Using Older Version of PT as "outboard effects"

[jahsoul]

I could have sworn I've seen this asked before but I can't find a thread on this anywhere. I'm thinking about converting my older system into an external effects system but was hoping I could get a little help in this direction.

I know that signal flow states that no effects are applied pre-mixer, so we are able to hear effects when tracking but they aren't actually being applied because multitrack comes first. That said, if I have an audio track that isn't armed and the I/O is set for the input and output of my audio interface, would that, in essence, allow the signal to be passed from input > inserts > output?

Honestly, I have Ultimate but there are just some TDM plugins that I really liked and would rather not pay the extra money for native. *cough*TC Electronics*cough..lol.

Thanks in advance

[JFreak]

You can hear processing even if you are not recording. Just press the green "I" button.

[tope d]

Originally Posted by JFreak

You can hear processing even if you are not recording. Just press the green "I" button.

+1 on this. The input monitoring

[K Roche]

So you were not quite clear and you might give more detail on exactly what you are thinking of doing.
BUT If you have two complete systems each with their own interface

Then I would probably run the TDM system (Line In and Line Out) to and from the Ultimate interface - as if it were simply an external Hardware FX unit.
And set it up as an HW insert in the "Inserts" section of your Ultimate I/O and then you can just select it in the inserts section of any audio track in the Ultimate system,,,, or better yet maybe set it up as an HW insert on an Aux track on the Ultimate system,, and then just send to it from any Ultimate audio track.

[jahsoul]

Originally Posted by K Roche

So you were not quite clear and you might give more detail on exactly what you are thinking of doing.
BUT If you have two complete systems each with their own interface

Then I would probably run the TDM system (Line In and Line Out) to and from the Ultimate interface - as if it were simply an external Hardware FX unit.
And set it up as an HW insert in the "Inserts" section of your Ultimate I/O and then you can just select it in the inserts section of any audio track in the Ultimate system,,,, or better yet maybe set it up as an HW insert on an Aux track on the Ultimate system,, and then just send to it from any Ultimate audio track.

I just looked and didn't realize that I must have accidently removed a few sentences at the end. I am planning on having a low power system running HD8 to act as an external effects system because I still really like the TC Electronics plugins and since I already own it, I could just use the TDM plugs instead of purchasing the upgrade to Native but was wondering the best approach to do that, as most usually work inside Pro-Tools or use hardware but rarely hear just using it as a hardware FX unit. I appreciate all of you all picking up where I was going with it. My biggest thing was making sure I knew the "shortest path" and simplified routing within the older system.

[Darryl Ramm]

If you really want to do this I would try to do what Kev suggests with hardware inserts.

Is this for tracking or mixing?

Do you have enough physical I/O to do all the hardware inserts you want to use here?

If for tracking/monitoring are you and the talent going to be OK with the latency here?

Even if mixing you may need to be careful with H/W insert latency, of course it depends on what you are doing, with what plugins (and their latency etc.), all the conversion latencies and the H/W buffer latency on the native DAW side. No idea what native setup you have but start by checking the null H/W insert case works with perfect delay compensation (using a straight through H/W insert cable).

These things often end up being much more of a PITA than just running plugins in the host.

[K Roche]

Originally Posted by jahsoul

I just looked and didn't realize that I must have accidently removed a few sentences at the end. I am planning on having a low power system running HD8 to act as an external effects system because I still really like the TC Electronics plugins and since I already own it, I could just use the TDM plugs instead of purchasing the upgrade to Native but was wondering the best approach to do that, as most usually work inside Pro-Tools or use hardware but rarely hear just using it as a hardware FX unit. I appreciate all of you all picking up where I was going with it. My biggest thing was making sure I knew the "shortest path" and simplified routing within the older system.

Perhaps I was not clear about more detail. I got the theory of what you are wanting to do from your OP. What is lacking is a list of exactly what your systems actually are.
The detail I was referring to was things like the number of physical I/O 's available to you
And for example
What is the make/model I/O of the interface for the TDM system ?
What is the make model I/O of the interface for the Ultimate system ?

This will tell us as (Darryl mentioned) if you have sufficient physical I/O especially on your Ultimate system interface. The TDM system will only be using 2 channels in and two out (assuming you want to be able to have the option of stereo effects) .. But for the Ultimate system you are going need 4 channels because you if you are using Outs 1-2 for your main monitors, then you are going to want to run the TDM in and out of physical 3-4 on the Ultimate interface

Also (as Darryl mentioned ) be aware that (unless you have compatible digital I/O on both interfaces ) But if you have to use analog I/O then using the TDM plugins as an FX unit will add 3 additional conversions DA out of Ultimate --- AD into TDM ---DA out of TDM and --- AD back into Ultimate

As far as routing inside TDM I would just set up an Aux track and just select the line in channels from the Ultimate into the TDM as the TDM Aux track inputs and then select the TDM output channels going out to the Ultimate as the TDM Aux track outputs.

Then as I mentioned just use the TDM as a HW insert inside Ultimate and have the physical inputs and outputs from the TDM go to the physical Ins and Outs of say 3-4 on the Ultimate interface and then on the specific channel inside Ultimate select from the channel Inserts section the I/O drop down, and then select 3-4