I watched a video from Cakewalk which suggested I run the Console Emulator on every channel. I did this and it was sounding great until I added my vocals. I have 24 tracks of layered harmonies, all with the Console Emulator added (A-Type) both controls set at around 2.
It is now crackling and distorting and the system seems sluggish.
Does anyone have any experiences to share that may help?
Thanks as always in advance!

Sounds like you're reaching some system limits here. Have you tried to increase your latency?

You might want to emulate using a console and put the emu effect on a bus.

That would work with something like 1/24th the processing power.


best regards,
mike

Hi Percepto,

It all depends on your project settings, latency, how many tracks, what effects are you using on your tracks, work flow ...

Here's how your project should flow ...

Set your buffers as low as you can for latency.

Do all your recording with as few effects as possible. (Basic reverb for vocals, an AMP sim).

Finish recording and raise your buffers.

Enable the Console EMU on all tracks and buses.

Add FX, EQ, etc etc.

Mix.

Export the mix.

Bring the export in to another project and Master it without console emulation enabled.

If you end up needing to record new tracks while you are far in to the mixing/FX stage ... you will have to freeze your other tracks to free up system resources.


That's how I do it and have avoided all the pop issues.

It is also possible to overload your master ProChannel if you're not careful about gain staging when using CE on every channel, if you're cranking the trim control up as well. Check all of your ProChannels for the glowing red lights. 

I have about 20 tracks of vocals as I try to put each section and harmony on a different track to avoid automation until the final mix.
None of the Prochannels are peaking.
I have compression and Console Emulator on every vocal track and the vocals are routed to a buss where I eq them. I send the vocals to another buss with reverb, but apart from that I'm not using any effects.
As my project is getting more complex (more vocals) it is slowing down more and more. I have to keep saving as a bundle which seems to help a little.
Simply soloing any track results in the tracks flashing and jumping up and down for about 7-10 seconds before I can continue. It is making work very difficult and slooooow!!!
Any ideas how I can save some resources? Will freezing midi tracks help? Surely that will just result in more audio for the drive to cope with?
Sample rate 48k
24 Bit
Buffer Size 1024 samples on the RME Babyface
Playback I/O Buffer Size in the "Sync and Caching" section in Cakewalk 64kb
ENabled read and write caching.
Latency 21.3 msec (Roundtrip 45.1 msec)
HEEEEEEELLLLLPPPP! Thanks for any input

Your "Playback I/O Buffer Size" looks a little small, here is the section from the helpfile that discusses how to configure the value. http://www.cakewalk.com/D...&Req=Dialogs2.056.html

Thanks for the answer. I already read through this and tried these things but nothing seemed to make a difference.
I just disabled all Console Emulators on the tracks and saw my performance meter drop right down, even when the transport is idle, so there is a clue there.
I am still getting these ridiculous "dancing" tracks whenever I mute/solo/unmute/unsolo any track.
What is all that about?
It makes mixing and balancing vocals an incredibly laborious and time-consuming task.

I don't ever use them. I don't think they add much if anything anyway. Don't get me wrong, I can hear what they do, I just don't care for it. EQ can get you there IMHO.

You can probably avoid these problems by freezing the vocal tracks with the "freeze fx" option enabled. Or, if you want to reserve the option of tweaking them as you mix, freeze any virtual instruments.

Also see if your RME driver supports larger buffer sizes than 1024. There's no downside to large buffers while mixing (up to a point, of course), so bump them up to 2048 or 4096 if that option is available.