Freezing

[djguido]

I use FL studio and to my knowledge it does not have a freez function. Could somebody tell me what exactly a freez function does. I understand its supposed to free up CPU.....is that right??
I just noticed that cause I'm researching different hosts and I'm seeing the word "Freeze" queit a bit.

[ceenda]

As far as I know, freezing just means rendering out some of your generators (tracks etc.) to WAV, removing those generators and patterns and then importing the WAV in their place. So basically, you're turning parts of your song into WAV, removing those parts and importing the WAV in their place. As playing a simple audio file is MUCH easier on the CPU than all the different instruments being processed in realtime.

But you have to be pretty sure that those patterns are exactly as you want them (because once you use the AUDIO instead, you can't go back). But you should always save your work in it's original complexity and then save incrementally so that you can go back to earlier versions if you find that you need to change some of the audio you've frozen.

[digitaldoom]

As far as I know, freezing just means rendering out some of your generators (tracks etc.) to WAV, removing those generators and patterns and then importing the WAV in their place. So basically, you're turning parts of your song into WAV, removing those parts and importing the WAV in their place. As playing a simple audio file is MUCH easier on the CPU than all the different instruments being processed in realtime.

But you have to be pretty sure that those patterns are exactly as you want them (because once you use the AUDIO instead, you can't go back). But you should always save your work in it's original complexity and then save incrementally so that you can go back to earlier versions if you find that you need to change some of the audio you've frozen.

ceenda: You are right about the rendering to wav and the CPU gain. But I don't agree that you can't go back, at least from my Cubase SX experience. I've freezed tracks in Cubase SX and then if I wanted to make a change I just went back and unfreezed the track, made my change and then froze it again. Recently I have been using FLStudio and have again, maxed out my CPU by using 25+ channels and loading up about 9 or so fx channels. FLStudio does not contain a freeze function (which I hope they include in later versions). There is a way around this that I used in Cubase should work in FLStudio. This is what I did prior to any freeze functions being on the market. Solo the channel that you want to freeze. Render it to wav. Create a new Audio Track right under the track you just rendered. Open the rendered wav in the audio track. Then mute the original channel. I believe when you mute the track it will not be processed by the CPU and thus you will have gained CPU cycles for it. Just repeat this technique for every track you want to freeze.

Using this technique you can always un-mute a track make a change and repeat the process. There should be no reason to feel that once you go to wav you can't go back.

[princeofroles]

Just as a clarification, the freeze function doesn't physically convert to a .Wav, rather it just converts it to internal audio. As others suggest, you can mimic the effect (what programmers would call a "kludge") by converting to a .WAV file, but the freeze function effectively does that without the additional step(s). In short, it's a worthwhile feature:). John

[tony tony chopper]

Freezing in FL can be done by arming a mixer track, rendering it, and then disabling the channels routed to that mixer track. True, it's a couple of extra clicks, but it's nothing compared to the several minutes it takes to freeze something (in FL or any other host, since a track that you want to freeze is likely to eat a lot of CPU [otherwise you wouldn't need to freeze it], so will take a lot of time to render - up to several minutes and it can be boring).

[Karen-K]

OR you can also use:
http://www.kvr-vst.com/get/612.html
@ Gol BTW does FL will include Freeze function in future version ?
Not that it's really important but most of the new host version are going to this and I would not invest in something like FX freeze if I used FL as primary host...
Also you said it can be done by disabling the channel routed to that mixer : do you mean just clicking on the little green led or deleting the MIDI/VST channel.
This is important as in one case it won't let you make change to the MIDI part (eg: midi to audio but no audio to midi).
Your answer will help me choosin' between Orion and FL as I'm using lot's of VST instruments
Thanks for leting us know
Karen

[tony tony chopper]

Gol BTW does FL will include Freeze function in future version

probably in a future release, BUT as I wrote, the features are already there, so it will be just a handy macro to spare a few mouse clicks.

[Jaeson Merrill]

a macro is all FL really needs, although the file management may become an issue, all the audiotracks made would get messy possibly.


problem about the "click on the little green button" theory is: it doesnt unload the plugin and restore it and the saved preset with a click.

this is the advantage of the freezes, from SX, to fxfreeze, to samplitude. It disables all effects from that track, and can restore it in an instant.

and no, it doesnt take long at all, that is a myth. perhaps cubase sx, but ive seen some pretty fast freezes in samplitude and with fxfreeze.

