatures
When importing MIDI (or session data with
MIDI), you can select whether or not to import any
key signatures stored in MIDI files.

Import Session Data

876 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 To add a chord symbol:
Chord Symbols
1 Place the cursor in the Timeline where you want
The Chord Symbols ruler lets you add chord sym- to add a chord symbol.
bols to Pro Tools sessions in the Edit window and
2 Do one of the following:
in MIDI Editor windows. You can also add chord
symbols and diagrams in the Score Editor (“Chord • Place the cursor in the timeline, then click the
Symbols and Diagrams” on page 824). Plus (+) button in the Chords ruler.
• While pressing the Control (Mac) or Start key
Chord symbols have no effect on MIDI data. Also,
(Windows), move the cursor into the Chords
chord symbols are not included when exporting
ruler (where the cursor changes to the Grabber
MIDI data from Pro Tools to a MIDI file, but they
with a “+”) and click at the location where you
are included when exporting to a Sibelius file (.sib)
want to place the chord symbol.
or when using the Send to Sibelius command.
3 In the Chord Change dialog, select the name for
Chord Symbols Ruler the root of the chord, the chord quality, the bass
note of the chord, and the chord diagram (chord
The Chord Symbols ruler lets you add, edit, and diagrams are only displayed in the Score Edi-
delete chord symbols. You can use chord symbols tor).
to indicate the chord changes in your Pro Tools
session. 4 Click OK.

To change a chord symbol:

Chords ruler
Add Chord Symbol 1 Double-click the Chord Symbol marker in the
Chord Symbol markers
Chord Symbol ruler.
2 Make changes in the Chord Change dialog.
3 Click OK.

To move a chord symbol:

Chord Symbols ruler
 Drag the Chord Symbol marker to a new time
To view the Chord Symbols ruler, do one of the
following: location.

 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.

Chapter 38: Time, Tempo, Meter, Key, and Chords 877

 Chord Change Dialog Chord Select the name for the root of the Chord
(such as D).
The Chord Change dialog lets you specify a com-
mercial chord symbol and chord diagram (guitar Chord Quality Select the chord quality from the
tab) to place in the Chords ruler or on the score in selector (such as major or minor).
the Score Editor. The Chord Change dialog opens
Bass Select the bass note of the chord (such as B-
whenever you add or edit a Chord marker.
flat for a G minor chord in first inversion).
Chord selector Chord Quality Bass Note
selector selector Chord Diagram Select the chord diagram for
guitar tablature.

To show or hide chord symbols and diagrams

in the Score Editor, select or deselect the cor-
responding option in the Score Setup dialog.

Extract Chords From

Selection
Pro Tools lets you analyze selected MIDI clips to
identify chords, and then add them to the Chord
Symbols ruler in the Edit window as well as in
MIDI Editor windows. Depending on the Score
Setup Display settings (File > Score Setup), ana-
lyzed chords will also be shown as Chord Symbols
and Chord Diagrams in the Score Editor window.
When analyzing MIDI clips, Pro Tools can only
recognize chords that are available in the Chord
Change dialog. Chord Symbol markers are added
to the Chord Symbol ruler quantized to quarter-
Chord Diagrams
note intervals on the Timeline. Chord extraction is
Chord Change dialog useful for scoring in addition to providing chord
symbols for charts and recording overdubbed per-
formances.

878 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To analyze MIDI clips for chord content and add Chord Symbol markers to the Chord Symbols ruler:
1 Select one or more whole MIDI clips.
2 Choose Event > Extract Chords from Selection.

Pro Tools adds Chord Symbol markers to the Chord Symbols ruler for all chords detected in the selected
MIDI clips.

Chord Symbol markers added to the Chord Symbols ruler for all chords detected in the selected MIDI clips

Chapter 38: Time, Tempo, Meter, Key, and Chords 879

880 Pro Tools Reference Guide
Chapter 39: Memory Locations

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).

Marker Memory Location Refers to a specific

point in the timeline.

Selection Memory Location Refers to an Edit

Selection

General Properties Memory Location Refers to a

combination of session settings (such as zoom set-
Add Marker/Memory Location button
tings, pre- and post-roll times, Show/Hide status
for tracks, Track Heights, and Edit and Mix Group
enables).

Chapter 39: Memory Locations 881

 • While pressing the Control (Mac) Start key or 6 Click OK. The Selection Memory Location is
(Windows), move the cursor into the Markers created and appears in the Memory Locations
ruler (where the cursor changes to the Grabber window.
with a “+”) and click at the location where you
want to place the Marker. To create a General Properties Memory Location:

1 Configure any session settings you will save

with the Selection Memory Location, such as
zoom settings, pre- and post-roll times,
Show/Hide status for tracks, Track Heights, and
Edit and Mix Group enables.
Manually inserting a Marker 2 Press Enter on the numeric keypad.
5 In the New Memory Location dialog, select the 3 In the Memory Location dialog, select the None
Marker option and set the Reference to either option.
Bar|Beat or Absolute.
4 Enter a Name for the new Memory Location
6 Enter a Name for the new Marker and select any and select any General Properties you want to
General Properties you want to save with the save with it.
Marker.
5 Click OK. The General Properties Memory Lo-
7 Click OK. The Marker is created and appears in cation is created and appears in the Memory Lo-
the Markers ruler, and in the Memory Locations cations window.
window.
In the New Memory Location dialog, you can
To create a Selection Memory Location: Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows)
any General Property to enable or disable all
1 Configure any session settings you will save
properties. You can also Command-click
with the Selection Memory Location, such as
(Mac) or Control-click (Windows) any prop-
zoom settings, pre- and post-roll times,
erty to toggle its state and the state of all
Show/Hide status for tracks, Track Heights, and
other General Properties.
Edit and Mix Group enables.
2 Select a range of material in one or more tracks.
Do one of the following: Creating Memory Locations
During Playback
3

• Press Enter on the numeric keypad.

When the Auto-Name Memory Locations When
• From the Memory Locations Window menu,
Playing option is enabled in the Editing Prefer-
choose Add Memory Location.
ences page, Memory Locations can be created
4 In the New Memory Location dialog, select the during playback, without opening the New Mem-
Selection option and set the Reference to either ory Location dialog. This option can also be se-
Bar|Beat or Absolute. lected from the Memory Locations Window menu.
5 Enter a Name for the new Memory Location
and select any General Properties you want to
save with it.

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This capability is useful if you want to mark cer-
tain locations while listening during a record pass, Properties of Memory
or if you want to mark frame locations while view- Locations
ing a video scene. When creating a new Memory Location (see “Cre-
ating Memory Locations” on page 881) you are
To create a Marker during playback:
prompted to define its Time Properties and Gen-
1 From the Memory Locations Window menu, se- eral Properties.
lect Default To Marker. This ensures that new
Memory Locations default to being Markers.
2 From the Memory Locations Window menu, se-
lect Auto-Name Memory Locations.
3 For inserted Markers to have a Bar|Beat refer-
ence, make sure to set the Main Time Scale to
Bars|Beats.
4 Click Play in the Transport.
5 When the location is reached, press Enter on the
numeric keypad. A Marker is automatically cre-
ated and appears in the Markers ruler.

Auto-created Markers are named with increasing

numbers, for example, “Marker 1,” “Marker 2,”
and “Marker 3.”

When the Default To Marker option is deselected,

new Memory Locations default to whatever type
was last created. Therefore, if a Selection Memory
Location was created last, it will be the type that is Memory Locations window
created during playback. In this case, the name for
the created Memory Location is based on the start Time Properties
of the Edit selection using the time format for the Under Time Properties, a Memory Location can be
Main Time Scale (such as “2|2|305” or set to Marker, Selection, or None. This determines
“0:02.658”). the type of Memory Location that is created. Each
of these three Memory Location types can also
When Use Separate Play and Stop Keys op-
save any combination of General Properties.
tion is enabled in the Operation Preferences
page, it overrides using the Enter key to add Marker Recalls a Timeline location whose refer-
Memory Location markers. When this option ence can be either Bar|Beat (tick-based) or Abso-
is enabled, press Period (.) and then Enter on lute (sample-based). When recalling a Marker
the numeric keypad to add a Memory Loca- Memory Location, the playback cursor moves to
tion marker. The new marker is created when
you press Enter.

Chapter 39: Memory Locations 883

 the Marker’s location and the start and end times in Bar|Beat and Absolute Reference
the Transport window are also updated. If the
The Reference pop-up determines whether the
Timeline and Edit Selections are linked, the edit
Marker or Selection Memory Location is Bar|Beat
cursor also moves to the Marker location.
or Absolute. When set to Bar|Beat, the Memory
Markers appear in the Markers ruler with a thin Location is tick-based and its bar and beat location
yellow line extending down through all tracks in remains constant if the tempo is changed—though
the Edit window (to assist in arranging and align- its relation to the absolute sample location changes
ing track material). You can click a Marker in the accordingly.
Markers ruler to recall its location along with its
When set to Absolute, the Memory Location is
stored General Properties.
sample-based and its bar and beat location shifts if
the tempo is changed—though its sample location
remains constant, along with its relation to audio
material.

Bar|Beat Marker (left) and Absolute Marker (right)

In the Markers ruler, Markers that are Bar|Beat ap-

Markers in the Markers ruler pear as yellow chevrons, and Markers that are Ab-
solute appear as yellow diamonds.
Selection Recalls an Edit selection or edit cursor
location whose reference can be either Bar|Beat
(tick-based) or Absolute (sample-based). A Selec- General Properties
tion Memory Location lets you store Edit selec- All three types of Memory Locations (Marker, Se-
tions, for one or more tracks, that you return to of- lection, and None) can store and recall any combi-
ten within a session. If the Timeline and Edit nation of the following General Properties:
Selections are linked, a Selection Memory Loca-
tion can recall record and play ranges. Number Change the number to overwrite an exist-
ing Memory Location, or to reorder Memory Lo-
Only contiguous selections can be saved with cations in the Memory Locations window.
Memory Locations. Noncontiguous selec-
tions, made with the Object Grabber tool, will Name Enter a descriptive name for each memory
be recalled as if the selections were made location.
with the Time Grabber tool.
Zoom Settings Recalls the horizontal, audio, and
None Recalls no Time Properties and is therefore MIDI zoom values for audio, MIDI, and Instru-
referred to as a General Properties Memory Loca- ment tracks.
tion.

884 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Pre/Post Roll Times Recalls pre- and post-roll
times (but not whether they are enabled). This Recalling Memory Locations
property can be stored with a Selection Memory Memory Locations can be recalled from the Mem-
Location to recall record and play ranges along ory Locations window and from the numeric key-
with pre- and post-roll. pad. Additionally, Memory Location Markers can
Track Show/Hide Recalls which tracks are hidden. be recalled by clicking them in the Markers ruler.
Use this property to display groups of tracks for
To recall a Memory Location:
editing and mixing.
1 Select Window > Memory Locations to display
Track Heights Recalls all Track Heights. Use this the Memory Locations window.
option along with Zoom Settings to recall edit en-
vironments that are suited for particular tasks, such 2 If recalling a Selection Memory Location that
as editing down to the sample level or trimming defines a record or play range, ensure that
MIDI notes. Options > Link Timeline and Edit Selection is
selected.
Group Enables Recalls which Edit and Mix
Groups are enabled. This option is helpful in re- 3 Do one of the following:
calling groups for particular edit and mixing oper- • In the Memory Locations window, click the
ations, such as muting all drum tracks or fading a Memory Location to recall it.
stereo pair. • With the Numeric Keypad mode set to Classic,
Window Configuration Recalls a specific Window press the Memory Location number followed by
Configuration. This option is helpful in recalling Period (.).
specific Window Configurations to facilitate edit- • With the Numeric Keypad mode set to Transport
ing or mixing tasks. For more information on Win- or Shuttle, press Period (.), the Memory Loca-
dow Configurations, see “Window Configura- tion number, and Period (.) again.
tions” on page 204.
When recalling a Memory Location from the
If you are using VENUE Link for interopera- numeric keypad, the Memory Locations win-
bility between Pro Tools and an Avid VENUE dow does not need to be open.
console, additional options will appear. For
more information, see the VENUE Live Re- To recall a Marker from the Markers ruler:
cording Guide. 1 Select View > Rulers > Markers to display the
Markers ruler.
Comments 2 Click the Marker you want. The playback cur-
All three types of Memory Locations (Marker, Se- sor locates to the Marker and any General Prop-
lection, and None) can store and recall comments. erties stored with the Marker are recalled.
You can enter a maximum of 255 characters to de-
scribe the Memory Location. You can also edit Even if the Markers ruler is not displayed,
comments previously entered. Markers can be recalled from the Memory Lo-
cations window, or from the numeric keypad.
See “Creating Memory Locations” on
page 881 and “Editing Memory Locations”
on page 886 for more information.

Chapter 39: Memory Locations 885

 3 In the Memory Location dialog, select the Gen-
Editing Memory Locations eral Properties you want to save with the Mem-
Memory Locations can be renamed, edited, ory Location.
deleted, and copied and pasted. 4 Enter a name for the Memory Location and
click OK.
To rename a Memory Location:
1 Do one of the following: To change a Memory Location from one type to
another:
• In the Memory Locations window, double-click
the Memory Location to open the Edit Memory 1 Do one of the following:
Location dialog. • In the Memory Locations window, double-click
• In the Marker ruler, double-click the Marker to the Memory Location to open the Edit Memory
open the Edit Memory Location dialog and relo- Location dialog.
cate the insertion point at the marker location. • In the Marker ruler, double-click the Marker to
• In the Marker ruler, Control-click (Mac) or open the Edit Memory Location dialog and relo-
Start-click (Windows) the Marker to open the cate the insertion point at the marker location.
Edit Memory Location dialog without locating • In the Marker ruler, Control-click (Mac) or
the insertion point at the marker location. Start-click (Windows) the Marker to open the
Edit Memory Location dialog without locating
2 Enter the new name for the Memory Location,
the insertion point at the marker location.
and click OK.
2 In the Memory Location dialog, select either
To redefine the General Properties stored with a Marker, Selection, or None as the Memory Lo-
Memory Location:
cation type.
1 Make changes to the session’s zoom settings,
3 Enter a name for the Memory Location and
pre- and post-roll times, Show/Hide status of
click OK.
tracks, Track Heights, or Group Enables.
2 Do one of the following: To change the Selection stored with a Memory
Location:
• In the Memory Locations window, double-click
the Memory Location to open the Edit Memory 1 Select View > Rulers > Markers to display the
Location dialog. Markers ruler.

• 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.

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To move a Marker by dragging: To delete all Memory Locations, do one of the
following:
 In the Markers ruler, drag the Marker left or
right.  Choose Delete All from the Memory Locations
Window menu.
If the Edit mode is set to Grid, the dragged event
snaps to the current Grid value. If using Spot  Option-Shift-click (Mac) or Alt-Shift-click
mode, the Spot dialog opens. (Windows) any Memory Location in the Mem-
ory Locations window.
To align a Marker to a different location:
To delete a Marker from the Markers ruler:
1 If necessary, select Options > Link Timeline and
Edit Selection.  Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) the
Marker.
2 Do one of the following:
• In any of the Timebase rulers, click with the Se-
lector tool at the new location. Copying Marker Memory
• Click in the playlist for any track. To align the Locations
Marker to the start of a clip, select the clip with
To copy and paste a range of Markers:
the Time Grabber tool.
1 If you want to constrain the selection to the cur-
3 In the Memory Locations window or the Mark- rent Grid value, set the Edit mode to Grid.
ers ruler, Control-click (Mac) or Start-click
(Windows) the Marker Memory Location that 2 Drag in the Tempo ruler to select the range of
you want to redefine. measures that includes the Markers.

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.

Chapter 39: Memory Locations 887

 To extend an Edit selection in a track to the
Markers ruler: Memory Locations
1 Using the Selector or Grabber tool, select a Commands and Options
track range. You can select viewing and sorting options, along
2 Shift-click in the Markers ruler. with commands for creating and removing Mem-
ory Locations, from the Memory Locations Win-
Shift-click again in the Markers ruler to remove it dow menu.
from the selection.

To select all Markers in the Markers ruler:

 With the Selector tool, double-click in the

Markers ruler.

Memory Locations Window Memory Locations Window menu

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.

888 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Show Main Counter When selected, a column ap- You can click at the top of the Sub Time Scale col-
pears in the Memory Locations window that dis- umn for a pop-up menu that lets you change the
plays the locations based on the Main Time-scale Sub Time Scale.
for Markers, and the start times for Selection
Show Comments
Memory Locations. General Property Memory Lo-
cations display nothing in this column. When selected, a column appears in the Memory
Locations window that displays the comments for
Main Time Scale
Sub Time Scale
each of the Markers.

Comments in the Memory Locations window

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.

When Sort by Time is deselected, all Memory Lo-

cations are listed in the order of their assigned
numbers.

New Memory Location Choose this command to

create a new Memory Location.

Edit <Name> Opens the Edit Memory Location di-

Memory Locations Window, selecting the Main Time
Scale alog for the selected Memory Location. You can
also double-click a Memory Location in the Mem-
Show Sub Counter When selected, a column ap-
ory Locations window to edit it.
pears in the Memory Locations window that dis-
plays the locations based on the Sub Time Scale Clear <Name> Clears the selected Memory Loca-
for Markers, and the start times for Selection tion, but does not remove its slot. Subsequent
Memory Locations. General Property Memory Lo- Memory Locations are not renumbered.
cations display nothing in this column.
Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) a
Memory Location in the Memory Locations
window to clear it.

Chapter 39: Memory Locations 889

 Delete All Deletes all Memory Locations. The next View Filter Icons
Memory Location you add starts at slot number 1.
When Show Icons is selected in the Memory Loca-
Insert Slot Before <Name> Adds a new, empty tions pop-up menu, the Memory Locations win-
Memory Location slot above the selected Memory dow provides an icon-based “View Filter” that lets
Location, and renumbers all subsequent Memory you show or hide Memory Locations based on the
Locations. properties they contain.

Delete <Name> Slot Deletes the selected Memory Marker Window Configuration
Zoom Show/Hide
Location, and renumbers all subsequent Memory Settings Track Heights
Locations.

Default To Marker When selected, new Memory

Locations default to Markers, though in the New
Memory Location dialog you can still define the Pre- and Post-Roll
Active Groups
new Memory Location as one of the other types. Selection
Memory Location

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.

If an icon is disabled (grayed out), all Memory Lo-

cations associated with that property are hidden.
However, if a Memory Location contains other
properties for an icon that is enabled, it is still dis-
played.

In addition, the View Filter provides a useful refer-

ence for which properties are stored in each Mem-
ory Location (indicated by a row of icons for each
Memory Location).

890 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Chapter 40: Arranging Clips

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 892). 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 599).
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 900).
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 298). 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.

Chapter 40: Arranging Clips 891

 3 Select multiple items in the Clips List and do
Working with Multiple Items one of the following:
from the Clips List
• To create new tracks and place items to a spe-
cific location, drop items at the location along
Setting Timeline Drop Order the area below the last track.
The Timeline Drop Order option in the Clips List • To create new tracks and have items placed at
menu sets whether tracks dragged from the Clips the start of the session, drop the items on the
List are dropped sequentially in a single track or Tracks List.
spread across multiple tracks, as follows:

Top to Bottom When enabled, clips spread across

multiple destination (drop) tracks or on new tracks
(when dragging to the area below the last track or
to the Tracks List).

Left to Right When enabled, clips are placed se-

quentially in a single destination (drop) track or on
a new track (when dragging to the area below the
last track or on to the Tracks List).

To set the Clips List Drop Order:

 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.

892 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To drag and drop multiple items from the Clips List
to a single track: Placing Clips at the Edit
1 From the Clips List menu, choose Timeline Insertion Point
Drop Order > Left to Right. You can drag a clip from the same track, from an-
2 Search and sort the Clips List to configure the other track, or from the Clips List, and align its
order in which items will be placed. start, end, or sync point to the Edit insertion point.
This technique is useful in post production since it
3 Select multiple items in the Clips List and do lets you set an Edit selection point during playback
one of the following: or while stopped and then quickly place sound ef-
• To create a new track and spot the first item to a fects at the edit insertion point.
specific location, drop at the location in the area
With Pro Tools Ultimate, when the Scroll-
below the last track shown in the Edit window.
ing option is set to Center Playhead, clips
• To create a new track and have the first item snap to the playhead, instead of the Edit in-
placed at the start of the session, drop the items sertion point.
on the Tracks List.
To place the start of a clip at the Edit insertion
• To place items in an existing track, drop the
point:
items in the Edit playlist for the track.
1 With the Selector tool, click in the track at the
time location where you want to place the start
of the clip.
2 Do one of the following:
• While pressing Control (Mac) or Start (Win-
A new track created by dropping multiple Clips List dows), drag the clip from the Clips List, or from
items with Timeline Drop Order set to Left to Right another track, to the destination track.
mode
• If the clip is already in the track, Control-click
If the selected items include mixed types of clips (Mac) or Start-click (Windows) the clip with the
(such as audio and MIDI, or clip groups and MIDI) Time Grabber tool.
the appropriate track types will be created and each
corresponding item will be placed in them. Simi- To place the end of a clip at the Edit insertion point:
larly, if the selected items include multiple formats 1 With the Selector tool, click in the track at the
(mono, stereo, or other) new tracks of each format time location where you want to place the end
will be created and those clips placed in them. of the clip.
2 Do one of the following:
• While pressing Command+Control (Mac) or
Control+Start (Windows), drag the clip from the
Clips List, or from another track, to the destina-
tion track.
• If the clip is already in the track, Command-
Control-click (Mac) or Control-Start-click
(Windows) the clip with the Time Grabber tool.

Chapter 40: Arranging Clips 893

 To place the sync point of a clip at the Edit To align the end point of a clip to the Edit insertion
insertion point: point:

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

Aligning Clips with the Edit

align a copy of the clip rather than moving

Insertion Point
the clip.

To align the sync point of a clip to the Edit insertion

The start, end, and sync point of one clip can be
point:
aligned to the start of a different clip on another
track. 1 Place the Edit insertion point where you want.
2 Do one of the following:
In Pro Tools Ultimate, when the Scrolling
option is set to Center Playhead, clip start, • Control-Shift-drag (Mac) or Start-Shift-drag
end, and sync points align to the playhead. (Windows) a clip from the Clips List to another
track.
To align the start point of a clip to the Edit insertion
point: • If the clip is already in the track, Control-Shift-
click (Mac) or Start-Shift-click (Windows) the
1 Place the Edit insertion point where you want.
clip you want to move with the Time Grabber
2 Do one of the following: tool (or with the Smart tool positioned over the
middle, lower-third of the clip).
• Control-drag (Mac) or Start-drag (Windows) a
clip from the Clips List to another track.
• If the clip is already in the track, Control-click
(Mac) or Start-click (Windows) the clip you
want to move with the Time Grabber tool (or
with the Smart tool positioned over the middle,
lower-third of the clip).

Option-Control-click (Mac) or Alt-Start-click

(Windows) and drag to align a copy of the clip
rather than moving the clip.

894 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Time Grabber and Object
Arranging with Transparent Grabber
Clip Overlays
If you are moving audio data, the Time Grabber
Transparent clip overlays can be useful for visually and Object Grabber tools overlay only the audio
aligning the placement of one clip over another data on the destination track.
clip (for example, if you want to align a particular
transient of one clip over a particular transient in
another clip).

Visually aligning the placement of one clip over

another with Clip Transparency enabled

To toggle the display of clip transparency:

 Select or deselect View > Clip > Transparency.

Moving a selection with the Time Grabber

Moving Clips with the Separation Grabber

Grabber Tools
The Separation Grabber replaces the entire se-
Use the Grabber tools to move one or more clips, lected range on the destination track Timeline.
or the Edit selection, to another location.

Hold Option (Mac) or Alt (Windows) when

dragging the selection with a Grabber tool to
copy the selection rather than cut it.

To move one or more clips, or the Edit selection,

with one of the Grabber tools:

1 Select one or more clips, or make an edit selec-

tion.
2 With one of the Grabber tools (Time, Separa-
tion, or Object), drag the selection to the new lo-
cation.

Moving a selection with the Separation Grabber

Chapter 40: Arranging Clips 895

 Layered Editing
Pro Tools provides the option to enable layered edit- 1
ing so that you don’t lose partially overlapped clips
while editing. This is true for both audio and MIDI.

To enable (or disable) layered editing, do one 2

of the following:
 Select (or deselect) Options > Layered Editing.
 Click the Layered Editing button in the Edit Win-
dow toolbar so that it is lit (or unlit).
3

Layered Editing button (enabled) Figure 1. Editing with Layered Editing enabled
When the Layered Editing option is enabled, any
partially overlapped clips are revealed when cut- Press Command+Delete (Mac) or Control+
ting, clearing (deleting), or moving the overlap- Delete (Windows) to clear all track data
ping clip. Note that if any clip is fully overlapped within the edit selection regardless of whether
by another, larger clip, it is removed from the time- or not Layered Editing is enabled.
line. In Figure 1, the clip “Audio 1_01” (1) is
moved (2) to fully cover one clip and partially
cover another clip (3). When that clip (“Audio
1_02-01”) is cleared, the fully covered clip is gone,
but the partially covered clip is revealed (4).

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When the Layered Editing option is disabled, over- 2 Do one of the following:
lapped clips remain “trimmed” to the start or end
• Choose Edit > Snap To > Previous.
time of the overlapping clip. In Figure 2, the clip
“Audio 1_01” (1) is moved to cover the middle of a • Right-click the clip or Edit selection and choose
larger clip (2). When that clip (“Audio 1_01”) is Snap to Previous.
cleared, the overlapped clip has a hole punched in it
• Press Option+Control+, (Mac) or Alt+Start+,
(3). If Layered Editing is enabled in this case, the un-
(Windows).
derlying clip is completely revealed and healed (4).
The selected clip snaps to the preceding clip on the
track so that the two clips are “butt-spliced.”
1

Figure 2. Editing with Layered Editing disabled

Snapping to the Preceding or

Next Clip on a Track Snapping a clip to the previous clip in a track

A clip—or an Edit selection including one or more To snap to the next clip on a track:
clips on the same track or on multiple tracks—can
1 Do one of the following:
snap to the end of the preceding clip or to the be-
ginning of the following clip. This is useful for • With the Time Grabber, select a clip.
“butt splicing” adjacent clips on a track. • With the Selector, select an area in a track that
contains whole clips. The clips do not need to be
To snap to the preceding clip on a track: adjacent.
1 Do one of the following:
• With the Time Grabber, select a clip.
• With the Selector, select an area in a track that
contains whole clips. The clips do not need to be
adjacent.
Chapter 40: Arranging Clips 897
 2 Do one of the following:
Arranging Clips in Shuffle
• Choose Edit > Snap To > Next.
Mode
• Right-click the clip or Edit selection and choose
In Shuffle mode, you can move clips freely within
Snap to Next.
a track or onto another track, but their movement is
• Press Option+Control+. (Mac) or Alt+Start+. constrained by other clips. That is, if you place
(Windows). several clips in a track, their start and end points
automatically snap to each other. You can then
The selected clip snaps to the following clip on the
“shuffle” their order, but you cannot separate them
track so that the two clips are “butt-spliced.”
from each other and you cannot make them overlap
as in Slip mode. In Shuffle mode, adding another
clip to the beginning of a track moves all subse-
quent clips to the right by the length of the clip
added.

To shuffle clips:
1 Enable Shuffle mode (see “Edit Modes” on
page 599).
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.

Pro Tools “shuffles” the position of the two clips.

The second clip now occurs first, yet the two still
cling together.
5 Experiment more with Shuffle mode by drag-
Snapping a clip to the next clip in a track
ging additional clips to the track and rearrang-
ing them.
You can also use the Snap To commands with
an Edit selection that includes multiple clips Locked clips (see “Locking Clips” on page 907),
on one or more tracks. and all clips occurring after the locked clip, are not
displaced when other neighboring clips are moved
in Shuffle mode. If there is not enough room to
place or duplicate a clip in front of a locked clip,
the insertion area is disabled.

898 Pro Tools Reference Guide

If you place a clip while in Slip mode and switch to
Shuffle mode, Pro Tools preserves the relative Arranging Clips in Slip Mode
timing and position of the slipped clip, and any In Slip mode, clips can be moved with the Time
space between it and other clips. Grabber tool and placed freely within a track, or
onto other tracks. In this mode, it is possible to
With certain workflows, it is important to ex-
place a clip so that there is space between it and
clude Shuffle mode in order to ensure that
other clips in a track. When the track is played
clips stay time-aligned while editing. Shuffle
back, this space is silent. It is also possible to move
Lock prevents you from inadvertently enter-
a clip so that it overlaps or completely covers an-
ing Shuffle mode by disabling all key
other clip.
commands and control surface switches for
Shuffle mode. For more information, see
To slip clips:
“Shuffle Lock” on page 599.
1 Enable Slip mode (see “Edit Modes” on
page 599).
Shuffling Multiple Tracks and
Multichannel Clips 2 Drag a clip from the Clips List to an empty
Selections across multiple tracks or on multichan- track.
nel tracks can be shuffled. Unlike shuffling clips 3 Drag a second clip from the Clips List to the
on a single track, any partially selected clips are cut same track, somewhere in the middle. The sec-
and moved along with the dragged clip. This lets ond clip is placed wherever you release it. It
you retain only the material that corresponds to the does not snap to the first clip as in Shuffle mode.
dragged clip.
4 Drag the clips to different locations within the
track to get a feel for moving them in Slip mode.
Try placing the second clip so that it slightly
overlaps the first clip. Play back the results.

Shuffling a clip results in cutting the channel

Chapter 40: Arranging Clips 899

 Each of the fields in the Spot dialog are displayed
Spotting Clips in the chosen Time Scale.
Spot mode is useful for sessions in which you want
to spot clips to precise locations based on any of
the Time Scales. This is useful when performing
post production tasks. In Spot mode you can spot a
clip by specifying a SMPTE frame or bar and beat
location, by capturing an incoming timecode ad-
dress, or by using the clip’s time stamps.

For even quicker spotting, if you are using

VITC, use the Auto-Spot Clips command to
spot a clip to the current SMPTE frame loca-
tion with the Time Grabber tool. For more in-
formation, see “Auto-Spotting Clips” on
page 1290.
Spot dialog

For more information on using SMPTE with 4 If the Time Scale is set to Timecode, select the
Pro Tools, see Chapter 57, “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 599).
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.

If a clip does not have a sync point defined, the

Sync Point field in the Spot dialog functions the
same as the Start field.

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Right-Click Commands for Time Stamps and Matches
Spotting Clips
Clips with identical User Time Stamps appear to-
You can use Right-click commands with a key gether in the Matches submenu in the Right-click
combination to spot clips in a track. menu when auditioning takes (see “Selecting Al-
ternate Takes on a Track” on page 534).
In earlier versions of Pro Tools, Right-click-
ing in a clip with the Grabber tool would spot

Arranging Clips in Grid Mode

the clip to a selection.

To spot a clip to a selection:

Grid mode provides several useful capabilities for
1 Click or drag with the Selector tool to locate the moving and placing clips in track playlists. This
cursor or make a selection in the track where mode is especially useful for lining up clips at pre-
you want to spot the clip. cise intervals, as when working with a session that
is bar- and beat-based. Grid boundaries, depending
2 Command-Right-click (Mac) or Control-Right-
on the Main Time Scale, can be based on frames,
click (Windows) the clip and choose any of the
bar and beat values, minutes or seconds, or a num-
following from the pop-up menu:
ber of samples.
• Move Clip Start to Selection Start
Grid mode also provides two operational modes,
• Move Clip Sync to Selection Start
Absolute and Relative. These modes control how
• Move Clip End to Selection Start the Grid is applied (see “Absolute and Relative
Grid Mode” on page 902).
Clip Time Stamps
To temporarily suspend Grid mode and
When a clip is created, it is time stamped relative switch to Slip mode while dragging a
to the SMPTE start time specified for the session. clip, hold the Command key (Mac) or
This Original Time Stamp is permanently stored Control key (Windows).
with the clip and cannot be changed. If a clip is
ever moved, it can easily be placed at its original Setting Up the Grid
position from the Spot dialog.
When the Draw Grid in Edit Window option is en-
When the Original Time Stamp for a clip is ini- abled in the Display Preferences page, vertical
tially set, this same location is also used to define Grid lines appear in the Edit window.
the clip’s User Time Stamp.
Grid lines in the Edit window can also be enabled
Unlike the Original Time Stamp, the User Time and disabled by clicking the Timebase ruler name
Stamp can be redefined with the Time Stamp com- after it becomes highlighted.
mand in the Clips List menu (see “Time Stamping”
on page 1290). Defining the Grid Value
Time Stamps in the Workspace In addition to affecting the placement of clips, the
Grid value also constrains Timeline and Edit selec-
Columns are provided in Workspace browsers for
tions, and determines how the Clip > Quantize to
both the Original and User Time Stamps.
Grid command works.

Chapter 40: Arranging Clips 901

 To set the Grid value: Absolute and Relative Grid Mode
1 Do one of the following: Grid mode can be applied in Absolute or Relative
• From the View > Main Counter menu, select the mode.
Time Scale for the Grid value.
 In Absolute Grid mode, moving any clip snaps
• To keep the Main Time Scale and use a different the clip start to Grid boundaries. If a clip’s start
time format for the Grid, deselect Follow Main point falls between beats, and the Grid is set to 1/4
Timebase in the Grid value pop-up menu. notes, dragging the clip will snap its start time to
2 Do one of the following: the nearest 1/4 note (the current absolute Grid
value). Similarly, when moving MIDI notes (and
• From the Grid value pop-up menu, select the other MIDI data), the start of the first MIDI event
time value for the Grid boundaries. in the selection snaps to the nearest Grid location.
Likewise, when cutting or copying and pasting
clips or MIDI data while in Grid mode, the start of
the clip or the start of the first MIDI event snaps to
the nearest Grid location.
 In Relative Grid mode, clips can be moved by

Grid (or Nudge) units. If the start point of a clip is

offset from the Grid, the clip maintains its relative
grid offset at the new location. Similarly, when
moving MIDI notes (and other MIDI data), the
start of the first MIDI event in the selection main-
tains its relative offset from the nearest Grid loca-
tion. Likewise, when cutting or copying and
pasting clips or MIDI data while in Relative Grid
mode, any offset from the Grid is preserved. Also
when pasting and merging MIDI data (Edit > Spe-
Grid value pop-up menu showing Bars|Beats cial Paste > Merge MIDI) while in Relative Grid
mode, the pasted and merged MIDI data maintains
• To define a Grid based on the session’s Markers,
its relative grid offset.
selections, and clip boundaries, select
Clips/Markers from the Grid value pop-up menu.
To select Absolute or Relative Grid mode:

To increase the grid value incrementally:  Click the Grid mode selector and select Abso-
lute Grid or Relative Grid.
 Press Shift+Equal (=).
To temporarily suspend Grid mode and
To decrease the grid value incrementally:
switch to Slip mode while dragging a clip,
 Press Shift+Minus (–). hold the Command key (Mac) or Control key
(Windows).

902 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To place, move, or paste a clip (or MIDI data) while
in Grid mode: Replacing Audio Clips
1 Configure the Grid value (see “Defining the (Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)
Grid Value” on page 901).
Use the Replace Clip function to replace multiple
2 Enable Grid mode. instances of an audio clip in a playlist with another
clip. This is useful in post production if you use a
3 Do one of the following:
sound effect, room noise, or atmosphere clip many
• Drag a clip from the Clips List to an existing times in a session, and later decide to replace one
track. or all of the original clips with a different clip.
• With the Time Grabber tool, drag a clip already
This is also useful in music production if you want
in a track to a new location.
to replace a certain loop or sample (for example, a
• Cut or Copy a clip (or selected MIDI data) and drum beat) with a new one. You can use this com-
Paste it to a new location. positionally, if you know the tempo of a section or
session, to create a scratch piece with “rough” clips
The clip’s start point (or the beginning of the se-
of the correct length, and later replace them with
lected MIDI data) snaps to the closest Grid bound-
“final” clips of the same length.
ary. If the clip has a sync point defined, the sync
point snaps to the Grid boundary. To replace clips by dragging and dropping:

To place, move, or paste a clip (or selected MIDI 1 Select a clip in a track’s playlist that you want to
data) while in Relative Grid mode: replace. The selection can extend beyond the
1 Configure the Grid value (see “Defining the clip’s end point, to include material from the re-
Grid Value” on page 901). placement clip that is longer than the original
clip.
2 Enable Relative Grid mode.
2 Command-Shift-drag (Mac) or Control-Shift-
3 Do one of the following: drag (Windows) the replacement clip from the
• With the Time Grabber tool, drag a clip that Clips List to the selected clip. The Replace Clip
starts offset from the grid to a new location. dialog opens.
• Cut or Copy a clip (or selected MIDI data) Command-Shift-drag (Mac) or Control-
whose start time is offset from the Grid and Shift-drag (Windows) any clip from the Clips
Paste it to a new location. List to any unselected clip on a track to open
the Replace Clip dialog without first making
The beginning of the moved or pasted clip (or se-
a selection.
lected MIDI data) maintains its relative offset from
the nearest Grid location. 3 Configure the Replace Clip dialog (see “Re-
place Clip Dialog Options” on page 904).
4 Click OK.

Chapter 40: Arranging Clips 903

 Replacing Clips from the Clips Replace Clip Dialog Options
List
The Replace Clips command is also available in
the Clips List menu. To use this command, make
sure there is a clip selected in a track and a differ-
ent (replacement) clip selected in the Clips List.

To replace clips using the Clips List menu:

1 Select a clip in a track to be replaced.

2 Do one of the following:
• Right-click the replacement clip in the Clips List
and choose Replace Clips from the pop-up
menu.
• Select the replacement clip in the Clips List and
choose Replace Clips from the Clips List menu.
(If the Clips List Selection Follows Edit Selection
preference is enabled, Command-click (Mac) or
Control-click (Windows) the selected clip to de-
select it, then Command-click (Mac) or Control-
click (Windows) the replacement clip to select it,
and then choose Replace Clips from the Clips
List menu.)
3 Configure the Replace Clip dialog (see “Re- Replace Clip dialog
place Clip Dialog Options” on page 904).
The following options are available in the Replace
4 Click OK. Clip dialog:

Replace: Original Clip Only Replaces only the se-

Replace Clip and Multichannel
Tracks lected clip with the replacement clip dragged from
the Clips List.
The Replace Clip command supports dragging
multichannel clips from the Clips List to multi-
channel tracks, provided they are the same channel
format. For example, you can replace a selected
stereo clip in a stereo audio track with another ste-
reo clip from the Clips List. However, you cannot
replace it with two mono audio clips. Additionally,
you cannot replace clips in multiple mono tracks
with multichannel clips.

904 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Replace: All Instances of the Original Clip Re- Clip matching uses all specified Match criteria.
places all instances of the selected clip that fit the For example, if you select Start Position and End
On criteria with the replacement clip from the Position, all clips from the same original audio file
Clips List. as your selection with the same original start and
• On This Track: replaces clips that fit the Match end times will be replaced.
criteria and are on the same track as the original Fit Clip Using The: Original Clip Length If the re-
clip. placement clip is smaller than the original clip, the
• On All Tracks: replaces clips that fit the Match clip is placed in the playlist and any remaining au-
criteria for all tracks in the session. dio from the original clip is removed.
• On Within the Selection: replaces clips that fit If the replacement clip is larger than the selection,
the Match criteria within the current selection. it is placed in the playlist and trimmed to fit within
Replace: All Clips that Match Original Clip’s Re- the length of the original clip.
places all clips that fit the Match criteria and the Fit Clip Using The: Original Selection
On criteria with the replacement clip from the Length When the playlist selection extends be-
Clips List. yond the original clip, the replacement clip (if
• Start Position: replaces all clips that have the larger than the original clip) is trimmed to fit
same original start time as the selected clip. This within the selection.
includes clips that may have been auto-created
Fit Clip Using The: Replacement Clip Length The
when trimming end points.
replacement clip is placed in its entirety, regardless
• End Position: replaces all clips that have the of the length of the original clip or selection.
same original end time as the selected clip. This
includes clips that may have been auto-created
when trimming start points.
Sync Points
• Name: replaces all clips that come from the
The placement of clips in Grid and Spot mode can
same audio file and have been renamed to the
be based on the definition of a clip sync point.
same name
Sync points can be added to audio, MIDI, and
• On This Track: replaces clips that fit the Match video clips and also to clip groups. Sync points are
criteria and are on the same track as the original used when a specific point within a clip must be
clip. aligned to the Grid or to a particular SMPTE or
• On All Tracks: replaces clips that fit the Match bar/beat location. This capability is especially im-
criteria for all tracks in the session. portant when placing music and sound effects for
film and video work.
• On Within the Selection: replaces clips that fit
the Match criteria within the current selection. For example, suppose you had an audio clip for a
door slam that included the creak of the door clos-
ing, the actual slam, and the reverb of the slam. Us-
ing a sync point for the slam sound in the clip lets
you spot it to a specific time in the session.

Chapter 40: Arranging Clips 905

 To define a clip sync point: Displaying Sync Points
1 Enable Slip mode (see “Edit Modes” on Sync points in audio clips may displayed or
page 599). hidden.
2 Do one of the following:
To disable the display of sync points in audio clips:
• With the Selector tool, click at the point in the
clip where you want the sync point.  Deselect View > Clip > Sync Point.

• Press the Down Arrow key while playing back. To enable the display of sync points in audio clips:
3 Choose Clip > Identify Sync Point. A small down  Choose View > Clip > Sync Point.
arrow appears at the bottom of the clip, with a
vertical, light gray line indicating the location of
Dragging Sync Points
the sync point.
You can drag a sync point to another position in the
audio clip.

To set the sync point by dragging:

1 If you want the sync point to snap to the current
Grid value, enable Grid mode (see “Edit
Modes” on page 599).
2 Select the Time Grabber tool.
Sync Point
3 Drag the sync point to a new location.
To change the location of a sync point:

 With the Selector tool, click at a point in a clip Scrubbing Sync Points
and choose Clip > Identify Sync Point. The new While viewing an audio waveform can be a good
location is identified as the sync point for the way to set a sync point, a waveform display may
clip. not always reveal the desired spot in the audio ma-
You can also move the location of a sync
terial. By scrubbing while moving the sync point
point by dragging it (see “Dragging Sync
over an audio waveform, you can listen for the ex-
Points” on page 906).
act location to place the sync point.

Removing Sync Points

To remove a sync point, do one of the following:

 Select the entire clip and choose Clip >

Remove Sync Point.

 Choose the Time Grabber tool, then Option-

click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) the sync
point to delete it.
Scrubbing a Sync Point (cursor)

906 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To scrub while dragging the sync point: 4 If you want to shift material with greater preci-
1 If you want the sync point to snap to the current sion, select the Use Subframes option.
Grid value when you finish scrubbing, set the 5 Click OK. The material is shifted earlier or later
Edit mode to Grid (see “Edit Modes” on by the specified amount.
page 599).
If a portion of a clip was selected, new clips are
2 Select the Scrubber tool.
created from the selection and from any material
3 Drag the sync point to a new location. The sync outside of the selection.
point scrubs the audio as you move it.
The Shift command works the same regardless of
the Edit mode. For example, adjacent clips are
overlapped in Shuffle mode, the Spot dialog does
Shift Command not appear when in Spot mode, and shifted mate-
Use the Shift command to move track material for- rial does not snap to the Grid when in Grid mode.
ward or back in time by a specified amount. The
Shift command can operate on selections, clips,
MIDI notes, MIDI controller data, and Locking Clips
automation breakpoints.
In many cases you may want to “lock” clips or clip
To shift a selection or clip: groups to a specific time location to keep them
from being moved or otherwise edited inadver-
1 With the Selector or Time Grabber tool, select
tently. Pro Tools provides two different commands
the track material you want to shift. The se-
for locking clips: Edit locking and Time locking.
lected material can reside on multiple tracks.
2 Choose Edit > Shift. In the Shift dialog, select Edit Locking Clips
whether the data will be moved Earlier or Later.
If you have a clip or group of clips that you want to
3 Click in one of the Timebase fields to specify protect from being inadvertently edited, you can
the amount by which the material will be Edit lock them. Clips that are Edit-locked cannot
shifted. Entering a value in one Timebase field be edited (such as cutting, deleting, separating,
automatically updates the others. trimming, or adjusting clip gain) or moved to a dif-
ferent time location. Copied edit-locked clips can
be pasted to any other track or time location, but
the copy will also be Edit-locked at the new time
location.

Edit locking takes precedence over Time

locking. You can Edit lock a Time locked clip,
but you cannot Time lock an Edit locked clip
without unlocking it first.

Shift dialog

Chapter 40: Arranging Clips 907

 To Edit lock (or unlock) a clip: cessing, or even moving the clip to another track).
1 With the Time Grabber, select the clip or clips to Time-locked clips can also be deleted. When sepa-
Edit lock (or unlock). The clips can reside on rating a Time-locked clip, any new clips will also
multiple tracks. be locked to their time locations.

2 Choose Clip > Edit Lock/Unlock. To Time lock (or unlock) a clip:

Press Command+L (Mac) or 1 With the Time Grabber, select the clip or clips to
Control+L (Windows) to Edit lock Time lock (or unlock). The clips can reside on
or unlock the selected clip. multiple tracks.
2 Choose Clip > Time Lock/Unlock.

Press Option+Control+L (Mac) or

Alt+Start+L (Windows) to Time
lock or unlock the selected clip.

When Time-locked, a small Time Lock icon ap-

pears in the clip and the clip cannot be moved, but
it can be edited or even deleted.
Edit Lock icon

When Edit-locked, a small Edit Lock icon appears

in the clip and it cannot be moved, deleted, or ed-
ited. If you attempt to perform edits on a locked
clip, Pro Tools alerts you (see “Allowing Editing
of Edit-Locked Clips” on page 908).

In Shuffle mode, Edit-locked clips, and all clips

occurring after the locked clip, are not displaced Time Lock icon
when other neighboring clips are moved. In Shuffle mode, Time-locked clips, and all clips
occurring after the locked clip, are not displaced
On tick-based Elastic Audio-enabled tracks, Edit-
when other neighboring clips are moved.
locked clips conform to tempo changes, but not
other Elastic Audio processing (such as Quantize On tick-based Elastic Audio-enabled tracks, Time-
or manual warping) can be applied. locked clips conform to tempo changes, but not
other Elastic Audio processing (such as Quantize
Time Locking Clips or manual warping) can be applied.

For clips that you want to lock to a particular loca-

tion in a track (a beat, SMPTE frame, or sample lo- Allowing Editing of Edit-Locked
cation), you can lock it in place so it cannot be Clips
moved accidentally. Time-locked clips cannot be If you attempt to edit an Edit-locked clip,
moved. However, they can be edited in ways that Pro Tools warns you and prompts you to Cancel or
do not move the clip to a different time location Allow the edit. If you allow an edit that keeps any
(such as separating, trimming, AudioSuite pro- part of the clip intact, the clip remains locked.

908 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Auto-Naming for Strip Silence
Muting/Unmuting Clips
The Rename button in the Strip Silence window
Choosing the Mute/Unmute Clip command mutes opens the Rename Selected Clips dialog, which
playback of a selected clip. Choosing the com- determines how clips are named when stripping si-
mand a second time unmutes the clip. Clips that are lence. The dialog remembers your previous set-
muted become dimmed to indicate their status. tings, which can be cleared by clicking the Clear
button.

Muted audio clip (middle)

To mute or unmute a clip or clips:

1 With the Time Grabber, select the clip or clips
you want to mute or unmute. The clips can even
reside on multiple tracks. Rename Selected Clips dialog
2 Choose Edit > Mute/Unmute. When muted, clips Name Specifies the base name for clips created
are dimmed. with Strip Silence.

Number Specifies the number at which sequential

Stripping Silence from Clips auto-numbering starts.

Strip Silence analyzes audio selections—across Zeros Specifies the number of zeroes that occur
multiple tracks—and removes (or extracts) any ar- before the appended auto numbers.
eas of silence, dividing the selection into smaller Suffix Specifies text appended to the end of the
clips and removing the silent areas. name, after the auto numbering.
You can use Strip Silence to strip (remove) silence For example, if you set these naming options to:
from a clip, or instead, extract the audio and keep
the silence. Getting rid of silent areas is useful • Name = SFX
when preparing to compact audio (see “Compact- • Auto Number Start = 23
ing an Audio File” on page 665). Strip Silence au- • Leading Zeros = 1
tomatically separates the selection into separate
clips, which is useful if you want to quantize audio • Suffix = .Reel1
to musical values, or locate sound effects to
SMPTE locations.

Chapter 40: Arranging Clips 909

 The names generated for clips created by Strip Si- 5 To retain material before and after the new clips,
lence would be: adjust the settings for Clip Start Pad and Clip
• SFX023.Reel1 End Pad.

• SFX024.Reel1
• SFX025.Reel1
• SFX026.Reel1

Using Strip Silence

Attack to be padded Decay to be padded

To strip silence from an audio selection:

1 Select one or more audio clips.

2 Choose Edit > Strip Silence.
Strip Silence, padding clip start and end points
Press Command+U (Mac) or Con-
trol+U (Windows) to open the Strip 6 Once the Strip Silence rectangles encompass
Silence window. the audio that you want to keep, press the Strip
button.
3 To set the naming scheme for clips created with
Strip Silence, click Rename to open the Re- The material defined as silence is removed from
name Selected Clips dialog. For details, see the selection and new clips are created, which also
“Auto-Naming for Strip Silence” on page 909. appear in the Clips List.

4 In the Strip Silence window, adjust the settings Strip Silence is nondestructive and does not re-
for Strip Threshold and Minimum Strip Dura- move audio data from parent audio files. In addi-
tion (Min Strip) until Strip Silence rectangles ap- tion to the Undo command, you can use the Heal
pear in the selection. Separation command to restore stripped material.

Strip Silence works with stereo and multi-

channel tracks, and keeps their audio clips
phase-coherent.

To extract audio from an audio selection using

Strip Silence:
Strip Silence rectangles
1 Make an Edit selection.
For finer resolution on these controls, press Com-
mand (Mac) or Control (Windows) while adjusting 2 Choose Edit > Strip Silence.
them. 3 To set the naming scheme for clips created with
Strip Silence, click Rename to open the Re-
name Selected Clips dialog (see “Auto-Naming
for Strip Silence” on page 909).

910 Pro Tools Reference Guide

4 In the Strip Silence window, adjust the settings Adjusting these controls causes rectangles to tem-
for Strip Threshold and Minimum Strip Dura- porarily appear in the selection, indicating areas of
tion (Min Strip) until the Strip Silence rectangles silence that will be affected by the Strip, Extract, or
appear in the selection. Separate commands.
5 Click the Extract button.

All audio above the designated threshold is deleted

and the “silent” portions of the track are left.

To separate clips using Strip Silence:

Strip Silence rectangles
1 Make an Edit or Timeline selection.
Strip Threshold Sets the amplitude threshold
2 Choose Edit > Strip Silence. (from –96 dB to 0 dB) for Strip Silence. Audio
3 To set the naming scheme for clips created with falling below this threshold is considered silence
Strip Silence, click Rename to open the Re- and removed. Audio above the threshold is re-
name Selected Clips dialog (see “Auto-Naming tained and defined as new clips.
for Strip Silence” on page 909).
Minimum Strip Duration Sets the minimum dura-
4 In the Strip Silence window, adjust the settings tion (from 0 to 4,000 ms) that the material above
for Strip Threshold and Minimum Strip Dura- the threshold must last to be considered silence.
tion (Min Strip) until the Strip Silence rectangles Use this control to avoid countless small clips that
appear in the selection. may occur within a selection.
5 Click the Separate button. Clip Start Pad Specifies a time value to be added
to the beginning of each new clip created with
New clips are created based on the boundaries de-
Strip Silence. This is useful for preserving musical
tected by Strip Silence.
material that falls below the threshold, such as the
breath before a vocal phrase, or the finger slide be-
The Strip Silence Window fore a guitar chord.
The Strip Silence window contains the following Clip End Pad Specifies a time value to be ap-
controls that let you set the parameters by which si- pended to the end of each new clip created with
lence is defined when using Strip Silence. Strip Silence, thereby preserving the nuances in
the decay of the material.

Strip Clears the detected silence, but leaves the

clips containing audio on the track.

Extract Clears the audio and leaves the silent por-

tions of the track (in other words, an “inverse” strip
silence feature that is ideal for generating room
Strip Silence window tone or ambience to use elsewhere).

Chapter 40: Arranging Clips 911

 Rename Opens the Rename Selected Clips dialog  If all selected tracks are displayed as automa-
(see “Auto-Naming for Strip Silence” on tion data, press the Control (Mac) or Start key
page 909). (Windows) while choosing the Insert Silence com-
mand to inserts silence on all automation playlists
Separate Separates clips based on the boundaries
for all selected tracks. Clips are not shuffled.
detected by Strip Silence.
Slip Mode When inserting silence on multiple
tracks in Slip mode, the following conditions ap-
Inserting Silence ply:

The Insert Silence command is a simple and con-  If any track is displayed as audio or MIDI data,
venient way to insert silence on audio, MIDI, and the selected range is cleared of audio or MIDI data
Instrument tracks. This command lets you make a and all underlying automation data on all selected
selection on a track (or tracks) and insert precisely tracks.
that amount of silence.  If all selected tracks are displayed as automa-
tion data, silence is inserted only into the automa-
The Insert Silence command also affects
tion type visible on each track.
markers in any selected Conductor Rulers
(such as the Tempo or Meter rulers).  If all selected tracks are displayed as automa-
tion data, press the Control (Mac) or Start key
In Shuffle mode, all data on the track is shuffled (Windows) while choosing the Insert Silence com-
later in the track by an amount equal to the mand to insert silence on all automation playlists
selection. for all selected tracks.
In Grid mode, the Insert Silence command works
To insert silence into a track:
just like the Clear command.
1 Make a selection in a track or tracks. The length
Shuffle Mode When inserting silence on multiple of the selection determines the duration of the
tracks in Shuffle mode, the following conditions silence inserted.
apply:
2 Choose Edit > Insert Silence.
 If any track is displayed as audio or MIDI data,
the selected duration of silence is inserted into the In Shuffle mode, Pro Tools inserts the selected
audio or MIDI data and all underlying automation amount of silence. In the process, it splits the clips
data on all selected tracks. All subsequent clips are at the beginning of the insertion point, and moves
shuffled by the amount of silence inserted. On the new clips later in the track by an amount equal
MIDI tracks, only notes that are selected from the to the length of the selection.
beginning are affected, so if you have selected the
tail of a note and you Insert Silence, the note will
remain unchanged.
 If all selected tracks are displayed as automa-

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.

912 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Duplicating Audio and Keeping
Duplicating Clips It On The Beat
The Duplicate command copies a selection and When using Duplicate (or Repeat) for audio that
places it immediately after the end of the selection. must fall cleanly on the beat (such as rhythmic
Though this is similar to using Copy and Paste, loops), it is important that you select the audio ma-
Duplicate is more convenient and faster, particu- terial with the Selector tool, or by typing in the
larly when working with data on multiple tracks. start and end points in the Event Edit area. If you
select an audio clip with the Time Grabber tool (or
To make more than one copy of a selection, use the
by double-clicking it with the Selector tool), the
Repeat command (see “Repeating Clips” on
material may drift by several ticks because of sam-
page 914). You can also loop clips (see “Clip
ple-rounding.
Looping” on page 915).
If, on the other hand, you want to Duplicate (or Re-
As with the Copy and Paste commands, certain
peat) audio that is not bar- and beat-based, set the
rules apply when duplicating material on multiple
Time Scale to any format except Bars|Beats. This
tracks (see “Editing Across Multiple Tracks” on
ensures that the duplicated audio material has the
page 598).
correct number of samples and is accurately
To duplicate a selection or clip: placed.

1 If working with material that is bar- and beat-

based, such as loops, set the Main Time Scale to Duplicate and Extend Selection
Bars|Beats. When working on music using audio loops and
2 If you want to constrain the selection to the cur- MIDI sequences, you may want to duplicate the
rent Grid value, set the Edit mode to Grid. track content of an Edit selection and include both
the original and the duplicate in a new selection.
3 Make an Edit selection. This can be especially useful when working with
4 Choose Edit > Duplicate. The material is placed repeating material in Grid mode with the Main
immediately after the selection’s end point. Timebase ruler set to Bars|Beats. For example, you
might have a 2 bar audio loop or MIDI sequence
Press Command+D (Mac) or Control+D that you want to extend to 4 and then 8 bars, and
(Windows) to Duplicate any selected clips. then copy and paste to another location.

In Shuffle mode, the duplicated data is placed di- To duplicate and extend the Edit selection:
rectly after the end of the selection. Clips occurring
1 Make an Edit selection that include audio or
after it slide to accommodate the duplicated mate-
MIDI on a track.
rial. In Slip mode, the duplicated material overlaps
any adjacent data. 2 Do one of the following:
• Choose Edit > Selection > Duplicate and Extend.
When using Duplicate (or Repeat) with MIDI
notes that were selected with the Time Grabber • Press Command+Option+Control+Shift+D
tool, material is always duplicated one measure (Mac) or Control+Alt+Start+Shift+D
later, and is merged with existing track material (Windows).
(instead of replacing it).

Chapter 40: Arranging Clips 913

 The material is placed immediately after the selec-
Repeating Clips tion’s end point, and duplicated the specified num-
The Repeat command is similar to Duplicate, but ber of times.
lets you specify the number of times the selected
In Shuffle mode, the repeated data is placed di-
material is duplicated.
rectly after the end of the selection. Clips occurring
As with the Copy and Paste commands, certain after it slide to accommodate the repeated material.
rules apply when repeating material on multiple In Slip mode, the repeated material overlaps any
tracks (see “Editing Across Multiple Tracks” on subsequent data.
page 598).

You can repeatedly paste copied data until it com-

pletely fills a selection (see “Special Cut, Copy,
Paste, and Clear Commands” on page 597).

You can also loop clips (see “Clip Looping” on

page 915).

To repeat a selection or clip:

1 If working with material that is bar- and beat-
based, such as loops, set the Main Time Scale to
Bars|Beats.
2 If you want to constrain the selection to the cur-
rent Grid value, set the Edit mode to Grid.
3 Make an Edit selection.
4 Choose Edit > Repeat. In the Repeat dialog, en-
ter the number of times you want the material to
repeat, then click OK.

Repeat dialog

Press Option+R (Mac) or Alt+R (Windows)

to open the Repeat dialog for any selected
clips.

914 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Chapter 41: Clip Loops and Groups

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 Looping Source clip Loop iterations

Pro Tools lets you loop audio clips, MIDI clips,
and clip groups. Looping clips is an easy and pow-
erful way to repeat a single clip on a track or clips
across tracks for composing and arranging. Loop-
ing clips provides more flexibility than the Repeat
and Duplicate commands.
Loop icons
Looped clips repeat the source clip as many times
as specified in the Clip Looping dialog, or enough Looped clip
to fill the specified Loop Length (such as 30 sec-
onds or until the next clip on the track). The source Looping a clip does not loop any automation
clip is the original clip selected for looping. Loop associated with the source clip. Use the Copy
iterations are all looped clips following the source Special and Paste Special Repeat To Fill Se-
clip. In cases where a specific number of repeti- lection commands to copy automation for the
tions has not been indicated, the last loop iteration source loop to all loop iterations (see “Auto-
is truncated to fill to the end of the selection or mation and Looped Clips” on page 918).
specified Loop Length.

Once looped, the looped clip can be edited much

like a clip group. For example, selecting and mov-
ing a looped clip selects and moves the source clip
and all its loop iterations together.

Chapter 41: Clip Loops and Groups 915

 • Select the Loop Length option and enter the du-
Creating Looped Clips ration according to the main timebase. If the du-
You can create looped clips using the Loop com- ration is not an exact multiple of the source
mand or using the Loop Trim tool. loop’s duration, the last loop iteration will be
truncated.
For information on using the Loop Trim tool, • Select the Loop Until End of Session or Next Clip
see “Loop Trim Tool” on page 616. option. The looped clip will be repeated until the
To loop a clip:
end of the session, or until the next clip on the
track. If necessary, the last loop iteration will be
1 Select an audio or MIDI clip, or clip group. truncated to fit.
You can also select clips across tracks for 4 To add a crossfade at the loop point, select the
looping. Enable Crossfade option. To edit the loop
crossfade, do the following:
2 Do one of the following:
• Click the Settings button.
• Choose Clip > Loop.
• Configure the Loop Crossfades.
• Right-click the clip you want to loop and
select Loop. • Click OK.

Clip Looping dialog

Press Command+Option+L (Mac) or Con-

trol+Alt+L (Windows) to open the Clip Loop-
ing dialog.

3 In the Clip Looping dialog, do one of the

following:
• Select the Number of Loops option and enter the
Loop Crossfade dialog
number of times to loop the clip.

For information on working with crossfades,

see Chapter 31, “Fades and Crossfades.”

5 In the Clip Looping dialog, click OK.

916 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Unlooping Clips Editing Looped Clips
To unloop a looped clip: Looped clips can be edited as a group (all loop it-
erations together) or as individual clips (each loop
1 Select the looped clip.
iteration). For example, selecting a looped clip
2 Do one of the following: with the Grabber tool selects the entire loop (the
• Choose Clip > Unloop. source clip and all its loop iterations), but clicking
the Loop icon of one of the loop iterations selects
• Right-click the clip you want to unloop and se- only that one iteration.
lect Unloop.
Moving a looped clip moves the source clip and all
3 Do one of the following:
its loop iterations together as a group. Loop itera-
• Click Remove to unloop and remove all loop it- tions cannot be moved independently of their
erations except the first full loop iteration source clip. If you move or paste another shorter
(source clip). clip over a looped clip the loop is continued after
• Click Flatten to unloop and create individual the new clip. The parts of a separated looped clip
clips from each loop iteration. can be adjusted independently.

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.

Chapter 41: Clip Loops and Groups 917

 To select an individual source clip or loop If the source clip is extended to the left by using the
iteration, do one of the following: Trim tool to change the total length of the looped
 With the Grabber tool or Smart Tool, single- clip, the source clip is moved earlier in the Time-
click the Loop icon of the source clip or loop line and loop iterations fill in up to the point where
iteration. the last original loop iteration ended. If the trim to
the left is part of the source clip’s length, the
 With the Selector tool, single click the Loop source clip is not moved and a partial loop iteration
icon and drag to the left until the clip is selected. is created to the left of the source clip. This is a
powerful feature that lets you make quick changes
to your arrangement by using partial loops as up-
beats, or by extending looped sound effects or am-
bience earlier in a film score.

To trim a looped clip to the selection:

1 Use the Selector tool to make an Edit selection

Loop icon including some or all of the looped clip.

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 641. 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 616.

918 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To copy and paste automation from the source clip Clip groups can be placed on tracks alongside stan-
to loop iterations: dard clips, and edited using many of the same ed-
1 Select the source clip. iting techniques as regular clips. Certain edits to a
clip group will apply to all clips contained by the
2 Choose Edit > Copy Special and one of the Copy
clip group, such as Cut or Delete. Other edits only
Special commands (All Automation, Pan Auto-
apply to the boundaries of the clip group and do not
mation, or Plug-In Automation), depending on
affect the underlining clips, such as Trim.
what automation you want to copy.
Each clip group is saved with the session as a Clip
Group file (.rgrp). Clip group files can be exported
from and imported into different Pro Tools ses-
sions.
Selected Pan automation for Special Copy Clip groups are especially useful for:
3 Select the entire looped clip. • Grouping tick-based audio clips that have been
separated into many small clips, such as with in-
4 Choose Edit > Paste Special > Repeat to Fill
dividual hits of a drum pattern. Many such small
Selection.
clips can easily be created with Beat Detective
or the Separate Clip At Transients command, or
imported as REX or ACID files.
• Grouping parts and sections of your session to
facilitate composition and arranging. For exam-
Pan automation Special Paste to Fill Selection ple, grouping the clips of a brass section during
the chorus to copy it to the next chorus.

Clip Groups Clip groups are completely independent of

and unique from Mix and Edit Groups.
A clip group is a collection of any combination of
audio and MIDI clips that looks and acts like a sin-
gle clip. Clip groups are essentially containers Editing Elastic Properties is disallowed for
holding one or more clips. Clip groups can be cre- clip groups.
ated on single or multiple adjacent audio, MIDI,
and Instrument tracks. Clip groups let you “nest”
Clip groups are not supported on audio
multiple clips into “macro” clips for groove and
tracks set to Playlists view. Changing an
tempo manipulation, editing, and arranging.
audio track to Playlist View automatically
ungroups any clip groups on the track.

Chapter 41: Clip Loops and Groups 919

 The clip group appears as one clip with the clip
Creating Clip Groups groups icon in the lower left corner. Clip groups
also appear in the Clips List.
To create a clip group:
1 Select one or more clips on one or more tracks.
(For more information on multitrack clip
groups, see “Multitrack Clip Groups” on
page 921).

Clip Group icons on an audio track and in the Clips List

Selecting clips to be grouped on a single audio track

Clip Group Timebase Format

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.

Press Command+Option+G (Mac) or Con-

trol+Alt+G (Windows) to group selected
clips.

The Group and Ungroup Clip menu

commands apply to any Edit selection MIDI Clip Group icon on a MIDI track
regardless of the current Track View.
Clip groups can be created from empty
selections. This can be useful when working
in Shuffle mode to preserve the gaps between
clips.

920 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 If you used the Ungroup All command, the Regroup
Ungrouping Clips command recreates all previous nested clip groups.
To ungroup a clip group: 3 If you regrouped an ungrouped clip group that
1 Select a clip group. was used more than once in the session, do one
of the following when the Change All dialog
2 Do one of the following: opens.
• Choose Clip > Ungroup. • Choose Modify to apply your changes to all other
• Right-click the Edit selection and choose Un- instances of the same clip group.
group. • Choose Copy to create a copy and apply your
changes only to the copied clip group.
Press Command+Option+U (Mac) or Con-
trol+Alt+U (Windows) to ungroup selected
clip groups.
Multitrack Clip Groups
The clip group disappears, revealing all underlying
Multitrack clip groups (clip groups created across
clips and any nested clip groups. When there are
multiple tracks) are useful for grouping parts (such
multiple nested clip groups, the Ungroup com-
as multi-miked drum tracks), and for composing
mand will ungroup the front-most top-layer clip
and arranging. Multitrack clip groups can be cre-
group only, preserving any underlying clip groups.
ated across any combination of audio, MIDI, and
To ungroup a clip group (and include all of its
Instrument tracks, and can include either or both
nested clip groups): tick-based or sample-based tracks.
1 Select a clip group. Multitrack clip groups work much like single-track
2 Choose Clip > Ungroup All. clip groups. Multitrack clip groups appear as a sin-
gle object across adjacent tracks.

To create a multitrack clip group:

Regrouping Clips
1 Select clips across multiple adjacent tracks.
The Regroup menu command undoes the last Un-
group command and regroups all the individual
clips as a clip group. This lets you ungroup a
grouped clip, edit its underlying clips, and regroup
it to continue working on higher-level composition
and arranging.

To regroup a clip group:

1 Select any clip from the ungrouped clip group.
2 Choose Clip > Regroup. Selecting clips to be grouped across multiple tracks

Press Command+Option+R (Mac) or Con-

trol+Alt+R (Windows) to regroup selected
clips that were formally part of a clip group.

Chapter 41: Clip Loops and Groups 921

 2 Choose Clip > Group. Separated Multitrack Clip
Groups
You can insert, move, hide, or delete tracks in mul-
titrack clip groups, but it may break the clip group.
A separated clip group displays a break in the Clip
Group icon. Separated clip groups will continue to
function as a single clip group, but the separated
icon indicates that the clip group displayed is
somehow incomplete or separated across nonadja-
cent tracks.

Clip Group icon

Separated Clip Group icon

A clip group is separated when you do any of the

following:
• Insert a track within a multitrack clip group.
• Move a track that is part of a multitrack clip
Mixed Clip Group icon (for a multitrack clip group of group so that it is no longer adjacent with the
sample- and tick-based audio, and tick-based MIDI) other tracks of the clip group.
• Hide a track that is part of a multitrack clip
Multitrack clip groups create nested group.
clip groups of multiple clips by track before
grouping them across tracks. • Delete a track that is part of a multitrack clip
group.
• Change the tempo of a mixed sample-based and
The Regroup command supports multitrack
tick-based clip group.
clip groups.
• Record into a clip group.
• Change playlists on a track that is part of a mul-
titrack clip group.

922 Pro Tools Reference Guide

• Change to Playlists view. Changing Clip Group Timebase
• Apply manual warping in Warp view. The timebase format of a clip group can be
changed by:
There may be situations where you want separated
clip groups. For example, if you use the same ac- • Changing the track’s timebase.
companiment on verses one and two of a song, you • Dragging the clip group to a track with a differ-
can group the parts of verse one and copy them as ent timebase.
a clip group for verse two, but still have a continu-
ous vocal track in the middle of those clip groups. Changing the timebase creates a copy of the origi-
nal clip group. Both clip groups (the original and
If you want to delete a track and keep the the copy) appear in the Clips List, but they have
clip group intact, first ungroup the clip different timebases.
group, then delete track, and then Regroup
the clip group. The clip group will be recre- Converting Samples to Ticks
ated intact, but without the deleted track.
When dragging a clip group from a sample-based
track to a tick-based track, the length of the clip
Clip Groups on Tick-Based group does not change. This is because clip groups
Tracks are converted from samples to ticks after they are
moved into tick-based tracks. The length of the
When changing tempos, clip groups on tick-based clip group only changes with subsequent tempo
tracks adjust their length by adjusting the position changes. If appropriate, change the local tempo on
of all enclosed clips accordingly. This can be use- the tick-based track to match the tempo of the sam-
ful for arranging rhythmic material and for playing ple-based clip group before moving a sample-
back clip groups imported from REX and ACID based clip group to a tick-based track.
files.
Converting Ticks to Samples

When dragging a clip group from a tick-based

track to a sample-based track, the length of the clip
group does not change unless it is moved to an-
other time location with a different tempo. This is
because clip groups are converted from ticks to
samples after they are moved into the sample-
based tracks.

A clip group on a tick-based audio track at 120 BPM

and at 160 BPM

Chapter 41: Clip Loops and Groups 923

 Multitrack Clip Groups with Sample- and Tick- Editing Audio Clip Groups
Based Tracks
Certain audio editing commands create new clips
Multitrack clip groups can include both sample- over clip groups. To use these commands and
based and tick-based tracks. However, changing maintain the clip group, ungroup the clip group,
the tempo separates the clip group between sam- perform the edit, and then regroup the clip group.
ple-based tracks and tick-based tracks.
The following edit commands create new clips
over clip groups:
• AudioSuite processing of a grouped clip
results in a new clip over the clip group.
• Consolidating a selection of a grouped clip cre-
ates a new audio file and clip over the clip group.
• Recording into a clip group creates a new
audio file and clip over the clip group.
A multitrack clip group separated across sample- • Pencil tool waveform redraw results in a new
based and tick-based tracks after changing tempo clip over the clip group.

Editing Clip Groups Tabbing to Transients and Clip

Boundaries
Clip groups are edited in much the same way as
With Tab to Transients enabled, the Tab key
regular clips: They can be named, moved, cut, cop-
moves the Location Cursor to transients and clip
ied, pasted, trimmed, muted, locked, and so on.
boundaries within a clip group.
However, there are a few significant differences
between editing regular clips and clip groups. With Tab to Transients disabled, the Tab key
moves the Location Cursor to clip group boundar-
Editing MIDI Clip Groups ies only (and the sync point, if present).

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 641.
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.

924 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Trimming Clip Groups
Fades and Crossfades on Clip
Trimming clip groups with the Standard Trim tool Groups
works the same way as trimming regular clips, re-
gardless of whether you are trimming a single- Clip groups can have fades and crossfades just like
track clip group or a multitrack clip group. regular clips. Fades only apply to audio clips. In
addition to crossfading between clip groups, you
Trimming a clip group does not trim the underly- can also crossfade between clip groups and regular
ing clips, but rather trims the clip group boundar- audio clips.
ies. All underlying clips retain their original length
and location. This is true for all underlying audio
and MIDI clips, and nested clip groups. If you trim
the clip group shorter, underlying clips may not be
heard on playback because they are outside the clip
boundaries of the trimmed clip group.

When trimming clip groups with the TC/E Trim

tool, it applies only to audio or MIDI clips, de-
pending on which clip type in the group you trim,
Two adjacent multitrack clip groups with crossfades on
and creates a new clip over the clip group. the audio tracks, but not on the MIDI track

If you ungroup clips after trimming a clip group in

(shorter), audio clips falling outside of the bounds Ungrouping a clip group removes any clip
of the current clip group are trimmed to fit the clip group level fades or crossfades. Fades and
group boundary or removed. crossfades are restored by the Regroup
command.

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.

For information on working with fades and

crossfades in Pro Tools, see Chapter 31,
“Fades and Crossfades.”

Chapter 41: Clip Loops and Groups 925

 Clip group files store the following metadata:
Clip Groups and Clip Gain
• References to all audio files within the clip
Clip gain settings for individual clips are preserved group
in clip groups. Additionally, you can adjust the clip
• Clip names and relative location in tracks
gain settings for clip groups. Clip gain editing on
clip groups behaves just like individual clip gain • Embedded fades and crossfades
editing (see “Clip Gain” on page 941). • Clip gain settings for the clip groups as well as
for individual clips within the group
• Clip group names and format (single or multi-
track)
• All MIDI data present in the clip group (such as
notes, controllers, Sysex, and so on)
• Track names
Clip group with clip gain settings shown • Elastic Audio Warp markers and TCE factor
To adjust the clip gain settings for individual clips • Clip timebase (samples or ticks)
within a clip group, the clips must first be un- • Sync points
grouped, edited, and then regrouped.
• Loops
Clip gain settings are preserved when clip groups • Tempo map
are exported. Clip groups can then be imported
into other sessions with the same clip gain settings. Clip group files do not store the following:
• Automation
• Plug-ins
Importing and Exporting Clip
Group Files • Track routing
• Meter map
Pro Tools can export and import clip groups as clip
group files (.cgrp) to do any of the following: • Clips List information
• Separate clip group metadata from audio files to For more information, see “Importing and
avoid unnecessary file copy operations when ex- Exporting Clip Group Files” on page 456.
porting audio clip groups composed from multi-
ple source files
• Export MIDI data as part of a clip group
• Create multitrack loops

Clip groups created in Pro Tools 10 and later

(.cgrp) cannot be imported into earlier ver-
sions of Pro Tools, but region groups (.rgp)
created in earlier versions of Pro Tools can
be imported into Pro Tools 10 and later.

926 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Part VIII: Processing
Chapter 42: AudioSuite Processing

AudioSuite plug-ins are used to render processing

and modify audio files on disk. AudioSuite pro- AudioSuite Window
cessing applies non-real-time, or rendered, audio When you select a plug-in from the AudioSuite
processing to selected audio clips in your menu, the AudioSuite window appears. From this
Pro Tools session. Depending on how you config- floating window you can access and edit the con-
ure an AudioSuite plug-in, it will either alter the trols for the selected AudioSuite plug-in.
original source audio file or create an entirely new
audio source file.

For information on individual AudioSuite

plug-ins included with Pro Tools, see the
Audio Plug-Ins Guide.

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.

For more information, see “Plug-In Menu

Organization” on page 1099.

To open the AudioSuite Plug-In window:

1 Make an Edit selection that includes the audio
clip, or clips, you want to process.
2 From the AudioSuite menu, select the plug-in
you want.

Chapter 42: AudioSuite Processing 929

 Selection Reference
AudioSuite Window Header
This menu aims the selected process at either clips
The AudioSuite Window header provides controls selected in an audio track or playlist, or at clips se-
for changing AudioSuite plug-ins and setting pre- lected in the Clips List.
sets, and how AudioSuite processing will be ap-
plied. When you select a clip on-screen (in either a
track/playlist or the Clips List) Pro Tools normally
Use in Playlist button
Target button selects both occurrences of the clip. Since you may
Selection Reference Plug-In Settings menu not want to process both, this menu provides a con-
Plug-In selector Librarian menu venient means of limiting the AudioSuite process
to clips selected in one or the other.

File Mode selector

Process Mode selector Compare
Settings Select
Next Setting
Previous Setting
Selection Reference pop-up menu (Invert plug-in
shown)

Playlist Applies AudioSuite processing to clips on

AudioSuite window header
the Timeline (playlists on audio tracks). Processed
AudioSuite Plug-In Selector clips also appear in the Clips List.

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.

AudioSuite Processing Clip Groups in the

Clip List

AudioSuite plug-ins process Clip Groups in the

Clips List with certain limitations. With audio
files, AudioSuite processes are applied to all cop-
ies of a unique audio file in your session when the
Clips List option and the Use in Playlist option are
Plug-In menu (flat list, non-category view)
selected. However, when a Clip Group is selected
for Audio Suite processing in the Clips List,
Pro Tools does not recognize the Clip Group as au-

930 Pro Tools Reference Guide

dio. This is because a Clip Group is not treated as Use In Playlist On, Reference = Playlist When
audio until it is actually used in a track. To apply Use in Playlist is enabled and the Selection Refer-
AudioSuite processing to a Clip Group in the Clips ence is set to Playlist, only clips selected in tracks
List, first ungroup the Clip Group, and then re- in the Edit window will be replaced. If the session
group it after processing. includes other copies of the clip used in other play-
lists, those copies of the original, unprocessed clip
To apply an AudioSuite process to all copies of a will not be replaced.
Clip Group in a session at once, do the following:
1 Select the Clip Group to be processed. If the Selection Reference pop-up menu is set
to Clips List, the Use in Playlist button will
2 From the Clip menu, select Ungroup All. All automatically be disabled to ensure that you
elements of the group will remain selected. do not accidentally replace every occurrence
3 Perform the AudioSuite processing. of the clip in a session.

4 From the Clip menu, select Regroup. File Mode Selector

When prompted, choose Modify to apply the Au- This menu lets you select whether or not the Au-
dioSuite process to all copies of the Clip Group in dioSuite plug-in will process the selected audio de-
the session, or Copy to apply it only to the selected structively or nondestructively, and how the origi-
Clip Group. nal files will be modified.

Use In Playlist Button

This button determines whether AudioSuite pro-
cessing will replace all instances of the selected
clips everywhere in the session, or only the occur- File Mode pop-up menu (Invert plug-in shown)
rences of the clips that are currently selected. There are three File mode options:
Use In Playlist Off When Use in Playlist is dis- Overwrite Files Processes the selected clips de-
abled, a new, processed version of the selected clip structively, overwriting the original audio. Not all
will be added to the Clips List. No original clips AudioSuite plug-ins can be used destructively.
will be replaced or overwritten anywhere in the
session. Create Individual Files Processes the selected
clips nondestructively, creating a new audio file
Use In Playlist On, Reference = Clips List When for each clip. The new audio files are added to the
Use in Playlist is enabled and the Selection Refer- session, leaving the original source audio files in
ence pop-up menu is set to Clips List, all copies of the Clips List unchanged. (Whether the processed
the selected clip will be replaced everywhere in the audio is added to the current playlist or only to the
session. Clips List, is determined by the Selection Refer-
ence setting.)

Chapter 42: AudioSuite Processing 931

 Create Continuous File Processes the selected AudioSuite Plug-In Preset
clips nondestructively and creates a new audio file Controls
consisting of the selected clips consolidated into a
Most AudioSuite plug-ins let you load and save
single, unbroken clip. This mode is particularly
presets (plug-in settings files). However, some Au-
useful if you are assembling a composite track
dioSuite plug-ins, such as DC Offset Removal or
from multiple takes. This mode is not available
Duplicate, do not provide Preset controls since
when the Selection Reference is set to Clips List.
they have no parameter controls.
The Create Continuous File option is not
available with some time domain plug-ins. To Plug-In Settings menu
Librarian menu
achieve a similar result, use the Duplicate
plug-in to consolidate clips processed with
these plug-ins.
Compare

Process Mode Selector Settings Select

Next Setting
Previous Setting
If you have made a selection that includes multiple
clips, this pop-up menu lets you specify whether AudioSuite Preset controls
AudioSuite processing is performed on a clip-by-
clip, or entire-selection basis. For more information about plug-in presets,
see “Plug-In Presets” on page 1109.

Plug-In Selector Lets you select any AudioSuite

plug-in installed on your system.

Plug-In Settings Menu Lets you copy, paste, save,

Process Mode selector (Invert plug-in shown) and import plug-in presets.
Clip by Clip Analyzes each clip in a selection indi- Plug-In Librarian Menu Recalls settings files (pre-
vidually, rather than over the entire multi-clip se- sets) saved in the plug-in’s root settings folder or in
lection as a whole. the current session’s Settings folder.
Entire Selection Uses the entire selection for anal- Next (+) and Previous (–) Setting Buttons Lets
ysis. All clips will be analyzed and processed rela- you select the next or previous plug-in setting from
tive to the entire selection. the Plug-In Librarian menu.

You will lose the current plug-in settings if

they are not saved before you use the Next
and Previous Setting buttons. Always save
your plug-ins settings as presets using the
Plug-In Settings menu.

932 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Plug-Ins Settings Select Button Accesses the Channel Mode Button
Plug-In Settings dialog, which lists the presets for
The Channel Mode button lets you process contig-
the current plug-in. From this list, you can select a
uous channels within a selected clip as though they
new preset, or audition a series of presets.
were mono or stereo tracks (and in some cases
Compare Toggles between the original saved greater-than-stereo tracks), regardless of the type
plug-in preset and any changes you have made to it of tracks they occupy.
so you can compare them.
Mono Mode Processes each contiguous channel
within a selected clip as a separate mono track. For
Target Button example, a clip comprised of six mono tracks
Pro Tools lets you view multiple AudioSuite would be processed as six mono tracks.
plug-in windows at the same time. The AudioSuite Stereo Mode Processes each contiguous pair of
plug-in window provides a Target button. Untar- channels within a selected clip as a stereo track.
geted plug-in windows remain open, while the tar- When applied to an odd number of channels, the
geted plug-in window can switch between differ- plug-in processes the last odd, unpaired channel as
ent AudioSuite plug-ins and receive keyboard mono, using the left channel settings of the stereo
input. plug-in. If you want the last track to be processed
in stereo, you must select an additional track to pair
To target or untarget AudioSuite plug-in windows:
it with—an empty one if necessary.
 Click the Target button in the AudioSuite plug-
in window so that it is lit (targeted) or unlit (un- For example, a clip comprised of two mono tracks
targeted). would be processed as a stereo track, with the first
mono track processed as the left channel and the
second mono track processed as the right channel.
Other AudioSuite Controls
Multi Mode Processes each set of three or more
In addition to the standard AudioSuite controls that
contiguous channels within a selected clip as a
are common to all AudioSuite plug-ins, there are a
multichannel greater-than-stereo track, with the
number of special-purpose controls found only on
number of selected channels determining the type
certain plug-ins:
of track. For example, five contiguously-selected
Key Input Selector channels would be processed as a 5.0 track, while
seven contiguously-selected channels will be pro-
Selects a track/bus to be used to trigger processing. cessed as a 7.1 track.
In order to use this feature, the key input source au-
dio must occur at the same time as the target audio. Multi mode is available only for certain plug-
Side-chain input is monophonic. See “Side-Chain ins, such as Dynamics III.
Input” on page 1107.

Side-chain inputs for plug-ins have no effect

on AudioSuite processes when the Selection
Reference is set to Clips List.

Chapter 42: AudioSuite Processing 933

  In Mono mode, only the first channel of any se-
AudioSuite Window Footer lected multichannel clip will be previewed.
The AudioSuite Window footer provides controls  If you are processing using Clip-by-Clip mode,
for previewing and applying AudioSuite process- the Preview function will preview only the first
ing. clip within a multi-clip selection. To hear all se-
lected clips, temporarily select Create Continuous
Preview button Preview Level meters
Preview volume
Render button File from the File Mode menu before previewing.

Preview Volume Control

Handle Length
Bypass button
The Preview Volume control in the AudioSuite
Whole File button
window lets you adjust the volume for previewing
AudioSuite window footer
AudioSuite processing.

Preview Button To adjust the volume for previewing AudioSuite

processing:
The Preview button in the AudioSuite window lets
you audition the effect of a plug-in before you pro- 1 Click the Preview Volume control.
cess the audio. By adjusting the plug-in controls
2 In the resulting pop-up fader, drag up to in-
while you listen to this audio preview, you can
crease the preview volume or drag down to de-
fine-tune the effect. Not all AudioSuite plug-ins
crease the preview volume.
support previewing.

The Preview function routes audio to the specific

outputs selected for the Audition Path setting in the
Outputs page of the I/O Setup dialog. Make sure
you have configured this option correctly for your
system or you may not be able to hear previewed
audio.
Adjust the volume for previewing AudioSuite
For more information on using the I/O Setup processing
dialog to configure your system’s audio out- Preview Volume Level Meters
puts, see “Audition Path” on page 60.
The Preview Volume Level meters display the lev-
Before you preview AudioSuite processing, be els for previewed AudioSuite processing. This can
aware that: help you watch for clipping in the processed sig-
 The performance of the Preview function de-
nal.
pends on the speed of your CPU. Faster computers
preview AudioSuite effects better than slower Bypass Button
computers.
When Bypass is enabled in the AudioSuite win-
 Regardless of how many tracks and clips are dow, the selected audio is auditioned without Au-
currently selected, the Preview button will audition dioSuite processing. The Bypass button applies
only the first selected stereo track or the first se- only to previewing. It does not affect actual Audio-
lected pair of mono tracks. Suite processing.
934 Pro Tools Reference Guide
Reverse Button Render Button
Pro Tools provides a Reverse button in the Audio- Clicking the Render button in the AudioSuite win-
Suite plug-in window footer for Reverb and Delay dow begins AudioSuite processing of the selected
plug-ins. This lets you easily render reverse delay audio. Processing can occur during playback
and reverb effects with a single click. Clicking the (though it may take slightly longer). Processed
Reverse button provides three processes in one: files are auto-named with the clip or audio file’s
• First, it reverses the Edit selection. name and include an acronym for the chosen Au-
dioSuite process.
• Then, it processes the reversed Edit selection
with the current plug-in settings. New files are written to the hard disk specified for
• Finally, it reverses the processed Edit selection. that track in the Disk Allocation dialog, or to the
same drive as the original file if the clip is not cur-
rently on a track. See “Automatic File Naming of
Whole File Button AudioSuite-Processed Audio” on page 936.
When the Whole File button is enabled in the Au-
dioSuite window, the selected audio is rendered as Multichannel Processing
a new clip whose duration exactly matches the se- Most AudioSuite plug-ins can process up to 48
lection. However, the clip can be trimmed out as channels of audio simultaneously.
far as the whole file. This option is not available in
Create Continuous File mode or when rendering When processing multiple clips of different
with Entire Selection mode combined with Create formats (mono and multichannel surround,
Individual Files mode. for example), all channels will be processed
according to the channel format of the
Handle Length AudioSuite plug-in. Mono AudioSuite plug-
ins can process stereo clips and stereo
The Handle Length field lets you set the Handle AudioSuite plug-ins can process mono clips.
Length for rendering from 0.00 to 60.00 seconds.
This means that you trim clips out past the ren- Undoing AudioSuite Processing
dered selection after processing up to the set Han-
If you have processed an audio selection nonde-
dle Length. For more information, see “Audio-
structively, the Undo and Redo commands let you
Suite Handles” on page 937.
undo the selected AudioSuite process. You can
undo or redo an AudioSuite process during audio
playback.

Undo is not available when a plug-in is

configured for destructive editing since
the process has already overwritten the
source audio file.

Chapter 42: AudioSuite Processing 935

 Automatic File Naming of AudioSuite- To process audio with an AudioSuite plug-in:
Processed Audio
1 Do one of the following:
When new audio files are created as a result of Au- • Make an Edit selection of the audio you want to
dioSuite processing, Pro Tools will auto-name process.
these files according to the type of plug-in used.
• Select audio clips in the Clips List that you want
The name of the clip determines the prefix, while
to process.
the type of AudioSuite plug-in determines the suf-
fix. 2 Choose an AudioSuite plug-in from the
AudioSuite menu.
Automatic file naming follows these rules:
3 Adjust the plug-in controls for the effect you
 New clips are named beginning with the clip want. These settings determine how the file is
name, followed by an abbreviation of the current processed and what effect the processing has on
AudioSuite process, followed by standard the original clips.
Pro Tools file and clip numbering.
• To process the selected clip only in the track in
 If a plug-in’s File Mode is set to Overwrite Files, which it appears, select Playlist for the Selection
the original clip’s name will not be changed. Reference. Alternatively, if you want to process
the selected clip in the Clips List only, select
 If a plug-in’s File Mode is set to Create Individ-
Clips List.
ual Files, the resulting clips will have an abbrevi-
ated version of the plug-in name appended to them. • If you want to process and update every occur-
rence of the selected clip throughout your ses-
sion, enable the Use In Playlist button (and also
Using AudioSuite Plug-Ins select Clips List as the Selection Reference). Al-
ternatively, if you do not want to update every
AudioSuite plug-ins can be applied to whole clips, occurrence of the selected clip, deselect the Use
partial clips, or selections that are made up of In Playlist button.
whole and partial clips across one or more tracks.
• To configure the plug-in for destructive process-
When audio selected in the Edit window includes ing, select Overwrite Files for the File Mode.
partial clips, the clips will automatically be split This will overwrite and permanently modify the
into two or more clips when they are processed. original source audio files.
Processing is applied only to the selection, leaving • Alternatively, to configure the plug-in for non-
other clips unchanged. destructive processing, select Create Individual
Files for the File Mode. This will create new au-
Processing a locked clip will cause the clip to
dio files that have been processed with the Au-
become unlocked, and processing a muted
dioSuite plug-in settings and leave the original
clip will cause it to become unmuted.
source audio files untouched.
Only audio files on locally connected hard drives • If you have selected multiple clips for process-
can be processed with AudioSuite plug-ins. You ing and want to create a new file that connects
cannot process audio files on remote hard drives and consolidates all of these clips together, se-
over a network (unless it is an Avid Unity net- lect Create Continuous File for the File Mode.
work).

936 Pro Tools Reference Guide

4 Click the Preview button to audition the Audio- To compensate for this, place the clip in a track and
Suite processing of the selected material. select the audio plus an amount of blank space at
the end of the clip equal to the amount of delay or
5 Make any further adjustments to the plug-in
reverb decay that you have added in the plug-in.
controls if necessary.
The plug-in will then have space at the end of the
6 When you are satisfied with the results, click clip in which to write the final delay or decay. If
the Render button. you select more time than needed, you can trim it
after applying AudioSuite processing.
The selected audio is processed according to the
specified settings. Pro Tools appends text to the
clip name indicating the AudioSuite process that AudioSuite Handles
has been applied. Any new audio files appear in the Pro Tools lets you render clips with AudioSuite
Clips List. plug-ins and include “handles” beyond the current
edit selection from 0.00 to 60.00 seconds, or even
Selecting Tracks for AudioSuite the whole file referenced by the clip. This means
Processing that you trim clips out past the rendered selection
after processing.
Because AudioSuite processes are performed on
the specific clips that you select, it is important that To render a clip with AudioSuite handles:
you select only those clips, or parts of clips, you
1 Make the audio selection that you want to ren-
actually want to process.
der.
When processing a single audio channel with 2 Select the AudioSuite plug-in you want to use
an AudioSuite plug-in, make sure that the from the AudioSuite menu.
plug-in is set to Mono mode, if available.
3 Adjust the AudioSuite plug-in options and
Selecting Tracks for Delay or settings.
Reverb Processing 4 Do one of the following:
Because some AudioSuite effects such as delay • In the Handle Length field, enter a value for the
and reverb add additional material to the end of the Handle Length (0.00 to 60.00 seconds). The de-
selected audio, it is important that you make a se- fault Handle Length can be set in the Preferences
lection that is longer than the original source mate- dialog.
rial so that the plug-in can write it to the audio file.
If you select only the original material, without
leaving additional space at the end, any reverb de-
cay or delay that occurs after the end of the clip
will be cut off.

Handle Length field in the AudioSuite plug-in window

Chapter 42: AudioSuite Processing 937

 • Select the Whole File option to render the whole
file. Note that only the current edit selection will
appear in the Timeline.

Default Handle Length in the AudioSuite section of the

Processing Preferences

4 Click OK.

Whole File option selected in the AudioSuite plug-in

window Using AudioSuite Plug-Ins in
Stereo
5 Click Render.
Some AudioSuite plug-ins can be used in either
The selection is rendered as a new clip whose du- mono or stereo. If you plan to use them in stereo,
ration exactly matches the selection. However, the consider the following:
clip can be trimmed out as far as the specified Han-
dle Length.  To process a mono track and obtain a stereo re-
sult, select the track or clip plus an empty track or
AudioSuite Default Handle Length clip. Then set the plug-in to Stereo mode and select
Preferences the Sum Inputs button (if present) to center the dry
signal. When you process the audio, the result will
Pro Tools provides two preferences for setting the be two tracks or clips that represent the right and
default AudioSuite Handle Length. left channels of the processed audio. You should
then pan these tracks hard right and hard left in
To set the default AudioSuite Handle Length:
your mix.
1 Choose Setup > Preferences.
 If you set a plug-in to Stereo mode, then select
2 Click the Processing tab. an odd number of Pro Tools tracks for processing
(as opposed to an even number), the plug-in will
3 In the AudioSuite section, select one of the fol-
process the selected tracks in pairs, in stereo. How-
lowing options:
ever, the last odd, unpaired track will be processed
• Whole File—by default, renders the whole file as mono, using the left channel settings of the ste-
referenced by the selection. reo plug-in. If you want the last track to be pro-
• Length—by default, renders the selection plus cessed in stereo, you must select an additional
any additional available audio up to the speci- track to pair it with—an empty one if necessary.
fied Handle Length (0.00 to 60.00 seconds)
For more information, see “Channel Mode
Button” on page 933.

938 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Conditions for AudioSuite Rendering with Handles, Fades,
Clip Gain, and Metadata
Most AudioSuite plug-ins provide several options for rendering clips, but only certain settings let you ap-
ply AudioSuite handles. For example, AudioSuite Handles are not available with Entire Selection mode
(since the point of this option is to render the whole selection only). Fades and crossfades, and clip gain set-
tings are preserved or rendered depending on the File mode and AudioSuite Rendering mode settings. Ad-
ditionally, clip metadata can be preserved for rendered clips under certain conditions. The following con-
ditions apply.
Handle creation, and Fade, Clip Gain, and Metadata preservation criteria for AudioSuite rendering

Rendering Handle
File Mode Whole File Fades Clip Gain Metadata
Mode Behavior

Overwrite Clip By Clip No Handles Unavailable Preserved Preserved Preserved

File

Overwrite Entire No Handles Unavailable Rendered Rendered Preserved

File Selection

Individual Clip By Clip Handles Available Preserved Preserved Preserved

Files created

Individual Entire No Handles Unavailable Rendered Rendered Preserved

Files Selection

Continuous Clip By Clip Handles Unavailable Rendered Rendered Not

File created at the preserved
beginning and
end of the new
continuous file

Continuous Entire Handles Unavailable Rendered Rendered Not

File Selection created at the preserved
beginning and
end of the new
continuous file

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.

Chapter 42: AudioSuite Processing 939

940 Pro Tools Reference Guide
Chapter 43: Clip Gain and Clip Effects

Static and Dynamic Clip Gain

Clip Gain
You can have either static or dynamic clip gain set-
Pro Tools provides clip-based gain for quick and tings for a single clip. Static clip gain simply
easy gain matching of clips (formerly called re- means that there is a single gain setting for the en-
gions in Pro Tools) from different sources in a tire clip (see “Simple Clip Gain Adjustment” on
Pro Tools session. Clip-based gain is applied pre- page 943). Dynamic clip gain means that you can
mixer (pre-fader and before any plug-in process- have gain settings for a clip that vary over time (see
ing). This is especially useful when working with “Graphically Editing Clip Gain” on page 944).
field recordings and sample libraries in post-pro-
duction sessions.
Clip Gain Info View
By adjusting the clip gain for individual clips on a
When Clip Gain Info view is enabled (View >
single track, you can match their relative gain lev-
Clip > Clip Gain Info), the Clip Gain Fader icon is
els so that you do not have to execute complex
shown at the beginning of the clip, in the lower left
track volume automation to compensate.
corner. If the clip uses static clip gain, the static
Clip Gain value (–144 dB to +36.0 dB) for the clip
is displayed to the right of the Clip Gain Fader
icon. For a clip that has dynamic clip gain (using
breakpoint gain settings), the Clip Gain value is
not shown.
Multiple clips with different (static) Clip Gain settings
Clip Gain commands (including the Clip Gain
The clip gain settings stay with the clip, which Fader and its Right-click commands) only apply to
means you can move, and copy and paste clips the single, whole clip with which it is associated.
with their corresponding clip gain settings. Clip
gain settings can now be imported from AAF and
OMF sequences exported from Media Composer.
Likewise, clip gain settings can be exported from
Pro Tools with AAF sequences (but not OMF) to
be imported into Media Composer.

All clips have a clip gain of 0 dB by default. Clip

gain can be adjusted from –144 dB to +36.0 dB. Clip Gain icon

Chapter 43: Clip Gain and Clip Effects 941

 To show or hide Clip Gain icon, do one of the Render Clip Gain
following:
Choose Render Clip Gain in the Right-click menu
 Select or deselect View > Clip > Clip Gain Info. to render the current clip gain settings for the clip.
 Press Control+Shift+“=” (Equal) (Mac) or After the clip is rendered with its new gain, the clip
Start+Shift+“=” (Equal) (Windows). gain settings are reset to 0 dB.

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 Line

The Clip Gain Line lets you edit the clip gain set-
tings for any given clip using breakpoint editing,
much like with track-based volume automation.
However, unlike track-based volume automation,
the clip gain settings are always associated with
Clip Gain Icon Right-click menu the clip rather than with the track. The Clip Gain
The Clip Gain Fader icon Right-click menu oper- Line can be shown or hidden for all clips in the
ates independently of the Clip Gain sub-menu that Edit window.
is accessible when Right-clicking on an Edit selec-
tion. When rendering clip gain settings, the result-
ing clip provides handles for trimming out the clip
based on the Default Handle Length settings in the
Processing Preferences.
Clip Gain Line (with multiple breakpoints)
Bypass Clip Gain
To show or hide the Clip Gain Line, do one of the
When Bypass Clip Gain is selected in the Right- following:
click menu, the current clip gain settings are by-
passed and the clip plays back with 0 dB gain ad-  Select or deselect View > Clip > Clip Gain Line.
justment.  Press Control+Shift+“-” (Hyphen) (Mac) or
Start+Shift+“-” (Hyphen) (Windows).
Clear Clip Gain
 Right-click the Clip Gain Fader icon on any clip
Choose Clear Clip Gain in the Right-click menu to and choose Show Clip Gain Line or Hide Clip
clear the clip gain settings for the clip. Gain Line.

942 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Right-click any clip and choose Clip Gain > Simple Clip Gain Adjustment
Show Clip Gain Line or Clip Gain > Hide Clip
You can adjust clip gain using the Clip Gain Fader
Gain Line.
icon for quick and easy clip gain adjustments.
The Clip Gain Line is only shown when the
track height is set to Small or larger. To boost or attenuate the current clip gain settings
for a single clip:
Clip Gain Line and Crossfades 1 Ensure that the Clip Gain Info option is enabled.
Clip gain is applied on a clip-by-clip basis. When 2 Click the Clip Gain Fader icon on the clip and
cross-fading between clips, the Clip Gain Line for drag the Clip Gain fader up or down to boost or
the first clip carries through the fade out segment attenuate the clip gain settings for the clip.
of the crossfade and the Clip Gain Line for the sec-
ond clip carries through the fade in segment of the
crossfade. Consequently, crossfades can display
two Clip Gain Lines, one for the first clip and one
for the second clip.

Clip Gain fader, adjusting static clip gain value

Clip Gain Lines prior to applying a crossfade

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.

If a clip is Edit-locked and you attempt to edit

clip gain, you are prompted to Cancel or Al-
low the edit.

Chapter 43: Clip Gain and Clip Effects 943

 Graphically Editing Clip Gain 3 Click any breakpoint on the Clip Gain Line and
move it up or down to adjust the gain, or left to
You can graphically edit clip gain using break-
right to adjust the timing. The gain setting is dis-
points on the Clip Gain Line for individual clips.
played in dB over the selected breakpoint.
When you drag a clip gain breakpoint up or down,
the change in the gain setting value is numerically
indicated. Dragging a clip gain breakpoint to the
left or right adjusts its timing.

Using the Grabber Tool

Adjusting a clip gain breakpoint with the Grabber tool
Using the Grabber tool, you can add, adjust, and
delete individual clip gain breakpoint settings. To delete a clip gain breakpoint with the Grabber
tool:
To add a clip gain breakpoint with the Grabber
1 Ensure that the Clip Gain Line option is enabled.
tool:
1 Ensure that the Clip Gain Line option is enabled. 2 Select the Grabber tool.

2 Select the Grabber tool. 3 Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) the

breakpoint you want to delete. The Grabber
3 Click at any point on the Clip Gain Line for the points and displays a Minus sign (“–”).
clip to add a breakpoint. The Grabber points and
displays a Plus sign (“+”).

Deleting a clip gain breakpoint with the Grabber tool

Using the Pencil Tool

Adding a clip gain breakpoint with the Grabber tool
The Pencil tool lets you create new breakpoints by
Press Control+Shift+E (Mac) or clicking once on the graph line. Pro Tools lets you
Start+Shift+E (Windows) to add a Clip Gain use the Free Hand, Line, Triangle, Square, and
breakpoint at the current Edit location. Random Pencil Tool shapes for drawing clip gain.
The Parabolic and S-Curve Pencil Tool shapes are
To adjust a clip gain breakpoint with the Grabber not available for editing clip gain.
tool:

1 Ensure that the Clip Gain Line option is enabled.

2 Select the Grabber tool.

Using the Pencil tool (Free Hand) to draw clip gain

settings

944 Pro Tools Reference Guide

When drawing clip gain settings with the Pencil Using the Trim Tools
tool, its effect is bounded by the Edit selection if
The Trim tools let you adjust all selected break-
the pencil gesture crosses into the selection. How-
points up or down by dragging anywhere within
ever, if the pencil gesture is entirely outside of a se-
that selection. Unlike track-based Volume automa-
lection, it creates clip gain breakpoints outside of
tion, which scales when trimming, clip gain pro-
the selection.
vides true trimming (where clip gain settings main-
tain their fixed relations to one another when
trimming).

Using the Pencil tool (Free Hand) to draw clip gain

settings bound by the Edit selection

To add clip gain breakpoints with the Pencil tool: Using the Trim tool to boost or attenuate clip gain
breakpoints
1 Ensure that the Clip Gain Line option is enabled.
To trim the selected clip gain settings up or down:
2 Select the Pencil tool.
1 Ensure that the Clip Gain Line option is enabled.
3 Do one of the following:
2 Make an Edit selection that includes the clip
• Click once on the Clip Gain Line to add a single gain settings that you want to adjust.
breakpoint.
3 Select the Trim tool.
• Drag on the Clip Gain Line to draw breakpoints.
4 Drag up or down over the Clip Gain Line within
To delete a clip gain breakpoint with the Pencil the Edit selection.
tool:
1 Ensure that the Clip Gain Line option is enabled. Nudging Clip Gain

2 Select the Pencil tool. Pro Tools lets you nudge the selected clip gain set-
tings up or down by the Nudge Clip Gain By
3 Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) the
amount specified in the Pro Tools Editing Prefer-
breakpoint you want to delete.
ences. You can also nudge the selected clip gain
settings back or forward in the clip by the specified
nudge amount.

You can also nudge Clip Gain up or down with

EUCON. See the Artist Series and Pro Tools
guide for more info.

Chapter 43: Clip Gain and Clip Effects 945

 To set the Nudge Clip Gain By amount: Clearing Clip Gain
1 Choose Setup > Preferences. Pro Tools lets you clear the clip gain settings for
2 Click the Editing tab. the current Edit selection. This resets the clip gain
for the selection to 0 dB. For clips only partially in-
3 Enter a value for the Nudge Clip Gain By setting. cluded in the Edit selection, only the clip gain set-
4 Click OK. tings within the Edit selection are affected.

To nudge the selected clip gain up: To clear clip gain, do one of the following:

 Press Control+Shift+Up Arrow (Mac) or  Right-click a clip or Edit selection and choose
Start+Shift+Up Arrow (Windows). Clip Gain > Clear Clip Gain.

 Right-click the Clip Gain Fader icon for a single

To nudge the selected clip gain down:
clip and choose Clear Clip Gain.
 Press Control+Shift+Down Arrow (Mac) or
 Select a clip or make an Edit selection and
Start+Shift+Down Arrow (Windows).
choose Edit > Clip Special > Clear Clip Gain.
If you have a mouse with a scroll wheel,  Select a clip or make an Edit selection and press
you can use the scroll wheel to nudge the Control+Shift+B (Mac) or Start+Shift+B (Win-
selected clip gain settings up or down. dows).
Press Control+Shift (Mac) or Start+Shift
(Windows) and scroll the scroll wheel up or  Press Option (Mac) or Alt (Windows) and click
down. Clip Gain Fader icon for a single clip.

To nudge the selected clip gain backward, do one Cutting, Copying, and Pasting Clip Gain
of the following:
Pro Tools lets you cut, copy, and paste clip gain
 Press Control+Shift+“–” (Minus) (Mac) or
settings, so that you can apply the clip gain settings
Start+Shift+“–” (Minus) (Windows).
from one clip to any other. Clip gain settings can-
 Press Control+Shift+M (Mac) or not be cut, copied, or pasted across clip boundar-
Start+Shift+M (Windows). ies.

 Press Control+Shift+“,” (Comma) (Mac) or To cut clip gain settings:

Start+Shift+“,” (Comma) (Windows).
1 Select a single whole clip or make an Edit selec-
To nudge the selected clip gain forward, do one of tion within a single whole clip.
the following:
2 Do one of the following:
 Press Control+Shift+“+” (Plus) (Mac) or • Choose Edit > Cut Special > Cut Clip Gain.
Start+Shift+“+” (Plus) (Windows).
• Press Control+Shift+X (Mac) or Start+Shift+X
 Press Control+Shift+“.” (Period) (Mac) or (Windows).
Start+Shift+“.” (Period) (Windows).
 Press Control+Shift+“/” (Slash) (Mac) or
Start+Shift+“/” (Slash) (Windows).

946 Pro Tools Reference Guide

The selected clip gain settings are cut and copied to 3 Do one of the following:
the clipboard. Clip gain breakpoints on the clip- • Choose Edit > Paste Clip Gain.
board are time-stamped with the playback times in
the timebase of the track being copied (which • Press Command+V (Mac) or Control+V
means you can cut and paste clip gain settings from (Windows).
clips on tick-based tracks and have the pasted clip The clip gain settings on the clipboard are pasted
gain settings match the corresponding bar:beat lo- into the clip starting at the Edit In Point. The clip
cations of clips on other tick-based tracks). gain settings are pasted in their entirety, but only
apply to a single clip. If the pasted clip gain set-
You can cut clip gain settings from any Edit
tings extend beyond the end of the clip, they are all
selection. However, if you want to cut and
still associated with the clip. This means that if you
paste clip gain settings, you can only paste
trim out the clip later, the pasted clip gain is re-
the clip gain settings cut from a single clip.
vealed. When pasting clip gain within a clip (rather
To copy clip gain settings: than to a single whole clip of the same duration),
breakpoints are added before and after the pasted
1 Select a single whole clip or make an Edit selec-
data so that any clip gain settings outside the paste
tion within a single whole clip.
do not change.
2 Do one of the following:
• Choose Edit > Copy Special > Copy Clip Gain. Converting Clip Gain and Track
• Press Command+Option+Control+C (Mac) or Volume Automation
Control+Alt+Start+C (Windows). (Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)

• Right-click any single whole clip selection and Pro Tools lets you convert clip gain settings to
choose Clip Gain > Copy Clip Gain. track-based volume automation, as well as letting
you convert track-based volume automation to clip
The selected clip gain settings are copied to the gain settings.
clipboard. Clip gain breakpoints on the clipboard
are time-stamped with the playback times in the When converting clip gain settings to volume au-
timebase of the track being copied (which means tomation, the clip gain settings are cut from the clip
you can copy and paste clip gain settings from and pasted to track-based volume automation at
clips on tick-based tracks and have the pasted clip the same timeline locations as the clip.
gain settings match the corresponding bar:beat lo-
cations of clips on other tick-based tracks). When converting track-based volume automation
to clip gain, the volume automation is cut from the
To paste clip gain settings: track volume automation playlist and pasted to the
clip. Once volume automation has been converted
1 Cut or Copy the clip gain settings you want.
to clip gain, the clip gain settings stay with the clip
2 Do one of the following: when moved, cut, copied, or pasted.
• Select another clip.
• Make an Edit selection within a single whole
clip.
• Place the Edit In Point where you want the cut or
copied clip gain settings to be pasted.
Chapter 43: Clip Gain and Clip Effects 947
 To convert clip gain settings to track-based To coalesce track-based volume automation to
volume automation: clip gain settings:

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 Volume
to Volume Automation. to Clip Gain.

Any clip gain settings above +12 dB are lost Any clip gain settings above +12 dB are lost
when converted to volume automation. Also, when it is coalesced to volume automation.
clip gain settings within crossfades are cross- Also, clip gain within crossfades is cross-
faded as part of the volume automation. faded as part of the volume automation.

To convert track-based volume automation to clip

gain:
Bypassing Clip Gain
1 Select a clip or make an Edit selection. Pro Tools lets you bypass the current clip gain set-
tings for any selected whole clip. This means that
2 Choose Edit > Automation > Convert Volume to you can hear the clip without any clip gain adjust-
Clip Gain. ments without losing your current clip gain set-
tings.
Coalescing Clip Gain and Track
Volume Automation To bypass (or unbypass) clip gain for a clip, do one
of the following:
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)
 Select one or more whole clips and choose Clip
Pro Tools lets you coalesce clip gain settings to
> Clip Gain > Bypass Clip Gain (or choose Clip >
track-based volume automation, as well as letting
Clip Gain > Unbypass Clip Gain).
you coalesce track-based volume automation to
clip gain settings.  Right-click the Clip Gain Fader icon for a clip
and select (or deselect) Bypass.
When coalescing clip gain settings to volume auto-
mation, the clip gain settings are cut from the clip  Right-click a clip or an Edit selection and
and coalesced with track-based volume automa- choose Clip Gain > Bypass Clip Gain (or choose
tion at the same timeline locations as the clip. Clip Gain > Unbypass Clip Gain).

When coalescing track-based volume automation The clip gain settings for any whole clips within
to clip gain, the volume automation is cut from the the Edit selection are bypassed (or unbypassed).
track volume automation playlist and coalesced
with the selected clip gain settings. Once volume Rendering Clip Gain
automation has been coalesced to clip gain, vol-
ume automation is set to 0 dB for the selection. Pro Tools lets you render the current clip gain set-
tings for any selected whole clip. Rendering clip
To coalesce clip gain settings to track-based gain applies the current clip gain settings to a new
volume automation: clip and sets the clip gain settings for the new clip
1 Select a clip or make an Edit selection. to 0 dB.

2 Choose Edit > Automation > Coalesce Clip Gain

to Volume Automation.

