Getting Started with Waves SuperRack SoundGrid: In-Depth Tutorial

Super Rack is a software that lets live sound and broadcast engineers process up to 64 audio channels through up to 512 instances of waves plugins with near zero latency Super Rack is unique because it gives you a lot of freedom and how you manage and use your plugins in this quick start video will cover the following topics super rack sound grid explained system requirements and software installation hardware configurations hardware assignments working with plugins floating panels using snapshots Before we jump into the latest features it's important to understand the concept of sound grid and look into the hardware that enables us to use plugins live with ultra-low latency the hardware devices that make up a sound grid network allow the system to handle plug-in processing on a dedicated computer also known as a server while keeping graphics and application processing on the host computer this audio over Ethernet network setup significantly increases plug-in count eliminates latency and enables the host and i/o devices to be located far apart from each other to accommodate any environment project Studios live venues houses of worship complex AV networks and commercial broadcast facilities before proceeding please make sure your system meets the minimum system requirements by going to WWF Escom /super rack and clicking on the support tab to view the full system requirements software installation start off by installing all super rack software and plugins on the host computer open waves' central this utility is used to install wave software and activate your licenses if you don't have waves central installed you can download it from WWF Escom forward slash central to learn how to install activate recover and update waves plugins and applications watch the video tutorial on that page we update this video every time wave central is updated please note you can install plugins and activate licenses on a computer that is not connected to the Internet to do that you would need to create an offline installer on a USB flash drive using wave central an offline installer can only be made on an Internet connected computer the instructions for creating an offline installer can be found in the video that is @ww waves comm forward slash central my network consists of at least four hardware components one a host computer to run super rack and control the sound grid Network the super rack software plugins and preset files are located here however audio is not processed on the host computer to a sound grid server all plug-in processing is done here the speed of the server has a direct impact on the number of available sound grid channels and plug-in instances you can use three a sound grid Gigabit Ethernet switch this device links the host computer IO devices and servers to ensure compatibility with sound grid we recommend that you get your Ethernet switches from wavez for a sound grid IO or a console with sound grid compatible expansion cards to run audio through the system you'll need to assign at least one sound grid IO device these range from two channel preamps to 128 Channel Madi interfaces you can also use a console with a sound grid expansion card every super rack sound grid setup no matter how large or complex is based on this configuration complex sound grid deployments may include more iOS servers switches a second computer for a dedicated da W or more controllers one connect the console expansion card and all other i/o devices to the Gigabit Ethernet switch the order of the connectors on the switch is insignificant but be sure to use category 5e cables or better do not use category 5 cable and if possible do not daisy chain devices to connect the host computer and servers to the switch 3 power up all devices for launch super rack let's look at one more common sound grid setup super rack sound grid with a console expansion card and second server in this set up a Madi i/o provides up to 128 sound grid channels here the Madi i/o is serving the stage preamps monitor and front-of-house a second server has been added to provide complete processing redundancy the host computer can also run a da W for recording and virtual soundcheck super Rach let's you prepare your sessions offline when no sound grid Hardware is connected this is particularly beneficial for touring engineers as it gives them the option to prepare sessions at the airport in their hotel room on the airplane you name it when you're ready to connect your sound grid hardware go to the setup tab and view your devices under the inventory window the easiest way to configure your i/o devices and servers is with the auto configure wizard this scans the sound grid network and locates the correct LAN port and then assigns i/o devices and servers to slots in the inventory it also routes devices to racks sequentially if you later change your inventory you can reconfigure the devices by clicking the auto configuration button use the port drop-down menu to select the host computers land port that's connected to the sound grid network when the correct port is selected the link and speed indicators will display valid data click the plus sign in an empty slot in the i/o section to open the device menu assign a device from the network devices list repeat this for as many devices as you need you can do this in any slot by default the first IO device assigned will be the clock master device of the sound grid network the clock master icon is blue all slave devices are green to assign another device as the master open the device menu and select set master confirm that all devices show the correct sample rate and sync status if a device will not sync to the clock master device try these actions remove the device and reassign it power cycle the hardware device and check cables if possible reassign the clock master to another device servers are assigned in the same manner as i/o devices if you assign two servers the second is marked as redundant or RS GS when the configuration is finished there will be a brief audio drop out its length will depend on the size of the session if you can't tolerate a drop do not reconfigure in the middle of a show simply wait for a short pause in the program a rack must have an input and an output whether the audio comes from an ASIO or Core Audio Driver the consoles expansion card or a hardware i/o device rack input and output routing is done in the rack or overview windows select a rack and open its input drop-down menu using the arrow at the top choose the format of the input signal select a device select IO channels choose a stem format some multitrack formats offer different streaming sequences to meet varied delivery requirements