Hi. I have a question about a thing i did not even noticed before now. On the Sonar I have the "Master" output, that I always looked to when mixing, mastering to keep the level in balance and not too high.
 
But today I noticed all the way to the right in the Daw another volume fader called H/W Outs, that are higher in peaks than the Master output. Around 6 db higher in general. The H/W fader, is named Quad Capture as that is my audio interface.
 
What should I look at when I am bouncing out for mastering and to keep the mixing level below -6db?
 
I have always looked at the Master fader becides the metronome & preview fader & my logic says that is it. Just need to ask the community to be sure.

The hardware outputs are not involved when you bounce or export audio. That is all done in software.

If your HW outs are in deed higher than your master I would make sure that no track or bus is being sent to them along with the master bus. Make sure that both you Master and HW outs are set to 0db unity when you check those levels.

mudgel
The hardware outputs are not involved when you bounce or export audio. That is all done in software.

If your HW outs are in deed higher than your master I would make sure that no track or bus is being sent to them along with the master bus. Make sure that both you Master and HW outs are set to 0db unity when you check those levels.

Thanks  I will. Well, when I bought Sonar, I just did what to be done to get a sound thru my audio interface (Roland Quad Capture). I am used to in all my softwares in the past, that the audio fix itself when I setup the sound card to the Daw, and thats it. I think I have it all correct tough. Just was a little confused by this.
When I create a track I hope I do not have to manually configure them to be sent to only the master bus. Should be automatic.

Kristianzhe

mudgel
The hardware outputs are not involved when you bounce or export audio. That is all done in software.

If your HW outs are in deed higher than your master I would make sure that no track or bus is being sent to them along with the master bus. Make sure that both you Master and HW outs are set to 0db unity when you check those levels.

Thanks  I will. Well, when I bought Sonar, I just did what to be done to get a sound thru my audio interface (Roland Quad Capture). I am used to in all my softwares in the past, that the audio fix itself when I setup the sound card to the Daw, and thats it. I think I have it all correct tough. Just was a little confused by this.
When I create a track I hope I do not have to manually configure them to be sent to only the master bus. Should be automatic.

1. Right click the Master Bus and choose "Set as Default"
2. Make sure your Master Fader and your Hardware outputs are set to 0dB. If this causes clipping you will have to start lowering your tack faders to get everything back to sensible levels (or alternatively attenuate the bus by using the Gain control at the top of the strip (Console View)

 

Hi again. I see.
I did find the solution now. For some reason the "Master" fader had created a "Sends" in the pro channel thing with quad capture 1-2. I opened the menu and did put it to "None" and then now both the master fader and the h/w output is the same.
 
Never been used to this before. 
 
Now the Master fader is where it has always been and the h/w on the right named "Quad Capture 1-2" is exactly the same levels.
 
Is this something I have to be aware of everytime I create a project? Been used to Reason before and then it was only master out, is master out, and thats it.
 
What exactly is H/W out? It is the Master fader that matters, is it not?
 
 

H/W is hardware, the audio interface's output which if at 0 should be the same as the Master.

57Gregy
H/W is hardware, the audio interface's output which if at 0 should be the same as the Master.

Yes it is that now as I put the "Sends" effect to none. For some reason the quad capture 1-2 was put as a send effect on the master fader. No idea how that happened tough.

On all my other songs the "Sends" on the master fader are empty and not touched at all, so I think I must have done something to trigger it 
 
At least I know what was the problem now.
 
Just could not understand why the h/w out suddenly was 6db higher than the master fader, so needed to put it out here in a panic attack. Problem solved.