With the growing propensity towards mobile recording solutions, an obvious way to capture the data is with a USB stick or pen drive. However not all drives are created equal and some just don’t have the speed to keep up with a multi track audio DAW like Pro Tools.

However, help is at hand from the sites whiratesit, and Tom’s Hardware who have an extensive and growing test database ranking drives, so make sure you get a drive that has the speed you need.

It sounds like something from Harry Potter or The Hobbit, but an error that’s been around in Pro Tools since version 7.4 is this one “Could not complete the Open Session command because magic ID does not match”, it may also have additional text.

If you get this then it probably means the session file is corrupted, if it is the case then try the following.

1. Try opening a session file back-up, these are situated in the current session folder in a sub folder called “Session File Backups”
2. If this does not work then try creating a blank session and doing a Session File Import and importing everything back into the new blank session.
3. There are rare occasions when Pro Tools will not start-up, if this is the case then the simplest thing to do is to back-up your plug-in folders and then reinstalling Pro Tools. However, this should not be necessary.

Anyway, no need for a wand or incantation - the answer is far less magic than the the error would suggest.

A number of users have been asking questions regarding the use of signatures other than 4/4.

The official response fro Avid Tech Support on the matter is as follows:

'"Sorry for the delayed response I have been waiting for information from the AIR group. Strike currently operates at 4|4 even if the pattern is in odd time. The workaround is to stay in 4|4 and set your grid to triplets. They are aware of this hoping to change this behavior in a future release."'

This may not be the answer you are hoping for, but it does save you from thinking you're going nuts!

Last night I sent an email to all those signed up to Enews to ask for support running the blog. I choose the Enews Group because I figure they take an interest in the blog and signing up indicates a higher level of support, kind of Power Users.

So far 17 people have answered the call to join me in this wild adventure, that is overwhelming, some even took the time to write and say they would love to help but were too busy, I appreciate that kind of response, it says 'I care enough to tell you I'd love to, but can't'

I didn't post the request here because I didn't want to bother any visitors who just like to dip in and out of the AIR User Group tribe, there's nothing wrong with that we all have busy lives - if your thinking you want to help but have not yet signed up to Enews then email me, we'd love to have you along.