Plugin views

Above the controls of most blocks, the editor draws what the block does: an EQ’s curve, a compressor’s level curve, a delay’s echoes, or the sound going in and out. Drag the points on it to set the block; the knobs follow, and turning a knob moves the drawing.

These views are not made plugin by plugin. OpenRig reads them from what every LV2 plugin already declares: its class (EQ, compressor, delay…) and the names and units of its controls (“Frequency 1” in Hz, “Gain 1” in dB). An EQ, a compressor or a delay you add yourself gets its view the same way. A plugin OpenRig cannot read with confidence keeps its knobs alone.

In every view, the sound going in is grey and the sound coming out is in the block’s colour. The sound is measured only for the block shown, and only while its editor is open.

EQ

• The curve is the EQ’s response, from 20 Hz to 20 kHz and ±24 dB.
• Each band has a point: LC and HC for low and high cuts, LS and HS for shelves, N for a notch, BP for a band-pass, and numbers for the peaks.
• Drag a point to set its frequency and gain. A cut has no gain: it moves across only. On a graphic EQ the frequencies are fixed: the points move up and down only.
• Double-tap a point to switch its band off or on. A band that is off is drawn hollow; dragging it switches it on.
• Behind the curve, the spectrum in and out. It is tilted by 4.5 dB per octave, so a guitar or pink noise reads roughly flat and a boost or cut shows plainly.

Compressor, limiter and gate

• Left: the level curve, output against input from −60 dB to 0 dB. The diagonal is “what comes in goes out”; the curve bends at the threshold.
  • Drag T across to set the threshold.
  • Drag R, at the 0 dB end of a compressor’s curve, up and down to set the ratio. Ratio controls given as named steps (“1:4”, “Lim”…) are followed through their names.
  • A dot rides the curve with the sound going through.
• Middle: the last six seconds in and out, and the gain reduction as a red line hanging from the top.
• Right: the gain reduction meter. It shows the plugin’s own reading when the plugin gives one in dB; otherwise OpenRig measures it from the levels in and out, allowing for the input and makeup gains.
• The caption reads the setting: ratio and knee, a limiter’s ceiling, a gate’s range.

Delay

• Right: the echoes, drawn from the delay’s time, feedback and mix: the dry sound in grey, then each echo at its level, down to −60 dB. The tag in the corner gives the time across.
  • Drag T, the first echo, across to set the time.
  • Drag F, the second echo, up and down to set the feedback.
• Left: the last seconds in and out, where the echoes heard show next to those drawn.
• A delay synced to the tempo shows “tempo sync” and no echoes: its time comes from the tempo. A delay whose time is at zero shows “no delay”.

Reverb

The last six seconds in and out, falling fast so each tail shows as it is, not as a meter falls.

Amps, pedals and drives

• Left: the wave going in and the wave coming out, 20 ms of each, lined up on the same crossing and scaled to the same height, so the shape of the clipping shows. The block’s latency is allowed for. The tag gives the output level against the input.
• Right: the spectrum in and out, where the harmonics the block adds show.

Modulation and cabinets

The spectrum in and out: a cabinet’s tone, or the sweep of a chorus, flanger or phaser.