Reason/ReWire-to-Pro Tools
Digidesign (Avid) Pro Tools Tips & Techniques
Technique : Recording / Mixing
It's a mixed bag this month, with a bit of news, some follow-ups from recent issues, and the new Reason/ReWire-to-Pro Tools router.
Simon Price
You may recall that last month I wrote about the difficulty in listing the current versions of Pro Tools software, given the number of different permutations of hardware and OS. Well just to prove me wrong, Digidesign immediately released the new software version that brings everyone together and up to date -- well, sort of. Pro Tools 5.3.1 may be available to everyone by the time you read this. At the time of writing, it's available in all flavours (LE on 001/Toolbox, and TDM on HD/Mix/PT24) for Windows users, but only available for HD on Mac OS 9. I certainly hope that PC Pro Tools users will allow themselves a small smirk of smugness at their temporary advantage over their Mac OS cousins -- especially LE users, who get the newly relaxed limit of 32 audio tracks.
It's true that 5.3.1 may not be a new version number to inspire gasps of anticipation, but it is pretty significant in a number of ways, not least of these being the degree of standardisation it brings to the different hardware configurations. Over recent months, Pro Tools software development has been forced to branch in a number of directions to accommodate the new HD and M Box hardware platforms, DigiStudio Internet functionality, Avid and OMF compatibility, and OS versions. As I explained last month, this meant that you could find yourself using a version of Pro Tools that lacked some functionality of an earlier version! Version 5.3.1 marks the intersection where a number of key developments com In May I described a way of fixing Pro Tools Session files that a Mac OS-based Pro Tools system fails to recognise. The problem (usually caused by the session originating on a Windows computer, or by the file being emailed) is solved by correcting the codes in the file that tell a Mac what it is and which program it belongs to. I described how to achieve this using ResEdit. However, as email correspondent Joshua Pierce points out (see last month's Crosstalk), this method is of the sledgehammer vs. nut variety, and it's a little too easy to cause serious damage with ResEdit. Instead he suggests a utility called Quick Change, which is purely dedicated to this kind of job, and is safe. It can be downloaded from www.everydaysoftware.net, and worked a treat when I tried it. Next up, Dorian Katzav was kind enough to email me the results of some testing with the Ugly VSTi interface. In case you missed the June Pro Tools Notes (shame on you), Ugly is a shell program that runs VST Instrument plug-ins and routes the audio into Pro Tools via DirectConnect. Dorian has had good results with Absynth, Battery, Pro 52, FM7, the MDA range, Loftsoft's FM Heaven, and CM101. HALion, which I was particularly curious about, did run once 200Mb or more RAM was assigned to Ugly. However, even then it was pretty unstable. Finally, using Battery made it possible to check the latency situation. Apparently, some noticeable variable latency was cleared up by turning on the Overdrive and Scheduler in Audio Interrupt modes in Ugly.
e together, and the closest point so far to Mac/Windows equality. While one exception is that DigiStudio is still Mac only, the pill is thickly sugared by QuickTime video support finally making it to Windows (in all systems including Pro Tools LE). This means that digitised video (including MPEG, AVI, DV and QuickTime formats) can be played back in sync with a session, utilising a video track in the edit window. For pros (and the wealthy), full Avid video support now works with HD hardware on Windows using Digi's AV|Option and AV|XL. Along with this goes support for Avid's Unity storage network technology and its MediaManager. Whether you're a post professional or not, all versions get the more integrated DigiTranslator 2.0 (OMF) support from version 5.1.3.
Updates
I've had a couple of follow-up emails relating to the May and June issues...
The Mac OS version of 5.3.1 has a couple of new tricks up its sleeve. The first should be available for all hardware versions (LE and TDM), and that's the ability to play QuickTime movies straight out of a FireWire port as a DV stream. Provided you've already got something that can take this output (a FireWire-equipped camera, for example) this could be a much cheaper way of playing back video on a TV compared to buying dedicated cards and hardware. Second is a new mixer for HD systems: the 'Multi-DSP 48-bit +48dB headroom' mixer to be exact. For those with enough of a life not to know, debate rages about the best way to do the maths when mixing and processing digital signals, and this mixer addresses a couple of the issues with the way TDM Pro Tools handles things. Look out for a future Pro Tools Notes that tackles these concerns in depth.
