Hello Steinberg developers,
I would like to submit the following feature request.
It would be very helpful if it were possible to deactivate Group Channels, Aux Channels, and VCA Tracks, just like other track types.
Thank you for considering this feature request, and thank you for your continued work on Nuendo!
Nuendo doesn’t have “Aux Channels”. Which track types are you thinking of? Output buses?
Also, it doesn’t really make much sense to disable VCA tracks. They probably take virtually no processing power as is, and if you want them to not do anything you can turn automation read off.
Yes, sorry. i mean group channels and effect channels.
In our commercial audio post workflow it would be nice to have that option.
I’m trying to understand the purpose of it.
The only use case I can think of is when you’re working with a full-blown template but, for example, don’t need the “Church” reverb. You don’t want to delete the FX track, though, because you might need it later.
(By the way, if you simply disable the reverb plug-ins on an FX track, that track doesn’t use any CPU.)
The same goes for foodgroups like Guns, Explosions, or other sound categories that you don’t need in a talking-head production.
(Unless you need to re-route tracks, Group tracks themselves don’t really add any weight to the project.)
So am I missing something?
I’m genuinely curious—what’s the intended purpose of this feature?
Fredo
Hi Fredo,
Yes, I understand that you want to get to the bottom of this. As you mentioned, we’re working with a very large session template that covers all the possible scenarios and contingencies that can come up during post-production for commercials—not only in stereo, but also for multichannel formats like 5.1 or Atmos.
Since we often have to react very quickly and on short notice, we want to have all eventualities covered. For example, we always keep group tracks for ADR or dialogue ready to go, with all the necessary settings and plugins already in place.
Of course, I understand that disabled plugins don’t use any CPU, and that’s not really my concern. I’m not trying to save CPU resources. My goal is simply to improve the overview in a large template by hiding all the group tracks that aren’t currently in use, while still being able to bring them back instantly whenever they’re needed.
Thanks for the discussion!
Well, you could make more use of show/hide functionality. In my case I use “Workspaces” and I also use them in conjunction with PLEs, triggered by key commands and/or macros using Eucontrol on my tablet. I have for example a soft key that when pressed sets everything up for production sound editing, and another for mixing, and yet another for when it’s time to export. The correct windows and plugins open in the correct places and tracks are hidden or shown accordingly.
I’ve also found that sometimes you can find a solution by thinking in “reverse”, so rather than hiding X tracks it might be easier to hide all and then make Y tracks visible. Not saying that’s your solution but it’s another way of thinking about things in general.
Anyway, if you’re looking to customize what information is visible to you visibility agents, workspaces, PLEs and more should be really helpful. The one thing to keep in mind is that as you’re using PLEs you’ll likely have to standardize naming and keep that convention across all projects, using templates.
Yeah, that’s the way to do it.
As a standard, we work in 5.1 for all our projects.
I know some of my colleagues work in Atmos by default, but I personally find that to be overkill.
At the start of a project, you usually know whether it’s intended for Netflix or similar platforms.
Regular broadcast is 5.1 at best, while cinema is a different story.
Even then, you’re generally aware from the outset whether the final deliverable will be 5.1, 7.1, or Atmos.
Whenever one of our projects gets upgraded from 5.1 to Atmos, we simply load all the tracks into our Atmos template.
It’s a completely different workflow anyway, so you end up redoing quite a bit regardless.
Don’t get me wrong—there are plenty of good reasons to work in Atmos from the start.
On the other hand, there are just as many reasons to keep things simple, as I described above.
I’d say: Multiple templates that fully are compatible.
We have different templates for Dialog Edit, BG cutting, ADR recording, etc… They all load flawless within our Mixing Template. And as far as ADR goes, I find it a real PITA to record ADR in 5.1.
Good luck!
Fredo
In many cases I use FX chains rather than just one single plug-in. De-activating a Group or an FX channel makes a lot of sense when trying to save CPU cycles, especially in surround- and 3D audio environments.
… yes, I know that VST3s should stop processing when no signal arrives, but in times of “analogue noise” and vibe-programmed plug-ins you never know if there isn’t some faint noise keeping the processing alive all the time. 8-/
Howdy everyone, gonna have to agree with Johannes_Roe on the deactivating Groups and Effects channels as there are many instances where I wish this were possible.
The most basic case for the feature would be to declutter a session. These channels would fall under the “deactivated” filter in which you could easily hide away with the stock visibility agent.
(Note: don’t get me wrong, I have many PLE and visibility macros setup for my templates here and triggered from Metagrid, and that is appreciated feature and a great way to to get around some situations. However, below are some examples that fall outside of templating your problems away, haha!)
In song production, I’m often versioning ideas for clients and have things routed to “special” groups and effects channels (these scenarios fall outside of a prebuilt template). If you want to duplicate that chain to change something for a new idea, you have a fair amount of busy work:
Deactivating the “unused” ones would be a quick way staying organized but being able to revert back to as needed like Johannes_Roe suggested above.
Other times you have an effects chain that is introducing noise from a plugin, but you have already printed or resampled your audio from this chain and it’s no longer in use. Currently you would have to deactivate that chains plugins one by one until you found your noisy plugin. Just shutting of the track would be more faster and more convenient.
Someone else also mentioned CPU. I have noticed that sometimes idle plugins on a Group or Effect track can influence the CPU meter and ASIOguard %'s and shutting off those plugins in one click would be advantageous.
Definitely putting in a vote to have this feature. Thanks!
What would you like to see happening to the (potential) audio signal of a disabled group track? Should it be muted? Should the feeding channels get automatically rerouted? Or something else altogether?
Would expect it to behave as any other disabled track. The audio connections would keep their assignments. Definitely would not want any channels to be rerouted. Just a simple deactivation of the Group or Effects track like you can do with Audio and Midi tracks currently. Thanks!
Would you expect when disabling a group track that all its sources also get disabled automatically? Or should they remain untouched?
for me: all feeding track should be untuched. routing should remain. Thank you.
I agree. The feature should simply be: Deactivate a Group or Effect channel. It shuts that channel off completely with one click and can be tucked away for later use if needed.
Thanks for the feedback and clarifying your expectations. I am sure if Steinberg takes a look at this request it will help them.
Just one remark and a speculation from my side, which is not meant to take away anything from the request. The difference between the tracks that can be disabled and group/effect tracks is that the former have their own input assignment as part of the track/channel while the latter are passively targetted by other tracks/channels. Disabling a group track possibly leads to undefined targets for the source channels.
This difference might be the reason why Steinberg cannot easily add the requested feature. It might be complicated to do so on a core level of the channel design.
Again, it’s just a speculation from my side. Personally I would also like to see this feature added.
+1 for the ability to disable Groups and FX channels.
Sometimes I want my big template to be lighter, and would need to be able to do this.
+1 to bein able do disable group and FX tracks!
For me the ideal scenario would be outputs and sends feeding disabled tracks would keep their routings, but they’d be greyed out with audio stopping at a dead end.
You can then reassign them if you want, or if you leave it they will simply start working again as soon as you you enable the track again.
I suppose this feature request is mostly about parallel processing?
Not really.
No votes left?