The Format section of the Session Setup window includes displays and controls for timecode-related settings on your system, as well as certain session format settings (such as bit depth, pan depth, audio format, and interleaved).
This menu indicates the bit depth for the current session. You can change the bit depth for for all newly recorded or imported (and converted) files in the session by selecting a different
Bit Depth option. For information on each option, see
Bit Depths.
Use this menu to configure the system Clock Source. You can choose between a SYNC peripheral, an internal clock source from a peripheral, or an external clock source connected to an Avid HD audio interface.
When using a SYNC Peripheral, Pro Tools receives its clock source from the SYNC peripheral. The SYNC Peripheral can in turn reference an external clock source, selected in the SYNC Setup section of the Session Setup window.
In Internal mode, your system references your peripheral’s internal clock and plays back at the session’s sample rate.
Depending on your audio interface, external Clock Source options can include
AES/EBU,
S/PDIF,
S/PDIF Optical,
ADAT Optical,
TDIF, and
Word Clock (optional word clock rates are available at higher session sample rates). External sources can be any multiple of the “base” rate. The base rate is 44.1 kHz for 88.2 and 176.4 kHz sources. The base rate is 48 kHz for 96 and 192 kHz sources. If an external source is chosen and no valid sync clock is detected at the External Clock In, the I/O reverts to Internal mode.
When Delay Compensation is enabled (Options > Delay Compensation), this display indicates the total amount of delay (in samples) applied by the system to compensate for plug-ins and mixer routing delays.
This menu lets you select the pan depth for stereo output paths in a Pro Tools session. Pan depth is the amount of signal attenuation when a track is routed to a stereo output and panned to center. For information on each option, see
Stereo Pan Depth.
This display indicates the current file format for files recorded in the session. You can change the audio file format for all newly recorded or imported (and converted) files in the session by selecting a different
Audio Format option. For more information, see
Mixed Audio File Formats.
Enable the Interleaved option to ensure that all newly recorded or imported (and converted) stereo or greater-than-stereo multichannel files in the session will be interleaved audio files. For more information, see
Interleaved Multichannel Versus Multi-Mono Audio Files.
The Timecode Rate setting lets you set the SMPTE timecode rate for the current session.
The Feet+Frame Rate setting lets you set the Feet+Frame rates for sessions. Supported rates include 23.976, 24, and 25 fps.
Set this rate to match the rate of the film projector, or the video if the film projector speed is taken into account. For example, doing a Telecine transfer from a 24 fps film projector to NTSC video would necessitate the projector running at 23.976 fps. This is regardless of whether the session is using pull down audio or not.
The Timecode 2 Rate setting lets you set a secondary frame rate that can be displayed in the ruler alongside the main Timecode ruler. This lets you reference frame rates in the Timeline that are different from the session timecode rate (also see
Timebase Rulers).