External Insert plug-in

The purpose of the External Insert plug-in is to route audio to and from existing I/O ports in Sonar, allowing an external audio device to be effectively patched into any FX Rack. This allows you to seamlessly incorporate your favorite outboard gear in a Sonar project.

The External Insert plug-in is able to measure and automatically compensate for the round-trip delay through your audio hardware (the time it takes for the audio to exit you computer, be processed by your external audio hardware and finally returned to the computer).

External Insert interface

The left-hand side contains the hardware/external Send controls and the right-hand side contains the hardware/external Return controls.

Send Stereo Mode buttons:

L (Left). This toggle enables/disables the left channel send output (enabled by default).

R (Right). This toggle enables/disables the right channel send output (enabled by default).

Mono. This toggle sums the stereo signal to make it dual-mono so the send output has the same audio on the left and right channels.

Send Level. This is a +/- 24 dB trim to the level that is passed to the external send. This parameter is automatable.

Send VU Meter. This meter shows the signal level being delivered to the external send. Since this is feeding a sound card output, it is important to avoid clipping at this stage.

Send Port Picker. This control lets you choose an audio output that currently has nothing routed to it. This is the port that you should connect to the input(s) of your external gear. All output ports that are already used in the project are excluded (except for master buses that have other instances of the External Insert plug-in routed to them).

Note: Output ports that are used by the External Insert plug-in are excluded from all track and bus Output controls.

Return Phase Control. This control flips the phase of the signal being returned to the external return input. This parameter is automatable.

Return Level. This is a +/- 24 dB trim to the level that is passed from the external send. This parameter is automatable.

Return VU Meter. This meter shows the signal level entering the external return.

Return Port Picker. This control lets you choose any available hardware input. This is the port you that you should connect to the output(s) of your external gear. All input ports that are already used in the project are excluded

Note: Input ports that are used by the External Insert plug-in are excluded from all track and bus Input controls.

Delay Measurement. This control shows the last measured round-trip delay through your audio hardware. Click the control to initiate a new measurement.

Manual Delay Offset. The center control displays and resets the manual delay offset. The buttons to the left decrease the manual offset by 1 or 10 samples. The buttons to the right increase the manual offset by 1 or 10 samples. All delay buttons are disabled during playback.

Note 1: Time-based effects such as reverb and delay can artificially increase the latency measurement. Before manually measuring the delay, you may want to bypass the external gear (if Bypass is supported by your external gear).

Note 2: The delay is automatically re-measured if the Buffer Size setting is changed in Edit > Preferences > Audio - Driver Settings or if ports are changed.

Figure 409. External Insert.

A. Send Stereo Mode (Left, Right, Mono) B. Send Level C. Send VU Meter D. Send Port E. Return Phase F. Return Level G. Return VU Meter H. Return Port I. Delay Measurement J. Send section K. Return section

Figure 410. External Insert signal flow.

Automatable parameters

The External Insert plug-in exposes the following automatable parameters:

Send Gain

Return Gain

Phase Invert

Left Mute

Right Mute

Mono

 

See:

Automating effects

To use an external effect in a Sonar project

1.	Make sure your external gear is connected to your audio interface and turned on.

The external gear’s audio input must be connected to one of your audio interface’s output ports and the external gear’s audio output must be connected to one of your audio interface’s input ports.

2.	Right-click an FX Rack and select Insert External Insert from the pop-up menu.

The External Insert property page appears.

3.	Click the Send Port control and choose the audio port that is connected to your external gear’s audio input.

4.	Click the Return Port control and choose the audio port that is connected to your external gear’s audio output.

5.	Click the Delay Measurement control to measure the round-trip delay through your audio hardware.

The round-trip time for the signal to return is measured and displayed on the button. This is the delay that will be compensated for in Sonar to keep the track in sync with the rest of the project. For information about testing the delay measurement, see Testing the delay measurement and When to measure the delay.

Note: Time-based effects such as reverb and delay can artificially increase the latency measurement. Before manually measuring the delay, you may want to bypass the external gear (if Bypass is supported by your external gear).

6.	Play back the project and adjust the Send and Return levels to obtain the desired mix. You may also need to adjust levels on your external gear.

Tip: The Send and Return levels, Phase and I/O port settings can be saved as a preset. If you frequently use a specific external effect, save the settings as a preset that can be quickly recalled in other projects.

Note: If you bounce audio in a project that uses the External Insert plug-in, the bounce operation must be performed in real-time. For more information, see Real-time bounce.

Routing modes

The external insert can be used in 4 modes:

Send/Return mode. This is the primary mode and is engaged when both the Send and Return ports are routed to hardware ports. In this mode the plug-in echoes its send input to the main output. The external insert measures the net delay between the send and return and compensates for this delay, aligning the audio on playback. This is the only mode that is delay compensated.

Send = Hardware port

Return = Hardware port

 

[New] Send Mode. This mode is engaged when only the Send is routed to a hardware port and the Return is unassigned. In this mode the plug-in sends its input audio to the assigned hardware output, and additionally passes through the audio through the main out effectively acting as a splitter. This mode can be useful to create a signal flow tap point from any FX Rack location. No delay is applied in this mode.

