Specifications

Pro Tools Reference Guide456
Automation Preferences
Pro Tools gives you several options for control-
ling the writing and playback of automation
data.
To display Automation Preferences:
■ Choose Setups > Preferences, and click Auto-
mation.
Smoothing
When you perform automation moves with a
continuous control, Pro Tools records the move
as a series of very small steps, resulting in a stair-
case pattern with many breakpoints. Smoothing
intelligently resolves this staircase pattern into a
single, smooth ramp from one breakpoint to the
next. (Smoothing does not apply to switched
controls such as mutes or plug-in bypasses.)
With smoothing enabled, the resulting automa-
tion is often a more accurate representation of
actual automation moves.
Thinning
Thinning automatically reduces the overall
number of breakpoints in the automation play-
list in order to improve system performance.
The amount of thinning applied is determined
by the Degree of Thinning setting in the Auto-
mation Preferences. When using high amounts
of thinning, the resulting automation may dif-
fer noticeably from the original automation
moves. Thinning only applies to audio tracks,
and does not affect MIDI tracks. For instruc-
tions, see “Thinning Automation” on page 465.
AutoMatch
When you write automation in Auto Touch
mode, if you release a fader during playback,
Pro Tools returns to the level of any automation
still on the track by ramping up or down over a
certain amount of time, called the AutoMatch
Time. This time value is set in the Automation
Preferences.
The AutoMatch feature works with continuous
controls (such as Volume or Pan) by ramping
their values back to previously automated levels.
There are some stepped controls (for example,
Automation Preferences dialog
For detailed information on Pro Tools Au-
tomation Preferences, see “Automation
Preferences” on page 61.