®
 
Legal Notices
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003, 192 Digital I/O, 192 I/O, 96 I/O, 96i I/O, Adrenaline,  AirSpeed, ALEX, Alienbrain, AME, AniMatte, Archive,  Archive II, Assistant Station, AudioPages, AudioStation,  AutoLoop, AutoSync, Avid, Avid Active, Avid Advanced Response, Avid DNA, Avid DNxcel, Avid DNxHD, Avid DS  Assist Station, Avid Ignite, Avid Liquid, Avid Media Engine,  Avid Media Processor, Avid MEDIArray, Avid Mojo,  Avid Remote Response, Avid Unity, Avid Unity ISIS,  Avid VideoRAID, AvidRAID, AvidShare, AVIDstripe, AVX, Beat Detective, Beauty Without The Bandwidth, Beyond Reality, BF Essentials, Bomb Factory, Bruno, C|24, CaptureManager, ChromaCurve, ChromaWheel, Cineractive Engine, Cineractive Player, Cineractive Viewer, Color Conductor, Command|8, Control|24, Cosmonaut Voice, CountDown, d2, d3, AAE, D-Command, D-Control, Deko, DekoCast, D-Fi, D-fx, Digi 002, Digi 003, DigiBase, Digidesign, Digidesign Audio Engine, Digidesign Development Partners, Digidesign Intelligent Noise Reduction, Digidesign TDM Bus, DigiLink, DigiMeter, DigiPanner, DigiProNet, DigiRack, DigiSerial, DigiSnake, DigiSystem, Digital Choreography, Digital Nonlinear  Accelerator, DigiTest, DigiTranslator, DigiWear, DINR, DNxchange, Do More, DPP-1, D-Show, DSP Manager, DS-StorageCalc, DV Toolkit, DVD Complete, D-Verb, Eleven, EM, Euphonix, EUCON, EveryPhase, Expander, ExpertRender, Fairchild, FastBreak, Fast Track, Film Cutter, FilmScribe, Flexevent, FluidMotion, Frame Chase, FXDeko, HD Core, HD Process, HDpack, Home-to-Hollywood, HyperSPACE, HyperSPACE HDCAM, iKnowledge, Impact, Improv, iNEWS, iNEWS Assign, iNEWS ControlAir, InGame, Instantwrite, Instinct, Intelligent Content Management, Intelligent Digital Actor Technology, IntelliRender, Intelli-Sat, Intelli-Sat Broadcasting Recording Manager, InterFX, Interplay, inTONE, Intraframe, iS Expander, iS9, iS18, iS23, iS36, ISIS, IsoSync, LaunchPad, LeaderPlus, LFX, Lightning, Link & Sync, ListSync, LKT-200, Lo-Fi, MachineControl, Magic Mask, Make Anything Hollywood, make manage move|media, Marquee, MassivePack, MassivePack Pro, Maxim, Mbox, Media Composer, MediaFlow, MediaLog, MediaMix, Media Reader, Media Recorder, MEDIArray, MediaServer, MediaShare, MetaFuze, MetaSync, MIDI I/O, Mix Rack, Moviestar, MultiShell, NaturalMatch, NewsCutter, NewsView, NewsVision, Nitris, NL3D, NLP, NSDOS, NSWIN, OMF, OMF Interchange, OMM, OnDVD, Open Media Framework, Open Media Management, Painterly Effects, Palladiium, Personal Q, PET, Podcast Factory, PowerSwap, PRE, ProControl, ProEncode, Profiler, Pro Tools, Pro Tools|HD, Pro Tools LE, Pro Tools M-Powered, Pro Transfer, QuickPunch, QuietDrive, Realtime Motion Synthesis, Recti-Fi, Reel Tape Delay, Reel Tape Flanger, Reel Tape Saturation, Reprise, Res Rocket Surfer, Reso, RetroLoop, Reverb One, ReVibe, Revolution, rS9, rS18, RTAS, Salesview, Sci-Fi, Scorch, ScriptSync, SecureProductionEnvironment, Shape-to-Shape, ShuttleCase, Sibelius, SimulPlay, SimulRecord, Slightly Rude Compressor, Smack!, Soft SampleCell, Soft-Clip Limiter, SoundReplacer, SPACE, SPACEShift, SpectraGraph, SpectraMatte, SteadyGlide, Streamfactory, Streamgenie, StreamRAID, SubCap, Sundance,
Sundance Digital, SurroundScope, Symphony, SYNC HD, SYNC I/O, Synchronic, SynchroScope, Syntax, TDM FlexCable, TechFlix, Tel-Ray, Thunder, TimeLiner, Titansync, Titan, TL Aggro, TL AutoPan, TL Drum Rehab, TL Everyphase, TL Fauxlder, TL In Tune, TL MasterMeter, TL Metro, TL Space, TL Utilities, tools for storytellers, Transit, TransJammer, Trillium Lane Labs, TruTouch, UnityRAID, Vari-Fi, Video the Web Way, VideoRAID, VideoSPACE, VTEM, Work-N-Play, Xdeck, X-Form, and XMON are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.
Bonjour, the Bonjour logo, and the Bonjour symbol are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc.
Thunderbolt and the Thunderbolt logo are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries.
This product may be protected by one or more U.S. and non- U.S. patents. Details are available at www.avid.com/patents.
Product features, specifications, system requirements, and availability are subject to change without notice.
Guide Part Number  9329-65295-00 REV B 08/13
 
