Pro Tools 4.1.1 Read Me
February 13, 1998
Welcome to Pro Tools 4.1.1. We hope you enjoy the benefits and enhancements that
this release brings to the Pro Tools family of products.
Contents:
* System Requirements * New Features * Bug Fixes in Pro Tools 4.1.1 * Known Problems * Operational Information
System Requirements
* Computer: Qualified Power Macintosh Computer*
* Computer Monitor: Color required. 14" minimum, 17" highly recommended
* System Software: Mac OS 7.6.1 or higher
* Opcode OMS v.2.3.2 or higher (supplied)
* Apple QuickTIme v2.5 or higher (supplied)
* FWB Hard Disk ToolKit PE v2.0.6 or higher - Pro Tools 24 Systems Only (supplied)
* Total System RAM: - For Pro Tools 24: 64 MBytes minimum - For Expanded Pro Tools 24 systems: 96 MBytes, minimum - For Pro Tools III, Pro Tools Project, Pro Tools with Audiomedia III/II and Pro Tools PowerMix: 48 MBytes minimum
(Additional RAM required for simultaneous use with MIDI sequencers. Virtual memory is not supported)
* Storage - Qualified SCSI disk drive*
* Pro Tools 24 Expanded Systems require compatible SCSI Accelerator*
* When using the ATTO DiskExpress SCSI Accelerator with Pro Tools 24 Expanded Systems, Ultra mode must be disabled. Recording with Ultra mode enabled can cause crashes.
* For the latest Pro Tools compatibility information, including lists of qualified computers, hardware and computer requirements, contact your Digidesign dealer, call your local Digidesign office, or visit Digidesign's website at www.digidesign.com
New Features
These new features are fully explained in the Pro Tools 4.1.1 Addendum, which can be found in the Release Notes and Documentation folder.
* Introduction of Pro Tools 24 Expansion Kits and Software Support for up to Two d24 Cards: --support for up to 64 tracks record/playback with two d24 cards (32 tracks per card) when using approved computer configurations. (The Pro Tools 24 Expansion Kit includes one d24 card and one DSP Farm card.)
* Introduces 16-bit d24 Output Driver--for using Pro Tools 24 systems for higher quality output and auditioning with non-DAE based software from Digidesign's Development Partners (such as with Synchro Arts' VocALign(R) and Gallery Software's SampleSearch)
* Supports all current Pro Tools systems, including Audiomedia III and Pro Tools PowerMix
* Support for Digidesign's new ADAT Bridge Interface
* Channel Delay Display--for simple analysis and compensation of channel delays caused by Plug-In inserts. All Digidesign Plug-Ins have been revised to support this feature.
* The Time Adjuster Plug-In has been updated to provide a delay offset of up to 2048 samples, now allowing convenient compensation for delays caused by all current Plug-Ins, including DINR.
* New Delete Fades option in Edit Menu--for quick and easy deletion of selected crossfades.
* Increased DigiTest compatibility--adds support for Apple's G3 and 9600 300/350MHz machines.
* Previewing performance within all Digidesign AudioSuite Plug-Ins is significantly improved
* Adds "waveform drawing during recording" on TDM-equipped Pro Tools systems Bug Fixes in Pro Tools 4.1.1
* Long fades (greater than 3 minutes) created with volume automation were playing back incorrectly when playback was initiated from the middle of the fade.
* 4-band EQ was not loading some 1-band EQ settings.
* HUI faders were active during bounce.
* In multiple ADAT systems, the 2nd or subsequent ADATs would sometimes disarm when recording from PT to ADAT.
* Generating time code from SMPTE Slave Driver or Universal Slave Driver with pre-roll enabled would start time code from the beginning of the session rather than the selection.
* Random pops were sometimes occurring in the right channel on Pro Tools Project systems when playing audio at 48 kHz.
* DAE error -7453 would sometimes occur when pitch-shifting down with the AudioSuite Pitch Shift Plug-In.
* The audio output from audio interfaces connected to d24 cards was about three samples later than the output from interfaces connected to DSP Farms.
* Version 3.2.1 of the DigiSystem INIT failed to recognize any interfaces other than the 442 Audio Interface when attached to a Nubus Bridge I/O card.
* The AudioSuite EQ Plug-In was not appearing in the AudioSuite menu on non-TDM systems.
