Specifications

Chapter 15: Editing Basics 217
Nondestructive MIDI Editing
While editing audio regions is usually nonde-
structive, this is not always the case for MIDI re-
gions. For instance, if a MIDI region resides in
just one track at a single location, editing for
that region is destructive. This means that alter-
ing the pitch, duration, or placement of notes in
Notes View permanently alters the region.
However, when editing a MIDI region that oc-
curs elsewhere, in the same track (at another lo-
cation or in a different playlist) or in another
track, the editing is nondestructive and occurs
to an auto-created region. To go back to the pre-
vious material, drag the original region from the
MIDI Regions List, or return to a previously
saved playlist.
MIDI Regions and Continuous
Controller Events
Continuous controller events reside in MIDI re-
gions and not in tracks. This means that when
dragging regions that contain controller data
from either a track or the MIDI Regions List, the
controller data is written to the destination
track.
Unlike continuous controller events, which rep-
resent nuances that are part of a MIDI perfor-
mance, Mute in Pro Tools is an automation
playlist that actually mutes the MIDI engine.
Mute automation does not correspond to actual
MIDI events and is therefore not exported when
saving as a Standard MIDI File.
Playlists
The ability to create playlists is one of the most
powerful features of Pro Tools, and one reason
why it is infinitely more versatile than tradi-
tional multitrack recorders.
Edit playlists allow you to take a snapshot of a
track’s current arrangement of regions, thereby
freeing you to experiment with alternate ar-
rangements, returning as necessary to previ-
ously saved playlists.
A playlist, which can consist of a single region or
many regions, can only be assigned to a track if
it is not in use by another track. While you can
create an almost unlimited number of edit play-
lists, which are shared among all tracks, each
track has its own set of dedicated automation
playlists.
Automation playlists for audio tracks store data
for volume, pan, mute, and plug-in controls.
Automation playlists for MIDI tracks, however,
store only mute information; continuous con-
troller events, program changes, and Sysex
events are stored in MIDI regions and therefore
reside within edit playlists.
One way to safely return to a track’s previ-
ous state is with playlists. Before you edit
notes, trim regions, or rearrange the order of
regions, make a duplicate of the track’s ex-
isting playlist and instead work with it (see
“Playlists” on page 217).
Playlist Selector pop-up