DigiDesign Digidesign Pro Tools 8.0 Reference Manual Download Page 24

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Pro Tools Reference Guide

Summary of Contents for Digidesign Pro Tools 8.0

Page 1: ...Reference Guide Pro Tools 8 0 ...

Page 2: ... Mbox MediaComposer MIDI I O MIX MultiShell Nitris OMF OMF Interchange PRE ProControl Pro Tools M Powered Pro Tools Pro Tools HD Pro Tools LE QuickPunch Recti Fi Reel Tape Reso Reverb One ReVibe RTAS Sibelius Smack SoundReplacer Sound Designer II Strike Structure SYNC HD SYNC I O Synchronic TL Aggro TL AutoPan TL Drum Rehab TL Everyphase TL Fauxlder TL In Tune TL MasterMeter TL Metro TL Space TL U...

Page 3: ...udio Engine 8 MIDI 9 Synchronization 11 Surround 11 Pro Tools Sessions 12 Tick Based and Sample Based Time 18 System Resources 19 DigiBase 21 Chapter 3 Keyboard and Right Click Mouse Shortcuts 23 Right Click Mouse Shortcuts 23 Global Key Commands 23 Keyboard Focus 24 Numeric Keypad Modes 25 Part II System Configuration Chapter 4 Pro Tools Systems 29 Pro Tools HD Systems 29 Pro Tools LE Systems 33 ...

Page 4: ...o Tools I O 64 Creating New Paths 65 Editing Paths 66 Channel Mapping 70 Valid Paths and Requirements 71 Working with I O Settings Files 71 I O Setup Options 75 Mic Preamps 77 H W Insert Delay Compensation 77 Chapter 7 Preferences 79 Global and Local Preferences 80 Display Preferences 81 Operation Preferences 83 Editing Preferences 88 Mixing Preferences 90 Processing Preferences 93 MIDI Preference...

Page 5: ...MIDI Editor Windows 138 Score Editor Window 139 DigiBase Browsers 139 Managing Windows 142 Menus 149 Tool Tips 151 Chapter 11 Tracks 153 Track Types 153 Track Channel Strips 155 Track Controls and Indicators 158 Edit Window Views 160 Track Level Meter 163 Adjusting Track Width 164 Creating Tracks 164 Track Views 169 Track Height 173 The Track List 175 Track Name Right Click Menu 178 Assigning Audi...

Page 6: ...playing Regions in the Region List 219 Managing Regions in the Region List 220 Region Name Right Click Commands 222 Chapter 14 DigiBase 223 DigiBase Elements 223 Performance and Transfer Volumes 226 Digidesign Databases 227 Browser Windows and Tools 228 Indexing DigiBase Databases 232 The Browser Menu 233 Browser Panes and Display 235 Column Data 237 Selecting Items 240 Moving Copying Duplicating ...

Page 7: ...87 Importing Session Data 289 Importing AAF and OMF Sequences 298 Exporting Pro Tools Tracks as AAF or OMFI Sequences 298 Exporting Sessions as Text 298 Send via DigiDelivery 300 Importing MIDI Files 301 Exporting MIDI Files 303 Exporting Sibelius Files 305 Importing and Exporting Region Group Files 305 Chapter 16 File and Session Management and Compatibility 309 Audio File Management 309 WAV File...

Page 8: ...7 Recording with a Click 348 Setting the Session Meter and Tempo 351 Record Modes 353 Configuring Default Names for Audio Files and Regions 356 Assigning Hardware I O on a Track 357 Record Enabling Tracks 358 Recording with Multiple Hard Drives 361 Selecting a Record Input Monitoring Mode 363 Setting Monitor Levels for Record and Playback 365 Reducing Monitoring Latency 365 Chapter 19 Audio Record...

Page 9: ... 402 Recording Audio from a MIDI Instrument 403 Chapter 21 Punch Recording Modes 405 Introduction 405 System Session and Track Guidelines for Punch Recording 406 QuickPunch Audio Recording 411 TrackPunch Audio Recording 412 DestructivePunch Audio Recording 416 Example TrackPunch and DestructivePunch Workflows 421 Part V Editing Chapter 22 Editing Basics 427 Pro Tools Editing 427 Track Material 428...

Page 10: ...ter 25 Editing Regions and Selections 495 Creating New Regions 495 Healing Separated Regions 500 Trimming Regions 500 Nudging Regions 502 Quantizing Regions to Grid 505 Editing Stereo and Multichannel Tracks 505 Consolidate Command 506 Compacting an Audio File 507 Processing Audio with AudioSuite Plug ins 507 TCE Time Compression and Expansion Edit To Timeline Selection 508 Rating Regions 509 Chap...

Page 11: ...ective 554 Generating Beat Triggers 554 Generating Bar Beat Markers with Beat Detective 560 DigiGroove Templates 561 Separating Regions with Beat Detective 563 Conforming Regions with Beat Detective 565 Edit Smoothing 567 Detection Normal and Collection Mode 569 Part VI MIDI Chapter 29 MIDI Editing 575 MIDI Editing Options 575 Setting the Grid Value 577 The Pencil Tool 578 Inserting MIDI Notes 580...

Page 12: ...er Changes 649 Chord Symbols and Diagrams 649 Exporting Scores 651 Printing Scores 651 Chapter 32 MIDI Event List 653 Inserting Events in the MIDI Event List 656 Editing Events in the MIDI Event List 658 MIDI Event List Options 660 Part VII Arranging Chapter 33 Time Tempo Meter Key and Chords 663 Timebase Rulers and Conductor Rulers 663 Main Time Scale 666 Tick Based Timing 667 Song Start Marker 6...

Page 13: ...ooping 739 Region Groups 743 Part VIII Processing Chapter 37 AudioSuite Processing 753 The AudioSuite Menu 753 The AudioSuite Window 754 Using AudioSuite Plug ins 760 Chapter 38 Elastic Audio 763 Example Elastic Audio Workflow 764 Elastic Audio Tracks 769 Elastic Audio Analysis 772 Real Time and Rendered Elastic Audio Processing 773 Elastic Audio Plug ins 774 Editing in Warp View 778 Editing in An...

Page 14: ...Paths 839 Sends 842 Output Windows for Tracks and Sends 849 Signal Routing for Monitoring and Submixing 853 Delay Compensation 860 Dither 866 Using an Ethernet Control Surface with Pro Tools 868 Using a MIDI Control Surface with Pro Tools 868 Chapter 41 Plug in and Hardware Inserts 871 Inserting Plug ins on Tracks 876 Plug in Menu Organization 877 Moving and Duplicating Plug in and Hardware Insert...

Page 15: ...mming Automation 936 Writing Automation to the Start End or All of a Track or Selection 938 Writing Automation to the Next Breakpoint or to the Punch Point 940 Guidelines for Write To Commands 943 Overwriting or Extending Mute Automation 944 Creating Snapshot Automation 947 Previewing Automation 950 Capturing Automation 952 VCA Master Track Automation 955 Chapter 43 Mixdown 959 Bus Recording to Tr...

Page 16: ...ichannel Tracks and Signal Routing 983 Multichannel Audio Tracks 983 Multichannel Signal Routing 986 Paths in Surround Mixes 988 Example Paths and Signal Routing for a Surround Mix 990 Chapter 46 Surround Panning and Mixing 995 Introduction to Pro Tools Surround Panning 995 Output Windows 996 Standard Controls 997 Surround Panner Controls 998 Panning Modes 1001 Divergence and Center Percentage 100...

Page 17: ...odec Support in Pro Tools 1037 Before Starting Your Project 1037 Video Tracks 1038 Main Video Track 1039 Video Track Controls and Indicators 1040 Locking Video Tracks 1041 Video Engine Rate 1042 Importing Video into Pro Tools 1043 Extracting Audio from QuickTime and Windows Media Video 1046 Video Regions 1047 General Video Editing 1048 Renaming Video Disk Files 1050 Video Region Groups 1050 Using ...

Page 18: ...Pro Tools Reference Guide xviii ...

Page 19: ...1 Part I Introduction ...

Page 20: ...2 ...

Page 21: ...o Tools and con necting your studio Getting Started with Pro Tools Guide For Pro Tools LE and M Powered see the Getting Started with Pro Tools Guide for your interface This guide has tutorials on using Pro Tools such as recording in a Pro Tools session importing audio from a CD and creating an audio CD from a Pro Tools session Guides Accessible in Pro Tools The main Pro Tools guides are accessible...

Page 22: ...Pro Tools audio interfaces dedicated worksurfaces such as D Control and control surfaces such as Command 8 and other Digidesign options such as MIDI I O PRE and SYNC HD Refer to the separate guide provided with each Digidesign product Conventions Used in These Guides The Pro Tools guides use the following conven tions to indicate menu choices keyboard com mands and mouse commands The names of Comm...

Page 23: ...hase online Support and Downloads Contact Digidesign Technical Support or Customer Service down load software updates and the latest online manuals browse the Compatibility documents for system requirements search the online An swerbase or join the worldwide Pro Tools com munity on the Digidesign User Conference Training and Education Study on your own using courses available online or find out ho...

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Page 25: ... of a record ing by making the hard disk read parts of the re cording in a different order and or multiple times In addition this re arrangement is nonde structive meaning that the original recorded ma terial is not altered Pro Tools Nonlinear Editing Pro Tools is a nonlinear recording editing sys tem that lets you rearrange and mix recorded material nondestructively Nonlinear editing simply means...

Page 26: ...ngine dialog Setup Playback Engine Pro Tools takes advantage of your computer s host processor for certain tasks and optional host based DSP processing Pro Tools LE uses host CPU processing to pro vide audio track recording playback mixing and effects processing Both Pro Tools LE and Pro Tools HD use host processing to run RTAS Real Time AudioSuite plug ins for effects pro cessing Performance is d...

Page 27: ...ment sound For example bass on channel 1 piano on channel 2 and drums on channel 10 Similar to a multitrack tape re corder a MIDI sequencer can record complex ar rangements even using only a single multitim bral keyboard MIDI Terms The following are some basic MIDI terms MIDI Instrument A hardware MIDI device or software instrument such as an instrument plug in MIDI Interface Hardware that lets co...

Page 28: ...end modulation volume pan and many others System Exclusive Data MIDI data commonly used for sending and retrieving patch parameter information for storage purposes Virtual MIDI Nodes When using MIDI with in strument plug ins in Pro Tools virtual MIDI nodes are created These nodes act like MIDI ports and provide software MIDI connections between Pro Tools and other MIDI software such as instrument ...

Page 29: ...e time based systems such as Pro Tools and an external deck you want both systems to be synchro nized Synchronization is where one system out puts time code or MIDI Beat Clock and another device synchronizes to or follows that time code or MIDI Beat Clock so that they work together according to the same clock source Pro Tools can be synchronized to other devices or other devices can be synchronize...

Page 30: ...in any media files audio or video Instead it references audio video MIDI and other files You can make changes to a ses sion and save those changes in a new session file This lets you create multiple versions of a session or back up your editing and mixing work There are different session file icons for each type of Pro Tools system software Although there are different session file icons session f...

Page 31: ...tionally Avid video is supported on Pro Tools HD or Pro Tools LE with DV Toolkit 2 software with an Avid video pe ripheral An individual video track can play back only one type of video at a time Audio Auxiliary Input Master Fader and In strument tracks can be mono stereo or multi channel Pro Tools HD and Pro Tools LE with the Complete Production Toolkit option only When creating a new track selec...

Page 32: ... the session folder However in most cases Pro Tools references video files that have been captured by another application such as Avid Media Composer Regions A region is a segment of audio MIDI or video data A region could be a drum loop a guitar riff a verse of a song a recording take a sound ef fect some dialog or an entire sound file Re gions are especially useful for arranging audio and MIDI A...

Page 33: ...track Each audio Auxiliary Input Instrument Master Fader and VCA track also has a single set of au tomation playlists Automation playlists can in clude volume pan mute and each automation enabled control for the insert and send assign ments on that track MIDI controller data on Instrument and MIDI tracks is always included as part of the track playlist Channel The term channel is used to describe ...

Page 34: ...Edit window A common audio signal routing task is to sub mix multiple tracks to a single channel strip such as an Auxiliary Input for shared process ing and level control The following example shows two audio tracks submixed to a stereo Auxiliary Input Channel strip in the Mix window audio track Submixing to an Auxiliary Input Input from stereo bus path Outputs to stereo bus path Audio tracks Inse...

Page 35: ...IDI 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 Master tracks do not have inserts Instrument Plug ins Instrument plug ins are dif ferent from processi...

Page 36: ... Tick Based Audio and MIDI Tick based audio is fixed to a Bars Beat location and moves relative to the sample Timeline when tempo and meter changes occur However MIDI events and tick based audio respond differently to tempo changes with respect to duration MIDI note events change length when tempo or meter is adjusted while audio regions do not unless Elastic Audio is enabled When Elastic Audio is...

Page 37: ...ollowing features to extend the effectiveness of your available DSP and other resources Pro Tools lets you adjust the performance of your system by changing system settings that af fect its capacity for processing playback and re cording See Configuring Pro Tools System Settings on page 42 In order to free up needed DSP resources Pro Tools allows for certain items such as tracks and inserts to be ...

Page 38: ... inactive its mixer resources are made available for other signal routing pur poses in the session Paths and assignments can be made inactive manually or automatically see Automatic and Manual Inactive Mode on page 21 Tracks When a track is made inactive its voices become available for another track Inactive mono tracks free up one voice inactive stereo and multichannel tracks free up one voice pe...

Page 39: ... modes to manage system resources By making an item inactive its associated resources are made available elsewhere in the session DigiBase DigiBase is a database management tool for Pro Tools DigiBase expands upon basic Pro Tools search and import capabilities by pro viding powerful tools to manage your data both inside and outside of your sessions on any hard drive connected to the system A datab...

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Page 41: ...rd shortcuts for the following track functions Changing Automation mode Enabling playlists Adding plug ins Record enabling soloing and muting tracks Record safing and solo safing tracks Assigning inputs outputs and sends Toggling volume peak delay display Clearing meters Changing track heights A PDF listing of all shortcuts is available in Pro Tools Choose Help Shortcuts For a complete list of Rig...

Page 42: ...wide range of single key shortcuts from the computer keyboard for editing and playing The frontmost Edit or MIDI Editor win dow always receives Commands Keyboard Focus when it is enabled With Commands Keyboard Focus disabled you can still access any of its key shortcuts by press ing the Start key Windows or Control Mac along with the key Region List Keyboard Focus When selected au dio regions MIDI...

Page 43: ...mal speed 6 9 provide increasingly faster fast forward speeds 1 4 provide progressively faster rewind speeds 4 is the slowest rewind Shuttle Lock speed 1 is the fastest Press 0 to stop Shuttle Lock then press the number to resume Shuttle Lock speed Press Escape or Spacebar to exit Shuttle Lock mode Custom Shuttle Lock Speed Pro Tools HD and Pro Tools LE with Complete Production Toolkit or DV Toolk...

Page 44: ...With the Numeric Keypad mode set to Shuttle playback of the current Edit selection is trig gered by pressing and holding the keys on the numeric keypad playback stops once the keys are released Various playback speeds are avail able in both forward and reverse In this mode pre and post roll are ignored With the Numeric Keypad mode set to Shuttle you can also Recall Memory Locations by typing Perio...

Page 45: ...27 Part II System Configuration ...

Page 46: ...28 ...

Page 47: ...s LE or M Powered with Music Production Toolkit 2 Pro Tools LE or M Powered systems that have been upgraded with the Music Production Toolkit 2 software option Pro Tools HD Systems Pro Tools HD systems are available in the con figurations shown on page 30 Each system re quires at least one Digidesign audio interface sold separately Pro Tools HD systems can be expanded by adding Pro Tools HD system...

Page 48: ... Pro Tools HD system can be expanded by adding additional HD Process or HD Accel cards For more information see the Expanded Systems Guide Supported Audio Interfaces Pro Tools HD Systems Only The following audio interfaces are compatible with Pro Tools HD systems 192 I O 192 Digital I O 96 I O 96i I O The following Legacy Digidesign audio inter faces are supported with Pro Tools HD systems 888 24 ...

Page 49: ...e track limit will be automatically set to Voice Off Pro Tools HD systems provide up to 160 Auxiliary Input tracks and a total of 128 internal mix busses These systems also provide up to 10 inserts and 10 sends per track depending on the DSP capacity of your system Pro Tools HD systems also support up to 128 Instrument tracks 256 MIDI tracks 128 VCA Master tracks and multiple video tracks Table 5 ...

Page 50: ...able 6 Pro Tools HD system audio interface channel capabilities Interface Type Number of I O Channels Sample Rates kHz A D Conversion D A Conversion Digital I O 192 I O 16 in 16 out 44 1 48 88 2 96 176 4 192 24 bit 24 bit 24 bit 192 Digital I O 16 in 16 out 44 1 48 88 2 96 176 4 192 None None 24 bit 96 I O 16 in 16 out 44 1 48 88 2 96 24 bit 24 bit 24 bit 96i I O 16 in 2 out 44 1 48 88 2 96 24 bit...

Page 51: ...ools LE software Digi 002 Rack audio and MIDI interface Mbox 2 Pro An Mbox 2 Pro system includes Pro Tools LE software Mbox 2 Pro audio and MIDI interface Mbox 2 An Mbox 2 system includes Pro Tools LE software Mbox 2 audio and MIDI interface Mbox 2 Mini An Mbox 2 Mini system includes Pro Tools LE software Mbox 2 Mini audio interface Mbox 2 Micro An Mbox 2 Micro system includes Pro Tools LE softwar...

Page 52: ...r track depending on your computer s processing capacity In addi tion Pro Tools LE systems support up to 32 Instrument tracks and 256 MIDI tracks Pro Tools LE also supports a single QuickTime video track For details on transferring session material between Pro Tools HD and Pro Tools LE systems see Sharing Sessions Created on Different Pro Tools Systems on page 316 Table 7 Pro Tools LE system audio...

Page 53: ...cks 128 internal busses Display of up to 256 tracks Multiple video tracks with multiple video playlists and multiple QuickTime movies per track Import Session Data options Destination Track Names Time Code Mapping Find Matching Tracks Session Data to Import Track Playlist MP3 export option for bounce recording or exporting a region as an MP3 file DigiBase Pro including support for Catalog browsers...

Page 54: ...n Toolkit includes addi tional software for working with Pro Tools DINR Digidesign Intelligent Noise Reduction LE Plug in For reducing noise in audio DigiTranslator 2 0 Software Option For ex changing audio and video files and sequences with other AAF and OMFI compatible applica tions Eleven LE Plug in For use as a guitar amp and speaker emulation Hybrid Synthesizer Plug in For use as a virtual in...

Page 55: ...t to Timeline Selection command Selection of alternate field recorder audio channels in the Pro Tools Timeline Expanding alternate field recorder audio channels to new tracks Mixing and Automation features Snapshot automation for writing or trim ming automation data Glide Automation commands Time code and synchronization features Timebase rulers Time Code and Feet Frames Time Code Rate selector Fe...

Page 56: ...L Space Native Convolution Reverb Plug in For applying convolution reverb to your audio Checking For Software Updates Pro Tools can check for Pro Tools application and Digidesign plug in updates either automat ically or manually An internet connection is re quired to be able to check for updates Approxi mately every two weeks Pro Tools checks online for any available application and plug in up dat...

Page 57: ...y In the Software Update dialog select the Do Not Check For Updates Automatically option To enable checking for software updates automatically 1 Check for updates manually Help Check For Updates 2 In the Software Update dialog deselect the Do Not Check For Updates Automatically option ...

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Page 59: ...MIDI interfaces MIDI devices or synchronization peripherals 7 Do one of the following depending on your Pro Tools system For Pro Tools HD systems with the volume of all output devices lowered turn on your Pro Tools Legacy I O such as an 888 24 I O or 882 20 I O first then your Pro Tools HD audio interfaces such as 96 I O Wait at least fifteen seconds for your system hard ware to initialize or For ...

Page 60: ...mmodate large or processing intensive Pro Tools sessions Hardware Buffer Size The Hardware Buffer Size H W Buffer Size con trols the size of the buffer used to handle host processing tasks such as Real Time AudioSuite RTAS plug ins Lower Hardware Buffer Size settings are useful for improving latency issues in certain record ing situations or for improving certain system performance problems On all...

Page 61: ...ssions with few RTAS plug ins you can allocate fewer processors to RTAS processing and set a low CPU Usage Limit to leave more CPU resources available for automation accu racy screen response and video Increase these settings to accommodate TDM to RTAS plug in conversion Conversely de crease these settings if you are only using TDM plug ins or are converting RTAS plug ins to TDM TDM RTAS conversio...

Page 62: ...f Pro Tools processing on other CPU inten sive tasks such as screen redraws and are use ful when you are experiencing slow system response or when running other applications at the same time as Pro Tools Higher CPU Usage Limit settings allocate more processing power to Pro Tools and are useful for playing back large sessions or using more RTAS plug ins The maximum available CPU Usage Limit de pend...

Page 63: ...nts ex ceed the selected CPU Usage Limit This can result in pops and clicks in the audio but does not stop the transport Minimize Additional I O Latency Pro Tools LE and M Powered Only When enabled any additional latency due to suppressing RTAS errors during playback and record is minimized to 128 sam ples Suppressing RTAS errors requires at least 128 samples of additional buffering on some system...

Page 64: ...umber of Voices pop up menu as follows Select minimum voice numbers if you are using high bandwidth PCI or PCIe cards such as video capture cards along with your Digidesign cards These settings place the lightest processing load on each allo cated DSP chip but generally require more DSP chips be dedicated to voicing and mix ing leaving fewer available for plug ins Select medium voice numbers when ...

Page 65: ...nsation Engine pop up menu select Short Long or None 3 Click OK Delay Compensation Settings There are three settings in the Playback Engine dialog to dedicate DSP resources for Delay Com pensation None Allocates no DSP resources for Delay Com pensation Short Allocates minimum DSP resources of De lay Compensation for each channel This is the most efficient setting For sessions with only a few plug ...

Page 66: ...er setting may increase the time lag when starting playback or recording starting pre view in context from DigiBase browsers or cause a longer audible time lag while editing during playback To change the DAE Playback Buffer Size 1 Choose Setup Playback Engine 2 From the DAE Playback Buffer pop up menu se lect a buffer size Memory requirements for each setting are shown at the bottom of the Playbac...

Page 67: ... or On Mac systems if prompted enter your password then restart your computer Plug in Streaming Buffer Size Structure Plug in Only This setting appears in the Playback Engine dia log only if the Structure Professional Sampling Workstation plug in is installed on your system The Plug in Streaming Buffer Size setting deter mines the amount of memory DAE allocates for streaming playback from disk wit...

Page 68: ...g in Streaming Buffer Size pop up menu is unavailable when this option is selected To set Pro Tools to automatically optimize the Plug in Streaming Buffer Size 1 Choose Setup Playback Engine 2 Select the Optimize for Streaming Content on Audio Drives option 3 Click OK Configuring MIDI Setup If you plan to use any MIDI devices with Pro Tools you need to configure your MIDI setup using MIDI Studio S...

Page 69: ...gital device or common signal Depending on your audio interface external op tions can include AES EBU Encl S PDIF Optical Encl AES EBU 1 8 TDIF ADAT and Word Clock For details refer to the guide for your audio in terface To select the Clock Source 1 Choose Setup Hardware 2 Choose the clock source from the Clock Source pop up menu 3 Click OK Configuring Digital Format and Hardware Routing The Hardw...

Page 70: ...as setting operating levels For details refer to the Setup Guide for your system or to the guide for your audio interface To configure Pro Tools HD audio interfaces 1 Choose Setup Hardware 2 From the Peripherals list select the Digidesign audio interface connected to the first card in your system This will be the interface at the top of the list 3 Click the Main tab 4 From the Clock Source pop up ...

Page 71: ...card are listed in pairs as AES EBU 1 2 AES EBU 3 4 AES EBU 5 6 and AES EBU 7 8 For 192 I Os equipped with the optional 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 10 Click other tabs such as Analog In and Ana log Out for additional configuration options specific to the audio interface These include...

Page 72: ... your Legacy interface does not appear check connections and repeat from step 1 above See also Offline Peripherals on page 54 6 Repeat the above steps for each additional Legacy I O To remove a Legacy I O 1 Lower the volume of your output devices 2 Turn off your Legacy I O 3 Choose Setup Hardware in Pro Tools 4 In the Main Page of the Hardware Setup dia log select the Expansion I O option under Po...

Page 73: ...pairs of output ports on your audio interface This lets you send the same signal such as a ste reo pair a stem mix or a multichannel mix to multiple destinations such as multiple master ing devices To route a Pro Tools output channel pair to multiple audio interface output ports 1 Choose Setup Hardware 2 From the Peripherals list select an interface 3 Click the Main tab 4 Select an output port pai...

Page 74: ...ur If Disk Activity is high Pro Tools may miss playback of some automation data during particularly dense periods of activity such as while using the Bounce to Disk command With Pro Tools HD there are additional meters TDM Voices Allocated Displays the total number of TDM voices that can be allocated and the number of voices currently allocated This in cludes all voices whether they are allocated ...

Page 75: ...first session after you launch Pro Tools it does result in being able to open and close all subsequent Pro Tools sessions much more quickly especially when using the Revert To Saved command or when opening sim ilarly configured sessions However when using DSP caching the System Usage window may not always accurately show the DSP resources your session is currently us ing For an accurate display of...

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Page 77: ...nal routing for internal bus sing and for each connected audio interface I O Setup controls let you route physical ports on the audio interface to Pro Tools inputs and outputs These controls mirror the routing con trols found in the Hardware Setup dialog changes made to physical routing in one dialog are always reflected in the other Figure 1 I O Setup dialog on a Pro Tools HD system with a 192 I ...

Page 78: ... do one of the following On Windows drag any corner of the window or On Mac drag the lower right corner of the window Navigating in the I O Setup Dialog To scroll left or right in the I O Setup dialog Press Alt Page Up Down Windows or Op tion Page Up Down Mac Pro Tools Signal Paths A signal path is a logical grouping of multiple in puts outputs or busses that has a single name and channel format T...

Page 79: ...s On Pro Tools HD systems and Pro Tools LE with Complete Production Toolkit the in stalled Mixer plug in Stereo or Surround The I O Settings saved with the session are loaded automatically when the session is opened Unavailable items including hardware paths or required resources remain in the ses sion as inactive items see Making Paths Active or Inactive on page 69 When you create a new session y...

Page 80: ...p Digide sign PRE outputs to an audio interface s inputs to establish communication between Pro Tools and PRE H W Insert Delay Pro Tools HD Only Set the amount of Delay Compensation in millisec onds for each external device These times will be used by the Delay Compensation Engine to time align input paths when the hardware insert is in use and Delay Compensation is enabled To open an I O Setup pa...

Page 81: ...s Button Lets you import an I O settings file to reconfigure I O Setup Export Settings Button Lets you save I O settings as a file that can be imported into other sessions Default Button Resets a path type to its default path configuration depending on which inter face you are using and how your Hardware Setup window is configured Compensation for Input Delays After Record Pass Input Page Pro Tool...

Page 82: ... icon 4 From the pop up menu select a physical port pair such as Analog 1 2 to route to a Pro Tools channel pair such as A 1 2 in the Path Name column on the left 5 Repeat the above step for additional channel pairs 6 Click OK to save changes and close the I O Setup dialog Routing a Pro Tools Output Pair to Multiple Destinations Pro Tools channel pairs can be routed to multi ple outputs on an audi...

Page 83: ... ports are selected 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 dialog Creating New Paths The I O Setup dialog lets you create new main path and sub paths with custom names format and mapping Custom path names appear...

Page 84: ...page 71 The following table lists the available path at tributes for each path type Path interface names can also be renamed and configured as defaults which can be restored Restoring Default Paths and Path Names You can set an I O Setup path type to its default path configuration at any time When restoring the default path Pro Tools does the following Creates new default paths up to the capacity ...

Page 85: ... initially available You can reset the number of available busses to match your system s full ca pabilities To make all of your busses available in sessions that support a lower number of mix busses 1 Open the I O Setup dialog 2 Click the Bus tab in the upper left 3 Click Default 4 Click OK to save changes and close the I O Setup dialog Renaming Paths Path names can be customized in the I O Setup ...

Page 86: ...ed path name and the additional path name will also be selected To select or deselect noncontiguous paths do one of the following Control click Windows or Command click Mac path names that are unhighlighted to se lect them or Control click Windows or Command click Mac path names that are highlighted to dese lect them To select all paths and sub paths Alt click Windows or Option click Mac any path ...

Page 87: ...urn off the signal path on any and all tracks currently as signed to it Pro Tools also sets unavailable paths to inactive Paths can be unavailable when hardware or other system resources are unavailable such as when opening a session saved on a different system Tracks can also be made active or inactive For information see Making Track Inputs and Out puts Inactive from the Edit or Mix Window on pa...

Page 88: ...ma tion see Valid Paths and Requirements on page 71 Channel Mapping and Surround Mixer Pro Tools HD and Pro Tools LE with Complete Production Toolkit Only When mapping multichannel paths the left channel L is mapped first to the clicked Grid box and remaining channels fill immediately to the right according to the default path order Be cause some multichannel mixing formats use unique track layout...

Page 89: ...Channel mapping follows certain rules regarding overlap ping paths There can be no partial or complete over laps between any two main Output paths any two Insert paths or any two main Bus paths A newly created Output or Bus path must either be completely independent of other maps not mapped to any other available I O interface channels or it must be a sub path completely contained within a larger ...

Page 90: ...gs can be imported before or after you open a session When you import I O Settings you can choose to delete any unused path definitions before im porting the new paths or leave unused path def initions intact and add the new paths to the cur rent I O Setup configuration To import I O Settings 1 Click Import Settings in the I O Setup dialog 2 Select an I O settings file in the Import Set tings dial...

Page 91: ...E with Complete Production Toolkit Only The Surround Mix provides additional sur round specific Output and Bus settings files See Surround Mix Settings Files on page 977 for more information Custom I O Settings Custom I O Settings files can be created by changing I O Setup controls and then exporting the I O Setup configuration see Exporting I O Settings on page 72 Custom I O settings are availabl...

Page 92: ...ssion has been opened with unavail able I O retained you can then reassign tracks to available I O paths Opening Older Sessions Saved in Direct Outputs Mode Direct Outputs mode as found in older versions of Pro Tools has been replaced by the default mono sub paths available through all valid I O in the I O Setup dialog Clicking the Default button creates main Output paths with appropriate mono sub...

Page 93: ...e I O Setup dialog Configuring Audition Paths You can specify the monitoring outputs for au ditioning audio in the Region List and DigiBase browsers or for previewing AudioSuite process ing using the Audition Paths pop up menu Audition Paths Main Menu The main menu con sists of all path format choices available on the current system Mono and Stereo on all systems and LCR and greater on Pro Tools H...

Page 94: ...L PFL Path fader 4 Click on the new fader position or press Esc to close the fader display AFL PFL Mutes Output Path Selector Systems without a D Control or D Command Control Surface If you are not using a D Control or D Command worksurface your regular Pro Tools output path can be muted when you send a signal to the AFL PFL Path The muted path is set with the AFL PFL Mutes Output Path selector Se...

Page 95: ...in new 5 1 format paths To choose a Default Path Order Select the channel mapping from the Default Path Order pop up menu Mic Preamps Digidesign PRE with Pro Tools HD Only On the Mic Preamps page of the I O Setup dia log signal paths for one or more Digidesign PRE multi purpose microphone preamplifiers can be mapped to Pro Tools HD audio interfaces For more information see the PRE Guide H W Insert...

Page 96: ...tomatic Delay Compensation is enabled Options Delay Compensation 2 Change your session s Main Time Scale to Min Sec 3 Create two tracks 4 Route the tracks as follows Route the output of track 1 to the device s inputs then route the input of track 2 to the device s outputs 5 Place a short tone or other sound with a de finitive beginning on track 1 6 Record enable track 2 and press Record Enable and...

Page 97: ...ed settings for various types of session parameters Each Preferences page is covered in detail in this chapter To change Pro Tools preferences 1 Choose Setup Preferences 2 Click the tab for the page that has preferences you want to change 3 Change preferences 4 Click OK to save your changes and close the Preferences dialog Figure 2 Pro Tools Preferences dialog on a Pro Tools HD system Display Pref...

Page 98: ...e dialog from the application window Local Current Session Preferences List All Preferences are global except for the follow ing which are local Display Preferences Edit Window Default Length Always Display Marker Colors Default Track Color Coding options Default Region Color Coding options Operation Preferences Custom Shuttle Lock Speed Back Forward Amount Pro Tools HD only QuickTime Playback Pri...

Page 99: ...ion The maximum length is 12 hours and 25 seconds at 48 kHz and proportionally less at higher sam pling rates For best scrollbar sensitivity set the length to slightly longer a minute or more than the total session or song length Organize Plug in Menus By Options These option customize how plug in menus are organized in the Insert selector or Plug in selec tor Flat List Organizes plug ins in a sin...

Page 100: ...ck meters stay lit after a clip is detected 3 Second Clip Hold When selected meters dis play the last clip indication for three seconds Infinite Clip Hold When selected meters display the last clip indications until you click them to clear them No Clip Hold When selected meters do not hold the clip indication Show Meters in Sends View When the Sends view is displaying individual send controls you ...

Page 101: ...g to the Group ID of its track If groups are sus pended using the Suspend Groups command all regions display black waveforms or MIDI notes on a light gray background Track Color Assigns a region color based on the color assigned to the track Marker Locations Assigns a unique color to each marker area in the Marker ruler including the area preceding the first marker Region List Color Assigns a colo...

Page 102: ...des Classic or Transport The range for this setting is 50 800 Back Forward Amount Pro Tools HD Only Sets the default length of Back Back and Play Forward and Forward and Play The timebase of the Back Forward Amount settings follows the Main Time Scale by default or you can deselect the Follow Main Time Scale option and select another timebase format Bars Beats Min Sec Time Code Feet Frames or Samp...

Page 103: ...e session is saved Video Section QuickTime Playback Priority Options Normal This is the default setting for QuickTime Playback Priority It gives no extra priority to movie playback over other screen update tasks such as metering moving faders and so on In most cases you should use this setting Medium This setting gives QuickTime movie playback a higher priority relative to other Pro Tools screen u...

Page 104: ...n record enabled when play back or recording stops 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 Transport RecordLock Pro Tools HD Only This option lets the Transport Record the Record button in the Transport controls be configured...

Page 105: ...en selected copies loop recorded al ternate takes to new playlists in the track This is especially useful to prepare for track composit ing in Playlists view after loop recording multi ple alternate takes Online Options Record Online at Time Code or ADAT Lock When selected online recording begins as soon as Pro Tools receives and locks to incoming time code Record Online at Insertion Selection Whe...

Page 106: ...rence Level Pro Tools HD Only Sets a default calibration reference level in dB when Pro Tools is in Calibration mode For audio interfaces that have trims such as the 192 I O see the interface s guide for calibration instructions Delay Compensation Time Mode Pro Tools HD Only This option lets you choose whether infor mation in the Delay Manager is displayed in milliseconds or samples This option is...

Page 107: ...reserve Fades when Editing This option pre serves fade ins and fade outs and converts sepa rated crossfades into corresponding fade ins and fade outs Default Fade Settings Fade In Selects the default envelope shape for fade ins when using the Smart Tool Fade Out Selects the default envelope shape for fade outs when using the Smart Tool Crossfade Selects the default envelope shape for crossfades wh...

Page 108: ... Pan When se lected newly created sends have Follow Main Pan turned on so the Send Pan controls follow the pan controls of the track When not selected newly created sends have Follow Main Pan turned off Link Mix and Edit Group Enables When selected this option links enabling and disabling of Mix and Edit Groups For example enabling Group A in the Mix Window automatically enables Group A in the Edi...

Page 109: ... supported Digidesign control surface you can select this option to maximize the number of channels displayed when bank ing This setting optimizes the Bank commands to prevent the display of a small number of channels at the extremes of the surface Touch Timeout If you are writing automation in Touch mode and you stop moving a non touch sensitive fader or encoder Pro Tools continues to write autom...

Page 110: ...tributes Pro Tools HD Only This option determines which Mix group attributes may be selected in the Group dialog when the group is assigned to a VCA Master When selected the Main Volume Mute Solo Record Enable and Input Monitoring controls on slave tracks follow the VCA Master only and are not available to be in dependently linked This emulates the be havior of analog console VCA masters When dese...

Page 111: ...ly switch to the Trim version of the specified setting Coalesce Trim Automation Options Pro Tools HD Only These options determine when Trim automa tion is committed to the main automation play list on a track After Every Pass Sets Trim automation to coa lesce when the transport is stopped at the end of each Trim automation pass No Composite Play list is indicated On Exiting Trim Mode Sets Trim Aut...

Page 112: ...d the Automati cally Create Fades option is not available To change the default fade settings for REX files click the REX button in the Default Fade Settings section on the Editing Preferences page Drag and Drop From Desktop Conforms to Session Tempo The Drag and Drop From Desktop Conforms to Ses sion Tempo options determine whether or not REX ACID and audio files are imported as tick based Elasti...

Page 113: ...lastic Audio plug ins by 0 to 6 dB for preview and import If you experience clipping due to Elastic Audio processing during preview or after import you may want to set the Default Input Gain to slightly attenuate the audio signal input for Elastic Audio processing This prefer ence also applies to any audio imported to an Elastic Audio enabled track The Elastic Properties window inherits the De fau...

Page 114: ...ing Controller Data This option lets you set the default resolution for MIDI controller data created with the Pencil tool Setting this to a lower resolution helps avoid creating controller data that is unneces sarily dense The value range is from 1 to 100 milliseconds Global MIDI Playback Offset This option lets you set an offset in samples to compensate for MIDI latency Entering a value here has ...

Page 115: ... When the connected device is a linear device such as a tape deck select Linear Devices jog to set Pro Tools to send jog commands When the connected device is a non linear de vice such as a random access video recorder or another Pro Tools system select Non Linear De vices cue to set Pro Tools to send cue com mands Machine Cues Intelligently Pro Tools HD Only When selected if you navigate to a cue...

Page 116: ...e amount of time in frames for Pro Tools to wait before attempting to lock to machines that issue servo lock mes sages This setting allows time for the servo mechanisms to achieve stable lock Remote Mode Section Pro Tools HD Only Ignore Track Arming Sets Pro Tools to ignore in coming track arming record enable com mands This is useful if you are using a master controller to arm tracks on other mac...

Page 117: ...ystems that are set to transmit solo status of their tracks Tracks on the receiving system fol lows solo behavior as if the solos were on the lo cal system Solo Independent of Linked State Causes a Pro Tools system to send the solo status of its tracks to other satellite systems even when it is unlinked This allows control of solo status across systems even when transport control is not enabled DA...

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Page 119: ...nchronization The Synchronization page lets you configure Pro Tools for use with MIDI Time Code and a Digidesign synchronization peripheral MTC Reader and Generator The MIDI Time Code MTC settings let you se lect the MIDI In and Out ports for MTC MTC Reader Port The MTC Reader Port setting lets you select the MIDI In port to which the MTC slave device is connected the source of MTC information fro...

Page 120: ...ynchronization peripheral reverts to the nominal selected internal sample rate setting Idle MTC Enabled When this option is selected MTC is continu ously output When not enabled MTC output is muted when playback is idle LTC Output Level This setting adjusts the analog audio level of the LTC output from 24 dBu to 9 dBu VITC Read Lines This setting determines which line pair of in coming video signa...

Page 121: ...lude White on Black Bkgnd Black on White Bkgnd White on Video Bkgnd or Black on Video Bkgnd Video Bkgnd means that the background of the win dow dub is transparent so that the time code numbers are displayed directly on top of the video signal without a contrasting background box The default setting is White on Black Bkgnd Machine Control The MachineControl page lets you configure Pro Tools for us...

Page 122: ...gs let you configure a MachineControl device for Serial Deck Control mode with Pro Tools Serial Deck Control mode is available whenever Ma chineControl is connected using the Serial Deck Control cable When connected for Serial Deck Control mode MachineControl enables all Pro Tools track arming synchronization and Transport features as available on your system Serial Deck Control mode also supports...

Page 123: ... LTC When Chase LTC is enabled Pro Tools still re sponds to track arming and record commands However Pro Tools will chase incoming LTC in stead of behaving as a master or slave device with the machine controller By slaving Pro Tools to the LTC source instead of slaving the machine to Pro Tools time code you can avoid the waiting and tape wear that occurs while a machine transport locates and bumps...

Page 124: ...or C 24 Ethernet Port The Ethernet Port setting lets you specify the eth ernet port on your computer to which your con troller is connected 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 se lect...

Page 125: ...Pro Tools systems or 4 Pro Tools sys tems and an Avid Media Composer with the Video Satellite option or a Video Satellite LE sys tem over an Ethernet network so that you can cue play and stop the transport make play se lections and solo tracks across any of the sys tems from any linked workstation The Video Satellite option lets you link a Pro Tools HD system and a Media Composer system The Video ...

Page 126: ... 4 sat ellite systems in addition to the administrator system itself from an administrator system The number of the system indicates the order of the declared satellites in the Transport window Advanced Network Settings The Advanced Network settings let you specify an IP address and port for Satellite Link communi cation Interface For systems that have more than one Ethernet network connection the...

Page 127: ...109 Part III Sessions Tracks ...

Page 128: ...110 ...

Page 129: ...o do one of the following Create a new session from a template Create a new blank session Open any of the last ten most recent sessions Open any other session on your system Creating a New Session from a Template To create a new session from a template 1 Select Create Session from Template 2 From the Session Template pop up menu se lect the category for the session templates you want Guitar Music ...

Page 130: ... Parameters reveal button and do any of the following Select the Audio File Type for the session Select the Bit Depth 16 bit or 24 bit Select the Sample Rate Select the I O Settings to use for the session Several pre configured I O Settings are in cluded with your system or you can select a custom I O Setting For more information see Chapter 6 I O Setup 3 Click OK 4 In the Save dialog name the ses...

Page 131: ...hes Deselect the Show Quick Start Dialog when Pro Tools Starts option in either the Quick Start dialog or the Pro Tools Operation Preferences Setup Preferences To have the Quick Start dialog appear when Pro Tools launches 1 Choose Setup Preferences 2 Click the Operation tab 3 In the Miscellaneous section of the Operation Preferences page select the Show Quick Start Dia log when Pro Tools Starts op...

Page 132: ...me the session navigate to the location where you want to save the new session and click Save To create a new blank session 1 Choose File New 2 In the New Session dialog select Create Blank Session 3 Select the Audio File Type for the session 4 Select the Bit Depth 16 bit or 24 bit and the Sample Rate 5 Select the I O Settings to use for the session Several pre configured I O Settings are included...

Page 133: ...lder and a Region Group folder Session File The session file is the document that Pro Tools creates when you start a new project Pro Tools can open only one session file at a time The ses sion file is appended with the extension ptf Pro Tools file Audio Files Folder The Audio Files folder contains all audio re corded or converted during the session When you record a new audio track the track is sa...

Page 134: ...ools sessions 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 85 Renamed Audio Files Folder This folder includes file names that have been renamed when you open a session that contains audio file names with incompatible characters or in certain situations save a copy of a sess...

Page 135: ...able plug ins are made inactive Inputs outputs and sends that are assigned to unavailable paths are made inactive With Pro Tools HD Only Any tracks beyond the maximum number of available voices on the current system are made inactive With Pro Tools LE Only Any tracks beyond the maximum number of available voices on the current system are set to voice off Opening a Session with Audio File Names tha...

