I/O setup help - I SHOULD ALREADY KNOW THIS!
 

Hey everybody, I'm almost ashamed to ask this question because I feel like I should know the answer, but I don't, so here were are!....I've been using Pro Tools as a semi-professional since the late 90s or so, but I've never really fully understood how/why things change in I/O setup from session to session. So here's my dumb question...

When I start a new session- let's say I'm tracking a band - I make a new session, name the session, set the disk location to what I want, make sure the sample rate and bit depth is right and hit 'Create'. I always leave I/O settings on "last used"..mostly because all the other options in the dropdown menu aren't things that mean anything to me. **I'm guessing this is where my problem is but read on...**

So I'll setup tracks and then I'll start routing them. For example, I want to route two overhead mics to a stereo aux input (or folder) called 'overheads.' So I'll select both overhead tracks, shift+option click on the output for one of those tracks and select "new track." I route them to a new stereo aux called "overheads" and those tracks get routed there as expected...this is a great feature of pro tools and I use it all the time... BUT!

But sometimes the output of those two tracks and the input of the aux will be automatically renamed as "overheads.1" or (god forbid) "overheads.2" rather than just "overheads". Why is this happening? How can I prevent it?

I realize this is a very OCD thing...the audio is being routed to where I want it, but as someone who likes to keep the visual aspect of my DAW as clean/simple as possible those ".1" or ".2" things drive me crazy. I'm sure there is a simple way to change this that I just haven't been able to wrap my head around, so hopefully one of you fine people can help! What is the simple fix to this that I'm missing?

thanks!!

Re: I/O setup help - I SHOULD ALREADY KNOW THIS!
 

Using the New Track method of routing to an Aux always creates a new bus in the process. Since you are using Last Used for your I/O Settings, you probably (definitely) already had a bus called overheads. Pro Tools can't have 2 busses named exactly the same things, so it calls the new one overheads.1.

You could start from a template that already has all of your tracks and auxes setup and properly routed. You can have multiple templates for different setups.

You can have a single template session containing every possible iteration of tracks and scenarios and import only the session data that you need into your new blank session (this is what I do).

You can start with a default I/O setup (e.g. Stereo Mix) instead of Last Used. Then when you use New Track to create a new aux and bus, it won't be a duplicate.

Or you can keep using Last Used when you make a new session and create the aux and route the tracks manually to the already existing overheads bus, without using the New Track method.

As somebody on the DUC once said "The good thing about Pro Tools is there's 4 ways to do everything. The bad thing about Pro Tools is there's 4 ways to do everything."

Re: I/O setup help - I SHOULD ALREADY KNOW THIS!
 

If you "always" route your tracks same way, you can save your i/o setup and reload if ever it changes along the way. Also you can build your session by importing session data from previous, no need to import actual audio.

Re: I/O setup help - I SHOULD ALREADY KNOW THIS!
 

I think after all those years, it is time to embrace the I/O Setup Dialog and wrap your head around it. Things become so much easier and question marks will disappear.

You said you like to keep everything nicely organized and the I/O Setup Dialog is the place to do that. The virtual audio busses that Pro Tools uses to route audio signals internally are called "Internal Bus Paths". They are created automatically or you can create them manually. Either way, you should always check the I/O Setup Dialog and name those Internal Bus Paths.
And of course, if you have already one named Overhead and you tell Pro Tools to create another one with the same name, then it will be named "Overhead.1". No problem, go into the I/O Setup Dialog and rename them. Done.
Also, you can drag the rows (the Internal Bus Paths) up/down to create the best order you want them to appear in the menu. Or delete the unused Paths to reduce the size of the popup menu.

There are a ton of little things to learn and I explain all that in my book "Pro Tools 2020 - How it Works" (link below in my signature) with lots of graphics and diagrams to make it super easy to understand.
You can even download the full "Groups" chapter as a free book to explore my "Graphically Enhanced Manuals" style. All the links are on my products page.


Here is a screenshot of the page about Audio Routing. That is what the I/O Setup Dialog manages like a virtual patch bay.

Re: I/O setup help - I SHOULD ALREADY KNOW THIS!
 

Thanks for the tips everyone!

It looks like the simplest solution might to select the 'stereo mix' setup when I'm creating a new session. I'll give that a try today and see if that fixes the issue.

It's really a minor thing anyway, I always go into i/o setup and rename those ".1" busses, and it's not like any of this has any real impact on my workflow or how things sound. I guess it just never made sense to me that selecting the last used setup would retain names for internal busses that don't yet exist in the new session. I can see how retaining those names would be useful for some users though, for sure.

thanks again!

Re: I/O setup help - I SHOULD ALREADY KNOW THIS!
 

Yes retaining those names is big time saver IMO because I always use ,,,user defined session templates in which all the routing/format/location etc. is already done and labeled
I am curious as to why you would not simply do that also
BTW what is the "Stereo Mix" selection ?

Re: I/O setup help - I SHOULD ALREADY KNOW THIS!
 

It's been awhile but I think I tried setting up templates a few years ago but found that it didn't really save me all that much time. I tend to record bands in a lot of different scenarios and rooms though, and I work on a lot of projects where maybe drums and bass are already done and I'm stepping in to help with everything else. So I don't know that a template would be super useful in my case but I probably should revisit the idea just to see.

And the 'stereo mix' section is just one of the choices in the I/O dropdown when you create a new session. I'd been leaving that set on 'last used' which was keeping all my I/O names from previous sessions, 'stereo mix' just resets everything to the default as far as I can tell.

Re: I/O setup help - I SHOULD ALREADY KNOW THIS!
 

Well in full disclosure I only record my self so its easy for me to have 6 or so Templates all set up base on the different things I do So maybe speaking out of turn .
But still seems to me easer to have the templates all set up for routing etc names etc. and at say the max track count you are likely to use ,,,,,,then just add or delete tracks like say eliminate the drums and Bass tracks if they come provided . That way you are not having to choose and name routing all the time ----Just a thought

I guess it must be the differences in Interface because in the "Dashboard" drop down if I click Pro Tool > File > "Create New" I don't have a Stereo mix" as a pre configured template ??? but no matter,,, carry on

Re: I/O setup help - I SHOULD ALREADY KNOW THIS!
 

Hmmm, if session templates didn't save you time, then I suggest changing the template(I, for one could not live without them). In the live world, when we expect many different lineups, we set consoles up in "festival mode". What that means is: enough drum channels to handle anything, bass channels for stage left and stage right, multiple guitar channels, etc. Create a session that covers anything. When a band shows up, create the first session from the "anything' template and delete all the tracks you don't need. Once the first song is finished, before you close it, save that as template(without media) and name it for that band. For the next song, create from that new band template.

Re: I/O setup help - I SHOULD ALREADY KNOW THIS!
 

BTW, you can also use Track Templates and a track template can actually be a set of several tracks. Some examples for my work:
Drums=12 audio tracks, 3 AUX tracks and a VCA with all plugins in place(high-latency plugins are inactive), all IO set and all headphone mixes dialed
Bass=1 audio track and 1 AUX track, all plugins in place
LdVoc=2 audio tracks(I often use 2 mics) with plugins and 2 AUX tracks(reverb and delay)
BGVs=6 audio tracks with all plugins

In all cases, IO is all set and headphone mix levels are roughed in. My "full band" template has the headphone mixes dialed so that I rarely spend more than 1 minute tweaking for the players:D

Another option is to create a "master" session with tracks for anything, then start each session blank and use Import Session Data to bring in what you need for any given session. I guess the point is; if templates don't help, you need to be more creative:o