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Getting around in Pro Tools
Last week we took a look at some cool tricks to quickly “zoom” around
the edit window, for this week’s column I want to expand
on that topic and discuss some of my favorite navigation
techniques in Pro Tools.
While using the mouse is the most obvious way to navigate
through a session, I have some tricks that will save tons
of time and give your poor mouse a break. As with any new
key command or workflow, take it slow and give yourself some
time to get used to it. I can’t tell you how many times
I have seen people shrug off useful tips and tricks just
because it felt foreign the first time they tried it out.
Tabbing Around
The tab key in Pro tools can be used to move your insertion
point (edit cursor) between region boundaries. When the tab-to-transients  function
is enabled, Pro Tools moves your insertion point through
each transient (peak point) within a region (hint:
tab-to-transients works great on drums and other transient
rich material). To move forward simply hit the TAB key. To
move backwards, use Option+Tab (Mac) or Control+Tab (PC).
Tip: You can make a selection by holding down the SHIFT
key as you tab. Use this in conjunction with the tab-to-transients
tool to select portions of audio that you wish to extract
a drum loop from. Because the tab-to-transients function
drops your cursor on the rhythmic point of interest, making
selections that loop perfectly is a piece of cake. Simply
tab-up to the downbeat of the loop you want to extract. Now
holding down shift, continue to hit tab until you have selected
an even 1,2,4… measures. Turn on loop playback (Options>Loop
Playback) to preview your selection before you make an edit.
This trick also works well for extracting looped sections
off sampled 2-track audio.
Horizontal and Vertical Scroll
Give those scroll bars a rest a rest and try this key command
for scrolling in both the edit and mix windows.
To scroll vertically use Page Up/Down. To Scroll horizontally
use Opt + Page Up/Down (Mac) or Alt + Page Up/Down (PC).
I use this trick a lot with big mixes, often times you can’t
see both ends of your mixer, depending on the size of display
you are using. Use the horizontal zoom command to quickly
scroll through your tracks. If you still insist on using
the mouse, take advantage of a mouse with a scroll wheel.
If you missed it, Scott broke down all the scroll wheel tricks
in a previous column, check it out here.
Grab and Drag
You can scroll the edit window horizontally in a fluid motion
by placing your cursor in the rulers, holding CNTRL+OPT+CMD
(Mac) or CNTRL+ALT+START (PC) and dragging left to right
with the mouse. You will know that you have activated the
shortcut when the I-beam changes to a hand. Again, this only
works within the ruler section of the edit window, it will
not work in a track playlist.
Main Time Indicator
You can easily jump around your session by typing in a location
directly to the main time counter. Enter values from left
to right, as the fields automatically clear in that direction.
To really make this trick scream, use the numeric keypad.
Hit the Asterisk Key [*] on your numeric (10-key) keypad
to quickly highlight the main time indicator. Now type in
a location, using the Period Key [.] to move between fields
(bars, beats, ticks), you must hit enter to confirm the change.
Example: to navigate to 32|3 (measure 32, beat 3), type [*]
32 [.] 3 and hit enter.
This lifesaver during tracking sessions when you need to
quickly jump between various measures as the producer barks
out orders. To practice using this key command, have a friend
call out random bar | beat locations and see how fast you
can recall them.
Take It From The Top
Here is an easy, but extremely useful key command that instantly
takes you to the beginning or end of your session:
Return (Mac) or Enter (PC) returns the main time counter
to 0 minutes, 0 seconds. Opt+Return (Mac) or Control+Enter
(PC) places the insertion point at the end of the last region
in your session.
Single Key Navigation
Last
week I mentioned the single key shortcuts R and T for
zooming in and out, using the command key focus  or “single
key shortcuts.” With command key focus enabled, you
can navigate using the P and ; (colon) keys for up/down,
and the L and ‘ (apostrophe) keys for left/right. With
these keys you can navigate the insertion point between region
boundaries, across tracks, and even through transients (when
tab-to-transients is enabled).
Keyboard Navigation Chart
Exploring The Universe
If you have a Pro Tools HD system (or the DV Toolkit 2 for
LE), check out the universe window (Windows>Universe).
The universe is a small window that allows you to browse
your entire session, no matter how large, just by clicking
and dragging the grey box. Notice that regions and edits
are represented in a sort of micro-session, where the grey
space represents the current edit display. As you zoom in
and out of your session and change track heights, the grey
shaded area updates to reflect your current view.
The universe window is a great tool for navigating really
large or long sessions quickly (especially in post productions
scenarios). You can easily recognize specific sections and
click to navigate there instantly, controlling both horizontal
and vertical scrolling in one seamless motion.
Other Navigation Options:
I know some of the PT gurus out there are thinking, “What
about using memory locations for speedy navigation?” Don’t
worry, that will be a whole topic in itself in an upcoming
column, so stay tuned!
Pro Tip #5: Auditioning Audio in the Regions List
Did you ever wish that you could preview a region before
bringing it onto the playing field? You can easily audition
any region in your audio regions list by holding down OPTION
(Mac) or ALT (PC) while clicking on the region. As soon as
you press the modifier, the cursor will change into a speaker.
Continue holding down your mouse button for as long as you
wish to preview the audio (just option/alt-clicking it quickly
wont work). Regions will loop as long as you hold down the
mouse button, so this is a great way to preview loops before
putting them onto a track.
Hint: You can preview just the left our right hand side
of a stereo (or multi-channel) region by option/alt-clicking
on either side of the stereo pair in the regions list.
You can also preview midi regions the same way. The midi
region will play through your “Default Thru Instrument” as
set in: Setups>Preferences (under the MIDI tab). By default,
the “Default Thru Instrument” is set to the “first
selected MIDI track.” So if you haven’t changed
the preference, select the instrument track of the virtual
instrument you wish to preview the midi region through by
clicking on the tracks name plate. Now hold down Option/Alt
while click(holding) on the desired midi region in the regions
list. This is a great way to preview existing midi regions
in your session through different instruments, simply select
another instrument track or midi track to preview the region
through that instrument. If multiple instrument/midi tracks
are selected, Pro Tools will play thru the first selected
track (the leftmost track in the mixer and the highest track
in the edit window).
Pro Tool’s Tidbits
- McDSP’s ML4000 mastering limiter is shipping
now.
- Arturia released an update for Minimoog. V 1.6 supports Intel
Macs and includes new features and bug fixes.
- Eventide Anthology II now available as universal binary.
If you have a Pro Tools related question that you would
like me to take a shot at answering or have any feedback,
please send it to brian@audioMIDI.com.
I will do my best to select the questions that seem to stump
the most people.
As always, stay tuned to the audioMIDI.com eNews for the latest reviews and new product info.
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