What’s New
Pro Tools HD® 7.2
contents
Chapter 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
New Features in Pro Tools HD 7.2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Recording and Playback from HFS+ Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Mouse Scrollwheel Enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Right-Click Enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
New Right-Click Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
New Right-Click Pop-Up Menus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Preserving Folder Hierarchy when Saving a Copy of a Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Pro Tools Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Importing Audio, MIDI, Video, and Region Groups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Sharing Pro Tools HD 7.2 Sessions with Previous Versions of Pro Tools HD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
DigiBase Enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Chapter 3. Recording Features and Enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Real-Time Display of Waveforms During Recording. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
DestructivePunch Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
MachineControl Enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Contents iii
Chapter 4. Editing Features and Enhancements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Shuffle Lock Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Region-Based Editing in Automation Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Display of Fade Boundaries and Shapes in Automation View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Enhanced Region Copy/Paste Behavior with Grabber Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Snapping Regions or Selections to the Preceding or Next Region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Enhanced Editing of Fades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Automatic Fades for Imported REX and ACID Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Region List Enhancements for Searching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Importing Multichannel Audio Files from a Field Recorder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Region List Enhancements for Multichannel Metadata. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Replacing a Region with an Alternate Channel from a Multichannel Recording. . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Chapter 5. Grouping Features and Enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Increase in Number of Available Mix and Edit Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
New Group Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
New Group Dialog and Commands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Enhanced Group Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Grouped Control Offsets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
New Panning Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
VCA Master Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
VCA Automation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Chapter 6. Automation Features and Enhancements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Automation Data Displayed in Real Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
New Automation Indicator Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
New Preference to Automatically Enable Plug-ins for Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
“Write Automation To” Command Enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
AutoMatch and AutoJoin Enhancements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
New Touch/Latch Automation Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
New Trim Automation Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Behavior of Switched Controls in Touch Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Priming Controls for Writing Automation in Latch Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
New Automation Preview Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
New Automation Capture Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
iv What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
Chapter 7. Plug-in Features and Enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Default Plug-in Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Enhanced Dynamics III Display. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
DigiRack Time Shift Enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
New SignalTools Plug-ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Chapter 8. General Video Improvements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
New Video Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
New Video Track Support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Video Track Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Setting the Video Engine Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Selecting the Main Video Track. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
New Options for Importing Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Video Regions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
General Video Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Video Region Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Multiple Undo for Video Operations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Video Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Video in the Universe Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Updates to FireWire Playback of QuickTime DV Movies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Playback of HD QuickTime Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Compensating for Video Monitoring Delays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Bouncing the Video Track to a QuickTime Movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Sharing a Pro Tools 7.2 Session with a Previous Version of Pro Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Matching File Suffixes for Digitized Video and Audio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Support for Importing Additional Types of AAF Sequences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Importing IMX MPEG30 and MPEG40 Video Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Playback of QuickTime Movies through Avid Video Peripherals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Adjusting Video Black Output Level. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Looping Audio with Avid Video Present . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Contents
v
Chapter 10. Control Surface Features. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Ethernet Drivers for Control Surface Support Installed Automatically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
General Control Surface Enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
ICON New Features and Enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Displaying VCA Master Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
vi What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
chapter 1
Introduction
This chapter is an overview of new features in
®
New Features in
Pro Tools HD 7.2
Pro Tools HD 7.2 for Pro Tools|HD systems on
Windows XP or Mac OS X.
Pro Tools HD 7.2 includes the following new or
enhanced features:
System Requirements
Navigation Enhancements
For complete system requirements, refer to the
Digidesign Web site (www.digidesign.com).
• Mouse scrollwheel enhancements
• Right-click enhancements
• New Right-click commands
• New Right-click pop-up menus
Compatibility Information
Digidesign can only assure compatibility and
provide support for hardware and software it
has tested and approved.
Pro Tools Session Enhancements
• New “Preserve Folder Hierarchy” option in
Save Copy In dialog
For a list of Digidesign-qualified computers,
operating systems, hard drives, and third-party
devices, refer to the Digidesign Web site
(www.digidesign.com).
• Reorganization of Preference dialog pages
and new preferences
• New Import Options dialogs (replace “Im-
port to Track” commands)
DigiBase Enhancements
• Show and hide columns in DigiBase™
browsers
• New Field Recorder metadata column dis-
plays
• New Force Relink capability
Chapter 1: Introduction
1
• Enhanced editing of fades
• Move/Nudge fades within regions
• Move/Nudge crossfades
Recording Features and Enhancements
• Real-Time Display of waveforms during re-
cording for QuickPunch™, TrackPunch, and
DestructivePunch modes
• Separate Region command works on fades
• Trim fades
• New DestructivePunch Mode
• Prepare DestructivePunch-Enabled Tracks
command
• New “Automatically Create Fades For Im-
ported REX and ACID files” Editing prefer-
ence
• DestructivePunch File Length Operation
preference
• Region List Enhancements
• New Search options
MachineControl Enhancements
• Display of multichannel metadata
• External Synchronizer Track Name Display
• Support for digital field recorders
• New Edit Preview mode for machine track
arming
• Importing multichannel audio files and
metadata from field recorders
• Controlling Pro Tools with Third-Party Paddle
Devices
• Selection of alternate field recorder audio
channels in the Pro Tools timeline
• Transport Arming
• Track Arming
Grouping Features and Enhancements
• TrackInput Monitoring
• Mute Toggling
• 104 available groups (4 banks of 26)
• New Group functions
• Solo Toggling
• New and selectable Mix group attributes
• Attribute preset buttons
• New “PEC/Direct Style Input Monitoring”
Operation preference
• Linking of send and plug-in controls across
tracks
Editing Features and Enhancements
• New Group dialog and commands
• Modify Group
• New Shuffle Lock mode to prevent accidental
shuffling of regions
• Delete Group
• Region-based editing in Automation views
• Duplicate Group
• Display of fade boundaries and shapes in Au-
tomation View
• New grouped control offset behavior
• Group offsets preserved when faders are
moved to extremes
• Enhanced region Copy/Paste behavior with
Grabber tools
• Indication of overflow in Automation
views
• New Snap To commands for snapping regions
or Edit selections to other regions
2
What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
• New panning features
• New Trim Automation features
• Trim Automation playlists
• Option to link main output pan and send
output pan controls
• Displays of Trim automation in other play-
lists
• Option for two-knob surround panning
(ICON work surfaces only)
• Coalesce Trim, Clear Trim, and Trim Sus-
pend commands
• “Use Absolute Pan Linking” Automation
preference (also reverts stereo track linking
to legacy behavior)
• New behavior options for switched controls
when in “Touch” mode
• Enhanced Group menus
• Switched controls latch when in “Touch”
mode
• Enhanced Group List pop-up menu
• Enhanced Group name pop-up menu
• New Group ID indicator pop-up
• New Automation preference to override
latching behavior
• New Option to allow priming of Latch-en-
abled controls when transport is stopped
• New VCA-style grouping features
• VCA Master track type
• New Automation Preview mode
• Preview command
• VCA Automation playlists
• Option to show composite level
• Suspend Preview command
• Punch Preview command
• Preference and commands for coalescing
VCA automation
• New Automation Capture feature
• Capture command
Automation Features and Enhancements
• Real-time drawing of automation
• Punch Capture command
• New track Automation indicator behavior
Plug-in Features and Enhancements
• New Option to automatically enable plug-ins
for automation when added to a session
• Enhanced Dynamics III display
• DigiRack Time Shift enhancements
• Support for new Signal Tools plug-ins
• Enhancements to Write To Start/End/All com-
mands
• AutoMatch and AutoJoin enhancements
General Video-Related Improvements
• New Video track
• New AutoMatch and AutoJoin buttons in
on-screen Automation window
• New Video track support
• New AutoMatch on individual channels
command
• Quicktime movies or Avid video on indi-
vidual Video tracks
• New AutoMatch on individual sends, in-
serts, or pans commands (ICON work sur-
faces only)
• Multiple playlists in the video track
• Multiple video tracks in the Timeline
• New Touch/Latch Automation mode
Chapter 1: Introduction
3
• Video track controls
New Pro Tools features for Avid DNA Video
Peripherals (AVoption|V10 and Avid Mojo)
• Differences in video tracks with QuickTime
movies
• Matching audio and video names for digitized
video
• New Video Online button
• New Video Frame Rate indicator
• Record Enable button
• Importing additional types of AAF sequences
• Importing AAF sequences with video mix-
down and metadata
• Video track locking
• Importing audio AAF sequences with un-
supported video formats
• Video regions
• General video editing
• Importing IMX MPEG30 and MPEG40 video
files
• General editing operations not applicable
to video regions
• Playback of QuickTime movies through Avid
DNA video peripherals
• Selecting within video frame boundaries
• Selecting and editing across multiple audio
and video tracks
• Playback of HD QuickTime movies through
Avid DNA video peripherals
• Inserting black
• Adjusting video black output level
• Video region groups
• Looping audio with Avid video present
• Multiple Undo for video operations
• Video window
Control Surface Features and Enhancements
• Resizing the Video window
• Ethernet Control Surface drivers installed
automatically on Windows XP
• Video in the Universe window
• Video Universe display
• New Scrub/Shuttle wheel capabilities
• Change in Automation indication
• Updates to FireWire playback of QuickTime
DV movies
• Two-knob Surround Panning on D-Control
and D-Command
• Compensating for video monitoring delays
• Store and recall up to 48 Snapshots with
Capture command on D-Control and D-
Command
• New options for importing video:
• New Import Video command
• Dragging and dropping video from a Digi-
Base browser or the desktop
• Default Plug-in assignment on D-Control
and D-Command
• Configuring Video Import options
• Video overlay on Import Session Data
• Extracting audio from QuickTime movies
• New options for setting Custom Fader bank
size
• Display of VCA Master tracks and VCA
slave tracks in Custom Faders on D-Control
and D-Command
• Bouncing the video track to a QuickTime
movie
• New commands for AutoMatching individ-
ual controls
• Sharing a Pro Tools 7.2 session with a previ-
ous version of Pro Tools
• New Soft Key commands on D-Control and
D-Command
4
What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
chapter 2
System Configuration, Session and
Navigation Enhancements
This chapter describes changes to Pro Tools sys-
Mouse Scrollwheel
Enhancements
tem capabilities, session features, and basic nav-
igation.
In Pro Tools 7.2, some of the key commands for
scrolling with a mouse scroll wheel have
changed.
Recording and Playback from
HFS+ Drives
To zoom continuously in the Edit window
(horizontal zoom):
(Windows Only)
Pro Tools 7.2 for Windows XP now supports re-
cording and playback of sessions directly from
Mac-formatted (HFS+) drives using the
MacDrive software application.
■ Hold Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac) while
turning the mouse scroll wheel.
To zoom continuously in the Edit window (vertical
zoom):
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.
■ Hold Shift+Alt (Windows) or Shift+Option
(Mac) while turning the mouse scroll wheel.
To scroll the contents of the Edit window or Mix
window horizontally:
When using MacDrive for recording and play-
back on a Windows system, the session file and
all audio files must be stored on Mac-formatted
(HFS+) drives. Recording and playback of a ses-
sion from a mixture of Windows- and Mac-for-
matted drives is not supported.
1 Focus the window you want to scroll by click-
ing in it or bringing it forward.
2 Hold the Shift key while turning the
Scrub/Shuttle Wheel.
Chapter 2: System Configuration, Session and Navigation Enhancements
5
Right-Click Enhancements
Pro Tools 7.2 adds a number of Right-click shortcuts for choosing various Pro Tools commands and
menus with any Right-click capable mouse. The tables on the following pages summarize the Right-
click functionality in Pro Tools.
Mix Window Right-Click Commands and Menus
Right-click Shortcut
Task
Channel Volume fader
Channel Pan slider
Temporarily isolate control from group operation
Channel Mute button
Channel Solo button
Channel Record Enable button
Channel TrackInput button
Send fader
Send Pan slider
Channel Input selector
Channel Output selector
Access I/O commands:
• Make Active/Inactive
• Rename
Send selector
Insert selector
Access Send commands:
• Mute Send
• Make Active/Inactive
• Rename
Access Insert commands:
• Bypass
• Make Active/Inactive
• Automation dialog (plug-ins only)
• Automation Safe (plug-ins only)
• Rename (hardware I/O only)
Track Name
(in Mix window, Edit window and Track list)
Access Track commands:
• Hide/Show
• Hide and Make Inactive
• Make Active/Inactive
• Scroll Into View
• Locked (video track only)
• Rename
• Duplicate
• Delete
• Coalesce VCA Master Automation
• Coalesce Trim Automation
• Clear Trim Automation
• Split Into Mono (multichannel tracks only)
6
What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
Mix Window Right-Click Commands and Menus
Right-click Shortcut
Task
Surround Panning Mode button
(in Surround Output Window)
Access Panning modes:
• X/Y Mode
• 3-Knob mode
• Divergence Editing mode
• AutoGlide mode
Region List items
Access Region List commands:
• Clear
• Rename
• Time Stamp
• Replace Region
• Compact
• Export Region Definition
• Export Regions as Files
• Recalculate Waveform Overviews
• Select Parent in Workspace
• Object Select in Edit Window
Group List items
Access Group List commands and information:
• Group ID
• Tracks (list of tracks in Group)
• Attributes (list of Group Attributes)
• Modify
• Duplicate
• Delete
• Select Tracks in Group
• Show/Hide Tracks in Group
• Show/Hide Only Tracks in Group
• Show/Hide All Tracks
Chapter 2: System Configuration, Session and Navigation Enhancements
7
Edit Window Right-Click Commands and Menus
Right-click Shortcut
Task
Timeline or point in region previously selected
with Selector tool
Access commands:
• Separate
• Matches (Channels or Alternates)
Region or region selection
Access Edit and Region commands:
• Cut
• Copy
• Paste
• Clear
• Matches (Channels or Alternates)
• Separate
• Delete Fades
• Snap to Next
• Snap to Previous
• Spot
• Group Regions
• Ungroup Regions
Control-Right-click region (Windows)
Command-Right-click region (Mac)
Access Move Region commands:
• Move Region Start to Selection Start
• Move Region Sync to Selection Start
• Move Region End to Selection Start
Transport Window Right-Click Commands and Menus
Right-click Shortcut
Task
Transport Play button
Access Playback modes:
• Half Speed
• Prime for Playback
• Loop Playback
Transport Record button
Cycle through Record modes:
• Normal
• Destructive
• Loop
• QuickPunch
• TrackPunch
• DestructivePunch
8
What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
Transport Window Right-Click Commands and Menus
Right-click Shortcut
Task
Transport Return to Zero button
Access Automation commands:
• Write to Start
• Write to All
Transport Go To End button
Access Automation commands:
• Write to End
• Write to All
Universe Window Right-Click Commands and Menus
Right-click Shortcut
Task
Universe window
Access Universe window commands
Video Window Right-Click Commands and Menus
Right-click Shortcut
Task (Pro Tools HD Only)
Video window
Access Universe window commands:
• Online
• Video Out FireWire
• Half Size
• Actual Size
• Double Size
• Fit Screen
Chapter 2: System Configuration, Session and Navigation Enhancements
9
Snapping Regions or Selections to
Regions in the Edit Window
New Right-Click Functions
The following Right-click functions are new or
have changed in Pro Tools 7.2.
You can snap a region or Edit selection to other
regions in a track by Right-clicking. See “Snap-
ping Regions or Selections to Regions in the Edit
Window” on page 10.
Scrolling a Track into View
You can scroll a track into view on-screen by
Right-clicking its name in any of several loca-
tions.
In previous versions of Pro Tools, Right-
clicking in a region with the Selector tool
would scrub at the insertion point. To scrub
in a region, Start-click (Windows) or Con-
trol-click (Mac).
To scroll a track into view:
■ In the Track List, or Mix or Edit window,
Right-click the track name and select Scroll into
View.
Separating Regions in the Edit
Window
You can separate regions in the Edit window by
Right-clicking.
The track is selected, and the windows scroll as
follows:
• The Mix window scrolls to bring the se-
lected track as close to the left as possible.
To separate a region:
1 Do one of the following:
• The Edit window scrolls to bring the se-
lected track as close to the top as possible.
• Left-click in a region with the Selector tool
to place the cursor at the separation point.
– or –
Renaming I/O Paths from the Edit
or Mix Window
• Drag to select the area you want to separate
in a region.
You can rename I/O paths directly from the Edit
or Mix windows by Right-clicking, without
opening the I/O Setup dialog.
2 Right-click near the cursor position or selec-
tion and choose Separate from the pop-up
menu.
To rename an I/O path:
1 In the Edit or Mix window, Right-click the In-
put selector or Output selector for a track, and
choose Rename from the pop-up menu.
2 In the Rename I/O dialog, enter a name for the
I/O Path, and click OK.
10 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
Selecting Alternate Takes from
the Matching Takes List
Right-Click Commands and
Selections
After recording multiple takes with loop or
punch recording, you can replace the take cur-
rently residing in a track with the other takes to
audition them in the Timeline.
You can use Right-click commands with key
combinations to perform operations on objects
while maintaining selections in the Edit and
Mix windows. For example, you can maintain
selections in the following areas while carrying
out certain commands:
Each region resulting from a punch or loop
record pass has an identical start time (the User
Time Stamp). This allows you to easily select and
audition alternate takes from the Matches pop-
up menu, even while the session play or loops.
• Region selections in the Timeline
• Region name selections in the Region List
• Track selections
To apply a command to an object while keeping
the current selection:
To select an alternate take:
1 Right-click with the Selector tool in the loop
■ Control-Right-click (Windows) or Command-
Right-click (Mac) the object and choose a com-
mand from the pop-up menu.
or punch range.
2 Choose Matches from the pop-up menu and
choose a take from the list of Alternates that ap-
pears. The alternate region replaces the previous
take and snaps precisely to the correct location.
Right-Click Commands and Moving
Regions
You can use Right-click commands with a key
combination to spot regions in a track.
In previous versions of Pro Tools, Right-
clicking in a region with the Grabber tool
would spot the region to a selection.
To spot a region to a selection:
1 Click or drag with the Selector tool to locate
the cursor or make a selection in the track where
you want to spot the region.
Matching Takes List
3 Repeat the above steps to audition any addi-
tional alternate takes.
2 Control-Right-click (Windows) or Command-
Right-click (Mac) the region and choose any of
the following from the pop-up menu:
• Move Region Start to Selection Start
• Move Region Sync to Selection Start
• Move Region End to Selection Start
Chapter 2: System Configuration, Session and Navigation Enhancements 11
New Right-Click Pop-Up
Menus
Track Name Pop-Up Menus
(Edit Window, Mix window or Track List)
When you Right-click a track name in the Edit
window, Mix window, or the Track List, a pop-
up menu provides access to the following com-
mands:
Hide Hides the track (or selected tracks if any)
Hide and Make Inactive Hides the track and
makes it inactive (or selected tracks if any)
Audio Track Name pop-up menu
Make Active/Inactive Toggles the active status
of the track (or selected tracks if any)
Scroll Into View Scrolls the track to the top of the
Edit window or the left of the Mix window
Locked (video track only) Toggles the locked/un-
locked status of the video track (or selected
video tracks if any)
VCA Track Name pop-up menu
Rename Opens the Track Name dialog
Region Name Pop-Up Menu
Duplicate Duplicates the track (or selected tracks
if any)
(Region List)
When you Right-click a region name in the Re-
gion List, a pop-up menu provides access to the
following commands:
Delete Deletes the track (or selected tracks if
any)
Coalesce VCA Master Automation Coalesces the
VCA automation to the slave tracks of the VCA
Clear Removes selected regions from the session
Rename Renames selected regions
Coalesce Trim Automation Coalesces Trim auto-
Time Stamp Redefines the time stamp of se-
mation on the track (or selected tracks if any)
lected regions
Clear Trim Automation Clears Trim automation
Replace Region Replaces multiple instances of a
on the track (or selected tracks if any)
region with another region
Split Into Mono (Multichannel Tracks Only) Splits
a multichannel track (or selected multichannel
tracks if any) into their mono component tracks
Compact Compacts selected regions
12 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
Export Region Definitions Exports definitions for
Preserving Folder Hierarchy
when Saving a Copy of a
Session
selected regions
Export Regions as Files Exports selected regions
as files
Pro Tools 7.2 lets you preserve the relative ar-
rangement of a session’s audio files that are
stored on separate drives or in different folders
when saving a copy of a session.
Recalculate Waveform Overviews Redraws wave-
forms for selected regions
Select Parent in Workspace Highlights the par-
ent file of selected region in the DigiBase Work-
space Browser
◆ When the Preserve Folder Hierarchy option is
selected, the main folder for the session copy
will include subfolders for each drive or folder in
the original session. The destination subfolders
use the same names as the source drives and
folders.
Object Select in Edit Window Selects region as an
object in the Edit window
◆ When the Preserve Folder Hierarchy option is
not selected, the Save Copy In command copies
all files of the same type, regardless of their loca-
tion, into a single destination folder.
To save a copy of a session and preserve the
relative arrangement of its folders and files:
1 Choose File > Save Copy In.
Region Name pop-up menu
2 Choose a destination and enter a name for the
copied session file.
To record or play back from HFS+ drives with
Windows:
1 In Windows, go to the MacDrive Control
3 Choose a session file format for the copied ses-
Panel.
sion.
2 Choose Options > File Names and select the
4 Select an Audio File Type, Sample Rate, and Bit
“International Use” option.
Depth for the copied session.
3 Delete all options listed under “File Name
5 If applicable, select a Fader Gain level for the
Maps.”
copied session.
4 In Pro Tools, choose Window > Workspace
and make sure that all Mac-formatted volumes
are set to R (record) or P (playback) in the A (Au-
dio) and V (Video) columns.
6 If applicable, select “Enforce Mac/PC Compat-
ibility” to create session and audio files that can
be used on both Windows and Mac Pro Tools
systems.
7 Select the Items to Copy for the copied ses-
sion.
8 Select Preserve Folder Hierarchy.
9 Click Save.
Chapter 2: System Configuration, Session and Navigation Enhancements 13
Operation Preferences
Pro Tools Preferences
In Pro Tools 7.2, the Preference pages and many
of its options have been reorganized for easier
navigation.
Display Preferences
Transport Section
• Timeline Insertion Follows Playback
• Edit Insertion Follows Scrub/Shuttle
• Audio During Fast Forward/Rewind
• Custom Shuttle Lock Speed
• Back/Forward Amount
Basics Section
• Numeric Keypad Mode
• Draw Grids in Edit Window
• Draw Waveforms Rectified
• Recompute Invalid Overviews
Video Section
• QuickTime Playback Priority: In Pro Tools
7.2, QuickTime Playback Priority options
are named Normal, Medium, and Highest.
• Track Position Numbers Stay with Hidden
Tracks
• Tool Tips Display Options
In previous versions of Pro Tools, the
“Medium” setting was called “Higher.”
• Edit Window Default Length
• “Organize Plug-in Menus By” Options
• Avid Video Errors Stop Playback
Meters Section
• Avid Video NTSC Has Setup (NTSC-J): This
preference lets you adjust the level of NTSC
video black output between 7.5 IRE (stan-
dard) or 0 IRE. When this option is se-
lected, output level is 0 IRE.
• Peak Hold Options
• Clip Indication Options
• Show Meters in Sends View Option
Color Coding Section
• Default Track Color Coding Options
• Default Region Color Coding Options
14 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
• DestructivePunch File Length: This preference
sets the duration of consolidated audio files
when preparing tracks for DestructivePunch
mode. The default value for this setting is 25
minutes.
Auto Backup Section
• Enable Session File Auto Backup
In previous versions of Pro Tools, the “Auto
Backup” feature was called “AutoSave.”
Record Section
Misc (Miscellaneous) Section
• Latch Record Enable Buttons
• Auto Region Fade In/Out Length
• Calibration Reference Level
• .Link Record and Play Faders: When selected,
Pro Tools does not remember separate fader
levels for tracks when they are record-en-
abled, allowing you to maintain the same
monitoring level for tracks during recording
and playback.
• Delay Compensation Time Mode
In previous versions of Pro Tools, the Delay
Compensation option was in the Display
Preferences page.
• Audio Track RecordLock
• Transport RecordLock
Solo Latch Options Moved To Options Menu
In Pro Tools 7.2, Solo Latch behavior is set in the
Options menu.
• Disable “Input” When Disarming Track
(In “Stop”)
In previous versions of Pro Tools, Solo Latch
options were in the Operations page of the
Preferences dialog.
• Mute Record-Armed Tracks While Stopped
• PEC/Direct Style Input Monitoring: This op-
tion changes the way the TrackInput monitor-
ing mode is indicated on-screen (and on
supported control surfaces) to emulate “PEC”
(playback) and “Direct” (input/bus) indica-
tion on some large format consoles.
To select a Solo Latch mode:
■ Choose Options > Solo Mode and select from
the following options:
Latch When selected, pressing subsequent Solo
buttons adds them to the soloed mix of tracks.
• When not selected, the TrackInput button
shows the letter “I.” The button remains
gray to indicate Auto Input mode and
lights green to indicate Input Only mode.
X-OR (Cancels Previous Solo) When selected,
pressing subsequent Solo buttons cancels previ-
ous solos.
• When selected, the TrackInput button re-
mains gray and shows the letter “D” to in-
dicated Input Only mode (“Direct”); it
lights green and shows the letter “P” to in-
dicate Auto Input mode (“Pec” or play-
back).
Momentary (Pro Tools HD Only) When selected,
Solo buttons are not sticky. A track is soloed
only when its Solo switch is held down.
• Online Options
• Open Ended Record Allocation Options
Chapter 2: System Configuration, Session and Navigation Enhancements 15
• Automatically Create Fades for Imported
REX and ACID files: When selected, this
option automatically applies fades between
regions (“slices”) within imported REX and
ACID files to minimize clicks or pops dur-
ing playback. If there is overlap between
slices, a crossfade is applied. If there is a gap
between slices, a fade out is applied to the
end of the first region. (The fade shape ap-
plied to REX/ACID files follow the Default
Fade Settings for REX/ACID.)
