Routing question

[amagalma]

Hello!

I am still puzzled with Cantabile's routing capabilities.. I have posted about it in the past.. anyway, I have an RME Babyface and I am trying to achieve the following routing:


Is this possible in Cantabile? And how?

Thanks!


P.S. It is very easy to do it in Cubase and Reaper but I haven't managed it yet in Cantabile

[humphrey]

Hi,

the only way I see at the moment is to use the "partial send functions" in rack 1.

Possibility 1: send effects. This is very simple: just connect rack 2 to send 1 and rack 3 to send 2. This is the typical situation as in live mixing.

Possibility 2: no oroginal signal on the output lines: same as possibility 1 but connect the main out of rack one to a "rack 4" and decrease the volume of rack 4 to zero (it is only needed to "vanish the original signal". Now no signal is available directly to any output line - it has to run through the FX racks.

good luck and regards, humphrey

[amagalma]

Hi,

the only way I see at the moment is to use the "partial send functions" in rack 1.

Possibility 1: send effects. This is very simple: just connect rack 2 to send 1 and rack 3 to send 2. This is the typical situation as in live mixing.

Possibility 2: no original signal on the output lines: same as possibility 1 but connect the main out of rack one to a "rack 4" and decrease the volume of rack 4 to zero (it is only needed to "vanish the original signal". Now no signal is available directly to any output line - it has to run through the FX racks.

good luck and regards, humphrey

Thank you humphrey for your reply!

Regarding possibility 2, there is no need to create an additional track in order to make the original signal vanish. I can simply set the gain to "mute" and tick the "send before gain" in the partial sends.

The problem is that it doesn't work!

I have two stereo Master Buses. Stereo Master Bus 1 is connected to analog output 1&2 and Stereo Master Bus 2 is connected to analog output 3&4.
What happens when I follow your advice is that there is signal only to the Rack that shares the same Master Bus as Rack 1. The other one doesn't get any signal at all, since it is on a different Bus (so that it outputs to a different stereo output).
If I manually duplicate *every* input and *every* output of *every* plugin that is on Rack 1 so that it outputs to both Busses then I can get signal to both the other two racks but it is distorted!

I know that I may start to become tiring but I can't help stating once more that Cantabile's weakest point is its highly problematic routing! Working with multiple inputs and outputs is either impossible or very difficult to setup. For example, in order for Rack 2 in my case to use Master Bus 2, I had to manually set the inputs and outputs of *every* plugin so that it uses Master Bus 2 and not the 1. When you load a new plugin on the rack you have to do the same process.

Anyway.. why should each plugin in a rack have the ability to change each input or output? Plugins in a rack are supposed to be in a chain, so that the output of each plugin gets automatically connected to the input of the next and one has only to set the input and output of the rack (the input of the first plugin and the output of the last one in the chain). But this is not the case in Cantabile! So, what is the use of a "rack"?

I really like Cantabile and I am very happy with what it can do! But its routing puts me off! And as I want to do more "complicated" routings (if such a routing as the one in my example can be called complicated!!) than what I used to do in the beginning when I bought it, it seems that unfortunately I will have to stop using it and find another alternative!

I wish Brad revises the routing of Cantabile, because it is lacking in quality/possibilities in comparison to the rest of the program..

[amagalma]

After hundreds of trials, I have found a way to set up the routing I wanted.
I had to do the following:

- Create 3 stereo Master Busses
- Assign outputs of Master Bus 2 -> analog out 1&2, outputs of Master Bus 3 -> to analog out 3&4, leave Master Bus 1 unassigned
- Duplicate analog input 2 (where my instrument is connected) and assign it to Master Bus 1 (NOT to Master Busses 2 & 3)
- assign the inputs and outputs of every plugin in Rack 1 to Master Bus 1 (the one that is not connected to any output of my audio card) [time-consuming]
- assign the input of the first plugin of Rack 2 to Master Bus 1, but assign its output to Master Bus 2
- assign the inputs and outputs of the rest of the plugins of Rack 2, one by one, to Master Bus 2 [time-consuming]
- assign the input of the first plugin of Rack 3 to Master Bus 1, but assign each output to Master Bus 3
- assign the inputs and outputs of the rest of the plugins of Rack 3, one by one, to Master Bus 3 [time-consuming]

Difficult? Yes! Time-consuming? Hell yes! ...and if I decide to add another plugin to any of the racks, I will have to manually choose the correct input and output channel assignments.. If I decide to bypass or remove the first plugin of Rack 2 or Rack 3 then I will have no sound until I manually assign the input of the second plugin of Rack 2 or Rack 3 to Master Bus 1.

In a future release of Cantabile I would suggest the following alterations, which would simplify the routing and make it a lot faster:
- the input and output channel assignments should be made per rack and not per plugin
- every plugin that is loaded in a rack should automatically connect its input to the output of the previous plugin (or to the assigned input of the rack, in case it is the first plugin), and its output should automatically connect to the input of the next plugin in the rack (or to the assigned output of the rack, in case it is the last plugin)

If Cantabile worked like this, then, for example, the routing above would be achieved in the following fast and simple steps:
- assign input and output of Rack 1 to Master Bus 1
- assign input of Rack 2 to Master Bus 1 and its output to Master Bus 2
- assign input of Rack 3 to Master Bus 1 and its output to Master Bus 3

VOILA! As simple as that! Even if I load a plugin in any of the Racks or remove any plugin of any of the racks, everything works without me having to manually assign inputs and ouputs...