Specifications

Pro Tools Reference Guide16
Typically, each audio channel for each track in
your Pro Tools session uses a single voice. So, for
a mono audio track, a single voice is used; for a ste-
reo audio track, two voices are used. When using
Punch Recording, two voices are needed for every
single audio channel (one for playback and one for
recording on punch in and out). In some situations,
with Avid HDX and Pro Tools|HD systems, more
than one voice may be necessary for a single chan-
nel (such as when using host processing on a DSP
or TDM bus).
Voices can be allocated dynamically (with all
Pro Tools systems, any available voices are auto-
matically assigned as they are needed) or explicitly
(with Pro Tools|HD systems only, you can explic-
itly assign audio channels to specific available
voices to ensure that audio on those channels is al-
ways voiced).
On Avid HDX and Pro Tools|HD systems, the
number of available voices is dependent on the
amount of dedicated DSP processing in your sys-
tem (see “Playback, Recording, and Voice Limits
with Pro Tools HD” on page 49).
On all other Pro Tools systems, the full number of
available voices for your system may be limited by
the host processing power of your computer (see
“Pro Tools Capabilities with Different Hardware
Configurations” on page 44).
Media Files
Pro Tools sessions create, import, export, and ref-
erence media files. Media files are audio, MIDI,
and video files. Audio and video media files are
stored separately from the Pro Tools session file.
MIDI data is stored in the session file.
Audio Files
When you record audio into a Pro Tools session,
audio files are created.
Audio files for each session are stored in a folder
named “Audio Files.” Audio files are listed in the
Pro Tools Clip List and can appear in an audio
track. A section of an audio file can be defined as a
clip. See “Clip” on page 17.
MIDI Files
When you record or enter MIDI into a Pro Tools
session, all MIDI data is stored in the Pro Tools
session file. You can import and export MIDI files
to and from Pro Tools sessions, but MIDI
recorded or otherwise created in a Pro Tools
session does not automatically create new MIDI
files.
Video Files
When you record or import video into a Pro Tools
session, all video data is stored as the correspond-
ing video file type (such as QuickTime). Video
files can be created in (or copied to) the Video
Files folder in the session folder. However, in most
cases, Pro Tools references video files that have
been captured by another application, such as Avid
Media Composer
®
.
For more information about voicing in
Pro Tools, see “Track Priority and Voice
Assignment” on page 244.
Audio file icon
MIDI file icon