Working with FX Teleport
Opening Plug-Ins
Local/Remote modes and selecting servers
Working without servers
Network latency
Bounce
Converting an existing project to work with FX Teleport
Working with WaveShell
Setting up several servers for the same plug-in
Hardware notice
Incompatible plug-ins
Every time you want to use a plug-in on
your slave computer, first launch FXT Server on a slave (if it's not already
running) and only then choose the plug-in with the (LAN) suffix from the VST
menu on your host machine. FXT wrapper will establish a network connection and
launch the plug-in on the same server that was last used to run it.
To select the desired server machine, use
the special menu in FXT wrapper. Since server names are saved along with all
plug-in settings in your song files, you might like to create template songs
containing any combination of plug-ins running on particular servers.
To connect to a server that is not yet
available in the menu, select "Search…" and your network will be
scanned for the presence of new servers. If you choose "Local" in the
same menu, the plug-in will be launched on your host machine - in this case the
plug-in will work exactly like a normal VST plug-in.
If you open a song, containing teleported
plug-ins which reference a server that is no longer connected, FXT wrapper will
prompt you to search the network, and if you choose "Local Mode" or
"Local Mode for All" will launch the plug-ins in local mode. Thus you
can easily open your teleport-enabled song in the absence of any servers.
Working with teleported VST plug-ins
requires a certain amount of time for the data to stream to the server, be
processed, and return to the host machine. Similarly to using VST DSP cards,
data processing causes some latency. Note that, since VST protocol uses
buffered data processing, the network latency cannot be less than the size of
the audio buffer size in the host application (usually it matches the buffer
size of your audio card).
Network latency depends on the speed and
traffic of the network as well as the way the network card is connected to the
motherboard / your chipset / processor speed, etc. Since the network packet
roundtrip time is not constant, FXT uses a pessimistic value when setting
latency. In the case of a packet arriving earlier than the set latency value,
the FXT wrapper will buffer that packet. This totally eliminates jitter and the
need for any kind of synchronization - as the system works totally in the
digital domain. The whole FXT system performs with sample-accuracy, correct to
the latency value. In the case of a packet arriving late, a dropout occurs
(which is just like working with any ordinary audio card). If you set a buffer
size that is too small for your system to handle, dropouts will occur as well.
Increasing the buffer size will solve this problem.
Auto detection
On first launch of any teleported plug-in,
or when changing the host audio buffer size, the procedure of automatic setting
of the latency value is initiated (very similar to what happens when you
install an ASIO card or change its modes). During the procedure, the computer's
icon on the FXT wrapper will flash, and the audio outs will be muted. When the
procedure is finished, the icon stops flashing. This means that the latency has
been set, and the system is ready to work.
You can initiate or cancel auto-detection
by clicking on the 'Computers' icon. Additionally, there is a 'Profile time'
option in the FXT Wrapper's 'Options' dialog. Set it to "0" to prevent the
automatic start of latency detection.
Controlling latency
During your work with the system, you
should make a habit of periodically watching the latency indicator, which shows
the difference between the actual latency and the value set by the system. If
the indicator is to the left of the center or at its edge, you don't have to
worry - but if it's in its red sector, this means dropout has occurred. This is
normal when some action that puts a load on the system is being performed - for
instance saving the song file, opening an editor window, etc. If the system is
experiencing lots of dropouts (the indicator flashes in its red sector or stays
there all the time), you need to readjust the latency value. This may be caused
by the opening of a large number of teleported plug-ins, or some extra
activities on the network.
If the latency indicator is always showing
small values, it may mean that your network conditions have improved. In that
case you can set lower latency.
There are a few ways to set the latency:
Right-click on the 'Computers' icon. This will
set the latency to the current maximum setting (the same action, but for all
plug-ins, can be achieved by pressing the "Accept" button on the FXT
wrapper's tool window).
Click on the 'Computers' icon. This will re-initiate
the procedure of automatic setting of the latency value (the same action, but
for all plug-ins, can be achieved by clicking the "Detect" button on
FXT wrapper's tool window).
Drag the latency slider and set it manually.
Note that the "Link" button in
the FXT wrapper 'Tool' window lets you re-adjust the latency on all running VST
plug-ins simultaneously.