Chapter 1. Welcome to Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
System Requirements and Compatibility Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
 About www.avid.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Chapter 2. Pro Tools Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Hard Disk Audio Recording  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Nonlinear Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
 Audio Engines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
System Resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Workspace Browsers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Pro Tools and Media Composer Terminology  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Embedded Media and Linked Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Chapter 3. Keyboard and Mouse Shortcuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Mouse Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
 Accessing Guides in Pro Tools  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
 Accessing the Help System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Help Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Using the Search Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Search Guidelines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Printing Help Topics  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Part II System Configuration
Pro Tools Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Pro Tools HD Software with HD Native Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Supported Avid HD Audio Interfaces  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Playback, Recording, and Voice Limits with Pro Tools HD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
 Avid HD Audio Interface Features  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
 Additional Pro Tools Hardware Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
 Additional Pro Tools HD Hardware Options  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Pro Tools Software Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Checking for Software Updates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Chapter 6. System Setup  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Starting Up or Shutting Down Your System  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Checking a Pro Tools|HDX or Pro Tools|HD Native System with DigiTest  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Configuring Pro Tools System Settings  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Configuring MIDI Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Configuring Avid HDX and HD Native Hardware Settings  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
System Usage  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
I/O Setup Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
 
Signal Path Routing for Audio Input  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Signal Path Routing for Audio Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Creating New Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Creating New Sub-Paths  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Valid Paths and Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Configuring Busses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Chapter 9. Peripherals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
 
Bit Depths and Sample Rates  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Mixed Audio File Formats  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Interleaved Multichannel and Multi-Mono Audio Files  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Session Files and Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Opening a Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Opening Recent Sessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Saving a Session  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Session Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Chapter 12. Pro Tools Main Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Mix Window  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Edit Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Transport Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Window Configuration Commands and Options  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Menus  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Track Controls and Indicators in the Edit Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Edit Window Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Track Height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Track List  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
 Assigning Audio Inputs and Outputs to Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
Track Priority and Voice Assignment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
 Assigning MIDI Inputs and Outputs to Tracks  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Soloing and Muting Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
Making Tracks Inactive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Chapter 14. Grouping Tracks  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Grouping Tracks  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Group Controls  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Clip List Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Selecting Clips in the Clip List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
Previewing Clips in the Clip List  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
Stereo and Multichannel Clips in the Clip List  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
Naming and Displaying Clips in the Clip List  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Managing Clips in the Clip List  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Clip Name Right-Click Commands  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
Chapter 16. Workspace Browsers  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
Performance and Transfer Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
Databases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
Working with Items in Workspace Browsers  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
 
Column Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
Selecting Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
Searching Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
Previewing Audio in Workspace Browsers  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
Preview Controls and Indicators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
Preview Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
Transfer Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
Missing Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
Relink Window  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
Importing and Exporting Data to and from a Session. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
 Audio Conversion on Import. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
Importing Files with Drag and Drop  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
Importing Audio Files and Clips Using the Import Audio Command  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
Importing Audio from Audio CDs  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
Importing ACID and REX Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
Importing Multichannel Audio Files from a Field Recorder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
Import Options and Preferences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
Exporting Audio  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
Importing AAF and OMF Sequences  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
Import Options when Importing AAF or OMF Sequences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
 
Exporting Pro Tools Tracks as AAF or OMF Sequences  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
Exporting Pro Tools Tracks as MXF Audio Files  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
Export Options when Exporting to AAF or OMF Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
Export Selected Tracks as New Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358
Exporting Session Information as Text  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
Export Session Information as Text Options  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360
Importing and Exporting Clip Group Files  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
Sending Sessions to Gobbler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364
Chapter 18. File and Session Management and Compatibil ity  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
 Audio File Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
WAV File Compatibility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368
Sharing Sessions Created on Different Pro Tools Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372
Sharing Sessions Created on Different Pro Tools Software Versions  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
Language Compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379
Chapter 19. Playing Back Track Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
Playback Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384
Scrolling Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390
Playing Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391
Transport Fade-in  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393
Playback Modes  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394
Record Setup Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
Connecting a Sound Source. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406
Recording with a Click . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406
Setting the Session Meter and Tempo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408
 
 Assigning Hardware I/O on a Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415
Record Enabling Tracks  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416
Setting Monitor Levels for Record and Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
Reducing Monitoring Latency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
Recording Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429
Setting Punch and Loop Points  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430
Setting Pre- and Post-Roll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433
 Audio Punch Recording Over a Specified Range  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435
Recording Additional Takes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437
Loop Recording Audio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439
Half-Speed Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446
Enabling Input Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448
Recording MIDI and Instrument Tracks  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453
MIDI Punch Recording Over a Specified Range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455
Loop Recording MIDI  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457
MIDI Step Input. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460
Recording Audio from a MIDI Instrument  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462
 
Guidelines for Punch Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466
QuickPunch Audio Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470
TrackPunch Audio Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472
Part V Editing
Track Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486
MIDI Clips and MIDI Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491
Naming Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494
Multiple Undo  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496
Chapter 25. Edit Modes and Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503
Edit Modes  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503
Shuffle Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503
Slip Mode  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504
Spot Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504
Grid Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505
Edit Tools  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507
Zooming Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508
Zoom Buttons  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508
Zoomer Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510
Using the Trim Tools  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517
Trim Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518
Time Compression/ Expansion Trim Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519
Scrub Trim Tool  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521
Loop Trim Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521
Numeric Keypad Set to Shuttle  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530
Using the Pencil Tool  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530
Edit/Tool Mode Keyboard Lock  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531
Chapter 26. Making Selections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533
Linking or Unlinking Timeline and Edit Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533
Linking or Unlinking Track and Edit Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534
Selecting Track Material  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535
Universe View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549
Chapter 27. Editing Clips and Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 555
Creating New Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 555
Healing Separated Clips  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559
Editing Stereo and Multichannel Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 564
Clip Gain  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565
Consolidating Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574
Processing Audio with AudioSuite Plug-Ins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 575
TCE (Time Compression and Expansion) Edit To Timeline Selection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 575
Rating Clips  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 576
 About Crossfades and Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 577
Fades Dialog  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 578
 
