Coalescing vca automation – M-AUDIO Pro Tools Recording Studio User Manual
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Pro Tools Reference Guide
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Coalescing VCA Automation
There are several ways to commit, or coalesce, 
the contribution of a selected VCA Master 
track’s Volume and Mute automation to the au-
tomation playlists of its slave tracks.
Clearing the VCA Master
You can use a VCA Master to write grouped au-
tomation, coalesce the VCA automation to all of 
the slave tracks, and clear the automation on the 
VCA Master. The coalesced tracks will play back 
exactly as they did when they were in the VCA 
group.
To coalesce automation from a VCA Master to all 
of its slave tracks and retain the VCA Master:
1
Select the VCA Master track whose automa-
tion you want to coalesce.
2
Do one of the following:
• Choose Track > Coalesce VCA Master Auto-
mation
.
– or –
• Right-click the VCA Master track name and
choose Coalesce VCA Master Automation.
The composite Volume level and Mute state are 
coalesced to each of the slave tracks. The VCA 
Master Volume fader is reset to zero, the VCA 
Mute is set to unmuted, and any automation on 
the VCA Master is cleared.
Deleting the VCA Master
You can temporarily use a VCA Master to write 
grouped automation, then coalesce the VCA au-
tomation to all of the slave tracks by deleting 
the VCA Master. The coalesced tracks will play 
back exactly as they did when they were in the 
VCA group.
To coalesce automation from a VCA Master to all 
of its slave tracks and delete the VCA Master 
track:
1
Select the VCA Master track whose automa-
tion you want to coalesce.
2
Choose Track > Delete.
The composite Volume level and Mute state are 
committed to each of the slave tracks.
Removing a Slave Track from a VCA 
Group
You can remove an individual slave track from a 
VCA group, which commits the VCA automa-
tion to that track, leaving the VCA Master and 
the other slave tracks untouched. The coalesced 
slave track plays back exactly as it did when it 
was in the VCA group.
To coalesce automation from a VCA Master to an 
individual slave track:
1
Do one of the following:
• Choose Modify Groups from the Group List
menu.
• Click the Group ID indicator on the track
and choose Modify.
• Right-click the Group name in the Group
List and choose Modify.
2
In the Groups dialog, select the VCA-con-
trolled group that includes the slave track.
3
In the Groups dialog, click Tracks and remove
the slave track from the group.
4
Click OK.
The slave track is removed from the VCA group, 
and the composite Volume level and Mute state 
are coalesced to the track. 
This action cannot be undone.