Finally, a word about operating systems: on the Windows side,
while Mix and PT|24 users stay with 2000 Pro, both HD and LE versions now require XP. If you haven't made the jump, now's the time to at least go dual-boot. As the HD version on 5.3.1 for Mac is still OS 9, chances are that the Mix and LE versions will be also (just watch them prove me wrong again). However, Mac OS X support shouldn't be too far off now -- my fingers are crossed for the autumn.
A Dose Of Pure Reason
Only one thing could tear me away from Adam and Joe's Glastonbury Festival coverage on BBC Choice this weekend, and that was receiving a copy of reFuse. I first enthused about this a couple of months ago and promised a full update when the program became available. To recap, reFuse is a commercial utility that links Reason and Pro Tools, both in terms of audio and transport. ReFuse takes up to 16 channels of audio from Reason using the ReWire standard, and passes them on to Pro Tools via DirectConnect. Synchronisation is achieved transparently by translating between ReWire, MIDI Machine Control (MMC) and Beat Clock protocols as required.
Reading the documentation I feared it was going to be a bit of a technical nightmare to set up, but in reality if you've ever configured DirectConnect and internal MIDI routing then you have all the necessary skills. In fact, within five minutes I had it working, and the diagram (above right) shows how it all fits together. First you have to set up two IAC (Inter Application Communication) busses in OMS Setup. One of these carries Beat Clock from Pro Tools to Reason for synchronisation purposes, while the other pipes MMC commands betwe The Group Enable/Disable List can be used as a shortcut for making track selections. Clicking in the slim column to the right of a group's name will select all the tracks in the group. Shift-clicking will select them in addition to any existing track selections. Finally, Ctrl-clicking will hide all tracks other than those in the group. Pro Tools' System Usage window (or Automation Enable window in earlier versions) shows separate bars for System Load and CPU. If it's not clear what the difference is between the two, the CPU bar shows the percentage of processor resources being used by Pro Tools' audio engine for playback and processing, while System Load indicates the amount of processor time devoted to writing and reproducing mixer automation.
en the applications. Then you enable Beat Clock and MMC in Pro Tools. Pro Tools must be launched first, and channels set up to receive audio from reFuse before you go any further. The MSP DirectConnect plug-in (supplied with reFuse) inserted into your input channels provides your audio connections. When Pro Tools is ready, you launch the reFuse program. This acts as the ReWire host to Reason, so Reason will use the memory allocated to reFuse instead of its own. This is great as it means you don't really need much more memory to run like this -- you can set Reason to a minimum, and just make sure reFuse has enough RAM allocated to handle the Reason song. From the reFuse settings you choose up to 16 channels from Reason's 64-port hardware interface module to route to Pro Tools; then you're ready to launch Reason.
Quick Tips
Shift-'<' and Shift-'>' are the keyboard equivalent of rewind and fast-forward. When in Bars and Beats mode (and with 'Audio during fast-forward/rewind' off in the Preferences), tapping these nudges your play/edit position back and forward one bar at a time.
Playback is instant from either Pro Tools' or Reason's transports -- it just takes about a bar for Reason to catch up with the Beat Clock and settle into the right tempo. A bar of run-up should be left to accommodate this. Reason's timeline follows Pro Tools, with all the modules happily looping away. Sadly, though, it's not possible to set a loop in Pro Tools and expect Reason to follow -- this is also my experience when using Logic. I was keen to see how far I could push things, as I want to be able to do 16-channel transfers into Pro Tools for mixing. Amazingly, despite having to reduce memory allocation all round to fit into 192MB RAM, I was able to get all 16 channels going on a Lombard Powerbook G3/400 running PT Free! I had some glitching when switching between Pro Tools and Reason, but it wasn't really a problem and besides, it disappeared when only running 12 channels. One thing I couldn't test due to lack of memory was using some other ReWire applications. Despite being developed and tested for use with Reason, reFuse should also be able to do ReWire-to-DirectConnect conversion from other applications. Certainly, reFuse saw Ableton Live on my system and gave the option of choosing it as the ReWire client. Try it yourself, and et us know how you get on...
ReFuse can be ordered and downloaded from www.refusesoftware.com, where there's also a demo. Next month: going mobile with Pro Tools. 
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