Level adjust / Mixer presets

Hello everyone,
I'm about to configure a new speaker system (surround) and would like to ask some questions:
I could do level adjustments either with the organ volume, with the audio trim or Audio Mixer Primary Bus or within the Master Mix itself (Bus audio processing or audio output).

- Which possibility to adjust the audio level should I choose?

- What's the difference between "bus audio processing level adjustments" and "audio output level adjustments"?

- Is there a possibility to copy Audio Mixer Preset 1 to let's say Preset 2?

- I recently set up my system without any visible clipping but the lower voices sounded quite a bit distorted. Do I have to reduce DB of the corresponding amplitude of the perspective within the rank voicing in this case?

I'm afraid I set up "Hauptwerk" for the first time so I'd appreciate any help to understand how it works . Thanks a lot for your help!

John

[mdyde]

Hello John,

- Which possibility to adjust the audio level should I choose?

Here's a post (with links to others in more detail) on setting audio levels:

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=20168&p=151196#p151191

Here are some previous forum topics that cover setting audio levels:

https://forum.hauptwerk.com/viewtopic.p ... 19#p102235
https://forum.hauptwerk.com/viewtopic.p ... 814#p86809
https://forum.hauptwerk.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=16198
https://forum.hauptwerk.com/viewtopic.p ... 46#p123846
https://forum.hauptwerk.com/viewtopic.p ... 64#p109264
https://forum.hauptwerk.com/viewtopic.p ... 57#p106909
https://forum.hauptwerk.com/viewtopic.p ... 20#p102220
https://forum.hauptwerk.com/viewtopic.p ... 91#p102235
https://forum.hauptwerk.com/viewtopic.p ... 07#p105804
https://forum.hauptwerk.com/viewtopic.p ... 34&p=87396

The 'Performance tuning: Setting the audio output level' section in the main Hauptwerk user guide [pages 306-307 in the current v7.0 version] covers how to set levels optimally within Hauptwerk itself. In particular, you should set the 'Trim dB' setting on Hauptwerk's 'Audio, MIDI and Performance' large control panel ('View | Large floating control panels ...' from the menu) so that Hauptwerk's audio level meter occasionally *just* goes into the yellow, but never into the red, when playing the current organ (e.g. St. Anne's) in Hauptwerk on 'full organ' (with the largest registration that you expect to use with it). That ensures that the highest possible quality audio signal is being sent to your audio interface.

Some summary points:

- With regard to audio fidelity within Hauptwerk it makes no difference which level setting you use. The various settings exist for different functional reasons.

- The "Trim dB" and "Volume" controls (on the control panels) are per-organ, and affect all output (all speakers/perspectives) from the currently-loaded organ. Use "Trim dB" for adjusting the overall levels of different organs relative to each other, in case one organ is quieter than another. The Volume control is a real-time MIDI-mappable control, primarily for temporarily reducing the overall output level if needed (e.g. from a MIDI knob or slider).

- The level settings on the Mixer screen are per-mixer-bus (and per-mixer-preset), so they allow adjustment of individual speakers/speaker-pairs separately. They affect all organs that are configured to use that mixer preset.

- If your speaker system will be using Hauptwerk's default surround mixer buses (master mix buses 5-8) then select the audio device channels for those master mix buses (as described in the "Audio routing ... | Example 2: surround/3D sound output ..." section in the user guide -- pages 211-214 in the v7.0 version). If you want to adjust the relative levels of those speaker pairs, use the level adjustments on those master buses (or the controls on the physical amplifiers, if the same will apply for all mixer presets/organs).

- What's the difference between "bus audio processing level adjustments" and "audio output level adjustments"?

The latter setting ("Audio output device channels: Level adjust) only affects what is sent directly from that bus to audio device channels (if device channels are selected for the bus). The former ("Bus audio processing: Level adjust" also affects any sends from the bus to other buses (if the bus has any sends enabled). Hence in the case of the master mix buses it makes no difference which of those two settings you use, since the master mix buses don't/can't send to other buses.

- Is there a possibility to copy Audio Mixer Preset 1 to let's say Preset 2?

Not currently, but we hope to add that ability as matter of high priority for a future version.

- I recently set up my system without any visible clipping but the lower voices sounded quite a bit distorted. Do I have to reduce DB of the corresponding amplitude of the perspective within the rank voicing in this case?

Just as a test, try turning down Hauptwerk's Volume control, to see whether it eliminates the distortion. That should help to determine whether the problem is due to excess level somewhere. If it does, but there's no visible clipping on Hauptwerk's level meter, try looking at the level meters in your audio interface's control panel and on your amplifiers (if applicable). E.g. maybe the audio output is too 'hot' for an amplifier.

Hope that helps.