Transferring sessions between Mac and PC

[Fuzzyc]

I Can anyone explain how to transfer sessions between the Mac and the PC?would like to be able to collaborate with a band member that is running Pro Tools on a Mac (I'm on a PC running Windows 7).

I wish I could help but I'm not as familiar with Mac as a PR

Thanks!!

[solitaire349]

I've been wanting to do this my self, just read this in the pro tools 101 book but haven't tried it my self yet so I don't know if it will work, or if there is something else needed to be done...but go to file->save copy in->then fill out the boxes. select the save as type drop down menu (in case you have an earlier version of pro tools). choose the audio file format for wav I guess and then there should be a box to check for "enforce MAC/PC Compatibility"

[scenicrecords]

If you are transferring with a Flash Drive or a External Hard Drive, make sure you format it to FAT32. Only FAT32 will read/write on both systems. If you are formatting it on a Mac using the Disk Utility, I think the choice is MS-DOS.

[Dism]

I transfer PT sessions between Mac and PC all the time with no issues. Never had to check "enforce Mac/PC compatibility." YMMV.

[TOM@METRO]

Originally Posted by Dism

I transfer PT sessions between Mac and PC all the time with no issues. Never had to check "enforce Mac/PC compatibility." YMMV.

Same here, I get Mac drives (HFS+) all the time with no issues. I never use FAT 32 anymore. Just be sure you have checked the box on your PT installation for HFS+ support.

[scenicrecords]

Originally Posted by TOM@METRO

Same here, I get Mac drives (HFS+) all the time with no issues. I never use FAT 32 anymore. Just be sure you have checked the box on your PT installation for HFS+ support.

I did not know there was a way to read HFS+ on Windows.

[scenicrecords]

You guys must be using LE or HD. I just found this in the M-Powered setup guide:

Pro Tools M-Powered does not support the following
Pro Tools LE options:
• Complete Production Toolkit
• DV Toolkit 2
• Digidesign Ethernet-based control surfaces
(such as C|24™)
• Avid video peripherals
• HFS+ Disk Support

[Fuzzyc]

We've been able to easily transfer the wav files back and forth without any problem, but not real sure how to transfer the "session". Dism - do you mind sharing some tips on how you do that?

Also, one of our challenges has been that when we have a track that is placed in the middle of a song (and doesn't start from the beginning), when you send just the wav file its placed at the beginning of the song when you import it into PT. So you have to manually move that track into place. If you have several wav files it gets to be a pain. Can you help me with that as well?

Many thanks!!

[Dism]

Originally Posted by Fuzzyc

We've been able to easily transfer the wav files back and forth without any problem, but not real sure how to transfer the "session". Dism - do you mind sharing some tips on how you do that?

Just grab the whole session folder... put it on your next system, open it. That's all there is to it.

Originally Posted by Fuzzyc

Also, one of our challenges has been that when we have a track that is placed in the middle of a song (and doesn't start from the beginning), when you send just the wav file its placed at the beginning of the song when you import it into PT. So you have to manually move that track into place. If you have several wav files it gets to be a pain. Can you help me with that as well?

Many thanks!!

This won't be a problem when you open the actual session... but it's good to know for when you need to bounce to other DAWs. Pro Tools is particularly good at this.

Simply:

Select all regions in question, from the very end. Hold Shift and press Enter (Return on Mac). This creates a selection from 0 on your timeline to the end of your regions. Consolidate regions (shift+alt+3). What this does, is puts silent "space" before your regions so that they all start at 0. Export Regions as Files... and now you have wavs that can be imported to any DAW and will all be lined up.

[Fuzzyc]

Thanks Dism! That is a big help! I'll give it a try later today.