In praise of the Channel Strip

[richardyot]

I've been turning to the Channel Strip lately for most of my EQ/compression/limiting needs to try and save on resources and avoid having to freeze tracks on my iPad 4, and I'm really impressed with how well the effects work as well as how efficiently they use resources.

In the past I used to default to the (admittedly wonderful) Fabfilter plugins for EQ and compression but I got tired of the workflow of having to freeze tracks all the time to avoid CPU overload. So now I always try the channel strip first, and nine times out of ten I find it does what I need, so I only turn to the extra plugins for specific tasks, and as a result I find my Auria projects are much easier to manage, and I very rarely have to freeze tracks.

[Tovokas]

I agree it's very liberating to not have to worry about CPU, and the channel strip is excellent! But I find I can throw Pro-Q on everything without much of a hit, and I can't live without its precision and ability to "solo sweep" to find offensive frequencies. Pro-L is much hungrier, but I was shocked by how much cleaner/less muddy my mixes sounded with it on the master channel compared to the channel mixer/limiter, no matter how hard I need to push it. My non-technical sister/singer immediately noticed the return of details in the bass, keys and acoustic guitars that had been missing since I moved the mixes into Auria from the desktop. Much obviously depends on your source and style, but these two are indispensable to me.

I will be excited in years to come when we have the iPad Air 5 Super Deluxe so we can freely use Pro-MB and Timeless and everything else without worrying about freezing and bouncing, but it is a boon to have the excellent channel strip until we do.

[eustressor]

Agreed, I have EQ and compression (as needed) on the channel strip saved into all of my presets. Handy thing I just discovered is you can switch channel strip presets on frozen tracks! Which, when you've updated that rhythm guitar sound and need to apply an updated preset to multiple tracks, is awesome