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Pro Tools|HD User Guide

1. oy 10 Das UL UL60065 7th IEC 60065 7th Avid Inc Canadian CAN CSA 00222 2 3 mo v 11 CUL 1 UL quen 2 nya CAUTION Nin pnd 13 RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK DO NOT OPEN
2. ana HD MADI n 6 mp px 7 nns mv 18 yx C 40 8 62 Pro Tools HD User Guide Numerics 192 Digital I O 13 192 1 0 12 96 1 0 13 14 1 0 96 A Accel Core for PCle 7 allocating DSP 41 43 audio drivers Core Audio driver Mac 25 audio interfaces connecting 20 21 firmware Windows 55 heat and ventilation 23 Auxiliary Inputs and DSP usage 48 Avid website 5 Cc C 24 14 cables DigiLink 8 Command 8 14 connecting Pro Tools cards 19 Core Audio driver Mac 25 D D Command 14 D Control 14 Delay Compensation 38 enabling 38 DigiLink cable lengths 8 DigiLink Mini adapter cable 8 cable lengths 9 8 DigiLink to DigiLink Mini adapter cables 8 DigiSerial port 7 digital signal processing see DSP DigiTest 52 troubleshooting 53 drive requi
3. Figure 1 Mac Pro A Follow these instructions carefully to avoid damaging the card and its components Chapter 3 Installing Pro Tools HD Hardware 15 To install Pro Tools cards in a Mac Pro 1 Turn off your computer and any peripherals Leave your computer s power cable plugged in so the computer is grounded 2 Disconnect all cables attached to the com puter such as hard drives displays USB and FireWire devices except for the power cable 3 Lay the computer on its side so the access panel is facing up 4 Open the computer case using the latch lo cated on the back of the computer 5 Remove the clamp that secures the metal ac cess port covers to the chassis 6 Remove the metal access port covers for the slots you want to use 7 Remove your computer s SATA drive trays If any extra SATA drives are installed remove them also Refer to your computer s documenta tion for information on removing SATA drives and SATA drive trays A Before handling any card discharge static electricity from your clothes or body by touching a grounded metal surface such as the power supply case inside your computer with the power cable connected 8 Install the Pro Tools HD Core card into the lowest numbered slot in the computer slot 2 This will be the slot closest to the video card as shown in Figure 1 on page 15 16 Pro Tools HD User Guide Do the following Hold the card above slot 2 at a slig
4. Pro Tools HD Accel Core card One or more Pro Tools HD Accel cards with Pro Tools HD 2 Accel and Pro Tools HD 3 Accel systems A DigiLink cable for connecting the Pro Tools HD Accel Core card to an audio interface one additional DigiLink cable is included with each additional Pro Tools HD Accel card TDM FlexCable to connect multiple Pro Tools HD cards multi card systems only a TDM FlexCable is included with each additional Pro Tools HD Accel card Pro Tools Software Installer package e An iLok USB key e An Activation Card with an Activation code for a Pro Tools HD license Registration Information Card Chapter 1 Welcome to Pro Tools HD 1 This User Guide covering installation and configuration of Pro Tools HD systems Pro Tools HD Card Quick Setup covering ba sic hardware installation Health and Safety Guide All Pro Tools HD systems require at least one Pro Tools HD audio interface sold separately See Pro Tools HD Audio Interfaces on page 9 Pro Tools HD Capabilities Pro Tools HD running on Pro Tools HD hard ware provides the following capabilities Up to 160 channels of I O depending on your system and the number of audio inter faces e Up toa total of 192 voiced audio tracks up to 512 voiceable audio tracks Up to 160 Auxiliary Input tracks Up to 64 Master Fader tracks Up to 128 VCA Master tracks Up to 512 MIDI tracks Up to 128 Instrument t
5. Secure the card in place with the slot access port screw you removed earlier Close the computer case Skip to Connecting Audio Interfaces on page 20 8 Check to be sure that your cards are installed in the proper order for your system note that this may vary depending on your machine Display card for your computer monitor HD Core card HD Accel cards optional Host Bus Adapter HBA card optional 9 Secure each card in place with the slot access port screws you removed earlier Connecting TDM Flex Cables In systems that include more than one card you must connect all the Pro Tools HD cards to each other with TDM FlexCables Each Pro Tools HD card has two ports along the top of the card labeled Port A and Port B The FlexCable has two connectors also labeled Port A and Port B to ensure proper connection Data communication across multiple cards is achieved by connecting Port B of the first card to Port A of the next card with a TDM FlexCable y The first FlexCable always goes from Port B on the core card to Port A on the first expansion card as described in the follow ing steps The slot numbering in your computer deter mines whether you will be working right to left or left to right when connecting cards Refer to the instructions below for your model of com puter To connect Pro Tools HD cards 1 Shape the FlexCable before installing it on the card by holding the cable with its
6. You can also add or remove analog cards ADC and DAC and digital cards for custom configu rations 12 Pro Tools HD User Guide 192 1 0 Features Supports sample rates up to 192 kHz Supports both analog and digital connections including AES EBU S PDIF TDIF and ADAT Optical Digital Digital I O Card 8 channels DB 25 AES EBU and TDIF or one pair of Lightpipe ADAT Optical connectors Ex pandable up to 16 of channels digital I O with the addition of the 192 Digital expan sion card e Analog 8 channels DB 25 balanced con nectors inputs selectable between 4 dBu or 10 dBV outputs 4 dBu only Expand able up to 16 analog inputs or 16 outputs using an optional 192 AD or 192 DA ex pansion card respectively e Digital Enclosure 2 channels XLR AES EBU connectors 2 channels RCA S PDIF connectors Optical Enclosure 8 channels one pair of Lightpipe ADAT Optical connectors swit chable to 2 channels S PDIF Loop Sync In and Out for connecting Pro Tools HD interfaces and peripherals e External Clock In and Out receive or send 1x Word clock For more information see the 192 I O Guide 192 Digital 1 O Audio Interface 192 Digital I O is a multichannel digital audio interface designed for use with Pro Tools HD systems and supports sample rates of up to 192 kHz 192 Digital I O Features Supports sample rates up to 192 kHz Supports digital connections including AES EBU
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8. Driver To configure CoreAudio HW Setup 1 Quit any CoreAudio client applications 2 Double click the Digi CoreAudio Manager file located in Applications Digidesign 3 Click the HW Setup button to open the Hard ware Setup dialog Hardware Setup dialog Pro Tools HD HD OMNI shown 28 Pro Tools HD User Guide 4 Configure the Hardware Setup dialog for your Pro Tools hardware If you have more than one audio interface connected to a Pro Tools HD sys tem be sure to select and configure only the pri mary audio interface connected to the HD Core card For more information on the Hardware Setup dialog refer to the Pro Tools Refer ence Guide 5 When you are finished click OK to close the Hardware Setup dialog Prefs Button The Prefs button opens the CoreAudio Manager Preferences dialog for the Manager application There are several options available for control and configuration of the Manager application When finished setting these options click OK to close the CoreAudio Manager Preferences win dows Digidesign CoreAudio Manager Preferences M Hide manager if auto launched by client Auto quit manager when last client quits Use C 24 stereo routing L R to 1 3 Use XMON stereo routing L R to 1 5 Mirror analog outs 1 amp 2 to digital outs 002 003 Gow Cancel CoreAudio Manager Preferences Hide Manager if Auto Launched by Client Enable this option to hide the Ma
9. Driver more immune to audio dropouts during playback and recording but can cause a noticeable delay when monitoring your inputs in the recording process In some CoreAudio client applications performing vari ous tasks will interrupt the CoreAudio Driver and may result in clicks and pops in audio play back or recording Choosing medium or large buffers such as 512 or 1024 can help alleviate this problem Changing the Buffer Size for the CoreAudio Driver does not affect the H W Buffer Size setting in the Pro Tools Playback Engine dialog Appendix A Configuring Core Audio Mac OS Only 7 To configure CoreAudio Hardware Buffer Size 1 Double click the CoreAudio Manager file lo cated in Applications Digidesign 2 From the Buffer Size pop up menu select the desired CoreAudio buffer size in samples Gen erally smaller buffer sizes are preferable How ever if you experience any problems with performance such as clicks and pops during re cording or playback try increasing the CoreAu dio Buffer Size setting You can also change the buffer size from within the client application if it is the only client attached to the CoreAudio Driver Once two or more clients are active you will not be able to change the sample rate or the buffer size HW Setup Button The HW Setup button opens the Hardware Setup dialog for your Pro Tools hardware The HW Setup button is only available when no clients are using the CoreAudio
10. Installing Pro Tools HD Hardware 5 Click OK to close the Driver Signing Options window 6 Click OK to close the System Properties dialog 7 Shut down the computer Installing Pro Tools HD Cards in a PC To install Pro Tools cards 1 Turn off your computer and any peripherals Leave your computer s power cable plugged in so the computer is grounded 2 Disconnect all cables attached to the com puter such as hard drives displays USB and FireWire devices except for the power cable 3 Open the computer case 4 Remove the metal access port cover behind the slot you want to use by removing the screw and sliding the cover out from the access port A Before handling any card discharge static electricity from your clothes or body by touching a grounded metal surface such as the power supply case inside your computer 5 Install the HD Core card in the recommended PCIe slot typically this is the first PCIe slot clos est to the video card 18 Pro Tools HD User Guide Installing the HD Core card in your PC 6 If you are installing additional Pro Tools cards or other cards do the following otherwise skip to the next step Install the first Pro Tools HD Accel card in the next consecutive PCle slot Install any remaining Pro Tools HD Accel cards in the remaining consecutive PCle slots Installing an HD Accel card in your PC 7 If you have no additional cards to install do the following
11. O 192 1 0 192 Digital I O 96 I O or 96i I O to your system in order for Pro Tools to launch A Pro Tools HD supports only one HD OMNI per system If you are connecting HD OMNI to your Pro Tools HD system it is generally recommended that you connect it directly to the Pro Tools HD Core card e If you are connecting HD MADI to your system connect HD MADI Primary Port 1 to the DigiLink Port on the first available Pro Tools HD card using the DigiLink cable provided with the card and the DigiLink Mini to DigiLink adapter cable included with HD MADI If you have a Pro Tools HD 2 or greater system connect HD MADI Pri mary Port 2 to the DigiLink Port on the next available Pro Tools HD card using the DigiLink cable provided with the card and the DigiLink Mini to DigiLink adapter ca ble included with HD MADI 2 Connect additional Pro Tools HD audio inter faces to subsequent Pro Tools HD cards or daisy chain the interfaces by connecting the Primary Port of the secondary interface to the Expansion Port of the primary interface If you are connecting 96 I O or 96i I O audio in terfaces to your system in addition to HD OMNI HD I O 192 I O or 192 Digital I O be sure to connect the HD OMNI HD I O 192 I O or 192 Digital I O to your HD Core card as the pri mary interface followed by any additional HD I O 192 1 0 or 192 Digital I O connected to subsequent Pro Tools HD cards Then con nect 96 I O interfaces to subsequent card
12. Tools HD Accel cards optional Avid approved video capture card op tional Host Bus Adapter HBA card optional 12 Replace the SATA drives 13 Reattach the clamp that secures the cards and the slot covers to the chassis A The card s PCIe connectors will not seat completely until you have replaced the clamp that secures the cards and the metal access port covers to the chassis Installing Pro Tools HD Cards in a Windows Computer This section shows how to install Pro Tools HD cards into a PC CY For the latest slot order and configurations for Windows computers visit www avid com It is recommended that you print out the infor mation for your specific model of computer before opening the computer and installing Pro Tools hardware Disabling Driver Signing Warnings Before you install Pro Tools HD cards temporar ily disable the Driver Signing warning option for Windows XP This expedites and automates much of the installation process If you do not temporarily disable this option warning mes sages that you are installing an unsigned driver will appear for each DSP chip detected during software installation To disable the warning option on Windows 1 Right click on My Computer and choose Proper ties 2 Click the Hardware tab in the System Proper ties dialog 3 Click the Driver Signing button 4 Select Ignore Install the software anyway and don t ask for my approval Chapter 3
