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• Looping Clips in Pro Tools 10
• by Mike Watkinson
• Mike Watkinson gets in to the nitty gritty of repetition and loops for quick workflow excellence in Avid's Pro Tools 10.

• Pro Tools Transfuser: An Intro to Beat Slicing and Stuttering
• by Mike Watkinson
• The "In" effect is still glitch and beat-sliced vocals. That's right all you electronica aficionados, we're talking stuttering. And Pro Tools' Transfuser does it all. Mike Watkinson demonstrates.

• Loop Recording: Managing Takes and Playlists in Pro Tools 10
• by Mike Watkinson
• Following on from the loop recording options article, Mike Watkinson explores how to manage takes and multiple playlists in Pro Tools 10. Read on for a bundle of tips and shortcuts!

• ReWire Reason with Pro Tools
• by Mike Watkinson
• ReWire allows you to get the best of both worlds by using Reason or Ableton Live along with other ReWire hosts such as Logic Pro or Pro Tools. Mike Watkinson shows you how to get connected.

• Dubstep Wobble Bass in Pro Tools
• by Mike Watkinson
• With a few simple tricks and a copy of Pro Tools 10 almost any sound can be created. Mike Watkinson shows how—using Vacuum & Structure Free—you can produce a wobble Dubstep bass.

• Pro Tools 10 113
• Pro Mixing Techniques
• Mixing sounds to create a cohesive and inspiring piece of music is an art. Join MPV trainer and Pro Tools expert Mike Watkinson as he reveals his favorite mixing techniques and shows you how you can bring your musical canvases to life...

• Pro Tools 10 112
• Advanced Editing Techniques
• Becoming a Pro Tools editing Ninja requires mastering the tools of the trade. Join Certified Avid trainer Mike Watkinson as he explores the art of editing and managing clips in Avid’s Pro Tools 10...

• Pro Tools 10 110
• Session Setup Techniques
• Setting up your Pro Tools session correctly can save you tons of time and frustration. Let Pro Tools Expert Mike Watkinson show you techniques the pros use to prepare for their sessions...

• Pro Tools 10 111
• Exploring Tracks
• Explore the multitude of ways tracks can be created in this collection of AVID Learning Partner tutorial-videos by Pro Tools Certified trainer Mike Watkinson...

• Pro Tools 10 107
• Exploring the Mixer
• The Pro Tools mixer is legendary –and mixing in Pro Tools is a required skill for anyone who wants to make it in the recording business. Learn all about basic mixing, signal flow and automation in this Pro Tools 10, Avid Learning Partner tutorial: Exploring the Mixer...

• Pro Tools 401
• Mastering In Pro Tools
• Produced by Multi-Grammy Award winning Mastering Engineer Phil Magnotti, this tutorial shows you how a world-class Mastering Engineer creates BIG sound ...

• Pro Tools 402
• Mixing Pop in Pro Tools
• Have you heard Sarah McLachlan's music? Then you've heard Chris Potter's skills—he's Sarah McLachlan's Engineer!

• Pro Tools 204
• Beat Detective
• Got some drum loops to edit? You need Beat Detective! These tutorials will help you slice beats like a pro ...

• Pro Tools 205
• Elastic Audio
• Warp beats, pitch shift, and match recorded audio to the tempo of your track ... elastic audio is the tool for you!

• Pro Tools 10 102
• Exploring The Workspace
• Every DAW has its own unique way of making music and manipulating sound. In these AVID Learn Partner tutorial-videos by audio expert Bill Burgess, you’ll learn about Pro Tools 10’s tracks, tools, navigation tricks to get you started producing and recording music right out of the box...

• Pro Tools 10 106
• Navigation and Workflow
• Mastering the Pro Tools workspace is the key to becoming a fast and efficient Pro Tools Engineer. Learn how to break the PT10 speed limit in this accelerated tutorial by Scott Freiman...

• Pro Tools 10 105
• Exploring MIDI
• MIDI is the virtual heartbeat of every DAW. Explore MIDI in Pro Tools 10 in these AVID Learning Partner tutorial-videos with Pro Tools Certified Trainer Mike Watkinson...

