Fast Bounce

Changing Parameters

Setup is where you choose how every bounce is made. Here's where its values come from and what each chip does.

In short

  1. Setup

    Setup is where you set your bounce parameters, and you'll find the same chips across the whole app: folder, file type, bit depth, sample rate, range, mix source and options.

  2. Change what you need

    The chips start with your session's own values, so a new session is ready as it is. Click a chip to change it, and the next bounces you create get the new value.

  3. Edit it later

    Every bounce and every preset keeps its own Setup, and you can edit both after you've created them.

Skip to the details

Every bounce carries its own Setup: the row of chips that sets how it's made. You'll find the same Setup across the app: under the bounce list (for the next bounces you add), in every Add and Edit sheet (for that bounce), and in the preset editor (for what a preset saves). Click a chip to open its picker; changes apply instantly, and Esc closes the picker. What gets bounced (the whole mix, some tracks soloed or muted) is the mode's job: see Adding Bounces.

Setup: where values come from

Setup starts with the session's own values: its file type, bit depth and sample rate, the current timeline selection, and the mix bus. Those are the values the session already has, so you can bounce a new session without touching anything, unless you've set fixed values in Bounce Defaults.

Where you change a chipWhat changes
Under the bounce listThe next bounces you add. Existing bounces keep theirs.
In an Add sheetOnly the bounce (or bounces) that sheet adds.
In an Edit sheetOnly the bounces you're editing. See Editing Bounces.
In the preset editorWhat the preset saves. A chip left at None takes the session's Setup when the preset is applied. See Presets.
Settings › Bounce DefaultsWhat a newly added session starts with. Each value is a fixed choice or Session, meaning "whatever the Pro Tools session uses". See Bounce Defaults.

A chip's look tells you which case you're in:

  1. Session value. The chip shows what the session uses.
  2. Changed. A value you set, with a reset back to the session's.
  3. Needs a choice. The bounce can't run until you pick a value.
  4. Mixed. When editing several bounces, the value differs between them. Leave it and each keeps its own.

Folder

Where the file goes. By default it's Bounced Files/ inside the session folder.

  • Type a name to create a subfolder of it: Stems gives Bounced Files/Stems/, and / nests, so Delivery/v2 works too. The folder is created when the bounce starts.
  • The picker also lists your recent folders.
  • Choose in Finder… takes any folder on any disk.

File type, bit depth, sample rate

ChipValues
File typeWAV, AIFF or MP3. MP3 is always 16-bit.
Bit depth16, 24 or 32-bit float.
Sample rate44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4 or 192 kHz. A different rate from the session's makes Pro Tools convert on the way out.

Need the same mix as a WAV and an MP3? Add the bounce twice with a different file type; or add it once, duplicate it (⌘D) and change the copy's file type.

Range

Which part of the timeline to bounce. Two ways to set it:

  • Memory locations: a start marker and an end marker. Best for templates, because markers keep their names from song to song and presets can find them again.
  • Timeline selection: the selection in Pro Tools when you set it, as start, end and length.

The picker can push the range back to Pro Tools as a timeline selection ("Selection applied in Pro Tools"), so you can check it against the song before bouncing. Clip bounces ignore this chip: each one uses its clip's own position.

Mix source

The bus or output the audio is taken from, usually your mix bus. The picker lists the session's outputs and buses; filter to find one quickly. Pick several and the bounce makes one file per source in the same pass: a pre-limiter and a post-limiter bus, say.

Options

Behind the + chip, three switches:

OptionWhat it does
Realtime bouncePlays the session in real time instead of bouncing offline. For outboard gear and hardware inserts. Takes as long as the song.
Pad to frame boundaryRounds the range to whole video frames. For video deliverables.
Import after bounceAdds the finished file back into the Pro Tools session.
PreviousAdding BouncesNextEditing Bounces