Chapter 16: Playing and Selecting Track Material. Avid Technology Pro Tools HD 6.4, Pro Tools LE 6.4, PRO TOOLS MIX 51

Chapter 16: Playing and Selecting

Track Material

Playing Tracks

After recording or importing to tracks, you’ll want to listen to the material to find track ranges that require editing, or material that can be turned into regions for use elsewhere.

To set where playback begins, you can click anywhere in a track with the Selector tool (as long as the Edit and Timeline selections are linked, see

“Linking or Unlinking Edit and Timeline Selections” on page 245).

Setting a playback point with the Selector

Depending on the selected Scrolling Option, the

playback cursor, a solid unblinking line, moves across the Edit window to indicate the current playback position. The playback location is displayed in the Counters in the Transport window, in the Big Time window, and also in the

Location Indicators.

The edit cursor, on the other hand, is a flashing line that appears when you click with the Selector in a track’s playlist. The blinking edit cursor indicates the start point for any editing tasks performed. If you make a selection and perform an edit, the selection is the target of the edit.

The selected Scrolling Option determines how the Edit window scrolls during playback, and

how the playback cursor functions. See “Scrolling Options” on page 241 for details.

To begin playing from a specific point within a track:

1 Select Operations > Scrolling Options > No

Auto Scrolling.

2 Make sure to select Operations > Link Edit and

Timeline Selection.

3 With the Selector, click in the track where you want playback to begin.

4 Click Play in the Transport window to begin playback.

5 Click Stop in the Transport window to stop playback.

To jump to a different location and begin playing from there, click with the Selector at that point and click Play in the Transport window.

Transport with Counters displayed

Chapter 16: Playing and Selecting Track Material 237

With the Edit and Timeline selections linked, you can click a region or MIDI note with the

Grabber to automatically update the Timeline with the selection’s start time, allowing you to easily play from that point.

Page Scroll During Playback

You can set Pro Tools to scroll the track display while playing, and also have the edit cursor appear wherever playback stops.

To make the track display and the edit cursor follow playback:

1 Select Operations > Scrolling Options > Page

Scroll During Playback.

2 Choose Setups > Preferences. In the Operation page of the Preferences dialog, select the option for “Timeline Insertion Follows Playback,” then click Done.

Pressing Start+N (Windows) or Control+N

(Macintosh) toggles Timeline Insertion Follows Playback.


Timeline Selection.

Pressing Shift+slash (/) toggles Link Edit and Timeline selection on and off.

4 With the Selector, click in the track where you want playback to begin.

5 Click Play in the Transport window to begin playback. The playback cursor scrolls across the

Edit window, indicating the current playback position.

6 Click Stop in the Transport window to stop playback. The edit cursor appears at the location where playback stops.

Locating and Auditioning with Fast

Forward/Rewind

You can use the Fast Forward and Rewind buttons in the Transport window to locate material in your tracks. If the Operation Preference for

“Audio During Fast Forward/Rewind” is selected, you’ll actually hear the scanned audio

(similar to a CD player) when clicking the Fast

Forward and Rewind buttons.

You can also fast forward or rewind incrementally by repeatedly clicking the appropriate button. The size of these increments is determined by the Main Time Scale:

• Bars:Beats: moves to the beginning of the previous or next bar.

• Min:Sec: moves back or forward in one-second steps.

• Time Code: moves back or forward in one-second steps (while adjusting for current SMPTE format).

• Feet+Frames: moves back or forward in onefoot steps.

• Samples: moves back or forward in one-second steps.

Location Indicators

The Location Indicators, in the upper portion of the Edit window, display the current playback location. All Location Indicators (except the Sub

Location Indicator) let you enter a location in their counter display to navigate to a specific time location.

Location Indicators

238 Pro Tools Reference Guide

The Main Location Indicator displays the playback location in the time format for the Main

Time Scale. The Sub Location Indicator can be set to any of the other Time Scale formats for another timing reference. Both the Main and Sub indicators also appear in the Transport window when it is set to display Counters.

To navigate with the Location Indicators:

1 Click in one of the Location Indicators.

– or –

Press asterisk (*) on the numeric keypad to highlight the Main Location Indicator (or the Transport Counters or Big Time window, if either are displayed).

2 Type in the new location. Press period (.) to cycle through to the different time fields.

3 Press Enter to accept the new value and automatically locate there.

Select the time format from the pop-up menus next to the Main and Sub indicators in either the Edit or Transport window.

Scrolling in the Ruler

You can scroll the contents of the Edit window by clicking and dragging in the Ruler. While this doesn’t actually update the session’s Current Location, it does let you conveniently shift the display left or right for the sake of finding and editing material.

This method of scrolling is especially useful when using Continuous Scroll With Playhead

(TDM systems only), which does not update or follow Timeline selections.

To scroll the entire contents of the Edit window from the Ruler:

■

While pressing Control+Alt+Start (Windows) or Command+Option+Control (Macintosh), drag left or right in any of the Timebase Rulers.

Scrolling in the Ruler

Scrolling with a Scroll Wheel

If you have a mouse with a scroll wheel, you can use the scroll wheel to scroll vertically or horizontally in any Pro Tools window that has a scroll bar (such as the MIDI Event List).