13. hardware 40 Pro Tools HD User Guide bi directionally with 512 time slots each at 44 1 and 48 kHz DSP Allocation Digital Signal Processing or DSP capability is one of the most powerful elements of your sys tem The DSP chips in your system provide the real time processing power for your TDM Mixer and plug ins There is a limit depending on your system to how many functions a single DSP chip can power at once This section con tains some guidelines for getting the most from your available DSP capacity DSP Allocation Basics Asin the analog world every send bus or output mix that you use demands that a summing mixer exist for that group On an analog con sole the number of these summing mixers is fixed by the physical layout of the console In the Pro Tools mix environment this number is variable and depends on the number of output mixes or sends that you choose to create Pro Tools allocates DSP power as it is needed to build the mixers for each session We describe certain mixing or signal processing functions as using one DSP or using two DSPs This refers to the fact that there are 9 DSP chips on each HD card Each chip on a card can only power a certain number of processing functions If you have a single Pro Tools HD card and you create a big enough TDM mixer and use enough sends or plug ins you will eventually use up or max out the DSP capacity of that card Mixing and DSP Usage Pro To
14. open the first session after you launch Pro Tools it does result in being able to open and close all subsequent Pro Tools sessions quickly especially when using the Revert To Saved command or when opening similarly con figured sessions As long as Pro Tools is running the DSPs will only be completely purged if you open a session with a different sample rate or one with differ ent Playback Engine settings About Processing Bandwidth Meters in the System Usage window indicate how much of your system s processing power is being used in processing audio and when writ ing and playing back automation As these meters approach their limits native processing and recording or playback of auto mation data can be affected If CPU or PCI Activ ity are high a system error may occur If Disk Activity is high Pro Tools may miss playback of some automation data during particularly dense periods of activity such as while using the Bounce to Disk command System Activity Meters PCI Displays the amount of PCI bus activity CPU RTAS Displays the amount of CPU pro cessing activity for RTAS processing 42 Pro Tools HD User Guide CPU Elastic Displays the amount of processing activity for Real Time Elastic Audio processing Disk Displays the amount of hard disk process ing activity Additional Meters TDM Voices Allocated Displays the total num ber of TDM voices that can be allocated and the number of voices currently al
15. plug in on one channel of a stereo or multichannel signal but not the others This imparts an unequal amount of delay to the signals on that channel which subsequently may cause undesirable cancella tion of certain frequencies CY Audible symptoms of phase issues include comb filtering and loss of high frequencies In simple terms DSP induced delay can cause audio to arrive at the main output or a submix output at different times To maintain time alignment you can compensate for DSP induced delays When to Compensate You may only really need to compensate for de lays between tracks where phase coherency must be maintained as with instruments re corded with multiple microphones or stereo pairs If you are working with mono signals and the accumulated delays are small just a few samples for example you probably do not need to worry about compensating for delays However larger sessions with higher track and voice counts many plug ins and or complex mixer routing can benefit when DSP induced delays are compensated to maintain phase co herent time alignment Appendix C DSP Induced Delays in Mixing 37 In any session if you want to maintain absolute time alignment across all tracks you should al ways compensate for signal processing delays Delay Compensation should be enabled during playback and mixing so that all tracks outputs are correctly time aligned Using Delay Compensation Pro Tools provid
16. printed side facing you and moving the Port B portion of the cable away from you and outwards as shown below Do not bend the cable more than you need to as you may damage the traces in the cable Preparing TDM FlexCable for installation Chapter 3 Installing Pro Tools HD Hardware 19 2 Slide the FlexCable into the notch of the core card so that the Port B connector of the FlexCa ble can be aligned with Port B of the core card and the Port A connector of the FlexCable can be aligned with Port A of the second card as shown below Inserting TDM FlexCable 3 Connect the Port A connector of the FlexCa ble to Port A on the second card Push gently but firmly until the cable is fully connected to the card Attach the other end of the FlexCable la beled Port B to Port B on the core card HD Core HD Accel Top view of two cards connected with TDM FlexCable 4 Verify the connection Make sure the FlexCa ble ports seat flat against the sockets on the cards and are firmly attached 5 For systems with more than two cards con nect each additional card to its preceding card Use FlexCables to connect card pairs together as described above until all cards are connected Each Pro Tools HD card is packaged with a Flex Cable 20 Pro Tools HD User Guide 6 Close the computer case Connecting Audio Interfaces Each Pro Tools HD audio interface provides sev eral different input and output optio
17. your Pro Tools hardware 1024 hd Device HD Buffer Size Advanced DK Cancel ASIO Control Panel Buffer Size You may select from the following buffer sizes depending on your Pro Tools hardware 64 samples 128 samples 256 samples 512 samples 1024 samples 2048 samples Small buffers have the advantage of low la tency in the record monitor path Latency is the time delay between a signal entering the au dio inputs and leaving the outputs during re cording Larger buffers have the advantage of making the ASIO Driver more immune to audio drop outs during playback and recording In some ASIO compatible audio programs per forming various tasks will interrupt the ASIO Driver and may result in clicks and pops in au dio playback or recording Choosing medium or large buffers such as 256 512 or 1024 can help alleviate this problem Changing the Buffer Size setting for the ASIO Driver does not affect the H W Buffer Size set tings in the Pro Tools Playback Engine dialog Device The Device setting is always set to your installed Pro Tools hardware Advanced Button The Advanced button opens the Hardware Setup dialog for the Pro Tools hardware that you are using Hardware Setup Perera DOR merar ouo fam ao e mea Onpa Dita formar ETT TIE al Bart 3 4 3 O surcar 4 anales 5 a ammo se O Optic vow AP a st rima Log Matter WOO 1 9
18. 10 Omoinaoargtal 18 18 Tasca Sapte Rare 11 12 Omcsaaoarien 78 18 LII a 13 14 1 0 18 15 16 i Occ MADATHAL 8 xt Cock Ovast Wore Clock 44 1 anar TEILT Co Hardware Setup dialog Pro Tools HD O shown For more information on the Hardware Setup dialog refer to the Pro Tools Reference Guide or the User Guide that came with your Pro Tools system Appendix B Configuring ASIO Windows Only 35 36 Pro Tools HD User Guide appendix c DSP Induced Delays in Mixing This appendix provides an overview of DSP in duced mixer delays and explains how you can compensate for these delays to improve time and phase alignment of audio in complex or critical mixing situations Introduction to DSP Induced Delay In all digital systems DSP processing causes sig nal delays of varying amounts These DSP in duced delays can vary from as short as several microseconds to as long as several milliseconds depending on the type of processing or routing being performed CY Do not confuse signal processing induced delays with monitoring latency or time do main effects processing such as delay echo reverb and other desirable delay effects Each plug in hardware insert and mixer assign ment on a track delays that track by an amount equal to the total of all DSP delay factors In some cases signal processing delays matter only if you use a real time TDM
19. 4 1 and 48 46x6 88 2 and 96 34x6 176 4 and 192 8x6 Surround 7 1 44 1 and 48 34x8 88 2 and 96 25x8 176 4 and 192 4x8 HD Accel card Dithered mixers Sample Rate Mixer kHz Usage per Chip Stereo 44 1 and 48 113x2 Dithered 88 2 and 96 54x2 176 4 and 192 16x2 Surround 44 1 and 48 44x6 Dithered 5 1 88 2 and 96 27x6 176 4 and 192 8x6 Surround 44 1 and 48 34x8 Dithered 7 1 88 2 and 96 20x8 176 4 and 192 4x8 Appendix D TDM Mixing and DSP Usage 45 48 Bit Mixing Precision The Pro Tools mixer plug ins use a register area inside of the DSPs on the hardware to hold a full 48 bits of precision when mixing signals to gether This allows a fader to be lowered in level without any loss of resolution Even if the fader is lowered almost to the bottom all 24 of the original 24 bits of the signal are preserved Mixer Headroom Use of 48 bit precision when mixing allows the mixer to be designed to provide a very large amount of headroom which allows the faders on the Pro Tools mixer to be placed in the sweet spot position without clipping Mixer plug ins provided with Pro Tools HD sys tems provide 48 bit precision with 48 dB of headroom This means that on the input side of the bus where signals are summed together signals can never clip even if channel faders are set to a full 12 dB of gain However the output side of the summi
20. AVID Pro Tools HD User Guide Version 9 0 Legal Notices This guide is copyrighted 2010 by Avid Technology Inc hereafter Avid with all rights reserved Under copyright laws this guide may not be duplicated in whole or in part without the written consent of Avid 003 96 I O 96i I O 192 Digital I O 192 1 0 888 24 1 0 882 20 1 0 1622 1 0 24 Bit ADAT Bridge I O AudioSuite Avid Avid DNA Avid Mojo Avid Unity Avid Unity ISIS Avid Xpress AVoption Axiom Beat Detective Bomb Factory Bruno C 24 Command 8 Control 24 D Command D Control D Fi D fx D Show D Verb DAE Digi 002 DigiBase DigiDelivery Digidesign Digidesign Audio Engine Digidesign Intelligent Noise Reduction Digidesign TDM Bus DigiDrive DigiRack DigiTest DigiTranslator DINR DV Toolkit EditPack Eleven EUCON HD Core HD Process Hybrid Impact Interplay LoFi M Audio MachineControl Maxim Mbox MediaComposer MIDI 1 0 MIX MultiShell Nitris OMF OMF Interchange PRE ProControl Pro Tools M Powered Pro Tools Pro Tools HD Pro Tools LE QuickPunch Recti Fi Reel Tape Reso Reverb One ReVibe RTAS Sibelius Smack SoundReplacer Sound Designer Il Strike Structure SYNC HD SYNC 1 0 Synchronic TL Aggro TL AutoPan TL Drum Rehab TL Everyphase TL Fauxlder TL In Tune TL MasterMeter TL Metro TL Space TL Utilities Transfuser Trillium Lane Labs Vari Fi Velvet X Form and XMON are trademarks or registered trad
21. Application from Accessing CoreAudio Driver You can prevent an application from accessing the CoreAudio Driver by holding down the Shift key just before the application would access the CoreAudio Driver typically during launch of the application Certain applications such as Apple Mail and iChat do not access the Core Audio application until they first play a sound so you will need to hold down the Shift key just prior to sound playback in order to prevent the use of Pro Tools hardware for playback Using the CoreAudio Manager Use CoreAudio Manager to change the CoreAu dio Buffer Size setting access the Hardware Setup dialog for your Pro Tools hardware and control volume and mute for the CoreAudio Driver CoreAudio Manager also identifies your Pro Tools hardware the supported number of Input and Output Channels and the number of attached clients applications Buffer Size You may select from the following buffer sizes depending on your Pro Tools hardware 64 samples 128 samples 256 samples 512 samples 1024 samples 2048 samples Small buffers have the advantage of low la tency in the record monitor path but also are more taxing on your computer s CPU and could contribute to dropouts in your audio during re cord or playback Latency is the time delay be tween a signal entering the audio inputs and leaving the outputs during recording Larger buffers have the advantage of making the CoreAudio
22. DM Flex Cables llle rns 19 Connecting Audio Interfaces 2 llle rns 20 Installing and Authorizing Pro Tools HD Software 00 cee eee eee 23 Configuring Your Pro Tools System llli 23 Contents iii Appendix A Configuring Core Audio Mac OS X Only 25 Core Audio Driver Capabilities llle 25 Installing the CoreAudio Driver mh 26 CoreAudio Manager 22 22 a a a e hh hrs 26 Configuring a Pro Tools HD Audio Interface for Third Party Applications 29 Configuring the Apple Sound Preferences or Apple Audio MIDI Setup 30 Appendix B Configuring ASIO Windows Only a2 2 00 33 ASIO Driver Capabilities c nsr eaa E a a a eee eee 33 Installing the ASIO Driver e hs 33 ASIO Driver Control Panel 34 Appendix C DSP Induced Delays in Mixing o oo oooooooo 37 Introduction to DSP Induced Delay llle 37 Using Delay Compensation 38 Appendix D TDM Mixing and DSP 05366 3 39 Benefits of TDM Il coo A a 39 DSP Allocation ir A A A BES dae ei ii 41 DSP Usage and Mixer Plug Ins 0 0 hs 44 DSP Usage with TDM Plug Ins 49 Appendix E Troubleshooting 51 Backing Up Your Work 0 00 eee eee hrs 51 COMMON ISSUES a 1o aida Ad 51 Checking Your System
23. S PDIF TDIF and ADAT Optical Digital 2 Digital I O Cards 16 channels DB 25 AES EBU and TDIF or two pairs of Lightpipe ADAT Optical connectors Digital Enclosure 2 channels XLR AES EBU connectors 2 channels RCA S PDIF connectors Optical Enclosure 8 channels one pair of Lightpipe ADAT Optical connectors se lectable to 2 channels S PDIF Loop Sync In and Out for connecting Pro Tools HD interfaces and peripherals e External Clock In and Out receive or send 1x Word clock For more information see the 192 Digital 1 0 Guide 96 1 0 Audio Interface 96 1 0 is a multichannel digital audio interface designed for use with Pro Tools HD systems 96 I O features high quality 24 bit analog to digital A D and digital to analog D A con verters and supports sample rates of up to 96 kHz 96 I O Features Supports sample rates up to 96 kHz Supports analog and digital connections in cluding AES EBU S PDIF and ADAT optical e Analog 8 channels 1 4 inch TRS balanced or unbalanced connectors 4 dBu or 10 dBV e Digital 2 channels XLR AES EBU con nectors 2 channels RCA S PDIF connec tors Optical 8 channels one pair of Lightpipe ADAT Optical connectors switchable to 2 channels S PDIF e External Clock In and Out receive or send 1x Word clock For more information see the 96 I O Guide Chapter 2 Pro Tools Hardware Overview 13 96i 1 0 Audio Interface 96i 1 0 i
