High Latency Plugins and Track Automation

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CazaroTaro
Posts: 23
Joined: Sun Mar 29, 2015 6:29 am

High Latency Plugins and Track Automation

Post by CazaroTaro »

I recently took advantage of the offer from Plugin Boutique for a free version of Izotope RX7 Elements included with any purchase.

In using the RX7 De-click tool, I have discovered that it has a significant latency, at least 500 ms. This latency is probably necessary because of the processing required to detect and then correct the click.

In using this tool, I also discovered that Mixcraft compensates for this latency for clip volume automation, but not for track volume automation. I located the information below via a Google search:

https://acoustica.kayako.com/article/48 ... n-mixcraft

Some plugins cause latency because they take more time to process the audio that's coming through them. Mixcraft has delay compensation for effects, so you won't notice any lag most of the time. That said, certain types of tracks in Mixcraft currently don't feature effect delay compensation. These are:

Submix
Output Bus
Send

If you've got plugins that have a lot of latency, try to avoid using them on those types of tracks. Other effect plugins will be just fine, because they don't cause any noticable delay in the audio.

In the case of Submix tracks, the child tracks within the submix do feature effect delay compensation, so you can use the high-latency effects on the intividual submix tracks themselves without any lag.



Based on this, latency compensation should work for audio tracks. I have tested the latency compensation in Mixcraft 8 and 9 using clip and track volume automation. Both work identically, that is, clip volume automation is correctly compensated, but track volume automation is not. I have attached files demonstrating this operation. If you don't have the RX7 De-click tool, the LP10 linear equalizer furnished by Computer Music magazine to its readers has a similar effect.

Is this significant? Can't say. It may not be noticeable for many users. Consider this a heads up if you are using high latency plugins.
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No Latency Comp with Track Auto.zip
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comedians
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Re: High Latency Plugins and Track Automation

Post by comedians »

If I ever use those RX plugins on a track I always mix to new track then remove the original - de-clicked and no latency issue.
CazaroTaro
Posts: 23
Joined: Sun Mar 29, 2015 6:29 am

Re: High Latency Plugins and Track Automation

Post by CazaroTaro »

Mixing down the track with the high latency plugin to a separate audio file and then reloading it without the high latency plugin (no longer needed) is a solution. I was too lazy to do that and just solved my problem using trial and error to adjust the track automation.

The primary intent of the post was to make folks aware of how Mixcraft handles latency compensation in this fairly extreme situation. In my case, I added the RX7 de-click to clean up a vocal, and found that my double tracking with a second vocal no longer sounded quite right. It took a good 30 minutes to figure out what was going on.

I have experimented a bit more and discovered that only the track with the high latency plugin seems to have its track automation out of sync.

Perhaps when the Acoustica software engineers have the time, they can look into the situation and figure out a fix.
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