Setting Playback Location with Back and Forward Commands

(Pro Tools HD and Pro Tools with Complete Production Toolkit Only)

Pro Tools provides four Back/Forward commands (sometimes called “rollback”) for moving the playback location in the Edit window.

You can also move the playback location in multiple increments by repeating the command (See Repeating Back/Forward Commands).

Back/Forward commands also work when controlling a 9-pin device. See the MachineControl Guide for details.

Back

Moves the playback location backward by the Back/Forward Amount.

Back and Play

Moves the current playback location backward by the Back/Forward Amount and automatically begins playback.

Forward

Moves the playback location forward by the Back/Forward Amount.

Forward and Play

Moves the current playback location forward by the Back/Forward Amount and automatically begins playback.

Setting the Back/Forward Amount

The length of the Back/Forward move is determined by the Back/Forward Amount preference in the Operation page (Setup > Preferences).

To configure the Back/Forward Amount:

1 Choose Setup > Preferences and click the Operation tab.

The timebase of the Back/Forward Amount settings follows the Main Time Scale by default, or you can deselect Follow Main Time and select any of the following timebase formats:

Bars|Beats

Min:Sec

Timecode

Feet+Frames

Samples

2 Do one of the following:

Select a preset amount in the Back/Forward Amount pop-up menu.

– or – 

In the Back/Forward Amount field, enter a custom amount.

Using Back or Forward Commands

To move the playback location backward by the Back/Forward Amount:

Press Command (Mac) or Control (Windows), and click Rewind in the Transport window.

To move the playback location forward by the Back/Forward Amount:

Press Command (Mac) or Control (Windows), and click Fast Forward in the Transport window.

To move the playback location backward by the Back/Forward Amount and then begin playback:

Press Command+Option (Mac) or Control+Alt (Windows), and click Rewind in the Transport window.

To move the playback location forward by the Back/Forward Amount and then begin playback:

Press Command+Option (Mac) or Control+Alt (Windows), and click Fast Forward in the Transport window.

Repeating Back/Forward Commands

All the Back/Forward commands can be repeated in order to increase the amount of the total Back or Forward move.

To repeat Back/Forward moves:

1 Hold Command (Mac) or Control (Windows).

2 Click Rewind or Fast Forward the number of times you want to repeat moving the playback location backwards or forwards by the specified Back/Forward Amount.

Extending Selections with Back or Back and Play Commands

The Back or Back and Play commands can be used to extend a selection backwards by the length of the specified Back/Forward Amount.

Although you cannot extend a selection with the Forward or Forward and Play commands, you can use the following procedures with Forward or Forward and Play to move the start point of a current selection.

To extend a selection with Back or Back and Play commands:

1 Specify the Back/Forward Amount. (See Setting the Back/Forward Amount.)

2 With the Selector tool, drag within a track to make a selection.

3 Do one of the following:

To extend the selection backwards by the Back/Forward Amount, press Shift+Command (Mac) or Shift+Control (Windows) and click Rewind in the Transport window.

– or – 

To extend the selection backwards by the Back/Forward Amount and then begin playback, press Shift+Command+Option (Mac) or Shift+Control+Alt (Windows) and click Rewind in the Transport window.