Steinberg V-Stack Operation Manual

							8
Audio effects 
						

							V-STACK8 – 102 Audio effects
Background
V-STACK allows you to process your VST Instruments through VST 
effect plug-ins in various configurations. There are three basic “effect 
types”:
•Send effects
Up to eight send effects can be used. When you use send effects, audio is routed 
through the effect processors via independent effect sends for each channel, just like 
on a “real” physical mixer. The output from each effect processor is then routed to one 
of the buses or the master fader, where it is mixed with the “dry” signal, if any. Send ef-
fects are mono in – stereo out.
•Insert effects
An insert effect is inserted into the signal chain of an audio channel, which means that 
the whole channel signal passes through the effect. This makes inserts suitable for ef-
fects for which you don’t need to mix dry (direct) and wet (processed) sound, e.g. dis-
tortion, filters or other effects that change the tonal or dynamic characteristics of the 
sound. You can have up to five different insert effects per channel.
•Master effects
Up to four effect processors can be added to the signal on the Master bus, the final mix. 
Please note that there is no mixing of the dry/fx signals as there is with the send effects 
(except if included in the parameters of the individual effects). Typical uses for master 
effects would be compressor/limiter effects, noise suppression units, etc.  
						

							V-STACKAudio effects 8 – 103
Installing effect plug-ins
V-STACK doesn’t include any effect plug-ins when you install it – you 
need to install these separately. There is a wide range of effect plug-ins 
available in the two formats supported by V-STACK (VST and DirectX). 
The two formats are handled differently when it comes to installation:
VST plug-ins
Under Windows, VST plug-ins are usually installed simply by dragging 
the files (with the extension “.dll”) into the Vstplugins folder in the 
V-STACK application folder, or into the Shared VST Plug-in folder – 
see below. When you launch V-STACK again, the new effects will ap-
pear on the Effect pop-up menus.
• If the effect plug-in comes with its own installation application, you 
should use this. 
Generally, always read the documentation or readme files before installing new plug-ins.
• If you have other VST compatible programs (such as Cubase SX or 
Nuendo) you can also copy the VST plug-ins from these programs and 
install them for V-STACK.
Organizing VST plug-ins
If you have a large number of VST plug-ins, having them all on a single 
pop-up menu in the program may become unmanageable. Therefore, 
you can place your plug-ins in subfolders within the Vstplugins folder 
if you like. When you launch the program and pull down an Effects 
pop-up menu, the subfolders will be represented by hierarchical sub-
menus, each listing the plug-ins in the corresponding subfolder.
•Under Mac OS X, you cannot change the hierarchic arrangement of 
the “built-in” VST plug-ins.
You can however arrange any additional plug-ins you have installed (in the /Library/Au-
dio/Plug-Ins/VST/ folders, see above) by placing them in subfolders. In the program, 
the subfolders will be represented by hierarchical submenus, each listing the plug-ins 
in the corresponding subfolder. 
						

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About shared VST plug-ins (Windows only)
While V-STACK’s own plug-ins reside in the Vstplugins folder within the 
V-STACK program folder, the program can also access plug-ins in an 
additional location, called the shared VST plug-ins folder. This lets you 
use plug-ins installed by other VST compatible applications, etc. You 
can change what folder is considered the “shared” vstplugin folder at 
any time in the Plug-In Information window, see page 118.
DirectX plug-ins (Windows only)
To be able to use DirectX plug-ins, you must have Microsoft DirectX 
installed on your computer (Version 8.1 recommended). 
DirectX plug-ins should not be placed in the Vstplugins folder, as these 
are installed under the operating system rather than for V-STACK exclu-
sively. Rather, you should follow the installation instructions included 
with the plug-ins. See also page 121.
• On the effect menus, all DirectX plug-ins are listed on the DirectX sub-
menu at the bottom. 
Selecting, activating and editing them are done as with VST effects. 
						

							V-STACKAudio effects 8 – 105
Using effects
Using send effects
This procedure is divided into three steps: Activating effects, setting 
up the send section and making effect settings.
❐Note that it’s also possible to route sends to groups, and use the insert 
effects for the groups as additional effect racks. See page 115.
Activating send effects
1.Pull down the Devices menu and select VST Send Effects.
The VST Send Effects panel opens. You can have up to eight separate “processors” 
arranged on top of each other. If no effect is selected for a slot, it will be labeled “No 
Effect”.
2.Pull down the pop-up menu by clicking in the “No Effect” slot.
The pop-up menu will list the effects you have installed.
3.Select an effect from the list.
When you select an effect, an effect panel opens in the slot. 
						

