Let’s discuss this some more. Maybe @jamsden can also chime in since he had some similar findings in the following thread: Clipping outputs?
In this video NDSP uses the autolevel function to set the input 1 level for capturing a pedal. After some attempts, I’m really beginning to question if this is the correct way for capturing pedals. Autolevel seems to maximize the level without clipping. However, it seems that, by doing this, the capture ends up with a much higher level than the pedal. Comparing capture vs. real pedal before an amp block results in quite a difference of perceived total gain.
Rabea is capturing his pedals in a similar way, maxing the input 1 level without clipping. However, in his settings of the resulting capture (I’m referring to this moment in his video), you can see the level being set to around -14 dB in order to match the output of the capture to the output of the real pedal.
So my theory goes like this and it would be interesting to hear your and maybe NDSPs opinions on this:
If we capture an amp then it makes sense to max the input 1 level in order to have consistent output level of different amp captures. However, if we capture pedals, maxing input 1 level results in all the pedal captures having the same output level. This is rarely the case when comparing real pedals and especially makes no sense when making different captures of the same pedal but with different level settings. So in order to capture a pedal without needing to heavily adjust the capture output afterwards it makes most sense to me leaving the input 1 level at 0 dB for each pedal.
What do you think?