Pro Tools: Track Pinning

Track Pinning lets you pin a track to the top of your Edit window so that it’s always visible — useful if you want to use your kick drum track as a timing reference.

The new Track Pinning feature could change the way you edit audio in Pro Tools.

Pro Tools 2026.4 introduced a variety of new features, but for many music‑production users the headline addition was Track Pinning. This feature allows an alias of one or more tracks to be pinned to the top of the Edit window, where it remains visible, while the rest of the session scrolls beneath it.

Pinned tracks are aliases rather than duplicates. The original track isn’t moved to a new location; it remains in its normal position within the session, and any edits made to either the pinned version or the source track are reflected immediately in the other. A pinned track can therefore be edited exactly like the original, while always remaining visible as a reference.

Another useful aspect of Track Pinning is that pinned tracks and their source tracks can have different display settings. Track height, view type and automation lane selections can all be configured separately, opening up a number of workflow possibilities that go beyond simple navigation.

Pin’s Labyrinth

Pinning a track is straightforward. Right‑clicking on a track reveals the Pin Track command, while the same menu on a pinned track offers the option to unpin it. It’s also possible to pin entire Edit Groups directly from the Groups List by right‑clicking on a group name and selecting the appropriate command.

In dense MIDI arrangements, Track Pinning can help you analyse parts in context.

Before looking at some practical applications, it’s worth understanding what Track Pinning is, and what it isn’t. Track Pinning only exists in the Edit window and has no equivalent in the Mix window. It isn’t intended as a way of keeping particular faders permanently accessible in the mixer, in the same way that you might lock a channel to one end of an Avid S1 control surface. If that’s your goal, a floating fader window is a simple solution for keeping a fader accessible on screen.

The ease with which tracks can be pinned and unpinned encourages a fluid, task‑oriented approach to navigation. Pinned tracks are saved with the session and recalled with Window Configurations, though not with Memory Locations.

Mightier Than The Sword

The task I’ve used Track Pinning for most since its introduction is as a convenient way to keep a timing reference visible while editing another track. A common example would be tightening up the relationship between a bass guitar and a kick drum in a multitrack band recording.

Before Track Pinning was available, I’d move the bass guitar track so it sat directly beneath the kick drum track in the Edit window. I could then use Tab to Transient to navigate between kick drum hits and use the P and ; shortcuts to move the insertion point vertically between tracks whilst remaining at exactly the same timeline...