948 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To render clip gain for a clip, do one of the
following: Clip Effects
 Select one or more whole clips and choose Pro Tools Ultimate software provides clip-based
Clip > Clip Gain > Render Clip Gain. effects that let you apply non-destructive EQ, fil-
tering, and dynamics processing to any whole au-
 Right-click the Clip Gain Fader icon for a clip
dio clip on any audio track. This lets you modify
and choose Render Clip Gain.
the sound of any single whole clip or a selection of
 Right-click a clip or an Edit selection and whole clips on one or more tracks without having
choose Clip Gain > Render Clip Gain. to use rendered AudioSuite processing or having to
process entire tracks using plug-in inserts. Clip ef-
Clip gain for any whole clips within the Edit selec-
fects processing uses the same algorithms as the
tion is rendered and their clip gain settings are reset
Avid Channel Strip plug-in (based on the Eupho-
to 0 dB.
nix System 5 console channel strip effects), and
For clips with any clip gain settings other provides similar controls and settings.
than 0 dB, the Prepare DPE Tracks com- Clip effects settings always stay with the clip,
mand (for DestructivePunch) automatically which means you can move, and Cut or Copy and
renders all clip gain settings and resets all Paste clips along with their corresponding clip ef-
clip gain settings to 0 dB. fects settings (clip effects settings are also main-
tained with other edit commands, such as Duplicate
When processing in an AudioSuite mode that or Loop). You can also Cut Special > Cut Clip Ef-
renders in clip gain, any clip gain settings fects or Copy Special > Copy Clip Effects, and
are rendered first, and then AudioSuite pro- Paste Clip Effects settings independently of the se-
cessing is applied. Clip gain is reset to 0 dB lected clip’s audio.
for the resultant clip. However, when creat-
You can save and import clip effects settings as
ing individual files with AudioSuite, or over-
presets. You can also use your computer keyboard
writing files clip-by-clip, clip gain settings
to quickly store and recall presets just like you can
are preserved. For more information, see
with plug-in inserts and AudioSuite plug-ins.
“Conditions for AudioSuite Rendering with
Handles, Fades, Clip Gain, and Metadata” Clip effects are fully supported with Pro Tools Ul-
on page 939. timate software. However, while Pro Tools soft-
ware can open and playback sessions and projects
with clip effects as well as Bypass, Clear, and Ren-
der clip effects (if present), it cannot create or edit
clip effects. Clip effects use the host processor
(Native processing) on all systems.

Chapter 43: Clip Gain and Clip Effects 949

 Figure 1. Clip Effects display

Clip Effects Display

(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)

With Pro Tools Ultimate, clip effects controls are

displayed at the top of the Edit window below the
toolbar in the same space as the Universe display
(see Figure 1 on page 950). You can toggle be-
tween Clip Effects display and Universe display,
but they cannot both be viewed at the same time.

To show or hide the Clip Effects display, do one of

the following: Clip Effects icon (upper right) and the Display
Show/Hide icon (lower right)
 Select or deselect View > Other Displays > Clip
Effects.  Press Option+6 (Mac) or Alt+6 (Windows).
The behavior of this key command varies
 Select or deselect Clip Effects from the Edit
slightly depending on the edit selection: if no
Window Toolbar menu.
whole clip is selected, it shows or hides the Clip
 Click the Show/Hide icon for the Clip Ef- Effects display while leaving the Edit window
fects/Universe displays. If the Universe display focused; if one or more whole clips are selected,
is showing, click the Clip Effects icon in the up- it shows and focuses the Clip Effects display (if
per-right corner of the display. the display is shown, but not focused, it be-
comes focused) or hides the display.

950 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Clip Effects Header that selection until you clear or change those set-
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only) tings. Each subsequent selection of one or more
whole clips can be assigned its own unique clip ef-
The header at the top of the Clip Effects display fects settings.
provides controls for Presets, Compare, and By-
pass controls as well as displaying the name of the To apply clip effects:
selected, whole Clip.
1 Make an edit selection that includes at least one
whole clip.
Clip Bypass
Clip Effects Settings menu 2 If not already shown, reveal the Clip Effects dis-
play (see “Clip Effects Display” on page 950).
3 Choose a preset or adjust the clip effects set-
tings as desired (see “Clip Effects Settings” on
Presets Compare page 955).
Clip Effects header
Clip effects cannot be applied to committed
Clip Displays the name of the selected, whole clip. or frozen tracks.
If more than one whole clip is selected, the number
of selected whole clips is displayed. Bypassing Clip Effects
Presets Lets you store and recall up to five presets Both Pro Tools Ultimate and Pro Tools software
(see “Clip Effects Presets and Settings Files” on let you bypass the current clip effects settings for
page 962). any selected whole clip. This lets you can the clip
without any clip effects while maintaining your
Clip Effects Settings Menu Provides commands
current clip effects settings.
to save, copy, paste, and manage clip effects set-
tings as presets (see “Clip Effects Settings Menu” To bypass (or unbypass) clip effects for a clip:
on page 963).
1 Select one or more whole clips.
Compare Toggles between the original saved Clip
2 Adjust the Clip Effects settings as desired
Effects preset and any changes you have made to it
(Pro Tools Ultimate only).
so you can compare them.
3 Do one of the following:
Bypass Lets you bypass clip effects processing
(see “Bypassing Clip Effects” on page 951). • Choose Clip > Clip Effects > Bypass Clip Effect
(or Clip > Clip Effects > Unbypass Clip Effects).

Applying Clip Effects • Right-click a clip or an Edit selection and choose

(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only) Clip Effects > Bypass Clip Effects (or Clip Effects
> Unbypass Clip Effects).
Pro Tools Ultimate lets you apply clip effects to
• Click the Bypass button in the Clip Effects Dis-
one or more selected whole clips on one or more
play header so that it is lit (or unlit).
tracks. The specific clip effects settings applied to
that selection remains with any whole clips within The clip effects settings for any whole clips within
the Edit selection are bypassed (or unbypassed).

Chapter 43: Clip Gain and Clip Effects 951

 Rendering Clip Effects
Clip effects are rendered when exporting
Both Pro Tools Ultimate and Pro Tools software selected tracks as AAF.
let you render the current clip effects settings for
selected whole clips. Rendering clip effects applies Clip Effects Signal Chain and Rendering
the current clip effects settings to a new whole-file
Clip effects are applied after elastic audio and be-
clip and clears the clip effects settings.
fore clip gain. The signal chain from an audio clip
To render clip effects for a clip:
on a track to the track fader is as follows:
Audio File > Elastic Audio > Clip Effects > Clip
1 Select one or more whole clips.
Gain > AudioSuite > Fades > Inserts > Fader
2 Adjust the Clip Effects settings as desired
(Pro Tools Ultimate only). Rendering always leaves down-stream processing
in place while rendering upstream elements. The
3 Do one of the following: following examples show what is rendered in the
• Choose Clip > Clip Effects > Render Clip Effects. signal chain depending on which commit or render
command is used.
• Right-click and choose Clip Effects > Render
Clip Effects.

What is rendered by process

Audio Elastic Clip Clip Audio
command Fades Inserts Fader
File Audio Effects Gain Suite

committing rendered rendered

Elastic Audio

rendering rendered real-time rendered

Clip Effects

rendering rendered real-time rendered rendered

Clip Gain

rendering rendered rendered rendered rendered rendered

AudioSuite

consolidating rendered rendered rendered rendered rendered rendered

audio clips if present

rendered rendered rendered rendered rendered rendered rendered

freezing tracks
if present

952 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Clip Effects Signal Chain Enabling or Disabling EQ, Filter,
Ordering and Dynamics Effects
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only) (Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)

By default the signal chain order for clip effects is You can independently enable or disable EQ, Fil-
EQ > Filters > Dynamics. However, you can reor- ter, and Dynamics processing in the Clip Effects
der this signal chain however you like. For exam- display. For example, you may want to apply Dy-
ple, maybe you want your dynamics processing namics processing, but not EQ or filtering; or, you
before the EQ and Filters. may want to apply only EQ.

To change the signal chain order of clip effects:

 Click and drag the title bar of the effect you

want to move to the desired location in the sig-
nal chain. (For example, drag the Dynamics
section to the left of the EQ.)

Clip Effects, EQ enabled, Filters and Dynamics

disabled

To enable or disable specific Clip Effects

processing:
Reordering the clip effects signal chain (dragging
Dynamics to before EQ)  Click the Enable/Disable button for the effect so
that it is highlighted (enabled) or grayed out
Showing or Hiding the EQ, (disabled).
Filters, and Dynamics Sections
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only) Clip Effects Status View
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)
You can independently show or hide the EQ, Fil-
ters, and Dynamics sections of the Clip Effects dis- When Clip Effects Status view is enabled (View >
play to use less screen space. These sections are Clip > Clip Effects Status), ø, EQ, and DYN are dis-
shown by default. played in the upper right corner of the clip depend-
ing on which effects are being applied to the clip. ø
is displayed when the phase is inverted. EQ is dis-
played when EQ or Filtering is applied to the clip.
DYN is displayed when Dynamics processing or
Input Gain is set to any value other than 0.0 dB.

Filters and Dynamics sections hidden

To hide (or show) the Dynamics, EQ, or Filters

section of the plug-in window:
Clip Effects Status shown
 Click the Show/Hide icon in the lower-right
corner of the section you want to show or hide.
Chapter 43: Clip Gain and Clip Effects 953
 To show or hide Clip Effects Status: Paste Clip Effects
 Select or deselect View > Clip > Clip Effects Sta- When Clip Effects are cut or copied to the clip-
tus. board, the Paste command changes to Paste Clip
Effects in the Edit menu.
Clip Effects Special Edit
Commands To paste clip effects:
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only) 1 Special Cut or Copy Clip Effects from one or
more whole clips.
Cut Clip Effects
2 Select one or more whole clips with or without
Cutting clip effects copies the clip effects settings clip effects.
to the clipboard and resets the settings for the se-
lected whole clip (or clips) to <factory default>. 3 Do one of the following:
• Choose Edit > Paste Clip Effects.
To cut clip effects:
• Right-click the edit selection and choose Clip Ef-
1 Select one or more whole clips with clip effects. fects > Paste Clip Effects.
2 Do one of the following: • Press Command+V (Mac) or Control+V (Win-
• Choose Edit > Cut Special > Cut Clip Effects. dows).

• Press Command+Option+Control+X (Mac) or Clear Clip Effects

Control+Alt+Start+X (Windows).
Clearing clip effects resets the settings for the se-
Copy Clip Effects lected whole clip (or clips) to <factory default>.

Copying clip effects copies the clip effects settings To clear clip effects:
for selected whole clips to the clipboard while
1 Select one or more whole clips with clip effects.
leaving the settings for those clips intact.
2 Do one of the following:
To copy clip effects:
• Choose Edit > Clear Special > Copy Clip Effects.
1 Select one or more whole clips with clip effects.
• Right-click the edit selection and choose Clip Ef-
2 Do one of the following: fects > Clear Clip Effects.
• Choose Edit > Copy Special > Copy Clip Effects. • Press Command+Option+Control+B (Mac) or
• Right-click the edit selection and choose Clip Ef- Control+Alt+Start+B (Windows).
fects > Copy Clip Effects.
• Press Command+Option+Control+C (Mac) or
Control+Alt+Start+C (Windows).

954 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 EQ and Filters
Clip Effects Settings
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)
Clip effects provides a high-quality 4-band para-
metric equalizer and two separate filters for shap-
ing the frequency spectrum of your audio.
Input Trim and Polarity Invert

EQ controls

Frequency Graph

The EQ section of the Clip Effects display (see

Figure 2 on page 956) provides an interactive Fre-
quency Graph display that shows the response
Input Trim and Polarity Invert controls
curve for the current EQ settings on a two-dimen-
Input Trim sional graph of frequency and gain.The Frequency
Graph display also lets you modify frequency,
The Input Trim control sets the input gain for clip
gain, and Q settings for individual EQ bands by
effects before EQ processing. This lets you make
dragging their corresponding points in the graph.
up gain or prevent clipping at the input stage.
The Frequency Graph display also plots the fre-
To Trim the input signal, do one of the following:
quency, Q, and filter shape of the two filters (when
either or both are enabled).
 Click in the Input Trim field and type a Trim
value (–36.0 dB to +36.0 dB). Adjusting EQ and Filter Controls on the
Frequency Graph
 Click Trim and drag up or down to adjust the
Input Trim setting. You can adjust the following EQ and Filter con-
trols by dragging control points directly in the Fre-
Polarity Invert quency Graph display:
The Polarity Invert button at the top of the Input Control-Shift-click (Mac) or Start-Shift-click
section inverts the phase (polarity) of the input sig- (Windows) the control point for any frequency
nal, to help compensate for phase anomalies that band to solo that frequency band. Drag left or
can occur either in multi-microphone environ- right to change the frequency value.
ments or because of mis-wired balanced connec-
tions.

To enable (or disable) phase inversion on input:

 Click the Polarity Invert button so that it is high-

lighted. Click it again so that it is not high-
lighted to disable it.

Chapter 43: Clip Gain and Clip Effects 955

 Filter control point EQ control point

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.

Option-Shift-click (Mac) or Alt-Shift-click

(Windows) an EQ control point to invert its
Gain setting.

956 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Frequency Graph Gain Resolution High and Low Frequency EQ Controls

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.

EQ Type Enable either the Peak or Shelf button to

set the EQ type for the frequency band.

Frequency Sets the center frequency for the fre-

quency band.

Gain Boosts or attenuates the corresponding fre-

quencies for the frequency band.

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.

Gain Boosts or attenuates the corresponding fre-

quencies for the frequency band.

Q Sets the width of the frequency band. Higher Q

values represent narrower bandwidths. Lower Q
values represent wider bandwidths.
EQ Frequency Band enable/disable buttons (HF and
LF disabled, and HMF and LMF enabled)

Chapter 43: Clip Gain and Clip Effects 957

 Filter 1 and 2 Controls Dynamics
Enable the 1 button for the first filter and the 2 but- The Dynamics section of the Clip Effects display
ton for the second filter. Both filters provide the provides Expander/Gate, Compressor/Limiter, and
same set of controls that can be independently con- Side Chain processing all in one. This section also
figured. provides a dynamics graphic display for Expander/
Gate and Compressor/Limiter processing.

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

958 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Dynamics Graph Resolution Enable/Disable Expander/Gate and
Compressor/Limiter
Clip effects let you view the gain reduction scale on
the Dynamics Graph display either in 3 dB incre- Click the Enable/Disable button for Exp/Gate or
ments from 0 dB to 18 dB or in 6 dB increments from Comp/Lim to enable or disable the corresponding
0 dB to –36 dB. dynamics processing. Buttons are lit when en-
abled, and unlit when disabled.

Dynamics Graph Resolution toggle

To change the Dynamics Graph resolution:

Dynamics, Exp/Gate disabled and Comp/Lim enabled
 Click the Dynamics Graph Resolution toggle.
Expander/Gate Controls
Adjusting Controls on the Dynamics Graph
Threshold Sets the level below which an input sig-
You can drag in the Dynamics Graph display to ad- nal must fall to trigger expansion or gating. Signals
just the corresponding Expander/Gate and Com- that fall below the threshold will be reduced in
pressor/Limiter controls. The cursor updates to gain. Signals that are above it will be unaffected.
show which control is being adjusted: The Dynamics Graph display shows the threshold
• Expander/Gate Ratio as a vertical line.

• 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.

Chapter 43: Clip Gain and Clip Effects 959

 Depth Sets the depth of the Expander/Gate when Compressor/Limiter Controls
closed. Setting the gate to higher range levels al-
Threshold Sets the level that an input signal must
lows more and more of the gated audio that falls
exceed to trigger compression or limiting. Signals
below the threshold to peek through the gate at all
that exceed this level will be compressed. Signals
times.
that are below it will be unaffected.
Hold Specifies the duration (in seconds or milli-
Attack Sets the attack time, or the rate at which
seconds) during which the Expander/Gate will stay
gain is reduced after the input signal crosses the
in effect after the initial attack occurs. This can be
threshold. The smaller the value, the faster the at-
used as a function to keep the Expander/Gate in ef-
tack. The faster the attack, the more rapidly the
fect for longer periods of time with a single cross-
Compressor/ Limiter applies attenuation to the sig-
ing of the threshold. It can also be used to prevent
nal. If you use fast attack times, you should gener-
gate chatter that may occur if varying input levels
ally use a proportionally longer release time, par-
near the threshold cause the gate to close and open
ticularly with material that contains many peaks in
very rapidly.
close proximity.
Release Sets how long it takes for the gate to close
Ratio Sets the compression ratio, or the amount of
after the input signal falls below the threshold level
compression applied as the input signal exceeds
and the hold time has passed.
the threshold. For example, a 2:1 compression ra-
Knee Sets the rate at which the Expander/ Gate tio means that a 2 dB increase of level above the
reaches full effect once the threshold has been ex- threshold produces a 1 db increase in output. The
ceeded. compression ratio ranges from 1.0:1 to 20.0:1.
Once the Ratio control passes 20.0:1 the Compres-
Hysteresis Adjusts whether or not the gate rapidly sor/ Limiter effect functions as a limiter rather than
opens and closes when the input signal is fluctuat- a compressor.
ing near the Threshold. This can help prevent un-
desirably rapid gating of the signal. Hysteresis ap- At the limiter setting (LMTR), for every decibel
plies a differential threshold for signals that are that the incoming signal goes over the set Thresh-
rising, as opposed to signals that are falling, to re- old, 1 dB of gain reduction is applied. Once the Ra-
duce the chance of the gate opening when you tio control passes the LMTR setting, it provides
don’t want it to. For example, if the threshold is set negative ratio settings from –20.0:1 to 0:1. With
to –30 and Hysteresis is set to 10, the gate opens these settings, for every decibel that the incoming
when the signal reaches –20 and closes when sig- signal goes over the set Threshold, more than 1 dB
nal reaches the set threshold of –30. This control is of gain reduction is applied according to the nega-
only available when Ratio is set to Gate, otherwise tive Ratio setting. For example, at the setting of
it is grayed out. –1.0:1, for each decibel over the set threshold, 2 db
of gain reduction is applied. Consequently, the out-
put signal is both compressed and made softer.

960 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Depth Sets the amount of gain reduction that is ap- Side Chain Processing
plied regardless of the input signal. For example, if
the Limiter is set at a Threshold of –20 dB and
Depth is set at 0 dB, up to 20 dB of gain reduction
is applied to the incoming signal (at 0 dB). If you
set Depth to –10 dB, no more than 10 dB of gain
reduction is applied to the incoming signal.

Release Sets the length of time it takes for the

Compressor/Limiter to be fully deactivated after
the input signal drops below the threshold. Release Side Chain controls
times should be set long enough that if signal lev-
els repeatedly rise above the threshold, the gain re- Dynamics processors typically use the detected
duction recovers smoothly. If the release time is amplitude of their input signal to trigger gain re-
too short, the gain can rapidly fluctuate as the com- duction. This split-off signal is known as the side
pressor repeatedly tries to recover from the gain re- chain. Compressor/Limiter and Expander/Gate
duction. If the release time is too long, a loud sec- processing also features filtering on the side chain.
tion of the audio material could cause gain By filtering the side chain, you can make dynamics
reduction that continues through soft sections of processing more or less sensitive to certain fre-
program material without recovering. quencies. For example, you might configure the
side chain so that certain lower frequencies on a
Knee Sets the rate at which the compressor reaches drum track trigger dynamics processing.
full compression once the threshold has been ex-
ceeded. As you increase this control, it goes from Source
applying hard-knee compression to soft-knee com-
The Source selector lets you set the source for side
pression. With hard-knee compression, compres-
chain processing: Internal or All-Linked.
sion begins when the input signal exceeds the
threshold. This can sound abrupt and is ideal for Internal Uses the amplitude of the input signal to
limiting. However, with soft-knee compression, trigger dynamics processing. With greater-than-
gentle compression begins and increases gradually stereo multichannel processing, the input signal for
as the input signal approaches the threshold, and each stereo pair effects only those same channels,
reaches full compression after exceeding the and likewise mono channels are effected only by
threshold. This creates smoother compression. their own input signal. For example, with an LCR
multichannel format, the processing for the Center
Gain Lets you boost overall output gain to com-
channel is only triggered when the Center channel
pensate for heavily compressed or limited signals.
input signal reaches the threshold. However, when
the input signal reaches the threshold on the Left or
the Right channel, processing is triggered for both
the Left and the Right channel.

Chapter 43: Clip Gain and Clip Effects 961

 All-Linked Applies dynamics processing equally Listen Mode
to all channels when the input signal reaches the
The Side Chain pane in the Dynamics section pro-
threshold on any input channel, except for the LFE
vides a Listen button. When enabled, Listen mode
channel (if present). The LFE channel is always
lets you hear the input signal that feeds the dy-
processed independently based on its own input
namic section. This can be either the internal side
signal.
chain (including the applied filter) or all linked
Detection channels of the source audio.

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- (Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)
quency for the selected Filter Type.
In addition to the stored settings named in the Clip
Filter Type Effects Settings menu, clip effects provides five
preset buttons so that you can easily store and re-
Four Filter Type options are available for side-
call your most commonly used settings. You can
chain processing:
also save and import Clip Effects settings using the
Low Pass Applies a low pass filter to the side- commands in the Clip Effects Settings menu.
chain processing at the selected frequency.
To store a Clip Effects preset:
High Pass Applies a high pass filter to the side- 1 Configure the clip effects settings as you like.
chain processing at the selected frequency.
2 Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win-
Notch Applies a notch filter to the side-chain pro- dows) the Preset button where you want to store
cessing at the selected frequency. the current clip effects settings.
Band Pass Applies a band pass filter to the side-
chain processing at the selected frequency.

962 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To recall a Clip Effects preset: Save Settings As Saves the current settings as a
 Click the Preset button that contains the settings new preset under a different name.
you want to recall. Import Settings Imports a Clip Effects Settings
file (.tfx) from a location other than the Root Set-
If the Editing preference “1–5 Number Keys
tings folder or Session folder.
Control” is set to “Clip Effects Presets,” you
can press Control+1–5 (Mac) or Start+1–5 Delete Current Settings File Permanently deletes
(Windows) to recall the corresponding preset. the current Clip Effects Settings file (.tfx) from
If Commands Keyboard Focus is also enabled disk.
in the Edit window, just press the number for
the preset you want (1–5). Lock (Unlock) Settings File Locks (or unlocks)
the selected Clip Effects Settings file so that it can-
not (or can) be edited.
Press Command+Control+1–5 (Mac) or
Control+Start+1–5 (Windows) to apply the Copy Settings Copies the selected Clip Effects
number keys to the opposite of what is set for Settings to the clipboard.
the 1–5 Number Keys Control preference (for
Paste Settings Pastes Clip Effects Settings from
example, if Zoom Presets is selected, these
the clipboard.
key combinations would apply to Clip Effects
Presets instead). If Commands Keyboard Save Clip Effects Settings To Selects the folder
Focus is enabled for the Edit window, press where Clip Effects settings files are saved. If you
Command+1–5 (Mac) or Control+1–5 select Session Folder, the settings are saved in a
(Windows). folder called Channel Strip in the Plug-in Settings
folder in the current session folder. If you select
Clip Effects Settings Menu Root Settings Folder, the settings are saved in the
Documentation and Settings folder specified in the
Clip effects settings are saved and recalled just like
Operation preferences.
Plug-in settings. The Clip Effects Settings menu
commands include:

<factory default> Restores the default settings for

clip effects.

Save Settings Saves the current settings. This

command overwrites any previous version of the
preset.

Press Command+Option+Control+S (Mac)

or Control+Alt+Start+S (Windows) to save
the current Clip Effects settings.

Chapter 43: Clip Gain and Clip Effects 963

964 Pro Tools Reference Guide
Chapter 44: Elastic Audio

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

Chapter 44: Elastic Audio 965

 Film Scoring Create and configure a new session or project:

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.

966 Pro Tools Reference Guide

5 Click the Audio Files Conform to Session 2 Drag and drop the loop from the browser to the
Tempo button so that it highlights. Tracks List in the session’s Edit window.
6 Click the Preview button again and the file pre- If All Files is selected as the Drag and Drop
views at the session tempo. From Desktop Conforms to Session Tempo
7 Notice that if the loop was sample-based to be- option in the Processing Preferences page,
gin with, once it is analyzed the file’s Duration you can also drag and drop audio files from
is now measured in Bars and Beats instead of the Desktop and they are imported as tick-
Minutes and Seconds, the Sample-based icon is based Elastic Audio.
replaced by the Tick-based icon, and the de-
3 One of the following occurs:
tected tempo of the file is displayed in the
Tempo column. • If there are no tracks in the session and the file is
tick-based, you are prompted to either import the
Sample-based Tick-based
file icon file icon Detected tempo from the file or use the session tempo. To
tempo
Duration keep the session tempo and have the loop con-
form to the session tempo, click Don’t Import.
• If there are tracks in the session, the file is im-
ported and automatically conformed to the ses-
sion tempo.
4 A new tick-based audio track is created with the
Default Elastic Audio plug-in enabled.
5 Since you chose to not import the file’s original
tempo, you will notice that the loop conforms to
the tempo map and Bar|Beat grid of the session.
Elastic Audio controls and indicators in the Workspace
A Warp indicator appears in both the clip in the
8 Repeat the preceding steps to preview other track and in the Clips List.
loops at the session tempo.
Also in the Clips List, notice that there are two
Import the loop at the session tempo: clips. One is the sample-based whole file clip (the
imported source file) and the other is the tick-based
1 Make sure that the Audio Files Conform to Ses-
Elastic Audio–processed copy.
sion Tempo button is still highlighted. This en-
sures that the file will be imported as a tick- You can also conform clips on Elastic
based, Elastic Audio clip and can be conformed Audio-enabled tracks to the session tempo
to the session tempo. using the Conform to Tempo command (see
“Conform to Tempo” on page 849).

Chapter 44: Elastic Audio 967

 New tick-based,
Elastic Audio–enabled
track

Dragging and dropping a tick-based audio file from a Workspace browser to the Tracks List

Warp indicators

Tick-based Elastic Sample-based

Audio–processed clip whole-file clip

Imported tick-based audio file with Elastic Audio processing

968 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Change the session tempo to change the tempo of Quantize audio to apply a Groove Template:
the clip:
1 Select the clip on the tick-based, Real-Time
1 Change the tempo from the default 120 BPM to Elastic Audio-enabled track.
110 BPM (see “Tempo” on page 844).
2 Choose Event > Event Operations > Quantize.
3 In the What to Quantize section, make sure
Elastic Audio Events option is selected.

4 From the Quantize Grid pop-up menu, select a

Groove Template.
5 Set any other options.
6 Click Apply.
7 In the following figure, notice that the audio has
Changing the default tempo
been quantized according to the selected
2 Notice that since the clip is on a tick-based, Groove Template. In Warp view, you can see
Real-Time Elastic Audio-enabled track it auto- that Warp markers have been added at every
matically conforms to the new tempo. Event marker near the Quantize Grid and were
used to apply quantization to those events.

Quantized audio events (Warp markers) in Warp view

Chapter 44: Elastic Audio 969

 Transpose the audio clip down a whole-tone:
With Pro Tools Ultimate, Elastic Audio is
1 Select the clip on the Elastic Audio-enabled
disallowed on voiced tracks. Use dynamic
track.
voice allocation for tracks on which you want
2 Choose Event > Event Operations > Transpose. to use Elastic Audio. (Pro Tools only sup-
ports dynamic voice allocation, and cannot
3 Select the Transpose By option.
specifically allocate individual voices.)
4 Enter “–2” semitones.
Enabling Elastic Audio Tracks
5 Click Apply.
To enable Elastic Audio on a track:

1 Create a new audio track or choose an existing

Elastic Audio Tracks audio track.
Any audio track in your Pro Tools session can be 2 Click the track’s Elastic Audio Plug-In selector,
Elastic Audio enabled. Elastic Audio tracks can be and select the Elastic Audio plug-in appropriate
either sample- or tick-based. Sample-based Elastic to your track material and the results you want
Audio-enabled tracks let you apply real-time or from the pop-up menu: Polyphonic, Rhythmic,
rendered Elastic Audio processing by editing in Monophonic, Varispeed, or X-Form (see “Elas-
Warp view, applying Quantize, and using the TCE tic Audio Plug-Ins” on page 975).
Trim tool. However, only tick-based Elastic Audio
tracks also automatically apply Elastic Audio pro-
cessing based on tempo changes in the session.

To have all new tracks be tick-based, enable

the New Tracks Default To Tick Timebase op-
tion in the Editing preferences.

When creating new tracks by dragging and

dropping audio from a Workspace browser, if
the Audio Files Conform to Session Tempo
option is enabled, Pro Tools creates tick-
Elastic Audio Plug-In pop-up menu
based Elastic Audio-enabled tracks regard-
less of whether the Elastic Audio analyzed file Any audio clips on the track temporarily go offline
is tick-based or sample-based. If the Audio while they are analyzed and come back online
Files Conform to Session Tempo option is not when the analysis is finished. The waveform for
enabled, Pro Tools creates regular sample- audio clips that are offline for Elastic Audio anal-
based tracks. ysis appears grayed out.

When recording to a real-time Elastic Audio-en-

abled track, once recording is stopped, the newly
recorded audio temporarily goes offline while it is
analyzed and comes back online as soon as the
analysis is finished.

970 Pro Tools Reference Guide

3 From the track’s Elastic Audio Plug-In pop-up
menu, select Real-Time Processing or Ren- Disabling Elastic Audio
dered Processing for Real-Time or Rendered Tracks
Elastic Audio processing.
To disable Elastic Audio on a track:
Elastic Audio processing can be Real-Time 1 From the track’s Elastic Audio Plug-In selector,
or Rendered. Real-Time Elastic Audio pro- select None – Disable Elastic Audio.
cessing is immediate, but it is more demand-
2 If the track had any Elastic Audio-based pro-
ing of system resources. Rendered Elastic Au-
cessing, you are prompted to Cancel, Revert, or
dio processing is non-real-time, but is less
Commit.
demanding of system resources. If you are
working on a system with limited resources, Cancel Leaves Elastic Audio enabled on the track.
use Rendered Elastic Audio processing. For
more information, see “Real-Time and Ren- Revert Removes any Elastic Audio processing, re-
dered Elastic Audio Processing” on verts clips on the track to their original duration,
page 974. and disables Elastic Audio on the track.

Commit Renders and commits any Elastic Audio

Creating New Tracks with processing on the track, writes new files to disk,
Elastic Audio Enabled and disables Elastic Audio on the track.
New tracks are created with Elastic Audio auto-
matically enabled in the following cases: Committed Clips
• When the Enable Elastic Audio On New Tracks Clips that are committed, either by disabling Elas-
option is enabled in the Processing Preferences tic Audio on a track or by moving a clip to a track
page (see “Elastic Audio Options” on page 413). without Elastic Audio enabled, are written to disk
• When dragging and dropping tick-based, Elastic as new audio files. These new audio files include
Audio analyzed files from Workspace browsers the audio in the clip, plus any fades, and also an ad-
to the Tracks List or empty space in the Edit win- ditional 5 seconds of audio before and after the
dow with the Audio Files Conform to Session clip, if available.
Tempo option enabled (see “Elastic Audio on
Import” on page 406). Disabling Elastic Audio and
• When dragging and dropping REX or ACID Alternate Playlists
files from the Desktop (if either REX and ACID
Disabling Elastic Audio on a track affects all play-
Files Only or the All Files option is enabled for
lists on the track. All playlists on the track are com-
the Drag and Drop from Desktop Conforms to
mitted or reverted depending on which option you
Session Tempo setting in the Processing Prefer-
choose.
ences page) or a Workspace browser (if the Au-
dio Files Conform to Session Tempo button is
enabled) to the Tracks List or empty space in the
Edit window (see “Importing ACID and REX
Files” on page 410).

Chapter 44: Elastic Audio 971

 Elastic Audio Track Controls Elastic Audio Track Views
Audio tracks provide controls for enabling Elastic There are two special Track Views for Elastic Au-
Audio, selecting the Elastic Audio plug-in, and se- dio-enabled tracks: Warp and Analysis.
lecting whether Real-Time or Rendered Elastic
Audio processing.

Elastic Audio Real-Time or

Plug-In selector Rendered
Processing
indicator
Elastic Audio
Plug-In button Track View pop-up menu

Elastic Audio Track controls

Warp View
Elastic Audio Plug-In Selector Selects the Elastic
Warp view lets you manually “time warp” (Elastic
Audio plug-in for Elastic Audio processing (see
Audio process) audio. In Warp view you can create
“Elastic Audio Plug-Ins” on page 975). You can
and edit Warp markers. If you are using Elastic
also use the Elastic Audio Plug-In selector to dis-
Audio to correct the timing of a performance, or to
able Elastic Audio processing, and to select either
achieve special effects, work in Warp view (see
Real-Time or Rendered processing (see “Real-
“Editing in Warp View” on page 979).
Time and Rendered Elastic Audio Processing” on
page 974).
Analysis View
Elastic Audio Plug-In Button Displays the name
of the selected Elastic Audio plug-in. Click the Analysis view lets you edit detected Event mark-
Elastic Audio Plug-In button to open the Elastic ers. In most cases you will not need to use Analysis
Audio Plug-In window (see “Elastic Audio Plug- view. However, with material that does not have
Ins” on page 975). clear transients, you may want to work in Analysis
view to add or relocate Event markers, or to delete
Real-Time or Rendered Processing erroneous Event markers. For example, when us-
Indicator Lights when Elastic Audio processing is ing Elastic Audio to correct the timing of a perfor-
real-time and dims when Elastic Audio processing mance, you may need to add, move, or remove
is rendered (see “Real-Time and Rendered Elastic Event markers in Analysis view to achieve the
Audio Processing” on page 974). highest quality Elastic Audio processing (see “Ed-
iting in Analysis View” on page 986).

972 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Analyzed files in which no tempo was detected are
Elastic Audio Analysis treated as sample-based files. If there is only a sin-
When recording, pasting, moving, or importing gle transient in the file (such as with a single snare
un-analyzed audio to an Elastic Audio-enabled hit), no tempo will be detected. Also, longer files
track, or when enabling Elastic Audio on an exist- that contain tempo changes or rubato, or that do not
ing audio track, Pro Tools automatically analyzes contain regular periodic rhythmic patterns will
the audio for transient events. In Waveform view, probably not have a detected tempo and will be
the waveform initially appears grayed out because treated as sample-based files.
clips go offline during Elastic Audio analysis.
Once the analysis is complete, the audio comes Event Confidence
back online. Elastic Audio analysis is file-based,
Transient events are detected with a certain degree
which means that even if you are only working
of confidence. The level of confidence is based on
with a small clip of a large file, the entire audio file
the relative clarity of transients.
is analyzed.
For example, a drum loop is likely to have clear,
Elastic Audio analysis detects transient events in
sharp transients. These will be detected with a high
the audio file. These transient events are indicated
degree of confidence. However, a legato violin
by Event markers. Event markers are displayed in
melody may not have clear, sharp transients, so
both the Warp and Analysis track views. Elastic
transients will be detected with a lower degree of
Audio analysis also calculates the native tempo of
confidence.
the analyzed audio file and its duration in bars and
beats. Note that peak amplitude is not the most im-
Elastic Audio analysis data (detected events, portant measure for event confidence. The
tempo, and duration in Bars|Beats) is stored with clarity of transients is measured in part by the
the file. In Workspace browsers, analyzed audio spectral transition from one moment to the
files are indicated by a check mark to the left of the next. This tends to favor higher frequency
file name, and these files display their duration in content in terms of event confidence. For ex-
Bars|Beats, their timebase as ticks, and their native ample, changing the Event Sensitivity in the
tempo in BPM. Elastic Properties window for a selected
drum loop results in the clearer transients of
the higher frequency hi-hat hits having more
Tempo Detection event confidence than the less well defined
Elastic Audio analysis does its best to detect a reg- transients of the lower frequency kick drum
ular tempo for all analyzed audio. Any audio con- hits even though kick drum hits have a higher
taining regular periodic rhythm can be success- peak amplitude.
fully analyzed for tempo and duration in bars and
Pro Tools is very aggressive with its transient de-
beats. Analyzed files in which a tempo was de-
tection in order to detect every possible audio
tected are treated as tick-based files. Tick-based
event. Consequently, it is possible to have errone-
files can be conformed to the session tempo for
ously detected events. These events will be ana-
preview and import.
lyzed with a low degree of confidence and can be
filtered out by lowering the Event Sensitivity in the

Chapter 44: Elastic Audio 973

 Elastic Properties window (see “Event Sensitivity Elastic Audio processing, when you make a
Property” on page 990). Filtering out any false change to Elastic Audio processing, any affected
transients can result in higher quality Elastic Audio audio clips temporarily go offline, a new “ren-
processing. dered” audio file is generated, and any affected au-
dio clips come back online.
Conversely, for material with few clear transients,
Elastic Audio analysis may not accurately detect In rendered mode, any change you make is
audio events, and those detected may be detected rendered using the original source audio to
with a low level of confidence. You can relocate or avoid generational loss from multiple subse-
add Event markers where necessary in Analysis quent edits.
view (see “Editing in Analysis View” on
page 986). To set an Elastic Audio track to Real-Time or
Rendered:
For example, a slow synth pad may not have clear 1 Click the track’s Elastic Audio Plug-In selector.
transients and detected Event markers may be in-
correctly located or may have not been detected at 2 From the pop-up menu, select an Elastic Audio
all. In Analysis view, you can relocate, remove, plug-in.
and add Event markers as necessary (such as where 3 From the pop-up menu, select one of the
the chord changes). Accurately locating Event following:
markers yields better results when applying Elastic
• Real-Time Processing
Audio processing.
• Rendered Processing
When processing non-rhythmic audio (such
as legato strings) with the Polyphonic plug- Select Real-Time processing for tick-based
in, reducing the number of Event markers of- Elastic Audio processing (such as tempo
ten yields better sounding results. You can ei- changes). Rendered audio processing can be
ther manually remove Event markers in Anal- useful for sample-based Elastic Audio
ysis view (see “Editing in Analysis View” on processing or if you need to save system
page 986) or lower the Event Sensitivity set- resources.
ting in the Elastic Properties window for the
clip you want to process (see “Elastic Prop-
erties Window” on page 988).

Real-Time and Rendered

Elastic Audio Processing
Real-Time Elastic Audio processing means that
any changes to Elastic Audio processing—whether
it be a tempo change or a manual TCE warp, or Elastic Audio Plug-In selector and pop-up menu
pitch shifting—take effect immediately. However,
Real-Time Elastic Audio processing can be very
demanding on your system’s resources. Conse-
quently, you may want to use Rendered Elastic
Audio processing in some cases. With Rendered
974 Pro Tools Reference Guide
 To toggle between Real-Time and Rendered Elastic Audio Plug-Ins
Elastic Audio processing, Command-Control-
Pro Tools provides several algorithms for real-
click (Mac) or Control-Start-click (Windows)
time and rendered track-based Elastic Audio pro-
the Elastic Audio Plug-In button.
cessing. The selected Elastic Audio plug-in deter-
mines how the audio is processed. Each plug-in
About Rendered Files uses different algorithms for Elastic Audio pro-
Pro Tools creates temporary files for Rendered cessing. Different algorithms are better suited to
Elastic Audio processing. These files are kept in an different types of audio. Select the plug-in whose
auto-created Rendered Files folder in the session algorithm is appropriate to the material on the
folder. Once you commit Rendered Elastic Audio track you want to process.
processing to a track, a new file is written to disk in
Elastic Audio plug-ins have their own selector that
the Audio Files folder, and the temporary rendered
is only available in the Edit window. You cannot
file from which it was created is deleted from the
insert Elastic Audio plug-ins on track inserts.
Rendered Files folder.
Elastic Audio plug-ins provide few to no adjust-
Clipping Indicator able parameters. The adjustable controls, if any,
(Rendered Processing Only) are available in the Elastic Audio Plug-In window.
Elastic Audio plug-in parameters cannot be auto-
Since Rendered Elastic Audio processing is not mated.
real-time, it does not report clipping due to Elastic
Audio processing in the Elastic Audio plug-in win- To open an Elastic Audio Plug-In window:
dow. Instead, when clipping occurs due to Ren-
 Click the Elastic Audio Plug-In button.
dered Elastic Audio processing, the clip displays
an Elastic Audio Processing Clipping indicator
just to the left of the Warp indicator.

To avoid clipping on playback, lower the Input

Gain for the clip in the Elastic Properties window
(see “Elastic Properties Window” on page 988).
Elastic Audio plug-in button

Elastic Audio Plug-In Window

Controls
The Elastic Audio Plug-In window provides a set
Elastic Audio Warp of controls in the window header that are common
Clipping indicators indicators
to all Elastic Audio plug-ins.
Elastic Audio Clipping indicator

Chapter 44: Elastic Audio 975

 Plug-Ins Settings Select Button Accesses the
Plug-In selector Librarian menu Plug-In Settings dialog, which lists the presets for
Target
Track selector Settings menu button the current plug-in. From this list, you can select a
new preset, or audition a series of presets.

Compare Toggles between the original saved

plug-in settings and any changes you have made to
it so you can compare them.

Target Button When multiple Elastic Audio Plug-

In windows are open, clicking this button selects
that plug-in as the target for any computer key-
board commands. Deselecting the Target button
Compare button lets you open another targeted Elastic Audio Plug-
Plug-In Settings Select button
Next Setting button
In window.
Previous Setting button

Elastic Audio plug-in controls Polyphonic Plug-In

Track Selector Lets you access any other audio The Polyphonic plug-in is a general, all-purpose
track in the session. algorithm that is effective with a wide range of ma-
terial. For complex loops and multi-instrument
Plug-In Selector Lets you select any Elastic Audio
mixes, use the Polyphonic plug-in. The Poly-
plug-in or disable Elastic Audio. phonic plug-in supports clip-based pitch shifting.
Plug-In Settings Menu Lets you copy, paste, save,
The Polyphonic plug-in is the default plug-in
and import plug-in presets.
for previewing and importing from Work-
Plug-In Librarian Menu Recalls Elastic Audio space browsers or the Clips List.
plug-in settings files (presets) saved in the plug-
in’s root settings folder or in the current session’s
Settings folder.

Next (+) and Previous (–) Setting Buttons Lets

you select the next or previous preset from the
Plug-In Librarian menu.

You will lose the current plug-in settings if

they are not saved before you use the Next Elastic Audio plug-in: Polyphonic
and Previous Setting buttons. Save your
Follow
plug-in settings as presets using the Plug-In
Settings menu. Selecting the Follow option enables an envelope
follower that simulates the original acoustics of the
audio being stretched. Click the Follow button to
enable or disable envelope following.

976 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Window Decay Rate

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

Elastic Audio pitch shifting is not supported

with the Monophonic algorithm.

Elastic Audio plug-in: Rhythmic

Chapter 44: Elastic Audio 977

 design, and audio loop applications. Use it to ma-
The Monophonic plug-in analyzes pitch as nipulate audio loops for tempo matching or to
well as peak transients in order to provide change vocal tracks for formant correct pitch shift-
higher quality TCE to pitched material. Con- ing.
sequently, analysis for the Monophonic algo-
rithm takes longer than for the Polyphonic,
Rhythmic, and Varispeed algorithms. Also,
when switching from another Elastic Audio
plug-in to Monophonic, Pro Tools reana-
lyzes any audio on the track to collect the ex-
tra analysis data.

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

For audio material with clear formants, enable For-

mant to preserve the formant shape of audio when
applying TCE processing.
Elastic Audio plug-in: Varispeed
Audio with a fundamental pitch has an over-
tone series, or set of higher harmonics. The
Try using Varispeed with Quantize on drum
strength of these higher harmonics creates a
loops for some interesting effects.
formant shape, which is apparent if viewed
using a spectrum analyzer. The overtone se-
X-Form Plug-In ries, or harmonics, have the same spacing re-
(Rendered Only)
lated to the pitch and have the same general
The X-Form Elastic Audio plug-in is a modified shape regardless of what the fundamental
version of the standalone X-Form AudioSuite pro- pitch is. It is this formant shape that gives the
cessing plug-in (based on the Radius® algorithm audio its overall characteristic sound or tim-
from iZotope). The X-Form Elastic Audio plug-in bre. When pitch shifting audio, the formant
is for Rendered Elastic Audio processing only and shape is shifted with the rest of the material,
cannot process in real-time or as an AudioSuite which can result in an unnatural sound.
plug-in. It provides the highest quality time com- Keeping this shape constant is critical to for-
pression algorithms for music production, sound mant correct pitch shifting and achieving a
natural sounding result.

978 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Event Markers
Editing in Warp View
Event markers indicate detected (or manually cre-
In Warp view, you can manually “time warp” ated) audio events. Event markers are only dis-
(TCE) audio to correct or adjust the timing of a played in Warp view and Analysis view. In Warp
performance, or create special effects. In Warp view, Event markers appear as gray vertical lines
view, you can add, move, and delete Warp mark- that do not fully extend to the top and bottom of the
ers. Warp markers are used to fix a specific point in track. With the Grabber tool in Warp view, you can
the audio (typically a detected transient event) to a drag Event markers to apply various kinds of warp-
specific point in the Timeline. In this way, you can ing depending on whether or not Warp markers are
apply detailed and nuanced “warping” (TCE) of present in the clip as well. In Warp view, you can-
audio events. not add, relocate, or delete Event markers. Use
Analysis view to edit Event markers (see “Editing
Warp view is only available for Elastic
in Analysis View” on page 986).
Audio-enabled tracks.

To display Warp view:

The display of Event markers is dependent on
Horizontal Zoom. If you are zoomed out too
1 Click the Elastic Audio-enabled track’s Track far, Event markers are not displayed.
View selector. To see Event markers, zoom in.
2 Select Warp from the Track View pop-up menu.
Warp Markers
Elastic Audio Markers in Warp Warp markers anchor the audio to a specific point
View in the Timeline. Warp markers are only displayed
Three types of markers are visible in Warp view: in Warp view. In Warp view, a Warp marker ap-
Event markers, Warp markers, and Tempo pears as a thick black vertical line with a triangle at
Event–generated Warp markers. Use Event mark- its base.
ers and Warp markers as control points for apply- To better understand how Warp markers work,
ing Elastic Audio processing. think of the audio clip as a rubber band, the Time-
line as a ruler, and Warp markers as pins. Warp
markers can be used to pin a specific point of the
rubber band (the audio) to a specific point on the
ruler (the Timeline). If you pin down one point of
the rubber band to one point on the ruler, use a sec-
ond pin to pin down another point of the rubber
band to another point on the ruler, and then place a
third pin equally between them on the rubber band,
but fix it to a point on the ruler closer to the second
pin, the rubber band will be stretched (or ex-
Event marker
Warp marker Tempo Event panded) between the first and middle pins, and re-
Warp markers laxed (or compressed) between the middle pin and
the last pin.
Elastic Audio markers in Warp view

Chapter 44: Elastic Audio 979

 In Warp view, you can add, relocate (without To relocate a Warp marker (without applying
warping), and delete Warp markers. You can also warping):
move a Warp marker to apply Elastic Audio pro-  With the Grabber or the Pencil tool, Control-
cessing (see “Warping Audio” on page 981). drag (Mac) or Start-drag (Windows) a Warp
marker to a new location.
To add a Warp marker:

1 Make sure you are in Warp view, To delete a Warp marker:

2 Do one of the following: 1 Make sure you are in Warp view,

• 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.

980 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Tempo Event-Generated Warp To apply Telescoping Warp to a clip:
Markers 1 Make sure you are in Warp view,
Tempo Event-generated Warp markers are not ed- 2 Do one of the following:
itable and are only displayed to indicate where
• With the Grabber tool, drag any Event marker
Elastic Audio processing has been applied to con-
that is after the last Warp marker in the clip to the
form the audio to Tempo Events. You will only see
left or right to Telescope-Warp the audio that is
Tempo Event-generated Warp markers on tick-
after the Warp marker in or out. If no Warp
based tracks.
marker is present in the clip, one is created auto-
If you change the track timebase from ticks to sam- matically at the clip start. The clip start remains
ples, any Tempo Event-generated Warp markers anchored to its location on the Timeline.
convert to regular, editable Warp markers. • With the Grabber tool, Option-drag (Mac) or
Alt-drag (Windows) any Event marker that is
For more information, see “Tempo Changes
before the first Warp marker in the clip to the left
and Tick-Based Elastic Audio Tracks” on
or right to Telescope-Warp the audio that is be-
page 848.
fore the Warp marker in or out. If no Warp
marker is present in the clip, one is created auto-
matically at the clip end. The clip end remains
Warping Audio
anchored to its location on the Timeline.
In Warp view, you can manually warp audio in
three specific ways: Telescoping Warp, Accordion
Warp, and Range Warp.

Automation does not follow manual warping

of audio clips, including TCE trimming and
quantization of Elastic Audio. However, au-
tomation does follow tempo changes on tick-
based tracks.

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.

Chapter 44: Elastic Audio 981

 Workflow Example Accordion Warp
Beat match a song to the session tempo and Accordion Warp applies Elastic Audio processing
Bar|Beat grid using Telescoping Warp: on both sides of a singe Warp marker in a clip. This
1 Make sure the Main Timebase ruler is set to lets you expand or compress the audio equally on
Bars|Beats. both sides of a fixed point. Accordion warp is use-
ful for audio files where the downbeat occurs in the
2 Set the default tempo and meter. middle of the clip.
3 Select Grid mode.
To apply Accordion Warp to a clip:
4 Import a song, or any other longer audio file 1 In Warp view, add a single Warp marker at the
from a Workspace browser. point in the clip that you want to remain fixed
5 Make sure that Elastic Audio is enabled on the on the Timeline.
track. 2 With the Grabber tool, drag any Event marker
6 Select Warp view. that is before or after the single Warp marker to
the left or the right.
7 Make sure there are no Warp markers present on
the clip. If necessary, delete any existing Warp
markers.
8 With the Pencil tool, add a Warp marker at the
bar 1 downbeat location within the clip.
9 With the Grabber tool, drag the single Warp
marker to the bar in the Timeline where you
want the downbeat of the audio file to start.
10 Drag the Event marker on the downbeat of bar 2
of the clip to Telescope warp the audio such that
the Event marker matches the corresponding
bar number in the Bars|Beats ruler.
11 If the clip’s tempo varies, add a Warp marker to
Before and after warping, applying Accordion Warp to
the next downbeat location at the tempo change a clip around a fixed point
and repeat the preceding steps.

982 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Range Warp Range Warp with an Edit
Selection
Range Warp applies Elastic Audio processing be-
tween two fixed points in a clip. To apply Range Pro Tools lets you apply Range Warp between
Warp, there must be at least two Warp markers bounding Warp markers, but keeps the timing in-
present in the clip. tact between other Warp markers within an Edit se-
lection.
To apply Range Warp within a clip:
To apply Range Warp with an Edit Selection:
1 In Warp view, add a Warp marker at the first
point that you want to fix to the Timeline. 1 In Warp view, add a Warp marker at the first
point that you want to fix to the Timeline.
2 Add another Warp marker to the end point that
you want to fix to the Timeline. 2 Add another Warp marker to the end point that
you want to fix to the Timeline.
3 With the Grabber tool, drag an Event marker be-
tween the two Warp markers to the left or right. 3 Add any number of Warp markers in between.
A Warp marker is added on top of the Event
4 With the Selector tool, make an Edit selection
marker and the audio is compressed or ex-
that includes the Warp markers in between the
panded on either side of the dragged marker
bounding Warp markers.
while the audio outside the bounding markers
remains unaffected. 5 With the Grabber tool, drag any of the Warp
markers within the Edit Selection to the left or
the right.

Before and after warping, applying Range Warp

between two Warp markers in a clip
Before and after warping, applying Range Warp to a
selection between bounding Warp markers

Chapter 44: Elastic Audio 983

 Elastic Audio processing is only applied to the au- Warped Clips
dio between the bounding Warp markers and the
Clips that have been warped either manually or au-
first and last Warp markers in the Edit Selection.
tomatically by tempo change, quantization, or
All audio between the first and last Warp markers
pitch shifting display a Warp indicator in the upper
in the Edit Selection maintain their relative timing.
right-hand corner of the clip. This indicator is vis-
ible in any track view. Since unwarped clips can
Individual Range Warp reside on Elastic Audio-enabled tracks, clips on
Individual Range Warp applies warping to a single Elastic Audio-enabled tracks do not necessarily
audio event in relation to the adjacent audio events. display the Warp indicator. The Warp indicator
only indicates that Elastic Audio processing has
To apply Individual Range Warp: been applied to a clip.
1 In Warp view, with the Grabber tool, Shift-click
a Warp marker or an Event marker. If not al-
ready present, Warp markers are automatically
created on the adjacent Event markers.
2 Drag to the left or right to warp the clicked Warp indicator in a clip in Waveform view
event.
Displaying the Warp Indicator
The Warp indicator for Elastic Audio clips can dis-
played or hidden.

To toggle the display of the Warp indicator in

Elastic Audio clips:

 Select or deselect View > Clip > Processing

State.

Before and after warping, applying Individual Range

Warp

984 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Out of Range Processing Removing Clip Warping
Pro Tools lets you apply extreme amounts of Elas- If you have applied any warping to a clip, you can
tic Audio processing. However, at such extremes, remove warping and revert the clip to its original
it is possible to go out of the selected Elastic Audio duration. This can be useful if you are not satisfied
plug-in’s processing range. When this happens, it with the results and want to revert to the pre-
is possible that not every sample will be processed warped clip. Warp markers are not deleted when
correctly and you may encounter audio drop outs. applying the Remove Warp command, but any
warping is undone.
The valid range for Elastic Audio TCE processing
is 1/4x to 4x for all Elastic Audio plug-ins except To remove clip warping:
X-Form, which supports 1/8x to 8x. TCE less than
1 Select the clip for which you want to remove
or greater than these ranges is effectively “out of
warping.
range.”
2 Do one of the following:
When out of range processing occurs, the section
of the audio clip that is out of range turns red. You • Choose Clip > Remove Warp.
can still apply Elastic Audio processing, but you • With any Edit tool, Right-click the clip and se-
are warned by the color change that the TCE factor lect Remove Warp from the pop-up menu.
is out of the normal range of Elastic Audio pro-
cessing. Remove Warp can only be applied to clips
and cannot be applied to clip groups. To un-
warp clip groups you must first ungroup the
clip, then apply Remove Warp to the underly-
ing clips, and then regroup those clips.

Edit Groups and Warp Editing

Elastic Audio-enabled tracks can be included in
TCE Factor is out of range (in red) Edit Groups. For Elastic Audio-enabled tracks that
are part of an Edit Group, applying Elastic Audio
The TCE Factor in the Elastic Properties processing on one track likewise applies it to all
window supports extreme ranges from other tracks within that Edit Group.
1–9999%. However anything outside of
If corresponding Warp markers are not already
25–400% will be “out-of-range” and will be
present on Elastic Audio-enabled tracks that are
displayed in red.
part of an Edit Group, new Warp markers are cre-
ated on those tracks when you add or move a Warp
marker on any track that is part of the Edit Group.

Chapter 44: Elastic Audio 985

 Adding Event Markers
Editing in Analysis View
To add an Event marker:
In Analysis view, you can add, move, promote,
and delete Event markers. Usually, Pro Tools ac- 1 Make sure you are in Analysis view.
curately detects all the transient events (Event 2 Do one of the following:
markers) in an audio file and you will not need to
work in Analysis view. However, Pro Tools may • With the Pencil tool, click at the location where
not accurately detect every audio event or may er- you want to add an Event marker.
roneously detect audio events with some types of • With the Grabber tool, double-click at the loca-
audio material. This is especially true for audio tion where you want to add an Event marker.
without clear transients, such as legato strings, • With the Grabber tool, Control-click (Mac) or
melismatic vocals, or soft synth pads. Start-click (Windows) at the location where you
Use Analysis view to manually correct the pres- want to add an Event marker.
ence and location of Event markers. The accurate • With any Edit tool, Right-click at the location
identification of audio events yields the best results where you want to add an Event marker and se-
when applying Elastic Audio processing. lect Add Event Marker from the pop-up menu.

To display Analysis view:

1 Click the Elastic Audio-enabled track’s Track
View selector.
2 Select Analysis from the Track View pop-up Adding an Event marker with the Pencil tool
menu.
Moving Event Markers
Analysis view is only available for Elastic
Audio-enabled tracks. To move an Event marker:
1 Make sure you are in Analysis view,
In Analysis view, you can only edit Analysis
2 Do one of the following:
markers using the Edit tools. You cannot use
the Edit tools for any clip editing. Switch to • With the Pencil tool, drag the Event marker to a
Warp or Waveform views for clip-based edit- new location.
ing capabilities with the Edit tools. • With the Grabber tool, drag the Event marker to
a new location.
When manually editing Analysis markers,
Pro Tools writes temporary Elastic Audio
analysis files (.aan) to the session’s
Rendered Files folder. Any unused tempo-
rary analysis files are purged when you close
Moving an Event marker
the session.

986 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Promoting Event Markers Deleting Event Markers
Event markers are detected with relative degrees of To delete an Event marker:
confidence (between 1% and 100%). You can fil-
1 Make sure you are in Analysis view.
ter out extraneous Event markers by adjusting the
Event Sensitivity setting in the Elastic Properties 2 Do one of the following:
window; event markers with the least confidence • With the Pencil tool, Option-click (Mac) or Alt-
are filtered out first. However, some significant click (Windows) the Event marker you want to
events may not be recognized with a high degree of delete.
confidence. In this case, you may want to promote
the Event marker to ensure that it is not filtered out • With the Grabber tool, Option-click (Mac) or
when reducing the Event Sensitivity setting. Pro- Alt-click (Windows) the Event marker you want
moted Event markers, like manually created or to delete.
moved Event markers, have 100% confidence. • With the Selector tool, make an Edit selection
that includes any Event markers you want to de-
To promote an Event marker: lete and press Delete or Backspace on your com-
 In Analysis view, with the Grabber or Pencil puter keyboard.
tool (or with the Smart Tool in the bottom half • With the Selector tool, make an Edit selection
of the track), single-click the Event marker you that includes any Event markers you want to de-
want to promote. lete, Right-click the selection, and choose Re-
move Event Marker from the pop-up menu.
Promoted Event markers look the same as
detected Event Markers. To see all Event
markers that have 100% confidence, reduce
the Event Sensitivity setting in the Elastic
Properties window (see “Event Sensitivity
Property” on page 990). Deleting an Event marker with the Pencil tool

Edit Groups and Event Editing

Elastic Audio-enabled tracks can be included in
Edit Groups. For Elastic Audio-enabled tracks that
are part of an Edit Group, editing Event markers on
one track likewise applies to all other tracks within
that Edit Group.

Chapter 44: Elastic Audio 987

 Elastic Properties Elastic Properties Window
Each clip on an Elastic Audio-enabled track has The Elastic Properties window displays informa-
specific Elastic Audio properties (such as tempo, tion about Elastic Audio processing and analysis
meter, TCE factor, Input Gain, and Pitch Shift). for one or more clips. You can also use the Elastic
Properties window to adjust Elastic Audio pro-
The Elastic Properties window lets you view and cessing and analysis data.
change the properties for selected clips. For exam-
ple, you can reduce the Input Gain for Elastic Au- There are different Elastic Properties available in
dio processing to avoid clipping that can occur the Elastic Properties window, depending on
during processing. whether the track is tick-based or sample-based. If
the track is sample-based, a reduced set of Elastic
From the Elastic Properties window, you can also Audio Properties are displayed.
filter Event markers for Elastic Audio clips on
tick-based tracks. Filtering Event markers can re-
sult in better quality Elastic Audio processing of
material with ambiguous transients.

To view the Elastic Properties for a clip:

1 Select a clip on an Elastic Audio-enabled track.

The track can be either sample- or tick-based.
2 Do one of the following:
• Choose Clip > Elastic Properties. Elastic Properties, tick-based
• Right-click the clip and choose Elastic
Properties.

Press Option+5 (Mac) or Alt+5 (Windows)

on the numeric keypad to open the Elastic
Properties window.

Elastic Properties, sample-based

988 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Clip Property Source Tempo Property
(Tick-Based Tracks Only)
The Clip property in the Elastic Properties window
displays the name of the clip and indicates whether The Source Tempo property in the Elastic Proper-
or not the clip is on a tick or sample-based track. If ties window displays the average tempo of the
more than one clip is selected, the number of se- source file, which is calculated based on the de-
lected clips is displayed. If clips on both tick and tected transient events and the length of the file. If
sample-based tracks are selected, only the reduced the tempo of the source file was analyzed incor-
set of properties are displayed. rectly, you can change it.

Source Length Property To change Source Tempo of a clip:

(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.

Chapter 44: Elastic Audio 989

 TCE Factor Property If lowering the Event Sensitivity results in filtering
out important Event markers, you can promote
The TCE Factor property in the Elastic Properties
those Event markers in Analysis view (see “Pro-
window displays the percentage of change applied
moting Event Markers” on page 987).
to the source file. On tick-based tracks, this prop-
erty is display only and cannot be edited. On sam- For REX files, Pro Tools converts the slices
ple-based tracks, you can change the TCE Factor as Events with 100% confidence. Conse-
to apply TCE to the clip. The percentage of the quently, setting the Event Sensitivity from
TCE factor is always calculated in relation to the 99% to 1% does not filter out any events
source file. The TCE Factor value turns red when based on slices. However, if you set the Event
Elastic Audio processes exceeds the valid range Sensitivity to 0%, all markers are filtered out
(see “Out of Range Processing” on page 985). regardless.

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 975).
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.

990 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Pitch Shift Property 4 Adjust the Pitch Shift settings up (“+”) or down
(Polyphonic, Rhythmic, and X-Form Only) (“–”) by an amount in semitones and cents.

The Pitch Shift property in the Elastic Properties

window lets you pitch shift whole clips on Elastic
Audio-enabled tracks using the Polyphonic,
Rhythmic, and X-Form plug-ins. You apply real-
time or rendered pitch shifting in semitones and
cents by +/– 2 octaves.

Elastic Audio Clip-Based

Pitch Shifting Elastic Properties window

(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.

Elastic Audio pitch transposition cannot be

applied to looped clips or clip groups.

To pitch shift a clip:

1 Make sure the clip, or clips, you want to pitch
shift are on Elastic Audio-enabled tracks (using
the Polyphonic, Rhythmic, or X-Form algo-
rithm).
2 With the Grabber or Selector tool, select the au-
dio clip you want to pitch shift. Only clips that
are completely selected will be affected. Event Operations, Transpose
3 Open the Elastic Properties window for the clip.

Chapter 44: Elastic Audio 991

 4 Do one of the following: To remove clip pitch shifting:

• 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.

992 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Moving Elastic Audio Between Tracks
Pro Tools analyzes, conforms, and commits audio in different ways when moving audio clips between
tracks with Elastic Audio enabled and tracks without Elastic Audio enabled. The following table shows the
different results for moving clips between real-time Elastic Audio-enabled tracks, Rendered Elastic Audio-
enabled tracks, and audio tracks without Elastic Audio.
Moving Elastic Audio between tracks
From To Result

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

Rendered Elastic Audio track Commit to track

Audio–enabled track (no Elastic Audio)

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 971.)

Chapter 44: Elastic Audio 993

 Default Input Gain Lets you attenuate the signal
Approximate Waveforms input to Elastic Audio plug-ins by 0 to –6 dB for
With Real-Time Elastic Audio processing, the preview and import. If you experience clipping
drawing of waveforms is only approximate. For due to Elastic Audio processing during preview or
example, if you bus record a Real-Time Elastic after import, you may want to set the Default Input
Audio processed track, you will notice that the Gain to slightly attenuate the audio signal input for
Waveform on the source track does not necessarily Elastic Audio processing. This preference also ap-
exactly match the recorded track. However, be as- plies to any audio imported to an Elastic Audio-en-
sured that what you hear is an accurate rendition of abled track.
the Real-Time Elastic Audio processing even if the If you commit any clips on a track (by disabling
waveform drawing on the source track is only ap- Elastic Audio on the track) that were imported
proximate. with Input Gain, their clip-based In put Gain is re-
set to 0.

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 988).
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.

If the Enable Elastic Audio on New Tracks

option is selected, you may want to also
select the New Tracks Default to Tick Time-
Elastic Audio preferences base option in the Editing Preferences page.
Default Plug-In Lets you select any Real-Time
Elastic Audio plug-in as the default plug-in for
previewing and importing Elastic Audio. The se-
lected default Elastic Audio plug-in is also used
when new tracks are created with Elastic Audio en-
abled. The Elastic Audio Plug-In selector in Work-
space browsers inherits the selected Default Plug-
In setting. Likewise, changing the selected plug-in
in Workspace browsers updates the selected De-
fault Plug-In setting in the Processing Preferences
page.

994 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Chapter 45: Committing, Freezing, and
Bouncing Tracks

What Gets Committed

Commit Tracks
Committing a track always renders the following:
Pro Tools lets you “commit” tracks, where a new
track is created containing the audio rendered from • Clip gain
the output of the source track. This is useful for • Clip effects
freeing up processing power on your system, as • All Inserts (or Commit to Insert)
well as for sharing sessions with other systems that
may not have all of the plug-ins used in the session. • HEAT, if Pre-Insert
• Elastic Audio
You can commit the following track types: audio,
Auxiliary Input, MIDI (only when routed to an In- The following source track data is always copied to
strument plug-in), and Instrument tracks. Commit- the new track when committed:
ting a track is undo-able. • Timebase
To commit one or more tracks: • Elastic Audio Algorithm
1 Select one or more tracks and do one of the fol- • Solo Safe
lowing: • Track Input assignment (unless the channel
• Choose Track > Commit. width changes)
• Right-click a track and choose Commit Tracks. • Track Output assignment
• Press Option+Shift+C (Mac) or Alt+Shift+C. • HEAT settings

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 996). • Pan automation
3 Click OK. • Volume automation

The following source track data can optionally be

copied if selected in the Commit Tracks dialog:
• Sends
• Group assignments

Chapter 45: Committing, Freezing, and Bouncing Tracks 995

 Clip Boundaries Maintained on If the audio signal from a source track remains
Committed Tracks above –144 dBFS after the end of a clip due to
plug-in processing (such as with time base effects
When committing a track, clip boundaries are
like reverb or delay), the rendered clip is extended
maintained with different results depending on the
to include the ongoing audio signal. Once the au-
following criteria:
dio signal drops below –144 dBFS, the rendered
When Commit is set to Selected Tracks, the start clip ends. If the audio signal from the source track
and end of each clip on the track is maintained in continues past the end of one clip and into the be-
the rendered copy. ginning of the next, the rendered track merges the
source clips into a single clip.
When Commit is set to Edit Selection, the start and
end of the edit selection determine the start of the Note that plug-ins with intentionally high noise
first clip and the end of the last clip on the rendered floors, such as amp modeling plug-ins, may extend
copy. All clip boundaries in between are main- rendered clip boundaries.
tained.
Committed Auxiliary Input tracks reference the
When the Consolidate Clips option is selected, the clip boundaries from audio tracks routed to the in-
rendered copy results in a single consolidated clip. put of the Auxiliary Input track and preserve them
whenever possible.

Commit Tracks Dialog

The Commit Tracks dialog provides several op-
tions for how you want selected tracks committed.

Source Track (top) and Committed track (bottom) with

Commit set to Selected Tracks and the Consolidate
Clips option enabled

Commit Tracks dialog

Source Track (top) and Committed track (bottom) with

Commit set to Edit Selection and the Consolidate
Clips option disabled

996 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Commit Copy

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 Sends Select to copy sends from the source track
end of the last clip on the track. If the Consolidate to the committed track.
Clips option is disabled, all clip boundaries are
‘

maintained. Sends cannot be copied if pan automation is

rendered resulting in a different channel
Edit Selection Commits only the current Edit se- width and follow main pan (FMP) is not en-
lection. If the Consolidate Clips option is disabled, abled, or if volume automation is rendered
all clip boundaries within the edit selection are and the send is set to pre-fader (PRE).
maintained.
Group Assignments Select to copy Group Assign-
If there is an Edit selection in the session, ments from the source track to the committed
press Command+Up/Down Arrow (Mac) or track.
Control+Up/Down Arrow (Windows) to
switch between the Commit options. Insert After Last Selected Track

Consolidate Clips Select the Insert After Last Selected Track option
to have new committed tracks placed after the last
Select to consolidate all clips on a track (or all clips selected track. When disabled, each committed
in the edit selection) into a single new complete track is placed immediately following the source
file clip. track.

Render Automation Source Tracks

The Render Automation options determine The Source Tracks options determine what hap-
whether or not Volume and Mute or Pan automa- pens to the source tracks that are committed to new
tion is rendered in committed tracks. tracks.
Volume and Mute Select to render Volume and Hide and Make Inactive Select to hide and make
Mute automation to committed tracks. If this op- the source tracks inactive.
tion is selected, Volume automation is reset to
unity and Mute automation is reset to unmuted for Make Inactive Select to make the source tracks in-
all committed tracks. If it is not enabled, Volume active (without hiding them).
and Mute automation playlists are copied to com-
Delete Select to delete the source tracks.
mitted tracks.
Do Nothing Select to leave the source tracks intact.
Pan Select to render Pan automation to committed
tracks. If this option is selected, Pan automation Press Command+Left/Right Arrow (Mac) or
playlists are reset to the defaults for all committed Control+Left/Right Arrow (Windows) to
tracks. If it is not enabled, Pan automation playlists move through the Source Track options.
are copied to committed tracks.

Chapter 45: Committing, Freezing, and Bouncing Tracks 997

 Offline Committing MIDI
Select to commit selected tracks offline. When this Pro Tools lets you commit MIDI tracks as long as
option is deselected, Pro Tools commits selected the MIDI output assignment is set to an Instrument
tracks in real time. Any source tracks that use plug-in on another track. Commit is unavailable
Hardware Inserts include their processing as well. for MIDI tracks assigned to external MIDI de-
vices.
Commit Up To This Insert
Pro Tools lets you commit a track or Edit selection
up to an individual plug-in insert on a track. For
example, you might want to commit a virtual in-
strument plug-in, but continue to adjust processing
plug-ins, like EQ or dynamics.

To commit a track up to a single insert:

1 Ensure that Inserts view is shown in either the

Edit or Mix window.
2 Right-click on the insert up to which you want
to commit the track and choose Commit Up To Source MIDI Track (middle) assigned to a Virtual
This Insert. Instrument plug-in on the Instrument track (top) and
the Committed track (bottom)

When more than one MIDI track are routed to the

same Instrument plug-in, you can commit one,
some, or all of the MIDI tracks. Only selected
MIDI tracks are committed. For example, if you
have four MIDI tracks routed to a single Instru-
ment plug-in on another track (audio, Auxiliary In-
put, or Instrument), and you select only MIDI
tracks 1–3, the committed track will include only
Commit Up To This Insert
the notes from those tracks while the notes from
MIDI track 4 are excluded. Similarly, if you have a
Press and hold the Option key (Mac) or the complex MIDI arrangement and you only want to
Alt key (Windows) to Commit all tracks up to commit one part of it, select the MIDI track you
the selected insert. want to commit and the rendered audio will only
include the MIDI performance from that track.
3 Configure the resulting Commit Tracks dialog
as desired (see “Commit Tracks Dialog” on
page 996).
4 Click OK.

998 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Committing MIDI Clips by Drag Committing Tracks with Inserts
and Drop that Have Auxiliary Output
Sends
You can commit MIDI clips on Instrument tracks
by dragging and dropping the MIDI clip from the Some plug-ins, such as Pro Multiband Dynamics
source track to an audio track of the same channel and many Virtual Instrument plug-ins, let you as-
width. sign Auxiliary Output Sends (AOS) from the plug-
in to track inputs of other tracks (such as audio or
Auxiliary Input tracks). When committing a track
that has a plug-in that is assigned to Auxiliary Out-
put Sends, you are prompted to also commit any
tracks that are assigned to the plug-in Auxiliary
Outputs. Choose Yes to commit those tracks as
well or No to commit only the source track.

Rendered File Bit Preference

Audio rendered by dragging and dropping a MIDI clip The Rendered File Bit Depth preference on the
from an Instrument Track (top) to an audio (bottom)
Processing Preferences page (Setup > Preferences
> Processing) determines the bit depth of new au-
Committing Tracks with
Multiple Output Assignments dio files created using the Track Commit com-
mand.
If the source track is assigned to multiple output
paths of different channel widths, and Pan automa- Always Use 32-bit
tion is rendered, a new track with committed audio
is created for each channel width. For example, if When this option is selected, new audio files cre-
the output of the source track is assigned to a mono ated using Track Commit are 32-bit files regardless
output path, a stereo output path, and a 5.1 output of the session bit depth. Since the mixer in
path, three separate tracks with separate committed Pro Tools is 32-bit floating point, it is recom-
files are created, each with the corresponding mended that you use the default Always Use 32-bit
channel width. If the track output is assigned to option. This ensures that what you hear on the
multiple output paths of the same channel width, source track is what you get on the committed
only one track and committed file is created. track.

If Pan automation is not rendered, and the source Follow Session Settings
track is assigned to multiple output paths, the track When this option is selected, new audio files cre-
output assignments are copied to a single commit- ated using Track Commit command are the same
ted track. bit depth as the session. If you select the Follow
Session Settings option, it is possible the commit-
ted audio may clip (since you are truncating from
32-bit floating point to 24- or 16-bit). However,
you may want to select this option if you need to
have all audio generated by the session follow a
particular bit-depth.

Chapter 45: Committing, Freezing, and Bouncing Tracks 999

 To freeze (or un-freeze) one or more tracks, do one
Track Freeze of the following:

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.

The ability to unfreeze a track lets you go back and

adjust plug-in settings or edit track material (such
as audio or MIDI data to correct a note or rhythm)
and then re-freeze the track.
Frozen Instrument track, Freeze icon highlighted
Editing is disabled on frozen tracks. To make
edits, unfreeze the track, make the edits you On Auxiliary Input tracks, the waveform of the
want, and then re-freeze the track. For more frozen audio is shown as a visual cue.
information, see “Editing Restrictions on
Frozen Tracks” on page 1002.

Frozen Auxiliary Input track with source audio track

shown—Freeze icon highlighted

1000 Pro Tools Reference Guide

On audio tracks, any plug-ins on the track are made Freezing Audio and Instrument Tracks
inactive and the waveform updates to show the
When freezing audio and Instrument tracks, the
processed, or “frozen” audio.
rendered (“frozen”) audio starts at the beginning of
each clip on the track and ends either at each clip
end point or after the processed audio of the clip
(such as with time-based plug-in processing like
reverb or delay) falls below –144 dBFS for at least
60 seconds. Muted clips are not rendered.

Freezing Auxiliary Input Tracks

When freezing Auxiliary Input tracks, audio is ren-

dered (“frozen”) starting when audio is detected at
the track input. Audio stops rendering when the au-
Frozen audio track, before and after—Freeze icon dio signal drops below –144 dBFS for 60 seconds.
highlighted
Freezing Tracks with Inserts that Have
What Gets Frozen Auxiliary Output Sends
The following track data is rendered when freezing Some plug-ins, such as Pro Multiband Dynamics
a track: and many Virtual Instrument plug-ins, let you as-
• Plug-ins and automation for all plug-ins (except sign Auxiliary Output Stems (AOS) from the
for any plug-ins remaining active when using plug-in to track inputs of other tracks (such as au-
Freeze to Insert) dio or Auxiliary Input tracks). When freezing a
• Clip gain track that has a plug-in that is assigned to Auxiliary
Output Stems, you are prompted to also freeze any
• Clip effects tracks that are assigned to the plug-in Auxiliary
• HEAT (if set to pre-insert) Outputs. Choose Yes to freeze those tracks as well
• Elastic audio or No to freeze only the source track.

The following track controls are maintained and

are not rendered with track freeze:
• Volume
• Volume Trim
• Mute
• Pan
• Send Level
• Send Level trim
• Send Mute
• Plug-in automation for plug-ins that are not fro-
zen (when using Freeze to Insert)

Chapter 45: Committing, Freezing, and Bouncing Tracks 1001

 Freeze Up To This Insert Editing Restrictions on Frozen
Tracks
Pro Tools lets you freeze a track up to an individ-
ual plug-in insert on the track. For example, you Frozen tracks disallow most editing functions. To
might want to freeze a virtual instrument plug-in, edit a frozen track, unfreeze it, make your edits,
but continue to adjust processing plug-ins, like EQ and then re-freeze the track.
or dynamics.
The following editing actions are not allowed on
To freeze a track up to a single insert: frozen tracks:

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.

The following editing actions are allowed on fro-

zen tracks:
• Editing and writing of all basic track automation
Track frozen through inserts A and B parameters including sends.
• Editing and writing of automation on unfrozen
plug-ins as well as addition and removal of
plug-ins on unfrozen inserts (when using the
Freeze Up to This Insert functionality)
• Changing the track output path.

1002 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Global Freeze Tracks 2 Do one of the following:
The Global Freeze Tracks icon lights when one or • Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win-
more tracks in the session are frozen. You can use the dows) the Global Freeze icon.
Global Freeze Tracks icon to freeze (or unfreeze) all • Right-click the Global Freeze icon and choose
audio, Auxiliary Input, and Instrument tracks in the Freeze All or Unfreeze All.
session or project. You can also specify which track
types you want (or don’t want) to freeze. If any of the Include options are unselected,
you can still Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click
Tracks cannot be frozen while hidden or in- (Windows) the Global Freeze icon to freeze
active. (or unfreeze) all tracks of all types. The se-
lected Include options remain selected.

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.

Chapter 45: Committing, Freezing, and Bouncing Tracks 1003

 If there is a timeline selection, the bounce includes Track Bounce Dialog
only the selection. Otherwise, the bounce starts at
The Track Bounce dialog provides the same op-
the beginning of the session or project and ends
tions as the Bounce dialog (see “Bounce Options”
with the last sample of audio on the track.
on page 1190), but with the additional option to
If the source track is assigned to multiple output render (or not render) track volume and pan auto-
paths of different channel widths, and Pan automa- mation.
tion is rendered, a new file is created for each chan-
nel width. For example, if the output of the source
track is assigned to a mono output path, a stereo
output path, and a 5.1 output path, three separate
files are created, each with the corresponding
channel width. If the track output is assigned to
multiple output paths of the same channel width,
only one file is created. If Pan automation is not
rendered, only one new file is created and it will
have the channel width of the Format selected in
the Track Bounce dialog.

Track Bounce dialog

Render Automation

The Render Automation options determine

whether or not Volume or Pan automation is ren-
dered for bounced tracks.

Volume Select to render Volume automation from

bounced tracks.

Pan Select to render Pan automation from bounced

tracks.

1004 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Chapter 46: Event Operations

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-

Event Operations Window

tively using MIDI Real-Time Properties. See
“MIDI Real-Time Properties” on page 780.
The Event Operations window provides com-
To open a specific Event Operations window page:
mands to transform groups of MIDI notes to affect
pitch, timing, and phrasing. The Quantize and Re-  Choose Event > Event Operations, followed by
store Performance Event Operations can also be one of the Event Operations (such as Quantize).
applied to audio clip start times (or sync points)
and Elastic Audio events. The Transpose Event
Operation can also be applied to whole clips on
Elastic Audio-enabled tracks.

The Event Operations window has nine pages, one

for each Event Operations command.
• Quantize
• Restore Performance
• Flatten Performance
• Change Velocity
• Change Duration
• Transpose
• Select/Split Notes
• Input Quantize
• Step Input
Event Operations window (Quantize page shown)

Chapter 46: Event Operations 1005

 To open the last active Event Operations window Using the Event Operations
page: Window
 Choose Event > Event Operations > Event Op- Use the following methods to configure options in
erations. the Event Operations window:
To open the Event Operations window, press  To move forward and back through the various
Option+3 (Mac) or Alt+3 (Windows). fields, press Tab or Shift+Tab.
 Increment or decrement selected fields with the
If the Event Operations window is already Up and Down Arrow keys. Hold these keys to
open, you can select any of the pages from the scroll quickly through the values.
pop-up menu at the top of the window.
 Drag up or down in a selected field to scroll to a
To apply an Event Operations command, do one of new value.
the following:
 Press Command (Mac) or Control (Windows)
 Click Apply or press Enter on the numeric key- while adjusting sliders for finer resolution.
pad. This applies the command and leaves the
window in the foreground.  For selected pitch and velocity fields, play a
note on your MIDI controller keyboard to automat-
 Press Return (Mac) or Enter on the alphanu- ically enter it.
meric keyboard (Windows). This applies the
command and closes the window.  Changing a value for a particular control (such
as the Swing Percentage in the Quantize window),
When using the Event Operations window automatically enables the control.
and MIDI Real-Time Properties at the same
time, Event Operations are applied to the ac-
tual MIDI data. MIDI Real-Time Quantize Command
Properties are applied on top of the actual
MIDI data. The Quantize command in the Event Operations
window can be applied to MIDI notes, audio clips,
To undo a command in the Event Operations and Elastic Audio events. For MIDI, quantization
window: adjusts MIDI note locations and durations so that
 Choose Edit > Undo. timing is improved, or so that a particular rhythmic
“feel” is achieved. For audio clips, quantization
adjusts the start times (or sync points) of audio
clips. For Elastic Audio, quantization adjusts to the
location of detected transient events and applies
Elastic Audio processing accordingly.

1006 Pro Tools Reference Guide

The Quantize Event Operations window lets you To open the Quantize window:
apply Grid Quantize based on rhythmic values  Choose Event > Event Operations > Quantize.
(such as a 16th note) or using Groove Quantize
based on Groove Templates. Slightly different op- Press Option+0 (Mac) or Alt+0 (Windows)
tions are provided for Grid Quantize and Groove to open the Quantize window.
Quantize.

The Quantize Event Operation and Quantize to

Grid commands can both be used to quantize clips.
However, each command also has a specific addi-
tional use.

Use the Quantize to Grid command (Clip > Quan-

tize to Grid) to adjust the start points (or sync
points) for selected clips. The Quantize to Grid
command can be applied to both MIDI and audio
clips (see “Quantizing Clips to Grid” on page 663).

The Quantize Event Operation, on the other hand,

can be applied to MIDI notes and Elastic Audio
events individually in addition to audio clip start
times (or sync points). Some notes or events may
be moved back in time, others forward. For MIDI
notes only, some may be shortened, some length-
ened, and some more drastically affected than oth-
ers.
Event Operations window, Quantize
You can also quantize MIDI input, see “Input
To select Grid Quantize:
Quantize Command” on page 1027.
 From the Quantize Grid pop-up menu, select a
note value.
The settings in the Quantize window are
saved with each session. To store your favor- To select Groove Quantize:
ite settings for use in future sessions, save
them as part of a session template (see “Ses-
 From the Quantize Grid pop-up menu, select a
sion Templates” on page 178).
groove template.

Chapter 46: Event Operations 1007

 Grid Quantize
The Quantize window can apply Grid Quantize
when a specific rhythmic value is selected in the
Quantize Grid pop-up menu. When a groove tem-
plate is selected in the Quantize pop-up menu,
Groove Quantize can be applied. For information
on Groove Quantize, see “Groove Quantize” on
page 1012.

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.

1008 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Quantize Grid Additional Grid Quantize
Options
Quantize Grid Pop-Up Menu Determines the beat
boundaries to which MIDI notes, Elastic Audio Additional Grid Quantize options include:
events, and audio clip start points are aligned. Any
Swing When selected, every other Grid boundary
size from whole notes (1/1) to sixty-fourth notes
is shifted by the specified percentage value
(1/64), including dotted and triplet values, can be
(0–300) to achieve a “swing” feel. A Swing value
selected for the Grid size.
of 0% yields no swing, while 100% yields a triplet
Relative Grid mode does not affect the feel. Settings above 100% progressively narrow
Quantize Grid. the swing until the maximum of 300%, at which
every other Grid boundary is moved to the next
Tuplet Select the Tuplet option to quantize accord- Grid point.
ing to irregular note groupings, such as quintuplets
(5 in the time of 4). The Quantize Grid for tuplets 0% Swing Every other Grid
point shifted by swing
(480 ticks)
is calculated from the note size selection and the
Tuplet value. For example, if an sixteenth note
equals 240 ticks, quintuplet sixteenth notes with 5
in time of 4 would yield a Grid size of 192 ticks or
(240 ticks/5)*4.
100% Swing
Offset Grid By Offsets the Quantize Grid forward (640 ticks)
or back in time by a specified number of ticks. Use
100% Swing, eighth note Grid
this option to achieve a pushed feel (by using neg-
ative values) or a laid back feel (by using positive Include Within When selected, MIDI Note Ons
values). and MIDI Note Offs, Elastic Audio events, and au-
dio clips are only quantized if located within the
To Quantize just the backbeats, set the Quan- specified percentage of the Quantize Grid. Use this
tize Grid to half-notes with an Offset of 960 option to clean up downbeats without affecting
ticks. notes that are “swung” or wildly off the beat.
Randomize When selected, MIDI notes, Elastic The following figure shows the Quantize Grid set
Audio events, and audio clips are moved randomly to quarter notes with the Include Within option set
forward or back in time (after the Quantize oc- to 50%. In this example, only the MIDI Note Ons
curs). For example, with the Quantize Grid set to and MIDI Note Offs falling within the shaded area
eighth notes and Randomize set to 50%, notes and (equivalent to an eighth note area around each
events are placed up to a 32nd note before or after beat) are quantized.
the beat boundary. The Randomize setting also af-
fects note durations (if Releases is selected).

Include Within option

Chapter 46: Event Operations 1009

 Exclude Within When selected, MIDI Note Ons Straight Quantize
and MIDI Note Offs, Elastic Audio events, and au-
dio clips are not quantized if located within the To quantize to a straight sixteenth note feel:
specified percentage of the Quantize Grid. Use this 1 Select the range of MIDI notes, Elastic Audio
option to preserve the feel of events close to the events, or audio clips to be quantized.
beat, while correcting others that are drastically
away from the beat. 2 Choose Event > Event Operations > Quantize.
3 Under What to Quantize, select the Note On op-
The following figure shows the Quantize Grid set
tion for quantizing MIDI notes. To also quantize
to quarter notes with the Exclude Within option set
MIDI note durations, select the Note Off
to 25%. In this example, MIDI Note Ons and MIDI
option. If you are quantizing audio, select Audio
Note Offs falling within the shaded area (equiva-
Clips or Elastic Audio Events from the pop-up
lent to a sixteenth note area around each beat) are
menu.
not quantized.
4 From the Quantize Grid pop-up menu, select
sixteenth notes (1/16). Make sure that the other
options for Tuplet, Offset Grid By, and Swing
are not selected.
5 Ensure that the remaining Quantize options are
deselected.
Exclude Within option
6 Click Apply.
Strength When selected, MIDI notes, Elastic Au-
dio events, and audio clips are moved a percentage
toward the Quantize Grid. Lower percentages pre-
Quantizing While Preserving the
Original Feel
serve the original feel of the events, higher per-
centages align the notes more tightly to the Grid. You can quantize less strictly, to preserve the orig-
inal feel of your recorded MIDI and audio tracks.

Grid Quantize Examples To quantize while preserving the original feel:

1 Select the range of MIDI notes, Elastic Audio
The following examples illustrate some of the
events, or audio clips to be quantized.
more common uses for Grid Quantize.
2 Choose Event > Event Operations > Quantize.
If you intend to loop playback while quantizing,
you may want to deselect Options > Link Timeline 3 Under What to Quantize, select the Note On op-
and Edit Selection. This ensures that the play range tion for quantizing MIDI notes. To also quantize
does not change when selected events are moved in MIDI note durations, select the Note Off
the course of quantizing and undoing. option. If you are quantizing audio, select Audio
Clips or Elastic Audio Events from the pop-up
After quantizing, you can use Restore Perfor- menu.
mance to revert to the original version (see
4 From the Quantize Grid pop-up menu, select the
“Restore Performance Command” on
note value you want to use.
page 1018.)

1010 Pro Tools Reference Guide

5 Ensure that the other options for Tuplet, Offset 6 Ensure that the options for Tuplet, Offset Grid
Grid By, and Swing are not selected. By, and Randomize are not selected.
6 Select the Exclude Within option with a value of 7 Click Apply.
10–15%.
8 Audition the change. If the desired effect is not
7 Select the Strength option with a value of achieved, undo the edit and experiment with
70–80%. different Swing percentages.
8 Ensure that the remaining Quantize options are
deselected. Quantizing with Randomize
9 Click Apply. If quantized events sound too mechanical or “on
the beat,” use the Randomize option in the Quan-
10 Audition the change. If the desired effect is not tize window to make them sound more natural.
achieved, undo the edit and experiment with
different values for Exclude Within and To “humanize” the rhythmic feel of events:
Strength.
1 Select the range of MIDI notes, Elastic Audio
events, or audio clips to be quantized.
Quantizing with Swing
2 Choose Event > Event Operations > Quantize.
If you are working with MIDI hi-hats or bass lines
or audio equivalents, you may want to apply more 3 Under What to Quantize, select the Note On op-
of a swing feel when quantizing. tion for quantizing MIDI notes. To also quantize
MIDI note durations, select the Note Off
To quantize with an eighth note swing feel: option. If you are quantizing audio, select Audio
Clips or Elastic Audio Events from the pop-up
1 Select the range of MIDI notes, Elastic Audio
menu.
events, or audio clips to be quantized.
4 From the Quantize Grid pop-up menu, select the
2 Choose Event > Event Operations > Quantize.
note value you want to use.
3 Under What to Quantize, select the Note On op-
5 Select the Randomize option and enter a value
tion for quantizing MIDI notes. To also quantize
of 5%.
MIDI note durations, select the Note Off
option. If you are quantizing audio, select Audio 6 Click Apply.
Clips or Elastic Audio Events from the pop-up
7 Audition the change. If the desired effect is not
menu.
achieved, undo the edit and experiment with
4 From the Quantize Grid pop-up menu, select different Randomize percentages.
eighth notes (1/8).
5 Select the Swing option with the Swing percent- Experimenting with Grid
age you want: Quantize
• For a light swing, use 12%. When using the Quantize command, you may have
to experiment with many of the controls to achieve
• For a tighter swing-like groove, use 24%.
the results you want. Try different values for In-
• For a true “triplet-like” swing feel, use 50–75%. clude Within and Exclude Within, and Strength;

Chapter 46: Event Operations 1011

 these controls determine which notes are affected Groove Templates
and how drastically they are changed. Addition-
Groove templates (such as DigiGroove templates)
ally, use the Randomize option, which adds a per-
are “quantization maps” derived from real musical
centage of randomness to the quantization, to
performances. The rhythmic character of each per-
make tracks sound less “mechanical.”
formance is analyzed and stored as a groove tem-
plate. Groove templates can be used to transfer the
feel of a particular performance to MIDI notes
Groove Quantize (Timing, Duration, and Velocity), Elastic Audio
In the Quantize window, you can apply Groove events, and audio clips.
Quantize when a groove template is selected in the
DigiGroove templates can be created using Beat
Quantize Grid pop-up menu. Groove quantize ad-
Detective. Beat Detective analyzes an audio selec-
justs MIDI note locations and durations, Elastic
tion for transient peaks according to a defined
Audio events, and audio clips according to a
threshold and maps the rhythmic relationships to a
groove template rather than a strict quantization
960 parts per quarter note (ppq) template. Beat De-
grid. Groove templates extract the particular rhyth-
tective can also analyze a MIDI selection for Note
mic feel of a recorded audio or MIDI performance
Ons and velocities to generate groove templates.
so that is can be applied to another MIDI sequence
These template can then be used with Groove
or audio selection. DigiGroove templates can be
Quantize, as well as with Beat Detective.
generated using Beat Detective.
For information on Beat Detective and
creating groove templates, see Chapter 33,
“Beat Detective.”

DigiGroove templates are also available from

Avid and third-party manufacturers.

Numerical Sound’s Feel Injector Templates

(960 ppq) are supported in Pro Tools, but
DNA Groove Templates (192 ppq) are not.

Groove Quantize Settings

Quantize Grid Pop-Up Menu Determines which
groove template to use for quantization. All groove
template files in the Grooves folder are available in
the Quantize Grid pop-up menu.

Grooves files are stored in the Grooves folder in

the Root Settings Folder. You can change the loca-
Quantize options with a groove template selected tion of the Root Settings Folder in the Operation
Preferences (see “User Media and Settings Loca-
tion” on page 112).

1012 Pro Tools Reference Guide

If you organize your groove templates in sub-fold- template. Set to 200%, durations increase and de-
ers in the Groove folder, they appear as submenus crease based on the ratio of the original duration of
in the pop-up menu. Once you have selected a the selected notes and the durations in the tem-
groove template, specific information about the plate.
template’s meter and duration (in bars) is dis-
played under the pop-up menu. The default value for the Duration slider is 100%.

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 722).
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.

Chapter 46: Event Operations 1013

 3 Enter or edit any comments you want to save Applying Groove Templates
with the template.
Groove templates can be of any length and can be
4 Do one of the following: applied to any number of bars. Typically, you will
• Click the Save button to save the groove tem- apply groove templates to selections of the same
plate with the current Options Slider Settings. bar length and meter. However, groove templates
can be applied to different meters—for example, a
• Click the Save As button to make a copy of the
groove template in 6/8 can be applied to a selection
groove template with the current Options Slider
in 4/4. Also, it is not necessary to start on the
Settings. In the resulting Save dialog, enter a
downbeat when making a selection to apply a
name for the copy and click Save.
groove template.
Slider settings can be lost if any of the following
To apply Groove Quantize:
operations are performed without saving the set-
tings first: 1 With the Grabber or Selector tool, select the
MIDI notes, Elastic Audio events, or audio clips
• Another Event Operations window is selected.
you want to Groove Quantize.
• The Event Operations window is closed.
2 Choose Event > Event Operations > Quantize.
• You switch to another groove template.
3 Select a groove template from the Grid Quan-
tize pop-up menu.
4 Enable Timing, Duration, and Velocity, and ad-
just their sliders to the percentages you want.
5 If desired, enable Pre-Quantize.
6 Click the Apply button.

A DigiGroove template (derived from the audio shown) applied to a series of sixteenth-notes with Timing and
Velocity both set to 100%

1014 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Mapping Groove Templates Template Mapping for Unequal Meters

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.

For example, if the Groove Template contains

fewer beats than the selection, such as a one-bar
2-bar 2-bar 2-bar 2-bar template in 6/8 being applied to a one-bar selection
groove groove groove groove in 4/4, the template repeats to make up the differ-
template template template template
ence.
2-bar groove template, repeating template grid

Template Mapping for Equal Meters And Odd

Numbered Bars 4/4 1-bar selection
If a two-bar groove template is applied to a selec-
tion of one bar of the same meter, only the first bar
of the template is used. If the selection does not en-
compass bar boundaries, for example 1|2|000 to
6/8 bar 1 6/8 bar 1 repeated
2|1|000, the groove template only modifies the se- (beats 3–6
lected notes. not used)

4/4 1-bar selection Applying a 1-bar groove template in 6/8 to a 1-bar

selection in 4/4
4/4 bar 1 4/4 bar 2 (not used)
If the Groove Template contains more beats than
the selection on a track, such as a one-bar template
Applying 2-bar groove template to a 1-bar selection,
odd numbered bar in 6/4 being applied to a two-bar selection in 4/4,
only uses the appropriate number of beats.
Template Mapping for Equal Meters And Even
Bars

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

Applying a 2-bar groove template to a 1-bar selection,

even numbered bar

Chapter 46: Event Operations 1015

 Behavior for Mixed Meters
Quantizing Elastic Audio
If the selection contains mixed meters, the groove
template will always be mapped so that the down- Pro Tools lets you apply Quantize to Elastic Audio
beats are aligned. For example, if the Groove Tem- events as well as MIDI notes. Quantize can be ap-
plate consists of one-bar of 4/4 and it is being ap- plied to Event and Warp markers closest to the
plied to a selection of one-bar of 4/4 followed by a quantize grid on Elastic Audio-enabled tracks, re-
bar of 7/16 and one-bar of 5/8, the downbeat of the gardless of whether they are sample- or tick-based.
Groove Template is aligned with the downbeats in When quantizing, Event markers closest to the
the selection and only uses the appropriate number quantize grid are promoted to Warp markers and
of beats from the Groove Template. all Warp markers closest to the quantize grid are
quantized based on the Quantize settings.

Quantization can also be applied to clip start times

3-bar selection of changing meters
(or sync points) on all audio tracks, whether they
are Elastic Audio-enabled, or sample- or tick-
based. This lets you quickly quantize audio clips
4/4 bar 1 (not used) without applying TCE, and is especially useful
when working with “one-shot” clips (single-event
clips) such as sliced clips or clip groups.
4/4 bar 1
Use Restore Performance to undo quanti-
zation of audio and MIDI. See “Restore
4/4 bar 1
Performance Command” on page 1018.

To quantize Elastic Audio events:

Applying a 1-bar groove template in 4/4 to a 3-bar
selection in different meters
1 Select the audio you want to quantize on Elastic
Audio-enabled tracks. (Audio not on Elastic
Audio-enabled tracks will not be quantized.)
You can reset the groove template grid by
adding a new meter marker (it can be the 2 Choose Events > Event Operations > Quantize.
same meter). The groove template will
3 In the Quantize window, select Elastic Audio
restart at the meter marker regardless of the
Events from the What to Quantize pop-up
measure number or whether or not the
menu.
meter has actually changed.
4 Set the Quantize Grid and Options settings.
5 Click Apply.

1016 Pro Tools Reference Guide

The Warp and Event markers closest to the Quan- 2 Choose Events > Event Operations > Quantize.
tize Grid are quantized accordingly. TCE is ap-
3 In the Quantize window, select Audio Clips from
plied between these markers and all other markers
the What to Quantize pop-up menu.
maintain their position relative to the Quantize
Grid. 4 Set the Quantize Grid and Options settings.
5 Click Apply.

The clip start times (or sync points if present) are

quantized according to the quantize settings.

Before quantizing Elastic Audio Events in Warp view

After quantizing Elastic Audio Events in Warp view

Quantizing Audio Clips Before and after quantized audio clips

Pro Tools lets you quantize audio clip start times

(or sync points) using the Quantize operation. Au- Quantizing Mixed Selections
dio clip start times (or sync points) are quantized to
the nearest quantize grid value. You can apply Quantize to both MIDI notes and
audio clips, or both MIDI notes and Elastic Audio
To quantize audio clips: events at the same time. However, you cannot ap-
1 Select the audio clips you want to quantize. ply Quantize to both audio clips (non-Elastic Au-
dio) and Elastic Audio events at the same time.
Quantizing clip groups only adjust the
location of the clip group start (or sync
point). To quantize the underlying sliced
clips in a clip group, you must first ungroup,
then quantize, and then regroup. For more in-
formation on clip groups, see “Clip Groups”
on page 919.

Chapter 46: Event Operations 1017

 Velocity Restore the original velocities of the
Restore Performance selected notes. Velocity has no effect on audio.
Command
Pitch Restores the original pitches of the
The Restore Performance command in the Event selected notes and pitch shifted Elastic Audio
Operations window reverts all selected MIDI notes clips.
to their original state (when first recorded or man-
ually inserted), even after the session has been To restore the original time, duration, velocity, or
saved, or the Undo queue has been cleared. Re- pitch for selected MIDI notes, audio clips, or
store Performance can also be applied to quantized Elastic Audio Events:
Elastic Audio Events or quantized audio clips. 1 Select the MIDI notes, audio clips, or Elastic
Audio Events you want to restore.
2 Choose Event > Event Operations > Restore
Performance.

3 Select which performance attributes to restore.

4 Click Apply.

Any changes made through the Quantize, Change

Duration (MIDI only), Change Velocity (MIDI
Event Operations window, Restore Performance page only), or Transpose commands are undone and the
original “performance” is restored. Also, any
The Restore Performance command can be MIDI notes that were recorded with Input Quan-
undone. tize enabled are restored (see “Input Quantize
Command” on page 1027).
The following MIDI note, Elastic Audio Event,
Restore Performance does not undo cut,
and audio clip attributes can be restored:
copied, pasted, or otherwise manually
Timing (Quantization) Restores the original start moved MIDI notes, audio clips, or Elastic
times of the selected notes, audio clips, and Elastic Audio events.
Audio Events. For MIDI only, this changes the du-
rations of selected notes if the Duration option is
Restore Performance does not undo Dura-
not enabled.
tion changes made by trimming the start of a
Duration Restores the original durations of the note. Trimming the start of a note essentially
selected notes. If the Timing (Quantization) changes the note’s timing, and therefore is
option is not enabled, the start times of selected treated by Pro Tools the same as if it were
notes are not restored and the end times are af- manually moved.
fected. Duration has no effect on audio.

1018 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Removing Input Quantize To flatten the performance:

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 mance Command” on page 1018).
page 1027.
4 Click Apply.

Flatten Performance Change Velocity

The Flatten Performance command in the Event The Change Velocity command in the Event Oper-
Operations window “locks in” the current perfor- ations window automatically adjusts Note On (at-
mance for selected notes, creating a new “restore tack) and Note Off (release) velocities for selected
to” state for the specified note attributes when us- MIDI notes. Use it to make notes louder or softer,
ing Restore Performance. or to create crescendos or decrescendos.

Velocities can also be edited manually with the

Pencil and Grabber tools (see “Manually Editing
MIDI Notes” on page 752).

You can also change velocity nondestruc-

tively in real-time using MIDI Real-Time
Properties. See “MIDI Real-Time Proper-
ties” on page 780.

Event Operations window, Flatten Performance page Fading Velocities

To change velocities smoothly over time:
The Flatten Performance command can be
1 Select the range of MIDI notes to be edited.
undone.
2 Choose Event > Event Operations > Change
Velocity.

3 Select the Change Smoothly option with the

range set from 127 to 0.
4 Click Apply.

Chapter 46: Event Operations 1019

 Preserving Existing Velocity 3 Select the Scale By option with the percentage
Relationships value set to 120.
To partially preserve the existing velocity relation- 4 Click Apply.
ships and still achieve velocity fades, use the op-
tion for Change Smoothly by Percentage. The fol- Change Velocity Settings
lowing figures illustrates the difference between
the two Change Smoothly options

Original velocities

Velocities after Change Smoothly by Percentages,

100% to 20%

Event Operations window, Change Velocity page

Velocity values usually affect the loudness of

Velocities after Change Smoothly by Percentages,
100 to 10 MIDI notes. Depending on how velocity is
mapped with any MIDI instrument, velocities
Scaling Velocities may also affect other aspects of an
instrument’s sound (such as filter cutoff,
Many times existing note velocities already have envelopes, and modulations).
the relationship between them that you want, but
are either too soft or too loud overall. In these in-
stances, use the Scale By option. The settings in the Change Velocity window
are saved with each session. To store your fa-
For example, to make velocities 20% louder: vorite settings as the default for use in future
1 Select the range of MIDI notes to be edited. sessions, save them as part of a session tem-
plate (see “Session Templates” on page 178).
2 Choose Event > Event Operations > Change
Velocity.

1020 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Note On Applies the Change Velocity options to Set All To option enabled and set to a value of 64,
the MIDI Note On. and with Randomize enabled and set to a value of
50%, the resulting velocities will be anywhere be-
Note Off Applies the Change Velocity options to
tween 48 and 80 (+/– 25% of the velocity value).
the MIDI Note Off.
To randomize selected velocities without applying
While there are options for adjusting both the
any other Change Velocity options:
Note On (attack) and Note Off (release) ve-
locities for notes, most MIDI devices ignore 1 Enable the Scale By option and set it to 100%.
release velocity information. To see if your 2 Enable Randomize and set the amount of ran-
instrument supports release velocities, see domization you want.
the manufacturer’s documentation.
3 Click Apply.
Set All To Sets all velocities to the specified value
(1–127). Velocity Ranges
Add Adds to existing velocity values by the The valid range for MIDI note velocities is 1–127.
specified amount (1–127). The Change Velocity command will never result in
moving velocities outside this range; 1 is always
Subtract Subtracts from existing velocity values
the lowest and 127 is always the highest. This
by the specified amount (1–127).
means that you can encounter situations where the
Scale By Scales all velocities by a percentage Change Velocity command has no effect on a par-
amount (1–400%). ticular note.

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 780.
ity option has been applied. For example, with the

Chapter 46: Event Operations 1021

 Change Duration Settings Legato

Enable the legato option to add legato to the MIDI

selection. Select Gap or Overlap from the Legato
pop-up menu and enter the gap or overlap in beats
and ticks.

Remove Overlap

The Remove Overlap option removes any note

overlap for all notes of the same pitch. This com-
mand is different from Legato in that non-overlap-
ping notes of the same or different pitches remain
unchanged. To create a gap between previously
overlapping notes, enter the gap in beats and ticks.

Transform Sustain Pedal To Duration

The Transform Sustain Pedal To Duration option

extends the length of all notes that are sounding
Event Operations window, Change Duration when the sustain pedal (controller 64) is down (64
to 127) to the point when the sustain pedal goes up
The settings in the Change Duration page are (0 to 63). Enable the Delete Sustain Pedal Events
saved with each session. To store your favor- option to convert sustain pedal events to note dura-
ite settings as the default for use in future ses- tions. Converting sustain pedal events to note du-
sions, save them as part of a session template ration can greatly simplify editing while maintain-
(see “Session Templates” on page 178). ing the desired performance effect. For example, if
a sustain pedal down event is deleted while editing,
Set/Add/Subtract/Scale Option the subsequent MIDI performance loses its legato
effect.
Set All To Sets all durations to a length specified in
quarter notes and ticks. Change Continuously Option

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.

1022 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Change Continuously by Percentage Allows 4 From the Legato pop-up menu, select Overlap.
note lengths to change smoothly from one percent-
5 Enter 0|000 for the amount of overlap.
age value to another over time.
6 Click Apply.
The curve for this change can be adjusted (+/– 99)
to affect how gradually the change occurs. The end points for the selected notes are extended
to the start point of the next note, thereby eliminat-
Limit Range When selected, restricts the Change
ing the space between each note.
Duration command to a minimum and maximum
range (in quarter notes and ticks).

Randomize When selected, the Change Duration Transpose

command is randomized by the specified percent-
While the Grabber tools can be used to manually
age value. For example, using “Set all to” with a
transpose individual MIDI notes, or small groups
value of 480 ticks, along with a Randomize value
of notes, the Transpose command in the Event Op-
of 50%, yields durations anywhere between 360
erations window can be used for entire MIDI
and 600 (+/– 25% of the duration value).
tracks and clips. One of the more common uses for
Transpose is to change the key for your MIDI
Change Duration Examples tracks. You can define an Edit Group for MIDI
tracks that you want to transpose, making sure to
To make notes more staccato:
exclude any drum tracks from the group so they
1 Select the range of MIDI notes to be edited. aren’t transposed. You can even transpose in key.
2 Choose Event > Event Operations > Change
You can also transpose MIDI notes nonde-
Duration.
structively in real-time using MIDI Real-
Press Alt+P on Windows or Option+P on Time Properties. See “MIDI Real-Time
Mac to open the Change Duration window. Properties” on page 780.

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 991.
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.

2 Choose Event > Event Operations > Change

Duration.
Elastic Audio pitch transposition cannot be
applied to looped clips or clip groups.
3 Select the Legato option.

Chapter 46: Event Operations 1023

 To transpose MIDI notes:
1 If you will be transposing a group of tracks, en-
able the Edit Group.
2 Select the MIDI notes you want to transpose.
3 Choose Event > Event Operations > Transpose.

Press Option+T (Mac) or Alt+T (Windows)

to open the Transpose window.

4 Select the Transpose option (By, From and To,

All Notes To, or In Key).

5 Set the corresponding pitch fields.

Event Operations window, Transpose
With any pitch field selected, play a note on your
Transpose By (Octaves) Transposes selected MIDI controller to automatically enter it as the
MIDI notes by up to +/– 10 octaves, or transposes pitch value.
selected Elastic Audio clips up to +/– 2
6 Click Apply.
octaves.

Transpose By (Semitones) Transposes selected To transpose all notes on a track down by an

octave:
MIDI notes up or down chromatically by up to
+/–127 semitones, or transposes selected Elastic 1 With the Selector tool, double-click in the track
Audio clips up or down chromatically by up to +/– to select all of its MIDI notes.
48 semitones (4 octaves).
2 Choose Event > Event Operations > Transpose.
Transpose (From and To) Transposes selected 3 Select the Transpose By option.
MIDI notes, or selected Elastic Audio clips, by
semitones, as expressed by the difference between 4 Enter a value of –1 octave.
the source and destination pitches. Transposing 5 Click Apply.
from C3 to F#3, for example, transposes the notes
up by an augmented fourth (six semitones). To transpose selected notes in key:

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.

1024 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To transpose an Elastic Audio clip:
1 Make sure the clip, or clips, you want to Trans-
pose are on Elastic Audio-enabled tracks.

Elastic Audio pitch transposition is not sup-

ported with the Monophonic algorithm.

2 With the Grabber or Selector tool, select the au-

dio clip you want to transpose. Only clips that
are completely selected will be affected.
3 Choose Event > Event Operations > Transpose.
4 Do one of the following:
• Adjust the Transpose By settings by an amount
in semitones and cents.
• Adjust the Transpose From and To settings by
an amount in Semitones and Cents.
Event Operations window, Select/Split Notes
The Transpose All Notes To and the Trans-
pose In Key settings can only be applied to
Select/Split Notes Settings
MIDI notes. When only audio clips are se-
lected, these options are unavailable. Pitch Criteria

5 Click Apply. All Notes Selects all notes.

Notes Between Selects a range of notes between

the specified upper and lower note. Values for the
Select/Split Notes Command notes can be entered in pitch (C1–G8) or MIDI
The Select/Split Notes command in the Event Op- note numbers (0–127).
erations window provides a complete set of tools Top Selects the highest note or notes in each chord.
to select and split MIDI notes based on a wide va-
riety of criteria. Additional tools are provided to Bottom Selects the lowest note or notes in each
specify whether selected data is copied to the clip- chord.
board or to new tracks, whether the data is split to
multiple new tracks or a single destination, and Other Criteria
more. Velocity Enable the Velocity option to specify a
range of velocities for selecting or splitting notes.
Enter minimum and maximum velocities.

Duration Enable the Duration option to specify a

range of durations (in beats and ticks) for selecting
or splitting notes. Enter minimum and maximum
durations.

Chapter 46: Event Operations 1025

 Position Enable the Position option to select or 4 Configure the Other Criteria (Velocity, Dura-
split all notes that fall into a range of relative beat tion, and Position).
and tick locations within each bar. The minimum
5 Enable the Select or Split option.
value determines the start of the range, the maxi-
mum value sets the end of the range. 6 From the Split Notes pop-up menu, select Copy
or Cut.
Action
7 If splitting notes, select the Copy or Cut to des-
Select Notes Selects MIDI notes based on the tination.
specified criteria.
8 If splitting notes, enable the Include All Contin-
Split Notes: The Clipboard Copies the selected uous MIDI Data option. Enabling this option in-
data to the clipboard only. cludes all controller data associated with the
split notes in newly created tracks. Leave this
Split Notes: A New Track Copies all selected data
option deselected to split only note data to new
to a single, new track. If the selection includes
tracks.
multiple tracks, that same number of tracks are cre-
ated. The new tracks duplicate the original track 9 Click Apply.
type (Instrument or MIDI).
Any Real-Time Properties associated with the
Split Notes: A New Track per Pitch Copies all se- track or clips are copied to new tracks created by
lected data to multiple new tracks (one new track Select/Split Notes.
for each pitch). New tracks zoom to single-note
display. If the selection includes multiple tracks, Selecting a Pitch Range of
each track has its data split separately. Notes
Include All Continuous MIDI Data Includes all A common use for Select/Split Notes is to select a
continuous MIDI data, including pitch bend and single note for the entire length of a clip or track.
aftertouch, on the entire track, without any restric- This is especially useful if you want to select a note
tion on time selection. in a MIDI drum track (such as a hi-hat), and affect
it over the selected time range with the Quantize,
Selecting and Splitting Notes Groove Quantize, Transpose, or Change Duration
command.
To select and split notes:
To select only the hi-hats in a General MIDI drum
1 Do one of the following:
track:
• With the Grabber or Selector tool, select the
1 Do one of the following:
range of MIDI notes that contains the notes.
• With the Grabber or Selector tool, select the
• To affect all the MIDI notes on a track, click in
range of MIDI notes that contains the notes.
the track with the Selector tool, so that it con-
tains a flashing edit cursor. • To affect all the MIDI notes on a track, click in
the track with the Selector tool, so that it con-
2 Choose Event > Event Operations > Select/Split tains a flashing edit cursor.
Notes.
2 Choose Event > Event Operations > Select/Split
3 Configure the Pitch Criteria. Notes.

1026 Pro Tools Reference Guide

3 Select the Notes Between option with the note
range set to F#1 and F#1 (if the MIDI Note Dis- Input Quantize Command
play setting in the MIDI Preferences page is set When Input Quantize is enabled in the Event Op-
to Standard Pitch). erations window, all recorded MIDI notes are
quantized automatically.
For a General MIDI drum kit, the closed hi-hat is
assigned to MIDI note number 42 (F#1 at Standard
Pitch). If the hi-hat for your drum kit is assigned to
a different note, make sure to specify it.
4 Click Apply.

You can also select all notes of a specific

pitch on a track using the mini-keyboard. For
more information, see “Selecting MIDI
Notes” on page 752.

Selecting Notes in a Chord

Another use for Select/Split Notes is to select only
the upper or lower notes in a chord. Many times
you may only want to affect the upper or lower
notes in a chord—for example, to increase veloci-
ties or transpose pitches.

