Today Avid released Pro Tools 2023.6. This new release delivers the features which were previewed at NAMM 2023 including improvements to the Marker system and greater track widths as well as several other new features and improvements. We have the details.
Track Markers
Improvements to Memory Location Markers is a long standing request from users and the improvement preview at NAMM were both welcome and thorough. An issue with Markers has always been that there was only a single Markers ruler. Rather than introduce multiple Marker rulers, allowing Markers being used for different purposes to populate different Marker rulers, Avid went further and previewed Markers on tracks in addition to the familiar Markers ruler.
Track Markers can be used to notate points on on the timeline on specific tracks, though they can also be attached to a Clip and move with edits. Old style Markers have been used for this in the past but a Marker on the track to which the Marker refers is more specific. Many people use Markers to reference dialogue or lyrics and the new Track Markers are more suitable for that use too. By default Track Markers populate a lane below the track but in the new Marker View they can overlay Clips if preferred.
Track Markers can be added to any track. Their implementation on Folder Tracks is slightly different in that on a Folder Track a Marker line extends through all the member tracks, useful for points which are specific to those tracks only. These Folder Markers also display as a separate type of Marker in the Markers window.
A feature which was demonstrated in the Tech Preview at NAMM was Prioritise Name or Comment. This is a preference which will display any comment created with the Marker instead of the Marker name. This can be useful for displaying lyrics or dialogue on the timeline. Long comments are facilitated through a text wrap feature meaning that comments don’t get truncated. As the preference is a priority, if there is no comment on a Marker the name is displayed instead.
Marker Colours And Interoperability With Media Composer
Markers were uniformly yellow in previous versions of Pro Tools, though there has always been the Display Preference ‘Always Display Marker Colors’ which colours the Marker Ruler in between the Markers rather than changing the colour of the Markers themselves. In 2023.6 there are 16 colours available for the Markers themselves. The colour is displayed in both the Marker icon itself and the Marker line, for example in a Folder Track Marker.
These 16 Marker colours are just part of the new integration with Markers in Media Composer. Pro Tools sessions generated by Media Composer 2022.12 or later will import Markers from Media Composer on corresponding tracks with the same colours and comments. Markers from an AAF will only be displayed on the timeline, though the colour will be reflected in the Pro Tools session.
Creating timeline Markers remains unchanged with a an Enter keystroke. To create a Track Marker combine Command or Control on a PC with Enter. There are new ‘+’ buttons in tracks headers which create track Markers and dedicated buttons for switching the Prioritise Name or Comment Preference along with a dedicated Target button which works in the same way as its equivalent in plugin and Send windows.
There are also new options to snap Markers to the beginning and end of selections with the Key commands Ctrl for snap to start, Ctrl+cmd for snap to end on a Mac. Start for snap to start, Start+ctrl for snap to end on Windows. Markers now follow edits made in Shuffle mode and the Markers window has some new refinements including a resizable name column, the ability to display the track name the Marker resides on and new sorting options.
New Track Widths (Studio and Ultimate Only)
7.1.2 and 3rd Order Ambisonics were previously the highest track widths available in Ultimate and Studio for panned and unpanned tracks respectively. The lack of 7.1.4 in particular was a grumble amongst Atmos mixers. The 7.1.2 ceiling has been lifted for Ultimate and Studio users with widths of up to 7.1.6 now available for Studio users and widths of up to 9.1.6 available for Ultimate users.
The full list of new tracks widths for these widths which feature panning are:
Studio and Ultimate: 5.0.2, 5.1.2, 5.0.4, 5.1.4, 7.0.4, 7.1.4, 7.0.6, 7.1.6.
Ultimate only: 9.0.4, 9.1.4, 9.0.6, 9.1.6
This allows Pro Tools users to take advantage of plugins which more fully utilise the 3D space, to properly support live returns from the Dolby Atmos Renderer and import offline re-render files. The Surround format is now displayed at the bottom of the output/send window.
A new feature of the Panner window is that Ctrl+clicking (Start+click on a PC) on a speaker Icon Snaps the track to that speaker while maintaining height. These features will require the upcoming Eucon 23.6 for official Control Surface Support.
For Ultimate users, Ambisonics tracks at 4th order (25 channels), 5th order (36 channels), 6th order (49 channels) and 7th order (64 channels) widths are now available. These higher order formats offer higher spatial resolution for those working in immersive audio in VR and gaming. This type of track doesn’t feature a panner and the metering is provided by a VCA style single meter which shows the loudest channel only for headroom monitoring.
