ok this is the question

Track 1:
i have a synth on track 1, I put on it a JS compressor with makeup gain and JS waveshaper
and boost eq the highs with reaeq

now....


i want to be able to hear what would that track 1 sound just by raising to the volume to make it as loud as those effects made the track (without having any plugins on it)

what would be the quickest way to compare this

thanks

 

use a gain plugin to match the before and after gain of the fx chain, then just bypass the whole chain

 

Duplicate synth track, remove FX, match volume DOWN on the first track with volume fader/knob. Put your headphones/monitors up. Now you can A/B with solo button without volume difference and clipping
There are also a some plug-ins that can do that but I’m not in the studio and can’t remember which one.

 

If you only want to match this (whole) chain, insert JS: Loudness Meter in the Master and take care that either after the compressor and after Waveshaper + EQ or just after the EQ the LUFS remains the same. Then bypass and compare. No need for any gainstaging plugin or a second track.

 

why JS loudness meter on the master track? i don't understand how that would help as all the tracks signals are combined in the master track

 

probably bc you can solo.. or mute the other tracks

Reaper is not my primary DAW and the above surely work but wasn't there AB Level Matching JSFX Control from TBProAudio, free for Reaper (there is ABLM2 version for other DAWs, probably derived from that). I searched quickly but can't find it anywhere.

Anyway there are
ABLM2
GainMatch (Letimix)
Perception AB (Ian Shepherd)
MCompare (Melda)
AutoGain (HoRNet)
4U+ BlindTest (Hofa)
...

off the top of my head, some cost 3x the price of your DAW

 

I wrote a reascript that does the following: It duplicates the track, sends the signal from track a to track b pre-fx. On track A I have "ab_lm" and between the 2 instances my fx chain. With a hotkey I mute the parent send from A and unmute that one form track B and vice versa. If I am okay with my recent processing, I copy the current fx chain onto track B and carry on with further processing on track A.

 

Geez, samsome! ->

You can ofc also insert the meter in every f***ing track - if that's what you prefer.

 

i forgot you can solo the track you want and get a reading on just that

still newbie after a lot of years!