New Free TalkBack Mic PlugIn From RML

[Bob L]

The FREE SignalSwitch plugin from RML Labs.

I created this for the big band latin session I have been doing with the new 4.0 Beta... all virtual... no console... now I have TalkBack.

A wonderful utility that allows you to create a talkback channel on the SAWStudio virtual console. Plug any microphone into the system and assign it through a virtual console channel in Live Mode, then patch this plugin in the Pre-Patch point.

The plugin will block the signal until the large switch is clicked and held with the mouse. You can also latch the switch if desired. It displays a meter showing signal levels when active.

This is the perfect solution for the virtual recording session giving you a talkback mic assignable to any or all of the Aux Sends for headphone monitoring to the performers. Any mic can be used, including condenser mics with no regard for special switching hardware to mute the mic signal without interfering with the phantom power.

You can also use a Gameport or an inexpensive USB-Gameport adaptor and hook up two footswitches or desktop switches to control the plugin from. Perfect for giving the producer his own talkback switch for communication during the session. You can even patch it in two separate channels and use a separate mic for the engineer and producer at the producer***8217;s desk, each with their own physical switch if desired.

A must have for the serious virtual studio enthusiast. Yours FREE from RML Labs.

You can still get the USB To Gameport converters from Radio Shack stores for $15.

The file is in the Misc Download section of the www.SAWStudio.com (http://www.SAWStudio.com) site.

Have fun,

Bob L

[Oz Nimbus]

Awesome! Thanks Bob!



Great... now what do I do with my Mackie Big Knob?

[Veit Kenner]

The FREE SignalSwitch plugin from RML Labs

Many thanks!

Veit

[Base1studio]

This is great!!

Thanks Bob.

[UpTilDawn]

Fantastic, Bob.
Thanks.:)

[Bruce Callaway]

I havent used Live mode yet as I use an outboard mixer for talkback but thanks Bob, this makes it a lot closer.

[Marvin]

Excellent news, thanks!! One more step towards chucking out the console...

One thought: would it be possible to make the button latch as default? I like to let the musicians hear pretty much everything we say in the control room, and well, I'm lazy... and would like to be able to skip the [shift-click]... maybe a menu choice?

Again, thanks!
Marvin

[Naturally Digital]

Thank you Bob!

[Bob L]

The mute switch could be used to always latch the mic with no need for the plugin.

The whole idea for the plug was to make it NOT latch most of the time, so you don't forget and say something nasty with the mic open while the performers are singing out of tune. :)

Bob L

[Bob L]

I have updated the plugin already, since it has been discovered that the Gameport API has some considerable issues between Win 2K, and Win XP SP 1 and 2... they all react differently and the Gamport driver will lock up in XP on subsequent initializations.

I re-designed the entire hook to the Gameport and created version 1.2...

The new one is out on the site and I would suggest re-downloading if you are interested in the plugin.

Bob L

[sebastiandybing]

Thanks a lot for this plugin,

Sebastian

[mikebuzz]

Bob does it ONLY work in LIVE mode ???? BTW thanks for the new toys !!! or will it work in NORMAL mode too ??.

LAter
Buzz

PS: hey Bob I tried to do an install and it launches a windows based ( I think ??) setup program for another app ( poker indicator Ya I play to much online poker !! ) WTF ?????????? I erased all of the files for thi sapp and it still calls up the setup for it ????? totally confused here !!!

[bit]

Yessss. Now we are talking.....(haha):D
Get it?? :o :D
thanks
bit

[Bob L]

Buzz,

It sounds like you downloaded to a temp folder or desktop which may have another setup.exe program from some previous download.

Download and place the file in its own folder... I recommend a C:\Install\RML Labs folder... keep a separate folder for each company that you download from.... then run the install from that folder.

Well... it works whenevr the engine is live... so in Rec/Rdy, SRP, Play... etc... and you should pick a channel all the way at the end of the virtuial console and assign its input source to a live input device with a mic plugged in.

