The recent release of Pro Tools 2023.9 was dominated by the introduction of Pro Tools Sketch, and rightly so. This introduction of a non-linear, clip-based workflow for music production is one of the bigger updates to the look and feel of Pro Tools in a long time. For those for whom creating beats on the fly from an iPad and sharing them with a Pro Tools session is a useful addition to their workflow Sketch is important, but there are many users of Pro Tools for whom Sketch isn’t really part of their world. What does 2023.9 have for them?

Since 2023.9 was released we’ve had the opportunity to study what’s new in more detail and there are some features which didn’t get a mention in the original article covering the new release, which we have since updated. Before we focus on these it’s worth revisiting the couple of useful new features in 2023.9 beyond Sketch which were in the original post: Export Selected Range and Drag and Drop Insert Reordering.

Export Selected Range

Export Selected Range enables users to export selected portions of the timeline as a new session. This feature is perfect for breaking up large post sessions, separating a live recording into a session per song, and saving important elements of the session as bite size pieces. See it in action in the video below.

Export Selected Range is only available in Pro Tools Studio and Pro Tools Ultimate .

Drag-and-drop Plugin Slot Reordering

While it’s previously been possible to drag inserts between plugin slots, when re-ordering plugins there had to be a vacant slot to move the insert to or plugins would be replaced rather than re-ordered, an action which isn’t undoable. A new warning has been introduced to minimise the chance of accidental replacement in the new update. This new feature give users greater flexibility in experimenting with and changing processing order by shuffling plugins between slots and moving the plugins which follow in much the same way as clips move on the timeline when in Shuffle mode. Watch the video below to see how it works.

However there are more new features than just these two:

Track Marker And Memory Location Improvements

The introduction of Track markers was a major feature of the 2023.6 release and work has clearly been continuing since then. If you look at the Bug Fixes article for 2023.9 you’ll notice that the largest section is related to Markers, unsurprising as with new features, inevitably come new bugs! However there have been some useful new features introduced to Track Markers in the 2023.9 release:

New key commands have been introduced to make it easy to navigate between Marker Lanes on different tracks, as well as to the Marker Ruler. In much the same way as you can move the Insertion Point or Edit Selection vertically between track playlists using P and ; in Command Focus, you can now move the Insertion Point or Edit Selection from Track Marker Lane directly to the next Track Marker Lane, or to the Markers Ruler.

Key Commands For Selecting Marker Lanes

Move the Edit selection to the previous Marker Lane

• Command+Option+Control+P (Mac) or Control+Alt+Start+P (Windows).

Move the Edit selection to the next Marker Lane

• Command+Option+Control+; (Mac) or Control+Alt+Start+; (Windows).

Extend the Edit selection to the previous Marker Lane

• Command+Option+Control+Shift+P (Mac) or Control+Alt+Start+Shift+P (Windows).

Extend the Edit selection to the next Marker Lane

• Command+Option+Control+Shift+; (Mac) or Control+Alt+Start+Shift+; (Windows).

Remove the top-most selected view, including explicitly selected Marker lanes (selected either using mouse or keyboard):

• Control+Option+P (Mac) or Start+Alt+P (Windows).


To remove the bottom-most selected view, including explicitly selected Marker lanes (selected either using mouse or keyboard):

• Control+Option+; (Mac) orStart+Alt+; (Windows)

These commands can also be accessed from Edit Menu - Selection.

When checking out these new features Paul and I both noticed a strange behaviour when using these last two keystrokes to remove the top or bottom most selected view, the selection extends out of the marker lane and into the track playlist area itself. We suspected this was a bug and having checked with Avid this has been confirmed.

We both saw value in these new features. I like the fact that they are another method for jumping between tracks using keystrokes. I’ve even created marker lanes on tracks just so I can quickly jump between them. Paul commented that if for example he had foley, dialogue and SFX markers on different tracks for a scene, he might want to select them all in order to nudge, copy, paste or delete them. Good feature!

Marker Merge Command Added To The Edit Menu

Previously if you wanted to paste a selection of markers between lanes you had to use Option/Alt+V. Edit - Paste Special - Merge Markers has now been added to the Edit menu.

Previously, the Merge Markers command was only available using Option+V (Mac) or Alt+V (Windows). This acts as a standard paste command and is available when something is in the clipboard. The only difference is the behaviour when Markers are pasted - it merges Markers instead of overwriting them. Edit - Paste Special - Merge has been updated to Edit - Paste Special - Merge MIDI.

Updated Key Modifier For Assigning Marker Colour - Mac Only

On macOS, Option+1–8 has been changed to Control+1–8 for marker colour selection in the New and Edit Memory Location dialogues.

Update Position And Update Selection

When editing an existing Memory Location you can use the Update Position or Update Selection settings to move a Marker or Selection to the current playhead location. These settings are only available in the Edit Memory Location window, and are useful when you need to change the marker location or the bounds of the selection stored in a Memory Location.

To use Update Position or Update Selection:

Do one of the following:

• For updating markers, make a new timeline insertion.

• For updating selections, make a new edit selection.

In the Memory Locations window, Control-click (Mac) or Start-click (Windows) the Marker Memory Location that you want to redefine. The Edit Memory Location window appears. You can also Command-click (Mac) or Start-click (Windows) a Memory Location in the Markers ruler.

Enable the Update Position (for a Marker) or Update Selection (for a selection) setting, then click OK. When updating a marker, it moves to the current playhead location.

See the images below:

Width-Changing Plug-ins Organised In New Sub-menus 

The Inserts menu has been improved by simplifying the way in which different channel widths (formats) of a plug-in are listed. Whenever a plug-in supports four or more channel widths, the different channel width options are provided in a sub-menu for that plug-in. This helps manage clutter in the Plug-in Inserts menu. Note that when the Organise Plug-In Menus By Flat List option is enabled in the Preferences, plug-ins do not appear in a submenu. If widths are hidden from the Show/Hide menu in the new tracks dialog or new paths dialog in IO setup, those widths for width changing plug-in are also hidden from the drop-down menus as well as the search results for inserts. 

New Path Order Listings Added To I/O Setup Input Page 

New Path Order listings have been added to the Input page of the I/O Setup to make it easier to create paths that align with monitor returns from the Dolby Atmos Renderer. 

Activate Pro Tools Power Scheme Option (Windows Only) 

The Playback Engine provides an Activate Pro Tools Power Scheme option (Windows only) that when enabled optimises Pro Tools performance, but requires more power (Windows System Power Management). 

New Video Slewing Option 

Pro Tools 2023.6 introduced the ability to disable slewing with video playback. With Pro Tools 2023.9, a new option has been introduced to disable slewing only during looping playback. Slewing helps audio and video to stay in sync when there is no common clock reference between audio and video hardware. However, it can be problematic in certain circumstances, such as with loop playback. This option lets you keep longer playback passes in sync, while maintaining performance during loop playback. 

To set the Video Slewing preference: 

1  Choose Setup > Preferences > Operation.
2  In the Video section, select the desired Slewing option:

Enabled Slewing is always enabled.
Disabled While Looping Slewing is disabled only during looping playback. Disabled Always Slewing is always disabled.

So as well as the headline grabbing features like Sketch, there have been some of the less exciting, incremental improvements which, if they help with sticking points in your particular workflow can be invaluable. I’m already a fan of Export Session Range and using P and ; with all three modifiers to jump between tracks with Track Markers is a session navigation hack I’ve already appropriated. What is your favourite new feature in 2023.9?