Can you put plugins on an input? Well, kind of...you can!

[Watchful]

A couple of years ago, I posted a question about whether you could really put plugins on an input--for example, could you record a vocal track while running it through a compressor, de-esser, and other plugins like a saturator or mic emulator.

The technical answer was no, and quite a few folks came up with some ideas that didn't quite work out.

This afternoon, I figured out how to do it--in the usual fashion, I was thinking totally about something else when it occurred to out of the blue. Which is weird, because it means my brain was running some subroutine for nearly two years I didn't know was still in there.

Anyway, here's the trick. You'll need two tracks.

Track 1: put in the Insert plugin (you'll find this in the Waveform Utility plugins)
* Set the "Send" to your audio interface's output
* Set the "Return" to your audio interface's input

Track 2: change the input (far left) to receive audio from track 1.

Now, back to track 1: insert your compressor of choice, and any other plugins you want. Reverb? EQ? Another compressor? That's up to you. Create a whole vocal chain, if you want.

Option 1: Arm *both* tracks to record, and record away! The audio signal is recorded DRY onto track 1, and recorded WET onto track 2. You might want to keep track 1 just in case something goes nasty with track 2.

Option 2: Arm just track 2 to record, and record away! You get just the wet signal, which if you've set this up a few times and like how you've got things, well, there's no reason to keep a dry backup.

Note: I experimented with a few different plugin compressors, and surprisingly not all worked when placed after the Insert plugin. So test first!

Also, don't think you're bulletproof, here. You're still recording from an unprotected input: if you really scream into the microphone, track 2 is going to record a clipped signal, because a clipped signal is going into the compressor. Since Waveform still doesn't support putting plugins on the input, you're not going to be able to brickwall a super-loud sound before it gets clipped.

This is now the third use for the Insert plugin I really like. The first: the ability to route Waveform's audio signal through physical hardware and back (sending an audio track through a hardware reverb unit, for example). The second, which I use a lot: sending MIDI to a hardware keyboard, and having its audio signal return on the same track, rather than use two tracks (MIDI and audio).

Let me know if you want tips on either of those. Anyway, hope someone finds this useful or at least worth experimenting with!

[Brother Charles]

Great tip, Watchful! Thanks a million for sharing.

[Watchful]

You're welcome! I've been using the above technique increasingly and really liking its output.

Hope it works for you.