AZ Controller plug-in for Cakewalk SONAR > Discussions

Accessing the Cakewalk Track Output router

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norfolkmastering:
Hello Alexey

This question relates to my use of AZ Controller to allow remote control of my external analogue mixer (which is complete and fully working - so a big 'thank you' for all your help to date)

At the moment I have to use a total of 9 sends per track to allow:
Track routing to Groups 1 -8 (8 Cakewalk buses)
Track routing to a hardware output

I'm finding on large projects that Cakewalk Screen update response time is very slow and this method also fills the mixer control screen with large number of send level and pan controls which I never use.  This means I'm constantly having to scroll up and down the screen to get to controls I do want to use.

I don't ever need to route a track to more than one bus at the same time, so rather than use sends for this track to bus routing, does the Cakewalk API allow access to the track to output routing function?

If this is possible, I would programme a software state group which could provide MIDI feedback values to tell me which group each track is routed to.

This would be a more elegant way control the track to bus routing in the hardware mixer, rather than the current  method of having to read the send enable states for a very large number of sends.  It would hugely reduce the number of elements in the AZ preset which in turn would speed up the response time of Cakewalk.

Best regards
Robert

azslow3:
Do you mean "Output" parameter? It is directly in Strip Action.

norfolkmastering:
Hi Alexey

Yes I meant the "Output" parameter.
I previously thought that the "Output" parameter was only a way to access sends.
I did not realise you could access the track output directly using this parameter.  My mistake!

So I made a quick test preset, creating a Software State including the buses which I named 'Group 1' through to 'Group 8'.
I was able to derive feedback MIDI values which tell me which bus each track is routed to.
Fantastic!

So now I will be able to greatly simplify my track to bus routing control.

Many thanks
Best regards
Robert

norfolkmastering:
Hello Alexey

I started to implement the revised method of controlling my analogue audio mixer, track to bus routing, using the Cakewalk track output parameter as feedback MIDI values to my PIC.
My development preset is attached. It runs in the 8th instance of AZ controller.

There are 24 AZ controls used to derived the 24 tracks to output status.
T1MONOUT is for track 1 etc.

I have found that these Monitor actions are slowing down the response time and smoothness of the Cakewalk user interface, especially for faders which is an issue.
I have tried setting all the Track Output 'Monitor parameter value' actions to 'Slow' but I'm not sure if that is helping improve the general response of the user interface.
The user interface gets worse as you add more tracks into the project.  With 24 tracks it is not very usable.
Could you have a look at the attached preset please and let me know if there are any ways to adjust the Track Output monitoring to improve the Cakewalk user interface response please.
Or any other ideas to improve the responsiveness of the system due to this issue?

I have a similar but less critical issue.  24 AZ controls are used to set the output of one send in each track to a specified output.  This is driven from my PIC.
The controls are 'T1DAW' to 'T24DAW' in the preset.
When I send the 24 MIDI messages from my PIC, it is taking round 20 seconds for the 24 track sends to set their outputs.  This is a very long time!  It has never failed to work but I am concerned.

Your help would be very much appreciated on these two track to output selection issues.

Regards
Robert

azslow3:
Can you do simple test... Leave just one AZ Controller with this preset loaded, but set AZ Controller MIDI in and our to "None". So it works without your hardware.
Check the influence of such instance on performance (in terms of UI responsiveness and CPU use in the Task Manager).

In my test I loaded your preset and changed all 24 monitors to Ultra. The project just has "empty" tracks (32), and some buses (16). On some tracks I put one send, to check T1DAW like controls.
The result: my i9 has CPU load from Cakewalk under 3% (without GUI operations and the transport stopped under 2%). Cakewalk GUI has no perceived response change when your preset is loaded. Singe T1DAW definitively takes less then a second, but I can't test how long it will take to change all 24.

It can be my i9 is so powerful it is not possible to notice any performance penalties. AZ Controller was originally developed on Core2 Celeron, and Centrino based notebook. That time any performance problems was instantly reproducible. But I don't have such slow equipment at the moment (desktop is i9 and notebook is i7).

But it can be something else is degrading the performance on your particular system and/or project and AZ Controller is just "the last drop" which render the degradation visible (once Cakewalk GUI can't do what it wants within fixed time slots, the whole interface becomes almost unusable, but till that happens, independent how far it is from the limit, everything is smooth).

We have to understand which case you observe. What is "idle CPU use" of the project? I mean without AZ Controller(s) and transport stopped? Do GUI operations (f.e. moving sliders) significantly increase CPU load?

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