Dealing with fx on various VI's and Mixing

[DonaldM]

This is a question I've had for a while and wanted to get some insights from some of you pros as to how you deal with it. As you all know, nearly every VI, especially the higher end ones, come with their onboard fx of all sorts. The issue I want to address is how do you deal with all those fx when you commit to audio for final mixing? I'm especially thinking more of reverbs and delays than other stuff. Most of the other fx are more for shaping the patch the way you want it to sound.



So, if I have a patch in, say, Dune 2, and I have some Dune 2 delay and/or reverb, I really don't like to commit to audio with that as I would have to keep re-doing it as I tweak the mix with that patch and its fx. On the other hand, its not always a simple matter of adding another reverb and/or delay either, because quite often the built in fx on the VI sound really great.



A couple VI's (ie, Serum) have provided their FX as an FX only option, so you can easily duplicate just the fx to any patch committed to audio. But not many VI's do that.



So, what the pro tips here?



Thanks

[albee1952]

Hmmmm, this is a really good question, and I look forward to reading what others do. Having said that, I'll offer my own preference;


1-if I am really committed to what I am hearing from the VI plugin, I will likely commit it, just as it is(probably with following plugins kept "live")


2-re VI plugins in general, I(personal choice) often don't use the built-in effects, and will choose my own in the same way I treat real instrument processing. Why? Mostly because, by choosing my own effects, I can create an overall sound that is not a carbon copy of the thousand other users of that same VI(example: Superior Drummer has a bunch of ambient and room sounds, which I usually leave off. I use my own "drum room" (from my choice of plugins that include Avid SPACE, IK Classik Room, Eventide T-verb, Abbey Road Chambers) so my drum tracks, done with SD don't sound exactly like the next hundred SD users

[DonaldM]

Dave - Thanks for the reply. I also hope others weigh in. I agree with you regarding drums. I hardly ever use any of the drum fx for any of the drum VI's I use and normally just record the raw drum part, just like I would a live kit, and then process accordingly.


Synth patches are another matter, though. Quite often I find the built in reverb or delay sounds just right for the patch, but once committed, you can't tweak, so I either have to go back to the instrument track and re-tweak and re-commit or settle for a different fx after committing.



I'm probably making too big a deal about this, but I have wondered what the pro tip is for this.

[albee1952]

Originally Posted by DonaldM

Synth patches are another matter, though. Quite often I find the built in reverb or delay sounds just right for the patch, but once committed, you can't tweak, so I either have to go back to the instrument track and re-tweak and re-commit or settle for a different fx after committing.

This makes a good case for using Track Freeze, until the project is done and ready to archive. Come on folks! Need more input

[DonaldM]

Originally Posted by albee1952

This makes a good case for using Track Freeze, until the project is done and ready to archive. Come on folks! Need more input

What Dave said...more input please! Want to hear some ideas on this!

[amagras]

Originally Posted by DonaldM

What Dave said...more input please! Want to hear some ideas on this!

It's all your fault Donald, you said you wanted to hear the pros

[drumdude21]

Originally Posted by DonaldM

This is a question I've had for a while and wanted to get some insights from some of you pros as to how you deal with it. As you all know, nearly every VI, especially the higher end ones, come with their onboard fx of all sorts. The issue I want to address is how do you deal with all those fx when you commit to audio for final mixing? I'm especially thinking more of reverbs and delays than other stuff. Most of the other fx are more for shaping the patch the way you want it to sound.



So, if I have a patch in, say, Dune 2, and I have some Dune 2 delay and/or reverb, I really don't like to commit to audio with that as I would have to keep re-doing it as I tweak the mix with that patch and its fx. On the other hand, its not always a simple matter of adding another reverb and/or delay either, because quite often the built in fx on the VI sound really great.



A couple VI's (ie, Serum) have provided their FX as an FX only option, so you can easily duplicate just the fx to any patch committed to audio. But not many VI's do that.



So, what the pro tips here?



Thanks

It's become second nature that I'm usually turning off ALL or most effects inside a virtual instrument's interface.

It's not that I think they sound bad (some in Serum are incredible), but as I'm producing music, having too many of these effects going at once on different instruments introduces so much mud and clouds my head while working.

If I end up wanting them, I can go back and hit the button in the plugin to turn em back on.

Also, I can't commit to save my life.

[DonaldM]

Originally Posted by drumdude21

It's become second nature that I'm usually turning off ALL or most effects inside a virtual instrument's interface.

It's not that I think they sound bad (some in Serum are incredible), but as I'm producing music, having too many of these effects going at once on different instruments introduces so much mud and clouds my head while working.

If I end up wanting them, I can go back and hit the button in the plugin to turn em back on.

Also, I can't commit to save my life.

Nice thing about Serum is you can have the Serum FX rack as just FX too!! So not only use them on the Serum patches, but on anything else like any other fx! Brilliant option on Xfer's part to allow that! I wish Synapse Audio would do the same with their Dune 3 FX options! Some of them are quite nice!

[Southsidemusic]

Well a bit late to the party as usual but ...

When we have found a sound we love we record that VI to audio and save the tweaks on the VI should anything need to be changed but in pop music the timeframes doesn’t really allow for the back and forth too much so we look for a sound and 95% of the time we use that sound in the end product.

As we use a lot of hardware synths this becomes less of a problem as I always make sure I find the sound needed and commit to that 😃

[DonOnGuitar]

Hi. I hope it’s not too late to ask question here. I enjoyed reading through this thread and getting a sense of “community“. I’m very new to PT (less than a month) so your discussion prompted me to ask this.

As I read I noticed a few terms being used that I hope you can clarify. Is there any difference between commit, print and freeze? Or are these just different ways of saying the same thing?

I’m guessing that “committing” is when you do a final mix. Am I close?

Thanks.


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