rack outputs are routed in the same manner a racks input and output do not necessarily need to have the same number of tracks a stereo rack input can for example coexist with a 5.1 output if rack output is unassigned when the input is routed super rack will attempt to patch the same input and output i/o annals and i/o can be patched to several rack inputs only one rack can patch to an output IO if the channel formats for the racks input and output are the same for example mono to mono stereo to stereo 5.1 to 5.1 etcetera the i/o channel numbers for a racks in and out will increment together if on the other hand the rack input has fewer channels than output channels or vice-versa certain channels will go unused in this example rack input is mono and output is 5.0 super Rach can automatically route put an output IO Janus to each rack in a session patching continues until all racks are routed or all IO channels have been assigned in super rack each rack can hold eight plugins and the rack signal flow goes from top to bottom to insert a plug-in in a slot click on the down arrow or the plus symbol this opens the drop down plug-in menu choose a plug-in from the list the input output structure of the rack determines if a plug-in can be inserted in the rack if a plug-in cannot provide a component that is compatible with the rack input output structure it will not appear in the menu certain plugins for example mono to stereo change the channel structure of the rack you can insert a plug-in into any slot the plugins icon will appear in the slot click a plug-in icon to open the plugins interface a plugins rack position determines its place in the signal flow you can change a plugins position by dragging an icon up and down in the rack changing plug-in order may result in a short audio drop certain panels can be detached and floated anywhere on your workspace this provides flexibility and quick access to critical plugins and the controls that you want to access regularly the following panels can be detached and floated plug-in windows window tariffs setup patch show rack and overview one and two user keys hot plug-ins snapshots notes to flow to plugins control interface click on the detach symbol at the top of the plugin at the top of a floating plug-in there is a control bar there are three control buttons deselect the in button to bypass the plug-in click the pin button to keep the detached plug invisible when other plugins are detached a pinned plug-in remains visible in all super wrack views close the window and the floating plug-in panel will return to the plug-in pane you can also close a window by clicking on the detached symbol RAK windows setup patch show rack and two overviews you can tear off one or more windows to spread super rack control over several displays simply click and drag it away from the top bar this floating window can be positioned on any of your displays the name of the floating panel will appear in the floating panels drop down menu on the top right click on the window name and it will move to the front close the window to return it to the default location in the top bar detachable load symbol at the top of their frames click this button to detach the panel from its dock it can now be positioned anywhere on your super rack workspace when a panel has been detached from its original position the float symbol is blue click anywhere else on the display and the floated panel will move backward and disappear to keep a panel in the foreground click the pin button click the X or the float symbol again to return the panel to its dock the floating windows drop down menu on the right side of the top bar is a list of all detached panels and window tariffs select a panel or window to move it to the front the name of your main super rack window is shown at the top of the list the hot plugins panel provides instant access to selected plug-in control panels up to 12 plugins can be assigned to the hot plugins panel any plug-in in any rack can be assigned to the hot plug-in panel once aside you'll see the plugins name and racks name above the plug-in icon hot plug-in assignments are made in the plugins drop-down menu hot plugins can be within the scope of a snapshot so you can have a different hot plug-in panel for each snapshot snapshot scope and recall safe for the hot plugins panels can be set in the show window click on a hot plug-in icon to display its complete plug-in control panel right-click on a hot plug-in to remove it from the current snapshot or from all snapshots the hot plugins panel can show plugins as either icons or meters to change between view modes click the blue meter icon on the right side of the panel a detached hot plug-in panel can be displayed in a horizontal or vertical orientation click the ladder icon on the left side of the panel to toggle between these views snapshots help you speed up your workflow there used to store manage and quickly recall the settings of the current state of your workspace snapshots scope includes racks and their parameters in mute gains plugins plugins sidechain hot plug-in panel update windows dougen auto mixer settings global bpm what panels are open and where they are located on the screen the easiest way to store and recall snapshots is from the drop down menu at the top of the screen under the show tab you have more options there you can create recall set the scope of your snapshots and manage all the snapshots in your session use the recall safe window to prevent changes to specified racks and functions during a snapshot change regardless of scope settings recall safe is set for an entire session once recall safe is set for functions and racks of a session snapshot recalls will not affect their settings if you want to prevent a specific instance of a plug-in from changing during a snapshot recall use the recall safe plug-in menu item this drop down menu item is located at the bottom of the plug-in menu of the specified plugin you will notice there's a small indicator on the plug-in icon that says safe if the plug-in is in recall safe mode you can also prevent a specific rack from changing during a snapshot recall by going to the rack menu and selecting the rack recall safe option you'll notice a small green indicator to the left of the racks name which tells us the entire Rack is set to recall safe thanks for watching this video if you have technical questions you can contact wave support @ww waves comm forward slash contact - support you

Channel: Waves Audio

Views: 80,037

Keywords: SuperRack, Tutorial, Getting Started, Guide, How to use superrack, plugin rack, super rack, superack, live sound

Id: _5hboOXnJjo

Length: 17min 39sec (1059 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 18 2020