Separating Clips that Include Fades or Crossfades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 592
Trimming Clips that Include Fades or Crossfades  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 592
Fade Boundaries and Shapes Displayed in Automation View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 593
Chapter 29. Playlists  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 595
Working with Playlists  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 595
 Automatically Create New Playlists when Loop Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609
Expanding Alternate Takes to New Playlists or Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609
Expanding Alternate Channels to New Playlists or Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 610
Chapter 30. Beat Detective  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 613
Beat Detective and Source Material  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 613
Uses for Beat Detective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 613
Beat Detective Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 614
Beat Detective Modes  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615
Beat Detective Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 617
Generating Beat Triggers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 618
Editing Beat Triggers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 622
DigiGroove Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 625
Edit Smoothing  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 631
 
MIDI Editing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 639
Inserting MIDI Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 644
Manually Editing MIDI Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 646
Using the Grabber Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 648
Time Compression/Expansion Trim Tool Functionality on MIDI Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 656
Continuous Controller Events  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 658
System Exclusive Events. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 665
Offsetting MIDI Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 667
Writing Real-Time Properties to Tracks or Clips  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 675
Real-Time Properties In the MIDI Event List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 675
Display of Real-Time Properties Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 676
Chapter 32. MIDI Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 677
Opening a MIDI Editor Window  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 678
MIDI Editor Window Toolbar  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 679
MIDI Editor Zoom Controls  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 684
Track List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 684
Group List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 686
Superimposed Notes View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 687
Notation View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 692
 
Opening the Score Editor Window  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 696
Edit Tools  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 696
Play MIDI Notes When Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 699
Link Timeline and Edit Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 699
Mirrored MIDI Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 700
Customizable Toolbar  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 703
Track List  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 703
Page Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 704
Score Setup  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 707
Editing Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 709
Key Changes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 713
Meter Changes  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 713
Exporting Scores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 716
Printing Scores  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 716
Inserting Events in the MIDI Event List  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 720
Editing Events in the MIDI Event List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 722
MIDI Event List Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 724
 
Timebase Rulers and Conductor Rulers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 727
Main Time Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 730
The Sub Counter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 731
Song Start Marker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 734
Changing the Linearity Display Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 747
Tempo Operations Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 748
Identify Beat Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 754
Creating Memory Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 771
Properties of Memory Locations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 774
Recalling Memory Locations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 776
Editing Memory Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 776
Deleting Memory Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 778
Memory Locations Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 779
 
Working with Multiple Items from the Clip List  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 784
Placing Clips at the Edit Insertion Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 785
 Aligning Clip Start Points  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 786
Sliding Clips  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 787
Shuffling Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 787
Moving Clips with the Grabber Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 789
Snapping to the Preceding or Next Clip on a Track  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 789
Slipping Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 791
Spotting Clips  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 791
Replacing Audio Clips  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 794
Inserting Silence  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 803
Duplicating Clips  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 804
Repeating Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 805
Clip Looping  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 807
Editing Clip Groups  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 815
Clip Groups and Clip Gain  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 817
Importing and Exporting Clip Group Files  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 817
 
 AudioSuite Menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 821
 AudioSuite Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 821
 AudioSuite Window Header . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 822
 AudioSuite Window Footer  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 826
Using AudioSuite Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 828
Conditions for AudioSuite Rendering with Handles, Fades, Clip Gain, and Metadata  . . . . . 832
Chapter 40. Elastic Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 833
Example Elastic Audio Workflow  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 834
Elastic Audio Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 839
Elastic Audio Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 842
Elastic Audio Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 844
Warping Audio  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 851
Elastic Properties  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 857
 AudioSuite Processing and Elastic Audio Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 862
Moving Elastic Audio Between Tracks  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 863
 Approximate Waveforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 864
Event Operations Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 865
DSP and Voice Requirements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 897
Using HEAT with a Control Surface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 898
Part IX Mixing
Mixing Concepts  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 903
 Auxiliary Input Tracks and Signal Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 905
Master Fader Tracks and Signal Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 906
Instrument Tracks and Signal Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 907
VCA Master Tracks  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 908
Configuring Inserts View in the Mix and Edit Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 912
HEAT  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 912
 Audio Input and Output Paths. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 916
 
