The impact of Plugin Delay Compensation (PDC) on the MTC outputted by Sonar

[norfolkmastering]

In my hybrid studio set up I slave locked three tape machines using LTC audio timecode, which is derived from the MTC available from Sonar.  This is working well and the lockup is tight and reliable.

The LTC is recorded on to one track of each machine from the MTC output when Sonar is playing.

When I start adding VST effects to my 'in the box' mix, I guess each Sonar track may have a different amount of PDC applied so that all Sonar track audios stay in time sync.

My question is whether PDC impacts on the MTC output?

So let's assume I had recorded LTC audio timecode on to the three tape machines from Sonar MTC and at that time I had no PDC applied in Sonar.

Now I start to mix in the box and as I add VST effects, then PDC is applied on some Sonar tracks to keep all Sonar tracks in sync.

Does the MTC output from Sonar (to which my tape machines are slave locking) still have the same time  relationship to Sonar tracks as it did before PDC was applied?

If yes, is there a solution to bring the tape machines back into sync?

[msmcleod]

As far as I can tell PDC is taken into account, which is what it should do.

I added a bunch of look-ahead plugins, and used the MIDI Sync display in MIDI-OX to show the time.   Even with a 1.5 second delay due to PDC, the MIDI sync was showing the M:B:T time exactly in sync to what I was hearing.

It doesn't matter what each individual track's PDC is as Sonar will automatically add a further delay to each track to ensure that each track is played in time with each other.  In other words, each track is delayed as much as it needs to be to match the track with the largest plugin delay.

 

[norfolkmastering]

That's great news Mark, thanks.

I will do some testing of my own but it's really helpful to know that PDC is taken account of in the MTC generation.

I want to use FX on the 'in the box' mix as it's much easier to build the song's sound palette in Sonar before I do much work on the analogue mix.

If Sonar (with FX) didn't stay in sync with the tape machines then I would have to bypass the Sonar FX when adding additional tracks or doing overdubs (which I do in both Sonar and in analogue to the machines at the same time). 

Thanks again.