Michael Martinez Posted April 10, 2019 Share Posted April 10, 2019 I know there's a Waveform Preview while recording audio, but is there a way to view the waveform of the output of a bus or channel (after eq, compression, insert effects)? I'd like to do a before/after comparison of the effects of compression. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Martinez Posted April 10, 2019 Author Share Posted April 10, 2019 (edited) I suppose I could just put the compressor on the track, set the track output to another track's input, hit record. I guess this would be the most straightforward way to do it. Edited April 10, 2019 by Michael Martinez Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Martinez Posted April 10, 2019 Author Share Posted April 10, 2019 Well, I thought that would be a simple matter of patching in Cakewalk, but I don't see how to set the track output to another track's input..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treesha Posted April 10, 2019 Share Posted April 10, 2019 You can route it out to new aux track and record it and see it there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scook Posted April 10, 2019 Share Posted April 10, 2019 To route audio to another track takes a patch point (or aux track) but then the track must be recorded to see the effected waveform. A bus with waveform preview enabled will show the effected waveform without actually recording the track. Both of these solutions work in real time. The fastest way is bounce the track with fast bounce enabled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Martinez Posted April 10, 2019 Author Share Posted April 10, 2019 Routing to aux track worked. Thanks. As for waveform preview, I made sure it's enabled in the edit-preferences, but I don't see it available as a button anywhere. I see buttons for "interleave" and for "input echo" but no button for "waveform preview." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scook Posted April 10, 2019 Share Posted April 10, 2019 Waveform preview is available on buses and synth audio tracks only. These tracks have waveform preview instead of input echo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Martinez Posted April 10, 2019 Author Share Posted April 10, 2019 I'm actually not seeing Waveform preview at all on any buses or tracks, audio or otherwise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RBH Posted April 10, 2019 Share Posted April 10, 2019 I would suggest using a dedicated analyzer such as Voxengo Span. Use the hold feature to look at amplitude for dynamics comparison ? Use the frequency analyzer for EQ. I don't think the waveform preview is accurate until the wave file is rendered and would be subjected to view magnification and there's no way to overlay them. With an analyzer you can likely set-it up to overlay more than one track - but again is subject to an aux send that needs to be matched to the original tracks output level. Just thinking out loud ( so to speak ). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scook Posted April 10, 2019 Share Posted April 10, 2019 Assuming the track/bus headers are expanded enough to see all the controls, I suppose one could create a custom track control setting suppressing the MSR buttons. All the factory track control settings show the waveform preview on the buses and synth audio tracks. In the image below, the track control is the drop down in the red box Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Martinez Posted April 10, 2019 Author Share Posted April 10, 2019 Thank for the tips. I'll look for the "All" dropdown next time I'm in there. For now I've been outputting to an aux track and that has been working so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Nelson Posted April 11, 2019 Share Posted April 11, 2019 Most dynamic processors have a gain reduction meter. To visualize by means of a waveform... is highly unorthodox, not something mixers typically do. And in the end the advice is always to use your ears and not your eyes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckebaby Posted April 11, 2019 Share Posted April 11, 2019 7 hours ago, John Nelson said: To visualize by means of a waveform... is highly unorthodox, not something mixers typically do. And in the end the advice is always to use your ears and not your eyes. While I totally agree with you.... Sometimes It's nice to have a waveform visual in real-time, Just as Audio tracks give their visual in real-time when recorded. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Martinez Posted April 11, 2019 Author Share Posted April 11, 2019 13 hours ago, John Nelson said: Most dynamic processors have a gain reduction meter. To visualize by means of a waveform... is highly unorthodox, not something mixers typically do. And in the end the advice is always to use your ears and not your eyes. That's fine, but in learning how compressors work I have found it very useful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panu Pentikäinen Posted April 11, 2019 Share Posted April 11, 2019 14 hours ago, John Nelson said: Most dynamic processors have a gain reduction meter. To visualize by means of a waveform... is highly unorthodox, not something mixers typically do. And in the end the advice is always to use your ears and not your eyes. "Not something mixers typically do" - Well, depends on who you ask! I'm used to follow FabFilter Pro C2's and L2's gain scrolling reduction graph to see quickly how compressor affects waveform. Sometimes I also mix whole song to analyze it deeper in Adobe Audition. Visual inspection does not replace using ears but it's an useful aid when working with mixes in a hurry. "Old school" mixing engineers may not get any useful data from looking at the waveform but younger people get overview of the song dynamics from waveforms just by looking at them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
synkrotron Posted April 11, 2019 Share Posted April 11, 2019 14 hours ago, John Nelson said: And in the end the advice is always to use your ears and not your eyes. Some of us do not have the training or, indeed, a decent set of ears, so graphical representations of sound is absolutely essential. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Martinez Posted April 11, 2019 Author Share Posted April 11, 2019 14 minutes ago, panup said: "Old school" mixing engineers may not get any useful data from looking at the waveform but younger people get overview of the song dynamics from waveforms just by looking at them. I don't get any of that! haha. I'm clueless. This is my first attempts at mixing and, although I find it interesting, I find it very frustrating as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
synkrotron Posted April 11, 2019 Share Posted April 11, 2019 4 minutes ago, Michael Martinez said: This is my first attempts at mixing Are you mixing with headphones or nearfield monitors? 18 hours ago, RBH said: I would suggest using a dedicated analyzer such as Voxengo Span This is very important, either way, in my opinion. And SPAN is free, so, go get it... https://www.voxengo.com/product/span/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wookiee Posted April 11, 2019 Share Posted April 11, 2019 I second getting a copy of Span, which is free, useful tool with a sizeable GUI. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Martinez Posted April 11, 2019 Author Share Posted April 11, 2019 voxengo span. ok I will grab that. I'm mixing with both headphones and monitors. I make adjustments using one. Later I'll listen on the other to hear how it turns out. Regarding visualizing waveforms, although I don't think it is helping me mix, it definitely helped me to comprehend how the compressor works. Especially helped me to understand where the "recommended" values for compressor settings are coming from. 20ms attack. 200ms release. Etc. Before I was able to zoom in and visualize the waveforms and see the effects of compression, these numbers were just random arbitrary numbers. Like, "why 10ms"? Well, the length of attacks and stuff becomes clear looking at the waveforms, so it's a useful learning tool in that regard. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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