A limiter controls peaks at its position in the chain. Ceiling sets the limit, and Release sets recovery. Guard uses linked-channel sample-peak limiting without lookahead; this is not a true-peak reconstruction guarantee. Later processing can raise the level again. A limiter does not repair clipping that already happened at the ADC.
Auto Swell controls gain to create an automatic fade-in. Threshold triggers opening, Attack sets the rise, Release sets closing or recovery, and Blend restores some of the original pick attack. It follows the level envelope rather than necessarily recognizing every new note. Legato without gaps can leave the envelope open, so not every note gets a new fade. An Attack that is too long can hide short notes.
Volume/Swell follows Position manually or through expression. Linear multiplies x by p; the current Audio taper uses p². At 50%, they produce approximately −6.02 and −12.04 dB respectively. That is not a measurement of half the perceived loudness. Before drive, volume affects saturation. After drive but before ambience, it controls new notes while preserving tails. After ambience, tails fall too. Master after the rig is a separate destination.
Concept references
Linear or Audio taper
Why is halfway on the pedal not always half the gain?
- Pedal position
- 50%
- Amplitude multiplier
- 0.250×
- Level change
- -12.04 dB
Volume before delay / reverb lowers new notes while allowing tails to continue. After ambience, volume also lowers tails that are already playing.
The position² curve follows the Volume mapping described in the guide. It is not the curve of every hardware pedal and does not change an interface knob.