Editing Preferences
• Levels of Undo
Mixing Preferences
Regions Section
• Region List Selection Follows Edit Selection
• Edit Selection Follows Region List Selection
• Auto-Name Separated Regions
• “Matching Start Time” Takes List Options
Memory Locations Section
• Auto-Name Memory Locations When
Playing
• Recall Memory Location at Original Track
Fades Section
• Crossfade Preview Pre-Roll
In previous versions of Pro Tools, this Pref-
erences page was named “Automation.”
• Crossfade Preview Post-Roll
• QuickPunch/TrackPunch Crossfade Length
Setup Section
• Preserve Fades when Editing: This option
preserves fade-ins and fade outs, and con-
verts separated crossfades into correspond-
ing fade-ins and fade-outs.
• Sends Default to –INF
In previous versions of Pro Tools, the Sends
Default to -INF option was in the Operation
Preferences page.
Default Fade Settings
• REX/ACID: This new setting lets you
choose the default envelope shape for fades
and crossfades between regions (“slices”) in
imported REX and ACID files.
16 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
• Send Pans Default to Follow Main Pan: When
selected, newly created sends have Follow
Main Pan turned on, so the Send Pan controls
follow the pan controls of the track. When
not selected, newly created sends have Follow
Main Pan turned off.
Controllers Section
In previous versions of Pro Tools, the fol-
lowing three options were in the Display
Preferences page.
• Edit Window Follows Bank Selection
• Mix Window Follows Bank Selection
• “Scroll to Track” Banks Controllers
• Link Mix and Edit Group Enables
In previous versions of Pro Tools, the Link
Mix and Edit Group Enables option was in
the Operation Preferences page.
• Always Fill Channel Strips When Banking:
If you are using an ICON worksurface, you
can select this option to maximize the
number of channels displayed when bank-
ing. This setting optimizes the Bank com-
mands to prevent the display of a small
number of channels at the extremes of the
surface.
• Use Absolute Pan Linking: This option affects
behavior of grouped pan controls.
• When selected, grouped pan controls do
not maintain relative offsets when any of
the grouped pan controls is adjusted. All
grouped pan controls snap to the absolute
value of the adjusted control.
• Touch Timeout
• When not selected, grouped pan controls
maintain relative offsets when any of the
linked controls is adjusted.
Automation Section
• Smooth and Thin Data After Pass
• Degree of Thinning
• Default EQ: Lets you choose any installed EQ
plug-in as the default, which makes it avail-
able for quick assignment, both on-screen and
on ICON work surfaces. On-screen, the plug-
in appears at the top of the Insert selector
pop-up menu. On ICON work surfaces, the
plug-in appears first in the list of menu
choices on the rotary encoders.
• Plug-in Controls Default to Auto-Enabled:
When selected, all applicable controls of
newly added plug-ins are enabled for automa-
tion. When not selected, the controls of
newly added plug-ins must be manually en-
abled for automation.
• Suppress Automation “Write To” Warnings:
When selected, Pro Tools suppresses the
warnings that appear after invoking any of
the Write Automation To Start, Selection,
End, or Punch commands and then stopping
the transport.
• Default Dynamics: Lets you choose any in-
stalled Dynamics plug-in as the default,
which makes it available for quick assign-
ment, both on-screen and on ICON work sur-
faces. On-screen, the plug-in appears at the
top of the Insert selector pop-up menu. On
ICON work surfaces, the plug-in appears first
in the list of menu choices on the rotary en-
coders.
Chapter 2: System Configuration, Session and Navigation Enhancements 17
• Latching Behavior for Switched Controls in
“Touch”: This option determines the behavior
of switched controls (such as mute or plug-in
bypass) when writing automation in Touch
mode.
• Standard VCA Logic for Group Attributes:
This option determines which Mix group at-
tributes may be selected in the Group dialog
when the group is assigned to a VCA Master.
• When selected, Main Volume, Mute, Solo,
Record Enable, and Input Monitoring con-
trols on slave tracks follow the VCA Master
only and are not available to be indepen-
dently linked. (This emulates the behavior
of analog console VCA masters.)
• When selected, controls in Touch mode
will latch in their current state. If an exist-
ing breakpoint is encountered, writing of
automation stops. If the transport is
stopped while writing, the control will Au-
toMatch to the underlying value.
• When deselected, Main Volume, Mute,
Solo, Record Enable, and Input Monitoring
controls follow the VCA Master but also re-
main available for independent linking
with groups.
• When not selected, controls in Touch
mode will not latch.
• Allow Latch Prime in Stop: When selected and
any tracks are in Latch mode, any automa-
tion-enabled controls on those tracks can be
set to new values while the transport is
stopped by touching or moving controls, to
prepare for the next automation pass.
• Include Sends in Trim Mode: This option de-
termines the Trim status of Send faders when
a track is put in Trim mode.
• When selected, Send faders go into Trim
mode along with the Main Volume fader.
• Coalesce When Removing Slaves from VCA
Group: This option determines the behavior
when removing slave tracks from a VCA-con-
trolled group.
• When deselected, the Main Volume fader
goes into Trim mode, but the Send fader
stays in the corresponding standard Auto-
mation mode.
• When selected, any automation on the
VCA Master is automatically coalesced
(without confirmation) to its slave tracks
when the tracks are removed from the
group.
• Include Control Changes in Undo Queue:
This option determines whether certain mixer
control changes, such as moving a fader or
pan control, are entered into the Undo queue.
• When not selected, a confirmation dialog
lets you choose whether or not to coalesce
the VCA Master automation to the slave
tracks.
• When selected, mixer control changes ap-
pear in the Undo queue, and are undone if
any prior operation is undone.
• When deselected, mixer control changes
will not appear in the undo queue, allow-
ing you to undo other types of operations
without losing the current mixer settings.
Any set to default operations that affect
mixer controls are always entered into the
Undo queue.
• AutoMatch Time Setting
• AutoGlide Time Setting
18 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
• Amount of Memory to Reserve for Automa-
tion Recording
Processing Preferences
• After Write Pass, Switch To
• Coalesce Trim Automation Options: These
options determine when Trim automation is
committed to the main automation playlist
on a track.
• After Every Pass: Sets Trim automation to
coalesce when the transport is stopped at
the end of each Trim automation pass. No
Composite Playlist is indicated.
• On Exiting Trim Mode: Sets Trim Automa-
tion to coalesce on a track when the track is
taken out of Trim mode. A Composite Play-
list can be viewed before committing Trim
moves.
AudioSuite Section
• AudioSuite Buffer Size
• Use AudioSuite Dither
• Plug-in
• Manually: Trim Automation can be coa-
lesced only with the Coalesce Trim Auto-
mation command. A Composite Playlist
can be viewed before committing Trim
moves.
• Bit Depth
TC/E (Time Compression/Expansion) Section
The following preferences have been re-
moved, as group behavior of these controls
is now covered by the new Group features in
Pro Tools 7.2: Solos Follow Groups, Mutes
Follow Groups, LFEs Follow Groups, Send
Levels Follow Groups, Send Mutes Follow
Groups.
• TC/E Plug-in
• Default Settings
Import Section
In previous versions of Pro Tools, the fol-
lowing two options were in the Operation
Preferences page.
• Convert Imported “.wav” Files To
AES31/BroadcastWave
• Automatically Copy Files on Import
• Sample Rate Conversion Quality
In previous versions of Pro Tools, the Sam-
ple Rate Conversion Quality option was in
the Editing Preferences page.
Chapter 2: System Configuration, Session and Navigation Enhancements 19
MIDI Preferences
Synchronization Preferences
Basics Section
In previous versions of Pro Tools, this
Preferences page was named “Machine
Control.”
• Play MIDI Notes When Editing
• Use MIDI to Tap Tempo
• Display Events as Modified by Real-Time
Properties
Machine Control Section
• Machine Chases Memory Location
• Machine Follows Edit Insertion/Scrub
• Machine Cues Intelligently
• Use F11 Key for Wait for Note
In previous versions of Pro Tools, the Use
F11 Key for Wait for Note option was in the
Operation Preferences page.
• Stop at Shuttle Speed Zero
• Non-Linear Transport Error Suppression:
When Transport = Pro Tools, keeps
Pro Tools from sending a Stop command
when taken offline. This prevents Pro Tools
from stopping any other 9-pin devices con-
nected to the system.
• .Default Note On Velocity
• Default Thru Instrument
• Pencil Tool Resolution When Drawing
Controller Data
• Global MIDI Playback Offset
• Note Display Options
• Delay Before Locking to Time Code: Sets
the amount of time (in frames) for
Pro Tools to wait before attempting to lock
to machines that issue servo lock messages.
This setting allows time for the servo mech-
anisms to achieve stable lock.
• Delay Compensation for External Devices
Remote Mode (9-Pin Deck Emulation) Section
• Ignore Track Arming
• Set Servo Lock Bit at Play (Tamura Support)
20 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
• Allow Track Arm Commands in Local
Mode: Sets Pro Tools to respond to incom-
ing track arming (record enable) com-
mands even when the system is not in
Remote Mode. This is useful if you are us-
ing a paddle device to control Pro Tools
track arming or punching.
3 To audition a selected file or region before you
import it, click the Play and Stop buttons in the
Import Audio dialog.
4 Do any of the following:
• To place a file or region in the Import list,
select the file and click Add or Convert.
• To import all files and regions in the cur-
rent directory, click Add All or Convert All.
• Punch In Frame Offset
• Punch Out Frame Offset
• Delay After Play Command
• To remove a file or region from the Import
list, select it and click Remove.
• To remove all files and regions, click Re-
move All.
Synchronization Section
• Stable LTC Source: When selected, this op-
tion suppresses the normal 1-second wait
time before Pro Tools attempts to lock to
incoming LTC. Enable this option when
locking Pro Tools to a stable time code
source (such as an LTC generator). Disable
this option when locking to tape machines.
5 When you have added all audio files and re-
gions to the Import list, click Done.
6 If you are copying or converting files, choose
a location for the new files. Choose a folder on a
valid audio drive, such as the Audio Files folder
for the current session.
7 In the Audio Import Options dialog, choose
where the imported files will go in the session:
Importing Audio, MIDI, Video,
New Track Creates a new track where the file or
region will be imported.
In Pro Tools 7.2, the process of importing audio
files, MIDI files, video files, and Region Groups
has been streamlined with new Import Options
dialogs.
Region List Imports the file or region into the
Region List, where it will be available to place
into tracks.
For information on importing video, see
“New Options for Importing Video” on
page 93.
Importing Audio Files and Regions
To import audio files or regions into a session
using the Pro Tools File menu:
1 Choose File > Import > Audio.
Audio Import Options dialog
2 In the Import Audio dialog, select an audio file
to display its properties and associated regions.
Chapter 2: System Configuration, Session and Navigation Enhancements 21
8 If you chose to create a new track, choose a lo-
3 If you chose to create a new track, choose a lo-
cation for the imported file in the track:
cation for the imported file in the track:
Session Start Places the file or region at the start
Session Start Places the file or region at the start
of the session.
of the session.
Song Start Aligns the beginning of the file or re-
Song Start Aligns the beginning of the file to
gion to the Song Start point.
the Song Start point.
Selection Aligns the beginning of the file or re-
gion to the edit cursor or to the beginning of a
selection in the timeline.
Selection Aligns the beginning of the file to the
edit cursor or to the beginning of a selection in
the timeline.
Spot Displays the Spot dialog, which lets you
spot the file or region to a precise location based
on any of the Time Scales.
Spot Displays the Spot dialog, which lets you
spot the file to a precise location based on any of
the Time Scales.
9 Click OK.
4 Select any of the following Import options:
Import Tempo Map From MIDI File When se-
lected, overwrites any existing tempo map with
tempo information read from the MIDI file.
Importing MIDI Files
To import Standard MIDI files into a session using
the Pro Tools File menu:
Remove Existing Instrument Tracks When se-
lected, deletes any existing Instrument tracks.
Selecting this option does not remove any cur-
rent MIDI tracks. All existing MIDI regions will
be left in the Region List.
1 Choose File > Import > MIDI and select the file
you want to import.
2 In the MIDI Import Options dialog, choose
where the imported file will go:
Remove Existing MIDI Tracks When selected, de-
letes any existing MIDI tracks. Enabling this op-
tion does not remove any current Instrument
tracks. All existing MIDI regions will be left in
the region bin.
New Track Creates a new track where the file will
be imported.
Region List Imports the file into the Region List,
where it will be available to place into tracks.
Remove Existing MIDI Regions When selected,
deletes existing MIDI regions (all data on all
MIDI and Instrument tracks) but leaves existing
MIDI and Instrument tracks in place.
5 Click OK.
MIDI Import Options dialog
22 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
Import Tempo Map from Region Group File When
selected, replaces the session tempo map with
the tempo map of the region group. This option
is only available when importing the region
group to the Session Start.
Importing Region Groups
To import a region group using the Pro Tools File
menu:
1 Choose File > Import > Region Groups and se-
lect the region group you want to import.
5 Click OK.
2 In the Region Group Import Options dialog,
choose where the region group will go:
Sharing Pro Tools HD 7.2
Sessions with Previous
Versions of Pro Tools HD
New Track Creates a new track where the region
group will be imported.
Region List Imports the region group into the
Region List, where it will be where it will be
available to place into tracks.
OpeningPro Tools HD 7.2Sessionswith
Pro Tools 7.x
A Pro Tools HD 7.2 session can be opened with
some earlier versions of Pro Tools HD 7.x, but
certain session components will open differ-
ently or not at all.
To open Pro Tools HD 7.2 sessions with a
previous version of Pro Tools HD 7.x, you
need Pro Tools HD version 7.1cs3 or later.
Region Group Import Options dialog
3 If you chose to create a new track, choose a lo-
cation for the imported group in the track:
When opening a Pro Tools HD 7.2 session with
Pro Tools HD 7.x, the following will occur:
Tracks
Session Start Places the group at the start of the
session.
• VCA Master tracks will be removed and any
uncoalesced VCA automation will be
dropped.
Song Start Aligns the beginning of the group to
the Song Start point.
• Any uncoalesced Trim automation will be
dropped.
Selection Aligns the beginning of the group to
the edit cursor or to the beginning of a selection
in the timeline.
Spot Displays the Spot dialog, which lets you
spot the group to a precise location based on
any of the Time Scales.
4 Select any of the following import options:
Chapter 2: System Configuration, Session and Navigation Enhancements 23
Groups
When saving a Pro Tools HD 7.2 session to
Pro Tools 5.1 -> 6.9 format, the following will
occur:
• All groups beyond the first 26 (Bank 1, Groups
a–z) will be dropped.
Tracks
• Mix Groups will keep only Main Volume in-
formation.
• Instrument tracks will be split into separate
Auxiliary Input and MIDI tracks.
• Mix/Edit Groups will keep only Main Volume
and Automation Mode information.
• VCA Master tracks will be removed and VCA
automation will be coalesced to the corre-
sponding slave tracks.
• Automation overflow information for
grouped controls will not be preserved.
• Trim automation playlists will be coalesced to
their corresponding automation playlists.
• Group behavior of Solos, LFEs, Mutes, Send
Levels, Send Mutes will not be preserved.
• Fader Gain levels and automation breakpoints
higher than +6 dB will be changed to +6 dB.
• Solo Mode and Solo Latch settings will be
dropped.
• Long names will be shortened to 31 charac-
ters.
Video
• Only the main video track will be displayed.
• The following attributes will be dropped:
• Region groups
• Only the first QuickTime movie in the session
will be displayed or played back.
• Region loops
• If the session contains QuickTime movies in
the Region List but no video track, the session
opens with a new QuickTime Movie track
containing the first QuickTime movie from
the Region List.
• Sample-based MIDI regions
• Sample-based MIDI tracks
• Sends F–J and any associated automation
• Marker/Memory Locations 201–999
• The Timeline will display and play back only
the video playlist that was last active. Alter-
nate video playlists will not be available.
Groups
• All groups beyond the first 26 (Bank 1, Groups
a–z) will be dropped.
• Video regions and video region groups will
not be shown or saved.
• Mix Groups will keep only Main Volume in-
formation.
• Mix/Edit Groups will keep only Main Volume
and Automation Mode information.
Saving Pro Tools HD 7.2 Sessions to
Pro Tools 5.1 -> 6.9 Format
• Automation overflow information for
grouped controls will not be preserved.
A Pro Tools 7.2 session cannot be opened with
Pro Tools versions 6.9.x or lower.
• Group behavior of Solos, LFEs, Mutes, Send
Levels, Send Mutes will not be preserved.
To save a Pro Tools 7.x session so it is compati-
ble with Pro Tools version 6.9.x or lower, use the
File > Save Copy In command to choose the
“Pro Tools 5.1 -> 6.9” session format.
• Solo Mode and Solo Latch settings will be
dropped.
24 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
• Tracks assigned to “No Output” will be routed
to Busses 31 and 32.
Video
• Only the main video track will be displayed.
• Tracks or sends assigned to Busses 33–64 will
be routed to Busses 31 and 32.
• Only the first QuickTime movie in the session
will be displayed or played back.
• Tracks assigned to multichannel paths or sub-
paths of multichannel paths will be routed to
Busses 31 and 32.
• If the session contains QuickTime movies in
the Region List but no video track, the session
opens with a new QuickTime Movie track
containing the first QuickTime movie from
the Region List.
• Sends assigned to multichannel paths or sub-
paths of multichannel paths will be dropped.
• The Timeline will display and play back only
the video playlist that was last active. Alter-
nate video playlists will not be available.
• Tracks or sends assigned to stereo paths refer-
ring to even/odd channels (such as 2–3) will
be routed to Busses 31 and 32.
• Video regions and video region groups will
not be shown or saved.
• Fader Gain levels and automation breakpoints
higher than +6 dB will be changed to +6 dB.
• Long names will be shortened to 31 charac-
ters.
Saving Pro Tools HD 7.2 Sessions to
Pro Tools 5.0 Format
• The following attributes will be dropped:
• Region groups
A Pro Tools 7.2 session cannot be opened with
Pro Tools version 5.0.
• Region loops
• Sample-based MIDI regions
• Sample-based MIDI tracks
• Sends F–J and any associated automation
• Marker/Memory Locations 201–999
• Multi-mono plug-in instances
To save a Pro Tools 7.x session so it is compati-
ble with Pro Tools version 5.0, use the File >
Save Copy In command to choose the
“Pro Tools 5.0” session format.
When saving a Pro Tools HD 7.2 session to
Pro Tools 5.0 format, the following will occur:
Groups
• All groups beyond the first 26 (Bank 1, Groups
a–z) will be dropped.
Tracks
• Multichannel surround tracks will be re-
moved from the session.
• Mix Groups will keep only Main Volume in-
formation.
• Instrument tracks will be split into separate
Auxiliary Input and MIDI tracks.
• Mix/Edit Groups will keep only Main Volume
and Automation Mode information.
• VCA Master tracks will be removed and VCA
automation will be coalesced to the corre-
sponding slave tracks.
• Automation overflow information for
grouped controls will not be preserved.
• Trim automation playlists will be coalesced to
their corresponding automation playlists.
• Group behavior of Solos, LFEs, Mutes, Send
Levels, Send Mutes will not be preserved.
• Inactive tracks will be removed from the ses-
sion.
• Solo Mode and Solo Latch settings will be
dropped.
Chapter 2: System Configuration, Session and Navigation Enhancements 25
• Multichannel surround tracks will be re-
moved from the session.
Video
• Only the main video track will be displayed.
• Unavailable input and output paths will be
made inactive.
• Only the first QuickTime movie in the session
will be displayed or played back.
• TDM plug-ins with RTAS equivalents will be
converted; those without equivalents are
made inactive.
• If the session contains QuickTime movies in
the Region List but no video track, the session
opens with a new QuickTime Movie track
containing the first QuickTime movie from
the Region List.
• VCA Master tracks will be removed and any
uncoalesced VCA automation will be
dropped.
• The Timeline will display and play back only
the video playlist that was last active. Alter-
nate video playlists will not be available.
• Any uncoalesced Trim automation will be
dropped.
• Video regions and video region groups will
not be shown or saved.
Groups
• All groups beyond the first 26 (Bank 1, Groups
a–z) will be dropped.
• Mix Groups will keep only Main Volume in-
formation.
Sharing Pro Tools HD 7.2
Sessions with Previous
Versions of Pro Tools LE or
M-Powered
• Mix/Edit Groups will keep only Main Volume
and Automation Mode information.
• Automation overflow information for
grouped controls will not be preserved.
OpeningPro Tools HD 7.2Sessionswith
Pro Tools LE or M-Powered 7.x
• Group behavior of Solos, Mutes, Send Levels,
Send Mutes will not be preserved.
A Pro Tools HD 7.2 session can be opened with
some earlier versions of Pro Tools LE or M-Pow-
ered 7.x, but certain session components will
open differently or not at all.
• Solo Mode and Solo Latch settings will be
dropped.
Saving Pro Tools HD 7.2 Sessions to
Pro Tools 5.1 -> 6.9 Format and Opening
Them in Pro Tools LE
When opening a Pro Tools HD 7.2 session with
Pro Tools LE or M-Powered 7.x, the following
will occur:
A Pro Tools 7.2 session cannot be opened with
Pro Tools LE versions 6.9.x or lower.
Tracks
• Any tracks beyond the first 32, as well any in-
active tracks, will be set to voice off.
To save a Pro Tools 7.x session so it is compati-
ble with Pro Tools LE version 5.1 -> 6.9.x, use
the File > Save Copy In command to choose the
“Pro Tools 5.1 -> 6.9” session format, then open
the session with Pro Tools LE.
• Any assignments to busses beyond 32 will be
made inactive.
• Any Instrument tracks beyond 32 will be
made inactive.
26 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
When saving a Pro Tools HD 7.2 session to
Pro Tools 5.1 -> 6.9 format, and opening the
session with Pro Tools LE 5.1 -> 6.9, the
following will occur:
Groups
• All groups beyond the first 26 (Bank 1, Groups
a–z) will be dropped.
• Mix Groups will keep only Main Volume in-
formation.
Tracks
• Any tracks beyond the first 32, as well any in-
active tracks, will be set to voice off.
• Mix/Edit Groups will keep only Main Volume
and Automation Mode information.
• Any assignments to busses beyond 16 will be
made inactive.
• Automation overflow information for
grouped controls will not be preserved.
• Instrument tracks will be split into separate
Auxiliary Input and MIDI tracks.
• Group behavior of Solos, Mutes, Send Levels,
Send Mutes will not be preserved.
• Multichannel surround tracks will be re-
moved from the session.
• Solo Mode and Solo Latch settings will be
dropped.
• Unavailable input and output paths will be
made inactive.
• TDM plug-ins with RTAS equivalents will be
converted; those without equivalents are
made inactive.
DigiBase Enhancements
In Pro Tools 7.2, DigiBase Browsers now have
the following new features:
• VCA Master tracks will be removed and VCA
automation will be coalesced to the corre-
sponding slave tracks.
Showing and Hiding Columns in
DigiBase
• Trim automation playlists will be coalesced to
their corresponding automation playlists.
In Pro Tools 7.2, you can show or hide columns
in the DigiBase Workspace or Project browser.
• Fader Gain levels and automation breakpoints
higher than +6 dB will be changed to +6 dB.
To show or hide DigiBase columns:
• Long names will be shortened to 31 charac-
ters.
■ Start-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac)
or Right-click in any DigiBase column label.
• The following attributes will be dropped:
• Region groups
• Region loops
• Sample-based MIDI regions
• Sample-based MIDI tracks
• Sends F–J and any associated automation
• Marker/Memory Locations 201–999
DigiBase Column Display
Chapter 2: System Configuration, Session and Navigation Enhancements 27
In some cases, these metadata entries can be ed-
ited directly from within DigiBase.
New DigiBase Browser Fields
In Pro Tools 7.2, DigBase browsers can display
the following new metadata fields, which are
most often used in post-production:
For more information on field recorder
metadata, see the Field Recorder Work-
flow Guide.
• Channel Names
• Circled
Force Relinking Files in DigiBase
• Project
If you want to link to a substitute file (for exam-
ple, if you know a file has the same audio or
video but does not have a matching File Name
or Unique ID), you can force a relink.
• Scene
• Shoot Date
• Sound Roll
• Sound Roll Time Code
• Sound Roll Time Code Rate
• Take
◆ To force relink an audio file, its file format
(WAV, SD2, AIFF, or MXF), sample rate and bit
depth must match those of the original file.
• Tape ID
◆ To force relink a video file, its format (Quick-
Time, Avid, MXF, or OMF) and frame rate must
match those of the original file.
• User Bits
New Support for Display of Field
Recorder Metadata in DigiBase
Browsers
To force a relink:
1 Choose Window > Project.
Pro Tools 7.2 adds support for display of multi-
channel field recorder metadata in the follow-
ing DigiBase columns:
2 Choose Relink Offline from the Browser
menu.
3 In the Relink window, select one item in the
• Bit-Depth
Files to Relink list.
• Clip Name
• # Channels
4 Navigate in the Areas to Search pane to locate
the file you want to relink.
• File Comment
• Date Created
• Date Modified
• Duration
5 Drag the file to the Candidates pane in the
Relink window.
6 Click the Link icon next to the file you
dragged to the Candidates pane.
• Format
• TC Rate (renamed from FPS)
• Offline
7 Click the Commit Links button.
• Original Time Stamp
• Sample Rate
• Tape
• User Time Stamp
28 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
chapter 3
Recording Features and Enhancements
records audio directly into the original file, us-
Real-Time Display of
ing a fixed 10-millisecond linear crossfade. Up
to 200 “running punches” can be performed in
a track during a single DestructivePunch pass.
Waveforms During Recording
(QuickPunch, TrackPunch, and
DestructivePunch Modes)
DestructivePunch and MachineControl
In Pro Tools 7.2, audio waveforms are now dis-
played during recording in the following record
modes: Destructive Record, QuickPunch, Track-
Punch, and DestructivePunch.
When using Digidesign MachineControl™ soft-
ware in Remote 9-Pin Deck Emulation Mode,
DestructivePunch can be controlled via P2 pro-
tocol.
DestructivePunch and Voice Allocation
DestructivePunch Mode
As with TrackPunch and QuickPunch, Destruc-
tivePunch requires 2 available voices per mono
track. When using DestructivePunch with a
Pro Tools|HD system configured for maximum
voices, make sure to set the voice assignment for
each audio track to dyn for Dynamically Allo-
cated Voicing. This ensures that Pro Tools can
automatically manage voices most efficiently.
