Opened 11 years ago
Last modified 4 years ago
#9478 new enhancement
Audio mixer: showing dB, setting unity gain, output level
| Reported by: | ASoftwareHatingFurry | Owned by: | nobody |
|---|---|---|---|
| Priority: | low | Milestone: | R1.1 |
| Component: | Audio & Video | Version: | R1/alpha4.1 |
| Keywords: | mixer media kit level levels show dB fader faders marking markings display popup tooltip unity gain 0dB meter meters metering clip clipped clipping peak rms vu volume | Cc: | |
| Blocked By: | Blocking: | ||
| Platform: | All |
Description
There doesn't seem to be a good way of seeing what dB level each fader is set to in the audio mixer. When dragging a fader (which risks moving it unintentionally) it shows a number in a popup below the fader, but this number has extra digits at the end, and no "dB" on the end. It is also cut off width-wise and sits immediately below the fader, where it is mostly covered by the mouse pointer.
Would it be possible to put an indicator of the current setting at the bottom, below where it says "To output", "To master" etc.? Or alternatively use a tooltip that pops up when you mouse over the fader knob, but does not require clicking the fader.
Graticule markings like on a real mixer next to each fader would help too, but there needs to be some way of seeing the exact level.
It is also quite difficult to set unity gain (0dB) - something like double-clicking, shift/option/cmd+clicking would work. I prefer the latter, a double-click seems like it might be quite dangerous. The level could suddenly jump up if you've got a finnicky mouse or touchpad. Furthermore, using yet another key could "gear it down" to give finer adjustment possibility. Some other systems use a "centre-detent." Please don't do that, they're awful! They're particularly bad if you're actually trying to mix audio.
Finally, some way of metering the overall output level would be useful. Even a crude inaccurate "clip" indicator that illuminates when a sample codeword exceeding +/-1 has been detected in the last second would be useful. I realise this might be harder due to the split GUI / backend nature of the mixer, so consider this aspect lower priority. However I believe even for consumer audio a clip indicator would be useful. People need to be trained in setting levels properly. I swear, if I hear one more Youtube video that's slamming into hard clipping...
If a full meter is going to be implemented, I'm able to help by writing the DSP code. True peak (reconstruction filtered) and VU-characteristic RMS or average can be converted into number of pixels tall to fill the meter. I have no clue architecturally how to get the peak data from the mixer back end to the GUI however.
