Add an Audio Unit

Bring an effect you already own into the show: a de-esser, a limiter, a delay. Every effect Audio Unit on this Mac can be a step of a source’s processing. See Processing.

Before you start

• Install the unit with its maker’s installer. macOS’s own units are always there.
• Open the show and Window › Audio Routing (⌥⌘A).

Step 1: Add the unit

Open the source’s Add Step menu. The units are in a section per maker: Audio Units (Apple) first, then each other maker. Apple’s units have plain names, such as Delay, Dynamics Processor or High Pass; hold the pointer over one for Apple’s own name. In the menu bar, Audio › Add Step lists them with the maker after the name.

The step’s row has an AU badge and the unit’s own delay.

Known limitation

macOS runs many units from other makers inside the Studio. A unit that crashes can take the Studio with it. Try a new unit before the show, not during it.

Step 2: Set it up

Click the row to open the unit’s window. It shows the unit’s own view between the input and output meters, or, for a unit without one, its settings as rows. Whatever you set is kept in the show, the maker’s own presets too. The window can be made larger, and the unit’s view grows with it.

On another Mac

A show opened on a Mac without the unit keeps the step, off, with Not Installed and an orange triangle on its row. Its window says to install the unit or remove the step. Once the unit is installed, the step works again.

Verify

• The output meter in the unit’s window moves with what the unit does.
• Hold to Compare lets you hear the source without it.

Related

• Processing
• Step windows