Advise on internal levels

[Nimbas]

Do you guys have a particular method used to control levels or to get the best levels internally? Or perhaps is there some rule of thumb for how levels are increased when you take certain actions? Let me explain:

I was creating patches last night and say you have an amp block, cab block and reverb block all serial. For a baseline right now I've got the amp block level at -12db. I could increase that to get a higher and clearer signal, but if I move the reverb in parallel and coming back into the same line the volume seems to increase anyway. That one doesn't make sense to me. Now alternatively I could add the reverb in parallel and then run it to output1, assuming the amp line is in output2. The volume goes up that way too, but that at least makes more sense because the guitar signal is now hitting two outputs.

I like having effects in parallel for some reason, it just seems clearer - could just be because the amp line is louder I dunno. Is there some formula for how much the volume increases per effect added in parallel? I noticed if I add a delay it goes up again - which requires you to compensate on the amp level.

I'd like to keep everything in serial just to more easily control volume, but it just sounds so much better when certain effects are in parallel.

Regardless I'm having a great time - created a dumble patch last night and had a ball with it. Trying to learn all I can.

 

[philipacamaniac]

Are you setting the MIX parameter to 100% for each parallel effect?

If not, you'd be blending dry signal with the original dry signal, thereby increasing the volume. You generally do not want to blend dry signals, so set all of your parallel effects to 100% mix, and set their BYPASS mode to MUTE IN or MUTE OUT.

Here's the formula for mixing dry signals on each row (from the Wiki):

• "Don't think in terms of dB. Assume you are putting 1V in (for convenience). If you add two rows you get 2V out. That's a 6 dB increase. If you add three rows you get 3V out. That's a 9.5 dB increase. If you add four rows you get 4V. That's 12 dB." source

 

[Nimbas]

Are you setting the MIX parameter to 100% for each parallel effect?

If not, you'd be blending dry signal with the original dry signal, thereby increasing the volume. You generally do not want to blend dry signals, so set all of your parallel effects to 100% mix, and set their BYPASS mode to MUTE IN or MUTE OUT.

Here's the formula for mixing dry signals on each row (from the Wiki):

• "Don't think in terms of dB. Assume you are putting 1V in (for convenience). If you add two rows you get 2V out. That's a 6 dB increase. If you add three rows you get 3V out. That's a 9.5 dB increase. If you add four rows you get 4V. That's 12 dB." source

Ahh I see - thanks. I'll give that a try tonight. That source thread was pretty good. If you have any others like that let me know.