Page 136: ...t ses sion you are prompted to save it before Pro Tools closes the session and opens the cho sen recent session To open the most recent session Control Shift O Windows or Com mand Shift O Mac To clear the recent sessions submenu Choose File Open Recent and choose Clear Opening Session with Plug ins Deactivated Pro Tools lets you open sessions with all of the session s plug ins set to inactive Sinc...

Page 137: ...s you keep working on the renamed copy This is useful if you are experimenting and want to save succes sive versions of the session By working this way you can quickly retrace your steps if you want to go back to an earlier version of your session The Save As command saves a new version of the session file only and does not duplicate versions of the audio or fade files To save a session with a new...

Page 138: ...depth Dither and Noise Shaping are ap plied See the following table The dither setting used for any conversion is the Digidesign Dither plug in with Noise Shaping enabled To save a session copy in a new location 1 Choose File Save Copy In 2 In the Save Session Copy dialog choose a des tination and type a name for the new session file 3 Choose a session file format Save As Type for the copied sessi...

Page 139: ... they be converted However when using mixed file types audio performance will be reduced due to additional file handling re quired for some file formats Bit Depth You can save the session at a Bit Depth of 16 or 24 bits If your session is in a different bit depth au dio files are converted to the new session bit depth and copied to the specified location Sample Rate You can save the session at sam...

Page 140: ...ge from the Limit Character Set pop up menu To choose the language encoding when saving a copy of a session 1 Choose File Save Copy In 2 Select the Limit Character Set option 3 Choose the language you want to use from the Limit Character Set pop up menu Items to Copy All Audio Files When this option is selected all audio files are copied to the new location This setting is automatically selected i...

Page 141: ...ed video files Preserve Folder Hierarchy When selected the relative arrangement of session audio files lo cated across different drives or folders is main tained The main folder for the session copy will include subfolders for each drive or folder in the original session and the destination subfolders will use the same names as the source drives and folders When this option is not selected the Sav...

Page 142: ...ategory pop up menu is only available if the Install Template In System option is enabled The Category pop up menu lets you select the subdirectory in which to save the template file It also provides options for adding a category and revealing the Session Templates folder in Windows Explorer or the Mac Finder Add Category Select this option from the Cate gory pop up menu to create a new subdirecto...

Page 143: ...le Rate and Bit Depth for the new session that will be created from the tem plate 3 Click OK 4 In the Save New Session As dialog navigate to the location where you want to save the new session and click Save Closing a Session Pro Tools only lets you work on just one session at a time The Close Session command closes your current Pro Tools session but leaves the Pro Tools application running Pro To...

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Page 145: ...tracks as channel strips like a mixing board see Mix Window on page 128 Edit Window Shows tracks and track material against the Timeline see Edit Window on page 128 To toggle between the Mix and Edit win dows press Control Equals Windows or press Command Equals Mac Figure 3 Pro Tools windows Edit window DigiBase browser Mix window Transport window Plug in window ...

Page 146: ...ntrols for Inserts Sends Input and output assignments Volume Panning Record enable Track Input monitoring Automation mode Solo and Mute Instrument controls Mic preamps Pro Tools HD only To display the Mix window Choose Window Mix To display all Mix window view options Select View Mix Window All Edit Window The Edit window see Figure 5 on page 130 pro vides a Timeline display of audio video MIDI no...

Page 147: ...age 913 Track Path selectors page 179 and page 186 Mono Audio Track page 154 MIDI Track page 157 Sends A E View page 838 Automation Mode selector page 904 Track Comments View page 837 Voice selector page 184 Track Name page 166 Mix Group List page 197 Group ID indicator page 200 Instrument Track page 157 Instrument View page 837 Mix Window View selector page 836 Show Hide Track List Group List Vie...

Page 148: ... and Edit Selection indicators page 486 Grid and Nudge values page 132 MIDI Editor pane Notation view page 138 MIDI Controller lanes page 628 Selected Region page 475 Edit Group List page 669 Transport controls page 134 Edit Window Toolbar and menu page 131 Tracks page 153 Playlists Track View page 535 Elastic Audio Warp Track View page 763 Automation page 901 Universe view page 489 Edit Window Zo...

Page 149: ...ation see Edit Tools on page 448 Counters and Edit Selection Indicators The Counters and Edit selection indicators pro vide information where selections are in the Timeline Main Counter Displays the current Edit insertion 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 th...

Page 150: ...cator is not displayed Grid and Nudge The Grid and Nudge d selectors let you set the Grid and Nudge values for editing in Pro Tools Showing and Hiding Additional Controls in the Edit Window 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 or Right click in the Toolbar 2 From the menu select or d...

Page 151: ... Edit window MIDI Editor When selected the MIDI Editor view is shown at the bottom of the Edit window Rearranging Controls and Displays To rearrange controls and displays in the Edit MIDI Editor or Score Editor window toolbar Control click Windows or Command click Mac the control or display you want to move and drag it to a new location in the toolbar For example if you want the Counters and Edit ...

Page 152: ...d the Edit window s work area in your ses sion The maximum length is 12 hours and 25 seconds at 48 kHz and proportionally less at higher sampling rates For best scrollbar sensi tivity set the length to slightly longer a minute or more than the total session or song length To set the default length for the Edit window 1 Choose Setup Preferences 2 On the Display page enter the value in hours minutes...

Page 153: ...rt and Write to All automation commands With the Numeric Keypad mode set to Transport you can rewind by pressing 1 Start End and Length Selection indicators Online Rewind Fast Forward Stop Play Record Return to Zero Go to End Pre Roll Post Roll Track Record Enable indicator TrackInput Monitor indicator Transport Window menu Rewind and Fast Forward Increments Main Time Scale Format Increment Amount...

Page 154: ...unch T for Track Punch and DP for DestructivePunch Track Record Enable Indicator When lit red in dicates that at least one audio track is currently record enabled When off gray no tracks are currently record enabled TrackInput Monitor Indicator When lit green indicates that at least one audio track is cur rently set to Input Only monitoring regardless of record enable status When off gray all trac...

Page 155: ... Selection Markers on page 373 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 Timeline Selection Marker in the Main Timebase ruler For more information see Timeline Se lection Markers on page 373 Length Specifies the length for the play or record range You can set the length by entering a loca tion i...

Page 156: ...uler In Manual Tempo mode you can enter a BPM value in the tempo field or tap in the tempo with the T key on your alphanumeric keyboard Current Meter Displays the session s current meter based on the play location Double click the Current Meter indicator to open the Change Meter window Current Tempo Displays the session s current tempo based on the play location In Manual Tempo mode you can enter ...

Page 157: ...acks DigiBase Browsers DigiBase databases are accessed through Digi Base browsers Browsers provide an intuitive user interface to DigiBase databases with many con venient features for various file management tasks such as search and sort functions Browsers in Pro Tools are analogous to windows in your computer s operating system such as Windows Explorer or the Mac Finder but are specially designed...

Page 158: ... ers Dragged to either of two available panes the Fixed or Scrolling panes Items List Displays the contents of a volume folder session or Catalog database Each col umn in the items list displays metadata such as file name and format for volumes folders and files in the Items List There are three types of Pro Tools browsers available on all supported systems The Workspace browser Volume browsers Th...

Page 159: ...contents of the vol ume Project Browser The Project browser provides powerful search and management tools for the files referenced in your current session regardless of where they are stored Using the Project browser you can Show all the media files associated with the current session including any missing files View manage audition and spot individ ual items DigiBase Pro Catalogs Pro Tools HD and...

Page 160: ... all open windows including Edit window Mix window Targeted MIDI Editor window Score Editor window Workspace browser Project browser DigiBase browsers Session Setup window Time Tempo and Event Operations win dows MIDI Event List Real time MIDI Properties window Beat Detective window Plug in windows Panner windows Mic Pre windows All floating windows listed in the Window menu Task Manager window Tr...

Page 161: ...r the Edit Win dow Configuration dialog 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 Con figuration and then Asterisk on the numeric keypad on your computer keyboard to recall the Window Configuration stored in that slot Name Is the name of the stored Window Config uration Window Layout When enabled stores the size a...

Page 162: ...ed view Comments Lets you type comments for the Win dow Configuration Window Configuration Commands and Options View Filter Icons Using the View Filter icons the Window Config uration List lets you show or hide Window Con figurations based on whether or not they are stored with Window Layout Edit Window set tings Mix Window settings Score Editor win dow settings MIDI Editor Window settings or Tran...

Page 163: ...lears 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 necessary increments the number of each fol lowing slot Delete Name Slot Deletes the selected Win dow Configuration and its slot number and renumbers each subsequent slot Auto Update Active...

Page 164: ...ted to replace it or Cancel Otherwise Pro Tools automatically fills in the first available number 1 99 for the Window Configuration 6 Type any comments for the new Window Configuration 7 Click OK to store the new Window Configura tion or Cancel The new Window Configuration is added to the Window Configuration List To create a new Window Configuration at a specific numbered slot On the numeric keyp...

Page 165: ...ow Configuration List pop up menu select Edit Name 3 In the Edit Window Configuration dialog edit the configuration and click OK Updating Window Configurations After you recall a stored Window Configuration you can make changes to the window layout and window settings and then update the stored Window Configuration with your changes You can do this manually or you can have Pro Tools automatically ...

Page 166: ...e Window Configuration you want to delete 2 From the Window Configuration List pop up menu select Delete Name To delete all Window Configurations From the Window Configuration List pop up menu select Delete All Importing Window Configurations You can import Window Configurations from another session using Import Session Data To import Window Configurations 1 Choose File Import Session Data 2 Selec...

Page 167: ...ovides 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 cus tomize what is shown in various windows Track Provides commands that are used to cre ate manage and edit tracks Region Provides commands that are used to manage and edit regions Event Provides commands for editing audio and MIDI event...

Page 168: ...menus for managing and working with tracks or regions as follows Track Name Right Click Menu Right clicking a track name in the Edit window Mix window or the Track List provides access to various track commands such as show hide make active in active rename duplicate and delete tracks Region Name Right Click Menu Edit Window Only Right clicking a region name in the Region List provides commands to...

Page 169: ...ol Tips for Pro Tools 1 Choose Setup Preferences and click the Dis play tab 2 In the Basics section enable the Tool Tips op tions you want displayed Function Shows the functional name of different Pro Tools items such as specific buttons indica tors modes selectors and Edit tools Details Shows abbreviated or hidden Pro Tools names or values for different Pro Tools items such as insert names gain l...

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Page 171: ...or or process au dio such as audio from external MIDI instru ments and for many other audio routing tasks Master Fader Tracks Master Fader tracks control the overall level of audio paths that are routed to 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 Analog Output 3 4 and channels 17 24 to Analog Output 5 6 Y...

Page 172: ...y appear in the Edit window and video can be viewed in the Video window Track Formats Mono Tracks A mono audio Auxiliary Input Master Fader or Instrument track controls volume and in some cases panning for a single channel of audio A mono audio track uses a single voice A mono track can also be routed to a multichannel out put Stereo Tracks A stereo audio Auxiliary Input Master Fader or Instrument...

Page 173: ...wn Sends A E shown Audio Input Output Paths Solo Mute buttons Automation Mode selector Track Name button Pan knob Level meter Volume fader Group ID Output Window button Track Comments Track Type indicator Voice selector Track Record Enable button Volume Peak Delay indicator Pan indicator Delay Compensation view Pro Tools HD only TrackInput Monitor button Pro Tools HD only Track Color Coding Track ...

Page 174: ... mute VCA Master tracks also have a Com ments view to type and display comments Stereo Master Fader track channel strip Inserts A E shown Audio Output Path selectors Automation Mode selector Track Name button Level meters Volume fader Group ID Track Comments Track Type indicator Volume Peak Delay indicator Delay Compensation view Pro Tools HD only Track Color Coding Output Window button For more i...

Page 175: ...ments view to type and display com ments MIDI channel strip MIDI Input selector MIDI Volume fader MIDI Pan knob Track Name button MIDI Velocity meter Automation Mode selector MIDI Output selector Record Enable Patch Select MIDI Pan indicator MIDI Volume indicator Track Type indicator Group ID Track Comments Solo Mute buttons Track Color Coding Track Color Coding Stereo Instrument track channel str...

Page 176: ... Track View Track Height Timebase and Automation mode Edit window track controls for a mono audio track medium track height Automation Mode selector Mute button Voice selector Track Height selector Playlist selector Track Name Solo button TrackInput Monitor button Timebase selector Track View selector Elastic Audio plug in selector Record Enable button Show Hide Automation lanes Edit window track ...

Page 177: ...e Track View Track Height Patch Timebase and Automation mode Edit window track controls for a VCA Master track medium track height Mute button Track Height selector Track Name Solo button TrackInput Monitor button Record Enable button Automation Mode selector Timebase selector Show Hide Automation lanes Edit window track controls for a MIDI track medium track height Mute button Track Height select...

Page 178: ...ties Track Color Comments View Comments view lets you type and view com ments for a specific track Mic Preamps View Pro Tools HD Only The Mic Preamps view shows controls for tracks with physical audio inputs routed through the Digidesign PRE Edit window track controls for a stereo Instrument track medium track height Edit window track controls for a video track medium track height Mute button Trac...

Page 179: ... Command click Mac the indicator to toggle it between the fol lowing modes Volume Indicator and Pop Up Fader Shows the current volume or input level of a track as set by the track Volume fader In I O view Edit win dow click the Volume indicator to display the Volume pop up fader which can be used to ad just the volume Peak Indicator Functions as a headroom indica tor based on the last peak playbac...

Page 180: ...laying back and the monitor level of the track when it is recording You can link the record and monitor levels by enabling the Link Record and Play Faders option in the Op eration preferences The maximum fader gain for a volume fader is 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 contr...

Page 181: ...vel metering between pre fader and post fader metering Select Options Pre Fader Metering Peak Hold Pro Tools meters provide a Peak Hold feature with three options 3 Second Infinite or None To choose a Peak Hold setting 1 Choose Setup Preferences and click the Display tab 2 Select a Peak Hold option 3 Click OK To clear a meter Click anywhere on the meter To clear all meters do one of the following ...

Page 182: ...elect View Narrow Mix Creating Tracks You can create mono and stereo tracks on all Pro Tools systems With Pro Tools HD or Pro Tools LE with the Complete Production Toolkit option you can also create multichan nel tracks from LCR to 7 1 When new tracks are created they are given a default name that can be changed at any time To insert new tracks next to a specific track in a session select that tra...

Page 183: ...8 Click Create Press Control Shift N Windows or Command Shift N Mac to open the New Tracks dialog New Tracks dialog To auto scroll the Track Type pop up menu in the New Tracks dialog press Control Windows or Command Mac and use the Up Down Arrow keys To auto scroll the Track Format pop up menu press Control Windows or Command Mac and use the Left Right Arrow keys Number of new tracks Track Format ...

Page 184: ...ck Previous or Next to rename other dis played tracks 4 Click OK 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 Enter Windows or Return Mac or In the Edit or Mix window double click the Track Name button for a track Then click di rectly in the Comments area type ...

Page 185: ...noncontiguous tracks do one of the following Control click Windows or Command click Mac Track Name buttons that are unhigh lighted to select them or Control click Windows or Command click Mac Track Name buttons that are highlighted to deselect them To select all tracks Alt click Windows or Option click Mac any Track Name button that is unhighlighted To deselect all tracks Alt click Windows or Opti...

Page 186: ...llowing Choose Track Delete or In the Track List or Mix or Edit window Right click the track name and select De lete 3 Click OK to remove the selected tracks from the session Duplicating Tracks The Duplicate Track command lets you dupli cate one or more tracks including their audio or MIDI data playlists automation and other at tributes To duplicate one or more tracks 1 Select the tracks you want ...

Page 187: ...hen duplicating multiple tracks you can also choose to have the new tracks follow the last selected track or have each new track follow its source track Duplicating VCA Slave Tracks Pro Tools HD Only Duplicating a VCA slave track without duplicat ing its group assignments will coalesce any auto mation on the duplicate track The coalesced duplicate plays back exactly as if it were in the VCA group ...

Page 188: ...ontrol ler data program changes and Sysex events Video Tracks For information on video track views see Video Track View on page 1040 Blocks Tracks View With the Track View set to Blocks audio and MIDI regions are displayed as empty blocks bearing the region s name This Track View is most useful once you have finished capturing and editing regions at the waveform or MIDI event level and are moving ...

Page 189: ...ew break points can be inserted with the Pencil tool or a Grabber tool MIDI and Instrument tracks also provide Velocity view for editing MIDI veloci ties To set the Track View Click the Track View selector for the track and select the format from the pop up menu The track displays the new format If the track is part of an active Edit Group all tracks in the group are set to the new format Track Vi...

Page 190: ...onal tracks or select a group 2 Do one of the following To change to the previous or next Track View on all selected tracks press Con trol Start Windows or Control Com mand Mac and the Left or Right Arrow key or To change to the previous or next Track View on all tracks press Control Alt Start Windows or Control Option Command Mac and the Left or Right Arrow key Master Fader Track View selector VC...

Page 191: ...en a track is dis played in its Master view any edits performed apply to all data in the track For instance when an audio track is set to Waveform copying and pasting affects not just the waveform informa tion but all of the automation data as well The Master view is based on the type of track as follows Audio tracks Waveform and Blocks MIDI and Instrument tracks Regions Blocks and Notes when usin...

Page 192: ...ontrols 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 changes to indicate that you can resize the track The track s Track Height changes incrementally Track Height pop up menu Press Start Up Down Arrow key Win dows or Control Up Down Arrow key Mac to increase decrease track height of any track...

Page 193: ...hows all tracks in the session It allows you to show or hide a track in the Mix Edit MIDI Editor and Score Editor windows Even though a track is hidden the material on the track will still play as part of the session In active tracks appear in italics in the Track List Show Hide Track List and Group List To show or hide the Track List and Group List do one of the following From the Edit window men...

Page 194: ...n track that is a member of an active group The options in the Track List menu in the Score Editor window are different from the Mix Edit and MIDI Editor windows For more informa tion see Track List on page 637 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...

Page 195: ...k at the bottom of the selection All tracks that occur between the first track se lected and the last track will also be selected To show or hide a range of tracks in the Track List with the Marquee 1 Move the cursor to the left of a track name un til the Marquee with a small symbol appears 2 Click on the track in the list and drag up or down over the Show Hide icons to show or hide the track and ...

Page 196: ...ered or Tracks keep their Track Position Numbers even when hidden when Track Position Num bers Stay With Hidden Tracks is selected in the Display Preferences page Track Name Right Click Menu Mix Window Edit Window MIDI Editor Windows or Track List When you Right click a track name in the Mix window Edit window MIDI Editor windows or the Track List a pop up menu provides access to the following com...

Page 197: ...panded tracks to the edits in the guide expanded track You can expand multichannel files to new tracks or dered by channel name by channel number by channel name and number or by Time Code only Assigning Audio Inputs and Outputs to Tracks Inputs for audio Auxiliary Input and Instru ment tracks can be assigned to audio interface channels or busses Outputs for audio Auxiliary Input Master Fader and ...

Page 198: ...Input from the Input Path selector Assigning Audio Outputs Audio Auxiliary Input Master Fader and Instrument Tracks To assign an audio output of an audio Auxiliary Input Master Fader or Instrument track 1 In order to assign audio track outputs in the Edit window select View Edit Window I O 2 In the Mix or Edit window click the track s Output Path selector and choose from the avail able audio inter...

Page 199: ...log type a name for the I O Path and click OK Making Track Inputs and Outputs Inactive from the Edit or Mix Window Track Input Output and Bus Path assignments can be made inactive using the corresponding selector on the track Making a track s Input or Output inactive silences that Input or Output while retaining all automation and playlist data For Pro Tools HD systems inactive Inputs and Outputs ...

Page 200: ...nputs or Outputs assigned to the same path inactive or active do one of the following In the Edit or Mix window Alt Shift Right click Windows or Option Shift Right click Mac the Input selector or Output selector for a track and choose Make Inactive or Make Active from the pop up menu or Control Alt Start Shift click Windows or Command Option Control Shift click Mac the Input or Output selector in ...

Page 201: ... see Setting Voice Assignment on page 184 For additional information on voice borrowing see Voice Borrowing on page 186 Changing a Track s Playback Priority Tracks with higher positions leftmost in the Mix window or topmost in the Edit window have priority over tracks in lower positions in a session To increase a track s priority do any of the following In the Mix window drag the Track Name but to...

Page 202: ...r in bold in the Voice selector s pop up menu To set the voice assignment for a track Click the Voice selector and set the track to Dyn Off or select a voice number Pro Tools HD only Pro Tools LE supports Dynamically Allocated Voicing only it does not support explicit voice assignments With Pro Tools HD QuickPunch Track Punch and DestructivePunch require addi tional voices For more information see...

Page 203: ...on Toolkit 2 any tracks after the first 48 will cannot be voiced and will not play back When working with more than the maximum number of voiced audio tracks allowed by your system you can only play back audio from higher numbered 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 Inacti...

Page 204: ... the track that had sounded through relinquishes the shared voice to the higher priority track The following example demonstrates the con cept of voice borrowing In Figure 7 above the two visible tracks are as signed to the same voice There is an open area in the top track where no region appears At this point the voice is free since it is not being used and the next highest priority track assigne...

Page 205: ...I Output selector to specify a MIDI port and channel for output To assign a MIDI track and all its regions to a specific MIDI device channel Click the track s MIDI Output selector and as sign a port and channel for MIDI output Chan nels already assigned to another track appear in bold For information on assigning MIDI input to Instrument tracks see Assigning MIDI In put and Output for Instrument T...

Page 206: ...e track s MIDI Input selector and as sign a port and channel for MIDI input Chan nels already assigned to another track appear in bold Instrument Track MIDI Output Pro Tools lets you assign specific MIDI ports and channels to an Instrument tracks MIDI output The default selection of none sends MIDI data to no device port or node on any channel Use the MIDI Output selector to specify a MIDI port an...

Page 207: ... Mute other tracks so that the selected track can be auditioned alone or Route a selected track to a separate output Solo button behavior is defined by the Solo mode as follows SIP Solo In Place The Solo button mutes other tracks When this mode is enabled tracks can be solo safed see Solo Safe Mode on page 191 AFL After Fader Listen The Solo button routes the track s post fader post pan signal to ...

Page 208: ... control surface your regular Pro Tools output path is not necessarily muted when you send a signal to the AFL PFL Path If you need the main signal to automatically mute when an AFL PFL signal is invoked you need to do the following 1 Configure the output path for AFL or PFL so loed tracks 2 Select the main output path that will mute when you solo a track in AFL or PFL mode see AFL PFL Mutes Outpu...

Page 209: ...acks such as Auxiliary Inputs that are being used as a sub mix of audio tracks or effects returns allowing the audio or effects track to remain in a mix even when other tracks are soloed It is also use ful to solo safe MIDI tracks so that their playback is not affected when you solo audio tracks To solo safe a track Control click Windows or Command click Mac the Solo button on the track This pre v...

Page 210: ...tive tracks are all disabled Tracks may also be automatically made inactive if a ses sion is opened on a system with less DSP power than the system that it was created on To toggle a track active inactive Control Start click Windows or Command Control click Mac the Track Type indicator in the Mix window Playlists for inactive tracks are dimmed and track controls are grayed out To make one or more ...

Page 211: ...to tracks but you can override those colors by choosing from a color palette of 96 possible col ors For more information see Color Palette on page 195 Display Page Preferences for Color Coding Color Coding options determine how colors are assigned to the display of tracks and regions To change Color Coding options 1 Choose Setup Preferences 2 Click the Display tab 3 Select or deselect the Always D...

Page 212: ...aveforms or black MIDI notes on a light gray background Tracks and MIDI Channels Assigns a color to each region in the Edit window according to its voice or MIDI channel assignment Tracks and MIDI Devices Assigns a color to each region in the Edit window according to its voice assignment or MIDI device assignment Groups Assigns a color to each region according to the Group ID of its track If group...

Page 213: ... regions By default the Hold button is off When off the Color Palette automatically highlights the as signed color if any of items as you select them When the Hold button is enabled the assigned color selected in the Color Palette persists and does not change when a different track or region is selected To use the Hold button to assign the same color to multiple items 1 Click the Hold button to en...

Page 214: ...olor coding to channel strips in the Mix and Edit windows To apply track color coding to channel strips 1 Enable the Apply to Channel Strip button 2 If necessary adjust the Saturation slider to get the color saturation you want 3 If necessary adjust the Brightness slider Color Coding applied to channel strips Mix window ...

Page 215: ... Groups are assignable to an available VCA Master track Pro Tools HD only Mix Groups Edit Groups and Mix Edit Groups Mix Groups only affect mixing functions and Edit Groups only affect editing Mix Edit Groups link the grouping functions of the Mix Group and the Edit Group Edit Groups Edit Groups affect the following items in the Edit and MIDI Editor windows Track View Track Height Track Timebase A...

Page 216: ...th Mix and Edit Groups but in some cases you may prefer not to link enabling of Mix and Edit Groups For example when you are using the Mix window for mixing you may prefer to work with large nested groups However in the Edit window or a MIDI Editor window you may want to perform editing tasks within a smaller group Disabling the Link Mix and Edit Group En ables preference lets you work with differ...

Page 217: ...View button in the Mix Edit or MIDI Editor window Group ID To the left of each name in the Group List is a letter denoting its Group ID a through z Group Symbols To the left of each Group ID a through z is a symbol indicating whether that group is se lected in the current window either the Mix or Edit window There are three types of Group symbols as shown in the following figure The Group symbols ...

Page 218: ... Menus When you click and hold on a group name in the Group List or Right click or click a Group ID indicator in a track a pop up menu provides the following commands Tracks Displays track membership in group Attributes Displays attributes of group Modify Opens Group dialog to modify existing groups only Duplicate Opens Group dialog for duplicated group Delete Deletes a single group Select Tracks ...

Page 219: ...ked for the current Mix or Mix Edit Group Globals Lets you select parameters to use as a template that can be applied to individual groups by selecting the Follow Globals option Group Dialog in Pro Tools LE In Pro Tools LE the Group dialog has a single page Working with Groups Creating Groups You can select the tracks you want to add to a group before creating it or add and remove tracks from a gr...

Page 220: ...on at the bottom of the Group dialog To add tracks to the group select the track names in the Available track list and click Add or press A on the computer keyboard To remove tracks from the group select the track names in the Currently In Group list and click Remove or press R on the com puter keyboard Double click track names in either list to move them to the opposite column To replace all trac...

Page 221: ...ns the next avail able ID to a new group 6 Do any of the following To add the tracks that are currently selected in the session to the group click the Add button at the bottom of the Group dialog To add tracks to the group select the track names in the Available track list and click Add or press A on the computer keyboard To remove tracks from the group select the track names in the Currently In G...

Page 222: ...hin Group items Pro Tools LE only 4 Click OK To modify the settings for the All group in Pro Tools HD 1 Right click the All group name in the Group List and choose Modify from the pop up menu 2 In the Group dialog select Edit Mix or Mix Edit to change the settings for the All group If you select Edit only or Mix only the All group will apply only to that Group type 3 For Mix or Mix Edit Groups you...

Page 223: ...Click the Group ID indicator on a track and choose Duplicate from the pop up menu or Right click the Group name in the Group List and choose Duplicate from the pop up menu 2 Change any of the following for the current group Group name Group type Edit Mix or Mix Edit VCA status Pro Tools HD only Follows Global status Pro Tools HD only Track membership Attributes Pro Tools HD only Linked Within Grou...

Page 224: ...p or a Mix Edit Group do one of the following Click Attributes in the Group dialog and select the attributes you want to link or Enable Follow Globals to follow the base set of attributes The Attributes page grays out to indicate that the group is following the selections in the Globals page 2 Click OK to save the settings Globals page of Group dialog For information on selecting attributes see Se...

Page 225: ...r Control click Mac any attribute in that row To select or deselect attributes for a single con trol across all Sends all Inserts or for the four track controls down a column Alt click Win dows or Option click Mac any attribute in that column Saving Group Attribute Presets You can define six Group presets that can be re called on either the Attributes or Globals page whenever you are creating or m...

Page 226: ... If a fader belongs 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 In the Group List click the name of the group you want to disable The name is unhighlighted to indicate that it is not enabled Keyboard Selection of Groups The Group List Keyboard Focus lets you type a Group ID letter to auto...

Page 227: ...Send Pan For example when a grouped Volume fader is moved to its maximum value any other faders in that group that had higher values will re member their relative offset whenever the first fader is pulled down again In Automation views this overflow is indi cated on the automation playlist by blue auto mation breakpoints at the extremes of the auto mation playlist Setting Group Pan Controls to Ign...

Page 228: ...Pro Tools Reference Guide 210 ...

Page 229: ... region groups in the Region List Region List Menu The Region List menu provides tools to search select sort export clear and manage items in the Region List To access the Region List menu In the Edit window click the Region List menu Figure 8 Region List Click Show Hide Region List button to hide Region List Drag to resize width of Region List Region List menu Keyboard Focus Use the Region List a...

Page 230: ...o regions can be expanded to display indi vidual channels Because region names can become lengthy the Region List can be scrolled or resized as neces sary see Figure 8 on page 211 If the Region List Selection Follows Edit Selection option is enabled in the Editing preferences se lecting a region or region group in the Region List selects it on any track where it is present in assigned playlists Li...

Page 231: ...and choose Sort By 2 From the submenu select a basis for sorting Different options are available for audio and MIDI regions See Sort By Options on page 213 3 To set whether regions are listed in ascending or descending order click the Region List menu choose Sort By and select Ascending or Descend ing Sort By Options The Sort By options let you sort regions to help keep track of large numbers of r...

Page 232: ...g Select By Name and type the name or any portion of the name for regions you want to find The search string appears at the top of the Region List Select Include Subsequently Added Regions to limit the display to newly added regions A plus sign appears at the top of the Re gion List to indicate this option is selected Select both options to start with a list of named regions and allow display of a...

Page 233: ...y without performing each search 1 Click the Region List menu and choose Find 2 Type the name or any portion of the name for the regions you want to find 3 Click and hold the double arrow to the right of the text field in the Find dialog and choose Insert Entry from the pop up menu 4 Type another entry and choose Insert Entry again to add additional search strings to the his tory To remove an entr...

Page 234: ...ve the cursor to the left of the region name until the Marquee icon with a small symbol appears To select regions the Marquee should be to the left of an unhighlighted region name To deselect regions the Marquee should be to the left of a highlighted region name 2 Click on the region name and drag up or down to select or deselect regions immediately above or below the region name To select or dese...

Page 235: ...ions are regions that were created when recording or importing audio consolidat ing existing regions and when nondestructively processing with an AudioSuite plug in Whole file audio regions reference an entire audio file that resides on your hard drive Whole file audio regions are displayed in bold in the Region List Offline Selects regions whose parent files cannot be located or are not available...

Page 236: ...c the region for the channel you want to audition Audition to All Outputs When auditioning a mono component of a mono component region the region can be routed equally to all outputs of the parent re gion s Audition Path To audition through all channels of the main audition path Shift Alt click Windows or Shift Option click Mac on the signal in the Region List Stereo and Multichannel Regions in th...

Page 237: ...ion and is displayed in the Region List even when auto created regions are hidden If a region resides in a track you can easily re name it by double clicking it with one of the Grabber tools However if the region does not reside in a track or if you want to rename sev eral regions use the Rename command in the Region List You can also rename a region in a track using the Rename command in the Regi...

Page 238: ...ging Regions in the Region List In the course of editing a session the Region List can quickly fill up with many regions with ones you have created intentionally and also with those that are automatically created by cut ting pasting and separating other regions or importing Region Group files or REX files as re gion groups Pro Tools lets you hide or remove regions in your session so you do not hav...

Page 239: ...regions from the Region List menu choose Select Unused or For audio regions from the Region List menu choose Select then choose Unused Unused Except Whole Files or Offline as ap propriate 2 After all unused regions are selected choose Clear from the Region List menu 3 In the Clear Audio dialog do one of the fol lowing Click Remove to remove the unused regions from the session or If clearing a whol...

Page 240: ...d Pro Tools LE with Complete Production Toolkit or DV Toolkit 2 Only Replaces multiple instances of a region with another region Compact Compacts selected regions Export Region Definitions Exports definitions for selected regions Export Regions as Files Exports selected regions as files Recalculate Waveform Overviews Redraws wave forms for selected regions Select Parent in Workspace Highlights the...

Page 241: ...in set tings txf and session files Multiple browsers can be displayed and arranged with custom dis play settings provided to optimize your work environment DigiBase Elements Figure 9 shows the various elements of DigiBase Arrows show how files can be moved between the elements For information on dragging and dropping files from DigiBase browsers to your Pro Tools session see Importing Files with D...

Page 242: ... Pro Tools lets you find the correct matching files then relink to online media The main elements of a DigiBase browser see Figure 10 include the following Title Bar Shows the browser type Work space Volume Project or Catalog and the name of its associated volume session or catalog Toolbar Provides the Browser menu Search icon View Presets numbered 1 5 and browser nav igation tools Items List Disp...

Page 243: ...for local and network volumes Volumes are format ted partitions on a physical drive hard drive Open a Volume browser by double clicking a volume in the Workspace browser Any changes made in Volume browsers such as copying de leting or moving files and folders is mirrored on the volumes themselves Volumes include mounted hard drives network storage and re movable media such as CD ROMs Using Volume ...

Page 244: ...gs to media files Use Relink tools to search and reacquire missing files for use in the current session Performance and Transfer Volumes DigiBase lets you view manage and import ses sions and media from both Performance and Transfer volumes Performance Volumes Are storage volumes hard drives that are suitable for playback and have been designated in the Workspace browser as Record and Playback R o...

Page 245: ... not have to be recreated Read Only Volume Databases CD DVD ROMs and Write Protected Volumes Since data cannot be written to read only vol umes databases for read only volumes are stored locally on your system drive On Windows these databases are stored in the Program Files Digidesign Pro Tools Databases Volumes folder On Mac they are stored in the Library Application Support Digidesign Databases ...

Page 246: ...ge 229 including Pro Tools and non Pro Tools files Unknown file types can be shown as well as aliases and desktop folders To maximize processing speed and protect vital components DigiBase does not display all fold ers For example in Windows DigiBase brows ers do not display the Program Files Windows Digidesign Databases WU Temp or System Vol ume Information folders and on Mac DigiBase browsers do...

Page 247: ...ct browser 1 Open a Pro Tools session 2 Choose Window Project To open a Catalog browser DigiBase Pro only 1 Open the Workspace browser Window Work space 2 Click the Expand Collapse icon next to the Catalogs icon to show all Catalogs if they are not already visible 3 Double click a Catalog Figure 11 Basic browser tools panes and columns Volume browser shown Toolbar Items List Fixed pane Scrolling p...

Page 248: ...e To bring an open browser to the foreground Choose Window Browsers and select an open browser from the submenu To cycle to the next or previous browser Press Control Left Right Arrow keys Win dows or Command Left Right Arrow keys Mac Closing Browsers To close all browsers Alt click Windows or Option click Mac the Close box of any browser Working wIth Items in Browsers Opening Sessions To open a P...

Page 249: ...rrent browser Double click the folder or click the Ex pand Collapse icon for the item To create and open a folder in its own new browser Control double click Windows or Com mand double click Mac the folder The previ ous parent Browser window remains open Scrolling and Moving Selections To scroll the active pane up or down Press the Page Up or Page Down key To scroll to the top or bottom of the act...

Page 250: ...pletely indexed The next time you open that browser metadata for items that have already been indexed is visi ble immediately If the browser or folder was closed before indexing was complete or if the contents of the folder have changed since the last time it was browsed Pro Tools automati cally updates the database the next time it is opened This way the database is always up to date for the fold...

Page 251: ...reates a fully in dexed catalog of the selected items Requires DigiBase Pro Calculate Waveform Calculates the waveform displays for selected audio files or all files con tained in selected folders Update Database for Selected Updates the data base for the currently selected volumes or fold ers Available in Workspace and Volume brows ers only Calculate Elastic Analysis Calculates Elastic Au dio ana...

Page 252: ... Unlock Selected Unlocks the selected items Delete Selected Deletes any selected item In the Workspace Project and Volume browsers de leting an item deletes it from the disk In Cata logs you are asked whether you want to clear the items from the Catalog leaving your disks unchanged or delete the files referenced by the Catalog items Unmount Lets you unmount any online volume Available in the Works...

Page 253: ...se lected items Copy Database Comments to Clip Names Copies an item s Database comments to its Clip Name Copy File Comments to Clip Names Mac Only Copies an item s File Comments to its Clip Name Browser Panes and Display Browsers display an Items List consisting of var ious columns such as file name size creation date and sample rate The Items List is split into two panes Individual columns can be...

Page 254: ...pop up menu View Presets Pro Tools lets you save up to five preset views for each type of browser and the Relink window Presets can be recalled by clicking a View Preset button View Presets are specific to each type of browser To store a View Preset 1 Open a browser or the Relink window 2 Arrange columns and views 3 Control click Windows or Command click Mac one of the five View Preset buttons To ...

Page 255: ...displays what kind of file it is session file audio file video file or other This field cannot be edited For audio files this column also indicates whether the file is sample based to tick based Size Displays the size of a file in kilobytes For folders the total size of all files in the folder is displayed This field cannot be edited Date Indexed Displays the last indexed date for the item This fi...

Page 256: ...ys an audio file s bit depth This field cannot be edited Tempo Displays the tempo associated with re gion group MIDI tick based Elastic Audio files REX and ACID files and session files This field cannot be edited Video Compression Displays the compression ra tio of video files where applicable Frame Rate Displays the frame rate of video files where applicable Original Time Stamp Displays the origi...

Page 257: ... Circled Indicates if the status of a take is set to circled No or Yes in audio files This is usually for indicating which take should be used Plug in Name Displays the name of the plug in for Plug in Settings files txf Plug in Manufacturer Name Displays the plug in manufacturer s name for Plug in Settings files txf Link Path Displays the path to the file used for relinking Available in the Relink...

Page 258: ... select all items listed Press Control A Windows or Command A Mac To select all Transfer files in the current window Choose Select Transfer Files from the Browser menu To select all offline files Choose Select Offline Files from the Browser menu To select all online files Choose Select Online Files from the Browser menu To reverse the current selection Choose Invert Selected from the Browser menu ...

Page 259: ... the Browser menu 3 Pro Tools asks you to verify that you want to permanently delete selected files from disk Click Delete to proceed or click Cancel to leave your files and disks unchanged To delete locked files 1 Select one or more items 2 Press Control Delete Windows or Com mand Delete Mac Deleting Catalog Items DigiBase Pro Only When you delete a folder or item from a Digi Base Pro Catalog Pro...

Page 260: ... found items that match the search criteria DigiBase Pro lets you search on multiple criteria in a single search pass and search Catalogs The Relink window provides specialized search capabilities for finding and relinking missing files For more information see Linking and Relinking Files on page 253 Search Features for All Systems All systems provide the following search capa bility Search by ite...

Page 261: ...e selected and au ditioned as they are found To stop a search During a search click the Stop button This stops the search routine and the Stop but ton changes back to Search Whatever results have already been found continue to be dis played and all entries in search fields are re tained To reset your search settings Click Reset to clear all criteria in search fields and return to the main Browser ...

Page 262: ...s with scratch you could enter scratch in the Search field This finds files with names such as vocal scratch and dialog2 scratch A question mark can be used for single char acter wildcards For example a search on f ee finds free and flee A similar search on f ee finds frendlee flippee flee free and so on OR Searches The Plus and Minus buttons add and de lete OR rows to find results that match the ...

Page 263: ...earch on Dog also finds Big_Dog Big underscore Dog and BigDog though it would not find BigDogs To enable Advanced Search mode Click to enable the Advanced Search mode option To return to Quick Search mode Click to deselect the Advanced Search mode About the Searching Process Searches are conducted in two passes each indi cated by Search Status displayed in the Search pane and the Task window Searc...

Page 264: ...ropriate Digidesign Databases folder For more information see WaveCache on page 246 Summed Waveforms for Multichannel Files Waveform displays for stereo and multichannel files are summed Calculating Waveforms for Display If an audio file item does not have a waveform the waveform must be calculated to be visible in a browser Waveform display To calculate waveforms in a browser 1 Select online audi...

Page 265: ... These files typically con tain only a single transient such as a snare hit or they are longer files without a readily identi fiable regular tempo such as entire songs To clear Elastic Audio analysis 1 In a browser select the files with Elastic Audio analysis that you want to clear 2 Do one of the following From the Browser menu choose Clear Elas tic Analysis or Right click one of the selected fil...

Page 266: ...e base level for previewing is determined by the Master Fader or Auxiliary Input level as signed to the Audition path You can also adjust the Preview Volume in the browser Interleaved Files When previewed in DigiBase interleaved 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 Split Stereo Files Previe...

Page 267: ...view Controls and Indicators Every DigiBase browser provides the following preview controls in the Toolbar Preview Vol ume Meters Audio Files Conform to Session Tempo and Elastic Audio Plug in Preview Button The Preview button starts and stops preview of audio files selected in browsers You can also Right click the Preview button to change the Preview mode and set whether or not the space bar togg...

Page 268: ... When the Audio Files Conform to Session Tempo button is enabled Pro Tools analyzes any un analyzed files on preview or import Tick based audio files conform to the session tempo during preview and on import Sample based files those where no tempo has been de tected always preview and import at their orig inal speed and duration When the Audio Files Conform to Session Tempo button is disabled any ...

Page 269: ...r menu press the Spacebar again Press Control P Windows or Com mand P Mac Press the Esc key Auto Preview Auto Preview plays the audio file as soon as it is selected Additionally the Preview button up dates to show an Auto Preview icon To automatically preview files when selected Do one of the following From the Browser menu select Auto Pre view The Preview button updates to show that Auto Preview ...

Page 270: ...the I O Setup window For example if a stereo audi tion path selected in the I O Setup requires 2 voices for preview in context whereas a 5 1 au dition path requires 6 voices If one or more voices are not available for preview in context because they are in use by disk tracks or routing for RTAS processing the Preview button in DigiBase browsers will be unavailable during session playback Pro Tools...

Page 271: ...mes must first have their volumes mounted brought online before they can be relinked Choosing When to Relink Pro Tools lets you relink files while opening a session or after a session is already open as fol lows Relinking when opening a session ensures that the session opens with all media playable Automatic and manual relinking can be per formed See Opening a Session with Missing Files on page 25...

Page 272: ...to the copies rather than to the originals To copy items to a new location and Relink to the copies 1 Do one of the following Choose Window Project or Open the appropriate Catalog 2 Select the items you want to copy and relink You can select any media files online offline and Transfer files 3 Choose Copy and Relink Selected from the Browser menu 4 If the default location for the copies the ses sio...

Page 273: ...h compare verify and relink missing files Files can be relinked one at a time or in batches See Relink Window on page 256 for more information Automatically Find and Relink Automatically Find and Relink is the simplest method to relink sessions to required media but it provides no way to compare files or verify links This option cannot be undone The Auto matically Find and Relink option does the f...

Page 274: ...elink window as needed See Relink Window on page 256 for more infor mation Relink Window The Relink window provides tools for all relink ing tasks see Figure 12 on page 257 The Relink window includes the following Menu and Toolbar Includes the Relink menu View Presets and relinking buttons Status is displayed at the far right Areas to Search Selects volumes on which to search for missing items Fil...

Page 275: ...he Areas to Search pane lets you focus the search for missing files This can speed the relinking process by limiting the number of volumes or folders to search In addition excluding folders from a search for missing files also lets you redirect a session or Catalog to a more appropriate copy of an item To select volumes or folders to include or exclude in a search 1 Configure the Areas to Search p...

