# What happens with round robins when exporting?



## ThomasNL (Sep 21, 2020)

Hey,

As I'm exporting stems I was wondering; when exporting your music, do the samples always use the round robins in the same order every time you export it? Or is it different every time you export it. Because if it is the latter, doesn't that give issues when exporting stems or alt mixes? Of course with most round robins you won't hear the difference but especially with older libraries there are some round robins that really stand out.

Just curious 

Thomas


----------



## Kent (Sep 21, 2020)

ThomasNL said:


> Hey,
> 
> As I'm exporting stems I was wondering; when exporting your music, do the samples always use the round robins in the same order every time you export it? Or is it different every time you export it. Because if it is the latter, doesn't that give issues when exporting stems or alt mixes? Of course with most round robins you won't hear the difference but especially with older libraries there are some round robins that really stand out.
> 
> ...


Many libraries offer a round robin reset—they start from the same index on the initiation of transport control.

Some do not.

And, of course, some do, but you might have it disabled.

So, it is a library-by-library answer.


----------



## MusicStudent (Sep 21, 2020)

You call that a newbie question!  How about "...what exactly is a round robin?" and "...why do I want one in my library"?


----------



## d.healey (Sep 21, 2020)

MusicStudent said:


> You call that a newbie question!  How about "...what exactly is a round robin?" and "...why do I want one in my library"?


Round robin means having multiple samples for the same note/articulation/dynamic. This is more common with short articulations like staccato but some libraries also have multiple takes of the longer articulations too.

With a round robin system a different sample is triggered each time you play the note. Once all samples for that note have been triggered the samples are recycled and the first take is played again. Usually sample libraries also offer random round robin where the sequence is randomized. Sometimes it's more fancy and the sequence is pseudo random without repeating previous samples until every round robin take has been played.


----------



## MusicStudent (Sep 21, 2020)

Thank you. Nothing is obvious to the uninformed.


----------



## chillbot (Sep 21, 2020)

@ThomasNL this is a legit question, often times when dealing with libraries with noticeable differences in round robins I take the quick escape route and just print it as audio so it's the same every time. This is less about stems (for me) and more about I like the way it sounds a certain way. Similar to what happens when dealing with synth patches or FX that have sweeping filters and other moving parts... only way to ensure consistency is printing as audio.


----------



## Kent (Sep 21, 2020)

Some birbs are, indeed, also round robins:


----------



## J-M (Sep 21, 2020)

"Wait, what's up with note X, it sounded different in the previous version?" This kept happening to me (especially with HWS shorts) until I started using RR reset.


----------



## mybadmemory (Sep 21, 2020)

Many libraries also offer the setting of either random or chronological stepping between the available RRs.


----------



## Bluemount Score (Sep 22, 2020)

kmaster said:


> Some birbs are, indeed, also round robins:


Damn, I was about to post this


----------



## Bluemount Score (Sep 22, 2020)

kmaster said:


> Many libraries offer a round robin reset—they start from the same index on the initiation of transport control.


Yes I've noticed that with most.
It's especially essential with choir libraries that don't just have round robins, but different syllables that should of course stay in the same order when exporting.


----------



## labornvain (Sep 22, 2020)

The trick to round robins, if they're causing you grief, is to render the track to audio before exporting the stem. Or before rendering your mix.

I remember when I first had a round robin enabled library, it was a revelation.But over the years I began to see the downside. Especially on really sparse parts where you need every note to sound consistently.

Anyway, sometimes it takes several attempts to render the track so that all the round robins have behaved appropriately.


----------



## ThomasNL (Sep 22, 2020)

Thanks for the response guys! Good to know this really is something to pay attention to


----------



## jononotbono (Sep 22, 2020)

It’s a very good and valid question. It is always best to render/bounce midi to audio and then everything is exact.

Excluding the times when you have a deadline and need to deliver something in two minutes which means your music is always sounding exactly how you didn’t want it. Come to think about it, that might just be my excuse 😂


----------

