Real-time bounce

When Render in Real-Time is disabled

When Render in Real-time is disabled, the bounce operation is performed by streaming audio as fast as possible through all mixers and buses in the project. During a fast bounce operation, all hardware outputs are temporarily disabled and the bounce is performed silently.

Note: There is no sonic degradation by performing a non real-time bounce since it uses the same operation that is performed during normal playback.

There are a few limitations with performing a fast bounce operation:

You cannot perform a fast bounce if the audio contains any External Insert plug-ins. Since the External Insert plug-in is typically used to receive audio from external hardware, Cakewalk’s audio output must be sent to the external hardware in real-time. Cakewalk will display an error message if you attempt to bounce audio that is routed to the External Insert plug-in.

Certain software instruments, such as samplers, cannot process audio faster than real-time and will produce glitches when operated in fast bounce mode.

Some hardware-based DSP effects have trouble with fast bounce.

When Render in Real-time is enabled

When Render in Real-time is enabled, the bounce is performed in real-time by actually playing back the project audibly in similar fashion to standard playback. In real-time bounce mode, all audio hardware inputs and outputs are active in order to allow I/O to external hardware inserts.

If you manually stop playback during the bounce operation, Cakewalk will prompt you if you want to keep or cancel the bounce.

Audible bounce

When Render in Real-time is enabled, the real-time bounce operation can be performed either silently or audibly.

The following dialogs have a new Audible Bounce option:

Bounce to Track(s) dialog

Export Audio dialog

Export Video mix options

Apply Audio Effects dialog

Freeze Options dialog

When Audible Bounce is unchecked, no audio output will be heard during the bounce process. When Render in Real-time and Audible Bounce are both enabled, you can hear the output of the mixdown.

Caution: Depending on the gainstages used in the project and the mixdown options selected–such as bouncing with Source Category assigned to Tracks, or with mute/solo or automation disabled under Mix and Render, –the output may be louder or softer than during normal playback. Please be sure to turn down the master output level before using real-time audible bounce under these scenarios to avoid the possibility of speaker damage.

To allow live input during bounce

1.	Click the Track view Tracks menu and choose Bounce to Track(s) to open the Bounce to Track(s) dialog box.

2.	Under Mix and Render, select Render in Real-time and select the Live Input check box.

Improve real-time bounce performance

When performing a real-time bounce operation, you can use the Pause button as a toggle to temporarily reduce the frequency of GUI updates. This maximizes CPU resources for the audio engine and can be useful while playing projects that consume a lot of CPU, to help avoid dropouts.

For more information, see The Now time is not smooth during playback or scrolls out of view.

Bouncing/freezing with sidechain plug-ins

Sidechain inputs are not automatically included when you bounce a selection. If you want to bounce the output of a single track that contains a sidechain plug-in, the easiest solution is to also select all tracks that contribute to the plug-in’s sidechain input, and do a bounce with Render in Real-time enabled and the Source Category set to Tracks.

Note: Freezing a track with sidechain inputs will not include the sidechain input. If you need to free up CPU on a track that includes a sidechain, use the bounce command with all sidechain sources explicitly selected in the mix.

 

See:

Sidechaining

External Insert plug-in

Bouncing tracks

Bouncing to clips

Bounce to Track(s) dialog