Page 276: ...s and dis plays all files that match File Name and or Unique ID in the Candidates list Link icons in dicate if a Candidate is already linked 4 Click the Link icon next to the appropriate Candidate to which you want to relink A Link icon next to an item indicates it will be relinked to the item currently selected in the Files to Relink list 5 Click the Link icon next to other Candidates if you want...

Page 277: ...the selected candidate for a particular missing file select to highlight the missing file That file s candidate appears in the Candidates pane where you can view its file information and waveform 7 If after the Find Links process is finished you are not satisfied with the candidate selected for a particular missing file you can click Find All Can didates for the selected file see Relinking Indi vi...

Page 278: ...rowser is always available while Pro Tools is running even if no session is open Only the Workspace browser lets you do the fol lowing Designate volumes as Performance vol umes Playback or Record volumes or as Transfer volumes View and access all available volumes Unmount volumes Create view and access Catalogs Search multiple volumes and Catalogs si multaneously The Workspace browser is similar t...

Page 279: ...dy on the volume but cannot have new files recorded to it T Transfer Can only be used for storing trans ferring or auditioning files and cannot be used for recording or playback Figure 13 Workspace browser with the Search pane displayed Browser name Menu and toolbar Items List Search Results Volume designators Fixed pane Scrolling pane Search pane Pane split Show Hide If you have a Pro Tools syste...

Page 280: ...ecial tools for creating and accessing Catalogs Once Catalogs have been created they appear in the Workspace browser in the Cata logs folder To show all Catalogs 1 Open the Workspace browser 2 Click the Expand Collapse icon next to the Catalogs folder To open an individual Catalog Double clicking a catalog opens a Browser window for that catalog Searching in the Workspace Browser The Workspace bro...

Page 281: ...ct Browser The Project browser displays and manages all the files related to the current session regardless of what volume they reside on see Figure 14 on page 264 The Project browser is similar to the Region List in that it contains all files associated with a ses sion with the added data searching and sort ing capabilities of Pro Tools browsers Unlike the Region List however individual re gions ...

Page 282: ...ides all of the files in the sub group The folders displayed in the Project browser are session specific groupings of files not physical folders on disk Locating Parent FIles of Regions The Project Browser can be set to automatically highlight the parent file of any region selected in the Pro Tools Region List To highlight the parent file of a selected region 1 Select a region in the Region List I...

Page 283: ...cted command cannot be used on session files Updating the Project Browser The Project browser is automatically updated whenever a file is added to or deleted from the session so it is always fully indexed and up to date DigiBase Pro Catalogs Pro Tools HD and Pro Tools LE with Complete Production Toolkit or DV Toolkit 2 Only Catalogs are available with DigiBase Pro which is included with Pro Tools ...

Page 284: ...in the Workspace or Double click the Catalog name to open it in its own browser window Clip Names in Catalogs Clip Names are the names that appear in the Timeline and Region List when a file is imported into a session For most files the Clip name is the same as the file name For OMF Files the Clip Name is the name that appears in the Avid bin Figure 15 Catalog browser Catalog name Menu and toolbar...

Page 285: ... s Database comments to Clip Name Copy File Comments to Clip Names Copies an item s File Comments to Clip Name Creating Catalogs Catalogs can be added to the Workspace as new empty Catalogs or you can select items first and then save a Catalog of all selected items To create a new empty Catalog 1 Open the Workspace browser 2 Choose New Catalog from the browser menu 3 Type a unique name and click O...

Page 286: ...talogs Catalogs are excellent tools for consolidating files from a variety of sources For example create a Catalog named Thumps and fill it with sound effects from three different volumes You can then drag the Catalog from the Workspace browser to another volume and a folder named Thumps is created on that vol ume All of the files referenced by the Catalog are automatically copied to the volume Fo...

Page 287: ...ust 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 regions appear...

Page 288: ...dow To open the Task Window In Pro Tools choose Window Task Manager Task Window Messages If any background task cannot be successfully completed the Task window comes to the fore ground to notify you The incomplete task is shown in the Paused Tasks pane of the Task win dow Because the Task window is a floating window it does not interrupt current work This allows you to continue recording and edit...

Page 289: ... waiting to start The cur rently executing task is at the top Tasks in this pane will be processed As tasks complete they disappear from the queue Any task that fails to complete successfully is moved to the Paused Tasks pane see below The Status column displays a description of the failure Paused Tasks Pane The Paused Tasks pane is displayed below the Active Tasks pane and is separated by a move ...

Page 290: ...are cancelled Tasks that in volve file copies are remembered and restarted when you relaunch Pro Tools About Failed Tasks The Paused Tasks pane shows any tasks that could not be completed The reason for the fail ure is shown in the Status column Failed Tasks cannot be resumed and must be de leted manually from the Paused Tasks pane If Automatically Find and Relink was unable to find all files in a...

Page 291: ...ied To help manage these tasks they are grouped under the originat ing command So in the example of a Copy and Relink command one copy task would appear with an Expand Collapse icon in the Task win dow Clicking the icon shows each of the indi vidual sub tasks If there is more than one grouped task in the queue all of the sub tasks for the first group must be completed before the sub tasks of the s...

Page 292: ...Pro Tools Reference Guide 274 ...

Page 293: ...a tion of track attributes from another session such as a track s audio or MIDI playlists signal routing plug ins or automation see Import ing Session Data on page 289 Importing and Exporting to and from a Session Importing Pro Tools lets you import audio video MIDI re gion groups or session files into the current Pro Tools session by Dragging and dropping from A DigiBase browser Windows Explorer ...

Page 294: ...ur system and are copied to the session s Audio Files folder and converted to the session s audio file format sample rate and bit depth The ses sion references the converted files not the orig inal files Files That Can Be Added to a Session without Conversion Mono and split stereo or split multichannel audio files that are of the same audio file format sample rate and bit depth of the session can ...

Page 295: ...o that specific dialog The Sample Rate Conversion Qual ity preference only applies to conversion on im port by drag and drop To set the sample rate conversion quality for importing audio by drag and drop 1 Choose Setup Preferences and click the Processing tab 2 From the Sample Rate Conversion Quality pop up menu select a quality setting For most appli cations the Good or Better setting will yield ...

Page 296: ...es on Import When se lected all audio files that are imported by drag ging and dropping are copied to the current ses sion s Audio Files folder regardless of whether the files need to be converted to the current ses sion s file type bit depth or sample rate Addi tionally when selected the Import Session Data dialog defaults to Copy from Source Media The Automatically Copy Files on Import preferenc...

Page 297: ...g au dio files of different formats into a session and bouncing and saving tracks to a different sample rate or bit depth The higher the quality of sam ple rate conversion you choose the longer Pro Tools will take to process the audio file Elastic Audio Options The Elastic Audio preferences determine which Elastic Audio plug in is used for preview and im port and whether or not new tracks are crea...

Page 298: ...etween re gions slices in imported REX files Fades are only applied to imported REX files if the Import REX Files as Region Groups option and the Auto matically Create Fades option are both enabled on the Processing Preferences page Importing Files with Drag and Drop Pro Tools lets you import audio MIDI video and session files by dragging and dropping files from a DigiBase browser Windows Explorer...

Page 299: ... location on an exist ing compatible track The file is imported and placed where it was dropped To import files as new tracks 1 Select the files you want to import in a Digi Base browser or Windows Explorer or Mac Finder 2 Do any of the following Shift drag files and drop anywhere in the Edit window Drop files to the Track List Drop files to empty space in the Edit win dow below or between tracks ...

Page 300: ... snap to head and copy the file to the session Audio files folder Alt Start drag Windows or Option Control drag Mac a file onto a track To snap to tail Control Start drag Windows or Command Control drag Mac a file onto a track To snap to tail and copy the file to the session Audio Files folder Control Alt Start drag Windows or Com mand Option Control drag Mac a file onto a track Elastic Audio on I...

Page 301: ...e file or use the default session tempo To keep the default 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 conformed to the session tempo Importing Audio Files and Regions Using the Import Audio Command The Import Audio ...

Page 302: ...ate conversion by doing the following Enable Apply SRC Specify the Source Sample Rate either by typing a number or by selecting a sample rate from the pop up menu Select the sample rate conversion quality from the Quality pop up menu This setting overrides the Sample Rate Conversion Qual ity setting in the Processing Preferences page 6 Click Done 7 If you are copying or converting files choose a l...

Page 303: ...ard drive has enough space for the converted audio files Because the transfer is made in the digital do main there is no signal loss The sample rate for audio CDs is 44 1 kHz Therefore if your session s sample rate is set to 48 kHz or higher Pro Tools will convert the sample rate for the imported audio Before im porting CD audio set the Sample Rate Conver sion Quality preference accordingly For mo...

Page 304: ...the Import Audio command see Im porting Audio Files and Regions Using the Import Audio Command on page 283 To import REX files as tick based region groups 1 Choose Setup Preferences and click the Pro cessing tab 2 Select the Import REX Files as Region Groups op tion 3 To apply real time crossfades to the files en able the Automatically Create Fades option see Automatic Fades for Imported REX Files...

Page 305: ...h channel appear in the playlist and a multichannel region appears in the Region List with the channels expandable underneath Any metadata is also imported with the files Exporting Audio Pro Tools supports exporting audio regions as audio files exporting left and right audio files as stereo interleaved files and exporting region in formation You can also export audio from Pro Tools by bouncing or ...

Page 306: ...eezer on page 968 5 Select an option for how Pro Tools should re solve duplicate file names 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 ...

Page 307: ...ed in the Format pop up menu For multi channel regions the Stereo Interleaved option produces a multichannel interleaved file 4 Configure any other output settings then click Export to export the new stereo interleaved file Exporting Region Definitions Pro Tools stores region definitions for audio files within each session If you want to use an audio file s regions in another session or with anoth...

Page 308: ...eep or change the Fader Gain before the Session Data dialog opens 4 In the Source section select tracks to import by clicking the pop up menu to the right of each track name and selecting New Track 5 With Pro Tools HD or Pro Tools LE with Com plete Production Toolkit or DV Toolkit 2 for each track you select you can choose to import it as a new track or choose a destination track from the correspo...

Page 309: ...on and the playlist grouping function will remain intact for those imported tracks There is however a restriction for importing from pre Pro Tools 6 1 sessions After importing a partial set of grouped playlists such as tracks 1 7 of a 10 track group you can not subsequently import tracks 8 10 and have them rejoin the playlist group for tracks 1 7 Import Session Data Dialog The Import Session Data ...

Page 310: ...e source files are copied instead This option allows the current session to refer to files that do not match the current session s audio file format Copy from Source Media This option copies all audio files related to the imported tracks from the source media to a new specified location and converts the files to the current session s au dio file format bit depth and sample rate if nec essary This ...

Page 311: ...aces tracks relative to their original session start time With Pro Tools HD or Pro Tools LE with Com plete Production Toolkit or DV Toolkit 2 times are expressed in hh mm ss ff and on Pro Tools LE systems times are expressed in hh mm ss For example if the current session starts at 00 01 00 00 and the session from which you are importing starts at 10 00 00 00 you can reset the start time code to 00...

Page 312: ...annel formats of the source track appear in the pop up menu Matching Tracks Pro Tools HD and Pro Tools LE with Complete Production Toolkit or DV Toolkit 2 Only If you are importing playlists from source tracks with the same name as destination tracks in the current session such as a new cut of a scene click Matching Tracks to automatically match the track names Tracks must have the same name track...

Page 313: ...utomation data in the destination track are replaced Main Output Assignments Imports the source track s channel output assignments including any multiple output assignments The channel output assignments in the destination track are replaced Send Output Assignments Imports the source track s send output assignments Any Send out put assignments in the destination track are re placed Plug in Assignm...

Page 314: ...rted session data Any key signatures and chord markers in the destina tion session are replaced Import Marker Memory Locations Imports markers and Memory Locations as they appear in the Marker ruler from the source session Any markers and Memory Locations in the destina tion session are retained Imported marker and Memory Locations are assigned the next avail able Marker Memory Location numbers Im...

Page 315: ...lkit 2 opens the Import Session Data dialog letting you select tracks and attributes to import The imported session data will begin wherever you drop the session in the Timeline To import tracks and other session data by drag and drop 1 Open a browser 2 Drag a Pro Tools session file or an AAF or OMF sequence requires DigiTranslator 2 0 into the current session as follows Drag onto an existing trac...

Page 316: ...l tracks in AAF or OMFI format Use the Export Selected Tracks as AAF OMF command Exporting Sessions as Text Pro Tools HD Only You can use the Export Session Info as Text com mand to create a text file that contains extensive information about your session This text file can contain a list of audio files au dio regions audio track EDL Edit Decision List information extended timestamp information an...

Page 317: ...ation with track EDLs if used in your session Include User Timestamps You can include user timestamps with track EDLs User timestamps indicate a user defined session location for the region or the original location of the region when recorded Fade Handling For track EDLs you can choose whether to show crossfades not to show them or to combine crossfaded regions When regions are combined their dura...

Page 318: ...r crossfade handling 4 If you choose to include track EDLs select the Time Format for the exported session text from the pop up menu 5 Select the File Format for exported text using the pop up menu 6 When you have set your options click OK 7 Select a location and type a filename for the exported text file In Windows Pro Tools adds the correct 3 letter filename extension while on the Mac the file e...

Page 319: ...enced in the current session Timeline on tracks that are shown 4 Click OK The DigiDelivery client will launch and the DigiDelivery Send Wizard Page 1 will open On this page you can name the delivery and add or remove files 5 Complete the remaining DigiDelivery Send Wizard pages and send the file following the in structions that came with the DigiDelivery cli ent software Importing MIDI Files You c...

Page 320: ...where the imported file will go New Track Creates a new track where the file will be imported Region List Imports the file into the Region List where it will be available to place into tracks 3 If you chose to create a new track choose a lo cation for the imported file in the track Session Start Places the file or region at the start of the session Song Start Aligns the beginning of the file to th...

Page 321: ...lect MIDI files in a DigiBase browser or Windows Explorer or Mac Finder 2 Drag the files onto the Region List of the cur rent session To import MIDI into an existing track 1 Select MIDI files in a DigiBase browser Win dows Explorer or Mac Finder 2 Drag the files onto an existing track in the Edit window of the current session To import MIDI into new tracks 1 Select MIDI files in a DigiBase browser...

Page 322: ...ding on the selection from the Location Reference pop up menu is also exported This ensures that the exported tracks when played from another MIDI application will align with the correct SMPTE frames and also synchronize correctly to tape and video devices or Pro Tools Refer to your third party MIDI sequencer docu mentation to determine whether it supports im porting SMPTE start times from MIDI fi...

Page 323: ...Edit or Mix window or in the Track List 3 From the Right click menu select Export MIDI 4 Set the Export MIDI settings 5 Click OK 6 In the Save dialog type a name for the MIDI file specify where you want to save it and click Save Exporting Sibelius Files Pro Tools can export the score of your session as a Sibelius file sib You can choose to export the score as Sibelius file for later use or score t...

Page 324: ...Import region groups and select the region group you want to import 2 In the Region Group Import Options dialog choose where the region group will go New Track Creates a new track where the region group will be imported Region List Imports the region group into the Region List where it will be where it will be available to place into tracks 3 If you chose to create a new track choose a lo cation f...

Page 325: ...of the following From the DigiBase browser Shift drag the files and drag them anywhere in the Edit window of the current session Drag the files onto any empty space in the Edit window of the current session Drag the files to the Track List Exporting Region Groups To export a region group 1 Select one or more region groups in the Re gion List 2 From the Region List menu choose Export Re gion Groups...

Page 326: ...group to a different hard drive and include its audio files 1 Export one or more region groups to the new drive 2 Create a new session on the new drive 3 Choose Setup Preferences 4 In the Preferences dialog click the Processing tab and select Automatically Copy Files on Import 5 Click OK to close the Preferences dialog 6 Import all previously exported region groups by dragging and dropping them in...

Page 327: ...ade files can be lo cated on any compatible hard drive connected to your computer s internal or external SATA IDE ATA FireWire or SCSI busses Audio File Management Unique File IDs Pro Tools tags each audio file in a session with a unique identifier that allows it to distinguish a particular file even if its name or location has changed Locating Audio Files With Pro Tools you manage links to audio ...

Page 328: ...er menu 5 Specify a location for the copied files on a valid Performance volume 6 Click OK Missing Files A file is missing if it is not found in the same lo cation as when the session was last saved To open a session with missing files 1 Open the Pro Tools session If any files are missing Pro Tools posts a Missing Files warning 2 Choose one of the following options Skip All Ignores all missing fil...

Page 329: ...les are copied to the Renamed Audio Files folder The original files are left intact in the Au dio Files folder Before the session opens you are prompted to save a detailed report of the renamed files and their original file names to a Notes text file By default the Notes text file is saved to the Session folder Saving a Copy of a Session that Contains Long Audio File Names When saving files to Pro...

Page 330: ...S31 EBU Broadcast standard 1 Choose Setup Preferences and click the Pro cessing tab 2 Select the Convert Imported wav Files to AES31 BroadcastWave option 3 Click OK Sharing Sessions Created on Different Computer Platforms This section includes the following Working with Mac Based HFS Drives on Windows Computers on page 312 Saving Copies of Mac Sessions to be Com patible with Windows on page 314 Wo...

Page 331: ...FS drives to NTFS drives 1 Set the Digidesign HFS Disk Support option or the MacDrive Options to Normal Use 2 Do one of the following Drag the session folder from the HFS drive to the NTFS drive or Open the Mac session on the HFS drive and when prompted choose Save Copy In and save a copy of the session to the HFS drive If the session previously used SD II files the files are converted to the new ...

Page 332: ...ls 7 x and higher sessions are always compatible on both Windows and Mac systems If you create a Pro Tools 6 9 x or lower session on a Mac system the session is only compatible on Windows systems if the Enforce Mac PC Com patibility option is selected when using the Save Copy In command In addition there are cross platform limits to consider when completing the Save Copy In command Cross Platform ...

Page 333: ...an symbol Greater than symbol vertical line or pipe Any high order ASCII character created with a key combination Saving Cross Platform Sessions To save an existing session to Pro Tools 6 9 x or lower and maintain Mac and Windows compatibility 1 Choose File Save Copy In 2 In the Save Session Copy dialog choose a des tination and type a name for the new session file 3 Set the Audio File Type to AIF...

Page 334: ...s Pro Tools LE Systems Pro Tools LE Systems with Complete Production Toolkit Pro Tools LE Systems with DV Toolkit 2 Pro Tools LE Systems with Music Production Toolkit 2 Maximum number of audio tracks up to 256 tracks up to 128 tracks 48 voiceable up to 256 tracks 128 voiceable up to 128 tracks 64 voiceable up to 128 tracks 64 voiceable Maximum number of Instrument tracks 128 32 64 32 32 Maximum nu...

Page 335: ... automation is dropped Groups In Pro Tools LE 7 1 or lower only all groups beyond the first 26 Bank 1 Groups a z are dropped Mix Groups keep only Main Volume informa tion Mix Edit Groups keep only Main Volume and Automation Mode information Automation overflow information for grouped controls is be preserved Group behavior of Solos Mutes Send Levels Send Mutes is be preserved Solo Mode and Solo La...

Page 336: ...ing a Pro Tools HD 7 4 x or higher session with Pro Tools HD 7 3 x or 7 2 the following occurs All that occurs when opening a Pro Tools HD 8 0 session with Pro Tools HD 7 4 x Elastic Audio enabled tracks open without Elastic Audio and region durations revert to the timing of the original source file Sessions with mixed language characters sup ported in Unicode may not open or if they do open Pro T...

Page 337: ...sts are not available Video regions and video region groups are not shown or saved Saving Pro Tools HD 8 0 Sessions to Pro Tools 5 1 6 9 Format Pro Tools 7 x and higher sessions cannot be opened with Pro Tools versions 6 9 x through 5 1 To save a Pro Tools 8 0 session so it is compati ble with Pro Tools version 6 9 x through 5 1 use the File Save Copy In command to choose the Pro Tools 5 1 6 9 Ses...

Page 338: ...ernate video playlists are not available Video regions and video region groups are not shown or saved Language Compatibility The Limit Character Set option must be en abled and you must select a single language and character set Saving Pro Tools HD 8 0 Sessions to Pro Tools 5 0 Format Pro Tools 7 x and higher sessions cannot be opened with Pro Tools version 5 0 To save a Pro Tools 8 0 session so i...

Page 339: ...s lost Sessions with mixed language characters sup ported in Unicode may not open or if they do open Pro Tools displays garbage text Opening Pro Tools LE 7 3 x or higher Sessions with Pro Tools LE 7 1 or 7 0 A Pro Tools LE 7 3 x or higher session that does not contain video tracks can be opened with Pro Tools LE 7 1 or 7 0 but certain session com ponents open differently or not at all When opening...

Page 340: ... Tools 5 1 6 9 Session format When saving a Pro Tools LE 8 0 session to Pro Tools LE 5 1 6 9 format the following occurs Tracks Elastic Audio enabled tracks are saved un transposed unwarped and region durations revert to the timing of the original source file All groups beyond the first 26 Bank 1 Groups a z are dropped Mix Groups keep only Main Volume informa tion Mix Edit Groups keep only Main Vo...

Page 341: ... are dropped Tracks assigned to No Output are routed to Busses 31 and 32 Tracks sends assigned to Busses 33 64 are routed to Busses 31 and 32 Tracks assigned to multichannel paths or sub paths of multichannel paths are routed to Busses 31 and 32 Tracks sends assigned to stereo paths referring to even odd channels such as 2 3 are routed to Busses 31 and 32 Language Compatibility Unicode Support for...

Page 342: ...f ferent language in any localized version of Pro Tools including English in the Apple Sys tem Preferences To change to a different language version of Pro Tools 1 Close Pro Tools if it is currently open 2 Launch Apple System Preferences 3 Click International the flag icon 4 Click the Language tab 5 In the Languages column click the language you want and drag it to the top of the list 6 Close the ...

Page 343: ...325 Part IV Playback and Recording ...

Page 344: ...326 ...

Page 345: ... master deck see Putting Pro Tools Online on page 1021 To stop playback do one of the following Click Stop in the Transport Press the Spacebar With the Numeric Keypad mode set to Transport or Shuttle press 0 on the nu meric keypad If you have a worksurface or MIDI control surface connected and configured press the Stop switch If Pro Tools is online and slaved to another deck press stop on the mast...

Page 346: ...trument plug in set the Auxil iary Input or Instrument track s audio In put selector to the Input path to which your MIDI device s audio outputs are con nected Set the Auxiliary Input or Instrument track s audio Output selector to the main monitoring path Set the MIDI track s output selector to the Instrument plug in or MIDI device port and channel you want to play back 4 To have playback start fr...

Page 347: ...port window 1 Select View Transport Counters 2 Select View Transport Expanded To display Edit Selection indicators in the Transport window Select View Transport Expanded The Big Counter The current playback location can also be dis played in the Big Counter To display the Big Counter Choose Window Big Counter Cursors that Indicate the Playback or Edit Location There are two types of cursors in the...

Page 348: ...es off screen af ter it has played past the time currently visible in the Edit window The Playback Cursor locator appears on the right edge of the Main Timebase ruler after the playback cursor has moved be yond 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 To locate the playback cursor when it is off s...

Page 349: ... For more information see Basic Transport Con trols and Counters on page 135 Setting Playback Location with the Main Counter or Edit Selection Start Indicator To set the playback location using a Main Counter or the Edit Selection Start indicator 1 Do one of the following Click in one of the counters or Press asterisk on the numeric keypad to highlight the Main Counter in the Edit window or the Ma...

Page 350: ... of the Back Forward move is deter mined by the Back Forward Amount preference in the Operation page Setup Preferences To configure the Back Forward Amount 1 Choose Setup Preferences and click the Op eration tab The timebase of the Back Forward Amount set tings follows the Main Time Scale by default or you can deselect Follow Main Time and select any of the following timebase formats Bars Beats Mi...

Page 351: ...To extend the selection backwards by the Back Forward Amount and then begin playback press Shift Control Alt Win dows or Shift Command Option Mac and click Rewind in the Transport window Additional Ways of Moving the Playback Location You can also move the playback location with the following Shuttle Lock Modes With either Shuttle Lock mode Classic or Transport you can use the nu meric keypad to s...

Page 352: ...ack display while playing and also have the edit cursor ap pear wherever playback stops To make the track display and the edit cursor follow playback Enable the Timeline Insertion Play Start Marker Follows Playback button in the Edit win dow Continuous Scrolling During Playback Pro Tools HD and Pro Tools LE with Complete Production Toolkit or DV Toolkit 2 Only When this scrolling option is selecte...

Page 353: ...n jump to and play an Edit or Timeline selection For de tails see Playing Timeline and Edit Selections with the Playhead on page 337 Half Screen Edit Window When the Scrolling option is set to Continuous or Center Playhead a half screen appears at the far left of the Edit window before the beginning of the session when the Playhead is at the begin ning of the session Playing Selections Once an Edi...

Page 354: ...ections There may be times when you want to audition the start or end of an audio selection without hearing the entire selection This allows you to check for instance whether the beginning or end of a selection includes any unwanted clicks or pops To audition a selection start point Press Control Left Arrow Windows or Com mand Left Arrow Mac When auditioning the beginning of a selection the select...

Page 355: ... with the Selector tool in any Timebase ruler to set the play range 4 Choose Edit Selection Play Timeline The Playhead jumps to the Timeline selection and plays it from beginning to end and then stops Moving the Playhead When the Scrolling option is set to Center Play head the Playhead can be moved forward or back to the next region boundary in the selected track To move the Playhead through a tra...

Page 356: ...on playback If there is no selection playback occurs normally from the current Cursor location Looping playback is a useful way to check the rhythmic continuity of a selection when work ing with musical material If you re working with one bar selections you can loop playback to see if the material loops cleanly If it seems to skip you should then adjust the length of the selection until it works m...

Page 357: ...he Play Start Marker determines where playback starts when the Transport is engaged You can posi tion the Play Start Marker independently of the Timeline Selection The Play Start Marker can be repositioned during playback and playback con tinues from the new location To enable or disable Dynamic Transport mode do one of the following Select or deselect Options Dynamic Transport Right click the Pla...

Page 358: ...the Main Timeline ruler to another location Play Start Marker Follows Timeline Selection When enabled the Play Start Marker snaps to the Timeline Selection Start Marker when you move the Timeline Selection draw a new Time line Selection or adjust the Timeline Selection Start When disabled the Play Start Marker doesn t move with the Timeline selection To have the Play Start Marker always snap to th...

Page 359: ...ode is enabled 3 Make a Timeline selection to loop 4 Reposition the Play Start Marker before the Timeline Selection End Marker 5 Start playback Playback starts before the loop end point and continues across the loop point through the loop start You can reposition the Timeline Se lection Start and End Markers by clicking and dragging them left or right even during play back Using Separate Play and ...

Page 360: ...rker forward fast forward Press 2 on the numeric keypad To move the Play Start to a specific bar With Bars Beats selected as the Main Timebase ruler do the following on the numeric keypad Press Asterisk 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...

Page 361: ...tion 6 Select the IAC Driver ports you want to enable for sending MIDI Beat Clock 7 Click OK MIDI Beat Clock Offsets You can set an offset for MIDI Beat Clock on a port by port basis with your MIDI interface and external MIDI devices This lets you adjust the timing for each device where some devices sound late due to different fixed latencies Where appropriate enter negative offset values in sampl...

Page 362: ...is selection is the approximate amount of latency for your exter nal MIDI device see Figure 19 below 12 Switch the Main Time Scale to Samples The length of the selected region in samples is the MIDI Beat Clock latency for that device 13 In the MIDI Beat Clock dialog enter the Sam ple Offset value as a negative number MIDI Beat Clock Sample Offset Since MIDI is not sample accurate you may want to m...

Page 363: ...ing Configuring a new or existing session for re cording Allocating Hard Drive Space for Record ing on page 347 Recording with a Click on page 348 Setting the Session Meter and Tempo on page 351 Setting a Record Mode See Record Modes on page 353 Track Setup for Recording Configuring one or more tracks for recording Configuring Default Names for Audio Files and Regions on page 356 Assigning Hardwar...

Page 364: ...nput gain The LED meters on Digidesign audio interfaces indicate both full code highest level before clipping and true clipping of Pro Tools output signals The on screen meters in Pro Tools indicate only true clipping Digital Clipping Clipping occurs when you feed a signal to a re corder or mixer that is louder or hotter than the device allows On many analog tape decks a little clipping adds a per...

Page 365: ...at do not have output trims such as the 96i I O offer software controllable input levels adjustable from Setup Hardware refer to the guide for your particular I O Connecting a Sound Source Depending on your Pro Tools hardware I O you can connect different types of sound sources such as musical instruments mics and mixer outputs Refer to the Setup Guide for your Pro Tools system For additional info...

Page 366: ...ace To display available drive space in Text Only view only From the Disk Usage menu select Text Only Recording with a Click Optional If you intend to work with MIDI or Instrument tracks in your session or if the audio you re working with is bar and beat oriented you can record your tracks while listening to a click This ensures that recorded material both MIDI and audio aligns with the session s ...

Page 367: ...s con nected or Insert an instrument plug in on the track such as Digidesign s Xpand2 plug in 3 Configure the Click Countoff options and be sure to select the port for the MIDI device or in strument plug in from the Output pop up menu see Click Options on page 349 4 Enable Click see Enabling Click on page 350 Click Options Pro Tools provides options and controls for driv ing a click The following ...

Page 368: ...rom the MIDI menu Select Options Click To enable click in the Transport 1 Display the MIDI controls in the Transport by doing one of the following Select View Transport MIDI Controls From the Transport window menu select MIDI Controls Control click Windows or Command click Mac the Expand Collapse but ton in the Transport window to display the MIDI controls Alt click Windows or Option click Mac the...

Page 369: ...ere within a Pro Tools session appear in the Meter ruler For more information on inserting and editing meter events see Meter Events on page 692 To set the meter for a session 1 Double click the Current Meter button in the Transport window 2 Enter the Meter for the session and set the Lo cation to 1 1 000 to ensure that the inserted meter event replaces the default 3 From the Click pop up menu sel...

Page 370: ...onductor button so it becomes unhighlighted Pro Tools switches to Manual Tempo mode In this mode any tempo events in the Tempo track are ignored 3 To base the BPM value on something other than the default quarter note click the Tempo Resolution selector and select a different note value For example if you are in 6 8 select a dotted quarter note 4 To enter a new tempo do one of the follow ing Drag ...

Page 371: ...fol lowing Record modes Normal Nondestructive Destructive Loop QuickPunch TrackPunch Pro Tools HD only DestructivePunch Pro Tools HD only To select the Record mode do one of the following Select the Record mode in the Options menu If no Record mode is selected Pro Tools is in Normal Nondestructive Record mode or Right click the Record button in the Transport and select the Record mode from the pop...

Page 372: ...ot possible to cancel or undo record takes when using De structive Record mode see Canceling a Record Take on page 371 Loop Record Mode Loop Record mode lets you record take after take nondestructively while the same section of au dio repeats This is a convenient technique for quickly recording multiple takes of a part with out losing spontaneity The time range that is looped and recorded which mu...

Page 373: ...be gins During playback you may record arm or disarm or punch in or out a combination of any or all TrackPunch enabled tracks TrackPunch automatically creates regions in that file at each punch in and punch out point These regions appear in the track s playlist and the complete audio file appears in the Region List along with the TrackPunch created regions Up to 200 of these running punches can be...

Page 374: ...Gtr an au dio file is created with the name Electric Gtr_01 In addition a region appears in the Re gion List with the name Electric Gtr_01 This region is a whole file region Subsequent record takes on the same track are named identically but the digits indicating the take number are incremented for example Electric Gtr_02 A second set of digits such as used in Electric Gtr_01 01 indicates that the...

Page 375: ...e and output for monitoring recording on the track To assign I O on a track 1 Assign a hardware input recording source by doing one of the following In the Mix window select the correspond ing hardware input for your source from the track s Input Path selector or In the Edit window with I O view enabled select the corresponding hardware input for your source from the track s Input Path selector Mu...

Page 376: ...click the Record button in the Transport to arm recording and then click the Play button in the Transport to start recording 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 en able on or off for the track The track s Record Enable button flashes red the track s fader is solid red and the Track Record Enab...

Page 377: ...and Instrument tracks Alt click Windows or Option click Mac the Record Enable button to toggle record enable on or off for all audio tracks or all Instrument and MIDI tracks For record enable Pro Tools treats MIDI and In strument tracks as the same type Consequently Alt clicking Windows or Option clicking Mac the Record Enable button on any MIDI or Instrument track will record enable all MIDI and ...

Page 378: ...cord enabled by accident Use Record Safe mode to protect important audio or MIDI data on a track from being recorded over To put an audio MIDI or Instrument track in Record Safe mode Control click Windows or Command click Mac the track s Record Enable button The Record Enable button is grayed out Control click Windows or Command click Mac again to take the track out of Record Safe mode To put all ...

Page 379: ...with Round Robin Allocation Navigating in the Disk Allocation Window To resize the Disk Allocation window Drag the lower right corner of the window ac cording to standard convention for your operat ing system Windows or Mac To scroll up or down in the Disk Allocation window Press Page Up or Page Down Allocating Audio Drives in Your System To allocate the audio drives in your system 1 Choose Setup ...

Page 380: ...ed to your system s start up drive do the following Open the Workspace browser Window Workspace and set the Volume Designator for your system volume to R Record and Playback See Workspace Volume Desig nation on page 363 5 When you are finished click OK Saving Disk Allocation Settings To save Disk Allocation settings for use with fu ture sessions save the session as a template For details see Sessi...

Page 381: ...s are completely full By default the system volume is not included in Round Robin Allocation regardless of volume designation in the Workspace browser To in clude the System Volume in Round Robin Allo cations see Allocating Audio Drives in Your System on page 361 Selecting a Record Input Monitoring Mode Pro Tools offers two modes of input monitoring Auto Input and Input Only These monitoring modes...

Page 382: ...acks between Auto Input and Input Only monitoring modes at any time during playback recording while stopped and even when a track is not record enabled TrackInput monitoring provides the necessary monitoring flexibility for overdubbing and mixing and is similar to input switching on analog multitrack recorders and similar machines When the TrackInput button in a track is en abled green the track m...

Page 383: ...tes for fader levels automatically If you adjust a fader when a track is record enabled and then turn off record enable for the track the fader returns to its playback level When audio tracks are record enabled their vol ume faders in the Mix window turn red indicat ing that the record monitor level is active Link Record and Play Faders When the Link Record and Play Faders option is selected in th...

Page 384: ...s you will gener ally want the smallest possible buffer size when latency is present during recording and moni toring For more information on H W Buffer Size set ting see Hardware Buffer Size on page 42 If you are monitoring the recording source with an external mixer before it is routed to Pro Tools you will not hear any latency To set the Hardware Buffer Size 1 Choose Setup Playback Engine 2 Cho...

Page 385: ...elect Options Low Latency Monitoring When Low Latency Monitoring is enabled any plug ins and sends assigned to record enabled tracks routed to Outputs 1 2 are automatically bypassed and must remain bypassed Also these tracks do not register on meters for Master Faders Low Latency Monitoring and Bounce To Disk With Low Latency Monitoring enabled only audio tracks are included with the Bounce to Dis...

Page 386: ...Pro Tools Reference Guide 368 ...

Page 387: ... only is similar to recording stereo audio tracks A single mono audio file is written for each channel in the track and these files appear as multichannel re gions in both the track s playlist and in the Re gion List Before Recording Before you start recording in Pro Tools you need to set up your Pro Tools system a session and one or more tracks for recording You will also need to configure how Pr...

Page 388: ...des on page 353 12 When you are ready to start recording click Play or press the Spacebar If using Countoff Pro Tools counts off the spec ified number of measures and then begins re cording See Recording with a Click on page 348 13 Record your performance 14 Click Stop in the Transport window or press the Spacebar when you are finished recording The newly recorded audio is written to disk and appe...

Page 389: ...on List When using Loop Record mode all takes from each record pass are dis carded Canceling recording when in Destruc tive Record mode is prohibited To cancel a record take while recording Press Control Period Windows or Com mand Period Mac before the Transport is stopped Recording Multiple Audio Tracks Pro Tools can record multiple audio tracks si multaneously up to the track recording limits of...

Page 390: ...cord The Stop button lights and both the Play and Record buttons flash 3 To begin recording instantaneously click Play 4 Click Stop to stop recording Setting Punch and Loop Points The start and end points of a record range for punch and loop recording can be set by the fol lowing methods Select a range in a track s playlist with Op tions Link Timeline and Edit Selection en abled Select a range in ...

Page 391: ...d enabled Timeline Selec tion Markers for start and end times appear as red up and down arrows in the Main Timebase ruler If no tracks are record enabled the Time line Selection Markers are blue The Timeline Selection Markers can be moved either separately or at the same time to set record and play ranges Playlist selection You can also enter a start and end point during playback Press the Down Ar...

Page 392: ... Select View Transport Expanded or Shift click the Expand Collapse button in the Transport window 2 Do one of the following In the Transport window click in the Start field or Press Alt Forward Slash Windows or Option Forward Slash Mac on the nu meric keypad to select the start field in the Transport window 3 Type in the start location and press Alt For ward Slash Windows or Option Forward Slash M...

Page 393: ...he Pre and Post Roll Flags in the ruler that represents the Main Time Scale see Setting Pre and Post Roll on page 376 4 Press Enter on the numeric keypad or click the Add Marker Memory Location button in the Edit window 5 In the New Memory Location dialog set Time Properties to Selection and if saving pre and post roll values select the Pre Post Roll Times option in the General Properties section ...

Page 394: ...t Expanded 2 In the Transport window click in the pre roll field 3 Type in the pre roll amount and press Forward Slash on the numeric keypad to enter the value and automatically move to the post roll field 4 Type in the post roll amount and press Enter to accept the new value 5 To enable either pre or post roll click the ap propriate button so it is highlighted Setting Pre and Post Roll in a Playl...

Page 395: ...ation To set the pre and post roll amounts by dragging in the Main Timebase ruler 1 If you want the Pre and Post Roll flags to snap to the current Grid value set the Edit mode to Grid 2 Drag the Pre Roll Flag to a new location in the ruler 3 Drag the Post Roll Flag to a new location in the Timebase ruler Audio Punch Recording Over a Specified Range You can set Pro Tools to automatically punch reco...

Page 396: ...ers until the se lection encompasses the punch range see Setting Punch and Loop Points on page 372 5 To hear any existing track material up to the start point or after the end point enable and set pre and post roll times see Setting Pre and Post Roll on page 376 6 Click Record in the Transport to arm Pro Tools for recording 7 Click Play to start recording Pro Tools starts recording from the punch ...

Page 397: ... of the following To record from the beginning of the ses sion click Return to Zero in the Transport or If Options Link Timeline and Edit Selection is enabled click anywhere in the track s play list to begin recording from that point 4 Click Record in the Transport to arm Pro Tools for recording 5 Click Play to start recording 6 Click Stop to stop recording An audio file for the new take is writte...

Page 398: ...he end of the track If using Destructive Record mode the new audio is appended to the audio file and re gion from the first take In Nondestructive Record mode a new file and region are created Recording to a New Playlist Instead of recording over existing audio regions there is another way to nondestructively record new takes to the same track Do this by creating a new playlist for the track then ...

Page 399: ...is used only on the last record pass Pre and post roll times are ignored on each successive loop To compensate for this you may want to make the loop range slightly longer Later you can trim back the recorded takes to the proper length with the Trim tool see Using the Trimmer Tools on page 458 When loop recording audio Pro Tools creates a single audio file that includes all takes Takes ap pear as ...

Page 400: ...rd mode Automatically Create New Playlists When Loop Recording When loop recording Pro Tools creates a single file containing all recording passes where each recording pass is a region in the file On the track only the last recording pass is present as a region in the main playlist All other regions re cording passes are hidden and can only be re called as matching alternate regions takes When ena...

Page 401: ...n alter nate takes from the Right click Matches sub menu or the Alternate Takes pop up menu even during playback To select an alternate take 1 Ensure that Track ID or Track Name is se lected and that Region Start is selected in the Matching Criteria window see Matching Crite ria Window on page 384 2 Do one of the following Right click the region with the Selector or the Grabber tool and select a m...

Page 402: ...eplace 3 Do one of the following Right click the Edit selection and select a different matching alternate take from the Matches submenu or Control click Windows or Command click Mac the Edit selection and select a different take from the Alternates pop up menu The selected take replaces the previous take and snaps precisely to the correct location on each track Matching Criteria Window The Matchin...

Page 403: ...channels Alternate takes are cre ated when punch and loop recording Expanding Alternate Takes to New Playlists Expanding alternate takes to new playlists readily facilitates track compositing Once you have expanded alternate takes to new playlists on a track you can audition and edit them in Playlists view to assemble the best takes in the main playlist To expand alternate takes to new playlists 1...

Page 404: ...s in parenthesis All matching alternate regions are copied to new tracks Recording from a Digital Source If you plan to use a DAT player digital output CD recorder or other digital device with your Pro Tools system make sure it supports the cor rect digital format For example your Pro Tools audio interface s AES EBU inputs and outputs should only be connected to another AES EBU device Pro Tools HD...

Page 405: ...of the New Session dia log accordingly Click Save 3 Specify the format digital of the inputs of the audio interface to which the digital recording source is connected Choose Setup Hardware Choose the audio interface Select the digital format for the appropriate channel pair such as AES EBU or S PDIF 4 For Pro Tools HD systems select the appropri ate Clock Source in the Session Setup window or Hard...

Page 406: ...ock altogether Half Speed Recording Pro Tools lets you play and record at half speed This capability is similar to that of a tape deck where you can record material at half speed and then play it back at normal speed faster and up an octave or record material at normal speed and play it back at half speed slower and down an octave for special effects Half Speed Recording Use half speed recording t...

Page 407: ...vePunch to punch in on the fly with MIDI or Instrument tracks This capabil ity is available both in Normal Nondestructive Record mode and Destructive Record mode Recording from MIDI Devices The MIDI Inputs for record enabled MIDI and Instrument tracks determine what MIDI data is recorded in Pro Tools MIDI Inputs can be set to a specific device port and channel or they can be set to All where all c...

Page 408: ...peggiators are not recorded MIDI Control Surfaces In order to use any MIDI control surfaces such as the Digidesign Com mand 8 they must be enabled in the MIDI In put Enable dialog MMC In order for Pro Tools to synchronize to MIDI Machine Control MMC the MMC source must be enabled in the MIDI Input En able dialog For more information on using MMC with Pro Tools see Using MIDI Machine Control on pag...

Page 409: ...follow MIDI track selection When multiple MIDI tracks are selected previewing uses the top most MIDI track in the Edit window or the leftmost MIDI track in the Mix window To disable the Default Thru Instrument select None MIDI Input Filter Use the MIDI Input Filter to prevent certain types of MIDI messages from being recorded The MIDI Input Filter can be set to record All messages Only the specifi...

Page 410: ...s begins recording When enabled Pro Tools does not start recording until a MIDI event is received This ensures that recording begins only when you start playing and that the first note or other MIDI data is recorded precisely at the be ginning of the set record range start time Wait for Note can be used when recording nor mally when punching in or when loop record ing If pre roll is enabled it occ...

Page 411: ...r Instrument Tracks for Recording 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 ment tracks the MIDI Input sele...

Page 412: ... Countoff in the Transport window 10 To replace existing track material disable MIDI Merge in the Transport window see MIDI Merge Replace on page 393 11 To automatically quantize material as it is re corded enable Input Quantize Event Event Oper ations Input Quantize See Input Quantize on page 392 12 To start recording from the beginning of the session click Return to Zero in the Transport 13 Reco...

