VertexDSP recently announced FaderWorks, a plug-in gain control now under development intended for most major DAWS. The software is made to be used anywhere in the effects chain, and in multiple instances. According to VertexDSP's Peter Lang, the concept started off simple, based on Lang's desire for a simple gain control solution. He was inspired by his own needs in the studio, and as Gearwire's Joe Wallace discovered, the simple need for better gain resulted in a versatile plug-in.

According to your product literature, FaderWorks is meant to be used anywhere in the effects chain and elsewhere. What inspired development of that particular function?

Peter Lang: The idea for FaderWorks came to my mind while recording vocals. I searched for an easy solution to check newly recorded vocal tracks with respect to already existing vocals and the music. Looking for a possibility to quickly compare individual tracks and groups of tracks without changing the setup of the aux tracks in my DAW I ended up with the concept of putting connected instances of the same plugin on interesting tracks. There is some kind of a "one knob does it all" philosophy behind it. When I play guitar I always prefer a solution to get the sound I want without switching countless effect pedals. In FaderWorks' usage this is the "one volume fader for all" maxim. Well, what has started as a quite simple idea has eventually grown to an audio plug-in with a certain level of complexity.

Which DAWs is FaderWorks most compatible with?

FaderWorks is based on the official specification of the AU and the VST standard and has been successfully tested with well-known DAWs including Cubase, Nuendo, Digital Performer, Logic Express, Tracktion). After release, there will be a demo version available for download.

How can a new user get quickly up to speed with FaderWorks? What's the most important feature for new users to get familiar with?

New users should get familiar with the concept of groups. By opening two instances of FaderWorks, you'll see already some key aspects: Newly opened instances default to the same group, which is group one out of 32 possible groups. As all instances in the same group have the same volume level (well, actually there are exceptions), moving the volume fader of the first instance simultaneously updates the volume fader of the second one.

Further steps are using the solo/mute/bypass functionality and defining dependencies between groups via the connection matrix.

Explain a typical basic utilization of Faderworks in an editing session.

Let's take vocal tracks as an example. Assume you have recorded several tracks for a choir and you want to decide which tracks fit best to your music.

Open one instance of FaderWorks on every vocal track and assign these tracks to groups (Group Select menu in FaderWorks) of your choice. Now you can use the solo/mute/bypass buttons for switching between these groups instead of manually muting and un-muting individual tracks in your DAW. You can also change the group configuration while playing the tracks, solo/mute/bypass assignments will follow automatically. Additionally, all tracks within the same group can be switched via solo/mute/bypass.

Remember, there are 2 levels of solo/mute/bypass functionality: The first one is for switching between groups and the second one is for switching between instances within one group.

If you don't like to switch between groups you can use the connection matrix for defining e.g. crossfade properties. Thus you use the volume fader to control volume increase and decrease of connected groups.

For DAW newcomers, explain the advantage of having virtual Aux tracks.

Normally you use aux tracks in your DAW for routing tracks, e.g. for individual outputs or for effects common to many tracks, such as reverb for vocals. With FaderWorks, you get some kind of intermediate control layer while leaving the original track setup in your DAW untouched. You can control the gain of many tracks with a few volume faders and you can solo and mute groups of tracks. It is also possible to setup FaderWorks for "overlapping": Solo and mute affect groups of tracks whereas certain groups are always soloed or always muted.

What do you think is the biggest advantage of using FaderWorks versus running Pro Tools, Cakewalk or other software without it? How does Faderworks make a beginning-to-intermediate user's editing job simpler or give it a broader set of options?

The greatest feature of FaderWorks is the concept of groups in combination with the connection matrix. FaderWorks helps you to manage complex mix setups with minimal effort. Instead of doubling and adjusting automation data for gain control on a multitude of tracks you can base your mix or parts of it on FaderWorks. By defining group dependencies you are able to control a complete mix scenario by moving just one fader. The automation feature for the volume settings helps you to reproduce all gain adjustments, e.g. to run a mixdown.

To be flexible during the mix, reading and writing of automation data can easily be switched off and on for all instances. If you want to go back temporarily to the original mix setup, press the global bypass button which affects all instances.

At the time of this interview, FaderWorks isn't on the market. When is the release date?

This is the most difficult question. We still have to setup installers for both platforms, perform some additional tests and finish the manual. If everything goes well expect it before Xmas.