Soundcheck

After SousaFX is installed and running, you’ll want to do a quick soundcheck.

1. Adjust the gain of your audio interface’s microphone input.

   Your loudest sound should make your audio interface’s microphone input peak somewhere between -14 dB and -3 dB. If your loudest sound is below -14 dB, then turn up your audio interface’s microphone input’s gain. If your loudest sound is above -3 dB, turn down the gain.

2. Adjust SousaFX’s main envelope sensitivity so that the orange line in the visualizer clips slightly past the top of the graph.

   I find myself adjusting this based on how energetic I’m feeling on any given day. If I have lots of energy and am playing loudly, I’ll turn this down, and if I’m kinda tired and playing more quietly, I’ll turn it up.

3. Adjust SousaFX’s noise gate in the Envelope Crossfade Parameters.

   Ideally your tuba’s quietest sounds should be above the noise gate while the loudest sounds in the room (such as a snare drum or saxophone solo) stay beneath the noise gate. If this is not possible, and something other than your tuba is triggering the gate, it’s best to just turn off the gate by dragging the slider to the bottom.

4. Adjust your audio interface’s output volume to a comfortable level.

   To be clearly audible, the volume will essentially have to be at least as loud as your acoustic tuba.

SousaFX should be sounding spiffy now! Next, you can continue reading about SousaFX’s effects, or jump right to the Controller Bindings Window to learn how the default bindings preset operates.