Specifications

Chapter 2: Pro Tools Concepts 17
Clip
A clip is a segment of audio, MIDI, or video data.
A clip could be a drum loop, a guitar riff, a verse of
a song, a recording take, a sound effect, some dia-
log, or an entire sound file. Clips are especially
useful for arranging audio and MIDI. A clip can
also have associated automation data. In
Pro Tools, clips are created from audio files or
MIDI data, and can be arranged in audio and MIDI
track playlists. Clips can also be grouped (a “clip
of clips”) and looped (repeated).
Playlist
A playlist is a sequence of clips arranged on an au-
dio, MIDI, or video track. Tracks have edit playl-
ists and automation playlists.
On audio tracks, an edit playlist tells the hard disk
which audio clips to play in what order. For exam-
ple, you can have separate audio clips for a song
introduction, the first verse, the first chorus, and so
on. You can also use the same audio clip to access
the same piece of audio multiple times at different
locations and not use additional disk space. Differ-
ent versions of the same original audio can be used
in different places and have different effects ap-
plied. On MIDI and Instrument tracks, edit playl-
ists can store multiple MIDI sequences (or perfor-
mances) on a track.
A playlist can be made up of a single clip or many
separate clips. It can be made up of similar ele-
ments (such as clips from several different takes of
a solo), or dissimilar elements (such as several
sound effects).
You can create any number of alternate edit playl-
ists for a track. This lets you assemble different
versions of performances or edits on a single track
and choose between them from the Playlists menu
on the track.
Audio clip
MIDI clip
Video clip (Frames view)
Clip group (Mixed audio and MIDI multitrack clip
group)
Playlist selector pop-up menu