I find Fractal Audio’s Preset Leveling Tool very helpful when it comes to adjusting the levels of different sounds. I’d love to see a similar tool for Cortex Cortol.
Here’s how I envision it: you could load multiple presets into the tool and then use the arrow keys (or a MIDI controller) to jump from one preset to the next. The up and down arrow keys would let you jump from scene to scene. Whenever you switch presets, the tool would always load the scene you last clicked on. The level knob affects the level in the output block. If there are multiple output blocks per preset, they’d be displayed accordingly.
I think this would make balancing the presets a lot easier, because it would let you quickly access even more distant presets without having to click around too much. What do you think?
I quickly used AI to visualize what something like that might look like. That should help you picture it a little better.
My goal here is to suggest a tool that makes it easier to use. So please, no comments like “Nobody needs that” because nobody knows “everyone.” And no lectures about how you can do it differently, either. There are many possible approaches, and many are already well-known. The goal is to simplify the workflow.
Interesting. The fractal preset level tool is literally just the output meter of the preset in its own pop out window, with an amp level control as the main control mechanism. Even just having the output volume in its own little window would be a big + for the QC.
Yes, it’s actually very simple. I’m hopeful that if enough people vote for it, this will be something that NDSP can implement quickly and easily, and that it will then make its way onto the roadmap :-).
The challenge would be that, each time you switched betweeen the presets for comparison in the leveling tool, the QC unit itself would have to load each preset every time, even if the GUI showed multiple presets available. That would include the typical audio gap when switching presets normally. I hope that makes sense.
I don’t think it’s a far-fetched proposal, though.
Yes, the gap between presets is unavoidable. But it will at least be significantly smaller if the presets you’re comparing aren’t on the same bank, because then you no longer have to switch banks manually. I think a one-second delay is tolerable for leveling.
I think it’s important to point out that Fractal’s tool is pretty limited. It’s basically an audio meter that stays open at all times, as you manually adjust the volume within a single preset.
So it’s really a “one-preset-at-a-time leveling tool”. Maybe better to call it a “scene leveler” ?
But as the OP suggests, the ideal solution would be to load 2 or more separate presets side by side, and have a means of balancing those levels.
I don’t know how you get around the CPU limitation of the hardware though. But I’d bet if they ever gave us a full QC plugin, it could be done inside a DAW. Maybe?
As mentioned above, I see this feature working better in Cortex Control on the computer, similar to how it works in Fractal. With Fractal, it’s not really about the device itself either. It just isn’t as noticeable because very few people operate the Fractal directly, due to its outdated user interface.
So implemented as function in Control, the QC hardware shouldn’t matter. The brief gap when switching presets should be manageable when leveling out. Of course, a tool like this would be even better in QC itself. But I think implementing it there would be significantly more work. So I’d rather have it in Cortex Control, with a real chance of it actually happening someday, than in QC, where the likelihood of it being implemented is low :-).
