Again, RMS and crest factor have nothing to do with setting levels in a DAW. If you believe otherwise, please explain being as detailed as possible.
Now you're just purposely trolling. I'm not giving you the answer a FOURTH time, sir. Three strikes and you're out. Head to the dugout.
Earlier in this thread someone (sorry, too lazy to go find it) pointed out that all-in-one external sound cards with built-in preamps, like the PreSonus stuff, have only the one gain knob.
That was me.
That is equivalent to my setup with a Mackie 1202 feeding a Delta 66 through the Mackie's direct outs.
Weeeellll, not quite, but I get your point in that your treating the channel trims on the 1202 as the input gains to your Delta. OK, we'll run with that.
I will ask you a very simple question, and hopefully you'll have a very simple answer: If you were me, and had the gear I have as described in my
Using a Mixer with a DAW article, please define the "problem" you believe I have. Then explain what you would change to solve it.
The simple answer is I would do the exact same thing you're doing.
The only "problem" (your word, not mine) you have is not in how you're using your gear, but in your assumption that what you have as a typical signal path. It's not. Your 1202 is a mixer, yet not being used as one. 90% of your circuitry there is unused, and much of what most studios have to qualify as a "signal" path is more sophisticated than that.
You are basing your position on your little setup there. It works OK for you, but it does not scale across all situations as a proper understanding of signal chain and gain structuring. I'm trying to offer a way of looking at gain structure that applies equally well to all configurations, from The Record Plant control room to the college student in the dorm room, and is completely applicable and scalable and *useful* when that college student graduates and moves into the real world of recording.
Your position also ignores the fact that while digital signal recording level is irrelevant as long as you don't clip and you don't bottom out - apparently the only thing we agree upon - track level *does* have an effect on the ease of creating a proper mix from those recorded tracks without having to reverse every choice one made in tracking level by changing those choices in mixing. What's the point in pushing gain when recording when you just have to pull it back again when mixing? It's just plain silly.
If one pays attention to
0VU as a guide post or reference - which is what is *always* done on the analog side by any engineer worth their salt - and pays equal attention to it as a reference on the digital side (using the converter conversion factor as the translation from the dBu to the dBFS scale), the mixes tend to mix themselves faster, easier and better with less gyrations needed on the part of the operator/engineer. In short, do it right and the levels just kind of work themselves out with a minimum of work and a minimum of bit-shifting or other processing required.
In other words, in that specific regard, it's just like mixing in analog, which is the intention of the overall design of an A/D system. One should not have to learn different rules of play for mixing just because of the type of gear or medium with which they are working. Nor should the simple set of rules they are taught with their small home system be any different than the simple set of rules they learn for a more sophisticated setup.
This knowledge is like gold to the newb. And for the pro, it both makes the difference between a good mix and a better mix, and cuts down on the amount of studio time needed to do so.
You like flashing your articles around so much, I suggest you check out my mini-app called "Metering and Gain Structure" on my website, available by clicking on my signature. It covers pretty much the entire subject, from theory to application, from microphone to HDR, and is as applicable for your signal chain as it is for a half-million dollar control room, and everything in-between.
G.
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