Can I have unlimited, pure-software / virtual loopback channels?

[hollyWorse]

So there are digital mixers. They're fine in what they do.

And there's my PC and my Laptop. They're even better than a digital mixer in many aspects.

I'd love to use my Laptop as digital mixer.

Now I could do this:
- Buy two expensive audio interfaces / rack mixers with like 32 channels each
- Have the audio from PC go through one audio interface (DAC) -> into the other audio interface (ADC) with my Laptop and have a digital mixer with individual audio channels.

I want to remove the DAC-ADC part. It's not neccessary and expensive. Is there any software solution? So I could like connect my PC and Laptop via USB and still have 32 virtual channels?

This would be awesome.

(If you wonder why: Music Production, Mixing and Mastering are usually split into separate workflows for many good reasons, like CPU load, Brain load, etc.)

[whyterabbyt]

(If you wonder why: Music Production, Mixing and Mastering are usually split into separate workflows for many good reasons, like CPU load, Brain load, etc.)

Separate workflows do not require separate computers for each workflow. And while there are ways of offloading plugin processing inside a DAW to a separate process on a networked second system, what you're specifically asking for (audio transport back and forwards to a 'mixer' application, via USB) doesnt exist.

I think you're trying to go the long way round, to be honest. If you want a fundamentally easier separation of your different workflows, rethink what you can already do eg bounce to stems and mix in a different project. Or use your DAWs 'freeze' functionality and aux buses. etc etc

Note : unless you're using a lot of modelled plugins eg eqs, channel emulations, etc, mixing shouldnt require very much CPU load at all.

[hollyWorse]

Separate workflows do not require separate computers for each workflow. And while there are ways of offloading plugin processing inside a DAW to a separate process on a networked second system, what you're specifically asking for (audio transport back and forwards to a 'mixer' application, via USB) doesnt exist.

I think you're trying to go the long way round, to be honest. If you want a fundamentally easier separation of your different workflows, rethink what you can already do eg bounce to stems and mix in a different project. Or use your DAWs 'freeze' functionality and aux buses. etc etc

Note : unless you're using a lot of modelled plugins eg eqs, channel emulations, etc, mixing shouldnt require very much CPU load at all.

I've seen this answer coming. Look, the heart wants what the heart wants.

I actually have some very specific reasons, why I want to try this out and not bounce. But if I wrote about these reasons, people would jump on that and not let go until they discussed every detail of that. That's not what I wanted to talk about. I wanted to know about my options.

Does someone here watch Linus Tech Tips occasionally? People just try stuff, see how it's going, extending the limits of their own knowledge and of technology. Isn't that already reason enough?

[whyterabbyt]

I've seen this answer coming. ?
.
.
I wanted to know about my options.

You got your options. My answer was 'this specific thing does not exist, here are your alternatives'.

i'll just repeat; the type of thing you want to do can be done, just not the very specific way you want to do it.

People just try stuff, see how it's going, extending the limits of their own knowledge and of technology. Isn't that already reason enough?

Oh, I can point you at plenty of stuff to 'just try see how its going'. Just not a canned, pre-made solution that exactly fits your specific request.

The actual 'extending the limits of your own knowledge and of technology would, for example, start with ReaStream and maybe something like Bidule on your laptop as a host for some channel strip plugins.

https://www.reaper.fm/reaplugs/

(Or JACK if you want to be all Linux hardwayroundbecuz about it)

Maybe if you hadnt decided you'd 'seen the answer coming' you would have grokked the answer you did get a little bit more.

[teacue]

So there are digital mixers. They're fine in what they do.

And there's my PC and my Laptop. They're even better than a digital mixer in many aspects.

I'd love to use my Laptop as digital mixer.

Now I could do this:
- Buy two expensive audio interfaces / rack mixers with like 32 channels each
- Have the audio from PC go through one audio interface (DAC) -> into the other audio interface (ADC) with my Laptop and have a digital mixer with individual audio channels.

I want to remove the DAC-ADC part. It's not neccessary and expensive. Is there any software solution? So I could like connect my PC and Laptop via USB and still have 32 virtual channels?

This would be awesome.

(If you wonder why: Music Production, Mixing and Mastering are usually split into separate workflows for many good reasons, like CPU load, Brain load, etc.)

A suggestion:
Use two audio interfaces with ADAT I/O (something like two RME Raydat).
One on your PC and one on your Laptop.
You can then connect both interfaces through ADAT.
It should work, it is not different than connecting for example one RME Raydat with a D/A converter through ADAT.
I am not completely sure about the synchronisation, I believe one must be master and the other slave.

You may also have a look to FX Teleport, in the meantime it is freeware.
Maybe it is interesting for you.
http://www.fx-max.com/fxt/index.html

Good luck with your project.

Edit:
An other solution is to use JACK over a network:
http://jackaudio.org/faq/netjack.html
Personally I find JACK quite complicated to use, but it is powerfull.
I once was able to connect Cubase and Harrisson Mixbus through JACK on one PC and it worked well but it is not fast and easy.

[hollyWorse]

Now I could do this:
- Buy two expensive audio interfaces / rack mixers with like 32 channels each
- Have the audio from PC go through one audio interface (DAC) -> into the other audio interface (ADC) with my Laptop and have a digital mixer with individual audio channels.

I want to remove the DAC-ADC part. It's not neccessary and expensive. Is there any software solution? So I could like connect my PC and Laptop via USB and still have 32 virtual channels?

This would be awesome.

(If you wonder why: Music Production, Mixing and Mastering are usually split into separate workflows for many good reasons, like CPU load, Brain load, etc.)
A suggestion:
Use two audio interfaces with ADAT I/O (something like two RME Raydat).
One on your PC and one on your Laptop.
You can then connect both interfaces through ADAT.
It should work, it is not different than connecting for example one RME Raydat with a D/A converter through ADAT.
I am not completely sure about the synchronisation, I believe one must be master and the other slave.

You may also have a look to FX Teleport, in the meantime it is freeware.
Maybe it is interesting for you.
http://www.fx-max.com/fxt/index.html

Good luck with your project.

Edit:
An other solution is to use JACK over a network:
http://jackaudio.org/faq/netjack.html
Personally I find JACK quite complicated to use, but it is powerfull.
I once was able to connect Cubase and Harrisson Mixbus through JACK on one PC and it worked well but it is not fast and easy.

Great, that was really about what I was looking for!
I also had Vienna on top of my "want to buy" list, but then Ryzen and Core i9 came out and I thought, Vienna's gonna probably cause more issues than it would solve at that price tag.

But the ADAT-Solution looks really promising, avoiding DA-AD-Conversion, if it really works. Gonna dig into this, and also try Jack anyway, as it's free. Thanks, mate!

Maybe if you hadnt decided you'd 'seen the answer coming' you would have grokked the answer you did get a little bit more.

Not really sure what you were actually talking about...