PT12 - "freeze track" feature

[Rosco1969]

Originally Posted by TOM@METRO

While Track Freeze and Commit may not mean everything to some users, I very much look forward to them. Not having to be concerned about VI compatibility in "traveling sessions" is a big plus here. Especially with multi-out VIs.

+1

[Kenny Gioia]

Originally Posted by roberts

Track freeze is a joke feature solo track bounce to disk kb short cut - auto import track back to pro tools You save 1 mouse click big friggin deal with track freeze!

Now I'm not positive how it works in Pro Tools but in Reaper it can Freeze right on the track. No need to make a new track and de-activate the old one.

So all of your other processing and automation can stay active on that track. In place. If you wanted to print the VI but keep the EQ and Compression on that track adjustable, you can still do that. Or you can print it all. All an option.

But the most important part of Track Freezing is Track Un-Freezing.

Let's say that you had 80 tracks of VIs and you printed them with your method. Two weeks later they tell you in needs to be in a different key.

With your method, you need to FIND each track that goes with the print (they don't stay together just because you hid them) and do it all again. And copy your new automation (the stuff you made after you froze things) to the new tracks.

With track freeze, you select all 80 tracks, select unfreeze, transpose the midi to a different key and then re-freeze. That's it.

You don't know what you're missing because you don't have it.

[TOM@METRO]

Thanks Kenny. I sure this will help those who haven't explored the significance of Track Freeze. I just hope it arrives sooner rather than later.

[mesaone]

Due to reaper's handling of media, their version of track freeze will not be the same as Pro Tools.

Reaper tracks can have both audio and MIDI on the same track, and can output MIDI or Audio arbitrarily - instead of Pro Tools, where MIDI tracks can't output audio and vice-versa. So a reaper track doesn't care if it started out as MIDI feeding a VI, you can freeze it to audio on the same track and everything will work out. This isn't the case with PT.

Which again brings up the question of sends handling when freezing tracks in PT.

[Stereo Missile]

Originally Posted by mesaone

Due to reaper's handling of media, their version of track freeze will not be the same as Pro Tools.

Reaper tracks can have both audio and MIDI on the same track, and can output MIDI or Audio arbitrarily - instead of Pro Tools, where MIDI tracks can't output audio and vice-versa. So a reaper track doesn't care if it started out as MIDI feeding a VI, you can freeze it to audio on the same track and everything will work out. This isn't the case with PT.

Which again brings up the question of sends handling when freezing tracks in PT.

As far as track freeze handling sends, I would have thought that it would be technically impossible to freeze a track with a potentially complex array of sends and auxes coming off it. What other tracks, or even live inputs might also be feeding those auxes? I would have thought the logical thing is to just freeze the individual track with any inserts, then retain the sends on the frozen track.

Of course if you want to "freeze" a more complex arrangement of tracks feeding various aux sends there is always the option of doing an offline bounce, which has the flexibility to allow more complex routing situations to be bounced, or a realtime bounce if live inputs or analog outboard inserts are being used.

[roberts]

Originally Posted by Kenny Gioia

Now I'm not positive how it works in Pro Tools but in Reaper it can Freeze right on the track. No need to make a new track and de-activate the old one.

So all of your other processing and automation can stay active on that track. In place. If you wanted to print the VI but keep the EQ and Compression on that track adjustable, you can still do that. Or you can print it all. All an option.

But the most important part of Track Freezing is Track Un-Freezing.

Let's say that you had 80 tracks of VIs and you printed them with your method. Two weeks later they tell you in needs to be in a different key.

With your method, you need to FIND each track that goes with the print (they don't stay together just because you hid them) and do it all again. And copy your new automation (the stuff you made after you froze things) to the new tracks.

With track freeze, you select all 80 tracks, select unfreeze, transpose the midi to a different key and then re-freeze. That's it.

You don't know what you're missing because you don't have it.

I can't connect my Digi pre's, 128 channels of Avid I/O, Icon, and Raven into reaper - I can't work with Reaper it's a toy.

[mesaone]

Originally Posted by Stereo Missile

As far as track freeze handling sends, I would have thought that it would be technically impossible to freeze a track with a potentially complex array of sends and auxes coming off it. What other tracks, or even live inputs might also be feeding those auxes? I would have thought the logical thing is to just freeze the individual track with any inserts, then retain the sends on the frozen track.

There's not only the question of freezing a track that is fed by sends, but also that of freezing a track that has sends on it. My own non-scientific solution to that would be to implement "copy sends" into the "freeze to new track", so the frozen track sends to all the same places the original track did.

[TOM@METRO]

At the NAMM presentation, there was also a "Commit" function. We will need to know more about exactly where one leaves off and the other picks up. I's my guess that the above workflow will be covered.

[deanrichard]

That's pretty much how Samplitude does it. In an audio track the audio is frozen with track FX applied, but the Sends and Aux's are still fed by the frozen audio. The same is true with instrument tracks. The audio is frozen as if played from the MIDI playing it, and Sends and Aux's are still fed from the resulting audio.

Dean

Originally Posted by Stereo Missile

As far as track freeze handling sends, I would have thought that it would be technically impossible to freeze a track with a potentially complex array of sends and auxes coming off it. What other tracks, or even live inputs might also be feeding those auxes? I would have thought the logical thing is to just freeze the individual track with any inserts, then retain the sends on the frozen track.

Of course if you want to "freeze" a more complex arrangement of tracks feeding various aux sends there is always the option of doing an offline bounce, which has the flexibility to allow more complex routing situations to be bounced, or a realtime bounce if live inputs or analog outboard inserts are being used.

[deanrichard]

Obviously you should stick with Avid then. No need to change.

Originally Posted by roberts

I can't connect my Digi pre's, 128 channels of Avid I/O, Icon, and Raven into reaper - I can't work with Reaper it's a toy.