24. Systems Guide Additional Pro Tools HD Hardware Pro Tools HD also supports the following Pro Tools HD hardware options e Synchronization peripherals e SYNC HD e SYNC O e PREM Eight channel microphone preamp e MIDI I O 10 x 10 USB MIDI interface Worksurfaces and control surfaces D Command D Control e C24 e Command 8 Euphonix controllers with EUCON Installing Pro Tools HD Hardware To install Pro Tools HD hardware first install TE Pro Tools HD cards For systems with more than Installing Pro Tools HD Cards one card connect the cards using TDM FlexCa in a Mac Pro bles Once the cards are installed connect Pro Tools HD audio interfaces The PCI Express equipped Mac Pro has three PCI Express PCIe slots named slots 2 3 and 4 To install cards into an expansion chassis The PCI Express slot numbers increase from see the Expanded Systems Guide bottom to top as you face the open computer case from the side Install the Pro Tools HD Core card into PCIe slot 2 OY Install Pro Tools software only after you have installed your Pro Tools HD hardware For information on installing Pro Tools software see the Pro Tools Installation Guide that came with you Pro Tools Soft ware package SATA drive trays and drives PCle slot 4 hidden PCIe slot 3 PCle slot 2 PCIe slot 1 video card
25. adjustment on the Master Fader with no loss of data integrity or au dio quality so there is no need to trim the indi vidual input faders back to avoid clipping Mixer Automatiion Volume automation on all mixer versions is near sample accurate as is pan automation on the stereo versions In addition DAE provides 24 bit interpolated values between mix break points which provides near analog like reso lution This process of interpolation means that a smooth data series is created between any two breakpoints that you specify in Pro Tools DAE calculates these smooth transitions on the DSP hardware with 24 bit precision which pro vides extremely smooth volume changes In ad dition DAE de zippers any live input to the mixer so that fast real time fader changes that come in from fader movements on the Pro Tool user interface or control surfaces do not cause audible artifacts as the mixer tries to catch up to fast changes that it receives Stereo and Surround Dithered Mixers The Stereo Dithered and Surround Dithered mixer plug ins provide non correlated dither in addition to other basic attributes of the mixers described above Every output summing point whether to an internal bus or an physical out put is dithered in these mixers This technique is used to avoid any possibility of audible arti facts caused by truncation of extremely low level data that occurs when signals pass from the 48 bi
26. ample rate conversion SRC on Digital Inputs 1 2 of either AES EBU S PDIF Optical S PDIF or paral HD I O comes in three standard configurations e 8x8x8 8 analog in 8 analog out and 8 digital in and out A SRC is not supported with ADAT S MUX Monitoring 16 16 analog in and out An additional stereo CUE output path in Pro Tools for headphone monitoring from the front panel headphone jack e Front panel Control Room MAIN ALT and Headphone monitoring volume control 16 16 digital in and out You can also add or remove HD 1 O Analog Ex pansion cards ADC and DAC and HD I O Dig ital Expansion cards for custom configurations Flexible monitoring with fold down from all stereo and surround formats up to 7 1 sur round HD I O Features HD 1 0 provides up to 16 discrete channels of Pro Tools input and output with 4 segment Input mixer for low latency direct monitoring LED meters for input and output of a variety of incoming signals configured in the Pro Tools Hardware Setup 10 Pro Tools HD User Guide Analog I O e Up to sixteen channels of 24 bit D A and A D converters for superior analog input and out put at sample rates of 44 1 kHz 48 kHz 88 2 kHz 96 kHz 176 4 kHz and 192 kHz with Analog In and Analog Out HD I O cards Soft Clip and Curv limiting circuits to protect against clipping on analog input Digital 1 0 Up to sixteen channels of 24 bit digital I O usi
27. aneously and can be accessed within a single sample period At the receiving end the audio cards can listen to any connection on the bus and take what ever data they need The TDM bus runs fast enough to accommodate many audio signals at the same time Each sepa rate audio signal or stream takes up a single time slot on this multiplexed bus One of most powerful features of the TDM archi tecture is that a single time slot can be used to broadcast data to many destinations simulta neously With TDM II not only can it send data to many destinations simultaneously but it can also send signals both bi directionally and pri vately between DSP chips which effectively provides a much greater number of available time slots This provides a greater potential number of connections for routing processing and mixing audio signals within Pro Tools TDM With TDM II there is a separate TDM I O bus be tween each DSP chip on the Pro Tools cards each with up to 512 bi directional time slots at a session sample rate of 44 1 or 48 kHz both be tween DSPs on each card and between the DSPs that communicate between cards The DSP chips are arranged serially with a TDM I O bus connecting one chip to the next This means that every TDM II connection need only use time slots between the two DSPs that are being connected See Figure 7 on page 40 So using the same example as above if an audio track has a Reverb One p
28. ave Copy In command This command lets you save the session file and all of its associ ated files to a new location Xy You can also use the Auto Save Backup fea ture in the Operation Preferences page to have Pro Tools automatically save backups of the session file while you work Backing Up Your System Configuration After configuring your system and Pro Tools you should save an image of your system drive using a backup utility such as Norton Ghost Windows or Bombich Carbon Copy Cloner Mac By doing this you can quickly restore your system configuration and settings if you encounter any problems Common Issues Pro Tools Won t Launch Problem When you double click the Pro Tools applica tion or a Pro Tools session file Pro Tools doesn t launch or displays an error message Possible Solutions Check to be sure your computer has the re quired amount of RAM to launch Pro Tools visit www avid com Try a complete restart Turn off your audio in terfaces computer peripherals and your com puter and then turn them on again in the proper sequence Appendix E Troubleshooting 1 If you tried to launch Pro Tools by double clicking a Pro Tools session file do the follow ing Close any error message Double click the Pro Tools application n Pro Tools choose File Open Session to open the session Reinstall the Pro Tools application using the Pro Tools Installer disc Audio Interfac
29. d MADI compatible audio equipment such as routers digital mixing consoles and converters HD MADI Features 2 MADI Optical and Coaxial inputs and 2 MADI Optical and Coaxial outputs for up to 64 discrete channels of digital input and out put 32 channels per DigiLink Mini port Supports sample rates of 44 1 kHz 48 kHz 88 2 kHz 96 kHz 176 4 kHz and 192 kHz e 24 or 16 bit resolution Sample Rate Conversion SRC on input or output Front panel clock and SRC indicators Front panel signal present LEDs for input and output BNC Word Clock I O for synchronizing HD MADI with external 1x Word Clock Chapter 2 Pro Tools Hardware Overview 11 BNC Loop Sync I O for synchronizing HD MADI with additional Pro Tools HD audio in terfaces and peripherals such as HD I O HD OMNI or SYNC HD Dedicated BNC Word Clock input and XLR AES EBU input clock input only for external MADI synchronization when using SRC on output Clock support for the following formats In ternal Loop Sync Word Clock AES EBU and MADI Varispeed modes supports both 64 and 56 channel standards For more information about HD MADI see the HD MADI Guide 192 1 0 Audio Interface 192 1 0 is a multichannel digital audio inter face designed for use with Pro Tools HD sys tems 192 I O features high quality 24 bit ana log to digital A D and digital to analog D A converters and supports sample rates of up to 192 kHz
30. dio Devices list on the left select Digidesign HW HD 6 In the Audio Input or Audio Output page se lect the Format sample rate Note that the input sample rate and output rate are linked For information on configuring MIDI de vices in AMS see the Pro Tools Reference Guide 7 Choose Audio MIDI Setup gt Quit Audio MIDI Setup Source Det 2 Format 44100000 Wm Sch 32b0 i8 C Volume Value dE Mute Thy o 4 5 so Apple Audio MIDI Setup application Audio Devices Input settings 3 From the Audio Devices list on the left select Digidesign HW HD 4 In the Audio Devices window click the Output tab Built in Une Input Built in Digital input A Built in Output A Built in Une Outgut a Built in Digital Output E o Pro Tools Aggregate O Sour Dietas 2 Format 44100 0H W Sch 32b0 i8 a Volume Value Me Configure Speakers Apple Audio MIDI Setup application Audio Devices Output settings Appendix A Configuring Core Audio Mac OS Only 31 32 Pro Tools HD User Guide appendix b Configuring ASIO Windows Only ASIO Driver Capabilities The ASIO Driver is a single client multichannel sound driver that allows third party audio pro grams that support the ASIO Driver standard to record and play back through qualified Pro Tools audio interfaces Full duplex playback of 24 and 16 bit audio are supported at sample rates up to 96 kHz depe
31. e Is Not Recognized Problem When you launch Pro Tools it does not recog nize an audio interface or a connected audio in terface is not available Possible Solutions Turn off your computer and check to be sure your cables are properly and securely connected to your computer and to your audio interface Verify that your Hardware Setup dialog set tings are correct If you only have one interface make sure it is connected to the HD Core card Make sure Loop Sync SuperClock or other synchronization connections to your audio in terface are correct Disconnect the clock source from the interface and see if the problem per sists 52 Pro Tools HD User Guide Checking Your System with DigiTest Before you use Pro Tools you may want to run the DigiTest diagnostic application to ensure that all Pro Tools HD cards in the system are rec ognized installed in the proper order and have valid TDM FlexCable connections The DigiTest utility performs diagnostic tests on the Pro Tools cards in your system If DigiTest reports that any of your cards have failed click the Info button next to that card Write down the information that appears and report it to your local dealer or to Avid Customer Success Running DigiTest DigiTest is installed with Pro Tools and resides in the following folder on your hard drive Digidesign Pro Tools Pro Tools Utilities A Before you run DigiTest lower the volume of all output devic
32. e firmware in a Pro Tools HD audio interface 1 Quit Pro Tools if it is running 2 Locate and double click the DigiTest applica tion on your hard drive 3 Click the Firmware tab 4 Choose a card slot from the pop up menu If any Pro Tools HD audio interfaces are con nected to the card the Primary or Secondary op tions will become available in the HD Peripheral section of the Firmware page If any connected interfaces are not recognized check the connections and power to each inter face and click Re Scan 5 Under HD Peripheral select Primary or Second ary to view the firmware version for the corre sponding interface The firmware version is displayed just below the HD Peripheral section of the Firmware page 6 If the firmware version is not current click Be gin Update to update the firmware in the selected audio interface The status of the firmware update process is dis played in the status area at the bottom of the Firmware page 7 After the update process is complete click Quit to close DigiTest Appendix E Troubleshooting 55 Performance Factors There are several conditions that may adversely affect the performance of Pro Tools These in clude Network Connections Close any network con nections unless you are using them for network interchange of audio data Background Applications Any software utilities that run in the background or generate disk ac tivity such as virus protection disk o
33. emarks of Avid Technology Inc Xpand is Registered in the U S Patent and Trademark Office All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners Product features specifications system requirements and availability are subject to change without notice Guide Part Number 9320 65004 00 REV B 11 10 Documentation Feedback At Avid we are always looking for ways to improve our documentation If you have comments corrections or suggestions regarding our documentation email us at techpubs avid com Chapter 1 Welcome to Pro Tools HD 00 1 Pro Tools HD SystemS oooooooooo e I 1 Pro Tools HD System Packages o o oooooooooro eee 1 Pro Tools HD Capabilities 00 0 RR III 2 System Requirements and 3 Registration gt a A sc PW w UE 4 Conventions Used in This Guide llli 4 About www avid com o 5 Chapter 2 Pro Tools Hardware Overview 0 0 00 c een eee 7 Pro Tools HD Hardware i capes hra i bui atasa eee 7 DigiLink Mini and DigiLink Cables 00 2 8 Pro Tools HD Audio Interfaces 0000000 Ie 9 Expanded Pro Tools HD Systems 2000002000 eee 14 Additional Pro Tools HD Hardware 00000002 14 Chapter 3 Installing Pro Tools HD Hardware 22222 2 00 15 Installing Pro Tools HD Cards ina Mac Pro l l IIR 15 Installing Pro Tools HD Cards in a Windows Computer lll lesen 17 Connecting T
