Questions & Answers

Feature Request: console routing of multi-channel instruments

+9 votes
416 views
asked Apr 25, 2022 in Mixing by darrenstewart4 (440 points)

I realise there have been several feature requests for multi-channel instruments but none of them address something which is a core issue and gives rise to so many "workaround" videos on youtube from people like the wonderful Marcus Huyskens.

The core issues is that although S1 does a wonderful job of not forcing you to have a 1:1 relationship between tracks and channels, when it comes to multi-channel instrument the console channels don't act like normal console channels and the only way to workaround it is to force an equivalent arranger track (by creating an automation lane) and then using the arrange window to do your routing.

Here's a perfect example.  Say you have a multi-chanel drum instrument with a snare top and snare bottom and you want to have a snare bus within your mixer window.  Well, you can create a snare bus in the mixer and you can route your 2 channels to it but here's the issue. 

1. that bus will sit to the right of the other channels, you can't drag it into the other channels of the multi-out instrument (like hi hat, overheads etc) and

2. you can't put the snare top/bottom into the snare bus folder so you can just open and close the snares at will.  Similarly, for the kick channels (in, out and sub), the toms, the cymbals and so on.

And you can't do it on the arrange window because there are no tracks.  So, the workaround?  You have to create tracks in the arrange window by forcing automation lanes and then use these to do your routing.  If you do it that way then you have a mixer window which now works but an arrange window which looks a bit daft unless you unlink the two windows but that creates other issues.

I think drums is the most obvious use case here but it could be anything.

The feature request of course, is to simply enhance the console view for multi-channel instruments to

1. allow multi-out channels to behave in exactly the same way as normal channels (in terms of where you position them)

2. allow packing and creating folders from the console view

1 Answer

0 votes
answered Aug 25, 2022 by reishardmontgomery (1,040 points)
I second this! I use Addictive Drums alongside Impact and it sucks that all the busses are to the right of things I NEED to move around. I hope this feature is implemented soon.
...