FL Studio Mixer question

[Choikdoi]

Would appreciate it if anyone knows how to do this, if it's possible. I'll try the IL forum if not, but trying here first because the wait times over there are not great.

If I have an FX plugin on the master channel, so that all other channels are getting that effect, how do I select individual channels to not route through the master channel, but still play their audio?

[Trancit]

Best way: not to bypass the Master track entirely but the effect (plugin(s)) for selected tracks:
You sidechain the tracks to the master instead of routing them with level...
Then you insert a Patcher behind the plugins you want to "bypass" for these tracks...
You enable the tracks in Patcher´s input and connect them to the output module...
Done...

In this video I explain this technique a bit with bypassing master fx for browser preview and reference track:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvieZnS4xw0&t
.
Second method... take a track and select your audio output (same like on the master) instead of "None" directly on this track here:

direct out.jpg

.
Now select the tracks you want to "bypass" the Master rightclick the little routing triangle on the bottom of the track you routed directly out and say "Route to this track only"...
Now these tracks do not go through the Master anymore...

Note: this second method can give problems with previewing audio in the browser and isn´t as flexible as the first...

[Choikdoi]

Best way: not to bypass the Master track entirely but the effect (plugin(s)) for selected tracks:
You sidechain the tracks to the master instead of routing them with level...
Then you insert a Patcher behind the plugins you want to "bypass" for these tracks...
You enable the tracks in Patcher´s input and connect them to the output module...
Done...

In this video I explain this technique a bit with bypassing master fx for browser preview and reference track:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvieZnS4xw0&t
.
Second method... take a track and select your audio output (same like on the master) instead of "None" directly on this track here:
direct out.jpg
.
Now select the tracks you want to "bypass" the Master rightclick the little routing triangle on the bottom of the track you routed directly out and say "Route to this track only"...
Now these tracks do not go through the Master anymore...

Note: this second method can give problems with previewing audio in the browser and isn´t as flexible as the first...

Many thanks for the post Trancit!

The patcher method confused me, but I am easily confused! So, I'm not sure if I'd followed it correctly or not.

To expand on the situation I have in my project (I have a bad habit of not including more details in first posts):

I have an FX plugin, Toolroom Infinite, on the master channel for transitional effects, so that I can automate it for risers / downers / impacts etc.

But I also want to use additional plugins to layer similar FX sounds for these transitions. Except, they are coming from instrument plugins, not effect plugins (like Infinte).

So I have, for example; AIR's The Riser as an instrument plugin in the channel rack, assigned to a channel in the mixer and routed to the master channel. But I want that riser not to be affected by the Infinite plugin on the master.

Does the Patcher method still apply to this?

When trying the second method with the channel routed to another one and the audio output changed on the second one, it sounds... different... to how it sounds if I have the original channel just routed to the master. Like, as if it was a sidechained signal but not at 100%. But it's definitely not that I sidechained by accident, it's definitely using the 'Route to this track only' option. It still doesn't sound completely unaffected, as it would sound if it were routed directly to the master channel if the master channel had no FX on it.

[Trancit]

The patcher method confused me, but I am easily confused! So, I'm not sure if I'd followed it correctly or not...

The more complex stuff is very powerful but can easily be confusing for sure...

...I have an FX plugin, Toolroom Infinite, on the master channel for transitional effects, so that I can automate it for risers / downers / impacts etc.

But I also want to use additional plugins to layer similar FX sounds for these transitions. Except, they are coming from instrument plugins, not effect plugins (like Infinte).

So I have, for example; AIR's The Riser as an instrument plugin in the channel rack, assigned to a channel in the mixer and routed to the master channel. But I want that riser not to be affected by the Infinite plugin on the master.

Does the Patcher method still apply to this?

Yes, it excels especially for parts like these...

As far as I understand your situation you have some tracks (probably the majority) which shall be affected by the plugin on the Master and there are some tracks which shall not, correct??

You´ve got 2 possibilities to realize this:

1. Less flexible and takes a bit to do ( in the future you could take care right of the start):

Work with a seperate Group/Bus channel before the Master...
This is what you would do in a DAW with less flexible routing options...

Instead putting the plugin on the Master, you create a Bus channel with that plugin loaded for all the tracks which shall be affected by this plugin ...
...means you route with the same method alll the tracks which shall be affected by this plugin to this "Effect Bus" ...
...select all tracks which were before routed directly to the Master AND shall be affected by this plugin, rightlick the routing triangle of the new Effect Bus track and say "Route to this track only"...

This way you have no 2 seperate "signal chains" going into the Master (on which of course you now don´t have this plugin loaded anymore)...
- The signal chain of everything which is now affected by your transition plugin...
- Everything else which routing stays the same like before...

This is probably the easiest method to deal with this situation and does already everything you need and can be of course expanded to everything you like...

For every process which shall include some tracks of your project but others not, the always easiest method is to create a bus where you route the tracks to which shall be processed while not routing to this bus everything else or route everything else to another bus and process them all together again differently.... the sky is the limit (respectively your CPU) here...

Using this method you keep your Master clean and you put just plugins on it which shall really process everything and not just a part...

2. The Patcher method I spoke about before...
It doesn´t waste any additional tracks and is very very powerful but more diffcult to understand and perhaps less obvious to setup...

As long as you don´t have any further experience with that, I would recommend to go the "special Effect Bus" way instead of the Patcher way...
If you learn to walk you don´t start with training sprinting and this method is probably to advanced than being a beginner into Patcher lesson...

When trying the second method with the channel routed to another one and the audio output changed on the second one, it sounds... different... to how it sounds if I have the original channel just routed to the master. Like, as if it was a sidechained signal but not at 100%. But it's definitely not that I sidechained by accident, it's definitely using the 'Route to this track only' option. It still doesn't sound completely unaffected, as it would sound if it were routed directly to the master channel if the master channel had no FX on it.