Page 413: ...ecified number of measures and then begins re cording or If Wait for Note is enabled do not click the Play button recording will begin automat ically as soon as you start playing when a MIDI event is received 7 Play your MIDI controller To monitor audio from an external MIDI instrument select the corresponding audio Input Path for your MIDI instrument on the Instrument track or use an Auxiliary In...

Page 414: ...on boundaries Typically new MIDI regions are al ways created on barlines However if existing region boundaries are not on barlines newly created regions are bound by the existing re gions Playing Back Recorded MIDI To play back recorded MIDI and Instrument tracks 1 To start from the beginning of the session click Return to Zero in the Transport 2 Click Play in the Transport to begin playback The r...

Page 415: ...elect Options Link Timeline and Edit Selection 5 With the Selector tool select the punch range in the track s playlist 6 To hear existing track material up to the start point or after the end point enable and set pre and post roll times see Setting Pre and Post Roll on page 376 7 Record enable the track containing the previ ous take 8 Click Record in the Transport to arm Pro Tools for recording Th...

Page 416: ...itional punches during the same pass MIDI Regions and Punch Recording Depending on the record range new regions may be created after punch recording For exam ple Figure 20 shows two existing regions before recording If MIDI Merge mode is disabled re cording overwrites any existing MIDI data within the record range Since the start and end times for recording are located within both of the existing ...

Page 417: ...e same region with each new record pass for example you can record hi hats on the first pass and kick and snare on the next Make sure that MIDI Merge is enabled in the Transport window otherwise in Replace mode each subsequent take destructively replaces the previous take To loop record in MIDI Merge mode 1 Configure a MIDI or Instrument track for re cording see Configuring MIDI or Instrument Trac...

Page 418: ...and in the Region List Loop Recording Multiple Takes When recording MIDI in Loop Record mode new regions are created each time new material is received during a record pass This differs somewhat from loop recording audio where Pro Tools creates a single audio file that com prises all takes which appear as individual re gions in the Region List You can use MIDI loop recording to record suc cessive ...

Page 419: ...nd are numbered sequentially The takes which are the same length and easily in terchangeable can be selected from the Matches pop up menu even while the session plays or loops To select the various record takes 1 Ensure that the Matching Criteria window is correctly configured see Matching Criteria Window on page 384 2 Do one of the following Right click the region with the Selector or Grabber too...

Page 420: ...art recording from the beginning of the session click Return to Zero in the Transport 8 When you are ready to begin recording click Record in the Transport window The Record Play and Wait for Note buttons flash indicating that Pro Tools is waiting for MIDI data 9 Initiate the Sysex transfer from the MIDI de vice according to the manufacturer s instruc tions Pro Tools automatically begins recording...

Page 421: ... track 2 Insert an instrument plug in on that track 3 Do one of the following Record your MIDI performance on the In strument track or Manually enter MIDI data in the Instru ment track 4 Create a new audio track with the same num ber of channels as the Instrument track such as stereo 5 Set the Instrument track s Audio Output Path selector to a bus for example Bus 1 2 6 Set the audio track s Audio ...

Page 422: ...put of the In strument or Auxiliary Input track used to monitor the MIDI instrument to an audio track for recording By setting the audio track s Audio Input Path selector to the same Audio Input Path as the Instrument or Auxiliary Input track used for monitoring the external MIDI instrument This second method avoids any additional la tency associated with bussing However be sure to mute the Instru...

Page 423: ...icking the Record button in the Transport QuickPunch mode is available on all systems TrackPunch Pro Tools HD Only A nondestruc tive Record mode that lets individual tracks be punched in punched out and taken out of record enable without interrupting online re cording and playback DestructivePunch Pro Tools HD Only A destruc tive Record mode that maintains a single con tinuous audio file per punch...

Page 424: ...ts the number of available voices Similarly installing a Toolkit option expands your system s voice capabilities this can in crease the number of available voices which then increases the number of tracks which can be punched To make more voices available for punch recording 1 Identify tracks that are not record enabled and do not need to be heard while recording 2 Make those tracks inactive Pro T...

Page 425: ... voices automatically For example for a 192 voice configured Pro Tools HD Accel system Dynamically Allocated Voicing distributes voices evenly across four sets of voices 1 48 49 96 97 144 and 145 192 If you do not use Dynamically Allocated Voic ing the voices must be evenly distributed be tween all DSP engines For example to use QuickPunch on 32 tracks without Dynamically Allocated Voicing tracks ...

Page 426: ...ach punch Names for the punched regions are numbered consecutively starting with 01 For example if QuickPunch is used to punch in twice on a track called Lead Gtr a region for the parent audio file appears and is named Lead Gtr_01 and two regions for the punches are named Lead Gtr_01 01 and Lead Gtr_01 02 If you stop playback and record additional punches with QuickPunch or TrackPunch a new whole ...

Page 427: ...lliseconds If you set the preference to zero Pro Tools will not create any crossfades at the punch in out points 3 Click OK If a value other than zero is specified for the QuickPunch TrackPunch Crossfade Length Pro Tools writes a pre crossfade at the punch in point the fade occurs up to but not into the punched region boundary and a post crossfade at punch out after the punched region Regardless o...

Page 428: ...k 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 behav ior of a digital dubber Synchronization and Track Arming Options for Punch Recording Digidesign SYNC HD or SYNC I O Only Synchronization settings for o...

Page 429: ...ems that support using a connected footswitch step on the foot switch at the punch in point The Record button stops flashing and stays lit during recording 7 To punch out click Record again or step on the footswitch As Pro Tools continues playing you can per form additional punches up to 200 When re cording multiple punches during a single pass a single audio file is recorded from which Pro Tools ...

Page 430: ...unch mode lets you punch tracks in and out individually one at a time or punch multi ple tracks in and out simultaneously Track Punch is a nondestructive punch mode which leaves previous material on disk To destruc tively replace audio on disk see Destructive Punch Audio Recording on page 416 TrackPunch Setup Before using TrackPunch in a record pass you must configure Pro Tools session and track s...

Page 431: ... 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 record ing 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 TrackPunch enable tracks without record en abling them To TrackPunch...

Page 432: ...d enabled 2 Start playback and compare levels of the input source with audio on disk Click the TrackInput button to toggle the track source When lit green the track is monitoring input When unlit gray the track is monitoring from disk see Selecting Record Monitor Modes with TrackInput Monitoring on page 364 3 When you are satisfied with your levels you are ready to start punch recording Using Trac...

Page 433: ...1 Enable TrackPunch mode 2 Click the Record Enable button on each track you want to punch in so that the track is both TrackPunch and Record enabled The track s Record Enable button flashes blue and red 3 Do either of the following During playback click Record in the Trans port to punch in and out on all Track Punch enabled tracks simultaneously or Click Record in the Transport first then Alt Shif...

Page 434: ...al file us ing a fixed 10 millisecond linear crossfade No additional regions are created when recording in DestructivePunch mode Up to 200 running punches can be performed in a track during a single DestructivePunch pass DestructivePunch Setup Before using DestructivePunch in a record pass you must configure Pro Tools session and track settings as explained in the following sections Configure Pro ...

Page 435: ...Punch Recording In order for a track to be enabled for Destructive Punch recording the track must contain a con tiguous audio file that meets the following re quirements The file must start at the beginning sample 0 of the session and The File Length must be equal to or greater than the DestructivePunch File Length set ting see DestructivePunch File Length on page 418 If a track does not contain a...

Page 436: ... in the Destructive Punch File Length preference Enabling Tracks for DestructivePunch Recording You can enable tracks for DestructivePunch without record enabling them This lets you punch in on individual tracks at any time after starting playback by clicking their respective Record Enable buttons Or you can simultaneously DestructivePunch enable tracks and record enable them This lets recording b...

Page 437: ... indicates its DestructivePunch and record enable status as follows When a track is both DestructivePunch en abled and record enabled its Record Enable button flashes blue and red When a track is DestructivePunch enabled but not record enabled its Record Enable but ton lights solid blue When a track is record enabled only its Record Enable button flashes red While a track is recording in any mode ...

Page 438: ... each track you want to punch in so that the track is both DestructivePunch enabled and Record enabled Each track s Record Enable button flashes blue and red 3 Click Play in the Transport to begin playback 4 During playback click Record in the Transport to punch in and out on all DestructivePunch enabled tracks simultaneously 5 Stop playback When you are finished with the record pass track Record ...

Page 439: ...Chapter 40 Basic Mixing Film Dubbing and Mixing Film dubbing and mixing features of Track Punch and DestructivePunch let you do the fol lowing Arm and punch Pro Tools audio tracks re motely from a master synchronizer such as SoundMaster through P2 commands at any time without having to stop playback and while maintaining time code lock Requires Digidesign MachineControl Toggle Pro Tools audio trac...

Page 440: ...between each take time code does not con tinue but stops completely Because of this the time code on dailies and similar source material is said to be discontinuous or discontinuous also known as broken time code By default Pro Tools drops out of recording when it goes offline due to broken time code However you can change this behavior so that Pro Tools will instead remain armed waiting to begin ...

Page 441: ...ther settings for Pro Tools and your other devices 4 Enable TrackPunch or DestructivePunch mode and proceed with punch recording When recording online and Mute Record Armed Tracks While Stopped is enabled record enabled tracks mute when the Transport is stopped In put can still be monitored at any time by using the TrackInput switch Tracking and Overdubbing Music Modern multitrack recording requir...

Page 442: ...Pro Tools Reference Guide 424 ...

Page 443: ...425 Part V Editing ...

Page 444: ...426 ...

Page 445: ... Chapter 42 Automa tion Editing Video See Chapter 48 Working with Video in Pro Tools Nondestructive Editing The vast majority of audio editing in Pro Tools is nondestructive Whether cutting pasting trim ming separating or clearing regions you are only performing these functions on a map of the actual media such as audio files The source files remain untouched However certain pro cesses or tools wo...

Page 446: ...a session are listed in the Re gion List where they can be dragged to existing tracks A track can contain any number of re gions in any arrangement The order and loca tion of regions in a track define its playlist Region Types There are different types of audio and MIDI re gions based on how they are created Whole File Audio Regions These audio regions are created when recording or importing audio...

Page 447: ... multiple adjacent audio MIDI and Instrument tracks Region groups let you nest multiple regions into macro re gions for groove and tempo manipulation edit ing and arranging Warped Regions Regions on Real Time Elastic Audio enabled tracks can be warped Warped re gions are identified with a Warp Indicator icon in the upper right corner of regions on tracks and to the left of region names in the Regi...

Page 448: ...w can be used for normal or rectified views Power view is useful for better seeing the characteristics of the audio in the waveform representation when zoomed out be yond the sample level For mastering applica tions in particular it can be more revealing of the sonic characteristics of the audio than Peak view Rectified Waveforms Rectified waveforms are displayed so that their positive and negativ...

Page 449: ...editing in Peak waveform view Outlines are not displayed when you are zoomed in to the sample level To show or hide waveform outlines Select or deselect View Waveforms Out lines Rectified Peak Waveform view with Outlines Rectified Power Waveform view with Outlines When zoomed in to the sample level Pro Tools always displays waveforms in Normal Peak view Peak Waveform view without Outlines Power Wa...

Page 450: ...nd ends on exactly the same part of a beat Use the following Pro Tools features to help you edit rhythmic material or audio with clear transients into precise regions Tab to Transients see Tabbing to Tran sients on page 484 Editing to a Grid see Grid on page 446 Beat Detective see Chapter 28 Beat De tective Avoiding Clicks and Pops If an edited region begins or ends at a point of high amplitude yo...

Page 451: ...k MIDI Regions and MIDI Data The two most common Track Views you will use for MIDI and Instrument tracks are Notes and Regions Use Regions view for arranging regions Use Notes view for inserting and editing indi vidual MIDI notes and for working with and af fecting groups of notes Regions View for MIDI and Instrument Tracks MIDI and Instrument tracks can be viewed as Regions which is similar to Wa...

Page 452: ...the next region on the track MIDI Regions Created on Barlines When recording MIDI or when manually enter ing MIDI notes the beginning and ending of re sulting MIDI regions are constrained to bar boundaries This facilitates arranging MIDI re gions in a musically meaningful way in whole bar lengths The beginning of a recorded MIDI region always starts on the barline immediately before the first MIDI...

Page 453: ...e top and bottom of the mini keyboard not available in the smaller track heights are used to scroll the Notes display up and down 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...

Page 454: ...on on a track 1 Do one of the following Select the region you want to rename and then choose Region Rename With any of the Edit tools Right click the the region that you want to rename and se lect Rename from the pop up menu Press Control Shift R Windows or Com mand Shift R Mac With the Grabber tool double click the re gion you want to rename For MIDI re gions the Name Dialog option must be select...

Page 455: ...st recorded or created User Time Stamp Displays the User Time Stamp for each region The User Time Stamp which de faults to the Original Time Stamp can be rede fined with the Time Stamp command Displaying Other Region Information You can also choose to display the following in regions Sync Points Can be displayed on regions in play lists see Sync Points on page 728 This is use ful when visually spo...

Page 456: ...Control Z Windows or Shift Command Z Mac Undo History Window You can use the Undo History window to view the queue of the undoable and redoable opera tions and return to any previous state The Undo History can show edit creation times enabling you to revert to the state a session held at a par ticular time To show or hide the Undo History window Choose Window Undo History To undo operations in the...

Page 457: ...aximum level of Undo performing another undoable operation re moves the oldest operation at the top of the Undo History queue When the oldest operation is one operation away from being pushed out of the queue it is shown in red Levels of Undo and Memory Because Pro Tools needs to keep track of the playlists for all tracks that are edited the use of multiple levels of Undo can be memory inten sive ...

Page 458: ...m having to individually cut from each automation playlist on the track When selecting groups of MIDI notes in Notes view with any of the Grabber tools by drawing a rectangle around them only the note data is placed on the Clipboard When selecting a time range of MIDI notes in Notes view with the Se lector tool all controller data in the track is se lected similar to selecting with the Selector to...

Page 459: ...to Grid 2 Set the Track View for the tracks you want to edit When displaying waveforms for audio tracks or notes or regions for MIDI tracks selections in clude underlying automation and controller data If the track is displaying automation data only the automation data is affected by the ed its 3 Make an Edit selection of the material you want to Cut or Copy 4 Do one of the following Choose Edit C...

Page 460: ...ed but with the surrounding material remaining unchanged Clear Command Use the Clear command to remove a selection from a track without placing it on the Clip board To clear a selection or region 1 If you want to constrain the selection to the current Grid value enable Snap to Grid 2 Set the Track View for the tracks you want to edit When displaying waveforms for audio tracks or notes or regions f...

Page 461: ...sion of the original selection To fill a selection with Repeat to Fill Selection 1 Select the region you want to copy 2 Choose Edit Copy 3 Select the area you want to fill using the Selec tor tool and choose Edit Paste Special Repeat to Fill Selection 4 Do one of the following If pasting audio regions to larger areas the Batch Fades dialog opens Configure the di alog to create crossfades between e...

Page 462: ...e Edit Paste When you paste multiple types of data what ever data has been copied is pasted into the cor rect type of playlist Automation data is pasted into the corresponding automation playlist Au dio or MIDI data is pasted into the audio or MIDI playlist You do not need to set target tracks to the specific type of data being pasted for the paste to work correctly If all destination tracks in a ...

Page 463: ... them from each other and you cannot make them overlap as in Slip mode However if there is silence between existing re gions and the regions are shuffled the silence is maintained and not removed In Shuffle mode adding another region to the beginning of a track moves all subsequent re gions to the right later in time by the length of the added region When using any of the Trimmer tools in Shuffle ...

Page 464: ...ify a frame lo cation or a location based on any of the other time formats capture an incoming Time Code address or use a region s time stamps as refer ence points for spotting This can be particularly useful when performing post production tasks around SMPTE frame locations When Spot mode is enabled Pro Tools asks you to specify a destination location when a region is dragged from the Region List...

Page 465: ...o Grid also enabled placing the Edit cursor and making Edit selec tions is constrained by the Grid but any region editing is also affected by the other selected Edit mode For example in Shuffle mode with Snap To Grid enabled you can make a selection in a re gion based on the Grid cut the selection and any regions to the right of the edit shuffle to the left To enable Snap To Grid while in another ...

Page 466: ... pop up menu when you click the tool 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 re call five Zoom presets Zoomer Tool Use the Zoomer tool to select a zoom view in a track Grid Value indicator and pop up menu The current Grid value is also used for the Quantize to Grid command see Quantiz ing Regions to Gr...

Page 467: ...rizontally on track data To zoom in horizontally for all tracks do one of the following Click the Horizontal Zoom In button Drag on the Horizontal Zoom In button to zoom in continuously Press Control Windows or Command Mac To zoom out horizontally for all tracks do one of the following Click the Horizontal Zoom Out button Drag on the Horizontal Zoom Out button to zoom out continuously Press Contro...

Page 468: ...he MIDI Zoom In button or Press Control Shift Windows or Command Shift Mac To zoom out vertically for all MIDI and Instrument tracks do one of the following Click the MIDI Zoom Out button or Press Control Shift Windows or Command Shift Mac To zoom MIDI vertically to show all notes lowest to highest in MIDI and Instrument tracks Press Control Start Shift Windows or Command Control Shift Mac To zoom...

Page 469: ...izontally to show the entire session without affecting vertical zoom or scrolling do one of the following Press Alt Start A Windows or Option Control A Mac or Press Control Start Windows or Command Control Mac To set horizontal zoom to overview scale 256 samples per pixel Control click Windows or Command click Mac the Zoomer tool Zoomer Tool Use the Zoomer tool to zoom in and out around a particul...

Page 470: ...you to the previously selected tool after a zoom has been performed For example when using the Smart Tool you can click the Single Zoomer tool and once the Zoom operation has been performed Pro Tools automatically switches back to the Smart Tool To use Single Zoom mode do one of the following Click the Zoomer tool pop up menu and se lect Single Zoom mode Right click on any track and select Tools Z...

Page 471: ...or Out button 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 To zoom horizontally and show the entire session and to reset the audio waveform to show the default height zoom MIDI to show all notes in a track and zoom the Tempo Editor to s...

Page 472: ...To recall a saved Zoom preset do one of the following Click the appropriate Zoom Preset button 1 5 or Click and hold the Zoom Preset button and choose Recall Zoom Preset from the Zoom Preset pop up menu Zoom Toggle Zoom Toggle lets you define and toggle between zoom states in the Edit window Zoom Toggle Parameters The Zoom Toggle stores and recalls the follow ing parameters Vertical Zoom Horizonta...

Page 473: ...e Large Track Height Jumbo When selected zoom toggling in changes all tracks containing an Edit Selection to the Jumbo Track Height Extreme When selected zoom toggling in changes all tracks containing an Edit Selection to the Extreme Track Height Fit To Window When selected zoom toggling in changes all tracks containing an Edit Selection to the Fit To Window Track Height Track View Waveform Notes ...

Page 474: ... Tools zoom toggles in based on the settings of the Zoom Toggle preferences If Last Used is selected for any of the following you can adjust the corresponding zoom height or view in the Edit window to update the stored zoom state Vertical Zoom Horizontal Zoom Track Height Track View To modify the stored Zoom Toggle state do one of the following Change the Zoom Toggle preferences or If Last Used is...

Page 475: ...d in track the toggled out track height and view are restored Zooming with a Scroll Wheel If you have a mouse with a scroll wheel you can use the scroll wheel to zoom in and out of tracks both vertically and horizontally To continuously zoom horizontally using a scroll wheel Hold Alt Windows or Option Mac while turning the mouse scroll wheel To continuously zoom audio vertical zoom in the Edit win...

Page 476: ...m the original in order to differentiate it from the original The Trimmer tool is a nondestructive tool and does not actually modify the original audio or MIDI data when working on regions To return to the length of the original region drag it from the Region List or resize the edited region with the Trimmer tool to its original length Use of the Trimmer tool is affected by the cur rent Edit mode ...

Page 477: ... Time or Rendered Elastic Audio processing The resulting region displays a Warp indicator to indicate Elastic Audio processing AudioSuite TCE Trim Tool On audio tracks without Elastic Audio enabled the Time Compression Expansion Trimmer tool works by using the Time Compression Expan sion TCE AudioSuite plug in selected in the Pro Tools Processing preferences to create a new audio file Time Compres...

Page 478: ...u and select TCE or Right click on any track and select Tools Trimmer Tools TCE 3 With the TCE Trimmer tool drag the audio re gion s start or end point to compress or expand the region to the Grid for example by quarter notes Using the TCE Trimmer Tool in Slip Mode To use the TCE Trimmer tool in Slip mode 1 Set the Edit mode to Slip 2 Click the Trimmer tool pop up menu and se lect TCE 3 With the T...

Page 479: ...d over the right or left side of a region To reverse the direction of the Scrub Trimmer tool press Alt Windows or Option Mac before you click the region Scrub playback speed and direction vary with controller movement Scrubbed audio is routed through the track signal path so you hear any effects in the signal path To scrub trim a track 1 Do one of the following Click the Trimmer tool pop up menu a...

Page 480: ...left or right to the point you want the loop to start Trimming Looped Regions You can trim looped regions in two ways Loop Trim a looped region to change how long the region is looped For example Loop Trim a looped region from 2 bars to four bars With a 1 bar region the number of loops changes from 2 to 4 Each loop iteration re mains the same length but the length of the entire looped region chang...

Page 481: ...ove the cursor over a Loop icon in the looped region or anywhere along the bottom of the region The cursor indicates the Trimmer tool icon 3 Trim the start or end of the loop iteration The number of trimmed loop iterations in creases or decreases to fill the original length of the entire looped region Looped region Loop trimming a looped region Hold down the Start key on Windows or the Control key...

Page 482: ...on in a single track drag in the track To make an Edit selection across multiple tracks drag across the tracks If Link Timeline and Edit Selection is en abled drag on the Timebase ruler to make an Edit selection across all tracks To select an entire region with the Selector tool 1 Select the Selector tool in the Edit window 2 Double click a region on a track To select an entire track with the Sele...

Page 483: ...s you select multiple non contiguous regions For more information see Object Selections on page 477 To select one of the Grabber tools do one of the following Click the Grabber tool in the Edit window and select the Grabber tool from the pop up menu or Right click on any track and select the Grab ber tool from Tools Grabber Tools Using the Smart Tool With the Smart Tool you can instantly access th...

Page 484: ...s drag left or right to set the crossfade length The crossfade is created automatically with the De fault Fade Settings in the Editing Preferences page The Smart Tool in Warp View The following capabilities are available with the Smart Tool when working with Elastic Audio enabled audio tracks in Warp view or MIDI or Instrument tracks in Regions view For the Selector tool position the cursor over t...

Page 485: ...ion and controller views For the Selector tool position the cursor any where in the bottom 75 of the playlist for the Selector tool Drag with the Selector tool to se lect breakpoints For Trimmer tools position the cursor in the top 25 of the playlist for the Trimmer tool Drag with the Trimmer tool to trim breakpoints Press Control Windows or Command Mac while trimming for fine control For Grabber ...

Page 486: ...udio waveform in Pro Tools can be helpful in visually finding an edit point sometimes a waveform display because of its sonic characteristics may not reveal the desired spot in the audio material By scrubbing back and forth in Pro Tools you can listen and locate an exact edit point When the Edit Insertion Follows Scrub Shuttle option is enabled in the Operation Preferences page the edit cursor aut...

Page 487: ...peeds 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 To play one or two tracks with the shuttle lock 1 With Pro Tools HD make sure the Operation preferenc...

Page 488: ... Pro Tools preferences not with the session To enable Custom Shuttle Lock Speed Press Start 9 Windows or Control 9 Mac on the numeric keypad Numeric Keypad Set to Shuttle Pro Tools HD Only Pro Tools offers another form of shuttling dif ferent from that of Shuttle Lock mode With the Numeric Keypad mode set to Shuttle playback of the current Edit selection is triggered by press ing and holding the k...

Page 489: ...or greater visual resolution 3 Select the Pencil tool 4 Carefully draw with the Pencil tool by drag ging over the area of the waveform Do not over edit or the results may be undesir able However you can use the Undo command to undo your previous edit The Pencil tool can independently edit different channels of a multichannel track Try to limit editing to smoothing over a very small problem area an...

Page 490: ...Pro Tools Reference Guide 472 ...

Page 491: ...comes high lighted selected or un highlighted not se lected Enabling or disabling the Link Timeline and Edit Selection button in any editor window affects all editor windows If you are working on a film or video scene you may want to unlink the Timeline and Edit selec tions to find or audition material that is at a dif ferent location than the current Timeline selec tion Edit selections can be pla...

Page 492: ...ore information on working with Timeline and Edit selections Selecting Track Material on page 475 Timeline Selections on page 485 Setting Punch and Loop Points on page 372 Setting Pre and Post Roll on page 376 Linking or Unlinking Track and Edit Selections Pro Tools lets you link or unlink Track selection with Edit selections When Track and Edit selections are linked you can make a selection withi...

Page 493: ...me selected 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 Track List Selections in Multiple Tracks To make a selection in multiple tracks With the Selector tool drag horizontally to in clude a...

Page 494: ...it Se lection Follows Region List Selection is enabled se lecting a region in the Region List causes the ini tial occurrence of that region to become selected within the track Selecting All from Timebase Rulers To select all material in all displayed audio and MIDI tracks 1 Enable Link Timeline and Edit Selection Op tions Link Timeline and Edit Selection 2 Double click in any Timebase ruler All re...

Page 495: ...s the playback cursor moves off screen suspends page scrolling To resume page scrolling and jump to the current playback location click the Playback Cursor locator in the Main Timebase ruler see Locating the Playback Cursor when It Is Off Screen on page 330 Object Selections Use the Object Grabber tool to select noncontig uous regions on one or more tracks Noncontig uous selections must encompass ...

Page 496: ...s that were partially selected press Start Windows or Control Mac while double clicking the Grabber icon To change an Object selection to a Time selection 1 Select any number of regions with the Object Grabber tool 2 Double click the Selector tool in the toolbar The time range between the first and last region becomes selected When using the Object Grabber tool on tracks that belong to an Edit Gro...

Page 497: ... selections can be moved by nudging them To move a selection start or end point by the Nudge value 1 Configure the Nudge value For details see Defining the Nudge Value on page 503 2 Make the initial selection with the Selector tool 3 Do one of the following While pressing Alt Shift Windows or Op tion Shift Mac press Plus or Minus on the numeric keypad to move the selec tion s start point by the Nu...

Page 498: ...lowing Shift click a Marker in the Markers ruler or Shift click a Memory Location in the Mem ory Locations window The selection is extended from the original In sertion point to the Marker or Memory Loca tion Using the Edit Selection Indicators Start End and Length The Edit Selection indicators at the top of the Edit window can define precise Edit selections Time values for the Edit Selection indi...

Page 499: ... current time value then press Enter 4 Press Enter again to apply the change To add time values 1 In the Edit Selection indicator highlight the time field you want to change 2 Press Plus on the numeric keypad 3 Type the amount you want to add to the cur rent time value then press Enter 4 Press Enter again to apply the change Selecting Across Multiple Tracks To perform edits across multiple tracks ...

Page 500: ...n be comes deselected To extend a selection to an adjacent track 1 Enable Commands Keyboard Focus see Key board Focus on page 24 2 With the Selector or Time Grabber tool make a selection 3 Do one of the following Press Shift P to extend the selection to the previous track or Press Shift Semicolon to extend the se lection to the next track In either instance the original Edit selection re mains sel...

Page 501: ...rub to an appropriate end point for the selection then release The range between the initial and final scrub be comes selected To move a selection to an adjacent region on the same track 1 Select a region with the Time Grabber 2 Do one of the following Press Start Tab Windows or Control Tab Mac to move the selection to the next re gion or Press Control Start Tab Windows or Op tion Control Tab Mac ...

Page 502: ...ument tracks in Notes view pressing Tab always tabs to the next note re gardless of whether or not Tab to Transients is enabled In Regions view Tab to Transients tabs to notes and Normal Tab tabs to region bound aries For MIDI notes when tabbing to chords each note in the chord is recognized as a single event This lets you tab to each note in the chord When Tab to Transients is enabled the Tabbing...

Page 503: ...set to Center Playhead it determines where playback begins see Playing Timeline and Edit Selections with the Playhead on page 337 To make a Timeline selection with the Selector tool 1 If you want to constrain the selection to the current Grid value set the Edit mode to Grid 2 Drag with the Selector tool in any Timebase ruler The Timeline selection is indicated in the Main Timebase ruler by the blu...

Page 504: ...imeline Selections to from Edit Selections When the Timeline and Edit selections are un linked you can copy selections between them To change the Timeline selection to match the current Edit selection Choose Edit Selection Change Timeline to Match Edit To change the Edit selection to match the current Timeline selection Choose Edit Selection Change Edit to Match Timeline Navigating the Timeline wi...

Page 505: ...oes not actually update the session s Current Location it does let you conveniently shift the display left or right for the sake of finding and editing material This method of scrolling is especially useful when using the Continuous Scrolling option Pro Tools HD and Pro Tools LE with DV Toolkit 2 or Complete Production Toolkit only which does not update or follow Timeline selections To scroll the ...

Page 506: ...ing Track Position Numbers With Track Number View enabled each track is assigned a number corresponding to its position in the Mix and Edit Windows You can scroll di rectly to any track by its positional number To navigate directly to any track using Track Position Numbers 1 Choose View Track Number 2 Choose Track Scroll to Track 3 In the Scroll To Track dialog enter the Track Number for the track...

Page 507: ...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 represented with increasing height for each lane shown Since Auxiliary Input Master Fader and VCA Master tracks do not contain audio or MIDI re gions they are displayed as blank areas in the Universe view To show or hide the Univ...

Page 508: ...amed 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 regions visible the entire Universe window is framed Figure 26 Universe view at the top of the Edit window Universe view Framed area re...

Page 509: ...erse view to fit the total number of tracks in the session or to show more of the Edit window To resize the height of the Universe view 1 Click the area between the bottom of the Uni verse window and the top of the Timebase rul ers The cursor changes to show that you can resize the Universe view 2 Drag up to decrease the height of the Universe view or drag down to increase the height of the Univer...

Page 510: ...t Up Arrow Windows or Command Control Up Arrow Mac to zoom the Track Height of the Edit selection to fit to the height of the Edit window To zoom to an Edit selection using Zoom Toggle 1 With the Selector or the Grabber tool make an Edit selection 2 Press Start E Windows or Control E Mac to enable Zoom Toggle 3 Do one of the following Press Start E Windows or Control E Mac again to revert to the p...

Page 511: ...ng the Edit Selection Pro Tools provides several keyboard shortcuts for moving and extending or decreasing the range of an Edit or Timeline selection To move the selection down to the next track Press Start semicolon Windows or Con trol semicolon Mac To move the selection up to the next track Press Start P Windows or Control P Mac To move the selection forward by the selection amount Press Control...

Page 512: ...ging Track Heights To fit the Track heights of tracks containing he Edit selection to the height of the Edit window Press Control Start Up Arrow Windows or Command Control Up Arrow Mac To change Track height proportionally for tracks containing the Edit selection Press Start Up or Down Arrows Windows or Control Up or Down Arrows Mac To change Track views for all tracks together Press Alt Start Up ...

Page 513: ...ch of them having a slightly different effect on the selec tion When you create a new region or region group it appears in the Region List and in the track s playlist When creating a new region from an existing region the original region re mains in the Region List Capture Region Command The Capture Region command defines a selection as a new region and adds it to the Region List From there the ne...

Page 514: ...ng to the se lected Grid value see Defining the Grid Value on page 725 Likewise MIDI notes can be sepa rated on the grid At Transients Automatically creates region boundaries on detected transients within a se lection This uses the same algorithm for tran sient detection as the Tab to Transients feature see Tabbing to Transients on page 484 On Elastic Audio enabled tracks the Separate At Transient...

Page 515: ...d on the Region List Separate Region Operates On All Related Takes When the Separate Region Operates on All Re lated Takes option is enabled in the Editing Pref erences editing a region with the Separate Re gion command also affects all other related takes with the same User Time Stamp This option helps you compare different sec tions from a group of related takes For example you can quickly separ...

Page 516: ...k To separate a selection with the Separation Grabber tool 1 With the Selector tool make an Edit selection The selection can reside within a single region across adjacent regions within the same track or across multiple tracks 2 From the Grabber tools pop up menu choose the Separation Grabber tool 3 Drag the selection to the new location or to another track A new region or regions containing the p...

Page 517: ...small dog ear corner to indicate overlapping region boundaries To toggle the display of overlap and underlap region boundaries Choose View Region Overlap Changing Region Overlap Underlap After tempo changes with tick based audio and other edits regions may overlap in undesired ways To correct this a region can be brought to the front or sent behind neighboring regions as needed To change the regio...

Page 518: ...parated regions verify that Slip mode is enabled so the gap does not close and use the Trimmer tool to expand the remaining region to its original length see Us ing the Trimmer Tools on page 458 or Delete both of the separated regions and drag the original region from the Region List to the original location see Placing Regions in Tracks on page 715 Trimming Regions In addition to the Trimmer tool...

Page 519: ...int Trim to Fill Selection Commands The Trim to Fill Selection commands let you au tomatically reveal underlying material in the gaps between regions or before and after indi vidual regions as follow To trim from a start point to fill gaps 1 With the Selector tool select across at least one gap between regions 2 Choose Edit Trim Start to Fill Selection The start point of the region behind the gap ...

Page 520: ...an trim the start and end points of a region by nudging them To trim a region s start or end point by the Nudge value 1 Configure the Nudge value see Defining the Nudge Value on page 503 2 With the Time Grabber tool select the region you want to trim 3 Do one of the following While pressing Alt Windows or Option Mac press Plus or Minus on the numeric keypad to trim the region s start point by the ...

Page 521: ... menu in the Edit window select the Nudge value or To specify a Nudge value not listed in the Nudge Value pop up menu click the Nudge Value indicator and type in the value Nudging with Nudge To nudge one or more region 1 Configure the Nudge value see Defining the Nudge Value on page 503 2 With the Time Grabber or Selector tool select the region regions or region groups you want to nudge The region...

Page 522: ...ion perhaps at a SMPTE frame or bar line but the material within the region starts too late or early You can in effect nudge a re gion s audio waveform or MIDI notes without displacing the region s start and end points This sliding of region contents is only possible if there is material residing outside the region s start and end points from the region having been trimmed or perhaps captured from...

Page 523: ...ent events are moved equally thereby retaining their rhythmic relationships Editing Stereo and Multichannel Tracks Regions on individual channels within stereo and multichannel tracks cannot be indepen dently selected All selections for these tracks are time based which means that selections made with the Selector or Time Grabber tool extend to each and every channel in the track When regions in m...

Page 524: ...ns from mono tracks to a multichannel track the source tracks need not be adjacent Multichannel regions can also be dragged from the Region List to multichannel tracks of the same format groups of mono audio tracks or a combination of both Conversely a collection of single mono regions can be dragged from the Region List to multi channel tracks provided the dragged number of regions matches the nu...

Page 525: ...nt to pad the regions for the sake of any fu ture trimming you should enter an appropriate amount of padding in milliseconds To compact an audio file 1 In the Region List select the region or regions you want to compact 2 From the Region List menu choose Compact 3 Enter the amount of padding in milliseconds that you want for each region in the file 4 Click Compact to compact the file or Cancel to ...

Page 526: ...ions are com pressed or expanded equally by the same per centage value based on Edit selection range This ensures that the rhythmic relationship between the different channels or tracks is maintained Fitting an Audio Region to an Edit Selection Regions can be dragged from the Region List to fit within an Edit selection The dragged region is compressed or expanded to fit within the se lection On au...

Page 527: ...w or hide Playlist lanes based on the ratings of regions in the playlist see Filtering Lanes on page 540 To rate a region 1 Select the region 2 Do one of the following Choose Region Rating and select a rank ing of 1 to 5 or Right click the region choose Rate and se lect a ranking of 1 to 5 To display ratings in regions Select View Region Rating To hide ratings in regions Deselect View Region Ratin...

Page 528: ...Pro Tools Reference Guide 510 ...

Page 529: ...n two regions use the Selector tool to select across the end point of the first region and the start point of the second The length of the selection determines the length of the crossfade Though fades may ap pear to be discrete regions they cannot actually be separated from the regions in which they were created You can however create fade ins and fade outs for individual regions see Creat ing Fad...

Page 530: ...d of a region This crossfade type requires that region 2 con tain audio material before its start point Post Crossfade This type of selection creates a crossfade after the splice point It is useful if you want to main tain the amplitude of region 1 until its very end When making selections for crossfades that oc cur on the border of two regions you can use the Tab key to move the cursor to the exa...

Page 531: ...on to audition fades Pro Tools supports fade auditioning directly from your au dio interface outputs View First Track Crossfades Only If you are cross fading between more than one track this button allows you to view and pre view the audio of the first in a pair of adjacent tracks View Second Track Crossfades Only If you are cross fading between more than one track this button allows you to view a...

Page 532: ...eform Click this button to display the specified fade curves along with a single waveform represent ing the summation of the any crossfaded audio Zoom In Click this button to scale the view of the wave form s amplitude upwards Control click Win dows or Command click Mac for the default view scale Zoom Out Click this button to scale the view of the wave form s amplitude downwards Control click Wind...

Page 533: ...n of this dialog The seven presets are as follows Preset Curve 1 stays at full volume throughout the fade then immediately drops the volume at the end of the fade Preset Curve 2 fades out relatively slowly keeping the volume fairly high throughout the duration of the fade Preset Curve 3 fades out slightly faster keep ing the volume slightly lower during the fade Preset Curve 4 fades out with a lin...

Page 534: ...al re gions instruments for example a repeated drum loop Use this option to avoid clipping that can occur when using an Equal Power cross fade With this fade you can Alt click Win dows or Option click Mac the fade curve to re set it to its default shape None Disables linking between the fade out and fade in curves and lets you freely adjust them separately including start and end points This optio...

Page 535: ...lf S Curve Selects an S shaped curve which inverts its beginning and end characteristics This makes it possible to fade in faster at the start of the curve and slower at the end S shaped curves are useful with material that is difficult to fade effectively S curves can be edited by drag ging the curve in the curve editor Preset Curves Seven commonly used preset curves are provided for fast creatio...

Page 536: ...purpose crossfade with a smooth even transition be tween region 1 and region 2 Equal Power Crossfade This is a good general purpose crossfade useful in cases where a linear crossfade seems to create a noticeable drop in volume across the splice point Overlap Fade This combination of curves keeps both regions at full amplitude throughout the crossfade region 2 jumps in at the beginning and region 1...

Page 537: ...fade in out option which applies real time fade ins outs to all regions during playback These fades are not written to disk but are auto matically applied during playback For more in formation see Using AutoFades on page 523 Creating Fade Ins and Fade Outs Depending on how you make the selection you can position a fade in or fade out at the exact beginning or end of a region or position it so it e...

Page 538: ...one of the following Choose Edit Fades Create or Press Control F Windows or Command F Mac 3 Select the fade out curve and configure the other Fade settings 4 Click the Audition button to audition the fade 5 Adjust the curve by dragging it or by selecting a different shape from the Out Shape pop up menu 6 Click OK Pro Tools calculates the fade and writes it to disk The chosen fade curve appears in ...

Page 539: ...lections can begin and end anywhere in their respective regions 2 Do one of the following Choose Edit Fades Create or Press Control F Windows or Command F Mac 3 Use the view buttons to adjust the view of the crossfade It may take a few moments to calcu late the waveform display for long selections 4 Select an Out Shape and an In Shape 5 Select a Linking option 6 Click the Audition button to auditi...

Page 540: ...io material to com plete the crossfade or if the new crossfade area falls outside of valid region boundaries the crossfade is removed Pre and Post Crossfade Selections By making a selection that begins or ends pre cisely on the border of two regions you can cre ate pre or post crossfades Use the Tab key to place the insertion point at the exact beginning or end of a region To create a pre or post ...

Page 541: ...owever since these autofades are not written to disk those clicks or pops still exist in the underlying sound file Consequently those anomalies still appear if the Duplicate AudioSuite plug in or the Export Regions As Files command from the Region List are used to duplicate multiple regions as a continuous file To render these real time auto fades to disk choose File Bounce to Disk To set the leng...

Page 542: ...lected re gions Moving and Nudging Fades and Crossfades Fades and crossfades can be moved or nudged in tracks independently of their contributing re gions Moving or nudging fade ins or fade outs reveals or hides audio as the fade is moved from the edge of a contributing region Moving or nudging crossfades changes the overlap point of the contributing regions Moving or nudging fades is also constra...

Page 543: ...ude the fades and crossfades you want to move 2 Move the region selection by doing one of the following Drag the region selection with the Grabber tool to a new location on the track or Nudge the region selection by pressing Plus or Minus on the numeric keypad to move the region forward or backward on the track Nudging Regions Adjacent to Fade Ins or Fade Outs When you nudge a region selection adj...

Page 544: ...t Preserve Fades when Editing 3 Click OK to close the Preferences dialog 4 Use the Time Grabber or Separation Grabber tool to select one of the contributing regions to a crossfade 5 Drag the selected region with the Grabber Nudging Regions Adjacent to Crossfades When you nudge either of the regions that con tributes to a crossfade the fade stretches to pre serve the relative position of the crossf...

Page 545: ...ol drag to select the ma terial for the new region 2 Choose Edit Separate Region At Selection Where your selection overlaps any fade ins or fade outs the fade is trimmed to fit the selec tion Where your selection overlaps a crossfade the crossfade is separated into a fade out and fade in at the selection boundary Stretching the crossfade by nudging Selecting material that overlaps a fade in Result...

Page 546: ... a selection in the track and choose Edit Trim To Selection You can Trim across multiple regions and fades Affected fades are adjusted to the new region boundaries or Click with the Selector in the region and choose Edit Trim Start to Insertion or End to In sertion You can trim to region or fade boundary in the track Fade Boundaries and Shapes in Displayed Automation View Fade boundaries and fade ...

Page 547: ... for audio Auxiliary Input Master Fader and Instrument tracks store data for volume pan mute and plug in controls Automation playlists for MIDI tracks however store only mute information continuous con troller events program changes and Sysex events are stored in MIDI regions and therefore reside within edit playlists for both MIDI and In strument tracks Working with Playlists When you create a ne...

Page 548: ...laylist 1 Click the track s Playlist selector and choose New 2 Type a name for the new playlist and click OK An empty playlist with the specified name ap pears in the track Assigning a Playlist to Another Track By default a playlist is typically available only for the track on which it was created However if the playlist is no longer in use on its original track or any other track it can be reassi...

Page 549: ...racks to the existing group and the suffixes for their playlist names are synchronized with the origi nal tracks Empty playlists are created automatically to keep the playlist takes synchronized when switching back to the earliest playlist takes in the group To keep your playlist names and performances synchronized example workflow 1 Create new tracks and group them together 2 Make sure the group ...

Page 550: ...ernate takes or playlists to construct the best possible version of a performance from multiple record ing passes Using Playlists view for an audio track you can select the best parts from the track s alternate playlists and copy them to the main playlist This lets you quickly and easily create the perfect take from multiple alternate playlists Track Compositing Example In this workflow you will b...

Page 551: ... in the Transport to arm Pro Tools for recording 10 Click Play to start recording 11 When finished click Stop to stop recording 12 If you do not want to make another loop record pass record disable the audio track After you have stopped loop recording notice that all of the loop recording takes are revealed in Playlist lanes below the main playlist includ ing the whole audio file region of all of ...

Page 552: ...d 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 solos the playlist in the track it does not mute any other tracks in the session Select and copy the best take to the main playlist 1 Once you have identified the best take make any changes to the Edit select...

Page 553: ...der the main playlist You can drag and drop audio to this lane from the Region List DigiBase Browsers or other audio tracks to create an alternate playlist for the track in addition to the main playlist If the track contains one or more alternate play lists in addition to the main playlist they are displayed in lanes under the main playlist Re gardless the bottom Playlist lane is always empty and ...

