What does the changing colour of the channel FX icon mean?

[Roy Slough]

I am still getting used to Sonar from CbB.
There is an icon between the Pre/Post select  and the enable/disable select (see image)
During playback It is changing colour. I don't know what it means or if it is something I should be concerned about or take any action?

I have tried looking through the PDF manual but I seem to be searching for a needle in a haystack (and cannot use find for an image)

Any Advice please - Thanks

[Wookiee]

@Roy Slough if it is the one I think you are referring to it shows input level when overdriven it goes Red. Otherwise it hovers between shades of yellow and orange. Only when it goes red and stays red should you be concerned. 

[Bristol_Jonesey]

1 hour ago, Roy Slough said:

I am still getting used to Sonar from CbB.
There is an icon between the Pre/Post select  and the enable/disable select (see image)
During playback It is changing colour. I don't know what it means or if it is something I should be concerned about or take any action?

I have tried looking through the PDF manual but I seem to be searching for a needle in a haystack (and cannot use find for an image)

Any Advice please - Thanks

I'm not seeing that icon anywhere

Where exactly are you looking?

[user905133]

Maybe the OP is talking about this?

I had to turn the gain all the way up to have the icon change from yellow to orange when being fed audio.

PS: In my quick test, I couldn't make it go red, so Wookie must be right--if you drive it into the red it's something to worry about!

 

Edited Wednesday at 06:51 PM by user905133
to add a PS about tying to make it turn red.

[Bristol_Jonesey]

20 minutes ago, user905133 said:

Maybe the OP is talking about this?

I had to turn the gain all the way up to have the icon change from yellow to orange when being fed audio.

PS: In my quick test, I couldn't make it go red, so Wookie must be right--if you drive it into the red it's something to worry about!

 

Ah yes, I see it now

And yep, it's an indication of signal level

 

[sjoens]

That's the output input meter signal for ProChannel when any of it's modules are active.

Edited Thursday at 10:37 AM by sjoens

[Roy Slough]

11 hours ago, sjoens said:

That's the output meter signal for ProChannel when any of it's modules are active.

Thanks for all the answers, Now I understand it is the Output Meter of the FX channel I can deal with it.

Yes if it is red I am overdriving things and will take action.
I also suspect If I am using the fx channel I should expect a bit of yellow/orange to indicate there is sufficient output from the fx?

[sjoens]

Yes.

Correction: It's the "input" meter, not output.

pg. 1033

Edited Thursday at 10:36 AM by sjoens

[Bass Guitar]

I’ve always considered that one of the more critical parts of keeping tabs on your signal path. Especially on buses. Individual tracks should have been recorded at a correct level but a bus being fed from multiple tracks can easily be overloaded. 
 

If you see that on wth an audio track then you have recorded it too hot. 
 

So it is most useful for buses especially for the Master. 
 

It seems people rely on the bus fader meters and when they see red might adjust the fader. Wrong! 

The pro channel idiot light is there to warn you that your input to the bus strip is being overpowered. It’s something like the same input red light found on analog or digital mixers. 

This then should be dealt with by turning the Gain down or adjusting at the tracks. 

Because the audio is rendered at 32 FP you might not hear the distortion but better to be safe because little digital errors suck. 

Sonar definitely has the best metering system of all the Daw’s I tried over the last few years. Many require you to use plug ins just to see the peak readings. 

Edited Thursday at 03:08 PM by Bass Guitar

[Roy Slough]

3 hours ago, Bass Guitar said:

I’ve always considered that one of the more critical parts of keeping tabs on your signal path. Especially on buses. Individual tracks should have been recorded at a correct level but a bus being fed from multiple tracks can easily be overloaded. 
 

If you see that on wth an audio track then you have recorded it too hot. 
 

So it is most useful for buses especially for the Master. 
 

It seems people rely on the bus fader meters and when they see red might adjust the fader. Wrong! 

The pro channel idiot light is there to warn you that your input to the bus strip is being overpowered. It’s something like the same input red light found on analog or digital mixers. 

This then should be dealt with by turning the Gain down or adjusting at the tracks. 

Because the audio is rendered at 32 FP you might not hear the distortion but better to be safe because little digital errors suck. 

Sonar definitely has the best metering system of all the Daw’s I tried over the last few years. Many require you to use plug ins just to see the peak readings. 

 

7 hours ago, sjoens said:

Yes.

Correction: It's the "input" meter, not output.

pg. 1033

OK Thanks for the update/info.

3 questions arise: 
1. As it is an input monitors and the prochannel modules need a decent level to process the sounds well, should there always be some change in colour to indicate modules have enough input level and what colour should I be aiming for?
2. If I should boost the input level I assume I so it using the gain control OR process the track with something to increase the gain/volume (e.g. Normalise)
3. "D" shows a preset, I had not realised there were presets to load/choose from.  In my system I cannot see "Bass Guitar" there are 3 "Bass......" I can choose from.
This will be something I will explore but are there other prochannel presets I can download to experiment with?

Thanks for all you help and advice and as usual it is showing me areas of the DAW I had never considered (or known about) before.

[Bass Guitar]

It’s an idiot light, not a gauge. ( to borrow from the world of car tech) 
Just don’t make it red. That’s all you really know about it. 
 

As  I said it’s mostly handy for buses. Not so much for tracks. 
Your tracks should already be at target levels well below the point where that light would come on.

If a track is on the low side in level then the Gain Control can be used to set a better target level.
Some people will apply gain or normalization processing. The difference is that the gain knob is none destructive but gain and normalization process are destructive. Therefore Gain knob is preferable as it can be undone at any time. 

To use the gain first turn off all effects and with the track fader at unity adjust the gain until the track meters are showing the desired level. 

Take note that Im referring to using audio tracks, example guitar, and that a midi instrument is also an audio track. But the difference is that the instrument will have a volume control you can set a desired level with. 

By default the Pro Channel is first in the signal path. 
Note that the light only works when you turn the Pro Channel on. So even if a bus doesn’t use any PC modules I always turn it on. Then you also get the cool little spectrum meter. 

 

Edited Friday at 02:14 PM by Bass Guitar

[Roy Slough]

19 hours ago, Bass Guitar said:

It’s an idiot light, not a gauge. ( to borrow from the world of car tech) 
Just don’t make it red. That’s all you really know about it. 
 

As  I said it’s mostly handy for buses. Not so much for tracks. 
Your tracks should already be at target levels well below the point where that light would come on.

If a track is on the low side in level then the Gain Control can be used to set a better target level.
Some people will apply gain or normalization processing. The difference is that the gain knob is none destructive but gain and normalization process are destructive. Therefore Gain knob is preferable as it can be undone at any time. 

To use the gain first turn off all effects and with the track fader at unity adjust the gain until the track meters are showing the desired level. 

Take note that Im referring to using audio tracks, example guitar, and that a midi instrument is also an audio track. But the difference is that the instrument will have a volume control you can set a desired level with. 

By default the Pro Channel is first in the signal path. 
Note that the light only works when you turn the Pro Channel on. So even if a bus doesn’t use any PC modules I always turn it on. Then you also get the cool little spectrum meter. 

 

Thanks, That makes it all so much clearer.