Configuring Sends View in the Mix and Edit Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 923
Sends View Options  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 923
Editing Sends in the Mix and Edit Windows (Individual Send Views)  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 925
Bus Interrogation Options  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 927
Output Meters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 932
Delay Compensation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 941
Chapter 44. Plug-In and Hardware Inserts  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 951
Types of Inserts  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 951
Plug-In Menu Organization  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 957
Plug-In Windows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 959
Editing Plug-In Controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 964
Side-Chain Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 965
Plug-In Presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 966
Using Hardware Inserts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 978
 Automation Overview  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 981
 Automation Playlists  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 982
 Automation Modes  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 984
Enabling and Suspending Automation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1004
Deleting Automation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1006
Thinning Automation  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1007
Drawing Automation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1008
Editing Automation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1009
Glide Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1017
Trimming Automation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1018
Writing Automation to the Start, End, or All of a Track or Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1020
Writing Automation to the Next Breakpoint or to the Punch Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1022
Guidelines for “Write To” Commands  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1025
Overwriting or Extending Mute Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1026
Creating Snapshot Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1028
Coalescing VCA Automation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1037
Chapter 46. Mixdown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1041
Using Dither  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1042
Bounce to Disk  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1044
Bounce Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1046
Final Mixdown (with Bounce to Disk). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1057
Mastering  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1057
Surround Mixing in Pro Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1061
Pro Tools Audio Connections for 5.1 Mixing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1061
7.1 and 7.0 Formats  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1062
Configuring Pro Tools for Multichannel Sessions  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1062
Default I/O Selectors in I/O Setup  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1067
5.1 Track Layouts, Routing, and Metering. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1068
Chapter 48. Multichannel Tracks and Signal Routing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1069
Multichannel Audio Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1069
Multichannel Signal Routing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1072
Example Paths and Signal Routing for a Surround Mix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1077
Chapter 49. Surround Panning and Mixing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1083
Introduction to Pro Tools Surround Panning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1083
Output Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1084
Standard Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1085
LFE Faders in Multichannel Panners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1094
Pan Playlists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1094
Chapter 50. Working with Synchronization  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1097
Pro Tools Synchronization Options  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1097
Session Setup Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1099
Format Displays and Controls in the Session Setup Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1100
SYNC Setup and Timecode Offsets in the Session Setup Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1102
Timecode Settings in the Session Setup Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1104
Preparing to Work with SMPTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1104
Configuring Pro Tools for SMPTE  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1105
Pull Up and Pull Down. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1107
Effect of Using Pull Up or Pull Down. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1109
 
Generating Timecode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1111
Enabling MIDI Machine Control in Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1112
MMC Transport Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1114
Remote Track Arming  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1116
The Spot Dialog. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1117
Time Stamping  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1119
Troubleshooting SMPTE Synchronization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1121
Speed Correction for Film, NTSC Video, and PAL Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1123
Chapter 51. Working wi th Field Recorders in Pro Tools  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1125
Field Recorder and Production Workflow Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1125
Supported Field Recorder Audio Files and Metadata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1127
Displaying Field Recorder Metadata in Pro Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1128
Workspace Support for Field Recorder Metadata. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1128
Field Recorder Workflows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1129
Receiving Source Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1130
Designating Field Recorder Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1133
Displaying Multichannel Files from a Field Recorder in the Clip List  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1134
Selecting a Matching Field Recorder Channel to Replace a Clip. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1134
Expanding Matching Field Recorder Channels to New Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1139
Determining the Method of Expanding Matching Field Recorder Channels to New Tracks . 1140
Film Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1143
Chapter 52. Working wi th Video in Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1149
 Avid Video Engine (AVE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1149
QuickTime Movie Support in Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1150
 
Video Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1151
Video Track Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1154
Locking Video Tracks  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1160
Video Engine Rate  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1160
Configuring Video Import Options  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1163
Importing Audio from a QuickTime Video Clip. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1164
Video Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1165
Video Clip Groups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1169
Browsing Video in the Video Universe Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1171
Playback of High-Definition Video  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1172
Optimized Video Playback. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1173
Tips for Optimizing Video Playback  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1173
Compensating for Video Monitoring Delays  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1174
Playing Video to an External Monitor Using a Video Peripheral . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1174
Bouncing the Video Track to a QuickTime Movie  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1175
Part XII Satelli te Systems
Chapter 53. Satellite Link  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1181
Satellite Link Requirements and Compatibility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1181
Configuring Satellite Link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1182
Linking Satellite Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1185
Control Surface Support for Satellite Link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1188
Chapter 54. Pro Tools Video Satellite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1191
Video Output Options  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1191
 
Video Output Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1198
Supported Video Resolutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1199
Using a Video Satellite in an Avid Interplay Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1199
Connecting Pro Tools and a Video Satellite. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1199
Matching Media Composer and Pro Tools Settings in a Video Satellite System. . . . . . . . . 1201
Linking or Unlinking Pro Tools and a Video Satellite. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1207
Capturing Audio and Video with a Video Satellite System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1209
Re-Digitizing an Existing Sequence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1210
Digitizing from an EDL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1211
Laying Back Audio and Video to Tape. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1211
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1215
Chapter 1: Welcome to Pro Tools
Welcome to Pro Tools®, brought to you by Avid® 
Technology. Pro Tools integrates powerful multi-
track digital audio and MIDI sequencing features,
giving you everything you need to record, arrange,
compose, edit, mix, and master professional qual-
ity audio and MIDI for music, video, film, and
multimedia.
Avid can only assure compatibility and provide
support for hardware and software it has tested and
approved.
qualified computers, operating systems, hard
drives, and third-party devices, visit:
www.avid.com/compatibility
online source for information to help you get the
most out of your Pro Tools system. The following
are just a few of the services and features available.
Product Registration Register your purchase
online.
Success (technical support); download software
updates and the latest online manuals; browse the
Compatibility documents for system requirements;
search the online Knowledge Base or join the
worldwide Pro Tools community on the User
Conference.
courses available online or find out how you can
learn in a classroom setting at a certified Pro Tools
training center.
 products; download demo software or learn about
our Development Partners and their plug-ins,
applications, and hardware.
News and Events Get the latest news from Avid or
sign up for a Pro Tools demo.
commands, and mouse commands: :
that appear on-screen are in a different font.
The following symbols are used to highlight
important information:
Convention Action
File > Save Choose Save from the File menu
Control+N Hold down the Control key and press the N key
Control-click Hold down the Control key and click the mouse button
Right-click Click with the right mouse button
User Tips are helpful hints for getting the
most from your Pro Tools system.
 Important Notices include information that
could affect your Pro Tools session data or
the performance of your Pro Tools system.
Shortcuts show you useful keyboard or mouse
shortcuts.
this guide and other Avid documentation.
 
