Halo and Pro Tools

In Pro Tools, you use Pro Tools and VoiceOver the way you normally would, and Halo fills in what VoiceOver can't get to. It gives you keys that read a track or the session and change things on them, and after a lot of Pro Tools' own keys it tells you what happened, since Pro Tools mostly doesn't. If you used Flo Tools, see Coming from Flo Tools.

Halo Helper

Halo Helper is what gives you plugin panels, the Relink window and exact meter readings in Pro Tools. You don't have to do anything, Halo sets it up and keeps it updated.

Pro Tools Developer

Halo works with Pro Tools Developer too. If you have both open, it goes with whichever one is in front.

Getting Started

Start with the Inspector. Put the VoiceOver cursor on a track in the Mix or Edit window and press a letter, and Halo tells you about that track. M tells you if it's muted, S if it's soloed, R if it's armed, V gives you the volume, N the pan and L the level. For the buttons, pressing the letter twice quickly presses it, so M twice mutes or unmutes the track. The number keys 1 to 0 read inserts A to J, and pressing one twice opens that plugin.

The Inspector keys are plain letters, so Slash turns the Inspector off when you want those keys for something else, and Slash again turns it back on.

For the session as a whole, F1 to F4 tell you whether you're in Shuffle, Slip, Spot or Grid mode, and twice switches to it. Command+F1, F2 and F3 give you the edit selection start, end and length, and Command+F4 the main counter. Option+Shift+G gives you a quick rundown of the session, its name and format and what's armed, soloed or muted.

Every key Halo has in Pro Tools is in Pro Tools Keyboard Commands.

The Inspector

The Inspector reads the track the VoiceOver cursor is on, in the Mix or Edit window. You can be on the track strip itself or on anything inside it, like an insert or the fader. Slash turns it on and off.

Press a key once and Halo tells you about it. Press it twice quickly and it presses the button or opens the menu. M is mute, S solo, R record, K input monitor, V volume, N pan, P peak, L level and Shift+L the maximum, U the meter type, Semicolon gain reduction, I input, O output, A automation, G group, and C comments. T selects the track, and twice opens its right-click menu. In the Edit window there's also W for track view, B timebase, E Elastic Audio, F freeze, H track options and Backslash for the playlist. 1 to 0 are inserts A to J, and Control with 1 to 0 are sends A to J. Command with those opens the menu to put something on that insert or send.

Pan

On a stereo track pan gives you both sides, like "100% left, 100% right." Control+Command+Shift+Up Arrow and Down Arrow move both pan knobs out from the center or back in toward it at the same time.

Meters and Counters

L gives you the track's level meter in tenths of a dB, on the scale of whatever meter type you picked, so K-20 reads from its own 0. Shift+L gives you the max. Press L twice to start or stop the level meter monitor, which reads the loudest level at the interval you set in Preferences (half a second unless you change it), and tells you right away when the signal stops. U tells you the meter type, and pressing it twice opens a menu to change it. Counters set to samples say "samples" after the number.

Meters read on any track, even if it's scrolled out of view or behind another window. VoiceOver reads the same numbers when you land on a meter.

Folder Tracks

When a folder track opens or closes, no matter how you did it, Halo says its name and "opened" or "closed." If the folder's empty it tells you that. Moving tracks into a routing folder routes them to it too. Inactive tracks get left out, and Halo tells you which ones.

Comments

Return or Enter in a comment field says "Comment saved."

Freeze, Timebase and Elastic Audio

These use the names Avid uses in newer versions of Pro Tools, so they read right again. In the Edit window, Timebase and Elastic Audio only show up at Medium track height or bigger.

Moving and Copying Plugins

Sighted people drag plugins from one insert to another with the mouse, and Halo lets you do that from the keyboard in the Mix window. With the VoiceOver cursor on an insert, press Option and any number key, and Halo tells you what it picked up. Go to the insert where you want it, on the same track or a different one, and press Option and a number key again. Halo moves it there and tells you where it went. Add Shift if you want to copy it instead, and the copy keeps all the plugin's settings. Sends work the same way, just put the VoiceOver cursor on a send. If you change your mind, press it again on the insert you started from.

If the VoiceOver cursor is on the track strip and not an insert, the number picks the slot, 1 is insert A, 2 is B, and so on up to 0 for J.