DestructivePunch is a destructive recording
mode that lets you instantaneously punch in
(start recording) and punch out (stop recording)
on individual audio tracks during playback,
while preserving a contiguous audio file on each
punched track. No additional regions are cre-
ated when recording in DestructivePunch
mode.
DestructivePunch is useful for mixing and pre-
dubbing workflows where you want the final re-
sult to be a single, contiguous file without any
edits.
DestructivePunch is essentially a destructive
version of TrackPunch mode. Where Track-
Punch always records audio into a new file in
thebackground, DestructivePunchdestructively
Chapter 3: Recording Features and Enhancements 29
Overview of DestructivePunch
Mode
Configuring Pro Tools for
DestructivePunch Recording
Before using DestructivePunch, configure De-
structivePunch preferences and related
Pro Tools settings as described in this section.
To use DesctructivePunch mode,you do the do the
following steps:
tivePunch recording (see “Configuring
Pro Tools for DestructivePunch Recording” on
page 30).
Transport and Track Record Settings
The Transport RecordLock and Audio Record-
Lock preferences specify track and Transport
Record Enable behavior when playback or re-
cording are stopped. These preferences are
2 Put Pro Tools in DestructivePunch mode,
which is indicated by “dp” in the Pro Tools
Transport window (see “Enabling Destructive-
Punch Mode” on page 31).
3 Enable individual tracks for DestructivePunch
recording (see “Enabling Tracks for Destructive-
Punch Recording” on page 32).
Transport RecordLock
arming in the following ways:
4 Prepare the material on the enabled tracks for
DestructivePunch recording if necessary (see
“Preparing Tracks for DestructivePunch Record-
ing” on page 34).
◆ When Transport RecordLock is enabled, the
Transport Record remains armed after playback
or recording stops. This saves having to re-arm
the Transport between takes, emulating trans-
port behavior of a digital dubber.
5 Initiate recording and punch in on any De-
structivePunch-enabled tracks (see “Destructive-
Punch Recording” on page 35).
◆ When Transport RecordLock is not enabled,
the Transport Record disarms when Pro Tools is
manually stopped or stops due to a loss of time
code.
Punching out of record by pressing Record
on the Transport will take the transport out
of record enable.
30 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
To ensure that Low-Latency monitoring is disabled
for all selected record tracks:
Audio Track RecordLock
This option lets you configure Pro Tools track
arming in the following ways:
■ Start-Control-Shift-click (Windows) or Com-
mand-Control-Shift-click (Mac) the Track Com-
pensation indicator on the track.
◆ When Audio Track RecordLock is enabled,
any record-enabled audio tracks remain armed
after playback or recording stops.
To ensure that Low-Latency monitoring is disabled
for all record tracks:
◆ When Audio Track RecordLock is not enabled,
any record-enabled audio tracks are disarmed
when Pro Tools is stopped. This prevents tracks
from remaining armed across takes, emulating
track arming behavior of a digital dubber.
■ Start-Control-Alt-Shift-click (Windows) or
Command-Control-Option-Shift-click (Mac)
the Track Compensation indicator on the track.
Enabling DestructivePunch Mode
Delay Compensation Settings
Before you can enable individual audio tracks
for DestructivePunch recording, you must put
Pro Tools in DestructivePunch mode.
When using DestructivePunch to punch into an
existing recording, make sure the Delay Com-
pensation settings are the same as when the
original file was recorded.
To enable DestructivePunch mode:
◆ If Delay Compensation was active when re-
cording the original file, it should be kept active
while punching into the original file in Destruc-
tivePunch mode.
1 Make sure Pro Tools is not recording or play-
ing back (the Transport is stopped).
2 Do one of the following:
◆ If Delay Compensation was inactive when re-
cording the original file, it should be deactivated
while punching into the original file in Destruc-
tivePunch mode.
• Select Options > DestructivePunch.
• Right-click the Transport Record button
and choose DestructivePunch from the
pop-up menu.
• Start-click (Windows) or Control-click
(Mac) the Transport Record button to cycle
through available Record modes until De-
structivePunch mode is indicated by “dp”
in the Transport Record Enable button.
To ensure that the Delay Compensation path on
record tracks remains consistent while using De-
structivePunch, you will need to prevent
Pro Tools from using the Low Latency monitor-
ing path when record tracks switch to Input
monitoring.
To ensure that Low-Latency monitoring is disabled
for a record track:
■ Start-Control-click (Windows) or Command-
Control-click (Mac) the Track Compensation in-
dicator on the track.
Chapter 3: Recording Features and Enhancements 31
DestructivePunch Enabling and Record
Enabling Tracks Simultaneously
Enabling Tracks for
DestructivePunch Recording
You can simultaneously DestructivePunch en-
able tracks and record enable them. This starts
recording as soon as the transport is record-
armed and playback begins.
DestructivePunch Enabling Tracks
without Record Enabling Them
You can enable tracks for DestructivePunch
without record enabling them. This lets you
punch in on individual tracks at any time after
starting playback by clicking the Record Enable
button.
To simultaneously DestructivePunch enable and
record enable an audio track:
■ Click the track’s Record Enable button to tog-
gle the track’s Record Enable button to flashing
blue and red.
To DestructivePunch enable an audio track:
■ Start-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac)
the track’s Record Enable button to toggle the
button to solid blue.
To simultaneously DestructivePunch enable and
record enable all audio tracks:
■ Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac) a
track’s Record Enable button to toggle all Record
Enable buttons to flashing blue and red.
To DestructivePunch enable all audio tracks:
■ Alt-Start-click (Windows) or Option-Control-
click (Mac) a track’s Record Enable button to
toggle all Record Enable buttons to solid blue.
To simultaneously DestructivePunch enable and
record enable all selected audio tracks:
■ Alt-Shift-click (Windows) or Option-Shift-
click (Mac) a track’s Record Enable button to
toggle the Record Enable buttons for the se-
lected audio tracks to flashing blue and red.
To DestructivePunch enable all selected audio
tracks:
■ Start-Alt-Shift-click (Windows) or Control-
Option-Shift-click (Mac) a track’s Record Enable
button to toggle the Record Enable buttons for
the selected audio tracks solid blue.
Create a VCA group for each stem or set of
tracks on which you plan to punch, and use
the VCA Record Enable button to arm all
tracks in the group for DestructivePunch.
32 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
◆ Whenever at least one audio track is record-
ing, the Transport Record Enable button lights
solid red.
Display of DestructivePunch Status
Transport Record Enable Button
The Transport Record Enable button indicates
DestructivePunch mode and Record status as
follows:
Track Record Status Display
When Pro Tools is in DestructivePunch mode,
each track’s Record Enable button indicates its
DestructivePunch and record enable status as
follows:
When DestructivePunch mode is enabled:
◆ The letters “dp” appears in the Transport
Record Enable button.
• When a track is both DestructivePunch-en-
abled and record-enabled, its Record Enable
button flashes blue and red.
Transport Record Enable button with DestructivePunch
mode enabled
Record Enable button
◆ If at least one track is DestructivePunch-en-
abled, the Transport Record button lights solid
blue.
DestructivePunch Enabled
DestructivePunch status indication in an audio track in
the Mix window
Record LED
Input Status
LED
• When a track is DestructivePunch-enabled
but not record-enabled, its Record Enable but-
ton lights solid blue.
DestructivePunch status in the Transport window
• When a track is record-enabled only, its
Record Enable button flashes red.
When DestructivePunch mode is enabled and the
transport is armed for recording:
• While a track is recording (in any mode), its
Record Enable button lights solid red.
◆ If no tracks are DestructivePunch-enabled, the
Transport Record Enable button flashes gray and
red.
Red (not flashing) indicates recording
(all modes)
◆ If at least one track is DestructivePunch-en-
abled, the Transport Record Enable button
flashes blue and red.
Track Record status in the Edit window
◆ 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.
Chapter 3: Recording Features and Enhancements 33
• Select the material in the track and use the
Record and Input Status LEDs
Record and Input LEDs next to the Transport
Record Enable button indicate track Record and
Input status as follows, in all recording modes:
• Change the DestructivePunch File Length
setting so that the current file is equal to or
greater than the required length.
Record Status LED When lit (red), indicates that
at least one audio track is currently record-en-
abled. When off (grey), no tracks are currently
record-enabled.
• Use the Prepare DPE Tracks command to
consolidate audio on all DestructivePunch-
enabled tracks. (See “Using the Prepare DPE
Tracks Command” on page 34.)
Input Status LED When lit (green), indicates
that at least one audio track is currently set to
Input Only monitoring (regardless of record en-
able status). When off (grey), all tracks are in
DestructivePunch File Length
To use DestructivePunch on an audio track, the
track must contain a contiguous audio file of a
minimum length, which is set in the Pro Tools
Operation preferences page.
Auto Input monitoring
.
Track Record Enable buttons also appear in
blue to indicate that track is Destructive-
Punch-enabled.
To set DestructivePunch File Length:
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click Opera-
tion.
Preparing Tracks for
DestructivePunch Recording
2 Enter a value for DestructivePunch File
Length.
In order for a track to be enabled for Destructive-
Punch recording, the track must contain a con-
quirements:
• The file must start at the beginning
(sample 0) of the session.
To prepare a track for DestructivePunch recording:
– and –
1 Make sure DestructivePunch mode is enabled.
• The File Length must be equal to or greater
than the DestructivePunch File Length set-
ting (see “DestructivePunch File Length”
on page 34).
2 Make sure the tracks you want to prepare are
DestructivePunch-enabled. See “Destructive-
Punch Enabling Tracks without Record Enabling
Them” on page 32.
If a track does not contain a file that meets these
requirements, you can do any of the following
to meet the requirements:
3 Choose Options > Prepare DPE Tracks.
Pro Tools consolidates audio on all Destructive-
Punch-enabled tracks from the beginning of the
session to the value specified in the Destructive-
Punch File Length preference.
• Move the current file in the track timeline
so that its beginning aligns with the session
start.
34 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
3 Click Play in the Transport window to begin
playback.
DestructivePunch Recording
After you have put Pro Tools in Destructive-
Punch mode, enabled tracks for Destructive-
Punch recording, and prepared tracks if neces-
sary, you can record in several ways.
4 During playback, click Record in the Transport
window to punch in and out on all Destructive-
Punch-enabled tracks simultaneously.
5 Stop playback. When you are finished with
the record pass, track Record Enable status and
transport Record Arm status follow the current
Audio Track RecordLock and Transport Record-
Lock preference settings.
Punching In On Single Tracks
To punch in on single tracks:
1 Put Pro Tools in DestructivePunch mode.
2 Start-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac)
the Record Enable button for each track you
want to punch in, so that the track is Destruc-
tivePunch-enabled only. The track’s Record En-
able button lights solid blue.
Starting Recording Immediately on
Multiple Tracks
To immediately start recording on multiple tracks:
1 Put Pro Tools in DestructivePunch mode.
3 Click Record in the Transport window to enter
Record Ready mode. The Record button flashes
blue and red.
2 Click the Record Enable button on each track
you want to punch in, so that the track is both
DestructivePunch- and Record-enabled. Each
track’s Record Enable button flashes blue and
red.
4 Click Play in the Transport window to begin
playback.
5 During playback, punch in and out on indi-
vidual DestructivePunch-enabled tracks by
clicking their Record Enable buttons.
3 Click Record in the Transport window to enter
Record Ready mode. The Record button flashes
blue and red.
6 Stop playback. When you are finished with
the record pass, track Record Enable status and
transport Record Arm status follow the current
Audio Track RecordLock and Transport Record-
Lock preference settings.
4 Click Play in the Transport window to begin
playback.
5 During playback, punch out and back in on
individual DestructivePunch-enabled tracks by
clicking their Record Enable buttons.
Punching In on Multiple Tracks
6 Stop playback. When you are finished with
the record pass, track Record Enable status and
transport Record Arm status follow the current
Audio Track RecordLock and Transport Record-
Lock preference settings.
To punch in on multiple tracks simultaneously:
1 Put Pro Tools in DestructivePunch mode.
2 Click the Record Enable button on each track
you want to punch in, so that the track is both
DestructivePunch- and Record-enabled. Each
track’s Record Enable button flashes blue and
red.
Chapter 3: Recording Features and Enhancements 35
4 In the Track Arming window, arm the tracks
you want to rehearse by clicking the corre-
sponding buttons. The buttons light yellow to
indicate armed status.
MachineControl
Enhancements
Support for External Synchronizer
Track Name Display
When MachineControl is being used to control
Pro Tools via Remote mode, a supported syn-
chronizer polls track names in the Timeline and
display them in the synchronizer track display.
Armed tracks in Edit Preview mode
New Edit Preview Mode for
MachineControl Track Arming
5 In the Pro Tools Transport window, select
Transport > Machine.
In Pro Tools 7.2, before laying back audio to an
external device, you can rehearse the layback us-
ing Edit Preview (Rehearse) mode. In Edit Pre-
view mode, instead of performing an edit insert
(recording) on the external device’s armed
tracks, the device switch to input monitoring
without recording.
6 In the Pro Tools Transport window, click the
Online button to put Pro Tools online.
7 In the Pro Tools Transport window, click
Record. The button flashes yellow to indicate
Edit Preview (Rehearse) mode.
While in Edit Preview mode, the Transport
Record button flashes yellow when armed and
lights solid yellow when rehearsing. Armed
tracks are indicated by yellow track buttons in
the Track Arming window.
Armed Transport Record in Edit Preview mode
To rehearse a layback:
8 In the Pro Tools Transport window, click Play.
1 In Pro Tools, select the audio you want to re-
hearse for layback, or place the playback cursor
at a start point.
The machine will cue to the selection start or in-
sert point and being to play back. Pro Tools will
then sync to the deck, and the deck will record
as determined by the settings for Record Proto-
col and Record mode in the Track Arming win-
dow.
2 Choose Window > Machine Track Arming
3 In the Track Arming window, select Edit Pre-
view.
36 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
To enable the Allow Track Arm Commands in Local
Mode preference:
Using a Paddle Device in Local
Mode
1 Choose Setup > Preferences, and click the Syn-
chronization tab.
With Pro Tools 7.2, when using MachineCon-
trol in Local mode (with or without an external
synchronizer), you can use a supported third-
party paddle device to issue the following Pro
Tools track commands:
2 Select Allow Track Arm Commands in Local
Mode.
• Input monitoring
• Record Enable
• Record Safe
• Solo
• Solo Mute
Using these features involve the following steps:
MachineControl Remote Mode preferences
1 Connect the supported third-party paddle de-
vice to your system.
Configuring Ports for Serial Deck
Control and Remote 9-Pin Deck
Emulation
2 Make sure the Allow Track Arm Commands in
Local Mode preference is enabled.
Before connecting a paddle device and a deck to
Pro Tools simultaneously, both the Serial Deck
Control port and the Remote 9-Pin Deck Emula-
tion port may be configured.
3 Serial Deck Control and Remote 9-Pin Deck
Emulation ports may be configured simulta-
neously.
Connecting a Supported Third-Party
Paddle Device to Your Pro Tools System
To configure Serial Deck Control and Remote 9-Pin
Deck Emulation ports to operate simultaneously:
1 Choose Setup > Peripherals.
To connect a supported third-party paddle de-
vice to your Pro Tools system, use the same
method you would use to connect a deck for Re-
mote 9-Pin Deck Emulation mode.
2 Click the Synchronization tab and choose
SYNC from the Device pop-up menu (to select
SYNC I/O as the synchronization device enabled
on the Serial port).
See the MachineControl Guide for detailed
information on connecting a device
3 Click the MachineControl tab.
4 In the 9-Pin Serial section, click Enable.
Allow Track Arm Commands in Local
Mode Preference
The Allow Track Arm Commands in Local Mode
preference must be enabled in order to control
Pro Tools with a paddle device in Local mode.
Serial Deck Control port preferences and settings
Chapter 3: Recording Features and Enhancements 37
5 Use the Port pop-up menu to select the 9-pin
MachineControl port. The available choices de-
pend on your platform and configuration.
To set Pro Tools to Local mode:
■ In the Pro Tools Transport window, make sure
Pro Tools is not set to Remote mode.
After you select the port, Pro Tools automati-
cally polls the port to see what kind of machine
is connected.
• If the machine is recognized, Pro Tools loads
the corresponding machine profile for the
corresponding Machine Type and Node. This
includes the corresponding track layout and
automatically enters the name of that ma-
chine into the Pro Tools Machine Track Arm-
ing window.
Transport window
• If the machine is not recognized, Pro Tools au-
tomatically loads the “generic1” personality.
See the MachineControl Guide for more de-
tailed information about configuring and
using Serial Deck Control mode.
6 In the 9-Pin Remote section, click Enable.
Remote port preferences and settings
7 In the Port pop-up menu, select the port to
which the third-party paddle device is con-
nected.
8 Choose the Pro Tools machine profile from
the Machine Type ID pop-up menu.
9 Make sure Chase LTC is not selected.
10 Click OK to close the Peripherals window
and save your changes.
38 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
chapter 4
Editing Features and Enhancements
Shuffle Lock Mode
Region-Based Editing in
Automation Views
With certain workflows, it is important to ex-
clude Shuffle mode in order to ensure you do
not inadvertently move other regions on a track
while editing.
In Pro Tools 7.2, you can perform certain re-
gion-based edit commands and create fades in
Automation views. The commands available in
Automation view include:
Shuffle Lock mode prevents you from entering
Shuffle mode by disabling all key commands
and control surface switches for Shuffle mode.
You cannot enter Shuffle Lock while in Shuffle
mode.
• Separate Region commands
• Trim Region to Selection commands
• Heal Separation
• Create Fades
To enter Shuffle Lock mode:
■ While in any Edit mode other than Shuffle
mode, Control-click (Windows) or Command-
click (Mac) the Shuffle button on-screen. A lock
icon appears in the Shuffle button.
Shuffle
Lock
Separating a region in Automation view
You cannot use the Trim Tool to adjust re-
gions in automation views.
Lock icon indicating Shuffle Lock
To exit Shuffle Lock mode:
■ Control-click (Windows) or Command-click
(Mac) the locked Shuffle button on-screen.
Chapter 4: Editing Features and Enhancements 39
Time Grabber and Object Grabber
Display of Fade Boundaries
and Shapes in Automation
View
The Time Grabber and Object Grabber tools
overlay only the audio data on the destination
track.
In Pro Tools 7.2, fade boundaries and fade
shapes are shown in Automation views, allow-
ing for more precise viewing and editing of au-
tomation data.
Fade information in Automation view
Enhanced Region Copy/Paste
Behavior with Grabber Tools
Moving a selection with the Time Grabber
Separation Grabber
In Pro Tools 7.2, the behavior of the Grabber
tools has been enhanced to let you choose how
moved or copied selections replace data in des-
tination tracks.
The Separation Grabber replaces the entire se-
lected range on the destination track timeline.
Moving a selection with the Separation Grabber
40 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
2 Do one of the following:
Snapping Regions or
Selections to the Preceding
or Next Region
• Choose Edit > Snap To > Next.
– or –
• Right-click the region or Edit selection and
choose Snap to Next in the pop-up menu.
In Pro Tools 7.2, you can snap a region (or Edit
selection containing whole regions) to the end
of the preceding region or to the beginning of
the next region in a track. This is useful for “butt
splicing” successive elements on a track.
To snap a region or Edit selection to end of the
preceding region on a track:
1 Do one of the following:
• With the Time Grabber, select a region.
– or –
• With the Selector, select an area in a track
that contains whole regions. The regions
do not need to be adjacent.
2 Do one of the following:
• Choose Edit > Snap To > Previous.
– or –
Snapping a region to the next region in a track
• Right-click the region or Edit selection and
choose Snap to Previous in the pop-up
menu.
Enhanced Editing of Fades
Pro Tools 7.2 allows for greater flexibility in ed-
iting regions that contain or are adjacent to
fades.
To snap a region or Edit selection to beginning of
the next region on a track:
1 Do one of the following:
• With the Time Grabber, select a region.
Moving and Nudging Fades
– or –
• With the Selector, select an area in a track
that contains whole regions. The regions
do not need to be adjacent.
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 contributing region. Moving or nudg-
ing crossfades changes the overlap point of the
contributing regions.
Chapter 4: Editing Features and Enhancements 41
To move or nudge a fade or cross-fade within its
contributing regions:
Moving and Nudging Regions with
Fades
3 Select the fade or crossfade by doing one of
the following:
Nudging Regions Adjacent to Fade-Ins
or Fade Outs
• Use the Time Grabber tool to select the
fade.
When you nudge a region selection adjacent to
a fade in or fade out, but do not select the fade,
the adjacent fade stretches to maintain the fade
start or end point. The amount of stretch de-
pends on the amount of audio material outside
the fade start or end point.
• Use the Selector tool to select a range that
includes the fade.
To a nudge region without its fade:
1 Select a region by doing the following:
Selecting a fade with the Time Grabber
• Make sure Tab to Transients is off.
4 Move the fade by doing one of the following:
• Using the Selector tool, press the Tab key to
locate the start of the region.
• Drag the fade with the Time Grabber tool
to a new location on the track.
• Hold Shift and press Tab to select to the end
of the region.
• Nudge the fade by pressing Plus (+) or Mi-
nus (–) on the numeric keypad to move the
fade forward or backward on the track.
Selecting a region without its fade
2 Nudge the region by pressing Plus (+) or Mi-
nus (–) on the numeric keypad.
Dragging the fade with the Time Grabber
Nudging a region without its fade
Result of moved fade
42 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
4 Use the Time Grabber or Separation Grabber
tool to select one of the contributing regions to
a crossfade.
Moving Regions Adjacent to Crossfades
When you move either of the regions that con-
tributes to a crossfade, the regions separate. The
status of the fade depends on the Preserve Fades
when Editing preference.
To move crossfaded regions and retain the
corresponding fades:
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click Editing.
Selecting a region with a crossfade
2 Under Fades, select Preserve Fades when Edit-
5 Drag the selected region with the Grabber.
ing.
3 Click OK to close the Preferences dialog.
4 Use the Time Grabber or Separation Grabber
tool to select one of the contributing regions to
a crossfade.
Moving regions while removing fades
Nudging Regions Adjacent to
Crossfades
When you nudge either of the regions that con-
tributes to a crossfade, the fade stretches to pre-
serve the relative position of the crossfade start
and end points. The amount of stretch depends
on the amount of overlap between the contrib-
uting regions.
Selecting a region with a crossfade
5 Drag the selected region with the Grabber.
If you nudge a region beyond the boundary of
available audio for the crossfade, the fade is re-
moved.
Moving regions while preserving fades
To nudge a region and stretch its crossfade:
To move crossfaded regions and remove the fade:
1 Use the Time Grabber tool to select one of the
contributing regions to the crossfade.
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click Editing.
2 Under Fades, deselect Preserve Fades when Ed-
iting.
3 Click OK to close the Preferences dialog.
Selecting a region with a crossfade
Chapter 4: Editing Features and Enhancements 43
2 Nudge the region by pressing Plus (+) or Mi-
nus (–) on the numeric keypad.
Where your selection overlaps any fade-ins or
fade-outs, the fade is trimmed to fit the selec-
tion.
Stretching the crossfade by nudging
Selecting material that overlaps a fade-in
Separating Regions That Include
Fades
When you create regions from track material
that overlaps with fades, the status of the fade
depends on the Preserve Fades when Editing
preference.
Separating a region while preserving fades
Where your selection overlaps a crossfade, the
crossfade is separated into a fade-out and fade-in
at the selection boundary.
To separate a region that overlaps with a fade or
crossfade and preserve the fades:
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click Editing.
2 Under Fades, select Preserve Fades when Edit-
ing.
3 Click OK to close the Preferences dialog.
4 With the Selector tool, place the cursor at the
separation point or drag to select the material
for the new region.
Selecting material that overlaps a crossfade
5 Do one of the following:
• Choose Edit > Separate Region > At Selec-
tion
– or –
• Press Control+E (Windows) or Com-
mand+E (Mac).
Separating a region while preserving fades
To separate a region that overlaps with a fade or
crossfade and remove the fades:
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click Editing.
2 Under Fades, deselect Preserve Fades when Ed-
iting.
44 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
3 Click OK to close the Preferences dialog.
4 With the Selector tool, place the cursor at the
separation point or drag to select the material
for the new region.
5 Do one of the following:
Separating a region while removing fades
• Choose Edit > Separate Region > At Selec-
tion
Trimming Regions That Include
Fades
– or –
• Press Control+E (Windows) or Com-
mand+E (Mac).
In Pro Tools 7.2, you can trim regions that are
adjacent to fade boundaries.
Where your selection overlaps any fade-ins or
fade-outs, the fade is removed.
To trim a region on a fade boundary:
■ With the Trim tool, click the region boundary
and drag to trim the region. The fade remains
constant and follows the new region boundary.
Selecting material that overlaps a fade-in
Dragging a region boundary with the Trim tool
Trimming to a Selection Across
Fades
Separating a region while removing fades
You can trim regions to selections that include
fades or crossfades.
Where your selection overlaps a crossfade, the
crossfade is removed.
Selecting material that overlaps a crossfade
Chapter 4: Editing Features and Enhancements 45
To trim a region to a selection that includes fades:
Region List Enhancements for
Searching
■ Do any of the following:
• Make a selection in the track and choose
Edit > Trim Region > To Selection. You can
Trim across multiple regions and fades.
The Find Regions dialog provides two options
for defining a region search in a session. These
options can be used individually or in tandem
to suit different workflows.
By Name Filters the display of region names to
show only those that contain the entered text.
Include Subsequently Added Regions Filters the
display of region names to show only those re-
gions added to the session since the previous
Find command.
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 a
region or fade boundary in the track.
Find Regions dialog
To find and display regions in the Region List:
1 Click the Region List pop-up menu and
choose Find.
Automatic Fades for Imported
REX and ACID Files
2 In the Find Regions dialog, do any of the fol-
lowing:
Pro Tools 7.2 adds a preference to automatically
apply real-time fades to the regions or “slices” in
imported REX and ACID format files.
