Shadow Rack v0.5.0
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Docs/Getting started

Your first show

Step by step from an empty rack to the show: you hook up the desk, add channels and plugins, save the session and check everything before doors.

Rack FX Written for v0.5.0 8 min read Updated 5 October 2026

This page takes you from opening Shadow Rack to a rack that's ready for the show. It works with any desk that can send channels to the Mac and take them back. If you have a WING and the WING Extension, steps 3 to 6 are one click – see the yellow boxes.

Before you start#

  • The interface is connected to the Mac and macOS sees it. For many desks the interface is the desk: its USB audio, or a card in it.
  • The plugins you want are installed as VST3 and licensed on this Mac.
  • Shadow Rack is installed and activated, and it's allowed to use the microphone in macOS's settings.

1. Pick the interface#

Open Setup > Audio (⌘,, then AUDIO).

Setup > Audio
  1. 1Your interface – click it; the one in use says IN USE
  2. 2Sample rate
  3. 3Buffer, with its time under each size
  4. 4RECOMMENDED FOR LIVE: 48 KHZ, 64
  5. 5RUNNING NOW: CPU, dropouts, latency
  6. 6MEASURE – the loop through the desk (step 6)
  1. Click your interface in the list. All its inputs and outputs switch on by themselves.
  2. Click RECOMMENDED FOR LIVE: 48 KHZ, 64. It lights up when the interface runs at 48 kHz with a 64-sample buffer – that's 1.33 ms each way.

If your desk runs at another rate, pick that one – Shadow Rack has to run at the same rate as the interface. Rack IEM needs 48 kHz. More in Setup > Audio.

2. Pick your plugins#

Click PLUGINS. On the left, INSTALLED ON THIS MAC lists every VST3 file found. On the right, MY PLUGINS are the plugins you'll see when you add a plugin to a channel – and only those.

You pick on the left, click ADD SELECTED, and they're on the right

Select the plugins you want to use (search helps) and click ADD SELECTED – or double-click, or press ↩. Each file is checked in a separate process first, so if a plugin crashes while it's being checked, Shadow Rack keeps running and the plugin is marked FAILED. From a big Waves shell you pick only the plugins you need. Details in Setup > Plugins.

Click BACK TO RACK when you're done.

3. Add the channels#

Go to the mixer (⌘1) and click + MONO or + STEREO on the toolbar (⌘⇧N / ⌘⌥N). You can type the new channel's name straight away: type Vox, press ↩, and the icon picks itself – Shadow Rack knows a few hundred English and Polish channel names. Add one channel for each desk channel you want to process. More in channels.

4. Send the desk's channels to the Mac#

On the desk, send each channel you want to process to one of the interface's outputs going to the Mac. There are two usual ways:

  • As an insert: the channel's insert send goes to the Mac, and its insert return comes back from the Mac. The processed sound replaces the dry one in the same place, and the desk's EQ, dynamics and fader keep working.
  • As a separate channel: the desk sends a direct out to the Mac, and the processed sound comes back on a channel of its own. Handy for an effect return or a New York bus.

Each new channel in Shadow Rack takes the next input after the channels you already have, and the next free output. If your desk is patched differently, change it on the channel: open it (⌘2) and click the routing line under its name (it reads something like IN 1 -> OUT 1). You pick the channel under INPUT (FROM THE INTERFACE) and OUTPUT (BACK TO THE INTERFACE), and MONO / STEREO sets whether each side is mono or stereo. The lists show the channel names the interface itself gives. Outputs a musician's in-ears are using are greyed out.

5. Bring the channels back to the desk#

On the desk, set the interface's inputs coming from the Mac where the sound should come back: as the insert return, or as the channel's source.

6. Measure the loop#

The LATENCY read-out on the top bar knows MAC from the start – what the Mac adds between input and output. LOOP is the whole trip from the desk's output back to the desk's input, and you measure it once. In Setup > Audio, under MEASURE THE LOOP:

  1. On the desk, send one USB output straight back to one USB input (not to the PA).
  2. Pick them as SEND ON and LISTEN ON.
  3. Click MEASURE. A short, quiet chirp plays, and the result is remembered for this buffer size.

On top of that, every plugin adds its own delay on its channel – see latency.

7. Add plugins#

Click + ADD PLUGIN on a strip, or open the channel and press ⌘T. Type part of a name and press ↩ – or click ADD.

Adding a plugin: type the name, press Enter, and it's on the channel

The plugin loads while the sound keeps playing and comes into the chain with a short fade – no click. + ADD PLUGIN adds it at the end of the chain; ⌘T in the CHANNEL view puts it after the selected plugin. You change the order by dragging rows, and B bypasses the selected plugin. Details in plugins and the chain.

8. Check the signal#

Each strip has IN and OUT meters: IN is what arrives from the desk, OUT is what goes back. Listen on the desk with the channel bypassed (⇧B) and not bypassed, and you'll hear what the plugins do. The number under the meters is the channel's delay in milliseconds.

9. Save the session#

Press ⌘S. The first time, Shadow Rack asks for a name – My show.shadowrack in ~/Documents/Shadow Rack/ unless you choose otherwise. The red dot next to the name on the top bar goes away. Shadow Rack also keeps an automatic copy of the rack and loads it after a crash or at the next start, but at the next gig you'll open the named session (SESSION > Open recent). See sessions.

10. Soundcheck, then the show#

During soundcheck, click DROPS on the top bar to reset the count, and keep an eye on it and on CPU while the band plays. Then go through the list.

Doing in-ears too? Start with the Rack IEM section.

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