Catia and easier stereo connections

[ColonelMIDI]

Hey there.

I can't find a way to make easier JACK connections on my system. For example, I connect the stereo output of a plugin to system out one by one (left and right) and then decide to insert an effects plugin to the signal line. I disable the connections one by one and redo them one by one again. I should be able to make stereo connections and disconnect them with a single key combination but I couldn't find any howtos or documentation on the net. I don't want to make connections left and right and disable them left and right all the time. How can I achieve this? Thanks.

[Luc]

Yes, that's how it works, I'm afraid. In Carla, too.

I wish we could just drag and drop a block (a plugin) onto a couple of cables and have it inserted in-between the already established connections automagically.

Maybe one day...

[chaocrator]

the point is the ability to do something with every channel separately.
like in hardware mixers, where a stereo channel is physically a pair of mono sockets.

[ColonelMIDI]

Yes, that's how it works, I'm afraid. In Carla, too.

I wish we could just drag and drop a block (a plugin) onto a couple of cables and have it inserted in-between the already established connections automagically.

Maybe one day...

I think clicking with a key combination (perhaps SHIFT + click) and dragging the stereo cables to wherever we wanna connect is easy to implement in the short term.

[ufug]

It's a PITA but you'll get used to it

I try to do as much as possible with plugins inside my DAW for this very reason. I understand the concept of modularity being beneficial, but the reality of trying to get a bunch a disparate tools working together in a tangle of jack connections can be a real drag.

[Brian]

It's a PITA but you'll get used to it

I try to do as much as possible with plugins inside my DAW for this very reason. I understand the concept of modularity being beneficial, but the reality of trying to get a bunch a disparate tools working together in a tangle of jack connections can be a real drag.

Perhaps, when it was being created, the various developers and implementers were simply trying to create the same "organized chaos" that the old school sound engineers suffered through on a daily basis. ...in effect, creating a true model of the physical world it would be emulating. Wrestling around with plugins, modules, JACK, etc. etc. is arduous at times, yes... but it's still better than lying upside down underneath a studio console, getting tangled up amongst the cables, wires and dust, soldering iron in hand.


- Brian
(one of those "old school" engineers)

[ufug]

...trying to create the same "organized chaos" that the old school sound engineers suffered through on a daily basis.

Don't get me wrong, it's amazing the way we can tie tools together, and overall it can work well. You stated perfectly here the downside of the approach: we have recreated the suffering!

We have half a dozen ways to manage JACK in a GUI, most of them work OK, but none of them address ColonelMIDI's reasonable workflow concerns.