To select only the bass notes in a chord:

Event Operations window, Input Quantize
1 Do one of the following:
• With the Grabber or Selector tool, select the Use Input Quantize for drum machine style
range of MIDI notes that contains the notes. loop recording (see “Loop Recording in
• To affect all the MIDI notes on a track, click in MIDI Merge Mode” on page 553).
the track with the Selector tool, so that it con-
tains a flashing edit cursor. To enable Input Quantize:
1 Choose Event > Event Operations > Input Quan-
2 Choose Event > Event Operations > Select/Split
tize.
Notes.
2 In the Input Quantize page, select Enable Input
3 Select the Bottom option and leave the number
Quantize.
of notes set to 1.
3 Configure the other options in the Input Quan-
4 Click Apply.
tize page. (For more information on the Quan-
In order for notes to be considered a chord, tize options, see “Quantize Command” on
their start times must be within thirty-two ppq page 1006.)
ticks of each other. 4 When finished, close the Event Operations
window.

Chapter 46: Event Operations 1027

 To enter MIDI notes with Step Input (using an
Step Input Command external MIDI device):

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.

4 Choose the MIDI or Instrument track for step

entry from the Destination track pop-up menu.
5 Choose the note value you want to enter from
the Step Increment section.
6 Play a note or chord on your MIDI instrument.
This enters the note and moves to the next step
of the insertion point.

To increase a note’s length while using Step Input:

1 Play and hold a note on your MIDI instrument.

When a note is being held on the MIDI

keyboard, Next Step changes to read
“Increment.”
Step Input window
2 Choose the note value that you would like to
add and press the Increment button.
Use Step Input to enter MIDI notes in the
Score Editor or in MIDI Editor windows. Release the note on your MIDI keyboard to move
to the next step insertion point.

1028 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Step Input Controls Note Length Lets you select the note length as a
percentage of the spacing value. For example, an
The Step Input page has the following controls: eighth note equals 480 ticks, so an eighth note with
Enable When selected, adds MIDI events to the an 80% duration would be 384 ticks long.
destination track when you play your external
MIDI keyboard. Additionally, each previously re-
cord-enabled MIDI track is taken out of record en-
able.

If a Default Thru Instrument is defined in the MIDI

Preferences page, it is disabled when Step Input is 100% 80% 120%
enabled, and is re-enabled when Step Input is no
longer disabled. Note length percentages

Step Input Options

Destination Lets you select the destination track
for the Step Input from a pop-up list of all the Use Input Velocity When selected, MIDI notes are
MIDI tracks in your session. recorded using the velocity that you play on your
MIDI keyboard.
Step Increment Section Controls
Set Velocity To When selected, MIDI notes are
The controls in the Step Increment section let you recorded with the velocity that you specify in the
set the spacing and duration of MIDI events en- Velocity field. This value can be set with the
tered using the Step Input operation. You can se- Velocity slider.
lect any size from whole notes to sixty-fourth notes
(including dotted values). Enable Numeric Keypad Shortcuts When se-
lected, Step Input options can be selected from the
Tuplet Lets you input irregular note groupings numeric keypad. See “Numeric Keypad Shortcuts
(such as triplets or quintuplets). The tuplet length for Step Input” on page 1030.
is calculated from the note spacing selection and
the Tuplet values. For example, an eighth note Undo Step, Next Step, and Redo Step
equals 480 ticks, so tuplet eighth notes with 3 in
time of 2 would yield a note spacing of 320 ticks Use the Undo Step and Next Step buttons to do the
(480 ticks / 3 * 2). following:
• Move the step insertion point, by either remov-
ing the previous note or by advancing the inser-
tion point by the Step Increment value.
• Lengthen and shorten notes that are being held
on the MIDI controller, by adding or removing
Step Increment values. The Step Increment
value can be changed mid-note to create a note
with a hybrid note length.

Chapter 46: Event Operations 1029

 Use the Redo Step button to sequentially redo any 4 Play the MIDI event you want to use as a
previously undone steps. trigger.

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.
:

Next Step changes to read “Increment” and adds

Step Input Shortcuts Key
the Step Increment value to the held note, increas-
ing its length by the Step Increment value. Whole note 1

While the note is being held, the Step Increment 1/2 note 2
value can be changed, allowing you to create notes 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

Dotted note . (decimal key)

The Undo Step, Next Step, and Redo Step buttons
can be set to be triggered by an external MIDI Toggle Tuplet on/off 3
synth, drum pad, or other controller.
Next step Enter

To set Undo Step, Next Step and Redo Step MIDI 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.

1030 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Chapter 47: HEAT

HEAT (Harmonically Enhanced Algorithm To enable (or disable) HEAT in a session, do one of
Technology) is a software option that adds “analog the following:
color” to Pro Tools | Ultimate (included) and  Select (or deselect) Options > Activate HEAT.
Pro Tools (purchased separately) software. HEAT
is available in both DSP and Native formats. To  Select (or deselect) the HEAT On/Off button in
use HEAT, iLok authorizations are required for the Mix window in HEAT view.
both HEAT and Pro Tools | Ultimate or Pro Tools. You can also enable the Enable HEAT in New Ses-
HEAT is applied to all active audio tracks in your sions option in the Pro Tools Preferences to have
session, emulating magnetic recording tape com- HEAT automatically enabled for all new sessions.
bined with harmonic coloration commonly experi-
To enable (or disable) HEAT for new sessions:
enced with analog mixing consoles. Use HEAT to
open up your mixes with warm, analog-modeled 1 Choose Setup > Preferences.
soft-saturated distortion. 2 Click the Processing tab.
3 In the DSP Management section, select (or de-
Enabling HEAT select) the Enable HEAT in New Sessions op-
tion.
When enabled, HEAT is applied to all active audio
4 Click OK.
tracks in your session, emulating the effect of an
analog mixing console. HEAT is supported with
all mono, stereo, and surround formats.
About HEAT Processing
With HDX systems, HEAT uses DSP resources on
all active audio tracks. This is important to know HEAT provides global controls for Drive and
because as you increase (or decrease) the number Tone. These affect all audio tracks where HEAT is
of audio tracks in the session, you also increase (or not bypassed.
decrease) the amount of DSP resources required to
keep HEAT hot. Note that HEAT does not use Drive
DSP resources on inactive audio tracks.
The Drive control introduces non-linear processing
With Pro Tools | Ultimate Software on Native sys- that emulates magnetic recording tape combined
tems or Pro Tools software, HEAT uses the host- with harmonic information commonly found in an-
processor. alog gear.

Chapter 47: HEAT 1031

 Turning the Drive control counter-clockwise emu- HEAT Processing
lates tape-based non-linear distortion. As with
With HEAT processing, the peaks in the signal are
tape, increasing the Drive control level by turning it
being reduced while the low level harmonic con-
counter-clockwise increases harmonic content by
tent is increased, thus reducing the level of existing
adding higher frequency odd harmonics (starting
peaks. Think of it as a tube or tape doing soft clip-
with the 3rd and 5th harmonics). HEAT also emu-
ping, “squashing” the peaks and causing analog
lates the recording and reproduction equalizers of
compression over a wide dynamic range.
tape decks that further modifies the harmonic con-
tent. As a result, when turning the Drive control
How Much Processing Should I Use?
counter-clockwise, HEAT fattens up the bottom
and mid-range of the processed audio and smooths HEAT processing is level and program dependent.
high-frequency transients as you increase the Although a general setting usually works for many
processing. sources, some settings that work best for one
source may not have the desired effect for another
Turning the Drive control clockwise has a more ag-
source. If you need a general purpose setting try
gressive effect, adding an even harmonic series
adding two steps of the Drive control (in either di-
commonly found in triode tube circuits to the odd
rection).
harmonic series. This can give the effect of prized
tube microphones and other tube based analog Since your ears may not be used to the changes to
gear. the harmonic content that HEAT provides, you
may need to spend a little time listening to the ef-
Note that the harmonic structure changes with sig-
fect of HEAT processing on your program material
nal level and the amount of processing being ap-
to acclimate yourself. The human ear loves a little
plied, just like it does with vacuum tubes in the an-
harmonic generation. Experiment with the settings
alog world.
to discover what sounds best to you.

Tone Once you are used to how the program material

sounds with some HEAT processing, disabling
As with tape, there can be loss of high frequencies HEAT can highlight the subtle yet significant ef-
with respect to low frequencies if driven far fect of HEAT on your program material.
enough, as the high frequencies start compressing
sooner than the low frequencies. HEAT can com- The amount of processing can result in subtle
pensate for these losses, adding more detail and changes or drastic changes depending on what the
some brightness too, depending on the program program is like, and how it was recorded. The dif-
material and its level. Moving the Tone control ference between processing an analog or digital re-
away from its default position accentuates (clock- cording can be subtle or drastic. It may be easier to
wise) or de-accentuates (counter-clockwise) the hear the effect of the processing in material that is
amount of detail and brightness. more “open,” as opposed to material that is more
dense. The amount of low frequency information
The effect of the Tone control is different, depend- added also affects how you hear the processing.
ing on the Drive control setting. The amount and
character of the harmonic content is changed by
this control, in a non-linear fashion, unlike what a
tone control in an equalizer would do.

1032 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Tone Adjust the Tone (bass to treble) for HEAT.
HEAT Controls Turn the control to the right for a brighter sound
HEAT provides a simple set of master controls for and to the left for a darker sound.
the tuning the color of the effect, and a set of con-
Showing and Hiding HEAT Master
trols for each audio track in your session.
Controls

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.

HEAT Master controls

Show/Hide HEAT Master View button in the Mix
On/Off (HEAT) Enables (or disables) HEAT in window
your Pro Tools session.
HEAT Track Controls
Bypass (BYPASS) Bypasses HEAT processing
without disabling it. Note that bypassing HEAT HEAT track controls are available on all audio
does not free up DSP or Native resources needed tracks. HEAT only affects audio tracks.
for HEAT.

Meter Displays the average amount of HEAT pro-

cessing across all audio tracks.

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.

Chapter 47: HEAT 1033

 Meter Displays the amount of HEAT processing
on the individual audio track. On multichannel Master Bypass and Track
tracks, the meter shows the average amount of Bypass Indicators
HEAT applied to all channels of that track. The Track Bypass button is color coded to indicate
whether or not HEAT is explicitly (or implicitly)
Showing and Hiding HEAT Track
bypassed when Master Bypass is enabled. Explic-
Controls
itly bypassed tracks remain bypassed when dis-
HEAT Track controls can be viewed in the Mix abling the Master Bypass.
window.
When a track is explicitly bypassed, the BYP but-
To show (or hide) HEAT Track controls, do one of ton is bright orange.
the following:

 Select (or deselect) View > Mix Window Views >

HEAT.

 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.

HEAT Track and Master controls with Master bypass

Selecting HEAT in the Mix Window View selector

1034 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Insufficient DSP Resources
A Note About Other Track
Types It is possible that your system may have insuffi-
cient DSP resources to add more audio tracks to
HEAT only affects audio tracks. It is not applied to the session when HEAT is enabled (because there
Instrument, Auxiliary Input, or Master tracks. If is not enough DSP available for HEAT on the new
you are using virtual instrument plug-ins on an In- tracks). Should this occur, Pro Tools prompts you
strument or Auxiliary Input track and want to ap- to do one of the following:
ply HEAT, you can either bus record audio from
that track to an audio track, or you can bus the out- • Create the new tracks, but make them inactive.
put of the track to the input of an audio track and (Inactive audio tracks do not use any DSP re-
enable Input monitoring. sources.)
• Disable HEAT and create the new tracks.

When opening a session that was saved with

DSP and Voice Requirements HEAT enabled, but your system does not have
(HDX Systems Only) enough DSP to apply HEAT to all active audio
tracks in the session, HEAT is automatically dis-
The amount of DSP resources used by HEAT is
abled. The session notes dialog will indicate that
based on the number of voices used for audio
HEAT has been made inactive.
tracks, the type of DSP hardware, and the session
sample rate. Once the session is open, you can manage which
tracks you want to have active with HEAT enabled
The following table lists the number of mono au-
within the DSP limitations of your system. You
dio tracks per DSP chip that are available with
can also expand your HDX system with additional
HEAT processing enabled.
cards to increase the available DSP resources for
Available number of mono audio tracks per DSP chip HEAT.
DSP Chip 44.1/ 88.2/ 176.4/
Type 48 kHz 96 kHz 192 kHz In some cases, if the session you are opening has a
lot of active DSP plug-ins, the session may open
HDX 86 42 19 with HEAT enabled, but make some of the ses-
sion’s DSP plug-ins inactive. This is because
Stereo tracks require twice the DSP of mono HEAT processing takes priority over DSP plug-in
tracks, and surround formats require as much DSP processing.
per channel as the corresponding number of mono
tracks (for example, a 5.1 track uses the same
amount of DSP as 6 mono tracks).

Chapter 47: HEAT 1035

 Voice Requirements D-Control and D-Command
When enabling HEAT, extra voices may be re- With D-Control or D-Command, you can access
quired to make HEAT active if HEAT is set to Pre HEAT Master Controls in the Custom Fader sec-
insert on a track and the first plug-in on that track is tion, and HEAT channel controls directly from the
a Native plug-in. If there are an insufficient num- channel strips.
ber of voices available, HEAT cannot be activated.
Master Controls
If HEAT is already active, set to Post insert on a
track, and a Native plug-in is the first plug-in on HEAT Master Controls include On/Off, Bypass,
that track, HEAT may require extra voices to be Drive, and Tone.
changed to Pre insert. If there are an insufficient
number of voices available, the Pre button will be To access HEAT Master Controls from D-Control
or D-Command:
inactive until you increase the number of voices (in
the Playback Engine) or until more voices are  Shift+Control+Press the Plug-Ins switch in the
made available (such as by making some audio Custom Fader section.
tracks inactive).
HEAT creates a Custom Fader for HEAT and
maps controls to the middle encoders as described
below.
Using HEAT with a Control
Surface D-Control
(ICON and C|24 Only)
D-Control provides HEAT Master Controls within
You can use the following features provided on a single Custom Fader (#8)
ICON (D-Control and D-Command) and C|24 to HEAT Master Controls on D-Control
control HEAT.
Encoder Parameter Action
For information about using HEAT with Avid
#3 HEAT (On/Off) Rotate the
Artist and Pro Series Control Surfaces, see encoder, or
the Pro Tools EUCON Guide. press encoder 3
BMP, to toggle

#4 MstByp (Master Rotate encoder,

Bypass) or press encoder
4 BMP, to toggle

#5 Drive Rotate encoder

#6 Tone Rotate encoder

1036 Pro Tools Reference Guide

D-Command (Custom Fader 7 and 8) D-Control

D-Command provides HEAT Master Controls in On D-Control, encoders/BMP switches 5 and 6

the encoder sections of two Custom Faders (7 and map to HEAT Pre/Post and Bypass, respectively.
8).
To toggle a channel between (HEAT) Pre or Post
HEAT Master Controls on D-Command
Inserts:
Encoder Parameter Action
 Do one of the following:
#1 HEAT (On/Off) Press BMP to • Rotate encoder 5
(Fader 7) toggle, or rotate
the encoder • Press encoder 5 BMP switch.

#2 MstByp (Master Press BMP to To toggle a channel in or out of HEAT Bypass:

(Fader 7 Bypass) toggle, or rotate
the encoder  Do one of the following:
• Rotate encoder 6
#1 Drive Rotate encoder
(Fader 8) • Press encoder 6 BMP switch.
#2 Tone Rotate encoder D-Command
(Fader 8)
On D-Command, both channel encoders and their
Channel HEAT Bypass and Pre/Post BMP switches map to HEAT Pre/Post (upper en-
coder row) and Bypass (lower encoder row).
When HEAT is enabled in a session, each channel
strip provides HEAT Bypass and Pre/Post. You
To toggle a channel in or out of HEAT Bypass:
can access these channel settings directly from D-
Control and D-Command channel strips. Channel  Do one of the following:
HEAT controls follow Do To All and Do to All Se- • Rotate the lower encoder.
lected modifiers. • Press the lower encoder’s BMP switch.
To access HEAT in the channel strip:
To toggle a channel between (HEAT) Pre or Post
1 Make sure HEAT is enabled in the session. Inserts:

2 Shift+Control+Press the channel Inserts switch.  Do one of the following:

• Rotate the upper encoder.
• Press the upper encoder’s BMP switch.

HEAT supports Flip mode for both its Master

and Channel controls.

Chapter 47: HEAT 1037

 C|24
C|24 lets you adjust HEAT Master Controls from encoders 21–24, and HEAT channel controls in each
channel strip.

Master Controls

To access HEAT Master Controls on C|24:

 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 1038.

Channel HEAT Bypass and Pre/Post

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.

To access HEAT channel controls:

1 Make sure HEAT is enabled in the current session.
2 In the channel strip, press and hold the channel Insert switch. To exit, press the same switch again.

To toggle a channel in or out of HEAT Bypass:

 Press the channel Bypass switch.

To toggle a channel between (HEAT) Pre or Post Inserts:

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

HEAT (On/Off) MstByp (Master Drive Tone

Parameter
Bypass)

Press the Encoder Press the Encoder Rotate encoder Rotate

Action
switch to toggle switch to toggle encoder

1038 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Part IX: Mixing
Chapter 48: Basic Mixing

Mixing in Pro Tools involves working with ele-

ments of audio signal flow, including inputs, out- Metering and Calibration
puts, busses, inserts, and sends, for purposes of Meters provide a visual display of signal levels.
submixing and mixdown. They tell whether signal is getting to a channel, and
how loud or soft a signal is relative to (above or be-
In addition to the final mixdown, mixing tasks can
low) “0.”
occur any time during a session.
By calibrating all your equipment to standard ref-
During mixing, real-time plug-ins and hardware
erence levels, a consistent level can be achieved
inserts provide effects and signal processing (see
(and metered) among different recording devices
Chapter 49, “Plug-In and Hardware Inserts”).
in a studio, throughout a facility, or throughout an
entire production chain. For example, a level of
–18 dBFS coming out of a DAT deck should play
Mixing Concepts and meter at –18 dBFS in Pro Tools.
Mixing involves making decisions about elements
such as volume levels, panning, and effects in your Calibrating Audio Interfaces
studio. While you can control many variables in (HD I/O Only)
your studio (such as speakers and room acoustics),
you cannot control the listening environment in If you are using an HDX or HD Native system with
which your final mix will be heard. The following an HD I/O, use the Calibration Reference Level
tips will help you make your mix sound as good as option (in the Operation Preferences page) to set
possible to as many listeners as possible: the reference level when Pro Tools is in Calibra-
tion mode.
Alternate Speakers and Reference
Monitoring Listen to your mixes on a variety of For instructions on calibrating an HD I/O,
different speakers to gauge how well the mix will see the HD I/O Guide.
translate to different playback systems.

Reference Mixes Make audio CDs and MP3-en-

coded files of rough mixes and audition them out-
side the studio in different listening environments.

Format Compatibility Monitoring Check stereo

mixes for compatibility with mono playback sys-
tems, and multichannel surround mixes for com-
patibility with stereo playback systems.

Chapter 48: Basic Mixing 1041

 Multichannel audio tracks and surround mixing
Signal Flow by Track Type formats are supported by Pro Tools Ultimate only.
Pro Tools provides the following track types:
Source: any mono, stereo, or
• Audio Source multichannel audio file, playing
or Input back from disk
• Auxiliary Input Input: while record-monitoring or
in TrackInput monitoring mode
• Master Fader
HEAT option, pre-insert
• MIDI
• Instrument
Inserts
• VCA Master (plug-ins or
hardware
inserts)
Audio, Auxiliary Input, Master Fader, and Instru-
ment tracks can route audio. MIDI and Instrument
tracks can route MIDI data.
HEAT option, post-insert
VCA Master tracks do not pass audio or MIDI
data, but do affect controls on other tracks. See
Sends, pre-fader
“VCA Master Tracks” on page 1047.

Tracks can be identified in the Mix window by

their Track Type icon. Input Record
Solo Mute
Track Type icons
Volume

Audio, Auxiliary Input, Master Fader, VCA Master,

MIDI, and Instrument tracks

For information on creating tracks, see Sends, post-fader

“Creating Tracks” on page 231.

Audio Tracks and Signal Flow Panner

Audio tracks play audio from disk, record audio to

disk, and monitor input signals when record-en- Output
abled or in TrackInput monitoring mode. Inserts
Main Output
on audio tracks are pre-fader. Sends on audio + Additional Outputs
tracks can be pre- or post-fader.
Audio track audio signal flow
Mono and stereo audio tracks are available on all
Pro Tools systems.

1042 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Auxiliary Input tracks are used as inputs for audio
Auxiliary Input Tracks and from external MIDI instrument and other sources,
Signal Flow as well as to submix internal bus and output paths.
Auxiliary Input tracks provide the same signal They can be fully automated. When using Auxil-
routing options as audio tracks, except that their in- iary Input tracks as inputs for external sources, ad-
put must come from an internal bus or hardware in- just the source output levels to achieve proper re-
put. Inserts on Auxiliary Inputs are pre-fader. cording levels.

Input Common Uses for Auxiliary

Source: bus or
hardware input path
Inputs
Auxiliary Inputs can be used to:
Inserts
(plug-ins or • Apply real-time plug-ins or an external proces-
hardware
inserts) Sends, pre-fader sor to a submix, using the Auxiliary Input as an
effects return (such as reverb or bus line com-
pression)
Solo Mute • Input audio from external MIDI instruments and
other audio sources into the mix, to monitor or
Volume route to audio tracks for recording to disk (such
as from the audio outputs of a MIDI synthesizer)
• Consolidate volume control of any submix un-
der a single fader
• Mix multiple outputs from an instrument
plug-in.
Sends, post-fader
Routing an Auxiliary Input
To route an Auxiliary Input:
Panner
1 Click the Input Path selector of the Auxiliary In-
put and choose an input or bus path.
Output
2 Click the Output Path selector of the Auxiliary
Main Output
Input and choose an output or bus path.
+ Additional Outputs
3 Adjust the Auxiliary Input fader to set the return
volume.
Auxiliary Input track audio signal flow
See the submix examples in “Signal Routing
for Monitoring and Submixing” on
page 1074.

Chapter 48: Basic Mixing 1043

 Unlike inserts on audio tracks and Auxiliary In-
Master Fader Tracks and puts, Master Fader inserts are post-fader. This lets
Signal Flow you insert a dither plug-in, or similar plug-in, on
Master Fader tracks control the master output lev- your master mix, and affect its processing with the
els of output and bus paths. When assigned to an Master Fader level (for more information, see
active output or bus path, they provide post-fader “Dither” on page 1089).
effects processing and master level control for a
If you absolutely must have a pre-fader insert
main mix, headphone and cue mixes, stems, ef-
on your Master Fader signal, set up an Aux-
fects sends, and other signal routing applications.
iliary Input before the Master Fader. For ex-
Master Faders support all track formats supported
ample, if you want compression on the mix,
on your Pro Tools system.
but you also want to fade out the mix, insert a
compression plug-in on the Auxiliary Input
Input (source) determined by track and insert a dither plug-in on the Mas-
output assignment (of other
tracks) ter Fader track that is assigned to the Output
Volume path of the Auxiliary Input track. Then you
can fade out with the Master Fader without
changing the compression threshold for the
mix.

Master Fader Meters

Meters on Master faders always show post-fader

levels, regardless of the Pre-Fader Metering setting
in the Options menu.
Inserts,
post-fader
(plug-ins or Master Faders and Paths
hardware)
Master Faders can be assigned to main or sub-
paths as defined in the I/O Setup. Multiple Master
Faders cannot be assigned to the same path.
Output
Main Output
+ Additional Outputs Active and Inactive Master Faders

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.

When you duplicate a Master Fader track, the du-

plicated track’s assignment will be inactive.

1044 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Common Uses for Master Faders Using a Master Fader
Master Faders can be used to: To use a Master Fader as a stereo master volume
• Control and process output mixes control:

• Monitor and meter an output (such as a bus or 1 Create a stereo Master Fader track.
hardware output) to guard against clipping 2 Set the outputs of all audio tracks in the session
• Control submix levels to the main output path (for example, outputs
1–2 of your primary audio interface) and set the
• Control effects sends levels
panning for each track.
• Control submaster (bussed tracks) levels
3 Set the output of the Master Fader to the main
• Apply dither or other inserts to an entire mix output path.
• Control the monitoring path with a EUCON
control surface To use a Master Fader to trim the input to a submix:
1 Create an Auxiliary Input track.
Use Master Faders to control submix levels, send
level masters, and other outputs. Master Faders can 2 Bus the signal from audio tracks in your session
control either output or internal busses. You can to the input of the Auxiliary Input track.
use a Master Fader track assigned to an Output
3 Create a stereo Master Fader track and assign
path as a master volume control. You can also use
the Output to the bus path that feeds the Auxil-
a Master Fader track assigned to a bus to trim the
iary Input track.
inputs to Auxiliary Input tracks for submixes to
avoid clipping.

Chapter 48: Basic Mixing 1045

 Common Uses for Instrument
Instrument Tracks and Signal Tracks
Flow
By playing back MIDI from or through an Instru-
Instrument tracks provide the same audio signal ment track you can control and monitor the audio
routing options as Auxiliary Input tracks, except from:
that their input must come from an instrument
• Instrument plug-ins, such as software synthesiz-
plug-in inserted on that Instrument track, or from a
ers or samplers.
bus or hardware input.
• External MIDI instruments, such as synthesizers
Input Instrument plug-in,
and samplers
internal bus, or
hardware instrument
Inserts Routing with an Instrument
Track
(plug-ins or
hardware
inserts)
Sends, pre-fader
To route audio from an external MIDI instrument to
an Instrument track:
Record
(MIDI only) 1 Click the Input Path selector of the Instrument
Solo/Mute
track and choose the corresponding hardware
input for your external MIDI instrument.
Volume
2 Click the Output Path selector of the Instrument
track and choose an output or bus path.
3 In Instruments view, click the MIDI Input selec-
tor, and assign a device and channel from the
pop-up menu to record and control the external
Sends, post-fader MIDI instrument.
4 In Instruments view, click the MIDI Output se-
Panner lector, and assign the port and channel for the
external MIDI instrument from the pop-up
menu.Adjust the Instrument fader to set the vol-
Output ume.

Main Output For information on assigning MIDI input

+ Additional Outputs and output for Instrument tracks, see “As-
Instrument track audio signal flow signing MIDI Input and Output for Instru-
ment Tracks” on page 258.
Instrument tracks are used as inputs for instrument
plug-ins, and other sources (including internal bus-
ses). They can be fully automated. When using an For information inserting plug-ins on tracks,
Instrument track as an input for an external source, see “Inserting Plug-Ins on Tracks” on
adjust the output level at the source to achieve page 1097.
proper recording level.

1046 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 VCA Slave Track Control
VCA Master Tracks Indications
VCA Master tracks emulate the operation of volt- Unlike VCAs on traditional analog consoles, VCA
age-controlled amplifier channels on analog con- Master tracks in Pro Tools directly affect their
soles, where a VCA channel fader would be used slave tracks, so that the controls on each slave track
to control, group, or offset the signal levels of other always show their actual values:
channels on the console.
• The output level of each slave track is indicated
VCA Master tracks do not pass audio, so they do by the position of its fader.
not have inputs, outputs, inserts or sends. A Mix • The solo, mute, record enable, and TrackInput
group is assigned to a VCA Master track, which status of each slave track are indicated by the
appears in the VCA track’s Group Assignment se- corresponding controls on the track.
lector. The controls of the tracks in that Mix group,
called the slave tracks, are modified by the controls This ensures that even when a VCA Master track is
on the VCA Master. not visible, the true state of its slave tracks is accu-
rately displayed.

Group Assignment VCA Slave Track Controls and

selector
Group Behavior
When a group is assigned to a VCA Master, the
VCA-modifiable controls (Volume, Mute, Solo,
TrackInput Record
Record Enable and TrackInput) on its slave tracks,
Solo Mute by default, do not follow any grouped behavior
that may be set in the Attributes page of the Groups
dialog. This lets you control the output levels of the
Volume
group’s member tracks while retaining the ability
to adjust individual member track levels.
Level meters

Slave tracks can be set to follow normal grouped

behavior. See “Assigning Groups to VCA Mas-
ters” on page 1049.
VCA Track Type indicator

Common Uses for VCA Master

Tracks
By grouping tracks in a Mix group and assigning
that group to a VCA Master track, you can:

VCA Master track • Control the output levels of all the VCA group’s
member tracks without the need to bus them to
an Auxiliary Input track or to the same output
path

Chapter 48: Basic Mixing 1047

 • Create multiple, nested VCA groups and control • Soloing a VCA Master will clear any explicit so-
the output levels of multiple submixes at the los on its slave tracks, leaving them indirectly
same time soloed, and implicitly mute all other tracks.
• Automate a submix by automating its VCA • Explicitly soloing a slave track while its VCA
Master track Master track is soloed will override the VCA
Master solo.
VCA Master Track Controls
Record Enable
The controls on a VCA Master track affect the cor-
The VCA Record Enable button toggles the Re-
responding controls on the slave tracks in its as-
cord Enable status of only those audio, Instrument,
signed Mix group. VCA Master tracks have the
and other VCA tracks that have already been re-
following controls:
cord-enabled individually. You can then toggle re-
Volume cord enable on and off for those tracks using the
VCA Master Record Enable.
The VCA Volume fader controls the Volume fader
on audio, Auxiliary Input, Instrument, Master To temporarily force all slave tracks to toggle their
Fader, and other VCA Master tracks in a VCA- record enable status:
controlled group. (Volume faders on MIDI tracks  Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) the
are not affected.) Volume faders on slave tracks Record Enable button on the VCA Master.
move to show the composite level, or the level on
each track resulting from the position of the VCA TrackInput
Master Volume fader.
The VCA TrackInput button toggles the input
Mute monitor status of only those audio tracks in a
VCA-controlled group that are record-enabled.
The VCA Mute button controls the mute state of You can toggle input monitor status for those
audio, Auxiliary Input, Instrument, MIDI, and tracks using the VCA Master TrackInput button.
other VCA Master tracks in a VCA-controlled
group. Muting a VCA-controlled group does not To temporarily force all slave tracks to toggle their
change the underlying mute state of slave tracks. input monitoring status:
(Mute buttons on slave tracks that were previously  Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) the
unmuted show an implicit mute.) VCA Master TrackInput button on the VCA
Master.
Solo

The VCA Solo button controls the solo state of au- Level Meter
dio, Auxiliary Input, Instrument, MIDI, and other On VCA Master tracks, level meters indicate the
VCA Master tracks in a VCA-controlled group. highest level occurring on any of its individual
• Soloing a VCA Master will implicitly mute all tracks, not a summed level of all slave tracks.
tracks except its slave tracks, thereby indirectly
soloing the slave tracks.

1048 Pro Tools Reference Guide

The channel format of level meters on the VCA Track Membership in Multiple VCA Groups
Master is set according to the channel formats of
It is possible for a single slave track to be a mem-
its slave tracks, as follows:
ber of more than one VCA-controlled group. In
• If all slave tracks are the same channel format this case, the contribution of all VCA Master Vol-
(mono, stereo or a multichannel format), the ume faders is summed on the slave track. Mute,
number of level meters on the VCA Master track Solo, Record Enable, and TrackInput follow the
is identical to that of the slave tracks. same rules for enabling or disabling slave tracks.
• If the slave tracks are different formats, the num-
ber of level meters on the VCA Master track is Allowing Grouped Behavior of
set to one. VCA Slave Track Controls
When a track is a VCA slave track, its Volume,
Assigning Groups to VCA Mute, Solo, Record Enable, and TrackInput con-
Masters trols follow VCA functions, and normally do not
An existing Mix group can be assigned to a VCA follow Mix group behavior.
Master, or a new Mix group can be assigned to a
However, these slave track controls can be set to
VCA Master while it is being created. Only one
allow Mix group behavior in addition to their VCA
group can be assigned to a VCA Master at a time.
functions.
A VCA Master cannot control a group that in-
cludes itself. To allow grouped behavior of VCA-related controls
on slave tracks:
To assign an existing group to a VCA Master:
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click Mixing.
 Click the Group Assignment selector on the
VCA Master track and choose an available 2 In the Automation section, deselect the
group from the pop-up menu. Standard VCA Logic for Group Attributes
option.
3 Click OK.

Volume, Mute, Solo, Record Enable, and TrackIn-

put are made available as Mix group attributes in
the Group dialog.
Assigning an existing group to a VCA Master

To assign a new group to a VCA Master:

1 While creating a new group, select Mix or
Mix/Edit as the Group type.
2 In the Group dialog, choose an available VCA
Master track from the VCA pop-up menu.

Chapter 48: Basic Mixing 1049

 Plug-In Formats
Inserts
Pro Tools supports mono and stereo plug-ins, in-
Pro Tools lets you insert up to ten inserts (A–E and cluding the following three types of plug-in paths:
F–J) on each audio, Auxiliary Input, Master Fader,
or Instrument track. Each insert can be either a • mono in/mono out
software plug-in insert or a hardware insert, or an • mono in/stereo out
instrument plug-in (see Chapter 49, “Plug-In and • stereo in/stereo out
Hardware Inserts”).
Pro Tools Ultimate sessions running with the Sur-
Inserts provide the following features: round mixer also support 3–8 channel multi-mono
• Plug-Ins and hardware inserts route the signal and multichannel plug-ins.
from the track through the effect of your choice,
and automatically return it to the same track.
• Hardware inserts send and return the signal to Configuring Inserts View in
corresponding input and output channels of an the Mix and Edit Windows
audio interface, which can be connected to out-
Audio tracks, Auxiliary Inputs, Master tracks, and
board effects.
Instrument tracks include two sets of inserts
• Some Instrument plug-ins accept audio from the Views: Inserts A–E (inserts 1–5) and Inserts F–J
track input (letting you use them as processing (inserts 6–10). The View menu provides separate
plug-ins). options for viewing each of set of inserts in the Mix
• Inserts on audio, Auxiliary Input, and Instru- and Edit windows.
ment tracks are pre-fader.
To display inserts in the Mix window:
• Inserts on Master Faders are post-fader.
 Select any of the following:
• Inserts can be bypassed or made inactive.
• View > Mix Window > Inserts A–E.
• Most plug-in controls are fully automatable.
• View > Mix Window > Inserts F–J.

Track Output Format and To display inserts in the Edit window:

Plug-Ins
 Select any of the following:
Pro Tools supports mono, multi-mono, stereo, and
• View > Edit Window > Inserts A–E.
multichannel plug-ins (Pro Tools Ultimate with
Surround Mixer only). • View > Edit Window > Inserts F–J.

Because inserts process in series, changing the

plug-in format can alter the channel format. For
example, inserting a mono-to-stereo plug-in on a
mono Auxiliary Input changes the signal path from
that plug-in through the rest of the track. This re-
stricts all hardware inserts or plug-ins after the ste-
reo plug-in to be stereo-in/stereo-out plug-ins (or
the supported multichannel format).

1050 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 To set the stereo pan depth:
HEAT
1 Choose Setup > Session to open the Session
HEAT (Harmonically Enhanced Algorithm Tech- Setup window.
nology) is a software option that adds “analog
2 Select an option from the Pan Depth selector.
color” to Pro Tools mixes. HEAT is applied to all
active audio tracks in your session, emulating the
effect of an analog mixing console. Use HEAT to
open up your mixes with warm, analog-modeled
soft-saturated distortion. Using HEAT in conjunc-
tion with the Stereo Pan Depth option (in the Ses-
sion Setup window) lets you emulate the effect of
classic analog consoles right in Pro Tools.
Session Setup window, selecting Pan Depth
For more information, see Chapter 47,
Stereo Pan Depth Options
“HEAT.”

The following Pan Depth options are available:

Stereo Pan Depth
–2.5 dB The standard stereo pan depth setting in
Pro Tools lets you select the pan depth for stereo Pro Tools 8.0.x and lower. When opening
output paths. You can set the Pan Depth in the Ses- Pro Tools 8.0.x or earlier session in Pro Tools 8.1
sion Setup window. The Pan Depth setting lets you and later, this is the default option.
set the amount of signal attenuation when a track is
routed to a stereo output and panned to center. –3.0 dB The industry standard pan depth for sur-
round mixers and many consoles. This is the de-
The Surround Mixer requires slightly more fault setting for new Pro Tools 8.1 and later ses-
DSP resources than the Stereo Mixer. Conse- sions.
quently, if you plan to regularly mix in stereo
–4.5 dB The standard pan depth for many
and use a Pan Depth of –2.5, you may want to
British analog consoles.
use the Stereo Mixer plug-in.
–6.0 dB The standard pan depth for full mono
compatibility.

For greater than stereo formats (such as 5.1),

all surround output panning is fixed at
–3.0 dB. The variable pan depth options are
only available for stereo outputs.

Chapter 48: Basic Mixing 1051

 Views in the Mix and Edit
Windows
The Mix and Edit windows can be configured to
show or hide various mixing controls, using menu
commands or view selectors.

Most of these views are available in both windows,

unless noted otherwise.

Window View Selectors

Both the Edit window and Mix window provide
Window View selectors to configure their views.

Mix Window View selector

Displaying Views
To display all views in the Mix or Edit window, do
one of the following:

 Select View > Mix Window (or Edit Window) >

All.

 Click the Mix Window View selector (or Edit

Window View selector), and select All.

To display none of the views in the Mix or Edit

window, do one of the following:
Edit Window View selector  Select View > Mix Window (or Edit Window) >
None.

 Click the Mix Window View selector (or Edit

Window View selector), and select None.

1052 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To show or hide available views in the Mix and Edit Mic Preamps View Shows controls in each track
windows, do one of the following: for PRE. For detailed information, see the PRE
 Choose View > Mix Window (or Edit Window) Guide.
and select or deselect one of the view types
(such as Comments).
 Click the Mix Window View selector (or Edit
Window View selector), and select or deselect
one of the view types (such as Comments).
Mic Preamps View
Hiding Views in the Edit Window Instruments View Shows MIDI controls on Instru-
You can quickly hide View columns in the Edit ment tracks (MIDI Input selector, MIDI Output se-
window using the mouse with keyboard modifier. lector, MIDI volume, MIDI pan, and MIDI mute).

To hide a View column in the Edit window:

 Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) at

the top of the column you want to hide (Mic Pre,
Comments, Instrument, Inserts A–E, Inserts
F–J, Sends A–E, Sends F–J, I/O, Real-Time Instruments View
Properties, or Track Color).
HEAT View (Mix Window Only) Shows HEAT
track controls on audio tracks in the Mix window.
Window View Options This view is only available in the Mix window for
Comments View Shows any text entered as com-
Pro Tools with an authorized version of the HEAT
ments in the Track Name/Comments dialog. For option installed.
more information, see “Renaming Tracks” on
page 235.

HEAT View

Inserts View (Inserts A–E and Inserts F–J) Shows

inserts (software plug-ins and hardware I/O in-
serts) in each track. For more information, see
“Configuring Inserts View in the Mix and Edit
Windows” on page 1050.

Comments View in the Mix and Edit windows

Chapter 48: Basic Mixing 1053

 Sends View (Sends A–E and Sends F–J) Shows To show (or hide) the EQ Curve view in the Mix
send assignments in each track. Deselect to hide. window, do one of the following:
For more information, see “Configuring Sends  Select (or deselect) View > Mix Window > EQ
View in the Mix and Edit Windows” on Curve.
page 1064.
 Select (or deselect) EQ Curve from the Mix
Window View selector.

Inserts (A–E) View

Inserts (F–J) View

Sends (A–E) View

EQ Insert indicator

Sends (F–J) View EQ curve

I/O View EQ Curve view in the Mix window

For supported unlinked multi-mono EQ plug-ins

(such as EQ III), the EQ Curve display shows a
Views in the Mix window
color-coded EQ curve for each channel.
EQ Curve View (Mix Window Only) The EQ Curve
view in the Mix window indicates whether or not
an EQ plug-in is inserted on the track, and if so,
displays the curve of that EQ. The EQ Insert indi-
cator is lit when there is an EQ plug-in inserted on
the track and it is grayed out if there is no EQ plug-
in inserted on the track. The EQ Curve updates to
show any changes to the EQ inserted on the track.
If there is more than one EQ inserted on a track, the EQ Insert indicator
EQ Curve view displays the sum of the EQs.

Not all EQ plug-ins support EQ Curve view.

Multiple EQ curves
Most EQ audio plug-ins from Avid and some
third-party plug-ins support EQ Curve view.
Other EQ plug-ins light the EQ Insert indica-
EQ Curve view in the Mix window displaying the EQ
tor, but no EQ Curve is displayed for these curves for each channel of a 5.1 unlinked multi-mono
plug-ins. EQ plug-in

1054 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Meters and Faders View (Mix Window
Only) Shows track meters and faders. Hiding Me-
ters and Faders can be useful for conserving screen
space, especially if you are working with a control
surface.

I/O View Pan pop-up slider (Edit window)

Object View (Pro Tools | Ultimate with Dolby

Atmos Only) Shows the Object controls for audio,
Auxiliary Input, and Instrument tracks (mono or
stereo only).

Meters and Faders View (Mix window)

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 780.

I/O View (Edit window)

Click on the volume or pan indicators in the Edit

window I/O View to adjust the volume or pan con-
trols with a pop-up fader. Real-Time Properties View (Edit window)

Delay Compensation View The Delay Compensa-

tion View displays the total amount of plug-in and
hardware insert delay on each track, lets you apply
a user offset of track delay, and displays the total
amount of delay that Pro Tools applies to each
track. The Delay Compensation View can be
shown or hidden in the Mix Window.

I/O View Volume pop-up fader (Edit window)

Chapter 48: Basic Mixing 1055

 Audio Input and Output Paths
Delay indicator Pro Tools lets you configure the physical input and
User Offset outputs of your audio interfaces and also internal
bus paths and subpaths in the I/O Setup dialog and
Track Compensation
indicator the Hardware Setup dialog. These hardware inputs
and outputs, and internal bus paths can be assigned
Delay Compensation View
as inputs and outputs on audio, Auxiliary Input, In-
Delay values can be specified in either samples or strument, and Master Fader tracks.
milliseconds, as selected in the Mixing Preferences
page. For more information on Delay Compensa- Input Audio Path
tion, see “Delay Compensation” on page 1082.
Input Path selectors determine the source input for
Track Color View Shows track color in each track. audio, Auxiliary Input, and (optionally) Instrument
For detailed information, see “Color Coding for tracks. Track inputs can be set from hardware in-
Tracks, Clips, Markers, and Groups” on page 262. puts or internal bus paths or subpaths. For detailed
information on assigning track inputs, see “As-
Track Collaboration View (Projects Only) .Shows
signing Audio Inputs” on page 250.
the collaboration controls for tracks. For more in-
formation about collaboration, see “Track Collab- Hardware input and bus paths can be configured in
oration Track View in the Edit and Mix Windows” the I/O Setup. For more information, see
on page 387. Chapter 6, “I/O Setup.”

You can also define what physical ports are routed

to Pro Tools input ports in the Hardware Setup di-
alog. For more information, see “Configuring
Pro Tools Software System Settings” on page 92.

Track Collaboration View (Edit window)

Output Audio Path
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
Track Collaboration View (Mix window) paths and subpaths for submixing (main or sub-
paths).

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 251.

1056 Pro Tools Reference Guide

When audio, Auxiliary Input, Master Fader, and To assign a track to multiple outputs:
Instrument tracks are created, their mono, stereo, 1 Control-click (Mac) or Start-click (Windows)
or greater-than-stereo multichannel format is de- the Track Output selector and select a main out-
fined: put path.
• Mono tracks can be assigned to any available
2 Control-click (Mac) or Start-click (Windows)
mono, stereo, multichannel main and sub-paths.
additional output paths in the track’s Output
• Stereo tracks can be assigned to any available Path selector. Newly selected output destina-
mono, stereo, or multichannel main and sub- tions are added as additional outputs.
paths.
3 Do one of the following to close the Output se-
• Multichannel tracks (Pro Tools Ultimate only) lector menu and assign all selected paths:
can be assigned to any mono path, or path of the
• Press Return.
same number of channels (for example, an
LCRS track can be assigned to a mono or LCRS • Press Esc.
path). • Click anywhere outside the Output selector
menu.
Output Windows
Option-Control-click (Mac) or Alt-Start-
Output windows provide the essential track mixing click (Windows) to add the assignment to all
controls (such as track panning and volume), as an tracks, or Option-Shift-Control-click (Mac)
alternative to Mix and Edit window views. Multi- or Alt-Shift-Start-click (Windows) to add the
channel Output and Send windows also provide assignment to all selected tracks.
expanded Panner views, and other surround-spe-
cific controls. See Chapter 54, “Surround Panning Display of Multiple Output
and Mixing.” Assignments
Output windows are useful in large sessions to When a track is assigned to multiple output paths,
leave important tracks in an anchored location, un- the Output Path selector denotes multiple assign-
affected by Mix and Edit window (or control sur- ment status and active/inactive status with the fol-
face) banking. See “Output Windows for Tracks lowing indicators:
and Sends” on page 1070. • A plus sign (+) indicates that the track has mul-
tiple output assignments.
Multiple Output Assignments
Pro Tools audio, Auxiliary Input, and Instrument
tracks can be assigned to multiple output paths.
Assigning to multiple paths is an efficient way to
Indication of multiple output assignments
route an identical mix to other discrete outputs, for
simultaneous monitor feeds, headphone mixes, or
other situations where a parallel mix is needed.

Chapter 48: Basic Mixing 1057

 • In the Output Path selector menu, all currently Inactive Outputs and DSP
assigned track outputs are checked to indicate Resources
they are active for the current track.
Making a track output inactive silences the output,
• An asterisk (*) indicates that one or more while retaining all automation and playlist data. In-
currently assigned outputs is Inactive. active outputs do not consume resources for HDX
DSP mixer connections, but any assigned plug-ins
on the track continue to use their required DSP re-
sources. Host-based AAX plug-ins require CPU
resources. DSP-based AAX plug-ins use the DSP
Indication of multiple output assignments with at least available on HDX cards.
one inactive output
You can free up DSP of an unused plug-in by mak-
Inactive Outputs ing its track inactive, or by making just the plug-in
An output path can be made inactive, either glob- inactive.
ally in the I/O Setup dialog (affecting all tracks as-
See “Active and Inactive Items” on page 17,
signed to that path), or locally per assignment
and “Making Inserts Inactive” on page 1096
(only affecting that output on that audio track Aux-
for more information.
iliary Input track, or Instrument track).

To make an output path inactive, do one of the About the “No Output” Option
following:
Track outputs can be set to No Output. Assigning a
 Command-Control-click (Mac) or Control- track output to No Output causes any panning au-
Start-click (Windows) the Output selector. tomation associated with the track to be lost.
 Right-click the Output selector and select Make Tracks assigned to No Output will not be audible,
Inactive. but they do not free their associated DSP
resources.
When opening sessions, outputs will be made inac-
tive automatically if the required hardware or other
resources are not available.
Sends
Inactive outputs retain all associated automation
Pro Tools lets you insert up to ten sends (A–E and
playlists. Edits made in the session also affect the
F–J) on each audio track, Auxiliary Input, or In-
inactive track’s output automation playlists.
strument track.
See “Making Tracks Inactive” on page 262.
Sends provide the following features:
To make an inactive output path active, do one of • Sends can be set as pre- or post-fader.
the following:
• Sends can show level meters.
 Command-Control-click (Mac) or Control-
• Send level, pan, mute, and LFE controls can be
Start-click (Windows) the Output selector.
configured to follow Groups.
 Right-click the Output selector and select Make
Active.

1058 Pro Tools Reference Guide

• Send level, send mute, and send pan (for stereo The send can be a mono or stereo (or any of the
and multichannel sends) are fully automatable. supported multichannel formats for surround mix-
See “Automating Sends” on page 1140. ing) output or bus path. Paths that are already as-
• Send controls can be displayed and edited from signed are highlighted.
the Mix or Edit windows, or in their own output
windows.
• Sends can be assigned to available output and
bus paths (main or sub-paths), in mono or stereo,
or any of the supported multichannel formats for
surround mixing.
• Each send can have multiple assignments (for
example, to available output and bus paths).

To be audible in Pro Tools, sends must be returned

to the mix through an Auxiliary Input, audio track,
or Instrument track. The sends can then be moni-
tored and processed through an Auxiliary Input (or
Instrument track), recorded to audio tracks, and
bounced to disk. (Bouncing and mixdown are ex-
plained in Chapter 51, “Mixdown.”)

Assigning Sends to Tracks

To add a send to a track:
1 Make sure Sends View is enabled in the Mix or Send window (stereo)
Edit window (see “Views in the Mix and Edit
Windows” on page 1052 for information). 3 Set the output level of the send in the Send win-
dow by doing one of the following:
2 Click the Send selector on the track and choose
a path from the pop-up menu. • Adjust the Send Level fader.
• Set the send level to unity gain (0 dB) by Op-
tion-clicking (Mac) or Alt-clicking (Windows)
the Send Level fader.

When you create a new send, its initial output level

depends on the setting of the Sends Default to –INF
preference.

Pans for sends can be linked to the panning on the

track’s main output path by enabling the Send
Pans Default To Follow Main Pan preference.

Assigning a send to a stereo bus path

Chapter 48: Basic Mixing 1059

 To change the default setting for sends: 2 Type a few letters included the path name that
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click Mixing. you want. Only paths whose names that include
those letters (highlighted yellow) now appear in
2 Do one of the following: the list (maximum of 20).
• Select Sends Default to “–INF.”
• Deselect Sends Default to “–INF” and new sends
will default to unity gain (0 dB).
3 Do one of the following:
• Select Send Pans Default to Follow Main Pan.
• Deselect Send Pans Default to Follow Main Pan
to have panning control over the sends indepen-
dent of the panning on the track’s main output
path.

To remove a send from a track:

 Click the Sends button on the track and choose

No Send from the pop-up menu.

Search Send Paths Searching a path selector, typing to find a path

3 Select the desired path with the mouse, or use

To search for a path in a Send:
the Up and Down arrow keys to select the path
1 Click the path selector for the send you want to name.
assign and do one of the following:
• Type the first character of the path name you
want.
• Click Search.
• Press Tab.

Searching a path selector, single path found by typing

the first letters of its name

Searching a path selector

1060 Pro Tools Reference Guide

4 Do one of the following: Muting Sends
• Press Return (Mac) or Enter (Windows) again Pro Tools lets you mute sends individually, for all
to close the selector menu. selected tracks in your session, or just for sends
• Click anywhere outside the menu. A–E or F–J on selected tracks.

You can also search Track Presets by name To mute (or unmute) a sends from the Send
from the Sends selector. (Track Presets are window or in the Mix window in Expanded Send
not available from the Track Input or Output view:
selectors.)  Click the Mute button for the send.
To search for and assign multiple paths (Sends
To mute (or unmute) sends from the Track menu:
and Track Outputs only):
1 Select the tracks on which you want to mute
1 Type to search for each additional path assign-
sends. Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Win-
ment, do one of the following:
dows) to select all tracks shown in the session.
• Tab to confirm current tag that you are typing.
2 Select one of the following:
• Press Shift+Return.
• Click the entry.  Track > Mute Sends > All.

2 Press Return to close the selector menu and as-  Track > Mute Sends > A–E.
sign the outputs.  Track > Mute Sends > F–J.

Key Commands for Muting Sends

Pro Tools provides key commands for muting

sends on tracks in the Mix window:
 Control-click (Mac) or Start-click (Windows) a
Send Assignment button in the Mix or Edit win-
dow to Mute it and all sends below it on a track.
Searching and assigning multiple outputs  Control-Option-click (Mac) or Start+Alt-click
(Windows) a Send Assignment button in the Mix
Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) to or Edit window to Mute it and all sends below it on
assign sends to the same path for all tracks of all tracks. This lets you mute all sends in your ses-
the same type. sion with a single click.
 Press Shift+Q to mute (or unmute) all sends on
Option-Shift-click (Mac) or Alt-Shift-click selected tracks.
(Windows) to assign sends to the same path for
 Press Shift+4 to mute (or unmute) sends A–E on
all selected tracks.
selected tracks.
 Press Shift+5 to mute (or unmute) sends F–J on
selected tracks.

Chapter 48: Basic Mixing 1061

 Creating and Assigning a New
Track from a Send
Pro Tools lets you create a new Auxiliary Input,
Audio, or Instrument track from the Send selector
and automatically assign the send to the Input of
the new track using an available internal mix bus.

To create a new track from a send:

1 On an existing track, click the Send selector and

select New Track.
2 In the resulting New Track dialog, select the
Width, Type, and Time Base for the new track.

New Track dialog

3 Type a Name for the new track.

The name entered is used for both the new track

and the new mix bus. (For example, if you entered
the name “Drum Sub,” Pro Tools creates a new
Auxiliary Input track named “Drum Sub” and also New Auxiliary Input track with audio track send
creates an internal mix bus named “Drum Sub.”) automatically assigned to Bus 1–2

4 Select (or deselect) whether you want the new

track to be created next to the current track
(with the send).
5 Click OK.

Pro Tools creates a new track with the output of the

originating send automatically routed to the input
of the new track using an available internal mix
bus.

1062 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Assigning an Existing Track Send Formats
from a Send
Mono and Stereo Sends When you click the
Pro Tools lets you assign a send directly to an ac- Sends button on a track, you can choose from a list
tive Auxiliary Input, Audio, or Instrument track of mono or stereo output or bus paths.
using an available internal mix bus. Note that the
destination track must be set to either an internal Multichannel Sends (Pro Tools | Ultimate Only)
mix bus or to No Input in order to be available for When you click the Sends button on a track, you
assignment. can choose from a list of multichannel output or
bus paths.
To assign a send to an available input on an
existing track:
1 On an existing track, click the Send selector and
Send Path Selector Choices
select Track. The choices available in track Send selectors in-
clude bus and output paths.
2 From the Track submenu, select the destination
track you want. The names, format, and channel mapping of
busses and output paths can be customized in
the I/O Setup dialog. See “Output Busses” on
page 78.

Internal Mix Busses Pro Tools provides internal

mix busses for routing signals internally. Internal
bus paths are useful for submixing and processing
with plug-ins. Bus paths are defined in the
I/O Setup dialog, and are available in all supported
channel formats (mono, stereo, or multichannel, as
supported on your system).

Hardware Outputs Hardware sends are often used

for headphone cue mixes, or for sending signals to
external effects processors. Sends do not automat-
ically return audio as do hardware inserts.

Assigning a send to an existing Auxiliary Input track

Pro Tools automatically routes the send to the in-

put of the selected track using an available internal
mix bus.

Chapter 48: Basic Mixing 1063

 In Assignments View, send controls are adjusted
Configuring Sends View in from Send Output windows (see “Output Win-
the Mix and Edit Windows dows for Tracks and Sends” on page 1070). You
Audio tracks, Auxiliary Inputs, and Instrument can also adjust some send controls in Expanded
tracks include two sets of Sends Views: Sends Send views (see “Expanded Send Views (A–J)” on
A–E (sends 1–5) and Sends F–J (sends 6–10). The page 1065).
View menu provides separate options for viewing
Send A, Assignment View
these sends in the Mix and Edit windows.

To display sends in the Mix window:

 Select any of the following:

• View > Mix Window > Sends A–E.
• View > Mix Window > Sends F–J.

To display sends in the Edit window:

 Select any of the following:

• View > Edit Window > Sends A–E. Send selectors (A–E)

• View > Edit Window > Sends F–J.

Send selectors (F–J)

Sends View Options
Sends are displayed in the Mix and Edit window
according to the Sends A–E View and Sends F–J
View options. Each Send View has six view Assignments View, no sends (left) and with an
choices: Assignments View and five individual assigned send (right)
Send Views (A–E or F–J). To show (or hide) send assignments:

Do one of the following:

Assignments View


• Select (or deselect) View > Sends A–E > Assign-

This is the default Sends View, showing all five of ments.
the Sends A–E or Sends F–J sends on all tracks dis-
• Select (or deselect) View > Sends F–J > Assign-
played in the Mix and Edit windows.
ments.
• Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win-
dows) any Send selector to toggle between
Sends view and Expanded Sends view.

1064 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Expanded Send Views (A–J) To expand all sends:

Pro Tools lets you expand any combination of in-  Choose View > Expanded Sends > All.
dividual send assignments views. Expanded Send
Command-Option-click (Mac) or Control-Alt-
Views provide send level, pan, and mute controls
click (Windows) a send selector to expand or
for a single send across all tracks. Send controls
collapse all sends within the send group
can be adjusted directly from these Send Views.
(Sends A–E or Sends F–J).
Sends can also be opened for control or metering in
Send windows. See “Output Windows for Tracks To collapse all sends:
and Sends” on page 1070.
 Choose View > Expanded Sends > None.

Meters in Send Assignments

Pro Tools can show segmented level meters to the
right of the send path name in the Send Assign-
ment button in normal sends view. Sends only
show post-send fader metering.

To show (or hide) meters in Send Assignments, do

one of the following:

 Choose Setup > Preferences > Metering and se-

lect (or deselect) the Show Send Assignment
Level Meter option (see “Show Send Assign-
ment Level Meter” on page 124).
 Right-click on a track meter and select (or dese-
lect) the Show Send Assignment Level Meter
option.

Expanded Sends view for Sends A, B, and F

To expand (or collapse) a send:

 Select (or deselect) View > Expanded Sends >

Send <n> (A–J).

Command-click (Mac) or Control-click Assignments View, meters shown

(Windows) a send selector to expand or
collapse the send.

Chapter 48: Basic Mixing 1065

 To clear all meters, do one of the following:
Editing Sends in the Mix and
Edit Windows (Individual  Option-click any Clip indicator.
Send Views)  Choose Track > Clear All Clip Indicators.
Individual Send Views (such as Send A) display  Press Option+C (Mac) or Alt+C (Windows).
all the controls of an individual send in the sends
area of the Mix and Edit windows. These views In Assignment View, edit sends by opening
provide full access to all controls for that send on their Output windows. See “Output Windows
all tracks. for Tracks and Sends” on page 1070.

Send Status Display

Send selector Send Assignment button When displaying all controls for an individual
Send level Send Pan sends, the Send status is visible directly in the Mix
Send meter Pre/Post Fader button or Edit windows.
Send Mute button
In Assignment View, Send status is displayed as
Send A View, with mono send shown follows:
Send level and mute can follow Mix groups, to ad- • By default, the Send button is gray, to indicate
just multiple send controls from a single set of con- that it is unmuted.
trols. • The Send button text is red when the send has
clipped.
Individual Send Views and • The Send button is blue when the send is muted.
Meters
• The Send button is lit whenever a send’s
When you display the controls for an individual window is open.
send, you also have the option of displaying send
level meters. Unmuted Clipped Muted Window is open
(red text) (blue) (lit Send)
Send level meters show peak values and indicate
clipping that occurs while the meter is displayed (if
a send clips any time before its meter is displayed,
this is not shown). If you are using a slower com-
puter, hiding send level meters can improve screen
redraw times.
Indication of Send mute, clipping, and window status
To clear a send meter’s Clip indicator:
If you use a control surface (such as D-Control or
 Click the Clip indicator. 003) with Pro Tools, colored outlines around
sends, inserts, and outputs indicate the current con-
troller focus.

1066 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Inactive Sends To toggle sends in the same position (A–J) and
assigned to the same path on all selected tracks
Sends can be made inactive. Inactive sends free active or inactive:
their DSP and mixer resources, while retaining
 Command-Control-Option-Shift-click (Mac) or
their position in track Sends View. Inactive sends
Control-Start-Alt-Shift-click (Windows) a send
do not output audio. However, Inactive sends re-
button in the position you want to toggle.
tain all related automation playlists. In addition,
edits made to clips on tracks with inactive sends
can still affect the sends automation playlists. Moving or Copying Sends
Sends can be moved or copied to other tracks, or to
When opening sessions, sends will automatically
other positions on the same track by dragging.
be made inactive if the required hardware or other
Sends can be dragged to create new sends at the
resources are not available.
destination, or dragged onto existing send assign-
Active Inactive send Inactive track ments to replace them.
send (italicized and (entire track is italicized
(plain text) grayed out) and grayed out)
Sends can be moved and copied to tracks with
compatible send formats (mono, stereo, or other).
Pro Tools alerts you when you try to move or copy
a send to an incompatible destination. (For more
information, see “Send Format and Track Compat-
ibility” on page 1067).

To move a send:

 Drag the send name to a new position in the

original track or in a different track.

Display of inactive sends To copy a send:

To make a send inactive, do one of the following:  Option-drag (Mac) or Alt-drag (Windows) the
 Command-Control-click (Mac) or Control- send to a new position.
Start-click (Windows) on the Send assignment.
Moving or copying a send maintains all routing as-
 Make the Track inactive. See “Making Tracks signments, automation, level/pan/mute settings,
Inactive” on page 262. and output format.

To toggle sends in the same position (A–J) and Send Format and Track Compatibility
assigned to the same path on all tracks active or
inactive: Sends can only be copied to other tracks with a
compatible send output format (mono, stereo, or
 Command-Control-Option click (Mac) or Con-
other). In addition, the following conditions apply
trol-Start-Alt click (Windows) a send button in
when moving or copying sends among tracks:
the position you want to toggle.
• When copying a stereo send from a mono track
to a stereo track, Send pan automation (if any)
will be dropped without warning.

Chapter 48: Basic Mixing 1067

 • When copying a stereo send from a stereo track To link a Send’s Pan controls to the Main Pan
to a mono track, the left Send pan controls of a track:
automation data is retained and the right side 1 Click the Send Assignment button for the Send
data is dropped. A warning dialog appears for you want to link to open the Send window.
you to confirm or cancel this destructive opera-
2 In the Send window, click the FMP (Follow
tion.
Main Pan) button.
• When moving or copying a send and replacing
an existing send, all automation on the existing To change the default FMP (Follows Main Pan)
send will be replaced. A warning dialog appears setting for newly created Sends:
for you to confirm or cancel this destructive 1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click Mixing.
operation.
2 Under Setup, select or deselect the Send Pans
Default to Follow Main Pan option.
Copying Track Settings to Sends
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)
Pre/Post–Fader Indicator for
Sometimes you need send settings to match the Sends
settings in the track itself—for example, to provide
In Sends view in both the Mix and Edit windows,
a headphone mix based on the main mix. You can
the Sends selector changes color to indicate
copy the current values or the entire automation
whether a Send is Pre-fader (blue) or Post-fader
playlist from selected tracks to any of their sends.
(no color). This lets you quickly see which sends
For more information, see “Copying Track are Pre-fader and which are Post-fader simply by
Automation to Sends” on page 1141. glancing at the Sends view of tracks in the Mix or
Edit window.
Linking Send Pan and Main Pan
Controls Pre-fader Post-fader
You can link pan controls of individual Sends to
the Main pan controls of their corresponding
tracks. This can help you quickly setup cue mix
(headphone mix) or effects processing bus routing.

Pre/Post-fader indicators in Sends view, Mix window

shown

Follow Main Pan button

Linked Send pan controls appear in light gray.

1068 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 To select tracks based on the track Input or Output
Bus Interrogation Options assignment, Send assignment, or Hardware Insert
assignment:
Pro Tools lets you select or show tracks based on
the track input or output assignment, send assign-  Right-click the assignment selector and choose
ment, or hardware insert assignment. This can be Select Assignments To for the bus you want.
useful for quickly identifying all tracks that use a
specific input, internal bus, output bus, or hard-
ware insert.

Right-click the assignment selector and choose

from the following options:

Select Assignments To This option selects all

tracks that use a specific input, internal bus, output
bus, or hardware insert.
Choosing the Select Assignments To Bus 9–10 option
Show Assignments To This option shows all
tracks, including hidden tracks, that use a specific To show all tracks based on the track Input or
Output assignment, Send assignment, or
input, internal bus, output bus, or hardware insert. Hardware Insert assignment:
All other tracks remain shown as well.
 Right-click the assignment selector and choose
Show Only Assignments To This option shows Show Assignments To for the bus you want.
only those tracks that use a specific input, internal Any hidden tracks with the corresponding as-
bus, output bus, or hardware insert. All other tracks signment are shown.
are automatically hidden.
To show only tracks based on the track Input or
Restore Previously Shown Tracks This option re- Output assignment, Send assignment, or
stores the previous state of shown and hidden Hardware Insert assignment:
tracks. This option is only available if tracks have
 Right-click the assignment selector and choose
been hidden by using the Show Only Assignments
Show Only Assignments To for the bus you
To option.
want. All other tracks are automatically
Press Option (Mac) or Alt (Windows) while hidden.
Right-clicking and selecting any of the Bus
To restore all previously shown tracks:
Interrogation commands to apply the com-
mand to all related paths and sub-paths. For  Right-click any assignment selector and choose
example, Press Option (Mac) or Alt (Win- Restore Previously Shown Tracks.
dows) while Right-clicking an output selector
and choosing Show Only Assignments To Bus
1. If Bus 1 is a sub-path of Bus 1–2, all tracks
using path Bus 1–2, and all tracks using sub-
paths Bus 1 and Bus 2 are shown, and all
other tracks are hidden.

Chapter 48: Basic Mixing 1069

 To open a Send window:
Output Windows for Tracks
and Sends  Click the Send Assignment button in the Mix or
Edit window.
Track Output and Send windows provide standard
Pro Tools track, send, Target, and other controls.
Track outputs and sends can be opened for display
and editing in dedicated windows.
• Track Output windows provide track fader, pan,
automation, solo, and mute controls.
• Send windows provide send level, pan,
automation, and mute controls.
• Standard Output and Send window controls pro-
vide additional routing, assignment, and display
settings.

To open a track Output window:

 Click the Output Window button in the channel

strip.

Opening a Send window

To view a different track Output or Send window:

 Click an Output Window button, or Send

Assignment button, in the Mix or Edit window.

If a similar Output window was already open with

a highlighted Target icon (red, lit), the newly se-
lected send will open in its place.

Opening a track Output window

1070 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Opening Multiple Output Track or Send Fader, Pan
Windows Controls, and Solo, Mute, and
Automation Controls
Multiple Track Output and Send windows can be
displayed simultaneously using either of the fol- Output windows provide the associated track’s
lowing methods. Volume fader, Pan controls, Solo and Mute
switches, and Automation Mode selector. Use
To open additional Track Output or Send windows: these to adjust or automate the controls of the Out-
 Shift-click any Track Output Window button or put window.
Send Assignment button.
Panner Linking
To set a window to remain open when opening
additional Track Output or Send windows: Stereo outputs provide two panning controls, one
for each side of the left/right pair. Multichannel
 Make sure the Target is disabled.
outputs provide a multichannel panner.
Target enabled Target disabled The Output window provides controls to link chan-
nels for precise panning of stereo and multichannel
tracks.

In the linked state, all sides match changes to any

other side’s Pan control. This is Absolute Link
mode. To mirror panning changes, see “Inverse
Linked Panning” on page 1072.

When unlinked, Pan controls are completely inde-

pendent of each other.

Inverse icon
Link icon

Unlinked (left), linked (middle), front inverse linked

(right) Send windows

Multiple Send windows open To enable linking:

 Enable the Link icon.

To unlink an output for independent panning:

 Deselect the Link icon.

Chapter 48: Basic Mixing 1071

 Inverse Linked Panning
Track selector Target
When linked and set to Inverse mode, panning
Send selector
moves are inverted or reversed in the other chan- Path selector Pre/Post Fader
nels. Automation Safe Follow Main Pan
Link Inverse Pan
Inverse panning reflects one side’s location and di-
rection in the other side. For example, when en- Send window standard controls
abled for Front Inverse, if you pan one side of a ste- Track Selector Provides access to any audio track,
reo track output from right to left, the other side Auxiliary Input, or Master Fader in the session.
will exactly mirror that movement and pan left to
right. Output View Selector Provides access to other
outputs (track and send) in the track, if any, dis-
Front Inverse linking is available on all systems. playing the selected output in the current window.
Rear Inverse, and Front/Rear Inverse linking are
available on Pro Tools HD systems only, and only Send View Selector (Send Window Only) Pro-
appear as options on multichannel plug-ins and vides access to other sends on the track.
panners/output windows. Output Path Selector Allows you to assign the
Output path for the current track or send.
Link
Front Inverse
Pre/Post Fader Button (Send Window Only) De-
Front/Rear Inverse
termines whether the send is pre- or post-fader.

FMP (Follow Main Pan) (Send Window Only) De-

Rear Inverse termines whether or not panning for the send fol-
Link and Inverse selectors (multichannel track) lows the panning settings of the track. When the
To enable inverse linking: FMP button is enabled, the Panning controls in the
Send window become unavailable and the panning
1 Enable the Link icon.
for the send is determined by the panning settings
2 Select an Inverse mode. for the track.

Automation Safe Protects track and send level,

Standard Selector Controls in pan, and other controls from automation over-
Output Windows writes by placing them in Automation Safe mode.
All Output windows provide standard selectors for See Chapter 50, “Automation” for more informa-
path, automation, and other controls in the top area tion.
of the window (the Output Editor area).
Inverse Pan Reflects one side’s panning location
and direction in the other side (for example, left-
Track selector Target and right-channel Pan controls).
Output View
Path selector selector
Automation Safe Inverse Pan
Link

Output window standard controls

1072 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Link and Unlink Lets you link and unlink left and
right (or other) outputs in stereo (or multichannel). Output Meters
Unlinked mode provides discrete adjustment of in- Pro Tools provides Output meters in the Transport
dividual sides, or channels. When linked, all window and Edit window that display the monitor-
changes affect all channels. See “Panner Linking” ing levels for signals routed to the physical outputs
on page 1071. on your audio interfaces from your session or to in-
Target Identifies the target of plug-in settings com- ternal busses in the session. The top LED is red and
mands. Also sets the current window for display of indicates clipping at the converters on your audio
Output windows. interface (DAC) on the corresponding channels or
on internal busses.
Path Meter View Opens the path Meter View.
These meters display levels of the selected path For Pro Tools HD systems using greater than ste-
(not the levels of the track or send). reo output paths, up to 8 meters are shown. The
number of Output meters displayed is determined
Path Meter by the selected Output paths on tracks. The meters
View button are ordered according to the channel order of the
Output paths as configured in the I/O Setup.

The audio paths monitored in the Output meters

are determined by the Output Meter Path setting in
the Output page of the I/O Setup.

To set the Output Meter Paths:

1 Choose Setup > I/O Setup.

Send meter
2 Select the Output tab.
Path
meters
3 From the Output Meter Path selector, select the
desired output path for metering.

Path Meter
selector

Path Meter View in a Send window

Selecting the Output Meter Path in the I/O Setup

4 Click OK.

Chapter 48: Basic Mixing 1073

 The channel order is determined by the configura-
tion of the output paths in the I/O setup. Signal Routing for Monitoring
and Submixing
The bussing and mixing features in Pro Tools sup-
port many possibilities for submixing and monitor-
ing, including the ability to:
• Monitor and mix playback of audio tracks with
audio inputs or with MIDI instruments
• Bus submixes for effects processing or monitor-
ing (including headphone or “cue” mixes)
• Mix submixes with Master Faders

Monitoring and Mixing Audio

with Auxiliary Input Tracks
Output Meters channel order determined by the
Output configuration in the I/O Setup Use Auxiliary Input tracks to monitor and mix au-
dio from external sources, such as MIDI instru-
For all Pro Tools systems using stereo output ments, tape, or microphone inputs, in a Pro Tools
paths, stereo meters are shown (L/R). mix.

To use an Auxiliary Input track to monitor and mix

external audio sources:

1 Connect the audio outputs of your audio source

(such as a MIDI synthesizer or tape output) to
available inputs on your Pro Tools audio inter-
Stereo Output Meters in the Transport window face.
To show (or hide) Output Meters in the Edit window 2 If necessary, configure the I/O Setup dialog for
transport or in the Transport window:
the input paths you plan to use (see Chapter 6,
 From the Edit window or Transport window “I/O Setup.”)
menu, select (or deselect) Output Meter.
3 Use an existing or create a new Auxiliary Input
track with a channel format that corresponds to
the channel format of your audio source (mono,
stereo, or multichannel).
4 Set the input of the Auxiliary Input track to the
corresponding input path.
5 Assign the track output to the appropriate path
Selecting the Output Meters option in the Transport or paths for monitoring.
Window menu
6 Adjust the Auxiliary Input fader to mix the au-
dio input.

1074 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Monitoring and Mixing Audio
with Instrument Tracks
MIDI Input selector MIDI Mute
Use Instrument tracks to monitor and mix audio MIDI Output selector
MIDI Volume control
from instrument plug-ins or external MIDI MIDI Pan control
MIDI Velocity meter
instruments in a Pro Tools mix. Instrument plug-in

To use an Instrument track to monitor and mix the

output of an instrument plug-in:
Audio Input selector
1 Use an existing or create a new Instrument Audio Output (set to no input)
track. selector

2 Choose View > Mix Window > Instruments to

show the MIDI controls of the Instrument track.
3 Select an instrument plug-in from the first Insert
selector on the Instrument track (such as
Xpand2).
4 The virtual MIDI node (port) for the instrument
plug-in should be automatically selected for the
Instrument track’s MIDI Output. If not, select
the MIDI channel and corresponding port for
the instrument plug-in from the MIDI Output
selector.
5 Assign the track audio output to the appropriate
path or paths for monitoring.
6 Adjust the Instrument track fader to mix the au-
Instrument track configured to control and monitor an
dio input.
instrument plug-in (Xpand2 shown)
7 If you are controlling the Instrument plug-in To use an Instrument track to monitor and mix
from the Instrument track, you can also mix audio from an external MIDI instrument:
using the MIDI Volume and Pan controls in the
1 Connect the audio outputs of your external
Instrument View.
MIDI instrument (such as a MIDI synthesizer)
For information on configuring audio and to available inputs on your Pro Tools audio in-
MIDI signal routing for controlling and mon- terface.
itoring ReWire client applications, see the 2 If necessary, configure the I/O Setup dialog for
Audio Plug-Ins Guide. the input paths you plan to use (see Chapter 6,
“I/O Setup.”)
3 Connect the MIDI input and output of your ex-
ternal MIDI instrument to available MIDI input
and output ports on your MIDI interface.

Chapter 48: Basic Mixing 1075

 4 If necessary, configure the MIDI Studio Setup 10 Adjust the Instrument track fader to mix the au-
(Setup > MIDI > MIDI Studio). dio input.
5 Use an existing or create a new Instrument track 11 If you are controlling the external MIDI instru-
with a channel format that corresponds to the ment from the Instrument track, you can also
channel format of your audio source (mono, ste- mix using the MIDI Volume and Pan controls in
reo, or multichannel). the Instrument View.
6 Choose View > Mix Window > Instruments to To monitor and mix audio from an Instrument
show the MIDI controls of the Instrument track. plug-in with multiple audio outputs:
7 Set the audio input of the Instrument track to the 1 Use an existing or create a new Instrument
corresponding input path. track.
8 In the Instrument track’s Instrument View, set 2 Choose View > Mix Window > Instruments to
the MIDI output to the corresponding MIDI show the MIDI controls of the Instrument track.
port connected to the MIDI input of your exter-
3 Select a multi-output instrument plug-in from
nal MIDI instrument.
the first Insert selector on the Instrument track
9 Assign the track output to the appropriate path (such as Xpand!2).
or paths for monitoring.
4 The virtual MIDI node (port) for the instrument
plug-in should be automatically selected for the
MIDI Input selector MIDI Mute Instrument track’s MIDI Output. If not, select
MIDI Volume control
MIDI Output selector the MIDI channel and corresponding port for
MIDI Pan control
MIDI Velocity meter the instrument plug-in.
Audio Input selector
Audio Output (set to input for 5 In the plug-in window, assign the individual au-
selector external MIDI device) dio outputs of the plug-in.
6 Create an Auxiliary Input track for each output
of the plug-in. Make sure the channel format of
the Auxiliary Inputs corresponds to the channel
format of the plug-in outputs (mono, stereo, or
multichannel).
7 Set the inputs of the Auxiliary Input tracks to re-
ceive the individual outputs of the plug-in.
8 Assign the outputs of the Auxiliary Input tracks
to the appropriate path or paths for monitoring.
9 Adjust the Auxiliary Input faders to mix the in-
dividual outputs of the plug-in.

Instrument track configured to control and monitor an

external MIDI instrument (K2600 shown)

1076 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Creating a Submix
A submix is created by routing multiple audio
sources to a common bus or output path. This “sub-
mixes” the sources to a single path that can be re-
turned to an Auxiliary Input, where the submix can
Instrument
plug-in be processed with plug-ins or external effects pro-
cessors.
Inputs from
plug-in
Audio is routed to a submix by assigning any com-
outputs bination of sends and track output to available bus
or output paths.

When routing mono signals with internal mix

busses, be sure to use mono busses rather
than splitting stereo busses. Since Pro Tools
keeps stereo busses phase aligned, splitting
stereo busses can result in inaccurate delay
compensation.

Submixing with Track Outputs or Sends

You can use both track outputs and sends to route

audio for submixing, depending on whether you
want a discrete or send and return submix.

Discrete Submix Output

Pro Tools lets you discretely route source audio
Instrument plug-in with multiple outputs routed to through a submix. This is preferred for dither or
Auxiliary Input tracks other mastering processing, where you do not want
unprocessed audio heard in addition to the pro-
cessed signals. Use track outputs (not sends) to as-
sign tracks to a bus path for discrete submixing. In
this arrangement, the balance of processed and un-
processed signal is controlled by plug-in wet/dry
settings.

To create a discrete submix:

1 Set the output of the tracks you want to include
in the submix to a stereo bus path.
2 Pan each track.
3 Choose Track > New.

Chapter 48: Basic Mixing 1077

 4 Specify the track type (Aux Input) and format To create an effects return submix with a plug-in or
(stereo), then click Create. hardware insert:

1 Assign each track’s main output to your main

5 Set the input of the Auxiliary Input to the same
mix outputs.
bus path to which you assigned all contributing
tracks. 2 On the source tracks, assign a send (mono or
stereo) and select a mono or stereo bus path
6 Set the output of the Auxiliary Input track to
from the Send selector. Configure the sends for
your main stereo mix outputs (typically, outputs
pre- or post-fader, as needed.
1–2).
3 Choose Track > New.
7 Set the Auxiliary Input Track level.
4 Specify the track type (Aux Input) and format
8 To process the submix, assign a plug-in or hard-
(stereo), then click Create.
ware insert on the Auxiliary Input.
5 From the Auxiliary Input track’s Input Path se-
9 Set the controls of the plug-in. The plug-in By-
lector, select the send bus path.
pass and Wet/Dry controls (if available) deter-
mine the amount of effect heard. 6 Solo safe the track so that if you solo another
track that uses the effects send, you won’t mute
The contributing track faders control the balance
the effects return (see “Solo Safe Mode” on
within the submix. The Auxiliary Input track con-
page 261).
trols the output levels of all tracks routed to it.
7 Assign a plug-in or hardware insert on the Aux-
You can apply mix automation to the volume, pan, iliary Input.
mute, and send level, send pan, and send mute con-
trols of the Auxiliary Input. 8 Set the effect to “100% wet,” and set any other
controls.
You can also bounce a submix to disk to free up the
9 From the Auxiliary Input track’s Output Path
voices for use by other tracks. See Chapter 51,
selector, select an output path (main outputs).
“Mixdown” for more information.
Adjust the individual track faders to balance the
Send and Return Submixing for dry (unprocessed) tracks. With the send set to pre-
Effects Processing fader, the amount of effect is controlled by the
level of the Send Level fader or the Auxiliary Input
When you are submixing for reverb, delay, and
Volume fader. If the send is post-fader, the Send
similar effects processing, use sends to achieve tra-
Level fader follows volume level.
ditional send/return bussing. You can use a real-
time plug-in or a hardware insert as a shared re-
source for all tracks included in a submix. The
wet/dry balance in the mix can be controlled using
the track faders (dry level) and Auxiliary Input
fader (effect return, or wet, level).

See Chapter 49, “Plug-In and Hardware

Inserts” for more information.

1078 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Send and Return Submixes with
External Devices
Effect (plug-in or hardware)
Insert
To create an effects return submix with an external
device:

Send to effect bus

1 Assign each track’s main output to your main
mix outputs.
Controls level of send
to effects bus
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 send bus path
Output set to main mix outs 3 Choose Track > New.
4 Specify the track type (Aux Input) and format
(stereo or mono), then click Create.
5 From the Auxiliary Input track’s Input Path se-
lector, select the input path connected to the ex-
ternal device.
6 From the Auxiliary Input track’s Output Path
Controls level of effect return
selector, select an output path (main outputs).
7 Adjust the individual track faders to balance the
Controls level of dry signal
dry (unprocessed) tracks.

The amount of effect is controlled by the level of

the Send Level fader or the Auxiliary Input Vol-
ume fader.

Send/return setup for a plug-in or hardware insert

Chapter 48: Basic Mixing 1079

 Creating Monitor Submixes
Route track sends to one or more Auxiliary Input
tracks to monitor submixes in a studio environ-
ment. You can monitor the main mix in the control
room on one or more pairs of audio outputs while
Send to external device
you route a submix to another pair of audio outputs
Controls level of send
to external device
for a headphone or “cue” mix for the “talent.” For
example, you may want to provide the bassist with
a submix of the drums and their own track for over-
dubbing a new bass part.
Input set to device’s return With cue mixes, when recording overdubs it is
Output set to main mix outs
recommended that there be no inserts (or at
least only inserts with very low delays) on the
record track to avoid any unnecessary la-
tency in the monitoring signal path.

To create a monitor submix:

1 Assign each track’s main output to your main
mix outputs.
Controls level of effect return 2 Assign a send (mono or stereo) and set the send
Controls level of dry signal 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.
3 Choose Track > New.
4 Specify the track type (Aux Input) and format
(stereo or mono), then click Create.
5 From the Auxiliary Input track’s Output Path
Send/return setup for an external device
selector, select the output path (not the main
outputs) for monitoring the mix.

Adjust the Auxiliary Input track fader to control

the volume for the monitor mix.

1080 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Creating a Master Send Level
Control
A Master Fader can control the overall level of bus
and output paths.

To create a Master send level control:

1 Choose Track > New.

2 Specify the track type (Master Fader), and
mono, stereo, or any of the supported multi-
channel formats for surround mixing.
3 Click Create.
4 Do one of the following:
• Set the output of the Master Fader to the same
path that you are using to send to an Auxiliary
Input track.
• Set the output of the Master Fader to match the
path that you have chosen for your effects send.

You can then adjust send levels to balance the

source tracks, and use the Master Fader as a master
level control for the entire submix.

Soloing Tracks in a Submix

Soloing any tracks implicitly mutes all other
Drum submix for monitoring tracks, including Auxiliary Inputs. Solo-safing an
Auxiliary Input prevents this implicit muting and
lets the Auxiliary Input continue to pass audio
when its source tracks are soloed.

To solo safe an Auxiliary Input:

 Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win-

dows) the Solo button on the Auxiliary Input
track.

To solo an individual track that is part of a group:

 Control-click (Mac) or Start-click (Windows)

the Solo button.

Chapter 48: Basic Mixing 1081

 Generating Stereo Output from Enabling Delay Compensation
a Mono Send/Return
To enable Delay Compensation:
You can use an Auxiliary Input to generate a stereo
output from a mono send. Set the send destination  Select Options > Delay Compensation.
to a mono Auxiliary Input track and place a mono When Delay Compensation is enabled, the Delay
to stereo plug-in on the Auxiliary Input. The output Compensation status indicator in the Edit Window
of the Auxiliary Input becomes stereo. Toolbar is displayed.
To create a “stereo” effect from a mono source,
you must use reverb, delay, or other time domain
effects.

Delay Compensation
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only) Delay Compensation indicator

Pro Tools provides automatic Delay Compensa-

tion for managing DSP and host-based delays from The Delay Compensation indicator in the
plug-in inserts, and mixer routing (bussing and Edit window turns red if you have any delays
sends). With Delay Compensation enabled, in the session that exceeds the maximum
Pro Tools maintains phase coherent time align- available delay compensation (see “Delay
ment between tracks that have plug-ins with differ- that Exceeds the Compensation Limit” on
ing delays, tracks with different mixing paths, page 1085).
tracks that are split off and recombined within the
Red can also indicate that you have created a
mixer, and tracks with hardware inserts.
feedback loop that cannot be compensated
When Delay Compensation is enabled, Pro Tools for. For example, if the output of a track is
allocates 16,383 samples at 44.1/48 kHz, 32,767 routed to the input of the same track. Mouse
samples at 88.2/96 kHz, or 65,534 samples at over the Delay Compensation indicator in the
176.4/192 kHz of Delay Compensation for each Edit window to see if the tooltip identifies this
mixer channel. For sessions with plug-ins on mixer as a problem.
channels that result in more the 4,000 samples of
The Delay Compensation View for tracks can be
delay at 48 kHz, select this setting.
displayed in the Mix Window (see “Delay Com-
To maintain phase coherent time alignment, Delay pensation View” on page 1083).
Compensation should always be enabled during
playback and mixing. Delay Compensation should
also be used in most recording situations.

1082 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Delay Compensation Time Mode Delay Compensation View
Delay values can be specified in either samples or The Delay Compensation View displays the total
milliseconds, as selected with the Delay Compen- amount of plug-in and hardware insert delay
sation Time Mode setting in the Mixing Prefer- (Pro Tools Ultimate only), and the total amount of
ences page. delay that Pro Tools applies to each track. You can
also apply an offset for track delay on a track-by-
System Delay track basis. The Delay Compensation View can be
shown or hidden in the Mix Window.
Pro Tools adds the exact amount of delay to each
track necessary to make that particular track’s de-
lay equal to the total System Delay. The total sys-
tem delay is the longest delay reported on a track,
Delay indicator
plus any additional delay caused by mixer routing. User Offset field
Track
The System Delay is shown in the Session Setup Compensation
indicator
window (Session > Setup). Reference the reported
Delay Compensation View
System Delay to monitor whether or not you are
close to exceeding the Delay Compensation limit.
Delay Compensation view only shows the in-
sert delay for each track. To view the com-
plete system delay, including mixer delays,
check the System Delay in the Session Setup
window (see “System Delay” on page 1083).

To view Delay Compensation information:

 Select View > Mix Window > Delay Compensa-

tion.
System Delay in Session Setup window

Delay Compensation View

Pro Tools Ultimate accounts for converter Indicators and Field
delays when using Automatic Delay Compen-
sation. However, when using non-HD hard- Delay (dly) Indicator
ware, System Delay only displays internal
The Delay (dly) indicator reports the total plug-in
delay and does not take into account any la-
and hardware insert delay on the track. The Delay
tency incurred by the analog-to-digital
indicator’s report to Pro Tools Delay Compensa-
(ADC) or digital-to-analog (DAC) convert-
tion Engine can be bypassed when Delay Compen-
ers in your audio interface.
sation is enabled. This is useful for manually time-
aligning a track when the total delay on a track ex-
ceeds the Delay Compensation limit. See “Delay
that Exceeds the Compensation Limit” on
page 1085.

Chapter 48: Basic Mixing 1083

 The display color indicates reported track delay, as • Press the Up and Down Arrow keys to increase
follows: or decrease the numerical values.

Green Indicates that track delay reporting is en- 3 Press Enter.

abled and the track does not exceed the available
amount of Delay Compensation. To bypass the user delay:

 Command-Control-click (Mac) or Start-Con-

Orange Indicates that this is the track reporting the
trol-click (Windows) the User Offset field. The
longest plug-in and hardware insert delay in the
user-defined delay appears grayed out and does
session.
not apply to the track.
Red Indicates that the amount of plug-in and hard-
ware insert delay on the track exceeds the available Track Compensation (cmp) Indicator
amount of Delay Compensation (see “Delay that This indicator shows the amount of Delay Com-
Exceeds the Compensation Limit” on page 1085). pensation Pro Tools applies to each track.
Gray Track delay report is bypassed.
The display color indicates the amount of Delay
Compensation applied, as follows:
User Offset (+/–) Field
Green Track compensation is enabled and the
This field lets you adjust track delays manually
track does not exceed the Delay Compensation
while Delay Compensation is enabled. The User
limit. The amount of Delay Compensation shown
Offset is added to or subtracted from the amount of
in the indicator is applied to the track.
delay applied by Track Compensation. The User
Offset is useful for the following cases: Blue (Audio Tracks Only) Indicates that Delay
• For manually time-aligning a track if a plug-in is Compensation is force-enabled on the track. When
incorrectly reporting its delay. the track is record-enabled or TrackInput-enabled,
Delay Compensation is not suspended and remains
• For adjusting the timing “feel” of a track.
enabled (see “Overriding Low Latency Monitoring
To change track delay using the User Offset field: During Recording” on page 1086).

1 In the Delay Compensation View, click in the Red Indicates that the track delay exceeds the
User Offset edit field. available amount of Delay Compensation and no
Delay Compensation is applied to the track (see
2 To set your delay value (in samples or millisec-
“Delay that Exceeds the Compensation Limit” on
onds depending on your current preferences),
page 1085).
do one of the following:
• Enter a positive number (with or without the “+” Gray Indicates that Delay Compensation for the
modifier) for a positive delay (later in time) or track is bypassed and no delay is applied to the
negative number (with the “–” modifier) for a track.
negative delay (earlier in time).
• Drag in the User Offset field to scroll to a new
value. For finer resolution, Command-drag
(Mac) Control-drag (Windows).

1084 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Delay Compensation for To compensate for delay that exceeds the
Side-Chains compensation limit:
(HDX Systems Only) 1 Bypass the reported delay for the track by doing
one of the following:
HDX systems let you automatically compensate
for signal delays in side-chain processing. In some • Command-Control-click (Mac) or Control-
cases, you may want to disable automatic delay Start-click (Windows) the Delay indicator.
compensation for side-chains (such as for sessions • Right-click the Delay indicator and select Dis-
created on previous versions of Pro Tools where able Plug-In Delay.
you have manually compensated for side-chain de-
lays). The track information is grayed out once it is by-
passed.
To enable (or disable) automatic delay
compensation for side-chains:
2 Manually nudge any audio data on the track ear-
lier by the amount of delay reported in the
1 Choose Setup > Preferences. track’s Delay indicator.
2 Click the Operation tab.
Use the Time Adjuster plug-ins to manually
3 Select (or deselect) the Compensate Side offset tracks in real-time. For more informa-
Chains option. tion, see the Audio Plug-ins Guide.
4 Click OK.
Low Latency Monitoring During
Recording
Delay that Exceeds the
Compensation Limit When an audio track is armed for recording (re-
cord-enabled), TrackInput-enabled, Destructive-
When the total delay on a track exceeds the total Punch-enabled, or punched in, the track’s Delay
available amount of available Delay Compensa- Compensation is automatically suspended (and the
tion (selected in the Playback Engine dialog), no Track Compensation indicator displays 0). This re-
Delay Compensation is applied on that track. Any duces monitoring latency on those track outputs.
audio on that track will no longer be properly time- When the track is played back (with both record-
aligned and will be out of phase. Both the Delay in- enable and TrackInput disabled) it is correctly
dicator and Track Compensation indicator turn red time-aligned with the other delay-compensated
to show that the track delay exceeds the Delay tracks.
Compensation limit. The maximum available De-
lay Compensation is applied to all other tracks. Tracks that are not record-enabled still apply De-
lay Compensation. Pro Tools automatically com-
However, you can manually compensate for delay pensates for any timing discrepancies between the
on tracks that exceed the Delay Compensation recorded material and the delay-compensated mix.
limit.
For more information about Low Latency
Monitoring with host-processing only
Pro Tools systems, see “Low Latency
Monitoring” on page 518.

Chapter 48: Basic Mixing 1085

 Overriding Low Latency Delay Compensation on
Monitoring During Recording Auxiliary Inputs
You can override Low Latency Monitoring During Delay Compensation on Auxiliary Inputs can be
Recording on record-enabled tracks, but this may bypassed to let you monitor outside sources (such
introduce latency in the signal path corresponding as the audio tracks of a slaved video deck) with
to the amount of Delay Compensation. This la- minimal latency, while still reporting the track’s
tency may be acceptable depending on the record- delay.
ing source. For example, in certain “non-perfor-
mance” workflows, overriding Low Latency To bypass an Auxiliary Input’s Delay
Monitoring During Recording ensures that delay Compensation:
compensation is applied consistently regardless of  Command-Control-click (Mac) or Start-Con-
whether a track is record- or punch-enabled, or trol-click (Windows) the Track Compensation
whether Pro Tools is recording or playing back. indicator. The reported track delay will be zero,
and will appear grayed out.
In certain dubbing workflows you may want to
cascade bus recordings to multiple tracks. In
these cases, be sure to override Auto Low La- Delay Compensation for MIDI
tency on all cascaded Record or InputMonitor Pro Tools automatically maintains time alignment
tracks. Also, if you are punch recording, be between recorded MIDI events and delay compen-
sure to not use Native plug-ins on any Record sated playback.
or InputMonitor–enabled tracks or you will
hear an audible click as any Native plug-ins When Delay Compensation is enabled, a MIDI
on those tracks are automatically bypassed or event that is recorded to sound “in time” with de-
un-bypassed when punching in and out. lay-compensated material actually is recorded late
by the length of total delay in effect. To compen-
To override Low Latency Monitoring During sate, MIDI events are shifted back in time by the
Recording on specific record tracks: total session delay following each MIDI recording
 Command-Control-click (Mac) or Control- pass. MIDI playback after a record pass with Delay
Start-click (Windows) the Track Compensation Compensation enabled accounts for the low la-
indicator. Delay Compensations is applied to tency recording path and maintains phase coherent
the track and the Track Compensation indicator time alignment with MIDI playback.
displays in blue.
When any Instrument or MIDI track is record
Command-Control-Shift-click (Mac) or Con- enabled, all Instrument and Auxiliary Input
trol-Start-Shift-click (Windows) the Track tracks with Instrument plug-in inserts that
Compensation indicator to override Low La- are configured to receive MIDI in Pro Tools
tency Monitoring for all selected tracks. are set to low-latency mode. In this case, the
Delay Compensation indicators for those
tracks display 0.
Command-Option-Control-click (Mac) or
Control-Alt-Start-click (Windows) the Track
Compensation indicator to override Low La-
tency Monitoring for all tracks.

1086 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Low-Latency Recording with To keep audio time-aligned when recording using
Virtual MIDI Instruments and a MIDI controlled plug-in on an Auxiliary Input:
Delay Compensation 1 Command-Control-click (Mac) or Start-Con-
When a MIDI or Instrument track that is routing trol-click (Windows) the Track Compensation
MIDI data to an instrument plug-in is record-en- indicator for the Auxiliary Input to bypass De-
abled, Pro Tools automatically suspends Delay lay Compensation.
Compensation through the main outputs of the au- 2 Enter the total system delay into the User Offset
dio track, Auxiliary Input, or Instrument track on field.
which the instrument plug-in is inserted. This al-
lows for latency-free monitoring of the instrument
plug-in during recording.
Configuring Cue Mixes with
Delay Compensation
Delay Compensation for Instrument plug-ins If you already have a Pro Tools session that uses
works only when all MIDI and audio connec- various plug-in inserts and mixer routing, you will
tions take place inside Pro Tools. While most likely want to have Delay Compensation en-
Pro Tools does not suspend Delay Compensa- abled. However, if you want to record overdubs
tion when you are using ReWire to connect with a recording artist, “the talent,” you will need
software synthesizers and samplers in other to configure monitoring mixes (headphone or
ReWire client applications (such as Reason), “cue” mixes).
Pro Tools cannot account for any latency
within the ReWire client itself. Use sends to bus cue mixes to audio output paths
for headphone monitoring by the talent. In addition
MIDI and Audio Processing Plug-Ins to the main mix, which will monitor in the control
Some audio processing plug-ins (such as Bruno room, route track sends to one or more additional
and Reso) and many instrument plug-ins let you audio output paths tracks for cue mix monitoring.
process audio while allowing MIDI data to control Using sends lets you configure different mixes
processing parameters. When you record enable a from the main mix for cue mix monitoring. For ex-
MIDI or Instrument track that is controlling an au- ample, when recording a guitarist, they may want
dio processing plug-in, the track the plug-in is in- to hear themselves more in the cue mix than you
serted on will go into low-latency mode, effec- will want to hear in the main mix.
tively making the processed audio play early. The
Example configuration using sends for cue mixes:
steps to prevent this and keep audio time-aligned
depend on the type of track on which the plug-in 1 Assign each track’s main output to your main
resides. mix outputs.
2 Assign a send (mono or stereo) for each track
To keep audio time-aligned when recording using
a MIDI controlled plug-in on an audio track:
and set the send outputs to output paths 3 and 4
on your audio interface.
 Command-Control-click (Mac) or Start-Con-
trol-click (Windows) the Track Compensation 3 Enable the FMP (Follow Main Pan) button on
indicator for the audio track to apply Delay all of the sends so that the cue mix has the same
Compensation. panning as the main mix.

Chapter 48: Basic Mixing 1087

 4 Set all of the sends to unity and to post-fader. To set an insert delay offset:
This lets you use the same mix for the talent, but 1 Choose Setup > I/O.
also lets you boost (or attenuate) the level of the
talent’s signal in the cue mix by adjusting the 2 Click the H/W Insert Delay tab.
send level as needed. 3 Type a value, in milliseconds, in the field corre-
5 Choose Track > New. sponding with the input where the hardware in-
sert is connected.
6 Specify the track type (Master Fader) and for-
mat (stereo), then click Create. Insert delay offsets only have an effect when
the I/O is used for hardware inserts.
7 From the Master Fader track’s Output Path se-
lector, select output paths 3 and 4 for monitor-
ing the mix.
Determining Your Hardware’s
Insert Delay
8 Adjust the Master Fader track’s fader to control
Refer to the documentation for your external hard-
the overall volume for the cue mix.
ware to see if it identifies the hardware
With Delay Compensation enabled, it is rec- latency, or use the following procedure in
ommended that you do not use any inserts on Pro Tools to determine the latency for hardware
any Auxiliary Input or Master Fader tracks inserts.
you may be using to control the cue mix vol-
To determine your hardware’s insert delay:
ume. Also, you should avoid using inserts on
any record tracks. (Some low latency inserts 1 Ensure that Automatic Delay Compensation is
may be acceptable depending on the talent’s enabled (Options > Delay Compensation).
preference.)
2 Change your session’s Main Time Scale to
9 Repeat the preceding steps for additional cue Min:Sec.
mixes on additional outputs on your audio inter- 3 Create two tracks.
face as necessary.
4 Place a short tone (or other sound with a defini-
tive beginning) on track 1.
Setting a Hardware Insert Delay
Offset 5 Insert the HW insert on track 1.

You can manually compensate for the delay (la- 6 Ensure that only the dry signal is being passed
tency) of any external hardware devices (such as through the device.
an effects unit) used in your session, you can set
7 Bus the output of track 1 to the input of track 2.
the amount of Hardware Insert Delay Compensa-
tion (in milliseconds) for each external device in 8 Record enable track 2 and press Record Enable
the I/O Setup. These times will be used by the De- and Play in the Transport window to play back
lay Compensation Engine to time-align input paths the audio in track 1 and record it to track 2.
when the hardware insert is in use and Delay Com-
9 After recording, zoom in and measure the dif-
pensation is enabled
ference between where the audio starts in track
1 and track 2. The difference is the value you
would enter as your hardware’s insert delay off-
set.
1088 Pro Tools Reference Guide
 Dither on Export and Import When you export au-
Dither dio to a lower bit depth, or when you import an au-
Dither is used to minimize quantization artifacts dio file into a session that is at a lower bit depth
when reducing the bit depth of an audio signal, for than the file, a preset, noise-shaped dither is ap-
example, from 24-bit to 16-bit. Quantization arti- plied.
facts are most apparent when a signal is near the
For more information about the application
low end of its dynamic range, such as during a
of dither on export, see “Exporting Audio”
quiet passage or a fade-out.
on page 414.
Dither minimizes quantization artifacts by intro-
For more information about the application
ducing very low-level random noise to a signal,
of dither on import, see “Bit Depth Conver-
which smooths out the distortion that can result
sion and Dither” on page 403.
when the signal’s bit depth is reduced.

With dither there is a trade-off between signal-to- Noise Shaping

noise performance and less-apparent distortion. Noise shaping can further improve audio perfor-
Proper use of dither lets you get better subjective mance and reduce perceived noise inherent in dith-
performance when reducing the bit depth of audio. ered audio. Noise shaping uses filtering to shift
noise away from frequencies in the middle of the
Dither in Pro Tools audio spectrum (around 4 kHz), where the human
ear is most sensitive.
There are several ways dither can be used in
Pro Tools. Each has a specific application within Noise Shaping is available in the Dither and
the various operations that could benefit from us- POW-r Dither plug-ins.
ing dither.
For more information on using Noise Shaping,
Dither Plug-Ins for Mixdown Whenever you are see the Audio Plug-Ins Guide.
mixing down or bouncing to disk and your destina-
tion bit depth is lower than 24-bit, insert a dither
plug-in on a Master Fader that controls the output Using an Ethernet Control
mix. You can use real-time dither plug-ins from Surface with Pro Tools
Avid or third-party manufacturers.
Avid offers several Ethernet-based control surface
For important information on using dither when options for Pro Tools.
mixing down or bouncing to disk, see “Using
Dither” on page 1186. Pro Tools | S6

For more information on Dither plug-ins, see Pro Tools | S6 is a modular, ergonomically de-
the Audio Plug-Ins Guide. signed control surface for Pro Tools and EUCON-
compatible digital audio workstations (DAWs). S6
uses the EUCON Ethernet protocol to provide fast,
reliable data transmission. S6 is flexible and scal-
able. Modules can be arranged in many ways, and
can be added to address new workflows or increase
the number of strips.

Chapter 48: Basic Mixing 1089

 D-Control and D-Command 3 If your Ethernet control surface consists of
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only) more than one unit, select the units in numerical
order as you want them arranged left to right.
D-Control and D-Command tactile control sur-
faces are part of ICON, a flexible, integrated sys- 4 Click OK.
tem that extends the functionality of Pro Tools.
For more information, see the documentation
C|24 that came with your Ethernet control surface.

C|24 is a dedicated control surface that provides To enable EUCON control in Pro Tools:
access to nearly all Pro Tools recording, mixing, 1 Choose Setup > Peripherals.
editing, signal routing, plug-in control, and auto-
mation features. 2 Select the Ethernet Controllers tab.
3 Select the EUCON option.
EUCON
4 Click OK.
Pro Tools supports Avid control surfaces using
EUCON (Extended User Control) control (see the When the EUCON option is selected, Pro Tools is
Pro Tools EUCON Guide). EUCON is an innova- enabled for control by one or more EUCON-com-
tive high-speed Ethernet protocol developed by patible controllers.
Avid to allow hardware control surfaces to directly
communicate with software applications (such as For more information about using Pro Tools
Pro Tools). with EUCON, see the Pro Tools EUCON
Guide.
Pro Tools | Control

The Pro Tools | Control app lets you control Using a MIDI Control Surface
Pro Tools over a wireless network from an Apple with Pro Tools
iPad using EuControl. When combined with
Pro Tools | S3, Pro Tools | Dock, or Artist Mix, MIDI Control Surfaces add hands-on control to
Pro Tools | Control provides additional touch many Pro Tools functions, allowing you to adjust
workflows for recording and mixing. faders and knobs, activate transport controls, or
edit plug-in parameters.
For more information about Pro Tools | Control,
visit www.avid.com/products/pro-tools-control. Command|8

Command|8 is a compact USB-based MIDI con-

Enabling an Ethernet Control trol surface for Pro Tools systems.
Surface in Pro Tools
The Command|8 driver is only installed with
To enable an Ethernet control surface in Pro Tools:
Pro Tools 10.x.
1 Choose Setup > Peripherals and click the Ether-
net Controllers tab.
For complete instructions on connecting
2 Select Enable. and configuring Command|8, see the
Command|8 Guide.

1090 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Other MIDI Control Surfaces Configuring Your System for a
MIDI Control Surface
Pro Tools supports some MIDI control surfaces
that use HUI controller personalities. A MIDI Control Surface is configured in the same
way as any other MIDI device in Pro Tools, using
MIDI Control Surface Audio MIDI Setup (Mac) or MIDI Studio Setup
Personalities (Windows).

MIDI Control Surface Personalities are files that For complete instructions on configuring
allow Pro Tools to communicate with the MIDI your MIDI studio, see the User Guide that
control surface. When you install Pro Tools, these came with your system.
files are installed by default in the Controllers
folder inside the Pro Tools application folder. If Enabling a MIDI Control Surface
the files are not present, run the Pro Tools installer in Pro Tools
to install the personality files.
To enable a MIDI control surface in Pro Tools:

Connecting a MIDI Control 1 Choose Setup > Peripherals and click the MIDI
Surface Controllers tab.

If your Pro Tools hardware includes MIDI ports, 2 Choose your MIDI control surface device name
you can connect a MIDI control surface directly to from the Type pop-up menu.
your system. If it does not include MIDI ports, you 3 Choose the MIDI control surface’s source port
will need to use a MIDI Interface. USB MIDI con- from the Receive From pop-up menu.
trol surfaces (such as the Command|8) and Fire-
Wire control surfaces (such as the 003) do not re- 4 Choose a destination port from the Send To
quire an additional MIDI connection to your pop-up menu.
computer. 5 If your MIDI control surface has more than
eight channel strips, or if you are using multiple
To connect a (non-USB or FireWire) MIDI control
devices of the same type in series, choose the
surface:
appropriate number of channel strips from the
1 Using a standard 5-pin MIDI cable, connect the pop-up menu under #Ch’s.
MIDI Out port on your MIDI control surface to
the MIDI In port on your Pro Tools hardware or 6 Click OK.
MIDI interface. You can configure additional MIDI control sur-
2 Using a standard 5-pin MIDI cable, connect the faces (up to a total of four) by repeating the above
MIDI In port on your MIDI control surface to steps. Make sure that none of the control surfaces
the MIDI Out port on your Pro Tools hardware are assigned to the same MIDI source and destina-
or MIDI interface. tion ports or channels in the Pro Tools Peripherals
dialog.
3 If you have a multi-port MIDI interface, note
which MIDI port the control surface is con-
nected to.

Chapter 48: Basic Mixing 1091

 Enabling the MIDI Control
Surface as an Input Device
You must ensure that the MIDI control surface is
enable as an input device in Pro Tools.

To enable a MIDI control surface as an input

device:
1 Choose Setup > MIDI > Input Devices.
2 Select the source port that you selected in the
Receive From pop-up menu in the MIDI Con-
trollers page of the Peripherals dialog.
3 Click OK.

If you want to prevent control surface MIDI data

from reaching Pro Tools, you can deselect its
source port in the MIDI Input Enable window.

1092 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Chapter 49: Plug-In and Hardware Inserts

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 51, “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). choose Marketplace > Plug-ins.

Chapter 49: Plug-In and Hardware Inserts 1093

 Hardware I/O Inserts Insert Formats
Hardware I/O inserts can route audio through an Mono Inserts Used on mono tracks. Inserts that
external device connected to parallel inputs and occur on a track after a stereo insert are automati-
outputs of an audio interface. You can process the cally used in stereo as well.
audio material on a track with a hardware insert in
Stereo Inserts Used on stereo tracks. A stereo
real time.
hardware I/O insert sends the signal to an in-
put/output path.

Mono In/Stereo Out Plug-In Inserts Used to return

a stereo effect from a mono source. Certain plug-
Hardware I/O insert ins (such as D-Verb) let you generate stereo output
from a mono channel. A track made into stereo in
Insert paths require audio interface inputs and out- this way has panning controls for each channel of
puts, and are determined by the I/O Setup configu- the stereo signal. Any inserts that occur on a track
ration of your system. after a stereo insert are automatically used in stereo
as well.
Using Inserts for Effects
Multi-Mono Plug-In Inserts Used on stereo or
Processing
greater-than-stereo multichannel tracks when a
Inserts can be used in two ways: multichannel version of the plug-in is not avail-
able. Controls for all channels are linked by default
On Single Tracks An insert can be applied to an
so that you can adjust them in tandem. You can un-
individual audio, Auxiliary Input, Master Fader, or
link controls for independent adjustment using the
Instrument track.
Master Link button. See “Linking and Unlinking
With in-line inserts, you control the amount of ef- Controls on Multi-Mono Plug-Ins” on page 1121.
fect by adjusting the balance (or the wet/dry mix)
Multichannel Plug-In Inserts Used on stereo and
controls of the plug-in or external device.
greater-than-stereo multichannel tracks. On
As Shared Resources An insert can be used as a greater-than-stereo multichannel tracks, the con-
shared resource in a send-and-return arrangement, trols for all channels are generally linked together.
by bussing signals from several tracks to an Aux
Relinking may cause automation to be lost.
Input, and then applying the insert to that track.
See “Linking and Unlinking Controls on
You can then control the send level for each track,
Multi-Mono Plug-Ins” on page 1121
and the overall level of the effect can be controlled
from the Auxiliary Input track. Using sends and
other signal routing features helps maximize your
system’s processing power.

For examples of send and return busses and

other submixing setups, see “Signal Routing
for Monitoring and Submixing” on
page 1074.

1094 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Plug-In Formats
Viewing Inserts
There are three plug-in formats supported by
Pro Tools (DSP, Native, and AudioSuite), two of Both the Mix and Edit windows can be configured
which can be used as real-time inserts, as follows: to show or hide inserts A–E and F–J. Plug-In win-
dows provide complete access to plug-in controls.
DSP Plug-Ins Provide real-time plug-in process-
ing using DSP-based processing with HDX sys- To show (or hide) inserts, do one of the following:
tems only.  In the Mix window (or Edit window), select
Native Plug-Ins Provide real-time plug-in process- View > Mix Window (or Edit Window) > Inserts
ing using host-based processing. A–E or Inserts F–J.

AudioSuite Plug-Ins Provide non-real-time (ren-

dered), file-based processing plug-ins for
Inserts (A–E) View
Pro Tools.

For information on using AudioSuite plug-ins

in Pro Tools, see Chapter 42, “AudioSuite Inserts (F–J) View
Processing.”

Depending on your Pro Tools software, real-time

plug-ins can be used as follows: Sends (A–E) View

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 1098. Window or Mix Window View selector.

Pro Tools Host-Based Systems

Native plug-ins can be used on audio, Auxiliary In-

put, Master Fader, and Instrument tracks.

For tips on maximizing Native plug-in per-

formance, see “Configuring
Pro Tools Software System Settings” on
page 92.

Chapter 49: Plug-In and Hardware Inserts 1095

 Display of Plug-In Window
Status Making Inserts Inactive
In the Mix and Edit window, the plug-in button and Plug-In and hardware inserts can be made inactive
selector display the currently inserted plug-in, its to free up their resources for other uses. When a
bypass state (see “Bypassing Plug-Ins” on plug-in insert is inactive it retains its assignment,
page 1119), focus status, and window status. position, and related automation playlists. How-
ever, it will not pass audio and does not consume
any DSP resources.

When opening sessions, inserts will automatically

be made inactive in any of the following situations:
• The system has insufficient DSP resources
• A plug-in is not installed
Lit plug-in name indicates open plug-in window
• A plug-in type is not available
Indicating the Controller Focus
• Opening the session results in plug-in type sub-
For most control surfaces, only one plug-in can be stitutions. This can happen if the type is avail-
focused at a time. ICON control surfaces can have able but substituting would result in an
up to four plug-ins focused at once (using the EQ unsupported condition, such as opening a ses-
and Dynamics controls, and Custom Faders on sion containing a DSP-based plug-in for which a
your control surface). host-based version is unavailable.

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.

 Make the track inactive. See “Making Tracks

Inactive” on page 262.
Controller focus
To toggle inserts in the same position on all tracks
active or inactive:

 Command-Control-Option click (Mac) or Con-

trol-Start-Alt click (Windows) an Insert button
in the position you want to toggle.

To toggle inserts in the same position on all

selected tracks active or inactive:

 Command-Control-Option-Shift-click (Mac) or
Control-Start-Alt-Shift-click (Windows) an In-
sert button in the position you want to toggle.

1096 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Inactive Plug-In Inserts
Inserting Plug-Ins on Tracks
Inactive plug-in inserts retain all associated auto-
mation playlists. In addition, any edits made in the To use a real-time plug-in, insert it on a track.
session affect the plug-in automation playlists.
Plug-Ins cannot be inserted or removed
You cannot record automation or
during recording.
adjust the controls for an inactive plug-in.
To insert a plug-in on a track:
Inactive Active
(italicized) (plain text) 1 Make sure the Inserts (A–E or F–J) View is
shown in the Mix or Edit window.
2 Click the Insert selector on the track and select
the plug-in that you want to use. (See “Plug-In
Formats” on page 1095 for related informa-
tion.)
Display of inactive plug-ins

Display of inactive Plug-In window

Inactive Hardware Inserts

Inserting mono Dynamics plug-in
Inactive hardware inserts retain their assignments,
To remove an insert from a track:
but do not pass audio and do not consume any DSP
resources.  Click the Insert selector and choose No Insert.