• Select By Name and type the name, or any
portion of the name, for regions you want
to find. The search string appears at the top
of the Region List.
To apply real-time fades to REX and ACID files:
• Select “Include Subsequently Added Re-
gions” to limit the display to newly added
regions. A plus (+) sign appears at the top of
the Region List to indicate this option is se-
lected.
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click Editing.
2 Select the “Automatically Create Fades For Im-
ported REX and ACID files” option.
• Select both options to start with a list of
named regions and allow display of added
regions.
3 Click REX/ACID and choose the shapes for the
fades, and click OK.
4 Click OK to close the Preferences dialog.
3 Click OK.
46 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
Importing Multichannel Audio
Files from a Field Recorder
Region List Enhancements for
Multichannel Metadata
Pro Tools 7.2 lets you use any of the import
methods to import monophonic and poly-
phonic audio files recorded by a field recorder.
When you import these types of files, they must
be converted to an audio format compatible
with Pro Tools.
In Pro Tools 7.2, the Region List has been en-
hanced to display the following metadata in
multichannel region headers, as follows:
• The header and collapsed channel items in
the Region List now display Scene and Take,
and Channel Name metadata.
• With multichannel regions, the number of
channels in a region displays in the multi-
channel header. For example, a multichannel
region called “Argument Scene” with eight
channels would display as, “Argument
Scene (8A Channels).”
For more information on importing files
from a field recorder, refer to the Field
Recorder Workflow Guide.
Importing Monophonic Audio Files
A monophonic audio file contains one mono
channel and relevant metadata from a single
multichannel recording.
When you import monophonic audio files that
were recorded simultaneously, they are con-
verted to multichannel regions and displayed
together in the Region List. Any metadata is also
imported with the files.
Multichannel regions organized in the Region List
Importing Polyphonic Audio Files
A polyphonic audio file contains multiple mono
channels and relevant metadata recorded simul-
taneously in a multichannel recording.
Replacing a Region with an
Alternate Channel from a
Multichannel Recording
When imported into Pro Tools, a polyphonic
audio file is divided into individual monopho-
nic audio files written to disk—one file for each
channel. Regions for each channel appear in the
playlist, and a multichannel region appears in
the Region List with the channels expandable
underneath. Any metadata is also imported
with the files.
In the Timeline, you can replace a mono region
(or selected portion of a mono region) with a
matching segment of an alternate channel that
was recorded simultaneously. Any fades per-
formed on the original region are automatically
recalculated against the replacement region,
and any pre-existing automation on that track is
unchanged.
Chapter 4: Editing Features and Enhancements 47
For example, you could replace the audio from a
boom microphone with the audio from a lava-
lier microphone—while preserving any edits or
fades from the edited audio in the AAF or OMF
sequence.
To replace a region with a matching alternate
channel from a channel group:
1 In the Timeline, select the region or the por-
tion of the region you want to replace.
2 Right-click (Windows or Mac) or Control-click
(Mac) the region or the selected portion of the
region you want to replace, and choose
Matches, followed by the name of the region
you want to replace it with.
Conditions for Alternate Channel
Availability
An alternate channel is available to replace the
original channel (represented by the region re-
siding on the Timeline) if both channels are part
of a recording made simultaneously on one or
more field recorders, and if the metadata cap-
tured during shooting has been preserved prior
to import into Pro Tools.
See the Field Recorder Workflow Guide for
detailed information on workflows for field
recorders.
With multichannel recordings from one field re-
corder, both channels must overlap at least once
between their start time code and end time code
positions, and must also meet one of the follow-
ing conditions:
Selecting an alternate channel from a channel group to
replace a region
If the location sound mixer who made the
original recording entered metadata rele-
vant to the actual shot (such as the name of
each miked character), this information will
be displayed in the Matches pop-up menu.
• Matching Tape
• Matching Soundroll
• Alternate channel Sound Roll matches cur-
rent channel Tape
• Alternate channel Tape matches current
channel Sound Roll
With multichannel recordings from multiple
field recorders, both channels must overlap at
least once between their start time code and end
time code positions, and must also meet one of
the following conditions:
• Matching Scene and Take
• Matching Shoot Date
48 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
chapter 5
Grouping Features and Enhancements
Mix Groups
Increase in Number of
Mix groups can be set to affect the following
Available Mix and Edit Groups
track parameters in the Mix and Edit windows:
• Main Volume
• Main Mute
In Pro Tools 7.2, a total of 104 groups are avail-
able, arranged in 4 banks of 26 Group IDs.
• Main Pan
• Main LFE Level
• Record Enable
• Input Monitoring
• Solo
New Group Functions
In Pro Tools 7.2, additional parameters can now
follow Mix groups, and you can select which pa-
rameters follow grouped behavior on a group-
by-group basis.
• Automation Mode
• Send Level
• Send Mute
Parameters Available for Groups
• Send Pan
• Send LFE Level
• Plug-in Controls
• Plug-in Bypass
The following parameters can follow groups:
Edit Groups
Edit Groups affect the following items in the
Edit window:
Selectable Group Attributes
• Track View
In Pro Tools 7.2, you can select which parame-
ters, or attributes, are linked in groups by the fol-
lowing methods:
• Track Height
• Track Timebase
• Editing functions
• By making the group an Edit group, a Mix
group, or both (Mix/Edit group)
Edit group behavior is unchanged from pre-
vious versions of Pro Tools.
• With Mix and Mix/Edit groups, by selecting
from a list of attributes for the group
Chapter 5: Grouping Features and Enhancements 49
• With Mix groups, by choosing whether the se-
lected attributes apply globally to all groups or
to individual groups
Creating Groups
In Pro Tools 7.2, you can select the tracks you
want to add to a group before creating it, as well
as add and remove tracks from a group after it
has been created.
New Group Dialog and
Commands
In previous versions of Pro Tools, to add or
remove tracks from a group, you had to se-
lect tracks and overwrite the group.
In Pro Tools 7.2, an expanded Group dialog and
new Group commands let you create, modify,
duplicate, delete, and assign attributes to
groups.
To create a group:
1 Select the tracks you want to include in the
group. (If you do not select tracks at this time,
you can add tracks later.)
2 Do one of the following:
• Choose Track > Group.
– or –
• Choose New Group from the Group List
pop-up menu.
3 Enter a name for the group.
4 Select the type of group to create: Edit group,
Mix group, or Mix/Edit group.
Group dialog
The Groups dialog has three pages:
Tracks Lets you add and remove tracks from the
current group
Selecting a Group Type
Attributes Lets you select which parameters are
linked for the current Mix or Mix/Edit group
Globals Lets you select parameters to use as a
template that can be applied to individual
groups by selecting Follow Globals
50 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
5 (Optional) Choose a Group ID from the ID
pop-up menu. Four banks of 26 are available:
a–z, 2a–z, 3a–z, 4a–z. (If you don’t choose a
Group ID, Pro Tools automatically assigns the
next available ID to a new group.)
• To replace all tracks in the group with the
tracks that are currently selected in the ses-
sion, click the Replace button at the bot-
tom of the Group dialog.
Choosing a Group ID
6 Click Tracks in the Group dialog, and do any
of the following:
Selecting track names to add to a group
• To add the tracks that are currently selected
in the session to the group, click the Add
button at the bottom of the Group dialog.
In either list, Shift-click to select a range of
track names. Control-click (Windows) or
Command-click (Mac) to select discontigu-
ous track names.
• To add tracks to the group, select the track
names in the Available track list, and click
Add or press A on the computer keyboard.
group, set the attributes for the group. See
“Group Attributes” on page 53.
• To remove tracks from the group, select the
track names in the Currently In Group list,
and click Remove or press R on the com-
puter keyboard.
8 If the group is a Mix group or a Mix/Edit group
and you want to assign the group to an available
VCA Master track, choose the VCA track from
the VCA pop-up menu. See “Creating VCA Mas-
ter Tracks” on page 58.
• Double-click track names in either list to
move them to the opposite column.
Choosing a VCA track to control a group
9 Click OK.
Chapter 5: Grouping Features and Enhancements 51
To modify the settings for the “All” group:
Modifying Groups
1 Right-click the “All” group name in the Group
List and choose Modify from the pop-up menu.
To modify a group:
1 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.
All Group pop-up menu
• Right-click the Group name in the Group
List and choose Modify from the pop-up
menu.
2 In the Group dialog, select Edit, Mix, or
Mix/Edit to change the settings for the ALL
group. If you select Edit only or Mix only, the
ALL group will apply only to that Group type.
Group List pop-up menu
2 In the Groups dialog, choose the group you
want to modify from the ID pop-up menu.
3 Change any of the following for the current
group:
• Group name
• Group type (Edit, Mix or Mix/Edit)
• VCA status
• Follows Global status
• Track membership
• Attributes
Modify ALL Group dialog
4 Click OK.
3 For Mix or Mix/Edit groups, you can change
any of the following:
• Follows Global status
• Attributes
4 Click OK.
52 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
2 Change any of the following for the current
group:
Deleting Groups
You can delete groups in several ways.
• Group name
• Group type (Edit, Mix, or Mix/Edit)
• VCA status
Deleting a group is not undoable.
To delete a single group, do one of the following:
• Follows Global status
• Track membership
• Attributes
■ In the Mix window, click the Group ID indica-
tor on a track and choose Delete from the pop-
up menu.
3 Click OK.
■ Right-click the Group name in the Group List
and choose Delete from the pop-up menu.
Group Attributes
To delete all currently active groups
When creating a Mix group or a Mix/Edit group,
you can select the Mix window parameters that
will be linked for that group. These linked pa-
rameters are the attributes of the group.
■ Choose Delete Active Groups from the Group
List pop-up menu.
You can select attributes in the Globals page and
then set individual groups to follow the Global
settings, or you can select attributes for groups
individually.
Group List pop-up menu
To select the Global attributes:
1 While creating or modifying a group, click
Globals in the Group dialog.
The ALL group cannot be deleted.
Duplicating Groups
2 Select the base set of attributes for groups in
your session.
You can duplicate a group and modify its set-
tings in order to quickly set up a mix.
3 Click OK to save the group and the new Glo-
bals settings.
To duplicate a group:
1 Do one of the following:
• Click the Group ID indicator on a track and
choose Duplicate from the pop-up menu.
• Right-click the Group name in the Group
List and choose Duplicate from the pop-up
menu.
Chapter 5: Grouping Features and Enhancements 53
To select attributes for an individual group:
Send controls (Sends A–J):
• Send Level
1 While creating or modifying a Mix group or a
• Send Mute
Mix/Edit group, do one of the following:
• Send Pan
• Click Attributes in the Group dialog, and
select the attributes you want to link.
• Send LFE Level
– or –
Insert controls (Inserts A–E):
• Plug-in Controls
• Click Follow Globals to follow the base set
of attributes. The Attributes page greys out
to indicate that the group is following the
selections in the Globals page.
• Insert Bypass
To select the attributes for a group, do any of the
following:
■ Select individual attributes by clicking their
checkboxes.
■ To select or deselect all attributes, Alt-Shift-
click (Windows) or Option-Shift-click (Mac) any
attribute.
■ To select or deselect all attributes for a single
Send or Insert (across a row), Start-click (Win-
dows) or Control-click (Mac) any attribute in
that row.
■ To select or deselect attributes for a single con-
trol across all Sends, all Inserts, or for the four
track controls (down a column), Alt-click (Win-
dows) or Option-click (Mac) any attribute in
that column.
Attributes page of Group dialog
2 Click OK.
Selecting Group Attributes
The following attributes can be selected for Glo-
bal settings and for individual groups:
Saving Group Attribute Presets
You can define six Group presets that can be re-
called on either the Attributes or Globals page
whenever you are creating or modifying a Mix
or Mix/Edit group.
Track controls:
• Main Volume
• Main Mute
• Main Pan
• Main LFE Level
• Record Enable
• Input Monitoring
• Solo
• Automation Mode
54 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
To save the current attribute settings as a Group
preset:
Enhanced Group Menus
1 In the Groups dialog, click Save. (Follow Glo-
bals must be unchecked to save a setting from
the Attributes page.)
In Pro Tools 7.2, the following menus have been
added or enhanced.
Group List Pop-Up Menu
The pop-up menu at the top of the Group List
provides the following commands:
New Group Executes Track > Group command
Saving a Group preset
Display Options Provides commands to show
Edit Groups only, Mix Groups only, or all
groups (Edit, Mix and Mix/Edit groups).
2 Choose one of the six preset locations from
the Location pop-up menu, and click Save.
Suspend All Groups Suspends group behavior for
all Edit, Mix and Mix/Edit groups
To save the current attribute settings di-
rectly to a preset location, Control-click
(Windows) or Command-click (Mac) the
preset button.
Modify Groups Opens Group dialog to modify
existing groups only
To recall a Group preset:
Delete Active Groups Deletes only currently ac-
■ Click the corresponding Preset button (1–6) in
the Groups dialog. (Follow Globals must be un-
checked to recall a setting in the Attributes
page.)
tive groups
Group List pop-up menu
Recalling a Group preset
Grouped Panning and Channel
Linking
When the Main Pan attribute is enabled for
groups, grouped behavior applies to the Link,
Front inverse, Rear inverse and Front/Rear in-
verse controls in stereo and multichannel pan-
ner windows.
See “Group Attributes” on page 53 for more in-
formation on selecting the Main Pan attribute.
Chapter 5: Grouping Features and Enhancements 55
Group Name and Track Group ID Pop-Up
Menus
Grouped Control Offsets
In Pro Tools 7.2, when the following controls
are grouped with offsets, and moved to their ex-
tremes, relative offsets are preserved when the
controls are moved back from their extremes:
When you click a group name in the Groups list,
or click the Group ID indicator in a track, a pop-
up menu provides the following commands:
Tracks Displays track membership in group
• Main Volume
• Main Pan
• Send Level
• Send Pan
Attributes Displays attributes of group
Modify Opens Group dialog to modify existing
groups only
For example, when a grouped Volume fader is
moved to its maximum value, any other faders
in that group that had higher values will re-
member their relative offset whenever the first
fader is pulled down again.
Duplicate Opens Group dialog for duplicated
group
Delete Deletes a single group
Select Tracks in Group Selects tracks in the
group
In Automation views, this “overflow” is indi-
cated on the automation playlist by blue auto-
mation breakpoints at the extremes of the auto-
mation playlist.
Show/Hide Tracks in Group Shows or hides track
in the current group
Show Only Tracks in Group Showsonlythetracks
in the group and hides all other tracks
Show All Tracks Shows all tracks in the session
Group Name pop-up menu
Track Group ID indicator pop-up menu
56 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
2 In the Send window, click the FMP (Follow
New Panning Features
Main Pan) button.
In Pro Tools 7.2, there are several options for
setting the behavior of pan controls.
Setting Group Pan Controls to
Ignore Offsets
By default, offsets are preserved for grouped pan
controls. In some workflows, it is desirable to
have grouped pan controls match absolute val-
ues rather than preserve offsets.
Linking Send Pan to Main Pan
To set grouped pan controls to ignore offsets:
Linked Send pan controls appear in light grey.
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click Mixing.
2 Select “Use Absolute Pan Linking.”
To change the default FMP setting for newly
created sends:
When this option is enabled, grouped pan con-
trols will snap to the absolute value of the pan
control that is being adjusted.
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click Mixing.
2 Under Setup, select or deselect Sends Pans De-
fault to Follow Main Pan.
Linking Main Pan and Send Pan
Controls
Two-Knob Surround Panning
You can link pan controls of individual Sends to
the Main pan controls of their corresponding
track, allowing for fast setup of cue mixes or ef-
fects panning.
(ICON Only)
With D-Control and D-Command, when work-
ing with surround panning, you can link front
and rear pan controls to facilitate left-right mo-
tion in the surround field.
To link a Send’s Pan controls to the Main Pan
controls of track:
To link front and rear surround panners on ICON:
1 Click the Send Assignment button for the
1 Press the Operation switch in Console Prefs
Send you want to link to open the Send window.
section until “2KbPan” appears in the Soft Keys.
2 Press the Soft Key that corresponds to
“2KbPan” to toggle the preference on or off.
Chapter 5: Grouping Features and Enhancements 57
2 In the New Tracks dialog, do the following:
VCA Master Tracks
• Select VCA Master from the Track Type po-
up menu.
VCA Master tracks emulate the operation of
voltage-controlled amplifier channels on analog
consoles, where a VCA channel fader would be
used to control, group, or offset the signal levels
of other channels on the console.
• Select the timebase (Samples or Ticks) from
the Track Timebase menu.
• Enter the number of new tracks.
• Click Create.
VCA Master tracks do not pass audio, so they do
not have inputs, outputs, inserts or sends. A Mix
group is assigned to a VCA Master track, which
appears in the VCA track’s Assignment selector.
VCA Master Track Controls
The controls on a VCA Master track affect the
corresponding controls, listed below, on the
slave tracks in its assigned Mix group.
The controls of the tracks in that Mix group,
called the slave tracks, are modified by the con-
trols on the VCA Master.
When a group is assigned to a VCA Master, the
controls on its slave tracks, by default, do not
follow any grouped behavior that may be set in
the Attributes page of the Groups dialog. This is
standard behavior for VCA operation. However,
slave tracks can be set to follow group behavior.
See “Allowing Grouped Behavior of Slave Track
Controls” on page 60.
Group Assignment
selector
Record
Enable
TrackInput
Solo
Mute
VCA Group ID
Volume
Volume
The VCA Volume fader controls the Volume
fader on audio, Auxiliary Input, Instrument,
Master Fader, and other VCA Master tracks in a
VCA-controlled group. (Volume faders on MIDI
tracks are not affected.) Volume faders on slave
tracks move to show the composite level, or the
level on each track resulting from the contribu-
tion of the VCA Master Volume fader.
Level Meter
VCA Track Type indicator
VCA Master track
Creating VCA Master Tracks
To add a VCA Master to a session:
1 Choose Track > New.
58 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
Mute
TrackInput
The VCA Mute button controls the mute state of
audio, Auxiliary Input, Instrument, MIDI, and
other VCA Master tracks in a VCA-controlled
group. Muting a VCA-controlled group does not
change the original mute state of slave tracks.
(Mute buttons on slave tracks that were previ-
ously unmuted show an implicit mute.)
The VCA TrackInput button toggles the input
monitor status of only those audio tracks in a
VCA-controlled group that are record-enabled.
You can toggle Input Monitor status for those
tracks using the VCA Master TrackInput button.
To temporarily force all slave tracks to toggle their
input monitoring status:
Solo
■ Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac) the
VCA Master TrackInput button on the VCA Mas-
ter.
The VCA Solo button controls the solo status of
audio, Auxiliary Input, Instrument, MIDI, and
other VCA Master tracks in a VCA-controlled
group.
Level Meter
• Soloing a VCA Master will implicitly mute
all tracks except its slave tracks, thereby in-
directly soloing the slave tracks.
On VCA Master tracks, Level meters indicates
the highest level occurring on any of its individ-
ual tracks, not a summed level of all slave tracks.
• Soloing a VCA Master will clear any explicit
solos on its slave tracks, leaving them indi-
rectly soloed, and implicitly mute all other
tracks.
The channel format of Level meters on the VCA
Master is set according to the channel formats of
its slave tracks, as follows:
• If all slave tracks are the same channel for-
mat (mono, stereo or a multichannel for-
mat), the number of level meters on the
VCA Master track is identical to that of the
slave tracks.
• Explicitly soloing a slave track while its
VCA Master track is soloed will override the
VCA Master solo.
Record Enable
• If the slave tracks are different formats, the
number of level meters on the VCA Master
track is set to one.
The VCA Record Enable button toggles the
Record Enable status of only those audio, Instru-
ment, and other VCA tracks that have already
been record-enabled individually. You can then
toggle record enable on and off for those tracks
using the VCA Master Record Enable.
Record Enable, TrackInput and Slave
Tracks
When a slave track is record-enabled (the Record
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.
To temporarily force all slave tracks to toggle their
record enable status:
■ Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac) the
Record Enable button on the VCA Master.
Chapter 5: Grouping Features and Enhancements 59
To assign a new group to a VCA Master:
Allowing Grouped Behavior of Slave
Track Controls
1 While creating a new group, select Mix or
Mix/Edit as the Group type.
When a track is a VCA slave track, its Volume,
Mute, Solo, Record Enable, and Input Monitor-
ing controls follow VCA functions, and nor-
mally do not follow grouped behavior.
2 In the Group dialog, choose an available VCA
Master track from the VCA pop-up menu.
However, these slave track controls can be set to
allow grouped behavior in addition to their VCA
functions.
To allow grouped behavior of VCA-related controls
on slave tracks:
Assigning a new group to a VCA Master
Track Membership in Multiple VCA
Groups
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click Mixing.
2 In the Automation section, deselect the “Stan-
dard VCA Logic for Group Attributes” option.
It is possible for a single slave track to be a mem-
ber of more than one VCA-controlled group. In
this case, the contribution of all VCA Master
Volume faders is summed on the slave track.
Mute, Solo, Record Enable, and TrackInput fol-
low the same rules for enabling or disabling
slave tracks.
Volume, Mute, Solo, Record Enable, and Input
Monitoring are made available as Mix group at-
tributes in the Group dialog.
Assigning Groups to VCA Masters
An existing Mix group can be assigned to a VCA
Master, or a new Mix group can be assigned to a
VCA Master while it is being created. Only one
group can be assigned to a VCA Master at a time.
A VCA Master cannot control a group that in-
cludes itself.
VCA Automation
Displaying Automation on VCA
Master Tracks
The following controls on VCA Master tracks
can be automated and have separate automa-
tion playlists:
To assign an existing group to a VCA Master:
■ Click the Group Assignment selector on the
VCA Master track and choose an available group
from the pop-up menu.
• Volume
• Volume trim
• Mute
These automation playlists follow the same be-
havior as automation playlists on other track
types. For more information on Volume trim
automation, see “New Trim Automation Fea-
tures” on page 67.
Assigning an existing group to a VCA Master
60 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
To coalesce automation from a VCA Master to all
of its slave tracks and retain the VCA Master:
Displaying the Composite
Automation Playlist on Slave
Tracks
1 Select the VCA Master track whose automa-
tion you want to coalesce.
When a track is a VCA slave, you can display a
composite automation playlist that shows the
contribution of the VCA Master to the Volume
or Mute automation data on the slave track.
This composite playlist reflects the actual posi-
tion of the Volume fader on the slave track.The
composite playlist display cannot be directly ed-
ited.
2 Do one of the following:
• Choose Track > Coalesce VCA Master Auto-
mation.
– or –
• Right-click the VCA Master track name and
choose Coalesce VCA Master Automation
from the pop-up menu.
To display the composite playlist on VCA slave
tracks:
The composite Volume level and Mute state are
coalesced to each of the slave tracks. The VCA
Master Volume fader is reset to zero, the VCA
Mute is set to unmuted, and any automation on
the VCA Master is cleared.
■ Choose View > Automation > Composite
Playlist.
Deleting the VCA Master
You can temporarily use a VCA Master to write
grouped automation, then coalesce the VCA au-
tomation to all of the slave tracks by deleting
the VCA Master. The coalesced tracks will play
back exactly as they did when they were in the
VCA group.
Volume
automation
playlist
Composite
playlist
Viewing composite automation on a VCA slave track
To coalesce automation from a VCA Master to all
of its slave tracks and delete the VCA Master
track:
Coalescing VCA Automation
There are several ways to commit, or coalesce,
the contribution of a selected VCA Master
track’s Volume and Mute automation to the au-
tomation playlists of its slave tracks.
1 Select the VCA Master track whose automa-
tion you want to coalesce.
2 Choose Track > Delete.
The composite Volume level and Mute state are
committed to each of the slave tracks.
Clearing the VCA Master
You can use a VCA Master to write grouped au-
tomation, coalesce the VCA automation to all of
the slave tracks, and clear the automation on
the VCA Master. The coalesced tracks will play
back exactly as they did when they were in the
VCA group.
This action cannot be undone.
Chapter 5: Grouping Features and Enhancements 61
2 Choose Track > Duplicate.
Removing a Slave Track from a VCA
Group
3 In the Duplicate Track dialog, deselect Group
Assignments.
You can remove an individual slave track from a
VCA group, which commits the VCA automa-
tion to that track, leaving the VCA Master and
the other slave tracks untouched. The coalesced
slave track plays back exactly as it did when it
was in the VCA group.
4 Click OK.
The composite Volume level and Mute state are
coalesced to the duplicate track. The original
slave track is preserved, and the VCA group is
unchanged.
To coalesce automation from a VCA Master to an
individual slave track:
Coalescing Automation Across an Edit
Selection
1 Do one of the following:
• Choose Modify Groups from the Group
List pop-up menu.
You can commit VCA automation across an Edit
selection in a VCA Master track, without com-
mitting the automation on the entire length of
the track.
• Click the Group ID indicator on the track
and choose Modify from the pop-up menu.
• Right-click the Group name in the Group
List and choose Modify from the pop-up
menu.
To coalesce automation in an Edit selection on a
VCA Master track:
1 Select the VCA Master track whose automa-
tion you want to coalesce.
2 In the Groups dialog, select the VCA-con-
trolled group that includes the slave track.
2 Make an Edit selection in the VCA Master
track that includes the range of automation you
want to coalesce.
3 In the Groups dialog, click Tracks and remove
the slave track from the group.
4 Click OK.
3 Do one of the following:
The slave track is removed from the VCA group,
and the composite Volume level and Mute state
are coalesced to the track.
• Hold Start (Windows) or Control (Mac) and
choose Track > Coalesce VCA Master Auto-
mation.
– or –
Duplicating a Slave Track
• Hold Start (Windows) or Control (Mac) and
Right-click the VCA Master track name and
choose Coalesce VCA Master Automation
from the pop-up menu.
When you duplicate a slave track without dupli-
cating its group assignments, the VCA automa-
tion is coalesced to the duplicate track. The coa-
lesced duplicate plays back exactly as if it were
in the VCA group.
The composite Volume level and Mute state are
committed to each of the slave tracks over the
Edit selection. The VCA Master Volume is set to
zero, the VCA Mute state is set to unmuted, and
any automation on the VCA Master is cleared
for the selected area only.
