Reference Guide

881
External Insert plug-in (Producer and Studio only)
Mixing
In almost all cases, the sound will be quietest with no manual offset. In some rare circumstances,
you may have hardware that requires an offset of a sample or two. If this is the case, you will want to
always add that offset when you use the External Insert plug-in.
If your hardware requires a manual offset, you will only need to adjust the offset once for any
particular sound card.
When to measure the delay
Several things can change the delay of the External Insert, including:
• Changing audio ports.
• Changing audio driver model.
• Changing audio device.
• Changing SONAR's buffer size.
When the current delay setting becomes invalid, an asterisk (*) is displayed next to the delay value.
If you notice the asterisk, it means something has changed in your system and it's time to measure
the delay again.
Loading a project that uses the External Insert plug-in
When you load a project with the External Insert plug-in (or select a preset in the External Insert
interface), SONAR checks to see if the exact same ports are assigned as when the project was
saved. SONAR’s port assignments can change if you load the project on a different hardware
configuration or change driver models. If there is any discrepancy between the port assignments that
were saved and the ports that are used in the current configuration, the ports are set to “None”.
Doing so avoids accidentally loading projects and having audio routed in an unexpected way.
Bouncing or freezing audio that uses the External Insert plug-in
The External Insert is a simple way to use real outboard effects as if they are inside SONAR.
However there are several good reasons why you should consider bouncing or freezing the audio
that passes through the External Insert in order to capture the result of the external hardware
processing:
• If the outboard effect's settings are changed between sessions, your project will sound different.
• If you change SONAR’s buffer sizes often, you will need to re-measure the delay on all instances
of the External Insert each time.
• If you collaborate with other SONAR users, it will be impossible for other users to get the same
sound as you unless they have the exact same outboard gear with exactly the same settings.
• You may want to use that outboard gear for something else - either in an External Insert on
another track, or for any other use in your studio.
• There is no way to use the same piece of outboard gear on different projects with different
settings.
Tip: The manual offset can be saved in a preset for the External Insert plug-in.