Hardware inserts do not provide a bypass You can insert a plug-in on a track by drag-
control. You can use the inactive feature ging one of its Plug-In Settings (.tfx) files
whenever you need to mute or bypass a hard- from a Workspace browser onto an available
ware insert. track Insert position in the Mix window. See
“Dragging and Dropping Plug-In Settings
Files” on page 1113.

Chapter 49: Plug-In and Hardware Inserts 1097

 Inserting Native and DSP Combining Native and DSP Plug-Ins
Plug-Ins on Tracks
With Pro Tools HDX systems, when Native and
(HDX Systems Only)
DSP plug-ins are combined on tracks, the order in
With HDX systems, you can use both Native (host- which they are inserted produces different results:
based) and DSP plug-ins on tracks.
Native Plug-Ins Grouped Before DSP
Plug-Ins On audio tracks, no additional voices are
Using Only Native Plug-Ins
used, and no processing latency occurs. Native
With Pro Tools HDX systems, the initial insert of plug-ins are bypassed when the track is record en-
a Native plug-in may cause additional latency, and abled or TrackInput monitoring is enabled for that
in large sessions, may use an additional voice, track.
under the following conditions:
Native Plug-Ins Grouped After DSP
• When inserted on an Auxiliary Input or Master Plug-Ins On audio, Auxiliary Input, Master Fader
Fader track and Instrument tracks, each initial insert of a Na-
• When inserted on an Instrument track that does tive plug-in after a DSP plug-in on a track may
not contain an instrument plug-in cause processing latency, and in large sessions,
may use additional voices. Native plug-ins remain
• When inserted after a DSP plug-in on any kind
active while the track is record enabled or TrackIn-
of track
put monitoring is enabled for that track.
Subsequent Native plug-ins on the same track do
To optimize voice usage and minimize
not take up additional voices unless a DSP plug-in
latency, group plug-ins of the same type
is inserted between those Native plug-ins.
together, especially if inserting Native after
In large sessions, when using Native plug-ins on a DSP plug-ins. Otherwise, additional voices
track, an additional voice may be used in each may be used unnecessarily.
occurrence of any of the following conditions:
Ordering Recommendations
• When you use the external key side-chain of a
Native plug-in on that track When combining Native and DSP plug-ins on a
track, use one of the following strategies based on
• When you select multiple track outputs for that
your recording needs:
track (one voice used for each output)
• To ensure that Native plug-ins stay active when
• When you select an AFL/PFL Path output in the
you record enable a track or use TrackInput
Output tab of the I/O Setup dialog (one voice
monitoring, order all DSP plug-ins before
used for each channel)
Native plug-ins.
• To conserve voices and minimize processing
latency, order all Native plug-ins before DSP
plug-ins.

Native Virtual Instrument plug-ins cannot

follow Native processing plug-ins.

1098 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Plug in categories include:
Plug-In Menu Organization
• EQ
You can customize how plug-in lists (plug-in
• Dynamics
menus) are organized in the Insert selector and
Plug-In selector. • Pitch Shift
• Reverb
Use the Organize Plug-In Menus By setting in the
Display Preferences page to organize plug-in • Delay
menus in a Flat List (with plug-ins in alphabetical • Modulation
order), or by Category, Manufacturer, or
• Harmonic
Category and Manufacturer.
• Noise Reduction
Control Surface Support • Dither
Control surfaces with multi-color LCDs (such as • Sound Field
D-Control) indicate plug-ins as follows: • Instrument
• Plug-In categories (such as EQ) and plug-in • Other
manufacturers (such as Aphex) are indicated in
yellow (amber) text. • Effects

• 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 in-
as a single list of plug-ins. stalled on your system, the subfolder named
for that category will not appear in the menu.
“Organize Plug-In Menus By” Manufacturer Organizes plug-ins by their manu-
Setting
facturer, with individual plug-ins listed in the man-
Flat List Organizes plug-ins in a single list, in al- ufacturer submenus. Plug-Ins that do not have a
phabetical order. Manufacturer defined will appear in the “Other”
manufacturer folder.
Category Organizes plug-ins by process category
(such as EQ, Dynamics, and Delay), with individ- If no plug-ins by a certain manufacturer are in-
ual plug-ins listed in the category submenus. Plug- stalled on your system, the subfolder named for
Ins that do not fit into a standard category (such as that manufacturer will not appear in the menu.
the Signal Generator), or third-party plug-ins that
have not had a category designated by their devel-
opers, appear in the Other category. Plug-Ins can
appear in more than one category.

Chapter 49: Plug-In and Hardware Inserts 1099

 Category and Manufacturer Organizes plug-ins in 2 Type a few letters included in the plug-in name
two levels of menus. The top menus display plug- that you want. Only plug-ins whose names in-
ins by process category (such as EQ, Dynamics, clude those letters (highlighted yellow) now ap-
and Delay), with individual plug-ins listed in the pear in the list (maximum of 20).
category submenus. The bottom menus display
plug-ins by manufacturer, with individual plug-ins
listed in the manufacturer submenus.

To select how plug-ins are organized:

1 Open or create a session.
2 Choose Setup > Preferences, and click Display.
3 Click the Organize Plug-In Menus By pop-up
menu, and select one of the view options.
Search Insert selector, typing “Pro “ in the Search
4 Click OK. popover menu to find a plug-in

The Organize Plug-In Menus By setting is saved 3 Select the desired plug-in with the mouse, or
with Pro Tools preferences (it is not saved with the use the Up and Down arrow keys to select the
Pro Tools session file). plug-in name.

Plug-in Insert Search

To find a plug-in in an Insert selector by typing:
1 Click the insert selector on a track where you
want to insert a plug-in and do one of the fol-
lowing:
• Type the first character of the plug-in name
you want. Navigating search results using the Up and Down
Arrow keys
• Click Search.
• Press Tab. 4 Press Return (Mac) or Enter (Windows) to in-
sert the selected plug-in.

You can also search Track Presets by

name from the Insert selector. Depending
on the preset, this lets you insert multiple
pre-configured inserts on the track.

Searching Insert selector

1100 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Default EQ and Dynamics Plug-In Favorites
Plug-Ins
To find a plug-in faster, a plug-in can be desig-
You can set a default EQ plug-in and Dynamics nated as a favorite. Favorite plug-ins are shown at
plug-in, which places them at the top of the Insert the top of the plug-in menu.
selector pop-up menu on-screen, and first in the list
of menu choices when assigning inserts on ICON When a plug-in becomes a favorite, it is still shown
worksurfaces. in its plug-in category and its name appears in
bold.

Favorite
plug-ins

Plug-In
categories
Default plug-in display in the Insert selector menu

To set a default plug-in:

1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click Mixing.

2 Under Setup, choose a plug-in from the Default Menu display of favorite plug-ins
EQ or Default Dynamics pop-up menu. To designate a plug-in as a favorite:
3 Click OK to close the Preferences window.  Command-click (Mac) or Control-click
(Windows) the Insert selector and select a
plug-in to designate it as a favorite.

To change the status of a plug-in favorite:

 Command-click (Mac) or Control-click

(Windows) the Insert selector and select a
plug-in favorite that you no longer want
designated as a favorite.

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).

Chapter 49: Plug-In and Hardware Inserts 1101

 Moving and Duplicating Plug-In Windows
Plug-In and Hardware Inserts
A Plug-In window appears whenever you click a
You can move or duplicate an insert by dragging it plug-in’s Insert button on a track. This floating
to a different position on the same track or a differ- window lets you adjust the controls of any real-
ent track. Inserts that are moved or duplicated re- time plug-in insert in use on a track.
tain their original settings and automation.
Insert selector
Plug-ins cannot be moved or duplicated
during recording. Insert button

To move an insert:

 Drag the insert to a new insert location.

Insert button and selector on a track

Track Preset Plug-In Mapping

controls controls controls

Auto button Effect

Bypass

Moving a plug-in

Dragging an insert on top of an existing in-

sert will replace it and any automation.

To duplicate an insert:

 Option-drag (Mac) or Alt-drag (Windows) the

insert to a new insert location. Duplicated plug-
in inserts retain their original settings and auto- Automation Safe Convert Target
plug-in button
mation.
Plug-In window (mono 1-Band EQ III shown)
You can also duplicate Sends. See “Moving
or Copying Sends” on page 1067

1102 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Track Controls in the Plug-In
Window

Track selector

MIDI Node Display indicator (Transfuser shown)

Insert Position selector
Plug-In selector Preset Controls in the Plug-In Window

Track controls in the plug-in window

Plug-In Settings menu
Track Selector Accesses any track in the session
except MIDI, VCA, and Video tracks.
Plug-In Librarian menu
Insert Position Selector Accesses any insert on Compare button
the current track.
Settings Select
Plug-In Selector Lets you select any real-time
Next Setting
plug-in installed in the Plug-Ins folder (that is cre- Previous Setting
ated when you install Pro Tools). Preset controls in the plug-in window
Key Input Selector Lets you select audio on a par- Plug-In Settings Menu Lets you copy, paste, save,
ticular input or bus and route it to trigger the plug- and import plug-in settings.
in. This selector only appears on plug-ins that fea-
ture side-chain processing. Key inputs are mono- Plug-In Librarian Menu Recalls plug-in presets
phonic. (plug-in settings files saved in the plug-in’s root
settings folder or in the current session’s Settings
folder). See “Plug-In Presets” on page 1109.

Next (+) and Previous (–) Setting Buttons Let

you select the next or previous preset from the Li-
brarian menu.
Key Input selector (Dyn III Compressor/Limiter shown)
You will lose the current settings if they are
MIDI Node Display Shows MIDI node information
not saved before you use the Next and Pre-
for MIDI-enabled plug-ins. MIDI nodes are virtual
vious Setting buttons. Always save your
connections from Pro Tools to software instru-
plug-in settings as a preset using the Plug-
ments and other MIDI-enabled plug-ins. MIDI
In Settings menu.
nodes are useful for routing multiple MIDI tracks
to different channels of a single virtual MIDI de- Plug-In Settings Select Button Accesses the Plug-
vice. MIDI node numbers are also displayed in a In Settings dialog, which lists the presets for the se-
track’s MIDI Output selector. The MIDI node in- lected plug-in. From this list, you can audition and
dicator only appears in plug-ins that can receive select plug-in presets.
MIDI.
Compare Toggles between the original saved
plug-in settings and any changes you have made to
it so you can compare them.

Chapter 49: Plug-In and Hardware Inserts 1103

 Automation Controls in the Parameter Menu When in Learn mode, lets you
Plug-In Window select a parameter on the plug-in for mapping. If
you click a parameter in the plug-in window while
Auto button in Learn mode, this menu shows the name of the
parameter.

Additional Plug-In Controls in

the Plug-In Window
Automation Safe button
Plug-In Bypass button
Automation controls in the plug-in window

Auto Button Lets you enable individual plug-in Target button

controls for automation recording. See “Automat-
ing Plug-Ins” on page 1141.

Automation Safe When enabled, prevents existing Convert Plug-In selector

plug-in automation from being overwritten. Plug-In Map controls in the plug-in window

Effect Bypass Button Disables the currently dis-

Plug-In Map Controls in the played plug-in. This lets you compare the track
Plug-In Window with and without the effect.
(Control Surfaces Only)
Convert Plug-In Selector Lets you convert the in-
When a supported control surface is declared in sert from a DSP plug-in to a Native plug-in of the
Pro Tools, Plug-In Map controls appear in the same type (or vice-versa). This feature can only be
plug-in window. used on plug-ins that are available in both DSP and
Native formats.
Map Options menu
Converting from DSP to Native is disallowed
on Auxiliary Input tracks.
Map Presets menu
Learn button Target Button When multiple Plug-In windows
are open, clicking this button selects that plug-in as
Parameter menu the target for any computer keyboard commands.
Plug-In Map controls in the plug-in window

Map Options Menu Lets you create, rename, save, Multi-Mono Controls in the
delete, import, export, and set default plug-in
Plug-In Window
maps.
Link Enable buttons
Map Presets Menu Lets you choose from avail-
able custom Plug-In Maps for the plug-in.
Master Link button
Learn Button Puts the plug-in in Learn mode, Channel Selector
where you can map plug-in parameters to a
control surface. Plug-In window (multi-mono 1-Band EQ shown)

1104 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Master Link Button When enabled, links the con- To open an additional plug-in window:
trols on all channels of a multi-mono plug-in so  In the Mix window, Shift-click the Insert button
that they can be adjusted in tandem. of a plug-in. The new plug-in window opens un-
Link Enable Buttons Let you selectively link or targeted.
unlink the controls of specific channels of a multi-
To open plug-in windows for each channel of a
mono plug-in. Each square represents a speaker
multi-mono plug-in:
channel. The Master Link button must be disabled
to use the Link Enable buttons. See “Linking and  Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) the
Unlinking Controls on Multi-Mono Plug-Ins” on Channel selector in the Plug-In window of a
page 1121. plug-in insert.

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:

 Click the Insert selector and select another plug-

By default, each plug-in you open will appear in
in from the pop-up menu.
the same location as a currently open plug-in, re-
placing it in the same window location. To choose a different track:

Click the Track selector and select another track

Opening Multiple Plug-In


from the pop-up menu.

Windows
Pro Tools normally displays a single plug-in win- Target Window and Settings Shortcuts
dow from which you can adjust the controls of any
When multiple plug-in windows are open, a high-
session plug-in. You can also open additional
lighted target indicates the target window.
Plug-In windows for specific plug-ins. Once you
Pro Tools keeps a single plug-in target window.
begin working with multiple plug-in windows, you
Opening a new plug-in opens it as the new target
will need to click the Target button on the plug-in
window, in the same location. In addition, the
whose controls you want to adjust using keyboard
plug-in target window is also the focus of key-
commands.
board shortcuts for plug-in settings.

Chapter 49: Plug-In and Hardware Inserts 1105

 Editing Plug-In Parameters
Editing Plug-In Controls Using a Computer Keyboard
You can adjust plug-in controls by dragging the You can use your computer keyboard to edit plug-
control’s slider or knob, or by typing a value into in controls.
the control’s text box. For instructions on editing
specific plug-ins, see the plug-in’s documentation. If multiple Plug-In windows are open, Tab and
keyboard entry remain focused on the plug-in that
For information about the specific controls of is the target window.
each of the plug-ins (installed with
Pro Tools), see the Audio Plug-Ins Guide. The plug-in target window is the focus of key-
Additional free plug-ins (and paid plug-in board shortcuts for plug-in settings. To make
options) that can be installed with Pro Tools a plug-in the target for any computer key-
are also documented in the Audio Plug-Ins board commands (including key shortcuts),
Guide. click the plug-in’s Target button in its Plug-In
window.
To adjust a plug-in control:
To change control values with a computer
1 Begin audio playback so that you can hear the
keyboard:
control changes in real time.
1 Click or Navigate to the control text field that
2 Adjust the controls of the plug-in for the effect you want to edit to activate the field.
you want.
To move forward through the different
3 Close the Plug-In window to save the most re-
control fields, press the Tab key. To move
cent changes.
backward, press Shift+Tab.

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.

1106 Pro Tools Reference Guide

3 Do one of the following to confirm the value: A typical use for external side-chain processing is
• Press Enter on the numeric keyboard to input the to control the dynamics of one audio signal using
value and remain in keyboard editing mode. the dynamics of another signal (the key input). For
example, a kick drum track could be used to trigger
• Press Return (Mac) or Enter on the alphanu- gating of a bass track to tighten it up, or a rhythm
meric keyboard (Windows) to enter the value guitar track could be used to gate a keyboard pad.
and leave keyboard editing mode.
When using a dynamics insert keyed to an
To clear all clip indicators in the session, including external side chain using physical I/O, it is
plug-in clipping:
recommended that the plug-in be the first
 Press Option+C (Mac) or Alt+C (Windows). insert (Insert A) on a track.

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 1141). 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 1143). 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; or select Search to
Side-Chain Input find the desired key input by typing the path
name.
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.

With external side-chain processing, a plug-in's

detector is triggered by an external signal (such as
a separate reference track or audio source) known
as the key input.

Searching and selecting a Key Input

Chapter 49: Plug-In and Hardware Inserts 1107

 2 Click the External Key to activate external side-
chain processing. Plug-in Bus Outputs
3 Press the Spacebar to begin playback. The plug- Some plug-ins (such as some virtual instrument or
in uses the input or bus that you chose as a key multi-band processing plug-ins) provide separate
input to trigger its effect. bus outputs you can use to route audio from the
plug-in to the input of another track for additional
4 During playback, do any of the following to processing, monitoring, or recording.
fine-tune key input triggering:
• To hear the audio source you have selected to
control the key input, enable Side-Chain Listen
or Key Listen (depending on the plug-in). When
finished, disable Side-Chain Listen/Key Listen
to resume normal plug-in monitoring.
• To filter the key input so that only specific fre-
quencies trigger the plug-in, use the filtering
controls (if available) to select the frequency
range.
5 Adjust the plug-in’s Threshold control (if avail-
able) and other controls as needed.

Delay Compensation for Side

Chains
(HDX Systems Only)

Pro Tools | Ultimate with HDX hardware lets you

Assigning a plug-in bus output to the input of an
apply automatic Delay Compensation to side- Auxiliary Input track
chains.
A plug-in with an output bus assigned to the
To apply Delay Compensation to side-chains:
input of another track cannot be moved to
1 Choose Setup > Preferences. that track.
2 Click the Mixing tab.
3 Enable the Compensate Side Chains option. A plug-in with any assigned output busses
cannot be removed or replaced until all plug-
4 Click OK. in output busses are unassigned.

1108 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Plug-In Settings menu commands include:
Plug-In Presets
Save Settings Saves the current settings. This
Pro Tools makes it easy to create your own library command overwrites any previous version of the
of plug-in settings, or presets. Using the Plug-In preset.
Settings menu, you can copy, paste, save, and im-
port these settings from plug-in to plug-in, or from Save Settings As Saves the current settings as a
session to session. new preset under a different name.

Once you create and save settings files to disk (and Copy Settings Copies the current plug-in settings.
tell Pro Tools where to find them by assigning to a You can then apply these settings to the same type
root folder) they appear both in the Plug-In Librar- of plug-in on a different track by choosing the
ian menu and in the Plug-In Settings dialog. They track in the Plug-In window and pasting the set-
also appear as plug-in settings files (.tfx) in Work- tings with the Paste Settings command.
space browsers.
Paste Settings Pastes plug-in settings copied with
You can use the Plug-In Settings dialog to au- the Copy Settings command.
dition and select plug-in settings (see “Plug-
Import Settings Imports a plug-in settings file
In Settings Dialog” on page 1111).
(.tfx) from a location other than the Root Settings
folder or Session folder.
Plug-In Settings Menu
Delete Current Settings File Permanently deletes
Use the Plug-In Settings menu commands to save,
the current plug-in settings file (.tfx) from disk.
copy, paste, and manage plug-in settings as presets
(plug-in settings files). Lock Settings File Prevents the current preset
from being overwritten by the Save command. If
you attempt to save any changes to the plug-in set-
tings, you will be prompted to save them using a
different name or disk location.

Set As User Default Defines the current preset as

the User Default for the selected plug-in.

Settings Preferences
Plug-In Settings menu
The Settings Preferences submenu provides com-
mands for configuring preferences for saving and
importing presets. They include:

Set Plug-In Default To Sets the default preset to ei-

ther Factory Default (the standard default setting
for that plug-in) or User Default (your custom set-
ting).

Chapter 49: Plug-In and Hardware Inserts 1109

 Save Plug-In Settings To Selects the folder where Creating Subfolders for Settings
presets (plug-in settings files) are saved. If you se-
lect Session Folder, the settings are saved in a To make it easier to find specific types of settings,
folder named “Plug-In Settings” within the current you can subdivide settings files by creating sub-
Session folder. If you select Root Settings Folder, folders for them.
the settings are saved in the folder you specified
To create a settings subfolder:
with the Set Root Settings Folder command. You
can change the location of the Root Settings Folder 1 From the Plug-In Settings menu, choose Save
in the Operation Preferences (see “User Media and Settings.
Settings Location” on page 112). 2 Click the New Folder button and type a name for
the subfolder.
To save plug-in settings to any location other
than the default Plug-In Settings folder, you 3 Name the preset and click Save. The plug-in
must first create a folder named “Plug-In settings file is saved within the subfolder.
Settings” in the new location and then save to
that folder.
Managing Presets
Choosing a Destination for Use the Plug-In Settings menu to manage plug-in
Settings presets.

Before you save plug-in settings, select their desti- Unlinked multi-mono plug-ins have specific
nation folder. rules for settings. See “Linking and Unlink-
ing Controls on Multi-Mono Plug-Ins” on
To select a destination folder: page 1121.
 From the Plug-In Settings menu, choose
To save a preset:
Settings Preferences > Save Plug-In Settings
To, and select Session Folder or Root Settings 1 Choose Save Settings from the Plug-In Settings
Folder. menu.

If you selected Root Settings Folder, Pro Tools 2 Type a name and click OK. The setting appears
saves to the default Root Plug-In Settings folder in the Plug-In Librarian menu.
unless you have specified a different location for
Press Command+Shift+S (Mac) or Con-
the Root Settings folder.
trol+Shift+S (Windows) to save plug-in
settings.
To select a different Root Settings folder:
1 From the Plug-In Settings menu, choose Set- To load a plug-in preset:
tings Preferences > Set Root Settings Folder.
 Choose the name of the preset from the Plug-In
2 Select the folder you want to use as your Root Librarian menu.
folder and click Select.

1110 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To import a preset: Changing Presets with the Next
1 Choose Import Settings from the Plug-In Set- (+) and Previous (–) Setting
tings menu.
Buttons
These buttons let you select the next or previous
2 Locate the settings file you want to import and
preset in the Plug-In Librarian menu.
click Open. Pro Tools loads the setting and cop-
ies it to the root destination folder.
To change plug-in presets using the +/– buttons:

To copy plug-in settings:  Click the Plus (+) or Minus (–) buttons to select
the next or previous preset. The next (or previ-
 Choose Copy Settings from the Plug-In Settings
ous) preset is enabled, and the Plug-In Librarian
menu.
menu changes to show the name of the new pre-
Press Command+Shift+C (Mac) or Con- set.
trol+Shift+C (Windows) to copy plug-in
You will lose the current plug-in settings if
settings.
they are not saved before you use the Next
To paste plug-in settings: and Previous Setting buttons. Always save
your plug-in settings to the selected Root Set-
1 Open the destination plug-in.
tings folder.
2 Choose Paste Settings from the Plug-In Set-
tings menu. Editing Settings on Unlinked
Multi-Mono Plug-Ins
Press Command+Shift+V (Mac) or Con-
trol+Shift+V (Windows) to paste plug-in When a multi-mono plug-in is unlinked, import-
settings. ing, copying, pasting, or bypassing settings affects
only the currently selected channel.
To create a custom User Default preset:
1 Create and save a plug-in settings file.
Plug-In Settings Dialog
2 Select Set As User Default from the Plug-In Set-
tings menu. The Plug-In Settings dialog lists the presets for the
current plug-in type. From this list, you can audi-
To make a plug-in default to your custom preset: tion and select presets.
 From the Plug-In Settings menu, select Settings
Use the Folder pop-up menu at the top of the Plug-
Preferences > Set Plug-In Default To > User
In Settings dialog to switch between plug-in set-
Setting.
tings subfolders, or root and session settings fold-
ers.

Chapter 49: Plug-In and Hardware Inserts 1111

 Auditioning Plug-In Presets
When the Plug-In Settings dialog is open, you can
have Pro Tools automatically scroll through and
audition the plug-in settings files saved in the plug-
in’s root settings folder or in the current session’s
settings folder.

To audition plug-in presets:

1 Click the Settings Select button.
2 From the dialog list, click a preset—the starting
point from which you will scroll through the
settings files.
Plug-In Settings dialog 3 Enter a value for the number of seconds that
will elapse between each preset change.
The Plug-In Settings dialog includes the follow-
ing: 4 Select the Increment Setting option.

Folder This pop-up menu lets you switch between After the specified number of seconds, Pro Tools
presets located in root or session folders (and any selects the next preset.
available subfolders).
5 When you are finished auditioning presets, do
Patch Field This field displays the name of the ac- one of the following:
tive (highlighted) preset. • Click Done to stop incrementing patches, and to
Increment Patch Every X Sec This option lets you close the Plug-In Settings dialog.
audition plug-in presets in series by automatically • Deselect the Increment Patch option to stop in-
scrolling through them for a specified number of crementing patches and keep the Plug-In Set-
seconds. tings dialog open. Then select the preset you
want and click Done.
To change plug-in presets using the Plug-In
Settings dialog:
Workspace and Plug-In Settings
1 Click the Settings Select button. Files
2 Do one of the following: Workspace browsers recognize plug-ins settings
• Select a preset from the dialog list. files (.tfx) as a known Type and lets you drag and
drop them to Pro Tools plug-in windows and In-
• Use the Arrow keys to scroll through the avail-
serts. You can also search for plug-in settings by
able presets.
type.
To switch between plug-in settings subfold-
ers, press Command (Mac) or Control (Win-
dows) and use the Up/Down Arrow keys.

3 Click Done.

1112 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Searching for Plug-In Settings Dragging and Dropping Plug-In
Files Settings Files
To search for plug-in settings files: You can insert a plug-in with a specific plug-in set-
tings file, as well as change plug-in settings of in-
1 In the Workspace browser, click the Advanced
serted plug-ins by dragging and dropping plug-in
Search icon.
settings files from a Workspace browser.
2 For the search criteria, select Kind > Is > Plug-In
Settings File. To insert a plug-in by drag and drop:

 Drag a plug-in settings file from a Workspace

browser to an Insert in the Mix (or Edit) win-
dow.

Searching for plug-in settings files

3 To further narrow your search, set additional

search criteria as desired.

You can create catalogs of specific plug-in

Dragging and dropping a plug-in settings file to an
settings that you work with frequently to Insert
streamline your workflow. For more informa-
tion on Catalogs, see “Catalogs” on
page 355.

Chapter 49: Plug-In and Hardware Inserts 1113

 To change a plug-in preset by drag and drop:
Plug-In Mapping
 Drag a plug-in settings file from a Workspace
(Control Surfaces Only)
browser to the plug-in window. The plug-in set-
tings file must be for the same plug-in name. Pro Tools lets you customize the arrangement of
For example, you cannot replace a 1-Band EQ 3 plug-in parameter controls on supported control
with a plug-in setting for 4-Band EQ 3. surfaces. You can save these customized plug-in
maps as presets and export them for use across dif-
ferent sessions and systems. Plug-In Maps are
stored in the Plug-In Maps folder in the Pro Tools
Root Settings folder. You can change the location
of the Root Settings Folder in the Operation Pref-
erences (see “User Media and Settings Location”
on page 112).

Plug-In Learn Mode

Plug-Ins can be put into Learn mode, from which

Dragging and dropping a plug-in settings file to a any automatable plug-in parameter can be mapped
plug-in to a channel strip encoder, switch, or (in Flip
mode) fader on the control surface.
Selecting Plug-In Presets from
the Plug-In Selector Plug-In Map Presets
Pro Tools lets you select plug-in settings from the A map for a plug-in can be saved and recalled for
Insert Right-click menu using the User Presets any plug-in of the same type.
submenu.
You can save multiple map presets for a single
To select a plug-in setting for a plug-in insert in the plug-in, and switch between maps at any time
Mix or Edit window: during a session.
1 With Inserts view shown, Right-click the
plug-in Insert in the Mix or Edit window. You can also use multiple map presets on different
instances of a plug-in at the same time. This is use-
2 From the User Presets submenu, select the ful for virtual instrument plug-ins with multiple
plug-in setting you want. configurations, or for multi-user workflows on
large systems.

You can set a custom plug-in map to be the default

map for a plug-in, so that the same map is used for
all default instances of that plug-in.

Insert Right-Click menu in the Mix window

1114 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Plug-In Map Files Plug-In Map Controls
Plug-In maps can be exported (as .pim files) for use When a supported control surface is declared in
in other sessions and on other systems with a sim- Pro Tools, Plug-In Map controls appear in the
ilar type of control surface (8-fader surface, plug-in window.
24-fader surface, or ICON surface).
Map Options menu
Control Surface Mapping

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.

To show (or hide) Plug-In Map controls:

 Select (or deselect) View > Plug-In > Map

Controls.

Chapter 49: Plug-In and Hardware Inserts 1115

 Creating Plug-In Maps Creating and Editing Plug-In
Maps
This topic covers creating plug-in maps on the fol-
lowing control surfaces: To create a custom map of plug-in parameters:
• C|24 1 Open the plug-in whose mapping you want to
• 003 customize.

• Command|8 2 Put the plug-in into Learn mode. The plug-in is

focused on the control surface, but with a blank
For details on plug-in mapping for D-Control page of controls, ready for mapping.
and D-Command, see the D-Control Guide
and D-Command Guide. 3 In the plug-in window, click the plug-in param-
eter you want to map. The parameter name ap-
Putting a Plug-In into Learn Mode pears in the Parameter menu.

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.

1116 Pro Tools Reference Guide

5 Take the plug-in out of Learn mode. To save a copy of a custom plug-in map:
1 Open the plug-in whose map you want to copy.
To remove parameter mapping from a plug-in map:
2 Choose the map you want to copy from the Map
1 Open the plug-in whose custom map you want
Presets pop-up menu.
to change.
3 From the Map Options pop-up menu, choose
2 Choose the map you want to change from the
Save Map As.
Map Preset pop-up menu.
4 Enter a name for the plug-in map.
3 Put the plug-in into Learn mode. The plug-in is
focused on the control surface. 5 Click OK. The new copy becomes the active
plug-in map.
4 Do the following for each parameter mapping
you want to remove:
To rename a custom plug-in map:
• Make sure the Parameter menu displays No Con-
1 Open the plug-in whose map you want to re-
trol.
name.
• On the control surface, page to the encoder or
2 Choose the map you want to rename from the
switch where you want to remove the mapping,
Map Presets pop-up menu.
and turn the encoder or press the switch.
3 From the Map Options pop-up menu, choose
5 Take the plug-in out of Learn mode.
Rename Map.

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 1119. 2 Choose the map you want to delete from the
Map Presets pop-up menu.

Chapter 49: Plug-In and Hardware Inserts 1117

 3 From the Map Options pop-up menu, choose How Default Plug-In Map Settings are Stored
Delete Current Map.
Default map settings are stored as global (system-
4 Click Delete. wide) Pro Tools preferences, so they are applied to
all sessions that you subsequently open or create
To delete all plug-in maps from the system: on that system.
1 Open any plug-in in the session.
If you plan to work with the same plug-in
2 From the Map Options pop-up menu, choose mapping on multiple sessions, back up your
Delete All Maps. settings by exporting all plug-in maps on a
regular basis and saving the .pim file with
3 Click Delete.
your sessions.

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.

1118 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To hide the Factory Default pages of a plug-in map: 4 Click Save.
1 Open the plug-in whose default plug-in map
To import a map file:
pages you want to hide.
1 Open the plug-in where you want to import a
2 From the Map Options pop-up menu, choose
plug-in map.
Hide Factory Default Pages.
2 From the Map Options pop-up menu, choose
Exporting and Importing Plug-In Import Plug-In Maps From File.
Maps 3 Locate the plug-in map (.pim) file you want to
Plug-In maps can be exported as .pim files for use import.
on other Pro Tools systems. 4 Click Open.
When exporting plug-in maps, you can choose to
save individual map files for each plug-in, or a sin-
gle map file containing all the plug-in maps for the Bypassing Plug-Ins
system. Plug-Ins can be bypassed from their Plug-In win-
dow, or from the Mix and Edit window Inserts
On D-Control and D-Command systems,
View.
when you export all plug-in maps, you are
also exporting Custom Fader Plug-In map-
To bypass a plug-in, do one of the following:
ping to the same file. For more information,
see the D-Control Guide or D-Command  Click the Plug-In window’s Effect Bypass but-
Guide. ton.
 Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win-
To export an individual plug-in map:
dows) the plug-in’s Insert button in the Mix or
1 Open the plug-in whose map you want to ex- Edit window.
port.
When a plug-in is bypassed, its Insert button turns
2 Choose the map you want to export from the
blue. If only some of the channels of a multi-mono
Map Presets pop-up menu.
plug-in are bypassed, its Insert button turns purple.
3 From the Map Options pop-up menu, choose
Export Current Plug-In Map. bypassed (blue) not bypassed

4 Choose a location for the map file.

5 Click Save.

To export all plug-in maps in the system to a single

map file:

1 Open any plug-in in the session.

Indication of bypassed plug-in state
2 From the Map Options pop-up menu, choose
Export All Plug-In Maps.

3 Choose a location for the map file.

Chapter 49: Plug-In and Hardware Inserts 1119

 To bypass (or pass) certain Inserts using the Track Key Commands for Bypassing Inserts
menu, choose:
Pro Tools provides key-click commands for by-
1 Select the tracks on which you want to bypass
passing inserts on selected tracks in the Mix win-
inserts. Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Win-
dow:
dows) to select all tracks shown in the session.
 Control-click (Mac) or Start-click (Windows)
2 Choose Track > Bypass Insert.
an Insert Assignment button in the Mix or Edit
3 Select (or deselect) one of the following: window to bypass it and all inserts below it on a
track.
All Bypasses all Inserts on all selected tracks in the
session.  Control-Option-click (Mac) or Start+Alt-click
(Windows) an Insert Assignment button in the Mix
Inserts A–E Bypasses Inserts A–E on all selected or Edit window to bypass it and all inserts below it
tracks in the session. on all tracks. This lets you bypass all plug-ins in
Inserts F–J Bypasses Inserts A–E on all selected your session with a single click.
tracks in the session.  Press Shift+A to bypass (or un-bypass) all in-
serts on selected tracks.
EQ Bypasses all EQ plug-ins on all selected tracks
in the session. For those plug-ins that are available  Press Shift+2 to bypass (or un-bypass) inserts
in multiple categories (such as Channel Strip), A–E on selected tracks.
only the EQ portion of the plug-in is bypassed.
 Press Shift+3 to bypass (or un-bypass) inserts
Dynamics Bypasses all Dynamics plug-ins on all F–J on selected tracks.
selected tracks in the session. For those plug-ins
 Press Shift+E to bypass (or un-bypass) all EQ
that are available in multiple categories (such as
plug-ins on selected tracks.
Channel Strip), only the Dynamics portion of the
plug-in is bypassed.  Press Shift+C to bypass (or un-bypass) all Dy-

namics plug-ins on selected tracks.

Reverb Bypasses all Reverb plug-ins on all se-
lected tracks in the session.  Press Shift+V to bypass (or un-bypass) all Re-
verb plug-ins on selected tracks.
Delay Bypasses all Delay plug-ins on all selected
tracks in the session.  Press Shift+D to bypass (or un-bypass) all De-
lay plug-ins on selected tracks.
Modulation Bypasses all Modulation plug-ins on
 Press Shift+W to bypass (or un-bypass) all
all selected tracks in the session.
Modulation plug-ins on selected tracks.

1120 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Linking and Unlinking Using Hardware Inserts
Controls on Multi-Mono
You can connect external devices, such as reverb
Plug-Ins
or effects processors, to your Pro Tools system and
When a multi-mono plug-in is used on a stereo use them as hardware inserts on individual tracks
track or greater-than-stereo multichannel track or on submixes.
(Pro Tools Ultimate only), the controls are linked
by default. Adjusting the Gain control on one Pro Tools inserts utilize corresponding hardware
channel, for example, will adjust it for all channels. input and output channels to send and return the
audio. Inserts can be defined, and their channels
You can unlink multi-mono plug-in controls on mapped to audio interface channels on the Insert
specific channels of a track and edit them inde- page in the I/O Setup dialog.
pendently. You can also selectively link the con-
trols of specific channels. If you plan to use a device as an insert, be sure to
connect the device to matching inputs and outputs
Link Enable buttons on your system. For example, a hardware insert be-
ing supplied by outputs 7–8 needs to be returned to
hardware inputs 7–8.
Master Link button
Channel Selector Delay Compensation can be applied to Hard-
ware Inserts. See “H/W Insert Delay (Com-
Channel selector and Link controls (shown with Link
pensation) Page” on page 57.
disabled)

To unlink controls on a multi-mono plug-in: To define a hardware insert:

 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 77).

All channels linked except the LFE

Chapter 49: Plug-In and Hardware Inserts 1121

 Assigning Hardware Inserts Connecting and Integrating
External Devices
To assign an external hardware insert to a track:
Pro Tools can create dedicated connections to ex-
 Select an insert from the track Insert selector. ternal analog or digital devices. The number and
type of connections depends on what kind of sys-
tem you have.

To connect an external device to a Pro Tools

system:
1 Connect an unused output (or pair of outputs for
a stereo device) of your Pro Tools system to an
input of the external signal processor.
2 Connect the output of the external signal pro-
cessor to an unused input (or pair of inputs for a
stereo device) of your Pro Tools system.
3 Define what physical ports are routed to
Pro Tools input and output ports, as appropriate,
in either the Hardware Setup dialog or
I/O Setup dialog.
4 Define output, input, or insert paths as appropri-
Selecting a hardware I/O insert ate in the I/O Setup dialog.

If you plan to use a device as an insert, be sure to

connect the device to matching inputs and outputs
on your system. For example, to use outputs 7–8,
Hardware Insert window the insert has to use inputs 7–8 also.

Bypassing Hardware Inserts

For additional information on connecting ex-
ternal devices, see the User Guide that came
Hardware inserts do not provide a bypass control. with your system.
To monitor playback without a hardware insert, ei-
ther set it to Inactive, remove it by reassigning it to
No Insert, or use a bypass switch on the hardware
device itself. (See “Making Inserts Inactive” on
page 1096 for more information.)

1122 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Connecting Effects Units 5 Optionally, configure the I/O Setup dialog with
Digitally new path names for effects routing.
If you want to use the digital inputs and outputs on If you set the Optical Format to S/PDIF,
your Pro Tools system as effects sends and returns Pro Tools will watch the Optical port for
to a digital effects device, Pro Tools should be the any audio input, and ignore any audio in-
clock master in most cases. Set your digital effects put on the S/PDIF RCA jacks.
device to accept an external digital clock so that it
synchronizes to Pro Tools. Using External Clock Sources
(for Recording and Monitoring)
To set up a digital send to an external device for
HDX and HD Native systems: When recording or monitoring, Pro Tools can syn-
1 Choose Setup > Hardware chronize to an external clock source. Options for
external clock vary according to the type of
2 Select the audio interface from the Peripherals Pro Tools system you are using.
list (HD I/O, HD MADI, or HD OMNI).
HDX and HD Native Systems
3 Select an audio format and clock format, and set
the appropriate channel pair to Digital. HDX and HD Native systems can receive external
4 Select Internal from the Clock Source pop-up clock through any of the digital inputs on any Avid
menu. HD audio interface (including AES/EBU, S/PDIF,
and Optical).
5 Click OK.
For details on audio interface connections,
To set up a digital send to an external device from see the guide for your audio interface.
a Pro Tools system with 003, 003 Rack+, or 003
Rack: To select an external clock source for HDX or
HD Native systems:
1 Choose Setup > Playback Engine and choose
the peripheral. 1 Choose Setup > Hardware.

2 Do one of the following: 2 Select the appropriate audio interface in order to

display its settings in the Main page.
• If the external device is connected to the S/PDIF
RCA jacks, deselect S/PDIF Mirroring. (When 3 If necessary, enable the appropriate Digital For-
S/PDIF Mirroring is on, digital output at the mat (if you have not already done so, according
S/PDIF RCA jacks exactly mirrors the output of to the instructions in your User Guide or I/O
analog Channels 1–2.) Guide).
• If the external device is connected to the Optical 4 Set the Clock Source to match the type of
ports, choose a format (most likely S/PDIF for input.
an effects device) from the Optical Format pop-
up menu. 5 Configure input routing of the digital source,
using the Input and Output pop-up menus, if
3 Choose Internal from the Clock Source pop-up necessary.
menu.
6 Click OK to close the Hardware Setup dialog.
4 Click OK.

Chapter 49: Plug-In and Hardware Inserts 1123

 Pro Tools Systems with 003, 003 Rack+, or Pro Tools Systems with Mbox Pro or Mbox (3rd
003 Rack generation)

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):

1 Choose Setup > Hardware. 1 Choose Setup > Hardware.

2 Set the Clock Source to match the type of input. 2 Select SPDIF/RCA (Mac) or SPDIF (Windows)
from the Clock Source pop-up menu.
3 If you select Optical, make sure the Optical
Format matches the type of optical input you are 3 Click OK.
sending to your Pro Tools system.
Your digital input device must be connected
If you set the Optical Format to S/PDIF, and powered on for Pro Tools to synchronize to
Pro Tools will watch the Optical port for it. If your input device is not powered on, leave
external clock, and ignore any clock input the Clock Source set to Internal.
on the S/PDIF RCA jacks.

Pro Tools Systems with Eleven Rack

Pro Tools can receive external clock from the

AES/EBU input or S/PDIF input.

To select an external clock source for Eleven

Rack:
1 Choose Setup > Hardware.
2 Set the Clock Source to match the type of
input.

1124 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Chapter 50: Automation

Pro Tools features dynamic automation of mixing

controls on each of the track types. You can write Automation Overview
automation moves and view them in real time Pro Tools provides many options for recording, re-
during playback and recording in your session. placing, and editing automation data.
You can also edit automation data with the same
techniques you use to edit audio and MIDI data. The basic steps for automation recording are:
• Enable the automation type that you want to re-
Automation Accuracy with cord (volume, pan, mute, send level, send pan,
Control Surfaces send mute, or plug-in automation).
Control Surfaces D-Control, D-Command, C|24, • Put the appropriate tracks in an automation writ-
and Command|8 control surfaces (as well as the ing mode (Write, Touch, or Latch, or a Trim
003) support the automation features in Pro Tools. mode).
Pro Tools control surfaces provide 10-bit resolu- • If you are automating a plug-in, enable the
tion, or 1,024 steps of fader resolution. Pro Tools individual plug-in controls to be automated.
interpolates this input to 24-bit resolution on play-
• Automation Safe any plug-ins, outputs, or sends
back, resulting in extremely accurate and smooth
that have existing automation data that you want
fader automation.
to protect from being overwritten.
For details on using control surfaces to • Begin playback to begin automation recording,
create mix automation, see your control and adjust controls as needed. Pro Tools remem-
surface guide. bers all moves performed on enabled controls.
EUCON Avid control surfaces using EUCON, To edit automation once it has been recorded, you
such as Pro Tools | S6 or Artist Series controllers, can:
provide 12-bit resolution fader and knob control.
• Repeat the above steps to write new automation
MIDI Control Surfaces Most MIDI control sur- over the previous data.
faces have 7-bit resolution, or 128 steps. Pro Tools • Graphically edit the automation data in the Edit
interpolates this input to 24-bit resolution on play- window.
back, resulting in accurate and smooth fader auto-
• Cut, copy, paste, or delete automation data (cer-
mation.
tain restrictions apply).

Chapter 50: Automation 1125

 On Auxiliary Input tracks, these parameters
Automation Playlists include:
Each Pro Tools track contains a single automation • Volume
playlist for each automatable parameter. The avail-
• Volume Trim (Pro Tools Ultimate only)
able options vary depending on track type, track
channel width, and track output path channel • LFE (.1 surround outputs only,
width. Pro Tools Ultimate only)
• Mute
On audio tracks, these parameters include:
• Object Toggle (Object tracks only,
• Volume
Pro Tools Ultimate only)
• Volume Trim (Pro Tools Ultimate only)
• Pan
• LFE (.1 surround outputs only,
• Send Level
Pro Tools Ultimate only)
• Send Level Trim (Pro Tools Ultimate only)
• Mute
• Send Pan
• Object Toggle (Object tracks only,
Pro Tools Ultimate only) • Send Mute

• Pan • Plug-In controls

• Send Level On Master Faders, these parameters include:

• Send Level Trim (Pro Tools Ultimate only) • Volume
• Send Pan • Volume Trim (Pro Tools Ultimate only)
• Send Mute • Plug-In controls
• Plug-In controls
On MIDI tracks, these parameters include:
• MIDI Volume
• MIDI Pan
• MIDI Mute
• pitch bend
• mono aftertouch
• program change
• Sysex
• controllers

1126 Pro Tools Reference Guide

On Instrument tracks, these parameters include: In addition, on MIDI and Instrument tracks you
• MIDI Volume can display and edit other continuous MIDI con-
troller data (such as mod wheel, breath controller,
• MIDI Pan foot controller, or sustain) in a similar manner. For
• MIDI Mute more information on editing MIDI data, see “Con-
• pitch bend tinuous Controller Events” on page 764.

• 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.

• Volume Trim (Pro Tools Ultimate only) Audio Tracks

• LFE (.1 surround outputs only,
On audio tracks, automation data resides on a sep-
Pro Tools Ultimate only)
arate playlist from audio data and clips. Each edit
• Mute playlist on an audio track shares the same automa-
• Object Toggle (Object tracks only, tion data.
Pro Tools Ultimate only)
MIDI and Instrument Tracks
• Pan
On MIDI tracks and Instrument tracks, all control-
• Send Level
ler automation data except for MIDI Mute data, or
• Send Level Trim (Pro Tools Ultimate only) audio mute (Instrument tracks only), is stored in
• Send Pan the MIDI clip that contains it. Each edit playlist on
the track is separate, and represents a distinct per-
• Send Mute
formance, complete with controller automation.
• Plug-In controls
MIDI Mute data is independent of the
On VCA Master tracks, these parameters include: MIDI data in a MIDI clip. This lets you
• Volume mute playback of individual MIDI or
• Volume Trim Instrument tracks in Pro Tools without
altering the controller data.
• Mute

You can display and edit each of these automatable Trim Automation Playlists
playlists individually from Pro Tools, even during (Pro Tools | Ultimate Software 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.

Chapter 50: Automation 1127

 Each Trim automation playlist shows the position
of the Trim fader with yellow breakpoint automa- Automation Modes
tion that can be edited. For more information on Automation modes control how a track’s automa-
Trim playlists, see “Trim Mode” on page 1131 and tion data is written and played back. Each track
“Viewing Automation” on page 1135. provides an Automation Mode selector for select-
ing the track’s Automation mode.
Multiple Edit Playlists and Audio
Track Automation Off Mode
All edit playlists on a single audio track share the Off mode turns off automation for all automatable
same automation data. When you record or edit au- parameters:
tomation data in an audio track, the automation
data is stored in the track’s corresponding automa- • Volume
tion playlist so it can be edited with, or inde- • Pan
pendently from, its associated audio clips. • Mute
MIDI continuous controller data always • Send volume, pan, and mute
follows clip editing, with the exception of • Plug-In controls
mute. See “MIDI and Instrument Tracks”
on page 1127 for more information.
• MIDI volume, pan, and mute

In Off mode, automation data for these parameters

 When you copy or cut audio data from a track
is ignored during playback. All other MIDI con-
while it is in Waveform view, the underlying auto-
troller data is sent.
mation data is cut or copied with it.
 If you paste audio data from other locations or Automation can be switched from Off to another
tracks into an edit playlist, you may change the un- Automation mode during playback or record.
derlying automation data on the track.
Read Mode
 When you trim clips using Edit > Trim, the un-
derlying automation data remains unchanged. Read mode plays any automation that was previ-
ously written for a track.
For more information, see “Editing
Automation” on page 1152.
Write Mode
Duplicating Tracks for Playlist Write mode writes automation from the time play-
Editing back starts to the time it stops, erasing any previ-
ously written automation for the duration of the au-
The Duplicate Track command provides a conve-
tomation pass.
nient way to make a working copy of a track to ex-
periment with routing, plug-ins, and automation. AutoMatch can be applied to a Write automation
This protects the original track and its automation pass. See “AutoMatch Time” on page 1134.
data from being edited or overwritten.

For more information, see “Duplicating

Tracks” on page 239.

1128 Pro Tools Reference Guide

“After Write Pass, Switch To” Option Latch Mode
You can set Pro Tools to automatically change to Latch mode works in the same way as Touch
Touch mode or Latch mode, or remain in Write mode, writing automation only if you touch or
mode after the completion of an automation pass in move a control. However, unlike Touch, writing of
Write mode. automation continues until you stop playback or
“punch out” of the automation pass by changing
To set the Automation mode after a Write pass: the Automation mode to Read or Touch.
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click Mixing.
AutoMatch can be applied to a Latch automation
2 Under Automation, select an After Write Pass, pass. See “AutoMatch Time” on page 1134.
Switch To option (Touch, Latch, or No Change).
Latch mode is particularly useful for automating
3 Click OK to close the Preferences window. Pan controls and plug-ins on non-touch sensitive
rotary controls, since it does not time out and revert
Touch Mode to its previous position when you release a control.

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 1164.
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 | Ultimate Software Only)
mation Preferences” on page 1133.
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.

Chapter 50: Automation 1129

 To enable AutoJoin from Pro Tools: AutoJoin Indicator
1 Choose Window > Automation. After a Latch automation pass with AutoJoin
2 Click the AutoJoin button. enabled, the AutoJoin indicator appears in the
Pro Tools Edit window.

AutoJoin Enable button in the Automation window AutoJoin indicator in the Edit window

The AutoJoin indicator is a vertical line that signi-

See your control surface guide for details on fies the point where the last automation pass was
using Join and AutoJoin with a control surface. stopped, and the point where the “join” will auto-
matically occur on all tracks that were writing
during that previous pass. When automation writ-
ing is resumed from this point, the line disappears.

To use Join or AutoJoin to resume writing

on controls that were writing when the
transport stopped, restart the transport be-
fore the AutoJoin indicator.

1130 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Touch/Latch Mode When writing automation in Trim mode, fader
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only) moves write relative rather than absolute values.
The existing automation data is changed by the
Touch/Latch Automation mode places a track’s amount of increase or decrease (or the delta value)
Volume control in Touch mode and all other au- indicated by the faders.
tomatable controls in Latch mode.
When Trim mode is enabled, non-trimmable con-
In Touch/Latch mode, the Volume control follows trols behave in the same manner as in the standard
Touch behavior, writing automation when touched Automation modes, with the exception of
and returning to previously written levels when re- Write/Trim mode, where non-trimmable controls
leased. operate as in Touch mode.
All other controls follow Latch behavior, writing
automation when touched and continuing until Trim Automation Modes
playback stops, or until you punch out of writing
When a track is in a Trim automation mode (except
automation.
for Trim Off) its main Volume faders and all Send
level faders are displayed in yellow. When trim-
ming, a track’s Volume indicator or Send Level in-
dicator shows the delta value being written rather
than the absolute value.

Behavior of the Trim Automation modes also de-

pends on the Coalesce Trim Automation prefer-
ence setting. See “Coalescing Trim Automation”
on page 1163.
Selecting Touch/Latch mode
Trim Off

Trim Mode Trim Off turns off reading and writing of all auto-
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only) mation (main and trim) for a track. All automation
moves are ignored during playback. Trim faders
Pro Tools Ultimate can adjust (or trim) existing
are temporarily set to zero when a track is set to
track volume and send level automation data in
Trim Off mode.
real time. Pan, mute and plug-in automation cannot
be trimmed in this manner. Trim mode works in Depending on the Coalesce Trim Automation pref-
combination with the other Automation modes erence setting, changing a track to Trim Off can
(Read, Touch, Latch, Touch/Latch, and Write) and coalesce Trim automation on that track. See “Co-
is useful when you want to preserve all of your vol- alescing Trim Automation” on page 1163.
ume automation moves, but need to make levels a
bit louder or softer to balance a mix. For more in- Automation can be switched from Trim Off to an-
formation, see “Trim Automation Modes” on other Automation mode during playback or record.
page 1131.

Chapter 50: Automation 1131

 Read Trim Latch Trim

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 1134 for more
information.

When this mode is enabled, non-trimmable con-

trols (all controls other than track volume and send
level) behave as if they are in regular Touch
mode—they follow the previously written automa-
tion until touched. When they are touched, their
absolute positions are written until the control is
released or until playback stops.

1132 Pro Tools Reference Guide

When Write Trim mode is enabled, non-trimmable Send Levels and Trim Mode
controls (all controls other than track volume and (Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)
send level) are not in Write mode, but behave as if
they are in regular Touch mode (no automation is You can set Pro Tools to exclude Send levels from
written unless a control is touched). This is to pre- Trim mode, so that only the Main Volume goes
vent the controls from overwriting all of their au- into Trim when a track is put into Trim mode. This
tomation data on every pass in Write Trim mode. gives you more flexibility in setting Send levels
while in Trim mode.
The “After Write Pass, Switch To” prefer-
ence affects Write Trim mode. After an au- To exclude Send levels from Trim mode:
tomation pass in Write/Trim mode, tracks 1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click Mixing.
automatically switch to the Trim mode ver-
sion of the setting specified by this prefer- 2 Under Automation, deselect Include Sends in
Trim Mode.
ence.
Any uncoalesced automation on a Send will
still coalesce when the other automation on
Automation Preferences its track is coalesced, even if “Include Sends
Pro Tools gives you several options for controlling in Trim Mode” is deselected.
the writing and playback of automation data.
3 Click OK.
To display Automation preferences:

 Choose Setup > Preferences and click Mixing. Smoothing

When you perform automation moves (including
Trim moves) with a continuous control, Pro Tools
records the move as a series of very small steps, re-
sulting in a staircase pattern with many break-
points. Smoothing intelligently resolves this stair-
case pattern into a single, smooth ramp from one
breakpoint to the next. (Smoothing does not apply
to switched controls such as mutes or plug-in by-
passes.) With smoothing enabled, the resulting au-
Mixing Preferences page, Automation
tomation data is often a more accurate representa-
tion of actual automation moves.
For detailed information on Pro Tools Au-
tomation preferences, see “Mixing Prefer-
ences” on page 118.

Chapter 50: Automation 1133

 Thinning To enable or disable Automation Follows Edit, do
one of the following:
Thinning automatically reduces the overall num-
 Select or deselect Options > Automation Follows
ber of breakpoints in an automation playlist (in-
Edit.
cluding Trim playlists) in order to improve system
performance. The amount of thinning applied is  Click the Automation Follows Edit indicator in
determined by the Degree of Thinning setting in the Edit window toolbar. The indicator is high-
the Automation Preferences page. When using lighted blue when enabled. When disabled, the
high amounts of thinning, the resulting automation indicator is highlighted orange.
may differ noticeably from the original automation
moves. Thinning only applies to audio tracks, and
does not affect MIDI tracks. For instructions, see
“Thinning Automation” on page 1150.

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 1133). 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).

The AutoMatch feature works with continuous

controls (such as Volume or Pan) by ramping their
values back to previously automated levels. There
are some stepped controls (for example, the EQ Automation Safe enabled send
type in the 1-band EQ plug-in) that provide more
Automation Safe mode suspends automation re-
than two discrete steps over their operational
cording for the selected track output, send, or plug-
range. AutoMatch has no effect on these controls.
in that is enabled. You can also suspend automa-
tion recording and playback session-wide from the
Automation Follows Edit Option Automation window. See “Enabling and Suspend-
ing Automation” on page 1147.
When disabled, automation events are not affected
by edits to audio or MIDI notes. When enabled, au-
tomation events are affected by edits to audio or
MIDI notes.

1134 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Viewing Automation
Pro Tools creates a separate playlist in the Edit
window for each type of automation in a track, in-
cluding a playlist for each type of Trim automa-
tion. This data can be viewed and edited in the
same way as audio and MIDI data. You can either
change Track Views to show the automation you
want, or you can reveal an Automation lane under
the track regardless of its Track View.

You can easily toggle between different Track

Displaying Trim automation playlists
Views. See “Changing Track Views” on
page 242.

Track Views
You can view automation data by type by selecting
the corresponding Track View. Trim automation playlist

To display an automation playlist in the Track Automation and Controller

View:
Lanes
 Click the Track View selector and select from
In the Edit window, you can view automation and
the automation type you want to view.
controller data under a track (regardless of the se-
lected Track View). Each track provides Automa-
tion and Controller lanes that let you edit track au-
tomation and controller data without changing the
Track View. You can edit automation and control-
ler data in lanes exactly the same way that you do
in different automation and controller Track
Views.

Show/Hide
Lanes button
Displaying a standard automation playlist
Remove Lane
Add Lane

Automation Type
selector
Revealing an Automation lane

Chapter 50: Automation 1135

 Automation and Controller lanes can be shown or To replace all Automation and Controller lanes
hidden. You can also add and remove lanes. These under the track with a single lane of the specified
automation or controller type:
lanes always remain under the track, but you can
resize and reorder lanes independently of one an- 1 Right-click the Show/Hide Lanes button.
other.
2 Select the Automation or Controller type you
want.
To show or hide Automation lanes under the main
track view:

 Click the Show/Hide Lanes button.

To add a lane:

 Click the Add Lane button.

To remove lanes:

 Click the Remove Lane button.

To change the Automation or Controller type for a

lane: Right-click menu for selecting a single Automation or
Controller lane
 Click the Automation/Controller Type selector
and select the Automation or Controller type To resize the height of all Automation and
you want. Controller lanes for a track, do one of the
following:

 Right-click on the vertical zoom scale just to the

right of the track controls and select the height
from the pop-up menu.
 Drag the bottom line of any given Lane Con-
trols column up or down. The cursor changes to
indicate that you can resize the lane.

Press Control+Up/Down Arrow key (Mac)

or Start+Up/Down Arrow key (Windows) to
increase or decrease height of any lane that
Selecting the Automation type for a lane contains the Edit cursor or an Edit selection.

To resize the height of a single Automation or

Controller lane for a track:

 Press Control (Mac) or Start (Windows) while

selecting the Lane Height setting.

To reorder lanes:

 To reorder lanes on-screen, drag the lane control

section to new positions in the Edit window.

1136 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Displaying Trim Automation To display the composite playlist:
Along with the Main Playlist  Select View > Automation > Composite Playlist.
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)
Volume
The appearance of Trim automation depends on Trim
how it is set to be coalesced. See “Coalescing Trim data
Automation” on page 1163.
Composite
If automation is not set to coalesce after every au- playlist
tomation pass, you can display Trim automation
data along with the main Volume or Send level au-
tomation data in the same automation view. This
Trim automation display cannot be directly edited. Volume
data

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:

 Select View > Automation > Trim Playlist. AutoMatch Indicators

Volume There are triangular AutoMatch indicators at the
Trim bottom left of each channel strip in the Mix win-
data
dow. When lit, these indicate the direction the
Volume
data fader will automatically move when Auto-Match-
ing.
Display of Trim automation in a main Volume playlist

Displaying the Composite

Automation Playlist
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)

If automation is not set to coalesce after every au-

tomation pass, you can display a composite auto-
mation playlist that shows the contribution of the
Trim automation to the main Volume or Send
Level automation data. This composite playlist
display cannot be directly edited.

The composite playlist is shown in both the main

automation playlist and the Trim automation play-
list.
Triangular AutoMatch indicator on a channel strip

Chapter 50: Automation 1137

 Indication of Automation in Writing Automation
Track View and Automation
You can write automation for all automatable con-
Lane Selectors
trols by moving those controls during playback or
Automation Track view and Automation lane se- recording.
lectors display orange to indicate which automa-
tion playlists currently contain automation. Select the Enable Automation in Record op-
tion in the Operation Preferences to write au-
tomation while recording.

To write automation on tracks:

1 Choose Window > Automation.

2 Make sure the automation type is write-
enabled.

“volume” in Track View selector displays orange to

indicate the presence of automation

“volume” in Automation Lane selector displays orange

to indicate the presence of automation
Automation window

1138 Pro Tools Reference Guide

3 In the Mix or Edit window, click the Automa- 4 Start playback to begin writing automation.
tion Mode selector on each of the tracks you
5 Move the controls you want to automate.
want to automate, and set the Automation
mode. For the initial automation pass, select 6 When you have finished, stop playback.
Write.
If you write automation in Touch mode with
Loop Playback enabled, writing of automa-
tion will automatically stop at the end of the
looped selection. At the beginning of each
successive loop, you can then touch or move
the control again to write new data.

Storing an Initial Control

Position
Setting the Automation mode of a track
When you create a new audio, Auxiliary Input,
4 Start playback to begin writing automation. VCA Master, MIDI, or Instrument track, it is auto-
matically placed in Read mode. Even though the
5 Move the controls you want to automate (such
track is in Read mode, you can set the initial posi-
as a track volume fader).
tion of any automatable control, and it is saved
6 When you have finished, stop playback. with your session.

After the first automation pass, you can write addi- In this initial state, only a single automation break-
tional automation to the track without completely point appears at the beginning of each automation
erasing the previous pass by choosing Touch mode playlist. If you move the control without writing
or Latch mode. These modes add new automation automation, this breakpoint will move to the new
only when you actually move a control. (See “Au- value.
tomation Modes” on page 1128.)
You can permanently store the initial position of
To write additional automation to a previous pass: an automatable control by doing any of the follow-
ing:
1 Enable Options > Link Timeline and Edit Selec-
tion. • Place the track in Write mode and press Play to
write a few seconds of automation data to the
2 In the Edit window, make a selection or place
track
the cursor in the location where you want to
start writing automation. • Manually place a breakpoint on the automation
playlist somewhere after the initial breakpoint.
3 In the Mix or Edit window, click the Automa- (See “Graphical Editing of Automation Data” on
tion Mode selector on each of the tracks you page 1153 for more information.)
want to automate, and set the Automation mode
to Touch or Latch mode.

Chapter 50: Automation 1139

 Automating Switched Controls However, to preserve any automation for that
switched control later in the Timeline, this latched
When automating switched controls (such as
behavior ends if either of the following occurs:
mutes, plug-in bypasses, or switched controls on
plug-ins) Pro Tools treats them as touch sensitive • If an existing automation breakpoint is encoun-
controls. Automation data is written for as long as tered, Pro Tools stops writing automation at that
the switch or button for that control is pressed or point.
touched. • If you stop playback or punch out of writing au-
tomation before reaching an existing automation
For example, if you have just written a series of
breakpoint, Pro Tools AutoMatches to the un-
mute on/off states on a track in quick succession,
derlying automation state.
the manual method for clearing this automation
data would require you to move to the Edit win-
dow, choose automation playlist for Mute, select Setting Switched Controls for
the mute automation data, and delete it. In Momentary Behavior
Pro Tools, this can be done automatically. In some cases, such as when overwriting or ex-
tending Mute automation, you may want to mo-
To automate a switched control (such as the Mute mentarily write automation for a control by hold-
button):
ing it down, and not have the control latch.
1 Perform another automation pass on the track.
To set switched controls for momentary behavior:
2 When you reach the location of the mute state
you want to remove, hold the switched control 1 Choose Options > Preferences and click Mixing.
(such as the Mute button). 2 Deselect Latching Behavior for Switch Controls
in “Touch.”
When playback gets to the first muted section,
the Mute button becomes highlighted. 3 Click OK to close the Preferences window.

3 As long as the button is held, Pro Tools over-

writes the underlying data on the track with the
current state of the switch (on or off) until play-
Automating Sends
back is stopped. Pro Tools provides automation of send level, send
mute, and send pan (for stereo and multichannel
Automating Switched Controls sends only). This makes it easy to control effect
in Touch Mode levels and placement during mixdown with great
precision.
When automating switched controls (including
mute, plug-in bypass, and any switched control on Send level and mute can also be configured to fol-
a plug-in) in Touch mode, these controls will latch low groups.
in their current state after they are touched.

1140 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To automate a send level, mute or pan: To copy a track’s settings or automation to one of
its sends:
1 In the Automation window, make sure the auto-
mation type is write-enabled (send level, send 1 Select the tracks you want to edit by clicking on
mute, send pan). the track names to highlight them.

2 In the Mix or Edit window, set the Automation 2 Choose Edit > Automation > Copy to Send.
mode for each track containing sends you want
to automate. For each track, click the Automa-
tion Mode selector and set the Automation
mode. For the initial automation pass, choose
Write mode.
3 If sends are not currently visible on your tracks,
select View > Mix Window (or Edit Window) >
Sends A–E (or Sends F–J).

4 To display send controls, do one of the follow-

ing:
• Click the send to open the Output window for
the send that you want to automate.
• Select View > Sends A–E (or Sends F–J) and se-
Copy To Send dialog
lect one of the individual views (such as Send
A). 3 In the Copy to Send dialog, do any of the fol-
lowing:
5 Start playback to begin writing automation.
• Select Current Value to copy the current settings
6 Move the controls you want to automate. of the corresponding controls.
7 When you have finished, stop playback. • Select Automation to copy the entire automation
playlist for the corresponding controls.
Send level, mute, and pan can also be configured to
follow Mix Groups (see “Automation Preferences” 4 Select the controls you want to copy.
on page 1133).
5 Select the sends to which to copy the automa-
tion, and click OK.
Copying Track Automation to
Sends You can undo the results of the Copy to Send
command.
There may be times where you want a track’s send
settings or automation to mirror the settings or au-
tomation in the track itself, for example, when cre-
ating a headphone mix based on the main mix, or Automating Plug-Ins
when an effect level needs to follow the levels in a You can automate changes to virtually all plug-in
main mix. You can copy the current settings or the controls. Automating a plug-in is slightly different
entire automation playlist for the selected controls from other automation procedures, because you
to the corresponding playlist for the send. must enable individual plug-in controls for auto-
mation.

Chapter 50: Automation 1141

 To enable plug-in controls for automation: To automate a plug-in:
1 Open the Plug-In window for the plug-in you 1 In the Plug-In Automation Enable window,
want to automate. make sure plug-in automation is enabled for the
controls you want to automate.
2 Do one of the following:
• Click the Automation Enable button in the Plug- 2 In the Mix or Edit window, for each track con-
In window. taining plug-ins you want to automate, click the
Automation Mode selector and set the Automa-
tion mode. For the initial automation pass, se-
lect Write.
3 Start playback to begin writing automation, and
Automation Enable button for accessing the Plug-In move the controls you want to automate.
Automation dialog
4 When you have finished, stop playback.
• Command-Option-Control-click (Mac) or Con-
trol-Alt-Start-click (Windows) the Track View Enabling Automation for
selector in the Edit window. Individual Plug-In Parameters
3 In the plug-in automation dialog, choose the You can enable individual plug-in controls directly
controls to automate and click Add. If there are from the Plug-In window.
multiple plug-ins on the same track, you can se-
lect from among them by clicking their buttons To enable a plug-in parameter from the plug-in
in the Inserts section of this dialog. window:
1 Make sure the plug-in window is open for the
plug-in you want to automate.
2 Command-Option-Control-click (Mac) or Con-
trol-Alt-Start-click (Windows) the control for
the parameter.

Plug-In automation dialog

4 Click OK to close the Plug-In Automation

dialog. Enabling plug-in automation for individual parameters

1142 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Enabling Automation for All The following table shows the color coding for au-
Plug-In Parameters tomated plug-in parameters, with and without a
control surface.
To enable all plug-in parameters:
Color coding for automated plug-in parameters
1 Make sure the plug-in window is open for the
plug-in you want to automate. Touch,
Automation
Off Read Latch,
Mode:
2 Command+Option+Control-click (Mac) or Write
Control+Alt+Start-click (Windows) on the No Control none Green Red
Auto button at the top of the plug-in window. Surface

Control none Blue Yellow

Automatically Enabling Plug-Ins Surface
for Automation
You can set Pro Tools to automatically enable all Record Safing Plug-In
controls of a plug-in for automation when you first Automation
add the plug-in to your session.
You can protect plug-in automation from being
overwritten by using Automation Safe mode.
To automatically enable all plug-in controls for
automation:
To enable plug-in safe mode:
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click Mixing.
1 Open a plug-in.
2 Select Plug-In Controls Default to Auto-En-
2 Click the Safe button so that it is highlighted.
abled.

3 Click OK to close the Preferences window.

Color Indication of Automation

Mode for Plug-In Parameters
In the Plug-In window, the controls for plug-in pa- Automation Safe enabled plug-in
rameters highlight in different colors to indicate
whether or not a control is automated in what auto-
mation mode. The color also is different depending
on whether or not a parameter is being controlled
by a control surface (such as D-Command or Com-
mand|8).

Chapter 50: Automation 1143

 AutoMatching Individual Tracks
AutoMatching Controls
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)
You can invoke AutoMatch on individual tracks.
All controls currently writing automation on the
Use the AutoMatch button in the Automation win- track stop writing and return to existing automa-
dow to automatically change automation controls tion levels.
to their existing automation levels.
To AutoMatch all controls on a track:

 Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win-

dows) the Automation Mode selector on the
track.

AutoMatching Individual
Automation Types
AutoMatch button in the Automation window You can invoke AutoMatch on individual automa-
tion types across a session.
AutoMatching All Controls
To AutoMatch all controls of one automation type:
You can AutoMatch all currently writing controls
to their existing automation levels.  In the Automation window, Command-click
(Mac) or Control-click (Windows) the button
To AutoMatch all currently writing controls: for the automation type (Volume, Pan, Mute,
1 Choose Window > Automation. Plug-In, Send level, Send pan, or Send mute).

2 Make sure the automation types you want to

AutoMatch are write-enabled. AutoMatching Individual
Controls
3 Start playback. (D-Control and D-Command Only)
4 When you reach a point in the track where you On ICON worksurfaces, you can invoke Auto-
want to return control to their previously written Match on individual controls or control types on
values, click the AutoMatch button in the Auto- single channels.
mation window.
To AutoMatch all controls of a type on a channel:
All currently writing controls stop writing automa-
tion and return to any previously written values ac-  Hold Command (Mac) or Control (Windows)
cording to the AutoMatch Time setting in the Mix- and press any of the following in the Channel
ing preferences. Strip Mode controls for the track whose controls
you want to AutoMatch:
• Inserts
• Sends
• Pan
• Dyn (D-Control only)
• EQ (D-Control only)
1144 Pro Tools Reference Guide
To AutoMatch a pan control or the controls for an 4 In the Automation window, make sure the con-
individual insert or send: trols you want to automate are write-enabled.
1 Press the switch in the Channel Strip Mode con-
5 Click the Automation Mode selector on the
trols to display the Pan controls or the top level
track where you want to write automation and
of Inserts or Sends for the channel.
do one of the following:
2 Hold Command (Mac) or Control (Windows) • Choose Latch mode to allow priming of all auto-
and press the Rotary Encoder Select switch for mation-enabled controls on the track.
the control you want to AutoMatch:
• Choose Touch/Latch mode to leave the main
• For Sends, the Send level, pan, and mute will Volume fader in Touch mode and allow priming
AutoMatch. of all other automation-enabled controls.
• For Inserts, all automated controls will
6 While the transport is stopped, touch or move
AutoMatch.
the controls you want to start writing at the be-
• For Pan, all pan sliders on the channel will ginning of the automation pass. When at least
AutoMatch. one control on a track is primed, the Automa-
tion Mode selector displays in red.
To AutoMatch all controls for a plug-in displayed
in the Dynamics or EQ section:

 Hold Command (Mac) or Control (Windows)

and press the Auto switch in the Dyn or EQ sec-
tion of the console.

Priming Controls for Writing

Automation in Latch Mode
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)

If a track is in Latch or Touch/Latch automation

Automation mode indicator before (left) and after
mode, you can prime individual controls for writ-
priming of latched controls (right)
ing automation while the transport is stopped. This
Latch Prime capability lets you prepare for an au- 7 Start playback. All primed controls begin writ-
tomation pass before starting playback. ing automation at their primed values.

To prime controls for writing automation in Latch

8 Stop playback to finish the automation pass. All
mode while the transport is stopped: tracks are taken out of their Latch Prime state.
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click Mixing. You can use the Write to Punch command at
2 Under Automation, select Allow Latch Prime in the end of your automation pass to write the
Stop. current value back to the start of the pass.

3 Click OK to close the Preferences window.

Chapter 50: Automation 1145

 Taking Tracks and Controls Out To take all selected tracks out of Latch Prime, do
of Latch Prime one of the following:

You can take individual tracks or automation types  Option-Command-Shift-click (Mac) or Alt-
out of their Latch Prime state before or during an Control-Shift-click (Windows) the Automation
automation pass. Mode selector on a track.

 When you take a track or automation type out of  Alt-Shift-click (Windows) Option-Shift-click
Latch Prime before starting playback, it stays in (Mac) the AutoMatch button in the Automation
Latch mode but the corresponding controls are not window.
primed to write when playback starts.
To take an automation type out of Latch Prime on
 When you take a track or automation type out of all tracks, do one of the following:
Latch Prime during an automation pass, the corre-  In the Automation window, Command-click
sponding controls AutoMatch to their currently (Mac) or Control-click (Windows) the button
written values. for the automation type (Volume, Pan, Mute,
 If you AutoMatch a control that is in a Latch
Plug-In, Send level, Send pan, or Send mute).
Prime state, the control will no longer be primed.

To take a track out of Latch Prime:

 Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win-

dows) the Automation Mode selector on the
track.

The selector button unbolds to indicate that the

track is no longer primed.

To take all tracks out of Latch Prime, do one of the

following:

 Option-Command-click (Mac) or Alt-Control-

click (Windows) the Automation Mode selector
on a track.
 Click the AutoMatch button in the Automation
window.
Automation type buttons in the Automation window

Rolling Through Automation

Punch Points in Latch Prime
After you prime controls for writing automation
while the transport is stopped, you can set
Pro Tools to automatically punch in at that point
after issuing a back and play command, or after
AutoMatch button in the Automation window rolling back and locking to timecode.

1146 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To set Pro Tools to automatically punch in
automation writing on a track: Enabling and Suspending
1 Locate the cursor where you want to punch in Automation
automation. From the Automation window, you can enable or
2 Prime controls for writing while the transport is suspend writing for the following types of automa-
stopped. (See “Priming Controls for Writing tion across all tracks:
Automation in Latch Mode” on page 1145.) • Volume
3 In the Automation window, click the AutoJoin • Volume trim
button. • Pan
4 In the Automation window, click the Capture • Mute
button and then click the Punch Capture button. • Plug-In
The AutoJoin marker (a vertical red line) ap-
pears on-screen at the punch point. • Send level
• Send level trim
• Send pan
• Send mute
• Object/Bus (Pro Tools Ultimate with Dolby At-
mos only)

Automation can be suspended or enabled during

Capture button in the Automation window playback (without having to stop the Transport).

Suspending Automation on All

Tracks
To suspend automation on all tracks:
1 Choose Window > Automation.
2 Do one of the following:
• To suspend writing of all automation on all
Punch Capture button in the Automation window
tracks, click the Suspend button.
5 Issue a Back and Play command, roll back the
• To suspend writing of a specific type of automa-
external machine to before the punch in point,
tion on all tracks, click the button for that auto-
or enable pre-roll.
mation type (volume, mute, pan, plug-in, send
6 Start playback. When the transport reaches the level, send mute, or send pan).
punch-in point, automation writing begins.

Chapter 50: Automation 1147

 To suspend automation for individual controls on
a track:

1 In the Edit window, set the Track View selector

to show the automation playlist for the control
you want to suspend.
2 Do one of the following:
• To suspend writing and playback of automation
for only the displayed control, Command-click
(Mac) or Control-click (Windows) the control
name in the Track View selector.
• To suspend writing and playback of automation
for all controls, Command-Shift-click (Mac) or
Control-Shift-click (Windows) the name of any
control in the Track View selector.
• To suspend writing and playback of automation
for a specific control on all tracks, Command-
Suspend button in the Automation window Option-click (Mac) or Control-Alt-click (Win-
To suspend Trim automation on all tracks dows) the name of the control in the Track View
(Pro Tools Ultimate only): selector.
 In the Automation window, Command-click
To suspend Trim automation for individual
(Mac) or Control-click (Windows) the Suspend controls on a track (Pro Tools Ultimate only):
button.
1 In the Edit window, set the Track View selector
The Suspend button highlights yellow to indicate to show the automation playlist for the Trim
that Trim automation is suspended. control you want to suspend (Volume Trim or
Send level Trim).
Suspending Automation for 2 Do one of the following:
Individual Controls
• To suspend only the displayed Trim control on a
You can suspend automation for one or more con- single track, Command-click (Mac) or Control-
trols. When a control is suspended, its control click (Windows) the control name in the Track
name is italicized in the Track View selector. View selector.

Suspending automation from the Edit win- • To suspend the displayed Trim control on all
dow obeys Edit groups. To suppress grouped tracks, Command-Option-click (Mac) or Con-
behavior, hold Control (Mac) or Start (Win- trol-Alt-click (Windows) the control name in the
dows) while suspending a control. Track View selector.

1148 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Viewing Automation Enable Automation Enable Guidelines
Status
The following rules determine whether automation
Track Automation Mode Selectors is enabled for a track:
 When a track is enabled for automation but not  Although Pro Tools shows a single Automation
writing automation, the Automation mode selector mode for each track, all automatable controls asso-
shows the mode in normal red text. ciated with that track are not necessarily in the
same Automation mode.
 When any control on a track is writing automa-
tion, the Automation mode selector shows the  If automation is globally suspended in the Au-
mode highlighted in red. tomation window, all automatable controls behave
as if they were in Off mode, regardless of the
track’s current Automation mode.
 If automation for a control is suspended by
Command-clicking (Mac) or Control-clicking
(Windows) its name in the Track View selector,
that control behaves as if it were in Off mode, re-
gardless of the track’s current Automation mode.
 If automation for a control is suspended in the
Automation window, that control behaves as if it is
in Read mode when the track is in a writable Auto-
mation mode (Touch, Latch, or Write mode).
Automation Mode selector showing enabled state
(left) and writing state (right)

Automation Window Buttons

Deleting Automation
 When an automation type is writing automation
Automation data takes the form of a line graph
on any track in the session, the corresponding but-
with editable breakpoints. The easiest way to re-
ton in the Automation window displays bold red
move automation in a track or selection is to man-
text.
ually delete breakpoints from the automation play-
 When an automation type is enabled but is not list.
writing anywhere in the session, the corresponding
button in the Automation window displays normal Removing data in this manner is different from us-
red text. 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 1157.

Enabled

Not Enabled

Automation window showing possible automation

states

Chapter 50: Automation 1149

 To remove automation data, display the automa- Clearing Trim Automation
tion playlist you want to edit by selecting it from (Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)
the Track View selector, or by revealing it in an
Automation lane, and do one of the following: If Trim automation has not been coalesced on a
track, you can clear it. When you clear Trim auto-
To remove a single breakpoint: mation, automation breakpoints on all Trim play-
lists are deleted and all Trim faders are reset to
 With the Pencil tool or any Grabber tool, Op-
zero.
tion-click (Mac)ro Alt-click (Windows) the
breakpoint. To clear Trim automation:

To remove several breakpoints at once: 1 Select the track where you want to clear the
Trim automation.
 Use the Selector tool to select a range that con-
tains the breakpoints, and press Delete (Mac) or 2 Do one of the following:
Backspace (Windows). • Choose Track > Clear Trim Automation.

To remove all automation data of the displayed • Right-click the track name and choose Clear
type: Trim Automation.

 Click with the Selector tool in the track and

choose Edit > Select All, then press Delete
(Mac) or Backspace (Windows). Thinning Automation
Pro Tools writes a maximum density of automa-
To remove all automation for all automation
tion data during an automation pass in the form of
playlists on a track:
breakpoints. Since Pro Tools creates ramps be-
1 Use the Selector tool to select a range of data to tween breakpoints, it may not need all of the cap-
be removed. tured points to create a sonically accurate represen-
2 Press Control+Delete (Mac) or Start+Back- tation of the automation moves that you have
space (Windows). made. Each breakpoint takes up space in memory
allocated for automation, so thinning data by re-
All automation data within the selection is re- moving unneeded breakpoints can maximize sys-
moved for all automation playlists on that track, tem efficiency and performance.
regardless of whether automation is write-enabled
for those controls. Pro Tools provides two different ways to thin au-
tomation data: automatically with the Smooth and
Thin Data After Pass option and manually with the
Thin Automation commands.

1150 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Smooth and Thin Data After 3 Do one of the following:
Pass • To thin only the currently displayed type of au-
When this option is selected in the Mixing Prefer- tomation, choose Edit > Automation > Thin.
ences page, Pro Tools automatically thins the auto- • To thin all types of automation, choose Edit >
mation breakpoint data after each automation pass. Automation > Thin All.

In the default settings for new sessions, the Smooth

and Thin Data After Pass option is selected, with
the Degree of Thinning setting set to Some. In most Drawing Automation
cases, this setting yields optimum performance Use the Pencil tool to create automation events for
while providing an accurate reproduction of your audio and MIDI tracks by drawing in any automa-
automation moves. tion or MIDI controller playlist, including Trim
automation if it has not been coalesced.
If you select None for the Degree of Thinning set-
ting, Pro Tools writes the maximum possible num- The Pencil tool can be set to draw a series of auto-
ber of breakpoints. You can still perform thinning mation events with the following shapes:
at any time with the Thin Automation command.
For more information on smoothing automation Free Hand Draws freely according to the move-
data, see “Smoothing” on page 1133. ment of the mouse. In audio tracks, the shape has
the number of breakpoints needed to smoothly in-
terpolate and reproduce the automation shape. In
Thin Automation Commands
MIDI tracks, the shape is reproduced as a series of
The Thin Automation and the Thin All Automation steps, according to the resolution setting in the
commands lets you selectively thin areas where MIDI Preferences page.
automation data is too dense. You can use the
Undo command to audition the results of thinning Line Draws a straight line. In audio tracks, the line
(comparing thinning and not thinning) before you has a single breakpoint at either end. In MIDI
apply it permanently. tracks, the controller value changes in steps ac-
cording to the resolution setting in the MIDI Pref-
To manually thin automation: erences page.
1 In the Edit window, click the Track View selec- Triangle Draws a sawtooth pattern that repeats at a
tor to display an automation type you want to rate based on the current Grid value. In audio
thin, or reveal the corresponding Automation tracks, the pattern has a single breakpoint at each
lane. extreme. In MIDI tracks, the controller value
2 With the Selector tool, highlight the automation changes in steps according to the resolution setting
data you want to thin. To thin automation for the in the MIDI Preferences page. Amplitude is con-
entire track, click in the track with the Selector trolled by vertical movement of the Pencil tool.
tool and choose Edit > Select All. Square Draws a square pattern that repeats at a
rate based on the current Grid value. Amplitude is
controlled by vertical movement of the Pencil tool.

Chapter 50: Automation 1151

 Random Draws a random pattern of levels that The following illustrations show the same MIDI
change at a rate based on the current Grid value. controller automation drawn with different Pencil
Amplitude is controlled by vertical movement of tool resolution settings.
the Pencil tool.

The Parabolic and S-Curve Pencil shapes

are not available for editing automation.

Using Pencil Tool Shapes

You can draw automation for audio as well as
MIDI tracks. For example, use the Triangle pattern MIDI Data drawn with resolution of 10 ms
to control continuous functions, or the Square pat-
tern to control switched functions such as Mute or
Bypass.

Since the Pencil tool draws these shapes using the

current Grid value, you can use it to perform pan-
ning in tempo with a music track, or on frame
scene changes when working in post production.

For more information on MIDI continuous MIDI Data drawn with resolution of 100 ms
controller data, see “Continuous Controller For better performance, consider selecting a
Events” on page 764. smaller value for MIDI controls that need higher
resolution (such as MIDI volume), and a larger
Resolution of MIDI Controller value for controls that may not require a high reso-
Data lution (such as Pan).
When using the Pencil tool to draw MIDI automa-
tion, the data is drawn as a series of discrete steps.
You can control the resolution (or density) of these Editing Automation
steps to help manage the amount of MIDI data sent
For all tracks in a session, Pro Tools provides sev-
for a given MIDI controller move.
eral ways to edit automation data—including Trim
To set the resolution for the Pencil tool:
automation if it has not been coalesced
(Pro Tools Ultimate only). You can edit automa-
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click MIDI. tion data graphically by adjusting breakpoints in
2 Enter a value for Pencil Tool Resolution When any automation playlist. You can also cut, copy,
Drawing Controller Data. The value can range and paste automation data in the same manner as
from 1 to 100 milliseconds. audio and MIDI data.

3 Click OK to close the Preferences window.

1152 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Graphical Editing of Automation Using the Grabber Tools
Data
The Grabber tools lets you create new breakpoints
Automation data takes the form of a line graph by clicking on the graph line, or adjust existing
with editable breakpoints. breakpoints by dragging them. Option-click (Mac)
or Alt-click (Windows) breakpoints with a Grab-
ber tool to remove them.

Automation breakpoint
Using the Grabber tool to create a new breakpoint
By dragging these breakpoints, you can modify the
Using the Pencil Tool
automation data directly in the Edit window and
MIDI Editor windows. When you drag an automa- The Pencil tool lets you create new breakpoints by
tion breakpoint up or down, the change in value is clicking once on the graph line. Option-click
numerically or textually indicated. (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) breakpoints with
the Pencil tool to remove them.

Using the Pencil tool to delete a breakpoint

Using the Trim Tools

Automation breakpoint value

Dragging an automation breakpoint to the left or The Trim tools let you adjust all selected break-
right adjusts the timing of the automation event. points up or down by dragging anywhere within
that selection.
To view the breakpoint automation type on any
track, either select the corresponding Track View
or reveal the corresponding Automation or Con-
troller lane under the track.

Using the Trim tool to move breakpoints

Chapter 50: Automation 1153

 Editing Automation Types Editing Mute Automation

Each automatable control has its own automation Drag the breakpoint down to mute a section. Drag
playlist, that can be displayed by choosing it from a breakpoint up to unmute the section. Drag a
the Track View selector. “Viewing Automation” breakpoint to the left or right to adjust the timing of
on page 1135. the mute.

Editing Volume Automation

Drag a breakpoint up or down to change the vol-

ume (dB value). Drag a breakpoint to the left or
right to adjust the timing of the volume change.
Track mute automation

Editing Stepped Control Automation

Automation for certain controls (such as MIDI

controller values or plug-in settings) appears as a
Track volume automation
stepped pattern on the breakpoint line. Drag a
breakpoint up or down to a different step to change
Editing Pan Automation to a new control value. Drag a breakpoint to the left
or right to adjust the timing of the stepped control
Drag a breakpoint down to pan right, and up to pan
change.
left. Drag a breakpoint to the left or right to adjust
the timing of the panning moves.

Stepped control automation

Editing Automation Breakpoints

Track Pan automation
To edit automation breakpoints, display the auto-
mation playlist for the control you want to edit by
selecting it from the Track View selector, then do
one of the following:

To create a new breakpoint:

 Click with the Pencil tool or any Grabber tool

on the line graph.

1154 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To edit a single breakpoint: Constraining New Breakpoints
Click an existing point on the line graph with to the Next or Previous
Automation Value


any Grabber tool and drag it to a new position.

New automation breakpoints can be constrained
For vertically constrained, fine-resolution and written to the same value as the next or previ-
editing of any automation breakpoint, ous breakpoint.
Command-Shift-click-drag (Mac) or
Control-Shift-click-drag the breakpoint Original automation
to the desired value.

To clear a single breakpoint:

 Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows)

with any Grabber tool.

To edit several breakpoints at once:

 Use the Selector tool to select a range in the au-

tomation playlist that contains the breakpoints, After write to next breakpoint
and do one of the following:
• To move the breakpoints earlier or later in the
track, press the Plus key (+) to nudge them later After write to previous breakpoint
(to the right) or the Minus key (–) to nudge them
Constraining and writing new breakpoints
earlier (to the left). The breakpoints move by the (at Marker 1)
current Nudge value.
To write a new breakpoint to the next automation
When you nudge a selection containing value:
breakpoints, if necessary, new anchor break-  Hold Option+Shift (Mac) or Alt+Shift (Win-
points are created to preserve the slope of the dows) while writing a breakpoint (by clicking
automation within the selection. with any Grabber tool in a track’s automation
playlist).
• To adjust the breakpoint values, click with any
of the Trim tools in the selection and drag the To write a new breakpoint to the previous
breakpoints up or down. automation value:

When you use a Trim tool to edit a selection  Hold Command+Option (Mac) or Control+Alt
containing breakpoints, new anchor break- (Windows) while writing a breakpoint (by
points are created before and after the se- clicking with any Grabber tool in a track’s auto-
lected area. To suppress creation of anchor mation playlist).
breakpoints while using a Trim tool, hold Op-
The Smart Tool cannot be used to write a
tion (Mac) or Alt (Windows) while trimming.
new breakpoint to the next or previous
To edit all breakpoint values in a clip: automation value.

 Click in the clip with any of the Trim tools and

drag the breakpoints up or down.

Chapter 50: Automation 1155

 Editing Automation on Stereo Editing Automation on Grouped
and Multichannel Tracks Tracks
Stereo and multichannel tracks display a single au- When you edit automation on an audio track that is
tomation playlist per track. Only one playlist for a member of an active Edit Group, the same type of
volume and mute is available for the stereo or mul- automation is also edited on all tracks that are part
tichannel track. of that group. This occurs even if the playlist for
that type of automation is not currently displayed
Plug-In Automation Playlists on Stereo and on the other grouped tracks.
Multichannel Tracks
Examples
Some multichannel plug-ins provide a single set of
automatable controls for all channels in a track.  If you create new automation breakpoints on a
Other multichannel plug-ins and all multi-mono grouped track (with the Pencil tool or any Grabber
plug-ins provide a single set of controls for all tool), other members of the group have break-
channels when linked, or discrete controls for each points placed relative to that track.
channel when unlinked. See your plug-in guide for
 If you move automation on a grouped track
more information.
(with any of the Trim tools), other members of the
For multi-mono plug-ins, automation playlists for group have their breakpoints trimmed relative to
each individual channel can be displayed and ed- that track. This lets you trim entire sections of a
ited when the plug-in is unlinked, and the track is mix.
in showing Automation lanes.

To view and edit the individual playlists of a multi-

mono plug-in:
1 Unlink the plug-in.
2 Select the automation playlist from the Track
View selector or reveal it in an Automation lane
under the track.

Trimming automation on an active grouped track

To individually edit a automation for a member of a

group without affecting the other members, do
one of the following:

 Press Control (Mac) or Start (Windows) while

Selecting an automation lane for an unlinked multi- you perform the edit.
mono plug-in control

1156 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Cutting, Copying, and Pasting
Automation
Cutting automation data is different from deleting
it, and yields different results (although both
change the existing automation data). Copying au-
After cutting the automation data
tomation leaves the original automation data in-
tact. If the data is deleted by pressing Delete (Mac) or
Backspace (Windows), the automation data is re-
You delete automation data by selecting a range of moved, and automation values span the gap be-
breakpoints and pressing Delete (Mac) or Back- tween pre-existing breakpoints, as shown in the
space (Windows). See “Deleting Automation” on following figure.
page 1149 for details.

You cut automation data by selecting a range of

breakpoints from an automation playlist and se-
lecting the Cut command.

When you cut automation data and when you paste

it into a new location, anchor breakpoints are After deleting the automation data
added to the beginning and end points of the data. In addition, if cut or copied data is pasted else-
This is done to preserve the true slope (of continu- where in a track, breakpoints are created at the end
ous controls, such as Volume faders or pans) or points of the pasted data to preserve its “neighbor-
state (of switched or stepped controls, such as ing” (incoming and outgoing) automation value
Mutes) of the automation data both inside and out- and slope, as shown in the following figure.
side the selection.

The following illustrations show the difference be-

tween cutting and deleting automation data. In the
following figure, a track is set to display volume
automation, and a range of automation data is se-
lected. After pasting the automation data in another location

You cannot cut or copy automation data

from an automation playlist unless that
playlist includes at least one breakpoint in
it. The selection you are cutting or copying
Selecting automation data
does not need to include any breakpoints,
but without at least one breakpoint on an
If the Cut command is chosen, anchor breakpoints automation playlist, there is no automation
are created at each end of the selection, and the au- data to copy.
tomation slope on either side of the cut data is pre-
served, as shown in the following figure.

Chapter 50: Automation 1157

 Editing and Track Views Tips for Cutting, Copying and
Pasting Automation
Audio, MIDI, and Instrument tracks each have a
Track View that acts as the Master View for pur-  On audio tracks, when you are in Waveform
poses of editing. When the Master View is dis- View and cut or copy a section of the waveform,
played, any edits performed on the track apply to any automation data associated with the waveform
all data in the track. is also cut or copied.
 On audio tracks, when you are in Waveform
The Master Views are:
View and cut audio data from a track also contain-
• Audio tracks: Blocks and Waveform ing automation data, breakpoints are automatically
• MIDI and Instrument tracks: Blocks, Clips, and created at the boundaries of the remaining automa-
Notes tion data.
 On audio tracks, pasting waveform data also
For example, when an audio track is set to Wave-
form or Blocks, cutting, copying and pasting af- pastes any associated automation data.
fects the audio data and all types of automation  On Auxiliary Input, Master Fader, or Instru-
data on that track. If the track is set to show Pan au- ment tracks, only the displayed automation data is
tomation, only the Pan data is affected. cut or copied. To cut or copy all automation data on
these types of tracks, press Control while cutting or
When a selection includes multiple tracks, if any of
copying.
those tracks is in its Master View, all data on all se-
lected tracks is affected.  In tracks where an automation playlist contains
no data (when there is only a single breakpoint at
To edit all automation types on an Auxiliary Input the very beginning of the track), if you cut data, no
or Master Fader track, do one of the following:
new breakpoints are created.
 Make an Edit selection that includes at least one
 In cases where clips overlap (such as when
audio or MIDI track that is displayed in its main
moving clips in Slip mode) and an overlapping clip
format.
is removed, any overlapped automation break-
 Press Control while cutting or copying the auto- points are lost.
mation data.
 If cut or copied data contains a type of automa-
For additional flexibility, you can use tion not currently on the target track, Pro Tools
playlists or the Duplicate Track command prompts you before allowing you to paste the data.
to work nondestructively on a copy of the  Cut or copied automation data for plug-ins or
edit data. sends that do not exist on the target track is ignored
when pasted.

1158 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Cut, Copy, Clear, and Paste Copy Special
Special Commands
The Copy Special commands let you copy just au-
Four “special” commands—Cut Special, Copy tomation data from the current selection (without
Special, Paste Special, and Clear Special—sim- associated audio or MIDI notes) and place a copy
plify the tasks involved with moving or clearing of it in memory to paste elsewhere, as follows:
different types of automation data and MIDI con-
troller data between tracks, sends, and plug-ins. All Automation Copies all automation or MIDI
These commands let you controller data whether it is shown or not.

• Edit automation and MIDI controller data only Pan Automation Copies only pan automation or
(without associated audio or MIDI notes). MIDI pan data whether it is shown or not.
• Edit automation and MIDI controller data with- Plug-In Automation Copies only the plug-in auto-
out having to change Track Views mation that is shown.
In addition, the Paste Special command lets you Paste Special
copy one data type to another (for example, Left
Pan data into the Right Pan playlist) The Paste Special commands let you paste auto-
mation data into another clip (without affecting as-
You cannot paste MIDI controller data to au- sociated audio or MIDI notes) in the following
tomation data nor automation to MIDI. ways:
Cut Special Merge Lets you add the pasted data to any existing
automation data of the same type in the destination
The Cut Special commands let you cut just auto-
selection. This can be useful for consolidating
mation data from the current selection (without as-
MIDI data from several tracks into a single MIDI
sociated audio or MIDI notes) and place it in mem-
track. For example, you like the pitch bend on the
ory to paste elsewhere, as follows:
synth trombones and want to apply it to the synth
All Automation Cuts all automation or MIDI con- guitar.
troller data whether it is shown or not.
Repeat to Fill Selection Pastes multiple iterations
Pan Automation Cuts only pan automation or of the automation data to the entire selection range.
MIDI pan data whether it is shown or not. If you select an area that is not an exact multiple of
the copied clip size, the remaining selection area is
Plug-In Automation Cuts only the plug-in automa- filled with a trimmed version of the original selec-
tion that is shown. tion. This lets you easily create drum loops and
other repetitive effects. Before the data is pasted,
Pro Tools prompts you to specify a crossfade to
smooth transitions between clips.

Chapter 50: Automation 1159

 To Current Automation Type Pastes the automa- For this special paste mode to function, the follow-
tion data or MIDI controller data from the clip- ing must be true:
board to the selection as current automation type or • Every track selected for pasting must be cur-
MIDI controller. This lets you copy automation rently displayed as automation data.
from any type to any other type. For example, you
can copy a Left Pan automation to Plug-In automa- • There must be only one automation playlist on
tion. You can also copy MIDI volume data and the Clipboard for each target track. (The Special
paste it to MIDI pan. Paste command cannot copy multiple automa-
tion playlists for each track.)
Clear Special
You cannot interchange automation data be-
The Clear Special commands let you clear just au- tween audio and MIDI tracks, or between
tomation data from the current clip, as follows: continuous controls (such as faders or pans)
and switched or stepped controls (such as
All Automation Clears all automation or MIDI
mute or MIDI controllers).
controller data whether it is shown or not.
To paste data into a different automation playlist:
Pan Automation Clears only pan automation or
MIDI pan whether it is shown or not.  Press the Control (Mac) or Start key (Windows)
when choosing Edit > Paste.
Plug-In Automation Clears only the plug-in auto-
mation that is shown.
Converting Volume Automation
and Clip Gain
Special Paste Function for (Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)
Automation Data
Pro Tools lets you convert clip gain settings to
Normally, when you copy and paste automation
track-based volume automation, as well as letting
data, it is pasted in an automation playlist of the ex-
you convert track-based volume automation to clip
act same type (for example, Left Pan data is pasted
gain settings. For more information, see “Convert-
into the Left Pan playlist).
ing Clip Gain and Track Volume Automation” on
However, there may be times when you want to page 947.
paste from one data type to another (for example,
Left Pan data into the Right Pan playlist). Coalescing Volume Automation
and Clip Gain
The Special Paste command lets you copy one (Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)
data type to another.
Pro Tools lets you coalesce clip gain settings to
If you want to paste automation or MIDI controller track-based volume automation, as well as letting
data only (without its associated audio or MIDI you coalesce track-based volume automation to
notes), use the Paste Special command. clip gain settings. For more information, see “Co-
alescing Clip Gain and Track Volume Automa-
tion” on page 948.

1160 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 To apply a Glide Automation to all current enabled
Glide Automation parameters:
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only) 1 In the Automation window, make sure the
automation types are write-enabled.
The Glide Automation commands let you manually
create an automation transition (or glide) from an 2 In each track you want to automate, click the
existing automation value to a new one, over a se- Track View selector and select from the pop-up
lected area. menu the automation type you want to auto-
mate.
When gliding multiple parameters at the
same time, such as with the Surround Panner 3 With the Selector tool, drag horizontally to in-
or plug-ins, use the Edit > Automation > clude all the tracks you want to automate in a se-
Glide to All Enabled option. lection (drag vertically to define the time
range).

For MIDI automation, Glide To commands 4 In each track you want to automate, change the
only apply to MIDI Volume, MIDI Pan, and automation parameter to the value you want at
MIDI Mute. MIDI parameters cannot use the the end of the selection.
Write To commands. 5 Choose Edit > Automation > Glide to All En-
abled.
To apply a Glide Automation to the current
automation parameter type:
You can also press Option+Shift+Forward
1 In the Automation window, make sure the Slash (/) (Mac) or Alt+Shift+Forward Slash
automation type is write-enabled. (/) (Windows).
2 Click the Track View selector to choose the To apply a Glide Automation to pan only:
automation type you want to automate.
1 In the Automation window, make sure that Pan
3 Drag with the Selector tool in the track to automation is write-enabled.
select the area you want to write the glide to.
2 Click the Track View selector to choose Pan au-
4 Change the automation parameter to the value tomation.
you want at the end of the selection. For exam-
ple, to glide automation volume to –Infinity, 3 Drag with the Selector tool in the track to
move the Volume fader to –Infinity. select the area you want to write the glide to.

5 Choose Edit > Automation > Glide to Current. 4 Change the pan automation to the value you
want at the end of the selection.
You can also press Option+Forward Slash
5 Choose Edit > Automation > Glide Pan Only.
(/) (Mac) or Alt+Forward Slash (/) (Win-
dows). You can also press Control+Shift+Forward
Slash (/) (Mac) or Start+Shift+Forward
Slash (/) (Windows).

Chapter 50: Automation 1161

 Glide Automation To enable Trim mode:
Considerations  In the Mix or Edit window, click the Automa-
When Glide Automation is applied to automation tion Mode selector of the track where you want
data, it behaves as follows: to trim automation, and select Trim.
• When a selection is made, automation break-
points are written at the start and end points of
the Glide Automation. The automation value at
the start of the selection is the start point of the
Glide Automation and the end of the selection is
the end point of the Glide Automation. The
Glide Automation that is created between the
two is based on the length of the selection and
the end value that is selected.
• If automation breakpoints follow the selection,
they are not changed, but the value selected for
Enabling Trim mode
the end of the selection is written from the end
point up until the next breakpoint. When a track’s Trim mode is enabled, its Volume
• If no automation breakpoints follow the selec- and Send Level faders turn yellow, and its Auto-
tion, the value selected for the end of the selec- mation Mode selector is outlined in yellow. This
tion is written to the end of the track. outline appears solid if the track is trim-enabled,
and flashes whenever trimming is occurring on the
• If no selection is made, a breakpoint is written to track’s volume or send levels.
the current location, and the value selected for
the Glide Automation is written to the next
breakpoint. Writing Trim Automation
• The Glide Pan Only command lets you glide all The writing of Trim automation depends on how it
pan automation parameters without affecting is set to be coalesced. See “Coalescing Trim Auto-
other automation enabled playlists. This is par- mation” on page 1163. If automation is not set to
ticularly useful for surround tracks. coalesce after every automation pass, Trim auto-
mation moves are written to a separate Trim play-
list.
Trimming Automation To trim track Volume or Send levels:
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)
1 In the Automation window, make sure the auto-
If you have already written automation, you can mation type (Volume or Send level) is write-en-
modify automation data for track volume and send abled.
levels in real time by using Trim mode. When a
2 Click the Automation Mode selector of the
track is trim-enabled, you are not recording abso-
track where you want to write automation and
lute fader positions, but relative changes in the ex-
choose the automation mode (Touch, Latch,
isting automation. See “Trim Mode” on page 1131
Touch/Latch, or Write).
for more information.

1162 Pro Tools Reference Guide

3 Click the Automation Mode selector and select To set the method by which Trim Automation is
Trim. coalesced:

1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click Mixing.

4 Start playback, and adjust the Volume or Send
levels. 2 Under Coalesce Trim Automation, select one of
the following:
5 Stop playback to finish the Trim pass.
• After Every Pass
Coalescing Trim Automation • On Exiting Trim Mode

You can set Pro Tools to commit, or coalesce, • Manually

Trim automation to the main automation playlist
To coalesce Trim automation on a track when
by the following methods:
exiting Trim mode:
After Every Pass Trim moves are automatically 1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click Mixing.
applied when the transport is stopped at the end of
an automation pass. Trim automation playlists are 2 Under Coalesce Trim Automation, select On
Exiting Trim Mode.
cleared, and Trim faders are returned to zero.
3 Click OK to close the Preferences window.
On Exiting Trim Mode Trim moves are stored sep-
arately in the Trim automation playlist until they 4 Make sure the Pro Tools transport is stopped.
are coalesced. Trim automation is automatically
5 On the track where you want to coalesce Trim
coalesced on a track only when you take the track
automation, click the Automation Mode selec-
out of Trim mode. You can repeat an automation
tor and deselect Trim.
pass, edit Trim automation manually on any of the
Trim playlists, or clear Trim automation before co- The Trim automation is applied to the main auto-
alescing with this method. mation playlist, Trim automation playlists are
cleared, and Trim faders are returned to zero.
Even when automation is set to coalesce on
exiting Trim mode, you can use the If transport is playing and you are writing
Coalesce Trim Automation command to com- automation, you cannot directly enter or exit
mit Trim moves at any time. Trim mode. You must AutoMatch before exit-
ing Trim mode. This prevents any abrupt
Manually Trim moves are stored separately in the
jumps in automation values.
Trim automation playlist until they are coalesced.
With this setting, the only way to coalesce Trim To manually coalesce Trim automation on a track:
moves is with the Coalesce Trim
1 Select the track where you want to coalesce the
Automation command. You can repeat an automa-
Trim automation.
tion pass, edit Trim automation manually on any of
the Trim playlists, or clear Trim automation before 2 Do one of the following:
coalescing with this method. • Choose Track > Coalesce Trim Automation.
• Right-click the track name and choose
Coalesce Trim Automation.

Chapter 50: Automation 1163

 The Trim automation is applied to the main auto- Optionally, Write Automation to Start, All, and End
mation playlist, Trim automation playlists are can be configured to always be applied automati-
cleared, and Trim faders are returned to zero. cally. See “Writing Automation to the Start, End or
All of a Track or Selection on Stop” on page 1165.

Writing Automation to the

For MIDI automation, the Write To com-

Start, End, or All of a Track

mands only apply to MIDI Volume, MIDI

or Selection
Pan, and MIDI Mute. MIDI parameters can-
not use the Write To commands.
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)

Pro Tools lets you write current automation values Requirements for Standard
from any insertion point forward (or backward) to Write Automation Commands
the end (or beginning) of a track or Edit selection For automation data to be written for a specific pa-
in a track, or to an entire track or Edit selection, rameter, the associated track must be in one of the
while performing an automation pass. following Automation modes and meet the follow-
ing conditions:

Latch Mode The control for the parameter must be

changed (touched) during the automation pass.

Touch Mode The control for the parameter must be

changed (touched).

Write Mode All controls on that track must be in

Write mode.

This command can be undone.

To write current automation values to the start,

end, or all of a track or Edit selection:

1 Choose Window > Automation.

Write Automation to Start, End, and All buttons in the 2 Make sure that the automation type is write-
Automation window enabled.

The standard Write Automation to Start, All, or End 3 Do one of the following:
commands do not operate when the Pro Tools • Click in a track at an insertion point.
transport is stopped. It only affects automation for
• Drag with the Selector tool to select a portion of
those parameters that are currently write-enabled
the track.
and currently writing automation data.
4 Start playback.
5 Make sure you are actively writing on the
appropriate track if you are in Latch or Touch
mode.

1164 Pro Tools Reference Guide

6 When you reach a point in the track or selection The relative changes to the track volume and send
that contains the automation data you want to levels at that point are written to the corresponding
apply, click the Write Automation to Start, All, or area of the track/selection.
End button in the Automation window.

7 Stop playback. Writing Automation to the Start,

End or All of a Track or Selection
The current values of all write-enabled automation on Stop
at that point are written to the corresponding area
The Automation window provides options for
of the track/selection.
writing automation on any automation playlist (in-
cluding Trim playlists) after a valid automation
Write to Start, End or All and pass has been performed.
Trim Mode
The Write Automation to Start, End, or All modes
While in Trim mode, it is also possible to write
can be configured to disable or remain enabled af-
trim delta values for track volume and send levels
ter a valid automation pass.
to the start, end or all of a track or Edit selection.
See “Requirements for Standard Write Automa-
To write current trim delta values to the start, end, tion Commands” on page 1164.
or all of a track or selection:

1 Choose Window > Automation.

2 Make sure the automation type (track volume or
send level) is write-enabled.
3 In the Mix or Edit window, click the Automa-
tion Mode selector of the track you want to trim
automation, and select Trim. The track Volume
and Send Level faders turn yellow.
4 Do one of the following:
• Click in a track at an insertion point.
• Drag with the Selector tool to select a portion of
the track.
5 Click Play to begin playback.
6 When you reach a point in the track or selection
that contains the trim setting (delta value) you Write On Stop buttons in the Automation window
want to apply, click the Write Automation to
To configure Write on Stop modes to disable after
Start, All, or End button in the Automation win- an automation pass:
dow.
1 Choose Window > Automation.
7 Stop playback.
2 Click to enable one of the Write On Stop modes
(Start, All, End).

Chapter 50: Automation 1165

 The enabled Write on Stop arrow appears in blue. Like the standard Write Automation to Start, End,
and All commands, the Write Automation to Next
To configure Write on Stop modes to remain Breakpoint and Write Automation to Punch Point
enabled after an automation pass: commands do not operate when the Pro Tools
1 Choose Window > Automation. transport is stopped. They only affect automation
for those parameters that are currently write-en-
2 Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) one
abled and currently writing automation data.
of the Write On Stop buttons (Start, All or End)
to enable the Write On Stop mode. For MIDI automation, the Write To com-
mands only apply to MIDI Volume, MIDI
The enabled Write on Stop arrow appears in red.
Pan, and MIDI Mute. Other MIDI parame-
ters cannot use the Write To commands.

Writing Automation to the Optionally, the Write Automation to Next Break-

Next Breakpoint or to the point and Write Automation to Punch Point com-
Punch Point mands can be configured to be applied automati-
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only) cally after a valid automation pass has been
performed. See“Writing Automation to the Next
While performing an automation pass, Pro Tools Breakpoint or to the Punch Point on Stop” on
lets you write current automation values from the page 1168.
current insertion point forward to the next automa-
tion breakpoint, or back to the punch point (the lo- Write Automation to Next Breakpoint and
cation in the track where automation writing Write Automation to Punch Point have the
started). same requirements as Write Automation to
Start, End and All commands. See “Writing
 Write Automation to Next Breakpoint lets you
Automation to the Start, End, or All of a
update automation within a track without overwrit-
Track or Selection” on page 1164.
ing automation located earlier or later in the Time-
line, and without having to define a selection To write current automation values to the next
before editing automation. breakpoint:

 Write Automation to Punch Point lets you fill 1 Choose Window > Automation.
back an automation value within a track after find- 2 Make sure that the automation type is write-en-
ing the right level or setting during an automation abled.
pass, without having to go back and repeat the
pass. 3 Click in a track to define an insertion point.
4 Start playback.
5 Make sure you are actively writing on the ap-
propriate track if you are in Touch, Latch, or
Touch/Latch mode.

1166 Pro Tools Reference Guide

6 When you reach a point in the track where you To write current automation values back to the
want to apply the current settings, click the automation punch point:
Write Automation to Next Breakpoint button. 1 Choose Window > Automation.
2 Make sure the automation type is write
enabled.
3 Click in a track to define an insertion point.
4 Start playback.
5 Make sure you are actively writing on the ap-
propriate track if you are in Touch, Latch, or
Touch/Latch mode.
Write to Next Breakpoint
6 When you reach a point in the track where you
Write to Next Breakpoint want to apply the current settings, click the
on Stop Write Automation to Punch Point button.

Write To Next Breakpoint buttons in the Automation

window

7 Stop Playback.

The current values of all controls being written at

that point are written up to the next breakpoint. Write to Punch Point

Write Automation to Next Breakpoint Write to Punch Point

remains enabled after a valid automation on Stop
pass. Unlike standard Write Automation
commands, it cannot be configured to
disable after an automation pass.

Write To Punch Point buttons in the Automation

window

The current values of all write-enabled parameters

are written back to the point where the first control
began writing automation.

Chapter 50: Automation 1167

 Write To Next Breakpoint or Writing Automation to the Next
Punch Point and Trim Mode Breakpoint or to the Punch Point
on Stop
While in Trim mode, it is also possible to write
trim values for track volume and send levels to the The Automation window provides an option for
next written breakpoint or back to the automation automatic Write Automation to Next Breakpoint
punch-in point. on Stop or Write Automation to Punch Point on
Stop.
To write current trim values to the next breakpoint
or to the punch point: Write Automation to Next Breakpoint
1 Choose Window > Automation. remains enabled after a valid automation
pass. Unlike standard Write Automation
2 Make sure that the automation type (track vol- commands, it cannot be configured to
ume or send level) is write-enabled. disable after an automation pass.
3 In the Mix or Edit window, click the Automa- To configure Write Automation to Next Breakpoint
tion Mode selector and select Trim. The track on Stop:
Volume and Send Level faders turn yellow.
1 Choose Window > Automation.
4 Click in a track to define an insertion point.
2 Click the Write Automation to Next Breakpoint
5 Start playback. on Stop button or the Write Automation to
Punch Point button.
6 When you reach a point in the track where you
want to apply the current trim values, click the When this option is enabled, automation writing
Write Automation to Next Breakpoint button in will be performed automatically forward to the
the Automation window. next breakpoint after a valid automation pass has
been performed.
To write current trim values to the punch point:
1 Choose Window > Automation. To configure Write Automation to Punch Point on
Stop:
2 Make sure that the automation type (track vol-
1 Choose Window > Automation.
ume or send level) is write-enabled.
2 Click the Write Automation to Punch Point on
3 In the Mix or Edit window, click the Automa-
Stop button.
tion Mode selector and select Trim. The track
Volume and Send Level faders turn yellow. When this option is enabled, automation writing
4 Click in a track to define an insertion point. will be performed automatically back to the auto-
mation punch-in point after a valid automation
5 Start playback. pass has been performed.
6 When you reach a point in the track where you
want to apply the current trim values, click the
Write Automation to Punch Point button in the
Automation window.

