- To set up Pro Tools to work with your MIDI devices, the first step is to plug in all of your devices. Make any physical connections you need on any MIDI controllers, MIDI interfaces, or sound modules you want to use in your setup. Once you've made all the proper MIDI connections, then start up your computer and launch Pro Tools. From the Setup menu, let's go to the MIDI submenu, and we'll open MIDI Studio. This will launch the Audio MIDI Setup application, or AMS. Audio MIDI Setup will automatically scan your computer system, and recognize any properly connected MIDI interfaces.
Each interface, with each of its MIDI ports numbered, will show up here. If for some reason you don't see your device in this window, just click the Add Device button for each missing MIDI device that's connected to your interface. This will create a new icon for a new external device. I'm gonna go ahead and add this as a Korg Triton. We can double-click to change the device name, and you can select from the manufacturers list. There we go. Once we set the manufacturer and model, we can click Apply, unless you want to make any other changes.
We can also change the icon here. We can choose from the generic presets, or can place our own custom TIFF files by putting them in the Library > Audio > MIDI Devices > Generic > Images Folder. Then you can choose that custom image. Click Apply when you're ready to save it. We can close the window. And now to connect the MIDI device to the MIDI interface, we just need to click the output port, or the arrow, and drag the virtual cable. We can drag it to the input port to which we want to connect it.
Make sure that these connections mirror your actual, physical connections. Note that these cables will connect only if you're actually using MIDI cables to connect your gear. If your MIDI controller is connected to the computer via USB, you won't need to do this. If you want to delete one of these connections, just click on the cable, and press the Delete key. I don't actually want to delete this connection though, so let's add it again. Now let's switch back to Pro Tools. On the MIDI 1 track let's select the MIDI output, and set this to Korg Triton, channel-1.
What this means is that the output of this MIDI track is now routed to the Korg Triton. The Triton is being used as our sound source, rather than using a virtual instrument in Pro Tools. To choose the specific sounds from the Triton, we can just click the Patch List button here. All the Korg Triton patch names are preloaded in Pro Tools because the audio MIDI setup knows that it's connected and it makes the patches available to Pro Tools. If we wanted to change to a different patch name file, instead of the Korg Triton, we can just hit Change, and it will take us right to a directory where we can choose from any of these manufacturers and devices.
If you have several MIDI controllers or devices, you can just repeat this process for each MIDI device that is connected to your system. With you MIDI gear properly connected and routed through the audio MIDI setup, getting your MIDI data into Pro Tools is really simple.
Author
Updated
1/15/2016Released
7/31/2015- Exploring the Pro Tools interface
- Connecting hardware
- Adjusting preferences and settings
- Selecting inputs, outputs, and busses
- Understanding signal paths and gain stages
- Defining input and output settings
- Importing audio
- Recording and editing audio and MIDI
- Composing with virtual instruments
- Adjusting time, tempo, meter, key, and chords in arrangements
- Using delay compensation
- Mixing and mastering
- Exporting to MP3
- Setting up an effects loop (sends and returns)
- Importing and working with video
- Working to picture with music, Foley, ADR, and FX
- Archiving a session
- Using cloud collaboration in Pro Tools 12.5
Skill Level Beginner
Duration
Views
Q: This course was updated on 09/25/2015. What changed?
A: We updated seven videos for Pro Tools 12.2.
Q: This course was updated on 11/24/2015. What changed?
A: We added six new movies and updated three more to reflect changes in Pro Tools 12.3. This version of Pro Tools includes Track Commit, drag-and-drop MIDI Track Commit, batch fades, and many other enhancements.
Q: This course was updated on 04/29/2016. What changed?
A: We added three tutorials covering the cloud collaboration features in the Pro Tools 12.5 update, and updated one video to reflect the cloud-based options for creating a new session in Pro Tools 12.5.
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Introduction
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Welcome1m 19s
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Choosing a Pro Tools version2m 36s
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Troubleshooting Pro Tools1m 48s
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Using the exercise files2m 9s
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1. Getting Started
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Creating a new session5m 48s
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Creating new tracks5m 32s
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2. Learning the Interface
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Working in the Edit window6m 32s
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Exploring the Mix window4m 8s
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Exploring the menus3m 41s
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3. Importing
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Using the Workspace browser4m 55s
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Importing audio3m 58s
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Importing session data4m 57s
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4. Recording Audio
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Creating a click track6m 1s
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Recording audio5m 47s
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Overdubbing and record modes5m 56s
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Understanding latency3m 51s
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Creating a group6m 40s
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Creating a headphone mix7m 39s
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Assigning disk allocation2m 42s
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5. Using the Edit Tools
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Using the Smart tool3m 10s
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6. Editing Audio
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Understanding the edit modes6m 29s
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Editing and arranging clips8m 10s
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Using Undo3m 20s
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Applying fades and crossfades11m 41s
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Locking and muting clips2m 47s
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Creating an audio loop4m 47s
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Editing a voice-over11m 15s
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7. Arranging a Session
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Working with clip groups7m 34s
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Using memory locations9m 23s
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8. Recording MIDI Data
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Setting up MIDI on a Mac2m 58s
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Setting up MIDI on a PC1m 31s
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Recording MIDI data4m 49s
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Using Step Input4m 4s
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9. Editing MIDI
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Using the MIDI Event list2m 28s
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Applying event operations7m 19s
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Quantizing MIDI tracks8m 36s
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Using groove templates5m 7s
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Using MIDI Learn4m 24s
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10. Scoring
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Setting up a score4m 14s
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11. Automation
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12. Mixing and Mastering
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Creating an effects loop9m 2s
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Using equalization9m 54s
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Adding delay5m 47s
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Using reverb7m
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Using AudioSuite plugins4m 32s
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Bouncing to disk7m 45s
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Making an MP31m 57s
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Using Track Bounce1m 52s
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13. Working with Video
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Bouncing to QuickTime2m 26s
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14. Archiving
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15. Using Cloud Collaboration
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Conclusion
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Next steps1m 8s
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Video: Setting up MIDI on a Mac