Render volume level

[herodotas]

Hello,
Why I can't get the same volume level after I render track to sample. Result is always quieter. What I do wrong?

[peterpiper0815]

I'm a bit confused about the levels too (well Routing / Gainstaging in general)

From what I know the level when you hit a key in the SAMPLE tab is related to the slider 'Sample Volume' in the GENERAL Tab.

BUT

There is a setting in -> Setup Menu -> General Tab -> No loud sample preview.
Depending on this setting you can enable/disable this relation (set = volume depends on Sample Volume Slider, unset = volume is played at max level 0dB)

In my case many VST(fx) are involved (I build myself a kind of mixer with a few EQs, Compressors, Reverb that are routed serial and then end up in a limiter) so the issue might be there. Have to dig deeper into the routing.

A kind of schematic / routing diagram of OpenMPT would help to understand

[Saga Musix]

Stream Export (and that includes rendering to sample) always renders out the played data at exactly the same level as you would hear it during life playback.

However, when you load that exported stream back into the sample editor, it will, like any other sample, play at the configured sample pre-amp volume, as peterpiper0815 said. The sample pre-amp is usually way below 0dB because otherwise your sound would clip instantly as soon as more than one sample plays at the same time.

There's a lot of variables involved but I think the routing is pretty much straight-forward. Technically there really isn't any routing to speak of, all sample-related volumes are just multiplied with each other:

Final sample volume = Note volume * global sample volume * global instrument volume * channel volume * global volume * sample pre-amp
The same formula applies to OPL notes, except that they are multipled by the synth volume instead of the sample pre-amp. Note that OPL volumes are linear rather than logarithmic, so everything up to (and includling) the channel volume is logarithmic. Global volume and sample pre-amp are applied to the final mixed output, so they are linear just like with samples.

Of course if you route the sample through a plugin, then the result is multiplied by the plugin's gain factor as well. In this case it's also worth noting that the global volume is technically applied last, after going through any plugins. This distinction mostly matters for instrument plugins or plugins that otherwise add any sound to the incoming signal.

When using instrument plugins, their output is multiplied by the plugin gain factor as well as the synth volume value.