User`s guide

Chapter 5: Creating Sessions 41
Changing the Pro Tools
Playback Engine
Pro Tools allows you to select different
Playback Engines depending on your sys-
tem configuration. The Playback Engine
determines which Pro Tools card is used to
for Pro Tools recording and playback fea-
tures. Supported Digidesign cards include
the Pro Tools MIX card, d24 card, Disk I/O
card, Digi 001, or Audiomedia III card.
On TDM systems, the Playback Engine is
also used to change the Audio Interface as-
signments for each card.
To change an Audio Interface assignment:
1 Choose Setups > Playback Engine.
2 Select from the available Playback En-
gines.
3 Choose the card you want to configure
from the Card pop-up menu.
4 If available, choose the port to which
your Audio Interface is connected from the
Interface port pop-up.
5 Choose the Audio Interface connected to
the currently displayed card or port.
6 Set the Sample Rate, Sync Mode, and
Channel 1–2 format for the Audio Inter-
face.
7 Click Other Options to configure addi-
tional options for the Audio Interface.
A Pro Tools session created on one
Pro Tools system configuration can be
opened and used on a different Pro Tools
system configuration. When you change
the Playback Engine while a session is
open, the session will be saved, closed and
reopened to enable your new Playback En-
gine choice.
If you change your Playback from a TDM-
based engine (MIX 64 Voice, MIX 32 Voice,
d24, or Disk I/O) to a Pro Tools LE -based
engine (Digi 001 or Audiomedia III) you
will lose any tracks, busses, or I/O Assign-
ments that exceed the limits of the
Pro Tools LE system. Any TDM Plug-Ins
that do not have Real-Time AudioSuite
(RTAS) equivalents will also be lost.
Changing DAE Playback
Buffer Size
The DAE Playback Buffer size determines
the amount of memory allocated within
DAE to manage disk buffers, which affects
system performance.
Though DAE automatically selects the opti-
mal Playback Buffer for your system, you
may want to adjust this parameter to mod-
ify your system’s performance:
◆ Allocating a larger buffer can sometimes
allow for a higher density of edits. This can
be useful if you experience system perfor-
mance problems in sessions with a large
number of edits in rapid succession.
Playback Engine dialog for Pro Tools 24 system