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4.By default, the effect processor is activated when selected. This is in-
dicated by the On button. Make sure this is lit.
5.Make sure the effect output is routed to the desired output bus, by 
checking the Bus pop-up (below the File pop-up).
6.If you wish to activate more effects, repeat steps 2 to 5.
Remember that the effects rely heavily on the CPU power in your computer. The more 
activated effect units, the more computer power will be used for effects.
• To turn off an effect completely, pull down the effect type pop-up menu 
and select “No Effect”. 
You should do this for all effects that you don’t intend to use, to minimize unnecessary 
CPU load. 
						

							V-STACKAudio effects 8 – 107
Setting up the sends
This can be done in the upper panels for the channel strips in the (ex-
tended mode) or in the Channel Settings window. The figures below 
show the Channel Settings window, but the procedures are similar for 
all three sections:
1.Bring up the Channel Settings window or the “Sends” or “Sends+” 
pane in the extended Mixer.
Each of the eight sends has the following controls and options:
• A send on/off switch
• A send level slider or dial
• A pre/post fader switch (not available in the Sends+ Mixer pane)
• An Edit button (not available in the Sends+ Mixer pane)
2.Click the on button for one of the effect sends and set the corre-
sponding send level slider (or dial) to a moderate value.
Setting the Send level.
3.Pull down the pop-up menu for the send.
This is the Send Routing pop-up menu, used for routing the send to the desired effect 
processor.
The first items on this menu correspond to the activated internal effects (up to eight) 
while the following items route the send to buses and groups. A practical application 
of routing a send to a group is described on page 116. 
						

							V-STACK8 – 108 Audio effects
4.Select an effect from the pop-up menu.
5.If you want the signal to be sent to the effects before the fader, click 
on the Pre fader button for the send.
With pre-fader effect sends, the amount of effect for the channel is not affected by the 
volume fader. With post-fader effect sends (Pre/Post button not pressed), the amount 
of effect is proportional to the channel volume, and will change with the volume fader 
movements.
6.If you want to use several effects for this channel, repeat steps 3 to 6 
above for the other effect sends.
• When one or several sends are activated for a channel, the Send Effects 
button lights up in blue in the mixer channel strip. Click the button for a 
channel to bypass (disable) all its effect sends.
When the sends are bypassed, the button is yellow. Click the button again to enable 
the sends.
Making settings for the effects
1.Open the VST Send Effects window and use the Effects Master slider 
to the left on the processor panel to set the input level to an effect pro-
cessor.
2.Use the send level slider or dial in the Channel Settings window or up-
per channel strip pane to control the amount of effect for the channel. 
						

							V-STACKAudio effects 8 – 109
3.You can switch between different effect program presets by pulling 
down the Program pop-up in the VST Send effects panel.
The number of program locations depends on the selected effect type.
Clicking here...
...opens the Program pop-up.
4.If you have several effects activated, repeat steps 1 to 3 for these.
• You can also edit the effect parameters. See page 113. 
						

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Using insert effects
•You can apply up to five different insert effects per channel. 
•The signal passes through the effects in series from the top downwards.
•Each channel (group or VST Instrument channel) has its own set of in-
sert effects, totally independent of the other channels.
❐Insert effects require the same processing power as any other effect type. 
This means that applying insert effects on many channels uses up far 
more processing power than the send effects (eight in total for the whole 
program). Remember that you can use the VST Performance window to 
keep an eye on the CPU load.
Which effect plug-ins can I use as insert effects
Most effect plug-ins will work fine as insert effects. In general, the only 
restrictions are with the number of inputs and outputs in the effects:
•For a plug-in to be usable as an insert effect, it has to have 1 or 2 in-
puts and 1 or 2 outputs.
The number of inputs and outputs is determined by whether you use the insert effects 
on a single (mono) audio channel or on a stereo channel pair:
•For stereo channels, you need to use an effect with stereo inputs.
It is possible to use a mono-input effect with a stereo channel pair, but then only the 
left channel in the pair will be processed, which is probably not what you want.
•For mono channels, you can use mono- or stereo-input effects.
However, since the audio channel is in mono, the output of the effect will also be in 
mono. For stereo output effects, the left channel will then be used.