Specifications
Chapter 26: Basic Mixing 413
You can also define what physical ports are
routed to Pro Tools output ports in the “Main”
page of the Hardware Setup dialog. For more in-
formation, see “Configuring Pro Tools System
Settings (in the Playback System Engine)” on
page 37.
To assign a track to multiple outputs:
1 Assign a main output path by selecting it from
the track’s Output Selector.
2 Start-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macin-
tosh) an additional output path in the track’s
Output Selector. The newly selected output des-
tination is added as an additional output.
Display of Multiple Output Assignments
When a track is assigned to multiple output
paths, the Output Selector denotes multiple as-
signment status and active/inactive status with
the following indicators:
•A plus sign (+) indicates that the track has
multiple output assignments.
• In the Output Selector menu, all currently as-
signed track outputs are checked to indicate
they are active for the current track.
• An asterisk (*) indicates that one or more cur-
rently assigned outputs is Inactive.
Inactive Outputs
An output path can be made inactive, either glo-
bally in the I/O Setup window (affecting all
tracks assigned to that path), or locally per as-
signment (only affecting that output on that au-
dio track or Auxiliary Input).
When opening sessions, outputs will be made
inactive automatically if the required hardware
or other resources are not available.
Inactive outputs retain all associated automa-
tion playlists. Edits made in the session also af-
fect the inactive track’s output automation play-
lists.
Inactive Outputs and DSP Resources
Making a track output inactive silences the out-
put, while retaining all automation and playlist
data. Inactive outputs do not consume resources
for TDM mixer connections, but any assigned
plug-ins on the track continue to use their re-
quired DSP resources. RTAS plug-ins require
CPU resources, and TDM plug-ins use the DSP
available on Pro Tools audio cards.
You can free up DSP of unused plug-ins by set-
ting a track to inactive, or by setting just the
plug-in to inactive.
About the “No Output” Option
Track outputs can be set to No Output. Assign-
ing a track output to No Output loses any pan-
ning automation associated with the track.
Tracks assigned to No Output will not be audi-
ble, but they do not free their associated DSP re-
sources.
Alt-Start-click (Windows) or Option-Con-
trol-click (Macintosh) to add the assign-
ment to all tracks, or Alt-Shift-Start-click
(Windows) or Option-Shift-Control-click
(Macintosh) to add to all selected tracks.
Indication of multiple output assignments
See “Making Tracks Inactive” on page 102.
See “Active and Inactive Items” on page 17,
and “Making Inserts Inactive” on page 436
for more information.