I’m trying to puzzle this out while respecting Izotope’s rules for using Visual Mixer. I have, say, 30 vocal tracks in my project I don't want 30 instances of Neutron running (on vocals alone, plus the others running on instruments) as it becomes CPU intensive So I put Neutron on several busses, say 4 instances on 4 busses, and send each track to one of the busses So far so good. Now I want to mix volumes and pans of each track individually so I have to put relay on each individual track I now have Neutron on busses in order to process audio while minimizing the number of instances of Neutron and therefore CPU load. I also have Relay on the individual tracks sent to those busses in order to be able to mix volume/pan on a per track basis in Visual Mixer * I've now broken the rules of Visual Mixer - to have either Relay or Neutron on the individual tracks OR ELSE to have them on the busses, but not on both To remove the conflict I can: 1 - Remove Neutron from the busses and use another channel strip plugin to process my audio on busses 2 - Remove Relay from the tracks and adjust volume/pan with track faders (essentially not using Visual Mixer for the most part) 3 - Not use Visual Mixer at all When I think it out I come to the conclusion that Visual Mixer would then be for people who are either: 1 - Willing to hit their CPU by putting an instance of Neutron on every track instead of using it on any busses 2 - Willing to use other channel strips on their busses instead of Neutron and then use Relay on each track - limiting Neutron’s use to just operating Visual Mixer I can’t puzzle out a way to use Neutron on busses as you would other channel strips at the same time as being able to adjust the volume of each individual track in Visual Mixer with Relay. Am I missing something or is this how it's designed? I can, of course, solve my dilemma by using, say, Schweppes channel strip on my busses and putting Relay on my individual tracks but it seems like I must be missing something since this is the same as saying “If you’re going to use Visual Mixer to mix volumes and pans, you have to use a competitor’s plugins for audio processing on your busses” and I can’t imagine that’s how Izotope intended us to mix. Is there indeed a way to adjust individual track volumes in Visual Mixer and also use Neutron on the busses they are sent to? For example, if I put Neutron on busses and then adjusted all buss volumes to 0 in Visual Mixer, would that allow me to mix the volumes/pans of each track independently in Visual Mixer while also allowing me to use Neutron on my busses? Thanks!

Er.. Where is the rule of Visual Mixer that says you can have either Relay or Neutron on the individual tracks or on the busses, but not on both..? I tried Relay & Neutron plug-ins on subgrouped tracks and Neutron on the subgroup Aux they fed and it seemed to work fine.. I think you need to keep in mind that the whole Visual Mixer concept is at 1.0 -- what it offers is a very basic implementation of a new protocol that iZotope probably intends to build on. At this point I wouldn't expect it to be a fully-formed alternative to regular mixing in a DAW mixer. Personally, if I were to use it, I would be more inclined to mix normally in the DAW mixer, but maybe have Relays on the channels just to generate the visual of the stereo image. Note: as you no doubt have noticed, that image itself is not always all that clear -- if a lot of the channels are at similar levels, the VM display tends to get all bunched up, making the visual aspect less useful. Hopefully in further versions they'll tweak the display (as well as the features) for more clarity in those cases -- maybe with zooming & more flexible horizontal & vertical grid options.. That said, I think the concept behind Virtual Mixer is to have an instance of Neutron or at least Relay on every track -- a dedicated iZotope mixing environment. I don't suppose that all-Neutron processing is going to fit that many mixers' workflows, but you can always mix & match processing, and just use Relays for the VM if you like what it offers..

Thanks Joe. I think I saw this "busses or tracks but not both" rule on a lot of videos, but I'm not sure they were necessarily the ones made by Izotope so good to know this isn't a hard rule. That clears up my whole problem. The only reason I'm trying to do an all Neutron track is this is my first production and Neutron is a very visual channel strip and I'm a visual guy and I think this is the best way for me to learn while messing up my track the least. So I am going to take some time and play around with each control and see, while I hear, how that affects the sound that the presets give me. I do want to use my Schweppes channel mixer as well as other plugins on my next production. I have an EQ online course, and Compression online course lined up so I'll feel more confident on my other plugins soon. I want to use Neutron's assistant or presets (tweaked) on this first project while I take those courses in time for my next project. I hear you on it being version 1.0, and that makes sense. Again, being a visual guy, I think I can learn a lot about panning and volume adjustment best by seeing a general image of the playing field. And also, tbh, just the ability to adjust pan and volume at the same time easily on each track within the same window would be reason enough for me to use VM. Thanks for all the help again. I'm sure there are many things with time and all I'm doing here is trying to cut some of the time factor off of the learning pace. And I appreciate the help.