34. endix 9 Compliance Information Environmental Compliance Disposal of Waste Equipment by Users in the European Union This symbol on the product or its packaging indicates that this product must not be disposed of with other waste Instead it is your responsibility to dispose of your waste equipment by handing it over to a designated collection point for the recycling of waste electrical and electronic equipment The separate collection and recycling of your waste equipment at the time of disposal will help conserve natural resources and ensure that it is recycled in a manner that protects human health and the environment For more information about where you can drop off your waste equipment for recycling please contact your local city recycling office or the dealer from whom you purchased the product Proposition 65 Warning A This product contains chemicals including lead known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm Wash hands after handling Perchlorate Notice This product may contain a lithium coin battery The State of California requires the following disclosure statement Perchlorate Material special handling may apply See www dtsc ca gov hazardouswaste perchlorate Recycling Notice A ae Appendix 9 Compliance Information 59 EMC Electromagnetic Compliance Avid declares that this product complies with the following standards regulating em
35. es Very loud digital noise may be emitted during the test For more information on the DigiTest appli cation see the DigiTest Guide To run DigiTest 1 Quit Pro Tools if it is running 2 Lower the volume of all output devices on your system 3 Locate and double click the DigiTest icon on your hard drive DigiTest opens and lists the supported cards it finds in your system showing their correspond ing slot locations If you have a large number of cards or audio in terfaces it may take a while for the DigiTest win dow to appear as DigiTest scans for all cards and interfaces connected to the system Digidesign DigiTest Diagnostics Fests Results Slot Info Audio I O Firmware SYNC Firmware Test Get Results 5 Card Type Status WARNING Make sure the volume on your audio monitors is lowered Full scale digital noise may be emitted during these tests 0 HD Core PCIe 1 HD Accel 90000 DO JO r1 m 5 mr m m m BO ES BN PA ED E O DigiTest main test window CY The order in which cards are listed within DigiTest may not match the actual slot loca tions of cards installed in your computer or expansion chassis This is normal and does not affect DigiTest operations in any way 4 Select the cards in your system you want to test by selecting Test in the left hand column for each card 5 Click Run If cards are not installed i
36. es automatic Delay Compensa tion for managing DSP delays from plug in and hardware inserts and mixer routing bussing and sends With Delay Compensation enabled Pro Tools maintains phase coherent time align ment between tracks that have plug ins with dif fering DSP delays tracks with different mixing paths tracks that are split off and recombined within the mixer and tracks with hardware in serts To maintain phase coherent time alignment Delay Compensation should always be enabled during playback and mixing Delay Compensa tion should also be enabled in most recording situations For more information on using Delay Com pensation see the Pro Tools Reference Guide Help gt Pro Tools Reference Guide 38 Pro Tools HD User Guide appendix d TDM Mixing and DSP Usage Benefits of TDM Il TDM or time division multiplexing technology is based on the concept of a single high speed data highway or bus that transmits data between your Pro Tools CPU Pro Tools cards and the DSP chips on the cards Pro Tools HD cards feature enhanced TDM II ar chitecture The TDM II architecture provides many advantages over the original TDM or TDM 1 architecture in terms of its mixing capac ity and flexibility In TDM systems individual channels from sources such as audio tracks sends or busses are sent out from Pro Tools audio cards and com bined together or multiplexed onto the TDM bus so that all signals can travel simult
37. g an expan sion chassis With at least six Pro Tools HD cards Pro Tools supports up to ten Pro Tools HD audio interfaces For more information see the Expanded Systems Guide System Requirements and Compatibility Pro Tools HD systems can be used with a qualified Windows or Mac computer running Pro Tools HD software A DVD drive is required to use the Pro Tools In staller disc Avid can only assure compatibility and provide support for hardware and software it has tested and approved For complete system requirements and a list of qualified computers operating systems hard drives and third party devices visit www avid com compatibility Lok USB Key Authorization Pro Tools HD systems include an iLok USB key and an Activation code on the included Activa tion card for your Pro Tools HD software An authorized iLok must be inserted in an available USB port on your computer to run Pro Tools Pro Tools software is authorized using the iLok USB Smart Key iLok from PACE Anti Piracy iLok An iLok can hold hundreds authorizations for all of your iLok enabled software Once an iLok is authorized for a given piece of software you can use the iLok to authorize that software on any computer A An authorized iLok must be inserted in an available USB port on your computer to run Pro Tools HD For information about installing and au thorizing your Pro Tools HD software see the printed Pro Tools Instal
38. g on your computer s CPU and could contribute to dropouts in your audio during re cord or playback Latency is the time delay be tween a signal entering the audio inputs and leaving the outputs during recording Larger buffers have the advantage of making the CoreAudio Driver more immune to audio dropouts during playback and recording but can cause a noticeable delay when monitoring your inputs in the recording process In some CoreAudio client applications performing vari Appendix A Configuring Core Audio Mac OS X Only 29 ous tasks will interrupt the CoreAudio Driver and may result in clicks and pops in audio play back or recording Choosing a large buffer can help alleviate this problem Refer to the documentation for your third party application to learn more about how these op tions affect that application Configuring the Apple Sound Preferences or Apple Audio MIDI Setup Required for Using Qualified Pro Tools System Interface with Apple iTunes or QuickTime Player To use your Pro Tools hardware with certain CoreAudio compatible playback applications such as Apple iTunes or QuickTime Player you will need to configure either Sound Preferences or Audio MIDI Setup in addition to CoreAudio Manager However for most CoreAudio com patible client applications such as BIAS Peak or Ableton Live this is unnecessary because you can configure the CoreAudio Buffer Size setting and input and output channels from wit
39. hin the client application Apple Sound Preferences To configure the Apple Sound Preferences 1 Launch System Preferences Apple menu gt System Preferences 2 Click Sound 30 Pro Tools HD User Guide 3 Click Output and select Digidesign HW HD as the device for sound output 860 Sound 4 ShowAll a Sound Effects Output Input Choose a device for sound output Name Port Headphones Built in Audio Digital Out Optical digital out port Settings for the selected device The selected device has no output controls Output volume ag 9 F Show volume in menu bar Sound Preferences Output settings 4 Click Input and select Digidesign HW HD as the device for sound input ee Sound Show All a Arba Show Ain Sound Effects Output input Choose a device for sound input Name Port Line In Audio line in port Digital In Optical digital in port Digidesign HW HD Settings for the selected device Input level The selected device has no input controls Output volume mf 5 w F Show volume in menu bar Sound Preferences Input settings Pro Tools HD shown 5 Quit System Preferences Apple Audio MIDI Setup To configure the Apple Audio MIDI Setup 1 Launch Audio MIDI Setup located in Home Applications Utilities 2 In the Audio Devices window click the Input tab Digidesign HW HD Clock source internal fimose output 5 From the Au
40. horized to apply the appropriate UL amp CUL mark on its compliant equipment Warning RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK DO NOT OPEN Important Safety Instructions 1 Read these instructions 2 Keep these instructions 3 Heed all warnings 4 Follow all instructions 5 Do not use this equipment near water 6 Clean only with dry cloth 7 Do not block any ventilation openings Install in accordance with the manufacturer s instructions 8 Do not install near any heat sources such as radiators heat registers stoves or other equipment including amplifiers that produce heat 9 Do not defeat the safety purpose of the polarized or grounding type plug A polarized plug has two blades with one wider than the other A grounding type plug has two blades and a third grounding prong The wide blade or the third prong are provided for your safety If the provided plug does not fit into your outlet consult an electrician for replacement of the obsolete outlet 10 Protect power cords from being walked on or pinched particularly at plugs convenience receptacles and the point where they exit from the equipment 11 Only use attachments accessories specified by the manufacturer 12 For products that are not rack mountable Use only with a cart stand tripod bracket or table specified by the manufacturer or sold with the equipment When a cart is used use caution when moving the cart equipment combination to avoid injury from t
41. ht angle so that the front of the card is higher than the back of the card where the card s Di giLink connector is located as in Figure 2 x Figure 2 Holding the card above the slot at an angle e With the card at an angle rest the card s back bracket against the edge of the chassis where the computer s slot access port is lo cated Carefully slide the front of the card down into slot 2 s grey plastic PCIe card support where the slot numbers appear as in Figure 3 Figure 3 Sliding the front of the card into PCle card support With the card s PCIe connectors facing down carefully slide the card straight down and firmly seat the PCIe connector into the slot 2 PCIe slot making sure that all card components on the front of the card have clearance from the grey plastic PCIe card support as in Figure 4 D gt a Figure 4 PCle card installed A Do not force the card into the PCIe card sup port slot When you have the correct instal lation angle the card should slide in easily If you do not have the correct angle reposi tion the card 9 Install the first Pro Tools HD Accel card if any in the second slot slot 3 10 Install the second Pro Tools HD Accel card if any in slot 4 11 Check to be sure that your cards are installed in the proper order for your system starting with the lowest numeric slot Display card for your computer monitor Pro Tools HD Core card e Any additional Pro
42. ide 24 bit dither at their summing points When creating a final mix that results to 16 bits for example for CD mastering final dithering should still be han dled by plug ins that provide dither To properly dither the final mix result insert a dither plug in on the post fader inserts of a Master fader De tails about dither and proper usage of the dither plug ins can be found in the Pro Tools Reference Guide Mixer Plug ins Pro Tools HD systems come with four different mixers Stereo Surround Stereo Dithered and Surround Dithered The standard Stereo and Surround Mixer plug ins are installed by default When you run your Pro Tools Installer a copy of the Stereo Dithered and Surround Dithered mixers are placed in the folder Plug ins Unused Appendix D TDM Mixing and DSP Usage 47 Plug in Features Standard Surround and Stereo Mixers Both the Surround and Stereo Mixer plug ins provide the following e 24 bit digital output from an audio inter face output or Bounce to Disk Mix level scaling stores 48 bit results using a 56 bit accumulator for maximum precision 48 dB of mix headroom Output clip indication e Multichannel mixing formats for surround Surround Mixer only Surround Dithered and Stereo Dithered Mixers Both the Surround Dithered and Stereo Dithered Mixer plug ins provide the following The same features as the standard Pro Tools HD Stereo and Surround mixers with the addi
43. ip over 13 Unplug this equipment during lightning storms or when unused for long periods of time 14 Refer all servicing to qualified service personnel Servicing is required when the equipment has been damaged in any way Such as power supply cord or plug is damaged liquid has been spilled or objects have fallen into the equipment the equipment has been exposed to rain or moisture does not operate normally or has been dropped 15 For products that are a Mains powered device The equipment shall not be exposed to dripping or splashing and no objects filled with liquids such as vases shall be placed on the equipment Warning To reduce the risk of fire or electric shock do not expose this equipment to rain or moisture 16 For products containing a lithium battery CAUTION Danger of explosion if battery is incorrectly replaced Replace only with the same or equivalent type 17 The equipment shall be used at a maximum ambient temperature of 40 C Appendix 9 Compliance Information 61 px 9 rat Dy Any
