3.1.2. Read what a cable carries

A cable carries a signal between compatible sockets. Check the signal kind, unit and range before choosing its destination.

Read An Audio Cable In Help.

1. Point at the cable you want to check. Help names its two ends, for example Oscillator Signal → Filter Audio In.
2. Point at the socket at each end.
3. Read its kind, unit and range in Help.

Result: you can compare the source signal with the destination socket.

Help appears beside the pointer after a short pause.

Three properties decide what a connection does:

• Kind is what flows: audio, control, gate, trigger, MIDI or a structured type such as Clock.
• Unit is what a number means: Hz, milliseconds, a MIDI note number or a 0–1 level.
• Range is the values the socket expects.

Look at Lesson 2: Shape its tone. ADSR Envelope and Filter Cutoff are both control sockets. The envelope moves between 0 and 1, but Cutoff expects 20 Hz to 20 kHz. The Map Range node turns one range into the other, so the envelope sweeps a cutoff range you choose. When a connection works but sounds wrong, compare the two sockets' units and ranges first.