To scroll a Pro Tools window vertically:

1 Place the mouse over the window you want to scroll (for example, in the Edit window you might want to scroll either the track display or the Regions List).

2 Scroll the scroll wheel up or down to scroll the window up or down.

To scroll a Pro Tools window horizontally:

1 Place the mouse over the window you want to scroll (for example, in the Edit window you might want to scroll either the track display or the Regions List).

2 Shift-scroll the scroll wheel up or down to scroll the window to the left or right.

Locating the Playback Cursor

Use the Playback Cursor Locator to locate the playback cursor when it is off-screen. The Playback Cursor Locator will appear on the right edge of the Main Timebase Ruler if the playback cursor is located beyond the time visible in the


Edit window. If the playback cursor is located before the time visible in the Edit window, the

Playback Cursor Locator will appear on the left edge of the Main Timebase Ruler.

Playback Cursor Locator

Playback Cursor Locator, recording enabled (Playback

Cursor located after currently viewed audio)

The Playback Cursor Locator is red when a track is record enabled and blue when no track is record enabled.

For example, if the Scrolling Option is set to No

Auto-Scrolling, the playback cursor will move off-screen after it has played past the time currently visible in the Edit window. The Playback

Cursor Locator will appear on the right edge of the Main Timebase Ruler after the playback cursor moves beyond the time visible in the Edit window.

To locate the playback cursor when it is off-screen:

■

Click the Playback Cursor Locator in the Main

Timebase Ruler.

The Edit window will change to center the playback cursor on-screen.

Auto-Scrolling Tracks in the

Edit and Mix Windows

(Pro Tools 6.2 and Higher on Pro Tools|HD

Systems Only)

If you are working with more tracks than can be displayed at one time in the Edit or Mix windows, you can select a track in one window and

Pro Tools will automatically scroll to that track in the other window.

To auto-scroll the Mix window to show a selected track in the Edit window:

■

In the Edit window, Start-click (Windows) or

Control-click (Macintosh) the track name.

The track becomes selected, and the Mix window scrolls to display the selected track.

To auto-scroll the Edit window to show a selected track in the Mix window:

■

In the Mix window, Start-click (Windows) or

Control-click (Macintosh) the track name.

The track becomes selected, and the Edit window scrolls to display the selected track.

Navigation using Track Position

Numbers

(Pro Tools 6.4 Only)

Track Position Numbering assigns each track a number corresponding to its position in the Mix and Edit Windows. When tracks are reordered, track position numbers stay in numerical sequence. You can scroll directly to any track by its positional number.


To navigate directly to any track using track position numbers:

1 Choose Display > Display Track Position

Numbers

2 Choose Operations > Go To Track Position

Number

– or –

Press Command+Option+G (Macintosh) or

Control+Alt+G (Windows)

Scroll To Track dialog

3 In the Scroll To Track dialog, enter the track position number.

4 Click OK.

The track is selected, and the windows scroll as follows:

• The Edit window tracks scroll to bring the selected track as close to the top as possible.

• The Mix window tracks scroll to bring the selected track as close to the left as possible.

Scrolling Options

Pro Tools offers the following options for how it scrolls the contents of the Edit window during playback and recording. Choose Operations >

Scroll Options and select one of the following from the submenu:

No Auto-Scrolling The Edit window does not scroll during or after playback. The playback cursor moves across the Edit window, indicating the playback location.

Scroll After Playback The playback cursor moves across the Edit window, indicating the playback location. When playback has stopped, the Edit window scrolls to the final playback location.

Page Scroll During Playback The playback cursor moves across the Edit window, indicating the playback location. When the right edge of the

Edit window is reached, its entire contents are scrolled, and the playback cursor continues moving from the left edge of the window.

Making a selection in the Timeline or a playlist, or manually scrolling the Timeline while in Page Scroll or Continuous Scroll mode will suspend page scrolling. To resume page scrolling and jump to the current playback location, click the Playback Cursor Locator in the Main Timebase ruler (see

“Locating the Playback Cursor” on page 239).

Continuous Scroll During Playback

(TDM Systems Only)

This scrolling option causes the Edit window’s contents to scroll continuously past the playback cursor, which remains in the center of the window. With this option, playback is always based on the Timeline selection (unlike Continuous Scroll With Playhead).

Continuous Scroll With Playhead

(TDM Systems Only)

This scrolling option causes the Edit window’s contents to scroll continuously past the Play-

head, which is a blue line in the center of the window (red when recording).


The Playhead indicates where playback begins when clicking Play in the Transport window.

Continuous Scroll With Playhead

To move the Playhead to a particular location for playback, you can scroll there in the Ruler

(see “Scrolling in the Ruler” on page 239), use

the Edit window’s horizontal scroll bar, or type the location into one of the Location Indicators or one of the Counters.

Moving the Playhead with these methods does not update the Timeline selection. However, updating the Timeline selection automatically moves the Playhead to the Timeline insertion point.

With the Playhead enabled, you can jump to and play an Edit or Timeline selection. For de-

tails, see “Playing Edit and Timeline Selections with the Playhead” on page 258.

Half-Screen Edit Window

When either Continuous Scroll During Playback or Continuous Scroll With Playhead is enabled, a half-screen appears at the far left of the Edit window (before the beginning of the session).

