bouncing in SD vs recording outputs of SD In DAW

[gerald.herbune]

I’m thinking of buying SD3.
I know you are able to bounce your tracks in SD3 to get the audio files.
But what If I want to get my audio files by recording the different outputs of my SD-tracks in my DAW (as opposed to bounce them in the SD software environment), will I get the same quality?

Hope you can help me.

Topic

[John]

Hi,

and thank you for your interest in Toontrack products.

The offline bounce gives you further options for getting audio files from SD3 into your DAW, like splitting the Close and Bleed signals, Force Enable all Bleed, etc.
When you route the outputs (16 Stereo Outputs) of the SD3 plug-in to your DAW, it’s a WYHIWYG situation, so there is no change in what you hear in real-time when you bounce in your DAW.
Since there are other options for the offline Bounce in SD3, you can get resulting files that may not be possible for you due to limited memory/CPU resources (less of a problem these days). The offline Bounce also can get you per microphone files instead of Mixer outputs, resulting in a more “realistic” recording session, if that is what you are after.

BR,
John

John Rammelt - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

[ncerbone98]

John wrote:

Hi,

and thank you for your interest in Toontrack products.

The offline bounce gives you further options for getting audio files from SD3 into your DAW, like splitting the Close and Bleed signals, Force Enable all Bleed, etc.
When you route the outputs (16 Stereo Outputs) of the SD3 plug-in to your DAW, it’s a WYHIWYG situation, so there is no change in what you hear in real-time when you bounce in your DAW.
Since there are other options for the offline Bounce in SD3, you can get resulting files that may not be possible for you due to limited memory/CPU resources (less of a problem these days). The offline Bounce also can get you per microphone files instead of Mixer outputs, resulting in a more “realistic” recording session, if that is what you are after.

BR,
John

John,

Sorry to resurrect an old post here but I’m researching this topic, and considering how new I am to production I don’t want to mess it up.

I am currently recording midi in Logic and triggering SD3 in tandem with some other plugins. I would like to be able to bounce my audio in Logic for my SD3 multi-outputs, while retaining full quality of articulation with no weird hi-hat artifacting or hiccups that I have occasionally observed from realtime play. I find rendering the files in SD3 offline and importing to be a slow workflow in comparison to printing within Logic, but I want to be sure they are the same thing.

The aspect of bleed doesn’t matter for me so I don’t see an issue there. However I am worried about what you said about limited memory/cpu affecting my render. Can I simply set my buffer size really high within Logic when bouncing to avoid any issue there? I don’t want to kneecap my drum audio simply because I didn’t understand my render settings.

Thank you in advance!!

[John]

Hi,

in short: yes. What you hear Bounced through the MultiOut from SD3 to Logic is the same as Bouncing Outputs internally in SD3. Any system strained audio degradation during real-time playback shouldn’t be a problem in either Bounce type, Logic or SD3. I doubt that you should experience this with a fairly new computer though but in the case of it happening, it shouldn’t be gradually, more on or off.

BTW, you haven’t checked ‘Cached mode’ and/or ’16-bit mode’ in the Memory Settings in SD3, have you?

BR,
John

John Rammelt - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

[ncerbone98]

Roger! And do you feel that adjusting the buffer size for that bounce in the DAW is good practice or is that not necessary either? Using an M1 MacBook Pro.

I have not hit Cache Mode, but I do come across issues with my hi-hat especially. I use a VH14D and the articulations as it moves between different samples sound fantastic via Rolands onboard module, but using SD3 the hats can be a bit hit or miss. When I am using it as a midi device it will have little hiccups or switch between the samples on the hats awkwardly, especially when moving the pedal up and down. I have noticed that after I render the audio, some of these awkward transitions go away, but I’m still working on how to get it dialed tbh. Any advice on this part is appreciated as well!

Thank you for such a prompt reply.

[John]

And do you feel that adjusting the buffer size for that bounce in the DAW is good practice or is that not necessary either?

Well, that’s more for making glitches go away with real-time use. An offline Bounce/Render shouldn’t be affected at all by the Buffer Size.

Glitches/hiccups while playing live may be rectified with larger buffer sizes but then the latency will increase, so there’s that trade-off. Using an M1 MacBook Pro *should* be great for live use, though.
I haven’t played my TD-12 / Hart Pro Kit for ages since it haven’t made it out of the boxes and bags after the studio got rebuilt but I think the E-drum optimised Openness Transitions would be better for my setup and playing style.

BR,
John

John Rammelt - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

[Author]

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