User manual

667
Synchronization
Activating VST System Link
Proceed as follows:
1. Set things up so that you can listen to the audio playback from computer 1.
In other words, you need an unused set of outputs, e. g. an analog stereo output,
connected to your monitoring equipment.
2. On computer 2, route each of the two audio tracks to a separate output bus.
These should be busses connected to the digital outputs – let’s call them Bus 1
and 2.
3. Route the FX channel track to another VST System Link bus (Bus 3).
4. Route the VST instrument channel to yet another bus (Bus 4).
5. Go back to computer 1 and check the corresponding four VST System Link input
busses.
If you start playback on computer 2, the audio should “appear” on the input busses
on computer 1. However, to mix these audio sources you need actual mixer
channels.
6. Add four new stereo audio tracks on computer 1 and route these to the output bus
you use for listening, e.
g. to the analog stereo outputs.
7. For each of the audio tracks, select one of the four input busses.
Now, each computer 2 bus is routed to a separate audio channel on computer 1.
8. Activate monitoring for the four tracks.
If you now start playback, the audio from computer 2 will be sent “live” to the new
tracks on computer 1, allowing you to hear them together with any tracks you play
back on computer 1.
For more information about Monitoring, see “About monitoring” on page 31.
Adding more tracks
What if you have more audio tracks than you have VST System Link busses (physical
outputs)? Then you just use the computer 2 mixer as a submixer: Route several audio
channels to the same output bus and adjust the output bus level if needed.
Ö If your audio cards have multiple sets of input and output connections, you can link up
multiple ADAT cables and send audio via any of the busses on any of the cables.
Internal mixing and latency
One problem with mixing inside the computer is the latency issue we mentioned
earlier. The VST engine always compensates for record latencies, but if you are
monitoring through computer 1 you will hear a processing delay while you listen to
signals coming from your other computers (not on your recording!). If your audio card
in computer 1 supports ASIO Direct Monitoring you should definitely turn this on. You
can find the setting on the VST Audio System device panel for your hardware (see
“ASIO Direct Monitoring” on page 119). Most modern ASIO cards support this
function. If yours does not, you may want to change the Offset Samples value on the
VST System Link page to compensate for any latency issues.