New (Old?) feature request

[RandallYoung]

In the old (PT 6.x OS9) days, it used to be that the AudioSuite Gain Plug-in behaved in a sublty different--but more useful--fashion:
When the process was computing its way thru the file, the "find peak" level indicator would be updated as it went. Now, it waits for the end of the calculation, and only delivers the final number.

Why does this matter? Well, I would use this property to determine where (roughly) in the file the loudest part was--WITHOUT HAVING TO ACTUALLY LISTEN to it. For example, let's say you've got an hour long VO file, and you'd like to treat just the peaks. Where are they? (Don't tell me to look at the waveform overview, please! I'm talking about a finer resolution--maybe a db or so.) With the old Plug-in, you could watch the progress bar/peak level indicator together, and see roughly where the thing max'd out. Then you'd split the file accordingly, and repeat, until satisfied. This is especially useful when the actual peaks were near the end of the file...

While I'm on the topic, does it seem to anyone else that the gain plug-in is, in fact, remarkably crude? I can think of many other ways it could be made a lot handier. How about...

1. Display of tc location of the peak(s)
2. Drop markers at peaks, a la Beat detective, or Strip Silence.
3. Display DURATION of peak (which could indicate clipping, for instance)
4...

More later, but this would be a start!

"Things should be as simple as possible, and no simpler." -- Albert Einstein

[Stig Eliassen]

You can do this with existing features in PT, or at least close.

1) Duplicate the track your working on

2) Use the AudioSuite Gain plugin to see the highest peak value

3) Select the track - choose Edit > Strip silence

4) Set the threshold slightly lower than the highest peak the Gain plugin displayed

5) Click Extract, and the audio above the threshold will be deleted, thus showing you where the highest peaks are

[RandallYoung]

While your methodology looks sound, and there are clearly work-arounds for this problem, the larger point is that we are working harder than we have to. This is but one example of "progress marching backward" in the PT domain. What I am asking for is convenience!

Consider that PT has so much more power 'under the hood' than we will ever be privy to. Why are we always presented with such a paucity of data, when so much more is available? Why is so much attention paid to pretty knobs and graphics, when--in the final product--NONE of the listeners will ever hear how cool the graphics were? We need functionality, not eye-candy.

[Andre Knecht]

[…] the larger point is that we are working harder than we have to.

Not to mention the fact that some of what you describe used to be available within Sound Designer, back when hard drives were rooms full of clay tablets.

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