(hint: with fxfreeze, you can set numerous vsti's to freeze, then click the "bounce" button on each, then hit render in the host. goes a TON faster, at least 2* faster than the song itself)

fact is, the technology is there to do really quick and easy, and integrated freezes, but no ones really using it, except perhaps samplitude.

you can freeze anything, objects, busses, tracks, it kills fx, vstis, anything, and a click of a button can bring them back to their previous state.

[Jaeson Merrill]

http://forum.e-officedirect.com/forum.e ... GEFRAME=OK

there's alot of good ideas on freezing in FL here... those who can, take a look

for instance, a common concern

I'm not sure if track freezing will solve my cpu problem. A lot of vsti's still use
CPU even when they are muted. I would like to render a track or pattern but not
lose the vsti settings. If I render a track in the current system, the vsti still
eats cpu. If I delete the vsti, I lose the patch info.

or

well it would still be quite useful, because theres a few steps involved in freezing in fl..

you have to click each mixer tracks rec button.

after you do that, you have to select where each track is rendered to.

then hit alt+r

then press return.

when the rendering is done, you have to then disable all the vsti's which doesnt always work quite right does it?

also with plugins, you would have to disable all the effects on the mixer tracks you use.

In Sonar for instance, there's a default audio folder for the project.

So you can bounce a track with a SINGLE CLICK, just one step!

You can choose 'bounce to track', and the new audiotrack appears automatically with the fx applied and everything.


Then almost all the CPU that was being in use is freed: the instrument, the fx and the piano-roll get "frozen.

Then, if you want to "unfreeze", just click the same button, and everything is back to 'normal'.

Now, this is FAST and EASY. And I don't think is complicated to implement it, since other programs feature it. When you are producing, time is invaluable and you want your tools to behave this way.

[Karen-K]

[quote="Jaeson Merrill"
problem about the "click on the little green button" theory is: it doesnt unload the plugin and restore it and the saved preset with a click.
this is the advantage of the freezes, from SX, to fxfreeze, to samplitude. It disables all effects from that track, and can restore it in an instant.
and no, it doesnt take long at all, that is a myth. perhaps cubase sx, but ive seen some pretty fast freezes in samplitude and with fxfreeze.
[...]previous state.[/quote]
I thought exactly the same and as Gol didn't reply exactlyto the question I think he knows that too
Anyway I think I'll buy FL & Fxfreeze
Thanks for the hint Jaeson
Karen

[Jaeson Merrill]

well, dont be rash now, make sure you test the demo first, you have 14 days. test test test! any questions, feel free to ask

[tony tony chopper]

and no, it doesnt take long at all, that is a myth

it's just logic:

Rendering can be A LOT faster than realtime playback. BUT if it is, it means that you can as well play your track realtime, and you don't need freezing. You need to freeze things that eat a lot of CPU, so this can take a lot of time.
In FL, it's worse since, because of internal controllers, all generators/effects can interact, so the whole thing has to be rendered. If your track is 3min long, and the unfrozen version would eat 200% CPU, then it'll take 6min to freeze.
Of course, if your song doesn't eat much CPU, like 10%, it's only gonna take 20sec to freeze. But if your track only eats 10% of your CPU, then you don't need freezing.

[pough]

Of course, if your song doesn't eat much CPU, like 10%, it's only gonna take 20sec to freeze. But if your track only eats 10% of your CPU, then you don't need freezing.

Do you mean "song" when you say "track?" Because freezing comes in handy, even on minimal-CPU tracks, when you have more than 10 tracks that each take up 10% CPU. So in that case, freezing is both fast and necessary.

[gullfo]

in cakewalk (not the new version) I typically bounce the effect track to a new one and "archive" the effect track - keep everything intact in case I want to change it and renders to wav the track so I get back all that cpu... takes only a minute or so. ver 4 is supposed to have the freeze/unfreeze feature - not sure how quick it will be but it sounds convenient...

[Jaeson Merrill]

took my thought

its true, if you KNOW a track is going to take up a lot of cpu, you freeze it ahead of time, to keep the cpu usage low.

in my work, i use freeze more of a preventitive measure than a "shoot im out of cpu" thing.