Only certain tracks on control surface?

[Dazzerr]

Hi folks,

I'm new to Pro Tools and i'm using it with an SSL UF8 control surface.

A question:

Imagine this: i have a mix with 32 tracks.

I want to bring up tracks 1, 2, 13, 15, 20, 21, 22 & 29 on the UF8 faders to balance levels and do some automation.

Is there any way to do this? Is this a controller issue, or does Protools have some way to dictate which tracks come up on control surface faders?

Most of these control surfaces come in banks of 8, so it seems a bit limited if you can only have tracks 1-8, 9-16, 17-24 etc coming up together on the faders.

Thanks!

[Ben Jenssen]

I never used a UF8, but I'd assume that it works like my Command8; it shows the tracks visible in the mix window. Make visible the tracks that you want on the control surface.

[Southsidemusic]

We have 4 of the new SSL UF8 controllers here to test and they work great. You need to set the 8 tracks you want to pull up beside eachother or have them side by side as if you only have on controller that is a 8 fader version you cant have all those you mentioned at once since you cant bank more than 8 faders. We have 32 faders so we have all 32 up at once and can edit them to taste but with only one 8 fader unit you would need to move them side by side in Pro tools for them to come up on the SSL controller at the same time. Other way is to just edit them one at a time and bank to the next etc.

[Dazzerr]

Thanks guys, yeah i really am a PT noob, so the trick is to put the tracks i want on the faders in a group, then right-click on the group and choose "Show only tracks in group". That will isolate them in the mix window and also on my UF8!

[Ben Jenssen]

Originally Posted by Dazzerr

Thanks guys, yeah i really am a PT noob, so the trick is to put the tracks i want on the faders in a group, then right-click on the group and choose "Show only tracks in group". That will isolate them in the mix window and also on my UF8!

Use the track window, on the left side of mix/edit windows. Click on the little dots in front of the track names, this will show/hide tracks. You can also drag-click to show/hide many tracks at once. This is also where you can order/reorder tracks.

[Dazzerr]

Originally Posted by Ben Jenssen

Use the track window, on the left side of mix/edit windows. Click on the little dots in front of the track names, this will show/hide tracks. You can also drag-click to show/hide many tracks at once. This is also where you can order/reorder tracks.

Got it!

Great that there's a couple of ways to get this done!

[JFreak]

Yea, you have probably noticed by now that there is colored box around the track names (control surface mapping). Changing banking will also change that. So yes, get used to track order and/or grouping if your surface cannot use them all.