Tracktion Software - Rack Filters Video Lecture | Tracktion Tutorial: Master Music Editing - Video & Sound Editing

RAK filters tractions built in modular
environments are one of its most
powerful features but they also cause
the most confusion in newcomers I find
it helps to separate the concept of
racks which exist independently of
tracks and which can be viewed by
toggling the racks button in the top
right corner and their associated rack
filters which merely handle routing to
and from the rack
for example if we create a new empty
rack via the new rack menu it
initializes with red midi inputs and
outputs and stereo gray audio inputs and
outputs extra audio inputs and outputs
can be created up to a maximum of 48 and
they can be renamed or deleted via the
properties panel from where we can also
name the rack itself
filters can be added to the rack in the
usual way and the first filter you add
to an empty rack will prompt an offer to
auto connect if you say yes all the
filters pins will be automatically
cabled to the racks inputs and outputs
creating extra ones if needed these
connections can then be edited manually
if you need to filters can also be
dragged into the rack from tracks and
their inputs and outputs will then
appear on the filter icon ready to be
wired up in order to actually use this
rack you will need to connect its inputs
and outputs to a track click on the
background of the rack to select it drag
the filter symbol from the top-right
corner of the properties panel and drop
it onto a track a filter icon will
appear on the track with the name you
gave to the rack you should not think of
this filter as an instance of the rack
however as it can be copied to as many
other tracks as you need and there will
still only be one rack rather you should
think of it as simply connecting the
audio and MIDI signals at that point in
the chain to the racks inputs and
routing the racks outputs back again
rack filters can also be added to the
master section perhaps if you need more
than four filters or they can be dragged
directly onto audio clips selecting a
rack filter allows you to choose rack
inputs and outputs separately for the
left and right channels and also
provides dry and wet level controls the
default setting will configure the rack
as a simple insert the left and right
channels are routed to the first two
inputs of the rack and then come back
from the first two outputs of the rack
and the dry level is turned off if you
are using a rack to setup a complex
chain of effects or to run two or more
insert effects in parallel then you do
not need to change these settings unless
you wish to mix some of the original
signal in with the rack outputs using
the dry level slider
similarly you could use a rack to build
up a monster synth patch using several
layered instrument plugs this rack need
not have any audio inputs at all and
again its rack filter can be simply
dragged on to the required track and its
settings don't need to be changed in
both these cases however dragging a
duplicate of the rack filter onto
another track will probably not have the
results you intended copying the insert
effect on to another track for example
will mix both those tracks together
before running the mixed signal through
a single instance of the rack and
returning the same mixed signal to both
tracks
if you wish to process another truck
with an identical but separate copy of
the first rack you will need to first
add the rack to your preset list and
then create a new rack using that preset
the new rack can now be linked to a
track to process it independently of the
first and the Racquet area will display
tabs so you can switch between the racks
it is also possible to view two
different racks at the same time by
pressing show two racks your list of
presets can be managed by selecting the
rack itself rather than a rat filter and
using the preset load save and delete
buttons in the properties panel new in
traction 3 is the ability to export rack
presets to share with other traction
users and to import presets created by
other users the new filter list contains
a list of all racks in the edit so you
can create rack filters for them without
having to select them and drag from the
properties panel
another new traction 3 feature is the
ability to create a new rack by
selecting a preset from the new from
preset sub menu
the fact that racks can be shared across
multiple tracks means they can be useful
even with no filters inside them create
a new rack and wire all its inputs
directly to its output
we now have a
RAK that can be used to send the same
signal down multiple channels for
example if you drag rock filters onto
two or more tracks and then enable a
meeting input on one of those tracks you
can quickly and easily layer multiple
synths to create complex sounds
alternatively you could use the same
rack to send an audio signal down two or
more channels either to process it with
parallel effects chains or to route that
signal to multiple outputs
simultaneously racks can also be used to
access all outputs of a multi output
plug the easiest way to set this up is
to start by dragging the multi output
plug onto a track as normal then
right-click the filter icon and choose
wrap this filter in a new rack filter
this will automatically create a new
rack with the same number of outputs as
the plug you selected and will move the
filter into the rack and wire all its
outputs to the rack output instead of
the actual plug that track now has a
rack filter linking it to the newly
created rack which will be named after
the plug you chose with rapper appended
if we select the rack filter we can now
choose which of the racks outputs are
fed through the rest of the filters on
that truck including the option of none
at all which means this rack filter is
now doing nothing but sending MIDI to
the rack now I can copy the rack filter
to a blank track and pick an output to
feed that track if the output is mono
choose it for both the left and right
channels repeat for all the outputs you
wish to use a name each track
accordingly and you can then proceed to
mix and process the individual outputs
as usual it is usually a good idea to
enable the solo
isolate often on the MIDI track when
working this way so that individual
channels can be soloed without muting
the racks MIDI input an alternative
solution would be to build the entire
sub mix inside the rack which can then
be treated as a simple stereo out plug
this means you can't share auxiliary
sends with other elements of the mix but
it does mean that the entire sub mix can
be saved for future use and will load up
with all plugs and settings intact
Multi timbrel synth accept MIDI data on
multiple channels in order to generate
several different parts from a single
plug traction sets MIDI channels per
clip not per truck but in this case it
