Wish Linking Levels per block

One of my favorite features that plugins are using lately is the ability to Link the Input and Output of a particular plugin/effect/etc. The idea is the following:

You're tweaking the AMP block, you enable "LINK" (or whatever name), and as you increase "Input Drive", "Input Trim", "Master Volume", or anything that may cause an increase or decrease in audible volume, the LINK will turn down the "Level" of the block, to compensate for the increase in volume.

The idea being that you can just add the color of the amp's preamp stage, input gain, drive pedal, EQ, etc, without being influenced by hearing the increase in volume. Some plugins call it "Auto-Gain", some call it "Unity", etc.

Scenario 1 - You're dialing sounds, and you're digging the tone, but it was a tad too much gain. Normally, you lower the Input Drive, and the volume will decrease, so then you now go to the "Level" and turn it up. With the LINK option, you would dial down the gain without hearing a volume decrease and saves you an extra step.

Scenario 2 - You're recording through your favorite mic preamp, and you have it set just to the sweet spot where you're saturating nicely without over compressing. You record a track with killer tone, but now for the next track you want more gain. You turn up Input Drive, but now your sound is pushing the preamp more, and it's saturating more than you wanted it to, so now you turn down the preamp, and now the saturation isn't the same. So now you rewind three steps and figure out how to fix it some other way. Meanwhile, your recording flow is interrupted.

I realize this isn't at all how amps/pedals/preamps work in real life, but it's extremely useful for recording or even just making presets. This is kind of like what the CAB block does as you start to add more IR's. The volume stays the same so that your judgement is focused on the change of tone and not any changes in volume.

Anyone else find this useful? Bueller??
 
Very difficult to implement.
Input Drive -1 is not equivalent to Level +1, etc.
That, and, with dirty amps, the point at which a particular guitar will need compensation of output level when changing input gain is an unknown major variable in the equation....

The cab scenario is different, in that adding another IR should result in a known increase in level, which can be dialed back out easily by use of a relatively simple formula....
 
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You can use modifiers to link different controls together and then adjust the curve shape as needed to make them change in concert.

For example, assign both amp input gain and amp block level to the same controller (expression pedal, manual controller, etc.) and reverse the Start and End values in the modifier for the block level. When you turn the gain up, the level will go down. Trial and error will let you balance the value changes between them using the min and max values for each and tweaking the shape of each curve will help you get a smooth transition in opposing directions.
 
You can use modifiers to link different controls together and then adjust the curve shape as needed to make them change in concert.

For example, assign both amp input gain and amp block level to the same controller (expression pedal, manual controller, etc.) and reverse the Start and End values in the modifier for the block level. When you turn the gain up, the level will go down. Trial and error will let you balance the value changes between them using the min and max values for each and tweaking the shape of each curve will help you get a smooth transition in opposing directions.
One thing to note is that if the sound crosses from clean to distorted in the process of changing its gain, the volume stops going up at or around where it breaks over into distortion. If dialing up from clean to to a high-gain lead, the volume adjustment will not be a diagonal line from lower left to upper right, but a diagonal line from lower left to somewhere in the middle of the top which then stays at the top until it finishes moving left-to-right.
For example: This sets up a gain increase that maxes out about 2/3 of the way up the pedal's travel (after which, a mixer swaps to the output of the other amp block for leads in the last 1/6 of the pedal travel):
Screen%20Shot%202021-01-21%20at%203.08.54%20PM.png


Gain is maxed by the time the pedal is at 2/3 travel:
Screen%20Shot%202021-01-21%20at%203.09.05%20PM.png


Volume stops getting adjusted downward at about halfway through the pedal's travel, since that is about where it stops getting louder when you add more gain for this amp model (Mk IV Rhythm). Other amp models may need to hit the ceiling sooner.
Screen%20Shot%202021-01-21%20at%203.09.13%20PM.png

NOTE: I always keep the graph set up so that it relates to the pedal's position (x axis - left-to-right) and its output (y axis - down-to-up), IOW, how it controls the parameter being modified. The Min and Max set up the values at pedal min and pedal max, so in the case of the volume, it has Max set lower than Min to decrease the volume as the pedal is moved forward. Some may find it easier to invert the graph and let Min and Max be in opposite order, but for me this keeps it all from becoming a random bunch of "WTF am I even trying to do here" when I look back at it later.... :D
 
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One of my favorite features that plugins are using lately is the ability to Link the Input and Output of a particular plugin/effect/etc. The idea is the following:

You're tweaking the AMP block, you enable "LINK" (or whatever name), and as you increase "Input Drive", "Input Trim", "Master Volume", or anything that may cause an increase or decrease in audible volume, the LINK will turn down the "Level" of the block, to compensate for the increase in volume.

The idea being that you can just add the color of the amp's preamp stage, input gain, drive pedal, EQ, etc, without being influenced by hearing the increase in volume. Some plugins call it "Auto-Gain", some call it "Unity", etc.

Scenario 1 - You're dialing sounds, and you're digging the tone, but it was a tad too much gain. Normally, you lower the Input Drive, and the volume will decrease, so then you now go to the "Level" and turn it up. With the LINK option, you would dial down the gain without hearing a volume decrease and saves you an extra step.

Scenario 2 - You're recording through your favorite mic preamp, and you have it set just to the sweet spot where you're saturating nicely without over compressing. You record a track with killer tone, but now for the next track you want more gain. You turn up Input Drive, but now your sound is pushing the preamp more, and it's saturating more than you wanted it to, so now you turn down the preamp, and now the saturation isn't the same. So now you rewind three steps and figure out how to fix it some other way. Meanwhile, your recording flow is interrupted.

I realize this isn't at all how amps/pedals/preamps work in real life, but it's extremely useful for recording or even just making presets. This is kind of like what the CAB block does as you start to add more IR's. The volume stays the same so that your judgement is focused on the change of tone and not any changes in volume.

Anyone else find this useful? Bueller??
+1
 
I'm no expert, but I think it has to be possible. Literally dozens and dozens of plugin alliance/brainworx/slate plugins do this. And it's not +1 on input = -1 on output. For example, API Channel Strip, the Mic Preamp (which is gain) can be linked to the output. It doesn't come from the approach that +1 on input gain will be -1 on block level. Rather, it comes from the measure of loudness/amplitude/volume. The plugin reads that the output is X dB's, and as you increase any input parameters which add color/gain/distortion, it will adjust any volume increase/decrease, thus keeping it at that same measure of dB's. Kind of like a compressor, but it is not a compressor. There's no audible attack or release.
 
I'm sure it can be done. Reaper can link any parameter of any plugin to any parameter of any other plug-in, with any type of scaling applied. The question is whether or not it's a priority and how much work it actually entails. I'd like to see it implemented myself.
 
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