I have some analogue effects that i can’t find a sufficient digital alternative for, such as saturation, optical compressor, BBM delay, spring reverb and so on. I want to insert these effects and want to bounce my track with these effects (so that i can go on and use the effects on other tracks). I have a workflow to achieve that:
loop through my effects via track insert
adjust the effects while playing the tracks (interface/buffer latency for the loop is compensated)
remove the insert and add a send to that “FX” interface output
add a track to record from the corresponding “FX” input
record in real time. the effect loop latency is compensated
Then I get a track with the effects applied.
I find this quite work-intensive and confusing when working with many tracks. Using insert for the loop and send to the recording track doesn’t work. Is there an easier way?
I would love to have a feature like the manual player/recorder arrangement on the mixer strip, but with the configuration player->FX insert->recorder so that i can easily add another region. Correctly latency compensated. Don’t know if something like this is possible, i see pitfalls…
I’m wondering why you use inserts in steps 1–3. Wouldn’t it be easier to just temporarily disconnect the track output (so you don’t hear it when playing with the effect) and use the external send throughout all the steps? You’d still need another track to record the result, but this approach seems a bit more convenient to me.
It is also possible to do what you want (even recording the effect into the same track with full delay compensation), but an interface that supports hardware monitoring would be required. That’s how i usually do it in such cases. Maybe it’s also possible to achieve this purely in software (using some fancy routing in Ardour), buy I’m not aware of any such solution right now.
I tried using step 4 for adjusting all the knobs. It works somehow but you get a delay due to latency here. You’re right, one could use hardware monitoring, mixing the wet send to the main out. This would reduce the latency to AD/DA latency which is almost 0. Another solution is using my analog mixer. Both needs some time for setup so that it’s slower in the end.
Recording onto same track is indeed possible. Select “Disk” as source, muting the output and using the send to the loop back into the track’s input. But as you said it needs hw-monitoring for the configuration steps, so it is just a substitution for steps 4 and 5. I didn’t think about this possibility before, thanks
Still it would be a good improvement in my eyes to simplify this usecase because i think this is quite common problem for everyone with analog gear.
Just checked it and you are right. One get perfectly aligned recording when using external sends, but with software monitoring there will be a delay during auditioning. On the other hand, inserts are fine in this regard. Just like you said. Guessing it it’s because external sends aren’t really intended to be used this way. But it’s better to wait for a detailed explanation from someone more competent than me.
Yeah, but using outboard gear is a hassle in itself anyway. I use a lot of external effects too, and honestly, keeping my setup ready to handle that isn’t such a big deal for me. But of course, it all depends on the gear, its configuration, and the studio setup.
Exactly, setting the track monitoring to “Disk” will do the job.
Definitely agree. But pretty sure folks with external gear are a minority among modern DAW users.
