FX channel

[fdsaevad]

i use studio one 2 pro and native instruments guitar rig 5, but this is just a general question.

playing guitar through guitar rig really drains the cpu, i can really only get 4 tracks recorded with guitar rig on them before i have to start 'transforming to rendered audio'

i thought i had figured out a way to bypass this issue by running multiple tracks with the same guitar sound through an FX channel that had guitar rig on it. so essentially then i i could run 8 tracks of the same guitar effect and only use up the equivalent of one guitar rig cpu power.

but i noticed that the actual track is playing the clean guitar in behind everything, and i got to wondering, well what is the point of an FX channel if the unaltered track feeding it also plays? turning down the track affects the input of the FX channel and thus the sound of the FX guitar.

what is the point of an FX channel if the clean track plays right in behind it?

(if you could add as a sidenote what the point of a Bus channel is too that'd be nice, but i can look that up in the manual easily enough).

 

[gecko zzed]

In general, you make best use of FX channels for additive effects, i.e. those that you add to a clean signal. Reverb and delay are good examples of additive effects . . . you mix an amount of wetness on the FX channel with the dry on the main track.

FX channels do not work so well with replacement effects, i.e. those that modify and replace the original signal (such as compression, and in your case, an amp sim).

Nevertheless, it can be done if your DAW allows you to send a pre-fade signal from the track to the FX channel. That way you can set your track level to zero, but the signal will still be sent prefade to the FX. Reaper, for example, will allow this.

 

[fdsaevad]

thanks! since you didn't mention the bus channel i researched it, where i also found fx channel info (send multiple tracks to fx channel to put reverb on them so they sound like they're in the same room, say). i was already making use of the bus channel correctly by having all my tracks go through one for ease of switching its output between the main out (headphones) and sub1 (monitors). i have a 4 input/output soundcard (delta 44). they mentioned putting all drums through a bus so you can add group effects, and possibly then even sending the bus to the fx for reverb.

i've got no pre-fade signal option, so i guess it's back to the old way. it's a real power hog, guitar rig 5, but i'm finally able to record electric properly after a half-decade of using an acoustic (thin walls in apartments).

if anybody knows of a better amp-sim i'd be happy to hear it.

 

[gecko zzed]

thanks! since you didn't mention the bus channel i researched it, where i also found fx channel info (send multiple tracks to fx channel to put reverb on them so they sound like they're in the same room, say). i was already making use of the bus channel correctly by having all my tracks go through one for ease of switching its output between the main out (headphones) and sub1 (monitors). i have a 4 input/output soundcard (delta 44). they mentioned putting all drums through a bus so you can add group effects, and possibly then even sending the bus to the fx for reverb.

i've got no pre-fade signal option, so i guess it's back to the old way. it's a real power hog, guitar rig 5, but i'm finally able to record electric properly after a half-decade of using an acoustic (thin walls in apartments).

if anybody knows of a better amp-sim i'd be happy to hear it.

An FX channel is simply a bus channel devoted to a specific purpose, i.e. FX. A bus channel is just a way of providing a signal path from one area of the DAW to another. You've already discovered a use for it.