1168 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Applying “Write To” Commands
Guidelines for “Write To” to Selected Tracks
Commands
The Write Automation To commands normally ap-
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)
ply to all tracks currently writing automation. It is
possible to apply these commands to selected
Using “Write To” Commands tracks only.
During Playback
You can carry out any of the Write Automation To To apply any of the “Write Automation To”
commands to currently selected tracks:
commands without stopping the Pro Tools trans-
port. On supported control surfaces, the corre- 1 Select the tracks where you want to apply the
sponding “Write To” button flashes until you stop Write To commands.
the transport. 2 Option-Shift-click (Mac) or Alt-Shift-click
While the Pro Tools transport is moving, issuing (Windows) the corresponding “Write Automa-
Write Automation To commands affects writing of tion To” button.
automation in the following ways:
• Write to Start/Selection Start: Currently writing Suppressing Warnings when
controls continue writing automation Using “Write To” Commands
• Write to All/Selection: Currently writing con- When you carry out any of the Write Automation
trols (except controls in Write mode) punch out To commands (except Write to Next Breakpoint),
of writing automation Pro Tools posts a dialog warning that automation
values will be changed in the session. You can sup-
• Write to End/Selection End: Currently writing
press these warnings.
controls (except controls in Write mode) punch
out of writing automation To suppress “Write To” warning dialogs:
• Write to Next Breakpoint: Currently writing 1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click Mixing.
controls (except controls in Write mode) punch
out of writing automation 2 Under Automation, select Suppress Automation
“Write To” Warnings.
• Write to Punch point: Currently writing controls
continue writing automation

For MIDI automation, the Write To com-

mands only apply to MIDI Volume, MIDI
Pan, and MIDI Mute. MIDI parameters can-
not use the Write To commands.

Chapter 50: Automation 1169

 A mute event can be extended when the automa-
Overwriting or Extending tion pass begins before an on or off event and stops
Mute Automation before the end of the second event.
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)

Pro Tools lets you overwrite or extend an existing

mute event in real time, without changing the cur-
rent mute state.

A mute event can be overwritten when the automa- Original mute automation
tion pass begins before the first mute event and (mute off, mute on, mute off)

ends after the second event. In this case, the current

on/off state of the mute is maintained.

Original mute automation Mute off event extended (up to automation pass end)
(mute off, mute on, mute off)
Extending a mute automation event

Mute Overwrite/Extend is
Supported in Touch and Latch
Mode, as follows:
Touch Mode Writes the current state as long as the
Mute button is held.

Mute on event overwritten Latch Mode Writes the current state until you stop
Overwriting a mute automation event or AutoMatch out.

1170 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To overwrite a mute state on one or more tracks: 6 Start playback.
1 Choose Window > Automation. 7 Press Command (Mac) or Control (Windows)
2 Make sure Mute is write-enabled. and the track Mute button before the start of the
mute event you want to overwrite.

To overwrite mute states on multiple tracks,

press Option+Command (Mac) or Alt+Con-
trol (Windows) and the Mute button on one of
the tracks to be automated.

8 After the end of the second mute event, release

the key and the Mute button.

With Touch mode, you have to hold the Mute

button for the duration of the write.

Mute enable button in the Automation window

3 In the Mix or Edit window, click the Automa- Stopping automation pass after the end of a mute
tion Mode selector of the track where you want event
to overwrite the mute state, and set the Automa-
9 When you have finished the automation pass,
tion mode to Touch or Latch mode.
stop playback.
To overwrite mute states on multiple tracks,
set all tracks to the same Automation mode.

4 In each track you want to automate, click the

Track View selector and select mute.
5 Place the cursor before the start of the mute Mute on state overwritten

event you want to overwrite. Example of mute state overwritten

To extend a mute state on a track:

1 Choose Window > Automation.
2 Make sure mute is write-enabled.

Placing the cursor before the start of a mute event

Chapter 50: Automation 1171

 3 In the Mix or Edit window, click the Automa- 9 When you have finished the automation pass,
tion Mode selector of the track you want to au- click Stop.
tomate, and select Touch or Latch mode.

To extend mute states on multiple tracks, set

all the tracks to the same Automation mode.

4 In each track you want to automate, click the

Track View selector and select mute.
5 Place the cursor before the start of the mute Example of mute state extended (up to automation
event you want to extend. pass end)

Creating Snapshot
Automation
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)

Pro Tools Ultimate lets you write automation data

values for multiple parameters in a single step.
Placing the cursor before the start of a mute event
You can write snapshot automation in two ways:
6 Start playback.
To a Selection Automation data is written to the
7 Press Command (Mac) or Control (Windows) Timeline selection (as well as the Edit selection if
and the track Mute button before the start of the linked). Anchor breakpoints are placed just before
mute event you want to extend. and after the selection so that data outside the se-
lection is not affected.
To extend mute states on multiple tracks,
press Option+Command (Mac) or Alt+Con- To a Cursor Location Automation data is written
trol (Windows) and the Mute button on the at the insertion point. After the insertion point, the
track. automation ramps to the next breakpoint value, or
if no breakpoints exist, remains at the newly writ-
8 Before the end of the second mute event, release ten value for the remainder of the session.
the key and the Mute button.
For MIDI automation, the Write To, Trim To,
If you extend past the subsequent on or off and Glide To commands only apply to MIDI
event, the entire event will be changed. Volume, MIDI Pan, and MIDI Mute. MIDI
parameters cannot use the Write To com-
mands.

For more information on cutting, copying, and

pasting automation data within a session, see
“Writing Automation to the Start, End, or All of a
Track or Selection” on page 1164.

Stopping automation before the end of a mute event

1172 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To write snapshot automation: Adding Snapshot Automation to
1 In the Automation window, make sure that the Empty Automation Playlists
parameters you want to edit are write-enabled. When you use a Write Automation command on an
Deselect any parameters whose automation you automation playlist with no previously written au-
want to preserve. tomation data, the selected value is written to the
2 In the Edit window, click the Track View selec- entire playlist and not just the selected area.
tor to show the automation you want to edit.
This is because a playlist with no automation data
3 Write a breakpoint in the playlist if none cur- contains only a single automation breakpoint that
rently exists, as follows: corresponds to the current position of the control
for the parameter. The position of the breakpoint is
• Place the cursor in the playlist (or make an Edit
updated whenever the parameter value is changed.
selection), then press Command+Forward Slash
(/) (Mac) or Control+Forward Slash (/) (Win- If you do not want the Write Automation command
dows). to write the selected automation value to the entire
• Select the Grabber tool and click anywhere in playlist, you can:
the playlist. • Anchor the automation data by placing the cur-
4 Do one of the following: sor at the end of the session (or any other end
point) and choosing Write to Current.
• Select an area in the track’s playlist (or within
multiple tracks) where you want to apply the au- • Click with any Grabber tool on each side of the
tomation. selection.

• Place the cursor at an Edit insertion point. This lets the Write Automation command write
only to the selected area.
5 Adjust the controls you want to automate. You
can also change a plug-in preset.
Writing Snapshot Automation
6 Choose Edit > Automation and do one of the over Existing Automation Data
following:
When you move the playback cursor, the auto-
• To write the current value to only the
mated controls in Pro Tools update to reflect the
currently displayed automation parameter,
automation data that is already on the track. To
choose Write to Current.
keep the settings you have made for a snapshot,
• To write the current settings for all automation you can suspend automation parameters to prevent
parameters enabled in the Automation window, them from updating.
choose Write to All Enabled.

Chapter 50: Automation 1173

 To write snapshot automation over existing data: To capture and apply automation:
1 In the Automation window, make sure that the 1 In the Automation window, make sure that the
automation parameters you want to edit are automation parameters you want to edit are
write-enabled. Deselect any parameters whose write-enabled. Deselect any parameters whose
automation you want to preserve. automation you want to preserve.
2 Adjust the controls for the parameters you want 2 Click the Automation Mode selector and select
to automate. Read mode for the tracks that have automation
you want to capture.
3 Click the Automation Mode selector and select
Off mode for the tracks where you want to apply 3 Ensure that Options > Link Timeline and Edit
the automation. Selection is selected.

4 With the Selector, select the range where you 4 With the Selector tool, select the location where
want to apply the automation. you want to capture automation. All automated
controls update to reflect the automation at that
5 Choose Edit > Automation and select one of the
location. (If you make a selection, the controls
following from the submenu:
update to reflect the automation at the begin-
• To write the current value to only the automation ning of the selection.)
parameter currently displayed in the Edit win-
dow, choose Write to Current. 5 In each track you want to apply the captured au-
tomation, click the track’s Automation Mode
• To write the current settings for all automation selector and set the Automation mode to Off.
parameters enabled in the Automation window,
choose Write to All Enabled. 6 With the Selector tool, select the location where
you want to apply the automation.
6 Click the Automation Mode selector and select
Read mode for the tracks you want to play back 7 Enable the automation parameters previously
with automation. suspended.
8 Choose Edit > Automation and select one of the
Capturing Automation and following from the submenu:
Applying it Elsewhere • To write the current value to only the automation
The Write Automation commands can also be used parameter currently displayed in the Edit win-
to capture automation states at specific locations in dow, choose Write To Current.
a track and apply them to other locations in the • To write the current settings for all automation
track. parameters enabled in the Automation Enable
window, choose Write To All Enabled.
9 Click the Automation Mode selector and select
Read mode for the tracks you want to play back
with automation.

1174 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Snapshot Automation and
Trimming of Automation Data Previewing Automation
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)
Pro Tools lets you use trim values as snapshots and
apply the relative changes (delta values) to the se- Automation Preview mode lets you audition
lected automation by using the Trim Automation changes to a mix and compare them to existing au-
command. This works in much the same way as the tomation values without committing them to the
Write Automation command, except that it writes automation playlist.
delta values instead of absolute values to automa-
tion data. When you put Pro Tools in Automation Preview
mode, you can preview values for automation-en-
You can use trim values in writing snapshot abled controls on any track that is in a writable au-
automation to any automatable parameter. tomation mode.

To create a snapshot of relative changes in While in Automation Preview mode, when you
automation data: touch or move a control, it isolates the control, dis-
1 In the Automation window, make sure that the engaging it from its automation playlist. The con-
automation parameters you want to edit are trol stops reading or writing automation, allowing
write-enabled. Deselect any parameters whose you to freely audition changes.
automation you want to preserve. When you have found a level or state that you want
2 Select the area of the track you want to edit. All to use, you can then commit or punch the pre-
automated controls update to reflect the auto- viewed value to the automation playlist for the iso-
mation at the beginning of the selection. lated controls.

3 Move the controls for the parameter up or down  If you punch during playback, the automation
by the amount you want to change the data. mode is set to Latch and writing begins at the pre-
view value.
4 Choose Edit > Automation and do one of the
following:  If you punch while the transport is stopped, the
automation mode is set to Latch and the control is
• To write the current delta value to only the cur-
primed at the preview value.
rently displayed automation parameter, choose
Trim to Current. It is not necessary for the Allow Latch Prime
• To write the current delta value for all automa- in Stop preference to be enabled for Preview
tion parameters enabled in the Automation win- to put a control into Latch Prime.
dow, choose Trim to All Enabled.

Chapter 50: Automation 1175

 Previewing New Automation The Automation Mode indicator on the track lights
Values green to indicate that at least one of its controls is
isolated, and the Punch Preview button in the Au-
To preview a new automation value for a control: tomation window lights to indicate a preview value
1 Make sure the track where you want to preview is available to punch.
the value is enabled for automation (Touch,
5 Start playback and adjust the isolated control to
Latch, Touch/Latch or their corresponding
audition the changes.
Trim modes).
2 Make sure the automation type you want to pre- Taking Controls Out of Isolated
view is enabled in the Automation window State
(Volume, Pan, Mute, Send level, Send pan,
Send mute, or Plug-In). You can take controls out of their isolated state
without leaving Preview mode.
3 Click the Preview button in the Automation
window. The button lights green to indicate that To take all controls on a track out of their isolated
Preview mode is active. state, do one of the following:

 Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win-

dows) the automation mode selector on the
track.
 Change the track automation mode to Read or
Off.

To take all controls of an automation type out of

their isolated state:

 In the Automation window, disable the automa-

tion type.

Isolating Multiple Controls

In some cases, such as when starting a new mix,
you may want to isolate multiple controls at the
same time.

Preview controls in the Automation window To isolate all currently write-enabled controls:
4 To isolate a control, touch or move an automa-  Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) the
tion-enabled control.You can isolate controls Preview button.
during playback or while the transport is
stopped. To isolate all write-enabled controls on all selected
tracks:

 Option-Shift- click (Mac) or Alt-Shift-click

(Windows) the Preview button.

1176 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Suspending Preview Mode
Capturing Automation
You can temporarily suspend Preview mode, al- (Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)
lowing you to toggle between preview values and
existing automation. You can capture current automation values at one
location in a session and quickly apply them in an-
To suspend Preview mode: other location with the Capture and Punch Capture
 Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Win- commands. The Capture command temporarily
dows) the Preview button. stores the value of all controls currently writing au-
tomation, and the Punch Capture commands
writes those stored values to all enabled automa-
Punching Preview Values tion types.
After you have isolated a control and auditioned a  ICON Systems allow for the capture of up to 48
new value, you can punch (write) the value to the different values, or snapshots.
automation playlist.
 All other systems allow for the capture of a sin-
To punch a preview value to the automation gle value.
playlist:

 Click the lit Punch Preview button.

Preview Mode and “Write To”

Commands
The Write Automation To commands work as fol-
lows with Preview mode:

Before Punching Preview Values The Write Auto-

mation To commands (except Write to Next Break-
point) can be used to extend previewed values. The
Write Automation To command will only apply to
isolated controls. Pro Tools remains in Preview
mode.

After Punching Preview Values The Write Auto-

mation To commands (except Write to Next Break-
point) can be used to extend the punched value in Capture controls in the Automation window
the same manner as other automation.

Chapter 50: Automation 1177

 Capturing Automation Values To punch captured automation values:

You can capture the current automation values of 1 Move to a location where you want to apply the
actively writing controls. captured automation states. You can do this
during playback or while the transport is
To capture automation values: stopped.
1 Make sure all tracks whose automation values 2 Click the Punch Capture button in the Automa-
you want to capture are in a write-enabled state tion window to apply the captured automation
(Write, Touch, Latch, Touch/Latch or Latch). states. The captured states are applied to all au-
tomation types that are currently enabled in the
2 Make sure the automation types you want to
Automation window.
capture are enabled in the Automation window
(Volume, Pan, Mute, Send level, Send pan,
Send mute, or Plug-In). Capturing Automation Values for
All Controls
3 Start playback. When you reach a location
where you want to capture the current automa- You can capture the state of all automatable con-
tion states, click the Capture button in the Auto- trols (except on tracks with their Automation
mation window. Mode set to Off) in a session, regardless of whether
they are currently writing automation.
The Punch Capture button in the Automation win-
dow lights to indicate a captured value is available To capture the automation values of all controls:
to punch.  When you reach a location where you want to
capture the current automation states, Option-
Punching Captured Automation click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) the Capture
Values button.
After automation values are captured, they can be
To capture the automation values of all controls on
punched (written) to another location in the track. selected tracks only:
Any tracks set to Read or Off are unaffected.
 When you reach a location where you want to
 If you punch during playback, the automation capture the current automation states, Option-
mode of any track set to Touch is set to Latch and Shift-click (Mac) or Alt-Shift-click (Windows)
writing begins at the captured value. the Capture button.
 If you punch while the transport is stopped, the
automation mode of any track set to Touch is set to
Latch and the control is primed at the captured
value.

1178 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Punching Automation Values for Punch Capture and “Write To”
All Controls Commands
You can punch all captured automation values to After issuing a Punch Capture command, the af-
another location on their corresponding tracks (ex- fected controls are writing automation (in Latch
cept those tracks with their Automation Mode set mode), so any of the Write Automation To com-
to Off). mands can be used to extend the punched value in
the same manner as other automation.
To punch the automation values of all controls:

 When you reach a location where you want to Capture and Preview Mode
apply the captured automation states, Option-
click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) the Punch Loading Captured Values into Preview
Capture button. Any track set to Read or Touch You can preview and modify captured automation
are set to Latch. Any tracks set to Off are unaf- values in Preview mode before punching the val-
fected. ues to the automation playlist.
To punch the automation values of all controls on
To capture an automation value and use it to
selected tracks only:
preview:
 When you reach a location where you want to 1 Make sure the track where you want to preview
apply the captured automation states, Option- the value is enabled for automation (Touch,
Shift-click (Mac) or Alt-Shift-click (Windows) Latch, Touch/Latch or their corresponding
the Punch Capture button. Any selected tracks Trim modes).
set to Read or Touch are set to Latch. Any se-
lected tracks set to Off are unaffected. 2 Make sure the automation type you want to pre-
view is enabled in the Automation window
(Volume, Pan, Mute, Send level, Send pan,
Capture and Trim Mode Send mute, or Plug-In).
The Capture and Punch Capture commands work
3 Capture an automation value that you want to
with Trim automation in the same way as regular
preview in another location on a track. (See
automation. Pro Tools saves Trim status when
“Capturing Automation Values” on page 1178.)
capturing, so if you attempt to punch captured
Trim values while displaying a non-Trim automa- 4 Go to a location where you want to preview the
tion playlist, Pro Tools will automatically apply captured automation states, and click the Pre-
the values to the corresponding Trim playlist. view button in the Automation window.
5 Click the Punch Capture button.

The affected controls are isolated and updated to

the captured values. The Punch Preview button in
the Automation window lights to indicate the pre-
view value is available to punch.

Chapter 50: Automation 1179

 6 Start playback and adjust the isolated control to
audition the changes. VCA Master Track
Automation
7 When you are ready to punch the preview value
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)
to the automation playlist, click the lit Punch
Preview button. You can automate changes to VCA Master track
controls (as well as the controls for VCA slave
Capturing Values While in Preview Mode tracks).
When you are in Preview mode, you can capture
the values of isolated controls and apply them else- Displaying Automation on VCA
where on a track. By capturing preview values, you Master Tracks
can leave the underlying automation unchanged at The following controls on VCA Master tracks can
the place where you capture. be automated and have separate automation play-
On ICON systems, you can use preview mode to lists:
capture multiple snapshots without changing auto- • Volume
mation. • Volume trim (Pro Tools Ultimate only)
To capture a preview value: • Mute
1 Activate Preview mode and isolate a control. These automation playlists follow the same behav-
(See “Previewing New Automation Values” on ior as automation playlists on other track types. For
page 1176). more information on Volume trim automation, see
2 Start playback and adjust the isolated control to “Trimming Automation” on page 1162.
audition the changes.
When you are ready to capture preview value,
Displaying the Composite
Automation Playlist on Slave
3
click the Capture button in the Automation win-
Tracks
dow.
When a track is a VCA slave, you can display a
The Punch Capture button in the Automation win- composite automation playlist that shows the con-
dow lights to indicate a captured value is available tribution of the VCA Master to the Volume or
to punch. Mute automation data on the slave track. This
composite playlist reflects the actual position of
the Volume fader on the slave track.The composite
playlist display cannot be directly edited.

1180 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To display the composite playlist on VCA slave Automation is written on the excluded slave track
tracks: such that the fader moves on the VCA Master track
 Select View > Automation > Composite Playlist. are canceled out, and the fader on the excluded
slave track does not move on subsequent playback.
Volume
automation
playlist included slave
Composite
playlist
excluded slave
Viewing composite automation on a VCA slave track
VCA Master
Excluding VCA Slave Tracks
from VCA Master Automation
When you are writing automation on a VCA Mas- Automation for excluded VCA slave track, canceling
VCA Master automation
ter track, the corresponding moves will appear on
the composite automation playlist of each of its
slave tracks. If you want to exclude a slave track Coalescing VCA Automation
from an automation pass, write-enable the slave
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)
track for automation.
There are several ways to commit, or coalesce, the
To exclude a slave track from VCA Master track
contribution of a selected VCA Master track’s
automation pass:
Volume and Mute automation to the automation
1 Write-enable the VCA Master track for automa- playlists of its slave tracks.
tion (Write, Touch or Latch mode).
2 Write-enable the slave track you want to ex- Clearing a VCA Master
clude for automation (Write mode).
You can use a VCA Master to write grouped auto-
3 Make sure other slave tracks that you want mation, coalesce the VCA automation to all of the
to include in the pass are not write-enabled for slave tracks, and clear the automation on the VCA
automation. Master. The coalesced tracks will play back ex-
actly as they did when they were in the VCA
4 Start playback.
group.
5 Move the fader on the VCA Master track.
6 Stop playback.

Chapter 50: Automation 1181

 To coalesce automation from a VCA Master to all of Removing a Slave Track from a
its slave tracks and retain the VCA Master: VCA Group
1 Select the VCA Master track whose automation
You can remove an individual slave track from a
you want to coalesce.
VCA group, which commits the VCA automation
2 Do one of the following: to that track, leaving the VCA Master and the other
slave tracks untouched. The coalesced slave track
• Choose Track > Coalesce VCA Master Automa-
plays back exactly as it did when it was in the VCA
tion.
group.
• Right-click the VCA Master track name and
choose Coalesce VCA Master Automation. To coalesce automation from a VCA Master to an
individual slave track:
The composite Volume level and Mute state are
1 Do one of the following:
coalesced to each of the slave tracks. The VCA
Master Volume fader is reset to zero, the VCA • Choose Modify Groups from the Groups List
Mute is set to unmuted, and any automation on the menu.
VCA Master is cleared. • Click the Group ID indicator on the track and
choose Modify.
Deleting a VCA Master • Right-click the Group name in the Groups List
You can temporarily use a VCA Master to write and choose Modify.
grouped automation, then coalesce the VCA auto- 2 In the Groups dialog, select the VCA-controlled
mation to all of the slave tracks by deleting the group that includes the slave track.
VCA Master. The coalesced tracks will play back
exactly as they did when they were in the VCA 3 In the Groups dialog, click Tracks and remove
group. the slave track from the group.
4 Click OK.
To coalesce automation from a VCA Master to all of
its slave tracks and delete the VCA Master track: The slave track is removed from the VCA group,
1 Select the VCA Master track whose automation and the composite Volume level and Mute state are
you want to coalesce. coalesced to the track.

2 Choose Track > Delete.

The composite Volume level and Mute state are

committed to each of the slave tracks.

This action cannot be undone.

1182 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Duplicating a Slave Track 3 Do one of the following:

When you duplicate a slave track without duplicat- • Hold Control (Mac) or Start (Windows) and
ing its group assignments, the VCA automation is choose Track > Coalesce VCA Master Automa-
coalesced to the duplicate track. The coalesced du- tion.
plicate plays back exactly as if it were in the VCA • Hold Control (Mac) or Start (Windows) and
group. Right-click the VCA Master track name and
choose Coalesce VCA Master Automation.
To coalesce automation from a VCA Master to a
single slave track by duplicating the track: The composite Volume level and Mute state are
1 Select the slave track whose automation you committed to each of the slave tracks over the Edit
want to coalesce. selection. The VCA Master Volume is set to zero,
the VCA Mute state is set to unmuted, and any au-
2 Choose Track > Duplicate. tomation on the VCA Master is cleared for the se-
3 In the Duplicate Track dialog, deselect Group lected area only.
Assignments.

4 Click OK.

The composite Volume level and Mute state are

coalesced to the duplicate track. The original slave
track is preserved, and the VCA group is un-
changed.

Coalescing Automation Across

an Edit Selection
You can commit VCA automation across an Edit
selection in a VCA Master track, without commit-
ting the automation on the entire length of the
track.

To coalesce automation in an Edit selection on a

VCA Master track:

1 Select the VCA Master track whose automation

you want to coalesce.
2 Make an Edit selection in the VCA Master track
that includes the range of automation you want
to coalesce.

Chapter 50: Automation 1183

1184 Pro Tools Reference Guide
Chapter 51: Mixdown

Pro Tools lets you mix down by recording a mix to

new audio tracks or by bouncing a mix to disk. Selecting Audio for Loops,
Submixes, and Effects
Recording to Tracks This is the process of sub-
mixing and recording the submix to new audio Both Bounce to Disk and recording to tracks oper-
tracks, as you would any other track input signals. ate on the current Timeline or Edit selection, if one
This method requires available tracks, voices, and exists. This makes it easy to turn multitrack selec-
bus paths to accommodate the submix and the new tions into mono, stereo, or multichannel loops.
tracks. While recording to tracks, you can manu- Submixes, stems, and other specialized types of
ally adjust mixer or other controls. mixes can also be recorded (or “printed”) to disk
using either method, or played out to another re-
Record to new tracks if you want to adjust mixer cording, transfer, or archiving medium.
controls during the mixdown.
Printing effects to disk is the technique of perma-
Bouncing to Disk The Bounce to Disk command nently adding real-time effects, such as EQ or re-
lets you write a final mix, create a new loop, print verb, to an audio track by bussing and recording it
effects, or consolidate any submix to new audio to new tracks with the effects added. The original
files on disk. This method lets you write all avail- audio is preserved, so you can return to the source
able voices to disk without holding any in reserve. track at any time. This can be useful when you
have a limited number of tracks or effects devices.
Any available output or bus path can be selected as
the bounce source. Sample rate, bit depth, and AudioSuite plug-ins provide another option
other conversion processes can be applied during for writing (or “printing”) a plug-in effect to
or after the bounce. Though you can hear the disk. For more information, see Chapter 42,
bounce being created in real time, you cannot ad- “AudioSuite Processing.”
just mixer or other controls while bouncing to disk.

Use Bounce to Disk if you need to convert the

bounced files, or if you do not want to manually
adjust mixer controls during the mixdown.

Chapter 51: Mixdown 1185

 Bounce to Disk and Dither
Using Dither
Bouncing to disk does not apply dither when re-
Dither can significantly improve audio quality ducing bit depth. To apply dither when bouncing to
when reducing the bit depth of digital audio. disk, you should insert a dither plug-in as the last
processor in the signal path on a Master Fader as-
When to Use a Dither Plug-In signed to the bounce source audio output path.
You should use a dither plug-in in any situation Using a dither plug-in on a Master Fader is prefer-
where you are reducing bit depth, for example, able to an Auxiliary Input because Master Fader
when mixing down to a 16-bit file with the Bounce inserts are post-fader. As a post-fader insert, the
to Disk command, or when sending your final mix dither plug-in can process changes in Master Fader
to an external digital device that records at 16-bit level.
resolution.
If you do not use a dither plug-in on your bounce
A dither plug-in is necessary even when mixing source path, and you choose to convert to a lower
down to 16-bit from a 16-bit session. Even though resolution during or after bouncing to disk, the re-
16-bit sessions use 16-bit files, they are still pro- sulting file will be converted by truncation.
cessed at higher internal bit depths. Pro Tools sys-
tems use 24-bit audio input and output signal
Using Dither on an Output Mix
paths, and internal 64-bit floating point processing
for mixing and audio processing. Pro Tools includes real-time dither plug-ins that
improve 16-, 18-, or 20-bit performance and re-
For this reason, whether you are working with a duce quantization artifacts when reducing the bit
32-bit floating-point session, or a 24-bit session or depth of an output mix.
a 16-bit fixed-point session, the following are rec-
ommended: To use a dither plug-in on an output mix:
• When mixing down to a 16-bit destination, use a 1 Choose Track > New and create a (stereo)
dither plug-in on the main output. Master Fader track.
• When bus recording a submix to a track in the 2 Set the output of the Master Fader to the output
same session, do not use a dither plug-in on the or bus path you want to bounce.
destination track.
3 Assign the outputs of all audio tracks in the ses-
• When mixing down to a 24-bit destination,
sion to the same path you selected in step 2. The
do not use a dither plug-in on the main output.
Master Fader now controls the output levels of
• When mixing down to an analog destination all tracks routed to it.
with any 24-bit capable interface, do not use a
dither plug-in on the main output. 4 On the Master Fader, insert a dither plug-in as
the last processor in the signal chain.
• During normal recording and playback, bypass
any dither plug-in on the main output.

1186 Pro Tools Reference Guide

5 In the dither plug-in window, choose an output
Bit Resolution and Noise Shaping setting. Bus Recording to Tracks
6 Do one of the following: You can create a submix in your Pro Tools session
and bus record it to available tracks in the same
• Play back the session to record (or “layback”)
session. This technique lets you add live input to
Pro Tools output to lower bit-rate media (such as
the mix, as well as adjust volume, pan, mute, and
16- or 20- bit Blue-ray).
other controls during the recording process. You
• Choose File > Bounce To > Disk. In the Bounce can also use this technique instead of Bounce to
to Disk dialog, select the appropriate bit depth Disk to create mixed tracks directly in your
(such as 16-bit for CD audio). Before being con- Pro Tools session.
verted by the Bounce to Disk command, the sig-
nal is processed according to the resolution and
Voice Requirements for
noise shaping settings in the dither plug-in in- Recording a Submix
serted on the Master Fader.
Recording a submix to new tracks requires an
For information about dither plug-ins, see available voice for each track that you want to re-
the Audio Plug-Ins Guide. cord. Make sure you have enough voices available
to play back all tracks that you want to record and
Sample Rate Conversion and Bit enough voices available to record the destination
Depth Reduction tracks.
If you want to do both a sample rate conversion In contrast, the Bounce to Disk command lets you
and a bit depth reduction when mixing down, first bounce all available voices to disk without holding
convert the sample rate while maintaining the any in reserve, but you cannot manually change
higher bit depth, and then reduce the sample rate- any controls during the bounce. For more informa-
converted file to the lower bit depth, using a dither. tion, see “Bounce to Disk” on page 1188.
By keeping the higher bit depth when performing
the sample rate conversion, you ensure the highest For information about voice management,
possible audio quality. see “Track Priority and Voice Assignment”
on page 255.

With HDX systems, Native plug-ins placed on

Auxiliary Input, Master Fader, and Instru-
ment tracks may use additional voices and
may introduce extra latency based on the
H/W Buffer Size. For more information, see
“Inserting Native and DSP Plug-Ins on
Tracks” on page 1098.

Chapter 51: Mixdown 1187

 To record a submix to a track: 12 If recording a selection, recording will stop au-
1 Apply any plug-ins or external processors you tomatically. If performing an open-ended re-
want to add to your audio tracks or Auxiliary In- cording, click Stop, or punch out of recording.
puts before you record. 13 When the recording has finished, you can ex-
2 Set the main channel output of the tracks you port the bus recorded clip using the Export Clips
want to include in the submix to a bus path. If as Files command (see “Exporting a Clip as a
you are using stereo or multichannel tracks, set New Audio File” on page 414).
the panning of each track.
Make sure Loop Record is not enabled.
3
Bounce to Disk
4 Choose Track > New and create one or more
The Bounce to Disk command lets you mix down
mono, stereo, or multichannel audio tracks.
any or all of the available voices on your system.
5 If you are recording in stereo, pan the new ste- Bouncing records to separate audio files, so you do
reo track (or mono tracks) hard left and right. not have to reserve any tracks for a bounce. A
bounce can be done offline (faster than real-time)
6 Set the input of each destination track to the bus
or in real-time (so you can listen to audio playback
path from which you are recording.
of your mix during the bounce process).
7 Set the output of your new tracks to your main
output path. You can use the Bounce to Disk command to ex-
port loops, sub-mixes, stems or any other session
8 Ensure that Options > Link Timeline and Edit audio. You can use it to create a final mono, stereo,
Selection is selected. or multichannel master files in any of several audio
9 Select audio to record. The start, end, and length file formats. Bounce to Disk also provides conver-
of the recording can be based on the cursor lo- sion options for sample rate, bit resolution, and
cation or Timeline and Edit selections. format. It will even let you automatically import
bounced files after the bounce is complete.
• Selection-based recording automatically
punches in and out of recording at the selection To Bounce to Disk (basic instructions):
start and end. Be sure to include time at the end
1 Make a Timeline selection to define the range to
of a selection for reverb tails, delays, and other
be bounced.
effects.
• If you do not make a selection, recording will 2 Choose File > Bounce to > Disk.
begin from the location of the playback cursor. 3 Configure the Bounce options (see “Bounce
Recording will continue until you press Stop. Options” on page 1190).
10 Record enable the new tracks and click Record 4 Click Bounce.
in the Transport.
11 Click Play to begin recording the submix.

1188 Pro Tools Reference Guide

When you bounce to disk, the resulting file in-
cludes the following: Bounce From Sends or Track
Outputs
Audible Tracks All audible tracks that are routed
to the output which is selected as the source of the Pro Tools lets you open the Bounce dialog pre-
bounce are included in the bounce. Any muted configured to use the channel path of any given
tracks are not included in the bounce. If you solo send or track output using Right-click menus.
one or more tracks, only the soloed tracks are in-
cluded in the bounced mix.

Automation All read-enabled automation is played

back and incorporated in the bounced mix.

Inserts and Sends All active inserts, including

real-time plug-ins and hardware inserts, are ap-
plied to the bounced mix.

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.

Time Stamp Information Bounced material is au-

tomatically time stamped so that you can drag it
into a track and place it at the same location as the
original material. For more information about time
stamping, see “Time Stamping” on page 1290.

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.

Chapter 51: Mixdown 1189

 Bus bounced file includes only audio routed to the
Bounce Options selected internal mix bus path.
When you use the Bounce to Disk command, you Output The bounced file includes only audio
can configure several file options. routed to the selected output bus path.

Physical Output The bounced file includes only

audio from all output paths mapped to the selected
physical output. This is useful when working with
overlapping output paths.

Bouncing Multiple Sources

Simultaneously
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)

Pro Tools Ultimate lets you bounce up to 16

sources of up to 8 channels each simultaneously.

To bounce multiple sources to disk:

1 Make a Timeline selection to define the range to
be bounced.
2 Choose File > Bounce to > Disk.

Bounce to Disk dialog, with conversion and options

3 Select the desired Bounce Source from the
enabled available output or bus paths.
In the Bounce dialog, click the “+” button to the
Bounce Source
4
right of the Bounce Source selector.
All currently active output paths (both internal mix
busses and output busses) and physical outputs as On Mac, press Command+Shift + “+” (plus)
defined in the I/O Setup dialog are available as the or Command+Shift+Down arrow or Com-
Bounce Source. mand+Shift+N to add a new Bounce Source
row. On Windows, press Control+Shift + “+”
To set the bounce source: (plus) or Control+Shift+Down arrow or Con-
trol+Shift+N to add a new Bounce Source
 Select a bus path, output path, or physical out-
row.
put from the Bounce Source selector.

1190 Pro Tools Reference Guide

5 Repeat steps 3 and 4 as desired (up to 16 simul- MP3 (MPEG-1 Layer 3)
taneous bounce sources).
The MPEG-1 Layer 3 (MP3) compression format
6 If necessary, click the “–” button to the right of is used for streaming and downloading audio over
any bounce source (except the first) to remove it the Internet, and for playback on portable devices.
from the bounce.

On Mac, press Command+Shift + “–” (minus)

or Command+Shift+Up arrow to remove the
bottom Bounce Source row. On Windows,
press Control+Shift + “–” (minus) or Con-
trol+Shift+Up arrow to remove the bottom
Bounce Source row.

7 Configure all other Bounce options as desired.

8 Click Bounce.
MP3 Export Options
After clicking Bounce, a progress dialog appears
that displays the time and rate of the Bounce. When you select this format, the Resolution pop-
up menu in the Pro Tools Output Options dialog is
unavailable. The resolution is set by the encoder.
File Type
The File Type selector lets you select the file type The sample rate chosen is given to the codec as a
for bounced files. base sample rate for operations. The actual sample
rate of the resulting file is determined in the MP3
WAV (Broadcast .WAV Format) Encoder Options dialog. For example, if a base
sample rate of 48000 Hz is chosen, the MP3 En-
This format is supported on Windows and Mac. To coder Options dialog will allow output streams in
use a WAV file in Pro Tools, you can drag and 48, 24, or 12 kHz, depending on encoding quality.
drop from a Workspace browser, Windows Ex-
plorer or Mac Finder, or a folder, or you can use When you export or bounce to MP3 format, you
the Import Audio command. Files in this format do can set the following options:
not have to be converted to be used in Pro Tools.
Encoder Settings
AIFF (Audio Interchange File Format) Encoder Speed Determines the audio quality of
This format is supported on Windows and Mac. To the bounced file. There are two options: Highest
use an AIFF file in Pro Tools, you can drag and Quality and Fastest Encoding Time.
drop from a Workspace browser, Windows Ex-
The Highest Quality option can take up to five
plorer or Mac Finder, or you can use the Import Au-
times longer to process audio than the Fastest En-
dio command. Files in this format do not have to be
coding option, so you should use it only when the
converted to be used in Pro Tools.
highest fidelity is essential and you have the time
to devote to the encoding process.

Chapter 51: Mixdown 1191

 Constant Bit Rate (CBR) Encodes the file at a sin- Default Button
gle bit rate that you choose from the Constant Bit
To restore all settings in this dialog to their default
Rate (CBR) pop-up menu. Because the bit rate is
values, click Defaults.
fixed, the quality of the encoded audio will vary
depending on the nature of the material being com-
QuickTime
pressed. The 128 kbit/s option is generally best for
streaming over the Internet, since it has predictable QuickTime is Apple’s multimedia audio file for-
bandwidth requirements. mat. Pro Tools does not directly support this type
of file in its sessions. To use a QuickTime audio
ID3 Tag Info Settings file within Pro Tools, use the Import Audio com-
ID3 Tag Type The ID3 tag stores data about the en- mand. The QuickTime format is popular for at-
coded audio file that is used by MP3 players to dis- taching to emails, to simplify long-distance project
play information about the file. Pro Tools supports review and approval. Many popular multimedia
three versions of this tag, in order to provide back- applications also support QuickTime.
ward compatibility with older MP3 players:
Windows Media
• ID3 v1.0: Appears at the end of a streaming MP3
(Windows Only)
file, so that tag information is only displayed af-
ter software streaming is finished. Windows Media formatted files can contain audio,
• ID3 v1.1: Same as version 1.0, but adds track video, or script data stored in Windows Media For-
number information to the tag. mat. A Windows Media Format file may have an
.asf, or .wmv file name extension.
• ID3 v2.3: Appears at the front of a streaming
MP3 file, so that tag information is displayed MXF (Material Exchange Format)
when streaming begins.
MXF is a media file format that includes both
While ID3 v2.3 is the current standard MP3 video and audio files, and is designed for the inter-
format, not all MP3 players support ID3 change of audio-visual material with associated
v2.3. Contact the player software data and metadata. It was designed for improving
developer for compatibility information. file-based interoperability between servers, work-
stations, and other content creation devices.
Title/Artist/Album/Comment Type the title, artist,
and other information for the MP3 file. This infor- AAF and OMF sequence format files can refer to
mation is displayed by many MP3 players. MXF media files, or have MXF media files
embedded within them. Pro Tools supports AAF
Genre Choose a genre for the file. This informa-
embedded sequences.
tion is displayed by many MP3 players, and can
appear in searchable catalogs and databases.
Bouncing to MP3 and Another File Type
Track Number If you select ID3 tag type v1.1 or Simultaneously
v2.3, you can enter a CD track number for the file. The new Add MP3 option in the Bounce to Disk di-
This information is displayed by many MP3 alog lets you simultaneously create an MP3 ver-
players. sion of each bounce source in addition to the se-
Year Enter a year for the file. This information is lected File Type (such as WAV).
displayed by many MP3 players.
1192 Pro Tools Reference Guide
When the Add MP3 option is selected, and you are • If the source output or bus path is stereo, two
adding the bounce to your iTunes Library, the se- mono files will be created, and appended with
lected File Type is used rather than the MP3. To “.L” and “.R” suffixes on bounce.
share an MP3, select MP3 as the File Type. • If a multichannel format is used (for example,
The Add MP3 option is not available for Quick- six-channel, 5.1), individual mono files will be
Time bounce. created for each member of the path. Files will
be appended with path suffixes according to the
To bounce multiple sources to disk: path definition in the I/O Setup dialog.
1 Make a Timeline selection to define the range to • If the source output or bus path is mono, the pop-
be bounced. up menu will switch from multiple mono to
mono, and will create one mono file (no sum-
2 Choose File > Bounce to > Disk. ming of multiple sources).
3 Select the desired File Type.
Interleaved Creates a single, interleaved file that
4 Select the Add MP3 option (mono or stereo contains all of the bounced streams from the cho-
bounce sources only). sen output path. In an interleaved stereo bounce,
tracks assigned to odd-numbered outputs are sent
5 Configure all other Bounce options as desired.
to the left channel, and tracks assigned to even-
6 Click Bounce. numbered outputs are sent to the right channel.
7 Configure the resulting MP3 dialog as desired Pro Tools also lets you bounce multichannel inter-
and click OK. leaved files of any supported multichannel file
type (such as 5.1). This can simplify file manage-
Format ment of mixes and projects for backup and ar-
chiving.
This is the format for the bounced result. Options
include Mono (Summed), Multiple Mono, and Inter-
leaved.
Bit Depth
This setting lets you select between four different
To set the format of the bounced file: bit depths for the bounce conversion. Note that
 Select a file format from the Format selector. Bounce to Disk does not apply dither when con-
verting during or after a bounce to a lower resolu-
Mono (Summed) Creates a single disk file that is a tion. If you need to bounce to a lower resolution
summed mono mix of the current sources being file, use a dither plug-in on a Master Fader track
monitored. assigned to the bounce source path. This dithers
the bounced file, before the Bounce to Disk conver-
Before bouncing to disk, make sure your levels are
sion truncates the bounced file to the selected bit
below –3 dB to avoid clipping that occurs when
depth resolution. (See “Using Dither” on
left and right signals exceed –3 dB below maxi-
page 1186.)
mum, or full code (0 dBFS).

Multiple Mono Creates multiple mono files with

the same number of channels as the source path.

Chapter 51: Mixdown 1193

 The following Bit Depth options are available: 192 kHz This is a supported sample rate for some
audio DVDs, and provides the highest quality au-
16-Bit This is the Compact Disc standard bit reso- dio fidelity with compatible audio interfaces (such
lution. as the HD I/O).
If your session is 16-bit, you should still use a 176.4 kHz You may want to work at a sample rate
dither plug-in on the output mix, because all of 176.4 kHz if the final delivery will be at
Pro Tools systems process audio internally at 44.1 kHz (such as compact disc). This will provide
higher bit depths. a slightly faster sample rate conversion to
44.1 kHz than from 192 kHz.
24-Bit This setting provides the highest resolution
that is compatible with most audio interfaces. It is 96 kHz This is a supported sample rate for DVD
useful when you want to create a final mix without audio and provides high-quality audio fidelity with
losing any resolution (for example, if you are de- compatible audio interfaces (such as the HD I/O
livering a final mix that will be ready to master). and 003).
32-Bit Float This setting provides the highest reso- 88.2 kHz You may want to work at a sample rate of
lution for internal Pro Tools mixing and plug-in 88.2 kHz if the final delivery will be at 44.1 kHz
processing. It is useful when you want to export (such as compact disc). This will provide a slightly
and re-import loops and sound effects into your faster sample rate conversion to 44.1 kHz than
Pro Tools session, or when you are exchanging from 96 kHz.
files between Pro Tools sessions.
48 kHz This is a standard sample rate for Profes-
To set the resolution of the bounced file: sional and DVD video, as well as some broadcast
and recording label archiving, and is supported by
 Select a bit depth from the Bit Depth selector.
DA-88/98, DAT, and ADAT decks.

Sample Rate 44.1 kHz This is the standard sample rate for com-
pact discs (CD), and is supported by DA-88/98,
This option lets you save to any of several sample DAT, and ADAT decks.
rates. Choices are dependent on your Pro Tools
system and audio interfaces. Options can include Additional sample rate options include 8 kHz,
sample rates from 8 kHz to 192 kHz, including 11.025 kHz, 16 kHz, 22.050 kHz, and 32 kHz.
sample rates with Pull Up and Pull Down options.
Custom For a custom sample rate, click in the
Common Sample Rates sample rate window and manually enter in a value
from 4,000 to 200,200 samples.
The following are the more common sample rates,
and their applications. Higher sample rates provide Pull Up and Pull Down Rates All available sam-
better audio fidelity for recording and playback, ple rates support pull up and pull down rates, or
and also for processing with dynamics, dither other specialized rates.
(with noise shaping), and analog emulation plug-
ins.

1194 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Enforce Avid Compatibility Import After Bounce
Enable this option in the Bounce to Disk dialog to The Import After Bounce option automatically im-
create a bounced file with frame-accurate edits, ports the newly bounced files into the Clips List so
wrapped as OMFI (unless File Type is MXF), and you can place them in tracks. If your newly
with the sample rate options limited to 44.1 kHz or bounced files are split stereo files (Multiple
48 kHz. Dither without noise shaping will be ap- Mono), they are listed together in the Clips List.
plied to files being exported from 24-bit to 16-bit.
The Import After Bounce option is only avail-
able if the target file type and sample rate for
Add to iTunes Library the bounce is the same as the file type and
Pro Tools lets you bounce your mix to your iTunes sample rate of the current session, and the
library using the Add to iTunes Library option in target resolution (bit rate) is the same or
the Bounce to Disk dialog. When this option is se- lower than the resolution of the session. In
lected, the bounced file is copied to your local addition, tracks bounced to a Stereo Inter-
iTunes library. You can specify the location of leaved file cannot be automatically imported
your iTunes library using the new iTunes Library after a bounce.
Folder setting in the Pro Tools Operation prefer-
ences. Bounce File Name
If the Add to iTunes Library option is enabled when Pro Tools provides a File Name text entry field for
bouncing to disk, the resultant audio file is auto- Bounce to Disk. In the Bounce dialog, type the File
matically imported into iTunes the next time you Name you want for the bounced file. For multi-
launch the iTunes application. If iTunes is not in- source bounces, the entered file name is appended
stalled on your computer, this option does not do with the name of the Bounce Source and a number
anything. (incremented for each source): “<file
name>_<source name>_<n>.”
To export your mix to your iTunes library:
1 Choose File > Bounce to > Disk. Directory
2 In the Bounce to Disk dialog, select the Bounce Click the Choose button to specify a different di-
Source and set the other options. rectory for bounced files than the default location.
3 Enable the Add to iTunes Library option.
Offline Bounce
The Add to iTunes Library option is only
Pro Tools provides an Offline option for Bounce to
available if the Bounce Source is set to a
Disk and Bounce to QuickTime. This lets you
mono or stereo path, and Format is set to
bounce faster-than-real-time in most cases (de-
Mono (Summed) or Interleaved.
pending on the session mixer size and DSP plug-in
4 Click Bounce. complement).

Chapter 51: Mixdown 1195

 To bounce audio to disk offline: • Disk Usage—For example, if the Disk meter in
1 Make a Timeline selection to define the range to the System Usage window reads 50% when you
be bounced. are playing back the session, offline bounce will
max out at two times the speed of real-time sim-
2 Choose File > Bounce to > Disk. ply because it is physically impossible to read
3 In the Bounce dialog, enable the Offline option. the disk data from the drive fast enough. If you
can increase the Disk Playback Cache Size
4 Configure the Bounce options as desired. (Setup > Playback Engine) to cache all audio on
5 Click Bounce. the timeline, this should not be an issue
(Pro Tools Ultimate only).
Limitations of Offline Bounce • If there is an unbalanced use of your computer’s
core processors due to large mixers and Native
When using the Offline Bounce option, the follow-
plug-in usage, you can check to see if the indi-
ing are not included in the bounce:
vidual core CPU meters are unbalanced in the
• Hardware Inserts CPU section of the System Usage window. Re-
• External MIDI driven audio (such as outboard moving or making Native plug-ins inactive on
MIDI synthesizers or samplers). Auxiliary Input and Master Fader tracks may
help alleviate this problem.
• External audio sources monitored by Auxiliary
Input tracks. • Some third-party plug-ins may slow down off-
line bounce due to their CPU requirements.
• DSP only plug-ins (Offline Bounce always uses
the Native version of DSP plug-ins, but only if Note that for some sessions that use very
they are available). large mixer configurations with lots of DSP-
• Any audio source that is synchronized exter- based plug-ins and automation, it is possible
nally. that Offline Bounce may actually be slower
than bouncing in real time.
Any HEAT processing in the bounce path is
included with offline bounce. Cancel
Speed of Offline Bounce The Cancel button closes the Bounce to Disk dia-
log without initiating the bounce to disk conver-
The speed of offline bounce can be affected by the
sion.
following:
• CPU Usage—The speed of your CPU and how
Bounce
much CPU is in use by the system and other ap-
plications. You can monitor CPU usage in the The Bounce button initiates the bounce to disk
System Usage window. conversion. A Save dialog opens in which you can
navigate to and select where you want to save the
bounced file. Once you have selected the location
and clicked Save, a progress window opens and
progressively shows you how much time remains
for the bounce to complete.

1196 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 To bring bounced files back into tracks, do one of
Recording a Submix (with the following:
Bounce to Disk)  Enable the Import after Bounce option prior to
You can create a submix with the Bounce to Disk bouncing to disk. Once bounced files are im-
command by muting tracks or bypassing inserts ported to the Clips List, you can drag and drop
that are not part of the submix, and selecting the them to tracks.
part of the session you want to bounce; or, you
 Import the bounced file(s) into the session using
could solo only the audio you want to bounce.
the Import Audio command (File > Import > Au-
You can also create a submix by recording to new dio).
tracks. For details, see “Sample Rate Conversion  Drag and drop the bounced files from a Work-
and Bit Depth Reduction” on page 1187. space browser or the desktop.

To bounce a submix to disk:

1 Configure your submix using sends, Auxiliary Final Mixdown (with Bounce
Inputs, and Master Faders. (See “Signal Rout- to Disk)
ing for Monitoring and Submixing” on
page 1074.) In final mixdown, you create a mix that includes all
your edits, automation, and effects processing.
2 Do one of the following:
• To bounce the entire session, click Return to To bounce a final mix to disk:
Zero in the Transport window to go to the begin- 1 Adjust track output levels, and finalize any mix
ning of the session. automation for each track in the session.
• To bounce a portion of the session, enable 2 Adjust any real-time plug-in and effects settings
Options > Link Timeline and Edit Selection, and and automation for each track in the session.
make a selection in the Edit window.
3 Make sure that all of the tracks you want to in-
3 Choose File > Bounce to > Disk. clude in the bounce are audible (not muted or
4 Configure bounce options and settings. inactive).

5 Verify the bit resolution for the bounced file 4 Assign the output of each of the tracks you want
matches the bit resolution of the session. to include in your bounce to the same output or
bus path.
6 Verify the sample rate for the bounced file is
supported by the session and the audio inter- 5 Add dither (see “Using Dither” on page 1186).
face.
7 If required, verify the file type and format for
the bounced file matches the file type and for-
mat of the session.
8 Click Bounce.

Chapter 51: Mixdown 1197

 6 Do one of the following: Mastering and Audio
• To bounce the entire session, click Return to Compression
Zero in the Transport to go to the beginning of Although audio compression is often an indispens-
the session. able tool in analog recording, it can present prob-
lems in the digital domain. If you compress an in-
By default, the bounce will end at the last audio
put signal at a very high ratio, you create a signal
waveform or MIDI note. To end the bounce
that contains a much higher overall power level
sooner, make an Edit or Timeline selection to
compared to its transients. By recording a number
define the end (and start) of the bounce.
of such signals at the highest possible level on mul-
• To bounce a portion of the session, enable Op- tiple tracks, you create a scenario that is more
tions > Link Timeline and Edit Selection, and likely to clip the mixed output signal.
make a selection in the Edit window. High-power compressed signals, when mixed to-
7 Choose File > Bounce to > Disk. gether, create an extremely high-level output. This
output may rise above the full-code level, resulting
8 Choose the source path you want to bounce. in clipping.
9 Configure other Bounce to Disk settings as ap-
To avoid this problem, watch the overall level of
propriate. See “Bounce Options” on page 1190.
your program material—use a meter on a Master
10 Click Bounce. Fader, or use an external mastering deck’s meters
to help identify clipping. If you are mastering to
hard disk, avoid mixing full-code audio signals to-
Mastering gether at unity or “0” level, as this invariably
causes clipping.
In the final mastering process, you might record di-
rectly to disk, Blue-ray, DAT, DVD, CD, stereo
mastering recorder, or a multitrack recorder (for
Mastering and Error-Correcting
Media
surround mixes).
Random access media (such as hard disks, or USB
Once you have created a master of your session, or flash drives) can produce a true digital copy of
you can transfer it to a portable medium for dupli- your data, because every bit value is maintained.
cation. You can transfer the master file to CD or Sequential media (such as digital tape) use error
DAT to be used as a master for pressing compact correction schemes to fix the occasional bad data
discs. that is received in a digital transfer. These correc-
tions are deviations from the actual data, and with
Mastering to a Digital Recorder successive reproductions, represent a subtle form
of generation loss.
Although it is usually best to master sessions di-
rectly to hard disk, Pro Tools also lets you master You can avoid this loss by creating and maintain-
digitally, direct to any AES/EBU-equipped or ing masters on random-access digital media (such
S/PDIF-equipped digital recorder such as a DAT as a hard drive) and transferring them to sequential
deck. digital media only as needed.

1198 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Part X: Surround
Chapter 52: Pro Tools Setup for Surround

Pro Tools | Ultimate Software lets you work with In the following table, it is assumed that surround
surround formats up to 7.1, and up to 7.1.2 with channels are assigned to outputs 1–6 of a Pro Tools
Dolby 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 | Ultimate 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

Chapter 52: Pro Tools Setup for Surround 1201

 To connect your audio interfaces for 5.1 format 7.1 and 7.0 SDDS Formats
mixing and monitoring:
The Sony Dynamic Digital Sound (SDDS) 7.1 and
1 Determine the 5.1 format and track layout you
7.0 surround formats use the following track lay-
want to use.
out:
2 Connect the output channels of your audio in-
terface to the corresponding input channels of 5 front channels Left (L), Left Center (Lc), Center
(C), Right Center (Rc), Right (R)
your monitoring system according to the assign-
ments listed in the tables above. 2 rear channels Left Surround Rear (Ls) and Right
Surround Rear (Rs)
If you use a control surface, see its guide for
more information. 1 LFE channel (7.1.2 only) Low Frequency Ef-
fects

The following table shows default mono track

7.1 and 7.0 Formats routing for a 7.1 SDDS mix in Pro Tools.

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)

2 side channels Left Surround Side (Lss) and

Right Surround Side (Rss)
7.1.2 and 7.0.2 Formats
(Dolby Atmos)
2 rear channels Left Surround Rear (Lsr) and
Right Surround Rear (Rsr) Pro Tools lets you create 7.0.2 and 7.1.2 surround
format input, output, insert, and bus paths in the I/O
1 LFE channel (7.1 only) Low Frequency Effects Setup for mixing to Dolby Atmos. Pro Tools can
likewise create tracks with 7.0.2 and 7.1.2 channel
The following table shows the default mono track widths.
routing for a 7.1 mix in Pro Tools.
For more information, see Chapter 55,
Default Track Layout for 7.1 Format
“Mixing to Dolby Atmos.”
Track Layout
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
L C R Lss Rss Lsr Rsr LFE

1202 Pro Tools Reference Guide

7.0.2 and 7.1.2 Track Layouts
Ambisonics Formats
7.0.2 and 7.1.2 formats are nine- and ten-channel sur-
round formats, respectively. The mono channels of Pro Tools lets you create 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-Order
these two surround formats always appear using the Ambisonics channel format (4-, 9-, and 16-channel
following track layouts (top to bottom in a track and formats respectively) input, output, insert, and bus
left to right in meters): L C R Lss Rss Lsr Rsr LFE paths in the I/O Setup for Ambisonics mixing work-
Lts Rts. flows. Pro Tools can likewise create tracks with 1st-,
2nd-, and 3rd-Order Ambisonics channel widths.
3 front channels Left (L), Center (C), Right (R)
For more information, see Chapter 56,
2 side channels Left Surround Side (Lss) and “Ambisonics.”
Right Surround Side (Rss)

2 rear channels Left Surround Rear (Lsr) and

Right Surround Rear (Rsr) Configuring Pro Tools for
Multichannel Sessions
1 LFE channel (7.1.2 only) Low Frequency Ef-
fects Configuring Pro Tools and sessions for multichan-
nel mixing can be done in any (or all) of the fol-
2 overhead channels Left Top Surround (Lts) and lowing ways:
Right Top Surround (Rts)
New Sessions
7.0.2 and 7.1.2 Path Orders You can create a new session and choose a sur-
Set the Default Path Order for new paths in the Out round mix I/O Settings file as the default
put page of the I/O Setup. Changing the Path Order I/O Setup. See “New Sessions and I/O Settings” on
does not affect the track layout order or metering, but page 1204.
it does change the channel order of the output path to
the assigned physical outputs on the audio interface. Remixing Sessions in Surround (Importing
Multichannel I/O Setups)
7.0.2 L C R Lss Rss Lsr Rsr – Lts Rts (Film)
By creating or importing a surround mix I/O Set-
7.0.2 L R C – Lss Rss Lsr Rsr Lts Rts (SMPTE)
tings file in the I/O Setup dialog, multichannel
7.1.2 L C R Lss Rss Lsr Rsr LFE Lts Rts (Film) paths can be made available in any stereo (or other
format) session. You can then reassign track rout-
7.1.2 L R C LFE Lss Rss Lsr Rsr Lts Rts (SMPTE) ing from the original stereo paths to multichannel
paths. Inactive and active paths simplify reassign-
ment. See “Importing Multichannel I/O Setups” on
page 1206.

Chapter 52: Pro Tools Setup for Surround 1203

 Custom Multichannel Paths To create a new session for multichannel mixing:

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 1206.
3 Select the Audio File Type, Sample Rate, and
Importing Session Data Bit Depth.

By using the Import Session Data command (File >

Import > Session Data), you can import tracks and
media from other sessions plus their associated
paths and track assignments. After importing ses-
sion data, you can use the I/O Setup dialog to con-
figure main and sub-paths for the requirements of
the session. For more information, see Chapter 6,
“I/O Setup.”

New Sessions and I/O Settings

When you create a new session, you can specify a New Session dialog, 5.1 Film Mix I/O setting selected
surround format that you want to use as your
I/O Setup. Default path configurations are 4 From the I/O Settings menu, select one of the
provided as I/O Settings files, for stereo and following options:
surround mixing. • 5.1 Film Mix

To see multichannel options in Pro Tools, the

• SMPTE/ITU
Surround Mixer plug-in must be installed in • DTS Monitoring
the Plug-Ins folder. This plug-in can be in- • C24 Mix
stalled with Pro Tools (see the User Guide
for your Pro Tools system). If it is not in- • ICON X-MON Mix
stalled, you can move it from the Plug-Ins 5 Click OK.
(Unused) folder to the Plug-Ins folder.
6 In the Save dialog, name the session, navigate to
Once you create the new session, you can create the location where you want to save the new
and import tracks, import audio, and assign signal session, and click Save.
routing to set up your mix.

1204 Pro Tools Reference Guide

The surround presets preconfigure the I/O Setup Default 5.1 Output Paths
dialog for the new session with default 5.1 format • One 5.1 main output path.
main and sub-paths for outputs and busses.
• One stereo main path.

Standard 5.1 format (film) output paths

I/O Setup, Output page, default 5.1 (Film) Output
assignments
Surround Mix Settings Files
Default 5.1 Bus Paths
The surround mix I/O Settings provide output and
bus paths for six specific track layout standards in • One 5.1 main output bus path, with sub-paths for
the new session. (For information on inputs and in- 5.0 (no LFE), left/right (stereo), LCR, and center
sert paths, see “Default Input and Insert Paths with (mono).
5.1 Settings” on page 1205.) • One stereo main output bus path with two mono
Settings Files and Track Layouts
sub-paths.

5.1 Settings Track Layout

5.1 Film Mix L C R Ls Rs LFE

SMPTE/ITU Mix L R C LFE Ls Rs

DTS Mix L R Ls Rs C LFE

C24 Mix L C R Ls Rs Lf

ICON X-MON Mix L Lc C Rc R Ls Rs LFE

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 1206).

Chapter 52: Pro Tools Setup for Surround 1205

 Importing Multichannel Exporting I/O Settings
I/O Setups
Exporting I/O Setup settings files lets you build a
The I/O Setup dialog can import and export set- library of multichannel setups for different proj-
tings files. This is useful when you want to remix a ects.
stereo session in surround. You can also use this
feature to prepare a session for transfer to a differ- To export an I/O Setup settings file:
ent Pro Tools system, or to save and exchange 1 Choose Setup > I/O.
I/O Settings.
2 Click Export Settings.
To import a multichannel I/O Setup settings file:
3 Name and Save your current I/O Settings.
1 Choose Setup > I/O.
2 Click the Output tab. Custom Multichannel Paths
3 Click Import Settings. The I/O Setup dialog lets you create and customize
signal paths for any supported multichannel mix-
4 Select the settings file (.pio) to import and click
ing format.
Open.
Multichannel paths and sub-paths are assigned to
5 If the current session has path definitions that do
input and output channels in the Channel Grid.
not match those in the imported settings file,
When you select a preset 5.1 I/O Settings file, de-
Pro Tools asks whether you want to delete the
fault layout for the corresponding multichannel
existing paths or retain them and add the im-
format paths you create will match the selected for-
ported settings to your session.
mat’s track layout.
• Click No to add new paths to your current I/O
Setup configuration. In addition, the I/O Setup dialog, like the Main
page of the Hardware Setup dialog, provides con-
• Click Yes to replace your current I/O Setup con-
trols for routing the physical inputs and outputs on
figuration with the imported settings.
your audio interface to available inputs and outputs
6 Click the Bus tab. in Pro Tools.
7 If the Bus page does not show the correct output When creating 5.1 format paths, you can
bus mappings for the imported I/O Settings file, specify the default track layout. See “Path
click the Default button (for All Busses or for Order” on page 63.
Output Busses).

8 Click OK to close the I/O Setup.

1206 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Reassigning Channels
The I/O Setup dialog and its Channel Grid also let
you reassign channels. This is especially useful for
routing channels within a multichannel path, with-
out having to repatch your audio interfaces.

You can reassign paths to any required configura-

Output page, LCRS output path
tion, limited only by your systems resources, and
the I/O Setup dialog requirements for channel 6 Click the Bus tab.
overlapping and naming (see “Valid Paths and Re-
7 If the Bus page does not show the correct output
quirements” on page 77 for more information).
bus mappings for the LCRS output, click the
See also “Example Paths and Signal Routing Default button (for All Busses or for Output
for a Surround Mix” on page 1219. Busses).

8 Select the new LCRS path and click the Reveal

Example LCRS Setup Sub-paths triangle.
The following example shows one possible way to 9 If not all of the sub-paths are present, do the fol-
configure the I/O Setup dialog to mix in 4-channel lowing:
LCRS format, with an HD OMNI.
• Click New Sub-Path.
For additional I/O Setup information, see • Name the new sub-path LCR and select LCR as
“Output Busses” on page 78. the Path format. Click in channel 1 in the LCR
row to assign the bus path.
To define an LCRS path:
• Select the LCRS path, click New Sub-Path, and
1 Choose Setup > I/O, and click the Output tab. create a stereo sub-path for front Left and front
2 Click New Path. Right.

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.

Bus page, LCRS output bus with sub-paths

10 Click OK to close the I/O Setup.

Chapter 52: Pro Tools Setup for Surround 1207

 5.1 Tracks, Formats, Default Format Sets the default format for new
Assignments, and Metering Output paths and for when you click the Default
button.
Path definitions in I/O Setup determine how audio
is routed through, and metered on, your audio in- Path Order Selects the default track layout (or,
terfaces. path order) for new Output paths.

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 1209. 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.

Output Meter Path Selects the path that will be

To re-assign channels in a path:
shown in the control surface output meters as well
 Drag a channel to a new valid location in the as in the Transport Output meters. See “5.1 Tracks,
Grid. Other channel assignments will move Formats, Assignments, and Metering” on
(shuffle) to accommodate dragged channels. page 1208 for more information.

Default Output Bus Selects the default output bus

path for all new tracks, for each supported track
Default I/O Selectors in I/O format.
Setup
The Output page of the I/O Setup dialog provides The New Track Default Output can be set to
selectors for setting I/O defaults in your multichan- bus paths, as well as output paths.
nel sessions. AFL/PFL Path (HDX or HD Native Systems Only)

Selects where tracks are routed to when they are

soloed in AFL (After Fader Listen) or PFL (Pre
Fader Listen) Solo mode.

Default 5.1 Path Order I/O Setup Options

Default selectors in the I/O Setup dialog

1208 Pro Tools Reference Guide

5.1 Track Layouts, Routing, and Metering

5.1 Format Tracks Track Meters Channel Assignments in I/O Setup

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

Track layout of different 5.1 formats

Chapter 52: Pro Tools Setup for Surround 1209

1210 Pro Tools Reference Guide
Chapter 53: Multichannel Tracks and
Signal Routing

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 Ultimate 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.

Multichannel I/O and signal routing is determined

5.1 format multichannel audio track
by the paths defined in the I/O Setup dialog.
5.1 format audio files and tracks conform to the
Film track layout standard. Regardless of path as-
Multichannel Audio Tracks signments in the I/O Setup dialog, all 5.1 format
audio tracks and meters follow the Film standard
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)
track layout:
Multichannel audio tracks contain an individual L C R Ls Rs LFE
channel for each signal in the track (for example, a
5.1 track would have six channels for left, center, Multichannel audio tracks are not required to mix
right, left surround, right surround, and LFE). in multichannel formats. Mono, stereo, and all sup-
ported track formats can be mixed using Pro Tools
track outputs and sends (see “Multichannel Signal
Routing” on page 1214).

Chapter 53: Multichannel Tracks and Signal Routing 1211

 Placing Audio in Multichannel Solo, Mute, and Gain in
Tracks Multichannel Tracks and Paths
You can drag audio files and clips from Workspace Stereo and multichannel tracks consist of multiple
browsers, the Clips List, Windows Explorer, or audio signals, linked together. By default, multi-
Mac Finder, or from other tracks, to place them in channel tracks are linked and are controlled by a
multichannel audio tracks. single channel fader, and solo and mute switches.

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:

1 Insert a multi-mono Trim plug-in on the multi-

channel track.
2 Unlink the Trim plug-in by clicking the Link
icon so that it is unlit.
3 Use the Channel selector to display the controls
for a channel, and adjust the gain.

See “Linking and Unlinking Controls on

Multi-Mono Plug-Ins” on page 1216 for
more information.

1212 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Track and Output Formats Multiple Output Assignments and Track
Format
When you create new tracks, you specify mono,
stereo, or a supported multichannel format for the When a track is assigned to more than one path of
new tracks. differing formats, the main output for that track
will match the format of the assigned path with the
In the Mix and Edit windows, the track format of a greatest number of channels.
track’s output is always visible by the number of
track meters contained in its fader strip (for exam- Multiple Outputs and Automation Playlists
ple, a single meter for mono tracks, a pair of meters
for stereo tracks, and six meters for 5.1 tracks). When a track has multiple output assignments,
Pro Tools sorts panning data appropriately for
Assigning track output determines the format of each assigned path. For example, if you assign a
that output. For example, a mono track always has mono track to a stereo path and a 5.1 path simulta-
a single track meter, even when assigned to a ste- neously, that track will have a 5.1 panner in the
reo output path. If that same mono track is assigned Mix or Edit window. When you pan the track,
to a 5.1 output path, it's output will be split among Pro Tools interprets the 5.1 panning moves into
those six output channels, depending on the posi- stereo panning moves.
tion of its panner.
This provides a type of parallel mixing. You can
Changing Format create a variety of mixes of differing formats all at
the same time by routing your elements to multiple
Changing the output format for a given track has paths.
several effects:
• The panner that appears in the track will change Command-Control-click (Mac) or Control-
to reflect the new output format. Start-click (Windows) any control in an Out-
put window to show its automation playlist
• It may be necessary for one or more pan related in the Edit window and view any pan auto-
automation playlists to be created or deleted. mation.
Because changing the output format has these ef-
fects, a warning dialog appears whenever you
change the output format of a track to a format of
fewer channels. Specifically, this will occur when-
ever automation playlists will have to be deleted.

Chapter 53: Multichannel Tracks and Signal Routing 1213

 Multichannel Track Outputs
Multichannel Signal Routing
Tracks can be routed to multichannel output or bus
To mix in a multichannel format, tracks are as- paths using the track’s Output Path selector. This
signed to multichannel paths. provides a multichannel panner and meter in the
Tracks can be mixed in surround using the follow- Mix and Edit window I/O View.
ing two methods: Additional output assignments can be added by
• By setting a track main output to a multichannel Control-clicking (Mac) or Start-clicking (Win-
path. dows) the Selector tool and assigning another path.
• By assigning a multichannel send to route audio
to a multichannel path. Multichannel Sends
All track formats, including mono and stereo, let
you assign one or more multichannel sends. This
Multichannel send
provides a multichannel panner in the Sends View.
Sends are also useful to bus tracks for multichan-
Multichannel output nel plug-in processing. The following figure shows
path
a mono audio track with a 5.1 (6-channel) send
(View > Sends A–E > Send A).

Multichannel send panner

Mono output format

Mono meter

Two different ways to configure tracks for multichannel

mixing

A mono audio track with a mono output format and a

multichannel send

1214 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Pro Tools bussing and submixing features are Mono, Multi-Mono and
available for all channel formats, from mono/ste- Multichannel Plug-Ins
reo through 8-channel. For examples of multichan-
Plug-Ins can be used in mono, multi-mono, or mul-
nel monitoring, effects processing, and bussing,
tichannel formats.
see “Mixing with Paths and Sub-Paths” on
page 1217. For mono and stereo mix examples, see For information about mono, stereo, and mono-
Chapter 48, “Basic Mixing.” in/stereo-out plug-ins, see Chapter 49, “Plug-In
and Hardware Inserts.”
Multichannel Auxiliary Inputs Multi-Mono Plug-Ins Are designed for use on ste-
and Master Faders
reo or greater-than-stereo multichannel tracks.
A multichannel Auxiliary Input or Master Fader is Multi-mono plug-ins are useful, or required, in the
used as a return for the multichannel bus. Sends are following situations:
useful when you need to create an additional, inde- • When a plug-in does not involve multichannel
pendent mix simultaneously (perhaps of a distinct correlated processing (for example, when apply-
format), requiring dedicated fader, mute, solo, and ing EQ to select sides of a multichannel signal)
automation controls.
• When you need to adjust signals within the mul-
You can assign Master Faders to main and sub- tichannel track independently
paths. Main paths must match the format of the • When a plug-in does not support multichannel
Master Fader, and only one Master Fader can be formats
active and assigned to any single (active) main or
sub-path. A Master Fader cannot be assigned to a When a multi-mono plug-in is first inserted on a
sub-path if its associated main path is already as- multichannel track, the plug-in controls are linked.
signed on another Master Fader. See “Master You can unlink them for independent adjustment.
Fader Tracks and Signal Flow” on page 1044. See “Linking and Unlinking Controls on Multi-
Mono Plug-Ins” on page 1216 for more informa-
Multichannel Instrument Tracks tion.

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.

Multichannel Plug-Ins Are designed for use on

stereo and multichannel tracks that require cor-
related processing, including stereo and multi-
channel limiting, compression, and similar effects.

Chapter 53: Multichannel Tracks and Signal Routing 1215

 Linking and Unlinking Controls Link Enable Buttons Let you selectively link the
on Multi-Mono Plug-Ins controls of specific channels of a multi-mono plug-
in. Each square represents a speaker channel. The
When a multi-mono plug-in is used on a multi-
Master Link button must be disabled to use the
channel track of more than two channels, the con-
Link Enable buttons.
trols are normally linked. Adjusting the Gain con-
trol on one channel, for example, will adjust it for To unlink controls on a multi-mono plug-in:
all channels.
 Deselect the Master Link button. It is lit when
If necessary, you can unlink plug-in controls on linked, unlit when unlinked.
specific channels of a track and edit them inde-
pendently. You can also selectively link the con- To access controls for a specific channel:
trols of specific channels.  Select the channel from the Channel selector.
For example, to apply equal filter cutoffs to the Ls
To open a plug-in window for all channels of a
and Rs (surround) channels in a 5.1 mix, you could multi-mono plug-in:
link enable just those channels in an unlinked,
multi-mono EQ plug-in. Adjusting the controls in  Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) the
the plug-in window for either channel (Ls or Rs) Channel selector.
adjusts the other, linked channel as well.
To link the controls of specific 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

Channel selector and Link controls

Channel Selector Accesses a specific channel

within a multichannel track for plug-in parameter
editing. This menu appears only on multi-mono
plug-ins inserted on tracks with more than two
channels.

Master Link Button When enabled, links the con-

trols on all channels of a multi-mono plug-in so
that they can be adjusted in tandem.

1216 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Paths in Surround Mixes
Because Pro Tools provides a flexible routing and
submixing environment, you can maximize your
system’s available resources by first identifying
the elements that you want to pan dynamically and
those that can be placed in certain channels only
(see “Mixing with Paths and Sub-Paths” on
page 1217).

Once you have identified these elements in your

session, you can use a combination of main and
sub-path assignments, and multichannel panning.

Mixing with Paths and Sub-Paths

It is rare that every track needs to be “flown” (ac-
tively panned in between more than a pair of
speakers). In most situations, certain elements are
placed in certain speakers and remain there, pro-
viding the foundation for a mix.

The following figure illustrates an example of how

panning and signal routing can be combined in a
multichannel mix.

See “Extending Stereo Mixing Conventions

to Surround Mixing” on page 1220 for re-
lated information.

When to Use Assign Multichannel Outputs

 Assign 5.1 paths only to those tracks that need

to be panned to all six channels.

For example, a sound effects track with a jet fly-

over should be assigned a 5.1 path to fly the sound
from front-to-back. In a music mix, you can fly a
solo instrument or make a synth pad swirl around
the room as a special effect.

Elements that need to be heard in all speakers si-

multaneously can also be assigned to the multi-
channel output, whether or not they require active
panning in the sound field.

Chapter 53: Multichannel Tracks and Signal Routing 1217

 When to Use Sub-Paths

 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.

Tracks routed to subpaths Tracks routed to main Auxiliary Input

5.1 surround path routed to 5.0
sub-path

Effect
bus routing

Outputs to
sub-paths

Outputs to main 5.1 path for surround panning

Using signal routing and sub-paths to mix in surround

1218 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Extending Stereo Mixing Example Output Paths
Conventions to Surround Mixing
The following figure shows output paths defined in
Stereo mixing sets the precedent for active and the I/O Setup dialog of an example session that
static panning, and surround mixing can benefit was created on a HDX system with an HD OMNI
from the same basic principles. audio interface.

Panning a sound back-and-forth between the left

and right speakers is best used as a special effect.
In a typical music mix, the basic tracks are placed
in the stereo sound field and remain there.

Surround mixes can become incoherent if too

many elements are continuously moving, For spe-
cial effects, some tracks can be panned dynami-
cally, bouncing between speakers or sweeping
I/O Setup, example output paths
from one side to the other.
Different Output paths have been defined for Mix,
FX, dialog, and Music.
Example Paths and Signal
Routing for a Surround Mix Example Bus Paths
Signal routing is the key element in any Pro Tools The following figure shows example bus paths.
surround session. Signal routing is configured and
defined in the I/O Setup dialog. An LCR format path (“Dialog”), a stereo format
path (“Music”) and a 5.1 format path (“FX”) have
The examples that follow show how Auxiliary In- been defined, each with several of their own sub-
puts, Master Faders, and other Pro Tools signal paths.
routing features can be used for stem mixes, sub-
mixes, and similar project needs.

In these examples, music and effects are being

mixed for a trailer, in 5.1 surround. Separate stem
mixes (for music and for effects) are to be mas-
I/O Setup, example bus paths
tered to 8-track MDM.

Chapter 53: Multichannel Tracks and Signal Routing 1219

 Example Sub-Paths Signal Routing Examples
Sub-paths let you route to selective channels The following examples show how main and sub-
within the multichannel surround output. In the paths can be used, using an example session con-
following figure, the Surround bus has several sub- sisting of a 5.1 main mix, with music and effects
paths that show this. stems (or submixes).

Submix Stem Examples

The following figure shows a routing configura-

tion for an effects submix. Two tracks are routed to
stereo bus sub-paths, while others are assigned to
an LCR and a mono bus sub-path. Two tracks (one
I/O Setup, example sub-paths mono, one stereo) are assigned to multichannel
busses for surround panning. A 5.1 Auxiliary Input
LCR Sub-Path The forward 3-channel sub-path.
assigned to the FX main bus path serves as a sub-
Use this type of sub-path routing to mix dialog, or
mixer.
other forward-facing sound effects.

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.

1220 Pro Tools Reference Guide

The following figure shows a routing configuration for effects tracks.

FX stem

The following figure shows a routing configuration for music tracks.

Music stem

Chapter 53: Multichannel Tracks and Signal Routing 1221

 Most of the music tracks in this example are routed Using the LFE fader, you can add any amount of
to the front left/right channels, using a stereo sub- any multichannel path to the overall LFE output. In
path. A 5.1 Auxiliary Input controls the bus and the above example, the track’s Center percentage
stem output. has been turned off, and the LFE fader has been
raised to route it to the LFE channel.
Multiple Output Assignments
The following figure shows how a “traditional”
Multiple output assignments make it possible to LFE track can be routed to only the LFE channel.
configure a number of multi-format mixes. For ex- This example uses a custom-defined LFE sub-path
ample, you can assign an additional stereo output to the FX main bus path.
to tracks and create a stereo mix at the same time as
a 5.1 mix. For more information, see “Multiple
Output Assignments” on page 1057.

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.

The following figure shows a channel Output win-

dow, sending and metering the LFE channel.

Discrete LFE routing, with main output to mono LFE

channel

LFE faders can follow Mix and Edit Groups.

For information, see “Selecting Group Attri-
butes” on page 289.

For instructions on creating a sub-path, see

“Custom Multichannel Paths” on page 1206.

LFE fader

1222 Pro Tools Reference Guide

LFE and Filtering
Pro Tools applies no filtering to LFE signals.
Some delivery requirements may require filtering
for the LFE track.

Chapter 53: Multichannel Tracks and Signal Routing 1223

1224 Pro Tools Reference Guide
Chapter 54: Surround Panning and Mixing

Before you can pan a track in surround, it must be

assigned to an appropriate multichannel output or Introduction to Pro Tools
bus path. Surround Panning
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)
See Chapter 52, “Pro Tools Setup for Sur-
round” for more information on multichannel There are four different track panning methods
configurations and I/O Setup options. For available:
multichannel signal routing, see Chapter 53, • In the Edit window, using the reduced-height
“Multichannel Tracks and Signal Routing.” Panner Grid in the I/O View
• In the Mix window, using the reduced-height
Multichannel surround mixing is supported Panner Grid
with Pro Tools Ultimate only. • In the Output window, using the full-size
Panner Grid
The I/O Setup dialog defines the busing and output
architecture of the Pro Tools multichannel sur- • Through pan automation editing
round mixer. If you have not already done so, it is
Certain Pro Tools control surfaces provide addi-
recommended that you become familiar with main
tional panning options. See the documentation for
and sub-paths and the I/O Setup dialog before
your control surface.
starting multichannel Pro Tools projects.

Chapter 54: Surround Panning and Mixing 1225

 Mix and Edit Window Panner Pan Location Cursor Color while Automating
Grids
The Pan Location cursor is green when the track is
In the Mix and Edit window, multichannel Panner in Automation Read mode, red in an Automation
Grids are displayed on tracks that have multichan- Touch, Latch, Touch/Latch, or Write modes, and
nel track or send output assignments. yellow in Automation Off (or Automation Sus-
pend) mode.
To pan from the Mix or Edit window:
In Trim mode, the Volume fader and LFE fader are
1 To pan in the Edit window, make sure I/O View
yellow.
is being shown (View > Edit Window > I/O). Pan-
ner Grids are always displayed in Mix window Output windows provide additional features and
tracks that support panning. controls (and a much larger Grid). For details, see
2 Begin playback. “Output Windows” on page 1226.

3 Drag in the appropriate multichannel track’s

Panner Grid in the Mix or Edit windows.
Output Windows
Output windows provide panning controls (called
panners), as well as standard Pro Tools controls,
for tracks of all mix formats (from 3-channel LCR
through 8-channel 7.1).

For information on Output window standard con-

trols, see “Standard Controls” on page 1227. For
information on Output window panning controls,
see “Surround Panner Controls” on page 1228.

Some of the features of Output windows include:

• X/Y (joystick-style) panning
• 3-Knob panning
• Full Divergence and Center Percentage control
• AutoGlide
• LFE feed
• Multichannel meters
• Pro Tools target window support
Drag to pan in the Track Grid
Multiple panners can be opened simultaneously, or
The Pan Location cursor follows your movements
a single window can display the current panner.
as long as you hold the mouse button. Movements
are scaled so that, once you click to “grab” the Pan
Location cursor, you do not need to limit your
movements to the small Track Grid area.

1226 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To open an Output window:
Standard Controls
 Click the Output Window button (the small
fader at the right edge of the Output selector for All Output windows provide standard Pro Tools
a track in the Mix or Edit window (I/O View). controls for routing, path assignment and other
track features. These controls are located at the top
of all Output, Send, Insert, and Plug-In windows
(see “Standard Selector Controls in Output Win-
dows” on page 1072).

Show meters
Track selector Path selector Target icon

Output selector Automation Safe

Panner Control section

Track Fader, Solo, Mute, and

Auto
All Output windows provide track volume and
mute controls. You can adjust and automate track
volume, or mute, directly using these controls. The
larger fader and Mute button are equivalent to
those in the Pro Tools Mix window.
Opening a multichannel Output window

For instructions on managing multiple Out-

put windows, see “Output Windows for
Tracks and Sends” on page 1070.

Chapter 54: Surround Panning and Mixing 1227

 Surround Panner Controls
When assigned to tracks or paths with four or more channels, the Output window provides an X/Y Grid for
surround panning. The speakers associated with the panner’s multichannel format are displayed in their
relative positions outside the Panner Grid. These speakers are also used as Snap Pan to Speaker controls.

This section identifies all the controls and features found in Pro Tools multichannel panners.

Click to show meters

Snap Pan to Speaker icons

LFE fader

Pan Location
cursor
Track Automation.
Solo, and Mute

X/Y Grid

Panning Mode button

Track fader and meter

Position
(knob panners)

Divergence

Center %

Output window with a 7.1 format multichannel panner

1228 Pro Tools Reference Guide

The X/Y Grid and Pan Location Front/Rear Linking Links (or unlinks) the Front
Cursor and Rear left/right positions controls (they are
linked by default). When linked, the F/R control
The X/Y Grid is where multichannel panning in-
pans the signal front to back always along the same
formation is input and displayed. You can input
left/right path. When unlinked, you can pan front
pan information using X/Y mode, 3-Knob mode,
to back diagonally according to independent Front
or by entering numeric values in the Position data
and Rear settings.
fields. You can also edit pan automation graphi-
cally in the Edit window.

Multichannel panners default to X/Y mode. In X/Y

mode, the track’s current pan position is repre-
sented by a green dot. This dot is the Pan Location
cursor, and its color indicates track automation sta-
tus using standard Pro Tools colors: Front and Rear positions linked (left) versus Front and
Rear positions unlinked (right)
Green The track is in automation Read mode.
Center % Control
Red The track is in automation Write, Touch,
Latch, or Touch/Latch mode. Center % controls how much of the signal is routed
to the center speaker. This lets you mix a track to
Yellow The track is in automation Off mode (or the front with a phantom center (0% Center value)
Automation Suspend) mode. or to three-channel (LCR) when panning front.

Panning Mode Button Divergence Controls

This button, located below the X/Y Grid, provides Divergence determines the width of the panned
access to Surround panning modes (see “Panning signal with respect to neighboring speakers. (For
Modes” on page 1230). more information, see the Pro Tools Sync & Sur-
round Concepts Guide). There are three Diver-
Position Controls gence controls:

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 1233.
Panning mode, Rear is linked to Front position and
cannot be controlled independently.

F/R (Front/Rear) Displays and controls the current

Y-axis position of the panner.

Chapter 54: Surround Panning and Mixing 1229

 Snap Pan to Speaker Icons The Front/Rear Inverse pan control is unlinked by
default.
The Snap Pan to Speaker icons let you force the
panner to the speaker’s location. For example, Link
clicking on the upper left speaker moves the Pan Front Inverse

Location cursor to the upper left corner of the X/Y

Grid. Front/Rear Inverse

LFE Fader
Rear Inverse

Stereo multichannel panner controls showing default

The LFE fader is only available in “.1” surround linking
formats (5.1, 6.1, and 7.1).

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 1235. Pro Tools provides the following Panning Modes:

X/Y Mode Joystick-style panning by dragging the

Multichannel Panner Linking
Pan Location cursor within the X/Y Speaker Grid.
Stereo tracks with multichannel outputs provide See “X/Y Panning” on page 1231 for more infor-
left and right multichannel panners. The Output mation.
window provides controls to link the left and right
channels for precise panning. 3-Knob Mode Point-to-point panning, between
pairs of speakers. See “3-Knob Panning” on
When you create a stereo track that is routed to a page 1231 for more information.
multichannel output, the following pan linkage
Divergence Editing The divergence X/Y Grid can
controls are active by default:
be dragged to resize the divergence boundaries.
• Link (links Left and Right pan controls) See “Divergence Editing Mode” on page 1234.
• Front Inverse (inverts Left and Right pan control
AutoGlide Mode Point-to-point panning from the
linkage across front)
Pan Location cursor to a new destination over a
• Rear Inverse (inverts Left and Right pan control specified AutoGlide Time. See “AutoGlide Mode”
linkage across rear) on page 1232 for more information.

To enable a Panning Mode:

 Click on the Panning Mode button in the Sur-

round Panner until the mode icon is displayed.

1230 Pro Tools Reference Guide

X/Y Panning Display Automation in Edit Window Control-
Command-Control-click (Mac) or Start-click
To pan in X/Y mode: (Windows) a control to display that control’s play-
1 Click on the Panning Mode button until the X/Y list in the Edit window.
mode icon is displayed.
All Pan controls can be automated, including
2 Drag the Pan Location cursor, or click any- pan position and divergence. See Chapter 50,
where in the Grid and drag to pan the track. The “Automation” for details.
location of the Pan Location cursor determines
the pan position of the signal. For example, to 3-Knob Panning
pan something to the left rear speaker, move the
Pan Location cursor to the lower-left corner of Pro Tools provides 3-Knob mode as an additional
the Grid. way to input pan moves.

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.

Grid Options and Shortcuts

Fine-Adjust Mode Hold the Command key (Mac)

or Control key (Windows) for fine adjustment of 3-Knob trajectory
all Panner controls.

Constraining to X or Y Movement Shift-drag the

Pan Location cursor to constrain its movement to
the X or Y direction.

Reset to Default Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click

(Windows) in the Panner Grid to reset all controls
to their default position.

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.

Chapter 54: Surround Panning and Mixing 1231

 The difference is that 3-Knob mode pans discretely AutoGlide Mode
between the front and rear position of the panning
AutoGlide mode lets you quickly write Surround
trajectory, while X/Y mode panning takes place in
Panner automation by clicking new locations in the
the full 360° Panning Grid. Divergence and Center
Surround Panner window, instead of manually
Percentage are variable in both Panning modes.
moving the Surround Panner controls.
To enable 3-Knob Panning mode:
When writing automation in AutoGlide
 Click on the Panning Mode button until the 3- mode, the Pan Location cursor cannot be
Knob mode icon is displayed. dragged from its location.

The time it takes to glide from point to point (from

the Pan Location cursor to the new destination) is
called the AutoGlide Time. This time is set in the
Mixing Preferences page and has a range of
10 msec to 10000 msec (10 seconds).
Panner Mode button set to 3-Knob mode
To set the AutoGlide Time
The panner trajectory line appears across the Grid,
extending from the front (X-axis) to the rear (Y- 1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click Mixing.
axis). 2 Set the AutoGlide Time in the Automation
section.
To pan in 3-Knob mode:

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.

To change the 3-Knob trajectory angles, do one of

the following:

 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.

1232 Pro Tools Reference Guide

4 Set a new destination for the cursor by doing Front Divergence Controls divergence between
one of the following: front speakers (X-axis only).
• Click a Snap Pan to Speaker icon to glide to its Rear Divergence Controls divergence between the
speaker location. rear speakers (X-axis only).
• Click in the pan window to glide to a specific lo-
Front/Rear Divergence Controls divergence be-
cation in the X/Y Grid.
tween front and rear (the Y-axis).
Snap Pan to Center % (Percentage) Determines whether there
Speaker
icons is a discrete center image, a completely phantom
center image, or a variable amount in between.
Pan Location
cursor Side % (Percentage) Determines whether there is
a discrete side image, a completely phantom side
image, or a variable amount in between the right
and left side channels for 7.1 and 7.0 formats.

Divergence
AutoGlide mode In the Panner Grid, the current divergence values
Panning Mode button (AutoGlide mode shown) are displayed using a purple outline.

The Pan Location cursor will begin to move to-

wards the new destination in the time it takes to
travel the AutoGlide Time. When the new destina-
tion point is reached, a new breakpoint will be
written at the new location. Divergence display

5 Repeat the previous step if you want to write ad-

ditional panning moves.
6 Stop the transport when finished.

Divergence and Center

Percentage
Divergence controls
The Divergence and Center Percentage controls
range from 0 to 100, and can be automated. They
are especially useful for ensuring audibility and
coverage in large venues, and to increase clarity of Divergence display and controls
voices.

Chapter 54: Surround Panning and Mixing 1233

 By default, Pro Tools surround panners are 100% Divergence Editing Mode
or fully divergent, meaning that a signal that is
In Divergence Editing mode, you can adjust the di-
panned completely to one speaker will only be au-
vergence boundaries by dragging directly in the
dible in that speaker.
Divergence Grid.
Lower divergence settings result in a progressively
wider source signal. When Divergence is less than To adjust divergence graphically:
100%, tracks will be routed to neighboring speak- 1 Click on the Panning Mode button until the
ers to some degree, even when the Pan Location Divergence Editing icon is displayed.
cursor is positioned next to a single speaker.

Pan Location
cursor Panner Mode button set to Divergence Editing

2 Drag in the Grid to resize the divergence bound-

aries.

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.

Center Percentage Example

Front Divergence at less than 100% for wider panning
In film and video production, the center channel
To adjust divergence:
often contains dialog. To enhance the clarity of di-
 Adjust the Front, Rear, and Front/Rear Diver- alog, it is often beneficial to keep elements such as
gence controls as necessary. music out of the center speaker. By reducing the
Center Percentage on music tracks, music panned
to the front of the soundfield can be panned to only
the left and right speakers, forcing them to have a
variable phantom center image.

1234 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To adjust Center Percentage: To adjust Side Percentage:

 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.

Center % set to 0 (no center speaker shown)

Side % (Percentage) Side % set to 50% (side center speakers dimmed)

For 7.1 and 7.0 surround formats, the Side % con-

trols whether there are discrete side channels for LFE Faders in Multichannel
the track or a phantom side channel. Panners
The LFE fader controls how much of the track is
sent to LFE. LFE faders are only available when a
track is assigned to a path whose format supports
LFE (5.1, 6.1, or 7.1).

For general information about LFE, sub

channels, and related topics, see the
Pro Tools Sync & Surround Concepts Guide.

To mix to the LFE channel:

 Adjust the LFE fader in any “.1” surround for-

mat Output window.

Chapter 54: Surround Panning and Mixing 1235

 LFE Faders and Groups
Pan Playlists
Track and send LFE faders can follow Mix and
Edit Groups by being enabled in the Group Attri- Multichannel panners have an automation playlist
butes page in either the Create Groups or Modify for each position and divergence control.
Groups dialog. LFE faders can be assigned to fol-
Pan automation can be drawn, edited, cut,
low groups as a global attribute or on a group by
copied, and pasted from the Edit window.
group basis. See “Selecting Group Attributes” on
For more information, see Chapter 50,
page 289.
“Automation.”

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.

LFE Enable in the multichannel Dynamics III

Compressor/Limiter

To process the LFE channel in a multichannel

plug-in:

 Click to enable LFE Enable in supporting mul-

tichannel plug-ins. LFE Enable is highlighted
when LFE processing is enabled, and unhigh-
lighted when LFE processing is bypassed.

When LFE Enable is unavailable, try using

the multi-mono version of the plug-in.

1236 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Chapter 55: Mixing to Dolby Atmos

Elements of a Dolby Atmos Mix

Dolby Atmos Overview
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)
A Dolby Atmos mix consists of three primary ele-
ments:
Pro Tools | Ultimate software lets you mix to
Bed Audio (or Bed Material) Channel-based pre-
Dolby Atmos 7.0.2 and 7.1.2 multichannel formats
with support for play back and record of object au- mixes or stems (including their multichannel pan-
dio and panning metadata when used with a Dolby ning)—such as music, Foley, or dialogue stems.
Atmos Renderer. Bed audio is mixed in Pro Tools with all multi-
channel panning, including height as well as sur-
round channels and a low frequency channel, ap-
Audience Immersion plied to the audio output from Pro Tools. The
With Dolby Atmos, three critical elements signifi- resulting multichannel audio mix is streamed to a
cantly improve the audience experience over 5.1 Dolby Atmos Renderer for inclusion in a Dolby
and 7.1 systems: Atmos master.
• Sounds originating overhead Object Audio (or Objects) Unique mono (or ste-
• Improved audio quality and timbre matching reo) audio sources that are streamed directly to a
Dolby Atmos Renderer. The Renderer then applies
• Greater spatial control and resolution
all panning and processing for each object inde-
pendently according to associated Dolby Atmos
“3D” Multichannel Formats metadata. Typical object audio content might be
something like an airplane fly-over or a pesky
Pro Tools provides 7.0.2 and 7.1.2 channel widths
mosquito, an object can really be any single sound
for mixing to Dolby Atmos. While 7.0 and 7.1 are
source that might be in motion over and in or
standard surround channel widths (in this case, 7
around the audience—hence a sound object.
surround channels and an optional LFE channel for
low frequency content played back though a sub- Dolby Atmos Metadata Proprietary panning con-
woofer), the additional “.2” indicates another two trol data for object audio (as well as additional
audio channels that are mixed to stereo (left and metadata) that is applied in the Renderer. For each
right) overhead speakers (or speaker groups). This Pro Tools track assigned to an object output path,
adds the dimension of height to surround sound for 7.1.2 (or 7.0.2) Pro Tools pan automation is trans-
truly three-dimensional audio. lated into Dolby Atmos metadata to control object
panning done in the Renderer.

Chapter 55: Mixing to Dolby Atmos 1237

 Mixing to Dolby Atmos with
Pro Tools Ultimate Installing and Configuring
Dolby Atmos Software and
Pro Tools Ultimate provides the following features Hardware
supporting mixing to a Dolby Atmos Renderer:
To use Pro Tools with Dolby Atmos, follow the in-
• 7.0.2 and 7.1.2 channel widths for Input, Output, structions provided by Dolby for installing and con-
and Bus paths, and for audio, Auxiliary Input, figuring your Dolby Atmos hardware (if any) and
Master Fader, and Instrument tracks. software. Pro Tools cannot provide essential Dolby
• Mapping busses to dedicated Object Output Atmos features if the necessary Dolby Atmos soft-
ware is not correctly installed, configured, and autho-
Paths in the I/O Setup
rized on your Pro Tools system.
• Object view for mono and stereo audio, Auxil-
iary Input, and Instrument tracks. For complete information on installing, con-
figuring, and using Dolby Atmos products,
• Automated switching between assigned track
please refer to the appropriate documenta-
Output and an Object output path for mono and
tion for your specific Dolby Atmos products
stereo audio, Auxiliary Input, and Instrument
published by Dolby.
tracks
• Object Fold Down Path for monitoring fully Example Hardware-Based Dolby
mixed object audio when a Dolby Atmos Ren- Atmos System Configuration
derer is not available
A basic hardware-based Dolby Atmos system in-
• 7.0.2, 7.1.2, and Object panning cludes the following components:
• 3D “Theater” panning view • One or more Pro Tools | HDX systems for audio
playback and panning control for sound objects.
• Enhanced object re-recording (dubbing) work-
flows • Optional dubbing (recording) Pro Tools | HDX
system
References to the “Dolby Atmos Renderer” • One or two Avid HD MADI audio interfaces per
or “Renderer” include the Dolby Atmos Pro Tools system for digital audio streaming from
Rendering and Mastering Unit (RMU), cus- Pro Tools to the Dolby Atmos RMU or rendering
tom Dolby Atmos rendering and mastering and mastering workstation (MADI optical or coax-
workstations, and the Dolby Atmos Render- ial connections)
ing application that is part of the Dolby At- • Dolby Atmos Rendering and Mastering Unit
mos Production Suite. (RMU)—applies object panning and creates the
Dolby Atmos master from your Pro Tools mix
• Dolby Atmos Monitor application (installed and
running on a Pro Tools system)
• Dolby Atmos Renderer Web Client for configuring
the Dolby Atmos RMU, setting up beds
(speaker/room configurations) and objects (pan-
ning with metadata through speaker zones).

1238 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Control Surface
such as Avid S6 (optional)
Dolby Atmos metadata
[Ethernet]

[DigiLink] [MADI]
Pro Tools | HDX system

7.1.2 track (bed mix) HD MADI 1

bed
Dolby Atmos RMU
object inputs
Object source tracks 11–64 HD MADI 2
object inputs
65–128

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 1249).
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.

Chapter 55: Mixing to Dolby Atmos 1239

 To setup the network connection between 6 Click OK to save your changes and close the Pe-
Pro Tools and a Dolby Atmos Renderer: ripherals dialog.
1 Choose Setup > Peripherals.
2 Click the Atmos tab.
Pro Tools Restrictions when
3 Select Enable.
Mixing to Dolby Atmos
When you create a Pro Tools session for Dolby At-
mos workflows, the following restrictions apply:

Only Use a 48 kHz Session Sample Rate

If working with different sample rates during sound

creation or premixing, convert the session sample
rate to 48 kHz before working with the Renderer.
Atmos page in the Peripherals dialog

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 144).

1240 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Configuring Session Setup Configuring the I/O Setup for
for Dolby Atmos Dolby Atmos
Configure the I/O Setup according to the needs of
To configure the Session Setup for Dolby
where and how your Pro Tools system fits into the
Atmos:
larger Dolby Atmos workflow.
1 Choose Setup > Session.
2 In the Format section, set Timecode Rate to the I/O Setup Example for a
appropriate supported Timecode rate for mixing: Pro Tools Playback System on a
• For home theater workflows, the Dolby Atmos Dolby Atmos Mix Stage
Renderer supports mixing and creating masters When working within a large, hardware-based Dolby
at the following timecode rates: 23.976, 24, 25, Atmos mixing environment, if your Pro Tools sys-
29.97, 29.97 drop frame, and 30 frames per sec- tem is a playback machine being used for authoring
ond (fps). Dolby Atmos mixes (and assuming it has two
HD MADI interfaces), configure the Output and Bus
• For cinema workflows, the Dolby Atmos Ren-
pages of the I/O setup as follows:
derer supports creating masters at 24 fps only.
• Ensure that the Path Order is correctly set.
3 If mixing with a 24 fps session, in the Timecode
• In the Output page, create a 7.1.2 Output path
Settings section, do the following:
(SMPTE path order) and assign it to the first ten
• Set Audio Rate Pull Up/Down to None. outputs on the first HD MADI. This path will be
• Set Video Rate Pull Up/Down to None. used to play back bed audio.
• In the Output page, create 1–118 mono output
paths and assign each to the remaining outputs on
both HD MADI interfaces (objects 11–64 to
HD MADI 1 outputs 11–64 and objects 65–128 to
HD MADI 2 outputs 1–64). These paths will be
used to play back object audio.

Session Setup Window Configured for Dolby Atmos

I/O Setup, Output page configured for playback to an

RMU (or rendering and mastering workstation)

Chapter 55: Mixing to Dolby Atmos 1241

 • In the Bus page, create a 7.1.2 bus and map it to 5 From the Default Busses selector, enable the
the 7.1.2 output path for the main bed mix. Use Atmos Renderer option.
• In the Bus page, create 118 mono busses and map
each to its own object path (objects 11–128).

I/O Setup, Bus tab: Default All Busses selector

6 Click the Default button.

7 Click OK.

Mixing Bed Material

Mix bed material for a Dolby Atmos mix to 7.1.2.
I/O Setup, Bus page configured for playback to an Bus record the bed mix to a 7.1.2 audio track in
RMU (or rendering and mastering workstation) preparation for playback and mixing to a Renderer.
This I/O Setup configuration assumes that the play- To configure a Pro Tools session for mixing bed
back session was already prepared specifically for material:
playback and mixing from this Pro Tools system,
such that the 7.1.2 bed mix is simply playback of pre- 1 In the Output page of the I/O Setup, create a
recorded 7.1.2 audio tracks and that all of the objects 7.1.2 Output path assigned to the first ten phys-
are also pre-recorded (but not mixed) mono audio ical outputs of your audio interface (for moni-
tracks. toring the mix with a 7.1.2 speaker
configuration).
For additional information about configuring
and using Pro Tools with the Dolby Atmos 2 In the Bus page of the I/O setup, create a 7.1.2
Renderer, see the Dolby documentation in- busses and map it to the 7.1.2 output (“Bed
cluded with your Renderer software. Monitor”).

To automatically create busses in Pro Tools that

3 Create another 7.1.2 bus with the Auto-create
match the Dolby Atmos Renderer configuration: sub-paths option enabled (“Bed Mix”).

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.

1242 Pro Tools Reference Guide

8 Assign the track Output for each source track to 2 Click the New Path button.
the 7.1.2 internal bus (“Bed Mix”).
3 In the New Paths dialog, create a mono or stereo
9 Enable Input monitor on the 7.1.2 audio track. path (or both). If you a creating a stereo path,
enable the Auto-Create sub-paths option.
10 Mix the audio on the source tracks to the 7.1.2
audio track using volume and pan automation.

Creating a new mono and a new stereo bus path

4 Type a name for each new bus path (try to be con-

sistent with your naming scheme for busses to be
mapped to objects) and click Create.

New mono bus and new stereo bus with mono

sub-paths revealed
Example Bed mix
5 Do one of the following for the new bus path de-
pending on its channel width:
Mapping Busses to Objects • For a mono bus, click the checkbox in its row in
the Mapping to Object column so that it is
Object output paths are defined by mapping busses checked. The bus is automatically mapped to the
to Objects in the Bus page of the I/O Setup. Both first available Object.
mono and stereo busses can be individually
• For a stereo bus, reveal its mono sub-paths and
mapped to up to 118 predefined Object inputs to click the checkbox in either of their rows in the
the Renderer. Mono or stereo audio, Auxiliary In- Mapping to Object column so that both are
put, and Instrument tracks can be assigned to mono checked. Both sub-paths are automatically
or stereo Object paths in Object view in the Edit mapped to the next two available Objects.
and Mix windows.

Note that the numbering of Objects begins at

11 as the first ten input channels of the Ren-
derer are reserved for the 7.1.2 bed mix.

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.

Chapter 55: Mixing to Dolby Atmos 1243

 6 If you are working with an RMU (or rendering
and mastering workstation), also do the follow-
ing:
• In the Output page of the I/O Setup, create the
corresponding number of mono (or stereo) out-
put paths assigned to physical MADI outputs.
• In the Bus page of the I/O Setup, map each Ob-
ject-mapped bus to the corresponding Output
path (the first mono bus is mapped to Object 11
and to Output path 11, the second to Object 12
and to Output path 12, and so on).
Selecting the object path to which the bus is mapped
This reserves each physical MADI output to the
If you need to make a mapped Object available, lo-
RMU (or rendering and mastering workstation) for
cate it in the Mapping to Object column and deselect
the mapped Object paths. These steps are not nec-
the checkbox for the currently mapped bus.That bus
essary if you are working with the Dolby Atmos is no longer mapped to that Object, making it avail-
Renderer application since Pro Tools uses the able for another bus.
Dolby Atmos Send plug-in inserted on object
tracks to stream audio to the Dolby Atmos Ren- Object Names and Properties
derer application.
Object descriptions defined on the Renderer are dis-
7 Click OK. played in the Object selector in the Mapping to Ob-
ject column as the name of the Object. Additionally:
The mono (or stereo) bus is now defined as an object
output path. Any one mono (or stereo) audio, Auxil- • Only one mono bus can be mapped to one object
iary Input, or Instrument track can now be assigned path at a time. A stereo bus requires that its two
to this object output path in the track Object view. mono sub-paths (left and right) each be mapped to
a pair of individual Objects.
To change the Object mapping of a bus: • Objects that are grayed out are already mapped to
other busses and are unavailable.
1 Open the I/O Setup (Setup > I/O) and click the
Bus tab. • Object mappings persist in session files and in the
current I/O Settings file, similar to Pro Tools Out-
2 Click the name of the Object the bus is currently put Mappings.
mapped to in the Mapping to Object column and
select another available Object (unless all 118 Ob- • Object mappings are made by Renderer Input
jects are already mapped, another one should be channel, not Object name or description. If a ses-
available). Objects in the list that are grayed out sion is opened with Object mappings to a given
are not available because another bus is already Renderer Input channel that exists in the network it
mapped to it. will be mapped regardless of name or description.
If an Renderer Input channel is no longer available
for any reason, it will be deactivated in the Bus
page and a warning dialog is displayed.

1244 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Bus Output
Track Object Output
Assignment When a track is toggled to Bus, track audio follows
the selected Output path (in I/O view) but the 7.1.2
After you have mapped busses to Objects in the Bus object panner appears in the track Output window, as
page of the I/O Setup, you can assign any single well as in the track I/O view in the Edit and Mix win-
mono (or stereo) audio, Auxiliary Input, or Instru- dows. The channel width of the selected Output path
ment track to a unique object output path. persists, but its panning is now controlled by the
7.1.2 object panner.
To assign a new track to an object output
path:
Object Output
1 Create a new mono (or stereo) audio, Auxiliary
Input, or Instrument track.
2 Show Object view in the Edit or Mix window (see
“Object View in the Edit and Mix Windows” on
page 1246).
3 From the Object Output Path selector in Object Audio track set to Object
view, select the desired available object output When a track is toggled to Object, track audio fol-
path (see “Object Path Selector” on page 1247). lows the selected object output path (in Object view)
and the track Output (in I/O view) is completely by-
Object output paths are only available if they
passed. The track audio follows the assigned object
match the track channel width (mono or stereo) output path and is streamed over MADI to the Ren-
and are not already assigned to another track. derer (RMU or rendering and mastering worksta-
tion). If you are working with the Dolby Atmos Ren-
derer application, use the Dolby Atmos Renderer
Send plug-in.

The Object panner appears in the track Output win-

dow, as well as in the track I/O view in the Edit and
Mix windows. All pan controls are available and au-
tomatable, but no panning is applied to the track au-
dio in Pro Tools. Rather, Pro Tools converts pan au-
Selecting an object output path for a mono audio track tomation to Dolby Atmos metadata, which is sent to
the Renderer over the network.
Toggle the track to Object to bypass the track Output
entirely and send track audio directly to the Renderer
(see “Bus/Object Toggle” on page 1247).

Chapter 55: Mixing to Dolby Atmos 1245

 Monitoring Object Audio Object View in the Edit and
when not Connected to a Mix Windows
Renderer Edit and Mix Window Object view provides Object
Dolby Atmos mixes are monitored from the Ren- controls for audio, Auxiliary Input, and Instrument
derer. If Pro Tools is disconnected from or can’t tracks (mono and stereo only). In the Edit window,
communicate with the Renderer, you can monitor the these controls appear between the I/O column and the
mix in Pro Tools over the output path designated as Real-Time Properties column of all Track and Ruler
the Object Fold Down Path. When Pro Tools can’t views. In the Mix window, these controls appear be-
recognize a connection to the Renderer, it automati- tween the I/O selectors and the Auto selector. Object
cally re-routes all object output paths, and folds them view can be shown or hidden independently in both
down to the selected output format using coefficients the Edit and Mix windows.
for down mixing 7.1.2 panning.
To show (or hide) the Edit Window Object view, do
To designate the Object Fold Down Path: one of the following:

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

Object Track view, Edit window

To show (or hide) the Object controls in the

Mix window, do one of the following:
 Select (or deselect) View > Mix Window Views >
Object.
I/O Setup, Object Fold Down Path selector
 From the Mix Window View selector, enable
4 Click OK to save your changes and close the I/O (or disable) Object.
Setup.

Make sure that Pro Tools is not connected to a Ren-

derer, start playback and you will hear all object au-
dio downmixed to the designated Object Fold Down
Path.

Because the Object Fold Down Path activates

an invisible internal bus, it cannot be metered
on a Master Fader or the Edit Window Output
Meter Path display.
Object view, Mix window

1246 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Output Window Button
Object Controls
The Output Window button in the Object view opens
Object controls shown in the Edit and Mix window the Output Window for the track.
Object view mirror each other on a track-by-track ba-
sis. These controls let you assign audio, Auxiliary In-
put, and Instrument tracks to object output paths, au- Bus/Object Toggle
tomate toggling of the track between the Bus and The Bus/Object toggle switches the routing of
Object output, and set the control mode for object
track audio between the Output selected in the I/O
panning metadata.
view (Bus) and the selected object output path
Object Path selector (Object).
Renderer Connection Status indicator • When toggled to Bus, the track behaves like a
normal Pro Tools track. The only exception is
Output Window button
that track panning is controlled by the 7.1.2 ob-
Object Control Mode button ject panner regardless of the channel width of
the selected Output.
Bus/Object toggle
• When toggled to Object, the selected Output in
Object controls I/O view is completely bypassed and track audio
follows the selected object output path to the
Object Path Selector Renderer. Also, all pan automation is translated
to Dolby Atmos metadata and sent over the net-
The Object Path Selector lets you assign the track to
any available object output path (defined in the Bus work to the Renderer. No panning automation is
page of the I/O Setup). applied to the track audio in Pro Tools.

Bus/Object toggle can be automated (see “Ob-

ject/Bus Toggle Automation” on page 1253).

Selecting an object output path for a mono audio track

Chapter 55: Mixing to Dolby Atmos 1247

 Object Control Mode
The Object Control Mode button lets you cycle between the three different Master Object Control modes: Mas-
ter, Record, and Off/Bypass. Click the Object Control Mode button to cycle through and select the Object Con-
trol mode.

Mode Description Purpose

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.

Renderer Connection Status Indicator

The Renderer Connection Status indicator appears in the title bar of the Object view to the right of the title in
the Edit and window if Atmos is enabled in the Peripherals dialog, but not if Atmos is disabled. It is green if
Pro Tools is successfully connected and communicating with the Renderer on the network. It is pale yellow if
it is not connected or the network connection has failed.

1248 Pro Tools Reference Guide

7.0.2, 7.1.2, and Object Panner
When a mono or stereo track is assigned to a 7.0.2 or 7.1.2 output bus, or to an object output path, it uses the cor-
responding 7.0.2, 7.1.2, or Object panner.

Figure 2. Output window in standard (2D) view for a mono track assigned to a 7.1.2 bus (left) and an Object (right)

Panner Controls and Indicators

The following elements of the Pro Tools Output window are specific to the 7.0.2, 7.1.2, and Object panners. The
Output window for each provides the same controls, except that the Object panner additionally provides the Ob-
ject Output Path selector and the Object Control Mode button, and the 7.0.2 panner excludes the LFE fader.

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.

Figure 3. Enabling Theater mode

Chapter 55: Mixing to Dolby Atmos 1249

 Theater mode provides a 3D room view that can be
rotated.

To rotate the room view in Theater mode:

1
 Move the cursor over the room view and use the
scroll-wheel to rotate the room up or down. Scroll 2
all the way down for top-down view.
3

Figure 4. Graphic representation of height, proximity,

and location in Theater mode

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.