The Scrubber

The Scrubber lets you “scrub” up to two tracks of audio in the Edit Window. Scrubbing is a technique that originated in tape editing, where the tape was rocked back and forth past the playhead at slower than normal speeds to find a particular location (usually for the sake of performing splices).

While viewing an audio waveform in Pro Tools can be helpful in visually finding an edit point, sometimes a waveform display (because of its sonic characteristics) may not reveal the desired spot in the audio material. By scrubbing back and forth over an edit point in Pro Tools, you can listen and zero in on the exact edit point you're looking for.

When the Operation Preference for “Edit Insertion Follows Scrub/Shuttle” is enabled, the edit cursor automatically locates to the point where scrubbing stops.

When the Scrolling Option is set to Continuous

Scroll During Playback or Continuous Scroll

With Playhead, clicking with the Scrubber in a track’s playlist centers the Edit window around that point, and moves the Playhead there. With these Scrolling Options, scrubbed material moves past the Playhead, which remains stationary and centered.

Scrubbing is only supported for audio tracks. MIDI tracks cannot be scrubbed.

Half-screen for Continuous Scroll With Playhead


To scrub a single audio track:

1 With the Scrubber selected, drag within the track—left for reverse, right for forward.

Scrubbing an audio track with the Scrubber

The distance and speed with which you drag

(with either the mouse, or an external MIDI controller wheel) determine the length and speed of the scrubbed audio. Audio from the scrubbed track is routed to its output, along with any effects assigned to the track.

The resolution for the Scrubber is dependent upon the zoom factor for the scrubbed track.

You can temporarily switch the Selector to the Scrubber by Right-clicking (Windows) or

Control-clicking (Macintosh). For finer resolution, Control-Right-click (Windows) or

Command-Control-click (Macintosh).

To scrub multiple audio tracks:

■

With the Scrubber selected, drag between two adjacent tracks.

Scrubbing between two audio tracks

– or –

■

Scrub within a selection that contains multiple tracks. Only the first two tracks are heard.

The maximum number of channels scrubbed in Pro Tools is eight, which would allow you to scrub two stereo tracks (four channels), but not two 5.1 surround tracks

(12 channels).

Scrub/Shuttle Mode

When scrubbing normally, you can scrub at normal playback speeds or slower. Scrub/Shuttle mode, however, lets you scrub at several times normal speed, which is helpful in playing through large ranges and locating material.

To scrub in Shuttle mode (at several times normal speed):

1 Select the Scrubber tool.

2 While pressing Alt (Windows) or Option

(Macintosh), drag within the track—left for reverse, right for forward. The Fast Forward and

Rewind buttons in the Transport window engage.

The distance and speed dragged determine the speed for the scrubbed audio.

Shuttle Lock Mode

Shuttle Lock mode lets you use the numeric keypad to shuttle up to two tracks forward or backwards at specific speeds: 5 is normal speed, numbers from 6 up to 9 provide increasingly faster fast-forward speeds, and numbers from 4 down to 1 provide progressively faster rewind speeds

(4 is the slowest rewind Shuttle Lock speed, 1 is the fastest). If multiple tracks are selected, only the first two tracks are shuttled.


To play one or two tracks with the shuttle lock:

1 For TDM systems, make sure the Operation

Preference for Numeric Keypad Mode is not set to Shuttle.

2 With the Selector, click in the track where you want playback to begin. To shuttle on two tracks, Shift-click in a second track.

3 Press the Start key (Windows) or Control

(Macintosh) and a number on the numeric keypad: 0–9 (9 is fastest, 5 is normal speed, and 0 stops shuttling).

Once Shuttle Lock mode is initiated, Fast Forward and Rewind become highlighted in the

Transport window.

4 Press additional keys to change the playback speed, or press Plus (+) or Minus (–) to switch the playback direction (plus for forward, minus for backward).

5 To stop playback, press Start+0 (Windows) or

Control+0 (Macintosh).

To exit Shuttle Lock mode:

■

Press Stop in the Transport window.

– or –

■

Press the spacebar.

Custom Shuttle Lock Speed

(Pro Tools 6.2 and Higher on Pro Tools|HD

Systems Only)

Use the Custom Shuttle Lock Speed preference to customize the highest fast-for-ward Shuttle

Lock speed (key 9) to better match your editing and auditioning needs.

To configure Custom Shuttle Lock Speed:

1 In Pro Tools, select Setups > Preferences, and click the Operations tab.

2 Be sure that the Numeric Keypad mode is set to Transport or Classic.

3 Enter a desired percentage for the Custom

Shuttle Lock Speed setting. The range for this setting is 50–800%. You can use the Up and

Down Arrow keys to increase or decrease the setting.

4 Click OK.

The Custom Shuttle Lock Speed will be saved with your Pro Tools preferences (not with the session).

To enable Custom Shuttle Lock Speed:

■

Press Start+9 (Windows) or Control+ 9 (Macintosh) on the numeric keypad.

Numeric Keypad Set to Shuttle

(TDM Systems Only)

Pro Tools offers another form of shuttling, different from that of Shuttle Lock mode. With the

Numeric Keypad Mode set to Shuttle, playback of the current Edit selection is triggered by pressing and holding the keys on the numeric keypad—playback stops once the keys are released.

Various playback speeds are available in both forward and reverse. In this mode, pre- and postroll are ignored.

