I'm not too happy with the SX2 freeze function: it's slow and only works for vstis (not effects). So I'm contemplating to buy fxfreeze, but I'm not sure whether it is really such a plus compared to SX2's native freeze. As far as i understood, it is not possible with fxfreeze to freeze only certain parts of track, which would be very nice in a phase where you still change a lot of your arrangement.
Unfortunately, my demo version expired before I could thoroughly test it. So, who of you (espec. SX2 and N2 users) regularly uses fxfreeze and what are your experiences? Does it fit to your workflow, is it fast enough, is it stable enough? Where is the real plus compared to SX2 freeze?
Thanks for any answer
FT
FXfreeze - who uses it?
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- KVRist
- 143 posts since 28 Oct, 2002
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- KVRist
- 444 posts since 16 Dec, 2003 from here and now
Well... track freezing and FXFreeze tricks sounds like a good idea, but I'm afraid it's a false good idea (unless it's build in the sequencer and REALLY efficient - offline rendering, rendering of any track object, option to free the ram on freezed track etc)
Why? Precisely because of the various freezings limitations : Cubase SX2 freezing does it offline but doesn't freeze effects and doesn't free the ram (as far as I know) - besides, it's said to be quite slow. FXFreeze on its side doesn't do it offline and you hence need to listen to the track once more - which can be boring and doesn't do that much more compared to "solo track + export/import as audio"...
In fact we have always freezed tracks without knowing we were doing so : bouncing to wav and importing the audio is exactly what it does. I don't believe the few more clicks and typing when doing it manually is really that boring, and saving the project as backup with all the virtual synths and fx before bouncing this way has even sthg more : if ever sthg turns bad on the project file you'll always have this backup ready to recover, whereas using the freeze function you can still loose the entire freezed project with no recovery if you ain't done one... (it doesn't happen too often, but sometimes still)
In short : the argument to be able to unfreeze and refreeze tracks and objects is quite similar to backing up various states of your project before bouncing, and the gain of time isn't quite evident neither in cubase sx2 nor while using FXfreeze, because of each their internal limitations. Track freezing and FXFreeze, all in all, is nothing but a marketing argument imho.
Why? Precisely because of the various freezings limitations : Cubase SX2 freezing does it offline but doesn't freeze effects and doesn't free the ram (as far as I know) - besides, it's said to be quite slow. FXFreeze on its side doesn't do it offline and you hence need to listen to the track once more - which can be boring and doesn't do that much more compared to "solo track + export/import as audio"...
In fact we have always freezed tracks without knowing we were doing so : bouncing to wav and importing the audio is exactly what it does. I don't believe the few more clicks and typing when doing it manually is really that boring, and saving the project as backup with all the virtual synths and fx before bouncing this way has even sthg more : if ever sthg turns bad on the project file you'll always have this backup ready to recover, whereas using the freeze function you can still loose the entire freezed project with no recovery if you ain't done one... (it doesn't happen too often, but sometimes still)
In short : the argument to be able to unfreeze and refreeze tracks and objects is quite similar to backing up various states of your project before bouncing, and the gain of time isn't quite evident neither in cubase sx2 nor while using FXfreeze, because of each their internal limitations. Track freezing and FXFreeze, all in all, is nothing but a marketing argument imho.
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- KVRian
- 589 posts since 16 Jun, 2003
FXFreeze's big benefit is the Ultra-Freeze mode which frees up memory resources used by the plugin. In theory you could have a whole rack of Kontakt samples loaded, Ultra-Freeze the lot and then load another rack-load. That's the theory, I've not actually tested it yet...
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- KVRAF
- 2217 posts since 15 Jul, 2003
in P-5 freeze requires enabling/disabling tracks to isolate desired track, then rendering that thinned 'project' to wav.
Then importing that wav into GroovePlayer or Cyclone and there are time limits/size limits on how big a wav file can be pulled in < 1 minute). So the way this works best is midi patterns rendered to wav and then reconstructed from those 'blocks' -- which may sound awkward and cluttered, but actually has some advantages for composition and reuse.
so in P-5 at least fxFreeze might have been useful, but unfotunately, I had better luck doing it all manually as above. For one thing fxFreeze only froze the synth output not the track (with its attached fx chain) so with cpu intensive fx chains, there didn't seem to be much of a point. Then there were crackles and dropouts on some synths.
It seems to me hosts should all provide this render track or pattern to wav and with the option to include acidized information in the file.
Then importing that wav into GroovePlayer or Cyclone and there are time limits/size limits on how big a wav file can be pulled in < 1 minute). So the way this works best is midi patterns rendered to wav and then reconstructed from those 'blocks' -- which may sound awkward and cluttered, but actually has some advantages for composition and reuse.
so in P-5 at least fxFreeze might have been useful, but unfotunately, I had better luck doing it all manually as above. For one thing fxFreeze only froze the synth output not the track (with its attached fx chain) so with cpu intensive fx chains, there didn't seem to be much of a point. Then there were crackles and dropouts on some synths.
It seems to me hosts should all provide this render track or pattern to wav and with the option to include acidized information in the file.
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- KVRAF
- 2217 posts since 15 Jul, 2003
on the current beatslicer thread, I think gol just told us the new FLS will render with the beat slice information
so that answers my question
so that answers my question