Chapter 2: Pro Tools Concepts
Before you begin to use Pro Tools, you may find it
helpful to review Pro Tools concepts. These con-
cepts are the foundation of Pro Tools operation
and functionality.
cess) medium—you can go immediately to any
spot in a recording without having to rewind or fast
forward.
linear  medium—where you need to rewind or fast
forward to hear a particular spot in a recording. To
rearrange or repeat material in a linear system, you
need to re-record it, or cut and splice it.
 Nonlinear systems have several advantages. You
can easily rearrange or repeat parts of a recording
 by making the hard disk read parts of the recording
in a different order or multiple times. In addition,
this re-arrangement is nondestructive, meaning
that the original recorded material is not altered.
Nonlinear Editing
you rearrange and mix recorded material nonde-
structively. Nonlinear editing simply means that
you can cut, copy, paste, move, delete, trim, and
otherwise rearrange any audio, MIDI, or video in
the Pro Tools Edit window.
 Nonlinear editing provides significant advantages
over dubbing (re-recording), and cutting and splic-
ing magnetic tape. It gives you the greatest possi-
 ble flexibility for editing and arranging, and it is all
nondestructive and “undoable.” Additionally, with
nonlinear editing in Pro Tools, you will never in-
troduce any degradation of audio fidelity as you
would with tape.
tion and your audio hardware using the Avid Au-
dio Engine (Avid audio hardware only), Core Au-
dio (Mac only with third-party audio hardware), or
ASIO (Windows only with third-party audio hard-
ware).
ating system for digital audio recording, playback,
and processing with Pro Tools and Avid audio
hardware. When you install Pro Tools, AAE is au-
tomatically installed on your system. AAE pro-
vides the foundation for much of the hard disk re-
cording, digital signal processing, and mix
automation required by Pro Tools and other prod-
ucts from Avid and its Development Partners.
Core Audio
 between software applications and audio hardware
on Mac OS X. Pro Tools software can use audio
interfaces with supported Core Audio drivers for
 playback and recording with up to 32 channels of
I/O.
ASIO
Pro Tools software can use audio interfaces with
supported ASIO drivers for playback and record-
ing with up to 32 channels of I/O.
Avid Video Engine
real-time digital video playback. AVE is installed
automatically with Pro Tools. AVE provides com-
 patibility and interoperability across the full prod-
uct line of Avid audio and video editing solutions,
and provides support for a wide range of Avid HD
and SD MXF video formats on Pro Tools video
tracks without transcoding (including Avid
DNxHD®). AVE also lets you monitor Avid HD
and SD MXF, and QuickTime media using Avid
 Nitris® DX, Mojo® DX, and other Avid qualified
third-party video interfaces.
MIDI
communication protocol for musical instruments.
This industry standard enables connections be-
tween a variety of devices from different manufac-
turers. Examples of MIDI-compatible equipment
include synthesizers, drum machines, MIDI patch
 bays, effects processors, MIDI interfaces, MIDI
control surfaces, and MIDI sequencers.
MIDI devices are equipped with 5-pin DIN con-
nectors, labeled as either IN, OUT, or THRU. The
MIDI OUT port transmits messages. The MIDI IN
 port receives messages. The MIDI THRU outputs
whatever is received from the IN port. MIDI de-
vices are connected with MIDI cables that are
available at most music stores.
USB and FireWire-compatible MIDI devices send
and receive MIDI messages to and from the com-
 puter over USB or FireWire.
The MIDI protocol provides 16 channels of MIDI
 per port. A single MIDI cable can transmit a sepa-
rate set of messages for each of the 16 channels.
These 16 channels can correspond to separate
MIDI devices or to multiple channels within a sin-
gle device (if the device is multitimbral). Each
channel can control a different instrument sound.
Pro Tools provides powerful MIDI sequencing ca-
 pabilities. You can record, enter, edit, and play
 back MIDI data on Pro Tools Instrument and
MIDI tracks. These actions can be done in the Edit
window, the MIDI Editor window, the Score Edi-
tor window, and the MIDI Event List.
MIDI data in Pro Tools can be anything from
MIDI note data (note number, on/off, velocity) to
System Exclusive (Sysex) messages. MIDI data
can be recorded or played back from both external
MIDI devices with a MIDI interface and other
MIDI software (such as instrument plug-ins and
ReWire client applications).
systems, such as Pro Tools and an external deck,
you want the systems to be synchronized. Syn-
chronization is where one system outputs clock
source (such as timecode or MIDI Beat Clock) and
another device synchronizes to or follows that
clock source so that they work together. Pro Tools
can be synchronized to other devices (or other de-
vices can be synchronized to Pro Tools) using
SMPTE/EBU timecode or MIDI Timecode.
Surround Sound
speakers with discrete audio signals (channels)
 placed behind the listener in addition to the typical
stereo pair.
(from three-channel LCR to 7.1, which has eight
channels).
refers to having 5 speakers and a sub-woofer (the
“.1”). 5.1 is used in movie theaters and home enter-
tainment systems. Additionally, most DVDs are
mixed to 5.1. The standard speaker placement for
5.1 for surround monitoring is stereo left and right
speakers, and an additional center speaker in front,
two more stereo left and right speakers in the rear,
and the sub-woofer on the side.
Pro Tools HD supports mixing in surround for-
mats. In Pro Tools, each surround format is con-
sidered to be a greater-than-stereo multichannel
format.
Pro Tools Sessions
When you start a project in Pro Tools, you create a
session.
A session file is the document that Pro Tools cre-
ates when you choose File > New Session and con-
figure a new session. Pro Tools can open only one
session file at a time. The session file is named
with a .ptx (Pro Tools file) extension. Session files
contain maps of all elements associated with a
 project, including audio files, MIDI data, and all
your edit and mix information. It is important to re-
alize that a Pro Tools session file does not contain
any media files (audio or video). Instead, it refer-
ences audio, video, MIDI, and other files. You can
make changes to a session and save those changes
in a new session file. This lets you create multiple
versions of a session or back up your editing and
mixing work.
and automation data are recorded and edited.
Pro Tools tracks also provide audio channels for
routing internal busses, and physical inputs and
outputs for audio and MIDI.
Pro Tools provides multiple types of tracks:
Audio, Auxiliary Input, Master Fader,
VCA Master, MIDI, Instrument, and Video.
Audio, MIDI, Instrument, and video track data can
 be edited into clips or repeated in different loca-
tions to create loops, re-arrange sections or entire
songs, or to assemble tracks using material from
multiple takes.
ses or physical inputs to internal busses or physical
outputs. Auxiliary Inputs are typically used for au-
dio effects busses, audio throughput (monitoring),
and submixing.
VCA Master tracks (Pro Tools HD only) provide
control of tracks in a Mix Group that has been as-
signed to the VCA Master.
Session file icon
MIDI track in the Edit window
Video track in Frames view
 
