From b01fbdbf8a6df8d45c3b686a2fccfaa606466722 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Alexandre Prokoudine Date: Wed, 5 Oct 2022 16:38:29 +0300 Subject: [PATCH] Why I/O plugins are cheaper than busses --- include/io-plugins.html | 13 +++++++++++-- 1 file changed, 11 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) diff --git a/include/io-plugins.html b/include/io-plugins.html index 64a06eb0..9a929908 100644 --- a/include/io-plugins.html +++ b/include/io-plugins.html @@ -11,8 +11,17 @@ number of tracks or busses in Ardour. This is a lot like doing some of the processing with a chain of guitar pedals, then feeding the signal to an Aux In port on a mixing console or an input port on a multi-effects digital - pedalboard. The rationale for pre-processing with I/O plugins is that it's a - more lightweight way to do it as compared to busses. + pedalboard. +

+ +

+ The rationale for pre-processing with I/O plugins is that it's a more + lightweight way to do it as compared to busses. Much of that is because busses + have automatable parameters such as fader and panner positions, as well as + plugins' parameters. Evaluating automation (even when there's none) is + expensive in terms of CPU use. However I/O plugins are not automatable, so + there's no evaluation happening. As far as Ardour is concerned, they are + almost like JACK audio server clients running alongside Ardour.