Today Avid released Pro Tools 2023.12. As well as delivering an integrated Dolby Atmos Renderer, as previewed at IBC in September. It features a significant update to the markers and memory locations functionality, introduces the use of colour in the IO setup and adds updates to video features and Pro Tools Sketch. We have the details.

Integrated Pro Tools Dolby Atmos renderer

The setup process for Atmos and Pro Tools previously involved use of the external Dolby Atmos Renderer application, either running on a separate computer or in the host machine and running up to 128 channels of audio between Pro Tools and the renderer using either the Dolby Atmos Bridge as your playback engine or more complex methods involving additional hardware. Whichever method was used it added complexity.

With Pro Tools 2023.12 Dolby and Avid have integrated the renderer directly into Pro Tools, so you can mix in Dolby Atmos without having to use (or purchase) the external Dolby Atmos Renderer application. This greatly simplifies the setup and use of Dolby Atmos within Pro Tools, while lowering the cost as the new integrated renderer is included free in both Pro Tools Studio and Ultimate.

The Pro Tools Dolby Atmos renderer supports direct monitoring of the following formats: Binaural, 2.0, 5.1, 7.1, 5.1.2, 5.1.4, 7.1.4 (Studio and Ultimate) and 9.1.6 (Ultimate only). Binaural can be monitored from the main output, or sent as an independent headphone mix, allowing you to maintain a separate monitor format from your speakers. The Dolby Atmos integration also offers an independent re-render that can be used for loudness metering with your choice of loudness metering plugin, or as an additional 5.1 or 2.0 send/print of the mix.

You Can Still Use The External Dolby Atmos Renderer With Pro Tools 2023.12

Pro Tools can toggle between using an external or the integrated renderer and output mappings persist when doing so. An additional benefit of the integrated Pro Tools Dolby Atmos renderer is that it provides Playback Engine independence. It is no longer necessary to change the playback engine to Dolby Atmos Bridge to route audio conveniently to the renderer with the related limitations that can introduce to some users, for example users of HDX systems. Being able to easily change a session between integrated and external renderers is particularly useful for session interchange between systems.

Although many users will only ever use the integrated Pro Tools Dolby Atmos renderer, here are some of the reasons why you still may require the external Dolby Atmos Renderer:

• Dolby Atmos Music Panner support

• Support for larger post-production workflows like dubbing using multi-system configurations

• Recording and punching into a .atmos file

• Export of MP4 files

• Built-in room correction tools

• Additional speaker configurations (beyond 9.1.6, 7.1.4, 5.1.4, 5.1.2, 7.1, 5.1, 2.0, binaural)

• Speaker array mode

• Ability to monitor live re-renders beyond 5.1 loudness and stereo/binaural

Live re-renders are provided from the Pro Tools Dolby Atmos renderer. A 5.1 re-render for loudness measurement and a re-render for binaural headphones. There is a new tab in the IO Setup dedicated to Dolby Atmos meaning that the IO Setup, as well as being somewhere an Atmos mixer can expect to spend less time, is also simpler to navigate.

While the Pro Tools Dolby Atmos renderer is similar to the external Dolby Atmos Renderer, it isn’t identical and some improvements have been made. The 3D perspective views have been enhanced, three modes are available: Free, Top and rear and the Top and Rear views offer views with more apparent depth than the Free view when viewed from these perspectives. A nice touch is the addition of Path names in the text display for Objects. This allows you to customise the text of your Object to see how it relates to specific elements in the session.

Use Of Colour

Groups in the Dolby Atmos Renderer are a useful organisational tool which can be used to create re-renders of specific groups of beds and objects. These groups are displayed in the new Dolby Atmos tab of the Pro Tools IO setup window and this is one of the areas which benefits from the newly introduced option to colour code paths in the IO window.

Dolby Atmos Groups can be colour coded then mapped paths inherit the chosen colour, making it easier to see the relationship between tracks, objects and beds. Colour coding has been available on tracks for a long time. The recent updates to the markers system in 2023.6 extended the use of colour in markers and it’s a natural move to introduce colour to make routing easier to understand at a glance.

Colour coding can be applied to Inputs, Outputs, Busses, Dolby Atmos Groups, and Insert Paths. This colour coding can be explicit or inherited. What this means is that for example if an object is a member of a group with a colour assigned in the IO window, the output of that track will inherit the colour coding from the IO window. If however you wanted to override this inherited colour coding and assign a unique colour to that object, that can also be done. If you’re using the external Dolby Atmos Renderer application with Pro Tools, the colour will even flow from group, to bed/object, to output.

Marker Improvements

Pro Tools 2023.6 brought the introduction of Track Markers to Pro Tools. While I thought it was a powerful new feature, I did comment at the time that I still wanted additional Marker Rulers at the top of the Edit Page. That’s exactly what we get in this second phase of this overhaul of the Markers system. We now have up to five Marker Rulers available, opening up the possibility of Ruler Markers for different purposes residing on separate rulers. These Rulers are targetable and there are significant improvements to the Memory Locations Window which accompany this update.