To shuttle with the Numeric Keypad Mode set to

Shuttle:

1 Choose Setups > Preferences and click Operations.

2 Set the Numeric Keypad Mode to Shuttle and click Done.


3 With the Selector, click in the track where you want playback to begin. To shuttle on two tracks, Shift-click in a second track.

4 Press and hold any of the following keys (or key combinations) on the numeric keypad to trigger playback.

Shuttle Speed

1 X Speed

4 X Speed

1/4 X Speed

1/2 X Speed

2 X Speed

Rewind Key Forward Key

4

7

1

4+5

7+8

6

9

3

5+6

8+9

5 Press a different key to switch the playback direction or speed. Release to stop.

Linking or Unlinking Edit and

Timeline Selections

Pro Tools lets you link or unlink the Edit and

Timeline selections.

By default, the Edit and Timeline selections are linked. In this mode, selecting in a track’s playlist (an Edit selection) also defines the play and record range (the Timeline selection).

Unlinking Edit and Timeline selections lets you make a selection within a track for editing purposes that is distinct from the selection in the

Timeline (which determines the playback and recording range).

To unlink the Edit and Timeline selections:

■

Deselect Operations > Link Edit and Timeline

Selection.

– or –

■

In the upper left of the Edit window, click the

Link Selection button so it becomes unhighlighted.

Link Selection disabled and enabled

If you are working with a film or video scene, you may want to unlink the Edit and Timeline selections to find or audition material that is at a different location than the current Timeline selection. Edit selections can be played (choose

Operations > Play Edit Selection) without disrupting the current Timeline selection. Once you find the material, you can then go back to the Timeline selection and place it within the context of the scene.

Figure 12 illustrates another reason you’d want

to unlink the Edit and Timeline selections. In this example, the Timeline selection sets a range to be looped on playback, while a MIDI region

(residing within the loop) is selected for editing purposes. During playback, the Edit selection can be nudged, quantized, or transposed while the loop plays back completely independent and uninterrupted.

Figure 12. Edit and Timeline selections unlinked


While you could theoretically do this with the

Edit and Timeline selections linked, as soon as playback is stopped, the playback range would then be updated to that of the more recent edit range.

Playback/Edit Markers

Timeline selections are displayed in the Ruler with Playback Markers, which appear as blue arrows (red when recording). In addition, there are Pre- and Post-Roll Flags (which are green when enabled) indicating the location for pre- and post-roll.

Selecting Track Material

Before audio and MIDI material can be edited, it must first be selected. A track’s Display Format determines how the material is viewed and selected.

When you make a selection, it appears as a highlighted area of the tracks, and is also indicated by blue start and end arrows (Playback Markers) in the Ruler at the top of the Edit window. If any track (audio or MIDI) in the session is record-enabled, even if it is hidden, these markers appear red.

Playback Markers with Pre- and Post-Roll Flags

When the Edit and Timeline selections are unlinked, Edit selections are displayed in the Ruler with Edit Markers, which appear as black brackets.

Figure 13. Edit Markers

If the Edit and Timeline selections are linked,

Edit selections are represented by the blue Playback Markers.

See the following sections for details on working with Edit and Timeline selections:

• “Selecting Track Material” on page 246

• “Timeline Selections” on page 257

• “Setting Punch/Loop Points” on page 168

• “Setting Pre- and Post-Roll” on page 170

Playback Markers indicating Edit selection

If the Edit and Timeline selections are unlinked, the Edit selection range is indicated by Edit

Markers in the Ruler. See “Linking or Unlinking

Edit and Timeline Selections” on page 245 for

details.

Selections and Edit Groups

When making selections on tracks that are part of an Edit Group, all tracks within the group become selected.

Selections and Hidden Tracks

When editing tracks that are part of an active

Edit Group, any tracks within the group that are hidden are not affected by the edits. To edit all members of a group, make sure they are visible by highlighting their names in the Show/Hide

Tracks List.


Selections in Multiple Tracks

To make a selection in multiple tracks:

■

With the Selector, click and drag horizontally to include adjacent tracks in a selection (drag vertically to define the time range).

Selecting Regions

To select a portion of a region:

■

With the Selector, drag within a region (left or right) to select the material on a single track.

(You can also use the Selector across multiple, adjacent tracks to make multitrack selections.)

Selecting a portion of a region

To select an entire region:

■

Click the region with the Grabber.

– or –

■

Double-click the region with the Selector.

To select two regions and the time range between them:

1 With the Grabber, click the first region.

2 Shift-click the second region. Both regions become selected, along with the time range between them (including any other regions).

To select an entire track:

■

Click in the track with the Selector and then choose Edit > Select All.

– or –

■

Triple-click in the track with the Selector.

To select all regions in all tracks:

1 Select the “All” Edit Group in the Groups List.

2 Click in any track with the Selector and choose Edit > Select All.

– or –

Triple-click with the Selector in any track.

Another way to select all regions in all tracks, without having to select the “All”

Edit Group, is to press Enter (Windows) or

Return (Macintosh), then type Control+A

(Windows) or Command+A (Macintosh).

Region List Selection Follows Track

Selection

When the Editing Preference for “Region List Selection Follows Track Selection” is enabled, selecting a region in a track also causes the region to become selected in the Audio or MIDI Regions List.

