Hi!
A Tracktion newbie question:
Can I live monitor my electric guitar VST signal chain while recording only the clean dry signal?
If so, how?
How record dry audio while live monitoring wet signal?
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- KVRian
- 501 posts since 3 Dec, 2021
Yes, by default. The dry signal is coming through the input, this is what is being recorded. The plugins are on the output, you will hear the guitar going through them but it won't be recorded.
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- KVRAF
- 4891 posts since 3 Jan, 2003 from Vancouver
There is probably live input monitoring on your recording device. You will probably want to turn that off.
For each input in Waveform there is an option for "Live Input Monitoring" which will need to be enabled to hear your input running through effect plugins. You can find that in multiple places, including in the Actions tab of the Browser Panel and in the Control Panel when it has been opened up into "Useful" Mode.
For each input in Waveform there is an option for "Live Input Monitoring" which will need to be enabled to hear your input running through effect plugins. You can find that in multiple places, including in the Actions tab of the Browser Panel and in the Control Panel when it has been opened up into "Useful" Mode.
Surely there must be consensus by now...
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- KVRAF
- 1600 posts since 9 Jan, 2018
You can also put a SEND in one track and record both.
Track 1: Input -> SEND -> Guitar signal chain -> Output [not armed to record]*
Track 2: Input - > RETURN -> Output [armed to record] [muted]
This should let your record track 2, dry, while listening to your full output chain on track 1.
*Optional. You might wish to record both tracks 1 and 2 just in case you like what you hear! You can always delete track 2's recording later if not.
Track 1: Input -> SEND -> Guitar signal chain -> Output [not armed to record]*
Track 2: Input - > RETURN -> Output [armed to record] [muted]
This should let your record track 2, dry, while listening to your full output chain on track 1.
*Optional. You might wish to record both tracks 1 and 2 just in case you like what you hear! You can always delete track 2's recording later if not.
Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and even Deezer, whatever the hell Deezer is.
More fun at Twitter @watchfulactual
More fun at Twitter @watchfulactual
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- KVRAF
- 1600 posts since 9 Jan, 2018
Not a problem.
A "send" takes your audio and sends it somewhere else. A "return" brings that audio back into the overall mix.
An "insert" modifies that sound in the same audio stream.
Here's the story:
If you use an insert effect, it changes your audio for good. There were a ton of ways to do this in the old days, but the simplest explanation today is dropping a reverb effect onto a track. No matter what, that reverb is going to affect the audio you hear.
A "send" is like a bypass: it routes your audio like an off-ramp on an expressway. A "return" is like an on-ramp. This means you can bypass the first audio stream, modify it, and bring it back in...without affecting the original audio!
You'll typically see these in vocal tracks: your voice is recorded on track one, nice and clean. But you can send it to a reverb track and return it. This lets you bring in a little bit of reverb, a balance of reverb, or a ton of reverb as you choose. All you need to do is adjust the output levels (volume) of each track to your taste.
My suggestion--which might not be the right one--works like this:
1. Your guitar is recorded dry on the first track.
2. However, a SEND also sends a copy of that to a second track.
3. You put the reverb (as an insert... that is, a plugin chain) on the second track. You now hear your crushing overdrive, dash of delay, and serious shred on that second track, mixed with the first track thanks to the RETURN.
4. You mute the first track; now you just hear the second track.
5. However, the first track is still recording the dry signal!
And if you want, you can record the second track. Or, as you probably guessed, you can just drag a copy of the recorded clip in the first track and drag it down to the second track, delete the SEND and RETURN plugins, and you're done! The "dry" track now plays through your plugin chain and you've got your effects. The beauty of this is that if you decide you need less delay and more wah, you can change the plug in chain without re-recording...which is what I suspect you're after.
Here's how to do the SEND and RETURN in Waveform.
On the first track, go into the plugin menu (gray + icon in the upper right). Look under Waveform/Utility for the Aux Send plug in. Drag it in BEFORE the volume/pan and level meter.
On the second track, go back to the plugin menu, under Waveform/Utility for the Aux Return plug in. Drag it into the second track, BEFORE ANY OTHER PLUG INS, including your effects chain.
By default, Waveform will assign these to aux (auxiliary) bus #1.