• Pro Tools 10 100
• What's New In Pro Tools 10
• Pro Tools 10 is here, and with it comes some highly anticipated new features. Join Bill Burgess in this FREE 5-video sampler and see what’s new in Pro Tools 10 ...

• Pro Tools 10 101
• Introduction to Pro Tools
• Learn all about the Pro Tools 10 software, its history and various configurations as well as the science behind how it processes audio. Get the basics in these AVID Learning Partner Online tutorial-videos by macProVideo.com's very entertaining Bill Burgess and get up-and-running fast...

• Pro Tools 203
• Video Post in Pro Tools
• There's a saying in the movie business - "Video is 2/3 audio" ... that's why Hollywood loves Pro Tools!

Preview these Pro Tools Tutorial-Videos

A powerhouse of an industry standard for recording and mixing, Pro Tools has not been traditionally well regarded for its MIDI capabilities. But recent incarnations of the DAW have extended the ways that you can view and edit MIDI to the extent where it is now up there with the best of them. Later Quick Tips will go into the details, so this one is an overview of the different ways you can view and edit MIDI data in Pro Tools 9.

Old School 

Before MIDI and Score Editor windows were added in version 8, MIDI was (and still is) shown as a playlist on the Edit window alongside all your other tracks. The default view is Regions view, which allows you to manipulate regions without affecting notes. 

Regions view: the default view of MIDI tracks in Pro Tools.

Use the track view selector to switch to Notes view where you can manipulate individual notes. 

The Notes view.

Switch to Velocity view to see velocity is represented as stalks. 

The Velocity view.

You can also choose to view any continuous controller to edit it much as you would any other automation playlist.

Controller view showing MIDI volume data.

The key to using this way of editing MIDI, which initially may appear to be quite limiting, is the use of zoom, track height and keyboard shortcuts to change track view modes. For example:

• Control-Command-Left or Right arrow: changes track view for any track with a selection in it. 
  
• Control-Option-Command-Left or Right arrow: changes track view for all tracks regardless of selection. 
  
• Control-Command-Up or Down arrow: fits track height of selected track(s) to the window size.
  
• Control-Up or Down arrow: adjusts track height.
  

The MIDI and Score Editor Windows 

Pro Tools has always been a 2-window program, right? Mix and Edit. Lesser known perhaps is that since version 8 Pro Tools has also had MIDI and Score Editor windows. The MIDI Editor window resembles the piano-roll style editors found in all other popular DAWs. To open it double click the MIDI region (on the Edit window) with the Grabber tool, or choose Windows > MIDI Editor or shortcut Control-=).

Pro Tools’ MIDI Editor.

You can also use the MIDI Editor to get a single line notation view of the track(s) you are editing if you prefer to edit MIDI notes as notation, by clicking the Notation View selector button.

The MIDI Editor in Notation View.

 

The Score Editor (choose Window > Score Editor or Control-Option-=) uses some of the scoring algorithms found in Sibelius (Avid, owners of ProTools, acquired Sibelius just prior to the release of version 8) to allow you to create rudimentary scores from your MIDI notation. ProTools also has an export to Sibelius option (File > Export > Sibelius...) if you have that application installed and require its extended scoring features.

Pro Tools’ Score Editor.

For Geeks Only: the Event List

For the real MIDI geeks (Hands up—come on, it can’t be just me!) Pro Tools provides a MIDI Event List (Window > MIDI Edit List or Option-=). Here you can view and edit MIDI as a list of text and numerical data— yummy!

Pro Tools’ MIDI Event List window.

In future Quick Tips I shall go into details of each of these methods of viewing and editing MIDI data, and realize that, when it comes to MIDI editing, Pro Tools now has it covered!

Preview these Pro Tools Tutorial-Videos

Mike Watkinson

Mike has been obsessed with music software since he first saw Fairlight's Page-R, and has tracked its development through his work as a performer, composer and producer. As a writer he has contributed articles to Sound On Sound since 1999, and currently writes their Apple Notes column. As well as being a certified Logic Pro and Pro Tools trainer he is also an Apple Distinguished Educator.

Edit pro tools, Avid Pro tools, Pro Tools, Pro tools 8, Pro tools 9, Pro tools how to, Pro tools tutorial, Pro tools MIDI

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