* On Pro Tools III Nubus systems, the 24-bit Optimized Mixer was creating a maximum of 15 mixer channels on each DSP, instead of 16.
Known Problems
While we've labored long and hard to remove any problems in the software, sometimes some problems will arise at the last minute! Here's a list of known problems, so that you can avoid them, with workarounds where known. In addition, be sure to consult your Pro Tools User Guide for information about any generally-known problems with System Extensions, third-party utilities, or other conflicts.
Macintosh OS8
* On systems running Mac OS8, the Macintosh sometimes posts the following dialog on startup: "MP Libraries could not be fully installed because of not enough memory." This dialog does not actually affect Pro Tools and appears to be a problem in Mac OS8.
* With Mac OS8, use of I/O controls in the Edit Window (such as the pan or volume sliders), causes the Edit Window Counter display to become corrupted. This only lasts as long as the mouse is held down, and appears to be a bug in Mac OS8. You can workaround this problem and several other minor graphic problems either by working with these control types in the Mix Window, or by turning off the "System Wide Platinum Appearance" in the OS8's Appearance Control Panel.
* When using Mac OS8, the last "1" in the Edit Window Counter can sometimes become corrupted on screen. Forcing a screen redraw (for example, by re-sizing the window) fixes this.
* To use the Digidesign Sound Drivers or d24 Output Drivers, the Sound Control Panel must be installed in the Control Panels folder. The Pro Tools 4.1.1 Installer does this automatically. The Monitors and Sound control panel cannot be used to enable the use of Digidesign's Sound Drivers, but can coexist with the Sound control panel.
General Problems
* Automation cannot be written simultaneously to "ganged" or connected controls in a stereo Plug-In. In order obtain the same results, you can record the automation to one side, then copy and paste it to the other side.
* Pro Tools occasionally crashes when launched immediately after capturing video using Adobe Premiere and a Radius VideoVision card. Digidesign is working with Radius to resolve this problem.
* The Peavey PC1600 can cause automation recording and playback to become inaccurate during rapid fader moves. This is a limitation of the PC1600. The Peavey controller samples its fader movement at a fairly low rate which can sometimes cause it to miss fader positions used for nulling.
* On faster Macintosh models, launching Sound Designer II with Audiomedia II/III, Project, or Pro Tools III systems directly from the Apple Menu while Pro Tools is running in the foreground may result in an error message. Switching to the Finder before launching Sound Designer II, or launching Sound Designer II from the Audio Regions List menu in Pro Tools, solves the problem. The latter method also ensures that "Active in Background" is turned off in Pro Tools, which is required for simultaneous operation of Pro Tools and Sound Designer II.
* In some situations, creating and deleting tracks can result in sub-optimal mixer DSP usage, causing fewer mixer tracks to be available. Closing and reopening the session corrects the problem.
* When recording in Destructive Record mode over overlapping regions, the overview for the new data is drawn incorrectly.
* The volume fader for a send cannot be set to 0.0 dB by dragging the slider normally. To set it to 0.0 dB, option-click on it or hold down the command key while dragging for fine operation.
* When using Pro Tools with Audiomedia III or Pro Tools PowerMix, it is possible to crash when looping short selections with dense MIDI data. To avoid this problem, use loops longer than two seconds.
* Using WindowShade on movie window while movie is playing on video monitor attached to Miro DC20 causes movie to go offline and/or stops movie playback. This is due to a characteristic of the DC20.
* When creating a new session from a stationery template, the Disk Allocation table is not changed, even if the session is created on a different drive from the template. After creating the Session, open Disk Allocation and select the appropriate drive(s) before recording.
* During loop recording, clicking the mouse anywhere on the track in record will cause all the newly recorded regions on that track to be placed at the new cursor location when the transport is stopped.
* The Micropolis Tomahawk wide drives--model numbers 3391 and 4345--have a conflict with PACE copy protection when used on a narrow SCSI bus that may result in SCSI bus hangs. We recommend that they only be used on a wide SCSI bus.
* When opening a session created in Pro Tools 4.0 or 4.0.1, EQ automation data may be lost. To restore the missing data, replace version 1.5 of the EQ Plug-In with version 1.4.1 (which was shipped with Pro Tools 4.0.1) and reopen the session.
* While using preview with AudioSuite Plug-Ins, accessing other portions of the Pro Tools application may cause serious problems. Specifically, users should avoid using the Import or Convert and Import Dialogs while previewing an AudioSuite Plug-In.