In 2023.12 there is an easier way to find and sort markers, including an easier way to clean up unused markers and there is now a way to navigate to the previous or next memory location. There are four ways to filter Memory Locations:

The first is by clicking on the icons at the top of the attribute columns or marker colour, but rather than hiding memory locations with that attribute, it now hides locations which don’t have that attribute. Clicking a second column extends the filter to include both attributes.

The second way of filtering is by typing text in the boxes above the number, name, track, or comment columns.

The third way is subtractive. Clicking on the funnel icon in the upper left of the window opens a drop-down menu. Unchecking any of the boxes within it will hide memory locations that contain that attribute from the list. This gives you a lot of control over what you see.

The fourth method utilises the same funnel icon. Note that there are three items at the bottom which are unchecked by default. Checking any of these will dynamically filter the list to only show memory locations on Selected Tracks, Edit Selections, or just your Targeted Track. These filters can be used in conjunction with each other, or with other filters.

New key commands have been added, which allow you move between the previous and next memory locations in the list. You can also recall the last recalled memory location in case you have strayed away from its state or position.

Avid have added a tab in the Import Session Data window, allowing you to map marker rulers on import. For cases where you are unsure where to put the incoming markers (or none of your existing marker rulers seem appropriate) they have added an option to import them as new basic folders. Non-marker memory locations now have their own independent checkbox, as importing these is common when you are managing Pro Tools mix templates.

Pro Tools Sketch Enhancements

When working in iPad, Sketch now incorporates an Auto Backup system so unsaved changes will be restored the next time you launch the app. In the Scene arranger playback can now be started from anywhere in the arrangement and, although exporting an entire Sketch into Pro Tools results in audio renders of MIDI based instrument tracks, if individual clips are dragged from instrument tracks they can now remain as MIDI or be rendered to audio. Conversely if you drag an audio clip from Pro Tools into Sketch it will render the full signal chain to the imported audio

Improvements to the desktop Media Browser make it easier to access your loops and samples and you can now embed Sketches directly into Pro Tools session folders for better portability of projects when sharing and collaborating with others.

H.264 Same As Source support (Studio and Ultimate only)

Same as Source bounce is a useful feature in Pro Tools for a number of reasons. It’s generally quicker because time doesn’t need to be spent re-encoding the frames, but more importantly, it ensures that the video you send back to your client is definitely in the same format that you were originally sent.

Although Pro Tools has allowed Same as Source bounces of DNxHD, DNxHR, and most Apple ProRes for quite a while, it lost the ability to do so with H.264 in macOS Catalina, and when QuickTime support was deprecated on Windows. Pro Tools 2023.12 brings this support back.

It’s important to note that there are many varieties of H.264 files, and not all files are created equal. Some attributes may prevent the file from bouncing Same as Source, but Pro Tools should display a warning if this is the case. For example, Variable Frame Rate (VFR) files and MXF H.264 files must be transcoded instead of using Same as Source.

Improved QuickTime Timecode Track support (Studio and Ultimate only)

The timecode track in an MOV file is used to display location information in QuickTime Player, and it can also be used as location information in other applications. Pro Tools 2023.12 now supports reading this timecode track and can treat the first frame of the timecode track as the “Original Timestamp” of the file. This means that MOV timestamp information can be displayed in the Workspace, in the Clip Info, and most importantly, it can be used in the Spot window.

The Bounce Mix window now has the option to pass through the timecode track from the original MOV file when doing a Same as Source bounce or replace it with the current timeline location.

Extended Komplete Kontrol Support

Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol support has been updated with the following enhancements:

• Support for the MK III keyboard

• Pro Tools will scroll to tracks based on the keyboard selection.

• Komplete Kontrol and Kontakt can now be loaded into any insert slot (not only the first) to be available from the keyboard

AAX plugin cache improvements

Avid have done a major overhaul of the plugin cache, making the launch process smoother. Here’s a list of improvements you will see:

• Quicker launch when many plugins are first cached

• Fixed a crash that can happen during launch when many plugins are first cached

• If a crash occurs during launch, on the next launch the plugin cache creation/update will pick up where it left off

• The cache has been moved to a shared user location so that it does not need to be generated separately for each user account on the computer

Although the headlines of this release are undoubtedly the integrated Pro Tools Dolby Atmos renderer and the much requested new marker features, there is something else for most users in this release, The extended use of colour into the IO window and the improvements to the AAX cache are the kind of practical improvements which make Pro Tools easier to use, which is just as important as headline grabbing new features.

macOS Sonoma

Rob D’Amico from Avid said in comments; “Sonoma is not supported just yet. There are some issues that need to be fixed by an update of the macOS. Please check out this known issue page we put together.”

Pro Tools 2023.12 is available to users with an active subscription or support and upgrade plan. Check your Avid account for details.