While it is not possible to send a format larger than 7.1.2 to the Dolby Atmos renderer bed, you can now use statically panned objects to break this 7.1.2 limitation. Pro Tools 2023.6 provides Track Presets for use with Track widths from 5.0.4 through to 9.1.6. They come in two variants: A set that utilises as much of the bed as possible. Dolby recommends this style as it uses up fewer objects. The alternative to these is a second set that utilises all objects (except LFE). These were widely adopted in the field prior to this release. It is up to user to experiment and choose a style which best suits them.
They way they work is that audio from source tracks should be routed to input of folder. The output of that folder is routed to the inputs of aux tracks within the folder. The outputs of the Aux tracks are routed to either statically panned objects, or to a bed. Wider Track Widths are complementary to dynamic Objects and while panning into these wider track widths will work for some material, for a variety of reasons Objects may sound better in many cases.
Event Operations GUI Improvements
The Event Operations window is central to the MIDI functionality of Pro Tools and this importance has never really been reflected in its prominence in the Pro Tools UI. Recently this has been addressed with the introduction of the Quantize controls in the Toolbars of the Edit page and MIDI editor. If you click the gear icon in the toolbar the Event Operations Window will open, with its slightly awkward interface of 9 different pages which can be cycled through using Command up/down which leaves you never able to view more than one page at a time.
In 2023.6 the functionality of the Event Operations window is unchanged but the layout has been tweaked to a new style window with disclosure triangles opening and closing sections as needed. A good example of another window with this layout is the recently updated Colour Pallete window.
Device Setup
The fact that one of our most popular articles on the site shows how to fix a session when you don’t get any sound when you hit play illustrates how common an issue it is, especially for people who are new to Pro Tools. To help alert users to issues with the Playback Engine and help guide them through what to do to fix it, the first time it is launched Pro Tools 2023.6 displays a dialog asking the user to select their preferred audio device along with instructions on how to manually change the Playback Engine.
This dialog won’t be displayed again unless the previously selected audio device is no longer available in which case it will display on launch. This is more convenient than finding out your Playback Engine has selected the wrong device when your session is loaded and having to relaunch. A tip here is to hold N while launching Pro Tools, this opens the Playback Engine settings on launch, handy if you realise you haven’t switched your interface on before launching Pro Tools.
Carbon Surround Monitoring
With 2023.6 Carbon now supports surround monitoring from 5.1 to 7.1.2. It achieves this by combining the two TRS monitor outs with the 8 DB25 line outs to give up to 10 outputs, the level of which can be controlled from the front panel. Eucon support is not available at this time but is expected in a future update.
Other New Features
Atmos Improvements
Pro Tools 2023.6 now supports 96kHz ADM Import & Export, and It’s now possible to bounce Binaural, 2.0, 5.1, 7.1, 5.1.2, 5.1.4, and 7.1.4 re-renders directly from Pro Tools Studio and Ultimate. Pro Tools Ultimate can also bounce 9.1.6 re-renders.
New Preferences
There is now a Preference to disable Tab to Breakpoint. Tab to breakpoint was a much requested feature but some users found it interfered with their regular workflows and the omission of an option to switch it off has now been addressed. Usefully this preference can also be assigned to a key modifier.
New Pref for ‘Slewing’. Slewing is a behaviour where Pro Tools will drop or duplicate a frame to keep in sync when video hardware is present but does not have a common clock with the audio interface
MIDI Improvements
The MIDI & Score Editor Tracklists now display only track types relevant to them - i.e. MIDI & Instrument tracks.
Clip/Selection focus in MIDI Editor - Targeted MIDI Editors now zoom accordingly to display the entire clip selection of the Edit Window.
Improved Windows Performance
Pro Tools 2023.6 benefits from Microsoft Multimedia Class Scheduler Service (MMCSS) Implementation for the Avid Audio Engine. This improves processor resources scheduling for smoother playback. And it allows AAE to run at a higher priority than some other processes, but not at the highest possible priority. This prevents multimedia applications from monopolising system resources, while still giving them enough CPU time to function properly.
Miscellaneous
Power Waveform Overviews in Wave Cache only Selecting Power Waveforms in the View menu will no longer embed the waveform overviews in the parent audio files. This prevents unnecessary audio file updates.
Pro Tools 2023.6 allows MOV and MXF content to be used on the same track on the Timeline
Pro Tools 2023.6 is available in the Avid Accounts of current subscribers and users with current update plans and for applicable features, Pro Tools Intro users.
20% Off Get Current Promo
If you’re on a perpetual licence and don’t have a current Update and Support Plan, since June 1st Avid have been running a 20% off promotion on their Get Current offer which allows perpetual licence holders with expired plans to upgrade to a current version of Pro Tools
Get Current can be purchased either from your product in my.avid.com/products (for those system ids with expired Software Updates + Support Plans) or through an Avid Reseller if you own a Pro Tools 9, 10 and 11 license. Find out more about Get Current.