Problems Affecting Pro Tools 24 Systems
* If a session created on a Pro Tools 24 system is opened and saved in PowerMix mode, any auxiliary tracks or master faders in that session will be lost.
* Some users have reported loss of sync when bouncing audio and picture to a QuickTime Movie on Pro Tools 24 systems.
* On Pro Tools 24 systems, attempting to record many tracks simultaneously with pre-roll enabled can cause DAE -6042 errors. In this situation, disabling pre-roll will enable recording.
* With Expanded Pro Tools 24 systems (greater than 32 tracks), option-clicking to audition regions from the Audio Regions List requires a voice to be free on the first d24 card. If all "A" voices are in use, no sound will be heard when attempting to audition.
* When using the d24 Output Drivers, you must first launch Pro Tools and declare your audio interfaces before selecting the d24 Output Drivers in the Sound Control Panel. Problems Affecting Pro Tools III Systems
* With Pro Tools III systems, if a crash occurs, there is a chance that the DigiSetup file can become corrupt and drives connected to Disk I/O cards will not appear on the Mac desktop. If this should occur, simply drag your DigiSetup file (from within the Preferences Folder in the System Folder) to the Trash, empty it, and restart. Your drives should then appear on the desktop as expected.
* On Pro Tools III Nubus systems, holding the mouse button down during playback will suspend the effects of automation.
* On Pro Tools III Nubus systems, clicks may occasionally occur when previewing fades.
Operational Information
* When bouncing in sessions that include muted tracks, enabling "Mute Frees Voice" in some cases can improve bounce performance (the number of tracks that
can be bounced successfully).
* When installing OMS 2.32, the IAC Driver is not installed with an "Easy Install." Choose "Custom Install" to select the IAC Driver.
For QuickTime Movie Users:
*On Pro Tools 24 systems, playing audio data and QuickTime Movies off of the same SCSI bus will not work reliably, even when using separate drives. To get good results, Movie data must be on a different SCSI bus from Pro Tools audio data.
*With Pro Tools 24 and Miro PCI video capture cards, Pro Tools can sometimes crash when looping 16 tracks and a Movie.
*Using pulldown affects the speed of QuickTime movies as well as audio. When conforming a QuickTime movie for use in a pulled-down session, set its frame rate to 30 rather than 29.97.
*When Pro Tools' Movie Window is placed over the movie track in the Edit Window, jittery movie playback can occur.
For Mackie HUI Users:
As of this writing, the following problems can occur when using HUI and Mark Of The Unicorn MID ITimePiece multi-port interfaces:
MIDITimePiece I (MTP I): With this interface, after power cycling HUI, launching Pro Tools, or assigning a controller in the Peripherals dialog, HUI is usually not completely initialized. Some scribble strips will be blank and the text in the VFD is sometimes not complete. Bank swapping can sometimes cause the displays to update properly. (It appears that MTP I units may not be able to handle the density of MIDI System Exclusive data sent out by Pro Tools). For this reason, at this time we do not recommend use of MTP I units for Pro Tools/HUI inter-communication. MIDITimePiece II (MTP II): When power cycling HUI, the MTP II can get into a "locked up mode" (all output port lights lit), or in a mode where its channelizing the HUI output data to all the ports. (This will not happen every time, be can occur). To avoid the problem, disconnect HUI's output before powering down. Or, if the problem does occur, power cycle your MTP II, and it will return to normal operation.
For Bit 3 Expansion Chassis Users:
*Use of Bit-3's 6-foot expansion cable has been shown to cause corruption of audio data during recording and playback, and is not supported. Bit-3's 4-foot cable should be used instead.
* Many DSP Farms and some early serial number SampleCell II PCI cards are not compatible with the currently shipping Bit 3 Expansion Chassis. Specifically, use of a DEC-chipped 13-slot Bit 3 Expansion Chassis with Pro Tools 24 requires that the DSP Farms are equipped with revision QC of the AMCC chip. Users can identify whether they have the correct AMCC chip revision by the serial number of their card. QC-chipped DSP Farms are Rev H or higher and have serial number FF09226 or higher. The same is true of SampleCell II. QC-chipped SampleCells were Rev D or higher and have serial number HH02001 or higher. Older Digidesign cards can be upgraded for a nominal fee. Please contact Digidesign Technical Support for upgrade information.