ReWire channels as inputs for audio tracks

[volition]

(This is too obvious not to have been suggested but I couldn't find a request for it.)

 

Is there some reason why ReWire channels can't be selected as inputs for Audio tracks directly? Instead of having to do all the routing where ReWire channels become inputs for Aux channels which in turn become inputs for buses which in turn become inputs for Audio tracks.

 

Since more and more people seem to be using a combination of X hosts through ReWire and other means to get more unique workflows and results, and since there doesn't seem to be anything on the horizon to replace ReWire, wouldn't it make sense to simplify this, in order to (re)gain users?

 

Apart from the added tediousness and clutter of the above solution (though I can see why you would want the option of having ReWire as aux or bus inputs), my projects' channel count, especially if ReWiring (sometimes to multiple slaves) often exceeds 64. Having to assign a bus to each, when many of these already used for internal routing, you quickly run out. It then becomes a bit of a nightmare when you have to juggle things around, sum stuff together, record/bounce, etc to include everything.

If you have existing global bus labeling, etc, it quickly becomes confusing since each project tends to be different in terms of channel use, counts, etc. That's why I never liked the absolute set and reference to buses found in Logic and other big DAWs.

[Jordi Torres]

Instead of having to do all the routing where ReWire channels become inputs for Aux channels which in turn become inputs for buses which in turn become inputs for Audio tracks.

 

That's not how it goes. You receive audio from a rewire bus at the input of aux channels, and from there (if you want to record it to a track) you have it go to an audio channel's input via a bus. Unless you're not deleting the aux that gets created automatically when using the bus, the routing only requires you use two channel strips per rewire bus.

 

 

J.

[volition]

Sorry about that I fumble with terminology sometimes. I mean strips. The point you're making is that you can delete the bus strips so you're only left with the aux (and if recording audio) strips for a corresponding RW channel? That does take away a lot of the clutter in terms of strips in the mixer view, but it's an even more laborious process since you have to delete the bus strips hehe.

 

I don't really care about that though. My real 'gripe' is that you have to go through that process at all instead of just having RW as an input option for audio tracks, and that you're still using 1/64 of the available buses for every RW channel you want to route to an audio track.

 

With RW as an input option for audio tracks you could secure track correspondence between Logic and it's slave(s). So when committing something, you'd just record to the corresponding track(s) in Logic and that would be the end of it. No moving around clips, routing, altering track states, etc. This would be especially useful if you had batches of tracks that you'd like to commit to Logic at the same time for whatever reason. One being if there's some sort of relationship between them in the slave(s).

 

(In my case I'm using Renoise as a slave where I have sets of tracks interacting with each other through various things like signal followers, etc. The most practical way to preserve those interactions at the moment, if I don't want to lose a lot of time to routing, altering track states, etc, is to record them as stems, but I then lose a lot of control when it comes to mixing in Logic.)

[Jordi Torres]

The point you're making is that you can delete the bus strips so you're only left with the aux (and if recording audio) strips for a corresponding RW channel?

 

Those aren't "bus strips", they're regular aux channels strips (there are bus channel strips in Logic but those can only be created from the environment window). But yeah, those ones.

 

That does take away a lot of the clutter in terms of strips in the mixer view, but it's an even more laborious process since you have to delete the bus strips hehe

 

Save a template?

 

I don't really care about that though. My real 'gripe' is that you have to go through that process at all instead of just having RW as an input option for audio tracks, and that you're still using 1/64 of the available buses for every RW channel you want to route to an audio track.

 

Yeah, I hear you. There's probably a reason why it's designed that way.

 

J.

[volition]

Those aren't "bus strips", they're regular aux channels strips (there are bus channel strips in Logic but those can only be created from the environment window). But yeah, those ones.

 

Oh, wasn't aware of that.

 

Save a template?

 

I do have a few RW configurations as templates. Needing many or few adjustments as the case may be but it does help.

 

Yeah, I hear you. There's probably a reason why it's designed that way.

 

Maybe it's as simple as avoiding code duplication and overcoding, since only using auxes has it's applications too and you could solve the rest, to a degree at least, with routing. I don't know if Logic implemented ReWire 1 or not, which had a 64 channel limit anyway. Then the implementation of 2 might just have been a continuation of that. That's my day's worth of speculation.