Internal Clipping in Ardour?

[drdie]

Hi
I recently watch this video SoundBite: Put an end to clipping with the 32-bit float WAV file format - YouTube
and read about 32-bit float in here What Is Audio Clipping and Why Is It Important? - Produce Like A Pro

With 32-bit float processing, you’ll never clip so long as your audio stays in the DAW

Now i have some question about Internal clipping
in Ardour Except Master bus all other track never get clip ? it is right ?

[ccaudle (Chris)]

@drdie

Except Master bus all other track never get clip ? it is right ?

There is a subtlety to what you wrote, but in practice that is right. It is not actually the master bus which clips, but the point that the output of the master bus is converted to fixed point to send to the audio interface, or to a fixed point file format such as wav.

The only reason I make the distinction is that means all you need to do is reduce the output level with the master bus fader and the audio will not be clipped (assuming you do not have any plugins in the chain which clip internally).

[x42 (Robin Gareus)]

@ccaudle

or to a fixed point file format such as wav.

Internally Ardour by default also writes float32 wav files when recording (although this can be configured in Session > Properties > Media).

During export, yes, if a fixed-point sample-format is used, it can clip - and the export analysis will show this. This is why normalization during export comes in handy. A gain factor can be automatically applied to prevent clipping. see The Ardour Manual - Export Format Profiles

[ccaudle (Chris)]

@x42

Internally Ardour by default also writes float32 wav files

Good point, I guess to be fully correct I should have noted PCM (i.e. specifically fixed point) wav files.
I think Ardour will let you export floating point wav files, although that is primarily useful for importing into another DAW, most playback devices need PCM files.