To coalesce automation from a VCA Master to a
single slave track by duplicating the track:
1 Select the slave track whose automation you
want to coalesce.
62 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
chapter 6
Automation Features and Enhancements
Automation Data Displayed in
Real Time
New Automation Indicator
Behavior
In Pro Tools 7.2, when automation is being writ-
ten and the corresponding automation playlist
is displayed in the Edit window, the automation
data is displayed in real time.
In Pro Tools 7.2, the way Pro Tools indicates en-
abling of automation and writing of automation
has changed.
and light with bold text to indicate writing of
automation.
In all automation modes, automation moves are
shown as a red line in the corresponding auto-
mation playlist while the transport is moving.
On control surfaces, channel and Automation
Enable indicators now light solid to denote au-
tomation-enabled status and flash to indicate
writing of automation. See “Automation Mode
Indication” on page 112.
Previous versions of Pro Tools used the op-
posite scheme: indicators flashed to indicate
automation enabled status, and lit solid to
indicate writing of automation.
Display of Volume automation writing in real time
Because Write mode and Latch Prime mode
write automation as soon as playback be-
gins, they are always indicated as actively
writing (bold text on-screen and flashing in-
dicators on control surfaces), even before
playback begins.
Chapter 6: Automation Features and Enhancements 63
Track Automation Mode Selectors
New Preference to
Automatically Enable Plug-ins
for Automation
◆ When a track is enabled for automation but
not writing automation, the Automation mode
indicator shows the mode in normal red text.
◆ When any control on a track is writing auto-
mation, the Automation mode indicator shows
the mode in bold red text.
You can set Pro Tools to automatically enable all
controls of a plug-in for automation when you
add the plug-in to your session.
To automatically enable all plug-in controls for
automation:
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click Mixing.
2 Select “Plug-in Controls Default to Auto-En-
abled.”
Automation Mode selector showing enabled state (left)
and writing state (right)
3 Click OK to close the Preferences window.
Automation Window Buttons
◆ When an automation type is writing automa-
tion on any track in the session, the correspond-
ing button in the Automation window displays
bold red text.
“Write Automation To”
Command Enhancements
◆ When an automation type is enabled but is
not writing anywhere in the session, the corre-
sponding button in the Automation window
displays normal red text.
New Write to Punch Point
Command
Pro Tools 7.2 adds the ability to write current
automation values from the current insertion
point back to the point where automation writ-
ing started.
Writing
This lets you “fill back” an automation value
within a track after finding the right level or set-
ting during an automation pass, without having
to go back and repeat the pass.
Enabled
Not Enabled
Like the other “Write Automation To” com-
mands, you can invoke the Write Automation
to Punch Point command at any time during
playback, or enable Write Automation to Punch
Point on Stop mode to automatically write auto-
mation when the transport is stopped.
Automation window showing possible automation
states
64 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
To write current automation values back to the
automation punch point:
Using “Write To” Commands
During Playback
1 Choose Window > Automation to open the
Automation window.
In Pro Tools 7.2, you can carry out any of the
“Write Automation To” commands without
stopping the Pro Tools transport. On supported
control surfaces, the corresponding “Write To”
button flashes until you stop the transport.
2 Make sure that the appropriate automation
type is write enabled.
3 Click in a track to define an insertion point.
In previous versions of Pro Tools, the trans-
port automatically stopped when a “Write
To” command was issued.
4 Click Play to being playback.
5 Make sure you are actively writing on the ap-
propriate track if you are in Touch, Touch/Latch,
or Latch mode.
While the Pro Tools transport is moving, issuing
“Write Automation To” commands affects writ-
ing of automation in the following ways:
6 When you reach a point in the track where
you want to apply the current settings, click the
Write Automation to Punch Point button.
• Write to Start/Selection Start: Currently
writing controls continue writing automa-
tion
• Write to All/Selection: Currently writing
controls (except controls in Write mode)
punch out of writing automation
• Write to End/Selection End: Currently writ-
ing controls (except controls in Write
mode) punch out of writing automation
Write to Punch Point
• Write to Next Breakpoint: Currently writ-
ing controls (except controls in Write
mode) punch out of writing automation
Write to Punch Point
on Stop
• Write to Punch point: Currently writing
controls continue writing automation
Write To Punch Point buttons in the Automation window
The current values of all write-enabled parame-
ters are written back to the point where the first
control began writing automation.
Chapter 6: Automation Features and Enhancements 65
Applying “Write To” Commands to
Selected Tracks
AutoMatch and AutoJoin
Enhancements
The “Write Automation To” commands nor-
mally apply to all tracks currently writing auto-
mation. In Pro Tools 7.2, it is possible to apply
these commands to only the currently selected
tracks.
On-Screen Support for AutoMatch
and AutoJoin
In Pro Tools 7.2, you can invoke AutoMatch and
AutoJoin commands without a control surface.
The Automation window has a new button for
each command.
To apply any of the “Write Automation To”
commands to currently selected tracks:
1 Select the tracks where you want to apply the
“Write To” commands.
2 Alt-Shift-click (Windows) or Option-Shift-
click the corresponding “Write Automation To”
button.
AutoJoin
AutoMatch
Supressing Warnings when Using
“Write To” Commands
AutoJoin and AutoMatch buttons in the Automation
window
When you carry out any of the “Write Automa-
tion To” commands (except Write to Next
Breakpoint), Pro Tools posts a dialog warning
that automation values will be changed in the
session. You can suppress these warnings.
AutoMatching Individual Tracks
You can invoke AutoMatch on individual
tracks. All controls currently writing automa-
tion on the track stop writing and return to ex-
isting automation levels.
To suppress “Write To” warning dialogs:
To AutoMatch all controls on a track:
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click Mixing.
■ Control-click (Windows) or Command-click
(Mac) the Automation Mode selector on the
track.
2 Under Automation, select Suppress Automa-
tion “Write To” Warnings.
AutoMatching Automation Types
You can invoke AutoMatch on individual auto-
mation types across a session.
To AutoMatch all controls of one automation type:
■ In the Automation window, Control-click
(Windows) or Command-click (Mac) the button
for the automation type (Volume, Pan, Mute,
Plug-in, Send level, Send pan, or Send mute).
66 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
New Touch/Latch Automation
Mode
New Trim Automation
Features
In Pro Tools 7.2, the new Touch/Latch Automa-
tion mode places a track’s Volume control in
Touch mode and all other automatable controls
in Latch mode.
In Pro Tools 7.2, Automation Trim modes have
been enhanced to provide separate Trim playl-
ists that let you modify Trim automation moves
before committing them to the main automa-
tion playlist.
In Touch/Latch mode, the Volume control fol-
lows Touch behavior, writing automation when
touched and returning to previously written lev-
els when released.
Trim Automation Playlists
Separate Trim automation playlists are available
for Volume trim and Send Level trim. Volume
trim is available on all track types except MIDI
tracks. Send Level trim is available on audio
tracks only.
All other controls follow Latch behavior, writing
automation when touched and continuing until
playback stops, or until you punch out of writ-
ing automation.
Each Trim automation playlist shows the posi-
tion of the Trim fader with yellow breakpoint
automation that can be edited.
This mode is indicated on control surfaces by il-
luminated Touch and Latch indicators.
To display a Trim automation playlist:
■ Click the Track View selector and choose Vol-
ume Trim or Send > Level Trim.
Displaying Trim automation playlists
Selecting Touch/Latch mode
Volume
Trim
data
Trim automation playlist
Chapter 6: Automation Features and Enhancements 67
To display the composite playlist:
Displaying Trim Automation Along
with the Main Playlist
■ Choose View > Automation > Composite
Playlist.
The appearance of Trim automation depends on
how it is set to be coalesced. See “Coalescing
Trim Automation” on page 70.
Composite
playlist
If Trim automation is not set to coalesce after ev-
ery automation pass, you can display Trim auto-
mation data along with the main Volume or
Send level automation data in the same automa-
tion view. This Trim automation display cannot
be directly edited.
Volume
Trim
data
Volume
data
Display of Trim automation and the composite playlist
in a main Volume playlist
To display the Trim automation playlist along with
main automation playlist on tracks:
■ Choose View > Automation > Trim Playlist.
Trim Automation Modes
The Trim automation modes in Pro Tools work
in combination with the other Automation
modes (Read, Touch, Latch, Touch/Latch and
Write). Behavior of these modes also depends
on the Coalesce Trim Automation preference
setting. When a track is in a Trim automation
mode (except for Trim Off) its main Volume fad-
ers and all Send level faders are displayed in yel-
low.
Volume
data
Volume
Trim
data
Display of Trim automation in a main Volume playlist
Trim Off
Displaying the Composite
Automation Playlist
Trim Off turns off reading and writing of all au-
mation moves are ignored during playback.
Trim faders are temporarily set to zero when a
track is set to Trim Off mode.
If Trim automation is not set to coalesce after ev-
ery automation pass, you can display a compos-
ite automation playlist that shows the contribu-
tion of the Trim automation to the main
Volume or Send Level automation data. This
composite playlist display cannot be directly ed-
ited.
Depending on the Coalesce Trim Automation
preference setting, changing a track to Trim Off
can coalesce Trim automation on that track. See
“Coalescing Trim Automation” on page 70.
The composite playlist is shown in both the
main automation playlist and the Trim automa-
tion playlist.
68 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
Read Trim
Write Trim
In Read Trim mode, Volume and Send level
Trim faders are disengaged from the main auto-
mation playlist and follow any existing Trim au-
tomation. You can move a Trim fader during
playback to audition new trim moves, but no
automation is written. When the Trim fader is
released, it returns to any previously written
Trim automation values.
In Write Trim mode, as soon as playback begins,
writing of Trim automation begins for Volume
and Send levels, and continues until playback
stops, or until you punch out of writing automa-
tion.
The “After Write Pass, Switch To” prefer-
ence affects Write Trim mode. After an au-
tomation pass in Write Trim mode, tracks
automatically switch to the Trim mode ver-
sion of the setting specified by this prefer-
ence.
If a track does not contain Trim automation,
you can move a Trim fader during playback to
audition new trim values, but no automation is
written. The Trim fader retains its position until
the track is removed from Trim mode, or if you
manually coalesce the Trim level.
Send Levels and Trim Mode
You can set Pro Tools to exclude Send levels
from Trim mode, so that only the Main Volume
goes into Trim when a track is put into Trim
mode. This gives you more flexibility in setting
Send levels while in Trim mode.
Touch Trim
In Touch Trim mode, Volume and Send level
Trim faders are disengaged from the main auto-
mation playlist and follow any existing Trim au-
tomation. When a Trim fader is touched, writ-
ing of Trim automation begins. When the fader
is released, writing stops and the fader returns to
any previously written Trim automation values.
To exclude Send levels from Automation Trim
mode:
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click Mixing.
2 Under Automation, deselect Include Sends in
Trim Mode.
Latch Trim
In Latch Trim mode, Volume and Send level
Trim faders are disengaged from the main auto-
mation playlist and follow any existing Trim au-
tomation. When a Trim fader is touched, writ-
ing of Trim automation begins. Writing of Trim
automation continues until playback stops, or
until you punch out of writing automation.
its track is coalesced, even if “Include Sends
in Trim Mode” is deselected.
Writing Trim Automation
The writing of Trim automation depends on
how it is set to be coalesced. See “Coalescing
Trim Automation” on page 70. If automation is
not set to coalesce after every automation pass,
Trim automation moves are written to a sepa-
rate Trim playlist.
Touch/Latch Trim
In Touch/Latch Trim mode, Volume and Send
level faders are disengaged from the main auto-
mation playlist and follow any existing Trim au-
tomation. The main Volume Trim fader follows
Touch Trim behavior, and Send level Trim fad-
ers follow Latch Trim behavior.
Chapter 6: Automation Features and Enhancements 69
Writing automation to a Trim playlist works the
same way as writing automation to a main play-
list:
In previous versions of Pro Tools, Trim au-
tomation was always applied after every
pass. The Coalesce After Every Pass prefer-
ence emulates this legacy behavior.
◆ When Trim moves are displayed separately in
a Trim automation playlist, the Smoothing,
Thinning, and AutoMatch preferences for auto-
mation also apply to Trim automation.
On Exiting Trim Mode Trim moves are stored sep-
arately in the Trim automation playlist until
they are coalesced. Trim automation is automat-
ically coalesced on a track only when you take
the track out of Trim mode. You can repeat an
automation pass, edit Trim automation manu-
ally on any of the Trim playlists, or clear Trim
automation before coalescing with this method.
◆ When Trim moves are displayed separately in
a Trim automation playlist, you can write Trim
automation to an entire track, a selection, or a
portion of these with the Write Automation to
All, Start, or End commands.
To trim track Volume or Send levels:
Even when automation is set to coalesce on
exiting Trim mode, you can use the Coa-
lesce Trim Automation command to com-
mit Trim moves at any time.
1 In the Automation window, make sure the au-
tomation type (Volume or Send level) is write-
enabled.
2 Click the Automation Mode selector of the
track where you want to write automation and
choose the automation mode (Touch, Latch,
Touch/Latch, or Write).
Manually Trim moves are stored separately in
the Trim automation playlist until they are coa-
lesced. With this setting, the only way to coa-
lesce Trim moves is with the Coalesce Trim Au-
tomation command. You can repeat an
3 Click the Automation Mode selector and
automation pass, edit Trim automation manu-
ally on any of the Trim playlists, or clear Trim
automation before coalescing with this method.
choose Trim.
4 Start playback, and adjust the Volume or Send
levels.
On ICON work surfaces, the presence of un-
coalesced Trim automation is indicated by
a flashing Trim switch or light.
5 Stop playback to finish the Trim pass.
Coalescing Trim Automation
To set the method by which Trim Automation is
coalesced:
You can set Pro Tools to commit, or coalesce,
Trim automation to the main automation play-
list by the following methods:
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click Mixing.
2 Under Coalesce Trim Automation, select one
of the following:
After Every Pass Trim moves are automatically
applied when the transport is stopped at the end
of an automation pass. Trim automation playl-
ists are cleared, and Trim faders are returned to
zero.
• After Every Pass
• On Exiting Trim Mode
• Manually
70 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
To coalesce Trim automation on a track when
exiting Trim mode:
Clearing Trim Automation
If Trim automation has not been coalesced on a
track, you can clear it. When you clear Trim au-
tomation, automation breakpoints on all Trim
playlists are deleted and all Trim faders are reset
to zero.
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click Mixing.
2 Under Coalesce Trim Automation, select On
Exiting Trim Mode.
3 Click OK to close the Preferences window.
4 Make sure the Pro Tools transport is stopped.
To clear Trim automation:
1 Select the track where you want to clear the
Trim automation.
5 On the track where you want to coalesce Trim
automation, click the Automation Mode selec-
tor and deselect Trim.
2 Do one of the following:
• Choose Track > Clear Trim Automation.
The Trim automation is applied to the main au-
tomation playlist, Trim automation playlists are
cleared, and Trim faders are returned to zero.
– or –
• Right-click the track name and choose
Clear Trim Automation from the pop-up
menu.
If transport is playing and you are writing
automation, you cannot directly enter or
exit Trim mode. You must AutoMatch be-
fore exiting Trim mode. This prevents any
abrupt jumps in automation values.
Suspending Trim Automation
If Trim automation has not been coalesced on a
track, you can temporarily suspend playback of
Trim automation in order to compare the effect
of Trim moves with the original, unmodified au-
tomation during playback. When you suspend
Trim automation, any Trim automation data is
ignored and Trim faders are temporarily set to
zero.
To manually coalesce Trim automation on a track:
1 Select the track where you want to coalesce
the Trim automation.
2 Do one of the following:
• Choose Track > Coalesce Trim Automation.
– or –
• Right-click the track name and choose Co-
alesce Trim Automation from the pop-up
menu.
To suspend all Trim automation on all tracks:
■ In the Automation window, Command-click
(Mac) or Control-click (Windows) the Suspend
button.
The Trim automation is applied to the main au-
tomation playlist, Trim automation playlists are
cleared, and Trim faders are returned to zero.
Suspending Trim automation
Chapter 6: Automation Features and Enhancements 71
The Suspend button highlights yellow to indi-
cate that Trim automation is suspended.
Behavior of Switched Controls
in Touch Mode
To suspend Trim automation for specific controls
on a track:
In Pro Tools 7.2, when automating switched
controls (including mute, plug-in bypass, and
any switched control on a plug-in) in Touch
mode, these controls will latch in their current
state after they are touched.
1 In the Edit window, set the Track View selector
to show the automation playlist for the Trim
control you want to suspend (Volume Trim or
Send level Trim).
However, to preserve any automation for that
switched control later in the timeline, this
latched behavior ends if either of the following
occurs:
2 Do one of the following:
• To suspend only the displayed Trim control
on a single track, Control-click (Windows)
or Command-click (Mac) the control name
in the Track View selector.
• If an existing automation breakpoint is en-
countered, Pro Tools stops writing automa-
tion at that point.
– or –
• To suspend the displayed Trim control on
all tracks, Control-Alt-click (Windows) or
Command-Option-click (Mac) the control
name in the Track View selector.
• If you stop playback or punch out of writ-
ing automation before reaching an existing
automation breakpoint, Pro Tools Au-
toMatches to the underlying automation
state.
Suspending automation from the Edit win-
dow obeys Edit groups. To suppress grouped
behavior, hold Start (Windows) or Control
(Mac) while suspending a control.
Setting Switched Controls for
Momentary Behavior
In some cases, such as when overwriting or ex-
tending Mute automation, you may want to
momentarily write automation for a control by
holding it down, and not have the control latch.
Editing Trim Automation
If Trim automation has not been coalesced on a
track, you can edit it in the same manner as reg-
ular automation, including:
To set switched controls for momentary behavior:
• Editing automation breakpoints with the
Grabber and Trim tools
1 Choose Options > Preferences and click Mix-
ing.
• Drawing automation with the Pencil tool
2 Deselect Latching Behavior for Switch Con-
trols in Touch.
• Copying and pasting automation data to
other Trim automation playlists
• Using Copy Special and Paste Special to
move automation data between a Trim au-
tomation playlist and other automation
playlists
72 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
6 While the transport is stopped, touch or move
the controls you want to start writing at the be-
ginning of the automation pass. When at least
one control on a track is primed, the Automa-
tion Mode selector displays in bold.
Priming Controls for Writing
Automation in Latch Mode
In Pro Tools 7.2, if a track is in Latch or
Touch/Latch automation mode, you can prime
individual controls for writing automation
while the transport is stopped. This Latch Prime
capability lets you prepare for an automation
pass before starting playback.
Automation
Mode
selector
In previous versions of Pro Tools, if a track
was in Latch automation mode, it was nec-
essary to touch or move a control after start-
ing playback to begin writing automation.
To prime controls for writing automation in Latch
mode while the transport is stopped:
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click Mixing.
2 Under Automation, select Allow Latch Prime
in Stop.
Automation mode indicator before (left) and after
priming of latched controls (right)
3 Click OK to close the Preferences window.
7 Start playback. All primed controls begin writ-
4 In the Automation window, make sure the
controls you want to automate are write-en-
abled.
ing automation at their primed values.
8 Stop playback to finish the automation pass.
All tracks are taken out of their Latch Prime
state.
5 Click the Automation Mode selector on the
track where you want to write automation and
do one of the following:
You can use the Write to Punch command
at the end of your automation pass to write
the current value back to the start of the
pass.
• Choose Latch mode to allow priming of all
automation-enabled controls on the track.
• Choose Touch/Latch mode to leave the
main Volume fader in Touch mode and al-
low priming of all other automation-en-
abled controls.
Taking Tracks and Controls Out of Latch
Prime
You can take individual tracks or automation
types out of their Latch Prime state before or
during an automation pass.
◆ When you take a track or automation type out
of Latch Prime before starting playback, it stays
in Latch mode but the corresponding controls
are not primed to write when playback starts.
Chapter 6: Automation Features and Enhancements 73
◆ When you take a track or automation type out
of Latch Prime during an automation pass, the
corresponding controls AutoMatch to their cur-
rently written values.
To take all selected tracks out of Latch Prime, do
one of the following:
■ Alt-Control-Shift-click (Windows) or Option-
Command-Shift-click (Mac) the Automation
Mode selector on a track.
◆ If you AutoMatch a control that is in a Latch
Prime state, the control will no longer be
primed.
– or –
■ Alt-Shift-click (Windows) Option-Shift-click
(Mac) the AutoMatch button in the Automation
window.
To take a track out of Latch Prime:
■ Control-click (Windows) or Command-click
(Mac) the Automation Mode selector on the
track.
To take an automation type out of Latch Prime on
all tracks, do one of the following:
■ In the Automation window, Control-click
(Windows) or Command-click (Mac) the button
for the automation type (Volume, Pan, Mute,
Plug-in, Send level, Send pan, or Send mute).
The selector button unbolds to indicate that the
track is no longer primed.
To take all tracks out of Latch Prime, do one of the
following:
■ Alt-Control-click (Windows) or Option-Com-
mand-click (Mac) the Automation Mode selec-
tor on a track.
– or –
Automation
type buttons
■ Click the AutoMatch button in the Automa-
tion window.
Automation types in the Automation window
Rolling Through Automation Punch
Points in Latch Prime
After you prime controls for writing automation
while the transport is stopped, you can set
Pro Tools to automatically punch in at that
point after issuing a back and play command, or
after rolling back and locking to time code.
AutoMatch button
AutoMatch button in the Automation window
To set Pro Tools to automatically punch in
automation writing on a track:
1 Locate the cursor where you want to punch in
automation.
74 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
2 Prime controls for writing while the transport
is stopped. (See “Priming Controls for Writing
Automation in Latch Mode” on page 73.)
◆ If you punch during playback, the automa-
tion mode is set to Latch and writing begins at
the preview value.
◆ If you punch while the transport is stopped,
the automation mode is set to Latch and the
control is primed at the preview value.
3 In the Automation window, click the AutoJoin
button.
4 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.
It is not necessary for the Allow Latch Prime
in Stop preference to be enabled for Preview
to put a control into Latch Prime.
5 Issue a Back and Play command, roll back the
external machine to before the punch in point,
or enable pre-roll.
Previewing New Automation
Values
6 Start playback. When the transport reaches
the punch-in point, automation writing begins.
To preview a new automation value for a control:
1 Make sure the track where you want to pre-
view the value is enabled for automation
(Touch, Latch, Touch/Latch or their corre-
sponding Trim modes).
New Automation Preview
Mode
2 Make sure the automation type you want to
preview is enabled in the Automation window
(Volume, Pan, Mute, Send level, Send pan, Send
mute, or Plug-in).
In Pro Tools 7.2, a new Automation Preview
mode lets you audition changes to a mix and
compare them to existing automation values
without committing them to the automation
playlist.
3 Click the Preview button in the Automation
window. The Preview button lights green to in-
dicate that Preview mode is active.
When you put Pro Tools in Automation Preview
mode, you can preview values for automation-
enabled controls on any track that is in a writ-
able automation mode.
While in Automation Preview mode, when you
touch or move a control, it isolates the control,
disengaging it from its automation playlist. The
control stops reading or writing automation, al-
lowing you to freely audition changes.
Punch
Preview
Preview
button
button
Preview controls in the Automation window
4 To isolate a control, touch or move an auto-
mation-enabled control.You can isolate con-
trols during playback or while the transport is
stopped.
When you have found a level or state that you
want to use, you can then commit or punch the
previewed value to the automation playlist for
the isolated controls.
Chapter 6: Automation Features and Enhancements 75
The Automation Mode indicator on the track
lights green to indicate that at least one of its
controls is isolated, and the Punch Preview but-
ton in the Automation window lights to indi-
cate a preview value is available to punch.
To isolate all currently write-enabled controls:
■ Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac) the
Preview button.
To isolate all write-enabled controls on all selected
tracks:
■ Alt-Shift-click (Windows) or Option-Shift
Automation
Mode
Indicator
click (Mac) the Preview button.
Suspending Preview Mode
You can temporarily suspend Preview mode, al-
lowing you to toggle between preview values
and existing automation.
Automation Mode indicator showing isolated controls
5 Start playback and adjust the isolated control
to audition the changes.
To suspend Preview mode:
Taking Controls Out of Isolated
State
■ Control-click (Windows) or Command-click
(Mac) the Preview button.
You can take controls out of their isolated state
without leaving Preview mode.
Punching Preview Values
After you have isolated a control and auditioned
a new value, you can punch (write) the value to
the automation playlist.
To take all controls on a track out of their isolated
state, do one of the following:
■ Control-click (Windows) or Command-click
(Mac) the automation mode selector on the
track.
To punch a preview value to the automation
playlist:
– or –
■ Click the lit Punch Preview button.
■ Change the track automation mode to Read
or Off.
Preview Mode and “Write To”
Commands
To take all controls of an automation type out of
their isolated state:
The “Write Automation To” commands work as
follows with Preview mode:
■ In the Automation window, disable the auto-
mation type.
Before punching preview values The “Write Au-
tomation To” commands (except Write to Next
Breakpoint) can be used to extend previewed
values. The “Write Automation To” command
will only apply to isolated controls. Pro Tools re-
mains in Preview mode.
Isolating Multiple Controls
In some cases, such as when starting a new mix,
you may want to isolate multiple controls at the
same time.
76 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
After punching preview values The “Write Auto-
mation To” commands (except Write to Next
Breakpoint) can be used to extend the punched
value in the same manner as other automation.
2 Make sure the automation types you want to
capture are enabled in the Automation window
(Volume, Pan, Mute, Send level, Send pan, Send
mute, or Plug-in).
3 Start playback, and if necessary, touch a write-
enabled control to start writing automation.
The Capture button lights with blue text to in-
dicate that a capture is possible.
New Automation Capture
Feature
4 When the currently writing controls reach a
value you want to capture, click the Capture
button in the Automation window.
In Pro Tools 7.2, you can capture current auto-
mation values as a snapshot at one location in a
session and quickly apply them in another loca-
tion with the Capture and Punch Capture com-
mands. The Capture command temporarily
stores the value of all controls currently writing
automation, and the Punch Capture command
writes those stored values to all enabled automa-
tion types.
The Punch Capture button in the Automation
window lights to indicate a captured value is
available to punch.
