In the last Pro Tools tutorial we looked at recording and adding vocals. Today we’re going to discuss how to add and edit software instruments.
(If you’re after a little background and context about Pro Tools and how this group of tutorials works, check out the first tutorial in the series.)
Instrument tracks in Pro Tools are basically a special kind of track that have both MIDI and audio capabilities. You can program MIDI notes into it on the edit page, but treat it as an audio track on the mix page. If you are using a software instrument in Pro Tools, then use an instrument track with the software instrument as an insert on it. If you want to send MIDI to some kind of external device, or record MIDI from an external device, use a MIDI track. I’ll discuss Pro Tools’s full MIDI capabilities in my next post.
How software instruments work in Pro Tools
Unfortunately most of us do not have a garage full of vintage synths of Rhodes pianos, and so we must rely on software instruments. There are loads out there; my current favourite is Rapture by Cakewalk, which has loads of decent presets for when you’re getting started, and lots of parameters to mess around with.
I’ve found it’s always best to work to a click track when using software instruments. So if you’re recording real instruments too, make sure you set up your session with a click. This way you can easily program your software parts to be in time.
Right, so let’s look at how to insert a software track into a Pro Tools project. Press Cmd + Shift + N (Ctrl + Shift + N if you’re using Windows) and our now familiar new track dialogue will pop up. Choose a stereo instrument track. Now go to the mix page, click on the insert box at the top of your instrument track’s channel and choose your software instrument. Go back to the edit page. I find it best to make the track as large as possible, just for ease of programming in all the notes. To do this click on the little arrow next to the track name and chose track height, then choose ‘jumbo’ or ‘extreme’, whichever suits your taste. The track should now look like this:
The Pro Tools edit window
Now it’s time to program in your notes. Start off with the pencil tool just for clicking in the notes. To switch to other tools such as grab and trim, which you will need to do quite a lot, just pres Esc to cycle through each one. This will save you having to click on the icons at the top each time. I’d recommend you just put in a couple of notes and loop them at first, then go back to the mix page, click on your instrument and fiddle about with it until you’re happy with its sound.
A few handy things to know:
- Cmd + D duplicates whatever is selected – useful if you have a phrase that loops.
- You can trim or move multiple notes at once, just hold shift and click on each note you like.
- Holding Alt and dragging a note will duplicate it.
If you don’t fancy clicking in all the notes by hand, and have a controller or MIDI keyboard then you can just play them in. If your controller keyboard is USB, Pro Tools should find it automatically. Therefore just plug it in and put the
One problem with using lots of instruments is that it can really slow down your computer. If you’re having playback issues it’s a good idea to bounce your software tracks down to an audio track. Once you’re happy with the sound of the instrument (effects like EQ, compression and reverb etc be added on the audio bounce later) create a new stereo audio track and set its inputs to a bus, say 13-14 (sounds a bit random but I usually have other things on earlier busses, such as effects sends, and we don’t want to record them in our bounce!). Now set the output of your instrument track to bus 13-14 and put the new audio track in record mode. Solo both the tracks, and press play just to check the recording level is fine. If not, turn your instrument track down a bit. Once everything is set, hit record. Once that is done you can make the software track inactive, thus freeing up a bit of CPU. Do this be either right clicking (or control clicking) on the track name and clicking ‘make inactive’, or click on the track name and go to track > make selected tracks inactive.
So now Pro Tools won’t be sending MIDI data to the software instrument every time you press play, it will just play back the audio. In the next post I’ll have a look at pro tools’s MIDI capabilities, and how you can use a controller keyboard to play in the MIDI notes, or send the data to other devices other than software instruments.
Some of this tutorial may seem a bit rocket sciencey if you’re brand new to Pro Tools, so you have any questions please feel free to post a comment below. Like I said above, in the next tutorial we’ll look at Pro Tools’ MIDI capabilities.
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