Using Logic Pro audio plugins as effect in QLab, is it possible ?

[Jean-Paul Bataille]

I guess the answer is no, but I ask anyway in case a genius somewhere found the way.

I never used the QLab capacity to play live audio thru it, so it's a new territory for me.

I use the v4, BTW.

But I'm a bit baffled with the audio plugins behaviour into QLab, some work, some not, some don't work then work then don't work anymore, or partly, and anything in between... Weird.

So I'm in the process of finding those which will fully work anytime, and I wonder if it should be possible to use the Logic plugins (they don't appear in the component list, I suppose they are embedded into the Logic code, and non reachable by third party app).

Any bit of help will be greatly appreciated.

[Ivan Birthistle]

Hi Jean-Paul,

I have just done a show where we are using Logic Pro effects on a few mics but the principle would be the same.

We are using Dante for most of our audio distribution but DVS (virtual soundcard) doesn't do internal routing so we have used an aggregate device (see Audio-Midi setup) with DVS and Blackhole.

Mic > into Yamaha TF-1 > out via aux send > into Logic > out through Blackhole/DVS > into QLab via Mic cue > to wherever you want it.

While it was a little fiddly to set up it has been completely solid throughout, one thing you'll need to keep an eye on is the order you start your applications - we found that Logic on before QLab was one of the key things for stability.

All the best,

Ivan

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[Sam Kusnetz]

On Feb 12, 2024 at 11:59:02 PM, Jean-Paul Bataille <jpba...@gmail.com> wrote:

But I'm a bit baffled with the audio plugins behaviour into QLab, some work, some not, some don't work then work then don't work anymore, or partly, and anything in between... Weird.

I would love to hear more about the ones that work and then don’t work. Can you share more information on those, please?

So I'm in the process of finding those which will fully work anytime, and I wonder if it should be possible to use the Logic plugins (they don't appear in the component list, I suppose they are embedded into the Logic code, and non reachable by third party app).

The Logic-specific plugins are not available outside Logic and Mainstage, and that’s by Apple’s design. They cannot be used in any other program. There is nothing we can do about that.

Best

Sam

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[Jean-Paul Bataille]

Thanks for the answers, guys. My guess was right.

I'm an old retired audio guy and composer doing puppet shows for the sake of it, so I'm not exactly a QLab power user (I even never used QLab professionally, I was not doing live shows).

So, Ivan, thanks for the solution, but it is out of my league : I presently put together a very light set-up, all battery powered, which must be installed (and wrapped) in minutes. In glorious mono. 

But I gave myself the challenge to play music live through QLab because I want to integrate parts of orchestrations with my playing. I have fun.

Sam, re: what plugins are working : sorry but I didn't tried all what I got at hand. I confirmed (thru QLab Google group) that the plugins GUI wasn't  functioning, although the sound was changing, which is weird (although it reminds me of my beginnings, when you had to rely only on your ears, so not a bad thing per se). Does this had been corrected in the version 5 ?

But, an example of weirdness : I was trying an instance of Kilohearts SnapHeap (where you can use several of their effects in serial or parallel config),  and one time, ALL was working perfectly with the usual GUI behaviour ! I never succeeded to make it happen again, and learned afterward that it SHOULD NOT happen, but there it is...

Anyway, what I need presently is pretty simple, since the latency must be minimum (I'm playing a weissenborn guitar live, and the response of the system is paramount). So I found a simple EQ (the free AudioThings Blindfold EQ), a simple comp (the Klanghelm MJUCjr), and a reverb (even more weirdly, ANY reverb I tried to date are working : iZotope, KSHMR, Baby Audio, name it...)

I'll continue the experimentation. I'll let you know if I find something of interest.

JPB

[Jean-Paul Bataille]

Following : I finally found a very simple solution to my first question : yes it's possible to use Logic plugins (or any plugins for that matter), thus avoiding the embarrassing way QLab handles them (although technically the plugins aren't used into QLab, but then, it solves my problem, so...)

Logic and QLab run in parallel, and are mixed thru Loopback inside the puter :

- my instrument goes into Logic, effected the way I want without limitations, and routed to the audio interface thru Loopback

- the audio cues are into QLab, fired from there as usual with all QLab possibilities, and also goes to the interface thru Loopback 

.

I didn't even tried to re-route the Logic output into QLab, since I actually don't need it.