Offline rendering is the ability to quickly process a media file through a set of plugins and racks to produce an output audio file.
Unlike normal audio processing which is done in real-time, offline processing is done as quickly as your machine can process things. This gives two advantages:
The processing can be a lot faster, with minutes long media files often being able to be processed in just a few seconds.
For processing intensive plugins, the quality settings can be dialed right up without risk of audio drop outs (since the processing isn't in realtime).
Full instructions on how to use the offline renderer can be found here, but all you need to do is set a media file as the master transport and from the File menu, choose the Offline Render command.
Set the options as you want, choose which audio output ports to include in the recording and press OK.
Available Now
Offline rendering is available in Cantabile Solo and Performer starting with build 4188 (available now).
TBH, I think this is too far outside the scope of Cantabile - and there are tools that do nothing but autosample VST instruments. The core focus of Cantabile is using VST plugins / instruments live, with some recording features baked in for good measure. But what you are looking for is a very specialized functionality that is far outside Cantabile’s sweet spot.
Why should @brad build this functionality into Cantabile if SampleRobot can already do this?
I know that GigPerformer and Mainstage have this functionality, but not everything needs to be copied…
I was just curious, in my simple use case, it is certainly not at the top of the list of possible improvements and there is no need to reinvent the wheel. As a matter of education, I would like to know more about autosampling in the context of Cantabile.
I mean, there are autosamplers that act as a host for a single vst and create the sample files. SampleRobot appears to be a stand alone program, not a vst, primarily aimed at sampling external instruments. The interesting thing to me would be to use the autosampler on the output of a group of instrument and effect plugins, like is commonly created in Cantabile.
I don’t believe that the MIDI input and the Audio output of Cantabile are known to Windows, so how does SampleRobot talk to them? Their documentation does not seem to address that. I think I remember on this forum mention of a 3rd party program that will create a patch bay between Windows programs like Jack does on Linux. Has anybody used SampleRobot with Cantabile?
In fact, I’m not even sure offline render really belongs in Cantabile. It used to be in v2 and I discarded it as feature in v3. But, recently wanted this for my own use… so I added it
I’m not familiar with SampleRobot, but the virtual cable software you might be referring to is Jack or VoiceMeeter for Audio and loopMIDI or similar for MIDI.
Many years ago I built a sampling template in Cubase - just a sequence of MIDI notes at set intervals. At the end I just split the audio and export the parts. For some of my sample library I just record all the notes in a single audio file - and I have a Kontakt template set to know the start position of each note - import the one file into Kontakt and the job’s done.
It doesn’t have the sophistication of a dedicated robotic sampler, but how many of us need that level of sophistication?
Just a thought. I’m sure other DAWs will allow similar.
This is my use case: I often use the recorder to record piano pieces I play - and I record them as MIDI, because they’re smaller and they’re more versatile. Sometimes I want an audio recording and while I could take the MIDI file to another DAW, setup the same plugins etc… it’s easier to just load it into a media player in Cantabile and offline render it - it literally becomes just a couple of clicks to produce an audio file.
(“easier” if you don’t include the week and half of development to add the offline rendering feature)
This can be a very useful feature, thanks Brad! One of the bands I am in uses backing tracks, in addition to a click and a cue track, there may be three or four other tracks of percussion, another guitar etc. I found it as much easier to get the mix right this way… Because no matter how much you try to mix it in your studio it’s always different with the full band.
This will allow me to render the tracks as a single track, so I can play it off of a phone if I wanted to. I can also check waveforms and quickly jump around between all my 75 songs for this band to ensure levels are correct. But my primary use will be to give the tracks to the other band members for practice. This is especially useful when adding 5 or 10 new songs for a gig in a couple weeks.
Tom
I find it useful. Thank you!
I use Cantabile with a VST connected to my keyboard when I practice. Sometimes I turn on the auto-record. If I happen to play something cleanly, the ability to render it easily with the Offline Render option is nice. And I can include more VST mics without clicks and dropouts.
But yeah, I’m pretty much just using Cantabile as a simple DAW since I’m not doing anything more elaborate than that.