Whole Plugin Chains

Press Option and a number twice quickly to pick up every plugin on the track. Then press Option and a number once on another track and the whole chain goes over, each plugin into the same slot it was in. Add Shift to copy. If a slot is already taken on the other track it gets skipped, and Halo tells you which ones, so nothing gets written over.

Moving Tracks

Moving a track with VoiceOver means holding the mouse down on it in the Track List and hoping it lands in the right place, and usually it ends up one track too high. With Halo, put the VoiceOver cursor on a track (its strip in the Mix or Edit window, anything on the strip, or its row in the Track List) and press Option+Down Arrow or Option+Up Arrow to pick it up. Then go to another track and press Option+Down Arrow to drop it below that one, or Option+Up Arrow to drop it above. Halo tells you where it went. Pressing it again on the same track cancels. The Track List has to be showing for this.

Folders work too. Option+Down Arrow on a folder puts the track inside it, at the bottom. Dropping it below a track that's already in a folder puts it in that folder, and dropping it below a track that isn't in one takes it out. If you move a folder, everything in it comes along.

Clips

Pro Tools' own Go to and Select Next Clip (Control+Tab, or Control+Command+Apostrophe) and Select Previous Clip (Control+Command+L) select a clip on the selected track, but Pro Tools doesn't tell you which one. Halo gives you the name, where it starts and how long it is, like "Gtr_01-02, Bar 34, Beat 4, 74 bars, 1 beat." Fades get read too, as "Fade in," "Fade out" or "Crossfade," and it tells you if a clip is muted.

Moving Clips to Another Track

With a clip selected, press Option+Shift+Command+Comma to pick it up, or press it twice quickly to pick up a copy. Then put the VoiceOver cursor on another track, in the Mix or Edit window, and press Option+Shift+Command+Period. The clip goes onto that track at the exact same spot, fades and all, and Halo tells you where it went. If you're in Shuffle mode Halo switches to Slip just for the move, so nothing else slides around. A track inside a closed folder can't take a clip, so open the folder first.

Riding Faders and Pan

People with a mouse write automation in Touch mode by holding a fader down and moving it while the music plays, and Halo lets you do that too. In the Mix window, with the VoiceOver cursor on a track, press Shift+V. Halo holds the mouse down on that track's volume fader, or its pan knob if the track view in the Edit window is set to pan, and says "Grabbed volume" and where it's at.

While you're holding it, Up and Down Arrow (or Right and Left) move it one step at a time and Halo reads the value. If you hold an arrow down it stays quiet until you let go, then tells you where it ended up. Add Command for smaller steps. Shift+V, Return or Escape lets go. Any other key lets go too and still does its normal thing, so Space stops playback and lets go at the same time.

Steps start out at 0.5 dB for the arrows, 0.1 dB with Command, and 2 for pan. You can change them on the Fader Ride tab in Preferences, anywhere from 0.03 dB to 1 dB.

Plugin Monitor

While a plugin window is open, Halo reads a parameter whenever it changes, like "Mix, 60%." That includes changes from a control surface, values the plugin changes by itself, and readouts that move while the music plays.

It's off by default. Option+Slash in a plugin window turns it on and off, and there's a checkbox in Preferences too. When you change a control from the keyboard it stays quiet, since VoiceOver already reads that.

Gain Reduction

Most plugins draw their meters as pictures, and nothing can read those. But most compressors and limiters also send their gain reduction to Pro Tools' own meter on the track, so while a plugin window is open the Plugin Monitor reads that track's gain reduction whenever it changes, like "Gain reduction 6 dB." It doesn't tell you when it goes back to 0, so stopping playback won't set it off. Turning off the gain reduction monitor (Semicolon twice) shuts this off too.

The Mouse Layer

The Mouse layer is for clicking things VoiceOver can't press. Command+Slash turns it on and off. Everything in it happens at the VoiceOver cursor, no matter where the mouse pointer is.

Clicks

Grave Accent with modifiers clicks at the VoiceOver cursor with those modifiers held down, in any app. So Option+Grave Accent is an Option-click, Command+Shift+Grave Accent is a Command-Shift-click, and so on.

On a Pro Tools track strip it's a little different. Grave Accent with modifiers sets up the click and plays a short sound. Then press an Inspector key, by itself or with the same modifiers still down, and Halo clicks that control with your modifiers. For example, hold Option, press Grave Accent, then press M, and you get an Option-click on Mute.

