Mastering, Overall Workflow, etc

[AsensoryMusic]

So as I get back into the flow of using DP (9) I am confronted with some basic, probably dumb questions on overall workflow when building a project from the ground up. So far my methods are quite simple. I'm using VIs and some recorded audio from external synths (like my iPad, on which I must have 20 or so). Basic MIDI requires little processor bandwidth, audio requires more, MIDI driving an internal VI more still. FX plugins, etc. will add to the overall burden. The simple answer to how many VI tracks anyone can run is obviously based on what they have under the hood. But, at some point, it seems most producers wind up bouncing/rendering/freezing VI tracks to save processor load.

What I have been doing is to record (render, whatever) VI tracks the old-fashioned way by busing them into an audio track, recording the output and then turning them off. I might even mix two or more VIs on to a single audio track, save the project with a versionised name and then delete the old VI tracks and keep working.

This will save processor resources for sure, but what happens is if one of the previously-rendered tracks needs some mix adjustments, I'm screwed. A recent project had this exact problem. I also screwed up and mixed everything on my Grado headphones, which sound great, and the mix sounded great. Playback on actual speakers was a colossal disappointment.

So, the short version of this post is pretty much - Do you simply freeze VI tracks as you build a project and clean MIDI tracks out of the mixing board window? How many VIs should I expect to be able to run on what is likely a fairly average setup without problems (see machine specs below)?

Lastly, has anyone had experience with the audio output of the Mac Pro 4,1 (upgraded to 5.1 in my case) sounding less than stellar? Maybe it was just my crappy production.

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Mac Pro 5,1 (upgrade from 4,1) | Hex Core 3.33 GHz | 32 GB RAM

[stubbsonic]

I don't do very big track counts, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

I use V-Racks to put my VI's in, so I can share my VI's and effects amongst different sequence chunks within a project. I use the chunks for alternative mixes, and for multiple related versions, etc. etc.

I almost always use an output bus for all my synths (like bus 3/4), and set up an AUX TRACK to monitor-- or I set up a stereo track for mixdown and assign bus 3/4 as the input and turn input monitor on -

To your question, if I am finished tweaking a MIDI track, I might print an audio pass of that synth to an audio track. I suppose if I was ever getting close to running out of CPU headroom, I'd deactivate the VI's-- (I'm not sure, but is that accomplished by just assigning the output to "none"?) However, I'd always want to have the ability to re-print the VI if there was some change I wanted to make later- so I'd keep the MIDI track and the presets for the VI within the project. If I was using external things (like you do from your iPad), I'd also want to print those to audio tracks as soon as they were committed. -- but you'd have to reprint those tracks if you make changes.

I suspect there are too many variables for someone to give you a track count. You can watch your performance meters. Also, you can up your buffer sizes as long as latency doesn't get to be too much.

[AsensoryMusic]

Thanks for the reply. How I turn off tracks is by clicking the little blue button in the tracks list. This will remove any CPU load the track is causing while still keeping the track, assignments, VIs, etc. all intact if you need to turn it back on again.

The only CPU issues I have had so far is overloading due to audio playback ... this most likely happens when I create some kind of feedback loop. I do like the idea of using chunks and V-racks to keep track of my progress. As new VIs are deemed necessary, I just add to the V-rack. I can always turn off any unused VIs in later chunks if I wound up printing the audio.

One curiosity I have is whether its better to render/print out the tracks outright or freeze them. Need to research that some more.

[daniel.sneed]

My bet is printing and freeezing are the same, CPU wise.

I do use the enable-disable buttons in Track Overview Window.
Works as expected for Instrument tracks.

Thanks Motu, I take much use of V-racks in my workflow.
- First reason is short loading time when going to next chunk.
- Second reason is enabling-disabling V-racks in Chunk Window. Looking for unneeded heavy Vis and/or Fx, while on low buffers (tracking time). It takes an organised workflow, but so efficient in the end.

[stubbsonic]

To reiterate, those little play triangles in the Chunks window let you deactivate a V-Rack en masse, so in theory, you could put all VI's in one V-Rack and all Effects in another. Once you have rendered all VI's to audio tracks, you can just turn off the entire V-rack in the chunks window with one click.

I suppose you could also group them into different V-racks-- like percussion, synths, samples.