As you get nuttier with Waveform, you can add additional sends and returns. You can figure out how to rename each so remind you of what they all do. I'll sometimes have a few sends going at once to different places for vocals, backing vocals, drum FX, orchestral effects, etc.
You can send more than one track to a return. For example, you can have two different dry guitar tracks going to the same return track, if you want to send different guitars to see which sounds better. Or you can do this same trick to send verses one track to the plugin chain, choruses on different tracks to the same plugin chain, etc., with the same guitar just to break up the song into more manageable parts for yourself.
And you can have different returns: it's not uncommon to have four tracks of one return: a short delay, a long delay, reverb, and saturation; this way, you can tweak overall project effects without re-recording.
Waveform also has other creative ways to route audio, such as using the "input from another track" option in the input area, which is great for bouncing audio. And you can send audio from the output to a different track, which I personally use to bypass the master bus and its weirdness.
Have fun, but please let us know if you have questions. We're all happy to help around here.
The more you get into Sends and Returns, the more uses you'll come up with for them.
A "send" takes your audio and sends it somewhere else. A "return" brings that audio back into the overall mix.
An "insert" modifies that sound in the same audio stream.
Here's the story:
If you use an insert effect, it changes your audio for good. There were a ton of ways to do this in the old days, but the simplest explanation today is dropping a reverb effect onto a track. No matter what, that reverb is going to affect the audio you hear.
A "send" is like a bypass: it routes your audio like an off-ramp on an expressway. A "return" is like an on-ramp. This means you can bypass the first audio stream, modify it, and bring it back in...without affecting the original audio!
You'll typically see these in vocal tracks: your voice is recorded on track one, nice and clean. But you can send it to a reverb track and return it. This lets you bring in a little bit of reverb, a balance of reverb, or a ton of reverb as you choose. All you need to do is adjust the output levels (volume) of each track to your taste.
My suggestion--which might not be the right one--works like this:
1. Your guitar is recorded dry on the first track.
2. However, a SEND also sends a copy of that to a second track.
3. You put the reverb (as an insert... that is, a plugin chain) on the second track. You now hear your crushing overdrive, dash of delay, and serious shred on that second track, mixed with the first track thanks to the RETURN.
4. You mute the first track; now you just hear the second track.
5. However, the first track is still recording the dry signal!
And if you want, you can record the second track. Or, as you probably guessed, you can just drag a copy of the recorded clip in the first track and drag it down to the second track, delete the SEND and RETURN plugins, and you're done! The "dry" track now plays through your plugin chain and you've got your effects. The beauty of this is that if you decide you need less delay and more wah, you can change the plug in chain without re-recording...which is what I suspect you're after.
Here's how to do the SEND and RETURN in Waveform.
On the first track, go into the plugin menu (gray + icon in the upper right). Look under Waveform/Utility for the Aux Send plug in. Drag it in BEFORE the volume/pan and level meter.
On the second track, go back to the plugin menu, under Waveform/Utility for the Aux Return plug in. Drag it into the second track, BEFORE ANY OTHER PLUG INS, including your effects chain.
By default, Waveform will assign these to aux (auxiliary) bus #1.
As you get nuttier with Waveform, you can add additional sends and returns. You can figure out how to rename each so remind you of what they all do. I'll sometimes have a few sends going at once to different places for vocals, backing vocals, drum FX, orchestral effects, etc.
You can send more than one track to a return. For example, you can have two different dry guitar tracks going to the same return track, if you want to send different guitars to see which sounds better. Or you can do this same trick to send verses one track to the plugin chain, choruses on different tracks to the same plugin chain, etc., with the same guitar just to break up the song into more manageable parts for yourself.
And you can have different returns: it's not uncommon to have four tracks of one return: a short delay, a long delay, reverb, and saturation; this way, you can tweak overall project effects without re-recording.
Waveform also has other creative ways to route audio, such as using the "input from another track" option in the input area, which is great for bouncing audio. And you can send audio from the output to a different track, which I personally use to bypass the master bus and its weirdness.
Have fun, but please let us know if you have questions. We're all happy to help around here.
The more you get into Sends and Returns, the more uses you'll come up with for them.
Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and even Deezer, whatever the hell Deezer is.
More fun at Twitter @watchfulactual
More fun at Twitter @watchfulactual
