User Manual

WAVELAB
Metering 8 – 171
As soon as you perform any kind of real-time processing on an audio file,
the audio data will be treated at a much higher resolution (32 bit floating
point), to allow for pristine audio quality. Examples of such processing in-
clude level adjustments, effects, mixing of two or more files, etc. In fact,
the only time when a 16 bit file will be played back at 16 bit resolution is if
you play it without any fades or effects, and with the Master Faders set to
0.00 (no level adjustment). You can try this out for yourself by playing
back a 16 bit audio file and viewing the Bit Meter – as soon as you adjust
the Master Faders, you will note that 24 bits are used and the “inter” indi-
cator is lit (more on this below).
How to “read” the Bit Meter
• The innermost meters (closest to the bit scale) show the number of bits in use.
You can adjust this display in the Settings dialog, as described below.
• The outer meters are “history” meters, showing how many bits were recently in
use. You can adjust the hold time in the Settings dialog.
• The “over” segment indicates clipping, similar to a clip indicator.
• If the “below” segment is lit, there are more than 24 bits. The bit meter will show
the 24 higher bits, and the “below” segment indicates the existence of extra,
lower bits. Note that audio is processed with more than 24 bits internally.
• If the “inter” segment is lit, this indicates that the audio data cannot really be ex-
pressed on a regular 24 bit scale (there are floating point values “in between” bits
– thus the label “inter”). This is typically the case if you apply effects, etc.