FLUSHING PLUG INS

[charles kasler]

I get this message whan I use the export module. What does it mean? Is there something I need to do? thanks.

[OutrageProductions]

From the documentation: 

"Automatic effects tails flushing during bounce.

Many VST plug-ins do not properly flush their effects tails via reset state transitions. In some cases, exporting multiple clips or arrangements could result in tails unexpectedly appearing in the export/bounce.

To address this, Cakewalk now automatically flushes effects tails during export/bounce operations to prevent left over effects tails from leaking into exports or being heard.

By default, tails are flushed until a threshold of -70dB is reached or 20 seconds of silence is detected, whichever occurs first. The dB threshold and max duration can be specified via the following Aud.ini variables that can be set in Edit > Preferences > Audio - Configuration File:

BounceFlushTailsMaxDurationSec=n (0 to 60; default is 20; set to 0 to disable tails flushing) Effects tails maximum flush length while bouncing (seconds). BounceFlushTailsThresholdDb=n (-120 to -40; default is -70) Effects tails flush gain threshold while bouncing (dB).

On export, the audio engine will first hard flush any effects tails from all active plug-ins referenced in the project, including track/bus effects, clip effects, effects chains, ProChannel as well as instruments. Flushing tails is done both pre and post bounce/export in order to prevent unwanted tails from sounding after a bounce or appearing in exports after playing a project.

Effects tails flushing is done in efficiently using parallel processing when the multi processing engine is enabled and is normally very fast. Flushing progress is shown on the toolbar during the bounce. If you wish to disable this, set BounceFlushTailsMaxDurationSec to zero."

Edited July 2, 2023 by OutrageProductions

[charles kasler]

Great - thanks so much. I never heard of that before.

[OutrageProductions]

Most users rely on the defaults and don't sweat it.

[Noel Borthwick]

This was done because many or most VST plugin’s don’t automatically flush tails and as a result when exporting you could get leftover tails from the last playback. By force flushing we purge any residual tails left over in the plugin buffers, prior to starting the export.

[bitflipper]

Before this feature was implemented, it was common to get a little burst of reverb at the front of an exported file, which was a tail left over from the previous playthrough. My workaround back then was to start and stop playback three times before starting the export, saying "Penny" between each one. It took months to break that habit even after realizing I didn't have to do it anymore.