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Is there any way to get outboard hardware inserted into the audio chain? It would be *so* awesome to somehow insert an analog hardware compressor into the audio chain via my soundcard.

This sounds perfectly reasonable, but I never hear about this. Am I high?

Any info--anyone?

Thanks-
.nick

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anonymous Wed, 02/05/2003 - 10:03

It depends on the software you're using, with Pro Tools, you can add inserts, you send the signal out a channel on your soundcard, other than the 2 you monitor your mix with,(like say channel 3 on soundcard) and into your comp or whatever, then return the signal thru an input on your soundcard creating the insert loop. Some programs may require you to record the signal returning to a seperate track to be applied to mixdown. If your software doesn't have inserts like that, you'll have to use an aux send or a bus routed to an ouput on your soundcard.

lorenzo gerace Wed, 02/05/2003 - 23:35

Hi

I'm on Pro Tools, and I use outboard gear quite regulary, it helps differentiate the sound from an all plug-ins mix; whatever system you use to hook up outboard processors, you'll have to be careful with latency: each time an audio file gets transfered from the inside of the computer to the external world (D/A transfer) it takes time (a few ms or in the best case a few samples), then it gets processed by the analog device, and it goes back to the computer for an A/D transfer (again a few ms or samples), so when it gets back to your virtual mixer it is delayed by the sum of the time those D/A and A/D conversions take to be executed; a simple fix is to slip the track ahead of its sync by a few ms so to compensate for that added by the converters, and even though it may seem a bit unhortodox it actually works.

Hope this helps

L.G.

Lou Sat, 01/17/2015 - 05:20

DonnyThompson, post: 423768, member: 46114 wrote: Lou... not to tell you not to post - you are certainly welcome to do so with any topic on RO - but the thread you are replying to is now 12 years old. It's doubtful that the OP will read or respond, and also considering that they were never a member, but a guest. ;)

Just giving you a head's up.

Thanks it was my first day. Ill pay more attention .