Routing

With the WING Extension you don't add channels or do the routing by hand. The routing view shows the desk laid out like its own routing screen, and one button - RACK - sends a strip through Shadow Rack and back. Everything the desk needs for that (USB sends, USB returns, the ALT source, an FX slot) is set up by Shadow Rack – using only what's free.

Opening it#

ROUTING on the top bar or View > Wing routing (⌘R). + CHANNEL in the mixer opens it too - with the WING a new channel is a desk strip put on the rack - and so does a click on a channel's IN / OUT line in the CHANNEL view, at that strip's page. BACK TO RACK closes it.

The pages#

The column on the left lists the pages like the WING does:

Each page shows a green count of what's on the rack and a colour chip per strip, underlined green when it's on the rack. On the rack collects everything that plays through Shadow Rack now.

A strip card#

Each bank page shows eight cards, laid out like desk strips, with the signal path drawn top to bottom.

12345678

1. 1The page list; the green pill counts strips on the rack
2. 2The desk: name, IP, firmware, on the rack, free FX slots
3. 3The desk's scribble strip: name, colour, icon
4. 4The path: SOURCE, USB OUT, SHADOW RACK, USB IN, the strip
5. 5The direct path, drawn on the right
6. 6The status line
7. 7RACK / ON RACK
8. 8Back to the rack

• The top: CH 13, AUX 3, BUS 1, MAIN 1 or MTX 2, mono or stereo, and the scribble strip with the desk's name, colour and icon.
• The path: SOURCE (for inputs, e.g. A 15) or MIX (for mixes) → USB OUT → SHADOW RACK (how many plugins) → USB IN → the strip (plays USB / plays source) or, for mixes, INSERT. The rack stations are dashed while the strip is direct and lit green when it plays through the rack. The direct path on the right turns red when a strip is on the rack but plays direct at the moment.
• The status line: THROUGH RACK (green), DIRECT, DIRECT NOW (red - on the rack, but the desk is on DIRECT), NO USB SEND or NO RACK CHANNEL (red - something's broken), NEW YORK (SHADOW RACK) (a New York channel).
• The button: RACK, ON RACK when it's on, ... while it works. It's greyed when the strip can't go on the rack - hover for the reason.

Click the card itself (not the button) and that channel's plugins open.

RACK on a channel or aux#

Press RACK. In about a second:

1. The strip's source goes out to the Mac on a USB output - one that already carries it, otherwise the first free one (a stereo strip gets an odd/even pair).
2. A free USB input brings it back, the same number when possible. USB inputs the desk already uses, that another rack channel uses, or that the in-ear mixes have, are never taken.
3. Shadow Rack makes the channel - named, coloured and with the icon like the desk strip - before the desk starts listening to it. The USB return on the desk gets the same name, colour and icon.
4. On the desk, the strip's ALT source becomes that USB input, with automatic source switching on. The desk's ALT switch then decides: ALT = through Shadow Rack, MAIN = its own source. That switch is the safety switch.

The toast says Vox Lead goes through Shadow Rack now. The first strip put on the rack also switches the desk to THROUGH RACK - unless you had put it on DIRECT yourself; then the new strip waits on direct too (DIRECT NOW).

RACK on a bus, main or matrix#

Mixes have no source to switch, so Shadow Rack goes into the mix as an insert:

• A free FX slot of the desk becomes an External effect returning from USB (latency 0). Shadow Rack looks from FX 16 downwards - the low slots are usually your reverbs and delays.
• The slot goes into the mix's post insert. On a main that has the speaker limiter in its post insert, the rack goes into the pre insert, so the limiter stays last.
• On DIRECT the insert is simply switched off.

A main put on the rack joins the PA alignment group, so all mains on the rack stay in time with each other (latency).

Taking a strip off the rack#

Press ON RACK. If its channel has plugins, Shadow Rack asks first: Take Vox Lead off the rack? - Take off the rack / Cancel. Then:

• an input gets its ALT source set back to OFF and automatic switching off; a mix gets its insert switched off and the FX slot emptied;
• the Shadow Rack channel is removed (⌘Z brings its plugins back; RACK puts it through them again);
• the USB send stays as it is - harmless, and it may be feeding a recording.

The toast says Vox Lead is direct again on the Wing. Deleting the channel in Shadow Rack does the same first.

The USB pages#

48 numbered tiles each. USB out → Mac shows what the desk sends on each USB output (A 5, FX 16 SEND for a mix's insert, or FREE), with a green RACK pill where a rack channel processes it. USB in ← Mac shows what comes back and who listens to it on the desk (→ CH 25). Click a tile with a rack channel to open it; hover any tile for a sentence about it.

Mac only#

Channels left over from working without the WING, not linked to any desk strip, show here as MAC ONLY cards. Delete the ones you don't need, or pick another interface in Setup to use them.

When RACK says no#

Shadow Rack never replaces something you set up on the desk. When it can't do something, the reason shows in red under the page title:

Only one strip is put on the rack at a time; press several and they're done one after another.

When the desk changes things#

Shadow Rack follows what happens on the desk:

• A strip on the rack without a channel (another session opened, say) gets one, empty: notice Wing channel added.
• Its source repatched on the desk: the new source is sent to the Mac on a free USB output (Wing source changed). If none is free, only that strip goes direct (... is direct on the Wing).
• Names, colours and icons always follow the desk.

The whole PA#

On On the rack and MAIN 1–4: when some mains in use go through the rack and others don't, they're out of time, and Shadow Rack says by how much in red. PUT THE WHOLE PA ON THE RACK puts the other mains on the rack too - kept in time with each other, and DIRECT switches them all together.