Using LucidLink with Avid Pro Tools

  • Updated

Using a LucidLink Filespace with Avid Pro Tools is fairly straightforward, but the following items should be taken into account to make for an optimal user experience. 

 

Key items to consider when using Avid Pro Tools with LucidLink

 

Choosing your cloud object storage provider

  • Consistent 24/7 high performance from the object storage is the foundation for a great Pro Tools experience. Selecting a LucidLink Teams or Enterprise Filespace with the bundled IBM Cloud Object Storage and the LucidLink service is highly recommended. 
  • If one is bringing their own storage, cloud object storage providers such as Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure Blob, Amazon AWS S3, etc. are recommended. 
  • Other storage providers may deliver higher latency and/or inconsistent performance making for a less than optimal end-user experience.

It is not recommended to use a LucidLink Basic Filespace for Avid Pro Tools work.  

Ethernet cable vs. WiFi internet connection

  • It is recommended to use an ethernet cable connection over a WiFi connection to the internet to minimize latency and maximize performance. 

 

LucidLink cache drive

  • Only use an SSD type drive for the LucidLink cache location.
  • The SSD drive used for the LucidLink cache can be an internal drive or an external drive connected by a USB version 3 or faster connection.
  • If needed to relocate one's LucidLink cache location, please refer to the adjust local cache settings article.

 

LucidLink cache settings

  • It is recommended to set one's cache size to be greater than the overall size of Pro Tools session audio and video files combined; plus accommodate for any mix/bounce files.
  • The default LucidLink cache size is 25GB, and this is used for reading and writing to the LucidLink Filespace. Increasing this may be necessary when working on sessions where higher resolutions 24/96 or greater are used, many tracks including video are used. Typically, Pro Tools users will set their cache to 100GB or 200GB in size when using an internal SSD drive on their Apple Macbook or Windows PC/Laptop. Some will use an external SSD drive if they don't have enough space on their internal SSD drive or need to use larger cache sizes to accommodate larger session file sizes. The maximum LucidLink cache size supported is 10TB. 
  • Refer to the following adjust local cache settings article.

 

LucidLink pinning

  • LucidLink pinning allows one to use their existing internet connection even if bandwidth and latency are not enough to provide smooth playback and quick session load times. 80% of the LucidLink cache can be used for pinning. Please refer to the following KB article on pinning.
  • LucidLink will read and prefetch session data over 64 concurrent streams. Thus, if one has greater than 64 tracks in a Pro Tools session and the internet bandwidth plus latency is not fast enough to provide data to Pro Tools, pinning of the session's track files may be necessary for smooth playback. 
  • If using a video track(s) in a Pro Tools session, it may be necessary to pin the video file(s) if the load time is not fast enough for one's needs. Note that one can just pin the video file(s) but it may not be necessary to pin the audio session files.
  • If importing session files from another DAW (i.e. Adobe Audition, Presonus Studio One, etc.), the contents of the session files will be available in one's LucidLink cache and not need to be pinned. 

 

Recording new tracks direct to the cloud

  • Recording of new tracks straight to the LucidLInk Filespace (direct to the cloud) is no different than saving a session to a local drive, and it is seamless as long as one's LucidLink cache is large enough to hold the new session files/tracks generated. 

 

Mix/bounce direct to the cloud

  • Mixing/bounce straight to the LucidLInk Filespace (direct to the cloud) is no different than saving a session to a local drive, and it is seamless as long as one's LucidLink cache is large enough to hold the audio files generated. 
  • Note that mix/bounce is a read-then-write operation where the tracks are first read, processed and then written. 

 

Saving a Pro Tools session

  • Saving a Pro Tools session is no different than saving a session to a local drive, and it is seamless as long as one's LucidLink cache is large enough to hold the session data being saved.

 

Disconnecting from LucidLink

  • Note that the writing of all data from recording, mixing and saving will go to the LucidLink cache first and then be uploaded "behind the scenes" to the Filespace. It is important to allow this upload process to complete before disconnecting from LucidLink. In the LucidLink client, it will show a "Remaining Upload" field. Only disconnect when this shows 0B. 

 

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