Blue Cat Patchwork and HOFA 4U+ Blind Test

[rrichard63]

This problem involves a three way interaction among Mixcraft 8 Pro Studio, Blue Cat Patchwork 2.0 and HOFA 4U+ Blind Test. I think it should probably be reported to Acoustica first because the configuration works as expected in the other DAW I tried (Reaper).

Open an instance of Patchwork. Put an instance of 4U+ Blind Test in one of its slots. Select Blind Test for editing. Click on a text entry field, for example "Click here to enter name". Start typing. On my system, at least, the first two characters you type are entered in the text field but the third and subsequent characters are directed to Mixcraft, not to the plugin. If those characters are keyboard shortcuts, Mixcraft executes the corresponding commands. It's disconcerting when Mixcraft suddenly starts recording while you are trying to set up your plugin chain.

Opening 4U+ Blind Test directly in Mixcraft works fine. Opening plugins from developers other than HOFA in Patchwork slots also works fine. Note: I only tried a couple of other developers, so I can't say that Blind Test is the only problem. I also have not tried HOFA plugins other than 4U+ Blind Test. The handful that I have may not even have text fields.

VST3 plugins and the corresponding VST2 ones have the same problem.

Reaper 5 is the only other DAW I have tried. If it would help, I also have access to Studio One 3, Ableton Live 9, Mixbus 4, Tracktion 6 and MuLab.

I'm running the most recent build of Mixcraft Pro Studio on Windows 7 Professional SP1. Everything, including all the plugins, is 64 bit.

[Acoustica Greg]

Hi,

It sounds like a focus issue. Make sure that the correct Window is selected.

Why not just create the effect chain in Mixcraft? Why use PatchWork?

Greg

[rrichard63]

It sounds like a focus issue. Make sure that the correct Window is selected.

I covered that issue in my post: "Select Blind Test for editing ..." Also, I tested this a large number of times to make sure that I wasn't doing something with the keyboard or mouse that changed the focus. If I was, then it was always happening in between the second and third characters typed.

Why not just create the effect chain in Mixcraft? Why use PatchWork?

Not using Patchwork means duplicating the same track N+1 times, where N is the number of plugins (or chains) you want to compare. (The +1 is for a bypass or "no processing" option.) Doable but not elegant.

[Acoustica Greg]

Hi,

Would a send track work for that purpose?


Greg

[rrichard63]

Would a send track work for that purpose?

Actually, I would need N separate send tracks (the +1 would be the original track). And N more send level controls to keep lined up right. But, yes, that would work. For this situation, duplicating the track N times also works and is more straightforward.

I think the real issue is whether or not some user will ever encounter another situation where the workaround is not so straightforward. Patchwork has a couple of uses besides plugin comparisons -- parallel processing using plugins that don't have wet/dry mix controls and/or where you want plugins before or after the parallel part of the chain. And multiband processing where you want different plugins on each band -- but that's a separate discussion.

Finally, I don't know how to prove that the HOFA plugin (or maybe all HOFA plugins) are or are not the only ones affected.

[Acoustica Greg]

Hi,

Do you know about Mixcraft 8's Ctrl+Solo option? You can hold down the Ctrl key when you click Solo to automatically un-solo all other tracks. This is handy for comparisons. The same thing also works for Mute.

Thanks for reporting the problem with the Hofa plugin.

Greg