To reset the red indicator and latency
statistics, click on the indicator.
Compensating for latency
To provide a complete sample accuracy of
your audio you have to compensate for latency introduced by the network. On
host applications supporting latency compensation, FXT wrapper tells the host
the effective latency (original latency of the plug-in plus network latency),
for which the host application compensates. (Refer to your VST host
application's manual to see when and how it can compensate for the latency of
VST plug-ins. Note that there are no hosts currently on the market that are
able to compensate for the latency of the VST Instruments' MIDI stream).
If your host application cannot deal with
such a problem, and the overall latency is considerable, you can simply shift
your MIDI tracks backwards in
time. In most hosts there is a "Shift" parameter with settings in
samples, milliseconds or ticks, which you should set according to the setting
shown in the FXT wrapper's status pane (for instance, set you host MIDI track
to -6 ms, if network latency of a VSTi is 6 ms). This way you get complete
sample accuracy in your song. Note, that when re-adjusting network latency, FXT
wrapper tries to tell the host about the new setting - but not all hosts will
accept the setting until you close and re-open the plug-in.
With most host applications, bouncing
teleported plug-ins is not a problem. However, in some hosts with insufficient
support of the VST API (e.g. SONAR and Logic) you'll have to turn on a special
"Bounce" button in the FXT wrapper tool window before performing a
'faster-than-real-time' bounce. Be sure to turn it off after you finish
bouncing.
It is easy to add a teleported plug-in to a
project – just select the desired “<plug-in name> (LAN)” wrapper from the
VST menu.
The situation is a bit different if you
have already set up a non-wrapped plug-in and wish to teleport it. In this case
you need to save that plug-in's settings, open the teleported version of the
plug-in, and then reload the saved settings.
Note that if the plug-in does not support
the saving of its own settings, you'll need to save to an .fxp or .fxb file
with the host's 'File' menu, and then reload this file using the FXT file
menu. (Note that, because FXT-wrapped plug-ins are different from their
non-wrapped counterparts, the host will not allow you to load that settings
file via the wrapper. Please use the FXT file menu instead.)
FX Teleport is compatible with WaveShell
4.01 VST and above. Note, you'll be able to use teleported Waves plug-ins only
on hosts with VST 2.3 shell handling technique (Cubase SX 1.05, Nuendo 2, Logic
5.5). For a complete list of supported hosts, please refer to your Waves
Manual.
There are three ways to use several
instances of the same plug-in on several different servers:
1. Simple. Open the plug-in - it
will connect to the last server used. Select another server from the list of
last used servers or select 'search...'. Save the song. On load you'll find
the plug-ins on their correct servers.
2. Recommended. Create a template
song, setup several plug-ins on different servers.
3. Advanced. Copy FXT Wrappers
(<plug-in name> (LAN).dll) and rename them to <plug-in name>
(server1) <plug-in name> (server2), ... On open, these wrappers will load
to the server specified in the name.
There are two problems with the third way:
you need the same <plug-in name>
(server1), etc. wrappers installed in order to load a song and recall its
plug-in settings (i.e. it may be a problem when you transfer your song to
another host).
you will not be able to use the host's presets
management functions (.fxb/.fxp files, copy/paste) to interchange settings
between different wrappers (but you can always use the FXT load/save menu to do
it)
To install FXT wrappers with a server name
you can either rename the wrapper dlls in explorer as described above or hold
down <Alt> key when hitting 'Install' in FXT Configure applet
Though FX Teleport should work on any
hardware configuration mentioned in the system requirements, you should
consider the following recommendations to achieve optimal latency:
Use 100MBit or 1Gbit network adapters with
support of Full Duplex mode. Ensure that Full Duplex mode is enabled on all
your adapters.
Use switches instead of hubs.
Ensure you have good cabling, and that your
actual network speed is as you expected (just copy a file over the network and
measure the speed).
Though we've made a lot of compatibility
tests with the majority of the VST plug-ins on the market, it is possible you
may find one which is incompatible with FX Teleport.
If you've experienced a crash of an FX
Teleport Server or DAW while scanning or using a plug-in, please remove the
corresponding FXT wrapper (<plug-in name> (LAN).dll) from your VST folder
and send a notice to support@fxteleport.com.
We will do our best to solve the problem.
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