Rendering and the sound quality.

Cubase
1

Hi :slight_smile:
I’ve always been wondering if rendered samples has the same sound quality with the one directly mixed down from vsti or insert fx.
You know, rendering in place is very useful when the project goes huge, because of it’s decreasing cpu burden.
But i’m always hestating to use that function, because anyway it makes the sound source one level more ‘indirect’.
It makes the source to wav file, so when I mixdown, the source goes through digitalizing twice.
Then shouldn’t it have less quality than the source mixed down directly from vsti to completed song?

Thank for reading! :wink:

2

No there are not any degradation going on, the output of the vsti is not going to any DA/AD conversion.
As long as you keep working at 24bit or above.

3

Thank you very much!!
Then I have a question…
Suppose there’s a rendered wave file on track, with 24bit.
And I mixdown that track to wave file.
Then, are these two files (first one that is a wave file, second one that is mixed down
wave file that is made up of first wave file) have just the same sound quality, the same wave graph?

4

If you do that mixdown with no plugins, alteration of fader and pan on it, then the exported file should be identical to the source.

Just try this for yourself. Flip the phase on one of them > if it goes silent, they’re exact the same (that’s the so called ‘null test’).