Specifications

Pro Tools Reference Guide24
DigiBase
DigiBase is a database management tool for
Pro Tools. DigiBase expands upon basic Pro Tools
search and import capabilities by providing power-
ful tools to manage your data both inside and out-
side of your sessions, on any hard drive connected
to the system.
A database is a way of organizing data such that it
can easily be searched, sorted, managed, and uti-
lized. Your checkbook is an example of a database
file. For every check you write, you enter a new re-
cord. That record contains information about the
check, such as when you wrote it, to whom you
wrote it, and for what amount. This information is
written in specific columns, or fields. Everything
you need to know (the check’s metadata) is there,
even though the check itself is not.
DigiBase browsers let you search, sort, and mange
these databases by volume or catalog. You can use
DigiBase browsers not only to organize your
Pro Tools sessions and media files (audio, MIDI,
and video), but also to audition and import by drag
and drop.
AAF, MXF, and OMF
Pro Tools lets you exchange audio, video, and se-
quences with other AAF-, MXF-, and OMF-com-
patible applications (such as Avid editors).
Media Data (Media Files)
Media data represents raw audio or video material
and is stored in individual media files. Every time
you record a piece of video or audio material into
an application, you are creating a media file. Audio
media files hold samples (such as 44,100 or 48,000
samples per second of recording) while video me-
dia files use frames (24, 25, or 30 frames per sec-
ond of recording).
The size of each media file depends on how much
audio or video material it contains. For example, a
file containing ten minutes of high resolution video
might be approximately 2.16 GB in size, whereas a
ten-minute audio recording at the might result in a
100 MB file. Media files tend to be large, since
high quality audio and video signals are data inten-
sive. Video data generally requires considerably
more storage than audio data.
For more information about DigiBase, see
Chapter 16, “DigiBase.”.