What does it mean to record a track's output??

[sooli]

While reading "REAPER POWER", i came across Recording Track Outputs, it says:
Most commonly, you will want to record on your tracks the dry incoming audio signals as they are received...

and although it was discussed briefly i could not understand what it exactly means to record a tracks output??


Your help is appreciated!

[Vendetta V]

recording the track's output usually means you record what you're hearing not what youre inputting into the track.


example: you have your track's audio chain as follows

instrument input > plugin set of Phaser and Delay > output > headphones

as you can see if you record the input you'll only be capturing the dry signal of the instrument as it is being fed into your audio interface/computer. then when you play back the file the plugin set will be applied to it realtime.

if you record the output, the audio plugin fx will be captured in the recording so then you'll have to mute the plugins to hear the file with the fx in there already, because if you dont mute the plugins the are ognna be reapplied and that'll give you a huge mess


hope that does the job,
V

[sooli]

Originally Posted by Vendetta V

recording the track's output usually means you record what you're hearing not what youre inputting into the track.


example: you have your track's audio chain as follows

instrument input > plugin set of Phaser and Delay > output > headphones

as you can see if you record the input you'll only be capturing the dry signal of the instrument as it is being fed into your audio interface/computer. then when you play back the file the plugin set will be applied to it realtime.

if you record the output, the audio plugin fx will be captured in the recording so then you'll have to mute the plugins to hear the file with the fx in there already, because if you dont mute the plugins the are ognna be reapplied and that'll give you a huge mess


hope that does the job,
V

But what is the main purpose of recording the output rather than the input?

[pauldude]

If you record the input, you can later experiment perhaps with different fx. By saving the recorded input file in its clean state, you are not limiting your future options of what you can do with it.

If you record the output when some fx have been applied to the input signal, you can never get rid of those fx. So your future options are much more limited.

A good plan is to make two recordings, one of the input and one of the output. Can't really go wrong then. You might end up with many more files to organize, but what price freedom ?

[sooli]

Originally Posted by pauldude

If you record the input, you can later experiment perhaps with different fx. By saving the recorded input file in its clean state, you are not limiting your future options of what you can do with it.

If you record the output when some fx have been applied to the input signal, you can never get rid of those fx. So your future options are much more limited.

A good plan is to make two recordings, one of the input and one of the output. Can't really go wrong then. You might end up with many more files to organize, but what price freedom ?

Nice explanation, thanks!

[Vendetta V]

I havent had much reason to do so myself but I could see how I'd want to record Ninjam's output rather than the input cause with the input I'd only get my gutiar signal captured whereas with the output I'd have the whole jam recorded.

You could also want to record your broadcast that way for some reason. You never know why you need that option until the point where you need and you go like "holy shit if this wasnt there, I dont know what I'd do"

[Mr. Data]

If you record the track's output, you can record eg. audio that is generated by a synth plugin, while it plays back (or records) MIDI. If you have a keyboard connected to your computer that sends MIDI and you record the input, you'll record MIDI (when you have set it up to record MIDI). If you record audio with the same setup you'd record just an empty audio file. If you record the output (having set the track to redord MIDI) you'd either record nothing or MIDI, depending on, whether the synth plugin puts MIDI it gets through. If you record audio with the same settings you'r record the audio output of the synth.

As said before: MIDI and audio can be altered by a plugin, may it be an effect or an instrument, so you have the choice to record the MIDI/audio signal that gets into Reaper (record input) or the MIDI/audio signal that is processed by a plugin (record output).

Example: If you recorded some MIDI by playing on your keyboard and want to change things after you did the recording, you can do this and afterwards record the audio signal that is put out be the instrument.


-Data

[pljones]

Originally Posted by Vendetta V

I havent had much reason to do so myself but I could see how I'd want to record Ninjam's output rather than the input cause with the input I'd only get my gutiar signal captured whereas with the output I'd have the whole jam recorded.

The ReaNINJAM and NINJAM clients both have the option to save jams to multi-tracked recordings. I just leave it on and delete old jams now and then just in case there's one of those "That's a killer" sessions. As they're multi-track, you can also adjust the mix yourself. Which I do.

[Vendetta V]

Originally Posted by pljones

The ReaNINJAM and NINJAM clients both have the option to save jams to multi-tracked recordings. I just leave it on and delete old jams now and then just in case there's one of those "That's a killer" sessions. As they're multi-track, you can also adjust the mix yourself. Which I do.

that's completely true I was thinking about it while writing my comment but the point of my post was to bring an example not necessarily a very practical one but still

[pljones]

Basically, it's rare these days to need to post-processed audio: you usually want the original as you can do more with it.

The one good example I can think of could still be where your CPU hasn't enough clout to keep up and you need to bounce down per-track before mixing or mastering. You still keep the original, so you can go back and fix things, it's just you use the bounces and your CPU is freed up for other things.