Conversely, if the Editing Preference for “Track

Selection Follows Region List Selection” is enabled, selecting a region in the Audio or MIDI

Regions List causes the initial occurrence of that region to become selected within the track.

Selecting All from Timebase Rulers

To select all material in all displayed audio and

MIDI tracks:

1 Make sure the Edit and Timeline selections are linked.

2 Double-click in any Timebase Ruler. All regions in all displayed audio and MIDI tracks are selected. Tracks that are hidden are not selected.


To select all material in all tracks, along with

Conductor events:

1 Make sure the Edit and Timeline selections are linked.

2 While pressing Control (Windows) or Option

(Macintosh), double-click in any Timebase

Ruler. All regions in all displayed audio and

MIDI tracks are selected, along with all events in each of the Conductor tracks.

Making Selections While Playing

Pro Tools lets you make on-the-fly selections with the arrow keys.

To make a selection while playing:


Timeline selection.

2 With the Selector, click somewhere near the beginning of the track in which you want to make the selection.

3 Click Play in the Transport window to begin playback.

4 When playback reaches the point where you want the selection to begin, press the Down Arrow key.

5 Press the Up Arrow key at the point where you want the selection to end. The selected range becomes highlighted.

6 To stop playback, click Stop in the Transport window.

To automatically scroll to the beginning of the selection (or to the location of the on-screen cursor), press the Left Arrow key. To scroll to the end of the selection, press the Right Arrow key.

While in Page Scroll or Continuous Scroll mode, making a selection in the Timeline or a playlist during playback as the playback cursor moves off-screen will suspend page scrolling. To re-

248 Pro Tools Reference Guide sume page scrolling and jump to the current playback location, click the Playback Cursor Lo-

cator in the Main Timebase ruler (see “Locating the Playback Cursor” on page 239).

Object Selections (TDM Systems Only)

You can use the Object Grabber to select noncontiguous regions on one or more tracks. Noncontiguous selections must encompass entire regions. If you want a non-contiguous selection to include a portion of a region, first turn the portion into a new region with the Separation

Grabber (see “Separation Grabber” on page 263)

or the Separate Region command (see “Separate

Region Command” on page 262).

The Object Grabber is not available when the Edit mode is set to Shuffle or Spot.

To select non-contiguous regions:

1 Make sure the Edit mode is set to either Slip or

Grid.

2 Choose the Object Grabber from the Grabber tool pop-up menu.

Object Grabber

3 Shift-click each region you want to include in the selection. The regions can even reside on different tracks.

Non-contiguous selection

Each clicked region becomes surrounded by a dark rectangle, indicating it is selected.

The Object Grabber ignores Edit Groups when making selections. For instance, selecting a region on a grouped track does not cause regions in the other tracks in the group to become selected.

Object to Time Selection (TDM Systems Only)

You can convert between Time- and Objectbased selections. Time selections are made with the Selector and Time Grabber. Object selections are made with the Object Grabber.

Converting to an Object selection is useful when you are working with large selections, especially across multiple tracks, and you want to remove certain regions from the selection.

Converting to a Time selection is useful if you want to select all regions between a non-contiguous Object selection.

To change a Time selection to an Object selection:

1 Drag with the Selector in any track to define a selection. Select in a Timebase Ruler to select across all tracks.

2 With the Object Grabber selected, doubleclick the Grabber icon in the toolbar. The regions falling within the selection range become selected as objects. Regions that were partially selected become deselected.

To select regions that were partially selected, press the Control key while double-clicking the

Grabber icon.

To change an Object selection to a Time selection:

1 Select any number of regions with the Object

Grabber.

2 Double-click the Selector icon in the toolbar.

The time range between the first and last region becomes selected.

If using the Object Grabber (TDM systems only), regions on the other tracks in the group are selected if they fall within the range of the selected region.


Changing a Selection Length

The selection range can be shortened or lengthened; this does not affect the material within the selection.

To change the length of a selection:

■

With the Selector, position the cursor over one end of the current selection and Shift-click or Shift-drag left or right.

– or –

■

In the Ruler, drag the Playback Marker for the selection’s start or end point.

Dragging a Playback Marker

– or –

■

If the Edit and Timeline selections are un-

linked, drag the Edit Markers (see Figure 13 on page 246) to change the selection length.

To make a long-length selection:

1 With the Selector, click at the beginning of the selection.

2 Scroll to the end point of the selection and

Shift-click at that point.

To verify the start and end points of a long selection, press the Left Arrow key to scroll to the beginning of the selection, or press the Right Arrow key to scroll to the end.

Nudging a Selection Range

The selection range (not the material within the selection) can be moved by the Nudge value.

To nudge a selection range:

1 Configure the Nudge value. For details, see

“Defining the Nudge Value” on page 276.

2 Make the initial selection with the Selector.

3 While pressing Shift, press Plus (+) or

Minus (–) on the numeric keypad to move the selection range by the Nudge value.

Nudging Selection Start/End Points

Start and end points for selections can be moved by nudging them.

To move a selection start or end point by the

Nudge value:

1 Configure the Nudge value. For details, see

“Defining the Nudge Value” on page 276.

2 Make the initial selection with the Selector.

3 While pressing Alt+Shift (Windows) or Option+Shift (Macintosh), press Plus (+) or

Minus (–) on the numeric keypad to move the selection’s start point by the Nudge value.