Bob L

[johndale]

I'll give it a whirl this weekend. Have a few sessions to do. Now I need a headset. I see this plug being useful.
John

[mikebuzz]

U nailed It BOB !!
Thanks
Buzz


PS: man windows is a nightmare now wheres DOS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[weld]

thank you Bob !!

[jazzboxmaker]

Bob,
You are too much!! Thanks for more great stuff!

[Rabbit]

Very cool, thanks Bob.:)

[Cary B. Cornett]

Bob,

Seeing the new plug made me think about the features included in Totalmix (for RME). Have you considered a Reverse Talkback? Also, for TB and RTB functions there is normally a "monitor dim", which can be very useful. Are there plans to provide for stuff like this in 4.0??

[Bob L]

Reverse talkback is easily handled by an open room mic in the studio for all to communicate back and forth on... and it is impractical to imagine switching that on and off when there are ten people in the sutdio trying to talk.

As for monitor dimming... I didn't find the need for it necessarry in this last large session I just finished... it was something we grew up with in the past, but I certainly did not miss it... perhaps I am just monitoring at a much lower volume these days.

In fact the monitor dimming actually used to annoy me in my old studio days, now that I think about it. :)

Bob L

[Cary B. Cornett]

Reverse talkback is easily handled by an open room mic in the studio for all to communicate back and forth on... and it is impractical to imagine switching that on and off when there are ten people in the sutdio trying to talk.
Well, RTB is usually controlled by the engineer, turned on when there might be a need to someone "out there" to answer a question sent over TB. It could even be automated to automagically turn on whenever "tape is stopped or re-winding" (I did this for one studio... pretty handy). I know of one place where the RTB setup includes 4 mics on stands in the studio feeding a Shure M68 mixer, then through a cheap compressor before going to a dedicated RTB amp and speaker, with the whole setup controlled from the RTB button on the console. This lashup gets a LOT of use.

Solid State Logic had a really cool RTB setup in their consoles (which was about the only thing I really liked in their mixers...) that had plenty of gain and a really aggressive limiter so that a single mic in the studio was all one needed.

As for monitor dimming... I didn't find the need for it necessarry in this last large session I just finished... it was something we grew up with in the past, but I certainly did not miss it... perhaps I am just monitoring at a much lower volume these days.

In fact the monitor dimming actually used to annoy me in my old studio days, now that I think about it. :)

Bob L Perhaps that feature was a hangover from the days when TB went through a PA speaker to the studio instead of to cans. In that case it would be needed to prevent feedback from studio mics. Then again, auto-dim eliminates the need to shout over studio monitors to be heard over the mix because it cuts down the bleed into the TB mic. I still consider that a great convenience and an aid to communication.
You could always, of course, add the feature and then make it a selectable option... :cool:

[Bob L]

Well... when I get time (ha ha ha)... I could add the dimming to the plugin by having you patch the dimming module into the out bus which would then sync with the push button / footswitches activating one of the switch modules.

At the moment... it sure worked great the way it is... especially since I've been without talkback at all in the virtual world all this time.

To me the idea of the engineer controlling mics in the studio with a button when he thinks someone has something to say is a kludge... a real annoyance... and does not work well in my opinion... open mics thru a compressor work better and can simply be leaked into the mix all the time or muted with the console mute switch when needed.... and I find that room mics being turned on and off in the headphone mix is more annoying than simply accepting the room sound leakage all the time in what the performers are monitoring... thereby leaving the engineer free to perform other imporatant tasks than trying to oversee when someone wants to talkback from the studio... just my opinion. :)

Bob L

[Cary B. Cornett]

Well... when I get time (ha ha ha)... I could add the dimming to the plugin by having you patch the dimming module into the out bus which would then sync with the push button / footswitches activating one of the switch modules.That's an excellent idea! I still, however, keep hoping for a full "CR Monitor" section either as included in the mixer itself or, if that is a better way, as a plugin.


At the moment... it sure worked great the way it is... especially since I've been without talkback at all in the virtual world all this time.When I first committed myself to "dumping the console" (a Mackie 8-buss that I took quite a loss on), I thought TB capbility was important enough that I went to much trouble to design/build it into the CR Monitor box that I built for the studio.


