Smartgain

Smartgain helps you establish a suitable recording level across the selected analogue inputs. Arm the channels you want to measure, then perform at the loudest level you expect during recording while Smartgain adjusts their gain. It works with the Audient Console Mic Preamps and single JFET instrument input, but not optical digital inputs or Virtual/loopback channels.

Using Smartgain from the Hardware

1. Press SMART to enter Smartgain mode. The SMART button illuminates and Inputs 1 and 2 begin to pulse, showing that they are available to be armed. If iD Control is open, the Smartgain window also opens in the application.

2. Press an input button to arm it. An armed channel changes from pulsing to a steady illumination. Press it again to disarm it.
3. Once the required inputs are armed, press SMART again. The button pulses during the configured countdown before Smartgain begins measuring and setting the gain of the selected channels.
4. Perform at the loudest level expected during recording while Smartgain measures the signal and sets the input gain. If iD Control is open, check the channel results when measurement finishes. Select Finish to keep the new gains, or use Retry Failed or Retry All if another measurement is needed.

Smartgain in iD Control

You can select inputs, start the measurement and review the results directly in iD Control without using the hardware SMART button.

1. Open Smartgain using the SMARTGAIN button in the application header. Available analogue inputs are shown in a grid using their current Mixer channel names.

2. Select the required channels and choose Start. Select All selects every available Smartgain input and Clear All removes the current selection.

3. Before measurement begins, Smartgain displays a countdown. Perform at the loudest level expected during recording while Smartgain measures the selected signals, and do not adjust the input gain during the measurement process. Cancelling while Smartgain is measuring returns to the input-selection stage.

4. When measurement is complete, each channel is shown as Successful or Unsuccessful. The results header shows Assigned, Successful, Unsuccessful and Unassigned counts. Failed channels can be measured again with Retry Failed, while Retry All repeats the process for every selected channel.

5. Selecting Finish saves the new gain settings. Selecting Cancel disregards the Smartgain changes.

When Smartgain is reopened after a previous run, the previous channel selection is recalled and can be reused or cleared.

Smartgain Settings

Choose a Target Level to decide how much headroom Smartgain leaves when setting the input gain: Safe (-18 dBFS), Standard (-12 dBFS), Impact (-9 dBFS) or Hot (-6 dBFS). Safe gives the most headroom; Hot gives the least.

Measurement Duration can be set to 3, 5, 10, 20 or 30 seconds. The default is 5 seconds.

Countdown can be set to 3, 5, 10, 20 or 30 seconds and can also be disabled. The default countdown is 3 seconds.

Select Save to store the Smartgain Setup configuration. Closing the setup panel without selecting Save discards the changes.