Q: Help, I think I broke Pro Tools! When I start playback, it will only begin from the beginning of the song or from a memory location, I can’t get it to start anywhere within the song!
A: You probably inadvertently turned off the “Link Timeline and Edit Selection” button on the Edit window or unselected “Link Timeline and Edit Selection” in the Options menu.
When the “Link Timeline and Edit Selection” button is selected or that menu item is checked, Pro Tools will play back from wherever the flashing cursor line is at in the Edit window – as you’d normally expect playback in Pro Tools or pretty much any DAW to work.
When the “Link Timeline and Edit Selection” button is turned off or the menu item unchecked, playback and edit points are separate. This allows you to make a selection in a track with the cursor, then click somewhere else in the timeline above the various rulers to determine where playback will start without losing the edit selection. So, items or a range you have selected for editing aren’t affected by where you start playback from. This is useful for having a bit of “pre-roll” when auditioning a change or edit point, for doublechecking something at another location in a song without losing the point you are working on, and so on.