KVR Audio

cbreeze34 · Post by **cbreeze34** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 3:42 pm

Surely something so simple exists and is (please) a free plugin: what i need is a VST or DX plugin whose sole purpose is to send audio out through one of the sound card's analog outputs and back into its corresponding input, just like an insert on an analog mixer, so that i can insert actual analog realtime effects into the digital signal chain. That way i can experiment with different analog effects non-destructively (e.g., stumbled upon a free pair of vintage LA-3A's... using them instead of some emulating plugin would be killer).

I've searched the forum for this but the terms involved are so general that it was totally fruitless.

ddummer · Post by **ddummer** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 3:48 pm

It's not as easy as it seems....

But I believe SX3 got it built in?!

What host are you using?

//Daniel

aallvor · Post by **aallvor** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 3:57 pm

ddummer wrote: But I believe SX3 got it built in?!

//Daniel

Logic and Podium as well.

valdiorn · Post by **valdiorn** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 4:02 pm

yup, SX3 has this feature, for both instruments and effects devices

lfm · Post by **lfm** » Sun Aug 27, 2006 9:13 am

On any soundcard which has multiple analog inputs and multiple analog outputs you can do that.

In Sonar(and I guess most host software) you can select any output from a track(or bus), being that the driver has a selection for it. This is usually meant for an external digital mixer, but with analog outs as well you can do what you describe and use as Aux Send and put return into the normal inputs.

Like the RME Hammerfall 9632 or similar. The driver has a lot of inputs and outputs to choose for each track.

BobYordan · Post by **BobYordan** » Sun Aug 27, 2006 10:56 pm

Yup, I have RME (9636+exp card = 9652) and it work very nice with
Cubase SX3. I have 24 in/out via ADAT lightpipe and external AD/DA converters.

Using them for external synth input and external effect send/return.

This might be something to consider also :

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/P ... -main.html

akisd28 · Post by **akisd28** » Sun Aug 27, 2006 11:17 pm

Yup, SX 3/Nuendo 3 will do that and also compensate for the latency that occurs from the process.

cbreeze34 · Post by **cbreeze34** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 1:14 pm

thanks guys, i am in fact using sonar, and i have an 8-channel card (8-ins and 8-outs). i've been thinking about upgrading to a 24-channel card but the additional i/o would be pretty pointless unless i could patch in some outboard analog fx, since i only have 10 channels of pre's. it just seems like it would be a simple enough 'effect' for any VST writer to build that it would exist already. perhaps it would be something i could whip up with SynthEdit.

cbreeze34 · Post by **cbreeze34** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 1:24 pm

aah, synthedit won't work, because you can't send audio directly to a sound card output (or receive directly from an input), you have to send it back to the host. perhaps i'll try the sonar forums to see if anyone's tried anything similar. in case anyone's curious i'll keep my findings updates here.

BoksteR · Post by **BoksteR** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 1:36 pm

I'm confused,
Is there any way of doing this with a 2in 2out card and Cubase SX3?
(i'm using Creamware's Pulsar 1)
if so what should I look for in the Manual?

BertKoor · Post by **BertKoor** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 1:39 pm

I don't know Sonar in particular, but MOST hosts allow the outputs of a track to go to any physical output instead of to the master bus. And any inputs can be incorporated in the mix usually.

Wouldn't that give enough options to use hardware effects and your inputs/outputs??

ddummer · Post by **ddummer** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 1:48 pm

Well the point here is also to have this option as
an insert on a track where the routing would be as
using a normal plugin and not all host got this
option.

//Daniel

BoksteR · Post by **BoksteR** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 1:54 pm

well I found the answer for my question in the manual:

"To use external effects, you need audio hardware with multiple inputs
and outputs. To use external instruments, a MIDI interface must be
connected to your computer.
An external effect will require at least one input and one output (or input/output pairs
for stereo effects) - in addition to the input/output ports you use for recording and
monitoring."

cbreeze34 · Post by **cbreeze34** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 2:05 pm

BertKoor wrote:I don't know Sonar in particular, but MOST hosts allow the outputs of a track to go to any physical output instead of to the master bus. And any inputs can be incorporated in the mix usually.

Wouldn't that give enough options to use hardware effects and your inputs/outputs??

i guess i was looking for a simpler solution. i have plenty of i/o available, so that's not a problem. the benefit of the plugin would be that it could allow for latency compensation, something that sending directly into/out of the sound interface will not do. it's doable, but i'll have to manually freeze the track (i.e. arm a new track assigned to the proper input and hit record) and re-align the frozen track to be able to really mix with it... the plugin would allow real-time mixing with minimal reconfiguration. not a huge deal i guess, but it makes the whole process less efficient, especially if you're integrating a lot of outboard gear into your mix.

Realtime Analog Track Insert Plugin?