Page 554: ...s from alternate playl ists In addition to manually copying and then past ing to the main playlist Pro Tools provides sev eral commands for copying and pasting the se lection to the main playlist Copy Selection To Main Playlist Copies and pastes the selection to the main playlist Any material already on the main playlist at the same location is overwritten Copy Selection to New Playlist Creates a ...

Page 555: ...Main Playlist The selection from the alternate playlist is cop ied to the same time location in the main playl ist To copy a selection in an alternate playlist to a new main playlist 1 In Playlists view make a selection in an alter nate playlist 2 Choose Edit Copy Selection to New Playlist Making a selection in an alternate playlist Press Control Alt Start V Windows or Command Option Control V Mac...

Page 556: ...ill not be able to hear your edits on Playlist lanes unless the lane you are editing is soloed see Auditioning Alternate Playlists on page 536 Reordering Playlist Lanes You can reorder Playlist lanes the same way you reorder tracks To reorder Playlist lanes Click the name of the alternate playlist and drag it to the location you want Resizing Playlist Lanes You can resize Playlist lanes the same w...

Page 557: ...lting Name dialog type the name you want 3 Click OK Alternate Playlists in the Track List When an audio track is set to Playlists view all of its associated playlists appear listed under the track name in the Track List The names of asso ciated alternate playlists are indented to distin guish Playlist lanes from tracks From the Track List you can show and hide alternate playlists You can also acce...

Page 558: ...egions that have the same User Time Stamp are matches There are several ways to create matching alter nate regions in Pro Tools When punch recording audio or MIDI Pro Tools creates matching regions for the original region if any and the new punch re corded region When loop recording audio or MIDI Pro Tools creates multiple matching regions for each recording pass When duplicating playlists audio o...

Page 559: ...ions All Region Start Region Start and End Within Selection None 4 Leave the Matching Criteria window open to change the settings as appropriate while com positing tracks Close the Matching Criteria win dow when you are done Alternates Match Options The following Alternates Match options can be selected in any combination Track ID Any regions recorded to the same track are considered matching Use ...

Page 560: ...ser Time Stamp You can select and audition alter nate takes from the Right click Matches sub menu or the Alternate Takes pop up menu even during playback To select an alternate take 1 Configure the Matching Criteria window if necessary see Matching Criteria on page 541 2 Do one of the following Right click the region with the Selector or the Grabber tool and select a matching al ternate take from ...

Page 561: ...The selected take replaces the previous take and snaps to the correct location on each track Automatically Create New Playlists when Loop Recording When loop recording Pro Tools creates a single file containing all recording passes where each recording pass is a region in the file On the track only the last recording pass is present as a region in the main playlist All other regions re cording pas...

Page 562: ...ilable alternate playl ist as the main playlist from the Playlist selector Expanding Alternate Takes to New Tracks Expanding alternate takes to new tracks readily facilitates auditioning editing and mixing al ternate takes each on separate tracks To expand alternate takes to new tracks 1 Identify the region on the main playlist with matching alternate regions takes 2 Do one of the following Right ...

Page 563: ...ust also meet one of the following conditions Matching Scene and Take Matching Shoot Date applies only if Scene and Take contain any information for both channels Matching Tape name Matching Sound Roll name Alternate channel Sound Roll name matches current channel Tape name Alternate channel Tape name matches cur rent channel Sound Roll name Expanding Channels to New Playlists To expand alternate ...

Page 564: ...lly useful when expand ing edited guide tracks to original source audio that was recorded while referenced to time code but where channel names or numbers were not written to the audio files Example Workflow Working with a Guide Track for Live Concert Videos 1 Multitrack audio is recorded in Pro Tools while chasing time code A mono or stereo mix is recorded simultaneously as a guide track for the ...

Page 565: ...Select Files To Relink pane select the edited guide track file 5 Drag the original unedited guide track audio file into the Candidates pane If a dialog appears stating that one or more files are shorter than the media file you are trying to relink click Yes to select it for relinking anyway 6 Check the box to the left of the file in the Can didates pane so that the Link icon appears 7 Click Commit...

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Page 567: ...lates See Separating Regions with Beat Detective on page 563 and Con forming Regions with Beat Detective on page 565 Beat Detective and Source Material Beat Detective is most effective with audio or MIDI that has clear attack transients or accent patterns including most instruments used in popular music such as drums guitar or bass Beat Detective will be less successful with audio material with so...

Page 568: ...tive s Edit Smoothing can be used to automatically clean up foley tracks that contain many regions requiring trimming and crossfading effectively removing the gaps of si lence between the regions thus retaining the room tone throughout the track Beat Detective Requirements Beat Detective is available with all Pro Tools sys tems RAM Requirements for Beat Detective Beat Detective operations can requ...

Page 569: ... The Beat Detective modes include the following Operation Lets you choose to analyze either MIDI or audio material Bar Beat Marker Generation Generates Bar Beat Markers corresponding to transients detected in the audio selection or according to accent pat terns with MIDI notes Groove Template Extraction Extracts the rhyth mic and dynamic information from audio or MIDI and saves this information to...

Page 570: ...t tempo and meter enter the Time Signature and Start Bar Beat and End Bar Beat loca tions For a four bar selection that starts on beat 1 enter 1 1 and 5 1 If the tempo and meter of the audio selec tion do not match the session s default tempo and meter and you are unsure of the length of the material enter the Time Signature and the Start Bar Beat location then start playback and click the Tap End...

Page 571: ...Works well with the broad est range of material such as full mixes and loops Beat Detection Across Multiple Tracks When analyzing a selection with multiple tracks Beat Detective analyzes each indepen dently Transients that are detected in any track appear as Beat Triggers across all selected tracks regardless of whether or not the detected tran sient resides in any other track However for closely ...

Page 572: ...tion range Beat Detective can generate beat triggers based on detected MIDI notes or audio peak transients The range and type of transients found can be adjusted with the Detection set tings allowing you to zero in on the bars beats and sub beats in the material while avoiding the non rhythmic content To generate beat triggers from an audio selection 1 In the Edit window make an audio selection 2 ...

Page 573: ...t get the beat triggers to appear at the right locations repeat steps 5 10 trying one of the other Analysis algorithms High or Low Emphasis To generate beat triggers from a MIDI selection 1 In the Edit window set the MIDI track you want 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 p...

Page 574: ...ayed in the chord Lowest Note Sets the beat trigger to the start of the lowest note played in the chord Realign Session Beat Detective s Realign Session function lets you generate Bar Beat markers without tick based material shifting This is useful if you want to extrapolate Bar Beat markers from tick based material to align the tempo map and Bar Beat grid to the tick based material Generating Bar...

Page 575: ...ll on sub beats Select the option for Show Trigger Time and see if the assumed metric locations of the triggers align with the material A false trigger should be moved or deleted because it can cause subse quent triggers to appear in the wrong locations see Editing Beat Triggers on page 558 Consider whether lengthy selections should first be broken down into smaller selections which could be more ...

Page 576: ...ween the sub beats 3 Alt click Windows or Option click Mac the trigger to delete it Moving Beat Triggers You can adjust the placement of triggers to al low for the attack of their transients or to com pensate for an individual transient that is slightly ahead of or behind the beat To move a beat trigger 1 With the Beat Detective window open select any Grabber tool in the Edit window 2 Locate the b...

Page 577: ...at the correct metric location If a detected tran sient is slightly off the beat Beat Detective may assign it as well as other transients in the selec tion to the wrong metric location For example if you have a bass track where a note was intended to be a downbeat but was played too early Beat Detective may define its location as occurring a little before the down beat If you then separate and con...

Page 578: ... to Bars or Beats and config ure the Detection setting so the selection s peak transients or MIDI Note Ons are accurately de tected see Generating Beat Triggers on page 554 5 Click Generate Bar Beat Markers are generated based on the beat triggers and appear in the Tempo ruler Working with Sub Beats Tempo is derived from Bar Beat Markers Groove or feel is derived from Sub Beats the deviation of su...

Page 579: ...s the amplitude of sig nals in audio tracks to MIDI velocity according to a linear scale For example A 0 dBFS signal equals a MIDI velocity of 127 A signal at 6 dBFS equals a MIDI velocity of 64 A signal at 12 dBFS equals a MIDI velocity of 32 A 48 dBFS equals a MIDI velocity of 1 Capturing this information is very important to preserving the feel of a performance and can add life to MIDI tracks t...

Page 580: ...s eighth note resolution but the material being conformed contains sixteenth notes adjacent sixteenth notes will be mapped to the same eighth note location Groove Extrapolation Beat Detective s ability to extract tempo data from a wide range of material is enhanced by its powerful groove extrapolation logic Groove extrapolation automatically generates beat trig gers for inclusion in groove templat...

Page 581: ... on page 552 4 Configure the Detection options so the selec tion s peak transients are accurately detected see Generating Beat Triggers on page 554 5 Click Separate Regions are separated based on the detected beat triggers Trigger Pad When separating regions the Beat Detective window displays an option called Trigger Pad Type a value 0 50 ms in this field to pad region start points where the point...

Page 582: ...rated re gions in each of the drum tracks at the same lo cation based on the beat triggers from the kick drum track see Figure 30 The separated regions can then be conformed as a group You can also use Collection mode Pro Tools HD and Pro Tools LE with Music Production Toolkit 2 or Complete Production Toolkit only when working with multiple tracks Collection mode lets you analyze and detect trigge...

Page 583: ...selected 3 In the Edit window if not already selected se lect the separated regions you want to conform Make sure the selection s start and end points fall cleanly on the beat 4 In the Beat Detective window define or recap ture the selection as described in Defining a Beat Detective Selection on page 552 5 To affect how strongly the regions are con formed to the Grid tempo map select the Strength ...

Page 584: ...e feel of a cap tured passage to the selected audio regions For information about creating DigiGroove tem plates see DigiGroove Templates on page 561 To conform regions using Groove Conform 1 In the Beat Detective window select Region Conform 2 Select Groove 3 In the Edit window if not already selected se lect the separated regions you want to conform Make sure the selection s start and end points...

Page 585: ...ot accurate enabling Pre Process Using Standard Conform can lead to better results by ensuring that the performance is accurately mapped to the correct bars beats and sub beats before the groove template is applied Experimentation is the best way to determine when it is appropriate to use this option 9 Click Conform to automatically conform all re gions in the selection 10 Audition the new conform...

Page 586: ... This allows you to later con form the regions to a different tempo map or groove template or use different Conform set tings However sync points are only created as they are needed If gaps between regions are cre ated during Region Conform Fill Gaps in Edit Smoothing mode will trim regions to fill the gap and a sync point will be created at each region s original start point If there is no gap be...

Page 587: ...u have drum tracks for kick snare hi hat and overhead mics If you analyze a se lection across all of the tracks you may get many false triggers when you raise the Sensitiv ity slider high enough to capture the hi hat ma terial coming mainly from the tracks for the overhead mics However if you analyze only the track for the overhead mics the resulting beat triggers are slightly later than the mater...

Page 588: ...m the Detection pop up menu select Nor mal and move the selection to the next track you want to analyze Make sure to keep the selection range constant for each track 8 Configure the Detection options so the selec tion s peak transients are accurately detected see Generating Beat Triggers on page 554 9 Select Collection again 10 Do one of the following In the Detection Collection Mode sec tion clic...

Page 589: ...riggers have been added to the collection you can use them to generate Bar Beat Markers or groove template or separate regions However this must be done from the Collection Mode section when the triggers are displayed in multiple colors To separate regions across multiple tracks make sure to extend the selection to any ad ditional tracks before separating Figure 32 Overhead mic track displaying a ...

Page 590: ...Pro Tools Reference Guide 572 ...

Page 591: ...573 Part VI MIDI ...

Page 592: ...574 ...

Page 593: ...layback or play through see MIDI Real Time Properties on page 604 Pro Tools also provides numerous zoom and view tools that are optimized for MIDI editing MIDI Editing Options Pro Tools provides a few options for determin ing MIDI editing behavior These options are available in the Edit window MIDI Editor win dows and the Score Editor window However these options are only available if there is at ...

Page 594: ... a triplet click the Default Note Duration setting and select Triplet Follow Grid Select the Follow Grid option to have the Default Note Duration follow the selected Grid value To stop following the Grid value select the rhyth mic value for the Default Note Duration setting Default Note On Velocity The Default Note On Velocity setting lets you define the default Note On velocity for inserting note...

Page 595: ...ow or Score Editor window Setting the Grid Value When inserting MIDI notes with the Pencil tool the Grid value determines the Note On location of each note or other characteristics based on the Pencil tool shape see The Pencil Tool on page 578 The Edit window MIDI Editor win dows and Score Editor window can each be set to a different Grid value To set the Grid value for MIDI editing 1 Click the Gr...

Page 596: ...e Pencil tool shape The various Pencil tool shapes can be particularly useful for drawing and editing dif ferent types of MIDI control data for example try using Line for volume Triangle for pan Free Hand for pitch bend and Square or Random for velocity To select the Pencil tool shape 1 Click the Pencil tool icon in the Toolbar for the Pencil tool shape pop up menu 2 Select a Pencil tool shape Fre...

Page 597: ...mined by the current Grid value and the Default Note Duration set ting When editing MIDI velocities or continuous controller data the Triangle shape draws a trian gular pattern that changes direction according to the current Grid value MIDI controller values change in steps according to the Pencil Tool Res olution When Drawing Controller Data option in the MIDI Preferences page Square In the Edit ...

Page 598: ... the Edit win dow s ruler and the track s mini keyboard as a reference to locate the pitch and time location you want When using the Pencil tool the Cursor location and value are displayed in the Window Toolbar 5 When you reach the pitch and time location you want click to insert the note When inserting MIDI notes or other MIDI data with the Pencil tool MIDI region boundaries are created on the ne...

Page 599: ...velocities are determined by the Pencil tool shape Use the Line shape to enter notes with identical velocities Use the Triangle shape for a ramp up and down of velocities Use the Square shape for alternating veloc ities of loud and soft Use the Random shape for a series of notes with random velocities For example to insert a series of notes with random velocities in the Edit window 1 In the Edit w...

Page 600: ... notes When using the Selector tool a note s start point must be included in order for it to be se lected When a MIDI or Instrument track is in Notes or Regions view selections made with the Selector tool are range selections and include all underlying controller and automation data To deselect one or more notes from a selection With the Pencil tool or any Grabber tool Shift click the notes so the...

Page 601: ...only MIDI notes and velocities with the Note Selector tool 1 Select the Selector tool 2 On MIDI or Instrument tracks in the Edit win dow in Notes or Velocity view or in a MIDI Edi tor window Alt drag Windows or Option drag Mac over the time range that includes the notes you want to select When using the Smart tool and pressing Alt Windows or Option Mac the Selector is available in the upper part o...

Page 602: ...r the transposition Moving Notes Like regions MIDI notes can be dragged left or right with the Pencil tool or any Grabber tool to change their start point If several notes are se lected before dragging they are all moved to gether 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...

Page 603: ...hem If the Edit mode is set to Grid the dragged start or end point snaps to the nearest Grid bound ary If the Edit mode is set to Spot the Spot dia log opens where you can enter the new location for the note s start or end point Notes can also be trimmed with the Trim Region to Selection command see Trim to Selection Command on page 500 and the Trim To Inser tion command see Trimming with Nudge on...

Page 604: ...notes 2 Do one of the following Choose Edit Separate At Selection or Right click in the Notes pane and choose Separate To separate MIDI notes on the grid 1 Set the Grid value 2 Make an Edit selection or a marquee selection that includes the MIDI notes you want to sepa rate 3 Choose Edit Separate On Grid 4 In the Pre Separate Amount dialog click OK Separate and Consolidate Tools for MIDI Notes In N...

Page 605: ...u mute individual MIDI notes If entire regions are selected the Mute command prompts you to either mute re gions or MIDI notes To mute one or more MIDI notes 1 Select the MIDI notes you want to mute 2 Do one of the following Choose Edit Mute Notes or Right click the selected MIDI notes and choose Mute Notes To unmute one or more MIDI notes 1 Select the MIDI notes you want to unmute 2 Do one of the...

Page 606: ...ol To draw velocity values for a crescendo 1 Do one of the following Set the MIDI or Instrument track to Veloc ity view or Reveal the Controller lane for the MIDI or Instrument track and show Velocity 2 Select the Pencil tool with the shape set to Line 3 Click at the beginning of the note range near the bottom of the velocity range and drag to the right and up until the line encompasses the range ...

Page 607: ...n the Cursor Location Value indicator in the Edit window Auditioning Velocity Changes If the Play MIDI Notes When Editing option is enabled Pro Tools plays the note at the new ve locity when editing velocities for MIDI notes with the Grabber tool This lets you hear when you have the velocity setting you want for a MIDI note Typing in Note Attributes When an individual note is selected with the Pen...

Page 608: ...ion to that location with all other notes moving with it Values entered in the pitch and velocity fields add to or subtract from the values for all selected notes For example to transpose all selected notes down an octave enter a value of 12 for pitch Deleting MIDI Notes In addition to deleting selected notes with the Clear command in the Edit menu individual notes can also be deleted with the Pen...

Page 609: ... Trimmer Tool in Grid Mode The Time Compression Expansion Trimmer tool TCE Trimmer tool can be used in Grid mode to match a region to the tempo of a ses sion or a section of a session or to create dou ble time or half time performances To compress or expand MIDI regions in Grid mode 1 Set the Edit mode to Grid 2 If necessary set the MIDI or Instrument track to Regions view 3 Select the TCE Trimmer...

Page 610: ...ng any Time Scale enter a new start or end time or duration for the region and then click OK A new MIDI region is automatically created and appears both in the playlist and in the Region List Using the Time Compression Expansion Trimmer Tool in Shuffle Mode In Shuffle mode the trimmed region will always begin at the original region s start point regard less of whether you trim from the front to th...

Page 611: ... existing volume and pan data play back while recording new MIDI data Continuous controller events including vol ume and pan can be recorded from an external MIDI controller such as a keyboard or control surface and they can be inserted in a MIDI track s playlist using the Pencil tool or any Grab ber tool Inserting and Editing Controller Events Continuous controller events can be edited with any o...

Page 612: ...s are revealed under the MIDI or Instrument track you want to edit click the Controller Type selector for the Controller lane under the track and select Add Remove Controller from the control lers submenu To copy continuous MIDI controller events and paste to a different MIDI controller use Special Paste Edit Paste Special To Cur rent Automation Type For example you might want to use the same cont...

Page 613: ...ry until you have added all of the MIDI controllers you want for automation 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 Con troller dialog Selecting Add Remove Controllers from the Controller Type selector on a Controller lane Selecting the MIDI Controllers range Automated MIDI Controll...

Page 614: ...ck is specified by clicking on the Patch Select but ton from either the Mix or Edit window Once specified the default program change message is sent to your instrument when playing the track To set the default program change for a MIDI or Instrument track 1 From the Mix or Edit window click the Patch Select button Program changes are sent to external MIDI devices Instrument plug ins in Pro Tools d...

Page 615: ...or the factory default patch names of many common MIDI devices Patch name files are sorted by manufacturer and are located On Windows in Program Files Common Files Digidesign MIDI Patch Names Digidesign On Mac in Library Audio MIDI Patch Names Digidesign To import MIDI patch names into Pro Tools 1 Choose Setup MIDI MIDI Studio and verify the MIDI Device definition in the MIDI Studio Setup window W...

Page 616: ...s can be inserted into a track s playlist with the Pencil tool Existing program changes can be edited moved and copied and pasted To insert a program change with the Pencil tool 1 Do one of the following Set the MIDI or Instrument track to Pro gram Change view or Reveal the Controller lane for the MIDI or Instrument track and show Program Change 2 If you want the inserted event to snap to a Grid v...

Page 617: ...a track s assigned MIDI device To audition patches 1 If you want to audition patches for a MIDI track or Instrument during playback click Play in the Transport 2 Open the Patch Select dialog by clicking the Patch Select button or by inserting or editing a program change event in a MIDI or Instrument track 3 Click a program number or patch name the starting point from which you will scroll through ...

Page 618: ... Do one of the following Set the MIDI or Instrument track to Sysex view or Reveal the Controller lane for the MIDI or Instrument track and show Sysex 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 To delete one or more Sysex events 1 Do one of the f...

Page 619: ...measures starts with a MIDI volume of 127 and in the last bar fades down to 0 If after playing the 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 other wise the track would not be heard since the most recent volume event sent would have been 0 Chasing also occurs for a MIDI track s default program change along w...

Page 620: ...latency when monitoring audio in Pro Tools LE To configure the Global MIDI Playback Offset 1 Choose Setup Preferences and click the MIDI tab 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 play back earlier than the audio tracks a positive value causes the MIDI tracks to play back later To allow for monitoring l...

Page 621: ...e To reset all offsets for all MIDI and Instrument tracks click the Reset button in the upper left of the window Stuck Notes If you encounter stuck notes with any of your MIDI devices you can silence them with the All MIDI Notes Off command To turn off all stuck notes Choose Event All MIDI Notes Off Remove Duplicate Notes The Remove Duplicate Notes command is used to remove duplicate MIDI notes If...

Page 622: ... Time Properties View Real Time Properties view in the Edit window only applies to tracks To apply Real Time Prop erties to regions use the Real Time Properties window see Real Time Properties Window on page 605 To enable Real Time Properties view in the Edit window Select View Edit Window Real Time Proper ties For Micro Mini and Small track heights the Real Time Properties column only displays on...

Page 623: ...vide an ex pand collapse triangle to show or hide addi tional settings Enabling Real Time Properties To enable Real Time Properties 1 Select a track or make an Edit selection 2 In Real Time Properties view in the Edit win dow or in the Real Time Properties window se lect Real Time Properties by clicking the property name Quantize Duration Delay Ve locity or Transpose Enabled Real Time Proper ties ...

Page 624: ...l standard note rhythm values be tween whole notes and 64th notes including dotted and triplet options This pop up menu also provides access to all standard and custom groove templates Swing Value Enter the amount of swing as a per centage between 0 and 300 Tuplet Value Enable Tuplet and enter the ratio for the tuplet 1 99 such as 3 to 2 or 5 to 4 Tuplet is only available in the expanded Real Time...

Page 625: ... a duration as a number of quarter notes plus a number of ticks such as 4 000 If the Ticks Notes pop up menu is set to a note size enter a number to by which to multiply that note size such as 7 16th notes Ticks Notes Pop Up Menu The Ticks Notes pop up menu lets you select ei ther Ticks or a note size for Note Durations There is also a Ticks Notes pop up menu for the Minimum and Maximum Durations ...

Page 626: ...ple enter 2 to transpose up by thirds in key a unison plus a second equals a third Real Time Properties on Tracks and Regions Real Time Properties can be configured to apply to an entire track all regions on that track or on a region by region basis Track level proper ties also provide real time MIDI input process ing of velocity and transposition The presence of track based Real Time Proper ties ...

Page 627: ...u want you can write Real Time Properties to the selected tracks or regions using the Real Time Properties window Real Time Properties are applied to the current MIDI data on the track or in a region To write Real Time Properties to tracks 1 Enable Link Track and Edit Selection 2 Select one or more tracks to which you want to apply Real Time Properties 3 Open the Real Time Properties window Event ...

Page 628: ...as Modified by Real Time Properties option 3 Click OK Real Time Properties Effects Displayed in the MIDI Event List The MIDI Event List takes into account the ef fect of Real Time Properties whenever the Dis play Events as Modified by Real Time Properties op tion is enabled When editing or inserting an event in a track or region with active Real Time Properties Pro Tools takes the properties into ...

Page 629: ...ation Target Notation View Mute Link Timeline and Edit Selection Edit Tools Notation View MIDI Editor menu Default Note Duration Play MIDI Notes While Editing Default Note Velocity Velocity Controller and Superimposed MIDI and Instrument tracks Track List Groups List Key Focus Automation lanes Edit modes Mirrored MIDI Editing Grid selector Nudge selector Track Edit selector ...

Page 630: ... lane However you would see two Mod Wheel Controller lanes one for each track and you would see two Volume lanes one for each track Opening a MIDI Editor Window To open a MIDI Editor window do one of the following Choose Window MIDI Editor In the Edit window Right click a MIDI region on the track or the track name in the track con trols or in the Track List and choose Open In MIDI Editor In the Sc...

Page 631: ... currently displayed in the MIDI Editor window Mixed Mute and Solo States The Solo and Mute buttons are global controls in that they affect all tracks shown in a MIDI Ed itor window If you independently solo or mute tracks in the Edit window that are also shown in a MIDI Editor window the appearance of the Solo and Mute buttons updates to indicate mixed states Mixed solo and mute states occur when...

Page 632: ... which track is pen cil enabled You can manually insert MIDI notes only in pencil enabled tracks You can also pencil enable tracks in the Track List see Manually Inserting MIDI Notes on page 624 Default Note Duration The Default Note Duration selector lets you de fine the default note duration for manually in serted notes Default Note On Velocity The Default Note On Velocity setting lets you defin...

Page 633: ...lbar and select or dese lect Selection Display Grid and Nudge Selectors When the Expanded Grid Nudge Display option is enabled in the MIDI Editor Window menu the Grid and Nudge selectors in MIDI Editor win dows function exactly the same way for MIDI data in MIDI Editor windows as in the Edit win dow When the Expanded Grid Nudge Display option is disabled in the MIDI Editor Window menu you can togg...

Page 634: ...r Window menu provides access to MIDI Editor Window Display options and Scrolling options MIDI Editor Window Display Options Expanded Edit Tools When selected the Expanded Edit Tools option displays all of the Edit Tools in the MIDI Editor window toolbar When this option is not selected only the icon for the selected Edit tool is displayed Any of the other Edit tools can be selected from the Edit ...

Page 635: ...rom the left edge of the window Continuous Pro Tools HD and Pro Tools LE with Complete Production Toolkit or DV Toolkit 2 Only The MIDI Editor window scrolls continu ously past the playback cursor which remains in the center of the window With this option playback is always based on the Timeline selec tion unlike the Center Playhead Scrolling op tion Center Playhead Pro Tools HD Only The MIDI Edit...

Page 636: ...r lanes Horizontal Zoom Buttons Zoom the Timeline just like the Horizontal Zoom controls in the MIDI Editor window toolbar MIDI Zoom In and Out Buttons Pro Tools provides MIDI Zoom In and Out but tons in the upper right corner of MIDI Editor windows These controls function exactly the same as the MIDI Zoom controls in the toolbar and let you zoom in and out vertically on MIDI notes Track List The ...

Page 637: ... Auxiliary Input tracks in a MIDI Editor window 1 In the Track List select the MIDI Instrument and Auxiliary Input tracks you want to show in the MIDI Editor window 2 From the Track List pop up menu select Show Only Selected Tracks To show all tracks of a single type MIDI Instrument or Auxiliary Input in a MIDI Editor window From the Track List pop up menu choose Show Only and select the track typ...

Page 638: ...and makes it inactive Make Inactive Makes the selected track inactive Export MIDI Exports the selected track as a MIDI file New Opens the New Track dialog Rename Renames the selected track Duplicate Duplicates the selected track Split into Mono Splits the selected stereo Instru ment or Auxiliary Input track into two mono tracks Delete Deletes the selected track MIDI Real Time Properties Opens the ...

Page 639: ...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 Instru ment tracks in the Edit window except you can edit MIDI notes on multiple MIDI and Instru ment tracks...

Page 640: ...or Code MIDI Notes By Track button Color Coding by Velocity When Color Coding by Velocity is enabled MIDI notes are all the same red color hue on all tracks displayed and MIDI notes vary in color saturation from a light red to a dark red based on the Note On velocity Notes with low velocities are lighter in color and those with high velocities are darker See Figure 36 on page 623 To Color Code MID...

Page 641: ...he 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 Figure 36 MIDI Editor window notes color coded by Note On velocity Color Code MIDI Notes By Velocity enabled Figure 37 MIDI Editor window no color coding No Color Coding enabled ...

Page 642: ...e Track List to pencil enable the track you want 2 With the Pencil tool click at a time and pitch location to insert a MIDI note on the pencil en abled track with the default Note On velocity and the selected Default Note Duration For more information on editing MIDI notes see Chapter 29 MIDI Editing For more information on manually insert ing MIDI notes see Inserting MIDI Notes on page 580 Select...

Page 643: ... symbols at the loca tion of the Edit cursor Key Inserts a key change Meter Inserts a meter change Chord Inserts a chord symbol Cut The Cut command cuts the current Edit selec tion Copy The Copy command copies the current Edit se lection Paste The Paste command pastes the clipboard to the current Edit selection or at the current Edit cur sor location Any MIDI notes already present at the same loca...

Page 644: ...ne in MIDI Editor windows can also display MIDI notes in standard music nota tion In Notation view each MIDI and Instru ment track is displayed independently with one track per staff see Figure 38 on page 627 In MIDI Editor windows notation is displayed as a continuous timeline and not in page view as in the Score Editor window To enable Notation view Enable the Notation view button in the MIDI Ed...

Page 645: ...e Double Bar option is disabled there will be a number of empty bars at the end of the last 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 option to manually enter notes in the Score Editor after the last MIDI region or event in the session Figure 38 MIDI Edit...

Page 646: ...ack Set tings on page 641 Velocity Controller and Automation Lanes MIDI Editor windows let you edit velocities MIDI controller data and automation for all shown MIDI Instrument and Auxiliary Input tracks in lanes under the Notes pane see Figure 39 on page 629 You can move and re size Automation and Controller lanes just like in the Edit window When viewing multiple MIDI and Instrument tracks the v...

Page 647: ...ure 39 Velocity Controller and Automation lanes for two stereo Instrument tracks Show Hide lanes Velocity lane 2 tracks superimposed Remove lane Add lane Controller Automation Type selector Paired Automation lanes for separate tracks ...

Page 648: ...Pro Tools Reference Guide 630 ...

Page 649: ...cribed in real time whether you record import draw with the Pencil tool or Step Enter MIDI Figure 40 Score Editor window Edit tools Default Note Duration Track List Page controls Zoom controls Grid selector Cursor location Target Play MIDI Notes While Editing Mirrored MIDI Editing Double Bar Default Note Velocity Score Editor menu Selection Link Edit and Timeline Selection ...

Page 650: ...iting music nota tion Zoomer Use the Zoomer tool to zoom in and out around a particular area in the score The Zoomer tool provides two modes Normal Zoom The Zoomer tool remains selected after zooming Single Zoom The previously selected Edit tool is automatically reselected after zooming Normal Zoom Mode To zoom around a certain point in the score 1 Click the Zoomer tool pop up menu and select Norm...

Page 651: ...ote Note Selector Use the Note Selector tool to select notes on one or more staves in the Score Editor window Se lected notes highlight blue Selected notes can be deleted moved transposed and processed using Event Operations Grabber Use the Grabber tool to select one or more notes You can also use the Grabber tool to move single notes or all selected notes to a different pitch or time location Pen...

Page 652: ...ation of each note is determined by the current Grid value The duration is determined by the selected De fault Note Duration see Default Note Dura tion on page 635 The start time for each note is determined by the selected Grid value see Grid on page 636 Square The Square Pencil tool lets you draw a series of MIDI notes on a single pitch whose velocities al ternate between the defined Default Note...

Page 653: ...is enabled the Timeline and Edit selections are linked When it is disabled you can make Timeline and Edit selections inde pendently of one another Mirrored MIDI Editing Mirrored MIDI Editing lets you edit MIDI re gions and have your edits apply to every copy of the same MIDI region This can be particularly useful when editing looped MIDI regions In Mirrored MIDI Editing mode the Mirrored MIDI Edit...

Page 654: ... Preferences Setup Preferences Disable the Double Bar option to manually enter notes in the Score Editor after the last MIDI region Cursor Location The Cursor Location display provides informa tion about the current cursor location in Bars Beats Ticks and pitch Grid The Grid selector lets you define the Grid value for MIDI notes inserted and displayed in the Score Editor window To set the Grid val...

Page 655: ...I track when you view the Score Editor window it too will show the same location When the Target is disabled the Score Editor does not update to show the current Edit win dow selection or Edit cursor location Score Editor Window Menu The Score Editor Window menu provides access to the Expanded Edit Tools Selection Display Track List and Scrolling options Expanded Edit Tools When selected the Expan...

Page 656: ...ow toolbar 1 Do one of the following Click the Score Editor Window Toolbar menu or Right click in the Toolbar 2 From the pop up menu select or deselect any of the following Selection Display Expanded Edit Tools Rearranging Controls and Displays To rearrange controls and displays in a MIDI Editor window toolbar Control click Windows or Command click Mac the controls or displays you want to move and...

Page 657: ...ist select the MIDI and Instru ment tracks you want to show in the score 2 From the Track List pop up menu select Show Only Selected Tracks To hide MIDI and Instrument tracks in the Score Editor Disable the Eye in the Track List for tracks you want to hide in the score To hide all MIDI and Instrument tracks in the Score Editor From the Track List pop up menu select Hide All Tracks To hide selected...

Page 658: ...Windows or Return Mac 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 pro vides a Zoom selector that lets you zoom to a preset percentage or page size When using these Zoom controls the Score Editor zooms around the current Edit selection To zoom in one level Click the Zoom In button To...

Page 659: ...e how individual MIDI and Instrument tracks ap pear in the Score Editor You can set the Clef Display Quantization and whether or not to display the track at concert pitch or as a trans posing instrument such as a B flat tenor sax To configure the Notation Display Track settings 1 Do one of the following From the Track menu in the Score Editor select Notation Display Track Settings Right click in t...

Page 660: ...ide notes between the treble and bass clefs Follow Globals When the Follow Globals option is selected the track attributes use the global attributes settings see Globals on page 643 This option is en abled for all tracks by default Display Quantization The Display Quantization setting lets you select the quantization grid for the display of MIDI notes in music notation MIDI notes in Pro Tools stil...

Page 661: ...tributes tab for each track Score Setup The Score Setup window lets you set up the page layout and staff spacing You can enter the Title and Composer for the score You can also select what elements of the score to display Changes to the Score Setup update instantly in the Score Editor To open the Score Setup do one of the following Choose File Score Setup From the Tracks menu in the Score Editor w...

Page 662: ...r trait Landscape Select to set the page orientation to Landscape Staff Size Enter the Staff Size Page Margins Enter the size for the top bottom left and right page margins Inches Select to enter Stave Size and Page Mar gins in inches Millimeters Select to enter Stave Size and Page Margins in millimeters Editing Notes MIDI note editing in the Edit window MIDI Ed itor windows and the Score Editor w...

Page 663: ...e selected notes To transpose a single note 1 Click the Grabber tool 2 Drag the note you want to transpose up or down To transpose all selected notes 1 Click the Grabber tool 2 Drag around the notes you want to Transpose to select them 3 Drag any of the selected notes up or down to transpose them Moving Notes Use the Grabber tool to move selected notes from one time location to another time locati...

Page 664: ...me location and pitch you want to enter a single note of the se lected Default Note Duration or Click at the time location and pitch you want and drag to the right to increase the duration of the note Release the mouse when you have the duration you want To manually insert multiple notes of the same pitch 1 Select the Default Note Duration setting you want see Default Note Duration on page 635 2 S...

Page 665: ...ools submenu lets you select any Edit tools relevant to the Score Editor Zoomer Selects the Zoomer tool Note Selector Selects the Note Selector tool Grabber Selects the Grabber tool Pencil Selects the Pencil tool Insert The Insert submenu lets you insert key changes meter changes and chord symbols into the score at the location of the Edit cursor Key Inserts a key change Meter Inserts a meter chan...

Page 666: ...e Choosing the Print Score command prints the score see Printing Scores on page 651 Key Changes You can add edit and delete Key Signatures in your score Key Signatures affect the note spell ing of MIDI notes in the score For example MIDI note number 58 B flat 3 is B flat in F major but it is A sharp in B major To add a Key Signature 1 With the Note Selector Grabber or Pencil tool Right click at th...

Page 667: ...uble click the Meter event you want to edit 2 Enter values in the Meter Change dialog and click OK To delete a Meter change With the Grabber tool Alt click Windows or Option click Mac 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 a...

Page 668: ...bove the top staff in the system 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 Alt click Windows or Option click Mac the chord symbol you want to delete To display o...

Page 669: ...belius 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 computer You can then further edit the notation in Sibelius and print the score or parts from Sibelius Printing Scores Pro Tools lets you print the score from your Pro Tools session The score will be printed ex actly as it appears in the Score...

Page 670: ...Pro Tools Reference Guide 652 ...

Page 671: ...owing Choose Event MIDI Event List or Right click a MIDI or Instrument track name in the Mix or Edit window or in the Track List Track Selector The Track selector both indicates 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 The number of MIDI events on the selected track are displayed at the top of t...

Page 672: ...appears as a blue arrow red when tracks are record enabled in the Start col umn When several events reside at the same location the location is only indicated for the top event with the others dimmed The dimmed locations can be edited by double clicking them Event Column Displays the event type indicated by an icon and associated event values Length Info Column Displays the end point or length for...

Page 673: ...e Press Tab or the Down Arrow to move to the next event with or without the edit field se lected Press Control Tab Windows or Option Tab Mac or the Up Arrow to move to the previ ous event with or without the edit field se lected 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 Ar row to move to the next edit f...

Page 674: ...ent List menu Following are several examples of in serting events in the MIDI Event List To insert a note in the MIDI Event List 1 From the MIDI Event List menu select Insert Note 2 Enter the location pitch attack Note On and release Note Off velocities and length for the new note To move between the Event Entry fields use the Left and Right Arrow keys When a field is selected enter a value with a...

Page 675: ...o scroll to the value Play the controller event on your MIDI controller keyboard then press Enter Win dows or Return Mac on the alphanu meric keyboard to confirm the value 3 Do one of the following To insert the controller event and remain in Event Entry mode press Enter on the numeric keypad To insert the controller event and exit Event Entry mode press Enter Windows or Return Mac on the alphanum...

Page 676: ...of the Insert menu Example After inserting a note to insert another do one of the following From the MIDI Event List menu select Insert Another Note Editing Events in the MIDI Event List Events in the MIDI Event List can be edited se lected deleted and copied and pasted To edit an event in the MIDI Event List 1 Do one of the following Double click the event field you want to edit or To edit a sele...

Page 677: ... one of the following Click the event at the beginning of the selec tion and drag to the ending event or Shift click the event at the beginning of the selection then Shift click the ending event To select noncontiguous events in the MIDI Event List Control click Windows or Command click Mac each event To deselect an event in the MIDI Event List Control click Windows or Command click Mac the select...

Page 678: ...ection 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 instead of note lengths in the Length Info col umn of the MIDI Event List Insert Provide...

Page 679: ...661 Part VII Arranging ...

Page 680: ...662 ...

Page 681: ...po Meter and Key Signature rulers reside in Con ductor tracks Tempo and meter events affect the timing of tick based tracks and also provide the tempo and meter map for the Bar Beat grid and Click You can edit tempo events in the Tempo ruler or Tempo Editor Key changes can affect MIDI notes when apply ing transposition You can edit key and key changes in the Key Signature ruler Timebase Rulers and...

Page 682: ...ng additional frame rates 50 FPS 59 94 FPS 59 94 FPS Drop 60 FPS 60 FPS Drop Feet Frames Pro Tools HD and Pro Tools LE with Complete Production Toolkit or DV Toolkit 2 Only Displays the Time Scale in feet and frames for referencing audio for film projects The Feet Frames time display is based on the 35 mil limeter film format The Feet Frames Time Scale is absolute based on the frame rate Samples D...

Page 683: ... Rulers and deselect a ruler option To display only the Main Time Scale in the Timebase ruler Select View Rulers None Main Time Scale on page 666 To add a specific ruler to the display such as the Markers ruler for instance Select View Rulers Marker To change the display order for the rulers Click a ruler s name and drag up or down to the new location To copy the range selection from a Conductor r...

Page 684: ...Scale do one of the following Click a Main Counter selector located at the top of the Edit or Transport window when it is set to display Counters and select a Time Scale If a Timebase ruler is displayed click its name so it becomes highlighted Navigating with the Main Counters The Main Counters at the top of the Edit win dow and in the Transport window provide a convenient way to navigate to a spe...

Page 685: ...en working in Bars Beats you will often want to specify tick values for a number of oper ations including Placing and spotting regions Setting lengths for regions or MIDI notes Locating and setting play and record ranges including pre and post roll Specifying settings in the Quantize and Change Duration pages of the Event Oper ations window Setting the Grid and Nudge values Sub Counter selector in...

Page 686: ... example on the Sample or Minutes Seconds Timebase ruler MIDI events stay fixed to the sample time regardless of where tempo or meter changes occur in a session Tick Based Audio and MIDI Tick based audio is fixed to the relative time of the Bars Beats Timebase ruler and moves rela tive to the sample Timeline when tempo and meter changes occur However MIDI and Elastic Audio events and tick based au...

Page 687: ...to the active Playlist and all alter nate playlists for that track To configure a timebase change to affect timebases of all playlists in a track Click the Timebase selector or Track Height Selector and enable the Selection Changes Alter nate Playlists option Groups When you change the timebase for an audio track that is part of an active Edit group all the tracks in the group will change to the s...

Page 688: ...ased material New sessions open with a default tempo of 120 BPM When a new session is created the Song Start Marker has no associated meter event A meter event is added automatically at the Song Start if you add another meter event anywhere else on the Meter ruler The Song Start Marker can be moved but it can not be deleted To move the Song Start Marker by dragging In the Tempo ruler with any Edit...

Page 689: ... insert the tempo event 2 Click the Add Tempo Change button at the left of the Tempo ruler 3 In the Tempo Change window enter the Lo cation and BPM value for the tempo change 4 To place the inserted tempo event cleanly on the first beat of the nearest measure select the Snap To Bar option To set the default session tempo see Set ting the Session Meter and Tempo on page 351 You can use Beat Detecti...

Page 690: ...In the Tempo Change window enter a new Location or BPM value for the tempo event 3 Click OK To delete a tempo event Alt click Windows or Option click Mac the tempo event the cursor changes to a Grabber with a To copy and paste several tempo events 1 With the Selector tool drag in the Tempo ruler to select the range of bars that includes the tempo events 2 Choose Edit Copy 3 Click in the Tempo rule...

Page 691: ...ap Tempo is selected 4 In the Transport window click the Tempo Ruler Enable Conductor button so it becomes unhighlighted Pro Tools switches to Manual Tempo mode In this mode any tempo events in the Tempo track are ignored 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 temp...

Page 692: ...tic Audio enabled tracks apply Time Compression and Expansion TCE based on tempo changes For simple tempo changes regions on tick based Elastic Au dio enabled tracks automatically conform to match the new tempo Tempo changes do not affect sample based Elastic Audio enabled tracks In Figure 41 below the first two bar re gion is at its native tempo of 120 bpm The sec ond two bar region has been conf...

Page 693: ...lect the region you want to conform to the session tempo 2 Do one of the following Choose Region Conform to Tempo or Right click the region you wan to conform to tempo and select Conform to Tempo Pro Tools analyzes the region s entire file for Elastic Audio events and tempo If a tempo is de tected and a duration in bars and beats is deter mined the region conforms automatically to the session temp...

Page 694: ...ically in the Tempo Editor Click the Tempo Editor Zoom In button To zoom out vertically in the Tempo Editor Click the Tempo Editor Zoom Out button To scroll vertically in the Tempo Editor do any of the following Click the Scroll Up Arrow to scroll up Click the Scroll Down Arrow to scroll down Drag the Scroll bar up or down Editing Tempo Events in the Tempo Editor Tempo events in the Tempo Editor c...