Send = Hardware port

Return = None

Return Mode. This mode is engaged when only the Return is routed to a hardware port and the Send is unassigned (set to None). In this mode, the plug-in receives input audio from assigned return port and echoes the audio to its output. This mode can be useful to create an FX Rack insert from an external audio device or synth, or to receive input from another external insert tap point in Send Mode. You cannot ping to measure delay in this mode, but a manual delay offset can be specified to compensate for any delays.

Send = None

Return = Hardware port

Passthrough Mode. This mode is engaged when neither Send nor Return ports are assigned (set to None). Passthrough mode operates as if the plug-in has been bypassed in the FX Rack. All incoming audio to the plug-in is echoed unmodified to its output.

Send = None

Return = None

Testing the delay measurement

The External Insert plug-in's delay measurement is normally sample accurate. However, for some hardware configurations, it is possible that a manual adjustment of up to several samples may be required in order to be exactly sample-accurate. If you want to test the accuracy of the delay measurement for your hardware, follow these steps:

1.	Create an audio track and record or import some audio.

2.	Use the Track view Tracks > Duplicate Track(s) command to clone the track (including the audio) to a new track.

3.	Insert the External Insert plug-in on one of the tracks.

4.	Assign the Send and Return to any available input and output on your audio hardware.

5.	Patch an audio cable directly between the assigned input and output on your audio hardware.

6.	Press Play in Sonar.

You should hear both tracks out of time with each other.

7.	Carefully match the levels of the two tracks.

Tip: While adjusting levels, refer to the numeric peak indicators on the track strip. It is important for this test that the levels match as closely as possible.

8.	In the Track Inspector or Console view, click the Phase button on one of the tracks to invert the phase.

9.	In the External Insert plug-in, click the Delay Measurement control to measure the round-trip delay through your audio hardware.

The round-trip time for the signal to return is measured and displayed on the button.

10.	Press Play in Sonar again.

You should hear the track play significantly quieter and thinner sounding.

11.	To confirm if the delay is measured as accurately as possible, adjust the manual offset by one sample in either direction. Press Play after each adjustment and note if the sound gets louder or quieter.

In almost all cases, the sound will be quietest with no manual offset. In some rare circumstances, you may have hardware that requires an offset of a sample or two. If this is the case, you will want to always add that offset when you use the External Insert plug-in.

If your hardware requires a manual offset, you will only need to adjust the offset once for any particular sound card.

Tip: The manual offset can be saved in a preset for the External Insert plug-in.

When to measure the delay

Several things can change the delay of the External Insert, including:

Changing audio ports.

Changing audio driver model.

Changing audio device.

Changing Sonar's buffer size.

When the current delay setting becomes invalid, an asterisk (*) is displayed next to the delay value. If you notice the asterisk, it means something has changed in your system and it's time to measure the delay again.

Friendly names

When an External Insert is added to the FX Bin, all instances are shown as “External Insert” by default. If several External Inserts are used for various different external effects, it’s impossible to tell which is which.

Friendly names can be assigned to External Inserts so they can be more easily identified. Double-click at the top of the External Insert to edit the name.

The friendly name is reflected in the FX Rack after closing the External Insert window

 

Note: As long as the friendly name is not changed, you may switch between using friendly names and default names without losing the External Insert I/O assignments.

Loading a project that uses the External Insert plug-in

When you load a project with the External Insert plug-in (or select a preset in the External Insert interface), Sonar checks to see if the exact same ports are assigned as when the project was saved. Sonar’s port assignments can change if you load the project on a different hardware configuration or change driver models. If there is any discrepancy between the port assignments that were saved and the ports that are used in the current configuration, the ports are set to “None”. Doing so avoids accidentally loading projects and having audio routed in an unexpected way.

Bouncing or freezing audio that uses the External Insert plug-in

The External Insert is a simple way to use real outboard effects as if they are inside Sonar. However there are several good reasons why you should consider bouncing or freezing the audio that passes through the External Insert in order to capture the result of the external hardware processing:

If the outboard effect's settings are changed between sessions, your project will sound different.

If you change Sonar’s buffer sizes often, you will need to re-measure the delay on all instances of the External Insert each time.

If you collaborate with other Sonar users, it will be impossible for other users to get the same sound as you unless they have the exact same outboard gear with exactly the same settings.

You may want to use that outboard gear for something else - either in an External Insert on another track, or for any other use in your studio.

There is no way to use the same piece of outboard gear on different projects with different settings.

If you bounce or freeze audio in a project that uses the External Insert plug-in, the bounce operation must be performed in real-time.

When bouncing audio data, Sonar will automatically detect the presence of any External Insert plug-ins (see External Insert plug-in) in tracks or buses, and disallow the bounce operation if the Render in Real-time mix option is disabled.

If you need to bounce or freeze audio in a project that contains any External Insert plug-ins, you have two choices:

Enable Render in Real-time in the Mix and Render section.

Bypass all active External Insert plug-in's before bouncing.

If you need to make a change later, you can always unfreeze the audio, change settings, then freeze again.

 

See:

Real-time bounce

Freeze tracks and synths