This is so minor, but it really bugs me. How come level adjustments don’t have consistent steps/increments? For instance (though this behavior can be observed all over the place, not just main and send levels), setting the absolute level of something in an Action. The default value is 0.0 dB. Want to set it to +3 dB? Can’t be done on the surface. Closest it gets using touch and turn is 2.9 dB. Can I hear that 0.1 dB? Absolutely not, but it’s so annoying that it isn’t a whole number. Same thing if you wanted to set it to +6 dB. Closest is 5.9 dB.
Now here’s the kicker: if you go all the way to +10, you can back down to +3.0 dB exactly! Huh???
From what I can tell, regardless of where you start, the steps up and down vary between 0.6 and 0.5 dB all the way through the full range. Why in the world does it change???
So I guess I’m asking that the developers lock it to 0.5 dB increments (or 0.1 dB, if finer resolution is desired).
You can do this from dlive director now, by right clicking the value and typing in the frequency you want. Pretty sure you can do this for send levels etc. as well. Would be nice to have a pop out keypad on surfaces so you could do the same. Or use an external keyboard for it.
So I am not the only one but I have to ask did you ever use analog knobs? How would you know they are spot on 0 or 3 or 6? Answer: No one cared because they were close enough. One of my pet peeves has always been significant figures and rounding. Just because computers can calculate to ridiculous precision doesn’t mean it matters. And even Excel doesn’t have a function to make 129123.123 display as 130000, but a couple of us wrote one.
On the other hand it does give the desk a sort of analog-esq vibe to never have any of the values all rounded off exactly the same.
Well, to be fair, you would know based on the markings around the knob. But I see your point.
One counter point that I would make though is that a major advantage to digital desks is precise repeatability.
At the end of the day, does that 0.1 dB have any functional relevance? No. But as a user (and one that’s perhaps a tad obsessive compulsive ), the lack of consistency leaves something to be desired. As @theotherdave said, it feels unpolished.
I think it would be totally fair to categorize this more as an aesthetic feature request. They’ll probably never change it, but it doesn’t hurt to start a conversation to learn if others feel the same way you do
@J_McRib It’s the same on the SQ and I know exactly what you mean. I’ve definitely done the “all the way up and back down” thing on a particularly OCD day!
And a “yes” from me also, to the analog desk question in the comments, I used them for decades, well before digital was even a dream. It’s a fair point, but on an analog desk those minor differences aren’t made visible - detent is zero or unity and off you go.
I agree. As I said it bugs me when useless precision is used or in this case step changes that seem to be oddly spaced and never land on an even number. I try to set us up at -5 dB almost across the board which is where we live on inputs and outputs knowing we can punch anything up to 0 dB without having something give us trouble or go into feedback and we might get away with +5 on some things. But I’m not sure if anything is really at -5, maybe -4.9 or -5.2 or whatever is close. Tonight we have practice and now I will have to try to see for sure what the minimum step really is.
In the knob days you couldn’t resolve to 0.1 dB and we all know you couldn’t hear any difference. And do really believe with all those analog devices everything was really identical even if set the same. I remember being able to hear slight difference when changing an input on a GL4000 even though the knobs looked identical side by side.
I agree. I’ve seen quite radical differences across channels on analog desks. Using an accurate tone generator, the position of the gain knobs on different channels can be very visibly different. Same place definitely did not equal same level in the analog world! It only really mattered if you were trying to make a stereo pair and the desk didn’t have any actual stereo inputs available.
), the lack of consistency leaves something to be desired. As 