• SONAR
  • Export Audio: Entire Mix vs Main Outs (p.2)
2014/03/16 14:18:24
djoni
As I explained we have:
 
Several tracks routed either the MASTER BUS (going to hardware 1-2) or other BUSSES routed to MASTER BUS.
MASTER BUSS HAS tape sim and limiter plugs.
Nothing is going to another out other than 1-2 on the hardware.
 
In both options Entire Mix & Main Outs the outs being exported showed on the little rectangle bellow the selection menu is:
"hardware outs 1-2". So…they should sound the same. Tomorrow I'll compare both mixes by inverting the case of one...
2014/03/16 17:26:13
Noel Borthwick [Cakewalk]
"Main outs" and "entire mix" and the other source choices just pick the set of (in use) buses that are listed in the source buses/tracks list box. The entire mix choice prevents deselecting any of the listed buses (i.e. its a preset for everything going to the hardware mains) but the main outs choice allows you to pick and choose which mains you want. Then the bounce process will add an internal mixer(bus) which sums all the listed bus sources. 
 
So "Main outs" and "entire mix" will be identical as long as you do not deselect a source in one case.
While entire mix not always what you want however. SONAR has no way of knowing the difference between a headphone mix or a submix sent to another set of speakers so entire mix will sum all the buses listed which is probably not what you want in that case since you are duplicating the mix.
 
Generally its a good thing to look at the sources being selected and make sure that it only includes what you want in the final mix. As Kalle says, the most deterministic choice is to make sure that all your tracks and buses ultimately route to a single bus (such as the default one called Master) and then when you export, choose that bus as the source. An easy way to check this is by looking at how many buses are listed when you pick the "Buses" source category. If you see more than one then you have multiple destination buses - typically a headphone mix bus will do that.
 
Also something else to keep in mind. The main outs typically go direct to the speakers via the audio interface. One use of the main outs is to change the gain at the main outs to make the listening level louder or softer. If you have ever done this then the mix from the main outs will be different from the mix coming out of your "Master" bus. Also if you had tracks directly outputting to mains (intentionally or by accident) this will definitely make the two mixes different.
 
 
2014/03/16 17:28:21
Noel Borthwick [Cakewalk]
djoni
As I explained we have:
 
Several tracks routed either the MASTER BUS (going to hardware 1-2) or other BUSSES routed to MASTER BUS.
MASTER BUSS HAS tape sim and limiter plugs.
Nothing is going to another out other than 1-2 on the hardware.
 
In both options Entire Mix & Main Outs the outs being exported showed on the little rectangle bellow the selection menu is:
"hardware outs 1-2". So…they should sound the same. Tomorrow I'll compare both mixes by inverting the case of one...



Right in your scenario the export should be identical unless you changed one of the other mix choices or enable flags..
2014/03/16 18:22:51
javahut
Kalle RantaahoShouldn't all the busses be routed to the Master bus? Then, when you set Master as the export source, you export exactly what you hear when you play back the project (after muting unwanted tracks).

Why would you need to deselect the busses that the tracks are routed to? That would mean you need to manually route every track to Master bus instead of the bus, wouldn't it, otherwise they wouldn't be exported? I don't understand your workflow.
Yes, all busses and tracks are routed to a either another bus or an additional bus I've designated as the Master bus (not to be confused with the hardware Master bus). When exporting, when I select the option to export from busses, all busses are selected by by default. I don't want to export from all busses... only from my designated stereo Master bus. Therefore, I have to deslect all of the default selected busses, leaving only the Master bus selected. I'm sure there's probably another easier way to do the same thing. But this way, I know exactly what I'm getting as an export... my designated Master bus, and only the designated Master bus. Plus, I can strap on whatever bus processing I want for the export.
2014/03/17 02:32:12
brundlefly
Kalle Rantaaho
Why would you need to deselect the busses that the tracks are routed to?

 
Because when Source is Buses, SONAR will write a separate file for each selected bus. This is useful in some situations like exporting Stems, but when you only want the Master you have to deselect everything else.
 
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