Process track in place?

[jenux]

Hello all, I am sorry if it's been answered many times, I just dont know what to search for here - here is my scenario:

I would like to denoise selected tracks using a plugin and keep them in place, each track has different noiseprint. To save processing power, I would like to just process them once and then do the mixing... Any simple way to do this?

Love Mixbus, using it since 1.0!!!

Greetings from Prague, Jan

[Flagfoot]

Jan,

Also a user since MB1. And miss Prague. There is no process in place or freeze function in Mixbus.

There are workarounds those of us with underpowered machines use. Neither is great for "unfreeze" type recall, but that exact functionality just isn't in the cards for Mixbus. As I understand it, it's mostly because of the always-on channel strip, plus the ability to freely arrange signal flow. 

1. Stem Export with processing -> import audio
2. New Track -> record the processed track in real-time (Check for latency anomalies. Some plugins have hidden latencies.)


Most people seem to like #1. It's great for "freezing" multiple tracks at once.

But when composing/arranging, I use #2 constantly. My template even has an empty track called "FREEZE" dedicated to printing whatever DSP-heavy new thing I'm working on. Once I dial in a track's sound with a bunch of DSP heavy plugins or whatever, I record it in real-time, delete all the plugins, reset the channel strip, and drag the new region into the old track.

[Flagfoot]

Additional notes:

Many users have suggested process-in-place ideas that would work for Mixbus without breaking down its core strengths.

Even a dumbed down, post-fader process-in-place would save clicks. But see for me, I don't need "unfreeze" capability. Half of the power of a "freeze" function is being able to reverse it when needed. And Mixbus allows one to interleave plugins and channel strip modules in any order.

So maybe the way to do it would be to only allow freezing of plugins inserted before the channel strip modules. Which is just so finicky.

If I understand the current conversation, part of the hesitation to do this is how quickly the options branch out: resetting the channel strip and disabling the plugins would be irreversible. Processing just plugins and skipping the channel strip assumes that plugins occur before the channel strip. A dialog asking what to process (which plugins? which channel strip modules?) would help, but would be complicated.

So that's where we are.

[PBuryk]

You might also try exporting the stem (with processing on) and then importing that result into an adjacent track
(ie., a same type track next to the original one). Then, disable the original track and its associated plugin(s).
In other words, KEEP that original track and channel strip as it was so that you can go back to it if you decided
that the new processed track turns out not to work out in the overall mix. You can even uncheck the visibility option
so that it does not distract you during your mixing process.

Making decisions and using "frozen" tracks is great to be able to do. But... It is 2021 and disk space for your DAW is
virtually unlimited, so there's really no compelling reason to get rid of tracks you've exported stems w/ processing
in order to gain back some CPU.

Cheers!
Patrick

[JamieLang]

Not to nitpick...but, rendering offline is not the same as a DAW's freeze function. What he's talking about is the ability to apply a single or multiple algo of DSP to the audio directly, which comes "off the tape" that way...then you can apply channel or plug in processing TO....like AudioSuite processing in ProTools...Offline Processing in Cubase...ok--those are the two I know, but I feel sure most DAWs have offered varying solutions for this.

The reason I spell out the difference? I don't care about freezing or not..but, there's actually solid audio AND workflow reason to do processing like vocal tuning or time correction...or noise reduction--really any number of restoration type algorithms...offline. They can use better algorithms...and frankly, that's not a function of MIXING...so, if you need that done--whatever, phase rotation, noise reduction/removal, sometimes even analog saturation (when uses as a conditioner for ISSUES)--you want it done before you start the actual mix.

The ability to grab a vocal plosive and JUST aggressively HPF (maybe in combo with gain) that "PUH" out, offline, so it's pre ANY channel processing or insert....is IDEAL. Same deal with vocal tuning. If I want to tune a note, I do NOT want a plug in running a resampler algo full time so that it can change the one or two notes. Bad design.

Mixbus DESPERATELY needs an offline processing option. Freeze? Is nice to have but, honestly...was invented literally by Apple because Motorola chips sucked wind around the time they made Logic Apple only. It's a clever workaround for having shit CPU performance....that now is in seemingly every DAW and people use it in ways that it wasn't intended. I certainly have no objection to making one...but, it can NOT be confused with what is seriously lacking in Mixbus, IMO/E.

[jenux]

What I am thinking of is just going to Interchange folder and processing the files directly and renaming them back to the original filenames, this should maintain the position in the project when opened again... may be the fastest... anyway, thank You all for your opinions on this, and again, many greetings! Maybe they will implement this feature after this

Jan

[Dingo]

What I am thinking of is just going to Interchange folder and processing the files directly and renaming them back to the original filenames, this should maintain the position in the project when opened again... may be the fastest... anyway, thank You all for your opinions on this, and again, many greetings! Maybe they will implement this feature after this

Jan

I am a mix only studio so I deal with whole rendered tracks from other studios.
The way I work is to open files directly in the Interchange folder.
I can then RX them as needed then save back to the original file.
Make sure you close the session then make changes, save back to original then re-open the session.
Works fine for me, but then I'm not doing a lot of Melodyne etc, just RX tidy ups of pops mic taps etc.
As a safety I drag / copy tracks to another drive just so I have a fall back in case I make a stupid decision.

[eyal]

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