As I sat down to record my newest track this morning, which is A4 and a a Roland .wav drum module on the cv track, coming into the external inputs, I was dismayed to see that my installation of the latest OB beta is only allowing for 6 input streams, as it is forcing 2 output streams on OS X.
So, I had to improvise.
The A4 OB plug-in audio wasn’t giving me the Right Ext Input, and that had all my hats and snares from the .wav drum module, so I opted to use the core audio driver to input the 4 synth tracks plus both external inputs.
Yup, all the gooey FX work I had programmed the day before on A4 wouldn’t make it to the recording. Sad, all that time making Performance assignments just for FX. Oh well…
So I went the quick and easy route and set up 3 FX returns in Live 9.6, mimicking the A4 FX configuration. I used Live’s own FX for use while tracking, as most don’t impart any latency at all (quick tip, if you mouse over the title of a Live effect or third party plug-in while they’re loaded in the detail row at the bottom, Live will give you latency info on that plug-in in the status bar below.)
Chorus, Ping Pong Delay (with a utility effect at 60% width), both had 0 latency added. Live’s Reverb added just 8 samples (0.17ms).
This allowed me to approximate the overall sound I was getting out of A4’s stereo outs, so that I could do a realtime recording with a good overall track sound and minimal added latency.
I also went in after tracking to do some track EQ and compression work. A little added filter delay automation here and there in the arrangement, too.
Here’s the result: https://clyp.it/5v2ifahe
I had planned to replace the Live Reverb with the ArtsAcoustic Reverb, a plug-in I absolutely love, but in the end I was pleased enough with the live reverb sound on this track, as the reverb wasn’t a big part of the track sound anyway.