Pro Tools systems) and VC-1 video files (Win-
dows only). Additionally, Pro Tools supports Avid
video using a the Avid Video Engine (AVE) either
natively or with a supported Avid video peripheral.
An individual video track can play back only one
type of video at a time.
Audio, Auxiliary Input, Master Fader, and Instru-
ment tracks can be mono, stereo, or multichannel
(Pro Tools HD only). When creating a new track,
select from the list of channel formats supported
 by your system.
streams that can be routed to and from Pro Tools
audio tracks, and physical audio outputs and inputs
on your Pro Tools audio interfaces. The audio
 paths to and from Pro Tools software routed to
Pro Tools hardware use voices. If you exceed the
number of available voices in your system, you
have effectively exceeded the available number of
audio paths. Voices are allocated dynamically.
Typically, each audio channel for each track in
your Pro Tools session uses a single voice. So, for
a mono audio track, a single voice is used; for a ste-
reo audio track, two voices are used. When using
Punch Recording, two voices are needed for every
single audio channel (one for playback and one for
recording on punch in and out). In some situations,
with Pro Tools|HDX systems, more than one voice
may be necessary for a single channel (such as
when using host processing on a DSP bus).
On Pro Tools|HDX systems, the number of avail-
able voices is dependent on the amount of dedi-
cated DSP processing in your system (see “Play-
 back, Recording, and Voice Limits with Pro Tools
HD” on page 40).
On all other Pro Tools systems, the full number of
available voices for your system may be limited by
the host processing power of your computer (see
“Pro Tools Capabilities with Different Hardware
Configurations” on page 37).
and video files. Audio and video media files are
stored separately from the Pro Tools session file.
MIDI data is stored in the session file.
Audio Files
audio files are created.
Audio files for each session are stored in a folder
named “Audio Files.” Audio files are listed in the
Pro Tools Clip List and can appear in an audio
track. A section of an audio file can be defined as a
clip. See “Clips” on page 10.
For more information about voicing in
Pro Tools, see “Track Priority and Voice
 Assignment” on page 227 .
When you record or enter MIDI into a Pro Tools
session, all MIDI data is stored in the Pro Tools
session file. You can import and export MIDI files
to and from Pro Tools sessions, but MIDI
recorded or otherwise created in a Pro Tools
session does not automatically create new MIDI
files.
When you record or import video into a Pro Tools
session, all video data is stored as the correspond-
ing video file type (such as QuickTime). Video
files can be created in (or copied to) the Video
Files folder in the session folder. However, in most
cases, Pro Tools references video files that have
 been captured by another application, such as Avid
Media Composer ®.
Clips
A clip is a segment of audio, MIDI, or video data.
A clip could be a drum loop, a guitar riff, a verse of
a song, a recording take, a sound effect, some dia-
log, or an entire sound file. Clips are especially
useful for arranging audio and MIDI. A clip can
also have associated automation data. In
Pro Tools, clips are created from audio files or
MIDI data, and can be arranged in audio and MIDI
track playlists. Clips can also be grouped (a “clip
of clips”) and looped (repeated).
MIDI file icon
group)
Playlists
A playlist  is a sequence of clips arranged on an au-
dio, MIDI, or video track. Tracks have edit play-
lists and automation playlists.
On audio tracks, an edit playlist tells the hard disk
which audio clips to play in what order. For exam-
 ple, you can have separate audio clips for a song
introduction, the first verse, the first chorus, and so
on. You can also use the same audio clip to access
the same piece of audio multiple times at different
locations and not use additional disk space. Differ-
ent versions of the same original audio can be used
in different places and have different effects ap-
 plied. On MIDI and Instrument tracks, edit play-
lists can store multiple MIDI sequences (or perfor-
mances) on a track.
A playlist can be made up of a single clip or many
separate clips. It can be made up of similar ele-
ments (such as clips from several different takes of
a solo), or dissimilar elements (such as several
sound effects).
and choose between them from the Playlists menu
on the track.
Each audio, Auxiliary Input, Instrument, Master
Fader, and VCA track also has a single set of auto-
mation playlists. Automation playlists can include
volume, pan, mute, and each automation-enabled
control for the insert and send assignments on that
track.
tracks is always included as part of the track play-
list.
Channels
lated components of a Pro Tools system.
The first example of channel refers to a physical
input or output of your Pro Tools system. For ex-
ample, HD I/O provides up to 16 channels of audio
input and output to a Pro Tools|HDX or
Pro Tools|HD Native system, while the Mbox Pro
audio interface provides up to eight inputs and
eight outputs.
The second use of the term channel refers to a
channel strip in the Pro Tools Mix window. Each
track in a Pro Tools session has a corresponding
channel strip in the Mix window.
Audio and MIDI channel strips have similar con-
trols, but those controls have slightly different ef-
fects. For example, audio, Auxiliary Input, and In-
strument track channel strip faders control the
output gain to the mix bus for that channel, while
MIDI channel strip faders send MIDI volume data
(MIDI controller 7) to the selected MIDI instru-
ment.
separate aspect of MIDI operation. See
“MIDI” on page 7.
signal routing controls for audio and MIDI. These
controls are located in the Mix window. Some of
these controls can also be accessed from the Edit
window.
multiple tracks to a single channel strip (such as an
Auxiliary Input) for shared processing and level
control. The following example shows two audio
tracks submixed to a stereo Auxiliary Input.
Channel strip in the Mix window (audio track)
Submixing to an Auxiliary Input
Input from stereo bus path
Outputs to stereo bus path
 Audio tracks
Signal Routing Options
Track Input and Output (I/O) Controls The most
 basic type of signal routing is track input and out-
 put. A track needs to have an assigned input path to
record audio, and an assigned mapped output path
in order to be audible through a hardware output.
Signals can also be routed to or from other tracks in
Pro Tools (or hardware inputs and outputs) using
internal busses.
iary Inputs can be used as returns, submixers, and
 bus masters. Master Fader tracks are used as bus
and output master level controls. Both Auxiliary
Input and Master Fader tracks can have plug-in and
hardware inserts.
ment tracks.
mary way to route MIDI to an instrument plug-in
and then route the plug-in’s sound to outputs,
sends and busses, or other inserts. Instrument
tracks can also be used to send MIDI to and moni-
tor audio from external MIDI devices.
Sends Sends route audio from tracks to hardware
outputs, or to internal busses that are in turn routed
to other tracks within Pro Tools. MIDI, Master
Fader, and VCA Master tracks do not have sends.
Plug-In and Hardware Inserts Plug-In processing
occurs completely within the Pro Tools system.
Hardware inserts use audio interface inputs and
outputs for traditional insert routing to and from
external effects and other devices. MIDI and VCA
Master tracks do not have inserts.
Instrument Plug-Ins Instrument plug-ins are dif-
ferent from processing plug-ins in that they gener-
ate audio rather than process the audio signal from
a track’s audio input or from hard disk.
Instrument plug-ins are typically played by MIDI.
Paths Paths are any routing option in Pro Tools,
including internal or external inputs, outputs, bus-
ses, and inserts. Pro Tools lets you name these
 paths, and these path names appear in the Audio
Input and Output Path selectors and other menus.
For more information, see Chapter 7, “I/O Setup.”
Mixing Formats Sessions can include combina-
tions of mono, stereo, and greater-than-stereo mul-
tichannel format tracks, busses, inputs, outputs,
and inserts. Greater-than-stereo multichannel for-
mats are supported with Pro Tools HD only.
Grouping and VCA Tracks Tracks can be grouped
together for mixing so that their relative mix set-
tings are maintained when changing a mix setting
for any track in the group. For example, changing
the volume of one track affects the volume of all
the other tracks in the group. VCA Master tracks
(Pro Tools HD only) control the relative mix set-
tings for all tracks within the selected group.
Tick-Based and Sample-Based Time
either sample-based or tick-based. You can also set
the Timeline to be viewed as tick-based or sample-
 based.
Audio in Pro Tools is sample-based by default.
This means that if an audio clip is located at a par-
ticular sample location, it will not move from that
location if the tempo changes in the session— 
though its Bar|Beat location will change.
 
