User`s guide

Chapter 13: Editing Basics 133
chapter 13
Editing Basics
Pro Tools Editing
The Edit window in Pro Tools provides a
powerful collection of tools for editing and
assembling audio and MIDI tracks. Track
material can be edited non-destructively
and in real time during playback.
Nondestructive Editing
The vast majority of audio editing in
Pro Tools is nondestructive. Whether cut-
ting, pasting, trimming, separating, or
clearing regions, you are only performing
these functions on a map of the actual
audio data. The source audio files remain
untouched. If a particular process or tool
works destructively (that is, if it can perma-
nently change audio files on your hard
disk), this guide alerts you.
While editing for MIDI tracks is in some in-
stances destructive, with a few precautions
you can keep important MIDI tracks and
regions safe when performing edits (see
“Nondestructive MIDI Editing” on
page 141).
Editing During Playback
Pro Tools lets you perform many editing
tasks while the session plays. This powerful
capability allows you to interactively mod-
ify and edit a session, hearing the changes
as you make them. You’ll find many in-
stances where you can use this capability to
increase your productivity when working
with a session.
Following are just a few examples of edit-
ing that can be performed while your
tracks loop or play:
• Capture, separate, and trim regions
• Place, spot, or rearrange regions
• Add fades or crossfades to audio regions
• Transpose, quantize, and otherwise mod-
ify MIDI tracks
• Nudge audio or MIDI regions
• Audition different playlists
• Adjust or scale automation data
• Process audio with an AudioSuite Plug-In
▲ There are a few things that can not be
changed while Pro Tools plays back. These in-
clude assigning audio tracks to TDM Plug-Ins,
routing to sends, and assigning outputs.