44. isplayed next to it The QuickTime transport bar lets you audition the sound file The sound will always play back though the Mac s built in audio con troller through the Mac speaker or headphone jack However if you double click a sound file the QuickTime application will launch The QuickTime application can use the CoreAudio Driver for playback The CoreAudio Driver cannot be used for playback of Mac System Sounds Appendix A Configuring Core Audio Mac OS X Only 25 Installing the CoreAudio Driver The CoreAudio Driver is installed by default when you install Pro Tools The CoreAudio Driver can also be installed as a standalone driver on Mac systems that do not have Pro Tools software installed The installer for the standalone CoreAudio Driver is available on the Driver Installers disc that came with your Pro Tools Software package or from our website www avid com A If you uninstall Pro Tools the CoreAudio Driver is automatically uninstalled at that time To install the standalone CoreAudio Driver 1 Ensure that your Pro Tools HD hardware is correctly installed 2 Do one of the following Insert the Driver Installers Disc that came with your Pro Tools Software package in your computer Download the standalone CoreAudio driver installer from our website www avid com 3 Locate and double click the Install HD Family Driver mpkg 4 Follow the on screen instructions to complete the installati
45. issions and immunity FCC Part 15 Class A EN55103 1 E4 EN55103 2 E4 AS NZS 3548 Class A CISPR 22 Class A FCC Compliance for United States Radio and Television Interference This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the imits for a Class A digital device pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules DECLARATION OF CONFORMITY We Avid 75 Network Drive Burlington MA 01803 USA 650 731 6300 declare under our sole responsibility that the product HD Accel HD Accel Core HD Core or HD Process complies with Part 15 of FCC Rules Operation is subject to the following two conditions 1 this device may not cause harmful interference and 2 this device must accept any interference received including interference that may cause undesired operation Communication Statement NOTE This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class A digital device pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation This equipment generates uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions may cause harmful interference to radio communications However there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation If this equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or television reception which can be deter
46. ital I O 96 I O and 96i I O audio interfaces to Pro Tools HD cards Use DigiLink cables with a DigiLink to DigiLink Mini adapter cable to con nect HD I O HD OMNI and HD MADI audio in terfaces to Pro Tools HD cards 8 Pro Tools HD User Guide DigiLink Cable Length Specifications There are six different lengths of DigiLink ca bles 18 0 46m included with 192 I O 192 Digital I O 96 I O and 96i I O 12 3 6m included with Pro Tools HD cards e 25 7 62m sold separately 50 15 25m the maximum length sup ported for 176 4 kHz and 192 kHz sessions sold separately 100 30 5m the maximum length sup ported by 88 2 kHz and 96 kHz sessions sold separately DigiLink to DigiLink Mini Adapter Cables Use DigiLink to DigiLink Mini adapter cables to connect HD I O HD OMNI and HD MADI to Pro Tools HD cards You can also use DigiLink to DigiLink Mini adapter cables to connect older HD peripherals such as 192 I O to the Expan sion port of HD I O and HD OMNI There are two types of DigiLink to DigiLink Mini adapter cables 12 DigiLink female to DigiLink Mini male included with each interface 12 DigiLink Mini female to DigiLink male CY For more information about DigiLink Mini and DigiLink Mini to DigiLink cables visit the Avid website www avid com DigiLink Mini Cable Length Specifications HD OMNI Features There are six different lengths of DigiLink Mini HD OMNI provides up to 8 disc
47. k Engine settings When using DSP caching the System Usage window may not always accurately show the DSP resources your session is currently using For an accurate display of current DSP usage you can either disable DSP caching or purge the DSP cache To enable or disable DSP Caching 1 Open the System Usage window Windows gt System Usage 2 Click the DSP Cache pop up menu and select or deselect Use DSP Cache To purge the DSP cache 1 Open the System Usage window Windows gt System Usage 2 Click the DSP Cache pop up menu and select or deselect Purge Cache This refreshes the Sys tem Usage display G Another feature available for DSP manage ment is Active and Inactive switching See the Pro Tools Reference Guide for more in formation Setting Up Sessions to Use DSP Efficiently The dynamically configurable mixing environ ment in Pro Tools lets you make choices based on the type of setup you want to have such as how many inputs you want for your mixer how many plug ins you want to use or how many sends you need For example you could allocate all of your DSP power to create a large mixer with dozens of channels but you would not be able to use as many busses sends or TDM plug ins Alterna tively you could create a mixer with a smaller number of mixer channels plus some sends and Auxiliary Inputs for returns and TDM plug ins on several tracks y RTAS Real Time AudioSuite plug ins a
48. lation Guide in cluded with your Pro Tools Software Pack age MIDI Requirements Pro Tools works with most USB and FireWire MIDI interfaces and controllers For a list of sup ported USB and FireWire MIDI interfaces and controllers visit www avid com compatibility Hard Drive Requirements For optimal audio recording and playback all Pro Tools HD systems require one or more qual ified hard drives Initialize your hard drives with the Disk Utility application included with Apple System soft ware Mac or using Windows Disk Manage ment Windows Chapter 1 Welcome to Pro Tools HD 3 Avoid Recording to the System Drive Recording to your system drive is not recom mended Recording and playback on a system drive may result in lower track counts and fewer plug ins w Ifyou have multiple hard drives in your sys tem use DigiBase to designate the system drive as a Playback or Transfer only drive for optimal performance For more informa tion about using DigiBase see the Pro Tools Reference Guide Registration Review the enclosed Registration Information Card and follow the instructions on it to quickly register your purchase online By registering you become eligible to receive the following Information regarding technical support Software update and upgrade notices Limited warranty on hardware 4 Pro Tools HD User Guide Conventions Used in This Guide All of our guides use the following conventi
49. located This in cludes all voices whether they are allocated ex plicitly or dynamically as well as any voices used for routing RTAS processing TDM Time Slots Used Displays the total number of TDM Time Slots available and the number of TDM Time Slots currently used DSP Usage HD Accel Core HD Core HD Accel and HD Process Displays the percentage of how much of each DSP chip on each Pro Tools HD card is currently being used for mixer configura tions and TDM plug ins System Usage System CPU RTAS RO 1 NY CPU Elastic O 0 Activity PC CS 28 Disk a O Voices Allocated TS 22 45 Wi Time Slots Used CC 34 512 TDM HD Polo DSP HD Engine RS 100 Cache StereoMixer24 C 4 6 DSP Usage HD Accel PCle 1 System Usage window To monitor the usage of DSP resources during a Pro Tools session Choose Window gt System Usage DSP Cache Pro Tools HD also maintains a Plug in and Mixer cache for allocated DSP when closing and open ing sessions While this does not change the time it takes to open the first session after you launch Pro Tools it does result in being able to open and close all subsequent Pro Tools sessions quickly especially when using the Revert To Saved command or when opening similarly con figured sessions As long as Pro Tools is running the DSPs will only be completely purged if you open a session with a different sample rate or one with differ ent Playbac
50. lug in insert a time slot is used between the Engine DSP sending out the audio track and the DSP with the Reverb One instance If the Reverb One insert is handled by a DSP that is physically next to the DSP han dling mixing tasks as shown in the illustration below this leaves time slot 2 available for use between DSP 3 through DSP 9 and subsequent Pro Tools HD cards Appendix D TDM Mixing and DSP Usage 39 slot 1 used slot 1 free slot 1 free DSP E DSP 1 slot 2 used slot 2 used 3 slot 2 free Engine Mixer ReverbOne Time slot usage on Pro Tools HD hardware The maximum consumption of the time slots for a single connection occurs when the audio must be sent between the first and last DSP in the system In this instance a time slot between each DSP is used to reach the last DSP in the chain Another example of how TDM 11 is more effi cient than TDM I is to imagine a single HD Core card with one Engine chip and two Mixer chips The DSPs with plug in instances associated with the first Mixer do not need to communicate with the second Mixer therefore the time slot numbers used can be re used by the second Mixer to communicate with other DSPs loaded with other plug ins HD series card TDM bus to previous DSP psp DSP DsP DSP Dsp DSP DSP DSP to next HD card umi 2 den 3 4 emp 5 den 6 ee 7 8 9 HD card TDM II bus allows individual connections between DSPs Figure 7 TDM bus on Pro Tools HD
51. mined by turning the equipment off and on the user is encouraged to try and correct the interference by one or more of the following measures Reorient or locate the receiving antenna Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is connected Consult the dealer or an experienced radio TV technician for help Any modifications to the unit unless expressly approved by Avid could void the user s authority to operate the equipment 60 Pro Tools HD User Guide Argentine Compliance TOV Rheinland Argentina S A Australian Compliance Avid Canadian Compliance This Class A digital apparatus complies with Canadian ICES 003 Cet appareil num rique de la classe A est conforme a la norme NMB 003 du Canada Taiwan Compliance FERRE ik COLE o 1 AF 4 6 13174 gt ARENA FT 6 8 4 RRR EA 6 6091 A CE Compliance EMC and Safety Ce Avid is authorized to apply the CE Conformit Europ nne mark on this compliant equipment thereby declaring conformity to EMC Directive 89 336 EEC and Low Voltage Directive 2006 95 EEC Safety Compliance Safety Statement This equipment has been tested to comply with USA and Canadian safety certification in accordance with the specifications of UL Standards UL60065 7th IEC 60065 7th and Canadian CAN CSA C22 2 60065 03 Avid Inc has been aut
52. n the proper order DigiTest will display error codes in the Status box of each card identified as being misconfig ured The more cards and audio interfaces in your sys tem the longer the test will take 6 When prompted power cycle all Pro Tools pe ripherals in your system Click Continue 7 To test the interfaces connected to your sys tem check Test I O Box od LEDs on your digital interfaces may light up during this test This is normal 8 When the test is finished you can view the test results by doing one of the following e Click the Get Results button next to a card name e Click the Results tab and choose a card slot from the pop up menu 9 In the Results page of the DigiTest window click Show Failures Only to display failed tests for the selected card or click Show All Results to dis play all test results for the selected card For descriptions oferror codes see DigiTest Error Codes on page 54 10 Click Quit to close DigiTest 11 Restart your computer Errors and Undetected Cards Complete the steps below if any of the following occur DigiTest fails to launch An error message has been displayed for a card in DigiTest A supported card is installed but not automat ically detected during DigiTest Appendix E Troubleshooting 53 If a supported card is installed and is not automatically detected 1 Quit DigiTest 2 Turn off the entire Pro Tools system 3 Rein
53. nager panel after the first client application accesses the CoreAudio Driver To open the Manager panel click on the CoreAudio Manager application icon in the Dock Auto Quit Manager when Last Client Quits En able this option to make the Manager applica tion quit when there are no longer any clients using the CoreAudio Driver Use C 24 Stereo Routing L R to 1 3 When using C 24 enable this option to configure the CoreAudio Driver to output through the C 24 standard stereo routing outputs 1 and 3 Use XMON Stereo Routing L R to 1 5 When using D Control or D Command enable this option to configure the CoreAudio Driver to output through the D Control or D Command standard stereo routing outputs 1 and 5 Mirror Analog Outs 1 amp 2 to Digital Outs 003 003 Rack 003 Rack Digi 002 or Digi 002 Rack Only When using 003 003 Rack 003 Rack Digi 002 or Digi 002 Rack enable this option to mirror the main outputs through the digital out puts that are selected in the Hardware Setup di alog This option is grayed out for Pro Tools HD systems Connect Button The Connect button is available when the Core Audio Manager is launched and cannot connect with the Pro Tools hardware such as when Pro Tools is launched and the hardware is dis connected or disabled Before trying to con nect make sure to quit Pro Tools and make sure that your hardware is connected and turned on You can then click on the Connect button t
54. nd ing on your Pro Tools hardware and ASIO client program used such as Cubase or Reason The Pro Tools ASIO Driver provides up to 8 channels of I O with Pro Tools HD systems Only the first primary audio interface is sup ported w Visit www avid com for the latest ASIO drivers for Pro Tools hardware as well as current known issues Limitations of the ASIO Driver The ASIO Driver cannot be used with multiple applications at the same time Only one applica tion at a time can use the ASIO Driver Be sure to disable the Windows system sounds It is also recommended that you use a separate sound card for games or other general work Installing the ASIO Driver The ASIO Driver is installed by default when you install Pro Tools The ASIO Driver can also be in stalled as a standalone driver on Windows sys tems that do not have Pro Tools software in stalled The installer for the standalone ASIO Driver is available on the Drivers Installer disc that came with your Pro Tools Software package or from our website www avid com A If you uninstall Pro Tools the ASIO Driver is automatically uninstalled at that time To install the standalone ASIO Driver 1 Ensure that your Pro Tools HD hardware is correctly installed 2 Do one of the following Insert the Driver Installers Disc that came with your Pro Tools Software package in your computer 01 Download the standalone ASIO driver in staller from our website w
