Pros and cons of using an Instrument track

[JFreak]

Originally Posted by Marsdy

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.

Can do is different than what it is designed for. Sure, for a single midi track I would obviously choose Instrument Track any day, but whenever I feel the need to feed two or more midi tracks to an instrument reverting to the oldskool way, if for nothing else it documents that several midi are driving single instrument.

[albee1952]

In hopes of helping the OP track down latency, here are some things to check:
1-what buffer setting is selected(anything higher than 128 is going to be an issue, and 64 is better)

2-what latency numbers are your tracks showing? If you don't know, go to the VIEW menu>Mix Window Views>check on Delay Compensation.

3-Delay Compensation does not operate on any MASTER tracks

4-for tracking(recording) purposes, its important to keep total Delay Comp way low(preferably single digits). If you see totals of several hundred samples, you may need to alter your work flow a bit(Make Inactive all plugins that add lots of latency until its time to mix). Remember that Delay Comp works by making things later to match the track with the highest latency.

5-its also possible to get bogus Delay Comp if you have a send(on any track) that has no destination(Example: you send a vocal to an AUX with a delay plugin, change your mind and delete the AUX track, but leave the send in place). Watching the Delay Comp numbers while you make each row of sends inactive can reveal that one(deleting the bogus send solves it).

Fingers crossed that something here applies

[nOrakat]

Originally Posted by albee1952

In hopes of helping the OP track down latency, here are some things to check:
1-what buffer setting is selected(anything higher than 128 is going to be an issue, and 64 is better)

2-what latency numbers are your tracks showing? If you don't know, go to the VIEW menu>Mix Window Views>check on Delay Compensation.

3-Delay Compensation does not operate on any MASTER tracks

4-for tracking(recording) purposes, its important to keep total Delay Comp way low(preferably single digits). If you see totals of several hundred samples, you may need to alter your work flow a bit(Make Inactive all plugins that add lots of latency until its time to mix). Remember that Delay Comp works by making things later to match the track with the highest latency.

5-its also possible to get bogus Delay Comp if you have a send(on any track) that has no destination(Example: you send a vocal to an AUX with a delay plugin, change your mind and delete the AUX track, but leave the send in place). Watching the Delay Comp numbers while you make each row of sends inactive can reveal that one(deleting the bogus send solves it).

Fingers crossed that something here applies

Thanks for the reply.

Actually the delay/latency I was experiencing, I suspect, is some sort of midi triggering delay.

If I place a Virtual Inst on an Instrument track and record enable it, then it was triggered without noticeable latency. However if I triggered that same Virtual Inst from another midi track or Instrument Track, I had a noticeable latency.

In that situation I was able to switch back and forth record enabling the instrument track with the VI (again without noticeable latency), or the other midi track that was triggering it with the noticeable latency.

[Wireline]

Maybe just habit, but I tend to convert instrument tracks to audio as soon as possible..especially drum tracks. Old habit, but works well. I’ve never run out of horses when keeping this audio.