Interpreting Pro Channel Clipping LEDs

In the reference manual, the LED on each PC module is described as a Clipping LED, but there is no guidance as to how to interpret them. In practice, they change colour gradually through amber and red, which suggests they are not actually sensing clipping (whatever that means in floating-point digital processing). For those module that have meters, in many instances, the clipping LED has turned red long before the simulated needles are also well into the red. This is often where you want them to be, for instance with the Tape module, or any of the "analogue warmth" (i.e distortion) based modules. So, in practice, I just use my ears until the things sounds right, a practice that I know many of you think is the definitive way in any case. Nevertheless, I am still curious to know what the LEDs are actually telling me - are they simulating some kind of analogue overload or are they telling me something meaningful about the digital domain?

Yes, I agree the ability to see what is happening between stages is very useful. It's just it would be so much more useful if I knew what it is actually measuring.
 

I have noticed that if you put a MONO plug in on a stereo track or vice versa, sometimes it will screw up the clipping indicator.  I seriously ignore them because they are buggy as hell.

It's a shame that Cakewalk doesn't actually explain what they are.

Just don't let them turn red unless for some reason or other you find a specific module sounds BETTER clipping.
 
Generally, in my experience, they really really do not (and I like nasty, hateful noises).
 
If one of the modules DOES sound "good" to you getting slammed to red... mayhaps you are actually looking for a different effect that could be better accomplished with a different plug designed to clip (in which case I'd suggest the Tube Drive or Sat Knob modules).
 
Seriously... red to me almost always sounds a bit raunchy even if it's only blinking a little... and not in a good way.
 
YMMV

This is a brief answer, as am on my phone, but will post more when at my DAW.

Think of them as indicators of possible clipping. Some plugs produce desirable sounds when driven hard, others not, much like analogue gear.

The indicator shows a potential to clip. I find gain staging within th PC vital, as it can make a huge difference to a mix - so much so, that I have a particular screenset that shows only th PC module in th console view docked at the top of the screen to keep an eye on it.

Invariably if I see it light red a lot, the track is improved by gain staging. I run through each of the modules looking for the one that lights red. Sometimes it is a combination of several.

Maarkr
i guess I've never noticed clipping when it goes in the red... I mean, when I hear clipping I really hear that horrid  h@kkccggg sound (my alphabetization of clipping noise, ain't it appropriate?).  I think of it like gain staging, where the same thing occurs on a track or two that you get the red peak light on.  I'll listen to it solo to check for noise or adjust some parameter related to the track, but if it sounds good like it is, I leave it... no big thang.

Since maybe because I use headphones almost exclusively (and I think mayhaps my ears are a little more sensitive to minor things than others... which I wish would translate into better mixes, lol) I notice it more.
 
It's not an obvious type of clipping (most of the time). Just a general overall harshness. Like it's super fast little micro "clips". Not necessarily like something being overdriven in a desirable way. Just harsh and abrasive to my ears and it seems to step on other sounds. Anytime it happens if I fix the gain staging it's pretty much guaranteed to sound better.
 
That said... when those indicators are orange (as in just about to clip) that can be desirable on effects that like to be overdriven a bit. If slightly knocking into the red at the ocassional peak seems okay. If there is more red than anything else... nope.
 
Conversely if it's always green I don't think that's desirable either. Like whatever I'm using isn't getting enough juice to really make the effect do what I want it to.
 
Of course it's different for different plugs but these are things I've noticed in my own projects over time.
 
I could of course be completely hallucinating the entire phenomena.

Many of the PC modules are entirely superfluous if you are pursuing "the closest approach to the original sound" (as the Acoustical Manufacturing Company used to describe what others called less poetically HiFi, in an era when the phrase "analogue warmth" would have been entirely baffling). I only use these PC modules when I want more distortion. But it kind of intrigues me that when, say, using the Console Emulators, the clipping LED will be showing a lot of red even when the console "needle" is only straying into the red. I don't think my quality of life will be transformed by knowing what the Bakers were intending, but it would give me a small degree of satisfaction.
 
Noel - now is the moment for you to weigh in with one of your pithy and succinct reveals.

I think this is the best take away from the linked thread (from John)
 
This is the way I look at them as an indicator as to how hard you are driving the virtual circuit.
 
They are not digital clipping indicators (you have those on the meters) but more along the lines of an analog clipping meter. Keep in mind that Pro Channel's modules are modeling analog circuits. I do see them as useful when you look at them from this viewpoint.
 
I should have posted this sometime ago but I forgot this thread.