With each member of the Production Expert team narrowing down the product that makes their working life better, Mike Thornton talks about 2022’s contribution to his workflows: the new Aux IO routing in Pro Tools 2022.9 and above.
What Is It
With the release of Pro Tools 2022.9, Avid included Aux I/O, which allows you to add any Core Audio device as extra inputs and outputs to your current Playback Engine. It’s extremely powerful and addresses some persistent pain points that have dogged certain users for a long time, including me.
Aux I/O is a Mac-only feature, available on Big Sur or later. This is because it relies on access to Core Audio. It allows you to have your primary Playback Engine set up to your preferred setting and still be able to stream to and from other Core Audio devices. This is very significant as it allows Pro Tools to access other hardware and applications other than the currently selected Playback Engine, something which required various workarounds to achieve in the past.
Pro Tools, unlike most DAWs, has a single setting for the Playback Engine, which controls both the inputs and outputs. Pro Tools HDX users will be aware of how well the HDX/Hybrid audio engine works but also how it can be very awkward to incorporate other hardware or Core Audio devices with it. The choice has been to use HDX or run natively, but if you wanted to combine Core Audio and HDX, things got more complicated.
Why I Like It
When this came out, I was so relieved. One of the pain points I have been experiencing with my transition to be able to work and mix in Dolby Atmos is that effectively, every time I wanted to work in Atmos, I would need to change Playback Engines, I/O setup and more and frankly, it was such a pain it was putting me off really getting into Dolby Atmos. The design and implementation of Aux I/O is a ‘game-changer’ for me. It means I now have one set up for everything and can work in whatever format is right for that job, whether it’s stereo, 5.1 or Dolby Atmos.
How It Helps My Work
Access to Aux I/O is from the I/O Setup window, where a new button opens a window where new paths can be set up to access both hardware and virtual devices, including the Dolby Audio Bridge. Aux I/Os can be given custom names in the I/O setup. However, be aware that one limitation is that while the hardware can act as both an input and an output, virtual devices have to be either an input or an output. You can roundtrip audio to and from software applications, like the Dolby Atmos renderer via the Dolby Atmos Audio Bridge, it just requires setting up two separate core audio devices to avoid creating potential feedback loops.
As I am a Pro Tools HDX owner, before Pro Tools 2022.9 was released, I had to change the Playback engine from HDX to the Dolby Audio Engine, which was a pain. Now with Pro Tools Aux I/O, as long as I use the Hybrid Engine and retain all my hardware inputs and outputs, as well as DSP processing. As I have already mentioned, this setup also eliminates the need to reconfigure my system setup when switching between session types.
To set the Pro Tools Aux I/O up for Dolby Atmos, I used the tutorial produced by Avid to set up Pro Tools Aux I/O…
One of the key elements you need to make sure to do is (I didn’t and got very confused when things didn’t work the way they should) before you start to setup Pro Tools with Aux I/O and the Dolby Audio Bridge is to make sure that you have the Doby Atmos Production Suite open and connected.
The Audio Bridge output paths are cleverly based on the input configuration of the connected Dolby Atmos Render, in my case the Dolby Atmos Production Suite.
I can also bring the Renderer outputs back into Pro Tools using the Pro Tools Audio Bridge 64 by creating a setup in Pro Tools that match the setup in the Dolby Renderer room setup and routing window.
The Binaural return can be assigned to headphones, and there is a live 5.1 output from the Renderer, which I can use to check loudness levels in real time.
The other elements to consider are to amend your Pro Tools I/O set-up so that all your Dolby Atmos routing, objects and busses are set up and linked through to the Dolby Atmos Renderer.
To help, here are my Pro Tools I/O Setup Input, Buss and Output tabs…
In the Input tab, you can see the 7.1 speaker return bus, busses for the Top Front and Rear speakers, the Binaural path for headphones and the 5.1 re-render path for loudness checking using my preferred Loudness meter from within Pro Tools, rather than the measurements in the Dolby Atmos Production Suite.
In the Bus tab, you can see the routing out to my monitoring with a 7.1 path for the bottom speakers and 2 stereo paths for the front and rear ceiling speakers.
Then I have my initial Dialog, Music and Effects busses, as well as the start of my collection of objects with some mono and stereo dialog objects. These will develop as I work on some real Dolby Atmos projects. You can see the Mapping to Output and Mapping to Renderer, as well as Bed/Object Group labelling, are all set up. Note if the mapping are italicised, then it is most likely you haven’t remembered to start up the Dolby Atmos Renderer.
In the Output tab, you can see the 7.1.2 outputs for the Dialog, Music and Effects busses as well as some of the Dialog and Music objects, routed out via the Pro Tools Aux I/O to the Renderer.
Then in the Dolby Atmos Renderer, you can see them landing…
There you have it. It may be a small part of one of the Pro Tools updates Avid released in 2022. Still, to use an often overdone phrase, for me, it is a real ‘game-changer’. It will make it so much easier to switch between different types of projects and removes a significant barrier to me spending more time developing my skills in Dolby Atmos. Thank you Avid.