Global Rack Question

[Tim_Starace_YYNOT]

Hi guys

I am currently running the latest C4 build

My average setlist is around 20-25 songs

I use Waves L2 Maximizer to level everything but have to add that plugin to each song and route each vst in the song to it individually…

Is there a way to have just one instance of that plugin that all of my songs can be routed to and used globally for my whole setlist?

I have tried to figure it out on my own but no luck so far. (after all I’m just a bass player LOL)

Thank you in advance

Tim

[Derek]

Hey, Tim

Have to say first that I love the YouTube videos I have seen of your band - it goes without saying, I am a huge Rush Fan, and YYNOT are pretty fantastic at covering one of the best musical trios ever.

Your question has been asked before, so hopefully the following thread will get you going

Background Rack

Newbie question. I want to have a reverb plugin routed in all of my songs as the final block before “Main: Speakers”, so I assume I will put this plugin in the Background Rack. I added my NI Raum plugin to the Background rack with a connection coming from the “Rack: Stereo In” and out to the “Rack: Stereo Out”. What do I have to do to route the song’s audio through the Background Rack to the Main: Speakers"? I am hoping I don’t have to add a binding to each individual song, as that would appear…

I used to used the background rack, and that is still an option, but now for any common racks, I created a Linked Rack and just have that dropped in each song

[Torsten]

@Tim_Starace_YYNOT

Is there a way to have just one instance of that plugin that all of my songs can be routed to and used globally for my whole setlist?

Currently, the best option is to have a linked rack containing your Maximizer that you use in each of your songs. You could put this in the background rack and send all your plugins’ output to the background rack via a loopback audio port, but that would cost you one additional buffer size of latency - not recommended.

@brad hinted that having a “global output rack” and a “global input rack” without the additional latency could be an option some time in the future, but currently, my recommendation is to use a shared linked rack within all of your songs. Using the linked rack, effectively you have “one instance of that plugin” - but you’ll need to actively add that rack to all your songs and connect your plugs to that rack. Song templates are your friend…

Cheers,

Torsten

[brad]

What @Torsten said.

[Tim_Starace_YYNOT]

@Derek, @Torsten, @brad

Thanks guys!

I’m gonna dive in tomorrow.

Quick question.

A linked rack is different than a background rack and the linked rack is the best way to go?

[Torsten]

See the manual: Linked vs. Embedded Racks

Essentially, linked racks are “re-usable” combinations of plugins, routing and bindings (just like songs) that you can use within songs. You build a linked rack once, save it to a separate file, and you can use it in your songs. When you pre-load a setlist (for faster song switching), a linked rack is loaded only once (one single instance across all songs), so this saves memory. When you pre-load setlists, you should work with linked racks for most of your plugins, so you don’t create 20 separate instances of the same plugin used in 20 songs.

The background rack is just another linked rack, but it has some special features - it is always loaded when starting Cantabile and stays active across all your songs, but you (currently) can’t route directly between your songs and the backgrund rack, so typically the background rack is used for global, non-song-specific bindings, e.g. to always use a certain MIDI button to switch to the next song…

[Tim_Starace_YYNOT]

Ah yes.
I’m starting to understand now.

If I use a linked rack for vst’s that I use across multiple songs and instances (Arturia Mini v3 for instance) will I be able to modify the instruments parameters and patches per song or is it a blanket setting?

[Torsten]

Two options

• use rack states (see manual) to define complete configurations of your rack - plugin settings, routing etc. These rack states are then the “presets” you can use in your songs. Like using a hardware synth. I use this for most of my instrument racks

• if your sound is different in every song, the value of rack “presets” is limited. In that case, an alternative approach is using exported parameters (defined in the State Behavior panel). An exported parameter isn’t saved within the rack, but in the song,so you can tune the plugin settings to the song. I use this for some of my effects racks, e.g. guitar stomps that I will set specifically to a song rather than use presets. Or an EQ rack that I use to modify the preset sound from one of my instrument racks (e.g. create a super-thinned-out brass sound) - all EQ parameters are exported so that I can have distinct settings for every song

Hope this helps!

[Derek]

Hi, Tim

I think Torsten has said everything I would have said re advice.

Hopefully that gets you going.

Linked racks are worth their weight in gold and once you have tried one, it is a breeze.