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DigiDesign Pro Tools Reference Manual

DigiDesign Pro Tools Reference Manual

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Summary of Contents for DigiDesign Pro Tools

  • Page 1 ® Pro Tools Reference Guide Version 7.2...
  • Page 2 Copyright This guide is copyrighted ©2006 by Digidesign, a division of Avid Technology, Inc. (hereafter “Digidesign”), with all rights reserved. Under copyright laws, this guide may not be duplicated in whole or in part without the written consent of Digidesign.

  • Page 3: Table Of Contents

    About www.digidesign.com ........
  • Page 4 Grouped Control Offsets ..........136 Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 5 Chapter 9. Importing and Exporting Session Data ....... . . 137 Importing Audio .
  • Page 6 Edit Tools ............283 Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 7 Using the Zoomer Tools ..........284 Using the Trim Tools .
  • Page 8 Detection (Normal) and Collection Mode........456 viii Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 9 Part V MIDI Editing Chapter 22. MIDI Editing ........... . . 461 Mirrored MIDI Editing.
  • Page 10 Overwriting or Extending Mute Automation ........623 Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 11 Creating Snapshot Automation ..........625 Previewing Automation .
  • Page 12 Index ..............731 Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 13: Part I Introduction

    Part I: Introduction...

  • Page 15: Chapter 1. Welcome To Pro Tools

    MachineControl™ Guide (Pro Tools|HD Systems Only) Electronic PDF guide for MachineControl Pro Tools Reference Guide Full details on all Pro Tools functionality and operations. option, includes installation and operation in- structions for using the MachineControl option (Pro Tools LE and M-Powered systems only in-...

  • Page 16: Compatibility Information

    Digidesign also provides guides with audio in- Compatibility Information terfaces, dedicated worksurfaces (such as D-Con- trol) and controllers (such as Command|8), and Digidesign can only assure compatibility and other Digidesign options (such as MIDI I/O, provide support for hardware and software it PRE, and SYNC I/O).

  • Page 17: Chapter 2. Pro Tools System Configurations

    Contact your Digidesign Pro Tools LE with DV Toolkit 2 Pro Tools LE sys- dealer or visit Digidesign’s Web site for the tems that have been upgraded with the latest system requirements and compatibil- DV Toolkit™...
  • Page 18 192 I/O, 192 Digital I/O, 96 I/O, • HD Accel card or 96i I/O. • Pro Tools HD software The following “Legacy” Digidesign audio inter- faces are supported with Pro Tools|HD systems: Pro Tools|HD 3 Accel • 888|24 I/O™ and 882|20 I/O™...
  • Page 19 Pro Tools|HD System Playback, Recording and Voice Limits The following table lists the audio playback, recording, and voiceable track limits of each type of Pro Tools|HD system. Playback and recording voices refer to the number of unique simultaneous playback and record tracks on your system. Total voiceable tracks refers to the maximum number of audio tracks that can share the available voices on your system.
  • Page 20 For more information, see the Expanded Systems Guide. “Legacy” I/Os (such as 888|24 I/O) require the use of at least one 192 I/O, 192 Digital I/O, 96 I/O, or 96i I/O. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 21: Pro Tools Le Systems

    Pro Tools LE-based systems are available in the Pro Tools LE system depends on the pro- following configurations: cessing power of your computer. Contact your Digidesign dealer or visit Digidesign’s Digi 002 Web site (www.digidesign.com) for the lat- est system requirements and compatibility A Digi 002 system includes: information.

  • Page 22: Pro Tools M-Powered

    References to Pro Tools LE in this guide are usually interchangeable with Pro Tools M-Powered, ex- cept as noted in this guide and the Pro Tools M-Powered Getting Started Guide. For the most current list of Digidesign-qualified M-Audio interfaces, see the Digidesign Web site (www.digidesign.com) .

  • Page 23: Pro Tools Le With Dv Toolkit 2 And Pro Tools Le Or M-Powered With Music Production Toolkit

    Digidesign- Matching Tracks, Session Data to Import, qualified computers. Track Playlist) Visit the Digidesign Web site for more in- • MP3 export option (for bounce recording formation (www.digidesign.com). or exporting a region as an MP3 file) •...
  • Page 24 Pro Tools LE: • Beat Detective features: • Ability to apply Beat Detective across mul- DINR™ (Digidesign Intelligent Noise Reduction™) tiple tracks LE Plug-in For reducing noise in audio. • Collection Mode DigiTranslator™...

  • Page 25: Chapter 3. Pro Tools Concepts

    This chapter explains the principles and con- The Digidesign Audio Engine cepts that form the foundation of Pro Tools op- eration and functionality. DAE (or Digidesign Audio Engine) is Digi- design’s real-time operating system for digital audio recording, playback, and processing. Hard Disk Audio Recording When you install Pro Tools, DAE is automati- cally installed on your system.

  • Page 26: Pro Tools Sessions

    DSP re- When a session is transferred to a different sources for Delay Compensation. Pro Tools system, its session file icon will change to the icon type of the destination system. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 27 Video tracks support both QuickTime movies Tracks and Avid video, but an individual video track Pro Tools tracks are where audio, MIDI, and au- can play back only one of these types of video at tomation data are recorded and edited. a time.
  • Page 28 INPUTS 1-4 INPUTS 5-16 OUTPUT SW CTRL GAIN +4dBu/–12dBV +4dBu/–10dBV Figure 1. Back view of 96 I/O, with eight analog inputs, eight analog outputs, and eight digital input/output channels (using a lightpipe) Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 29: Signal Routing

    The second use of the term channel refers to a Signal Routing channel strip in the Pro Tools Mix window. Pro Tools provides software-based mixing and Each track in a Pro Tools session has a corre- signal routing controls. The Mix window is sponding channel strip in the Mix window.

  • Page 30: System Resources

    Audio Input and Output Path selectors and see “Voice Borrowing” on page 115. other menus. See Chapter 7, “I/O Setup” for more information. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 31 Tracks When a track is made inactive, its voices Active and Inactive Items become available for another track. Mono inac- Pro Tools lets you make certain items (such as tive tracks free up one voice; stereo and multi- tracks and inserts) inactive, in order to free up channel tracks free up one voice per channel.

  • Page 32: Midi Concepts

    IN The following are basic instructions for manu- ally making items inactive. Throughout the Pro Tools Reference Guide, instructions are pro- vided whenever an item can be made inactive. MIDI signal flow To toggle an item active or inactive: Control-Start-click (Windows) or Command- ■...
  • Page 33 When “local control” is off, your key- board still transmits data to its MIDI OUT port. MIDI Control Surface Any device (such as the Digidesign Command|8), which uses a MIDI Continuous Controller Events MIDI instructions connection to send control messages to a soft-...
  • Page 34 These ports can be on a Pro Tools interface that has MIDI ports (such as MIDI I/O, Mbox 2, or a Digidesign-qualified M- Audio interface) or some other MIDI interface. Signal paths for external MIDI instruments...

  • Page 35: Chapter 4. Pro Tools Main Windows

    Chapter 4: Pro Tools Main Windows Pro Tools provides two complementary ways of To display the Mix window: viewing a session: the Mix window and the Edit Choose Window > Mix. ■ window. Pro Tools also lets you control the transport and transport-related functions using To display all Mix window view options: the Transport window.
  • Page 36 (page 99) (page 98) Track List/Group List (page 96) View Auxiliary MIDI Mix Window Stereo (page 107) Input Track View selector Audio Track (page 99) (page 97) (page 532) (page 96) Figure 3. Pro Tools Mix window Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 37 Timeline Selections (page 322) Zoom buttons (page 284) Edit Selection indicators Transport controls Commands Keyboard Focus (page 26) (page 27) (page 36) Grid and Edit tools Graphic Tempo Event Edit Area Nudge values (page 26) Editor (page 26) Timeline (page 27) (page 404) Edit Mode buttons...
  • Page 38 Note Attributes (page 469) Pitch Zoom Toggle Custom Note Attack Smart Tool Duration button (page 463) (page 284) Velocity (page 294) Edit tools in Edit window Release Velocity Event Edit Area showing MIDI track information Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 39: The Transport Window

    Edit Window Bar Cursor Location Indicators The Edit Window bar contain various selectors, commands, indicators, and pop-up menus for working in the Pro Tools Edit window. Cursor Location indicator (page 301) View Selectors Cursor Location Value indicator (page 301) Cursor Location indicators in the Edit Window bar Ruler View selector (page 532) The Transport Window Edit window View selector (page 532)
  • Page 40 (Pro Tools HD or Pro Tools LE with DV Toolkit 2) For more information on loop playback, see “Looping Playback” on page 321. Sample 1 second With the Numeric Keypad mode set to Transport, you can rewind by pressing 1. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 41 Fast Forward Fast forwards from the Timeline in- Right-clicking the Record Enable button lets you sertion point. You can also click repeatedly to choose a record mode from the pop-up menu. fast forward incrementally (by an amount based You can also cycle through the Pro Tools record on the Main Time Scale).
  • Page 42 Playback Marker in the Main “Working with Synchronization.” Timebase ruler. For more information, see “Play- If you are using the Digidesign Machine- back Markers” on page 208. Control option, see the MachineControl End Specifies the end of the play or record range.
  • Page 43 Metronome Click When selected, Pro Tools will MIDI Controls generate a metronome pulse that can be set to trigger built-in sounds or MIDI instruments dur- ing playback and recording. Countoff MIDI Merge Metronome Click The Pro Tools metronome is configured in the Click/Countoff Options dialog.

  • Page 44: Menus And Windows

    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. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 45: Tool Tips

    Region List Pop-Up Menu (Edit Window Group Name and Track Group ID Only) Provides commands to find, select, sort, Indicator Pop-Up Menus clear, rename, time stamp, compact, export, and When you click and hold on a group name in recalculate waveform overviews of items in the the Group List, or click on a Group ID indicator Region List.
  • Page 46 Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 47: Chapter 5. Keyboard And Right-Click Mouse Shortcuts

    Chapter 5: Keyboard and Right-Click Mouse Shortcuts This chapter provides an overview of Pro Tools Global Key Commands keyboard and mouse shortcuts. This section shows keyboard shortcuts that ap- A PDF listing of all shortcuts is available in ply to many functions in Pro Tools. Pro Tools.

  • Page 48: Keyboard Focus

    Region List, enable or dis- able groups, or perform an edit or play com- mand. You can only enable one of the three Keyboard Focus modes at a time. Enabling a Keyboard Fo- cus will disable the one previously enabled. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 49: Numeric Keypad Modes

    To set the Keyboard Focus, do one of the following: Shuttle Lock Modes Click the a–z button for the focus you want to ■ With either Shuttle Lock mode (Classic or Trans- enable. port) you can use the numeric keypad to shuttle –...
  • Page 50 (.) again. • Recall Memory Locations by typing Period (.), the Memory Location number, and Period (.) again. Shuttle Lock modes are not available when the Numeric Keypad mode is set to Shuttle. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 51: Part Ii Sessions & Tracks

    Part II: Sessions & Tracks...

  • Page 53: Chapter 6. Sessions

    Chapter 6: Sessions This chapter covers the basics of starting a Shut down your Pro Tools system in this order: project in Pro Tools, including how to set up Quit Pro Tools and any other running applica- and save a Pro Tools session. tions.
  • Page 54 With computers that have multiple processors, setting. (For more information, see “System Us- or that feature multi-core processing or hyper- age” on page 59.) threading, this setting lets you enable multi-pro- cessor support for RTAS processes. Used in com- Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 55 Higher CPU Usage Limit settings allocate To set the number of RTAS Processors: ◆ more processing power to Pro Tools, and are Choose Setup > Playback Engine. useful for playing back large sessions or using more real-time plug-ins. The maximum CPU Usage Limit is 85 percent for single-processor computers (except for Digi 002, which has a limit of 99 percent), and 99 percent for multi-process computers.
  • Page 56 Pro Tools|HD Accel Pro Tools|HD cards. In addition, to free up systems. DSP for plug-ins and processing, select the minimum number of voices and DSPs needed to play back the current session. Click OK. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 57 Long Allocates maximum DSP resources for De- Using a larger DAE Playback Buffer Size lay Compensation for each channel. Long Delay leaves less system memory for other tasks. Compensation uses the SRAM contained on The default setting of Level 2 is recom- DSPs needed by DSP-intensive plug-ins.

  • Page 58: Configuring Pro Tools Hardware Settings

    Hardware Choose Setup > Hardware. On Pro Tools|HD systems, you configure Hard- From the Peripherals list, select the Digidesign ware settings for each audio interface connected audio interface connected to the first card in to your system. For example, Pro Tools|HD sys- your system.
  • Page 59 From the Clock Source pop-up menu, select For 192 I/Os equipped with the optional the appropriate clock source for the system. In Digital I/O Card, the additional AES/EBU I/O many cases, you will use Internal. The other ports on the optional card are listed as AES/EBU choices are for resolving Pro Tools to external 9–10, AES/EBU 11–12, AES/EBU 13–14, and clock sources.
  • Page 60 I/O choices. multiple destinations (such as multiple master- ing devices). From the Interface pop-up menu, select the type of Legacy I/O you connected. The Main page updates with controls that can be configured. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 61: Creating A New Session

    To select multiple output ports for a Pro Tools Creating a New Session output channel pair: Choose Setup > Hardware. The first step in beginning a Pro Tools project is creating a new session. From the Peripherals list, select an interface. Click the Main tab.

  • Page 62: Session Files And Folders

    Pro Tools 7.x system. Session File Pro Tools also maintains a distinct WaveCache file inside the local Digidesign Databases folder The session file is the document that Pro Tools (C:\\Digidesign Databases) which retains wave- creates when you start a new project. Pro Tools form data for all files used on the system.

  • Page 63: Opening A Session

    Deleting or trashing any of the WaveCache files To open an existing session: will not harm the session or your system. Each Choose File > Open Session. session will merely need more time to open due Locate the session you want to open and click to having to recalculate waveform data for asso- Open.
  • Page 64 7.x session to a lower version of Pro Tools that supports +6 dB and +12 dB fader gain, the new session can be saved with either a +6 dB or a +12 dB maximum fader gain. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 65: Saving A Session

    When saving a +12 dB session as a +6 dB ses- Saving the Session File with a sion, Pro Tools alerts you that any automation New Name breakpoints over +6 dB will be lowered to +6 dB. To save a copy of the current session with a new See “Saving a Copy of the Session”...
  • Page 66 Compatibility.” 24-bit to 16-bit 16-bit to 16-bit The Dither setting used for any conversion is the Digidesign Dither plug-in with Noise Shaping enabled. For more information about using Dither, see “Dither” on page 557. To save a session copy in a new location: Choose File >...
  • Page 67 If applicable, select “Enforce Mac/PC Compat- Session Parameters ibility” to create session and audio files that can Audio File Type be used on both Windows and Mac Pro Tools systems. See “Saving Copies of Mac Sessions to You can save the session to reference BWF be Compatible with Windows”...
  • Page 68 Root Plug-in Settings Folder When this option is selected, the contents of the root-level Plug-in Settings Folder are copied into a folder named Place in Root Settings Folder, indi- cating that these files will need to be moved to Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 69: Creating Custom Session Templates

    the root level plug-in settings folder on the des- To create a custom session template in Windows: tination system before you can use them. The Create a session and arrange its elements as references to these settings files in the session you want them to appear in the template.

  • Page 70: Closing A Session

    Choose File > Exit. ■ If necessary, click the General expand/collapse To quit Pro Tools on the Mac: triangle to display the General information and options. Choose Pro Tools > Quit Pro Tools. ■ Select the Stationery Pad option. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 71: System Usage

    If CPU or PCI Activity are high, a system error System Usage may occur. If Disk Activity is high, Pro Tools may miss playback of some of your automation About Processing Bandwidth data during particularly dense periods of activ- ity, such as while using the Bounce to Disk com- Meters in the System Usage window indicate mand.

  • Page 72: Preferences

    Edit window’s work area in your bottom of the track. session. The maximum length is 12 hours and 25 seconds at 48 kHz, and proportionally less at higher sampling rates. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 73 When the Sends View is displaying individual menus display plug-ins by manufacturer (such send controls, you can select this option to as Digidesign, Eventide, Line 6, or McDSP), with show send level meters. Deselecting this option individual plug-ins listed in the manufacturer can help speed up screen redraws and process- submenus.
  • Page 74 Track Type Assigns a color to each track accord- Region List Color Assigns a color to each region ing to its type (audio, MIDI, Instrument, Auxil- based on its color in the Region List. iary or Master Fader). Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 75 Operation Preferences Numeric Keypad Mode Numeric Keypad mode determines how the nu- meric keypad functions. You can always use the numeric keypad to select and enter values in the Event Edit Area, Edit Selection indicators, Main and Sub Counters, and Transport fields. Classic Selects a Shuttle Lock mode that emu- lates the way Pro Tools worked in versions lower than 5.0.
  • Page 76 When not selected, Pro Tools continues play- level for tracks during recording and playback. back of audio even if frames are dropped. In most cases, video playback will recover within a few frames and continue playing audio and video in sync. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 77 Audio Track RecordLock This option configures Disable “Input” When Disarming Track (In “Stop”) For flexibility, TrackInput monitor- Pro Tools tracks to either emulate a digital dub- ing can be customized to remain selected re- ber, or to maintain legacy behavior for track gardless of track record status, or to automati- record status.
  • Page 78 Delay for hard drives that use certain file systems, in- Manager is displayed in milliseconds or sam- cluding HFS+ and NTFS. ples. This option is only available when Delay Compensation is enabled (Options > Delay Compensation). Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 79 Editing Preferences Includes Take Region Names That Match Track Names When selected, only regions that share the same root name with the track and playlist appear in the Takes List pop-up menu. Includes Take Region Lengths That Match When selected, only regions that match the length of the current selection appear in the Takes List pop-up menu.

  • Page 80: Mixing Preferences

    Setting this to a lower number can grouped pan controls snap to the absolute speed up the performance of slower computers. value of the adjusted control. Pro Tools supports up to 32 Levels of Undo. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 81 • When not selected, grouped pan controls “Scroll to Track” Banks Controllers When using maintain relative offsets when any of the a control surface (such as D-Control or Pro- linked controls is adjusted. Control) you can select this option to bank con- trol surface faders to a numbered track when us- Default EQ ing the Track >...
  • Page 82 VCA Master automation to the slave tracks. Any set to default operations that affect mixer controls will be entered into the Undo queue. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 83 AutoMatch Time If you are writing automation Processing Preferences in Touch mode, when you release a fader or con- trol, writing of automation stops and the auto- mation data returns to its previous value. The rate of return to the previous value is the Auto- Match Time.

  • Page 84: Midi Preferences

    Thru instrument. You can select a predefined device from your available MIDI instruments, or select “First Selected MIDI Track” to use the as- signed MIDI output of the first selected MIDI or Instrument track. When multiple MIDI or In- Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 85 strument tracks are selected, the instrument in Synchronization Preferences the selected track that is closest to the top of the Edit window (or closest to the left edge of the Mix window) will be used. Pencil Tool Resolution When Drawing Controller Data Sets the default resolution for MIDI con- troller data created with the Pencil tool.
  • Page 86 Sets Pro Tools to respond to incoming track arm- ing (record enable) commands even when the system is not in Remote Mode. This is useful if you are using a paddle device to control Pro Tools track arming or punching. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 87: Chapter 7. I/O Setup

    Chapter 7: I/O Setup The I/O Setup dialog provides tools to label, for- Each Pro Tools session retains its path configu- mat, and map Pro Tools input, output, insert, or rations as I/O Settings. The I/O Settings saved bus signal paths for each session. with the session are loaded automatically when the session is opened.
  • Page 88 Main paths are logical groupings of inputs, in- serts, busses, or outputs. For example, a master stereo output path could be named Main Out. Path names in a stereo path are often appended with “.L” and “.R” for left and right. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 89 Sub-Paths Stems and Stem Mixes A sub-path represents a signal path within a The use of stems and stem mixes originated in main path. For example, a default stereo output the post production industry as a method to or- path consists of two mono sub-paths, left and ganize and manage elements of a mix by type or right.

  • Page 90: The I/O Setup Dialog

    To open the Input, Output, Insert, Bus, Mic I/O Setup” on page 85. Preamps, or H/W Insert Delay page in the I/O Setup dialog: Click the corresponding tab at the top of the ■ I/O Setup dialog. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 91: Routing Hardware I/O To Pro Tools I/O

    Channel Grid Maps paths to specific interfaces and channels. Compensation for Input and Output Delays Al- lows automatic compensation for input and output delays caused by Digidesign analog-to- I/O Channel selector pop-up menu digital and digital-to-analog hardware. Path Tools Customize the I/O Setup configura- tion.
  • Page 92 (such as multiple master- ing devices). The only limit to output choices is the number of outputs available in your system. 0utput path assignments cannot overlap. See “Valid Paths and Requirements” on page 86 for details. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 93: Creating And Editing Paths

    Creating a Default Main or Sub- Creating and Editing Paths Path The I/O Setup dialog lets you create and custom- You can set an I/O Setup path type to its default ize signal path definitions. path configuration at any time. Paths can be: To restore default paths and path names: •...

  • Page 94: Creating New Paths

    To rename an audio interface in the I/O Setup dialog: Double-click the label above an interface. Path Format selector Enter a new interface name. Repeat the previous steps to configure other path types (Input, Output, Insert, or Bus). Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 95 Press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac). To select or deselect non-contiguous paths, do one of the following: Interface Name Control-click (Windows) or Command-click ■ (Mac) path names that are unhighlighted to se- lect them. – or – Control-click (Windows) or Command-click ■...

  • Page 96: Channel Mapping

    Channels” on page 85. setup, or to clean up track selector menus by re- moving unwanted or unnecessary path defini- tions. After deleting a path, any tracks or send assignments to that path are reset to No Output. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 97 Channel Mapping and Surround Mixer Channel Shuffling (Pro Tools HD Only) Moving a signal from right to left results in a shuffle of other signals after the new destination When mapping multichannel paths, the left channel. Moving a signal from left to right shuf- channel (L) is mapped first to the clicked Grid fles any and all signals after the new destination box, and remaining channels fill immediately to...
  • Page 98 Toggling multiple tracks track or session-wide basis. In addition, only affects tracks that have the same path as- Pro Tools sets paths to Inactive automatically signment as the one you are explicitly toggling. when I/O is unavailable. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 99 Set the Active/Inactive control for the path. Toggling Multiple Paths If a track has only one main output assignment, Any track path assignment can also be de- you can Control-start-click (Windows) or Com- activated on a track-by-track basis. See mand-Control-click (Mac) the track’s Output “Track Path Assignments”...

  • Page 100: I/O Settings Files

    See “Factory I/O Settings Files” on Once a session has been opened with unavail- page 90. able I/O retained, you can then reassign tracks to available I/O paths. To redefine the paths, see “Creating and Editing Paths” on page 81. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 101 Importing and Exporting I/O Settings To import I/O Settings: Files Click Import Settings in the I/O Setup dialog. You can export and import I/O Setup configura- Select an I/O settings file in the Import Set- tions as I/O Settings files. This lets you save set- tings dialog and click Import.

