As you may know the signal follower meta device is supposed to only work on tracks and effects after it in the signal chain. I have discovered that this limitation can be easily overcome by mapping it to a hydra device further down the chain and then mapping that device to its intended modulation parameter; even if that parameter is on a track that the signal follower normally would not be able to control.
Is this going to cause me trouble down the line? I have not experimented with it too much but I do see how it could add some sort of feedback loop of modulation that would bog down the system. Does this break the ‘look ahead’ feature?
Well in practice this is roughly explained what is going to happen:
sequence xx → pattern yy → line 00 → Audio signal → dsp effect 1 → dsp effect 2 → signal follower → hydra (changing parameter dsp effect 1) → output
sequence xx → pattern yy → line 01 → Audio signal → dsp effect 1 with changed parameter done in line 00 → dsp effect 2 → signal follower → hydra (changing parameter dsp effect 1) → output
sequence xx → pattern yy → line 02 → Audio signal → dsp effect 1 with changed parameter done in line 01 → dsp effect 2 → signal follower → hydra (changing parameter dsp effect 1) → output
sequence xx → pattern yy → line 03 → Audio signal → dsp effect 1 with changed parameter done in line 02 → dsp effect 2 → signal follower → hydra (changing parameter dsp effect 1) → output
sequence xx → pattern yy → line etc → Audio signal → dsp effect 1 with changed parameter done in line 03 → dsp effect 2 → signal follower → hydra (changing parameter dsp effect 1) → output
So the parameter is not effected earlier than when the audio has to be processed in the next cycle. Your lookahead will most likely not be able to see that coming at all.
So the desired effect will be lost completely. This is the very reason why you cannot apply the signal follower its signal process control to previous devices.
You use a workaround to make it happen, but it will in most cases not perform as you intended.