In my hunt checking around for which daw software has VCA style groups I ended up in the Protools area.

VCA Groups are a feature only seen on real consoles, in a nutshell it is a track fader
that controls a group of other tracks Volume, Mute, record, but not the wet mix. It also
lets you do complete automation.

Most daw's have track groups of course but that is not proper vca groups in fact the reason I use Reaper is because of its routing capabilities, at least with it I can come close to VCA groups.

I belive the console manufactor's do not want VCA groups in software Daws, there have been thousands of requests and not one software vendor has them

example:

Samplitude 11 - groups only (not even close to vca)
Nuendo 4and5 - Groups How the hell they use this for post with no VCA?? lol
Cubase - Groups - very crappy routing
Logic x - Only groups, close to VCA but still not there
Digital performer 7 - Groups only nothing like VCA
Presonus Studio One 2 - Very crappy routing capabilities

Protools 7,8,9,10 - Has them

Anyone of you see a pattern here?


Think about it this way it's not just about console sales it is also about control interface sales, a 10 fader control interface with VCA groups in a daw would eliminate the need for large control interfaces and I believe Software Daws developers do not want to add VCA groups due to then backlash from hardware companies which some Daws already have as well.


Why only Protools ?

Simple, Avid sells hardware so they can add The VCA feature to Protools.
before it was in the HD only.


What do you all think?

 

Harrison Mixbus ?

 

VCAs, are we talking about voltage controlled amplifiers? With high end Hardware recording consoles VCAs were not only for grouping but mainly for automation. Each fader has a corresponding VCA. By sending it dc voltage it will adjust the volume accordingly.

When you write the automation the voltages are recorded. When reading automation the VCAs not the faders controled the mix.
Some Consoles do have motorized faders which also move to the control voltages.

By VCA grouping do you mean that every fader in the group moves with all the faders in the group at once, and you can control the group by moving any fader in the group?

I'm just trying to understand. This is the way that real VCAs work in hardware consoles.

 

Aren't VCAs still just a Pro Tools HD feature? I don't believe native Pro Tools offers them.

 

Native protools 9 has them so this is a feature that is imperitive to have period end of story. Seems to me that Daw software companies are protecting the console and interface hardware companies. It is volume not gain but the issue is Reaper is almost there but you can't do automation VCA group style, been pushing this feature in Reaper since there are many others who want to say FU to hardware interface companies
perfect example

Set all my tracks all mix settings then with a small interface with only 6 faders I can control and fully automate , mute, record 100 tracks!!!! that is what VCA groups are about in a software environment

Check out protools 9 as they added VCA groups natively
I think reaper will have them soon and I am betting everyone else will follow suite.

In software VCA of course there is no voltage control however you can fully automate the volume, record, mute, solo your track groups without effecting the wet mix


So please everyone post on the your software forums WE NEED VCA GROUPS

 

SEQUOIA 12

VCA Faders

Mixing “in the box” has become more popular in applications with limited space e.g. in fly-away kits for music recording and mobile SNG teams for news production. Working with VCAs (voltage controlled amplifiers) or DCAs (digitally controlled amplifiers) simplifies the mixing and finalizing process.
The levels of channels assigned to a VCA group are controlled from one Sequoia’s mixer VCA faders. Any number of channel faders can be assigned to any of the VCA master faders. Additionally, any existing channel fader can be changed into a VCA fader.
By showing the VCA “ghost faders” in individual channels, the resulting volume depending on the control volume of the VCA master can be monitored.

 

Lol I was just reading that a few days ago $3000 is the most expensive app l have seen, $3000 just to get
Vca groups is silly

 

Reaper has the most flexible grouping I have ever seen. You can even reverse group faders or pans. You can choose to group solos and mutes, or not.

Much more flexible than real VCAs, could ever be. Check out the groove 3 tutorial for Reaper.

 

only problem with reaper is the automation,record,mute, solo as slaves wont follow the vca master fader in automation.
Protools and sequoia 12 are the only daws that have them, I have used a real console during a visit to a studio and wow VCA groups is incredible to use.
Like I said it's why I use reaper, it's the most flexible app daw there is only thing missing is proper vca groups ( I heard soon it will be in reaper) and of course a built in audio wav editor.

 

I think you have not used the groups in Reaper to their fullest extent. I come from 14 years of in studio experience with automated VCA recording consoles and I can not see a single bit of control that you have with VCA's that you do not have with Reaper.

Any of the controls can be set to be a master or slave or both independently of any other controls on a track by track basis. That is incredible grouping performance for any recording console.

"only problem with reaper is the automation,record,mute, solo as slaves wont follow the vca master fader in automation." I think you have it setup wrong.

Have you seen the options in the "Grouping parameters for selected tracks" window?

Can you explain what Proper VCA grouping is? What does Protools and Sequoia do with grouping that Reaper can't do?

Perhaps you are only sub grouping the audio by routing the audio through a sub mix?

I am not trying to be an ass, I am just trying to figure this out. Thanks,

 

Thanks, but i want to record the automation for the tracks on the master only, in order to leave each tracks own automation alone, only vca groups can do this ie seqoia 12 and protools 9,10

 

Good news Waves NLS system will add VCA grouping and mixing to any DAW. Looks like your wish is granted VCA mixing on all DAWs.

I've been going back and redoing some mixes and this system sounds fantastic.