Audio

In conjunction with Pro Tools|HD hardware, Pro Tools software offers you all of the audio production freedom you require, including support for up to 24-bit/192 kHz audio files (HD system only). Play back up to 192 simultaneous tracks of pristine audio with your Pro Tools|HD Accel system with the guarantee of no dropped samples. Control all aspects of your audio with full assurance that its fidelity is protected throughout the production process. Easily import and export popular audio file formats as your needs and whims demand. Plus, with Pro Tools TDM software's DigiBase Pro file management utility, you can painlessly manage the whereabouts of all the audio files in your sessions. Whatever your desired end result, Pro Tools TDM software keeps your audio on track.

Mixing

Working seamlessly with Pro Tools|HD's dedicated hardware and true 48-bit mixer, Pro Tools TDM software empowers you to rapidly construct the perfect mix. Within just two main windows - the Edit and Mix windows - Pro Tools software gives both your ears and eyes access to all of the tools you'd expect from a world-class audio production environment, including a large-format mixer, effects racks, and much more. With unparalleled automation, visual control over your mix, and a huge selection of the very best plug-ins in the industry, Pro Tools offers the most comprehensive, easy-to-use mixing environment available. Massive mixes comprised of up to a guaranteed 192 simultaneous audio tracks (HD only) can be easily managed without the slightest audio degradation. Plus, with ICON and D-Control or professional Digidesign control surface options such as ProControl and Control|24, you have the familiar, hands-on control you need to fly through your mixes with the utmost efficiency. Don't forget that Pro Tools offers total session recall, so all routing, automation, mixer, and effects settings remain exactly as you've left them.

MIDI

In addition to its stellar audio editing and mixing capabilities, Pro Tools software also features full MIDI sequencing capabilities, allowing you to edit and mix up to 256 MIDI tracks alongside your audio. Pro Tools TDM software supports the import, creation, and export of MIDI data, as well as offering extensive MIDI editing and manipulation capabilities. MIDI events and sequences are manipulated as easily as audio (in the same Edit window), in most cases sharing the very same tools - eliminating the need for you to learn yet another operational paradigm.

By providing the most intuitive, powerful, and easy-to-use environment yet, Pro Tools TDM software readily addresses all of your MIDI needs. Full integration of Mac OS X's Core MIDI Services, as well as support for Windows XP, MIDI Time Stamping, Groove Quantize, Restore Performance, and other enhancements, offers increased flexibility and solid performance. Native ReWire support in conjunction with a wide array of TDM- and RTAS-compatible instruments further contributes to Pro Tools' creation-friendly personality.

Editing

Pro Tools TDM software's editing capabilities are the standard by which all competitors are judged. No alternative is as easy or as powerful. Using a single screen - the Edit window - within the Pro Tools interface, you're able to adjust literally every aspect of both audio and MIDI data at sample-level resolution. Trim waveforms, reprocess regions of audio, pitch-correct a compromised performance, replace drum sounds, and rearrange song sections on a whim; Pro Tools' non-linear approach to editing lets you act instantly on your decisions without having to commit to them. And with powerful tools like Beat Detective (allowing for multi-track rhythm analysis and repair, HD only) included in Pro Tools TDM software, there's always a quick and easy means available to improve or perfect performances.

Surround Sound

Surround mixing is only available in Pro Tools TDM software.

Pro Tools|HD systems include comprehensive surround mixing capabilities, eliminating the need to leave the Pro Tools application for surround music production mixing. Once your audio is in Pro Tools, Pro Tools TDM software makes easy work of mixing in every popular surround format - including LCRS, 5.1, and 7.1 - as well as developing multiple surround formats concurrently. So, for example, if a client requests a stereo mix in addition to a 5.1 mix for a DVD-A, you can build both in tandem with minimal effort.

Compatibility

Pro Tools is designed to serve as the hub of your audio production universe. To that end, any session you create can be seamlessly moved between both Windows- and Macintosh-based Pro Tools TDM and/or LE systems while retaining all automation, track configurations, MIDI data, and even plug-in assignments. So you're able to pass your session to a collaborator or another studio or Pro Tools workstation without compromising your session's integrity.

Pro Tools LE software's support for ReWire, Propellerhead/Steinberg's technology for transferring audio data between software applications, enables you to take advantage of popular, ReWire-compatible music creation applications. Develop sounds or sequences in the likes of Propellerhead Reason, Ableton Live, Cakewalk Project5, and Native Instruments' products, and pump them directly into your Pro Tools session. In so doing, your sonic palette will instantly increase dramatically, and you'll be able to take advantage of Pro Tools' excellent sound quality.

The Digitranslator option offers to Pro Tools an unprecedent compatibility with other sequencers and video editing softwares. This option gives to Pro Tools the ability to import or export OMF and AAF formats. These formats are very common in video editing facility and are compatible with the other Audio/MIDI sequencers on the market.

Plug-Ins

Plug-ins, add-on software-based tools that work in conjunction with Pro Tools, are paramount to the Pro Tools platform, facilitating everything from dynamics to effects to sound generation. There is also a wide range of Digidesign Development Partner plug-ins that emulate your favorite classic studio gear, such as the Bomb Factory BF-2A and BF76 compressors, allowing you to apply quality effects to your mix without the need for expensive vintage hardware. To use plug-ins, you simply open them within the Pro Tools software interface. At that point, you're free to utilize presets, customize settings, and/or automate a given plug-in's activity within a mix - all of which are recallable at any time. Pro Tools TDM software automatically compensates for the delays that typically result from real-time plug-in processing (TDM only), further accelerating your workflow. With Pro Tools, a huge selection of the industry's very best professional plug-ins is always at your disposal.

Pro Tools|HD-compatible plug-ins take four forms: TDM, HTDM, RTAS, and AudioSuite. Within the audio production world, TDM plug-ins are uniquely powerful because they utilize dedicated, power-on-demand hardware rather than relying on the limited resources of the host computer. In so doing, TDM plug-ins are afforded much more processing power than is available in any competing system. Simultaneously, Pro Tools software supports HTDM and RTAS plug-ins, empowering you to efficiently exploit the native power of your computer for more real-time processing options. So you get the best of both worlds - TDM and host - and a degree of flexibility designed to accommodate any project. AudioSuite plug-ins, based on Digidesign's file-based, non-real time plug-in format, allow you to create new audio files with the processing permanently intact; the original audio remains untouched.

Mastering

In addition to providing all the tools you need to compose, record, edit, and mix your projects, Pro Tools TDM software also affords you the opportunity to add crucial finishing touches to your projects via mastering. Editing capabilities and plug-ins used along with the Pro Tools software interface enable you to make the necessary fine adjustments to your final mix in order to achieve the perfect combination of warmth, presence, and balance. Pro Tools supports a real-time Bounce to Disk feature that reads and prints all automation information, allows incorporation of various outboard gear, and provides you with mono, stereo, or surround output of your final mix, which can then be delivered in a variety of digital audio file formats.