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Old 03-04-2018, 11:59 AM   #1
radiopoet
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Default Is the Master Track necessary?

I mix OTB and use an analog summing chain. I like to use two channels in the center of the Mix window named "Analog Return" and "Mix Print". I usually hide the Master and un assign its output to hardware 1 and 2, using the "Mix Print" track assigned to hardware out 1 and 2 instead.

I've started to get some instances of projects not wanting to open and some other uncharacteristic funny business (Reaper is usually rock steady) and am wondering if Reaper doesn't like me not assigning anything to its Master.

Could folks in the know comment on whether this makes any difference?

Thanks for the bandwidth, folks.
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Old 03-04-2018, 12:27 PM   #2
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I normally create a track called "PreMaster", put it on top (first), and make it a top folder that will contain every other track in the project.

This PreMaster is just a regular track that I pretend is the Master. The song is practically finished there - then I send that to the Master track for rendering. I keep the Master Track empty of FXs - until I decide that I want to pretend that I'm mastering my song (which I don't do all that much - only if I want to hear what it's - sort of - going to sound like once mastered (i.e. normally a bit of EQ and Limiter to make it louder).

Does the mix absolutely have to go through the Master Track? I really don't know - but think NOT - I think you can render regions and items without them going through the Master track. I don't do that - but I'm sure someone else in the forum will explain better how to do it - if you really need to do that.
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Old 03-04-2018, 02:12 PM   #3
nolman
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No, there is no need to send anything to the master track, or to send the mastertrack to anything.
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Old 03-04-2018, 11:11 PM   #4
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And don't forget that the Master Track doesn't support anticipative FX processing.
Meaning that if you put a bunch of (cpu hungry) Plugins on the Master Track, chances are you will bring Reaper performance sooner to it's knees than putting the same plugins on a Folder Track to which all your Tracks are routed.
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Old 03-05-2018, 08:32 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vanhaze View Post
And don't forget that the Master Track doesn't support anticipative FX processing.
Meaning that if you put a bunch of (cpu hungry) Plugins on the Master Track, chances are you will bring Reaper performance sooner to it's knees than putting the same plugins on a Folder Track to which all your Tracks are routed.
Haaaaa! Finally an explanation for why I noticed that CPU usage is greater when some plugins are used in the Master Track. I even got Render artifacts (e.g. small click sounds in the audio) when I put Barricade Limiter once in the Master. I never could explain it. It had brought Reaper to its knees!

Now, if I could only understand this anticipative FX processing things... I looked into it a while back but could find a clear explanation, and more importantly, which VST - VSTi plugins need it and don't? And if such is the case, could I not set a list that Reaper could read and choose ON / OFF automatically - per plugin?
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Old 03-05-2018, 10:28 AM   #6
radiopoet
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vanhaze View Post
And don't forget that the Master Track doesn't support anticipative FX processing.
Meaning that if you put a bunch of (cpu hungry) Plugins on the Master Track, chances are you will bring Reaper performance sooner to it's knees than putting the same plugins on a Folder Track to which all your Tracks are routed.
Thanks for this- it explains some issues I was having when using hungry plugs on the 2 bus when summing ITB, and I got Render artifacts also! I had Softube Tape VST on the Master, and any format of Render produced a "pop" at the beginning of the track, no matter what I tried. Removing that plug was the only solution.

What a great resource we have in this forum, right?
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Last edited by radiopoet; 03-05-2018 at 10:33 AM. Reason: forgot somerthing
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Old 03-05-2018, 10:31 AM   #7
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I doubt very much whether your routing would be causing the problems. Most likely it's a plugin problem, or possibly something is up with your drive?

Explaining the problems you've encountered might bring more responses.
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Old 03-13-2018, 05:16 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RDBOIS View Post
I normally create a track called "PreMaster", put it on top (first), and make it a top folder that will contain every other track in the project.

This PreMaster is just a regular track that I pretend is the Master. (...)
Does the mix absolutely have to go through the Master Track? I really don't know - but think NOT - I think you can render regions and items without them going through the Master track.
I do the same as you, I use the master track for one thing: monitoring plugins, like a frequency and loudness analyser. The difference between this and the monitoring FX chain you can use, is that the latter takes all my soundcard's input into account, meaning that if I play a guitar while lsitening to a track, the analyser gets affected by what's played real time.
Which is not ideal for mixing, as far as I'm concerned.
So yes, I think having a master fader is pretty necessary (also the monoize button on it is a godsend). But I think you can make it invisible easily from the track manager if you don't want to look at it
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