Page 695: ...Resolution The beat note value selected for the Tempo Resolution is usually based on the meter For example in 4 4 the beat is a quarter note and in 6 8 the beat is usually a dotted quarter note To select the Tempo Resolution BPM rate for Pencil tool edits do one of the following Click the Tempo Resolution selector and se lect the appropriate note value from the pop up menu The Tempo Resolution for...

Page 696: ...n the curve let you adjust the shape and size of the new tempo graph The blue adjustment handles are only active un til a new tool is selected or a new command is executed Tempo curve with different click values Tempo Edit Density selector and pop up menu Pressing Start Windows or Control Mac before drawing a pencil line conforms already created tempo events to the drawn line rather than creating ...

Page 697: ...empo event in the Tempo Editor Using the Selector tool or any Grabber tool double click between two tempo events The first event is selected To Select a tempo curve in the Tempo Editor Using the Selector tool or any Grabber tool triple click on a horizontal tempo line in the curve that you want to select Extending Tempo Selections You can extend Tempo selections to the next or the previous tempo e...

Page 698: ...the Tempo Editor 2 With the Selector tool select the area you want to edit 3 With the Trimmer tool click within the se lected area and drag up or down Dragging up increases the tempo values of the selection in BPM dragging down decreases them To adjust the rate of tempo change over absolute time with the Trimmer tool 1 Open the Tempo Editor 2 With the Selector tool select the area you want to edit...

Page 699: ...d drag horizontally to move the tempo events to a new location To copy and Paste tempo events in the Tempo Editor 1 Open the Tempo Editor 2 With the Selector tool select the area you want to copy 3 Choose Edit Copy 4 Click in the Tempo Editor at the point where you want to paste the tempo events 5 Choose Edit Paste Your copied selection is pasted from the insertion point replacing any existing tem...

Page 700: ...ain constant after the tempo curve is drawn and all sample based events move against bar beat locations in the Timeline When working on any tick based material such as MIDI notes or Elastic Audio events make sure that Linear Sample Display is selected This is especially true if you will be making tempo changes but want the bars and beats to remain fixed in the Time line To change the timebase disp...

Page 701: ...o values Scale Lets you scale tempos within the selection by a percentage amount Stretch Lets you select a region of tempo events and apply them to a larger or smaller selection area To open a specific Tempo Operations window page Choose Event Tempo Operations followed by one of the Tempo Operations page commands such as Constant To open the last active Tempo Operations window page Choose Event Te...

Page 702: ... causes the tempo to change Tempo Specifies the tempo in beats per minute BPM to apply to the selected range Resolution Advanced Option Lets you select the BPM note value for your tempo setting 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 sel...

Page 703: ...ty 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 selection end point is preserved after the selec tion If unselected the last tempo event created by the tempo operation continues to the end of the session or until the next tempo event be yond the selected range Parabolic The Parabolic page lets ...

Page 704: ... the Tempo ruler Preserve Tempo after Selection If selected the previous tempo setting that was in effect at the selection end point is preserved after the selec tion If unselected the last tempo event created by the tempo operation continues to the end of the session or until the next tempo event be yond the selected range S Curve The S Curve page lets you create tempos that ac celerate or decele...

Page 705: ...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 BPM note value for your tempo setting 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 e...

Page 706: ...times are calculated and displayed in Bars Beats Average Tempo Displays the Average Tempo in beats per minute BPM across the selected range Changing the Average Tempo changes the Scale percentage Scale Displays the percentage by which the tempo is scaled in beats per minute BPM across the selected range Changing Scale changes Average Tempo Preserve Tempo after Selection If selected the previous te...

Page 707: ... Beat Markers for the calculated tempo are inserted and appear in the Tempo ruler at the beginning and end of the selection in addition meter events are in serted into the Meter ruler Bar Beat Markers Bar Beat Markers look similar to tempo events but instead have small blue triangles to indicate their location Choosing Bar Beat Markers or Tempo Events Because tempo events are tick based and Bar Be...

Page 708: ...he Identify Beat command only calculates a single tempo for the selected range If the tempo varies from measure to measure or beat to beat you ll need to use the Identify Beat command for each tempo vari ance making sure to accurately define a precise selection range or beat location for the tempo change To accurately define tempos for a range of audio with the Identify Beat command make certain t...

Page 709: ...Beat Marker Neighboring MIDI events along with the Bars Beats ruler shrink or expand as necessary to adjust for the new tempo When dragging a tempo event The tempo event is placed at a new bar and beat location The sample and SMPTE loca tions for the event are updated as well The BPM value for the dragged tempo event remains constant as do any other tempo events in the session Neighboring MIDI eve...

Page 710: ...o Meter Events You can change meter in the Meter ruler or make precise meter changes in the Time Opera tions window Meter events can be inserted at the beginning of a session to replace the default meter of 4 4 and they can be inserted anywhere within the session for additional meter changes To display the Meter ruler Select View Rulers Meter Current Meter As meter events are encountered during pl...

Page 711: ...it that indicates its location These trian gles can be selected for copying and pasting and they can be double clicked to edit the meter event Editing Meter Events Existing meter events can be edited deleted copied and pasted To edit a meter event 1 In the Meter ruler double click the meter event 2 In the Meter Change dialog enter a new Loca tion or Meter for the event 3 Click OK To delete a meter...

Page 712: ...to constrain the selection to the current Grid value set the Edit mode to Grid 2 Drag in the Meter ruler to select the meter events you want to remove 3 Choose Edit Clear to delete the selected meter events Partial Measures As necessary Pro Tools will create a partial mea sure to accommodate the inserted meter event When a meter event is preceded by a partial measure the meter event is displayed i...

Page 713: ... of the new meter that you want to have replace the selected range Pro Tools automatically calculates the nearest whole bar number or you can specify a number of bars to be affected Time is inserted or deleted in whole bar increments at the end of the selec tion as necessary on all affected tracks when you override the calculated range Realign The Realign controls let you choose which items to rea...

Page 714: ...e you want the meter change to begin The meter change will be made at the beginning the nearest bar or Enter the first measure number in the Start ing At Bar field 2 Choose Event Time Operations Change Meter 3 Specify a new meter and click setting 4 Select Until the Next Bar from the Apply Change To pop up menu 5 Click Apply to enter the new meter and to move the insertion point to the end of the ...

Page 715: ...ts you insert time into the Meter Tempo Key and Chord rulers and all tick based markers and tracks Events after the start point of the selection are shifted past the end point by the length of time inserted If the Timeline selection includes any audio re gions on tick based tracks the audio regions are separated at the Start point and the new region containing the previous selection is shifted to ...

Page 716: ...nt of the selection are shifted to the selection start point If your Main Time Scale is sample based Realign Meter Ruler Only is not available Meter Tempo Key and Chord Rulers Tick Based Markers and Tracks and Sample Based Markers and Tracks Cuts time and realigns the Meter Tempo Key and Chord rulers and all tick based markers and tracks If the time selection includes any tick based re gions the s...

Page 717: ...Meter Tempo Key and Chord Rulers all Tick Based Markers and Tracks and Sample Based 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 mark ers and tracks Move Song Start Example To move the Song Start Marker to 15 seconds on the Timeline 1 Choose Event Time Operations Move Song S...

Page 718: ...ius The default key signature is C major Key Signature Ruler The Key Signature ruler lets you add edit and delete key signatures You can use key signatures to indicate key and key changes in your Pro Tools session Key signatures can also be used for certain diatonic functions such as transposing in key or constraining pitches to the specified key To view the Key Signature ruler do one of the follo...

Page 719: ... Edit Clear or press Delete Key Change Dialog The Key Change dialog lets you specify the mode major or minor the key from seven flats to seven sharps the range affected for ex ample from Bar 1 to the next key change and whether or not MIDI notes on pitched tracks are transposed or constrained to key see Pitched Tracks on page 702 The Key Change dialog opens whenever you add or edit a Key Signature...

Page 720: ...keys and applying diatonic transposi tion Constrain Pitches To Key When the Edit Pitched Tracks option is enabled lets you constrain pitches to the notes of the new key This means that any diatonic pitches of the old key on Pitched tracks that are not in the new key are in dividually transposed to the nearest diatonic pitch of the new key For example when chang ing from C major to D major the sequ...

Page 721: ...d symbols to Pro Tools sessions in the Edit win dow and in MIDI Editor windows You can also add chord symbols and diagrams in the Score Editor Chord Symbols and Diagrams on page 649 Chord symbols have no effect on MIDI data Also chord symbols are not included when ex porting MIDI data from Pro Tools to a MIDI file but they are included when exporting to a Sibe lius file sib or when using the Send ...

Page 722: ... time location To delete a chord symbol do one of the following Alt click Windows or Option click Mac the Chord Symbol marker in the Chords ruler or Make a selection in the Chords ruler that in cludes the chord symbols you want to delete and choose Edit Clear or press Delete Chord Change Dialog The Chord Change dialog lets you specify a commercial chord symbol and chord diagram guitar tab to place...

Page 723: ...rs to important locations in the ses sion Edit selections across one or more tracks Record and play ranges along with pre and post roll times Track settings that include Show Hide sta tus Track Heights and zoom values Edit and Mix Groups enables Window Configurations Memory Locations are viewed and sorted in the Memory Locations window where they can be recalled by clicking the Memory Location Pro...

Page 724: ...ion Memory Location lets you store Edit selec tions for one or more tracks that you return to often within a session If the Timeline and Edit Selections are linked a Selection Memory Loca tion can recall record and play ranges None Recalls no Time Properties and is therefore referred to as a General Properties Memory Loca tion Bar Beat and Absolute Reference The Reference pop up determines whether...

Page 725: ...s for particular edit and mixing op erations such as muting all drum tracks or fad ing a stereo pair Window Configuration Recalls a specific Window Configuration This option is helpful in recall ing specific Window Configurations to facilitate editing or mixing tasks For more information on Window Configurations see Window Con figurations on page 142 Comments All three types of Memory Locations Ma...

Page 726: ... Memory Location such as zoom settings pre and post roll times Show Hide status for tracks Track Heights and Edit and Mix Group enables 2 Select a range of material in one or more tracks 3 Do one of the following Press Enter on the numeric keypad or From the Memory Locations Window menu choose Add Memory Location 4 In the New Memory Location dialog select the Selection option and set the Reference...

Page 727: ...e location is reached press Enter on the numeric keypad A Marker is automatically created 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 Mem ory Location was created last it will b...

Page 728: ...of the following In the Memory Locations window double click the Memory Location to open the Edit Memory Location dialog In the Marker ruler double click the Marker to open the Edit Memory Location dialog and relocate the insertion point at the marker location In the Marker ruler Start click Windows or Control click Mac the Marker to open the Edit Memory Location dialog without locating the insert...

Page 729: ...more tracks 3 In the Memory Locations window Right click Windows or Control click Mac the Memory Location that you want to redefine 4 Enter a name for the Memory Location and click OK To move a Marker by dragging In the Markers ruler drag the Marker left or right If the Edit mode is set to Grid the dragged event snaps to the current Grid value If using Spot mode the Spot dialog opens To align a Ma...

Page 730: ...d are pasted from the insertion point re placing any existing Markers To extend an Edit selection in a track to the Markers ruler 1 Using the Selector or Grabber tool select a track range 2 Shift click in the Markers ruler Shift click again in the Markers ruler to remove it from the selection To select all Markers in the Markers ruler With the Selector tool double click in the Markers ruler Memory...

Page 731: ...kers and the start times for Selec tion Memory Locations General Property Mem ory Locations display nothing in this column You can click at the top of the Main Time Scale column for a pop up menu that lets you change the Main Time Scale Show Sub Counter When selected a column ap pears in the Memory Locations window that dis plays the locations based on the Sub Time Scale for Markers and the start ...

Page 732: ...tion as one of the other types Auto Name Memory Location When selected Memory Locations are created automatically without encountering the New Memory Loca tion dialog If the Default To Marker option is se lected a Marker Memory Location is auto cre ated Otherwise the Memory Location type is determined by whatever type Marker Selec tion or None was created last View Filter Icons When Show Icons is ...

Page 733: ...ono tracks Regions are placed according to the current Edit mode In Shuffle mode existing track regions are slid as necessary to make room for the new region In Spot mode you are prompted by the Spot dialog to enter a location for the dragged re gion see Spotting Regions on page 722 In Grid mode the dragged region snaps to the nearest Grid boundary In Slip mode the regions are placed exactly where...

Page 734: ...Region List menu choose Timeline Drop Order Top to Bottom 2 Select multiple items in the Region List and drop them in the playlist of a compatible track at the target location When the cursor is over a compatible destination the region outlines ap pear at the location To drag and drop multiple items from the Region List to a single track 1 From the Region List menu choose Timeline Drop Order Left ...

Page 735: ...r from another track to the des tination track or If the region is already in the track Start click Windows or Control click Mac the region with the Time Grabber tool To place the end of a region at the Edit insertion point 1 With the Selector tool click in the track at the time location where you want to place the end of the region 2 Do one of the following While pressing Control Start Windows or...

Page 736: ... only move the playhead to the start of the selected region see Moving the Playhead on page 337 3 Do one of the following Control Start drag Windows or Com mand Control drag Mac a region from the Region List to another track or If the region is already in the track Con trol Start click Windows or Command Control click Mac the region you want to move with the Time Grabber tool The end point of the ...

Page 737: ...e track somewhere in the middle The start point for the second region snaps to the end of the first region 4 With the Time Grabber tool drag the second region to the beginning of the track Pro Tools shuffles the position of the two re gions The second region now occurs first yet the two still cling together 5 Experiment more with Shuffle mode by drag ging additional regions to the track and rear r...

Page 738: ... location The Grabber tools cut the selection and paste it to the new location To move one or more regions or the Edit selection with one of the Grabber tools 1 Make a selection 2 With one of the Grabber tools Time Separa tion or Object drag the selection to the new lo cation Time Grabber and Object Grabber If you are moving audio data the Time Grabber and Object Grabber tools overlay only the aud...

Page 739: ...ng With the Time Grabber select a region or With the Selector select an area in a track that contains whole regions The regions do not need to be adjacent 2 Do one of the following Choose Edit Snap To Previous or Right click the region or Edit selection and choose Snap to Previous The selected region snaps to the preceding re gion on the track so that the two regions are butt spliced To snap to th...

Page 740: ...huffle mode 4 Drag the regions to different locations within the track to get a feel for moving them in Slip mode Try placing the second region so that it slightly overlaps the first region Play back the results Spotting Regions Spot mode is useful for sessions in which you want to spot regions to precise locations based on any of the Time Scales This is useful when performing post production task...

Page 741: ...tly se lected field If you are using an external SMPTE time code source click the down arrow next to the Current Time Code display or press Equal on the numeric keypad to cap ture an incoming time code address 6 Click OK The region is moved to the new lo cation specified for its start end or sync point If a region does not have a sync point defined the Sync Point field in the Spot dialog functions...

Page 742: ... menu when auditioning takes see Select ing Alternate Takes on a Track on page 383 Sliding Regions in Grid Mode Grid mode provides several useful capabilities for sliding and moving regions in track playlists This mode is especially useful for lining up re gions at precise intervals as when working with a session that is bar and beat based Grid boundaries depending on the Main Time Scale can be ba...

Page 743: ...oint falls between beats and the Grid is set to 1 4 notes dragging the region will snap its start time to the nearest 1 4 note the current absolute Grid value In Relative Grid mode regions can be moved by Grid or Nudge units If a region s start point falls between beats and the Grid is set to 1 4 notes dragging the region will be constrained to 1 4 notes preserving the region s relative posi tion ...

Page 744: ...m with final regions of the same length To replace regions by dragging and dropping 1 Select a region in a track s playlist that you want to replace The selection can extend be yond the region s end point to include material from the replacement region that is longer than the original region 2 Control Shift drag Windows or Command Shift drag Mac the replacement region from the Region List to the s...

Page 745: ... as the original region On All Tracks replaces regions that fit the Match criteria for all tracks in the session On Within the Selection replaces regions that fit the Match criteria within the cur rent selection Region matching uses all specified Match crite ria For example if you select Start Position and End Position all regions from the same original audio file as your selection with the same o...

Page 746: ...with another stereo region from the Re gion List However you cannot replace it with two mono audio regions Additionally you can not replace regions in multiple mono tracks with multichannel regions Sync Points The placement of regions in Grid and Spot mode can be based on the definition of a region sync point Sync points are used when a specific point within a region must be aligned to the Grid or...

Page 747: ... audio region To set the sync point by dragging 1 If you want the sync point to snap to the cur rent Grid value enable Grid mode see Edit Modes on page 445 2 Select the Time Grabber tool 3 Drag the sync point to a new location Scrubbing Sync Points While viewing an audio waveform can be a good way to set a sync point a waveform display may not always reveal the desired spot in the audio material B...

Page 748: ...outside of the selection The Shift command works the same regardless of the Edit mode For example adjacent regions 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 Locking Regions In many cases you may want to lock regions or region groups to a specific time location to keep them from being moved inadv...

Page 749: ... differ ent time location such as separating trimming AudioSuite processing or even moving the re gion to another track Time locked regions can also be deleted When separating a Time locked region any new regions will also be locked to their time locations To Time lock or unlock a region 1 With the Time Grabber select the region or re gions to Time lock or unlock The regions can reside on multiple...

Page 750: ...ections across multiple tracks and removes or extracts any areas of silence dividing the selection into smaller regions and removing the silent areas You can use Strip Silence to strip remove si lence from a region or instead extract the audio and keep the silence Getting rid of silent areas is useful when preparing to compact audio see Compacting an Audio File on page 507 Strip Silence automatica...

Page 751: ...rack Extract Clears the audio and leaves the silent portions of the track in other words an in verse strip silence feature that is ideal for gener ating room tone or ambience to use elsewhere Rename Opens the Rename Selected Regions di alog see Auto Naming for Strip Silence on page 733 Separate Separates regions based on the bound aries detected by Strip Silence Auto Naming for Strip Silence The R...

Page 752: ...al before and after the new re gions adjust the settings for Region Start Pad and Region End Pad 6 Once the Strip Silence rectangles encompass the audio that you want to keep press the Strip button The material defined as silence is removed from the selection and new regions are created which also appear in the Region List Strip Silence is nondestructive and does not re move audio data from parent...

Page 753: ...silence on audio MIDI and Instrument tracks This command lets you make a selection on a track or tracks and insert precisely that amount of silence In Shuffle mode all data on the track is shuffled later in the track by an amount equal to the se lection In Grid mode the Insert Silence command works just like the Clear command Shuffle Mode When inserting silence on multi ple tracks in Shuffle mode ...

Page 754: ...the selection Duplicating Regions The Duplicate command copies a selection and places it immediately after the end of the selec tion Though this is similar to using Copy and Paste Duplicate is more convenient and faster particularly when working with data on multi ple tracks To make more than one copy of a selection use the Repeat command see Repeating Regions on page 737 You can also loop regions...

Page 755: ...ou specify the number of times the selected material is duplicated As with the Copy and Paste commands certain rules apply when repeating material on multiple tracks see Editing Across Multiple Tracks on page 443 You can repeatedly paste copied data until it completely fills a selection see Repeat To Fill Selection on page 443 You can also loop regions see Region Looping on page 739 To repeat a se...

Page 756: ...Pro Tools Reference Guide 738 ...

Page 757: ...ns are all looped regions following the source re gion In cases where a specific number of repeti tions has not been indicated the last loop itera tion is truncated to fill to the end of the selection or specified Loop Length Once looped the looped region can be edited much like a region group For example selecting and moving a looped region selects and moves the source region and all its loop ite...

Page 758: ...era tion will be truncated Select the Loop Until End of Session or Next Region option The looped region will be re peated until the end of the session or until the next region on the track If necessary the last loop iteration will be truncated to fit 4 To add a crossfade at the loop point select the Enable Crossfade option To edit the loop cross fade do the following Click the Settings button Conf...

Page 759: ...or as individual regions each loop iteration For example selecting a looped region with the Grabber tool selects the entire loop the source region and all its loop it erations but clicking the Loop icon of one of the loop iterations selects only that one itera tion Moving a looped region moves the source re gion and all its loop iterations together as a group Loop iterations cannot be moved inde p...

Page 760: ...re the last original loop iter ation ended If the trim to the left is part of the source region s length the source region is not moved and a partial loop iteration is created to the left of the source region This is a powerful feature that lets you make quick changes to your arrangement by using partial loops as upbeats or by extending looped sound effects or ambi ence earlier in a film score To ...

Page 761: ...ed by the region group such as Cut or Delete Other edits only apply to the bound aries of the region group and do not affect the underlining regions such as Trim Each region group is saved with the session as a Region Group file rgrp Region group files can be exported from and imported into different Pro Tools sessions Region groups are especially useful for Grouping tick based audio regions that ...

Page 762: ...lection and choose Group The region group appears as one region with the region groups icon in the lower left corner Re gion groups also appear in the Region List Region Group Timebase Format Region groups are created in the same timebase format samples or ticks as the tracks on which they are created Multitrack region groups can include both sample based and tick based tracks Selecting regions to...

Page 763: ...Choose Region Regroup If you used the Ungroup All command the Re group command recreates all previous nested re gion groups 3 If you regrouped an ungrouped region group that was used more than once in the session do one of the following when the Change All dialog opens Choose Modify to apply your changes to all other instances of the same region group or Choose Copy to create a copy and apply your...

Page 764: ...n as a single region group but the separated icon indicates that the region group displayed is somehow in complete or separated across nonadjacent tracks Selecting regions to be grouped across multiple tracks Multitrack region group Mixed multitrack region group sample and tick based audio and tick based MIDI Region Group icon Mixed Region Group icon Multitrack region groups create nested region g...

Page 765: ...p for verse two but still have a continuous vocal track in the middle of those region groups Region Groups on Tick Based Tracks When changing tempos region groups on tick based tracks adjust their length by adjusting the position of all enclosed regions accordingly This can be useful for arranging rhythmic mate rial and for playing back region groups imported from REX and ACID files Changing Regio...

Page 766: ...acks Editing Region Groups Region groups are edited in much the same way as regular regions They can be named moved cut copied pasted trimmed muted locked and so on However there are a few significant differences between editing regular regions and region groups Editing MIDI Region Groups If a MIDI region within a region group is modi fied in any way a new region copy is created and placed over of...

Page 767: ...ons depending on which region type in the group you trim and creates a new region over the region group If you ungroup regions after trimming a region group in shorter audio regions falling outside of the bounds of the current region group are trimmed to fit the region group boundary or re moved Recording When recording audio or MIDI new regions are created over in front of region groups instead o...

Page 768: ...d fades and crossfades Region group names and format single or multitrack All MIDI data present in the region group such as notes controllers Sysex and so on Track names Elastic Audio Warp markers and TCE factor Region timebase samples or ticks Sync points Loops Tempo map Region group files do not store the following Automation Plug ins Track routing Meter map Region List information When changing...

Page 769: ...751 Part VIII Processing ...

Page 770: ...752 ...

Page 771: ...estructive and real time For information on using real time plug ins as well as hardware in serts on tracks see Chapter 41 Plug in and Hardware Inserts The AudioSuite Menu AudioSuite plug ins are accessed through the AudioSuite menu Plug ins can be organized in the AudioSuite menu in Pro Tools by Flat List with plug ins in alphabetical order Category Manufacturer or Category and Manufacturer To op...

Page 772: ...u aims the selected process at either re gions selected in an audio track or playlist or at regions selected in the Region List When you select a region on screen in either a track playlist or the Region List Pro Tools nor mally selects both occurrences of the region Since you may not want to process both this menu provides a convenient means of limiting the AudioSuite process to regions selected ...

Page 773: ...l be modified There are three options Overwrite Files Processes the selected regions de structively overwriting the original audio Not all AudioSuite plug ins can be used destruc tively Create Individual Files Processes the selected re gions nondestructively creating a new audio file for each region The new audio files are added to the session leaving the original source audio files in the Region ...

Page 774: ...tting from the Plug in Librarian menu Plug ins Settings Select Button Accesses the Plug in Settings dialog which lists the presets for the current plug in From this list you can select a new preset or audition a series of pre sets Compare Toggles between the original saved plug in preset and any changes you have made to it so you can compare them Other AudioSuite Controls In addition to the standa...

Page 775: ...Channel Mode button lets you process con tiguous channels within a selected region as though they were mono or stereo tracks and in some cases greater than stereo tracks regard less of the type of tracks they occupy Mono Mode Processes each contiguous channel within a selected region as a separate mono track For example a region comprised of six mono tracks would be processed as six mono tracks St...

Page 776: ...channel of any selected multichannel region will be previewed If you are processing using Region by Region mode the Preview function will preview only the first region within a multi region selection To hear all selected regions temporarily select Create Continuous File from the File Mode menu before previewing Preview Volume The Preview Volume control lets you adjust the volume for previewing Aud...

Page 777: ...udio When new audio files are created as a result of AudioSuite processing Pro Tools will auto name these files according to the type of plug in used The name of the region determines the prefix while the type of AudioSuite plug in determines the suffix Automatic file naming follows these rules New regions are named beginning with the re gion name followed by an abbreviation of the current AudioSu...

Page 778: ...ce material so that the plug in can write it to the audio file If you select only the original mate rial without leaving additional space at the end any reverb decay or delay that occurs after the end of the region will be cut off To compensate for this place the region in a track and select the audio plus an amount of blank space at the end of the region equal to the amount of delay or reverb dec...

Page 779: ...te processing of the selected material 5 Make any further adjustments to the plug in controls if necessary 6 When you are satisfied with the results click the Process button The selected audio is processed according to the specified settings Pro Tools appends an acro nym to the region name indicating the Audio Suite process that has been applied Any new au dio files appear in the Region List Using...

Page 780: ...Pro Tools Reference Guide 762 ...

Page 781: ...view Elastic Audio is useful in several common work flows working with loops correcting perfor mances remixing sound design and special ef fects and film scoring Working with Loops If you work with loops Elastic Audio lets you preview your loops in DigiBase 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 t...

Page 782: ...on a tick based Elastic Audio enabled track Change the session tempo to change the tempo of the region on tick based Elastic Audio enabled tracks Quantize the audio to apply a Groove Tem plate to the rhythm Transposition the region to match the pitch of the imported audio to other audio and MIDI in the session Create and configure a new session 1 Create a new Pro Tools session 2 Set the session s ...

Page 783: ...hat column the file s Duration is now measured in Bars and Beats instead of Minutes and Seconds the Sample based icon is replaced by the Tick based icon and the detected tempo of the file is displayed in the Tempo column 8 Repeat the preceding steps to preview other loops at the session tempo Import the loop at the session tempo 1 Make sure that the Audio Files Conform to Session Tempo button is s...

Page 784: ...he loop con forms to the tempo map and Bar Beat grid of the session A Warp indicator appears in both the re gion in the track and in the Region List Also in the Region List notice that there are two re gions One is the sample based whole file region the imported source file and the other is the tick based Elastic Audio processed copy See Figure 2 on page 767 If All Files is selected as the Drag an...

Page 785: ... the Quantize Grid pop up menu select a Groove Template 5 Set any other options 6 Click Apply 7 In Figure 3 below notice that the audio has been quantized according to the selected Groove Template In Warp view you can see that Warp markers have been added at every Event marker near the Quantize Grid and were used to apply quantization to those events Transpose the audio region down a whole tone 1 ...

Page 786: ...Pro Tools Reference Guide 768 Figure 3 Quantized audio events Warp markers in Warp view ...

Page 787: ...line when the analysis is finished The wave form for audio regions that are offline for Elastic Audio analysis 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 To have all new tracks be tick based enable the New Trac...

Page 788: ...d or reverted depending on which option you choose Creating New Tracks with Elastic Audio Enabled New tracks are created with Elastic Audio auto matically enabled in the following cases When the Enable Elastic Audio On New Tracks option is enabled in the Processing Preferences page see Elastic Audio Op tions on page 279 When dragging and dropping tick based Elastic Audio analyzed files from DigiBa...

Page 789: ...lastic Audio Track Views There are two special Track Views for Elastic Au dio enabled tracks Warp and Analysis Warp View Warp view lets you manually time warp Elas tic Audio process audio In Warp view you can create and edit Warp markers If you are using Elastic Audio to correct the timing of a perfor mance or to achieve special effects work in Warp view Analysis View Analysis view lets you edit d...

Page 790: ... analyzed for tempo and duration in bars and beats Analyzed files in which a tempo was detected are treated as tick based files Tick based files can be conformed to the session tempo for preview and import Analyzed files in which no tempo was detected are treated as sample based files If there is only a single transient in the file such as with a sin gle snare hit no tempo will be detected Also lo...

Page 791: ... a manual TCE warp or pitch shifting take effect immedi ately However Real Time Elastic Audio process ing can be very demanding on your system s re sources Consequently you may want to use Rendered Elastic Audio processing in some cases With Rendered Elastic Audio processing when you make a change to Elastic Audio pro cessing any affected audio regions temporarily go offline a new rendered audio f...

Page 792: ...provides several algorithms for real time and rendered track based Elastic Audio pro cessing The selected Elastic Audio plug in deter mines how the audio is processed Each plug in uses different algorithms for Elastic Audio pro cessing Different algorithms are better suited to different types of audio Select the plug in whose algorithm is appropriate to the material on the track you want to proces...

Page 793: ...astic Properties window Input Gain on page 790 or attenuate the Default Input Gain in the Pro cessing Preferences page see Elastic Audio Op tions on page 279 You can undo any Elastic Audio processing and apply an appropriate amount of AudioSuite Gain reduction and then try the Elastic Audio processing again The Clip LED only functions for Real Time Elastic Audio processing it does not function for...

Page 794: ...plug in supports region based pitch shifting Decay Rate The Decay Rate control determines how much of the decay from a transient is heard in the pro cessed audio when time stretching When the Rhythmic plug in is selected any gaps between transients resulting from time stretching are filled in with audio The Decay Rate determines how much of this audio is heard by applying a fade out rate Adjust th...

Page 795: ...Zotope The X Form Elastic Audio plug in is for Rendered Elastic Au dio processing only and cannot process in real time or as an AudioSuite plug in It provides the highest quality time compression algorithms for music production sound design and audio loop applications Elastic Audio plug in Monophonic Elastic Audio pitch shifting is not supported with the Monophonic algorithm The Monophonic plug in...

Page 796: ...rp from the Track View pop up menu Elastic Audio Markers in Warp View Three types of markers are visible in Warp view Event markers Warp markers and Tempo Event generated Warp markers Use Event markers and Warp markers as control points for applying Elastic Audio processing Audio with a fundamental pitch has an overtone series or set of higher harmonics The strength of these higher harmonics cre a...

Page 797: ... be tween the first and middle pins and relaxed or compressed between the middle pin and the last pin In Warp view you can add relocate without warping and delete Warp markers You can also move a Warp marker to apply Elastic Audio processing see Warping Audio on page 780 To add a Warp marker In Warp view do one of the following With the Pencil tool click anywhere in the region to add a Warp marker...

Page 798: ...Event generated Warp markers are not editable and are only displayed to indicate where Elastic Audio processing has been applied to conform the audio to Tempo Events You will only see Tempo Event generated Warp markers on tick based tracks If you change the track timebase from ticks to samples any Tempo Event generated Warp markers convert to regular editable Warp mark ers Warping Audio In Warp vi...

Page 799: ...eat match a song to the session tempo and Bar Beat grid using Telescoping Warp 1 Make sure the Main Timebase ruler is set to Bars Beats 2 Set the default tempo and meter 3 Select Grid mode 4 Import a song or any other longer audio file from a DigiBase browser 5 Make sure that Elastic Audio is enabled on the track 6 Select Warp view 7 Make sure there are no Warp markers present on the region If nec...

Page 800: ...lies Elastic Audio processing be tween two fixed points in a region To apply Range Warp there must be at least two Warp markers present in the region To apply Range Warp within a region 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 3 With the Grabber tool drag an Event marker ...

Page 801: ...thin the Edit Selection to the left or the right Elastic Audio processing is only applied to the audio between the bounding Warp markers and the first and last Warp markers in the Edit Selec tion All audio between the first and last Warp markers in the Edit Selection maintain their rel ative timing Individual Range Warp Individual Range Warp applies warping to a sin gle audio event in relation to ...

Page 802: ...dio processing However at such ex tremes it is possible to go out of the selected Elastic Audio plug in s processing range When this happens it is possible that not every sample will be processed correctly and you may encoun ter audio drop outs The valid range for Elastic Audio TCE processing is 1 4x to 4x for all Elastic Audio plug ins except X Form which supports 1 8x to 8x TCE less than or grea...

Page 803: ...tely detects all the transient events Event markers in an audio file and you will not need to work in Analysis view However Pro Tools may not accurately detect every audio event or may erroneously detect audio events with some types of audio material This is especially true for audio without clear transients such as legato strings melismatic vocals or soft synth pads Use Analysis view to manually ...

Page 804: ...lative degrees of confidence between 1 and 100 You can filter out extraneous Event markers by adjusting the Event Sensitivity setting in the Elastic Prop erties window event markers with the least con fidence are filtered out first However some sig nificant events may not be recognized with a high degree of confidence In this case you may want to promote the Event marker to ensure that it is not f...

Page 805: ...astic Audio properties such as tempo meter TCE factor Input Gain and Pitch Shift The Elastic Properties window lets you view and change the properties for selected regions For example you can reduce the Input Gain for Elastic Audio processing to avoid clipping that can occur during processing From the Elastic Properties window you can also filter Event markers for Elastic Audio re gions on tick ba...

Page 806: ...he duration was incorrectly analyzed as being half the duration of the source file click the x2 button If the duration was incorrectly analyzed as being twice the duration of the source file click the 1 2 button Source Tempo Tick Based Tracks Only The Source Tempo property displays the average tempo of the source file which is calculated based on the detected transient events and the length of the...

Page 807: ...t The Event Sensitivity acts like a threshold for showing only the transient events that were de tected with a high degree of confidence In Warp or Analysis track views you will see the number of Event markers decrease or increase as you lower or raise the Event Sensitivity Lowering the event sensitivity can help reduce the number of erroneously detected transients In turn this can result in bette...

Page 808: ...real time or rendered pitch shifting in semitones and cents by 2 octaves Elastic Audio Region Based Pitch Shifting Polyphonic Rhythmic and X Form Only In addition to Pro Tools Elastic Audio time com pression and expansion capabilities you can also change the pitch of whole audio regions in semitones and cents in the range of 2 oc taves To pitch shift a region 1 Make sure the region or regions you ...

Page 809: ...nked If you apply pitch transposi tion to an audio region using the Polyphonic or Rhythmic algorithms that transposition data is stored in the metadata for the region Conse quently if you then switch to Varispeed change the TCE factor and then switch back to the orig inal Elastic Audio algorithm the region will re vert to the original amount of pitch shifting while maintaining the amount of time c...

Page 810: ...ess the entire region and write a new audio file or actually apply destructive processing when applying AudioSuite processing to regions on Elastic Audio enabled tracks any Elastic Au dio processing is rendered first the rendered file is then processed by AudioSuite and the result ing new audio file is analyzed for Elastic Audio processing Remove Pitch Shift can only be applied to regions and cann...

Page 811: ...red Elastic Audio enabled track Real time Elastic Audio enabled track Apply real time Elastic Audio processing using the desti nation track s Elastic Audio plug in Rendered Elastic Audio enabled track audio track no Elastic Audio Commit to track Audio track no Elastic Audio Real time Elastic Audio enabled track Calculate Elastic Audio analysis and apply real time Elastic Audio processing using the...

Page 812: ... part of a region being played might actually be a few samples longer or shorter When fades or crossfades are applied to warped regions the audio waveform at the boundary between the real time region and the rendered fade may not actually be con tinuous For example if there are two butt spliced re gions on a Real Time Elastic Audio enabled track Elastic Audio processes them separately even though ...

Page 813: ...iew and import If you experience clipping due to Elastic Audio processing during preview or after import you may want to set the Default Input Gain to slightly attenuate the audio signal input for Elastic Audio processing This prefer ence also applies to any audio imported to an Elastic Audio enabled track If you commit any regions on a track by dis abling Elastic Audio on the track that were im p...

Page 814: ...Pro Tools Reference Guide 796 ...

Page 815: ...tten Performance Change Velocity Change Duration Transpose Select Split Notes Input Quantize Step Input The Event Operations window can be left open This provides quick access to apply a command or try out different options for a particular com mand To open a specific Event Operations window page Choose Event Event Operations followed by one of the Event Operations such as Quantize To open the las...

Page 816: ... For audio regions quantization ad justs the start times or sync points of audio re gions For Elastic Audio quantization adjusts to the location of detected transient events and ap plies Elastic Audio processing accordingly The Quantize Event Operations window lets you apply Grid Quantize based on rhythmic values such as 1 16 note or using Groove Quantize based on Groove Templates Slightly differe...

Page 817: ...Depend ing on what type of track material is selected not all options will be available If only MIDI is selected the Audio Regions and Elastic Audio Events options are unavailable If only audio is selected the Note On Note Off and Preserve Note Duration options are not available Note On When selected MIDI note start points are quantized Note Off When selected MIDI note end points are quantized Pre...

Page 818: ...eated automatically on top of Event markers nearest the quantize grid Quan tize then uses these Warp markers to apply quantization Quantize Grid Quantize Grid Pop Up Menu Determines the beat boundaries to which MIDI notes Elastic Audio events and audio region start points are aligned Any size from whole notes 1 1 to sixty fourth notes 1 64 including dotted and triplet values can be selected for th...

Page 819: ...swung or wildly off the beat Figure 6 shows the Quantize Grid set to quarter notes with the Include Within option set to 50 In this example only the MIDI Note Ons and MIDI Note Offs falling within the shaded area equivalent to an eight note area around each beat are quantized Exclude Within When selected MIDI Note Ons and MIDI Note Offs Elastic Audio events and audio regions are not quantized if l...

Page 820: ... are deselected 6 Click Apply Quantizing While Preserving the Original Feel You can quantize less strictly to preserve the original feel of your recorded MIDI and audio tracks To quantize while preserving the original feel 1 Select the range of MIDI notes Elastic Audio events or audio regions to be quantized 2 Choose Event Event Operations Quantize 3 Under What to Quantize select the Note On optio...

Page 821: ...with Randomize If quantized events sound too mechanical or on the beat use the Randomize option in the Quantize window to make them sound more natural To humanize the rhythmic feel of events 1 Select the range of MIDI notes Elastic Audio events or audio regions to be quantized 2 Choose Event Event Operations Quantize 3 Under What to Quantize select the Note On option for quantizing MIDI notes To a...

Page 822: ...as a groove template Groove templates can be used to transfer the feel of a particular perfor mance to MIDI notes Timing Duration and Velocity Elastic Audio events and audio re gions DigiGroove templates can be created using Beat Detective Beat Detective analyzes an audio se lection for transient peaks according to a de fined threshold and maps the rhythmic rela tionships to a 960 parts per quarte...

Page 823: ...cation and the position of the referenced tem plate event For example if an event was played at Bar 1 1 060 a 16th note and the corresponding template event is at 1 1 073 a slider value of 100 results in the event being shifted to 1 1 073 a slider value of 200 shifts the note to 1 1 086 The default value for the Timing slider is 100 Duration Enable to influence the durations of the selected MIDI n...

Page 824: ...s first Another Event Operations window is se lected The Event Operations window is closed You switch to another groove template Applying Groove Templates Groove templates can be of any length and can be applied to any number of bars Typically you will apply groove templates to selections of the same bar length and meter However groove templates can be applied to different meters for example a gro...

Page 825: ...e first bar of the template is used If the selection does not encompass bar boundaries for example 1 2 000 to 2 1 000 the groove template only modifies the selected notes Figure 8 A DigiGroove template derived from the audio shown applied to a series of sixteenth notes with Timing and Velocity both set to 100 2 bar groove template repeating template grid 2 bar groove template 2 bar groove template...

Page 826: ...one bar template in 6 4 being applied to a two bar selec tion in 4 4 only uses the appropriate number of beats Behavior for Mixed Meters If the selection contains mixed meters the groove template will always be mapped so that the downbeats are aligned For example if the Groove Template consists of one bar of 4 4 and it is being applied to a selection of one bar of 4 4 followed by a bar of 7 16 and...

Page 827: ...ou want to quantize on Elas tic Audio enabled tracks Audio not on Elastic Audio enabled tracks will not be quantized 2 Choose Events Event Operations Quantize 3 In the Quantize window select Elastic Audio Events from the What to Quantize pop up menu 4 Set the Quantize Grid and Options settings 5 Click Apply The Warp and Event markers closest to the Quantize Grid are quantized accordingly TCE is ap...

Page 828: ...me time Restore Performance The Restore Performance command reverts all se lected MIDI notes to their original state when first recorded or manually inserted even after the session has been saved or the Undo queue has been cleared Restore Performance can also be applied to quantized Elastic Audio Events or quantized audio regions The following MIDI note Elastic Audio Event and audio region attribu...

Page 829: ...re 4 Click Apply Any changes made through the Quantize Change Duration MIDI only Change Velocity MIDI only or Transpose commands are undone and the original performance is restored Also any MIDI notes that were recorded with Input Quantize enabled are restored see Input Quan tize on page 820 Removing Input Quantize Restore Performance can be used to remove quantization on input for MIDI notes For ...

Page 830: ... notes louder or softer 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 582 Event Operations window Flatten Performance page The Flatten Performance command can be undone Event Operations window Change Velocity page You can also change velocity nondestruc tively in real time using MIDI Real Tim...

Page 831: ...t to a value of 64 and with Randomize enabled and set to a value of 50 the resulting velocities will be anywhere between 48 and 80 25 of the velocity value To randomize selected velocities without applying any other Change Velocity options 1 Enable the Scale By option and set it to 100 2 Enable Randomize and set the amount of ran domization you want 3 Click Apply Velocity Ranges The valid range fo...

Page 832: ...locity 3 Select the Scale By option with the percentage value set to 120 4 Click Apply Change Duration The Change Duration command adjusts dura tions for selected MIDI notes Use it to affect the articulation of the selected notes by making them more staccato or legato Figure 9 Change Smoothly by Percentage Original velocities After Change Smoothly by Percentage 100 to 20 After Change Smoothly from...

Page 833: ...reatly simplify editing while maintaining the desired performance ef fect For example if a sustain pedal down event is deleted while editing the subsequent MIDI performance looses its legato effect Change Continuously Option The Change Continuously option lets you change the duration of notes continuously in ticks or by percentage Adjust the Curve slider to modify the shape of the change Change Co...

Page 834: ...r MIDI tracks that you want to transpose making sure to exclude any drum tracks from the group so they aren t trans posed You can even transpose in key The Transpose command can also be applied to whole regions on Elastic Audio enabled tracks using the Polyphonic Rhythmic or X Form plug ins Transpose By Octaves Transposes selected MIDI notes by up to 10 octaves or trans poses selected Elastic Audi...

Page 835: ...by an octave 1 With the Selector tool double click in the track to select all of its MIDI notes 2 Choose Event Event Operations Transpose 3 Select the Transpose By option 4 Enter a value of 1 octave 5 Click Apply To transpose selected notes in key 1 Select the MIDI notes you want to transpose 2 Choose Event Event Operations Transpose 3 Select Transpose in Key 4 Adjust the slider or type a number f...

Page 836: ...icks for select ing or splitting notes Enter minimum and max imum durations Position Enable the Position option to select or split all notes that fall into a range of relative beat and tick locations within each bar The minimum value determines the start of the range the maximum value sets the end of the range Action Select Notes Selects MIDI notes based on the specified criteria Split Notes The C...

Page 837: ...electing a Pitch Range of Notes A common use for Select Split Notes is to select a single note for the entire length of a region or track This is especially useful if you want to se lect a note in a MIDI drum track such as a hi hat and affect it over the selected time range with the Quantize Groove Quantize Transpose or Change Duration command To select only the hi hats in a General MIDI drum trac...

