VST Connect Pro 5.6 New Audiobook Project Progress Log

VST Connect
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Hi, VST Connect users…

I’m back, and just started a new, multi-studio day project using VST Connect Pro 5.6.1 between Poughkeepsie NY (where I am for the summer) and Denver, CO. My Fios connection is 300 up and down, clearly adequate to the task; the receiving end is lower, but we are, after shutting down her kids’ Switch and other internet-connected devices, able to lock and sync.

DAY 1:

Was able to record a couple of chapters after we got set up-- a shorter session just to begin and acclimate to the process. For the most part, no problem, until:

I tried to download the last of the files from Performer using Connect’s Manager. The file was not available. Neither the computers nor the apps on either end had been disrupted, restarted or otherwise messed with.

Based on what I continue with in the next paragraph, when producing/directing audiobooks with VST Connect Pro I’ve made a habit of downloading files after every chapter. I had four download without incident before this last one bellyflopped.

This issue is like an old frenemy. Familiar, workaround-able, but deeply unwelcome. It’s happened sporadically with every VST Connect longform project I’ve done since it came out, and I’ve done a lot of them. Certainly there must be a way to figure out how to reconnect VST Connect Pro to files once they are “lost.”

I urge the development team to address this recurring issue.

In the meantime, I’m recording the local files at the highest quality, and will be ultimately processing everything through DX Revive, so I am going to survive this, but again, something really ought to be done about it. I had a solid session for that particular file, with no glitches or loss of sync, both status bars at 100% for the entirety of the recording.

All this having been said, we got through it, things are sounding great, and we’re picking it up again tomorrow, after which I’ll report how things went.

Chewy

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If your connections are good, just set Performer audio upstream to “Lossless”, and you don’t need to use “Get HD Files” at all; it will not improve quality, because lossless means that realtime recordings in Cubase/Nuendo are already in best shape.

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Understood, and I’ve been doing that-- but under (often unavoidable) circumstances where the client end internet is not quite as robust as one might like, relying on what is available on the local side is often not a possibility.

Yes, there is the option of importing the Performer side files after the fact if directly downloading them becomes impossible (this did NOT happen in yesterday’s session, thank goodness, as we did have an occasionally spotty connection), but in my audiobook producing/directing situation, where I’m spending hours with a typically non-technically proficient narrator, it is often a serious challenge to locate and deliver the studio-side files to me.

And the next part is probably reflective, even now after years of using VST Connect Pro (which despite my comments I actually love as much as anyone can love software :laughing:), once the Performer-side files are located it can be a real challenge to identify just what is what, as they have filenames that are often confusing to figure out in the context of where they should go, especially when there are starts and stops in a long chapter.

I’m not sure I’m making a clear case here, and hope you see what I’m saying.

in any case, my Day 2 session went without incident, internet issues notwithstanding. I was able to retrieve all of the remote HD files in the normal way, and they were all in great shape.

Continuing the session today (I will likely have three or four more before this book is finished) and will continue to report here.

Thank you, Musicullum, for your participation here. Again… I very much appreciate VST Connect Pro, and will absolutely continue to use and advocate for it. And, given my rigorous use of it in the professional sphere (not gonna list the projects here, nor brag, but there are some big ones), I’d be extremely enthusiastic about pitching in with any beta program… or even to provide a wish list and/or comments involving the app and its practical application in my audio production environment.

Ultimately, it has been a game-changer and at times a project-saver in my work, and I do thank you for it!

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you are aware that „Get local HD files" is meant to automate that process? Also those files should have a broadcast wave header with the project position, Cubase/Nuendo should be able to align them afaik.

Finally, multiple a/b tests showed that even very skilled audio experts were not able to differ 320 kBit speech recordings from lossless ones…just as a last resort, an option you might consider?

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Performer setup „Export"

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And… rather than be an obstinate “know it all,” suffice to say: danke.

As much as I’ve used VST Connect from the control room side, I’ve never used Performer myself! I was not aware of this. I will try it with my narrator today.

And yes, the higher quality but not lossless files do sound great, and I’ve used them previously with no complaints. My main issue has been wrangling the HD files from the client side from non technically oriented actors, when connection glitches have rendered the files on my side unusable in parts.

Thank you very much! I will report back. But I stand by my wish that the files on the client side not inexplicably at times not be available for conventional transfer. I’ve not been able to identify the conditions that lead to this, but it does happen.