  • Page 102: I/O Setup Options

    For more details, refer to your control rect Outputs mode, Pro Tools maps all the out- surface documentation. put assignments to equivalent mono sub-paths (as available). See “Hardware Setup and Session Transfer” on page 87 for more information on remapping. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 103 Audition Paths Auditioning Discrete Signals in Multichannel Items You can specify the output path through which In the Region List, multichannel regions are au- files and regions are auditioned in the Region ditioned through the current Audition Path. Sig- List or in DigiBase browsers. nals can be auditioned “in-place,”...
  • Page 104 AFL/PFL Mutes (Output Path) selector. lected, AFL and PFL cannot be used. See “Solo Modes” on page 119 for more in- Click OK to close the I/O Setup dialog. formation on selecting and using AFL or PFL Solo modes. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 105: H/W Insert Delay Compensation

    To set which output path is muted when tracks are H/W Insert Delay soloed in AFL or PFL Solo mode: Compensation Choose Setup > I/O. (Pro Tools HD Only) Click the Output tab to display the Output page. You can specify the latency of outboard hard- ware (such as effects devices) in the H/W Insert Select a path from the AFL/PFL Mutes (Output Delay page of the I/O Setup dialog.
  • Page 106 Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 107: Chapter 8. Tracks

    Chapter 8: Tracks This chapter covers basic track management Auxiliary Input Tracks tasks such as creating and deleting tracks, as- Auxiliary Input tracks (or Auxiliary Inputs) can signing voices and output channels, and group- be used as effects sends, destinations for sub- ing tracks.
  • Page 108 MIDI and audio capabilities in a single • Chapter 33, “Surround Panning and Mixing channel strip. Instrument tracks simplify using (Pro Tools HD Only)” software and hardware instruments to record MIDI and monitor audio from the instrument. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 109: Track Channel Strips

    Auxiliary Input Track Channel Strips Track Channel Strips Each Auxiliary Input track has its own set of controls for volume, pan, automation mode, Audio Track Channel Strips solo, and mute. Auxiliary Input tracks also have Each audio track has its own set of controls for a Comments View to enter and display com- volume, pan, record enable, input monitoring, ments.
  • Page 110 Level meter Volume fader Level meters VCA Track Type indicators Group ID Track Type indicator VCA Master track Volume/Peak/Delay indicator Delay Compensation View Track Name button Track Color Coding Track Comments Stereo Master Fader track channel strip Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 111 MIDI Track Channel Strips MIDI Volume Each MIDI track has its own set of controls for MIDI Input selector volume, pan, record enable, automation mode, MIDI Output selector MIDI Velocity meter solo, mute, MIDI patch assignment, and MIDI MIDI Mute button channel assignment.

  • Page 112: Track Controls And Indicators

    Pan controls of a track by enabling the Fol- To toggle the Volume indicator display: low Main Pan button in Send window. Control-click (Windows) or Command-click ■ (Mac) the indicator to toggle it between the fol- lowing modes: Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 113 Volume Fader To toggle track level metering between pre- fader and post-fader metering: The Volume fader controls the volume of a track Select Options > Pre-Fader Metering. ■ when it is in playback, and the monitor level of the track when it is in record. You can link the Peak Hold record and monitor levels by enabling the Oper- ation preference for “Link Record and Play Fad-...

  • Page 114: Adjusting Track Width

    Mix or You can also add tracks to your session by the Edit window. importing them from preexisting sessions. See “Importing Tracks and Track At- tributes” on page 144. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 115 To create new tracks: You can also add or delete a new track by Choose Track > New. pressing Control+N or Control+Minus (–). Add/Remove Row To reorder tracks, click a Move Row icon and Number of new tracks Track Type drag it up or down.
  • Page 116 To select a range of tracks: Click the name of an unhighlighted track in To enable Track Number View: its track channel strip. Choose View > Track Number. ■ Shift-click an additional Track Name button. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 117 All tracks between the first track selected and The track is selected, and the windows scroll as the additional track will also be selected. follows: • The Mix window tracks scroll to bring the To select or deselect non-contiguous tracks, do selected track as close to the left as possible.
  • Page 118 Cancel to close the dialog and not create dupli- cate tracks. In the Mix window, each duplicate track is cre- ated to the right of its original track. In the Edit window, each duplicate track is created below Duplicate Tracks dialog its original track. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 119: The Track List

    The Track List The Track List (at the left of both the Mix and Edit windows) lists all tracks in the session. It al- lows you to show or hide a track in the Mix and Edit windows, by selecting or deselecting its name.
  • Page 120 Right-click the track name and select Hide (or name in the Track List. Hide and Make Inactive if the track is active and Shift-click an additional track name. you also want to make the track inactive). Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 121 All track names that occur between the first About Mix/Edit Groups and Hidden track name selected and the additional track Tracks name will also be selected. Even if a track is hidden, if it is a member of an enabled group, all Mix window operations per- You can also select a range of tracks by formed on other members of the group will also moving the cursor to the left of the track...

  • Page 122: Track Name Right-Click Pop-Up Menus

    (or selected tracks if any) Output defined in the I/O Setup dialog. Split Into Mono (Multichannel Tracks Only) Splits a multichannel track (or selected multichannel tracks if any) into their mono component tracks Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 123 Assigning Audio Track Inputs Assigning Audio Track Outputs (Audio Tracks, Auxiliary Inputs, Instrument (Audio Tracks, Auxiliary Inputs, Instrument Tracks) Tracks, Master Faders) Instrument tracks set their input automati- To assign an audio track output: cally to any inserted Instrument plug-in. In order to assign audio track outputs in the Edit window, select View >...

  • Page 124: Track Priority And Voice Assignment

    DSP available on Pro Tools|HD with Music Production Toolkit” on page 11. cards. You can make track inputs and outputs inactive (or active) directly from the Edit or Mix win- dows. Inactive I/O paths are grayed out. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 125 Track Priority To increase a track’s priority, do any of the following: While your Pro Tools hardware allows a fixed In the Mix window, drag the Track Name but- ■ number of voices, Pro Tools software allows for ton to the left of other tracks in the session. additional audio tracks beyond that fixed num- Tracks at the left of the Mix window have higher ber of voices.
  • Page 126 Voice selector pop-up menu. cated Voicing button will be blue to indicate they are unavailable for playback or record. Tracks do not play back when they are in- active or their voice assignment is set to Off. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 127 When working with more than 48 audio tracks, To assign all selected audio tracks to successive voices: you can play back audio in tracks 49 and higher by changing the higher track’s priority, as fol- Select the audio tracks by Control-clicking lows: (Windows) or Command-clicking (Mac) their •...

  • Page 128: Setting Midi Input And Output

    Pro Tools HD. nels already assigned to another track appear in bold. In the Edit window, select View > Edit Win- dow > I/O to access any track’s Input selec- tor. MIDI Input selector (MIDI Track shown) Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 129 Assigning MIDI Track Output To assign multiple destinations to a single MIDI track: Pro Tools lets you assign specific MIDI ports and Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac) ■ channels to a MIDI track output. The default se- the MIDI Output selector and select additional lection of none sends MIDI data to no port on channels from any device.

  • Page 130: Soloing And Muting Tracks

    Insert with instrument plug-in bold. Instrument Track MIDI Output Pro Tools lets you assign specific MIDI ports and Instrument track with an instrument plug-in (Digidesign channels to an Instrument tracks’ MIDI output. Synchronic shown) The default selection of none sends MIDI data to no device, port, or node on any channel.
  • Page 131 Track grouping also affects mute and solo be- Solo button behavior is defined by the Solo havior. Muting or soloing a track that is a mem- mode, as follows: ber of an active Mix Group will mute or solo all SIP (Solo In Place) The Solo button mutes other other tracks that are a member of that active tracks.
  • Page 132 AFL/PFL output from Pro Tools. Latch When selected, pressing subsequent Solo buttons adds them to the soloed mix of tracks. For more information on using XMON and AFL/PFL, see your control surface guide. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 133: Mute Button

    Solo switch is held down. AFL or PFL soloed tracks (Pro Tools HD With a Digidesign-qualified control surface, ad- only) cannot be solo safed. ditional tracks can be soloed by pressing their...

  • Page 134: Making Tracks Inactive

    To select multiple tracks, Control-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac) addi- tional Track Names . To select a range of tracks, Shift-click addi- tional Track Names . Choose Track > Make Inactive. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 135: Color Coding For Tracks, Regions, Markers And Groups

    To change Color Coding options: Color Coding for Tracks, Choose Setup > Preferences. Regions, Markers and Groups Click Display. Separate colors can be assigned to audio and Select a Default Track Color Coding option. MIDI regions, tracks, markers, and groups. Select a Default Region Color Coding option.
  • Page 136 (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. (See “Color Palette” on page 124.) Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 137 Do one of the following: Using the Hold Button • In the Apply to Selected pop-up menu, se- The Color Palette provides a Hold button to sim- lect the destination for color coding: plify the process of assigning the same colors to Tracks, Marker, Group, Regions in Tracks, multiple items (such as track and regions).

  • Page 138: Grouping Tracks

    Link, Front inverse, Rear inverse and Front/Rear inverse controls in stereo and multichannel panner windows. Edit Groups Edit Groups affect the following items in the Edit window: • Track View • Track Height • Track Timebase • Editing functions Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 139: Group Controls

    Mix/Edit Groups To unlink Mix and Edit Groups: Choose Setup > Preferences and click the Mix- Mix/Edit Groups link the grouping functions of ing tab. the Mix Group and the Edit Group. Deselect the “Link Mix and Edit Group En- Grouping Limitations ables”...
  • Page 140 Mix groups only, or all groups (Edit, Mix, letter denoting its Group ID (“a” through “z”). and Mix/Edit) Suspend All Groups Suspends group behavior for all Mix and Edit groups Modify Groups Opens Group dialog to modify existing groups only Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 141 Delete Active Groups Deletes only currently ac- tive groups Group Name pop-up menu Group List pop-up menu Group Name and Track Group ID Indicator Pop-Up Menus When you click and hold on a group name in the Group List, or click a Group ID indicator in a track, a pop-up menu provides the following commands: Group ID indicator pop-up menu...

  • Page 142: Working With Groups

    • To replace all tracks in the group with the Mix Group, or Mix/Edit Group. tracks that are currently selected in the ses- sion, click the Replace button at the bot- tom of the Group dialog. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 143 Click OK. Modifying Groups To modify a group: Do one of the following: • Choose Modify Groups from the Group List pop-up menu. • In the Mix window, click the Group ID in- dicator on a track and choose Modify from the pop-up menu.
  • Page 144 • Click the Group ID indicator on a track and • Attributes choose Duplicate from the pop-up menu. Click OK. – or – • Right-click the Group name in the Group List and choose Duplicate from the pop-up menu. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 145: Setting Group Attributes

    Change any of the following for the current Click OK to save the group and the new Glo- group: bals settings. • Group name For information on selecting attributes, see • Group type (Edit, Mix, or Mix/Edit) “Selecting Group Attributes” on page 134. •...
  • Page 146 Send controls (Sends A–J): the Attributes page.) • Send Level • Send Mute • Send Pan • Send LFE Level Insert controls (Inserts A–E): Saving a Group preset • Plug-in Controls • Insert Bypass Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 147: Enabling Groups

    Choose one of the six preset locations from Moving a fader of a group member will cause all the Location pop-up menu, and click Save. other group members to move relative to it. If a fader belongs to multiple groups, and the To save the current attribute settings di- groups conflict when faders are moved, the rectly to a preset location, Control-click...

  • Page 148: Grouped Control Offsets

    To set grouped pan controls to ignore offsets: Choose Setup > Preferences and click Mixing. Select “Use Absolute Pan Linking.” When this option is enabled, grouped pan con- trols will snap to the absolute value of the pan control that is being adjusted. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 149: Chapter 9. Importing And Exporting Session Data

    Chapter 9: Importing and Exporting Session Data Pro Tools lets you import a variety of data into a Importing Audio session, including audio and MIDI files, region groups, video files, track playlists, I/O configura- Audio files and regions can be imported to new tions, and signal routing configurations.
  • Page 150 REX and ACID folder you choose. When you copy an audio file, files. See “Automatic Fades for Imported the session references the copied file in its new REX and ACID Files” on page 139 location. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 151: Conversion Quality

    Use Copy to move audio from an unsupported Automatic Fades for Imported REX and or removable drive to an audio drive, or to ar- ACID Files chive audio files for a session to a specific loca- Pro Tools can automatically apply real-time tion.

  • Page 152: Importing Audio Files And Regions

    File and Region icons in the Import Audio dialog To import entire tracks from other sessions, On the Mac, Sound Resource files must see “Importing Tracks and Track At- have the “.SFIL” extension to be imported tributes” on page 144. by Pro Tools. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 153 To audition a selected file or region before you Region List Audio files are imported into the Re- import it, click the Play and Stop buttons in the gion List without creating a new track. Imported Import Audio dialog. audio files appear in the Region List and can then be dragged into an audio track.
  • Page 154 Select audio files in a DigiBase browser, Win- sample rate for the imported audio. Before im- dows Explorer or Mac Finder. porting CD audio, set the Conversion Quality preference accordingly. See “Conversion Qual- ity” on page 139 for details. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 155 Before importing CD audio, make sure your Importing Multichannel Audio hard drive has enough space for the converted Files from a Field Recorder audio files. (Pro Tools HD) To import a CD audio track using the DigiBase Pro Tools lets you use any of the import meth- Browser: ods to import monophonic and polyphonic au- dio files recorded by a field recorder.

  • Page 156: Importing Tracks And Track Attributes

    To import the meter and tempo maps from Windows Explorer, or Mac Finder into the the source session, select the Import track playlist area in the current session’s Edit Tempo/Meter Map option. window or to the Track List. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 157 To import Markers and Memory Locations Import Session Data Dialog from the source session, select the Import The Import Session Data dialog lets you view the Marker/Memory Locations option. properties of the source session, select which With Pro Tools HD or Pro Tools LE with tracks to import, and with Pro Tools HD, choose DV Toolkit 2, to import any Mix or Edit Groups which attributes of those tracks you want to im-...
  • Page 158 10:00:00:00, the earliest imported tracks can ap- dio file format, bit depth, and sample rate if nec- pear in your session is 9 hours and 59 minutes essary. after the start of the session. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 159 Maintain Relative Time Code Values This option sate for pull-up, pull-down, and NTSC or PAL places tracks at the same offset from session start frame rates. This setting allows you to choose as they had in the source session. For example, if the sample rate from which you want the sam- the source session starts at 01:00:00:00 and con- ple rate conversion process to start.
  • Page 160 Regions and Media Imports all of the audio files or regions in the source track, and places them Session Data options in the Import Session Data dialog in the Region List. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 161 Volume Automation and Setting Imports the Hardware Insert Assignments Imports the source source track’s Volume fader setting and any au- track’s hardware Insert assignments. Any Insert tomation data on the track’s Volume Automa- assignments in the destination track are re- tion playlist.

  • Page 162: Exporting Audio

    Ses- sion Data to Import list are imported to the se- lected tracks. When selected, importing all of the source track’s input, output, send, insert and plug-in attributes is equivalent to importing a channel strip. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 163 24-bit to 8-bit 16-bit to 8-bit The Dither setting used for any conversion is the Digidesign Dither plug-in (with or without Noise Shaping enabled, as noted in Table 10). For more information about using Dither, see “Dither” on page 557.
  • Page 164 In the Export Selected dialog, select “Stereo Interleaved” in the Format pop-up menu. For multichannel regions, the Stereo Interleaved op- tion produces a multichannel interleaved file. Configure any other output settings, then click Export to export the new stereo interleaved file. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 165: Exporting Pro Tools Tracks As Omfi Or Aaf Sequences

    Export Session Info as Text Exporting Pro Tools Tracks as Options OMFI or AAF Sequences With the DigiTranslator Integrated Option (DigiTranslator 2.0 or higher), Pro Tools lets you export individual tracks in OMFI format or AAF format. Use the Export Selected Tracks as OMF/AAF command.
  • Page 166 Subframes are shown in each time field if you select this option. File Format You can choose to export to any of several differ- ent text formats. These include standard text formats, and Microsoft Word and Excel formats. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 167: Send Via Digidelivery

    Delivery site where you can download the current DigiDelivery client. ® DigiDelivery is Digidesign’s system for effi- – or – cient and reliable transfer of digital media files over the Internet. Send via DigiDelivery lets you • If the DigiDelivery client is installed on...

  • Page 168: Importing Midi Files

    DigiDelivery cli- multitrack MIDI files, contain multiple tracks of ent software. MIDI data. When importing these files, each track’s data is placed on its own new MIDI track in the Pro Tools session. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 169 If you chose to create a new track, choose a lo- Importing MIDI Files Using cation for the imported file in the track: Pro Tools Menu Commands Session Start Places the file or region at the start Pro Tools provides menu commands to import of the session.

  • Page 170: Exporting Midi Files

    MIDI file. (Or, conversely, mute any MIDI tracks you do not want included in the exported MIDI file.) For Instrument tracks, enable or disable the MIDI mute button (Instruments View) as de- sired. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 171: Importing And Exporting Region Group Files

    Choose File > Export > MIDI. The Export MIDI Refer to your third-party MIDI sequencer docu- Settings dialog opens. mentation to determine whether it supports im- porting SMPTE start times from MIDI files. Not Exported with MIDI Files Mute automation and muted regions do not af- fect exported MIDI.
  • Page 172 Session Start. In the Region Group Import Options dialog, Click OK. choose where the region group will go: New Track Creates a new track where the region group will be imported. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 173 Importing Region Groups with Exporting Region Groups Drag & Drop To export a region group: You can drag and drop Region Groups from a Select one or more region groups in the Re- DigiBase browser or from Windows Explorer or gion List.
  • Page 174 Click OK to close the Preferences dialog. Import all previously exported region groups by dragging and dropping them into the ses- sion. The audio files folder of the new session now contains all files referenced by the region groups. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 175: Chapter 10. File And Session Management And Compatibility

    (recording or Pro Tools|HD systems. FireWire and ATA/IDE playback) or transfer (storage or copying) of au- drives are also supported. See the Digidesign dio and other media files. Audio files must be Web site for details (www.digidesign.com).
  • Page 176 Files can cation as when the session was last saved. also be renamed in certain situations when sav- ing a copy of a session to a Pro Tools version that does not support long file names Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 177: Wav File Compatibility

    Opening a Session that Contains Audio File Saving a Copy of a Session that Contains Long Names with Illegal Characters Audio File Names Pro Tools 7.x does not support audio file names When saving files to Pro Tools 6.9.x and lower that contain the following ASCII characters: (using Save Copy In), audio files with file names that exceed the limits of the destination format...

  • Page 178: Sharing Sessions Created On Different Computer Platforms

    – or – sions located on Windows-based Fat 32 • Open the Mac session on the HFS+ drive, formatted drives. and when prompted, choose Save Copy In and save a copy of the session to the HFS+ drive. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 179 Recording and Playback from HFS+ Drives (Pro Tools 7.2 Only) Windows XP supports recording and playback of sessions directly from Mac-formatted (HFS+) drives using the MacDrive software application. In previous versions of Pro Tools, Mac- formatted HFS+ drives could only be used as Transfer volumes when connected to Windows XP systems using MacDrive.
  • Page 180 • SD II is not supported on Windows XP. | (vertical line or pipe) • The maximum sample rate for SD II files is 48 kHz. Any “high order” ASCII character (created with a key combination) Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 181 Saving Cross-Platform Sessions To save an existing session to Pro Tools 6.9.x or lower and maintain Mac and Windows compatibility: Choose File > Save Copy In. In the Save Copy In dialog, choose a destina- tion and enter a name for the new session file. Set the Audio File Type to AIFF or BWF (.WAV).

  • Page 182: Sharing Sessions Created On Different Pro Tools Systems

    5 sends up to 5 sends (Pro Tools 6.9.x (Pro Tools 6.9.x and lower) and lower) For details on transferring sessions between Windows and Mac systems, see “Sharing Sessions Created on Different Computer Platforms” on page 166. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 183 Opening Pro Tools HD Sessions in Groups Pro Tools LE or M-Powered • All groups beyond the first 26 (Bank 1, Groups a–z) will be dropped. A Pro Tools HD 7.2 session that does not con- tain video tracks or VCA Masters can be opened •...

  • Page 184: Sharing Sessions Created On Different Pro Tools Software Versions

    • Video regions and video region groups will Tracks not be shown or saved. • VCA Master tracks will be removed and any uncoalesced VCA automation will be dropped. • Any uncoalesced Trim automation will be dropped. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 185 Saving Pro Tools HD 7.2 Sessions to Groups Pro Tools 5.1 -> 6.9 Format • All groups beyond the first 26 (Bank 1, Groups a–z) will be dropped. A Pro Tools 7.2 session cannot be opened with Pro Tools versions 6.9.x through 5.1. •...
  • Page 186 • Sends F–J and any associated automation will be routed to Busses 31 and 32. • Marker/Memory Locations 201–999 • Multi-mono plug-in instances will be dropped • Busses 17–32 (Pro Tools LE and Pro Tools M-Powered) Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 187: Multilingual Application Support For Pro Tools Systems

    Saving Pro Tools LE 7.x Sessions to Multilingual Application Pro Tools LE 5.0 Format Support for Pro Tools To save a Pro Tools LE 7.x session so it is com- Systems patible with Pro Tools version 5.0, use the File > (Localized OS on Mac OS X Only) Save Copy In command to choose the “Pro Tools 5.0”...
  • Page 188 Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 189: Part Iii Recording

    Part III: Recording...

  • Page 191: Chapter 11. Record Setup

    (such as the Digidesign PRE). Digital Clipping The Digidesign PRE can be used as a stand- alone preamp with all Pro Tools systems, or Clipping occurs when you feed a signal to a re- it can be remote-controlled from within a corder or mixer that is louder or “hotter”...

  • Page 192: Record Enabling Tracks

    96i I/O, 882|20 I/O, 1622 I/O, and 24-bit ADAT When you feed a signal into any audio record- Bridge I/O. Some Digidesign I/Os that do not ing system, including Pro Tools, make sure to have output trims (such as the 96i I/O) offer...
  • Page 193 To record enable an audio, MIDI, or Instrument To record enable MIDI and Instrument tracks track: using the Up/Down Arrows: From either the Mix or Edit window, click the While pressing Control (Windows) or Com- ■ ■ track’s Record Enable button to toggle record en- mand (Mac), press the Up/Down Arrows to able on or off for the track.

  • Page 194: Record Monitoring Modes

    To put all tracks in Record Safe mode: trol (TrackInput button) is provided for each Control-Alt-click (Windows) or Command- ■ track. See “Selecting Record Monitor Modes Option-click (Mac) the Record Enable button on with TrackInput Monitoring” on page 183. any track. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 195 Input Only Monitoring Selecting Record Monitor Modes with TrackInput Monitoring In Input Only mode, when a track is record-en- (Pro Tools HD Only) abled, Pro Tools monitors audio input only, re- gardless of any punch-in/out selection or state. TrackInput monitoring lets you toggle individual audio tracks between Auto Input and Input For Pro Tools LE, the Input Monitor Enabled Only monitoring modes at any time, during...

  • Page 196: Monitor Levels For Record And Playback

    Pro Tools, you will not hear any latency. 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. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 197: Low Latency Monitoring With Delay Compensation

    Select Options > Low Latency Monitoring. To set the Hardware Buffer Size: Choose Setup > Playback Engine. When Low Latency Monitoring is enabled, any plug-ins and sends assigned to record-enabled Choose the number of samples from the H/W tracks (routed to Outputs 1–2) are automatically Buffer Size pop-up menu.

