Specifications

Pro Tools Reference Guide20
Plug-In and Hardware Inserts Plug-in processing
occurs completely within the Pro Tools system.
Hardware inserts use audio interface inputs and
outputs for traditional insert routing to and from
external effects and other devices. MIDI and VCA
Master tracks do not have inserts.
Instrument Plug-Ins Instrument plug-ins are dif-
ferent from processing plug-ins in that they gener-
ate audio rather than process the audio signal from
a track’s audio input or from hard disk.
Instrument plug-ins are typically played by MIDI.
Paths Paths are any routing option in Pro Tools,
including internal or external inputs, outputs, bus-
ses, and inserts. Pro Tools lets you name these
paths, and these path names appear in the Audio
Input and Output Path selectors and other menus.
For more information, see Chapter 7, “I/O Setup.”
Mixing Formats Sessions can include combina-
tions of mono, stereo, and greater-than-stereo mul-
tichannel format tracks, busses, inputs, outputs,
and inserts. Greater-than-stereo multichannel for-
mats are supported with Pro Tools HD and
Pro Tools with the Complete Production Toolkit
option only.
Grouping and VCA Tracks Tracks can be grouped
together for mixing so that their relative mix set-
tings are maintained when changing a mix setting
for any track in the group. For example, changing
the volume of one track affects the volume of all
the other tracks in the group. VCA Master tracks
(Pro Tools HD and Pro Tools with Complete Pro-
duction Toolkit only) control the relative mix set-
tings for all tracks within the selected group.
Tick-Based and
Sample-Based Time
Pro Tools lets you set any track timebase to
either sample-based or tick-based. You can also set
the Timeline to be viewed as tick-based or sample-
based.
Audio in Pro Tools is sample-based by default.
This means that if an audio clip is located at a par-
ticular sample location, it will not move from that
location if the tempo changes in the session—
though its Bar|Beat location will change.
MIDI data in Pro Tools is tick-based by default.
This means that if a MIDI clip is located at a par-
ticular Bar|Beat location, it will not move from that
Bar|Beat location if the tempo changes in the ses-
sion—though its sample location will change.
You can select whether a track is sample-based or
tick-based when it is created, or change timebases
later.
Sample-Based Audio and MIDI
With a sample-based audio track, all clips in the
track have an absolute location on the Timeline.
Clips stay fixed to the sample time, regardless of
where tempo or meter changes occur in a session.
If you make a MIDI track sample-based, all MIDI
events in the track have an absolute location on the
Timeline. MIDI events stay fixed to sample time,
regardless of any tempo or meter changes in a
session.