– or –

While Control+Shift (Windows) or pressing

Command+Shift (Macintosh), press Plus (+) or

Minus (–) on the numeric keypad to move the selection’s end point by the Nudge value.


Extending Selections

You can extend selections to region start and end points, to include an adjacent region, or to

Markers and Memory Locations.

To extend a selection to a region start or end point:

1 With the Selector, select a portion of a region, or click anywhere in the region.

2 Press Shift+Tab to extend the selection to the region’s end point.

– or –

Press Shift+Control+Tab (Windows) or

Shift+Option+Tab (Macintosh) to extend the selection to the region’s start point.

To extend a selection to include an adjacent region:

1 Select the first region with the Grabber.

2 Press Shift+Start+Tab (Windows) or

Shift+Control+Tab (Macintosh) to extend the selection to include the next region.

– or –

Press Shift+Start+Control+Tab (Windows) or

Shift+Control+Option+Tab (Macintosh) to extend the selection to include the previous region.

To extend a selection to a Marker or Memory

Location:

1 Click in a track with the Selector at the selection’s start or end point.

– or –

Make a selection with the Selector or Grabber.

2 Shift-click a Marker in the Markers Ruler.

– or –

Shift-click a Memory Location in the Memory

Locations window.

The selection is extended from the original Insertion point to the Marker or Memory Location.

Using the Selection Indicators

(Start, End, and Length)

The Selection Indicators at the top of the Edit window can define precise edit selections. Time values for the Selection Indicators use the time format for the Main Time Scale.

Selection Indicators

To make a selection with the Selection Indicators:

1 Click with the Selector in the track you want to select.

2 Click in the Start field at the top of the Edit window.

3 Type in the start point for the selection and press the slash key to enter the value and automatically move to the end field.

4 Type in the end point for the selection and press Enter to accept the value.


Numeric Entry Shortcuts for Selection

Indicators

You can use the following shortcuts for entering values in the Selection Indicators:

■

Press the slash key to cycle through the three

Selection Indicators.

■

Use period (.) or the Left and Right Arrow keys to move through the different time fields in each Selection Indicator.

■

Press the Up or Down Arrow keys to increase or decrease the numerical values.

■

Control-drag (Windows) or Command-drag

(Macintosh) in a field to scroll to a new value.

■

Press Plus (+) or Minus (–), along with an accompanying number, to add or subtract from the current field value.

For example, to add 10 to a current field value, cycle to the field, press the Plus (+) key, type

“10” and then press Enter.

If using Calculator Entry mode with the

Time Scale set to Bars:Beats, see “Calculator Entry Mode” on page 252.

■

Press Escape to exit the Selection Indicators without entering any values.

These shortcuts can also be used to enter start and end values in the Transport window.

Calculator Entry Mode

You can perform calculator-style editing of values in the Selection Indicators.

To subtract time values:

1 In the Selection Indicator, highlight the time field you want to change.

2 Press Minus (–) on the numeric keypad.


3 Type the amount you want to subtract from the current time value, then press Enter.

4 Press Enter again to apply the change.

To add time values:

1 In the Selection Indicator, highlight the time field you want to change.

2 Press Plus (+) on the numeric keypad.

3 Type the amount you want to add to the current time value, then press Enter.

4 Press Enter again to apply the change.

Selecting Across Multiple Tracks

To perform edits across multiple tracks or all tracks, you must first select the tracks. Do this by making selections on tracks that are grouped

(see “Grouping Tracks” on page 103), by includ-

ing other tracks in the selection, or by selecting in a Timebase Ruler (for all tracks).

To make a selection in multiple tracks:

With the Selector, click and drag vertically to include adjacent tracks in a selection (drag horizontally to define the time range).

To extend a selection to another track:

1 Using the Selector or Grabber, make a selection in the first track or tracks.

2 Shift-click in additional tracks with the Selector. An identical range is selected for each additional track.

To shorten or lengthen the selection across each of the tracks, press Shift while dragging to change the range of the selection.

To select across all tracks:

■

Enable the All Edit Group and make a selection in any track.

– or –

■

Drag with the Selector in any Timebase Ruler

(make sure the Edit and Timeline Selections are linked).

These selections include all tracks in the Edit window, but do not include the Conductor tracks (for Tempo, Meter, and Markers).

To select across all tracks, including the

Conductor tracks (for Tempo, Meter, and

Markers):

■

Alt-drag (Windows) or Option-drag (Macintosh) with the Selector in any Timebase Ruler.

Moving and Extending Selections

Between Tracks

With Commands Focus enabled, Edit selections can be moved or extended to adjacent tracks.

To move a selection to an adjacent track:

1 Enable the Commands Focus by clicking its button in the upper left of the Edit window.

In either instance, the original Edit selection becomes deselected.

To extend a selection to an adjacent track:

1 Enable the Commands Focus.

2 With the Selector or Grabber, make a track selection.

3 Press Shift+P to extend the selection to the previous track.

– or –

Press Shift+semicolon to extend the selection to the next track.

In either instance, the original Edit selection remains selected.

To remove the bottom track from a selection:

■

Press Start+Alt+semicolon (Windows) or Control+Option+semicolon (Macintosh) to remove the bottom track.