Theater mode, view rotated to “top-down”

Indication of Height, Proximity, and Height Mode Height Enable

Location in 3D/Theater Mode Height mode and Height Enable
Height Adjusting the Height value raises or lowers To select the Height mode:
the Height plane. See 1 in Figure 4.
 Click a Height mode icon to select that mode.
Proximity The size of the pan dot indicates prox-
imity (whether the element is closer or further To toggle Height on/off:
away relative to the current view). The pan dot ap-  Click the Height Enable icon. When lit, Height is
pears smallest when panned furthest away and enabled (requires FreeForm Height mode).
largest when panned nearest (see 2 in Figure 4).
Height Enable can be automated.
Location Pan lines appear on the Height plane to
indicate Left/Right and Front/Rear location. See 3
in Figure 4.

Screen The Screen image provides a visual refer-

ence for the front room in all views. See 4 in
Figure 4.

1250 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Height Size
The Height knob becomes available when FreeForm Increases or decreases the element size. When Size
mode and Height is enabled/active. Height can be au- is set to any value above 0/off, a transparent grid
tomated. (or cube if in 3D/Theater mode) surrounds the pan
Adjusting Height in standard 2D view displays a ver- dot. The grid/cube gets larger as Size is increased,
tical bar to the right of the pan grid to indicate relative and smaller as it is decreased.
height of that track. In addition, the size of the pan
dot increases as Height is increased.

In Theater mode a colored Height plane shows the

current Height value. The size of the pan dot indi-
cates proximity (see “Indication of Height, Proxim-
ity, and Location in 3D/Theater Mode” on
page 1250).

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

To change the element Size:

 Adjust the Size knob, or hold down Shift and use
the scroll wheel.

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.

Zones can be automated.

Speaker Snap
Speaker Snap icon (shown disabled)

Do not confuse Dolby Atmos Speaker Snap with

the Pro Tools panner ability to click a speaker
icon to “jump” the pan dot to a location.

Chapter 55: Mixing to Dolby Atmos 1251

 Object Output Path Selector and Object/Bus Assignment and Automation
Object Control Mode Mode Indication

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 1247). 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 1247). flow Example” on page 1257.

Object Control

Click the Object Control mode button to cycle

through and select the Object Control mode (see
“Object Control Mode” on page 1248).

1252 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Object/Bus Toggle Auto-Height Overrides Height
Automation Automation Option
The Object/Bus Toggle setting can be automated on With multichannel panning automation, Pro Tools
object tracks. To be able to write Object/Bus Toggle lets you re-purpose existing Front, Rear, and
automation for all Object tracks in the session, ensure Front/Rear pan automation for Height automation
that it is enabled in the Automation window. If you when mixing to Dolby Atmos (7.0.2 or 7.1.2).
want to ensure that no Object/Bus Toggle automation
When this option is enabled, the selected auto-
is written at all, or if want to ensure that existing Ob-
height mode overrides any Height automation,
ject/Bus Toggle automation is not over-written, dis-
able it in the Automation window. generating new height automation automatically.
This way you don’t have to re-write all new auto-
mation when opening existing 5.1 or 7.1 sessions
and re-mixing them for Dolby Atmos (7.0.2 or
7.1.2 panning).

The Auto-Height Overrides Height Automa-

tion option defaults to on if the track already
has a main output assignment prior to assign-
ing an object output (assuming a re-use work-
flow). This option defaults to off when trans-
lating automation from the Dolby Atmos
Panner plug-in and also when a track has an
object output assigned but no main output as-
signed.
Object/Bus toggle (shown disabled) in the Automation
window.
To commit automatically generated height
automation, use the Coalesce Pan Guide Au-
tomation command. See “Coalesce Pan
Guide Automation” on page 1254.

Chapter 55: Mixing to Dolby Atmos 1253

 To enable (or disable) Auto-Height Overrides
Height Automation: Coalesce Pan Guide
1 Open the Output window for the track you Automation
want. When using the Auto-Height Overrides Height
2 Do one of the following: Automation option to automatically generate
Height automation, you can commit that automa-
• Double-click the Height Mode selector.
tion using the Coalesce Pan Guide Automation
• Right-click the Height Mode selector and se- command. Committed Height automation is calcu-
lect (or deselect) Auto-Height Overrides lated by interpolating Front, Rear, and Front/Rear
Height Automation. pan automation, and the selected Auto-Height
mode.

To automatically generate Height automation from

Front, Rear, and Front/Rear pan automation, and
the selected Auto-Height mode for one or more
tracks:
1 Select the tracks for which you want to generate
Height automation.
2 Choose Edit > Automation > Coalesce Pan
Guide Automation.

Duplicating Object Track Pan

Automation and Dolby Atmos
Right-clicking Height mode to select Auto-height Panner Plug-in Automation
Overwrite Height Automation
When exchanging sessions between Pro Tools 12.8
and earlier versions of Pro Tools (such as Pro Tools
When exchanging Pro Tools HD 12.8.2 ses- 12.7.1), you probably want to ensure that object
sions or higher that use Auto-Height Over- tracks have duplicate automation for track panning
rides Height Automation with Pro Tools HD (Pro Tools 12.8) and Dolby Atmos panner plug-in
12.8 or 12.8.1 systems, be sure to Coalesce automation.
Pan Guide Automation first so that Height
When opening an older session in Pro Tools 12.8,
Pan Automations plays back correctly.
you may prefer to use pan automation for object
tracks rather than Dolby Atmos panner plug-in auto-
mation.

1254 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To duplicate Dolby Atmos panner plug-in
automation to track pan automation: Object Controls Mix Attribute
1 Select the object track (or tracks) with the Dolby for Grouped Tracks
Atmos panner plug-in automation you want to du- You can enable Object Controls in the Globals tab of
plicate. the Groups dialog to link Object Control mode and
2 Choose Edit > Automation > Duplicate Dolby At- Object/Bus toggle for all object tracks in the Group.
mos Plug-in automation to track pan automa-
tion.

All Dolby Atmos panner plug-in automation is dupli-

cated as track pan automation. Both copies of the au-
tomation remain the same until you change the auto-
mation of one or the other. If you remove the Dolby
Atmos panner plug-in from an object track, its auto-
mation is lost.

When opening a Pro Tools 12.8 session that uses pan

automation to generate Dolby Atmos metadata in a
lower version of Pro Tools (such as Pro Tools
12.7.1), the pan automation is lost. Duplicate the pan
automation for object tracks to Dolby Atmos panner
plug-in automation to ensure that these tracks play-
back as objects when opened in the lower version of
Pro Tools.

To duplicate track pan automation to Dolby Atmos

panner plug-in automation:
1 Select the object track (or tracks) with pan auto-
mation you want to duplicate. Object Controls option in Groups > Globals
2 Ensure that the Dolby Atmos panner plug-in is in-
serted on the track,.
3 Choose Edit > Automation > Duplicate track pan
automation to Dolby Atmos Plug-in automation.

All track pan automation is duplicated as Dolby At-

mos panner plug-in automation. Both copies of the
automation remain and remain the same until you
change the automation of one or the other. If you re-
move the Dolby Atmos panner plug-in from the
track, its automation is lost.

Chapter 55: Mixing to Dolby Atmos 1255

 Importing Object-Related Import ADM files
Track Data from Another
A .wav (ADM BWF) file is a Broadcast Wave file
Session
that can include audio and Dolby Atmos metadata
When importing session data from another Dolby At- from a Dolby Atmos master.
mos session, you can import the object output path
assignments (if any) and the Bus/Object toggle set- After creating a Dolby Atmos master file set with
ting for tracks selected for import. This is vital when the Dolby Atmos Renderer, you can use the Dolby
importing tracks already defined as objects from an- Atmos Conversion Tool to convert the Dolby At-
other session. mos master to a .wav (ADM BWF) file.

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.

Track Data to Import, Object Assignment and Toggle

Setting option

Import Session Data from an ADM file

1256 Pro Tools Reference Guide

5 In the Import Session Data dialog, select a Desti-
nation for the Source tracks in the .wav (ADM Dolby Atmos PEC/DIR
BWF) file. Recorder Workflow Example
6 Select what Custom Data to import: In a typical Dolby Atmos mix, two or more
Pro Tools | HDX systems provide playback of tracks
Object Pan Data Imports Dolby Atmos metadata and stems. An additional Pro Tools | HDX system is
and converts it to track pan automation. configured as the recorder (dubber). The recorder
also communicates with the Dolby Atmos Renderer.
Object Output Assignment Imports object output
path assignments for imported tracks. By linking Object and audio recording on the
Pro Tools recorder system, audio and metadata
Add Object Group Name to Track Name Lets
punch in/out occur simultaneously on the Pro Tools
you add the object group name to the Beginning or
recorder.
the End of the track name.
Metadata Only for Object panning in the RMU (or
rendering and mastering workstation). This includes
Pro Tools tracks with their Object Toggle set to Ob-
ject.

Pro Tools Pan Automation Only for Bus panning

in Pro Tools (tracks with Object Toggle set to Bus.)
Import Session Data, custom data for ADM files
The following section is an example workflow of
7 Configure any other Import Session Data settings how to configure and operate Pro Tools and a Dolby
as desired. Atmos Renderer.
8 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 1239).
• Disable Link Object and Audio Recording only
if you do not want to record object metadata
along with object audio.

Chapter 55: Mixing to Dolby Atmos 1257

 To configure tracks and mix:
1 On each object track, set the Object Control mode
to Record.

Object and Audio recording linked In the Peripherals >

Atmos dialog

• Click OK to close the Peripherals dialog.

2 Recommended: Choose Setup > Preferences, You can set the Object Control mode by clicking
click to display the Operation tab, then do the fol- the Object Control button shown in the Track
lowing: Output window, or in the Mix and Edit windows
• Select Enable Automation in Record. when showing Object view. If your system
• Select PEC/Direct Style Input Monitoring. includes an S6 with a Master Post Module, you can
use its Record arm switch.
2 Enable the desired Automation mode for each
track (such as Touch, Latch, or Touch/Latch).
On-screen, the pan dot turns red indicating the
track is in an automation write mode.
3 Record enable all tracks (if using Destructive-
Punch, be sure to Prepare DPE Tracks if neces-
sary).
PEC/Direct Style Input Monitoring enabled
4 Begin playback and adjust parameters, toggling
• Click OK to close the Preferences dialog. monitor source as needed.

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.

3 Enable DestructivePunch, TrackPunch, or Quick-

Punch. (For details, see the Pro Tools Reference
Guide.)

1258 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Chapter 56: Ambisonics

1st Order Ambisonics correspond to physical mi-

Pro Tools Support for crophone pickup patterns using an omni-direc-
Ambisonics tional microphone in conjunction with figure-eight
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only) capsules oriented along three spatial axes. Miking
for 1st Order Ambisonics is a three-dimensional
Pro Tools | Ultimate software provides support for
extension of common Mid/Side stereo (M/S)
1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-Order Ambisonics channel for-
miking techniques that adds additional difference
mats (4-, 9-, and 16-channel formats respectively).
channels for height and depth. This results in
Import Ambisonics audio recordings, record Am-
B-format audio (WXYZ), or 1st Order Ambison-
bisonics audio in Pro Tools using Ambisonics
ics, which consists of four discrete audio channels:
miking techniques, or use supported 3rd-party
W for sound pressure (omni-directional—the M in
AAX Ambisonics panning, and encoding and de-
M/S), X for the front-minus-back sound pressure
coding plug-ins to create your own Ambisonics
gradient, Y for left-minus-right (the S in M/S), and
mixes from source audio tracks.
Z for up-minus-down.

1st Order Ambisonics is most commonly used for

What is Ambisonics? horizontal-only surround because of positional er-
rors and shading effects that result from adding a
Ambisonics is a “full-sphere” surround sound fourth microphone. Higher-order Ambisonics pro-
technique that is capable of representing sound vide greater positional resolution of sound sources
sources that are stationary or in motion, and at vari- in the sound field. Higher-order difference signals
able distances from above, below, and all around are derived from several spatially distributed (usu-
the listener. More interestingly though, higher or- ally omni-directional) capsules using sophisticated
der Ambisonics can represent sound sources that digital signal processing. Higher-order Ambison-
seem to remain fixed in a sound field while the lis- ics can also be rendered from channel-based audio
tener’s perspective changes with their head posi- recordings (such as mono and stereo) strictly using
tion (as opposed to “head-locked” stereo mixes). Ambisonics plug-in processing in Pro Tools.
Ambisonics audio mixes are used for 3D audio in
virtual reality and gaming applications, as well as
360 video. However, the possibilities for Ambi-
sonics are only just beginning to be explored com-
mercially.

Chapter 56: Ambisonics 1259

 Configuring the I/O Setup for Ambisonics
Pro Tools lets you create 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-Order Ambisonics input, output, and bus paths. Typically, you
will only need to create bus paths in Ambisonics formats for most Ambisonics mixing workflows. Create
Ambisonics Input paths if you will be recording Ambisonics right into Pro Tools using Ambisonics miking
techniques (using specially configured microphone arrays or specialized commercially available Ambi-
sonics microphones). It is unlikely that you would ever need to create Ambisonics Output paths unless you
are playing back Ambisonics from one Pro Tools system and recording it on another Pro Tools system or
using another system to decode Ambisonics audio.

To create an Ambisonics bus path:

1 Choose Setup > I/O and click the Bus tab.
2 Click the New Path button.
3 Create the busses that you need with the desired Ambisonics format.

Selecting 1st Order Ambisonics as the format for a new bus path

4 Click Create.
5 Click OK to close the I/O Setup.

1260 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Ambisonics Sub-Paths
Any higher-order Ambisonics path can have lower-order Ambisonics sub-paths. For example, a 3rd-order
Ambisonics path can have 2nd and 1st–order sub-paths, and a 2nd-order Ambisonics path can have a 1st-
order sub-path. All supported orders of Ambisonics paths can have mono sub-paths. Since Ambisonics
channels do not map directly to speaker channels, all other channel-width formats are disallowed as sub-
paths for Ambisonics paths.

Selecting a 2nd Order Ambisonics sub-path for a 3rd-order Ambisonics path

Channel Ordering for Ambisonics Audio Signal Paths

Ambisonics formats use discrete channel orderings that are distinct from channel-based surround formats
(such as 5.1). In Pro Tools, the individual channels of all Ambisonics formats are numbered from left to
right in the I/O Setup starting with 00 (or W in B-format) and increase incrementally. For example, the in-
dividual channels for 1st Order Ambisonics are 00, 01, 02, 03 (WXYZ); and for 2nd Order Ambisonics are
00, 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08.

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.

Chapter 56: Ambisonics 1261

 Ambisonics Mixes in Pro Tools
Creating Ambisonics mixes in Pro Tools usually entails using Avid-qualified third-party AAX Ambison-
ics panning plug-ins on source audio tracks and routing the output of those tracks to an Auxiliary Input
track with an Ambisonics format–to-stereo plug-in for headphone monitoring. Ambisonics mixing work-
flows and configurations vary depending on the source material, specific Ambisonics plug-ins used, and
required delivery formats.

Figure 6. Mono audio mixed in 2nd Order Ambisonics to stereo for headphone monitoring

1262 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Example—configuring Pro Tools to mix from a 9 Automate panning of mono source to 2nd Order
mono source audio track to a 2nd Order Ambisonics with the FB360 Spatialiser plug-in.
Ambisonics stereo mix using FB360 Audio plug-
ins: 10 Playback and monitor Ambisonics mix over
1 Ensure that the I/O Setup is configured with a headphones.
2nd Order Ambisonics bus path (see “Configur-
Ambisonics panning, encoding and decoding
ing the I/O Setup for Ambisonics” on
plug-ins typically change the track channel
page 1260).
width (such as mono to 2nd Order Ambison-
2 Create a mono audio track with audio you want ics). It is important to know that for some Am-
to mix to 2nd Order Ambisonics. bisonics plug-ins that change track channel
widths you must first create the track with the
Depending on the Ambisonics panning plug- appropriate channel format (such as mono
in you are using, source audio tracks can be source or 2nd Order Ambisonics input) and
mono or stereo, or even surround formats then assign the appropriate track output (such
(such as 5.0 or 7.0) or Ambisonics formats as mono to 2nd Order Ambisonics) before you
(such as B-format). can insert the appropriate Ambisonics plug-in.

3 Assign the Output of the track to the 2nd Order

Ambisonics bus path. Clip effects editing is not supported for clips
on Ambisonics tracks. When a timeline selec-
4 Insert the FB360 Spatialiser plug-in on the track
tion is made that includes clips from both Am-
(if you want to process the audio with other
bisonics and non-Ambisonics tracks, only
plug-ins on the track, they must precede the
clips on non-Ambisonics tracks are processed
Ambisonics plug-in).
by clip effects. If clip effects are applied to one
Repeat steps 3–5 to create additional source or more clips on a non-Ambisonics track and
tracks for the Ambisonics mix. then dragged-and-dropped to an Ambisonics
track, clip effects processing of those clips
5 Create a 2nd Order Ambisonics Auxiliary Input play back, but clip effects for these clips can-
track. not be edited until they are moved back to a
non-Ambisonics track.
6 Assign the 2nd Order Ambisonics bus path to
the Input of the Auxiliary Input track.
7 Insert the FB360 Control plug-in on the Auxil-
iary Input track.
8 Assign the Output of the Auxiliary Input track
to the main stereo output of your audio interface
for headphone monitoring.

In order to avoid coloring the audio projected

from speakers with the room ambiance, Am-
bisonics mixes are typically monitored over
headphones.

Chapter 56: Ambisonics 1263

1264 Pro Tools Reference Guide
Part XI: Sync and Video
Chapter 57: Working with Synchronization

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.

Chapter 57: Working with Synchronization 1267

 SMPTE Trigger while Locking to MachineControl
an Unresolved Source
SYNC HD also supports MachineControl with
SMPTE Trigger can be used with a SYNC HD to Pro Tools | Ultimate software. MachineControl
resolve Pro Tools recording and playback speed provides many specialized features for post pro-
while slaving to LTC. This enables long-term, ac- duction synchronization tasks including remote
curate synchronization by resolving to any varia- track arming, VTR emulation, serial timecode, and
tions in incoming timecode. SYNC HD also sup- other capabilities. (See the MachineControl Guide
ports VITC and Bi-phase/Tach positional for more information, or contact your dealer.)
reference.
For instructions on connecting a SYNC HD
to your Pro Tools system, see the SYNC HD
SYNC HD Synchronization
Options Guide.

By adding a SYNC HD to your HDX or Ext. Clock Output

HD Native system, you can use Pro Tools as the
master device in your synchronization setup. All Pro Tools can be used as the master device in your
other devices are then slaved to Pro Tools. synchronization setup, where all other devices are
then slaved to Pro Tools Word Clock output.
You can use Pro Tools in conjunction with a
SYNC HD to generate LTC, MIDI Timecode, or To set Ext. Clock Output:
MMC commands. When the SYNC HD is reading 1 In Pro Tools, choose Setup > Hardware.
incoming SMPTE timecode, it regenerates the
timecode through the LTC or MTC output connec- 2 Click the Ext. Clock Output pop-up menu and
tor. This signal can be passed along to other slave select an available signal.
devices. 3 Click OK to close the Hardware Setup dialog
when you have finished.

1268 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Session Setup Window
The Session Setup window lets you configure various timecode-related settings on your system, as well as
certain session format settings (such as bit depth, pan depth, audio format, and interleaved). The window
also includes display-only areas for session sample rate, system delay, and timecode-related data (such as
incoming time).

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

Clock Source Session displays

and settings

SYNC Setup
& Timecode Offsets
section

External Timecode
SYNC Setup settings Offset settings
Timecode Reader
Timecode section offset

Pull Up/Pull Down

Generator settings
settings

Freewheel settings

Session Setup window with a SYNC HD

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.

Chapter 57: Working with Synchronization 1269

 Internal In Internal mode, your system references
Format Displays and Controls your peripheral’s internal clock and plays back at
in the Session Setup Window the session’s sample rate.
The Format section of the Session Setup window External Clock Sources Depending on your audio
includes displays and controls for timecode- interface, external Clock Source options can in-
related settings on your system, as well as certain clude AES/EBU, S/PDIF, S/PDIF Optical, ADAT
session format settings (such as bit depth, pan Optical, TDIF, and Word Clock (optional word
depth, audio format, and interleaved). clock rates are available at higher session sample
rates). External sources can be any multiple of the
Sample Rate “base” rate. The base rate is 44.1 kHz for 88.2 and
176.4 kHz sources. The base rate is 48 kHz for 96
This display indicates the sample rate for the cur-
and 192 kHz sources. If an external source is cho-
rent session.
sen and no valid sync clock is detected at the Ex-
ternal Clock In, the I/O reverts to Internal mode.
Bit Depth
If a SYNC HD is enabled in the Peripherals
This menu indicates the bit depth for the current dialog, and is correctly connected in the
session. You can change the bit depth for all newly Loop Sync chain, the SYNC HD can be the
recorded or imported (and converted) files in the Loop Master, and your audio interfaces will
session by selecting a different Bit Depth option. clock as Loop Sync slaves.
For information on each option, see “Bit Depths”
on page 157.
For more information on external clock
Clock Source
sources, see the SYNC HD Guide.

Use this menu to configure the system Clock System Delay

Source. You can choose between a SYNC HD, an
internal clock source from a peripheral, or an ex- When Delay Compensation is enabled (Options >
Delay Compensation), this display indicates the
ternal clock source connected to an Avid HD audio
interface. total amount of delay (in samples) applied by the
system to compensate for plug-ins and mixer rout-
Changes made to Clock Source in the ing delays.
Hardware Setup dialog will be reflected in
the Session Setup window. Pan Depth
Clock Source Options This menu lets you select the pan depth for stereo
output paths in a Pro Tools session. Pan depth is
SYNC When using a SYNC HD, Pro Tools re-
the amount of signal attenuation when a track is
ceives its clock source from the SYNC HD. The
routed to a stereo output and panned to center. For
SYNC HD can in turn reference an external clock
information on each option, see “Stereo Pan
source, selected in the SYNC Setup section of the
Depth” on page 1051.
Session Setup window.

1270 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Audio Format Incoming Time (Current Time)
This display indicates the current file format for This display indicates incoming timecode from an
files recorded in the session. You can change the external source.
audio file format for all newly recorded or im-
ported (and converted) files in the session by se- Timecode Rate
lecting a different Audio Format option. For more
information, see “Mixed Audio File Formats” on The Timecode Rate setting lets you set the SMPTE
page 158. timecode rate for the current session.

Interleaved Feet+Frame Rate

Enable the Interleaved option to ensure that all The Feet+Frame Rate setting lets you set the
newly recorded or imported (and converted) stereo Feet+Frame rates for sessions. Supported rates in-
or greater-than-stereo multichannel files in the ses- clude 23.976, 24, and 25 fps.
sion will be interleaved audio files. For more infor-
Set this rate to match the rate of the film projector,
mation, see “Interleaved Multichannel and Multi-
or the video if the film projector speed is taken into
Mono Audio Files” on page 158.
account. For example, doing a Telecine transfer
from a 24 fps film projector to NTSC video would
Session Start necessitate the projector running at 23.976 fps.
Use this field to specify a SMPTE start time for This is regardless of whether the session is using
your session. For more information, see “Setting a pull down audio or not.
SMPTE Session Start Time (Start Frame)” on
page 1275. Timecode 2 Rate
The Timecode 2 Rate setting lets you set a second-
Session Length ary frame rate that can be displayed in the ruler
Use this field to specify a limit for the length of the alongside the main Timecode ruler. This lets you
session in timecode (between 6 and 24 hours). reference frame rates in the Timeline that are dif-
Used in conjunction with the Session Start setting, ferent from the session timecode rate (also see
the Session Length field lets you specify the de- “Timebase Rulers” on page 837).
sired working range for the session when
Pro Tools is slaved to an external transport (such
as with MachineControl, MMC, or Satellite Link).
If a timecode location is received outside of this
range, Pro Tools does not respond. Pro Tools re-
sponds only when a timecode location within the
range is received. This prevents untended jumps to
the end of the timeline, thus providing intelligent
handling of 24-hour timecode.

Chapter 57: Working with Synchronization 1271

 Positional Reference
SYNC Setup and Timecode
Offsets in the Session Setup Sets the timecode source for Pro Tools to use for
Window positional reference.

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

SYNC Setup Indicates the expected format at the Video In con-

(HDX and HD Native Systems with a SYNC HD nector on the SYNC HD. At certain HD rates, a
Only) pop-up menu is provided for selecting a format.
The controls in the SYNC Setup section of the Ses- Variable Speed Override (VSO)
sion Setup window let you configure SYNC HD
settings, including clock reference, positional ref- Requires a SYNC HD. When a SYNC HD is con-
erence, video reference format, video input format, nected to an HDX or HD Native system, the VSO
and Variable Speed Override (VSO). controls are located in the SYNC Setup section of
the Session Setup window.

For instructions on using VSO to varispeed

Pro Tools playback, see the SYNC HD
Guide.

When using Varispeed with HD MADI, it is possi-

ble to exceed the available bandwidth. When Vari-
speed exceeds the maximum frequency for the cur-
rent nominal sample rate, audio drops out. The
SYNC Setup
maximum frequency for Varispeed at each nomi-
Clock Reference nal sample rate is listed in the following table.

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

1272 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Ref Present, Locked, and Speed Cal External Timecode Offsets
Indicators
In the External Timecode Offsets section,
The Ref Present, Locked, and Speed Cal indica- Pro Tools lets you compensate for devices that are
tors in the SYNC Setup section of the Session consistently offset by a fixed number of frames
Setup window display synchronization status of (such as some color–corrected video masters), or
the SYNC HD. The Locked and Speed Cal indica- for material that starts at a different time than the
tors reflect the state of the same LEDs on the front session.
panel.
Pro Tools provides four different types of External
Timecode Offset settings. These offsets include:
• MMC (MIDI Machine Control)
• 9-Pin (Deck Control)
Ref Present, Locked, and Speed Cal Indicators
• Synchronization peripherals, including
Ref Present Indicator The Ref Present indicator SYNC HD (HDX or HD Native systems only),
lights when the Video Ref In connector is receiv- or other peripherals (such as MIDI interfaces
ing a valid video signal. that provide MIDI Timecode).

Locked Indicator The Locked indicator lights • Satellite

solid green when the SYNC HD is locked to the se- Unique values can be defined for each of these
lected clock reference. The Locked indicator types of offsets, or you can link all to adjust in uni-
flashes yellow if the selected clock reference son.
source is missing or out of lockable range.
Positive and negative offset values can be entered
Speed Cal Indicator This indicator shows the sta-
to offset Pro Tools timecode display later or ear-
tus of the incoming clock reference:
lier, respectively.
• Yellow Solid: SYNC HD is locked and the clock
reference is within 0.025% of the expected rate Additional options for External Timecode Offsets
are available when using MachineControl with
• Yellow Flashing Fast: SYNC HD is locked but
Pro Tools | Ultimate software. See the Machine-
the clock reference is between 0.025% and 4%
Control Guide for more information.
faster than the expected rate
• Yellow Flashing Slow: SYNC HD is locked but
the clock reference is between 0.025% and 4%
slower than the expected rate
• Red Flashing Fast: SYNC HD is locked but the
clock reference is more than 4% faster than the
expected rate
• Red Flashing Slow: SYNC HD is locked but the
clock reference is more than 4% slower than the
expected rate
• Unlit: SYNC HD is not locked to the chosen
clock reference

Chapter 57: Working with Synchronization 1273

 To redefine the External Timecode offsets:
Timecode Settings in the
Choose Setup > External Timecode Offset.
1
Session Setup Window

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 1277.
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.

1274 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Setting a SMPTE Session Start
Preparing to Work with Time (Start Frame)
SMPTE
The Session Setup window also allows you to set a
The first step when preparing to work with SMPTE Start Frame for your session. Video work
SMPTE is to choose an appropriate SMPTE frame tapes are rarely striped beginning at a SMPTE
rate. Pro Tools supports all standard SMPTE frame address of 00:00:00:00. You can quickly en-
frame rates. If you are working with SMPTE ter a start time for your session based on an appro-
striped tape, it is important to know the frame rate. priate frame number from your project tape. The
In some cases, a SYNC HD can be used to do this. Pro Tools SMPTE-related functions (such as Spot
mode) will then use this value as their reference for
the session’s start point.
Configuring Pro Tools for
SMPTE Start Time When Striping Tape

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:

Selecting a SMPTE Format 1 Click in the Session Start field.

2 Begin playback of the timecode source.
To choose a SMPTE format:
1 In Pro Tools, choose Setup > Session. 3 At the location where you want to capture the
incoming value, press Equal (=) in the numeric
2 Choose a frame rate (SMPTE format) from the keypad.
Timecode Rate selector.
3 Enter the Timecode Freewheel frames (if any)
in the designated box (see “Freewheel” on
page 1274).

Chapter 57: Working with Synchronization 1275

 4 Press Enter to accept the value. You can then To set a relative frame position for a session
edit the captured address. The session uses the (Feet+Frames):
frame number you enter as its SMPTE start 1 With the Selector tool, click in a track (or make
frame when online. a selection) where you want to redefine the po-
• If there are existing clips on the tracks and you sition.
are changing the original SMPTE start frame to
If your insertion or selection is not on a
a later time (from 00:00:00:00 to 01:00:00:00,
grid boundary, it will round to the closest
for example), all existing clips on tracks will re-
boundary.
main in their relative positions, but will start
later by the time value added to the start frame. 2 Choose Setup > Current Feet+Frames Position.
• If you are changing the session start time in an
3 Enter a Feet+Frame position to correspond to
open session in which tracks already exist, a
the timecode shown in the dialog.
warning dialog appears when you press Enter.
Choose from one of two options: 4 Click OK.

Maintain Timecode Places the additional session

time at the start of the session, and keeps existing Redefining a Timecode Position
clips in their original timecode locations. Use the Current Timecode Position command to
redefine the current timecode position and session
Maintain Relative Position Places the additional
start time. By creating an insertion point (or selec-
session time at the start of the session, and main-
tion), and then entering the new timecode position
tains the relative position of existing clips to the
for that location, the session start time will be re-
new start frame. For example, if you change the
calculated based on the new, relative Timecode lo-
session start frame from 01:00:00:00 to
cation.
00:59:00:00, Pro Tools adds one minute of session
time to accommodate the new start frame, and To redefine a current Timecode code position:
moves all existing clips earlier in time to maintain
their relative position to the start frame. 1 With the Selector tool, click in a track (or make
a selection) where you want to redefine the po-
sition.
Redefining a Feet+Frames
Position If your insertion or selection is not on a
Use the Current Feet+Frames command to rede- grid boundary, it will round to the closest
fine the Feet+Frames position at the current inser- boundary.
tion point. The session start time is recalculated
2 Choose Setup > Current Timecode Position.
based on the new, relative Feet+Frames location.
3 Enter a new SMPTE frame number in the dialog
Typically, this command is used for integrating to correspond to the timecode shown in the
test tones, pre-roll, Academy leader, and similar dialog.
pre-program material into Pro Tools sessions. Re-
defining Feet+Frames does not redefine the ses- 4 Click OK.
sion start time.

1276 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Displaying Time in SMPTE While a SYNC HD is not required in order to use
Frames the extended pull up and down options provided in
Pro Tools, a SYNC HD is the only device that can
In Pro Tools, you can set the Main Time Scale to
be controlled from within Pro Tools, and that re-
Timecode (SMPTE) and this will be displayed in
calls and restores pull factors automatically when a
the Main Counter. Though Pro Tools will still syn-
session opens. Other synchronization peripherals
chronize to incoming SMPTE timecode if the
must be configured manually.
Time Scale is displayed in Bars|Beats, Min-
utes:Seconds, or Feet.Frames, it is usually more Pull up and pull down settings do not affect
useful to use SMPTE timecode as your reference. timecode generated by a SYNC HD.

Configuring Pull Up and Pull

To set the Main Time Scale to SMPTE Timecode, do
one of the following:
Down
 Choose View > Rulers > Timecode.
To pull up or pull down audio or video:
 Click the Main Counter selector in the Edit win-
dow and select Timecode. 1 Choose Setup > Session.

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.

Session Setup window

Pull Up and Pull Down Audio Rate Pull Up/Down Controls the audio sam-
Pro Tools supports up to 4% pull up and pull ple rate. See “Audio Sample Rate Pull Up and
down, with support for an additional 0.1% up or Down” on page 1278.
down. Separate rates can be set for session audio
Video Rate Pull Up/Down Controls the video rate.
and video (when video has been imported or cap-
See “Video Frame Rate Pull Up and Down” on
tured into the session).
page 1279.
When referring to 4% pull up and pull down, the
The choices available in these menus are deter-
precise percentages used in pull ups is 4.167%.
mined by the session frame rate. Combinations can
be applied by choosing from both menus.

4% pull factors are not available in 176.4

and 192 kHz sessions.

Chapter 57: Working with Synchronization 1277

 The choices available in these menus are also de- Example of Auto Match Pull
termined by the Preferences and the Auto Match Factors
Pull Factors option in the Timecode Rate menu.
The Auto Match Pull Factors option links audio and
See “Extended Pull Up and Pull Down Preference
video pull factors when changing session frame
and Session Setup Controls” on page 1278 and
rate.
“Auto Match Pull Factors” on page 1278.
For example, assume a Pro Tools session is set to a
Extended Pull Up and Pull Down frame rate of 25 fps, the audio and video are both
Preference and Session Setup playing with no pull ups, and Auto Match Pull Fac-
Controls tors is enabled.
The Audio Rate Pull Up/Down setting offers all If you then change the session Frame Rate to
possible combinations of pull ups and pull downs 24 fps, both the Audio and Video Rate Pull set-
for the audio sample rate, regardless of the session tings would change by –4.0% (the appropriate pull
frame rate. setting required by the change in frame rate).
In addition, if there is a QuickTime movie in the Auto Match-enabled pull factors are applied to any
Timeline, the video rate can be pulled up or down existing Audio Rate Pull Up/Down or Video Rate
by 0.1%, regardless of the session frame rate. Pull Up/Down settings.
Though not a recommended workflow, earlier ver-
sions of Pro Tools also enabled pull down of For example, if audio was already being pulled
QuickTime video clips when audio was pulled –0.1% when you changed the session Frame Rate
down, so this option is included in Pro Tools 5.3.1 from 29.97 to 24 fps, then the Audio Rate Pull
and later to maintain compatibility with earlier ses- Up/Down menu would switch to None.
sions.
Audio Sample Rate Pull Up and
Auto Match Pull Factors Down
The Auto Match Pull Factors option is available The Audio Rate Pull Up/Down setting applies pull
from the session Timecode Rate menu in the Ses- up or down factors to session audio record and
sion Setup window. When Auto Match Pull Factors playback. All pull rates are available, regardless of
is enabled, Pro Tools adjusts audio and video play- session frame rate.
back rates as needed to match any changes to the
See also “Auto Match Pull Factors” on
current session Timecode Rate.
page 1278.
Auto Match Pull is applied relative to the current
pull up setting. While enabled, if the session frame
rate is changed in such a way that the video would
have to be pulled by an unsupported amount, the
video remains unaffected.

This setting is latching, is not enabled by default,

and its state is stored with the session.

1278 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Audio Rates and Pull Up/Down Options
The following table lists actual sample rates of each pull up and pull down option and combination
(rounded to the nearest whole Hz):
Sample Rates at Pull Up and Pull Down Settings

Pull Sample Rate

Up/Down 44100 48000 88200 96000 176400 192000

+4.1667% 45983 50050 91967 100100 n/a n/a

and +0.1%

+4.1667% 45938 50000 91875 100000 n/a n/a

+4.1667% 45892 49950 91783 99900 n/a n/a

and –0.1%

+0.1% 44144 48048 88288 96096 176576 192192

–0.1% 44056 47952 88112 95904 176224 191808

–4.0% and 42378 46126 84757 92252 n/a n/a

+0.1%

–4.0% 42336 46080 84672 92160 n/a n/a

–4.0% and 42294 46034 84587 92068 n/a n/a

–0.1%

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 1278. • 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.

Chapter 57: Working with Synchronization 1279

 Video Rates and Pull Up/Down Options
The following table summarizes which pull up or pull down rate is supported with hardware (both hard-
ware and software) or only in the Pro Tools Video window (software only) for each project frame rate.
Note that some pull up and down rates are not supported at all for certain project frame rates.
Project rates and supported pull up and pull down with or without hardware

Project Frame Rate 1% pull up 1% pull down 4% pull up 4% pull down

23pNTSC both hardware software only N/A N/A

and software *

24pNTSC software only both hardware N/A N/A

and software *

24pPAL software only software only both hardware N/A

and software *

25pPAL software only software only N/A both hardware

and software *

25i software only software only N/A N/A

30i software only * software only N/A N/A

720p23 software only * software only N/A N/A

720p25 software only software only N/A N/A

720p29 software only * software only N/A N/A

720p50 software only software only N/A N/A

720p59 software only * software only N/A N/A

1080i50 software only software only N/A N/A

1080i59 software only * software only N/A N/A

1080p23 software only * software only N/A N/A

1080p24 software only software only * N/A N/A

1080p25 software only software only N/A N/A

1080p29 software only * software only N/A N/A

* Suggested pull rates for any given project frame rates appear highlighted in the Video Rate Pull Up /Down
selector.

1280 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Higher Sample Rates and Pull
Effect of Using Pull Up or Pull Factors
Down
4% audio pull rates are not available in 176.4 and
This topic describes how related Pro Tools fea- 192 kHz sample rate sessions.Putting Pro Tools
tures are affected by pull up and down rates. Online

To trigger playback or recording from an external

Video Pull Up and Pull Down and
Timecode Ruler source, the Pro Tools Transport must be placed
online. This tells Pro Tools to listen for incoming
Video pull up and down does not affect the Time- timecode.
code ruler. Be sure to set the session Frame Rate to
the correct frame rate for your project. For exam- To put the Pro Tools Transport online, do one of
ple, if working with 24 fps video and you pull the the following:
video up by 4%, switch the session Frame Rate to  Choose Options > Transport Online.
25 fps to keep the Timecode ruler aligned. Simi-
larly, if working with 24 fps video that is pulled  Click the Online button in the Transport.
down by 0.1%, switch the frame rate of the session
Press Command+J (Mac) or Control+J
to 23.976.
(Windows) to put the Transport Online.
When working with 25 fps Avid media and the
video is set to pull down by 4%, set the session
Frame Rate to 24 fps.

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 take Pro Tools offline, do one of the following:

 Deselect Options > Transport Online.

 Deselect the Online button in the Transport
window.

Chapter 57: Working with Synchronization 1281

 Recording Online 3 From the Transport Window menu (or the Edit
Window menu), select Synchronization.
The Operation Preferences page contains two op-
tions that affect how Pro Tools initiates recording 4 Click the Gen MTC button so that it highlights.
when online.

Record Online at Timecode (or ADAT)

Lock Makes online recording begin as soon as
Pro Tools receives and locks to timecode or
ADAT sync. In this case, you do not need to make
an insertion or selection in a track to designate a
Transport, Gen MTC enabled
start point.
5 Start playback.
Record Online at Insertion/Selection Makes on-
line recording begin wherever you have placed the To generate timecode using a SYNC HD:
insertion point in a track. Recording then continues
1 Connect the SYNC HD LTC Out to the SMPTE
until Pro Tools stops receiving timecode. If you
in connector on the devices you are slaving. If
make a Timeline selection, Pro Tools will record
you are slaving a device that recognizes MTC,
online only for the length of the selection.
connect the MTC OUT connector of the
SYNC HD to the MIDI IN connector of the
slaved device.
Generating Timecode
2 Make sure your SYNC HD is powered on.
Using a SYNC HD, Pro Tools can generate
SMPTE and MIDI Timecode (MTC). Without a 3 In Pro Tools, choose Setup > Peripherals and
SYNC HD, Pro Tools can only generate MTC. click the Synchronization tab.
This lets Pro Tools function as a master synchroni- 4 In the Synchronization Device section of the
zation source with other devices slaved to it (or Synchronization page, select Enable SYNC
chasing it). Peripheral.

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 1270.)
8 From the Transport Window menu (or the Edit
Window menu), select Synchronization.

Selecting the MTC Generator Port

1282 Pro Tools Reference Guide

9 Select one of the following:
Using MIDI Machine Control
• Gen MTC to generate MIDI Timecode.
Pro Tools provides the capability to transmit loca-
• Gen LTC to generate Linear Timecode.
tion information to external devices and to control
their transports using MIDI Machine Control
(MMC).

Controlling External Devices

Using MMC
Transport window, Synchronization options shown
Any device that supports MMC can be controlled
directly from within Pro Tools, with either the de-
Press Command+Control+J (Mac) or vice or Pro Tools acting as clock master.
Control+Start+J (Windows) to enable
(or disable) Generate LTC (GEN LTC). The external devices supported by Pro Tools im-
plement “open loop” communications only. Be-
10 Start playback. cause of this, while Pro Tools is the Transport
Master, any direct operation of the receiving de-
Pro Tools generates and outputs timecode from the
vice’s transport will not be communicated back to
SYNC HD.
Pro Tools. Instead, you can use the Transport pop-
up to select the external device (MMC in the pop-
Limitations for SYNC HD Locked up) and use the Pro Tools on-screen transport con-
to Video Input or Video trols to drive the device.
Reference
Pro Tools does not support remote track arming of
A SYNC HD can generate timecode at any frame
MMC-controlled external devices. You need to
rate when locked to Video Reference or Video In,
manually arm tracks for recording on the external
regardless of the frame rate of the incoming video
device.
reference signal. However, if you choose to gener-
ate timecode using a frame rate which does not Pro Tools | Ultimate with MachineControl
match that of the video signal, the frame edges in option supports remote track arming for
the Pro Tools session (and the frame edges of the Sony 9-pin and V-LAN enabled devices.
timecode you are generating) will not be aligned See “Remote Track Arming” on page 1287.
with the video frame edges.

If you change timecode rates in the middle of

a session, many SMPTE-to-MIDI Timecode
converters need to be turned off and turned
on again to recognize the new frame rate.

Chapter 57: Working with Synchronization 1283

 Enabling MIDI Machine
Control in Pro Tools

Pro Tools as MMC Master

When Pro Tools is the Master, it sends MMC com-
mands to the slave device and receives MTC infor-
mation back from the slave device.

To slave an external device to Pro Tools using MIDI

Machine Control: Selecting the MIDI Out port for MMC
1 Connect a MIDI Out port on your Pro Tools 9 Set the MMC ID number for which this infor-
MIDI interface to an appropriate port on the mation will be sent in the “ID” field.
slave device.
MMC commands contain an ID number to identify
2 Connect the MTC out from the slave device to a
which machine should respond to the MMC com-
MIDI In port on your Pro Tools MIDI Interface.
mand. There are 128 MMC ID numbers, from
3 In Pro Tools, choose Setup > Peripherals and 0–127. The default of ID #127 is a special setting
click the Synchronization tab. that transmits to all 128 MMC IDs. With a setting
of 127, Pro Tools will transmit MMC commands
4 Deselect the Enable SYNC HD option if it is se-
to all MMC IDs.
lected.
10 Set a pre-roll time for your MMC slave device.
5 From the MTC Reader Port pop-up menu, select
Pre-roll is needed to provide the device with
the MIDI In port to which the slave device is
sufficient time to lock to the timecode transmit-
connected (the source of MTC information
ted by Pro Tools. This value will vary depend-
from the slave device).
ing on the external device. If the pre-roll time is
6 Click the Machine Control tab in the Peripherals insufficient, the device may not be ready to lock
dialog. until after the current timecode position has
passed.
7 In the MIDI Machine Control (Master) section,
select Enable. 11 Click OK to close the Peripherals dialog.
8 In the MIDI Machine Control (Master) section, 12 In the Pro Tools Transport window, Right-click
select the MIDI Out port to which the slave de- the Online button and select Transport > MMC.
vice is connected from the pop-up menu.

Selecting Transport > MMC

1284 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Pro Tools will now be able to control the selected 9 In the MIDI Machine Control (Slave) section,
device’s transport and act as the clock master. select Enable.
13 To have the Pro Tools transport chase the play-
back location of the slave device, click the On-
line button in the Transport window so that it
flashes blue.

Pro Tools as MMC Slave

When Pro Tools is the slave, it receives MMC
commands from the master device and sends MTC
information back to the slave device. Machine Control page of the Peripherals dialog, MIDI
Machine Control Remote option selected
In order for Pro Tools to receive MMC 10 Set the MMC ID number (channel) on which
commands, the MMC source must be this information will be received in the “ID”
enabled in the MIDI Input Enable dialog. field.
For more information, see “Enabling Input
Devices” on page 542 11 Click OK to close the Peripherals dialog.

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.

6 Deselect the Enable SYNC HD option if it is se-

lected.
7 From the MTC Generator Port pop-up menu, se-
lect the MIDI Out port to which the master de-
vice is connected (this the destination of MTC
information from Pro Tools).
8 Click the Machine Control tab in the Peripherals
dialog.

Chapter 57: Working with Synchronization 1285

 To control external devices from the Pro Tools Taking a Device Offline
Transport:
Use the Transport Online Right-click menu to take
 Right-click the Online button in the Transport
a MIDI (or Machine) device offline.
and select either Pro Tools or MMC. The se-
lected deck will act as Transport Master. To take a device offline:
1 Click the Transport Master selector.
2 In the Transport, click on the Online pop-up
menu and deselect the device (Machine or
MIDI). Device choices depend on the current
Transport Master and which devices have been
Selecting the Transport Master set up in Pro Tools.

• When the Transport Master is set to Pro Tools,

the playback position is governed by the on-
screen cursor in Pro Tools.
• When the Transport Master is set to MMC, the
playback position is governed by the external
device’s play position. Deselecting Online > MMC

To bring a device back online, click and reselect it

in the Online pop-up menu.
MMC Transport Settings
The Online pop-up menu will only display de-
When using MMC, you can set the following op-
vices that have been properly set up in
tions for machine transport behavior in the Syn-
Pro Tools.
chronization Preferences page.

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 1284.
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 0
frames. Find the shortest possible lock-up time that
your equipment can operate at consistently, and set
1286 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

When controlling a house-synced device from Spotting Clips to SMPTE

Pro Tools through MMC, the device will first lock Frame Locations
to the MMC location and then align the color fram-
ing. Within house sync code are 4 frames for en- Spotting is the process of assigning music and
suring color frame lock. If the minimum synchro- sound cues to specific SMPTE frame locations in a
nization setup time is less than the time required to film or video. This function can be used to spot:
achieve both location and color frame lock, play- • Entire clips, selected with the Time Grabber
back will begin before the device has aligned the tool. Multiple clips can also be selected, and
color frames. In this scenario, you should set the Pro Tools will reference the first clip in your
Minimum Sync Delay to be more than the time re- selection.
quired for color frame lock. This is not a problem
• A specific location within a clip, by clicking
with a SYNC HD, which will drop out of lock until
with the Selector tool at that location, and choos-
the color frame is locked.
ing Clip > Identify Sync Point.
• Sessions or tracks, dragged from a browser to
the session Timeline or Clips List.
Remote Track Arming
Pro Tools | Ultimate software with MachineCon- Spot Mode
trol lets you remotely arm tracks on supported
9-pin (or V-LAN for transport only) decks. With- In Spot mode, a clip in a track can be quickly spot-
out MachineControl, Pro Tools does not support ted by simply clicking it with the Time Grabber
remote track arming of external devices. Machine- tool.
Control lets Pro Tools act as the master or slave to
You can also drag a clip from a Workspace
external Sony 9-pin (or V-LAN for transport only)
browser, or from the Clips List, to a track while in
machines, in addition to providing remote track
Spot mode.
arming from within Pro Tools.

Chapter 57: Working with Synchronization 1287

 The Spot Dialog To increase or decrease SMPTE values in the
Spot dialog by a specific number of frames,
The Spot dialog appears when you drag a clip to a
press Plus (+) or Minus (–) on the numeric
track or click a clip with the Time Grabber tool in
keypad, enter a number, and press the Enter
Spot mode. The numeric fields function as both
key.
data displays and editing controls for the currently
selected clips.
Use Subframes Option
Information in these fields is displayed in SMPTE
A subframe is 1/100th of a frame. The Use Sub-
Timecode, Minutes:Seconds, Feet.Frames, Sam-
frames option enables you to use these smaller
ples, or Bars|Beats, depending on which Time
units for greater accuracy. This command adds an
Scale format is selected.
additional time field in the SMPTE hours:min-
utes:seconds:frames box, which appears as the far
right time field when enabled. Use a Period (.) to
separate subframe values from whole frames.

Spot dialog

A highlighted numeric field indicates the current

active field for numeric entry editing. Entering a Additional time field with “Use Subframes” enabled
value in a field allows you to move a selected ele-
ment to the time location that you enter. The Start,
Subframe measurements are not available in
Sync Point, and End fields are accessible when the
the Current Time field.
Time Grabber tool is active. Only the Start or End
(depending on where you click the mouse) and Du-
ration fields are active when one of the Trim tools
is active (see “Using the Trim Tools in Spot Mode”
on page 1290).

1288 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 To spot a clip to a specific SMPTE frame:
Capturing Timecode
1 Enable Spot mode.
Pro Tools also allows you to easily capture frame
2 Set the Main Time Scale to Timecode. (See
locations on the fly in the Spot dialog by pressing
“Setting a SMPTE Session Start Time (Start
the Equal key, or by clicking the Current Timecode
Frame)” on page 1275.)
button while valid timecode is being received by
Pro Tools. With VITC, you can accurately capture 3 Identify the SMPTE frame location where you
a paused or crawling VTR’s SMPTE location. want to trigger playback of your clip by pausing
your video deck on that frame.
When Timecode is selected for the Time Scale,
pressing the Equal key captures the incoming time- 4 With the Time Grabber tool, click a clip in a
code. When Bars|Beats is selected for the Time track, or in the Clips List, and drag it into a
Scale, pressing the Equal key will capture to the track. The Spot dialog appears.
nearest measure. 5 Enter the SMPTE frame location by doing one
Although Capture Timecode works with free-run- of the following:
ning Linear Timecode (LTC) or VITC, frame • If you are using VITC, you can press the Equal
numbers of a paused frame can only be captured (=) key on the numeric keypad, or click Current
with VITC. Timecode to enter a paused VTR’s current
SMPTE location.
SYNC HD can read VITC. With MachineControl
and a SYNC HD, you can also read serial time- • If you are using LTC, when Timecode is selected
code. for the Time Scale, press the Equal (=) key on
the numeric keypad to capture the incoming
To use Remote mode with MachineControl, timecode. When Bars|Beats is selected for the
you will need an approved serial port. For a Time Scale, press the Equal key to capture the
complete list of currently approved ports, visit nearest measure.
http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/en_US/
6 If you recorded the clip while online, you can
compatibility/en352813.
use the Original Time Stamp button to recall and
enter the SMPTE frame location at which the
clip was originally recorded. You can also ac-
cess a user-defined Time Stamp by clicking the
User Time Stamp button. See “Time Stamping”
on page 1290 for more information.
7 Click OK to close this dialog. The clip spots to
the chosen SMPTE frame location. When the
session is online, this frame number will trigger
playback of the clip.

Chapter 57: Working with Synchronization 1289

 Auto-Spotting Clips Using the Trim Tools in Spot
Mode
The Pro Tools Auto-Spot Clips option simplifies
the task of spotting clips even further. If you are You can use the Spot dialog to trim your clips, in-
using VITC with this option enabled, or Machine- cluding start/end/duration times and referencing
Control, you can pause your video at an appropri- incoming timecode addresses. If you click a clip
ate SMPTE frame location, click a clip with the with any of the Trim tools in Spot mode, the Spot
Time Grabber tool, and the clip will be automati- dialog will appear, allowing you to enter a value in
cally spotted to the current timecode location. the Start or End and Duration fields to specify ex-
actly where you want to trim the clip’s beginning
You can also use MachineControl’s serial time- or end. Use this to edit the length of a clip to corre-
code ability to auto-spot by enabling MachineCon- spond to a particular visual “hit point.”
trol and enabling serial timecode in the peripheral.
Trimming a clip that contains a sync point (see
To Auto-Spot a clip: “Identifying a Synchronization Point” on
1 Choose Options > Auto-Spot Clips. page 1292) does not affect the SMPTE location of
the sync point, unless the clip is trimmed past the
2 If you are using VITC, identify the SMPTE sync point.
frame location where you want to trigger play-
back of your clip by pausing your video deck on
that frame.
Time Stamping
3 Click the clip with the Time Grabber tool. The
Pro Tools time stamps every clip recorded online
clip will be automatically spotted to the current
with the original SMPTE time at which audio was
timecode location (or machine location).
recorded. You can recall this original SMPTE time
Clicking a clip with any of the Trim tools will for a clip by clicking the Original Time Stamp but-
allow you to trim the clip to the current time- ton in the Spot dialog.
code location.
You can also spot a clip to a separate user-defined
SMPTE time stamp, defined using the Time Stamp
Auto-spotted clips are spotted by their start command in the Clips List menu. Once the clip is
times, unless you have identified a Sync Point time stamped using this command, you can click
(see “Identifying a Synchronization Point” the User Time Stamp button to re-spot a clip to its
on page 1292). If the clip contains a Sync user-defined SMPTE location.
Point, the clip is spotted to it.

1290 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Show Original Timecode in Clips
This command displays the original “time
stamped” SMPTE times in all clips currently
placed in tracks. This SMPTE frame number rep-
resents the time at which the clip was originally re-
corded online with Pro Tools, and does not neces-
sarily reflect the clip’s current SMPTE location in
a track.

To show (or hide) Original Time Stamps in clips:

 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.

Chapter 57: Working with Synchronization 1291

 Identifying a Synchronization Troubleshooting SMPTE
Point Synchronization
The Pro Tools Identify Sync Point command lets If you are having problems getting SMPTE syn-
you identify a specific point within a clip for audio chronization to work properly, you can trouble-
spotting purposes. shoot your system and solve common problems.

Imagine the following sound effects spotting sce-

nario: You have a single sound effect that consists Stripe SMPTE Before You
of a creaky door slamming shut, followed by a few
Record
seconds of ambient reverberation. The slam por- All tapes in your setup (both audio and video) must
tion of the effect—which you must precisely be striped with SMPTE Timecode before any au-
match to picture—occurs neither at the very begin- dio is recorded onto them or to Pro Tools. If tapes
ning of the audio file nor at the very end. It is aren’t striped, your system may seem to work, but
somewhere in the middle, making it tough to spot. synchronization will never properly occur. The
In this scenario, use the Identify Sync Point com- machines and Pro Tools will drift farther and far-
mand to create a point in the clip and synchronize ther apart the longer they run.
that point to a SMPTE frame.
The same problem occurs when audio is recorded
For more information on Sync Points, see into Pro Tools without a resolved SMPTE source
“Sync Points” on page 905. (for example, if it was recorded before the current
session). The audio cannot be accurately synchro-
To create a sync point in a clip: nized with an analog tape recorder or video tape
1 Do one of the following: deck, since the Pro Tools audio was not recorded
• Click with the Selector tool at the point in the referenced to the SMPTE timecode from the ana-
clip that you want to synchronize to a SMPTE log tape deck or video tape deck.
frame location.
• Press the Down Arrow key while playing back. Resolve All Components of Your
System
2 Choose Clip > Identify Sync Point. The current
When striping timecode, make sure that the time-
SMPTE time is automatically entered as the
code generator and the video record deck are re-
SMPTE location for the sync point. A small
solved to the same crystal reference. For example,
down arrow appears at the bottom of the clip,
when striping 29.97 Drop Frame timecode onto a
with a vertical, light gray line indicating the
VTR, both the SMPTE generator and the VTR
location of the sync point.
should be resolved to the same “black burst” or
house sync generator. During playback, the master
deck should be resolved to “black burst” or house
sync.

Sync Point in an audio clip

1292 Pro Tools Reference Guide

This convention provides compatibility for your Some hardware and software devices do not recog-
tape between the record and playback passes, and nize 29.97 Non-Drop as a separate frame rate. For
when it is played back in other facilities on differ- example, any standard SMPTE-to MTC-converter
ent equipment. This also means that when playing does not explicitly recognize it. You must set the
back a tape striped with timecode, the playback converter to expect 30 fps Non-Drop instead. In
deck should be resolved to the same synchroniza- fact, many devices that read SMPTE work accept-
tion rate as the record deck was resolved to at the ably by reading 29.97 Non-Drop if they are set to
time of the striping. When you stripe timecode us- expect 30 fps Non-Drop.
ing an audio transport, it should be “free-running”
and unresolved, but should be resolved with a Any SMPTE reader that uses the timecode num-
house sync-referenced synchronizer during play- bers to make real-time calculations (as Pro Tools
back. does when it tries to trigger and synchronize to
SMPTE) also needs to know that the frame format
is 29.97 and not 30 fps. Since Pro Tools allows this
Know the True Frame Rate on choice of frame rate this does not really pose a
Your Media problem. The problem exists because many users
If you get your media from a production company cannot readily distinguish 29.97 from 30 fps.
instead of recording them yourself, be absolutely
Even though NTSC tapes only use 29.97, some
sure that they indicate the SMPTE frame rate used
production companies will distribute video work
on the tape correctly. Several timecode formats use
prints striped with 29.97 fps but mark them as
the same frame count (such as 23.976 fps and
“30 fps NTSC,” by which they actually mean
24 fps) yet they run at slightly different frame rates
29.97 fps Non-Drop.
per second.
By the time you get the tape, you may have no idea
A SYNC HD (and some third-party products) can
what’s actually on it. Feeding 29.97 Non-Drop to
be used to help determine frame rate.
Pro Tools when it is set for 30 fps Non-Drop will
result in timing errors of about 1.8 frames per min-
29.97 fps Non-Drop Rate Not ute, causing audio playback to trigger out of sync.
Recognized
29.97 fps Non-Drop is a slightly slower version of Use a Consistent Clock Source
30 fps Non-Drop timecode. When 29.97 fps Non-
Drop is used with color video, each video frame When possible, media files should be played back
matches up with each SMPTE frame without hav- using the same sync reference signal they were re-
ing to use a drop-frame coding. This makes any corded with. This assures the closest match be-
frame number mathematics much simpler, since no tween record and playback sample rates.
frame numbers are dropped.

Chapter 57: Working with Synchronization 1293

 Speed Correction for Film, NTSC Video, and PAL Video

faster
25 fps

x104.1667% up x96.0% down

(4% pull up) (4% pull down)

24 fps Telecine 30 fps

x100.1% up x99.9% down x100.1% up x99.9% down

(0.1% pull up) (0.1% pull down) (0.1% pull up) (0.1% pull down)

23.976 fps Telecine 29.97 fps

slower

same program speed, same program speed,

less frames per second more frames per second

Frame rates, telecine transfers, and relative playback speeds

1294 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Sample Rate Conversion Using Source Sample Rates at Pull Up and Pull Down Setting

From: To: Pull: Source Sample Rate

NTSC PAL +0.1% then 45983 50050 91967 100100 n/a n/a
Video +4.1667%

Film PAL +4.1667% 45938 50000 91875 100000 n/a n/a

NTSC Film +0.1% 44144 48048 88288 96096 176576 192192

Video

Film NTSC –0.1% 44056 47952 88112 95904 176224 191808

Video

PAL Film –4.0% 42336 46080 84672 92160 n/a n/a

PAL NTSC –4.0% then 42294 46034 84587 92068 n/a n/a
Video 0.1%

NTSC Video = 23.976/29.97 fps Destination Sample Rate

Film = 24/30 fps
PAL = 25 fps 44100 48000 88200 96000 176400 192000

Sample Rate Conversion Using Destination Sample Rates at Pull Up and Pull Down Setting

NTSC Video = 23.976/29.97 fps Source Sample Rate

Film = 24/30 fps
PAL = 25 fps 44100 48000 88200 96000 176400 192000

From: To: Pull: Destination Sample Rate

NTSC PAL +0.1% then 42294 46034 84587 92068 n/a n/a
Video +4.1667%

Film PAL +4.1667% 42336 46080 84672 92160 n/a n/a

NTSC Film +0.1% 44056 47952 88112 95904 176224 191808

Video

Film NTSC –0.1% 44144 48048 88288 96096 176576 192192

Video

PAL Film –4.0% 45938 50000 91875 100000 n/a n/a

PAL NTSC –4.0% then 45983 50050 91967 100100 n/a n/a
Video 0.1%

Chapter 57: Working with Synchronization 1295

1296 Pro Tools Reference Guide
Chapter 58: MachineControl

Pro Tools | Ultimate software with HDX and Remote 9-Pin Deck Emulation
HD Native systems provides MachineControl™, Requirements
which enables serial communication with Sony®
A SYNC peripheral is required when running Ma-
9-pin compatible synchronizers, and video or au-
chineControl 9-Pin Remote Deck Emulation
dio machines.
mode, as it provides frame-accurate LTC.

Remote 9-Pin Deck Emulation does not work

MachineControl using the serial ports on a SYNC peripheral or
Requirements using the Serial port on an HDX card,
HD Native card, or HD Native Thunderbolt.
MachineControl requires a qualified HDX or
Instead, you must connect the remote control-
HD Native system running Pro Tools | Ultimate
ler to your Pro Tools system using one of the
software.
methods detailed in “Connecting Machines
for Remote 9-Pin Deck Emulation Mode” on
Serial Deck Control Mode page 1299.
Requirements
For Tighter Lockups MachineControl Components
 For Serial Deck Control, use of a SYNC periph- To use MachineControl with Pro Tools | Ultimate
eral is recommended, such as SYNC HD. software you will need the following components,
based on your operating system:
 For near sample accurate Serial Deck Control, a
SYNC peripheral is required. Mac Systems
 If you are not using a SYNC peripheral with • Serial Deck Control cable: Male 8-pin
Pro Tools, some features of MachineControl can mini-DIN to male 9-pin cable
be used by connecting the deck to the computer • Remote 9-pin Deck Emulation cable: Male 8-
with the proper cable and adapter configuration. pin mini-DIN to female 9-pin cable

See “Connecting Machines for Windows Systems

Serial Control Mode” on page 1299.
• Serial Deck Control cable: RS-232 to RS-422
• 9-pin Turnaround adapter (for Remote 9-pin
Deck Emulation mode)

Chapter 58: MachineControl 1297

 Serial Deck Control Mode
Cables and Connections
Serial Deck Control mode supports bi-directional
MachineControl requires its own connections be- communication between Pro Tools and a compati-
tween Pro Tools hardware, the computer, and ex- ble external machine. With this feature you can:
ternal machines. Connections differ depending on
your Pro Tools audio interface, operating system, • Synchronize to serial timecode
and on which of the two MachineControl opera- • Arm tracks on the machine remotely
tional modes you want to use: Serial Deck Control • Control a transport from Pro Tools
mode or Remote 9-Pin Deck Emulation mode.
• Configure machine settings and options.
When using a supported third-party paddle
device with Pro Tools, you can use both For computers that do not have serial ports, a
Serial Deck Control mode and Remote 9-Pin supported USB serial adapter (not provided)
Deck Emulation mode simultaneously. See is required to make the MachineControl
“Using a Paddle Device in Local Mode” on connection. For a list of qualified USB serial
page 1324 for more information. adapters, visit www.avid.com/compatibility.

Pro Tools HDX and HD Native Systems

Cables
With Pro Tools HD and HDX or HD Native hard-
MachineControl comes with the following cables
ware, you can use a Serial to 9-pin connection or a
and adapters, depending on your computer plat-
9-pin to 9-pin connection for Serial Deck Control
form:
mode.
Mac Systems CPU to Deck Connection This type of connection
Serial Deck Control Cable Male 8-pin mini-DIN
yields the best performance, especially with linear
to male 9-pin cable, for Deck Control. decks. Use the included Serial Deck Control cable
for this type of connection.
Remote Deck Emulation Mode Cable Male 8-pin
SYNC Peripheral to Deck Connection This type
mini-DIN to female 9-pin cable, required for
Remote 9-Pin Deck Emulation. of connection is suitable for non-linear decks. If
you are using a SYNC peripheral, as many as two
Windows Systems machines can be connected to the two 9-pin Out
ports on the SYNC peripheral. You can control
Serial Deck Control Cable RS-232 to RS-422 one machine at a time, and switch between them
cable, for serial timecode and all other from within Pro Tools. These ports support all Ma-
MachineControl functions. chineControl modes except Remote 9-Pin Deck
Emulation mode. For Remote Deck Emulation
Turnaround Adapter 9-pin adapter, used with
mode on Mac systems, a supported USB serial
RS-232 to RS-422 cable, for Remote 9-Pin Deck
adapter is required.
Emulation.

Do not substitute 9-pin or serial adapters for

either MachineControl cable. Each cable is
specifically wired for one operation mode.

1298 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Remote 9-Pin Deck Emulation To connect a deck to a Mac computer:
Mode 1 Connect a supported USB serial adapter (not
This mode enables a form of deck emulation in provided) to a USB port on the computer.
Pro Tools. When the Remote 9-Pin Deck Emula- 2 Connect the provided male mini DIN-8 serial to
tion Mode cable is used on a supported system, male 9-pin D-sub Deck Control cable to the end
Pro Tools can respond to record-arming, transport, of the adapter.
and other standard 9-pin commands from an exter-
nal machine. 3 Connect the end of the cable to the machine.

While in Remote 9-Pin Deck Emulation mode, To connect a deck to a Windows computer:
Pro Tools always generates timecode, and can be  Do one of the following:
either the timecode master or a slave device.
• Connect the computer’s COM port to the ma-
 On Mac systems, use the Remote 9-Pin Emula- chine, using the provided 9-pin RS-322 to
tion Mode cable. This mode requires a supported RS-422 cable.
serial adapter connected to a computer USB port,
• Use a supported USB serial adapter (not pro-
and a properly wired configuration. See “Remote
vided) for computers that do not have a 9-pin se-
9-Pin Deck Emulation Mode” on page 1319 for
rial connector to connect the machine to any
details.
available USB port on the computer.
 On Windows systems, Remote 9-pin Deck Em-

ulation mode uses an RS-232 to RS-422 cable and For Limited Serial Deck Control (Non-Linear
a Turnaround adapter connected to an available se- Decks Only)
rial or COM port on the computer. • Connect a standard 9-pin cable from one of the
9-pin Out ports on the SYNC peripheral to the 9-
pin input of the machine. Due to performance
Connecting Machines limitations, this configuration should be used
primarily with non-linear decks.
This section describes how to connect machines
for Serial Control Mode or Remote 9-Pin Deck Connecting Machines for Remote 9-Pin
Emulation Mode. Deck Emulation Mode

Connecting Machines for To connect a machine for Remote 9-Pin Deck

Serial Control Mode Emulation mode (Mac Systems):

1 Connect a supported USB serial adapter (not

For Best Serial Deck Control
provided) to a USB port on the computer.
For best serial deck control, connect your 2 Connect the provided male mini DIN-8 serial to
deck as follows depending on your com- female 9-pin Deck Emulation cable to the end
puter’s Operating System. of the adapter.
3 Connect the end of the cable to the machine.

Chapter 58: MachineControl 1299

 To connect a machine for Remote 9-Pin Deck
Emulation mode (Windows Systems): Starting Up Your System
 Connect the Turnaround adapter to the RS-322 To ensure that the components of your Pro Tools
to RS-422 cable, and connect them from an system communicate properly with each other and
available serial or COM port on your computer your external machines, start them in a particular
to the 9-pin output of the machine. order.

Do not use the Serial port on your HDX card, Start up your Pro Tools system in this order:
HD | Native card, HD | Native Thunderbolt, or the
1 For systems with an expansion chassis, turn on
9-pin ports on the SYNC peripheral for Remote
the chassis.
9-Pin Deck Emulation mode. The Serial port
should only be used for SYNC peripheral connec- 2 Turn on any external hard drives. Wait approxi-
tions. mately ten seconds for them to come up to
speed.
Using a Rosetta Stone Adapter 3 Turn on any external machines (VTR, ATR,
with MachineControl synchronizer, and monitors).
(Windows Only)
4 Turn on any MIDI interfaces, MIDI devices and
Using the Rosetta Stone adapter with Machine- synchronization peripherals.
Control on Windows lets you increase reliability
for long cable runs for Serial Deck Control mode 5 Lower the volume of all output devices in your
or Remote mode. system.
6 Turn on Pro Tools audio interfaces. Wait at least
A Rosetta Stone RS-232 to RS-422 adapter
fifteen seconds for your system hardware to ini-
(model 2/8 or 2/9) and additional RS-232 and
tialize.
RS-422 cables are required.
7 Turn on your computer.
To increase reliability in long cable runs in Remote
mode: 8 Launch Pro Tools.
 Follow the instructions as described above

for setting up a Rosetta Stone converter for Machine Local and Remote
an edit controller. Modes
Be sure to set your machine-controllable device to
To increase reliability in long cable runs in Serial
Deck Control mode:
“remote” or “ext” mode to receive the 9-pin infor-
mation (not “local” or front-panel mode). With
1 Connect the RS-232 cable from your com- some supported machines, if all other communica-
puter’s COM port into the RS-232 side of the tion is established and the machine is not in remote
Rosetta Stone adapter. mode, Pro Tools will indicate machine “local”
2 Connect the RS-422 cable from the RS-422 side mode.
of the Rosetta Stone to the deck or 9-pin patch
bay. If a longer run is needed, add more 9-pin
cable on the RS-422 end.

1300 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Cueing and Pre-Roll
MachineControl
Communication Modes Pro Tools Preference settings let you optimize Ma-
chineControl operation, including adjustable ma-
MachineControl supports two machine communi- chine pre-roll, selectable edit and memory location
cation modes: Serial Deck Control mode and Re- chasing.
mote 9-Pin Deck Emulation mode.
Pro Tools sessions can be as long as 24 hours.
Serial Deck Control Mode MachineControl features are disabled for the
final minutes of the 24-hour period, to allow
With Serial Deck Control mode, you can use the for pre-roll to be used at the beginning of the
Pro Tools Transport window to control an session without unwanted machine shuttling.
external deck.
Track Arming

When the Transport Master is set to Transport =

Machine, you can arm tracks of external machines
from within Pro Tools for layback and transfer.
Features include individual record enables for up
to 48 external tracks, with selectable record proto-
col and mode. Machine profiles included with the
Online button, Right-click to set Transport Master software let you pre-configure track arming for
many machine types.
Transport

The setting of the Transport Master determines the Serial Timecode

type of Serial Deck Control, as follows: When the Positional Reference is set to Serial
Transport = Pro Tools The Transport window Timecode in the Session Setup window, Pro Tools
controls the Pro Tools Timeline. When online, the can control an external machine via the Serial
deck locates relative to actions taken in the Deck Control cable. This setting also enables
Pro Tools Timeline. Pro Tools to receive timecode directly using only
the Serial Deck Control cable.
Transport = Machine The Transport window con-
trols the machine. When Pro Tools is Online, the (This mode requires that the 9-pin device be capa-
Pro Tools Timeline chases the machine. ble of transmitting serial timecode. It also requires
that the Pro Tools and the device receive a com-
Transport = MMC The Transport window controls mon video reference.)
MIDI Machine Control (MMC). When Pro Tools
is Online, the Pro Tools Timeline chases MMC.

Chapter 58: MachineControl 1301

 Using a Paddle Device in Local Mode Track Arming

When using MachineControl in Local mode with In Remote Deck Emulation mode, you can arm
or without an external synchronizer, you can use a Pro Tools tracks from an external machine.
supported third-party paddle device to issue the
following Pro Tools track commands: Features include remote control of individual re-
cord enables for up to 112 tracks, with selectable
• Input monitoring record protocol and mode. Included factory and
• Record Enable user programmable profiles let you configure track
• Record Safe arming for any machine type.

• Solo For arming tracks during playback, see

• Solo Mute “TrackPunch Audio Recording” on
page 567 and “DestructivePunch Audio
See “Using a Paddle Device in Local Mode” Recording” on page 570.
on page 1324.

Remote 9-Pin Deck Emulation Setting Up Machine Control

Mode
With Remote 9-Pin Deck Emulation mode (also Online and Offline Operation
called Remote 9-Pin mode), an external synchro- Pro Tools can remotely control, or be controlled
nizer can take control over Pro Tools transport and by, any approved enabled external device. You can
recording functions. select a device by using the Transport Master se-
lector in the Transport window.
Pro Tools responds to commands sent by the mas-
ter 9-pin machine controller, but because
Pro Tools is in Remote mode, many of its transport
commands are locked out.

Remote and Remote/LTC Chase Modes

When using an external machine controller to con-

trol Pro Tools, you can configure Pro Tools to em-
ulate a 9-pin deck in either of the following modes: Transport online, Transport = Machine
(9-pin Deck Control)
Remote mode Pro Tools emulates a device that
can be the timecode master or timecode slave.

Remote/LTC Chase mode Pro Tools emulates a

device that receives track and transport arming
commands, while chasing incoming LTC.

1302 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To trigger Pro Tools playback or recording from Transport Master
an external source, the Pro Tools Transport needs
to be online. There are four ways to put the To selecting the Transport Master:
Pro Tools Transport online:  Right-click the Online button in the Transport
• Click the Online button in the Transport win- and select Transport > Pro Tools or Transport >
dow. Machine.

• Choose Options > Transport Online. You can also press Control+backslash (\) to
• Press Command+J (Mac) or Control+J (Win- toggle between Pro Tools, the Machine,
dows). and Remote transport (or, on a Pro Tools
control surface, press EXT TRANS).
• Press Option+Spacebar (Mac) or Alt+Spacebar
(Windows).

Pro Tools can generate LTC while the

Transport is online, but only when Posi-
tional Reference is set to Serial Timecode.

The Online button in the Transport window

indicates online status. It flashes while enabled and
waiting for synchronization, and stays lit when Selecting the Transport Master
lock is achieved.
Transport = Pro Tools

Transport Controls In this mode, the controls in the Transport

window are focused on Pro Tools playback and re-
With MachineControl, the Pro Tools Transport cording.
window becomes a multi-function controller.
When the transport is online, the machine slaves to
Counter Display Pro Tools, and the session locks to the machine’s
timecode. The machine follows Preferences for
The Pro Tools Edit window counter displays the
Machine Chase and Online Record.
current machine (9-pin) or session timecode loca-
tion, depending on which device is the Transport When the transport is offline, the Pro Tools Trans-
Master, plus any current Session Start Time Off- port window controls Pro Tools only.
sets being applied. (See “External Timecode Off-
sets” on page 1310 for more information.) Transport = Machine

The Incoming Time display in the Session Setup In this mode, the controls in the Transport window
window always shows absolute incoming time- are focused on the machine connected and enabled
code, without any offsets. for Serial Deck Control mode. Record commands
are sent to the machine only.

Chapter 58: MachineControl 1303

 When the transport is online, Pro Tools slaves to
the machine. The Transport window controls the The Online pop-up menu will only display de-
machine, and Pro Tools chases and locks to it. vices that have been properly set up in
Pro Tools. To set up machine devices, see
In addition, when -Spot is turned on, clips are spot- “Serial Deck Control Mode” on page 1305.
ted to the current machine time, and the Trim tool To set up MIDI devices, see “Using MIDI
trims to the current machine time. Machine Control” on page 1283.

For details on Auto-Spotting, see “Auto- Online Display Information

Spotting Clips” on page 1290.
Several display elements of the Edit and Transport
When the transport is offline, the Pro Tools Trans- windows provide machine status information
port window controls the machine only. during MachineControl use, as follows:
• When Pro Tools is online, the Transport Online
Toggling the Transport while Online button flashes. “Waiting for Sync” will be dis-
When the Transport window is online, toggling the played in the status box in the lower left corner
Transport Master between Pro Tools and your ma- of the Edit window.
chine will also toggle their master/slave relation- • The Transport Online button continues to flash
ship. until you click Play and timecode lock occurs
(all devices locked and responding in sync).
Toggling the Online Status of a Device
• The Timecode display in the Edit window shows
Use the Online pop-up menu in the Transport Mas- the Machine Time when the machine is Master.
ter selector to toggle the online status of a Machine • Upon lockup, the Timecode display switches to
device. show the session time.

To put a device online (or offline): • When set to 9-pin Deck mode, the Online button
icon updates to show a 9-pin icon.
 Right-click the Online button in the Transport
and select (or deselect) Online > Pro Tools or
Online > Machine. Remote Mode
In Remote 9-Pin Deck Emulation mode, you put
Device choices depend on the current Transport
Pro Tools in Remote mode to enable Machine
Master and which devices have been set up in
Control operation.
Pro Tools.
When you put Pro Tools in Remote mode, it re-
sponds to commands sent by the master 9-Pin ma-
chine. Many Pro Tools commands, including
transport controls, are inactive in the Transport
window.

Online menu in Transport window

1304 Pro Tools Reference Guide

When you take Pro Tools out of Remote mode, it
operates in Local mode and ignores commands Configuring Serial Deck
from the 9-pin machine controller. Pro Tools re- Control (Overview)
sponds only to requests from the 9-pin machine
To configure Pro Tools for Serial Deck Control, do
controller for machine type and status, and returns the following:
that it is in Local mode.
1 Open an existing session or create a new
To put Pro Tools in Remote mode: session.

1 Choose View > Transport > Synchronization. 2 Set up a MachineControl device. (See “Config-
uring a MachineControl Device for Deck Con-
2 Click the Remote button in the Transport
trol” on page 1305.)
window.
3 Configure Pro Tools Machine Control prefer-
ences and Online Options in the Preferences di-
alog. (See“Preferences for Serial Deck Control
Mode” on page 1307.)
4 Configure Pro Tools session settings in the Ses-
sion Setup window. (See“Session Setup Win-
Remote button in the Transport window
dow and MachineControl” on page 1309.)
For more information on Remote mode in 5 In the Pro Tools Transport window, select
Pro Tools, see “Remote 9-Pin Deck Emulation Pro Tools or Machine as the Transport Master.
Mode” on page 1319. (See “Selecting Pro Tools or the Machine as the
Transport Master” on page 1313.)

Serial Deck Control Mode 6 Use the Transport window to play back mate-
rial. (See “Playback in Serial Deck Control
Serial Deck Control mode is available whenever Mode” on page 1314.)
MachineControl is connected using the Serial
Deck Control cable. For more information about
connecting Pro Tools for Serial Deck Control Configuring a
mode, see “Cables and Connections” on MachineControl Device for
page 1298. Deck Control
When connected for Serial Deck Control mode, To set up a MachineControl device:
MachineControl enables all Pro Tools track arm-
ing, synchronization, and Transport features, as 1 In Pro Tools, choose Setup > Peripherals.
available on your system. Serial Deck Control 2 If you are using a SYNC peripheral, click the
mode also supports 9-pin serial timecode (see “Us- Synchronization tab and select Enable
ing Serial Timecode for Positional Reference” on SYNC HD.
page 1307). Some features require a SYNC pe-
ripheral, as noted throughout this chapter. 3 Click the Machine Control tab in the Peripherals
dialog.
For information on track arming, see “Re-
mote Track Arming” on page 1315.

Chapter 58: MachineControl 1305

 4 In the 9-pin Machine Control (Deck Control) Machine Pre-Roll
section, select Enable.
You can set a variable amount of machine pre-roll
to account for the time it may take the machine to
achieve servo lock. Shorter pre-roll values are usu-
ally better for non-linear machines. Longer pre-roll
values are usually better for older tape transports.
Configuring MachineControl for Serial Deck Control
The Machine pre-roll value is added to any pre-roll
5 Select the 9-pin MachineControl port from the
specified in the Pro Tools Transport window.
Port pop-up menu.
To set MachineControl pre-roll:
Do not use the designated machine serial
port for any other function (such as timecode 1 In Pro Tools, choose Setup > Peripherals, and
or MIDI metronome). Make sure that 9-pin is click the Machine Control tab.
the only communication on the selected port.
2 In the 9-pin Machine Control (Deck Control)
section, type the number of frames of pre-roll in
6 Choose the appropriate machine profile from
the Preroll box.
the Machine Type pop-up menu.
3 Click OK.
Pro Tools lets you define and save custom
machine profiles. See “Remote Track Arm-
ing” on page 1315 for more information. Selecting Machines in Serial
Deck Control Mode
7 Set machine pre-roll for use when the Transport When using a SYNC HD with machines connected
Master is set to Pro Tools. (See “Machine Pre- to each of its two 9-pin ports, or to serial ports on
Roll” on page 1306 for more information.) the computer, use the Peripherals dialog to choose
Machine pre-roll is different from the main which machine to control.
Transport pre-roll that is set in the Transport
To select a machine for Serial Deck Control mode:
window.
1 In Pro Tools, choose Setup > Peripherals and
click the Machine Control tab.
If you are using a SYNC peripheral and your
machine has timecode reader capability, you 2 In the 9-pin Machine Control (Deck Control)
can use serial timecode for Positional Refer- section select Enable.
ence. 3 Choose SYNC 9-Pin Out 1 or SYNC 9-Pin
Out 2, or an available serial port from the Port
8 Click OK to close the Peripherals dialog.
pop-up menu.
4 Choose the appropriate machine profile from
the Machine Type pop-up menu.
5 Click OK to close the Peripherals dialog.

1306 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Using Serial Timecode for 3 In the Transport window, click the Gen LTC
Positional Reference button.
If you are using a SYNC HD and your machine has
9-pin serial timecode capability, you can use serial
timecode for positional reference. This improves
lockup times.

To use serial timecode for positional reference, a

Gen LTC button in Transport window
Video Reference signal must be present, as indi-
cated by the Ref Present indicator in the Session
Setup and Edit windows. Both the SYNC periph- Preferences for Serial Deck
eral and the external machine should be locked to Control Mode
the same video reference signal.
You can configure preferences for MachineCon-
When using Serial Timecode for positional refer- trol playback and recording in Pro Tools.
ence, you can regenerate LTC.

To enable Serial Timecode: Playback Options

1 Choose Setup > Session. Machine Control Section
2 Choose Serial Timecode from the Positional Machine Chases Memory Location When se-
Reference pop-up menu. lected, navigating to a specific location in a session
with a Memory Location causes a connected trans-
port to chase to that location.

Machine Follows Edit Insertion/Scrub When se-

lected, navigating to a specific location in a session
by moving the selection point or by scrubbing a
track will cause a connected transport to chase to
that location.
Choosing Serial timecode in the Session Setup
 When the connected device is a linear device
window
(such as a tape deck), select Linear Devices (jog) to
To regenerate LTC when locking to Serial set Pro Tools to send jog commands.
Timecode:
 When the connected device is a non-linear de-
1 Choose Setup > Session.
vice (such as a random-access video recorder or
2 Choose Serial Timecode from the Positional another Pro Tools system), select Non-Linear De-
Reference pop-up menu. vices (cue) to set Pro Tools to send cue commands.

Machine Cues Intelligently When selected, if you

navigate to a cue point that is more than 10 seconds
from the current location, Pro Tools will command
a connected transport to fast wind to the new loca-

Chapter 58: MachineControl 1307

 tion at full speed to within 10 seconds of the cue To set Machine Control playback options:
point. Cueing will then slow to normal speed until 1 Choose Setup > Preferences, and click the Syn-
the point is reached. This can significantly speed chronization tab.
up tape cueing with certain video transports.
2 Select or set Machine Control options.
Stop at Shuttle Speed Zero Causes Pro Tools to
send a Stop command whenever you stop shut- 3 Click OK to close the Preferences dialog.
tling. This is useful if you have a machine that re-
quires an explicit stop command to park Recording Options
correctly.
Record Online at Timecode (or ADAT)
Non-Linear Transport Error Suppression When Lock When selected, online recording begins as
Transport = Pro Tools, keeps Pro Tools from send- soon as Pro Tools receives and locks to incoming
ing a Stop command when taken offline. This pre- timecode.
vents Pro Tools from stopping any other 9-pin de- Record Online at Insertion/Selection When se-
vices connected to the system. lected, online recording begins at the edit cursor
location. Recording continues until Pro Tools
Synchronization Section
stops receiving timecode. If you make a selection,
Minimum Sync Delay Sets the amount of time (in Pro Tools records online for the length of the se-
frames) for devices to achieve synchronization lection.
“lock.” This amount varies for each device. For
more information, see “Setting Minimum Sync To set Serial Deck Control mode recording
options:
Delay” on page 1286.
1 Choose Setup > Preferences, and click the
Delay Before Locking to Longitudinal Timecode Operation tab.
Sets the amount of time (in frames) for Pro Tools 2 Select or set the above Online options in the Re-
to lock to incoming LTC. Use this option when cord section.
locking Pro Tools to a stable timecode source
(such as a non-linear machine or LTC generator) 3 Click OK to close the Preferences dialog.
and not a linear tape machine.

Delay Before Locking to Serial Timecode Sets

the amount of time (in frames) for Pro Tools to
wait before attempting to lock to machines that is-
sue servo lock messages. This setting allows time
for the servo mechanisms to achieve stable lock.

1308 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Session Setup Window and MachineControl

Clock Source

Session Format
and settings

Show/Hide button

External
Timecode
SYNC Setup Offsets

Sample
Show/Hide button offset
Pull Up/
Timecode Pull Down
Settings settings

Freewheel settings
Figure 1. Session Setup window

The Session Setup window has three sections. To show SYNC Setup and Timecode Offsets:

 Click the SYNC Setup and Timecode Offsets

Format Includes displays and controls for time-
code-related settings on your system, as well as show/hide button.
certain session format settings (such as bit depth,
To show Timecode settings:
pan depth, audio format, and interleaved).
 Click the Timecode Settings show/hide but-
SYNC Setup & Timecode Offsets Lets you set ton.
Clock Reference and Positional Reference, Video
Reference format, and Video Input format.

Timecode Settings Lets you configure Timecode

Freewheel settings and Audio and Video Pull
Up/Down amounts.

Chapter 58: MachineControl 1309

 Session Settings for 3 In the SYNC Setup section, select a Clock Ref-
MachineControl erence and Positional Reference.

Use the steps in this section to quickly configure 4 In the SYNC Setup section, set the appropriate
the basic session settings for MachineControl. Video Reference and Video In formats.

Basic Session Settings

Confirm the following settings for each session.

Video Ref format
Video In format
To configure a session for MachineControl:

1 Open an existing session or create a new one.

Video Ref and Video In format selectors
2 Choose Setup > Session.
3 In the Format section, do the following: See the SYNC HD Guide for more information
• Set a Session start time. on setting Clock Reference, Positional Refer-
• Set the session Timecode Rate and ence, Video Reference, and Video In formats.
Feet+Frames Rate.
Testing Session Settings

To check your session and MachineControl set-

Session Start Time
tings, place the machine in Local mode and manu-
Timecode Rate ally start playback on the external machine. If
Feet+Frames Rate Pro Tools is receiving timecode, the current loca-
tion will be shown in the Incoming Time display.
Be sure to reset the machine to Remote mode when
Basic session settings in the Session Setup window finished.
Clock Source, Clock and Positional
Reference Settings

The Session Setup window provides selectors for

the system Clock Source, as well as Clock Refer-
ence and Positional Reference. These settings must Incoming Time display
be configured based on the signal connections be-
tween Pro Tools, the SYNC peripheral, and exter- External Timecode Offsets
nal devices.
In the External Timecode Offsets section,
To configure Clock Source and Reference
Pro Tools lets you compensate for devices that are
settings: consistently offset by a fixed number of frames
(such as some color–corrected video masters), or
1 Choose Setup > Session.
for material that starts at a different time than the
2 In the Format section, select a Clock Source (a session.
SYNC peripheral or an Avid HD audio inter-
face) from the Clock Source pop-up menu.

1310 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Pro Tools provides four different External Time- To apply an offset to an external timecode source:
code Offset settings:  In the Session Setup window, enter an offset
• MMC (MIDI Machine Control) value time in an offset field.
• 9-Pin (Deck Control)
• Synchronization peripherals such as the
SYNC HD or other peripherals (such as MIDI
interfaces that provide MIDI Timecode).
• Satellite (Pro Tools with Satellite Link or Video
Satellite)

Unique values can be defined for each of these External Timecode Offsets in the Session Setup
window
types of offsets, or you can link all to adjust in uni-
son. To apply the same timecode offset to all devices:

Positive and negative offset values can be entered  In the Session Setup window, select Link to ap-
to offset Pro Tools timecode display later or ear- ply the same offset value to all devices.
lier, respectively.
Timecode Settings
Sample Offset The Timecode settings control timecode genera-
This field lets you set an offset value for incoming tion, Freewheel, and session Pull Up and Pull
timecode (up to the equivalent of plus or minus one Down options.
frame at the current session sample rate). This lets Configure these settings as appropriate for the cur-
you create a permanent offset to fine-tune the point rent project and situation (refer to the SYNC HD
at which Pro Tools synchronizes relative to incom- Guide).
ing timecode. For example, a value of –50 makes
an event in Pro Tools occur 50 samples before the
same event in the incoming timecode. Use this to
compensate for timing differences between vari- Additional Pro Tools
ous SMPTE-to-MIDI Timecode converters or ana- MachineControl Commands
log-to-digital/digital-to-analog converters. The following commands are available in all
MachineControl operating modes.
Offsets and SYNC Timecode Display
Current Timecode Position
The timecode display on the front panel of the
SYNC peripheral continues to display actual in- Use this command to redefine the current timecode
coming timecode, regardless of any External position and session start time. By creating an in-
Timecode Offset applied in Pro Tools. sertion point (or Edit selection), and then entering
the desired new timecode position for that loca-
tion, the session start time will be recalculated
based on the new, relative timecode
location.

Chapter 58: MachineControl 1311

 For example, if you place an insertion point at Typically, this command is used for integrating
01:02:04:11, choose Setup > Current Timecode test tones, pre-roll, and similar pre-program mate-
Position, and enter 01:00:08:00 to correspond to rial into the Pro Tools session ahead of the first
the first frame of film, this adjusts the session start hour timecode position on the Timeline. In most
time such that the insertion point location is now cases when working on reels of film, the user will
01:00:08:00. want to set the first hour mark in the session to
equal 0+0 feet and frames, to line up properly with
To redefine the current timecode location: the start of the Academy leader for each reel of
1 Enable Link Edit/Timeline. film.

2 Click the Grid mode selector. This ensures that To set a relative frame position for a session
your selection is on a frame boundary. (Feet+Frames):

3 Locate Pro Tools to the beginning of the rele- 1 Enable Link Edit/Timeline.
vant material (usually the first audio of a scene, 2 Click the Grid mode selector. This ensures that
a 2 pop, or similar). your selection is on a frame boundary.
4 If appropriate, cue the external timecode source 3 With the Selector tool, click in a track (or make
to the location where you want to align the cur- a selection) where you want to redefine the po-
rent Pro Tools insertion point. Note the time- sition.
code location, or copy it to the clipboard.
4 Choose Setup > Current Feet+Frames Position.
5 Choose Setup > Current Timecode Position.
5 Enter a Feet+Frame position in the Desired
6 Type the new timecode position in the Desired Feet+Frames Position text box.
Timecode Position text box, or paste the time-
code position into the text box, if you copied it 6 Click OK.
to the clipboard.
Create Machine Track Arming Profile
7 Click OK.
The Create Machine Track Arming Profile com-
Current Feet+Frames Position mand lets you create and save machine descrip-
tions as Machine Profiles. Profiles are provided for
Use this command to redefine the Feet+Frames po- an ever-increasing list of common machines, or
sition at the current insertion point (or the Timeline you can customize profiles for specific situations
Selection In Point). and requirements. Options include the ability to
Redefining Feet+Frames does not redefine
emulate a different machine type, remap and re-
the session start time.
name audio tracks, and choose to include or ex-
clude the video and timecode tracks, when avail-
able. For more information, see “Creating a Track
Arming Profile” on page 1316.

1312 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Transport = Machine
Selecting Pro Tools or the
Machine as the Transport In this mode, the Transport window controls the
Master machine connected and enabled for Serial Deck
Control mode. Record commands are sent to the
In Serial Deck Control mode, the deck is always machine only. When online and a Play command is
the timecode master. However, the start of ma- given, the machine plays from its current location,
chine playback changes based on the Transport feeding timecode to Pro Tools, which chases that
Master mode you are using. incoming timecode from the deck.
The setting of the Transport Master (located in the  When the Transport window is online,
Pro Tools Transport window) determines where Pro Tools chases the timecode coming from the
the deck will start playback when the Pro Tools machine. The Transport window controls the ma-
Transport sends a play command to the deck Con- chine, and Pro Tools chases and locks to it.
trol, as follows:
 All record commands in this mode are directed
Transport = Pro Tools to the deck only.

In this mode, the Transport window controls the  When Auto-Spot is turned on, clips are spotted
Pro Tools Timeline position (playback and record- to the current machine time, and the Trim tool
ing). When you click Play in the Transport window trims to the current machine time.
while it is online, the deck locates relative to the  When the Transport is offline, the Pro Tools
current Pro Tools Timeline. Transport window controls the machine only.
 When the Transport window is online, the ma-
To select a Transport Master:
chine locates to a position ahead of the current
Timeline insertion point. This location ahead is 1 In Pro Tools, Right-click the Online button in
equal to the sum of the machine pre-roll and the the Transport to display the Transport Master
Transport pre-roll. Once the machine has located pop-up menu.
to this total pre-roll position, it plays, sending
timecode to Pro Tools, which chases that incoming
timecode. The machine follows the Preferences
settings for Serial Deck Control. (See “Preferences
for Serial Deck Control Mode” on page 1307.)
 When the Transport window is offline, the

Pro Tools Transport window controls Pro Tools

only. Online button in the Pro Tools Transport window

 All record commands are sent to Pro Tools, not 2 From the Transport Master pop-up menu, select
the machine. Pro Tools or Machine.

Press Control+backslash (\) (Windows) or

Command+backslash (\) (Mac) to toggle
between available Transport Master
choices.

Chapter 58: MachineControl 1313

 Toggling the Transport while Online Machine Remote Setting

When the Online button is highlighted, toggling If the Transport Master selector will not stay set to
the Transport Master between Pro Tools and Ma- Machine, or if it switches to Pro Tools from Ma-
chine also toggles their master/slave relationship. chine, check your machine’s Local/Remote set-
ting. It should be set to Remote to receive com-
mands from the Pro Tools Transport.
Playback in Serial Deck
Control Mode Machine Cueing
To play or cue your machine independently of MachineControl provides two Cue modes for re-
Pro Tools: mote machine operation: Search and Hi-speed.
1 Make sure Pro Tools is not online (the Online  In Search mode, the tape remains laced during
button in the Transport window is not flashing). Fast Forward or Rewind.
2 Right-click the Online button in the Pro Tools  In Hi-speed mode, the tape is unlaced before
Transport and select Transport > Machine. fast-forward/rewind. The Transport window indi-
3 Click any of the buttons in the Pro Tools Trans- cates the status of the tape as described below.
port window to control your machine.
Search Mode
Pro Tools always displays incoming LTC or 9-pin
In Search mode, the tape is laced against the heads
time in the incoming time field in the Session
when the machine is paused or searching, and the
Setup window during fast-wind, and switches
Stop button stays lit (it does not flash) and the Play
during playback to display the current positional
button flashes. When cueing in this mode, the Fast
reference.
Forward or Rewind button also lights when search-
To automatically locate your deck to pre-roll into ing in either direction.
your current Timeline insertion time each time you
play back: To fast forward and rewind in Search mode:

1 Make sure Pro Tools is not online (the Online 1 Right-click the Online button in the Pro Tools
button in the Transport window is not flashing). Transport and select Transport > Machine.

2 Right-click the Online button in the Pro Tools 2 Click Play in the Transport window or press the
Transport and select Transport > Pro Tools. Spacebar to begin machine playback, then press
the Spacebar again to pause the machine (this is
3 Put Pro Tools online.
to ensure that the tape is laced).
4 Click Play in the Transport window.
3 Click Fast Forward or Rewind in the Transport
If the tape in the machine is striped with timecode window to search the tape.
that matches your Session time, the machine will
Some devices, including several popular
locate to the total pre-roll position ahead of the
VHS decks, do not support a shuttle mode in
Pro Tools on-screen selection/insertion point or
which the tape stays laced. These decks un-
memory location, and begin playing back.
lace the tape before shuttling. Refer to your
Pro Tools will chase its timecode output.
tape machine’s guide for more information.

1314 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Hi-Speed Mode
Remote Track Arming
In Hi-speed mode, the tape is unlaced, and all
Transport window buttons are dark. When you cue Pro Tools with MachineControl provides the abil-
in this mode, only the selected Fast Forward or Re- ity to record-arm audio, video, or timecode tracks
wind button lights. on external decks, and rehearse an edit.

On MachineControl-equipped systems, the Ma-

To fast forward and rewind in Hi-speed mode:
chine Track Arming command is available in the
1 Right-click the Online button in the Pro Tools Pro Tools Window menu. The Machine Track
Transport and select Transport > Machine. Arming window lets you configure track arming
2 To unlace the tape, click Stop in the Transport during sessions using the settings appropriate for
window or press Command+period(.). the current Track Arming Profile. (See “Identify-
ing Your Machine” on page 1316.)
3 Click Fast Forward or Rewind in the Transport
window. The Pro Tools cursor indicates the cur- To display the Machine Track Arming window:
rent machine location.
 Choose Window > Machine Track Arming.
4 Press the Spacebar to pause the machine.

Some devices may not support all shuttle

Configuring Track Arming
modes, and may not accept the above shuttle
commands. In these cases, the Fast Forward Pro Tools provides automatic, direct support for
and Rewind buttons in the Pro Tools Trans- track configuration of most common video decks.
port window flash, and clicking them places If your deck is supported, MachineControl identi-
the device in true Fast Forward / fies and displays your machine’s track layout.
Rewind mode.
Even if your machine is not directly supported, the
Track Arming window lets you arm tracks, set the
Spotting to the Machine
Record Protocol and configure the Record mode
To spot clips to the machine’s current location, use for the machine.
Pro Tools Spot mode or Auto-Spot (if using
VITC). You can also define, save, and load customized de-
vice profiles. (See “Creating a Track Arming Pro-
Auto-Spot mode uses incoming VITC for loca- file” on page 1316.)
tion information. Therefore, Auto-Spot mode
will force the clip to be spotted to the current Not all machines support independent arming
incoming machine timecode location, not the of their audio tracks locally or remotely, and
current insertion cursor location. To spot your some machines require a separate utility
elements directly to the current cursor loca- menu selection. Pro Tools remote track arm-
tion, Control-drag (Mac) or Right-click and ing cannot operate in these situations.
drag (Windows) the elements.

Chapter 58: MachineControl 1315

 Identifying Your Machine To create a machine Track Arming Profile:

When you configure Pro Tools for MachineCon- 1 Choose Setup > Machine Track Arming Profiles.
trol, it automatically loads the track arming profile
When you create a new Track Arming
for the identified machines.
Profile, a Stop command is sent to any
For more information on basic Pro Tools connected machine to protect elements on
settings for MachineControl, see “Config- tape.
uring a MachineControl Device for Deck
Control” on page 1305. Choosing a Machine ID

If Pro Tools does not recognize your machine, or if To recognize your machine:

you want your machine to emulate a different type  In the Create Machine Track Arming Profile di-
of device (for example, to use a different track lay- alog, click Identify Machine.
out), you can load a generic machine profile.
MachineControl queries the connected machine
If you are using a generic machine profile, for its machine ID, which is then displayed below
be sure to double-check record behavior the Identify Machine button.
using non-essential tapes before using Ma-
chineControl’s remote track arming func- You can edit or replace the ID manually if needed.
tions. See “Entering a New Byte Code” on page 1317 for
more information.
For maximum flexibility, use Track Arming Pro-
files to create, customize, and manage multiple Configuring a Profile
machine descriptions (see “Creating a Track Arm-
ing Profile” on page 1316). The Create Track Arming window lets you specify
track names and track mapping.

Customizing Names for Track Arming

Creating a Track Arming Buttons
Profile
You can rename the Track Arm buttons displayed
The Create Track Arming Profile dialog provides
in each Track Arming Profile to better describes
extensive control over Pro Tools track arming.
the recording taking place. For example, an eight
You can customize arming, track naming, and
track profile might be easier to use with tracks
mapping, and save configurations for different ma-
named Dx-L, Dx-R, FX-L, FX-R, Mx-L, Mx-R,
chines as Track Arming Profile files. These Pro-
Lt, and Rt, for eight tracks comprised of stereo Di-
files can be imported to quickly reconfigure Track
alog, stereo FX, stereo Music, and an Lt-Rt mix.
Arming as needed for future projects. You can also
test track mapping, and remap tracks if needed. To edit the name of a track arming button:

Use the Create Track Arming Profile feature to 1 In the Create Machine Track Arming Profile di-
create profiles for machines that may not be in- alog, double-click the Track Arm button you
cluded with Pro Tools, and to manage multiple want to rename.
profiles.
2 Enter a new track name in the dialog, and click
OK.

1316 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Remapping Tracks Entering a New Byte Code

You can remap track buttons to target different As the Sony P2 protocol continues to expand, more
tracks on the machine. manufacturers add specific byte code commands
that may be listed in the current byte code list.
To remap tracks: Pro Tools lets you create entirely new, custom byte
1 In the Create Machine Track Arming Profile di- codes. This lets you enter additional byte com-
alog, click the Track button you want to remap mands as needed to support new features as they
to display its remap pop-up menu. are added to decks.

2 Do one of the following:

Choosing a Record Protocol
• Choose a new target track.
The Machine Track Arming window provides
• Choose a different machine profile from the
the following two choices for configuring the
Load Configuration selector.
recording protocol of the target deck:
Reassigning the Byte Value for a Track
Auto Edit
In a remote machine’s firmware, each record track
This mode is a highly accurate way to ensure that
on the machine has a unique hexadecimal byte
the target deck will record only within the bound-
code that tells the machine which track should be
aries of an on-screen selection. (If your deck does
armed when an arm command is received from a
not support Auto Edit, use Punch In/Punch Out, as
remote master. The standard profile (the default
explained below.)
setup) corresponds to the Sony P-2 protocol, but
many decks have their own unique mapping of In Auto Edit mode, the record in/out points are
byte codes to track numbers for a particular deck. downloaded to the target deck (along with any pre-
or post-roll), and the deck is responsible for per-
If an audio or video track, or the deck timecode
forming the insert punch in/out at the specified
track do not arm when you click its corresponding
times (see “Rules for On-Screen Selections” on
track arming button, you may need to assign a dif-
page 1318 for details).
ferent hex value to the button.
Because this protocol removes the vagaries of
To select a different hex value for an individual
CPU timing from the remote recording process,
track arm button:
Auto Edit is frame-accurate. It is also the best way
 Select another hex value byte code from the to ensure that your machine will punch out cor-
Byte Code sub-menu for the appropriate track rectly and avoid accidental erasure of audio, even
arm button. in the event of a CPU error.

Punch In/Out

This mode uses Pro Tools to control the process of

punch in/out. Instead of downloading the punch
points (as in Auto Edit), Pro Tools actually per-
forms them during the record pass. Because serial

Chapter 58: MachineControl 1317

 communication has inherent delays, timing with Rules for On-Screen Selections
Punch In/Punch Out mode cannot guarantee
The Record Protocol buttons allow you to choose
frame-accuracy (though it will almost always be
between the two different record protocol choices
within 2 to 3 frames).
described above (Auto Edit and Punch In/Punch
Out). Regardless of which choice is used, how-
Choosing a Record Mode ever, Pro Tools follows these rules for record se-
The Machine Track Arming window provides two lection:
choices for Record mode: • If there is an on-screen selection, recording will
take place over the period of the selection and
Insert punch out at the out point of the selection.
Insert mode is used to perform insert editing • If pre- or post-roll is enabled, recording takes
(punching in individual tracks) where one or more place only in the selection area, not during pre-
audio tracks is replaced by new material and the or post-roll.
video material is retained. • If there is no selection (only a start location), re-
cording will continue until it is manually
Assemble stopped.
Use Assemble mode when you want to: • If you make a selection in Pro Tools that crosses
• Begin recording program onto a completely the “midnight” boundary (00:00:00:00), make
blank tape (unformatted) sure your deck can handle this situation. Exper-
iment with a dispensable tape to familiarize
• Append program to the remainder of a tape
yourself with the crossover capabilities of your
which already has program you want to keep
deck.
Assemble mode is not appropriate for audio lay-
backs to video masters. Rehearsing a Layback to an
External Device
Assemble mode should be used carefully because
it arms all tracks on the target deck for recording— Before laying back audio to an external device,
including the video track, timecode track and con- you can rehearse the layback using Edit Preview
trol track. When performing an Assemble edit, all (Rehearse) mode. In Edit Preview mode, instead of
material on all tracks after the edit in point will be performing an edit insert (recording) on armed re-
replaced. Because a break in the control track will mote tracks, the input is monitored without record-
result at the edit out point, any remaining program ing.
material after an Assemble edit may be unusable.
While in Edit Preview mode, the Transport Record
To avoid accidentally recording over program ma- button flashes yellow when armed and lights solid
terial, experiment with Assemble and Insert modes yellow when rehearsing. Armed tracks are indi-
on a dispensable tape to familiarize yourself with cated by yellow track buttons in the Track Arming
the edit capabilities of your deck. window.

Assemble mode replaces all the elements on

the target tape deck—audio, video and time-
code. Use this mode with caution.

1318 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To rehearse a layback: 4 Select a Record mode (Insert or Assemble).
1 In Pro Tools, select the audio you want to re-
Once the Track Arming options are
hearse for layback, or place the playback cursor
configured, you can change the Track
at a start point.
Arming window to “small view” and
2 Choose Window > Machine Track Arming. still see the track arm buttons.

3 In the Track Arming window, select Edit Pre- To perform a layback:

view.
1 In Pro Tools, select the audio to lay back, or
4 In the Track Arming window, arm the tracks place the playback cursor at a start point.
you want to rehearse by clicking the corre-
2 In the Remote Track Arming window, arm the
sponding buttons. The buttons light yellow to
appropriate tracks on the machine.
indicate armed status.
3 Right-click the Online button in the Pro Tools
5 Right-click the Online button in the Pro Tools
Transport and select Transport > Machine.
Transport and select Transport > Machine.
4 Make sure the Pro Tools Transport is online.
6 In the Pro Tools Transport window, click the
Online button to put Pro Tools online. 5 Click Record in the Transport window to arm
recording.
7 In the Pro Tools Transport window, click Re-
cord. The button flashes yellow to indicate Edit 6 Click Play in the Transport window.
Preview (Rehearse) mode.
Your machine will cue to the selection start minus
8 In the Pro Tools Transport window, click Play. all relevant pre-roll, then begin to play back.
The machine cues to the selection in point or in- Pro Tools will then sync to the deck, and the target
sert point and starts playing back. Pro Tools deck will record as determined by your settings for
then syncs to the deck, and the deck records as Record Protocol and Record mode. If you did not
determined by the settings for Record Protocol create an on-screen selection, deck recording will
and Record mode in the Track Arming window. continue until you manually stop playback.

Arming Tracks Remotely for Remote 9-Pin Deck Emulation

Layback Mode
To arm tracks remotely for layback, you need to Remote 9-Pin Deck Emulation mode makes
first configure Track Arming for your machine. Pro Tools operate as a virtual tape deck, support-
ing most standard Sony P2 9-pin commands. For a
To configure Track Arming: list of supported commands, see “9-Pin Com-
1 Make sure your machine is properly connected mands” on page 1324.
and configured to slave to Pro Tools.
2 Open the Track Arming window.
3 Select a Record Protocol (Auto Edit or Punch
In/Out).

Chapter 58: MachineControl 1319

 By default, Pro Tools emulates a Sony BVW-75 6 Choose the appropriate machine profile from
model video deck. You can also configure the Machine Type pop-up menu.
Pro Tools to emulate other machines. For more in-
7 If you want Pro Tools to ignore transport com-
formation, see “Alternate Machine Types” on
mands and just chase LTC, enable Chase LTC.
page 1322.
8 Click OK to close the Peripherals dialog.
For instructions on connecting Pro Tools for
Remote 9-Pin Deck Emulation mode, see 9 In the Transport window, click the Remote but-
“Cables and Connections” on page 1298. ton to put Pro Tools in Remote mode.

Generating Timecode in Remote 9-Pin

Deck Emulation Mode

Pro Tools with MachineControl and a SYNC

peripheral can generate frame-edge aligned time-
code at 1x play speed while in Remote 9-Pin Deck
Emulation mode. Remote button in Transport window

10 Choose Setup > Session, and ensure that the

following settings are configured:
Configuring Remote 9-Pin • The Clock Source should be set to SYNC.
Deck Emulation Mode
• The Clock Reference should be set to Video Ref-
To configure Pro Tools for Remote 9-Pin Deck erence.
Emulation mode:
• If you did not enable Chase LTC, the Positional
1 Choose Setup > Peripherals, and click the Reference should be set to Generate. This is re-
Synchronization tab. quired for Pro Tools to lock to the video refer-
2 Choose SYNC from the Device pop-up menu. ence with frame edge accuracy.
• If you enabled Chase LTC, the Positional Refer-
3 Click the Machine Control tab in the Peripherals
ence should be set to LTC.
dialog.
11 If you will be recording, select a Record mode
4 In the 9-Pin Remote (Deck Emulation) section,
by right-clicking (Windows or Mac) or Control-
select Enable.
clicking (Mac) the Record button in the Trans-
port window.
12 Begin machine playback.

See also “Optimizing Playback in Remote 9-

Remote 9-Pin Deck Emulation mode settings
Pin Deck Emulation Mode” on page 1323.
5 Select the 9-pin MachineControl port from the
Port pop-up menu.

1320 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Selecting Full Remote Mode or • Set the Delay after Play Command preference
Remote/LTC Chase Mode towards 30 frames, to set Pro Tools to behave as
a timecode slave device, by delaying playback
Remote 9-Pin Deck Emulation mode lets a master
until its timecode can properly synchronize.
device control Pro Tools track and transport arm-
ing. Generally, delay should only be added if
Pro Tools is having problems starting and
When Pro Tools is in Remote mode, Remote 9-pin
locking to a machine during playback or re-
Deck Emulation operates in Full Remote mode or
cord. For example, if Pro Tools tries to lock,
in Remote/LTC Chase mode.
and the Transport window lights go from play
When Pro Tools is not in Remote mode, it ignores to shuttle or fast-forward to rewind many
commands from the 9-pin machine controller. times before locking, you should increase the
Pro Tools responds only to requests from the 9-pin Delay After Play setting by a few frames.
machine controller for machine type and status,
and responds that it is in Local mode. Remote/LTC Chase Mode

When Chase LTC is enabled, Pro Tools can still

Full Remote Mode respond to track arming and record commands.
In Remote 9-Pin Deck Emulation mode, when However, Pro Tools will chase incoming LTC in-
Pro Tools is in Remote mode and Chase LTC is not stead of behaving as a master or slave device with
enabled, Pro Tools is in one of the two following the machine controller. By slaving Pro Tools to the
states: LTC source instead of slaving the machine to
Pro Tools timecode, you can avoid the waiting
• When the Delay after Play Command preference
(and tape wear) that occurs while a machine trans-
is set to zero, Pro Tools is set to function as the
port locates and bumps tape to the cue point.
timecode master. Pro Tools locates, then plays
when it gets a play command. In Remote 9-Pin Deck Emulation mode, when
• When the Delay after Play Command preference Pro Tools is in Remote Mode and Chase LTC is
is set towards 30 frames, another machine is the enabled, it communicates record status to the ma-
timecode master. Pro Tools locates, sends time- chine.
code position responses, and when its timecode
Receiving Commands While Chase LTC is
lines up with the timecode master device, goes
Enabled or Disabled
into play in sync with the timecode master de-
vice. When Chase LTC is enabled, Pro Tools waits until
it receives only specific transport record and track
To set the timecode master in Full Remote mode: record commands from the machine.
1 Choose Setup > Preferences, and click the
When Chase LTC is not enabled, Pro Tools listens
Synchronization tab.
to all transport commands coming through the se-
2 In the Remote Mode section, do one of the rial connection, including bump and crawl com-
following: mands necessary for a tape machine to locate.
• Set the Delay after Play Command preference to
zero, to set Pro Tools to behave as the timecode
master.

Chapter 58: MachineControl 1321

 Scrubbing and Chase LTC Remote Mode Section

The Chase LTC option does not affect scrubbing. Ignore Track Arming Sets Pro Tools to ignore in-
Pro Tools video playback will always respond to coming track arming (record enable) commands.
locate and scrubbing command, even if Chase LTC This is useful if you are using a master controller to
is enabled. arm tracks on other machines, but you do not want
to arm tracks in Pro Tools.
Alternate Machine Types Set Servo Lock Bit At Play Enable this option
By default, MachineControl lets Pro Tools emu- when using a synchronizer to control Pro Tools in
late a Sony BVW-75. If you use a machine that fol- Remote mode to minimize lock-up times during
lows a different 9-pin command set, you can con- recording.
figure Pro Tools for that machine’s description.
Allow Track Arm Commands in Local Mode En-
ables a supported third-party paddle device to issue
To configure Pro Tools for an alternate machine:
the following Pro Tools track commands while in
1 Choose Setup > Peripherals, and click the Local mode:
Machine Control tab.
• Input monitoring
2 In the 9-Pin Remote (Deck Emulation) section,
• Record Enable
choose a machine profile from the Machine
Type pop-up menu. • Record Safe
• Solo
3 Click OK.
• Solo Mute
Special settings have been created for specific ma-
chine controllers (such as the Soundmaster ION). See “Using a Paddle Device in Local Mode”
When under the control of a specific machine con- on page 1324.
troller, first check if there is a specific setting for
that machine controller. Punch In Frame Offset Sets an offset in frames to
compensate for punch-in timing advances or de-
lays.

