Is there a way to analyse clips for peak and RMS values?

Hello Forum,
 
Is there any way to find out the peak and RMS values in a clip/track without having to play the whole thing?
I've looked through the menus and searched the help file for 'analyse' and 'analyze', but nothing seems to be listed.
 
Thanks all,
 
Lee.
 

You can set your meters in Sonar to display both. 

John's right that you can set the meters to display both, but that isn't the same as scanning to find the max peak or the average RMS over time.
 
Personally, I use some RME tools to measure sound in different ways.
 
One way to find the loudest moments in your recording (peaks not RMS) is to let the track play through a master bus where the Preview Wave Form is on the master bus. Then you can expand the wave form.
 
If you want more help, you can push the volume fader on the master bus until the moments you want to catch are clipping. Then you get a red vertical line where the clips occurred.
 
If you are impatient, you can bounce to tracks to see the wave form generated for the entire track faster and hunt out peaks that way.
 
None of these ideas are really what you want which is an analysis of peaks and RMS of your track over time (like a 3D view with frequency, amplitude and time as dimensions). Cakewalk did offer a deal on Blue Cat Plugs... Here's a link where I asked about them...
http://forum.cakewalk.com/Im-curious-about-Blue-Cat-plugs-m2886368.aspx
 
So another link to plugins that might help you is here...
http://www.meldaproduction.com/
There are some great videos at MeldaProduction.com that show how to use their plugs.
 
In general, I have been slow to pick up plugins that analyze over time. I use my ears for that. It's a good way to learn (not the only way).
 

Thank you for the links, gswitz.
 
You are right, I would like to be able to click a clip and it show me the peak and RMS of the clip. No fancy 3D required. Wave Shop, suggested by scook does that. I'll look into Blue Cat and Melda Production to see what they're offering.
 
Thanks again,
 
Lee.

Nice! Glad I could help with the templates.
 
Heads up that meter settings are unique in Console View and Track View and all Screen Sets. So when you create your template you might update the meters in Track View and Console View in screenset 1, then use ctrl+2, ctrl+3 etc to copy your screenset with settings to the other screensets before dialing those in. This will copy your meter settings to the other screensets (while also over-writing the other screensets).
 
You might want to turn on wave form preview in the master bus in track view too.
 
Some people also prefer the horizontal meters in track view.

One last thought, Leebut...
 
I'm not trying to sell you plugins. I find the video tutorials REALLY HELPFUL. There are tons of free plugins out there, and if you have X3 Producer, you already have a great heap of really awesome plugins.
 
Antress is one set of free 32 bit plugs...
http://antress.blogspot.com/
 
Melda has a free package also.
 
Sometimes, understanding how to use the plugins is as helpful as anything.
 
I've heard the term ARRT when referring to compressors which means Attack Release Ratio Threshhold.
 
My understanding of this is to reduce the threshold until you are getting a good amount of compression... then reduce the ratio until it's obvious. Then, with that compression really audible, set the Attack and Release... Now, pull back the ratio to some thing reasonable and adjust the threshold to make it more subtle. In practice, this is so iterative as to be cyclical, but still, it doesn't hurt to have a place to start.