Commands Focus button enabled


3 Press P on your computer keyboard to move the selection to the previous track.

– or –

Press semicolon (;) to move the selection to the next track.

Other Useful Selection Techniques

Following are some additional selection techniques.

To position the edit cursor precisely at a region start, end, or sync point:

1 Make sure the Tab to Transients button is not

enabled. (See “Tabbing to Transients” on page 254.)

2 Click with the Selector in the track.

3 Press Tab to move the cursor to the next region start, end, or sync point.

– or –

Press Control+Tab (Windows) or Option+Tab

(Macintosh) to move the cursor to the previous region start, end, or sync point.


To make a selection with the Scrubber:

1 Choose Setups > Preferences. In the Operation page of the Preferences dialog, select the option for “Edit Insertion Follows Scrub/Shuttle,” then click Done.

2 Scrub with the Scrubber to find an appropriate start point for the selection, then release.

3 While pressing Shift, scrub to an appropriate end point for the selection, then release. The range between the initial and final scrub becomes selected.

To move a selection to an adjacent region on the same track:

1 Select a region with the Grabber.

2 Press Start+Tab (Windows) or Control+Tab

(Macintosh) to move the selection to the next region.

– or –

Press Start+Control+Tab (Windows) or Control+Option+Tab (Macintosh) to move the selection to the previous region.

In either instance, the original region becomes deselected.

To slide an Edit selection in the Ruler:



(Macintosh), move the cursor over either of the

Playback Markers in the Ruler (the Grabber appears).

Sliding an Edit selection in the Ruler

3 Drag left or right to move the Edit selection back or forward in time, while preserving its length.

If the Edit and Timeline selections are unlinked,

Alt-drag (Windows) or Option-drag (Macintosh) the Edit Markers instead.

Tabbing to Transients

With the Tab to Transients button, you can automatically navigate to transients in audio waveforms, placing the cursor just before the detected transient peak. This allows you to easily define selections and play ranges, as well as start and end points for new regions, without having to zoom in on the waveform.

Tab to Transients button enabled

When Tab to Transients is enabled, the Tabbing function also locates the cursor to region start and end points, but not to sync points.

To set the start and end points of a selection with

Tab to Transients:

1 In the upper left of the Edit window, click the

Tab to Transients button so it becomes selected.

2 If you will be setting the play range with this selection, selection Operations > Link Edit and

Timeline Selection.

3 Click in the audio track just before the beginning of the material you want to select.

4 Press Tab repeatedly until the cursor locates to the transient at the start of the selection.

If necessary, you can move to the previous transient by pressing Control+Tab (Windows) or

Option+Tab (Macintosh).


5 Press Shift+Tab until the cursor locates to the end of the material you want to select.

To move the selection end point to the previous transient, press Shift+Control+Tab (Windows) or Shift+Option+Tab (Macintosh).

Once selected, the material can be looped for recording or playback, or it can be turned into a new region with the Separate or Capture command.

Peak transients are usually visible in the waveform. However, some low-frequency transients may not appear as visible peaks in the waveform.

Auditioning Pre- and Post-Roll

You can audition and play just the pre-roll or post-roll material for a selection.

To play from the pre-roll point to the start of a selection, or to the current cursor location:

■

Press Alt+Left Arrow (Windows) or Option+Left Arrow (Macintosh).

To play to the post-roll point from the end of a selection, or from the current cursor location:

■

Press Control+Right Arrow (Windows) or

Command+Right Arrow (Macintosh).

Auditioning Start and End Points for

Selections

There may be times when you want to audition the start or end of a selection without hearing the entire selection. This allows you to check, for instance, whether the beginning or end of a selection includes any unwanted clicks or pops.

Playing Selections

Once an Edit selection is made, you can audition the track range by clicking Play in the

Transport window. If enabled, the pre- and postroll amounts play as well.

To play a selection:


Timeline Selection.


3 If you want to use pre-or post-roll, enable and set the pre- and post-roll amounts. For details,

see “Setting Pre- and Post-Roll” on page 170.

4 Click Play in the Transport window, or press the Space bar.

All tracks play for the range of the selection, including pre- and post-roll if enabled.

plays start

(for post amount) plays end

(for pre amount) plays pre-roll + start plays end + post-roll

Playback ranges for auditioning start/end points

To audition a selection start point:

■

Press Control+Left Arrow (Windows) or Command+Left Arrow (Macintosh).

When auditioning the beginning of a selection, the selection plays from the start point for a duration equal to the post-roll amount.


To audition a selection start point with pre-roll:

■

Press Control+Alt+Left Arrow (Windows) or

Command+Option+Left Arrow (Macintosh).

To audition a selection end point:

■

Press Alt+Right Arrow (Windows) or Option+Right Arrow (Macintosh).

When auditioning the end of a selection, playback begins before the end point by the pre-roll amount.

To audition a selection end point with post-roll:

■

Press Control+Alt+Right Arrow (Windows) or

Command+Option+Right Arrow (Macintosh).

To loop playback of a selection:


Timeline Selection.

2 With the Selector, select the track range you want to loop.

3 Select Operations > Loop Playback. When enabled, a loop symbol appears in the Play button in the Transport window.

Looping Playback

When Loop Playback is enabled, the selected track range repeats on playback. If there is no selection, playback occurs normally from the current cursor location.

