DigiDesign Pro Tools Reference Manual page 125

Track Priority
While your Pro Tools hardware allows a fixed
number of voices, Pro Tools software allows for
additional audio tracks beyond that fixed num-
ber of voices. While all of these tracks can be re-
corded to or imported, arranged, and cued for
playback, not all of them can be played back si-
multaneously.
When the number of tracks exceeds the number
of available voice s, tracks with lower priority
may not be heard. For these situations,
Pro Tools assigns priorities to tracks that com-
pete for the available voices. Because there can
be more tracks than available voices, Pro Tools
provides multiple ways of adjusting the play-
back priority of audio tracks. See "Changing a
Track's Playback Priority" on page 113 and
"Freeing up Voices on a Track" on page 113.
With Pro Tools HD, you can also assign specific
voices to multiple tracks so that those voices are
shared by more than one track. This feature is
called voice borrowing. The combination of play-
back/record tracks and shared voiced tracks
comprises the total number of voiceable tracks on
a Pro Tools|HD system.
To set multiple tracks to the same voice, see
"Setting Voice Assignment" on page 114. For
additional information on voice borrowing,
see"Voice Borrowing" on page 115).
Changing a Track's Playback Priority
Tracks with higher positions (leftmost in the
Mix window or topmost in the Edit window)
have priority over tracks in lower positions in a
session.
To increase a track's priority, do any of the
following:
In the Mix window, drag the Track Name but-
■
ton to the left of other tracks in the session.
Tracks at the left of the Mix window have higher
priority than those on the right.
In the Edit window, drag the Track Name but-
■
ton above other tracks in the session. Tracks at
the top of the Edit window have higher priority
than those below.
In the Track List, drag the Track Name button
■
to a higher position in the list. Tracks at the top
of this list have higher priority than those be-
low.
Freeing up Voices on a Track
You can also adjust the relative priority of tracks
by freeing up the voices of individual tracks,
making them available to other tracks in the ses-
sion.
To free up the voice of a track, do one of the
following:
Click the Voice selector of the track and set it
■
to Off. See "Setting Voice Assignment" on
page 114.
Deactivate the track by Control-Start-clicking
■
(Windows) or Command-Control-clicking
(Mac) its track type icon in the Mix window.
Make sure the track does not have an output
■
or send assignment.
With Pro Tools HD, you can temporarily free a
■
track's voice during playback by muting it (see
"Mute Frees Assigned Voice" on page 122).
Chapter 8: Tracks 113