  • Page 198: Default Track Names

    “Electric 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. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 199: Disk Allocation

    Names for Multichannel Tracks Navigating in the Disk Allocation Window (Pro Tools HD Only) To resize the Disk Allocation window: When recording to multichannel surround Drag the lower-right corner of the window ac- ■ tracks, audio file and region names for each cording to standard convention for your operat- channel are appended with the following suf- ing system (Windows or Mac).
  • Page 200 189. Reallocating tracks does not affect the previ- Round Robin Allocation is not supported ously recorded audio. Reallocating tracks with partitioned hard drives. only affects where new audio recording is saved. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 201: Allocating Hard Drive Space For Recording

    When this allocation preference is set to Use All Workspace Volume Designation Available Space, the drive’s entire available The Workspace volume designation can alter space is allocated. This setting lets you record disk availability, thus affecting Disk Allocation. lengthy takes, or longer sessions. From the Workspace browser, you can designate volumes as Record, Playback, or Transfer.

  • Page 202: Monitoring Drive Space

    (Windows and Mac) or Control-clicking (see “Punch Recording Audio” on page 203). (Mac) the Transport Record Enable button. This cycles through the modes with the Record En- able button changing to indicate the currently Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 203 When using Loop Record mode, each successive Destructive Record Mode take appears as a region in the Region List and In Destructive Record mode, recording over ex- each is numbered sequentially. The various isting regions replaces the original audio perma- takes, which are identical in length and start nently, which allows you to keep disk use to a time, are easily auditioned and placed in the...
  • Page 204 Region For more information on DestructivePunch, List, and from the Matches pop-up menu. In see “DestructivePunch Audio Recording” on Loop Record mode, MIDI Merge has no effect, so page 245. its button is dimmed. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 205: Recording With A Click

    To configure click options: Recording with a Click Open the Click/Countoff Options dialog by doing one of the following: If you intend to work with MIDI or Instrument tracks in your session, or if the audio you’re • Choose Setup > Click. working with is bar and beat-oriented, you can –...

  • Page 206: Setting The Default Meter And Tempo

    4/4. If you intend to record with a click and are working with a different meter, make sure to set the default meter accord- ingly. Metronome Click button Metronome Click enabled Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 207 If a session’s meter does not match the music Choose a note value for the number of clicks you’re recording, the accented clicks will not to sound in each measure. line up with what you’re playing, and, as a re- Click OK to insert the new meter event.
  • Page 208 To lock in the new tempo: Take Pro Tools out of Manual Tempo mode by ■ clicking the Tempo Ruler Enable (Conductor) button, then set the default tempo for the Song Start Marker to the new tempo. Tempo slider Tempo slider Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 209: Chapter 12. Basic Audio Recording

    Region List. Some Digidesign I/O units (such as Mbox 2), have only two channels that can be set for ana- To record a stereo audio source in Pro Tools, log or digital.
  • Page 210 Adjust the output level of your sound source (instrument, mixer, or preamp). Monitor the track’s meter levels in Pro Tools to ensure that you get the highest possible signal without clip- ping. Output Path selector, Edit window Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 211 Compensation is deselected in the Options level controls. menu. If a record-enabled track is in Auto Input Digidesign recommends recording without Monitor mode, you will hear “through” the Delay Compensation in some cases. For input while the Transport is stopped. The more information, see “Delay Compensa-...

  • Page 212: Record Shortcuts

    When using Loop Record mode, all takes from To initiate recording at half-speed, press each record pass are discarded. Control+Shift+Spacebar (Windows) or Command+Shift+Spacebar (Mac). For de- tails, see “Half-Speed Recording and Play- back” on page 214. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 213: Record Pause Mode

    To nondestructively record a new take on the Record Pause Mode same track: Put Pro Tools in Nondestructive Record mode. When recording a large number of tracks or In the Options menu, deselect Destructive channels, or playing back a large number of Record, Loop Record, QuickPunch, TrackPunch, tracks while recording, Pro Tools may take a lit- or DestructivePunch if selected.
  • Page 214 Transport window. The audio for the new take is written to disk, permanently overwriting the original. The new material replaces the original material within the existing region and the region is not re- named. Playlist selector Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 215: Punch Recording Audio

    When a new playlist is created, its name replaces Though there are several ways to set record and the track name. With this playlist active, names play ranges (see “Setting Punch/Loop Points” on for new audio files and regions are based on its page 208), perhaps the easiest is to select within name.

  • Page 216: Loop Recording Audio

    Pro Tools provides a loop recording feature that lets you record take after take while the same section of audio repeats over and over. This is a convenient technique for quickly recording multiple takes of a part without losing sponta- neity. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 217: Auditioning Different Record Takes In The Timeline

    If you stop recording before you reach the mid- To loop record an audio track: point of the loop, Pro Tools discards that take. If Select Options > Loop Record. When Loop you record more than half of the looped take, Record mode is enabled, a loop symbol appears Pro Tools will leave the take in the track when in the Record Enable button.
  • Page 218 User Time Stamps, • Control-click (Windows) or Command- you can use the Matches pop-up menu to re- click (Mac), with the Selector tool at the place all takes simultaneously. precise beginning of the loop or punch range. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 219 Enable or disable the following options in the To replace the takes for multiple tracks: “Matching Start Time” Take List section: Choose Setup > Preferences and click the Editing tab. Take Region Name(s) That Match Track Names When selected, only regions that share Enable the following options: the same root name with the track/playlist ap- •...

  • Page 220: Setting Punch/Loop Points

    Press the Down Arrow to set the start point, and press the Up Arrow to set the end point. Note that when in Grid mode, entering start and end point in this manner will not snap to the grid. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 221 To set the record range by dragging the Playback To set the record range by entering start and end Markers: times in the Transport window: If you want the dragged Playback Markers to To see the start, end, and length times, do one snap to the current Grid value, set the Edit mode of the following: to Grid...
  • Page 222 Properties to Selection, and if saving pre- and The start and end times and pre- and post-roll post-roll values, select the General Properties settings stored with the Memory Location are re- option for Pre/Post Roll Times. called. New Memory Location dialog Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 223 Setting Pre- and Post-Roll Setting Pre- and Post-Roll in a Playlist You can use the Selector tool to enable and dis- Pre- and post-roll times appear as flags in the ruler that represents the Main Time Scale. When able pre- and post-roll by clicking in a track’s playlist.

  • Page 224: Recording From A Digital Source

    (Mac) either the Pre- or the Post-Roll 192 I/O enclosure are identified as AES/EBU Flag in the ruler. The deselected flag will [Encl]. immediately reset to the same value, and will adjust accordingly as you drag the se- lected flag. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 225 The additional digital ports on the 192 I/O and Some Digidesign I/O units only have two chan- 192 Digital I/O are TDIF, AES/EBU, and ADAT. nels that can be set for analog or digital. For ex- Pro Tools can only receive digital audio from ample, Mbox 2 has S/PDIF L–R (Stereo) digital...

  • Page 226: Half-Speed Recording And Playback

    You can also play at half-speed by Shift- clicking the Play button. Click Stop in the Transport window to stop playback. Use half-speed playback to learn or tran- scribe difficult passages in recorded tracks. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 227: Chapter 13. Midi Recording

    It is not necessary to use QuickPunch, Track- ◆ data from MIDI control surfaces (such as the Punch, or DestructivePunch to punch in on-the- Digidesign Command|8). fly with MIDI or Instrument tracks. This capabil- To record and play MIDI, the device must be ◆...

  • Page 228: Enabling Input Devices

    MIDI Control Surfaces In order to use any MIDI MIDI Input Enable dialog control surfaces (such as the Digidesign Com- Deselect any input devices you want to ignore mand|8), they must be enabled in the Input De- while recording MIDI.

  • Page 229: Midi Thru

    The Default Thru Instrument MIDI Thru In addition to any MIDI tracks that are record- To monitor MIDI tracks while recording, enable enabled, you can also route MIDI to the Default MIDI Thru. When enabled, Pro Tools routes Thru Instrument. This saves you the trouble of MIDI from your controllers to the device and creating a MIDI track and record enabling it to channels assigned to the MIDI track currently...

  • Page 230: Midi Input Filter

    Only option, only the MIDI For drum machine style loop recording, use Input messages that are selected will be recorded. Quantize while loop recording MIDI in Merge mode (see “Loop Recording with Merge Mode” on page 225). Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 231: Wait For Note

    Wait for Note MIDI Merge/Replace The Wait for Note button, located in the Trans- The MIDI Merge button, located in the Trans- port window, determines how Pro Tools begins port window, determines how MIDI is recorded recording. When enabled, Pro Tools will not be- when overdubbing or punching in.

  • Page 232: Configuring Midi Or Instrument Tracks For Recording

    MIDI Input selector is available and assign the device and channel to be re- corded. in Instruments View. MIDI Input selector MIDI Input selector Instrument track MIDI Input selector, Edit window MIDI track Input selector, Edit window Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 233 Do one of the following: MIDI Output selector • In the Mix window, click the track’s MIDI Output selector and assign a device and channel from the pop-up menu. For Instru- ment tracks the MIDI Output selector is available in Instruments View. Channels al- ready assigned to other tracks appear bold in this menu.

  • Page 234: Recording To Midi And Instrument Tracks

    • Record multiple channels from the same de- vice, capturing data from a split keyboard • Transfer MIDI tracks from an external MIDI Record Enable button sequencer Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 235: Punch Recording Midi

    Do one of the following: Undo and MIDI Recording • When you are ready to begin recording, You can undo previous MIDI record takes. click Play. If using Countoff, Pro Tools counts off the specified number of mea- To undo a MIDI recording: sures and then begins recording.
  • Page 236 Stop is clicked in • For Digi 002 and Digi 002 Rack systems (or the Transport window. If post-roll is enabled, Digidesign controllers) with a connected playback continues for the specified post-roll footswitch, press the footswitch at the amount.

  • Page 237: Loop Recording Midi

    To punch out, click Record again (or press the use Duplicate to make a copy of the region (“Du- footswitch). plicate Command” on page 358) or the track’s playlist (see “Working with Playlists” on Pro Tools exits Record mode and continues page 271).
  • Page 238 211. ity. Another advantage with this method of recording MIDI, which is nondestructive, is that existing and newly recorded regions remain in- tact (and available in the Region List). Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 239 Play your MIDI controller. A new MIDI region To record MIDI in Loop Record mode: containing the newly recorded material is auto- Configure a MIDI or Instrument track for re- matically created and appears in the track’s play- cording. Refer to “Configuring MIDI or Instru- list, replacing the previous region.

  • Page 240: Midi Step Input

    Choose Event > MIDI > Step Input. ment.” 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 page Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 241 Note Length Lets you select the note length as a Step Input Controls percentage of the spacing value. For example, an The Step Input page has the following controls: eighth note equals 480 ticks, so an eighth note with an 80% duration would be 384 ticks long. Enable When selected, MIDI events are added to the destination track when you play your exter- nal MIDI keyboard.
  • Page 242 While the note is being held, the Step Increment value can be changed, allowing you to create notes of any musical length. Redo Step Reinserts the last note that was re- moved by the Undo Step operation. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 243: Recording System Exclusive Data

    Numeric Keypad Shortcuts Recording System Exclusive When Enable Numeric Keypad Shortcuts is se- Data lected, you can choose many of the controls in Pro Tools supports recording and playing Sys- the Step Input page, as well as several selection tem Exclusive data (Sysex) with MIDI tracks. controls.
  • Page 244 MIDI Track View to display Sysex (see “Regions View for MIDI and Instrument Tracks” on page 263). For de- tails on moving and copying of Sysex data, see “System Exclusive Events” on page 478. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 245: Chapter 14. Advanced Recording

    For Digi 002 and Digi 002 Rack systems, tive recording mode that lets individual tracks and Digidesign control surfaces, you can use be punched in, punched out, and taken out of a footswitch to punch in and out when re- record enable without interrupting online re- cording with QuickPunch.
  • Page 246 QuickPunch crossfades can later be edited in the • Tracks with Dynamically Allocated Voicing same manner as standard crossfades. For details, that are record-enabled see “Using Crossfades” on page 375. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 247 Compensation is deselected in the Options between each set of voices. For example, for a menu. 192-voice configured Pro Tools|HD Accel sys- Digidesign recommends recording without tem, Dynamically Allocated Voicing distributes Delay Compensation. For more informa- voices evenly across four sets of voices (1–48, tion, see “Delay Compensation”...

  • Page 248: Trackpunch Audio Recording

    Foley, as well as over-dubbing and tracking in select Record Online at Insertion/Selection, music sessions. QuickPunch punches in and out only within the selection (or in the case of an insertion point, only after the insertion point). If you se- Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 249 As necessary, voices in use by other tracks may TrackPunch Usage Guidelines be “stolen” while recording with TrackPunch TrackPunch and Dynamically Allocated Voicing (thus silencing some tracks). When using TrackPunch with a Pro Tools|HD TrackPunch voice playback priority follows the system configured for maximum voices, make same guidelines as QuickPunch, as follows sure to set the voice assignment for each audio...
  • Page 250 TrackInput button. When lit (green), the track is monitor- ing input. When unlit (grey), the track is moni- toring from disk. (For more information see “Selecting Record Monitor Modes with Track- Input Monitoring” on page 183.) Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 251 TrackPunch Preferences Transport RecordLock This setting lets the Transport Record be config- The following preference settings let you cus- ured to either emulate a digital dubber, or to tomize TrackPunch performance. maintain legacy behavior for the Transport mas- ter Record. QuickPunch/TrackPunch Crossfade Length When not enabled, the Transport Record dis-...
  • Page 252 (see the MachineControl Guide for details). • Click OK to close the Peripherals dialog. Consult the manufacturer of your controller for the most recent machine profiles and up- dates available for Pro Tools support. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 253 Transport Record Enable Button To TrackPunch enable or disable all audio tracks: Alt-Start-click (Windows) or Option-Control- ■ The Transport Record Enable button indicates click (Mac) a track’s Record Enable button to TrackPunch and Record status as follows: toggle the all Record Enable buttons to solid blue.
  • Page 254 TrackPunch re- playback. cording, you can record with TrackPunch in sev- eral ways. During playback, click Record in the Transport window to punch in and out on all TrackPunch- enabled tracks simultaneously. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 255 Stop playback. When you are finished with while maintaining time code lock. (Requires the record pass, track Record Enable status and Digidesign MachineControl.) transport Record Arm status follow the current TrackPunch preference settings. • Toggle Pro Tools audio tracks between input and disk monitoring.
  • Page 256 Pro Tools, and to punch in and out source player. on the first group. When the first pre-dub is over and all tracks are punched out, clear all TrackPunch enabled tracks. Select the next group of tracks and Track- Punch-enable them. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 257: Destructivepunch Audio Recording

    Whenever time code drops out or stops, When recording online and Mute Record- Pro Tools remains online and waits to receive Armed Tracks While Stopped is enabled, record- new time code. The Transport and record-en- enabled tracks mute when the Transport is abled tracks remain record-enabled (or Track- stopped.
  • Page 258 DestructivePunch and MachineControl tivePunch mode. If Delay Compensation was inactive when re- ◆ When using Digidesign MachineControl soft- cording the original file, it should be deactivated ware in Remote 9-Pin Deck Emulation Mode, while punching into the original file in Destruc- DestructivePunch can be controlled via P2 pro- tivePunch mode.
  • Page 259 Enabling DestructivePunch Mode To DestructivePunch enable all audio tracks: Alt-Start-click (Windows) or Option-Control- ■ Before you can enable individual audio tracks click (Mac) a track’s Record Enable button to for DestructivePunch recording, you must put toggle all Record Enable buttons to solid blue. Pro Tools in DestructivePunch mode.
  • Page 260 Transport Record Enable button flashes blue and red. If at least one DestructivePunch-enabled track ◆ is also record enabled, the Transport Record En- able button flashes blue and red, and the record LED lights. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 261 If a track does not contain a file that meets these Record and Input Status LEDs requirements, you can do any of the following Record and Input LEDs next to the Transport to meet the requirements: Record Enable button indicate track Record and •...
  • Page 262 Record Enable status and To punch in on multiple tracks simultaneously: transport Record Arm status follow the current Audio Track RecordLock and Transport Record- Put Pro Tools in DestructivePunch mode. Lock preference settings. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 263: Part Iv Editing

    Part IV: Editing...

  • Page 265: Chapter 15. Editing Basics

    Chapter 15: Editing Basics Editing During Playback Pro Tools Editing Pro Tools lets you perform many editing tasks The Edit window in Pro Tools provides a power- while the session plays. This powerful capability ful collection of tools for editing and assembling allows you to interactively modify and edit a audio and MIDI.

  • Page 266: Track Material

    Region groups can be created on a a portion of the parent audio file and are created single or on multiple adjacent audio, MIDI, and in the course of editing and, in some instances, when punch recording. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 267 Instrument tracks. Region groups let you “nest” MIDI Tracks These tracks can be set to Blocks, Re- multiple regions into “macro” regions for gions, Notes, Volume, Pan, Mute, Velocity, Pitch groove and tempo manipulation, editing, and Bend, After Touch, Program, Sysex, and any con- arranging.
  • Page 268 MIDI Track View selector Click for Track View pop-up menu Click for Track View pop-up menu Audio Track View selector Click for Track View pop-up menu Auxiliary Track View selector Instrument Track View selector Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 269 Changing Track Views To toggle Track Views on selected tracks: Click in the track you want to toggle. To tog- For audio, Auxiliary Input, MIDI, and Instru- gle multiple tracks, Shift-click or drag the Selec- ment tracks, you can change to the next or pre- tor tool to select additional tracks.
  • Page 270 Stereo track in Expanded Track Display menu. Expanded Track Display also provides for a larger waveform display (equal to mono tracks), as well as a separate Track View selector and meter for each channel. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 271: Displaying Region Names, Region Times, And Other Data In Playlists

    When the Track Height is set to Large, Jumbo, or To turn on Expanded Track Display: Extreme, all track controls are displayed at their From the Track Height selector, click Ex- ■ full size. panded Track Display. Track Height pop-up menu Track Height set to Large Track Controls and Track Height The Track Height affects how the various track...

  • Page 272: Audio Regions And Waveforms

    Waveform, Pro Tools draws a waveform dia- Audio displayed in Rectified mode gram of the audio. Audio waveforms tell you several things about the recorded sound. Audio displayed in Normal mode Figure 8. Audio waveform of a drum track Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 273 Rectified mode displays more detailed wave- Use the following Pro Tools features to help ◆ forms when using track heights of Medium or you edit rhythmic material or audio with clear Small, and can be particularly useful when edit- transients into precise regions: ing volume automation data, since it depicts •...

  • Page 274: Midi Regions And Midi Data

    To the left of the MIDI or Instrument track’s playlist is a vertical mini-keyboard, complete with octave numbering, for pitch reference. You can Control-click (Windows) or Command- click (Mac) the mini-keyboard to audition Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 275 pitches. Arrows at the top and bottom of the Using the Edit window tools, notes can be in- mini-keyboard (not available in the smaller serted, transposed, trimmed, and moved. For track heights) are used to scroll the Notes dis- more information, see “Manually Editing MIDI play up and down.
  • Page 276 Mirrored MIDI Editing mode is within the region but its end point is not, the (see “Mirrored MIDI Editing” on page 461). note remains and overlaps the edge of the re- gion. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 277: Timebase Rulers And Conductor Rulers

    In addition to providing a timing reference for MIDI Regions and Continuous track material, the Timebase rulers are also used Controller Events to define Edit selections for track material, and Continuous controller events reside in MIDI re- Timeline selections for record and play ranges. gions and not in tracks.

  • Page 278: Main Time Scale

    Main Time Scale. This dow. ruler is also called the Main Timebase ruler. Pro Tools supports the following frame rates: 23.976, 24, 25, 29.97 Non-Drop, 29.97 Drop, 30 Non-Drop, and 30 Drop frames per second. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 279 Feet+Frames (Pro Tools HD and Pro Tools LE with Navigating with the Main Counters DV Toolkit 2 Only) Displays the Time Scale in The Main Counters (at the top of the Edit win- feet and frames for referencing audio-for-film dow and in the Transport window) provide a projects.

  • Page 280: Tick-Based Timing

    MIDI note events change length when tempo or meter is adjusted, while audio regions do not. Meter and tempo changes affect only the start point (or sync point) for each audio re- gion in a tick-based track. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 281 You can select whether a track is sample-based If the track’s height is set to Mini, click the ■ or tick-based when it is created, or change time- small arrow next to the Track View selector to bases later. get the Track Height pop-up menu, and select the desired timebase from the Track Timebase sub-menu.

  • Page 282: Playlists

    Grabber tools (or by double-clicking with the Selector tool). This ensures that the se- lection is precise in terms of the grid (and not based on the length of the material in samples). Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 283 New and duplicated playlists are auto-named Working with Playlists with the track name, followed by a Period (.) When you create a new track, it contains a sin- and the playlist number. For example, the first gle, empty playlist until you record, import, or duplicated playlist on a track named “Kick”...
  • Page 284 Enter a new name and click OK. Both the track and playlist names are updated. “Empty” playlists will be automatically created to keep the playlist takes synchronized when switching back to the earliest playlist takes in the group. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 285: Multiple Undo

    To keep your playlist names and performances Multiple Undo synchronized (example workflow): Create new tracks and group them together. Pro Tools can keep track of up to 32 of the last undoable operations, allowing you to return to For more information on grouping tracks, a previous editing state.
  • Page 286 Levels of Undo can be memory inten- The operation you choose, as well as all the op- sive. You can lower the Levels of Undo in erations in the queue before it, will be redone. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 287: The Region List

    Pro Tools to reduce the amount of system mem- Region List Pop-Up Menu ory (RAM) used by the Undo queue. If you have The Region List pop-up menu provides tools to plenty of memory available for Pro Tools, you search, select, sort, export, clear, and manage can use higher Levels Of Undo.
  • Page 288 MIDI regions, and region groups. File Name Displays the parent file name. Disk Name Displays the name of the hard drive on which referenced file resides. Full Path Displays the full directory path of the region’s parent file. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 289 Sorting and Searching in the Finding Regions Region List Use the Find command to display all regions in a list whose names contain a particular word or Most sessions will contain many regions, which phrase. can make it challenging to swiftly locate a par- ticular region in the Region List.
  • Page 290 ■ choose Find. select it. Type the name, or any portion of the name, – or – for the regions you want to find. Click a region name that is highlighted to de- ■ select it. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 291 To select a range of regions in the Region List, do To select or deselect non-contiguous regions, do one of the following: one of the following: Move the cursor to the left of the region Control-click (Windows) or Command-click ■ ■...

  • Page 292: Edit Modes

    MIDI notes), how commands like Copy and multichannel region can be selected indepen- Paste function, and also how the various Edit dently of the other associated regions in the Re- tools (Trim, Selector, Grabber, and Pencil tools) gion List. work. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 293 Shuffle To lock out Shuffle Mode: While in any Edit mode other than Shuffle ■ In Shuffle mode, you can move, trim, cut, or mode, Control-click (Windows) or Command- paste regions freely within a track or to other click (Mac) the Shuffle button on-screen. A lock tracks, but their movement is constrained by icon appears in the Shuffle button.
  • Page 294 Slip mode while dragging a region, hold down the Control key (Windows) or Command key (Mac) after clicking with the mouse. For more information on Relative Grid mode, see “Sliding Regions in Grid Mode” on page 342. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 295: Edit Tools

    Also available in the Grid Value pop-up is an op- Edit Tools tion for Regions/Markers. When selected, events can be placed freely (as in Slip mode) but will Pro Tools has several Edit tools: the Zoomer, snap to region locations (start, end, and sync Trim, Selector, Grabber, Scrubber, and Pencil points), markers, and Edit selections when tools, and the multifunctional Smart Tool.

