Select File|New Track and click on the pulldown to create a stereo track.
These aren't all the changes, some of which are mostly cosmetic, such as the appearance of the preference menus. But these are the major changes:
Pro Tools now lets you create and display stereo tracks in the Edit & Mix windows.
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Select File|New Track and click on the pulldown to create a stereo track. |
Stereo audio placed in a Stereo Track will appear as a Stereo Pair controlled by a single stereo fader (with a pair of track meters indicating levels.) Audiofiles recorded in a stereo track are automatically designated as a stereo pair.
The default for editing and automation is for the stereo tracks to be linked; you usually want to make edits in both tracks simultaneously, for instance. But the File Menu also provides the opportunity to "Split Selected Tracks to Mono" giving you the flexibility to treat the left and right sides differently.
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Also, audiofiles that are stereo pairs (identified with the ".L" and ".R" suffixes) are displayed as a grouped pair in the Audio Regions List. You can see how "DRONE GUITAR" appears to the right. ----------> By clicking on the little triangles by the file name, you can display and access the individual Left/Right files if needed. |
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One of the quirks of past Pro Tools versions is that you had to remember to press Save periodically. Now Pro Tools can Auto-Save. This option is accessed from the Setups|Preferences|Operations Menu and you can select how often you want Pro Tools to save.
Another bane of previous versions was that there was only a single level of Undo. Now there are 16 levels of Undo and Redo.
Import Tracks From Other Sessions
Previously a separate utility called Track Transfer was needed in order to bring an entire track, along with it's edits, automation, etc., into a different session. Now you can bring tracks into an open session via the File|Import Tracks Menu.
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Navigate to the Session Document you want to import from and open it. The Import Tracks Menu then appears. |
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Then select the track(s) you want to import. The menu also gives you some sophisticated options, but it defaults to working with Sound Designer II files and "referring to source media" -- that is, Pro Tools will locate and work with the original audiofiles rather than making new copies unless you choose to do otherwise. Once you choose the tracks and click OK, the new tracks should appear at the bottom of the Edit Window. |
Yes, it's "enhanced" -- unfortunately it hogs most of the screen as well. In previous versions there were two import menus, one for straightforward imports and another one for "converting and importing." The new one combines these functions. Here it is:
At the top of this Import Window is a standard Mac navigation window that you use to locate the folder and files you're interested in. Clicking on a file in the Navigation area selects it and places it in the "current file" window. Once selected the file can be auditioned using the "Play" and "Stop" buttons. (The slider below the Play/Stop buttons allows you to skip around within the file.)
In addition, for each selected audiofile info about file type and sample rate is displayed. (Shift-click to select multiple files.) There's also a prompt as to whether the selected file is suitable for directly adding to the session. If not, choose "Copy" instead of "Add" and an appropriate converted copy of the file will be created. You'll be prompted as to where that new file should end up.
One more little wrinkle -- in the example above the audiofile "GTR DRONE" is selected for adding to the Import List. Note that just below it is something called "GTR DRONE-02" with a different icon indicating that it is not an entire audiofile but is a defined region of an audiofile. Ordinarily regions do not appear in this way but in the Audio Regions List Menu there is an option called "Export Region Definitions." Selecting a region or regions and then "exporting the definitions" will essentially create little markers within the audiofile so that just that region may be imported. (This can be especially handy in music where you might want to reuse certain accents or beats in different sessions.)
Digidesign has finally tackled one of my pet peeves; very often you need to switch from viewing tracks as waveforms to viewing the automation data. Previously you had to click on tiny buttons to access pulldown menus to change back and forth. Now you can use a combo keystroke. Just click within any track or combination of tracks and hit CONTR and the "MINUS" key to toggle between the two types of display. (Note: the "-" key has to be the one on the main alpha-numeric keyboard, not the numeric keypad.)
If you have some complicated EQ or other insert set up for one track and you want to duplicate the same insert on another track, just hold down the Option key, click on the insert, then Drag and Drop it to a different insert button on another track. Like so:
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Step 1 -- Option-Click on the Track 1 EQ and Drag it to Track 2. |
Release the mouse and the new EQ insert appears, with all the same settings as the first one. |
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Ordinarily, pressing the Tab key jumps the cursor to the next region boundary. But suppose you have a long sound effects file made up various "punches" or "body falls", etc. You can now get the cursor to jump to the initial impact of each sound by enabling a feature called "Tabbing to Transients." You toggle this feature with a button located below the "Shuffle-Spot-Grid-Slip" buttons at the upper left of the Edit Window.
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With this button highlighted, pressing the Tab key will send the Selector skipping through the track to both region boundaries and the beginnings of strong volume changes within the audiofile. A very handy navigation option. |
Surround Mixing & RTAS Plug-in support
In the TDM systems the biggest change is that Pro Tools now supports multi-channel mixing instead of merely two channel stereo. In other words, you can do 5.1 surround mixing as well as variations like LCRS, etc. Surround mixing is a big topic and beyond the scope of this tutorial where we're mostly attempting to cover Pro Tools LE, and the LE systems do not support surround mixing. So if you working with a TDM system (and have the hardware required for surround mixing) please consult the manual. And be prepared to spend some time exploring this great new capability.
In version 5.0, Real Time AudioSuite (RTAS) plug-ins were introduced for the Pro Tools LE systems only. As people discovered just how good some of those plug-ins were, owners of TDM systems became understandably envious. With version 5.1, TDM systems can now utilize these same RTAS plug-ins.
