Simple, Stupid Newbie Question on Recording

[Finch]

Hi Folks,

I'm embarrassed to ask this, but I've never been able to find a solution for my situation in the PT documentation. Here's the scenario. After I record a first track (usually guitar) on a new song and I'm ready to track something else (bass, drums etc.), I can't figure out how to play along with what I've recorded previously. The only way I've successfully achieved this is to actually record enable the second track and then go ahead and record. If I record enable and simply press play (without pressing record), I get no sound from the new track and it doesn't show any input. Is the only way to hear a previously recorded track and the new track you want to cut to actually record? This seems inefficient. Isn't there some sort of input monitoring I can do so I can loop the song and play along while I compose my parts? I don't want to record all my lame crap while I'm figuring out my part.

This used to be pretty easy to achieve in Sonar and I'm sure I'm overlooking something very easy here in PT.

[hzd]

Hi there.

What you can do, is make an aux track. Set the input of that track to the interface input you are using and the output to 1 and 2.
That way you should be able to hear what you're playing, whether it is recording or not or playing (or not).

Then you can have an identical audio track for recording, however, you might want to mute the audio track, other wise you will get the signal doubled (you can hear the audio track when it is recording) and you might peak on the master.

Thats the way, I would do it.

[lemix]

Finch,
Yes..you've said it >> " Isn't there some sort of input monitoring I can do so I can loop the song and play along while I compose my parts? "
Just set "auto input monitoring" and you'll be able to play along on the record enabled track, without actually recording it.
Welcome to the forum..

[hzd]

Hey, thanks Lemix, that's news to me to.

[Finch]

Thanks very much for the welcome and the reply. Where do I find the menu "auto input monitoring"? What pull down menu is this located under?

[hubad]

alt K. Correct me if i am wrong people. I usually hit keyboard without looking and just execute. But i am familiar with feature.

[spkguitar]

alt-k is correct to toggle between the two modes.

And the menu items can be found on the Operations menu.

[Finch]

Hi Guys,

Newbie here. Sad to say that it didn't work for me. Is there anything else I could be overlooking? Auto input monitoring is checked and I've still got the problem. Am I supposed to be in a certain recording mode for this to work? It looks like I'm in non-destructive mode. Thanks for your help and patience.

[Shan]

What hardware are you using? Mbox? oo2?

Shane

[Finch]

Running a 002 on a Dell Dimension 9100 -

I guess its not that big a deal, but I'm betting I'm doing something wrong. Quick poll - how do you DUC's out there compose on protools? Do you record everything or are you set up to record only when you are ready and you have figured out how to monitor yourself while you compose?