55. ng and post production stu dios 8 channels of analog back panel output using a DB 25 breakout cable sold separately with variable output gain Soft Clip and Curv limiting circuits to protect against clipping on analog input e 2 channels of analog back panel output using TRS Mirrors channels 1 2 or 7 8 on DB 25 connector Front panel stereo 1 4 headphone jack Chapter 2 Pro Tools Hardware Overview 9 Digital 1 0 8 channels of AES EBU output up to 192 kHz Single Wire using a DB 25 breakout cable sold separately 2 channels of AES EBU XLR input up to 192 kHz Single Wire Synchronization Loop Sync input and output for connecting additional Pro Tools HD interfaces and pe ripherals External Clock input and output for synchro nizing HD OMNI with external Word Clock 2 channels of S PDIF RCA input and output devices up to 192 kHz 8 channels of ADAT TOSLINK input and out put For more information about HD OMNI see the HD OMNI Guide Support for ADAT S MUX Optical for sample rates of 88 2 kHz 96 kHz 176 4 kHz and 192 kHz HD I O Audio Interface HD I O is a multichannel digital audio interface designed for use with Pro Tools HD systems HD I O features extremely high quality 24 bit analog to digital A D and digital to analog D A converters and supports sample rates of up to 192 kHz Support for two channels of S PDIF Optical with sample rates of up to 96 kHz Real time s
56. ng mixer where the signal is sent in the 24 bit world of a digital output or onto the TDM bus can clip You can use a Master fader which does not cost any DSP to scale the output level of any mix summing point a bus or physical out put The master fader s meters will tell you if you are clipping the mix bus and the fader can be used to safely scale the level to avoid clip ping with no loss of quality w If you are mixing larger numbers of signals together always use a master fader so that you can monitor levels for the bus using the master fader meter and to trim the result to avoid clipping Since Master faders cost no DSP there is no reason not to use them 46 Pro Tools HD User Guide Note that clipping the input side of a mixer is not a concern on Pro Tools HD systems It is vir tually impossible to clip the input of any Pro Tools HD mixer plug in because the 48 dB of headroom provided prevents any possibility of overload even with a maximum number of inputs being fed by full code signals with fader gains at maximum While it is possible to clip the output side of the mixer you can safely use a Master Fader to trim your mix bus back to avoid clipping by simply examining the Master Fader meter for clipping and pulling back the fader until it disappears make sure that any plug ins you may have on the Master Fader in serts are not the cause as well The 48 bit preci sion of the mixer allows gain
57. ng AES EBU TDIF DB 25 or Optical at sample rates of 44 1 kHz 48 kHz 88 2 kHz 96 kHz 176 4 kHz and 192 kHz with a Digital HD I O card Real time sample rate conversion on digital inputs with a Digital I O card up to sixteen channels of AES EBU Optical or TDIF Support for S MUX Optical for sample rates of 88 2 kHz and higher Support for 2 channels 01 S PDIF Optical en closed with sample rates of up to 96 kHz e 2 channels of AES EBU I O enclosed with support for sample rates up to 192 kHz 2 channels of 24 bit capable S PDIF I O en closed with support for sample rates up to 192 kHz Synchronization Loop Sync input and output for connecting additional Pro Tools HD interfaces and pe ripherals e External Clock input and output for synchro nizing HD I O with external Word Clock de vices Expandability Optional addition of I O cards to expand ana log or digital I O Simultaneous use of multiple Pro Tools HD audio interfaces to further expand system in put and output for more information see the Expanded Systems Guide For more information about HD I O see the HD I O Guide HD MADI Digital Audio Interface HD MADI is a 64 channel digital audio inter face designed for use with Pro Tools HD sys tems HD MADI supports the Multichannel Au dio Digital Interface MADI format and sample rates of up to 192 kHz HD MADI provides sim plified connectivity between your Pro Tools HD system an
58. ns For ex ample HD OMNI supplies up to 8 channels of input and output to your Pro Tools system HD I O supplies up to 16 channels of input and output and HD MADI provides up to 64 chan nels Audio interfaces can be connected directly to Pro Tools HD cards or through the Expan sion ports on other Pro Tools HD audio inter faces A At least one Pro Tools HD audio interface must be connected to the Pro Tools HD Core card for Pro Tools to launch Each Pro Tools HD card supports up to 32 chan nels To get a full 32 channels of I O from one card you can connect or daisy chain a second 16 channel Pro Tools HD I O to the first 16 channel Pro Tools HD I O that is connected directly to the Pro Tools HD card Refer to the HD OMNI Guide HD I O Guide HD MADI Guide 192 I O Guide 192 Digital I O Guide 96 I O Guide or 96i I O Guide for specific details regarding Front and back panel connectors and indi cators Installation of optional expansion I O cards HD I O and 192 I O only To connect Pro Tools HD audio interfaces 1 Do one of the following depending on the au dio interface you are connecting e Ifyou are using a single HD OMNI HD I O 192 I O 192 Digital 1 0 96 I O or 0 connect its Primary Port to the HD Core card with the DigiLink cable provided with the card for HD OMNI and HD I O you must also use the included DigiLink to Di giLink Mini adapter cable i You must attach at least one HD OMNI HD I
59. o ac quire the hardware A If any application is launched prior to press ing the Connect button and you want that application to use the CoreAudio Driver for playback you will need to quit and re launch the application for it to connect properly to the CoreAudio Manager Quit Button Use the Quit button to quit the CoreAudio Man ger Be sure to quit any client applications before using the Quit button in the Manager If any ap plications are currently attached to the Manager application when quitting you may get an error message indicating that the Pro Tools hardware is no longer available You may have to change the application s preferences to use different hardware for playback or possibly quit and re launch the application for proper playback to be resumed Configuring a Pro Tools HD Audio Interface for Third Party Applications When using a Pro Tools HD interface with an application other than Pro Tools HD such as Apple GarageBand you can configure hardware settings through the audio preference settings available in that application To configure hardware settings through a client application such as Apple GarageBand 1 Choose CoreAudio for Audio Output and Au dio Input 2 Select a buffer size for your system by selecting an Optimize For option Maximum Large buffer size or Minimum Small buffer size Small buffers have the advantage of low la tency in the record monitor path but also are more taxin
60. of outputs as well as a variable number of in puts For example the 7 1 format requires eight outputs A single mono track assigned to a 7 1 Output or Bus path would require a 1x8 mixer while one mono and one stereo track assigned to a 7 1 Output or Bus path would require a 3x8 mixer The important concept here is that every output whether they are I O or bus outputs requires that a mixer exists for that output This means that creating a send to bus 1 requires that a mixer be created for the bus 1 2 outputs and that mixer will have one input Mixing with Sends and Busses Each send will add an input to the destination output pair For example a send to output 1 will add another input to the output 1 2 mixer If the send destination doesn t already have a mixer for its output pair then a new mixer will be created A send to bus 3 will make a 1x2 mixer for bus 3 if no other bus 3 sources have been cre ated yet In addition adding a new track and assigning its input to a bus source will create a mixer for that bus pair if there is not one already For example creating a new Auxiliary Input track and setting its input to bus 5 will create a 1x2 mixer for bus 5 even if no sources have been created yet Submixing When the number of channels that must be mixed exceeds the capacity of a single DSP ad ditional main mixers are created automati cally along with summing submixers which sum together the main mi
61. ols builds a TDM mixer every time a ses sion is opened Note that the term mixer chan nel applies to audio tracks total voiceable tracks Auxiliary Input tracks and sends and re turns that use any of the 256 internal busses When you go beyond a certain number of mixer channels Pro Tools will use another DSP to cre ate additional mixer capacity Master Faders do not use additional DSP power DSP Manager Pro Tools software includes the DSP Manager a software component that optimizes the use of DSP capacity on Pro Tools HD systems When you have an Pro Tools HD card in your system if your current DSP usage is approaching the capacity of the card and you then try to add a mixer channel or assign a plug in the DSP Manager will automatically try to make room for the new mixer or plug in on the Pro Tools HD card It does this by reallocating the existing TDM mixers and plug ins to use the available DSP capacity on the Pro Tools HD card as efficiently as possible Appendix D TDM Mixing and DSP Usage 41 Monitoring DSP Usage The System Usage window provides a display of DSP usage With these indicators as your guide you can try different mixer setups and different arrangements of plug ins sends and Auxiliary Inputs to maximize your use of available DSP power Pro Tools HD also maintains a Plug in and Mixer cache for allocated DSP when closing and open ing sessions While this does not change the time it takes to
62. on 5 When the installation is complete click Re start 26 Pro Tools HD User Guide CoreAudio Manager You can configure the CoreAudio Driver using CoreAudio Manager or from within most third party CoreAudio compatible client applications such as BIAS Peak or Ableton Live Refer to the manufacturer s documentation for more infor mation Some applications such as Apple s iTunes or QuickTime Player also require that you config ure either the Apple Sound Preferences or Apple Audio MIDI Setup AMS to use the CoreAudio Driver The CoreAudio Manager is configured to auto hide when first launched To bring it to the fore ground click on its icon in the dock The Core Audio Manager is not used by Pro Tools It is only used by other CoreAudio ap plications Accessing the CoreAudio Manager The CoreAudio Manager application launches automatically when the first client application accesses the CoreAudio Driver Digidesign CoreAudio Manager Digidesign HW HD Status Connected 44 1K Channels 8 in 8 out Attached Clients 0 Buffer Size 2 4 HW Setup JC Prefs CoreAudio Manager CoreAudio Manager cannot be accessed under the following circumstances When Pro Tools HD is running When another application is using Direct IO v To ensure proper playback with the CoreAu dio Driver launch the CoreAudio Manager first making sure that its status is Con nected Preventing an
63. ons to indicate menu choices and key commands Convention Action File Save Choose Save from the File menu Control N Hold down the Control key and press the N key Control click Hold down the Control key and click the mouse button Right click Click with the right mouse button The names of Commands Options and Settings that appear on screen are in a different font The following symbols are used to highlight im portant information User Tips are helpful hints for getting the most from your Pro Tools system A Important Notices include information that could affect your Pro Tools session data or the performance of your Pro Tools system un Shortcuts show you useful keyboard or mouse shortcuts EI Cross References point to related sections in the Pro Tools Guides About www avid com The Avid website www avid com is your best online source for information to help you get the most out of your Pro Tools system The fol lowing are just a few of the services and features available Product Registration Register your purchase on line Support and Downloads Contact Avid Customer Success technical support download software updates and the latest online manuals browse the Compatibility documents for system re quirements search the online Knowledge Base or join the worldwide Pro Tools community on the User Conference Training and Education Study on your own using c
64. ourses available online or find out how you can learn in a classroom setting at a certified Pro Tools training center Products and Developers Learn about Avid prod ucts download demo software or learn about our Development Partners and their plug ins applications and hardware News and Events Get the latest news from Avid or sign up for a Pro Tools demo Pro Tools Accelerated Videos Watch the series of free tutorial videos Accelerated Videos are de signed to help you get up and running with Pro Tools and its plug ins quickly Chapter 1 Welcome to Pro Tools HD 5 6 Pro Tools HD User Guide Pro Tools Hardware Overview This section describes each hardware compo nent of a Pro Tools HD system The number of Pro Tools HD cards in your system will differ de pending on your system configuration Pro Tools HD Hardware HD Accel Core Card All Pro Tools HD systems include a Pro Tools HD Accel Core PCIe card The HD Accel Core card provides up to 96 voice able tracks of direct to disk recording and play back as well as DSP power for mixing and plug in processing The Pro Tools HD Accel Core card supports up to 24 bit 192 kHz sessions DigiLink DigiSerial Accel Core card DigiLink Port The HD Accel Core card includes a single Di giLink port for connecting up to 32 channels of audio input and output to your Pro Tools HD system DigiSerial Port The DigiSerial port on the HD Accel Core card is for connec
