If you would like to have just the Concrete Limiter at the end of your signal chain, you can add an "fx chain" to your Pro Channel and put the stereo widener in there.

John T
I see your point; it gives a simplified version of the bus at the bottom, which is a bit confusing, IMO.

If the flow is the same on the main output bus as on each channel, this indicates that all the effects (FX bin and ProChannel are pre-fader.  If that is the case, how could you ever have a real limiter?  A limiter needs to be post-fader -- the very last thing out.

I see what you're saying, but we don't have the same problems in a DAW as we would in a setup made out of physical boxes. In the case of Sonar, you can trust that the buses operate at completely reliable unity gain, and if the master bus fader is at 0db, then it won't do anything to change the level being put out by the last item before it.

John T
I see what you're saying, but we don't have the same problems in a DAW as we would in a setup made out of physical boxes. In the case of Sonar, you can trust that the buses operate at completely reliable unity gain, and if the master bus fader is at 0db, then it won't do anything to change the level being put out by the last item before it.

It looks like I had my main bus fader a little above 0dB.  It looked like it was at unity, but the flyover said 0.9dB, which explains the difference between the limiter and fader readings.  They are now reporting almost identical peaks.  So it seems like if using a limiter on the master bus (or any bus,) the best practice is to leave the fader at unity gain.

Sanderxpander
If you would like to have just the Concrete Limiter at the end of your signal chain, you can add an "fx chain" to your Pro Channel and put the stereo widener in there.

Thanks for the tip.  I had looked at the FX chains in ProChannel before, but I guess I thought they were all pre-packaged chains.  I didn't think of adding my own.  So if I am already using the ProChannel, it seems like the best practice would be to never use an FX bin at all, and simply insert the FX stack into the ProChannel exactly where you want it to go.  I can't think of any good reason to use Both ProChannel strips and the FX bin on the same channel or bus.  It seems much more straightforward to have all the effects in the same stack so that there is absolutely no doubt about what is going on.

Drop effects into the ProChannel will load the plug-ins in an FX chain automatically.

cparmerlee
So if I am already using the ProChannel, it seems like the best practice would be to never use an FX bin at all, and simply insert the FX stack into the ProChannel exactly where you want it to go.  I can't think of any good reason to use Both ProChannel strips and the FX bin on the same channel or bus.  It seems much more straightforward to have all the effects in the same stack so that there is absolutely no doubt about what is going on.

Increasingly, I find myself doing exactly that. On the mix I'm working on right now, I have about 30 tracks, and only five of the regular effects bins have anything in them.

Which is one of the reasons I personally avoid the ProChannel, haha. To each his own. I agree it makes sense to make an fx chain in one logical place rather than keep two separate ones.