Any way to get "-INF" to show up in automation data?

Made with iPlug2
1

I am trying to implement a basic audio fader that has “-INF” as it’s lowest level. In math terms this should be a gain of exactly 0 but if I implement the parameter scaled in “dB” it can’t get to -INF - only some low value like -140dB, etc.

The other way to do this would be to set the parameter range from 0.0 to 1.0 - in which case we have exactly 0 gain at the bottom of the range (-INF) - but it shows up as “0.0 - 1.0” in automation data which is not appropriate either.

So how is this normally done? How do we create a parameter that shows numerical “dB” values in automation data but also can be overridden to show “-INF” at the lowest level?

I have created an overriden control that shows this but how we get DAW automation to show this?

BTW - Some commercial plugins I have do this. Automating the Volume control shows “dB” values in automation data until the very bottom where it switches to “-INF”. That’s what I’m trying to do - but how?

2

From IPlugParameter.h:

  /** Set some text to display for a particular value, e.g. -70dB could display "-inf"
   * @param value The value for which to display the text
   * @param str CString text to display at value */
  void SetDisplayText(double value, const char* str);

Though it’s not granted to work in every host.

2 Likes
3

Yes, that works! Thank you!