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I am still confused on exactly what FREEZING does to VST instruments (and effect for that matter). Can someone please explain it in simple terms? From what I am gathering on my own, when I make a MIDI track with a VST instrument, save the song & then freeze that track/instrument, I am still able to hear (playback) & mix down the track like normal. However, I simply cannot edit when in freeze mode…all of this to save processing power. THIS IS AN ACCURATE SUMMARY EXPLANATION OF FREEZING?

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pr0gr4m Fri, 02/06/2009 - 09:55

Prior to freezing a track, a MIDI track is sending notes to a VST instrument which is playing back those notes. So, Cubase is handling A. the MIDI data and B. the VST. Many VST instruments or particular sounds on certain VST instruments can be CPU hogs and using them can task a systems resources.

When you freeze a track, what is essentially happening is Cubase is creating/recording an audio track of what the VST instrument is playing. By doing this, Cubase only has to play back an audio track. The VST instrument no longer plays. This frees up some of your computer resources so that you can do other things.

You can't edit the frozen tracks because they are not really intended to be edited.

You can do your own version of freeze by exporting a VST track and importing it back into your project. One advantage to doing this is that it allows you to edit the audio track. However, if you need to change the VST part or sound, you have to do the process over again.