PlanetZ forums - scopeusers.com

Hi all,

I made a trial mixdown of Zarg Ambient in Cubase 4.1/XTC mode and the result was some sort of garbled and twisted version of what was actually the original sound - completely unusable. Are there known issues with this setup? Any suggestions? Apart from known bugs the playback seems pretty solid with my scope setup.

Tried several synths and some generate a silent mixdown and some that garbled noise, but with those with sound, the original synthsound lies smashed underneath the noise.

the ambient is an external synth as far as cubase is concerned. your mixdown must be realtime to work.

Great, thanks for the suggestion, it works properly now.

So this means I can 'route external hardware' out to Scope synths and freeze them in tracks in Samplitude as well?

Hmmmm...guess I'll have to try this again. Not sure I need XTC mode though, eh?

Correct?

Greg

hm, the question like you put it is a riddle to me.
Anyway, everything that is calculated outside your sequencer and VST should be recorded 'live' (realtime, 1 to 1, like a tape recording).
XTC is external, as the DSPs are calculating
The term 'freeze' should be reserved for non-live 'recording'.

I understand recording like the old tape days.

I'm wondering if I can record MIDI tracks pointing to a Scope synth - routed out of Samplitude - and then freeze the MIDI track to 'render' the audio from the synth. Similar to how it's done so simply with VST instruments.

Is this possible in XTC mode, or am I stuck with using the synths like external hardware?

Greg

yes, you can
just route the midi from SFP to Samplitude, activate the midi track which channel maches the one of the Scope synth, and record the audio in Samplitude via the usual connections (ASIO). Realtime that is

Like I said, I KNOW how to record the audio. That's easy. I know I can record the MIDI and audio simultaneously in real time in Samplitude.

I'm talking about FREEZING the track like with VST's. I record the MIDI only first, hit the freeze button, and the track is rendered as audio/wav file.

So, I guess it's not possible?

I'll test it somehow.

Greg

sorry, I wasn't sure.
To make it clear: NO YOU CAN'T!
'freeze' is kind'a rendering process, you cant render something which is generated outside the CPU.
Your scope card can be seen as being an external box, with it's own 'native' system (the DSP chips on the card).
You have to 'play' it to be able to record it, just like you have to play a vinyl record or a Minimax ASB in realtime to be able to record it

Without wanting to put something in your mouth which you wouldn't know: native processing is based on using a small buffer in time (e few tenths or hundreds of ms or so).
The CPU organizes all what's happening in te right (time) order, and then gives it free for running the calculation process.
That's why it can be done faster than realtime.
If the ratio between the data-to-be-rendered and the buffertime leaving room-in-time is positive (it obviously is) you win 'recording' speed.

DSP can't do this, as it calculates just by running the process (playing the synth).
This isn't a 'disadvantage', it's by nature of the technology.
It actually is the reason why most of us believe DSP does 'sound' better.
So don't be disappointed, you also can't 'render' a hardware Virus synth, or an ASB, or...a Scope synth

well, freezing is really recording.

the freeze function is a offline or realtime temporary recording(file) that sits in place of the midi track, it's really nothing spectacular. the same thing can be accomplished by recording the audio of the vsti and then disabling the vsti plugin itself.

i would think that you can freeze the track with xtc mode as long as the bounce was "realtime". i wouldn't think it would really matter that much either way, but for some, there may be an advantage in thought process anyway.....

that's so nice of DSP, I can spare on a fast(er) computer