This must have been asked/talked about in the past? Scenario: let’s imagine I’ve loaded six plugins, two comps, two reverbs, two EQs on the Master EFX send bus. I bypass one EQ, one comp, and one reverb and listen to the results. Next, I hit the button to bypass all EFX inserts in the Master section - and then I re-engage it. What I want to compare is the 3 plugins I selected vs. no plugins. However, what I get is all 6 plugin inserts turned on as I re-engage the Master section EFX.
Q; Why doesn’t the Master EFX bus recall that 3 of the EFX inserts were bypassed individually? Is there a way to do this, something I am missing? This is the way the Send bus in Cubase works, btw.
I do not think that there is … you have to actually ‘turn the unwanted plugins off’ with their individual bypass buttons. Agree it is a little annoying … I frequently want to audition maybe two or three limiters to see which sounds best so I know exactly what you are talking about.
Thanks, Paul. Let me say that I know that PG has created more within WL than I can ever use. As a DAW (for some people) and/or a Mastering software it is beyond, perhaps, a soft landing of a booster rocket on planet earth. This said, I read so many posts that ask for more, and sometimes just requests addressing the personal quirks of the posters. OK, in so many ways I am one of those posters - I can deal with it.
Still, as I think about a hardware version of a mixer, if the various individual hardware units were bypassed, and then there was a master control to bypass the entire mixer, if I turned that mixer bypass on again, the hardware units I had bypassed would still be bypassed. Cubase has duplicated this behavior and, well, I’m thinking most recording software versions do this as well.
I’m also sure that even with 20 VST plugins on the solitary WL Master EFX bus it will never overload or tax the CPU like 100+ plugins would on a typical recording DAW. Which is probably something that PG has considered, as well. He’s right, too, no argument. However, I wonder if he’s actually considered that his Master EFX bus is very unlike a hardware version - and - that WL users, coming from the various DAWs (with software mixers that do emulate the hardware) to WL for their mastering experience, miss this feature? Maybe someday.
One workaround for what you want could be to deactivate the plugins completely, without deleting them from the Master Section. Just right-mouse-click on a plugin and uncheck the Active box in the pop-up menu.
Another thing about this is, that WaveLab does not compute deactivated plugins in the background (as it does with just bypassed plugins), so there is not as much CPU load.
Laturec, hi. I didn’t know about this ‘uncheck the box’ feature and, yes, it does do what you suggest. Too bad it’s a two click feature. However, now I have to ask, if this feature exists, I wonder why this check box doesn’t replace the bypass button? Is there a benefit to having the two options?
There is already a button for on/off on the top row of every plugin window (a small ⏻ symbol). But yes, an extra button next to the Bypass button for direct access would be nice, for the Master Section and also for the Inspector (for use in montages).
If you just bypass a plugin, it is still processed in the background during playback, so you can switch the effect on or off without interruption, see the manual.
Laturec, OK, I did know about the on/off button on the opened plugin, but I thought pressing it would just result in a bypassed plugin. I never paid much attention to the fact that if the plugin was turned off, the insert became ‘greyed out’ (vs. the dull light blue with black letters that happens when the plugin is turned ‘on’ but not opened in the Project). Thank you, I guess I need to pay closer attention.
However, getting back to my first post, I do appreciate that the bypass (vs. ‘off’) does not interrupt playback, but I still don’t understand why it is that when I have plugins bypassed that turning the Master EFX bus off - and then on again - all the plugins I bypassed are turned on.