  • Page 296: Using The Zoomer Tools

    Press Control+Alt+[ (Windows) or press Com- ■ Click and drag on the Horizontal Zoom In ■ mand+Option+[ (Mac). button to zoom in continuously. Click and drag on the Audio Zoom Out but- ■ ton to zoom continuously. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 297 To zoom in vertically for all MIDI and Instrument To zoom so that all regions are visible in the Edit tracks, do one of the following: window, do one of the following: Click the MIDI Zoom In button. Double-click the Zoomer tool in the toolbar. ■...
  • Page 298 • Drag to zoom in around a particular ruler range. 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. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 299 Continuous Zoom with the Zoomer Tool Zoom Preset Buttons Use the Zoomer tool to zoom in or out continu- Pro Tools lets you save up to five horizontal Edit ously. window Zoom presets, which can be recalled by typing a number or by clicking a Zoom Preset button.
  • Page 300 When Zoom Toggle is disabled, the Edit window To clear the stored Zoom Toggle state: reverts to the last zoom state. Make sure the Zoom Toggle button is lit (en- abled). Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac) the Zoom Toggle button. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 301: Using The Trim Tools

    To use Zoom Toggle without changing playlist Using the Trim Tools views: Make a selection on one or more tracks. Trim tools provide region, note, and data trim- ming functions. The following Trim tools are Do one of the following: available: •...
  • Page 302 • If trimming the start, drag right to shorten the region, left to lengthen. When working with audio, you cannot trim past adjacent regions. When trimming regions in a stereo or multi- channel track, all channels are trimmed. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 303 Time Compression/Expansion Plug-in To use the Time Compression/Expansion Trim tool in Grid mode: Preferences Set the Edit mode to Grid. You can select settings for the Time Compres- sion/Expansion AudioSuite plug-in by choosing Click the Trim tool pop-up menu and select from the Default Settings pop-up list in the Pro- “TCE.”...
  • Page 304 You can drag in a track to hear the to zoom in), press Control (Windows) or Com- audio information, then trim at a specific loca- mand (Mac) while scrubbing. tion by releasing the mouse button. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 305: Using The Selector Tool

    To select an entire region with the Selector tool: Using the Selector Tool Select the Selector tool in the Edit window. Use the Selector tool to place the edit cursor in a Double-click the desired region on a track. track or Timebase ruler, or to make Edit selec- tions on tracks.

  • Page 306: Using The Smart Tool

    (in the Editing Preferences page). To temporarily switch the Smart Tool to the Scrubber, place the cursor over the region so that the Selector tool is enabled, then press the Start key (Windows) or Control (Mac), or Right-click the mouse. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 307 The Smart Tool in Notes View The Smart Tool in Automation and Controller Views Selector tool The following capabilities are available with the Smart Tool when working in both automation and controller views: For the Selector tool, position the cursor any- ◆...

  • Page 308: Using The Scrubber Tool

    When the Scrolling option is set to Continuous (Pro Tools HD and LE with DV Toolkit 2 only) or Center Playhead (Pro Tools HD only), clicking with the Scrubber in a track’s playlist centers the Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 309 To scrub multiple audio tracks, do one of the Shuttle Lock Mode following: Shuttle Lock mode lets you use the numeric key- With the Scrubber selected, drag between two ■ pad to shuttle up to two tracks forward or back- adjacent tracks.
  • Page 310 Shuttle Speed Rewind Key Forward Key 1 X Speed 4 X Speed 1/4 X Speed 1/2 X Speed 2 X Speed Press a different key to switch the playback di- rection or speed. Release to stop. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 311: Using The Pencil Tool

    Using the Pencil Tool The Universe Window (Pro Tools HD and Pro Tools LE with The Pencil tool lets you draw automation, MIDI DV Toolkit 2 Only) data, tempo changes, and audio waveforms (at the sample level). The Universe window displays an overview of the entire session, representing audio and MIDI For information on drawing automation, material on all tracks that are not hidden (in-...
  • Page 312 For information on the Video Universe win- dow, see “Browsing Video in the Video Uni- verse Window” on page 666. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 313: Chapter 16. Playing And Selecting Track Material

    Chapter 16: Playing and Selecting Track Material Playback Location Playing Tracks The playback location is displayed in the After recording or importing audio or MIDI to counters at the top of the Edit window and in tracks, you will want to listen to the material for the Transport window, and in the Big Counter editing and mixing.
  • Page 314 The edit cursor appears at the location lector tool at that point and click Play in the where playback stops. Transport window. – or – Click the desired location in a Timebase Ruler ■ during playback. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 315 You can also move the playback location in Locating and Auditioning with Fast multiple increments by repeating the command Forward/Rewind (See “Repeating Back/Forward Commands” on You can use the Fast Forward and Rewind but- page 304). tons in the Transport window to locate material on tracks.
  • Page 316 • To extend the selection backwards by the tal Back or Forward move. 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. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 317 Type in the new location. Press Period (.) to cy- Edit Window Counters and cle through to the different time fields. Indicators Press Enter to accept the new value and auto- The counters and indicators at the top of the matically locate there.

  • Page 318: Auto-Scrolling Tracks In The Mix And Edit Windows

    Edit window. The Playback Cursor locator will appear on the right edge of the Main Time- base ruler after the playback cursor moves be- yond the time visible in the Edit window. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 319: Scrolling Options

    Navigating to Tracks Using Track Scrolling Options Position Numbers You can configure how contents of the Edit win- With Track Number View enabled, each track is dow scroll during playback and recording. assigned a number corresponding to its position in the Mix and Edit Windows. You can scroll di- To configure Scrolling options: rectly to any track by its positional number.

  • Page 320: Linking Or Unlinking Timeline And Edit Selections

    Edit Selection indicators or one of the Counters. Moving the Playhead with these methods does not update the Timeline selection. However, up- dating the Timeline selection automatically moves the Playhead to the Timeline insertion point. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 321 To link or unlink the Timeline and Edit selections, do one of the following: Select or deselect Options > Link Timeline and ■ Edit Selection. – or – Figure 11. Timeline and Edit selections unlinked In the upper left of the Edit window, click the ■...

  • Page 322: Linking Or Unlinking Track And Edit Selections

    Edit Group, any tracks within the group that are Link Track and Edit Selection enabled 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. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 323 Selections in Multiple Tracks To select all regions in all tracks: Select the “All” Edit Group in the Group List To make a selection in multiple tracks: pop-up menu. With the Selector tool, click and drag horizon- ■ Do one of the following: tally to include adjacent tracks in a selection •...
  • Page 324 To automatically scroll to the beginning of the selection (or to the location of the on-screen cursor), press the Left Arrow key. To scroll to the end of the selection, press the Right Arrow key. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 325 Shift-click each region you want to include in To change a Time selection to an Object selection: the selection. The regions can even reside on dif- Drag with the Selector tool in any track to de- ferent tracks. fine a selection, or select in a Timebase ruler to select across all tracks.
  • Page 326 – or – • While Control+Shift (Windows) or press- ing Command+Shift (Mac), press Plus (+) or Minus (–) on the numeric keypad to move the selection’s end point by the Nudge value. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 327 Extending Selections To extend a selection to a Marker or Memory Location: You can extend selections to region start and Do one of the following: end points, to include an adjacent region, or to • Click in a track with the Selector tool at the Markers and Memory Locations.
  • Page 328 To subtract time values: In the Edit Selection indicator, highlight the time field you want to change. Press Minus (–) on the numeric keypad. Type the amount you want to subtract from the current time value, then press Enter. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 329 Do one of the following: To select across all tracks, do one of the following: • Press P on your computer keyboard to Enable the All Edit Group and make a selec- ■ move the selection to the previous track. tion in any track.
  • Page 330 Alt-drag (Windows) or Option-drag (Mac) the start point for the selection, then release. Edit Markers instead. While pressing Shift, scrub to an appropriate end point for the selection, then release. The range between the initial and final scrub be- comes selected. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 331 Right-Click Commands and Selection To set the start and end points of a selection with Tab to Transients: Preservation In the upper left of the Edit window, click the You can use Right-click commands with key Tab to Transients button so it becomes selected. combinations to perform operations on objects while maintaining selections in the Edit and If you will be setting the play range with this...

  • Page 332: Playing Selections

    To play a Timeline selection with Link Timeline and Edit Selection disabled (Pro Tools HD only): plays pre-roll + start plays end + post-roll Playback ranges for auditioning start/end points Choose Edit > Selection > Play Timeline. ■ Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 333 To audition a selection start point: To loop playback of a selection: Press Control+Left Arrow (Windows) or Com- Make sure to select Options > Link Timeline ■ mand+Left Arrow (Mac). and Edit Selection. With the Selector tool, select the track range When auditioning the beginning of a selection, you want to loop.

  • Page 334: Timeline Selections

    – or – • Press Alt+Forward Slash (/) (Windows) or Making a Timeline selection with the Selector tool Option+Forward Slash (/) (Mac) on the nu- meric keypad to select the start field in the Transport window. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 335: Tce (Time Compression And Expansion) Edit To Timeline Selection

    Type in the new start location and press For- TCE (Time Compression and ward Slash (/) to enter the value and automati- Expansion) Edit To Timeline cally move to the end field. Selection Type in the new end location and press Enter to accept the value.

  • Page 336: Playing Timeline And Edit Selections With The Playhead

    Drag with the Selector tool in any Timebase ruler to set the play range. Choose Edit > Selection > Play Timeline. The Playhead jumps to the Timeline selection and plays it from beginning to end, and then stops. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 337: Moving The Playhead

    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 track’s region boundaries: Make sure the Tab to Transients button is not enabled.
  • Page 338 Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 339: Chapter 17. Working With Regions And Selections

    Chapter 17: Working with Regions and Selections Regions are the basic building blocks for arrang- Capture Region Command ing audio and MIDI in Pro Tools. Understanding The Capture Region command defines a selec- how regions are created, edited, and arranged is tion as a new region and adds it to the Region essential to taking full advantage of the editing List.
  • Page 340 For details • Press Control+E (Windows) or Com- see, “Editing Preferences for Takes” on mand+E (Mac). page 207. • Right-click near the cursor position or se- lection and choose Separate from the pop- up menu. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 341 Separation Grabber Tool The Region List can quickly fill up with You can use the Separation Grabber tool to auto- auto-created regions. From the Region List matically separate an Edit selection and move it pop-up menu, deselect Show > Auto-Created to another location or another track.
  • Page 342 • Choose Region > Send to Back to make the region underlap the neighboring regions. If multiple overlapping regions are selected, Pro Tools will apply the command to each re- gion as that region relates to the neighboring re- gion on the right. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 343: Trimming Commands

    To trim from an end point to insertion: Trimming Commands With the Selector tool, click inside the region or note where you want the new end point to Pro Tools provides several options for editing re- gion and region group boundaries. Choose Edit >...
  • Page 344 – or – • While pressing Control (Windows) or Command (Mac), press Plus (+) or Minus (–) on the numeric keypad to trim the re- gion’s end point by the Nudge value. Region end trimmed to fill gap Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 345: Healing Separated Regions

    Healing Separated Regions Placing Regions in Tracks The Heal Separation command returns sepa- Once you have created a region, it appears in the rated regions to their original state—provided Region List. From the Region List you can drag it the regions are still next to each other and their to a track to add to an existing arrangement of relative start/end points haven’t changed since regions, or you can create a new track and start...
  • Page 346 When the cursor is over To set the Region List Drop Order: a compatible destination, the region outlines Choose Region List > Timeline Drop Order, ■ appear at the location. and then Top to Bottom or Left to Right. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 347 To drag and drop multiple items from the Region Placing Regions at the Edit List to a single track: Insertion Point From the Region List pop-up menu, choose You can drag a region from the same track, from Timeline Drop Order > Left to Right. another track, or from the Region List, and align Search and sort the Region List if desired to its start, end, or sync point to the Edit insertion...
  • Page 348 If the Scrolling option is set to Center Play- head (Pro Tools HD only), move the playhead to the start of the selected region. For details, see “Moving the Playhead” on page 325. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 349 Do one of the following: Sliding Regions • Control-Start-drag (Windows) or Com- A region or group of selected regions (on the mand-Control-drag (Mac) a region from same track or on multiple tracks) can be slid the Region List to another track. with the Time Grabber tool to new locations or –...
  • Page 350 With of the Grabber tools (Time, Separation, for Shuffle mode. For more information, see or Object), click and drag the selection to the “Shuffle Lock” on page 281. new location. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 351 Time Grabber and Object Grabber Snapping to the Preceding or Next Region on a Track If you are moving audio data, the Time Grabber and Object Grabber tools overlay only the audio A region—or an Edit selection including one or data on the destination track.
  • Page 352 When the track is ton in the upper left of the Edit window. played back, this space is silent. It is also possi- ble to move a region so that it overlaps or com- pletely covers another region. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 353 Do one of the following: • If you are using an external SMPTE time code source, click the down arrow next to • Drag a region from the Region List, or drag the Current Time Code display—or press audio files or sessions from a DigiBase Equal (=) on the numeric keypad—to cap- browser, to an existing track.
  • Page 354 Edit window. a session that is bar- and beat-based. Grid boundaries, depending on the Main Time Scale, can be based on frames, bar and beat values, minutes or seconds, or a number of samples. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 355 Do one of the following: Absolute and Relative Grid Mode • From the Grid value pop-up menu in the Grid mode can be applied in Absolute or Rela- Edit window, select the time value that will tive mode. define the Grid boundaries. In Absolute Grid mode, moving any region ◆...

  • Page 356: Sync Points

    To enable the display of sync points in audio with a vertical, light grey line indicating the lo- regions: cation of the sync point. Choose View > Region > Sync Point. ■ Sync points Sync Points Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 357: Nudging

    Dragging Sync Points Nudging You can drag a sync point to another position in Pro Tools can nudge regions (or MIDI notes) by the audio region. precise increments with the Plus (+) and Minus (–) keys on the numeric keypad. The amount of To set the sync point by dragging: the nudge is determined by the value specified If you want the sync point to snap to the cur-...
  • Page 358 The Nudge command works the same regardless of the Edit mode. Adjacent regions are over- lapped 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. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 359: Shift Command

    Nudging a Region’s Contents Shift Command Often a region’s start point will reside at the cor- Use the Shift command to move track material rect location, perhaps at a SMPTE frame or bar, forward or back in time by a specified amount. but the material within the region starts too late The Shift command can operate on selections, or early.

  • Page 360: Quantizing Regions To Grid

    (such as notes) are moved equally, placed when other neighboring regions are thereby retaining their rhythmic relationships. moved. To quantize individual MIDI notes, use the Quantize command in the Event > MIDI sub- menu (see “Input Quantize” on page 503). Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 361: Muting/Unmuting Regions

    Muting/Unmuting Regions Replacing Audio Regions (Pro Tools HD and Pro Tools LE with Choosing the Mute/Unmute Region command DV Toolkit 2 Only) mutes playback of a selected region. Choosing the command a second time unmutes the re- You can use the Replace Region function to re- gion.
  • Page 362 If the replacement region is larger than the se- lection, it is placed in the playlist and trimmed to fit within the length of the original region. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 363 If you are replacing multiple regions, select Fit Region Using The: Original Selection Length When the playlist selection extends be- whether to apply the replacement to the current yond the original region, the replacement re- track, all tracks, or within the selection. gion (if larger than the original region) is Select whether to fit the replacement regions trimmed to fit within the selection.

  • Page 364: Choosing An Alternate Channel For A Specific Region

    Repeat this procedure for every region you channel: want to replace on each track. In the Timeline, make a selection that in- cludes or overlaps the region or portion of the region you want to replace. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 365: Edit Commands

    Conditions for Alternate Channel Edit Commands Availability Pro Tools provides many standard edit com- An alternate channel is available to replace the mands—such as cut, copy, and paste—and also original channel (represented by the region or many specialized edit commands that are opti- portion of a region selected on the Timeline) if mized for audio and MIDI production—such as all of the following are true:...
  • Page 366 • In Shuffle mode, pasted data causes all regions to slide over to make room for the pasted ma- terial. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 367 Do one of the following: Do one of the following: • Choose Edit > Cut to remove the selection • With the Selector tool, click in a track at and place it on the Clipboard. the point where you want to paste the ma- terial.
  • Page 368 You cannot paste MIDI controller data to current MIDI controller data in the selection. automation data nor automation to MIDI. This can be useful for consolidating MIDI data from several tracks into a single MIDI track. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 369 Repeat to Fill Selection Pastes multiple itera- then make a selection and use the command to tions of audio, video, or MIDI data from the fill the selection. When pasting audio regions, Clipboard to fill the selection. If you select an you are prompted to specify a crossfade to be area that is not an exact multiple of the copied used for the pasted regions.

  • Page 370: Duplicate Command

    In Shuffle mode, the duplicated data is placed directly after the end of the selection. Regions occurring after it are slid to accommodate the duplicated material. In Slip mode, the dupli- cated material overlaps any adjacent data. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 371: Repeat Command

    When using Duplicate or Repeat with MIDI To repeatedly paste copied data until it com- notes that were selected with the Time Grabber pletely fills a selection, see “Repeat To Fill Selec- tool, material is always duplicated one measure tion” on page 357. later, and is merged with existing track material (instead of replacing).

  • Page 372: Editing Stereo And Multichannel Tracks

    “Funkit” is split, two When dragging regions from mono tracks to a ◆ new tracks called “Funkit.L” and “Funkit.R” are multichannel track, the source tracks need not created. be adjacent. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 373: Processing Audio With Audiosuite Plug-Ins

    Multichannel regions can also be dragged from Waveform Repair with the the Region List, to multichannel tracks of the Pencil Tool same format, groups of mono audio tracks, or a combination of both. The Pencil tool allows you to destructively “re- draw”...

  • Page 374: Region Groups

    Cut or Delete. Other edits only apply to the boundaries of the region group and do not affect the underlining regions, such as Trim. Repairing a “pop” with the Pencil tool Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 375 Region groups are particularly useful for: The region group will appear as one region with the region groups icon in the lower left corner. • Grouping tick-based audio regions that have Region groups also appear in the Region List. been separated into many small regions, such as with individual hits of a drum pattern.
  • Page 376 MIDI, and Instrument tracks, and can in- clude either or both tick-based or sample-based tracks. Multitrack region groups work much like single- track region groups. Multitrack region groups appear as a single object across adjacent tracks. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 377 To create a multitrack region group: Select regions across multiple adjacent tracks. Mixed Region Group icon Mixed multitrack region group (sample- and tick-based audio, and tick-based MIDI) Multitrack region groups create nested re- Selecting regions to be grouped across multiple tracks gion groups of multiple regions by track be- Choose Region >...
  • Page 378 Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 379 Converting Samples to Ticks Editing Region Groups When dragging a region group from a sample- Region groups are edited in much the same way based track to a tick-based track, the length of as regular regions: They can be named, moved, the region group will not change.
  • Page 380 Regroup to fit and removed. command. With region groups on tick-based tracks, when changing tempo you may need to Un- group, redo or create new fades, and then Regroup in order to maintain the desired fades. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 381 From the Region List pop-up menu, choose Importing and Exporting Region Export Region Groups. The Export Region Group Files Groups dialog opens. Pro Tools can export and import the new region group file format (.rgrp). You can import and ex- port region group files to do any of the follow- ing: •...

  • Page 382: Region Looping

    • Dropping a region group in the Region List adds a new region group in the Region List. All audio and MIDI regions, and even other region groups, contained within the dropped region group also appear in the Region List. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 383 Looped regions (all iterations) display a Loop Choose Region > Loop. The Region Looping icon in the lower, right corner. dialog opens. Looped region Source region Loop iterations Loop icons Looped region Region Looping dialog Do one of the following: Looping a region does not loop any automa- tion associated with the source region.
  • Page 384 Double-click the loop icon with the Grabber. ■ Separate Regions Menu Commands The Separate Regions commands (At Selection, To unloop a looped region: On Grid, and At Transients) will automatically Select the looped region. unloop and flatten looped regions before sepa- rating. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 385 Editing Looped Regions Tabbing to Transients and Region Boundaries Tab to Transients tabs to transients and region Looped regions can be edited as a group or as in- boundaries in a looped region. Normal Tab (Tab dividual regions. For example, selecting a to Transients disabled) tabs to the start and end looped region with the Grabber tool will select boundaries of the entire looped region.
  • Page 386 Pan automation Special Paste to Fill Selection Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 387: Chapter 18. Fades And Crossfades

    Chapter 18: Fades and Crossfades About Crossfades and Curves Using Crossfades To create a crossfade between two regions, use You can quickly and easily crossfade between the Selector tool to select across the end point of two adjacent audio regions. Crossfading is the the first region and the start point of the second.
  • Page 388 When making selections for crossfades that occur on the border of two re- gions, you can use the Tab key to move the cur- sor to the exact beginning or end of a region. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 389 The Fades Dialog View Second Track When choosing the Edit > Fades command you can use the Fades dialog to select, view, and pre- If you are fading between more than one track view the crossfade, and to edit the curves used this button allows you to view and preview the to perform the crossfade.
  • Page 390 S-shaped curves can be useful with material that is diffi- cult to crossfade effectively. S-curves can be ed- ited by dragging the curve in the curve editor. Preset Curve 5 Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 391 Preset Curve 6 drops the volume of region 1 that can occur when using an Equal Power cross- ◆ even more quickly at the beginning of the cross- fade. With this fade, you can Alt-click (Win- fade. dows) or Option-click (Mac) the fade curve to re- set it to its default shape.
  • Page 392 Preset Curve 6 and keeps it there throughout the crossfade. Preset Curve 7 silences region 2 until the end ◆ of the crossfade. Preset Curve 1 Preset Curve 7 Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 393: Creating A Crossfade

    Typical Curve Combinations To set the crossfade preferences: Choose Setup > Preferences and click the Following are the available combinations of Editing tab. fade-out and fade-in curves. Set the Pre-Roll and Post-Roll times for Fade Linear Crossfade This is a good general purpose previews.
  • Page 394 • Press Control+Tab (Windows) or Op- (Mac). tion+Tab (Mac) to move back to the previ- ous region boundary. Right-click the crossfade with any of the edit ■ tools and select Delete Fades from the pop-up menu. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 395: Creating Fades At The Beginnings And Ends Of Regions

    Extend the selection as follows: Creating Fade-Ins and Fade-Outs • Shift-drag to adjust your selection, or press Depending on how you make the selection, you Shift+Tab to extend the selection forward can position a fade-in/out at the exact begin- to the next region boundary. ning or end of a region, or position it so it ex- –...

  • Page 396: Using Autofades

    Fade lengths can later be resized with any of voice, a fade-in and fade-out is applied to the the Trim tools. transition. To fade from the insertion point to a region start point: Place the cursor at a location in the region. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 397: Creating Fades And Crossfades In Batches

    This feature is especially useful in post produc- Creating Fades and tion situations such as dialogue tracking. For ex- Crossfades in Batches ample, you could assign both a dialogue track and a “room tone” track with matching back- In “Batch mode” you can create many fades at ground to the same voice.

