Monotimbral plugs can't be played in more than one section?

[Paul]

I'm not sure if this is a bug but when I insert a plug-in that is not multitimbral (so "plug-in is multitimbral" is not checked) in Section A and then choose that same plug-in in the outputs column of a track in Section B, the plugin is not loaded and can't be played in Section B. So, it's possible to choose the output but impossible to play the instrument.

When the plug-in is multitimbral, there is no problem. It can be played in all sections.

[Paul]

Hmmmm... it seems to have something to do with whether or not the plug-in is inserted on an aux track. I always use the Plugs column from the Tracks window to insert plug-ins. Apparently, multitimbral plug-ins are inserted on an aux this way, while mono-timbral ones are inserted on the track. Am I correct?

I still find it a bit strange to have the plug-in always available in the Outputs column but I can live with that .

[Jerm]

Well you are correct on all counts.

First off, it could be considered a (minor) bug that the output shows up even though the plug-in is out of scope. The plug-in is out of scope because it is a track insert on a track in a different section. You can verify the scope by looking in the windows menu. An out of scope plug-in should be italicized.

If you want to use the same plug-in on multiple sections it must be on an aux buss.

There is a more serious known problem when using plug-ins and subsections which you might run into. This problem has to do with latency compensation. If the plug-in has latency you may not get smooth playback at the point where the subsections meet. This is not a simple problem to correct. For now the workaround is to simply expand the subsections. Once in a linear section the latency-compensated-plug-in plays fine.

In 6.4 if you find this situation whereby the plug-in is out of scope it is a simple matter of going to the effects window and dragging the plug-in on to a mixer aux buss name until it highlights to change the plug-in from a track insert to an aux.

[Paul]

For now the workaround is to simply expand the subsections.

That does take the fun and flexibility out of arranging a song on the fly a bit don't you agree?

Anyway, I hadn't even noticed the problem you're describing. I'm sure I'll notice it now though .

[Jerm]

Yes it takes the fun out of it but luckily there is no latency on most synth plug-ins.

It is quite a technical challenge to fix this since it means completely rewriting the audio engine now that individual tracks from different sections could be playing simultaneously. In other words, section A would have some tracks playing and Section B would have other tracks playing. Currently all tracks in a section are dealt with as a group and a section is either playing or is not playing.

[Paul]

Jerm,

exactly when does a synth plug-ins have latency? I was under the impression that every plug-in suffered from this.

[Jerm]

Well I guess this is confusing because there are two different kinds of latency.

The first is the latency from the time you press a key on your keyboard to the time a sound is produced from your computer's audio output device. This latency is completely under control of the 'audio packet size' plus the time it takes for your MIDI device to transmit MIDI data to the computer. This latency exists for all plug-ins.

The second latency, which I will call internal latency, is what I was referring to here in this thread. This is the time it takes for a plug-in to convert MIDI data to audio data. In the effects window, if you right-click (or control-click) on the rack you can 'get-info' on a plug-in and a dialog will show you the plug-ins current latency. Note that Metro has 'latency compensation' which makes sure (in most cases) that the audio is correctly aligned.

Some plug-ins with notable latency are 'Access Virus TI', 'PSP Vintage Warmer', 'NI Vokator', 'Apple:AUTimePitch', 'Apple:AUPeaklimiter' , 'UHE Zebra2'.

Note that the last two I mention have very little latency (88 and 16 samples) respectively. In the case where the latency is very low you might not notice this problem with subsections. Just be sure to expand the subsection before the final mix.