Thanks again,
Chewy

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Hello Musicullum,
A while back, anyonce mentioned in this section that you were working on a new version, but that we would have to be patient.
Is that correct?

I’m also a fan of VST Connect Pro and would love to see it continued and further developed.
It’s a brilliant piece of software which, as I often read here in the forum, is a great help to many, saves resources and ultimately helps protect the environment.
Apart from that, it saves time and money in production.
Best regards,
DV

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Day 3 Report:

We did a shorter session today; only about 3 hours.

The connection was solid, with no glitches. Which was good, because:

  1. None of the files on the Performer side showed up when it was time to download at the end of each chapter. Yes, I was recording lossless, and I’m good, but this is troubling and confusing. The issue endured after both sides rebooted our computers and routers…

  2. When attempting to export the files from Performer as the quote at the top suggested, she was unable. Got a “no project” or “no connected files” message. Perhaps we were missing a step, and I’ll study the manual. But… bottom line, it did not work for us, and as of this time I cannot figure out why.

  3. (and this has happened the past two sessions, but not on my first): Talkback.

The first day, no problem. She could hear me; I could hear her.

Day 2: she could hear my talkback… IF her input was set for her MacBook mic. But I’m recording her with a Shure USB mic, and when we have that working, for reasons I have not been able to resolve, my talkback goes away on her side. I can hear everything fine, and the recording was flawless. So… we communicated audibly via FaceTime audio, as we had work to do… but why talkback stopped? I do not know.

Again, was recording at lossless and had no glitches, so no real harm done. But it would be great to figure ALL of this out. It could have been a disaster… and I have experienced all of these issues many times previously (except the exporting from Performer problem-- had not tried that before)

For the record:

-I’ve had her run Onyx, just to clear the decks in terms of accumulated system problems.

-I’ve run the “check and repair” option under the VST Connect Pro menu several times.

Nothing has made a difference.

For our next session (we probably have three to go), I am going to start with a fresh project. We’ll see if that makes any difference.

Chewy

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That could be a problem. If you are on Windows, it won’t work at all (USB mic is the only audio interface then, so no audio out on her side), on Mac it should work but there may be problems with input aggregates.

The export function on the Performer side aggregates all valid recordings into a zip file to be transfered to you. On the Studio side, “Get Local HD Files” pointed to that (extracted) folder should do all what is possible.

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Understood… but the problems were that neither was I able to initially download from my side, nor was the Performer side able to identify files to compress and export. As if the connection or identification or… whatever we want to call it on both sides was somehow lost or disconnected.

If there had been glitches and my local files had not been usable, we would have walked through getting the Performer files manually, but thankfully that was not necessary.

Starting Day 4 in a few minutes, using a new, clean project file.

The talkback issue: I am on a Mac, and talkback worked on the first day of the project using the USB mic. But then it stopped working.

Starting from scratch with a fresh project file today, and will report back. Hope all of this is being presented reasonably clearly; am rushing to get set up! :wink:

Thanks again for your help here.

Chewy

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Hi Chewy,
I have a few questions regarding your comments:

First of all, I’m really glad that you describe your sessions in such detail and provide me, as a user, with so many tips for using VST Connect on a daily basis!
@musicullum wrote that you might not need the “Load HD files” function if you already have a high transfer rate.
= Do you have this or not?
Then @musicullum wrote that the performer should use the “Export” function if they want to send their files to the studio. (They have to do this in their VST Performer window).
= Has the performer used this function?
And does it work as @musicullum described?
(I haven’t tried this function yet and don’t know the result)

Many thanks for your contributions!
(I’ve saved your results and experiences in a text file for my own personal reference. I hope that’s okay with you?)
Best regards
DV

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That’s the problem. There is a function in the Performer Settings (!) “Export for Get Local HD” or similar (can’t look it up). Manually figuring out which files are needed is close to impossible, especially if you renamed the Cubese/Nuendo project.

Said function creates a zip file (you need to be connected for that) which Performer sends to you in whatever way applicable, then extract and point the “Get Local HD Files” function to it.

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And… reporting back from Day 4. I think everything you guys were discussing will be covered here,

  1. Started with a fresh, clean project file. Had no trouble downloading the HD files for most of the day (will return to this)

  2. While retrieving HD files from one of the sessions, my narrator inadvertently closed her computer, putting it to sleep and stopping the transfer just before it was finished. I thought I was doomed… but after reconnecting, the transfer was able to resume from where it was terminated. THIS WAS GREAT.