Page 838: ...vent Operations Select Split Notes 3 Select the Bottom option and leave the num ber of notes set to 1 4 Click Apply Input Quantize When Input Quantize is enabled all recorded MIDI notes are quantized automatically To enable Input Quantize 1 Choose Event Event Operations Input Quan tize 2 In the Input Quantize page select Enable Input Quantize 3 Configure the other options in the Input Quantize pag...

Page 839: ...ase a note s length while using Step Input 1 Play and hold a note on your MIDI instru ment 2 Choose the note value that you would like to add and press the Increment button Release the note on your MIDI keyboard to move to the next step insertion point Step Input Controls The Step Input page has the following controls Enable When selected adds MIDI events to the destination track when you play you...

Page 840: ...Numeric Keypad Shortcuts When se lected Step Input options can be selected from the numeric keypad See Numeric Keypad Shortcuts on page 823 Undo Step Next Step and Redo Step Use the Undo Step and Next Step buttons to do the following Move the step insertion point by either re moving the previous note or by advancing the insertion point by the Step Increment value Lengthen and shorten notes that ar...

Page 841: ...ocate the button you want to assign a MIDI event to and click in the field below the button 4 Play the MIDI event you want to use as a trig ger 5 Press Enter to confirm the MIDI trigger assign ment Numeric Keypad Shortcuts When Enable Numeric Keypad Shortcuts is se lected you can apply many of the controls in the Step Input page as well as several selection controls using your computer s numeric k...

Page 842: ...Pro Tools Reference Guide 824 ...

Page 843: ...825 Part IX Mixing ...

Page 844: ...826 ...

Page 845: ...audio CDs and MP3 en coded files of rough mixes and audition them outside the studio in different listening environ ments Format Compatibility Monitoring Check stereo mixes for compatibility with mono playback systems and multichannel surround mixes for compatibility with stereo playback systems see the Pro Tools Sync Surround Concepts Guide Metering and Calibration Meters provide a visual display...

Page 846: ...als when record enabled or in TrackInput monitoring mode In serts on audio tracks are pre fader Sends on au dio tracks can be pre or post fader Mono and stereo audio tracks are available on all Pro Tools systems Multichannel audio tracks and surround mixing formats are supported by Pro Tools HD only Audio Auxiliary Input Master Fader VCA Master MIDI and Instrument tracks For information on creatin...

Page 847: ... reverb or bus line compression Input audio from external MIDI instru ments and other audio sources into the mix to monitor or route to audio tracks for recording to disk such as from the audio outputs of a MIDI synthesizer Consolidate volume control of any submix under a single fader Mix multiple outputs from an instrument plug in such as Digidesign Structure Strike or Transfuser To route an Auxi...

Page 848: ...n output such as a bus or hardware output to guard against clip ping Control submix levels Control effects sends levels Control submaster bussed tracks levels Apply dither or other inserts to an entire mix Use Master Faders to control submix levels send level masters and other outputs Master Faders can control either audio interface outputs or in ternal busses A Stereo Master Fader controls the le...

Page 849: ...plicate a Master Fader track the duplicated track s assignment will be inactive Instrument Tracks Instrument tracks provide the same audio signal routing options as Auxiliary Input tracks except that their input must come from an instrument plug in inserted on that Instrument track or from a bus or hardware input Instrument tracks are used as inputs for instru ment plug ins and other sources inclu...

Page 850: ... channel for the external MIDI instrument from the pop up menu 5 Adjust the Instrument fader to set the volume VCA Master Tracks Pro Tools HD Only VCA Master tracks emulate the operation of voltage controlled amplifier channels on analog consoles where a VCA channel fader would be used to control group or offset the signal levels of other channels on the console VCA Master tracks do not pass audio...

Page 851: ...rack or to the same output path Create multiple nested VCA groups and control the output levels of multiple sub mixes at the same time Automate a submix by automating its VCA Master track VCA Master Track Controls The controls on a VCA Master track affect the corresponding controls on the slave tracks in its assigned Mix group VCA Master tracks have the following controls Volume The VCA Volume fad...

Page 852: ... a summed level of all slave tracks The channel format of level meters on the VCA Master is set according to the channel formats of its slave tracks as follows If all slave tracks are the same channel for mat mono stereo or a multichannel for mat the number of level meters on the VCA Master track is identical to that of the slave tracks If the slave tracks are different formats the number of level...

Page 853: ...ttributes in the Group dialog Inserts Pro Tools lets you insert up to ten inserts A E and F J on each audio Auxiliary Input Master Fader or Instrument track Each insert can be ei ther a software plug in insert or a hardware insert or an instrument plug in Inserts provide the following features Plug ins and hardware inserts route the signal from the track through the effect of your choice and autom...

Page 854: ...n stereo out Pro Tools HD sessions running with the Sur round mixer also support 3 8 channel multi mono and multichannel plug ins 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 win dows unless noted Window View Selectors Both the Edit window and Mix ...

Page 855: ...owing Choose View Mix Window or Edit Window and select or deselect one of the view types such as Comments or Click the Mix Window View selector or Edit Window View selector and select or deselect one of the view types such as Comments Comments View Shows any text entered as com ments in the Track Name Comments dialog For more information see Naming Tracks on page 166 Mic Preamps View Pro Tools HD ...

Page 856: ...Shows Input and Output selectors and Volume and Pan indica tors in each track Click on the volume or pan indicators in the Edit window I O View to adjust the volume or pan controls with a pop up fader Real Time Properties View Edit Window Only Shows controls for Real Time Properties for MIDI and Instrument tracks For more infor mation on Real Time Properties see MIDI Real Time Properties on page 6...

Page 857: ... want to hide Mic Pre Comments Instrument Inserts A E Inserts F J Sends A E Sends F J I O Real Time Proper ties or Track Color Audio Input and Output Paths Pro Tools lets you configure the physical input and outputs of your audio interfaces and also in ternal bus paths and subpaths in the I O Setup dialog and the Hardware Setup dialog These hardware inputs and outputs and internal bus paths can be...

Page 858: ...rovide the essential track mixing controls such as track panning and vol ume as an alternative to Mix and Edit window views Multichannel Output and Send windows also provide expanded Panner views and other surround specific controls See Chapter 46 Surround Panning and Mixing Output windows are useful in large sessions to leave important tracks in an anchored location unaffected by Mix and Edit win...

Page 859: ...automa tion playlists Edits made in the session also af fect the inactive track s output automation play lists Inactive Outputs and DSP Resources Making a track output inactive silences the out put while retaining all automation and playlist data Inactive outputs do not consume resources for TDM mixer connections but any assigned plug ins on the track continue to use their re quired DSP resources ...

Page 860: ...b paths in mono or ste reo or any of the supported multichannel for mats 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 re turned to the mix through an Auxiliary Input audio track or Instrument track The sends can then be monitored and processed through an Auxiliary Input or Instrument track recorde...

Page 861: ...efault to INF or 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 or Deselect Send Pans Default to Follow Main Pan to have panning control over the sends independent 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 ...

Page 862: ...ng each of set of inserts in the Mix and Edit windows To display inserts in the Mix window Select any of the following View Mix Window Inserts A E View Mix Window Inserts F J To display inserts in the Edit window Select any of the following View Edit Window Inserts A E View Edit Window Inserts F J Configuring Sends View in the Mix and Edit Windows Audio tracks Auxiliary Inputs and Instrument track...

Page 863: ...nd Views A J Individual Send Views such as Send A provide send level pan and mute controls for a single send across all tracks Send controls can be adjusted directly from these Send Views Sends can also be opened for control or metering in Send windows See Out put Windows for Tracks and Sends on page 849 To display the controls for an individual send across all tracks 1 If sends are not currently ...

Page 864: ...Option click any Clip indicator Choose Track Clear All Clip Indicators Press Alt C Windows or Option C Mac Send Status Display When displaying all controls for an individual sends the Send status is visible directly in the Mix or Edit windows In Assignment View Send status is displayed as follows By default the Send button is gray to indicate that it is unmuted The Send button text is red when the...

Page 865: ...position A J and assigned to the same path on all selected tracks active or inactive Control Start Alt Shift click Windows or Command Control Option Shift click Mac a send button in the position you want to toggle Moving or Copying Sends Sends can be moved or copied to other tracks or to other positions on the same track by drag ging Sends can be dragged to create new sends at the destination or d...

Page 866: ... you need send settings to match the settings in the track itself for example to pro vide a headphone mix based on the main mix You can copy the current values or the entire au tomation playlist from selected tracks to any of their sends Linking Send Pan and Main Pan Controls You can link pan controls of individual Sends to the Main pan controls of their corresponding tracks This can help you quic...

Page 867: ...provide additional routing assignment and display settings To open a track Output window Click the Output Window button in the chan nel strip To open a Send window Click the Send Assignment button in the Mix or Edit window To view a different track Output or Send window Click an Output Window button or Send As signment button in the Mix or Edit window If a similar Output window was already open wi...

Page 868: ...ne for each side of the left right pair Multi channel outputs provide a multichannel pan ner The Output window provides controls to link channels for precise panning of stereo and mul tichannel 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 In verse Linked Panning on page 851 When unlinked Pan controls are...

Page 869: ...Editor area Track Selector Provides access to any audio track Auxiliary Input or Master Fader in the ses sion Output View Selector Provides access to other outputs track and send in the track if any dis playing the selected output in the current win dow Send View Selector Send Window Only Pro vides access to other sends on the track Output Path Selector Allows you to assign the Output path for the...

Page 870: ...de selector Use these to adjust or automate the controls of the Output window Targeted Windows When lit red the Target indicates its window is targeted and the next window opened of the same type replaces the current display unless it is opened as an additional window with the Shift modifier When unlit the target is gray and the current window anchors to its current contents and location on screen...

Page 871: ...MIDI in struments tape or microphone inputs in a Pro Tools 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 out put to available inputs on your Pro Tools audio interface 2 If necessary configure the I O Setup dialog for the input paths you plan to use see Chapter 6 I O Setup 3 Use an ex...

Page 872: ...nput paths you plan to use see Chapter 6 I O Setup 3 Connect the MIDI input and output of your external MIDI instrument to available MIDI in put and output ports on your MIDI interface 4 If necessary configure the MIDI Studio Setup Setup MIDI MIDI Studio 5 Use an existing or create a new Instrument track with a channel format that corresponds to the channel format of your audio source mono stereo ...

Page 873: ...stru ment 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 5 In the plug in window assign the individual audio outputs of the plug in 6 Create an Auxiliary Input track for each out put of the plug in Make sure the channel for mat of the Auxiliary Inputs corresponds to the channel format ...

Page 874: ...xing In this arrangement the balance of processed and unprocessed signal is controlled by plug in wet dry settings To create a discrete submix 1 Set the output of the tracks you want to in clude in the submix to a stereo bus path 2 Pan each track 3 Choose Track New 4 Specify the track type Aux Input and format stereo then click Create 5 Set the input of the Auxiliary Input to the same bus path to ...

Page 875: ...he track type Aux Input and format stereo then click Create 5 From the Auxiliary Input track s Input Path se lector select the send bus path 6 Solo safe the track so that if you solo another track that uses the effects send you won t mute the effects return see Solo Safe Mode on page 191 7 Assign a plug in or hardware insert on the Auxiliary Input 8 Set the effect to 100 wet and set any other cont...

Page 876: ...t 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 selector select an output path main outputs 7 Adjust the individual track faders to balance the dry unprocessed tracks The amount of effect is controlled by the level of the Send Level fader or the Auxiliar...

Page 877: ...e Configure 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 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 Creating a Master Send Level Control A Maste...

Page 878: ...o a mono Auxiliary Input track and place a mono to stereo plug in on the Auxiliary Input The output of the Auxiliary Input be comes stereo To create a stereo effect from a mono source you must use reverb delay or other time do main effects Delay Compensation Pro Tools HD Only Pro Tools provides automatic Delay Compensa tion for managing DSP delays from plug in and hardware inserts and mixer routin...

Page 879: ...p Playback Engine 2 From the Delay Compensation Engine pop up menu select a Delay Compensation setting 3 Click OK Delay Compensation Time Mode Delay values can be specified in either samples or milliseconds as selected with the Delay Com pensation Time Mode setting in the Operation Preferences page Delay Compensation Limit The Delay Compensation limit is displayed in samples in the Delay Compensat...

Page 880: ...dicates that this is the track reporting the longest plug in and hardware insert delay in the session Red Indicates that the amount of plug in and hardware insert delay on the track exceeds the available amount of Delay Compensation see Delay that Exceeds the Compensation Limit on page 863 Gray Track delay report is bypassed User Offset Field This field lets you adjust track delays manually while ...

Page 881: ... Delay Compensation limit The amount of Delay Compensation shown in the indicator is applied to the track Blue Audio Tracks Only Indicates that Delay Compensation is force enabled on the track When the track is record enabled or TrackInput enabled Delay Compensation is not suspended and remains enabled see Overriding Sus pended Delay Compensation on page 864 Red Indicates that the track delay exce...

Page 882: ...he track is played back with both record enable and TrackInput dis abled it is correctly time aligned with the other delay compensated tracks Overriding Suspended Delay Compensation You can override the automatic suspension of Delay Compensation on record enabled tracks but you may introduce latency in the signal path by the amount of Delay Compensation This latency may be acceptable depending on ...

Page 883: ...cording using a MIDI controlled plug in on an audio track Start Control click Windows or Command Control click Mac the Track Compensation in dicator for the audio track to apply Delay Com pensation To keep audio time aligned when recording using a MIDI controlled plug in on an Auxiliary Input 1 Start Control click Windows or Command Control click Mac the Track Compensation in dicator for the Auxil...

Page 884: ... Quantization artifacts are most apparent when a signal is near the low end of its dynamic range such as during a quiet passage or a fade out Dither minimizes quantization artifacts by in troducing very low level random noise to a sig nal which smooths out the distortion that can result when the signal s bit depth is reduced With dither there is a trade off between signal to noise performance and ...

Page 885: ...ides uncorrelated dither on any summed output There are two Mixer plug ins that feature dither with noise shaping Stereo Dithered Mixer and Surround Dithered Mixer Noise Shaping Noise shaping can further improve audio perfor mance and reduce perceived noise inherent in dithered audio Noise shaping uses filtering to shift noise away from frequencies in the middle of the audio spectrum around 4 kHz ...

Page 886: ... a MIDI Control Surface with Pro Tools MIDI Control Surfaces add hands on control to many Pro Tools functions allowing you to ad just faders and knobs activate transport con trols or edit plug in parameters Digidesign Command 8 Command 8 is Digidesign s compact USB based MIDI control surface for Pro Tools systems Other MIDI Control Surfaces Pro Tools supports MIDI control surfaces from CM Labs suc...

Page 887: ... MIDI Control Surface A MIDI Control Surface is configured in the same way as any other MIDI device in Pro Tools using MIDI Studio Setup Windows or Audio MIDI Setup Mac Enabling a MIDI Control Surface in Pro Tools To enable a MIDI control surface in Pro Tools 1 Choose Setup Peripherals and click the MIDI Controllers tab 2 Choose your MIDI control surface device name from the Type pop up menu 3 Cho...

Page 888: ... 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 Control lers 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 Enabling a MIDI input device ...

Page 889: ...Plug in inserts are software in serts that process audio material on a track in real time For example the DigiRack EQ com pressor and delay plug ins supplied with your Pro Tools system can be used as real time plug in inserts Additional real time plug ins are available from Digidesign and from many third party develop ers Hardware I O Inserts Hardware I O inserts can route audio through an externa...

Page 890: ... applying the insert to that track You can then control the send level for each track and the overall level of the effect can be controlled from the Auxiliary Input track Using sends and other signal routing fea tures helps maximize your system s processing power Insert Formats Mono Inserts Used on mono tracks Inserts that occur on a track after a stereo insert are automat ically used in stereo as...

Page 891: ...e based processing plug ins for Pro Tools Depending on your Pro Tools software plug ins real time plug ins can be used as follows Pro Tools HD Both TDM and RTAS plug ins can be used on audio Auxiliary Input Master Fader and In strument tracks Pro Tools LE RTAS plug ins can be used on audio Auxiliary Input Master Fader and Instrument tracks Relinking may cause automation to be lost See Linking and ...

Page 892: ...ns Audio tracks that have active RTAS plug in in serts cannot be explicitly voiced The voice allo cation must be set to Dynamic or Off Furthermore one additional voice is used for each occurrence of any of the following condi tions when using voices for RTAS plug ins on a track When you use the external key side chain of an RTAS plug in on that track When you select multiple track outputs for that...

Page 893: ... color outline around its name Making Inserts Inactive Plug in and hardware inserts can be made inac tive to free up their resources for other uses When a plug in insert is inactive it retains its as signment position and related automation playlists However it will not pass audio and does not consume any DSP or TDM resources When opening sessions inserts will automati cally be made inactive in an...

Page 894: ... made in the session affect the plug in automation playlists You cannot record automation or ad just the controls for an inactive plug in Inactive Hardware Inserts Inactive hardware inserts retain their assign ments but do not pass audio and do not con sume any DSP resources Inserting Plug ins on Tracks To use a real time plug in insert it on a track To insert a plug in on a track 1 Make sure the ...

Page 895: ...lug ins or To conserve voices and minimize processing latency order all RTAS plug ins before TDM plug ins Plug in Menu Organization You can customize how plug in lists plug in menus are organized in the Insert selector and Plug in selector Use the Organize Plug in Menus By setting in the Display Preferences page to organize plug in menus in a Flat List with plug ins in alphabeti cal order or by Ca...

Page 896: ...r Digidesign when this op tion is enabled Category and Manufacturer Organizes plug ins in two levels of menus The top menus display plug ins by process category such as EQ Dy namics and Delay with individual plug ins listed in the category submenus The bottom menus display plug ins by manufacturer such as Bomb Factory Digidesign and Trillium Lane Labs with individual plug ins listed in the manufac...

Page 897: ...n the list of menu choices when assigning inserts on ICON worksurfaces To set a default plug in 1 Choose Setup Preferences and click Mixing 2 Under Setup choose a plug in from the De fault EQ or Default Dynamics pop up menu 3 Click OK to close the Preferences window Plug in Favorites To find a plug in faster a plug in can be desig nated as a favorite Favorite plug ins are shown at the top of the p...

Page 898: ...pears whenever you click a plug in s Insert button on a track This floating window lets you edit the adjust the controls of any real time plug in insert in use on a track Track Controls Plug ins cannot be moved or duplicated during recording Moving a plug in Dragging an insert on top of an existing in sert will replace it and any automation You can also duplicate Sends See Moving or Copying Sends ...

Page 899: ...eceive MIDI Preset Controls Plug in Settings Menu Lets you copy paste save and import plug in settings Plug in Librarian Menu Recalls plug in presets plug in settings files saved in the plug in s root settings folder or in the current session s Set tings folder See Plug in Presets on page 886 Next and Previous Setting Buttons Let you select the next or previous preset from the Librarian menu Plug ...

Page 900: ...e of the parameter Additional Plug in Controls Effect Bypass Button Disables the currently dis played plug in This lets you compare the track with and without the effect Convert Plug in Selector Lets you convert the in sert from a TDM plug in to an RTAS plug in of the same type or vice versa This feature can only be used on plug ins that are available in both TDM and RTAS formats Clip LED Lights r...

Page 901: ... Pro Tools normally displays a single plug in window from which you can adjust the controls of any session plug in You can also open addi tional Plug in windows for specific plug ins Once you begin working with multiple plug in windows you will need to click the Target but ton on the plug in whose controls you want to adjust using keyboard commands To open an additional plug in window In the Mix w...

Page 902: ...d Shortcuts For finer adjustments Control drag Win dows or Command drag Mac the control To return a control to its default value Alt click Windows or Option click Mac the con trol Editing Parameters Using a Computer Keyboard You can use your computer keyboard to edit plug in controls If multiple Plug in windows are open Tab and keyboard entry remain focused on the plug in that is the target window...

Page 903: ...ut The side chain input is the split off signal used by a plug in s detector to trigger dynamics pro cessing and is generally drawn internally from the input signal However some plug ins let you switch between 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 kno...

Page 904: ...djust the plug in s Threshold control if available and other controls as needed Plug in Presets Pro Tools makes it easy to create your own li brary of plug in settings or presets Using the Plug in Settings menu you can copy paste save and import these settings from plug in to plug in or from session to session Once you create and save settings files to disk and tell Pro Tools where to find them by...

Page 905: ...der the settings are saved in a folder named Plug in Settings within the cur rent Session folder If you select Root Settings Folder the settings are saved in the folder you specified with the Set Root Settings Folder com mand Set Root Settings Folder Selects a location or root folder for saving and importing presets This root settings folder must be named Plug in Set tings Use this command only if...

Page 906: ...ro Tools loads the setting and copies it to the root destination folder To copy plug in settings Choose Copy Settings from the Plug in Set tings menu To paste plug in settings 1 Open the destination plug in 2 Choose Paste Settings from the Plug in Set tings menu To create a custom User Default preset 1 Create and save a plug in settings file 2 Select Set As User Default from the Plug in Set tings ...

Page 907: ...the active highlighted preset Increment Patch Every X Sec This option lets you audition plug in presets in series by auto matically scrolling through them for a specified number of seconds To change plug in presets using the Plug in Settings dialog 1 Click the Settings Select button 2 Do one of the following Select a preset from the dialog list or Use the Arrow keys to scroll through the available...

Page 908: ...ls plug in windows and In serts You can also search for plug in settings by type Searching for Plug in Settings Files To search for plug in settings files 1 In the Workspace browser click the Search icon 2 Select Plug in Settings File from the Kind pop up menu 3 To further narrow your search type all or part of the name of the plug in settings file you want 4 Click Search 5 To sort your search by ...

Page 909: ...le must be for the same plug in name For example you cannot replace a 1 Band EQ 3 with a plug in setting for 4 Band EQ 3 Plug in Mapping Pro Tools lets you customize the arrangement of plug in parameter controls on supported con trol surfaces You can save these customized plug in maps as presets and export them for use across different sessions and systems Plug in Learn Mode Plug ins can be put in...

Page 910: ...appable encoders switches 003 Digi 002 Command 8 M Audio Axiom Pro 24 Fader Surfaces The following have a page size of 24 mappable encoders switches C 24 Control 24 ICON surfaces The following have a separately mappable encoders and switches with the fol lowing page sizes D Control Custom Faders display 6 rows pages of 8 encoders and switches at a time Channel strips display 1 column page of 6 enc...

Page 911: ...y for mapping Only one plug in can be in Learn mode at a time To put a plug in into Learn mode do one of the following Click the Learn button in the plug in window or From the Map Options pop up menu choose New Map To take a plug in out of Learn mode do one of the following Click the active Learn button in the plug in window Close the plug in window Click the Learn button in a different plug in wi...

Page 912: ...pen the plug in whose custom map you want to change 2 Choose the map you want to change from the Map Preset pop up menu 3 Put the plug in into Learn mode The plug in is focused on the control surface 4 Do the following for each parameter mapping you want to remove Make sure the Parameter menu displays No Control and On the control surface page to the encoder or switch where you want to remove the ...

Page 913: ...n set a custom plug in map as the default map for a plug in instead of the Factory Default map When you set a custom plug in map as the de fault it applies across the entire session All in stances of that plug in that were set to the Fac tory Default map or to another custom default map change to the new default If you change parameter mapping in the custom plug in map that has been set as the def...

Page 914: ...tory Default Pages Exporting and Importing Plug in Maps Plug in maps can be exported as pim files for use on other Pro Tools systems When exporting plug in maps you can choose to save individual map files for each plug in or a single map file containing all the plug in maps for the system To export an individual plug in map 1 Open the plug in whose map you want to ex port 2 Choose the map you want...

Page 915: ... default Adjusting the Gain control on one channel for example will adjust it for all channels You can unlink multi mono plug in controls on specific channels of a track and edit them inde pendently You can also selectively link the con trols of specific channels To unlink controls on a multi mono plug in Deselect the Master Link button To access controls for a specific channel Select the channel ...

Page 916: ... to be returned to hardware inputs 7 8 To define a hardware insert 1 Choose Setup I O then click the Inserts tab 2 Select an insert path or click New Path to cre ate a new Insert path 3 Double click the Path Name to enter a custom path name for the insert 4 Make sure the insert path is set to the correct format mono stereo or other 5 Map inserts in the Channel Grid as needed Insert and Output path...

Page 917: ...ld be the clock master in most cases Set your digi tal effects device to accept an external digital clock so that it synchronizes to Pro Tools To set up a digital send to an external device from a Pro Tools HD system 1 Do one of the following On a 192 I O 192 Digital I O 96 I O 96i I O or 888 24 I O choose Setup Hard ware choose the peripheral format and clock format and set the channel pair to Di...

Page 918: ...sary 6 Click OK to close the Hardware Setup dialog 003 003 Rack 003 Rack Digi 002 or Digi 002 Rack Systems Pro Tools can receive external clock from the Optical input or S PDIF input To select an external clock source for 003 003 Rack 003 Rack Digi 002 or Digi 002 Rack system 1 Choose Setup Hardware 2 Set the Clock Source to match the type of in put 3 If you select Optical make sure the Optical Fo...

Page 919: ...t to 24 bit reso lution on playback resulting in accurate and smooth fader automation Automation QuickStart Pro Tools provides many options for recording replacing and editing automation data The basic steps for automation recording are Enable the automation type that you want to record volume pan mute send level send pan send mute or plug in automation Put the appropriate tracks in an automation ...

Page 920: ... only Mute audio Pan audio On VCA Master tracks Pro Tools HD only these parameters include Volume Volume Trim Mute You can display and edit each of these automat able playlists individually from Pro Tools even during playback In addition on MIDI and Instrument tracks you can display and edit other continuous MIDI controller data such as mod wheel breath con troller foot controller or sustain in a ...

Page 921: ...ack s corresponding automation playlist so it can be edited with or independently from its associated audio re gions When you copy or cut audio data from a track while it is in Waveform view the underlying au tomation data is cut or copied with it If you paste audio data from other locations or tracks into an edit playlist you may change the underlying automation data on the track When you trim re...

Page 922: ...atch mode or remain in Write mode after the completion of an automa tion pass in Write mode To set the Automation mode after a Write pass 1 Choose Setup Preferences and click Mixing 2 Under Automation select an After Write Pass Switch To option Touch Latch or No Change 3 Click OK to close the Preferences window Touch Mode Touch mode writes automation only while a fader or switch is touched or clic...

Page 923: ...position when you re lease a control AutoJoin with Latch Mode Pro Tools HD Only Pro Tools provides two different methods to re sume writing automation on controls that were active at the point where the transport stopped AutoJoin Lets you automatically resume writing automation in Latch mode Join Lets you manually resume writing automa tion in Latch mode Join is available only with Digidesign supp...

Page 924: ...on when touched and returning to previously written lev els when released All other controls follow Latch behavior writing automation when touched and continuing until playback stops or until you punch out of writ ing automation Trim Mode Pro Tools HD Only Pro Tools HD can adjust or trim existing track volume and send level automation data in real time Pan mute and plug in automation cannot be tri...

Page 925: ...de Volume and Send level Trim faders are disengaged from the main auto mation playlist and follow any existing Trim au tomation You can move a Trim fader during playback to audition new trim values but no au tomation is written When the Trim fader is re leased it returns to any previously written Trim automation values If a track does not contain Trim automation you can move a Trim fader during pl...

Page 926: ...ow Latch Trim behavior Write Trim In Write Trim mode as soon as playback begins writing of Trim automation begins for Volume and Send levels and continues until playback stops or until you punch out of writing automa tion When Write Trim mode is enabled non trim mable controls all controls other than track vol ume and send level are not in Write mode but behave as if they are in regular Touch mode...

Page 927: ... the re sulting automation may differ noticeably from the original automation moves Thinning only applies to audio tracks and does not affect MIDI tracks For instructions see Thinning Automa tion on page 925 AutoMatch Time AutoMatch Time is the amount of time it takes for a fader to return by ramping up or down to the level of automation still on the track as the automation pass ends This time val...

Page 928: ...es a separate playlist in the Edit window for each type of automation in a track including a playlist for each type of Trim auto mation 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 automa tion you want or you can reveal an Automation lane under the track regardless of its Track View Track Views You can view automation data ...

Page 929: ...reorder lanes independently of one another 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 Click the Automation Controller Type selec tor and select the Automation or Controller type you want To replace all Automatio...

Page 930: ...th the main Volume or Send level automation data in the same automation view This Trim automation display cannot be directly edited To display the Trim automation playlist along with main automation playlist on tracks Select View Automation Trim Playlist Displaying the Composite Automation Playlist Pro Tools HD Only If automation is not set to coalesce after every automation pass you can display a...

Page 931: ...te automation on tracks 1 Choose Window Automation 2 Make sure the automation type is write en abled 3 In the Mix or Edit window click the Automa tion Mode selector on each of the tracks you want to automate and set the Automation mode For the initial automation pass select Write 4 Start playback to begin writing automation 5 Move the controls you want to automate such as a track volume fader 6 Wh...

Page 932: ...eginning of each au tomation playlist If you move the control with out writing automation this breakpoint will move to the new value You can permanently store the initial position of an automatable control by doing any of the following Place the track in Write mode and press Play to write a few seconds of automation data to the track Manually place a breakpoint on the automa tion playlist somewher...

Page 933: ...ting Switched Controls for Momentary Behavior In some cases such as when overwriting or ex tending Mute automation you may want to momentarily write automation for a control by holding it down and not have the control latch To set switched controls for momentary behavior 1 Choose Options Preferences and click Mixing 2 Deselect Latching Behavior for Switch Controls in Touch 3 Click OK to close the ...

Page 934: ...s or automation to one of its sends 1 Select the tracks you want to edit by clicking on the track names to highlight them 2 Choose Edit Automation Copy to Send 3 In the Copy to Send dialog do any of the fol lowing Select Current Value to copy the current set tings of the corresponding controls Select Automation to copy the entire auto mation playlist for the corresponding con trols 4 Select the co...

Page 935: ...tomation is enabled for the controls you want to automate 2 In the Mix or Edit window for each track con 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 move the controls you want to automate 4 When you have finished stop playback Enabling Automation ...

Page 936: ...ameters In the Plug in window the controls for plug in parameters highlight in different colors to indi cate whether or not a control is automated in what automation mode The color also is differ ent depending on whether or not a parameter is being controlled by a control surface such as D Command or Command 8 The following table shows the color coding for automated plug in parameters with and wit...

Page 937: ...voke AutoMatch on individual auto mation types across a session To AutoMatch all controls of one automation type In the Automation window Control click Windows or Command click Mac the button for the automation type Volume Pan Mute Plug in Send level Send pan or Send mute AutoMatching Individual Controls D Control and D Command Only On ICON worksurfaces you can invoke Au toMatch on individual cont...

Page 938: ...priming of all automation enabled controls on the track or Choose Touch Latch mode to leave the main Volume fader in Touch mode and al low priming of all other automation en abled controls 6 While the transport is stopped touch or move the controls you want to start writing at the be ginning of the automation pass When at least one control on a track is primed the Automa tion Mode selector display...

Page 939: ...r Option Com mand click Mac the Automation Mode selec tor on a track or Click the AutoMatch button in the Automation window To take all selected tracks out of Latch Prime do one of the following Alt Control Shift click Windows or Option Command Shift click Mac the Automation Mode selector on a track or Alt Shift click Windows Option Shift click Mac the AutoMatch button in the Automation window To ...

Page 940: ... 5 Issue a Back and Play command roll back the external machine to before the punch in point or enable pre roll 6 Start playback When the transport reaches the punch in point automation writing begins Enabling and Suspending Automation From the Automation window you can enable or suspend writing for the following types of au tomation across all tracks Volume Volume trim Pan Mute Plug in Send level...

Page 941: ...or all controls Control Shift click Windows or Command Shift click Mac the name of any control in the Track View selector To suspend writing and playback of auto mation for a specific control on all tracks Control Alt click Windows or Command Option click Mac the name of the control in the Track View selector To suspend Trim automation for individual controls on a track Pro Tools HD only 1 In the ...

Page 942: ...toma tion is enabled for a track Although Pro Tools shows a single Automa tion mode for each track all automatable con trols associated with that track are not necessarily in the same Automation mode If automation is globally suspended in the Au tomation window all automatable controls be have as if they were in Off mode regardless of the track s current Automation mode If automation for a control...

Page 943: ...1 Use the Selector tool to select a range of data to be removed 2 Press Start Backspace Windows or Con trol Delete Mac All automation data within the selection is re moved for all automation playlists on that track regardless of whether automation is write en abled for those controls Clearing Trim Automation Pro Tools HD Only If Trim automation has not been coalesced on a track you can clear it Wh...

Page 944: ...in Pro Tools HD or Edit Thin Automation Pro Tools LE to thin the selected automation Drawing Automation Use the Pencil tool to create automation events for audio and MIDI tracks by drawing in any au tomation or MIDI controller playlist including Trim automation if it has not been coalesced The Pencil tool can be set to draw a series of au tomation events with the following shapes Free Hand Draws f...

Page 945: ... for Pencil Tool Resolution When Drawing Controller Data The value can range from 1 to 100 milliseconds 3 Click OK to close the Preferences window The illustrations below show the same MIDI controller automation drawn with different Pencil tool resolution settings For better performance consider selecting a smaller value for MIDI controls that need higher resolution such as MIDI volume and a large...

Page 946: ... or Option click Mac breakpoints with a Grabber tool to remove them Using the Pencil Tool The Pencil tool lets you create new breakpoints by clicking once on the graph line Alt click Windows or Option click Mac breakpoints with the Pencil tool to remove them Using the Trimmer Tools The Trimmer tools let you adjust all selected breakpoints up or down by dragging anywhere within that selection Editi...

Page 947: ...ag a breakpoint up or down to a different step to change to a new control value Drag a break point to the left or right to adjust the timing of the stepped control change Editing Automation Breakpoints To edit automation breakpoints display the au tomation 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 ...

Page 948: ...ue as the next or previous breakpoint To write a new breakpoint to the next automation value Press and hold Alt Shift Windows or Op tion Shift Mac while writing a breakpoint by clicking with any Grabber tool in a track s auto mation playlist To write a new breakpoint to the previous automation value Press and hold Control Alt Windows or Command Option Mac while writing a break point by clicking wi...

Page 949: ...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 Editing Automation on Grouped Tracks When you edit automation on an audio track that is a member of an active Edit Group the same type of automation is also edited on all tracks that are part of that ...

Page 950: ...r breakpoints are added to the beginning and end points of the data This is done to preserve the true slope of continuous controls such as Volume faders or pans or state of switched or stepped con trols such as Mutes of the automation data both inside and outside the selection The following illustrations show the difference between cutting and deleting automation data In Figure 10 a track is set t...

Page 951: ...rack that is displayed in its main format or Press Control while cutting or copying the au tomation data Tips for Cutting Copying and Pasting On audio tracks when you are in Waveform View and cut or copy a section of the waveform any automation data associated with the wave form is also cut or copied On audio tracks when you are in Waveform View and cut audio data from a track also con taining aut...

Page 952: ...he plug in auto mation that is shown Copy Special The Copy Special commands let you copy just automation data from the current selection without associated audio or MIDI notes and place a copy of it in memory to paste elsewhere as follows All Automation Copies all automation or MIDI controller data whether it is shown or not Pan Automation Copies only pan automation or MIDI pan data whether it is ...

Page 953: ...e data type to another If you want to paste automation or MIDI con troller data only without its associated audio or MIDI notes use the Paste Special command For this special paste mode to function the fol lowing must be true Every track selected for pasting must be cur rently displayed as automation data and There must be only one automation playlist on the Clipboard for each target track The Spe...

Page 954: ...o automa tion data it behaves as follows 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 Au tomation The Glide Automation that is cre ated between the two is based on the length of t...

Page 955: ...olume or Send levels 5 Stop playback to finish the Trim pass Coalescing Trim Automation You can set Pro Tools to commit or coalesce Trim automation to the main automation play list by the following methods After Every Pass Trim moves are automatically applied when the transport is stopped at the end of an automation pass Trim automation playl ists are cleared and Trim faders are returned to zero O...

Page 956: ...k Coalesce Trim Automation or Right click the track name and choose Coa lesce Trim Automation The Trim automation is applied to the main au tomation playlist Trim automation playlists are cleared and Trim faders are returned to zero Writing Automation to the Start End or All of a Track or Selection Pro Tools HD Only Pro Tools lets you write current automation val ues from any insertion point forwa...

Page 957: ...the ap propriate track if you are in Latch or Touch mode 6 When you reach a point in the track or selec tion that contains the automation data you want to apply click the Write Automation to Start All or End button in the Automation window 7 Stop playback The current values of all write enabled automa tion at that point are written to the correspond ing area of the track selection Write to Start E...

Page 958: ...l End The enabled Write on Stop arrow appears in blue To configure Write on Stop modes to remain enabled after an automation pass 1 Choose Window Automation 2 Alt click Windows or Option click Mac one of the Write On Stop buttons Start All or End to enable the Write On Stop mode The enabled Write on Stop arrow appears in red Writing Automation to the Next Breakpoint or to the Punch Point Pro Tools...

Page 959: ... the current settings click the Write Automation to Next Breakpoint button 7 Stop Playback The current values of all controls being written at that point are written up to the next break point To write current automation values back to the automation punch point 1 Choose Window Automation 2 Make sure the automation type is write en abled 3 Click in a track to define an insertion point 4 Start play...

Page 960: ...nt to apply the current trim values click the Write Automation to Next Breakpoint but ton in the Automation window To write current trim values to the punch point 1 Choose Window Automation 2 Make sure that the automation type track vol ume or send level is write enabled 3 In the Mix or Edit window click the Automa tion Mode selector and select Trim The track Volume and Send Level faders turn yell...

Page 961: ...k You can carry out any of the Write Automation To commands without stopping the Pro Tools transport On supported control surfaces the corresponding Write To button flashes until you stop the transport While the Pro Tools transport is moving issuing Write Automation To commands affects writing of automation in the following ways Write to Start Selection Start Currently writing controls continue wr...

Page 962: ... except Write to Next Break point Pro Tools posts a dialog warning that au tomation values will be changed in the session You can suppress these warnings To suppress Write To warning dialogs 1 Choose Setup Preferences and click Mixing 2 Under Automation select Suppress Automa tion Write To Warnings Overwriting or Extending Mute Automation Pro Tools HD Only Pro Tools lets you overwrite or extend an...

Page 963: ...k the Automa tion Mode selector of the track where you want to overwrite the mute state and set the Automa tion mode to Touch or Latch 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 event you want to overwrite 6 Start playback Extending a mute automation event Mute off event extended up to automation pass end ...

Page 964: ... Mute button before the start of the mute event you want to extend 8 Before the end of the second mute event re lease the key and the Mute button To overwrite mute states on multiple tracks press Alt Control Windows or Op tion Command Mac and the Mute button on one of the tracks to be automated With Touch mode you have to hold the Mute button for the duration of the write Stopping automation after...

Page 965: ... End or All of a Track or Selection on page 938 To write snapshot automation 1 In the Automation window make sure that the parameters you want to edit are write en abled Deselect any parameters whose automa tion you want to preserve 2 In the Edit window click the Track View selec tor to show the automation you want to edit 3 Write a breakpoint in the playlist if none cur rently exists as follows P...

Page 966: ...t or Click with any Grabber tool on each side of the selection This lets the Write Automation command write only to the selected area Writing Snapshot Automation over Existing Automation Data When you move the playback cursor the auto mated controls in Pro Tools update to reflect the automation data that is already on the track To keep the settings you have made for a snapshot you can suspend auto...

Page 967: ...pended 8 Choose Edit Automation and select one of the following from the submenu To write the current value to only the auto mation parameter currently displayed in the Edit window choose Write To Current or To write the current settings for all automa tion parameters enabled in the Automation Enable window choose Write To All Enabled 9 Click the Automation Mode selector and se lect Read mode for ...

Page 968: ...e you can then commit or punch the previewed value to the automation playlist for the isolated controls If you punch during playback the automa tion mode is set to Latch and writing begins at the preview value If you punch while the transport is stopped the automation mode is set to Latch and the control is primed at the preview value Previewing New Automation Values To preview a new automation va...

Page 969: ...ntrols Alt click Windows or Option click Mac the Preview button To isolate all write enabled controls on all selected tracks Alt Shift click Windows or Option Shift click Mac the Preview button Suspending Preview Mode You can temporarily suspend Preview mode al lowing you to toggle between preview values and existing automation To suspend Preview mode Control click Windows or Command click Mac the...

Page 970: ...Write Touch Latch Touch Latch or Latch 2 Make sure the automation types you want to capture are enabled in the Automation window Volume Pan Mute Send level Send pan Send mute or Plug in 3 Start playback When you reach a location where you want to capture the current automa tion states click the Capture button in the Auto mation window The Punch Capture button in the Automation window lights to ind...

Page 971: ...ndows or Option Shift click Mac the Capture button Punching Automation Values for All Controls You can punch all captured automation values to another location on their corresponding tracks except those tracks with their Automa tion Mode set to Off To punch the automation values of all controls When you reach a location where you want to apply the captured automation states Alt click Windows or Op...

Page 972: ...states and click the Preview 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 but ton in the Automation window lights to indi cate the preview value is available to punch 6 Start playback and adjust the isolated control to audition the changes 7 When you are ready to punch the preview value to t...

Page 973: ...ding VCA Slave Tracks from VCA Master Automation When you are writing automation on a VCA Master track the corresponding moves will ap pear on the composite automation playlist of each of its slave tracks If you want to exclude a slave track from an automation pass write en able the slave track for automation To exclude a slave track from VCA Master track automation pass 1 Write enable the VCA Mas...

Page 974: ...ce the VCA au tomation to all of the slave tracks by deleting the VCA Master The coalesced tracks will play back exactly as they did when they were in the VCA group To coalesce automation from a VCA Master to all of its slave tracks and delete the VCA Master track 1 Select the VCA Master track whose automa tion you want to coalesce 2 Choose Track Delete The composite Volume level and Mute state ar...

Page 975: ...dit Selection You can commit VCA automation across an Edit selection in a VCA Master track without com mitting 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 automa tion you want to coalesce 2 Make an Edit selection in the VCA Master track that includes the range of automation you want to coales...

Page 976: ...Pro Tools Reference Guide 958 ...

Page 977: ...ear the bounce being created in real time you cannot adjust 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 Selecting Audio for Loops Submixes and Effects Both Bounce to Disk and recording to tracks op erate on the current Timeline or Edit selection if one exists Th...

Page 978: ...interface do not use a dither plug in on the main output During normal recording and playback by pass any dither plug in on the main output Bounce to Disk Bouncing to disk does not apply dither when re ducing bit depth To apply dither when bounc ing to disk you should insert a dither plug in as the last processor in the signal path on a Master Fader assigned to the bounce source audio out put path...

Page 979: ...lume pan mute and other controls during the recording process You can also use this technique instead of Bounce to Disk to create mixed tracks directly in your Pro Tools session Voice Requirements Recording a submix to new tracks requires an available voice for each track that you want to record Make sure you have enough voices avail able to play back all tracks that you want to record and enough ...

Page 980: ...tomatically If performing an open ended recording click Stop or punch out of re cording Bounce to Disk The Bounce to Disk command lets you mix down with all available voices on your system Since it records to separate audio files you do not have to reserve any tracks for a bounce Pro Tools bounces are done in real time so you hear audio playback of your mix during the bounce process though you can...

