For more information, see the following topics:
In a Pro Tools session, you can have several different types of tracks. These can include audio, Auxiliary Input, Master Fader, VCA Master (Pro Tools HD and Pro Tools with Complete Production Toolkit only), MIDI, Instrument, and video tracks.
Audio, Auxiliary Input, Master Fader, and VCA Master Tracks
Pro Tools provides mono, stereo, and multichannel format audio, Auxiliary Input, Master Fader, and VCA Master tracks.
Audio tracks let you record to disk and play back from disk recorded or imported audio files.
Auxiliary Input tracks can be used as effects sends, destinations for submixes, as a bounce destination, as inputs to monitor or process audio (such as audio from external MIDI instruments), and for many other audio routing tasks.
Master Fader tracks control the overall level of audio paths that are routed to physical output paths. For example, you could have 24 tracks in a session with channels 1–8 routed to Analog Output 1–2, channels 9–16 to Analog Output 3–4, and channels 17–24 to Analog Output 5–6. You could then create three master faders, one to control each of these output pairs.
Master Fader tracks have additional uses (such as controlling submix levels). For more information, see Master Fader Tracks and Signal Flow.
VCA Master Tracks (Pro Tools HD and Pro Tools with Complete Production Toolkit Only)
VCA Master tracks (or VCA Masters) emulate the operation of voltage-controlled amplifier channels on analog consoles, where a VCA channel fader would be used to control, group, or offset the signal levels of other channels on the console.
VCA Master tracks do not pass audio, so they do not have inputs, outputs, inserts, or sends. A Mix Group is assigned to a VCA Master track, which appears in the VCA track’s Assignment selector.
The controls of the tracks in that Group, called the slave tracks, are modified by the controls on the VCA Master. For more information, see VCA Master Tracks.
MIDI tracks record, store, and playback MIDI data. You cannot select a track format when you create a MIDI track, because audio does not pass through it.
Instrument tracks are a special type of track that provide both MIDI and audio capabilities in a single channel strip. Instrument tracks simplify using software and hardware instruments to record and monitor MIDI instruments.
Video tracks let you add or import QuickTime (Windows and Mac) or Windows Media Video (Windows Vista only).
With an Avid video peripheral and Pro Tools, you can add or import Avid video to the Pro Tools Timeline (see Working with Video in Pro Tools.)
Video tracks only appear in the Edit window, and video can be viewed in the Video window.