I was trying the bus compressor on a kick/snare track I'm doing and comparing the various compressors I have at my disposal (Blue Tubes, T Rax, Sonitus, etc.) I had the best luck with the PC4K S-Type . in order to get the same punch as the others I had to up the make up gain. I noticed that everything down chain from that started going into the red in pro channel. I get that I can reorder the modules, but it doesn't quite sound the same. I'm wondering if it is part of the design of Pro Channel to run these hot and impart some character, because that's all I'm hearing, not some saturation and definitely not digital clipping. Anyone else using it this way?

I go into the red all the time on the prochannel.  I cannot hear any discernable difference if it is in the red or if it is not. I focus on the individual track meters more.  They seem to actually matter to the sound, unlike the PC ones which do something, I just can't tell what.

Never. If I see it blink, I fix it. I sometimes listen to the whole song watching for it to blink.
 
Clip hold, anyone?
 
For that matter, I often normalize tracks to -3 so I have plenty of headroom heading into the FX chain.

   NO to the RED !

My take, please take with a grain of salt: 
 
I'm pretty sure the meters on the PC units are not actual "clipping meters" like I think they are called.  They are more like "activity meters".  They are tied to the analog circuitry they are emulating, but are not actual a clipping indicator for your signal.  You can safely run them hot (I sure can't hear anything negative when I do).  It may actual sound decent, as the emulated circuit is probably affected by the amount you are hitting the virtual circuits and virtual tubes and whatnot.

I don't use prochannel much, but I don't watch for clipping when I do. I've found with modern floating point stuff there isn't a big need to stage gains, since you can go over 0dBFS.

I set my gain structure before I do anything else,make sure all tracks are set well below clipping and the master bus volume sits around -6db or so,if I add a pro channel module or fx bin plugin,i use that modules gain control to keep the tracks gain at the pre set value and the master bus volume around -6db. Hope that helps a bit.

This is certainly a good topic . I've always wondered what the real deal is on this issue myself …
 
The Pro Channel modules seem to indicate implied overs even when I have done everything that was humanly possible to keep my individual track volume peaks around - 12 db ….
 
This causes me to have a disconnect ..
At this point , what am I supposed to believe my ears or my eyes ?…
 
Sure hope somebody that really knows what the real deal is can chime in here and set the record straight ….
 
Kenny

kennywtelejazz
 
At this point , what am I supposed to believe my ears or my eyes ?…
 

I don't know the answer to the original topic question...except that I often have the meters slammed.  But as far as your question, without doubt, there really is only one answer.  The visual helps your ears (get to their destination), but too often only distracts.

mixmkr

kennywtelejazz
 
At this point , what am I supposed to believe my ears or my eyes ?…
 

I don't know the answer to the original topic question...except that I often have the meters slammed.  But as far as your question, without doubt, there really is only one answer.  The visual helps your ears (get to their destination), but too often only distracts.

Sure , I get what you are saying and in a traditional sense of the word , Yes I trust my ears first ….
My problem is I do not trust what I am hearing when I use the Pro Channel because I've had many instances of having to go back and start from scratch due to artifacts that were introduced that slipped under the Radar 
 
Kenny