Using Sessionwire With Pro Tools Aux I/O
Even as we approach the second quarter of this century, online collaboration with audio and video can be tough to navigate. We look at one solution that embraces Pro Tools’ new Aux I/O feature for a more integrated experience.
An Impossible Ask?
Recent world events have initiated a wider move towards more work being done remotely, yet simple solutions for collaborators to get things done are not as numerous as many would like. Issues surrounding latency and bandwidth pervade in the audio domain; introducing video into the mix inevitably adds extra strain. With engineers and artists juggling separate video and audio services to handle media, the potential for things to go wrong is off the scale compared to everyone working in the same room.
Mixing And Matching
Anyone who has tried to do a live audio collaboration over the internet will have experienced the disconnect that can be felt without a line of sight between them and their teammates. Understandably, audio collaborators need video too, yet for many this involves lashing a VoIP service such as Zoom together with an audio collaboration tool. With DAW in tow as well, things can get clunky very quickly.
Dedicated Solutions
Back in March 2022 we were asked to check out Sessionwire. This collaboration app brings together audio collaboration and communication tools, including video, letting users sidestep convoluted setups comprising multiple services. You can read more about what we thought here.
Sessionwire elaborate:
Sessionwire provides ultra-low-latency, bi-directional, studio quality live audio over the internet so you can work together regardless of geographical location. Professional features include video-chat, AAX, AU, and VST send and receive plug-ins, a separate studio-style talkback system, encrypted file transfer, and two-way live audio streaming between macOS or PC recording applications.
Sessionwire allows users to easily integrate Aux I/O, the Pro Tools feature introduced in version 2022.9 for users on Mac. Aux I/O’s virtual drivers now mean that Sessionwire can pipe audio to and from the DAW without the need for separate Send and Return plugins used in the DAW mixer.
In the video, we demonstrate how to set up Sessionwire to take advantage of Pro Tools’ Aux I/O drivers. In the DAW we use a two channel Pro Tools Audio Bridge driver as a send into Sessionwire. With audio flowing into Sessionwire from a collaborator (courtesy of a dummy system), we use a second two channel Pro Tools Audio Bridge driver as a return path into the DAW.
Some thought is needed (depending on aptitude and the amount of coffee consumed!) when labelling paths and virtual drivers. An output at one end is of course an input at the other, and vice versa. Between Pro Tools, Sessionwire, and Pro Tools’ Audio Bridge drivers, terminology can vary. When labelling, using driver names that are slightly more literal can help, such as:
Pro Tools Audio Bridge 2-A = “FROM PT TO SESSIONWIRE INPUT SOURCE”
Pro Tools Audio Bridge 2-B = “FROM SESSIONWIRE OUTPUT DESTINATION TO PT”
Avid drivers in Sessionwire will show up with their factory names “Pro Tools Audio Bridge 2-A/2-B” regardless. Once labelled in a way that makes sense to the user, everything else is fairly straightforward, especially when the signal flow is borne in mind, ie, DAW > Driver A > SESSIONWIRE > Driver B > DAW > monitoring interface.
Using bi-directional drivers gets tricky, but luckily Avid provide the two channel versions as used in this article to save too much head scratching… Certainly utilising Avid’s new virtual drivers in this way takes online collaboration another step towards being, dare we say, easy.