Specifications
Chapter 3: Pro Tools Concepts 13
Tracks
Pro Tools tracks are where audio, MIDI, and au-
tomation data are recorded and edited.
Audio and MIDI tracks can be edited into re-
gions or repeated in different locations, to create
loops, re-arrange sections or entire songs, or to
assemble tracks using material from multiple
takes.
Audio tracks can be mono, stereo, or any sup-
ported multichannel format (depending on
your type of Pro Tools system). When creating a
new audio track, you can choose from a list of
formats supported by your system.
Regions (or Loops)
A region (or loop) is a piece of audio or MIDI data
that may have associated automation data. A re-
gion could be a loop, a guitar riff, a verse of a
song, a sound effect, a piece of dialog, or an en-
tire sound file. In Pro Tools, regions are created
from audio or MIDI files, and can be arranged in
audio and MIDI track playlists.
Playlist
A playlist is a group of regions arranged on an
audio or MIDI track. Tracks have edit playlists
and automation playlists.
On audio tracks, an edit playlist tells the hard
disk which audio files to read in what order. For
example, you can use the same audio region to
access the same piece of audio multiple times at
different locations and not use additional disk
space. Different versions of the same original au-
dio can be used in different places and have dif-
ferent effects applied.
A playlist can be made up of a single region or
many separate regions. It can be made up of
similar elements, such as regions from several
different takes of a solo, or dissimilar elements,
such as several sound effects. You can create any
number of edit playlists for a track. This lets you
assemble different versions of performances or
edits on a single audio or MIDI track and choose
between them with a pop-up menu on the track.
Each track has a single set of automation playl-
ists, for volume, pan, mute and each automa-
tion-enabled control for the insert and send as-
signments on that track.
Audio tracks in the Edit window
MIDI track in the Edit window
Audio region
Playlist Selector pop-up menu