[solved] A question of levels (Track Headroom Setting)

Help, Support & Bugs
1

Hi everyone!

After 12 years using Renoise, I never notice this until today. This is a question about Renoise audio level and I’m sure it should have a good explanation and maybe this has been a topic in the past, so I ask the expert users.

Face this. You have a WAV file and load it as a single sample instrument. Then you place a C4 note into a track in order to playback that sample in the correct pitch. After that, you render the song. Just using default settings, so no FX chains and every mixer slider is set to 0 db. So when you compare the original WAV file to the rendered file, you can notice a low volume level (more than 3 db less). It is supposed that you do not apply any changes to the original sound, so the rendered track should have the same volumen as the original one. But the mixing process reduces the signal level a lot, even if you have only one track in your song. Why?

Regards,

Juan.

P.D.: Still using Renoise 2.8.

2

In 2.8: Song Settings tab > Player Options > Track Headroom

In 3.0: Main Menu > Song > Playback & Compatibility Options > Track Headroom

In 3.1: Main Menu > Song > Song Options > Track Headroom

The Track Headroom in Renoise is set to -6dB by default. The reason for this is so that you can play multiple (normalized) sounds/tracks together without instantly clipping your master output.

If you only intend to play a single normalized sample on a single track, then you can safely set the track headroom to 0dB, and you’ll get a 1:1 render with exactly the same output level as your loaded sample — assuming no other DSP effects are applied that may alter the gain.

3

Oh man! That was the typical option you know it exists but always ignored.

Thank you very much for the great explanation.