iD48's Line Outputs and ADC Input connections allow you to add hardware effects into your DAW sessions as hardware inserts. In most DAW's you can freely assign which output channel and input channel you wish to use per insert. However, Pro Tools does have a slightly different approach where the input and output channels of an insert must use the same channel number.
For example, if you wish to use Insert 1, then you must use Output Channel 1 and Input Channel 1. To allow this, the Line Outputs on iD48 can be set to DAW Analogue mode, which aligns the Line Outputs of iD48 to Output channels 1-8 as shown below:
So now for example, if you wish to use Insert 3 in Pro Tools, you can set Line Output 3 to DAW Analogue in the System Panel. (Tip: click the stereo/mono buttons to split the stereo pairs into mono outputs)
Plug your hardware effect's input into Channel 3 of the Line Output DB25 loom, and plug the output of the hardware effect into Channel 3 of the ADC Input DB25 loom. Finally, set Channel 3's ADC path to "ADC Direct" in the iD mixer.
You will also likely want to pull down the DAW 3 and Mic 3 faders if they are pulled up in the software mixer so your insert audio is not being sent to the Main Mix.
Now when you press play in Pro Tools, the signal will be sent from the Track, out to the hardware effects and back in again, just like using a plug-in, except you get the great sound of analog hardware!
One potential issue that you may run into with this setup, however, is that Outputs 1+2 will typically be used for feeding your monitors, and this will interrupted if using these channels for Inserts 1 and 2 in Pro Tools. If you are not using all 8 insert channels then you can, of course, skip the first two inserts and reserve these channels for monitoring duties.
Otherwise, should you wish to use all 8 inserts at the same time, then you can send the main output from Pro Tools to Output Channels 9+10 and use the iD software mixer to route this to the Main mix for listening. Adjust your Monitor Output In Pro Tools in the I/O setup to Output channels 9+10, which may also appear as "S/PDIF/ADAT 1 +2"
In the iD mixer, pull up the fader for the DAW 9 and DAW 10 channels and pull down the faders for the other DAW channels as shown below:
You can now play back audio to your monitors and headphones via the main mix whilst using all 8 Inserts.
Please note however that the above setup will limit you from using External Talkback sources (which also use the DAW 10 channel) and potentially the first two Optical output channels (which are also fed from output channels 9+10). If you need assistance with a more complex setup, please contact our support team who will be able to help you.