Too many VST plugs running????

J

justadrummer

New member
Ok so how much is too much?

I used to think gating every tom kick snare with compression, little verb.
Not much done to the overheads.
Guitar tracks.. i had about five tracks that each had a:

compressor
ampmodeling
eq


My vst performance skyrocketted and i started getting clicks and pops..

I went through and took everything off the drums and thing a working as normal.

i want to bea ble to vst everything though.. at least if needed..

do i need to change some settings somewhere?

I have a 1.4ghz hard drive for apps, 2g ram, 7200 rpm firewire ext drive that i record to from two firepods. thanks in advance!!
 
Most ampsims will absoultely destroy performance. Having 5 of them open could maybe be the problem.

What I do when amp-simming:
Record one track. Bounce it with the FX, then deactivate the track/fx.
Repeat as necessary.

That way, you only have one ampsim running at any time. You're always free to go back and edit it if you need to tweak, but with my older system, having even 2 or 3 instances of an ampsim running kills my CPU.
 
you probably need to look more closely at the way you are recording the drums if you need so many effects on each channel.

I'd only ever use a gate on a kick and a snare but most of the time I don't use gates at all. Drum bleed is your friend and can be the difference between a mechanical/robotic sounding drummer and a well gelled performance.

Reverbs should be set up as a send effect then you send some of each drum signal to that effect track. That's how it's done in the analog world. It can be done the other way but nothing eats resources farter than a delay or reverb.
 
Most sequencers have a VST performance meter that will tell you how much CPU is being taken up (some will tell you exactly how much is consumed by each plugin.)

Consult thy manual.....

There is no way to say "X number of plugs Y will crash your machine".
Almost every computer installation is different and every vst takes different horsepower amounts.
YOU need to experiment and see how much cpu is taken up by each of your plugs on YOUR machine.....
 
I was having the same problem too man. On my drums I would add Roomworks SE, compression, and EQ..and when Id play it back itd start skipping and popping and shit. That was on a 2.21gHz processor 1.5g ram. So I built a new comp from scratch 4g ram 2.4gHz quad, and am hoping its wont happen again.

Ill let you know if I find out how to fix it, and do the same for me.
 
i don't know how to quote people yet so:

to solaris1982: great tip... thanks i can see how that will help and
ill still have the "dry track" to fall back on

to Lemontree: I am still working out the details of my miking technique
(or lack there of depending how you look at it)

I don't have any quality preamps so i was trying to utilize some onboard
effects to compensate.. funny how the whole mix livened up after i started turning all the vst's off..

Thanks for the input guys..
 
justadrummer said:
.. funny how the whole mix livened up after i started turning all the vst's off..

..
Click to expand...

That's one of the many problems with so many effects and tools at your disposal. It's far too easy to overdo things. An easy solution that many people overlook is having a few refference CDs at the ready to constantly compare your mix to.

And that's why every plugin, insert space and send effect has a bypass button...apply the effect then hit the bypass button to see if what you are tweaking is actualy making an improvement to your mix.

When your ears start to grow musicaly you'll start noticing when things sound good or bad without hitting the bypass...might sound stupid but after 10 years of doing this the detail I hear in music is 10 fold from when I first started out.

Have a read at Greg L's drum recording thread. There's there's some great info in there for everyone.
Good luck

Alex.
 
justadrummer said:
Guitar tracks.. i had about five tracks that each had a:

compressor
ampmodeling
eq
Click to expand...

A tip on guitar tracks.... if it's distorted guitar you are recording you'll need little or NO compression as distortion is a natural compressor.

Try and get your guitar tones as close (sometimes impossible) as possible while tracking. If you're using huge amounts of EQ cut and boost you're being lazy! Sort it at the source before tracking it.

Use some mild eq on each track then create a group track and send all your guitar tracks to that. This is where you might want to apply some mild compression, on the group buss. If you have the levels of the individual channels set right then one compressor on the group buss will tame any peaks....if one of the guitars is getting hidden you can go back to the individual channel it's on and try to cut it through with a bit more EQ of a level nudge.

To save on resources set up a couple of reverbs and delays on effect tracks then use the send buss of each channel (or group) to add reverb or delay. You can send more or less of each signal to the same effects buss which could give you very mild reverb on one guitar, moderate reverb on another guitar and massive arena reverb on another and you'll only be running one reverb.

Read as much as you can on signal routing from the cubase manual. There's plenty video tutorials out there if you look hard enough too.
 
Another tip:
If applying the same amp models to all guitar tracks (for purposes of dual or quad tracking), the Ampsim can also be put on a buss. That way, you have 2 (or 4) tracks using the same instance of the sim.
 
solaris1982 said:
Another tip:
If applying the same amp models to all guitar tracks (for purposes of dual or quad tracking), the Ampsim can also be put on a buss. That way, you have 2 (or 4) tracks using the same instance of the sim.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't that then give all the guitar tracks the same EQ curve and have them fighting to distinguish themselves in the mix? I've never tried it myself...oh I see, for double tracking..

I'll have to try that
 
to "bounce" a track, with the effect on, it seems i have to send it out of
my firepod then back in on another channel.

is that correct?
 
Most DAW's (I use reaper and know it does for sure) have a bounce function that will output selected tracks to a single track with all the processing active. For example, in Reaper, there is a "render tracks to stem tracks and bypass/mute originals." What this does is takes whatever tracks I have selected, and records them to a new track with all of the effects active on the tracks, then it mutes the tracks that I selected.

So if I record a dry guit, add amplitube to it, then render it. I have a new track that sounds like my amplitubed track...but without amplitube on it. So I then turn the FX off on the original track, and my CPU is useful again.
 
You can always use the freeze button in cubase. What that does is mixdown the track with all the added effects. You can still adjust the volume of that track, and use the cubase EQ. on it.

i have to do that alot, especially with ampsims, cause my computer is shit.
 
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