65. ptimiza tion or file savers should be turned off or re moved Screen Savers Screen saver software should be completely disabled on your computer before running Pro Tools Power Saver Features Some automatic power saver features such as those that spin down the system hard drive can affect Pro Tools perfor mance These features should be turned off Before You Call Avid Customer Success Register Your System Register your purchase immediately after re viewing the Registration Information Card in cluded with every Pro Tools system Registering your purchase is the only way you become eligi ble to receive information about technical sup port and future upgrade offers 56 Pro Tools HD User Guide Gather Important Information Avid wants to help you resolve problems as quickly and efficiently as possible If you have the following information handy when you contact Customer Success technical support it will make the diagnosis of your problem easier Take a few minutes to collect the following basic information System Information Computer Make model processor speed Amount of system RAM Operating system version of Windows or Mac OS Any Drivers Disk Utilities or other system related applications you may have installed Hardware Type of cards interfaces or peripherals Where the cards are installed PCIe card order in computer or chassis e Interfaces connected to each card Hard Drive
66. racks Up to 64 video tracks per session 16 bit or 24 bit audio resolution at sample rates up to 192 kHz Up to 7 1 surround mixing capability Automatic Delay Compensation Non destructive random access editing and mix automation Audio processing with up to 10 TDM or RTAS plug ins per track depending on your computer s capabilities Up to 10 hardware inserts per track Up to 10 sends per track Up to 256 internal mix busses for routing and mixing 2 Pro Tools HD User Guide For detailed information about Pro Tools software functionality see the Pro Tools Reference Guide Help Pro Tools Reference Guide Audio Recording and Playback Capabilities Pro Tools HD software runs on the following Pro Tools HD hardware systems Pro Tools HD 1 Pro Tools HD 1 systems provide recording and playback of 24 bit or 16 bit audio files with the following voiced track counts Up to 96 tracks at 44 1 kHz or 48 kHz Up to 48 tracks at 88 2 kHz or 96 kHz Up to 24 tracks at 176 4 kHz or 192 kHz Pro Tools HD 2 Accel and HD 3 Accel Pro Tools HD 2 Accel and HD 3 Accel systems provide recording and playback of 24 bit or 16 bit audio files with the following voiced track counts Up to 192 tracks at 44 1 kHz or 48 KHz Up to 96 tracks at 88 2 kHz or 96 kHz Up to 36 tracks at 176 4 kHz or 192 kHz Pro Tools HD Expanded Systems Pro Tools HD systems support up to seven Pro Tools HD cards in systems usin
67. rements 3 DSP 41 allocating 41 43 48 49 41 49 monitoring usage 43 DSP Cache 43 DSP delays 37 DSP Manager 41 E error codes DigiTest 53 Euphonix controllers 14 F firmware audio interfaces Windows 55 H hard drives requirements 3 HD Accel for PCle 7 HD I O 10 Analog Expansion cards 10 analog I O 1 configurations 10 Digital Expansion cards 10 11 synchronization 11 HD MADI 11 Index 63 HD OMNI 9 analog I O 9 digital 1 0 10 features 9 monitoring 10 synchronization 10 installing Pro Tools HD cards 16 8 M Master Faders and DSP usage 49 MIDI 1 0 14 Mixer plug ins 47 mixing and DSP usage 41 MultiShell 49 P phase 37 PRE 14 Pro Tools capabilities 2 Pro Tools HD control surfaces 14 synchronization peripherals 14 worksurfaces 14 Pro Tools HD cards installing 16 18 Registration Information Card 4 5 sample delays see DSP delays screen savers 56 Stereo Mixer plug in 48 Surround Mixer 47 48 SYNC 1 0 7 System 42 System Usage window 42 43 DSP Cache 43 64 Pro Tools HD User Guide T TDM FlexCable 8 TDM Mixer plug ins 48 TDM plug ins and DSP usage 49 MultiShell 49 time alignment 37 Ww Window menu System Usage window 43 www avid com 5
68. results when using TDM plug ins keep in mind the following guidelines 4 Pro Tools HD systems use MultiShell tech nology that lets any MultiShell compatible plug in share DSP chips HD cards Up to five types of MultiShell compatible plug ins can share a single DSP chip Refer to the Audio Plug Ins Guide for details on MultiShell plug ins 4 Stereo DSP plug ins generally use up twice as much DSP as mono plug ins Master Faders do not require additional DSP Use them freely to control submix levels send bus output levels and the master output level of your session The session templates provided with your sys tem include several useful preconfigured session setups that make efficient use of DSP resources If your computer has unused slots you can al ways increase your available DSP resources by adding additional HD cards to your Pro Tools HD system Appendix D TDM Mixing and DSP Usage 49 50 Pro Tools HD User Guide appendix e Troubleshooting Backing Up Your Work Itis highly recommended that you back up your work on a regular basis and especially before making changes to your system configuration Backing Up Your Session Data Back up your session and audio data frequently There are a variety of media that are suited to back up projects of various sizes from auto mated tape backup systems to high capacity optical drives to CD DVD burners The best way to back up an entire session is to use the S
69. rete channels of cables Pro Tools input and output with 4 segment 18 0 46m included with HD I O LED meters for input or output selectable HD OMNI and HD MADI e 12 3 6m sold separately e 25 7 62m sold separately e 24 bit analog to digital A D and digital to analog D A converters with support for Analog 1 0 e 50 15 25m the maximum length sup ported for 176 4 kHz and 192 kHz sessions sample rates up to 192 kHz sold separately 2 high quality Mic DI preamps Channels e 100 30 5m the maximum length sup 1 2 ported by 88 2 kHz and 96 kHz sessions 2combined XLR and 1 4 inch TRS front panel sold separately inputs for microphone and instrument level input 2 XLR back panel microphone inputs 2 1 4 inch TRS Send and 2 1 4 inch TRS Re turn back panel jacks for hardware inserts on channels 1 and 2 Pro Tools HD Audio Interfaces To record and play audio with Pro Tools HD you must have at least one Pro Tools HD audio interface connected to the Pro Tools HD Accel 4 analog TRS line level back panel inputs Core card Channels 1 4 A HD OMNI provides multiple analog input HD OMNI Audio Interface connections but only provides up to four HD OMNI is a professional digital audio inter channels of simultaneous analog input for face designed for use with Pro Tools HD sys Pro Tools tems HD OMNI provides a compact preamp monitoring and I O solution for music produc tion and recordi
70. s Make Model e Drive size GB e Drive speed RPM Drive type SCSI FireWire IDE ATA Utility used to format the drive Number and size of partitions on the drive Software Pro Tools software version Plug in versions Other Avid software Additional plug ins from Avid Develop ment Partners Other Hardware Refer to the manufacturer s documentation for operational details The most common hardware additions include e SCSI host bus adapter HBA cards manu facturer model settings 1394 FireWire cards for Windows systems manufacturer model Expansion Chassis manufacturer model bridge chip type Video Capture cards manufacturer model To verify that your hardware is qualified for use with your system visit www avid com Other Software If you are using other audio or video applica tions refer to the manufacturer s documenta tion for operational details Make note of any other software that was run ning when a problem occurred Diagnostic Information DigiTest If you run DigiTest be sure to make a note of any error codes or messages it generates Other Information Note any DAE errors or other error codes you en counter Additionally note the ability to repro duce the problem under different conditions for example with another session or after changing settings such as the Hardware Buffer Size Appendix E Troubleshooting 57 58 Pro Tools HD User Guide app
71. s or to other interfaces then connect 96i I O inter faces You can also connect a single Pro Tools HD in terface to each Pro Tools HD card in your system using the provided DigiLink cables Note that there is no advantage or disadvantage to this configuration over daisy chaining interfaces Connecting Loop Sync If you are using two or more Pro Tools HD audio interfaces or a SYNC peripheral Loop Sync must be connected to maintain proper clock among the devices To make Loop Sync connections 1 Connect the Loop Sync Out of each interface to the Loop Sync In of the next interface with the BNC cables included in your I O packaging 2 Connect the Loop Sync Out of the last inter face to the Loop Sync In of the primary interface or SYNC peripheral Chapter 3 Installing Pro Tools HD Hardware 21 12 foot DigiLink Mini to DigiLink cable 18 inch DigiLink Mini cable 12 foot DigiLink Mini to DigiLink cable 18 inch DigiLink Mini cable Loop Sync cables Figure 6 Making DigiLink and Loop Sync connections with HD OMNI and three HD I Os 22 Pro Tools HD User Guide Maximum 1 0 Configurations Pro Tools HD supports up to a maximum com bination of ten total of the following audio in terfaces HD OMNI only one HD OMNI is sup ported in a single Pro Tools HD system HD I O up to ten HD I O can be used si multaneously requires five HD cards HD MADI up to three HD MADI can be
72. s well as AudioSuite plug ins do not use DSP and are always available Refer to the Audio Plug Ins Guide for more information You can set up your session by choosing one of the session templates supplied with your system as a starting point or by building it from scratch If you are starting from scratch a good rule of thumb is to start by building your mixer first since at least one of the DSPs in your sys tem is automatically dedicated to mixing Start with audio tracks then add sends and Auxiliary Inputs and finally add plug ins as available DSP allows Master Faders do not use additional DSP power Appendix D TDM Mixing and DSP Usage 43 DSP Usage and Mixer Plug Ins Understanding Mixers Pro Tools HD systems include two types of mixer plug ins stereo and surround both of which are available with dither or without Pro Tools uses these plug ins to create dynamic mixers meaning that the mixer size can expand or contract as mix channels are added or deleted in Pro Tools More channels take up more DSP power from your Pro Tools hardware This is dif ferent from hardware mixing consoles where hardware analog or digital creates fixed mix configurations consisting of an unchangeable number of master outputs busses or sends DSP allocation for mixing in a Pro Tools HD sys tem is based on the concept of DSP summing mixers Every send bus or output mix that you use requires that a summing mixer exists for
73. s a multichannel digital audio inter face designed for use with Pro Tools HD sys tems 96i I O features high quality 24 bit ana log to digital A D and digital to analog D A converters and supports sample rates of up to 96 kHz 96i I O Features Supports sample rates up to 96 kHz 16 discrete channels of input and 2 channels of output with 4 segment LED meters on each channel Audio inputs and outputs in clude 16 channels of 24 bit 96 kHz capable ana log input with adjustable input sensitivity e 2 channels of 24 bit 96 kHz capable analog output with selectable operating level e 2 channels of 24 bit 96 kHz capable digital S PDIF RCA input and output Loop Sync In and Out for connecting Pro Tools HD interfaces and peripherals e External Clock In and Out receive or send 1x Word clock For more information see the 96i I O Guide 14 Pro Tools HD User Guide Expanded Pro Tools HD Systems You can expand your Pro Tools HD system by adding Pro Tools HD cards to your computer ei ther directly in the computer or using an expan sion chassis Expanding your Pro Tools system provides increased track counts adds to the amount of possible plug in and mixer process ing and lets you connect additional audio inter faces With support for up to 7 Pro Tools HD cards in a single system a Pro Tools HD system can support up to 160 channels of simultaneous input and output For more information see the Expanded
74. same type installed in your system To identify Pro Tools HD cards with DigiTest 1 Quit Pro Tools if it is running 2 Locate and double click the DigiTest icon on your hard drive DigiTest opens and lists the supported cards it finds in your system 3 Open your computer case or expansion chas sis so you can see the top edge of the cards in stalled in your system 4 In the DigiTest window select the ID check box next to a card name The green LED near the top edge of the corresponding card flashes Viewing Card Information with DigiTest DigiTest can display identifying information such as serial number date of manufacture and firmware ROM version for each card in your sys tem This information is useful if you need to contact Avid Technical Support about your Pro Tools hardware To display information for a card in your system 1 Quit Pro Tools if it is running 2 Locate and double click the DigiTest icon on your hard drive 3 Click the Slot Info tab 4 Choose a card slot from the pop up menu Updating Audio Peripheral Firmware with DigiTest If firmware updates are available for any of your Pro Tools HD audio interfaces HD I O HD OMNI HD MADI 192 1 0 192 Digital I O 96 1 0 or 96i I O you can use DigiTest to per form the update Within DigiTest the Firmware Update page tells you the firmware version for the selected peripheral and lets you update to a newer version if necessary To update th