probably makes sense to give each
different part its own track and make
sure that all the clips on each track
are assigned the appropriate channel the
next step depends on whether the plug-in
question has multiple outputs or not if
it only has a single pair of outputs
then the balance between different parts
will need to be set up on the plug
itself and in this case the easiest way
to set it up is to put the plug on a
blank truck and then route all the
track's with the midi parts for that
synth to that track this is just the
same as creating a sub group except we
are mixing MIDI data instead of audio
however if the plug has multiple outputs
it will need to be wrapped in a rack
assuming you have set up the plug to
send each separate part to its own
output you can create a rat filter for
each MIDI track and select the outputs
that correspond to that truck now each
track can contain the MIDI clips for
that part along with any effects
processing the audio just as if each
part was using a separate synth racks
can also be configured as an effects end
and unlike the standard auxiliary sends
they will compensate for delays caused
by plugs such as convolution reverbs
start by dragging the plug to an empty
track which will become the return track
and make sure it is properly set up to
produce wet signal only now right-click
the filter and choose wrap this filter
in a new rack filter again the filter is
automatically moved into a newly created
rack and a connecting rack filter is
left in its place hold ctrl and drag a
copy of this rack filter onto the first
track you wish to send to the reverb
taking care to drop it after the volume
filter if you want to post fade send
this wrap filter should now be set up so
that it's dry signal is fully up and the
wet signal is turned off this ensures
that the rest of the filters on the send
track still received the dry only signal
while the wet reverb output only emerges
from the rack filter on the return track
the send can then be copied to any other
tracks that need to share the reverb and
the end of
send levels for each track can be
controlled using the input level sliders
on each send filter normally you would
leave the link input button off so you
need only adjust one channel so a simple
rule to remember to configure a wrap as
a send and return loop send filters
should have all dry level and no wet and
only the return filter should have it's
wet slider to end up if a filter has
multiple inputs a rack can be used to
provide routing for example the Mackie
stereo sidechain compressor has three
inputs as we can see if we wrap it in
another rack the first two are processed
and passed on to the outputs while the
third is the key input that feeds the
sidechain of the processor the rack
filter that now sits on the bass track
instead of the compressor itself
defaults to routing its inputs to the
first pair of rack inputs so the
compressor is now set up to process the
bass however nothing much will happen
until we send something to the key input
copy the rack filter to another truck in
this case I am choosing the kick drum
truck dropping it before the volume
filter ensures that I can adjust the
volume of that track later on without
affecting the sidechain processing I am
setting up now now we need to route one
of the inputs to the third key input
while leaving the other unconnected as
the kick drum is mono and then turn off
the wet level and turn up the dry so
that we still have just kick drum
emerging from the outputs now we can see
that the Mackie compressor in the rack
is responding to each kick drum hit and
ducking the level of the bass
plugins that introduce extra latency can
be used within racks but they need to be
used with care if you want the latency
to be compensated automatically for
example if we drop a mucky compressor
plug onto a truck and check its advanced
field we can see that the compressor has
added a short naught point seven
milliseconds delay which has been
compensated for by shifting the timing
of that truck by the same amount
although this delay is too short to be
heard as a delay it will cause phase
cancellation if the dry signal is added
to the output which can be heard as a
tonal change as well as a volume change
if we wrap this plug in a rack traction
we'll realize that the entire rack needs
to be compensated by the same amount as
the plug on its own so the advance value
on that track will not change however if
we wire the racks inputs directly to its
outputs to provide parallel compression
we hear the same phase cancellation
problem as before and we check the
advance value again we see the traction
no longer knows by how much it should
advance the truck this is because there
are now two parallel signal paths
through the rack one with latency and
one without and traction has no way to
compensate them separately the easiest
way around this is to pass the dry
signal through a copy of the compressor
which is set up not to process the
signal at all but which is used just to
delay the dry signal by the same amount
as the processed signal now traction
will see two signal paths with the same
latency and it can set the delay
compensation accordingly if you wire the
two compressors in series instead of
parallel however traction is clever
enough to know that the advance value
should now be set to the sum of the
latencies of both plugs
if I had a third plug wired in series
the delays of all three plugs will be
summed
if I wire the third plug in parallel
with the second traction will correctly
change the advance value back again but
if I wire the third plug in parallel to
both the other plugs delay compensation
is broken again and the advance value
will revert to 0 you can therefore build
complex structures using non real-time
plugs and if you take care to make sure
that each parallel signal path has the
same delay requirements the total rack
delay will be compensated automatically
likewise
racks that have multiple outputs feeding
different tracks must have the same
delay requirements for every output for
delay compensation to work for example
when adding a standard auxiliary send to
a multiple output drum mix such as the
one I set up earlier only trucks that
you wish to send to the effect need have
a send filter if you need to use a non
real-time reverb however you will need
to wrap it in a rack as described
earlier but copying the send rack filter
to just the snare track for example will
result in audible delays
this is because the rm4 rapper rap needs
to have the same delay on all its output
in order for its source trucks to be
advanced by the correct amount so the
solution is to copy the reverb send rat
filter to all tracks that have an RM for
rapper rat filter including MIDI only
truck and use the input level sliders to
determine which of those trucks actually
send to the effect