Difference between real time and offline bouncing

Let's say your tune is 5 minutes long.

Realtime takes 5 minutes to render because your tune is 5 minutes long. That's the REAL TIME it takes.
Offline might take about 30 seconds or less to render that same tune.
So offline is advantageous. It means you don't have to wait so long for everything to get done.

you also have to consider that each track of a 5 minute tune is up to 5 minutes long.

So if you have 8 tracks of a 5 minute tune, realtime could take 40 minutes total ( 5 minutes x 8 tracks).

It kind of depends upon how it's all implemented.
 
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Keep in mind that if your instrumentation is complex or your running verbs, automation, delays ect., it would be best to print real time. Of course it depends on your set-up, but you are lease likely to have issues if you do.
 
In the old days, you could get crazy anomolies doign an offline bounce. I don't think those issues really exist anymore. That said, there are two advantages to printing mixes in real-time. First, if you use any outboard gear, it's going to be real-time no matter what so you might as well listen by printing to an open track rather than doing a "bounce". Second, computers sometimes hiccup, especially on large complicated mixes. It's rare, but it does happen. If you are listening back in real-time you can catch a hiccup and start over, rather than having a nasty surprise later.

Something funny though. I always print mixes in real-time because I use outboard gear. But I had a client several months ago that had me mix a record while he attended just for the learning experience. So he asked me to only use plugins since he mixes entirely ITB. It got to the end and we figured we should print a mix and he asked my why not just bounce it. It made me really uncomfortable LOL. I mean, I hadn't bounced a mix in years and years and years. I actually turned to him and said, "you can do that? on an entire mix???" Well, duh, of course you can - I'd just never been able to because I always had outboard gear in use on a mix. So I bounced it, but you know what, I did listen back carefully to the bounce to make sure it worked right and I didn't tick some wrong box or something LOL.
 
I'm not sure what you experienced before, but offline rendering should not introduce any hiccups at all. Exceptions are definitely badly programmed VSTs which forget to clear their internal buffers (so that the "tail" of the previous run will leak into the beginning of the next one), anyway, this doesn't seem to be the problem you had.

Beside technical restrictions like staying ITB, the technical difference between both is in fact just a little detail.

Real-time:
The DAW tries to compute all output samples of your audio buffer within time (in fact the asio buffer size). If it's not possible, the daw will have no other choice and will fill zeroes into the buffer areas that couldn't be calculated. This is often described as "hiccup/glitch". So basically, real-time restricts you to your cpu power. Every cpu overload will be audible. Realtime rendering is potentially lossy.

Offline:
Uses the same method as above, but with the exception that there are no time restrictions for the calculation. The cpu takes as long as it needs to deliver the full result. This is totally lossless and doesn't restrict you to your cpu power.


There's no better, they are different. Offline is a great time-saver, technically perfect but restricted to stay ITB. Realtime is the only way to go with external gear and comes closest to established work-flows. I personally prefer offline bounces wherever possible, mostly because it saves time.
 
moses said:
I'm not sure what you experienced before
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It used to be the case that most DAWs (PT, Cubendo, Logic, etc.) would sometimes have difficulty with automation, edits and corss-fades not completely lining up with the audio. It didn't have anything to do with processing load.
 
chris carter said:
It used to be the case that most DAWs (PT, Cubendo, Logic, etc.) would sometimes have difficulty with automation, edits and corss-fades not completely lining up with the audio. It didn't have anything to do with processing load.
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Oh ok, makes sense..
 
chris carter said:
If you are listening back in real-time you can catch a hiccup and start over, rather than having a nasty surprise later.
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That is THE reason for bouncing in real-time. The only one that matters to me really.

I use analog gear also, but it would just feel weird to print with out listening.

Besides, I mix in pieces so, its impossible to print without listening.

Does Pro Tools even do that?
 
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HakimCallier said:
Does Pro Tools even do that?
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Yes and no... Protools has the ability to offline export audio in much the same way as Cubase. However this function is restricted to individual tracks so if we wished to export a song offline, in its entirety, we would first need to bounce it into the session (online)... and by then you already have it so whats the point?
 
Only time I do realtime is when I want to monitor the audio for whatever reason. But 99% of the time, if not more, I do offline.
 
also i'd like to add here m8s and m8tees that sometimes if you have a really massive session full of shit it can take more time to process offline than in real time and when that happens is when the hiccups occur i'm guessing...i guess with 64 bit DAWS that is very difficult to achieve though so yeah always bounce offline i guess unless you want to ear it but taking those 7 min breaks before listening again is good i would advise to never listen real time you will have better judgement if you bounce offline a final track and listen to it a few minutes later IMO

dunno if this makes any sense i'm high as **** and came here trolling tomorrow i'll see what i wrote take care mofokas Xd
 
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