BFD Eco channel outputs to seperate busses via Patchwork

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Hi,

I'm using BFD Eco via Patchwork in Pro Tools 11. I'd like to further process the kick, snare, toms, etc, independently, by selecting each channel to the desired bus in Pro Tools. Is there any way this can be done with Patchwork?

Thanks

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Hi,

Thank you for your message. We have replied to a similar question in another thread:

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 2&t=420041

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Thanks for the link. Not at present. I'll work around it. Of course I mean BFD not PFD!

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Indeed! Just modified the title of the thread :-)

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Does the latest version of Patchwork change anything for BFD ECO in regard to the channels?

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Yes, it should indeed help! You can now assign the outputs to any of the 8 busses (1 main + 7 aux) of the PatchWork plug-in.

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Thanks for the reply. I've looked into this now and it is indeed doable with some routing restrictions. For the benefit of other users this is how BFD ECO works with PatchWork 1.7 in AAX versions of Pro Tools:

BFD ECO has fixed stereo outputs on each channel that can't be changed:

Available plug-in outputs assigned to each channel in pairs 1 to 22:

1-2 Master - Any signals routed to the Master channel
3-4 OH - Stereo OverHead mic signal – amount of each kit-piece in this channel is set by its channel’s OH Send control
5-6 Room - Stereo Room mic signal – amount of each kit-piece in this channel is set by its channel’s Room Send control
7-8 Aux1 - Aux1 channel – route entire channels to Aux1 using the Output selector, or use the Aux1 Send controls to route variable amounts of channels to Aux1 in parallel
9-10 Aux2 - Aux2 channel – route entire channels to Aux2 using the Output selector, or use the Aux2 Send controls to route variable amounts of channels to Aux2 in parallel
11-12 Kick - The direct output of the Kick kit-piece channel
13-14 Snare - The direct output of the Snare kit-piece channel
15-16 Hihat - The direct output of the Hihat kit-piece channel
17-18 - Toms The direct output of the Toms kit-piece channels (Floor Tom, Mid Tom, Hi Tom)
19-20 Cyms - The direct output of the Cymbals kit-piece channels (Crash, Cymbal, Ride)
21-22 Perc - The direct output of the Percussion kit-piece channels (Perc1, Perc2, Perc3)

Individual percussion channels begin with the Kick channel on outputs 11-12. Because PatchWork has 16 channels, compared to BFD ECO's 22, only Kick, Snare, and Hihat have dedicated outputs within PatchWork.

There is a work around, the user can route a further two channels through the auxiliary channels in BFD ECO. For example, the toms use the 17-18 outputs, but PatchWork has no equivalent channel. However, the user has the option to route the toms through either Aux1 or Aux2, as follows:

1. In BFD ECO, click on the output of each of the toms' channels (Floor Tom, Mid Tom, Hi Tom) and choose Aux1.
2. Click on output of the Aux1 channel and select output 7-8.
3. In Pro Tools create a new Aux Input and call it Toms.
4. In the input of the Aux Input, navigate through the menu to: Plug-in / Blue Cat's PatchWork Synth - [Toms] - Insert a / PW Aux 3.

For reference, below, is how PatchWork Synth's channels correspond to BFD ECO outputs:

PW Aux 1 OH
PW Aux 2 Room
PW Aux 3 Aux1
PW Aux 4 Aux2
PW Aux 5 Kick
PW Aux 6 Snare
PW Aux 7 Hihat

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The PW plug-in has 7 stereo aux outputs, so you can use up to 16 separate instruments (you can route the left or right channels of each aux output independently in Pro Tools).

Also, have you seen that you can re-route each output of your plug-in to any channel within PatchWork?
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This lets you create your own map without having to create specific aux routings inside your plug-in.

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Can you take me through the steps of how I re-route each output of a plug-in in the way you say? One problem I think I have is no input, from the I/O menu, it reads "Automatic (0)" and "0 inputs".

Thank you.

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What you want to route here is actually the outputs. It is expected that for an instrument you have no input.

In your case the plug-in has 22 outputs, so change from "Automatic (22)" to the number of outputs of the plug-in you want to use (probably 22). Then for each output you can select the audio channel you want it to be routed to. For example if you want the Hi Hat (plug-in out 15-16) to be available in PatchWork Aux 1 (ch3-4), just select "channel 3" for the 15th output and "channel 4' for the 16th output. Does it make sense?

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It makes perfect sense - and it works perfectly - thank you! I thought you meant (mis-read) I never had to route BFD ECO at all, leaving it on the master channel, and this is why it wasn't working. Then I started looking at inputs on PatchWork and off in the wrong direction. PatchWork is such a great plug-in and Blue Cat's customer service is excellent - I appreciate it...

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Glad that it now works for you!

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If you are interested in detailed instructions, our friends from Pro Tools Expert have published a detailed tutorial:

Using BFD ECO With Blue Cat's PatchWork In Pro Tools 11
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Enjoy!

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