MIDI data in Pro Tools is tick-based by default.
This means that if a MIDI clip is located at a par-
ticular Bar|Beat location, it will not move from that
Bar|Beat location if the tempo changes in the ses-
sion—though its sample location will change.
You can select whether a track is sample-based or
tick-based when it is created, or change timebases
later.
track have an absolute location on the Timeline.
Clips stay fixed to the sample time, regardless of
where tempo or meter changes occur in a session.
If you make a MIDI track sample-based, all MIDI
events in the track have an absolute location on the
Timeline. MIDI events stay fixed to sample time,
regardless of any tempo or meter changes in a
session.
and moves relative to the sample Timeline when
tempo and meter changes occur. However, MIDI
events and tick-based audio respond differently to
tempo changes with respect to duration. MIDI note
events change length when tempo or meter is ad-
 justed, while audio clips do not (unless Elastic Au-
dio is enabled). When Elastic Audio is not  enabled
on an audio track, meter and tempo changes affect
only the start point (or sync point) for each audio
clip in a tick-based track. If Elastic Audio is en-
abled on an audio track, tempo changes apply Elas-
tic Audio processing, which changes the duration
of the audio clip.
(rendered) Time Compression and Expansion
(TCE) of audio. Tick-based Elastic Audio tracks
actually change the location of samples according
to changes in tempo. The audio stretches or com-
 presses to match changes in tempo. Elastic Audio
also provides high-quality non-real-time clip-
 based pitch shifting.
quality transient detection algorithms, beat and
tempo analysis, and real-time or rendered TCE
 processing algorithms. Elastic Audio lets you
quickly and easily tempo conform and beat match
audio to the session’s Tempo ruler. It also provides
an unprecedented degree of control over transient
detection and TCE processing on an event-by-
event basis.
With Elastic Audio, Pro Tools analyzes entire au-
dio files for transient “events.” For example, an
event can be a drum hit, a sung note, or chord
 played by a guitar. These detected events can then
serve as control points for “warping” the audio.
Pro Tools can warp (TCE) audio events automati-
cally, such as when automatically conforming au-
dio to the session tempo or quantizing audio
events, or you can warp audio manually using the
standard editing tools with the audio track set to
Warp view.
flows: working with loops, correcting perfor-
mances, remixing, beat and pitch matching, and
sound design and special effects.
 
