This post focuses on the process of recording your MIDI sequenced tracks to audio tracks.
Bouncing is the process of recording one or more tracks of audio to one or more other tracks of audio. I think the term comes from the days when tape channels were limited and multiple tracks of audio had to be condensed to a mono track or stereo pair. Why is it called ‘bouncing’, specifically? Because ‘rerecording’ is boring and ‘flootzing’ made the engineer crack up, reducing the efficiency of the session.
These days we have all the audio tracks we could ever need in our computers. But bouncing is still quite useful for many reasons. One of the best reasons is the preservation of sequenced instruments such as synths or samplers, especially virtual instruments. The fact of the matter is that MIDI is completely dependent on the MIDI instrument to produce the sound. If your precious vintage synth were to kick the bucket or if you loose the dongle for your favorite virtual instrument, you won’t be able to play back the track. Bouncing to audio has two advantages: a) if the instrument is a virtual instrument, you’ll save the CPU usage imposed by real-time playback b) should something ever happen to your instrument, you can still work with the audio track.
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