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Inspecting Signals

Inspecting Signals

When a patch does not behave the way you expect, the fastest fix is to look at the signal. Throughline has nodes that show you a value, a level, or a spectrum without changing the patch.

Monitor a value

Monitor taps a signal and shows you its current value. Its input is a wildcard socket that accepts any kind — control, audio, MIDI, or image — and adopts that type once connected, so you can branch a cable into it to confirm what is flowing.

Use it to answer "is this port actually getting a signal, and what value?"

Meter audio level

  • RMS Meter reports average RMS and Peak level from an audio input. Use it to spot a signal that is too hot before it clips, as discussed in Filters and Effects.
  • Envelope Follower outputs a control Value that tracks the loudness of an audio signal. It doubles as a modulation source, for example using a drum's level to drive a filter.

See the spectrum

FFT Analyzer turns an audio input into a Spectrum image. View it with an Image Viewer to see the frequency content of a sound. See Visuals for how image ports work.

Common Patch Examples

Confirm a connection is live

  1. Drop a Monitor inline on the cable you are unsure about.
  2. Read the value while the patch runs.

Catch a hot signal

  1. RMS Meter on the audio feeding Audio Output.
  2. If Peak is pinned, lower the level upstream with a Gain or add a Limiter.

Use level as modulation

  1. Envelope Follower on an audio source.
  2. Its Value output → a control input such as a filter cutoff. See Modulation and Envelopes.

Rules of Thumb