[. . . ] User Guide Pro Tools® M-PoweredTM Essential Version 8. 0. 2 Legal Notices This guide is copyrighted ©2009 by Digidesign, a division of Avid Technology, Inc. Under copyright laws, this guide may not be duplicated in whole or in part without the written consent of Digidesign. 003, 96 I/O, 96i I/O, 192 Digital I/O, 192 I/O, 888|24 I/O, 882|20 I/O, 1622 I/O, 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, D-Show, DV Toolkit, EditPack, Eleven, HD Core, HD Process, Hybrid, Impact, Interplay, LoFi, M-Audio, MachineControl, Maxim, Mbox, MediaComposer, MIDI I/O, 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 II, Strike, Structure, SYNC HD, SYNC I/O, 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 trademarks of Digidesign and/or Avid Technology, Inc. This product is subject to the terms and conditions of a software license agreement provided with the software. [. . . ] However, a higher setting may increase the time lag when starting playback or recording, starting preview in context from DigiBase browsers, or cause a longer audible time lag while editing during playback. To change the DAE Playback Buffer Size: 1 Choose Setup > Playback Engine. Memory requirements for each setting are shown at the bottom of the Playback Engine dialog. 3 Click OK. If Pro Tools needs more system memory for the DAE Playback Buffer, it will prompt you to restart your computer. Cache Size The Cache Size setting determines the amount of memory DAE allocates to pre-buffer audio for playback and looping when using Elastic Audio. Minimum Reduces the amount of system memory used for disk operations and frees up memory for other system tasks. Large Improves performance when using Elastic Audio features, but it also decreases the amount of memory available for other system tasks, such as RTAS processing. Using a larger DAE Playback Buffer Size leaves less system memory for other tasks. The default setting of 1500 msec (Level 2) is recommended unless you are encountering ­9073 ("Disk too slow or fragmented") errors. Using a larger Cache Size leaves less system memory for other tasks. The default setting of Normal is recommended unless you are encountering -9500 ("Cache too small") errors. To change the Cache Size: 1 Choose Setup > Playback Engine. 2 From the Cache Size pop-up menu, select a disk cache size. 3 Click OK. Chapter 4: Configuring Your System 17 Pro Tools Hardware Settings and M-Audio Control Panel The Hardware Setup dialog in Pro Tools (Setup > Hardware) displays the name of your M-Audio peripheral, and tells you that various hardware functions can be changed in the M-Audio Control Panel. Using the M-Audio Control Panel, you can change settings in the following areas: · Mixer Settings · Output Settings · Hardware Settings (including sample rate, hardware buffer size, and sync source). Clock Source (Sync Source) If your M-Audio interface has digital I/O (such as S/PDIF I/O), you need to set the Clock Source (called Sync Source in the M-Audio Control Panel). With Pro Tools M-Powered Essential, you cannot set the Clock Source in the Pro Tools Session Setup window. To select the Clock Source: 1 If Pro Tools M-Powered Essential is running, exit Pro Tools. 2 Launch the M-Audio Control Panel as follows: You can set the sample rate when creating a new Pro Tools session by selecting a different sample rate in the New Session dialog. (Refer to the Pro Tools Reference Guide for details. ) To change M-Audio Control Panel settings: 1 If Pro Tools M-Powered Essential is running, · For FireWire interfaces, launch M-Audio FW Audio. · For USB Interfaces, launch the M-Audio control panel with the name of your interface. 3 Click the Settings tab. 4 Select a Sync Source. exit Pro Tools. 2 Launch the M-Audio Control Panel as follows: · For FireWire interfaces, launch M-Audio FW Audio. · For USB Interfaces, launch the M-Audio control panel with the name of your interface. 3 To change settings in the M-Audio Control Your digital input device must be connected and turned on. If your input device is not turned on, leave the Sync Source set to Internal. For more information on selecting the Sync Source for your M-Audio interface, refer to your M-Audio interface documentation. 5 Click OK. Panel, refer to the documentation that came with your M-Audio interface. 4 When finished, close the M-Audio Control Panel. 18 Pro Tools M-Powered Essential User Guide M-Audio Mixer Direct Monitoring Direct or low-latency monitoring is not available from within Pro Tools M-Powered Essential. However, with M-Audio devices that have Control Panel mixers with a direct monitoring feature, it is possible to create a low-latency monitoring path while recording in Pro Tools M-Powered Essential. To create a low-latency monitoring path: 1 In Pro Tools, record-enable the tracks you 7 When you are finished recording, turn off the mixer output control in the Control Panel mixer. You can leave the M-Audio Control Panel open while working in Pro Tools M-Powered Essential. Configuring I/O Setup Using the I/O Setup dialog, you can label Pro Tools input, output, insert, and bus signal paths. The I/O Setup dialog provides a graphical representation of the inputs, outputs, and signal routing of the M-Audio interface. want to record and mute their output. 2 Open the M-Audio Control Panel for your M-Audio interface. 3 In the Control Panel mixer for your interface, route the input channels you want to monitor to the main outputs of the mixer by clicking the corresponding output control. Pro Tools M-Powered Essential bypasses the M-Audio mixer that is displayed in the M-Audio Control Panel. The interface's hardware inputs and outputs show up directly in Pro Tools I/O Setup. Pro Tools M-Powered Essential has default I/O Setup settings that will get you started. Use the I/O Setup dialog only if you want to rename or remap the default I/O paths. Master out 1­2 control Control Panel mixer for M-Audio Fast Track Ultra 4 Adjust the output level and balance with the Control Panel mixer volume and pan controls. 5 In Pro Tools, begin recording. [. . . ] Advanced users can use the command line tool Defrag. exe to defragment individual drives. See your Windows Vista documentation for more information. To defragment an audio drive (Windows XP): 1 Right-click My Computer and choose Manage. 3 In the Disk Defragmenter window, choose the drive you want to defragment 4 Click the Defragment button and follow the on-screen instructions. When defragmenting is complete, close the Computer Management window. Appendix A: Hard Drive Configuration and Maintenance 29 Hard Disk Storage Space Mono audio tracks recorded with 16-bit resolution at 44. 1 kHz (CD quality) require approximately 5 MB of hard disk space per minute. [. . . ]