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Edit Window: Track List, Group List and Region List
In this video we will focus on the Edit Window, which is the window that we are seeing and opens by default at startup.
The menu is located above the edit window, which we will see in detail later.
Below you can choose between four editing modes.
On the right you can handle zoom levels.
The waveform button modifies region zoom for audio files.
You can use it by clicking on it or by holding click and moving the cursor up or down.
At the side is the zoom for midi tracks.
You have to verify that the view of the midi track is not in regions,
because in that case this zoom does not work.
The numbers below (from 1 to 5 ) save zoom presets.
This means that we may save a certain type of zoom and recall it later.
On the right appears the editing tools,
and under these there are a number of configurations that we will see later.
In the center is a window that shows the cursor position, whether it is stopped or playing.
We can display the time in bars and beats, minutes and seconds or samples.
The following column enables the grid and lets set the nudge configuration.
Finally, the transport bar, allows us to move within the timeline
to play, stop, go back, go to the beginning, etc.
In the window on the left is the reference to audio or midi tracks created in the session.
We can select the track and move its position,
as seeing in the timeline how the track also changes its position.
The circle determines whether or not we are seeing the track.
When it is black it means that we are viewing the track in the timeline,
and when it is hidden it will appear in gray.
Nevertheless, the track will continue to be heard,
as this depends on the mute button and not the type of visualization.
Under the Track List is the Group List.
By default, Pro Tools creates a Group of all tracks that we add to the session.
Later we will see how to create our own groups and types.
On the right is the Region List.
Audio files in our hard drive, are considered as regions when being imported to Pro Tools.
When editing a region or performing some modification on the original region,
the program will create a new region in the list with each change we make.
The regions shown in black refer to audio files located on our hard drive.
The gray regions are regions that the program creates but do not exist within the hard drive.
This is based on the concept of non-destructive editing,
meaning that the program will not modify the stored audiofile on the hard drive,
when you work with it in the session.
Instead it will create new regions from the original audiofile.
If we separate a region, Pro Tools will create two gray regions in the region list,
without creating a new audiofile.
These gray regions will depend on the original black region.
If we perform a destructive process on the region, like eq or compression
Pro Tools will create a new audiofile on the hard drive,
with the modifications we have made.
The advantage of this is that we do not modify the original audiofile.
The non-destructive editing process concludes with the “Bounce to disk” or “export to disc” options,
where you create a new independent audiofile.
This is how most multi-track programs work.
In the timeline we can see the tracks with their respective audio regions.
We will see the timeline in the following video.