User Manual

Mbox User Guide18
Configuring Pro Tools LE
Pro Tools System Settings
In the Playback Engine dialog, Pro Tools LE lets
you adjust the performance of your system by
changing system settings that affect its capacity
for processing, playback, and recording.
In most cases, the default settings for your sys-
tem provide optimum performance, but you
may want to adjust them to accommodate large
or processing-intensive Pro Tools sessions.
Hardware Buffer Size
The Hardware Buffer Size (H/W Buffer Size) con-
trols the size of the buffer used to handle host
processing tasks such as Real-Time AudioSuite™
(RTAS
®
) plug-ins.
• Lower Hardware Buffer Size settings are useful
for improving latency issues in certain record-
ing situations or for improving certain system
performance problems. On Pro Tools LE sys-
tems, lower settings reduce all input-to-out-
put monitoring latency on any record-armed
tracks or Auxiliary Input tracks with live in-
puts.
• Higher Hardware Buffer Size settings are use-
ful for sessions that are using more RTAS plug-
ins for playback. These settings allow for more
audio processing. They can also be useful to
reduce errors on some machines that require a
higher buffer size.
To change the Hardware Buffer Size:
1 Launch Pro Tools
2 Choose Setup > Playback Engine.
3 From the H/W Buffer Size pop-up menu, select
the audio buffer size, in samples.
4 Click OK.
In addition to causing slower screen re-
sponse and monitoring latency, higher
Hardware Buffer Size settings can increase
the latency caused by RTAS plug-ins, and
affect the accuracy of plug-in automation,
mute data, and MIDI track timing.
Playback Engine dialog for Pro Tools LE, with Structure
Free plug-in installed. (Mbox 2 shown)