Subject:Plugin at start of chain, on entire mix?

Posted by: Mark_2006

Date:10/12/2006 10:36:30 PM

Hi,
Tried to fit as much info as I could in the small subject box... here's my question in full: Is it possible to use a plugin on the entire mix, but have it working at the very start of the effects chain, before anything else? I'm using Acid Pro 4.0.

I would like to use an analog simulation plugin on all tracks. But by adding a plugin to the master bus means it is in use at the very end of the effects chain, and i'd like to use a plugin on all tracks, but at the very start of the effects chain. Is this possible?

Thanks,
Mark

Subject:RE: Plugin at start of chain, on entire mix?

Reply by: vespesian

Date:10/13/2006 6:57:06 AM

Take the EQ off the individual tracks, route them all to a single bus, put the effect on that.

Subject:RE: Plugin at start of chain, on entire mix?

Reply by: Mark_2006

Date:10/13/2006 1:19:08 PM

Thanks vespesian, but i'd still need to use various effects on some of the individual tracks.

Subject:RE: Plugin at start of chain, on entire mix?

Reply by: vespesian

Date:10/14/2006 6:47:58 AM

So you mean....you want an effect on the entire mix first - then on individual tracks - then master? I don't think you can do that - on anything - in that order. You could apply the exact same effect (same levels), on each track first, and then go with whatever individual fx....can I ask what this is for?

Subject:RE: Plugin at start of chain, on entire mix?

Reply by: Mark_2006

Date:10/14/2006 1:55:30 PM

Sure, I want to use an effect on the master bus, but have it in use at the very start of the chain.

I want to use an analog simulation plugin such as Anatares Tube or Colortone on all tracks before any other effects are used. Using them at the end of the chain has a slightly different effect than using them at the start..

I believe this is possible in software such as Pro Tools, but i'm not sure if it's possible in Acid 4.0. Does anyone know if it's possible in newer versions of Acid?

Subject:RE: Plugin at start of chain, on entire mix?

Reply by: Lossl ben Hossl

Date:10/14/2006 4:02:59 PM

it´s possible in ACID Pro 6... simply arrange the effects by mouse dragging to the desired order
i would guess that it will also work in earlier versions

Subject:RE: Plugin at start of chain, on entire mix?

Reply by: vespesian

Date:10/14/2006 5:56:19 PM

But the individial track effects remain prior to the whatever chain is assigned to the master....

Subject:RE: Plugin at start of chain, on entire mix?

Reply by: Mark_2006

Date:10/15/2006 1:38:43 AM

Thanks both... I managed to get a similar effect by having the plugin as an assignable FX and then using it on all tracks, but of course this is very demanding for the CPU.

So i've decided to load up each individual sample, run it through the aforementioned plugin, then save it back to harddrive. This is probably a better method since I can tailor the use of the plugin for each sound.

Thanks!
Mark

Subject:RE: Plugin at start of chain, on entire mix?

Reply by: Musec

Date:10/15/2006 10:34:19 PM

Howdy All !

this was an interesting, short discussion!!

Thanks!

Subject:RE: Plugin at start of chain, on entire mix?

Reply by: pwppch

Date:10/16/2006 6:39:08 AM

This can't be done in the way you want.

You want to process all tracks "PRE" insert, but individually. You can't do this with a single instance of a given plugin.

A single FX would process all tracks simultaneously. Once you did this, then you could not apply FX individually to each track.

Many into one produces one, not many. Even if the FX supplied multiple seperate "inputs" and "outputs" the over all use of CPU would be essentially the same.

The only way to do this is to add the FX you want to the "front" of the chain on each track. Yes, this is going to be expensive - depending on the track - in a project with many tracks.

Are you familar with a technique used in PTools to achieve this with a single instance of a plugin?

I looked at PTools, Nuendo/Cubase, and SONAR. None of them can do this either. A single instance of a plugin can only deal with ALL data sent to it, it can't seperate each signal. You need to use multiple instances to achieve you desired goal.

Peter

Subject:RE: Plugin at start of chain, on entire mix?

Reply by: jumbuk

Date:10/17/2006 12:10:41 AM

"Thanks both... I managed to get a similar effect by having the plugin as an assignable FX and then using it on all tracks, but of course this is very demanding for the CPU."

(a) Why is this demanding on the CPU? You are only running one instance of the effect.

(b) This is not what you wanted. This will mix a proportion of the effected track signal back into the main mix, together with the unaffected track signal. You want an insert effect on each track, not a FX send.

Subject:RE: Plugin at start of chain, on entire mix?

Reply by: inverseroom

Date:10/18/2006 6:38:42 AM

You could remove all track effects, then put each effect you're going to use on its own bus, in the order you want them. Then you assign all tracks to the first bus, and assign the other buses selectively. This way you only have one instance of each effect. You run into problems if you want to automate though.

Oh wait...you're on v4. Not sure if this is possible on 4...this is how I would do it on 6.