Managing the levels in the V-Rack in different chunks

[massimosammi]

Hello,
I would need a tip on how to manage the levels in the V-Rack in a way that will allow me flexibility when moving from one chunk to the other. If I create a "New Mix" in the Mixing Board, which tracks will be affected by it - the tracks in the chunk, the one selected in the tracks selector, and/or the V-Rack? When I create the stems for a chunk (which I print inside the sequence) I'd love to slightly tweak from time to time the levels in the Aux tracks in the V-Rack (where VEPro is routing the audio) but I'd like that tweak to affect only the chunk I'm working on. Is the "New Mix" the right tool for this?
Thanks in advance!!

[FMiguelez]

Hello,
I would need a tip on how to manage the levels in the V-Rack in a way that will allow me flexibility when moving from one chunk to the other.

The way that works for me the best is to NOT touch anything in the V-Racks, and control what goes into (or out of) them instead (from within the sequence chunks, vía MIDI CCs and/or audio automation).

If I create a "New Mix" in the Mixing Board, which tracks will be affected by it - the tracks in the chunk, the one selected in the tracks selector, and/or the V-Rack?

I haven't done this in a while, but if memory serves me well, new mixes will (have the potential to) affect anything within the chunk to which they belong ONLY.
AFAIK, this does NOT include V-Racks, since they can't be automated directly. So you can only control what and how stuff goes into/out of them, but NOT right there within the V-Rack.
You can control their general levels and stuff from within a the mixer (if you make them show), but anything you do to V-racks must be static and will affect all sequences that use them.

When I create the stems for a chunk (which I print inside the sequence) I'd love to slightly tweak from time to time the levels in the Aux tracks in the V-Rack (where VEPro is routing the audio) but I'd like that tweak to affect only the chunk I'm working on. Is the "New Mix" the right tool for this?
Thanks in advance!!

I don't think so. Before I perfected my template, and I needed to do something similar, I used to drag to the TO window the V-Racks that I wanted to tweak and or automate. You could duplicate there only what you really need to tweak.

Based on all that, I really recommend you to get used to doing ALL your tweaking before (or after, with aux tracks, depending on the case) going in or out of V-Racks from WITHIN your current relevant chunk. It really works and gives you the same flexibility!
It's kind of like getting used to leaving the master fader alone and do the tweaks to individual tracks instead of the master bus (i.e., gain staging).

And, when this is not possible, simply duplicate your V-Racks by dragging them to the relevant sequence chunk, where you can do anything to them.

[FMiguelez]

BTW, if you start duplicating some V-Racks into sequences for automation, mind which tracks do what and where...
It used to drive me crazy to have multiple master fader tracks in different chunks and V-Racks that reacted depending upon their position in the Chunks window...

That can be a very nice feature for certain things, actually, but in my case, it turned out to be another reason for me to do things the way I suggest instead.

[Shooshie]

I'm with Fernando: don't touch the levels in a V-Rack, unless you're doing a global fix that will affect all chunks, present, past, and future.

I set V-Racks up as semi-permanent chunks that get imported to other projects via the Clippings File or the LOAD command. From there, I add routing (in the Mix, not the V-Rack) in the form of aux tracks if I want to do anything fancy besides just outputting to Main Outs. Usually, I have an aux track labeled for each VI in a V-Rack, or in the case of multi-timbral VIs, each instrument, or at the least, each instrumental section (Strings, Brass, Woodwinds, Percussion, etc.) Those aux tracks then go to another aux named Submaster, which is usually my final summation track.

I don't put plugins on V-Racks, nor do I adjust their faders, or anything else. In some cases I add some auxes for routing, but again, these are dumb tracks, not for plugins or faders. Just routing. When I add tracks to a V-rack for routing VIs, I always put them in their own V-Rack, which I can open or close. That way, each instruments' V-Rack remains "pure."

If I want to automate instruments within a V-Rack, I add an aux to the mix for each instrument that needs automation. That's basic level and pan automation. If I want to automate features within an instrument, I use MIDI Learn to control those features with MIDI instead of automation. Most things can be done with V-Racks without any loss of control or power if you just figure out how to approach each thing you want to do.

But don't touch the V-Rack itself except for global, permanent changes.

Shooshie

[zuul-studios]

I am glad to be reading this particular thread. Only recently (within the past year) am I becoming familiar with the basic layout of Digital Performer and the significance that the V-Rack has to offer. My latest templet is offering me the greatest control with my modest music projects. As others have mentioned, I leave anything in V-Rack alone. My latest templet involves V-Rack "housing" VEPro 5 connections. That's its. Everything else including the Master Output, audio reverb tracks, audio tracks (receiving the generated "audio" from VIs housed in VEPro 5), and audio effects are all found outside of the V-Rack. This set-up is giving me the greatest control over the mix as well as enabling my computer to handle the CPU and Memory usage (thanks to VEPro 5). Most importantly, the master set-up of this particular orchestral and band templet can be used over and over again without having to re-create it from scratch with much thanks to the the "Duplicate Track Layout" feature.

[terrybritton]

I am glad to be reading this particular thread.

I second that - I'm also getting used to DP's workflow, and these posts have been quite enlightening. I'd love to see more on use of V-racks by people - and perhaps some more videos! (Shooshie?!)

Terry