  • Page 398: Moving And Nudging Fades

    Fades can be moved or nudged in tracks, inde- pendently of their contributing regions. Moving or nudging fade-ins or fade-outs reveals or hides audio as the fade is moved from the edge of a Result of moved fade Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 399 Moving and Nudging Regions with Nudging Regions Adjacent to Fade-Ins Fades or Fade Outs When you nudge a region selection adjacent to Moving Regions Containing Fades a fade in or fade out, but do not select the fade, the adjacent fade stretches or shrinks to main- When you move or nudge a region selection tain the fade start or end point.
  • Page 400 To separate crossfaded regions and remove the fade: contributing regions to the crossfade. Choose Setup > Preferences and click Editing. Under Fades, deselect Preserve Fades when Ed- iting. Click OK to close the Preferences dialog. Selecting a region with a crossfade Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 401: Separating Regions That Include Fades

    Nudge the region by pressing Plus (+) or Mi- nus (–) on the numeric keypad. Result of Separate Region command on fade-in Where your selection overlaps a crossfade, the Stretching the crossfade by nudging crossfade is separated into a fade-out and fade-in at the selection boundary.

  • Page 402: Fade Boundaries And Shapes In Displayed Automation View

    Trimming to a selection across multiple fades • Click with the Selector in the region and choose Edit > Trim Regions > Start to Inser- tion or End to Insertion. You can trim to re- gion or fade boundary in the track. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 403: Chapter 19. Managing Regions

    Chapter 19: Managing Regions Managing the regions in a session lets you keep The Strip Silence window contains the following system and storage requirements to a minimum, controls that let you set the parameters by and simplify archiving requirements. This chap- which silence will be defined when using the ter describe several tools available to manage Strip Silence command.
  • Page 404 Strip Silence rectangles appear in before the appended auto numbers. the selection. Figure 14. Strip Silence rectangles For finer resolution on these sliders, press Con- trol (Windows) or Command (Mac) while ad- justing them. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 405 To retain material before and after the new re- To extract audio from an audio selection using Strip Silence: gions, adjust the sliders for Region Start Pad and Region End Pad. Make and Edit or Time selection. Choose Edit > Strip Silence. To set the naming scheme for regions created with Strip Silence, click Rename to open the Re- naming dialog.

  • Page 406: Inserting Silence

    If all selected tracks are displayed as automa- ◆ tion data, press the Start key (Windows) or Con- trol (Mac) while choosing the Insert Silence command to inserts silence on all automation playlists for all selected tracks. Regions are not shuffled. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 407: Consolidate Command

    Consolidate Command Compacting an Audio File During the course of normal edit operations, a The Compact Selected command deletes unused track may eventually contain many regions. portions of audio files to conserve disk space, However, once a track or track range (such as a and to prepare for cleaner hard drive back-ups.

  • Page 408: Naming And Displaying Regions

    Region List when auto-created regions are hidden. Rename Selected dialog Click OK to rename the region. If renaming multiple regions, you are prompted, succes- sively, to rename each region. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 409 Auto-Naming Options Hiding and Removing Unwanted Regions You can specify the auto-naming options for a region when new regions are created from it in In the course of editing a session, the Region List the course of editing. can fill up quickly with regions—ones you have created purposely and those that are automati- Auto-naming of regions does not affect the cally created by cutting, pasting, and separating...
  • Page 410 (for each of the unused regions) • Offline without any further warnings. After all unused regions are selected, choose Use this “power delete mode” with caution, Clear from the Region List pop-up menu. since deletion of these files cannot be undone. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 411: Chapter 20. Conductor Tracks And Memory Locations

    Chapter 20: Conductor Tracks and Memory Locations In Pro Tools, tempo and meter changes reside in To move the Song Start Marker by dragging: Conductor tracks. Tempo and meter events af- In the Tempo ruler, drag the Song Start Marker ■...

  • Page 412: Tempo

    Transport window. Tempo Change dialog For details, see “Using Manual Tempo Mode” on page 196. Select the Snap To Bar option to place the in- serted tempo event cleanly on the first beat of the nearest measure. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 413 To base the BPM value on something other To delete a tempo event: than the default quarter note, select a different While pressing Alt (Windows) or Option ■ note value. (Mac), move the cursor over the tempo event (where the cursor changes to a Grabber with a Click Ok.
  • Page 414 To compute the new tempo, Pro Tools averages Tempo Ruler the last eight (or fewer) taps to determine the Enable button correct tempo. The computed BPM value ap- pears in the Transport’s Tempo field. Tempo field Manual Tempo mode enabled Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 415 Tempo Changes and Automation Minimizing Automation Drift Drift In general, automation drift is more pro- nounced with larger audio regions. By creating When a track is sample-based, the track’s auto- many small audio regions, the effects of auto- mation playlist is unaffected by changes in mation drift can be minimized, because the start tempo.

  • Page 416: Graphic Tempo Editor

    Tempo Editor. Select View > Rulers > Tempo, then View > ■ Rulers > Tempo > Tempo Editor. Click the Tempo Editor expand/collapse trian- ■ gle. Pencil tool shape pop-up menu Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 417 S-Curve The S-Curve shape draws a best possible to set meter events separately for each fit of an S-Curve to your freehand drawing. The Tempo event, Digidesign recommends shape is reproduced as a series of steps according choosing Follow Metronome Click in most to the Tempo Edit Density setting.
  • Page 418 The blue adjustment handles are only active un- til a new tool is selected or a new command is executed. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 419 Grabbing Tempo Events To Select a tempo curve in the Tempo Editor: Using the Selector tool or any Grabber tool, ■ The Grabber tools let you create new tempo set- triple-click on a horizontal tempo line in the tings by dragging tempo events in the Tempo curve that you wish to select.
  • Page 420 Click within the selected area, and drag up or down. Dragging up increases the tempo values of the selection; dragging down decreases them. Changing the tempo change range with the Trim tool Changing selected tempos with the Trim tool Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 421: Changing The Linearity Display Mode

    • On the numeric keypad, press Plus (+) to material to move in non-intuitive ways. move the selected tempo events forward by Digidesign recommends that you use Linear the Nudge value. Tick Display when you draw tempo – or –...

  • Page 422: Tempo Operations Window

    To open the last active Tempo Operations window page: Choose Event > Tempo > Operations Window. ■ Press Alt+2 (Windows) or Option+2 (Mac) on the number keypad to open the Tempo Operations window and display the last active Tempo Operations page. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 423 Calculate (Advanced Option) Lets you choose to To define tempo events over a range of time: calculate either the tempo, or the selection end Make a selection in the Timebase or in a track. time. Choose Event > Tempo > Operations Window. Selection Start and End Specifies the start and Choose a Tempo Operation page from the end point for the tempo change in Bars|Beats.
  • Page 424 Main timebase. When an Edit se- lection is made, the Start and End fields will dis- play the selection boundaries. Changing start or end values changes the selection range. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 425 End Time (Advanced Option) Displays the abso- Parabolic lute time for the selection end. When the Main The Parabolic page lets you create tempos that Time Scale is set to Bars|Beats, the end time is accelerate or decelerate by following a tempo displayed in the Sub Time Scale.
  • Page 426 Tempo ruler. rently selected Main timebase. When an Edit se- lection is made, the Start and End fields will dis- play the selection boundaries. Changing start or end values changes the selection range. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 427 Preserve Tempo after Selection If selected, the Advanced When the Advanced checkbox is se- previous tempo setting that was in effect at the lected, the selection range changes to the Main selection end point is preserved after the selec- Time Scale format, and additional and modified tion.

  • Page 428: Identify Beat Command

    When an Markers within a selection that includes Edit selection is made, the Start and End fields rhythmic changes on beats or sub-beats. For will display the selection boundaries. more information, see Chapter 21, “Beat Detective.” Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 429 Bar|Beat Markers Identifying Beats Bar|Beat Markers look similar to tempo events, To add Bar|Beat Markers for a one-bar drum loop: but instead have small blue triangles to indicate Place a one-bar drum loop at the beginning of their location. an audio track. Select View >...
  • Page 430 When identifying beats, select as large an area as possible. For example, if you have a four bar long audio file you want to identify, select the entire four bars instead of just one bar, in order to minimize rounding errors. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 431 When dragging a Bar|Beat Marker: To delete a Bar|Beat Marker: • Its BPM value is recalculated along with the While pressing Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac), Bar|Beat Marker to its immediate left. Bar|Beat move the cursor over the Bar|Beat Marker Markers to the right of the dragged marker re- (where the cursor changes to the Grabber with a main unchanged.

  • Page 432: Meter Events

    Meter Change window – and – • If you want the inserted meter event to fall Add Meter Change button cleanly on the first beat of the nearest mea- sure, select the Snap To Bar option. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 433 Select a note value for the number of clicks to To copy and paste several meter events: sound in each measure. For a dotted-note click If you want to constrain the selection to the value, select the dot (.) option. current Grid value, set the Edit mode to Grid.

  • Page 434: Time Operations

    Time Operations window and display the last active Time Operations window. To insert meter events while avoiding par- tial bars, use the Change Meter command in the Time Operations window. See “Change Meter” on page 423. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 435 Change The Change fields let you specify the Change Meter number of bars of the new meter that you wish Change Meter lets you specify complex meter to have replace the selected range. changes for Bar|Beat-based material. You can en- Pro Tools automatically calculates the nearest ter meter changes at a particular bar, make a whole bar number, or you can specify a number...
  • Page 436 At Bar field. serted time. The selection is quantized to the Choose Event > Time > Change Meter. nearest bars, and the previous meter is inserted after the selection. Specify a new meter and click setting. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 437 If your Main Time Scale is sample-based, Set If the time selection includes any audio regions Meter is not available. on tick-based tracks, the audio regions are sepa- rated at the Start point, and the new region con- taining the previous selection is shifted to the Realign end point.
  • Page 438 Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 439 Move Start To Sets the location for the Song Cut Time Example Start Marker in the chosen timebase. To cut thirty seconds of time from a session: Renumber Song Start To When enabled, this lets Set the Main Time Scale to Minutes:Seconds. you set the Song Start Marker to any bar num- ber.

  • Page 440: Renumbering Bars

    If the Timeline and Edit Selections are linked, Memory Locations are viewed and sorted in the the edit cursor also moves to the Marker loca- Memory Locations window, where they can be tion. recalled by clicking the Memory Location. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 441 Markers appear in the Markers ruler with a thin When set to Absolute, the Memory Location is yellow line extending down through all tracks sample-based and its bar and beat location shifts in the Edit window (to assist in arranging and if the tempo is changed—though its sample lo- aligning track material).
  • Page 442 General Properties you want to save with the Marker. If the Markers ruler is not displayed, select View > Rulers > Markers. Click OK. The Marker is created and appears in the Markers ruler, and in the Memory Locations window. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 443 Click OK. The General Properties Memory Lo- To create a Selection Memory Location: cation is created and appears in the Memory Lo- Configure any session settings you will save cations window. with the Selection Memory Location, such as zoom settings, pre- and post-roll times, In the New Memory Location dialog, you Show/Hide status for tracks, Track Heights, and can Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click...
  • Page 444 Enter the new name for the Memory Location, • In the Memory Locations window, click the and click OK. Memory Location to recall it. • With the Numeric Keypad mode set to Classic, press the Memory Location num- ber followed by Period (.). Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 445 To redefine the General Properties stored with a To change the Selection stored with a Memory Memory Location: Location: Make changes to the session’s zoom settings, If the Memory Locations window is not al- pre- and post-roll times, Show/Hide status of ready open, choose Window >...
  • Page 446 (Mac), move the cursor over the Marker (where To select all Markers in the Markers ruler: the cursor changes to the Grabber with a “–”) Double-click with the Selector tool in the ■ and click to remove it. Tempo ruler. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 447: Memory Locations Window

    Memory Locations Commands and Memory Locations Window Options Memory Locations are listed, with their name Show Markers Only When selected, only Marker and assigned number, in the Memory Locations Memory Locations are displayed in the Memory window. To recall a Memory Location from this Locations window.
  • Page 448 If the Default To Marker option is selected, 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. Comments in the Memory Locations window Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 449: Chapter 21. Beat Detective

    Chapter 21: Beat Detective Beat Detective is a powerful tool for analyzing, Beat Detective and Source Material editing, and manipulating audio or MIDI tracks Beat Detective is most effective with audio or that have an inherent rhythmic character. MIDI that has clear attack transients or accent Beat Detective analyzes an audio or MIDI selec- patterns (including most instruments used in tion, identifies its peak transients or accented...

  • Page 450: Beat Detective Requirements

    Only) Beat Detective’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). Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 451: The Beat Detective Window

    The Beat Detective Window The Beat Detective window appears as shown in Figure 16, below. Figure 16. Beat Detective (Pro Tools HD shown) Bar|Beat Marker Generation Generates Bar|Beat To open the Beat Detective window, do one of the following: Markers corresponding to transients detected in the audio selection.

  • Page 452: Defining A Beat Detective Selection

    Options > Link Timeline and Edit Selection. End Bar|Beat stabilizes. Once stabilized, you may need to manually adjust the num- ber to the nearest bar boundary. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 453: Calculating Tempo With Beat Detective

    • If the selection’s tempo and meter match Calculating Tempo with Beat the session tempo and meter (see “Calcu- Detective lating Tempo with Beat Detective” on page 441), and it aligns correctly with the If you know the meter, and start and end points session’s bars and beats, click the Capture of the audio selection, use Beat Detective to cal- Selection button.

  • Page 454: Generating Beat Triggers

    Click the Analyze button. Depending on the rhythmic content of the se- lection, set the Resolution to Bars, Beats, or Sub- Beats. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 455 To generate beat triggers from a MIDI selection: MIDI Chord Recognition In the Edit window, set the MIDI track you Since MIDI notes in a chord may be played at wish to use to Notes View. slightly different moments, Beat Detective inter- prets notes that are close together (closer than Make a selection across a range of MIDI data.
  • Page 456 Detective in a session with tick-based tracks: tions (see “Editing Beat Triggers” on page 445). In the Edit window, make an audio or MIDI se- lection. In the Beat Detective window, select Bar|Beat Marker Generation mode. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 457 Consider whether lengthy selections should Locate the false trigger you want to delete. ◆ first be broken down into smaller selections, Transients for false triggers usually have smaller which could be more easily managed. For exam- peaks than the other trigger points, and typi- ple, working in 8- or 4-bar sections might yield cally fall between the sub-beats.
  • Page 458 Control-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac) the beat trigger to promote it. If necessary, repeat steps 1–2 to promote addi- tional beat triggers. Identify Trigger dialog Lower the Sensitivity slider to a value where the false triggers disappear. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 459: Generating Bar|Beat Markers With Beat Detective

    Navigating Consecutive Beat Triggers To generate Bar|Beat Markers with Beat Detective: Use the Scroll Next button to move from the In the Edit window, make an audio selection. currently selected beat trigger to the next beat trigger. To move to the previous beat trigger, In the Beat Detective window, select Bar|Beat Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac) the Marker Generation mode.

  • Page 460: Digigroove Templates

    MIDI velocity data is saved from MIDI Click the Extract button. tracks, and accents and peak levels in audio data are incorporated into the groove template as ve- locity data, which can be applied to change the dynamics of MIDI tracks. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 461 For example, if a bar of kick drum de- they are always located in C:\ tected three beat triggers, all of which were 20 Program Files\Digidesign\Pro Tools\ ticks ahead of the beat, any extrapolated beat Grooves (Windows) or Applications/ triggers will also be mapped 20 ticks ahead of Digidesign/Pro Tools/Grooves (Mac).

  • Page 462: Separating Regions With Beat Detective

    Click the Separate button. mines where the region is placed. Regions are separated based on the detected beat For more information on region sync points, triggers. see “Sync Points” on page 344. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 463 Extending the selection to the snare, hi-hat, and Separating Multiple Tracks overhead microphones tracks, and then per- (Pro Tools HD and Pro Tools LE with Music forming the separation, results in separated re- Production Toolkit Only) gions in each of the drum tracks at the same lo- cation, based on the beat triggers from the kick You can use beat triggers from a single track, or drum track (see Figure 18).

  • Page 464: Conforming Regions With Beat Detective

    • Higher percentage values ensure that re- gions closer to the Grid, as well as those further away, are conformed. Beat Detective, Standard Conform options To “tighten up” the original feel, while re- taining it, set the Exclude Within option to 10–15%. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 465 To achieve a swing feel for the conformed re- Groove Conform gions, select the Swing option and whether the Instead of using a grid based on the session’s swing is based on eighth-notes or sixteenth- tempo map, Groove Conform uses a grid based notes, then specify a percentage value with the on a groove template, or DigiGroove.

  • Page 466: Edit Smoothing

    When conforming an audio passage to a effects track). This automated process of heavily swung groove template, enabling smoothing region edits can save many hours of Pre-Process using Standard Conform will of- tedious editing. ten yield better results. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 467 To use Edit Smoothing on conformed regions: Edit Smoothing Creates Sync Points In the Beat Detective window, select Edit After smoothing edits with Beat Detective, sync Smoothing mode. points (corresponding to the material’s start point) are automatically created for the con- Select a Smoothing options: formed regions.

  • Page 468: Detection (Normal) And Collection Mode

    Bar|Beat Markers or a DigiGroove template, or deleting, inserting, or adjusting incorrect or separate new regions. false triggers. Beat Detective LE does not support Collec- tion Mode without the Music Production Toolkit option. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 469 Click the Normal Mode button and move the Using Collection Mode selection to the next track you want to analyze. Collection mode is available in Bar|Beat Marker Make sure to keep the selection range constant Generation, Groove Template Extraction, or Re- for each track.
  • Page 470 Hi-hat track added to collection Collected beat triggers applied to Overhead microphones track Figure 20. Overhead mic track displaying a collection of beat triggers containing unique triggers generated from the kick, snare, and hi-hat tracks Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 471: Part Vmidi Editing

    Part V: MIDI Editing...

  • Page 473: Chapter 22. Midi Editing

    Chapter 22: MIDI Editing Pro Tools provides powerful MIDI editing tools. You can create and edit individual MIDI notes and controller events with the Pencil, Trim, and Grabber tools in the Edit window. You can use the various MIDI operations (such as Quantize, Mirrored MIDI Edit button Transpose, Change Velocity, and Change Dura- Mirrored MIDI Edit button in the Edit window...

  • Page 474: The Pencil Tool

    Default Note On Velocity MIDI preference and 127 ac- cording to a triangle pattern. The duration of each note is determined by the current Grid value. Pencil tool shape pop-up menu Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 475: Custom Note Duration

    When editing MIDI velocities or continuous Custom Note Duration controller data, the Triangle shape draws a trian- gular pattern that changes direction according The Custom Note Duration command lets you to the current Grid value. MIDI controller values define the default note duration for inserting change in steps according to the Pencil Tool Res- notes manually.

  • Page 476: Setting The Grid Value

    Control-click (Win- tool when located over the playlist area of a dows) or Command-click (Mac) with the MIDI or Instrument track in Notes View. Pencil tool to temporarily disable snap to grid. Pencil tool set to Freehand Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 477: Manually Editing Midi Notes

    The velocity for inserted notes is determined by To insert a series of notes with random velocities: the Default Note On Velocity MIDI preference. Set the MIDI or Instrument track to Notes When in Grid mode, the duration of the note is View.
  • Page 478 When a MIDI or Instrument track is in Notes or Regions View, selections made with the You can also select notes in the Select/Split Selector tool include underlying controller and Notes window. See “Select/Split Notes” on automation data. page 501. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 479 Transposing Notes To move a MIDI note: Set the MIDI or Instrument track to Notes MIDI notes can be transposed by dragging up or View. down with the Pencil tool or any Grabber tool. If several notes are selected before dragging, With the Pencil tool or any Grabber tool, drag each is transposed.
  • Page 480 Editing simultaneous velocities When in Grid mode, you can use the Con- trol key (Windows) or the Command key (Mac) to temporarily disable Grid mode. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 481 Drag up to increase the velocity value, or down With the Trim tool, click near the range of se- to decrease it. While dragging, the diamond lected notes and drag up or down. Dragging up turns blue and the associated note becomes se- increases the velocities for each note;...

  • Page 482: Time Compression/Expansion Trim Tool Functionality On Midi Regions

    Using the Grabber or Selector tool, select the notes to be deleted. For details, see “Selecting MIDI Notes” on page 465. Time Compression/Expansion Trim tool Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 483 With the Time Compression/Expansion Trim Click the Trim tool pop-up menu and select tool, you can move the MIDI region’s start or “TCE.” end point to expand or compress the region, With the Time Compression/Expansion Trim scaling the MIDI data accordingly regardless of tool, drag the MIDI region’s start or end point to the track’s timebase (ticks or samples).

  • Page 484: Continuous Controller Events

    (in- surface), and they can be inserted in a MIDI stead of vector-based), where each breakpoint track’s playlist using the Pencil tool or any Grab- represents a single controller event. ber tool. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 485 Inserting and Editing Controller Resolution for Inserted Controller Events Events When inserting controller events with the Pen- Continuous controller events can be edited with cil tool, the density of the events is determined any of the following methods: by the MIDI preference for “Pencil Tool Resolu- Individual breakpoints can be dragged with ◆...

  • Page 486: Patch Select (Program And Bank Changes)

    Click OK to close the Automated MIDI Con- sets the bank and the second sets the pro- troller dialog. gram. When you record continuous controller in- formation from an external MIDI device, the controller is automatically added to the MIDI Controllers list. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 487 MIDI devices. These files reside in directories, sorted by manu- facturer, in Program Files\Common Patch Select dialog Files\Digidesign\MIDI Patch Names\ Digide- – or – sign (Windows) and /Library/Audio/ MIDI • If you are using patch name files, choose a Patch Names/Digidesign (Mac).
  • Page 488 (Mac) and select the MIDI Patch Name file edited in any text editor, or you can use (.midnam) for the MIDI device. third party patch librarian and editor soft- Click Open. ware to create your own custom patch names. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 489 Inserting and Editing Program To move a program change event: Changes With the Pencil tool or any Grabber tool, drag ■ the program change event left or right. Program changes can be inserted into a track’s playlist with the Pencil tool. Existing program If the Edit mode is set to Grid, the dragged event changes can be edited, moved, and copied and snaps to the nearest Grid boundary.

  • Page 490: System Exclusive Events

    Grabber tool to select it. – or – • If the region contains other Sysex events you want to delete, select the entire region with any Grabber tool (when the track is displaying regions). Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 491: Note And Controller Chasing

    Do one of the following: Make sure to disable Note Chasing when work- ing with samplers that are playing loops. If a • Choose Edit > Clear to remove the selected MIDI track, for example, is triggering a 4-bar events from the track. drum loop and you begin playing at bar 3, the –...

  • Page 492: Offsetting Midi Tracks

    Pro Tools and want them to be exactly synchronized with Digi 002 Rack, Mbox 2, or Mbox, your MIDI kick drums that are being played by a MIDI de- Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 493: Stuck Notes

    vice, you may need to use a MIDI offset. In this To reset all offsets for all MIDI and Instrument example, it will usually take at least 5 ms to trig- tracks, click the Reset button in the upper left of ger the MIDI notes, and it could take even the window.
  • Page 494 Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 495: Chapter 23. Midi Operations

    Chapter 23: Operations MIDI To open a specific MIDI Operations window page: MIDI Operations Window Choose Event > MIDI, followed by one of the ■ MIDI Operations (such as Grid/Groove Quan- The MIDI Operations window provides com- tize). mands to transform groups of MIDI notes to af- fect pitch, timing, and phrasing.

