Two ways to sum in Pro Tools Bounce vs. Record- Which is better?

[cdog]

Originally Posted by AntillesSound

Bounce to disk and Internal Layback DEFINITELY sound different and its not just a placebo effect.

When you select bounce to disk, PT's mix engine architecture is actually taking your mix out of the DAE and into a SEPARATE mix engine. On the way there, it first truncates your data, then begins tossing out bits of information. If you're low on voices, the process is even more detrimental as it needs more power to do the operation and throws out more. The result is something lacking in high end definition, a log jam of a mid range and a cluttered low end.

With internal layback, you're staying in the DAE and avoiding all of that. Essentially, what you mix is what you print. Thats your track. It definitely sounds A LOT better and if you can't hear it, I'm sorry. But its definitely there.

definitely dude. totally. bro. I believe.

DEFINITELY thumbsup thumbsup

[T_R_S]

as a former Digi HD beta tester all I will say is that BTD is probably one of the most tested and scrutinized functions of Pro tools. While in the beta if there even a hint that was a BTD issue it was heavily investigated by the software engineering team.
Avid/Digi have always left the door to any user if you have an issue with sonic differences with BTD they will look at your session.

[Mark D.]

Like it was with the "Samplitude Sounds Better" thread, lots here saying it
sounds better this way than that way. Please prove it. Post a song that's
bounced both ways so users here can judge and also run a null test on it.

I send all of my mixing work out of PT into Sonar via OMF / DigiTranslator.
So this doesn't affect me, and I prefer the workflow in Sonar and it has a
64 bit double-precision floating point sound engine for its summing as well.

[Mark D.]

Originally Posted by TheBlueberryRoom

well then it more than likely sounds better...I dont use sonar...should I?

Actually, if you have your gain set right at every point with enough headroom, working at 24 bits (ie. no clipping or inter-sample peaks, at the track, plug-in or mix bus) you can get the same quality with any DAW. That only allows Sonar's bus to be more forgiving. There isn't a major difference in sound quality between most DAWs. So it would be best you pick a DAW you're most comfortable working on. If you're using PT, I'd say stay with it. Don't change to Sonar, it is quite a learning curve and a big expense for not much real benefit.

[GoldMember]

Drawmer A2D2 DMS-3Dual Output A/D Converter & M-Clock Plus Review in Mix magazine product review of the Drawmer A2D2 DMS-3Dual Output A/D Converter & M-Clock Plus

[walker.webster11]

[QUOTE=earthone;1997368]Years ago an engineer showed me how to "trick" Pro Tools in to doing something more akin to an analog sum. I know several engineers who use and swear by this method.

This is how you do it:

1. Route all channel outputs through a bus
2. Create a new stereo audio track (this is where master will sum to) with the same bus as the input, and main (A1&2) outs as the output.
3. Set the master fader output to the same bus
4. Once you have the stereo audio file with the master audio, highlight it and hit shift +apple+k (don't know what is for PC sorry) this will open up a window that allows you to export the audio file direct to desktop without bouncing.

Does anyone know what the keys are to do this on a PC rather than Mac?

[Mike29360]

Does anyone know what the keys are to do this on a PC rather than Mac?

Go to the regions list menu and choose export region as files

[Moondog007]

Protools 8 with mbox just exported to disk and compared to bussed internally. The two totally nulled on phase inversion test!!! End of story unless different software versions are different which would be unlikely. I tried it before and results were different because of subtle volume levels or plugin settings, latency etc which corrupted the test. When you do it without anything influencing the two will totally null which means they are identical. My ears heard a subtle difference before testing which meant that I was psychologically mislead . Science however is science......