75. stall the Pro Tools HD cards 4 Check the card seating 5 Check the TDM FlexCable connections Check the orientation of the cable from card to card ports B to A and check the integrity of the FlexCable connections to the cards 6 Turn on the system 7 Run DigiTest again 54 Pro Tools HD User Guide DigiTest Error Codes DigiTest Error Codes Code Description Err3 Cards from different Pro Tools systems are incorrectly mixed See the configuration chapters Err4 Cards marked with this error are installed in the wrong order See the configuration chapters Err5 Too many cards of this type are installed in the system Visit our website for compatibility informa tion Err6 A card is installed in a reserve slot For example a Pro Tools HD card is installed in the slot reserved for the Expansion Chas sis Host Interface card Refer to the configuration chapters as well as related installation guides Err1220 SCSI Accelerator card is installed in the wrong slot See the configu ration chapters for correct loca tion of the card Err1221 Expansion Chassis Host Interface card is installed in the wrong slot See Expanded Systems Guide for correct location of the card Identifying Pro Tools HD Cards with DigiTest You can use DigiTest to identify which cards are in which slots in your system This is especially useful if you have multiple Pro Tools HD cards of the
76. t world of a TDM mixer to the 24 bit world of a TDM bus connection or a hardware output Any material that is truncated lies below 144 dBFs reflecting 24 bit of dynamic range There is dissension in the audio community as to whether or not artifacts that fall within this area are actually audible in some way The nor mal dynamic range of human hearing is gener ally accepted to fall within a range of around 120 dB from the threshold of audibility to the threshold of pain Avid has developed a mixer that provides all of the benefits of the standard stereo and surround mixer plug ins but also provide uncorrelated dither on any summed output This provides a steady dither noise floor at extremely low level which causes any truncation artifacts to be converted into steady white noise However the addition of uncorrelated dither requires more DSP horsepower As a result the channel in stance count from the dithered versions of the mixers is around 15 lower or more than the non dithered standard versions this varies with sample rate and mixer type For this reason we offer both types of mixer plug in You may want to use the standard non dithered mixer in most applications because of its greater efficiency allowing you to mix more channels without running out of DSP power or the dithered mixer because of its theoretical ad vantages A Note About Dithering to 16 Bit and Dither Plug ins The Dithered mixers prov
77. those signals Every single signal path that is mixed together requires the use of a mixer plug in whether a main output that goes to hard ware a bus or a send This is even true for an in dividual signal that travels from hard disk to an individual hardware output These individual dynamic mixers are created using the appropri ate TDM mixer plug in stereo or surround that is installed in your Plug Ins folder An input can be an audio track send or inter nal bus connection Adding an output or bus path mono or multichannel adds the require ment for DSP power to mix the signals together Each Pro Tools HD card has nine DSPs which can power a certain number of signal processing tasks DSP resources are dynamically allocated as the number of mixers and inputs increases The TDM mixer provides basic building blocks by which applications such as Pro Tools can cre ate a wide variety of mixer configurations 44 Pro Tools HD User Guide Mono and Stereo Each TDM mono or stereo mixer is of the di mensions N x 2 meaning that it mixes a vari able number of inputs to an output pair For ex ample A session with six tracks routed to Output 1 2 would require a single 6 x 2 mixer If one of the six tracks is assigned to Output 3 4 however two mixers are required one 5x2 mixer routed to Output 1 2 and one 1x2 mixer routed to Output 3 4 Multichannel Surround Each Surround mixer can have a variable num ber
78. ting a SYNC peripheral This connec tor is an 8 pin mini DIN A The DigiSerial port on an HD Accel Core card does not support MachineControl con nections HD Accel Card A Pro Tools HD Accel PCIe card is included in Pro Tools HD 2 Accel system and two are in cluded with a Pro Tools HD 3 Accel system Ad ditional Pro Tools HD Accel cards can be pur chased separately to expand the capabilities of your Pro Tools HD system HD Accel cards pro vide additional DSP and I O connectivity and require the presence of an HD Accel Core card in the system In systems using an expansion chas sis Pro Tools supports up to six Pro Tools HD Accel cards in addition to the Pro Tools HD Ac cel Core card DigiLink HD Accel card Chapter 2 Pro Tools Hardware Overview 7 DigiLink Port The HD Accel card includes a single DigiLink port for connecting up to 32 channels of audio input and output to your Pro Tools HD system TDM FlexCable The TDM FlexCable is used to connect a pair of cards in your Pro Tools system so they can share data along the TDM bus One FlexCable comes with each Pro Tools HD Accel card A The TDM FlexCable is a flexible printed cir cuit board with delicate traces Do not over bend twist or pinch the cable Doing so may cause unpredictable behavior in Pro Tools as well as harm to your system PORT B TDM FlexCable DigiLink Mini and DigiLink Cables Use DigiLink cables to connect 192 I O 192 Dig
79. tion of non correlated dither to any out put or bus send A When using Dolby Digital encoders or Dolby E you can only use the non dithered mixer The Dithered mixer will not allow proper playout of Dolby Digital or Dolby E out of an output 48 Pro Tools HD User Guide Switching Mixer Plug ins To switch TDM Mixer plug ins 1 Quit Pro Tools 2 Do one of the following On Windows systems open the Plug ins Unused folder Program Files Common Files Digidesigni DAE On Mac systems open the Plug ins Un used folder on your Startup drive Library Application Support Digidesign 3 Locate the Mixer plug in that you want to use and drag it to the Plug ins folder 4 Open the Plug ins folder locate the Mixer plug in version that you no longer want to use and drag it to the Plug ins Unused folder 5 Launch Pro Tools Mixer Usage Guidelines The following conditions apply to mixing with Pro Tools HD systems One DSP chip is automatically dedicated to mixing in the TDM environment 4 As you reach the basic mixer limits for a single DSP chip the system will automatically begin allocating DSP resources from another chip if available making it unavailable for plug ins 4 Each bus or send connection requires DSP to mix signals This means that each send or Aux iliary Input that you create will require DSP power to mix the results DSP Usage with TDM Plug Ins To get the best
80. used simultaneously requires six HD cards e 192 1 0 up to ten 192 I O can be used si multaneously requires five HD cards 192 Digital I Os up to ten 192 Digital I O can be used simultaneously requires five HD cards 96 I Os up to ten 96 I O can be used simul taneously requires five HD cards 96i I Os up to five 961 I Os can be used si multaneously For examples of connecting multiple I Os see Figure 5 and Figure 6 on page 22 A Pro Tools HD audio interfaces need room at their sides to maintain proper air flow for cooling Do not block the sides of the unit or disconnect the internal fan If the units are rack mounted in a case remove the case lids or doors before operating the system Failure to do so can result in the units over heating very quickly which can perma nently damage sensitive components Installing and Authorizing Pro Tools HD Software Once you have installed your Pro Tools HD hardware you can install and authorize your Pro Tools HD software For complete installation and authorization in structions see the Pro Tools Installation Guide that came with your Pro Tools Software package Configuring Your Pro Tools System After you have installed authorized and launched Pro Tools software you can configure your Pro Tools system to meet the specific needs of your studio For detailed information on con figuring your Pro Tools software see the Pro Tools Reference Guide which is a
81. vailable from the Help menu in Pro Tools Chapter 3 Installing Pro Tools HD Hardware 23 24 Pro Tools HD User Guide Configuring Core Audio Mac OS X Only Core Audio Driver Capabilities The CoreAudio Driver is a multi client multi channel sound driver that lets Core Audio com patible applications record and play back through Pro Tools hardware Full duplex recording and playback of 24 bit au dio is supported at sample rates up to 96 kHz depending on your Pro Tools hardware and CoreAudio client application The Pro Tools CoreAudio Driver provides up to 8 channels of I O with Pro Tools HD systems Only the first primary audio interface is sup ported CY Visit www avid com for the latest CoreAu dio drivers for Pro Tools hardware as well as current known issues Limitations of the CoreAudio Driver The CoreAudio Driver has the following limita tions 4 Pro Tools HD is not a CoreAudio application and therefore requires exclusive access to Pro Tools hardware You cannot use CoreAudio applications and Pro Tools HD at the same time To use Pro Tools HD make sure you quit any CoreAudio applications before starting Pro Tools HD To use a CoreAudio application make sure you quit Pro Tools HD before starting any CoreAudio application The CoreAudio Driver cannot be used to pre view sound files from the Mac Finder When a sound file is located in the Mac OS X navigation window a QuickTime transport bar is d
82. with DigiTest 0 52 Performance Factors mosi ea Tan Ei a a ea a a ae eee 56 Before You Call Avid Customer Success o o ooooooocoooccnono eee 56 Appendix F Compliance Information cc eee 59 Environmental Compliance o o o ooooo eee eee eee 59 EMC Electromagnetic Compliance 60 Safety Compliance cc eet eee 61 Index is crs rss E E 63 iv Pro Tools HD User Guide Welcome to Pro Tools HD Pro Tools HD provides high definition digital audio recording editing signal processing mixing and I O capabilities This guide covers installation of Pro Tools HD hardware on Mac and Windows platforms For information about installing Pro Tools software see the Pro Tools Installation Guide included with your Pro Tools software package Pro Tools HD Systems Pro Tools HD systems come in the following ba sic hardware configurations Pro Tools HD Systems Pro Tools HD systems are available in the fol lowing configurations Pro Tools HD 1 e Pro Tools HD Accel Core card Pro Tools HD 2 Accel e Pro Tools HD Accel Core card e Pro Tools HD Accel card Pro Tools HD 3 Accel Pro Tools HD Accel Core card Two Pro Tools HD Accel cards Pro Tools HD Expanded Systems e Pro Tools HD Accel Core card More than three and up to seven Pro Tools HD Accel cards requires an ex pansion chassis Pro Tools HD System Packages All Pro Tools HD systems packages include the following
83. ww avid com 3 Locate and double click the HD Family Driver Setup exe 4 Follow the on screen instructions to complete the installation 5 When the installation is complete click Finish to quit the installer and restart your computer Appendix B Configuring ASIO Windows Only 33 ASIO Driver Control Panel Configuring ASIO Driver settings can be done using the ASIO Control Panel which is accessed within some third party ASIO compatible client applications Accessing the ASIO Driver Control Panel To access the ASIO Driver Control Panel from a third party application Refer to your ASIO client program s documen tation The ASIO Driver Control Panel cannot be ac cessed under the following circumstances When Pro Tools is running When playing or recording in an audio program that does not support the ASIO Driver When using a third party audio program that has an option to keep the ASIO Driver open even when you are not playing or re cording You must close the audio pro gram before you can open the ASIO Driver Control Panel 34 Pro Tools HD User Guide Example with Ableton Live For example with Ableton Live click the Hard ware Setup button in the Audio Preferences Hardware Setup button Setup Example using Ableton Live Using the ASIO Driver Control Panel From the ASIO Driver Control Panel you can change the Buffer Size setting or access the Hard ware Setup dialog for
84. xers The use of submixers allows large mix configurations to be created For example on a Pro Tools HD system when a Stereo mixer running at 44 1 kHz needs to grow to more than 68 inputs a submixer is created along with another main mixer that provides n number of inputs beyond 68 Both the orig inal 68x2 mixer and the new N x 2 mixer which provides additional inputs are routed to a submixer and its outputs are sent to their final destination such as Output 1 2 on your main audio interface Note that any small delays on the order of a few samples that are created remain equal between these main mixers because they are summed to gether by means of submixers and are not cas caded The total number of voiceable tracks supported by your particular Pro Tools configuration will ultimately determine the maximum number of channels for your TDM mixer Mixers and DSP Hardware Different mixer plug ins are available each of which uses DSP power at slightly different rates on the different audio cards and their DSP chips as shown in the following tables See Mixer Plug ins on page 47 In Pro Tools HD systems the number of avail able mixers per DSP chip is based on the type of card and session sample rate HD Accel card Standard mixers Sample Rate Mixer kHz Usage per Chip Stereo 44 1 and 48 124x2 88 2 and 96 54x2 176 4 and 192 16x2 Surround 5 1 4

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