Can VSTi be recorded direct to audio ? -ACID Product Family

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Subject:Can VSTi be recorded direct to audio ? Posted by: Spirit Date:8/27/2002 5:05:10 AM I can only seem to record them to MIDI and then render. Am I missing something obvious here ?
Subject:RE: Can VSTi be recorded direct to audio ? Reply by: waynegee Date:8/27/2002 8:32:13 AM Nope, that's the deal.
Subject:RE: Can VSTi be recorded direct to audio ? Reply by: TeeCee Date:8/27/2002 10:00:49 AM While not real time (potentially faster than real time), what's the difference between rendering and recording straight to audio? Do you mean you want to record it initially as audio instead of MIDI? Just skip the MIDI step? I would recommend against that. MIDI can be so much more flexible than audio. TeeCee
Subject:RE: Can VSTi be recorded direct to audio ? Reply by: Rockitglider Date:8/27/2002 12:02:48 PM Hello, Some sound cards like the Creative cards will let you record "What U Hear" This might work for recording a VSTi, but don't know how good it would sound. See ya, Rockitglider
Subject:RE: Can VSTi be recorded direct to audio ? Reply by: Maruuk Date:8/27/2002 2:33:47 PM The standard way this is done in Sonar and Acid is you record the midi track while monitoring live off the synth (soft- or not). Then you can manipulate the midi track any way you want. When it's time to render, you have to record that midi performance as an audio file onto an audio track, thus it becomes a WAV file. Then that plus loops plus all other audio files are ready to be rendered, that is, converted into a single stereo mixed file (which may be matrixed into a 5.1 if you desire). Logically enough, Reason does NOT require you to record the midi file as an audio file before rendering. That's because they don't support audio tracks, just midi and loops. Whenever you want to render your midi tracks, bang, you just go straight to the render/mix with no intermediary steps. It's really fun and addictive to be able to turn midi into master so effortlessly. If you want audio in there as well, you can easily sync up most any multitrack audio app via ReWire for insync co-rendering.
Subject:RE: Can VSTi be recorded direct to audio ? Reply by: SonyNateM Date:8/27/2002 3:21:00 PM When you wish to render your project to WAV/MP3/etc in ACID, you do not need to first "record" the MIDI track through a soft synth as an audio track. You simply render the project to disk as you would any other ACID project. If you are controlling an external synth via MIDI from ACID, then of course there will be an intermediate step if you wish to bring that audio into ACID for mixing rather than going through an external mixing board to another recording device (DAT, etc). Maruuk: I am assuming that the process you describe with Reason only applies if you are using Reason's built in machines only (or possibly other software via ReWire). Obviously you cannot have a one-step render/record/mixdown/etc to a single master on your hard disk if you are controlling external machines via MIDI.
Subject:RE: Can VSTi be recorded direct to audio ? Reply by: Maruuk Date:8/27/2002 3:59:40 PM nate--Thanks for the clarification--it is a bit confusing as the scenario in Sonar that requires the recording of the audio track previous to rendering was when using a soft-sampler, in my case VSampler used as a DXi plug-in. So in Acid VSTi, either when using a soft-synth or a soft-sampler as a plug-in, you can render (like Reason) straight to master with no pre-record? Excellent! Yeah, the Reason auto-render was just with its internal instruments. But here's a question--in the rendering process, the algorithm looks at the midi data, then processes a virtual performance of that midi data relative to the synth settings--it obviously doesn't actually play the synth as it's not in real time. So can it do that with a sampler as well?
Subject:RE: Can VSTi be recorded direct to audio ? Reply by: SonyNateM Date:8/27/2002 4:24:44 PM >But here's a question--in the rendering process, the algorithm looks at the midi >data, then processes a virtual performance of that midi data relative to the synth >settings--it obviously doesn't actually play the synth as it's not in real time. >So can it do that with a sampler as well? Well, if we are talking about soft synths, then in a sense ACID does "play" the synth while rendering. All processing is the same as it would be during normal editing and playback. The difference is that during render, ACID is free to write it's mixed-down data to disk as quickly as it can be processed/mixed/etc, rather than wait for the soundcard to play it back in real-time. The same logic applies to VST samplers as VST synthesizers. Both render properly in faster-than-real-time situations. Just for fun, leave the soft synth properties window open sometime while you are rendering a project. With many VST instruments you can watch their virtual keyboards play and their settings change as quickly as ACID can process the project. Hope this helps. Nate
Subject:RE: Can VSTi be recorded direct to audio ? Reply by: Maruuk Date:8/27/2002 4:34:35 PM Thanks, nate, fascinating! That's like being told by Mr. Science how computer chips are made or how astronauts go to the bathroom. You should be Dr. Acid with a theme song and a cartoon sidekick--as long as he's not a bug.
Subject:RE: Can VSTi be recorded direct to audio ? Reply by: Spirit Date:8/27/2002 7:43:13 PM Interesting. The way I always worked with AcidPro3 was (obviously) to play softsynths direct to audio then use the Chopper or Soundforge if necessary. I suppose I was looking to have the choice in AcidPro4 to initially go MIDI or audio. But that's fine, just wanted to make sure I hadn't missed anything :)
Subject:RE: Can VSTi be recorded direct to audio ? Reply by: oddboy Date:8/27/2002 9:07:01 PM Confusion check, So if i track some midi from my triton. When I render it will be included in the render? what about (as Spirit sugested) if I want to bounce tracked midi to audio in Acid? Can I do that to? I suppose I could bus midi over to a audio track and record it?
Subject:RE: Can VSTi be recorded direct to audio ? Reply by: chaircrusher Date:8/27/2002 10:12:15 PM you're confusing a few things. If you sync your Triton to Acid --- or send MIDI to the Triton from Acid -- you have to record the audio output of the triton into Acid as an linear audio track. It won't be included in 'render as' unless and until you record the audio output of your triton. This means hooking the output of the triton to the audio input of the computer, hitting record, and waiting for the whole track to play. Then your new audio track will have only the triton sounds on it, and you can edit or process it as you would any disk-based audio sample in Acid. VST synths are different. Their audio output is bussed internally in acid to the Acid mixer, so when you do a 'render as', the softsynth audio will go into the mixdown.
Subject:RE: Can VSTi be recorded direct to audio ? Reply by: oddboy Date:8/27/2002 11:48:12 PM Thanks for clearing that up.
Subject:RE: Can VSTi be recorded direct to audio ? Reply by: Spirit Date:8/28/2002 12:51:31 AM That's right. The beauty of MIDI in AcidPro4 is that it's now possible to sequence external gear and non-VSTi softsynths (eg Creamware SHARC-based) in Acid and then to directly record their audio output. A big advance.

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