Recording fx parameter automation in Nektarine

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Maxim
Posts: 19
Joined: 06 Aug 2022

13 Oct 2022

Hi. I was wondering if anyone else encountered this problem and possibly have a fix. I'm using Nektarine and Nektar Panorama P4 in Reason. The problem is that I cannot record parameter automation from the insert or send fx that I have loaded into Nektarine. For example I first loaded a synth into Nektarine and recorded some notes. Then I created an insert fx for the synth. Then I controlled the fx from Panorama and tried to record the parameter modulation but none of it is recorded. What is peculiar is that I can hear the modulation when trying to record. But the automation track doesn't appear and none of the parameter modulation is recorded. I also tried recording some parameter modulation directly from the instrument and this works just fine. Would be happy for any solutions. Thank you!

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jam-s
Posts: 3036
Joined: 17 Apr 2015
Location: Aachen, Germany
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13 Oct 2022

I think you have to first create the automation track and then arm it to record automation. Earlier Versions of Reason used to automatically do this when moving any mapped control while the global record button was on, but newer versions seem to always want an armed automation track first.

Maxim
Posts: 19
Joined: 06 Aug 2022

17 Oct 2022

The recording of the parameter automation can be done exactly like before; you just move a parameter while recording and the automation track will be created automatically. So there is no need to create the track in advance, and actually I don't even know how to do that.

Anyway, I contacted Nektar support for this problem and it is related to something I thought might be good to share here in case someone else has the same problem.

The whole thing turned out to be something quite surprising. In Reason there is a limit that you can only control the first 250 parameters of an instrument or fx. So if you load into Nektarine an instrument which has more than 250 parameters and then load an fx, you will not be able to automatically control the parameter of the fx. Nektar support tested out this in other DAWs as well and only Reason had this limitation. Which I would say is a very big limitation indeed. They told me that they had contacted Reason and reported the problem.

The workaround for this problem was that you can first load the fx into Nektarine, because in this way the parameters of the fx occupy first their specific amount from the limitation of 250 and after that load the intrument. But still also this solution has some serious limitations. Like for example you can probably hit the limitation of 250 parameter just from stacking 3 plugins before the instrument and after that you cannot automate anything from the instrument anymore.

I did test this theory myself in such a way that first I loaded an reverb into Nektarine and after that an synth. Here I had no problems automating some parameters from the reverb. But when I loaded first the synth into Nektarine and after that the reverb, the automation for the parameters of the fx didn't work anymore.

I'm really surprised that this problem has not come into the light before. I cannot believe that in all these years someone who uses Reason would not have loaded an instrument with over 250 parameters and an fx into Nektarine and then tried to automate some parameters from the fx.

Could someone who uses Nektarine in Reason check this out and verify that the problem really exists for you also?

Thanks!

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Pepin
Posts: 450
Joined: 16 Jan 2015

17 Oct 2022

It's a limitation of Reason's VST2 implementation. You can only automate the first 250 parameters of any VST plugin.
The workaround that's usually suggested is automating a Combinator knob (Combinator controls can map to all parameters, including those beyond 250).
But that has its own limitations, since the Combinator knobs are rather low resolution and have to be mapped ahead of recording automation.

Hopefully it gets fixed when VST3 arrives, as many plugins have more than 250 parameters.

Maxim
Posts: 19
Joined: 06 Aug 2022

17 Oct 2022

Good to know. Thanks for the info.

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