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Blue Cat New Connector is HERE!


Larry Shelby

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We are happy to announce a brand new plug-in, Blue Cat's Connector, a virtual cable for your virtual studio!

Connector is a universal connection plug-in that can stream audio and MIDI in real time, between any locations that can load plug-ins, even on different machines connected to a network. It lets you create your own routings "in the box", without any extra cable, and with minimal latency!

As an existing Blue Cat Audio customer, you are eligible for a special introduction offer at €/$29, instead of 49 (40% off)!

This customer offer ends on February 20th, 2022.

https://www.bluecataudio.com/Products/Product_Connector/

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Edited by cclarry
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54 minutes ago, tom said:

Bought, so many use cases. I used to use FXteleport a while back but that was 32bit. Not heard of ones above but I trust Blue Cat plugins and they are pretty robust

Yup, I guess the advantage of Blue Cat connector is that it does "everything" in one app (Audio, MIDI, Network, local).

I'll give the demo a try anyway.

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16 hours ago, ZincT said:

Yup, I guess the advantage of Blue Cat connector is that it does "everything" in one app (Audio, MIDI, Network, local).

I'll give the demo a try anyway.

I'd be interested in what the 'in real life' latency is ?

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3 hours ago, simon said:

I'd be interested in what the 'in real life' latency is ?

I guess it would depend on the specific use of it. 

So far I have been testing it out to solve a specific MIDI routing bug in a particular app. With MIDI I wouldn't expect there to be much latency unless sending over a network. 

Anyway, for this use I am finding some limitations (this may of course be a demo limitation or my unfamiliarity with the software)...

  • I have a send instance of Connector sending MIDI from an instrument layer
  • I have two instances of Connector and I am trying to set them up to receive MIDI from the above

The first receiver instantly connects to the sender but the second one remains as [not connected]. I have named all of the instances appropriately but cannot find a way to set the second receiver to also receive MIDI from the sender. I have also tried adding a second sender but they still remain unconnected.

Maybe this is a demo limitation IDK. The web page states the demo limitations as follows:

  • Limited number of instances of the plug-in per session.
  • The plug-in is regularly bypassed for a few milliseconds.

I have raised a support ticket with BC Audio.

Edited by ZincT
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I have also now tried sending Audio in Cakewalk from one channel to another using connector as follows.

  • Insert instrument on a track and insert connector in FX rack
  • Insert an audio track and insert connector in FX rack
  • Connect both connectors

If I mute the instrument track and play the instrument from my MIDI controller, the audio arrives at the audio track and plays back fine with no detectable latency (buffering set to auto). Unmuting the instrument track so that audio comes out of both tracks it's hard to discern any timing difference.

Again, it won't allow me to connect any more than two instances so I guess it's a demo limitation (awaiting a response from support).

So it seems to be low latency in this instance although this isn't very taxing.

Next, I will try the same over my LAN between my desktop and laptop.

 

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From page 9 of the manual

Quote

A receiving or sending endpoint of an instance of a plug- in is identified by its port. If you are using the same port number on the same machine or in the same application for multiple senders (or multiple receivers), there can be conflicts between endpoints, and the connection will fail

 

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Thanks @scook

I guess I was trying to see how far I could get without rtfm :) I also heard back from Blue Cat support so top marks for a speedy response.

Would be nice if it auto-allocated or at least prompted to use the next available port.
I guess it's v1.0 so maybe in a future version.

Also, having added  4 instances I couldn't see a way to change the port before enabling send/rcv (but I will check the manual).
So the second pair had to be turned on (and then fail to connect) before you can change the port number.
Then, after that, they wouldn't connect after changing the port number.
I had to delete them and re-insert two new instances then enable send/rcv and set the ports.
They then connected and worked as per the other send/rcv pair.

I see there's a preset for "Send - App 8080" so I guess you could set up a user preset "Send - App 8081" and the same for receive to solve the above issue.

Edited by ZincT
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I haven't yet tried the network abilities but my main network use is with my iPad and I don't think BC connector is available as an IOS app or not yet at any rate (and I already have a working solution for this).

However, the possibilities seem endless e.g. another use would be to provide separate audio outputs per layer in Unify. 

Here's a tutorial on offloading plugin processing to another computer using Connector:

https://www.bluecataudio.com/Blog/tip-of-the-day/offloading-plug-ins-processing-to-another-computer/ 

For the relatively low price I will buy it.  It seems like a good concept and investment; plus I like to support devs like Blue Cat.  I would also prefer to use a single utility rather than lots of separate, free/donationware with limited or no support.   

Edited by ZincT
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Just purchased Blue Cat Audio's Connector.  This is going to be a great tool to use.  Being able to run a vst program on my Win10 DAW (which is till running well) and then use Connector over the network to receive it on a Windows 11 DAW may mean that I can still get use out of my good old Win11 DAW for years to come.

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