what is "printing" effects?

[geminirand]

Sorry if this is obvious, but I don't have PT yet.........

[pk_hat]

When you use and aux send to a reverb or delay on a given track, the original has not been affected in any way. You're only feeding the signal to a processor and returning the 'effected' sound into another channel. That's also called real-time processing.

If you're familiar with mixing boards you'll be very comfortable working in ProTools. You can choose to have 'AudioSuite' or 'Real-Time Audio Suite' (RTAS).

When you wish to print the effect, you'll use the audio-suite. Highlight the track or region, where you can preview how the processing will alter the file. Keep tweaking and when you're ready, hit 'process' and your file is now replaced with this new one, you've just printed the effect.
This method is generally used when processor ressources get low as there might be too many plugins open and operating. it's a way to save power and keep the session running smooth.

Using inserts and sends just processes the track as the song evolves, you can insert more or remove them all, the original track stays the same. As you gain more experience, you'll be able to judge if a track should just get printed or left alone and processes in real-time.

Get ProTools, the manual does a much better job at explainig this than I do.

pk

[seandaly]

This usually means recording an effect to a track.

In the old days, if an exotic sound was obtained which would be difficult to replicate, or if the studio didn't have some necessary whizbang outboard gear which cost $$$ to rent, we would just run the affected track(s) through the unit and "print" the return to a free track (or even stereo pair). No latency issues back then...

- Sean

[geminirand]

Cool. THanks. Can you print to a different track? ie: I record on track 4, print to track 5?

[seandaly]

Well, you HAVE to: you don't want to lose your original audio if you decide 10 minutes later that there is too much effect.

In the analog days it was rare to "waste" a track this way, usually it was a gymnastics thing like printing wild EQ on one sung phrase onto the hole in the guitar solo track. Nowadays in digital you just route the return to a new track and name it "Printed effect return"... but you may have to deal with latency issues...

- Sean

[yavuzj]

PT LE's bus system is amazing so you can basically work like and analogue console.

To clarify,

Create an Aux Input stereo or Mono. Then route the input to a bus (Bus 1-2) and route to output to a different bus (Bus 3-4). Then insert an effect to the Aux Input. Then Create and Audio tack and insert a bus send which is the same as the Aux Inputs input bus (In this Case Bus 1-2) and adjuzt the send level. Finally create another Audio track to record EFX and choos the output bus of the Aux as the Input (Bus 3-4 in this example). Arm the Audio track and record the EFX. You are done.

[Mark_Knecht]

Hi,
I was actually wondering about this late last night but ran out of time and energy to look at it.

I had a guitar passage that was strewn across 3 tracks. I wanted it on one track, so I decided to bounce just those 3 tracks to disk and then import them. I removed the effects, bounced, imported and then put the effects back in.

How much latency did I create by doing this? I couldn't hear anything, so it obviously wasn't horrible, but was it there at all?

Then, because this tune is a collaboration with another DUC member (maybe we'll get it posted in a few days!) I decided to print a version a version with the effects just so he could hear what I was hearing, but he could still use the dry version as his starting point.

Was the latency different for the wet version vs. the dry version?

I'll go look at waveforms this weekend, but input ahead of time would help.

Thanks,
Mark

[yavuzj]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by Mark_Knecht:
Was the latency different for the wet version vs. the dry version?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

PT LE should compensate for plugin delay. Otherwise it would be significantly delayed and you would not have to ask.

I know because Cubase has one bug that cause VST Instruments to delay with Dynamics Processor. It is not a subtle delay.

All good DAWs compensate for Plugin delay so you should not have any problems.

[Mark_Knecht]

Yavuz,
Thanks for the response.

I have a bunch of learning to do in this area when I get time. One interesting area for latency will be when I send audio data out to my Oasys for processing and then return it to Pro Tools. That should be interesting...

I'm going to do some work with snare samples or something like that in the next few days to convince myself of this by looking at waveforms.

Thanks,
Mark

[geminirand]

Thanks for all the help guys [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]