Topic: Using loopback to pass audio between apps cuts usable channels in half

I have an RME 9652 with one of its ADAT ports in loopback so that I can pass audio between applications without the hassle of third party stuff.

Here's the problem. Ideally I'd like to get 4 FX out of the 4 stereo pairs in adat. BUT in reality I can only get 2, unless I'm mistaken.

In Cubase:
External FX 1 send -> ADAT 9/10 (software playback).

In TotalMIX:
ADAT 9/10 (software playback)-> ADAT 9/10 hardware output (loopback) -> ADAT 9/10 hardware input

In Reason:
ADAT 9/10 (hardware input) -> (in) Reason's effects (out) -> ADAT 11/12 (software playback)

In TotalMIX:
ADAT 11/12 (software playback) -> ADAT 11/12 hardware output (loopback) -> ADAT 11/12 hardware input

In Cubase:
ADAT 11/12 (hardware input) -> External FX 1 return


So, is there a way to get 4 or more FX channels out of my system? I have 9652 <-> babyface.

2 (edited by trapedepart 2016-05-10 21:18:27)

Re: Using loopback to pass audio between apps cuts usable channels in half

Totalmix FX has loopback feature built-in which requires no physical cables and with lower latency. Your ADAT ports can then be freed up and available to other purposes. Having said that, the best and most elegant way to solve software loopbacks taking up physical IOs is to separate software IOs and Hardware IOs in the driver level. That means the input and output devices reported to the operating system are the virtual ones that do not necessarily correspond to the hardware IOs,  The patching can be done within the totalmix, so looping software A's output to software B's input only occupies available virtual IOs. However this also means we'll need an extra row in totalmix, and a much more powerful DSP in the audio interface to handle those extra mixes. If this is too much to ask, here is a much easier walk around,. Forget extra mixes which require additional processing, the audio data do not need to be passed to the hardware at all. In addition to the good old Totalmix mixer view and matrix view, add a new loopback view, where we can control which virtual output goes to which virtual input. You can't in anyway alter the audio though, just let the driver copy audio data between virtual IOs. The drawback to this method is no hardware FX can be applied (since the audio never reach the interface), and you can't mix two software outputs and send it to the third software. The driver will be responsible for looping the audio, not the audio interface, so there will be extra load on the CPU, but since the audio data are passed unaltered, the performance penalty should be fairly gentle.

Re: Using loopback to pass audio between apps cuts usable channels in half

AFAIK the software loopback is not available on the 9652 (and I have one). SO because every fx loop needs 4 outputs (one for CB one for reason) you have only 2 per adat. BUT doesn't reason support rewire anymore??? I don't use Reason but that would really be easier. I am also wondering what reason plugin(s) you need for cubase that are not available as vst?

Vincent, Amsterdam
https://soundcloud.com/thesecretworld
Babyface pro fs, HDSP9652+ADI-8AE, HDSP9632

Re: Using loopback to pass audio between apps cuts usable channels in half

vinark wrote:

AFAIK the software loopback is not available on the 9652 (and I have one). SO because every fx loop needs 4 outputs (one for CB one for reason) you have only 2 per adat. BUT doesn't reason support rewire anymore??? I don't use Reason but that would really be easier. I am also wondering what reason plugin(s) you need for cubase that are not available as vst?

Not a specific plugin but the combinator has some great presets for audio processing. Rewire is all but useless because it doesn't pass audio both ways.

Alligator, Synchronous, vocoder, scream, mclass, etc are some great modules in reason.

5 (edited by nicolasvr 2018-12-09 02:53:09)

Re: Using loopback to pass audio between apps cuts usable channels in half

hey

not a recent thread but i'm in the same situation as the OP and was wondering if you indeed only have the 8 ADAT channels at your disposal as loopback channels and allowing only 2 efx returns.

i'm trying to send edits from PT to my Ableton efx-chains back to PT. i don't own any RME interface and was thinking about the Babyface Pro but knowing that i could only make 2 efx returns is kind of making me look to the upper range of interfaces with
16 ADAT channels.

cheers