  • Page 496: Grid/Groove Quantize

    To move forward and back through the vari- ◆ the start point for a selected region, and its con- ous fields, press Tab or Shift+Tab. tents are moved along with the region (with in- ternal rhythmic relationships remaining intact). Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 497 The Grid/Groove Quantize MIDI Operation, on To open the Grid/Groove Quantize window: the other hand, affects MIDI notes individually. Choose Event > MIDI > Grid/Groove Quan- ■ Some notes may be moved back in time, others tize. forward, some will be shortened and some will be lengthened;...
  • Page 498 Grid set to eighth notes and Randomize set to 50%, notes are placed up to a 32nd note before or after the beat boundary. The Randomize set- ting also affects note durations (if Releases is se- lected). Figure 21. What To Quantize examples Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 499 Exclude Within When selected, attacks and re- Options leases are not quantized if located within the Additional Quantize options include: specified percentage of the Quantize Grid. Use this option to preserve the feel of notes close to Swing When selected, every other Grid bound- the beat, while correcting others that are drasti- ary is shifted by the specified percentage value cally away from the beat.
  • Page 500 Swing are not selected. Audition the change and if the desired effect is Select the Exclude Within option with a value not achieved, undo the edit and experiment of 10–15%. with a different Swing percentage. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 501 Quantizing with Randomize Groove Quantize If quantized notes sound too mechanical or “on The Grid/Groove Quantize window can apply the beat,” use the Randomize option in the Groove Quantize when a groove template is se- Quantize window to make them sound more lected in the Quantize Grid pop-up menu.
  • Page 502 A setting of 100% moves notes to the Additionally, DigiGroove templates are avail- underlying template locations. If the slider is set able from Digidesign and third party manufac- to 200%, notes move to a tick location that is turers.
  • Page 503 Duration Enable to influence the durations of Slider Settings the selected MIDI notes. At a setting of 100%, durations are changed to match the current To Save the groove template with the current Options Slider Settings: groove template. Set to 200%, durations in- crease and decrease based on the ratio of the In the Grid/Groove Quantize window, click original duration of the selected notes and the...
  • Page 504 With the Grabber or Selector tool, select the MIDI notes you want to Groove Quantize. Figure 24. A DigiGroove template (derived from the audio shown) applied to a series of sixteenth-notes with Timing and Velocity both set to 100% Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 505 Mapping Groove Templates Template Mapping for Unequal Meters In cases where the Groove Templates and track Pro Tools applies groove templates relative to selections are based on different meters, the the song start. For example, a two-bar groove template will be repeated or truncated to match template repeats starting at every odd-num- the number of beats in the selection.

  • Page 506: Restore Performance

    The groove template will re- start at the meter marker regardless of the measure number or whether or not the meter has actually changed. MIDI Operations window, Restore Performance page Select the note attributes to restore. Click Apply. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 507: Flatten Performance

    Any changes made through the standard Quan- Removing Input Quantize tize, Groove Quantize, Change Duration, Restore Performance can be used to remove Change Velocity, or Change Pitch commands quantization on input. For example, if you re- will be undone and the original “performance” corded a performance with Input Quantize on, will be restored.

  • Page 508: Change Velocity

    Set All To Sets all velocities to the specified value (1–127). Add Adds to existing velocity values by the spec- ified amount (1–127). Subtract Subtracts from existing velocity values by the specified amount (1–127). Scale By Scales all velocities by a percentage amount (1–400%). Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 509 Change Smoothly Allows velocities to change Fading Velocities smoothly from one value to another over time. To change velocities smoothly over time: Change Smoothly by Percentage Allows veloci- Select the range of MIDI notes to be edited. ties to change smoothly from one percentage value to another over time.

  • Page 510: Change Duration

    Choose Event > MIDI > Change Duration. ■ Legato pop-up menu and enter the desired gap or overlap in beats and ticks. Press Alt+P on Windows or Option+P on Mac to open the Change Duration window. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 511 Limit Range When selected, restricts the Change Remove Overlap Duration command to a minimum and maxi- The Remove Overlap option removes any note mum range (in quarter notes and ticks). overlap for all notes of the same pitch. This command is different from Legato in that non- Randomize When selected, the Change Duration overlapping notes of the same or different command is randomized by the specified per-...

  • Page 512: Transpose

    Transpose By (Octaves) Transposes transpose Enter a value of –1 octave. the selected MIDI notes by up to +/– 10 octaves. Click Apply. Transpose By (Semitones) Transposes chromati- cally, up or down, by up to +/–127 semitones. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 513: Select/Split Notes

    Other Criteria Select/Split Notes Velocity Enable the Velocity option to specify a The Select/Split Notes window provides a com- range of velocities for selecting or splitting plete set of tools to select and split notes based notes. Enter the desired minimum and maxi- on a wide variety of criteria.
  • Page 514 MIDI notes that contains the note. Choose Event > MIDI > Select/Split Notes. Select the Notes Between option with the note range set to F#1 and F#1 (if the MIDI Note Dis- play preference is set to Standard Pitch). Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 515: Input Quantize

    Input Quantize Step Input When Input Quantize is enabled, all recorded Step Input lets you use a MIDI controller to en- MIDI notes are quantized automatically. To pre- ter notes individually, one step at a time. This serve the original “feel” of your recorded MIDI gives you precise control over note placement, tracks, make sure to disable this option.
  • Page 516 Step Input from a pop-up list of all the Enable Numeric Keypad Shortcuts When se- MIDI tracks in your session. lected, Step Input options can be selected from the numeric keypad. See “Numeric Keypad Shortcuts” on page 506. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 517 The Undo Step, Next Step and Redo Step but- Undo Step, Next Step, and Redo Step tons can be set to be triggered by an external Use the Undo Step and Next Step buttons to do MIDI synth, drum pad, or other controller. the following: •...

  • Page 518: Midi Real-Time Properties

    507). Nudge back – To enable Real-Time Properties View in the Edit Select Main Counter window: Edit Selection indicators Select View > Edit Window > Real-Time Prop- ■ erties. Real-Time Properties Column in the Edit window Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 519 For Mini and Small track heights, the Real-Time Expanded Real-Time Properties Window Properties column only displays one or two In the Real-Time Properties window, Quantize, properties, respectively. By default, the first one Duration, and Velocity each provide an ex- or two properties which are enabled are dis- pand/collapse triangle to show or hide addi- played automatically.
  • Page 520 This is useful for creating legato or cluding dotted and triplet options. This pop-up staccato passages. menu also provides access to all standard and custom grooves. Selecting a Grid Quantize value or a Groove Template Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 521 Duration Mode Pop-Up Menu Ticks or Notes Pop-Up Menus Select on of the following options from the Du- Selects either Ticks or a note size for Note Dura- ration Mode pop-up menu: Set, Add, Subtract, tions. There is also a Ticks or Notes pop-up Scale, Legato/Gap, or Legato/Overlap.
  • Page 522 MIDI data on the track or in a region. track-based region-based Real-Time Properties Real-Time Properties To write Real-Time Properties to tracks: Track-based and region-based Real-Time Property indicators Select one or more tracks to which you want to apply Real-Time Properties. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 523 Open the Real-Time Properties window (Event Real-Time Properties In the MIDI > MIDI Real-Time Properties). Event List If Link Track and Edit Selection mode is en- In the MIDI Event List, the presence of track- abled, select Tracks from the Real-Time Proper- based Real-Time Properties are indicated by a ties Apply To pop-up menu.
  • Page 524 Pro Tools takes the prop- erties into account and edits or inserts the event in a different place if necessary to match the ef- fect of the Real-Time Properties. Display Events as Modified by Real-Time Properties preference Click OK. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 525: Chapter 24. Midi Event List

    Chapter 24: MIDI Event List Events in the MIDI Event List can be copied and The MIDI Event List pasted, selected, or deleted. Any MIDI event (ex- cept Sysex) can be inserted and edited in the list. The MIDI Event List displays a detailed list of all Certain MIDI event types can be hidden with events in a single MIDI or Instrument track.
  • Page 526 The playback cursor appears as a blue arrow (red, when tracks are record-enabled) in the Start col- umn. Playback cursor double-click to edit simultaneous MIDI events MIDI Event List columns Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 527 For example, to filter the display of aftertouch and To move through the MIDI Event List, do any of the System Exclusive Messages in the MIDI Event following: List: • Double-click to edit a value. In the MIDI Event List, choose View Filter •...

  • Page 528: Inserting Events In The Midi Event List

    To insert a note in the MIDI Event List: Do one of the following: • Click the Insert button and choose Note from the pop-up menu. – or – • Press Control+N (Windows) or Com- mand+N (Mac). Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 529 Do one of the following: To insert a controller event in the MIDI Event List: • To insert the controller event and remain Do one of the following: in Event Entry mode, press Enter on the • Click the Insert button and choose Con- numeric keypad.

  • Page 530: Editing In The Midi Event List

    • To enter the new value and exit Edit Entry mode, press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac) on the QWERTY keypad. • To exit Edit Entry mode without entering the new value, press Escape on the QWERTY keyboard. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 531 Do one of the following: Selecting in the MIDI Event List • Choose Edit > Clear to delete all selected To select a range of events in the MIDI Event List, events. do one of the following: – or – Click the event at the beginning of the selec- ■...

  • Page 532: Midi Event List Options

    MIDI Event List. Events that Show Sub Counter Displays event times in the are not displayed still play back. For more infor- mation, see “View Filter for MIDI Event List” on Sub Time Scale. page 514. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 533: Part Vi Mixing

    Part VI: Mixing...

  • Page 535: Chapter 25. Basic Mixing

    Chapter 25: Basic Mixing In addition to the final mixdown, mixing tasks Format Compatibility Monitoring Stereo mixes can occur any time during a recording session. must often be mono-compatible. When you are This chapter covers Pro Tools mixing, including mixing in multichannel surround, mixes may audio signal flow, output and bus paths, sends, also need to be compatible with stereo or mono and signal routing for submixing and mixdown.

  • Page 536: Track Types

    Panner Track Type icons Output Main Output Additional Outputs Audio, Auxiliary Input, Master Fader, VCA Master, MIDI, Audio signal flow, audio tracks and Instrument tracks For information on creating tracks, see “Creating Tracks” on page 102. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 537 • Play back audio from an instrument plug-in Volume (although Instruments tracks are the recom- mended way to integrate instrument plug-ins, such as Digidesign Synchronic) To route an Auxiliary Input: Click the Input Path selector of the Auxiliary Input and choose an input or bus path.
  • Page 538 1–2 of your primary audio interface) and in, on your master mix. For more information set the panning for each track. about dithering, see “Dither” on page 557. Set the output of the Master Fader to the main output path. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 539 Master Fader Meters Instrument Tracks Meters on Master faders always show post-fader Instrument tracks provide the same audio signal levels, regardless of the Pre-Fader Metering set- routing options as Auxiliary Input tracks, except ting in the Options menu. that their input must come from an instrument plug-in inserted on that Instrument track, or Master Faders and Paths from a bus or hardware input.
  • Page 540 MIDI Input and Output for Instru- VCA Track Type indicator ment Tracks” on page 117 VCA Master track For information inserting Instrument plug- ins on Instrument tracks, see “Inserting In- strument Plug-ins on Instrument Tracks” on page 118 Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 541 Creating VCA Master Tracks Mute The VCA Mute button controls the mute state of To add a VCA Master track to a session: audio, Auxiliary Input, Instrument, MIDI, and Choose Track > New. other VCA Master tracks in a VCA-controlled group.
  • Page 542 Enable button is lit) or set to Input Only mode (the TrackInput button is lit), its automation is temporarily turned off, and its Volume fader is no longer affected by the VCA Master. Assigning an existing group to a VCA Master Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 543: Inserts

    • Some Instrument plug-ins (such as Virus In- To assign a new group to a VCA Master: digo) accept audio from the track input (let- While creating a new group, select Mix or ting you use them as processing plug-ins. Mix/Edit as the Group type.

  • Page 544: Views In The Mix And Edit Windows

    Edit Window View selector – or – Click the Mix Window View selector (or Edit ■ Window View selector), and select one of the view types (such as Comments). Click the Mix Window View selector Mix Window View selector Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 545 Comments View in the Mix and Edit windows I/O View Mic Preamps View Shows controls in each track for the Digidesign PRE. Deselect to hide. For de- tailed information, see the PRE Guide. Views in the Mix window I/O View (Edit Window Only) Shows Input and Output selectors, and Volume and Pan indica- tors in each track.
  • Page 546 Edit window. These controls are the same as those in the Transport window. For more information, see “The Transport Window” on page 27 Real-Time Properties View (Edit window) Transport Controls (Edit window) Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 547: Audio Input And Output Paths

    Hiding Views in the Edit Window Output Audio Path You can quickly hide View columns in the Edit Track Output Path selectors route the post-fader window using a simple keyboard shortcut. signals to the assigned output or bus paths. The Output Path selector routes the main track out- put to the chosen main or sub-path.
  • Page 548 • A plus sign (+) indicates that the track has in inactive. multiple output assignments. See “Active and Inactive Items” on page 19, and “Making Inserts Inactive” on page 562 for more information. Indication of multiple output assignments Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 549: Sends

    About the “No Output” Option Assigning Sends to Tracks Track outputs can be set to No Output. Assign- To add a send to a track: ing a track output to No Output loses any pan- Make sure Sends View is enabled in the Mix or ning automation associated with the track.
  • Page 550 To display sends in the Mix or Edit window: you click the Sends button on a track, you can Select View > Mix Window (or Edit Window) > ■ choose from a list of multichannel output or bus Sends A–E (or Sends F–J). paths. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 551 Sends View Options To show all send assignments: If sends are not currently visible on your Sends are displayed in the Mix and Edit window tracks, select View > Mix Window (or Edit Win- according to the Sends A–E View and Sends F–J dow) >...
  • Page 552 Send Assignment button their Output windows. See “Output Win- Send Send Pan sliders Level dows for Tracks and Sends” on page 543. Send Mute button fader Pre/Post Fader button Send meter Send A View, with stereo send shown Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 553 When opening sessions, sends will automati- Send Status Display cally be made inactive if the required hardware When displaying all controls for an individual or other resources are not available. sends, the Send status is visible directly in the Mix or Edit windows. Inactive send Active (italicized and...
  • Page 554 (if any), vide a headphone mix based on the main mix. level/pan/mute settings, and output format. For more information, see “Copying Track Automation to Sends” on page 595. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 555: Output Windows For Tracks And Sends

    Linking Send Pan and Main Pan Output Windows for Tracks Controls and Sends You can link pan controls of individual Sends to Track outputs and sends can be opened for dis- the Main pan controls of their corresponding play and editing in dedicated windows. tracks, allowing for fast setup of cue mixes or ef- fects processing.
  • Page 556 Shift-click any Output Window button or ■ In the default Linked mode, all sides match Send Assignment button. changes to any other side’s Pan control. This is Absolute Link mode. To mirror panning changes, see “Inverse Linked Panning” on page 545. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 557 When unlinked, Pan controls are completely in- To enable inverse linking: dependent of each other. Enable the Link icon. Select an Inverse mode. Standard Selector Controls in Output Windows All Output windows provide standard selectors Linked (left), unlinked (middle), front inverse linked for path, automation, and other controls in the (right) Output windows top area of the window (the Output Editor area).
  • Page 558 Track Fader, Pan Controls, and Solo, Mute, and Automation Controls Output windows provide the associated track’s Volume fader, Pan controls, Solo and Mute switches, and Automation Mode selector. Use these to adjust or automate the controls of the Output window. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 559 Targeted Windows To reassign output: Click the Output Path selector and select a ■ When lit (red), the Target indicates its window is path from the pop-up menu. “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).

  • Page 560: Submixing For Signal Routing And Effects Processing

    • Bus submixes for effects processing or moni- track. toring Select an instrument plug-in from the first • Mix submixes with Master Faders track Insert selector (such as Digidesign Syn- chronic). Monitoring Audio with Auxilary Input Tracks MIDI Output selector...
  • Page 561 The virtual MIDI node (port) for the instru- Assign the track output to the appropriate ment plug-in should be automatically selected path or paths for monitoring. for the Instrument track’s MIDI Output. If not, select the desired MIDI channel and corre- MIDI Output selector sponding port for the instrument plug-in.
  • Page 562 Choose Track > New. Specify the track type (Aux Input) and format (stereo), then click Create. Set the input of the Auxiliary Input to the same bus path to which you assigned all con- tributing tracks. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 563 Send and Return with a Plug-in or Effect (plug-in or hardware) Hardware Insert Insert To create an effects return submix with a plug-in or hardware insert: Send to effect bus Assign each track’s main output to your main mix outputs. Controls level of send to effects bus On the source tracks, assign a send (mono or Input set to send bus path...
  • Page 564 Route track sends to one or more Auxiliary In- put tracks to monitor submixes in a studio envi- ronment. For example, you may want to pro- vide the bassist with a drum submix for tracking a new bass part. Drum submix for monitoring Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 565: Delay Compensation

    Creating a Master Send Level Control Generating Stereo Output from a Mono Send/Return A Master Fader can control the overall level of bus and output paths. You can use an Auxiliary Input to generate a ste- reo output from a mono send. Set the send des- tination to a mono Auxiliary Input track and To create a Master send level control: place a mono to stereo plug-in on the Auxiliary...
  • Page 566 This field lets you adjust track delays manually. In addition to the automatic delay, positive or User Offset negative delay times can be entered in the user Track Compensation indicator offset (+/–) field. Delay Compensation View Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 567 This is useful for changing the feel of a track or the Delay Compensation limit. In this case, you for time-aligning a track in case a plug-in is in- need to bypass the track’s reported delay (see correctly reporting its delay. “Plug-in Delay (dly) Indicator”...
  • Page 568 Pro Tools. For example, Pro Tools does not suspend Delay Compensation when you are using ReWire to connect software synthe- sizers and samplers in other ReWire client applications (such as Live and Reason). Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 569: Dither

    Pro Tools|HD systems process all audio inter- Digidesign or third-party manufacturers. When nally at 24-bit, and Pro Tools LE processes inter- using the Bounce to Disk, see “Dither and nally at 32-bit, floating. Without dither to pro- Bounce to Disk”...

  • Page 570: Using A Control Surface With Pro Tools

    HD Only) Innovative tactile worksurfaces that employ a familiar, intuitive channel strip/center section console layout. Digidesign’s Control|24 (Pro Tools HD and LE Only) Dedicated controller that provides access to most Pro Tools recording, mixing, editing, signal routing, plug-in control, and automation features.

  • Page 571: Chapter 26. Plug-In And Hardware Inserts

    Instrument track. Audio, Auxiliary Input, ins Guide. For information about third- and Instrument track inserts are pre-fader, and party plug-ins, visit the Digidesign Web site Master Faders inserts are post-fader. (www.digidesign.com). An insert can be either a software DSP plug-in or Hardware I/O Inserts Hardware I/O inserts can a hardware insert.
  • Page 572 TDM plug-ins, they rely on and are limited by the host processing power of your Stereo Inserts Used on stereo tracks. A stereo computer. hardware I/O insert sends the signal to an in- put/output path. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 573 AudioSuite Plug-ins Non-real-time, file-based For example, the initial insert of an RTAS plug- processing plug-ins for Pro Tools (see the Digi- in on a mono Auxiliary Input track uses two Rack Guide). voices (one channel with two voices), while the initial insert of that plug-in on a stereo Auxiliary Depending on your Pro Tools software, plug-ins Input track uses four voices (two channels with...
  • Page 574 • The system has insufficient DSP resources. • A plug-in is not installed. • A plug-in type is not available (RTAS or TDM). Showing Inserts using the View selector Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 575: Inserting Plug-Ins On Tracks

    • Opening the session results in plug-in type substitutions. This can happen if the type is available but substituting would result in an unsupported condition, such as opening a session containing a TDM plug-in for which an RTAS version is unavailable. Display of inactive Plug-in window Inactive Hardware Inserts To make an insert inactive, do one of the following:...
  • Page 576 • Removing a plug-in that contains automa- type together, especially if inserting RTAS tion data after TDM plug-ins. Otherwise, additional • Enabling plug-in controls for automation voices may be unnecessarily used. • Configuring an external side-chain input Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 577: Plug-In Menu Organization

    Category Organizes plug-ins by process category Plug-in Menu Organization (such as EQ, Dynamics, and Delay), with indi- vidual plug-ins listed in the category submenus. You can customize how plug-in lists (plug-in Plug-ins that do not fit into a standard category menus) are organized in the Insert selector and (such as the DigiRack Signal Generator), or Plug-in selector.
  • Page 578 (such as Digidesign) are in- Most Digidesign-distributed third party plug-ins dicated in green text. will be grouped under Digidesign when this op- • Specific plug-ins located in the plug-in sub- tion is enabled. folders (such as EQ III in the EQ subfolder) are indicated in yellow (amber) text.

  • Page 579: Default Eq And Dynamics Plug-Ins

    To change the status of a plug-in favorite: Moving and Duplicating Plug- Control-click (Windows) or Command-click ■ in and Hardware Inserts (Mac) on a plug-in Insert button, and select a plug-in favorite that you no longer want to des- You can move or duplicate an insert by dragging ignate as a favorite.

  • Page 580: The Plug-In Window

    Plug-ins” on page 596. Effect Bypass Button Disables the currently dis- Automation Safe When enabled, prevents exist- played plug-in. This lets you compare the track ing plug-in automation from being overwritten. with and without the effect. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 581 Target Button When multiple Plug-in windows Link Enable Buttons Let you selectively link or are open, clicking this button selects that plug- unlink the controls of specific channels of a in as the target for any computer keyboard com- multi-mono plug-in. Each square represents a mands.
  • Page 582 Pro Tools keeps a single plug-in target window. Opening a new plug-in opens it as the new tar- get window, in the same location. In addition, the plug-in target window is also the focus of keyboard shortcuts for plug-in settings. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 583: Using The Librarian

    Settings menu commands include: Using the Librarian Save Settings Saves the current settings. This The Settings Librarian makes it easy to create command overwrites any previous version of your own library of plug-in settings. Using the the settings. The setting then appears in the Li- Librarian and Settings pop-up menus, you can brarian menu.
  • Page 584 If you choose Root Settings folder, Pro Tools To save a setting: saves to the default Root Plug-in Settings folder Choose Save Settings from the Settings pop- unless you have specified a different location for up menu. the Root Settings folder. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 585 Type a name and click OK. The setting appears To make a plug-in default to your custom setting: in the Librarian menu. From the Settings pop-up menu, choose Set- ■ tings Preferences > Set Plug-in Default To > User Press Control+Shift+S (Windows) or Com- Setting.
  • Page 586 Enter a value for the number of seconds that will elapse between each program change. Select the option for Increment Patch. After the specified number of seconds, Pro Tools selects the next setting. Plug-in Settings dialog Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 587 When you are finished auditioning settings, Linking and Unlinking Controls on do one of the following: Multi-Mono Plug-ins • Click Done to stop incrementing patches, When a multi-mono plug-in is used on a stereo and to close the Plug-in Settings dialog. track or greater-than-stereo multichannel track –...

