Aux Routing Weirdness / Ping-pong Delay Messes Up Delay Compensation

[MKZ]

Hi all,

I'm relatively new to PT 2018. (I have the regular version, not the Ultimate). I only switched from PT 9 this past year. I saw a post about this in a Pro Tools user group on Facebook and remembered I had encountered the same exact problem myself. Today as a began a mix, I ran into the same problem.

So, when you build a "ping-pong" delay, Pro Tool's delay compensation goes crazy. For some reason, it registers/introduces a delay that (at least in the session I have open now) is as long as your Buffer Size. So, in my session it reads 1024 samples.

Let me elaborate:

-Create two MONO AUX TRACKS. Let's call them "Left Delay" and "Right Delay."
-Place a delay plugin on each.
-Assign two different mono buses as the inputs to these aux tracks. Let's say "BUS A" goes to Delay Left and "BUS B" goes to Right Delay.
-Create an aux send to BUS B on "Left Delay" (So you're sending what goes through the Left Delay to Right Delay).
-So far everything is good. Now you've got a ping pong delay that doesn't repeat. You'll hear one delay in Left Delay and one in Right Delay.
-The next step is where delay compensation goes a bit crazy. This happens when you "close the loop" by creating an aux send on the Right Delay to send back to the Left Delay, so you can control the amount of feedback/repeats. This is where delay compensation "reads" the latency on "Right Delay" to be 1024 samples.


Is there any way around this?

There's nothing weird about building a custom ping-pong delay with what is essentially (or can become) a feedback loop.

I saw a comment where someone said you can right click on the delay compensation on specific tracks and disable it on those chosen tracks alone. I couldn't figure out how to do this.

EDIT: SOLVED: I figured it out right after I posted this. To disable delay compensation on a Mac you have to hold down CTRL and CMD and click. (Not right-click or CTRL-click as someone had mentioned).

Anyway, has anyone encountered other situations where you gotta be real careful with delay compensation?

[amagras]

Originally Posted by MKZ

Is there any way around this?

Yes, use a delay plugin with a ping pong preset

[MKZ]

Originally Posted by amagras

Yes, use a delay plugin with a ping pong preset

Not the same thing.

"Building your own" as I described gives you way more control over what you can do with it.

[Ang1970]

Here it is 2024 and still no ping-pong function, so I thought I'd post my workaround.

Create one mono aux return.
Insert mono mod delay3.
Set delay time to the longer of the desired ping-pong sides.
Insert mono>stereo mod delay3. Set desired ping pong amounts. On the 2nd delay keep feedback at 0%, mix 100% wet.
Adjust mix and feedback on 1st delay to get the repeats you like.