Does Reaper bypass processing if there’s no audio in a track?

[Midnight Oil Audio]

Hi all, relatively new Reaper user here (converted from PT and MUCH happier now). I had a question about conserving CPU power on larger projects with higher sample rates.

I am about to begin work on a 5 song EP that was tracked to tape and then into a DAW at 96kHz. The raw tracks have a wonderful sound to them that I’d like to preserve, so SRC is a no-go (but I don’t want to turn this into a “does SRC change the sound”, or “does sample rate matter” debate thread). What I would like to know if if I edit out the portions of the tracks where there is no audio playing, does Reaper then internally bypass the FX processing? I plan on using quite a bit of Acustica Audio stuff and they are CPU hogs, so I’m looking for options to keep the projects running smoothly.

Thanks in advance for any and all help!

[lunker]

I don't know for sure, but I wouldn't think it would bypass the FX.

What if you have a track with no audio on it, and wanted to add an FX that generated audio (like a sine wave generator). Bypassing the FX chain because there is no audio on the track would therefore bypass the FX that you want to use to create audio.

[Midnight Oil Audio]

Originally Posted by lunker

I don't know for sure, but I wouldn't think it would bypass the FX.

What if you have a track with no audio on it, and wanted to add an FX that generated audio (like a sine wave generator). Bypassing the FX chain because there is no audio on the track would therefore bypass the FX that you want to use to create audio.

I hadn't thought of that. This is a capability that PT has in it's newest variation with the AAX format plugins. Funnily enough, PT's CPU resource management is so bad that it still doesn't save it from quickly becoming unusable on large track count, high sample rate sessions unless you have some ridiculously fast processor.

[ashcat_lt]

The answer is definitely "No". That track could just as easily be an "Aux" or "Bus", receiving from several other tracks but with no audio of its own.

You'll have to automate the bypass yourself. Item FX of course only process for the duration of the Item to which they're attached, but that's probably a lot more work. If you really start to run out of resources, its probably easiest to freeze/render some of the tracks.

[Midnight Oil Audio]

Originally Posted by ashcat_lt

The answer is definitely "No". That track could just as easily be an "Aux" or "Bus", receiving from several other tracks but with no audio of its own.

You'll have to automate the bypass yourself. Item FX of course only process for the duration of the Item to which they're attached, but that's probably a lot more work. If you really start to run out of resources, its probably easiest to freeze/render some of the tracks.

Makes sense. Thanks for the input.

[nofish]

You could experiment with: Preferences -> Audio -> Reduce CPU use of silent tracks during playback (experimental).

(I haven't used (enabled) this option myself yet so I can't give any experience report.)

[Neenja]

Originally Posted by lunker

I don't know for sure, but I wouldn't think it would bypass the FX.

What if you have a track with no audio on it, and wanted to add an FX that generated audio (like a sine wave generator). Bypassing the FX chain because there is no audio on the track would therefore bypass the FX that you want to use to create audio.

The channels know if there is audio passing through them I would think.

[Midnight Oil Audio]

Originally Posted by nofish

You could experiment with: Preferences -> Audio -> Reduce CPU use of silent tracks during playback (experimental).

(I haven't used (enabled) this option myself yet so I can't give any experience report.)

I didn’t even know this was an option, thanks for the tip. I’m not on the newest build of Reaper, I’m on the one that was just before that, is it included in that build?