Controls Off Screen

With every row of the Mix window showing, a track strip can end up taller than the screen, so the inserts or the fader are out of view and no click can get to them. A lot of the time that's why a click or a VoiceOver mouse command doesn't do anything, or clicks the wrong thing. Halo scrolls the Mix window so the control is in view before it clicks or moves a plugin. If VoiceOver's own mouse commands still act up, hide the rows you don't use in View, Mix Window Views (Inserts F-J and Sends F-J especially) so the whole strip fits.

Zoom

Command+Option+Shift+Z makes the front window fill the screen.

Track Lists

Command+Option+Shift+L opens the Track Lists window, which is kind of like a little mixer for one thing at a time. Every track is a checkbox that tells you its state, like "Vox, muted." Space switches a track, and Command+A switches all of them: if any are on they all go off, and if none are on they all go on.

Left and Right Arrow go between Mute, Solo, Record and Input Monitor, and Halo tells you how many tracks are on, like "Solo, 2 of 12 soloed." Command+1 to Command+4 go straight to one of them. Escape closes the window.

It lists the tracks that are showing in the Mix window. Inactive tracks say inactive, since Pro Tools won't change them until they're active again.

Dialogs and Windows

The keys for the Fade In, Fade Out, Crossfade and Batch Fades dialogs, AudioSuite, and the tabbed setup windows are all still there. In tabbed windows like I/O Setup and Preferences, Command with the keypad numbers 1 to 9 works the same as the number row.

New Tracks

In the New Tracks dialog, Halo reads the format after Command+Left or Right Arrow, the type after Command+Up or Down Arrow, and the timebase after Option+Command+Up or Down Arrow.

Pro Tools Search

After you use Window, Pro Tools Search (Control+Shift+S), Halo tells you the track or marker it took you to.

Plugin Windows

In a plugin window, Left and Right Bracket go to the previous and next preset and read its name. Option+Command+P reads the current preset, and pressing it twice opens the Librarian menu. Option+B turns bypass on or off and tells you which.

Option+Grave Accent goes to the next open plugin window and Option+Shift+Grave Accent goes to the previous one, from the Mix window, the Edit window or any plugin window.

Plugin Panels

A lot of plugins draw their own controls, and VoiceOver can't see any of them. Halo Helper adds a panel to the plugin window with the plugin's actual controls, named and working. Right now that's JUCE plugins, plus Soundtoys, Slate, kiloHearts, Waves and Youlean Loudness Meter.

Live Meters

If a panel has meters, it also has a Live meters button. Turn it on and the meter under the VoiceOver cursor reads itself out, and when the cursor is somewhere else in the plugin, the main meter does, which is gain reduction on a compressor, short-term loudness in Youlean, and otherwise the output or the first meter. P pins the meter the VoiceOver cursor is on, or the first meter if you're not on one (VO+Command+Space on a meter does the same), and a pinned meter keeps reading no matter where the cursor goes, as long as that plugin window stays open. P again unpins it. Shift+P reads every meter once. How often they read is in Preferences.

The Relink Window

Missing Files, Manually Find & Relink works with VoiceOver through Halo. The three lists have names, rows tell you if they're checked and open, and all the buttons are there. Up and Down Arrow move through a list and read each row, Right Arrow opens a drive or folder and Left Arrow closes it, and Space checks or unchecks the search area you're on. VO+Command+T and VO+Command+Shift+T move between the lists, and the arrow keys come with you, except an empty list can't take the arrows, so they stay in the list you came from.

The VoiceOver cursor doesn't move while you use the arrows, so use Space to check a row, not VO+Space.

Resizing the Clips List and Track List

Control+Shift+Command+C starts resizing the Clips list and Control+Shift+Command+T does the Track List. Halo tells you how wide it is, then Left and Right Arrow make it narrower or wider and tell you the new width. Return or Escape when you're done. The Clips list is only in the Edit window, so if you start from the Mix window it brings the Edit window up, and puts you back in the Mix window when you're done.

Track View on All Tracks

Pro Tools' own keys for changing the track view on every track use Control+Option, and VoiceOver takes those. Use Control+Shift+Command+Left Arrow and Right Arrow instead, for the previous or next track view. When the Inspector is on those keys pan the right side of a stereo track, so turn the Inspector off first (Slash).

Grid Value

Pro Tools changes the grid value with Control+Option+Plus and Minus, and VoiceOver takes those too. Control+Command+Plus and Minus on the keypad do it instead and tell you the new grid value. Command+Option+Plus and Minus still change the nudge value like always.

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