Punching Captured Automation
Values
◆ ICON Systems allow for the storage and recall
of up to 48 different snapshots.
After automation values are captured, they can
be punched (written) to another location in the
track. Any tracks set to Read or Off are unaf-
fected.
◆ All other systems allow for the capture of one
snapshot at a time.
◆ If you punch during playback, the automa-
tion mode of any track set to Touch is set to
Latch and writing begins at the captured value.
◆ If you punch while the transport is stopped,
the automation mode of any track set to Touch
is set to Latch and the control is primed at the
captured value.
Punch
Capture
Capture
button
button
Capture controls in the Automation window
To punch captured automation values:
Capturing Automation Values
1 Move to a location where you want to apply
the captured automation values. You can do this
during playback or while the transport is
stopped.
You can capture the current automation values
of actively writing controls.
To capture automation values:
2 Click the Punch Capture button in the Auto-
mation window to apply the captured automa-
tion states. The captured states are applied to all
automation types that are currently enabled in
the Automation window.
1 Make sure all tracks whose automation values
you want to capture are in a write-enabled state
(Write, Touch, Latch, Touch/Latch or Latch).
Chapter 6: Automation Features and Enhancements 77
To punch the automation values of all controls on
selected tracks only:
Capturing Automation Values for
All Controls
■ When you reach a location where you want to
apply the captured automation states, Alt-Shift-
click (Windows) or Option-Shift-click (Mac) the
Punch Capture button. Any selected tracks set to
Read or Touch are set to Latch. Any selected
tracks set to Off are unaffected.
You can capture the state of all automatable
controls (except on tracks with their Automa-
tion Mode set to Off) in a session, regardless of
whether they are currently writing automation.
To capture the automation values of all controls:
■ When the currently writing controls reach a
value you want to capture, Alt-click (Windows)
or Option-click (Mac) the Capture button.
Capture and Trim Mode
The Capture and Punch Capture commands
work with Trim automation in the same way as
regular automation. Pro Tools saves Trim status
when capturing, so if you attempt to punch cap-
tured Trim values while displaying a non-Trim
automation playlist, Pro Tools will automati-
cally apply the values to the corresponding Trim
playlist.
To capture the automation values of all controls on
selected tracks only:
■ When the currently writing controls reach a
value you want to capture, Alt-Shift-click (Win-
dows) or Option-Shift-click (Mac) the Capture
button.
Punch Capture and “Write To”
Commands
Punching Automation Values for
All Controls
After issuing a Punch Capture command, the af-
fected controls are writing automation (in Latch
mode), so any of the “Write Automation To”
commands can be used to extend the punched
value in the same manner as other automation.
You can punch all captured automation values
to another location on their corresponding
tracks (except those tracks with their Automa-
tion Mode set to Off).
To punch the automation values of all controls:
■ When you reach a location where you want to
apply the captured automation states, Alt-click
(Windows) or Option-click (Mac) the Punch
Capture button. Any track set to Read or Touch
are set to Latch. Any tracks set to Off are unaf-
fected.
78 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
Capturing Values While in Preview
Mode
Capture and Preview Mode
Loading Captured Values into Preview
When you are in Preview mode, you can capture
the values of isolated controls and apply them
elsewhere on a track. By capturing preview val-
ues, you can leave the underlying automation
unchanged at the place where you capture.
You can preview and modify captured automa-
tion values in Preview mode before punching
the values to the automation playlist.
To capture an automation value and use it to
preview:
capture multiple snapshots without changing
automation.
1 Make sure the track where you want to pre-
view the value is enabled for automation
(Touch, Latch, Touch/Latch or their corre-
sponding Trim modes).
To capture a preview value:
(See “Previewing New Automation Values” on
page 75).
2 Make sure the automation type you want to
preview is enabled in the Automation window
(Volume, Pan, Mute, Send level, Send pan, Send
mute, or Plug-in).
2 Start playback and adjust the isolated control
to audition the changes.
3 Capture an automation value that you want
to preview in another location on a track. (See
“Capturing Automation Values” on page 77.)
3 When you are ready to capture preview value,
click the Capture button in the Automation
window.
4 Go to a location where you want to preview
the captured automation states, and click the
Preview button in the Automation window.
The Punch Capture button in the Automation
window lights to indicate a captured value is
available to punch.
5 Click the Punch Capture button.
The affected controls are isolated and updated
to the captured values. The Punch Preview but-
ton in the Automation window lights to indi-
cate the preview value is available to punch.
6 Start playback and adjust the isolated control
to audition the changes.
7 When you are ready to punch the preview
value to the automation playlist, click the lit
Punch Preview button.
Chapter 6: Automation Features and Enhancements 79
80 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
chapter 7
Plug-in Features and Enhancements
Default Plug-in Preferences
Enhanced Dynamics III Display
In Pro Tools 7.2, you can set a default EQ plug-
in and Dynamics plug-in, which places them at
the top of the Insert selector pop-up menu on-
screen, and first in the list of menu choices
when assigning inserts on ICON work surfaces.
In Pro Tools 7.2, the DigiRack Dynamics III
Compressor/Limiter and Expander/Gate plug-
ins feature an animated, multi-color cursor in
their gain transfer curve displays.
The gain transfer curve of the Compressor/Lim-
iter and Expander/Gate plug-ins shows a mov-
ing ball cursor that shows the amount of input
gain (x-axis) and gain reduction (y-axis) being
applied to the incoming signal.
To set a default plug-in:
1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click Mixing.
2 Under Setup, choose a plug-in from the De-
fault EQ or Default Dynamics pop-up menu.
3 Click OK to close the Preferences window.
Default plug-in display in Insert selector menu
Gain transfer curve and cursor showing amount of
compression
To indicate overshoots (when an incoming sig-
nal peak is too fast for the current compression
setting) the cursor temporarily leaves the gain
transfer curve.
Chapter 7: Plug-in Features and Enhancements 81
The cursor changes color to indicate the amount
of compression applied, as follows:
shifting. DigiRack Time Shift also provides high
quality time compression and expansion algo-
rithms for post-production pull up and pull
down conversions.
Dynamics III Plug-in Compression Amount
Cursor Color
white
Compression Amount
no compression
below full ratio
For more information on using plug-ins in
Pro Tools, see the Pro Tools Reference
Guide.
light orange
dark orange
full ratio amount
DigiRack Time Shift Enhancements
Pro Tools 7.2 supports the following enhance-
ments with DigiRack Time Shift:
DigiRack Time Shift
Enhancements
◆ Pro Tools TCE Trim Tool support for increased
time stretching and pitch shifting workflow effi-
ciency
The Digidesign® DigiRack Time Shift plug-in for
time-compression/expansion and pitch shifting
is an AudioSuite™ plug-in for Pro Tools|HD®,
Pro Tools LE™, and Pro Tools M-Powered™ sys-
tems. It is not included with Pro Tools HD 7.2,
but is available as a free download from the
Digidesign Web site.
◆ The Original Tempo field automatically dis-
plays the current tempo from the Pro Tools
Timeline.
◆ DigiRack Time Shift correctly displays all
timebase values. (Bars|Beats and Feet+Frames are
not displayed in Pro Tools 7.0 or 7.1, but are dis-
played only as “N/A.”)
AudioSuite TCE Plug-in Preference
The DigiRack Time Shift plug-in provides high
quality time compression and expansion algo-
rithms that can be used with the Pro Tools TCE
Trim Tool.
TCE Plug-in option in Processing Preferences page
DigiRack Time Shift
DigiRack Time Shift is ideal for music produc-
tion, sound design, and post-production appli-
cations. Use it to manipulate audio loops for
tempo matching and formant correct pitch
Refer to the Pro Tools Reference Guide for
more information about the TCE Trim tool.
82 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
To select DigiRack Time Shift for use with the TCE
Trim tool:
SurroundScope
SurroundScope is a plug-in that provides sur-
round metering for multichannel track types
from 3 channels (LCR) to 8 channels (7.1 sur-
round). Stereo and mono tracks are not sup-
ported.
1 Choose Setup > Preferences.
2 Click the Processing tab.
3 From the TC/E Plug-in pop-up menu, select
DigiRack Time Shift.
This new version of SurroundScope is com-
patible with sessions that used the previous
versions of SurroundScope.
4 Select the desired preset setting from the De-
fault Settings pop-up menu.
5 Click OK.
Meters
Surround Display
New SignalTools Plug-ins
Pro Tools 7.2 supports the new DigiRack Signal-
Tools metering plug-ins, SurroundScope and
PhaseScope.
The SignalTools plug-ins support TDM and
RTAS plug-in formats at all sample rates.
Display Options
Phase/Leq(A) Display
SurroundScope
Chapter 7: Plug-in Features and Enhancements 83
Surround Display
PhaseScope
SurroundScope detects the multi-channel for-
mat of the track and displays each channel in
the signal in a circle around the Surround Dis-
play.
PhaseScope is a multichannel metering plug-in
that provides signal level and phase information
for stereo tracks only. (Mono and LCR or greater
multichannel tracks are not supported.)
Meters
Lissajous Meter Display
SurroundScope Surround Display (5.0 shown)
The Surround Display generates a composite im-
age that indicates relative signal strength in the
displayed channels.
Display Options
Phase/Leq(A) Display
◆ A circle in the center of the display indicates a
surround signal that is panned equally to all
channels.
PhaseScope
◆ An irregular shape that is closer to one side of
the display indicates that the channels on that
side have a stronger signal.
◆ A teardrop shape that points toward a single
channel indicates that the signal is panned to
that channel.
84 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
Lissajous Meter Display
SignalTools Display Options
The PhaseScope Lissajous Meter displays the re-
lationship between the amplitude and phase of
a stereo signal, enabling you to monitor stereo
imaging graphically.
Both SignalTools plug-ins offer two display op-
tions: Phase Meter Display and Leq(A) Meter
Display.
To choose a display option:
A “Lissajous curve” (also known as a Lissa-
jous figure or Bowditch curve) is a type of
graph that is able to describe complex har-
monic motion. To learn more, search the
Web or your local library for information on
its origins and its two principal developers,
Jules Antoine Lissajous, and Nathaniel
Bowditch.
■ Click the corresponding button in the Op-
tions section of the plug-in window.
SignalTools display options
Phase Meter Display
The Phase Meter indicates the phase coherency
of two channels of a multi-channel signal.
SignalTools Phase Meter
The Phase Meter is green when the channels are
positively out of phase (values from 0 to +1) and
red when the channels are negatively out of
phase (values from 0 to –1).
At the center or zero position, the signal is a per-
fect stereo image. At the +1 position, the signal
is a perfect mono image. At the –1 position, the
signal is 100% out of phase.
PhaseScope Lissajous Meter Display
The Lissajous Meter display is divided into four
quadrants, with left and right channels arranged
diagonally. When audio is panned predomi-
nantly to a particular speaker channel, a diago-
nal line appears, indicating the channel.
The Lissajous Meter displays in-phase material
as a vertical line and out-of-phase material as a
horizontal line.
Chapter 7: Plug-in Features and Enhancements 85
SurroundScope With SurroundScope you can se-
lect the two channels to compare by clicking the
channel buttons around the Surround Display.
Selected channels are indicated in blue.
Selecting Channels for Leq(A) Metering
SurroundScope With SurroundScope, you can
select any combination of channels for Leq(A)
metering by clicking the channel buttons
around the Surround Display. Selected channels
are indicated in green.
Selecting SurroundScope channels for phase metering
PhaseScope With PhaseScope, the left and right
channels are always compared.
Selecting SurroundScope channels for Leq (A) metering
PhaseScope With PhaseScope, you can select ei-
ther or both channel for Leq(A) metering by
clicking the channel buttons in the corners of
the Lissajous display. Selected channels are indi-
cated in green.
Leq(A) Meter Display
The Leq(A) Meter display lets you view the true
weighted average of the power level sent to any
channel or combination of channels (except the
LFE channel) in a multichannel track.
The Leq (A) Meter display shows a floating aver-
age for the level over the interval chosen in the
Window menu. For example, with a setting of 2
seconds, the display shows the average value for
the most recent 2 seconds of audio playback.
Selecting PhaseScope channels for Leq(A) metering
Leq(A) Metering Controls
Window The Leq(A) window menu lets you
choose the length of time the signal is measured
before an average value is calculated. Settings
range from 1 second to 2 minutes.
SignalTools Leq(A) meter and controls
When the Leq(A) meter is in INF (infinite) mode
it is constantly averaging the signal without a
floating averaging window.
Reset The Reset button lets you manually reset
the start time of the Leq(A) measurement win-
dow.
86 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
Auto Reset When enabled, causes the start time
of the Leq(A) measurement window to be auto-
matically reset whenever playback starts in
Pro Tools.
The “true” RMS meter scale is not the same
as the AES 17 RMS scale. For a sine wave
with a peak value of –20 dBFS, the “true”
RMS meter will show a value of –23 dBFS.
(The same sine wave will show a value of
–20 dBFS on an AES 17 RMS meter.‚
Hold on Stop When enabled, causes the Leq(A)
measurement window timer to pause when
playback stops, and resume when playback be-
gins again.
Peak + RMS Uses a multi-color display to show
both types of metering. Peak metering is shown
in conventional green color, while RMS meter-
ing is shown in blue.
In any of the Loop Transport modes, the
measurement start time is automatically re-
set each time playback goes back to the be-
ginning of the loop.
VU (Volume Unit) Uses AES standards for signal
level indication.
SignalTools Level Meters
BBC Uses IEC-IIa standards for signal level indi-
cation. This style of metering suppresses short
duration peaks that would not affect broadcast
program material. Reference calibration (4 dB) is
–18 dBFS.
The SignalTools plug-ins let you choose the type
of metering to use. Each meter type has a differ-
ent metering scale and response.
Nordic Uses IEC Type I standards for signal level
indication and provides greater resolution for
readings between –10 dBu and +4 dBu. Refer-
ence calibration (0 dB) is –18 dBFS.
Meter Type
selector
Peak Hold
selector
DIN Uses IEC Type I standards for signal level in-
dication and provides greater resolution for
readings between –10 dBu and +5 dBu. Refer-
ence calibration (–9 dB) is –18 dBFS.
Reference
mark
VENUE Provides Peak metering behavior with a
meter scale calibrated specifically for Digidesign
VENUE systems. Reference calibration (0 dB) is
–20 dBFS.
SignalTools level meters
Meter values are always displayed on con-
trol surfaces in dBFS values, regardless of
the Meter Type setting.
Meter Types
Peak (Default meter type) Uses the metering
scale in DigiRack EQ III and Dynamics III plug-
ins.
RMS (Root Mean Square) was used in previous
versions of the Digidesign SurroundScope plug-
in and uses the same “true” RMS metering scale.
Chapter 7: Plug-in Features and Enhancements 87
Meter Peak Hold Options
Each of the SignalTools plug-ins lets you choose
the style of peak hold when peaks are shown in
the plug-in meters.
3 Second Displays peak levels for 3 seconds
Infinite Displays peak levels until meters are
cleared
No Peak Hold Does not display peak levels
Reference Mark Options
Each SignalTools meter type lets you adjust the
level of the reference mark on the side of the
meter display. The mark is set by default to the
reference level for the corresponding meter
type.
SignalTools meters also change color to
show different ranges of level. The relative
range of color automatically adjusts to fol-
low the current Reference Mark setting in all
meter types (except Peak+RMS).
To change the reference level of a SignalTools
meter:
■ Drag the reference mark to a different location
on the meter scale.
88 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
chapter 8
General Video Improvements
Pro Tools video capabilities for working with
QuickTime movies and Avid video.
A new empty video track appears. Video tracks
may appear slightly different depending on
your system configuration or the type of video
added to a video track.
For detailed information on new Pro Tools
features that apply specifically to working
with Avid video peripherals, see Chapter 9,
“New Pro Tools Features for Avid Video Pe-
ripherals.”
Video track
New Video Track
You can add multiple video tracks with Quick-
Time movies or Avid video to the Timeline, but
an individual video track cannot hold both
types of video at the same time.
For detailed information, see “Differences
in Video Tracks with QuickTime Movies
and Avid Video” on page 91.
To create a new video track:
1 Choose Track > New.
New Tracks dialog
2 In the New Tracks dialog, do the following:
• Select Video Track from the Track Type
pop-up menu.
– and –
• Enter the number of new video tracks.
3 Click Create.
Chapter 8: General Video Improvements 89
Multiple Codecs on an Individual
Video Track
New Video Track Support
Pro Tools 7.2 adds the following support for
video tracks:
A single video track can contain video regions
compressed with different video codecs. How-
ever, once the first video file has been added to
a session, all additional video files added to the
Timeline must have the same video engine rate
as the first video file.
• Multiple video tracks in the Timeline
• Multiple playlists for video tracks
• Multiple codecs on individual video tracks
Multiple Video Tracks in the
Timeline
Video Track Controls
You can add multiple video tracks to the Time-
line, but only one video track can be played
back at a time.
In Pro Tools 7.2, controls have been added or
improved, as follows:
• Video track type icons
See “Selecting the Main Video Track” on
page 92 for information on switching a
video track online or offline.
• New Video Online button (see “New Video
Online Button” on page 93)
• New Video Engine Rate indicator (see “New
Video Engine Rate Indicator” on page 92)
Multiple Video Track Playlists
• New Record Enable button behavior
• Video track locking
Playlists provide an easy way of changing be-
tween alternate versions of a video track.
Video Track Type Icons
A video track displays a QuickTime icon or an
Avid icon depending on the type of video added
to it.
QuickTime
icon
Avid
icon
Playlist selector
You can perform all of the same operations with
video playlists as you can with audio playlists,
including:
• Duplicating a playlist
• Creating a playlist
Video tracks displaying QuickTime and Avid icons
• Assigning a playlist to another video track
• Renaming a playlist
You can add any supported video to an empty
video track, in which case the icon will change
and the video track will play back only that type
of video.
• Deleting a playlist
See the Pro Tools Reference Guide for de-
tailed information on playlists.
90 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.0
Differences in Video Tracks with
QuickTime Movies and Avid Video
Locking Video Tracks
You can lock one or more video tracks to pre-
vent any video regions on those tracks from be-
ing edited.
When an Avid video peripheral is connected to
your system and powered on, the following con-
ditions apply:
When a video track is locked, Pro Tools restricts
all editing operations involving the track (ex-
cept for locking and unlocking video regions).
• All video tracks display a Video Output se-
lector, but only tracks containing Avid
video display a Video Input selector.
• You can add Avid video to an empty video
track.
To lock a video track:
1 Select the video track or tracks you want to
lock.
• Only video tracks contain a Record Enable
button.
2 Do one of the following:
See the Avid Video Peripherals Guide for de-
tailed information on using the Record En-
able button and the I/O view controls with
the video track.
• Start-click (Windows) or Control-click
(Mac) the name of any selected video track,
and select Locked.
– or –
• Right-click the name of any selected video
track, and select Locked.
Record Enable Button
(Avid Video Peripherals Only)
Using Pro Tools with an Avid video peripheral,
the Record button lets you arm the main video
track for digitizing video to the Timeline. The
Record button does not display in video tracks
containing QuickTime movies, or if you do not
have an Avid video peripheral connected to
your Pro Tools system and powered on.
Lock icon
Locked video track
A small lock appears in the video track, indicat-
ing it has been locked and cannot be edited.
(The lock does not appear if the Track Height of
the video track is set to Mini.)
Record Enable button
Locking or unlocking a video track does not al-
ter the lock status of individual regions. If a re-
gion was locked before you locked the track, the
region will still be locked when you unlock the
track. 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.
Video Track
See the Avid Video Peripherals Guide for de-
tailed information about using Pro Tools to
digitize video.
Chapter 8: General Video Improvements 91
New Video Engine Rate Indicator
Setting the Video Engine Rate
The Video Engine Rate indicator displays only
in the main video track (whether it is online or
offline) and shows the video engine rate.
The video engine rate represents the number of
video frames output by Pro Tools per second,
and is determined automatically by the frame
rate of the first video file added to a session.
Video files subsequently added to the session
video engine rate.
Video
Engine
Rate
The video frame rate is displayed for each video
file in the DigiBase browsers, and the current
video engine rate is displayed in the I/O view of
the main video track.
Video Engine Rate
The Video Engine Rate indicator is normally
black, but turns red if one of the following con-
ditions are present:
See “New Video Engine Rate Indicator” on
page 92 for information on the Video En-
gine Rate indicator in the I/O view.
• The video engine rate does not match the
session’s current Time Code Rate setting.
The video engine rate is independent of the ses-
sion's time code rate, which determines the
number of frames displayed per second in grids,
rulers, and counters. You can set the session
time code rate manually with the Time Code
Rate pop-up menu in the Session Setup window.
In order for the grids and rulers to align with the
actual frames of the video files in the Timeline,
the session's Time Code Rate setting should be
set to match the video engine rate (the frame
rate of the first video clip added).
– or –
• A pull-up has been applied to the video,
causing the video engine rate to differ from
the session Time Code Rate.
Selecting the Main Video
Track
The main video track is the video track that is
currently online, and will be played back with
any audio in the session. Only one video track at
a time can be online in the same session.
See the Pro Tools Reference Guide for de-
tailed information on changing the Time
Code Rate setting.
When the main video track is offline, you can
play back the audio in your session without
playing back the video. When the video is of-
fline, the Video Online button changes to grey
so you can tell at a glance whether your video is
offline or simply playing black fill.
If no video track is currently online, the main
video track is the video track that was last on-
line.
92 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.0
New Video Online Button
New Options for Importing
Video
The Video Online button duplicates the func-
tion of the Video Online command in the Op-
tions menu. It lets you select the main video
track, switch that track online or offline, and see
at a glance by color whether a video track is of-
fline (grey) or online (blue).
Pro Tools 7.2 provides the following new meth-
ods of importing QuickTime movies and Avid
video files into the Timeline, Region List, and
new or existing video tracks:
• Using the Import Video menu command
• Dragging from DigiBase, Windows Ex-
plorer, or Mac Finder to Pro Tools
• Overlaying video on Import Session Data
The new import options replace the Import
QuickTime Movie, Import Avid Video, and
New Avid Video Track commands in previ-
ous versions of Pro Tools.
Video track
offline
Video track
online
Video Online button (offline and online, respectively)
In general, audio and video media should
be stored on separate dedicated drives.
When importing audio and video at the
same time, however, Pro Tools copies both
to the same drive. If you have difficulty
playing back audio or video media, you
should either import the audio separately
using the Import Audio command, or man-
ually copy the audio files to an audio drive.
In Pro Tools 7.2, the Video Online button
and command replace the Offline button
and command from previous versions of
Pro Tools.
To select or deselect the main video track, do one
of the following:
■ Click the Video Online button of any track
that is offline (grey) to put it online (blue), mak-
ing that track the main video track.
When you import MPEG-2 video into
Pro Tools, only the video portion of the file
is imported and the resulting video regions
cannot be edited.
■ Click the Video Online button of the main
video track to take it offline, and Pro Tools will
not output video.
■ Select Options > Video Online.
Importing Video into Pro Tools
Using the New Import Video
Command
■ Press Control+Shift+J.
In Pro Tools 7.2, the Import Video menu com-
mand replaces the Import QuickTime Movie
and Import Avid Movie commands.
Chapter 8: General Video Improvements 93
The Import Video menu command lets you
choose one or more video files to import into
Pro Tools.
Configuring Video Import Options
The Video Import Options dialog appears when
you import video into Pro Tools by using the
Import Video command or dragging video files
from a DigiBase browser, Windows Explorer, or
Mac Finder.
To use the Import Video command to import video
into Pro Tools:
1 Do one of the following:
• Choose File > Import > Video.
– or –
• Press Alt+Control+Shift+I (Windows) or
Command+Control+Shift+I (Mac).
2 In the Select Video File to Import dialog, select
one or more video files, and click Open.
When you use this method to select a video file
to import video into Pro Tools, the Video Im-
port Options dialog appears. This dialog con-
tains multiple options for customizing how files
are imported.
See “Configuring Video Import Options” on
page 94 for detailed instructions.
Video Import Options dialog
See “Bypassing the Video Import Options
Dialog” on page 96 for details on bypassing
the Video Import Options dialog when
dragging and dropping video files.
Importing Video into Pro Tools
with Drag and Drop
You can drag and drop video files from a Digi-
Base browser, Windows Explorer, or Mac Finder
gion List.
To import video files into Pro Tools using Video
Import Options:
1 Do one of the following:
When you use this method to import video into
Pro Tools, the Video Import Options dialog ap-
pears. This dialog contains multiple options for
customizing how files are imported.
• Choose File > Import > Video, and select
the video files you want to import, then
click Open.
– or –
See “Configuring Video Import Options” on
page 94 for detailed instructions.
• Drag and drop one or more video files from
a DigiBase browser, Windows Explorer, or
Mac Finder to the Track List, Timeline, or
an existing track.
2 In the Video Import Options dialog, custom-
ize Video Import Options as desired.
94 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.0
Destination Section
Additional Video Import Options
The Destination section of the Video Import
Options dialog lets you choose a general desti-
nation for imported video in Pro Tools.
Gaps Between Regions When you import more
than one QuickTime movie or Avid video file
into a track, they will be shuffled together by de-
fault. This option lets you indicate the number
of seconds by which each video clip will be sep-
arated when imported into the video track.
Main Video Track Imports the video file directly
to the track that is currently online (known as
the main video track). If no track is currently on-
line, the video file will be imported to the last
existing video track that was online.
Import Audio from File (QuickTime Movies Only)
When selected, the audio from the QuickTime
movie you are importing will be extracted and
placed into new mono or stereo audio tracks in
the Timeline. (Mono or stereo with a sampling
rate of 48 kHz or lower are supported.) When
unselected, only the video portion of the Quick-
Time movie will be imported into Pro Tools.
New Track Creates a new video track where the
video file will be imported.
Region List Imports the video file directly into
the Region List, where it will be available to drag
and drop into Pro Tools.
Remove Existing Video Tracks When selected,
all existing video tracks will be deleted before
Pro Tools imports video into the session.
Location Pop-up Menu
The Location pop-up menu lets you choose pre-
cisely where Pro Tools places the imported
video in the Timeline.