  • Page 588: Editing Plug-In Controls

    Pro Tools Automation modes (Write, Touch, and Latch, plus Trim). The Auto button opens the Plug-in Automation dialog, where you can enable individual plug-in controls for automation recording. (See “Auto- mating Plug-ins” on page 596 for more informa- tion.) Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 589 The Safe button engages Automation Safe mode. Using a Key Input for External Side- When enabled, existing plug-in automation is Chain Processing protected from being overwritten. (See “Record Safing Plug-in Automation” on page 597.) To use a key input for external side-chain processing: Click the plug-in’s Key Input selector and se- Using a Side-Chain Input...

  • Page 590: Using Hardware Inserts

    Make sure the insert path is set to the correct format (mono, stereo, or other). Map inserts in the Channel Grid as needed. Insert and Output paths have special rules re- garding channel mapping (see “Overlapping Channels and Valid Paths” on page 86). Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 591: Connecting And Integrating External Devices

    To set up a digital send to an external device from Connecting and Integrating a Pro Tools|HD system: External Devices Do one of the following: • On a 192 I/O, 192 Digital I/O, 96 I/O, Pro Tools can create dedicated connections to 96i I/O, or 888|24 I/O, choose Setup >...
  • Page 592 Clock Source set to Internal. Set the Clock Source to match the type of in- put. Configure input routing of the digital source, using the Input and Output pop-up menus, if necessary. Click OK to close the Hardware Setup dialog. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 593: Chapter 27. Automation

    (Write, Touch, or Latch, or a Command|8 control surfaces support the auto- Trim mode). mation features in Pro Tools. Digidesign control • If you are automating a plug-in, enable the in- surfaces provide 10-bit resolution, or 1,024 steps dividual plug-in controls to be automated.

  • Page 594: Automation Playlists

    • Volume trim On MIDI tracks, these parameters include: • Volume (MIDI) • Pan (MIDI) • Mute On Instrument tracks, these parameters include: • Volume (audio) • Volume trim (audio) • Mute (audio) • Pan (audio) Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 595 Audio Tracks Multiple Edit Playlists and Audio Track Automation On audio tracks, automation data resides on a separate playlist from audio data and regions. All edit playlists on a single audio track share the Each edit playlist on an audio track shares the same automation data.

  • Page 596: Automation Modes

    Write mode writes automation from the time playback starts to the time it stops, erasing any previously written automation for the duration of the automation pass. AutoMatch can be applied to a Write automa- tion pass. See “AutoMatch Time” on page 590. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 597 In Touch mode, certain control surfaces start writing automation as soon as you touch them. These include touch-sensitive fader controllers, such as Digidesign’s D-Control, D-Command, ProControl, Control|24, Digi 002, Command|8, or the Mackie HUI. With other control surfaces in Touch mode,...
  • Page 598 Volume control in Touch mode and all other automatable controls in Latch mode. In Touch/Latch mode, the Volume control fol- lows Touch behavior, writing automation when touched and returning to previously written lev- els when released. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 599 All other controls follow Latch behavior, writing When Trim mode is enabled, non-trimmable automation when touched and continuing until controls behave in the same manner as in the playback stops, or until you punch out of writ- standard Automation modes, with the excep- ing automation.
  • Page 600 Write mode, ten automation until touched. When they are but behave as if they are in regular Touch mode touched, their absolute positions are written un- til the control is released or until playback stops. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 601: Automation Preferences

    (no automation is written unless a control is Send Levels and Trim Mode touched). This is to prevent the controls from You can set Pro Tools to exclude Send levels overwriting all of their automation data on ev- from Trim mode, so that only the Main Volume ery pass in Write Trim mode.
  • Page 602 Pro Tools lets you specify the size of the mem- ory buffer used to write automation. If you are working on a large session or writing a very large number of automation moves, you may want to increase this value. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 603: Viewing Automation

    Automation Safe To display an automation playlist: Click the Track View selector and select from ■ Outputs, sends, and plug-ins can be placed in the pop-up menu the automation type you Automation Safe mode. In Automation Safe want to view. mode, any automation associated with an Out- put window (such as track or send level, pan- ning, or mute), or plug-in on that track, is pro-...

  • Page 604: Writing Automation

    To display the composite playlist: Choose View > Automation > Composite ■ Playlist. Composite playlist Automation window Volume Trim data Volume data Display of Trim automation and the composite playlist in a main Volume playlist Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 605 In the Mix or Edit window, click the Auto- When you have finished, click Stop. mation Mode selector on each of the tracks you If you write automation in Touch mode want to automate, and set the Automation with Loop Playback enabled, writing of au- mode.
  • Page 606 (on or off) until Choose Options > Preferences and click Mix- playback is stopped. ing. Deselect Latching Behavior for Switch Con- trols in Touch. Click OK to close the Preferences window. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 607 Automating Sends Copying Track Automation to Sends (Pro Tools HD Only) Pro Tools provides automation of send level, send mute, and send pan (for stereo and multi- There may be times where you want a track’s channel sends only). This makes it easy to con- send automation to mirror automation in the trol effect levels and placement during mix- track itself, for example, when an effect level...
  • Page 608 (Mac) the control lect from among them by clicking their buttons for the parameter. in the Inserts section of this dialog. Enabling plug-in automation for individual parameters Plug-in automation dialog Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 609 Enabling Automation for All Plug-in AutoMatching Controls Parameters To enable all plug-in parameters: Make sure the plug-in window is open for the plug-in you want to automate. AutoMatch button Control+Alt+Start-click (Windows) or Com- mand+Option+Control-click (Mac) on the Auto button at the top of the plug-in window. AutoMatch button in the Automation window Automatically Enabling Plug-ins for AutoMatching All Controls...
  • Page 610 To AutoMatch a pan control or the controls for an individual insert or send: Press the switch in the Channel Strip Mode controls to display the Pan controls or the top level of Inserts or Sends for the channel. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 611 Click the Automation Mode selector on the Taking Tracks and Controls Out of Latch track where you want to write automation and Prime do one of the following: You can take individual tracks or automation • Choose Latch mode to allow priming of all types out of their Latch Prime state before or automation-enabled controls on the track.
  • Page 612 In the Automation window, click the AutoJoin button. In the Automation window, click the Capture button and then click the Punch Capture but- ton. The AutoJoin marker (a vertical red line) ap- pears on-screen at the punch point. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 613: Enabling And Suspending Automation

    Issue a Back and Play command, roll back the • To suspend writing of a specific type of au- external machine to before the punch in point, tomation on all tracks, click the button for or enable pre-roll. that automation type (volume, mute, pan, plug-in, send level, send mute, or send Start playback.
  • Page 614 Track View selector. Not Enabled – or – • To suspend the displayed Trim control on all tracks, Control-Alt-click (Windows) or Automation window showing possible automation Command-Option-click (Mac) the control states name in the Track View selector. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 615: Deleting Automation

    To remove automation data, display the auto- Automation Enable Guidelines mation playlist you want to edit by selecting it The following rules determine whether automa- from the Track View selector, and do one of the tion is enabled for a track: following: Although Pro Tools shows a single Auto- ◆...

  • Page 616: Thinning Automation

    Preferences page, Pro Tools automatically thins lected in the Automation Preferences page. the automation breakpoint data after each auto- mation pass. The Smooth and Thin Data After Pass Option Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 617: Drawing Automation

    value changes in steps according to the resolu- Drawing Automation tion setting in the MIDI Preferences page. Am- plitude is controlled by vertical movement of Use the Pencil tool to create automation events the Pencil tool. for audio and MIDI tracks by drawing in any au- tomation or MIDI controller playlist, including Square Draws a square pattern that repeats at a Trim automation if it has not been coalesced.

  • Page 618: Editing Automation

    You can edit automation data graphically by adjusting breakpoints in any automation Using the Pencil tool to delete a breakpoint playlist. You can also cut, copy, and paste auto- mation data in the same manner as audio and MIDI data. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 619 Using the Trim Tools Editing Mute Automation The Trim tools let you adjust all selected break- Drag the breakpoint down to mute a section. points up or down by dragging anywhere within Drag a breakpoint up to unmute the section. that selection.
  • Page 620 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 with any Grabber tool in a track’s automation playlist). Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 621 Editing Automation on Stereo and To view and edit the individual playlists of a multi- mono plug-in: Multichannel Tracks Unlink the plug-in. Stereo and multichannel tracks display a single automation playlist per track. Only one playlist Select the required playlist from the Track for volume and mute is available for the stereo View selector.
  • Page 622 Control (Mac) while you perform the edit. trols, such as Mutes) of the automation data – or – both inside and outside the selection. For MIDI tracks, press the Start key (Windows) ■ or Control (Mac) while you perform the edit. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 623 The following illustrations show the difference between cutting and deleting automation data. In Figure 26, a track is set to display volume au- tomation, and a range of automation data is se- lected. Figure 29. After pasting the automation data in another location Editing and Track Views Audio and MIDI tracks each have a Track View...
  • Page 624 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: Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 625 All Automation Copies all automation or MIDI Clear Special controller data whether it is shown or not. The Clear Special commands let you clear just automation data from the current region, as fol- Pan Automation Copies only pan automation or lows: MIDI pan data whether it is shown or not.
  • Page 626 To apply a Glide Automation to the current automation parameter type: In the Automation window, make sure the au- tomation type is write-enabled. Click the Track View selector to choose the au- tomation type you want to automate. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 627: Trimming Automation

    Glide Automation Considerations To enable Trim mode: In the Mix or Edit window, click the Auto- ■ When Glide Automation is applied to automa- mation Mode selector of the track where you tion data, it behaves as follows: want to trim automation, and select Trim. •...
  • Page 628 Trim Automation from the pop-up Choose Setup > Preferences and click Mixing. menu. The Trim automation is applied to the main au- tomation playlist, Trim automation playlists are cleared, and Trim faders are returned to zero. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 629: Writing Automation To The Start, End, Or All Of A Track Or Selection

    Requirements for Standard Write Writing Automation to the Automation Commands Start, End, or All of a Track or For automation data to be written for a specific Selection parameter, the associated track must be in one (Pro Tools HD Only) of the following Automation modes and meet the following conditions: Pro Tools lets you write current automation val-...
  • Page 630 Write On Stop buttons (Start, All or End) sponding area of the track/selection. to enable the Write On Stop mode. The enabled Write on Stop arrow appears in red. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 631: Writing Automation To The Next Breakpoint Or To The Punch Point

    Optionally, the Write Automation to Next Writing Automation to the Breakpoint and Write Automation to Punch Next Breakpoint or to the Point commands can be configured to be ap- Punch Point plied automatically after a valid automation pass has been performed. See“Writing Auto- (Pro Tools HD Only) mation to the Next Breakpoint or to the Punch Point on Stop”...
  • Page 632 Volume and Send Level faders turn yellow. Make sure you are actively writing on the ap- Click in a track to define an insertion point. propriate track if you are in Touch, Latch, or Touch/Latch mode. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 633 Click Play to begin playback. To configure Write Automation to Next Breakpoint on Stop: When you reach a point in the track where Choose Window > Automation. you want to apply the current trim values, click the Write Automation to Next Breakpoint but- Click the Write Automation to Next Break- ton in the Automation window.

  • Page 634: Guidelines For "Write To" Commands

    To suppress “Write To” warning dialogs: mode) punch out of writing automation Choose Setup > Preferences and click Mixing. • Write to Punch point: Currently writing controls continue writing automation Under Automation, select Suppress Auto- mation “Write To” Warnings. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 635: Overwriting Or Extending Mute Automation

    Overwriting or Extending Mute Automation (Pro Tools HD Only) Pro Tools lets you overwrite or extend an exist- Original mute automation ing mute event in real time, without changing (mute off, mute on, mute off) the current mute state. A mute event can be overwritten when the auto- mation pass begins before the first mute event and ends after the second event.
  • Page 636 With Touch mode, you have to hold the event you want to extend. Mute button for the duration of the write. Example: Place cursor here, before start of mute event Placing the cursor before the start of a mute event Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 637: Creating Snapshot Automation

    Begin playback. Creating Snapshot Press Control (Windows) or Command (Mac) Automation and the track Mute button before the start of the mute event you want to extend. (Pro Tools HD Only and Pro Tools LE with DV Toolkit 2) To extend mute states on multiple tracks, Pro Tools lets you write automation data values press Alt+Control (Windows) or Op- for multiple parameters in a single step.
  • Page 638 Adjust the controls for the parameters you written to the entire playlist and not just the se- want to automate. lected area. Click the Automation Mode selector and se- lect Off mode for the tracks where you want to apply the automation. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 639 With the Selector, select the range where you In each track you want to apply the captured want to apply the automation. automation, click the track’s Automation Mode selector and set the Automation mode to Off. Choose Edit > Automation and select one of the following from the submenu: With the Selector tool, select the location where you want to apply the automation.

  • Page 640: Previewing Automation

    The control stops reading or writing automation, al- Punch Preview lowing you to freely audition changes. Preview Preview controls in the Automation window Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 641 To isolate a control, touch or move an auto- To isolate all currently write-enabled controls: mation-enabled control.You can isolate con- Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac) the ■ trols during playback or while the transport is Preview button. stopped. To isolate all write-enabled controls on all selected The Automation Mode indicator on the track tracks: lights green to indicate that at least one of its...

  • Page 642: Capturing Automation

    The captured states are applied to all Make sure all tracks whose automation values automation types that are currently enabled in you want to capture are in a write-enabled state the Automation window. (Write, Touch, Latch, Touch/Latch or Latch). Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 643 Capturing Automation Values for To punch the automation values of all controls on selected tracks only: All Controls When you reach a location where you want to ■ You can capture the state of all automatable apply the captured automation states, Alt-Shift- controls (except on tracks with their Auto- click (Windows) or Option-Shift-click (Mac) the mation Mode set to Off) in a session, regardless...

  • Page 644: Vca Master Track Automation

    Volume fader on the slave track.The Activate Preview mode and isolate a control. (See “Previewing New Automation Values” on composite playlist display cannot be directly ed- ited. page 628). Start playback and adjust the isolated control to audition the changes. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 645 The composite Volume level and Mute state are To display the composite playlist on VCA slave tracks: coalesced to each of the slave tracks. The VCA Master Volume fader is reset to zero, the VCA Choose View > Automation > Composite ■...
  • Page 646 Edit selection. The VCA Master Volume is set to In the Duplicate Track dialog, deselect Group zero, the VCA Mute state is set to unmuted, and Assignments. any automation on the VCA Master is cleared for the selected area only. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 647: Chapter 28. Mixdown

    Chapter 28: Mixdown Pro Tools lets you record and bounce tracks to Selecting Audio for Loops, Submixes, disk. The Bounce to Disk command lets you and Effects write a final mix to disk, create a new loop, print Both Bounce to Disk and recording to tracks op- effects, or consolidate any submix.
  • Page 648 Even though 16-bit sessions use 16-bit On the Master Fader, click an Insert button files, they are still being processed at a higher bit and choose one of the Digidesign Dither plug- rate: ins. • 24-bit audio input and output signal paths...

  • Page 649: Recording To Tracks

    “Track Priority and Voice Assignment” on page 112. For more information about the Digidesign With Pro Tools HD, RTAS plug-ins placed dithering plug-ins, refer to the DigiRack on Auxiliary Input, Master Fader, and In- Plug-ins Guide .

  • Page 650: Bounce To Disk

    Pro Tools does not allow you to bounce tracks mats. Bounce to Disk provides conversion op- that are either record-enabled or in Input Only tions for sample rate, bit resolution, and format. monitoring mode. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 651: Bounce Options

    To Bounce to Disk: Default Settings Choose File > Bounce to > Disk. Available options and their default settings are listed in the following table. Configure bounce options as needed and per- form the bounce (see “Bounce Options” on Options and Default Settings page 639).
  • Page 652 This was the native format for older Mac-based Pro Tools systems. Select this to use the bounced Select a bounce source audio with any Digidesign application for Mac. Enforce Avid Compatibility BWF (Broadcast .WAV Format) Creates frame-accurate edits, wraps the files as...
  • Page 653 Pro Tools is a fully functional 30-day demo version. To purchase the full version of the MP3 (Pro Tools with DigiTranslator Only) encoder, visit Digidesign’s Web site MXF is a media file format that includes both (www.digidesign.com). video and audio files, and is designed for the in-...
  • Page 654 MP3 players: • ID3 v1.0: Appears at the end of a streaming MP3 file, so that tag information is only dis- played after software streaming is finished. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 655 Stereo Interleaved Creates a single, interleaved Format file that contains all of the bounced streams This is the format for the bounced result. from the chosen output path. In an interleaved Choices are Mono (Summed), Multiple Mono, stereo bounce, tracks assigned to odd-numbered and Stereo Interleaved.
  • Page 656 DVD video, as well as some broadcast ple rates. Choices are dependent on your and recording label archiving, and is supported Pro Tools system and Digidesign audio inter- by DA-88/98, DAT, and ADAT decks. faces. 44100 This is the standard sample rate for com-...

  • Page 657: Recording A Submix (With Bounce To Disk)

    There are five possible settings, ranging from Import Into Session After Bounce Low (lowest quality) to Tweak Head (highest The Import After Bounce option automatically quality). The higher the quality of sample rate imports the newly bounced files into the Region conversion, the longer it takes to convert the List so you can place them in tracks.

  • Page 658: Final Mixdown

    Pro Tools bounces are done in real time, so you processing. hear audio playback of your mix during the bounce process. You cannot adjust controls dur- ing a Bounce to Disk. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 659: Mastering

    To bounce a final mix to disk: Mastering Adjust track output levels, and finalize any mix automation for each track in the session. In the final mastering process, you might record directly to disk, DAT, DVD, CD, stereo master- Adjust any real-time plug-in and effects set- ing recorder, or a multitrack recorder (for sur- tings and their automation for each track in the round mixes).
  • Page 660 You can avoid this loss by creating and main- taining masters on random-access digital media (such as a hard drive) and transferring them to sequential digital media (such as DAT tapes) only as needed. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 661: Part Vii Video, Sync, & Surround

    Part VII: Video, Sync, & Surround...

  • Page 663: Chapter 29. Working With Video In Pro Tools

    Chapter 29: Working with Video in Pro Tools This chapter covers video features that apply to You can do the following with video tracks in QuickTime movies only, or to both QuickTime Pro Tools: movies and Avid Video. • Import multiple video files into the Time- line For detailed information on features that •...

  • Page 664: About Quicktime

    To take advantage of the broad range of QuickTime movie capabilities in Pro Tools, For complete information on hard drive require- QuickTime 7.1.2 is required. ments, visit the Digidesign Web site. For additional requirements, see the Digi- Applying Pull-Ups to QuickTime design Web site (www.digidesign.com).

  • Page 665: Video Tracks

    QuickTime Movie Time Code Burn-in Before re- A new empty video track appears. Video tracks ceiving QuickTime movies, request time code may appear slightly different depending on display to be “burned in” (superimposed) if pos- your system configuration or the type of video sible.

  • Page 666: Video Track Controls And Indicators

    If video pull-up or pull-down is enabled, frames a session, all additional video files added to the do not change position. Timeline must have the same video engine rate as the first video file. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 667 Frames View Performance Differences in Video Tracks with QuickTime Movies and Avid Video When using Frames View to view movie content in the video track, your computer may exhibit When an Avid video peripheral (such as an reduced or sluggish performance. If this hap- AVoption|V10) is connected to your system and pens on your computer, hide the video track or powered on, the following conditions apply:...

  • Page 668: Locking Video Tracks

    However, unlocking a region in a locked track will not allow you to edit that region. It will behave as if the region were locked until you unlock the track. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 669: Importing Video Into Pro Tools

    Video Engine Rate Indicator Importing Video into Pro Tools The Video Engine Rate indicator displays only Pro Tools provides the following methods of im- in the main video track (whether it is online or porting video files into the Timeline, Region offline) and shows the video engine rate, which List, and new or existing video tracks: is the number of video frames per second output...
  • Page 670 See “Bypassing the Video Import Options Pro Tools. Dialog” on page 660 for details on bypass- ing the Video Import Options dialog when See “Configuring Video Import Options” on dragging and dropping video files. page 658 for detailed instructions. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 671 Song Start Places the video file at the Song Start To import video files into Pro Tools using Video Import Options: position. Do one of the following: Selection Places the video file at the edit cursor • Choose File > Import > Video, and select position or within the selection (if one was the video files you want to import, then made).

  • Page 672: Extracting Audio From Quicktime-Compatible Video

    • uLaw 2:1 • aLaw 2:1 • Intel ADPCM • Microsoft ADPCM • IMA 4:1 • 32-bit floating point • 64-bit floating point • 16-bit Big Endian • 16-bit Little Endian • MACE 6:1 • MACE 3:1 Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 673: Video Regions

    To import audio from a QuickTime movie without To set the sample rate conversion quality: importing the video, do the following: Choose Setup > Preferences and click the Choose File > Import > Audio. Processing tab. In the Import Audio dialog, navigate to the Click the Conversion Quality pop-up menu QuickTime movie from which you want to im- and select a conversion setting.

  • Page 674: General Video Editing

    Across Multiple Audio and Video Tracks” on page 664) • Link or unlink track and Edit selections • Auto-scroll video tracks • Loop playback • Universe window (see “Browsing Video in the Video Universe Window” on page 666) Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 675 Working with Regions and Selections Editing Caveats • Capture regions The following caveats apply to video editing in • Separate regions and Separate Grabber Tool Pro Tools: • MPEG-2 video in the Timeline cannot be • Region overlap and underlap edited.
  • Page 676 Make a selection in a track or tracks. The to a video track, the insertion point automat- length of the selection determines the duration ically aligns with the closest video frame of the black inserted. boundary. Choose Edit > Insert Silence. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 677: Video Region Groups

    Changing Video Window Options Video Region Groups The Video window pop-up menu lets you do the You can include video regions within region following: groups for the following operations: • Toggle online status of the main video track. • Creating region groups •...

  • Page 678: Browsing Video In The Video Universe Window

    Click in the video track and drag the Scrubber. tially according to their order in the Timeline, and the colored strip under each frame repre- To scrub with finer precision, press the sents the color coding for that region. Command key while scrubbing. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 679 Increasing or Decreasing the Size of Selecting Ranges in the Video Universe Video Frames When you move the cursor over the bottom half of a video frame in the Video Universe, it dis- To increase or decrease the size of video frames in plays and behaves as a selector tool.

  • Page 680: Playback Of Hd Quicktime Movies

    Avid video peripherals support most Quick- Time movie formats. For the latest compatibility information on Firewire transcoders, see the Digidesign Web site (www.digidesign.com). Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 681 QuickTime DV25 performance may vary, de- When this item is enabled, Pro Tools will play pending on the specifics of your system and DV movies (NTSC or PAL) out the FireWire port projects. to an external DV decoder. This can improve system performance by removing the need for the movie to be decompressed by the CPU and Supported QuickTime Movies...
  • Page 682 Refer to your Avid ple, reduce it from 640 x 480 pixels to 320 x 240 XPress documentation for more informa- pixels). tion on export settings and defaults. Hide the video track when not needed. ◆ Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 683: Bouncing The Video Track To A Quicktime Movie

    Do one of the following: Bouncing the Video Track to a • To bounce the entire session, click Return QuickTime Movie to Zero in the Transport window to go to the beginning of the session. When you have finished your final mix and syn- –...
  • Page 684 Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 685: Chapter 30. Working With Synchronization

    Chapter 30: Working with Synchronization Synchronization allows one system to output SMPTE Trigger Resolved with time code and the other device to follow that SYNC I/O time code. Pro Tools is synchronized to other (Pro Tools HD Only) devices using SMPTE/EBU time code or MIDI Time Code.
  • Page 686 Pro Tools as the master de- configured for 1x word clock, or 256x Slave vice in your synchronization setup. All other de- Clock for Digidesign Legacy I/Os (such as 888|24 vices are then slaved to Pro Tools. I/O). See the Pro Tools|HD Getting Started Guide...