Page 981: ...ion to define the range to be bounced 2 Choose File Bounce to Disk 3 Configure the Bounce options see Bounce Options on page 963 4 Click Bounce Bouncing with Mute Frees Assigned Voice Pro Tools HD Only When bouncing sessions that include muted tracks enabling Mute Frees Assigned Voice can in some instances increase the number of tracks that can be successfully bounced See Mute Frees Assigned Voice...

Page 982: ...rt Audio command Files in this format do not have to be converted to be used in Pro Tools QuickTime QuickTime is Apple s multimedia audio file for mat Pro Tools does not directly support this type of file in its sessions To use a QuickTime audio file within Pro Tools use the Import Audio command The QuickTime format is popular for attaching to emails to simplify long distance project review and ap...

Page 983: ...st Encoding option so you should use it only when the highest fidelity is essential and you have the time to devote to the encoding process Constant Bit Rate CBR Encodes the file at a single bit rate that you choose from the Constant Bit Rate CBR pop up menu Because the bit rate is fixed the quality of the encoded audio will vary depending on the nature of the material be ing compressed The 128 kb...

Page 984: ...ght signals exceed 3 dB below maximum or full code 0 dBFS Multiple Mono Creates multiple mono files with the same number of channels as the source path If the source output or bus path is stereo two mono files will be created and appended with L and R suffixes on bounce If a multichannel format is used for example six channel 5 1 individual mono files will be created for each member of the path Fi...

Page 985: ...mple Rate Conversion Quality If you choose a sample rate that differs from the original sample rate of the session the conver sion options become available You can config ure the conversion quality and schedule con version to occur during or after the bounce See Sample Rate Conversion Quality Option on page 968 for more information The following are the more common sample rates and their applicati...

Page 986: ...g and gating before conversion to 8 bit res olution This results in greater apparent loudness in the signal and improved intelligi bility If you are converting a more complex 16 bit audio file to 8 bit resolution test this option before converting all of your material Convert During or After Bounce The Bounce to Disk dialog can perform any con version options including sample rate and bit depth co...

Page 987: ... the bounced file matches the file type and for mat of the session 8 If you want to bring the bounced file into your current session select the Import After Bounce op tion 9 Click Bounce 10 Select a destination for the new audio file enter a name and click Save Pro Tools bounces are done in real time so you hear audio playback of your mix during the bounce process You cannot adjust controls while ...

Page 988: ... the same out put or bus path 5 Add dither see Dithering on page 960 6 Do one of the following To bounce the entire session click Return to Zero in the Transport to go to the begin ning of the session or To bounce a portion of the session enable Options Link Timeline and Edit Selection and make a selection in the Edit window 7 Choose File Bounce to Disk 8 Choose the source path you want to bounce ...

Page 989: ...n indis pensable tool in analog recording it can present problems in the digital domain If you compress an input signal at a very high ratio you create a signal that contains a much higher overall power level compared to its transients By re cording a number of such signals at the highest possible level on multiple tracks you create a scenario that is more likely to clip the mixed output signal Hi...

Page 990: ...ls Hardware Settings on page 50 3 Set the clock on the master device to slave to Pro Tools digital clock or to provide master clock to Pro Tools See Configuring Pro Tools Hardware Settings on page 50 4 On your digital recorder choose the appropri ate digital format for the connections 5 In Pro Tools set all audio tracks you want to your master outputs 1 2 path 6 Click Return to Zero in the Transpo...

Page 991: ...973 Part X Surround ...

Page 992: ...974 ...

Page 993: ...ls are mapped to outputs 1 6 of a Pro Tools audio interface Use channels 7 8 to monitor a stereo mix for a stereo version or for cue mixes and monitoring For information on fundamental surround concepts see the Pro Tools Sync Surround Concepts Guide Multichannel surround mixing is supported with Pro Tools HD or Pro Tools LE with Complete Production Toolkit only In this chapter all references to Pr...

Page 994: ...s on page 978 Custom Multichannel Paths You can customize and redefine existing paths in the I O Setup dialog For more information see Custom Multichannel Paths on page 978 Importing Session Data 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 session data you can...

Page 995: ...s preconfigure the I O Setup dialog for the new session with default 5 1 for mat main and sub paths for outputs and busses Surround Mix Settings Files The surround mix I O Settings provide output and bus paths for three specific track layout standards in the new session For information on inputs and insert paths see Default Input and Insert Paths with 5 1 Settings on page 978 New Session dialog 5 ...

Page 996: ...r to simply save and exchange I O Settings To import a multichannel I O Setup settings file 1 Choose Setup I O 2 Click Import Settings 3 Select the settings file pio to import and click Open 4 If the current session has existing path defini tions that do not match those in the imported settings file Pro Tools asks whether you want to delete the existing paths or retain them and add the imported se...

Page 997: ...st audio interface channel for the path Pro Tools automatically fills up the ad jacent units to the right If you click in the LCRS row under channel 1 the LCRS path will be mapped across channels 1 4 6 Select the new LCRS path and click New Sub Path 7 Name the new sub path LCR and select LCR as the Path format Click in channel 1 in the LCR row to map the path 8 Select the LCRS path click New Sub P...

Page 998: ...etering on page 979 for more information Audition Paths Selects the monitoring path for previewing audio in the Region List Import Au dio dialogs and DigiBase Only outputs on your primary interface can be used as your Audition path New Track Default Output Selects the default output path for all new tracks for each sup ported track format AFL PFL Path Selects where tracks are routed to when they a...

Page 999: ... Setup 5 1 Format Film SMPTE ITU DTS L C R Ls Rs LFE Control 24 Monitoring L R Ls Rs C LFE L C R Ls Rs LFE Track Meters Tracks L C R Ls Rs LFE top to bottom same L C R Ls Rs LFE same same same L C R Ls Rs LFE left to right L C R Ls Rs LFE Pro Tools Standard ProControl Monitoring L C R Ls Rs LFE L R C LFE Ls Rs L R Ls Rs C LFE L R C LFE Ls Rs and C24 ...

Page 1000: ...Pro Tools Reference Guide 982 ...

Page 1001: ...nnel for each signal in the track for ex ample a 5 1 track would have six channels for left center right left surround right surround and LFE Multichannel audio tracks can be Recorded directly into Pro Tools using multi ple microphones or microphone arrays or routed to appropriate multichannel Pro Tools Input paths Imported from other Pro Tools sessions Edited processed and mixed in combination wi...

Page 1002: ...mono Trim plug in Both of these techniques are explained below To convert a multichannel track into discrete mono tracks 1 Select the multichannel track 2 Choose Track Split Into Mono To have discrete control of gain on individual channels of a multichannel track 1 Insert a multi mono Trim plug in on the mul tichannel track 2 Unlink the Trim plug in by clicking the Link icon so that it is unlit Wh...

Page 1003: ...or de leted Because changing the output format has these effects a warning dialog appears whenever you change the output format of a track to a format of fewer channels Specifically this will occur whenever automation playlists will have to be deleted Multiple Output Assignments and Track Format When a track is assigned to more than one path of differing formats the main output for that track will...

Page 1004: ...Windows or Control clicking Mac the Selector tool and assigning another path Multichannel Sends All track formats including mono and stereo let you assign one or more multichannel sends This provides a multichannel panner in the Sends View Sends are also useful to bus tracks for multichannel plug in processing Figure 15 shows a mono audio track with a 5 1 6 channel send View Sends A E Send A Two d...

Page 1005: ...bout mono stereo and mono in stereo out plug ins see Chapter 41 Plug in and Hardware Inserts Multi Mono Plug ins Are designed for use on ste reo or greater than stereo multichannel tracks Multi mono plug ins are useful or required in the following situations When a plug in does not involve multichan nel correlated processing for example when applying EQ to select sides of a multichannel signal Whe...

Page 1006: ... selector To link the controls of specific channels 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 Paths in Surround Mixes Because Pro Tools provides a flexible routing and submixing environment you can maximize your system s available resources by first identi fying the elements that you want to p...

Page 1007: ... fly a solo instrument or make a synth pad swirl around the room as a special ef fect 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 ac tive panning in the sound field Figure 16 Using signal routing and sub paths to mix in surround Effect bus routing Outputs to sub paths Outputs to main 5 1 path for surrou...

Page 1008: ... the stereo sound field and remain there Surround mixes can become incoherent if too many elements are continuously moving For special effects some tracks can be panned dy namically bouncing between speakers or sweep ing from one side to the other Example Paths and Signal Routing for a Surround Mix The examples that follow show how Auxiliary Inputs Master Faders and other Pro Tools sig nal routing...

Page 1009: ... de fined each with several sub paths Example Sub Paths Sub paths let you route to selective channels within the multichannel surround output In Figure 19 the Mix 5 1 bus has several sub paths that show this 5 0 Sub Path The 5 0 path is a 5 channel sub path Use this type of sub path routing to con serve mixing resources with tracks you want to keep out of the LFE channel LFE Path A custom LFE sub ...

Page 1010: ...anning A 5 1 Auxiliary In put assigned to the FX main bus path serves as a submixer Extending Stereo Mixing Conventions to Surround Mixing Stereo mixing sets the precedent for active and static panning and surround mixing can bene fit from the same basic principles Panning a sound back and forth between the left and right speakers is best used as a special ef fect In a typical music mix the basic ...

Page 1011: ... Multiple output assignments make it possible to configure a number of multi format mixes For example you can assign an additional stereo output to tracks and create a stereo mix at the same time as a 5 1 mix For more information see Multiple Output Assignments on page 840 LFE Examples LFE tracks and other audio can contribute to the LFE output in two ways Using the LFE fader in Output windows Thi...

Page 1012: ... only the LFE channel This ex ample uses a custom defined LFE sub path to the FX main bus path LFE and Filtering Pro Tools applies no filtering to LFE signals Some delivery requirements may require filter ing for the LFE track For more information see the Pro Tools Sync Surround Concepts Guide Figure 22 LFE contribution from a stereo output LFE fader Figure 23 Discrete LFE routing LFE faders can f...

Page 1013: ...cts Introduction to Pro Tools Surround Panning There are four different track panning methods available In the Edit window using the reduced height Panner Grid in the I O View In the Mix window using the reduced height Panner Grid In the Output window using the full size Panner Grid Through pan automation editing Control surfaces provide additional panning op tions Refer to the documentation for y...

Page 1014: ...k is in Automation Read mode red in an Automa tion Touch Latch Touch Latch or Write modes and yellow in Automation Off or Auto mation Suspend mode In Trim mode the Volume fader and LFE fader are yellow Output windows provide additional features and controls and a much larger Grid For de tails see Output Windows on page 996 Output Windows Output windows provide panning controls called panners as we...

Page 1015: ... specific to the type of window 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 con trols The larger fader and Mute button are equivalent to those in the Pro Tools Mix win dow Opening a multichannel Output window For instructions on managing multiple Out put windows see Output Windows for...

Page 1016: ...r 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 Figure 24 Output window with a 5 1 format multichannel panner X Y Grid LFE fader Track fader and meter Position knob panners Divergence Pan Location cursor Panning Mode button Track Automation Solo an...

Page 1017: ...nd panning modes see Panning Modes on page 1001 Position Controls The Position controls let you set the positions of the panner Front Displays and controls the current front X axis left right position of the panner Rear Displays and controls the current rear X axis left right position of the panner In de fault X Y Panning mode Rear is linked to Front position and cannot be controlled indepen dentl...

Page 1018: ...ation on how to use the LFE fader see LFE Faders in Mul tichannel Panners on page 1005 Multichannel Panner Linking Stereo tracks with multichannel outputs provide left and right multichannel panners The Out put window provides controls to link the left and right channels for precise panning When you create a stereo track that is routed to a multichannel output the following pan link age controls a...

Page 1019: ...specified AutoGlide Time See AutoGlide Mode on page 1003 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 X Y Panning To pan in X Y mode 1 Click on the Panning Mode button until the X Y mode icon is displayed 2 Drag the Pan Location cursor or click any where in the Grid and drag to pan the track The location of ...

Page 1020: ...laylist in the Edit window 3 Knob Panning Pro Tools provides 3 Knob mode as an addi tional way to input pan moves 3 Knob mode lets you Pan in straight lines moving the Pan Location cursor using the Position rotary knobs with full movement of front rear and front rear position and Pan discretely between pairs of speakers For example when panning front left to rear right in 3 Knob mode audio will be...

Page 1021: ...g new locations in the Surround Panner window instead of manu ally moving the Surround Panner controls The time it takes to glide from point to point from the Pan Location cursor to the new desti nation 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 To set the AutoGlide Time 1 Choose Setup Preferences and click the M...

Page 1022: ... 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 voices Front Divergence Controls divergence between front speakers X axis only Rear Divergence Controls divergence between the rear speakers X axis only Front Rear Divergence Controls divergence be tween front and rear t...

Page 1023: ...nel for the track or a phan tom center channel Center Percentage Example In film and video production the center chan nel often contains dialog To enhance the clarity of dialog it is often beneficial to keep elements such as music out of the center speaker By re ducing the Center Percentage on music tracks music panned to the front of the soundfield can be panned to only the left and right speaker...

Page 1024: ...rgence con trol Surround Scope Plug in The Surround Scope plug in provides a 360 meter for metering multichannel paths during mixing 5 1 Format Track Layouts All 5 1 format meters including those displayed in the Surround Scope meter on tracks and in Output windows and their Path Meter Views are always arranged in the following order L C R Ls Rs LFE To use the Surround Scope Plug in On a multichan...

Page 1025: ...1007 Part XI Sync and Video ...

Page 1026: ...1008 ...

Page 1027: ...arely stay perfectly syn chronized for longer than a couple of minutes SMPTE Trigger Resolved with a SYNC Peripheral Pro Tools HD Only You can use an optional Digidesign Synchroni zation peripheral such as the SYNC HD to re solve Pro Tools recording and playback speed with any of the following clock reference sources while slaving Pro Tools to time code LTC Video source House video reference SD or...

Page 1028: ...e for more information or con tact your Digidesign dealer Ext Clock Output Pro Tools can be used as the master device in your synchronization setup where all other de vices are then slaved to Pro Tools Word Clock output With Pro Tools HD systems clock output can be configured for 1x Word Clock or 256x Slave Clock for Digidesign Legacy audio interfaces such as the 888 24 I O To set Ext Clock Output...

Page 1029: ...re settings of Digidesign SYNC Peripherals Settings are pro vided for Clock and Positional Reference Video Ref Format Video In Format and Variable Speed Override To show Time Code Settings section Click the Time Code Settings expand collapse triangle The controls in this section provide time code generation and freewheel options and separate pull up and down selectors for audio and video rates Pre...

Page 1030: ...F and Word Clock optional word clock rates are available at higher session sample rates External sources can be any multiple of the 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 and 192 kHz sources If an external source is chosen and no valid sync clock is detected at the External Clock In the I O reverts to Internal mode System Delay When Delay ...

Page 1031: ...clock reference positional reference video refer ence format video input format and Variable Speed Override VSO Clock Reference This menu lets you set the Pro Tools clock reference When using a Digidesign Synchronization pe ripheral the Clock Reference selector lists all supported clock types for the Synchronization peripheral When using Pro Tools HD systems without a Synchronization peripheral ch...

Page 1032: ...of the expected rate SYNC HD Yellow Solid SYNC HD is locked and the clock reference is within 0 025 of the ex pected rate Yellow Flashing Fast SYNC HD is locked but the clock reference is between 0 025 and 4 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 cl...

Page 1033: ...l The choices in the Freewheel section let you configure how Pro Tools will freewheel or con tinue playback if time code is interrupted or cor rupted Use these options to protect against er rors that can occur if your SMPTE time code source has drop outs or temporary lost signals None No freewheel is applied Frames Sets a number of frames to freewheel from 1 to 120 frames This value defaults to 8 ...

Page 1034: ... the Time Code Rate selector 3 Enter the Time Code Freewheel frames if any in the designated box see Freewheel on page 1015 Setting a SMPTE Session Start Time Start Frame The Session Setup window also allows you to set a SMPTE Start Frame for your session Video work tapes are rarely striped beginning at a SMPTE frame address of 00 00 00 00 You can quickly enter a start time for your session based ...

Page 1035: ...onal session time at the start of the session and maintains the relative position of existing re gions to the new start frame For example if you change the session start frame from 01 00 00 00 to 00 59 00 00 Pro Tools adds one minute of session time to accommodate the new start frame and moves all existing regions earlier in time to maintain their relative position to the start frame Redefining a ...

Page 1036: ...Min utes Seconds or Feet Frames it is usually more useful to use SMPTE time code as your reference To set the Main Time Scale to SMPTE Time Code do one of the following Choose View Rulers Time Code or Click the Main Counter selector in the Edit window and select Time Code Pro Tools displays time code values in the cur rently selected SMPTE frame rate Sub Counter and Sub Time Scale Display You can ...

Page 1037: ... and pull downs for the au dio sample rate regardless of the session frame rate In addition if there is a QuickTime movie in the Timeline the video rate can be pulled up or down by 0 1 regardless of the session frame rate Though not a recommended workflow ear lier versions of Pro Tools also enabled pull down of QuickTime video clips when audio was pulled down so this option is included in Pro Tool...

Page 1038: ...7 to 24 fps then the Audio Rate Pull Up Down menu would switch to None Audio Sample Rate Pull Up and Down The Audio Rate Pull Up Down setting applies pull up or down factors to session audio record and playback All pull rates are available regardless of session frame rate Audio Rates and Pull Up Down Options Table 48 lists actual sample rates of each pull up and pull down option and combination ro...

Page 1039: ...ssion Frame Rate to 24 fps Plug ins For proper operation at larger 4 pull rates plug ins must utilize sample clock instead of an absolute time clock All Digidesign plug ins are based on sample clock Higher Sample Rates and Pull Factors 4 audio pull rates are not available in 176 4 and 192 kHz sample rate sessions No Video Recording with Pull Ups Avid Video Peripheral Required Video may not be reco...

Page 1040: ... a track to des ignate a start point Record Online at Insertion Selection Makes on line recording begin wherever you have placed the insertion point in a track Recording then continues until Pro Tools stops receiving time code If you make a Timeline selection Pro Tools will record online only for the length of the selection Generating Time Code Using a SYNC peripheral Pro Tools can generate SMPTE ...

Page 1041: ...e External Clock Sources on page 1012 8 From the Transport Window menu or the Edit Window menu select Synchronization 9 Select one of the following Gen MTC to generate MIDI Time Code or Gen LTC to generate Linear Time Code 10 Start playback Pro Tools generates and outputs time code from the SYNC peripheral Limitations for SYNC Peripherals Locked to Video Input or Video Reference A SYNC peripheral ...

Page 1042: ... as MMC Master When Pro Tools is the Master it sends MMC commands to the slave device and receives MTC information back from the slave device To slave an external device to Pro Tools using MIDI Machine Control 1 Connect a MIDI Out port on your Pro Tools MIDI interface to an appropriate port on the slave device 2 Connect the MTC out from the slave device to a MIDI In port on your Pro Tools MIDI Int...

Page 1043: ...n of the slave device click the Online button in the Transport window 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 To slave Pro Tools to an external device using MIDI Machine Control 1 Connect a MIDI In port on your Pro Tools MIDI interface to an appropriate port on the master device 2 Connect ...

Page 1044: ...rans port pop up in the Pro Tools Transport window The selected item will act as Transport Master When the Transport Master is set to Pro Tools the playback position is gov erned 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 MMC Transport Settings When using MMC you can set the following options...

Page 1045: ...e Serial Time Code setting in the Session Setup window will make machines lock up much faster Serial time code requires both the SYNC peripheral and ex ternal devices to be locked to house video refer ence To set a Minimum Sync Delay 1 Choose Setup Preferences and click the Synchronization tab 2 Enter a number of frames in the Minimum Sync Delay field 3 Click OK to close the Preferences dialog Con...

Page 1046: ...an also be selected and Pro Tools will reference the first region in your selection A specific location within a region by clicking with the Selector tool at that location and choosing Region Identify Sync Point Sessions or tracks dragged from a browser to the session Timeline or Region List Spot Mode In Spot mode a region in a track can be quickly spotted by simply clicking it with the Time Grabb...

Page 1047: ...or crawling VTR s SMPTE location When Time Code is selected for the Time Scale pressing the Equal key captures the incoming time code When Bars Beats is selected for the Time Scale pressing the Equal key will capture to the nearest measure Although Capture Time Code works with free running Linear Time Code LTC or VITC frame numbers of a paused frame can only be captured with VITC SYNC peripherals ...

Page 1048: ... location You can also use MachineControl s serial time code ability to auto spot by enabling Machine Control and enabling serial time code in the pe ripheral To Auto Spot a region 1 Choose Options Auto Spot Regions 2 If you are using VITC identify the SMPTE frame location where you want to trigger play back of your region by pausing your video deck on that frame 3 Click the region with the Time G...

Page 1049: ...a User Time Stamp If you want to create a separate user defined SMPTE time stamp you can use the Time Stamp command in the Region List menu This com mand lets you select a region or regions and re define its SMPTE time stamp The Original Time Stamp and the User Time Stamp are then stored with your session When audio is first recorded the User Time Stamp will match the Original Time Stamp but you c...

Page 1050: ...o use the Identify Sync Point command to create a point in the re gion and synchronize that point to a SMPTE frame To create a sync point in a region 1 Do one of the following Click with the Selector tool at the point in the region that you want to synchronize to a SMPTE frame location or Press the Down Arrow key while playing back 2 Choose Region Identify Sync Point The cur rent SMPTE time is aut...

Page 1051: ...tly Several time code formats use the same frame count such as 23 976 fps and 24 fps yet they run at slightly different frame rates per second A Digidesign SYNC peripheral and some third party products can be used to help determine frame rate 29 97 fps Non Drop Rate Not Recognized 29 97 fps Non Drop is a slightly slower version of 30 fps Non Drop time code When 29 97 fps Non Drop is used with colo...

Page 1052: ...Guide 1034 Use a Consistent Clock Source When possible media files should be played back using the same sync reference signal they were recorded with This assures the closest match between record and playback sample rates ...

Page 1053: ... video track to QuickTime or Windows Media video Pro Tools LE with Complete Production Toolkit or DV Toolkit 2 Pro Tools LE with an Avid video peripheral and Pro Tools HD let you do the following with video Import multiple video files into the Time line Select from multiple video playlists on each video track Mix multiple codecs in video tracks Organize group and edit video regions in the Timeline...

Page 1054: ...igh Quality QuickTime Image option is enabled in the Operation Preferences page Pro Tools decompresses both fields of each in terlaced frame of QuickTime video When view ing a QuickTime movie in the Pro Tools Video window select this option to display the movie at the highest possible resolution Deselecting this option can help improve performance if your system experiences problems playing back a...

Page 1055: ... Windows Media video files play back accurately at normal speed on the Windows desktop or an external monitor with a qualified DirectShow output device However due to processing requirements for VC 1 decompression Digidesign cannot guar antee accurate playback of video frames when performing other transport commands such as scrubbing looping and off speed play Pro Tools does not support Windows Me...

Page 1056: ... lets you mix QuickTime and Avid video tracks in the Timeline but not on the same video track To create a video track in Pro Tools LE do one of the following Use File Import to import a video file Drag a video file to the Timeline Use File Import Session Data to import a session containing a video track For more information see Importing Video into Pro Tools on page 1043 To create a new video trac...

Page 1057: ... QuickTime files that were compressed using multiple codecs 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 the first video file Main Video Track The main video track is the video track that is currently online and will be played back with any audio in the session When the ...

Page 1058: ...ped You should stop 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 Frames View Performance When using Frames View to view video content in the video track your computer may exhibit reduced or sluggish performance If this hap pens on your computer hide the video track or switch to Blocks View Blocks View In Bl...

Page 1059: ...video track to take it offline and Pro Tools will not output video Locking Video Tracks You can lock one or more video tracks to pre vent any video regions on those tracks from be ing edited When a video track is locked Pro Tools restricts all editing operations involving the track ex cept for locking and unlocking video regions A locked video track displays a small lock to in dicate that the vide...

Page 1060: ...align with the actual frames of the video files in the Timeline the session s Time Code Rate setting should be set to match the video engine rate Video Engine Rate Indicator The Video Engine Rate indicator displays only in the main video track whether it is online or offline and shows the video engine rate which is the number of video frames per second output by Pro Tools The Video Engine Rate ind...

Page 1061: ...hoose File Import Video or Press Control Alt Shift I Windows or Command Option Shift I Mac 2 In the Select Video File to Import dialog select one or more video files 3 Click Open 4 Configure the Video Import Options dialog and click OK to import video into Pro Tools The video frame rate of the first video file added to a session determines the session s video engine rate Video files subsequently a...

Page 1062: ...me rate as any video file al ready present in the session Dragging Video Files from the Region List to the Timeline Pro Tools HD and Pro Tools LE with Complete Production Toolkit or DV Toolkit 2 or with an Avid Video Peripheral Only You can add video files to the Timeline by drag ging and dropping directly from the Region List to a video track To add video files to a video track by dragging them f...

Page 1063: ...a time code loca tion that corresponds to the timestamps from the original source tape With multiple video files this places all video files in the Timeline at their respective original timestamps Additional Video Import Options Gaps Between Regions Pro Tools HD and Pro Tools LE with Complete Production Toolkit or DV Toolkit 2 or an Avid Video Peripheral Only When you import more than one video fi...

Page 1064: ...egions are listed in the Region List with the region name the number of the originating track and the number of the region from the track To import audio from a QuickTime or Windows Media video file without importing the video do the following 1 Choose File Import Audio 2 In the Import Audio dialog navigate to the video file from which you want to import audio and select it 3 Under the Region sect...

Page 1065: ...s display in Pro Tools in the Region List or the Timeline When using Pro Tools LE the following limita tions apply to video regions You can add only one video region to a ses sion It can be played back but cannot be ed ited and will not be listed in the Region List When you import video or open a session cre ated by Pro Tools HD Pro Tools LE with Complete Production Toolkit or DV Toolkit 2 or Pro ...

Page 1066: ...xcept for Time Compres sion Expansion and Pencil tools Playing and Selecting Video Track Material Selecting within video frame boundaries see Selecting within Video Frame Boundaries on page 1050 Selecting and editing across multiple Video and audio tracks see Selecting and Editing Across Multiple Audio and Video Tracks on page 1049 Link or unlink track and Edit selections Auto scroll video tracks ...

Page 1067: ...s and any audio track has region boundaries that do not line up with video frame boundaries you cannot tab through those region boundaries General Editing Operations Not Applicable to Video Regions The following editing operations are applicable to audio regions but are not applicable to video regions Fades Mute unmute regions AudioSuite plug ins Waveform Repair with the Pencil tool Strip silence ...

Page 1068: ...he In sert Silence command works just like the Edit Clear command To insert space into a video track 1 Make a selection in a track or tracks The length of the selection determines the duration of the space inserted 2 Choose Edit Insert Silence Renaming Video Disk Files When renaming audio regions in either the Timeline or the Region List you have the option of also renaming the audio files on disk...

Page 1069: ...this is supported with Mac only or PCIe with a Digidesign qualified video card Resize the Video window To toggle the online status of the main video track Right click Windows or Mac or Control click Mac the Video window and select Online To toggle output of QuickTime video between the Video window and FireWire do one of the following Mac only Select or deselect Options Video Out FireWire or Right ...

Page 1070: ...b no audio will play If you scrub on an audio track audio and video will scrub si multaneously To scrub a video track 1 Ensure that scrubbing in the Video window is enabled by selecting Options Scrub in Video Win dow 2 Select the Scrubber tool 3 Click in the video track and drag the Scrubber Shuttling the Video Track Shuttle Lock mode lets you use the numeric key pad to shuttle a video track and o...

Page 1071: ...in the Transport or Press the Spacebar Browsing Video in the Video Universe Window Pro Tools HD and Pro Tools LE with Complete Production Toolkit or DV Toolkit 2 Only The Video Universe lets you view navigate zoom and select video regions on the main video track The Video Universe window displays the center video frame of each video region in the main video track Video frames are ordered sequen ti...

Page 1072: ...fill the Edit window drag on the video frames that represent the regions Selecting Ranges in the Video Universe When you move the cursor over the bottom half of a video frame in the Video Universe it dis plays and behaves as a selector tool This tool lets you select ranges within one or more video regions in the Edit window To use the Video Universe window to select ranges in video regions in the ...

Page 1073: ... Windows Media video with frame rates higher than 30 fps Pro Tools syncs properly only if the Time Code 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 QuickTime or Windows Media HD video at 59 94 fps change the session s Time Code Rate to 29 97 frames per second To set the session s Time Code Rate 1 Choose Setup Session ...

Page 1074: ...ugh the Firewire port To export a QuickTime DV reference movie for Pro Tools Firewire playback set the following 1 Enable the following export options Flatten video tracks Fill in spaces with black Render all video effects Use Apple DV Codec Enable the Apple DV codec 2 Make sure the Use Avid Codec option is not en abled Tips for Optimizing Video Playback When using Pro Tools to play video files th...

Page 1075: ...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 appro priate to compensate for the delay caused by your video monitor chain The amount of delay introduced varies based on your system and the type of video peripheral you are using When using an Avid peripheral with QuickTime 18 quarter frames is a good starting poin...

Page 1076: ...t click or Control click the Video win dow and select or deselect Video Out PCIe Video Reference Video output can be locked to external video reference including Black Burst and Tri Level Sync Supported QuickTime Codecs Most common QuickTime codecs are supported including HD codecs such as h 264 DVCPro 100 HDV and DV25 Supported Video Formats Though no PCI video cards have been qualified for use w...

Page 1077: ...rack you want to bounce is currently the main video track The track s Video Online button must be highlighted blue 3 Make sure that all of the audio tracks you want to include in the bounce are audible not muted or inactive 4 Assign the output of each of the tracks you want to include in your bounce to the same ste reo output or bus path 720p 29 97 HDV 720p 59 94 or NTSC 29 97 720p 59 94 720p 50 7...

Page 1078: ...ideo track and a mono or stereo mixdown of your session to a new Windows Media movie To bounce video and audio in the video track to a Windows Media movie 1 Finalize your mix 2 Make sure the video track you want to bounce is currently the main video track The track s Video Online button must be highlighted blue 3 Make sure that all of the audio tracks you want to include in the bounce are audible ...

Page 1079: ... video peripheral some components of the session may open differently or not open at all as follows Only the main video track is displayed If no video track was selected as the main video track when the session was saved the first video track containing QuickTime or Win dows Media video in that session is displayed Only the playlist that was chosen when the session was saved will be displayed All ...

Page 1080: ...Pro Tools Reference Guide 1062 ...

Page 1081: ...nge button 692 Add Tempo Change button 671 689 Add Unique Triggers 570 adding new playlist 530 sends 842 AES EBU Hardware Setup 53 AFL After Fader Listen 189 AFL PFL Mutes Output Path selector 76 AFL PFL Path 76 After Fader Listen mode 189 After Playback Scrolling option 334 After Write Pass Switch To option 93 904 AIFF file format 964 All MIDI Notes Off command 603 all tracks hiding 177 selecting...

Page 1082: ...option 85 Auto button 882 Auto Input Monitoring mode 363 364 Auto Match Pull Factors 1019 Auto Region Fade In Out Length preference 88 523 Auto Rename Region List command 220 auto created regions 429 hiding 220 renaming 219 auto fades 523 AutoGlide mode 1003 AutoGlide Time preference 93 1003 AutoJoin command 905 indicator 906 AutoMatch all controls 919 button 918 indicators 913 individual automati...

Page 1083: ... Back Forward commands 332 extending selections 333 repeating 333 backing up sessions automatically 85 116 bank select 10 596 Bar Beat Markers and tempo events 691 audio with varying tempos 692 editing 691 from Identify Beat command 690 generated with Beat Detective 560 moving 691 Bars Beats Time Scale 663 Batch Fades dialog 524 Beat Detective 549 550 551 beat triggers deleting 558 generating 554 ...

Page 1084: ... for Updates 38 Chord Change dialog 704 Chord symbols in the Score Editor 649 Chord Symbols ruler 703 chords 703 diagrams 704 symbols 704 Classic Numeric Keypad mode 25 84 Clear All Clip Indicators command 163 846 Clear command Edit menu 442 Clear command Region List 221 222 Clear Special commands automation 935 Clear Trim Automation Track command 178 925 clearing Elastic Audio analysis 247 click ...

Page 1085: ...ttings subfolders 888 Crossfade Preference for Pre Post Roll option 89 519 crossfades 511 and dither 867 creating with Smart Tool 466 DestructivePunch 409 equal gain 516 equal power 516 518 Fades dialog 513 in batches 523 linear 518 overlap 518 pre post 522 removing 522 TrackPunch 409 trimming 522 types 511 with dither 517 Current Feet Frames command 1017 current meter 138 692 Current Meter indica...

Page 1086: ...tings 887 destructive editing compacting audio files 507 Destructive Record mode 354 379 destructive recording 379 DestructivePunch 416 crossfades 409 Prepare DPE Tracks 418 preparing for 417 DestructivePunch File Length preference 88 418 Digi 002 33 punching with footswitch 411 Digi 002 Rack 33 DigiBase 247 Advanced Search mode 245 auditioning 248 Automatically Find and Relink 255 Auto Preview mo...

Page 1087: ...ing 1004 Double Clicking a MIDI Region Opens option 96 drag and drop from the Region List to tracks 716 importing audio files 280 importing MIDI files 303 Drag and Drop From Desktop Conforms to Session Tempo options 94 279 Draw Grids in Edit Window option 446 DSP active and inactive items 19 and inactive inputs and outputs 182 and inactive outputs 841 and inactive sends 847 and no output 841 and o...

Page 1088: ...ne selection 486 making with the Selector tool 464 sliding in the Ruler 483 edit smoothing with Beat Detective 567 Edit tools 448 Grabber 448 477 Pencil 448 471 Scrubber 448 468 Selector 330 448 Smart Tool 448 Trimmer 448 458 Zoomer 448 449 Edit window 128 130 All View option 837 half screen 335 None Views option 837 scrolling from the Ruler 487 Universe view 489 View options 128 Edit Window Defau...

Page 1089: ...o enabled tracks 769 Elastic Properties window 787 Enable Dub Window option 103 Enable Elastic Audio on New Tracks preference 95 Enable Session File Auto Backup option 85 Enable SYNC Peripheral option 102 enabling Auto Backup option 85 automation 922 groups 208 MIDI input devices 390 plug in automation 885 End To Insertion command 501 Enforce Mac PC Compatibility option 122 314 Entire Selection mo...

Page 1090: ...ing position 1017 Feet Frames Time Scale 664 field recorder expanding alternate channels to new playlists 545 importing monophonic audio files 287 importing polyphonic audio files 287 file formats audio 964 AIFF 964 BWF WAV 964 MP3 965 MXF 964 QuickTime 964 Sound Designer II 964 File menu 149 Bounce to Disk command 962 Close Session command 125 Exit command Windows 125 Export MIDI command 304 Expo...

Page 1091: ...98 Mix Groups 202 modifying 204 renaming 204 unlinking Mix and Edit Groups 198 Groups dialog 201 guitar tablature 704 H H W Buffer Size 366 H W Insert Delay 77 half screen 335 half speed playback 338 half speed recording 388 hard drives and Compacting Audio 507 recording to system volume 363 Round Robin Allocation 362 hardware routing to Pro Tools 64 Hardware Buffer Size 8 42 hardware I O inserts ...

Page 1092: ... items from Catalogs 269 plug in settings 888 Pre settings 296 QuickTime audio 1046 reference or copy 297 region groups 306 tempo and meter map 296 tracks for other sessions 289 using drag and drop 280 Window Configurations 296 inactive 19 21 inputs 181 inserts 875 Master Faders and assignments 831 outputs 181 paths 69 paths global 69 sends 847 track path assignments 181 tracks 192 Include Control...

Page 1093: ...ete versus contribution 993 faders 1006 Librarian menu 881 Limit Character Set option 122 Limit To preference 87 Linear command Tempo Operations 684 linear crossfades 518 Linear Sample Display 682 Linear Tick Display 682 Linearity Display Mode 682 Link Enable buttons 883 in multi mono plug ins 988 Link Mix and Edit Group Enables option 90 Link Record and Play Faders option 86 365 Link Selection bu...

Page 1094: ...n multi mono plug ins 988 Master View for tracks 173 933 mastering digitally 971 to disk 970 Matches 542 Matches alternate takes 383 542 Matching Criteria window 384 541 Mbox 33 Mbox 2 33 Mbox 2 Mini 33 Mbox 2 Pro 33 measures renumbering 700 Medium QuickTime Playback Priority setting 85 1036 Memory Locations 705 706 creating 707 creating on the fly 709 deleting 711 deleting all 712 editing 710 ext...

Page 1095: ...olling 435 selecting 582 selecting with the mini keyboard 582 splitting 818 transposing 584 816 trimming start end points 585 MIDI Operations window 797 MIDI Output selector 161 187 Instrument track 188 MIDI Preferences 95 Global MIDI Playback Offset preference 602 Pencil Tool Resolution When Drawing Controller Data option 96 594 927 MIDI Preferences page 95 MIDI Real Time Properties 604 on tracks...

Page 1096: ...plication support 324 multi mono plug in Channel selector 988 plug ins 872 987 multiple mono files exporting 966 multiple outputs Hardware Setup 55 multiple tracks and Beat Detective 564 audition takes 384 543 editing across 443 extending selections to 481 482 fitting audio regions to Edit selection 508 nudging regions in 504 pasting to 444 selecting 481 separating regions on 498 shuffling regions...

Page 1097: ...cation preference 347 Record Online option 1022 Use F11 for Wait for Note 393 Operation Destination Track pop up menus 294 Operations menu Calibration Mode command 347 Link Timeline and Edit Selection option 473 Link Track and Edit Selection 167 474 Low Latency Monitoring option 367 Optical ADAT I O 53 Optical S PDIF Hardware Setup 53 Options menu 149 Auto Spot Regions command 1030 Delay Compensat...

Page 1098: ... 578 shapes 578 926 Square 579 Triangle 579 Pencil Tool Resolution When Drawing Controller Data option 96 594 927 pending tasks 272 Performance Volume 226 Peripherals Ethernet controllers 106 MachineControl 103 MIDI Controllers 105 PRE 106 Satellites 107 Synchronization 101 Peripherals dialog 101 389 Peripherals list 52 54 74 personalities 868 PFL Pre Fader Listen 189 Pitch Memory Enabled option 1...

Page 1099: ...om tracks 876 RTAS Processors setting 43 Plug ins Settings Select button 881 pops avoiding 388 post crossfades 512 522 Post Roll button 137 Power view 430 PRE configuring 106 I O Setup 77 pre crossfades 512 522 Pre Fader Listen mode 189 PRE settings importing 296 Pre Post Fader button 851 Pre Post Roll option 377 pre post fader inserts 872 pre post roll and loop recording 381 and punch recording 3...

Page 1100: ...s 800 804 MIDI on input 392 820 Quick Start dialog 111 QuickPunch 355 411 crossfades 409 LE systems 406 Pro Tools HD systems 406 region take numbering 408 QuickPunch Crossfade Length preference 89 409 QuickTime file formats 964 QuickTime movies and Avid video 1055 optimizing for playback 1056 playback quality 1036 requirements 1036 sync 1057 QuickTime Playback Priority options Highest setting 85 1...

Page 1101: ...timebase format 744 trimming 749 ungrouping 745 Region Groups folder 115 Region List 211 and MIDI clips 211 auditioning regions 217 displaying file info for audio regions 212 dragging from 715 Export Regions as Files command 287 Find History 215 finding regions 214 Keyboard Focus 24 pop up menu 211 previewing regions 217 repeating a previous search 215 selecting regions 216 sorting 213 Region List...

Page 1102: ...lastic Audio 784 whole file audio regions 428 Regions View 170 171 433 Regroup Region command 745 related takes and Separate Region command 497 Relative Grid mode 447 725 relinking Find Links 258 Linking Options 259 Remote Mode options 98 remote track arming 1028 Remove Duplicate Notes command 603 Remove Sync Point command 729 removing crossfades 522 plug ins from tracks 876 sends 843 Rename comma...

Page 1103: ...n 435 457 Pro Tools window vertically or horizontally 487 Scrolling options 334 After Playback 334 Center Playhead 335 Continuous Scrolling During Playback 334 None 334 Page 334 617 638 Scrub in Video Window command 1052 Scrub Trimmer tool 461 Scrubber tool 448 468 in Shuttle mode 469 selecting with 483 scrubbing 468 a single audio track 468 and edit cursor 468 on two audio tracks 469 playback spe...

Page 1104: ... Separation Grabber 498 Separation Grabber tool 465 session data importing 289 Session Data Online Status indicator 132 Session Data to Import menu 294 Session File Backups folder 116 session parameters 121 Session Setup window 1010 sessions 12 audio format 1012 backups 85 116 bit depth 115 1012 closing 125 creating 114 creating for surround mixing 976 files 12 frame rate 1013 mixed audio formats ...

Page 1105: ...g tempo 670 moving 670 Sort By options 213 sorting data in browsers 236 Markers 714 regions 213 secondary sorts 237 Sound Designer II file format 964 Source Path 963 Special Paste 935 Speed Cal indicator 1014 split MIDI 818 Split Into Mono Track command 179 505 984 Split notes action 818 splitting stereo and multichannel tracks 505 Spot dialog 723 1028 Use Subframes option 1029 User Time Stamp but...

Page 1106: ...g in Streaming Buffer 50 Plug in Streaming Buffer Size 49 RTAS Engine 44 Sample Rate 47 System Memory Allocation 49 System Usage window 56 57 T T Transfer volumes 261 Tab to Transients button 333 484 take over surround pan 1001 Takes multiple tracks 384 543 takes auditioning 383 default names 356 matching alternates 383 542 MIDI 401 numbering for QuickPunch 408 recording additional 379 selecting a...

Page 1107: ...Playback option 83 341 Timeline Selection Markers 373 474 and Edit selections 475 selection length 478 Timeline selections 485 Timeline selections 485 auditioning with Playhead enabled 337 copied from Edit selection 486 copied to Edit selection 486 in Timebase rulers 485 making with the Selector tool 464 sliding in the Ruler 486 start end and length fields 137 Timeline Selection Markers 485 Time l...

Page 1108: ...Tracks Group command 200 trajectory panning 1003 Transfer files 310 selecting in DigiBase 234 Transfer volume 226 transients 429 detecting with Beat Detective 554 tabbing to 333 484 Transport 134 Count Off 351 Meter 351 Metronome 350 Transport Master 1026 Transport Numeric Keypad mode 26 84 Transport Online option 1021 Transport RecordLock option 86 410 421 Transport View options 137 329 374 376 T...

Page 1109: ...etting 103 video recording limits with pull 1021 Video Designator 261 Video Media options 293 Video Online button 1039 1041 Video Out FireWire Port command 1056 Video Out PCIe command 1058 Video Pull Up Down 1019 Video Satellite LE option 107 Video Satellite option 107 Video Sync Offset command 1057 video track scrubbing 1052 viewing as blocks 1040 video tracks 154 track controls 160 Video Univers...

Page 1110: ... windows arranging 148 Cascade 148 closing 149 hiding all floating windows 149 Tile 148 Tile Horizontal 148 Tile Vertical 148 Windows sessions compatibility with Mac 314 Word Clock 52 workflows 421 Workspace browser 362 363 Write 949 Write Automation commands 948 949 Write Automation To commands 951 Write Automation to Next Breakpoint command 941 Write Automation to Next Breakpoint on Stop command...

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Page 1112: ...City CA 94014 3886 USA Tel 650 731 6300 Fax 650 731 6399 TECHNICAL SUPPORT USA Tel 650 731 6100 Fax 650 731 6375 PRODUCT INFORMATION USA Tel 800 333 2137 INTERNATIONAL OFFICES Visit the Digidesign website for contact information www digidesign com ...

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