DigiDesign Pro Tools, Reference Manual, Page: 678 / 886

Pro Tools Reference Guide 664
General Information
When more than one insert is used on a track,
they are processed in series. Each effect is added
to that of any previous plug-ins or inserts (flow-
ing from top to bottom in the Mix window In-
serts View, and left to right in the Edit window
Inserts View).
Inserts on audio tracks and Auxiliary Inputs and
Instrument tracks are pre-fader. You can cause
clipping if you boost their gain to extremes, es-
pecially on tracks recorded at high amplitude.
Watch on-screen metering for indication of clip-
ping. (Inserts on Master Faders are post-fader.)
Using Inserts for Effects Processing
Inserts can be used in two ways:
On Single Tracks An insert can be applied to an
individual audio, Auxiliary Input, Master Fader,
or Instrument track.
With in-line inserts, you control the amount of
effect by adjusting the balance (or the wet/dry
mix) controls of the plug-in or external device.
As Shared Resources An insert can be used as a
shared resource in a send-and-return arrange-
ment, by bussing signals from several tracks to
an Auxiliary Input, and then applying the insert
to the Auxiliary Input track. You can then con-
trol 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 sig-
nal routing features helps maximize your sys-
tem’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 well.
Stereo Inserts Used on stereo tracks. A stereo
hardware I/O insert sends the signal to an in-
put/output path.
Mono In/Stereo Out Plug-in Inserts Used to re-
turn a stereo effect from a mono source. Certain
plug-ins (such as D-Verb) let you generate stereo
output from a mono channel. A track made into
stereo in this way has panning controls for each
channel of the stereo signal. Any inserts that oc-
cur on a track after a stereo insert are automati-
cally used in stereo as well.
Multi-Mono Plug-in Inserts Used on stereo or
greater-than-stereo multichannel tracks when a
multichannel version of the plug-in is not avail-
able. Controls for all channels are linked by de-
fault so that you can adjust them in tandem.
You can unlink controls for independent adjust-
ment using the Master Link button. See “Link-
ing and Unlinking Controls on Multi-Mono
Plug-ins” on page 681.
Multichannel Plug-in Inserts Used on stereo and
greater-than-stereo multichannel tracks. On
greater-than-stereo multichannel tracks, the
controls for all channels are generally linked to-
gether.
For examples of send and return busses and
other submixing setups, see “Signal Routing
for Monitoring and Submixing” on
page 650.
Relinking may cause automation to be lost.
See “Linking and Unlinking Controls on
Multi-Mono Plug-ins” on page 681