Remove Existing Video Regions When selected,
Pro Tools imports video into the session (but
left on disk). This option is useful if you want to
import a video file into the session with a video
frame rate that does not match the current
video engine rate.
Session Start Places the video file at the start of
the session.
Song Start Places the video file at the Song Start
position.
Selection Places the video file at the edit cursor
position or within the selection (if one was
made).
See “Setting the Video Engine Rate” on
page 92 for more information.
Spot Displays the Spot dialog, which lets you
spot video to precise locations based on any of
the Time Scales.
Clear Main Video Track Playlist When selected,
all existing video regions in the currently-se-
lected playlist on the main video track will be re-
moved from the track before Pro Tools imports
video into the session. No other playlists, video
tracks, or video regions will be affected. (This
option is only enabled if the main video track is
selected as the Destination option.)
Original Time Stamp (Avid video only) Places
Avid video in the Timeline at a time code loca-
tion that corresponds to the timestamps from
the original source tape. With multiple video
files, this places all video files in the Timeline at
their respective original timestamps.
3 Click OK.
Chapter 8: General Video Improvements 95
To import audio from a QuickTime movie without
importing the video:
Bypassing the Video Import Options Dialog
You can bypass the Video Import Options dialog
when dragging video files from DigiBase brows-
ers only. Pro Tools adds video files exactly
where you drop them in the Timeline following
the current Pro Tools editing mode.
1 Choose File > Import > Audio.
2 In the Import Audio dialog, navigate to the
QuickTime movie from which you want to im-
port audio, and select it.
3 Under the Region section, click the name of
the audio region you want to extract from the
QuickTime movie, and click Convert Region or
Add Region.
To bypass the Video Import Options dialog when
importing video into Pro Tools:
■ Alt-drag (Windows) or Option-drag (Mac) one
or more video files from a DigiBase browser into
the Region List or the Timeline.
Done to import the audio.
Video Overlay on Import Session
Data
The Audio Import Options dialog appears,
where you can choose whether to import the au-
dio to a new track or the Region List.
The Import Overlay New on Existing Playlists
option (in the Import Session Data dialog) has
been modified to apply to video regions.
See “Importing Audio, MIDI, Video, and
Region Groups” on page 21 or the Pro Tools
Reference Guide for detailed information on
using the Import Audio dialog.
When importing session data or an AAF or OMF
sequence, selecting this option lets you overlay
a video playlist on top of existing video regions.
Any existing playlist data that overlaps data im-
ported from the source track is trimmed and re-
placed with the imported data. Any playlist data
in the destination track that does not overlap re-
mains in the destination track.
See the Pro Tools Reference Guide for de-
tailed information on region overlap and
underlap.
Extracting Audio from QuickTime
Movies
(QuickTime Movies Only)
The Import Audio from Current Movie com-
mand, which let you import audio from Quick-
Time movies in previous versions of Pro Tools,
has been replaced.
96 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.0
Video Regions in the Region List
Video Regions
A video region displays in the Region List with a
small video icon next to its name.
You can create and edit video regions, which
function in much the same way as audio re-
gions.
Video
region
icon
Video region as displayed in the Region List
Video region as displayed in Frames view in the
Timeline
See the Pro Tools Reference Guide for de-
tailed information on working with regions
in the Region List.
A video region is a segment of video data, and
can be a portion of video or an entire video file.
In Pro Tools, video regions are created from
corresponding video track playlists. Video re-
gions can also be grouped, looped, and color
coded.
Showing or Hiding Video Regions in the
Region List
The Region List pop-up menu provides com-
mands that let you show or hide video regions
in the Region List.
You can edit and change viewing options for
video regions in the same ways as audio regions.
All edits to video regions are nondestructive.
(See “General Video Editing” on page 98 for
more information.)
To show or hide video regions in the Region List:
1 In the Edit window, click the Region List pop-
up menu, and choose Show.
Just like audio regions, video regions display in
Pro Tools in the Region List or the Timeline.
2 Select the Video option to show or hide video
regions.
Chapter 8: General Video Improvements 97
Working with Regions and Selections
• Capture regions
General Video Editing
With Pro Tools 7.2, most editing operations
that are available for audio regions can be ap-
plied to video regions. This section describes all
available video editing operations. Unless
noted, the procedure for each video editing op-
eration is the same as its audio editing counter-
part.
• Separate regions and Separate Grabber Tool
• Region overlap and underlap
• All trimming commands except for TCE
• Heal separated regions
• Place, align, slide, shuffle, and spot regions
• Sync points
See the Pro Tools Reference Guide for de-
tailed information on performing editing
operations.
• Nudging
• Shift command
• Quantize region to Grid (rounds to nearest
video frame)
Basic Video Editing Features
• Nondestructive editing
• Replace region command
• Display of region names, region times, and
other data in playlists
• Cut, Copy, Paste, and Clear commands
mands
• Multiple video playlists
• Multiple Undo
• Repeat to fill selection
• Video regions and video region groups in Re-
gion List
• Editing across multiple tracks
• Repeat command
• All Edit Tools (except for Time Compression
Expansion and Pencil tools)
• Region groups (see “Video Region Groups” on
• Region looping
• Selecting within video frame boundaries (see
“Selecting within Video Frame Boundaries”
on page 99)
Managing Regions
• Insert “silence” (see “Inserting Black” on
page 100)
• Selecting and editing across multiple Video
and audio tracks (see “Selecting and Editing
page 99)
video, and at least one audio track must be se-
lected)
• All naming and displaying of region com-
mands
• Link or unlink track and edit selections
• Auto-scroll video tracks
• Loop playback
• Universe window (see “Video in the Universe
Window” on page 102)
98 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.0
Multiple Audio and Video Tracks
The following editing operations are applicable
to audio regions, but are not applicable to video
regions:
You can create a selection across multiple audio
and video tracks, group video regions, and cut,
copy, or paste audio and video simultaneously.
• Renaming disk files in the Region List or
Timeline (see “Renaming Video Disk Files” on
page 100)
• Fades
• Mute/unmute regions
• AudioSuite plug-ins
• Waveform Repair with the Pencil tool
• Strip silence
Before
After
Selecting and editing across multiple tracks (Slip mode
shown)
• Consolidate regions
Audio and video that is selected and cut, copied,
or pasted follow the current Edit mode.
Editing Caveats
The following caveats apply to video editing in
Pro Tools:
Selecting within Video Frame
Boundaries
• MPEG-2 video in the Timeline cannot be
edited.
Pro Tools does not let you select, play back, or
edit a partial video frame. The following rules
apply when selecting or editing video:
• If you create and enable a track group con-
taining audio and video tracks—and any
audio track has region boundaries that do
not line up with video frame boundaries—
you cannot tab through those region
boundaries.
• When you make a selection in a video track,
the selection boundaries follow the current
Grid setting but round to the nearest video
frame boundary, as follows:
• If the selection includes more than half of a
video frame, the video frame is included
within the selection.
• If the selection includes less than half of a
video frame, it is not included in a video se-
lection.
Chapter 8: General Video Improvements 99
• When you paste a selection containing video
to a video track, the insertion point automat-
ically aligns with the closest video frame
boundary.
To insert video black into a track:
1 Make a selection in a track or tracks. The
length of the selection determines the duration
of the black inserted.
When you paste audio and video simulta-
neously, this video frame re-alignment may
result in the audio not being positioned ex-
actly where you placed it. A warning dialog
displays when this occurs.
2 Choose Edit > Insert Silence.
Video Region Groups
With Pro Tools 7.2, you can include video re-
gions within region groups for the following op-
erations:
Renaming Video Disk Files
When renaming audio regions in either the
Timeline or the Region List, you have the option
of also renaming the audio files on disk. How-
ever, this does not apply to video files on disk.
• Creating region groups
• Creating multitrack region groups (includ-
ing audio tracks)
• Editing region groups
To rename video files on disk, you must rename
them in a DigiBase browser, Windows Explorer,
or Mac Finder.
• Creating fades and crossfades for audio files
in region groups
• Importing and exporting region group files
See the Pro Tools Reference Guide for de-
tailed information on working with region
groups.
Inserting Black
In Pro Tools 7.2, the Insert Silence command
has been modified to let you insert black into a
video track.
Multiple Undo for Video
Operations
This command allows you to make a selection
on a track (or tracks) and insert precisely that
amount of black. You can also select across
video and audio tracks, and use the Insert Si-
lence command to insert audio silence and
video black simultaneously.
Pro Tools 7.2 has added support to the Undo
queue for tracking video-related operations.
In previous versions of Pro Tools, the Undo
queue tracked only audio-related undoable
operations.
In Shuffle mode, all video data on the track is
shuffled later in the track by an amount equal to
the selection.
To undo the last operation, do one of the following:
In Slip, Grid, or Spot mode, the Insert Silence
command works just like the Edit > Clear com-
mand.
■ Choose Edit > Undo.
– or –
■ Press Control+Z (Windows) or Command+Z
(Mac).
100 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.0
To redo the last undone operation, do one of the
following:
To display the Video window, do one of the
following:
■ Choose Edit > Redo.
■ Select Window > Video.
– or –
– or –
■ Press Shift+Control+Z (Windows) or
■ Press Control+9 (Windows) or Command+9
Shift+Command+Z (Mac).
(Mac).
You can also undo or redo multiple opera-
tions at once. See the Pro Tools Reference
Guide for detailed information.
To show (or hide) the Undo History window:
■ Choose Window > Undo History.
See the Pro Tools Reference Guide for de-
tailed information about using the Undo
History window.
Video window (with pop-up menu shown)
Video Window
Video Window Pop-Up Menu
In Pro Tools 7.2, the Video window replaces the
QuickTime Movie window and the Avid Scrub
window.
The Video window provides a pop-up menu that
lets you do the following:
• Toggle online status of the main video
track
Avid video displays in the Video window
only when scrubbed with the Scrub tool.
• Toggle output of QuickTime movies be-
tween the Video window and an external
monitor via the FireWire port
• Resize the Video window
To toggle the online status of the main video
track:
■ Right-click (Windows or Mac) or Control-click
(Mac) the Video window, and select Online.
Chapter 8: General Video Improvements 101
To toggle output of QuickTime movies between
the Video window and FireWire, do one of the
following:
Video in the Universe Window
The Universe window has a mode called the
Video Universe, which lets you view, navigate,
zoom, and select video regions on the main
video track.
■ Right-click (Windows or Mac) or Control-click
(Mac) the Video window, and select Video Out
FireWire.
– or –
To display the Video Universe window:
■ Choose Options > Video Out FireWire.
1 Make sure the Video Online button in the
main video track is set to an online (blue) status.
Resizing the Video Window
2 Choose Window > Universe to display the
Universe window.
You can resize the Video window by dragging or
using right-click commands.
3 Right-click (Windows or Mac) or Control-click
(Mac) anywhere in the Universe window, and
choose Video Universe.
To resize the Video window by dragging:
■ Place the cursor at the bottom left or bottom
right of the Video window, and drag the window
to the size you want.
To resize the Video window by right-clicking
(Windows) or Control-clicking (Mac):
■ Right-click (Windows or Mac) or Control-click
(Mac) the Video window, and choose from the
following resize options:
Video Universe displaying video frames representing
video regions on the main video track
• Half Size
• Actual Size
• Double Size
• Fit Screen
The Video Universe window displays the center
video frame of each video region in the main
video track. Video frames are ordered sequen-
tially according to their order in the Timeline,
and the colored strip under each frame repre-
sents the color coding for that track or region.
Increasing or Decreasing the Size of
Video Frames
To increase or decrease the size of video frames in
the Video Universe window:
■ Right-click (Windows or Mac) or Control-click
(Mac) anywhere in the Universe, and select In-
crease or Decrease.
102 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.0
Selecting Zoom Resolutions in the
Video Universe
Selecting Ranges in the Video Universe
When you move the cursor over the bottom half
of a video frame in the Video Universe, it dis-
plays and behaves as a selector tool. This tool
lets you select ranges within one or more video
regions in the Edit window.
When you move the cursor over the top half of
a video frame in the Video Universe, it displays
and behaves as a zoom tool. This tool lets you
zoom in on one or more video regions to fill the
entire Edit window display.
Video frame with selector tool
Video frame with zoom tool
To use the Video Universe window to select ranges
in video regions in the Edit Window:
To use the Video Universe window to zoom video
regions in the Edit Window:
1 Move the cursor over the bottom half of any
1 Move the cursor over the top half of any video
video frame until it becomes a selector tool.
frame until it becomes a zoom tool.
2 Do one of the following:
2 Do one of the following:
• To place the cursor at the beginning of a
video region, click the video frame repre-
senting the video region.
• To move the beginning of a video region to
the far left of the Timeline while maintain-
ing the current zoom resolution in the Edit
window, click the video frame representing
the region once.
• To select an entire video region from start
to end, double-click the video frame repre-
senting that region.
• To zoom in on a video region so that it fills
the entire Edit window, double-click the
video frame representing the region.
• To select one or more entire regions from
start to end, drag the video frames repre-
senting the video regions.
• To zoom a range of selected regions so that
they fill the Edit window, click and drag on
the video frames that represent the regions.
If the Edit window does not display the se-
lected video regions, it will automatically
scroll to show the beginning of the selection.
Chapter 8: General Video Improvements 103
Selecting Zoom Resolutions and
Ranges Simultaneously in the Video
Universe
Playback of HD QuickTime
Movies
Pro Tools 7.2 with QuickTime 7.1.2 and higher
lets you import and play back QuickTime High-
Definition video files.
When you move the cursor over a video frame
in the Video Universe while pressing Alt (Win-
dows) or Option (Mac), the cursor appears as a
selector tool. This tool lets you zoom and select
ranges simultaneously.
When playing HD video through an Avid
video peripheral or other device locked to a
standard-definition video reference (such as
a black burst generator), the display updates
at the frame rate of the video reference.
To use the Video Universe window to select and
zoom simultaneously in the Edit window:
1 Move the cursor over any area of any video
frame in the Video Universe window until it be-
comes a selector or zoom tool.
Setting Session Time Code Rate
for HD QuickTime Movie Import
2 To select a range of video regions while simul-
taneously zooming to fill the Edit window, Alt-
drag (Windows) or Option-drag (Mac) multiple
video frames.
When playing back QuickTime movies with
frame rates higher than 30 fps, Pro Tools syn-
chronizes properly only if the Time Code Rate in
the Session Setup window is set to half of the
video frame rate of the video files.
For example, to properly play back a QuickTime
HD movie at 59.94 fps, you would have to
change the session’s Time Code Rate to 29.97
frames per second.
Updates to FireWire Playback
of QuickTime DV Movies
In Pro Tools 7.2, the QuickTime DV Out
FireWire command in the Options menu has
been renamed to Video Out FireWire.
To set the session’s Time Code Rate:
1 Choose Setup > Session.
To toggle the output of QuickTime movies, do one
of the following:
2 In the Session Setup window, select the appro-
priate time code rate in the Time Code Rate pop-
up menu.
■ Right-click (Windows or Mac) or Control-click
(Mac) the Video window, and select Video Out
FireWire.
– or –
■ Choose Options > Video Out FireWire.
104 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.0
your system and the type of video peripheral
you are using. When using an Avid peripheral
with QuickTime, 18 quarter-frames is a good
starting point, but you will need to verify the
precise setting for your system. (Third-party de-
vices are available to help you measure this de-
lay.)
Compensating for Video
Monitoring Delays
In Pro Tools 7.2, the QuickTime Movie Offset
function has been updated as follows:
• The QuickTime Movie Offset command and
dialog have been renamed to the Video Sync
Offset command and dialog.
• The Video Sync Offset dialog has been up-
dated to let you compensate for delays in
video output introduced by certain types of
displays, such as plasma monitors.
An Avid video peripheral is required to work
with Avid video. See the Avid Video Periph-
erals Guide for detailed information.
Video Sync Offset dialog
Once this value is set, it should not need to be
updated unless you change components in your
video monitoring chain (such as projectors or
plasma screens).
To compensate for delays caused by video
monitoring devices:
1 Choose Setup > Video Sync Offset.
2 In the Set Video Sync Offset dialog, enter a
value appropriate to compensate for the delay
caused by your video monitor chain. (Third-
party devices are available to help you measure
this delay.)
Bouncing the Video Track to a
QuickTime Movie
Pro Tools 7.2 with QuickTime 7.1.2 or higher
lets you bounce the main video track (Quick-
Time or Avid video) and a mono or stereo mix-
down of your session to a new QuickTime
movie. As a QuickTime file, the new movie is
supported by all software applications that sup-
port QuickTime video.
Avid Video Offset When playing Avid video
through an Avid video peripheral, Pro Tools au-
tomatically compensates for the delay intro-
duced by the peripheral. This means you can
leave the setting at 0 frames and the output of
the Avid video peripheral will be in sync with
the audio. If a plasma monitor or other device
introduces additional delay, you can compen-
sate for it by entering the amount of the delay
here.
You can choose from a variety of standard
QuickTime codecs, which are fully compatible
with other QuickTime applications.
Because all formats and codecs have not
been tested, you should verify the Quick-
Time movie bounced successfully.
QuickTime Video Offset Pro Tools does not auto-
matically compensate for the delay when play-
ing QuickTime video through any FireWire pe-
ripheral, including Avid video peripherals. The
amount of delay introduced varies based on
Pro Tools cannot bounce audio or video to
an MPEG-2 video file.
Chapter 8: General Video Improvements 105
To bounce video and audio in the video track to a
QuickTime movie:
Pro Tools is qualified to bounce to Quick-
Time DV25. Bouncing to other formats
may work but has not been tested.
1 Finalize your mix.
2 Make sure the video track you want to bounce
is currently the main video track. (The track’s
Video Online button must be highlighted blue.)
See Apple documentation for detailed infor-
mation on configuring QuickTime movie
settings.
3 Make sure that all of the audio tracks you want
to include in the bounce are audible (not muted
or inactive).
10 Click Bounce.
11 Select a destination for the new QuickTime
movie, enter a new name, and click Save.
4 Assign the output of each of the tracks you
want to include in your bounce to the same ste-
reo output or bus path.
Bouncing video may take quite a bit longer than
real-time, depending on the format of the
source video, the format of the bounced video,
and processing speed.
5 Do one of the following:
• To bounce the entire session, click Return
to Zero in the Transport window to go to
the beginning of the session.
– or –
Sharing a Pro Tools 7.2
Session with a Previous
Version of Pro Tools
• To bounce a portion of the session, enable
Options > Link Timeline and Edit Selec-
tion, and make a selection in the Edit win-
dow.
When you open a Pro Tools 7.2 session with
Pro Tools 7.1—or save a Pro Tools 7.2 session to
be compatible with Pro Tools 6.9—some com-
ponents of the session may open differently or
not open at all, as follows:
6 Choose File > Bounce to > QuickTime Movie.
The Bounce dialog appears (if you are bouncing
QuickTime movies) or the Bounce to QuickTime
dialog appears (if you are bouncing Avid video
to QuickTime movies).
• Only the main video track is displayed.
• Only the first QuickTime movie in the session
will be displayed or play back.
7 Select your mix’s output or bus path from the
Bounce Source selector.
• If the session contains QuickTime movies in
the Region List but no video track, the session
opens with a new QuickTime Movie track
containing the first QuickTime movie from
the Region List.
8 If you are bouncing Avid to QuickTime and
you want to configure QuickTime video set-
tings, click Options.
9 Configure other settings as appropriate.
• The Timeline displays and plays back only the
video playlist that was last active. Alternate
video playlists will not be available.
• Video regions and video region groups will
not be shown or saved.
106 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.0
chapter 9
New Pro Tools Features for Avid Video
Peripherals
This chapter describes new support for Pro Tools
Support for Importing
Additional Types of AAF
Sequences
with either the Digidesign AVoption|V10 or the
Avid Mojo™ (referred to here as Avid video pe-
ripherals).
Pro Tools with DigiTranslator™ 2.0 and an Avid
video peripheral adds support for importing the
following types of AAF sequences:
Matching File Suffixes for
Digitized Video and Audio
• AAF sequences containing a video mix-
down track and video metadata track
When Pro Tools with an Avid video peripheral
completes a single video capture, it appends the
captured audio and video files with matching
suffixes (such as _01). For example, captured au-
dio and video files might be called Audio 1_01,
Audio 2_01, and Video 1_01 where _01 is the
shared suffix.
• AAF sequences with unsupported video
formats, including HD video with frame
rates over 30 fps
See the Pro Tools Reference Guide or the
DigiTranslator Guide for detailed informa-
tion on importing AAF sequences.
On each successive capture, Pro Tools incre-
ments the numbered suffix to the filenames by
one to distinguish the new set of captured me-
dia files from the last. For example, the new cap-
tured media files would be appended with _02 if
the last were appended with _01.
Importing AAF Sequences with
Video Mixdown and Metadata
Pro Tools with DigiTranslator 2.0 and an Avid
video peripheral lets you import AAF sequences
from an Avid application that reference an
OMF, MXF, or QuickTime video mixdown and
its corresponding metadata for individual edits.
Chapter 9: New Pro Tools Features for Avid Video Peripherals 107
The video mixdown and metadata are displayed
in two separate video tracks on the Timeline.
Importing Audio from AAF
Sequences with Unsupported
Video Formats
Pro Tools with DigiTranslator 2.0 and an Avid
video peripheral lets you import audio from AAF
sequences containing unsupported video for-
mats, including high-definition Avid video files
with frame rates over 30 frames per second.
The following rules apply when importing AAF
sequences of this type:
Video tracks containing editing metadata and video
mixdown
• Supported audio in these sequences will play
back, but unsupported video will not.
New Avid Export Options
• Unsupported video appears in the Timeline as
orange blocks.
You can request the following new export op-
tions for the AAF you are receiving from an Avid
application:
• To export both a video mixdown and its
corresponding editing metadata, the Avid
video editor should choose Video Mix-
down from the Export Method pop-up
menu, then select Mixdown with Video Ed-
its (Pro Tools 7.2 and Above) in the Export
Settings dialog.
Importing IMX MPEG30 and
MPEG40 Video Files
(AVoption|V10 on Windows XP Only)
Pro Tools with AVoption|V10 adds support for
importing IMX MPEG30 and MPEG40 video.
• To export both an audio mixdown and its
corresponding editing metadata, the Avid
video editor should select Add Audio Mix-
down Track(s) in the Export Settings dia-
log.
IMX MPEG30 and MPEG40 video files can also
be imported as part of an AAF file that is refer-
Only OP-Atom IMX files (separate audio
and video) files are supported by Pro Tools.
OP1a format (interleaved audio and video)
IMX files are not supported.
• To export directly to DigiDelivery, the Avid
video editor should choose DigiDelivery
from the Export Method pop-up menu.
See the DigiDelivery Guide for detailed in-
formation on using DigiDelivery.
See “New Options for Importing Video” on
page 93 for detailed information on import-
ing video into Pro Tools.
108 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.0
• Avid video peripherals only accept video
reference input at standard definition rates
(25 and 29.97 fps). When playing back
QuickTime movies with higher frame rates,
only every other frame will output to the
NTSC/PAL monitor.
Playback of QuickTime
Movies through Avid Video
Peripherals
Pro Tools lets you play most standard-definition
or high-definition QuickTime movies through
an Avid video peripheral to an external moni-
tor.
• When playing back movies with frame
rates of 50, 59.94, or 60 fps, set the Pro
Tools session rate to one half of the movie's
frame rate.
Digidesign has specifically tested DV25 and
H.264 movies. Other codecs may work but have
not been tested. (“Uncompressed” QuickTime
movies are known to play back poorly.) In gen-
eral, performance varies depending on the
movie dimensions and compression rates, the
number of tracks, plug-ins and automation in
your session, and the speed of your processor.
Adjusting Video Black Output
Level
When outputting NTSC Avid video from
Pro Tools, you can adjust the level of NTSC
video black output to 7.5 IRE or 0 IRE.
When playing back QuickTime movies through
Avid video peripherals, the following rules ap-
ply:
Changing this option requires you to restart
Pro Tools.
• Playing QuickTime video through any
FireWire peripheral, including an Avid
Time Video Offset setting (located in the
Set Video Sync Offset dialog). The best set-
ting depends on your specific system, but
when using Avid video peripherals
The black level of NTSC signals for the United
calibrated to 7.5 IRE, also known as Setup. Some
other countries (such as Japan) require NTSC
signals to be output at a black level of 0 IRE.
To adjust the level of black output in Pro Tools:
18 quarter frames is a good starting point.
See “Compensating for Video Monitoring
Delays” on page 105 for details.
1 Choose Setup > Preferences, and click the Op-
eration tab.
2 Do one of the following:
• Large-dimension movies (such as 1080i)
may affect processor speed, so you may
want to work with movies of smaller di-
mensions.
• To output black level at 7.5 IRE, select the
NTSC Has Setup option.
– or –
• To output black level at 0 IRE, deselect the
NTSC Has Setup option.
• Avid video peripherals output only stan-
dard-definition images with a 4:3 aspect ra-
tio. When playing back files with different
aspect ratios (such as 16:9), the image will
be stretched to 4:3. Some professional
monitors can compensate for this by letter-
boxing the image.
3 Click OK.
4 Restart Pro Tools.
Chapter 9: New Pro Tools Features for Avid Video Peripherals 109
Looping Audio with Avid Video
Present
When working with a session containing Avid
video, you can now select and loop a portion of
audio without having the loop selection snap to
video frame boundaries. For example, you can
create a loop lasting exactly four bars regardless
of where the video frame boundaries lie.
To make an audio selection that does not snap to
frame boundaries:
1 Make sure that Grid mode is not set to
Feet+Frames.
2 With the Selector tool, select the track range
you want to loop in an audio track, making sure
not to include any video tracks in the selection.
Including any video in the selection will
cause the selection to snap to the video
frame boundary during playback.
3 Enable Loop Playback by doing one of the fol-
lowing:
• Select Options > Loop Playback. When en-
abled, a loop symbol appears in the Play
button in the Transport window.
Loop Playback enabled
• Right-click (Windows) or Control-click
(Mac) the Play button in the Transport win-
dow.
• With the Numeric Keypad mode set to
Transport, press 4 on the numeric keypad.
