Avid Pro Audio Community

Avid Pro Audio Community

How to Join & Post  •  Community Terms of Use  •  Help Us Help You

Knowledge Base Search  •  Community Search  •  Learn & Support


Avid Home Page

Go Back   Avid Pro Audio Community > Legacy Products > Pro Tools 2018

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
  #1  
Old 02-11-2021, 11:30 PM
nOrakat's Avatar
nOrakat nOrakat is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: New York, USA
Posts: 56
Default Pros and cons of using an Instrument track

I just got back into music and in the past, had been using separate Audio and Midi tracks to use instrument plug ins.

Now I am using Instrument Tracks because my instrument plugins seem to get better latency performance when using instrument plugins.

Can anyone tell me the Pro's and Cons of using an instrument track other than it occupying only one track for your midi and audio?

Are there situations when you want to do it the old way - with a separate audio and midi track?

----

Also does anyone know why I get more latency in some cases when I do it the old way with a separate audio and midi track?

Thanks in advance.
__________________
Pro Tools 2018.12.0 (64 bit version) on Windows 10 Home, PC: i9 12900K w 32 GB
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 02-11-2021, 11:52 PM
JFreak's Avatar
JFreak JFreak is offline
Moderator
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Tampere, Finland
Posts: 24,853
Default Re: Pros and cons of using an Instrument track

If you want to have multiple midi tracks feeding same instrument you have to use the oldskool method
__________________
Janne
What we do in life, echoes in eternity.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 02-12-2021, 03:52 AM
chrisdee's Avatar
chrisdee chrisdee is offline
Moderator
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Trondheim, Norway
Posts: 3,163
Default Re: Pros and cons of using an Instrument track

I only use itb VI's (no external synths) so for me I se no reason to use midi tracks. It's just more routing work imo. I put the VI directly on the instrument track.
__________________
Christian D Hagen | I7 Builds | PT/OS Compability Chart
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 02-12-2021, 04:17 AM
Sardi Sardi is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Perth
Posts: 2,989
Default Re: Pros and cons of using an Instrument track

There should be no difference between ‘the old way’ or using an instrument track. I certainly don’t see/hear/feel any difference.

But, you shouldn’t using a MIDI track with an audio track. You should be using a MIDI track with an aux track. The VI is passing audio through the channel. If you want the audio printed, either buss it to an audio track or use the commit function.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 02-12-2021, 05:22 AM
chrisdee's Avatar
chrisdee chrisdee is offline
Moderator
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Trondheim, Norway
Posts: 3,163
Default Re: Pros and cons of using an Instrument track

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sardi View Post
There should be no difference between ‘the old way’ or using an instrument track. I certainly don’t see/hear/feel any difference.
What is the new way?
__________________
Christian D Hagen | I7 Builds | PT/OS Compability Chart
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 02-12-2021, 05:27 AM
JFreak's Avatar
JFreak JFreak is offline
Moderator
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Tampere, Finland
Posts: 24,853
Default Re: Pros and cons of using an Instrument track

Quote:
Originally Posted by chrisdee View Post
What is the new way?

Instrument Track. Old way being midi+aux+audio. Only reason to use the oldskool way would ve wanting to feed multiple midi into single VI


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
__________________
Janne
What we do in life, echoes in eternity.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 02-12-2021, 07:06 AM
albee1952's Avatar
albee1952 albee1952 is offline
Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Norwich, CT
Posts: 39,307
Default Re: Pros and cons of using an Instrument track

Well, just to cloud the issue some more, you can use an AUDIO track as an AUX track by placing it in INPUT mode(something that was not available outside of HD only a few years ago). But for me, using INSTRUMENT tracks just makes the most sense, and the using Track Commit to render a final audio version(especially if the project will be archived as a few years from now, the VI used might not be available)
__________________
HP Z4 workstation, Mbox Studio
https://www.facebook.com/search/top/...0sound%20works


The better I drink, the more I mix

BTW, my name is Dave, but most people call me.........................Dave
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 02-12-2021, 10:59 PM
nOrakat's Avatar
nOrakat nOrakat is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: New York, USA
Posts: 56
Default Re: Pros and cons of using an Instrument track

Quote:
Originally Posted by JFreak View Post
If you want to have multiple midi tracks feeding same instrument you have to use the oldskool method
You can actually trigger the same VI that's on an instrument track from different multiple midi tracks.
__________________
Pro Tools 2018.12.0 (64 bit version) on Windows 10 Home, PC: i9 12900K w 32 GB
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 02-12-2021, 11:05 PM
nOrakat's Avatar
nOrakat nOrakat is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: New York, USA
Posts: 56
Default Re: Pros and cons of using an Instrument track

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sardi View Post
There should be no difference between ‘the old way’ or using an instrument track. I certainly don’t see/hear/feel any difference.

But, you shouldn’t using a MIDI track with an audio track. You should be using a MIDI track with an aux track. The VI is passing audio through the channel. If you want the audio printed, either buss it to an audio track or use the commit function.
Thank you for your response.

I reloaded the same session I had yesterday and now the Virtual Inst has the same latency regardless of how I trigger it.

I guess the latency I heard has to be some sort of internal midi routing/triggering issue because the audio comes out of the same Instrument channel and same Virtual Inst regardless of how I trigger it.

I am certainly going to see this problem again because it happens often.
__________________
Pro Tools 2018.12.0 (64 bit version) on Windows 10 Home, PC: i9 12900K w 32 GB
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 02-13-2021, 03:11 AM
Marsdy Marsdy is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: England
Posts: 2,201
Default Re: Pros and cons of using an Instrument track

Quote:
Originally Posted by JFreak View Post
Instrument Track. Old way being midi+aux+audio. Only reason to use the oldskool way would ve wanting to feed multiple midi into single VI


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Actually you can use Instrument Tracks to feed a multimbral VI. Just route the MIDI and set the audio input to the separate out of the VI. You don’t need individual MIDI and Aux tracks.
__________________
Dave Marsden
UK
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
12.7 Pros Cons? ironbut Pro Tools 12 16 02-13-2017 06:25 PM
C|24 Pros and Cons? DaleB ICON & C|24 26 04-18-2011 12:26 PM
001 vrs mix 24, pros n cons westgate 003, Mbox 2, Digi 002, original Mbox, Digi 001 (Mac) 0 03-10-2003 03:07 PM
PT LE for Win. XP v. Mac Pros and Cons? storm-01 003, Mbox 2, Digi 002, original Mbox, Digi 001 (Win) 1 02-23-2003 11:00 AM
USD vs SSD+VSD, pros cons synthetic Tips & Tricks 2 08-22-2000 11:24 AM


All times are GMT -7. The time now is 11:57 PM.


Powered by: vBulletin, Copyright ©2000 - 2008, Jelsoft Enterprises Limited. Forum Hosted By: URLJet.com