To me the idea of the engineer controlling mics in the studio with a button when he thinks someone has something to say is a kludge... a real annoyance... and does not work well in my opinion... What I picture as making more sense is somewhat different. Usually, if a performer wants to talk, the performance will stop, which often means stopping the recorder. It would be simple enough, IMO, to have RTB activated whenever the recording stops, or whenever the cursor is not moving down the timeline. This would allow RTB in a very intuitive way that flows smoothly with the course of the session.
open mics thru a compressor work better and can simply be leaked into the mix all the time Which I think would be distracting from the popular process of the engineer evolving a mix during the tracking process.
or muted with the console mute switch when needed.... but also adding one more thing for the engineer to keep track of...
and I find that room mics being turned on and off in the headphone mix is more annoying than simply accepting the room sound leakage all the time in what the performers are monitoring... thereby leaving the engineer free to perform other imporatant tasks than trying to oversee when someone wants to talkback from the studio... First of all, RTB does not normally feed the cans (not the way I've seen it done, anyhow...), so it need not impact what the musicians hear at all. Second, linking the RTB funtion to "machine operating mode" frees the engineer from playing "find the button" in order to hear the artist.

If RTB was implemented in this way, it would be yet another feature making SS superior to its competitors. :D

[Bob L]

Well... if the room mics don't feed the cans, then they aren't very useful in most sessions I have been in... the musicians need a way to communicate when inside the cans...

At any rate... the plug is just a little useful utility... not sure how much more it needs to do... and I think its a great way to implement the idea... why wait for a TB module ... it would be no different... in fact this method gives you full routing capability from any already existing channel... with eq and patch points and compression and gating... and even allows you separate mix control into each of the aux mixes... a lot more than you will ever find built into most, if any, TB module on the largest most expensive console in the industry. :)

Just sit back and enjoy it... its free.

Bob L

[Mark Stebbeds]

Here's my two cents...

Sometimes I have room mics set up when recording a band. They are intended to record the room sound, usually to enhance the drum sound, and placed accordingly, not necessarily to serve as return talk back to the control room, but sometimes it works out that way.

For return talk back, I have talk back mics. The drummer doesn't need one, because he has overheads, but everyone else gets one, or shares one or two or three. They are fed back into the headphone mix pre fader, so I can turn them on and off in the control room as I see fit. When I turn them off, the musicians still can communicate with each other.

Trying to communicate with anyone when the band is playing is a waste of time, because it's next to impossible.

Mark

[ambler]

Thanks for this Bob, It's very handy but i think I've found a bug.

If I click and hold on the button and then slide the mouse pointer off the plug-in while still holding the button down, the button stays on and can't be switched off unless I close and re-open the session.

Mark

[DominicPerry]

Yup, I get this, although you can CLR the Pre-FX patches and re-insert.

Dominic

[ambler]

hmmm... I really thought I'd tried that.... but yes, clearing the FX box does reset the switch and so does simply removing and then adding the individual plug. So this is not nearly as big a deal as I thought.

Mark

[Bob L]

Interesting... I have been using it for over two weeks and never did that... even by accident... so... DON'T DO THAT. :)

Yes... clearing the plug and re-patching it sets things right again.

I suppose I could lock the mouse into the button area... just felt the button was so big.... there was no need for that code...

I'll look into a quick update.

Bob L

[ambler]

Interesting... I have been using it for over two weeks and never did that... even by accident... so... DON'T DO THAT. :)

Heh.. Understood. Unfortunately I discovered it by accident after about a minute the first time I tried it. I haven't done it again.


I'll look into a quick update.


Thanks

Mark

[Bob L]

Version 1.3 of the plugin is now posted... the mouse now locks into the switch area... enjoy. :)

Bob L

[ambler]

Thanks very much Bob, my ham fists appreciate it.

Mark

[William Bushnell]

Thanks much Bob.

____________
William Bushnell

[MikeDee]

Thanks, Bob. Even in my small studio...just might come in handy. :)

[Dave Labrecque]

Bob,

Are you serious? We have to supply our own mic? How much more code could it be, really? Geeze... ;)