4 Click Play in the Transport window.
110 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.0
chapter 10
Control Surface Features
This chapter provides information about new
General Control Surface
Enhancements
features and enhancements in Pro Tools 7.2 for
the following Digidesign control surfaces:
• D-Control™
• D-Command™
• ProControl™
• Control|24™
(D-Control, D-Command, ProControl, and
Control|24)
Scrolling in Pro Tools Windows
You can scroll the contents of the Edit window
(in all scroll modes) and the Mix window with
the Scrub/Shuttle wheel.
Ethernet Drivers for Control
Surface Support Installed
Automatically
To scroll the contents of the Edit window or Mix
window horizontally:
(Windows Only)
1 Focus the window you want to scroll by click-
With Pro Tools 7.2, Digidesign Ethernet soft-
ware for support of D-Control, D-Command,
ProControl and Control|24 is automatically in-
stalled with Pro Tools for Windows XP. It is no
longer necessary to install the Ethernet software
separately.
ing in it or bringing it forward.
2 Hold Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac) while
turning the Scrub/Shuttle Wheel.
To scroll the contents of the Edit window or Mix
window vertically:
1 Focus the window you want to scroll by click-
ing in it or bringing it forward.
2 Hold Shift (Windows) or Shift (Mac) while
turning the Scrub/Shuttle Wheel.
Chapter 10: Control Surface Features 111
To drop the cursor in the Edit window while in
Continuous Scroll Mode:
Selecting with the Scrubber
You can use the Scrub/Shuttle Wheel to select
track material with the Scrubber.
■ Hold Control+Start+Alt (Windows) or Com-
mand+Control+Option (Mac) and press the
Mark In/Out switch.
To scrub while adding to the front of a selection:
■ Hold Start+Shift (Windows) or Control + Shift
(Mac) while scrubbing the front of the selection.
Continuous Zooming in the Edit
Window
To scrub while adding to the end of a selection:
You can use the Scrub/Shuttle Wheel to zoom
continuously in the Edit window.
■ Hold Start+Shift+Alt (Windows) or Con-
trol+Shift+Option (Mac) while scrubbing the
end of the selection.
To zoom continuously (horizontal zoom):
■ Hold Control (Windows) or Command (Mac)
while turning the Scrub/Shuttle Wheel.
To scrub with fine resolution while adding to the
front of a selection:
To zoom continuously (vertical zoom):
■ Hold Start+Shift+Control (Windows) or Con-
trol+Shift+Command (Mac) while scrubbing the
front of the selection.
■ Hold Control+Alt (Windows) or Com-
mand+Option (Mac) while turning the
Scrub/Shuttle Wheel.
To scrub with fine resolution while adding to the
end of a selection:
Scrubbing in the Edit Window
■ Hold Start+Shift+Alt+Control (Windows) or
Control+Shift+Option+Command (Mac) while
scrubbing the end of the selection.
You can use the Scrub/Shuttle Wheel to scrub
without entering Scrub mode.
To scrub during playback:
Automation Mode Indication
1 Click in a track you want to scrub.
Control Surfaces now indicate automation
mode in the following ways:
2 Hold Start (Windows) or Control (Mac) while
turning the Scrub/Shuttle Wheel.
D-Control and D-Command Automation
Indicators
To latch the Scrub/Shuttle Wheel in scrub:
■ Press Start (Windows) or Control (Mac) mo-
mentarily (less than 1/2 second) while turning
the Scrub/Shuttle Wheel.
Track Automation Mode Indicators
◆ When a track is enabled for automation but
no controls are writing automation, the Auto-
mation mode indicator on its channel lights
solid.
To scrub with fine resolution:
■ Hold Start+Control (Windows) or Con-
trol+Command (Mac) while turning the
Scrub/Shuttle Wheel.
112 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
◆ When the Volume fader on a track is writing
automation, the Automation mode indicator on
its channel flashes. (When any other track con-
trol is writing automation, the indicator lights
solid.)
Automation Enable Switches
◆ When an automation type is enabled but is
not writing anywhere in the session, the corre-
sponding switch in the Automation Enable con-
trols lights solid.
◆ When an automation type is writing automa-
tion on any track in the session, the correspond-
ing switch in the Automation Enable controls
flashes.
Rotary Encoder Automation Mode Indicators
◆ When a control assigned to a rotary encoder is
enabled for automation, the encoder automa-
tion indicator lights solid yellow.
◆ When a control assigned to a rotary encoder is
writing automation, the encoder automation in-
dicator flashes red.
Selecting an Automation Mode
You can now cycle forward and backward
through automation modes on channels.
Automation Enable Switches
To select an automation mode for a channel, do
one of the following:
◆ When an automation type is enabled but is
not writing anywhere in the session, the corre-
sponding switch in the Automation Enable con-
trols (in the Channel Strip Master section) lights
solid.
• To cycle forward through the automation
modes, press the Automation Mode switch
on the channel.
– or –
◆ When an automation type is writing automa-
tion on any track in the session, the correspond-
ing switch in the Automation Enable controls
(in the Channel Strip Master section) flashes.
• To cycle backward through the automation
modes, hold Shift and press the Automa-
tion Mode switch on the channel.
ProControl and Control|24 Automation
Indicators
ICON New Features and
Enhancements
Track Automation Mode Indicators
(D-Control and D-Command Only)
◆ When a track is enabled for automation but
not writing automation, the Automation mode
indicator on its channel lights solid.
Solo Safe Indication
◆ When any control on a track is writing auto-
mation, the Automation mode indicator on its
channel flashes.
D-Control and D-Command now indicate Solo
Safe in the following ways:
◆ When you first solo safe a track, its Solo
switch flashes.
◆ When another track is soloed, the Mute
switch on solo-safed tracks does not flash, indi-
cating that the track is not implicitly muted by
the solo.
Chapter 10: Control Surface Features 113
To nudge the position of tracks in Normal mode:
Two-Knob Surround Panning
■ Hold any of the Nudge/Bank switches and
turn the Scrub/Shuttle wheel.
With D-Control and D-Command, when work-
ing with surround panning, you can link front
and rear pan controls to facilitate left-right mo-
tion in the surround field.
To nudge the position of tracks in Custom Faders:
■ Hold the Bank/Cycle switch in the Custom
To link front and rear surround panners on ICON:
Faders section and turn the Scrub/Shuttle wheel.
1 Press the Operation switch in Console Prefs
section until “2KbPan” appears in the Soft Keys.
To nudge the track in the focus channel:
1 Hold Control (Windows) or Command (Mac)
and press the left or right Nudge 1 switch.
2 Press the Soft Key that corresponds to
“2KbPan” to toggle the preference on or off.
2 While holding the Nudge1 switch, turn the
Scrub/Shuttle wheel.
Latching Global Controls
The operation of the following Global controls
on D-Control and D-Command have changed:
Moving Windows On-Screen with
the Scrub/Shuttle Wheel
• Do To All
You can move any of the Pro Tools windows on-
screen with the D-Control or D-Command
Scrub/Shuttle wheel.
• Do To Selected
• Set to Default
These switches no longer latch as active when
single-pressed, and instead clear after a single
operation is completed.
To move a Pro Tools window horizontally on-
screen:
In the Window Management section, hold the
switch for the window and turn the Scrub/Shut-
tle wheel.
To latch the Do To All, Do To Selected or Set To
Default switch to perform multiple operations:
1 Double-press the corresponding switch. The
switch flashes to indicate it is active.
To move a Pro Tools window vertically on-screen:
In the Window Management section, hold the
switch for the window, hold Shift, and turn the
Scrub/Shuttle wheel.
2 Perform any operation you want to be affected
by the active switch.
3 Press the flashing switch to exit.
Making Edit Selections with the
Scrub/Shuttle Wheel
Nudging Track Position with the
Scrub/Shuttle Wheel
You can create or extend Edit selections on D-
Control or D-Command with the Scrub/Shuttle
wheel and the Mark In/Mark Out switches.
You can nudge the display of tracks on D-Con-
trol or D-Command channels forward or back-
ward with the Scrub/Shuttle wheel.
114 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
To create selections with the Scrub/Shuttle
wheel:
When a focused track has a targeted output win-
dow or plug-in window on-screen and you focus
another track, the plug-in window automati-
cally updates to display the first plug-in on the
new track.
1 Locate the cursor in a track.
2 Press the Scrub switch or the Shuttle switch.
3 Do one of the following:
Focusing Tracks and Display of EQ and
Dynamics Plug-ins on D-Control or D-Command
• Hold the Mark In switch and turn the
Scrub/Shuttle wheel counter-clockwise to
create or extend the selection to the left.
When a focused track has an EQ or Dynamics
plug-in focused in the EQ or Dynamics section
and you focus another track, the first plug-in of
either type (EQ or Dynamics) on the new track is
focused in its corresponding section.
– or –
• Hold the Mark Out switch and turn the
Scrub/Shuttle wheel clockwise to create or
extend the selection to the right.
Cycling Display of Plug-ins on D-Control or
D-Command
Focusing Tracks
When you press the Cycle switches in the EQ,
Dynamics, or Custom Faders sections to change
plug-in focus in those sections, the on-screen
window automatically updates to display the
currently focused plug-in, regardless of the
ChanWin preference setting.
You can focus tracks on the D-Control or D-
Command surface in several new ways.
Focusing Tracks while in Select Mode
To focus a track while staying in Select mode:
■ Hold Start+Shift (Windows) or Control+Shift
(Mac) and press the channel Select switch for
the track you want to focus.
Default Plug-in Preferences
You can set a default EQ plug-in and Dynamics
plug-in for your session, which makes them
available for quick assignment from D-Control
or D-Command surfaces.
Focusing Tracks when Soloing
To set D-Control or D-Command to automatically
focus a track when it is soloed:
To set a default EQ or Dynamics plug-in:
1 Press the Operation switch repeatedly to dis-
play the page that includes the Focused Track
Follows Solo preference (SoloFc).
1 In Pro Tools, choose Setup > Preferences and
click Mixing.
2 Under Setup, choose a plug-in from the De-
2 Press the Soft Key that corresponds to “So-
fault EQ or Default Dynamics pop-up menu.
loFc” until its value is “Yes.”
3 Click OK to close the Preferences window.
Focusing Tracks and Display of Targeted
Windows On-Screen
To assign a default EQ or Dynamics plug-in on a D-
Control channel:
The way that D-Control or D-Command display
the targeted Output windows and Plug-in win-
dows on-screen has changed.
1 Press the Inserts switch on the channel to en-
ter Local Assign mode.
Chapter 10: Control Surface Features 115
2 Press the Select switch on the encoder where
5 When the currently writing controls reach a
switch in the Soft Keys section.
The Punch Capture switch lights in the Soft
Keys section lights to indicate captured values
are available to punch.
Automation Capture Feature
You can capture the current automation values
of actively writing controls and store them as
snapshots. See “New Automation Capture Fea-
ture” on page 77 for details.
Storing and Recalling Captured
Automation Values
After automation values are captured, the cap-
the Capture buffer, where they are available to
punch.
On D-Control and D-Command, up to 48 snap-
shots can be stored and recalled. These stored
snapshots are saved with the Pro Tools session.
Capturing Automation Values
To store a snapshot:
Before you can store automation values as a
snapshot preset, they must be loaded into the
Capture buffer.
1 Capture the automation values you want to
store. (See “Capturing Automation Values” on
page 116.)
To capture automation values:
2 In the Management section, press the Snap
key repeatedly until the desired snapshot preset
number appears. The bottom four Soft Keys
show four snapshot presets at a time (1–4, 5–8,
etc.).
1 In the Channel Strip Function controls, press
the Auto switch on each channel whose auto-
mation values you want to capture so that it is
in a write-enabled state (Write, Touch, Latch,
Touch/Latch or Latch).
3 Hold the Soft Key that corresponds to the pre-
set you want save for more than one second.
2 In the Automation Enable controls, press the
corresponding switch to enable each automa-
tion type you want to capture (Volume, Pan,
Mute, Send level, Send pan, Send mute, or Plug-
in).
The automation values currently in the Capture
buffer are stored in the preset. Any previously
saved preset is overwritten.
3 In the Management section, press the Snap
key to display the Capture commands in the
Soft Keys section.
To recall a snapshot:
1 In the Management section, press the Snap
key repeatedly until the desired snapshot preset
number appears. The bottom four Soft Keys
show four snapshot presets at a time (1–4, 5–8,
etc.).
4 Start playback, and if necessary, touch a write-
enabled control to start writing automation.
The Capture switch in the Soft Keys section
lights to indicate that a capture is possible.
116 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
2 Press the Soft Key that corresponds to the
snapshot preset you want to recall. The switch
flashes to indicate that the preset is loaded into
the Capture buffer, and available to punch.
To AutoMatch a pan control or the controls for an
individual insert or send on a channel:
1 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.
Punching Recalled Automation Values
2 Hold Control (Windows) or Command (Mac)
and press the Rotary Encoder Select switch for
the control you want to AutoMatch:
To punch a recalled snapshot:
1 Move to a location where you want to apply
the captured automation states. You can do this
during playback or while the transport is
stopped.
• For Sends, the Send level, pan, and mute
will AutoMatch.
• For Inserts, all automated controls will Au-
toMatch.
2 Press the Punch Capture switch in the Soft
Keys section to apply the captured automation
states. The captured states are applied to all au-
tomation types that are currently enabled in the
Automation window.
• For Pan, all pan sliders on the channel will
AutoMatch.
To AutoMatch all controls for a plug-in displayed in
the Dynamics or EQ section:
■ Hold Control (Windows) or Command (Mac)
and press the Auto switch in the Dyn or EQ sec-
tion of the console.
AutoMatching Individual Controls
On ICON worksurfaces, you can invoke
AutoMatch on individual controls or control
types on single channels.
Focusing Plug-ins in Custom Fader
Plug-in Mode
To AutoMatch all controls of a type on a channel:
The key command for directly focusing a plug-
in Custom Faders on D-Control and D-Com-
mand has changed.
■ Hold Control (Windows) or Command (Mac)
and press any of the following in the Channel
Strip Mode controls for the track whose controls
you want to AutoMatch:
To focus a plug-in in Custom Fader mode directly
from top-level Inserts view:
• Inserts
• Sends
■ Hold Control+Alt (Windows) or Com-
mand+Option (Mac) and press the encoder Se-
lect switch for the plug-in you want to focus.
• Pan
• Dyn (D-Control only)
• EQ (D-Control only)
To AutoMatch the volume fader on a channel:
■ Hold Control (Windows) or Command (Mac)
and press the Auto switch in the Channel Strip
Function controls for the channel.
Chapter 10: Control Surface Features 117
Displaying Slave Tracks for a VCA
Master in Custom Faders
VCA Master Tracks Display of
Slave Tracks
You can temporarily display all the slave tracks
for a VCA Master track together in Custom Fad-
ers. This feature uses Mix/Edit Groups mode to
simulate the effect of the “VCA spill” feature
available on some analog consoles.
In normal Mode, VCA Master tracks show their
slave tracks in their rotary encoders, as follows:
• Encoder knob: Slave track Volume control
• Encoder LED ring: Slave track meter level
• Encoder B/M/P switch: Slave track mute
Whenever a VCA Master track is assigned to
group, its Bypass/Mute switch lights.
• Encoder Select switch: Focuses slave track
in Focus Channel Strip
If there are more than six slave tracks for a VCA
Master, you can the press the channel Page
Up/Page Down switches to display the addi-
tional slave tracks on the rotary encoders.
To display the slave tracks for a VCA Master in
Custom Faders (or “spill” a VCA):
■ Press the lit Bypass/Mute switch. The By-
pass/Mute switch flashes to indicate that the
VCA Group is spilled.
Displaying VCA Master Tracks in
Custom Faders
To exit display of slave tracks in Custom Faders,
do one of the following:
Displaying VCA Master Tracks
■ Press the flashing Bypass/Mute switch in the
VCA Master.
You can display VCA Master tracks in Custom
Fader Tracks mode.
– or –
■ Press the Groups switch in the Custom Fader
controls.
To display VCA Masters in the Custom Fader
channels:
1 Press the Tracks switch in the Custom Faders
section.
Focusing VCA Masters When Their
Slave Tracks Are Spilled
2 Press the Bank Select switch to display track
types in the Soft Keys.
You can set ICON to automatically focus a VCA
Master Track in the Focus Channel Strip when
its slave tracks are spilled.
3 Press the Soft Key that corresponds to VCA
Master.
To automatically focus VCA tracks when they are
spilled:
To exit Tracks mode:
1 In the Soft Keys section, press the Operation
switch repeatedly to display the page that in-
cludes the Focus VCA Master When Spilled pref-
erence (“SplFcs”).
■ Press the lit Tracks switch.
2 Press the Soft Key that corresponds to “SplFcs”
to toggle the setting to “On.”
118 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
3 Hold Control (Windows) or Command (Mac)
3 Press the Soft Key that corresponds to the
and press the Operation switch to exit.
Group you want to create or recall.
Selecting Mix/Edit Groups and
Custom Groups in Custom Fader
Mode
Setting Custom Fader Bank Size
You can now set the maximum Custom Fader
Bank Size independently for each of the Custom
Fader modes.
Selecting Mix/Edit Groups and Custom
Groups on D-Control
In addition, you can now choose settings for
these sizes that will use the minimum number
of channels necessary, dynamically resizing to
match the number of channels in the group.
These settings are indicated by the prefix “Min”
in the preference name.
While in Mix/Edit Groups or Custom Groups
Mode on D-Control, you can now select a group
for display on the Custom Faders from the ro-
tary encoders.
To recall a Mix/Edit Group or a Custom Group from
the rotary encoders on D-Control:
To set the maximum Custom Fader Bank size:
1 In the Soft Keys section, press the Operation
switch repeatedly to display the page that in-
cludes the Custom Fader Bank Size preferences
(see “Operation Switch” on page 120).
1 Hold the Groups switch or the Custom switch
in either of the Custom Fader sections until the
available Groups appear in the rotary encoder
displays of the Custom Faders.
2 Do one of the following:
2 Press the encoder Select switch to select the
• To increment the number of channel strips
for a Custom Fader mode, press the Soft
Key that corresponds to that mode.
group you want to display in the Custom Faders.
3 Press the encoder BMP switch to toggle the
corresponding group active or inactive.
– or –
• To decrement the number of channel strips
for a Custom Fader mode, hold Shift and
press the Soft Key that corresponds to that
mode.
Selecting Mix/Edit Groups and Custom
Groups on D-Command
While in Mix/Edit Groups or Custom Groups
Mode on D-Command, you can now select a
group for display on the Custom Faders from
the Soft Keys.
3 Hold Control (Windows) or Command (Mac)
and press the Operation switch to exit.
To create or recall a Mix/Edit Group or a Custom
Group from the Soft Keys on D-Command:
New Soft Key Displays
The following new commands appear in the
Soft Key displays for D-Control and D-Com-
mand.
1 Press the Groups switch in the Custom Faders
section.
2 Press the Soft Key that corresponds to Page Up
or Page Down to display the Group you want to
create or recall in the Custom Faders.
Chapter 10: Control Surface Features 119
Operation Switch (Page 2)
Management Controls
LCFPI (Left CF Bank Size for Plug-ins) Deter-
mines the number of channels allocated for
Custom Fader Plug-in mode in the Left Custom
Fader section.
Snap Switch
The Snap switch displays the following new
commands:
• Captre: Capture
RCFPI (Right CF Bank Size for Plug-ins) Deter-
mines the number of channels allocated for
Custom Fader Plug-in mode in the Right Cus-
tom Fader section.
• Punch Captre: Punch Capture
• Snap 1–4: Snapshots 1–4
• Snap 5–48 (Snapshots 5–48 in groups of 4)
LCFGrp (Left CF Bank Size for Custom Groups and
Mix/Edit Groups) Determines the number of
Group Switch
The Group switch displays the following new
command:
channels allocated for Custom Groups mode in
the Left Custom Fader section.
• Modify: Modify Groups
RCFGrp (Right CF Bank Size for Custom Groups
and Mix/Edit Groups) Determinesthenumberof
channels allocated for Custom Groups in the
Right Custom Fader section.
Console Preferences
Meter Switch
LCFTyp (Left CF Bank Size for Track Type) Deter-
mines the number of channels allocated for
Custom Fader Tracks mode in the Left Custom
Fader section.
The Meter switch displays the following new
commands:
Meter Switch (Page 1)
VCAMtr (VCA Meters) Toggles metering of VCA
slaves on channel rotary encoders on and off.
RCFTyp (Right CF Bank Size for Track Type) De-
termines the number of channels allocated for
Custom Fader Tracks mode in the Right Custom
Fader section.
Operation Switch
The Operation switch displays the following
new commands:
Operation Switch (Page 4)
SoloFc (Focused Track Follows Solo) Sets D-Con-
trol or D-Command to automatically focus the
soloed track (this function works in both Select
and Focus modes)
Operation Switch (Page 1)
LPIDef Determines the display mode of plug-ins
on the Custom Faders in the Left Custom Fader
section. (Plug-in name view, Expanded view, Re-
tain Fader view)
2KbPan (Two-Knob Panning) Toggles linking of
front and rear pan controls in the Surround Pan-
ner to facilitate left-right motion in the sur-
round field.
RPIDef Determines the display mode of plug-ins
on the Custom Faders in the Right Custom
Fader section. (Plug-in name view, Expanded
view, Retain Fader view)
120 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
Captre (Capture) Executes the Capture com-
Operation Switch (Page 5)
mand
SplFcs (Focus VCA Master When Spilled) Causes
a VCA Master track to be focused in the Focus
Channel Strip when its slave tracks are “spilled,”
or displayed in Custom Faders by pressing the
Bypass/Mute switch on the VCA Master.
Punch Captre (Punch Capture) Executes the
Punch Capture command
Actions Switch (Page 2)
Wrt To Punch (Write To Punch Point) Writes cur-
rent automation values back to the point where
writing of automation began
FilBnk (Always Fill Channel Strips When Banking)
Toggles the preference setting that maximizes
the number of channels displayed in Normal
mode when banking. When selected, banking
follows end stop behavior.
Actions Switch (Page 4)
Colesc VCAAtm (Coalesce VCA Automation) Ex-
ecutes the Track > Coalesce VCA Master Auto-
mation command
FillCF (Always Fill Custom Faders When Banking)
Toggles the preference setting that maximizes
the number of channels displayed in Custom
Faders when banking. When selected, banking
follows end stop behavior.
Colesc TrmAtm (Coalesce Trim Automation) Exe-
cutes the Track > Coalesce Trim Automation
Command
Clear TrmAtm (Clear Trim Automation) Executes
the Track > Clear Trim Automation Command
New Setting for Touch/Val Preference
TchVal (Touch Display of Parameter Values
On/Off/NoVol) This Operation preference can
Suspnd TrmAtm (Suspend Trim Automation)
now turn off the display of volume values for
faders and keep the parameter display for encod-
ers with the “NoVol” setting.
Temporarily suspends Trim automation to allow
auditioning of Trim moves
Modes Switch
Automation Controls
The Modes switch displays the following new
modes:
Actions Switch
The Actions switch displays the following new
commands:
AWrtTo Punch (Auto Write to Punch Point on
Stop) Writes current automation values back to
where automation pass began
Actions Switch (Page 1)
Prefs Switch
Prview (Preview) Puts Pro Tools in Preview mode
The Prefs switch displays these new preferences:
Prefs Switch (Page 1)
Punch Prview (Punch Preview) Executes the
Punch Preview command
Prview Suspnd (Preview Suspend) Suspends Pre-
view mode
LchStp (Allow Latch Prime in Stop) Toggles the
Allow Latch Prime in Stop preference, which al-
lows tracks in Latch mode to be primed for writ-
ing automation while the transport is stopped
Chapter 10: Control Surface Features 121
PlgAut (Plug-in Controls Default to Auto-Enabled)
Audio Files Switch
Toggles the preference that enables plug-in con-
trols automatically when they are added to a
track
The Audio Files switch now displays the follow-
ing commands for importing and exporting
data into Pro Tools:
AutCls (Coalesce when Removing Slaves from
VCA Group) Toggles the preference that auto-
Audio Files Switch (Page 1)
• Import Audio: File > Import > Audio
• Import MIDI: File > Import > MIDI
• Import SesDat: File > Import > Session Data
• Import RgnGrp: File > Import > Region Group
• Import Video: File > Import > Video
matically coalesces automation to slave track
when they are removed from a VCA-controlled
group
TmCols (Coalesce Trim Automation) Sets the
preference that determines when Trim automa-
tion is coalesced (After Every Pass, On Exiting
Trim Mode, or Manually)
Audio Files Switch (Page 2)
• Export Region: Region List Menu > Export Re-
gions as Files
Prefs Switch (Page 2)
MmtTch (Latching Behavior for Switched Controls
in Touch) Toggles the preference that deter-
mines the behavior of switched controls in
Touch mode
• Export MIDI: File > Export > MIDI
• Export OMFAAF: File > Export > Selected Track
as OMF/AAF
• Export Text: File > Export Session Info As Text
StdVCA (Standard VCA Logic for Group At-
tributes) Toggles the preference that disables
normal group linking behavior when a VCA is
assigned to a group
Show/Hide Switch
The Show/Hide switch now displays the follow-
ing commands for showing and hiding VCA
Master tracks:
WrtWrn (Suppress Automation “Write To” Warn-
ings) Toggles the preference that suppresses dia-
logs after invoking the Write To Start/End/All
commands
Show/Hide Switch (Page 3)
• Show VCA: Show Only VCA Master Tracks
• Hide VCA: Hide Only VCA Master Tracks
PanLnk (Use Absolute Pan Linking) Toggles the
preference that determines the behavior of pan
controls in grouped tracks
Displaying VCA Master Tracks
(ProControl, Control|24, Command|8®Only)
SndTrm (Include Sends in Trim Mode) Toggles
the preferences that determines whether Send
Faders go into Trim mode along with Main Vol-
ume.
On non-ICON control surfaces, you can bring
all VCA Master tracks onto the surface by press-
ing the Masters Faders switch twice. The first
press displays any Master Faders in the session,
and the second press displays any VCA Masters
tracks in the session.
122 What’s New in Pro Tools HD 7.2
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