Preferences for Remote 9-Pin Punch Out Frame Offset Sets an offset in frames
Deck Emulation Mode to compensate for punch-out timing advances or
delays.
Pro Tools provides the following preference set-
tings to configure Remote 9-Pin Deck Emulation Delay After Play Command Sets the amount of
Mode options. time (in frames) for Pro Tools to wait after receiv-
ing a Play command before starting the audio en-
gine. This can prevent false starts when locking to
synchronizers that are not fully supported by
Pro Tools.

See “Selecting Full Remote Mode or Remote/LTC

Chase Mode” on page 1321 for more informa-
tion.

1322 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To set Remote 9-Pin Deck Emulation mode Pro Tools must have QuickPunch or TrackPunch
preferences: with tracks enabled when recording in Remote 9-
1 Choose Setup > Preferences, and click the Pin Deck Emulation mode with an edit controller.
Synchronization tab.
Preview Edit and Rehearse modes are not
2 Select or set Machine Control options in the Re- supported by Pro Tools.
mote mode section:
Auto Edit Recording
3 Click OK to close the Preferences dialog.
When a machine sends Auto Edit commands to
Pro Tools in Remote 9-Pin Deck Emulation mode,
Playback in Remote 9-Pin the edit in and out points are converted to a
Deck Emulation Mode Pro Tools Timeline selection. This selection, with
offsets options, will then be used to record on all
Pro Tools plays back audio only when the received armed tracks when Pro Tools receives the Perform
command requires audio playback at 1X speed in Auto Edit Record command.
the forward direction. Reverse playback and vari-
speed playback are not supported in Pro Tools. Punch In/Out Recording

Optimizing Playback in Remote 9-Pin Punch-In/Punch-Out Recording supports punch-

Deck Emulation Mode on-the-fly, with Pro Tools in QuickPunch mode. In
this mode, tracks are armed before the record pass,
When using Remote 9-Pin Deck Emulation mode and recording begins and ends when Punch-In and
with an unsupported synchronizer, clicking Play Punch-Out commands are received form the mas-
may display multiple nudge and bump messages ter machine.
caused by Pro Tools attempting to achieve lock be-
fore the master device has stabilized. QuickPunch must be enabled and the required
voices must be available in Pro Tools for Punch-
The Delay After Play Command preference lets In/Punch-Out recording commands to work. This
you configure a short delay before Pro Tools at- mode must be set manually in Pro Tools.
tempts to lock with the master device. This allows
the master device to stabilize before Pro Tools
locks with it in order to avoid nudge and bump
messages.
Track Arming in Remote
9-Pin Deck Emulation Mode
See “Preferences for Remote 9-Pin Deck Emula-
In Remote 9-Pin Deck Emulation mode, Pro Tools
tion Mode” on page 1322 for more information.
can be configured to either respond to, or ignore,
track arming (record enabling) commands.
Pro Tools communicates track record status back
Recording in Remote 9-Pin to the control machine.
Deck Emulation Mode
MachineControl lets Pro Tools support Auto Edit
(selection-based) and Punch-in/Punch-Out
(QuickPunch) commands.

Chapter 58: MachineControl 1323

 9-Pin Commands
Using a Paddle Device in
In Remote 9-Pin Deck Emulation Mode, Pro Tools Local Mode
with MachineControl can respond to the following
9-pin commands from compatible workstations, When using MachineControl in Local mode (with
synchronizers, and other devices: or without an external synchronizer), you can use a
supported third-party paddle device to issue the
• Play
following Pro Tools track commands:
• Stop • Input monitoring
• Pause • Record Enable
• Rewind
• Record Safe
• Forward • Solo
• Cue To • Solo Mute
• Poll Timecode
Using these features involve the following steps:
• Record Arm Track
1 Connect the supported third-party paddle de-
• Set In/Out Point (for Auto Edit)
vice to your system.
• Set Pre/Post Roll (for Auto Edit)
2 Make sure the Allow Track Arm Commands in
• Perform Auto Edit Record
Local Mode preference is enabled.
• Perform Punch-In/Punch-Out Record
3 Serial Deck Control and Remote 9-Pin Deck
(requires QuickPunch mode and voices)
Emulation ports must be configured simultane-
• Return Status-Online, State, Tracks Armed ously.
• Servo Lock
• Clear “In” Point
Connecting a Supported
Ignore Track Arming Commands Third-Party Paddle Device to
Your Pro Tools System
You can set Pro Tools to ignore incoming track
arming (record-enable) commands. Use this to re- To connect a supported third-party paddle
cord-safe Pro Tools if, for example, you are using device to your Pro Tools system, use the same
a master 9-pin transport controller to arm tracks on method you would use to connect a deck for
several other machines, but not Pro Tools tracks. Remote 9-Pin Deck Emulation mode.
You can still manually arm Pro Tools audio tracks,
as needed. See “Remote 9-Pin Deck Emulation Mode”
on page 1319 for detailed information on
To have Pro Tools ignore remote track arming connecting a machine to Pro Tools.
commands:
1 Choose Setup > Preferences, and click the
Synchronization tab.

2 In the Remote Mode section, select Ignore

Track Arming.

1324 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 6 Choose the appropriate machine profile from
Allow Track Arm Commands the Machine Type pop-up menu.
in Local Mode Preference
See “Serial Deck Control Mode” on
The Allow Track Arm Commands in Local Mode
page 1305 for detailed information about
preference must be enabled in order to control
configuring and using Serial Deck Control
Pro Tools with a paddle device in Local mode.
mode.
To enable the Allow Track Arm Commands in Local
7 In the 9-Pin Remote (Deck Emulation) section,
Mode preference:
select Enable.
1 Choose Setup > Preferences, and click the
Synchronization tab.

2 Select Allow Track Arm Commands in Local

Mode.
Remote 9-Pin Deck Emulation mode settings

Select the 9-pin MachineControl port from the

Configuring Ports for a Deck
8
Port pop-up menu.
and a Supported Third-Party
Paddle Device 9 Choose the appropriate machine profile from
the Machine Type pop-up menu.
Before connecting a paddle device and a deck to
Pro Tools simultaneously, both the Serial Deck 10 Make sure Chase LTC is not selected.
Control port and the Remote 9-Pin Deck Emula- 11 Click OK to close the Peripherals dialog.
tion port may be configured.
To set Pro Tools to Local mode:
To configure Serial Deck Control and Remote 9-Pin
Deck Emulation ports to operate simultaneously:  Right-click the Online button in the Pro Tools
Transport and select Transport > Machine.
1 Choose Setup > Peripherals, and click the
Synchronization tab.

2 Choose SYNC from the Device pop-up menu.

3 Click the Machine Control tab.
4 In the 9-pin Machine Control (Deck Control)
section, select Enable.
Setting Transport to Pro Tools

Configuring MachineControl for Serial Deck Control

5 Select the 9-pin MachineControl port from the

Port pop-up menu.

Chapter 58: MachineControl 1325

 Deck Control Key Commands

Command Mac Windows

Rewind Shift+< Shift+<

Fast Forward Shift+> Shift+>

Shuttle Backward Option+comma Start+comma

Shuttle Forward Option+period Start+period

Toggle Transport Master Command+\ Control+\

All Transport Buttons Off/Unthread Tape Command+period Control+period

Search Mode Toggle (Play-Pause/Stop) Spacebar/ Spacebar/

Command+period Control+period

When Transport = Machine:

Cue to Selection In Point Command+Left Arrow Control+Left Arrow

Cue to Selection Out Point Command+Right Arrow Control+Right Arrow

Cue to Selection In Point Minus Preroll Option+Left Arrow Alt+Left Arrow

Cue to Selection Out Point Minus Preroll Option+Right Arrow Alt+Right Arrow

1326 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Machines, by ID number
Machine IDs ID number Machine
The following table lists the machine profiles sup- 0x2125 BVW-75P
ported in MachineControl by their Pro Tools hexa-
0x4000 DVR-10
decimal ID.
0x4003 DVR-18
For special IDs to support 48-track arming, see “48
0x4002 DVRC-10
Track Profiles” on page 1328.
0x4020 DVR-20
Machines and Hex ID Numbers 0x4022 DVR-28

The first 0x signifies hex value. The next four 0xF019 AJ-D350 (D3)
numbers signify the machine ID. The name of the 0x3011 DVR-2100
associated machine follows.
0x3000 DVR-1000
Machines, by ID number
0x0010 BVH-2000
ID number Machine
0x0011 BVH-2000
0x0000 Generic 1
0x0110 BVH-2000 PS
0x0001 Generic 2
0x0111 BVH-2000 PS
0x1000 BVU-800
0x0018 BVH-2180
0x101C BVU-950
0x0020 BVH-2500
0x1019 BVU-920
0x0120 BVH-2500 PS (UI wrong)
0x1080 BVU-900
0x0030 BVH-2700
0x104C VO-9850
0x0040 BVH-2800
0x1048 VO-9800
0x0048 BVH-2830
0x102C SVO-9600
0x0050 BVH-3000
0x2000 BVW-10
0x0060 BVH-3100
0x2001 BVW-40
0x0150 BVH-3000 PS
0x2002 BVW-11
0x0160 BVH-3100 PS
0x2003 BVW-15
0x2041 PVW-2800
0x2010 BVW-35
0x1211 ASC Virtual Recorder
0x2020 BVW-60
0x1011 Fostex D-10
0x2021 BVW-65
0xF027 Otari R-DAT
0x2022 BVW-95
0x7001 PCM-7030
0x2023 BVW-96
0x7001 TASCAM DA-88
0x2024 BVW-70
0x7003 PCM-800
0x2025 BVW-75
0x7000 PCM-7000

Chapter 58: MachineControl 1327

 Machines, by ID number 48 Track Profiles
ID number Machine
The following are special IDs to support 48-track
0xA088 AG-DS555 arming.
0xA084 AG-DS770
Machines
0x0001 AG-DS7750
IDs for 48-Track Capable Machines
0xF033 AJ D640
ID Machine
0x2051 UVW-1800

0xB000 DVW-500 0x6007 3348HR

0xB010 DVW-500 0x6005 3348HRV

0xA050 V1 0x6003 3324

0x1021 SVP-5600

0x2124 BCB-70

0x2101 BVW-40P

0x8017 DSR-1500A
0x6007 3348HR

0x6005 3348HRV

0x6003 3324

0xA0A1 SoundMaster ATOM

0xD0E1 Pro Tools

0x20E0 HDW-500

0x20A0 SRW-5000

Tascam DA-88 and other decks can be set to

emulate other machines. If a deck is set to em-
ulate another type of machine, the machine
type being emulated will be displayed.

1328 Pro Tools Reference Guide

9-Pin Cable Pinouts

Serial Deck Control Mode Cable:

D Sub 9-Pin Male to D Sub 9-Pin Female (Windows Only)

Chapter 58: MachineControl 1329

 MachineControl Master/Slave Adapter

Serial Deck Control Cable:

Mini DIN 8 Male to D Sub 9-Pin Male (Mac Only)

1330 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Remote 9-Pin Deck Emulation Cable:
Mini DIN 8-Pin to D Sub 9-Pin Female (Mac Only)

Shielding

The outside shielding of the D-Sub 9-pin (female) should be wired to the outside shielding of the Mini DIN
8-pin (male).

Chapter 58: MachineControl 1331

1332 Pro Tools Reference Guide
Chapter 59: Working with Field Recorders in
Pro Tools

Pro Tools Ultimate lets you import multichannel Digital Field Recorders
audio files and metadata recorded by field record-
A field recorder, also known as a hard disk loca-
ers.
tion audio recorder, is a device used by a produc-
tion sound mixer during a film or video shoot to
make a multichannel recording of multiple micro-
Field Recorder and phone inputs recorded simultaneously.
Production Workflow
Terminology Depending on the capabilities and settings of a
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only) 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 Ultimate, you may want to review a drive, DVD-RAM, or Flash media.
brief glossary of common field recorder and pro-
duction terms. Multichannel recordings made by a field recorder
should be encoded with start and end time stamps
representing SMPTE timecode or linear timecode
Field Recorder Terminology
(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.

Chapter 59: Working with Field Recorders in Pro Tools 1333

 The production sound mix is intended to function Production Terminology for All
as a general reference of all audio recorded within Production Workflows
an individual multichannel recording, and is typi-
The following terminology applies to all produc-
cally used by the Avid video editor when assem-
tion workflows:
bling a sequence.
Timecode
Broadcast WAV Files (BWF)
There are four types of timecode, depending on
A WAV file containing a BEXT chunk is known as
your production:
a Broadcast WAV file (or BWF) while still main-
taining a .WAV file extension. Broadcast WAV Keycode Each frame of film stock is embedded
files can contain both BEXT and iXML chunks, or during manufacturing with a unique identifying
a BEXT chunk by itself. timecode position known as keycode.

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

1334 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Production Terminology for Film Telecine and Telecine Videotape
Workflows Only
The Telecine is a machine used to transfer film
The following terminology applies only to film footage and synchronized audio to videotape (re-
workflows: ferred to as the dailies).

Shootlist The telecine videotape contains the dailies. The

SMPTE timecode on the telecine videotape will be
The shootlist is a document in which the camera different from the timecode recorded on location.
assistant records each scene and take relative to its
keycode value on the film stock. It is later used by FLEx File
the telecine operator to synchronize the audio and
video together. The FLEx file is a text file generated during a tele-
cine session that relates film keycode, field re-
Sound Log corder timecode, and telecine videotape timecode.
When the telecine videotape is batch digitized in
The sound log is a document in which the produc- the Avid video editing application, the information
tion sound mixer records each scene and take rela- in the FLEx file is used to assign the original (lo-
tive to its beginning timecode position. cation) timecode to the resulting audio and video
source files.
Slate Operator and Clapboard Information

The slate operator holds and labels the slate (also

known as a clapboard) for each new scene and Supported Field Recorder
take. At the start of each take, the slate operator Audio Files and Metadata
claps the slate, which simultaneously captures the
following information: Pro Tools supports the following audio files re-
corded by field recorders:
• The scene, take, and timecode information is
captured visually on film. • OMF-wrapped media

• The sound of the slate clapping is captured by • MXF

the field recorder, which should be using the • Broadcast WAV (BWF) files with the following
same timecode as displayed on the slate. metadata:
• Both BEXT and iXML chunks
The telecine operator uses all of the information
above to synchronize used film stock to the re- • BEXT metadata but no iXML metadata
corded audio in order to create the telecine video-
tape.

Chapter 59: Working with Field Recorders in Pro Tools 1335

 Displaying Field Recorder Workspace Support for Field
Metadata in Pro Tools Recorder Metadata
You can enable or disable the display of field re- Workspace browsers display the following meta-
corder metadata within clips in the Timeline and data from multichannel recordings made with field
the Clips List. recorders.
• Duration
To enable or disable the display of field recorder
metadata in playlists, do the following: • File Comment
 From View > Clip, select or deselect either of the • Date Modified
following options: • Date Created
• Channel Name • # Channels
• Scene and Take • Format

To show or hide field recorder metadata in the • Sample Rate

Clips List: • Bit Depth
1 Click the Clips List menu, and choose Show. • Original Time Stamp
2 From the Show submenu, select or deselect ei- • User Time Stamp
ther of the following options:
• Tape
• Channel Name
• TC Rate (renamed from FPS)
• Scene and Take
• Channel Names
When enabled in the Clips List, Scene and Take • Scene
metadata are added to every clip when available in
• Take
the corresponding audio file.
• Shoot Date
• Sound Roll
• Sound Roll TC
• Sound Roll TC Rate
• User Bits
• Tape ID
• Project
• Circled
• Clip Name

1336 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To show or hide field recorder metadata in
Workspace browsers: Field Recorder Workflows
 Right-click the column header and select or de- Using Pro Tools Ultimate to work with field re-
select any of the Recorder Metadata types. corder files from a film, video, or digital shoot in-
volves the following steps:
About Tape and Sound Roll 1 Before receiving source files, ensure that meta-
Metadata data have been preserved (“Ensuring Metadata
Avid video editing applications and field recorders of Source Files Have Been Preserved” on
use Tape to represent different kinds of metadata: page 1337).
Avid uses Tape to store the telecine videotape 2 Receive source files (“Receiving Source Files”
name, while a BWF file with a BEXT chunk or on page 1338).
iXML chunk uses Tape to store the name of the
sound roll. 3 Import source files into Pro Tools (“Importing
Source Files into Pro Tools” on page 1339).
To avoid this overlap, Pro Tools preserves Tape
4 Replace edits from the production sound mix
metadata from the Avid video editing application
with audio from different takes of the same
and maintains the Sound Roll and Tape metadata
scene (“Selecting a Matching Field Recorder
from BWF audio files in their respective metadata
Channel to Replace a Clip” on page 1342).
fields.

About Shoot Date Metadata

Ensuring Metadata of Source
Many field recorders do not populate the Shoot Files Have Been Preserved
Date field, relying instead on the file's Creation
Before you receive source files, it is important to
Date to indicate date of production. When
ensure that the files have been prepared properly at
Pro Tools imports a field recorder file, it checks to
each phase of the production process so that their
see if the Shoot Date field is populated. If it is
original metadata is preserved.
empty, Pro Tools copies the Creation Date of the
original file to the Shoot Date field of the new files. If the original metadata has not been preserved,
you can use other types of data (such as File Cre-
Editing the Channel Name ation Date or File Name) to find related channels.
However, the matching process will be easier if
The Channel Names field in the Workspace dis- metadata has been preserved.
plays the channel name, followed the by channel
number in parentheses. You can edit the Channel
name for BWF files. When editing the channel
name, anything you enter in parentheses will be
discarded. However, the channel number will al-
ways be preserved.

Chapter 59: Working with Field Recorders in Pro Tools 1337

 Single Delivery of Source Files
Receiving Source Files
There are two methods the Avid editor may use to
When involved in the audio post-production of ed- prepare the files before exporting them:
ited video sequences, you need both of the follow-
ing sets of source files: • Production source audio has been auto-synced in
the Avid Bin and placed on the Timeline
• AAF or OMF sequence with an edited produc-
tion sound mix synced to video (such as refer- • Production source audio has been auto-synced
enced QuickTime movies or Avid video) and resides only in the Avid Bin

• 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 1339 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 1340. audio files, which have not passed through
Media Composer.

1338 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 9 Choose Link to Source Media (Where Possible)
Importing Source Files into from the Audio Media Options pop-up menu.
Pro Tools
10 Choose Link to Source Media from the Video
This topic describes importing production source Media Options pop-up menu.
audio from the following types of files:
11 In the Source Tracks section, select tracks to im-
• AAF or OMF sequences
port by clicking the pop-up menu to the right of
• Raw production source audio (if received sepa- each track name and selecting Import As New
rately from the AAF or OMF sequence) Track.

To select multiple tracks, Option-click (Mac)

Importing an AAF or OMF
Sequence into Pro Tools or Alt-click (Windows) on any track pop-up
menu and select Import As New Track.
To open an AAF (or OMF) sequence as a Pro Tools
session: 12 Change other parameters.
1 Launch Pro Tools. 13 Click OK.
2 Choose File > Open Session. Pro Tools creates a new Audio Files folder, Video
3 In the Open Session dialog, navigate to the AAF Files folder, cache.wfm file, and session file at the
or OMF sequence you want to import. designated locations. This session matches the au-
dio file type, sample rate, and bit depth of the audio
4 Click Open. in the selected AAF or OMF. Any selected tracks
5 Name your session in the File Name field. in the Source Tracks section of the Import Session
Data dialog are automatically placed in the Time-
6 Select WAV from the Audio File Type pop-up line.
menu.
For more information about importing
7 Select the I/O Settings to use for the session. AAF and OMF sequences in Pro Tools, see
Several pre-configured I/O Settings are in- “Importing AAF and OMF Sequences” on
cluded with your system, or you can select a page 430.
custom I/O Setting that you have created.
8 Click Save.

The Import Session Data dialog appears.

Pro Tools lets you open and import OMF or

AAF sequences that reference audio files with
mixed sample rates or bit depths. Audio files
will be converted to the highest sample rate
and of the files being imported (for new ses-
sions) or to the current sample rate (for exist-
ing sessions). Files with mixed bit depths that
are already at the target sample rate are im-
ported without conversion.

Chapter 59: Working with Field Recorders in Pro Tools 1339

 Importing Raw Production This misalignment results from the incompatibility
Source Audio Directly into between frame-accurate time stamping in Avid
Pro Tools video editing applications and sample-accurate
time stamping in Pro Tools. When you attempt to
If the AAF or OMF sequence you imported into
link the two, the misalignment results.
Pro Tools did not include raw production source
audio, you may import it into the session sepa- In order to repair this discrepancy, you may need to
rately using media supplied by the production manually offset the raw production source audio
sound mixer. after importing it into Pro Tools. Another option is
to use a utility like SynchroArts Titan to process
You can import monophonic or polyphonic audio
and align the source audio.
files from field recorders into Pro Tools using any
of the following methods:
• Using File > Import > Audio, and selecting the
Don’t Convert Sample Rate on
Import Preference
files you want to import.
• Dragging files to the Clips List from the Work- In some workflows, it is common for production
space browser or the desktop. audio to be recorded at 48.048 kHz to accommo-
date for a pull down to 48 kHz applied downstream
In projects with large amounts of production in the workflow. When importing audio at this spe-
audio, it may not be convenient to import all cial sample rate, Pro Tools can either sample rate
production audio into Pro Tools for refer- convert the file to 48 kHz, or pull the file down to
ence. You can set Pro Tools to search for 48 kHz in real time during playback.
matching audio in areas outside the session
If you plan to import audio at 48.048 kHz and want
when it looks for matching field recorder
Pro Tools to apply the 48 kHz pull down in real
files. For more information, see “Select Ar-
time, do the following:
eas to Search” on page 1345.
To set the Don’t Convert Sample Rate on Import
Repairing Audio Misalignment Preference:
When Importing Audio Not
Exported from Avid 1 Choose File > Preferences.

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.

1340 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Designating Field Recorder Displaying Multichannel Files
Tracks from a Field Recorder in the
Clips List
Working with field recorder data often requires
Pro Tools to do additional administrative work to When importing multichannel recordings from a
locate and keep track of production field recorder field recorder, Pro Tools saves the multichannel
channels and metadata. This file handling can be audio as interleaved audio files, which display as
system-intensive when working with large single items in the Clips List.
amounts of data.
In previous versions of Pro Tools, multichannel
Pro Tools lets you specially designate field re- files were saved as separate files, one for each
corder tracks after importing them, ensuring that channel. Pro Tools treats these groups of related
Po Tools only does field-recorder-specific file op- clips as single items. An expand/collapse triangle
erations on channels that actually contain field re- next to an item in the Clips List indicates this type
corder data. of grouped multichannel clip. If you’re working
with material imported by an earlier version of
To designate a field recorder track: Pro Tools, you may see these collective clips.
1 Right-click on the name of the track you want to
For multichannel audio clips imported from field
designate as a field recorder track.
recorders to be shown as collective clips, both
To designate more than one track as a field component clips must have the following proper-
recorder track, select the tracks and right- ties:
click the name of one of the selected tracks. • Same length

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.

If an existing stereo or multichannel grouped clip

To remove the field recorder designation
has been dragged onto multiple mono tracks and
from a track that has been designated, Right-
edited in such a way that one or more components
click its name and deselect the Field Re-
are no longer the same length, the stereo display is
corder Guide Track option.
removed and the clips are displayed as individual
clips in the Clips List.

Chapter 59: Working with Field Recorders in Pro Tools 1341

 2 Do one of the following:
Selecting a Matching Field
Recorder Channel to Replace • With any Edit tool, Right-click the selection you
a Clip want to replace, then select Matching Field Re-
corder Channels from the pop-up menu.
Once you have imported an AAF or OMF se-
• With the Selector tool, Command-option-click
quence into the Timeline, you can replace the orig-
(Mac) or Control-alt-click (Windows) the selec-
inal production sound mix with an equivalent
tion you want to replace.
matching field recorder channel while preserving
the original edits. 3 From the Matching Field Recorder Channels
pop-up menu, select the name of the matching
If the Import Session Data process imported clip that you want to use to replace the original
all production source audio directly into the clip.
Timeline, this procedure is unnecessary.
You can hold Command-option (Mac) or
Replacing a Clip with a Matching Control-alt (Windows) and use the up and
Segment from a Matching Field down arrow keys to step through the list of
Recorder Channel available matches for the selection.

You can replace a mono clip (or selected portion of

a mono clip) with a matching segment of a match- The first time you open the Matching Field
ing field recorder channel that was recorded simul- Recorder Channels menu for a certain clip,
taneously. Any fades performed on the original Pro Tools must search for matching chan-
clip are automatically applied to the replacement nels, and displays “Searching for metadata in
clip, and any pre-existing automation on that track the background.” Close and open the menu
is unchanged. again once the search is complete to see the
found matches.
Using this feature is especially useful when
combining it with duplicating the production
sound mix track. For example, you could re- If the production sound mixer entered the
place the audio from a boom microphone channel name (or some other descriptive
with the audio from a lavalier microphone— reference) during shooting, the Matching
while preserving any edits or fades from the Field Recorder Channels pop-up menu dis-
original edited production sound mix in the plays this information.
AAF or OMF sequence.
4 Repeat this procedure for every clip you want to
To replace a clip with a matching field recorder replace on each track.
channel:
To cycle through matches for the selected clip,
1 In the Timeline, make a selection that includes press Command+Option+Up/Down Arrows
or overlaps the clip or portion of the clip you (Mac) or Control+Alt+Up/Down Arrows
want to replace. (Windows).

1342 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Conditions for Matching Field Field Recorder Channels Match Criteria
Recorder Channel Availability
For maximum flexibility, the Field Recorder
By default, a matching field recorder channel is Channels Match Criteria dialog lets you set the cri-
available to replace the original channel (repre- teria Pro Tools uses to find matching field recorder
sented by the clip or portion of a clip selected on channels.
the Timeline) if all of the following are true:
• Both channels are part of a multichannel part of
a recording made simultaneously on one or more
field recorders.
• Both channels overlap at least once between
their start timecode and end timecode positions.
• Criteria set in the Match Criteria dialog is met.
• The metadata embedded during shooting and re-
cording has been preserved prior to import into
Pro Tools.

For information on how to ensure that meta-

data have been properly preserved in your
source files, see “Ensuring Metadata of
Source Files Have Been Preserved” on
page 1337.
Field Recorder Channels Match Criteria window
However, different field recorders can behave dif-
ferently, and in some cases, available metadata can You can find matches using any or all of the fol-
be incorrect, incomplete, or missing. To aid in lowing identifying data points:
finding matching field recorder channels in these
File Creation Date The date the files were created,
situations, Pro Tools lets you control its channel
as specified by the operating system.
match criteria.
Shoot date The shoot date of the content, as spec-
ified by iXML metadata.

Scene The scene number of the content, as speci-

fied by iXML metadata.

Chapter 59: Working with Field Recorders in Pro Tools 1343

 Scene and Take The scene number and take num- To set match criteria:
ber, as specified by iXML metadata. 1 Do one of the following:
Matching channels by take can only be done • In the Edit window, Right-click on a mono clip,
if also matching by scene. and choose Matching Field Recorder Channels >
Match Criteria from the pop-up menu.
Tape Name The tape name, as specified by iXML
• In the Edit window, Command-option click
metadata, must match the tape name of the guide
(Mac) or Control-alt-click (Windows) on a
file.
mono clip, and choose Field Recorder Channel
Sound Roll Name The sound roll name, as speci- Match Criteria from the pop-up menu.
fied by iXML metadata, must match the sound roll • Right-click the name plate of the track you want
name of the guide file. to find matches for, and choose Field Recorder
Channel Match Criteria from the pop-up menu.
Sound Roll Name to Tape Name The tape name,
as specified by iXML metadata, matches the sound 2 In the Field Recorder Channels Match Criteria
roll name of the guide file. window, select the matching conditions you
want Pro Tools to search.
Tape Name to Sound Roll Name The sound roll
name, as specified by iXML metadata, matches the 3 Choose ANY or ALL from the Match Timecode
tape name of the guide file. Plus pop-up menu. Choosing ANY will find
matches based on any one of the criteria you’ve
When matching by the above criteria, set. Choosing ALL will require that all of the
Pro Tools will accept timecode matches in criteria you’ve set must be matched for
both Original Time Stamp and Sound Roll Pro Tools to consider a prospective match valid.
Timecode.
When looking for the largest number of
First X Characters in File Name Matches files matches, choose ANY. Then, you can use
based on a user-specified number of characters in ALL to narrow down your matches to a spe-
the file name, starting at the beginning. cific shoot date, channel name, or other
Channel Name The channel name, as specified by identifying data point.
iXML metadata.
4 In future searches for matching field recorder
Channel Number The channel number, as speci- channels, Pro Tools will follow the guidelines
fied by iXML metadata. you’ve set, until you change them again.

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.

1344 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Select Areas to Search 6 Do one of the following:

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 1345.

The Select Areas to Search option lets you specify Re-Indexing

additional locations (such as alternate folders or
hard drives) for Pro Tools to search for matches. When new audio is added to one of the designated
search areas, Pro Tools must index the contents of
To select areas to search for matching field that folder before the new audio can be accessed.
recorder tracks:
1 Right-click the name of a field recorder track. To re-index all alternate search areas:
1 In the Field Recorder Channels Match dialog,
2 Click Select Areas to Search.
click Select Areas to Search.
2 Click Save & Index to save the current settings
and re-index all search areas in the list.

Missing Search Folders

Folders that you select as search areas can go miss-

ing for a variety of reasons (such as deletion or the
absence of a needed hard drive). If a folder is miss-
ing, Pro Tools shows an error message when you
open the Select Areas to Search dialog. The miss-
ing path name is displayed in the list in gray-col-
Select Areas to Search dialog ored italic text.
3 Navigate to a folder or hard drive you want
Field recorder files imported through
Pro Tools to search for matches.
searches outside the session are always im-
4 Click Choose to confirm your choice. ported as .WAV if any conversion needs to
take place, to preserve the field recorder
Pro Tools will show an error message if you metadata. Session file type selected in the
try to add a subfolder whose parent folder is Session Setup window is ignored.
already in the list of search areas.

5 To delete a search area from the list, select it and

click the Minus (–) button.

Chapter 59: Working with Field Recorders in Pro Tools 1345

 2 Click the Expand Channels to New Tracks sub-
Expanding Matching Field menu, and select one of the following methods
Recorder Channels to New by which to expand matching field recorder
Tracks channels for the selection to new tracks:
When working with a mono clip that is part of a • By Match Criteria
multichannel recording, you can expand that clip
• By Timecode Only
(or a selected portion of it) to new tracks that re-
flect its matching channels while preserving any When expanding only a portion of the clips on
edits or fades. a track, the By Match Criteria option will be
grayed out if there are no valid matches
Matching field recorder channels are mono
found, or if the ANY option is chosen in the
channels that were usually recorded simulta-
Field Recorder Channels Match Criteria dia-
neously with the original clip (such as multi-
log and no criteria are selected.
channel recordings made by one or more
field recorders). For information on setting
the detailed criteria that matching channels See “Determining the Method of Expanding
must meet, see “Conditions for Matching Matching Field Recorder Channels to New
Field Recorder Channel Availability” on Tracks” on page 1347 for more information
page 1343. on how each of these options expand to new
tracks.
For example, this feature lets you easily create dif-
ferent versions of an edited dialogue track corre- If matching field recorder channels are available,
sponding to multiple channel inputs (microphones) Pro Tools expands them (plus the channel repre-
that were recorded simultaneously. sented in the original track) to new tracks accord-
ing to the chosen parameters.
To expand matching field recorder channels to
new tracks:

1 In the Timeline, do one of the following:

• To expand a single clip on a single track, right-
click the clip.
• To expand a portion of the clips on the track,
make a selection that includes or overlaps any
number of clips, and Command-option-click
(Mac) or Control-alt-click (Windows) the selec-
tion.
• To expand all of the clips on a mono track,
Result of expanding a selection to new tracks
Right-click the track’s name plate.

The channel you plan to expand must be

mono.

1346 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Naming and Sorting Expanded
Determining the Method of Channels
Expanding Matching Field
Recorder Channels to New For maximum flexibility, Pro Tools lets you con-
Tracks trol the naming and sorting of new channels cre-
ated by the Expand Channels to New Tracks by
Matching field recorder channels may be ex- Match Criteria command.
panded to new tracks based on the channel match
criteria specified in the Field Recorder Channels This parameter can be set in the Field Recorder
Match Criteria dialog (For more info, see “Field Channels Match Criteria dialog (for more info, see
Recorder Channels Match Criteria” on page 1343), “Field Recorder Channels Match Criteria” on
or by timecode only. page 1343.)

How Tracks Are Named When Expanding

Expanding Matching Field Matching Field Recorder Channels by Channel
Recorder Channels by Match Name
Criteria
Tracks expanded this way are named as follows:
Choosing Expand Channels to New Tracks > By
Match Criteria creates a new track for each unique • For unique channel names that create only one
channel found in matching channels of the selec- track, each track is named using the original
tion that meets the criteria you’ve specified. track’s name plus the channel name. For exam-
ple, expanding the unique channel name Boom
If channels with duplicate match criteria (such as from the track Guide.A1 would create a new
Channel Name or Channel Number) are encoun- track called Guide.A1.Boom.
tered, additional tracks are created for each dupli-
• For unique channel names that create two or
cate channel. The new channels share the name of
more tracks, each of the new tracks that share
the original channel they were expanded from, ap-
channel names are named by appending a pe-
pended with a period, followed by an identifying
riod, followed by an identifying number. The
number. The first matching channel will be ap-
first matching channel will be appended by .2,
pended by .2, the second by .3, and so on.
the second by .3, and so on. For example, ex-
Each new track contains only channels that match panding the duplicate channel names Boom from
according to the specified match criteria, with edits the track Guide.A1 would create Guide.A1.2 and
and fades preserved from the original selection. Guide.A1.3.
Gaps reflect clips from the original selection that
did not have a matching channel with that channel
name.

Chapter 59: Working with Field Recorders in Pro Tools 1347

 How Tracks Are Named When Expanding • For unique channel name and number combina-
Matching Field Recorder Channels by Channel tions that create two or more tracks, each of the
Number new tracks that share channel name and numbers
Tracks expanded this way are named as follows: are named by appending a period, followed by
an identifying number. The first matching chan-
• For unique channel numbers that create only one nel will be appended by .2, the second by .3, and
track, each track is named using the original so on. For example, expanding the duplicate
track’s name plus the channel number. For ex- channel names Boom.A1 from the track
ample, expanding the unique channel number Guide.A1 would create Guide.A1.A1.2 and
A1 from the track Guide.A1 would create a new Guide.A1.A1.3.
track called Guide.A1.A1.
• For unique channel number that create two or Expanding Matching Field
more tracks, each of the new tracks that share Recorder Channels by Timecode
channel numbers are named by appending a pe- Only
riod, followed by an identifying number. The
first matching channel will be appended by .2, The Expand Channels To New Tracks By Time-
the second by .3, and so on. For example, ex- code Only command lets you expand an entire
panding the duplicate channel numbers A1 from track or only selected clips to new playlists on the
the track Guide.A1 would create Guide.A1.A1.2 same track or to new separate tracks, thus reveal-
and Guide.A1.A1.3. ing all other clips recorded at the same timecode
location, regardless of channel name or number.
How Tracks Are Named When Expanding This is especially useful when expanding edited
Matching Field Recorder Channels by Channel guide tracks to original source audio that was re-
Name & Number corded while referenced to timecode, but where
channel names or numbers were not written to the
Tracks expanded this way are named as follows:
audio files.
• For unique channel name and number combina-
tions that create only one track, each track is When finding matches by timecode only,
named using the original track’s name plus the Pro Tools will reference both Original Time Stamp
channel name and number. For example, ex- and Sound Roll Timecode. If a cross-match is
panding the unique channel name and number found between Tape and Sound Roll Name (or vice
combination Boom.A1 from the track Guide.A1 versa) Pro Tools will also look for cross-matches
would create a new track called between Original Time Stamp and Sound Roll
Guide.A1.Boom.A1. Timecode.

1348 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Example Workflow: Working Relinking the Original Unedited Guide Track
with a Guide Track
After importing the AAF (or OMF) sequence and
For live concert videos, the video is captured sep- original source audio files into the session, it is rec-
arately while the audio is recorded in Pro Tools. ommended that you relink the edited guide track to
The video editor will use a guide audio track that is the original unedited source audio.
edited along with the video in their video editing
software (such as Avid Media Composer). The ed- To relink the original unedited guide track:
ited guide track is then returned to Pro Tools, but it 1 Open a Workspace browser. Select your session
needs to be expanded to the conformed original in the Locations column, then open or expand
source tracks for mixing and mastering. the Session Audio Files folder.
1 Multitrack audio is recorded in Pro Tools while 2 Right-click the edited guide track audio file in
chasing timecode. A mono or stereo mix is re- the browser and choose Relink Selected Items.
corded simultaneously as a guide track for the
video editor. 3 In the upper pane of the Relink window, navi-
gate to the original unedited guide track audio
2 The picture and audio guide tracks are edited in file that was recorded in Pro Tools.
a video editing application (such as Avid
Media Composer). If the original unedited file is not available,
you can relink to any of the source audio files
3 The edited audio guide tracks are exported from
as long as they have the same start and end
the video editor as an AAF (or OMF) sequence,
times as the guide track.
including handles of at least 2 frames.
4 The AAF (or OMF) sequence is imported into 4 In the Select Files To Relink pane, select the ed-
Pro Tools as a new session. ited guide track file.

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 1349).
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.

Chapter 59: Working with Field Recorders in Pro Tools 1349

 Shooting (Film Workflow)
Film Workflow
1 Shooting proceeds as follows:
This topic describes the film workflow from shoot-
• Film camera begins rolling.
ing to the point where the Avid editor is ready for
editing, and is intended for the following parties: • One or more field recorders begin recording.
The production sound mixer has designated one
• Camera assistant
or two channels as a production sound mix,
• Camera operator which is a consolidation of one or more channels
• Production sound mixer in each multichannel recording.

• Telecine operator 2 During shooting, the following timecode infor-

mation is captured:
• Pro Tools editor
• The camera captures images to film, each frame
Overview of Film Workflow of which is embedded during manufacturing
with a unique identifying timecode position
The following describes an overview of the steps
known as keycode.
necessary to a film workflow:
• One or more field recorders simultaneously
1 Set up before shooting.
make multichannel recordings that are embed-
2 Shoot. ded with SMPTE timecode based on time of day
(or longitudinal timecode).
3 Telecine transfer.
3 During shooting, the following information is
4 Batch digitize in Avid video editing application.
noted:
Following these steps ensures that timecode meta- • The camera assistant keeps a written record
data are preserved from the moment shooting be- (called a shootlist) documenting each scene and
gins to the final delivery of source files to the take with a corresponding keycode position.
Pro Tools editor.
• The production sound mixer also keeps a written
record (also called a sound log) documenting
Setting Up Before Shooting each scene and take with a corresponding time-
(Film Workflow) code position.
Before each day’s shooting begins, the production 4 The slate operator claps the slate to indicate the
sound mixer should decide on a unique name— beginning of the take. The field recorder records
preferably ascending by day—and enter that exact the audio of the clap, and the film camera cap-
name in the Tape BEXT or iXML metadata field tures the following images:
inside the Broadcast WAV file.
• Scene and take number (written on the slate)
For example, the production sound mixer might • Exact moment the slate closes
use T001 for the first day’s shooting, T002 for the
• Timecode position of the slate closing
second day’s shooting, and so forth.
5 Shooting ends and the take is complete.

1350 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Telecine Transfer (Film 6 Play back the film and audio to test that they are
Workflow) synchronized. If they are not synchronized,
make small manual adjustments as needed until
When shooting is complete for the day, the follow-
the film and audio are synchronized.
ing components are delivered to the telecine oper-
ator: 7 Once the film and audio are properly synchro-
• Processed film stock nized, lock the film and audio in place.

• 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

3 Using the camera assistant’s shootlist, locate the • Sound log

film frame representing the first keycode posi- • Location audio media
tion of the film in the shootlist (which should be
just before the slate is clapped).
4 Locate the film to the first frame where the slate
clap occurs, and note the timecode position dis-
played on the slate.
5 Locate the audio to the exact timecode position
listed on the slate in the film frame (which lines
up the audio with the film).

Chapter 59: Working with Field Recorders in Pro Tools 1351

 Batch Digitizing the Telecine 4 In the Avid Bin, select the items you want to
Videotape to Digital Files (Film capture.
Workflow)
5 Load the telecine videotape into the Avid, and
This phase of the workflow begins after the Avid begin the batch digitize.
editor receives the following components from the
telecine operator: The Avid automatically batch digitizes the scenes
and takes selected in the Avid Bin, and uses the
• Telecine videotape
FLEx file to assign each of the digitized video and
• FLEx file audio files with the timecode information match-
• Shootlist ing the original keycode and timecode information
from the shoot.
• Sound log
6 When the batch digitize is complete, use the
In some cases, you may also receive location Avid video editing application to edit audio and
audio from the production sound mixer. video.

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.

To batch digitize a telecine videotape to digital

source files:
Video and Fully Non-Linear
1 In the Avid video editing application, import all Workflows
relevant FLEx files into Avid Log Exchange.
This topic describes both video and fully non-lin-
Avid Log Exchange displays a list of all scene and ear workflows from shooting to the point where
take combinations, with associated film keycode, the Avid editor is ready for editing, and is intended
audio timecode, and relative videotape timecode. for the following parties:
2 In Avid Log Exchange, select the items in the • Camera assistant
FLEx file that represent the scenes and takes • Camera operator
you want to batch digitize from the videotape.
• Production sound mixer
3 Process the selected scenes and takes in the • Avid editor
FLEx file. Avid Log Exchange sends the se-
lected items to the Avid video editing applica- • Pro Tools editor
tion, where they are loaded into the Bin as
offline media.

Any metadata required for matching (such as

Tape name) should be visible in the undigi-
tized clips.

1352 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Overview of Video and Fully Non-Linear Matching Tape Name to Sound Roll Metadata
Workflows for Fully Non-Linear Shoots

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

(Video and Fuly Non-Linear • Camera begins rolling.

Workflows) • One or more field recorders begin recording.
Before shooting begins, the camera operator and The production sound mixer has designated one
the production sound mixer should ensure the fol- or two channels as a production sound mix,
lowing: which is a consolidation of one or more channels
in each multichannel recording.
• The field recorder’s audio output feeds the video
camera’s audio input. 2 During shooting, the following timecode infor-
• Both the field recorder and the video camera mation is captured:
should be locked to the same production time- • The camera captures images to video or file em-
code. bedded with SMPTE timecode based on time of
day (or longitudinal timecode).
Matching Tape Name to Sound Roll Metadata
for Video Shoots • One or more field recorders simultaneously
make multichannel recordings that are embed-
Before loading the videotape into the video cam- ded with SMPTE timecode based on time of day
era, the camera operator physically labels the vid- (or longitudinal timecode).
eotape with a unique name. The production sound
mixer must enter that exact name in the Tape
BEXT or iXML metadata field inside the Broad-
cast WAV file.

After you import a file containing Tape meta-

data into Pro Tools, the metadata displays in
the Sound Roll field in Workspace browsers.

Chapter 59: Working with Field Recorders in Pro Tools 1353

 3 The slate operator claps the slate to indicate the When you are finished editing, export the edited
beginning of the take. The field recorder records sequence as an AAF or OMF sequence so that it
the audio of the clap, and the film camera cap- can be imported into Pro Tools.
tures the following images:
• Scene and take number (displayed on the slate) Importing Digital Video Directly
• Exact moment the slate closes
into the Avid Video Editing
Application
• Timecode position of the slate closing (Fully Non-Linear Workflow Only)
4 Shooting ends and the take is complete. This phase of the workflow begins after the Avid
editor receives the following components from the
Digitizing a Videotape in the camera operator and the production sound mixer:
Avid Video Editing Application • Digital video (on flash card, hard drive, or some
(Video Workflow Only) other file-based storage)
This phase of the workflow begins after the Avid • Multichannel recordings
editor receives the following components from the
camera operator and the production sound mixer: In a fully non-linear workflow, the Avid editor
simply has to import the video and audio media
• Videotape
into the Avid video editing application in order to
• Multichannel recordings edit them.

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.

1354 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Chapter 60: Working with Video in Pro Tools

Pro Tools lets you do the following:

Avid Video Engine (AVE)
• Create a single video track and import Avid or
QuickTime video to the Timeline Pro Tools uses the Avid Video Engine (AVE) for
video playback. AVE lets you simultaneously
• Organize and group video clips in the Timeline
view desktop video (native video) and video mon-
much like audio clips
itored using a supported Avid or third-party video
• Lock video tracks peripheral. AVE provides support for a wide range
• Extract audio from QuickTime of QuickTime and Avid HD and SD MXF video
formats on Pro Tools video tracks without
• Scrub audio in tandem with video
transcoding (including Avid DNxHD).
• View video in the Video window or output it
through an Avid supported video peripheral to To enable the Avid Video Engine for Pro Tools:
an external monitor
1 Choose Setup > Playback Engine.
• Bounce the video track to QuickTime
2 Enable the Video Engine option to use Pro Tools
Pro Tools Ultimate also lets you do the following: with the Avid Video Engine.
• Import multiple video files into the Timeline 3 Click OK.
• Create and edit up to 64 video tracks with Quick-
Time and Avid video in the Timeline Support for Avid Video
• Select from multiple video playlists on each Peripherals and Third-party
video track
Video Hardware
• Organize, group, and edit video clips with audio Pro Tools and Pro Tools Ultimate software sup-
clips ports external video monitoring with qualified
video hardware. Using the Avid Video Engine,
• Manage multiple video clips in the Clips List
Pro Tools provides support for monitoring
• Undo multiple video operations DNxHD and QuickTime media using
Media Composer | Nitris DX,
Media Composer | Mojo DX, and Avid-qualified
third-party video interfaces.

Chapter 60: Working with Video in Pro Tools 1355

 To enable (or disable) external video monitoring
with qualified video hardware: Before Starting Your Project
1 Ensure that your Avid or Avid-qualified third- Before you start any project that requires working
party video hardware is correctly installed and with video, consider the following:
configured.
Frame Rate Before receiving video, find out the
2 Select (or deselect) Options > Enable Video frame rate. Use this frame rate when setting the
Hardware. frame rate of your Pro Tools sessions and when
capturing video.

QuickTime Movie Support in Creator Application and Codec Before receiving

Pro Tools video as media files, find out the application and
codec used to create those files. Then confirm that
Pro Tools supports the import, playback, and edit- you can play those files in Pro Tools. It is always a
ing of QuickTime movies. good idea to get a sample file in advance.

Video Timecode Burn-in Before receiving video

QuickTime Required files, request that the timecode display to be
QuickTime must be installed if you plan to include “burned in” (superimposed) if possible. This will
movie files, or import MP3 or MP4 (AAC) files in help you place the file at the correct timecode loca-
your Pro Tools sessions. QuickTime for Windows tion in the Pro Tools Timeline.
is available as a free download from the Apple
Sufficient Space on Video Drives Ensure suffi-
website (www.apple.com).
cient space is available on separate dedicated
For information on which version of Quick- video-only drives. Video files take up significantly
Time is compatible with your version of more space and bandwidth than audio. It is recom-
Pro Tools, visit www.avid.com. mended that video files be kept on separate drives
from audio files to help avoid performance prob-
Supported QuickTime Movies lems.

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).

1356 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Play Start Latency
Pro Tools Video Preferences
If you are working on a slower computer, set the
Play Start Latency setting to a higher value. The
range is from 1-Shortest to 5-Longest.

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 Ultimate lets you add multiple video
Enable GPU tracks to the Timeline, with multiple video play-
Pro Tools video processing is done on the GPU lists and multiple video files per track.
(Graphics Processing Unit) in order to free up the • Pro Tools Ultimate lets you mix QuickTime and
CPU for Pro Tools audio and MIDI. If you are us- Avid video tracks in the Timeline (but not on the
ing a slower GPU and encounter poor video play- same 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.

For more information, see “Importing Video into

Enable Hardware During Scrub
Pro Tools” on page 1367.
When selected, the Enable Hardware During Scrub
option lets you monitor video using video hard- To create a new video track with
Pro Tools Ultimate:
ware (such as Avid Mojo DX or Nitris DX video
peripherals) while scrubbing. When this option is 1 Choose Track > New.
disabled, you can only monitor video in the 2 Select Video Track from the Track Type pop-up
Pro Tools Video window while scrubbing. If you menu.
experience performance issues when scrubbing
video while monitoring video using video hard- 3 Enter the number of new video tracks.
ware, disable this option. 4 Click Create.

Chapter 60: Working with Video in Pro Tools 1357

 A new empty video track appears. Video tracks Multiple Codecs on an Individual
may appear slightly different depending on your Video Track
system configuration or the type of video added to (Pro Tools Ultimate Only)
a video track.
A single video track can contain video clips com-
pressed with different video codecs of the same
type of video. For example, you can add Quick-
Time files that were compressed using multiple co-
decs to the same video track.

However, once the first video file has been added

to a session, all additional video files added to the
Timeline must have the same video frame rate as
Empty video track
the first video file.
Multiple Video Tracks in the
Timeline
(Pro Tools Ultimate Only) Main Video Track
You can add multiple video tracks to the Timeline, The main video track is the video track that is cur-
but only one video track can be played back at a rently online, and will be played back with any au-
time. This track is known as the main video track. dio in the session.

When the main video track is offline, you can play

Multiple Video Track Playlists back the audio in your session without playing
(Pro Tools Ultimate Only) back the video. When the video is offline, the
Video Online button changes to gray so you can
Playlists provide an easy way of changing back
tell at a glance whether your video is offline or
and forth between alternate versions of a video
simply playing black fill.
track.
If no video track is currently online, the main video
You can perform all of the same operations with
track is the video track that was last online.
video playlists as you can with audio playlists, in-
cluding: To select the main video track:
• Duplicating a playlist
 Click the Video Online button of any track that
• Creating a playlist is offline (gray) to put it online (blue), making
• Assigning a playlist to another video track that track the main video track.
• Renaming a playlist
• Deleting a playlist

For more information, see Chapter 32,

“Playlists.”

Video Online button (online)

1358 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Frames View Performance
Video Track Controls and
Indicators When using Frames View to view video content in
the video track, your computer may exhibit re-
Video Track View duced or sluggish performance. If this happens on
your computer, hide the video track or switch to
The video track can be viewed in Frames View or Blocks View.
in Blocks View, both of which display all video
clip boundaries and metadata. Video frame images
Blocks View
are displayed only in Frames View.
In Blocks View, video frames are replaced by col-
When switching from Blocks mode to Frames ored blocks.
mode during playback, the video track will
not update to displaying frames until play-
back is stopped.

To set the view for the video track:

 On the video track, select Frames or Blocks

Video track in Blocks View
from the View Options pop-up menu.
Video Track Type Icons
Frames View
A video track displays a QuickTime icon if there is
In Frames View, video data is displayed as pictures QuickTime video on the track. No icon is dis-
in the video track. These pictures are computed played for Avid video or when the video track is
based on the video image, and scale according to empty.
your track zoom and height settings. They allow
you to easily find a scene or sequence in the video QuickTime
track. icon

Video track in Frames View

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.

If video pull up or pull down is enabled, frames do

not change position.

Chapter 60: Working with Video in Pro Tools 1359

 Video Online Button
Video Track Settings
The Video Online button lets you select the main
video track, switch that track online or offline, and Pro Tools provides Video track settings for Project
see at a glance by color whether a video track is of- Type, Output, and for Video Quality on playback.
fline (gray) or online (blue).
To view (or hide) Video track controls in the Edit
window:

 Select (or deselect) View > Edit Window Views >

I/O.

Project Type
Video Quality
Output Settings

New Video Track controls

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 Ultimate, press Shift+J to cy- Project Type setting.
cle through all shown video tracks to deter-
mine which one is online.

1360 Pro Tools Reference Guide

The following Project Type video resolutions are Supported Video Formats
available (depending on your media and the ses- Video Pro Tools Video
sion setup): Video
Reference Frame Output
Format
Rate Rate Format*
Supported Video Formats

Video Pro Tools Video 1080p/ 1080psf/ 23.976 1080psf/

Video 23.976 23.98 23.98
Reference Frame Output
Format
Rate Rate Format*
1080p/ 1080psf/ 24 1080psf/
30i NTSC NTSC 29.97 NTSC 24 24 24

25i PAL PAL 25 PAL 1080p/ 1080psf/50 25 1080psf/

25 or PAL 50
23.976p NTSC 23.976 NTSC
NTSC 1080p/ 1080psf/ 29.97 1080psf/
29.97 29.97 or 29.97
24p NTSC 24 NTSC NTSC
NTSC

24p PAL PAL 24 PAL

* The video output format may be displayed on the
external monitor.
25p PAL PAL 25 PAL
QuickTime Media
720p/ 720p/ 23.976 720p/
23.976 59.94 or 59.94 When importing a QuickTime movie, the follow-
NTSC
ing conditions may apply:
720p/25 720p/25 or 25 720p/25
PAL Pro Tools automatically sets the Frame Rate and
Project Type on import based on the QuickTime
720p/ 720p/ 29.97 720p/ movie’s frame rate and resolution.
29.97 59.94 or 59.94
NTSC If multiple project types are possible, Pro Tools
720p/50 720p/50 or 25 720p/50 lets you select the Project Type from the best pos-
PAL sible matches available.
720p/ 720p/ 29.97 720p/ If the frame rate is close to a whole value,
59.94 59.94 or 59.94 Pro Tools rounds to the nearest frame rate (for ex-
NTSC
ample, 29.972 is rounded to 29.97)
1080i/ 50 1080i/50 or 25 1080i/50
PAL For imported QuickTime media of an unknown
Project Type (such as stills or screen captures),
1080i/ 1080i/ 29.97 1080i/ change the Project Type setting to best match other
59.94 59.94 or 59.94
video in the session.
NTSC

Command-click (Mac) or Control-click

(Windows) to override Pro Tools and select
and Project Type.

Chapter 60: Working with Video in Pro Tools 1361

 Output Settings Output Settings Options

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.

To configure the Output Settings for your video

peripheral:

1 On an existing Video track or on a newly cre-

ated Video track, click the Output Settings but-
ton.
2 If a Mojo DX or a Nitris DX is connected, the
Video Output Tool opens. If a third-party video
peripheral is connected (such as an Avid sup-
ported Blackmagic or AJA video peripheral), its
control panel is opened.
3 Configure the Output Settings for your Avid
Video peripheral or the third-party control panel
as desired.

Video Output Tool, Options tab (Nitris DX hardware)

One or more of the following options are available

in the Video Output Tool dialog depending on
your video hardware, project type, and video reso-
lutions. The Video Output Tool is not available
with systems that do not use Avid video hardware.
For systems that use third-party hardware (such as
Avid supported Blackmagic or AJA video periph-
erals), the Output Settings button launches the con-
trol panel for your video hardware.

1362 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Sync Lock HDMI Color Space

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

• Internal When working with SD video, this setting pro-

• Loop Through vides the following options:
• Ref 1 • SD Interlaced
• Ref 2 • SD Progressive

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

NTSC Has Setup

This option determines the correct color mapping

for systems depending on whether or not you are
using NTSC-EIAJ. NTSC-EIAJ users should not
select this option. All other users should select this
option.

Video Reference formats in the Session Setup window

Chapter 60: Working with Video in Pro Tools 1363

 Video Output Tool Calibration Settings Sat Lets you adjust saturation, a measurement of
(Nitris DX Only) chrominance or the intensity of color in the video
signal. Available for S Video or Composite out-
In the Video Output Tool window, click the Cali- put.
bration tab to configure the calibration settings for
SC Phase Lets you adjust the subcarrier phase
video output.
(the color-burst portion of a signal used to syn-
chronize the timing of two or more video signals).
Available for S Video or Composite output.

Setup Lets you set the relative lightness and dark-

ness of images. Available for S Video, Compo-
nent, or Composite output.

Gain Lets you adjust the variation of the lightest or

brightest in comparison to the darkest portions of
the image. Available for S Video or Composite
output.

Y Gain, Pr Gain, Pb Gain Available for Compo-

nent output only.

Y Gain—Lets you adjust Y Gain, a measurement

of luma (Y) in the video signal that is the whitest
point in the visible picture. Use color bars to set the
white level.

Pb Gain—Lets you adjust the gain of the Pb color-

Video Output Tool, Calibration tab (Composite output difference signal (a scaled version of the BY sig-
selected) nal) of an analog component system.
Output Menu for Non-HD Video Pr Gain—Lets you adjust the gain of the Pr color-
The Output selector lets you select either Compo- difference signal (a scaled version of the RY sig-
nent, Composite, S Video for non-HD projects.
nal) of an analog component system.

On some systems, all outputs on your video hard- System Phase

ware are active. Select an analog signal from the Some Avid video hardware configurations let you
Output menu to calibrate the output. modulate the timing of the output signal and a ref-
Hue Lets you adjust an attribute of color percep- erence signal. This option is available for S Video,
tion based on varying proportions of red, green, Component, or Composite output.
and blue in the video signal (also known as color
phase). Available for S Video or Composite out- SubPixel HPhase
put. The SubPixel HPhase setting provides a fine ad-
justment of Horizontal phase. Available for
S Video, Component, or Composite output.

1364 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Output Menu for HD Video The following options are available:
The Output menu lets you select HD Component Full Quality
output, Convert to HD Component RGB, or
HD Component YPbPr. Select the Full Quality option to process and play
back the full image raster for the project. Full Qual-
Gain Lets you adjust a measurement of luma (Y) in ity uses a bit depth of 8 bits. This option provides
the video signal that is the whitest point in the vis- the highest video playback quality by processing
ible picture. Use color bars to set the white level. every image pixel. In interlaced projects, this op-
Available on some systems for HD Compo- tion processes the full width of every line in both
nent RGB or HD Component YPbPr output. fields. In progressive projects, this option pro-
Pb Gain For some Avid video hardware configura- cesses the full width of every scan line.
tions, the Pb Gain setting lets you adjust the gain of
Full Quality 10-bit
the Pb color difference output, scaled from BY us-
ing the BT. 709 color space in HD component sys- Select the Full Quality 10-bit option to process and
tems. This setting is available for HD Compo- play back the full image raster for the project. This
nent YPbPr output. option uses a bit depth of 10 bits, which provides
higher quality processing. This options is only
Pr Gain For some Avid video hardware configura-
available with video hardware connected.
tions, the Pr Gain setting lets you adjust the gain of
the Pr color-difference signal (a scaled version of
Draft
the RY signal) of an analog component system.
Available for component output only. Select the Draft option to process and play back the
full image raster for the project that uses 1/4 of the
System Phase image information. The Draft option uses a bit
The System Phase setting lets you modulate the depth of 8 bits. This option subsamples 50% of the
timing of the output signal and a reference signal. raster width. For interlaced projects, this option
This option is available for HD Component RGB uses one field. For progressive projects, this option
or HD Component YPbPr output. uses 50% of the scan lines.

Sub Pixel H Phase Best Performance

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.

Chapter 60: Working with Video in Pro Tools 1365

 Locking Video Tracks Video Engine Rate
You can lock one or more video tracks to prevent The video engine rate represents the number of
any video clips on those tracks from being edited. video frames output by Pro Tools per second, and
is determined automatically by the frame rate of
When a video track is locked, Pro Tools restricts the first video file added to a session. Video files
all editing operations involving the track (except subsequently added to the session must have the
for locking and unlocking video clips). same video frame rate as the video engine rate.
A locked video track displays a small lock to indi- The video frame rate is displayed for each video
cate that the video track has been locked and can- file in the Workspace browsers, and the current
not be edited. (The lock does not appear if the video engine rate is displayed in the I/O View of
Track Height of the video track is set to Mini.) the main video track.
To lock a video track: See “Video Engine Rate Indicator” on
1 Select the video tracks you want to lock. page 1367 for information on the Video
Engine Rate indicator in the I/O View.
2 Do one of the following:
• Control-click (Mac) or Start-click (Windows) The video engine rate is independent of the ses-
the name of any selected video track, and select sion's timecode rate, which determines the number
Locked. of frames displayed per second in grids, rulers, and
counters. You can set the session timecode rate
• Right-click the name of any selected video track,
manually with the Timecode Rate pop-up menu in
and select Locked.
the Session Setup window. In order for the grids
Locking or unlocking a video track does not alter and rulers to align with the actual frames of the
the lock status of individual clips. If a clip was video files in the Timeline, the session's Timecode
locked before you lock the track, the clip will still Rate setting should be set to match the video en-
be locked when you unlock the track. However, gine rate.
unlocking a clip in a locked track will not allow
you to edit that clip. It will behave as if the clip
were locked until you unlock the track.

You can Edit lock or Time lock individual

Video clips. For more information about
locking clips, see “Locking Clips” on
page 907.

1366 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Video Engine Rate Indicator
Importing Video into
The Video Engine Rate indicator displays only in Pro Tools
the main video track (whether it is online or of-
fline) and shows the video engine rate, which is the Pro Tools provides the following methods of im-
number of video frames per second output by porting video files into the Timeline, Clips List,
Pro Tools. and new or existing video tracks:
• Using the Import Video command (File > Import
> Video)
• Dragging from the Clips List to the Timeline
(Pro Tools Ultimate only)
• Dragging from a Workspace browser or from
Windows Explorer or Mac Finder
• Using the Import Session Data command (File >
Video Frame Rate Import > Session Data)—this lets you import
The Video Engine Rate indicator is normally video from another Pro Tools session, or from an
white, but turns red if one of the following condi- AAF file, but not individual video files
tions are present:
The video frame rate of the first video file
• The video engine rate does not match the ses- added to a session determines the session’s
sion’s current Timecode Rate setting. video engine rate. Video files subsequently
• A pull up has been applied to the video, causing added to the session must have the same video
the video engine rate to differ from the session frame rate as the video engine rate.
Timecode Rate.
In general, audio and video media should be
The Timecode Rate is set in the Session Setup
stored on separate dedicated drives. When
window. For more information, see “Session
importing audio and video at the same time
Setup Window” on page 1269.
by linking to media, however, Pro Tools may
copy both to the same drive. To avoid perfor-
See “Pull Up and Pull Down” on page 1277 mance problems, move the video to a video
for detailed information on using video playback drive before importing the audio
pull up and pull down. and video into your session.

In a Workspace browser, you can designate

your audio drives to play or record audio but
only transfer video, or vice versa. You may
use these settings to ensure that your audio
and video are on the correct volumes. For de-
tailed instructions, see “Volume Permis-
sions” on page 316.

Chapter 60: Working with Video in Pro Tools 1367

 Importing Video into Pro Tools To import video into Pro Tools using drag and
Using the Import Video drop:
Command 1 Drag one or more video files from a Workspace
The Import Video menu command lets you choose browser or from Windows Explorer or Mac
one or more video files to import into Pro Tools. Finder to the Tracks List, Timeline, or an exist-
ing video track.
When you use this method to import video into
2 Configure the Video Import options, and click
Pro Tools, the Video Import Options dialog ap-
OK to import video into Pro Tools.
pears. This dialog contains multiple options for
customizing how files are imported. See “Configuring Video Import Options” on
page 1369 for detailed instructions.
To import video into Pro Tools using the Import
Video command:
Importing Video into Pro Tools
1 Do one of the following: Using Import Session Data
• Choose File > Import > Video.
You can use the Import Session Data command to
• Press Command+Option+Shift+I (Mac). or import video from other Pro Tools sessions or
Control+Alt+Shift+I (Windows). from an AAF sequence. Any video files you im-
port must have the same video frame rate as any
2 In the Select Video File to Import dialog, select
video file already present in the session.
one or more video files.
3 Click Open. For information on importing session data,
see “Importing Session Data” on page 420.
4 Configure the Video Import options, and click
OK to import video into Pro Tools.
Dragging Video Files from the
See “Configuring Video Import Options” on
Clips List to the Timeline
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)
page 1369 for detailed instructions.
You can add video files to the Timeline by drag-
Importing Video into Pro Tools ging and dropping directly from the Clips List to a
with Drag and Drop video track.
You can drag video files from a Workspace
To add video files to a video track by dragging
browser or from Windows Explorer or Mac Finder them from the Clips List:
to the Timeline, a track, a Tracks List, or the Clips
List. 1 Select one or more video files in the Clips List.
2 In any Edit mode, drag the selected video files
When you use this method to import video into
to a blank area in the Timeline (to create a new
Pro Tools, the Video Import Options dialog ap-
video track) or an existing video track (to place
pears. This dialog contains multiple options for
it within that track).
customizing how files are imported.

1368 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 New Track Each video file is imported into its own
Configuring Video Import individual track and into the Clips List.
Options
Clips List (Pro Tools Ultimate Only) Each video
The Video Import Options dialog appears when file is imported directly into the Clips List, where it
you import video into Pro Tools by using the Im- will be available to drag and drop into the Time-
port Video command or dragging video files from line.
a Workspace browser or from Windows Explorer
or Mac Finder.
Location Pop-Up Menu
If you do not select the Clips List as a destination
in the Destination section, the Location pop-up
menu lets you choose precisely where in the Time-
line Pro Tools places imported video.

Session Start Places the video file at the start of

the session.

Song Start Places the video file at the Song Start

position.

Selection Places the video file at the edit cursor

position or within the selection (if one was made).

Spot Displays the Spot dialog, which lets you spot

video to precise locations based on any of the Time
Video Import Options dialog Scales.

See “Bypassing the Video Import Options Di- Original Time Stamp (Avid Video Only) Places
alog” on page 1370 for details on bypassing Avid video in the Timeline at a timecode location
the Video Import Options dialog when drag- that corresponds to the timestamps from the origi-
ging and dropping video files. nal source tape. With multiple video files, this
places all video files in the Timeline at their re-
spective original timestamps.
Destination Section
The Destination section of the Video Import Op-
Additional Video Import Options
tions dialog lets you choose a general destination
for imported video in Pro Tools. Gaps Between Clips (Pro Tools | Ultimate Only)

Main Video Track The video file is imported di- When you import more than one video file into a
rectly to the track that is currently online (known track, they will be shuffled together by default.
as the main video track) and into the Clips List. If This option lets you indicate the number of sec-
no track is currently online, the video file will be onds by which each video clip will be separated
imported to the last existing video track that was when imported into the video track.
online.

Chapter 60: Working with Video in Pro Tools 1369

 Import Audio from File (QuickTime Video Only) Bypassing the Video Import
When selected, the audio from the QuickTime Options Dialog
video file you are importing will be extracted and
You can bypass the Video Import Options dialog
placed into new mono or stereo audio tracks in the
when dragging video files into Pro Tools. The
Timeline. (Mono or stereo audio with a sample rate
video files are added exactly where you drop them
of 48 kHz or lower are supported.) When unse-
in the Timeline following the current Pro Tools ed-
lected, only the video portion of the video file will
iting mode.
be imported into Pro Tools.

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 1366 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.

1370 Pro Tools Reference Guide

4 In the Audio Import Options dialog, select
whether you want to import the audio to the Video Clips
Clips List or to a New Track. You can create video clips that function in much
5 If you selected New Track, select the Location the same way as audio clips.
for the audio:
• Session Start
• Song Start
• Selection
• Spot
Video clip as displayed in Frames View in the Timeline
6 Click OK to import the audio (or click Cancel to
cancel the import). A video clip is a segment of video data, and can be
a portion of video or an entire video file. In
Pro Tools, video clips are created from QuickTime
Sample Rate Conversion Quality
or Avid video files, and can be arranged in corre-
If you import QuickTime audio that was not origi- sponding video track playlists. Video clips can
nally recorded at the session’s sample rate, the also be grouped, looped, and color coded.
sample rate is converted to match the audio to your
session. Pro Tools allows you to choose the quality When using Pro Tools Ultimate, you can add, edit,
of the sample rate conversion by means of the Con- and change viewing options for video clips in the
version Quality setting in the Processing Prefer- same ways as audio clips. All edits to video clips
ences page. are nondestructive. (See “General Video Editing”
on page 1372 for more information.)
There are five possible settings, ranging from Low
(lowest quality) to Tweak Head (highest quality). Just like audio clips, video clips display in
The higher the quality of sample rate conversion, Pro Tools in the Clips List or the Timeline (see
the longer it takes to convert the bounced file. “Video Clips in the Clips List” on page 1372).

When using Pro Tools, the following limitations

To set the sample rate conversion quality:
apply to video clips:
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click the
• You can add only one video clip to a session. It
Processing tab.
can be played back, but cannot be edited and will
2 Click the Conversion Quality pop-up menu and not be listed in the Clips List.
select a conversion setting. • When you import video or open a session cre-
ated by Pro Tools Ultimate, only the main or
first available video track containing QuickTime
clips will be imported. You can play back and
view multiple clips, and tab through clip bound-
aries. However, you cannot edit them.

Chapter 60: Working with Video in Pro Tools 1371

 Video Clips in the Clips List
(Pro Tools Ultimate Only)
General Video Editing
(Pro Tools | Ultimate Software Only)
A video clip displays in the Clips List with a small
video icon next to its name. Most editing operations that are available for audio
clips can also be applied to video clips. This sec-
tion describes all available video editing opera-
tions. Unless noted, the procedure for each video
editing operation is the same as its audio editing
counterpart.

See the appropriate topic for detailed infor-

mation on performing editing operations.

Basic Video Editing Features

• Nondestructive editing
• Display of clip names, clip times, and other data
in playlists
• Multiple video playlists
Video clip icon in the Clips List
• Multiple Undo
• Video clips and video clip groups in Clips List
For more information, see Chapter 16,
“The Clips List.” • All Edit modes
• All Edit Tools (except for Time Compression
Expansion and Pencil tools)
Showing or Hiding Video
Clips in the Clips List Playing and Selecting Video Track Material

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 1374)
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 1373)

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 1377)

1372 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Working with Clips and Selections General Editing Operations Not
• Capture clips Applicable to Video Clips
• Separate clips and Separate Grabber Tool The following editing operations are applicable to
• Clip overlap and underlap audio clips, but are not applicable to video clips:

• All trimming commands except for TCE • Fades

• Heal separated clips • Mute/unmute clips

• Place, align, slide, shuffle, and spot clips • AudioSuite plug-ins

• Nudging (quantized to frame boundaries) • Waveform Repair with the Pencil tool

• Shift command (moving track material back or • Strip Silence

forward in time by a specified amount) • Consolidate clips
• Quantize Clip to Grid (rounds to nearest video
frame) Selecting and Editing Across
• Replace Clip command
Multiple Audio and Video Tracks
• Cut, Copy, Paste, and Clear commands You can create a selection across multiple audio
and video tracks, and cut, copy, or paste audio and
• Special Cut, Copy, Paste, and Clear commands video simultaneously.
• Repeat to fill selection
• Editing across multiple tracks
• Duplicate command
• Repeat command
• Clip groups (see “Video Clip Groups” on
page 1374)
• Clip looping

Managing Clips
• Insert space (see “Using the Insert Silence Com-
mand to Insert Space in Video Tracks” on
page 1374)
• Compact Selected (nothing happens to the
video, and at least one audio track must be se-
lected)
• All naming and displaying of clip commands

Selecting and editing across multiple tracks (Slip

mode shown)

Chapter 60: Working with Video in Pro Tools 1373

 Audio and video that is selected and cut, copied, or In Shuffle mode, all video data on the track is shuf-
pasted follow the current Edit mode. fled later in the track by an amount equal to the se-
lection. In Slip, Grid, or Spot mode, the Insert Si-
Selecting within Video Frame lence command works just like the Edit > Clear
Boundaries command.

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 | Ultimate Software 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

1374 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 To resize the Video window by using the Video
See “Clip Groups” on page 919 for window pop-up menu:
detailed information on working with
 Right-click (Windows or Mac) or Control-click
clip groups.
(Mac) the Video window, and choose from the
following resize options:

Using the Video Window • Quarter Size

• Half Size
Pro Tools provides a Video window that lets you
view, display, or scrub video. • Actual Size
• Double Size
To display the Video window, do one of the
following: • Full Screen
 Select Window > Video. • Aspect Ratio

 Press Command+9 (Mac) or Control+9 (Win-

dows). Managing Aspect Ratio in the
Video Window
Pro Tools lets you include video media with differ-
ent aspect ratios on a single video track. When
viewing video with mixed aspect ratios or for
video that simply does not match the aspect ratio of
the Video window, Pro Tools lets you stretch (or
squeeze) mismatched aspect ratios to fit or to
maintain differing aspect ratios.

To set the Pro Tools Video window preference for

managing mixed aspect ratios:
Video window
 Right-click in the Video window and select
Resizing the Video Window Stretch or Pillarbox/Letterbox.

You can resize the Video window by dragging or Stretch

using the Video window pop-up menu.
When the Stretch option is selected, the picture
To resize the Video window by dragging: scales to match the width and height dimensions of
the Video window. If the picture’s aspect ratio
 Place the cursor at any corner of the Video win-
does not match the Video window’s aspect ratio,
dow, and drag the window to the size you want.
the image is stretched or squeezed accordingly.

Chapter 60: Working with Video in Pro Tools 1375

 Pillarbox/Letterbox Shuttling the Video Track
When the Pillarbox/Letterbox option is selected, Shuttle Lock mode lets you use the numeric key-
the picture scales to create the largest possible im- pad to shuttle a video track and one or two audio
age without cropping, while maintaining the origi- tracks forward or backwards at specific speeds.
nal aspect ratio of each video clip. When this op- Numbers 0 through 9 provide progressively faster
tion is selected and you have video media with speeds, as follows:
mixed aspect ratios on the online video track, or • To stop shuttling, press 0.
video that does not match the aspect ratio of the
video window, there will be visible black borders • To increase the speed progressively towards nor-
around video that uses a smaller aspect ratio than mal speed, press numbers 1 through 4.
the Video window. Additionally, this option can • To shuttle at normal speed, press 5.
result in a significant increase in CPU usage. If you • To increase the speed progressively faster than
encounter performance problems, consider using normal speed, press numbers 6 through 9.
the Stretch option.
Only the main video track is shuttled. When multi-
Scrubbing the Video Track ple audio tracks are selected, only the first two
tracks are shuttled.
Pro Tools lets you scrub video directly on a video
track. When scrubbing on a video track, only the To play the video track with the shuttle lock:
video scrubs (no audio plays). Video scrubbing is 1 With Pro Tools Ultimate, make sure the Opera-
displayed in the Video window. If video hardware tion preference for Numeric Keypad mode is
is connected, you can choose to scrub video with not set to Shuttle (see “Operation Preferences”
external video monitoring as well as in the Video on page 110).
window.
2 Make sure the Video Online button in the video
When scrubbing audio with a video track online, track you want to scrub is set to an online (blue)
both audio and video scrub synchronously. status.

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 1357.
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).

1376 Pro Tools Reference Guide

6 To stop playback, press Control+0 (Mac) or Increasing or Decreasing the
Start+0 (Windows). Size of Video Frames

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.

Browsing Video in the Video Selecting Zoom Resolutions in

Universe Window the Video Universe
(Pro Tools Ultimate Only)
When you move the cursor over the top half of a
The Video Universe window lets you view, navi- video frame in the Video Universe, it displays and
gate, zoom, and select video clips on the main behaves as a zoom tool. This tool lets you zoom in
video track. on one or more video clips to fill the entire Edit
window display.
The Video Universe window displays the center
video frame of each video clip in the main video
track. Video frames are ordered sequentially ac-
cording to their order in the Timeline, and the col-
ored strip under each frame represents the color
coding for that clip.

To display the Video Universe window:

1 Make sure the Video Online button in the main

video track is set to online status (blue).
Video frame with zoom tool
2 Choose Window > Video Universe.

Video Universe with video frames representing video

clips on the main video track

Chapter 60: Working with Video in Pro Tools 1377

 To use the Video Universe window to zoom video To use the Video Universe window to select ranges
clips in the Edit window: in video clips in the Edit window:

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.

To use the Video Universe window to select and

zoom simultaneously in the Edit window:

1 Move the cursor over any area of any video

frame in the Video Universe window until it be-
comes a selector or zoom tool.
Video frame with selector tool 2 To select a range of video clips while simultane-
ously zooming to fill the Edit window, Option-
drag (Mac) or Alt-drag (Windows) multiple
video frames.

1378 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Playback of High-Definition Optimized Video Playback
Video
Certain video codecs provide optimal playback
Pro Tools lets you import and play back High- performance with Pro Tools using sample map-
Definition (HD) video files. ping (such as DNxHD, Apple Pro Res, and DV25).
Video clips using these codecs appear with a
Setting Session Timecode Rate check-mark icon in the Pro Tools Clips List and on
for HD Video Import the timeline.

When playing back video with frame rates higher

than 30 fps, Pro Tools syncs properly only if the
Timecode Rate in the Session Setup window is set
to half of the video frame rate of the video files.

For example, to properly play back HD video at

59.94 fps, change the session’s Timecode Rate to Optimized video clip with check-mark icon
29.97 frames per second.

To set the session’s Timecode Rate:

1 Choose Setup > Session.

Press Command+2 (Mac) or Control+2

(Windows) to open the Session Setup win-
dow.

2 In the Session Setup window, select the appro-

priate timecode rate in the Timecode Rate pop-
up menu.

Optimized video clip in the Clips List with check-mark

icon

Non-sample mapping video codecs (such as Photo

JPEG) play back normally, but may drop frames
on video playback. Video playback performance is
not guaranteed with these codecs. These video co-
decs do not display the Optimized Video Clip icon
(a check-mark icon) in the video clip on video
tracks or in the Clips List.

Chapter 60: Working with Video in Pro Tools 1379

 To show (or hide) the Optimized Video Clip icon, • Use the fastest computer and graphics card pos-
do one of the following: sible.
 Select (or deselect) View > Clip > Processing • Use an Avid video peripheral.
State.
• Set Scrolling option to None (Options > Scroll-
 From the Clips List menu, select (or deselect) ing > None).
Show > Processing State. • When working with non-sample mapped video
codecs, use a video clip with less compression
Enabling (or disabling) the Processing State
(heavily compressed files require more proces-
option show (or hides) both the Optimized
sor speed to decompress for display).
Video Clip icon and the Elastic Audio icon.
• Hide the video track when not needed (or change
from Frames to Blocks view).
Tips for Optimizing Video • Ensure that any unnecessary software is not run-
Playback ning.
When using Pro Tools to play video files, the qual- • Resize the Video window to actual size.
ity of the playback is dependent on the following:
• If you are having poor performance, or any
• Quality of the video hardware (graphics card) other any anomalies, try disabling the GPU in
used to play back the digitized video the Pro Tools Operation Preferences. In most
• Speed of your computer and hard drive cases, utilizing the GPU will increase perfor-
mance, but some configurations will perform
• Size (in pixels) of the video file
better when the video processing is done us-
• Codec and level of compression used ing the CPU.
For more consistently smooth video playback, here
are some suggestions:
Compensating for Video
• Use a supported Optimized CODEC, such as Monitoring Delays
DNxHD. (Visit www.avid.com for a list of sup-
ported video codecs.) You can compensate for delays in the video output
that may be introduced by external decoders and
• Re-compress the video to a standard video reso-
certain types of displays (such as projectors or
lution (such as 1920 x 1080. Be sure to use a res-
plasma screens).
olution that is supported by your video codec.
• Select a Project Type that best matched your To compensate for delays caused by video
video frame rate and resolution. monitoring devices:

1 Choose Setup > Video Sync Offset.

2 In the Set Video Sync Offset dialog, enter a
value in the QuickTime Video Offset field or
Windows Media Video Offset field that is ap-
propriate to compensate for the delay caused by
your video monitor chain.

1380 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Bouncing the Video Track to
a QuickTime Movie
When you have finished your final mix and syn-
chronized your audio events to the movie, you can
bounce the main video track and a mono, stereo, or
greater-than-stereo (Pro Tools Ultimate only)
mixdown of your session to a new QuickTime
Video Sync Offset dialog movie. Pro Tools Ultimate also lets you bounce
multiple stems to QuickTime.
Once this value is set, it should not need to be up-
dated unless you change components in your video You can choose from a variety of standard Quick-
monitoring chain (such as projectors or plasma Time codecs, which are fully compatible with
screens). other QuickTime applications.

To bounce video and audio in the video track to a

Playing Video to an External QuickTime movie:

Monitor Using a Video 1 Finalize your mix (or stems).

Peripheral 2 Make sure the video track you want to bounce is
With a qualified video peripheral, Pro Tools can currently the main video track. (The track’s
play and display Avid and QuickTime SD or HD Video Online button must be highlighted blue.)
video files with frame edge-locked HD image out-
3 Make sure that all of the audio tracks you want
put to a variety of professional HD monitors.
to include in the bounce are audible (not muted
or inactive).
HD or SD Output
4 Assign the output of each of the tracks you want
Pro Tools lets you output Avid and QuickTime to include in your bounce to the same stereo
HD or SD video to an external HD-SDI, HDMI, output or bus path.
NTSC, or PAL monitor using an Avid Qualified
video peripheral. 5 Do one of the following:
• To bounce the entire session, click Return to
For a list of devices explicitly tested for Avid Zero in the Transport to go to the beginning of
and QuickTime HD or SD output from the session.
Pro Tools, visit www.avid.com.
• To bounce a portion of the session, enable Op-
tions > Link Timeline and Edit Selection, and
Video Reference
make a selection in the Edit window or the
Video output can be locked to external video refer- Timeline.
ence, including Black Burst and Tri-Level Sync.
6 Choose File > Bounce to > QuickTime Movie.
Pro Tools Ultimate should be locked to a suit- The QuickTime Bounce dialog appears.
able clock reference, such as a SYNC HD. If no
external audio clock is referenced, audio will
not be frame-edge aligned and may drift.

Chapter 60: Working with Video in Pro Tools 1381

 11 If you are bouncing Avid to QuickTime and you
want to configure QuickTime video settings,
click QuickTime Settings.

Refer to Apple’s documentation for detailed

information on configuring QuickTime movie
settings.

12 Enable the Offline option for faster-than-real-

time bounce.
13 Click Bounce.
14 Select a destination for the new QuickTime
movie, enter a new name, and click Save.

Bouncing video may can take longer than

real-time, depending on the format of the
source video, the format of the bounced
video, and processing speed.

Bounce to QuickTime Settings

QuickTime Bounce dialog When bouncing to QuickTime, the following addi-
tional options are available:
7 Select your main mix output or bus path from
the Bounce Source selector. If desired, select Include Video
additional bounce sources (see “Bouncing Mul-
tiple Sources Simultaneously” on page 1190). Enable this option to include the online video track
in the bounced QuickTime file.
All selected sources in the QuickTime bounce
are added as audio tracks to the QuickTime Same as Source
movie file in order from top to bottom.
Select the Same As Source option to bounce to
8 Configure the File Type, Format, Bit Depth, and QuickTime using the same video resolution as the
other Bounce options as desired (see “Bounce online video track. The Same As Source option is
Options” on page 1190). not always available with some types of LongGOP
QuickTime media (such as XDCAM), or when
9 Select the Include Video option to include the mixing multiple Codecs on a track.
online video track in the bounce.
10 Select Same as Source, Replace Timecode
Track, and Use Avid Codecs as appropriate (see
“Bounce to QuickTime Settings” on
page 13820).

1382 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Replace Timecode Track To transcode video to a valid QuickTime
resolution:
When the Same as Source option is selected, en-
1 Choose File > Bounce To > QuickTime.
able the Replace Timecode Track option to have
the timecode track in the bounced QuickTime file 2 In the QuickTime Bounce dialog, enable the In-
replaced by the selected timecode range in the ses- clude Video option.
sion. If no timecode track is present in the source
3 Click QuickTime Settings. (If the video you are
video file, the timecode range from the session is
bouncing is a valid QuickTime resolution and
added to the bounced QuickTime file.
codec, QuickTime Settings is grayed out).
Note that when Same as Source is not enabled, a 4 In the Movie Settings dialog, configure the set-
completely new file is generated and the selected tings as desired.
timecode range in the session is used regardless of
the Replace Timecode Track option.

Use Avid Codecs

The Use Avid Codecs option is only available

when using codecs that are installed with the Avid
LE (available from www.avid.com) or PE Codec
packs (included with the Pro Tools installer). Se-
lect this option if two similar codecs are present on
a system. For example, DV25 is usually included
with a standard QuickTime installation, but Avid
also offers a DV25 codec that is optimized for use
with Avid products (such as Pro Tools and
Media Composer).

When bouncing an Avid codec to QuickTime, the

Avid codec must be installed to playback the
QuickTime file in QuickTime Player on any play-
back system.

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.

Chapter 60: Working with Video in Pro Tools 1383

1384 Pro Tools Reference Guide
Part XII: Satellite Systems
Chapter 61: Satellite Link

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 62, The following is required for each Pro Tools HD
“Pro Tools Video Satellite” and system on the network:
Chapter 63, “Avid Video Satellite.” • Avid-qualified computer

From each linked Pro Tools HD system, Satellite • Pro Tools | Ultimate 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
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.

Chapter 61: Satellite Link 1387

 TCP/UDP Port
Configuring Satellite Link
Systems in a Satellite Link network need to use the
To set up multiple Pro Tools HD systems in a Sat- same TCP/UDP port to communicate. Available
ellite Link network, configure basic network set- satellite systems will only appear on other satellite
tings and the Satellite Link network on each systems using the same port.
Pro Tools system.
By default, Satellite Link uses TCP/UDP port
Configuring Network Settings 28282. However, if the default port is already in
use, or if you want to set up separate Satellite Link
Satellite Link systems communicate over Ethernet networks, you can select a different TCP/UDP port
Local Area Networks. You can configure the net- for Satellite Link communication.
work settings on each Pro Tools HD system to
build one or more Satellite Link networks on the To select the TCP/UDP port for Satellite Link
same LAN. communication:
1 Choose Setup > Peripherals and click Satellites.
Satellite Link requires all linked systems to be con-
nected to an Ethernet Local Area Network. All sys- 2 Under Advanced Network Settings, enter the
tems should be on the same subnet. If possible, TCP/UDP port number you want the system to
they should also be on the same Ethernet switch, to use.
minimize response time over the network.
For Satellite Link to function properly,
Ethernet Interface you must select a TCP/UDP port number
between 1024 and 65534.
On computers with multiple Ethernet interfaces,
you can select the interface you want to use for Sat- 3 Click OK.
ellite Link communications.

To select the Ethernet interface for Satellite Link:

1 Choose Setup > Peripherals and click Satellites.
2 Under Advanced Network Settings, choose the
Ethernet interface from the Interface pop-up
menu.
3 Click OK.

1388 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Configuring a Satellite Link To configure a Media Composer system as a video
Network satellite:

1 In Media Composer, choose Edit > Preferences.

To set up Pro Tools HD systems for Satellite Link
operation, one Pro Tools system on the network 2 In the Project window, click the Settings Tab
must be designated an administrator system. and double-click Video Satellite.

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

Chapter 61: Satellite Link 1389

 Configuring an Administrator System To declare satellite systems:
1 On the administrator system, choose Setup >
To configure a Pro Tools system as a Satellite Link
administrator:
Peripherals and click Satellites.

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.

Declared satellites in the Synchronization section of

the Transport window

Linking Satellite Systems

When a Pro Tools system has been declared as a
satellite, it can then be placed in a linked state from
the local machine or from another satellite. When a
system is linked, the following features and com-
Configuring the Administrator system in the Satellites mands can be controlled across all linked systems:
page of the Peripherals dialog
• Linking and unlinking of the system
Adding Satellites to the Network • Transport controls (Stop, Play, FF, Rew)
When systems have been configured as satellites, • Play selections
they become available on the administrator sys- • Scrub/Shuttle location
tem. The satellite systems are then declared from
the Administrator system to build the Satellite • Channel solo (including Solo clear)
Link network. • Clearing system errors (such as AAE errors)

1390 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Satellite Link Controls Transmit and Receive Play Selections
Buttons
When a Pro Tools system has been declared as a
satellite, Satellite Link controls can be shown in The Transmit Play Selections and Receive Play
the Transport. Selections buttons in the Transport mirror the
Transmit Play Selections and Receive Play Selec-
To display Satellite Link controls in the Transport tions options in the Satellites section of the Syn-
window: chronization preferences (Setup > Preferences >
 Choose View > Transport > Synchronization and Synchronization). The button highlights when the
View > Transport > Expanded. option is enabled.

Transmit Play Selections When enabled, causes a

Transmit Play linked Pro Tools system to send the Edit window
Link button Selection button selection to all other linked Pro Tools systems. On
other linked systems that are set to receive play se-
lections, the selection is mirrored in the Edit win-
dow.

Receive Play Selections When enabled, causes a

linked Pro Tools system to receive Edit window
selections from all other linked Pro Tools systems
Satellite Link buttons Receive Play
Selection button that are set to transmit play selections.
Satellite Link controls in the Transport window
Linking Systems During Playback
Link Button
You can link or unlink a system while it or any
The Link button controls the link status of the local other linked system is playing back (“join in
system. When linked, the button is highlighted. play”), and the transports will play in sync. In
cases where both systems are playing back, the
Satellite Link Buttons newly linked system will cue to the location of the
system on which the link was initiated.
Satellite Link buttons control the link status of the
other satellite systems on the network. On every
other system, one of these buttons corresponds to
that system’s main Link button.

Link buttons highlight to indicate linked status of

the remote system. A Satellite Link button high-
lights red if that system stops playback due to an
error or the opening of a modal dialog.

Chapter 61: Satellite Link 1391

 Linking Pro Tools Systems in a To set satellite Pro Tools systems to mirror play
Satellite Network selections on other satellite systems, do the
following:
To link (or unlink) the local Pro Tools system:  On the systems where you will be making play
 Click the Link button in the Transport so that is selections, do one of the following:
highlighted (or unhighlighted). • Click the Transmit Play Selections button in
the Transport so that it is highlighted.
Press Option+Shift+L (Mac) or Alt+Shift+L
(Windows) to link or unlink the local system. • Choose Setup > Preferences and click Syn-
chronization. Then, in the Satellites section of
To link (or unlink) remote satellite systems: the Synchronization page, select the Transmit
Play Selections option. Click OK to close the
 Click the corresponding Satellite Link button
Preferences window.
for the remote system in the Transport so that it
is highlighted (or unhighlighted).  On the systems that you want to mirror the play
selections, do one of the following:
To link (or unlink) all declared satellite systems:
• Click the Receive Play Selections button in
 Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) the the Transport so that it is highlighted.
Link button or a Satellite Link button in the • Choose Setup > Preferences and click Syn-
Transport so that they are all highlighted (or un- chronization. Then, in the Satellites section of
highlighted). the Synchronization page, select the Receive
Play Selections option. Click OK to close the
Linking Play Selections Preferences window.
You can set linked Pro Tools systems to transmit
and receive play selections from other satellite sys- Solo Linking
tems. This lets you configure your setup to selec- You can set linked Pro Tools systems to transmit
tively mirror Edit window selections between sys- the solo status of their tracks and receive solo sta-
tems, or to have all systems mirror Edit window tus information from other satellite systems.
selections on all other systems.
 If you are working in a multi-user dub stage en-
 If you are working in a multi-user dub stage en- vironment where dialog, FX, and music reside on
vironment where dialog, FX, and music reside on different systems, it can be useful to set those sys-
different systems, it can be useful to set those sys- tems to send and receive solos, and set the re-
tems to only transmit play selections, and set the corder/video Pro Tools system so that it does not
recorder/video Pro Tools system to only receive transmit or receive solos.
play selections.
 If you are working in a single-user mix environ-
 If you are working in a single-user mix environ- ment and are moving between systems, it might be
ment and are moving between systems, it can be useful to set all systems to transmit and receive so-
useful to set all systems to transmit and receive los, so that solos propagate across all systems.
play selections, so that you can work with the same
selection on any system.

1392 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Solo Safe When Solo Linking is enabled, tracks To set a satellite Pro Tools system to always solo
on all systems retain their Solo Safe status. even when it is not linked:

1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click Synchro-

Solo Clear When Solo Linking is enabled, all
nization.
solos are cleared on systems set to receive solos.
2 In the Satellites section of the Synchronization
To set satellite systems to transmit or receive solo page, select the Solo Independent of Linked
status:
State option.
1 On the systems that you want to solo tracks, do
3 Click OK to close the Preferences window.
the following:
• Choose Setup > Preferences and click Solo Link Behavior in the Solo Modes
Synchronization.
Solo in Place With Solo Link, when using Solo In
• In the Satellites section of the Synchronization Place, the mode of solo operation is determined by
page, select the Transmit Solos option. the system transmitting the solo.
2 On the systems where you want tracks to follow  If a linked system is in Solo Latch mode, solo-
solo behavior for solos on other systems, do the ing a track on that system adds to the number of
following: tracks in solo, regardless of the solo mode of other
• Choose Setup > Preferences and click systems set to receive solos.
Synchronization.
 If a linked system is in Solo X-OR mode, solo-
• In the Satellites section of the Synchronization ing a track on that system cancels all other sys-
page, select the Receive Solos option. tem’s solos regardless of the solo mode of other
• Click OK to close the Preferences window. systems set to receive solos.

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.

You can set a satellite Pro Tools system to always

send its solo status, whether linked or unlinked, so
you can solo tracks across systems without linking
transport controls.

Chapter 61: Satellite Link 1393

 Satellite Link Errors Resetting All Satellites on the Network

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 AAE 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.

1394 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Satellite Link and EUCON
Control Surface Support for Control
Satellite Link
A selection of Satellite Link controls have been
EUCONized. For more information on controlling
Linking Satellite Systems
Satellite Link functions from EUCON devices, see
(D-Control, D-Command, and C|24)
the Pro Tools EUCON Guide.
To link or unlink the local Pro Tools system:

 Hold Command (Mac) or Control (Windows)

and press the Machine Online switch in the
Transport section.

Satellite Link Soft Keys

(D-Control and D-Command)

To link or unlink other satellite systems:

1 Hold Control (Mac) or Alt (Windows) and press

the Modes switch in the Automation Soft Keys
section.
2 Press the Soft Key that corresponds to the name
of the system that you want to link or unlink.

The Soft Key lights solid to indicate that the corre-

sponding system is linked, and flashes to indicate
that the corresponding system is displaying an er-
ror.

To link or unlink all declared satellite systems:

 Hold Option+Command (Mac) or Alt+Control

(Windows) and press the Online switch in the
Transport section.

To toggle the solo transmit status of the local

Pro Tools system:

1 Hold Control (Mac) or Alt (Windows) and press

the Modes switch in the Automation Soft Keys
section.
2 Press the Soft Key that corresponds to
“Transmit Solo.”

The Soft Key lights solid to indicate that transmit

solo is enabled.

Chapter 61: Satellite Link 1395

1396 Pro Tools Reference Guide
Chapter 62: Pro Tools Video Satellite

Pro Tools Video Satellite is a powerful post-pro-

duction option that uses a separate computer run- Video Output Options
ning Pro Tools Software for synchronized video Pro Tools Video Satellite lets you output video
playback. through an Avid or Third Party video peripheral.
By off-loading video playback duties to a separate • Playback to an external monitor with the Avid
computer, Pro Tools Video Satellite contributes to Nitris DX. Output formats include HD/SD-SDI,
the best possible performance on the administrator HDMI, and HD/SD Analog.
Pro Tools system. • Playback to an external monitor with the Avid
Mojo DX. Output formats include HD/SD-SDI
Pro Tools Video Satellite uses a single non-HD
and HDMI.
Pro Tools system for video playback in a Satellite
configuration. Pro Tools Video Satellite requires • Full-screen playback on your primary or second-
Pro Tools software (but not Pro Tools Ultimate ary computer monitor using DVI output
software) and can use any Avid-supported non-HD • Playback to an external monitor with supported
audio interface (such as Mbox Pro). A Pro Tools 3rd party video hardware
Video Satellite cannot use a video reference, so it
will not be as accurate as an Avid Video Satellite.
Connecting a Pro Tools Video
Pro Tools Video Satellite Satellite System
System Requirements
To connect the Pro Tools Video Satellite system to
• Avid-qualified computer
the administrator Pro Tools system, that system
• Pro Tools Software must be designated an administrator system.
• Supported video peripheral (optional)
The Pro Tools Video Satellite system is set up as a
• Client monitor (optional) satellite system, and then is declared from the ad-
• Black burst or tri-level video reference ministrator system.
generator, if using a video peripheral
For complete instructions on configuring a
• Ethernet connection to a Local Area Network Satellite Link network including a Pro Tools
(LAN) Video Satellite system, see “Configuring Sat-
ellite Link” on page 1388).

Chapter 62: Pro Tools Video Satellite 1397

 Configuring the Main Pro Tools
System as an Administrator Linking the Pro Tools Video
Satellite System
To configure the main Pro Tools system as an
administrator: After a Pro Tools system has been connected as a
video satellite, it can then be placed in a linked
 See “Configuring an Administrator System” on state. When this system is linked, it follows the
page 1390. transport commands from the administrator sys-
tem, and runs in sync with it. When the satellite
Configuring the Pro Tools Video system is unlinked, its transport acts like a normal
Satellite System Pro Tools system.

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 1389. 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 1390. 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.

Only one Pro Tools Video Satellite system

can be connected to a Satellite Link network.

1398 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To display link controls in the Transport: Pro Tools Video Satellite
 Choose View > Transport > Synchronization and Operation
View > Transport > Expanded.
AAE Errors

Link button By default, the two linked systems will continue to

operate if one of the systems experiences an error
and its transport stops.

The administrator system can be configured to stop

playback if an AAE error occurs on the Pro Tools
Satellite Link buttons Video Satellite system, or any other Satellite Link
satellite.
Link controls in the Transport window
To clear an error dialog on the Pro Tools Video
To link or unlink the local Pro Tools Video Satellite Satellite system from the main Pro Tools system:
system:
 In the Transport window on the other linked
 Click the Link button in the Transport.
system, Shift-click the Satellite Link button for
Press Option+Shift+L (Mac) or Alt+Shift+L the affected system.
(Windows) to link or unlink the local system.
If the administrator system is configured to
To link or unlink the administrator Pro Tools Transmit Play Selections, those selections
system or other satellite systems: will be transmitted to the Video Satellite
system. However, selections made on the
 Click the corresponding Satellite Link button in
Video Satellite system will not be transmit-
the Transport window.
ted to the administrator system.
To link or unlink all declared satellite systems:
To set the Pro Tools Video Satellite system to stop
 Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) the the transport on both systems when an error
occurs:
Link button or one of the Satellite Link buttons
in the Transport window.  On the administrator Pro Tools system, make
sure the AAE Errors Stop All Linked Systems
Linking Systems During Playback option is selected in the Synchronization Prefer-
You can link the Pro Tools Video Satellite system ences page.
while the administrator Pro Tools HD system is If one of the systems encounters an AAE er-
playing back, and the transports will synchronize. ror, its satellite link button will light up red in
the transport window on the other system.
Hold the mouse pointer over the button to
view the error, if necessary.

Chapter 62: Pro Tools Video Satellite 1399

 Modal Dialogs To compensate for different start times:

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.

1400 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Chapter 63: Avid Video Satellite

Avid Video Satellite is a powerful post-production • A second Avid-qualified computer for

option for Pro Tools, employing a separate com- Media Composer or Symphony
puter running Avid Media Composer or Sym- • Media Composer or Symphony System Identifi-
phony software for synchronized video playback, cation Number and serial number, or Avid Ap-
capture, and conversion. plication Key (included with Media Composer
Avid Video Satellite can use either a single or Symphony)
Media Composer or Symphony system in a Satel- • Avid video peripheral (optional; required for
lite configuration. Avid Video Satellite can play high-quality video output)
full sequences and does not require a video mix-
down. Avid Video Satellite requires a Avid Video Peripherals
Pro Tools HD Administrator in the Satellite con-
For high-quality frame edge-aligned playback of
figuration.
HD or SD video (or 1080 HD video converted to
Media Composer or Symphony software with the SD video), you must add the I/O capabilities of an
Video Satellite option can output and capture Avid video peripheral.
video using the following Avid video peripherals:
Media Composer supports the following Avid
• Media Composer | Nitris DX video peripherals:
• Media Composer | Mojo DX • Media Composer | Nitris DX
• Media Composer | Mojo DX
Avid Video Satellite
Requirements When using an Avid video peripheral, the follow-
ing is required:
Avid Video Satellite requires the following system
components: • An NTSC/PAL black burst generator

• Avid-qualified computer • A tri-level sync generator (when working with

HD-capable Avid video peripherals)
• Pro Tools | Ultimate Software
• HDX or HD Native hardware
• Pro Tools | SYNC HD

Chapter 63: Avid Video Satellite 1401

 Playback to an External HD-SDI
Video Output Options Video Monitor
Avid Video Satellite lets you output video using (Media Composer Nitris DX or Mojo DX Only)
any of the following configurations: Media Composer requires an HD-capable Avid
• Playback to an external monitor with the video peripheral (Nitris DX or Mojo DX) for high-
Media Composer Nitris DX. Output formats in- quality, frame edge-aligned playback of native HD
clude HD/SD-SDI, HDMI, and HD/SD Analog. video to an external HD-SDI monitor.
• Playback to an external monitor with the Avid
Mojo DX. Output formats include HD/SD-SDI Full-Screen Playback using DVI
and HDMI. Output to a Computer Monitor
• Full-screen playback on your primary or second- With a supported video card installed,
ary computer monitor using DVI output Media Composer Video Satellite provides full-
• Playback to an external monitor with supported screen playback of SD or HD video through a DVI
3rd party video hardware port to your primary or secondary computer moni-
tor.
Playback to an External NTSC or For detailed information on the quality of
PAL Video Monitor DVI output to your primary or secondary
Media Composer and Symphony require an Avid monitor, see “Avid Video Satellite Work-
video peripheral for high-quality, frame edge- flows” on page 1403.
aligned playback of SD video (or 1080 HD video
Video Frame Rate and Monitor Refresh
converted to SD video) to an external NTSC or
Rate
PAL monitor.
When you play back video on a monitor with a re-
When outputting 1080 HD video using this config- fresh rate that differs from the video frame rate (as
uration, you can either transcode an HD sequence is often the case during playback of video through
to SD video or down-convert an entire HD project a DVI output), the output yields visual artifacts and
to SD video in real time. offsets in synchronization between audio and
720p projects cannot be down-converted. video. For example, this occurs during playback of
a 24 fps video clip on a DVI monitor with a refresh
When using an Media Composer Nitris DX or rate of 75 Hz.
Mojo DX peripheral,1080 HD video can be down-
If your workflow requires high-quality playback,
converted to SD video in real time, in software
you must output video through an Avid video pe-
mode.
ripheral to a video monitor.
Hardware-based down-convert is not supported
The artifact and audio/video sync issues occur as
with Video Satellite.
follows:

Frame “Tearing” & Video “Stutter” Frame “tear-

ing” is the horizontal distortion on rapidly moving
or heavily edited sequences. Video “stutter” is the
subtle shifting of video during playback.

1402 Pro Tools Reference Guide

You can remedy one of these issues at a time (but
not simultaneously) using the Flip On Vertical Using a Video Satellite in a
Sync option, located in the Full Screen Playback MediaCentral | Production
Settings dialog. Management Environment
Audio/Video Synchronization Offset Audio/
Using a Video Satellite system in a
video synchronization varies slightly with each MediaCentral | Production Management environ-
frame. Though usually not noticeable to the eye, ment is useful for networked file management. For
more precise measuring devices cause offsets in additional information on Pro Tools support with
AV sync of up to 1/2 frame or more. This is normal MediaCentral | Production Management, see the
whenever using the output of a computer's monitor Pro Tools Production Management Guide.
card, and does not affect capture, editing, or lay-
back.
Connecting Pro Tools and a
Video Satellite
Supported Video Resolutions In order for Pro Tools and the video satellite to
Media Composer and Symphony Video Satellite synchronize their transports, they must be linked.
supports the import, capture, and playback of a Before linking can occur, however, you must es-
wide range of video resolutions and frame rates tablish basic communication channels between
(including HD video): them. When the Pro Tools and the video satellite
systems have established this communication, they
For detailed information on supported resolutions are connected.
and frame rates, see Avid Media Composer online
help or visit the Avid website (www.avid.com). To connect the Pro Tools and video satellite sys-
tems, they must first be connected using Ethernet.
To launch online help in Media Composer:
In addition, the Video Satellite option must be en-
• Choose Help > Online Help. abled on the Media Composer system, and the sys-
tems must be connected.

Avid Video Satellite Running other applications simultaneously

Workflows with Media Composer can cause unpredict-
able behavior, including AV sync problems,
The following sections describe workflows for us- frame dropping and audio stuttering. It is
ing Pro Tools with Media Composer or Symphony suggested that you not launch other applica-
configured as an Avid Video Satellite: tions when Media Composer is running. This
• Connecting Pro Tools to a satellite can occur with or without the use of Satellite
mode.
• Linking Pro Tools to a satellite
• Capturing audio and video
• Batch capturing audio and video
• Laying back audio and video

Chapter 63: Avid Video Satellite 1403

 Conditions for Connecting 4 In the Project window in Media Composer or
Pro Tools and a Video Satellite Symphony, click the Settings tab, then double-
click Video Satellite Settings and check that the
The following conditions apply to connections be-
TCP/UDP Port is the same as the TCP/UDP
tween Pro Tools and video satellites:
Port shown in the Satellite pane in the Pro Tools
• Quitting a Pro Tools application that is acting as Peripherals dialog. (Both ports default to
administrator to a video satellite releases the 28282.)
video satellite so that it can be linked to other
Pro Tools systems. For Video Satellite to operate properly, the
TCP/UDP port you set must be between 1024
• If you quit Pro Tools while a satellite is con-
and 65534.
nected, Pro Tools attempts to re-connect to the
same satellite on relaunch. 5 If the TCP/UDP port settings are the same, ver-
• When linked to a Video Satellite, Pro Tools does ify with your network administrator that the
not chase MIDI Timecode (MTC). port shown is not being blocked on the network.
6 Check that all Ethernet cables are completely
Troubleshooting the Satellite plugged in and working. In most cases, there are
Connection LEDs that show activity at the Ethernet ports.
If the satellite does not appear in the Administrator 7 Video satellite playback will not function in the
pop-up menu, verify the following: following conditions:
1 Ensure that Media Composer or Symphony is • Certain dialogs are open in either Pro Tools or
fully launched. Media Composer.
2 In Media Composer, go to the Project window • Media Composer is not the active application.
and choose Settings > Video Satellite. Ensure • Pro Tools does not have an open session, or
that Video Satellite Mode is enabled. Media Composer does not have an open se-
3 In the Satellite page of the Pro Tools Peripherals quence.
dialog, select a different Ethernet port from the
Interface menu. Many computers have more
than one Ethernet port or “interface”. The inter-
face selected here must be the one connected to
the same network as the satellite.

1404 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Matching Media Composer
Matching Media Composer Project Type to Pro Tools
and Pro Tools Settings in a Timecode Rate, Clock
Video Satellite System Reference, and Video Ref
Format
In order to accurately synchronize playback be-
tween Pro Tools and Media Composer, the follow- This section explains how to match the
ing parameters must be correctly matched: Media Composer Project Type to the Pro Tools
• Media Composer Project Type and Pro Tools Timecode Rate, Clock Reference, and Video For-
Timecode Rate, Clock Reference, and Video mat.
Format
To ensure that your video satellite system will play
• Pro Tools Audio Pull-Up setting and back or capture using the proper settings:
Media Composer Edit Play Rate 1 In Media Composer, click the Format tab in the
• Timecode Format (Drop Frame or Non-Drop Project window.
Frame)
2 Select the desired setting from the Project Type
For Pro Tools to play in sync with pop-up menu.
Media Composer or Symphony as a video satellite,
In most cases, changing the Media
all of these settings are interdependent. A mis-
Composer project type is not advisable. You
match in any of these settings will cause Pro Tools
should change the Pro Tools Timecode Rate
to display an error message.
unless you are creating an SD down-con-
Media Composer Starting TC timecode setting and vert from an HD project. See the Pro Tools
the Pro Tools session start do not have to match ex- Reference Guide.
actly, but should usually be close.

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.

Video Ref Format cannot be changed for

most HD frame rates.

Chapter 63: Avid Video Satellite 1405

 Matching Audio Pull-Up and Edit
Play Rate
By default, Media Composer plays back sequences
at the frame rate specified in the name of the proj-
ect type. For example, a 25i PAL project plays at
25 fps. The notable exception is 30i NTSC, which
actually plays at 29.97 fps.

When working with 23.976, 24p NTSC, 24p PAL,

and 25p PAL projects, you can change the play-
back rate (known as the Edit Play Rate) without af-
fecting other properties in order to slow down or
speed up playback slightly. This is the video equiv-
alent of the audio pull-up/down setting in
Pro Tools.

To change the Edit Play Rate:

1 In the Settings tab of the Project window, open
the Film and 24P setting.
2 Select an Edit Play Rate matching your config-
uration according to the following table.

24p projects (PAL and NTSC) use a default

Edit Play Rate that does not match the project
rate. 24p PAL defaults to 25 fps and 24p
NTSC defaults to 23.976 fps.

To change audio pull up/down settings in

Pro Tools:

1 In Pro Tools, choose Setup > Session.

2 From the Timecode Settings section of the Ses-
sion Setup window, select a rate from the Audio
Rate Pull Up/Down pop-up menu.
3 Click OK to apply the new pull up/down rate to
the session.

1406 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Compatibility Table

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

Media Composer or Symphony Pro Tools

Edit Mojo DX or PT SYNC HD

Avid Project PT Audio Rate
Play Nitris DX Timecode Video Ref
Format Pull Up/Down
Rate Video Ref Rate Format

23.976p NTSC 23.976 NTSC 23.976 None NTSC

24 NTSC 24 0.1% Up NTSC

24p NTSC 24 NTSC 24 None NTSC

23.976 NTSC 23.976 0.1% Down NTSC

30i NTSC 29.97 NTSC 29.97 Variable NTSC

24p PAL 24 PAL 24 None PAL

25 PAL 25 4% Up PAL

25p PAL 25 PAL 25 None PAL

24 PAL 24 4% Down PAL

25i PAL 25 PAL 25 None PAL

720p/23.976 23.976 720p/59.94* 23.976 None 720p/59.94

(or NTSC)

720p/25 25 720p/50 25 None 720p/50

(or PAL)

720p/29.97 29.97 720p/59.94 29.97 None 720p/59.94

(or NTSC)

720p/50 50 720p/50* 25 None 720p/50

(or PAL)

720p/59.94 59.94 720p/59.94* 29.97 None 720p/59.94

(or NTSC)

Chapter 63: Avid Video Satellite 1407

 Rate and Sync Ref Compatibility between Avid and Pro Tools

Media Composer or Symphony(continued) Pro Tools (continued)

Edit Mojo DX or PT SYNC HD

Avid Project PT Audio Rate
Play Nitris DX Timecode Video Ref
Format Pull Up/Down
Rate Video Ref Rate Format

1080p/23.976 23.976 1080p/23.98sF 23.976 None 1080p/23.97 (or

NTSC)

1080p/24 24 1080p/24sF 24 None 1080p/24

(or PAL or
NTSC)

1080p/25 25 1080p/25sF (or 25 None 1080p/25 (or

1080i/50)* 1080i/50
or PAL)

1080p/29.97 29.97 1080i/59.94 29.97 None 1080i/59.94,

1080psf-29.97
(or NTSC)

1080i/50 50 1080i/50* 25 None 1080i/50,

1080psf-25
(or PAL)

1080i/59.94 59.94 1080i/59.94* 29.97 None 1080i/59.94,

1080psf-29.97
(or NTSC)

*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.

1408 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Matching Timecode Format If the numbers in the TC fields are separated by
(Drop Frame or Non-Drop Frame) semi-colons instead of colons, the project is set to
Drop Frame.
Pro Tools and Media Composer must be set to the
same timecode format (either Drop Frame or Non-
Drop Frame).

