I also am very interested in having a hybrid DAW/Hardware type set-up.
I want to use Cubase as a virtual tape machine/mix console as much as possible.
I was directed here from another thread by Brian. I had asked a similar question on another
dept here. I just ran my UR28M back into itself with my reverb box in the chain.
I take it that is the wrong way to do it?
I read that SOS article 3x thru.
So let’s say I have an Eventide Space. I just hook it up as described above and apply the insert effect to the stereo out and I have reverb across all tracks?
Please bear with me, I am very gear “challenged”.
I never use "sends’. I suppose I should start learning how to use them.
I only ever use inserts(VSTs) or use external effects in between my instrument and the interface.
But in the case of the reverb, I want to apply that reverb across the whole song. And I want it to be the Eventide reverb. If I used that for each instrument separately that would create a very muddy sounding song-given the nature of some of the 'verbs on my Eventide box.
Thanks for the info and the advice. I really appreciate it.
I use external fx a lot. A real important procedure is to print the external effect chain and use the notepad to document your settings. In my case, I sometimes have to open a project months or years after it was completed. Having the effect printed on the audio eliminates having to do a hardware recall and if I no longer have the piece… well you get what I mean, I hope.
If latency is an issue running back and forth through the converters and gear, Print it.
In Jeffseventy’s case. If the external effect is inserted on the Stereo Out, you may not even need to ping the insert since the inserted external effect will affect the whole project globally. How it relates to direct monitoring and studio sends, I don’t know since I haven’t inserted an ex fx on a stereo buss other than during mastering.
Hi Steve,
Yes, I always save the original and create a new track for the printed audio. If there are any inserts on the original track, they get shut off, not to be confused by bypassed.
The other thing I do all the time in project mixer documentation is to use MS Window’s snipping tool to take a photo of the channel too with plugins guis open just for extra measure. I create a sub-folder for the photos in the project folder. I use it for visual reference and additional documentation of what I had done since my memory is slowly slipping more from year to year and you don’t know what is going to change from year to year. Like, if your plugin is no longer supported, you can look at your plugin guis from the snippet to see what you had done and recreate it with different plugins. If a plugin doesn’t load, you have no access to the GUIs to see how you approached a sound.
Tip:
If you hit ctrl/alt/shift at the same time then click the “e” button, all the plugin guis for that track will open.
More info on the snipping tool:
This may work for you if latency is an issue: You could try splitting the signal from your guitar with a DI, capture the Di and send the split signal to your hardware sim and capture that simultaneously. There also is a button in the arrange window in the top left corner that looks like a clock icon. This will bypass high latency plugins and bring you closer to realtime. A Radial Pro DI would work for this as you would send the “through” signal to the hardware amp sim and the low-z would go to your interface preamp.
The end result of all this would you would have the original DI and the amp sim recorded. It’s not really a hardware insert as we were talking about, but it will achieve what you want to do and give you the option to send the raw D.I. back out to your hardware amp sim to re-amp if desired.
FWIW, when I record guitars, I always try to get a DI with the amp (recorded traditionally with mics). When entering mix stage, if we need any major addition to the recorded guitar sound, I reamp the di, usually with NI’s Guitar Rig.
That’s what this technique is loosely based on… Future options with the original concept of the sound we were after. Note though, I record very dirty, meaning compressing, eqing, etc on the way in. I use multiple mics for sonic options which are previewed before we move on.
To finish my tangent, an album I am mixing right now, all the guitars were recorded with 4 microphones. 2 Near that allow me to completely change the timbre through blending with an additional M/S rig in front to finish the sonics and provide the ability to “Sit It In the Mix” without needing plugs. The DI in this particular project has been used with N.I. GR for presence ballz and crazy effect ambience. Well, it sounds crazy when you solo the DI out.
To shift back to topic, I have in the past used an external effect send to send the DI to the amp and it came back down a hallway to microphone and preamp as the return. Again, printed to a separate track. That can be done too with a traditional send and input onto a new audio channel, but the latency has to manually be adjusted by sending a project sync beep that is recorded during a faux pre-roll in the re-amping process.
You should only plug in a guitar or other high impedance instrument into a high impedance input, like a DI box or a preamp input that has a Hi-z input. If you were to plug into a low impedance input, say the typical 600ohm low-z, you will get high frequency rolloff. The actual response can be altered too.
The rule is the input device should have an input impedance roughly 10x higher than the output impedance of the device you are connecting to it.
Electric guitar is roughly 10k omega hiz ---------> Preamp input 10M omega.
I don’t know what would happen if you coupled a Hi-z instrument with a Low-z and High-z input simultaneously using a cheap wye cable. I wouldn’t do that though. I know you can damage gear by connecting the outputs of 2 preamps using a wye.
Just get an active or passive D.I. and all will be right as rain. Guitar center sells them, I think. You don’t need a Radial made one though they are revered as being the best. Just make sure if you do buy one that is has a “through” and a low-z output and is passive transformer based so you don’t have to worry about batteries.
Anyway, back to
Then just monitor the effected signal?
You can do that, and/or you can record it simultaneously… Basically the technique I wrote gives the ability to record your D.I. and external amp sim at the same time while eliminating some latency from the round trip of external effect plugins. Now, if you enable direct monitoring in cubase, you have almost no latency with the tracks you are recording, so you can hear your amp sim in realtime if connected how I described. After you record, you can re-amp the recorded D.I. signal with a plugin and elect to use it as an add-in to the recorded hardware amp sim, replace the amp sim, or… (secret: run your D.I. into a ring modulator then into a long reverb and bring it under the normal guitar sound to add a harmonic space) 