  • Page 687: Session Setup Window

    Pro Tools LE systems with DV Toolkit 2 The controls in this section configure settings of support various time code-related settings the Digidesign SYNC I/O. Settings are provided (such as Time Code and Feet+Frame Time- for Clock and Positional Reference, Video For- base rulers).
  • Page 688 For more information on external clock Source. You can choose between a SYNC I/O, an sources, see the SYNC I/O Guide. internal clock source from a digidesign card or System Delay peripheral, or an external clock source con- nected to a Pro Tools|HD audio interface.
  • Page 689 This menu lets you set the Pro Tools clock refer- using VSO to varispeed Pro Tools playback. ence. Locked Indicator When using a Digidesign SYNC I/O, the Clock Reference selector lists all supported clock types The Locked indicator stays lit when the for the Digidesign synchronization interface.
  • Page 690 SMPTE time code source has “drop outs” or temporary lost signals. If you are using Digidesign’s MachineControl option, additional options for External Time None No freewheel is applied. Code Offsets are available. See the Machine- Frames Sets a number of frames to freewheel, Control Guide for more information.

  • Page 691: Preparing To Work With Smpte

    Jam Sync Lets Pro Tools trigger synchronization Preparing to Work with SMPTE to incoming time code, and continue to play back even if time code input is completely inter- The first step when preparing to work with rupted. It can be useful if time code is damaged, SMPTE is to choose an appropriate SMPTE frame or has been accidentally erased from your source rate.
  • Page 692 To set a SMPTE Start Time for your session: start frame. Choose Setup > Session. Enter a SMPTE frame number in the Session Start field. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 693 Redefining a Time Code Position Redefining a Feet+Frame Position (Pro Tools HD and Pro Tools LE with Use this command to redefine the current time DV Toolkit 2 Only) code position and session start time. By creating an insertion point (or selection), and then enter- Use this command to redefine the current ing the desired new time code position for that Feet+Frames position.

  • Page 694: Pull Up And Pull Down

    29.97 Non-Drop frame rate, click the Sub Session Setup window Counter selector and select Min:Secs as the Sub Audio Rate Pull Up/Down Controls audio sample Time Scale. rate. See “Audio Sample Rate Pull Up and Down” on page 684. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 695 Video Rate Pull Up/Down Controls video rate. Auto Match Pull is applied relative to the cur- See “Video Rate Pull Up and Down” on rent pull up setting. While enabled, if the ses- page 685. sion frame rate is changed in such a way that the video would have to be pulled by an unsup- The choices available in these menus are deter- ported amount, the video remains unaffected.
  • Page 696 99900 and –0.1% +0.1% 44144 48048 88288 96096 176576 192192 –0.1% 44056 47952 88112 95904 176224 191808 –4.0% and 42378 46126 84757 92252 +0.1% –4.0% 42336 46080 84672 92160 –4.0% and 42294 46034 84587 92068 –0.1% Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 697 For proper operation at larger (4%) pull rates, plug-ins must utilize sample clock instead of an 29.97 None absolute time clock. All Digidesign plug-ins are based on sample clock. Video pull rates are saved with the session. Higher Sample Rates and Pull Factors 4% audio pull rates are not available in 176.4...

  • Page 698: Putting Pro Tools Online

    Make sure your SYNC I/O is powered on. Pro Tools receives and locks to time code or ADAT sync. In this case, you do not need to make an insertion or selection in a track to des- ignate a start point. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 699: Using Midi Machine Control

    Select SYNC I/O from the Generate selector in the Time Code Settings section of the Session Digidesign’s MachineControl option sup- Setup window. ports remote track arming for Sony 9-pin and V-LAN enabled devices. See “Remote Choose a clock reference from the Clock Ref- Track Arming”...
  • Page 700 The port on which this information will be transmitted is set in the “ID” field. MMC com- mands contain an ID number to identify which machine should respond to the MMC com- mand. There are 128 MMC ID numbers, from Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 701 To control external devices from the Pro Tools Taking a Device Offline Transport Master: Use the Online pop-up menu in the Transport Select either Pro Tools or MMC from the ■ Master selector to take a MIDI (or Machine) de- Transport pop-up in the Pro Tools Transport vice offline.

  • Page 702: Setting Minimum Sync Delay

    Minimum Sync Delay to be more than the time required for color frame lock. This is not a problem with the SYNC I/O, which will drop out of lock until the color frame is locked. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 703: Midi Beat Clock

    MIDI Beat Clock Spotting Regions to SMPTE Frame Locations Some MIDI devices such as drum machines, hardware sequencers, and arpeggiators can only (Pro Tools HD and Pro Tools LE with synchronize to MIDI Beat Clock. To synchronize DV Toolkit 2 Only) these devices to Pro Tools, you can transmit Spotting is the process of assigning music and MIDI Beat Clock to them.
  • Page 704 For a units for greater accuracy. This command adds complete list of currently approved ports, see an additional time field in the SMPTE www.digidesign.com. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 705 Click OK to close this dialog. The region spots To spot a region to a specific SMPTE frame: to the chosen SMPTE frame location. When the Choose Window > Edit. session is online, this frame number will trigger Set the Main Time Scale to Time Code. (See playback of the region.

  • Page 706: Time Stamping

    Stamp button to re-spot a region to its user-de- uations where the SMPTE time code on video fined SMPTE location. “work prints” often changes from one edit revi- sion to another. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 707 To time stamp a region (or regions) with a new To hide User Time Stamps: SMPTE frame number: Choose View > Region > No Time. ■ In a track, select the region that you want to time stamp. Pro Tools 5.x and Using a Region with User Time Stamp in Another Session From the Region List pop-up menu, choose the Time Stamp command.

  • Page 708: Identifying A Synchronization Point

    • Press the Down Arrow key while playing and your Multimedia Setup (Windows) and back. AMS (Mac). When using MachineControl, the Current Time field will display 9pin code, even though the LTC device may not be con- nected. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 709 The same problem occurs when audio is re- The Digidesign SYNC I/O (and some third-party corded into Pro Tools without a resolved SMPTE products) can be used to help determine frame source (for example, if it was recorded before the rate.
  • Page 710 This assures the closest match be- tween record and playback sample rates. Disable Screen Savers and Power Management Features These types of software can cause your com- puter to ignore MIDI data (such as MIDI Time Code). Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 711: Chapter 31. Pro Tools Setup For Surround (Pro Tools Hd Only)

    In the following table, it is assumed that sur- signments listed in Table 32 on page 699. round channels are mapped to outputs 1–6 of a If you use a Digidesign control surface, see Pro Tools audio interface. Use channels 7–8 to its guide for more information.

  • Page 712: Configuring Pro Tools For Multichannel Sessions

    After importing session data, you can use the I/O Setup dialog to configure main and sub- paths for the requirements of the session. For more information, see Chapter 7, “I/O Setup.” Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 713 The surround presets preconfigure the I/O Setup All three 5.1 format I/O Settings (Film, dialog for the new session with default 5.1 for- SMPTE/ITU, or DTS/ProControl Monitoring) mat main and sub-paths for outputs and busses. provide the following default output and bus paths for the new session: Default 5.1 Output Paths •...
  • Page 714 I/O Settings file, default layout for the corre- Example LCRS output main and sub-paths sponding multichannel format paths you create will match the selected format’s track layout. For additional I/O Setup information, see “Creating and Editing Paths” on page 81. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 715: Default I/O Selectors In I/O Setup

    Pro Tools track layout of 5.1 format audio tracks To define an LCRS path: in the Edit window also conforms to the Film Choose Setup > I/O, and click the Output tab. layout (arranged top to bottom). See the illustra- Click New Path.

  • Page 716: 5.1 Track Layouts, Routing, And Metering

    Controller Meter Path Selects the path that will AFL/PFL Mutes (Output Path) Selects which out- be shown in Digidesign control surface output put is muted when AFL (After Fader Listen) or meters. See “5.1 Tracks, Formats, Mapping, and PFL (Pre Fader Listen) Solo mode is enabled, and Metering”...

  • Page 717: Chapter 32. Multichannel Tracks And Signal Routing (Pro Tools Hd Only)

    Chapter 32: Multichannel Tracks and Signal Routing (Pro Tools HD Only) Surround sessions typically include a combina- Multichannel Quick Start tion of mono, stereo, and multichannel audio, Auxiliary Input, Master Fader, and Instrument The following is an overview of how to get tracks, and inserts and busses.

  • Page 718: Multichannel Audio Tracks

    Multichannel audio tracks are not required to mix in multichannel formats. Mono, stereo, and all supported track formats can be mixed using Pro Tools track outputs and sends. See “Multi- channel Signal Routing” on page 709. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 719 For discrete control of signals, multichannel Placing Audio in Multichannel tracks can be converted into individual mono Tracks tracks. For discrete level and phase adjustment, You can drag audio files and regions from Digi- you can insert and unlink a multi-mono Trim Base browsers, the Region List, Windows Ex- plug-in.
  • Page 720 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. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 721: Multichannel Signal Routing

    Additional output assignments can be added by Multichannel Signal Routing Start-clicking (Windows) or Control-clicking (Mac) the Selector tool and assigning another To mix in a multichannel format, tracks are as- path. signed to multichannel paths. Tracks can be mixed in surround using the fol- Multichannel Sends lowing two methods: All track formats, including mono and stereo, let...
  • Page 722 You can unlink them for independent adjustment. See “Linking and Unlinking Con- trols on Multi-Mono Plug-ins” on page 711 for more information. Multi-mono plugs-ins can also be inserted on stereo tracks, to apply unlinked plug-ins on the left and right channels. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 723 Multichannel Plug-ins Are designed for use on Master Link Button When enabled, links the stereo and multichannel tracks that require cor- controls on all channels of a multi-mono plug- related processing, including stereo and multi- in so that they can be adjusted in tandem. channel limiting, compression, and similar ef- Link Enable Buttons Let you selectively link the fects.

  • Page 724: Paths In Surround Mixes

    (Center) sub-path. sources. See “Extending Stereo Mixing Conventions to Surround Mixing” on page 713 for re- lated information. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 725 Auxiliary Input Tracks routed to sub-paths Tracks panned in 3D routed to main paths routing Main output to sub-paths Main outputs to 5.1 paths for surround panning Figure 33. Using signal routing and sub-paths to mix in surround Extending Stereo Mixing Conventions to Panning a sound back-and-forth between the Surround Mixing left and right speakers is best used as a special ef-...

  • Page 726: Example Paths And Signal Routing For A Surround Mix

    LFE Path A custom LFE sub-path has been added to provide a discrete mono path for the LFE channel. Figure 34. I/O Setup, example output paths Sub-paths have been defined for Mix, Music, and FX main output paths. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 727 Signal Routing Examples Submix Stem Examples Figure 37 shows a routing configuration for an The following examples show how main and effects submix. Some tracks are routed to stereo sub-paths can be used, using an example session sub-paths, while others are assigned to mono, consisting of a 5.1 main mix, with music and ef- LCR, or other sub-paths.
  • Page 728 Most of the music tracks in this example are routed to the front left/right channels, using a stereo sub- path. A 5.1 Auxiliary Input controls the bus and stem output. Main Stems Example Figure 39 shows two Auxiliary Input channels assigned to additional 5.1 format paths for a main mix. Figure 39. Main stems Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 729 Multiple output assignments make it possible to Figure 41 shows how a “traditional” LFE track configure a number of multi-format mixes. For can be routed to only the LFE channel. This ex- example, you can assign an additional stereo ample uses a custom-defined LFE sub-path to output to tracks and create a stereo mix at the the FX main bus path.
  • Page 730 Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 731: Chapter 33. Surround Panning And Mixing (Pro Tools Hd Only)

    Chapter 33: Surround Panning and Mixing (Pro Tools HD Only) This chapter explains how to pan and mix in Introduction to Pro Tools surround with Pro Tools. Surround Panning Multichannel mixing is supported on There are four different track panning methods Pro Tools|HD systems only.

  • Page 732: Output Windows

    “grab” the Pan Location cursor, you do Multiple panners can be opened simulta- not need to limit your movements to the small neously, or a single window can display the cur- Track Grid area. rent panner. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 733: Standard Controls

    To open an Output window: Standard Controls Click the Output Window button in the track ■ in the Mix or Edit window (I/O View). All Output windows provide standard Pro Tools controls for routing, path assignment and other track features. These controls are located at the top of all Output, Send, Insert, and Plug-in win- dows.

  • Page 734: Surround Panner Controls

    Snap Pan to Speaker icons LFE fader Pan Location cursor X/Y Grid Track fader and meter Panning Mode button Position (knob panners) Center % Divergence Track Automation. Solo, and Mute Figure 42. Output window with a 5.1-format multichannel panner Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 735 The X/Y Grid and Pan Location Position Controls Cursor The Position controls let you set the positions of the panner. The X/Y Grid is where multichannel panning information is input and displayed. You can in- put pan information using X/Y mode, 3-Knob mode, or by entering numeric values in the Po- sition data fields.

  • Page 736: Panning Modes

    Mode” on page 726 for more information. can follow groups. The Pro Tools LFE channel is always full-bandwidth. For more information on how to use the LFE fader, see “LFE Faders in Multichannel Panners” on page 729. Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 737 To enable a Panning Mode: To snap the Pan Location cursor to a location in the Grid: Click on the Panning Mode button in the Sur- ■ Hold down the Control key and click any- round Panner until the desired mode icon is dis- ■...
  • Page 738 X/Y mode panning takes place in the full 360° Panning Grid. Diver- When writing automation in AutoGlide gence and Center Percentage are variable in mode, the Pan Location cursor cannot be both Panning modes. dragged from its location. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 739: Divergence And Center Percentage

    The time it takes to glide from point to point Snap Pan to (from the Pan Location cursor to the new desti- Speaker icons nation) is called the AutoGlide Time. This time is set in the Mixing Preferences page and has a Location range of 10 msec to 10000 msec (10 seconds).
  • Page 740 Center % (Percentage) Center Percentage controls whether there is a discrete center channel for the track or a phan- Full divergence for discrete panning to front, left tom center channel. (meters show signal only in front, left) Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 741: Lfe Faders In Multichannel Panners

    As you reduce the Center Percentage value, the Center Percentage Example center speaker at the top of the Grid becomes In film and video production, the center chan- less visible. At 0, the center speaker is com- nel often contains dialog. To enhance the clarity pletely invisible, reflecting the setting for fully of dialog, it is often beneficial to keep elements phantom center.

  • Page 742: Pan Playlists

    For more information, see Chapter 27, “Automation.” Surround Scope plug-in Surround Scope displays output levels in both a 360° Grid, and in traditional LED meters. For details on Surround Scope, refer to the Digidesign Plug-ins Guide. Pro Tools Reference Guide...

  • Page 743: Index

    Index Numerics Add Meter Change button 420 Add Tempo Change button 400, 417 1622 I/O 6 Add Unique Triggers 457 16-bit adding Bounce to Disk 643 a new playlist 271 176.4 kHz audio tracks 197 and pull factors 685 Instrument tracks 220 192 Digital I/O 6 MIDI tracks 220 192 I/O 6...
  • Page 744 Auto Match Pull Factors 683 Auto Region Fade In/Out Length preference 66 Auto Regions Fade In/Out Length option 385 Auto Rename command 397 auto-created regions 254 hiding 397 renaming 396 auto-fades 384 AutoGlide mode 726 AutoGlide Time preference 71, 727 Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 745 AutoJoin Automation Mode selector 584 indicator 586 Automation modes AutoJoin command 586 Latch 585 AutoMatch Latch Trim 588 all controls 597 Off 584 individual automation types 598 Read 584 individual controls 597 Read Trim 587 individual controls with ICON 598 Touch 585 AutoMatch button 597 Touch Trim 588...
  • Page 746 548 clipping 179, 568 surround examples 714 clock source 580 BWF (.WAV) file format 640 Clock Source pop-up menu 47 Bypass button Close Session command 58 for real-time plug-ins 568 closing multiple plug-in windows 570 Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 747 Coalesce Trim Automation options 71 Copy to Send command 595 Coalesce Trim Automation Track command 110 copying Coalesce VCA Master Automation Track command 110 a plug-in setting 573 Coalesce When Removing Slaves from VCA Group option 70 all automation playlists for a track 356 coalescing MIDI notes with the Split command 501 Trim automation 616...
  • Page 748 Delay Compensation View 102, 534 Delay Compensation View option 554 Delay for External Devices options 73 Delay plug-ins 559 Delete Active Groups (Group List) commands 129 Delete Active Groups command 132 Delete Current Settings File command 571 Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 749 displaying all rulers 265 Edit commands 353 file info for audio regions 276 and Edit mode 354 Meter Ruler 420 clear 355 Original Time Stamps 694 copy 354 region names 259 cut 354 region times 259 paste 355 Tempo ruler 400 edit cursor 302 User Time Stamps 695 and scrubbing 296...
  • Page 750 Export Session Info as Text command 153 nondestructively for MIDI 264 Export Settings button (I/O Setup) 89 note attributes 469 note durations 498 note velocities 468, 496 program changes 477 regions as grid 283 Shuffle Lock mode 281 Shuffle mode 281 Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 751 exporting File menu a session as text 153 Bounce to Disk command 638 AAF files 153 Close Session command 58 audio 150 Exit command (Windows) 58 audio from regions 151 Export MIDI command 159 markers 159 Export Selected Tracks as OMF/AAF command 153 MIDI tracks 158 Export Session Info as Text command 153 OMFI files 153...
  • Page 752 75 I/O View 100, 533 Identify Beat command 416, 417 Identify Sync Point command 344, 696 Ignore Track Arming option 74 illegal characters 52, 165 Import Audio dialog 140 Import Audio to Track command 140 Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 753 Import MIDI 157 inserting Import Region Groups command 160 controller events 473 Import Session Data command 144 in MIDI Event List 516 Import Session Data dialog 145 meter events 420 Import Settings button (I/O Setup) 89 MIDI notes 464 Import Settings command (plug-ins) 571 plug-ins during playback 564 importing plug-ins on tracks 563...
  • Page 754 Lock Settings File command 571 importing 158 Lock/Unlock Regions command 348 moving 433 Locked indicator 677 sorting 436 Locked Track command 110 tick-based and sample-based 429 locking regions 348 viewing options 435 Markers ruler 265, 429 Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 755 Master Faders MIDI 20 as master send level control 553 common misconceptions 22 channel strips 98 Default Thru Instrument 217 inactive 527 patch names 475 inserts 560 select and split notes 501 meters pre/post fader 527 setting the Grid value for editing 464 multichannel 710 signal paths 22 post-fader inserts 526...
  • Page 756 Minimum Sync Delay option 690 plug-in Channel selector 711 Minutes:Seconds Time Scale 266 plug-ins 560, 710 Mirror MIDI Editing 461 Multiple mono 643 missing files 164 multiple outputs mix busses 170, 538 Hardware Setup 49 resetting 84 Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 757 multiple tracks Nudge value 345 and Beat Detective 451 trimming regions by 332 audition takes 207 nudging 345 editing across 357 by next Nudge value 346 extending selections to 316, 317 fades 386 fitting audio regions to Edit selection 324 multiple regions 346 nudging regions in 346 region contents 347...
  • Page 758 MIDI notes Overwrite 613 transposing 467 Repeat to Fill 613 transposing with Transpose command 500 Repeat to Fill Selection 356 Play button 28 To Current Automation Type 356, 613 Play Edit Selection command 320, 324 Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 759 Play MIDI Notes When Editing option 72 creating a default setting 573 Play Timeline Selection command 320, 324 enabling automation 576 playback enabling for automation 596, 597 no scrolling 307 favorites 566 playback cursor 301 Flat List 565 Playback Cursor locator 306 for surround 711 Playback Engine 674 inserting during playback 564...
  • Page 760 Record Online option 686 crossfades 234, 239 Record Pause mode 201 LE systems 235 Record Safe mode 182 Pro Tools|HD systems 234 region/take numbering 236 QuickPunch Crossfade Length option 234, 239 QuickPunch Crossfade Length preference 68 Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 761 recording 197 Region Groups folder 50 a mono audio track 197 Region List 275 a stereo audio track 197 and MIDI clips 276 a submix to disk 637 displaying file info for audio regions 276 additional takes 201 dragging from 333 at half-speed 214 Export Regions as Files command 151 bouncing to disk 638...
  • Page 762 340 pull up and pull down 685 snapping to 339 scrolling in 305 snapping to next 339 Timebase rulers 265 sorting 277 zooming in 286 spotting 340, 693 sync points 344, 696 time stamping 694 Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 763 Rulers View options 265 with the Selector 296 Bars:Beats Time Scale 266 S-Curve command 414 Feet.Frames Time Scale 267 Select All command 311 Minutes:Seconds Time Scale 266 Select Tracks in Group command 129 Samples Time Scale 267 Select Unused Regions command 398 Time Code Time Scale 266 Select/Split Notes command 483, 501, 502 Split notes action 501...
  • Page 764 Set Servo Lock Bit at Play (Tamura Support) option 74 and MIDI tracks 295 setting punch/loop points 208 and multichannel tracks 296 creating crossfades with 294 creating fades with 294 editing automation with 295 editing controller events with 295 Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 765 Smooth and Thin Data After Pass option 69, 604 Stereo Mix smoothing automation 589 I/O Setup factory preset 90 SMPTE stereo tracks configuration 679 dragging regions to 360 start frame for session 676 names for 186 Snap Pan to Speaker icons 724 replacing regions in 352 Snap To Bar option 420 splitting 360...
  • Page 766 Linear command 412 toggling Parabolic command 413 track height 258 Scale command 415 Track View 257 S-Curve command 414 zoom level 289 Stretch command 416 Tool Tips 33, 60 Tempo Operations window 410 Touch Timeout option 69 Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 767 Track Compensation (cmp) indicator 555 deleting 105 track controls duplicating 106, 583 Edit window 26 formats 96 Mix window 26 grouping 126 track data 254 hiding 108 Track Height 258 locating with Fast Forward/Rewind 303 and Zoom Toggle 288 making inactive/active 122 track layout Master View 257, 611 default path order 93...
  • Page 768 VCA Masters Volume fader 101 assigning groups 530 Volume indicator 100 channel strips 98 VSO (see Variable Speed Override) clearing 633 controls 529 creating 529 deleting 633 displaying automation 632 mixing 528 track type 96, 528 Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 769 zooming 284 a track area 286 Wait for Note 31, 219 all the way out 285 WAV file format 165, 640 around a track point 285 AES31/Broadcast compliant 165 continuously 284 WaveCache.wfm file 50 horizontally for all tracks 284 Waveform View 260 in the ruler 286 waveforms 260 on a selection 285...
  • Page 770 Pro Tools Reference Guide...
  • Page 772 DIGIDESIGN TECHNICAL SUPPORT (USA) PRODUCT INFORMATION (USA) INTERNATIONAL OFFICES Visit our Digidesign Web site 2001 Junipero Serra Boulevard Tel: 650.731.6100 Tel: 650.731.6102 for contact information Daly City, CA 94014-3886 USA Fax: 650.731.6384 Fax: 800.333.2137 Tel: 650.731.6300 Fax: 650.731.6399...

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Pro tools 7.2

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