Track Freeze

Use Track Freeze to render the selected track into a wave file that replaces all objects in the active track. The object and track effects are included so that the CPU is relieved of computationally intensive real-time effect calculations. The frozen track is stored in an internal VIP and can also be edited there. When "unfreezing", these edits are transferred to the source project.

To freeze a track, select Track > Track freeze > Freeze track from the menu, or right-click the track head and select Track Freeze from the context menu (keyboard shortcut: Alt + Shift + F).

The track is rendered into a wave file with the current volume, all effects and automations, and then replaced by a track in default setting containing a single object with this wave file.

Note: The created object is slightly longer because the decay/reverberation time is included. The length of the reverberation time when freezing can be specified by the parameter Maximum reverb time for objects without fade out in Program preferences > System Options > Playback.

With Menu Track > Track Freeze > Edit Track Freeze you open the internal freeze project where the frozen track is stored. You can make any changes there, just like in any other project, from object editing to effect calculations in object and track to inserting other audio files. When you save the Freeze project, it is rendered and the changes are applied to the source project.

With menu Track > Track freeze > Unfreeze track (keyboard shortcut: Alt + Shift +U) you unfreeze the track. The wave file created during the track freeze is removed and replaced by the track from the freeze VIP. Changes made in the freeze project are taken over to the track.

Note: If you have added additional tracks in the Freeze project, you will not be able to run Unfreeze track.

Freeze Track for AUX Busses/Submix Busses

Submix and AUX bus tracks can also be frozen.

Submix Bus

  • Tracks that have been routed to the frozen submix bus remain unchanged.
  • The Submix bus input is muted.
  • The file created while freezing is inserted into the submix track as an audio object.
  • The outputs of tracks that are routed to the submix bus are marked with red frames in the Track Editor and Mixer.
  • Changes made to these tracks after the freeze will have no effect on the playback of the frozen submix bus.

AUX bus

  • The AUX send settings of the tracks are taken into account during the freeze, but not the Object AUX sends.
  • Tracks routed onto the frozen AUX bus remain unchanged.
  • The AUX bus input is muted.
  • The corresponding AUX send controls of the tracks are marked with red frames in Track Editor and Mixer.
  • The file created while freezing is inserted into the AUX track as an audio object
  • Changes made after freezing on tracks sending to the AUX bus will not affect playback of the frozen AUX bus.

If you have changed anything in tracks that are routed to a frozen Submix or AUX bus, you should "unfreeze" the bus with the command Unfreeze track and immediately freeze it again at the current state with Freeze track.

Freezing VST Instruments

You can also freeze tracks with software instruments. For a simple routing (audio+MIDI in one track) you can simply freeze the track as described above. You can then use the function Edit Track Freeze to make changes to the track's MIDI object.

As soon as the VSTi uses multiple tracks for audio or MIDI and additional individual outputs are used, you must use the Freeze function in the VSTi Manager to ensure that all tracks involved are frozen.

To do this, select the instrument in the VSTi Manager and go to Functions and select Freeze. This replaces the audio signal of all audio return tracks with audio objects. The frozen instrument will no longer be controlled by tracks with MIDI files and will be disabled.

Unlike a simple track freeze with audio files or a VSTi hosted within a track, the MIDI data is not part of the freeze project. Therefore, to edit the freeze data of the individual outputs, you cannot use the function Edit track freeze. (There is no data at all on these tracks).

The MIDI objects are still in the project, but their contents are not used and later changes in them do not affect the instruments output. So if you want to make changes to the MIDI data of frozen VSTi, first select the Unfreeze option in the VSTi Manager, make the desired changes to the MIDI object, and then freeze the instrument again.

You could also freeze the individual tracks of the instrument outputs this way, because tracks can be frozen even if they do not contain any objects. This creates an audio file from the audio of the single output and the effects in this track. Since the instrument and also the corresponding MIDI track are still active, you would then have to deactivate the relevant individual output directly in the instrument in order to avoid the track being played twice. For reasons of clarity, we do not recommend this procedure at all!