Forget about the second method in your situation...

For the fact alone that at the end most likely you want to render this project out as a complete song and everything which doesn´t go through the Master wouldn´t be included in the final mixdown...

[rewthless]

I'd do it like option 1 suggested above. Also remember you don't have to have the left Master channel as master. I rename it Utility and bung Youlean loudness and VSTnotepad there. My 'master' is channel 125 where I bung a limiter. Channels 117..125 are docked right and setup as buses as posted above.

[C][M]1..116mixchannels| 117..122 all sorts of bus'd goodness. [123][124]|125

So you could route everything to whatever 117-122 bus and then to 124 and then 125 but the few tracks that you don't want included route to 123 instead of 124 and then to 125. 125 routes to [M].

[Choikdoi]

For the fact alone that at the end most likely you want to render this project out as a complete song and everything which doesn´t go through the Master wouldn´t be included in the final mixdown...

Yes, the bus route is going to be the best one for me in that regard, as well as being easier to wrap my head around!

I seem to have encountered another issue though... I'm assuming it's only related to this specific plugin, because other busses such as delay & reverb work fine with any plugins that I use. But, with the Toolroom Infinite plugin, when it's used on a bus, it creates the riser / downer / impact audio from within the plugin, separately from the channel it's being bussed from. But it won't affect / apply it to the incoming audio, no matter what level I set it to. As soon as I put it back on the individual channel without the bus, it works as intended again. I guess I'll need to ask Toolroom about that, which is a shame because they're not answering their previous emails! Unless you have any experience of other plugins behaving this way?

I'd do it like option 1 suggested above. Also remember you don't have to have the left Master channel as master. I rename it Utility and bung Youlean loudness and VSTnotepad there. My 'master' is channel 125 where I bung a limiter. Channels 117..125 are docked right and setup as buses as posted above.

[C][M]1..116mixchannels| 117..122 all sorts of bus'd goodness. [123][124]|125

So you could route everything to whatever 117-122 bus and then to 124 and then 125 but the few tracks that you don't want included route to 123 instead of 124 and then to 125. 125 routes to [M].

That suggestion of not using the master channel as the master channel and sticking it at the end with the other busses is making it easier, thanks for the tip! I've always procrastinated about learning and using bus methods. Better finally get into that habit.

Thanks for going into so much detail with the response, Trancit. Especially as it ended up being a solution that I would have known about if I had been used to using something as simple as busses!

[Milka333]

The patcher method confused me, but I am easily confused! So, I'm not sure if I'd followed it correctly or not...

The more complex stuff is very powerful but can easily be confusing for sure...

...I have an FX plugin, Toolroom Infinite, on the master channel for transitional effects, so that I can automate it for risers / downers / impacts etc.

But I also want to use additional plugins to layer similar FX sounds for these transitions. Except, they are coming from instrument plugins, not effect plugins (like Infinte).

So I have, for example; AIR's The Riser as an instrument plugin in the channel rack, assigned to a channel in the mixer and routed to the master channel. But I want that riser not to be affected by the Infinite plugin on the master.

Does the Patcher method still apply to this?

Yes, it excels especially for parts like these...

As far as I understand your situation you have some tracks (probably the majority) which shall be affected by the plugin on the Master and there are some tracks which shall not, correct??

You´ve got 2 possibilities to realize this:

1. Less flexible and takes a bit to do ( in the future you could take care right of the start):

Work with a seperate Group/Bus channel before the Master...
This is what you would do in a DAW with less flexible routing options...

Instead putting the plugin on the Master, you create a Bus channel with that plugin loaded for all the tracks which shall be affected by this plugin ...
...means you route with the same method alll the tracks which shall be affected by this plugin to this "Effect Bus" ...
...select all tracks which were before routed directly to the Master AND shall be affected by this plugin, rightlick the routing triangle of the new Effect Bus track and say "Route to this track only"...

This way you have no 2 seperate "signal chains" going into the Master (on which of course you now don´t have this plugin loaded anymore)...
- The signal chain of everything which is now affected by your transition plugin...
- Everything else which routing stays the same like before...

This is probably the easiest method to deal with this situation and does already everything you need and can be of course expanded to everything you like...

For every process which shall include some tracks of your project but others not, the always easiest method is to create a bus where you route the tracks to which shall be processed while not routing to this bus everything else or route everything else to another bus and process them all together again differently.... the sky is the limit (respectively your CPU) here...

Using this method you keep your Master clean and you put just plugins on it which shall really process everything and not just a part...

2. The Patcher method I spoke about before...
It doesn´t waste any additional tracks and is very very powerful but more diffcult to understand and perhaps less obvious to setup...

As long as you don´t have any further experience with that, I would recommend to go the "special Effect Bus" way instead of the Patcher way...
If you learn to walk you don´t start with training sprinting and this method is probably to advanced than being a beginner into Patcher lesson...

When trying the second method with the channel routed to another one and the audio output changed on the second one, it sounds... different... to how it sounds if I have the original channel just routed to the master. Like, as if it was a sidechained signal but not at 100%. But it's definitely not that I sidechained by accident, it's definitely using the 'Route to this track only' option. It still doesn't sound completely unaffected, as it would sound if it were routed directly to the master channel if the master channel had no FX on it.

Forget about the second method in your situation...

For the fact alone that at the end most likely you want to render this project out as a complete song and everything which doesn´t go through the Master wouldn´t be included in the final mixdown...

I'm not sure, if it's still relevant, but I recommend the first option. You're future you will thank you.