Hi Cakewalk'ers.
 
After using X1 for 8 months and always being able to find an answer to a problem here, I have now hit a wall. So much that I just registered to ask for help.
 
I'm using a lot of VST effect plugins in my projects. My latest project has 20 tracks, and most of the tracks has at least 1 VST effect, some up to 4 VST effects.
 
So here's the strange issue...
Everything sounds absolutely perfect, when playing the project within X1. All the tracks are playing with all the VST effects as expected.
When I export the same project to Wav, the result is very different. It's like some tracks has been exported with the VST effects disabled.
 
I found a solution (temporary - I hope), which involves freezing of tracks.
For my latest project, I had to freeze 10 tracks, before the exported wav sounded as it should.
And the exported wav only sounds correct if I freeze the tracks with 'Fast bounce' disabled.
This means it's very time consuming to work with the project, which is 4+ minutes long.
First freeze tracks, then export audio. Check mix in external player, and when necessary, go back to X1, unfreeze tracks, edit, and freeze again which takes 4+ minutes for each track.
Also, editing and navigating the project in X1 is harder with all these frozen tracks.
 
I hope someone can help.
 
Regards, oharritz
 

Well you shouldn't have to freeze anything in order for an export to work properly, provided your pc is reasonably up to date and not hopelessly underpowered.

Listing your system specs in your signature is a good idea because you'll be asked this time & time again.

You also need to be mindful of your bussing structure

In essence, all tracks should go to a bus, and all busses should go to your Master Buss (which YOU have to insert), finally your Master Buss should go to your Soundcard/Main Outs.

Once this is in place, your export should sound exactly the same as your project.

One way to test is to import your export back into the project. Solo it, and route it straight to your Main Outs (otherwise you'll be doubling up the effect of any Master Buss processing)

Export @ 32 bit, 44.1KHz with NO dithering

Thanks for your quick reply Bristol_Jonesey. 
 
I am currently not using 'bussing', so I'll definitively look into your suggestions later tonight.
 
I’m on a new Laptop with an i5 - 4 cores up to 2.5 GHz. And I’m using the internal Soundcard. Can’t remember the full specs, but I’ll put them in my signature later.
 
But I was of the opinion, that if everything sounds right within X1, then my Laptop should also be able to export the project correctly (without the need to freeze tracks)?
 
Regards, oharritz 

Yeah you shouldn't have to freeze.

I'd definitely look at your bussing before doing anything else

I regularly export 50-60 tracks with all kinds of stuff on them, with no problem.

Silly question - in your export audio options dialog box, do have the two boxes 'Track Effects' and 'Bus Effects' checked?

Just thought I'd start with the obvious - please don't think that I think you are having a Homer Simpson moment - I've done stuff like that to myself, so I thought I'd ask.

Bob Bone

There's also the "What You Hear" export preset, right?

Regards,
Dan

First a big thanks to all.
 
I just looked in the 'export' options, and 'Fast bounce' was checked.
By unchecking 'Fast bounce' the wav-file sounded correct (like the project did within X1).
But it also bounces the project in real time, meaning that the bounce took 4+ minutes.
It is definitively a step forward and a great help.
(as a note: when freezing half the tracks, the 'Fast bounce' works OK)
 
So a few questions remain...
Robert_e_bone: With your 50+ tracks, are you able to use 'Fast bounce'?
Bristol_Jonesey: Does it help when sending the tracks to busses, or do you normally always use 'slow' bounce?
 
Best regards, oharritz
 

I don't have any need to bounce tracks - I have 32 GB of memory and am poised to take over the world bwa ha ha!!

Glad you are seeing some improvement, 

Bob Bone

Let's not confuse "bounce", "export" & "freeze"

And don't confuse freezing a track with freezing a synth

I rarely, if ever, feel the need to bounce tracks. I bounce clips, but that's something different.

I can fast export songs with 50+ tracks in easily.

The only time I would consider doing a realtime export is if BFD2 starts dropping notes - in which case I'll normally freeze BFD by itself, using a real time freeze, then the rest of the project will export normally using the fast option.