System Resources
able from the host computer and from your
Pro Tools hardware.
conserve resources to maximize the performance
of your system. As you begin working with
Pro Tools sessions and tracks, you can take advan-
tage of the following features to extend the effec-
tiveness of your available DSP and other re-
sources:
cording. See “Configuring Pro Tools System
Settings” on page 48.
Pro Tools allows for certain items (such as tracks
and inserts) to be manually made inactive. Inactive
elements are viewable, editable, and retained
within the session. See “Active and Inactive
Items” on page 15.
options for audio tracks, to help maximize use of
available voices in your system. For more informa-
tion on voice management and options, see “Track
Priority and Voice Assignment” on page 227.
Active and Inactive Items
tracks and inserts) inactive, in order to free up DSP
resources and mixer connections.
include the following:
• Track Inputs and Outputs
inactive switching, but do not follow switch-
ing all or all selected side-chain inputs.
Inactive modes, Pro Tools automatically makes
items inactive if there are insufficient or
unavailable resources.
tional.
ferent inactive items affect available system re-
sources in specific ways, as follows:
Plug-Ins When a plug-in is inactive on a track, its
DSP is made available for other plug-ins and pro-
cessing. Plug-In assignments can be made inactive
manually or automatically.
assignment is inactive, its mixer resources are
made available for other signal routing purposes in
the session. Paths and assignments can be made in-
active manually or automatically.
 become available for another track. Inactive mono
tracks free up one voice; inactive stereo and multi-
channel tracks free up one voice per channel. Ad-
ditionally, when an audio, Auxiliary Input, Instru-
ment, or Master Fader track is made inactive, its
 plug-ins, inserts, sends, and I/O assignments be-
come inactive, and the associated DSP used is
freed up for use elsewhere in the session.
Display of Inactive Items
italics , and their background becomes dark gray.
When a track is inactive, the entire channel strip is
grayed out.
 Active plug-in Inactive plug-in
Workspace Browsers
Pro Tools. Workspace browsers expand upon ba-
sic Pro Tools search and import capabilities by
 providing powerful tools to manage your data both
inside and outside of your sessions, on any hard
drive connected to the system.
A database is a way of organizing data such that it
can easily be searched, sorted, managed, and uti-
lized. Your checkbook is an example of a database
file. For every check you write, you enter a new re-
cord. That record contains information about the
check, such as when you wrote it, to whom you
wrote it, and for what amount. This information is
written in specific columns, or fields. Everything
you need to know (the check’s metadata) is there,
even though the check itself is not.
Workspace browsers let you search, sort, and
mange these databases by volume or catalog. You
can use Workspace browsers not only to organize
your Pro Tools sessions and media files (audio,
MIDI, and video), but also to audition and import
 by drag and drop.
AAF, MXF, and OMF
quences with other AAF-, MXF-, and OMF-com-
 patible applications (such as Avid editors).
Media Data (Media Files)
and is stored in individual media files. Every time
you record a piece of video or audio material into
an application, you are creating a media file. Audio
media files hold samples (such as 44,100 or 48,000
samples per second of recording) while video me-
dia files use frames (24, 25, or 30 frames per sec-
ond of recording).
The size of each media file depends on how much
audio or video material it contains. For example, a
file containing ten minutes of high resolution video
might be approximately 2 GB in size, whereas a
ten-minute audio recording at the might result in a
100 MB file. Media files tend to be large, since
high quality audio and video signals are data inten-
sive. Video data generally requires considerably
more storage than audio data.
For more information, see Chapter 16,
“Workspace Browsers.”
• Information embedded in a media file. This may
include scene, take, sample rate, bit depth, exter-
nal clip names, the name of the videotape from
which the media file was captured, and even
timecode values.
where they appear in a timeline, and automation.
• For AAF or OMF sequences, metadata also in-
cludes information embedded in unrendered Au-
dioSuite™ effects (such as real-time EQ) on
Avid workstations. Pro Tools skips unrendered
effects on import. Rendered effects are media
files that can be imported into Pro Tools.
• For AAF or OMF sequences, information about
automation (clip-based gain or keyframe gain).
AAF, OMF, and MXF Basics
AAF and OMF files are mechanisms for storing
and retrieving media files and metadata so that
 projects can be freely exchanged between different
applications and platforms. MXF is a media file
format that can be used with AAF (but not OMF)
files.
Pro Tools) to automatically and quickly reassem-
 ble the composition. A simple metaphor for this
approach is that media data files are the pieces of a
 puzzle and metadata is the set of instructions for
assembling the puzzle.
In the simplest case, only an AAF or OMF se-
quence is exchanged. If this sequence points to ex-
isting media files, the size of the sequence file is
relatively small and the export/import process is
relatively fast.
larger file that is slower to export and import, but
which may be easier to manage than thousands of
files stored on different volumes.
AAF
the best way to exc