Faulty design in TrackSpacer

[Harry_HH]

Don't see the problem here. What's relevant for processing is the sidechain (because it triggers the ducking) and the ducking itself (it shows you where and how much to duck). If you need to see another spectrum to set up the effect, put an analyzer on the track. Though I do not see what additional information it could show you. Maybe you could give a more detailed example where it is beneficial to see the spectrum and how it solves collisions then.

You could also place a proper feature request but I guess if more users would have asked for it, it would already be implemented.

Now we are in the point, where obviously all the previous arguments anove appear to be incorrect - you next argument seems to be, ”put an other plugin (spectrum) to get the information”.

If I needed additional plugins to get one working properly, thats obviously not adequate.

[RobinWood]

Don't get me wrong, I personally couldn't care less. It was just a workaround for *your* problem. And it just isn't necessary to get the plugin working properly for all others as it seems They use their ears

[Harry_HH]

Don't get me wrong, it was a workaround for *your* problem. It just isn't necessary to get the plugin working properly for all others as it seems They use their ears

That ”use just your ears” is an insincere argument, pulled always when real justification ends.
Of course you use your ears, but ears+eyes is better.

[plexuss]

After reading this thread my IQ dropped 20 points. Thanks for that Harry_HH : /

[nordickvr]

Thing to remember.
Never drive a car while mixing.

[RobGee]

[Dark Fiber]

After reading this thread my IQ dropped 20 points. Thanks for that Harry_HH : /

My IQ dropped a lot more than that! Made me fall asleep a lot sooner.
I guess he has been isolated for too long

[Harry_HH]

When I read the counter arguments to my point here, I’ve got the same feeling.

[fese]

Don't get me wrong, it was a workaround for *your* problem. It just isn't necessary to get the plugin working properly for all others as it seems They use their ears

That ”use just your ears” is an insincere argument, pulled always when real justification ends.
Of course you use your ears, but ears+eyes is better.

“Ears+eyes is better” is a statement backed by nothing except maybe your personal preference.
It’s definitely not a “faulty design”, the plugin works as advertised, and it seems to work well for a lot of people, because it is dead simple to use.
Maybe it just isn’t for you, if you rely a lot on visuals? There’s alternatives out there that can achieve similar results like DSEQ or that Mspectralsomething by Melda.
Probably not easier to use, though.

[antic604]

If I understand correctly, the issue you have with it is you don't know how to set high-pass and low-cut filters, because TS doesn't show where the signals clash, right?

In a way it's a valid complaint. A "red glow" like Neutron 3 or Pro-Q3 are showing when 2 signals are enabled and they clash would be handy, indeed. But in reality my approach to using TS is simple. Let's say I've 2 lead melodies that complemet each other but also overlap occasionally both in terms of note hits and frequency composition of the sound. I ask myself - which one of the two is more important? Once I decided that, I put TS on the other track, feed it with my "more important" track, leave the filters open and just play with other parameters to have it do what I need.

I approach it differently if I only require selective effect, for example I've a bass line with lots of mid- and high-end content (say a neutro type bass) but want only its low-end to duck when kick hits. Then I'll use the low-pass filter to 'focus' TS on just the low end, say up to 120Hz or whatever.

Last thing you need to realize - and maybe you do, already - is that TP won't work well when two signals barely overlap, i.e. kick + airy pad probably wouldn't work well. For this you need Neutron 3 or Pro-Q3, that can duck one EQ band (e.g. high-shelf on a pad track) listening to a completely different EQ band in sidechain (e.g. low end of the kick track).

But really - TS works best for similarly sounding tracks, when you just want one of them to be more prominent but also want the effect to be smarter and more dynamic than simply pulling down the volume fader

[Harry_HH]

Thank you for your analysis and useful comments.
I would elaborate it slightly - the most useful area for getting visual information, in addition to the audio, here, was to define, which frequencies of the TS effected source you let through (by using the filters), i.e. without dampening.

Of course the audio is most important, but the shape of freq curve can be informative, too.

The overall frequency curves of both of the signals are useful to see, as well.

I wonder why this feature, which shouldn’t be difficult to execute, is let out.

[antic604]

Thank you for your analysis and useful comments.
I would elaborate it slightly - the most useful area for getting visual information, in addition to the audio, here, was to define, which frequencies of the TS effected source you let through (by using the filters), i.e. without dampening.

Of course the audio is most important, but the shape of freq curve can be informative, too.

The overall frequency curves of both of the signals are useful to see, as well.

I wonder why this feature, which shouldn’t be difficult to execute, is let out.

Well, you kind of see that by the line not moving anymore (no ducking happening) on the left when you increase high-pass and on the right when you increase low-pass. But indeed, it wouldn't hurt if they added thin vertical lines to visualise it better.

In the end it's a one-traick-pony plugin, often on sale and developed by single person who I think doesn't do that professionally - hard to expect it have it all

[Harry_HH]

Thank you for your analysis and useful comments.
I would elaborate it slightly - the most useful area for getting visual information, in addition to the audio, here, was to define, which frequencies of the TS effected source you let through (by using the filters), i.e. without dampening.

Of course the audio is most important, but the shape of freq curve can be informative, too.

The overall frequency curves of both of the signals are useful to see, as well.

I wonder why this feature, which shouldn’t be difficult to execute, is let out.

Well, you kind of see that by the line not moving anymore (no ducking happening) on the left when you increase high-pass and on the right when you increase low-pass. But indeed, it wouldn't hurt if they added thin vertical lines to visualise it better.

In the end it's a one-traick-pony plugin, often on sale and developed by single person who I think doesn't do that professionally - hard to expect it have it all

Yes, but the freq.curve may have two or more peaks, or the visual image may give you idea of the audio concerning the curve slope.
All in all, the spetrogram is a good supplement, in most of the cases. If implementing this feature is a minor effort, I don't see any reason to leave it out.

[fese]

In the end it's a one-traick-pony plugin, often on sale and developed by single person who I think doesn't do that professionally - hard to expect it have it all

Why do you assume that? You just need to look in the manual to see that it is not true. Credits show four people involved in design and dsp programming, one of those being Ivan Cohen, professional dsp developer for e.g. Two Notes (https://www.musicalentropy.com/about.html)

[antic604]

In the end it's a one-traick-pony plugin, often on sale and developed by single person who I think doesn't do that professionally - hard to expect it have it all

Why do you assume that? You just need to look in the manual to see that it is not true. Credits show four people involved in design and dsp programming, one of those being Ivan Cohen, professional dsp developer for e.g. Two Notes (https://www.musicalentropy.com/about.html)

Sorry, I must've confused the dev with someone else. Still, the 1st part is true - it's a one-trick-pony and it's often discounted, which means one shouldn't expect it to have all possible features