A selection must be at least 500 ms in length for it to loop on playback.

Looping playback is a useful way to check the rhythmic continuity of a selection when working with musical material. If you’re working with one-bar selections, you can loop playback to see if the material loops cleanly. If it seems to skip, you should then adjust the length of the selection until it works “musically” within the context of the playlist and the other tracks.

Loop Playback enabled

– or –

You can also enable Loop Playback by doing one of the following:

• Right-clicking (Windows) or Control-clicking (Macintosh) the Play button in the

Transport window.

• With the Numeric Keypad Mode set to

Transport, press 4 on the numeric keypad.

4 Click Play in the Transport window.

Playback begins from the pre-roll point (if enabled) and continues to the selection’s end point, where it loops back to the start point.

5 Click Stop in the Transport window to stop playback.

Loop Playback and Audio Recording

When Loop Playback is enabled, Pro Tools will not loop when attempting to record audio tracks with QuickPunch, Destructive Record, or

Nondestructive Record mode.

To loop record audio tracks in Pro Tools, you

must enable Loop Record mode. (See “Loop Recording Audio” on page 165.)


Timeline Selections

With the Edit and Timeline selections unlinked, selections can be made in the Timeline that are distinct and separate from Edit selections.

With the Edit and Timeline selections linked, any Edit selections that are made are mirrored in the Timeline.

Whether the Edit and Timeline selections are linked or not, the range indicated by the Playback Markers always determines the range for playback and recording.

For TDM systems, when Continuous Scroll With

Playhead is enabled, it determines where play-

back begins. For details, see “Playing Edit and

Timeline Selections with the Playhead” on page 258.

To make a Timeline selection with the Selector:

1 If you want to constrain the selection to the current grid value, set the Edit mode to Grid.

2 Drag with the Selector in any Timebase Ruler.

Making a Timeline selection with the Selector

The Timeline selection is indicated in the Ruler by the blue Playback Markers (red if a track is record-enabled). The start, end, and length for the Timeline selection is displayed in the corresponding fields in the Transport window.

To select all tracks, including Conductor tracks, press Alt (Windows) or Option

(Macintosh) while dragging in a Timebase

Ruler with the Selector.

To set the Timeline selection by dragging the

Playback Markers:

1 If you want to constrain movement to the current grid value, set the Edit mode to Grid.

2 With the Grabber, drag the first Playback

Marker (down arrow) to set the start point.

3 Drag the other Playback Marker (up arrow) to set the end point.

Dragging a Playback Marker

To set the Timeline selection by typing into the

Transport window:

1 If necessary, resize the Transport window by clicking in the upper right so the start and end times are displayed.

2 In the Transport window, click in the start field.

– or –

Press Alt-slash (Windows) or Option-slash (Macintosh) to select the start field in the Transport window.

3 Type in the new start location and press slash to enter the value and automatically move to the end field.

4 Type in the new end location and press Enter to accept the value.

Shortcuts for entering start and end values

in the Transport window are listed in “Numeric Entry Shortcuts for Selection Indicators” on page 252.


Sliding a Timeline Selection

Like Edit selections, Timeline selections can be slid in the Ruler.

To move a Timeline selection in the Ruler:


(Macintosh), move the cursor over either of the

Playback Markers (the Grabber appears).

2 Drag left or right to move the Timeline selection back or forward in time, while preserving its length.

Timeline Selections to/from Edit

Selections

When the Edit and Timeline selections are unlinked, you can copy selections between them.

To copy an Edit selection to the Timeline:

■

Choose Operations > Copy Edit Selection to

Timeline.

To copy a Timeline selection to an Edit selection:

■

Choose Operations > Copy Timeline Selection to Edit.

Playing Edit and Timeline

Selections with the Playhead

(TDM Systems Only)

When Continuous Scroll With Playhead is enabled, selections in the Timeline do not determine when playback begins. The Playhead, itself, denotes where playback begins when clicking Play in the Transport.

The Edit and Timeline selections, however, can still be played when the Playhead is enabled.

To play an Edit selection with the Playhead enabled:

1 Deselect Operations > Linked Edit and

Timeline Selections.

2 Select Operations > Scroll Options > Continuous Scroll With Playhead.


4 Choose Operations > Play Edit Selection.

The Playhead jumps to the Edit selection and plays it from beginning to end, and then stops.

To play a Timeline selection with the Playhead enabled:

1 Deselect Operations > Linked Edit and

Timeline Selections.

2 Select Operations > Scroll Options > Continuous Scroll With Playhead.

3 Drag with the Selector in any Timebase Ruler to set the play range.

4 Choose Operations > Play Timeline Selection.

The Playhead jumps to the Timeline selection and plays it from beginning to end, and then stops.


Moving the Playhead

When Continuous Scroll With Playhead is enabled, the Playhead can be moved forward or back to the next region boundary in the selected track.

To move the Playhead through a track’s region boundaries:

1 Make sure the Tab to Transients button is not

enabled. (See “Tabbing to Transients” on page 254.)

2 Click in the track with the Selector.

3 Press Tab to move the Playhead forward to the next region boundary.

– or –

Press Control+Tab (Windows) or Option+Tab

(Macintosh) to move the Playhead back to the previous region boundary.



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