Plugin Latency Correction....

[MMP]

Though latency compensation does affect all tracks, the automation errors seem to only happen on the individual tracks with the "bad" plugins-other tracks down the line seem to retain proper automation timing. This is probably because of the serial nature of the track summing. If there is a latent plugin in the pre position on the master output track, automation like master fades can also be misplaced.

[Dave Labrecque]

When you say "errors" Michael....what specifically would happen? I can see that automation relating to the FX channels being bypassed would be an issue....but would that extend to ANY automation...say Fader automation?

In what way does the Post FX position reduce the error?

I believe Michael's referring to the fact that automation moves written on the track that has latency-inducing plugins patched pre-fader will be shifted out of sync with what you see in the MT. E.g., if you make a volume change at 00:10.000, it will appear in that position, but it will act early during playbacks and build mixes by the amount of the total latency induced at the pre-fader patch point.

In practice it's not usually noticeable (although is still happening without being noticed), except in "transient" situations; e.g., I notice it most often when I'm doing a quick back-and-forth automation of some kind for de-essing a particular ess sound or to fix a plosive. The ess or plosive will simply be missed by the automation that I wrote. The solution is to shift the automation later in time (to the right) by the amount of the latency. It's inconvenient, but it works. Marking and shifting all the automation for a track at once minimizes the inconvenience.

Of course, then all the automation "looks wrong" as far as it's positioning against the waveform and time line. And in practice, which for me is almost always "off-line" automation writing, I tend to want to hear my result immediately after each write, rather than after I've written all the automation for the track. So, I rarely mark and shift everything at once.

Oops. I see Michael already answered. Nevermind.