Specifications

Chapter 1: Working with MIDI Control Surfaces 11
Controlling Plug-Ins
Pro Tools lets you control plug-ins from MIDI
control surfaces enabled in the Peripherals dia-
log. When editing plug-in settings, the associ-
ated track name is outlined in red in the
Pro Tools Mix window.
Since some plug-ins have more controls than a
single MIDI control surface, these plug-ins are
controlled through a collection of control pages.
The MIDI control surface defines a “page size”
based on its number of controls, and the plug-in
controls are grouped accordingly into pages of
this size.
In many cases, there will be a one-to-one rela-
tionship between the number of controls and
the number of pages. Some plug-ins have an odd
number of controls, or have controls that don’t
allow a page break where controls would logi-
cally be grouped together. In these cases, there
may be plug-in pages that contain “blank” loca-
tions where a given control is not active.
The plug-in parameters that a control surface is
able to access in the current page will be high-
lighted blue. Automatable plug-in controls are
shown in red when in any write Automation
mode (Auto Write, Auto Touch, or Auto Latch),
and will turn green when in Auto Read.
Managing Multiple Plug-In and
Output Windows
You can use a maximum of two MIDI control
surfaces to control one Plug-In window and one
Output window simultaneously. You can also
use an Ethernet controller for a maximum pos-
sible total of three simultaneous control targets.
Each of up to three control surfaces will be as-
signed a color to indicate on-screen which con-
trol surface is affecting which window.
When opening multiple windows, press Shift
while opening a new window to move the con-
trol surface focus to the new window. Only one
open window at a time can be the control sur-
face focus.
Automating Plug-In Controls
Pro Tools can automate any plug-in control, as
long as the plug-in supports automation.
On all supported MIDI Control Surfaces except
the Mackie HUI, there is no distinction between
continuous controls (that vary in level over
many steps), and switched controls (that have
only on and off states). On these control sur-
faces, you use faders or knobs to set values for
switched controls on plug-ins.
Plug-in controls are generally mapped from the
top left to the bottom right of the plug-in. Some
controls may be inactive for certain pages, but
each control will appear over the range of pages
supported for that plug-in.
Third-Party Plug-Ins
Plug-ins from some of Digidesign’s Develop-
ment Partners may need to be updated for com-
patibility with the automation capabilities of
Pro Tools, as well as control surface-based plug-
in editing and Librarian functionality. Plug-in
control paging behavior is determined by the
plug-in software, not by the Pro Tools applica-
tion. Contact the manufacturer of your plug-in
for information about automation support in
Pro Tools.
For instructions on automating plug-ins, re-
fer to the Pro Tools Reference Guide.
Plug-in page tables for each of the Digide-
sign plug-ins are included in online format
on the Pro Tools Installer CD-ROM.