To ensure timecode format settings are

compatible: Starting
TC field
1 In Pro Tools, choose Setup > Session. If the
Timecode rate pop-up menu displays “DF” after
the frame rate, Pro Tools is set to Drop Frame. Session
Start field
2 In Media Composer, right-click the Record
Timecode
monitor, and choose Sequence Report. Rate

In some project formats, Media Composer

can be configured for Drop Frame or Non-
Drop Frame, while the corresponding Clip Info dialog (Media Composer, top) and a portion
Pro Tools timecode rate can only be set to of the Session Setup window (Pro Tools, bottom)
Non-Drop Frame. In such cases,
3 If both timecode formats do not match, do one
Media Composer sends Non-Drop timecode
of the following:
information to Pro Tools, even if it is set to
Drop Frame. The following project formats • To force Pro Tools to match the timecode format
in Media Composer exhibit this behavior: of Media Composer, select the compatible time-
23.976p NTSC, 24p NTSC, and 720p/23.976. code format from the Timecode Rate pop-up
menu.
• To force Media Composer to match the time-
code rate of Pro Tools, type semi-colons (Drop
Frame) or colons (Non-Drop Frame) between
the numbers in the Starting TC field, and press
Enter.

Chapter 63: Avid Video Satellite 1409

 Matching Media Composer Compensating for Different Sequence
Starting TC Timecode Setting Start Times in Pro Tools and a Video
and Pro Tools Session Start Satellite

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.

1410 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 When using the J, K and L keys to shuttle in
Linking or Unlinking Media Composer, Pro Tools will play audio at 1x
Pro Tools and a Video forward, but not in reverse or any other possible
Satellite playback speeds.
After you have connected and configured a single
Trim, Color Correction and Effects modes in
Pro Tools HD system and an Avid Video Satellite
Media Composer and Symphony are not sup-
system in a Satellite Link network, you can control
ported with Avid Video Satellite.
their behavior with controls in the Pro Tools and
Media Composer transports. However, if more
than one Pro Tools HD system is connected and In Media Composer, enable the Play Prepara-
configured in a Satellite Link network that in- tion Delay option (Settings > Video Satellite)
cludes an Avid Video Satellite system, playback to avoid possible errors on playback start in
can be started only from a Pro Tools HD system on sequences with high bandwidth video or un-
the network. rendered effects. Enable the Loop Preparation
Delay option to similarly avoid problems
Standard Pro Tools MachineControl Option when looping playback.
functionality is unaffected and independent
from the video satellite transport operations. Link Controls
However, chasing MIDI Machine Control or
MIDI timecode while linked to a video satel- When a Pro Tools HD system is configured as an
lite is not supported. administrator, the following controls can be shown
in the Transport window:
When linked, Pro Tools and Media Composer sup-
port the following transport operations: Link Button Controls the link status of the local
system.
• With audio playback:
• Play Satellite Link Buttons control the link status of the
other satellite systems. On every system, one of
• Half-speed Play
these buttons corresponds to that system’s main
• Loop Play link button.
• Shuttle
Link buttons highlight to indicate linked status.
• Scrub
• Record
• Loop Record
• FF/REW (with the Audio During FF/RW
preference turned on in Pro Tools))
• Without audio playback:
• Locate
• Nudge
• Selecting

Chapter 63: Avid Video Satellite 1411

 To display linking controls in the Transport Controlling Linking with a
window: Control Surface
 Choose View > Transport > Synchronization and
To toggle the link button on the Pro Tools system
View > Transport > Expanded. (ICON and C|24):

Link button  Press Control + the Online button (Mac) or Alt

+ Online (Windows) on the control surface.

To toggle the Satellite Link buttons (D-Control or

D-Command only):

1 Press Command + the Modes button (Mac) or

Satellite Link buttons Control + Modes (Windows) on the control sur-
face to display all linked systems in the softkeys
Linking controls in the Pro Tools Transport window
display.
To link or unlink the local Pro Tools system:
2 The Modes button will light up. Pressing Modes
 Click the Link button in the Transport window. again will exit the Satellite Link mode.
Press Option+Shift+L (Mac) or Alt+Shift+L 3 The softkeys corresponding with each machine
(Windows) to link or unlink the local system. can then be pressed to link or unlink that ma-
chine.
To link or unlink other satellite systems:

 Click the corresponding Satellite Link button in Video Satellite and EUCON Control and
the Transport window. Work Surfaces

A selection of system linking controls have been

To link or unlink the video satellite system from
EUCONized. For more information on controlling
within Media Composer, do one of the following:
Video Satellite functions from EUCON devices,
 Click the Satellite Link button to change it to a see the Pro Tools EUCON Guide.
linked (green) or unlinked (grey) state.

Press Option+Shift+L (Mac) or Alt+Shift+L

(Windows) to link or unlink the local system.

Link buttons flash briefly when establishing

the network clock.

If Media Composer shows an error dialog,

the Satellite Link button for the Video Satel-
lite in Pro Tools will turn red. Hold the cur-
sor over the link button to view the dialog. To
dismiss the dialog, shift-click the video satel-
lite system’s Satellite Link button.

1412 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 Conditions for Capturing Audio
Capturing Audio and Video and Video
with a Video Satellite System
The following conditions apply to capturing audio
You can use a video satellite system to capture au- and video with a video satellite system:
dio to Pro Tools and video media to
• Due to technical limitations, when capturing
Media Composer in a single pass.
video from a device being controlled using a
1394 connection, audio sync will be up to 3/4 of
Before Capturing Audio and a frame out of sync.
Video
• If you want to capture a 29.97 telecine video
Before capturing audio and video from tape, tape to a 24 fps project, you must first capture
ensure that you have made the following both audio and video on Media Composer and
connections. then export the audio back to Pro Tools. For
manually exporting an AAF Sequence, see the
For connections with an Avid video peripheral, do Avid Media Composer Guide.
the following:

Connect the desired outputs of the video deck to

Configuring Pro Tools and a
1
the corresponding inputs on the video periph-
Media Composer Video Satellite
eral. for Capturing
2 Connect the audio source to the inputs of your Before configuring Pro Tools and
primary Pro Tools HD audio interface Media Composer for synchronized capturing, en-
sure that the two applications have matching set-
For more information, see the guide for your
tings. For detailed information, see “Matching
Pro Tools HD audio interface.
Media Composer and Pro Tools Settings in a
For connections without an Avid video peripheral, Video Satellite System” on page 1405.
do the following:
Configuring Pro Tools for Capturing
 For FireWire-based connections, connect the
within a Video Satellite System
FireWire cable directly to the FireWire port on
the Media Composer system. To configure Pro Tools for capturing audio:

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.

Chapter 63: Avid Video Satellite 1413

 2 Route the audio inputs to the desired tracks.
Digitizing from an EDL
3 Record enable the audio tracks to which you
want to capture audio. Media Composer includes Avid EDL Manager
software, which lets you open an EDL from an-
4 Click the Record Enable button in the Trans- other editing application, create a
port. Media Composer sequence from that EDL, then
re-digitize the sequence.
Configuring Media Composer for Video
Capture When using this procedure with a video satellite,
you must capture the audio to Media Composer
Avid Video Satellite supports video capture to a
and then export an AAF sequence referencing or
new or existing sequence using the Capture Tools
containing the embedded audio to Pro Tools.
in Media Composer or Symphony. See
Media Composer or Symphony documentation for
configuration details.
Laying Back Audio and Video
Playing Back Captured Audio and Video to Tape
with a Video Satellite System
You can layback audio from Pro Tools and video
Once you have finished capturing with a video sat- from Media Composer to tape using the Digital
ellite system, the captured clip appears in the Re- Cut Tool in Media Composer. See
cord Monitor and in the Timeline. Audio appears Media Composer documentation for configuration
in the Pro Tools Timeline. details. Note that the 9-pin connection must be on
the Media Composer composer system.
To view the captured clip, do the following:
The Universal Mastering feature in Sym-
 Click Play (or press the Spacebar) in Pro Tools phony is not supported with Video Satellite.
or Media Composer.

To minimize the chance of dropped frames, it

Re-Digitizing an Existing is recommended that all effects be rendered
Sequence before performing a layback.

Media Composer can open sequences created on

When laying back to an SDI VTR or 1394
other Avid editing systems. However, you may
device that requires audio and video to be
first want to re-digitize some or all of the media
combined in a single stream, you must
files because they were the wrong resolution, or
export the audio to Media Composer from
missing.
Pro Tools or combine audio and video sig-
When using this procedure with a video satellite, nals using a third-party summing device, and
you must capture the audio to Media Composer then lay back the final sequence to tape.
and then export an AAF sequence referencing or
containing the embedded audio to Pro Tools.

1414 Pro Tools Reference Guide

To record audio and video to tape from 6 Select Output > Digital Cut. The Digital Cut Tool
Media Composer and Pro Tools simultaneously: appears.
1 Make sure that your system is set up as follows:
• Pro Tools and the Media Composer video satel-
lite computers are linked.
• Audio outputs on the Pro Tools HD audio inter-
face are connected to the appropriate audio in-
puts on the VTR.
• Video outputs from Media Composer system are
connected to the VTR.
• If you are using deck control, the deck control
cable from Media Composer is connected to the
VTR, and the VTR is set to Remote mode.

When using Media Composer in Satellite

mode for 24p and 23.976 projects, only the 24 Digital Cut Tool
and 23.976 Output Formats are supported. 7 If you want to set In and Out points for a
The 29.97 Output Format (+25% playback digital cut.
speed with no pulldown) is not supported in
Satellite mode for 24p and 23.976p projects. 8 Do one of the following:
• Select the Entire Sequence option to record the
2 Insert a video tape into your VTR. entire sequence.
3 To ensure that the tape deck is properly • Deselect the Entire Sequence option and set the
configured, refer to the following topic in In and Out points in the Timeline.
Media Composer Help (Help > Avid
Media Composer Help): Configuring a Deck or
9 If you are laying back over a FireWire (1394)
Multiple Decks. connection (Special > Device > IEEE 1394), se-
lect the appropriate output mode from the Out-
4 Do one of the following: put Mode pop-up menu as follows:
• Select one of the displayed tape names and click • If all of the media on your Timeline is DV25, or
OK. if it is all DV50, and all of your effects are ren-
• Click New to add a new tape to the list. dered, you can achieve a slightly higher quality
of output by selecting DV25 or DV50 as appro-
5 Drag the sequence you want to record to tape priate.
from the bin to the Record Monitor.
• Otherwise, you must select the RT DV25 or RT
DV50 options to render and transcode all of your
video to that format.

Chapter 63: Avid Video Satellite 1415

 10 Select the Stop on Dropped Frames option if 15 If you selected Remote mode, use the Record
you want Media Composer to automatically Track buttons on the right to select which audio
stop the tape if the audio and video does not re- and video tracks to enable for recording on the
cord correctly. tape.
11 Select the Add Black At Tail option, and type the 16 Click the yellow Preview button to check that
amount of black you want added to the end of all of the tracks you selected are playing and
the sequence. that the insert points on the tape are correct.
12 Select one of the following from the Deck Con- 17 Do one of the following:
trol options: • To record using Local mode, press play and re-
Local mode You will initiate recording manually. cord on the VTR. When ready, click the Record
button in the Digital Cut window.
Remote mode Media Composer will start the
• To record using Remote mode, press Record in
VTR and drop into record at the specified time-
the Digital Cut window. Media Composer will
code.
queue the tape, play, then drop in at the appropri-
13 If you chose Remote mode, select one of the fol- ate location.
lowing options:
When doing a Digital Cut with an
Sequence Time Starts recording based on se- Avid Mojo DX or Nitris DX video peripheral,
quence time. For example, if the sequence starts at Output Mode should be set to “Real Time”
01:00:00:00 in the Timeline, Media Composer will when using non-FireWire video outputs, for
start recording when the tape reaches 01:00:00:00. best A/V sync performance.

Record Deck Time Starts recording wherever the

VTR is currently parked. Be sure to record at least a few seconds of
black to the tape before performing a digital
Mark In Time Starts recording at the address en- cut. This will guarantee that the video tape is
tered in the top window to the right of the transport correctly formatted when your digital cut
controls. starts.
14 In the Source Track buttons, select the top video
track. Only the selected video tracks and the
video tracks below it will be recorded.

Source Record
Track Track Record Enable Preview
button button

Selected Source tracks

1416 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Index

Symbols Add Tempo Change button 845, 863

435, 879, 1259 Add Unique Triggers 740
.ptxp file type 272 adding tags 339
“Organize Track I/O Menus By” options 108 Adjust Session Start Time to Match Source Start
Time 425
ADM file 1256
Numerics Advanced Meter Type settings 123
1st Order Ambisonics 1259
advanced metering 228
29.97 FPS Non-Drop 1293
AES31/Broadcast compliant BWF (.wav) 462
3D audio 1259
AFL (After Fader Listen) 260
3-knob panning 1231
AFL/PFL Path 62
5.1 surround formats 1208
After Fader Listen (AFL) mode 260
7.0.2 and 7.1.2 surround formats 1202, 1239
After Playback Scrolling option 484
7.0.2 panner 1249
After Write Pass, Switch To option 121, 1129
7.1 and 7.0 surround formats 1202
AIFC file format 440
7.1.2 panner 1249
AIFF file format 1191
9-Pin MachineControl settings 138, 139
All MIDI Notes Off command 780
Allow Latch Prime in Stop option 120
A Allow Sends to persist during LLM option 118, 519
AAF Allow Track Arm Commands in Local Mode option
exporting 442, 448 132, 1325
import translation settings 438 alternate matching takes 534, 706
importing 430 Alternate Takes pop-up menu 535, 707
linked media 23 Always Display Marker Colors option 109
metadata 20, 1333 Always Fill Channel Strips When Banking option
opening in Pro Tools 431 119
AAX Ambisonics panning plug-ins 1262 Ambisonics
Abandon Changes command 389 1259
Absolute Grid mode 601, 902 configuring I/O Setup 1260
ACID files 403 creating mixes 1262
importing 410 discrete channel orderings 1261
active 17 FB360 Audio plug-ins 1263
inserts 1096 Higher-order 1259
tracks 262 Ambisonics formats 1203
Active Busses display 82 Analysis view 972, 986
Add Contacts 365 Apply Real-Time Properties option 419
Add Key Change command 874 archiving sessions (with Compact command) 665
Add Marker/Memory Location button 881 arming
Add Meter Change button 866 safe (ignore) 1324

Index 1417
 Artist Chat Audio Zoom In button 604
History 367 Audio Zoom Out button 604
Notifications 366 AudioSuite menu 212
opening a project 370 AudioSuite plug-ins 929, 930, 936, 1095
Projects tab 367 Bypass button 934
Artist Chat window 363 Clip by Clip mode 932
Artist Profile 364 Clips List command 930
ASIO 8 Create Continuous File command 932
aspect ratios (Video window) 1375 Create Individual Files command 931
Assemble mode 1318 Default Handle Length preferences 126
Assign Tags popover window 340 Entire Selection mode 932
Assignments View (Sends View option) 1064 File Mode selector 931
Attributes (Groups List) command 284 Handle Length setting 935
attributes (groups) 288 multichannel processing 935
Audio During Fast Forward/Rewind option 110, 481 Overwrite File command 931
audio file formats 158, 1191 Playlist command 930
audio files 11 Preview 934
compacting 666 Preview Volume 934
default names 508 Render button 935
importing 402 Reverse button 935
mixed file types 170 Selection Reference selector 930
Audio Files Conform to Session Tempo 320 Target button 933
Audio Files Conform to Session Tempo button 345 Use in Playlist button 931
Audio Files folder 159 using 936
audio format 450, 1271 Whole File button 935
Audio Media options 423 AudioSuite window 929
on export 450 Audition Paths selector 60
on import 435 auditioning
Audio MIDI Setup (AMS) (Mac) 97, 145 clips in the Clips List 60, 299
Audio Pull Up and Pull Down 1277, 1405 fades 671
Audio Pull Up/Down setting 1406 in browsers 343
Audio Pull-Up and Edit Play Rate 1406 MIDI notes 753
audio signal paths 52 pre/post-roll 486
Audio Track RecordLock option 112, 565 programs 775
audio tracks 10 selection start and end points 486
5.1 format 1201 takes 534
and Output format 1213 Auto Accept Adjust Bounds option 117
and surround sessions 1211 Auto Backup option 111
bouncing to disk 1188 Auto button (plug-ins) 1104
channel strips 217 Auto buttons
creating a tempo map for 863 upload, download, and download all shared
disabling Elastic Audio 971 tracks 386
enabling Elastic Audio 970 Auto Edit 1317, 1323
loop recording 532 Auto Input Monitoring mode 515, 516
placing audio in multichannel tracks 1212 Auto Insert Default Plug-Ins preference 119
punch recording 529 Auto Match Pull Factors 1278
recording multiple 523 Auto Rename Clips List command 302
signal flow 1042 auto-created clips 582
track controls 220 hiding 303
Waveform View 583 renaming 300

1418 Pro Tools Reference Guide

AutoFades 680 hidden tracks 248
AutoGlide mode 1232 modes 1128
AutoGlide Time preference 121, 1232 Object/Bus Toggle 1253
Auto-Height Overrides Height Automation option on multichannel tracks 1156
1253 pass-through point 1129
AutoJoin pasting 1157
command 1129 playlists 691, 1126, 1135
indicator 1130 relative and absolute 1131
AutoMatch Safe button 1104
all controls 1144 safing 1134
button 1144 smoothing 1133
indicators 1137 snapshot 1172
individual automation types 1144 Special Paste mode 1160
individual controls 1144 stepped 1154
AutoMatch Time preference 121, 1134 suspending 1147, 1148
Automatic Ownership 391 thinning 1134, 1150
Automatically Copy Files on Import option 126, 412, Track View 594
422 trimming 1162
Automatically Create Click Track in New Sessions writing 1138
option 129 writing on stop 1165
Automatically Download New Shared Tracks option writing to next breakpoint 1166
131 writing to selection, selection start or end 1164
Automatically Find and Relink 461 Automation Enable window 1138
automating Automation Follows Edit option 1134
plug-ins 1141, 1142, 1143 Automation lanes 1135
sends 1140 in MIDI Editor windows 804
switched controls 1140 in the Edit window 1135
VCA Masters 1180 Automation Mode selector 1128
automation 1125 automation modes
and multichannel pan 1236 Latch 1129
and multiple output assignments 1213 Latch Trim 1132
breakpoints 1154 Off 1128
capturing and applying elsewhere 1174, 1177 Read 1128
clips 587 Read Trim 1132
coalescing clip gain to volume automation 948 Touch 1129
coalescing Trim automation 1163 Touch Trim 1132
coalescing VCA automation 1181 Touch/Latch 1131
coalescing volume automation to clip gain 948 Touch/Latch Trim 1132
converting clip gain to volume automation 948 Trim Off 1131
converting volume automation to clip gain 948 Write 1128
copying 1157 Write Trim 1132
creating 1142 Automation preferences
cutting 1157 AutoMatch Time preference 1134
deleting 1149 Smooth and Thin Data After Pass option 1151
delta values 1131 Automation Preview mode 1175
display of fade boundaries and shapes 689 Punch Preview button 1177
drawing with Pencil 1151 suspending 1177
editing 622, 1152 Write Automation To commands 1177
enabling 1147 Auto-Name Memory Locations While Playing option
grouped tracks 1156 116, 882

Index 1419
 Auto-Name Separated Clips option 115, 655 Batch Track Renaming dialog 305
auto-naming Beat Detective 719, 720, 721
and Strip Silence 909 beat triggers
audio files and clips 508 deleting 728
playlists 691 generating 724
QuickPunch clips 563 inserting 728
separated clips 655 moving 728
takes 508 promoting 729
Auto-Spot 1304, 1313, 1315 Collection Mode 739
Auto-Spot Clips command 1290 conforming clips 734
Auxiliary Inputs 14, 215 defining a selection 722
channel strips 217 detecting transients 724
monitoring and mixing 1074 DigiGroove templates 731
signal flow 1043 edit smoothing 737
track controls 220 extrapolation 732
Avid Audio Engine (AAE) 8 generating Bar|Beat Markers 730
Avid Link 4 groove templates 731
Avid Link menu 212 Scroll Next 729
Avid Master Account 154 separating clips 733
signing in 154 system requirements 720
signing out 154 templates 731
Avid Video Engine (AVE) 96, 1355 Trigger Pad 733
Avid Video Satellite 1401 window 721
with multiple tracks 734
B Bed Audio (or Bed Material) 1237
Back and Play command 482 Big Counter window 479
Back command 482 Bi-Phase/Tach
Back/Forward Amount 111, 482 pulses-per-frame setting 137
Back/Forward commands 482 Wiring setting 136
backing up sessions automatically 111, 160 bit depth 157, 450, 1270
Backup to Cloud 161, 184 Blocks View
bank select 772 audio track 240
Bar|Beat Markers video track 1359
and tempo events 864 Bounce
audio with varying tempos 865 track 1003
editing 865 Bounce to Disk command 1185, 1188, 1190, 1197
from Identify Beat command 863 bit depth options 1193
generated with Beat Detective 730 channel format options 1193
moving 864 Choose directory 1195
bars dither 1186
renumbering 873 File Type 1191
Bars|Beats Time Scale 837 Format 1193
Batch Clip Renaming dialog 305 Offline option 1195
Batch Rename Output Path selector, from the 1189
clips 302 recording a submix 1197
tracks 236 sample rate conversion options 1194
Batch Rename Clips 302 Send Path selector, from the 1189
Batch Rename Tracks 236 source path 1190
Batch Rename Tracks command 249 time stamps 1189
batch renaming 305 Bounce to QuickTime Movie command 1381

1420 Pro Tools Reference Guide

breakpoints 1154 Channel selector 1105
Avid keyframes 1153 for multi-mono plug-ins 1216
clip gain 944 channel strips 13
Bring to Front command 849 audio tracks 217
browsers 314 Auxiliary Inputs 217
display options 322 Instrument tracks 219
opening 315 Master Fader tracks 218
sorting 323 MIDI tracks 219
Buffer Size (Hardware) 518 VCA Master tracks 218
bus interrogation 1069 channels 13
bussing Chase LTC mode 1321
multichannel sends 1215 chasing
sends 1058 MIDI controller events 777
signal paths 51 MIDI notes 777
submixing and effects processing 1074 MIDI program changes 778
surround examples 1219 Chat 370
BWF (.WAV) file format 1191 start new 371
Bypass button (plug-ins) 1104 Chat list 370
Bypass Clip Effects command 951 pinning items 375
Bypass Clip Effects settings 951 unpinning items 375
Bypass Clip Gain setting 948 chat messages
filtering 374
C Chord Change dialog 878
cables chord diagrams 878
included cables 1297 chord symbols 824, 878
wiring diagrams 1330, 1331 Chord Symbols ruler 877
Cache Size 96 chords 877
Calculator Entry mode (for numeric entry) 638 Classic Numeric Keypad mode 28, 111
Calibration Mode command 499 Clear All Clip Indicators command 226, 1066
Calibration Reference Level preference 114 Clear Clip Gain command 946
canceling record takes 523, 550 Clear command (Clips List) 304
Capture Clip command 653 Clear command (Edit menu) 597
capturing automation values 1177 Clear Special commands (automation) 1160
capturing timecode 1289 Clear Trim Automation Track command 249, 1150
Catalogs (Workspace) 317 click 500, 501, 502
Center % (Percentage) 1233 Click plug-in 500
Center % in Output window 1234 click track 500
Center Playhead Scrolling option 485 clicks and pops, avoiding 586
centered crossfade 669 Clip Auto Fade In/Out Length preference 681
Change Duration command 1005, 1021 clip boundaries
Change Edit to Match Timeline command 644 extending selections to 636
Change Meter command 824, 866, 868 moving edit cursor to 640
Change Tempo command 845 moving Playhead to 488
Change Timeline to Match Edit command 643 clip definitions 416
Change Velocity command 1005, 1019 clip effects 949
channel mapping applying 951
default path order 62 bypassing 951
editing 76 rendering 952
re-mapping 77 Clip Effects display 950
Clip Effects Status 592

Index 1421
 clip gain 941 Clip Matching Options setting 116
adjusting with the Clip Gain Fader 943 Clip menu 212
breakpoint editing 944 Bring to Front command 849
bypassing 948 Capture command 653
clearing 946 Identify Sync Point command 1292
Clip Gain Info view 941 Lock command 907
Clip Gain Line 942 Mute/Unmute command 909
clip groups 926 Quantize to Grid command 663
coalescing clip gain to volume automation 948 Remove Sync Point command 906
coalescing volume automation to clip gain 948 Send to Back command 849
converting clip gain to volume automation 948 Ungroup All Clips command 921
converting volume automation to clip gain 948 Ungroup Clips command 921
copying 947 Unlock command 907
cutting 946 Unloop Clips command 917
Default Handle Length preferences 126 Clip Name
dynamic 941 Right-click menu 213, 304
editing 943 View option 591
editing with the Grabber tool 944 Clip Time View option 591
editing with the Pencil tool 944 Clip Transparency view 895
pasting 947 Clip Views
rendering 948 Transparency 895
static 941 clip-based effects 949
static clip gain value display 941 clip-based gain 438, 941
Clip Gain Fader 943 clipping 498
Clip Gain Fader icon 941 clips 12, 240, 583
Clip Gain Info view 941 aligning to clip start points 894
Clip Gain Line 942 auto-created 582
Clip Gain Nudge Value setting 116 automation 587
clip group file format (.rgrp) 456, 926 auto-naming options 302
clip groups 583, 919 auto-spotting 1290
changing timebase format 923 bringing to front 849
creating 920 capturing 653
editing 924 clearing 597
exporting to different hard drives 458 clearing Real-Time Properties 786
fades and crossfades 925 clip effects 949
importing 457 Conform to Tempo 849
importing and exporting 456 conforming with Beat Detective 734
mixed 921 consolidating 665
multitrack 921 copying 595
regrouping 921 creating 653
separated 922 crossfading between 679
tick-based 923 cutting 595
timebase format 920 default names 508
trimming 925 displaying names 591
ungrouping 921 displaying times 591
video 1374 dragging from Clips List 891
Clip Groups folder 159 dragging to multichannel tracks 665
Clip Hold options 124, 226 duplicating 913
Clip Info dialog 1409 Edit-locking 908
Clip information 301 exporting as audio files 414

1422 Pro Tools Reference Guide

extending selections to include 636 trimming start/end points 613
finding 296 trimming to Edit insertion point 657
fitting to an Edit selection 667 trimming unwanted data from 657
gain 941 unlocking 907
healing separations 656 User Time Stamp 901
hiding auto-created 303 user-defined 300, 303, 582
inserting silence into 912 video 1371
locking 907 warped (Elastic Audio) 583, 984
looping 915 whole-file 582
managing 300 Clips List 293
MIDI 549 and MIDI clips 293
moving clips with fades 685 auditioning clips 299
moving in Grid mode 903 displaying file info for audio clips 294
multichannel 583 dragging from 891
muting 909 Export Clips as Files command 414
nudging 660 Find History 297
nudging clips with fades 685 finding clips 296
offline 583 Keyboard Focus 27
Original Time Stamp 901 menu 293
pasting 596 previewing clips 299
placing at Edit insertion point 893 repeating a previous search 296
placing in tracks 891 selecting clips 297
quantizing 663, 1017 sorting 295
removing pitch shift (Elastic Audio) 992 Clips List Keyboard Focus 298
removing silence from 910 Clips List menu 1291
removing unused 304 Auto Rename command 302
removing warp (Elastic Audio) 985 Clear command 304
renaming in the Clips List 301 Compact command 665
renaming on a track 590 Export Clip Definitions command 416
repeating 914 Export Selected As Files command 447
replacing 903 Find command 296
Select options 298 Rename command 301
selecting 619, 632 Select options 298
selecting all in a track 632 Selected Unused command 304
sending to back 849 Show Auto-Created option 303
separating 654 Sort By options 295
separating with Beat Detective 733 Time Stamp Selected command 901
separating with Separation Grabber 655 Timeline Drop Order option 892
shifting 907 Clips List Selection Follows Edit Selection option
shuffling 898, 899 115, 294, 632
slipping 899 Clips View 240, 241, 587
snapping to 897 Clock Reference setting 1405
snapping to next 897 Clock Source 99, 1123, 1270
sorting 295 Close Session command 181
spotting 900, 1289 closing plug-in windows 1105
stripping silence from 909 Cloud Storage Usage Meter 386
sync points 905, 1292 Coalesce Clip Gain to Volume Automation
time stamping 1290 command 948
Time-locking 908 Coalesce Pan Guide Automation command 1254
trimming by Nudge value 659, 757 Coalesce Trim Automation options 121

Index 1423
 Coalesce Trim Automation Track command 249 configuring
Coalesce VCA Master Automation Track command MMC 1284, 1285
249 SMPTE 1275
Coalesce Volume to Clip Gain command 948 configuring a paddle device 1325
Coalesce when Removing Slaves from VCA Group Conform to Tempo command 849
option 120 connecting
coalescing external audio devices 1122, 1123
Trim automation 1163 Consolidate command
VCA automation 1181 audio 665
Collaboration MIDI notes 759
undownloaded shared tracks 395 Consolidate From Source Media 451
Collaboration Preferences 130 Consolidate Handle Length 436, 451
collaboration transaction logs 368 Consolidate Handle Size 451
Collection Mode (Beat Detective) 739 Consolidate Source Audio Media 436
Color Coding consolidating media 356
Apply to Channel Strip 265 Constant command (Tempo Operations) 858
options 109, 262 Continuous Scroll with Playhead option 485
Color Palette window 264 Continuous Scrolling During Playback option 485
Color setting (for window dub) 137 continuous zoom 604
Column 202 control surfaces
Command|8 1090 C|24 1090
Commands Keyboard Focus 26 Command|8 1090
Comments View 237, 1053 D-Command 1090
Commit Track 995 D-Control 1090
Commit Tracks dialog 996 control track 1318
Commit Up To This Insert 998 controller events 764
Committing Elastic Audio 971 and MIDI clips 588
Compact command 665 editing 765
Compact Selected command 304 editing with Smart Tool 622
compacting audio files 666 inserting 765
Compare button (plug-ins) 1103 Controller lanes 764, 1135
compatibility 3, 1407 in MIDI Editor windows 804
Compensate Side Chains option 121 in the Edit window 1135
compensating Controllers folder (controller personalities) 1091
for monitor delay 1400, 1410 Conversion Quality option 403, 1371
for video satellite offsets 1400 Convert Clip Gain to Volume Automation command
compensating for signal delays in side-chain 948
processing 1085 Convert Plug-In selector 1104
Compensation for Input Delays After Record Pass Convert Volume to Clip Gain command 948
option 59 Convert WAV files to AES31/BroadcastWave
Compensation for Output Delays After Record Pass option 126, 412, 462
option 59 converting sessions 168
compositing 694 Copy Clip Gain command 947
Conductor button 199 Copy command 595
Conductor Ruler Ownership control 398 Copy From Source Media 450
Conductor Ruler Ownership control right-click Copy from Source Media (Video) 424, 436
menu 398 Copy Settings command 1109
Conductor rulers 838 Copy Source Audio Media 435
including in selections 638 Copy Special commands 1159
Copy to Send command 1141

1424 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Copy/Move Indicators 592 Custom Note Duration
copying Follow Grid 746
MIDI notes with the Split command 1025 custom session templates 178
plug-in settings 1111 Custom Shuttle Lock Speed preference 110, 625
selections and clips 595 Cut Clip Gain command 946
track automation to sends 1141 Cut command 595
track control settings to sends 1068 Cut Special commands 1159
Core Audio 8 All Automation 1159
count off 501 Pan Automation 1159
Countoff button 199 Plug-In Automation 1159
CPU peak indicator 105 Cut Time command 868, 871
CPU Total meter 105 cutting
Create Catalog from Selection 320 automation 1157
Create Click Track command 500 MIDI notes with the Split command 1025
Create Fades command 679, 680 selections and clips 595
Create Machine Track Arming Profile 1316
Create tab 155 D
creating Dashboard
clip groups 920 Accept or Reject collaboration invitations 185
clips 653 Backup to Cloud 184
crossfades 679 Open Revision History 183
fade-ins/outs 677 Show on startup option 157
Mac and PC compatible sessions 464 Dashboard window 154, 155
Markers and Memory Locations 881 DAT recorder, recording from 538
settings subfolders 1110 D-Command 1090
Crossfade Preference for Pre/Post-Roll option 116, D-Control 1090
676
default
crossfades audition path 60
creating with Smart Tool 621 meter 502
DestructivePunch 564 output path 61
equal gain 675 path order 62
equal power 675 paths 73
Fades dialog 671 program change 772
in batches 681 start time for Media Composer sequences
linear 675 1410
overlap 675 tempo 503
Overlapping Waveforms view 670 Default (Paths) 73
pre/post 680 Default Automatic Naming to English option 108
removing 679 Default Clip Color Coding options 109
TrackPunch 564 Default Dynamics preference 119, 1101
trimming 680 Default EQ preference 118, 1101
cueing Default Fade Settings 117
hi-speed mode 1315 Default Format selector 62
search mode 1314 Default Handle Length options 126
Current Feet+Frames command 1276 Default Input Gain preference 127
Current Meter indicator 199, 866 Default Note Duration 746
current tempo 199, 844 Default Note On Velocity setting 746
Current Time display 1271 Default Plug-In preference 127
Current Timecode Position command 1276 Default Settings, for TC/E plug-in 127
Custom FF/REW Speed preference 110 Default Thru Instrument 543
Index 1425
 Default Thru Instrument preference 129 Memory Locations 887
Default Track Color Coding options 109 MIDI Event List items 833
Degree of Thinning preference 119 MIDI notes 762
delay 1400, 1410 paths in I/O Setup 75
MIDI Track Offsets 779 playlists 693
Delay (dly) indicator 1083 program changes 775
Delay After Play Command option 1322 sysex events 777
Delay After Play Command preference 132 tracks 238
Delay Before Locking to LTC option 132, 1308 unused clips 304
Delay Before Locking to Timecode option 132, 1308 Destination Audio Sample Rate 438, 450
Delay Compensation 1082 destination folder for plug-in settings 1110
applying to automatically bypassed tracks 563, destructive editing 666
1086 Destructive Record mode 506, 531
bypassing 1084 destructive recording 531
changing track delay 1084 DestructivePunch 570
Compensate Side-Chains 121 crossfades 564
Delay (dly) indicator 1083 Prepare DPE Tracks command 572
enabling 1082 preparing for 572
exceeding compensation limit 1085 DestructivePunch File Length preference 114, 572
H/W Insert 57 DigiGroove templates 731
hardware insert delays 57, 1088 Digital Cut Tool (Media Composer) 1415
MIDI Beat Clock 130 DigiTest 92
MIDI Timecode 130 Disable “Input” When Disarming Track (In “Stop”)
mode 1083 option 113
side-chains 1085 discrete signal control 1212
Time Mode option 121 Disk Allocation 513
User Offset (+/–) field 1084 and cross-platform sessions 514
viewing 231, 1055 and system volume 515
Delay Compensation Status indicator 192 Disk Cache meter 105
Delay Compensation Time Mode option 121, 1083 Disk meter 105
Delay Compensation View 231, 1055, 1083 Disk Space window 512
Delay Compensation View option 1083 Display (Groups List) command 284
Delay for External Devices options 130 Display Events as Modified by Real-Time
Delay plug-ins 1093 Properties option 129, 786
Delay setting (Real-Time Properties) 784 Display Name 364
Delete Active Groups (Groups List) command 284, Display Preferences 107
288 Clip Hold options 124
Delete Current Settings File command 1109 Draw Grids in Edit Window option 600
Delete Current Settings File command (fades) 677 Language options 108
Delete Fades command 679 Peak Hold options 124
Delete Group command 284, 287 displaying
Delete Index for All Offline Volumes 320 all rulers 839
Delete Track command 238, 249 clip names 591
delete version clip times 591
Revision History file info for audio clips 294
Delete version 177 Meter Ruler 866
deleting Original Time Stamps 1291
automation 1149, 1157 Tempo ruler 844
groups 287 User Time Stamps 1291

1426 Pro Tools Reference Guide

dither and no output 1058
and Bounce to Disk 1186 and overall resources 17
on Master Faders 1186 and Send meters 1066
resolution and Bounce to Disk 1193 DSP usage meters 106
divergence dubber emulation 113, 565
drawing 1234 Duplicate and Extend command 913
using 1233 Duplicate and Extend Edit selections 913
Documentation and Settings setting 112 Duplicate and Extend Selection command 637
Dolby Atmos 1237 Duplicate command 913
Bed Audio (or Bed Material) 1237 Duplicate Dolby Atmos Plug-in automation to track
Bus/Object toggle 1247 pan automation 1255
Dolby Atmos Metadata 1237 Duplicate Group command 284
Enable 1240 Duplicate Track command 239, 249, 1128
mapping busses to Objects 1243 Duplicate track pan automation to Dolby Atmos
mixing bed material 1242 Plug-in automation 1255
Network configuration 1239 duplicating
Object Audio (or Objects) 1237 inserts 1102
Object Control Mode 1248 MIDI note selections 913
Object controls 1247 playlists 692
object output path 1245 selections and clips 913
Object Path selector 1247 sends 1067
PEC/DIR Recorder Workflow example 1257 Duration
Renderer Connection Status indicator 1248 Real-Time Properties 783
restrictions 1240 durations, for MIDI notes
Theater mode 1249 editing with Change Duration command 1021
Dolby Atmos Metadata 1237 making more legato 1023
Dolby Atmos Renderer default busses 1242 making more staccato 1023
Don’t Limit Search Results 320 randomizing 1023
Double Selection command 636 Dynamic Plug-In Processing option 95
Double-Clicking a MIDI Clip Opens option 129 Dynamic Transport mode 489
Download 248 Dynamics plug-ins 1093
Download All New Changes button 385
Download All Shared Tracks button 385 E
Download command 390 Edit commands 594, 595, 596, 597
Download Ruler Changes control 397 edit cursor 480
Download Ruler Changes Right-click menu 397 and scrubbing 623
Download Track Changes control 390 moving to clip boundaries 640
Download Track Changes Right-click menu 390 placing with the Selector tool 619
drag and drop Edit Groups 286
from the Clips List to tracks 892, 893 and selections 631
importing audio files 404 Edit Insertion Follows Scrub/Shuttle option 110, 623
importing MIDI files 418 Edit insertion point
Drag and Drop From Desktop Conforms to Session placing clips at 893
Tempo options 126, 412 trimming clips to 657
Draw Grids in Edit Window option 600 Edit Markers 630
DSP and selection length 635
active and inactive items 17 Edit menu 211
and inactive inputs and outputs 254 Change Edit to Match Timeline command 644
and inactive outputs 1058 Change Timeline to Match Edit command 643
and inactive sends 1067 Clear command 597
Index 1427
 Clear Special commands 1160 edit playlists 691
Consolidate command 665 Edit selection
Copy command 595 doubling 636
Copy Special commands (automation) 1159 duplicate and extend 637
Copy to Send command 1141 extend to track above 639
Create Fades command 679, 680 extend to track below 639
Cut command 595 halving 636
Cut Special commands 1159 move earlier by selection amount 637
Delete Fades command 679 move later by selection amount 637
Duplicate command 913 removing bottom track from multitrack
Fade To End command 679 selection 639
Fade To Start command 679 removing top track from multitrack selection
Fades command 671 639
Heal Separation command 656 Edit Selection Follows Clips List Selection option
Identify Sync Point command 906 115, 632
Insert Silence command 912 Edit Selection indicators 637
Paste command 596 Edit selections
Play Edit Selection command 487 auditioning with Playhead enabled 487
Play Timeline Selection command 487 copied from Timeline selection 643
Redo command 593 copied to Timeline selection 644
Repeat command 914 making with the Selector tool 619
Repeat to Fill Selection command 597 sliding in the Ruler 641
Select All command 632 edit smoothing (Beat Detective) 737
Separate Clip commands 654 Edit tools 602
Shift command 907 Grabber 602, 633
Strip Silence command 909, 910 Pencil 602, 626
TCE Edit to Timeline Selection command 666 Scrubber 602, 623
Thin All Automation command 1151 Selector 480, 602
Thin Automation command 1151 Smart Tool 602
Trim Automation to All Enabled command 1175 Trim 602, 612
Trim Automation to Current command 1175 Zoomer 602, 603
Trim Clip End to Fill Selection command 658 Edit window 189, 190
Trim Clip End to Insertion command 657 All View option 1052
Trim Clip Start to Fill Selection command 658 half-screen 485
Trim Clip Start to Insertion command 657 None Views option 1052
Trim Clip to File commands 659 scrolling from the Ruler 644
Trim Clip to Fill Selection command 658 Universe view 646
Trim Clip to Selection command 657 View options 190
Undo command 593 Edit Window Default Length preference 107, 195
Write Automation commands 1173, 1174 Edit Window Follows Bank Selection option 119
Edit mode buttons 191, 599 Edit window View options 1052
Edit modes 599 Edit Window View selector 1052
and placing clips 891 Edit Window Views
Grid 600 Track Collaboration 387
Relative Grid 601 Edit/Tool Mode Keyboard Lock 627
Shuffle 599 editing
Shuffle Lock 599 across multiple tracks 598
Slip 600 and Edit modes 599
Spot 600, 1287 automation 1152
Edit Play Rate setting 1405, 1406 Bar|Beat Markers 865

1428 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 breakpoints 1154 AudioSuite processing 992
controller events 765 batch analysis 342
during playback 582 Clipping indicator 975
Edit modes 599 committing 971
Grid mode 600, 601, 602 Conform to Tempo 849
Grid modes 902 creating new tracks 971
hidden tracks 248 deleting Event markers 987
Markers 886 disabling 971
Memory Locations 886 Edit Groups 985
meter events 867 enabling on tracks 970
MIDI clips 587 event confidence 973
MIDI Event List 832 Event markers 979
MIDI notes 752 Individual Range Warp 984
nondestructively 581 Monophonic plug-in 977
nondestructively (audio) 586 moving clips between tracks 993
nondestructively (MIDI) 590 moving Event markers 986
note attributes 761 out of range processing 985
note durations 1021 pitch shift 991
note velocities 759, 1019 Plug-In selector in browsers 345
program changes 775 plug-ins 975
Shuffle Lock mode 599 Polyphonic plug-in 976
Shuffle mode 599 preview at session tempo 347
Slip mode 600 processing types 974
Spot mode 600 promoting Event markers 987
tempo events 845 properties 988
Track View 594 quantizing 1016
waveforms 586 Range Warp 983
Editing Preferences 115 removing pitch shift 992
Auto-Name Memory Locations While Playing removing warp 985
option 882 Rendered files 975
Auto-Name Separated Clips option 655 regenerating 350, 461
Clips List Selection Follows Edit Selection Rhythmic plug-in 977
option 294, 632 TCE algorithms 975
Conversion Quality option 403 Telescoping Warp 981
Crossfade Preference for Pre/Post-Roll option tempo detection 973
116, 676 Tempo Event–generated Warp markers 981
Edit Selection Follows Clips List Selection tempo-based warping 848
option 632 track controls 972
QuickPunch Crossfade Length preference 564 track views 972
Separate Clip Operates On All Related Takes tracks 970
option 655 transpose 991
editing tags 339 Varispeed plug-in 978
Edit-locking clips 908 Warp indicator 984
Effect Bypass button 1104 Warp markers 979
Elastic Audio 965 Warp view 972, 979
Accordion Warp 982 warped clips 984
adding Event markers 986 workflows 965, 966
analysis 973 X-Form plug-in 978
analysis in Workspace 342 Elastic Audio Plug-In Selector 972
Analysis view 972, 986 Elastic Audio preferences 127

Index 1429
 Elastic Audio-enabled tracks 970 Quantize command 1006
Elastic Properties window 988 Restore Performance command 1018
Embed Eleven Setting From selector 63 Select/Split Notes command 1026
embedded media 22 Step Input command 1028
Emoticon and Notations pane 375 Transpose command 1023
Enable 131 Event Operations window 1005, 1006
Enable “Track Notes” Dialog option 131 Exit command (Windows) 185
Enable Dub Window option 137 Expand Channels to New Playlists 709
Enable Elastic Audio on New Tracks preference Expand to New Tracks command 249
128 Expanded Transport View 209, 525
Enable GPU option 115 Export
Enable Session File Auto Backup option 111 Audio Media options 450
Enable SYNC Peripheral option 136 OMF/AAF Options 448
enabling Sample Rate Conversion options 449
Auto Backup option 111 Selected Tracks to Sequence in Production
automation 1147 Management 452
groups 291 Export Clip Definitions command 304, 416
MIDI input devices 542 Export Clip Groups command 458
plug-in automation 1107 Export Clips as Files command 305, 414
End To Insertion command 657 Export MIDI command 418
Enforce Mac/PC Compatibility option 171, 464 Export MIDI Settings dialog
Enforce Media Composer Compatibility option 448 Apply Real-Time Properties option 419
EQ Curve view 1054 MIDI File Format pop-up menu 419
EQ plug-ins 1093 Export Selected As Files command 447
equal gain crossfades 675 Export Selected Tracks as OMF/AAF command
equal power crossfades 675 442, 444
error suppression 94 Export Selected Tracks to Sequence in Production
Ethernet Controllers 140 Management 452
EUCON 141, 1090, 1125 Export Session Info as Text command 454
EUCON Control 249 Export Settings button (I/O Setup) 85
Event Edit Area 761 exporting 401
Event menu 212 AAF files 442, 450, 451
All MIDI Notes Off command 780 audio 414
Beat Detective command 721 clip definitions 416
Change Meter command 866 clip groups 458
Event commands 1005 markers 419
Identify Beat command 863 MIDI tracks 418
MIDI commands 1005 OMF files 450, 451
MIDI Event List 827 OMFI files 442
MIDI Track Offsets command 779 Score to Sibelius 826
Remove Duplicate Notes command 780 sessions as text 454
Renumber Bars command 873 Sibelius (.sib) files 826
Tempo commands 857 stereo interleaved files 415
Time commands 868 Ext. Clock Output 101, 1268
Event Operations commands 1005 Extend Edit Down command 639
Change Duration command 1021 Extend Edit Up command 639
Change Velocity command 1019 extending selections 636, 854
Flatten Performance command 1019 to adjacent tracks 638, 640
Input Quantize command 1027 to clip boundaries 636

1430 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 to include adjacent clips 636 file formats (audio)
to Markers and Memory Locations 636 AIFF 1191
to next tempo event 854 BWF (.WAV) 1191
external clock source 1123 MP3 1191
external MIDI instruments 558 MXF 1192
external side-chain processing 1107 QuickTime 1192
External Timecode Offsets 1273, 1310 file management 459
extrapolation 732 File menu 211
Bounce to Disk command 1188
F Close Session command 181
factory I/O settings 83 Exit command (Windows) 185
Fade Files folder 159 Export MIDI command 418
Fade settings 676 Export Selected Tracks as OMF/AAF
Fade Settings menu 677 command 442
Fade To End command 679 Export Session Info as Text command 454
Fade To Start command 679 Import Audio to Track command 407
fade-in shapes 673 Import Clip Groups command 457
fade-out shapes 672 Open Session command 164
fades 677 Revert to Saved command 167
adjusting with Smart Tool 621 Save As command 168
AutoFades 680 Save command 167
creating 677 Save Copy In command 168, 465
creating with Smart Tool 621 final mixdown 1197
equal gain 674 Find All Candidates command 352
equal power 674 Find Clips
in batches 681 By Name 296
moving 685 Include Subsequently Added Clips 296
nudging 685 Find Clips List command 296
presets 676 Find History 297
Slope setting 674 Find Matching Tracks option 426
Fades command 671 finding clips 296
Fades dialog 671 First Invite Shares All Tracks option 130
In Shape 673 First Selected MIDI Track option 129
Link option 675 Flatten Performance command 1005, 1019
Out Shape 672 footswitch 100
Fast Forward 481 Force Audio Media to Target Session Format 436
Fast Forward button 196 Force Upload command 389, 390
FB360 Audio plug-ins 1263 Forward and Play command 482
Feet+Frame Rate setting 1271 Forward command 482
Feet+Frames frame rate
redefining position 1276 and refresh rate 1402
Feet+Frames Time Scale 838 pull up and pull down 1277
field recorder Frames 1359
expanding alternate channels to new playlists Frames View (video tracks) 1359
709
frame-tearing 1402
importing monophonic audio files 411 freewheeling timecode 1274
importing polyphonic audio files 411 Freeze Track 1000
Front Divergence 1233
Front/Rear Divergence 1233

Index 1431
 G keyboard selection 291
Gain Reduction meter 229 Mix Groups 286
generating timecode 1282 modifying 287
Glide Automation commands 1161 renaming 287
global (system-wide) preferences 133 Groups dialog 285
Global Freeze Tracks indicator 192 Groups List 283
Global MIDI Playback Offset preference 129, 778 Keyboard Focus 27
Global Track Collaboration 384 menu 284
Go to End button 196 guitar tablature 878
Grabber tools 602, 620, 633, 755
editing breakpoints with 853, 1153 H
editing clip gain breakpoints with 944 H/W Buffer Size 518
Object Grabber tool 620, 633 H/W Insert Delay 57
selecting MIDI notes with 752 half-screen 485
Separation Grabber tool 620, 655 half-speed playback 488
Time Grabber tool 620 half-speed recording 539
Grid mode 600, 902 Halve Selection command 636
Absolute 601, 902 hard drives
Clips/Markers option 602 and Compacting Audio 665
configuring 601 recording to system volume 515
Draw Grids in Edit Window option 600 Round Robin Allocation 514
Relative 601, 902 Hardware Buffer Size 92, 94
setting the Grid value 902 hardware I/O inserts 1094
suspending 902 delays 57
with Slip, Shuffle, or Spot enabled 601 hardware I/O sends 1063
Grid value 747, 901 Hardware Insert Delay Compensation 57, 1088
setting for MIDI editing 747 Hardware Setup
Grid Value selector 601 Buffer Size 518
Groove Quantize 1012 Ext. Clock Output 101
groove templates 731, 1012 HD I/O 103
applying 1014 HD MADI 104
mapping 1015 HD OMNI 102
Group Assignment selector 1047 Launch Setup App 98
group chat MTRX 104
renaming 372 HD audio interfaces 41
setting a topic 372 HD I/O 45
group chats 372 configuration 103
Group ID indicator 284 HD MADI 46
Group Name 284 configuration 104
Group Track command 286 HD Native systems 40
groups HD OMNI 44
attributes 288 configuration 102
automation editing 1156 HDX
control offsets 292 DSP usage meters 106
creating 286 HDX systems 38
deleting 287 Heal Separation command 656
duplicating 288 HEAT 48, 1031
Edit Groups 286 import Master Settings 430
enabling 291 Help 212
hidden tracks 248 Tool Tips 107, 213
1432 Pro Tools Reference Guide
Help menu 25, 212 Ignore Errors During Playback/Record option 94
HFS+ drives Ignore for Future Download 248
and Windows systems 463 Ignore Track Arming option 132, 1322, 1324
hidden tracks illegal characters 165, 461
and selections 631 Import 248
group edits 248 Audio Media options 435
groups 248 Sample Rate Conversion options 437
Hide All Floating Windows command 207 Sequence from Production Management 440
Hide and Make Inactive Track command 248 Timecode Mapping options 436
Hide/Show Track command 248 Import as Offline Satellite Media 424, 436
hiding Import Audio dialog 407
auto-created clips 303 Import Audio to Track command 407
High-Definition video Import Clip Groups command 457
playback 1379, 1402 Import HEAT Master Settings 430
hi-speed mode 1315 Import Key Signature Map option 429
Horizontal Position setting 137 Import Markers 429
Horizontal Zoom In button 603 Import Memory Locations 429
Horizontal Zoom Out button 603 Import MIDI 416
Host Engine 94 Import project version data 176
Import Rendered Audio Effects 438
I Import REX Files as Clip Groups option 126, 412
I/O Settings 83 Import Sequence from Production Management
I/O Setup 51 440
Bus page 56 Import Session Data command 420
controls 58 Import Settings button (I/O Setup) 85
customizing 64 Import Settings command (plug-ins) 1109
dialog 52 Import Settings command fades) 677
factory settings files 83 Import Video command 1368
H/W Insert Delay page 57 Import Volume Automation 438
I/O routing 65 Import Window Configurations 429
importing for surround 1206 importing 401
Input page 55 audio 402
Insert page 57 clip groups 457
last used 85 copying during 422
Low Latency Monitoring 62 copying imported files 422
Mic Preamps 57 HEAT Master Settings 430
options 59 key signature map 429
Output page 56 Markers 416, 429
paths 69 Memory Locations 429
settings files 83 MIDI tracks 416
sub-paths 71 multichannel audio files from a field recorder
411
surround 1219
surround formats 1204 multichannel I/O Settings 1206
surround mix settings file 83 offline items from Catalogs 357
I/O View 223, 1055 plug-in settings 1110
Identify Beat command 863, 864 PRE settings 430
Identify Sync Point command 906, 1292 referencing imported files 422
Idle MTC Enabled option 136 session data 423
IDs (machine) 1327 tempo and meter map 429
Ignore Changes command 390 tracks for other sessions 420

Index 1433
 using drag and drop 404 plug-ins 1093
Window Configurations 429 post-fader on Master Faders 1044, 1093
importing audio from QuickTime movies 1370 send and return processing 1094
importing video 1367 shared within a submix 1078
inactive 17 single track processing 1094
inputs 254 stereo 1094
inserts 1096 Inserts View 1053
Master Faders and assignments 1044 Inserts View options 1050
outputs 254 Instrument plug-ins 557
paths 76 Instrument tracks 216
paths, global 76 channel strips 219
sends 1067 Clips View 240
track path assignments 254 MIDI Input selector 259
tracks 262 MIDI Output selector 259
Include Control Changes in Undo Queue option 120 monitoring and mixing 1075
Include Sends in Trim Mode option 120 Notes View 240
Incoming Time 1310 recording 546
Incoming Time display 1271 signal flow 1046
in-place auditioning 299 surround mixing 1215
input connections 13, 498 track controls 222
Input Devices command 542 Instruments View 1053
Input Filter command 544 Interchange Workflow
MIDI Event List View Filter dialog 829 linked media 23
MIDI Input Filter dialog 544 Interchange workflow
input levels 498 embedded media 22
Input Only Monitoring mode 515, 516 interleaved audio file 158
Input Path selector 223, 250 interleaved option (sessions) 158, 1271
Input Quantize command 1005, 1027 Internal mode (Clock Source option) 1270
Insert mode 1318 internal side-chain processing 1107
Insert Position selector 1103 Inverse linked panning 1072
Insert Silence command 912 Invite Contacts to Collaborate 368
Insert Time command 868, 870 Items to Copy 171
inserting Preserve Folder Hierarchy command 172
controller events 765
events in MIDI Event List 830 J
meter events 866 Jam Sync 1274
MIDI notes 750 Join command 1129
plug-ins on tracks 1097 Joining Project Downloads All Shared Tracks
program changes 775 option 131
tempo events 845
Insertion Follows Playback option 491
inserts 1050, 1093 K
duplicating 1102 Keep Window on Top 320
hardware I/O 1094 key input 1103, 1107
hardware insert delays 57 Key Input selector 933, 1103
labeling 1121 key signature map 429
making inactive (and active) 1096 Keyboard Focus 25
mono 1094 Clips List 27, 298
mono-to-stereo 1094 Commands 26
moving 1102 Groups List 27

1434 Pro Tools Reference Guide

keyboard shortcuts 1106 Link Timeline and Edit Selection option 629
global key commands 25 Link to Source Media (Video) 424, 436
numeric entry 637 Link Track and Edit Selection option 238, 631
recording 523 linked media 23
Knowledge Base 212 linking
inverse panning 1072
L multi-mono plug-ins 1216
Language options 108, 474 plug-in controls 1121
Last Used 85 stereo panners 1071, 1230
Latch automation mode 1129 local (current session) preferences 133
AutoJoin 1129 Local Control 543
Join 1129 Local Waveform Cache Versions preference 115
Latch option 261 Local/Remote 1314
Latch Record Enable Buttons option 112 locating
Latch Trim automation mode 1132 the playback cursor 480
Latching Behavior for Switch Controls in “Touch” with Fast Forward/Rewind 481
option 120 with Location indicators 644
latency 94 Location indicators 644
Launch Setup App button 98 locations
layback 1319 dragging MIDI notes 755
Layered Editing option 662, 896 quantizing MIDI notes 1010
LCRS path examples 1207 randomizing MIDI notes 1009, 1011
Level meters Locators to Import 439
for audio tracks 225 Lock Clip command 907
for Aux Input, Master Fader, and Instrument AudioSuite rendering 936
tracks 225 Lock Settings File command 1109
Levels of Undo preference 118, 594 Locked indicator 1273
LFE Locked Track command 249
enable in plug-ins 1236 Loop Playback option 489
faders 1236 and Touch mode 1139
routing examples 1222 loop points 524
Librarian menu 1103 Timeline Selection Markers 525
Limit Character Set option 171 Loop Record mode 506, 533
Linear command (Tempo Operations) 858 loop recording
linear crossfades 675 and pre/post-roll 532
Linear Sample Display 856 audio 532
Linear Tick Display 856 MIDI 553
Linearity Display Mode 856 multiple takes (MIDI) 554
Link controls Loop Trim tool 616
accessing mini-link buttons from a control looped clips 915
surface 1412 copying and pasting automation 919
linking systems to a control surface 1412 creating 916
link controls 1411 editing 917
displaying 1412 selecting 917
link button 1411 trimming with Loop Trim tool 617, 618
Satellite Link buttons 1411 unlooping 917
Link Enable buttons 1105 looping
in multi-mono plug-ins 1216 clips 915
Link Record and Play Faders option 112, 517 playback 489
Link Selection button 629, 631 selections 489

Index 1435
 loops tick-based and sample-based 884
creating with the Loop Trim tool 616 viewing options 888
Loop Trim tool 616 Markers ruler 839, 884
recording with reverb or delay 1188 Master Fader
Low Latency Monitoring EUCON Monitor path control 249
Bounce to Disk 519 Master Faders 1044
Low Latency Monitoring option 518 as a stereo master volume control 1045
Low Latency Monitoring path 62 as master send level control 1081
LTC Output Level setting 136 channel strips 218
inactive 1044
M inserts 1093
Mac sessions meters pre/post fader 1044
compatibility with Windows 464 multichannel 1215
machine post-fader inserts 1044
pre-roll 1306 signal flow 1044
profiles 1316, 1327 track controls 220
Transport Master 1303, 1313 trimming the input to a submix 1045
Machine Chases Memory Location option 131, Master Link button 1105
1286, 1307
in multi-mono plug-ins 1216
Machine Control (Peripherals dialog) 137 Master View for tracks 243, 1158
Machine Cues Intelligently option 131, 1307 mastering 1198
Machine Follows Edit Insertion/Scrub option 131, Matches 706
1286, 1307 Matches (alternate takes) 534, 706
machine IDs 1327 Matching Criteria window 535, 705
Machine Track Arming window 1287 Media Composer
MachineControl 48 Edit Play Rate 1405
Main Counters 840 linking and unlinking from 1412
main paths 52 linking to Pro Tools 1411
Main Time Scale 839, 840, 1277 Project Type 1405
Main Timebase ruler 839 Starting TC Timecode setting 1405
Make (Track) Inactive command 248, 262 Timecode Format 1405
managing clips 300 troubleshooting satellite connections 1404
Manual Downloads Only option 391 Video Satellite 142, 1401
Manual Ownership 392 media data 19
Manual Tempo mode 199, 504 MediaCentral | Production Management
Manual Uploads Only option 389 export to 452
Manually Find and Relink 461 import sequence from 440
mapping busses to Objects 1243 Memory Locations 881, 884
mapping paths in I/O Setup 76 creating 881, 882
Mapping to Object column 1243 deleting 887
Markers 439, 883 editing 886
creating 881, 882 extending selections to 636
deleting 887 importing 429
editing 886 Markers 883
exporting 419 recalling 885
extending selections to 636 recalling Edit selections 527
importing 416, 429 renaming 886
moving 887 Selection Memory Locations 884
sorting 889 storing Edit selections 526

1436 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Memory Locations window 883, 885 consolidating notes 759
View Filter 890 controller events 764
viewing options for Markers 888 Default Thru Instrument 543
Memory meter 105 editing in a MIDI Editor window 800
Merge mode (see MIDI Merge mode) editing with Arrow Keys 769
metadata 20, 1333 import by drag and drop 418
Metadata Inspector window 180 importing 416
meter loop recording 553
current 866 muting notes 759
default 502 offsets 778
display 199 patch name files (.midnam) 773
Meter button 503 patch names 773
meter events 866 playing back 478
editing 867 Retrospective Record 558
inserting 866 select and split notes 1025
meter map 429 separating notes 757
Meter Ruler setting the Grid value for editing 747
displaying 866 setup (Mac) 145
extending an Edit selection to 867 setup (Windows) 147
Meter Type 229 MIDI Beat Clock 493
Metering Preferences 121 offsets 494
metering, advanced 228 transmitting 493
Advanced Meter Type settings 123 transmitting over IAC 493
Digital VU option 122 MIDI clips 587
Fader and Meter scales 228 and Clips List 293
Gain Reduction meter 229 and controller events 588
K options 123 and punch recording 552
Linear (Extended) option 122 created on barlines 549
Linear option 122 guidelines for editing 587
Meter Type setting 229 MIDI controller devices 541
PPM options 122 Local Control 543
Pro Tools Classic option 122 MIDI controller events
RMS option 122 chasing 777
Sample Peak option 122 MIDI Controllers 139
VENUE options 123 MIDI Editor
VU option 122 Automation lanes 804
meters Controller lanes 804
for MIDI tracks 225 editing MIDI notes 800
pre/post fader levels 225 Notation view 802
Sends View 1066 Superimposed Notes View 798
Meters and Faders View 1055 Velocity lane 804
Metronome button 501 MIDI Editor view (in the Edit window) 201
Metronome Click button 199 MIDI Editor windows 787
Mic Preamps MIDI Event List 827
configuring 141 deleting events 833
I/O Setup 57 editing events 832
Mic Preamps View 1053 inserting events 830
MIDI 8 navigating in 829
assigning channels 258 Options menu 834
configuring MIDI setup 97

Index 1437
 selecting events 832 MIDI recording 541
View Filter 828 canceling takes 550
MIDI File Format pop-up menu 419 enabling input devices 542
MIDI files (see Standard MIDI Files) Input Filter 544
MIDI Input Display 791 Merge/Replace mode 545
MIDI Input selector 223, 257 monitoring with MIDI Thru 543
Instrument track 259 quantizing on input 544, 1027
MIDI Machine Control (MMC) 1283 System Exclusive data 556
configuring in Pro Tools 1284, 1285 undoing a take 550
controlling external devices with 1283 Wait for Note 544
Master settings 138 MIDI Replace mode 199, 507, 545
Slave settings 138 MIDI Setup commands
MIDI Merge mode 199, 507, 545 Input Devices command 542
MIDI Merge Release mode 130, 545 Input Filter command 544
MIDI meter 225 MIDI Beat Clock command 493
MIDI Note Color Shows Velocity option 109 MIDI Studio Setup (MSS) (Windows) 97, 147, 773
MIDI Note Display options 130 MIDI Thru command 543
MIDI notes 753 MIDI Timecode (MTC)
attributes 761 Idle MTC Output 136
chasing 777 MIDI Track Offsets command 779
deleting 762 MIDI tracks
duplicating selected 913 and MIDI offsets 778
editing 752 assigning to multiple channels 547
durations 1021 channel strips 219
pitch 755 Clips View 240, 241, 587
velocities 759, 1019 default program change 772
inserting 750 input 257
lengths in ticks 841 loop recording 553
mini-keyboard 753 note chasing 777
moving 755 Notes View 240, 241, 589
quantizing 1012 output 258
scrolling 589 punch recording 551, 552
selecting 752 recording 541, 546
splitting 1025 selecting a pitch range in 1026
transposing 755, 1023 Sysex View 776
trimming start/end points 756 track controls 221
MIDI Operations window 1005 Velocity View 759
MIDI Output selector 223, 258 MIDI Volume fader 224
Instrument track 259 MIDI Zoom In button 604
MIDI Preferences 128 MIDI Zoom Out button 604
Global MIDI Playback Offset preference 778 midnight boundary 1318
Pencil Tool Resolution When Drawing mini-keyboard 589, 753
Controller Data option 129, 765, 1152 Minimize Additional I/O Latency option 95
MIDI Preferences page 128 Minimum Sync Delay option 131, 1286
MIDI program changes Minutes:Seconds Time Scale 838
chasing 778 Mirror MIDI Editing 747
MIDI Real-Time Properties 780 missing files 461
on tracks and clips 784 skipping 350
settings 782 mix busses 1063

1438 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Mix Groups 286 multichannel tracks 521
Mix window 188, 189 and automation 1156
All View option 188, 1052 dragging clips to 665
EQ Curve view 1054 names for 509
None Views option 1052 replacing clips in 904
track controls 188 splitting 664
track width 231 multilingual application support 474
Mix Window Follows Bank Selection option 119 multi-mono
Mix window View options 1052 plug-in Channel selector 1216
Mix Window View selector 1052 plug-ins 1215
Mix Window Views multi-mono audio files 158
Track Collaboration 387 multiple tracks
mixed bit depths 170 and Beat Detective 734
mixed file types 170 audition takes 535, 707
mixing down to stereo 1197 editing across 598
Mixing Preferences 118 extending selections to 638, 640
MMC (see MIDI Machine Control) fitting audio clips to Edit selection 667
Modify Group command 284 nudging clips in 660
Modify Groups command 284 pasting to 598
Mojo DX 1355 selecting 638
Momentary Solo Latch option 261 separating clips on 655
monitoring shuffling clips on 899
during punch recording 530 Mute Audio Inputs in Auto Input option 577
MIDI recording with MIDI Thru 543 Mute automation 1154
monitoring modes 515 Mute button 261
Auto Input 515 Mute Overwrite/Extend 1170
Input Only 515 Mute Record-Armed Tracks While Stopped option
Move Edit Left command 637 113, 577
Move Edit Right command 637 Mute/Unmute Clip command 909
Move Song Start command 868, 872 muted clips and AudioSuite processing 936
moving muting
Bar|Beat Markers 864 clips 909
clips with fades 685 MIDI notes 759
fades 685 sends 1061
inserts 1102 tracks 261
Markers 887 MXF format 403, 1192
MIDI notes 755 My Contacts 366
program changes 775
sysex events 776 N
MP3 file format 1191 Narrow Mix View option 231
importing 403 navigating Workspace browsers 315
MTC (MIDI Timecode) 1274 New Group (Groups List) command 284
MTC Generator Port setting 136 New Memory Location dialog 526
MTC Reader Port setting 136 New Paths dialog 70
MTRX 47 New Session command 85
configuration 104 New Subpath dialog 71
Multi-Cam Resolution files 433 New Track command 231, 249
multichannel clips 583 New Track Default Output selector 61
multichannel plug-ins 1215 New Tracks Are Shared option 130

Index 1439
 New Tracks Default To Tick Timebase option 116, O
414 Object Assignment and Toggle Setting 1256
Next Setting button (plug-ins) 1103 Object Audio (or Objects) 1237
Nitris DX 1355 Object controls 1247
No Output option 1058 Object Fold Down Path 1246
no scrolling during playback 484 Object Grabber tool 620, 633, 634
noncontiguous selections 633 object output path 1245
nondestructive editing (audio) 586 Object panner 1249
nondestructive editing (MIDI) 590 Object Path selector 1247
Nondestructive Record mode 505 Object Select in Edit Window command 305
nondestructive recording 530 Object selections 633
recording to a new playlist 531 Object View 1055
with QuickPunch 563 Object/Bus Toggle 1253
Non-Linear Transport Error Suppression option offline
131, 1308 clips 583
non-real-time plug-ins 929 files, selecting in Workspace 321
Normal Zoom mode 606, 806 Offline (faster-than-real-time) Bounce 1195
Notation Display Track settings 816 offline projects 161
Notation view 802 offset
Note Chasing option 777 setting for video satellite start time 1400
Note Selector tool 753 OMF 442
notes (see MIDI notes) embedded media 22
Notes View 240, 241, 589 exporting 448
Nudge value 660 import translation settings 438
trimming clips by 659 importing 430
trimming MIDI notes by 757 linked media 23
nudging 659 media data 19
by next Nudge value 661 metadata 20, 1333
clip contents 661 opening in Pro Tools 431
clips with fades 685 publishing options 451
fades 685 Online (Transport window) 1302
multiple clips 660 Online button 196
selection range 635 online help 1403
selection start/end points 635 Online options 113, 1308
selections and clips 660 online project 161
setting the Nudge value 660 online recording 1282
Number of Voices setting 95 On-Screen Selections 1318
numeric entry on-the-fly punch recording
shortcuts 637 QuickPunch 507, 566
Numeric Keypad modes 28, 111 Open in New Workspace 321
Classic 28, 111 Open Revision History 183
Shuttle 29, 111, 625 Open Session command 164
Transport 29, 111 Open Unresourced DSP Plug-Ins as Native
Use Separate Play and Stop Keys 111 preference 128
Opening an AAF sequence in Pro Tools 431
Opening an OMF sequence in Pro Tools 431
opening plug-in windows 1105

1440 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Operation Preferences 110 P
Audio During Fast Forward/Rewind option 481 P (Playback Only volumes) 316
Clip Auto Fade In/Out Length preference 681 paddle device 1325
Edit Insertion Follows Scrub/Shuttle option 623 configuring ports for 1325
Link Record and Play Faders option 517 connecting to a Pro Tools system 1324
Machine Chases Memory Location Page Scrolling option 484, 793, 812
option 1286 Pan automation 1154
Machine Follows Edit Insertion/Scrub Pan Depth 1051
option 1286 Pan indicator 224
Record Online option 1282 Pan Odd Tracks Left/Even Tracks Right 439
Use F11 for Wait for Note 545 Pan slider 224
Operation/Destination Track pop-up menus 426 panning
Operations menu 3-knob 1231
Calibration Mode command 499 automation and groups 1156
Link Timeline and Edit Selection option 629 fine-adjust mode 1231
Link Track and Edit Selection 238, 631 grids 1226
Low Latency Monitoring option 518 guidelines 1219, 1220
Options menu 212 Height 1251
Auto-Spot Clips command 1290 Height mode 1250
Delay Compensation option 1082 linked stereo 1071, 1230
Destructive Record mode 531 multichannel automation playlists 1236
Link Track and Edit Selection option 238, 631 Size 1251
Loop Playback option 489 Speaker Snap 1251
Loop Record mode 533 take over in grid 1231
MIDI Thru command 543 Theater mode 1249
Mirror MIDI Editing command 747 trajectory 1232
Pre/Post Roll option 528 Use Absolute Pan Linking option 118
Pre-Fader Metering option 225 X/Y mode 1231
Scrolling options 484 Zones 1251
Solo Latch options 261 Parabolic command (Tempo Operations) 859
Transport Online command 1281 Parallel Task Optimization preference 128
Organize Plug-In Menus By option 108, 1099 Participant menu 373
Original Time Stamp 901, 1291 pass-through point 1129
Other Playlists menu 692 Paste command 596
Output Meter Path selector 60, 61 Paste Settings command 1109
Output Options Paste Special commands (automation) 1159
Sample Rate 1194 pasting
Output Path selector 223, 251 automation 1160
Output Window button 1227 multiple data types 598
Output windows 1057 plug-in settings 1111
outputs selections and clips 596
assigning multiple outputs 1057 to multiple tracks 598
default 5.1 paths and sub-paths 1205 with Repeat to Fill Selection command 597
format and tracks 1213 Patch Select button 772
to multichannel paths 1214 Path Order selector 63
overlap crossfades 675 paths 52
Overlap Shadows 591 active and inactive 76
overlapping paths 77 audition 60
Overwrite Indicator 592 creating 69
creating multichannel 1206

Index 1441
 customizing 73 Peripherals dialog 135, 541
default mono and stereo 73 Peripherals list 100, 101
default order 62 personalities 1091
default output 61 PFL (Pre Fader Listen) 260
deleting 75 pitch (MIDI notes)
editing 73 transposing 755
for surround 1217 Pitch Memory Enabled option 136
last used 85 pitch shifting 991
main 52 pitch, for MIDI notes
mapping 76 transposing with Transpose command 1023
multichannel example 77 Play button 197
overlapping 77 Play Edit Selection command 486, 487
reordering 75 Play MIDI Notes When Editing option 745
selecting 75 Play Start Follows Timeline Selection option 110
sub-path surround examples 1220 Play Start Latency setting 115
sub-paths 52 Play Start Marker Follows Timeline Selection option
Peak Hold options 124, 226 491
Peak indicator 223 Play Timeline Selection command 486, 487
Peak view 584 playback
PEC/Direct Style Input Monitoring option 113 audio 477
Pencil tool 602, 626, 748 MIDI 478
as Eraser 762 no scrolling 484
drawing automation 1151 starting 477
editing breakpoints 1153 stopping 477
editing clip gain 944 playback cursor 479
editing Tempo 851 Playback Cursor locator 480
Free Hand 748 Playback Engine 92
inserting MIDI notes 750 Cache Size 96
Line 749, 851 Hardware Buffer Size 94
Random 749 Host Engine 94
repairing waveforms with 626 Number of Voices 95
resolution for inserted controller events 765 Sample Rate 96
selecting the Pencil tool shape 748 Playback Engine setting 93
shapes 748, 1151 Playhead 485, 794
Square 749 and Edit selections 487
Triangle 749 and Timeline selections 487
Pencil Tool Resolution When Drawing Controller moving to clip boundaries 488
Data option 129, 765, 1152 playing
pending tasks 360 and making selections 633
Performance Volume 313 at half-speed 488
Peripherals audio 477
Atmos 144, 1239 Edit selections with Playhead enabled 487
Ethernet controllers 140 from a track point 481
Machine Control 137 MIDI 478
MIDI Controllers 139 selections 485
PRE 141 Timeline selections with Playhead enabled 487
Satellites 142 tracks 477, 522
Synchronization 135 Playlist lanes 697
VENUE 143 Playlist selector 12, 691

1442 Pro Tools Reference Guide

playlists 12, 691 enabling for automation 1107, 1142, 1143
adding 692 favorites 1101
and groups 693 Flat List 1099
and multichannel tracks 1156 for surround 1215
and nondestructive MIDI editing 590 inserting on tracks 1097
assigning 692 Librarian menu 1103
automation playlists 691, 1126, 1135 linking and unlinking 1121, 1216
auto-naming 691 Manufacturer 1099
changing timebase of 843 mono-to-stereo 1094
deleting 693 multichannel 1094
duplicating 692 multi-mono 1094, 1215
edit playlists 691 Next Setting button 1103
Playlist selector 691 Organize Plug-In Menus By command 1099
recalling 692 Plug-In Settings menu 1103
recording to new 532 Plug-In Settings Select button 1103
renaming 693 presets 1109
setting pre/post-roll in 528 Previous Setting button 1103
Target 711 removing from tracks 1097
Playlists view 697 post crossfades 670, 680
plug-in controls Post-Roll button 198
adjusting 1106 Power view 584
linking 1121 PRE 48
Plug-In Controls Default to Auto-Enabled option 120 configuring 141
plug-in inserts 1093 I/O Setup 57
plug-in maps 1114 pre crossfades 670, 680
creating 1116 Pre Fader Listen (PFL) mode 260
deleting 1117 PRE settings 430
importing and exporting 1119 Pre/Post Fader button 1072
Learn mode 1114 Pre/Post Roll option 528
managing 1117 pre/post-fader inserts 1093
setting default 1118 pre/post-roll
Plug-In selector and loop recording 532
for AudioSuite plug-ins 930 and punch recording 529
for real-time plug-ins 1103 auditioning 486
plug-in settings 1110 setting 527
Plug-In Settings menu 1103, 1109 Pre/Post-Roll Flags 528, 630
Plug-In Settings Select button 1103 Pre-Fader Metering option 225
plug-in windows preferences
opening and closing 1105 Automatically Copy Files on Import option 422
Plug-ins changing 107
searching for 1100 DestructivePunch 565
plug-ins DestructivePunch File Length 572
and pull rates 1281 global 133
and surround mixing 1215 local 133
automating 1141 Mute Audio Inputs in Auto Input 577
bypassing from window 1119 Mute Record-Armed Tracks While Stopped
Category 1099 577
Category and Manufacturer 1100 Pause during Playback 361
Channel selector for multi-mono 1216 Project Media Cache setting 112
creating a default setting 1111 Remote mode 1322

Index 1443
 Tool Tips Display 213 Video Format setting 1405
TrackInput 517 Video Satellite 1403
TrackPunch 565 Video Satellite settings 1405
Zoom Toggle 117 video track 1359
Preferences dialog 107 Web browsers 202
Prepare DPE Tracks command 572 Pro Tools | MTRX 47
Pre-Process using Standard Conform 737 Pro Tools | S6 1089
pre-roll Pro Tools and Avid terms 21
compensating 1306 Pro Tools application language 474
machine 1306 Pro Tools menu
setting for machine from Pro Tools 1306 Quit command (Mac) 185
Pre-Roll button 198 Pro Tools software capabilities 37
Preserve Fades when Editing option 117 Pro Tools systems
Preserve Folder Hierarchy command 172 QuickPunch 562
presets Pro Tools Ultimate
plug-in maps 1114 capabilities with HD Native hardware 40
plug-ins 1109 capabilities with HDX hardware 39
Prevent Tearing option 115 Process Mode selector 932
preview processing
AudioSuite processing 934 AudioSuite 935
in context 347 multichannel for AudioSuite 935
reserving voices 347 processing bandwidth 104
voice requirements 347 Processing Preferences 125
Preview Volume Program Change dialog 772, 774
AudioSuite 934 program changes 772
previewing and bank select 772
audio in browsers 343 auditioning 775
clips in the Clips List 299 default, for MIDI tracks 772
Previous Setting button (plug-ins) 1103 deleting 775
Prime for Playback mode (Play Pause) 488 editing 775
Prime for Record mode (Record Pause) 524 inserting 775
Print Score 826 moving 775
Pro Tools project
Audio Pull Up and Pull Down 1405 chat controls 368
Clock Reference setting 1405 opening from Artist Chat 370
Drop Frame setting 1405 save as a session 178
file management 459 Project Media Cache 112
Help 212 project messages
Knowledge Base 212 filtering 374
link controls 1411 Project Notes window 181
displaying 1412 Project Notifications 370
linking and unlinking systems 1412 project ownership 383
main menus 211 Project Type (Media Composer) 1405
Non-Drop Frame setting 1405 projects 15, 160
session file 159 deleting 182
session file icon 9 leaving 376
Session Start setting 1405 moving to History 377
systems 37 offline 161
Timecode Rate setting 1405 online 161
Transport Master 1303, 1313 putting online 184

1444 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 renaming 181 QuickTime movies
restore from cloud 183 importing audio from 1370
sharing 381 optimizing for playback 1380
sharing offline 463 requirements 1356
taking offline 184 sync 1380
Projects list 370 Quit command (Mac) 185
pinning items 375
unpinning items 375 R
Projects tab 156 R (Record and Playback volumes) 316
pull up and pull down 1277, 1281 randomizing
pulses-per-frame note durations 1023
Bi-Phase/Tach 137 note locations 1009
Punch Capture button 1178 Read automation mode 1128
Punch In Frame Offset 1322 Read Trim automation mode 1132
Punch In Frame Offset preference 132 real-time plug-ins 1093
Punch In/Out 1317 Real-Time Properties
Punch Out Frame Offset 1322 clearing 786
Punch Out Frame Offset preference 132 clip-based 785
punch points 524 Delay 784
Timeline Selection Markers 525 Display Events as Modified by Real-Time
Punch Preview button 1177 Properties option 129
punch recording Duration 783
and monitoring 530 enabling 781
and pre/post-roll 529 in the Edit window 786
audio 529 in the MIDI Event List 786
MIDI 551 on tracks and clips 784
MIDI tracks 552 Quantize 782
settings 782
Q track-based 785
Quantize Transpose 784
audio clips 1008, 1017 Velocity 784
Elastic Audio events 1008, 1016 View 780
quantizing clips to grid 663 viewing 780
Real-Time Properties 782 writing to clips 785
Quantize Clips to Grid command 901 writing to tracks 785
Quantize command 1005, 1006 Real-Time Properties View 780, 1055
Quantize Edits to Frame Boundaries option 448 Real-Time Properties window 781
Quantize to Grid command 663 Rear Divergence 1233
Quantize window 1009 Recalculate Waveform Overviews command 305
quantizing Recall Memory Location Selection at Original Track
MIDI notes 1008, 1012 option 116
MIDI on input 544, 1027 Recent tab 156
QuickPunch 507, 562, 566 Record button (Transport) 197
clip/take numbering 563 Record Enable button 510, 568
crossfades 564 record modes 505, 1318
Pro Tools HD systems 562 and MIDI 507
QuickPunch Crossfade Length preference 117, 564 Destructive Record mode 506
QuickTime file formats 1192 Loop Record mode 506
Nondestructive Record mode 505
QuickPunch 507
Index 1445
 Record Online at Insertion/Selection option 114, refresh rate 1402
1308 Regenerate Missing Rendered Files 461
Record Online at Timecode (or ADAT) Lock option Regroup Clip command 921
113, 1308 regular expressions 308
Record Online option 1282 related takes
record protocol 1317 and Separate Clip command 655
Auto Edit 1317 Relative Grid mode 601, 902
Punch In/Out 1317 relinking
Record Safe mode 512 Find Links 353
recording 521 Linking Options 353
a mono audio track 521 Remote 9-Pin Deck Emulation mode 1300
a stereo audio track 521 Chase LTC 1321
a submix to disk 1187 connections 1299
additional takes 530 preferences 1322
at half-speed 539 see also Remote mode
bouncing to disk 1188 Remote LTC mode
canceling takes 523 Transport Master 1304, 1321
destructively 531 Remote mode
from a digital source 537 and track arming 1323
from Record Pause mode 524 Auto Edit 1323
Instrument tracks 546 commands 1324
keyboard shortcuts 523 playback 1323
Loop Record 533 recording 1323
MIDI clips 549 Transport Master 1304, 1321
MIDI tracks 546 Remote Mode options 132
multichannel tracks 521 Remove Duplicate Notes command 780
multiple audio tracks 523 Remove Edit From Bottom command 639
nondestructively 530 Remove Edit From Top command 639
online 1282 Remove Local Cache 182
QuickPunch mode 566 Remove Sync Point command 906
record enabling tracks 510 removing
Remote mode 1323 crossfades 679
status LED 568 plug-ins from tracks 1097
System Exclusive data 556 sends 1060
to a new playlist 532 Rename command (Clips List) 301, 304
to the system volume 515 Rename Track command 249
undoing a take 522 Renamed Audio Files
with a count off 501 save copy in 462
with Round Robin Allocation 514 renaming
with the click 500 auto-created clips 300
Rectified view 584 clips in the Clips List 301
ReCycle 403 clips on tracks 590
Redefine Current Timecode Position 1311 Memory Locations 886
redefining playlists 693
Feet+Frames position 1276 renaming project versions 175
timecode position 1276 Render Clip Effects command 952
Redo command 593 Render Clip Effects settings 952
Ref Present indicator 1273 Render Clip Gain command 948
Refer to Source Audio Media Where Possible 435 Rendered File Bit Depth options 127, 999
Refer To Source Media 450 Rendered Files folder 159, 975

1446 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Renumber Bars command 873 S
Repeat command 914 S6 1089
Repeat to Fill Selection command 597 safing automation 1134
repeating selections and clips 914 Sample Offset (Sync Offset) 1274, 1311
Replace Clip command 304, 903 Sample Rate Conversion options 425, 437, 449
and multichannel tracks 904 Sample Rate Conversion Quality 127, 403, 413,
Replace Clip dialog 904 438, 450, 1371
Replace mode (see MIDI Replace mode) Sample Rate Convert Audio 437
Reserve Voices For Preview In Context option 110, Sample Rate setting 1194
347 Hardware Setup dialog 99
Reset Bi-Phase button 137 Playback Engine dialog 96
Restore Performance command 1005, 1018 sample-based timing 841, 884
Restore version 175 Samples Time Scale 838
rests (Score Editor) 822 Satellite Link
Retrospective Record 558 option 142
Return to Zero button 196 preferences 132
Reveal in Explorer command (Windows) 305 Satellites 142
Reveal in Finder command (Mac) 305 Save As command 168
Reveal in Finder/Explorer 321 Save command 167
Reveal in Workspace command 305 Save Copy In command 168, 465
Revert to Saved command 167 Save History 174
Revision History 173 Save Track Preset dialog 268
Restore 175 saving a copy of a session 168
Version List 174 saving Fades settings
Rewind 481 Save Settings As command 677
Rewind button 196 Save Settings command 677
REX files 403 saving plug-in settings 1110
importing 410 Save fade settings to command 677
RF64 audio file format 463 Save Plug-In Settings To command 1110
Root Settings folder 677, 1109, 1110 Save Settings As command 1109
Round Robin Allocation 514 Save Settings command 1109
Ruler View options 839 saving sessions with a new name 168
Bars|Beats Time Scale 837 Scale command (Tempo Operations) 861
Feet+Frames Time Scale 838 scaling note velocities 760, 1020
Minutes:Seconds Time Scale 838 Score Editor
Samples Time Scale 838 chord symbols and diagrams 824
Timecode Time Scale 838 editing in 819
Ruler View selector 839 exporting a score 826
rulers opening 806
changing display order 839 page controls 814
Conductor rulers 838 printing 826
displaying all 839 rests 822
pull up and pull down 1281 zoom controls 815
scrolling in 644 Score Setup window 817
Timebase rulers 837 Scroll Into View command 238, 248
zooming in 607 Scroll to Track Banks Controllers option 119
Scroll To Track dialog 238

Index 1447
 scroll wheel Select/Split Notes command 1005, 1025, 1026
and MIDI track Note display 589, 612 Split notes action 1026
scrolling a Pro Tools window 645 selecting
zooming in the Edit window 612 a pitch range of notes 1026
zooming in the Edit windows 612 across all tracks 638
scrolling across multiple tracks 638
a track into view 238 clips 632
in the ruler 644 during playback 633
MIDI Notes View 589 in MIDI Event List 832
Mix and Edit windows to tracks 645 items in browsers 327
Notes View up or down 612 MIDI notes 752, 753
Pro Tools window vertically or horizontally 645 noncontiguous clips 633
Scrolling options 484 notes in a chord 1027
After Playback 484 track material 631
Center Playhead 485 with Edit Selection indicators 637
Continuous Scrolling During Playback 485 with Scrubber 640
No Scrolling 484 selecting tracks for AudioSuite processing 937
Page 484, 793, 812 Selection Changes Alternate Playlists option 843
Scrub Trim tool 615 Selection commands
Scrubber tool 602, 623 Play Edit Selection 486
in Shuttle mode 624 Play Timeline 486
selecting with 640 Selection Memory Location 884
scrubbing 623 moving stored selection 886
a single audio track 623 selections
and edit cursor 623 across multiple tracks 632, 638
on two audio tracks 624 and Bounce to Disk 1189
playback speed and direction 623 and Edit Groups 631
resolution 624 and hidden tracks 631
video tracks 1376 and Timeline Selection Markers 631
with Scrub Trim tool 616 auditioning start and end points 486
with the Selector 624 changing length 635
S-Curve command (Tempo Operations) 860 clearing 597
SDDS surround formats 1202 consolidating 665
Search copying 595
and assign multiple Send paths 1061 cutting 595
Plug-in Insert menu 1100 duplicating 913
Send selector 1060 during playback 633
tags 337 extending 636, 854
Track Input selector 252 extending to the Meter Ruler 867
Track Output and assign multiple paths 253 extending to the Tempo ruler 846, 888
Track Output selector 252 including Conductor rulers 638
search mode 1314 looping 489
Secondary Timecode Ruler 838 moving to adjacent tracks 639
Select All command 632 moving to the next/previous clip 640
Select Clips List options 298 non-contiguous 633
Select Parent in Workspace option 297 nudging 635, 660
Select Tracks in Group command 284 nudging start/end points 635
Select Unused Clips command 304 Object 633

1448 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 pasting 596 Separate Clip Operates On All Related Takes
playing 485 option 116, 655
repeating 914 Separate MIDI notes 757
shifting 907 Separation Grabber tool 620, 655
storing with Memory Locations 884 Serial Deck Control mode 1300
Selector tool 480, 602, 619 serial timecode 1307
making a Timeline selection 620 servo lock 1306
making an Edit selection 619 session
placing the edit cursor 619 save as a project 177
scrubbing with 624 session data
selecting an entire clip 619 importing 420
selecting an entire track 619 Session Data Online Status indicator 192
selecting MIDI notes with 752 Session Data to Import menu 426
Send fully overlapped clips to playlist while editing session file 159
option 116 Session File Backups folder 160
Send fully overlapped clips to playlist while Session Length 1271
recording option 116 session parameters 170
Send level 1059 Session Setup
Send mute 1059 Session Length 1271
Send pan 1059 Session Setup window 1269
Send Pans Default to Follow Main Pan option 118 Session Start setting 1405
Send to Back command (Clip menu) 849 sessions 9
Send To Sibelius command 826 audio format 1271
Sends backups 111, 160
Pre/Post-fader indicators 1068 bit depth 157, 1270
searching paths 1060 closing 181
sends 1058 creating for surround mixing 1203
adding 1059 files 9
and multichannel mixing 1214 frame rate 1271
Assignments View 1064 interleaved 158, 1271
automating 1140 interleaved multichannel audio files 158
changing default setting 1060 mixed audio formats 158, 170
copying track automation to 1141 mixed bit depths 170
default level 1059 multi-mono audio files 158
displaying controls for 1066 opening 164
for hardware I/O 1063 opening from a Transfer volume 165
for mix busses 1063 opening Pro Tools | Ultimate sessions in Pro
labeling 1121 Tools 466
mono or stereo 1063 sample rate 157, 1270
multichannel 1214 sharing between different versions 467
removing 1060 sharing between Pro Tools | Ultimate and Pro
view options 1064 Tools 466
Sends Default to -INF option 118 start frame 1271
Sends View 1054 templates 178
Separate Clip commands 654 Set As User Default command 1109
and multiple tracks 655 Set Plug-In Default To command 1109
and related takes 655 Set Record Tracks to Auto Input command 517
At Selection 654 Set Record Tracks to Auto Input option 516
At Transients 654 Set Record Tracks to Input Only command 517
On Grid 654 Set Record Tracks to Input Only option 516

Index 1449
 Set Servo Lock Bit at Play option 132 signal flow
setting audio tracks 1042
punch/loop points 524 Auxiliary Inputs 1043
satellite start time offset 1400 Instrument tracks 1046
settings Master Faders 1044
choosing a destination for 1110 signal paths 52
copying 1111 signal routing
creating 1111 and default path order 62
creating subfolders 1110 basics for surround 1214
pasting 1111 example 14
saving 1110 surround examples 1220
Settings Preferences command 1109 Single Zoom mode 606, 807
Setup menu 212 SIP (Solo In Place) 259
Click/Countoff Options dialog 502 Size setting (for window dub) 137
Disk Allocation 513 Skip All 461
I/O Setup 52 slices 720
MIDI Studio 773 Slip mode 600
Preferences command 107 and moving clips 899
Session Setup 1269 Smart Tool 602, 620
Video Sync Offset command 1380 adjusting fades with 621
Share Track control 388 creating crossfades with 621
Shared as Frozen option 390 creating fades with 621
Shared track, unowned 391 editing automation 622
Shared Tracks Conflict 176 editing controller events with 622
Shift command 907 Elastic Audio tracks 621
shortcuts for keyboard input 1106 MIDI tracks 622
Show All Tracks Group command 285 multichannel tracks 623
Show Artist Chat button 384 Smart Tool Fade Adjustment 117
Show Auto-Created option 303 Smooth and Thin Data After Pass option 119, 1151
Show Offline Volumes 320 smoothing automation 1133
Show Only Tracks in Group command 284 SMPTE
Show/Hide Clips List button 293 configuration 1275
Show/Hide Tracks in Group command 284 start frame (sessions) 1271
Show/Hide Tracks List/Groups List View button SMPTE IDs 460
246, 283 Snap Pan to Speaker icons 1230
Shuffle Lock mode 599 Snap To Bar option 866
Shuffle mode 599 Snap To commands 897
and locked clips 908 Snap To Grid 601
and moving clips 898 snapping to the following or preceding clip 897
shuttle snapshot automation 1172
fixed mode option 625 adding to empty automation playlists 1173
Shuttle Numeric Keypad mode 29, 111, 625 and trim values 1175
Sibelius (.sib) file 826 writing over existing automation 1173
Side % (Percentage) 1233 Solo button 259
side-chain 1107 Solo in Place (SIP) mode 259
filters 1107 Solo Latch options 261
processing 1103 Solo modes 259, 260
Solo Safe mode 261

1450 Pro Tools Reference Guide

soloing Start To Insertion command 657
tracks 259 Start, End, and Length display 525
tracks in a submix 1081 Starting TC Timecode setting
Song Start Marker 843 matching to Session Start setting 1405
editing tempo 844 Step Input command 1005, 1028
moving 844 stepped control automation 1154
Sony Dynamic Digital Sound (SDDS) 1202 stereo interleaved files, exporting 415
Sort By options 295 stereo tracks
sorting dragging clips to 665
clips 295 names for 509
data in browsers 323 replacing clips in 904
Markers 889 splitting 664
Sound Libraries 311 Stop at Shuttle Speed Zero option 131, 1308
adding 336 Stop button 197
removing 336 Stretch command (Tempo Operations) 862
Soundbase Strip Silence command 909, 910, 911
Assign Tags popover window 340 stuck notes 780
excluding tags from search 338 stutter 1402
searching tags 337 Sub Counter selectors 840
Sound Libraries 311 Sub Time Scale 840, 1277
Source Audio Sample Rate 437, 450 subfolders, creating for settings 1110
source media 435, 450 subframes 1288
Source Path 1190 submixes
Spacebar Toggles File Preview 320 applying an insert to 1078
Special Paste 1160 bouncing to disk 1187
Speed Cal indicator 1273 soloing tracks in 1081
split (MIDI) 1025 sub-paths 52, 71
Split Into Mono Track command 249, 664, 1212 examples for surround 1218
split mono audio files 158 Suppress Automation “Write To” Warnings option
Split notes action 1026 120
splitting stereo and multichannel tracks 664 surround
Spot dialog 900, 1288 5.1 format paths 1208
Use Subframes option 1288 and sends 1214
User Time Stamp button 1290 basic signal routing 1214
Spot mode 600, 1287 center percentage (%) 1234
and moving clips 900 configuring Pro Tools 1203, 1211
trimming clips in 1290 discrete level, solo, mute 1212
Spot To Edit Insertion 321 importing I/O Settings 1206
spotting pan playlists and automation 1236
auto-spotting 1290 panning grids 1226
clips 900, 1287, 1289 settings files 1204
SRC (Sample Rate Conversion) options 425 side center percentage (%) 1235
Standard MIDI Files 416 using paths 1217
exporting 418 using sub-paths, examples 1218
importing 416 Suspend All Groups (Groups List) command 284
Standard VCA Logic for Group Attributes option 120 suspending
start frame (sessions) 1271 automation 1147, 1148
start time 1310 writing automation 1147
start time for Media Composer sequences 1410 swing 1009, 1011

Index 1451
 Sync Offset 1274, 1311 takes
SYNC peripherals auditioning 534
generating timecode with 1282 default names 508
resolving with 1267 matching alternates 534, 706
sync options 1268 MIDI 555
Sync Point View option 906 multiple tracks 535, 707
sync points 1292 numbering for QuickPunch 563
for clips 905 recording additional 530
from Beat Detective 738 selecting an alternate take 534, 706
identifying 906, 1292 Tandem Trimming option 618
synchronization 135 tapping in the tempo 504
black burst 1292 Target button (plug-ins) 1104
MIDI Beat Clock 493 Target playlist 711
MMC 1283 Target Project Timecode Format 448
options 1267 Task 192
resolving 1292 Task Manager 358, 409
troubleshooting 1292, 1403, 1405 Task Manager Status indicator 192
Synchronization Device settings 136 tasks
synchronization peripherals 48 failed 360
Synchronization Preferences 131 grouped 361
Sysex View 776 paused 359
System Exclusive data 776 pausing during playback 361
deleting 777 pending 360
moving 776 TC/E Plug-In preference 127, 614
recording 556 TCE Edit to Timeline command 666
system resources 17 TCE Trim tool 614, 615
system settings templates
Cache Size 96 Beat Detective 731
Clock Source system setting 99 DigiGroove 731
Hardware Buffer Size 92, 94 Pro Tools session 178
Hardware Setup 99 tempo
Host Engine 94 current 844
Number of Voices 95 default 503
Playback Engine 93 display 199
Sample Rate 96 effects on Markers and Memory Locations 884
System Usage window 104, 106 Manual Tempo mode 504
tapping in 504
T Tempo Edit Density pop-up menu 852
T (Transfer volumes) 316 Tempo Editor 850
Tab to Transients button 483, 641 Tempo Event Warp markers 848
Tags Tempo Event–generated Warp markers 981
adding 339 tempo events 844
Assign Tags popover window 340 and Bar|Beat Markers 864
editing 339 editing 845
excluding from search 338 extending selections to 854
searching 337 inserting 845
take over (surround pan) 1231 tempo map 429
from Identify Beat command 863

1452 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Tempo Operations commands timecode 1405
Constant command 858 and Jam Sync 1274
Linear command 858 and Pro Tools Drop Frame limitations 1409
Parabolic command 859 capturing 1289
Scale command 861 compensating for start time offsets 1400, 1410
S-Curve command 860 forcing a match on a satellite system 1409
Stretch command 862 freewheeling 1274
Tempo Operations window 857 generating 1282
Tempo Resolution selector 851 matching between Pro Tools/satellite 1410
Tempo ruler matching format for 1409
displaying 844 quick signal test 1310
extending an Edit selection to 846, 888 redefine current 1311
Tempo Ruler Enable button 199 redefining position 1276
Theater mode 1249 track 1318
Thin All Automation command 1151 Timecode 2 Rate setting 1271
Thin Automation command 1151 Timecode 2 ruler 838
thinning automation 1134, 1150 Timecode Format 1405
tick-based timing 841, 884 Timecode Mapping options 425
Time Compression/Expansion plug-in 666 on import 436
Time Compression/Expansion Trim tool 127, 614 Timecode Rate setting 1271, 1405
trimming MIDI 762 Timecode Time Scale 838
Time Grabber tool 620, 634 Timeline and Edit selection, unlinked 629
Time Operations commands 868 Timeline Data Online Status indicator 192
Change Meter command 868 Timeline Drop Order option 892
Cut Time command 871 Timeline Insertion/Play Start Marker Follows
Insert Time command 870 Playback option 484, 491
Move Song Start command 872 Timeline Selection Markers 525, 630
Time Operations window 866, 868 and Edit selections 631
Time Scale 839 selection length 635
Bars|Beats 837 Timeline selections 643
Feet+Frames 838 Timeline selections 642
Main 840, 1277 auditioning with Playhead enabled 487
Minutes:Seconds 838 copied from Edit selection 644
Samples 838 copied to Edit selection 643
Sub 840, 1277 in Timebase rulers 642
Timecode 838 making with the Selector tool 620
Time Slots meter 106 sliding in the Ruler 643
Time Stamp command 304, 535, 707, 1291 start, end, and length fields 198
Time Stamp Selected command 901 Timeline Selection Markers 643
time stamps 451, 1290 Time-locking clips 908
Bounce to Disk 1189 toggling
Timebase rulers 837 track height 244
and Timeline selections 642 Track View 243
Edit Markers 630 Tool Tips 107, 213
Pre/Post-Roll Flags 630 Toolbar focus 28
sliding Edit selections 641 Touch automation mode 1129
sliding Timeline selections 643 Touch Timeout option 119
Timecode 2 838 Touch Trim automation mode 1132
Timeline Selection Markers 630 Touch/Latch automation mode 1131

Index 1453
 Track and Master Meter Types Linked option 122 track ownership
track arming rejecting a request for 394
112-track IDs 1328 rejecting request 394
and Remote mode 1323 relinquishing 392, 394
create machine profile 1316 requesting 392
IDs 1327 rescinding 392
ignore 1324 responding to a request 392, 393
remapping tracks 1317 seizing 392
Track Bounce 1003 Track Ownership control 391, 393
Track Bounce dialog 1004 Track Ownership Request indicator 385, 393
Track Collaboration controls 388 Track Position Numbers Stay with Hidden Tracks
Track Collaboration tools 383 option 107
Track Color View 1056 Track Presets 267
Track Commit 995 creating 267
Track Compensation (cmp) indicator 1084 in Workspace browsers 277
track compositing 694 saving 267
track controls Track Presets files (.ptxp) 272
audio tracks 220 Track Record Enable indicator 197
Auxiliary Input tracks 220 Track selector 1103
Edit window 220, 221, 222 Track View 240
Elastic Audio 972 Blocks 240
Instrument tracks 222 changing 242
Master Fader tracks 220 Clips 240, 241, 587
MIDI tracks 221 edit content 594
VCA Master tracks 221 Master View 1158
video tracks 222 Notes 240, 241, 589
track data 582 Playlists 697
Track Freeze 1000 Sysex 776
Track Height 244 toggling 243
resizing 244 Velocity 759
track layout Waveform 583
default path order 62 Track View selector 242
track level meters 225 Track View Toggle 243
Track menu 212 track width 231
Clear All Clip Indicators command 226, 1066 TrackInput Monitor button 516
Delete command 238 TrackInput Monitor indicator 198
Duplicate command 239, 1128 TrackPunch
Group command 286 crossfades 564
Make Inactive command 262 preferences 565
New Track command 231 tracks 10
Set Record Tracks to Auto Input 516, 517 5.1 format track layout 1211
Set Record Tracks to Input Only 516, 517 adding comments 237
Split Into Mono command 664, 1212 adding to selection 638, 640
Write MIDI Real-Time Properties command appending new material to end of 531
785 Color Coding options 262
Track Name commands 248 commit 995
Track Name/Comments dialog 235 conflicts between track and cloud copies 394
Track Number command 237 converting multichannel tracks into mono
Track Offset options 425, 437 tracks 1212

1454 Pro Tools Reference Guide

 creating a click track 500 Transfer volume 313
creating new Elastic Audio tracks 971 transients 583
deleting 238 detecting with Beat Detective 724
duplicating 239, 1128 tabbing to 483, 641
Elastic Audio 970 Transparency 591
formats 216 transparent clip overlays 895
freeze 1000 Transport 196
grouping 281 Count Off 501
hiding 247 Meter 503
locating with Fast Forward/Rewind 481 Metronome 501
making inactive/active 262 Transport Master 1286, 1301, 1303, 1313
Master View 243, 1158 machine 1303, 1313
metering 225 Pro Tools 1303, 1313
moving selections between 639 Remote 1304, 1321
muting 261 Remote LTC 1304, 1321
names 231, 235 selecting 1303
placing clips in 891 toggling 1304
playback priority 256 transport master 1313
playing 477, 522 Remote LTC 1321
record enabling 510 toggling 1314
remapping 1317 Transport Numeric Keypad mode 29, 111
scrolling shortcut 645 Transport Online option 1281
selecting across multiple 638 Transport RecordLock option 113, 565, 576
selecting clips 632 Transport View options 198, 479, 526, 527
selecting in Timebase rulers 638 Transport window 196
selecting material in 631 MIDI controls 198
soloing 259 pre/post-roll 198, 527
surround 1211 record status display 568
Track Height 244 start, end, and length fields 198, 525
Track View 240, 242 transport controls 196
transposing 1023 Transpose
trimming unwanted data from 657 Elastic Audio 991
types 215 MIDI notes 1023
video 1357 Real-Time Properties 784
Tracks (Groups List) command 284 Transpose command 1005, 1023
Tracks List 245 transposing 1023
Cloud icon 395 by octave 1024
hiding 246 key 1024
menu 246 MIDI notes 755
showing 246 tracks 1023
Tracks List Right-click menu Trim automation
Download 248 coalescing 1163
Ignore for Future Download 248 Trim Automation commands 1175
Import 248 Trim to All Enabled 1175
Tracks Presets Trim to Current 1175
creating new tracks from 272 Trim Clip commands
trajectory panning 1232 End to Fill Selection 658
Transfer files 460 End to Insertion 657
selecting in Workspace 321 Start to Fill Selection 658
Start to Insertion 657

Index 1455
 To File 659 Use Absolute Pan Linking option 118
To Fill Selection 658 Use F11 for Wait for Note option 129, 545
To Selection 657 Use MIDI to Tap Tempo option 129
Trim Clip to File Boundaries command 659 Use Separate Play and Stop Keys option 111
Trim Clip to File End command 659 Use Subframes option 1288
Trim Clip to File Start command 659 User Default setting 1111
Trim to All Enabled Automation command 1175 User Offset (+/–) field 1084
Trim to Current Automation command 1175 User Time Stamp 901, 1291
Trim tool user-defined clips 300, 303, 582
when Transport = Machine 1304, 1313
trim tool V
tandem trimming 618 VCA Masters
Trim tools 602, 612 assigning groups 1049
Loop Trim tool 616 channel strips 218
Scrub Trim tool 615 clearing 1181
Time Compression/Expansion Trim tool 127, controls 1048
614, 762 deleting 1182
trimming automation 854, 1153 displaying automation 1180
trimming clip gain 945 mixing 1047
trimming track controls 221
automation breakpoints 854, 1153, 1162 track type 215, 1047
clip gain breakpoints 945 velocities (MIDI)
clip start/end points 613 drawing with Pencil 760
clips by Nudge value 659, 757 editing 759, 1019
clips to Edit insertion point 657 fading 1019
clips with Scrub Trim tool 616 Real-Time Properties 784
crossfades 680 scaling 760, 1020
note start/end points 756 Velocity Trim tool 760
unwanted clip and track data 657 Velocity View 759
Tweak Head setting (Conversion Quality) 1371 VENUE 143
VENUE Link 48, 143
U version conflicts 175
unavailable resources 165 Version List 174
Undo command 522, 593 Vertical Position setting 137
Undo History window 593 video
Undo Queue 593 importing 1367
Ungroup All Clips command 921 Pillarbox/Letterbox option 1376
Ungroup Clips command 921 playback 1402
Unicode language support 473 Stretch option 1375
Unique ID 435, 460 Video Clip Groups 1374
Universe view 646 video clips 1371
unlinked Timeline and Edit selection 629 Video Engine option 96
unlinking plug-in controls 1121, 1216 video engine rate 1366
Unlock Clip command 907 Video Engine Rate indicator 1367
Unloop Clips command 917 Video Format setting 1405
Upload All New Changes button 385 Video Import Options dialog 1369
Upload command 389 Video Media options 424
Upload Ruler Changes control 396 Video Online button 1358, 1360
Upload Ruler Changes Right-click menu 397 Video Pull Up and Pull Down 1277
Upload Track Changes control 389
1456 Pro Tools Reference Guide
Video Satellite Voice Packs 48
avoiding sync issues 1405 Voice selector 256
connecting 1403 voices 562
Media Composer 142, 1401 and track priority 256
quitting Pro Tools 1404 Voices meter 106
settings 1405 volume
troubleshooting satellite connections 1404 Performance 313
video satellite offset 1400 Transfer 313
video stutter 1402 Volume automation 1154
Video Sync Offset command 1380 Volume fader 224
video track 1318 Volume indicator 223
video tracks 216, 1357 Volume permissions 316
locking 1366
main video track 1358 W
Output Settings 1362 Wait for Note 199, 544
Project Type 1360 Warp indicator 984
scrubbing 1376 Warp markers 979
settings 1360 adding 980
shuttling 1376 deleting 980
track controls 222 relocating (without applying warping) 980
Video Quality 1365 Warp view 972, 979
viewing as blocks 1359 warped clips (Elastic Audio) 583
Video Universe window 1377 warping audio (Elastic Audio) 981
Video window 1375 WAV file format 462, 1191
mixed aspect ratios 1375 AES31/Broadcast compliant 462
Video Window command 1375 WAVE Extensible file format 463
View Filter (Memory Locations window) 890 WaveCache 342
View Filter (MIDI Event List) 828 WaveCache.wfm file 160, 313
View menu 211 Waveform View 583
Clip Name View option 591 Waveform View options 584
Clip Sync Point View option 906 Outlines 585
Clip Time View options 591 Peak 584
Edit window View options 190, 1052 Power 584
Mix window View options 188, 1052 Rectified 584
Narrow Mix View option 231 waveforms 583
Track Number command 237 and zero-crossing 586
Transport View options 198, 479, 526, 527 avoiding clicks and pops 586
viewing blocks in the video track 1359 guidelines for editing 586
views repairing with Pencil tool 626
Delay Compensation 231 WaveCache 342
I/O View 223 Workspace 341
Inserts View 1053 Whole File button (AudioSuite) 935
Sends View 1054 whole-file clips 582
Wide Meters View 227 Wide Meters View 227
VITC Window Configuration List 208
Generate Lines setting 136 Window Configurations 204
Read Lines setting 136 importing 429
Read Lines, defaults 136
VITC Insertion Enabled option 136

Index 1457
 window dub Elastic Audio analysis 342
horizontal position 137 Elastic Audio Plug-In selector 345
setting color 137 exclude tags from search 338
size 137 Failed Tasks 360
vertical position 137 Find Links 353
Window menu 212 indexing 318
Automation Enable command 1138 Keep Window on Top 320
Big Counter command 479 Linking Options 353
Color Palette 264 links 348
Disk Space command 512 Loop Audition mode 346
Edit command 190 Manually Find and Relink 350
Machine Track Arming command 1287 Missing files 348, 349
Memory Locations command 885 moving database items 327
Mix command 188 navigating 315
System Usage command 106 Open in New Workspace 321
Task Manager command 409 Paused Tasks 359
Transport command 196 Performance Volume 313
Undo History command 593 preferences 361
Workspace command 514 previewing 343, 344, 347
windows Quick Search 329
arranging 207 Regenerate Missing Rendered Files 350
Cascade 207 Relink window 312, 351
closing 207 relinking 348
hiding all floating windows 207 Reveal in Finder/Explorer 321
Tile 207 Right-click menu 320
Tile Horizontal 207 saving a search as a Catalog 335
Tile Vertical 207 searching 329
Windows sessions searching with tags 337
compatibility with Mac 464 session 312
Word Clock 101, 1413 Show Offline Volumes 320
workflows 575 Skip All 350
Workspace 311 sorting columns 323
Audio Files Conform to Session Tempo 320 Sound Libraries 311
auditioning 343 Spacebar Toggles File Preview 320
Automatically Find and Relink 350 Spot To Edit Insertion 321
Auto-Preview mode 346 suitable volumes (see Transfer files) 349
browser display options 322 Task Manager window 312
browser menu 319 Tasks 359
Calculate Waveform 342 Transfer files 348, 349
candidates for relinking 351 Transfer Volume 313
Catalogs 312, 355, 356 volume permissions 316
Comments 326 Volumes 312
Copy and Relink 349 WaveCache 313
copying database items 327 waveform display 341
Create Catalog from Selection 320 Workspace browsers 201, 311, 514, 515
database 313 Track Presets 277
database items 324, 326 Workspace.wksp file 313
Delete Index for All Offline Volumes 320 Write 1174
deleting database items 327 Write Automation commands 1173, 1174
Don’t Limit Search Results 320 Write automation mode 1128

1458 Pro Tools Reference Guide

Write Automation To commands 1177
Write Automation to Next Breakpoint command
1166
Write Automation to Next Breakpoint on Stop
command 1168
Write Automation to Selection/Selection
Start/Selection End buttons 1164
Write MIDI Real-Time Properties command 785
Write Trim automation mode 1132
writing
automation 1138
automation on stop 1165
automation to next breakpoint 1166
automation to selection, selection start or end
1164
snapshot automation 1173

X
XML (MIDI patch names) 773
X–OR (Cancels Previous Solos) Solo Latch option
261

Z
zero-crossing 586
Zoom buttons 603
Zoom Presets 608
Zoom Toggle 609
Zoom Toggle preferences 117, 609
Zoomer tool 602, 603, 605
zooming 603
a track area 606, 807
around a track point 606, 806
continuously 604
horizontally for all tracks 604
in the ruler 607
in the Tempo Editor 850
on a selection 605
out to the entire session 605
recalling zoom levels 608
return to the previous zoom level 605
storing zoom levels 608
to make all clips visible 605
vertically 604
with a scroll wheel 612
Zoom Toggle 609

Index 1459
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