Re: Automation of the Chopper’s “speed” control, and, also may apply to other similar automation changes in other plug-ins.
Audio Track, no automation on the track other than settings for Chopper’s Speed Control.
Chopper as Insert (no other inserts present on track or in project)
Place Track and Chopper Insert into R/W for automation recording (automation set to “Touch”)
Record Automation Changes as Track Plays (Recording can be done by click on Speed Control or by using Quick Control assigned to rotary controller on Midi Controller keyboard. In the screen shot I just clicked in the values as the track played.
Points are recorded and the Speed Control’s values do change, but, the values are not shown when the automation Points are selected? What is displayed is the last Speed the Copper was on.
I want to insert very precise changes at exact hit points, but the automation is not displaying the values on the track. If I add a new point to the Chopper’s Speed Control Automation Track and drag it up or down, with the plug-in and track Read/Write enabled, the values do not change and I can’t figure out how to enter the value I want. I can hit or miss by using the quick control, but then can’t go back and refine the placements because the values are not being displayed and the plug-in’s control is not changing.
All the points on the displayed automation line show 1/8th when selected.
Somehow, can’t I place the Track and Plug-in into Read/Write and manually edit in the Speed Change points? Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.
Upon further review it seems there’s inconsistency in the implementation of the Automation of some of the functions of the plug-ins. I have not tested them all, but reviewed a few and think I’ll find similar issues as I check further.
An animated GIF or video would make this abundantly clear, but, for now, the attached screen shot will have to do.
In this example, five plug-ins are placed as Inserts on an Audio Track. There are no other tracks or processing in the example project.
Note that some of the plug-ins provide a drop down list for synchronization values, others do not. Those that do not appear to have the problem of not changing values when the automation points are changed, whereas those that do have the Values drop-down list do change values when automation points are changed (selected and dragged up and down)
In some of the plug-ins the actual control on the plug-in moves as the value is changed, in other cases, the control remains stationary, but the value assigned to to the automation point changes and plays back correctly. However, for some plug-ins – Chopper and Stepper and likely, I suspect, other plug-ins – the values of selected automation points do not change when selected and dragged up or down. However, if a new value is entered on the fly during write-enabled playback, the value is recorded. The cursor will show the correct value, but the automation point itself does not and the value can not be changed unless you replay and re-record.
So, the result is that for some plug-ins automation points do not display the correct value and do not changed when selected and ragged up on down. In some cases a gray box appears around a selected point, in other cases only the single point is selected and the values do not change. Is this a bug? It’s certainly an inconsistency within the plug-ins.
By contract, the basic Fader automation is highly accurate and displays exact values at exact points on the time-line and selected automation points show the value of selected point. I love the Automation but something isn’t right here I think.
The value on the track shows the value where the cursor is. If you want to change the value of the automation point you must change it on the top of the screen where it says value 1/16 D.
On my screen, for the Chopper, with Synch On, the Info Line (top line) value is yet given as a number which just moves up and down when a single automation point is selected and dragged up or down. On the Delay, the value on the Info Line is shown as the Note Value and the value, and its corresponding control, move up and down as the note value changes – perfect.
There’s a bug here I’m pretty sure, or at least an inconsistency and a lack of uniform implementation of the plug-in automation structure. There are ways to work around this and it is possible to automate the Chopper’s (and others) that have what I think is faulty implementation of the automation. But it should be addressed since the Speed Automation of some of the plug-ins provides highly useful ways to create sonic patterns.
Notice that the Copper has no drop down list for the Speed Values and the Delay (and others) do. The Automation Tracks created in the attached example were created using Append and hand drawing and writing during playback.
So, is this a bug? It think it likely is. Please see attached. (when I say “values do not change” I mean the note value, the numeric value moves…per attachment note)
Thanks for any input about this. Should I submit a bug report about this? I have not tested every single plug-in for this issue, but suspect it will show up in other plug-ins. Chopper and Stepper both have this issue – lack of drop down list for Speed or Note Values, lack of ability to edit the point.
Ah, that’s what you mean. It didnt show in your last screenshot.
I think it’s a VST2 limitation rather than a bug. Stereodelay is a VST3 effect, Chopper is not.
If my theory is correct Steinberg needs to upgrade mr. Chopper.
What I do in cases like this is, 100 \ 18 (stages) is a value of 5.55 per stage.
Usually you dont use them all, so the couple of values you need will stay in your head soon enough.
Thanks for the 100\18 for 5.55 stages concept. I’ll try that out and the fly-in method does work. Some plug-ins automate perfectly, but I noticed this issue with the Chopper and the Stepper. I think it’s also likely present in some of the other plug-ins. It still isn’t good that the plug-ins aren’t uniform.