  3. Now the bad news: a subsequent session finished recording without incident, but it did not appear as available to transfer, ie under “Performer Rec” in the Manager section. We tried to use “Export for Get Local HD”, and got a message saying no project was connected. A project was obviously connected; we just couldn’t get the export function to work. This has happened every time I’ve attempted to implement the process.

On a practical level, fortunately there were not glitches in that stretch of recording, and I am able to use the local files. But it’s troubling that I can’t get it working, and if there’s a way to troubleshoot this and get it going, I’d be grateful.

  1. I started getting glitches near the end of the session, for whatever reason. I don’t have enough data to point at any one thing-- it could have been the connection on my side (Performer bar was consistently solid). The first time this happened, I was actually able to download the HD files, and of course, the glitches became a non-issue.

  2. Very late in today’s session I again started getting glitches… and then again, the HD files from the Performer side were not available. They showed as present early in the file’s recording in the studio side Manager, but were gone when I went to initiate the transfer. Fortunately, it was near the end of our last chapter for the day, and I picked it up, we finished (I used the local files, as they again did not appear in the Performer Rec window) and we got through it. But this is very troubling.

When things are working…and when they’re not, I haven’t done a thing to change the settings. I’m confounded as to why this inconsistency occurs, and it is unsettling.

Would love to work together to get to the bottom of this.

Day 5 starts tomorrow.

Chewy

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I have 300 mb/sec up and down. And by all means, if you find anything from me helpful… use it!

Chewy

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That may happen if you change the project name during a session. But “Export for Get Local HD” should resolve that, it is designed for it.

If this was following the shutdown on the Performer side, it may have tried to create a new project, or something else because of discontinuity, but that’s just wild guessing.

Projects are organiized in folders on the Performer end, named after the project. If the project changes, a new folder may have been created, if you can, you may have Performer to check for newest files on Documents/VSTConnectPerformer and there, a folder with the name of the project. When creating a new project, make sure to save it early so to prevent “Untitled”.

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No project names were changed in process… and Export for Get Local HD has been consistently unavailable on the Performer side. Could I be missing a step?

Day 5 First Report (we’ve just broken for lunch)

Great connection, in general. Had some glitches early in the day, but re-initiating record seemed to lock it back into reliability. BUT:

HD files have not been retrievable at all today. Have no idea why. Out of an abundance of caution I’ve stopped when glitches happened and done re-takes, and that proved to be lucky, because… As reported above, we were unable to “Export Files For HD”,

Again, I’m recording at lossless, so careful monitoring for glitches and doing pickups will have to be how we proceed.

Will report back at the end of the day after recommencing with a fresh project.

Chewy

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Day5, Cont.

Narrator had to take an hour break, so reporting in.

As promised, started a new project, “Day 5 Fresh”. Recorded 50 min, with a couple of glitches, but did pickups in process without stopping recording.

HD files transferred to my project as expected. Hooray! I’ve quit Nuendo while she’s gone.

She’ll (the narrator) be coming back in an hour and I’ll restart (after rebooting the computer) and will resume in the same project. Fingers crossed.

Just want to reiterate: everything we’re doing here would be either impossible or at least very much more difficult without VST Connect, despite the issues I’m dealing with here. I would NOT be able to be doing what I’ve done today and yesterday, and it would have made our schedule much more fraught. I am a fan.

To be continued…

Chewy

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what do you mean “unavailable”, it’s in Performer (!) settings (not visible/applicable on Studio side).

Performer needs to klick that, then is presented a file selector where to save.

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Yes, this I know. In fact, I walked her through it using my copy of Performer (unconnected, of course) as a guide, and directed her in her Performer (connected to our project) to the proper button. She has consistently gotten a message saying “no project connected”. This has happened every time, whether using a fresh session on my side or not.

If we’re missing a step here, please advise!

And… this loss of the ability to transfer HD files continues to be frustrating, though as reported, I’m dealing with it by doing retakes whenever I hear glitches and just using the local files. This is working, but does not exploit the full functionality of VST Connect Pro, which I would certainly like to do!

Day 6 will start tomorrow, and I’ll continue to check in as we continue; in the meantime, I want to reiterate how much I appreciate your participation here.

Thank you,
Chewy

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Performer needs to be connected, otherwise “Export for Get Local HD” has “no project connected” - she could have made many sessions even with various hosts, so the app doesn’t know what to save.